New blog, new adventures!

For future Korea travels, I’ll be posting mostly on my new blog Hello 어머니.  Hopefully I’ll be able to keep the worlds of baking and Korea separate.  Maybe they’ll cross paths every now and then?

Orientation surprise!

Today was the first orientation meeting I was able to attend in person.  I was a little overwhelmed by how many Koreans there were in one room and surprised at how many guys there were compared to girls.  For those who know me, you understand that this was a nervous experience for me.  Meeting new people and embarking on a new journey together where I know no one??  Yikes!

Valentine’s Treats

So this year I had a lot of treats to make. The boy is on a strict low fat ridiculous “I’m going to build lots of muscle” diet and I have a lot of classmates and coworkers. So what’s a girl to so when she has a limited budget? Pretzel bites!

Spam musubi

So I lied. There’s absolutely no baking involved in this post. I’ll try to get back into the blogging habit with a light post. This was actually a miracle that it came together since any project with Matt and myself in the kitchen typically ends in disaster.

Stuffed Pretzel Bites

Looking back I realized I didn’t finish sharing my October projects. It was a busy month with 40th anniversary celebration for the University of Minnesota Aikido Club and the very chilly Monster Dash sponsored by Team Ortho. M won a nifty little trophy for her wind-up doll costume and my double hair buns held for a loose interpretation of Minnie Mouse.

Anyhoo, the point was Stuffed Pretzel Bites. Yes you can make these at home instead of buying them frozen from the store. Sorta. I cheated and used frozen bread dough but please do not substitute with Grands Biscuits. It may work for substituting in doughnuts and other flaky items but its just not the right texture.

Red Velvet and Box Defeat

Ever since the Pumpkin Pie Incident, I’ve prided myself on making things from scratch. The only things I consider making from a box are non-Thanksgiving stuffing and pancakes/waffles. Chemicals help make cakes tender, moist and shelf stable for decades but not necessarily more delicious. Today I caved. Partially. Repurposing box cake mixes as cookies isn’t new but I figure it’s for a good cause (fundraising bake sale) and I didn’t really want to dye my hands red anyway. So I present Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies from Two Peas and Their Pod

The birthday that needed chocolate

So as my friends know, I’m irritated with chocolate. I do not however let my quirks get in the way of friends celebrating birthdays. W from aikido requested chocolate. Again. So as a compromise I made Cheesecake Oreo Cookies from Bakestravaganza. The best part of these cookies? No eggs. We all know what that means right??

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I’ve been naughty. I let the knitting bug take over my free time. On the upside, I did manage to squeeze in a recipe from Haniela’s Cookies. Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies sound like a mouthful and trust me it will be. They’re so moist and cake-like I decided to add the “soft” to the title. My petite co-worker M might have demolished my stash. Pretty sure she ate at least 30 on Halloween.

September Madness Part 1

So the month of September has come and gone. I know I’ve been slacking in writing but to make it up, I have details from 3 (count ’em 3!) projects for the month.

Pumpkin Cookies

The deal with chocolate

A true way to check if someone is a friend is to ask if they know your least favorite foods. Sure it’s easy to notice what your friend always eats or would bite your hand off if you ever tried to sneak a nibble but do they know what you avoid like the plague? For J I know it’s mushrooms and turkey. Mine are things like onion, animals that were not mentioned in the traditional “Old McDonald’s Farm” ditty and chocolate. Feel free to gasp. Needless to say Valentine’s Day is not my favorite holiday.