use real butter

Recipe: savory chinese soybean milk soup

Hi hi hi hi! We up and left town a few days ago…

denver international

across the sierra nevada

I’m in California, spending a quiet evening with my mom, my aunt, and my grandmother. We’re having a really sweet visit together. Jeremy picks me up tomorrow morning to head into the sticks. Before he drove south to meet with colleagues at UC Santa Cruz, we had a lovely lunch with Lisa Is Bossy at Sushi O Sushi. I love sushi. I love Lisa. She gave us some of her special passion fruit French macarons. There are no pictures because they were THAT delicious (thank you, sweetheart).

sashimi for me me me (and lisa and jeremy)

the something something roll – exceptionally wonderful

You just can’t have a visit with family without some GOOD Chinese food (at least you can’t in my family). We’ve been enjoying the noms in between running errands for Grandma. I swear it blows me away that these three beautiful women each look several years younger than they really are. Mom just told me I couldn’t divulge her age on the blog, but I think it’s okay to say that Grandma is 88 and still kicking ass. In fact, all three of these ladies kick ass.

mom (left), my aunt (right), and grandma (bottom)

beef noodle soup

soup dumplings (tan bao)

I thought an appropriate recipe to share this time would be a Beijing-style Chinese breakfast. It’s my Daddy’s favorite. He used to make this on weekends when I was in high school. So I’m posting this in honor of Dad since we’re having a girls-only visit this time. It starts with Chinese doughnuts.

chinese doughnuts – not quite what you were thinking

soybean milk

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Recipe: waffles

It was not my intention to let February go like that. It shouldn’t surprise me, but it always does. I forget that February is a short month and find myself face-planting into March. BLAM! March is going to be good. March is going to be fun. March is jam-packed with mucho mas mejor! I will have the photography workshop site up and running for registration sometime mid-month, so please do keep your pants on!

It’s our anniversary today. Thirteen years of wedded bliss. Make that 17.5 years of effortless bliss. Jeremy and I aren’t so big on the wedded bit, except for that free driver you get to add when you rent a car (woohoo!). I’ll not go mooning on and on about him. I will just say this: Jeremy is good people, he is the absolute best.

jeremy and our juvenile delinquent

I have had a minor obsession with waffles ever since I left home. It’s not that I wanted to eat them, I just wanted to make them. I never ate waffles growing up. I’m a savory breakfast type – I like the eggs, hash browned potatoes, bacon (oh the bacon), sausages, country ham, corned beef hash, biscuits… not so much the sweet stuff. But waffles intrigued me because they required a specific tool to make them – a waffle iron. On the rare occasion when I ventured to try a waffle, I determined I preferred them much more to their pancake cousins.

it’s what you do with the eggs that makes the difference

oil, milk, and egg yolks

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Recipe: blueberry lime pound cake

Jeremy can tell I’m feeling like my old self again when I walk into the kitchen first thing in the morning and start cleaning. It helps me to reset after being sick and before tackling all manner of projects and tasks. He’ll say to me ever so sweetly, “Would you like a glass of orange ju-” and I will hold a wad of dirty dish towels in my hand and say, “THESE? These needed to go in the hamper three days ago. They’re filthy!” and walk off to dump them in the laundry. This indicates that Jen is back and fully operational. Just in time too – there is much to get done. This week we have retired my trusty old PowerBook to kitchen service. Thank you, Apple, for not sucking away countless weeks of my time the way a crapass Windows platform would (and has). Here is proof that form and functionality need not be mutually exclusive.

i dub thee: little buddy

That is just the first in a series of upgrades this month. Hold on to your seats, kids. Please keep all arms down inside the car while the ride is in operation…

I can’t tell if we’re experiencing a short respite from the heat or if this is a trending cool down. It’s 50°F on my deck this morning and the rest of the week is looking pleasant. You know what that means, don’t you? Autumn. It’s my favorite season. Then after autumn comes – SKI SEASON. *eeep!* What this means for use real butter is that I need to move all of these summery recipes out because before you know it, there will be four feet of snow to shovel off our driveway. For now we are snow free, but I’m really loving the cooler temps.

don’t mind me – i’m just chillin’ out… nice digs you got here

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