Recently, my dad came back from his trip to London, England...And he brought a feast of dark chocolate for me to lose myself in.
...Those who know me are well-aware that dark chocolate means Christmas morning, the best day of your life, and the perfect sunset mixed and fused into one small square of rich dark cocoa. :) Every time I've taken a bite (or five) out of the block of my 'Christmas morning' (by the way, the remnants of that dark chocolate aren't shown in this picture of course, the other square of chocolate is ;) ), I am pleasantly surprised by the power of contrasts ingrained in this little, simple food--The dark chocolate's taste is sweet and bitter, hard and soft, solid and yet easily able to melt in your mouth like a slow rush of thick volcanic lava surrounding your inner being with a total sense of comfort and, of course, enjoyment of the flavor that has just taken over you. With the adorable illustration on the box accompanied by a phrase that reads "Where the Sun always shines," I can say those are the exact words that echo whenever dark chocolate comes to my mind, especially this specific chocolate from London. And while I am of course looking forward to enjoying the authentic English tea my dad also brought from London, I can't wait to sink my teeth once again in this deliciously aromatic, dark volcanic-like set of sparks that contain a taste that I can't replace with any other. ~~MC
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7/24/2011 0 Comments Life's Natural SweetnessSometimes the best thing to eat on a hot, smoldering day is what's most simple and effortlessly satisfying, what only your most natural senses can truly enjoy...and that is fruit. :)
Fruit is easy to find, like at grocery stores and farmers markets, yet they are easily set aside in the common situations for this time of year--like where ice cream trucks stroll by, as TV commercials seem to advertise for nothing but fast food apple pie (yes, I'm referring to McDonald's apple pie...) and other unhealthy treats... But when that day comes in the summertime when you feel your mouth craving for something sweet with equal parts refreshing (instead of sweet and murky or sticky, like man-made food), and you want that something that you eat to make the rest of your day full of just as much easy comfort, stick to the bright colors and varied palette of throwing things onto your plate such as succulent, true red strawberries, and apples with that tang of flavor that makes the taste of food exciting! ;) So grab yourself a plastic bag (or tote bag, whatever you like...) and rush to the farmers market before Summer's over, because there's nothing like sinking your teeth into the natural sweetness of life! ~~MC 7/23/2011 0 Comments Out-of-This-World Ice Cream...Two days ago, I immersed myself in what I call a weekly celebration of all things delicious and simply heavenly...In other words, I went to the farmers market in town...not only was I exposed to the locally grown, blissfully ripe cherries accompanied by booths of deliciously green vegetables, in addition to the seemingly floating hills of textured, softly baked bread whose scent was hovering delicately in the colorful air at the market--I was even more drawn to the bright blue Molly Moon's ice cream van (in the picture above).
...Even though I had been to their ice cream shop numerous times, I still felt magnetically drawn to the alluringly unique flavors that were sitting in the truck, as if they were various hues of a mysterious potion waiting to be served to and devoured by instantly satisfied customers like myself... And so, with a smile on my face as bright and wide as on a child who just woke up on Christmas morning and sped to the mountain of gifts, I practically dragged my family to the truck and asked for a kid's size cup of honey lavender ice cream (I asked for kid's size because it's already a large size for me...and because I felt generous enough that day to share the ice cream with my brother :) ). Out of all the flavors you'd discover at Molly Moon's, I personally think the honey lavender flavored 'potion' brings out the best of MM's...Its full, rich taste of the most naturally pleasant scent you can imagine, touched lightly by a sweetness that's out of this world...you can't resist digging ravenously through the grand mountains of its creamy texture in order to enjoy every last bit of it. And so the next time that I am walking in the neighborhood and am pleasantly interrupted by a crowd of lavender plants swaying effortlessly in the wind, I will have to try to suppress my urge to mistaken the heavenly aroma for the honey lavender ice cream (that is, the urge to actually eat the plants! ..which would evidently be horrible particularly if the lavender were sitting on someone else's property). ~~MC 7/19/2011 0 Comments A Basket of France...Yesterday was quite a lovely day in Seattle--the Sun was shining, the sky was clearing up, people were strolling in the downtown area as they seemed magnetically drawn to areas right by the water that was shining brightly underneath the sunlight...And I was sipping on my hot tall decaf latte with a foam design shaped like a heart in the center. :)
