No longer updating, but hope you enjoy the recipes!
Unfortunately, I got too busy to go back to blogging, after I was forced to take a break from it in 2015 because of tendonitis.
But you can still follow my cooking, eating, and travels on instagram: (@spontaneoustomato)
Black Sesame Coconut Milk Ice Cream
I made ice cream! And just in time for the end of the summer.
(Labor Day still counts as summer, right?)
Anyway, I would eat this stuff all year round.
I used Nami’s Black Sesame Ice Cream recipe from one of my favorite food blogs: Just One Cookbook, but I swapped out the milk and cream for coconut milk and coconut cream! (So this is a lactose-free ice cream, though it still contains eggs.)
My original plan was only to substitute coconut milk for milk, since I thought the rich coconut flavor would pair nicely with the sweet, nutty flavor of roasted black sesame seeds. (Spoiler alert: I was right!) This also had the added bonus (in my opinion) of significantly reducing the dairy content, though I was still planning to use real cream.
When it came time to whip the cream to stiff peaks, however, that whole plan went right out the window.
Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad
I’m rounding out the month of August just as I began it: with a tomato recipe.
The dish itself is nothing new. If your taste buds already swoon every time you hear the word “caprese,” then you’ll know what I’m talking about.
In fact, this might be the least original recipe post ever, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in deliciousness. You just can’t go wrong with fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and basil.
It’s a classic. Starring a gorgeous, juicy, sweet heirloom tomato.
I just had to squeeze this one in before summer closes in around us. Not that tomatoes are going anywhere quite yet! (In fact my summer CSA share is about to deliver its first tomatoes to us later today, and man am I excited.)
Of course I’m sad that summer’s coming to an end, but for different reasons than in years past.
Guest Post: Homemade French Baguettes
After bragging about my girlfriend Paula’s love of baking bread for months now, I have finally convinced her to write a guest blog post! Baguettes seemed like the obvious first choice, since they were the first type of bread that she ever made outside of her bread machine (which we’ve since given away to a friend!). She’s baked her way through several different baguette recipes by now, finally settling on a two-day fermented dough recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice
Here is Paula’s guest post about her journey into bread-baking:
The seed was planted when we visited Paris and noticed so many French people walking around carrying fresh baguettes. We decided to go to a neighborhood farmer’s market and buy some bread and cheese for a picnic.
That trip was a year ago. In the months after our European adventure, we would buy par-baked baguettes from Trader Joe’s or fresh baked baguettes from the grocery store. I thought about making baguettes from scratch, but the idea was intimidating for several reasons.
I had a breadmaker that I would use occasionally. It was no fuss, no muss; I would just add the ingredients and the machine would do the rest. I had The Bread Machine Cookbook
It wasn’t until the girlfriend surprised me with a baguette pan
Korean Banchan: Kkaennip Kimchi
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The weekend before last, I ventured out in an accidentally-sporty two-door rental car (I made my girlfriend do the driving!) to visit a friend in Los Angeles.
I’m terrified of the Los Angeles area’s sometimes 10-lane highway situation, so I usually avoid the place at all costs, but this was my oldest childhood friend who had moved to LA a full year ago, and I had yet to go visit…
As it turns out, she lives in Koreatown!
If you just thought “Uh oh,” you were right… We spent one whole morning in a giant Korean grocery store, and I spent $120 on nostalgic foodstuffs (and a dolsot– stone bowl– for bibimbap!) that I DIDN’T NEED.
Then I was very indulgently humored as we enjoyed a Korean lunch and, later that evening, went out for a Korean dinner. (I skipped taking photos, since I figured I’ve posted enough photos of Korean restaurant food from Seoul!)
One of my most exciting purchases came from the produce section; bundles of fresh kkaennip (perilla leaves) were stacked into pointy green mountains.
Rhubarb Birthday Galette
I turned 31 on Friday!
But this is no birthday-cake blog post.
I’m just not much of a cake person, unless the cake is livened up with layers or pockets of fresh fruit. (…or unless the cake has some delicious type of frosting, in which case, I’m just in it for the frosting.)
So in honor of my birthday, I baked myself some fruit galettes.
Before you go feeling sorry for me– baking my own birthday treats, you should know that I wasn’t alone in the kitchen. My girlfriend took off work, and we spent the day listening to music and criss-crossing each other on our way to and from the oven, as I made galettes (and took photos) and she baked cookies, baguettes, and ciabatta.
Not that we ate all that by ourselves… I had some friends over for a lovely and somewhat impromptu birthday potluck!
Maybe it’s a sign that I’m getting older, but I didn’t have the energy for a full-on dinner party like the Tapas Party for my 30th. A potluck was the perfect solution. You know, a party that would free us up from having to cook all day long gearing up for it.
But then we still cooked all day long gearing up for it.
Avocado Hummus & Blog Award Catch-Up
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I can’t remember now exactly why I started a food blog.
I already loved eating. I also enjoyed cooking. I already took photos of certain colorful platefuls that I was particularly proud of. (They weren’t good photos, but still.)
I suppose my girlfriend encouraged me to start this blog just because I seemed so passionate about food/cooking/eating and she thought I would enjoy it. (And I do!)
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Food blogging is basically what I expected, plus a LOT more time. (That and all of the rest of your beautiful blogs out there have made me start to care more about how my photos look– despite knowing little to nothing about photography– so add even MORE TIME on top of that.)
So far, though, the most surprising and delightful part of food-blogging has been “meeting” so many sweet and encouraging other food bloggers!
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spontaneous tomato 