Peach Scones With Peach Whipped Cream

Yes, these scones were very delicious. But that's besides the point. These are sad scones because their baker is sad. Half way through making these I realized that this is precisely the kind of thing Saeyoung would love. Peachy, barely sweet, moist, and kind of has the texture of a fat fat baby. If scones were the type of thing one could ship, I would do so, immediately. Unfortunately scones have a very limited shelf life. They should probably be eaten within the same day of being baked.

Really, what is the point of baking if not to fatten up the people around you? I certainly don't want all that butter around my hips. no no.

I think I'm in a bit of mourning from having my sister on the other side of the country. But on the up side, we've already started planning a trip to New York together in January, so there's something to look forward to.

Okay, mourning aside. These are very good scones, though perhaps not the most traditional. Most scone recipes call for very cold butter that it cut into the dough to make for a flaky crumb, but more often than not scones are dense and really very clumsy door stop like things. I softened my butter and used sour cream rather than heavy cream, making for a very light and delicate scone--golden and crusty on the outside and so soft on the inside that I wanted to stick my face in the center. I can't take credit for the sour cream/softened butter idea--that came from The Steamy Kitchen Blog where she wrote about a recipe for blueberry scones with lemon curd. I adapted the recipe a bit, adding a little bit more sugar and substituting the blueberries with peaches.

Also, the peach whipped cream was pretty key. I didn't sweeten my whipped cream at all. I just pureed some peaches and very gently folded it into the batter (fold vveeerrry gently into your whipped cream will just become soupy). And then I topped the whole thing with honey.

Peaches and cream and honey. I love breakfast.

Peach Scones With Peach Whipping Cream

Ingredients:

Scones:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

2 cups sour cream

1 large peach (or 1 1/3 small peaches), small dice with skin still on

4-5 tablespoons of granulated sugar

Optional: egg wash and sanding sugar for sprinkling

Peach Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup peach puree

1. preheat oven to 350

2. in a large mixing bowl sift together dry ingredients

3. cut in softened butter with a pastry cutter, or use hands to work the dough until it resembles the texture of coarse crumbs

4. mix the vanilla extract into the sour cream

5. fold in the sour cream and vanilla mixture into the dough very gently

6. fold in the peaches

7. use a 1/4 measuring cup or use a very large heaping ice cream scoop to measure out the dough onto a lined cookie sheet

8. bake for about 30 minutes

9. while the scones are baking use an electric mixer to beat the whipped cream until it peaks

10. fold in the peach puree

11. keep the whipped cream refrigerated

makes about 20-22 scones

Zaftigs : chos eat boston part 5

Breakfast is a meal I frequently skip but for the convenience of time Saeyoung and I were super into breakfast/brunch meals during this trip. For my last meal in Boston we went to Zaftigs in Brookline. We've actually eaten here before, but that was for dinner. We were somewhat unimpressed by the dinner but apparently what Zaftigs is really known for is their breakfast so we gave it another chance.

And you know what? It was good, it was really good. Lots of options and we left glowing of roundness. Saeyoung ordered the banana walnut pancakes with date butter. Ohmigod, date butter. I think I will try and make date butter. I can't be that hard. I had the lox and red onion scramble with marbled rye. Nothing fancy, very satisfying. A funny thing: my dish was advertised as coming with fresh seasonal fruit, which apparently means a very sad slice of watermelon and single graying strawberry. haha. saeyoung warned me about the lack of good fruit in New England.

Zaftigs

335 Harvard st

Brookline, MA

617.975.0775

http://www.zaftigs.com/

The Friendly Toast : chos eat boston pt.1

breakfast sandwich with home fries

egg white omelette with corn salsa, lime avocado sauce, marinated red onions and yellow peppers

hansel and gretel waffle

I flew back with Saeyoung to Boston to help her move in to her first apartment. I think we knew that this wasn't going to be a leisurely trip-moving is always something of an obstacle course. But for all our hard work we agreed on eating enormously well. I mean, I think we do that anyway but we sort of made a point of it in Boston. You know how heavy full-table breakfasts are a rare treat? How usually breakfast is a cup of coffee and a piece of toast or a bowl of yogurt? No, in Boston we ate every morning like that was all we were going to eat the entire day, which obviously was not the case.

