Fourth of July, Maine, loons and of course, food.

This was the third year going up to Maine during the summer. The first year (2008) we went for a long weekend in August, we had such a good time and fell instantly in love that decided to go back for fourth of July (last year), and we went back again this year because Maine is that awesome.

We rented a beautiful house by the lake, we kayaked, swam, listened to loon calls, cooked and feasted.

This is the view from our porch. This house had an amazing fire pit, that helped a lot with the mosquitos and other bugs at night and obviously it was just plain kickass.

 

We had to celebrate we were in Maine, so of course we had lobsters and clams. This was one of the few meals were I stood back and watched, I didn't wanna be too close to the live lobsters, specially if I was gonna attack it with torture- like weapons to eat it.

I had made a strawberry short cake for dessert after the lobsters, unfortunately I was too busy stuffing my face with it to take a picture, but after that, I decided I would take pictures of other meals, so here it is, the second dinner dessert. A puff pastry with vanilla ice cream and peaches... mm... my mouth is watering again.

 Jeff (my fiance) made this spicy and peppery vegetarian cauliflower and chick pea dish. It was indeed spicy and peppery, it actually tasted better two days later when I had it for an afternoon snack!

Cheers!

Being in Maine, this house did not have AC, but it had a weirdly cool basement where we hung out to cool off and stay away from the bugs. I made a panna cotta with a blueberry sauce. Walkie- talkies, head lamps and a broken water gun could  pretty much sum up our week.

Most of the ingredients were purchased at local farms, at the green market, and at the local co-op market. We had this delicious spicy chorizo I made a frittata with and made a nice fried rice with kale, carrots, onions, scapes and the spicy chorizo left overs.

When does it become sad when about 50% of the pictures are all food? Well, everything was so good that it needed to be documented, like these breakfast of scrambled eggs and sweet potatoes fries.

This meal was definitely the sum of it's parts, so I wanted to make sure it was all on one image. We had this delicious halibut with an orange, parsley and cilantro sauce, and we roasted all miscellaneous veggies we had in the fridge and last but not least, the best scallops i've ever had.

We started seeing fruit flies around the bananas, so what better way to use them up quick? I made this banana bread with caramelized bananas and ice cream for dessert.

The last night, we made grilled pizza, oh yes, grilled and it was so good it needs a separate blog entry. Stay tuned!!

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Ole, ole ole ole...!!

 Vamos, vamos... Argentina~ vamos vamos, a ganar..!!!  

(This is my friend Susie and Mike's adorable kid, Sebas wearing la albiceleste)

Every four years, something beautiful happens, that is the World cup! I miss when the entire country stops for 90 minutes of pure passion. The world cup is not that big of a deal here in the US (at least compared to Argentina) but I found a good man who enjoys "soccer" as much as the biggest Argentine fan, and he lead me to meet a large group real fans, so last Saturday we hosted a party for the World cup; Argentina won, Korea won, and the US tied against England (which is kind of winning, really).

I made a Chocolate Raspberry Jello shot cake with an American Flag decoration.

I got this recipe from my friend Victoria from Sweetie Pies Brooklyn and it's so easy, and delicious.

You need:

• A chocolate cake (I have to admit, that I used the one out of the box...)
• 1/2 cup of any raspberry flavored vodka
• 1/2 cup of boiled water
• 1/2 cream of cocoa
• 2 tablespoons of chambord
• 1 package of raspberry flavored jelllo

How to:

1. Bake the cake following the directions on the box, and let it cool ( i used a 13"X9" pan)
2. Bring the water to a boil and dissolve the jello powder in it. Let cool for 10 minutes.
3. While it's cooling, poke the cake with a fork (not all the way through)
4. Add the vodka, cream of cocoa and chambord to the jello mixture
5. Pour the jello mixture over the cake (make sure you've poked it enough so it can really absorb the jello mixture)
6. Cool for 4 hours at least in the fridge for the jello to set 

For the decoration i used:

• 1 pint of blueberries
• 1 pint of raspberries
• 1/2 quart of heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar

1. Whip the cream using an electric mixer (or get a work out out of it by doing it by hand), adding the sugar and vanilla extract.
2. Spread a thin layer of the whipped cream, and then... you know what to do, if you don't just look at the picture, is pretty self explanatory. Easy and delicious, and you won't be able to tell is from the box, because is all accessorized. :)
3. Enjoy- and don't share it with kids. 

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Big Fucking Deal

I have great news, my friends. Julia Moskin from The New York Times wrote yet another great article about food, but this one is special to me, because I'm in it. (!!!!!!)

Click here for the article and here for the video.

