cake

survival, day one


what i am eating this hurricane weekend is entirely homemade,
unless you count an end-of-the-world journey to korea town at around 4 in the saturday morning. 
{thighs + me @ kunjip, eating what could have been our last meal ever}
because when the subways are shut down, and it is simply too windy and unsafe to ride the molly mobile, why not stay inside all weekend and make shit?
for breakfast day one, i made two little breakfast sandwiches:
herby ricotta + cherry/bluebee/strawbee jam + rosemary
{and}
a slow poached farm egg + garlic butter
{atop}
whole wheat english muffins
english muffins are such a sad situation because i feel like for most people, the extent of their english muffin knowledge comes from those thomas' thingies. but if as much care was put into them as any other of their breakfast bread brethren, like say the bagel, english muffins could shine, too. sarabeth's and m. wells make yummy house-made ones, but nowhere can you sit by the stove waiting for a hot and doughy one to flip off the pan {save for your own kitchen}. these set the cooking standard extremely high for hurricane weekend. 
{recipes}
cherry/bluebee/strawbee jam{in a saucepan, simmerin} cherries + bluebees + strawbees + water + salt --> 1/2 cup sugar --> 1/2 cup sugar + lemon juice 
herby ricotta: heat whole milk + heavy cream to 180 degrees, add lemon juice, strain. add herbies.
slow poached farm egg: go to the market, get an egg, put it in 145 degree water for an hour. using your engineering skillz, don't let it touch the bottom of the pan.
garlic butter: shake up heavy cream until it separates, wash it, add crushed garlic.
english muffins: use alton brown's recipe and substitute 1/2 cup of all purpose flour for whole wheat flour. and don't fret if you don't have powdered milk, i substituted that and the hot water for 1 cup of hot milk.
 for a snackee, some dippy things were in order:
mustard lentil dip
{and}
chili mango jam
these were both inspired by trader joe's things. the lentil dip is because i wanted to make tj's masala lentil dip. but i don't have masala spices... and i do have mustard, you know. even though it's barf colored, it tastes reeeeally really good. and it is healthyful.
the chili mango jam was inspired by tj's chili spiced mangos, which are what i tell the friendly cashier to leave out of the shopping bag so that i can have a commute munchie {but actually on friday i didn't even get to the cashier before opening them because of the apocalyptic checkout line of people buying 100 jars of peanut butter}. both the jam and dip are good on crackers or muffins or... with a spoon, sitting on the couch, in your underpants. 
{recipes}
mustard lentil dip: lentils + water + tahini + honey & whiskey mustard + garlic dijon mustard + lemon juice + sugar + salt + pepper + cayenne + paprika + garlic --> blend {you can probably use any mustards... i recommend having one of them be dijon}
chili mango: {in a saucepan, simmerin} mango + water + salt --> sugar + cayenne + paprika --> more sugar + cayenne + paprika --> lemon juice --> blend
and for the dessert to my snackee {i hope that a lot of people do that}:
lemon rosemary cupcakes
i sort of donked these. they were an attempt at cupcaking this delicious lemon loaf that my mum makes {that, you would never know it, but is from one of those healthfood whatever cookbooks weight watchers extravaganza things}. but either i kept them in the oven too long, or the recipe is just not meant to be cupcaked... and they are all dry and sad pandas now. but, hey! isn't that plate pretty? i made it at camp.
dinner day one was, are you ready for this? 
homemade ramen! 
{hello, poached egg-u!}
lucky peach [issue 1] has a recipe for alkaline noodles where the first step is baking baking soda for an hour and then mixing a ton of it with flour and water. and what baking soda becomes after it's been baked is totally bizarre, make my mouth feel like i'm glad my roommate put that poison control hotline sticker on the fridge. i'm thinking maybe the amount in the recipe was wrong, or i'm just an alkaline noodle newbie. oh well. the texture was super great though. and they were placed in a soy saucey broth with squash and beet greens... and for garnish i added some of the really yummy seaweed that my korean ex-roomie left behind, chopped up jalapenos, and a slow poached 140ish degree egg. and the egg had a sriracha face. face!

anyways. i have officially slept through and survived the premature irene, my first hurricane. but all of my sunday plans are going to remain cancelled so that i can continue hurricane weekend food-making fest. stay tuned for survival, day two...

-yeh!!

be mine, CAKE!

 
since my wee little days,
my fammy has made the same very special almond cake every valentine's day!
it's super almond-y and pink,
and it is the best cake ever. 
if i could, i'd eat it every day... 
but every day is not valentine's day, so i can't.

here's the recipe:
 
cake ingredients: 
  1 tablespoon butter (for pan) 8 oz almond paste 6 eggs - separated 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon almond extract a pinch of salt 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup flour {you can substitute this for 1/2 cup of almond flour,
for those gfgfs and gfbfs {gluten-free girlfriends and gluten-free boyfriends}}
topping ingredients:
  1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
a very very generous splash of amaretto
chocolate hearts, candy hearts, gummy hearts

clues:
preheat oven to 350.  butter spring form pan. beat almond paste and egg yolks really well. mix in vanilla and almond extract. beat egg whites and salt in another bowl 'till stiff peaks form, add sugar one tablespoon at a time. fold 1/3 of egg whites into almond paste mixture. gently fold in remaining whites.  combine baking powder and flour in another bowl...gently fold into mixture 2 tablespoons at a time, being careful not to deflate whites. pour into pan, bake until top is lightly browned and a knife inserted into center comes out clean {about 30 minutes}.

for topping, whip cream. blend in powdered sugar. blend in amaretto {drink some amaretto}. cover or pipe over cake just before serving and embellish with candy hearts! if you won't be eating the entire cake right away, do not frost the entire thing-- serve a dollop of whipped cream on the side of each slice and store the rest in the fridge for your noshing purposes. 
 
 
 
 
-yeh!!

new music bake sale!!

after the vendys, i somehow squeezed out some more energy to hail a cab and get to fort greene for the
i was so in the spirit, i made little coconut cupcakes that looked like drums for a percussion group to sell.
#donutsarestillthenewcupcakesbutcupcakeslookmorelikedrums
have you ever heard of a better idea than combining baked things/people with new music?
i haven't. well. actually it's about as equally a good idea as spending a day on an island with a shitton of food trucks.
in addition to cookies and cakes, 
there were bagpipes, and face paint, and mellissa hughes dressed as a blow-up sex doll {?!?}, and, yes i promise you, plenty of bass clarinet.
the line up was very fun. i love seeing what all these composers have been a brewin!
i can't wait for next year. also can there be a new music steak sale?

xoxo

yeh