OAK GLEN DAYTRIP

Last month was Chad's birthday and we decided to take a day trip to Oak Glen, an apple orchard community near Yucaipa that lies right at the foot of the San Bernardino mountains. The area is known for its yearlong chill in the air, which is perfect for harvesting apples, and I hoped Chad would find it fondly reminiscent of the orchards found throughout upstate New York where he grew up.

Even though we visited at the end of the apple season, there was still an ample amount of apples to be enjoyed! We decided against picking from the orchards, and chose instead to press our own apple cider. 

In order to press some tasty cider, it's best to start with a variety of apples so this collection here was perfect. It was a nice, chilly day and grabbin hoards of apples from this water-filled bucket was not easy. 

Since Chad was already pretty familiar with cider presses from when he was younger, I got to take the reins and do the dirty work. A fun task no doubt, but not made any easier with an audience! 

I felt pretty clumsy as I fetched apples from my bucket and quickly tossed them into the grinder, only to jump on over to the side to turn the handcrank that chopped them all up. It took me a minute to find my rhythm, and by the time I did, I felt like I was in the middle of an upper arm workout. 

Kudos to all the apple grinders out there, I'm sure you've got some pretty sculpted muscles by now.

Once the apples pass through the grinder rotation, all the ground apples are collected together in an open-ended basket. It must have taken a few dozen apples to get that bucket filled to the brim! From there, we got to work rotating another crank that we spun over the basket and as it was being rotated, it screwed downward pressing alllll that yummy juice out of the apples. I say we at this point because I had to call in muscle reinforcements.

The mushed apples are strained of all their juice, and then collected below the press. I enjoyed seeing the fruits of my labor pouring down into that bowl! The old-fashioned cider press definitely added a hint of authenticity to my work as well. From there, we strained the juice of any extra sediment or fruit and funneled it into these great looking glass jugs.

And tada, we had our experience and our souvenir all wrapped in one! The gallon jug bore the logo of the orchard we visited and took away the need to buy the cider they mass machine pressed there, which made me pretty happy. 

And so our cider pressing was complete - with some sore muscles, great photographs and delicious cider (which also later got used in a deee-lish apple reduction served atop pork chops). 

I was one happy girl and as we got ready to head back to LA, we made a quintessential stop at the Snow-Line Orchards along the way.

The narrow, windy road that leads to this one is definitely worth the struggle upon arrival - when the scent of something delicious hits your nostrils and makes you leap from the car.

Each orchard in Oak Glen is kind of known for something different, and I thought it was very important for Chad to try out this one's specialty - apple cider donuts!

Donut Assembly Line!!

The general store at Snow-Line has this little bakery nooked away in the corner - what one might imagine as hidden away beside shelves and shelves of apple butters and ciders and jams (oh my!) - but the large crowd grouping around gave it away as the main attraction. 

Donuts were pumped out in assembly line fashion among the workers, doled out to the patient gatherers and devoured on site immediately. Underestimating our gluttony, we only ordered a half dozen. 

They disappeared down our throats immediately. Lo and behold, he loved them! Im sure that was a birthday present in itself.

The donut batter is made with cider, with the finished product rolled in cinnamon sugar - creating the best deep fried taste of cinnamon apple ever!

Overall, it was a very fun experience. Hopefully it was equally reminiscent of both Chad and mine's childhoods while creating new memories for us together.

THANKSGIVING 2010

This year Chad and I spent our first Thanksgiving together. It semi surprisingly turned out to be a really great day - casual and successful all across the board! 

As everyone knows, Thanksgiving can secretly be one of those holidays that leave you so stressed and tense you just want to rip your hair out before its even time to eat. But amazingly, we made it through calm and collected - one sweet ass little team in the kitchen that turned out a delicious feast of a meal.

Our nice, slow morning sipping coffee and waking up was followed by the most subtle forms of preparation. We tossed around the idea of an oven schedule and talked vaguely of attempting organization, but in the end we just tackled it as a team, took things slowly and steadily and made a beautiful Thanksgiving Meal perfectly fit for two.

Our Floral Centerpiece

One of the first, and most ambitious, recipes we took on was a Pumpkin Pie baked from scratch. We began this one a day prior, almost as though it required our full attention: to its beauty, its taste and its entirely gratifying extensiveness. 

We used a recipe from Alton Brown, so it tied in just the right amount of cuisine and chemistry.

We began by cooking two small pumpkins in the oven, then scooping and pureeing them both until they looked a little more similar to the pumpkin puree cans we're all so used to.

Not only was this my first time baking pumpkin pie from scratch, but it was also my first experience with whole nutmeg! I was super stoked to have the opportunity to grate it up myself and toss it in that pumpkin puree! The whole kitchen was so aromatic at that point.

After finishing our puree blend, we began making our crust - graham cracker crumbs spiced with ginger, baked briefly and then filled to the brim with pumpkin puree. It baked for an hour and filled our apartment with the most delectable aromas.

A wonderful beginning for our Thanksgiving table.

But honestly, this is where I hand over the reins! From here, we got to work on the rest of our dinner with Chad taking over and myself stepping down to the role of sous chef. Chad got down multi-tasking in the kitchen - between juggling the many stages of preparation, the side and main dishes, the proteins and veggies - he pretty much rocked it from there.

We began by baking our own breadcrumbs, the agreed upon foundation to any stuffing.

I definitely got to assist here in the slicing and dicing of our vegetable mirepoix,a traditional stuffing trio: celery, carrots, and onions with our own addition of apples and garlic as well.

Lately, I've also been discovering my dislike for cutting onions. 

Oh, my poor eyes.

Since it was just Chad and I dining together, we decided to go with a stuffed turkey breast as our main dish as opposed to roasting an entire bird. We already had leftovers for days, so I think this was a great decision. 

