Spring is here!

But not. We got some flurry and a little dusting on the bushes and cars. Haha! what a tease. 70s on the weekend then a blast of cold air. Thank goodness I was way too lazy to do anything in the garden. 

My indoor garden is so-so. My sprouted onions seems to be very unhappy. May put it outside this weekend to see if they will do better in. My romaine lettuce, started from a bottom, seems to be holding it's own. Not the best looking head of lettuce but okay. And my geraniums, started from seeds that my Mom toss in a pot, are still going.

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5/7/14
I'm back. It's probably more than a month since i started this post and Spring is really here. The forsythia, cherry blossoms and daffodils have come and gone. And now it starts allergy season in full force. My car has a pale tinge of pollen green. Sneezing and itchy eyes are my morning wake up. Trying to be very diligent at taking care of my sinuses to avoid problems down the line. Ahaaa! Spring!

My indoor garden is in very bad shape. My onions and lettuce are done. I think they got fed up living inside. Oh well, I tried.

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5/30/14
I keep not finishing this post because I didn't get any pictures of my garden. I finally planted seeds, a little late--a week after Mother's day. Here's picture what it look like last week.

Green stalks closest to you are green onions from last year and I don't know how they survived this past winter but they did and looks even better than last year. Haricot Vert seedlings from my Chef T and my garlic looking good. I planted cucumbers, swiss chard, manoa lettuce and soy beans. Everything seems to be sprouting except the cucumbers, may have to try again. And some critter is digging in the garden. I know it's those squirrels. 

No flowers planted yet, Only bought a planter of petunias from the market because it was on sale. Hope to plant some zinnias seeds and some marigolds this weekend. Better pictures to come.

And more cake . . .

This one I've been dreaming of since I got Baking From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. And I finally got to make it for a belated birthday celebration for my Mom and my cousin's daughter "A". 

It's called Devil's Food White-Out Cake. 3 layers of devil's food cake with marshmallow frosting and cake crumbs all around. Of course, my cake doesn't look as good as the one on the cover but it looks pretty good.

Cake!

Who doesn't love a good layered cake. It has the right amount of icing to cake ratio, especially when it's a great buttercream, swiss is my favorite. I've been making plans to make a cake for my birthday. Something that I never made. Something a little bit fancy. I even made a pinterest board for it. 

The Log Cabin Begins

It's been a month since I last posted. I survived the deadline but still recovering from that last push. I have 2 posts in the que that I haven't finished. But I thought I'd post the project I just started.

Got a 3 skeins of this crazy yarn from a co-worker a long while back. She said it was from her Mom. It was old, not sure what the content is. I think it my be a wool blend. It's made up of 6 strands, 2 black and one strand each of light blue, pink, lavender and yellow. Just loose, not twisted together. 

So I decided to start a log cabin blanket. Been crazy about garter stitch lately. Made a log cabin cotton bath rug a while ago. Love the look, despite the glaring mistake. Turn right instead of left. 

Not sure how big it will be, probably a throw. Not sure who it is for. Kind of has a 90s feel. I 'm really liking what it's looking like. Here's what I have so far.

I'm on strip five. Stay tune for finished project. 

Reasons Why I Should Have Stayed in Bed

And not go to the restaurant.

1. It was raining.
2. I was waiting for notification to start work [my work-work, too much work-work].
3. I had tons of paperwork for the restaurant [gives me anxiety].
4. And biggest reason, sometime there are people in the world that just like to make you feel bad.

I think this all good reasons for staying home with the covers pulled over my head. But of course, I didn't even think of these reasons till after I went to restaurant. So I ended up working [I can't call it working since I didn't get paid] lunch shift [I tried my best not to do much, just cleaning and organizing--but don't get me started on that issue] and kept a constant eye on my phone just in case I got a notification from work. I did get to see a lot of customers that I hadn't seen in a while. That help brighten up my day.

