A Baked Creation: Looking Back

Showing posts with label Looking Back. Show all posts

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Looking Back: 30 Years

Happy New Year (23 days into 2016, so it still counts)! How was your 2015? How were your holidays? I hope everyone had a wonderful end of year. I love how everything feels so festive in December, twinkly lights and decorations everywhere. The atmosphere is fun and light, especially at work when everyone is looking forward to some time off.

I actually made this pie on Christmas Eve because I was hosting a family dinner with my dad and brother. I figured Howard likes citrus flavours and my brother loves meringue that this pie would be the perfect dessert to serve. It was . . . but it tasted better the day after when I brought it to my in-law's for Christmas day dinner. Letting it set and chill in the fridge actually tasted better than fresh!

Speaking of chill, do you have Netflix? We watched a lot of shows during the holidays that had us doing all-nighters. My whole sleeping schedule got flipped thanks to the addicting series. We managed to finish Luther, Narcos, and started Making a Murderer. Have you seen these shows? What did you think? What would you recommend we watch next?

I'm deciding to make this a combination post too. Not only are we celebrating national pie day, I also want to chat birthday. I've also hit a new milestone, I'm officially in my thirties!!! Way to make myself feel old there. My favourite cousin recently turned 13 - gasp, a teenager - and I remember babysitting him as toddler. He's still not taller than me yet, I hope that takes a bit more time (we have a height bet). It's amazing how fast time flies. There has been so many neat changes in the past year alone that I'm excited for this year.

Looking back, here are thirty highlights:

WE GOT MARRIED! Finally!
Had an amazing and memorable honeymoon in Jamaica. Which reminds me, I want to share that in a post soon.
In Jamaica, we visited the Luminous Lagoon. Very cool experience, we'd recommend going if you get a chance.
Tried scuba diving for the first time.
Met new relatives that flew in from Taiwan and South Africa.
Felt the love at my bridal showers. Good friends and colleagues are hard to come by, so when you do find them, make them bake and cook for you.
We were fortunate enough to squeeze in some travel. We visited Chicago and flew Porter for the first time!
Work perks: Met Judy Blume and had my book signed. Had my photo taken with Chef Curtis Stone. Ate dinner with Alan Doyle. Shook hands with Al Gore. Saw Chef Michael Smith. Shook hands and had my booked signed by Chris Hadfield. Felt the excitement when Ethan Hawke and Rainn Wilson were in the office. Seen Margaret Atwood roam the floors.
Helped plan Anne Michaels' book launch for The Adventures of Miss Petitfour. She's a fantastic reader and there were sea shanties.
Gained a godson because we're awesome godparents. Still watching in awe as our goddaughter becomes more vocal.
Survived an office move. Boxes of books are incredibly heavy.
Made new friends with new colleagues thanks to the merge.
Switched from the editorial department to the marketing and publicity department. Every day is a learning experience, but we do such cool things.
Working with the coolest children's marketing and publicity team ever, I love my pod.
Finished watching Veronica Mars as numerous interns vouched for it. It lived up to the hype.
Lost at Pongapalooza. In the first round.
Made lots and lots of bunting. Then more and more. I've been given the title Baroness of Bunting.
Also been given the title Countess of Cake.
Featured in the Globe and Mail as an office model.
Had an amazing dinner at Grand Electric's Champagne Room.
Discovered my new favourite chocolate chip cookies recipe!
Had my hair coloured and my nails done for the first time.
Got a waffle maker. Just you wait for all the waffle posts.
Saw the Pan Am excitement around the city of Toronto.
Gave pop pilates a try and was surprised I enjoyed it.
My orchid bloomed!
Not getting cable and just having Netflix was the best decision ever.
Discovering canelés. Ugh, craving one now.
Howard surprised me with a spa date. His first one ever!
Booked an ambitious trip to Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Taiwan for 2016.

And if you were just here for the pie. The recipe is from the New York Times, which they adapted from Alice Water of Chez Panisse. If you read the comments, you'll see that lots of people doubled the lemon recipe. I ended up doing so as well and it gave the pie a nice inch of lemon filling. I also found that the lemon filling set better in the fridge, despite the recipe's instruction saying not to place it in the fridge after letting it cool for one to two hours.

