Missing Tim Horton's Sour Cream Donuts (plain & glazed)

It's no secret that I miss Canada and everything about it. For example, my husband and I were walking down Pine Street to get our hair trimmed at Raven, when we happened to pass some sort of sports bar -maybe it was just a regular bar with televisions. When I looked at what was on, I saw the very distinct CBC logo in the upper lefthand corner, at which point I started to jump up and down and scream, "CBC! They're watching hockey on CBC!" Also, I haven't heard anyone use the term "double double" here, something I only learned in Ontario but still makes me giggle. (It means two creams & two sugars for your coffee) I haven't been able to find a place that sells sour cream donuts either, even though Top Pot Donuts is pretty amazing. I was looking up the recipe when I stumbled upon a yellow cupcake recipe on joyofbaking.com that calls for half a cup of sour cream! Well, that got me excited, and instead of a quiet night just watching Shakespeare In Love for the 50th time and drinking tea (household addiction, we have 20 varieties of tea) I had a cozy evening of baking yellow sour cream cupcakes with chocolate frosting! These are REALLY good and I highly recommend that you try the recipe. It's even good without the chocolate frosting, if that's any indication to you of their scrumptiousness. I think next time I'm going to use a plain sugar glaze so that I can get the true sour cream glazed donut effect, and call them: Sour Cream Glazed Donut-Flavoured Cupcakes! Yeah, no, that's too long.

 

This last picture I made for my friend Clementine, who celebrated her birthday this week and who loves cake and cupcakes more than any human being I have ever encountered.

Yellow Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (cut into pieces)

1 large egg, room temperature

2 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter, egg, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and sour cream. Beat the wet and dry ingredients together at medium speed until the batter is smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. If necessary, stir the batter with a rubber spatula until the flour is fully incorporated. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until pale gold and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing. 

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes).

Keep in mind, the frosting is optional! Mmmmmm!

Random Health Kick

I went for a jog again today, only this time I went a little bit easier on myself and so far my knees feel alright! There is something about physical activity that makes me want to eat healthy foods. So once again, for supper, I made something wonderfully delicious and nutritious: Quinoa with grilled zucchini and marinated tofu steak. I have an enormous amount of tofu left over, so it's going to be a tofu week. And since I wasn't trying to recreate something that I missed back home, I just made it simple and kept it Lilibeth-like. This was the result:

This is what you need:


1 small zucchini cut lengthwise
1 cup quinoa (health food section of your grocery store)
2 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch of sea salt
tofu steak triangles (recipe in previous post)
splash of sesame seed oil

In a small sauce pan, bring the two cups of water to a boil with the 1 cup of quinoa. Reduce to a simmer and cover for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of oilve oil in a pan, throw on your tofu steaks and zucchini. Sprinkle the zucchini with salt. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the zucchini is soft. The tofu should become softer and dark brown.

Check on your quinoa, you'll know it's ready when all the liquid is absorbed and you can see a ring on each grain. It'll also become fluffy and rice-like.

Serve with the grilled zucchini and tofu. I added a splash of sesame seed oil to my quinoa for some added flavour and the benefit of omega fatty acids. (Who am I?!) So yummy! Oh and before I forget, the health benefits of quinoa are that it's a good source of dietary fiber, protein, magnesium, iron and it's gluten free! I think that maybe I will suggest that my parents eat this instead of their usual white rice.

Super Protein Salad

Today I was craving something I hadn't had a hankering for in a long time. The summer before the wedding I was eating really lean, light foods, not necessariliy for weight loss but because it was what my body wanted. I had also scared myself into not eating sugar for fear of succumbing to the ailments of my ancestors. Clearly, marriage changed that a little bit. I needed to learn the basics of cooking good family meals and I was also craving comfort food, what with being in a foreign place. The thing about Seattle is, it isn't really that different from Toronto. It's just different enough to make you feel like you've entered the Twilight Zone. With my husband gone for a week (skiing up in Canada), it sort of felt like my old single life again, just me and the bunnies, which is probably why I was missing one of my favourite restaurants back home: Fresh. They had this one salad on the menu called the Super Protein Salad that was the most delicious thing in the world! I ate it three times a week, sometimes four. I tried to recreate that salad today, but it just wasn't the same. The neighborhood Safeway didn't have half the ingredients I needed so I had to improvise most of it. What I created was definitely nutritious and tasy, but sadly, not the same way my beloved Fresh made it. Where does one get goji berries, tempeh and puffed quinoa in Seattle? My beautiful sister-in-law gave me a Fresh recipe book the night of the rehearsal dinner (thank you so much!), so I was able to at least substitute real Fresh tofu steak for my tempeh.

