Tartine's Almond-Lemon Tea Cake

I've written a new Photoshop/Elements tutorial: using Levels to make highlights brighter, shadows darker, play with the contrast, and remove color casts.
I don't have foodnetworkhumor.com on my feed reader, but during an idle moment when I might need a food-related chuckle, I head on over and get my fill. It's not super-interesting to me because we get a much-condensed version of The Food Network here: no Sandra Lee, no Anne Burrell, no Guy Fieri. Anyway, one of the running gags they have there is, of course, Ina Garten and her insistence on only using "good vanilla," which, to be fair to Garten, is pretty valid (even though I still use the not-good kind for some applications).

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Tartine's Zucchini and Orange Marmalade Tea Cake

Edited to add: Before things get out of hand, I need to add: I do not have an offer yet. I am just optimistic.

I can't believe I have less than 48 hours left in the United States! As a parting gift, Mother Nature sent me a respectable amount of snowfall a few nights ago. For some reason, the way the sidewalks are shoveled, it forms a neat shelf of snow that remind me of chocolate sheet cake with marshmallow frosting. True story.

It won't be long before I'm back in the Philippines, staring dejectedly once again at the weighing scale. It can't be as bad as my last stay here... Can it? The cold wasn't as bad as the last time, but my resolve not to overdo going out and spending (sometimes to get all-new ingredients for something, as it's not my kitchen I'm cooking in) has fueled my sloth, which is probably not so bad considering WHEN (hehe... THE SECRET! lol) I get that residency this coming July, I will not have a moment to catch my breath. Which, if you knew me from before this blog, is my "zone", though I do a better job than most at keeping "zen".

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Tartine's Steamed Gingerbread Pudding

At my last Christmas party, when everything was just getting started, we were planted idly in front of the local news. The feature story was about a woman whose lover left her 6 years ago (I'm not aware that they shared the reason for the break-up). She was reminiscing about how they adopted dogs together and spent Christmas decorating the tree, etc. Even though they'd broken up, she still decorated the tree and put presents under it (presumably for the two of them), and set up mementos of the two of them together (a pair of Christmas angels). During the entire feature, there wasn't anyone else in her giant house. She said she did all these things in the hope that one cold Christmas night, she'd return and they'd live happily ever after.

"Oh man," I thought, "that is just too tragic."

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Tartine's Chocolate Pots de Crème

So, like I said in my previous posts, this is my first Thanksgiving. However, I'm not feeling the mad rush to produce dinner, since my uncle's dad has already volunteered to do so, which is a relief (though I am thinking about dessert, I hope he doesn't mind). It will also be my first Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving that, as I understand it, there's usually no work and stores slash their prices to encourage buying for the next big holiday. There've been horror stories about this, sadly, but I'm avoiding that rush too and thankfully there's the task of babysitting my cousins while my aunt and uncle go to work (no surprise there, as she works in Nordstrom).

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Tartine's Gougères

The strangest thing happened to me when I was walking the streets of San Francisco last month. For some reason I wanted to enter a camera shop so I can find a way to clean the lens of my Powershot G7 and a good tripod. Being a tourist (and click-happy at that), I was always armed with my G7 hanging around my neck, but I found that I couldn't enter the camera shop. Because there were enthusiasts hanging outside the door. With their spiffy SLRs.

Can you believe that? I was embarrassed. I'm trying hard to think whether I embarrass easily. There was a party where I once set the dance floor on fire-- and not in a good way. But I was completely untouched by alcohol; I just did it because I liked moving my ass. I eat out by myself all the time. And I am not ashamed to fall hard on my ass on the skating rink; I just laugh it off (serves me right for going so fast). But just put a group of photogs together and I shrink.

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Tartine's Pumpkin Pie

The food culture between countries sometimes differs at the most fundamental level: for instance, how you treat a fruit or vegetable. Here in the Philippines, just like in at least Brazil, avocados are treated as a dessert fruit. It bothers me (not genuine bother, more of an amused wonderment) that people have called it a vegetable when it is clearly botanically a fruit, but also that people are surprised when it's used for desserts. Here the addition of avocados to sandwiches and salads is a recent phenomenon, and still quite uncommon at that. Guacamole was more well-known, but people in the provinces would scoff at it. What truly bothers me is how clumsily avocados are used in desserts in the Western world, like recipes for ice cream that are essentially sweet frozen guacamole. Yuck. Avocados here are very simply enjoyed by scooping out the flesh and introducing a river of sweetened condensed milk into it.

