Rainbow Cake

Even though today is St. Patty's, my office is having a potluck tomorrow. Go figure. I signed up to bring these adorable little mushroom tartlets a few weeks ago, but during my nightly online food stalking this week, I noticed that everyone is crazy for these rainbow cakes. And upon further research, the trend can be traced back to a certain Martha Stewart. Swoon! Of course! She thinks of everything!

Seeing as how I had a little free time on my hands, I decided to give it a try for tomorow's potluck. I mean, it was either make an experimental rainbow cake or do my taxes. Priorities! Side note: as I was making the cake, my mom called me to see if I did my taxes. To which I said, no, I'm baking a cake.

I decided to make mine like a real rainbow, like this one. Lofty goal, I know. But it used a box cake mix, which as cake snobby as I am, I do love a good Duncan Hines cake mix. Only Duncan Hines though. And so I was off!

Mixing colors!

Piping colors!

And totally making a mess.

But it was just so pretty!

And this was the big ohhh sh*t! moment. I was supposed to keep each color inside the other...like little concentric bands of color. Hmm...oh well. Still looks cool. It's just going to be a half rainbow as opposed to a full one. Potato, potatoe.

I baked it at a lower temperature to avoid doming on the top.

It didn't work. I shrugged it off.

And I of course had to have a tiny piece! Who cares if it's 11pm? I had a smallish dinner.

So it's more psychadelic than rainbow...but I think it's pretty cute and festive! I opted for a lemony glaze instead of a buttercream. You know, to be healthy.

Double Duty

What I absolutely love about southern California is the lack of seasonality. It's either cold, chilly or warm...with just a handful of days being icy cold or steamy hot. And with the days being longer, everything is starting to feel the teeniest bit summery. Which means I need to do something about these legs!

So I picked up a copy of Fitness magazine because an article with a promise of a 21 day transformation. The thing that prevents me from getting into the workout magazines is that you need lots of gym equipment for the exercises. You need a ball, one of those half balls, a medicine ball, a stretchy cord thing, etc, etc, etc. And they show their models happily doing these workouts on the beach, in a park or in their homes. Really? I mean....realllyyyyy? Could they make working out any more difficult?

But this time, I had an idea. Instead of buying a 6 lb medicine ball...I decided to use my little Dutch oven instead.

Without the lid, of course. It weighs in at a hefty 7lbs. So I've been using this little puppy to do my lunges, squats and whatever else is involved in this transformation. Ahem, "transformation". As I read more into the article, it said that I have to do 30 minutes of cardio per day and 2 sets of 8-12 reps of each exercise. Hmmm...doable. That's just week one! By week 3, this crazy magazine wants me doing 60 minutes of cardio and 2 sets of 20 reps of each exercise. When am I going to have time to eat??

Needless to say, the transformation will take longer than 21 days, but at least I found another use for my Dutch oven. And I can do my little exercises at home while watching my March Madness games. I have a bracket to keep an eye on.

Basic Country Loaf: Day 3

After coming home to yesterday's culture explosion, I was a little nervous at the unveiling of my culture this morning. It's been a balmy 77 degrees here in the apartment, and it's just perfect for me...and apparently, perfect for my culture. It's really quite bubbly and happy. And smelly.

So when you feed the culture to train it into a starter, you throw away most of it. But here's what the book doesn't tell you: You definitely do not want your discarded culture hanging out in your trash. Out in the open. Without protective kitchen towel. So I emptied mine in a bag.

I ended up double bagging this and throwing it away in the dumpster outside. I'm pretty compulsive like that. I blame my mom.

Now on to the feeding. You replace the discarded culture with equal parts of flour and water.

And mix. With your hands. Did I mention it's warm? Like bath water warm. Takes some getting used to. As tempted as I was to whip out a spoon, the bacteria on your hands helps your starter along. Yup, bacteria. No red velvet scented antibacterial gel here...well, maybe later.

Say hello to my starter in training. He's still smelly, but hopefully with time he will turn out to be more "milky and fresh" in scent.

And finally, when is a cupcake not a cupcake?

When it's vegan. With avocado "buttercream".

"Buttercream" without the butter is a sad thing.

Emphasis on the " ". They cupcakes baked up pretty, with little domed tops, but they are a little on the dry side, but summer's just a few month's away, so I better get used to these. Or salads.

Basic Country Loaf: Day 2

When I last left my culture (gosh that sounds so weird), just 1 day ago, it looked like this:

It looked almost edible. Or that it could perhaps be mainpulated into something edible. Maybe.