The Super Protein Salad has:

your greens of choice
chick peas (check)
grape tomatoes (check)
cucumbers (check)
grilled tempeh (fail) I used tofu instead
puffed quinoa (fail)
goji berries (fail)
slivered pistachios (fail)
currants (fail) I used Craisins instead
slivered almonds (check)
sea salt (check)
hazelnuts (fail)
I like to top my salad off with tahini dressing, which Safeway miraculously had (check)


Since I was substituting tofu for tempeh, I decided I would try Fresh's Marinated Tofu Steak Recipe, which is as follows:


1 block of firm tofu
2 tsp ground coriander (I used parsley)
4 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 cup of tamari
2 cups of filtered water


Cut the tofu into 1/4 inch thick slices, then cut the slices diagonally into triangles. Place them in a bowl and pour the rest of the ingredients over the tofu triangles. Marinate for 1 hour. Then I took 7 triangles and browned them over medium-high heat in my frying pan, and added them to my salad.

Lilibeth Protein Salad

All in all, it was a very nutritious dinner for one but I really need to find a place that sells tempeh. That aside: Happy Birthday Clementine! I made you cupcakes! The catch is, you must come to Seattle to eat them.

The real Super Protein Salad, so delicious.
 

Running Around Town

It has been three and a half weeks since I broke my toe and bone-bruised my foot. I am supposed to avoid strenuous activity for 6 weeks but I have never really liked being told what to do and since I feel fine, I decided I would try my hand at jogging. Here in Seattle, it seems you can never go anywhere without running into a dozen joggers a day. I've never felt the inclination to run simply because it looks hard, but last Friday, I was late for a dinner reservation and thought I'd try to make it on time by running there like a fool. You know what? I discovered that it wasn't that hard and it was kind of enjoyable! Well, I am up for things that are both enjoyable and raises my heart rate and metabolism, so why not? My lovely friend Lindsay suggested I go to a professional running place that could help me find the right footwear and maybe even have classes or groups of people to teach you how to run properly. I did just that at this place called Fleet Feet Seattle, which is not far from where we live, so that gave me extra motivation. A nice newlywed, young man helped me find running shoes for my bunion-y, pronated, low arched feet (my husband has pronated, flat feet, so our kids are screwed), and I ended up with some sweet looking new Brooks runners. They actually had me put on several pairs of shoes, jump on a treadmill and recorded my running feet from behind. From this recording and from watching me walk and run outside, they made recommendations for specific shoes. Very cool. So, I got home and jogged today for the very first time, joining my fellow Seattleites in the time honoured tradition of keeping our bodies fit! Now I won't feel so guilty about eating all the food that I make! It was challenging, even though I started out slowly, but I think I like it.

 

I woke up the day after my first jogging session with a swollen eye and non-stop sneezing. Related? I sure hope not, so I'm going to keep at it but first I need to let my knees heal. I think I just got my first peek at the future, because I have never experienced such joint ache before! Oy.

Allergic To The West Coast

The world is a very interesting place. Either that or I am a very sensitive person. This is the second city I have moved to and the second time I have experienced a whole new set of ailments that stem from an external source. When I moved to Toronto, my skin had a very adverse reaction to the extremely polluted city air. It went away once I got used to it (and also with the help of Clinique's 3 Step System) but would return on the most smoggy, summer days. Since moving to Seattle, I have had to deal with a new problem: eye itchiness. I've been taking anti-histamines that don't work and have been tortured every morning and evening by this gripping itch that feels like it's going to take over my life. By last Friday I had had enough, I woke up with a bloodshot, itchy, watery, puffy eye. Could this be an eye infection? It was time to pay a visit to the eye doctor. It turns out I am very allergic to some new (to me), unknown, west coast allergen. It was a relief to know that it wasn't something worse, but now I'm test-driving an eye drop called Pataday. So far so good, this is the fourth day and my eyes definitely feel relieved. I have been here for nearly five months, and enough is enough! I really need to get used to my environment, which brings me to my next topic: jogging.

I figure if I am outside for a good chunk of the day, blasting my eyes with this new allergen, I might get used to it faster. This could turn out to be allergic reaction suicide, or my strange theory could actually work! I will keep you posted. (pun intended)

Clinique's 3 Step System

Pataday Eye Drops

Filipino Style Meaty Pasta Sauce

My memories are all food related and scent related. When I smell YSL's Opium, I will instinctively think of my mother. Thinking of my mother makes me crave her spaghetti, which was probably the dish that started it all for me. It doesn't follow a classic Italian recipe but has the same basic ingredients plus a few tweaks here and there, which is why I call it Filipino style, but it's really Myrna Lofranco style.

