rennes

I baked and cooked all day today! It was so fun, I should do it more often. I keep thinking I'd get into it as a weekend hobby and today I finally did. This morning I made these scones and they turned out really, really good and I don't mind saying so. (Follow the link for the recipe). We altered the recipe just a little bit and put some jalapeños in with the dough along with making the butter to go on the side. I remember the first time I learned that cold cubed butter was the secret to pasty flakiness: a definite life changer. The dough got really sticky after I added the scallions at the end, so it's good to add a little more flour before you roll out the dough.

 The afternoon was concluded by making some pickled red onions and some mustardy brussel sprouts. Lots of salty things, but I'm totally okay with that.

On the menu for tonight : Liege Waffles. I've been experimenting a bit with these, I've tried a few different recipes; a desperate search to find one similar to one we had in Montreal. At first I wasn't sure how much I liked them in comparison to regular old "Belgian" waffles that we usually make, but now I prefer them. They are dense and doughy and a little goes a long way. We have never made them with Pearl sugar though, we've just rolled them in another sugar we had lying around. Still, the results were super and quite tasty. It's like a meal and desert in one! This recipe is also really good.

When I think about my absolute favorite thing in my home (aside from the bird) I think about our Donabe pot. A Donabe is a Japanese hot pot used for cooking - mainly soups and rice, but we use it for pretty much everything. We barely use a regular stove top pan anymore, it's great. I'm sure I might sound crazy when I say this - but I really think things taste better when we cook with it. Not only is the food delicious, I find them very sculptural and nice to look at. We have a small white one similar to the second one above (without the steamer inset) but it would be great to have a slightly bigger one, and I love the marbled look of the first one. AND it seems there is also such a thing as a Donabe Smoker, which sounds pretty exciting to me. I would love to use one! All the ones above are from Korin.

When I first moved into the studio in April, I was immediately intrigued by all the Korean restaurants nearby. In the past I had been scared away from red hot sauces, but somehow over the past few months I became intrigued, that and Jesse's love of spicy foods slowly made me build up a higher tolerance for spice. Now I can't get enough bimibibap! I want it all the time. Plus, it comes in a hot stone pot that makes the rice all crispy at the bottom. It seems like it would be pretty easy to make at home too, I just need to get one of the pots - It would probably save me a lot of money if I could do that!

My current obsession: Onigiri. They are the best snack food / small meal! I could probably live off of these things. My favorite it spicy tuna, without a doubt, followed by takana. Luckily there's a Japanese bakery on the way home from work - I usually stop there everyday. Most days they are out of spicy tuna by the time I get there, but there other day I lucked out and got one. Score! They look pretty easy to make too, I should probably try that given how many I buy.

We've been sick all week here, so life has mainly consisted of lots of movie watching and sleeping. Today I was finally feeling a little bit better and attempted my first recipe from the Flour cookbook (an an amazing bakery here in Boston). They are delicious. I've already eaten three of them. Better save the rest for friends or else I'll begin to come to terms with the amount of butter and creme fraiche in them.

I just got this great book about cheese called Cheese : Exploring Taste and Tradition. Sometimes books that look like this can be full of pretty pictures but lack information; this one manages to be a really great mix of both. It's so informative that I'm learning things about cheese I never thought that you could know about cheese, if you know what I mean. Cheese is probably my favorite food, in pretty much any form. This book is nice because it really explains different cheese making processes, shows you where different types come from, and even has a few different recipes at the end. I've made paneer a few times, but this makes me inspired to maybe try other kinds.

A few other things:

+ Thank you so much for your orders! Wow, you guys are awesome! I've been so busy working on them this past week, so thank you so much for your enthusiasm and all your emails. I've had to mark the Milo Wallets as coming soon so I can catch up, but I will have them back in stock as made to order in about a week.

+ I updated the yard sale site with a few things yesterday (all clothing). I hope to add more leather pieces in a few weeks, so check back then if you weren't able to get the one you wanted the first time around. A lot of people have been asking me where I get my leather - I get it from lots of different places it would be hard to name them all. I recommend looking on ebay if you are just looking for one hide or or a small piece - it's a good place to start out.