Adventures in Baking Quarantine Edition: Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love baking, but in the last few years I have not done a lot of it.  You know, life gets in the way.

I've made pies: apple and pumpkin.  I've made cranberry tarts.  I've made chocolate chip cookies (some were rocks... but that's another story) and macaroons.  I made soda bread once upon a time.  My favorite were the Cranberry Chocolate Chip Scones (hence why there's a post about it!).

Far and few between.  With work and life, I just couldn't get back into making baking a regular habit.  But most everything I made was generally delicious (apparently, even the rock cookies... Baros and Burak ate them all.. and no broken teeth).

In the last few weeks, since the quarantine started I have baked once or twice a week.  It's been refreshing and relaxing.

I've made:

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies  (and banana pancakes! not baking but I made them and they were delicious)
Soda Bread (twice in one day because the cat decided to play hockey with the first loaf)
Lemon Brownies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sponge Cake (a little dense)
Banana Coffee Muffins

So I'd like to share a couple of the recipes and adventures I've tried and adapted during this quarantine.

cherry Blossoms during the Quarantine

I hate quarantine and baking is one of the things helping me keep my sanity and relax at least some of the time. That and walks.  I love taking walks with Baros.  I love cooking and trying new ways to prep things.  On sunny days, I love setting the table on the deck and eating all of the delicious with Baros.

Spinach and Turkey omelette with fresh Guacamole

Eating our red pepper omelette, feta cheese and fresh salsa outside

One of the first things I decided to make was Banana chocolate chip pancakes because we had some over ripe bananas chilling in the kitchen.  However, I made my pancake decision at around 11 pm... Not the best pancake time...

here are my Beautiful banana pancakes!

That being said, I was still feeling snacky. So I opted to make Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I was inspired by the recipe created by Lil Luna.

I tweaked her version slightly because we wanted a less sweet cookie.  Baros doesn't love super sweet American style desserts and I've been trying to watch how much sugar I consume, since I seem to be particularly effected by things like sugar and caffeine.  I did add some extra vanilla extract and a little bit of cinnamon to add some complexity to the flavor.

As this was this first time I've baked in a while I also forgot how important it is to follow directions.  When the recipe calls for softened butter, you should make sure it's softened, not melted...  We created a mini burner, and put hot water in a small bowl and a second bowl on top with a stick of butter in it.... It.... kind of worked.

I only have ONE picture of these and I don't know why!!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 6 tbs butter, room temperature (take it out of the fridge in advance)
• 1/3 cup sugar (next time I'm going to use our dark brown sugar as I think this will add to the color and flavor)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 -1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips 

1.  Preheat the oven to 350° F
2. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  (Choose a deep bowl so you don't shoot sugar and butter all over the place...  This can also be avoided by actually using room temperature butter).
3. Mix the egg, banana and vanilla into the creamed butter/sugar mixture thoroughly.
4. Slowly sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into the creamed mixture. Mix gradually.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.  I like to use a lot of chocolate, so I definitely put in closer to a cup and a half of chocolate!
6.  Refridgerate for an hour or so (if you can wait that long!).  It helps the flavors merge together and also really helps the bake if you want a soft cookie!
7.  Scoop onto a baking sheet lines with parchment paper.  Bake for 12-16 minutes or until the edges take on a light brown color.

The cookies came out wonderfully.  They were banana and chocolate heaven!  Please check out Lil Luna's original recipe as I tweaked here and there to get the cookie Baros and I would really love.

Next time, I'll switch over to dark brown sugar because I think it'll add some wonderful color and flavor.  I think it'll also change the texture a little, so I'm excited to try it out again... That is... Once I can get back to the grocery store because I'm out of chocolate chips!

I miss Pre-Quarantine days when I could just go to the grocery whenever I wanted to get whatever I needed at pretty much any hour of day.  However, in Quarantine, we're going to the grocery store once a week sometimes once every two weeks if we can manage.  I wish I was better at making grocery lists!  I always forget something, but then I don't want to go back out again and we live without it!  And all the stores around here are closing at 8:30pm so when I want to bake at 11pm, I literally have to use whatever we have because nothing is open...

Oh well.  I'm just happy that I can bake and destress!


UPDATE:  Add some cocoa powder for some double chocolate chip banana cookies that are amazing!!

Time to Catch Up in A World of Havoc

Well... It's been a bit since I've updated this blog.

It's been a busy year (literally I think it's over a year from my last update) sooo what's changed?

I guess, pretty much everything.

