Throw Out Your Measuring Cups

Ever come across a recipe that called for ingredients by weight rather than by volume?  It's an interesting idea, but one I was very skeptical of, until I tried it for the first time.  It was actually so easy, required less clean up, and yielded a perfect cookie (since precision is so important in baking).  All you need is one mixing bowl and a kitchen scale.  Place your bowl on the scale, hit the tare button and pour in 198 grams of flour, hit tare again and sprinkle in 9.1 grams of baking powder, tare again and add 106 grams of light brown sugar. . . you get the idea. Using this method is easy with flour, but image how it will change your life when used with molasses, peanut butter, or corn syrup.  No more trying to scrape them into and out of a measuring cup.  The recipe for these Better Nutter cookies can be found in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook.  I'm not giving you the recipe here, because while they were good cookies, they aren't nearly good enough to warrant the time and effort required to make them.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Coincidentally, as I sat down to write a post about rainbows, the IZ song started playing in the background, wafting through the resort, just audible over the two other prominent sounds - wind through palm trees and waves crashing on the beach.

This trip to Maui has revealed some of the most spectacular rainbows (as well as an interesting introduction to laughter yoga, and a parasailing conductor named Dragon, but those are stories for another time), pictures cannot do them proper justice, but here's an okay shot just to give you an idea.

I went out surfing earlier this week and as I was sitting out in the ocean with Akima (Maui native, father of two, Retitred Navy, and current surf instructor) waiting for the next good wave, a vibrant rainbow appeared over the mountains in front of us.  He told me that when he was little he didn't buy into all that "gold at the end of the rainbow" stuff.  Instead he believed that there was a big pot of chili at the end of rainbows.  Good food for thought as you're trying to remember to look straight ahead at where you want to go, look behind at the wave, paddle hard, don't pop up too quickly, keep your feet parallel, maintain your weight towards the back of the board, don't flail, try not to worry about hitting the kids out there because their instructor will move them out of the way (not always true), and don't die (I added the last one, but seems like good advice when you're being constantly assaulted by waves and a surf board that seems to have it in for your face).  

What would be at the end of your rainbow?  

The Flight of your Life

Ever think you'd have the nerve to go hang gliding?  Just riding Soaring Over California at the Disneyland Resort brings tears to my eyes and puts butterflies in my stomach.  Picture yourself running and jumping off a cliff at an elevation of 7200 feet, and this time the fresh pine scent is the real deal.  The reward for your bravery is what is surely an amazing flight over Yosemite Valley - Half Dome, a dozen different waterfalls, the Merced River, and El Capitan.

I'll just have to be content with the views from the mountaintop.  Which, let's be honest, are pretty amazing.  The trek up to Glacier Point is one of my favorites.

And I stand corrected, an experienced hang glider told me that he's not jumping off a cliff, he's taking off for the flight of his life.  I can only imaging the thrill!  

Welcome to the Desert

Last week I ventured out of San Francisco for a work related field trip. Needles California was our first destination.

Daytime temperatures of 108 degrees (50 degress warmer than San Francisco on this particular day), preserved mason work marking the famous route 66, beautiful views of the Colorado river and surrounding mountains, and 4 o'clock safety ice cream aren't the only noteworthy aspect of this small dessert town on the Arizona border.

There is also a "terrible" McDonald's:

With "clean" bathrooms:

And motel rooms starting at $29 a night:

Oh how I love to travel and visit new places!

Happy Spring

The days are longer, the farmers market abound with tulips, and my garden is exploding with new growth.  So happy!

Even my iphone is outfitted for Spring.

Shall we throw on some pretty dresses and head outside?

(from Anthropologie)

Strawberry Bars with Meyer Lemon Drizzle



Strawberry Bars with Meyer Lemon Drizzle

These strawberry bars are close to heavenly and pretty easy to whip up too, especially when you have 14 jars of tantalizing homemade strawberry jelly that your Grandmother lovingly packed up and sent home with you last you saw her, as though you had nothing else to do but sit around each afternoon and eat crumpets with strawberry jam while sipping hot tea. Well, if you have such a grandmother and no time for tea, like me, you are in luck. Otherwise, I'm sure they will be just as good with whatever strawberry jam you have but they won't be have that extra dose of loooovvvvee, if you know what I mean.

