August 25, 2010

Last Summer Brunch with Saeyoung

Filed under: Uncategorized — saehee @ 9:22 am

SAM_0784

SAM_0783

blueberry cornmeal pancakes

SAM_0782

BLTA sandwicb

SAM_0781

Egg white omelette

I took Saeyoung to the airport yesterday.  Another summer has passed and I’m a little angry.  Last summer Saeyoung and I had all these amazing ideas about how we were going to have an unparalleled summer, but circumstance got in the way and we actually didn’t get that much time together.  So we put the weight of that disappointment on this summer and imagined  something idyllic, the kind of summer that becomes an isolated memory that becomes more and more idyllic as time goes by.  The kind of summer we’d be nostalgic for when we’re 50.  But we didn’t do half the things we wanted to do and kept adding things on our to-do lists.  Saeyoung worked insane hours at an internship and even more insane hours at my mother’s office.  I sweated oceans in a hot kitchen until my legs were all swollen and came home grumpy on a regular basis.  And here’s the rub: I realized that this isn’t an unfortunate circumstance.  This is just the way things work.  There is nothing unusual in this sort of disappointment or hope cut at the knees.  The rest of our lives will be negotiating how the drudge of having to be a person in the world interrupts everything else that matters.

I miss my sister.

That’s as sunshiney as I’m going to get.

August 24, 2010

Duo of Tarts

Filed under: white + bluezz — saehee @ 10:18 pm

SAM_0771

i lurve tarts

SAM_0774

chocolate with bruleed bananas

SAM_0777

strawberries macerated in grand marnier with coconut marscapone cream

August 17, 2010

Civin Cookie Sampler

Filed under: Uncategorized — saehee @ 9:10 am

SAM_0757

SAM_0748

SAM_0754

SAM_0763

chewy ginger

SAM_0761

vanilla bean sugar (for Shel, Marcus’ nephew!)

SAM_0769

lime poppy seed

SAM_0770

chocolate chip

SAM_0767

dark chocolate, currant, and walnut

Marcus is in Baltimore visiting his family.  This is exciting.

I get to see my family at least once a week and I’m pretty sure that it’s a recuperative time for me.  After not seeing my family for more than a week I start to feel a little frazzled and maybe even a bit melancholic.  But i realize that not everyone has the luxury of family nearby and I am thrilled that Marcus gets to spend some time with his family.

I sent Marcus with some cookie samplers for his parents, his brother and sister-in-law, and his nephew.  I didn’t know what kind of cookies they preferred so I just made a general schizophrenic variety pack.  As usual, I overdid it.  You know those blue IKEA bags that can fit a 12-year old child?  Yeah, the cookies could barely fit in there.  Marcus and I broke out laughing at the hilarity of an IKEA bag of cookies.  The night before Marcus left ,my itty bitty kitchen was absolutely drowning in cookies. Marcus kept groaning that they would never let him on the plane with that many cookies and that they’d confiscate them at security check.  I told him just to bribe his way through with cookies.  No one can say no to a cookie.  It’s a fundamental part of human nature.

August 13, 2010

I love breakfast so much

Filed under: breakfast — saehee @ 10:48 pm

SAM_0674

SAM_0675

SAM_0741

SAM_0742

SAM_0743

SAM_0723

Sometimes it all works out

Filed under: white + bluezz — saehee @ 10:42 pm

SAM_0744

SAM_0747

It’s a weird thing when things just come together.  I found out about a 6 o’clock party of 50 people today two hours before the party started.  They wanted dessert platters and I scrambled to pull something together.  And you know what?  I think I did pretty good!  White chocolate cheesecake bites, apple goat cheese honey tarts, and chocolate banana tarts.  Not bad, if i do say so myself.

Red Velvet Cupcakes With Purple Cream Cheese Icing

Filed under: catering, cupcakes — saehee @ 10:27 pm

SAM_0731

SAM_0732

Andrea, Pelican Hill Resort

Filed under: dining out, dinner, family, orange county — saehee @ 10:24 pm

SAM_0694

white pizza-truffle oil, prosciutto, arugula

SAM_0699

squash blossom risotto made in a parmesan wheel

SAM_0701

SAM_0702

seafood pasta

SAM_0695

charcuterie

SAM_0690

amuse bouche

SAM_0706

bittersweet chocolate sorbet, rice pudding, chocolate macaron

SAM_0710

petite fours

My uncle is visiting from Korea and we went to Andrea at the beautiful Pelican Hill resort to celebrate.  I’m usually a little suspicious of hotel restaurants.  They are more often than not, overpriced and overly stuffy.  Andrea had amazing service and the food was good but I couldn’t help but feel like the restaurant was overly formal.   They made a big deal about table side preparation of the risotto and prime rib.  I’ve never really understood the tableside food shows.  It seems unnecessary.  The hand made pasta was quite good though.  Loved the free petite fours!

August 4, 2010

Anadama Bread, Two Ways

Filed under: bread — saehee @ 8:35 pm

SAM_0619

SAM_0612

I recently saw a post on Simply Recipes for anadama bread.  I’ve only had anadama bread once in Cambridge with Saeyoung at an adorable breakfast place called The Friendly Toast.  The Simply Recipes post made me miss baking bread.  Baking bread is a labor of love since you can easily buy an excellent loaf of bread for under $3.    Yeast-risen breads are so romantic.  I love that you have to feed yeast, that you have to shock it into life with warm water, that it makes flour bubble and expand.

This morning we had a Les Figues meeting and I baked to loaves of anadama bread to bring with me, one with cinnamon and raisins and one that was plain.  The combination of molasses and cornmeal is really wonderful in this bread.  I adapted the recipe by replacing about 2 tablespoons of molasses for honey just to give it an extra sweetness.

The bread was deliciously tender with a very elastic crumb.  I’m so excited for this bread!  I want to make another batch, maybe with a cinnamon sugar swirl.

Cooking Dinner For The Cho Women

Filed under: dinner, family — saehee @ 8:10 pm

SAM_0603

SAM_0602

corn and stir-fried vegetable pasta

SAM_0601

watermelon, feta, and balsamic reduction

SAM_0604

banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

I’m usually visiting my family on Mondays and while my mom and sister are doing very important things at work I am cooking them dinner!

August 3, 2010

I am trying to be resourceful

Filed under: Uncategorized — saehee @ 2:43 am

SAM_0565

SAM_0568

SAM_0567

I spend so much time at grocery stores it’s embarrassing.  I think the Whole Foods employees might be sick of my face.  Based on the money I am spending on groceries, it’s starting to qualify as a vice.  I am trying a new thing.  When I cook I am going to try and work with the ingredients that I already have on hand rather than re-supplying myself with an entirely new pantry every time I have to impulse to cook a meal with 12,000 ingredients.  This will probably lead to some experimental cooking.  Last week’s concoction was ginger fried rice with diced meat balls and garlic yakisoba.

Older Posts »