absolutely delicieuse!

I have been rekindling my friendship with Mae-Lae, one of my best friends from high school who also happens to now live in my neighborhood. For our second outing (yesterday), she suggested that we go to Delicieuse French Ice Cream Artisanale, a Filipino-owned store that serves artisanal French ice cream. Apparently, Mae-Lae had been searching for independently- owned shops in the area, and she found this place. But when she was telling me about it, she actually didn't even know the name; she just knew it was a French ice cream place on Artesia & Inglewood that was only open to the public on weekends. (Later, when the owner asked how we heard about the place, Mae-Lae couldn't even remember what search terms she used to find the place because she wasn't looking for ice cream necessarily.) Fortunately, when I searched for it, I was able to find it right away.

Our plan was to have lunch there and have ice cream for dessert. I pretty much read the whole website, and I was very excited to go there. The cafe menu looked good, and the ice cream menu looked incredible. The place itself looked cute, too. Plus, I was very excited that the owner/ice cream maker is Filipina.

We had a little bit of a late start because I got lost on the way to Mae-Lae's house. We eventually got to the place. This is what it looks like from the outside:

You really have to know this place exists because the storefront doesn't really scream to be noticed. I've actually passed by this area a number of times, and I've certainly never noticed it.

Alas, when we got there, we were immediately disappointed. A note on the window stated that, as of March 2011, they don't serve lunch anymore. And we were both hungry, as it was almost 2pm at that time. Fortunately, there was a Chicken Dijon nearby, so we didn't quite have to die of hunger looking for lunch. We walked over, had lunch, and walked backed to have some much-anticipated ice cream.

No one was in the store when we got there. (As previously mentioned, the store is only open to the public Friday-Sunday; the rest of the week is devoted to wholesale. Without lunch, I imagine that most people just buy their ice cream and go.) Patricia Samson, owner and ice cream maker, was manning the counter.

Mae-Lae, ever the talker, was making lots of conversation, and I was trying to fiddle with my camera. (I couldn't quite get my manual settings correct, so I gave up and went automatic. Also, took pictures with my compact camera.) This is what it looks like inside:

So, though Patricia has a over a hundred original recipes, there are really only about 12 flavors available at a time. (There are other flavors that are available by the pint, though.) However, she mentioned that she had just made a batch of strawberry basil sorbet that morning that should be ready. I think that was the first flavor we tried. It was very strawberry-y, but you can definitely taste the basil. Later, when we actually ordered this as one of our flavors, we decided that the basil brought out & enhanced the strawberry flavor.

Then, we got to tasting the other flavors, which are shown in these pictures.

Being the Filipinos that we are (well, half of Mae-Lae is Filipino anyway), we made a beeline for the avocado sorbet and mango ice cream. While we were tasting, Patricia was talking to us about the ice cream/sorbet--how they are all natural and do not use ice cream bases or syrups, that they contain no artificial coloring or preservatives. An older couple came in while were tasting, and Patricia explained what artisanal French ice cream is -- that it's a designation that you can only use if you meet certain standards (you can find out more about it on the website).

These are all the flavors, as I remembered them, along with some thoughts on them:

Sorbets

• Pear William: We actually didn't taste this until the end of the day, when we came back to buy some pints. It was so full of pear. As Mae-Lae said, you can taste the crunchiness of the pear.
  
• Avocado: This was the first flavor we tried. It was so meaty--like eating the actual avocado, except it's sweet. Filipinos have a dessert where we take the avocado and mix it with ice and condensed milk. This tasted just like that, except this doesn't contain dairy and this contains so much more avocado. Mae-Lae observed that the sorbets were not at all icy, as she expects them to be. And she's right. The sorbets were just as creamy (texturally) as the ice cream.
  
• Lychee (I think it was sorbet): I'm not really big on lychee, so I didn't like this that much. But it did taste like lychee. A bit too sweet for my taste, if you can believe that.
  
• Lemon Basil (I think it was sorbet): We didn't try this. Probably after the strawberry basil, we thought that was enough herbs.
  