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Tartine's Pumpkin Tea Cake

THANKS to everyone who read, commented, and most especially contributed from last week's post. I'll be replying to the comments soon, but for now I'm glad to have touched people enough to give in a time of despair. You are all so, so awesome, in case you didn't know that yet.

In college we once had an assignment in Communications class: think of one funny thing you witnessed. It can't be a funny story you heard from someone else, it can't be something you saw on television. It had to have happened to you (or, at least, in front of you). I think I must have written down the lamest story about how some lame teacher was tormenting me, thinking it was probably marginally funny. Well, it wasn't. Truth is, it was hardly that funny, and to no one's surprise, it was even less funny to everyone else.

The sad fact is, even though I am a laugher (I consider myself a sitcom guy) and I never fail to see the humor in everyday situations, I could only remember the laughs and the belly laughs, but not what made me laugh. Or if I could, it was from some line from The Simpsons or something.

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Tartine's Lemon Bars

Hi. This is a difficult post to write, but truth be told, it's going to be difficult to write about food in the midst of so much suffering for a very long time, so I might as well start. Long story short for those who don't want to read the rest: please visit this site on Google to find out how you can help the victims of Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines- it has ways for people overseas to help. Thanks so much.

EDITED TO ADD: Make a donation to UNICEF for this cause today, and your gift will be matched, doubling your support.

When I was in high school, my friend and I had this well-meaning discussion about giving to the poor. He said that his parents always taught him that it's usually better to give to big charities (I think he named the Church in particular, though it's not really a charity) than to beggars for several reasons: the organizations know how to systematically dispense goods so it provides the most benefit (rather than a beggar buying a big meal, then is hungry again), you never know what beggars do with the money (e.g., buy cigarettes), it encourages begging instead of working, and encourages organized begging syndicates (watch Slumdog Millionaire to get the gist of it). "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for the rest of his life."

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Tartine's Pecan Maple Pie

Medical school can certainly be a strange place for people who went through college together. In undergrad, you take courses in a semi-random order you prefer, but in medical school, everyone has to follow the progression in the hierarchy. So, being naive enough to ignore this, I thought working with my friend, who was a year higher in Biology but now a medical resident (while I was an intern), would be nearly the same as it used to be. Not so. For some reason, instead of my name, she called me "dear."

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Tartine's Lemon Meringue Cake

Huh, I can't believe this is my 251st post! Thanks to all those who have tuned in.
It's already nearing the end of July, and most of my friends who sojourned to the US for residency are wrapping up their first month. I have almost no idea how they felt about it. You see, about two months ago, I decided to remove the column on Tweetdeck that updates me on people's Facebook statuses. Even though I have an (admittedly loose) policy on not comparing my life to other people's, especially not my friends', some of the updates were starting to get on my nerves.

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Tartine's Summer Fruit Bavarian

While doing my usual rounds of the food blogs, I came across a banner that intrigued me: it was from BlogHer, asking us (you?) if marketing to women is all about stereotypes. I couldn't quite remember the content of the articles I read from that link, but one writer was lamenting about a sparkly pink candy "just for the ladies" (I can't remember if this is the article I read about the controversial candy bar called "The Finger") while another one, about a "misguided laptops-for-women site." I found myself agreeing with the content of the articles, and of course I am for gender-neutral advertising, for the most part. But don't think men have been dealt a better hand.

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Tartine's Brownies

I'm not too good at remembering my dreams. There are a few that stick out in my consciousness-- like my favorite one, where I am being chased by a dinosaur on ice, and I have my hockey skates on. It wasn't scary, the feeling was more like being on an amusement park ride, with obstacles. In some of my more boring dreams, I am driving and it's totally natural, not the stiff and nervous way I drive in real life. I had one bizarre dream where I got married to a friend of mine, and there's totally nothing there (unless my subconscious is telling me otherwise), but at the reception I start talking to her, quite worriedly, that we don't have any money to fulfill our dreams together. It seems that I have to wreck even my dreams with my real-life worries.

