People watching on the High Line

A trip to New York City is not complete without visiting the High Line.

Sunday Evenings

Had a quiet Sunday today. Stayed in, baked some scones, watched the Food Network, obsessed about my sourdough yeast starter (I think it died…top picture), and enjoyed dinner. (In four months I’ll probably be looking at this picture pinning for my mother’s cooking – more on that in a future post.) I have another little book review scheduled for Tuesday morning. If you’re interested in what I have to say about Mark Bittman’s VB6 book, drop in then ;) – the bread you see is from the book.

A simple yoghurt cake to beat the Mondays

Now and then it’s nice to make yourself a list of things that have made you happy. In no particular order, here’s mine from this weekend:

My rainbow gingham tea towel from the dollar store
Finding a new favourite Korean restaurant (a mom and pop on Baldwin street)
A new summer blazer that will quickly be unfashionable
Spending time with Leo (sapppppy, I know) – we watched movies, biked, shopped, and baked together
Being on the verge to finalizing a fantasy trip
Another thrifted Japanese plate!
The first Italian Soda of the year – lime and raspberry from Second Cup
Finishing a roll of film
Aaaaand…this  simple yoghurt cake, made on a whim

No glaze, no buttercream frosting, not even a dusting of icing sugar, just a plain and basic yoghurt cake with a nice crust and a spongy texture. I ate it on Sunday afternoon with a glass of cold milk and now have thoughts of whipping up a jar of milk jam to just spread on top of a slice alongside a cup of tea. I was in a mood for sharing that day and quickly halved the cake to make sure Leo and his family would get to try it.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  The rainbow gingham is really making me smile right now. Is it summer yet?

Yoghurt Cake

Recipe adapted from Vishinka via Nigella.com

1 cup of yoghurt

1.25 cups of sugar

3 cups of cake flour

1/2 cup of oil

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl.

Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F), line the bottom of a round 25-cm (10-inch) cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Cake is ready when a tester comes out clear.

It’s Sunday again….

 

Geez, who knew brewing coffee required any thinking! After years of my mom making coffee for us every weekend, I’ve finally decided it’s high time I try it myself. Thinking it was just like tea, I was just going to throw in a couple of spoonful and however much water I thought I’d need until my mom stopped me and impatiently explained that there’s some sort of ratio to it all.

For these “Kenya Kangocho” beans from Forty Parallel Ninth, I tried two tablespoon of coffee and measured water for 4 cups of coffee. Other than “bold” and “mild”, my coffee vocab is pretty limited – so please excuse my attempt at describing it. (My mom just peered over my shoulder and asked – scoffed! – if I was trying to tell people how to make coffee.) While I usually like coffee that are bolder, these turned out tasting pretty mild, but bright.

Anyway, who am I kidding? This was all just an excuse for me to take pictures.

 

Have a nice Sunday! I have plans of making Joy the Baker’s almond lemon meringue cookies.

happy friday & weekending!

Scenes from last Sunday:

Roasted chicken, braised beef cheeks, beets & apple salad from Inigo. Bread from The Healthy Butcher (the guy who owns the place was on Food Network Canada’s dinner party wars!). Brazilian cheese bread from yours truly. Iced americano & iced chai from Crafted Te Aro.