Cow's Milk Ice Cream

• Fresh Mint: We didn't try this.
  
• Vietnamese Rice: I actually wasn't sure about this flavor, but Mae-Lae was intrigued by it. This was good. It tastes like sticky rice. Patricia said that that was the idea.
  
• Caramel Fleur de Sel: I'm not a big fan of caramel, so I didn't like this that much. Mae-Lae liked it, though. Patricia mentioned that they make their own caramel.
  
• Mango: This was one of the first flavors we tried. Mango is my favorite fruit, and this did not disappoint. It was so good. It was like biting into an actual mango. Mae-Lae pointed out that the Vietnamese rice and mango ice cream together was like eating sticky rice with mango.
  

Goat's Milk Ice Cream

• Lavender: This was interesting. The first time Mae-Lae and I had some gelato, and we had tried the lavender flavor. She thought that that was like eating potpourri. This was nothing like that. The flavor was actually very mild, probably because the goat's milk is also a stronger base.
  
• Strawberry: This, too, was strawberry-y, but I think the goat's milk also exerted its own flavor, thus making the berry flavor milder.
  
• Dark Chocolate (I think it was goat's milk): This was excellent. Mae-Lae said she doesn't really like dark chocolate (sacrilege!), but she liked this one. I think she was saying she doesn't like it in ice cream because it usually doesn't capture the real chocolate flavor, but she thought this one did.
  
• Something (vanilla?) with Verbena (I think it was goat's milk): We didn't try this.
  

In addition to these flavors, I think we also tried the vanilla. I don't really care for vanilla that much--I think it's too plain. But I think Mae-Lae liked it. Patricia said that she doesn't use vanilla flavoring like other places do.

All in all, the flavors were very good. Then came the hard part of deciding what to get. We saw that there was a sample platter, where you could get 4 flavors. So, we decided to share that. We got: strawberry basil, avocado, mango, & rice.

We ate at the outside table, and we were in heaven. With every bite, we were basically saying how good it was. We already knew we were going to have to get some pints to go. While we were eating, we were already trying to figure out which flavors we should get for the pints.

However, we had some thrift shopping to do first, so we told Patricia we'd come back. And come back we did. There were actually a number of other flavors available for the pints (such as hibiscus, beer (made with San Miguel beer), and mixed berry), but since we hadn't tried it, we weren't sure about getting the pints. Mae-Lae got the Vietnamese rice ice cream and the mango sorbet. (The mango ice cream was the one we tried, but the sorbet was what was available pre-packed. I tried it later at Mae-Lae's house, and it's just as good, but more mango-ey and less creamy (obviously).) I got the avocado sorbet and the mango ice cream, which Patricia had to pack from the display.

I just cannot stop talking about this ice cream. I have been telling everyone about it on Facebook and even texted my sister about it. I will have to take her and her family there sometime soon.

Every time I think about it, my mouth actually starts watering. I had some yesterday and some today, and they both taste just as good. And they're not icy like other ice cream tend to get. I think this might be the best ice cream I've ever had, or at least in recent memory. And I've had a lot of ice cream, both here and around the world. So, so delicious!

hawaiian food

Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, fellow librarian and APALA Executive Board member, dropped off some kālua pork to me this morning. Her hula hālau, Kaulana Ka Hale Kula ‘O Na Pua ‘O Ka ‘Aina, often makes kālua pork as one of their fundraising activities. I ordered a couple pounds, and Lessa was good enough to deliver.

If you don't know what it is, kālua is a traditional Hawaiian way of cooking that uses an imu or underground oven. The result is a tender, salty, smoky-flavored meat that is served shredded. Kālua pork is usually the main dish at luaus. (Go here for more info.)

When I got my kālua pork, I decided to have it for breakfast with some fried eggs and freshly-cooked rice. I don't know if they made this the traditional way, but it's very onolicious.

kālua pork, fried eggs, and rice

This morning's meal is just the latest in my current semi-obsession with Hawaiian food. (Modern Hawaiian food is a combination of the cuisines of its many immigrants -- e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese. More info about Hawaiian cuisine here.) Quite recently, I discovered that there is an L&L, a Hawaiian food franchise, within walking distance from my house. At first, I just thought that it's something to keep in mind, especially when I want barbecue or noodle soup (saimin).

