birthing knowledge

Who taught you everything you know? I admit that I don't know much. If the universe was a box then I know the amount of a dot within that box..if at all. However I do know that almost everything I know is from my mom and my grandmothers. On Sunday we got together to celebrate my mom and the other mothers in our lives by showing love the best way that we know: cooking for them.

A meal for the sweltering heat based on the fresh produce of the season and trying to keep it light. Oh and our insatiable love for cheese. yes we are mildly lactose intolerant.

fresh strawberries and cherries

spinach and strawberry salad with candied walnuts

our favorite brie with crackers appetizer

potato, spinach, and mushroom fritatta

homemade sangria

ratattouille tart

Recipes will come later because these dishes are too simple and delicious not to share! But back to the main event: family

Thanks mommydearest for teaching me about everything from the science of cooking and baking to the reason why we worship such an amazing God. In the midst of our food coma after lunch we talked about what it was like to birth 4 children, and if I didn't appreciate her enough before I most definitely love her now. Happy Mother's Day to the greatest woman in my life.

lots of lovee

SPRUNG

Happy Spring! I love this time of the year because everything is blossoming, the weather is getting warmer, and its the last uni quarter standing between me and summer. As much as I enjoyed the chill factor of last quarter I am very happy to be in spring and to have had a chance to recharge my batteries over spring break a few weeks ago.

In honor of the break I took some time to visit a friend and road trip up to San Francisco to spend a few days of pigging out, shopping, and good ol' bonding time. Here are some highlights:

 can never resist a sweeping mural (remember this wall)

 Some of the best soul food in the heart of the Tenderloin District at Brenda's. Not to mention hands-down the most delicious crawfish beignet I've ever had.

 beautiful weather & a beautiful friend at the Union Square hearts

 seeking food coma rest and refuge at SFMOMA

"oh you blend in with the wall!"

Ending off the trip with pear ginger agave sorbet & mexican chocolate ice cream in a black sesame waffle cone from Tara's and gorgeous creation on the drive home

Despite grim weather reports we were blessed with clear skies and ample sunshine, which almost tricked us into forgoing coats...until we remembered: this is NorCal. Thankfully I have been practicing the art of "layering" which helped to keep the chill at bay only to have gusting winds blow right through me. Thank goodness I gained a solid 10 pounds in those few short days...not. More pictures of my adventures in SF on my Instagram.

The trip was a success and one that I would gladly do again but the perfect end to my spring break was Good Friday and Easter celebrations. Renewing my spirit always satisfies more than anything no matter how much I eat. With that in mind I am sprung for this season and pumped for what lies ahead.

Have a blessed week!
lots of lovee

cinnamon dreams

I love cinnamon. I love cinnamon sugar. I really love the smell of yeast and fresh baking bread. I really love late night baking. .....I digress.

If you follow me on Instagram then you might have seen that I made breakfast for my Sunday School class this past sunday. This is always a daunting task for two reasons: 1. everyone brings bagels & cream cheese or char siu bao's (chinese pork buns) 2. I like trying new recipes at times like these but I hardly ever get a chance to taste it before serving...scary. Recently I have been seeing a lot of recipes for pull apart and monkey breads, and one of my favorite bloggers, Joy the Baker, inspired me with her Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread. Tell me if you don't drool.

After studying for midterms on Saturday night I stayed up a little longer to make the dough to give it time to rise before baking it the next morning...not the best idea. When I started rolling it out the next morning it didn't seem to yield as much as I would have liked, so what was a girl to do? I was desperate to have enough breakfast for all those hungry collegians! At that moment I looked at my cinnamon sugar mix & lightening struck: cinnamon raisin pancakes!

Genius. I whipped up a batch while the bread finished baking and they were a hit! Consider it a pre-celebration for yesterday's National Pancake Day.

I adjusted the recipe just a little bit to what I had at the time..

