Julie & Julia: A Book Review

As most of you have heard by now, there is a new movie in theaters, “Julie and Julia”, based on the book written by Julie Powell. I had not heard of the book until seeing the movie preview, and immediately decided to read it. Being a food blogger myself (albeit a sporadic and quite inexperienced one), I had an inkling that a book like this would be right up my alley. So, after obtaining my large type copy from the library (the normal size type copies were all checked out. guess i wasn’t the only one intrigued by this story), I set out to read about Julie’s quest in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I was not all that impressed. It could have been Julie’s crassness and frequent vulgarity (ie: constant use of the F word, which may have been used to show her true personality, but was not really all that necessary, and will definitely not appear to the more reserved, conservative reader group), but the story itself was a bit hard to follow, since she often jumped back and forth between present and past events. In some ways, I could relate to her – a young woman looking for purpose in life. But mostly, I was not all that inspired by her story. There were a few gems of promise here and there, and while a quick read, it wasn’t necessarily a book I found myself looking forward to reading every evening. I do have quite a bit of admiration for her stamina, though, and her endurance. I once vowed to make every recipe in my cookie cookbook, The Cookie Bible (I have made several recipes, but am nowhere near done!) but let’s face it, cookies and French cooking are two very different animals. The fact that Julie stuck it out til the end AND blogged in detail about it is quite a feat in itself. Ok, so in truth, maybe it did inspire me a little bit. I know that it definitely made me want to bake and blog more. But it also made me want to see the movie. I’m pretty sure it will be better than the book, or at least more entertaining. I’m wondering whether readers will also find the movie better than the book. Has anyone else read the book first and is hoping the movie will be better?

Colorado

grief and loss

on saturday, may 23, my boyfriend’s good friend Bobby died in a motorcycle accident. when i heard the news, i was in total shock. Bobby was not only Andrew’s good friend, but he was my friend, too. he was like a big brother to all of our friends. he was the ringleader of our group and kept us all together. he was truly a unique, special and genuine person. he will be, and already is, greatly missed.

this is the first time in my life i have experienced such sudden loss. it’s hard. it’s excruciating at times. it’s confusing. in times like this, i am reminded that our human minds are not able to fully comprehend the tragedies and complexities of this world. and as much as i want to understand why this happened, i find peace knowing that Bobby is with the Lord in heaven and yes, one day, i will see him again. praise God for that.

Bobby and me, February 2008

Awakening
by: Mae

When I close my eyes to this paradox place
I’ll fly away, far away from here
I’ll get away and dream, dream of you

When it’s all said and done
And the night has come
I’ll disappear, take flight on the wind of wishing you were here
Fading light, like a star whose life has been gone for years

And I’ll fly, fly across the sky
And I’ll leave, I’ll leave it all behind
If you’ll be here, here with me tonight
I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine
I’ll be fine

*Bobby Rambo//8.21.84-5.23.09*

Spring has sprung…finally!

After a cold and damp April that never seemed to end, May is finally here, and today, I woke up to a glorious burst of sunshine brightening my bedroom. It has rained here for the past 5  or 6 days, so to wake up to sunlight was a beautiful thing.

My baking posts have been lacking as of late, partially due to laziness, and the rest due to my attempts to eat healtier and avoid those decadent baked goods that make dieting even more difficult than it already is. The sad thing is, I cannot even remember the last thing I baked! But, I assure you that I will eventually come up with something to post – I’ll be sure to make it a good one, since my baking posts are not so frequent as of late.

All in all, my life has come to this – I’m ready for an adventure. Who’s with me?

Good Friday

“Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.”

-Victor Hugo

Recipe #14: Cheesecakes and Anniversaries

A few weeks ago marked the one year anniversary of my relationship with my boyfriend Andrew. I’m not usually a fan of making a big deal out of anniversaries and such, but since neither one of us had been in a relationship that had lasted longer than 3 months, it was a pretty big deal. Needless to say, I figured a nice thing to do for him would of course involve baking something. Now, somehow I found me a man that does not have a huge obsession with chocolate and desserts as I do. How this happened, I do not know. I guess it’s a good thing, since I won’t be pressured to constantly bake things for him that I myself will end up eating large amounts of; but, at the same time, it’s kind of a downer since I LOVE to bake, and I love to share my baked goods with the people that I love. To his credit, Andrew does always enjoy what I bake, and gladly eats it, just not as often as I would like. He’s not a big chocolate person, but he does like cheesecake and he likes key lime pie. I was going to just go with making him the key lime pie, since I had never made one before, but then I found the recipe for lime cheesecake and decided it was the perfect compromise. Or, so I thought…

The moment I told him, all excitedly, that I made him a lime cheesecake, he looked at me kinda strange as if I had made something no one had ever heard of or eaten. Admittedly, lime cheesecake is not a popular dessert, but it’s definitely been done before. I reassured him that he would definitely like it. He didn’t. OK, he said he did, but I still don’t believe him. He didn’t even eat a whole piece, he just tasted mine. His argument was that he couldn’t taste the cheesecake because the lime flavor was so strong. Huh? I have no idea what that means. All that matters is, I thought it was delicious. My dad did, too, since he ate the rest of it pretty much singlehandedly.