Well, lately for some reason, I've been really into chicken katsu musubi and can't seem to stop craving it. Musubi is usually made with Spam, but I find Spam too salty. But the chicken katsu version? Fried breaded chicken with a little of the sweet katsu sauce, along with the rice and nori (dried seaweed) -- yum! (I don't have a picture because I never thought I'd write about it. Plus, I eat it right away.) I've been getting the katsu musubi mostly but have also gotten the mixed plate and the saimin once in a while. While this food is delicious, it really is a bad thing that I'm so into it right now because it's not exactly the healthiest of cuisines, and I'm not very good at moderation, especially when it comes to food.

Another reason that I've been thinking a lot about Hawaiian food lately is that there's been a number of gatherings at the library in the past couple of weeks, and King's Hawaiian desserts were present at all of them. (Granted, King's is really based in Torrance now, but I still think of it as Hawaiian food.)

A couple of weeks ago, we had a baby shower for one of our medical librarians. I didn't have the energy to make anything (which is usually the case), so I just went to pick up a cake. Though my favorite is the chocolate dobash cake, I thought the colorful paradise cake--a chiffon cake with 3 flavors: guava, passionfruit, and lime--would be more appropriate for a baby shower. Here's a photo taken by one of my library IT/photographer colleagues:

paradise cake, photo by Jonathan Wilson

Beautiful, isn't it? I can tell you that it tastes just as good as it looks. If you don't know chiffon cake, it's a very light & fluffy kind of cake and, with the fruity flavors, it's almost like you're eating something healthy. It turned out that I made the right decision in buying that cake because 1) it is the favorite of our pregnant guest of honor and 2) my colleagues at the Biomedical Library already know about it and love it, and they were very appreciative of my bringing it.

Last Wednesday, for my colleague's retirement party, I again brought stuff from King's. I had intended to buy paradise cake again, but the person serving me made a mistake and gave me a haupia (coconut milk) cake instead. This is not a very good photo, but at least you get the picture (hah!).

haupia cake

I arrived at the party late (had to give an Australian library technician a tour), and that's when I discovered it was the wrong cake. But the guest of honor assured me that it's very good anyway and that she loved it.

I also brought a chocolate haupia pie because I wanted that coconut-y flavor (not knowing, of course, that the other cake was also haupia-flavored). This picture came out much better (I took it, that's why. Haha.)

chocolate haupia pie

Both desserts were very good (as were the other goodies at that party). I was just sad that I couldn't come in the next day to partake of the leftovers. Probably just as well.

On Friday, there was another retirement party. I didn't bring it, but they had paradise cake and paradise bundt cake (no icing) there.

So, as you can see, Hawaiian food has been a big part of my life lately. That's the great thing about living in California: you can pretty much get any kind of cuisine you want. And it helps that I live in the South Bay, where there is a big population (relatively speaking) of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. I usually don't even pay it a second thought, until someone like a fellow librarian from the Midwest mentions on Facebook that she'd probably like Spam musubi, in conjunction with an article she was sharing of a Hawaiian restaurant opening up over there. When I asked her if she'd never had it before, she said she hadn't. So, even though it's bad for my waistline, I should thank my lucky stars that I have access to such good and varied food.

shopping and creativity

Today, I just got some stuff I ordered from Niko Silvester, a friend/classmate from folklore grad school. Niko is a Renaissance woman -- she writes stories, books, and comics, binds books, makes prints, creates jewelry, does photography, etc., as well as reviews video games and gaming equipment.

Last week, I was thinking of a present to get for a colleague, who is retiring after 36 years at the UCLA Library. I happened to be wearing a book necklace I had bought from Niko a couple of years ago and got a compliment on it. Niko's book jewelries are basically very miniature hand-bound books, and I figured that book jewelry is an appropriate present for a librarian. It took me a long to decide which ones to buy, but I finally picked these:


Aren't they wonderful?

