Dragonball Birthday Cake

Last week, my wonderful boyfriend turned 27 years old (I know, I'm dating an old man). Being a good girlfriend, I scoured the mall looking for the perfect nerdy gift for my nerdy man. This is an unpopular thing to say, but I love shopping for gifts for people. It's fun to think about what they would like and give them something they will appreciate. Shopping for geeks is actually easier than shopping for non-geeks in my opinion because you always have a good starting point. My biggest obstacle was figuring out what he already owned. But, with some searching (and possibly getting distracted by all of the nerdy stuff I liked), I found a gift that he loved. Success!

Being a cooking fanatic, I would be remiss in my girlfriend duties if I didn't make him some sort of birthday treat. I claimed the task of making his birthday cake. I wanted it to be special, one that was tailored to what he would like. When I'm designing a recipe for someone, I go full Sherlock Holmes, replaying conversations in my head and thinking about past meals I have shared with them to figure out the exact flavor combination that will make the person happy. Jay is a man of simple taste, which makes my job both easier and more difficult. Easier because I don't have to hunt down any exotic ingredients or learn any finicky new techniques, more difficult because simple is hard to make special and personalized. Let the over-analysis begin! I knew I wanted to start with a yellow cake, as he mentioned that it was a favorite of his. I had mentioned Boston Cream Pie at some point and he had said he'd never had it, but it sounded good (he has been deprived). So, I decided to do a yellow cake with a custard filling similar to a Boston Cream. Now the topping. He prefers white chocolate over dark, and a previous conversation had revealed that he loves coffee ice cream. White chocolate espresso ganache would go perfectly with the vanilla cake and custard. And finally, a personal touch. Dragonballs. In the Dragonball world. when you gather all seven Dragonballs, you get to make a wish, so they're the perfect topping for a birthday cake. Plus they're little yellow orbs with stars on them, talk about easy. What should these orbs be made of? Peanut butter dipped in chocolate. One of the best combinations in the dessert world.

Delicious level: 9001

The cake was loved by everyone who tried it, including the one person I most wanted to please, Jay. I'm so happy that I have him in my life and I get to celebrate moments like this with him.

So, once I had used my powers of deductive reasoning to detemine the perfect cake (this is what they teach you in college, kids), I set about finding my recipes. I'm not going to just use any old yellow cake recipe for this, I used the "perfected" yellow cake recipe from Pinterest. This is a very specific recipe and I followed it to the letter. The resulting cake was a Goldilocks texture, not dense, but not so light that I was worried about it collapsing. The flavor was the perfect amount of sweetness to go with the custard. This recipe made a huge mess in my kitchen, but if you want to put in the effort, it makes a really good cake.

Yellow Cake Recipe

The custard and ganache came from this Boston Cream recipe, but of course I altered it as I always do. The custard is probably my favorite part of this cake, it's the perfect texture and the vanilla flavor comes through nicely.

Boston Cream Recipe

Sprinkles of Kim:
-Cook the mixture until it thickens. Mine went from liquid to thick pudding texture so fast I thought I had messed something up, but that's actually supposed to happen
-Because I only have a small blender, I whipped the cream separately and folded it into the custard.
-For the ganache, I used white chocolate and put in a couple teaspoons of espresso powder instead of vanilla. It turned out a bit thi, so if I make it again, I'll cook it longer to hopefully make it thicken a bit more.

And finally, the Dragonballs. These little orbs of happiness will not last long at any gathering. If you've ever had buckeye balls, they're basically that. So good.

Peanut Butter Truffles

Sprinkles of Kim
-Don't bother measuring the powdered sugar, just add and mix until you can form it into a ball that you can handle without it sticking to your hands
-Keep the peanut butter balls in the freezer up until right before you dip them. The colder they are, the less likely they are to melt in the chocolate
-If it's warm and humid in your kitchen (it's August in Texas, warm and humid is currently my life), put the dipped truffles in the fridge to set the chocolate
-I used white chocolate with yellow food coloring to get the yellow, and the stars are star-shaped sprinkles

Even if it's something simple, it can still be incredible. Okay that was sappy, I'm out.

