Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day, I decided to try a classic red velvet from a cookbook I got for my dad a couple years ago (The Complete Southern Cookbook)... I'm always so nervous about cupcakes tasting like food dye that I never put enough in to give it that vibrant red color... I rely on the chemical reaction between acid and buttermilk to bring out a red color from the anthocyanins in the chocolate. Does anyone have any tips for not over coloring your baked goods? Especially red velvet cakes?

Holiday Cooking 2012

Alright... it was the holidays.. Twas hectic, wonderful, and unfortunately a little sad.

Thanksgiving brought cupcakes for my coworkers and the usual spread for my family. The cupcakes (apple cobbler cupcakes with literal pumpkin pie frosting) turned out alright. The literal pumpkin pie frosting left some to be desired, but I did enjoy the apple cobbler bit.

While the Thanksgiving spread was normal (same turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls...), I had still yet to find a good sweet potato dish. I found one! It's a sweet potato casserole that is still sweet, but not too sweet. My family agreed that this was the sweet potato dish that was going to stay. 

Christmas season started out with cake balls being shipped out to my wonderful raid team. We were recently able to finish 6/6 bosses in Mogu'shan Vaults! (Guess they deserved the cake balls!) Granted... the cake ball part was too little cake and too much frosting for my taste. I will probably try a different recipe next time around.

With  my raid team taken care of... it was time to tackle the cupcakes for the coworkers. Recently I have been going out for a rum & coke with a couple of buddies at work. Not coincidentally, hot buttered rum is my favorite holiday beverage. I decided to make rum and coke cupcakes. Unfortunately, I had no cola extract. I tried to make a frosting with using straight up cola. This made the frosting too watery and didn't have that cola punch I was looking for. The rum cake part was still delicious though.

After presents had been shipped and cupcakes dispersed, it was time for Mike and I to start packing. We headed to Florida for Christmas. First time I've been able to see my cousins in over 10 years. Was a happy reunion full of good ole Southern cooking... not that I wasn't happy to make my way back to California cooking. 

We arrived back Christmas Eve and I still cooked for my parents the next day. Did the same meal as last year: prime rib, greens, and roasted potatoes  Simple, delicious, and perfect to come back to after travelling.

It was time to start planning for New Years Eve. This year, my usual group of friends decided to do a formal pot luck complete with board games. Somehow, the potluck turned into me supplying the meal.

I made slow-cooker barbecued sticky ribs, salad, roasted potatoes, and cherry-coke cupcakes. Mike made fried rice.

Alright, so you would think that the holiday baking would be over... My brother had a few weeks off after New Year's Eve. Him and his friends would come over for beers and board games. Eventually one of his friends turned me onto food porn daily and somehow the topic of cupcakes had come up. Long story short, I decided to make a batch of cupcakes that my brother would enjoy as well as a "belated birthday present" for his friend. My brother's requirement for cupcakes was "cream flavored". A short story short, I made Boston Cream cupcakes (you need to be logged in to America's Test Kitchen to see the recipe). This is probably one of the best cupcakes I have made.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy (Pulled Pork Sandwich)

Oh alright, there isn't actually lemon is this. The last few months  have been particularly challenging in finding motivation to cook. I started experimenting with different Trader Joes deli packages to try to find easy meals that I wouldn't get sick of after 2 days. I hit jackpot.

Pulled Pork Sandwich with Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg.
2. Cut assorted baby potatoes into  quarters.
3. Spray with a light coating of olive oil. 
4. Season with thyme, salt, and pepper.
5. Cover with aluminum foil. Roast for 10 minutes and then remove aluminum foil.
6. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until tender.

Sandwich

1. Saute some onions with a dash of red pepper flakes until they've just started caramelizing.
2. Spray some multi-seed sourdough with a light coating of olive oil and sprinkles with ginger. 
3. Toast the sourdough. 
4. Pile onions, heated up pulled pork, greens, and cheese on the bread.

Slow Cooker Asian Spiced Pork Ribs with Noodles

The past few months I have pretty much not cooked. I was flipping through my Cook's Illustrated Cover & Bake when I came across a particularly appetizing photo and panicked... it was a Chinese food recipe. It's been a long time since I've attempted Chinese food. Last time I managed to burn noodles. For whatever reason, I was feeling particular inspired last weekend...who knows why. And what do you know? Victorious. Oh so victorious. Supposedly they are reminiscent of real Chinese spare ribs. Super tasty and did not take that long to get all of it together (granted I took my time in consideration of my last attempt at Chinese food).

LAN Party (And Cupcakes)

Went to a LAN party over the weekend... so of course I had to make something for the boyos. Cupcake Project's "Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi Hat Cupcakes" seemed to do the trick.

A Farewell for My Amazing Boss

My boss is leaving to work for another company and as a farewell, I asked him what his two favorite cupcake flavors were: chocolate and cherry. I set out to make black forest cupcakes, but I didn't want to use stock maraschino cherries, I went all the way. I made both cupcakes, cupcake filling, and maraschino cherries.

First Attempt:
I accidentally simmered the maraschino cherries for too long. A lot of them fell apart when I tried to take them out of the container.

 Second Attempt:
I changed the frosting for this batch. The Luxardo maraschino liqueur was too harsh for a frosting in my opinion. I substituted with 6 tbsp of Herring's Cherry liqueur.

Easter Dinner & Mom's Day

Most of my family was out of town this year for Easter, but I made a easy-ish dinner for Mike, my dad, and I. Turned out pretty well. I hadn't made ham in years.

My mom was out of town for her birthday unfortunately, so I went to town on her mother's day cake. I ended up with a layered carrot cake and some homemade vanilla ice cream. The carrot cake didn't end up with as many layers as I wanted because I didn't have the right sized pan. It ended up still being delicious though. Wasn't as much of a fan of the frosting as I was for her birthday cake last year.

Carrot Layer Cake