Last year, around this time Baros and I traveled to Turkey together for the first time.  I got to meet his parents in person and we celebrated Baros' and his father's birthdays in person all together.  I got to see his home town and the absolute beauty that is Istanbul.  We took a mini vacation within our vacation and spent a few days in Bodrum, otherwise known as a peaceful haven on the Mediterranean.

After getting back, I interviewed for a promotion and got it!  So I'm the Team Lead of my amazing squad at work.  It's been crazy and busy and hectic but very worth it.  It's probably a lot of the reason I stopped updating the blog because I was just working a lot and adjusting to my new position and all the demands that came with it.

6 weeks of training with the visiting Italians.  Eventually, I'd like to go train with them in Italy.  But I suppose it will have to wait for the moment until the world calms down.

We traveled down the shore to spend time with my Mom a few times over the summer.  We went to Philly to visit Andrea and Inch.

We celebrated Burak's birthday with a mellow visit.  We won some Broadway tickets so he could see his first musical with Baros.

I low key celebrated my birthday.  Honestly, it was so low key I barely remember what I did.  At work, they surprised me.  Baros got me beautiful roses and somehow I got even more lucky.  I won tickets to see Phantom of the Opera on my birthday. 

I went to the Renaissance Faire twice.  Once with Baros, Ang and a friend.  And once with Jeremy and co.  I love the spirit and fun loving atmosphere and can't wait to go back.  The costumes and camaraderie are incredible.

Halloween was fun.  I was a mermaid at work and organized a costume contest!  When I made it home, I de-mermaidified and we watched Hocus Pocus.  Unfortunately the weather was just crap so we couldn't go out.  I probably remember this because Halloween has always been my favorite holiday.

Thanksgiving was fun.  We spent Thanksgiving day with my brother's girlfriend's family.  We ate too much and had great conversation.  It was weird not hosting but lovely just the same.  And then the next day Mom made Thanksgiving anyway.  She can't help herself.

December was busy.  We threw Andrea a surprise Baby Shower at mom's!  It was small but so much fun.  We told Andrea it was an early Christmas lunch and actually succeeded at surprising her.  We "showered" her with love and food and unicorns!  (Well, Jeremy supplied the unicorns, but they were there).

We spent Christmas at home since I worked on Christmas Eve and chilled out with Baros' brother, Burak.

New Year's Eve was also spent at home with the boys, but we made a feast and watched the ball drop with Raki and delicious foods.  At midnight, Burak and I jumped on the couch like kids!  It was already broken so all was well.

January was mellow.

February was hard.  So very hard to process.

It started off well enough, searching for apartments and just being us.  But then, Baros' mom passed away and I don't know where the rest of February went.  It was unexpected and shocking and just about the most difficult thing I've dealt with.

There were tears and sadness and anger and confusion.  We found out on Sunday and flew to Turkey Monday.
We made it to Istanbul at 7am Tuesday morning and walked into a living room of memories drenched in sadness and regret.  We jumped into funeral arrangement and went to the morgue.  We said our goodbyes and navigated family and friends.  For me, all was done with minimal understanding because my Turkish is just not good enough.  I was the hugger, the arm, the person watching facial expressions trying to be in the right place at the right time, to not be in the way.
We went just about 38 hours without sleeping.  To the point that I was falling asleep while standing up.

It was a difficult week with trips to the cemetery and difficult/impossible good byes.  Anaconda (Nuran) will be missed everyday.  She was a wonderful person who's life was too short.  There was still so much we wanted to share with her.
The rest of February was nothing.  Just living.

March was crazy.  We started the moving process.  We took the whole month to move our tiny apartment to a larger place in the same town.  It was back and forth.  We walked about 75% of our belongings and got help from my mom and our friends Ernesto and Bihter.
We stubbornly folded our mattress in half and walked it across West New York.  We built 10 pieces of Ikea furniture! We still love each other through it all!  <3

And through it all, Corona started sneaking into our lives more regularly. It was on the news.  Suddenly, restrictions popping up.  Listening to talk of Pandemics.  Public Transit changing schedules.  New Jersey and New York practically shutting down except for Essential businesses.  Working from home.  Unpacking.  Organizing.  Trying to pretend it's just a vacation.  But people are dying and there's nothing we can do but stay home and wait it out.

I haven't seen Mom since the beginning of March and my brother since well before that.

Good news though.  We've finished unpacking.  We got our Kitty!  His name is Maestro and he's a little love that follows us around wherever we go. He's our little baby and I'm so glad we have him around us right now!  He's definitely going to be a super spoiled kitty!