Long story short: if you like lime and you like cheescake, you will most defintely like this recipe. Unless, of course, your name is Andrew and you’ve been dating me for the last year:)

I have to brag about the aesthetics of my cheesecake. Notice how the top is not cracked? That’s because I followed this simple little trick: Fill a shallow pan with hot water and place on the rack under the cheesecake while it’s baking. It totally works!

Lime Cheesecake
recipe from allrecipes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 6 tablespoons butter, melted 24 ounces cream cheese, softened 1 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch 3 eggs 1 tablespoon grated lime zest 2/3 cup key lime juice

Directions:

1.	Combine cookie or graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate.
2.	In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel, and cornstarch until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add key lime juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not overbeat, or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.
3.	Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 55 to 65 minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking.
4.	Turn oven off, and let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from oven. Refrigerate cake overnight, and up to three days.

Recipes #12 & 13: Cookies & French Toast

It’s been awhile, I know – I apologize for the hiatus! not that many people follow this blog religiously, but if you are one of the chosen few who do check this blog often – i’m sorry for only updating every couple of weeks. as much as I wish I was a dedicated food blogger, I’m just not!

I don’t have any specific recipes for you, but some pictures of previous experiments. First, due to some complaints that the chocolate cookies I made a few posts ago were “too rich” or “too chocolately” (seriously??), I decided to bake a batch with a little less chocolate. I used a basic Nestle Toll House cookie rccipe, but I added the same three kinds of chocolate chips that I used for the chocolate cookies. I highly recommend using Ghiradelli chips – they really are worth it.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few Saturdays ago, I had planned to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast, but when I realized how expensive blueberries were, I bought some strawberries instead. With some cream cheese and Texas toast, my mom and I made some delicious stuffed French toast. You definitely need to use a thick bread for this – Texas toast is perfect. Simply cut it halfway down the middle, and stuff it with a large spoonful of cream cheese mixed with strawberries. Dip these in eggs, milk, cinnamon, and sugar, and cook on the griddle. Top with powdered sugar and whipped cream. Quite indulgent, I know, but perfect for brunch, or a special breakfast for two:)

Stuffed French Toast with Strawberries

Day 1 of Lent : Ash Wednesday

Prayer

Faithful God, trusting in you,

we begin

the forty days of conversion and penance.

Give us the strength for Christian discipline,

that we may renounce evil

and be decisive in doing good.

We ask this through Jesus Christ.

Amen

-taken from Henri Nouwen’s “Show Me the Way: Readings for Each Day of Lent”

change

all this talk about change. all we want is change. something different. something better. but what good will changing the state of our country do us if we, ourselves, do not make any effort to change who we are as human beings? why does the change in our country have any effect on how we treat each other or talk to each other or act towards one another? i’m all for change – but i don’t think a change in America will really change who we are as Americans. if we want to change, we better start now. we should have started a long time ago.

Ohhhh, Christmas…

so, for the past two years, i have not been the biggest fan of christmas. not one bit. but this year, im turning over a new leaf, and am choosing to positively embrace the holiday season. this new attitude could be credited to the fact that i’ve already decorated our house and am about 75% finished my christmas shopping. but no matter what the reason, i realize that i do appreciate Christmas for the religious meaning it has for me, and that negativity towards the commercialization of the holiday really doesn’t make it go away. so here’s to Christmas – may it be joyful, peaceful, and of course, tasty:)

speaking of tasty, i am currently planning my christmas cookie menu. i gave out christmas cookie assortments as gifts last year to my coworkers, and they were a big hit. i have so many recipes i want to bake, however, and i’m having trouble narrowing it down.

meanwhile, i’ll try to post my favorite ones as i bake them – be patient with me, as my camera still is crappy, and i was using my boyfriend’s which is a nice one, but then i went ahead and lost it (whoops).
maybe i’ll get a new one for christmas! we’ll see…

ps – if you have any favorite christmas cookie recipes, let me know! i’d love to try them this year.