peach crisp

The local farmer's markets are bursting with peaches and nectarines lately. So before we wrap up this summer, we can all use a little peach crisp. I know its back-to-school and the top of the calendar now reads "September," but we can still pretend its summer time when you have a mouth full of this peach pie.

I'm currently well into 5 months pregnant with twins. Yes, TWINS! One of the most common questions people love asking me is if I have any cravings. Cravings, that I do not have but plenty of aversions. One of them being baked goods, you're not going to catch me eating a muffin or cookie any time soon, unless its my toddler shoving it down my throat insisting that I MUST eat this and he MUST feed it to me. You'll be surprised how often this scenario plays out in our household. Just think in another two years, I'll have two more pair of hands doing this to me. Mmmm... parenthood.

Anyways, back to my crisp. Even though sweets is off my to-eat list lately, I still love fruit. The joy of living in California is that you can have such a variety of fruit all year round. My summer diet has been chock full of plums, figs, watermelon, peaches, berries, I can go on... Thankfully, my twins are okay with me eating some baked peaches because this peach crisp is a must eat. I'm sure I'll be baking one of these every peach season from now on. peach crisp

loquat fruit leather

Loquats are pretty much an un-known fruit in the United States but in the past few years, I've had access to them through family and friends who grow them. I have a love-hate relationship with them. I love the sweet, juicy peach colored-flesh, yet I hate the giant pit-like seeds in the center. Also the harvest season is very short and abundant, which means you have to eat or process a huge batch of them at once.

So it's April... and its loquat season. And lucky me, my friend, Jody happened to have a loquat tree in her backyard. She brought over maybe 5lbs of these darling little fruits the other day. I ate and ate and decided I'm not going to be able to eat them all before they were spoiled. I wanted to make something that my little guy can eat and that is when I thought of fruit leather. So easy to make and it also is a great snack for kids.

They're not the most attractive looking things, so I had to put together a little artwork. The image above is inspired by one of my favorite artists, Hong Yi. I absolutely love her food series.

no-bake pb & chocolate bars

I’m one of those people who eats something delicious and immediately wants to go home and learn how to recreate it. And so I did but not quite immediately. A couple of years ago, while traveling through HKG, I picked up a chocolate/fruit/nut bar from a Starbucks there. It was delicious and hearty. After studying the list of ingredients, I realized it was grain/wheat free and rather healthy. Save. It was mentally stored in my back of brain to make later. 

Now fast-forward two year later, one random morning, I have a craving for something comforting and ideally healthy. Most of the time, these two things don’t come hand in hand. I raided my pantry and gathered a bunch of ingredients on the counter. Oh! There is nothing more comforting than the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. Spotting the dates and almonds, it brought me back to that yummy breakfast bar I had at the Hong Kong Starbucks. The best part of this recipe is that it is no-bake. 

strawberry tart with pastry cream

Tarts and pies are my latest summer obsession. They are versatile, easy, familiar, and can always be eaten with a scoop of ice cream. What more can you ask for? One of my first memories of fruit tarts are from a Japanese bakery where my family would have breakfast every Sunday during my childhood. The tarts were perfectly round topped with blemish-free fruit glistening with shiny, sugary glaze. And sandwiched between the crust and fruit is a creamy, sweet custard. From then on, I’ve always had a soft spot for fruit tarts. I eat them so often at bakeshops that I realize I’ve never actually made one. So after 30-something years, here is my first fruit tart with pastry cream.

The best part of this recipe is that each component can be eaten on its own. The shortbread crust is the perfect balance of sweetness and butter. The custard is creamy and tangy. And there is no need to state why fresh summer berries are awesome. But why would you eat them separately if you have all three on hand?

rustic strawberry pie

It's strawberry season! The local strawberries here are to die for. We've been getting a ton from Oakview Farms through our Eat South CSA. But these were picked up from the Southern Makers event in downtown Montgomery a couple of weeks ago. Not to go off the topic of strawberries here but I have to tell you guys a little more about this event. It was an one day event which gathered Alabama-based chefs, artists, breweries, craftsmen, and designers to celebrate the creativity and innovation happening in the state. There were a ton of food, live music, workshops, activities for kids, panel discussions, and maker's bazaar. My favorite booths were Anchor and Daisy's (owned by my talented, beautiful neighbor), Matter's, and Susan Starr's (which I'm a bit bias since I had a hand in designing it). It was such a fun day; I enjoyed an amazing cup of honey latte from Mama Mocha's, ate food prepared by my favorite Alabama chef, David Bancroft. and won myself a cool little stool from Plenty Design Coop thru the silent auction. This event really showed what hidden gems Alabama holds.

Now back to strawberries. We usually just eat them fresh and whole, but we go ourselves a bucketful; I didn't think we would be able to finish them before they went bad. This is when my mom would say the Chinese proverb, "Big eyes, small belly." Which is not always a bad thing in this case since I made some pie out of it.