Well, since I was buying stuff, I thought I might as well order something for me, too. I have always admired Niko's works, so I bought "Liminal," a black-and-white intaglio print featuring a tree trunk and fairies (I love both!). I have to say that the pictures on her website don't do it justice. I love it--it is gorgeous! And I happen to have a frame that is perfect for it. So, I have put it in the frame and found a space for it on my bedside table.


As you can see, I have sort of created a little nature-themed vignette. In front of it are two huge grey/white conch shells that I collected on one of the uninhabited barrier islands on the Eastern shore of Virginia last summer (I went on a seashell-collecting boat excursion), as well as a Jade iron fairy.

The point of all this, aside from being very happy about my purchases, is that I am inspired to do more creative stuff. I've been feeling this a lot lately anyway, and this is just another source of inspiration. So, I am hoping that writing this post is just the beginning to the rekindling of my creative endeavors (the writing part, at least).

Postscript: I asked Niko for more info about the print, and she ended up writing an entire blog post about it. It's a detailed description of the process of creating the print with some more pictures of the print. Very interesting. Seems like a lot of work! Makes me admire it even more.

irony

when i went to the doctor last month, i mentioned that i get headaches all the time. she said that they sounded like tension headaches and referred me to a neurologist. well, before i can actually make an appointment to see a neurologist, i had to attend a headache management class, and the class was held yesterday.

the class was held at a different location from where my primary care provider is located. it's in a neighboring city. as i'm not much of a driver, anything requiring more than a 10-minute drive is far for me. (i usually just drive about 5 minutes away to my vanpool pickup location.) as i don't drive the freeway, i had to take side streets, though this place is close enough (about 20 minutes) so that didn't matter.

anyway, i drove to the class, trying to focus on my driving while making sure i don't get lost. i'm sure i must have been squinting (from the bright california afternoon sun) and probably clenching and just overall stressing. by the time i sat down for the class, i had a headache. i had a headache throughout the entire 1 1/2 hour class. i wasn't even really paying attention half the time.

isn't that ironic that the drive to the headache management class gave me a headache?

malaysian food

on cyber monday, restaurant.com was offering deep discounts on their already discounted certificates. i bought $250 worth for $20. but these things really have a catch--there is a minimum amount you have to spend to be able to use your certificate. for example, if you have a $25 certificate, you usually have to spend a minimum of $50, not including drinks & tip (the tip is actually a preset percentage added to the the full bill). though it's not really that great a deal, it's a good way to try some new restaurants and still save some money (even if it's only a little bit).

so this past wednesday (my designated day to provide dinner), i decided to one of my $25 certificates. we went to belacan grill right nearby. my sister had mentioned before that it's good, but i'd never had the chance to eat there. so this was as good a chance as any.

the restaurant is pretty small, but they have a good menu. it was hard to decide, especially since not all of us ate spicy food and we had kids with limited palates with us. but we actually had a good mix. for appetizers, we had crispy calamari and chicken and beef satay. both dishes were delicious!

we ordered the satay--that was going to be their dinner. though they like barbeque, i wasn't sure that they would like it because of the different spices used. but they actually really liked it. my niece liked the chicken better, while my nephew liked the beef. they looked so good that we (the adults) wanted to try them as well. so we wound up getting another order of it.

my sister loves calamari, and now i like it, too. so, we had to order these, especially since she'd already had it before and knew they were good. they used the little squid, which i like better. and they were good. the kids actually ended up eating these, too.

for our main entrees, i wanted to try the "must try" malaysian curry chicken. my sister suggested the "favorite" daging kicap manis (soy glazed beef), while my brother-in-law chose the claypot seafood with tofu.

though the menu indicated that it would be spicy, the chicken curry actually was not. my sister thinks it's because she had asked about something else being spicy, so they might have made it mild. whatever the reason, i was rather disappointed with this dish. i expected spicy, and i wanted it spicy. and i felt like this would be a malaysian signature dish, and it just didn't seem that to me. my sister thinks that maybe this tasted bland because the others were so flavorful. could be.