I made these for my mother-in-law's birthday "cake" since I  must still avoid dairy and they looked good enough to tempt her away from her low-carb diet. They are on the French Skinny diet so I wasn't worried (my slice was the size you see cut on the left, perfectly satisfying)! They were easy and looked pretty too. I wish I took a picture before I cut into them, but, you know how that goes, when I have something sweet and delicious in front of me, a camera is the last thing on my mind, and boy, did these go fast!
If you want to see some fantastic pictures of them finished bars, go here.

Here is mine:

Meyer Lemon & Strawberry Jam Crumb Bars
1 2/3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry jam
Glaze
6 Tbsp powdered sugar, sifted
1-2 Tbsp Meyer lemon juice
1/4 tsp Meyer lemon zest
Preheat oven to 350°F and line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
Beat butter and sugars in a large mixer bowl at medium speed until light and fluffy; add Meyer lemon zest. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture until just combined; dough will resemble coarse meal. Reserve 1 cup dough for topping; use a sheet of parchment to press remaining dough evenly into bottom of prepared baking dish.
Place jam in a small bowl and microwave briefly (about 10 seconds); whisk to loosen. Use a small spatula or the back of a spoon to gently spread jam over dough. Toss remaining dough with 2 teaspoons water to form large crumbs; sprinkle over jam filling. Bake until top is golden, about 23 minutes. Cool completely in baking dish on a rack, then cut into bars with a sharp knife.
To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, Meyer lemon juice, and zest in a small bowl. Drizzle glaze over bars and let set before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days.
Yield – 12 bars (serving size: 1 bar)
Calories – 190
Carbs – 31

 We enjoyed them with the bottle of New Clairvaux Syrah that I purchased when you were here. It was a delicious pairing.

Happy Sunday to you!

xoxo,
Your Big Sister

More Pecans

I absolutely love Mexican Wedding Cookies and, as previously noted, we have an abundant supply of pecans at our disposal.  So get baking!  This recipe was adapted from one found in Tyler Florence's Family Meal cookbook.  Next time you're in town we should try out his San Francisco restaurant, Wayfare Tavern, or visit his kitchen essentials shop in Mill Valley.

1 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Big pinch of salt

1 tsp. water

1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped

Powdered sugar for dusting

1.  Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Beat together butter, sugar, vanilla on medium speed until smooth.  Stir in half of the flour and the salt, then add the water.  Mix in the remaining flour and the chopped pecans.

3.  Form dough into 1-inch balls and place them about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.

4.  Bake, rotating the sheets midway through baking, until the cookies feel almost, but not quite, firm, about 12 minutes.  Let cool completely on the baking sheets.  

5.  Sift some powdered sugar into a bowl.  Toss the cooled cookies a few at a time in the sugar until completely coated with a thick layer.

6.  Enjoy with a strong latte.

Stay tuned for a really easy and yummy chocolate pecan pie recipe!

Merry, Merry

Thanks for the yard clipping, they made a beautiful wreath to dress up my purple front door.

Little Sister's Spiced Pecans

This recipe is quick and easy and it results in a tasty treat that seems pretty sophisticated.  If only you had an unlimited supply of pecans at your disposal.  Oh wait, you do!  So grab a basket and start gathering.

4 tbsp. butter

2 cups pecan halves

2 tbsp. light brown sugar

2 tbsp. roughly chopped rosemary leaves

2 tsp. Worcestershire

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1.  Heat butter in a large cast iron pan over medium heat.  Add pecans and cook, swirling pan constantly until nuts are toasted, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add brown sugar, rosemary, Worcestershire, chili powder, salt, black pepper, and cinnamon and stir until pecans are evenly coated. Continue cooking pecans, stirring constantly until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

3.  Transfer pecans to baking sheet, spread into a single layer and let cool.

Magic at Sunset

I got to spend a few days last week in San Luis Obispo.  What a wonderful place!  Relaxed, friendly, active, eco-conscience, with beautiful weather - what more could you ask for?  Here's a shot from Ventana Grill in Pismo Beach at Sunset (I enthusiatically recommend the sauteed vegetable enchiladas!):

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Love

This recipe makes one exceptional chocolate gooey cake.

