The last week of school was kind of crazy. We had something scheduled every night.

Jamie's 6th bday party was at Lucky Strike.  I can't believe she is already 6?!

A had a blast!

wings for dinner!

Then Sat. night it was off to the U2 concert.  We bought tickets for a friend's 40th birthday last year, but Bono injured his back and the tour was rescheduled.

We were pretty far back as you can tell from the pictures.  They did not disappoint.

Chocolate cupcakes

One our good friend's son graduated from high school.  I've known B for a long, long time.  I can't believe he is off to college.  I remember when he was 5...I remember his parents when they were seniors in college when I was in Jr. High...eekkk where did the time go?!  One thing for sure, the neighborhood will be quiet without him. 

My sister made crepes for the occasion and I made David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookies & the chocolate cupcakes above.

For the chocolate cupcakes, you can use any recipe. 

The Pioneer Woman Best Chocolate Sheet Cake ever!

Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cake

You can even buy a cake mix (GASP!).

Here is the recipe for the frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

adapted from Ina Garten

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tablespoon instant coffee powder (optional)

1. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the vanilla.  On low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy.

3.  If adding the coffee powder, dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water.

4.  On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip!

Before school ended I hosted a breakfast for some of the moms in A's class.

Blueberry batter muffin  I love blueberry muffins with a good cup of coffee.

Leek, onions, greens onions for the quiche.

Three Onion Quiche

Sunset Magazine

1 tablespoon butter 

3 medium leeks (white and light green parts), thinly sliced and rinsed well 

2 bunches green onions, trimmed and thickly sliced 

1/2 medium red onion, cut into thin half-moons 

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided 

1 cup half-and-half 

1 tablespoon flour 

3 large eggs 

2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar cheese

1- pie dough for a 9-in. pie shell (Sunset recommends Pillsbury pie dough, I made my own)

 1. Preheat oven to 425°. Unroll pie dough into a 9-in. pie pan. Crimp edge. Line dough with parchment paper, fill with pie weights or dried beans, and bake until light golden, about 15 minutes. Remove paper and weights.

2. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add leeks, green and red onions, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Sauté until very tender but not browned, about 20 minutes.

3. Whisk half-and-half gradually into flour in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in remaining 1/2 tsp. salt and eggs until blended. Stir in cheese and three-quarters of onion mixture and pour into pie shell. Sprinkle remaining onions over quiche.

4. Bake until a knife inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes; cover edges with foil if they begin to darken. Let sit 10 minutes, then cut into wedges.

jam

One of A's favorite thing to eat for lunch is peanut butter and jelly.  We go through a lot of jam and peanut butter in my house.  I was at the market and strawberries were only one dollar a pound and peaches were 99 cents a pound.  So I decided to make some jam.  These recipes are without pectin.

Peaches and sugar.  Let it sit for an hour before cooking.

I used yellow and white peaches.

Chopped strawberries

Peach Jam

recipe from Food and Wine 

2 1/2 pounds of peaches (washed & cut into small pieces, you can leave the peel on)

1 1/2 cups of sugar

2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

In a nonreactive saucepan, toss the peaches with the sugar and let stand until the sugar is mostly dissolved, 1 hour.

Add the lemon juice to the peaches and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is glassy and the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick, heavy drops, 20 to 25 minutes or do the cold plate test**. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface of the jam. 

Spoon the jam into three sterilized * 1/2-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at the top. 

You can store the jam in the fridge and eat or place the jars back into boiling water for 5 minutes.  The jars should be covered in about 2 inches of water.  Take the jars out of the pot and cool on the counter.  If you can press down on the dome lid and it does not pop back up, the seal is good.

*To sterilize the jars:  If you are making a lot of jam then you can throw everything into the dishwasher (without soap) and just run the dishwasher.  I made a small batch so I boiled the jars for about 25 minutes.  You also have to boil the tongs you use for handling the jars and lids.  Just hold the bottom half of the tongs in boiling water for a minute.  Dip the lids for several seconds into the boiling water and that should be fine. 

**Cool a plate in the freezer. To test for the jelly stage, pour a small quantity of jam (maybe 1/8 tsp) onto the cold plate and chill it in the freezer for about 30 seconds. If the test jam is firm to the touch and has the texture you want for your batch of jam, then it is done. Remove from heat.

On a thermometer, the jelly stage is around 200 to 220 Degrees F.

 

Strawberry Jam

2 pounds of strawberries (washed and chopped)

3 1/2 cups of sugar

1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients into a non reactive pot and bring to a boil.  Stirring occasionally.  Then reduce the heat to medium.  Stir to make sure the sugar has dissolved.  

Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is glassy and the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick, heavy drops, 20 to 25 minutes or do the cold plate test**. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface of the jam. 

Spoon the jam into three sterilized * 1/2-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at the top. You can store the jam in the fridge and eat or place the jars back into boiling water for 5 minutes.  The jars should be covered in about 2 inches of water.  Take the jars out of the pot and cool on the counter.  If you can press down on the dome lid and it does not pop back up, the seal is good.
 

Final step.  The jars must be submerged into boiling water for 5 minutes.

peach & strawberry jam

This is how much it made. 

The weekend

The official countdown is 8 more days of school!

The weather this weekend was really nice. Met my sister for lunch at The Camp in Costa Mesa.

Went to East Borough

Inside

yummy spring rolls!  It was pricier than your average Vietnamese, but good.

Lovely succulent arrangements throughout The Camp

East Borough

2937 Bristol St
Ste D102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

http://www.east-borough.com/ 

 Another birthday celebration at Urth Caffe

On Saturday morning...

There are always large groups of cyclists

Peonies!

I love peonies.

Now off to make some jam!

Kimchee!

I grew up on kimchee.  There are so many different kinds and different types for the different seasons.  I love it all!  My mom still makes her own.  Last summer I started to experiment with a kimchee recipe I had found online and tweaked it with my mom's recipe (well not really a recipe, but rather mental notes from helping her make kimchee).  I started to make it again this year.

Cleaned, chopped and salted.  This is Yeoulmu, which is labeled young radish at the market.

Flour, water, and sugar mixture boiled and cooled.  (You can add fish sauce if you like).  Once cooled you add red pepper flakes and then mix with the young radish leaves pictured above.

Chopped up peppers, onions, garlic, and ginger. 

Ready to sit and ferment for a couple days.

Memorial Day Picnic

I forgot to take pictures at the picnic...but this is what we ate.

Ribs!   Picture by Chris I. 

Yes, the computer is somewhat fixed...

Laguna Beach, I love living near the beach.

A's dark feet and legs..my feet look pale next to hers.

Lunch at the Watermarc...

grilled chicken sandwich, smoked gouda cheese, & garlic aioli.

Wedding dress shopping...

This is NOT the dress.  Just one of the many she tried on.

Ending the week by celebrating a friend's birthday with desserts!

Sorry for the lack of posts, but my computer won't let me upload my pictures.  

Otherwise there would be pictures of our day at the beach, my toes in the sand (yes, you are seriously missing out!), my yummy lunch at Laguna Beach.  Oh and helping my friend look for a wedding dress (we found one!!!).  Hopefully E can fix the problem tonight.