Cookies with a Smackerel

As most of you with children (or who, like myself, are basically oversized children with jobs) have heard, Christopher Robin was released this weekend. Much like old fairy tales, Winnie The Pooh and his friends have been a quintissential part of childhood for what seems like forever. Since the character's creation in the 1920's, A. A. Milne's characters have been adapted to radio, television, movies, and even several stage plays, but the tubby little cubby hasn't graced the theater screen since 2011. Now, I'll be honest, I was very skeptical about a the idea of a live action Winnie the Pooh movie. So many of recent live action adaptations have been, shall we say, less than stellar. But after seeing the trailer, I went in expecting at least something worth my time.

Okay, I'll start by saying, I really enjoyed the movie. It was cute, it had some good heart, and the characters felt like the ones I had grown up with. I had bought a teddy bear in my bag because some movies just require a stuffed animal to squeeze, and this movie was full of squeeze-worthy momoents. Kids will enjoy it and parents will be able to enjoy the nostalgia. The message of the movie is one I have seen a thousand times, but it was well executed enough to ring true. Take time to do nothing. Be present in the moment and enjoy what's around you, be it nature, your family, your friends, or simply the comfort of your home. It's a reminder we all need. I like to do a lot of different things and have a lot of friends and hobbies, but when I am doing so many things that I cannot stay present and enjoy those things, it's not worth doing to begin with. I have had times where I have had to plan to do nothing, and then having to force myself not pick up a chore or start planning something else and just enjoy this doing nothing. Wow, deep thoughts for a Monday. Let's get back to sweet treats and teddy bears!

In honor of the release, I decided I wanted to make honey cookies. It wouldn't be Winnie the Pooh without the constant search for honey. These spiced vanilla and honey cookies are just the thing for a sentimental, childlike movie that adults can also enjoy. They remind me of gingerbread and spiced chai with a  nice honey undertone, and they make the kitchen smell incredible. I took these to a party and they received rave reviews. Much like the movie I baked them for, these are soft and VERY sweet. Not too sweet, I was careful to ensure that, but they can easily become so. Use a very light hand when glazing these and feel free to add extra spice to keep the flavors balanced. They would definitely go well with something that has a more bitter flavor to balance, like coffee or an earl grey tea.

No picture can do justice to how good these things smell and taste.

Recipe:

Spiced Vanilla Honey Cookies

Sprinkles of Kim:
-I added extra of all of the spices in the cookie dough to my taste, meaning about half again more cinnamon and an extra dash of all the other spices because I like strong spicy flavors
-One more spice for good measure: coriander. I added a couple dashes to round out the flavor
-To add more honey flavor, I warmed up some honey and drizzled it very lightly over the cookies just like I did with the frosting.

Remember to take time to enjoy the moment, and maybe treat yourself to a samll smackerel

Guide to Basic Curry

As someone who grew up in rural Nebraska, it will probably come as no surprise that I didn't have curry until college. The first curry i had came from a diner in Hillsdale (where I went to college), that happened to have a Thai owner. From that moment I was hooked. To this day, that very specific spicy smell makes me drool every time. A big pile of curry over noodles or rice can be a great comfort food, and the spicy kind can help clear a stuffy nose. I wanted to share this delicious food with my family back in Nebraska, but that proved to be difficult when there are no curry restaurants for at least 40 miles.

So, my mom and I improvised. We found an instant curry that would at least give an idea of the experience. She loved it. As do most of the people I've introduced to curry over the years. Many people have the misconception that curry is inherently spicy, and it is. But not spicy in the "burn your mouth" kind of way, spicy in the "one way ticket to FLAVORTOWN" kind of way. It just tastes good, and there's nothing else quite like it. Even those who don't tend to have exotic taste can be won over by the right curry, it just tastes good.

