Retro Foods

So. What happened? My most previous post was dated April 13, one day before my 40th birthday. Almost as if at, bloggers 40 and older are no longer allowed to write about trivial stuff like food and fitness. Their blogging cards are taken away. Or, maybe, shortly after my birthday the family and I left for a fabulous Hawaiian vacation, then I got lazy. I mean busy. Real busy.

But, all along I’ve been taking pictures, so I’ll be posting pics and stories over the next weeks and will catch you up on the goings on at the chattycha household and beyond. Mother’s day and Father’s day have come and gone, but you’ll be able to experience them again right here.

Let’s start with this one, the birthday cake I conjured up. I was feeling kinda retro, it being the start of my fourth decade. I am a child of the 70s, and this is a cake of the 70s (or maybe even earlier. Who knows.These food fads come and go).

A pineapple upside down cake. Marschino cherries, brown sugar glaze. Very easy, very pretty, very tasty.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Kid’s verdict: “I like it, except for the pineapple.” … Ooooookaaaaay then.

 

Next up: A retro potluck. We were tasked with a dish that grandma used to make, or something like that. I knew I wanted to do a jello salad, then discovered this gem on AllRecipes. Extremely easy: 1 container of Cool Whip, 1 container of cottage cheese, 1 box of orange-flavored Jell-o, 1 can each of mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple.

Mix well, chill and serve.

Orange Jell-O salad AKA Orange Fluff

Comments I received on this one: “Exactly how Mom used to make,” and “That’s not retro, that’s at our Thanksgiving table every year.”

Odd and strange, but surprisingly yummy. Good for one day only. The next day it starts to separate and gets leaky and stuff.

Mind you, I never had these foods when I was a kid. Certainly my grandparents, whom I saw only a handful of times on accounting of their living in Taiwan, never ever made this stuff. My parents wouldn’t have, either. It’s all foods I assumed “Americans” ate. It’s the 70s childhood I envisioned. How close was I?

Thanksgiving Desserts 2014

pumpkin pie

Pumpkin Pie!!!!

I made a pumpkin pie because I always do. It’s my thing: pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. Seriously, you can’t find an easier job (unless your job is to have your wife make the easy pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce.)

This year’s pumpkin pie was the easy one that was essentially the recipe you find on the side of the can, with the most difficult part being making the crust. There’s always this weird part in the process where I suddenly panic that the pie pan/crust is too large for the amount of filling, then I throw it in the anyway and somehow it always works out. I wish my AllRecipes app could let me leave a note to myself for next year that says, “chill out, it’ll all work out” but it doesn’t. So, memo to self to ask the app makers to create a memo section.

The kid and I did this first one together, and by 4 p.m. on Wednesday the pie was already cooling, and I felt like doing something more. The kid had been talking about carrot cake for quite some time so I decided, what the heck, I really want to bring something else. The kid did not feel like helping this time.

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This carrot cake is courtesy of AllRecipes (my go-to for these types of things), with a few substitutions. I replaced a 1/2 cup of oil with applesauce. I used a combination of plain greek (2%) yogurt and skim milk/lemon juice as a sub for buttermilk (none at the store, which maybe is what you get for going there on the night before the big day). And left out the coconut flakes due to preference (everyone else’s, I suspected). Also, maybe 1/4 cup of raisins instead of the cup in the recipe. Mainly because of what we had in the house.

It was yum. I used Chef John’s cream cheese frosting, which I couldn’t get quite smooth,but was great nonetheless. In fact, the kid, upon receiving her piece of cake, licked the frosting off, including the middle layer, and left the cake be. She gave it a sideways thumb (unlike the thumbs up she gave that pumpkin pie). I suppose the only reason why it wasn’t a thumbs down was that cream cheese frosting.

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Lastly, the husband’s aunt brought a beautiful pie courtesy of Lisa DuPar catering. Pecan, with a spiced whipped cream. Amazing. I may or may not have gotten up at 5:45 a.m. today to cut myself a slice because I didn’t have any at dinner last night, on account of how full I was yesterday.

