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.