Ingredients
{dough}
- 3 c. all purpose flour
- 1/4 c. granulated sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp. (1 envelope) active yeast
- pinch salt
- 3 ounces butter *added extra ounce to make up for lack of buttermilk*
- 1/3 c. milk *used non-fat*
- 1/4 c. water
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla

{filling}
- 1/4 c. sugar *reduced*
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 2 ounces browned butter

Directions
I followed Joy's directions including mixing the yeast with warm water and sugar before adding it in with the dry ingredients. The only difference was the cut in sugar content in the filling, and I also drizzled honey over the top of the bread right before serving to adding a slight "glazing" to moisten the dry crust.

Let me know if you try this recipe and link a picture of your bread so that we can all drool with you :) Midterms are over for me so time to celebrate! Have a blessed rest of the week!

lots of lovee

pear mascarpone muffin talk

Let's talk about muffins. If you follow me on Instagram you previewed my obsession one early morning. I love them. I honestly am not sure how anyone can not love muffins because essentially they are heartier healthier cupcakes, and if you can't appreciate and fall in complete love with the subtle art of baking bread in cup shapes then perhaps you are missing out. i digress. My point is that muffins have the potential to take such a variety of flavors, components, and sizes that my adoration has been solidified. Needless to say, when I came into mascarpone and beautiful pears my heart knew the direction that this combination would take: MUFFINS.

After much scouring I found a recipe for ricotta and pear muffins which sounded amazing, but ricotta is no mascarpone. For those who aren't aware mascarpone is like Italian style cream cheese with a slight sweetness and saltiness flavor. Whereas ricotta is a different variant of cheese that also has a slight sweetness but is used more for lasagna or mixed with other creamier cheeses like mozzarella. After slight tweaking of the recipe, I present :

Pear and Mascarpone Muffins
Ingredients
- 3/4 c. Mascarpone
- 2 large pears
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 c. butter (melted)
- 2/3 c. sugar
- 2 c. all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- brown sugar for sprinkling atop

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Cream together mascarpone and eggs.
3. Peel and cut pears into small cubes. Then add to mascarpone-egg mixture.
4. Add melted butter to pears-mascarpone and combine well. Then add white sugar and mix well.
5. In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients (flour+baking powder+baking soda+salt)
6. Combine dry ingredients and pear-mascarpone until all dry pockets are gone
 **be sure not to over mix or muffins will turn out hard and not as fluffy**
7. Dole out batter into muffin pan & sprinkle brown sugar atop to create crust.
8. Bake for 15-20 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.
9. Then take out of oven and rest for a few minutes before devouring them with jam :) enjoy!

I am going to try to do a short DIY gift post for those of you that have not had time to go shopping..like myself. Have a beautiful Saturday!

lots of lovee

take a walk with me

"Come on, take a walk with me..."

Tell me you don't love Passion Pit. I might have to tell you we aren't virtual friends anymore...that would be too sad. Love their music and I will love you too.

Recently the ridiculous movement of LA weather from one extreme to the next within a week has left my voice hoarse and my allergies in overload. Therefore I am taking this time to not study for uni midterms to reminisce warmer days.

Delicious Mafia deli sandwiches from Pulciano's in San Gabriel to celebrate Pop's birthday...

watching gazelles basking in the heat of the day at SD Zoo Safari Park

Oh to dream of warmer days

lots of lovee

down to Urth

The Sunday that I left on vacation to Japan some girl friends took me out to brunch at Urth Caffe before church. Since it first opened I have been curious to go could it possibly live up to all the hype but I had yet to venture out and try it because I am a poor college student. However I was delightfully impressed with their fresh menu choices and strong coffees. On their sustenance side, I recommend their heirloom breakfast potatoes, paninis, and brioche bread with jam. As for their coffee I was very pleased with their Thai Red Tea Latte and Divine Spice Chai.

