Tennis

Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies Take 2…and Cinnamon Bun Cookies

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

This week we’ve revisited an old favourite and are trying a new favorite!

The old favorites are the Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies from Jenny Rosenstrach’s “Dinner: A love story” cookbook.  I’ve always really liked this cookbook- it’s full of easy and tasty recipes that are great for families.  I’ve had it for years now– in fact, even before I was married or a mom.  She has a great blog, (Dinner: A Love Story) too which I follow.   It now leans more plant forward but it’s really good.   I’ve made these cookies before and they’re yum!  Spicy, chocolatey and very easy.

I also tried Christina Tosi’s Cinnamon Bun Cookies from her All About Cookies cookbook.  I love all of her cookies, and these are no exception!  They’re not quite as easy to make (because you have to stuff them with cream cheese) but they are tasty!  They’re small batch- maybe only 10-12 per batch but they were excellent.  So tasty and moist.

I’m also on the hunt for Thanksgiving cookies.  I have a couple of cans of Libby’s pumpkin to use, and probably won’t be making any pies with it– so why not make cookies?????  I’m kind of getting Deja Vu from last year– I think I wanted to make Thanksgiving cookies last year too!   Hopefully this year, I find some crowd pleasing pumpkin cookies- or maybe ChatGPT can help to invent some!

I’m not working at the moment but spending a lot of time working on myself- specifically the physical activities I love pole dancing, gym tennis- and tomorrow I try pickleball for the first time! I’m very excited!

What inspires you?

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

And I don’t just mean when it comes to food. I’m learning that the hardest part of being a parent is knowing what to say when life lifes. When games are lost, when small humans are worried about big things, when you’re trying to encourage someone to believe that the world is limitless while knowing that it’s also full of disappointment.

How can you be their biggest cheerleader and also a realist at the same time?

I mean, full disclosure, I am my child’s biggest fan. Biggest cheerleader, biggest advocate and most likely to tell him how amazing he is. Because I think he is AMAZING. But the better he gets at things, the harder the competition is, and the more often he faces adversity, and challenges, and losses. And that’s hard. For me, and for him. The me part of me wants to find the bright side. The mom part of me wants to make sure he doesn’t experience challenges- but if he does, I want to make him feel better and grow and learn. But losing can be hard. It can be tough. It can be disheartnening. So, as a parent of an amazing child, what do you do? What should I do?

I don’t know, and I don’t think any parent knows. But I’m trying. The phrase, “Pressure is a a privilege” has recently become a mantra. Billie Jean King first said it so it feels apt for a tennis family. And reflecting on my own life, it’s so true. So it feels appropriate to pass it on. Pressure creates diamonds and pressure is a privilege- it means people think you can…and maybe they expect you to DO as well. It’s not a bad thing.

We also talked about the poem, “If” by Rudyard Kipling. Again, it’s on the wall at Wimbledon Centre Court so it felt… right. If you don’t know it, it’s worth reading.

Also, I baked cookies this week. Kitchen Sink Cookies and Chocolate Peppermint Sugar Cookies from the 100 Cookies book by Sarah Kieffer. Sarah’s blog “A Vanilla Bean Blog” is amazing! The cookbook is too.

This week has been challenging. There’s a lot going on- on every level, in every orbit of my life. From the National Guard on the streets of DC to my small person worrying about his tennis match, it hasn’t been easy. But pressure truly is a privilege and we are holding on!

Back into it!

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

I can’t believe it’s February already- January flew by in a flurry of fun- and a lot of tennis! The United Cup in Sydney, AO in Melbourne, and the quickest trip to the US ever (that also included two tennis lessons). It was the best way to cap off my months of Funemployment. And unbelievably- and quite sadly, I go back to work TOMORROW!

It’s been over 4 months of fun, and it ends tomorrow. Not only am I back at work, but I’m back into an actual office 2-3 days a week for the first time in 5 years. Needless to say, I am NOT ok.

I’ve learned so much over these past few months and above all, I’ve developed a LOVE of baking cookies. No matter how busy the work-life juggle gets, I hope I will continue to bake now that I’m back at work. We’ll see but I’m hopeful!

