pumpkins, part one

Oh hey there, friends. Meet the worst blogger ever. (One posting in October? What kind of "schedule" does that follow, exactly?) This post is not exactly complete (hence the whole "part one" thing up top), but I thought I'd try to throw something up here before you forgot about me completely.

By the way, I really like you! Anyway, onto pumpkins.

Jena came to California last week! It was pretty much amazing. True to Stephanie fashion, I neglected to pull out my camera for the vast majority of the week, and thus I only have 2 photos even worth sharing with you. (I know, I know.) But the quick rundown of what we did: giggled and smiled and hugged. Saw dolphins at Baker Beach! (Also, unsuccessfully tried to avoid awkward naked guy at Baker Beach.) Looked for parking. Pondered about Sufjan's life after his thought-provoking concert at the Paramount. Went to our first (and second...) drive-in movie. Ate stuff, a lot of stuff. And drank coffee. Of course.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every person needs a good dose of hipster every now and then. We got a healthy helping with our breakfast our very first morning. (above: Blue Bottle Gibraltar, pumpkin buttermilk donut.)

If you're ever in the Temescal neighborhood of northern Oakland, you must must stop by Pizzaiolo for an espresso drink and a donut (Monday-Saturday, 8am-12pm). The pumpkin one was pretty TDF (and this is coming from someone who used to hate pumpkin).

Also...I baked some pumpkin bread. I don't actually have any of the bread to show you (whoops), but I did work really hard to lick all the batter off of the beater and spatula and bowl. See?

Since you dear people are so patient with me, I'll share the recipe with you. (Saw that one coming, did you?!) I also picked up a sugar pumpkin today at Trader Joe's, and I think it's high time I taught y'all how to make your own fresh pumpkin puree. (It's so fun!!) Next time, friends.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
(adapted from Epicurious)

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (or other neutral-tasting oil)
3 eggs, preferably room temperature
14.5-16 ounces pumpkin, either canned (aka one small can/half of a big can) or fresh
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup chocolate chips (milk, semisweet, or otherwise)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour two loaf pans (I sprayed mine with that amazing flour spray stuff. Makes my life easier.)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together both sugars and oil to blend. (Note: will look like crumbly, greasy sugar.) Mix in eggs and pumpkin until smooth. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. (Note: the spice blend is something that I've tinkered with a lot. If you prefer a different proportion of spices, definitely adjust as desired. However, I've found that 3 1/2 teaspoons of spice is probably the minimum amount you'd want to use for two loaves of bread.) Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in chocolate chips.

Pour equal amounts of batter into loaf pans. Smooth out the top with a spatula and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out pretty clean, 60-70 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then tip the bread out onto the rack and let it finish cooling. (If you're not quite ready for two pumpkin bread loaves to enter your life simultaneously, one can be easily frozen by first wrapping it in plastic wrap, then foil (the double wrapping protects against freezer burn)).

a summation

The photo above is the synopsis of everything I love about Vietnam.

take a big bite

Due to extremely popular demand (okay, only Jena actually voiced this but I try to believe that more of you want it as well), here comes a hearty take on Southeast Asia...food and other things that were worth photographing. Ready?

Kuala Lumpur--I'm a big fan. On our first day, after some monkey business (thanks Jena for writing about it so I don't have to), we were famished and ready for some real Malaysian food. We made a beeline for a place that said "banana leaf" on it. I mean, if ever in your life you have a choice between banana leaf or no banana leaf, please for the love of your stomach choose the banana leaf!

(top, left to right: some unidentified pink thing, cucumber, radish, carrot. And the fattest hunk of rice you ever did see with curry on top.) We also ordered some small plates of chicken curry and fish (the infamous fish eye was consumed here). So my former roommate T-face really enjoys eating with her hands, thus she would have enjoyed this meal, but I used a fork and spoon..sorry T!

The second day...on to KL's finest kopitiam, or the original kind of coffeeshop, a place to gather and meet with friends, a place that far preceded Starbucks. Just saying. Okay, so this place we went to is a solid part of KL history. It's been around for 80 years, which is really quite remarkable. Jena really hit the nail on the head with the roti babi, which is fried bread stuffed with pork, onions, etc. Amazing. Aubrey also hit the nail on the head by smothering her pork chop in kaya (coconut jam). The owner was rightfully confused when she asked for a side of kaya with her pork chop, but hey...you can't deny the combination of two very good things.

half of the pictures I took on the trip look like this. It is because there is no standard of decent coffee that anyone cares to live up to in East Asia.

Chicken rice! Rice cooked in chicken stock, accompanied by deeeeelish chicken and cucumbers to balance it out. Oh, that's not a worthy description because it's one of those must-taste-to-understand sorts of dishes.

That night, we went firefly watching outside of the city. On the way was a pit stop to feed some monkeys because really, what is Malaysia without monkeys?

He's a cutie, is he not?!

Anyway, it is becoming very obvious that southeast Asia will go on for a few more posts--too many pictures, and there is this little rule that blog posts should not go on for forever. Fair enough. Stay tuned!

too much coffee?

HA, of course there's no such thing with me. So yesterday, I had 5, yes 5, cups of coffee. To clarify, I have totally downed multiple cups of coffee in one sitting, but never 5 all in different locations in the course of a day. To document this momentous occasion, I present Stephanie's coffee log for February 1, 2009.

3:30 am: kopi o from kopitiam in Singapore airport. So we spent the night in the airport since we had an early flight the next morning, and it was so COLD inside I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. I decided to stop trying and embarked on my first coffee of the day, Malaysian style with a side of toast with kaya (coconut jam) & butter.

6:30 am: cappuccino from western-style coffee stand in the terminal. Amazing foam, and they sprinkled it with cocoa powder...bonus points! Lisa, I wish you were there.

12 pm: ca phe sua da (which translates to iced coffee with condensed milk) at restaurant in Saigon...a little weak.

4 pm: ca phe da (no milk) at a little place on our street. People watched with Jena and Aubrey. Pondered why Vietnamese women wear pajamas in the daytime.

9 pm: ca phe sua da with PHO for dinner. I can't believe I ate pho in Vietnam. It was so BOMB. And they brought it with the drip filter thing on top of the cup and it was like a dream. As I ordered it, I realized that it was the 5th coffee of the day, and I promise, reader, I hesitated a little, but then I realized that this stay in Vietnam is all too short, and I am returning to a land where the coffee is frightfully bad...to sum up, I needed that coffee. And it was the best one of the day.

I then slept like a baby in our amazing $11/night guesthouse.

I am so excited for tomorrow; we are going to eat the reportedly "best sandwich" in Saigon. Somebody pinch me!