More summer food endeavors.

There are some food pics I haven't posted from earlier this summer, and since I recently baked a successful chocolate cake, thought I'd update with these:

Earlier this summer I made these pumpkin cookies and brought some when I went on a picnic adventure with Will, Kat and Nathan.  I also gave some to Thomas for his birthday that we went to celebrate later that day.  People always say baking pumpkin-flavored things is good for the autumn season, but who says you can't have any during the summer?  It's like eating ice cream in the winter time :]

Pumpkin iced cookies

Earlier in July I went to visit Grace Faith Church in Chinatown because I was sharing about my ministry with InterVarsity and inviting people from that church to partner with me.  I hosted a little info table afterwards and offered these madeleine cookies that I made especially for them.  These brought back memories for a lot of them as they remembered my mom used to love baking these beauties all the time.  I love baking these - they're simple but tasty and great to give out - they're my default go-to cookies when I know someone may be allergic to something else I'd normally bake.

Madeleine cookies

I cooked spaghetti one night for dinner a couple of weeks ago.  I had a recipe for a simple marinara sauce my mom got from my pastor (who's Italian and makes his own "gravy" all the time) and decided to throw in some veggies because they're delicious and nutritious.  It was a little frustrating that day, as it was one of those super humid/hot summer days and my mom had told me that adding the veggies would make the sauce longer to cook.  I tend to get crabby/flustered/impatient on particularly hot days :\  The spaghetti turned out okay, though!  One of my favorites :]

Mmm spaghetti!

Since we have had a number of hot & humid days, some black outs, and with me in and out of the house, I haven't really been able to bake or cook much until recently.  During most of that time, most of my family and close friends have been away, and since some of them have returned, we got together for our usual dinner & sharing pictures night.  Usually it's for my dad and whoever else from my family returns from the AZ short-term missions trip, but this summer the Yees also returned from their trip to Spain, with Kenzie returning from studying abroad there.  

Making chocolate ganache

Since the weather has been better and we were having dinner together, it was the perfect excuse to get baking.  I asked for special requests, and with Auntie Di saying anything chocolate and Kenzie suggesting a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, that's exactly what I made.  I pulled a recipe that I had seen on the Joy of Baking website, which I love using the recipes from, and put myself to work.  I had to make a trip to Waldbaum's for heavy cream and when I got home and found our new-ish bag of flour infested with little bugs, my dad also went out to get a new bag of flour.

Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache really hit the spot

I actually thought I had maybe made the ganache wrong, but I kept stirring and stirring and soon it came out to the consistency it needed to be.  And do you like the little topper I made to celebrate everyone's homecoming?

I told him he wouldn't be sorry, and he wasn't!  The cake was a hit, so I definitely think the recipe is a keeper :]