The world is crazy and I guess I need to get back to writing on here so I can process the world around me.  I  need to write down the good and share some pictures from last year and from this year.  And continue documenting this journey that Baros and I are on.

Life is an adventure.  It's different and a little scarier than expected.  But we're going to get through it together as best we can.

Providence Adventures: Day II and ZOOMA

Immediately after wrapping up at the RISD we decided to go to lunch.  We were starving!  It had been a very busy morning full of lots of walking and beautiful views so we decided to head to Federal Hill to get some Italian food.

My bestie, Ang, had given us a killer recommendation (that I can't currently remember) but I hadn't realized it wasn't open for lunch so we revamped our plans spur of the moment and it worked out incredibly well.

We went across the street to a place called Trattoria Zooma.  It was incredible.  I strongly recommend going there on a Tuesday for lunch.

The food is amazing and the specials are too.  They have a lunch special which gets you three courses for 15.95 a person (18.95 if you choose to get a hand made pasta which I strongly recommend) and on Tuesdays they have a half off wine bottle special.  It's crazy!  And the food really is great.

We ordered a typically $60 bottle of wine for only $30.  It was the perfect red for our food.  The name is Primo Antico and after googling it, it looks like it's a wine that can only be ordered by the case and usually for restaurants.

We each got an appetizer: an order of meatballs and some eggplant parmigiana.  The eggplant parm tasted like home. I immediately flashed back to Gram's eggplant parm.  It was so good that I almost didn't want to share... The meatballs were also very tasty (not Gram's but still really good).

Our beautiful eggplant!

Hubby with our appetizers!

The meatballs

After the appetizers we both had lovely pasta dishes to share.  We opted for the hand stretched farfalle and the hand stretched papardelle.  I'm sad that I missed taking pictures of them making them.  In the front window, when we arrived, they were making pasta, but I decided to wait until after eating (we were starving).  But by the time we left, they were done for the afternoon so I missed a picture opportunity.
We got the Rigatoni alla Zooma (although we switched out for the hand made farfalle instead) which is housemade spicy sausage, green peas, shallots and garlic pomodoro. We also got the Rigatoni Bolognese (with hand made papardelle instead) which is a traditional housemade bolognese sauce.  I really wanted Baros to try some traditional pasta sauce (and I've never made a bolognese before so it's something I wouldn't make at home).   

Look at those beautiful noodles

Zooma papardelle and delicious wine

Our beautiful farfalle

The master at work!

Our Farfalle sprinkled with parmigiana

 These pastas and sauces were incredible.  The fresh pasta was cooked perfectly al dente and was just the right texture and consistency.  And the sauces were incredible.  The spicy sausage sauce was a little heavier but it was so flavorful. We cleared our plates and were in such a happy full state.
Which kind of made dessert difficult.  The menu had a lot of beautiful options for dessert but we were so full that we opted for the gelato as it was the lightest option.  Baros got pistachio and I got the salted caramel.  His pistachio was rich and creamy and a beautiful pistachio flavor. I wasn't keen on the salted caramel.  The flavor was good but it was icy in consistency.  But it's the only negative of everything we ate.

I really enjoyed Trattoria Zooma as it had beautiful, delicious food, wonderful quiet ambience (at least on this lunch hour), great lunch and Tuesday special and an incredibly friendly and patient wait staff.  Our waitress was wonderful and helped us make the best decisions for our meal.  I definitely recommend going there!

The bar area

After lunch we were so full that we had to take another walk.  We walked around the federal hill district admiring the shop windows and random pineapples floating around.

Follow the Italian Pride

Walking out of a story book!

I'm so entertained by these

A giant chicken in our midst

Welcome to the Federal Hill... where pineapples grow? 

Pineapple love!

I love the Italian Names on the sidewalk

We're really cute

And... more pineapples

Welcome to Italy

A lovely fountain

 Eventually we meandered our way down the hill and found the state building!  It was gorgeous.  We spent a little while taking pictures and just relaxing.  If we go back, we'll plan to go back earlier in the day and take one of the tours inside.

Stunning from afar

loved the gorgeous architecture.

We sat near one of the memorials for a little while. 

We even caught a rally of sorts

 As it started to cool down for the evening, we wandered to the mall to warm up and then grabbed some drinks on the way home. We were so full from lunch that we couldn't even eat dinner!  It was crazy!

And then the next morning we headed to Boston for some more adventure!