friday links + a giveaway winner

i made my first foray into the worlds of baked donuts, donut muffins, and gluten free donuts all at the same time yesterday, thanks to ashley and her kickass donut (!!!) book. pictured are some mini donut muffins of the matcha and raspberry glazed variety. next i am going to try her everything bagel donuts. (i know!)  

we had this gnocchi for dinner the other night and it was the tops.

i want to eat all of the british sweets and giggle all day at that eton mess comic.

i've been assembling recipes to make once the little patch of rhubarb in my backyard is fully grown, and i can't hardly wait! i am going to make coffee cake and tarts and datschi and so much more, it's going to be a rhubarb party and only rue and people named barb are invited.

eggboy and i read this article about saturated fat and then went out for bunless burgers about it.

me in bread form is a finalist for food52's best scallion recipe!

an interview in which sarah copeland recommends befriending a farmer. hehe.

bang on a can on arthur: everything. 

while gathering my summer reading list, i was sad to read a not-so-good review of ruth reichl's novel but so very excited to read this one of molly wizenberg's new book!

omg hello kitty airline meals

what is that emoji called with the little red hearts as eyes? that is me when i look at this.

have a good weekend, everyone!!!

oh! and a giveaway winner!! the winner of last week's meat n nuts giveaway is... miss charity! yay, charity! please send me an email with your mailing address :) yeh.molly@gmail.com

-yeh!

chocolate cupcakes with matcha green tea frosting

this morning i got off the star ferry at hong kong island. i was with mum and stoop and we were winding our way through the walkways as i texted aziz to let him know we'd be there for the day. i couldn't hardly wait to take mum and stoop to eat sugar-coated pork buns and mini cakes at ms. b's cakery. we were gonna go to yardbird, i was gonna show them the escalator. it was going to be the best day ever!

and then suddenly god was singing, in his best taylor swift voice, "we (bam!) are never ever everrrr getting back togetherrrrrr!!!" 

and eggboy had one foot out the door on his way to pick up wheat seed.

and mumbles the penguin was giving me stuffed animal eye from his seat by the window, while beyond him the sun and the evergreens giggled in my direction.

and i was not in hong kong.

the worst, right?!

luckily there were chocolate cupcakes and a pound of unsalted butter on my counter.

...that softened that blow.

you know, we say we're an egg-centric household, but i think in my real dreams, cake is my ideal breakfast. and guess what? eez my birthday month! so i'm gonna have just that, with green tea frosting because i am so into green tea and its beautiful natural green color these days. 

chocolate cupcakes with matcha green tea frosting

makes 24 cupcakes

ingredients

1 batch of my favorite chocolate cupcakes

4 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3 c powdered sugar

2 tsp matcha green tea powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

clues

once cakes are baked and cooled, beat together the butter, sugar, matcha powder, and vanilla. taste and add more sugar and/or matcha if desired.

frost away! (i have been having so much fun practicing these frosting techniques)

enjoy for breakfast :)

-yeh!

weekend warriors

i bought overalls. i really didn't have an option, did i? how do you live on a farm without them? (how do you have a pee emergency with them?) i broke them in this weekend while standing at the stove, drinking coffee out of a mason jar, and cooking eggs that were laid the day before in a cast iron pan. i know, i am grabbing this farm girl thing by the balls. but i guess my brooklyn days trained me well.

the only downside about living on the farm so far has to do with the plumbing not allowing us to have a garbage disposal. we had to make the adjustment from french press back to pour over because throwing away coffee grounds by lifting them out with the filter is way easier than scraping grounds out of the bottom of a french press.

perhaps one of the most eventful moments this weekend was when eggboy asked me, "do you want to do yard work today?"

no one has ever asked me that question before.

...because guys, i've never done yard work.

between growing up in a suburb where it was just protocol to hire the same lawn mowers that our neighbors hired, having a mum who loved gardening so much that she hogged all the work, and then living in apartments for all of my adult life until now... nope, no yard work for me.

how do i do it? is there a cute yard work outfit that i can buy to make this all go down easier? perhaps a rosemary scented sunscreen?

other weekend highlights: we bought a science box, i discovered a magical patch of rhubarb growing in the backyard, we stole a bite of almond cake every single time we passed through the kitchen, we ate from a chocolate fountain at an egg cousin graduation party, we had arts and crafts night in preparation for mothers' day, we discovered that there exists a really amazing burger place in our town (thanks to brad and danielle, who also brought us those eggs from their own chickens!!), and i had my first attempt at choux, which came out splendidly! 

how were all of your weekends??

-yeh!!!

p.s. if you're looking for your very own overalls, i am in love with the mavi ones i got from one of my new favorite stores, fowler's heritage company, in fargo. dare i say it, but with the discovery of that store, being zillions of miles away from the closest anthropologie is suddenly not that bad.

za'atar pizza with dukkah labneh and purple onions + friday links

our first friday pizza night at the farm was a frozen thing that we smothered in mascarpone and topped with salami. we ate it on the floor. it was good, but more of a soft opening pizza night than a big wowee zowee fireworks included grand opening pizza night. so tonight, i'm pulling out all of the stops, including overnight pizza dough, homemade labneh, and a party of spices, and we're gonna eat it on our new couch in front of episode v. i've always dreamt of having the best couch in all the land, and i failed miserably picking out couches for both of my new york apartments, but this hand-me-down from eggboy's granny is top notch. so top notch that i'm going to have to think of another place to put the doghouse for when eggboy is in trouble. (he doesn't actually ever get in that much trouble... knock on wood.)

za'atar pizza with dukkah labneh and purple onions

makes 3 individual pizzas

inspired by the likes of ms. sarah's za'atar flatbread and jeanine's dukkah yogurt dip... 

ingredients

one batch of kesté's dough*

on batch of labneh (just steps 1-3)*

1 purple onion

olive oil

the juice of 1/2 lemon

about 1/2 c za'atar

a few good pinches of dukkah

black pepper

sliced radishes, optional

*plan ahead: both of these need to be prepped  about 12 hours in advance

clues

when your dough has an hour left in its second rising, place your pizza stone or baking steel (my new toy!) in your oven and heat it to 500. slice up the onion and heat it over low heat in a little olive oil so it slowly gets soft and caramelized. place the labneh in a bowl and mix it with the lemon juice.

when your dough is done rising, flatten it on a floured surface and brush it with olive oil. coat the thing in za'atar (like, a ton of za'atar) and stick it in the oven for 6-10 minutes.

immediately spread the thing with labneh and top it with some onions, a giant pinch or three of dukkah, a drizzle of olive oil, some black pepper and radishes, if using.

enjoy!!!

friday links

...speaking of dukkah, i think i'll best be having some with avocado next

recipes i made this week and loved included: a cake inspired by beth's cake ratios, lindsey's fattoush salad with socca, and whitney's baked falafel

i've long had a dream to make piñatas in the shapes of controversial political figures, but i think this taco piñata would be a good first one to try

that pretty blue towel in the above pictures is a naturally dyed beauty from maggie!

eggboy asked me the other day why i never make pancakes and i almost bit his head off because his gluten freeness is the reason but with these i have no excuse.

this is a very good and insightful post on sponsored content

i'd like to reach into my computer and grab one of these brioche donuts, this entire porchetta, a breakfast samosa (!!), this rhubarb panna cotta tart, and this "meat salad"

all week i have been listening to the owen pallett iTunes radio station and i love it

fact: baking in miniature is better

i legit almost started crying at the sweet comments on this interview. you guys are the best and i wish i could give you all real life hugs.

have wonderful weekends, everybody!!!

-yeh!!!