Seoul

Wow. So much has changed since my last post in January, but here we are making it through. I must say that despite everything that is going on, I consider myself extremely lucky and grateful over the last few months, but that’s another blog post.

Since we won’t be traveling any time soon, I thought it would be an opportune time to revisit some of the travels I did last year, but didn’t have a chance to tell you about. First up: Korea! Since it was by far the biggest surprise of 2019.

I went on my first big work trip towards the end of last year. It was pretty epic actually. Nearly two weeks away that started with a business class flight from Denver to Tokyo, some very nice hotel stays, 3 cities and two countries. We had jam packed days with two factory visits a day, dinners most nights, so we were out and about from 8am or earlier and not back until 8 or 9pm, not to mention the two hours that I tried to squeeze in in the morning for doing actual work. I don’t know how these full time business travelers do it.

Funny thing about this is that I am always hesitant about going to Asia. I have just never really felt a click with many of the countries I have visited (China, The Philippines, Vietnam), yet I find myself coming back for one reason or another and I must say that it’s starting to grow on me. I’ve been to Japan a couple of times now and I just love the food, the scenery and the people. Will would like to go to Asia at some point and I always think that Japan would be a great place to take him – the food alone is worth the trip. After experiencing the grittiness of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, our work trip took us to Seoul – and boy oh boy was I impressed.

I had one free day there and decided to explore the city on foot. I walked and walked and walked. There are a number of cool palaces in the city, giving it this old world meets new world vibe. I found absolutely charming streets lined with trees, cute shops and little cafes. I also had some great food , just randomly picked up here and there from tiny storefronts.

Where Did Summer Go?

How is it October already?! There is a crispness in the air and I am sleeping with a duvet on my bed, which is a sure sign that one of my favorite seasons has come to an end.

While I have not blogged about it, my summer was indeed chock full of fun travels, great visitors, and lots of new food adventures – so I thought it would be fun to highlight the last 5 months with 9 of my favorite food things from the summer.

