Knitty baker

Golden Cola Syrup

2013-05-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

I had this idea that I want to try making homemade soda. I don't drink soda on a regular basis but every now and then I have a craving so I'd have a glass of coke/pepsi or buy one of those fancier and "supposedly" healthier soda from fancy grocery stores.

So I borrowed The Artisan Soda Workshop and Homemade Soda from the library. Flipping through both cookbooks, I opted to try the Golden Cola Syrup from Homemade Soda.

The recipe is pretty simple, requires combining cinnamon, minced fresh ginger, lemon and orange zest, star anise, and dried lavender. It sounded a bit odd to add dried flowers to me and it took me a while to find it but I added it anyway.

Then add water and sugar, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Here is the result.

I strained the liquid and pour into a jar, then add seltzer or soda water.

Taste? It does not taste like coke or pepsi for sure. Which I guess is not the goal here. But the taste is very mild. Not enough cola-type taste and honestly I am a bit disappointed. I know I should not expect to have a coke in my hand (then I can quit my job and open a soda company lol). But I was expecting this to have more bite.

In any case, that ends my homemade drinks experiment for now. I think I'll stick to store-bought healthier in the meantime until the urge to experiment kicks in again.

If you would like to try making soda, I found a similar recipe on the NY Times.

Open-Faced Designer Apple Pie

2013-05-09T10:38:00.003-06:00

Man, I have been slacking lately! Has it really been over a month since my latest post?

I am having a writer's block. I have several draft posts pending. They are populated with the photos. All I need is the words. But that's the problem. The words. I don't know what to write and don't feel like writing. Today I saw a post on The Kitchn on a new cookbook, Plum. The few pictures there look so yummy and makes me want to eat and take pictures and heck, I remember I haven't blogged for a while (do you follow the train of thought there? :)). So here is a new post - sort of.

I made this yummy pie back in February (!) for a potluck at a friend's house. The recipe is from The Pie & Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I bake a lot from Rose's recipes. Her books are my go-to recipe. Not because they are easy. In fact, Rose's recipes usually requires extra step, more time, and more dishes - sometime of them produce a lot of dishes. I go to Rose because her recipes are stellar in taste and very detailed in instruction.

This pie calls for using a special crust called Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust. It uses both cream cheese and butter and results in a very flaky and tasty dough.

I have made this pie crust so often that I am confident enough to do some shortcuts and modifications along the way. Such as just mixing all the ingredients by hands. Not in a plastic bag. I know Rose will frown on this. She has a reason for suggesting to mix the ingredients by hand. I also took out the cider vinegar from the recipe. It only uses 2 teaspoon and I don't use cider vinegar, so in the past I'd buy a whole bottle to use 2 teaspoon and the rest will just sit in the pantry until it expires. So no cider vinegar. And honestly, I'm not sure what the cider vinegar does to the pie dough, but I like the taste of the crust better without the vinegar.

After the dough is draped and formed around the pie plate, refrigerate it for an hour or so to firm it up. I usually throw it in the freezer for about 1/2 hour.

The baked crust.

Leaf cutouts. I do have some leaf cookie cutters but they are smaller and I don't like the shape so I prefer to hand cut them.

Sliced and macerated apples arranged nicely into the pie. This part takes a while to do. I tried to get every slice in and wedge some in. It looks pretty full right now but they will shrink up after baking.

Attach the leaf cutouts with eggwash.

Baked pie!

Yummy yummy crust.

My friends loved the pie and gave a thumb's up!

You can find the crust recipe on Rose's blog (pdf format and web format

For the pie recipe, you can find it in The Pie and Pastry Bible.

Walnut Bread

2013-03-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

This bread is my new love. I have been making it for several weeks now. Another winner from Jim Lahey's My Bread book. This is called Walnut Bread but it actually has raisins as well.

It also uses some cinnamon. As you can see from the photo below, I use them rather liberally.

This is the initial dough after mixing.

This is the dough after overnight fermentation (about 12 hours).

Dumped the dough on a floured surface.

Fold it like a letter.

Place it seam side down on a lint-free cloth, dusted with cornmeal. Also dust the top with cornmeal. Cover with the cloth and place in a warm place for a couple of hours.

After 2 hours.

Into the preheated dutch oven.

After baking for 30 minutes in the dutch oven with the lid on, and additional 15 minutes with the lid off.

I love how tall the slice is!

We ate this as is. No jam or butter or toasting required.

Recipe: My Bread

Chocolate Genoise

2013-03-10T18:39:00.002-06:00

Every now and then I crave chocolate cake. A couple of months ago when that happened, I made Devil's Food Cake with Midnight Ganache from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. I made them in cupcake format and they weren't very pretty so I didn't bother to take pictures and blog about it. I made too much Midnight Ganache so I froze the leftover, knowing they will come in handy at some point.

This week I want chocolate cake again. So I made 1/2 recipe of Genoise Au Chocolate from the Cake Bible and used the frozen Midnight Ganache leftover. There was enough ganache leftover to frost the top of the cake, which is perfect as this ganache is tasty enough I don't need more than that. I also used some Grand Marnier in the sugar syrup, to add some more yummy taste to the cake.

The dried fruits on top of the cake are some dried cherries that's been soaked with sugar syrup and Grand Marnier again (yes there is a theme here lol). I didn't soak them long enough to really absorb all the liquid but it turned out fine.

It is a pretty yummy combo. Definitely not bad for a weekend whim of "let's make a chocolate cake" using whatever I happen to have at home. The cherries definitely could have used more soaking, they are a tad dry, but overall the cake is pretty tasty. Definitely a re-do!

ABC: No-Knead Cherry Pecan Bread

2013-03-04T18:43:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been a month since the Boston Cream Pie and is now time to bake again for ABC. I do love this monthly schedule though. And Hanaa, I love the mix between dessert/sweets and breads.

I was really looking forward to this bread! I love love love No Knead Bread. have been making the basic version of the No Knead Bread for several weeks now. This one from King Arthur is a bit different in that it uses a combination of AP flour, rye flour, and WW flour. I wonder why it uses AP instead of bread flour (which is what the original No Knead recipe uses).

I did forget to buy chocolate chips so this version has no chocolate (BOOOO!).

Except for not having chocolate, I followed the recipe on the King Arthur website instead of the blog. The blog is more thorough but the website's recipe is the one that was more similar to Jim Lahey's version. I am used to this version so it felt easier.

The bread was easy to put together. I dumped all the ingredients in the bowl and mix with a spatula. Then cover it with a plate and let it sit overnight on the counter.

