A is home sick with the stomach flu this week. Poor girl. I haven't gone out in 3 days (except to the doctor's office) . By the time E gets home I'm too tired to do anything.

My little sister turned 30 a couple of weeks. She was out of town on a business trip on her actual birthday so we had a late celebration.  I wanted to make this salted caramel ding dong cake ever since I saw it in Bon Appetit.

I only used the cake batter recipe from the magazine. (here is link to the whole recipe ).  I used a shortcut for the filling...marshmallow fluff in a  jar :) For the ganache, I used my own recipe.

The cake was really moist.

ready for the oven

lots of gooey filling

crumb coat

final coat

tada!

the inside

happy birthday seesta!

This week in our house

 Trips to the library with the girls.  I picked up these two books Kimchi Chronicles and As Always, Julia. 

Finally got my haircut, it's almost been a year since my last one.

 We made some stops on the way home.

Yum!

We had a birthday party for Purple (A's build a bear)

I made a Funfetti Cake. So so good!

We got our Christmas tree

Thanksgiving in pictures

breakfast

appetizers

rosemary crackers with goat cheese with homemade marmalade 
&
water crackers with boursin

pigs in a blanket & bacon wrapped dukk

crab rangoon

Then the madness began...

my little sister made the turkey this year and it was the best turkey ever!

dessert

gogoma (korean sweet potato pie) & i also made a pumpkin pie

Election Day!

It's Election Day. 

I went to vote smack in the middle of the day and lucky for me there was no wait at the voting polls.
 

I proudly wore my I Voted sticker all day

A and I love a good Castella Cake. I started looking for a recipe.  The recipe was pretty easy. The only problem is that the cake went a bit flat in the middle because I didn't have a Castella cake pan. The texture and flavor were great.

I got this recipe from this blog.

 

I followed the recipe (including wrapping it in plastic wrap overnight) 

 

weekend

It's finally starting to feel like fall. 

I always look forward to my issue of Sunset magazine. 

Over the weekend, I went to dinner at a friend's house. She had a bunch of guavas from her in laws. Lucky for me she doesn't like guavas. They are so fragrant. I've been using them in my morning smoothie. Thanks S!
 

We also picked up some goodies from Cake Monkey.  The Oreo cookie was good, but I was a bit disappointed with their version of the hoho. I added making hohos to my list of things to bake.

A while back I picked up this knife set. I desperately needed a paring knife. I love the colors of the handles! Makes cutting fruit a lot more fun.

Day Off

E had a day off recently so we had a day date.

After we dropped off A, we headed to the Portola Coffee Lab for some coffee and caramel salted monkey bread.

Korean Pickled Veggies....jangachi.

I got a recipe from my friend L and it's so addictive! It's a combination of soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar. Chop up some veggies. You can use jalapenos, pickles, celery, onions, garlic etc. I used jalapenos, onions, and chayotes.

donuts almost make everything better

Last week was a good one...this week...well not so good though it is getting better. E tried to cheer me up all afternoon on Saturday which I really appreciated.

We headed to Japantown to Cafe Dulce for some green tea donuts. They also had bacon donuts and fruity pebbles donuts. We stuck with the green tea donuts. By the way is it donuts or doughnuts?

green tea donut

Then we yelped for a udon place. When we entered the restaurant there was a peculiar smell. Next thing I know A is saying in her loud voice...EEEwwww...stinky. We turned right around and exited the place. We ended up at Shin Sen Gumi for some ramen. 
 

I made a batch of pumpkin donuts. Warning these are really good! The recipe is originally from Bon Appetit which was then adapted on another blog and then I made some changes. This recipe is fairly easy (no yeast!). I say fairly because the hard part was waiting for the dough to chill. I only fridged it for 1 hour and it was fine. 

This is a great way to start your morning. Making donuts and frying your troubles away!

Pumpkin Donuts
adapted from Bon Appetit

1 3/4 cups of flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, room temp.
1/4 cup packed brown sugar*
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup buttermilk

*if you don't have brown sugar you can substitute it for granulated sugar.

oil for frying

For the glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 to 5 Tablespoons of milk

In a bowl, add the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 

In a pyrex measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk and pumpkin puree together.  

With the Kitchen Aid or hand mixer, cream the butter and both sugars together until well blended, about 1 minute. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add in the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk mixture. Start and end with the flour mixture. 

When the dough (it will be a little sticky) comes together, cover and refrigerate for about 2 to 3 hours.  On a well floured work surface, pat out the dough to 1/2 inch thick round. Using a 3-inch circle cutter (or smaller), cut circles out of the dough. Re-roll any dough scraps. Place dough on a cookie sheet, or something large, covered with wax or parchment paper. 

Add oil to a dutch oven or a pot, to a depth of about 3 inches. While the oil is heating, line a tray with paper towels. Heat the oil to 365 to 370 degrees F. Fry the donuts, turning once, until they are golden brown and cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Move the cooked donuts to a paper towel lined tray. Finish frying the rest of the donuts and donut holes.

The Glaze

Sift the powdered sugar and cinnamon together. Whisk and slowly add the milk. Dip the donuts in the glaze.

weekend sharing

We had a nice relaxing weekend and week so far. We walked around Lake Ave in Pasadena.
I was also able to try another pie crust recipe. Yup, recipe #3. I have one more to try!
I am just waiting patiently for fall. It's supposed to cool down next week. Has fall hit where you are?


It was so hot in Pasadena last weekend.  But it didn't stop us from walking around.

We made a stop into Pottery Barn Kids to cool down and let the kiddies play.

Now for some pie!

rolling out the dough

this time i used nectarines and raspberries

i didn't even do an egg wash on top.