1. We made it out camping twice this summer. The first trip over Memorial Day weekend to the San Louis Valley, where we got to discover Great Sand Dunes National Park, the very funky town of Crestone and tried hip camp for the first time. We had an awesome sunset that night and I discovered the beauty of canned of wine!! While I was familiar with boxes of wine and their amazing application in the wild, I was so excited to discover the cans that keep bubbles fresh and are perfect for a night outside. Of course, Sofia Coppola made this popular years ago, but now it’s wildly accessible, affordable, a normal size and there is no straw! Winning.
2. MARGARITAS – does anything say summer quite like this cocktail? Ok, maybe the Aperol spritz, which I promise is not basic and is just due to a really strong marketing campaign by Aperol this year. But as you may know from long standing readership, that I do love the margarita and am willing to try it in many forms. My go to is base is equal parts lime juice, grapefruit juice, and simple syrup, mixed in a ratio of your liking to tequila – don’t do anything but fresh squeezed here, it’s really the only way to go. I upped my game to Espolon tequila, which isn’t top or bottom shelf and lended itself quite well to this mixed drink. We even tried a watermelon version this year with fresh juice from a mini watermelon that came in my food box – so delicious!
3. In addition to a fresh watermelon, I got a ton of stone fruits in my weekly box as well – peaches, nectarines and plums. To be honest, stone fruits aren’t my favorite, but I was determined to not let them go to waste. I had my parents visiting for a couple of weeks and decided to make this cake with my mixture of fruits and it was delicious! My dad was so surprised that there was fruit IN the cake, he thought for sure that it was going to be soggy inside and not really work, but it does! Though I did need to cook for a while longer to make sure it was cooked through (blaming the altitude and my slightly different baking vessel).
4. More food box stories! I love love love breakfast – making it at home is especially enjoyable to me because I get to stay in my PJ’s, read the paper, and make sure that everything comes out just the way I like it. I’ve been very disappointed by breakfast out lately, so I was even more pleased with these sublime breakfast tacos. All ingredients came from my food box and garden, but really breakfast tacos can use whatever you have on hand. I used leftover roasted potatoes and turnips, scrambled eggs, sauteed kale, fresh tomatoes and finished with Sadie’s New Mexican salsa, which has become my new favorite due to le boyfriend. The real key here though was crisping up the corn tortillas in a bit of oil to give them some texture. Yum!!
5. This is the third year I’ve grown kale and I couldn’t be more enamored of this home grown staple. It’s the plant that just keeps giving and has a variety of uses. I LOVE lacitano/dino/Tuscan kale, and I had a plethora of it this year. We were eating it as salads, sauteed, and in this delicious Lemon Kale Pesto. I don’t have a recipe for you, but it’s super easy. In fact, I subbed out different cheeses and nuts each time based on what I had in the house. The general idea is to pulse a generous portion of kale with the zest and juice of a lemon, a handful of nuts (walnut, pecans or pine nuts for the traditionalists will do), a couple of cloves of garlic and a handful (or a couple) of hard cheese grated like Parmesan or pecorino, until they are a little chopped up, then leave the machine running as you drizzle in olive oil. Stop and check the consistency along the way, until it’s where you want it. Also, I do like to throw in a handful of basil, just to make the greens flavor more dimensional and lend a little more traditional pesto flavor. It is great served as pasta sauce, on pizza, with goat cheese on crackers, it’s time to get creative.
6. I took my first significant summer vacation to the east coast this summer. We spent ten days spread across beach time in New York and exploring New England. I loved every minute of it and I had my heart set on trying ALL the lobster rolls the minute we landed in New England. Our first stop was at Ford’s, which is a short drive from the New London ferry terminal. I learned that traditional Connecticut and Rhode Island lobster rolls are the ‘hot’ variety, where the lobster is simply dressed with melted butter. My other sandwiches were of the ‘cold’ variety where there is a bit of mayo and seasonings, which is more traditional in the rest of the region. I loved them all, but really give the whole experience to Ford’s since it’s on the water and you can enjoy your food basking in the glory of the sunshine and the harbor.
7. I just came back from a long weekend in New Mexico, where I was reminded just how cool and different the southwest is. It has a unique aesthetic and culture, specifically food culture, that is unmatched. We had amazing food the entire time and if I’ve learned anything from my friends who grew up in New Mexico it is that they are passionate about their chiles!! I attempted stacked enchiladas earlier this year and used some dried peppers from last season’s harvest, which led me to take my over abundant harvest this year and make a ristra! I thought I was buying bell peppers, but ended up with two rather spicy varieties instead, which I think will be great for enchiladas this winter. The ristra was super simple – thread a needle and string the chiles up! One set of directions I read suggested fishing line, which I would also recommended, given my thread broke at the very end of the process – I salvaged it, but it was touch and go for a minute. Side note: we checked out Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, which was very funky and fun experience – highly recommended if you are there.
8. Back to the food box. I got two huge heads of cabbage over the course of a few weeks, and while cabbage is not really on my cook-with-all-the-time list, I managed to discover a couple of great things. 1) Coleslaw. I googled a recipe and adjusted a couple of things (less mayo, more vinegar, didn’t have celery seeds), but it was THE perfect side for our salmon burgers after going for an evening summer bike ride to Blue Moon Brewery. 2) Pork and cabbage with apples and pears. I kind of came up with this one on my own, but the idea is brown your meat (we did pork tenderloin the first time, but the real star was bratwursts the second time) and remove; saute thinly sliced cabbage and apples; add some mustard, a can of beer, vinegar, soy sauce (google around for good cabbage and pork flavors); nestle in the meat and cook in the oven until it’s done. I used this recipe as a kind of starting point, but cabbage and pork are SO good together you can’t go wrong.
9. ICE CREAM – if margaritas are the drink of summer, ice cream has to be the dessert of summer. I bought an ice cream maker last year and played around a bit, but not a ton, then this year I bought The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, which has proved a game changer and absolutely outstanding. I have loved every recipe I’ve made: strawberry sorbet, milk chocolate ice cream, blackberry and lime sorbet, French vanilla ice cream, American vanilla ice cream with THIN MINT COOKIES, Aztec chocolate ice cream, olive oil ice cream. Milk chocolate may just have been my favorite, but French vanilla was spectacular too and my friends loved it, Will’s favorite by far was the Thin Mint for which I saved a whole role of cookies from Girl Scout Season. Home made ice cream is SO easy and SO good, I don’t really see this dying down in winter time.

