Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Two weekends ago I finally was able to have a dinner with my best girlfriends. In. Person. We haven't spent any significant amount of time together since the Before Times, as in before the COVID pandemic began and we  sheltered-in-place. And in between mouthfuls of amazing food, conversations about our kids, and every other topic you can image, recipes bubbled to the surface. Jenn mentioned a recipe for Hawaiian butter mochi and promised to send it to us. Thankfully I always have a box or three of mochiko rice flour and cans of coconut milk in my kitchen. I even had a can of evaporated milk, so...this happened! It's slightly adapted from her version and reminds me of my grandmother's bibingka. Ingredients makes two 8" square pans   1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 3/4 cup organic granulated sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon pure vanilla paste (or extract if you don't have paste) 1 box mochicko glutinous rice flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 can evaporated milk 1 can coconut milk  ...

For our Osechi Ryori dessert, D wanted to make fresh, homemade mochi...in addition to the ice cream mochi that I bought.  I was surprised to discover that almost all of the recipes he found for homemade mochi required a microwave. Well, we don't own a microwave. Really. Finally he found one that used a steamer. That we do have! Ingredients makes a dozen ¾ cup Mochiko (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) ¾ cup water  ¼ cup organic granulated sugar  ½ cup cornstarch 1½ cup red bean paste or anko Procedure Combining mochiko and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk all together. Pour in the water and mix until well-combined. Add water and mix well until combined.  Spoon the mixture into the top of a steamer with the water simmering below. Cook in the steam for 15 minutes until the mochi changes from white to almost translucent. Cover the work surface with parchment paper and dust it generously with cornstarch. Transfer the cooked mochi on to the work surface. To prevent f...

This is my third month participating in a baking group called Bundt Bakers. And I am already enamored with the bloggers and their creative baked goodies. #BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our  Pinterest board . We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our  home page . This month's prompt was from Rebekah of Making Miracles . She wrote: "For December's Bundt Bakers, bake up a cake that utilizes the colors red and green - it can be color in your batter, your ingredients, and / or your decorations! Feel free to pick green or red, you don't have to use both." Here's the red and green line-up... Avocado Bundt Cake With Strawberry Glaze by Sneha's Recipe Christmas Bundt Cake with Almond and Orange ...

Last month, I saw a post from one of my favorite bloggers - Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm - and I realized that they've been having a muffin party for years without me. LOL. I emailed the host, Stacy of Food Lust People Love and got the scoop: "...last Monday of the month and no themes. We've been baking together since August 2015! Only one rule, you must use the muffin method (folding wet ingredients with dry - no creaming butter and sugar, etc.) to bake muffins." Oh, my goodness...is  that  the muffin rule? That makes total sense. But I had no idea. In my house we've always said that if it's 'naked' as in frosting-free, it's a muffin; if there's frosting, then it's a cupcake. Turns out there's more to it than that. In any case, I jumped in. This is my first month participating with the #MuffinMonday bloggers. Here's a little bit more info, since this is new-to-me... #MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving ...

Since we stayed on the beach longer than I had planned, I didn't have enough time make a dessert to end  Nonna's Seafood Boil , for our Mothers' Day lunch. I picked up some mochi instead. We had four different flavors, seven people, and only two mochi allowed per serving. The boys were determined to let everyone taste each flavor without exceeding the serving allotment.  So, they sliced... ...and they squished. The result: Franken-Mochi. Nonna and I really enjoyed the melding of the flavors. And it's oddly photogenic. 

Back when I was looking for a cookie to send for  The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013 , I ended up making  Matcha-Black Sesame Shortbreads ...after a little inspirational gift - the matcha - from a friend whose family owns a sushi deli. I made my way through the canister, loving the delicate color and subtle flavor. I made a note to myself: Get more matcha soon. I've been through about multiple different canisters now. Earlier this year I received an email regarding an opportunity to review some organic matcha from Kiss Me Organics . I jumped at the opportunity. I especially liked that the matcha came with recipe ideas. I followed several of the recipes and enjoyed each one. I'm sharing a recipe of my own... This loaf makes for a quick and portable breakfast. I served these with some yogurt and fruit before we headed off for one of our adventures during Spring Break. Fast and tasty! Ingredients 4  eggs 1/2 C olive oil 1 C organic heavy cream 1 C ...

