10/4/2014... Missing home... and relieving homesickness with pumpkin

Hello, you lovely people!
During my stay in Thailand, I have thought about "back home," a little. Honestly, I don't really think about the United States that often, I have been too preoccupied being involved with what I am doing in the now, and my plans for the future. I am having so many adventures here, and I love it! Each experience, whether positive or negative, is teaching me a lot: about life, about emotional stability, about taking care of oneself, about patience, and especially about food tolerance. Every now and then, though, I have that slight tinge of nostalgia. I miss some of my favorites cities and towns and I really miss food. I'm not talking about the KFC or McDonalds, either. I can get that here, but I don't want to. I'm talking about the food I would eat during the holidays: pecan pie, fudge pecan pie, key lime pie, fried turkey, and fried okra. These, by far, are my comfort foods. In the mornings, I especially miss the Greek yoghurt and muffins. And what about Starbucks classic pumpkin cream cheese muffins? Those, I would gladly spend the $3.50 for the overpriced hunk of deliciousness.

So, what do I do about this terrible dilemma? Imported Pecans are around 650THB (That's over $20 for a pound of pecans....) So.... it better be an extremely special occasion for me to be shelling out that amount of of money. And turkey? Forget about it! Key lime pie is almost possible, but I have not seen graham crackers or (bleh!->) vanilla wafer cookies on the shelves of the stores here.

What about pumpkin? Well.... there is no canned pumpkin. In fact, what they have here is Japanese pumpkin, which looks like this:

Yeah, it's kind of weird looking, and the name is pretty awesome! In Thai, the word for Japanese pumpkin is this:

ฟักทอง

Which sounds like 

FukTong

Hahahaha, it's a great word for the English speaker.

Now, the Thai people love to use the pumpkin for curries, and desserts (dessert: "Ka-nohm wahn"). Pumpkin in coconut milk is a fantastic treat.
I have never worked with any form of pumpkin other than canned pumpkin, so imagine my concern when I realized that there is no such form in Thailand. But there is pumpkin and it is by no means expensive. Looks like it is time to be creative.
My first trial with pumpkin is in my recent blog post, when I made Roasted Pumpkin with walnuts and garlic. It was a complete success, the pumpkin, after being roasted, softens very nicely. I also made those scrumptious cinnamon streusel muffin tops (muffies). Looks like there is a glimmering possibility!
The only thing: I need to learn how to make pumpkin puree for the muffin batter. Time to utilize that ever-so-convenient form of stalking: the Internet. I used a recipe from the How Sweet It Is blog, but, instead of using a pie pumpkin, I used the Japanese pumpkin, and cut it into chunks after cleaning and peeling it. Then I roasted it for about 40 minutes. and put it in the blender, adding some nutmeg(1.5 tsp), brown sugar(1tbsp), cinnamon (2tsp), and sage (3 tsp.) to it. This was my result:

It was a little bit sticky, and very dark, so I was a little bit worried, but it tasted quite good.
And this was the recipe I used for the Pumpkin Pie Muffin Tops, from Crazy for Crust's blog.

Of course, I couldn't help but add cinnamon Streusel to the top for some (refer to the same post I hyperlinked earlier, the recipe is there), and I decided to make some easy caramel, from condensed milk. (This recipe basically said to put a can of sweetened condensed milk into a crock pot filled with water on medium-high heat for ten hours.)
Result:

Final Result of pumpkin Muffies?
Massive pies of heaven.

On a final note: look what I found in Thailand!

If you guessed Gatorade, You are correct! Blue and yellow exist in Thailand (probably because they are the prettiest). Take, that/

29-12-2013. What's for dessert?

