2010

A Trip to Oregon and Back featuring Blackberry Peach Ginger Pie and Homemade Pizza

October 4, 2010

“You’re not talking smack are you? You’re really going to bake for us when you come up to visit?” This is my friend Sue, politely inquiring on whether or not I was being honest with my intentions when I visited her in Portland Oregon. I assured her that I was. In fact, AJ and I ended up making dinner for her, her husband, and a few of their friends. Two pizzas and a peach blackberry pie for dessert to be exact, our specialty “pie and pie” dinner.

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A Dessert Party with a Gluten Free Fig & Raspberry Mascarpone Tart & Local Honey, 17 other desserts and 100+ of my closest friends

September 27, 2010

I promised myself that after I quit my job, I would take ONE full week, SEVEN complete days, to not do anything. No baking, no blogging, no looking for jobs, no design gigs, no invoicing, nothing. I planned to sleep, eat, and maybe watch some Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD (I’m a big Joss Whedon fan). But then I realized that plan had a bit of a snafu because I had actually planned a big dessert party three days after my last day of work. Which meant I had to bake on those two days in between, to get ready for the dessert party. Bake things like a Gluten Free Fig and Raspberry Mascarpone Tart with Local Honey. Or, you know, the 17 other desserts that I made for the party.

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How a Peach and Strawberry Cream Cobbler is like Quitting My Job.

September 15, 2010

Two weeks ago I wrote a letter that I have never written in my entire life. It was a letter of resignation to the owner of the company that I worked at. Worked at, as in past tense, because I was giving my two weeks notice and today is my last day at my job. I wrote the letter the day before I was to give notice, panicked a little when I saw the stark black type on the extremely white screen, and was talked down from the ledge of insecurity by my wonderful partner AJ who has been telling me all along that I had to quit my job because I was so unhappy. And then, after taking a few deep breathes, I went and baked a peach and strawberry cream cobbler. Because that’s what I do to calm myself down. I bake.

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Triple Berry Curd at the 18 Reason’s Jam it Salon

August 30, 2010

I’m inherently a lazy person. Or that’s what I constantly tell myself, as I run around from food event to food event, baking 20 pies, or making cakes, running off to a dinner party, or going to get ice cream with drag queens, after baking three different types of petit fours because I wasn’t happy with the first two. But when it comes to make my own jams preserves, or say a Triple Berry Curd that I am making for the Jam It Salon hosted by 18 Reasons and Karen Solomon, I’m pretty content with making them on the fly, for consumption, and not for canning. Basically because I’m too lazy to sterilize and can the preserves, which is sad, as I’ve been told that it’s not that hard. The idea of eating my own homemade preserves in the wintertime is very Little House on the Prairie appealing, but oh to have to boil all those cans in water.

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A Day of Sweets – Berry Curd filled Petit Fours: a Daring Baker’s Challenge and the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck vs Humphrey Slocombe Mashup!

August 27, 2010

Another month goes by, and another Daring Baker’s challenge comes up. Sadly, last month I totally missed out on the daring baker’s challenge because I was busy baking 20 pies for a pie contest. Well, I guess it wasn’t that sad, as I won (whoo hoo!), but I really wanted to make some ice cream which was part of last month’s challenge. AJ and I were given an ice cream maker a few years ago, but we still haven’t busted it out. The baker’s challenge would have been the perfect excuse. But it turns out this months’ baker’s challenge was ALSO ice cream! Joy! The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”

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A Gluten Free White Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting – how mistakes can lead to wonderful things….

August 16, 2010

Lauren of Celiac Teen over on Twitter had asked her friends about their biggest kitchen disaster. I’ve been lucky that I had very few huge mistakes (but loads of minor to medium ones), but I’m sure there are many more huge mistakes to come. The one that immediately came to mind was a cake I made right before I moved to San Francisco. Though the recipe for the Gluten Free White cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting at the end of this post isn’t exactly what I made back then, it existence wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t learned a little bit about baking and frosting from my mistakes.