Back when I was looking for a cookie to send for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 201 3, I ended up making Matcha-Black Sesame Shortbreads ...after a little inspirational gift - the matcha - from a friend whose family owns a sushi deli. I've been slowly working my way through the canister and used the last bit of it this morning. I love the delicate color and the subtle flavor. Gotta get my hands on more matcha soon. MOffin = mochiko (sweet rice flour) + muffin. This makes for a quick and portable breakfast. I served these with some yogurt and blueberries. Fast and tasty! 4  eggs 1/2 C olive oil 1 C organic heavy cream 1 C organic 2% milk 1/2 C organic granulated sugar 1 T baking powder 2 T matcha powder 1 box of rice flour Mix the eggs and oil. Then mix in everything else until just moistened. Spoon the batter into greased muffin hollow. Bake for about 30 minutes at 375˚F till the top of the MOffin is slightly browned and slightly cracked. Let cool f...

Here we go. Below are all of the submissions for the June Food'N'Flix event where I selected  Jiro Dreams of Sushi  as our inspiration and starting point. If you haven't seen this, you should! Meet Jiro Ono. His restaurant only serves sushi. As they tell one customer: no appetizers, no sake. Just sushi. The restaurant is tucked into a subterranean space and only has 10 seats at a counter. Despite that less than sexy location and configuration, Jiro has been awarded three stars, the highest possible rating, by the Michelin Guide. Director David Gelb paints the picture of a man whose relationship with sushi is passionate, vacillating between love and madness. Jiro is a perfectionist and his apprentices must strive for that perfection as well. At one point the narrator describes how apprentices spend weeks learning how to squeeze out a towel properly before ever touching a piece of food. One apprentice spent months perfecting tamagoyaki . And to prepare the octopus, so...

So, that is not a typo. I do not mean 'muffin.' I  do  mean MOffin. Mochi + Muffin = MOffin I haven't made these for a couple of months, but they are always a favorite on a chilly autumn morning. And - for the season - I served them with some eggnog before the boys went off to school. 4  eggs 1/2 C olive oil 1-3/4 C coconut cream 1/4 C water 1/2 C organic raw turbinado sugar 1 T baking powder dash of ground ginger 1 t ginger syrup 1 box of rice flour 1 C raw, dried coconut Mix the eggs and oil. Then mix in everything else. Spoon the batter into lined muffin cups. Bake for about 30 minutes at 375˚F till the top of the MOffin is slightly browned.

So, that is not a typo. I do not mean 'muffin.' I do mean MOffin. Mochi + Muffin = MOffins. I haven't made these for a couple of years, but they are always a favorite on a chilly autumn morning. 4  eggs 1/2 C olive oil 1-3/4 C coconut cream 1/4 C water 1/2 C organic raw turbinado sugar 1 T baking powder dash of ground ginger dash of ground cinnamon dash of ground nutmeg dash of ground cardamom 1 box of rice flour   Mix the eggs and oil. Then mix in everything else. Spoon the batter into lined muffin cups. Bake for about 30 minutes at 375˚F till the top of the MOffin is slightly browned.

"A what?!?" you might ask.  Well, I couldn't come up with a name for this tasty treat, so this is what came about from my three boys:  Pineapple + Coconut + Mochi* + Twinkie-shaped = Piña Colada MOwinkie. *Mochi is rice flour. A huge number of my culinary adventures come about because I do not have the ingredients listed and I refuse to go to the grocery store before six in the morning.  So, I make adjustments, usually, to great success.  For this, I started with my ChocoCoco MOffins ...but didn't have any milk.  What I did have was some leftover crème fraîche and pineapple juice. 3 eggs 1/2 C canola oil 1 C crème fraîche 1 C pineapple juice 1/2 C organic raw sugar 1 T baking powder 2 T shredded coconut 1 box of rice flour young coconut in a jar** **You should be able to find this young coconut in a jar in any Asian market, or maybe even the ethnic food section of a regular grocery store. Mix the eggs and oil. Then mix everything else...