Hello, all!
So, I finally had some spare time to myself, in quiet, and that meant that I needed to do something. So, I did some laundry. Vacuumed and mopped, picked up someone's Christmas presents and put them in his room (that someone will be needing to put said Christmas toys away in their rightful spots) aaaand catch up on my sweets skills.
Originally, I wanted to make sugar cookies for the holidays, so that my cousin and I could decorate together. That.... turned into a bust when I received the call on Christmas day that I would be left alone until the 30th of December. Now, that plan was changed to tonight, the 29th around midnight. Ten minutes until 10 at night, and I hear the truck doors slam outside. They're home.
Whoever is making these decisions doesn't know how to stick to a plan and, in my opinion, doesn't know how to take things slowly, to enjoy the moments and let other enjoy them. Not that I am upset that they came home early, I was beyond excited to see my cousin again! Getting him in bed, though... a little testy since it was four days since he last had been working towards sleeping by himself.
Before all of this, as in, earlier today, with the house cleaned, minor essentials purchased (milk, soap, ingredients for the planned dessert dishes...), I could begin my work.
The two sweets I had in mind were a peanut butter pie, which has become a somewhat popular dish I've seen in Southern states, and banana coconut nutmeg Popsicles. Recipes and pictures below.
Both, I feel, turned out relatively successful, in that they taste wonderful, and I have figured out ways to change them to make them better to my taste. Plus, now I have some bribing ammunition for my coworkers, and feeding into the obsession with sweets. They'll try something, get hooked, and I'll be their "sweets dealer." My evil plan is about to be set into motion....

So, it was a quiet weekend which I could use for myself, and I was able to accomplish a few things, but I'm glad my family is back, for the time being. In addition to that, I think I have come to the understanding that moving into an apartment in the near future is a strong probability, as long as I have a spare bed and a kitchen.

Until next time,
K.

As for now... Recipes!

Peanut Butter Pie (No Bake)
Crust

• Oreos, 24 cookie sandwiches (I used the peanut butter chocolate filled ones for the dedication to peanut butter)
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
  

Filling
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 pack (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
8oz whipping cream (The recipe I used asked for the frozen pre-made whipped topping, like Cool Whip... I didn't have that)
1/4 c. Chocolate Chips
1 pack of Milo Nuggets (no mini chocolate peanut butter cups, but these are big enough to crush, and make pleasant surprises for the eater)

For the crust, crush the cookies together as much as possible, they should pretty much be pulverized. In a bowl, add the melted butter to the cookies, mix briefly, to ensure eved spreading of butter to cookie. In a 9" pie dish or, in my case, a 7.5" tall casserole dish, press the cookie crumbs into it. Start at the bottom and work up. For a smoother shell, I patted the mixture into the sides with the convex size of a wooden spoon, instead of my getting my fingers dirty, and the shell crumbling in my hands. When smooth enough to your liking, you can put the shell in the freezer to cool and harden.

Ingredients, except the Nutella.

In a bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, and cream cheese together. (Don't get concerned if it doesn't look smooth, it will.)












After the three ingredients are sufficiently blended with each other, pour your whipping cream into a mixer and beat it until it becomes thick. Take your peanut butter mixture, and add it little by little to the whipped cream, while still blending. Stop the blender or mixer when the mixture has the consistency of cake batter. (Look below, creamy fabulousness!)

Mmm! Crunchy!

Add the chocolate Milo Nuggets and the chocolate chips.

Pour the mixture into the Oreo crust, and set it in the freezer for a few hours. Over night is the best confirmation of firmness. Thaw the pie slightly before cutting it into serving slices.

Off to the freezer I go!

Banana Coconut Popsicles with nutmeg (and a hint of lime!)
4 medium-small bananas
400mL Coconut milk
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 c. Mild honey (should not be too floral or fruit)
1/2 kaffir lime (juice)

Serving Size: 7 popsicles
Pretty simple: puree bananas, add coconut milk, blend. Add honey, and then lime. Pour mixture into holders, and set in the freezer overnight.

The end product was pretty tasty. I think, though, this require less banana, because it was just way too thick and yogurt-y for my texture preference. That, and it didn't tast tropical enough. This may have been due to the stage of the bananas, they were not necessarily sweet enough, either. Otherwise, this is totally a great cooling snack, which I think I will practice more with, in discovering a delightfully quenching treat.