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
About 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 large egg
4 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon peanut butter
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon flour

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375° and set a baking sheet on rack in center of oven. Grease a 3/4-cup ramekin with 1/2 tsp. butter, then dust with unsweetened cocoa. Set aside.
2. Put 1 tbsp. butter and the chocolate chips in a small heatproof bowl set over a small pan of simmering water. Heat, stirring, until chocolate melts; let cool a few minutes.
3. Whisk egg, sugar, and peanut butter in a small bowl to blend. Whisk in chocolate mixture until well incorporated, then stir in salt and flour just until combined. Pour batter into ramekin. Set on baking sheet and bake until as done as you like, 7 to 10 minutes for a molten center (a 3/4-in. ring around the edge will look dull) or 10 to 12 minutes for a soft center (cake edge will puff slightly).
4. Let cake cool 2 minutes. Protecting hands, invert onto a plate. Eat right away.

As adapted from this recipe courtesy of Sunset.

I recommend erring on the side of underbaking:

Yellow!

Loving all kinds of yellow color combinations.  Going well with grey, white, blue and green.  Feeling inspired!

Seen at West Elm

Seen at Sunset Celebration

Window Shopping on Fillmore Street

Seen on Catherine the Great

Extremely Strenuous

Fourth time's a charm.  Four years ago I attempted the National Park Service's classified "extremely strenuous" hike to the top of Half Dome.  I made it about 20 feet up the cables but my healthy sense of self preservation persuaded me to turn around.  The 400 feet of cable allows a hiker to ascend the "perfectly inaccessible" granite peak.  In theory these cables were a great idea, but the path drops off sharply on both sides, and if you're afraid of heights, the National Park Services' assurance that relatively few people have plummeted to their death isn't persuasive enough.  See what I mean:

As I sat at the base of the cables, feeling like a complete loser, I watched 12 year olds, women in flip flops, and guys too "cool" to use the cables make their way to the top.  I was determined to try again one day.  The next year Yosemite decided to enact a permit system and only allow 400 people a day access past subdome (before the permit system was in place an estimated 1200 people would climb Half Dome on a peak summer day).  We weren't one of the lucky permit recipients so that year we hiked to the top of Upper Yosemite Fall.  The next year (year 3) we were able to secure permits but crazily the cables were still down in June due to unprecedented snow fall that winter so we hiked to Glacier Point.  That brings us to last weekend.  Permits in hand we hit the trail at 5am.  Getting to be out in nature without any other hikers and seeing views like this of Vernal Fall with the moon in the background makes getting up before the sun totally worth it:

This year I was well prepared.  I knew exactly what to expect and I planned accordingly.  This preparation included spending a good 30 minutes trying on all the gloves available for sale at Home Depot looking for the perfect grippy pair.  I was very seriously tackling this glove selection process and contemplating the pros and cons of each pair, so much so that a fellow shopper approached me to ask what type of project I was working on.  The gloves did the trick!  Here's me at the base of the cables:

And here's me at the top:

I'm so proud!  If you want to read up more on this hike, check it out here.  You should also definitely watch this Yosemite video; breathtaking.   

Lunar Eclipse

Are you setting your alarm to see the partial lunar eclipse tomorrow morning at 4:03AM?  Here's what the moon looks like from my window in San Francisco tonight.  What does it look like in your world?  Hope you are enjoying the view from your backyard with a good glass of wine and a little country music playing in the background.

Celebration Weekend

Sunset Magazine's annual open house celebration was this past weekend. I got a lot of fun inspiration. Here's my favorite. . .a beautiful outdoor shower! It takes me back to the Grand Hyatt in Kauai; can you smell the coco-mango bath products?

This Weekend

Happy Birthday Mr. President!  Thanks for the day off; I love a three day weekend.

This weekend Claire and I endeavored to learn the mysteries behind the Winchester house.  Staircase to the ceiling??  Many things are why.

We hiked in the Presidio and across the Golden Gate bridge.  Loving the beautiful sunny days, but longing for some good snow and skiing in Tahoe.

