Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, August 23, 2011,
In :
Desserts
I love to bake things for people. When a friend's birthday rolls it around, I like to use it as an excuse to fire up the oven. But sometimes I don't feel like baking a cake. I make a lot of cookies, but after awhile those don't feel as special anymore. That's when I start to pull out the weird recipes. A few days ago, I decided to bake this tart for a birthday party I was going to. It may not have candles you can lick frosting off of, but it's fun to make and even more fun to try to explain ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, August 16, 2011,
In :
entrees
Lately, I've been up to a whole lot of nothin'. Being unemployed was kind of relaxing at first, but now I feel about ready to have some structure in my life. At the moment, my job is finding a job. Hopefully I'll be promoted soon to the position of having a job. Until then, I get to enjoy having lots of time to make myself lunch. Barbecue sauce is weird, because it's made out of things that seem like they shouldn't go together but actually totally should: tomato sauce, vinegar, and molasses... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, August 10, 2011,
In :
Desserts
Whip some cream and put it on top of your strudel... But hold on a minute. Before I tell you how my friends and I pulled off the diamond heist of the century only to end up in the interrogation room at the Davis Police Station, let me take you back to the beginning... ~enter flashback~
It was a hot and beautiful day in June. The sun was sifting through the green leaves of the redwood trees onto a
patch of wild blackberry bushes, all thorns and not a berry to be seen. Inside the plants,... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, August 1, 2011,
In :
Desserts
The cookies I make are like a story I tell over and over, changing slightly with every retelling to highlight the parts which seem the most relevant. Little adjustments to the recipe can yield cookies that are chewy or crunchy, sweet or buttery, nutty or chocolatey, or anything else I can imagine.
When my roommate's sister came to visit, I decided to make chewy, chocolate cookies studded with chocolate chips and chunks of walnuts. We ate them while enjoying Sean Connery's voicing of the drag... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, July 27, 2011,
In :
entrees
I love me some noodles. I've mentioned this a few times before, but I'll reiterate. Noodles are good. Noodles make me happy. Noodles with bacon? And avocado?– Make me even happier. I used chow mein noodles, but this isn't Chinese food. I used avocado, but this isn't Mexican or even Tex-Mex. I used bacon, but this isn't... wherever bacon originally hails from. Wikipedia says either Germany or Hungary. This is what I would call Californian food, because California is a place where good food... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, July 26, 2011,
In :
Desserts
It's been almost a year since I posted, and I guess all I can say is I got distracted by life. Over the past year, I graduated college, stopped working at the dining hall, and figured out that I still don't know what to do for a living. This summer reminds me so much of last summer that I can hardly believe a year has really gone by. The thing is, it's not like last summer at all, because everything's about to change. In about a month, when my lease is up, I'll be leaving Davis and moving bac... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, October 10, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 It's still about 90 degrees in Davis, and feels a lot more like summer than fall. Sadly, much though I would love to pretend it's still summer vacation, it isn't. I have reading to do and papers to write, and pretending I don't won't make them go away. The cool thing for me right now is that I'm actually learning how to say things in Italian, like "non mi piacciono gli asparagi" (I don't like asparagus).
Since I can't change the fact that I have classes and homework now, I'm trying...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, October 9, 2010,
In :
entrees
 I think it's time I added cayenne pepper to my list of favorite things, which includes pesto sauce and this song. If overused, cayenne just makes you reach for a glass of milk to neutralize the spiciness. However, if added judiciosly to vegetables, it brings out their natural sweetness. Lately, whenever I'm deciding what spices to add to a dish, my first thought tends to be cayenne pepper. For me, it gives just the right amount of heat to a dish without overpowering the other ingredients....
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, October 6, 2010,
In :
entrees
 Classes have started once again. This is my last year of college, which means I'm both eager to get out of here and terrified of ceasing to be a student. I've invested so much of myself in my education, it's a big part of who I am. When I was a kid, there were a lot of things I thought I'd have figured out by now. Reality is so different from what I expected! I keep wondering how I can be done when I still haven't got a real plan for the future. Although I love the idea of never writing a...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, September 26, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 To me, one of the coolest things about baking cookies from scratch is that once you have a basic cookie recipe, you can customize every batch you make by tweaking it. I love chocolate cookies, and I'm crazy about the crunchiness of m&ms baked into regular cookies. So when my friend had his birthday last week, I decided to take the chocolate and the crunch and combine them, using reese's pieces for a peanut buttery twist.
Ingredients:
*makes about 18 cookies
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, September 16, 2010,
In :
Sides
 Since turning 21, the wild and crazy world of cooking with wine has been opened up for me. It still feels weird to walk into the wine section at the grocery store, as if I'm not supposed to be there. Putting a bottle (or box) of wine into my basket and carrying it to the checkout, then going through the checkout and actually being allowed to carry the wine out of the store seems somehow wrong to me. But that didn't stop me from going out and buying wine a few days ago.
I've wanted to ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, August 31, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 "It's a pastry. It's flaky and creamy, and it tastes great!" -The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Daniel Pinkwater.
Daniel Pinkwater has been one of my favorite authors since I was in middle school. His novels, from Alan Mendelson, the Boy from Mars to The Worms of Kukumlima captured my imagination and basically summed up my feelings about being a weird kid. My favorite of his books is The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, which, with its two sentences about Napoleons, got me s...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, August 23, 2010,
In :
Sides
 After spending a week in the bay area at my parents' house, where it was cold enough to compell me to borrow a sweatshirt from my mom, I was happy to get back to Davis. It's been a weirdly cool summer both here and there, which is good for me since Davis temperatures usually get into the 100's during the summer. It's not so nice for my parents, who were actually lighting fires in the fireplace while I was visiting. Since returning to Davis, I've been eating almost like a vegetarian, with ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, August 17, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 Now, I'm no masochist. As a general policy, I avoid pain as much as possible. But sometimes, the best things in life are made all the sweeter if you have to suffer a little to get them.
I went on vacation in Greece a few weeks ago, which was wonderful. I could tell you all about the beaches on the Greek Isles with the sand and the water and the hot foreign shirtless guys and the baklava and the spanikopita. I could tell you about Athens, a modern city thriving all around the crumbling...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, July 31, 2010,
In :
Breakfast
 There are people who are good at waking up in the morning, and then there are people like me who are good at hitting the snooze button. I sometimes wish I was the sort of person who could bounce out of bed at 5 am and enjoy the sunrise, but I know myself well enough to realize that's never going to happen. Today was an exception: I got to watch the sunrise while I drove to the 6:15 breakfast shift I somehow got scheduled for. Since I was cashiering, I got to greet all the customers going i...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, July 25, 2010,
In :
entrees
 I've been meaning to try marinating mushrooms for a while now. There were just too many questions, like "What will I marinate them in?" and "What will I do with the extra marinade?"
