where has january gone?

1. eye mural in j-town  2. chocolate lava cake & matcha chiffon cake from paris baguette

 3. wall of succulents  4. sumo wrestling funsies

After starting school, being grossly sick, catching up on school, celebrating birthdays, chinese new years, and preparing a farewell party I stop to think where has January gone? While taking a spa break it hit me that February is tomorrow and I can barely remember it's 2012. Madness. This week is going to be one of sad goodbyes and uni midterm exams...

God will carry me through.

lots of lovee

r i c e p u d d i n '

A few weeks ago my sister got her wisdom teeth taken out, which meant soft foods for easy chewing. How did this apply to me making rice pudding? Not much. It just sounded like a good excuse to make it, but really we had too much milk at home and I wanted to try making it. Excuse enough for me!

General ingredients included uncooked white rice, whole milk, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. I added a melted chocolate shell on the bottom (that can't be seen) before pouring down the hot rice mixture, but found later that the chocolate wasn't necessary at all.

Have a blessed rest of the week! In a recent quiet time God spoke to me through Ephesians 2:8-10  :)

^"8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

lots of lovee

Rosemary Flatbread..& CheesePartySideDish

Lets pretend for a moment that I am high class & snooty... yeah, that moment couldn't last long with me either. I like to thrift through people's old clothes to create a new wardrobe for myself and I love freebies. The only snooty aspect that I allow myself is the indulgence in great food and even greater cheeses :)

Too bad you can't fully enjoy cheese without an exceptional vehicle...which leads me to 

fresh rosemary flatbread.

After buying fresh rosemary from the farmer's market on Sunday I knew that bread was in order, and what is a better way to hang out with a friend than making bread and eating copious amounts of cheese in her kitchen?

Adapted from smitten kitchen:

ingredients:
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tbsp. chopped rosemary + 1 sprig for top
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt (*I prefer using flaky salt)
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. olive oil + 2 tbsp. for brushing
flaky sea salt for garnish

This went perfectly with some a nice piece of asiago&fig jam! Here's to the start of another long, cold week... 

lots of lovee

p.s. do i smell fresh baguettes on the horizon?

(creds: smittenkitchen)

BURST

Don't these images of bursting color and imagination just make you want to burst with excitement? :)

Needed an inspiring pickmeup from the reintroduction of academic stress in my life.

lots of lovee

(creds: tumblrz)

apple pie within apple

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been having feelings of withdrawal from these quickly passing seasons which has manifested itself into baking and cooking things that remind me of those changes in weather.  Well I had abnormally large apples in my house + a friend's birthday to bake for + i woke up at 7:30 am for the first time in a month, so this seemed like the perfect time to bust out a taste of fall.

The thought of baking apple pie within the apple itself has intrigued me for months now, so when I found the easiest recipe! I had to try it. I did everything accordingly with the exception of baking time (since I only made 2) and the additional hint of cinnamon atop.

Filling Ingredients: *per apple*

1 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tbsp. all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Dough Crust Ingredients: *enough for 8 apples*

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1tbsp sugar

  ~5 tbsp. butter, cold

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

Back to the books I go now...

lots of lovee

(creds: Testado, Provado e Aprovado!)

carrot miso soup with sesame ...holding onto winter

Have you ever felt like a season has come and gone too fast? For the past week California has had lovely spring weather of mid-70's to low 80's, truly excellent weather. However it's not even mid-January yet and I didn't feel very satisfied not having made a comforting soup, so when cold weather turned it's ugly head today and sent the lower 70's to LA (yes, that is cold for me) I took advantage of the time & decided to try out smitten kitchen's  recipe for carrot soup with miso and sesame.

I followed the recipe exactly with the exception that I didn't use the olive oil in the beginning to cook down the onions (onions give off enough liquid that there won't be any burning). I try to avoid using as much oil as possible in soups. *p.s. using chicken broth is an adequate equivalent to the veggie broth* The baby-food look is completely acceptable and once you put a spoon full in your mouth you won't even think about it :)

Enjoy the cold nights!

lots of lovee

look forward to remanents of fall feelings...

Silky Finds

 

I love silk pieces. I love them even more when they cost less than $10. The button down has made appearance before for bat wing love. 

These silk tanks were found at my new favorite thrift spot in Alhambra where any piece( despite brand, material, or condition) is merely priced by what it is! Better than any Salvation Army or Goodwill that I have ever been to. Thrifting has never been so good :) 

Uni begins again in a few days...aces.

lots of lovee

A Rush of Cobalt

I love blues of all shades and textures, so you can imagine how stoked I have been seeing the resurgence or brilliant blue tones across different continents and used in different styles. Just thought I'd share this egg-citing discovery :)

Starting the winter semester of uni again tomorrow...time to start waking up before the sun instead of the other way around.

lots of lovee

(creds: NotSoNaked, JapaneseStreets, FaceHunter)