Mexican Chocolate Cheesecake

For the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of my university hosted a celebratory luncheon where each department within the college was required to bring a certain type of dish. The languages department was in charge of desserts. I eagerly signed up and scribbled simply "cheesecake" below a scanty list promising a batch of chocolate chip cookies, a gluten-free dessert, and a plate of brownies all on behalf of my fellow colleagues.

Southern Skim Milk/Fat-Free-Yogurt Biscuits

 

Due to my sudden craving for buttermilk biscuits and conflicting unwillingness to go to the store and spend money on buttermilk, I conjured up these bad boys. I am not a fan of the so-called "buttermilk substitute" of milk and lemon/vinegar (too "liquidy" compared to the real deal and not as flavorful) nor did I have lemon, so I decided to combine skim milk with fat-free, Greek yogurt and use that as a substitute.

Mexican Hot-Chocolate Cookies: A Comparison

A comparison of Mexican Hot-Chocolate Cookies: adapted version of Everyday Food Magazine on the left/Cooking Channel on the right

For El Día de Muertos (The Day of the Dead), I decided to make Mexican Chocolate Cookies for my students because the cookies were portable and pleasant hybrids between Mexican and U.S. desserts. I tried out two recipes: 1) a heavily adapted version from Everyday Food Magazine on Martha Stewart's website and 2) a recipe from the Cooking Channel website. While both recipes yielded delicious cookies, one was clearly better than the other. Before I reveal the winner, let's talk about the pros and cons of each recipe and its end product.

Italian-Inspired Burgers

I'm back! Sort of :). 

In May of 2008, I first fell in love with Italy. For my first solo trip abroad, I visited Firenze, Pisa, and Venezia and promised myself to return here for good. So on the 2nd of July 2012, I flew from Los Angeles to Berlin to Roma. For almost 9 months now, I have been living in Europe trying to realize my dream of remaining in Italy (yes, even with its economic and political problems) for the rest of my life. Although it does not look like it is going to happen this time around, I plan to come back here after 90 days; and while in the States, I plan to apply for a long-term visa.