Today was the Santa Anita 5k. It was a wonderful event! The trail took us through the beautiful Los Angeles Arboretum and the Santa Anita Race track. There were also tons of freebies including a free beer garden.
I can't wait to do it again next year.
Random Adventures of Jamie and Noel
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Saturday, April 7, 2012
Renaissance Pleasure Faire
When I saw a groupon for the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, I knew it was an opportunity I could not say no to. I was very excited to take a peek into the Renaissance World and more importantly the people who make it come to life. I was not disappointed. There was in no way a shortage of colorful characters at the event. Needless to say it was a very interesting event ;)
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Chocolate Guinness Cake
Happy St. Patty's Day! This holiday is all about the Irish so I
just had to make this cake:) It's a "grown up version" of a chocolaty, moist,
dense cake with a subtle hint of a bitter after taste from the Guinness beer
used in the recipe. Cream cheese frosting is a great compliment to the cake—as it
is for many many other cakes (thank you cream cheese, I love you). It’s always
fun to try out cakes with different ingredients!
Chocolate Guinness Cake
with Cream Cheese Frosting
From Simply Recipe,
makes one 8 or 9 inch round cake
Ingredients
·
1 cup stout or porter beer, such as Guinness
·
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
·
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
·
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
·
1/2 cups dark brown sugar
·
3/4 cup sour cream
·
2 eggs
·
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
·
2 cups all-purpose flour
·
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
·
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 8
or 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray (with flour) and line the bottom
with a round of parchment paper.
2.
In a large saucepan place the beer and butter. Cook over medium-high
heat until the butter has melted. Add the cocoa powder and sugars and whisk
together. Take off heat and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
3.
In another bowl beat together the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract
until very, very well combined. Add to the butter-beer mixture and whisk
together.
4.
In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to
the beer-butter mixture and whisk together until it just comes together. Pour
into the prepared pan and give the pan a few short drops onto the countertop to
shake the air pockets in the batter to the surface and out of the cake. Bake
for 50-60 minutes (test the cake with toothpick at 50 minutes).
5.
Allow to cool on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edge to separate
the cake from the pan and pop the ring off the springform.
6.
Spread frosting on the cooled cake.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe
Ingredients
·
12 ounce cream cheese,
softened (I used 1/3 less fat)
·
2 tablespoon butter,
softened
·
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
·
3/4 cup powdered
sugar, sifted
Directions
1.
Cream cream cheese and
butter.
2.
Beat in vanilla
extract till combined. Add the sifted powdered sugar to the mixture slower and
beat the frosting till combined and smooth.
Notes
1.
I
cut the cake in halve to make two layers for more frosting:)
2.
I
cut a shamrock shape out of piece of parchment paper, place it on the cake and
dust cocoa powder for decoration to get the Irish look on!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Yosemite
Every year for just a couple of weeks Horsetail Falls in Yosemite glows orange during sunset. Determined to see it, I recruited a couple of lovely ladies to join me in a whirlwind weekend trip to the park. Because this has been a rather dry year, the waterfall was almost nonexistent but we still got a beautiful taste of the phenomena.
Overall the trip was well worth it! We spent one day in the park and hiked to the top of Yosemite Falls, the highest water fall in North America. We had a wonderful time and reaffirmed that Yosemite is a natural wonder that everyone should take the time to visit.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Chewy Green Tea (Matcha) White Chocolate Cookies
I don’t
really LOVE drinking the traditional matcha all that much, but I LOVE matcha
milk tea and matcha flavored sweets. Ice cream, cookies, cake…..YUM:)
·
2 tablespoon matcha powder (or more if needed)
Here’s what I
came up with this weekend—chewy matcha cookies with white chocolate chunks.
Chewy Matcha White Chocolate Cookies:
Makes about 16 3-inch cookies
Ingredients
·
1 stick butter, softened
·
¾ cup granulated sugar
·
1 cup + 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
·
½ teaspoon baking soda
·
½ teaspoon salt
·
1 egg yolk
·
½ egg white (I just eyeballed it)
·
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
·
A little less than 4 oz white chocolate bar,
chopped into chunks
Directions
1.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
2.
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and
matcha powder.
3.
Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy,
about 4 minutes.
4.
Beat in egg yolk, egg white, and vanilla extract
to butter-sugar mixture till combined.
5.
Stir in dry ingredients till just combined. Stir
in white chocolate.
6.
Scoop up tablespoons of cookie dough onto
parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
7.
Bake at 350°F for about 8 minutes.
Notes:
1. Use a cookie scoop to get uniformly sized round
cookies (level off cookie dough from the scoop). I used Oxo Good Grip Medium
Cookie Scoop and the cookies turned out about 3 inches.
2. The dough can be store in the fridge for 5 days.
But it should be brought back to room temperature before baking.
scooped cookie dough |
Monday, March 5, 2012
Kasutera: Traditional Japanese Honey Cake from SCRATCH!
Warning: This is one of those very weird cake baking experience. The measurements in the recipes are a little bit more complicated than regular recipes. If you’re looking for a project to take away some time during a boring weekend,
this is JUST RIGHT for you!
Kasutera with Bread Flour |
Kasutera with Cake Flour |
Ps. When I used the word “traditional”, I meant that there is no
additional emulsifier involved in this recipe, because many of the Kasutera
sold by boxes I’ve seen at markets have it. The emulsifier helps oil dissolve
in the cake batter and results in a more moist texture.
http://www.masa.tw/ if you can read Mandarin, you’ve got to check
out this website. If you don’t…well that’s too bad. Haha jk. I might try out
more recipes from him and post it up!
