Pumpkin mini muffins 南瓜迷你馬芬

Saturday morning I was in bed, waiting for the boys to wake up anytime. I had some time this morning to bake something for breakfast. I was searching for recipes using my cell phone. Wow! This recipe with raving reviews caught my eyes. I made mini muffins instead, and I multiplied everything 1.5 fold but forgot to do the same with sugar. They came out very moist, just like from a box cake mix. 

Celebrate St. Patrick Day -- Green muffins

I found this recipe on one of the blogs I follow. These mini muffins were amazingly delicious. I will for sure make them again and again, because my boys just couldn't have enough. They didn't even wait to swallow and stuff their mouth full of muffins. Perfect for St. Patrick Day treats too!

Wilton cake making class at Michael's 蛋糕裝飾課作品

Raspberry chocolate torte

I was going to make this for our anniversary, but life is just crazy right now. It was on my mind everyday, and finally I got it done for Valentine's Day. This recipe is from American's Test Kitchen. It was easy, not time consuming, pretty and delicious. The flavor is really strong. This is the cake for a serious chocoholics. However, the calories in the cake is amazingly high, so sharing is the best way to go!

Taro cake 芋頭酥

This is a pretty popular Taiwanese pastry. People have it all year long, but it becomes a substitute for the moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival in recent years. Dear Carol has a wonderful blog that includes both the detailed instructions and pictures. It is a special way to shape the wrapper, so that it can show the marble patterns around the cake. Excellent!! 

Eel pizza 鰻魚比薩

Ew! What kind of idea is that?! I am sure one might say things like that, especially someone is accustomed to the traditional pizza flavor. But, hey, think outside of the box, you can put anything you like on a pizza. This is more of a fusion style, you may say, Japanese and American. I had this grilled eel (frozen) in my freezer for a long time for making sushi, and now I finally got a chance to use it. Thanks for Carol's great recipe. However, I have tried many recipes for pizza dough, and I think the following gives me the best result and it's very easy to make with only a few ingredients.

Mango Mousse Cake 芒果慕斯蛋糕

I decided to make a mango mousse cake for Father's Day this year. Mango is the fruit in season, and the weather is warm enough to have something cool. This is my husband's first Father's Day. I wanted to make something special to honor him. For this reason, I didn't want him to watch the twins while I was making the cake, so I got up at 3 am in the morning making the cake. I slept on the couch purposely, so that I wouldn't get too comfortable and hard to get up. I had a lot of fun, and it's all worth it. My husband is such a good father. He is great with the babies, does the night feeds and washes the bottles. I am so glad that I picked the right one. I knew from the beginning that he would be a GREAT father! Happy Father's Day, my dear!

Old fashion chocolate cake 巧克力蛋糕

Mother's Day is May 13th this year. It is my first Mother's Day. My brother-in-law, who is still available by the way, volunteered to babysit for us. I didn't plan anything; the only thing I had in mind was to take a nap. Well, it turned out that we had a unplanned BBQ in the backyard. My in-laws, my brother-in-law, my husband, me and the twins spent a nice afternoon together. The twins were so happy and excited. 

I love chocolate cakes, the really chocolaty kind. I used this recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I just quickly baked it and frosted it. No time for fancy decoration, my cakes are getting more and more sloppy...

Lemon bundt cake 檸檬磅蛋糕

It's weekend. I know everyday is the same to me now. I am still on maternity leave being with the babies, but I really want to do something special tonight. Let's return to baking -- something I haven't done for a long while. I saw this recipe on America's Test Kitchen, and I've always love lemon pound cake, so I was going to try it. I modified the recipe a little bit, because there were tons of butter and sugar in it. The outcome of the modified version was acceptable. However, every time I bake a bundt cake, it turns out there are a lot of holes on my cake. Is the temperature of my oven too high? Can somebody tell me?

Baked cheesy shirmp bread 奶油焗烤麵包

We were running out of food, including baby formula. Looked like I needed to pay a visit to BJ's. My husband told me that he didn't see some of the items on the shopping list. I knew he didn't look carefully, so I have to go there myself. We asked my mother-in-law to come over and watch the twins with my husband. I was on my way to BJ's. It's nice to get out of the house and take a break from the baby-sitting. I bought almost $300 worth of groceries! Maybe I was in an excellent shopping mood. My husband said it's dangerous to let me go shopping by myself. I bought a baguette. I made some garlic bread with it, but I was thinking how to use up the rest of the baguette. If I don't use it soon, it will get as hard as stone. Carol has this really nice recipe, so enjoy it.

