Tortillas and Honey

This week, bloggers along with myself are celebrating the release of Masaharu Morimoto’s new cookbook “ Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking ” with a #Japanese HomeCooking Blog Party, which is being sponsored by authors of The Book Club Cook Book . Morimoto acknowledges that people are intimidated by Japanese cooking and provides tips and encouragement. Morimoto also provides some history of cuisine and his relationship with Japanese food. Japanese food incorporates different cultures into its cuisine and they love to do renditions of different types of food, which you can see reflected in his book. I love that Morimoto shows his readers how to make the perfect white rice. Even though I’m part Chinese and Filipino, I’m not that good at making rice. Until now. While I thought the secret was rinsing the rice until the water runs clear (which is part of it), I think the real secret is letting the rice dry out after rinsing and before cooking. I can now make a po...

I decided to share a second recipe from  Kathy Gunst's new cookbook,  Soup Swap , which we are celebrating with the authors of  The Book Club Cook Book  and a  #SoupSwapParty . I  made this Skillet Cornbread with Chives and Brown Butter to go with her Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder with Saffron Cream and instantly fell in love with this recipe!  Look at those photos... What is that? Butter? Frosting? No, that is custard. And cornbread. A custard cornbread! That is what sold me on making this dish. The custard layer is created by pouring milk on top after the cornbread has been baking for a bit. As it continues to bake, a custard layer is formed and it takes on some of the sweetness from the sugar. This extra touch is so unique, I immediately went out and bought all of the ingredients for it, even though I already finished my shopping to make the soup. I actually don't have a cast iron skillet so I improvised and used a baking dish instea...

I was delighted to be invited again by the authors of The Book Club Cook Book to participate in their #SoupSwapParty to celebrate the just-released cookbook by Kathy Gunst called Soup Swap ! Kathy is a James Beard award winner and the resident chef for NPR's "Here and Now." This cookbook is filled entirely with soups and accompaniments. Kathy teaches you how to make different types of stocks from scratch (roasted chicken stock, recycled chicken stock from leftover bones, beef broth, and veggie stock), how to make different types of soups (hot and cold as well as a variety of different meats), and toppings and sides to go with her meals (like skillet cornbread )! I've made four recipes so far from this cookbook and I must say that Kathy's recipes really make me feel like I'm an actual cook, from making my own stock to building layers of flavor profiles in the soup. I had never made stock from scratch so I used this opportunity to make Roasted Chic...

We are finally at a close to this year-long culinary journey for The Book Club Cookbook Cooking Crew! For this past year, a different blogger each month chose a book for other bloggers to create and post a recipe inspired by the selected book. For our final month, our event hostess, Camilla over at  Culinary Adventures with Camilla  chose  Corelli's Mandolin  by Louis de Bernières. Since starting and finishing graduate school, I found myself with little energy and time to read which is pretty unfortunate because reading has always been one of my favorite things to do. So I was thrilled when I was invited to participate in this event. Even though reading the books were optional, I tried to read as many of the books that I could and am thankful to have been introduced to some great novels and bloggers! This final month, I decided to try my hand at making spanakopita as suggested by The Book Club Cookbook. I adore spanakopita and have always wanted to try makin...

I was invited to participate in the #UnearthedParty  by the authors of The Book Club Cook Book where bloggers get to review and feature recipes inspired by Alexandra Risen 's memoir called "Unearthed: Love, Acceptance, and Other Lessons from an Abandoned Garden." This memoir features two things, the uncovering of her family's history and the uncovering of a secret garden in her newly bought house in which she interweaves the two very well, I thought. Each chapter has a featured plant that goes along with the story and a recipe for the plant at the end of the chapter, like tisane, seaweed, and sour cherries. Because I live in New Mexico and combined with a limited knowledge of plants and gardening, I found myself so intrigued learning about new plants and uses for them. And although I live in the desert, I'm very much a city girl who has been longing for her own vegetable garden and this memoir has made me want all the more to have a green thumb. For...

We are close to winding down to the year-long journey for The Book Club Cookbook Cooking Crew! Next month is our last month, and this month for June Sara over at Things I Make (for Dinner) chose an especially decadent book this month, Chocolat by Joann Harris! Each month, a new blogger hosts and chooses a book for us to make recipes inspired by the book. Please see her invitation post for more information. Before reading this book, I had only seen the movie. I loved the movie so I was very excited to read this book! I love the magical ambiance of the book and, because we traveled through France this spring, I had fun imaging the buildings and the scenery of this book. After I finished the book, I decided to re-watch the movie and while the book was more in-depth with the characters and how outcasts were treated, I did like some of the changes that the movie had (the mayor being the villain and not the priest, that Vianne stayed in town, and that there was an ending message about...

Welcome to a new month of The Book Club Cookbook Cooking Crew! For the month of May (yes, I'm late-- what else is new!), Wendy over at  A Day in the Life on the Farm hosted Love in the Time of Cholera  by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Each month, a new blogger hosts and chooses a book for us to make recipes inspired by the book. Please see her  invitation  post for more information. I can't tell you too much about the book that we read this month because even though I got a head start in reading, I was only able to read about 50 pages. I've had this book on my bookshelf for over 10 years and I still have yet to complete it which I really want to do. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is from Columbia, so I decided to make a Latin dish. I don't know how authentic chicken and rice is to Columbia, but I chose to make this dish anyway (partly because this recipe I've been wanting to make for awhile). This chicken and rice recipe has saffron and olives, so it might...