After butterflying the breast, we crammed all that delicious stuffing in there and then rolled it all into a sliceable log. Once that was in the oven, it was time to get started on those sides!!

I am a die hard sweet potato fan - especially around the holidays when they're topped with fluffy marshmallow deliciousness and baked to a near dessert quality. So, I was definitely ready to rise to the occasion when it came time to address our sweet potato dish.

The recipe I chose called for a pecan and marshmallow streusel atop twice baked sweet potatoes. It was amazing, pretty easy and baked at the same temperature as our turkey, so it was perfect!

My new favorite vegetable is brussels sprouts. Since I think Chad is such an amazing cook, it wasn't long before I asked him to transform those little green veggies into butter drenched goodness. 

This was our second time making Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, so we knew it would be the perfect addition to an already heavy meal - a super healthy veggie with a hint of overindulgence. As it turns out, its such a beautiful vegetable as well - it comes on footlong stocks and the color adds a vibrancy to any meal.

And then this is where it gets naughty. The bacon gets thrown in the mix.

As our sprouts slowly softened, we finished up the last touches of our meal: biscuit baking, gravy reducing, cranberry sauce slicing, and apple cider pouring! Our timing paid off and things came together just right.

Our table spread looked delicious. Sweet potatoes, biscuits, tons of stuffing served two ways, brussels sprouts a la bacon, and a turkey breast served alongside cranberry sauce.

Not to mention a delicious pumpkin pie awaiting us after our meal! It was a great evening - we returned for seconds and thirds, and have been happy and busy ever since. The holidays seem to have started nicely and are ending even better.

PHO NO!

Recently, we tackled the mission that is pho. Chad is really amazing at undertaking these uber-long culinary adventures - ones that immediately scare away amateurs, ones that leave you knee deep in the kitchen for hours, days even! 

This happens to be one of them.

Pho was a two day adventure we took. We alternated lengthy turns stirring, filled our apartment hallway with consistently delicious aromas, and coordinated our other meals around the Vietnamese frenzy that was going down in the kitchen. Basically, it turned out to be really fun!

One aspect that definitely played into the fun of this recipe was compiling our first "spice bag." Star anise and cinnamon sticks were some personal favorites in there, and ginger always tastes (and looks) beautiful.

One thing this recipe called for was MEAT, and lotsss of it!

We had our broth beef here, some bones (with marrow still intact) to toss in later, and our rare steak to lay out atop our soup once it was all finished. 

An intimate moment with bone marrow. 

Scary, yet delicious stuff.

The final components that add to our richly seasoned broth: all kinds of complex meat and veggie combinations, complimented nicely by our delicious smelling spice bag and many, many hours of cooking.

The thin rice noodles begin cooking.

Slicing our meat and compiling some pretty impressive noodle bowls. The thinner the steak is sliced, the better. Obviously, ours was pretty thin and awesome.

 And in a climactic crescendo of culinary anticipation, we ladle the boiling broth over the rice noodles and our thinly sliced rare steak immediately starts to cook in the broth, as demonstrated beautifully by the pictures above and below! 

This had to be my favorite part of the entire process, by the way. Definitely tops the whole bone marrow experience.

As the meat and noodles finish the last of their cooking, each diner prepares their own fresh herb and spice concoction to taste. 

They say it's rude to create conversation at the dinner table when eating pho, since you distract your companion during the most delicious part of their meal, and I pretty much agree. Its almost ritualistic how one adds their mint and cilantro, siracha and hoisin sauces, jalapenos and lime - and then eventually dives into their own dripping, slurping and sometimes all too spicy bowl of soup!

Overall, it was an entirely rewarding process that ended with a beautiful spread that made us both proud. I savored my big bowl of soup far longer than I probably should have, and devoured the entire thing in no time. 

BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!

Last weekend was Chad's birthday, so I set to work whipping up a homemade cake for this amazing man I love.

I went about looking for a recipe in my normal fashion - surfing around some of my favorite food blogs, referencing endless cooking show tips and ideas, and eventually coming up with my own combination of all these things collectively - some times producing tasty things more successfully than others.

In terms of this cake, I just wanted something simplistically pretty. 

I chose a Vanilla Butter cake I found at CakeCentral.com, frosted it with a simple Buttercream recipe, and added some of my own decorational flair along the way.

Since I LOVE layered cakes (because what else is a birthday gift, but a projection of your own likes and dislikes?), I decided to do three 8" round pans and spread a simple raspberry seedless jam in between the layers to add some color.

As I added my layers, I applied a basic crumb coat of frosting to each - letting that first layer pick up all the crumbs and chill a bit before applying my (hopefully!) smooth top layer of frosting.

Also, I like to put parchment paper around and just slightly under my cake while frosting and decorating, that way I can get as MESSY as I want!

The final project presented to the birthday boy! 

Fresh raspberries on top to match our insides, and a bit of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips along the bottom rim.

Now don't get carried away!! We filled it with candles, lit it up and (I) sang Happy Birthday too! There is just no documentation of those obviously amazing moments.

And perhaps as a hint of birthday flattery, or because it perfectly worked with the number of raspberries on top, I only put 8 candles on anyway! 

But in the end, it was just an OKAY cake. Aesthetically, we both really enjoyed it but it tasted more like a cheaply frosted sheet cake than any one I've ever bought in stores.

 Also, as this final picture shows, I feel as though I probably added more raspberry filling than needed - only enough for a splash of color, but hopefully not enough to start dripping down your cake. 

Since the raspberries and cake were probably the best parts, you can find the Vanilla Butter Cake recipe here, but I definitely wouldn't recommend the Buttercream frosting to anyone. Thankfully, my boyfriend is sweet and said it tasted great!