Pear and Walnut Muffins

Tonight, I decided to make Pear and Walnut Muffins for my bi-weekly morning coffee at Blue Bottle Coffee Cafe with Mo-Fo and ShunBun. I got the recipe from Dragon's Kitchen, however, I had to improvise using a recipe found on Cooks.com because I didn't have any ripe bananas.


After the suggested 30 minutes of baking, I noticed that the muffins' texture was not as dry as I wanted it to be (although they all passed the toothpick test) so I decided to add another seven minutes of baking time. The end result was better, although I was still not 100% happy. Wondered what Mo-Fo and ShunBun would think of them tomorrow.

Late night update: Tomorrow's BBC is canceled... so I guess I will be able to sleep in.

Update # 2: Both Mo-Fo and ShunBun liked the muffins but they thought there was a bit too much fruit in the batter. Next time, I will cut back. Lesson learned!

Pasta with Garlic Shrimp and Roasted Broccoli

Tonight, I decided to make Pasta with Garlic Shrimp and Roasted Broccoli. The idea came from a couple of sources:

• The Garlic Shrimp from Dragon's Kitchen
  
• The Roasted Broccoli from NYTimes
  

It turned out pretty good but next time I would add more seasoning on the shrimp, fewer coriander seeds on the broccoli and cook the shrimp on a higher heat for more caramelization.

Birthday Dinner at Delfina Pizzeria

We went to Delfina Pizzeria to celebrate my birthday with Mo-Fo Duo and ShunBun... too bad Porgy couldn't join us. We ordered Gragnano, an Italian Sparkling Red Wine, to accompany our dinner.


Our dinner started with Fresh-stretched Mozzarella…


and Mozzarella Fritto.


For the main course, we shared Gricia Pizza that contained some salty guanciale (unsmoked Italian bacon)…


and Margherita Pizza with Bubalis Mozzarella di Bufala.


After dinner, we decided to get some dessert at Chow Restaurant. We shared Southern-Style Pecan Pie, Pear-Huckleberry Cobbler and Ginger Cake with Pumpkin Ice Cream.


I also got some chocolate cupcakes from Mo-Fo to bring home.


Oh... what a wonderful evening!

The Debut

After reading other people's food blogs and sites for several years, I decided to start my own food blog. Why today? Because it's my birthday and I was somewhat moved by Obama's inauguration yesterday. Well, let's start and I hope you enjoy it.