And that’s it, my entire summer round up in 9 food related topics. It’s been busy and delicious, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Argentina – Buenos Aires

For the 20 or so flights that I was on in 2017, none of them took me over country borders, making it almost two years since I had taken an international vacation. The last trip was to Japan to visit my sister while she was living there and right before I started my new job, so about the middle of last year I began itching to book my next long getaway.

I always lean towards Europe when initially considering a big vacation; it’s just so familiar and easy, with still more things to see. But ever being in the mindset to try new things, I started considering other locations. Argentina and Buenos Aires had been on my list a long time (I decided it needed to be its own trip when booking my trip to Brazil), so when I mentioned it to one of my best friends who I have traveled a lot with, and she said it was on the top of here list and she would go with me, it was on!

Over many glasses of Malbec we did some research and planning and landed on Buenos Aires and Patagonia. The trip was really amazing with each location different and special in its own way that I’ll give a post to each!

So. Buenos Aires…

I had heard mixed reviews – tourists didn’t love it, but my friends who had lived there raved about it. I ended up being somewhere in the middle. It’s big, it’s dirty, and the sidewalks will trip you, but the people are lovely, the architecture and vibe very European and the lifestyle pretty laid back. It was fun being in a city that does the late dinners, is closed Sundays and has a distinctive culture.

We had 4 days in the city before going down to Patagonia, and another two on the tail end of the trip, which ended up being a bit too much time, but it worked out to make our vacation a real vacation. We didn’t have to cram too much into any one day and were able to relax quite a bit. It was so hot (86F) and humid (65%) that we ended up touring in the mornings, stopping for beers with lunch, then returning for a poolside siesta before venturing back out in the evening.

Our first stay was in a cool modern hotel in Palermo, which is vibrant part of town with lots of nightlife and young people. We did some day touring from here and did a cooking class too (awesome experience deserving of its own post), which was great. Definitely had more of a residential vibe during the day, which I quite enjoyed.

The last two nights, we sprung for a 5 start palatial environment named none other than the Alvear Palace. We sat in the lap of luxury, and got to enjoy a second part of town. Even though they didn’t have pool like the first hotel, they did have a rooftop deck for lounging around and getting my summer color in the middle of February.

I loved walking the streets, seeing the different neighborhoods and tasting all the food. We ended up eating early (7:30/8:00pm) because it felt much more normal to us and left us not feeling gross in the morning. In reality this allowed us to enjoy happy hour specials and get into most places before the crowds, so really winning all around.

Below are some of my favorites and must see’s as well as some thoughts on the more traditional stops. The one thing I really wish we had done was go on a tour of some kind. We had fully intended it, but when it came down to days/timing we somehow missed them all.

Also, I know it sounds crazy but this would be a very doable long weekend. Both directions were red-eyes, meaning you could leave the US at 5:45 on a Wednesday night, only take two week days off, and be back to work by 10am on Monday morning, if you get the short layovers. By the time we got to Sunday, we felt like we had seen and done so much, it would be totally worth it!

Andalusian Gazpacho

I made several trips to Spain the year I was an au pair in Germany. I had a good friend from college au pairing in Madrid and a couple of other friends teaching English in southern Spain, oh and there was a hen weekend to Barcelona in there too! One of the trips I did started in Malaga, and wound up through Andalusia stopping in Granada, and smaller towns like Cabra and Antequera, making my way up to Madrid.

