la bicyclette

We're still alive, I promise! This post, is long overdue, but then again, what posts of mine aren't? My birthday this past April was particularly filled with culninary goodness, and this little gem in Carmel, CA, was no exception.

Named La Bicyclette, this French restaurant was tucked away on a side street. It didn't look like much on the outside, but we (D and I) were instantly charmed by the atmosphere once we stepped inside.



It was like stepping into a little French town (not that I know what that's like). The smells of bread and other foods were incredible. The waitresses were dressed in nautical stripes and skinny black ankle pants (I suppose it's J. Crew's version of French). One such waitress apologized that our table wasn't ready and offered us some wine as we waited. D told her what he wanted--of course, I had no idea what he said, or what wine would be good, so I dumbly nodded that I wanted the same. When we finally sat, I made D take a picture of this miniature bicycle next to us.

La Bicyclette offers a prix fixe of sorts--the meal comes with a set first and second course, and you get to choose the third. They also have breads and pizzas a la carte, which seemed to be popular with the locals. A dessert menu is also available.

The first course was a lovely terrine. At first we weren't sure what it was, to be honest--some kind of paste? But it had a wonderful creamy, cheesy texture that went so well with the lightly toasted bread. Very herb-y and light.

The second course was a soup. They served it to us in a copper kettle pot, which I thought was so charming. It was a curried soup, with really deep, rich flavors. I wanted to drink it all, but I also wanted to save room for my actual entree.

For our entrees, I got the filet mignon and D got the lamb. I don't think I need to describe the wonders of beautifully cooked meat.

Afterward, D told one of the faux Parisian waitresses that it was my birthday and they gave us dessert with a candle on it! A nice gesture on their part, and a very delicious panna cotta.

It was a wonderful birthday dinner. I couldn't have asked for more.

chocolate covered orange peel

My mom really likes these. Not just oranges...but chocolate covered oranges. Everywhere we go, if she sees the chocolate covered orange peels, she'll want to buy it, except that it's supersuper expensive for some orange peels (which people throw away) and chocolate! Ridiculousness. Though I'm sure theirs tastes super delicious and yummy...but how hard can they be?

I decided to make them for my mom when she came to visit me and m. It's not hard at all, just time consuming. You have the cut the peel first, then boil it in water. Not just once, but three times!
I peeled three oranges...it was a lot...
I think this is to boil away the bitterness of the pith, if there's much left. Then create the sugar and water mixture and boil the peels in that until they are translucent. This took me around 45 minutes. Then you have to let them dry for as long as you can.
I think I could've done a better job at leaving the excess sugar off...
I dried them for 2 days. They kinda don't look right...but it was alright :]

Then dipping the peel into chocolate, what a pain. I think I'm not very good at it, or just didn't find a good way of doing it. Use good chocolate, I think it makes a difference.

But they turned out good!

Here's the recipe:

Candied Orange (Citrus) Peel

adapted from userealbutter

4 oranges, peel of (or any thick skinned orange)
3 cups sugar
1 cup water

1 cup sugar for rolling
or
8 oz chocolate for dipping

You can harvest the peel in many ways. Here are two I recommend: 1) Cut the oranges in half and juice them. Cut each half in half again and take a spoon to scrape the pulp out, leaving a clean pith. 2) Lop off the top and bottom of each orange (think of removing the polar caps where the stem and opposite end are) just to the fruit. Score the orange peel like lines of longitude every 60 degrees. Peel the orange and clean the inside of the peel with a spoon.

Cut peel into 1/4 inch strips. Place peels in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Heat on high until water comes to a boil. Pour off the water. Repeat twice more. Combine sugar and water in the saucepan and bring to boil over high heat until temperature reaches 230F. Add peel and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until peels are translucent (30 minutes or longer). Remove peels from syrup and roll in sugar if desired, and set on rack to dry for 4-5 hours. Once the peel is dry, you can dip in tempered dark chocolate – shake off excess, and place on foil, wax paper, or baking sheet to dry. Store in a tupperware, or if not chocolate dipped, store in sugar or as is.

best birthday/graduation everrrrrr

Nothing needs to be said, written, or anything. Just look at it. It's beautiful.
Even the color is so perfect and nice... :] Can you tell I'm really happy?! Because I am and I'm super super lucky. Thank you m and mommy and daddy. You guys know me well.
Thanks to Jen and Peter for mixes to bake delicious goodies...
But wait?! MORE PRESENTS?!
ICE CREAM MAKER!! Thank you jwoo.

Only downside is that I feel PRESSURED to make something super amazingly dericious. WHAT TO MAKE?! Suggestions?

Anyways, I'm so lucky and blessed to have family and friends who love me. Thank you for making my graduation and my birthday (which isn't even here yet) super amazing and special!

:]

red velvet cupcakes!

Red velvet cupcakes are yummy. I can't remember when I made this but I'm pretty sure it was Valentine's Day. Very fitting right?
So actually, I didn't have enough food coloring, but it still looks red-ish right?
I made mini cupcakes because they're so much cuter!
They looked so good...but then...
I don't why they deflated so much!! But it's okay because that's what frosting is for!
This is a cream cheese frosting, which of course is very delicious. I had a piping bag. I used a normal circle tip. I tried to do a swirl with the icing, but it looked kinda ugly, so I just kept the tip in the center and piped and it looked like that! It looked so much better!
I messed up and so I decorated it and can you guess what it is? Hahaha
Decorated with sprinkles!

I lookedt a a lot of recipes and I basically adapted from this recipe, from my baking addiction. I'm too lazy to write the recipe, so just looked here! Enjoy!

more s'mores madness!

I went through a s'mores craze. All I wanted to eat was s'mores and I wanted to make things with a s'mores theme. Needless to say, I'm over it and I'm satisfied.

There are always those days that you want s'mores, except you're not outdoors camping so it'll never be the same! SO what do you do?
Yeppp, we improvised. That is our indoor campfire. Actually its pretty dangerous so use with caution!
Just like any ordinary s'mores, we have our graham cracker, chocolate, and our perfectly heated and toasted marshmallow.
Mush it together and voila! You have s'mores. :] Yummm
So with leftover marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers...I had to make something else! I love love, absolutely love rice krispies. So I thought, we not make s'mores rice krispies.
Very simply, I made rice krispies as I normally would but I made a graham cracker crust by crushing the graham crackers and a little bit of melted butter. So it kinda didn't turn out as well, but still pretty good. The graham cracker didn't really stick that much to the rice krispies but it had a good balance I felt. I melted some chocolate and put it on top. I would suggest maybe drizzling the chocolate throughout the rice krispies first.
Mmm s'mores rice krispies. :]