After 12 hours fermentation, it looks like this. It is bigger and smells pretty yeasty (yum!).

I then dumped the bread on the floured counter, fold it like a letter and then placed it, seam side down, on a cloth that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.

Sprinkle the top of the bread with more cornmeal, fold the cloth over the bread, and let it rise for 2 hours.

I baked the bread in a preheated Cuisinart dutch oven (5 qt) for 20 minutes with a lid on, then took off the lid and continue baking for another 1/2 hour.

Ta-Da!

Yummy-looking bread.

Taste:
The bread tasted pretty good. I am a little sad that there is a slight sour taste in the dough. I don't know if it is because I forgot to use chocolate or it's because the cherries were sour (or because of both). In any case, it is fixable. I think I just need to eat it with some jam or butter or both (hmmmm....) And I of course would need to make this bread again with chocolate!

Kofta b'siniyah

2013-02-27T12:28:00.004-07:00

I am having a very busy week and my plan to post earlier this week did not happen. Still, I do want to post because my promise to myself this year is that I will post once a week. I made this dish weeks ago when I borrowed Jerusalem from the library. It is a beautiful cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. The book has since been returned to the library and these meatballs are long gone but I still crave for it. I am thinking about purchasing the book. Though currently I am doing a low-fat-vegetarian-diet, but I do crave meat every now and then. If you like middle eastern dish, you should check this out. It has a range of recipes from appetizer, salad, soup, meat, and dessert.

This recipe is really easy. Mix ground lamb and beef with minced onion and garlic. I manually minced the onions. This particular onion was a spicy one. I ended up with tears running down my cheek! I was too lazy to use a food processor because I don't want to clean it, but I think next time I will do so!

Add some chopped pine nuts.

Add finely chopped parsley and some spices. I improvised on the spices and use a combination of cumin, coriander, cinnamon, paprika, salt and pepper. I've also added minced serrano pepper. I used 1 only and removed the seeds.

Combine the mixture by hand.

Shape into little balls. I use a scale and weigh each one at 25 grams.

Ready for searing and baking.

I sear them on a non stick pan at medium heat. The purpose of searing them is to seal in the juice. Make sure you sear them on all sides. Then bake in a 400' F pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes or until done.

Recipe: Jerusalem

Other recipes for Kofta:
Turkish Meatballs Kofta at Food.com
Kofta Kebabs at AllRecipes
Kofta Kebabs with Tzatziki sauce at Food Network

Jamaican Ginger Beer

2013-02-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

I have not made a lot of drinks in my life but I think it is safe to say that this one would rank at the top for the strangest one.

It is very good. And healthy. It is basically a ginger juice so it is a very concentrated flavor. I do not recommend if you don't like ginger. But if you do or kinda do, I suggest that you try it. You can also really dilute it with some water or seltzer so the ginger taste is a background flavor instead of it being a full-on concentrated ginger juice.

I compared this with store bought ginger beer and it is different. The store-bought version is carbonated and not as gingery. It is also super sweet. The sugar content is as high as what's in a soda can.

pretty ginger root

The recipe calls for pulverizing a pound of ginger with water and then straining them for the juice. Then add more water to the ginger flesh and straining it again. Repeat again for the third time.

This is the first strained ginger juice. I love how green yellow it is. And it smells so gingery and good!

Once all the ginger juice have been extracted, add 1/2 cup fresh lime juice. Then add sugar. I start with 1 cup, stir well and taste, and add more if you desire more sweetness.

I served this with a couple of ice cubes and some mint.

Recipe: Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects

No-Knead Bread

2013-02-12T08:28:00.001-07:00

I have tried this bread before, back in 2009 when I first started baking. It turned out terrible! I can't remember the specifics now but it was bad enough to make me think that this is not the bread/method for me. I'm sure I did something wrong. Yes you may laugh here. This is supposed to be the easiest bread and I mess it up. I do have a tendency to mess up easy things.

But I didn't have enough knowledge to know what it was and at the time I was more concerned about finding a recipe that works for me. I want a good bread that I could make every week so we don't have to buy bread from the store anymore. A bread baking friend once told me that homemade bread is so good and so much better than store bought. I always wonder about this and secretly jealous. The bread that I made does not taste as good as the store-bought.I am talking about hearth type breads, bread that has only a handful of ingredients: flour, salt, yeast, water.

Over the years, I have tried many bread recipes. Some of them turned out, some didn't. Often I got different results from one week to another on the same recipe. They are usually edible, but it was still not good enough for me. End of last year I tried Peter Reinhart's Ciabatta. The first time I tried it, it turned out pretty good. I made it again the week after and it was better. And then I borrowed My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method by Jim Lahey from the library. I remembered the failed No-Knead bread from 2009 and wondered if I should try it again. Jim's book had step by step pictures of this bread so I thought why not.

And I am so glad I tried this again. This is probably the best looking bread I've made. It tastes as good as it looks. And it is BETTER than store-bought! It is a big hit in the house, I have made this several times now.

According to the book, this is the basic No-Knead bread recipe and is the basis for all the other recipes.

No-Knead Bread
Yield: one 1 1/2-pound loaf

3 cups (400 grams) bread flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/14 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) cool water
cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting, as needed

Method:
First combine the flour, salt, yeast, and water.

Here is what it looks after mixing.

Then cover the bowl and let it ferment at room temperature. I cover mine with a towel and store it in the microwave so it's away from draft.

Here is what it looks like the next morning, after 12 hours of fermentation.

Next, dump it onto a floured surface.

Fold it like a letter.

Then move to a lint-free cloth. I used a cloth napkin and dust it with cornmeal.

Dust the top of the dough with corn meal as well.

Loosely cover with the cloth. Set it aside in a draft-free spot for a couple of hours until it doubled in volume.

After 2 hours, here is what it looks like.

45 minutes before the 2 hour mark, place a 5 qt cast iron pot in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Remove the preheated pot from the oven. Carefully and use a good pot holders as it is very hot. Remove the lid, then carefully invert the dough from the towel into the pot.

I still need to practice the art of inverting the dough into the pan well. The dough is not perfectly inverted as you see in the photo below. If you have 5 minutes, watch the youtube video of Mark Bittman and Jim Lahey demonstrating this bread and how perfectly round Jim's bread is.

Put the lid back on the pot and move it back into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 15- 20 minutes, until the bread is nicely brown.

Pretty...

Remove the bread from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. After about 5 seconds the bread will start singing.

