Life Update and Tasty Munchies

Feb 28

Life Update and Tasty Munchies

Hey all! Sorry I've been MIA for a while, I had some personal matters that had to be taken care of. Well, they are still being taken care of and henceforth I am taking a little mini-break from shooting new material. Don't worry, I'm not retiring!

Because I haven't been shooting since January, I got myself a full-time, well-paying job. Thank goodness that I'm able to work in a skilled trade and focused on a specific subject in both high school and college. I am currently working for printing company as a graphic designer! I feel so lucky to have found a job in which I do something that I'm incredibly passionate about. I've only been there for a week so far, but I love waking up to go! Something else amazing is that I'm the youngest designer there, and the only one that doesn't have a college degree. There's proof that if you have drive and passion about something, you can teach yourself and do anything! What's great about having the job is that it'll be steady income for me which mean that... drumroll, please... I have the money for a new car! What do you guys think I should get? I'm going to have to sell my baby, my Nissan 240SX, and buy another car. Preferably something small and nifty, and good on gas. After I get the car, then it'll be place-searching time!

Anyway, lately I've discovered something else that I really like to do -- cook! Ask anyone, usually I'm "Kimora Karbs" and only eat spaghetti, rice, breads, veggies and fruits. But as of late, I've been kind of obsessed with looking up vegan recipes and whipping up a storm in the kitchen! Speaking of which, I did this yesterday and produced some really lovely apple scones. Food photography also kind of intrigues me, so I snapped what I thought was a nice picture of all these little guys on the baking tray. Here's the recipe if you guys are interested. They're SUPER simple to make, and are delicious!

Kimora’s Apple Scones

1 cup unbleached flour
2 cups whole wheat flour (plus some for the outside)
1/4 cup turbinado/raw sugar (plus some for sprinkling on top)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/4 cup cold apple juice (or water)
1 1/2 cup diced apples

1. Add the vinegar to the soy milk and set aside to thicken. Dice the apples and make sure you have the full 1 and 1/2 cups, and then set aside.
2. Sift together the flours and baking powder, mix in the sugar and salt, then cut in the margarine. If you don’t have a hand pastry blender, which is made just for this, then use a strong fork and it will work the same. Work until there are little clumps, those are perfect because if they stay cold until they get in the oven, and they will melt into flakey little pockets.
3. Add in the soy milk concoction, then apple juice or cold water and mix quickly yet gently until there are no large dry patches, but little clumps are fine. You want to work the dough as little as possible, to keep the scones soft. Over stirring will work the gluten in the flour into sticky strands and break up those nice little margarine clumps. Then add in the diced apples and loosely incorporate, it’s okay if they aren’t completely mixed in.
4. Sprinkle additional whole wheat flour over the top and on a clean dry surface, pat the dough into a loose ball and turn onto the floured surface – like a cutting board. The dough should be soft and moist inside, held loosely together by the thin layer of flour on the outside. For bigger scones, you can cut this ball of dough into six equal wedges and bake. But i prefer a smaller, more manageable scone, so i halve it, pat each piece into a little circle and divide it into six wedges.
5. Handle those wedges very gently when transferring to a baking pan covered in parchment paper, so they maintain that wedge shape scones are known for. Then sprinkle with more turbinado sugar if you’d like.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400f. Enjoy immediately or keep dry in a sealed container for later use. They also freeze well!

I need to have a naked cooking show, don't you think? ;]