I finally managed to make a kugelhopf!  I bought the mould in Alsace over the summer and it then loitered in my kitchen while I tried to figure out how to temper it before use.  After much googling and failing to find anything it finally occurred to me to search in French.  Thankfully that worked and soon my precious kugelhopf mould was ready to go!  I made it yesterday in my last day of freedom before starting a new job, my first after uni, as a little celebration as I'll have less time to cook now.  I wanted to do something that would take me hours, and this filled the need nicely.

 

See more pics and the recipe over at AnnaintheKitchen.  I have big plans for this mould in the future.  I have visions of making some kind of cake with a pile of delicious ripe summer fruits in the well in the centre.  Yum!  In the meantime this kugelhopf is delicious and just about perfect for this cold weather.

(С) М. Алдашин.

Oh! Pink Kitchen! Your number is up.
Yes, in packing to move, the time has finally come to box up my kitchen and send (most of) it over the ocean. I'll be without the majority of my cooking stuff for... at least four months. o_O
I wanted to do one last special dinner, so I decided to go with the meal that I make Very Best.



I may not make yaki onigiri correctly, but damn, I make it delicious.

( i will show you how )

Food for thought
I find it funny that of the LJ communities I belong to, they consist of healthy living, exercise and weight loss groups, as well as food groups such as food_porn. The latter is a group of people who love to cook and love to salivate over photos of cooked food by other group members. It might seem counterproductive to be a member of both when it's early morning, I'm staring at a picture of a chunk of fudge made by a foodie while trying to remember exactly why I'm also looking at listings of how much other people have exercised today. But, I think they go hand-in-hand.
To be healthy one cannot just treat food as fuel.

Food and the consumption of it is one of the last sort of rituals that our society still partakes in. In an age when we have very few cultural roots and most people face a loss of identity, there is still something about eating, cooking, and sharing food that brings people together.

I know the whole notion of meals being celebratory has been overlooked in the age of eating on the go, and this is truly tragic. But when I am with friends or family, going out or staying in, the one mainstay of this tradition is the consumption of food. It's rare that I will meet with people and not have a chance to offer or partake in eating.

Maybe that sounds like we are gluttonous. But if it does, that would just be a testimony to how obsessive people are about weight loss; so much so that to talk about food with enjoyment is embarrassing.

I love food. I love cooking, sharing, learning new recipes, having people over for meals, bringing people meals on their bad days, and feeling connected with the world through the consumption of food. Regardless of where my food came from, I can still see the dirt the vegetables grew in when I prepare them. I can still smell the farm when I cook beef from the farmer's market. I feel my body filling with energy when I eat a homemade stir fry or a chicken caesar salad. I adore the sight of tomato plants growing in their big pots on people's decks. And nothing feels like home more than the smell of a pasta sauce bubbling on the stove all day.

Cheers to eating, because we couldn't live without it.

x-posted to my journal & food_porn

Why, yes, I did say Pumpkin Cheesecake Bread Pudding. Rethinking some resolutions?

If it's cold where you live, you neeeeed to make this delicious, simple bread pudding. It's a humble, gorgeous, comforting, easy dessert you'll love. My boyfriend is already asking when I'm going to make it again -- good sign!

This pudding isn't the only thing that's amazing; the cookbook it comes from is phenomenal as well. Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters is a collection of heirloom recipes from the Brass family, as well as from yard sales, used bookstores, antique cookbooks, and various family collections.




Normally I post the full recipe in my post here, but in order to only reprint the Brass Sisters' recipe once (with permission), I've only recorded it on my personal baking blog, linked below. You can also read a full review of their cookbook there.

( another photo )


To get the full recipe, see the full cookbook review, or to test your New Year's resolve with more delicious photos, please head over to my baking blog, Willow Bird Baking!

x posted to bakebakebake, food_porn, and picturing_food

Two dear old friends of my boyfriend and me are from Sarajevo, Bosnia, and like three years ago we spent a week there around new years eve. It´s one of the best and most beautifull cities in the world in my opinion, the way the houses sprawl across the hills surrounding the city, the three styles that show its rich history - old town in Turkish style from the Ottoman Empire, then Austrian style posh buildings from the Habsburg empire and third the big concrete flats from Tito's socialist era. And the way of life in this cosmopolitan city is great. The pace is slow and relaxed, and people take time to sit, talk, drink coffee and EAT! And then sit, talk drink coffee and eat again:-) I loooove the food! Here's a taste. We had so much luck with the weather, although we didn't get to ski because of it, but it was plus 18 degrees celsius and sunny so we sat outside in the mountains and enjoyed the sunbeams midwinter :-)


( Read more... )

Made these for my son, for lunch.  I think they need green onions, but he no likey...

I like to cook different things and occasionally post them on my LJ and elsewhere.  And do the occasional food challenge.  I was looking for a nice food community here on LJ and this one seems very nice!  So for for my first entry I give you...

Toshikoshi Soba

That is soba noodle soup and it was very tasty!  Along with the soba noodles is a few shitake mushrooms, a little spinich, green onion, kamaboka (fish cake) and that egg.  Since it was a full moon I went with trying to cook the egg in the soup again.  It may not look it but it was well cooked.  Definitely something I will make again at the end of the year.  Toshikoshi Soba is popular to eat on the last day of the year.  It is said the long noodles represent longevity.

Even though I didn't create this recipe, I feel it should be shared because there are so few recipes out there that really work well (I've tried many!) 
Here is the recipe  

Here is how they turned out when I made them! Pretty spectacular looking for gf bread, if I do say so myself :) They even tasted good!


( What I did with them )

 While it's pretty enough - risottos are something I just can't seem to get the hang of. And the weird thing was it was actually a lot better the next day -  you know, after a quick blast in the microwave. More at my food comic - a wishful pantry or the recipe below. 





( Risotto Recipe lives here )

Raw Stuffed Zucchini "Parmigiana" w/ Apple-Tomato-Bell Pepper Marinara

For more details and the full step-by-step recipe go here.

Happy New Year!
xo~

I've been missing the foods I had when I lived in Korea that aren't easy to find in Korean restaurants. So... I made some Seoul street-fare for dinner: tteokbokki!

Rice cakes in a thick chili sauce:

 

Recipe in my LJ

From The Filling Station, Myrtle Beach, SC.

This is a chocolate chip cookie pizza. Not a giant pizza-sized cookie, but thin-crust pizza with gooey chocolate chip topping. Does anyone have a recipe? This is so awesome I'm waxing poetic over it. :)

I love the fact that an organic duck breast at my local market is relatively inexpensive. I rendered the fat and pan-fried the duck, then sauteed spinach in duck fat. Pureed butternut squash with maple syrup for oomph.