Here’s an ode to Chris’ recent Rogue movie review.
Since we were under false pretenses that it might actually be a good ‘n scary giant crocodile flick and it turned out to be kind of a flop instead, I thought I’d surprise Chris with some yummy nummies shaped like the famed swamp creature for him to devour, mwuahaha.
I even made some goopy apricot syrup (top most photo) to make the pancake monster look all oozy after splashing in stagnant swamp muck.

Ginger is so Autumn, doncha think? The warmth of fresh Fall spices really inspire the soul and tempt the palate.. why, the very mention of it causes me to spout jenky poetry, apparently.
These Ginger Spice Iced Cookies are so soft and chewy and gingery that someone better stop me.. I feel a haiku bubbling up.
“inviting fresh warmth
the Ginger Spice Iced Cookies
tickle the tummy”
Hoo boy.
I recently made these with a dual variation on the pristine white Royal Icing; thick and creamy or thin and crackly. These cookies …

When I was a kid, I wanted a sweet potato pie, but noone I knew made or sold the stuff. Then my dad grew sweet potatoes, but still no pie. When I finally had some (even an authentic Southern recipe I trekked to “wrong side o’ the tracks” Bayview on the Muni to try), I was a little disappointed, so I set out to make my own. I found a kickass recipe a few years back –verrry gingery and spicy– but I was determined to experiment more …

Banana cream pie has oft been the glut of paranoia for amateur bakers. Soggy crust, bruised bananas, lumpy custard; it just doesn’t seem like it’s worth the trouble. Well, I can attest that your woes will be unfounded with this super easy Martha Stewart recipe. The only pain-in-the-ass step is straining the custard (and waiting for the bananas to ripen), but well worth it for the beyond silky results. See it below left, before the whip cream madness.

Banana Cream Pie (Makes one 9-inch pie)
INGREDIENTS
…

I tells ya, if you ever want to work out your upper arms, whip your way into shape (literally) by making an Almond Sponge Cake Strawberry Shortcake (from scratch by hand) with freshly whipped cream. Owch.
You separate the eggs, whip the egg yolks until they become “thick and pale”, which is basically forever (just kidding; it actually was surprisingly quick thanks to fast twitch muscles– also handy for putting a mean spin on a tennis ball, but that’s another story). Then you whip the egg whites …

Baking Bonanza! Earlier in the week, I timed it juuust perfectly so I could bake not one, not two, but three things! This is a job forrrrr Oven Efficiency Girl dunduhduhnaaa!! I made a super dense Ginger Choco Cake, a Mushroom Spinach Pecorino Romano / Parmesean Habanero Quiche, and a super-sized Sweet Potato tart with freshly whipped vanilla cream. I did it all while Chris was doing his homework and when he stepped into the kitchen, he actually drooled! A badge of accomplishment for all …

When I was young, I didn’t much care for kinako, roasted soy powder. The antique-y ochre color, the moldy texture, the bitter taste.. bleh! Now I can appreciate its earthiness, generously dusted on homemade naturally green yomogi (mugwort) daifuku. Sure sounds like some Harry Potter spell (not that I would know, I’ve never watched or read any of that). *Poof*

About the Author:

Kris Kobayashi-Nelson is an avid food adventurist who has tried everything from jellyfish to sea cucumber to chicken gizzards. Mochi can be …

Mochi is as traditional as you can get, but it doesn’t have to be boring. You can now find the sweet little ricecakes boldly stuffed with fresh whole strawberries or peanut butter. I decided to take it a step further and combine both “crazy” fillings with tsubushi an. I also tinted the homemade mochi a pale turquoise blue, and it sort of reminds me of glaciers. It was surprisingly yummerific! Try it for yourself.. if you dare, hehe.