A few random food pics of sweet things from yesterday:

My snack before heading over to "Papa and Gaga's" ... Added to the list of pumpkin stuff I tried, and liked. Prior to the eating workout I went for a run. 4 miles = 400 calories = justification for a second slice of dessert

My snack before heading over to “Papa and Gaga’s” … Added to the list of pumpkin stuff I tried, and liked. Prior to the eating workout I went for a run. 4 miles = 400 calories = justification for a second slice of dessert

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I don’t drink soda much anymore. But it’s hard to pass up a glass of Martinelli’s.

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The two-layer cake was surprisingly successful. How do I repeat this every time?

desserts

Busy kitchen

PLUS, the Seahawks won! WOOT. Truly thankful, indeed.

Happy VD

I told the husband last week that I didn’t want flowers on Valentine’s Day (what we prefer to call “VD”). I didn’t want jewelry (not that we can afford it right now). I didn’t want a fancy dinner. I all I wanted, I told him, was some petit fours from the Market. And he delivered. Hurrah!

petit fours for valentines day

petit fours for valentine's day

They are delicious. Light and airy, with a touch of marzipan in the center of two layers of cake. Just the right amount of sweetness.

Thanks to the husband!

Angel

The sister & family are in town this week, having driven all the way from Colorado. Woohoo! To celebrate I attempted to make my first angel food cake. Lots of egg whites. Lots of powdered sugar. Lots of sifting. Other than that, not that bad. A bit more high maintenance than I like, but it was all cool. Here is a hint, though, watch the cake in the oven, because I have a feeling it tends to bake much quicker than it’s supposed to. I took this cake out just a little bit before the suggested time (40 – 45 minutes), and still I feel I was a little late in doing so. Next time I will take it out even earlier. Yes, there will be a next time with this cake, even though the husband is not a fan of AFC. Can you believe it? That’s cool. More cake for me …

angel food cake via chattycha on flickr

See, I should have taken it out of the oven earlier … it’s browner than I’d like it to be. Also, it was quite the sticky thing, not wanting to come out of its pan. BTW, we received an AFC pan for our wedding (yes, I did register for one and no, I don’t believe the husband mentioned he didn’t like AFC when we registered for it). It was still NIB until this week. The wedding was, yes, four years ago!

angel food cake via chattycha on flickr

The cake, with a homemade cherry sauce on the side (a bit too sweet, next time I’ll cut the sugar amount in half or something) and some low-fat Cool Whip topping. I never buy that stuff, but hey, I’m still on vacation!

Cake

I attended a super-fun baby shower over the weekend. It was held at Mike’s house in The ‘Quah, as I like to call it, hosted by Marissa and Carol, and featuring mum-to-be MJ. MJ’s mom took tons of photos, sent them out this morning and of course the only photo I look for is the one of the cake. Marissa has cake-baking in her blood (seriously, her mom is a professional baker), so I ALWAYS look forward to tasting whatever treats she brings. (I remember one work potluck she showed up with this awesome mocha-swirly decadent cheesecake. It put my sad pumpkin-chocolate-chip muffins to shame. Shame, I tell you!)

Details on the cake … yellow cake with raspberry jam and fresh raspberries in the center. The icing was a light and airy whipped topping (“stabilized whipped cream”, as Marissa put it), that I’ve always loved but never knew how to make. Now I know to look for BetterCream or PastryPride. On the top of the two-layer cake were these very cute mini-cakes, shaped like those wooden toy blocks that everyone played with as a tot. These little blocks were a chocolate cake with Nutella, and had whipped cream as the filling.

Now, I didn’t taste the chocolate cake, but the yellow cake was amazing. I was most impressed with the presentation. Some day, maybe, just maybe I could move out of my Muffins 101 level and become an advanced-placement cake baker, too.

baby shower cake! taken by MJ's Mom!

Now that I’ve spent 242 words on the cake, I can also say that I had a great time at the shower. Pink was the theme for the day (you assume correctly if you think MJ is expecting a little baby girl), and we all oohed and aahed over the adorable pink outfits that MJ kept unwrapping. M & C did a fantastic job with coordinating everything, from the invites, to the decorations, to the goodie bag treats and the fun ‘catered’ lunch boxes with the girly cursive and pink themes. Loved it. Just made me smile.