kuroba

My going away present to myself: russian honey cake with a clover design obviously (this is the second closest I've gotten to H&C irl).

I thought the recipe was very intimidating...but was not too difficult actually. It is time consuming, took me about 3 hours of active time to make. The beginning and ending steps are much easier with an assistant. Some changes to the recipe / my own notes:

• Don't let the caramel mixture cool too much before adding the eggs; the warmer the liquids, the easier it is incorporating the flour (aka less of an arm workout)
• A 9" lid is the secret to shaping the biscuits into perfect circles. While the dough is still between the two sheets of parchment paper, press the lid lightly onto the stack to mark where you'll be cutting. Then peel off the top sheet and firmly press down on the lid to cut the dough. Having the light marking ensures that there won't be gaps around the edges since it's moderately difficult to roll the dough large enough. 
• The biscuits baked unevenly for me, there were many large bubbles even after docking the dough. I then very, very aggressively docked the remaining dough, but it was not very effective in preventing the bubbles. 
• I accidentally bought half the required sour cream and double the condensed milk ha ha... so I made the frosting in that ratio. It worked out well in terms of texture and softening, although tastes too sweet for me. 
• How does one coat the sides in crumb? I grabbed a handful of crumbs and pressed them onto the sides, but this got really messy. 

Overall this is the favourite cake that I've made. 

pins

& brought to you by ADAM.GC PRO. I ought to declutter my font folder, I don't use like 95% of them.

Great article analyzing the font of A Lange watches. I tried in vain to find free versions of Engravers (normal version) and Versailles.

nutmeg

Yesterday's dinner: miso rosemary beans and wholesome mahshi. If you ignore the salads on my cooking list for reasons of colder weather and lack of good cheese, I've almost completed my list! This progress is far superior than any new years resolution I've attempted.

 a giant sprig is photogenic but annoying to separate and actually eat

I really like the flavour of the stuffing mix, the seasoning is half cinnamon, ~quarter all spice and ~quarter black pepper, plus tomato paste. The cooked cilantro is surprisingly nice, I haven't considered adding herbs before cooking. I'm almost down to make my own tomato paste with backyard tomatoes if I had more time. This would also be good deconstructed.

deer bone

I haven't posted something unrelated to food in a while...

Hope STHLM is my current obsession, thank you to a redditor who mentioned this brand on /r/ffa. It's like Acne but more wearable.

Items I'd buy if I had income...and am sure about sizing:

trench - back details and large collars
pants: slim / regular / loose - why are tapered pants so hard to find?
sweater - would prefer a narrow bottom rib tho
boots: ankle / chelsea - loving them more Acne Jensen and Everlane's chelsea respectively

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Also been trying to find nice sweaters from UK / EU based shops, candidates so far include MaisonCashmere and Pure Collection.

transcribe

Another day of cooking and prepping to leave. It's quite bothersome that information about the arrival / orientation week process is scattered over multiple sources, especially the split between faculty & department events and student organized activities. Also missing how awesome Skule's frosh handbook is.

Onto food:
Ugly looking but very tasty rosemary shortbread cookies:

Before taking a bite, I thought these were the least successful item I've baked. The dough was incredibly dry (be skeptical, I have a sample size of exactly this one shortbread) and would not hold its shape. I deviated from instructions to roll it into a log -> freeze -> slice, but the frozen dough just crumbled as I sliced it, so I ended up needing to smosh the crumbs together. Not sure how I can improve this next time...add a tiny bit of water? Will try other recipes to see if this dough is actually an outlier.

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Pesto pizza rolls:

Stretching a pizza dough is hard, but these are forgiving of uneven thickness.

But the results are super fluffy rolls *u*
I was also momentarily confused as to where the cheese within the rolls went, but I think they melted and was absorbed by the dough? Is that how it works..?
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Bonus birthday noodles that I forgot to post:

stem

While making the apple weekend cake yesterday, I used up the last of the white sugar. This is a (not quite) tremendous set back to my list of baked goods I intended to make. So today features just a tomato soup plus some garlic bread.

how do chefs/food bloggers swirl in pesto so nicely?!

This is very simple to make and actually perfect for my situation as my mom planted a ton of larger tomatoes this year. Also uses basil and thyme which I also have an abundance of.

I ate it more as a dip for bread:

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More bonus flower pictures, this time I made a bouquet for myself:

so hard to think of an interesting composition for flowers...

I tried to deliberately position the flowers and leaves, but don't remember much from the ikebana book I read. That book plus this chabana thread is creating a fledgling interest in me about flower arrangement.

bees

Day 1: garden pasta and apple weekend cake

 featuring radish leaves, basil, and cherry tomatoes from the backyard 

Pesto pasta topped with tomatoes is so much easier than tomato sauce with basil. Although according to my mom cooking tomatoes make its nutrients more bioavailable. 

The apple to cake ratio is more like my chocolate chip cookie's chocolate to cookie ratio, aka a looooot. Its good for you :D

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Bonus photos of my non-edible favourite part of the backyard: