Bloomin' Onion Bread: Too Much Cheese? As If!

When my friend and I were making this bread, we were a little unsure how much cheese to put in the bread. How much exactly was 12 oz of cheese? We didn't know, so we decided, hey, it's not like there's such thing as too much cheese. So we started stuffing. But then we remembered there was that little thing called net wt on commercial packages of shredded cheese. Not that it matters, but 12 oz of cheese is a little less than 1 package of normal grocery store packaged shredded cheese. So that basically means you get to round up to the next integer value of a bag of shredded cheese for your bread!

Sorry. I need to work on my iPhone picture taking skills when it comes to blur still.

My family used to go to Outback Steakhouse quite a bit when I was younger. It was our "fancy celebration meal" go to place, next to Chili's before my parents got too hip for middle tier family sit-down restaurants. We never ordered an actual Bloomin' Onion, but I do remember my Mom telling us that the rye bread they give you at Outback was chocolate bread. Should have known better. Still, it's pretty delicious bread. Like the sourdough here.

Given my fear of yeast, I did not make a homemade loaf of sourdough. And, when you're focused on cheesy, onion-y goodness, who has time to feed microorganisms too? Well, we were certainly well fed. Add the last bottle of Fire and Blood Ommegang Game of Thrones beer, and I'd call this a pretty successful dinner. Oh to be in your twenties and call bread, cheese, and beer your dinner. Actually, that sounds like you're role-playing some medieval fantasy. Oh wait.

Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything. I added in some caramelized white onions in addition to the green onions in the original recipe, but the fun thing about cooking (unlike baking) is that you can kinda wing it with easy stuff like this. I will say that cutting bread into squares/a matrix is rather difficult if you're trying to maintain picturesque pockets of cheese. If not, hackaway in whatever 4-edged shapes you want.
Also, bonus points if you get the Clueless reference. If you're looking for some more modern adaptations of Emma, check out Emma Approved yo.

American Crepe Cake: Waiting For The Right Partner

The subtitle doesn't actually mean anything. I was trying to think of a relevant Captain America quote. For all the "pure good" and lack of redemption arc in Captain America's personality, I love Captain America. It's probably more of the anachronisms that I love. But you know, Chris Evans isn't exactly hard to look at or anything. And even though he has that whole moral righteousness thing going, he also has that David and Goliath thing too. Though, unlike David, Steve Rogers got super muscles that helped him defeat the bad guys. So maybe not David and Goliath. Sorry.

Anyhoo, I still don't have this blogging thing down, as evident by this one week late post. Though, *technically* I did make this over the 4th of July weekend, so in realtime, it was seasonally appropriate. Just not in blogtime. Though some might frown at the idea of a crepe cake as a patriotic dessert. But I would argue that it is 100% American to take the thin delicate dessert of the French and make it into a big, colorful, mega frosting-filled cake and call it our own. Sounds about right.

As second attempts at crepe cakes goes, this cake was certainly better than my first crepe cake, though we still have quite a long way to go before I reach Lady M's status. Decoration wise, its pretty clear that my american flag proportions were a bit off, and my frosting skills need some work. Perhaps I'll try a frosting transfer next time? I tried out a different crepe batter recipe (linked at end) from Smitten Kitchen who got from a NYT article for this cake compared to my first. This one required a bit more work--needing browned butter and steamed milk, plus time to cool, but I think I do like this one better.

 Unfortunately, I had to give in and buy grocery store frosting (oh the shame for a food blog!). As a recent real-adult without a handmixer, cornstarch, or a strainer, a vanilla pastry creme was not particularly feasible. Especially since I'm supposed to be working on a little thing called medical school applications. But hey, they would totally understand if I submit my applications late. After all, I was making a crepe cake for AMERICA. Regardless, at least it was store-bought cream cheese frosting so the weird aftertaste you tend to find in canned frosting was not as strong.



Crepe recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Flag inspiration from Betty Crocker 1000 other food bloggers who love the food dye.

