Salted Nut Bars

Best. Cookie. Ever.

No seriously, I'm not the biggest fan of sweets, but this bar cookie rocks. It's an old family recipe that was obviously way ahead of its time because now treats like salted caramel and sea salt desserts are all the rage.

When we used to go up to a cabin in Big Bear Lake, CA to snowboard, my mother would bring these cookies to serve for dessert after her infamous turkey soup. These freeze amazingly, and you can just zap them for a couple seconds to thaw them, or even just wait for your coffee to cool down a bit and they will be edible by then. I just gnaw on them frozen.

Shown here with my Peppermint Sugar Cookies

I love bar cookies because I really hate using a rolling pin. If you look, I haven't included a single recipe that uses one in all my years of blogging. I just don't have the counter space here in my little shit hole of an apartment, and it's a bother. Plus bar cookies are less time consuming to make large batches without having to form cookies. And you never have to worry that you overcrowded the cookies and your cookies will turn out funny shaped as they spread.

Bar cookies are for smart but lazy people, basically.

Taberu Rayu English Muffins

This is one of my infamous not-sure-if-it-even-counts recipes because there's really nothing to this recipe. It's more instructions of assembly than a true recipe, but that's the sort of thing I excel at. Some days even the microwave takes too long, you know?

It's no secret I've been in a funk lately. My nature tends towards introspection, analysis, and the esoteric on a good day. That's just the way I am. But sometimes my mind, which most people deem as a gift, lazily spirals into morbidity, melancholy, madness.

The most important thing for anyone to do is simply what they can do now, and not focus on what they could have done. You have to find happiness not tied to measurable things; happiness not tied to titles or success or how you stack up compared to other people. You have to just live.

So fuck it. Let's make some English muffins.

Slow Cooker Mulled Wine

Some of these recipes on this blog are really for my own use. I needed to record them in some lasting way so that way I would be able to recreate them. My mother's Turkey and Hominy Soup, for instance, is a behemoth of a recipe that really stands out like a sore thumb compared to my usual repertoire.

I like simple and fast recipes that usually feed one or two people. Her recipe uses a twenty pound roast turkey and six pounds of hominy to start.

Her recipe takes two days to make normally (one to roast the turkey, another to simmer the bones all day to make the broth), while most of my recipes take less than 30 and some can barely be called "recipes" but more "mildly fun food ideas" in actuality.

So why do I feel the need to record these recipes that really aren't my style? Because someday my mother won't be able to make them. Some day it will be just me in charge of holiday celebrations, and I will be lost as how to capture the nostalgia.

Creamistry Corona

I had the opportunity to try out some ice cream at Creamistry's new location in Corona during their soft opening. I brought my mother, because she is the uncontested queen of ice cream. The lady is obsessed. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and felt I needed her expertise in the area to really get a grasp of Creamistry for my readers. I wasn't disappointed, as she was capable of dissecting every spoonful with an intelligent discourse on the merits and drawbacks of each ice cream establishment in competition with this new ice cream outpost.

No really, it was quite an intellectual debate.

Creamistry has a novel concept in that they make each batch of ice cream to order by use of liquid nitrogen. Each batch then, can be made with whatever addition you want, frozen right in with the custard base. I love their unabashed affinity for asian flavors: azuki (red) beans, black sesame, mochi, and taro are just a few of the asian-influenced flavors and topping you'll find on their menu. Other stand outs: condensed milk, nutella, and cookie butter. I wonder if anyone has calculated the combinations possible, because the list is almost overwhelming when you walk through the door.

WTF 2015?

Wow. I am shocked that it is 2015. Last New Year's Eve my sentiments still ring true; while most people make resolutions and are giddy about the future, I normally get morbidly introspective on the failures of the past.

Speaking of failures: I swear I haven't died. I've just been busy!


Since getting promoted into a management position at work, I've been struggling to find time to blog. Especially since I now have a commute that I didn't before, finding time to cook has been very hard.

The good news is that I've stockpiled plenty of recipes as well as reviews to keep me going for months! I'm very sad that I didn't get to make anything with persimmons this year, as I normally do (hence my picture). Here's to a happier and healthier 2015!