Ringing in the new year. I brought coffee cake.

2014. Dang. Hey. 

Last year, I wrote about a flippin' delicious apple cake that still leaves me drooling. 

This year, a sour cream coffee cake that is no stranger to the food blogging world. It's moist and just sweet enough to appeal to adults and children alike. 

I brought slices of the cake to my family's annual new year celebration. Before our typical lox and bagel breakfast and traditional tteok guk lunch, we ate bites of the coffee cake with our coffee. There were "mm's" all around.

I made it a second time after my grandparents requested some more hunks. 

I made it a third time so my mom could bring some to a potluck and I could bring some to a friend. 

Three times in a week and a half. This cake is dangerously simple. And though it is essential for the cake to be cool before slicing into clean cuts, please take some forkfuls when the cake is still warm. Actually, scratch that. You must take warm bites of cake. You must.  

Happy new year, everyone. May 2014 be your sweetest year yet. 



Click through for the recipe! 

Thanks, cupcakes, and an award!

Spring break has been a mishmosh of carrot cake testing (the best carrot cupcake recipe is at the bottom of the post!) and college rejections. Despite all the bits of happiness, I feel lucky because I have a great support system and lot of love surrounding me. As corny as this all sounds, I'm very, very thankful.

So, to the few bloggers who have written me kind emails and left sweet messages, thank you, thank you, thank you. Your words mean the world to me.

And tada! My first blog award. Thank you, Irene!

Apple cake brings new beginnings

January. The word seems so distant when it rolls off my tongue, even though I'm living through it right now. The last few months have been tough and rewarding, sad and fleeting. I'm living a fast paced life, each day seeming shorter than the last.

I baked a bit over the holiday break. A banana bread to use some molting fruit. A mediocre sour cream coffee cake to satisfy my cinnamon sugar craving. Mini gâteaux au chocolat fondant de Nathalie. Matcha macarons with cringe worthy cream cheese filling. Lemon macarons with tart lemon curd. My admiration for these treats were fleeting. They were sweet treats, a moment of "oh, that's good" but the "good" wasn't sustained. I'd forget about the bite just moments after. Nothing wooed me over until I baked this apple cake.



I thank procrastination and Jess from Sweet Amandine for bestowing this warm cinnamon specked, hearty cake with softened bits of apples, bursts of raisins, and crunchy walnuts upon me. Though it is January, I lean to this autumn cake. It is just that good. It wraps you up, keeps you warm and fed.

After school, my backpack bursting at its seams, my to do list growing longer and longer, I'd take handfuls of fruit (blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, green grapes) and a thick wedge of this cake to my living room. Sitting in an arm chair, my feet kicked up on a window sill, I looked outside through my bay window, into the backyard. Greenery rarely impresses me. I was looking at trees but seeing the cake. It was a temporary remedy, at most, but a remedy nonetheless. For that moment, those ten minutes in that chair, I was safe and warm.

The bits of anxiety and the patters of panic would bite me once the work was started.

No one said high school was easy.



Click to get the recipe.

A week in food

New York weather has been sucking, to say the least. Just a few days ago, the sun was beating down on us. On the hottest day, I decided to go to Upper East Side to do some errands. I came back soaking in sweat. I showered, slipped on a light dress, and made some watermelon lemonade via Smitten Kitchen. It was wickedly delicious. I normally dislike watermelon flavored anything (i.e. candy) but this was pleasantly light and refreshing.



Quinoa is my new best friend. Once washed thoroughly, it really does taste good with anything, including my favorite ginger miso dressing. There are specks of green peas and thin ribbons of carrots in this lovely pilaf (?) / salad (?). Not sure what to categorize this as. Recipe will be up soon.



I was feeling a bit, er, ambitious this day. I made vegan, baked falafel. I was feeling reeeeal good about my health until I dolloped on the tzatzki sauce. Oops. Recipe will also be up soon.



I've been wanting to try Molly's French yogurt cake since I first started reading her blog. Although the ingredients are simple, I never came around to make it. Um, this isn't it either. However, I'm pretty sure Ina based her recipe off of the traditional one that Molly makes. I add even less oil and more Greek yogurt. It came out wonderful. The cake was moist and the (fresh) blueberries added bursts of flavor and color. I stored it in the fridge for a snack the next day. I ate a slice and pleased with how it stood up. It tasted delicious cold as well!



THIS, my friends, was unexplicably amazing. Rich, dark, and intense would be the perfect words to describe this VEGAN CHOCOLATE SORBET. Yes, it's vegan. And yes, it is freakin' delicious. I used a natural cocoa with a bar of 85% Lindt chocolate bar. I dialed back the sugar by a wee bit, a teaspoon or so. I used the breaking-up-ice-crystals method because I'm too lazy to pull out my ice cream maker. (Yes, I know it's a great tool but I have the old one where you have to freeze the bowl. I have NO room in my freezer for a hunk of metal. A thin plastic Tupperware container- I have room for!) But anyway, even after not scraping it for hours, it came out rich and luscious. The texture is a bit weird for me but after a few minutes of melting time, the sorbet is creamy and soft and luscious and ohmygod delicious.



Like summer in your mouth. I just rummaged my fridge and counter tops for ingredients for a light lunch. Steamed stalks of asparagus, avocado slices, red onions slices, cherry tomatoes, frozen bread slice (toasted and rubbed with a clove of garlic), garlic, onion, balsamic vinegar, EVOO. Oh, and a poached egg. I love poached eggs. Have I mentioned this before? If I haven't... I LOVE POACHED EGGS. I use the Danny Ahern method. It is foolproof.



Blueberry banana smoothie + New Yorker. Saaah-weet. A banana, ice cubes, a handful of blueberries, a couple of dollops of Greek yogurt, and a splash of milk all went into my trusty and loveably Magic Bullet. Whirrrrrrrr and bam! Instant breakfast/lunch/snack/dinner. Very healthy too. Awesome.

That's it, folks! My week in, basically, lunches and snacks. I have a few recipes (quinoa with ginger miso dressing, homemade falafel) and rants (Momofuku's cookies) and raves (Babycakes!) to share with y'all soon. So stick around. And until then, visit me at Blocks Mag.