Mommy's Spaghetti Sauce:

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
salt to taste
1 tbsp of white sugar
1.5 - 2 lbs lean ground beef
12 large cremini mushrooms
1 medium yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 large can/jar of store bought tomato sauce
1 small can of tomato paste
1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 small brick of extra old cheddar cheese
1 lb of whatever pasta your heart desires, my mom always used spaghettini

Finely chop the onions and garlic, quarter your mushrooms.

In a large pan, brown your ground beef on medium high heat. Season liberally with salt. Set aside.

In a big pot, soften the onion in the olive oil on medium high heat for 5 minutes. Add your ground beef and garlic. After the meat, onion and garlic are incorporated into each other, add your tomato sauce, tomato paste, oregano, basil, and can of cream of mushroom soup. Bring it to a boil and add your cremini mushrooms. Reduce the heat after 5 minutes, add your sugar and simmer covered for 20 minutes.

The colour lightens and looks creamier after you add the soup!

Grate as much of the cheddar cheese as you want, it's mainly for serving, you can afford to be generous with it, it only makes it taste better! Trust me on this, I know it's weird.

Voila! Mommy Spaghetti Sauce on some egg noodles, with a sprinkling of sharp cheddar cheese. I ordinarily use white cheddar for looks and cause it's what my mom used, but they taste the same. This dish makes me feel like I'm 6 years old every time. Only takes 30 minutes to make but makes me immeasurably happy!

Less Than Five Weeks Until Spring!

Lately, I have been in the mood for ultra feminine, sweet, soft and classically ladylike things. (This comes as no surprise to many of you) I have absolutely decided that this is the year that I am going to wear a Chanel perfume. There is just something about Chanel that makes me happy. It conjures up images of a strong woman, who is both cutting edge and classic at the same time. My new obsession? Coco Mademoiselle. I drew up a spreadsheet so that I could see which scents I have been drawn to and which top notes and middle notes are found in my most favourite perfumes of all time. Coco Mademoiselle was a perfect match, and I have to say, I am in love. It's been going strong since 1989. It smells nothing like the newer perfumes that have come out in recent years that smell juvenile and way too sweet.

I have started wearing headbands and pearls more often, you'd think I was watching a lot of Gossip Girl, but I am not! I think I'm just looking forward to the spring, which leads into summer, which means no more wearing giant, heavy jackets that make men and women all look the same. I enjoy looking like a lady. Much like this lady:

I love the Chanel Camellia.

So cute and spring-like!

I am in love with grey nails

Emma Watson

See? I'm on some weird Chanel kick, I don't know what's going on. I mean, I was wearing high heels in the kitchen the other day for crying out loud! I think I'm going to go put on some ballet slippers and make cupcakes now.

My Pretend BFF

Did you know that Mario Batali was born and raised in Seattle? Just a little bit of Wednesday trivia, -not that I'm obsessed with him or anything... much. Anyway, I've been feeling pretty lazy the last few days, but I had already gotten the groceries for a few Mario Batali meals, so might as well get my butt into the kitchen to make us some dinner. What's on the menu? Pennette with Cauliflower Ragu! It doesn't necessarily sound very appetizing, but the picture in Molto Gusto evoked childhood memories of going to a restaurant to taste my very first restaurant-made Italian food. However, I have to say that something kind of fun and kind of silly occured. As I was dissecting the cauliflower as per Mario's instructions, I realized that I was having a lot of trouble chopping and kept having to get up on my tip toes. I solved this problem by breaking out my highest heels. It was very Desperate Housewives of me, but it made my life easier and my shoulders much more comfortable.

I looked ridiculous, but I don't care.

Mario Batali's Pennette with Cauliflower Ragu:

1 medium cauliflower (2 lbs)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium white onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, smashed & peeled
Maldon sea salt (or any flaky sea salt)
2 tsps hot red pepper flakes
6 tbsp unsalted butter cut into 6 pieces
pinch of Kosher salt for pasta water
1 lb pennette
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano plus more for serving
1/2 cup of coarse fresh bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced (but I wasn't in the mood for it so I skipped it)

Alright, once I had my high heels on, I halved the cauliflower, cut off the leaves and put them aside for later. I then cut out the core and chopped off the stalks, put them aside with the leaves. Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets, set aside in a bowl. Next, chop up the core, stalks and leaves.

Combine the oil, onion, garlic, leaves, stalks and core in a large pot, season with Maldon salt and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently until the leaves start to wilt. (it will smell so good!) After 3 minutes, reduce the heat to low and cook until the leaves are tender, which is about 20 minutes.

