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.

 

Food Blogger Bake Sale!

Just a little FYI, yours truly will be participating in the 2011 San Francisco Food Bloggers Bake Sale. When? Saturday, May 14th from 10AM til 6PM. Where? Hosted at 18 Reasons, 3674 18th Street, San Francisco. Why? End childhood hunger in America via Share Our Strength. Still not convinced? Come buy some of my goodies. 'Nuff said.

For more info, visit: http://bakesalesf.wordpress.com/

L'Ourcine

I should probably be posting pictures of things I ate while briefly visiting Tokyo, but I'm behind on my blogging. Way behind. How far behind? Back to Paris... behind. So I'll make this post short and sweet tasty.

Long weekend in Tokyo

Just a quick update as to what I've been up to. Yeah, that's right party people. Yours truly was in Tokyo... I was mid-flight when the 8.9 earthquake hit. Stranded in Haneda airport. Freaked out because of nuclear fallout. Rode out aftershocks every 20 minutes. Because of scheduling conflicts, we couldn't stick to the original itinerary of spending the 11th and 12th on a beach front resort. Lucky us.. otherwise I would have been pulled out to sea by a tsunami.

Our 10 day vacation was cut down to 3 days, as I flew out on Thursday night and back into California on Monday night, but I'm glad to be back home. My heart and wishes go out to those in Japan dealing with the devastation. One thing I did manage to do in Japan was eat. Food pics and updates soon to follow.

Burnt almond cupcakes

Someone once asked me if I ever get bored of baking the same things. Being back in the concrete jungle that is Silicon Valley, it's a bit hard to bake French pastries, or larger cakes that I'm accustomed to. Here I feed the masses. And as much as I'd like a 9-inch cake sitting on my desk, it creates quite a mess when serving. That's why I default to muffins, cookies, cupcakes, and smaller self-serve tasty treats.