“You need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones. “ –Adam Grant Or you gotta break a few (dozen) eggs to bake a cake–or in my case a few cases. I regularly post pics of food I’ve made on Instagram…almost always of the successes, rarely of the failures. I…
Author: Puddingyrl
I'm a pastry chef (geek) whose appetite invariably exceeds the actual size of my stomach. Skinny jeans be damned! My innate curiosity usually leads to full-blown obsessions--culinary and otherwise--which is why you'll find me sticking my finger in the proverbial pudding...if not licking the whole damn bowl. Given my varied interests, I figured blogging is a good way for me to explore those ideas that are always nibbling at my brain. Along for the ride are two of my girlfriends who share some of my obsessions and have no problems diving headlong into that bowl of pudding. After all, it's more fun to share the calories!
I just called…to say…”have you eaten today?”
“We Asians often only value the first (and sometimes only) time our parents said I love you while disregarding the countless times they asked, “when did you eat?” As if they didn’t all mean the same thing.” — Kimmy Yam @ kimmythepooh on Twitter I’m not sure if my mother has ever actually uttered the…
When life (or a neighbor) gives you pumpkin butter…
“What the heck do you do with this stuff…and do you want to make something with it?,” asked my neighbor Winnie, handing me a jar of pumpkin butter. It had been a party favor from a recent shower she’d attended. Since neither Winnie nor her husband cook a lot, much less bake, the pumpkin butter was…
It all starts with the beans…
Walk into any market, health food or otherwise, and you’ll probably find displays upon displays of “alternative milk” offerings–from almond and cashew to rice, coconut, and, more recently, oat. But the original “alt milk beverage” is soy milk. I confess I do not like most commercially packaged soy milk–always tastes overly “processed” to me, no matter what brand….
Give us our daily milk bread
In a previous post I talked about my obsession with baking rustic loaves using my trusty starter “Barney,” who I’m proud to report is still alive and kicking. But lately, my favorite bread to bake at home is Milk Bread, the incomparably fluffy, pull-apart tender carb of my dreams. Its pillowy texture sort of reminds…
The comfort of apples…in pie that is.
For the first time this season in the South Bay, the weather actually felt like fall–bright sunshine, crisp chilly breeze. I snuggled in bed with my dog Violet this morning without fear of overheating–for a little dog she generates more heat that an electric blanket blasting on high. When Violet decided she’d had enough of…
Cooking Therapy
I know I’ve been MIA for a while–a long while. What seemed like a short break from writing and posting turned out to be more of an extended absence. Life, more specifically work-life, had taken a greedy gluttonous bite out of my free time (and maybe even a sizable nibble at my soul). When I…
Crafting a New Home Life
After six months of shuttling back and forth between my home in San Francisco and my temporary home away from home in Cupertino with my cousin and his family, I’d finally found (really by chance) an apartment worth moving to Santa Clara for–a cute, bright one-bedroom, framed by trees, overlooking a pool, 3 (count ’em…
Sweet on the Lips…Not on the Hips
A few months back, when I was in between jobs and had some free time on my hands, I embarked on yet another DIY adventure, thanks to my frequent “partner in crime,” my friend Karen. For once, it did not involve food–well not technically for consumption at least. What we began “cooking up” were body…
Light As Air
Starting a new job 45 miles away from home has presented me with a whole set of challenges these last few months–commuting, then not commuting, living out of a suitcase part-time, not having my familiar home kitchen with all its gadgets, tools and equipment (not to mention fully-stocked pantry), and working longer hours. Finding down…