Enjoy as is or with some jam or cheese (or and cheese if that is what you fancy haha). We love this as is on the day it's baked. After a couple of days if there is some left, we usually have it toasted with some homemade marmalade.

Recipe: My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Bread

Other No-Knead recipes from the web:
No-Knead Bread at the New York Times
No-Knead Bread at Steamy Kitchen
No-Knead Bread video of Mark Bittman and Jim Lahey

ABC: Boston Cream Pie

2013-02-03T19:40:00.001-07:00

For this week's ABC selection, I decided to make 1/3 recipe. The full size of this cake uses a 9 inch pan. I was too lazy to measure by volume. I do have 7 inch, 6 inch, and 4 inch cake pans. So I went with 6 inch. The size turned out to be perfect. The cake rose pretty high. However, if you look at the picture above, the cake sunk in the middle. When I took the cake out of the oven I was so sad. I didn't know why it sunk and it looked terrible. I only baked this for 20 minutes since this is a smaller size. I thought maybe I bake it a few minutes too long, but it should still not sink in the middle. Hubby cheerfully suggested that I should cut a hole in the middle and call it a bundt cake :). If you have seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding this comment should ring a bell.

Now that I'm sitting here and typing up this post, I looked at the recipe one more time and realized that I had accidentally used baking soda where I should have used baking powder. Ahhhhhhh.. that explained the sunked middle section. Baking soda reacted differently than baking powder. I don't know enough about baking science to explain why (Hanaa, do you know??) but I have heard that using the wrong thing can be catastrophic.

Though this cake will never win an award based on its look, it is pretty tasty. What I love most about it is how easy it is to put together. Which is probably why I mistakenly read the ingredients. I thought it was so easy that I was doing a couple other things in the kitchen at the same time. Also, it is not as fun to bake from the internet. I still prefer to have a paper recipe where I can keep it next to me and care that it got splash. It is also nice to be able to scribble down next to the recipe.

Ok enough ranting, let's go to some photos, shall we?

Ready to mix eggs and sugar.

It only took 5 minutes for it to be ribbony.

Sifted flour, baking soda (should be baking powder), and salt.

All ingredients mixed!

In the pan.

Baked "bundt" cake.

I used the pastry cream recipe from The Pie and Pastry Bible (1/3 recipe).

Taste
It is pretty good. I'd say I have had better Boston Cream Pie, but for the easiness of it, I guess I should not complain!

Recipe: Boston Cream Pie

ABC is a small baking club led by my friend Hanaa. We bake once a month and for 2013 we are baking from the King Arthur website. To join or to read more about it, please head over to ABC main blog.

Meyer Lemon-Ginger Marmalade

2013-01-28T14:21:00.002-07:00

Marmalade success!!!

I am so so happy that this turned out. As you guys know, I tried to make Orange Marmalade last December. It turned out. Way too sweet and bitter at the same time. The sad marmalade ended up in trash.

My original plan was to make orange marmalade again with a different recipe, until I saw some Meyer Lemon at the grocery store. I have never tried Meyer lemon before so this was a good opportunity to try.

The recipe I used is from The Art of Preserving. I borrowed a copy from the library. It is by far the easiest marmalade recipe I've seen. I don't always take the easy route but man it was so nice not having to peel the lemons, cut the peel into sticks, segment the fruits, and gather the piths and seeds in cheesecloth. Instead, with this recipe all I had to do was slice the lemons thinly and cook them. It goes by so much faster :).

And the taste is so good! I added a bit less sugar than the recipe because I like the tartness of the lemon. I also double the amount of ginger, but the ginger taste is not very pronounced. It is yummy though and as you can see from the picture below, we are halfway through our first jar.

I have since purchased this book. I found a used copy on Amazon for $10 (including shipping). Though it is used, it is barely used and pretty much looks like brand new.

Recipe: The Art of Preserving

Other recipes from the net:
Meyer Lemon Marmalade at Simply Recipes
Meyer Lemon Marmalade at Food & Wine

Gravlak

2013-01-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Another winner from Jam It, Pickle it, Cure It book by Karen Solomon. I borrowed this book from the library last month and made the Lemon Curd. I have bought a copy of it and marked off all the recipes I want to make from it.

Gravlak is a Nordic dish made of raw salmon, cured in salt, sugar, and dill. I have never heard of this before. The only form of cured salmon I know is smoked salmon. I love smoked salmon but it is a bit pricey and often too salty, so it is not something I get to enjoy often.

Gravlak is not exactly the same as smoked salmon. But you do get the same salty salmon taste and similar texture. It is cheaper and less salty so is a winner in my book.

I have made this 3 times in the past 3 weeks and already craving for a fourth batch.

I have a habit of halving recipes. I usually do this when I'm trying something new. I don't know if we are going to like it so it's better to make smaller quantity.

To make this gravlak, I bought 1/2 lb of fresh Norwegian salmon. It is important to buy fresh salmon that has not been previously frozen. I have no idea how the salmon stay fresh from Norway to Denver though. Do they just pack it in ice? That's a lot of ice to use.

First cut the salmon lengthwise. Depending what your salmon piece looks like, you might have to cut it differently but always cut against the grain.

Then, patt the salmon dry with a paper towel. We want to salmon to be dry so the seasoning will stick. Also, the basic of curing process is to get the moisture out so as the salmon sits it will produce liquid.

Mix a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of salt in a small container and sprinkle it all over the salmon. You can't see from the picture but my salmon still has its skin. Leave the skin on. You also want to season the skin with the salt sugar mixture.

Sprinkle the salmon with freshly ground pepper and top it with a handful of fresh dill.

Wrap it in plastic wrap.

Place in a pyrex container. You want to use a container that can close well. Use an airtight container if you have one. It's no fun to have a fishy-smelling refrigerator. The salmon is going to emit liquid during the curing process so I place a piece of paper towel on the bottom of the container to absorb the liquid.

Let the salmon cure in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Rinse the salmon off and patt dry. Throw away the plastic wrap and dill. At this point I usually remove the skin.

Slice and enjoy!

I find that this keeps for 1 1/2 weeks in the fridge in an airtight container. I have been eating the gravlak plain on a piece of bread or on the side with some salad. You can check out some of the recipes below for ideas on additional topping (capers, lemon) or homemade sauce.

