cupcakes
Friday, July 30, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Flan Flan Flan!
So much has happened in the past couple days, my head is still spinning from everything. To add to my numerous less than 24 hour stints in Chicago, I went home on Thursday evening so I could see my sister off on Friday as she heads out into the great wilderness of New Zealand. It was so bittersweet to see her packing, to see a years worth of her future life being packed into a single suitcase. I've been walking a thin line of emotional breakdown since I closing, and seeing my sister go was incredibly sad. Even more stressful was the missing of the flight, the hours on standby, and the hours driving back to school randomly bursting into tears... i don't know when i became such a baby, but i'll miss my sister a lot. She's grown a lot and i think this year abroad will be an amazing time for her. I know a year flies by quickly, but still-- she's somewhere out there, several hours in the future, and i can't bother her when i'm bored in lab. it's strange to see her go... my baby sister all alone half a world away!!! I'm also exhausted from travel and working on the house and working towards this soulcrushing degree. my heart aches for a weekend to rest. but that's besides the point. i should stop whining and think and talk about food as i sit here in a restless state of insomnia.
Flan is something that i have been dying to make for years... but for some reason never made it. something about flan and it's delicious caramely sugary goodness dripping over the custardy creamy goodness that i so love.... i was afraid that if i made it, i would ruin it and that once i ruined it, my desire to make it will die forever... which is mildly dramatic... but in my head, it was all true. Something in me finally decided that i needed to venture into flan making. Forced to push the fear of failure aside, my case of less than a dozen eggs came out of the fridge and sacrificed themselves for the greater good of my tastebuds.
Flan
8 egg yolks
2 eggs
2/3 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Caramel topping
1/2 c sugar
1/8 c water
But in the meantime, what else has happened-- random bouts of activity have ensued, with long bike rides in the hot hot heat, swimming laps before storms roll in, and playing hours of tennis before being eaten alive by bugs....
My labmate defended her thesis today (well, i guess really it was yesterday) and it's always encouraging to see someone finish. it's also heartbreaking to see all the work a thesis defense leaves out. It seems as though a thesis defense is merely a project defense, where years of work and hours of agony are condensed into a single graph, a single blot, a single gel.... A PhD is a difficult road, and having the tenacity and patience to walk that road takes a special kind of person. Maybe I can learn a few things from her if I can look past other things that have kept me blind. Maybe one day, my jaded grad student self will finally find peace within failure and maybe one day, I too will graduate and sign a champagne bottle that my advisor will keep on her shelf. Maybe one day i'll finally grow up and have something that resembles a normal life, one where you don't wake up planning and anticipating your day where you don't spend your lunch hour troubleshooting experiments that have been failing for months, where going home at 9 is no longer considered kind of early, but rather late, where you can go to bed without having anxiety about the next day's experiments, where you can spend a weekend not working and not feel guilt about it, where you can take a vacation and not spend weeks trying to salvage what you left behind...
or maybe one day, it'll be my profession, and i'll love it as much as i did two years ago.
it has been a difficult year, but i can feel it in my bones, deep within-- 2010 will be a good one. a big one and a good one. and by 2010, i mean 2010 extending into most of 2011.
til next time.
Flan is something that i have been dying to make for years... but for some reason never made it. something about flan and it's delicious caramely sugary goodness dripping over the custardy creamy goodness that i so love.... i was afraid that if i made it, i would ruin it and that once i ruined it, my desire to make it will die forever... which is mildly dramatic... but in my head, it was all true. Something in me finally decided that i needed to venture into flan making. Forced to push the fear of failure aside, my case of less than a dozen eggs came out of the fridge and sacrificed themselves for the greater good of my tastebuds.
Flan
8 egg yolks
2 eggs
2/3 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Caramel topping
1/2 c sugar
1/8 c water
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar becomes a nice golden brown color.
- Divide carmelized sugar into 6 or so ramekins and set aside to cool
- While sugar is cooling, set a pot of water to boil
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 2 eggs and the liquids (this is too amazingly simple i almost didn't believe it) mix everything together until creamy and smooth
- Pour egg mixture into ramekins and cover tightly with foil
- Place ramekins in a baking pan. When the water starts to boil, pour into the baking pan until the water level comes halfway up the ramekin
- Bake in oven for 30-40 min until the custard is set
- Cool completely and store in the fridge
My Handy Assistant
Yum... Burnt Sugar
Out of the Oven!
OMG Flan!
