use real butter

Recipe: flourless chocolate espresso truffle cake

Sometimes I’m bad at following instructions and other times I’m great at it. For instance, in the past several months, many wonderful bloggers have tagged me for various blogging awards. The gist of the blogging award is to display it in a post or on your blog, write whatever it is the award/meme wants you to write, pass it along to other recipients, and name the one who bestowed it upon you. I used to try and keep up with these, but after a while I just couldn’t. As they piled up, I was less and less inclined to get around to them. So I hope all of the nice people who passed awards on to me aren’t offended, but I don’t see these making it to post at all. Thanks for thinking of me, really. I just find the whole award business to be one of those “we’re all going to break our arms patting each other on the back” deals.

chopped valrhona semisweet chocolate

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Recipe: lychee panna cotta

OMG, I woke up at 9 this morning. That is incredibly late for me, especially as I had the intention of waking up at 5:30. I’m trying to be patient and accept that I need to let the side-effects of radiation play out, which means sleeping way more than I ever wanted to (Manggy is gasping with indignation at that, I’m sure!) The other reason I slept in this morning was because I was up late shooting something special. Can you guess what it was? Not something in the sky…

For as long as I can remember, we had these funky, fleshy, gangly plants growing in our house. And whenever I visited a member of my mom’s family, they had one or two or three or more of these plants in their house too! It all started when Grandma came to the States from Taiwan and carried a leaf wrapped in wet paper towels and plastic bag. She gave it to my mom who started a plant in her house. Every time one of us bought our first house, we were given this plant (leaf). They grow into the most unwieldy things that must be trimmed back (give the leaves to your friends to start their own) periodically, and from time to time will grace your house with a bloom.

here is a bloom that will open tonight: it’s almost alien looking

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Recipe: filbert gateau with praline buttercream

It is Daring Bakers time again, kids. This month’s challenge was hosted by the lovely Chris of Mele Cotte. She chose a filbert gateau with praline buttercream, by Carol Walter. Thank you, Chris, for hosting this month! Be sure to have a looksee at the rest of the Daring Bakers’ creations!

the daring bakers: we knead to bake

I am quite the fan of hazelnuts, so I was pleased to see a hazelnut-based recipe for the challenge. Of course, I only skimmed the recipe before getting started. It goes like this every month. I skim the recipe and think everything looks pretty good. Then I select a day when I have the time to devote to the challenge. Then I get started.

if you can buy them skinned, do so

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