My First Madelines August 31, 2008

I finally bought a madeleine pan after scrounging online for a few days. The online ones were a bit too expensive for me but luckily I found one in a super cool store near Columbia University while visiting my sister. The store had everything kitchen related you could possibly want (seriously) and a lot of other stuff for your home too. My pan was only $16. It’s not nonstick but I didn’t want nonstick because I read that those brown to easily making the cookie look dark. (Plus those are more expensive.)

I used this recipe from 101 Cookbooks site. What a great site, another one to add to my blogroll. There’s also a bunch at Eatyet’s blog but I didn’t have all the ingredients for those.

I only got about 1.5 dozen out of this recipe.. not the 2-3 dozen it’s supposed to make. The cookie also tasted very eggy. Don’t know if that’s the recipe’s fault or if that was my fault somehow. Will have to try other recipes to see which one works best with me.

With powdered sugar sprinkled on top.

Potato Crust Pie August 31, 2008

Crust made out of mashed potatoes and filled with chopped broccoli and green bell peppers along with an egg and evaporated milk mixture. Sprinkled with cheese and baked. Next time I will make it more like a quiche and use more eggs, less milk. Good pie for dinner though.

Recipe from Homegrown Wisconsin CSA newsletter (week 8 ) that was shared on Craftster.org.

Potato Crust Quiche – Crystal Lake Gardens

3-8 potatoes (1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes)
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups mixed, chopped, cooked veggies
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1 can (5.3 oz) evaporated milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup bread cubes (optional)

Make the mashed potatoes with butter. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line bottom and sides of 9 inch pie plate with the mashed potatoes. Spread vegetables over potatoes. Sprinkle cheese on top. Beat eggs, milk, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Pour over vegetables, top with bread cubes if desired. Bake 40-50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and serve. Makes 8 servings.

Purple Divine Hat August 26, 2008

My sister bought me some cascade yarn part of my graduation present. It’s been sitting around for a few months but I finally found a pattern I wanted to try. That’s the divine hat. Turned out quite nice I think.

The pattern is by rheatheylia and can be found here.

Divine Hat

Items Needed:
Less than 3oz. of WW yarn
K hook for body
I hook for ribbing

Gauge:3 dc with K hook = 1″ Height isn’t important because you can just add on rounds

To join each round: join with slip stitch around the first front post double crochet of previous round (or beginning ch 2 of the first round), ch 2, then fpdc down into the same front post double crochet you just did the slip stitch to (again, this will be a ch 2 for the beginning round). This pushes the ch 2 behind the fpdc you just made (ignore the ch 2, it doesn’t exist). This isn’t necessary, but it looks better than a standard ch2 and makes the join less obvious.

1. 15 dc in ring
2. Fpdc in every dc (15)
3. Fpdc in every fpdc, dc in the space between fpdcs (15 fpdc, 15 dc)
4. Fpdc in every fpdc, dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 dc)
5. Fpdc in every fpdc, 2 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 2dc)
6. Fpdc in every fpdc, 2 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 2dc)
7. Fpdc in every fpdc, 3 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 3dc)
8. Fpdc in every fpdc, 3 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 3dc)
9. Fpdc in every fpdc, 3 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 3dc)
10. Fpdc in every fpdc, 4 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 4dc)
11. Fpdc in every fpdc, 4 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 4dc)
12. Fpdc in every fpdc, 4 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 4dc)
13. Fpdc in every fpdc, 4 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 4dc)
14. Fpdc in every fpdc, 4 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 4dc)
15. Fpdc in every fpdc, 4 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 4dc)
16. Fpdc in every fpdc, 4 dc in the first space between fpdc and dc (15 fpdc, 15 4dc)

Switch to I hook

17. Sc around (75)
18. Fpdc in one st, bpdc in the next, around (75 sts)
19. Fpdc in one st, bpdc in the next, around (75 sts)
20. Fpdc in one st, bpdc in the next, around (75 sts)
21. Fpdc in one st, bpdc in the next, around (75 sts)

I stopped at row 19 and added a row of single crochet because it was long enough for my head. Yarn was Cascade 220 The Heathers in purple (3.5 g – 220 yds) and I use almost the whole hank. Made with size J hook instead of K because I don’t own a K.

I think this one is quite beautiful too.

Green tea drink August 26, 2008

I was craving something like the green tea tealatta I had recently so I decided to attempt something similar using matcha green tea powder. I dissolved the powder in some hot water, chilled it, added milk, vanilla extract and some cinnamon. Then I used my toy milk foamer and frothed it up. Looks good but it’s not that rich tasting. Need to work on a better recipe.

Franchia Vegetarian Tea House August 23, 2008

I met up with two of my good girl friends today for lunch at Franchia (34th St. and Park Ave). One of my friends is a hotelie graduate so she always picks the yummy restaurants. My other friend is vegetarian so we decided to try out Franchia which is a vegetarian Korean tea house. It was a really nice experience. Very relaxing decor and music. I loved the hanging linen fabric sheets near the entrance and the intricate wooden ceiling in particular. There is outdoor cafe style seating and seating indoors in a cool three level style that allows for openness yet still private.

Dishes range from around $8 to $20 or so and the teas and specialty drinks range from $5 to $10 or so. I had the Penang stir fried noodles with “beef” ($10) and a Green Tea Tealatta ($6). Both were delicious and portioned just right. The noodles reminded me of the typical Chinese chow har fun dish but with thinner rice noodles cooked just right (not mushy and had a nice bite). The faux beef looked very realistic and was a nice texture though it lacked a bit in flavor. The bean curd pieces that was also included were tasty. The tealatta was really good – cold, sweet, slightly creamy, and made from real tea leaves. I also shared a Crispy Tofu Skin sushi and that was really good too. Great flavor and very fresh.

My hotelie friend went for the 5-course pre-fixe with a seaweed soup, 2 appetizers (3 dumplings and 3 “chicken” satay sticks), entree with fried tofu, pumpkin and other items with brown rice, and finally dessert of soy ice cream (butter pecan I believe) and choice of tea. She tried 2nd-pick green tea (whatever that means.. Franchia offers tea classes). My vegetarian friend went for ramen noodle soup with “lobster” balls because she was feeling under the weather. She also had a white peony tea with honey. She said she couldn’t taste the honey but loved the restaurant.

Afterward, we took a peak at the gift “shop” which is really just a shelf on the wall with really nice tea cups, tea sets and tea. Oh yeah, you can even order things to go. We all decided we must go again to try more of their menu. Overall it was a really relaxing lunch with good food and good friends. 5-stars.

Since I forgot my camera (smacks fore head), all I can leave you with is a picture of the soy ice cream that I found on the internet.