After being in Japan for the past 3 weeks I am still trying to recover from jetlag, which has offered time to download all of my photos. Sadly the heat induced sleepiness laziness has taken away my energy to sort them, but with unforeseen rain and the weekend I am now ready to share my trip with you all. Anticipate!

lots of lovee

{eat with me} Northern Thailand

I like to eat. Fatkidlovescake type of deal as if you didn't know. One of the aspects of Thailand that I truly love is the food. 1. It's cheap! 30 baht = $1 USD Most meals (including a drink) were under

 40 baht! Our daily meals were bread/yogurt for breakfast, lunch at the school (pictured below), and dinner on the street at the many food stalls.

L-R: Thai tea, egg, pork & greens, green curry over rice

Mi Gao noodles & chrysanthemum tea

teacher's lunch: tom yum gun, fried chicken, greens over rice

There were occasions when the meals were more elaborate meals such as our visit to the Akha village.

breakfast

dinner

lunch clockwise: tiger's bacon, cucumbers, pineapple, ground pork, tomato chili stuffed fish, egg, broccoli, tofu soup

However, one of the most memorable meals was kindly hosted by one of our students at her house. Her family owns a farm where they raise fish, grow bamboo, harvest sticky rice, and her mom is a cook !!

Clockwise: fresh sticky rice, tom yum gun, stir fry vegetables, bamboo soup

Everything was absolutely amazing and there is so much more that I wish I could share but looking back at all of these photos I am starting to get hungry. #fatkidproblems

Have an excellent rest of the week!

lots of lovee

{july 4th} food diary

spare ribs. potato salad. cowboy caviar. hot dog apps. garlic butter shrimp scampi. fried chicken. watermelon. lemonade. kale salad.

Writing from Thailand? ... :) Have a wonderful weekend!

lots of lovee

{photo jigsaw} eat with me.

Doesn't this make you wonder about what the eye of a tornado looks like? This beautiful chandelier was one of the many design beauties that I came across in Las Vegas this past weekend. If you saw my Twitter over the weekend or saw my fbook, you'll know that my family took a road trip to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. yeah you read right, my GRANDMOTHER'S BDAY IN VEGAS. It was a fun weekend filled with cousin bonding time, lots of walking around, and even more eating. 

It began with Boiling Crab for lunch on Saturday. it was a messy, garlic-y, delicious venture leaving us all very thankful for our bibs. 

3 hours later the entire party of 20 sat down for a beautiful meal at Zeffirino in the Venetian. Although still ridiculously full from BC, we were able to enjoy their prefix course meal. 

co.clockwise: tomato&mozzarella, veal&fruit raviolli in pesto, eggplant parmigiana, and a variety of pastries with coffee

Of course there was cake after the show. A two layered cake of pistachio and raspberry complete with jam and mascarpone filling

Skipping over several mini meals in between our last meal together as a group was at Hachi, a modern Japanese restaurant, inside Red Rock Casino. 

food co.clockwise: poke salad, vegetable tempura, poppy roll

It was a wonderful weekend celebrating my grandma's birthday :) Now I am detoxing with delicious kale salad from the pomona farmers market and greek yogurt with blueberries.

Have a lovely rest of the week!

lots of lovee

{food diary} eat with me

1. Mother's day annual eating at Senor Fish 2. First stop in SF: Boudin for chowder bread bowls

 3. Bi-Rite Creamery in SF 4. Lavendar Honey &Salted caramel; Strawberry Balsamic&Creme Fraiche; Sorbet 5. Food truck reception: TheChairman's pork belly & duck confit steam buns w. coconut water 

6. visit to Tartine Bakery 7. tempting almond tarts

I suppose you could say I eat well, but in reality I eat well on the weekends. May has been filled with celebrations! Mother's Day, my mother's birthday, trip up to SF for a wedding, and this weekend I will be in Vegas for another birthday. MADNESS. All this coupled with finals fast approaching I have gotten backed up with all of the things I want to blog about. Get real time news on my Twitter of all these events and more :)

Have an excellent rest of the week!

lots of lovee