(addendum (1/9/09): okay, i completely change my mind about this curry. i just had the leftovers--the only leftover we had from this dinner, and it tastes as it should--rich and spicy. mmm. mmm. my sister might be right about the other flavors overpowering this dish, but i suspect that it took this time for the spices to fully steep.)

the soy-glazed beef was very good. as you can see from the pepper pieces, it had some spiciness to it, and that contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the glaze. this was probably the best out of the entrees.

the seafood claypot was also delicious. as you can see, the ingredients look fresh and cooked just right. it was very flavorful.

though we were already full, we thought that we might as well try some of the desserts. we tasted a couple that sounded like filipino desserts--we wanted to see what their malaysian versions would be like. we ordered ice kacang and pulut hitam

the ice kacang is like the filipino halo-halo, but not. it consists of "shaved ice with red beans, sweet corn, grass jelly, red rose syrup and evaporated milk." i just had a taste. i didn't particularly like it. i don't exactly like halo-halo either, but i like this even less.

pulut hitam is "black glutinous rice topped with sweet coconut cream." i thought that this might be like the filipino suman/puto, but again, it really wasn't. to me, this was just so-so. my niece said it tasted like the tapioca dessert they serve at the chinese restaurant, and i guess it did.

so, all in all, the desserts were not that great. but, overall, the food was excellent. i'm thinking of doing an apala social here.

it was rather expensive there, though (and their servings were small). when we were ordering, we were trying to make sure that we met the $50 minimum. that turned out not to be a problem. our total came out to about $95 after the 18+% tip. so, after the $25 certificate was deducted, i still paid about $75. it turned out to be more expensive than our normal dinners out (at other places and without certificates), but i was glad we went there. and, as i told the kids, now they (and i) can say that they've (i've) had malaysian food.

new year's eve

on new year's eve, we celebrated according to my sister's family's tradition. this meant chinese take-out. (i think lots of people may have this tradition, too, because when we went to pick up the food, there were also lots of people waiting to pick up their food.) we had salt & pepper pork chop, prawns with lobster sauce, crab with house special sauce, pan fried noodles, corn soup, and lemon chicken. and we had the special occasion sparkling apple cider to drink. lol.


afterwards, they played a little. then began the movie marathon. we laid out the blanket on the rug, got some throw pillows, and blankets to cover us. we watched underdog first. halfway through the movie, we had the cheesecake that i had bought earlier from the cheesecake factory--godiva cheesecake for us, plain for my nephew. (hmm. i think of godiva cheesecake as my favorite, but it was actually too rich for me. i think my favorite may be my pumpkin cheesecake after all.) after that, we watched the game plan. (are we pg or what? i think these might even be g-rated. lol.).

with only a few minutes left to the second movie, we had to turn it off, as it was five minutes to midnight. we got our drinks--cider in fancy wineglasses this time--and poppers ready. we watched the countdown, pulled the poppers, toasted each other. not much fanfare really. (no jingling money, jumping up and down, opening doors, etc.)

about 15 minutes later, we turned the movie back on. then it was off to sleep. it was a low key, relaxing evening. my kind of pace...

new year's eve day

the 31st turned out to be a great day. it started out like the other days of my vacation. i got up late. had breakfast (my brother-in-law cooked pancakes, eggs, & sausage). after breakfast, my niece was somehow wanting to clean her arts & crafts area. since i've been trying to clean the last few days, i was glad that she wanted to do that. so, we culled & organized, and it was good. unfortunately, i couldn't say the same about the top of the desk (which was full of my stuff).

while we were cleaning, my friend susan called. i had texted her earlier to see if she wanted to do lunch (i was sick of eating leftover ham from sunday evening, and i wanted to eat something else. plus, i really needed to get out of the house. since my vacation started on the 24th, i'd only been out on the 24th & the 26th, and i hadn't been out since.)

