I am.....alive!

I know, I know, I have been absent for quite some time....but in my defense culinary school makes you work, work, makes you work!  No time for anything but study, learn, and work! Or at least in my case. I made some really good friends and became a favorite with some of my chefs! Even chefs who were not my chefs! I just wanted to learn everything! Even though I was a pastry student I hung around those savory chefs trying to learn their tricks too.
Now that I am done with school I have a crazy amount of free time! like 30 minuets!!!! That I get almost everyday in between my two jobs!! Talk about spoiled right!?
But yesterday I had the day all to myself, and I decided to do something I am good at; baking.
To be honest I had a hard time picking one thing to bake! I just wanted to bake everything!
So here I was sitting, thinking, looking through my books, sipping on my coffee, and wishing I had something to go along with this brilliant cup of Joe. Then it hit me. Scones.
So I made Blood orange, cranberry, with candied ginger scones! Lately I have been putting ginger into everything!!  I candied the ginger so it wouldn't be so rough in the scone, and that was fun! The whole house smelled like sweet ginger! Mmmm.

Slice the ginger as thin as possible, (having a really sharp knife helps) then, I boiled the ginger for 10 min. Next I drained the ginger and repeated it once more. Then (depending on how much ginger you sliced) mix the sliced ginger with 2c of water and 2c of sugar and a pinch of salt, and cook to 225F. To those who don't own a candy thermometer, just keep an eye on the pot and when the liquid is the consistency of thin honey its done and ready to go! 

Drain the slices and they will form a sugar coating. You can always add more sugar while they are hot. Then add them to anything and everything!

I really like to do the drop method instead of shaping them, because they look more like a real scone with this fun method. Here is my recipe; it makes about 10 scones, depending on how large you shape them!

3oz Butter

2.5 Sugar

1/8ts Salt

1 Egg yolk

12oz All purpose flour

1 1/4Tbs Baking powder

7oz Milk

2oz Cranberry's

1 blood orange zest

Candied ginger.

We are going to use the creaming method. 

Combine butter, sugar, salt in a mixer with the paddle attachment. 

Blend to a smooth paste. Add the yolk and blend in thoroughly.

Add the milk and mix it in. SIFT together the baking powder and flour and add to the bowl and mix to a smooth paste. Bake at 400F for 15-20 mins and enjoy.

I was in such a cooking frenzy I started to make lunch/dinner!!!

I have been craving this Japanese/Korean stir fry with yakisoba noodles! I made a quick trip to Uwajimaya which is a cooooool Asian market. I got some baby bok choy, I found some MILD and MSG free kimchi. So good. Got my yakisoba noodles and some yakisoba sauce. 

So pretty much I just put every vegetable I liked in the stir fry. Onion, zucchini, carrot, mushroom. Salt and pepper to taste and whatever other spices you would like, and you get a whole bunch of yum!

It was so relaxing baking and cooking part of the day, listening to my favorite bands and just enjoying my day. There will be more to come. I'm on to something here:)  Ill be back, love you guys.

xoxo Gossip gir..... I mean Innka.

<3