And while the flavor is very specific, no two curries are alike. Every restaurant, family, etc. has its own recipe. It's like how no two homemade salsas are the same. There are different basic types, but the nuances are really up to the chef. So, I am going to endeavor to construct a guide to anyone wanting to try curry in an area where it's hard to find or looking to satisfy that curry craving on a budget. Because it's so highly variable, curry is easy to alter to any taste preference or allergy, so anyone can make it the way they like it. I'm going to set this post up to showcase some options that I've had and enjoyed, so you can mix and match whatever sounds good to you and make your own curry. Remember, this is a very basic guide, so I'm sticking to the most common kinds of curry that I've seen and are fairly easy to make. This guide will also be for primarily Thai-style curry, I may make another guide when I have a better handle on Indian spice profiles. So, let's begin:

Choose your protein:

Beef

Chicken

Lamb

Shrimp

Pork

Tofu

Choose your color:

Yellow

Red

Green (This one is best with shrimp in my opinion)

Yes, curry comes in colors! Each color has it's own flavor profile that goes well with different vegetables and meats. The curry powder you find in the spice section is the base for yellow curry, the other two are based on curry paste. I found both red and green curry paste at Target, so I know that it can be found, just check out the Asian foods section of a well-stocked grocery store.

Choose your vegetables:

Potatoes

Carrots

Onions

Peppers

tomatoes

Cauliflower

Broccoli

Mushrooms

Snow Peas

Spices and flavors:

Lime juice

Bay leaf

Cilantro (if you're into the stuff, to me it tastes like soap)

Garlic

Basil

Cumin

Tumeric

Coriander

Paprika

Cayenne pepper

Cardamom

Cinnamon

Ginger

Red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper

Chili sauce (Sriracha is my favorite)

Soy sauce

Fish sauce

Choose your vehicle:

Jasmine Rice

Basmati rice

Brown Rice

Rice noodles

Quinoa

Cauliflower rice

Spaghetti Squash

And finally, one basic ingredient common to most Thai curry sauces:

1 can coconut milk

or an equivalent amount of dairy milk

Instructions:

1. Get your meat and vegetables chopped up and ready to go. If making rice, get the rice started (I hate it when I forget to do this, so i'm reminding you).

2. Heat your oil of choice in a large skillet, wok, or pot. Saute a few cloves of minced garlic (as much or as little as you like, I use around 4) and onion in the oil for 1-2 minutes. 

3. Add in meat, (if uncooked) potatoes, carrots, and your sauce base (either paste or powder, put in about 2 T) and saute until meat is cooked through. Add other vegetables (and meat if already cooked) and saute for about a minute.

4. Whisk 1 T cornstarch into some of the coconut milk, then add all of it to the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes.

5. Okay, while it's simmering, now is your time to make this recipe your own. Take any of those spices mentioned above and attack the pan. Taste the sauce, think about what it needs and add that. For a little bite, add lime juice. For more smoky flavor, add paprika or cayenne. To make it more interesting, add cumin, cinnamon, or tumeric. Toss in a couple of bay leaves. To kick up the savory goodness factor, add soy sauce or fish sauce (it's not just for fish, it's a great flavor for anything). Adjust the heat level to your preference (which for me means dumping in a bunch of garlic chili sauce).

6. When your flavor balance is perfect and the sauce has finished simmering, check the consistency to make sure it's good. If it needs to be thinned, use more coconut milk or stock or water. Dish it up over your vehicle of choice and enjoy!

I know this recipe is kind of vague, but it's meant to be versatile. This is all about trying and tweaking your perfect curry recipe to be exactly the way you like it. It can be as simple as meat, sauce base, and milk, or as complicated as literally throwing everything on this list in one dish. It's great for using up leftover meats or vegetables you have laying around. I hope you have as much fun creating your own curry as I did!

Sweet Mad Science

In my cooking adventures, I have come to a realization. I have a thing for weird flavor combinations. I can't just have one flavor in something, it has to be some interesting combination to make it memorable and delicious. Sweet, savory, sour, spicy, bitter, rich, light, I love them all and I want my flavors to be friends. The second I taste a new flavor I'm instantly looking for what it goes with and where I can use it.

People tend to think that science and art are somehow in opposition, but I beg to differ. I am very passionate about science, but my second love has always been artsy things. Theater, music and dancing were all things I enjoyed along with my love of zoology, botany, and ecology. Depending on what context a person saw me in, I've had equal numbers of people say "you must be left-brained" and "you must be right-brained" (which further shows that the idea of left-brained and right-brained is a myth). When I cook, I use an approach that is both scientific and artistic.

