What I've been doing lately...

Wow, it's almost the end of August! And do you guys know what that means? Ugh, I bet everyone does...school :( Anyways, I've been a very busy gal lately. Actually it's quite the opposite. I spend my last summer days with my feet propped up on a pillow while watching tv. Yea, I'm a lazy bum. Why are my feet propped up? Well...let's just say I had a little accident over a certain little curb while running.....

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture while balancing on only one foot?! Maybe I should've sat down....

What else have I done lately besides totally injure myself and make it hard to walk around the kitchen with a hot pan? Well, I made macarons (FINALLY!!!) and it's all thanks to the Italian meringue method and the cooking class I took in Paris :)

Chocolate Macaron with Raspberry Filling

Fillings: Salted caramel (from Trader Joes), Raspberry Jam, Speculoo Spread, Marshmallow fluff

I bought blue (er Indigo) coloring powder in France and wow, that is a pretty blue. Maybe I should've bought the other colors...oh well, I can always improvise! For the recipe, I used the one they gave us during our cooking course (which I'm pretty sure is Pierre Herme's recipe). I have to so say I loved the class. The teacher was helpful (and spoke English!!) and I was able to finally make a successful batch of macarons...all by myself!

Macaron Shell
Ingredients:
300 g ground almonds
300 g powdered sugar
110 g egg whites
powdered food coloring
-----
300 g sugar
75 g mineral water
110 g egg whites

1. Sift together almonds and powdered sugar in a large bowl
2. Add egg whties and food coloring and mix until uniform (mix well)
3. Prepare the italian meringue (bottom ingredients list)
4. Bring the sugar and water to a boil and cook to 118˚C (244.4˚F). When the mixture reaches 112˚C (233.6˚F) begin beating the eggs with a whisk fitted to a stand mixer. When the sugar reaches 118˚C pour into the egg whites . Whisk until not hot anymore (50˚C or 122˚F)
5. Carefully fold the meringue into the dry mixture (a little at a time). When you pick the mixture up with a spoon and drop it back into the bowl it should slowly blend back in (about 10 sec) but still see lines
6. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet and pipe small uniform (or as uniform as possible!) circles
7. Let stand for 15-30 minutes
8. Bake at 160˚C or 320˚F for 12 minutes

Variation: for a chocolate shell I added 30 grams of cocoa powder

Peanut Butter Cookie and My First Marathon!

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. I've been extremely tired lately, or at least my legs have because....I did my first marathon this past Sunday! I know you probably think I'm crazy. Why would any fifteen year old girl ever want to wake up at 3 am on a Sunday morning to run 26.2 miles?! I'm not sure. Call me crazy! :)

The marathon was quite a lot of fun. Yes, I know that probably doesn't sound right, calling a 26 mile run "Fun", but it actually was. There were tons of different costumes from Avatar and Darth Vader to thousands of Santa's helpers! Do you remember that North Shore swim I did? Maybe not, but anways my friend who swam it with me also did the marathon too! We didn't train..yes, I know we probably should've, but we were fine actually. We finished with a time of 5 hours 15 minutes! Yay! I was so happy when I crossed the finish line, it felt amazing to sit down too. I never knew how tired legs could be. Or just how tasty lunch or breakfast or whatever meal I ate after could taste! First I'll show you some of the pictures, then we'll talk cookies.

Look at those zori! They're wooden! Imagine running 26 miles with wooden slippers! OMG Amazing!

Near the base of Diamond Head. I think this was about mile 10.

Near one of the water stations. About mile 21ish

Go super girl run!

Darth Vader nearing the finish. Woo hoo!

My friends on the left in the green, and I'm on the right with the white hat.

Do we look like we're dying? I definitely was. This picture was taken, courtesy of my dad, at mile 24 ish.

Now let's talk cookies. I know, a weird change. But when you've eaten 4 or 5 of these scrumptious little cookies after 26 miles, you'll know why I jumped straight to them. Pretty much everything tasted delicious after the marathon. But these cookies helped me re-gain all of those calories I burned up! I didn't bake them right after the marathon. Oh no, I would fallen in to the oven! But I did make these the day before and they were delicious. Yes, I know, I forgot to make the crisscross pattern, but despite their funny appearance, they were very good. Peanut buttery, yummy, delicious!

Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from Flour
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups smooth peanut butter
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and creamy. Mix in the eggs, vanilla extract, and peanut butter
2. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt
3. Mix the flour mixture in to the butter mixture until combined
4. Place dough in an airtight container in the fridge for at least 3 hours
5. Preheat oven to 350˚F
6. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough on a cookie sheet. Use a fork to make a crisscross pattern. (as you can see I forgot to do this...but they were tasty anyway!)
7. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown on the edges

I got a blister from my mixer! And oatmeal butterscotch cookies

Man, I seriously need to get a new mixer, and preferable one of those kitchen aid stand mixer. I was on one of my baking marathons (which I'll explain later), when my palm started to hurt. Turns out I got a blister from holding it too much! Can you believe that?! A blister! From my mixer..my Hand Mixer. Gosh, I sound really lame, getting a blister from a mixer. Haha, that sentenced rhymed :)

Okay, so the reason for my baking marathon is because it's one of my closest friend's sweet sixteen this week, and part of my spectacular sweet 16 bday gift is a huge box of homemade cookies! Sounds yummy, right? Well I wanted to make an assortment, so I made snickerdoodles, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal butterscotch cookies, s'mores cookies, cranberry chocolate cookies, and caramel cuts. It sounded like a good idea when I thought of it, but now, well, my hand hurts, and I'm covered in flour. How fun....

The first recipe will be for oatmeal butterscotch cookies!

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
From Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, and butterscotch chips
4. Place rounded tablespoons on a cookie sheet
5. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned

Japan: Day 6-14

Just one more post about Japan and then I'll be back to posting more CCC recipes! 

So for about a week or so I stayed with my first host family (I had two). They were amazing, and so much fun! Not only was their (very very) large house very inviting, but I had 5 siblings. 5! Amazing in Japan! While I was staying with them I attended Keio High School. It was a lot of fun, and I made so many new friends! My first night there, I went to an omatsuri or festival with my host sister. I even got to borrow one of their yukatas (summer version of a kimono).

See that gate behind us? Well that's actually her house! Yes, really, I'm not kidding. That's her gate for her house! At the festival there were so many people, and so many things to do! We played some games, like catching fish with a paper net (yes, it's do-able. I caught three :) ) or using rubber band guns to shoot down objects you want as your prize (no, I was not good at this...) Oh, and there was dancing!

I remember doing the same exact dance when I was little for Japanese class. I was really, really bad..and I still am! But it was a lot of fun, and I even tried a new candy. It's called mizu ame. Literally water candy. It was weird. The lady making it had huge pans of colored gel looking stuff, and she'd take a piece of fruit on a stick and roll it in the goo, slathering it using some sort of knife. Then she'd lay it on I think a block of ice with dents for the candy. It was really weird..but tasty! It melted the longer you held it, but it was definitely a strange thing. It tasted like sweet goo. Can you imagine that? Sorry I'm not the best describer. Have a picture instead!

My host family had the coolest fish tank. They had like 5 nemos (clown fish), a couple starfish, tons of blue fish, some other fish, shrimp, sea urchin, tons of cool creatures. :) Those are two (of my three) brothers. We're feeding the fish!

OMG! I almost forgot to write about the NINJA RESTAURANT! (Caps are for emphasis) Yes, it's seriously called the Ninja Restaurant, and they're in Akasaka, and..guess what?! They seriously have ninjas. Or at least everyone working at the restaurant looks like a ninja. When you walk in the door, you find yourself in this teeny tiny little room with what looks like no doors and stuff. But then, when the hostess calls out (in Japanese of course) all these doors open and your ushered into this dark passage. After a series of dimly lit moats, bridges, stairs, and passage ways with lots of smoke and steam, you finally arrive at your table. The presentation was amazing! Ninja crackers anyone?

Or how about some dessert? I know you want your own ice cream frog!

What do we have here? It looks like a gold coin, doesn't it?!

Well it's also....wait for it....an ice cream sandwich. No actually that's not the right name. It's THE BEST ICE CREAM SANDWICH, EVER!!!

Doesn't it just look so tasty! So decadent! So icy, creamy, and delicious! Well it was!!! Everything was so cool! When they served us our chickens, they first had an empty plate with only two little quail eggs, then, they poured some liquid flames on, and then, they put a cover over it. And BAM when they opened it there were two little roasted chickens!!! SO AMAZINGLY COOL! And probably one of my favorite meals!! I absolutely loved the desserts! But....I did have some pretty good musubis!

Ikura sake musubi anyone? It's ikura (salmon eggs) and sake (salmon) all wrapped up in to a delicious and oh so nutritious (it has protein..and carbs..and the nori counts as a veggie!) musubi. I had one (or sometimes two) of these for lunch at school. Nearby, actually just across the street, was a department store, and for lunch we had an hour to go to the depachika or any where really. Oh, depachika is what they call the basement of a department store. You know, the level with all the food...the level I mainly go to. Ikura is my all time favorite food. I know it's not a sweet, but it's just sooo tasty! The little bubbles of saltyness are like heaven! It's a party in your mouth! :)

Oh! I have to tell you about Sweets Forest. It's located in Jiyugaoka, and it's amazing. If you like sweets, then this is the place for you. It's a place that only sells sweets. This is me in front of the store.

Can't you just tell it's gonna be good? There were so many shops inside. You could buy ice cream, chocolate, souffles, cake, cookies, pastries! Shhh, don't tell, but I know the owner!!! My host sister and I went to Mix n Cream. It's like a cold stone but wayyyy better.

