On a few recent trips, I've gotten into the habit of searching out locally-made candies/cookies that are not readily available outside of the area. In the age of national big brands, many of these treats are getting harder and harder to find. However, since most of them have a long history, they often evoke nostalgia and fond memories from locals of a certain age. That just makes my search all the more interesting. It's not just about seeking out some obscure candies. In fact, the reaction and enthusiasm from everyone I speak to is what transcend this experience from shopping to traveling.

Berger Cookies is a Baltimore specialty, Berger Cookies. It's a shortbread cookie covered with an equally thick dark chocolatey fudge topping. Yum! Our quest to find Berger Cookies was an adventure. On our way back from a road to Maryland for some crabcakes in Kent Narrows, I suddenly remember reading about these cookies some time ago. I first thought we could find them in any old gas station...but totally came up short. The clerks had absolutely no idea what I was talking about! Fortunately, a customer over-heard our conversation and described the cookies in detail so at least I knew they really do exist.

Next we went to a large supermarket...once again, to no avail. I asked a store clerk about the cookies and his enthusiastic reaction amused me to no end "OMG, they're great! No, we don't have it at the store." and then proceeded to direct us to another supermarket in the area. I was jumping up and down in joy when we finally locate the elusive cookies! It was quite an adventure trying to find these cookies. Was it worth the effort? A resounding yes! Now I understand that dreamy expression on the man's face at the mere mention of these cookies.

Searching out Chick-O-Stick in Houston was equally amusing if not as adventurous. A few days before I were to travel to Houston, I read an article on regional Halloween candies. Pearson Nut Roll is one of my favourites since tasting it at a post-marathon buffet in the Twin Cities in August. Seeing that the author has similar taste, I trust his recommendation for Chick-O-Stick would be equally worthy. Besides, you can't go wrong with the combination of coconut, peanut butter, and honeycomb...flavours that I just can't refuse.

 I love shopping at Central Market when I'm in Texas. I thought the place is too chi-chi to have Chick-O-Stick in stock but it never hurts to ask. I gingerly approached a group of store clerk with my request. What do you know? The oldest one of them all beamed with a huge smile and said to me "let's go find out". The gentleman then proceeded to tell me stories of how he used to love them as a kid and it's been years since he last had them. I almost jumped up and down in excitement when we located a box of at the front cash register in all its glorious retro packaging. I have yet to give them a try since I'm saving them as a treat. Though truth be told, it shouldn't be long before I rip into that plastic bag...

If I'm not much mistaken, my next candies adventure will lead me to South Carolina. I wonder what awaits me there?

The last few weeks I've gotten into a weekend cooking routine. Part of that routine is roasting butternut squash and puree them so they would be ready-to-eat throughout the week. It was the same thing last night except I got the idea to add some miso to the puree for a hint of asian flavour. A "hint" turned into a "blast" after I scooped out two huge spoonfuls of miso and the whole batch of puree turned into a salty mess.

There's no good reason to throw away food so obviously I tried to think of ways to salvage this bowl of beautiful golden puree. That's when it occurred to me...this is just like canned condensed soup! I can thin it with hot water or dashi as needed and I'll have instant butternut squash miso soup! This is one brilliant idea because I love hot soup for lunch at the office but I'm a klutz with transporting liquid in my lunch bag. This is the perfect solution because chances of spills and leaks for this thick puree is pretty slim. The following is the approximate step in case you want to give it a try too:

1. Roast butternut squash in 375F oven until tender.
2. Peel the squash and puree it in a food processor.
3. Add generous spoonfuls of miso (I used a red organic miso) and puree some more. It should taste too salty for straight consumption.
4. Store in fridge as needed.
5. When you're ready to make soup, have hot water or dashi (japanese soup stock) ready. Plop a few generous spoonfuls of puree into a bowl and thin with hot water until desired consistency.

Is it strange to crave pumpkin pie post-holiday season? Well, I did not have any so now I'm fighting this huge craving for creamy spicy pumpkin pie. Actually, it's the pie filling that I dream about so I decided to make a healthy version that can curb my craving without assaulting my waistline. The result is my butternut squash custard. This custard has all the creaminess you come to expect from a good pumpkin pie but barely any of the fat and empty calories. Butternut squash is an excellent source of vitamin A so you can even say this dessert is good for you!

