There's No Place Like Home

Where is 2011 going?!

When we were growing up, my dad would always tell my sister and me that "as you get older, time will fly by faster and faster." He wasn't kidding.

I think it's pretty accurate to say that I have been wishing for October to arrive since late July. I don't think I ever mentioned it here, but July was when I found out that my mom and I were going to be visiting our family in Japan for 3 magical weeks. Well, those 3 weeks finally came and went (hence the reason for my lack of updates) and now I'm back home, armed with tart pans, melon flavor extracts, and ALL KINDS OF POWDERS for delicious macarons!

Seriously, this is just a fraction of what I brought home.

I just came back from the land of the rising sun on Monday, and I didn't waste a second of baking time. I jumped into the kitchen headfirst and attempted a batch of Matcha macarons, but I guess 3 weeks was long enough for me to lose my touch. Maybe I thought the matcha was bad luck, but today I decided to use my egg custard powder, in hopes of avoiding macawrongs.

creme brûlée macarons

Hooray! Feet! When paired with my mom's top secret vanilla custard (I'm SO glad she finally shared her recipe), it tasted just like heavenly creme brûlée, one of my ALL TIME favorite desserts. It was so good that I had to eat two. Then I remembered that they'll taste better tomorrow after they've rested, and I miraculously found the will power to put them away. Sigh.

I'm hoping to put together a little post of all the delicious treats I ate while I was in Japan. I was ECSTATIC to run into a Lauderée while in Fukuoka, and that really deserves a post on it's own. Stay tuned, and happy baking!

<3<3<3

A time for reflection

It's hard to remember a world where words like "terrorist" and "terrorism" only existed in the movies.

Like so many other Americans, I remember September 11, 2001 very clearly. I was 13 years old, just barely going into my second week as a freshman in high school. I woke up early that morning to get ready for 0 period band, and by then my dad was already glued to the TV, watching reports about a plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers. I didn't understand any of it then, but I remember thinking that it must have been some kind of awful freak accident. Watching footage of the burning building left me in utter disbelief. I had witnessed the glory of the Twin Towers only 5 months before, on a school trip to New York and Washington D.C. with my 8th grade class.

My dad had the day off, and so he took me and my friends to school. During the commute to one of my friend's house, we heard about the second plane crash.

"It's a terrorist attack," my dad said. And there it was. Terrorist. The word that caused me to feel completely confused, and very scared.

While 9/11 is painfully etched in many of our minds, I also remember the night of 9/10/01 very clearly. In my last conscious moments of the night, I remember sitting in bed and praying as I normally do. But that night, I just felt so sleepy that all I could muster was a "Dear God, please keep everyone safe and happy tomorrow."

This sleepy prayer was all I could think about as I sat through 0 period and listened to our band director talk to us, and it kept repeating in my head as my 1st period biology teacher made us watch the news before reluctantly clicking off the television to resume her lesson. It was all I could hear as the skies above my home were silenced and void of any aircrafts, and it was all I could hear as the news repeatedly showed footage of the Pentagon and falling towers for weeks, and months to come.

All I could do was feel guilty that maybe I just didn't pray hard enough for all the innocent people that lost their lives that day. I was so shaken by this thought that I couldn't even shed a tear.

Fastforward to this very moment, and I can't say that a decade's worth of knowledge has enabled me to completely understand it all. I still don't understand how some people can feel so heartless as to intentionally take away the lives of thousands, but I don't think any of us have an explanation for that.

I'll never forget that horrible day, and today I pay tribute to those who lost their lives in New York, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I'm praying for the broken families, for the children that lost their beloved parents, and those that will never know the parents that they've lost. I pray that words like "terrorism" and "hate" are forgotten and replaced with words like "Patriotism" and "love."

...and God knows that I'm praying harder now.

Taken in April 2001, on my 8th grade trip to New York

Good morning!

I'm pretty sure I can blame all of my AP teachers from high school for ruining my circadian rhythm and sleep cycle, because I am NOT a morning person. Unlike most people, I don't need a steaming cup of coffee in my system to become an approachable and functional human being of our society. No, what I really need is about 5 more hours of sleep. Or 8.

