LACMA

Went to LACMA and it was eye opening to see so much creativity. I'm not gonna say I was so inspired or something pretentious like that because I honestly spent a lot of time just trying to understand some pieces or the "deeper meaning" in the piece. Visiting the museum just reminded me of how crazy unique each individual can be and how much we can create with our imagination. While I thought of how we have the ability to hold so much imagination and creativity I was reminded that just as God is our architect and artist, he created us in His image. He is the most creative, skillful, and exuberant artist of all. The one who made the sun and the sky, the waves on the beach, the invisible wind! Okay, i'm gonna stop now.

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it" - Pablo Picasso

My hair makes me look cray

matcha green tea donuts

I had to make two trips to the store to make these stupid donuts...TWO trips. I thought I only needed to get some matcha powder but when I came home I realized we ran out of oil. Anyways I saw this on A Beautiful Mess' blog and my sister had a hand-me-down donut machine from her friend so I thought why not ya'know.

I don't know if it was the crappy machine or my crappy batter, but these didn't turn out as great as I though they would. 

Batter:

1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar (I used less)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon matcha green tea powder

2/3 cup oil (I used olive)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix all the wet ingredients in another bowl. Put the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix together. I baked the donuts with the instructions provided on the Bella donut maker. 

Green tea glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon matcha powder

1/4 cup boiling water

whisk the ingredients together and let it cool for a few minutes. 

Dip the cool donuts in the glaze and allow them to set. 

totally arbitrary

marble cake

When was it ever August?! How is it that September has already arrived and the countdown to school has begun. 

I don't know whether it's because i'm trying to get my mind off the thought of school or i've been too inspired by Julia Powell from Julie & Julia, but i've been on a baking streak. My parents think i'm going though some mid-youngadult crisis or something because i've been spending a lot of my free time in the kitchen. Maybe I've watched too much food network but i've been really enjoying baking and trying to make new types of food i've never tried before (yup, my life is very exciting guys). It's funny because I never eat any of the things I bake and simply stuff it into my mom's mouth and let her be the judge. I mean, she's not complaining. 

Today I baked some marble cake, I don't think i've ever really ate marble cake before but I think I got mine to taste like what it's supposed to taste like. I got the recipe off Erica's Cannella Vita blog which you can find the recipe to here. 

I guess I failed at dividing the two batters to create the marble pattern in the bread. 

The chocolate batter was too concentrated on the bottom, but it's aallll gooood. Live and learn. 

blueberry lavender scones

Scones are one of my favorite pastries to enjoy because they go so well with coffee and aren't as sweet as most other desserts. Today I made some blueberry scones added with some lavender herbs to give it an extra kick. They are so easy to make and you can enjoy them with your coffee or a glass of milk.

I was actually debating whether I should make the scones with a rose water based glazed cream or with the lavender herbs. I ended up going with the lavender because I felt that it was a better match with the blueberries. 

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 baking soda, 1 tablespoon sugar (can add more if you prefer sweeter), pinch of salt, 1/2 cup butter, 1 egg, 1/2 cup milk, 6 oz blueberries, 2 tsp lavender herb

Once you gather all your ingredients, combine the flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Cut the stick of butter into smaller pieces and mix it into the flour. once the butter is well mixed in with the flour, add the milk, egg whites and mix into a dough. Carefully add the blueberries and try not to smash them into the dough. Mold into a thick pancake-like shape and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for approximately 1 hour. 

Take the dough and create 8 slices for the scones. I brushed the scones with the egg yolk and sprinkled some brown sugar on top. Bake in the oven at 375 F for around 20-30 min until it is a nice brown. 

 Once it is ready to be taken out, I let it cool for a few minutes before separating the wedges. After that, ENJOY. 

***please don't hate at my pathetic attempt to bake T___T