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Vanilla & Almond Scented Apricot Plum Summerberry Pie for a visiting pie fanatic friend.

August 10, 2010

After the insanity of the Pie or Die contest weekend, you’d think I’d be totally pie-d out. As in, I never want to see a pie ever again….or at least for a week or two. But that didn’t happen. Why? Because my friend Stacy was visiting right after the event and she LOVES LOVES LOVES pies. And who am I to deny her pie? I decided to head back into the kitchen, see what I had around the house and bake up another one. Luckily I had a some pie crust leftover from the SF Food Wars in the back of the fridge (this made me think that EVERYONE should have pie crust at their disposable. Pies are really so easy to make if you already have ready made pie crust! I think I might have to make some pie crust and freeze it). Though a bit of a hodgepodge of flavors, this Vanilla & Almond Scented Apricot Plum Summerberry Pie summarizes my personality in one tasty flaky crust package. A bit of this, a bit of that, slightly sweet, slightly flaky, slightly spicy with a kick and completely pragmatic (use up fruit in the fridge before it goes bad!) and dare I say it, pretty darn easy (Hmmm. Now what does that say about me?).

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Blackberry Lemon Chess Pie w/ Honey Jumbleberry Sauce. How I won the SF Food Wars – Pie or Die Competition!

July 28, 2010

Oh man. I’m on a HIGH! And no, it’s not a sugar high – though that would totally be a good guess. It’s more because for the past two or three weeks I’ve been stressed and freaked out about entering the SF Food Wars Pie or Die competition. They put out a call for entries about a month ago, and as I had mentioned in the past, I’m pretty bad at trying to “figure out” what I’m going to bake in advance. But I rallied, pulled out my new favorite not a cookbook cookbook The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg, cross referenced a few ingredients and came up with this description of my entry: Check(mate) Please! Blackberry Lemon Chess Pie – Backyard home-grown lemons and local blackberries update this Southern classic chess pie with a California twist. Almond scented crust adds a contemporary touch, while a drizzle of berry sauce made with a touch of San Francisco honey adds homey complexity. And they accepted it to compete! Of course, I didn’t have all the logistics figured out on how I was going to pull it off, but I figured it out as I went along, AND on top of that I won – oh did I win! But more on that later…

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Hawaii Inspired POM (Pineapple, Orange and Mango) not POG Muffins with Macadamia Nut Crumb Topping. Also how I fell in love with a tropical island.

July 20, 2010

I’ve put off writing this blog entry. Mostly because I’ve been in denial since arriving back from my vacation in Hawaii that I’m still not on vacation. I arrived back home a couple of Sundays ago and let me tell you I was a GRUMP at work the next day (more than my usual pre-caffeine grump – my coworker even emailed me to ask me “hey. you ok?” in which I had to reply back “Fine. Just uncomfortable wearing shoes not flip flops.”) I think writing this blog entry would sort of finalize the deal-o that I’m back home to my (some what) normal life. Luckily, while on vacation I made some made crazy moist tropical island inspired Pineapple-Mango Muffins with Macadamia Nut Crumb Topping in the condo we were renting on Kauai and now I know that I can make them at home I will instantly transport myself back to Hawaii and this trip, except without the sand and the mosquitos. Well sort of. OK, it’s a sad conciliation prize, but I’ll take what I can get right?

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Summer Jumbleberry Pie or How San Francisco Summer Tastes to Me

July 14, 2010

I adore summer in San Francisco. Every year I tell myself that I am going to take full advantage of the summer by running around to all the free events, festivals, street fairs. AJ is off from teaching so he’s less stressed out from work (and lately taking photo classes) and he’s traveling to visit friends in LA or back to the Midwest to visit family. We always have grandiose plans to do SO MUCH during the summer. Host small dinner parties, host big dessert parties, get together with friends for picnics and BBQs, see movies in the park, go to the free concerts at Stern Grove Park and watch Shakespeare in the Park. And of course, I want to bake tons and tons of fruit desserts, like my Summer Jumbleberry Pie!

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