Life as it revolves around food

My parents came to visit me on the day I made cheesecake bars. I also served tea and grass jelly with lemon (that's the black stuff in the bowl)--delish! I rather enjoy serving my parents. My dad remarked, "It's nice to see you so independent, in your own apartment." Sniff.

This is my friend J's photography, from my roommate's birthday celebration at Sally's After Dark in SF. The "Catch of the Day" was mahi-mahi over fresh corn and green beans. Yummy.

This is my photography using his camera (note obvious lack of talent and camera know-how) of my dessert, an espresso mouse chocolate tart topped with peanut brittle with a scoop of vanilla bean gelato on the side. I was stuffed by the time this came, but it was delicious nonetheless.

This is what my Tuesday and Thursday night dinners looked like. It was also my Saturday lunch. No, I'm not vegetarian. It just so happened to be what was in my fridge, and what was easiest to throw together after a long day of class and lab research. I'll change it up this week, as I went to both Safeway and Berkeley Bowl this weekend (thanks, J). By the way, that's my favorite Henckels knife.

In my weekend baking spree, I produced a batch of these blackberry scones. Not quite as good as the first time I made them--the blackberries aren't as sweet. Boo. I should have just stuck with frozen blueberries (courtesy of O--so are the peas in the previous photo). They are now sitting in ziploc bags in my freezer, waiting for a special breakfast occasion.

I made cream puffs on two separate occasions this week. A bunch of you reading this have probably eaten one, or will be offered one very soon. Cream puffs are probably the most tedious pastry I've ever attempted. There is stove top cooking, egg tempering, stand mixing, transferring, piping, baking, oven-drying, hole-poking, and cooling. And that's just for the pâte à choux. For the inside pastry cream, many of the steps are the same. I could have just used a doctored vanilla pudding mix or something, but this produces a nice, creamy custardy filling. I think the extra work is worth it. PS. I love sunflowers!

All packaged and powdered and ready to go!

Not pictured: strawberry shortcake with B and J today. But I'm sure B will post some soon.