About the Author:

Kris Kobayashi-Nelson is an avid food …

I know it’s a lot of butter (2 cups = 1 whole box), but by golly I was searching high and low for an awesome CHEWY choco-chip cookie recipe and by golly I think I’ve found it. These were gone in a couple of days even though we didn’t give too many away. Recipe (from allrecipes.com on Yahoo! Food) below. I subbed mac nuts for walnuts and used chocolate pudding instead of vanilla. Gimme dat brown on brown. I don’t have a food processor or …

Was I gypped? Is this in fact just a yellow-er nectarine? Sure tastes like a nectarine and looks like a nectarine and has a nectarine seed-pit. But nooo wait, the consistency is definitely smoother, without all those pulpy maroon seed-hugging nubs and strands, and the color is definitely bright mango-yellow pop straight out of the crayola-for-fruits box. It doesn’t quite have the rich sweet blast and velvet texture of a chilled, really ripe (by that I mean naturally tree-ripened) mango, but it is quite similar to …

Can you say “ow”? You might not be able to after eating a Mountain View Stone Cookie. These thick golden brown oblong discs are forged for fantastic gum-busting fury!! You’ll wish you were stranded on a deserted island somewhere just so you could invent new uses for them; building tiles, adze blades, frisbees, wakeboards. Who would’ve thought something so potentially painful could be so yummy?
Baked fresh (although seemingly awesomely tough and “stale”) in a little yellow corrugated tin-swathed bakery in Mountain View on the Big …

Do you remember the free webhost Angelfire? I guess I started internet browsing around the death of Angelfire so I remember designing a webpage for a CS class and going nuts with colorful repeated backgrounds (were those orange serrated semicircles supposed to be fans or carrots?), animated .gifs, 42pt banner marquees, and framesets (thanks to Lee for teaching me that; it blew my classmates away!). It was almost as ugly as every hand built (or worse yet, Microsoft FrontPage assisted) site that was on Angelfire, except I hadn’t …

My goosh, has it been a year already?? My my how the time flies. A year ago the Bay Area was Beard Papa-less. Today we have three locations, two in San Francisco and one in Redwood City! And if you doubted their popularity or Bay Area-ites ability to overindulge, let me tell you that the Westfield Mall boutique has quickly become America’s number one highest volume cream puff retail store and number two in the whole world.
If you also fell in love with Beard …

Oh the sacrifices I make to keep you guys entertained. I despise chocolate. The texture, the sweetness, the aftertaste, blech blech blech! But as I do eat it occassionally to report munchies reviews, be aware that I am not enjoying it. I know it’s odd but oh wells. So I dunno why, but I continue to torture myself by buying those cute little boxes of chocolate at the Japanese grocers, but am thankful that they are mostly “box” and only contain a few candy pieces. …

Most people know of Pocky whether they’re fans of Japanese candy or not. But, there’s a new Pocky on the block you may not know about: Men’s Pocky, a dark chocolate Pocky that’s as bittersweet as it is potent. I had to try it out.
The instant the first stick of Men’s Pocky touched my tongue, I noticed a difference in myself. I felt fitter, stronger, more attractive to the opposite sex. I could lift a truck with my bare hands, single handedly inseminate a herd of women, fix small electronics. …

Trader Joe’s is one of my favorite gourmet grocery stores and I’m there every week. They always have some exotic new treats to try and Chris and I dive right into the goodies. This time, we picked out an ornately designed shiny metallic orange package of “Papadums, an authentic Indian style snack”.
“Traditionally,” the bag tells us, “papadums are thin, spicy chips about the size of a tortilla.” The Trader Joe’s version are bite-sized yummy thin discs made from potato and fava beans, that heart-clogging palm oil and …

I love coconut. Co-co-nut. But I never thought I’d like it formed into bite-sized balls rolled in sugar and dyed a bright crayola red. It’s dewy and chewy in the center with a crispy coating of gravelly granulated sugar. Because the candies are held together with corn syrup, and corn syrup and sugar come before coconut (unsweetened coconut mind you) on the ingredients list, I don’t have to tell you this is a sickeningly sweet treat. It makes me cringe just thinking about it. But not so much that …

What is this giant bowl of …stuff? It’s shave ice (”sno cone” in Mainland-speak, kakigori in Japanese), where a blade whips across the surface of an ice block creating a cup of scraped snow, covered with azuki (sweet red beans), “cream” (condensed milk) and surrounded by mini mochi (steamed and pounded chewy rice cakes). This thing is HUGE. And it’s cheap. Like $2. And it’s like having perfectly powder snow melt on your tongue. Personally, Waiola is my favorite because of the fine texture. …