Finally, I just decided to marinate them in soy sauce and use the marinade as a braising liquid for a chicken thigh. It worked out well, with the mushrooms absorbing tons of flavor and the chicken coming out tender and moist. I'm already thinking about what I want to try marinating mushrooms in next.
Ingred...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, July 17, 2010,
In :
Salads
 Potato salad is one of those foods everyone seems to like except for me. It's a fixture at the backyard barbecue, a summertime classic. When we serve it at work, people go nuts and pile it on their plates. And it's not that I have problem with potatoes, or the idea of putting them in a salad. I just don't like that mayonnaise plays such a large role in traditional potato salads. So this summer I decided to make a potato salad my way, with an herby vinaigrette instead of the usual mayo. The re...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, July 10, 2010,
In :
entrees
 When cooking meat, less is more and more is more. To achieve tenderness, you want to either cook the meat as little as possible, or cook it for a longer period of time at a lower temperature. With pork, it isn't safe to serve it rare, so the best option is to slow cook it, allowing the meat to tenderize while simmering in a flavorful sauce.
Slow cooking is the key to making tender, juicy pulled pork that falls apart with just a little help from two forks. Although it isn't the quickes...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, July 3, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 Frozen desserts are likely to become a running theme for me this summer, since I'm staying in Davis where it gets HOT. When I lived in the bay area, it almost never got hot enough to make me want to avoid using the oven, but here in Davis temperatures frequently get over 100 in the summer. It's enough to make you want to eat nothing but ice cream all day long.
Of course, eating nothing but ice cream would be pretty unhealthy. That's why I'm mixing things up with this raspberry sorbet....
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, June 30, 2010,
In :
Soups
 I had always been skeptical about cold soups. It seems like the whole point of soup is to warm you up, to sooth a sore throat or sustain you after you've had your wisdom teeth pulled. So why on earth would anyone want to eat cold soup?
I'll tell you why: sometimes it gets really freaking hot! And when that happens, all you really want to eat is fresh vegetables swimming in ice water. Which is basically what this soup is.
I was in Japan on a girl scout exchange program, and it was sc...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, June 29, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 A few days ago, Deb of Smitten Kitchen posted a recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie, which put me in mind of one of my favorite summer desserts: my Dad's strawberry rhubarb crumble. I think I will always associate the month of June with the smell of a sweet and tangy strawberry rhubarb crumble baking, both the berries and rhubarb freshly harvested from my parents' garden.
Now, a crumble is not a pie. In my opinion, crumbles are superior to pies. Pies take fruit, berries, and other water...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, June 24, 2010,
In :
Soups
 Martha Stewart. The woman has built an empire on household projects, crafts, gifts, and recipes. Besides bedspreads and dinnerware, what she sells are ideas. Sometimes her ideas seem impractical. Sometimes it seems like the only person who would have the time or the patience to make her projects ( like, say, hundreds of individual-sized wedding cakes for a DIY wedding) is Martha herself. Then again, sometimes Martha really knows what she's talking about. And this is one of those ti...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, June 19, 2010,
In :
Sides
 Given my love of all things carbohydrate, it should come as no surprise that I always fill up on naan when I go to Indian restaurants. Nothing completes an Indian meal like warm, freshly made naan. The chewy, tender flatbread tastes great by itself, and even better when used to soak up a spicy curry. Traditionally baked in tandoor ovens, naan can be made at home by frying dough in a large cast-iron skillet. I got the basic dough recipe I used for my naan from the blog Avocado and Bravado,...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, June 16, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 For the past few days, I've been having to remind myself that it's summer vacation. I'll be relaxing in front of the TV or taking a leisurely walk, unable to shake the feeling that I ought to be stressing about something. Then I'll remember that I have no reason to stress about anything at the moment, and a big smile will come over my face.
My plan for this summer goes something like this: Work a few shifts a week at the dining hall. Cook lots of good food and blog about it. Spend ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, June 7, 2010,
In :
entrees
 Finals week has come again. With two down and two to go, I'm looking forward to this Friday when I can stop studying and start enjoying the hot weather that has finally arrived. In the meantime, I'm going to be doing lots of reading and sitting around indoors scribbling frantically in blue books. At least I have curry to keep me company... and a fine curry it is, with potatoes, mushrooms, and tomatoes melding together into a spicy stew that'll make your tastebuds do a little dance.
Ingred...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, May 31, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 Last week I was pleasantly surprised to find peaches at the supermarket. They looked so pretty and enticing I bought three, only to find that they weren't sweet at all. Siiigh. What a let-down. And after eating one peach that was too sour, I was still stuck with two more that I didn't want to throw away.
So I did what I always do when fruit disappoints me: I put them in something else. I crumbled up some gingersnaps to make a buttery, flavorful crust, then mixed the remaining peaches with ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, May 28, 2010,
In :
entrees
 Last week, Dan Gordon (of Gordon Biersch) came to give a guest lecture to my brewing class. To me the most remarkable thing about him was that although he is a big-time business owner who doubtless deals with all kinds of stress, he still had a lot of youthful exuberance. His excitement about expanding overseas was endearing, as was his humor while sharing anecdotes about his brewing and his business. One particularly interesting story concerned a late-night snack he made himself while st...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, May 24, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 There are people who look down on cake mix cakes. There's an instinctive feeling that cake shouldn't be this easy, and that if it's made from a mix it won't be special. People worry that the magic ingredient, Love with a capital L for "labor intensive" is missing from these cakes. I get that. I do.
But the thing is, using a mix saves a lot of time, and the results are consistently good. If I'm looking to whip up some cupcakes and I don't want to take all day measuring ingredients, a c...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, May 16, 2010,
In :
entrees
 When I said I was making a pea sauce, my roommates said "What!?"
Then I explained that I was going to use frozen peas, not urine, to make a sauce for a cod fillet. Although they were still skeptical, my roommates were at least satisfied that I was making something edible.
Once it was pureed, the sauce had a nice creamy consistency and didn't immediately seem like something that had been made with peas. It tasted a little sweet and a little spicy, with a fresh tang. The cod I cooked in it w...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, May 8, 2010,
In :
Desserts
There are hippies on the quad.
