I Am... Friday Finds 7.17.2015
Whoomp! It's the weekend and I'm pretty excited! I'm heading to a DIY barbecue pizza party and I'm bringing tiny meatballs, roasted garlic, and caramelized onions. I can't wait to see what other pizza toppings there are. Other than that, I don't have too much planned for the weekend, just the usual errand-running and dinner party things with friends.
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I Am... Mini Blueberry Galettes
I don't have a super-cute story about me picking blueberries in the summertime on the side of the road. I wish I did, but blueberries weren't really part of my childhood – I'm not sure why, but we never ate them growing up. Hmm, now that I think about it, it might have been because I grew up in Alberta, which is technically prairie land. I really don't remember any blueberry bushes hanging around. There were a TON of wheat fields though.
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I Am... Homemade Ginger Ale Blueberry Spritzers
Ginger ale is one of my go-to drinks, especially when I'm in the mood for something that's not alcoholic. I had the absolute BEST ginger ale years ago on my first ever trip to Tokyo. I read up on a popular, tiny, notoriously hard to find izakaya in Shibuya and made Mike search for hours until we found it. It was smokey from the grilled fish, loud from from the various "kanpai!" (cheers, in Japanese) we heard, and absolutely perfect.
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I Am... Homemade Fudgesicle Brownie Pops
All it takes is a couple of bars from that familiar tune of the ice cream man: instantly I'm five again, equal parts nervous and excited. Whenever my brother and I heard that da duh da duh da duh, we'd run around the house screaming "ice cream man! Ice cream man!" It didn't even matter if my mom gave us money or not, even the idea of the ice cream man was almost too much to bear.
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I Am... Friday Finds: 7.10.15
This summer is just flying by! It's been a super-hot one so far, but now it's starting to cool down, which I'm a little relieved about because my bread making experiments have been put on hold ever since that one time that I let some dough proof just a little too long in the summer heat. I came back to an explosion of yeasty dough all over the counter top. It was like my bread was trying to escape the heat, but had no where to go.
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I Am... Spicy Thai Oven-Fried Chicken Wings
I love a good chicken wing: pan-fried, deep-fried, baked, braised, boiled...well, you get the idea. Chicken wings are one of those universal foods: if you're a fan of chicken, you're pretty much a fan of chicken wings. What I love most about them is that they can be completely high or low brow. I've had chicken wings in fancy, upscale restaurants (always a little nerve-wracking eating wings in a white table cloth kinda place) and I've had chicken wings standing on the street, food truck in the background.
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I Am... Lemon Shortbread
Here's a not-so-secret about me: I'm obsessed with cute things. I like all things kawaii, but I especially love bunnies. It all stems from my very favorite bunny from childhood, Bunny. Yup, I named my stuffed bunny, Bunny. It's not particularly creative, but hey, no one ever asked me why I chose that name! I used to take that Bunny with me everywhere I went. That is, until she fell in mud puddles and got left behind and had entirely too many adventures without me. Read More →
I Am... Red White & Blue Mini Pavlovas
Yesterday was Canada Day and it's just about the Fourth of July! I made these mini red white and blue pavlovas as a nod to everyone celebrating. I wanted to make a Canadian flag out of mini pavlovas, but no matter how many times I rearranged, I just couldn't figure it out. So...I went ahead and made an American flag instead. It's kind of funny because I feel like the Fourth is such a huge holiday in the States, where as Canada Day is more of a casual kind of affair. Of course everyone grills and there are red and white strawberry shortcakes, but it's nothing like those amazing flag cakes that Americans do. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the American flag lends itself so easily to recreation in food? After my failed Canadian flag pavlova, I settled for a raspberry flag, which was cute in and of itself. And of course these little pavlovas are cute too! I just love pavlovas. I could eat about a million of them. They have that whole crispy marshmallow-y texture contrast thing going for them. Top them off with some softly whipped cream and fresh berries and you have yourself a surefire winner. I don't remember the first time I made meringues, but I do remember the first time I made a pavlova. It was a dark chocolate beauty topped off with a fluffy cloud of whipped cream and ruby red raspberries. I made a big one, so it cracked, but after putting the cream and berries on top, no one could tell the difference. It was so good that I decided to make it to bring to a barbecue at a friend's place. For some reason it didn't turn out so well the second time around so I crumbled everything up and layered it, trying to pass it off as a trifle. I got called out on it though – if I had known any better, I would have called it an Eton Mess! These little guys are not messy at all, thanks to my trick of using a mini ice cream scoop to portion them out. I just dip my scoop into a little bit of water, shake it off and scoop away. I love it because you end up with uniformly sized meringues. Happy Canada Day to all my lovely Canadians and Happy Fourth to our neighbors down south!
Red White and Blue Raspberry and Blueberry Pavlova Recipe makes about 30 mini pavlovasRead More →Preheat the oven to 350°F. With an electric mixer, or by hand, whisk the egg whites with the salt until peaks start to form. Add the sugar in a slow stream. Whip until the eggs are shiny and stiff. Sprinkle in the cornstarch and gently fold to combine. Use a small cookie scoop and scoop the meringue into equal mounds on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in the oven and immediately turn down to 300°F and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave in for another 20 minutes then remove from the oven. Cool completely. To serve, top with softly whipped cream, raspberries and blueberries.
- 2 large egg whites
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
- 1/2 cup raspberries
- 1/2 cup blueberries
I Am... Turkey Banh Mi Burger
Sometimes people are weird about fusion food. I think it stems from a time when fusion meant foods that went together that just didn't make sense. Now, I feel like all the best food is fusion, even if it isn't called fusion. Think Momofuku, Umami Burger, or Kogi. At fusion's best, it is a mix of what's awesome about one culture, combined with something ultimately delicious from another. Some of my favorite food is fusion, although I hesitate to call it that.
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I Am... How to Make Guacamole
This is a quickie! Quick and easy recipes that I don't have much to say about, aside from the fact that they taste awesome and you should give them a go! Guacamole is always a favorite around here. Give me a big bag of crispy, crunchy tortilla chips (even better if they're homemade!) and a big bowl of guacamole and I'll call it dinner. Guacamole, like so many other things in life, is way better when you make it at home. Forget about that weird bright green goopy stuff you see in plastic tubs at the store. That stuff, it's just masquerading as guacamole. Make the real thing, you won't regret it!
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I Am... Friday Finds: 6.26.15
There was a crazy solar storm early this week, which meant that it was a prime time to check out the aurora. An aurora-chaser friend of ours messaged us a 11 at night asking us if we wanted to try to see them and of course the answer was a resounding yes! We headed up to a dark mountain top to try to see the elusive streaks of green and purple and were rewarded with just the tiniest blue-green glow. Apparently the lights put on a show at 3 am, but we already went home by then. Whoops! Hopefully there'll be another chance because it's my dream to see the Northern Lights. I guess this means I might have to go up to the Yukon...
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