susan picked me up, and we went to sushi sumo, a small, cheap hole-in-the-wall type place that my family & i go to. we sat at the rotating bar. as usual, i ate too much. i had two plates of my favorite--the flaming joy (basically shrimp tempura roll with spicy sauce). also had a plate of tempura roll, half of the dragon roll (the one with the avocado & eel), half a shrimp/crab/roe dish. (i actually don't like fish, hence the absence of sushi in my selection).

we were really full, so i was glad when susan mentioned going to the beach (i had always told her and my other friend at work that they should come over and we could eat & walk on the beach, but i actually wasn't thinking about it on this day.). so we went back to my house, so i could change shoes, then we headed off to the beach.

we just drove down the street until we hit redondo beach, but i didn't really want to go to the harbor or the promenade, so we drove to torrance beach. it was a foggy and cold day (good thing i changed into a sweater when we went to my house, though it was still chilly.) there were a couple of surfers on the water, and a few others on the beach.


as soon as we got close enough to the water, susan saw some movement. and guess what we saw? dolphins! we could see mostly their fins as they came out on the water. there were at least half a dozen of them, and they pretty much stayed in place. (they were still there when we left about an hour later.) unfortunately, they were still too far for me to take pictures. (i took a video, but that's far, too, and you can really only see fins.) but it was so unexpected, so i was excited about it.

when we started walking, i saw these funny little birds--they looked so comical with their quick little steps. i had never seen them before. susan thinks they're sandpipers. i think she's right.

later on, we saw the more common seagulls. there were a lot of them, and they sure looked fat.

as we walked, susan began looking at the shells, and i continued to take pictures. here are a couple pics of shells and squishy seaweed.

on the way out, took pics of the bird prints.

after the beach, we stopped by the cheesecake factory so i can by some new year's eve dessert for my family. i spent $40 on cheesecake! and i only bought two small ones. that's crazy!

we also stopped by the 99 cent store. i hadn't been to one in years. i didn't really buy much, but i did get some poppers to ring in the new year.

it was dark by the time i got home (well, it was actually quite gray when we headed out in the first place). we had a great time. i don't know why i don't go to the beach more often since it's such a short drive. i always think i should go there and walk there, but i never do. it's so hard to get me out of the house once i'm here. so, good thing susan came out.

holiday party

People in my department are so busy that we just don't have time to do much other than work. When I first got here last June, there was a potluck--mostly for our student assistants--to mark the end of the school year and graduation. Since then, there hasn't been anything.

When December came and I was beginning to get into holiday mode, I was hearing other departments plan holiday parties, but not a peep from my department. Just when I thought we weren't going to have a celebration, a co-worker mentioned that our other co-worker was leaving soon for her year-long leave of absence and there was no plan for a send-off. So, I volunteered to organize the potluck and turned it into a combination holiday and going-away party.

Here are some pictures of the spread. We had some great food. By special request, I made pumpkin swirl cake again. It turned out so much prettier baked on the cookie sheet.

Unfortunately, people didn't really linger for long--everyone's just too busy--but at least, we got to gather and celebrate and be festive, even if only for a little while.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

For the longest time, my sister used these red wooden beads to decorate her tree. We had gotten these years ago from our sister-in-law whose office was getting rid of them. This year, my sister decided that she was sick of them. So, I took them to work and decided to make my workspace festive.

I hung them around my cubicle entry, and lent some to my friends so they can decorate, too. While they looked cute by themselves, they actually didn't look that festive. I figured they needed stuff to hang onto them, and I thought I'd make paper ornaments and/or snowflakes.

Well, that same afternoon, my friend, Susan, and I took a little break and walked around campus. On the way back, we saw these liquidambar trees (I thought they were maple) with these dried spiky fruits hanging on them. And I thought these would be light enough to hang on to the beads (which in turn were only being supported by pushpins). Susan actually spied some fruits that were not dried up, and they had green and red hues. Perfect! Though these ones were heavier than the dried ones, they looked so much more festive and went much better with the beads. So up they went.

wednesdays are for cooking

Since my sister is now back in the work force, we no longer have the luxury of planned out, home-cooked meals; instead, we have divvied up the work week. My sister is in charge of dinner on Mondays and Thursdays, while my brother-in-law has Tuesdays and Fridays. I have Wednesdays.

