Coconut Caramel Brioche Pudding

So many eggs.  I feel like most other bread pudding recipes ask for a 1 egg to 1 cup milk ratio, but this one was 8 eggs to 1 cup liquid.  Plus some mascarpone and brioche bread that just bumped this baby up from comforting to indulgent.


The original recipe asked for challah bread but I just used supermarket brioche rolls.  These brioche rolls always make me nostalgic.  In fact, you'll find that I say that in most of my posts, I either link a recipe to an old memory or I talk about my current life.  It's all about me, it is a personal blog, I'm allowed to be self-absorbed here. 

Hazelnut and Thyme Pesto

This is almost the complete opposite of the traditional Genovese pesto with basil and pine nuts.  It's the basil that, when ground in abundance, makes any sauce fresh and fragrant.  Genovese pesto tastes and looks of summer and vitality.  Not the ones you get in jars that's lying somewhere on the color spectrum between cheap green tea and coffee-stained napkins , but the homemade ones that look of a bright green garden in the sun.  

This is winter. This is up in the mountains hovering over the fire with a mug of hot chocolate.  It's earthy and it's comforting.  

Right now that's what I'm craving.  Comfort.  I want to be curled up on the couch and feel calm and warm and relaxed and serene and just.. still. 

Roquefort Risotto with Honey and Cacao Nibs

This was quite a particular risotto.  No alcohol (yay for Muslims), no stock - just water, and the onions aren't fried in oil, but rather simmered in milk.  So yes, it's interesting, but what's more interesting is this dinner party I catered for last night. 

Guys, start hiring me. This is my third time catering - 10 people, 4 courses and I had a blast.  Prior to this I had catered for a friends' anniversary dinner and their Valentine's Day dinner, and both occasions were lovely but last night was just fun.  With 10 people, surprisingly it was more casual and relaxed, because instead of having a couple's love and relationship at stake, it was just 10 people having a nice dinner.  Less pressure, more chit chat.

Carrot and Hazelnut Birthday Cake

I'm really not the biggest fan of your usual carrot cake that's slathered with diabetically sweet icing.  It tastes like a sugary sponge covered with cream cheese and sugar with a hint of carrots and it's just a sugary and buttery caloric bomb.

Too sweet.  I wouldn't say I don't have a sweet tooth, I like my desserts, but I like my desserts subtle and delicate.

So I went to look for an Italian recipe.  It was originally a carrot and almond cake but I just think that carrots and hazelnuts work so well together.  Have you ever had a carrot soup with hazelnuts?  Uh huh, prepare to have your mind blown.

Stuffed Pretzels

Pretzels most likely originated among monasteries in Europe, and their distinct shape is said to represent hands in prayer.  Then in the 18th Century, German and Swiss immigrants introduced them to the US, and it soon became part of their cuisine.

Anyway. There doesn't seem to be much literature online on the differences between American and German pretzels, but by looking at different recipes, I've found that:

1. American recipes usually ask for all purpose flour, i.e. low gluten flour, whereas German pretzel recipes ask for bread flour.
2.  American recipes say it's fine to just dunk the pretzels in a bicarbonate of soda solution water before baking, but the German ones strongly recommend the sodium hydroxide that's actually quite difficult to acquire.