Among the many memorable things from the trip is a meal that my friend (who I was visiting) and I had in Antequera, a meal prepared for us by and in the home of the director of the school my friend worked for, a meal I’ll never forget. She so easily whipped up a shockingly simple and delicious lunch including an amazing gazpacho simply of tomato and bread, and she delivered some of the best fried artichokes I’ve had. I have remembered it all this time and it’s funny to go back to my blog from that year and see how the soup they made is exactly what I saw in this month’s Spain issue of Food & Wine magazine.

From Adventures in Deutschland: “they made us this amazing Andalusian soup thing for lunch. It is raw tomatoes blended with some garlic, pepper, olive oil, vinegar and bread. It is eaten kind of like soup, and you dip a lot of bread in it as well…”

From Food & Wine: “Salmorejo is a classic soup made primarily with tomatoes and bread. It’s best with a splash of sherry vinegar, but Andalusian tomatoes pack a good hit of acidity, so they often omit it in Spain.”

Yum Yum.

Obviously after all the Spanish inspiration in the September issue, I now want to have a Spanish dinner party, but for now I’ve started with this soup as a way of using my pounds of tomatoes that just keep coming. It’s refreshing and spicy with the raw garlic, and so so smooth, this ‘soup’ is hard not to love. I topped it with a corn & poblano salad/salsa and a poached egg, which was delicious. I loved the contrast that the texture of the raw veggies provided against the creaminess of the soup. I made it in the morning and let chill to have the whole thing for lunch. It took me right back to Spain and got me so excited about traveling, trying new foods and the endless tomato possibilities that await.

 

Salmorejo (Andalusian Gazpacho), serves two (originally from Food & Wine)

The Saturday Report – 3 Things NYC

Hello Hello – I know it’s almost already the weekend again, but it’s just been a whirlwind here.  I was in NYC for 6 days then rushed home to California for another 6 days of family time to tend to an emergency. It’s looking like all will be ok in due time, so I finally have a minute to recap some of my NYC highlights in this week’s Saturday Report.

VISIT – MOMA PS1

Seeing as that I have now made several trips to NYC and am becoming more familiar with the city, I am enjoying exploring more and getting out of the traditional visitor zones. I made a trip up to MOMA PS1 in Queens, which is a MOMA museum in a converted school builing. They are typically only open until 6pm on Saturdays, but on July 22 they hosted an event from 12pm-9pm with a series of DJ’s, food and drink stands in the open courtyard area. It was a little more rave-y than my usual (non-existent) dance scene, but it was great people watching and fun to walk around the museum under a different pretense. The museum itself was cool, definitely worth a visit, kind of edgy and a unique vibe.

EAT – Nha Minh

Obviously most of my trips to NYC revolve around where I’m going to eat and how much I’m going to walk to burn it off. This trip was no exception and the best thing I had to eat were sandwiches and Vietnamese iced coffee from Nha Minh. It’s a well designed hole in the wall, down a super industrial street, just two minutes from my friends house. My first reaction upon looking at the menu was “Is it weird that the smoked trout sandwich sounds really good?”. Answer: no, not weird at all, because it was delicious!!! I shared that and the Vietnamese sandwich with a friend and they were both great. Totally different flavor profiles and if I had to choose, smoked trout was the surprise winner. Like I said the space is well done, there’s rotating art and I liked what I saw on my visit, so if you find yourself out that way swing by!

WALK – NYC

One of my greatest pleasures while in the city is just walking around. Yes, there are some weird smells; yes, there are lots of people; but it really is the best way to see the city. It’s only by being on foot that you can see the small neighborhood changes from block to block; really appreciate the diversity of people, food, languages; pick up on trends as you make your way through the throngs of people; and in general, just absorb all that is NYC. Here are a few of my favorites – new and old:

• Williamsburg Brooklyn – New to me this time. I walked down Bedford, then out to the water and almost got on a ferry! I’d long heard this neighborhood, but until I walked it, I realized I hadn’t really been. It’s growing and changing a lot, but is oh so trendy and will make you feel like you landed in a hipster heaven.
• West Village – Not new, but still my favorite. This time I had brunch at Jack’s Wife Freda on Carmine and walked Bleeker all the way to The High Line. Just such nice tree-lined streets with brick townhouses and cute shops. I almost forgot it was 90 degrees and 50% humidity.
• Central Park – I didn’t make it up this far this time, but I love the park. It’s so classic and has such a calm that is always welcome when in New York. It’s fun to go to the Met (their rooftop view of the park is great too) before or grab treats at Dean & Deluca and then walk around the park, people watch, stop and listen to buskers, take your time and maybe picnic.

