Portland Revisited...

Well, I though since I haven't done any new recipes this week because I have been super busy getting home, then I work three days straights friday, saturday, and sunday closing nights. (OMG). And catching up with friends before I start school on Monday and Tuesday is the company picnic which I'm helping in. So, I am going to update more on my beautiful trip to Portland, Oregon.

The places where we ate at where really fun, we went to this Mexican food place called MUCHAS GRACIAS mexican food, on Weildler and 5th in the Lloyd District. It was our first night there and we were not really keen on walking a lot so we just crossed our finger and stopped there. It turned out the food was really good and they had a Chile Relleno Burrito. I ordered that since I am vegetarian and it was really good. It had a chile relleno with beans and rice, housed inside a flour tortilla. Talk about carbo loading!!






The second day after driving down to see the Columbia River about two hours, we came back to Portland and ate at this french bistro on the Pearl District. It was called Fenouil, very fancy on the inside yet the food was very economical and satisfying. They had Pommes Frittes (French Fries) and also this great Tarte au Saumon (salmon tart). It was awesome!


The third day we ate our own food, bought at the handy dandy SafeWay just a couple of blocks away from the Crown Plaza we were staying at. But at night we went to Cafe D'Art which was also a couple blocks away. It was a very bohemian coffee house, which I felt captured the spirit of the city. Eclectic, Soulful and Friendly. The day was a perfect Oregon Day, tiny rain drops fell outside giving a fresh feeling. And me and my mom sat and ordered tea made from dried leaves and enjoyed the reading materials. They also sold pastries, wine and gelatto at the coffee shop.

The final day we stayed at MarinePolis this hole in the wall sushi restaurant that my mom discovered as we were walking bye on out way to the hotel. There was a lot of people waiting so we figured it was good. There was a band running across the restaurant, and tiny sushi plates came rolling bye, each had a price on it, ranging from $1 to $3. The Miso soup was also $1 and dessert Green Tea Ice Cream was only $1.50. Between my mom and me we had Crab Salad Rolls, Salmon, Tuna, Bean Rolls, House Rolls, and Fried Fish. Each plate contains only 2 or 3 tiny portions so its not a lot. I enjoyed the experience, the serving staff which consisted of only 3 server were friendly and I loved it.

italian cream

My mom bought me The Best of Cooking Light Cookbook, and then browsed through it.
The fist section I wanted to see was the dessert section. I flipped the pages eagerly, lice a teenage girl flips the pages of a high school yearbook. And then I paused mesmerized by all the fruit pies, the chocolate decadent brownies, the compotes and the ice creams. I had died and gone to heaven...
My mother who is much less in love with the sweet side of food, stopped on page 348. She said (very excitedly) “This seems delicious!”
Let me explain something. My mother does not easily fall completely in love with desserts, she much rather have appetizer than dessert (OMG). So if she said she likes a cake, I usually make it for her. This needless to say, did not become the exception. Sadly, on that day buttermilk did not form part of the many boxes and packages in our fridge.
“Let’s do it later,” I said. And then forgot about it.
She did not. On a solo grocery trip she got the buttermilk.
“I got the buttermilk,” were the welcoming words I hear that afternoon as I got home from work.
That same day after dinner the picture became reality.
And so you can make it too, here is the recipe.

Italian Cream Cake

Ingredients:

16 oz sugar
4 oz light butter
2 large egg yolks
16 oz all-purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
8 oz buttermilk
1tsp butter extract
1tsp coconut extract
1tsp vanilla extract
6 large egg whites

Cream cheese frosting
4 oz far-free cream cheese
4 oz butter
1tsp grated lemon
1 tsp vanilla
28 oz powdered sugar

Procedure:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F
2. Coat 3 (9inch) round pans and line bottom with wax paper. Set aside
3. Combine sugar and butter, beat until blended. Add egg yolks (one at a time, beat after each addition.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups and level. Combine flour and baking soda Add the flour mixture to cream mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in chopped pecans and extracts.
4. Beat egg whites at high speed mixer using clean, dry beaters until stiff peaks form. Fold eggs into batter and pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350F for 23 minutes. Cool in pans 5 minutes on rack. Peel off wax paper, cool.
(CREAM CHEESE FROSTING)
5. Beat first four ingredients in frosting at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Spoon sugar into measuring cup, and level with knife. Gradually add sugar to butter mixture and beat at low speed until blended.
6. Place 1 cake layer on a plate. Spread 2/3 cup Cream Cheese Frosting and top with another cake layer. Repeat using 2/3 frosting and end with last cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over sides and top.

And to be fair to cooking light here is the serving info:
1 slice; Calories 290, protein 4.1g, carb 52.3 fiber .5g. Cholesterol 37mg, iron .8mg, sodium 172mg. calcium 38mg.