We arrived in Boston at 5 am, really haggard from not sleeping on the plane and knowing that we had a whole day of the business of moving. After checking into our hotel and putting our heads down for a miniature nap we went to the Friendly Toast, which was within walking distance from our hotel. I had found THIS article about the Friendly Toast and we especially interested in the anadama bread.

The restaurant reminded me a lot of North Park in San Diego actually. It had that feeling, kind of aware of its unpolished hipness. Apparently this ambiance is very typical of Cambridge.

Saeyoung ordered the breakfast sandwich. I ordered an egg white omelette with fillings of my choosing (lime avocado, corn, roasted yellow peppers, marinated red onions). And we also shared a hansel and gretel waffle which is a gingerbread waffle with pomegranate molasses. Saeyoung's sandwich, while good, was nothing exciting. It's a basic breakfast sandwich. My omelette was quite delicious. I was a fan of the marinated red onions. I think the best part was the waffle. Where does one even get pomegranate molasses. It wasn't as sweet as you'd expect, actually it had a very nice sour bite to it. Oh, and the anadama bread was only okay. They slathered it with too much butter and I felt like all I could taste was butter.

A very nice start to our Boston trip.

The Friendly Toast

Ste. B3101

1 Kendall Sq

Cambridge, MA 02139-1595

617.621.1200

thefriendlytoast.net

Beef On The Brain

A friend once described his brain as a "silent, dumb muscle" and when I think about this I picture a slab of beef, a tumored cancerous slab of red raw meat. I don't know why. That is what my brain feels like during the week. For the summer I've been working in Orange County 3-4 days of the week, and it isn't that the work is especially hard or even unstimulating, but by the time I get to go back to my own space in Los Angeles my head feels as bit masticated and like this dull throbbing knob of a thing.
So when I get to spend my weekends in Los Angeles, I can't even say how much I enjoy letting myself reach equilibrium. I peruse farmers markets with headphones and my iPod on shuffle. I cook unnecessarily elaborate meals for one. I attempt to forget the sound of my own voice. I wake up at 7:30 in the morning and eat fruit and tea and bread with butter.

on a side note: do you ever feel that your iPod shuffle is psychically tied to you? I swear my iPod is either magical or psychic or more likely a combination of both.

Dear Bright Morning

Sometimes I make these decisions, these very conscious decision to have a good day. I have to decide this as soon as I wake up or there's no controlling how my day goes. It has to be as soon as I open my eyes. It usually works.

Yesterday was one of those days. It probably isn't accurate to say that my pure will was 100% responsible. These good feelings were also informed by the fact that I knew I had a leisurely day ahead of me. Saeyoung had decided to leave work early so that we could have a sister day, which we've been meaning to do. And also, I decided not to put any pressure on myself to write something for the day.

I woke up around 8 and started the morning with some warm matcha milk tea and a handfull of some gorgeous kadota figs (pictured above). Aren't they lovely? They're a bit sturdier than the black mission figs and have an almost raspberry like tartness to them. And also the color is enormously pleasing. I really liked starting my morning with a palate of greens--the matcha was also of a very calming shade. I don't know that I've felt that unrippled in a while.

I recommend this, especially when there are things to be ruffled about. Choose to blot out the worry. Be avoidant. Drink a milky warm beverage. Eat fruit that seems, by nature, romantic. Eat it without elaboration, with out honey or yogurt but put it in a pretty bowl.

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes With Honey Butter + other fuel foods

okay, my frittata failed.  it at least tasted good

The night before going to Arizona I couldn't sleep.  I almost can never sleep before travel days.  Even in elementary school I never slept the night before a field trip.  With the extra hours I decided to make a large breakfast for my family before our morning flight.  