Last week, I baked two versions of Christina Tosi’s Chipless Chocolate Chip Cookies- Chipless and Chipful. She calls them her Chipless Wonders and they were excellent both with Chips (Chipful) and without (Chipless).

This week, I’m baking Christina Tosi’s Ritz Cracker Cookies and a version of Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies from Trejo’s Tacos Cookbook.

And yes, I am obsessed with Christina Tosi and her All About Cookies Cookbook after receiving it as a gift for Christmas. Full disclosure: It was a gift to me, from me. Her cookies and recipes are amazing. She is a next level genius, I’m only sad that some/many of her quirky ingredients are based on US ingredients but I LOVE everything I’ve made from her so far. These cookies are no exception. On paper, they’re bonkers, but so so so delicious when you taste them!

I also love Mexican Hot Chocolate cookies. I made some with marshmallows ages ago that The Runner loves. He was quite disappointed that these are not those, but they’re still pretty good!

So that’s it for this week- wish me luck for my first day!!

What we ate this week…

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As promised in last week’s post, we did in fact eat Glazed Pork Cutlets with Japanese Slaw, the BLT Salad and Baked Chicken Taquitos from I Heart Naptime Cookbook…and Steak with leftover Bearnaise Sauce.   The salad was definitely the week’s winner!  

BUT the surprise was that I made Chrissy Teigan’s internet famous banana bread thanks to the child’s sudden dislike of bananas in his lunch.

Believe me, this banana bread is more cake than bread but it 100% lives up to its hype.  I don’t know if I’ve written about it before but honestly, walk, do not run to the shops to buy bananas and then wait all week for them to ripen so that you can make this bread/cake.  It is the reason I bring back Vanilla Jell-o Pudding Mix back from the US every time I go.  So good.  So so good. If you’re looking for a reason to eat cake for breakfast, this is 100% it.

Oh, and lest you think I was exaggerating about Burgerhead and Butter were last week, Concrete Playground published a list and they were both on it!


This week, we’re having Sweet Pork Hawaiian Haystacks (also from I Heart Naptime), Gazpacho with the leftover croutons from last week’s BLT Salad, standard Old El Paso taco kit tacos for Taco Tuesday, and All Day Noodles with Fried Egg and Furikake.

It will be a pretty easy cooking week since I’ll be in the office most days. The haystacks are made using slow cooked pulled pork and the other meals are pretty quick and easy too!

Oh- and the smallest member of our household won his very first Tennis Tournament! One more trophy for the trophy cabinet!

What We Ate This Week- Pasta, Melbourne, Tennis and More!

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So you may want to grab a cup of tea before you start reading, while the East Coast of the US has been freezing under a blanket of snow, we’ve been eating.  In the last 10 days, we’ve been eating and drinking- A LOT- and it’s all been pretty amazing.  So make yourself comfortable, this is a longer than normal post.

We’ve been in Melbourne for the last few days watching tennis and trying out the local restaurant scene- and the food down there is amazing!  I can honestly say in the last week, I’ve had two of the best meals ever- one in Sydney and one in Melbourne.   It’s been a great food week! Continue reading →

So much has happened…. well, no, not really.

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It’s been a pretty quiet week in the He Runs, I Cook household this week.  Other than steak last night and possibly pork tonight, I haven’t cooked a thing– very rare!  I haven’t even made it past Episode 2 of Masterchef Professionals so you know I’ve been busy!

Well, that and The Runner has been watching tennis all week.

When last I left you, we had just landed in Melbourne for a whirlwind, action packed weekend.  Well… Melbourne was awesome!    The Runner is tired of me saying this, because I probably said it about 100 times over the weekend, but I could easily live in Melbourne.  It’s such a great city for lots of stuff- especially food.  The Runner and I had a great time, he had the best Hot Chocolate of his life and I had the best sugar I’ve ever tasted.  Image

No, Seriously don’t laugh, I did!  It even looked yummy in the mini mortar sugar bowl and it was really sweet— don’t laugh at the blatantly obvious statement, but it was so sweet and so good!Image  (It was at Cafe Vue on St. Kilda Rd if you’re curious) 

I also had some super delish Croque Monsieurs (yes, plural, I had two in two days.  Don’t judge me– you never see them on the menu in Sydney).  We found a delightful little wine bar, Enoteca, in Fitzroy- a neighbourhood I LOVE!  Both The Runner and I managed to avoid temptation on Ackland Rd in St. Kilda.  I’ve never seen so many cake shops on one street, there were about 5 in a row, if not more and they all had windows piled high with yummy looking cakes.  I think it’s where Hansel and Gretel got lost and the witch tried to fatten them up.  I was tempted but I knew we had Mamasita planned for dinner and I didn’t want to ruin my appetite.  Mamasita by the way was good– not sure it would have been as good if we had waited for 90 minutes but it was good. 

