cup of pearls

Sometimes it's fun to just chew on a cup of pearls.

rock-hard baguette

John bought a fresh baguette for sandwiches. It was 2 days and the baguette became rock hard!

So no sandwich baguette for John. Who likes rock-hard baguettes?


Nuki did.


So did Yama.

molds

I'm still having fun working on caneles... and learning so much about my oven at home and different baking molds and materials.

For Les' party this past weekend, I mixed up two batches and experimented with different baking temperatures and molds.


I have to say... sticking with the molds that are intented for their uses. That is, if it's a mini pound cake pan, it's for mini pound cakes.


I did make two dark-all-around caneles! Yay.

Still having fun baking little treats.

party with les

Les invited John and I to his lovely BBQ party.

We arrived a bit late (because I was still trying to make my caneles to bring to the party,) and Les and other friends were already there. Everyone was so happy!


Cold cuts: select cheeses, roasted sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, superb salami, duck pate, crackers, fresh chips and guacamole, and of course, different wine!


Beautiful skewers: fresh and "fat" scallops, shrimp, select chicken thigh cutlets, and sirloin beef.

So where was the grill?


It was in the alley behind Les' best friend's apartment! Awesome.


Les in action!


These photos just can't do the food justice... the skewers were amazing, and Les also prepared baked asparagus and couscous. Yum!

I brought some caneles for dessert. They were not the best-looking ones, but were the best from the four batches I tried to make. I was glad everyone seemed to enjoy them. I'm going to continue working on making perfect ones.

Ahhh. Beautiful people, beautiful food and wine, and beautiful conversations. It was a lot of fun.

Thanks for inviting us, Les, and we should totally do it more often.

first attempt canele

My first attempt on caneles failed.


I actually quite like the color when I first pull the molds out of the oven.


But the bottoms (or tops, depending how you look at it,) were too light!

I've heard people call these white top caneles "Pycnonotus sinensis/Light-vented Bulbul" because these little birds have a white spot on the top of their heads. cute.

These caneles did taste better than I expected. Gotta work on both the flavor and texture. I'm going to whip up another batch tonight.

new window signs

Two nice sign ladies helped us put up the "signage" on the front window at the caffe.


Looking out from the siphon bar.

Yay!

play

Nuki and Yama like to run and play in the backyard. Sometimes I even think Nuki acts and plays very "puppy-ish!"


Maybe one of the rules is that only two of each of their feet can touch the ground while playing.

I think the little brown piece by Yama's back feet was a wet pine cone. Shouldn't be a piece of poo.

And maybe Yama wants to be a ballerina!?


"Two feet off the ground" running and chasing funness.

I think they really love spring!

azuki bun

A few of us were going to have an afternoon tea at the caffe, and my friend Joanne made some azuki-filled buns.


with black sesame seeds on the top.

I think I took an almost-commercial-looking photo... with my tiny little camera. I love natural light!

vintage pyrex water bowl

Nuki and Yama's water bowl in the kitchen was a big stainless steel mixing bowl, and we moved it to the "dog room" yesterday to replace the old Club cast aluminum pot that was in there.

I had been looking for another good bowl for their water, but didn't see anything I liked. Then I thought of something.


I decided to use one of my huge vintage Pyrex mixing bowls as their in-the-kitchen water bowl.


My mom (and some of my friends) would probably pass out when they see this.

But hey, this is probably the best-looking and easiest-to-clean water bowl that I can find for my dogs. Yay for vintage Pyrex, and yay for my doggies.

super loaded bubble tea

Some people really like their bubble teas super loaded at the caffe. As shown above: 4x chewy pearls + 2x coffee cubes in Almond Bubble Milk Tea. Ahh!