this & that: week of August 11, 2018

August 11, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, this & that

Ok we're slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things around here. We're having baby baptized tomorrow and then a little luncheon afterwards for close friends. She's really starting to wake up to the world - making eye contact, smiling, staying awake for more than just a few minutes, and seeming to recognize the people around here or at least to be more alert and aware of the surrounding noise (er, chaos.) These are my favorite days, when they're still mostly sleeping and cuddling on you, but starting to show all the promise of their little personalities. It's full of sweetness and anticipation.

Chocolate kettle corn

August 10, 2018 by Maria Almeida in baking, maria

Usually I just make my popcorn salty, but every now and then I want it to be more like a dessert. Like a chocolate dessert. I love kettle corn, so I thought, could I just add some cocoa powder? I tried, it worked, and this became a snack/dessert that satisfies me on so many counts. It's got the sweet/salty combo, it's crunchy, and it's chocolatey. It kind of reminds me of the chocolate rice cakes I used to eat when I was a kid.

Carrots with Honey, Black Pepper, Butter, & Almonds

August 08, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in cooking

A while ago, I used a gift card from my Grandma to get Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables. Running a vegetable garden business in the backyard, I figured it would be nice to have a few more ideas on how to cook up all the veggies. I've really enjoyed the recipes I've tried so far. This one might be my favorite yet.

this & that: week of August 3, 2018

August 04, 2018 by Maria Almeida in this & that, maria

We're back! We took a brief hiatus for the month of July for moving/babies/harvesting. Our blog is coming up on its 1st birthday so we'll probably be having a few conversations in the next weeks about what's working, what's not, and where we want to go with it. Reader input is highly valued!

Easiest softest bread

August 03, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, baking

Let me share a bread recipe with you. It is incredibly simple but so delicious. It's the perfect recipe to use to introduce new bakers to bread because it's so straightforward, unfussy, and reliable. It produces a loaf of bread like those soft, light-as-air baguettes that you see at grocery supermarkets, but it's BETTER because it's fresh and homemade. And it takes just 2 hours start to finish!

Ratatouille

July 26, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, cooking

This ratatouille is not pretty. It’s nothing like the one in the Pixar movie. It is basically an obscenely large collection of vegetables that get chopped, generously doused in olive oil, and then roasted until they’re soft and caramelized and melded together into a deeply flavorful dish. The simplest process coaxes so much flavor out of such basic ingredients. And then I get to watch my kids gobble down a couple days worth of vegetable servings in one sitting - and with delight! It’s pretty magical.

So this happened...

July 18, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, home & family

In the third week of June, we closed on a new house just a neighborhood over, had the interior painted, quickly moved in (credit to my husband here - the guy was a moving beast), got things unpacked to a liveable state, and then I had a baby.

I made my man the momofuku milk bar birthday cake & subsequent thoughts on cult-status desserts in the age of social media

July 13, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, life, baking

We were watching the latest season of Chef's Table. The first episode came to a close, the credits began rolling, Noah turns to me and says: "I want that cake for my birthday."

Game on.

Reversed German Chocolate Cupcakes

July 03, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

A moist chocolate cupcake, filled with a crunchy chewy mixture of dulce de leche, toasted coconut, and pecans, topped off with a pile of rich and thick chocolate buttercream.

Why reversed? A classic German Chocolate Cake uses a coconut pecan frosting. These cupcakes rock the nutty duo on the inside (which is, I may add, an aesthetic win). The flavor profile is jacked up a notch by toasting the coconut and pecans, subbing out the evaporated milk mixture for dulce de leche, skipping over the traditional cake recipe, which uses sweet German chocolate, in favor of a deliciously deep and moist cocoa cake, and sweetening the deal with pretty swirls of chocolate frosting.

Twix Inspired Cake

June 28, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in baking

I dreamed this cake up one day while driving. I had Cristina Tosi's approach to cake on my mind (Sarah was trying out her classic birthday cake -- I hope she'll share her thoughts soon!). What\ piqued my interest was the textural contrast Tosi goes for with the cake crumbs. It sounded really, really tasty. I began thinking where you could go with that. "Oooh! Shortbread crumbs!" It didn't take long for a giant twix cake to sound tremendously delicious.

2018 Halfway Point

June 20, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in life

We're halfway into this year. Crazy! That also puts me halfway through my new year's resolution to read 26 books. Or, it should. After setting my challenge, I figured I should read two books a month and then divide the two leviathans (I'm looking at you, Ulysses and Infinite Jest) into "manageable" monthly portions. Halfway through the year, I've read ten books, am on target for Infinite Jest, and about a month behind in Ulysses. Phew!

All About Brownies

June 13, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in baking, sarah

The very day that I finished this post on my at-the-time favorite brownie recipe, Noah broke the news to me: they weren't his favorite.