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Tartine's Deluxe Double Chocolate Cookies

Finally, after enduring treacle-slow internet due to... the flapping of a butterfly wing probably, as my ISP is the worst ever, I can get on with blogging, then tomorrow it's off to read everyone's wonderful posts over the last few days. I've been trying to deal with the online paralysis by doing the laundry (still fun, so far) and making a few desserts. Sometimes I wonder why we keep up with things that are so unbelievably horrible (escalation of commitment comes to mind).

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Tartine's Banana Date Tea Cake

So, there are a few of you who are probably wondering what happened in the almost 2 weeks I didn't post on this blog. Big changes. HUGE changes. They are changes in plans, though-- as in real life, what I instead have is a giant stop sign in front of my face. You see, I failed to match for a hospital (read: the four hospitals I interviewed for went another way). What followed is almost a week of malaise, juggling trying to "feel the feelings" (as my friend Allen puts it), smacking myself in the head for inadequacies, smacking myself more in the head for realizing that there are people out there with real problems and this: coming to the United States to grab an opportunity, missed as it was, does not even rate. However, even though we can argue about what the factors were that led to this outcome were-- internal or external-- the fact remains that I could only have really influenced the internal factors, and that's what really kills me. (Especially since it worked for some of my Filipino peers, but not for me.)

"It's time to go back to the house, pack your belongings, and go. Home." In all probability I'll give it another $hot. Even though there are $ome problem$ a$$ociated with that. But frantic sublimation a week after falling flat on your face is a little superhuman, don't you think? (The start of the next application period is September.) Though I try to be a Tiffany, I usually end up a Rebecca, which is probably for the best because the last thing I need is Tyra yelling at me how to feel. But I am trying, Tyra! I want to take control of my destiny!

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Tartine's Mango Galettes

Oh, hello again! Some of you might be wondering what hole I fell into since the last week. What happened was that my laptop finally decided it's tired of this life and severed its adapter jack from the motherboard. I guess it's served me kind of well over the last three and a half years considering in the last few months its battery no longer worked and wasn't really in stock anywhere. So, not super-portable. And since that time, I flew to San Francisco and didn't acquire a new laptop until recently. And nooo, it is not a Mac. I know some design freaks out there poo on PCs, but I don't really get the belly-aching. I work remarkably well with a PC-- we have a rhythm.

Anyway, so I'm out here, and meeting two of my faaavorite bloggers (and, since my social Venn diagram isn't super-expansive, that means they're two of my favorite people as well), Allen and Joe, and Marvin (more on those later). Without my trusty sidekick, I was able to devote a lot of time to doing fun activities with my host family's kids (my cousins), like cooking lunch, helping with the homework, and indulging the occasional need for a playmate (though chess isn't really challenging against a seven-year-old, Mario Kart on the Wii is). And then there is the simple joy of the Wii fit telling you every day to keep up the good work as you go through yoga poses in the exact opposite way you should be (screaming).

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Tartine's Cherry Clafoutis

Clafoutis aux Cerises

AGAIN with the long delays! I'm nearing the end of my interview tour-- just one more to go in Pennsylvania-- then I'm off to read the posts I so sorely miss. Just wanted to get this one out.
Books, and cookbooks in particular, can get incredibly expensive. Unless you're the type who has patience for the $5 bin where books the likes of "50 Low-Fat Desserts" written by Anonymous languish, you probably suffer through rows and rows of books that cost anywhere between $25 and $50. I suppose the higher cost is justified by the beautiful color plates (an antiquated term, heh) that pictures of food require, hardbound construction, and sturdy pages. Factor in the losses you get from the cookbook fanatic with grubby hands who rips the plastic carelessly (ha ha), and a smaller audience compared to Oprah's book club, and you have even higher costs. (Though in fairness, there are VERY good books in the $25 or less range, you just have to look hard.)