Banana walnut muffins 香蕉核桃馬芬

We love bananas. It is a very versatile food; it can be breakfast, snack or dessert. Plus, it is so cheap! (However, it is high in potassium, so don't eat it with an empty stomach, especially people with kidney disease.) Banana goes well with walnuts or other nuts, like pecan. I was in the mood of something sweet, but it has to be quick and easy. This is the best recipe to fit my mood. It came from a recipe I bought at Barnes and Nobles when it's on sale. I loved it because it has a lot of pretty pictures and the instructions sound reasonable. However, this recipe is somehow the ONLY thing I've used from the book! I baked the muffins according to the original recipe, but I didn't quite like it. I modified the recipe a little and came up with the second batch. Hope you will like it too!

Dinner rolls 奶油餐包

Today is Christmas. All grocery stores are closed. However, I suddenly had a strong craving about dinner rolls. Ah~ I am so tired of cooking, but I don't know any magic either. So I gave in to my craving, and I started to make some dinner rolls. It only took 3 hours to make, from beginning to finish. When they're fresh just out of the oven, they are slightly flaky on the outside and soft in the inside, just the way I like it. I also put a small amount of butter inside for taste, but it's optional. Worth the try!

Creamy Strawberry Cake 草莓鮮奶油蛋糕

My husband is such a sweet heart. He barely did any house work before we got married. However, he has learned so much since we got married and is always helping around the house. He is also very patient, a virtue I never have. More importantly, he is always very pleasant. He laughs all the time! I guess that's what I like about him the most. Today is his birthday. He likes desserts with fruits, such as vanilla, strawberry, so I am going to make a cake with fruit in it. Hope he will like it.

Happy Birthday, my dear!!

Apple streusel cake 蘋果堅果蛋糕

The weather is getting cold. The air is crisp, and the saffire blue sky reflects the colorful fall foliage. It's a beautiful fall morning. I want to make something belongs to the season of fall. Apple! This is a great choice!

Pumpkin cheesecake 南瓜起司蛋糕

Today is my father-in-law's birthday. It's a perfect fall weather today. What best fits the season? Pumpkin! I also love the spices goes with pumpkin cakes or pies. The spices are the spirit of this cake. I modified Carol's cheesecake recipe. I was afraid it got too wet and soggy. I guess there's room for improvement next time, but the flavor is WONDERFUL!!

Banana walnut bread 香蕉核桃麵包

Recently we had such beautiful fall weather. Not too cold, not too hot, and the sun and the breeze are just lovely. It is so nice to talk a walk outside after lunch. We went grocery shopping after work. The sum of the price for all the things we buy at the end is always astonishing. Every single item is inexpensive, but they do add up. I wonder if we really save any money. However, one thing I often check is banana. I love bananas. They are sweet and filling. Good for breakfast, snack and any time you want a sweet boost.

Mini moon cakes 月圓人團圓

Time certainly flies fast. Soon summer is gone without a sign. To welcome the coming of fall, the Chinese is well known for the mid-autumn festival. As many of the Chinese holidays do, this one also has its own stories. It is said that there is a rabbit, a wood-chopper and a beautiful woman live on the moon, but all three stories are not related. I guess if you are interested, Wikipedia is definitely a good source.

Green tea red bean bread 抹茶紅豆吐司

Thank God it's Friday! I have been feeling so lazy lately, maybe it's because the weather has been lovely. Low 80s or high 70s during the day, and low 60s at night. It's really hard to get out of the bed in the morning. This weekend is tax free weekend, so we will definitely take advantage of that. For some reason, I am not as excited about shopping as I was when I was single. Now my husband is more into shopping than I am. He was very happy to hear that I planned to go shopping this weekend. :-)

Peach pie 水蜜桃派

There is a farm about 30 minutes away from us, and we go there for peach picking every year when it's in season. It's always a hot sunny day with burning temperatures, our whole family go there for peach picking, because we love peach so much. Yellow peaches, white peaches, umm... When ripe, they are so juicy, making your hands sticky. My father-in-law loves donut peaches the most. They are flat, white-fleshed and low in acid. They are very sweet yet very easy to bruise, because the skin is so thin. That's why they are expensive at the markets, because the transportation is not easy. So when we are at the farm, we pack our bags with donut peaches.

Spinach lasagna 菠菜肉醬千層麵

Thank God it's Friday!! After the hot weather earlier this week, the weather has been really nice. So nice that we don't want to get up in the morning to go to work. That's why I so look forward to the weekend. We got some beautiful spinach from my in-laws, fresh from the garden, so I want to make something good with it. Making lasagna is a good idea! Again, I went to Carol's website for instructions.