food Archives - Page 6 of 8

May 14, 2015

Carrot Graham Cracker Cake

This was a productive weekend. I finally hung up the the little raincloud mobile I made…

…along with two paper lamps from the Japanese supermarket.

Then, I drilled drainage holes into my darling Anthropologie “Perch planters.” The store had a 20% off sale recently, and I checked out with a whole mess of fish-shaped planters because that’s the kind of person I am.

Aside: why don’t more cute planters come with drainage holes? Having those makes a huge difference in plant mortality. I mean, let’s not even talk about the Terrible Thyme Tragedy of 2013, or the Great Succulent Massacre of 2014 — for me, the grief is still too near.

Planters need outlets for water runoff or else you risk overwatering your plants (which will kill them), or underwatering them for fear of overwatering (which will also kill them). Now all the planters I buy get drainage holes punched into them.

I don’t have a clever segue planned, so I’ll just abruptly drag us back to the point of this post: I also spent the weekend baking a tasty carrot cake. Read more

AmyK

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May 1, 2015

Sausage and Cheese Kolaches

Seattle has been my home for about two years now, and after being here, there are certainly a lot of things I don’t miss about Texas (the long commutes to get anywhere, summer mosquitos with more bloodlust than Patrick Bateman), but there are also things I miss every waking minute of every day. Okay, I exaggerate, but I do miss easy parking, wearing sandals for 90% of the year, and my Monday morning kolaches.

Kolaches are a Czech soft yeast pastry that’s kind of like a soft dinner roll, and traditionally they’re filled or topped with fruits or cottage cheese. The Texas kolache is a variation of this, filled with sausage, cheese, and a slice or two of pickled jalapeño. Most bakeries and donut shops in the Lone Star State sell kolaches just as regularly as they sell burnt drip coffee.

It was very much a routine to grab a donut (or two) and a kolache (or three) to kick off my Monday mornings — I liked to think of it as a “starting another work week” treat. To my dismay, since moving to Seattle, I’ve discovered that kolaches just aren’t a thing here. The closest thing to a kolache I’ve been able to find are pirozhki (Russian hand pies), and while also delicious, they’re still not kolaches.
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AmyK

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April 24, 2015

Coconut Tapioca Pudding with Vanilla Bean

My mind is in the tropics, with sand between the toes and an umbrella drink clutched in hand. Two weekends ago, I was in the Bahamas with my friend Sam, taking my first beach trip since I studied abroad in Sydney seven years ago, despite having reassured myself every month since then that a seaside retreat would come soon, so very soon. Sorry, self — I misjudged.

Once the beach was within sight, I stripped off my oversized gingham shirt like it was on fire and sprinted into the waves to do some hardcore frolicking.

I didn’t even stop to check for sharks.

Speaking of which, dressing for the beach is so easy because it’s just 1) bathing suit and 2) something to cover that bathing suit. But in Seattle, it’s back to pants. Ugh. Pants, you guys. PANTS.

Indulge me while I share some vacation snaps with you all, seeing as how my nice tropical tan will soon fade now that I’m back to spending 8+ hours a day indoors in an office. Just let me have this. Read more

AmyK

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April 7, 2015

Lemon Gradient Cake

My birthday was this past weekend, and I had a great time thanks to a wonderful dinner hosted by my friends and coworkers at Il Terrazzo Carmine (if you want the best clams and linguine in the city, that is the place). I also had boxes of treats sent to my home from my out-of-town friends and family, and who doesn’t like mail, especially if said mail contains cookies?!

I’m sure my heart did a Grinch-style “grow three sizes” thing, which was welcomed after a particularly rough week. So in case any of my Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, wherever lovelies are reading this — thank you from the bottom of my heart for making all of my years wonderful, and I look forward to spending yet another one with all of you.

Now that we have the sentimental crap out of the way, let’s get down to the really important business: cake.

AmyK

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March 25, 2015

New Digs & Good Ol’ Sandwich Bread

Well well well, it has been a while, hasn’t it? You look different — did you get a haircut? Oh, me? I didn’t get a haircut, but what I did get is a new apartment. I’ve been busy with moving these past few weeks, so for a while I was living in what seemed to be a very boring box-themed amusement park. But now I’ve officially bid farewell to my first Seattle home, and hello to my second — now with 800 square feet of lounging space! Finally, room enough for me to stretch my legs, and maybe dabble in the occasional breakdance routine.