Recipe: Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It by Karen Solomon

There are a lot of recipes out there for Gravlak. Here are some that looks good:
Homemade Gravlak at Love and Olive Oil
Dilled Gravlak with Mustard Sauce at epicurious
Small-Batch Gravlak with Fennel-Orange Butter at the NY Times
Gravlak with Mustard Sauce by Ina Garten

Ciabatta

2013-01-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

I have been making Ciabatta from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread Every Day several times now. The recipe makes 2 large loaves of ciabatta but I've been halving it and making 1 loaf at a time. It is super good and pretty easy. I think it's a much simpler method than the Ciabatta in his Bread Baker's Appretince book. This version does not require poolish and everything can be done in one bowl, no mixer required. I don't own Peter's BBA book but I am curious how the 2 ciabatta compare, tastewise. So one of these days I will try the BBA recipe and blog about it. But for now, let me show you how this one from Artisan Bread Every Day is.

Half recipe of Ciabatta used 2 1/4 cups (283 grams) of unbleached bread flour, 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp instant yeast, 1 cup of chilled water, and 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil.

Mix flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl. I used a pyrex container. Then prepare your cold water. The water should be cool, so I put 3-4 ice cubes in the water. Let it sit for a few minutes until the ice starts melting and the water feel cool to the touch.

Dump the cup of water into the flour mixture.

Mix with a wooden spoon for a minute or so until they are combined. Then let it rest for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, mix it again with the wooden spoon more vigorously for another minute.

Let it rest for 10 minutes.

At this point Peter said to dump the mixture onto a greased countertop for the next part. I like to do this all in the container because the container comes with a cover so I can just put the cover on between the resting period. Also, I used the same container for storage. So I just washed the container and dump the dough back in.

However, the dough looks much smoother now than the previous picture, doesn't it? It is pretty unbelievable what the 10 minute resting does (and what a clean bowl does as well!).

Next part is the stretching of the dough.

Ready...

With wet hands, take one side and pull it up.

Take the other side and pull it up again.

Lift the whole dough to turn it over.

Dough flipped over.

Place it back in the container and cover.

Then cover the container and let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Repeat the whole process 3 more times, each with 10 minutes repetition.

Refrigerate the dough overnight.

he next day, take out the dough 3 hours before baking. Let it rest in the container for an hour before proceeding to shaping.

After an hour resting, it is time to shape the dough! Prepare a baking sheet with floured silpat or parchment paper.

Move the dough carefully onto the baking sheet.

With wet hands, shape it onto a rectangle.

Take the edge of the dough and fold it over.

Folded like an envelope.

Using a bowl scraper, insert it at the end of the dough...

...and slowly flip it over so the seam is on the bottom.

Flipping.

Flipped :).

Spray the top of the dough with baking spray.

Cover with a lint-less towel. Let it rise for an hour.

After an hour.

Flip the dough over so the seam is on the top. Let rest for another hour.

After an hour.

Baked ciabatta!

15 minutes after the 2nd rise, preheat the oven to 550 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare it for hearth baking. This means placing a baking stone on the middle rack and an empty pan on the lowest rack of the oven. Then slide the baking pan onto the baking stone, cover the window of your oven, and pour a cup of water onto the preheated empty pan. Be careful when doing this. I usually wear oven mittens when I pour the water because I don't want to get steam burn. Those are nasty and very painful.

You can also check out a one minute video tutorial posted by Peter Reinhart on how to do hearth baking on YouTube.

After pouring the water onto the preheated pan, lower the temperature to 450'F and bake the bread for 12-15 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes more or until it's golden brown like the picture below or the internal temperature is about 190'F.

Up close and personal on the texture.

Bread interior! I love seeing those holes :).

This is best eaten on the same day. When I have leftovers, I often have it toasted with some jam. Yum!

Granola

2013-01-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

I seem to be on a roll of making snacks lately. First there was the orange marmalade, then lemon curd, next hummus, and now granola.

I have never made granola before. Now that I have, I wondered why it took me so long to make this. It is so easy and good. It took 15 minutes to put together and 1/2 hour to bake.

I used a recipe that I found on The Kitchn. If you've never visited the site, you should. It has all kinds of recipes and tips and tricks that are interesting and helpful.

Here are my step by step photos for the granola:

Place 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats into a bowl.

Add 1 cup of brown rice cereal.

Add 1 1/4 cup of cranberries and raisins.

Add a pinch of salt and mix it all together.

Heat up 1/2 cup of brown rice syrup in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. You can find brown rice syrup at your natural food store. I got mine at Whole Foods. They are about $5 for a jar, which is a bit pricey but it goes a long way. I've only used 1/6 of the jar for this recipe.

Next, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder. Mix all together.

Place in a pan, lined with parchment paper that has been lightly coated with baking spray.

Walk to the oven. See the cup of toasted pecans from earlier that was supposed to be in the granola. WHOOPPS!

Rewind...

Dump everything back into the pyrex bowl with the pecans. Mix it all together.

Place it back in the pan, using the same parchment paper.

Bake 25 minutes at 325 degrees.

Slice into 8 pieces. Yummy-licious. I wrap each slice with wax paper and store it in an airtight container.

I am not posting the recipe because I followed it pretty closely. You can check it out on here on the Kitchn's website.

ABC: Panettone Muffins

2012-12-31T17:17:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2012 was a good year for you and may 2013 be even better!

For this year, I've decided to join a baking club: ABC. It stands for Avid Baker's Challenge. ABC is ran by my friend Hanaa and it's a group that baked once a month. I knew Hanaa from my time as Heavenly Cake Bakers (HCB), baking through Rose's Heavenly Cakes. After that baking club ended in 2011, Hanaa asked me to join ABC but at that time I wasn't ready. Having baked through a whole book of 95 recipes in 2 years, I wanted a little break from baking and blogging. But I'm ready now and a couple of months ago I asked Hanaa to join ABC for 2013. For 2013, the group voted to bake from the 3 choices that Hanaa presented us: Flour by Joanne Chang, King Arthur Flour website, or Baking Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen. King Arthur Flour won.

For January, we are baking Panettone Muffins. I love pannetone so I was pretty excited about it. However, this recipe does make 12 muffins and having baked a couple other sweet things during this weekend, I thought I would just bake part of the recipe. So I split the recipe by 4. Yes 4! Hanaa and other ex-HCB friends are familiar with my habit with MO, as they've called it. I've had great success in the past making small portions of recipes and with this one as well.

I have a jar of dried fruit mix at home. I think it's a combo of raisins, cranberries, pineapple, papaya, and I don't know what else. They are a few months old and have been forgotten, sitting sadly somewhere in the deep pantry. I thought this would be a good opportunity to make sure they don't go to waste. I mix them with rum and it's amazing how they come to live after heating it up and leaving it at room temperature for an hour.

