I still remember my cousin telling me a while back about how I would go trumpeting around when I was younger on my high horse, informing anyone and everyone in the family house that I was not going to eat animals when I “grew up”–because going vegetarian, obviously, was not something one simply did as a kid. It was a big deal. It was a responsibility. It was a way of stalling on something that I knew even at the tender age of nine and a half would mean lots of personal sacrifices. What can I say? I’m a natural … Read more
White Chocolate Cranberry Coconut Granola Bars and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bar Cookies
To me, hiking was always something that people did when they didn’t feel like doing real sports. You know, sort of like ping pong, or chess. Not to say that any of these are illegitimate pastimes, but something about the idea of meandering up a hill at a glacial pace over a stretch of several hours seemed, well, anti-climactic.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I went “real hiking” for the first time this summer back home with a friend. By the end of the first quarter mile up what I had previously dubbed a “little hill,” my legs were screaming … Read more
Nut Brittle
Do you ever stop to think about how weird some words sound? My friend and I were having this conversation on the tram at Disneyland on Friday, and–
Oh, what’s that? You’re asking where I was when we were having this conversation?
Let me back up and try again…
I was at Disneyland!!!
The happiest place on earth, filled with happy kids, unhappy kids, super grumpy kids, frumpy kids, scowling kids, and howling kids. And then there was my friend and me with our double-scoop dipped waffle cone ice creams from Gibson Girl’s ice cream parlor, laughing at equally grumpy, … Read more
Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie, A la Wallflower
It’s my philosophy that all good wallflowers need to have a good wallflower drink–you know, the kind you can clutch onto desperately at a party when you find that your ability to hold a conversation that is both intelligent and lively in the gesticulation quarter is limited. It’s my crutch, and I’m about to make it yours, too. Unfortunately, like any socially-awkward wallflower, I tend to shy away from the alcoholic beverages. Juices, preferably with a label like Capri-Sun or Hi-C emblazoned on them, are my drink of choice. Of course, even I know that hosting a party featuring only … Read more
Panda (Devil) Bread
It’s like a Rorschach test–quick! What do you see?
Yup, it’s a panda all right! I knew you’d guess it.
…Okay, I admit–it does look sort of possessed. But at least it’s a possessed panda, right? That could potentially still be cute. Its pet name is Frankie the Panda (Devil) Bread loaf.
How did this Shelley-esque nightmare come into being? Let me tell you…
Our story begins on a cold, stormy winter night, when the wrath of the oven gods decided to wreak their havoc and get revenge on the mortals below…so they sent…
PANDA DEVIL BREAD!! Muahahaha!
The end.… Read more
Raspberry Cheesecake-Filled Chocolate Truffle Cookies
Over dinner on Friday night, my friend made a well-meant but snarky comment about how blogging about lesson plans that are related to baking is essentially useless. Needless to say, the only things he got to eat after that were his words–none of these delicious, to-die-for raspberry cheesecake-filled chocolate truffle cookies for him!
(Plus, after he heard how many people said they were borrowing the lesson plan for their own use from my chunky cheesecake brownies post, he probably lost his appetite anyway…which was all the better for me, since we had ordered an entire plate of dulce de … Read more
Cookie Balls
You know those times when you do something disastrously wrong, and everything turns out miraculously right?
Welcome to my world! My kitchen, to be more precise. These cookie balls are the offspring of precisely that odd, paradoxical paradigm:
I literally could not keep these safe from all the grabby hands.
I passed out about a quarter of them at our book club yesterday with my fingers crossed and they were instantly gobbled up. Just vanished. Even Harry’s Invisibility Cloak would have been jealous of just how vanished they were.
At that point, I was thinking to myself that could have … Read more
Carrot Cake
Over dinner today, which my roommate catered, we had a discussion about zucchini casserole and the rising epidemic of young kids who have actually managed to convince themselves (and their willing parents) that to eat vegetables would be akin to sticking one’s head in a vat of, say, a very concentrated acid.
We concluded with the very astute observation that perhaps this was why, all trends considered, carrot cakes have that nifty little anti-nutritional, sans-essential-vitamins carrot on the top. In fact, I’m pretty sure that that sugary faux carrot probably constitutes more daily servings of vegetables for the average modern-day … Read more
Chunky Cheesecake Brownies
This chunky cheesecake brownie recipe has gotten me through mountains and miles, thick and thin, extraterrestrial encounters and existential crisis. Okay, maybe not the mountains. Think I’m exaggerating? Well, think again. These brownies have served the usual functional:
- Potluck desserts
- Get-together snacks
- Gifts
However, they have also served rather less usual functions (or still typical, depending on your habits), including:
- Bribery
- Excuses to meet people (and it works!)
- A full two days’ worth of lesson plans for my Academic Writing class
That last one is my most recent excuse for whipping up a batch of this recipe, and probably the
Strawberry Coffee Cake
So this past Thursday–as on every Thursday–I went to the farmer’s market just down the block where merchants flock to sell their fresh wares and apparently no baked goods except those produced in large-scale commercial kitchens are allowed. (Go figure.) Still, I love this weekly market, and my friend and I have frequented it so often that we’ve become–to my eternal delight–regulars! The bolani man and the produce guy know our names, and will usually slip some little extra goodies into our bags. Like any well-formed insecure person, I like to please, and so I usually get something every time … Read more