Thank You Kimberly Post #1: Quatre-quarts

A rare rainy morning in Los Angeles and a complete lack of 'breakfast-y' foods in the kitchen led to some early morning baking. This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's "Around my French Table" - a delightful Christmas present from Kimberley C.

It's a plain cake with a good balance of light and moistness.

Of course, I managed to destroy the kitchen (as usual) making it. This is not a one-bowl kind of breakfast cake. More like an every bowl and whisk and stand-mixer kind of breakfast cake. I'd still make it again though :).

In other news I've been sick at home again. Hopefully one more day sitting around in my pajamas and listening to my Game of Thrones audiobook will cure me.

Marmalade

Our new apartment has a giant orange tree - which is great. However, these are some bitter oranges. So... I made marmalade.

As usual with jams and jellies, the three recipe books I have all have different approches and who am I to know which is the best. In the spirit of a whole day off (thank you civil rights) I decided to make two of the recipes. The third one was just insane, so insane that right now I can't even remember what turnned me off about it.

• Marmalade #1: Clove and Anise Sented Orange Marmalade (foreground)
• Marmalade #2: Bourbon Orange Marmalade (background)

Even weeding out the first insane recipe, Marmalade #2 ended up being a two day process, which is retrospect is good because I managed to "candy the stove" and spill a good deal of scalding hot first batch pre-marmalade on the floor as well. Mark did me a solid and cleaned up (including 3 passes of the mop) so I could get to sleep close to on time. Thank you Mark.

Of course the stuff isnt quite as gelled as it could be and my water bath didn't end up having the desired effect. (Most of that marmalade now lives in the fridge), but I had a bit of Marmalade #1 (no bourbon) for breakfast this week and it was enjoyable.

Follow up: After finishing (but not trying) the second batch I'd have to say unless that stuff is AMAZING, I'd stick with recipe #1. Much easier.

Granola

I have been trying to recreate something like the breakfasts I had in Germany last year that were basically a mix of yogurt and muesli or granola with little success. (Hint: greek yogurt does not give the desired effect.)

This weekend I set out to make my own granola that hopefully wouldn't be too unhealthy. Preliminary reviews are positive but we'll see if it pans out with another yogurt breakfast attempt.

The recipe was an amalgam of various online recipes (not Alton Brown's which looks delicious btw). It was basically: 3 cups old fashioned oats, 2 cups dried fruit - I used blueberries and cherries, 1 and a half cups nuts - I used pecans and walnuts and then a half cup each oil and honey to bind plus a pinch of salt and cinnamon to taste. Baked the whole thing in a pan and checked every 10 minutes till it seemed on the cusp of burning (add the fruit after baking). The recipe made twice what's in the picture.

In other news, we are still unpacking in our new place in Burbank. I'm starting to run into decorating challenges now - like what to put on the walls and little things like towels and office supplies haven't really found a home yet. I have gone on record to say we are having a housewarming party this time and I think that actually needs to happen soon. At least it give me a reason to get back to unpacking.

I Grew a Fig!

Here is a photo of the first fig from my little fig tree. I've had the tree for two years so I was very excited to get this. FYI, it was delicious.

I don't think I've planted much of anything this summer. I have instead been focusing on maintaining the things that are still growing and continuing to try to think of things to do with jalapenos. Speaking of which; please let me know if you would like some jalapeno jelly because, really how much jalapeno jelly does one person need anyways? It's not very spicy but does have a strong jalapeno flavor. I find that people from the southwest really enjoy it with cream cheese on crackers. (I think thats pretty good too) :)

Kitchen Mini-Makeover

On a recent productive weekend we installed a new kitchen cabinet and dramatically increased the usefulness of the entire room.

We found the cabinet and shelves at IKEA (of course).

Now there is a place in the actual kitchen for cookbooks as well as evidence of my excessive purchasing of coffee k-cups for my fancy coffee machine, a new home for my best craigslist find ever (the mixer) and a place of honor for my giant bean spoon (this was a gift after I became obsessed with a TV shop depicting an old woman making a vat of beans with a giant wooden bean spoon). I've yet to try this one out but I think it looks good now.

Here is the sad before picture:

Sewing: Potholders

This weekend I finally finished a sewing project that I started without half of the necessary materials. What ironic is that I started it because I wanted to use the small blocks of fabric I bought before I had any sewing project plans at all. Well I'm pretty happy with most of the results. They definitely look handmade but I like that about them.

I also got the change to meet up with my friend Lauren in Palm Springs. I don't know why but I liked the place. Seems like a great place to do nothing. However, should I go back I need to remember to get the original date shake. How awesome does that sound?!

Home from the Range

El Paso, TX

Mark and I went to El Paso, TX this weekend for his birthday. Despite a lack of clarity going into it of things to do, we managed to keep ourselves entertained and sample some delightful Texas specialties (meat). Check out my photo album by clicking on the image above. (See Thuy, I CAN remember to take pictures!)