Steak and Berries all of the meat. none of the fat.

*photo by my (very talented) friend, James De Leon

alright, i’m officially back. Not just back in the United States but back to more regular blogging habits. Now that I don’t have to find an internet cafe and pay for the use of a computer every time I want to get online. Which, I have to admit, is pretty great. Because I’m a little nerdy and I love the internet. But that should be obvious since I just mentioned my ‘blogging habits.’

We returned from SE Asia safe and sound about 3 weeks ago. To put it simply, the trip was fantastic. It was interesting, weird and fun. It was definitely a world apart from what I am used to, which is always good. It was also just where I needed and wanted to be for those four months. But now I am happy to say that I am happy to be back. Because a new adventure has begun. And it’s all happening in Portland, OR… (Still thinking of writing a few post-Asia posts about Asia in the near future. fyi.)

But before we made it here, we stopped in Los Angeles and San Francisco to visit people that we love. It took a few days to readjust to English, concrete, a cell phone and the lack of good street food but, eventually, we did it. That adjustment was made a lot easier by the presence of friends and family that we had missed a lot. Luckily, all of those things are continuing as we are with family and friends here in Oregon too. There have been meals, chats, walks, drives and hugs. The last thing being the best part, of course. But all of those things have been executed with lots of love, making my heart feel as though it is a red, heart-shaped balloon.

So now I’m going to share a recipe with you that I used for a particularly lovely meal with lots of dear, dear friends. It was Valentine’s Day. One very spectacular friend had decided to cook for all of us (and there were many) to celebrate the day. To note, the meal was almost as spectacular as she is… which means it was very, very good. I had volunteered to make the dessert because it had been over 4 months since I’d made a dessert, I love making dessert and my desserts are generally well-received among my circle of friends in San Francisco. I wanted it to be relatively easy because it wasn’t my kitchen and I wanted to watch Olympic Figure Skating too. So I found a cream puff recipe and made Lemon-WhiteChocolate-CreamPuffs… And they were delicious!

Here is the Cream Puff Recipe I used and here are the amendments I made to it:

• Instead of 2 packages of vanilla pudding mix, use 1 package of French Vanilla and 1 package of Lemon. Or just make your own lemon custard from scratch!

• Toss some white chocolate chips into your custard.

• Add a bit of sugar to the dough mix. A tablespoon or so.

• When the puffs are puffed and filled, sift some powdered sugar right over the top of ‘em.

These cream puffs are soft, sweet and unique. Kinda like friends. Thanks to all our cream puffs who treated us so well during our visits. Your sweetness will not be forgotten.