The Whole Earth Festival has come to Davis once again. One weekend every spring, hippies bring tents and camp on the quad, selling hemp clothing and homespun knick-knacks by day and partying at night. What isn't completely clear to me is how selling stuff to college students has anything to do with the earth. But what does have to do with the earth is this:
Strawberries are coming into season.
This is truly a wonderful time of year. In winter, ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, April 28, 2010,
In :
Sides
 Throwing a party means serving food, and the type of food you serve is important. It needs to be easy to make, so that you can concentrate on having a good time. It needs to be easy to eat without making a mess (I'll never forget the disasterous fondue party I threw when I was eight, which turned into a food fight and, consequently, chocolate stains all over Mom's dining room). It should also be tasty. When it comes to party food, many people like to play it safe with cheese and crackers...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, April 26, 2010,
In :
entrees
 When I moved into my apartment in September, I quickly figured out how to get to all the places I needed to go: school, work, and the grocery store. Once I knew the fastest way to get to each of those places, I stopped exploring. It's really a shame, because in the 8 months I've lived in this apartment, I didn't know until a few days ago that there is a huge, HUGE park just a few blocks away. I found it while I was running, something I've started doing again now that the weather is gettin...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, April 22, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 During the month I was in Paris over the summer, I did not eat a single macaron. I saw them in various patisseries, and although I didn't know what they were, I thought they looked very dry and artificially colored and not worth my time.
Then I came back to the States, started a recipe blog, and discovered that macarons, the weird looking cookies I had dismissed with hardly a second thought, were all the rage in the food blogging community. People were really going nuts over them: goi...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, April 16, 2010,
In :
Sides
 Sometimes when life feels like it's accelerating, all I crave is simplicity. Sometimes I just want to make all the things that make my life complicated go away, but then of course I wouldn't have a blog, or a job, or be taking any classes. In other words, I would be a blob. A bored, unhappy blob, at that.
So what I do when I want to simplify is reorganize. I clean my room, so that I can actually walk around it without stubbing any toes. I get out a nice, blank sheet of paper and write...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, April 12, 2010,
In :
Soups
 We seem to be having a long winter. Last year by this time, we were already getting some hot days, but this year Davis is warming up much more slowly. The cold bite hasn't quite gone out of the wind, and the rain is still falling. My thick jacket is still very much in active use, and I'm not happy about it.
While the weather is staying so stubbornly cold, I've been trying to warm things up with recipes that are hearty, but have some of the freshness of spring. This carrot soup fits th...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, April 9, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 A lot of people are going to question my sanity here, but for a long time I didn't see what the big deal was with crepes. I mean, they're just like skinny pancakes, right? Ohhh, so they're Freeeench...they're still just pancakes, albeit skinny French ones. I mean, it's not like just because a food is French that means it has to be good. Lest anyone forget, the French eat snails, people!
It wasn't until I got to Paris and saw the crepe stands on every corner that I understood the true ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, April 8, 2010,
In :
entrees
 Something that never fails to frustrate me is when food looks great but tastes terrible. This morning, I discovered that goat cheese and zucchini are two things that should never, ever go together in an omelet. I had an idea that the flavors of the cheese and the squash would compliment one another, but nooooo... Although the omelet looked very nice, it was so disgusting I actually had to throw it away without eating more than a few bites.
The whole affair brought to mind a memory of ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, March 31, 2010,
In :
entrees
 I wish I could write about this tart, but I can't. It's not because the tart is indescribable; it's got tart goat cheese and caramelized onion-y goodness in every bite, cradled by a simple, buttery crust. And it's not because somebody is holding a gun to my head and telling me not to write about this tart. No, it's more because I'm trying to hold back a massive wave of stress that's about to crush me, and I'm losing. I made this tart a few days ago and meant to write about it then, but di...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, March 29, 2010,
In :
entrees
Just as abruptly as it began, spring break is over and I'm back in Davis. The break was so short that it hardly feels like a new quarter could be starting, but it's beginning to sink in now that I've bought my textbooks and sat through a couple of classes. So far it looks like I'm going to be reading a lot of Moliere; eight of his plays are on my reading lists for my two French classes. My other two classes are food-related: Introduction to Brewing and Beer, and Introduction to Nutr... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, March 26, 2010,
In :
Random
 I'm back at my parents' house for spring break, which is both relaxing and awkward. It's easy to behave like a child when I'm with my parents, because it's what they're used to and, deep down, what they expect. Trying to assert my independence to them sometimes feels like trying to convince a contractor that a trained chimp can operate a forklift. Sure, he can do it...just not very well.
Helping with the cooking is one of the ways I try to show my parents I can take care of myself...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, March 23, 2010,
In :
entrees
 I discovered the noodle aisle at SaveMart a while back, and almost went into paroxysms of joy. Since then, I've been returning to that aisle at every opportunity, snatching up packets of udon noodles of all diffrerent widths and massive quantities of rice noodles, the latest darling of my pantry. It's been a very exciting time for me, noodle-wise.
Growing up, Italian-style pasta was what we cooked at home, and asian noodles were left up to restaurants. I always thought there must ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, March 19, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 Oh, the hypocrisy! So you know how yesterday I wrote all about how I wasn't going to give in to my cravings for sugar and caffeine? Well, guess what? These cookies contain both! You know what else? They are totally worth it!
Hoookay, now that I've gotten all those exclamation points and question marks out of the way, I'll tell you why you should make these cookies: because they're good. It's best if you aren't alone when you pull them out of the oven, because you will be tempted to eat...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, March 18, 2010,
In :
Sides
 Now, I know it's bad to count your chickens before they've hatched (aren't I just full of folk wisdom this week?), but it's looking like I'm going to survive finals. I took out two of them yesterday, and the other two are both take-home finals due on Saturday. In other words, I won't be worrying about them until Friday night.
One of the survival instincts that finals seem to bring out in me is the instinct to take in tons of sugar and caffeine. For the past couple days, just the w...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, March 15, 2010,
In :
entrees
 We all know the adage: waste not, want not. Sometimes, people can take this a bit too far and wind up with a house full of junk. My room is definitely looking like it's about ready for a purge as soon as finals are over. (siiiiigh, yes, it's finals week again).