The best part of the whole weekend……  The Runner let me go to Books for Cooks.

A word on Books for Cooks.  

Overwhelming.  Too much of a good thing is…  

A combination of heaven and hell.   Seriously, it was amazing but awful at the same time.  Literally, for a cookbook tragic like myself it was just too much.  I was overwhelmed, I didn’t know where to start or where to end or where to look.  It was literally a whole store full of cookbooks….and it wasn’t just new books, it was a combination of rare books, new books, used books,  anything and everything kitchen or garden or cooking related was there. (However, they didn’t have Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine so ha!)  I think I nearly hyperventilated.Image

I felt like Alice in Wonderland but it was too much.  I highly recommend it– as long as you have a few hours, thousands of dollars and no Runner reminding you that you have other places to be.  In the end, I selected two books– one, totally quirky and random, and the other, I’ll probably actually use to cook….  

ImageDon’t ask me what made me buy The Dead Celebrity Cookbook.  I think I panicked slightly in there….The Mexican Food cookbook has serious potential given my addiction to Mexican food, but there was so much in there, so much to choose from…..so many cookbooks, so little time.

So, in a nutshell, that was our trip to Melbourne.  Thanks to The Blackman Hotel for being a lovely place to stay.  We’ve now stayed at all three Art Series Hotels in Melbourne, and we love all three…. although there is some debate about what to do for next year.  I loved our weekend away, and am looking forward to Australia Day Weekend this weekend…..I’m making Cupcakes!!!!!!!  (BTW, you’re supposed to have Oprah’s voice in your head when you read that… try again) I’m Making CUPCAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Better!)

 

Oh yeah, and we saw some tennis too while we were there….an unknown player named Roger…. it was pretty good!Image

 

Hello Melbourne!

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

Believe it or not before The Runner was a runner, he was a tennis player- and if his accounts are to be believed he wasn’t half bad. I grew up playing tennis too, mainly because of the cute outfits, lack of contact with dirt and mud and lack of contact with other players– yes, I am a girlie girl! There’s no denying or hiding it.

Tennis has always been a favourite sport of mine, apparently my parents used to put my stroller next to the court while they played and when I could walk I had my first job as a target, i mean ballkid. When I was about 4 or 5, I remember my Dad buying me my first tiny wooden Wilson junior racket and trying to teach me the first principle of the game- bounce and hit. I got the basics but never really progressed further than that despite years of tennis camp and playing on the high school tennis team. The Runner, on the other hand, was ranked as a junior player and can do all sorts of things like hit with spin and control where the ball goes on the court– Every Time! The Mom still plays as well, weekly even- in fact everyone in my family plays.

So it is really exciting that one of the annual traditions for The Runner and I is to come down to Melbourne for the Australian Open. It’s a great weekend away not just because we get to see the best players in the world (Tomic v Federer tonight!) but also because the food in Melbourne is crazy good! Last year we went to an amazing Latin American/mexican place in Fitzroy that my taste buds are still excited for even though I’ve forgotten the name. We also went to Naked for Satan which was an awesome bar with great flavoured vodkas. And Hardware Society, an awesome spot for breakfast. In short, it’s a place I could eat my way through if money and personal appearance didn’t matter. There are also amazing shops and it’s a great place to hang out.

For the next 36 hours, we’re here for the tennis and for the food and I’m excited!!! There are two downsides- one, it’s super cold and two, The Runner has already banned me from a shop. It’s called Books for Cooks and sells nothing but cookbooks. Sounds like heaven, but I’ve been told I’m not allowed in! Oh well….. There are plenty of other places I can get into mischief… And they have a website!
books for cooks