Dessert By Candy

Cookie For Sunday

I am unaccustomed to free time on Sundays. While the weekend is prime time to relax and catch up for many people, my previously jam-packed training and racing schedule meant Sunday used to be one of the busiest days of the week. With blessings from my concussion therapist, I am gingerly adding a bit of exercising back into my daily schedule. Nothing terribly demanding. A short 30 minutes workout that barely takes up any time in my day. Obviously I am not the type to sit on the couch and twiddle my thumbs. For the last couple of Sundays, I followed where my cravings led me and baked some cookies.

"Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself” is my favourite food rules from author Michael Pollen. I wisely limited myself to only one cookie but there was strange satisfaction in knowing that I went through the trouble to bake from scratch when craving hit. Absolutely, maddeningly inefficient of course. From the time I scaled out my ingredients to the moment I put the last clean measuring spoon on the dish rack, I already forgot how much I wanted a cookie in the first place.

Tinkering With Perfection

I woke up in the middle of the night with an irrepressible urge to bake something with peaches. That was 3am this morning. I really ought to be in bed but alas it just did not work out. If I really want to legitimize my strange sleep schedule, I could have said I am a true fan of the Summer Games. I’m sure that excuse will come in handy starting tomorrow. As for today, there was no excuse why I was up at that hour.

After watering all the plants in the house and checking my email, my urge to bake still didn’t go away. So I ate a peach. The proverbial eating a peach over the sink with juice running down my hands held true. A peach at its seasonal best really did not need to be tinkered with. It is perfection wrapped in the prettiest shade of red, orange, and gold. What was I thinking?! I was about to send a few innocent peaches into the blazing heat of an oven!

That feeling lasted about 30 minutes. Next thing I knew, I got out my mixing bowls and scaled out ingredients for a batch of Ginger Peach Muffin.

Dubious One Month Anniversary

It’s been a month since I got concussion and progress has been slow with occasional setbacks. Cutting down my typical training load of 10-12 hours per week to zero is challenging in many ways. I’m obviously getting out of shape and lacking that regular dose of endorphin rush is making me more susceptible to the scary D word. Given the ridiculous amount of cooking and baking I do to keep myself busy, some friends ask if I’m putting on weight. The quick answer is no. The pudginess that was bugging me while I was racing in Germany is gone. I’ve lost 8lb since and at my ideal hill climbing weight. Except that I think it is mostly lean muscle weight that I lost.

When the going gets tough, my appetite takes a vacation. The initial weight loss was brought on by overwhelming changes in my personal and athletic life. I’m more or less numb by those changes now but the appetite hasn’t return. A couple of weeks ago, I was a bit disturbed to return from a trip to the farmers market and great foodie neighbourhood empty handed and empty stomached. I’m a bit paranoid about eating and food simply did not look appetizing to me.

Typecast

Fondness for cute is alive and well in this Asian girl. I totally squealed with delight when I saw a set of Hello Kitty silicone baking mould at the store last night. Of course I bought them and gave them a test run immediately after dinner. So much for not playing the typecast Asian. I’ll tell you more about this pet peeve some other day. I have Hello Kitty cakes to show off!

Anyway, this is how the baking went.

The silicone moulds were appropriately in pink. They felt no different than all other silicone moulds I own. Pretty well-made.

Appetite For Sandwiches

Unbeknownst to me, I like making sandwiches. Eating a sandwich is pretty fab too but I enjoy the creative process a lot more. The premise of putting bread and filling together is so simple yet the combination is endless. I looked at some of my old photos and sure enough, I have quite a collection of sandwiches. I guess it feeds right into my passion for picnic and portable food in general.

Open faced sandwiches like tartines, crostinis, or smørrebrøds are my favourite. They can be so elegantly dainty for those with smaller appetites. Brawny sandwiches made with sturdy buns and overflowing with filling are always a feast to the eyes and belly. Whether it’s homemade loaf, artisanal crusty boule, or even commercial mass-produce buns, I love them all. With my latest interest in making silly sandwich videos, there’s no sign of curbing my sandwiching making enthusiasm.

Fillet-O-Fish My Way

I crave fast food occasionally. I don’t recall eating at fast food restaurants much as an adult but visits to the golden arches definitely was a highlight when I was a kid. That is why rather than Big Mac or McChicken, I would instead order an original hamburger or Fillet-O-Fish. Back then I was too young to enjoy the “grown up sandwiches” so even though I have the appetite these days, nostalgia makes me reach for something smaller.