Menu:

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes With Honey Butter

Oatmeal With Warmed Soymilk, Candied Figs, Walnuts, And Cinnamon Apples

Vegetable Goat Cheese Frittata

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar (separated)

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt (kosher or coarse)

1 1/2 cup low fat buttermilk

1/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons butter

1 large egg (yolk separated from the white)

2 cups fresh blueberries

1. soak the cormeal in the buttermilk overnight.  This is an optional step. Soaking overnight smoothes out the grittiness of the cornmeal but if you like the gritty texture, feel free to skip this step

2. melt the butter and cool to room temperature

3. sift together the flour, baking soda, 2 tablespoons of sugar, baking powder, and salt

4. in a separate bowl combine the butter, the milk, the cormeal/buttermilk mixture and the egg yolk

5. add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined

6. beat the egg white until it holds stiff peaks and then fold very gently into the batter (this may seem like an unnecessary step but it makes for a fluffier lighter pancake.  but if you're in a rush feel free to just combine the whole egg with the wet ingredients rather than adding them separately)

7. heat up a griddle at medium-low heat and brush with melted butter

8. meanwhile toss the blueberries with the remaining sugar

9. ladle a large spoonful (I like my pancakes small so I put about 3 tablespoons of batter per pancake)

10. arrange the desired number of blueberries on top of the pancake

11. when large porous holes start to bubble up on the wet side of the pancake, flip and cook for about one minute more

12. serve with maple syrup and honey butter

Honey Butter

1/2 stick of butter

2 tablespoons of honey

Simply whip room temperature butter with honey until the butter is fluffy

Possibly The Best Oatmeal I Have Ever Had

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old fashioned oats (use steel cut if you have the time)

3 gaviota strawberries

fig, white nectarine, honey, and vanilla preserves

candied walnuts

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup water

1 teaspoon craisins

honey or brown sugar optional

1. simmer 1/2 cup oats in 1 cup of water until the liquid is gone

2. top with all of the above ingredients

I've Been Wrong

For 23 years of my life I ignored breakfast.  I turned my nose up.  Who needs breakfast?Breakfast is for truckers at IHOP and 70 year olds.  As it turns out, I need breakfast.  I love breakfast.  

Menu:

-leftover polenta chili casserole from last night's dinner

-toast

-sunnyside up egg with runny yolk

-toast

-plain yogurt with mangos, red currants, and blueberries

Kiwi Kaboom!

This has been my breakfast drink of choice as of late.  My mom bought me a ridiculous number of kiwis at Costco and so I've been blending them with orange juice, ice, and tiny bit of sugar.  Forget that kiwis make my mouth feel fuzzy-the color is fantastic!

The Griddle Cafe

Having a 1,200 calorie day-starter meal seems unholy but let's just assume we'll burn it off as the day goes by.  The Griddle Cafe specializes in pancakes mostly, their list extending from the basic buttermilk and then adding to that formula with things like crushed oreos and frosted flakes.  I ordered the Tis The Season pancakes which was their buttermilk batter mixed with pumpkin pie filling.  I had been talking to Janice and Nancy about pumpkin pie the week previous, so this seemed like a good idea.  I ordered the short stack but still couldn't finish half of one pancake.  The short stack comes with two pancakes approximately the size of a newborn infant.  I didn't even add syrup because the pancakes were sweet enough on their own.  Probably a bit too sweet for me.  On the plus side, the pancakes were very fluffy and hold up well to next-day microwaving.  Thomas ordered the french toast, which he claimed to be, "the best french toast I've ever had".  Okay. Probably the best part of the meal was their side order of griddled potatoes.  The side portion was spilling off the side of the plate and there was an excellent layer of burnt potato-stuff on the top.  The whole meal was pretty affordable and I'll probably go again, though I'm not exactly planning my next trip-I have to come down from my sugar high first.  But, I suppose it's telling that right after that meal, Thomas and I went directly to Kiss My Bundt.  

also, I apologize for the quality of my photos.  I keep forgetting my camera and so I've been using my phone camera

7916 Sunset Blvd

Hollywood, CA 90046