New York Food Trip: Festivals and Doctors

I'm not one for restaurant or location posts, but sometimes its good to experiment. And given that it is 4th of July and that I have nothing red, white, and blue to show for it, I figure I'd go for the next closest America-related post I have--the great American city of New York. A few weeks ago I went on a day trip to NYC with one of my friends here for essentially the purpose of eating as much delicious food as possible. Thank goodness that New York involves so much walking or we would have been much too stuffed to get through the entire day.

Around lunch time, we went to a food festival that is going on near Broadway by Macy's during the entire summer. It's called Broadway Bites, and as the pictures I've taken suggest, it's everything you want a cutesy pop-up food festival to be. There were foods ranging from meatball sandwiches to bimimbap to beer ice cream to several stands selling exotic lemonade flavors.

We ended up all sharing a Margherita pizza from a stand that was baked the pizzas a wood-fire oven as seen below. The pizza while fun to watch cook was probably average at best. Then again, I'm the type of person who loves an abundance of oozing cheese and overflowing toppings on my pizza.

Afterwards, we headed up towards Central Park to go to the plaza and try some of Lady M's mille crepes cakes. Lets just say that after trying an ~authentic~ crepe cake, that I am whole-heartedly embarrassed to have even posted my biscoff crepe cake, let alone think that my crepes were good or that my cake was photo-worthy. Maybe my crepes could have passed an unsuspecting taster when served alone and stuffed with whipped cream, but in a cake, my crepes were so much fatter and rubbery than Lady M's. My crepes were like an oversized bumbling hippo in a swamp of ganache while Lady M's were like a water strider skipping across a delicate glass of champagne. That being said, I clearly have a lot of work cut out for me in the future even if I never attain Lady M's levels of perfection. Though I will say that towards the last 5 bites, the sugar was really starting to get to me.

We then took a walking break to meander some shops and walk off our sugar highs before taking the subway down to Brooklyn. Our main goal was to visit a Doctor Who bar, which I'll mention below, but we also stopped by a korean taco shop afterwards called Kimchi Grill for dinner. My picture is a bit blurry, but I got a Korean BBQ Beef Short Rib, Korean Fried Chicken, and Pomegranate and Roasted Veggie taco. All were excellent and out of this world in flavor, crunch, and spice (in a good way). I'm already trying to figure out a way for me to have these tacos again.

Finally, some pictures of the Waystation, the Doctor Who themed bar we visited. Yes, we went to Brooklyn just to visit a Doctor Who theme bar. But when a bar has a bathroom shaped like a phone booth slash time and space machine, how can you say no? Heck, I couldn't even say no to posting this awesome but blurry picture of the bathroom from the exterior.

Also, this is and airports with novelty toilets are probably the only instances I would ever take pictures inside a bathroom. You can ask me about that one time I took a picture of a toilet in Chicago O'Hare if you want. Or actually, I'll just tell you so your mind doesn't wander. It was the first time I saw the toilets that have that ring of plastic around the seat that automatically rotates so you have a "clean" seat everytime. Even though the amount of bacteria on a toilet seat is relatively minimal compared to like the door handle of a bathroom and even your kitchen counter. Gross right?

Extra cool points if you understand any of the above Doctor Who references. If not, Happy 4th of July everyone! May your day be filled with lots of red, white, and blue themed foods.

Chai Ice Cream: Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

I usually have a hard time picking favorites. Maybe its because I'm a sibling, and the idea of favorites seems mean. Or that I have problems making definite decisions. You see, its that whole parallel universe idea from those sci-fi/fantasy books I read as a child. The minute you make a choice, you close the door to another alternate reality. Amber Spyglass anyone? (hint, Golden Compass, hint, Phillip Pullman)

Anyways, even if I did have the ability to travel through different worlds or realities, this Chai Ice Cream would remain the one constant in my exciting and dangerous little life. My totem if you will (if you're into Inception). It's rare for me to have a favorite, as my parallel world's intro rambling just told you, but I'm pretty confident that Chai Ice Cream is by far my favorite homemade ice cream yet. Yes. Even above pumpkin and apple pie and speculoos ice cream. Maybe it was because I took the extra two hours to boil my own chai-spiced custard base. Which I probably would have consumed on its own without freezing if I didn't love ice cream freaking much.