After pretending to be tourists at admiring every part of Pike Place Market (with the imperfect yet somehow still perfect stone tiling on the ground path...the boiling enthusiasm of the men tossing fish all over the place in the fish market...the bustling crowds among the small shops that sold things ranging from freshly plucked flowers to bottles of flavored olive oil...), my family and I sat in our favorite cafe in the area...Le Panier, and all the French aura and stimulating coffee drinks that come with it. You can already tell from the second photo that this cafe is a little piece of France in itself, a world that shelters itself from the piece of Seattle that occurs on the other side of the row of windows. As you walk down the short flight of stairs to the cafe and step out of the street of the market, you are welcomed by the subtle acoustic French music that blends as nicely with the voices of the customers as does a shot of espresso with the mug of freshly steamed milk, that fuse together into the latte I ordered and lost myself in (in the first photo); the gleaming yellow lights, the lovely display of French tartes and pâtes that look like they were made just minutes ago, and the black-and-white photos of all-encompassing angles of Paris...these other little things about Le Panier may also put you in a trance. Their lattes are finely crafted, as they never cease to please you with foam designs made with heart...which was why despite the 75 degree weather, I ordered a hot latte instead of iced. I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to lose myself not only in the latte but also in the decoration sitting on top of it. Le Panier translates from French to "the basket"--And to me, there is no other way to see that than as a basket of pastries and authentic drinks, a basket of France that sits among the bustling shops and aura of Seattle, waiting for you to step inside and be absorbed in a place that's another world away. ~~MC 7/19/2011 0 Comments Guess the Flavor!Hello!
This is probably the first time that I've done this in a Foods for Fantasizing blog post, but I am going to for once NOT describe the way a food has tasted (except in the caption above)...Because I am interested in knowing what you think the flavor of this gelato is. :) I normally would go on about how crazy I went over the deliciousness of this dessert, and I guess I still could do that even if I were leaving out the part telling you what flavor the ice cream was..except that I just want to try something new with this blog, so here it goes! What do you think is the flavor of the bowl of gelato? And just to give a subtle clue, it's not as obvious as it seems... ~~MC Two nights ago, as my family and I sat down to watch a movie (The Golden Compass, in case you were curious), I decided to craft and serve this healthy Summer dessert. :)
It's called Berry Pudding Cake, and the 'pudding' part of the name comes from the thick, slightly gooey texture of the batter in which the berries seemed to have melted while sitting in the oven...So in a way, you're getting the taste of a rich, berry-infused pudding tickling your taste buds, even though the ingredients are very simple and ones that don't tie very much to the typical pudding recipe. I actually found the recipe on the Yahoo! website in an article titled "Healthy Summer Desserts." As soon as I saw the headline, I immediately took myself to the numerous pictures and recipes of these delectable, healthy-yet-they-look-unhealthy-in-these-pictures-what-is-this-madness?-oh-wait-it's-not-madness-because-this-is-actually-a-good-thing!, simple presentations of pleasure. And when I came across the Berry Pudding Cake recipe (not to mention the picture next to it...), I couldn't help but imagine myself devouring the entire plate of dessert all by myself, taking in all the various tangs of the berries paired up with the smooth, subtle, delicate taste of the pudding...But of course, when I actually made the dessert two nights ago, that image didn't really come true..entirely. ;) Here is the recipe for Berry Pudding Cake; I hope you will be able to welcome to your Summer this delicious orb that contains nothing but brightly-beheld strawberry fields and the smells of bakeries, as I hope to hear from you on what you think of the dessert!
2. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla and salt; whisk until light and frothy. Whisk in milk until combined. Add flour and baking powder; whisk until smooth. 3. Divide berries among prepared quiche dishes. Pour batter over berries. (Batter will not cover berries completely.) Bake for about 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm. If desired, sift powdered sugar over each serving. Makes 6 servings. ~~MC Last Sunday, my family and I fulfilled one of the items on my Summer wish list--to go to the original Top Pot Doughnuts shop, where Seattle's (and one of the nation's) best doughnuts resides. :) It was quite an adventure, both through the exploration of the two-story, architecturally inventive design of the building (which I may just elaborate on in a future Artistic Appetite post... ;) ), and more importantly through the delicately irreplaceable taste of the finely crafted rings of gold!
