Full Bellies, Happy Hearts

Hi There! My name is Brian, and this is my first go at writing on Daily-Craft. Last Friday (the 13th), I asked Miss Annette to marry me and she said YES!!!!

That night, I told Annette that we were going out to one of our favorite restaurants, Cafe Beaujolai in Eagle Rock, but decided to cook dinner myself for the special occasion.

Our meal started with tomato basil bisque with grated parmesan and rosemary bread.

After a recent conversation about how much we
love pork chops and apple sauce, I decided to go on AllRecipes.com to see if anything looked good. One of the first things I came across was "Caramel Apple Pork Chops". I followed the recipe to the letter, but decided to marinate the chops overnight in mixture of apple juice and soy sauce. After frying the chops on each side for about 5 minutes, I baked them with the sauce for an additional 25 minutes at 325 degrees.


We were definitely pleased... they came out so delicious and moist! I wanted to make this
recipe for cranberry apple sauce, but couldn't seem to track down any cranberries, so I resorted to a
mixture of half Mott's and half pureed fresh apples and cinnamon, which actually tasted really good! I added french green beans with almonds to complete the main course.

Unlike Annette, I'm not much of a baker. So for dessert, I found a yummy Ghirardelli Double Chocolate brownie mix. I topped the warm brownie with Breyer's Chocolate Stripe ice cream, fresh strawberries and a little chocolate sauce.

This simple dessert was ridiculously tasty and provided the perfect ending to our lovely
candlelit dinner.

Pancakes For One

Pancakes are the best.

They make everyone smile! Have you ever been sad to see pancakes? I didn't think so. I like mine super thick and fluffy, which makes me really want to purchase this someday. I was recently talking to a friend about Chocolate Chip pancakes. I'm not sure I've ever had one before, but for some reason, it doesn't sound as good as wheat and/or fruit pancake. Can anyone convince me I'm wrong? Should I experiment? Has anyone ever tried putting cheese in their pancake? I'm thinking of experimenting with a savory rosemary and cheese pancake. I once ran of of flour while I was making pizza and made a pizza pancake. It was interesting. Fluffy, sweet, and savory. So much a person can do with a simple pancake!

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

A very happy and belated new years to everyone! Things have been non-stop since I got back from my west coast trip.  I'm in my last 5 months of graduate school, so things might be hectic in the Daily-Craft household, but rest assured, I will continue to post with every free moment!  The abundance of homework and heavy work schedule have got me feeling a bit stressed.  I find myself daydreaming a lot about the vacation I just got home from.  It was so absolutely wonderful.  Included below are a few of the culinary highlights of the trip...

We didn't spend enough time in Seattle! We really only had a day there, so I had 2 very special requests. I had to see the library and go to Trophy Cupcakes. Ohhh, Trophy Cupcakes, how I love thee! That coconut cupcake was heavenly. If I could, I'd have one every day! I've had quite a few cupcakes in my day, but the coconut cupcake from Trophy was by far my favorite. Also photographed, Sweet Potato and Hummingbird Cupcakes - also tasty, but the coconut really left an impression. How tasty?

Two people and 3 cupcakes later, I think you could say we did pretty good. The sweets didn't stop at cupcakes, we also got a few crazy doughnuts over at Voodoo Doughnut in Portland.




This place was amazing! I think I will go back every time I visit Portland. Believe it or not, we did also eat some substantial food too. We had a lovely Swedish breakfast at Broder I ordered the very cupcake-doughnut like, Aebelskiver! These little puffs of heaven are Danish pancakes.

They came with maple syrup, ingonberry jam, and my favorite, lemon curd. Also of interest on the breakfast table was the baked scramble with potato pancake.

I was lucky enough to steal a few bites, and I must say, that potato pancake was almost as good as my Danish pancake. I must try to recreate both of these someday! One of the last stops on the road trip was to San Francisco. We really only had time to have dinner there, so we thought we'd do it right. We took a walk over to House of Nanking. There seems to be so much controversy over this place and I was curious. Unlike what the reviews say, we didn't feel rushed at all. We did have to wait in a long line, but were rushed to the front within minutes, due to a table opening up with the perfect amount of seats for us. We were all full after devouring the first dish of Sesame Chicken, but I was also there to fulfill another mission. Noodles. Last year, my most favorite restaurant for noodles closed down, Veggie Bistro. Since then, I've been searching for an equivalent noodle to make the closure of Veggie Bistro a little more easy to handle. Did House of Nanking match up?

It was good, but it was no Veggie Bistro. Very few are. One thing I will say about House of Nanking, they served me the most wonderful hot tea that I have ever had. It was a mixture of many different types of tea, but they came together so harmoniously. It was a good night in San Francisco. As much as I wish I was still on vacation, it's good to be back home in LA. I've got lots of craft projects piling up, so as soon as I finish my homework, I will get to it!

Coconut Ice Cream

This was the last of my holiday kitchen adventures. My mom personally requested my Coconut Ice Cream for Christmas Eve, I just forced the Egg Nog on them too. The room was split between Egg Nog and Coconut fans, but I think my personal favorite is the coconut. It was a good batch, super rich and creamier than I could have ever hoped for.