I use the science to create the art. Combinations of ingredients can make different experiences, and altering that combination can drastically change the outcome, like an experiment. There is a science to flavor combinations and why we like what we do. Sweet and salty, rich and bitter, sweet and savory, the right combination should be greater than the sum of its parts. It's a very delicate science to find that magic combination that creates the desired flavor experience. But there is also a large element of artistry. The ability to think outside the box of what "should" work opens the door to some of the most memorable combinations. After all, someone had to be the first to make it work. Did the first person to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich know what they were starting? Probably not. I'm not trying to be the next peanut butter and jelly here, but I am constantly trying to find a combination that works in a way that most people wouldn't anticipate. It's my own mad science experiment.

Frequently, my strange combinations are fueled by my having something left from another recipe. This one is no exception. Last week, I made two kinds of fancy popcorn for a movie night with my friends. Popcorn is a great vehicle for both sweet and savory flavors, so I did one of each. The sweet was a white chocolate lemon popcorn that tasted like a lemon bar. However, the recipe made way more lemon glaze than the popcorn actually needed. Using it all would have been way too sweet. So I had lemon glaze. The savory popcorn was a rosemary, garlic, and Parmesan popcorn. Also delicious. But I still had some fresh rosemary left, and it's a sin to waste such a useful ingredient, especialy since herbs can be expensive. So, I sought to combine my lemon glaze and fresh rosemary in a delicious way. Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find a rosemary shortbread recipe in no time and baked a batch of them. Shortbread was not something I made growing up, but the process is an easy one. Now, if I had just made the cookies, they wouldn't have had a blog post, because they're not that interesting. Not very sweet, nice texture, good herbal flavor, but, in my opinion, bland. They need something. That's where the lemon glaze comes in. A drizzle of that intense, sweet-sour glaze and the flavors were bound together in holy matrimony. The smell was divine, and the taste was worthy of a fancy tea party. This was something greater than the sum of its parts.

Such dainty little morsels. Serve with tea and a butler for extra fancy.

And now, on to my recipe. Here's my base cookie:

http://www.kitchme.com/recipes/rosemary-shortbread-cookies

I pretty much followed the recipe for this one. For the lemon glaze I started from the recipe, but then  I did whatever I want, so it's basically my own. Here it is:

Ingredients:
-1 T melted butter
-splash of milk
-few drops of lemon juice (more if you want a more tart glaze)
-1/4 t lemon flavoring (yes, you need both, it doesn't taste right otherwise)
-powdered sugar until the texture is correct for drizzling
-few drops of yellow food coloring if you want the bright yellow color

Mix all other ingredients, then add powdered sugar slowly until the desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over cookies.

You don't have to be a scientist to experiment, and you don't have to be an artist to create something beautiful. Just don't be afraid to try something new and maybee you'll end up with your own mad science sweets.

Sharing

Looking at all of my lovely recipes on this blog, I have noticed that the majority of them are desserts. Reading this, you may wonder "Kim, how do you eat all of those amazing desserts and stay skinny?" Well, there's a lot of reasons. I work out every day, genetics have smiled upon me, and I do eat a fairly healthy diet. But that stuff is food for my body, this blog is about what I cook to feed my soul. Plus, no one wants to read about dipping carrots in hummus, that's boring. But I do have one other secret, and it's one you may have learned in preschool: Sharing. Yup, when I cook something that should definitely NOT stay in the same room as me, I share it. My friends get to try more of my cooking, and this way I'm not eating an entire cake like the pig I know I secretly am. I enjoy the experience of cooking, so I will always want to cook even if I don't plan on eating very much of it. Sharing is a win all around.

So, of course when I have an event where there will be multiple people and food, of course I bring my cooking to share. I have literally hundreds of recipes to choose from (ah, to be alive in the age of the internet), and the more I get to try, the better. One of my good buddies from college came to visit this wee, and we decided to have a game night on Saturday. We all brought various food items and games, and had a great time. I, of course, had to be extra and bring both a sweet dish and a savory one. Both dishes received rave reviews from the elite tasting critics, aka my friends. So, you get two recipes in this post, how 'bout that?

