My Faves

Something I religiously post on Instagram titled "Things that makes me happy #832752891" are flowers that we get every other week when we go to the market for our groceries. People shouldn't ignore the sale buckets of flowers at Trader Joes. I've found some really gorgeous bunches from those buckets. This time around, we picked up some Tulips and Daffodils. The Calla Lily is from our backyard.

Another thing I'm really excited about is the Foodie Dice. Flipboard, an iOS app is really dangerous especially if you subscribe to some gadget magazines. I showed Amado the Kickstarter video they had for Foodie Dice and he was completely sold within the first couple of seconds. Hoping to put it to use next week. 

New ideas and fresh conversations are always fun to have so I proposed to Amado that we cook dinner for friend atleast once a month. But the catch is we can only invite two friends of ours who's never met each other before. Oh and another requirement would be to wear something comfortable for that night, pajamas would be ideal. This gadget should help with setting a menu for those evenings. 

The set includes 4 seasonal veggies dice and 5 primary dice. One each of cooking method, meats, grains/carb, herbs and bonus ingredients. I will always cross my fingers that the bonus ingredients die lands on bacon.

Just select the current season veggie die, toss that in the jar with the 5 primary dice and let 'em roll. This should eliminate our never-ending back and forth "Whatever you want!" answer when trying to determine what to cook for dinner.

Maneki-Neko Mug

"No! you are not getting that." That was the first thing I said to Amado when he picked up this coffee mug while we were at the grocery store. It's so cheesy and didn't match anything that I use daily. It simply wasn't me. But after a few cups of coffee, I'm really hesitating to admit this, the maneki-neko (lucky cat) mug is starting to grow on me.

I would love to learn how to make baumkuchen (the pastry above) but it looks like I need this contraption that they use in all the how-to videos I've watched online. There has to be an easier way to make one!

Fruit Tart

I've been on a pie baking craze lately because of the new pastry mat and pastry blender that I bought a few weeks ago. Anything that calls for a dough usually means I'd have to sanitize our entire dining table as my working station. I still do it even if it's really annoying but not without grunting and muttering unpleasant stuff. Yes, you will catch me talking to myself when I'm working on almost anything. So far I've made mini apple pies and chocolate pecan pie (Instagram 1 & 2) which Amado both requested.

For no reason at all, not that I need any, I decided to try making a fruit tart. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. 

Pie Crust (Makes 2 sheets)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1/4 to 1/2 cup cold water 2 tablespoon granulated sugar

Instructions
1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt then mix well.
2. Add the butter in the middle and mix using a pastry mixer.
3. Gradually pour the cold water while mixing the ingredients. Continue mixing until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
4. Gather the dough and mold it into a ball-shaped figure.
5. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes to harden the butter.
6. Sprinkle flour on a clean flat surface and flatten the refrigerated dough using a rolling pin. The flattened dough should be wide enough to cover a 9 inch circular baking pan.
7. Arrange the flattened dough on top of the baking pan and cut the extra edge using a pair of scissors. 8. Refrigerate while doing the filling.

For the pastry creme, I used the same recipe I use for when I make the filling for Mille Crepe (minus the whipped cream). The recipe needs tweaking since it's a bit runny. Maybe use flour instead of corn starch. Fruit tarts need filling that holds its shape and stays in place but Amado swears he likes it the way it was.

Maricel - Portraits

Often we only see one aspect of someone's personality and we forget theres more to them than what we are used to seeing. I've known Maricel to be the extremely outgoing, no holds barred, always laughing and easy going kinda girl. For her birthday, she decided to celebrate it by spoiling herself and getting some portraits done. She wanted to celebrate herself in a different light which I hope I captured.  Here are a couple of photos from her set.

I wanted to break the ice and have her be more comfortable during the session. She invited a close friend of ours to help me with the shoot and I used him as a distraction to get this candid shot.