This isn't an award (it feels like one, a little star on my shoulder that acknowledges all my hard work at least)  but I still want to thank Julia Moskin, Kristen Luce and Estefania Rousselle for putting this article, pictures and video together. It's a cliche to thank the reader, but I'm truly thankful for your support, whether is from buying empanadas at the market, telling your friend about La tia Faby or just reading this once in a while. Gracias, en serio.

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Empanadas calientes para las viejas sin dientes!

Come out to the Greenpoint Food Market this Saturday from noon to 5pm to get your share of the new cake pops! The shapes will be the adorable chicks that were so popular at the last market, but the inside is all new. Two new kinds: Chocolate base with yummy delicious dulce de leche and the other, also chocolate but this one with heavenly nutella. I'll also be making a lot of empanadas, for those who come in by the time I'm sold out, so come hungry. As for empanadas, I'll have my classic and personal favorite spicy beef, the spinach and mushroom, and the kimchi sausage that did so well last time. 

And here is a cute butterfly cake pop picture. hehe.

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Congrats Ali!

This weekend I'm going up to Newport for my future sister- in- law's graduation and I thought it'd be cute to make graduation caps. I went to the grocery store in search for a flat square surface that could work for these; I didn't find anything close, so I bought and cut some Oreo cookies. Unfortunately cutting them wasn't easy and I ended up eating a lot of crumbs.

Here are some bees. I had worked on them a few weeks ago and saved the pic for a new posting.

I made these using some cereal for the wings and sunflower seeds covered in chocolate for the stinger. These are delicious and adorable.

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Also...

Next Saturday is the Greenpoint Food Market. I'll be working on some Dulce de Leche cake pops early next week and if they are as delicious as I expect, you'll see them as the market along with the empanadas.  Hope to see you there!!

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mi mama me mima

(click on the pic so you can actually read it. ay mafalda!)

Yesterday was mother's day in the US and made me think about my mami in Buenos Aires who is alone at the time since my dad is in Korea visiting my gparents. Pobrechita... mi mami....

I come from women who can cook- My moms mom is hardcore- she makes everything and I mean EVERYTHING from scratch. When they first arrived in Buenos Aires, there weren't any Korean grocery stores, so she figured out how to make good old traditional meals all from scratch; she makes gochujang, doenjang, and cases of kimchi on a monthly basis. You can really admire this if you understand the work and stink that this means (this stuff tastes great... but Koreans do not cook with their sense of smell). My mom is spoiled by my granma who makes all this awesomeness- but she has her weapons too. Donuts are hard to find in BA- during the 90's Dunkin Donuts opened in Buenos Aires. I remember exactly where it was, right across the street from the American embassy- of course. After competing with medialunas (croissants), Dunkin Donuts quickly packed their donuts and left the country. Good thing i had my omma who makes the best damn donuts ever (I don't even really like donuts). She never followed a recipe, she just made them... just like that- as if anyone could do it. She can make a feast with very few ingredients- she would be an awesome contestant for chopped. Most of her signature dishes are Korean but whatever she makes I kid you not- you will devour. She just makes everything delicious, after all, that's what makes a real good cook.

I wanted to write a little about her since she is truly my teacher in the kitchen. For as long as I remember, I was helping (probably bothering too) her cook. Starting with peeling veggies, graduated to dicing and then promoted to sous chef. Mami te quiero.

Here is a pic of my family circa 1992 (i believe) at the San Diego zoo. I miss my ninja turtle sweater. The kid in the back is my bro.

And.. a cute cake pop onesy pic.

I made these for baby showers. They look really cute when they are for boys, but for girls.. I'm open to suggestions on how to decorate them.

I will post some spring themed ones later this week.

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Long time no blog.

I can't believe it's already May, April just flew by.. The last post was about the Spring Awakening at the Greenpoint Food Market.. That's a long time ago, my bad.

The market went really well, and it developed into more work; I catered a fare-well party in Williamsburg providing empanadas and cake pops for dessert also- my cake pops are now also available at Better Being in the west village.. pretty awesome, huh? The kimchi sausage empanadas sold out first! I folded them in a dumpling fashion. The only picture I have from the empanadas is from the recap post that I stole since I didn't take any pictures myself.

The chicks cake pops did really well too.. and got a spot at the better being shelf which is awesome. I've also been working on some new shapes for cake pops that I promise i will post them within this week. I intended to make little baseballs but drawing the stitch didn't look as good as I expected, but i'll be trying again. So I had a bunch of white little balls i decided to make into little faces.

Business has been good, not an excuse for not blogging but it has definitely been keeping me busy. I'll have some new pictures soon.

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