This is actually not just a strawberry pie, its a strawberry lime pie. I love all lemon and lime pies, so why not? And this crust is like a piece of heaven. I kid you not. Make it and you'll see! I promise that you will not regret it. Not sure if it was the fresh strawberries or the flaky, butter crust but Gary and I polished this baby off (literally) minutes after it came out of the oven. It played out something like this:

Gary: Can I have a taste?
Me: Of course.
Gary: (mouth full) This is... oh my god... so good.
Me: Let me have a bite.
Gary: (feeds me a piece) Can I have another piece?
Me: Sure, only if you cut me a piece too.
(We finish our respective pieces)
Gary: I'm just going to have another piece.
Me: Me too.
(Repeat last two lines. Gary and I look down at an empty plate.)

teacher appreciation week

To kick off teacher appreciation week, I brought in some homemade granola for the teachers at Austin's daycare. I'm so glad I did because I saw that other parents had brought doughnuts and other sugary sweets. I'm sure the teachers were happy to see something healthier on the table. To add a special note, I printed a short message on some cardstock and tied it on with some ribbons. Voila!

raspberry red velvet

It felt like it was just yesterday when we were counting down to the new year and raising glasses of champagne. Can you believe it’s spring already? Even though I can’t, I’m completely embracing it. I’m looking forward to constant sunshine and warm breezes but what I’m most excited for are the fruits of spring: berries... strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.



To celebrate spring, I recently made a rendition of my classic red velvet cupcakes with fresh raspberries. These. Were. Amazing. I don’t know why I never thought of this sooner. And I must admit, my red velvets will never be without fresh berries again (as long as I can get a hold of them).

apple hand pies

Now that the weather is warming up, all I can think about is spending time outdoors from afternoon picnics to evening strolls. Even though, I'm spending so much time outside with the family, I'm still doing lots of cooking and baking at home. I've just made some adjustments to make it portable, like these apple hand pies. These are perfect for my husband who loves to take his breakfast-on-the-go or our dessert dates in the courtyard.

So my mom is so cute. She's been hounding me for this recipe after I showed her these hand pies through Facetime the other day. Growing up in a Chinese family, I rarely ate things like this as a child. But I guess now that my parents have lived in the States for over 30 years, they are beginning to show interest in making American food at home. Well, now that I think of it, these do resemble something you can find at dim sum: char siu sou, which is a flaky pastry wrapped around savory roasted pork. Nonetheless, I'm excited to share this recipe with you... and my mom.

pineapple mojitos

Yes, please! What is there not to love about fruit, mint and some alcohol? As I had mentioned here, we got some fresh mint from our CSA last week and I could not resist making mojitos with it. Rather than making a traditional mojito, I added some fresh pineapples to it for fun.

{the glasses are from bormioli rocco}

apple pies

For one of Gary's new year's resolutions, he is to make dinner at least once a week. Ever since we met, he's cooked for me maybe handful of times, so this is a big deal. Three weeks into the year and so far we've had three excellent meals. For one of the dinners, we invited some good friends of ours, Jennie and Thomas, to join us. Since Gary was just starting out, I decided to help make the dessert. I've been obsessing over making apple pie; there's just something about apple pie that is so comforting and enjoyable.  I've made my fair share of apples pies in the past and wanted to do something new, so I decided to make individual pies in gratin dishes.

oatmeal raisin cookies

coconut cake

Last week, my neighbor asked me to help her with a reveal cake she was making for her friend's baby shower. For those of you that don't know what a reveal cake is, it is a cake to "reveal" the gender of the baby to friends and family. Of course I said "Yes!"  I have never made a reveal cake and I rarely bake a layer cake because cupcakes are easier and I can eat as many as I want without anyone keeping score. So, we made one of my favorite vanilla cake recipes and simply just added a generous amount of blue food coloring to the batter. The mother-to-be had requested a coconut flavor, the frosting is a coconut frosting and the whole cake was coated with untoasted and toasted coconut.

strawberry cupcake

I've been on the hunt for the perfect, from-scratch strawberry cupcake that resembles the strawberry cake from Wynlakes Country Club. But its been hard and they don't look like anything like it. So I decided to try out Paula Deen's Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake recipe, which uses cake mix and instant jello mix. I have never in my life made a cake with instant jello mix in it. There is always a first. All in all, the cake turned out delicious and it was exactly like the one served at our country club. Next time I'll use this recipe but probably make the batter from scratch rather than using a mix.

orange spritz cookies

What a crazy past couple of months! I've been neglecting my poor little blog due to life. And life I mean: graduate school, family, friends, holidays, and most exciting of all expecting a little one. Yes! We will go from two to three May next year! Now, that I am well into my second trimester and feeling much better, along with my winter break from school, I can once again focus on creating yummy goodies in the kitchen. With a week until Christmas, I scrambled together some buttery cookies to send out to friends. The first are these lovely orange spritz! 

muscadine pepper jelly

This week, I have more creations from my Hampstead Farm's CSA goodies. With a dozen or so jalapeno peppers and two pints of muscadine grapes, I really didn't know what else to do with them other than make jelly.

toasted carrot banana bread

I know.... NOT another banana bread recipe? Yup. I just LOVE homemade banana bread. This time I threw in some carrots for fun (and fiber).

banana coffee cake

If you haven't noticed I have a ton of banana recipes on my blog. That's because I buy a lot of bananas but I don't eat them fast enough. So here's something I haven't made with bananas before... coffee cake!

refreshing basil lemonade

What do I do when life gives me lemons? I make lemonade. Actually, basil lemonade to be exact.

let's all scream for ice cream

With this cross-country heat wave, we need some homemade ice cream to cool us down. These scoops are not your ordinary chocolate and vanilla flavors.

Last week, we got a ton of melons and basil from our CSA, so I combined the two together with some eggs and cream and came out with the most refreshing treat ever. The other concoction is not quite an ice cream but an ice milk. What is ice milk? Pretty simple, instead of the cream, I used milk for a lighter version of my favorite summer indulgence.

banana muffins filled with fig jam

I am in the baking mood, so I gathered a few things I had around the house and scraped them together into some muffins. I also wanted to try out some new liners I got. Cute, huh?