First up is the cheese dip. I forgot to take a picture before digging in (the smell that had the entire room drooling might have had something to do with it), but it came out looking pretty much like the pictures from the original blog post. This dip is addictive, cheesy goodness. I recommend serving it with pita chips for optimum scooping and flavor. Here's the original recipe:

Garlic Herb Tomato Goat Cheese Dip

Sprinkles of Kim:
-I misjudged the amount of goat cheese called for, so I only had half of the amount, and I added extra ricotta to make up for it
-More garlic. I used at least 3 cloves and sprinkled in some garlic salt.
-I forgot to get fresh basil (I was really on top of things this week, wasn't I?), so I used dried
-I added a bunch of thyme and some rosemary
-The tomatoes are supposed to go in whole, but that seemed kinda dumb to me, so I quartered them to make them easier to scoop onto the crackers.

Okay, now for the sweet dish, my piece de resistance. Matcha truffles. Everyone had the same reaction biting into these little beauties: a slight pause as the white chocolate and green tea flavors blend, and then a loud sigh of "mmmmmm." These taste like ice cream. Green tea ice cream is a popular flavor in Japan, and these truffles show why. They're sweet, creamy, smooth, and basically little balls of heaven. I'm awful at math, but here's some math for you. I brought 36 truffles to a gathering with six people including myself. I only ate two truffles as I wanted to sample everyone else's food and make sure everyone got some truffles. There were no truffles left over at the end of the night. Now, I'm no mathematician, but I'm pretty sure that equals some darn tasty truffles. These are also very easy to make, so I'll probably be using this basic recipe to make different variations. Speaking of which, here's my recipe:

Matcha Truffles

One thing I love about matcha is the pretty bright green color it gives to everything. Very festive.

Sprinkles of Kim:
-This recipe is made or broken by your chocolate, so choose wisely. I used CandiQuick because I know I love the way it tastes and it's readily available. The brand and quality of chocolate you use will dictate whether your truffles are more ice cream-like in flavor or more chocolatey.
-I put in about half a teaspoon more matcha powder than the recipe called for because I really wanted the flavor to come through
-I dusted them in just powdered sugar rather than use more matcha because most of it falls off anyway, so it felt like a waste to use more of my very limited supply
-This recipe will come out differently based on the temperature and humidity the day you make them. It was very hot and humid, so the truffles were a little hard to roll because they got soft and sticky. I was able to remedy this by putting them in the fridge periodically while I was working.

Sharing is caring, so remember to share what you make with those you love.

How I Make a Good Impression

As many of you probably have found out through one means or another, I recently started dating someone. I tried to inform people rather than let them find out through Facebook or this blog post, but honestly, I can't remember who I have and haven't said things to most of the time anyway, so if you feel betrayed by my not telling you sooner, I'm sorry, I just know too many people in too many places to keep track of telling everyone. Extrovert problems.

Jay and I met at a convention, go figure. Hey, conventions are a big part of my life, it was bound to happen. As we went on a few dates, we fell in nerd love in it's been going on for about a month. Picture to prove he exists:

He took me to a Hatsune Miku concert. I'm keeping this one. <3

So, one of out early dates was over Father's Day weekend. He had some plans with his family and invited me along. For those of you who think that's really soon to meet the family, allow me to remind you of something. I'm from an area where everyone knows everyone, so meeting the family is not as big a deal for me as for a lot of people. I agreed as I had no other plans for that day and I honestly was okay meeting his family. I knew I would bring food because that is what I do. I make people like me by bringing food. If you are the friend who brings food, you will be invited back. I decided to make bred because bread is impressive and can secretly be very easy to make.

I didn't have time to let things rise that morning, so I went with a quick bread. Quick breads are awesome. Just mix it up and bake it and pretend to be a total domestic goddess (or god as the case may be). I chose this particular recipe because I had all of the ingredients and it seemed like a good one to keep around for future bread-worthy occasions (like all the time).