Ingredients

• one small butternut squash (about 1kg)
• 250mL soymilk, unsweetened
• 60mL maple syrup, medium grade
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Split the butternut squash in half, length-wise. Scoop out the seeds and lightly oil the cut-side of the squash. Place the two halves on a 9x13 baking pan, cut-side down. Roast for about 45min until tender. Cool until you can handle the squash without burning yourself.
2. Peel the squash and put all the flesh in a food processor or blender. Process the butternut squash until it becomes a creamy puree. Put the puree into a large mixing bowl.
3. Preheat oven to 350F and place 24 shallow ceramic ramekin on a baking sheet.
4. In a small mixing bowl, stir together soymilk and maple syrup. In another small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, spices, and a large spoonful of squash puree until there is no lumps. Whisk the egg mixture into the squash puree. Finally, stir in the soymilk mixture until you have a smooth batter.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins. Bake for about 30min until custard is set. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

If you want to get fancy, you can caramelize some sugar on top of the custard so you have butternut squash creme brulee.

Since I started using FitDay to keep track of my daily food intake, I've become more aware of eating a greater variety of food in order to be more nutritionally balanced. Eating whole food is obviously better than processed food so it was a good motivation for me to get back into the kitchen at last. We are now knee deep in winter and local produce leans heavily toward all kinds of root vegetables and winter squashes. Not a bad thing at all if you, like me, loves sweet potato (especially the Japanese variety used to make yaki imo, yum!), pumpkin, butternut squash, daikon, and kabocha!

The easiest way to cook these colourful vegetable is to roast them. As long as I am not short on time, all I need to do is to cut them up and let them take care of themselves in the oven. Roasting really concentrates the flavour. With the high sugar content of these vegetable, the deep caramelized flavour after roasting is the number one reason why I love this cooking method.

For dinner tonight, I split an acorn squash in half, rubbed it with a bit of olive oil, and roasted it cut-side down. Even without any seasoning (who needs salt anyway), the squash was delicious. The golden hue of the flesh was such a beautiful contrast with the dark green edible skin. Besides, acorn squash is the perfect size for a dinner for one!

While the acorn squash was roasting, I didn't want to waste a hot oven. So I grabbed everything in the kitchen that I could roast. The result? A dish of carrots and shallots glazed with balsamic vinegar. Who would have thought that a dish I threw together on a whim would turn out so good? While it was cooking, my whole house smelled delicious. I can't wait to visit a farmer's market tomorrow and see what kind of treasure I bring back home.

In my banana baking frenzy yesterday, I also made two neat little layer cakes filled with Meyer lemon curd and frosted with white chocolate cream cheese buttercream. The cake itself is of course my favourite recipe Cordon Rose Banana Cake, all from the trusty The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. This is probably one of my most used books. This banana cake recipe has a fine crumb and the flavour was perked up by some lemon zest. The Meyer lemon curd is less tart than regular lemon curd and it picked up the subtle lemon taste from the cake without overwhelming the banana flavour. The white chocolate cream cheese buttercream is rich and tangy to offset all that fruitiness. This is a light and fresh combination that goes well after a heavy meal.

As you can see from the picture, I did a pretty sloppy job of masking the cake. This is certainly one of those skills that requires frequent practice! As a shortcut to ensure more or less uniform thickness of buttercream all around, I piped the buttercream onto the cake using a large plain tip. This is too slow if you work in a bakery but it's a good trick for home bakers.

I brought one of the cakes to a party last night and it was hastily decorated with chopped walnuts on the side and a ring of walnut halves on the cake. The other cake had a chance to properly rest in the refridgerator overnight so the buttercream firmed up by the time I decorated it this morning. I remembered a bunch of cake stencils that I bought in Hong Kong and it was the perfect opportunity to try them out. Being susceptible to all things cute, of course I chose to stencil a teddy bear onto the cream-coloured buttercream. So absolutely adorable that Teddy wants a bite too!

Happy New Year everyone and may 2009 bring you lots of sweetness everyday!