Roasted chicken breast with chickpeas and tomatoes

Here's a simple and delicious way to roast chicken breast. The recipe from Bon Appetit. Very convenient recipe as it minimizes many the step, dirty bowls, mixing and fidgeting. basically dump the beans, tomoatoes in a spice paste (leaving a few tablespoons to rub on the chicken breasts) and then roast the whole thing together in a high oven.

Some recent asian-inspired meals.

Vietnamese squid salad (recipe from Food Network).

Salad with poached chicken topped with Bittman carrot miso dressing.

Yogurt & Granola

I've been making yogurt pretty consistently every week. it's become a saturday morning ritual. I wanted to add some crunch so decided to test out granola recipes. here's a pretty simple one (in the best possible way) - a combination of oats, cocout and chopped almonds. sweetened with an equal combination of honey and brown rice syrup, it was the perfect level of sweetness.

toasted in a low oven (300) for 30 minutes, it took on a warm, toasty color and crunch.

Breakfast to go.

Mocha walnut marbled bundt

Here's the mocha-walnut marbled bundt cake from Dorie Greenspan's baking book i made for dad's confirmation. After much going back and forth, I made a last minute decision to go with this. it was my first attempt at "marbling" and thought it turned out pretty well.

Super moist and on the dense side; i'm not sure if I needed to beat the eggs and sugar longer for a lighter crumb or if this is how it's supposed to taste/look. Nonetheless, pretty delicious and one of those desserts that melded together and improved in flavor as the days went by.

This was dinner tonight. I sauteed ground beef with some garlic, chili paste, ground pepper. then added schuan peppercorn, chinese black beans. Then i added chicken broth/soy sauce and simmered the tofu. Delicious. fast. very filling and flavorful. My tongue's still numb and tingly from the sechuan peppers.

Pilar picking ingredients for the lunch.

Making tomatillo salsa

Mother's Day walk to school

Our weekend in Williamstown with dad, Wk and Samchon. peak leafing season, PapaC's, Hobson's Choice. run and walk on Gail. thought dad might freeze to death but he was a trooper, seeming genuinely exilerated and proud after finishing out walk.

The outdoor bazaars along the Silk Road may be the best examples of food being a universal bridge that brings people and culture together. This bazaar in Urumqui (Xinjiang, China) was typical of the outdoor markets we saw all over Western China. Rows of street vendors selling nuts, dates, fresh/dried fruits, tea, spices etc. Amidst the funkier looking things, seeing all the familiar foodstuff, from Saudi dates, to Vietnamese cinnamon, was a reminder of how compressed the world is. These Bazaars were, it's said, the original source of cultural exchange and the means through which great culinary ideas passed through. This explains the noodle heavy cuisine (sometimes not a far just from spagetti smothered in a tomato-based sauce, sometimes more like a Vietnamese pho) or the grilled meats that would feel familiar in Turkey or India. Pretty amazing to consider the kind of influence and cross-pollination that goes on from such disparate regions. See where a little openness can take you?