Chinese Dessert

To be honest, work life has been taking a toll. It's busy--too busy to breathe and realize how busy it really has been.

I keep dreaming about taking a few months off to go master my French, go to South America, or apprentice at a bakery.

For the last of my top three options, I find myself a little torn on what that would entail. As I play around with the French pastry recipes, I often find myself craving an Asian dessert the very next day. They're stark in contrast: the first super rich and very sweet based around butter, eggs and cream; and the latter softer, fluffier, with a mild sweetness based in whipped cream, egg yolk, or red bean and sesame seeds. I'm not sure which type of bakery I would want to work at, and few people know that I deep down I often ponder which one would be the right one to open. I joked that I should open an Asian bakery in Europe, but David and I both wondered just how much the two palettes overlap.

Spinach and mushroom stew

Not really sure what this dish would be classified as, but it's a healthy and rich mixture of 6 different kinds of mushrooms, spinach, and potato noodles.

Gluten-free bars

Another adventure into the world of gluten-free and dairy free.

Almost what you would think of a hearty trail mix bar but substitued with gluten free flakes, peanuts, maple syrup, and peanut butter. Very rich but the crunch offsets the sweetness.

BBQ with friends

We had the most colorful and fresh ingredients for a BBQ a while back. While looking through my photos, they made me so happy that I had to post them.

AWAY

I have been away and my people (I didn't realize that I had readers, really) started to complain.

I must apologize for my absence. A whirlwind month was filled with multiple visitors and trips that took me away to Europe, Maine, Montreal, Rhode Island!...But now I am back. I must admit that there were times when I thought about closing this thing down, but the fact that I get to use it as an excuse to keep in contact with some of my friends is reason enough. Plus, this gives me an excuse to cook more and to play more...

So to all of you, thanks for reading! Your echos of enthusiasm and comments really cheer me on even outside of the studio and kitchen.

More to come with lots to update!