And I rediscovered why people wait in line at Tartine.  The gougère was amazing!  I found this recipe on line.  I wonder if this is really Tartine's recipe, and if it is, can it be successfully recreated at home?  Maybe a project for next weekend.

America's Test Kitchen Best-Cookies-Ever

Perfect chocolate chip cookies or science experiment?  Both!  America's Test Kitchen set out to improve upon the classic Nestle Toll House cookie.  They found that melting and browning a portion of the butter before combining it with the other ingredients gave the cookies a chewy texture and nutty flavor.  The flipped ratio of brown and white sugar enhances chewiness, and the combination of one egg and one egg yolk upped the moistness factor.  Finally, the crispy edges are achieved by allowing the sugar to rest and dissolve in the butter.

I've never made a cookie like this before, but I'll try anything once.  Well not sky diving.  Regardless, if you follow the recipe below, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

14 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 egg
1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.  Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Heat 10 tablespoons butter in skillet (preferably not non-stick) over medium-high heat until melted, about two minutes.  Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, one to three minutes.  Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl.  Stir remaining four tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated.  Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds.  Let mixture stand for three minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds.  Repeat process of resting and whisking two more times, until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. stir in flour mixture until just combined, about one minute.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Arrange balls of dough 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet, make balls slightly larger than normal.  Eight cookies per sheet.

Bake cookies one tray at a time until they are golden brown and still puffy and the edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 8-10 minutes.  Rotate cookie sheets halfway through baking.

Study French

My plan is to spend a month in Paris in 2013 (haven't run this idea by my boss yet) and I'd like to know enough French to order my daily pain au chocolat and cafe au lait in the charming neighborhood bakery I will undoubtedly discover and fall in love with.  This is the motivation behind my first goal for 2012.

In addition to gaining access to buttery, flaky pastries, I want to be able to ask for directions (in an accent that isn't offensive), chat with merchants at the local markets, and read menus.  As a first step, I bought a Groupon for French classes in the Financial District that I can attend after work.  I also borrowed a "learn French in your car" CD set that I will listen to on road trips when I'm not singing along to my favorite country songs.  

I'm inspired by this picture from my sister's Pinterest account.  If all goes according to plan, this will be me next year!

Merry and Bright

In keeping with annual tradition, despite having just survived a 15 hour flight home from Thailand, friends and family gathered today at my house for cookie decorating.  There was eating, drinking, and merriment making.  I love catching up with friends from far away and having a house full of my favorite people spending a relaxing afternoon together.  

Mom is all smiles:

Leslie learns to make burekas:

Overcome with the Christmas spirit of giving, I'm sharing the recipe below:

Burekas

1 package of puff pastry sheets

8 oz farmers cheese

3 Tbs crumbled feta cheese

4 Tbs grated mozzarella

2 eggs (one for the filling mixture, one for "gluing" the pockets and to brush on top)

2-3 Tbs sesame seeds

Thaw the pastry sheets as directed on the package.  Prepare the filling by combining all 3 cheeses and 1 egg.  Unfold each pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about half the original thickness. Cut each sheet into 12 squares of equal size.  Fill each square with about 1 tsp of the cheese mixture.  Brush the edges of each square with egg and fold over dough to form a triangle, pinch closed with your fingers. Arrange on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Brush the top of each pocket with egg and sprinkle with a pinch of sesame seeds. Bake for 15-20 minutes in an oven that's been preheated to 400 degrees.  Best hot out of the oven, enjoy!

It was a serious productions of rolling, cutting, baking and decorating. Don't worry we saved some cookies for you:

  

Beyond a shadow of a doubt

Yes, there's a reason why I've been lurking instead of headlining here...a bonafide baby sugar-bun in the oven! After many years of wishing and hoping, our 2nd miracle has occurred...a baby sister is finally on her way. It's amazing how different a second pregnancy is from the first. There sure is a lot less time spent focusing on the details. Hope this babe doesn't mind missing out on a having a pregnancy journal, I haven't started it yet and we're past halfway to delivery...sigh! Well, there it is. Now, back to nesting...
xoxo,
Big sister