I haven't really been cooking much the last couple of years, so my cooking is definitely rusty. But I figured I should take this as an opportunity to brush up on my cooking skills and cook new stuff. I can't say that I've really succeeded.

On December 3rd, I made teriyaki chicken. Both my niece and nephew like teriyaki chicken, so I figured this would be a good dish to try and make. I had actually planned on making this much earlier, but it took me a while to get the mirin and the sake needed for the recipe. So, here's how my dish came out.

It was okay (my sister said it was good), but it tasted nothing like teriyaki chicken in restaurants. As you can see, it looks a bit dry. I think I was waiting for the sauce to look like the restaurant sauce, so I may have overcooked the chicken. Oh well. I may just have to leave this dish to the restaurants, unless I find another recipe to try.

On December 10th, I stuck with the more familiar. I made Filipino bistek and my version of shrimp tempura. I'm actually not that good at making bistek, but this turned out quite good.

As for my tempura, I've made this a lot of times, though not lately (maybe years?). I was going to try to actually make it the Japanese way, but I was too lazy to butterfly the shrimp and everything. So, I just did it my way. This was good, though I think there wasn't enough shrimp. My sister can be such a glutton when it comes to seafood--she could have eaten the whole thing. But i guess it's just as well there wasn't more. All that flour and oil isn't good for us, especially since the bistek also had oil. And, of course, we ate all that rice to go with them.

This has been about it for my non-dessert cooking. Can't say that I've really been too successful. Oh well...

good deal

I get to work by vanpool, and we meet up at a Kmart parking lot. On Friday, the week after Thanksgiving, I got to the parking lot and smelled barbeque. Well, when we got back in the afternoon, it turns out that this company sells smoked meats there on weekends. (They begin smoking the meat at dawn so that they could begin serving at lunch.) I love bbq, so I just had to try some.

I wanted baby back ribs, but they were out of it. So, I got two orders of spareribs instead. However, because it was already 6pm, their closing time, I got a good deal. One order (half-rack) is supposed to be $8 (I think), but I got 2 whole racks plus half a chicken for for $12. The meat (though not the chicken) was definitely fall-of-the-bone soft, and the sauce was yummy. I totally scored!

thanksgiving cooking

Thanksgiving has never really been a big deal to me. I think it's because it's an American holiday, so it wasn't something I grew up with. This wasn't something we celebrated when I was little and living in the Philippines. And, once here in the US, I often lived away from home, and it made no sense--time-wise and money-wise--to go home for Thanksgiving when I was going to go home a couple of weeks later for an extended Christmas vacation anyway. (Plus, the Thanksgiving break has always been a good time to catch up on school and/or work.)

This year, I'm actually living close to family, and I still didn't celebrate Thanksgiving. My mom went off with her sisters to vegas, while my sister and her family went to her sister-in-law's. Though my sister invited me, I preferred having the house to myself instead.

I did try to get into Thanksgiving mode by doing some cooking. On Thanksgiving evening, I made bourbon pumpkin cheesecake (again with the pumpkin. lol). Actually, I used Jack Daniel's instead of bourbon, so maybe it should be just be called whiskey pumpkin cheesecake (hmm... that doesn't quite have the same ring to it.) Everything was made from scratch, including the crust.

I didn't realize how long it takes to make a cheesecake. I first had to make the crust (by grinding graham crackers and pecans and mixing these with brown sugar and butter). After forming the crust, I had to chill it for an hour before I can pour in the cheesecake mixture. I then had to bake it for about an hour.

I then had to take it out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes, while I made the sour cream topping. After putting the topping and more pecans, it was back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Then, it had to be cooled for 3 hours. By that time it was 11pm, and it still had to be chilled for at least 4 hours. So I couldn't even eat my creation on Thanksgiving. It wasn't until after lunch the next day that we got to eat the final product.

