Spring Challenge Line-Up

This Saturday's the Idyllwild Spring Challenge, Emi and I will be racing and David'll run the shirt booth. It's an interesting role-reversal. So he'll hang out and drink some beers while we ride, possibly in the rain. I've been really busy and so we're using some of our old designs.

Bikeman. Womens in Heather Cinnamon, Mens in Military Green. I think this shirt will always be one in the mix.
Shoulder bag with the Pennyfarther design.

A new one, "Bike Nerd" this one's for the guys, baby blue ink on dk. chocolate shirt.

For the ladies...baby blue on navy blue shirt.



And the Penny's are back again. This time Heather Grey for the women, and Charcoal for the guys.

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In addition, we'll bring along shirts from the past booths. This one's a somewhat small race, I think the one in June at Big Bear will be the one we'll have a little more variety, maybe even pins and magnets?

Daring Bakers-April 2009- Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
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I was pretty happy with making cheesecake this month. Usually it's a cake someone in the family chooses as their birthday cake, but it had been a while since I've made it. It's one of those cakes that is fairly simple to make, yet heavenly delicious. Cheesecake is like ice cream to me, simple is best so I decided to leave it plain. If it's good, leave it alone.
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Usually these baking challenges are enjoyed only by the family. This time there was company so I was able to share them with friends. This cheesecake tastes very similar to my go-to NY Cheesecake recipe, expect this one is baked in a waterbath so I couldn't use my springform pan. Oh, and this one had four times more heavy cream in it, so it was VERY CREEEEEAMY! Oh yeah, it was good! And it didn't last too long. ^_^
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Check out the recipe here.

Unexpected Turn of Events

Funny how there are these unexpected turns in life that brings you to a place you'd never expect you'd be. For me, it has been mtn. biking. About 12 years ago, I was in a mtn. bike accident, going downhill my bike slipped and I hit my head on a rock which cracked my helmet and left me unconscious. For nearly a decade after that, I didn't ride a bike except to ride to the bathroom and back at David's bike races. I was just terrified to ride a bike. And now, I'm in training to race my first bike race, the Idyllwild Spring Challenge. Racing is the last thing I thought I'd be doing. Being a newbie, I'll stick to a short course, 9.5 miles, but I'll be racing alongside Emi, who's raced the 7-mile course last year. We pre-rode the shorter course today, and we had a lot of fun. We just cruised and didn't worry about going fast. And to David's pleasure, I'll be rockin' a singlespeed. Now, how this did happen?

Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta

Our families enjoys pasta. But it 99% of the times it's the same ol' spaghetti with marinara sauce. Don't get me wrong, we still enjoy it very much but I just wanted to try something different. Creamy sauces like alfredo are usually too rich and heavy. But this one came out pretty good. Found the recipe from Allrecipes.com, made a couple changes like adding more garlic and pesto, and throwing in some zucchini, but for the most part stuck to the recipe. It was flavorful and not heavy at all. A keeper recipe.

Dynamite (BANG!)

My dad used to be a sushi chef so he taught me how to make Dynamite, those rich mayonaise sauce topped seafood. I used some sliced octopus, salmon, kanikama (imitation crab) and mushrooms but anything you enjoy will work fine. Instead of making individual portions, I just made a big one in an 8x8 brownie pan.

The mayo sauce is quite simple, mainly minced or crushed garlic and mayonaise. Often times they put in masago (smelt roe) and since that isn't something most people have in their fridge, this one is optional. I just happen to have some in the freezer that needed to be used. Spread it over the top...

And bake. I used my toaster oven. This dish is very rich, almost too rich for me, so I don't cook this too often. This same sauce tastes great on green mussels, sliced boiled potatoes, or in mushroom caps. Adding cilantro to the mayo sauce gives it that "fresh" taste, and my dad even adds miso sometimes. This is a good base that has endless possibilities.

DB March Challenge: Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

This month's Daring Baker's Challenge wasn't bread or some tasty baked good, but Lasagne made with homemade spinach pasta. We like lasagne so we were pretty happy with this one. The requirement was that we make the handmade spinach egg pasta, use bechamel sauce, and a ragu sauce.
The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Look at that beautiful green ball of pasta!


A great opportunity to use my ravioli cutter.

The pasta drying in my living room.

Making bechamel sauce was a new one for me. I didn't even know what it was. In the end, my kids say, "This tastes like regular lasagne!" Great...after all that hard work...

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The Daring Bakers now have their own website, you can check out the recipe here, and also check out the wonderful creations from the rest of us!

Pound Cake

My first pound cake experience...I had never had pound cake before so it never crossed my mind to make one. Until now. It was 5 pm and I wanted to bake something for dessert. Cinnamon buns sounded really good but was too time consuming. Flipping through one of my baking books I came across a pound cake recipe. The process was like making a quickbread, simple and quick, and I remembered I had some strawberries in the fridge that would go great with it.

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The traditional American pound cake would contain one pound each of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar, hence the name "pound" cake. And who knew there are British, French, Mexican, and Columbian-style pound cakes.

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Pound cakes are very versatile, by adding different flavor extracts or add-ins, you can create a new cake each time.

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Pound Cake (Better Homes & Gardens Old-Fashioned Home Baking)

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1 c. butter

4 eggs

2 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1/4 t. ground nutmeg (optional)

1 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla

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Bring butter and eggs to room temperature. Grease and lightly flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. In a medium bowl stir together flour, powder, and, if desired, nutmeg. Set eggs, pan, and flour mixture aside.

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In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or till softened. Gradually add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on medium to high speed about 6 minutes total or till very light and fluffy. Add the vanilla. Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating on low to medium speed for 1 minute after each addition; scrape sides of bowl often. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low speed just till combined.

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Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake in a 325*F oven for 55 to 65 minutes or till cake tests done. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Then remove cake from pan and cool completely on rack.

Cheep Cheep Cheep

We just got three more chicks, they are Ameraucanas which lay blue eggs. Each one has a distinct color scheme so it's easy to tell them apart. The kids are having a hard time coming up with names, but are having a fun time watching them. They cheep all day, they are just soooo cute!

Emi's, this one is the smallest and the most mellow. Just adorable.

Abby's, a little bigger then Emi's, and kinda has a "duck" look when you look at it from the side.

Sage's, probably the biggest of the three and the bossiest. This one may be a cock (hope not...)

Oh Yeah!

That hit the spot! Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmm. These were so easy to make and delicious too. I used dark chocolate, sinful...

Trail Bars Again

This time instead of microwaving the marshmallow/butter mixture I melted them in a non-stick pan. My mix-ins were just granola, rice crispies, dried cranberries, and white chocolate chips which went into the pan (like when you make rice crispy treats) which wasn't a good idea. The chocolate chips melted and spread everywhere. Next time if I use chips I'll pour the marshallow mixture into the bowl. But they were still tasty!