Favorite June Things

So, the end of the month is nearing!! And I though I’d just post some of the things I’m crazy about this month!!
1. I am completely fond of going to
Fresh & Easy! a British store giant that is setting up shop in Southern California and Nevada. The stores are small and they offer organic, local produce.
2. I also love these cute little chocolate cakes I found one day at the market!! They come from France, and are for babies, containing only 110 calories per serving!! Lulu Bears (from
LU!
here I come!!
3.Home made ricotta cheese and home made yogurt are in my top ten lists!! Sure they are more time consuming, and you should definitely eat them faster, yet they are delicious 100 times over their counter parts that come bottled up in the store. Next post is on how to make them!!
4.Basil!! Basil!!! Basil!! I recently discovered the beauty of basil and its versatility. Oh, my God!! I use it all the time!! And it smells so, so good!!
5. America’s Test kitchen and Food! Networks
Good Eats
are my favorite food programs.
I recently became a fan of Test kitchen, then I bought the last season on DVD, I’m thrilled and Good East is very down to earth funny show and it really has good stuff.

So, There my top five favorite things!!!

Happy June!!

Little Denmark, in California!!

So, let me tell you about my beautiful trip to the central California coast. For those not familiar it’s above Los Angeles, in Santa Barbara County (Sideways filmed here).It started out Monday noon, taking the Amtrak train from Fullerton to Santa Barbara, then a connection bus to Solvang.
Solvang is a Danish community founded almost 100 years ago. It is also in Wine County and those two things make it very attractive to tourism. This post is just about the food, I’m still working on the rest of the photos. I took like 100. But, don’t worry I wont post all of them!!
After our arrival on Monday, we realized the town goes to sleep early. No great eats!! But, Tuesday that’s another story. The day started out in the Olsen’s Danish Pastry Shop.
Complementary breakfast from our hotel included Danish pastries and coffee. The cinnamon roll is great, the cheese Danish my mom had seemed out of this world!!
The server in their cute Danish uniform, were very friendly!!
After that we went about the streets, took the local bus to Los Olivos, and then came back for lunch at the Paula’s Pancake House.
The potato and leek soup tasted very light, not processed or salty. The vegetarian sandwich I ordered included alfalfa, avocado, tomato, onion, cheese on rye bread. I loved it.
The only bad part? I arrived at 3:00 they close at 4:00.
With so much free time on our hands we did olive tasting, wine tasting, and chocolate tasting. Okay, that was more like stuffing ourselves with chocolate!! They had a local chocolatier, and then a fudge factory (pictured). So much good stuff!
Then after resting at the hotel we went to dinner. The Bit of Denmark seemed a good choice, offering local fare. They had a smorgasbord buffet for $16 dollars a person. I had carrot salad, green salad, olives, prickled cauliflower, and pasta salad and pumpernickel bread.
The second serving consisted of veggie broth (a little salty), mashed potatoes, German style cabbage, and havarti cheese with poppy seed bread. !!
For dessert you could choose Danish pasties, pears, gelatin, pudding or fruit salad. I couldn’t eat one more bite
I did have a glass of Firestone Riesling a local brand of wine that I loved. I even bough a bottle for home.
After that if was a sweet dream for me!!

Lately I have been living and breathing culinary school. I could not sleep last night because I had my first kitchen final today! I not only passed, I almost aced it. 97 out or 100!! So today’s entry I needed to take a break, only after recommending the book where I got all my recipes for today’s final..

I loved the book; it gives great techniques, and beautiful pictures, pictures yeah!! Sorry, I am a very visual person as you can tell! So, back to the book, It is beautifully described, and gives in-depth information on each day of the 5 day intensive workshops offered by the Culinary Institute of America.


Also, as for me being a visual person, today I decided to post some of my drawing projects. I love to draw… I sometimes do them on tracing paper, scan, fix on Photoshop and add effect; my second choice career would be fashion designer… Maybe I’ll be both!!

Hope you like them!!@!

My first post

About a month ago, bored on my day off and with no one at home I ventured into the world of bread puddings. But, where do I start, how do I make one? Well, I took out the faded and batted recipe book my grandmother gave me on me latest trip to Mexico City. I browsed through the appetizer section, the fish and meat section, and them I got to the dessert.I decided to try the coconut pudding; it seemed to be what I was looking for. The type my mother had always talked about made with day old bread soaked in milk. So I followed the recipe, added a little of my own creativity and waited patiently by the oven as the clocked ticked away. I opened it once or twice more than necessary to check on it. Then the moment arrived! I flipped it over on serving tray and voila! It was beautiful!! I leaped with joy... really... I did leap with joy!So, here is the recipe of my joy leaping pudding!

75 grams unsalted butter
4 -6 teaspoons Splenda
6 eggs
1 can of coconut milk
3/4 cup of milk
90 grams day-old bread

Mix the coconut milk and milk together
Pour over bread and let soak for 30 minutes
Then mix the remaining ingredients together
Pre-heat oven at 300F
Pour in a buttered oven mold
Bake in water bath for about 40 minutes or until set.
(The secret for a great tasting pudding is to add different types of bread. For example the first one I did I added vanilla cookies, some Mexican cinnamon rolls, and baguettes. For the second one I added wafers, white party cake, and multigrain sliced bread. The types of bread add different flavors and make it truly unique.)