35 weeks: top of Taipei 101

Even though Taipei 101 was completed in 2004, I've yet to go to the observatory at the top. Well, on Tuesday, I went up to the top.


Thankfully, the wind damper is much larger than the bump.

Last Saturday, we went to the pool and the beach (I got plenty of Vitamin D for the little guy) and on Sunday, Jen organized a baby shower for us.



We had a great time catching up with friends - thanks for attending, all! With the generosity and kindness of our family and friends, I think we're pretty much all set for the arrival of our little guy.



Of course, I could not resist baking cupcakes for the occasion. I baked mini and regular-sized Devil's Food cupcakes with blue-tinted cream cheese frosting.



I tried the King Arthur recipe for the first time, mostly because I was too lazy to bake my favorite (but much more involved) chocolate cake recipe, Old-fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake, and I didn't have any soy milk on hand to bake my alternate easy go to recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes. While the cake was tasty, the Cook's Illustrated recipe is far superior. And if you want to be able to whip up yummy cupcakes in a flash, keep some soy milk on hand.

30 weeks: simple summer salads

Actually a few days late, as I'm not at 31 weeks, but this photo was taken at 30 weeks.



The bump has definitely gotten bigger. These past couple of weeks we've been making lots of summer salads. Two weekends ago we went to Camp Taiwan, courtesy of our friend Jenn, who is a counselor there.

While there, the hubs and I made a broccoli slaw that was really well-received: lightly steamed broccoli and red cabbage tossed in a vinaigrette of rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and finely diced onion (salad inspired by Leanne Ely).

Unlike last year, I didn't climb, and all of us did not hike, river trace, or use the zip line. We mostly lounged around, napped, had many interesting conversations, and enjoyed nature.



This past weekend we went to the beach house and were in charge of the vegetables - a perfect opportunity to try the salads Mark Bittman mentioned in his timely article, "101 Simple Salads for the Season." We made #1, #3, and #30, all vegan, and all delicious.



Everyone raved about #3, the watermelon, tomato, and basil salad. I went all 70s and used the melon baller to scoop out the watermelon, and then made a watermelon bowl to serve the salad in. Of course, I didn't remember to take a photo until the salad was gone.



The potato salad (#30) is basically the same as the one listed in his cookbook, How to Cook Everything, but with the addition of capers. The capers are key. We'd made the same salad minus the capers the week before at Camp Taiwan, and the revised version is much, much better.

I also baked a Chocolate Stout Cake for the hub's birthday, except I baked it in a 12-cup bundt pan and was absolutely thrilled that it came out of the pan neatly - my first success with a bundt pan! It's definitely a special-occasion cake, as its very dense and rich.

Baking

I've been baking a lot recently. Behold:


Chocolate Chip Cookies


Chocolate Cranberry Pecan No-Knead Bread (I subbed cranberries for the cherries)


Pumpkin Surprise Pie ("surprise" = cheesecake layer)


Lemon Polenta Cake


Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake


Pumpkin Pecan Pie


Banana Muffins

First attempt at bread baking

With my lovely new-ish Emile Henry stoneware crock (purchased from Costco at about half the average online price) and a jar of active dry yeast found in the fridge, I thought I should finally try the famous No-Knead Bread that has made it's way around the baking blogosphere.

It came together well at first:


But then, perhaps precisely that the yeast has been in the fridge for an indeterminate amount of time, it never really rose much from this:


I baked it anyways, and it was ok. Much more successful was the lentil soup I made to go along with it. But I'm going to get some fresh yeast, and try again this weekend - this time the chocolate-cherry pecan version.

Organic vegan chocolate chip cookies

Last night I came home late for work and really wanted to bake, but not put in a lot of effort. I had a Goodbaker mix that I've been wanting to try, so that's what I used. It was really simple - empty the bag, add a little oil and water, mix, and scoop out.

The organic vegan chocolate chip cookies were really good!


They did taste healthy, in a really good way. There was good texture, depth of flavor, and enough salt to contrast against the sweetness. I'd definitely get them again.

Pumpkin pie brownies

I got to celebrate Halloween exactly the way I wanted to, by baking pumpkin pie brownies, inspired by a recipe for the same from the Post Punk Vegan Kitchen. Except mine wasn't 100% vegan, as I have conventional brownie mix to use up. It was still yummy!

Enjoy!

Of independence, IDs, birthdays, and cakes

July and now, most of August, has blurred in a haze of multiple birthdays and farewells. Certainly time has never passed more quickly, or been marked as multiple periods end.

So here's a quick visual summary of my summer:

Perhaps ironic, yet somewhat fittingly, I got my Taiwan ID card on Independence Day, and a few days shy of my birthday. Certainly, for me it means freedom from the bureaucratic rules that shackle foreigners here.



Then it was a combined mass birthday celebration and farewell dinner at Din Tai Fung, followed by a quiet weekend that included hiking.

The following weekend was a farewell party, art show closing, and another friend's birthday. Plus, we mustn't forget Harry Potter mania!

More farewells, and birthday parties followed. (Will people stop being born in the summer, and stop leaving Taiwan?) ;-)

I made a surprise birthday cake for Neil:





Complete with crushed coconut cookie "sand," palm trees, a surfboard riding a cake wave covered in foamy "ocean surf" frosting, and Goldfish crackers frolicking in the sea.

Food blog recipes

I just made a lemon banana cake because I've got my baking itch. We'll see how it comes out (it's in the oven now), because I got the recipe from a food blog. The recipe seemed to check out okay—a mix between a pound cake and genoise—and I realized she forgot to put the measurement for the melted butter (likely 3/4 cups). No problems there. But, BUT, when I poured the batter into the specified 9" round cake tin, I realized she probably meant a springform pan. Way too much batter. I've baked enough to know this was going to spill over and cause disaster in the oven, so I quickly grabbed my ice scream scoop and a small muffin tin. So now there's 6 little cupcakes waiting it's turn in the oven...

I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Cupcakes!

Yesterday I took a cooking class on cupcakes and mini bundt cakes. We made chocolate "peanut butter cup" cupcakes, sunflower decorated cupcakes, vanilla bean cakes with vanilla rum glaze, and banana caramel mini cakes. The teacher said I was a natural with a pastry bag!



Unfortunately, I've lost my sense of L.A. magnitude and when signing up for the class, I didn't realize that the drive from my home to the cooking school in Westlake Village would be such a trek!