It was the desire not to waste that led me to freeze the extra lime juice I had after making chili lime shrimp, and today I put it to excellent use as a marinade for some steak fajitas. The acidic lime juice did a really nice jo...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, March 13, 2010,
In :
entrees
 Last Friday, I suddenly got knocked off the face of the planet by a horrible cold. In the days that followed, I missed class, I missed work, and most of all I missed being able to do anything other than sleep and sneeze. Empty chicken noodle soup cans rapidly filled my recycling bin, which is why I haven't posted in a whole week; I've had nothing to post about and no energy for posting.
Thankfully, I seem to be past the worst of it, and I returned to class and work yesterday. Then I c...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, March 5, 2010,
In :
entrees
 I would never survive a low-carb diet, because I love all things carbohydrate: bread, pasta, cereal, legumes, to name a few of my favorites. My parents once tried putting me on a diet of beans and oatmeal for a week to combat my pickiness. Their plan backfired, though; I was perfectly happy to eat carbs, carbs, and more carbs for a week.
Given that I am a bit of a carb freak, it makes sense that noodles would be up on my list of favorite foods. They're just very satisfying to eat, esp...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, February 28, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 Shortbread has never appealed to me the way it does to, say, my mom. To me, "shortbread" is just shorthand for bland, dry cookies that leave me wishing I'd done something better with all that butter and sugar.
However, I've been seeing all these recipes for sables everywhere, recipes that claim they're different from the unsatisfactory shortbread I'm accustomed to. These little French cookies have a sandy texture (from which they got the name sables), and thanks to the brown sugar I u...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, February 27, 2010,
In :
entrees
 Vegetarian. Spicy. Filling. Made from ingredients I already had lying around. Did I just fall in love with a recipe? Yes, I b'lieve I did.
A weird thing I noticed after moving to Davis three years ago is that the dirt here smells different from the dirt in Albany after a rain. The smell of dirt is one of those things you take for granted until it changes on you, and then you suddenly realize what a complicated bouquet of smells dirt really is.
I mention this because I've been g...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, February 21, 2010,
In :
Sides
 After working all three days of last weekend, this weekend I didn't get scheduled to work at all. So how did I spend my first free weekend of the quarter? After promising myself that I would get ahead on homework later, going to the grocery store and buying some overpriced cookies from some adorable girl scouts, and watching the first few minutes of this season of Survivor only to give up in disgust when I realized they were just recycling the same people who had already been on the show ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, February 20, 2010,
In :
entrees
 After a week of beautiful weather that got everyone's hopes up for spring, the fog rolled in and the temperature dropped today. It's gotten to that point in winter where I've grown so accustomed to wearing heavy jackets that I feel almost naked without the added layer of puff. I just can't wait for the sun to come back! Until it does, I decided to heat things up with some chicken enchiladas. The recipe I used is adapted from Annie's Eats, which attributes it to America's Test Kitchen. The...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, February 13, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 Valentine's day inspires a lot of mixed emotions in different people. Those who sarcastically celebrate SAD (single's awareness day) risk being branded as bitter singles, while those who buy into the chocolates and roses are accused of confusing love with commercialism. My solution is this: rather than buy things for Valentine's day or try to ignore the holiday altogether, I bake. This year I made black and white cookies, adapting a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Although they are not t...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, February 11, 2010,
In :
entrees
 In the Sound of Music, Maria sings about her favorite things-raindrops on roses and whiskers on kitttens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, crisp apple strudel and... schnitzel with noodles. I was always a little curious about why this particular dish made it onto her list of favorites, but when I actually tried jaeger schnitzel with spatzle at the Tyrolean Inn in Ben Lomond, I got it. German food is stereotyped as being bland, so I hadn't been expecting much when my parents took...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, February 6, 2010,
In :
entrees
 I don't think I'm alone in saying that Gordon Ramsay scares me a little. His famous temper is well-documented on Hell's Kitchen, where botched risottos and undercooked Wellingtons send him into towering rages. Although I wouldn't ever want to cook with him yelling in my ear, there's no denying that he knows food. This recipe for sticky lemon chicken is adapted from the TV series Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food, and the couscous pilaf I served with it is my own recipe. The chicken turned out bea...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, February 6, 2010,
In :
entrees
 Because my dad works full time, my mom does most of the cooking from day to day in our family. However, when he has the time to do it, my dad really likes to cook. I don't always agree with his methods (or his erm, unusual substitutions), but one thing that he makes that I do like is spaghetti alla carbonara. The whole idea that one could eat spaghetti with anything other than tomato sauce and meatballs always seemed pretty revolutionary to me. On the other hand, it's hardly surprising th...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, February 1, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 My mom and I don't always see eye to eye when it comes to desserts. For instance, she doesn't care for whipped cream, while I could happily sit and eat bowls full of whipped cream with nothing else for dessert. She also doesn't think that cakes always need frosting, whereas I think if you have frosting, what do you need cake for?
One dessert we have never disagreed on, a simple sweet that neither of us would change one thing about, is her rice crispy butterscotch bars. There is nothing...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, January 30, 2010,
In :
entrees
 The sun has returned from its lengthy vacation, making things considerably more cheerful here in Davis. While I still catch myself daydreaming about sandy beaches and turquoise waters in class, I am also reminded of the many charms of Davis in winter- like the somber beauty of rain-soaked olive trees under a gray sky, and the millions of creative ways in which people wear scarves. Now that the sun is actually sticking around past 5 pm, it's starting to feel like spring isn't so far away....
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, January 29, 2010,
In :
Sides
 Sometimes in winter quarter I feel like I've run into a patch of the doldrums. All the papers I turn in start to blend together, until I might as well just be writing the same paper over and over again. Any urge to get out of bed in the morning and actually do something is immediately quashed by the sight of frost riming my windowpane. At times like this, the thought that keeps popping into my mind is, "I'd rather be in Paris right now". And of course, this is not particularly helpful sin...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, January 24, 2010,
In :
Salads
 Over the weekends, I always want to do something special for lunch. On weekdays I often only have time to throw a sandwich together or buy something on campus, but on Saturday I want something better for myself. I want to make up for all the less-than-satisfying lunches I've eaten over the course of the week with something delicious and preferably, healthy. Of course, I still don't want to spend all day making it... Ages ago, I saw a gorgeous panzanella on Smitten Kitchen, and ever sin...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, January 23, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 In my philosophy classes this quarter we've been talking quite a bit about mind/body dualism, the theory that the mind and the body are separate. The difficulty lies in explaining just how the two are separated-after all, if the mind is non-physical, how can it have an effect on the physical world? And how can the physical world affect it?
