Haitian Cornbread

On January 12th, 2010, the devastating news of the earthquake in Haiti spread like fire all over the world. For the next couple of weeks, whenever you turned on the TV or you walked into school there were people talking about Haiti and how they can help. When I heard about the disaster I was shocked and sympathized the Haitians because they are going through something that no one could ever fully imagine. My school had and is still planning events for Haiti so that we can help them in their time of need by donating money for their aid. All of these event have been successful, but I realized that I hadn't personally made a difference. But last week my friend sent me the video for "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" which includes 40+ famous artists from Miley Cyrus to Celine Dion to Lil Wayne, all singing to help raise money and awareness for the suffering people in Haiti. In the start, Jamie Foxx asks viewers to "please do more than just watch", which really made me think and realize that I cannot stand idly by and let other people suffer. Like it says in the song, "we are the children, we are the ones who make a brighter day to lets start giving". We are the future leaders of the world and we need to help fix it in any way possible. I was planning on having a fundraiser for my project with the people at PATH this week so that I can raise enough money to make them more food, but I then thought that I can also donate half of my proceeds to Haiti because they need it now more than ever. I'm having the fundraiser this Thursday at my school where I will be selling ice cream sandwiches, and I am so excited to be able to raise money and donate it to Haiti, even if I can only donate just $100. Every small act makes a difference and I take great pride in knowing that I am having a positive impact on their lives. So if your reading this and you go to Milken Community High School, come stop by the amp

hitheater during lunch for delicious ice cream sandwiches to help people in and out of your community!

The video for the new "We Are the World" really will change the way you see the situation in Haiti. Listen to their powerful voices as they speak about how we are all one and we must help each other. Here is the video just incase you would like to see it:

So after watching the video, I thought it might be interesting if I made the residents at PATH a Haitian delicacy: cornbread! It's called "Pen Mayi" and you can find it's recipe along with recipes for a bunch of other Haitian delicacies from this link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=giQaoQz8N0AC&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=Kok+Graje&source=bl&ots=WTYwZyQ0r4&sig=acci1xgRQNEoGGiCWOb8znNMLSA&hl=en&ei=vbR-S6zpLoX6sQPksdH8Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CAkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Kok%20Graje&f=false

The cornbread was pretty easy to make, so anyone can really make them! Try it out if you get the chance and have a taste of a Haitian delicacy!

Here are some pictures I took while making the cornbread:

I made about 3 rounds and I cut a peice for myself just to try it out. The bread turned out pretty good, although I have to admit it wasn't as tasty as the chocolate cake or the red velvet :) There were total about 23 slivers, which I hope they liked.

All in all do anything you can to help the people in Haiti because they really appreciate anything. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and remember, stay blissful!

Sincerely,

"Ou byennere boulanje" -- The Blissful Baker

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

Hello all! In honor of this week's festivities, I decided to make the residents at PATH Valentine's Day sugar cookies! I was pretty worried about making them in the start because I have made sugar cookies from scratch before but they turned out burnt, so I wanted to make sure that these turned out perfect! The ingredients were really simple, nothing too complicated, but it took some more time than I expected. I only had to buy about 2 extra ingredients I didn't have with me at home (I usually buy around 5 or 6), but it took some more time to set everything up, take pictures, let it freeze, make sure the dough was perfect temperature to work with, roll and shape into balls, then cook to perfection, dye the frosting, and shape them into hearts. The directions clearly stated that I should pay very close attention towards the end when the cookies were almost done just to make sure they didn't burn which was extremely helpful. After waiting at the oven for about the last 4 minutes, checking every minute or so if they were done or not, I finally brought the cookies, smelled the sweet aroma of vanilla from freshly baked cookies, and became very happy to see that the cookies were golden, soft, and chewy :). Something I learned: I never truly realized how important that last couple minutes were because there is a very fine line between perfect and burnt, so I know I know to pay more careful attention towards the end. Also, you can tell a lot about a cookie, or any other baked good by the taste of its dough or batter. After I brought it out of the fridge, I scooped less than a teaspoon of the dough just to check it flavor and it tasted really good. Then when I tried one of the cookies, I noticed that it was basically the same taste. So if the dough of the batter tastes a little funky then I can almost always assume that the final result won't taste that great either.

In total, I made about 40 cookies but I decided to keep just a couple of them to give out to some of my family and friends . They told me they really liked the cookies, so I know that extra time was worth it! Here are some pictures:

Again, this week after walking into PATH, I talked to Chanee a bit and she told me about this cake class that she used to go to a little while ago, so hopefully I'm going to get a chance to check there out as soon as I can. She said it was called "Wilton's" and it is inside the arts and crafts store "Michael's" in Santa Monica. I haven't had that much time to go yet, but I'm planning on going there as soon as I can because I have been dying to go to a baking class! Most of them during the school year are only for adults and I would have to be 18 or older, so hopefully I will be able to go to this one!

Here is the recipe for this weeks easy, simple, but most of all, delicious sugar cookies:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,196,143165-230202,00.html

Hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day surrounded by loved ones! Thanks so much for reading!

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker

Chocolate Super-bowl Cake!

Hello again! I'm posting a bit later this week just because the past couple days have been pretty hectic, but for this week's dessert I decided to make a double layer chocolate cake! And, in honor of the 2010 Super-bowl this week, I decided to design it as a football! Like last week it was a challenge to bake a multi-layer cake that didn't have any bumps or crumbs, but using the tips I picked up it became a lot easier. To make it in the shape of a football I used glass, oval cookware, so it was in the shape of a football, and then I made vanilla buttercream and chocolate frosting so I could design it as one as well. Again, I made the cakes the night before which was really important because I give them time to cool off before I frosted and layered them. It was really fun to try another multi-layered cake this week because I feel like I'm getting better at it and the whole process, so I know I'm becoming more experienced and familiar with this new challenging cake style. Incase the pictures show the cake to be bigger than what the recipe might suggest, just know that I doubled the recipe I picked out. I did this so 1:I could make plenty of cake for the residents at the shelter, and 2:so I can make two, full layers. Thankfully I ended up having some extra batter aside from the batter for the cake, so I made some cupcakes! If I may say so myself, they were pretty good and I've got to hand it to Hershey's for the great recipe they provided.

Here is the recipe for Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake and the "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting:

http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipes/detail.asp?id=184

And here's the recipe for the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1855,141163-236204,00.html

Here are some pictures I took of the whole process:

All in all, this week's cake was a lot of fun to make, not only because it was something new and different, but because it related to the Super-bowl game which made it more fun to make, and hopefully eat ;) In the weeks to come I'm hoping on making special a Valentine's Day treat, and maybe the week after that I can make them "hamentashen" for Purim, hopefully bringing a little Judaism into their life so they can know a bit more about me and where I come from. E-mail me if you have any suggestions or ideas of foods I can make for them! Thanks for reading and until next week, stay blissful :)

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker