Oh hello, blog. You remember me, right? I used to write here occasionally and post pictures of the food I've been eating? And ramble on and on for ages? I know, it's been a really long time. I could give you all kinds of excuses, but really, I just kind of lost the will for blogging for a little bit there. So here's a bit of a mish-mash, catch up post with a little bit of everything--bentoing, a new bakery, food presents all the way from Hawaii, and knitting!
So anyway. One of my resolutions was to pack lunch more (on my post-it note of resolutions, it was #2 and written as "more bento.") I can't say I've been totally successful, but have managed to pack lunch a few times. Top photo is a particular favorite of mine, with soy braised pork and tofu over rice (mmm, soy gravy), obligatory greens, and some fruit. I have probably mentioned this before, but winesap apples are my new obsession, as far as apples go! And the photo above is a slightly lazier lunch, with tomato braised pork over rice and bok choy. Plus another winesap apple.
Lately, however, I have fallen off the bento wagon; I've had lots of days where I haven't even had time to eat lunch, never mind find the time or energy to cook and pack the night before. So here is what I'm calling a "snack bento", for munching on while I'm on conference calls. Strawberries (imported, of course, we're still at least 4 months away from local ones) have been really cheap lately, so I've been gorging a bit.
A few weeks ago, a new French bakery opened in my neighborhood so naturally I had to stop in to try some of their goods. Above is a chausson aux pommes (an apple turnover, basically). The flaky pastry is awesome! But it could really use more filling.
On another occasion, I picked up a zucchini quiche. Now this I approve of completely. Not too rich, plenty of zucchini. I've also tried their plain crosisants, which were very good. They plan to start selling bread in March, which I will be curious to try, but I will probably stick with Silver Moon as my bakery of choice.
The bakery is La Toulousaine, at 942 Amsterdam Ave.
Speaking of Silver Moon, here's a croissant I had for a weekend breakfast, along with some mangoes (which are starting to appear in Chinatown again, woohoo!)
Around Christmas, I sent out cookie packages to some of my Flickr friends; look at this awesome package that arrived from Hawaii in return! I have been meaning to photograph everything in more detail, but so far I've only tried the lilikoi bars which are amazing. It's like a lemon bar, except passionfruit flavored. So delicious! I'm trying to ration them out. I also can't wait to try the coconut pudding and the coconut M&Ms! Super giant thanks to Ry!
I've been doing a lot of knitting lately (I think I have 4 projects going at the moment); this Dalek is my most recent finished project and was knitted for a friend's birthday. I learned a couple of things while knitting this: First, I hate making bobbles. Oh, the first couple were kind of exciting, but by the 10th the novelty had worn off. Secondly, urgh, acrylic! I've become a yarn snob. But it turned out well and I'm happy with it (and more importantly, so is the recipient. Happy birthday!) (Of course, before I handed it over, I couldn't resist taking a silly picture.
If you made it all the way to the end here, you'll notice one thing missing--yeah, that's right. I haven't been baking! It seems like I haven't done any baking in months, which isn't actually true but it sure feels like it. I did make another batch of the Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies to bring to a friend's housewarming, but other than that, the oven has been used primarily for roasting vegetables and
Well, the good news is there is a lot of good stuff happening soon! Stuff like Choice Eats (I have to come up with a strategy to be able to taste more this year), and friends' birthdays, and warmer weather. Oh, yeah, and also vacation--I'm heading off this weekend. Guess where I'm going? (Hint: it's a shopping and eating paradise. Second hint: milk tea!)
