Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness

Sometimes when I am feeling frustrated with my life, I watch My Little Pony. Definitely not kidding here! It is a wonderfully uplifting show, even if I am almost twenty years older than the target audience. Quite a few of the episodes have little food vignettes, but my favorite episode centers on the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness. In the show it is described as “All that rich creamy goodness of the marzipan combined with the tart tanginess of the mascarpone blended perfectly with the smooth silky sweetness of the meringue.” My friend Laura and I set out to recreate the cake with our own special touch.

Clearly neither of us is a professional baker, but I used my culinary training to make some delicious marzipan and Laura’s artistic ability went a long way in the coloring and shaping of the fruits and leaves. Since I am not a huge fan of normal cake, we decided to make a delectable creamy mascarpone cheesecake as the base.  The meringue did not turn out very well, but I decided it was somewhat superfluous anyway. In the end the cake as a whole was delicious. Well worth the cavities.

A Tea-licious Summer Picnic

Yesterday was a spectacularly sunny day. The sky was blue, the temperature was high, and the market was hopping. Since I had an overload of vegetables taunting me from my refrigerator, my friend Naomi and I decided to make this Saturday a summer teatime picnic. We searched the market for fresh berries and a delicious looking lavender earl grey scone, made iced tea, boiled water for hot tea, and hauled everything out to the park in a collection of baskets. And because we refuse to do anything half-assed, we also dressed up! In other words, this is not my usual market day review.

I started out the day by brewing a fresh batch of Bengal Spice iced tea before Naomi arrived and we went skipping off to the market. After picking up raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries from the Sandhu Produce Growers, Naomi and I waited in line at PureBread and managed to snag the last delectable lavender earl grey scone (what better for a tea party?).  Upon finding the perfect park location (dappled sunshine, green grass, flower gardens) and ooohing and ahhhing over Naomi’s new picnic basket, we settled down for some serious eats.

The raspberries were perfect. I am generally not a huge fan of raspberries as I find that there is a fine line between ripe and rotten, but these were excellent! The blueberries were less inspiring, but since it is the first week of the season, I will cut the farmers some slack. The same was true for the blackberries. With any luck they will be much better in the coming weeks. I have only one word to describe the scone; scrumptious. I honestly cannot think of eating a better scone. The flavors were perfectly mixed and the light lemon glaze just added to the flavor. Excellent both on its own and when dipped in the hot white tea we enjoyed.

In the end it was a perfect summer’s day picnic. With any luck, there will be many more to enjoy!

Indian Night of Delight

One thing I love about the cultural diversity of Vancouver is the ease of having theme nights. Recently my dear friend, Naomi, and I decided that we should plan a series of theme foodie outings for the summer. Our first adventure was the Indian Night of Delight (Canada Day Patriotism, Buckingham Palace Tea Party and Guacamole Gangsters coming soon). We started the evening off right with a high-energy bollywood dance class at my favorite studio, Harbor Dance Centre. The music was hopping, the instructor was great, and the smiles infectious.

After a quick shower, Naomi and I met at a great Indian restaurant in downtown, Salam Bombay. I must confess to being rather predictable when I go to Indian restaurants. I adore butter chicken and garlic naan and tend to try them at every new restaurant I visit. True to culinary school fashion, Naomi went through the menu in great depth before choosing on the chicken biryani. I first have to say that the naan here was practically a work of art! I almost felt guilty while eating it. My butter chicken was absolutely delicious and despite having the appearance of a smaller portion, was more than enough to fill me up. Naomi’s biryani was the most flavorful rice I have ever tasted. It was a filled with chicken and spices and was completely excellent. All together we each spent about $20 for a great Indian feast.

After our delicious meal, we headed back to my apartment to end our Indian night with a fun bollywood film, Bride and Prejudice. Altogether, it was a wonderful night full of food and fun that will be repeated with a new theme in the near future!

Food Groups

In Los Alamos, NM there is a huge sense of community. It is nearly impossible to go grocery shopping without seeing a friend or coworker. Neighborhood dinners and parties happened often, whether it was Betty’s holiday party or Mary’s Halloween margarita bash. I am still trying to find a community like that in Vancouver, but whenever I visit my parents on Salt Spring Island, I feel right at home. 

This past weekend, a wonderful collection of foodie neighbors got together to celebrate my dad’s birthday. My mom provided the traditional French cassoulet, which she had labored over for three days, one neighbor brought a delectable salad with candied pecans and orange slices, a second treated us to tasty hors d’oeuvres, a third brought fresh home-baked bread that completed the meal. All things considered, it was a hugely successful meal where the conversation was as good as the food. It made me realize what I miss from Los Alamos. Perhaps I should put an ad in the paper along the lines of “Aspiring chef seeks group of friends to enjoy good food and wine. Big Mac lovers need not apply.” In the meantime, I will continue to visit my family and enjoy all the community that Salt Spring has to offer.

Feliz Cumpleaños Nuevo México

On a recent Friday while I was still sick (pretty sure it was the plague), New Mexico celebrated its 100^th birthday. I had originally planned to track down a Mexican grocery store and make tamales and biscochitos. In the end I honestly can’t remember how I spent the day, but I think it involved drinking ten cups of tea and copious amounts of sleep. Now I am finally feeling better and felt like giving New Mexico a belated birthday party. After scouring the internet for the best biscochitos recipe, I chose one from a true New Mexican blog, Gabriela's Kitchen, and got started. What my cough syrup addled brain failed to realize was that when you combine one pound of lard with six cups of flour, you are making a LOT of cookies. Hours of rolling and cutting later and I have two huge plates of cookies. My best guess is that I made over 150 cookies today. They are flaky, sweet, and oh so delicious, and gave me an excuse to share the love with my friends. Happy birthday New Mexico!

Gabriela's Kitchen Biscochitos

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups lard (1 pound box)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 teaspoons anise seed
6 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweet white wine (plus 1/4 extra if needed)
1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

• Cream together the lard and 1 1/2 cups sugar. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and anise, add to the lard/sugar mixture. Mix well.
• In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add this dry mixture to the wet mixture. Knead well with your hands until dough sticks together, it should be slightly sticky but able to form a firm dough ball. If the dough is too dry add more wine a teaspoon at a time, if it is too sticky add more flour a teaspoon at a time.
• Divide the dough into three large balls and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight so the dough becomes firm and manegable.
• The next day preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough with a liberally floured rolling pin on a liberally floured surface 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Dip one side of each cookie into cinnamon-sugar mixture and place on cookie sheet sugar side up. To ensure all cookies bake evenly, bake each shape cookie in batches of alike shapes and sizes. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the bottom of the cookies are brown and the tops are golden.
• Remove from oven, and immediately dip in cinnamon-sugar again, dipping them while they are warm is key to getting the cinnamon sugar to stick. Store in a cool-dry place or freeze for up to six months.