10,000 Steps

"You should have no fewer than 10,000 steps a day"
- Dr. Robert Butler, Founding Director of the National Institute on Aging, in an interview for the New York Times Magazine

10,000 steps a day is roughly equal to 5 miles. A day. There are many trends in achieving a healthy lifestyle, but the most ancient and obvious method is to put one foot in front of the other.

It's so simple, really. Man evolved to stand upright and walk on two legs, and somehow with all of our knowledge and inventiveness, we have devolved from this ability and choose to sit instead.

We travel thousands of miles every year on airplanes, in cars, on trains, but using our own power to move our bodies from point A to point B seems foreign. And also distant to us is the enjoyment of the journey, not simply the destination.

There is something wonderful that happens to your mind when you go for a walk. It gets to focus on ideas, one at a time, without life's constant distractions. A quiet, cerebral journey is just as important as a physical one. How wonderful that we can experience both simultaneously.

One step, then another, then another. Footprints on the earth. 10,000 steps. Go.

Orange Blossom Cupcakes with Fresh Berries

Cupcake version of yesterday's cake.

Orange Blossom Cake with Fresh Berries

Was just done having 5 people over for dinner. It was so much fun! Plus we got a firework spectacular show at end the evening. We had Spinach Salad (without hard boiled eggs - but with grilled shrimp) for appetizer, beef massaman curry with steamed jasmine rice for main dish, and this cake for dessert. I got original recipe from Epicurious.com. I made a bunch of changes to the recipe: I had only 8 eggs in the refrigerator - so I used 8 instead of 9 and adjusted all other ingredients with my mad math skills. I made a 9 inch round cake and 12 cupcakes out of the batter. I only served the 9-inch cake instead of 2 layers of 10-inch cakes. It's more manageable for 6 people.

There's a special ingredient for this recipe: Orange Blossom Water. I got mine from Dean and Deluca. Oh my god.... The thing smells heavenly. I wish I can use it as perfume. It transformed the cake from ordinary sponge cake to the most fragrant and delicious cake I have ever tasted...



Ingredients

• Cake


• 2 sticks butter (1 cup) - room temperature


• 1 3/4 cup sugar (1 1/4 cups + 1/2 cups)


• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


• 4 cups self-rising cake flour


• 1 1/4 cups whole milk


• 8 egg whites



• Syrup


• 1 cup sugar


• 1 cup water


• 1 table spoon orange blossom water



• Frosting


• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup) - room temperature


• 1 package cream cheese (8 oz.) - room temperature


• 1/2 a box confectioner sugar (about 2 cups)


• 1 teaspoon orange blossom water



• Berries


• 1/2 pound strawberries - half the best looking 6 strawberries and quarter the rest


• 1 pint blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners. Grease 9-ince springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.


2. With electric mixer, beat butter and 1 1/4 cups of sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla.


3. Alternately, stir in flour and milk into butter mixture in 3 batches.


4. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites with electric mixer at medium speed until foamy. Slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar while the mixer is running. Beat until the mixture forms peak.


5. Gently fold egg white mixture into the batter until there's no white streak.


6. Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes and the cake for 40 minutes. Cool cupcakes and keep for other occasion. Cool cake in a pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool completely.



7. To make syrup, boil water and sugar together. Reduce heat to medium low and let reduce to about a cup. Turn off the heat. Add orange blossom water. Let cool completely.



8. To make frosting, beat butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Add sugar. Add orange blossom water.



9. To assemble, slice off the dome top of the cake. Cut the cake in half horizontally. Spoon half the syrup on top of the bottom layer. Pile half of the frosting on top of the cake. Sprinkle quartered strawberries and half of blueberries on top of the frosting. Press the fruit a little - making sure that the surface is quite flat.


10. Place the second half of the cake on top of fruit. Spoon the rest of syrup on the cake surface. Frost with the rest of the frosting. Decorate with the rest of strawberries and blueberries.

It took me 2 days to prepare this cake. I baked the cake on Friday night. Prepared syrup in the afternoon the next day. And 2 hours later I whipped the frosting and assembled the cake. A lot of work - but it was well worth it. The cake was beautiful , not too sweet, and smelled like fresh summer.

Lemon Ginger Thyme Muffins

I had this recipe bookmarked since last October. Never got a chance to make it since I've never seen thyme in my local supermarket. Yesterday, I was at the farmers market at Prospect Park. Had $20 with me. Spent it all buying strawberries, sugar snap peas, apples, spinach, and thyme!

Original recipe is from Dannon Yogurt website. I changed things a bit: buttermilk instead of yogurt, more fresh ginger, and half wholewheat flour instead of all purpose flour.

These muffins came out delicious. I'm liking thyme in my baked goods. I'll have to look for more thyme recipes.



Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1 cup wholewheat flour


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1 teaspoon ground ginger


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 cup canola oil


• 1 cup sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 cup buttermilk


• 1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger


• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme


• lemon zest from 1 lemon


• 1 cup raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners.


2. Whisk together all purpose flour, wholewheat flour, baking soda, ground ginger and salt in a medium bowl.


3. With electric mixer, beat oil and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition.


4. Stir in flour mixture and buttermilk into the wet ingredients alternately in 3 batches. Stir until just combined.


5. Fold in ginger, thyme, lemon zest and raisins.


6. Drop by tablespoon into muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes. Make 12 muffins.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

My friends who ate these cupcakes, please don't kill me when you learned how much fat, sugar and artificial color I put in these cupcakes.... Well, at least it's healthy fat - canola oil - not butter. I didn't do nothing! I didn't try to poison you. I just followed the recipe! And the cupcakes came out delicious, didn't they?

Original recipe from foodnetwork.com's Paula Dean. I added a little more cocoa powder in the cake and reduced butter and sugar in the frosting.



Ingredients

• Cupcakes - I got 28 cupcakes


• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour


• 1 1/2 cups sugar


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder


• 1 1/2 canola oil


• 1 cup buttermilk


• 2 eggs


• 2 tablespoons red food color


• 1 teaspoon vinegar


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract



• Frosting - enough to frost 25 cupcakes with about 1 1/2 cup left


• 2 packages cream cheese - room temperature


• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 2 1/2 cups confectioner sugar

Red!!!
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners.


2. Sift flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder in a medium bowl.


3. With electric mixer, beat oil, buttermilk, eggs, color, vinegar and vanilla together until well combined.


4. Stir in flour mixture.


5. Drop by tablespoon into prepared muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.


6. For frosting, beat cream cheese, butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.


7. Frost the cupcakes using about a teaspoonful on each cupcake.

White Chocolate Cake with Apricot and White Chocolate Frosting

I have been dreaming of making this cake since I started planning this Sunday's dinner a month ago. I've never really baked with white chocolate or fresh apricots. The original recipe from epicurious.com. I followed the cake recipe almost exactly but I reduced butter and sugar in the frosting by a lot. I also made only 2 layers instead of 4.

So I started baking on Friday. Good thing I started early. I burnt the cake. My oven went out again. But this time I knew how to fix it by myself. Thing is I didn't realize it didn't work until I had already prepared my batter. So of course I was restless. I couldn't wait to bake the cake. When the thermometer hit 350 degrees I put the cake in trusting the thermostat. Big mistake. The temperature went up to 425. When it's time to check for the cake. It was already burnt...

Second attempt worked out beautifully.... The final product was delicious. The sweetness of white chocolate balanced out tartness of fresh apricot perfectly. And the cake looked beautiful.



Ingredients

• For cake -- I got 1 9-inch round cake and 12 cupcakes out of this


• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour


• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 10 tablespoons butter - room temperature


• 1 1/3 cups sugar


• 4 eggs


• 1 1/4 cup white chocolate - chopped and melted (I did in microwave)


• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 cup milk



• Apricot filling


• 2 apricots - chopped and let sit in 2 tablespoon sugar


• 4 apricots - sliced thinly (I got 12 pieces out of each apricot)



• White chocolate frosting -- enough for the 2 layer cake but not for cupcakes


• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 1 cup confectioner sugar


• 3/4 cup or 1/2 pound white chocolate - chopped and melted


• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Half a pound of chopped white chocolate.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick baking spray. Line a muffin pan with liners.


2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.


3. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition. Beat in melted chocolate and vanilla.


4. Alternately add flour mixture and milk into the wet mixture in 3 batch. Stir until well combined.


5. Divide the batter in prepared pans and bake cupcakes for 20 minutes and cake for 33 minutes. Let cool.



6. To make frosting, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add melted white chocolate and Grand Marnier. Beat until creamy. Add sugar or more liquid to taste. I kept the frosting overnight in the refrigerator and it became hard. I had to let it thaw and re-whip it before assembling.



7. To assemble, slice the cake in half horizontally. Line the outer edge of the first layer cake with a third of sliced apricots. Spread 2/3 of chopped apricot in the middle. Pile half of the frosting on top. Top with the second layer. Frost the top. Decorate with the rest of chopped apricots and sliced apricot.


8. If keep the cake in refrigerator, let it thaw a few hours before serving. Otherwise, the frosting becomes hard.

Choo Chee Pla Salmon

This is one variation of Choo Chee Curry. I guess you can make any seafood a Choo Chee by cooking the seafood appropriately and then dress with this thick curry. Seared scallops can be nice or baked snapper.... Maybe I'll try that next time.



For this I pan fried salmon fillets on a non-stick pan with a little bit of olive oil. The smell and smoke are vicious. I still live in a salmon smoked studio a day after....