The picture above is what I ordered (and shared with my mother...we shared the doughnut, not the latte): A tall decaf latte paired exquisitely with a chocolate glazed doughnut. The name sounds plain, but the taste was anything but. The admirable, stand-out quality about Top Pot is that you immediately notice how little oil you detect within each bite of the handcrafted doughnuts. I especially noticed this quality because just a few days before I had the chocolate glazed deliciousness, I had stolen a few bites of my brother's Krispy Kreme doughnut...And I must say, and I apologize if I make you gag, that the Krispy Kreme doughnut made me feel like I was swallowing a wash of oil! In strict contrast, the doughnut I tried at Top Pot was light and airy, like a homemade cake whose smell you could imagine yourself waking up to in the morning...Its pure taste of sweetness as well as the fluffy texture could weave you into a spell, to make you believe that you weren't sitting inside a doughnut shop but that you were cozying up in a knitted blanket in your own home, surrounded by nothing but a welcoming, alluring aura. Top Pot was a shop and atmosphere that I did not want to step out of, and so after my mom and I shared the chocolate glazed ring (by the way, I felt tension between the two of us as we each tried not to devour too much of the cake too fast...That was how yummy the treat was) and I washed the nectarous bites down with the complementary palette of my foamy latte, I swore that I would come back soon before I forget how it felt to be instantly taken over by the sweet taste, sweet aura, sweet memory that had just been crafted. :) ~~MC 7/12/2011 0 Comments A Square of GoldHello!
Finally, this is moment I have been waiting for...The moment for me to open up to you about literally the best dessert I have ever tasted. I honestly can't draw out the exact name of the dessert, because every time I try to remember, I embellish the supposed name with overflowing words I'd use to describe the heavenly taste, and so the supposed title becomes too much to take at one read...And so in the caption of the second photo above, I restrained myself with utmost effort to make the name of the dessert as simple as possible. :) "Chocolate Pudding Tart" it says, yet I must tell you once again that this dessert was SO much more than that... This delicate square of pure deliciousness touched my lips when I visited a cafe called Sweet Butter in LA (It was very Nancy Meyers-esque in terms of decoration and the general aura...The place couldn't be more welcoming and alluring!). I had heard so many good things about it such as how amazing the handcrafted pastries and desserts were, and how the place is even well-known to celebrities, that I couldn't resist dragging my family there when I had the chance. And as we walked through the furniture-decorated hallway dividing the separate worlds of the kitchen and the marketplace/cafe, and as we entered through the doors to the cafe world, I decided that whatever I'd order will not only complement the rich, bitter taste of my iced latte, but that it will also be new and exciting to me as to act like an escape from the smoldering, hot weather occurring in LA. And boy was the chocolate pudding tart an escape! :D As I sat on the lovingly decorated cushions of the outdoor seating area (featured in the photo above) and watched the bustling, lively streets of Sherman Oaks fill the blue sky, I allowed my spoon to interrupt the perfect unity between pudding and crust--my shiny, silver weapon cut discretely through the soft, slightly-set mass of chocolate lusciousness; then, all of a sudden, the hard, flat crust took my weapon by surprise, as it had to push just a bit harder to give me the first bite of the treat. The two parts--the dense yet pillow-soft pudding and the solid hard crust--were the ying and yang of dessert. It was also by how the richness of the dark chocolate, which intermingled with the pure sweetness of the recognizable pudding flavor, complemented the mild saltiness and rough texture of the bottom barrier that held everything together...This was what especially intrigued me about the tart...I was almost taken over by how the dessert contained opposites that were so far away from each other, that they paired perfectly--If that makes any sense. :) This exhilarating revelation became my escape from the melt-ensuing hot weather. Not only that, but the feeling of escapism also came from the way the cafe had kept the pudding portion cool enough before serving the dessert, so that I could distinguish that refreshing feeling from the humid air surrounding me...And so as I took in each and every bite of the square of gold, I could feel the pudding melt on my tongue as quickly as a fragile ice cube, while my taste buds were being slightly coated by the rich cocoa powder that had been perfectly dusted on the tart when served. It's easy to tell that I was very impressed by the way the 'Chocolate Pudding Tart' was crafted--And it was impossible for me to see it merely as a dessert; I had to claim it as a piece of artwork never to be ignored, that should be displayed through all of LA and throughout this blog post! I hope that if you ever visit Sherman Oaks, you will decide to take a cool break from the hot Sun and indulge yourself with this heaven that's shaped like a deeply chocolate-hued square. ;) ~~MC I want--no, I need--to say that Menchie's is the best place to get frozen yogurt!