There are Chai Ice Cream recipes out there that probably entail just soaking chai tea bags in hot water to create a concentrate, but please please please please take the extra 2 hours, 1 hour of driving around to grocery stores, and extra $20 bucks to buy whole fragrant spices if you have the freedom of post-graduate life. Because man, while I hate recipes that call for a million things that I would only use for one recipe, this is so worth it if you're a fan of either ice cream or chai or being happy. Well, scratch the last one. I can't tell you what makes you happy, but just thinking about a bowl of this ice cream and my backyard on a stereotypically lovely Californian day certainly makes me happy.

An ice cream recipe this perfect can only come from my favorite food blog itself--Serious Eats. The comments mentioned adding sugar because it wasn't sweet enough, but ignore them. I did not ignore them and added an extra 1/4 cup, but in the end, the extra sugar was quite unnecessary.

Honey Chili Beer Chicken: Try Saying that 5x Fast

Look! A wild savory dish appeared! Yes, contrary to what this blog may suggest, I do not spend most of my meals eating creme brulee and ice cream (though I would love some ice cream now that summer humidity has hit).  Even when I make desserts, rarely do either I or my family consume them. This is either a commentary on my baking skills or on my family's eating habits. You can decide for yourself. Regardless of why, often there's dessert just hanging out in our fridge, leading to wasted food and me forcing teenage brothers to consume cake (I know, its a real struggle to force a skinny teen to eat junk food).



So in an effort to curb food waste (sustainability!), my parents decided that I should establish a 1:1 ratio of dessert:real food baking/cooking while at home. Sadly, as you will see in this blog, I failed to maintain that ratio. However, rather than a ratio of 5:0, I made it a ratio of 5:1 this time around. Progress! Kinda.
Anyways, this Honey Chili Beer Chicken came into existence after extensive research (googling "chicken thigh recipes") and polling (siblings, please pick what you want to eat tonight).

I'm a huge fan of essentially everything in the namesake of this recipe, and I love baking with alcohol, so naturally, cooking with alcohol was the next logical step. Honey (or in this case agave) is a nice complement to the chili sauce and sweet onions, which are all rounded off with a note of beer. We only had some Hawaiian Island Surfer Lager around in our house, but I get the impression that any beer that isn't too dark/bitter will work. Then again, I don't really know much about beer sooooo, ya'll should check out the recipe on The Beeroness instead!

In other news, real food is much harder to take pretty pictures of. Something about the brown color of COOKED chicken is just not the same as the bright green of a green tea cupcake. Though we all kinda know for obvious reasons why you do not want your chicken to be a radioactive green color.

TL;DR

• Working on adding more savory into my cooking/blogging.
• Chicken is fun and easy to make!
• Beer! Onions! Honey! Chili! Yum!
• Savory plating is hard.

Chocolate Creme Brulee: Traditions?

Who needs traditions when you can add chocolate to it? While I will happily make ice cream day in and day out, my sister is not a fan of frozen custard. I know, its embarrassing. A few weeks ago when I tried to ask her for help deciding what type of ice cream to make, she wrinkled her nose in a frown and implored I bake 1) something new, and 2) something either with chocolate or cheesecake. Setting aside my ice cream recipe for a few days, I sought out to find something chocolate or cheesecake like to bake for the family, and in particular my sister.

sorry and not well bruleed. but what can you do? 

Chocolate and cheesecake are probably the two flavors I am most terrified of making. Now, don't get me wrong, I love both chocolate and cheesecake. The problem with both flavors is that its so hard to get perfect. Bad chocolate is a recipe for boring cake, and I don't think I've advanced far enough in my baking experience to deal with cracking cheesecakes in the oven. However, what I am (or was?) ready for is a butane torch. Yup, that single use torch for creme brulee and meringue pie (the box will insist you can also use it to brulee grapefruit, but please, that's so boring).

A traditional go-getter may have tried making you know, normal vanilla bean, custardy creme brulee for his or her first attempt at burnt cream. But, given that the name I have given this blog to define my baking experiences is literally awkward, I figured, what the hell. Chocolate creme brulee is the one true burnt cream for my family and desires to burn things. Oh, and its just so fun to crack that sugar shell. Seriously, just look at these pictures.

