Banana brown butter cake

This cake is our new favorite. Whenever I have very ripe bananas, I love to bake this cake. Freshly baked banana cake is very light and fluffy but when I leave it overnight it becomes dense and moist. Very delicious in both ways.

 

Back to inspirations

I've been busy for the past few months with my new little studio photography business that I set up with my friend. I didn't have time to update my food blog at all. I have a yummy banana cupcake recipe to share. It's coming soon.

Fennel and orange salad

An Italian friend shared with me this gorgeous salad of fennel, orange, radish and watercress.  The salad is so refreshing and delicious. I love the anise-like flavor from fennel. Aged balsamic vinegar and good extra virgin olive oil make such a huge difference. Happy Sunday reading.

Orecchiette a gift from Italy

I cooked orecchiette with cherry tomatoes today. The pack of orecchiette was a gift from my Italian friends. These are handmade pasta and had tri-colors. Super cute, aren't they?  Orecchiette are little cute pastas shaped like ears. I was introduced to this pasta by my friend whose husband comes from Bari, in the south of Italy.


We had them for lunch today.  CP and the kids cleaned up every last bit of the pasta. I think this is another family favorite.

Spaghetti with Marmite

I found this recipe from the book call "Risotto with Nettles A Memoir with food by Anna Del Conte". What she said in the book is "This is hardly a recipe, but I want to include it because I haven't as yet found a child who doesn't like it."

It sounds very interesting. I wanted to try this recipe a long time ago but I keep forgetting. Today I read this book again so I decided to try this recipe. I cooked for G and Z after they arrived home from school. 
  "What is Marmite, mom?" G asked
  "Marmite is made from yeast extract very salty and savoury. It's like a sandwich spread. You can spread them on a bread to make a sandwich. Are you ready for Spaghetti with Marmite?" I asked
  "Yes, sure mom" G replied
I sprinkle some wasabi sprouts on top of the spaghetti. He ate it happily after with his spaghetti.
  "It's delicious mom, Are there anymore?" he asked

 The kids loved it.  Surprising but it's actually really delicious. It's so easy to make. It took me less than 15 minutes to make this spaghetti.

Raspberry buttermilk pancakes

Another easy Sunday breakfast for kids. G loves to have pancakes with honey but the rest of us love to have with maple syrup. The original recipe asked for fresh blueberries but I just happened to have raspberry, so I used raspberries instead. Please feel free to use any berries that are available in your kitchen. These are the softest and fluffiest pancakes ever! I make these pancakes over and over. Yummy.

Cookies and cream gelato

Here is the cookies and cream gelato that I promised a few weeks ago. Of course there is no more left now as it was cleaned up quite quickly by the boys. But I wanted to share this recipe with you. Have fun making homemade gelato!

Apricot tarts

G had no school today. So G and I went for grocery together. He loves doing grocery with me or sometimes with his dad over the weekend. He likes to explore about food and fresh ingredients. He saw fresh apricots on the shelf.

“ What fruit is this, Mom?” G asked me.

“It’s apricot. When you were young I liked to put dried apricot in your snacks box to school.” I replied.

“Oh I see. Can you buy them, please? I want to try fresh apricot.” He asked.

“Sure! Those stone fruits are nice when there’re cooked. I’ll let you try fresh apricot and bake some apricot tarts later” I replied.

When we arrived home, he tried it right away and he said “Yummy,mom!”.

I told him. “it will be nicer if we bake or cook them because the sugar in a fruit gets caramelized and they become sweeter and more fragrant.” After finished baking we had two tarts each.

Raspberry financiers

I was craving for financiers with cold milk. I have some fresh raspberries leftover from making raspberry ripple ice-cream. Raspberry and almond financiers are a perfect combination. This is another way to use up my egg white.  I had a ton of egg whites in my freezer that I try to use up to clear some space in my freezer. I gladly baked this.

I had some freshly baked financiers with cold milk. Delicious! G and Z finished the rest after they came back from school.

Strawberry and lychee sorbet

The weather is so hot lately, so I decided to make fruit sorbet for the kids. G is a great fan of fruit sorbets. Any kind of fruit sorbet that I can think of, he loves them all. This is a really good sorbet recipe. It’s so delicious and refreshing, please try it. I made this strawberry and lychee sorbet yesterday. When the ice-cream maker stopped churning, I spooned the sorbet into little jars. These are little recycled yogurt jars. It’s very easy for the kids to help themselves to the sorbet from the freezer.