But in the meantime, what else has happened-- random bouts of activity have ensued, with long bike rides in the hot hot heat, swimming laps before storms roll in, and playing hours of tennis before being eaten alive by bugs....
My labmate defended her thesis today (well, i guess really it was yesterday) and it's always encouraging to see someone finish. it's also heartbreaking to see all the work a thesis defense leaves out. It seems as though a thesis defense is merely a project defense, where years of work and hours of agony are condensed into a single graph, a single blot, a single gel.... A PhD is a difficult road, and having the tenacity and patience to walk that road takes a special kind of person. Maybe I can learn a few things from her if I can look past other things that have kept me blind. Maybe one day, my jaded grad student self will finally find peace within failure and maybe one day, I too will graduate and sign a champagne bottle that my advisor will keep on her shelf. Maybe one day i'll finally grow up and have something that resembles a normal life, one where you don't wake up planning and anticipating your day where you don't spend your lunch hour troubleshooting experiments that have been failing for months, where going home at 9 is no longer considered kind of early, but rather late, where you can go to bed without having anxiety about the next day's experiments, where you can spend a weekend not working and not feel guilt about it, where you can take a vacation and not spend weeks trying to salvage what you left behind...
or maybe one day, it'll be my profession, and i'll love it as much as i did two years ago.
it has been a difficult year, but i can feel it in my bones, deep within-- 2010 will be a good one. a big one and a good one. and by 2010, i mean 2010 extending into most of 2011.
til next time.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Salted Caramel Thumbprints
life is somehow still in disarray. one would think that as soon as everything has been moved, settling in would be easy... but it's not as easy as i thought it would be. I'm still unpacking things and while it seems as though bits and pieces of my life are back in order, a huge majority of things are still sitting in the garage, waiting to be taken care of. The realtor stopped by the other day and marveled at how different the house looks now compared to what it looked like and the condition it was in when i bought it.
in between house stuff (taking a short break from remodeling and fix 'er upping) i've ventured back into the land of exercise and activities. biking everywhere has been an amazing step up from driving everywhere, and i can't wait to start the long trips out on the country roads. but, for now... the kitchen is still being warmed with delicious cookies. I found this recipe here and i thought they were worth trying out. and um, they totally were.
Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
Caramel Sauce:
These cookies were delicious. They were a wonderful balance of flavors and textures, with the hint of salt, the sweet from the caramel and the toasted nutty almond flavor mixed with the soft cookie, the crunchy almonds, and gooey caramel. great with coffee, better with friends. I'll be making a second batch of these... you know... just to make sure the first wasn't some abnormal fluke in the kitchen :-)
in between house stuff (taking a short break from remodeling and fix 'er upping) i've ventured back into the land of exercise and activities. biking everywhere has been an amazing step up from driving everywhere, and i can't wait to start the long trips out on the country roads. but, for now... the kitchen is still being warmed with delicious cookies. I found this recipe here and i thought they were worth trying out. and um, they totally were.
Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
¼ white sugar
¼ light brown sugar
1 egg separated
1 teaspoon of vanilla
12 unwrapped nibs
1/8 + splash cup heavy cream
1/2 cup almonds – chopped, lightly toasted
Toasted Chopped Almonds
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add light brown sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Beat until just combined. Set batter aside.
- In a separate bowl whisk flour and salt.
- Slowly add flour mixture to batter while beating on low until just incorporated. Do not over beat or the dough will become sticky.
- Form into one inch balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- While the dough balls are cooling, beat egg white until frothy.
- Removed chilled dough and dip into egg whites first then roll into nuts.
Rounded Dough Rolled in Almonds
- Using either your thumb or a round ended tool, press the rounded dough to create an indentation.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and cool on rack.
Caramel Sauce:
20 Kraft caramel squares
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
Nips preMelting
- Place caramel squares and cream in a sauce pan and melt over low heat for approximately 7-8 minutes.
- Caramel sauce is ready when it is free of any solids.
Assembly
- Fill indentation of thumbprint cookies.
- Sprinkle with sea salt.
Filled with Caramel
Sprinkled with Salt
These cookies were delicious. They were a wonderful balance of flavors and textures, with the hint of salt, the sweet from the caramel and the toasted nutty almond flavor mixed with the soft cookie, the crunchy almonds, and gooey caramel. great with coffee, better with friends. I'll be making a second batch of these... you know... just to make sure the first wasn't some abnormal fluke in the kitchen :-)
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