Recipes: Flaky pie crust | Chez Panisse Meyer Lemon Meringue Pie

Monday, February 3, 2014

Looking Back: 2013

Happy New Year!

Better late than never? Yes, I think so. Although we can technically say we're still celebrating the Lunar New Year (thank goodness there's two back-to-back new years for us).

2013 was a big year. Howard and I hit a lot of milestones and took many first steps together in our relationship. Normally, we would each share our top picks from the year, but since we had so many great ones, we thought we should share them together!

Chronologically speaking, 2013 started off great. As per tradition, we counted down with close friends and went out to try someplace new. Sure, the food wasn't great and the drunken atmosphere wasn't our scene, but we had fun that night! There were many Winterlicious experiences and dinner parties. Weeks passed and our close friends all introduced new additions to their family and to our group. These bundles of joy have cheered us up and we applauded them on their many small achievements (smiling, laughing, being able to hold Sophie the giraffe, flipping, sitting, and now they're moving from milk to other foods) throughout the months. What's more, Howard and I were blessed to be named godparents!

The summer went by in a blink and we continued our Summerlicious lunches and dinners. We finally went looking for a home and were taught many tough lessons from the real estate business. No such luck as we looked at tiny units after tiny units. How do people find affordable housing out there?

Autumn meant we would be embarking on our annual road trip to New York City. This year, we went on a macaron tour and feasted on some great desserts. Then, (even though I suspected it) Howard moved us into our next big step in our relationship by proposing in Central Park. Eeeee! Sparkly! Also during this trip, we found new favourite restaurants: Mile End Deli and Missions Chinese Food.

Back home, we answered many unanswerable questions about our upcoming wedding (which we still haven't started planning!) and continued our search for a place we could call home. Ladies and gentlemen, it did happen. We finally came across a place that we liked. Rushed to get a mortgage approved. Started looking for furniture and dreamed about future upgrades. Got our keys on the closing date. Cleaned the place from top to bottom. Waited for power to be restored and ice storms to pass. Settled disputes about parking spots, range microwaves, and cracked toilet tanks. S-l-o-w-l-y started to move in.

Tips for buying a home. Get a good real estate agent. You'll have many, many questions about the process and they should be able to answer everything to your satisfaction. Get pre-approved for a mortgage first. We were in no rush to buy and was casually looking at listings that we thought we would like, but when it came time to finalize the offer, you'll want that mortgage ready! Check and double check for anything that may need to be fixed or replaced before closing. Use your viewings and visits wisely. Get a good lawyer!!! We found our lawyer to be terrible at communicating with us and answering questions - they didn't seem to understand that first-time buyers need clarification sometimes!

So as you can see, we managed to keep ourselves busy from December to January. Sorry for the silence and lack of posts here! But so many great things have happened and we couldn't have done this without the support of our family and friends. Seriously. We want to thank everyone for their housewarming gifts and even tokens of congratulations for our engagement and new place.

Some of you may know this, but as a baker, I rarely cook! We are slowly learning our way around a new kitchen and learning new things about making savoury food. Roasted cauliflower - I like. Spaghetti sauce that lasts us a week - I'm on the fence. Pork cutlets - I love. Flank steak and salad - I love. Frozen lasagna for lunch - I try to avoid.

So in addition to baked goods, if we find something that works, that tastes great, and is easy to make, we'll be sharing it here with you.

I peeled string off beans for the first time last month and was so proud that I took a photo. Now you understand the level of noob I am at cooking. Heck, the first few weeks after we officially moved in, it took me almost two hours to get dinner ready. By the time we cleaned up and was ready for bed, it was way past my bed time. I think we're getting better are preparing quicker meals and packing lunches, it just takes practice and experience!

Sprinkles in the Southwest Giveaway
In efforts to keep the New Year joy going, I'm also hosting a giveaway for two cookbooks written by two fellow bloggers. One sweet and one savoury. Let me know in the comments below which one you'd like to win before midnight on Sunday, February 23, 2014. US and Canada only (sorry international friends).

