caramelized banana bread + browned butter glaze.

Have you heard of bananas foster? Butter and sugar are roasted in a pan, then sliced bananas are added until they start to soften. At the very end, some rum is sploshed in, before the whole mixture is spooned over ice cream while still warm.

The same concept is applied to this (relatively healthy) banana bread. The bananas are roasted with butter and sugar until they caramelize a little, and then the mixture is mashed together until everything is homogenous.

That sweet sticky mixture is incorporated into the rest of the ingredients, and baked in a loaf pan till golden. Afterwards, a thick glaze is spooned over the entire loaf, so that it dribbles into every crevice.

cornmeal buttermilk cake + chocolate frosting.

Haha.

That's my response to life right now. Junior year started a week ago, and I just realized I have zero expectations for the year. Initially that seemed kinda sucky.

But then I recalled a conversation I had too many times with too many people last year about how unspontaneous and boring our lives had become. I felt like an old person who had nothing to look forward to in life.

So maybe this unpredictable-ness is a good thing!

chocolate chip whoopie pies, with espresso filling.

I reformatted the blog!! It was a lot of work .. had to code HTML and adjust tons of image sizes. I like the new look. It puts more attention on the pictures, which is what usually catches people's attention. Besides my highly entertaining writing, that is.

My hair's in a crazy bun right now. I have headphones in my ears, but no music on. The yellow light of the little bed clip-on lamp is casting dramatic shadows on my hands, emphasizing my newly acquired tan (50 minutes outside is all I need) and sculpting crevices, making everything more angular. It's 11:55 pm and although that's not particularly late, I'm questioning why I'm up.

I feel like the novel I've been reading is influencing my writing a lil bit. Anyway, what I'm not questioning is my decision, an hour ago, to have another one of these whoopie pies. I'll tell you why.

whole wheat breakfast muffins.

I'm in that mood. You know the one. Where you lay in bed, headphones streaming music from the iTunes playlist dubbed "Mellow" (the Drake & Linkin Park songs that belie the actual mood) and thoughts, instead of focusing on the relaxing chilling session earlier with the bestie, cannot progress past ce;swlfuehsfi;.

It may've been eating dinner so late (9:30 pm). It could also be something else.

It's probably the dinner. Weirddd. These muffins are weird, too. They have so many random (super healthy) things in them, because I made the recipe up totally by myself. I'll keep the focus on the muffins.

birthday cake for two.

Oh Monday. Every week, I wake up to you, so determined that the day will be good, a strong start to the rest of the week. And every week, without fail, I end the day exhausted. tired. not in the mood to yoga & workout, but I usually do anyway.

Well I give in this week, okay? My day started at 6:40. I put on winged eyeliner despite the way it made my sleepy eyes burn. I went to all my classes despite my intentions of skipping every single one. See this bear cake? (Third one down. Below the creepy as hell Cookie Puss.) A friend of mine and I ate it all. Including the nose, which consisted purely of crunchy bits ... so good. I went to Rutgers Club with Andrea. I ate massive amounts of German Chocolate Cake. I ate buttery pecan bars. I ate two rainbow cookies. After all that, I skipped yoga & the usual hourly gym session I have. I walked back to my dorm from Sonny Werbs instead, to digest ... hair curly & down. plus incredibly windy. equals bad. I later went to Shoprite to find that they did not have challah. #upsetting. I bought birthday Oreos and ate one instead to continue with the theme of fatass for the day. It was so sweet.

How was my Monday? Long. So long.

That's what she said. But I wouldn't end on a bad note. Complaining sucks (hopefully the above narrative was at least slightly amusing. funny how one's pain is another's amusement, right? whatever works.), so I am here to tell you how my Monday turned up.

nutella cheesecake layer cake + truffles.

Remember Andrea? We've made awesome french toast (I actually made her a heart french toast on Valentine's Day morn teehee) & gone secret santa shopping together, and she also decided what my last surprise birthday cake would be. Well, today's her birthday, and that means one thing: make a more awesome birthday cake than the last one.

Which is kind of extremely difficult, considering this was the cake from Andray dray's birthday last year ..

buttermilk chocolate cake: revisited.

School has begun. Which means I most definitely will not have time/resources to post as frequently as I had the pleasure of doing this summer.

I actually surprised myself this entire summer, with the extent to which I was posting. As I mentioned in my introductory blogpost, I started a tumblr in my senior year of high school that kind of fizzled out.

It's funny, but I remember starting this blog at the end of my freshman year - a terrible time, due to finals, studying, stress, etc. But this blog is like an outlet for me. I can say whatever I want. I can get my randomness out on here instead of bothering my suitemates. I also find that the amount I talk about food to people & on Facebook has also decreased.

See, this blog is making me a normal human being!

And although I doubt many people visit here, one of the few comments I have received has already influenced me.

yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

This past Friday was my last day at work at a pharmaceutical packaging & manufacturing company. I feel like many people would expect me to be jubilated at this & at the prospect of returning to school in about a week. However, I am anything but ecstatic.

I truly enjoyed work. The people, the proximity to my house, the sense of a schedule, and the feeling of being busy - I really liked it. 

I would get up at 6:15 am everyday and make myself completely presentable, and half an hour later, I would (hopefully) be on my way to work. I would arrive at 7, don my lab coat and "hair net cap" (which I just looked up because I never knew the name), and make my rounds around the entire company. I would greet the other QAs and continue offering my help to any area that needed it. When I left on Friday, I felt like a true member of the company. My tasks and the results of my findings were actually helping the company. The stuff I was doing was important. And the fact that I got along excellently with everyone and that everyone could be hilarious at times was also a plus. 

But now work is over. A coworker who jokingly makes fun of my (lack of) Gujarati accent brought me Pista Peda - yes! We had an awesome lunch out at a Mexican restaurant with really good food. And now school is about to begin - aka organic chemistry is about to begin its slow, year-long torture upon my poor self. 

But there is hope, yet. 

buttermilk chocolate cake. (no butter or eggs)

Wow.

This cake is amazing.

That's all I have to say.

toasty buttermilk pie.

no pictures sorry :( 

The title was originally "Browned Butter Buttermilk Pie," but there was too much butter going on. Not that that's a problem for most people ..

I actually reduced the butter in the recipe, but increased it in the title! Ha ha! I feel so clever. Actually, I get this "cleverness" from my dad.

(a fey days ago, over texting)

Me: The temperature is 97 degrees right now, and the heat index is 110. My work still has no AC. 

Dad: No need to go to India. 

(few minutes later, trying to continue conversation) 

Me: Can we go to Denville Dairy for dinner?!?! 

Dad: This is "cool" idea. 

Ya see, ya see? I just can't help but exude as much "cleverness" as he does. And if you haven't noticed my oh so subtle quotation marks by this point ... ok let's keep the focus on the pie.

oatmeal pancakes: pictures.

I recently made oatmeal pancakes. I took a lot of pictures of the process, and rather than flood the original post with them, I thought I would just create a separate post. Keeping it short, here. None of my usual blabber ... I know you guys are sighing a breath of relief.

ghee + molasses