Ready to get that boombox pumpin’

With the new apartment is a much bigger kitchen, and I am delighted to report that my range and oven setup is no longer fun-sized. That’s right, my oven can now hold two — that’s right, two — 9-inch cake pans at the same time on the same rack. This shit’s about to get real, y’all.

I don’t know about your method of unpacking and nesting, but the first box I always tackle is the one holding all my records and record player. This way, I can have some tunes immediately. Then, it’s on to unpacking and organizing the kitchen so I can break in the new cooking space pronto. All those other boxes can wait just a while longer.
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AmyK

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February 19, 2015

Zongzi (aka Chinese Tamales)

Happy Chinese New Year! Though I won’t be with my family in Houston to trade hong bao or to eat a bunch of dumplings this weekend, I’ll be keeping the festivities alive here in the Great Northwest by devouring some homemade zongzi (pronounced “joong-juh”). I’ve always had trouble describing these things to people until it hit me: these are basically the Chinese versions of tamales!

Instead of masa, we use a sticky rice, and instead of being wrapped in a corn husk, these are wrapped in bamboo leaves, which keeps everything together and also imparts a subtle tea-like taste to the rice. The filling can be anything, though traditionally it always involves a fatty piece of pork belly to keep it luscious. My favorite fillings are shiitake mushrooms, the aforementioned piece of pork belly, cured pork sausage, and a salted duck egg yolk, so that is exactly what I’ve made here.

AmyK

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February 10, 2015

Heartbreak Pie (aka Black-Bottom Cherry Pie)

Last week, my boyfriend and I broke up. The sudden change left me hollowed and lost.

I know what I’m feeling is nothing new. That’s why what Shakespeare wrote about coping is as relevant now as it was 400 years ago: “Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o’erwrought heart and bids it break.”

Take torch songs, for instance. There is solace in the over-the-top and drippy lyrics because it’s like Bonnie Raitt just gets you when all the logic and well-intentioned advice in the rational world doesn’t. She just gets how it feels to love someone so completely, and to try so hard, but to have it not be enough for that someone to stay. She just gets the incessant thoughts that plague you: What if I did something different? What if I were prettier, thinner, funnier, smarter, anything-er? Does he even miss me, or did he already forget? She just gets the inconsolable grief that follows. She just gets what it’s like to feel as if you’ve been thrown away.

AmyK

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January 26, 2015

Roasted and Charred Broccoli with Peanuts

Do you guys subscribe to food magazines? Or pick any up from the grocery store check-out? Do people even read things on paper anymore? I somehow found myself with a subscription to Bon Appetit, though I don’t remember signing up for it. I can’t complain — I much prefer getting that in the mail each month as opposed to my light bill or those AOL subscription CDs if this were 1999.

But even though I get Bon Appetit in the mail and usually pick up Saveur and Lucky Peach each month, I have a habit of bookmarking recipes and then forgetting about them. Whoops. So to remedy that problem, I figured I’d share at least one recipe from them each month as a way to actually use them. Hooray!

AmyK

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January 22, 2015

Dry-Fried Spicy Long Beans

I’m back! It turns out that I’m like a cat; I need to lie out and charge in a sunbeam if I’m expected to do anything at all for the remainder of the day. And well, the sun skidattles from the sky by 4pm this time of the year here, so I haven’t been doing much cooking for the past few months. Yikes. But now that it’s somewhat bright when I leave the office — even if it instantly becomes pitch black by the time I reach my front door — I can feel the desire to throw down in the kitchen returning to the frozen cockles of my heart. Hooray!

This weekend’s dinner gathering hosted by my friends Sara and Adrian was the perfect push to fire up the stove again. And what better on a cold Sunday night than something green and spicy?

AmyK

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November 3, 2014

Dark Chocolate Tart with Sea Salt

Do you guys like chocolate? If so, have I got a sweet little something for you! This is one of those things that will kick your chocolate craving in the kaboose, as the kids say these days (do the kids say that?).

I know pumpkin, pecan, and sweet potato pie are the Thanksgiving pies de rigueur, and I’m all for tradition, but what’s wrong with shaking things up a bit from time to time? Take this luscious baby to your next holiday gathering and be ready to shake hands with more adoring fans than a presidential candidate.

AmyK

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