I know it doesn't look all that good, but trust me. It was delicious. Azuki + Kinako = <3! They had so many different toppings that are mixed in. My host sis got this really good looking one (idk why mine looks so weird..) and they were both amazingly tasty!

I'm the shorter one...haha

This is my host sis and me in front of mix n cream. Don't look at me like that! I'm channeling my inner Japanese! You wanna know what else I did? Fireworks!

This is one of my host brothers. He's 5. Isn't he cute?

This is me. I'm 15. Aren't I cute? I'm just kidding. Don't answer that.

3 Japanese boys and 2 "Hawaiian" Girls (my friend is on the right)

Oh! This is Venus Fort. It's a shoppers paradise! See all those bags in my hand?!!

A picture of my host family and me! (I'm the one in the purple). Lookit those shakas! My host family was super super nice!! I miss you! They made that week one of the most fun weeks I've ever had!

Pennsylvania: AIO (by my brother-steve!)

Hi everyone, this is lynne. Today my brother, steve, is gonna write a post about AIO. (Don't worry he will explain what that is) so yea, enjoy!


AIO, or Art In the Open, located in Pennsylvania have many paintings, sculptures, and other arts in many different kinds of media. Although we visited this program kind of early so we didn't get to see all of the art, the ones that we did get see were very intricate. The first piece of art was made out of colored sand that was poured all over the concrete. The design seemed to be a variegated abstract design. The "exhibit" that seemed the most interesting was this quilt lady. The lady created a quilt with pockets that you could write a message on rice paper to put inside the pocket. She then sowed the pocket shut so that nobody can see your message. You could write prayers, your name, anything you want to write! The outdoor exhibit had exquisite art but the artworks are fairly spaced out throughout the park.
 

 Painting made out of sand on the ground

 Quilt Lady talking to visitors

Diamond Head State Monument

Diamond Head State Monument

Because my cousin was in town, we took her to many of Oahu’s main attractions, such as Diamond Head. There is a short hike leading to the top of Diamond Head, where tourist can look out and see Waikiki, mountains, ocean…that stuff. The hike isn’t very long, it only took my family 45 minutes, but then again, we were half running half fast walking to the top. The area at the top isn't very large, and there is a single file line winding around the almost top of the mt to the platform at the top. It was very crowded, and there isn’t a bathroom at the top, so make sure to go at the bottom. The trail is very narrow in some places, and I counted about 250 steps total. Kids and old people would both be able to complete this trail no problem, however, if someone is very large, they may not be able to fit through the small entrance needed to exit from the stair area to outside. I guess the view is pretty, and the hike was sorta fun. It was really annoying when people were going really really slow, and they wouldn’t allow you to pass. ugh. So annoying. But anyways, it was a pretty fun hike, and if your really cheap you can park outside the crater so you don’t have to pay the parking fee.


The crevice is actually bigger than it looks. I didn't really get a good shot of the actual entrance to the outside. This is just a side view, and looks much narrower. People don't have to slide under, there is a short set of stairs that aren't shown..but they are still narrow!


Pretty view of the ocean and lighthouse.


The buildings the hand is pointing to isn't waikiki. It's actually the huge mass of buildings above the hand is waikiki.

4th Annual East Honolulu Food Festival

I recently attended a food festival, called the East Honolulu Food festival. The proceeds go to fund the school and church, the event took place at. There were many restaurants from around the island. Some were Ruth’s Chris, JJ’s Bistro, Maile’s, and much much more. Each booth served something different. Some served desserts, other served main meal stuffs, and others served just drinks. There was also wine and stuffs, but since I am underage…well uh I didn’t get any of that. There was also a silent auction, and kiddie rides, such as rock climbing. My friend and I wanted to ride one of the kiddie rides, so to make it not seem weird, we took her little 2 year old brother along with us. It was hilarious!! It was one of those helicopter rides that just spins in a circle.


this is a steak salad, and uhhh i cant remember where its from...hmmm..


this is a shrimp rice/pasta dish, and it was actually very good. the shrimp was tender and very flavorful

this is a spicy dynamite chicken that super super super spicy!!! we ran to the drink booth after trying this!!!


It looks gross, but it's actually really good. It's a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, a sprinkle of what tasted like Nestle crunch, and this sweet, but not too sweet honey/maple/im not sure syrup. Oh, and it's by JJ's Bistro



a picture of the grounds area, there seemed to be about 30 different tents...and a huge field in the middle for people to sit and talk. oh and there was also entertainment...


there were a ton of noodle dishes, and i can't recall where this is from....hmm..


Maile's Thai Bistro's peanut noodles and stir fry veggies



this is ube ice cream. it looks blue, but it's actually purple with sprinkles. my spoons covering them, but i also had marshmallows


Wedding Cafe's Pumpkin Crunch (like a pumpkin pie, but in a bar form and with a crunchy crust). This was really good, and im thinkin of trying to replicate their recipe




i took these while we were in the ride. it was night, so the lights looked pretty cool