Behind the Scenes: Thanksgiving Baking

I finally uploaded pics from my camera, and I had some pictures taken by Marissa and I from the Thanksgiving morning bake-a-thon...

First, to give you an idea of what i'm working with here... this is my entire kitchen- all of it!!

Rolling out pie crusts. I don't have a rolling pin, so I use a glass usually.

The real challenge is finding enough counter space!

Apple and cranberry pie filling. So easy to make. I cut all of the apples into slices so that when you cut the pie, it looks really pretty. The cranberries added awesome color!

Ready to bake.

Ready to eat!

After the chocolate cream set, I added a layer of raspberries before I put the whipped cream on top.

Hye working on the icing for the red velvet cake. Marissa popping open a bottle of sparkling apple cider (SO typical!) ...check out that glamour apron!

2nd Annual Korean American Thanksgiving Dinner!

Tonight we packed 20 people into my teeny, tiny baby apartment in Chelsea. It was SO much fun! I was so afraid we wouldn't have enough food, but at the end of the night I packed up to-go plates for 6 people! And there is still some left for Marissa and I's breakfast!

The Menu:

Turkey (delicious, amazing, perfectly cooked)- by Suji

Stuffing (so awesome-- am getting the recipe asap because everyone must make!)- by Angélique

Korean noodle dish (quite possibly my favorite korean food yet)- by Yeagi and Sookhyun

and Mashed potatoes and biscuits (yum yum yum)- by my fave sis, Marissa

Sookhyun, Suji, Hye, Marissa, me, Yaegi

Sue, Suji, Marissa, me, Angélique

Sue, Suji, Marissa

So, after we were all totally stuffed and comatose... we started on desserts.

I wanted to make all new and different pie recipes from last year, and I am pretty happy about the way they all turned out.

Clockwise from upper left: Cranberry Apple Crumble Pie, Brown Sugar-Buttermilk Pie, another Cranberry Apple Crumble, Red Velvet Cake, and a Black Bottom Raspberry Cream Pie

Yaegi's favorite was the Black Bottom Raspberry Cream Pie-- it was literally gone in 2 minutes, so I would call it a hit. So, so delicious. I made the chocolate cookie crust with Newman's chocolate ABC cookies because I couldn't find any chocolate wafer cookies. The texture wasn't super fine, but it still looked really good, and had great flavor.

I love buttermilk pies. This recipe was delicious and really, really easy to make.

Annnd, the red velvet cake. Made just for Hye. I only have 7" pie pans, so i used those instead of the 9", which made a really tall cake. It honestly turned out perfectly. The Southern tradition addition to the meal... I miss Texas food.

Recipes:

*Cranberry Apple Crumb Pie

*Brown Sugar Buttermilk Pie

*Black Bottom Raspberry Cream Pie

*Red Velvet Cake (I didn't use the raspberries and blueberries, waaay too expensive at this time of year...)

I used my mom's pie crust recipe for the apple pies and buttermilk:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4cup icy cold milk

And: all of these pics were taken by my girl, Angélique. Seriously, if you haven't checked it out already...

click HERE!

It was a really wonderful day. I'm so glad I have so many great friends (who all also happen to be fantastic cooks) that I could spend the day with.

Mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, and pie for breakfast?

It's Fall!

Fall is without a doubt my favorite season. When I first moved to New York I couldn't get over how awesome it was to have four distinct seasons. Now that I've experienced a small taste of Fall in northern Michigan though, I know that what I consider Fall here is a littttle bit lame. That said, I love 50 degree weather in NYC and even though there aren't a lot of colored leaves falling, there are a lot of little dogs in rain coats... almost as cool?!

Of everything I love about Fall, pumpkins are my absolute favorite. Particularly eating pumpkins. Last night I ate pumpkin ravioli...yum! My mom sent me an amazing pumpkin themed care package with a pumpkin loaf pan from William Sonoma. I had been dying to try it out but school has been insane so it took awhile. Finalllly:

It has this pretty little leaf print on top, and I just sprinkled a little powdered sugar.

There was a ton of extra batter so i made muffins also.

Mmmm... I love pumpkin everything! In other news, I had to make a bodysuit this week. Looking back on the extreme unpleasantness of sewing plaid spandex, I don't really know what possessed me to buy it, but I am pretty sure it had something to do with the lumberjack-y feeling that also reminds me of Fall.

I like the final product, but I definitely don't think it looks as complicated as it actually was to construct. I'll credit it to the hours I spent painstakingly matching plaids, but it is really hard to see that the front is actually 9 separate pattern pieces. (Also, the lines you see underneath the mesh are just style tape on the dress form, not part of the design.)