But today...just 1 later...my culture has turned into this:

It's bubbly...and umm...I think alive somehow. So much so that it stuck to it's towel acting as it's lid. And umm...it smells. Now, in my culture's defense, it's supposed to smell. In the calming words of my Tartine Bread book, "by this time, a dark crust may have formed over the top of the mixture, which is typical. Pull the crust back and note the aroma and bubbles caused by the fermentation".

Dark crust? Negative. (Whew!!) But I think we can all see the bubbles...and the aroma? Well, just be glad you don't need to smell it. I couldn't get the culture covered back up fast enough. My book goes on to say that it should "smell strong like stinky cheese and taste sharply acidic". I can vouch for the pungent stinky cheese smell...but I'm not sticking my finger in there for a taste. No way.

So all this stinky smell means is that it is ready for its first feeding tomorrow morning. I'm pretty excited!

But maybe more excited to wash the towel that my culture expanded on.

I pre-washed this in the sink because I was worried the little culture bits would clog up my washer. Yuck!!

MC2

In the world of All-Clad cookware, MC2 refers to their "Master Chef" line. Which I am not exactly...ok not at all. But that doesn't mean I can't feel ever so chefy with a shiny new set of these!!

And how could you not? Just look at these lovelies.

They came all packed up in their individual boxes! It's like unwrapping 6 separate presents!

I don't like to pick favorites...especially with 10 (including the lids)! But I can definitely see myself reaching for this 3-quart saute pan a time or two.

I also have a soft spot for this little guy.

Who knew an 8" pan could be so adorable?

I have always secretly lusted for anything All-Clad. And now to have 10 pieces...well 11 if you count the lasagna pan that was a gift with purchase...take that Clinique for a great gift with purchase.

I am so so happy! I can hardly wait to use them. But first, some new storage is in order. Until then, the little pretties are boxed up.

I peek at them sometimes for a little pick-me-up...and by sometimes, I mean every 5 minutes. I just can't help myself!!

Basic Country Loaf: Day 1

I love everything about bread. I think it's one of the most perfect foods! It can be savory or sweet, soft or crusty. And old bread bakes up perfectly in bread puddings or stratas. Or made into a summery panzanella! A renaissance food of sorts.

But just because I absolutely adore everything about bread, doesn't mean I'm any sort of expert bread baker. I've dabbled here and there with a few recipes. Cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, bagels, naan, white bread, cheesy loaves, garlic knots, but not legit crusty bread you'd find at a bakery. So this week, I decided to dust off my Tartine Bread book and make something from it.

The very first recipe in the book (and the base for most of the other recipes) is the Basic Country Loaf. And at 27-pages long, this recipe is also the first chapter of the book. Whew.

To tackle this, Chad Robertson breaks the process down into 3 steps. Developing the Starter, Making the Leaven and Mixing the Dough, and Baking the Loaves. I took this a step further and took notes on each step. I was a notetaker in college, after all.

The whole process from starter to baking is about a week. A week!

So today was Day 1, Step 1. Making the starter.

I measured the flour. A 5-lb 50/50 mix of white and whole wheat flour.

I know, 5 lbs of flour?? For 2 loaves? I had this same thought. But I rationalized it. Maybe these are big loaves. Huge loaves. And maybe I need it for the starter...and shaping...and dusting... Well, as it turns out, this 5 lb flur mix that I so carefully measured out is just for the starter!! How did I miss that in my note taking? Ughhhhh. Needless to say, any baked goods coming out of my kitchen will be half whole wheat.

Anyway, next I mixed a few handfuls of flour mix with a small bowl of water until it formed a thick batter.

Mixing with your hands is one of my favorite parts of bread baking.

I don't know exactly what a "thick batter" is, but I went with a thick pancake batter. And hoped for the best.

My starter is now resting in a shady corner in my kitchen. And hopefully, it 2-3 days time, it'll smell acidic and ripe! (Yum?) And then I can feed it. Apparently, at some point, I'll have to remove the black layer that forms. Blechhhh. The things I do for bread.

Ala Carte

Growing up, I never really understood the ala carte concept. Everything I ate at home came with something. Mainly rice. Beef stew and rice. Hamburger string beans and rice. Portugese bean soup and rice. And even chow fun and rice. My personal favorite. Ala carte was such an irregular thing to me that I often confused it with ala mode. Also a personal favorite.

For the next week or so, I will be going ala carte. Like a side of mashed potatoes. Which isn't so bad. The main dish to my side dish is on a trip far, far away. And with any luck, enjoying mass quantities of Pad Thai, Hainan Chicken Rice and Thai Tea. I'm so incredibly jealous!!

Back here, I've been doing equally exciting things (I think so, anyway)... reorganizing my spice collection! Something I've been meaning to do since...July. So it's about time.