(Most) Sunday mornings are an exception. My dad is a Lector at our church and he is usually assigned to read for Mass at 6:30 AM. This usually means that, if I'm not tip-toeing back inside my home at an unreasonable hour on a Saturday night, my bleary-eyed self is stumbling out of bed at 5:45 AM to join my dad in church. Promptly after coming home from mass at around 7:20 AM, I can be found face-planted in my pillow to add onto the 3+ hours of sleep I got the night before.

I know. Call me lazy, I can take it.

My favorite Sunday mornings, though, take a bit more effort. These mornings include breakfast with my parents at the table, and rummaging through the Sunday paper to find the Target ad and to attempt the crossword puzzle in the Arts and Books section of the LA Times. My mom usually has breakfast prepared for us when we get back from church. On the mornings she doesn't, my dad and I take the reigns in the kitchen.

This morning I was feeling a bit more awake than usual, and my dad wanted to make pancakes. Okay, here's a little known fact about me. I don't like pancakes. It might be because every personal attempt at making them has yielded crepes. They're delicious crepes, but my inability to make thick and fluffy pancakes has ingrained a distaste for them. Anyway, I'm pretty sure my dad was a bit disappointed when I crinkled my nose at the thought of pancakes on such a gorgeous Sunday morning.

But then I remembered this. Cinnamon Roll Pancakes. Thank goodness for StumbleUpon.

It took some convincing, but my dad gave in.

We added apple chunks in the batter and we didn't use the Cream Cheese frosting, so it was more of an Apple-Cinnamon Swirl Pancake. It was perfect. As my mom said, "apple and cinnamon are soulmates."

Serve warm and with no syrup. If you're like me, you'll love the contrasting fluffy/crispy textures.

This is a great reason to stay awake on a Sunday morning.

Baby pancake!

Scrambled eggs with tomato, ham, and cheese


A beautiful golden-brown :)

No...THIS is a great reason to stay awake on a Sunday morning.

<3<3<3

Macaron Experiment

Question:
Can macarons be made with anything OTHER than almond flour?

Answer:

Apologies for the low quality: taken with my ancient Palm Centro

Sort of. Above, you will find "Exhibit A," made with graham cracker powder. Smelled DELICIOUS. It even looks like a macaron...but it was SUPER crunchy/chewy. I imagine the equivalent to be chewing an old piece of gum, only after it's fallen in wet cement.


Judge rules...it's an imposter! MACAWRONG. Case closed.

<3<3<3

An Early Mactweets Challenge? GO ME!

Seriously, I can't remember the last time I submitted an entry for a Mactweets challenge early, let alone a few days after it's been posted.

Anyway, I'd like to start off by saying that I absolutely loved my years as an undergrad. I met and made friends that I know I'll have for life, I learned how to cook in my sorry excuse for a dorm kitchen, and I learned A LOT (both musically and personally speaking). The one thing college failed to teach me, however, was how to hold my liquor.

Sadly, I take after my mother's drinking genes.

Many people would think that being half Mexican and half Japanese would yield superhuman drinking powers (you would understand if you've ever been to a birthday party for a child hosted by Mexicans, or if you've ever been to a karaoke bar after work hours and seen Japanese business men...I know I'm being stereotypical, but it's TRUE)...but I am truly a cheap date. It doesn't take more than a neck of a Smirnoff® bottle to get me red purple. Thank you mom, for the Asian glow gene.

Rest assured, I will never be an alcoholic. As happy as I get with a drink, I don't like the feeling of my warm purple face and pulsating teeth (really).

As for liquor infused desserts?...now THAT is something that I can agree with.

This month's Mactweets challenge called for us to bake a macaron with some liquor! While I don't drink enough to have a "drink of choice", I do enjoy a (tiny) glass of Baileys® On the Rocks every once in a great while. This sweet and refreshing drink became my inspiration for this month!

Here it is...my Chocolate-Kona Coffee Macarons with Baileys® Buttercream!

I <3 Macarons :)

My mom and I did sneak a taste of these sinfully delicious treats and we both enjoyed them, though a tablespoon of Baileys® might have been too much for the buttercream ("It's getting warm in here!" "Don't eat these and drive!")...or perhaps my mom really is that much of a lightweight. Either way, the rest of these babies are off-limits and are resting in the fridge, waiting to be enjoyed by my dear friends and me at the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow! Rodrigo y Gabriela AND macarons? I can't wait!