Cupcakes are the answer. These little morsels of sugary goodness transcend the physical sensation of eating and bring joy to the very essence of you...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, January 21, 2010,
In :
entrees
 I have noticed that if you have a facebook profile, you never need to look out the window or go outside to know what the weather's like. If it's raining, you'll read in your newsfeed all about how your friends need new rain gear, got soaked on the way to class, can't believe how hard it's pouring, or are afraid to get onto one of the packed busses. To say it was raining today doesn't express how it was raining today. It was raining hard, with strong winds that drove the rain in your face...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, January 16, 2010,
In :
entrees
 So. After yesterday's post, in which I extolled the virtues of healthy eating, I'm going to tell you about the pork chops I had for lunch today. The pork chops that I braised in, of all things, sodie pop.
I'm not sure who first got the idea to cook meat in coke, but it's something you run across from time to time in cooking blogs and magazines. That's why, when they were giving away free sodas at work the other day, I took one home with me instead of just explaining that I don't drink...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, January 16, 2010,
In :
entrees
 After spending most of fall quarter being sick, one of my goals this quarter is to try to stay healthy. It can be hard to prevent illness when you're interacting with hundreds of people every day, and when you are dealing with stress from school and work. That's why I'm trying to give my immune system as much help as I can by eating right. Sugar is out (well, maybe not completely), and veggies are in.
I think there's a lot of anti-new-years-resolution backlash in mid-January, because ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, January 12, 2010,
In :
entrees
 Yesterday was Monday, and I think most people will know what I mean when I say it felt like a Monday. According to my mom, my grandma calls it Junk Mail Day, because it's the day when you get the most junk mail. It's just that day when all the stuff you were supposed to take care of over the weekend catches up with you, when all the junk mail catches up with you, when all the junk catches up with you.
This particular Monday, I got home from class and started calling up people who w...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, January 12, 2010,
In :
Desserts
 This quarter has gotten off to a fast start. It's certainly not one of those quarters that lounges around waiting for someone to tell it to get a move on. No, it's one of those quarters where you find yourself scratching your head at the end of the first week and wondering where all your free time went. Really, though, I would like to know what happened to it. And if I could maybe have it back sometime soon... please?
In spite of the fact that I have suddenly become busy and am current...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, January 5, 2010,
In :
Sides
 I've had potato latkes, and I've had Okonomiyaki (japanese cabbage pancakes). After tonight I can say I've had spaghetti squash fritters, and boy, were they good! Even when I forgot to add flour to the first batch, they were still pretty good. With flour, they were exquisite: crispy on the outside, soft and cheesy on the inside. Mmmm.
Winter quarter started today, and so far all of my classes look like fun. Philosophy of the Mind was particularly entertaining-the professor has a deligh...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, January 4, 2010,
In :
Sides
 I have fallen in love with spaghetti squash. The sweet strands of squashy goodness yielded by baking a spaghetti squash look, smell, taste like potential. "We could be great, you know," they try to say, but find themselves lacking in vocal chords.
This is the first of what will probably be several spaghetti squash recipes, since I still have two containers of cooked spaghetti squash in the fridge waiting to be turned into something. It is extremely easy to make, and the spices and le...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, December 29, 2009,
In :
Breakfast
 You must know how happy I am about finding yet another food that tastes good with pesto. For a long time, I had no idea how to make a good omelette. My attempts at omelettes had a way of always turning into scrambled eggs, which are fine when you make them on purpose, but disappointing when you want an omelette. After practicing and watching lots of cooking shows, I am now able to make a successful omelette most of the time. The trick is to use a nonstick pan, don't skimp on the olive oil...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, December 27, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna
of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring
Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from
scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great
Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
This was a fun challenge for me, because I'd never made a gingerbread house from scratch before. In the past, I've always used kits or graham crackers, and the fo...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, December 24, 2009,
In :
Random
 It was not by a miracle that this vaguely Santa-like image appeared on my toast. Every year, my family designs and manufactures our own Christmas card to send out to our friends and relatives, and this year we decided to do a fake tabloid front page with sensational headlines about each of us. My headline was "Santa Toast Miracle!", which pretty much explains itself. Every once in awhile the virgin Mary or Jesus makes an appearance in someone's toast, grilled cheese sandwich, or pancakes ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, December 23, 2009,
In :
entrees
 I am a bigtime proponent of stuffing. At Thanksgiving dinner, I happily bypass the turkey for a big serving of stuffing with gravy. I am also a fan of mushrooms. I understand why some people are grossed out by mushrooms, but I am not one of those people. The word "savory" for me is perfectly embodied in a mildly pungent, intensely flavorful sauteed mushroom. It makes sense, then, that I would eventually come to stuff mushrooms. The only surprise here is that I didn't do it sooner-and beli...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, December 19, 2009,
In :
Sides
 It was an old TV commercial that got me thinking about Crispix Mix. In the late eighties when my brother was a baby, my parents taped a Disney Christmas special that included Mickey's Christmas Carol and a bunch of classic Disney cartoons. I was watching the tape and reminiscing about my childhood when I noticed the commercials. They were hilarious! Everyone had goofy hairdos and microwaves were at the forefront of cooking technology. Sometime between then and now, advertisers learned to ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, December 17, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 You didn't really think I would let the holidays go by without baking cookies, did you? There are so many good reasons to bake cookies this time of year: they make great homemade gifts, they make the house smell amazing, and having the oven on warms up the kitchen for a few hours. Not that I need any of these reasons, since I love to bake, but if you usually shy away from homemade cookies, let me try to change your mind.
In past years I've gone all out with gingerbread, sugar cookies, ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, December 16, 2009,
In :
Sides
 My dad is a teacher at the high school I went to, and on Wednesday he's hosting the faculty Christmas party at our house (technically it's a "holiday" party, but cm'on, who are we kidding?). This means that tomorrow at 3:12 when school lets out, a large group of my former teachers will descend on my house, bringing booze and (hopefully) cookies. I plan to hide for the duration of the party. However, before I lock myself in my room, I will take 5 minutes to cook up some of the gyoza I made...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, December 13, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 Finals are finally over, much to my relief. Tomorrow, I'm going back to my parents' house for winter break, which means that today I was trying to use up as much of my food as possible. I had a pack of raspberries sitting in the fridge (They were on sale at the store a few days ago, and I never say no to Chilean produce!), and I spent most of the afternoon debating what to do with them while watching "Lawrence of Arabia" in an effort to distract myself from how cold it is. The movie was a...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, December 9, 2009,
In :
entrees
 Meatballs are definitely up there on the list of Classic Foods Cooked By American Moms; my mom makes them from time to time and so do the moms of most of my friends (we'll just temporarily forget about the vegetarians, shall we?). It is completely understandable that this is the case. Spaghetti with meatballs is a meal that nourishes, plain and simple. You've got your meat, your carbs, and even some vitamins and minerals in the hot tomato sauce. On a day like today, when I had a couple of...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, December 7, 2009,
In :
entrees
 Baby, it's cold outside! The weather forecast generated a lot of excitement among me and my fellow Davis-ites when it predicted "rain/snow" last night. Sadly, all the hopeful speculation ("Will we be able to snowboard to campus?", "Will they cancel my final?") was for naught, because it didn't snow. What it did do is get really freaking cold.