Needless to say, Jay's family liked me (because really who wouldn't, have you met me?) and they liked my bread. I was welcomed back on the 4th of July and they haven't tried to break the two of us up yet. Anyway, on to the bread itself!

This is a dense, crumbly bread, to be expected from an oat-based bread, but it's still very tender and has the sweetness from the yogurt and honey. And look at that, the ingredients are actually pretty wholesome, so you can justify a second slice...and a third. This bread pairs especially well with breakfast food and makes a really good snack on its own as well. Here's my recipe:

Honey Oat Bread

Sprinkles of Kim:
-I used Greek Yogurt because that's what I had and I upped the milk a little bit and it was fine
-I used regular whole wheat instead of white whole wheat, the bread was darker than the picture on the recipe, but tasted good anyway

So, as per the title, how do I make a good impression? Bring food. Always bring food.

I Pledge Allegiance to Dessert

I originally wasn't going to make another crepe cake post, but this one is one of the best desserts I've ever made, and I did 4-H, so that's saying something. This is America, I am free to write about as many crepe cakes as I want!

America, the land of life, liberty, and the pursuit of obesity through the over-consumption of patriotic desserts. It's almost independence day, and I know what that means: blowing stuff up and eating a ton of great food!( Okay, the blowing stuff up isn't going to happen this year because I, you know, live in the city where such things are frowned upon).

As a child, the 4th of July was a ton of fun. I always went to the parade and got a ton of candy, then went to my Grandma's house to shoot off fireworks. And my family did not mess around when it came to fireworks. My dad and aunts and uncles would buy a ton, and our objective was to light as many as possible by the time the party broke up. Fountains, firecrackers, parachutes, sparklers, artillery shells, I shot them all. And for those of you who are wondering about the safety of an 8-year-old playing with things that literally shoot fire, I only ever got a couple of minor burns from stray sparks. We were all taught how to light fireworks safely.

When I was a bit older, I worked at a firework stand to raise money for my school's band. And by "worked" I mean I hung out with my friends and we would occasionally provide recommendations and ring up customers. Those were some good times. That particular gunpowder smell of a fireworks stand still puts a smile on my face.

When I started making crepe cakes, I got an idea knocking around in my head to make one in red, white, and blue. The bright colors and stripes would be perfect for a dessert where presentation is everything. The challenge was how to achieve this without blueberries. Why no blueberries? I don't like blueberries. Then I got an idea from staring at cake on Pinterest. A lot of good ideas come about that way. Blue velvest cake is the same as red velvet, but with blue food coloring. Why not make blue velvet crepes? Now, I could just alternate blue and red velvet for my patriotic effect, but I wanted something a little bit more fun. So I decided that the red would be thinly sliced strawberries. Now all I needed was an excuse to make the thing. I was invited to a game night with some people from my church last Saturday. Perfect.

I made my crepes the night before and they were....very blue. The color does look strange, and some might find it off-putting. The last crepe was smaller than the others because I ran out of batter, so it was my taste test. Wow. I think these are the best crepes I've ever made. The texture is cakey and they're nice and sweet. In the morning I whipped my cream, sliced my strawberries, and started stacking. I ran out of strawberries halfway up the cake and had to go buy more. When the last crepe was stacked, his thing had roughly a pound and a half of strawberry goodness in it. It chilled in the fridge until it was ready to serve, and oh my did it serve beautifully. A cake the founding fathers would have approved of.

*Star Spangled Banner plays in background*

*majestic eagle screech overhead*

The presentation was stunning, and the taste was just as good. The light chocolate flavor of the crepes went perfectly with the strawberries and the rum-flavored whipped cream. It was like a strawberry shortcake on steroids. A light, festive, and delicious addition to a party.

Okay, here's where I got my crepe recipe:
Red Velvet Crepes
I don't know if the cream cheese frosting the recipe uses would be better or not, I wanted to do whipped cream.

Sprinkles of Kim:
-When I made the crepe batter, I used blue food coloring instead of red, and added just a touch of cinnamon for more flavor
-To make the whipped cream, I whipped some cream with powdered sugar, vanilla, and rum flavoring
-I added thinly sliced strawberries. Duh.