All posts tagged: Yummy

Baking with My Three-Year-Old and Lemon Loaf

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I’ve been baking lately. A lot. I know we’re all supposed to be on the straight and narrow after the holidays, so I’m not sure what’s come over me. Except that my three-year-old keeps making requests. It would be one thing if he constantly requested cookies, but he doesn’t. He wants muffins and different types of loaves. I’m not sure where this is all coming from, but then he wants one more thing: to make them with me. Well, how am I supposed to say no? Baking with my three-year-old is a challenge, to say the least. I would love to tell you that he has natural skills in the kitchen, but he doesn’t. He just wants to do this with me because he sees me in the kitchen all the time. So, I’ve had to figure out what he can do. He likes to stir – it seems this is the basis of baking all things, and that is where I’ve started. I’ve discovered that baking with my toddler is very different from my …

The Food of My (Husband’s) People: Lechon Asado

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Part I – Lechon Asado On our third date, my husband promised to introduce me to “the food of his people.”  He took me to Versailles, a Cuban restaurant I had been to many times before, but he didn’t know that.  When we got there, he ordered croquettes and started to explain some items on the menu to me.  I thought I knew Cuban food, but this was a whole new way of seeing, understanding, and ultimately tasting it. Lechon asado, a roasted pork marinated with tangy bitter orange and garlic, has been my long-time “go to” for Cuban food, but I started really exploring other things that night.  I began to understand the intricacies and art of Cuban black beans along with the satisfaction of a good cordadito (espresso shot cut with a splash of milk) after a meal. A few months later, he took me to Miami, where he really immersed me in some Cuban culture.  We drank cortadidos and ate a pastel every afternoon.  I somehow kept up with the rapid Cuban …

My Little Valentine

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Valentine’s Day is coming up quickly.  While this traditionally has been a holiday I’ve shrugged off, my husband loves to go all out and give me roses and chocolates.  On one occasion, I got a teddy bear and the flowers.  Last year he gave me custom jewelry with his and my son’s birthstones. Needless to say, he’s changed my attitude about Valentine’s Day.  I wholeheartedly admit I love flowers and candy.  To be given those things from him makes them even more special. Usually I cook him his favorite meal for this holiday.  This year, I decided to do something different. My husband is Cuban.  There is very little that he loves more than a pastelito.  We live walking distance to Porto’s Cuban Bakery, which has all sorts of Cuban and Cuban-inspired treats.  We used to go there all the time.  It’s cheap.  It’s delicious.  The food is fresh.  The coffee is strong.  The lines are…long.  Oh…that’s right.  It usually takes a minimum of an hour to get in and out of Porto’s, even if …

The Versatility of Crepes

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I was catching up on some Top Chef episodes, when was I reminded of one of my all old-time favorite dishes during a “Quick Fire Challenge.”  The segment was centered around Chef Brooke Williamson’s tradition of making Sunday morning crepes with her son.  Of course, it was appropriately sponsored by Nutella…

Bangladeshi Chicken Curry

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Many years ago, in a time that seems more like a dream than reality, I lived in London for a spell.  It was a fantastic time of my life.  I had attended a summer session at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, home to such great actors as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Alan Rickman, and Sir Richard Attenborough. That summer fueled a desire in me to really hit the pavements as an actor.  Having lived in Los Angeles my whole life, London called to me for a change of venue.  I was young.  I was eager.  I was a starving actor – literally. Luckily, I became familiar with an area called Portobello Road, in Notting Hill.  Yes, the same Notting Hill as the movie, which showed the street on the weekends, when it became a bustling outdoor flea/antique market. The Portobello Road I knew, was the place to get good quality kosher meats and fresh-from-the-farm vegetables for cheap. I discovered this area when a Bangladeshi actor friend helped me rent a small room at Bangladesh …

Macarons – Those Temperamental Little B!+(#es

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French macarons have been a long-time favorite dessert of mine.  I love the colors, flavors, and that slightly chewy, tender cookie with a fragile crust.  I heard they could be fussy, so I never tried to make them.  Instead, I left them to the French pastry experts. That is, until I caught a video on making macarons.  It looked so easy!  What could go wrong? Well, as it turns out, a lot of things. Let’s start with this:  If you read my blog or know me in person, you know I am very bad at sticking to the recipe.  I enjoy “cooking with love.”  In other words, I like throwing things together and making something yummy. The first time I made macarons, I followed the directions of the video I had watched.  These were very tasty, but the video left out a very important step: Sift, sift, sift.  Then sift again.  If in doubt, sift. As I said, the first macarons I created were delicious.  However, they were grainy.  They were completely the wrong texture.  …