I wanted a Fillet-O-Fish yesterday but the thought of eating deep fried mystery fish cake did not appeal. So I did the logical thing. I recreated this sandwich from scratch in my home kitchen. Authenticity was not my goal because I might as well buy one from the source. I asked myself what essential qualities I associate with this fast food classic?

• breaded fish cake
• melted cheese slice (must be orange in colour)
• tartar sauce
• smooth top squishy bun

This is what I came up with:

Lemonade And Zombie Party

Make lemons into lemonade is the recurring theme of my life the last couple of months. The ongoing saga of injury and athletic pursuit as well as the ebbs and flows of my personal life have been written here a few times. There is nowhere to look but forward so I try my hardest to make the best of situations. Last Saturday, I could have sulk over the disappointment of a cake that did not turn out as pretty as I hoped. It tasted great but less than photogenic was considered much too kind of a description. See for yourself.

When I first unmoulded this upside down plum kuchen, “gory” was my first thought. Glistening bumpy pink background with blisters of red reminded me more of open wounds than baked goods. I almost put away my camera in disgust. I looked at my cringe-worthy cake with pity every time I passed by the kitchen and then it suddenly dawned on me. This fleshy looking dessert would be a most appropriate addition to any zombie-themed party. This called for a celebratory swig of lemonade.

Blueberry Festival At Home

My weakness for good deals landed me with 4lb of blueberries in the span of one week. I briefly considered consecutive meals of nothing but fresh blueberries but that idea quickly went out the window. I’ll spare you from corny gems such as “I bake therefore I am”. Just take my word that I decided the amount of joy I would derive from baking 4lb of blueberries far exceeds the joy of eating them out of hand.

Breakfast and dessert for the whole week took on a deep shade of reddish purple with a healthy splash of glistening amber maple. With its super food association, even the most decadent cake takes on a healthy glow when studded with handfuls of blueberries. I assure you, I used much more than a handful when I kicked off with Blueberry White Chocolate Buttermilk Bundt draped with Cream Cheese Glaze. Three heaping cups of blueberries were joined by one cup of white chocolate chips, two sticks of butter, and the thickest blanket of cream cheese icing. Umm, yeah, healthy.

Playing With Yeast

For reasons unknown, I stopped baking my weekly bread since April and my bottles of yeast have been untouched. It’s funny how once the rhythm of daily life is disrupted, it is hard to resume the routine again. This week, I dusted off (well, not literally because that would be disgusting) those bottles and played with yeast in ways I never tried before. Both recipes were huge success though I have no human testimonial for one of them.

Let me start with one that I tasted. My brief journey in Germany left me wanting to learn more about their cuisine. More specifically, dessert. No surprise there! The word kuchen generically means cake but I associate it with the yeast-leavened fruit-studded confections I enjoyed abroad. Seriously, even McCafe in the Frankfurt airport was pretty awesome. With an abundance of tiny flavourful Ontario raspberries at home and the ennui from baking yet another buttermilk cake, I decided to make a raspberry kuchen.

Let’s Optimize

I have a strong preference for recipes that neatly use up all the ingredients in the finished product. Extra glaze? Extra egg wash? Extra filling? Extra broth? They ruffle the sensibility of this Combinatorics & Optimization graduate. I understand that some things are made better when you work with a reasonably size batch. Trust me, I am not advocating the practice of whipping a few tablespoons of whipping cream. But still, when I read a recipe that clearly anticipates leftover ingredients, I want to do something about it. This was the inspiration behind last weekend’s chicken and eggplant parmesan extravaganza.

It has been a while since I last tested recipes for upcoming issues of Cook’s Illustrated. At first glance, the chicken parmesan recipe was not something I would make. Handling raw meat, shallow frying, AND serve with pasta?! Totally not my style. Yet there was something alluring about a recipe that promises to keep me busy in the kitchen for a couple of hours. My first thought upon reading the recipe was how to dispose of the extra breading, egg, and frying oil when those four portions of chicken fillets are cooked. No way would I clog up the drain with this potent cocktail. This clearly called for a better plan involving an eggplant and more frying.