Since this is 1/4 of the recipe, there was no need to crank up the big mixer. And as it is, it was hard to mix this with the hand mixer. I am mixing 14.25 grams of butter with 32.75 grams of sugar. That sounds pretty crazy and small.

This recipe calls for 2 eggs, which is 1/2 egg now that it's 1/4 recipe. I do have leftover 1/2 egg from my tart lol.

Ready to add the milk and dry ingredients.

The nice thing about making such a small quantity is that it's easy to add and mix dry and wet ingredients. I can do it all by hand quickly.

Add in the macerated drunk fruits.

Okay so 1 recipe makes 12 muffin, divide by 4 yield 3 muffins and there's 4 here. Well, I didn't believe the recipe that said to fill the cups quite full. Quite full is so vague. And yes I have been so spoiled by Rose Levy Beranbaum's instructions for her recipes, where she would not really say "quite full" but would say "3/4 full" or even specify grams. Okay enough rant.

Anyway, I thought also since there s baking powder in play, the batter will rise, so I better leave some room. Those are the arguments in my head at least :). So I fill 3 cups with 60 grams of batter. The last cup was a bit short, by about 6 grams.

And they came out fine. A tad bit short, but it's okay for my portion control.

The pink candles are not very New Year, but it is my birthday this week and I did find those pink candles in the pantry somewhere.

Taste
They taste good. A tad dry. I think I overbake by a couple of minutes. I find that I much prefer them in bread form, less crust, more soft interior. I usually like crusts but not for panettone I guess. But I do like them for their easiness and individual portions. Plus, they look so cute in their pink wrappers, I think.

To join ABC or read more about it, please head over to ABC main blog. For this Panettone recipe, please head over to KAF website.

Homemade Low-Fat Hummus

2012-12-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

I tried to make hummus once before and failed. It might sound weird to hear someone failed making hummus but note that this not a regular hummus but a low fat one. One that requires no tahini.

Tahini is supposed to be good for you. According to Livestrong, the fat in tahini is mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat, which have been known to lower cholesterol. But at the same time, hubby requested a no-tahini recipe and I thought it would be fun to try.

In my previous attempt, I didn't know what to replace the tahini with so I didn't. I googled hummus recipe and picked one from the internet, omitted the tahini and followed everything exactly. It turned out edible but dry and not very tasty.

This time, I did not plan to make hummus but I soaked way too many dry chickpeas for a vegetable tagine dish. Not wanting to throw the good chickpeas away I decided to make hummus. I was not prepared so I used whatever I could find in our pantry.

And guess what, it turned out. I guess sometimes winging it paid off. Or maybe the fact that I have no expectations = no pressure = good result?

Who knows but in any case, I ended up winging the whole lunch too.

If you have never made your own beans and have a couple of hours to spare, try it. It is worth it and you will not go back to canned beans. Making your own is not only cheaper but also healthier. Canned beans contain a lot of extra sodium that you don't need.

Ingredients:
1 (15 oz) can of chickpeas or 1 lb dried (see instructions below for using dried)
2 cloves of garlic, whole
6 kalamata olives, pitted
6 sun-dried tomatoes
a handful of fresh cilantro
salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
3 oz liquid from the cooked chickpeas or reserved liquid from the can

Method:

If you cook your own chickpeas, in a pot, soak the dried chickpeas in water overnight. The next day, drain and rise the beans. Then cover it again with water, bring to a boil, then simmer, for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until the chickpeas are tender.

If you use canned chickpeas,continue to the recipe below.

Drain the chickpeas, reserving the liquid.

Transfer the drained chickpeas to a food processor or a blender.

Add in 3 oz of the reserved chickpeas liquid.

Add all the spices, and process or blender away.

chickpeas and garlic

add olives and sundried tomatoes

salt and pepper, and cilantro

yummy result

Taste and add more seasoning, as needed.

Serve as is with some chips, pita bread, on a toasted bread, or do a make-your-own-sandwich party like I did in the photo below.

For our make-your-own-sandwich lunch, I served the hummus on a cutting board to hubby with plain baguette, seitan, olives, pickles, pepperoncini, tomatoes, cilantro, and lettuce.

Doesn't look like much but all the combination actually make a hearty lunch. We were full afterwards.

Lemon Curd

2012-12-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

I bought a bag of lemons for my marmalade experiment last weekend. I only used 2 and have 4 lemons left.

In the spirit of canning and jamming, I decided to make lemon curd.

Among the 6 canning books I borrowed from the library is one titled Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects by Karen Solomon.

This book does not have a lot of jam recipes but it has a lot of other interesting projects. Like making your own crackers and marshmallow. It also has a section for curing meat and fish. We are not eating meat right now but I am really interested in the beef jerky recipe.

After the hiccup from last week's marmalade, I thought I'd be extra careful and do some recipe comparison.

This lemon curd is supposed to be something you can eat with a spoon or on top of a toast or scones, as you can see from the photo in the book below.

I have made lemon curd numerous times in the past through baking through Rose's Heavenly Cakes (RHC). The lemon curd recipe in RHC is really good but is not something that I could eat with a spoon. Even used within cake layers, it is pretty rich.

Karen Solomon's recipe looks to be more to my taste. Comparing Rose's and Karen's, Karen use only mostly whole eggs with only 1 egg yolk. Most of the lemon curd recipe out there (including Rose's) uses only egg yolks. This recipe also uses less sugar. I also compared the recipe with 2 other lemon curd recipes I found (I did borrow 6 cookbooks, :)). And verdict is Karen's recipe seems to be the least rich.

Conclusion: less egg yolks and sugar = less rich lemon curd = a happier me = let's make this!

Here is a mixture of eggs, sugar, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Butter is not added yet - also something different in the recipe. But instead the mixture is warmed first before butter is added.

I did get a bit concerned whether it would get thick with less yolks and sugar. I thought the high ratio of egg yolks and sugar are the main contributor to the consistency of lemon curd.

Also, having been ~~used to~~ spoiled by Rose's detailed instruction, reading how I am supposed to warm the yolk, sugar, lemon juice mixture led me to so many questions. How warm is warm? What's the temperature supposed to be? 70 degrees is warm but so is 80 or 85 degrees...

As it turns out, I should not have any doubts, because ta-da, lemon curd.