Garlic Scape and Mustard Green Chimichurri

When I was in San Francisco I participated in a CSA box, which I quite enjoyed. It helped me stay seasonally relevant in my cooking and explore some new and different items that I wouldn’t have necessarily picked up on my own in the grocery store.

I’ve struggled to find similar programs with quality contributions in Colorado (though to be fair, I haven’t searched far and wide), but I finally did come across an organization I enjoy that supplies a weekly food box!

The GrowHaus is located in North Denver and supports the one of the most polluted communities in the city with fresh food options. They grow their own aquaponic and hydroponic lettuces on site, and have a fresh food market where one can shop for needed ingredients. They vary prices based on income and are bringing so much to the community with the access to resources and local events. I even bought most of my starter plants there this year – tomatoes, kale, peppers and herbs!

About 1/3-1/2 of my box ingredients are locally sourced or made including 6 eggs each week, a loaf of bread or bag of corn tortillas, and of course, lettuces grown right at the GrowHaus. A few weeks ago the box included garlic scapes, which I had never cooked with and mustard greens, also a new ingredient. If there are more exotic contents they usually provide a recipe, and this one was for garlic scape and mustard green chimichurri.

It turned out SO good! The garlic scapes pack a garlicy punch, and the mustard greens are just slightly bitter while the herbs brighten the whole thing up. They suggested just using only cilantro, but I hate cilantro and decided to just use an assortment of herbs from my garden, which tasted great too. I ultimately served if over salmon, though it would be great with chicken, steak, or maybe mixed in with some potatoes to make a light potato salad. Definitely a great combo to use as a base for so many things!

Click here for more information on how to get your own GrowHaus food box!

Garlic Scape and Mustard Green Chimichurri

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Ever since living in Germany and befriending a few Swedes who showed me the value of celebrating midsommer, I’ve tried to celebrate or have a party to mark some of the longest days of the year. This year, the event was a Tiki Party! I mainly decided on this months ago because I found this super cute dress on etsy, and after thinking through all potential, I decided it was a go.

Once I was set on this theme, I got excited about the mai thai’s and kitchy tropical foods that would help set the scene. I bought some tiki torches, tons of rum and landed on tropical chicken skewers, coconut ice cream and pineapple upside-down cake for the snacks.

I have been saving this recipe for over 10 years! A friend made it around the time we graduated from college, and when I was having a hard time finding a recipe online that really struck me, I went back through the depths of my email to find the recipe she’d sent me.

The cornmeal and almond extract really set this apart for me. I LOVE almond extract and the cornmeal adds great texture and a little density that makes this not your every day cake. The fruit and caramel are sweet, but the cake batter itself isn’t over the top, so it ends up being a nice balance. Seeing as that I don’t think you can say pineapple upside-down cake without thinking of kitchy 1950’s I didn’t want to stray from tradition and went circular pan, maraschino cherries and all.

It helped set the perfect scene for the part and cake was definitely the star food served (along with the ice cream, which I’ll share at some point too!).

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

New In June 2017

You guys, this year New in June WORE ME OUT. In a good way. I discovered so many great things and I feel like this year, more so than the others in Denver, was truly an exploration of the area. Of course, there were the easy outs, like restaurants and coffee shops, but that is part of the deal too.

I’m excited to continue with some of the things I initially explored this June: golf, pilates, Bear Creek Lake Park; while I probably won’t be returning to Top Golf, playing drinking games, or Chatfield Reservoir. That’s all a part of the process though, and I’m better off for it.

