Every year, I try to make a cake from scratch for Kevin's birthday. This year, I wanted to make a cake to celebrate our wedding anniversary. My favorite type of cake is a basic vanilla cake with buttercream frosting. I added some rainbow sprinkles into the cake to make it more beautiful.
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Ginger Chicken Congee
Congee always evokes memories of childhood for me. When I was growing up, my grandmother made congee every weekend for breakfast for my brothers and I. She served every bowl of congee with a sprinkle of freshly sliced scallions, a drizzle of sesame oil, and a spoonful of oyster sauce. When I moved away to college and had to cook for myself, I only made congee during the cold Michigan winters. Now, I make congee whenever I have leftover roast chicken. My husband grew up eating congee with loads of white pepper added on top of his congee. I tried his version and enjoyed it a lot so I combined both of our versions in this recipe.
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Anniversary Roast Chicken
The first time I had a truly amazing roast chicken was when I visited my friend in Portland, Maine. We had dinner at a local restaurant where the chef served half of a roasted chicken over bread in a cast iron skillet. I don’t remember too much about the surroundings or the other dishes that were served. I just remembered how delicious the bread was after being cooked with the chicken. The bread seemed to have soaked up some of the juices from the chicken and was absolutely delightful.
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Blueberry Lemon Pancakes
For the second part of our anniversary brunch, I made a sweet pancake using a combination of blueberries and lemon, one of my favorite fruit combinations. The blueberries lend a nice sweetness to the pancakes, while the lemon adds a wonderful tartness. These pancakes are also vegan friendly. When I first made these pancakes, Kevin didn't even know they were vegan pancakes. We both enjoyed the pancakes so much that they became our go to pancakes. The pancakes were so good, we didn't even miss the the butter, eggs, or milk.
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Scallion Pancakes
Brunch is one of my favorite parts of the day on weekends. Weekdays are often busy enough that I usually grab something quick and bolt out the door for work. Weekends on the other hand, are the perfect time to make scallion pancakes.
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Green Tea Vanilla Cupcakes
The first time I made cupcakes was in high school. It was around the time when the cupcake craze began in New York City. I remember my first experience baking cupcakes. I wanted every part of the cupcake to turn out well so I scoured the web and read tons of reviews on different recipes, techniques, ratios, flavor combinations, and decorating tips. This weekend, I decided to make green tea cupcakes with my favorite type of green tea, matcha.
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