And it is really good. Zesty and tangy with just a hint of sweetness. It is the kind of lemon curd that I could eat with a spoon, or slather onto homemade Whole Wheat Bread, as in the photo below.

I will not be posting the recipe for this as I followed it exactly. I did find a similar recipe out on epicurious. If you are interested in checking out this book, see if your local library carries it. Mine does so yours might. I have since ordered it from Amazon and look forward to making other recipes from it.

Happy Friday and a funny article

2012-12-07T12:34:00.002-07:00

I feel like posting today and not having any topic I thought I would just post to wish everyone a happy Friday and happy weekend!

It is going to be cold here this weekend - forecast temperature would be 18 degrees for the high on Sunday. YIKES but I will be spending a lot of time in the kitchen so it will be warm anyway :).

And.... I found funny this article at eatthelove blog a few days ago and thought it is so funny. Irvin wrote a list of "You know you're a food blogger if..." Check it out.

I am definitely guilty of several items on the list. No. 6, 9, 14, 19, and 34. I have come close to doing No. 24 recently - so this one made me laugh!

How about you? If you dare to fess up on which one you've "committed"? Which items make you laugh?

My attempt at making marmalade

2012-12-03T13:01:00.001-07:00

I was hoping to do a post today on how I ventured out to make a marmalade and succeeded.

Uhhmm.. not exactly.

As with most of my cooking/baking adventures, it started pretty well.

I borrowed 6 canning/jam making books from the library. Poured over them and decided to make orange marmalade. Orange ginger marmalade is one of my favorite jam but I thought I should just stick to utilizing one-type of ingredient so orange marmalade it is.

There is a recipe for orange marmalade in 3 of the cookbooks I borrowed. I decided to make the one in Food In Jars. Mainly because the author, Marisa McClellan, also happens to have a blog, and she posted the Three Citrus Marmalade recipe, as well as step-by-step instructions.

I figured this being the first time I make marmalade, pictures would help.

My trip to the grocery store to get 3 different citrus was somewhat successful. I found pink grapefruit and lemons but no navel oranges. I found tangerines instead. Not sure whether this was the right decision but I was determined.

I also halved the recipe, in case I fail, my $ damage would be less.

yummy citrus

First, wash and weigh the citrus. 2 lemons, 1 grapefruit, 3 tangerines = 2.2 lbs.

Then remove the peel with a vegetable peeler. I don't have a serrated peeler like Marisa. Actually, only have 1 peeler but it did the job pretty well.

Then chop the peel into ribbons, cook them in 3 cups of water.

Chopping the peel into ribbons was much harder than I thought. I am usually a fan of chopping, having had my share of chopping onions, carrots, and celery every week but citrus peel is a completely different experience.

Add to that I have a small cut that I thought healed already on one of my fingers. Apparently it has not healed all that well because it zinged when I started cutting into the flesh of the citrus.

While the zest was boiling, remove the white pith of the fruit. Then cut into the membrane, removing the fruit flesh. This technique is supreming (see pictorial at Coconut & Lime).

Collect the membrane and seeds and bundle them in a piece of cheesecloth.

All the fruit flesh and the juice gets to go to a pot. Joined by the strained liquid from the cooked zest, and all the zest.

I am also supposed to add 3 cups of sugar but since tangerines are sweeter than navel oranges, I reduced the sugar to 2 1/4 cup.

The cheesecloth bundle containing the membrane and seeds also goes into the pot. They contain a lot of pectin that will help the marmalade get into that jelly-like texture.

So this is what they look like when they were crazy bubbling boiling.

Marisa said to boil for 30-40 minutes or until it reached 220 degrees and stayed there for a minute. I set my timer to 30 minutes first, stirring the mixture every 5 minutes as instructed.

After 30 minutes it had a temperature of 200 degrees.

10 more minutes and it reached 220 degrees.

Doesn't it look yummy?

I poured them into 4 4-oz canning jars and process in the water-bath canner for 20 minutes.

We opened the pot the next day and...

...they were really bitter and really sweet at the same time.

Verdict: not edible.

And at the time of writing this post, they have all ended up in trash (I did save the jars for future use).

So that's #1 attempt at making marmalade.

Will there be #2?

YES!!!

I think I will try using less zest and play with the sugar amount. I know sugar also plays a role in making the marmalade jelly-like so I probably would have to add pectin.

Have you guys made marmalade or jam? What was your experience like?

Mee Goreng

2012-11-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

I realize that this is not a very timely post. Asian Noodles after Thanksgiving week sounds so hm.. out of place. I should be posting about what to do with leftover Thanksgiving turkey or something like that. Truthfully, I was going to post this a couple of weeks ago but never got around to it.

But then I thought that this dish is just be perfect for after Thanksgiving. It is light and healthy, and might just be what our body needs after all the over-eating these past few days. I know my body is craving something lighter for sure.

I got a new cookbook recently, Plenty,by Yotam Ottolenghi. I browsed through it, cover to cover, wanted to make everything. Lots of photography in the book and for my first dish I choose to make this one.

The dish is called Mee Goreng. Translated, mee = noodles and goreng = fried. But you see from the picture below that this looks more brothy than fried.

Also, there is no noodles in the picture above. Well, that is because I modified the recipe quite a bit. I used whole wheat spaghetti and boiled them separately.

I want to make this healthier by substituting the egg noodle in the recipe with whole wheat pasta. Also I use less oil and add miso paste and soy sauce for more flavor.

Here are my changes:

- use whole wheat pasta

- adds cremini mushroom and carrots

- adds miso paste for extra flavor

- freshly fried shallots instead of store-bought

- use an all-clad pan instead of a wok

I think this is one of those dishes that you can easily build on or change. Use what you feel like eating or use whatever leftover vegetables you have in the fridge. Next time I want to try adding sliced zucchini and green cabbage.

Mee Goreng
serves 2
Adapted from Plenty

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp of oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 medium-sized carrots, sliced thinly on a bias
1 lb of bok choy, cleaned, ends trimmed, and cut into 1-inch pieces - separate the stalk from the leaves as their cooking time is different
8 oz of cremini mushroom, quartered
8 oz of firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes

2 Tbsp of soy sauce
1 Tbsp of miso paste
whole wheat spaghetti pasta, or any other pasta of your choice, cooked according to the package instruction
cilantro, for garnish
your preferred hot sauce (optional)

Method:
Heat up the oil in a wok or a pan over medium-high heat.

Saute the onions until they have softened, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the carrots, saute for 5 minutes.