In relation to different/new experiences, I’ve recently started asking ‘why’ more. As I explore things that others have loved and I have not, I’ve tried to determine what exactly it is that makes the same general set of actions feel totally dissimilar for two different people. This has extended from my trip to Nashville last year (I still don’t really know what all the hoopla is about) to my disaffinity for fly fishing. In light of that, this year I’m giving a little more detail than I have in years past, trying give a little more color to what is worth trying instead of just listing out the new things. [And the photo format is new too! You can now click on the pictures to see them larger.]

As in the past 5 years of doing this, I certainly gained a new appreciation for where I am, a re-realization that variety is the spice of life, and a continued desire to try new things. I hope you find some inspiration here and try taking the unexperienced path a little bit more.

For more of my every day adventures be sure to follow along on Instagram @emsbonappetit

1.  Post Chicken & Beer – Super tasty, not too greasy, loved the sides too – I would recommend it!
2. Kurffel, Zanzibar, and a new view of downtown – I passed the night away with some new friends, starting at a random pool hall (Zanzibar), and ending with house made up drinking games (Kurffel)
3. Historicity Walks – My friend started a walking tour company in Denver! She and her business partner are both from Denver and super passionate about its history. The first tour they are leading is about Denver’s most influential and interesting historical women! I loved the unknown stories of these critical figures as well as taking notice of downtown in a way I hadn’t before – go!
4. Pretzel Buns – Not too hard and a nice mix up of the traditional burger bun.
5. Yoga at MUV Lab – Another friend just got certified as a yoga teacher and her class was great!
6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – a very overwhelming, yet well done play
7. Phoenix and Miike Snow at Red Rocks
8. Bluegrass Thursdays at Stem Ciders
9. Golf at Harvard Gulch – SO much fun and really laid back. Only 9 holes, par 3, BYOB, flip flops encouraged. I will definitely be pursuing golf as a hobby
10. Bear Creek Distillery
11. Chatfield Reservoir Swim Beach
12. Blueprint Bar
13. The Fab Method – I’ve been intrigued by the idea of doing reformer Pilates more, but classes can be expensive and hard to come by, so I got class pass and tried out The Fab Method by work, can’t wait to go back!
14. Axios Denver
15. Tiki Party – My midsommer party this year involved mai thais, tiki torches, big jenga and good company!
16. Bear Creek Lake Park – I loved this spot! The lake is smaller than Chatfield and no boats are allowed, so the crowd is purely stand up paddle boarders and floaters – time to get an inner tube!
17. A new walk in the hood – I walked 2 miles down 41st street one night after work. I ended up on Tennyson and saw so many new things along the way. There are really charming houses and streets in the Highlands and I loved the novelty of seeing a little creek in the city!
18. Lookout Mountain – Drove up to the top for a picnic at sunset on the longest day of the year, it was spectacular!
19. MLK Memorial in City Park
20. Bar Max (and the cutest mule cup)
21. MCA Denver for 3 Things, Any 3 Things – Coffee, Beer and Ice Cream. This was pretty random, but including one of the best pistacio ice cream’s I’ve had from Marczyk’s Fine Foods and learning way more about containerization (a.k.a. my job) than I ever thought I’d learn.
22. Allegro Coffee Roasters
23. Fort Collins – My mom went to school here and I had never been. There is a cute intersection of streets in the main part of the town. I just went up for an afternoon with a friend, we had lunch, shopped around and obviously had some beer!
24. City Park Jazz – This has been on my radar for a long time, and I’m glad to have finally checked it out. There are a lot of people, but it’s low key and easy, plus who doesn’t love to have a picnic and spend some time outside listening to live music?
25. Min’s Massage – A random place in a equally as random part of town, but for my great $25 hour-long chair massage, it was totally worth it. Also note chair massage as in laying in a puffy recliner the whole time, not sitting up like you are thinking…
26. Denver Pho
27. Kickboxing – I may or may not go back, I haven’t quite decided, but it was nice to be sore for a few days and sweat way more than I usually do in my ‘workouts’.
28. Senor Bear – Good, but not as good as I wanted it to be. There’s a lot of seafood (ceviche) on the menu, so I’ll need to go back with fish eating friends.
29. Top Golf – Very underwhelmed, I’ll be sticking with real golf courses and driving ranges from here on out.
30. Colorado State Capitol – So cool! It’s only open on week days, but you can just go in and walk around. I didn’t time it right for a tour, but if you do go on one, you can climb up INTO the dome! Also, Frances Wisebart Jacobs, one of the women featured in #3 Historicity walking tour for her work in founding National Jewish Hospital, is the only woman to be featured in stained glass in the Capital’s dome!
31. Redline Gallery – Very cool gallery with a great mission. I loved all the art in the current exhibits which just opened on June 30 and will be there for a while. The exhibit I liked the best had so much color, linear dimensions and pieces created specifically for the space. Check it out!

