This year Josh asked for a fruit pie for his birthday cake, so I bought him one and made him another. The one I made was almost pre-made, unfortunately because of my job I was not able to do more. I bought the pie crust and the filling and cut the fresh fruits and poured a pack of boiled jello over them and set it in the fridge to harden. The result was pretty legit visually, but it didn’t taste very good - it tuned very sweet. Hopefully next time I will be able to make one from scratch! 

My parents have a fig tree in their house and every summer we have abundance of this wonderful fruit - this year my favorite way to eat it was in a salad, it has such a fruity taste that I found it's combination was best with some goat cheese, prosciutto, nuts and whatever else I could find in the fridge. For the dressing I usually use pomegranate or raspberry vinaigrette type of dressing or just olive oil. 

This is one dish I never thought I could do at home, in the span of 20 minutes I made these roasted bone marrow chunks thanks to the air fryer with just some salt and pepper and oil and it was super delicious! 

I made these Canelés for the first time following this recipe  and I have to say except for having to wait 24 hours for the batter to get ready, everything else in the process was pretty straight forward. I changed some of the ingredients and instructions so this is for me so next time I am making it I have a reference. 

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups milk
• vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter 
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tablespoons dark rum

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a saucepan, mixed 3 cups of milk, vanilla extract until the milk reached the scalding point over medium high heat, then remove the pan from the heat and added the 3 /4 cup unsalted butter. Set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup of sugar and 2/3 cup flour.
   
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together 1 egg yolk, 2 whole eggs and 3 tablespoon dark rum.
   
4. Then whisk the egg mixture into the sugar and flour mixture, then whisk in the lukewarm milk mixture. Strain into a container; cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 48 hours, the flavors will develop as the mixture sits.
5. The next day, remove the batter from the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before baking it.
6. Butter the molds, fill each mold almost to the top. Place the molds on the middle rack of your preheated oven.
7. Bake them for 15 minutes at 450F then lower the temperature to 375F and bake for an additional 45 minutes for copper molds or 40 minutes for silicone molds. 
8. Let cool slightly, to remove them from copper molds, turn each one over with a pair of tongs and tap until they falls out. If difficult to remove, use a pairing knife to help guide it out. Serve warm.

Making madeleines actually turned out one the easiest pastries I have baked so far. I found this simple recipe on a website called Epicurious, but to be honest if I were to make it again I will look for a more elaborative recipe that includes nuts, coconut flake of some sort etc since with every bite it left me desiring for something to chew on or another layer of something else to go along with it. Also my batch almost burnt which for all I know I cannot blame the recipe for, rather our out of wack oven with uneven temperature which is still on the to-do-list, but for now here is the recipe that I tried making these madeleines. 

I have recently tried making Cauliflower Stake in air-fryer with just some olive oil and pepper and salt seasonings and it has come out really nice! Though next time I will try to boil it in the water before air-frying since I like the cauliflower a bit softer in every bite.

I remember that morning it was the most beautiful thick fog, I woke up and made the quiche in less than 30 minutes and took them out with me while they were smelling so warm and delicious. I bought the crust the night before and all I did in the morning was cutting it into squares and filling them up into muffin mold pan, then adding in a mixture of beaten eggs, ham, tomato, corn and spinach to top it off with shredded cheeses. 
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Then I met my friend for a picnic at a farmers market, I bought my favorite Kambucha from Buddha Kambucha vendor and then we spread our food on the grass while watching the swans at the lake. It was such a beautiful warm day and just when the weather had started to warm up. Since we were not prepared for Texas weather yet, and did not bring any sunscreen with us, we both went home with a burn on our neck, back and arms hehehe.

My parents are amazing cooks and I consider myself so lucky for growing up in their household, watching them coming up with new recipes, testing out different versions and tweaking them to perfection. Like my parents I enjoy cooking too and  I hope that I can be half good as they are one day :)