Bananas for banana muffins

I thought to title this blog post with an excerpt of Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl lyrics, but thought better of it. When most people think of bananas, they think monkeys. I think of my friend from pastry school who could not for the life of her stand bananas. I think it was something to do with their texture, or how they were a bit slimy. She didn't dislike them; she was disgusted by them. However, if they were baked into something, she'd eat them. People are odd, but I can empathize when it comes to texture. One day, I'll tell you all about my odd relationship with beans. Anyway, I digress.

Dulce de leche cheesecake

Though I haven't been blogging as much, I've still managed to get elbow deep in doughs and batters every week. I've been baking for the masses at work, for birthday parties, and for fun. It's been really nice to get back into a kitchen and bake and not feel like you're going to get screamed at if you accidentally burn a batch of cookies. However I do find myself defaulting to American recipes, since it's a lot harder to find French ingredients here.

Squirrel stew

Okay. Now before you get all grossed out, I'd like to explain a few things. 1) People DO eat squirrel. 2) I have a long standing vendetta with squirrels. 3) According to the CDC they're not all that bad.

Tokyo

Another 7+ earthquake hit Japan yesterday, just as I was thinking of what to blog about next. I'm so backlogged that it's not even remotely funny. If there are still any of you out there, don't worry. I'm still alive... I'm still baking. Just trying desperately to get back into the swing of things. It's been almost a month since my short lived trip to Tokyo,  and as I mentioned, the only thing I managed to really do was eat. In fact, I think they could probably attribute the food shortages to one hungry Californian.