Whole Wheat Waffles

Just like a little kid, I had to immediately pry open and play with one of my new toys this year.  Waffles are such a great breakfast treat, and lately whenever I am not lazy on a weekend morning, I am always thinking of what kind of waffles to make for the day.  The first waffle (ever!) from the new waffle machine was the result below.  The waffle is topped with a new discovery from our road trip down the California coast a few months ago, olallieberry topping from Linn's in Cambria.  Via Wikipedia, olallieberry is a cross between a lot of different berries (in essence, blackberry, raspberry, and dewberry).  The end result? Completely satisfying!

Whole Wheat Waffles
from Alton Brown, Food Network

A few tips...
...ensure to preheat the waffle machine before pouring on the batter.  Then spray with Pam (or some type of non-sticking oil spray) on the hot pan.
...the amount of batter that is poured on the machine should cover about 3/4 of the surface area.  Remember, the batter will spread to the rest of the area when cooking.  If you pour too much, it will have no where to go and start dripping down the sides.  It will become a hot mess (literally).
...although the waffle machine has a light that tells you when your waffle is ready, make sure there is no more steam coming out of the machine before opening it. No steam = done!

Happy Brunch!

Hi 2011... and some of this year's Kitchen Goodies

I have been MIA lately... another pause in the blogging world as my life insanely vortexes around work, and what I should be doing every 9-5 on weekdays turns into every 8-5, and then 7-11, and sometimes also on weekends.  Although this website is a great escape from my every day work life, sometimes it's just too damn busy to escape! 

In addition, another reason for my lack of words is possibly due to an earlier experience with my teeth this year.  As a happy new year and happy birthday to myself, I took out all 4 of my wisdom teeth in early January.  While the experience of the tooth extraction itself was quite pleasant (more nitrous oxide gas and anesthesia, pu-lease!), the healing portion of this entire ordeal was quite excruciating and painful.  One of the most serious side effect of this surgery was the lost of enjoyment for eating, as each small, tiny bite of jello or KFC mashed potatoes did not taste as good as it used to.  And after a few weeks, when I can chew on much tastier and solid food, each bite came with a stingy reminder that someone had pried open my gums and took out 4 bigass teeth.  My jaw did not heal as fast as I had hoped, and having to open my mouth to stuff food in and then attempting to chew was just not fun anymore.  During this time, I could not bare to watch the Food Network or Travel Channel, or even read some of my favorite food blogs.  I was just too hungry and too unsatisfied to deal with anything about food.

It's almost the end of March, and lately I am getting some of my cooking groove back.  Work is starting to calm a bit down and I am fully healed.  And yes, I finally have a desire to update this blog!  Needless to say, I have a small backlog of recipes and experiences to share.

To start off, this past holiday season was great for me to grow as an amateur cook and blogger.  My family and friends know I am always looking for ways to jazz up food and the pictures I take, so I received mostly cook-and-food-related presents.  They know the way to my heart... :))

 Food plating options; handy machines and tools

Look at these pretty plates... colorful ones from Anthropologie (courtesy of sis Subs);

classic white ones, a must-have for every household, from Crate and Barrel (courtesy of EC)

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Again, thanks to my green-thumbed friend, I was able to steal get two butternut squashes from her garden this year.  They are so pretty, and when cooked, so sweet and delicious!

The first thing I can think of is to make soup.  I used a recipe from (of course) Simply Recipes and loved it.  The soup was thick and sweet from the squash and apples, but were balanced out with the onions, celery and carrot.  It's perfect with a slice of toasted sourdough bread.  Don't be afraid to pass by this daunting looking vegetable while in the market!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

from Simply Recipes, click here for recipe

Tools
- iron cast pot
- peeler

A few tips...
...butternut squash is really really hard to peel.   I've experienced too many close calls with a knife and this vegetable.  After some research online, I found out that there are easier ways to deal with this vegetable (gosh, why didn't I think about googling this a long time ago...).  The easiest way I found was to boil the entire squash in hot water for about 20 minutes.  Although this is an extra step in the cooking process, you can guarantee to walk away with all of your 10 fingers attached at the end of the day.  I think that's a pretty good deal, don't you?  To boil the whole squash, you do have to cut off the ends first (stem and bottom).  Take a big sharp knife to do this part, but this is the only "hard" part you will have to deal with!  After boiling, the skin will be easy to peel off, and also easy to chop into pieces.
...remember to spoon out the seeds from the squash.  The seeds are typically located towards the bottom end of the squash.  Clean it good!
...an entire squash can make A LOT of soup.  You can just use half of the squash to make this soup, and use the remaining squash for something else (butternut squash bake, or any other lovely sides with this ingredient).

A Special Post: Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Today is the hubby's birthday.  Since we spent soooo much money these last couple of months, we decided that the responsible thing for people with mortgages and dreams of a fantastic top of the line kitchen (hrmmm, OK, that may just be MY OWN dream...) is not to spend any more money on gifts, but keep it in the bank and see it grow (although slowly).  Therefore, I've decided to dedicate a special post to hubby's birthday, and share a quick walk down memory lane on the one delicious item that he liked for each of the year that we were together.  Enjoy Hubs.

2005 // Za Zang Mien

2006 // Endless Buffets!  Eastern Caribbeans Cruise 

(our first vacation together... oh those long 2 weeks, hahaa)

2007 // Belgian Waffles, Japan 

2008 //  Lasagna from Mona Lisa, North Beach, SF

 2009 // Tuna and Onion Pizza, Venice, Italy

2010 // Oak Grilled Baby Octopus, Monterey's Fish House, Monterey, CA