How to Make a Cake Pan
1. Buy some newspaper. Preferably the
cheapest one just because you’re not gonna be reading it. I grabbed The Wall Street
Journal for no reason ($2 at starbucks, the most expensive kind—WHY), well I guess
if you really want to know what’s going on in Wall Street.
2. Cut 4-5 pages of the newspaper into the largest square you can get, by doing (1)
The square should be about 57-58cm on each side (2).
The square should be about 57-58cm on each side (2).
(1) |
(2) |
4. Fold (all 4-5 pages together) all sides in
to create the sides of the cake pan and make sure all sides are about 8.5cm as
demonstrated. Fold each side to the adjacent side.
(4) |
5. Pop out your heavy duty 18inch foil and line this paper pan inside and out very well.
Home made cake pan!! |
Kasutera (Traditional Japanese Honey Cake) Recipe
Ingredients
· 4 eggs, room temperature
· ½ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
· 25 ml milk (2 tablespoon, minus 2
teaspoon), slightly warmed
· 2 tablespoon honey
· 200g bread flour (½ cup + 2 tablespoon) OR 200g cake flour (½ cup + ¼ cup + 1 teaspoon)
Directions
1. Preheat
oven to 350°F.
2. Mix
eggs and sugar well in a glass mixing bowl.
3. Dissolve
the honey in warm milk completely.
4. Put
the mixing bowl in hot water, keep mixing the eggs and sugar on low till the
mixture is warm.
5. Take
the bowl out of the warm water and turn the speed up to high, beat till the
mixture is white and fluffy and that the mixture is about tripled in volume.
6. Add
the honey milk mixture to the egg mixture and mix well
7. Mix
in flour (bread OR cake, just one
kind in one batch) in three small portions.
8. Beat
the batter on medium speed for 30-45 seconds till the batter is foamy and well
mixed.
9. Line
the cake pan with parchment paper. Pour batter into the home made can pan. Scrap
the cake batter to ensure there are no big air bubbles. Take the cake out after
the first minute and scrap off any air bubble formed on the surface of the
cake. Put the cake back into the oven and continue to bake for 30 minutes.
10.Check
the cake at 30 minutes and see if the top is already very browned, cover the
top of the cake pan with foil, and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, till a
toothpick comes out clean.
11.Let the cake cooled down to almost room temperature (still warm to touch) then wrap it air tight with plastic wraps and chill in the fridge overnight before eating. This will make the cake more moist--don't skip!
11.Let the cake cooled down to almost room temperature (still warm to touch) then wrap it air tight with plastic wraps and chill in the fridge overnight before eating. This will make the cake more moist--don't skip!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Pizza Ideas
before baking (1) |
This
pizza dough recipe never fails! It’s easy (I’ve never really used yeast before
I found this recipe, so if I can do it, YOU CAN TOO!), and it’s yummy—best
combo ever I’d say!
I
decided to make half of the pizza BBQ chicken and half of it with Roasted
veggies for more variety.
Basic Pizza Sauce
recipe (for roasted veggie or any other toppings you like)
Ingredients
·
1
(6 ounce) can tomato paste
·
6
fluid ounces warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
·
3
tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
·
1
teaspoon minced garlic
·
2
tablespoons honey
·
3/4
teaspoon onion powder
·
1/4
teaspoon dried oregano
·
1/4
teaspoon dried marjoram
·
1/4
teaspoon dried basil
·
1/4
teaspoon ground black pepper
·
1/8
teaspoon cayenne pepper
·
1/8
teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
·
salt
to taste
Directions
1.
Mix
all ingredients well. (I skipped a couple items that I didn’t have, i.e.
marjoram)
2.
Let
the sauce sit for at least 30min so the flavor can blend well
Basic Pizza Dough
recipe (makes 2, I always refrigerate half and use it for another day. It can
be refrigerate for up to 5 days.)
From Pioneer Woman
Ingredients
·
1
teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast
·
1-1/2
cup Warm Water
·
4
cups All-purpose Flour
·
1
teaspoon Kosher Salt
·
1/3
cup Olive Oil
Directions
1.
Sprinkle
yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.
2.
In
a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with
paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour
in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes
together in a sticky mass.
3.
Coat
a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough
into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with
plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until
you need it. <Note:
it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is better.>
4.
When
you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2
crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled
ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you’d like, but
sometimes it’s just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it
feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking
sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with
your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.
5.
Preheat
oven to 375 degrees. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for
15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.
before baking (2) |
BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe
Ingredients
·
1/2 pizza dough recipe from above
·
2 chicken breast fillets
·
BBQ sauce
·
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
·
8oz fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
·
Fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Slather the chicken breasts with BBQ sauce. Bake the
chicken breasts with the sauce in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Cube the BBQ
chicken.
3. Roll the pizza dough to desired shape and thickness.
Arrange mozzarella cheese on it. Place thinly sliced red onion and BBQ chicken
cubes on the cheese.
4. Drop some more BBQ sauce on the pizza. Place it in the
oven and bake at 375°F for about 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and
toppings are bubbly.
5. Garnish pizza with fresh cilantro.
6. EAT!
-Jamie
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