Chocolate Muffins!

Well snowstorm Jonas has officially hit the city of Philadelphia and I'm seeking refuge inside.  The streets are covered in a little over a foot of snow and the wind is whipping.  I've braved the snowflakes a few times already today to get the dog outside and shovel out the sidewalk.

Could there be a more perfect day to stay inside, catch up on homework and bake tasty treats?  I think not.  So I thought to make a double batch of what I call "Grain Free Chocolate and Cranberry Protein Muffins."  I know, its a big name so you can just call them healthy-ish chocolate muffins.

Nigel Slater's New Book: Notes from the Larder

 

Nigel Slater is by far my absolute favorite food writer/genius.  My first introduction to his work was about two years ago when whispers about the book Toast circulated around the web.  Since then I've read his memoir and even watched the movie.  I follow his articles in the Guardian and drool over his recipe books page by page.  He's more of a food lyricist than simply a recipe writer.  His level of culinary reflection and descriptiveness on each page can literally move you.  Seriously, as corny (food pun!) as that sounds, I was really moved reading about a simple avocado dish he talk about in Real Fast Food.  I can't wait to get my hands on his new book!!

Busy In the Kitchen

I have all of these wonderful and different cookbooks on my shelf and I finally started earmarking some recipes.  After cutting back on some, well, what I thought to be grocery staples, I realized I could just make bread on my own.  Forget the floppy, sad loaf in the plastic bag.  Enter: Rohan's Super Easy Country Bread recipe.  My loaves came out a bit dense, but that's owed mainly to my house averaging some pretty cold temperatures in the Winter.  Hey!  I'm on a budget!  Hopefully as the temps rise my bread will do much better.  Only a quarter of the second loaf left!

Can I handle the Art of French Baking?  We shall see...

From another season

I posted about my trip to the orchard last fall, but I thought to share some of the film photos I took. The original post in October contained pictures all taken with i4s so I had to follow up with the good stuff.  There really is something special about film, it's an ongoing learning process, one that forces you to take your time and really think about what you want to capture. 

Recently I've started to make my decisions sort of like taking a picture.  Step back and really take a look at the situation.  Does it feel right? Would it look better in a different light?  Am I looking at this the right way?  I know, sort of a cheesy way to compare life decisions to picture taking, but it's so true!

So here's a couple links I thought to share with Winter in mind:

The  Lost Wolves of New England-NY Review of Books

Saranac Lake Winter Carnival

Snowboarding-Adventure Sports Journal

Hot Chocolate Recipe-Orangette

Stay Warm!

Making Walnut Bundt Cake

 

This weekend I made my first-ever bundt cake.  The recipe came from this blog.  I really love the writing and recipes over at Orangette.  A must-read for anyone that loves to cook.  The blog has inspired me to be a little more pro-active in the kitchen.

I made a few changes to the recipe and added about 2.5 cups of walnuts and slivered almonds in total.  It turned out really great. It's nice and moist with bursts of sweet cinnamon apple in every mouthful.  Definitely a really great treat to have with coffee or tea in the morning.