My super cute mom even bought ice cream cones in anticipation! Isn't that adorable? It was about 40 degrees outside, but everyone had a cone in hand. It's also a good sign when you get emails asking for the recipe the next day. Something about me and coconut, we just work well together! My next ice cream flavor idea is a bit more tricky... let's just say it involves a little bit of alcohol and little bit of fruit. Though, this may have to wait a while, since tomorrow I will be headed out on a road trip! I'll be making stops in Ashland, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco, so send fun restaurant tips and sights to see my way! Everyone have a happy and safe new year!

Egg Nog Ice Cream

I'm generally not the biggest Egg Nog fan. I like it, but I can usually only stand a few sips before I realize it's just too much. I have to say, I don't feel that way about Egg Nog Ice Cream. I think it's because Egg Nog as a drink is too creamy, but how is it possible for ice cream to be too creamy? It's just not possible! Needless to say, I really did love how the Egg Nog Ice Cream came out.

I paired it with some of my cracked Macarons that did not quite make it to the holiday parties.
I even experimented with Macaron-Egg Nog Ice Cream sandwiches!

The almond flavor of the Macarons went nicely with the Egg Nog flavor! I think Macarons and Egg Nog Ice Cream might be repeats for years to come on the holidays...

Christmas Macarons

Happy holidays everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, but as I will be posting in the next couple of days, I've been super busy baking, ice cream churning, and quilting lately! My most favorite holiday baking was done in my super talented friend, Jill's kitchen, where she taught me how to make one of the tastiest cookies I've ever had... a French Macaron! If you've ever attempted to bake these before, you will know how temperamental these cookies are. Everything needs to be measured exactly and the temperature has to be right on, or else you get a cracked cookie. Not a good thing for Macarons. Since it's the holidays, I wanted to go with some red, green, and white sprinkled cookies. We started with the green.

Not only did we put a little powdered food coloring in the dry portion of the mix, but also in the wet portion, of egg whites and sugar.

This gave us a very pretty, saturated green color, perfect for the holidays.

Waiting patiently for the moment of truth. Do our Macaroons have "feet"? Oh yes they did! Those little crinkly bottoms are the feet of the cookie, such an important detail of the perfect Macaroon.

I was squealing with excitement. Really, I was! I mean, look how cute they are..

Next was the red set.

I have to admit, we did end up throwing out a whole tray of red cookies, because the temperature was a bit off and there was some definite cracking. The cookies were still good, just not as pretty as the ones below.

Sitting all pretty, waiting to be frosted.

Next came the white Macarons with sprinkles.

And then some more..

I made a buttery buttercream frosting for the filling of these little guys. Unfortunately, I had little time to photograph these before taking them to 3 separate parties, though, I did get to sneak away a couple of white ones for this photo opp.

Tomorrow, more on Macarons, and another little holiday kitchen adventure...

It's Pumpkinini!

I've been meaning to post this since Halloween, but I guess now is a better time than never. I'm not the biggest Pumpkin flavoring fan, but I did enjoy this cup of Pumpkin Ice Cream!

I'm not sure I've ever had an ice cream I didn't like, to be honest. It just might be my favorite food. Even though it's raining out and winter is here, my mother made a special request for me to make a few batches of homemade ice cream for Christmas dinner this year. After trying my Coconut Ice Cream, she insists on me making Coconut again. So I've prepared a few batches of Vanilla base to make her Coconut, but also to make something a little more holiday inspired, Egg Nog Ice Cream! It's coming along, so pictures will be posted soon.

My Thanksgiving Baking

I know it was last week, but I never did post the two Apple Pies I baked! After a being at the multi-cultural potluck until 3am, I woke up bright and early the next morning to bake pies. I got started at 8am with the crust. Once that was ready, I chopped up approximately 9 large apples.

Sometimes I'm tempted to just bake it like this.

Better yet, like this, after it's been dotted with butter.

But in the end, what harm would another layer of a buttery crust do, really?

Did I mention I made two pies?

Here is pie number one in all of it's baked glory.


And pie number two, fresh out of the oven.

Notice the bubbling juices..

Those bubbling juices left my house smelling like apple pie for days! Torture, because after Thanksgiving, I had no pie left!

Holiday Baking Begins

The holidays have left me baking up a storm in my kitchen. Before Thanksgiving, I went to a multi-cultural potluck/dance party. There was such a great range of cultural dishes, Japanese, Philippine, Swedish, American, and my contribution, Armenian Cheese Boereg. I made this dish a while ago, and I was really starting to miss it. It all starts with a mixture of Mozzarella, Feta, eggs, and parsley.

Once that gets mixed, it turns into this lovely, mushy, squishy cheese filling.

When taking the fillo out of the package, make sure to cut it in half lengthwise. Use half for the bottom and set aside half for the top portion.

Scrunch the fillo and layer with butter.

When half of the fillo is done, begin layering the cheese mixture.

Spread an even layer of the cheese mixture, then finish off the rest of the fillo dough.

When you get to the last 2 layers of fillo, layer those flat, not scrunched. Refrigerate prepared boereg for a few hours (or up to a day) to chill. After chilling, pre-cut the boereg into squares. Mix an egg and some milk, pour over cut squares. Bake for about an hour at 350 degrees, or until golden brown.

I think I used about 2 sticks of butter in this particular boereg.

And it was pretty good!