in the kitchen x green tea pavlova mashup

It has been such a cold winter and even thought its officially Spring, there's still a chill in the air. I have been craving all things beach, sun, sand, and all things tropical. The closest I've come to escaping this NYC tundra is this mashup pavlova. It looks innocent enough, but there's a lot going on. Underneath is a green tea white chocolate mousse enrobed in a passion fruit whipped cream. Covering the outside is crispy meringue, candied kumquats, and starfruit. Let's just say, even though I'm lounging near a palm tree, this kind of feels like one.

finding your bliss x sundays at home

Sundays are bittersweet. It's one whole day dedicated to rest but at the same time it's the last of the weekend. Because of that, I relish it. I save my favorite books, shows, and recipes for Sunday. Alas, I'm also a procrastinator so I always have to catch up with laundry and chores. On the plus side, it's nice to start the week with a clean home. My Sunday ritual is to cook a leisurely brunch, flip through cookbooks for work inspiration, buy myself flowers and enjoy a good book or show. It's pampering & relaxing, and centers me for the coming week. It never fails to put me in a good mood even if I know a busy week is coming. What are your sunday rituals? 

in the kitchen x lemon curd, yogurt, & fresh figs

The arrival of spring immediately brings to mind one of fruit, lemon. While citrus is a winter fruit, I can't help but correlate the tart and crisp flavors of lemon to spring. It's refreshing, and March is all about hitting refresh on your daily routines. The layers of clothing slowly come off, the sun doesn't disappear after 4pm, and the warm weather is energizing. Once I learned how to make lemon curd, I was hooked. The combination of eggs, fresh lemon juice, sugar, and butter is tangy, citrusy, and delicious. To highlight one of my favorite flavors, this dessert is a play on a lemon meringue tart. It is made with lemon curd, shortbread shell, meringue crisps, yogurt with blood orange juice, and fresh figs. Just imagine a creamy and citrusy curd, with a buttery tart shell, crispy and crunchy meringue, tangy yogurt, sweet blood orange juice, and a ripe fresh fig. Separately, they're good. But together all the components add up to a light and refreshing dessert perfect for the arrival of spring.

in the kichen x caramelized pineapple

This dessert came about as a last minute request for pineapple. Super simple, and super refreshing. I marinated the pineapple in a syrup of orange juice, honey, cardamom, ginger, and brown sugar. Once it was in the oven, I continued glazing it with the syrup until it was cooked. I love seeing the sugars caramelize, and the bits of pineapple that char slightly. Its paired with oats, and coconut sorbet topped with chopped cocoa nibs. It's light and satisfying. Sometimes, when I overthink a dessert, or come up with something with 43859340 components on a plate, I go back to the simplest of desserts, and it reminds me that delicious is never complicated.

in the kitchen x tapioca, passion fruit, & green tea coconut

It's taken me over a year to put an Indonesian-inspired dessert on the blog. I'm pretty embarrassed about that, being Indonesian and all. But when I think about it, I'm not that surprised. To me dessert is ooey gooey brownies, blondies, and chocolate cake with super rich fudge icing. What can I say, I ate a lot of Entenman's cakes when I was younger. Indonesian desserts have a different meaning for me. My memories of Indonesian desserts are of my mom and her friends frying up batches of pisang goreng, while I just ate and eavesdropped on the conversation. Also, sharing es buah with my mom, who always served me a bowl with the best chewy fruits. When I made this I was trying to capture the best of the Indonesian dessert soups, think sweet coconut, starchy element, & fruit. This dessert is comprised of a coconut & green tea "soup", passion fruit jelly, tapioca, candied kumquats, and kiwi. I like the chewy stickiness of the tapioca along with the coconut and green tea. Green tea is not exactly an Indonesian staple, but it's replacing pandan flavoring (which is hard to find outside of Queens, NY, just saying). I used seasonal fruits, and I wanted this to be as simple as possible. Why simple? Because when I eat a spoonful of this, I don't need an armful of ingredients to take me back to my Indonesian roots.