This was really good. My nephew, who loves cheesecake--but only the plain kind, loved it. He even said that he'd give me $5 to make it again. Everyone else liked it, too. We finished this in 2 days.

That friday, I also decided to make mushroomkopita (like spanakopita, but with mushrooms instead of spinach). I've made this before, but with intervals of years in between. (I probably last made it over 10 years ago.) Each time I make it, I remember why: working with phyllo dough can be difficult and is a lot of work--what with the buttering of each layer and all. Here's how they looked before baked them:

Here are the finished products. They were crunchy and tasty. Even the kids liked it. They're probably not that good for you, though, with all that butter. Good thing I only make them every few years.

more pumpkin

On November 12, I continued with my pumpkin theme and made pumpkin swirl brownies. I'm not so sure about this recipe. It turned out good, but not great. There definitely wasn't enough brownie to it. My sister and my niece were only eating the sides, which had more of the brownie part, and I was left to eat the more pumpkin-y middle.

I'm not sure if this would be better if baked in a smaller container, so that the brownie part would be thicker. but then again, that would also make the pumpkin thicker. I think the recipe just calls for too much pumpkin in it. Maybe if i double the brownie part. Hmm...

pumpkin fever

Ever since I baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from Sharon's recipe, I've really been in the baking mood. And, since it's fall, I've especially been in the pumpkin-baking mood.

It was easy to decide to bake the aforementioned cookies, since the name alone sounded good, and all I had to do was ask for the recipe. It's been a lot harder trying to find other recipes on my own. Pumpkin pie is out since I'm actually not a big fan. I really should have already made pumpkin cheesecake but I haven't.

Today, I finally baked something with pumpkin. I made pumpkin swirl bars. I found the recipe a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to making it. But I finally found the time today.

I asked my niece to see if we had all the ingredients on hand, and she said we did. When I finally started baking, I found out that we did not have the right amount of cream cheese. So, I had to go to the store to get some since I already started mixing some of the stuff. (It gave me an excuse to do a couple of my other errands, too.)

I messed up when I was doing this because I didn't soften the cream cheese before mixing it. I eventually had to microwave it a little.

The recipe said that it should be baked in a jelly roll pan. I don't know about that. I think it would have been better if it was in a larger cookie sheet, as that would have made for thinner bars and perhaps, the swirls would have turned out better.

The recipe didn't call for chocolate chips, but I added some on top anyway. (Gotta have the chocolate.) I think it turned out good. The pumpkin part was certainly good, and the chocolate chips were good additions. I'm not so sure about the cream cheese part, though. I think if it had been spread out more (as it would be if baked on a cookie sheet), then there wouldn't be the cream cheese chunks. I would definitely have to remember that next time...

yes, we did!

Tuesday, November 4th, was election day. I had already sent in my absentee ballot the previous Friday, so there wasn't much for me to do. Beginning in the afternoon, I began to monitor the internet news, but there really wasn't much going on yet.

It wasn't until I got home that the results were really beginning to come in. It was exciting. When they called Pennsylvania and Ohio, i knew it was pretty much over. We did it! Obama won! I was so excited, I began to do a victory dance.

I was talking to my friend in the Philippines about it, and I turned on my videocam so she could watch what I was watching on tv. She got to see my victory dance. lol. I stayed up to watch MCcain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech. It was amazing to see all those people in grant park. I wanted to remember the moment, so i took some pics of my tv. lol.

I went to bed happy with the knowledge that my candidate won. (I don't think I was a citizen yet when we were having elections for Clinton's second term, so I've pretty much been on the losing end in the elections in which I've participated.)

The following morning, though, I found out that Proposition 8 still hadn't been called, but it looked like it was going to pass. I couldn't really savor Obama's victory with the knowledge that Prop. 8 was going to pass. California voters voted to give rights to their food (Prop. 2), but voted to take away the rights of friends and neighbors. The results were very bittersweet.

We can't do much about the results right now, but opponents of Prop. 8 are going to fight on. And we can take some comfort in the change that's about to take place on the national level.

Si, se puede! Yes, we can!