Can't say I was happy when I got home, tons of stuff to do, paperwork and cleaning mostly but all I felt like was crawling in bed. But I toughed it out and got to work. [I waited around all weekend to get notification from work. what a crock of . . .] Whew! What a weekend. Sorry for the ranting but sometimes you just got to blow off so steam. 

But this weekend, I'm treating myself to a day in the NYC with friend who I haven't seen in a while. Going to get cultured--going to see an art exhibit and a dance performance of another friend's daughter [a solo performance of her own choreography] with eating in between. I haven't been out at night in the city for a while. Pretty excited. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a recipe I just tried out. If you like strawberries and sticky buns, this will be up your alley. It is really best eaten the day it was baked. This would be a pretty impressive dish to bring to a brunch. The strawberry was juicy and collected on the bottom. If you don't like that use less strawberries and more jam. The cream cheese icing was  perfectly sweet and creamy for me.  

Iced!

This was sent to me by a friend to try out. Kind of perfect timing. Had some sweet strawberries that I needed to use up and want to make up some for me and WG. It comes via www.jocooks.com. Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.jocooks.com/bakery/pastries/strawberry-rolls-cream-cheese-icing/

A Vat of Lemon Curd

Well, it is citrus season [I started this post a while ago when it really was citrus season] and I needed to use up some Meyer Lemons that I had, so why not make 1 1/2 recipe of  Ina Garten's Lemon Curd. It so easy and delicious. Who cares that I have already have a pint in my refrigerator. 

I ended up with total 4 1/2 pints and 4 little jars of curd. I used a bottle for the cookies below and keep 1/2 pint for myself for another attempt at the Black Sesame Chiffon Cake and some macrons. And the rest of the curd will be for friends.

I'm going to try and make some lilikoi curd using this recipe. Stay tune.

Both WG and I love cookies with jam in it. Been dying to try out this thumbprint/Sable cookies from Lottie + Doof with some leftover whole wheat flour and walnuts. And I thought the lemon curd would go great as the filling. This recipe gets a thumbs up. It's perfectly sweet and such great texture. I will more of this. Wish I took a picture. They were very picture worthy. Next time.

But what I really want to use the lemon curd for is a Chai Spice cupcake with lemon curd filling and cinnamon cream cheese frosting. It's one of my favorite cupcakes [I really want to make a layered cake with this recipe but the customers just seem to like the red velvet].

Tah dah! Chai Tea cake with lemon curd filling and lemon cinnamon buttercream. I avoided a decorating disaster, buttercream too hard from spending too much time in the refrig to firm up. Took apart once, to level off layer 1, sort of. This is why I don't enjoy decorating cake. Gave up to idea of frosting the top, buttercream just wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. Made a ring of flowers to hold the lemon curd in the center. I went around a couple times, started to like the look--like a pikaki lei.

Pretty good save. But I have bring it in to work one day late. Forgot to put it in the car. Oh well, Happy Belated Birthday! Hope people like it.

Trapped at home . . .

without my car. WG's car is in the shop and he had to take my car. So I'm working from home for the next several days. I guess it is a little bit of a blessing. I'm massively busy at my job-job [you know the one that pays] and no commuting back and forth, 2 1/2 hours a day, does help, I think? . . .

 . . . Day 6 of no car. I could have guess from the statement of a "couple of days" would turn into this. But it's out of my control and what can I do. . .


CATCH UP. With my project, I've been feeling a bit under water with. I'm exhausted from trying to keep up for the last 2 weeks but this past Friday, I had made great progress and no more drowning feeling [it does help when you know come Monday, you get to turn back the part of the project you've been covering for someone]

KNIT. Since I set  my goal of not buying new yarn and to knit my stash away. I made good work of it this weekend. Three project on the burner: another set of bib and burping cloth, fingerless gloves for WG and a cardigan for hmmmm . . .maybe me or a gift. This is attempt 3 with this yarn/cardigan combo and hope the third time is a charm.

Pattern: Lodi Cardigan by Tanis Gray

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease

From the top down, making nice progress