With prices like these, it would be a shame to not use the books, as that is of course where you get the value of your money. And it is finally decided if the book is ultimately worth it and has paid for itself, or if you might as well have burned your fresh $50. Which is why I'm proud of my project with Duncan-- The Gastronomer's Bookshelf-- because various people are able to share their experiences with cookbooks, and not only do readers get to determine what is gold and what is crap before spending the dough, but also, hopefully in the long term, writers and publishers will churn out better and better product.

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Tartine's Soft Glazed Gingerbread

No, you haven't descended into a time-warp. You see, here in the Philippines, we don't have Thanksgiving, so after the whole Halloween-All Saints' Day-All Souls' Day trifecta we can already prepare for Christmas. I think you'll be surprised at the speed with which workers at the mall prepare the giant Christmas trees-- all ready to be gawked at by the morning of November 3. It personally feels a little strange, given the latest onslaught of bad news surrounding me and my friends, but we'll power through. Each year the broken records that are television and radio news boast the Filipinos' knack for being able to celebrate through poverty and inflation, and family members struggling to provide for the family by working overseas. Perhaps the Thanksgiving sentiment of gratitude for one's blessings is combined with our Christmas celebrations (maybe we're thankful that we only have to really prepare two feasts a year-- Christmas and New Year).

But whether you celebrate Christmas or not, it's never a bad time to be with family (some might even say that it's during the bad times that time spent with family and friends is more appreciated). And it's never a bad time to enjoy gingerbread, either. This recipe is my entry (hopefully the first of many) to Susan's Eat Christmas Cookies blog event from now till December 21. There's a running round-up here.

This is the springerle mold I got from Sur La Table when I went to San Francisco-- produced by House on the Hill (an Illinois company), which makes beautiful springerle molds from antique designs, but it was a bit expensive (the price on the springerle rolling pin is insane-- but I can't deny its gorgeousness). You can get springerle rolling pins from Amazon that are even cheaper than single molds at House on the Hill, but I haven't been able to look at the designs up close.

Patricia, I didn't know you made guest appearances! KIDDING!
And now (drumroll)... MEMES! I've led these two memes out into a deserted grassy field and am describing our dreams of owning our own land. The first one is Jeanne's Commenter's Meme.
My last ten commenters are:
1. Greasemonkey of The Cobbler Confederate
2. Susan of Food Blogga (singsong he-ey)
3. Kevin of Closet Cooking
4. Holly of Phe/Mom/Enon
5. Mandy of Fresh from the Oven
6. Pea of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
7. Sunita of Sunita's World
8. Jen of Use Real Butter
9. Zen Chef of Chefs Gone Wild
10. Dr. Em of Pulse
Questions!
1. What is your favourite post from number 3's blog? There's a LOT (Kev works REALLY hard!), but some of my more recent faves are the Apple Pie Pizza and the Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza.
2. Has number 10 taken any pictures that have moved you? Dr. Em has a photo blog, and I like her picture of the Nihon Teien-- my exact word was "breathtaking."
3. Does number 6 reply to comments on their blog? Yes, though sometimes I get e-mails instead :)
4. Which part of blogland is number 2 from? San Diego! (Surf-)Rock on!
5. If you could give one piece of advice to number 7 what would it be? Oh, that's embarrassing! Unsolicited advice, heh :) Er, keep up the good work... And don't feed strange cats. They will slash you.
6. Have you every tried something from number 9's blog? No... I will when I come across a shitload of truffles, though. Kidding! My aspiration has always been the clam risotto, though. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in that blog is beyond decadent.
7. Has number 1 blogged something that inspired you? No, but I don't think he'll take it against me... (Heh)
8. How often do you comment on number 4's blog? Uh, very :)
9. Do you wait for number 8 to post excitedly? Good God yes
10. How did number 5's blog change your life? Well, Mandy's changed my baking life for sure... She's one of the first blogs I discovered and I learned not to be afraid in the kitchen ;)
11. Do you know any of the 10 bloggers in person? No, not even Dr. Em! And I missed a phone call with Jen :(
12. Do any of your 10 bloggers know each other in person? Ah, I don't think so.
13. Out of the 10, which updates more frequently? It's a toss-up between Kevin and Dr. Em ;)
14. Which of the 10 keep you laughing? Pea, Jen, and Holly do turn on the funny a lot-- But Zen-Man does the comedy song and dance to full effect! Dude, the guy makes comic strips.
15. Which of the 10 has made you cry (good or bad tears)? Without a doubt, Jen.