I don't know. I thought if I posed with the spoon, you'd believe I cooked it.

While you are softening the cauliflower, start your fresh bread crumbs. I took a small hunk of leftover Pugliese bread (enough to make 1/2 cup of bread crumbs) and sliced it up into tiny crouton-sized pieces with my bread knife. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, and once it's hot, add the bread crumbs and stir it until it's lightly toasted. Remove from heat and set aside to cool in a bowl.

Add your cauliflower florets, red pepper flakes, and 1 cup of water to the rest of the cauliflower mixture, and bring it to a simmer on medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, cover, and stir occasionally until the cauliflower is very soft and almost falling apart. (20 minutes) Add the butter and stir it in until it's melted. Remove from heat.

Before adding the butter.

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot, add a pinch of Kosher salt (Mario says 3 tbsp, but I'm not comfortable with that). Cook until al dente. Drain your pasta water but make sure to reserve 2/3 of a cup. Add the pasta and 1/3 of the water to the cauliflower ragu and stir and toss over medium heat until the pasta is well coated. Add a bit more of the pasta water if you need to loosen the sauce a bit. Stir in your cheese.

Serve and sprinkle with the fresh bread crumbs and a sprinkling of cheese. Mmmmm, thanks Mario!

Seattle Fine Dining

My husband and I decided to have a romantic dinner for two out on the town last Friday so that we wouldn't have to compete with all the Valentine's Day lovers on Monday night. Nothing kills romance like having to wait 45 minutes to eat. I don't know why so many people have a problem with Valentine's Day, I think it's a perfectly good day. People are going to buy and consume no matter what, so to those haters, shame on you for hating, just love! It doesn't have to be limited to your partner either, it's just a day for loving everybody, and if you can eat chocolate on that day too: bonus!

We don't really go out to eat because I love to cook, but there are a few places I've been dying to go to and one of those places is Assaggio. It's situated in downtown Seattle on what I like to call Tommy Douglas Corner. For all I know, it may actually be called this by Seatlleites because Tom Douglas' restaurants Lola and Dahlia Lounge are on this corner. Anyway, I kept my eyes peeled for him just in case we stumbled upon him so I could get his autograph for my cousin. We didn't see him, but we were fortunate enough to just walk into Assaggio on a Friday night and score a table for two at the front of the restaurant. Not only that, but we were greeted at the door by none other than Mauro Golmarvi, who is apparently the owner, chef, manager, Maitre D', and everything of Assaggio Restaurant. Seriously, this man must be an overachieving workaholic. And sweet, very, very sweet. Then for a full five seconds I thought we were sitting next to Bill & Melinda Gates, (we weren't) and there was also some famous guy at the table behind them, but I didn't want to stare so we didn't figure out who it was. The service was great! The appetizers and mains were thankfully, comparable to Toronto prices, the wine was excellent (Friulano wine), and they had this incredible olive oil/pepper/garlic concoction on each of the tables to enjoy with our bread that was divine! I should have asked them what it was now that I think about it. Oh well, next time. I was also praised for eating cannoli with my hands. I guess the hoity toity Seattleites use a fork and knife? I was a bit embarrassed when we left, because Mauro opened the door for us, and unbeknownst to me, he had walked out behind us as I enthusiastically exclaimed, "That man is the awesomest!" When I turned to look at my husband, I noticed Mauro grinning at me. I'm such a dork. Assaggio Restaurant: http://www.assaggioseattle.com/

Happy Valentine's Day!

I realize that I may be dwelling on it (hello, extreme aversion to failure) but do you remember that spectacularly failed beef stew I made a couple weeks ago? Well, that very same day I had actually decided to make Boeuf Bourguignon for a small Valentine weekend get together at our house. What better way to kick off our first dinner party than to serve the most epic dish I have made to date? It's perfect because it serves 6, is super delicious and will CERTAINLY erase the feelings of inadequacy I have pertaining to anything remotely related to beef stew. And of course, just to prove to you all that I did it and that it was delicious yet again, I have pictures! It just goes to show that Julia Child was incredible: if the recipe is good, anybody can do it... without inadvertently charring anything.

It took me a bit longer because I had to blanche my bacon to get rid of the smokey flavour first.

Drying off my blanched bacon.

Sliced up into thin strips and browned.

Browning my (rinsed and patted dry) meat in batches.

Softening the carrots and onions.

Browning the pearl onions at the end of the beef's cooking time.

The browned mushrooms, to be added along with the pearl onions.

Ready to eat!