Add in the boy choy stalks and mushrooms, saute for 5 minutes until the boy choy stalks look more translucent.

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, miso paste, and 2 Tbsp of water and mix with a whisk or fork until combined. Add to the vegetables.

Add in the boy choy leaves and tofu.

Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve on top of the pasta, garnish with the cilantro and fried shallots.

My err.. collection of hot sauce. We should have tabasco too but I think hubby brought it to work.

I love the Panda Brand Chili Garlic Sauce the most. It is very salty - 850 mg (38%) sodium for 1 Tbsp (18 g) of serving size. So when I know I am going to use it for a dish, I usually undersalt that dish.

Padua

2012-11-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

A short post this time.

From Venice,we stopped by Padua.

Padua claims to be the oldest city in Italy. It is also home to Prato della Valle, the largest square in Europe and according to wikitravel, is probably one of the most beautiful square in the World.

It is hard to argue that you might find a square more beautiful when you see statues like this one.

Each statue has different pose and details.

Palazzo della Ragione (Palace of Law).

Basilica of St. Anthony.

Wall paintings inside the Basilica.

Walking around behind the Basilica, we come across a school. The students were on a break and started getting excited and waving at us from the window.

Ferrari street :)

Lunch is again Spaghetti ala Scoglio. This time with crab legs.

I am sort of on a Spaghetti ala Scoglio tour while I'm in Italy.

Transitional German-Style Many Seed Bread

2012-10-31T07:31:00.000-06:00

We had our first snow last week.

It was cold.

I am so not ready for the cold and the snow.

Though it does make for pretty pictures...

... and I got to wear my new purple BearPaw boots, :).

With the cold and snow came the desire to turn the oven again. I am trying to stay away from too much sweets so I thought bread is a good idea.

So I made the Transitional German-Style Many Seed Bread from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads.

I think PH calls this Transitional bread because it has 1/2 WW and 1/2 bread flour.

It is funny though to have a bread with transitional in the name. Are you supposed to make it while you are in transition to something? Is making this will make you become in transition?

I do hope it will make me transition into a better baker :).

Even though the name is a mouthful, this bread is quite simple to make.

It does require you to start the day before but that part is easy peasy.

First you make the soaker. This calls for mixing WW flour, rye flour, flax seeds, water, and salt and letting it sit out at room temperature overnight.

Then make the biga. This calls for mixing bread flour, water, and yeast. Kneading it a bit and then letting it rest in the fridge overnight.

Next day, break the soaker and biga into several pieces, add them all to the mixer, add some yeast, honey, a bit more WW flour, salt, and the seeds. As its name, this bread does use a lot of seeds: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds.

This is how the bread looks after 10 minutes in the mixer.

According to PH, after 5 minutes in the mixer and further 5 minutes kneading by hand, the dough should pass the windowpane test.

Is he kidding?

No disrespect to Peter Reinhart. I think he is awesome and I love his recipes. But I have never been able to get bread dough to pass windowpane test after 10 minutes. Not even for white breads.

It took this bread 40 minutes mixing to get it to pass the test.

The bread is then stored in the oiled mixing bowl and let to rise. I cover it with a plastic bag and put it in the microwave for storage.

About an hour later, it looks like this. I like the big holes on top!

Then shaped into a batard. Ready for the 2nd rise.

After the 2nd rise, brush the bread with water and sprinkle more sesame seeds for the pretty effect.

The baked bread.

Ready to be attacked err.. eaten.

On a side note, have you ever had the St. Dalfour Ginger & Orange Marmalade jam? If you like ginger and orange, this one has a good taste of both.

Venice

2012-10-28T09:18:00.001-06:00

From Zugspitze, we continued our vacation to Venice.

I feel that Venice need no introduction but for those of you who are interested, Venice is a city in northeast Italy. It is a group of 118 small islands linked by foot bridges.

Such as this one bridge.

Venice is famous for its architecture and its setting.

There is just something romantic about being surrounded by water.

And cute bridges everywhere.

The vaporetto (public boat) is the main method of transportation around Venice.

Gondola is more of a tourist method of transportation. We thought of taking one for fun but decided against it due to the price.

1 1/2 hour scenic gondola ride through the Grand Canal: USD200.
45 minutes direct and shorter route: USD100.
1/2 hour scenic vaporetto ride: USD14.
Taking pictures of other tourist riding the gondola: priceless.

So we ended up taking the vaporetto. Aside from being way cheaper, it turned out to be a much more pleasant trip as the Grand Canal was quite wavy. I would not have been able to take pictures had I been on the gondola.

It is so fun to see boats parked along the sides of the house (vs. cars).

Later on, we found out that there are cheaper gondola rides that locals use to cross from one side of the Grand Canal to the other. A one way trip is 2 Euro.

After the ride and some walking around, it is not dinner time yet but as we walked by this restaurant, the heavenly baked pizza smell "forced" us to stop.

Just look at all those bread-dy goodness!

After a thoughtful consideration, we settled on this: roasted flatbread with mozzarella, ham, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, pepperoncini, and arugula.

Also a couple of glass of vino bianco (white wine). No wine in the picture below, I snap the photo after we finished it :)).

By the time we finished with dinner, evening has arrived in Venice.

I took this photo from on top of the Rialto Bridge.

Trying to capture the movement of the gondola. I was experimenting and do not know what to expect. I think the result is pretty fun.

Next, we took a stroll to Piazza San Marco.

It was drizzling a bit so there is not a lot of people there. Which is awesome for pictures!

One of the restaurants has this band playing outside. I was setting up my mini tripod just as they were about begin playing. The standing man with the violin bowed to me and then got to work. I love how this shot capture his movement as he played his instrument.

St. Mark's Basilica.

If you look at the picture below, there is a little blue light on the upper right hand side of the building. That is not an illusion, but is a toy with light that the street vendor threw up in the air.

From the Piazza, we walked to the pier and took a shot at the Santa Maria della Salute across the canal.

The next day we woke up to a beautiful Venetian weather.

The canal is already buzzing with all the boats!

We took the vaporetti (public boat) to Burano island. Burano is 7 km from Venice, a short 40 minute trip from Venice.

Burano is famous for its brightly painted houses.

I don't know anywhere else in the world where you can see all these colors in one street.

Extremely red house!

Shiny taxi.

I think these masks are so pretty. Unfortunately, what used to be a unique Venetian mask is now all "made in China." Maybe it's just me, but somehow the fact that every street vendor and shops sell these mask make me not want to have one.