When the weather gets cold like this, sometimes the entire town seems to get sick. Sitting for an hour in a lecture hall full of coughing, sniff...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, December 5, 2009,
In :
entrees
What is it about little things that makes them so darling? I guess it's probably wired into us to think small versions of things are cute so that we'll pay enough attention to our offspring to ensure their survival. Of course I don't really believe that two big quiches got together and produced these baby quiches, but I still think these little quiches are really cute! That's why I made mini quiches in the first place, instead of one big quiche. Food should always be adorable if at al... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, December 4, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 Just about anyone who's ever made a batch of cookies can tell you what the best part is: licking the extra cookie dough off the spoon at the end. I haven't partaken in this for years, however, because I gave up raw cookie dough when I was nine and found out about salmonella. My thinking was that however much I loved cookie dough, I was not willing to die for it. Amazingly, considering how often I bake cookies, it never occured to me until last week that I could just make a batch of cookie...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, December 1, 2009,
In :
Soups
 Split pea soup is one of those magic comfort foods that never fails to give me a boost. Somehow, when you take those little pebbly green split peas and cook them in water with ham and vegetables, they become something more. They reveal a potential for deliciousness you never would have suspected. Another great thing about split pea soup is it tastes just as good (if not better) the next day. Since I have some last-minute paper writing ahead of me this week, having leftover soup in the fri...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, November 27, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 Yes, it's the day after Thanksgiving, but I'm not going to blog about turkeys or cranberry sauce because, to be perfectly honest, I didn't cook any! My sole contribution to my family's meal was stirring the gravy while it was cooking, and then helping eat all the wonderful food my grandma had made.
What I am going to blog about is the Daring Bakers Challenge for this month. This was my first challenge, so I was pretty excited about it. Until I made this recipe, I had never cooked or e...
Posted by Emma Barker on Thursday, November 26, 2009,
In :
Sides
 Yesterday I finally made my third brussels sprouts recipe, which attempted to use garlic to drown out the flavor of the sprouts. I think it did this a little bit too well; the garlic flavor was really strong! However, if you love garlic, this might be just the recipe you have been looking for, so here it is:
Ingredients:
*serves 1
2 brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
sliced almonds to garnish
In a plastic sandwich bag...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, November 24, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 Pear galette. It started out as a little whisper in the back of my mind, and became more and more insistent as the day went on and I went to class and then work. Pear galette. On the bus ride back to my apartment, I found myself getting off the bus one stop early so I could drop by the grocery store. I bought three bartlett pears. The next day was Saturday and I didn't have to work. I made some pate brisee, I peeled some pears. I made a pear galette. And here it is.
Ingredients:
*makes one ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, November 22, 2009,
In :
Salads
 For something so ugly, the avocado is a surprisingly delicious fruit. A ripe avocado melts in the mouth like butter, velvety soft with its own mild flavor. I love a good batch of guacamole as much as the next person, but sometimes I like to eat avocados in a simpler, healthier way. This salad is designed to compliment the unique flavor and texture of avocado without overwhelming it. Razor thin slices of carrot add structure and sweet nuttiness, which is balanced by the acidic lemon juice ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, November 21, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 When I was a kid, we had several blueberry bushes in the backyard. Every summer I would wait eagerly for the berries to ripen, watching as the little white flowers bloomed, lost their petals, and swelled up into sweet fruit. Then, when the berries were ripe, I would sneak out and eat them all before anybody else could get any! Luckily for my parents I eventually learned to share. Unfortunately, the blueberry bushes died a few years later, probably because they weren't getting any sunlight...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, November 20, 2009,
In :
Sides
 As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, I have taken on the Brussels Sprout. I plan to cook the detestible vegetable into submission, pickling it, spicing it, and sauteing it until it cries out to be eaten. My first recipe for brussels sprouts involved pickling them before sauteing them, and relied on the flavors of salt and vinegar to combat the intense bitterness brussels sprouts are known for. This recipe attacks from an entirely different angle, and the results were fantastic! Thi...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, November 18, 2009,
In :
entrees
A popular quick snack in France, the Croque Monsieur is a delicious grilled ham and cheese sandwich. In Paris, the Croque Monsieurs I had were covered with grated cheese, resulting in a ridiculously cheesy sandwich-dare I say, too cheesy? To lighten the sandwich up a little bit I left off the extra grated cheese, and added some cilantro to give it a fresher flavor. This is a Croque Monsieur, California style.
Ingredients:
* serves 1
2 slices of sourdough bread
sliced cooked ham, enough to co...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, November 18, 2009,
In :
Sides
 Sometimes when I make a lot of desserts, I almost feel like I'm cheating. After all, when you're cooking with large quantities of butter and sugar, it's pretty hard to go wrong. And even if things don't go as planned, many a messed-up dessert can still be redeemed by dipping it in chocolate or covering it in whipped cream.
Much though I love baking (and eating) sweets, I also like a good challenge. I think one way to really improve as a cook is to take a food you absolutely detest and...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, November 17, 2009,
In :
Breakfast
 On a cold day like the ones we've been having, all you really want to do is lie around your apartment slurping tea and rereading an old favorite book or knitting something. Or at least, that's all I want to do. But when one is lying around one's apartment slurping tea, reading and/or knitting, one is apt to become a mite peckish. One craves something like a cookie...but not a cookie. Something like a biscuit...but not a biscuit. It is at these times that I like to mix up a batch of ra...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, November 15, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 When I went to Paris over the summer, I got to see some famous sights:  
I also got to eat lots and lots of chocolate mousse. It's everywhere! You can find little pots of it in the dairy section of the grocery store, sitting nonchalantly next to the yogurt.