If you plan on serving Boeuf Bourguignon for a dinner party, I suggest that you make it the day before, that way you are relaxed while preparing and cooking, and you won't smell like food when your guests arrive! Plus, as Julia Child mentions, it tastes even better the next day after the complex flavours have fully infused the dish. Mmm, so good! This time I served it with light, yummy egg noodles, fresh, crusty bread, and we had fabulous guests who brought delicious red wine -one bottle of which was made by someone's dad, so cool! I was going to make ice cream sandwiches for dessert, but one of our said fabulous guests brought us CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES. They were so luscious, I wish I had taken pictures, but I just really wanted to eat them, sorry. What a perfect Valnetine's Day dessert. Since I have no pictures of the pretty strawberries, I won't disappoint you, here's a picture of something else:

Hooray for not burning anything and hooray for great company! http://www.oprah.com/food/Boeuf-Bourguignon

By the way, Happy 21st Birthday to my brother-in-law! And happy 7th birthday to my little friend Emmett!

Lots of Home-Missing

Being on the west coast, and experiencing the mildest winter of my life has definitely earned my respect for this area of the world. Even married life has proved to be rewarding and enriching, as cheesy as that sounds. (Going on five months!) But the fact of the matter is, we are alone out here and the people that we love are all very far away. One of my good friends has just recently become officially enagaged, and it kind of makes me sad that I can't celebrate their joy in person. Neither can I just call my aunt up and ask her if she wants to go to the Eaton Centre for a spot of shopping before a nice dinner, or get hijacked by my cousin to some fancy, fine dining establishment. What if there was an emergency? A couple months ago, my father had to be rushed to the hospital and stayed for almost a week, and all I could do was call his hospital room from three thousand miles away. My best friend just bought a new chandelier. I haven't seen it yet. I'm not complaining, I love that there is this whole new city that I get to explore with my husband, new people to meet, new things to learn and enjoy! But I do miss all of my family and friends. Very, very much. Just know that you are loved and missed.

Lofranco At Heart

My mother used to joke that I was really an Italian kid at heart because I loved pasta so much. So it was certainly fitting that I grew up with the strangely Italian sounding Filipino surname: Lofranco. Pasta is so perfect, because it can become any taste that you want, comes in many shapes, sizes and textures, and it's pretty. Tonight, my fake best friend, Mario Batali, inspired me to make his Penne alla Papalina, only I am bored of penne, so I used rigatoni. This dish is so good that I am sure I'm going to have pleasant dreams about it tonight!

I have added the peas to the browned prosciutto

Boiling rigatoni

Egg, olive oil and pasta water mixture

A perfectly delicious dinner in 20 minutes.

BFF Mario Batali's Penne Rigatoni alla Papalina

Kosher salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
8 oz sliced prosciutto, in one-inch squares
2 cups frozen baby green peas (I only used 1 cup because my husband dislikes peas)
1 pound rigatoni
4 large eggs
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Coarsely ground pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a pinch of salt.

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat, heat three tablespoons of the oil and cook prosciutto in oil until it turns golden brown, about five minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peas.

Drop pasta in boiling water and cook just until tender, or al dente. Drain, reserving about a half-cup of the pasta water. I usually just dip my silicon measuring cup in the water and set it aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, then whisk in the remaining three tablespoons of oil and 1/4 cup of the pasta water.

Add drained pasta to the prosciutto/pea mixture and stir and toss over medium heat to mix well. Add egg mixture, remove from heat, and stir and toss vigorously to cook the eggs slightly.
You may add some of the remaining pasta water to loosen the sauce. Stir in the cheese, season with pepper and serve at once with additional grated cheese on the side. Enjoy the deliciousness!

Extra, Extra! Keener Newbie Chefs Get Lazy Too!

Have you ever heard of borsetti? Well, it has bumped both tortelini and ravioli off my pasta list. The people who know me best know that I like things instantaneously if they are: 1. Cute 2. Delicious 3. My bank account allows me to have it. Borsetti look like tiny drawstring bags of pasta, akin to tortelini, filled with meat and/or cheese and are extremely delicious. I would love to attempt to make them myself soon, but I need a pasta maker first. The bonus? They were on special at Safeway this week and they were made in Canada!

Borsetti photo shoot. So cute!

Lazy and mouth-watering lunch

These particular borsetti contained (are you ready for this?) roasted chicken, prosciutto and parmesan. My sauce? My best friend taught me this trick: I used two tablespoons of cream of chicken soup from a can, added sauteed onions, a bit of milk, 1 tsp of fresh ground pepper and parsley that I stole this from my rabbits). As easy as making a sandwich.