Make a Flag Cake, Make a Flag Cake!

I can not believe it's almost the end of June. AND the July 4th weekend is next week! Last year, I made this totally awesome flag cake. Trust me, it's awesome. You should make one too! Seriously! It was a lot of fun to assemble AND everyone at your party will LOVE it. I promise! Click here for the HOW TO. Have fun :)

Peach & Cheese Danish

It's summertime, and I get a lot of free fruits from people. I love it! But, a (good) problem I have is that I get so many that I can't finish. So, I make fun things like this danish. It was so good and easy for a Friday night. Easier because I used store-bought puff pastry.

Caramelize the peaches:
2 peaches sliced (I had white peaches)
3 tablespoons butter
1.5 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt the butter over low heat. Add sugar and peaches. Turn up heat slightly and cook peaches about 5 minutes or until caramelized.

Make cream cheese filling:
4 oz. light cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
sugar (I don't remember how much I used, maybe 2 tablespoons)

Thaw the puff pastry according to the instructions on the box. Dunno why, but I had some problems separating the sheet (first time ever). So, I threw some flour on it and rolled it out. I cut them into 6 pieces (2 large pastries and 4 smaller pastries).

I formed the pastry shapes by pulling the edges up for the filling.

Top with the caramelized peaches:

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden.

Let cool and enjoy with your favorite beverage.

Too Many Oranges!

What do you do with lots and lots of free oranges? I've been given more oranges than I can eat or drink by myself. Luckily it's been warm here in the Bay, so I made some juice bars and orange sorbet.

For the juice bars, simply squeeze the juice and pour into your popsicle molds. Easy like nothing else.

Even after I made the juice bars, I still had a basketful of oranges left.  I made orange sherbet. This too is very simple.

Recipe from the FoodNetwork.com here

Let your ice-cream maker do the work:

Transfer to a container, cover and freeze for a couple hours.

And, yes, I STILL have some oranges left...

Japantown Farmers Market Veggies

Asparagus, zucchini and peas. Stir fried in garlic. So simple, so delicious!

Lemon Baked Salmon Salad

Dinner Friday was a baked salmon salad. It was so easy.


Preheat over to 350 degrees
Line small baking pan with foil. Place salmon filet in pan.
Squeeze the juice of half a lemon, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Loosely wrap the salmon in foil.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until flakey.
That's it!


For the salad, I made a very simple, but delicious vinaigrette:

Lemon Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

• lemon juice of 1/2 a lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon grainy mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 clove minced garlic
• Salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything.