So in my infinite avoidance of any responsibility I have that is not related to East Asia, I’ve discovered some cool keyboard functions on my computer for typing in Mandarin. For example, did you know you can use the trackpad to write characters? It takes some getting used to and isn’t very practical for writing entire e-mails or what have you, but it’s a lot of fun to play with.
我想要绿萘.
I have learned how to type some important phrases as a result, such as the absolutely vital “I would like a green tea”. I don’t remember how to write latte, but I know how to say it, which is more helpful anyway. I am so ready to go China, you guys. So ready.
On the subject of things you actually come to this blog to read about: I have so many baking recipes to post! At long last! Because I made this bread, which as you can see requires sour cream, and then I had a ton of sour cream leftover, so I had to find something to do with it… and baked more things! I also have a couple of dinner recipes, so expect more content showing up soon. I adapted this recipe from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook (I say adapted; I was too cheap to buy some ingredients so I made some substitutions and messed around a little bit…).
Ingredients:
- 3 cups + 2 tbsp flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 9 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder + 3 tbsp butter, melted OR 3 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 1 shot espresso OR 1 tbsp instant espresso + 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter
- 2 2/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup cour cream
- a handful of slivered almonds (optional)
Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and ready a loaf pan.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small-ish bowl and set aside.
Now here is where I messed with the recipe a bit because I didn’t have certain ingredients. The original recipe says to put the chocolate and the espresso powder shit in a bowl and pour the boiling water on top until the ingredients melted. What I did was melt the 3 tbsp of butter in a small pot, stir in the cocoa powder, and then dump that into a different pot with the brewed shot of espresso in it, stirring until it all melted together.
After that madness, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl for about 3 minutes before adding the eggs one at a time. Gradually add the dry ingredients beating until just combined and smooth. Mix in the sour cream and then gradually add the chocolate mixture as well.
Pour the batter into your loaf pan.
If you’re using almonds, sprinkle the almonds on top.
Then, bake for 70-80 minutes. I know, that’s so long! I think (I made it a week ago early in the morning) mine took about 70. A cake test should come out clean.
Like I said, I’ll be posting more recipes soon, and most of them involve sour cream, so if you’re looking to get rid of the sour cream you used here, stay tuned.
I feel a little bit at a loss when it comes to today’s book recommendation. I actually read a ton of books recently, all novels, but most of them were by Banana Yoshimoto, whom I know I’ve mentioned before. I highly recommend anything she’s written. I also read a couple of big-name Chinese writers, including the most recent Nobel winner Mo Yan, but I don’t actually want to recommend them… I suppose I enjoyed Ryu Murakami’s Popular Hits of the Showa Era, which is a slim, bizarre, almost surreal novel about a war between a group of loser guys and a club of jaded housewives. I was curious about Murakami because, as you probably know by know, I’m crazy about Haruki Murakami, and looking in bookstores and at the library I always see his books mixed in with Ryu Murakami’s. I did enjoy it, but I’m not in love with it. Still, it’s worth a read, and it is quite fun.
Foodography 