Whew! And now we're, uh, done with that meme, it's time for Kid Diva's simple seven-things meme.
1. Last things I ordered from overseas (via HMV.co.uk)-- Keane: Perfect Symmetry deluxe set and Peep Show DVD boxed set (Series 1-5! w00t!). Sooo horrifically funny.
2. Whuzzat? You want a list of all the sitcoms I've ever seen? Here it is.
3. CD at the top of the stack next to me: More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy.
4. Off to New Jersey at the start of next year for my interviews-- if I pass my Step 2 CS exam (from El Segundo).
5. Got rid of the 3 pounds I gained, but got a little back from all the cookies below. Oh well, as long as I exercise...
6. I used to spend quite a bit of time making Keane signatures for rabid fangirls at the official forum. Here's a link. Some of those Photoshop files have 60 layers!
7. I distinctly remember this moment from elementary school: Every year we had to do a set of physical tests, one of them being the 50-meter sprint. At the end of mine, the gym teacher told me (in loosely translated Tagalog): "What the hell was that?!"

This recipe is again from one of my favorite cookbooks, Tartine. I recently reviewed it over at The Gastronomer's Bookshelf, finally!


Soft Glazed Gingerbread adapted from Tartine
The original recipe says to roll the dough out to 1/3 inch thick and apply only enough pressure with the mold to make a clear impression. However, in doing so I found that I squished the dough to only about 1/4 inch thick. I still baked them for 7 minutes without compromising the softness of the cookie. Also, because it's so warm in the kitchen and I needed a lot of pressure to make a clear print, pressing next to an existing impression distorts the one beside it. For this reason, instead of press-press-press-cut-cut-cut, I had to press-cut-press-cut-press-cut. A little more work but at least the designs emerged as intended. The recipe says this makes 12-20 cookies, but because of the above adjustments, I ended up making 40 delicious cookies-- you can press the dough scraps together and re-roll as needed. You can also check out my previous, and just as good, recipe for gingerbread here-- it's also thick and soft but has no egg (it has milk, though).

• 225g (2 sticks or 1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 170g (3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 155g (1/2 cup) blackstrap or other dark molasses
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 525g (3-3/4 cups) all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, add the butter, then sprinkle the cocoa, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, bakind soda, salt, and pepper evenly over it. Beat the mixture until creamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar and mix on medium speed until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the egg and beat until well-combined. Add the molasses and corn syrup and beat until well-combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Sift all the flour over the mixture and stir in with a strong spoon or rubber spatula until well-combined and no traces of flour remain. You could also use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, beating on low speed until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and no traces of flour remain. Place the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and press it into a rectangle about an inch thick, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Line a sheet pan with parchment.

If using a single springerle mold: Unwrap the dough and place on a floured work surface. Roll out the dough to 1/3 inch thickness, lightly dust the top with flour, and press the mold(s) all over the dough. Cut out the shapes with a small knife and transfer to the baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.

If using a springerle rolling pin: Lightly dust the lined sheet pan with flour and place the dough on top. Roll into a rectangle about 1/3 inch thick with a regular rolling pin, then roll over it again with the patterned pin, applying enough pressure to ensure a clear impression. Trim the sides of the entire slab with a small knife, but there's no need to cut out the individual cookies at this point.

Bake the cookies until lightly golden (er... okay) along the sides but still soft to touch in the center, about 7 minutes for already-cut cookies or 15 minutes if you used a patterned rolling pin and are baking a giant slab of cookies. When done, let the cookies cool in the pan for about 10 minutes (they will set further as they cool). While waiting, prepare the glaze:

• 115g (1 cup) confectioners' sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons water

Sift the confectioners' sugar into a small mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoons water and whisk until smooth. While the cookies are warm, evenly brush a light coat of glaze on top. If the details are obscured too much, whisk in the remaining tablespoon of water to the glaze and continue. If you've used a patterned pin to make a large slab of cookies, when the glaze has hardened, use a small, very sharp knife to cut it into the individual cookies.