I Am... Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars: Totoro Edition
Totoro week continues! We had a power outage last week and it was a.) spooky b.) kind of fun and c.) worrisome. Spooky because the hallways were dark AF and we wanted to leave the house so, we used our phone flashlights to light the way down the super dark hallway, slightly creepy (only because no one ever uses them) stairs, into our car park. From there, it was a breeze and we had an excellent day out, but I was a little worried about the fridge because the day before the power outage, I made a sheet of pumpkin cheesecake that was destined to be Totoros!
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I Am... Friday Finds: 10.21.17
We are getting closer and closer to Halloween and the decorative pumpkins in our house have increased 10 fold. While I love having ALL the mini pumpkins, I'm not super into dressing up. Or, well, I am into the idea of dressing up. I can spend hours searching the web and looking at pinterest for fun and quirky costumes. I'll even look at tutorials. But then, nothing ever happens...LOL. Instead, I'll eat a bunch of candy. How about you guys? Do you have Halloween plans?! We'll maybe watch a spooky movie and if I get my act together, maybe make some of the cute halloweenie things that have been floating around the web?
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I Am... Totoro Inari Sushi Recipe
It's Totoro Week! It's the 5th annual Totoro week and I'm celebrating with a vengeance with these Totoro inari sushi. What's a Totoro, you ask? Well, it's a magical bunny-cat hybrid from the cult classic anime, My Neighbor Totoro. Have you watched it? It's happy and sad and poignant and cute, all at the same time. As for Totoro Week, well, that's just a little something I came up with because I love dressing up food as Totoro.
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I Am... 13 Spooky Cute Things to Make for Halloween
I love themed party food! Here are 13 things to make for Halloween, featuring food dressing up as other food and food dressing up as cute animals :) 1. Gingerbread Corgis: sweet and no-so-snappy, these gingerbread corgis are full of fall spices. [caption id="attachment_20947" align="alignnone" width="724"] via Bakers Royale[/caption] 2. Double Chocolate Monster Cookies via Bakers Royale: these guys look so chocolatey delicious. Love the candy eyes! 3. Chocolate and Vanilla Cake: cake dressing up a fries, a burger, and coke? Too cute! [caption id="attachment_20951" align="alignnone" width="724"] via Fork to Belly[/caption] 4. Skeleton Bear Oreos via Fork to Belly: open faced oreos that are the epitome of spooky-cute! 5. Totoro Inari Sushi: are they cats, are they bunnies, who knows? They're cute and sushi, good enough for me! [caption id="attachment_20954" align="alignnone" width="724"] via Dessert Now Dinner Later[/caption] 6. Ghost Pretzels via Dessert Now Dinner Later: quick and easy ghosty pretzels made with dipped pretzels and candy eyes. [caption id="attachment_20956" align="alignnone" width="724"] via Mom Spark[/caption] 7. Acorn Donut Holes via Mom Spark: These aren't spooky or Halloween-y, but they sure are cute and seasonal! 8. Panda/Bear Barbecue Pork Buns: If you're getting tired of sweet things, maybe these cute and fluffy bbq pork buns dressed up like bears are more your style? [caption id="attachment_20962" align="alignnone" width="724"] via Bakers Royale[/caption] 9. Fluffer Nutter Mummies via Bakers Royale: crispy creamy peanut butter Fluffer Nutters dressed up as mummies! 10. Totoro Pumpkin Whoopie Pies: These whoopie pies are delightfully soft and pumpkin-y. They're filled with cream cheese frosting and are cute to boot. [caption id="attachment_20965" align="alignnone" width="724"] via babble[/caption] 11. Owl Cupcakes via Babble: I love these owl's eyes – they're oreos! These cupcakes are a hoot :) [caption id="attachment_20968" align="alignnone" width="724"] via Bakers Royale[/caption] 12. Candy Corn Ghost Cupcakes: Candy corn and ghosts together at last! I love how the cupcake is candy corn color too, not just the frosting. 13. Baked Double Chocolate Panda Donuts: Black and white donuts all dressed up as pandas for halloween. Happy Halloween friends!
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I Am... One Pot Creamy Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe
One pot pumpkin mac and cheese is my new fall favorite meal and maybe it will be yours too. As much as I love baked mac and cheese (or even waffled mac and cheese) there's something about a one pot, stovetop recipe that gets me every time. This one is the one guys, it's the mac and cheese you've been looking for!
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I Am... How to Make Basic, Great Pho
Hello Pho! To me there's nothing better than a basic, great pho. I mean, I've seen fancy versions where there are whole marrow bones, truffle, and thinly sliced dry aged rib eye, but give me a house special any day and I'm a happy noodle. Pho dac biet, literally house special, as explained to me by Mike, is essentially the pho that has whatever the restaurant wants it in, like all Asian house specials. Usually that means some variation or all of: steak, brisket, flank, tendon, tripe, and meatballs.
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I Am... Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Pasta Recipe
This creamy spinach and mushroom pasta always hits the spot when I'm craving something comforting and quick. I love it because the sauce comes together in the amount of time it takes to cook the pasta. You can't go wrong with butter, garlic, mushrooms and spinach!
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I Am... Crispy Pan-Fried Shrimp Potstickers Recipe
These crispy shrimp potstickers are addictive! I like a looser potsticker filling when it comes to shrimp because I like the texture, so I go old school and use a knife to chop up shrimp until it becomes a sort chunky paste. From there, it's just a question of mixing in some aromatics – in this case, ginger, garlic, toasted sesame oil, and green onions – and a quick wrap. You could wrap these up the traditional way, but I like the extra crispy bottoms you get when you kind of roll them up and just pinch the tops together. These guys are so crispy and juicy, you won't need takeout anymore ;)
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I Am... Miso Smashed Cucumber and Green Bean Salad Recipe
This is little riff off of the classic Chinese smashed garlic cucumber dish, but with a little bit of a Japanese twist due to the miso and rice vinegar. If you haven't tried smashed cucumbers, give it a go! It sounds kind of funny, but I love the texture of smashed cucumbers – probably because they remind me of hot evening summers. Smashed cucumbers are an incredibly popular Chinese cold dish, both because they're easy to make and delicious.
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I Am... Buying Guide: Cozy Fall Kitchen
In that shopping mood? This is my currently fall wish list for all those fall feels in the kitchen!
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I Am... The Massive Japanese Food Fair You Don’t Want to Miss: Furusato Matsuri in Tokyo
Earlier this year, Mike and I were in Japan, eating our faces off. I miss it so much. So much that I haven't really written about our time there, but that's about to change because we happened upon a gigantic number of photos that we took but didn't edit. I've been inspired! And the first post had to be about Furusato Matsuri! If you're looking for what to do in Tokyo in January, this is the answer.
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I Am... One-Bowl Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Pancakes
Hello one-bowl mini pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes! If you want to make me happy, give me all the pumpkin pancakes on a sunny fall weekend. You know what would be ultimate that I haven't figured out how to do yet? A fall pancake picnic! It would be so dreamy, gorgeous fall colors, a cozy Pendelton blanket, hot pour over coffee out of a thermos, and stacks and stacks of fluffy pancakes. Wouldn't it be the cutest ever?
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