Not to mention, I had a huge 1 kg Valrhona chocolate bar that I towed back with me from Belgium last summer that was still sitting around in the cabinet just waiting for me to get over my fears of chocolate. Sadly (or fortunately), this recipe required a laughably small amount of chocolate, so there's still quite a bit of chocolate left in the cabinet at home. Heres to hoping it doesn't dry out/seize or do that funky thing that opened chocolate does when its left sitting for too long....

Creme brulee is actually not too difficult to make. Maybe I've gotten accustomed to custards after all the custard ice creams I've been making, but the most strenuous part was probably just waiting for the custard to set. While the recipe from Williams Sonoma said 30-40 mins, my custard was still fairly jiggly and NOT set around the edges after more than an hour. My oven wasn't pretty happy about me constantly opening the door to check on the custard though, so it tended to hang out at a far lower temperature than the called for 325 F. I eventually just took it out because I really needed to pick up my brother from school, but after sitting overnight + a day, the custard seemed perfectly fine. Not really sure what happened, or how to assess brulees in the future, but there will certainly be brulees in the future. Perhaps normal vanilla bean ones!

TL;DR:

• Burning sugar is really fun. A butane torch is definitely worth the 30 dollars for just making creme brulees.
• Chocolate creme brulee is just as lovely as its vanilla counter part, but requires a surprisingly small amount of chocolate.
• Watching custard set is the new watching paint dry.

Red Wine Berry Sorbet: The Stuff of Fantasy

I think authors and daydreamers have a romanticized notion of red wine. I can easily imagine several of my favorite fantasy characters sitting around a hearth fire with a glass of red wine mulling over their next enemy or the fates they have been dealt by the gods. Ok, so I'm mainly thinking about Cersei Lannister at the moment, but I'm sure that you too had someone pop into your head.

As I, and so many other college/young professionals have been told, alcohol is an acquired taste (that is, if you're not dousing it in orange juice first). While I have acquired a taste for beer and to a certain degree white wine, red wine continues to challenge me. Sure, it has a nice warmth to it, and I don't think I particularly mind the tannins, but something about it just makes me excessively sleepy and occasionally gives me a mild headache. But red wine in the books seems reserved to be sipped only by the oldest, most elite, most evil, or most wise. Perhaps I need to work on losing more of my sense of rationality and morals before I can sip away at wine like Cersei can. Or you know, just grow very old with wisdom in a cold, mildly post-apocalyptic setting.

But until that happens, I'll have to get my serving of red wine (since thats a key part of the nutrition plate of course) via the one food group almost everyone easily fills--dessert. In this case, red wine berry sorbet. After making white wine cupcakes, I felt I needed to make something out of the other wine. While I throughly researched several potentially great red wine and chocolate cupcakes, a little visit to a winery during senior week where we sampled a chocolate red wine (yes, it was literally a red wine flavored with chocolate) turned me off from the pairing. Especially after one of our friends commented that it tasted a bit like cough syrup and it was forever imprinted into my taste pallet (Thanks--you know who you are).

Since the chocolate and wine combo was off the table for now, I ended up making this sorbet instead (incidentally my first sorbet). Luckily, there was about a half cup of Cabernet Sauvignon in our fridge at home, which was just a little less than what I needed for the recipe I used from Today's Nest. I believe the recipe says you can use either frozen or fresh berries, so I just used a the frozen mix that my one true love Costco sells. While the sorbet came out sorbet-like in the end with both berries and wine present, I think I would have liked it if it were a little more creamy. The taste was a lot like a berry smoothie with a bite of red wine at the end. I personally prefer my sorbets and ice creams on the creamier side, so perhaps I should have used a creamier milk than 2%. I might stick to custard based ice creams for now since they are just so delicious, but maybe I'll peruse the sorbet side of frozen treats again one day.

TL;DR:

• Red wine is used a lot in fantasy. Even one of my favorite bands titled a song after it.
• Sorbets aren't as creamy as ice cream.

P.S. I know my pictures are usually not very good, but these have some seriously questionable lightening/color. So for that, I apologize profusely.