Apple Cream Torte

I’ve subscribed to magazines for years now. It all started with Bon Appetit (which started my original blog) and while I was a faithful reader for many years, I’ve now switched over to Food & Wine to mix it up. I’ve also gotten Sunset for a while and throw in 5280 (formerly a 7×7 in San Francisco), The Sunday New York Times and my book of the moment and I am at no shortage for reading material. After so many years I’ve gotten pretty good about tearing out or taking photos of material I want to remember, so I don’t have to keep the entire publication – but that just means instead of having a pile of magazines in my house, I have a pile of torn out pages.

Every now and then I go through and weed out the recipes that no longer look interesting, or that I’ll never really make, but rarely do I actually choose one to take action against. This weekend I was ruthless in tossing out these pages AND I managed to actually make one of the recipes!

I have many times written about how I love fruit cakes. The really simple kind where there is fruit, batter and maybe just a sprinkling of powdered sugar over the top when it’s done. I love the simplicity and not overly sweet flavor. So obviously this cake caught my eye. I had a slew of apples that were past my prime for eating raw, and figured all things were adding up to me finally trying this torte.

It was great! Just what I like. Not too sweet, a tiny bit of savoriness coming through with the apple and some variety in texture as well. The apples sink to the bottom and the cream batter (there is no butter!) creates this custard-y layer at the bottom. The recipe also starts with whipping the eggs and sugar, which give a slightly crunchy, meringue-like crust on the top.

It was a huge hit with my friends and colleagues and would be a great brunch addition or a just because cake. Isn’t it time you made a cake just because?

Apple Cream Torte – from Sunset September 2016

The Saturday Report: Pretzels and Comics

BAKE Pretzel Rolls. I got it in my head this weekend that I wanted a good burger. But now that Lou’s is gone (my down the street go-to for a take away burger and fries on nights in need), I decided to go all out. I thought and thought and thought and landed on buffalo burgers, on homemade pretzel rolls, with homemade herb aioli (obvs herbs from my garden) and grilled onions. They turned out great. I’m always amazed how bread really isn’t all that hard. You need more extra time than effort for most part, and just let yeast do it’s thing. Give these a try, there’s an extra step with the baking soda wash, but still nothing crazy.

 

READ New York Stories. This week’s New York Times Magazine was filled with stories. Stories about New York. Stories of all different genres. Stories recent and old. Stories all illustrated as mini graphic novels! It was so interesting. I’m not the graphic novel type, but it was so cool to see to the varying types of illustrations and how each format helped set the scene for the story it was telling. It’s pretty cool. You can check out the whole thing here.

 

DO New Things! It’s New in June, y’all! This is the sixth year in a row that I’m doing 30 new things in June. It’s kind of fun because it started in a year where I was gone most weekends in May, which inspired me to explore my city more and uncover hidden gems, and I was gone most of this May, so I’ve circled back to the same set up this June. It’s a great re-set each year for making sure that I’m not becoming too complacent and am getting the most out of wherever I am. I’m excited about the things I’ll uncover this year! Follow along on Instagram @emsbonappetit and check out past years: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012