<3<3<3

Horchata Macarons

*WARNING: Reading this entry may make you crave Mexican food. :)

Have you ever wanted to try something seemingly radical in the kitchen, only to stop yourself and think, "Nahhh, that couldn't POSSIBLY taste good"? I must admit, I am completely guilty of having this mentality ALL THE TIME. Thanks to the lovely ladies over at Mactweets and this month's Macaron Challenge, my idea of combining ice cream with macarons has become a reality!

But first, a trip down memory lane.

My boyfriend and I are pretty big fans of a TV show called Man Vs. Food. We recently took a little trip to San Diego and tried the famous Lucha Libre Taco Shop, and ordered the Surfin' California...honestly, whoever thought of putting french fries in a burrito needs to be made a saint! It was amazing, but the best part of the meal was washing everything down with a nice big cup of Horchata.

Look at the size of this thing! Picture courtesy of my boyfriend and his beloved iPhone.

If you've never heard of horchata before, keep reading. Trust me, I'm doing you a favor.

Horchata is a cinnamon-rice milk drink, and it's easily found at most Mexican or "Mexican" restaurants here in Los Angeles. I've never been a fan of jamaica (hibiscus juice), but horchata...that's a different story. It's the subtle combination of flavors that really makes this drink delicious. In my opinion, the most refreshing glass of horchata isn't too sweet or cinnamony (I'm surprised spell check didn't flag me on this one). To be honest, any meal from King Taco - or any restaurant that serves horchata for that matter - is not complete without this refreshing drink.

So where am I going with this? Oh yes. I've always wanted to try making macaron ice cream sandwiches, but I've always felt that combining ice cream with a dainty macaron shell might ruin the texture, but this was heaven.

This...meaning THIS.

TADA!!!

That, my friends, is homemade horchata ice cream sandwiched between cinnamon macaron shells. AMAZING.

Cinnamon shells...they came out horchata-colored!

I've never made ice cream before, but making this was easy, definitely a friendly introduction to making your own ice cream. This recipe is worthy of it's own blog entry. It's a lovely, creamy homage to horchata! I made sure to reduce the sugar, as many of you know that I'm not a fan of super sugary treats. I also cut back on the cinnamon, since there was PLENTY going in the macaron shells. After sandwiching the two, I was blessed with a match made in heaven.

The only bad thing about these is that they need to be eaten quickly (which is really NOT a problem. :) ). I was generous with the amount of filling I added, and the shells got softer...but at least it lasted for the picture!

Thank you, Jamie and Deeba! This month's challenge has allowed me to create a delicious ice cream flavor...and now I will never doubt the wonder of ice cream between two macaron shells ever again. :)

<333

Happy birthday, Jon :)

I used to be terrified of baking cakes.

My fear started when I attempted to bake a lemon cake for Jhonny's birthday a few years back. Being stuck in the confines of an inadequate dorm kitchen, (with less-than-favorable baking equipment) I ended up baking a glorified lemon pancake/cornbread hybrid inside a pie pan, definitely something more of a science experiment than an edible treat.

Fast-forward a few years later, and now I feel that baking layer cakes is the best thing on earth. I still have a lot to learn, though.

So what was the occasion for this layer cake? Earlier this week was Jonathan's birthday (a long time friend since elementary school). He loves chocolate, so I went with Ms. Humble's chocolate cake recipe, and threw in layers of banana buttercream, and surrounded the cake with Nutella whipped cream. The verdict? Delicious win. I have found my go-to basic chocolate cake recipe...not too sweet, not too chocolatey, and VERY moist. Ms. Humble is not one to be doubted, and if you haven't seen her blog/tried her recipes, what are you waiting for?!


Pardon my messy coating.
...and my messing piping.
...and no, he's not 42 :)
One thing the recipe is forgetting, though, is a nice tall glass of milk. Mmmm.
After devouring a slice, we headed out to Ashiya park and "vandalized" with light graffiti.


Happy birthday, Jon! Here's to many more.

<333

P.S. Stay tuned for my first ever guest entry, which should be up in a few days :)