a satisfying meal in korea

cold winter afternoon in seoul!

i'm in seoul!!! came here yesterday (thus went missing in action for this blog) but i've decided to be diligent with blogging even here. it's definitely cold in here but there's tons more of korean cosmetic products and korean food so im excited for my journey here :)

shirley temple

i drank half of it by the time i took a picture... oops

i've had cravings for shirley temple recently and it just costs too much to go buy it at chili's (probably the only place that sells it around where i live) so i decided to make something like it myself!

trial one

lets make macarons!

so begins my official documentation of macaron making! i was definitely excited about making it (even though i've tried around six times by now)

blueberry turnovers

blueberry turnovers!

i've always always always loved the blueberry turnovers in our school cafeteria. crusty exterior with soft and slightly sweet interior... i could eat it every day during break time (which i didn't...)

anyhow i stumbled upon laura vitale's recipe on blueberry turnover awhile ago and since i recently made nutella croissant with puff pastry, i thought i'd give blueberry turnovers a try (they seem completely irrelevant don't they... croissants and turnovers... but they're both made of puff pastry).

before i looked at the recipe, i always thought you could just fill blueberry preserves inside puff pastry to make these turnovers... but i was terribly mistaken (maybe they do that in some other recipes... but not in laura's...).

therapeutic

i hereby declare (regardless of whether or not it is scientifically backed up) that baking is therapeutic.

what did i do when the kid i tutored was being a pain in the ass? bake wonderfully delicious cutout cookies.

they look real good don't they. i shouldn't be the one to brag but they tasted a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

so today i stepped outside of my comfort zone and decided to bake two (woho!) different types of desserts at the same time. nutella croissant and lemon meringue pie. here's why.

till i get a foot

the ruffled side of a macaron is often referred to as a 'foot'. it's hard to master and even some of the best cooks out there fail to make a perfect macaron simply because the foot's not there.

i have been telling myself since day one of my cooking/baking days that the appearance of the food i make doesn't matter as long as the food tastes good. but something about making these macarons has entirely changed the way i perceive what defines a "beautiful" dish.