The current state of my spice collection. It's terrible. I can't even look. But it's pretty extensive!

Step 1: Wash the little spice jars.

I searched and searched for the perfect jar, and I finally found them at Crate and Barrel. They are the perfect size, and the opening is large enough to fit a measuring spoon. A big problem with the spice jars you get at the store. And they all match! Adorable!

Step 2: Transfer the spices.

I just adore the chubbiness of the jars. Oh yes, the labeling. Despite my best efforts to use technology (2 computers and 1 wireless printer), I failed. Admittedly, my "best efforts" are pretty sad, and lasted all of 5 minutes. So I just hand wrote them. It works. Until I get that printer working.

Step 3: Spice inventory.

You may notice you have duplicates of spices as a result of the chaotic disorganization.

Or triples. In varying stages of use. Hee hee! Can't get enough of that Vietnamese cinnamon.

And now you can take a step back and admire your work.

Sigh! Lovely!

Too bad their real home is in the drawer.

I guess they still look nice even tucked away in a drawer. It makes me so happy! Sometimes, I just open the drawer for a quick peek!

I feel so accomplished! So made myself a little roasted broccoli pizza for dinner. Why broccoli? Because I overzealously bought 2 pounds of it when it was on sale at Whole Foods last Friday. And thank goodness for the Barefoot Contessa who has the recipe of the best roasted broccoli ever!

Tsunami-ed

As I was settling into be last night, I decided to take one last peek an my email. Not something I normally do, but I wasn't feeling super sleepy, and I was hoping for a cure to my insomnia. Like any good business school student...correction, like any business school student that was at some point forced to subscribe to a online news source, I get email updates about current events. And I normally skip over those emails in favor of my Daily Candy updates. But the heading "7.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Japan" stopped my skimming.

I searched more for more information, and read that the earthquake had caused huge tsunami's along the Japanese eastern coast, and the tsunamis were now on their way to Hawaii. Growing up in Hawaii, you learn about tsunamis in elementary school. I wouldn't say they are common, but Hawaii has had a few. There is actually an inundation map on the inside of all the phone books. I know, phone books!

The 1st of the 3 waves hit Hawaii early in the morning. Maui was hit the hardest, with 8-9 foot waves in Kahului. School was cancelled and people evacuated to higher grounds in tents for the night.

 This signal is about 2 blocks from the water, and the picture is facing the ocean. The force of the water bent the pole, which is in front of the old Pizza Hut. It's so sad to see and hear about all this.

Two Birthdays

One of the best things about having a two birthdays within two weeks, is that you get to have two swanky dinners! And two cakes, of course.

And in this year's case, two amazing Wolfgang Puck restaurants. Which effectively busted the dining out piggy bank for the rest of 2011, but after eating at Cut and WP24, I'm not sure I can eat another steak or prawn and crab springroll and be satisfied. It was that good.

When we venture out to new and fancy places, we like to explore uncharted eating territory. Even if uncharted territory includes little slimy snails with puff pastry hats. I'm sorry Thomas Keller, but a snail, is a snail, is a snail. But at Cut, bone marrow flan is a fluffy custardy, moussey creation that you smear over buttery brioche toast points. And repeat.

But the reason why people flock to Cut is for the ahhhh-maaaaa-zingggg steaks. And that's no understatement. The American Kobe steak is so rich that a seemingly small 8 ounce portion is more than enough.

Yes, yes I know. I need a real camera. Or I need to stop moving when I take pictures. I should mention though, that when you have the steak, you absolutely must get the mac and cheese (the blob at the top of the picture). And yeah, it's $19 for a tiny bit of mac and a boatload of cheese...and it's pure wonderful.

But whatever Wolfgang knows about steak, he also know about Asian cuisine. WP24 is a fairly new restaurant/lounge on the 24th floor of the Ritz Carlton at LA Live. The lounge wraps around the windows and it's so incredibly lovely to see all the sparkly lights below. The restaurant is quite a bit smaller than the restaurant, but it is so modern, but still cozy. I love loved it!

Our very favorite thing at dinner were the prawn and crab spring rolls. So crispy and light. And the biggest prawns! So delicious. The menu is set up with prix fixe 3 or 4 course dinners, with the 4 course including 2 entrees...you know, in case you are super hungry. Very much like a super size value meal. This made absolutely no sense to me, and I later whispered, "Pfffftt! Who would get 2 main courses??" And as if to spite me, the table next to us ordered the 4 courses. Sigh.

And what would any birthday be without a cake? A slightly titled homemade ice cream cake.

And some barely legible writing. But hey! There's no question about it being homemade!