You simply can't imagine the depths of frustration into which his statement threw me. The quest for the best brownie recipe--one that we both agreed on--has been a bit of a preoccupation for me. After finishing that post back in October, I thought I could finally rest easy. But now I see that a part of me knew I would never find peace on this topic. Why else did I decide to include the word "current" bracketed off in the blog post title? (As in, "Sarahs [current] favorite brownie recipe.") At the very moment that I was gushing over how this recipe was "my perfect, everyday, brownie satisfaction," my subconscious was hard at work undermining my complacency.

this & that: week of June 9, 2018

June 09, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, life

The news has gotten me down this week. The suicides of two hugely successful people makes my heart ache wondering what interior sadness or despair they were carrying. Without turning their tragedies into occasions for commentary or morals-of-the-story, can we still at least appreciate together how a person’s inner life can be so little known even to those closest? May we be compelled to bolster those around us with our love, and to strive to fortress ourselves with true inner peace.

(There’s really no graceful segue into a bunch of relatively trivial links, but isn’t that often the way the transition from reflection and prayer into daily life goes?)

Have a great weekend! Don’t forget to plan out ways to celebrate your husband/dad/grandpa for Fathers Day (and share any ideas you might have, please and thank you!)

Thai Veggie Burger

June 08, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in cooking

I love a good veggie burger. I love a good hamburger too, but veggie burgers are so much fun because you can pack so much flavor into them. Plus, the directions you can go seem endless! Even where to start with the base can be a hard choice -- black bean, lentil, chickpea...you name it! Then what sort of cuisine? Tex-mex, Indian, Moroccan, Mediterranean...again, you name it! I haven't even started on what toppings you can add. Finally, homemade buns make them that much more tasty.

36 hours in the Florida Keys

June 05, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, life

Visiting the Florida Keys, particularly Key West, particularly Hemingway's Home, has been on my bucket list for ages. After nine years of stalling, we finally decided to make the trip with some friends over Memorial Day weekend. We were doing this! The decision was made. We booked a hotel on Key West. And then...murmurings of a less-than pleasant forecast for the weekend began to emerge. Tropical Storm. Possible Hurricane. High winds. 100% chance of precipitation. Probably blinding rain. Some likelihood of water spouts. Maybe tornados.

this & that: week of June 2, 2018

June 02, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, this & that, life

June! When did that happen? (Also, does commenting on the rapid passage of time ever become old? It just always seems surprising!)

"Summer" takes on a whole new meaning in Houston. Unrelenting heat and humidity means fewer opportunities for outside play, a lot of watermelon, and pool time every day. We're still learning how to shape our days to beat the heat.

Allow me a pregnant pause...

June 01, 2018 by Maria Almeida in maria, home & family

35 weeks pregnant.

So, by the wonderfully imprecise timeline of human gestation, this baby should make her entrance in this world anywhere between 2 and 5 weeks from now. And though I feel totally done with pregnancy, we have one soccer camp, one swim camp, one house closing, and one MOVE before D-day. So my feelings notwithstanding, time is on our side.

To be honest, I don't have much to complain about in third trimester. I carry high and small, I don't gain a ton of weight, I don't have heartburn, varicose veins, or swelling. I'm tired like you'd expect (maybe a little more so on this fourth go around) and uncomfortable like you'd expect (i.e, feeling unwieldy and HOT), but nothing really to complain about. Still, I like having a good excuse to sit down and put my feet up a little more often than I usually do. Over all that time of R&R, I've mulled and mused over this pregnancy and pregnancy in general, and I thought I'd share some of that with you. I've got no particular structure here, no theme. These are just Maria's Thoughts.

Coconut Chocolate Coffee Sourdough (with regular yeast variation)

May 31, 2018 by Sophie Barrows in baking, sophie

As promised, here is a sweet sourdough bread recipe: coconut, chocolate chips, and coffee all come together for a yummy treat. Special enough to make me smile when we have some for breakfast, but not too sweet to make you feel like you're making an excuse to eat dessert (I'm not the only one, right?).

strawberry-filled Coconut Cake with blue ombre frosting

May 27, 2018 by Sarah Blanchard in sarah, baking

Boy, have a got a cake for your memorial day weekend!

Picture moist but light, not-too-sweet layers of vanilla cake kissed with coconut essence, sandwiched around a delightfully red strawberry jam and artfully smeared (a la royal wedding) with a fluffy blue ombre vanilla buttercream. It's summer appropriate, perfectly festive, and a tad more updated than your typical cookout fare (hello, red berry flag cake!). It's got a low-key blue and white vibe with a surprise dash of red inside.

this & that: week of May 26, 2018

May 26, 2018 by Maria Almeida in this & that

Sorry we missed you last week! That's just real life, I guess. But we're back and at it for your extended Memorial Day weekend. I hope that one extra day gives you a nice break.