soup dumplings + stand mixer fun

Sandy and I reconnected recently via the blogosphere after meeting each other in Taiwan in the summer of 2002. We finally met up again (after 8 years) for some delicious soup dumplings in Chinatown. Sandy is super sweet and very crafty, she makes me want to take on more projects! It was also great to finally meet her husband after seeing all of their beautiful engagement/wedding/anniversary pictures! She was kind enough to bring me lovely handmade hairpins!!





This past weekend, I broke out the stand mixer for the very first time and went to town. Now I don't claim to be a professional baker... in fact I insist I'm not. If there was anything less amateur than amateur, well, that would be me. Everything aside from the chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies were recipes that I hadn't tried, so it was kind of intimidating. Of course, no one was forcing me to bake so I don't have anyone to blame but myself. Nothing turned out perfectly but everything was good. The brownies tasted more like a flourless chocolate cake and the chocolate chocolate chip meringue cookies weren't as light as I had expected but I've never had meringue cookies before so I really didn't have much to compare it to. I was really proud of the bread, though we'll probably be eating it for the next few days... whats pictured is only a third of what was baked...

A huge huge huge thank you to my loving husband who washed the mixer bowl and all of the dishes over and over again until my baking spree ended. *xoxo*