When I returned to the United States, I was completely addicted to the stuff, but unable to find it in American grocery stores. I wanted to make my own, but the recipes I found contained raw eggs, something I don't eat. EVER. Not ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, November 14, 2009,
In :
entrees
 This weekend I didn't have to work Friday or Saturday, making it feel like my first "real" weekend in weeks. I celebrated yesterday after class by getting into my cozy flannel pajamas at a ridiculously early hour of the afternoon, cooking up a storm, and watching Boondock Saints with two of my housemates. It was a quiet, relaxing evening and just what I needed to wind down from a busy week full of little frustrations (getting stuck in the dishroom at the end of every shift, bombing my Phy...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, November 14, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 I've been a perfectionist for as long as I can remember, and it causes all sorts of problems. Although it is useful when it comes to completing school projects and getting good grades, it can also be counterproductive. Sometimes I feel like nothing I do is really good enough, because none of it is perfect. I can get so bogged down in feelings of inadequacy that I don't get anything done. It's taken me a long time to accept myself as the imperfect person I am, and to learn that even if som...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, November 13, 2009,
In :
Salads
 One of the great challenges of working at the dining hall for me is the salad bar. It's the dressings; they're just so icky. I see people drowning their lettuce in Ranch dressing and I want to cry out, "Why, oh why are you putting that on your salad?" But I have to restrain myself. What's more, when the Ranch dressing runs out, I'm supposed to refill it. Ewww.
When I make salad for myself, I usually don't even like a simple vinaigrette. Instead, I squeeze a little lemon juice on top a...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, November 11, 2009,
In :
Breakfast
About a week ago, generic store-brand bagels were on sale at the supermarket. I bought two bags of 6, which is a lot of bagels for one person to use up before they go bad! I've been working my way through them pretty diligently, and let me tell you, I'm getting tired of eating bagels with cream cheese for lunch every day. Since today is Veterans' Day, I don't have any classes, which meant I had time to make a special breakfast for myself this morning. I had never tried making french toast...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, November 11, 2009,
In :
entrees
It has been an eventful couple of days: my blog finally became google-searchable (yaaaay!!!), I seem to be getting over my cold (excuse me while I run outside and knock vigorously on nearest tree!), and the weather suddenly went from mild and summery to cool and crisp. It was perhaps this chain of events that emboldened me to attempt, one more time, a recipe I have always failed at in the past: Fettuccine Alfredo. I capitalize it here because that's the way I think of it. That's the w... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, November 8, 2009,
In :
Sides
If you read my blog (which I know you don't because nobody reads it yet), you may have noticed that I like pesto. A lot. I use it like some people use ketchup- I'm always looking for ways to add it to whatever I'm eating. So it should hardly be surprising to you, dear nonexistent reader, that I got the idea in my head yesterday to put pesto in my mashed potatoes. The point is, it was a good idea. Just the way it made my kitchen smell as I added the pesto to the hot, freshly boiled a... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, November 8, 2009,
In :
entrees
I am so fed up with being sick. Even while I'm coughing and sniffling, a large and stubborn part of me is insisting: "No. I can't afford to be sick again this quarter. I already missed too much class when I had the (swine?) flu!" Nevertheless, I am sick, and I am realizing as this stupid cold persists that if I want to get better, I need to do some serious self-pampering. Food, of course, is one of the most important elements of my cold treatment regimen. (After all-"Starve a ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, November 4, 2009,
In :
Sides
 Frozen peas can be a godsend when you need to whip up a vegetable fast-but they can also be boring. This recipe takes plain 'ol peas and gives them some pizazz.
Ingredients:
*serves 1-2
1 strip of bacon
2 crimini mushrooms, chopped into eighths
1 cup frozen peas
water to cover the peas
a teaspoon of butter
First, cut the bacon into small pieces (about an inch wide) and cook it in a small pot over medium heat. When the bacon has exuded some grease into the pot, add the mushrooms and brown them. ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, November 4, 2009,
In :
Desserts
We've started to have some cold days here in Davis, a sign that the summer really is over and fall is, well, falling. The quarter is in full swing, as evidenced by the many stressed-out faces on campus, and turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie are on the horizon. But before we get too used to this cold-weather fare, Davis has given us a few more sweater-free days and a sale on raspberries at the supermarket. A berry dessert seemed a fitting farewell to summer, so I made raspberry turnovers ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, November 3, 2009,
In :
entrees
 Allow me to clarify: it is me who is lazy, and not the chicken pot pie. Usually I'm so lazy when it comes to making chicken pot pies that I just buy the ones in the frozen section of the grocery store. Well, not this time! After discovering just last week who Nigella Lawson is and that she is a proponent of using real butter, I had been dying to try making her chicken pot pie. On the show where she made the pie, she happily declared that it took only half an hour to make ("We'll see about...
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, October 30, 2009,
In :
Sides
 Last night the cooking club on campus that I participate in was having a meeting/potluck, and I needed something to bring. It had to be fast, easy, and delicious, of course. But since this potluck was taking place on campus in a classroom with no way to reheat food, there were the added challenges that it needed to be reasonably easy to transport, and it needed to taste good cold. Usually when I go to these potlucks, I just make cookies. This time, though, I wanted to bring something savory r...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, October 28, 2009,
In :
entrees
 Last night, I had pulled the pizza dough I'd been waiting to use all weekend out of the fridge and started preheating the oven when the phone rang.
It was one of the managers at the dining hall calling to ask if I could possibly come into work that evening. (I cursed myself for answering the phone). I could have said no, and I seriously considered it...I mean, c'mon! Who hasn't thought about blowing off work to stay home and make pizza?
But I didn't. I put the pizza dough back in the fridge...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, October 24, 2009,
In :
entrees
Macaroni and Cheese from a box has its place in my diet; it's comforting, it's easy, and it comes in Spiderman shapes. However, when it comes to taste, texture, and actually knowing what went into what you are eating, you can't beat homemade. This recipe is similar to the one my mom makes, which she got from the fine folks at America's Test Kitchen. I added basil to mine and baked it in small, individual size ramekins. I was really pleased with the way it turned out-as cheesy and co... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, October 19, 2009,
In :
Desserts
This recipe isn't quite in the spirit of cooking for the busy and broke. Although it is cheap to make, it also takes about two hours. Why this sudden departure from the theme of my blog? I have a story about that... Today I was sick at home with what might possibly be Swine flu. Not that I particularly wanted to go to class feeling as lethargic as I am, but my official reason for staying home today is that I have received several very nice emails from the Chancellor of UC Davis and var... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, October 19, 2009,
In :
Desserts
What’s more comforting than a chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven, lovingly spatula’d onto a plate by Mom and accompanied by a cold glass of milk? How about one you made yourself? This simple recipe was handed down to me by my mother and allows lots of room for creative modification.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg
1+1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
6 oz (half a 12 oz package) semi-sweet chocolat...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, October 14, 2009,
In :
Sides
 I love the taste of garlic bread way too much to care how bad it makes my breath smell. Ingredients:
Sourdough bread, sliced 1 inch thick
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp butter
*makes 3 slices
Crush the garlic. In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Add the garlic to the butter, and mix well. Spread the garlic/butter mixture generously on one side of each slice of bread. Toast in the broiler at 350 degrees F for about 2 minutes, until the edges of the bread begin to turn brown.
