De Baking Psychopath

I've got four different recipes in queue to be written up and posted, but I decided to put those aside to post in real-time about my travels and eats. I've got no flowers in my hair, but definitely I have been eating my way through my first day! Taco de lengua (tongue). Sooo good. Tangy, melt in your mouth tender, fresh corn tortillas. I wanted another one right away. Selections from Delica, the Japanese deli at the Ferry Building. On left, agedashi tofu; on right, potato croquette. The fried tofu skin was difficult to get through to cut down to bite sized pieces with chopsticks, but it was sweet and savory and delicious. The potato croquette...oh the croquette <3. The outside was delicate fried perfection, the inside creamy chunky potatoes with a hint of soy. Yum. Pistachio and chocolate macarons from Miette and cafe au lait from Blue Bottle Coffee. Awesome made-to-order drip coffee, insanely chewy macarons! I like them. I don't know if I ...

This weekend, we headed out to central PA to check out the 47th Annual Bedford Fall Foliage Festival . We took a scenic trip down the turnpike and found ourselves in the midst of this craziness: A festival of epic proportions! Arts, crafts and decorations of all sorts, gourmet foods, and food trucks galore! We were acutely aware that we provided a full 25% of the Asian contingent at the whole festival...REPRESENT! Since I am mildly (i.e. completely) obsessed with Guy on a Buffalo , when we saw this truck... ...OF COURSE we had to eat a buffalo burger and buffalo polish sausage. Delicious! Since Bedford is fairly close to State College, we were filled with glee to see this sight: OH YEAH. This was our first taste of ice cream from the Penn State Creamery, and we selected Butter Pecan and Death by Chocolate. We give both flavors two thumbs up. It was rich, smooooth and creamy, and amazingly it was relatively heat stable. We walked around ...

MEAT!  Meat plus bread = MAN FOOD! These pepperoni rolls were taught to me by my awesome friend, and it is such a versatile recipe to keep in your repetoire. It is sufficient for a meal in itself, it is a great accompaniment to a meaty main course or a hot bowl of soup, and it is a mean snack any time of of the day. (And great with beer, says Michael) The dough is enriched with an egg and a bit of oil, so it is soft, fluffy, and tasty. The pepperoni and cheese get all meaty and melty and happy together in multiple layers. I don't really like pepperoni by itself or on pizza, but I am a big fan of these rolls! Figure 2. Second layer of pepperoni and cheese before folding the last flap over Figure 3. Place rolls seam side down for proofing and baking Pepperoni Rolls (original source unknown, as taught to me by my friend Shannon) Ingredients : 1 & 1/2 cups warm water 1 teaspoon yeast (I used active dry) 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons s...

This past weekend, I joined a friend of mine in traveling back to her hometown for a grand endeavor: to make delicious jam!  She decided to make blueberry jam from frozen blueberries, which means we can recreate her masterpiece any time of the year. I had my heart set on marmalade, but since citrus is out of season and not found frozen in large chunks, I decided to make them a supporting role and to instead find a seasonal fruit to be the star so we can remember the summer as it begins to slip away. I settled on Peach-Orange Marmalade. We went to a local orchard to pick up 5 pounds of peaches from the end of the season bounty. Before leaving Pittsburgh, I picked up a few organic citrus from Whole Foods for the recipe. Armed with fresh produce, we embarked on a marathon jam-making session on Saturday. To say the results of both jams were delicious would be a gross understatement.  Her blueberry jam was "the best berry jam" we've ever had. It is ...

I love ricotta! Ricotta pancakes have been all the rage on the Interwebs lately, so I decided to give them a shot one recent weekend. These lemon ricotta pancakes were moist, fluffy, springy, and fragrant. I used the recipe found on this fellow blogger's site verbatim. The cake flour in the recipe gives the pancake a fine, tender crumb, and the ricotta keeps it very moist. Instead of a blueberry sauce, though, we made a quick Nutella ganache by combining hot cream and Nutella in a roughly 2:1 ratio and whisking until smooth. An easy way to elevate your routine weekend brunch to new elegant heights. Yum!