Sprinkles! Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts by Jackie Alpers

The New Southwest by Meagan Micozzi

UPDATE: Congratulations to Stephanie, winner of The New Southwest. Congratulations to Dominique, winner of Sprinkles! Please check your inbox for an e-mail from me.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Looking Back: 2012

Happy New Year! We hope you had a fantastic night, whether you were out celebrating, on your couch by the fireplace, or under the covers and asleep already.

There's always something nice about waking up to a new year, even though there isn't anything really different. I guess it's just the feeling. But it's nice, it does feel like a fresh start, even if it's all imagined in my head! It's the same feeling I get when I wake up on my birthday. Regardless, here's two of my favourite blog activities, looking back at some of the year's highlights and hosting a giveaway!

Howard's Top Highlights:

Lemon Macarons: When it comes to desserts I always prefer citrus flavour profiles, so these were extra delicious.

Mille Crêpes Cake: My favourite birthday cake ever. Also brought back a "look what the cat dragged in" memory Sylvia and I shared while we were in NYC on a rainy day the previous year. Fun times!

Chelsea Market: Food market! What else is there to say?

Dreams of Sushi: I'm salivating while dreaming of eating sushi made by Jiro. Doc, what should I do??

Pok Pok: I can't say I had fun getting to this gem, tired and wet after a long day of shopping. But I can say it was definitely worth the trip. Also, now I know how their recipe is supposed to taste. Attempt number three, here I come.

Sylvia's Top Highlights:

Um, my latest obsession with MACARONS! Chocolate filled macarons, lemon macarons, snowmen, festive macarons, and matcha macarons. I'm so happy to have had some success in making these temperamental cookies.

Decorating cupcakes to the theme of Jon Klassen's award-winning pictures books. I had an amazing palette of colours and characters to work with and seeing everyone's expressions when they saw the cupcakes was easily one of the highlights of my year.

Gosh, it was a really good year. 2013 is going to have a tough time topping this. I got to attend an event for Thomas Keller. I got to have brunch with Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. I even got to collaborate with some amazing kitchen and food brands this year. And even received a feature in Today's Parent magazine!

Making easy peasy pizza! I must have held a few D.I.Y. pizza parties all thanks to this recipe.

Well, I also found out that flan wasn't hard to make. So I made a bunch and luckily it's one of my parent's favourite desserts.

That pretty much sums the year up! We missed doing this in 2010, but if you want to look back with us, we did it for 2008, 2009, and 2011.

So now that it's a new year, we have to see what amazing cookbooks are missing from our wishlist. If you didn't receive these under your tree, in your stocking, or through a secret Santa exchange, you're in luck! We're giving away the following cookbooks:

Giveaway Regulations and Conditions:

The New Year Giveaway is open from Tuesday, January 1, 2013 to Sunday, January 13, 2013. Entries submitted after 12 midnight EST on Sunday, January 13, 2013 will not be considered.
There is one main way to enter: by commenting on this post. There are also some bonus entries in instructions #2-6:

Post in the comment section below: I want to spend my new year reading ______________. (Fill in the blank with one of these titles: La Tartine Gourmande, One Girl Cookies, or The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook)
To enter via Twitter, tweet: @abakedcreation I want to spend my new year reading ______________. (Fill in the blank with the title you would like to win.)
To enter via Facebook, post on our wall: I want to spend my new year reading ______________. (Fill in the blank with the title you would like to win.)
Follow us on Pinterest, let us know who you are in the comments below.
Follow us on Instagram, let us know who you are in the comments below.
If you're already following us on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, just mention it in the comments for bonus entries!

Please leave a way for us to contact you (e-mail addresses or social media handles).
Winners will be randomly chosen and announced here on A Baked Creation.
The winners will have 7 days to claim their prize. If we do not get a mailing address, the prize is forfeited.
This contest is available to residents of Canada and the U.S.A. only! However, if you have friends and family with a Canadian or American mailing address, feel free to enter. There will be three different winners, one for each book.