On the vaporetto back to Venice. More pictures :).

This is the vaporetto stop, where we would stop to get off the boat.

Boat Routes. Reminds me of subway system in New York or London.

I really wanted to try take a beautiful sunset photo in Venice. Highlight the word "try" because I don't have a lot of experience with sunset photography and don't even know from which side of the island I should take picture.

I do know what time sunset is so about 45 minutes prior to it, we started walking from the hotel to the side of the Grand Canal near Piazza San Marco. Standing on top of one of the foot bridges, I took these shots.

After the sun has disappeared, we started walking around. I saw the crescent moon and some statues and thought they make for a cool shot.

Doesn't this guy look like he might want to fight off the moon?

And this one is motioning the moon to come to him?

Maybe I am crazy but that is what I thought of the shots :).

Dinner. Spaghetti ala Scoglio.

On our way back to the hotel, we passed by the Bridge of Sigh. The story behind the bridge name is that the view of Venice from this bridge is the last view that prisoners saw before they are taken down to their cell. In reality, there is not a lot that prisoners can see from the bridge as the windows are pretty small.

The next morning, we woke up to another beautiful Venetian weather and sadly, had to say arrivederci!

I apologize for such a long post. I took over 200 pictures in Venice and ended up sharing about 60 of them. I hope you enjoyed it.

Zugspitze: Top of Germany

2012-10-23T09:28:00.002-06:00

Zugspitze! Zugspitze!!!

I can't pronounce this word but it sure was fun to try on our way there.

Zugspitze, at 2,962 meters (9,718 feet) is the highest mountain in Germany. It is located by the border of Austria and Germany so we had to stop by. It took us about 2 hours to get there from Salzburg.

On the way there, we stopped by for lunch at a cute small town called Grainau in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district.

It was unexpected to find McDonald's in a small town. And a bit sad to think that maybe in 10 years we will find other US fast food chains along this strip.

Lunch is a mixed salad with some yogurt-type dressing.

And a local cuisine of brain meatballs with mashed potatoes, gravy, and sauerkraut.

And then, Zugspitze!

Going up to Zugspitze, we took a the Tyrolean Zugspitze Cable Car. It is a fancy cable car ride for two reasons. One, it traveled the distance of 1,725 meters (5,660 feet) in less than 10 minutes at 22 mph. Two, it costs 50 Euro per person round trip (about 85 bucks equivalent).

I did feel pretty broke after paying the fare.

The ride up was worth it though. We climbed so fast my ears kept popping. The ride down was even more exciting. We felt the elevation drop in several places and that dropping feeling in the stomach like what happened when you take a roller coaster ride. Everyone inside the cable car kept saying"whooa" in unison.

The view from the top!

Several brave souls climbed the Summit cross. Just looking at the path going there gave me goose-bumps!

The warning sign before you cross the gate to the path to climb the summit cross.

A closer look at the climbers.

Lake Eibsee.

I was surprised to see birds flying up there. With the altitude and the wind sometimes it looks like they are suspended in mid-air.

I googled the birds when I got home and they are called Alpine Chough.

After Zugspitze, we drove back to the hotel and took a scenic route to see some castles.

For dinner, we found an Italian restaurant near our hotel.

And a very cute doggie sitting so quietly under the table next to us. She is so quiet that we sat there for 2 hours and didn't even notice her.

I ordered a yummy grilled prawn dish.

No it is not a lot and it definitely was not enough. But I compensated by the plate of salad behind it and bread. Lots of bread.

Salzburg

2012-10-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

We spent a couple of weeks in Europe this year for vacation. First stop, Salzburg.

Never been to Austria before, we were plenty excited.

The trip started well with a beautiful sunset over the horizon as our plane ascended into the sky.

Not wanting to miss out any minute of our vacation, as soon as we landed we headed to aplace called Konigssee (the royal lake).

After a couple of hours at the lake, we headed to our hotel, in the city of Salzburg.

Mozart's birthhouse.

Lots of Asian tourist there.

Crossing the bridge again after it gets dark.

The next day, after a full night's sleep out of exhaustion, we woke up refreshed and ready to tackle the day!

The breakfast, I mean. Raisin danish with coffee.

This street musician was nice enough to pose for me. I love his outfit and his expression!

Salzburg Cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral.

Main square with the Hohensalzburg Castle in the background.

Mr. Mozart :).

Snack - butterbrezel. It's basically plain bread with butter in the middle. It looks more interesting than it actually tasted but I'm glad I did!

This is probably one of the strangest lunch I've ever had. 2 Austrian sausage with bread, horseradish (the shredded yellow thing), and 2 different kinds of mustard.

Apple strudel for dessert.

With our tummies full, we hiked up to the castle. There is actually a train to go up there, would be easier, but we decided to hike up.

And I was glad I did. How else am I going to take some of these pictures.

Inner courtyard of the castle.

St. George's Chapel.

There are several restaurants around the castle exterior, overlooking the city.

Concert and dinner, the important things in life.

Some shots from the castle museum.

The view overlooking the city!

After over half a day of walking, we figured we deserved to treat ourselves to an expensive "orange juice" imitation (4 euro!)

I love the waiter's dress!

We took the train down and here is a shot of the tracks.

Mozart chocolates are available everywhere!

We passed by a dinner and I had to take a picture of all these potatoes product.

And seafood!

These two guys were really funny, whistling and imitating bird noises and funny gestures.

They are many bridges crossing the river in Salzburg. One of them, called the Makart Bridge, has a lot of love padlocks on it.

And finally, for dinner, we went to a nice seafood restaurant that the hotel recommended.

Grilled branzino with grilled vegetables.

What's left of the poor branzino.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Stay tuned for more travel pics...

The Golden Hour

2012-09-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

When I started reading up on photography, especially landscape and portrait photography, and I quickly run into a term called the Golden hour.

The Golden hour is the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset. The sun during this time is lower in the sky, and thefore it produces a softer and more diffused light. This type of light is more flattering.

A lot of professional photographer swears by this and some even go as far as saying that they only shoot during the Golden hour.

I am not a morning person and there is no way I am getting up at dawn before the sunrise, not even with the promise of a good picture or a cup of good coffee. So shooting around sunrise is out of the option.

A few days ago, I came home earlier from work to a nice golden light around the neighborhood. The sky is blue and clear and the weather was perfect.

I quickly changed, grabbed my camera, and went for a walk.

My Golden hour moment only lasted about 1/2 hour before the sun sets, but it was good for practice and experiment.