Farewell 2009; Hello 2010!

Overall, 2009 was a pretty good year - I started my legal career, met someone special, and adjusted to balancing the best of suburbia and city living. I wish my health had been better (I'm staying in for New Years Eve because I caught another cold), but I'm crossing my fingers for next year!

I also started getting into the mentality of simplifying my life, omitting the inconsequential and unnecessary so I get more time with the good stuff. As a student, I had the time, means, and desire to juggle too many things and people at the same time, but perhaps part of "growing up" and being in "the real world" means learning to focus on the important things.

2009 foodie collage [click for larger view]

And one of the important things to me is still FOOD! My top five foodie moments from 2009:
1. Foodbuzz-sponsored food tour in SF
2. Foodbuzz 1st Annual Food Blogger Festival in SF
3. My birthday dinner at Chapeau
4. Foodbuzz Community Table at Bushi-Tei
5. Watching Julie & Julia

My resolutions for 2010 - (1) reduce computer use (beware of carpal tunnel!), and (2) bake more. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and yummy new year!

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

For the recent holidays, the boyfriend and I tried our hands at making a pumpkin bundt cake, which actually turned out pretty well! Thanks to http://whippedtheblog.com for the recipe.

Pumpkin Buttermilk Bundt Cake

For cake:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing bundt pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15-oz can; not pie filling)
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs

For glaze: (or substitute your own glaze recipe!)
2 T butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1-3 T cream or milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour bundt pan. Combine together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla in another bowl.

Beat butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, then add eggs and beat 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth.

Spoon batter into pan. Shake a few times to be sure to remove any bumps, then bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then invert rack over cake and re-invert cake onto rack. Cool 10 minutes more.

To make glaze, heat butter until melted. Stir in sifted powdered sugar. Mix in cream or milk 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency. Drizzle over cake while it is on a wire rack so excess falls through.

That's it! Happy holidays to all!

Sam Adams Utopia - America's Strongest Beer

"Dizzyingly high-alcohol beer made headlines last week when Samuel Adams announced the release of its new Utopias. At 27 percent alcohol by volume, it's the strongest beer in America and also one of the most intriguing — the product of 53 different barrels and several unusual ingredients."

Get the full story here:
http://www.mercurynews.com/food-wine-headlines/ci_13945577

Sounds like one strong and sweet beer!

Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! I joined the boyfriend's family for an American-style meal, complete with the big bird and sweet potato pie. I'm still recovering from eating way too much!

Time to get in the mood for the next holiday! Jingle bells!

Giving Thanks

Whenever I tell people I have a food blog, they often follow with the question, "So how'd you get into food blogging?" To which I usually give a quick, cookie-cutter answer somewhere along the lines of "I love to eat, and I started taking photos of stuff I ate, and voila! The food blog was born."

The longer answer to how I got into food blogging is a bit more interesting than that, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a more personal story and give thanks to those who have inspired, and continue to inspire me to write and shamelessly indulge in food.

I've always loved writing; this most likely developed during my childhood years as I spent too much time immersed in books and journal-writing in an effort to get out of ESL class and bring my English up to par with the kids in my grade level. I briefly entertained the idea of becoming a journalist, but I couldn't shake the desire - unwavering since fifth grade - of going to law school. (There are days when I question the sanity of my decision, but for the most part, I find legal practice to be a compelling career. Plus I have a bit more leeway in my Fine Dining Fund.)

I've never been a picky eater, and growing up in a family that almost always had Chinese food for meals made dining on any other kind of cuisine seem like a special occasion. Sad to say, I've had my share of craptastic food before I knew any better. And even when I studied abroad in Japan when I was 19 (which would be flavor heaven for me now), many of my meals consisted of packaged ramen, Yoshinoya beef bowls, and cheap alcohol. When I trekked over to the Tsukiji fish market one chilly morning, I didn't even think to order toro or uni or hamachi (although the sashimi I did have was still out of this world).

My introduction into the foodie world began when I came back from Japan and moved in with a young married couple who still had a lot of contacts at UCSD. The year and a half I lived there was an apprenticeship of sorts -- Mr. Lauren Leung gave me a foundation from which I learned to appreciate food, wine, and other indulgences. From him, I also picked up the habit of photographing particularly delicious-looking dishes, but I never did much with the pictures besides sharing them with friends or posting a couple on my personal blog at the time.

As I started taking more photos and developing more opinions about what I tasted, I toyed with the idea of starting a food blog. I had been following some well-known blogs for awhile, but starting my own seemed like a daunting commitment, especially as a stressed-out law student. The usual questions popped up: Will anyone read this? What if the photos aren't great? Do I need a theme? Isn't Yelping good enough? How often can I realistically update this thing?

Then during a semester externship gig, I met Passionate Eater and became addicted to her blog. I figured if she had the time to do something that great, I should at least give it a try. So I started this blog and have, thankfully, stuck with it for over two years now. Thanks Passionate Eater!

What I love best about food is how it brings people together. While I enjoy a quiet meal by myself now and then, everything always tastes a little better when you're in good company. So I think of blogging as an extension of that desire to share good eats with others. Plus it's kind of neat to think that if you mention a specific dish at a particular restaurant, someone you've never met will know exactly what you're talking about.

I never cease to be inspired by other foodies and food bloggers out there, including all the ones linked in the right sidebar. Some are old friends (Alex Eats World); others are new connections from Foodbuzz (Kitchen Wizard). It's pretty sweet dating one too (WongCo Food)! Thanks to everyone who has ever given me a foodie moment.

And with that, I'll sign off by saying Happy Thanksgiving! Eat well and be well!