Best of luck!

UPDATE: Giveaway is now closed. Thank you to those who entered!
Congratulations to Amanda for winning a copy of One Girl Cookies!
Congratulations to Rebecca for winning a copy of The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook!
Congratulations to Carmen for winning a copy of La Tartine Gourmande!
Happy reading and cooking everyone!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Looking Back: 2011

Happy New Year! How many of you celebrated all night long and did the countdown? We did. That is why we thought it would be best to have this post scheduled. ;)

We missed doing this in 2010 (we did it for 2008 and 2009), but we're bringing it back. Here's a look back at our favourite posts of 2011.

Howard's Top 3 Favourites:

Home Cooking: Sylvia's savory dinner because it's the best savory dinner she's made for me (even though it wasn't exclusively for me).
Lady M Confections and Ladurée and Sucré: NYC in the rain because we made the day fun even though it could have easily been miserable.
Kurt and Diana: KD's wedding because it was our first mass undertaking and we were able to pull it off with success (I hope).

Sylvia's Top 3 Favourites:

Lemon Soufflés: An impressive, delicious, and difficult dessert to master? Challenge accepted! I got to learn from my mistakes and gain an understanding to the not-so-secret creation of soufflés.
How: Pinwheel Cupcakes: This was something that I wanted to make for awhile, the idea danced in my mind for a couple of months, and they turned out quite nice! Whimsy!
Calvin and Hobbes Birthday Cupcakes: Fun. These were so fun to make and blog about.

We also wanted to start 2012 with a giveaway. We feel that this is the time of year when we all feel the most ambitious. Maybe this year you'll make healthier desserts or cook like a Michelin starred chef?

BabyCakes
Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York's Most Talked-About Bakery
Written by Erin McKenna
For confectionists of all kinds, delicious alternatives lie within: Red Velvet Cupcakes, Chocolate Shortbread Scones with Caramelized Bananas, Strawberry Shortcake, and BabyCakes NYC’s celebrated frosting (so delicious it has fans tipping back frosting shots!), to name just a few.

Momofuku
Written by David Chang and Peter Meehan
Momofuku is both the story and the recipes behind the cuisine that has changed the modern-day culinary landscape. Chang relays with candor the tale of his unwitting rise to superstardom, which, though wracked with mishaps, happened at light speed. And the dishes shared in this book are coveted by all who've dined - or yearned to - at any Momofuku location (yes, the pork buns are here).

Giveaway Regulations and Conditions:

The New Year Giveaway is open from Sunday, January 1, 2012 to Thursday, January 12, 2012. Entries submitted after 12 midnight EST on Thursday, January 12, 2012 will not be considered.
There are three ways to enter, you only have to do one:
1) Post in the comment section below: I want to spend my new year reading ______________. (Fill in the blank with the title you would like to win.)
2) Post on A Baked Creation's facebook page: I want to spend my new year reading ______________. (Fill in the blank with the title you would like to win.)
3) To enter via twitter, tweet: I want to spend my new year reading ______________ with @abakedcreation (Fill in the blank with the title you would like to win.)
Please leave a way for us to contact you.
Winners will be randomly chosen and announced here on A Baked Creation.
The winners will have 7 days to claim their prize. If we do not get a mailing address, the prize is forfeited.
This contest is available to residents of Canada and the U.S.A. only! However, if you have friends and family with a Canadian or American mailing address, feel free to enter. There will be four different winners, one for each book.
Disclaimer: The giveaway copy of BabyCakes and Momofuku were not sent to us by the publisher.
UPDATE: Winners have been chosen and notified! Congratulations to Rosebud5192 who will be receiving a copy of BabyCakes. Congratulations to Cat who will be receiving a copy of Momofuku.

Best of luck!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Looking Back: 2009

It is almost New Year's Eve!

Don't you love lists? Well, it is that time of year again as we look back to our top 2009 favourites and some of yours!

The Top 3 Posts of 2009: (This was compiled by Google Analytics)

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