Dashi (Japanese stock)

Ichiban Dashi

Ok here it is - Dashi! Umamstick ;) Udon, miso soup and Japanese food in general are so much loved in my family that I will be making this again soon and probably be freezing it.

I have got a kezuriki as a present from a very dear friends from Japan to shred  katshuobushi myself -how exciting-but you can, of course, buy dried bonito flakes from any Japanese grocery store instead. Ichiban dashi is used for clear soups and many other Japanese dishes which I am yet to try making. And Niban dashi you can use for miso soup.

"Vanilice" with a twist - recipe from 'Three Little Halves'

Recently, my friend's recipe was featured in Food & Wine magazine. How exciting! :) Having tried Sashka's recipes before and vanice being one of my favorite cookies, I was looking forward to trying out this recipe. The fact that I've made them twice since tells you all... Last time I didn't have pistachios at hand, so I've replaced them with almonds which worked very well. 

Hazelnut biscotti

It was raining a little bit today! :) Just enough to evoke the comforting feeling of cold outside and cosiness inside. In other words, perfect time to make some fresh bread and warmup the house. It would be nice to have the new cookbook from Tartine baker, Chad Robertson: Tartine bread, and put to test all these varieties of flour that I keep on buying and storing around the house. But I feel guilty of ordering the new Tartine cookbook before I have at least tried out a few recipes from the one that I already have, Tartine. This bakery is my tresure island of San Francisco and I was reluctant of trying to recreate their recipes at home, thinking it would be impossible to reach similar level of perfection. But I was wrong, the "kitchen notes" in their recipes tell you exactly what to 'look out for' during the process. 
I have opted to test making biscotti first, for two reasons. Firstly because the original recipe comes from Alice Waters who for me is the synonim of fresh, seasonal, home made recipes and invokes the most beautiful memories of Berkeley. Secondly because I have a visitor from Europe whom I wanted to surprise with home made biscotti that would be good with coffee while he is recovering from jet lag.  

Homemade Granola Bars

I was looking for a healthy snack for my kids and I came upon this recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/homemade-granola-bars-recipe/index.html and decided to share on my kuhinjica:
I like all Ina Garten recipes and this one was no exception.
Note:I replaced apricots with dried prunes because that's what I  had on hand. So feel free to add/change nuts/fruits to what you like/have in your pantry. Enjoy your healthy snack!

Kugelhopf with prunes... as promised

The first snow of the season blanketed Europe... My sister sent me this photo to remind me of how it looks like to wake up to this beautiful white surprise :) That same day we got the first rainfall in California, and I was very happy! That very same evening, it was snowing in my kitchen.