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, October 14, 2009,
In :
Soups
Today was the first rainy day of the school year, and I faced it without an umbrella. It was raining in torrents all day, which meant that by the time I got back to my apartment, I was soaked. After changing into dry clothes and putting on the fuzziest socks I own, I warmed myself up with a hot bowl of tomato soup accompanied by garlic bread. This simple vegetarian soup is not creamy like the canned variety, but chunky and brothy. It's excellent for dipping toast or a grilled cheese sandwich ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Tuesday, October 13, 2009,
In :
entrees
Not being a native of Philadelphia, I hesitate to call this a Philly cheese steak. Rest assured, however, it is a cheese steak and it is definitely something you should make for yourself. I was not in a very good mood today. It was the sort of day that people think of when they say they hate Mondays, the sort of day that feels like pushing needles through rubber bands just trying to get through it, the sort of day where the sky is overcast and you wind up biking against the wind because you m... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, October 12, 2009,
In :
Desserts
 This delectable morsel not only beats the crap out of brownie mix brownies, it was pretty easy to make. If you are pressed for time, then you can use brownie mix for the brownie portion of this recipe. However, I would urge you to invest the time to make the brownies from scratch, because it will make a difference in the taste of the final product. First you mix up the brownies and pour them into a pan, then you mix up the cheesecake and pour it on top. You swirl it with a knife to make i...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, October 10, 2009,
In :
entrees
 Last weekend when I was at the grocery store, I bought chili powder. All week, I've been chuckling gleefully to myself at odd moments just thinking of what I was going to make with it: mole sauce. Teehee, mole sauce. I remember the first time I ordered chicken mole at a restaurant, I thought putting chocolate on meat was just about the craziest thing ever. I still feel giddy and silly when I think about the combination of chocolate and spices and chicken. Today, after waiting all week in anti...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, October 7, 2009,
In :
entrees
At the dining hall where I work, there is a station devoted entirely to making pizza. They have a pizza oven, pizza trays, pizza paddles, and a machine that presses the dough into pizza shape for you. As nifty as all this equipment is, you don't actually need any of it to make good pizza. This pizza recipe will leave you with just one question: is it easy, or is it simple? You can buy premade pizza dough at some grocery stores, however if you would like to make your own, it's not too difficult... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, October 4, 2009,
In :
entrees
 What is there to say about this, except "Yum!"? I'm thrilled that this recipe turned out successfully, because I wasn't at all sure that it would. The usual method of making french fries (No, I will NOT call them freedom fries) is to deep-fry pieces of potato. I didn't want to make mine that way because it uses so much oil, and leaves you with a pot full of nasty, potato-ey oil when you're done that you have to get rid of somehow. I wanted my fries to have the soft interior and crisp exterior...
Posted by Emma Barker on Saturday, October 3, 2009,
In :
Breakfast
The smell of baking bananas filled the air...my housemates sniffed it appreciatively while I took the banana bread out of the oven to test it for doneness. I stuck in the knife, only to have it come out dirty again. What was going on? Why was my banana bread taking so ridiculously long to bake? The recipe I was using said 20 minutes, and it had been 25! But wait! There's the problem! The recipe I was using was for Banana Nut Muffins...and of course muffins don't take as long to bake as a loaf ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Wednesday, September 30, 2009,
In :
Desserts
The weather finally cooled down today to the point where eating chocolate no longer seemed like a ludicrous proposition, and I took full advantage of that fact with this new recipe. It's just about as easy as it gets; I made it in just an hour between classes, and I think I could probably have made it faster if I wasn't making it up as I went along.
Apples with peanut butter are a popular, healthy snack that I eat quite often. Peanut butter and chocolate put together make another powerf... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, September 28, 2009,
In :
entrees
I have a little confession to make about this recipe: I was so hungry when I started making it that I didn't bother to marinate the beef. As a result, although it still tasted great, the beef could've been more tender. You don't have to learn the hard (or shall I say slightly tougher and less moist) way like I did: marinate the beef. You won't regret it. Just putting the beef and the marinade in the fridge a few hours before cooking, as I failed to do, will suffice. Stir frying is a quick... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Monday, September 28, 2009,
In :
Sides
Rice makes a great accompaniment to many meals. It works well as a side dish for meats, seafood, and vegetables and is perfect for soaking up tasty sauces. However, the same old rice day after day can quickly become boring. This garlic rice recipe is a delicious variation that I use to make rice more exciting. I learned how to make it from a high school friend who had grown up in Peru, who told me that they had made it daily in Lima when she lived there. Ingredients: 1 cup long grain white rice... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, September 27, 2009,
In :
Salads
I live in Davis, California, where the weather is sometimes intolerably hot. Today, for instance, it was in the upper nineties for most of the afternoon and tomorrow we’re supposed to see temperatures over 100. When it’s hot outside, I find myself craving salads with lots of crunchy lettuce and fresh vegetables. Meaty stews and starchy sides go out the window, replaced by the delicate saltiness of seafood. My dinner tonight was composed of various ingredients I had that needed to be ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Emma Barker on Sunday, September 27, 2009,
In :
entrees
Tonight, I felt like making something cheesy, meaty, and flavorful for dinner. I also wanted it to be easy to make, since classes started today and I have things other than cooking to deal with. So I dug some steak out of the freezer to thaw and quickly threw together a tasty Mexican-style meal. A steak quesadilla is a great dinner when you’re busy, and it’s also a great dinner when you’re not busy at all. It’s all about taking simple ingredients and classing them up into a meal t... Continue reading ...
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About Me
Welcome to my blog! I'm Emma, a recent college graduate with a BA in French. I am passionate about cooking and writing, among other things. Come share in my love of food!
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