It has many flavors, flavors that you wouldn't imagine would be in a cup of meltingly delicious froyo--zesty orange, cookie dough, cupcake batter, and watermelon tart are just a few examples. My family and I took our trip to Menchie's towards the end of a full day we spent in LA. It had been boiling hot, we had walked until our feet were sore, and our taste buds (as well as every other fiber of our beings) were hungry for something satisfyingly sweet. And boy did Menchie's frozen yogurt fulfill that hunger! ;D When you walk in the shop, you will be overwhelmed by the bright hues of green and pink covering the walls, colors that will brighten your mood as much as the frozen yogurt will. You then are captivated by how enormously gigantic the cups are (yes, I had to put two synonyms side by side just to emphasize how large they were), one of which you are to grab and fill with as many mini mountains of throat-cooling pleasure as you can! And at each pair of flavors you will encounter, you have the choice of getting the two fireworks of flavor separately, with the two different hues untouched, or use the dispenser in the middle that will twist the two fireworks into one gigantic explosion, so that you will end up with either a mix of cookie dough and raspberry-pomegranate sorbet, or a passion fruit-chocolate cake fusion, or anything else under the Sun. And finally, you are presented with a row of freshly plucked toppings (in referring to the berries, such as deep ocean colored blueberries, ripe juicy lychees without the prickly skin, and party confetti-pink raspberries), along with toppings as baked goods (cookie bits, as well as a topping that always surprises me with how fresh they taste--delicious cheesecake pieces cut into perfect little squares of pure heaven)...and to go even further, Menchie's will not only allow you to create your own world of mountains and hills of colorful frozen yogurt, and throw countless trees and rocks of blueberries and cheesecake bits on top, but you also can swirl your mountains with warm fudge sauces that flow all the way down into the deep canyons of your Menchie's cup. Also, I should give you a slight warning that you may feel a stomachache after eating the new little world you created, because you will have found yourself eating it up all so fast as you become overpowered by its overall deliciousness! I hope you will encounter a Menchie's shop in your life, preferably in the near future both because it's summertime, and because there's no reason to have your mountains and hills and trees and canyons waiting for you to create them. :) ~~MC 7/1/2011 0 Comments Ratatouille...In a yellow mug.This picture goes to show how far the nostalgia of home carried me...As far as having the sudden urge to take the picture of the cup of coffee before I took my first sip!
I haven't moved to California or anything, so I shouldn't sound too dramatic...But as I poured the hot, cozy beverage into the bright yellow mug, it did feel like I was thinking back to the lovely routines and comfortable life of home, where one of my routines consisted of sitting in coffeeshops and holding warm coffee drinks close to you...One obviously wouldn't spend time in hot, sunny Southern California sipping on hot coffees and lattes, so having my coffee today had happened for the first time since we flew here from Seattle. I guess this shows how much of a powerful connection food can edibly establish between human and his/her most valuable, close-held memories...And I feel like I have just mentioned this concept probably for the billionth time... :P Anyway, I hope there's some article of food out there for you that makes you think of home at the first bite/sip, that makes you almost want to run back to that moment where you first had the latte/hot dog/ratatouille, the moment where everything started. And by the way, I had to mention ratatouille because this whole food-memory concept always makes me think of the movie Rataouille, the part where Anton Ego has the nostalgia-inducing bite of the delicious, vegetable-filled, spice-infused dish! And now, it should come as no surprise for me to say that Ratatouille is one of my all-time favorite movies. :) Find a fond, lovable memory to reunite yourself with, and bite/sip/..etc into that image! Enjoy!... ~~MC |
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