When I first published this post in 2020, many bakers had started or were growing their businesses because of the extra time at home. Dessert is comfort food, and most of these companies are new endeavors so I easily justified these purchases as supporting a new, local company. But really, I don’t need to justify my dessert-eating. It’s a life-long “research” project.

I found most of these companies on Instagram. Many are order-only and have weekly pick-up times. Some have weekly “drop” times, so look them up to know when and what to order. They may sell out quickly!

Here are 9 dessert pop-ups to put on your list.

Andy K’s Donuts

Made from scratch and oh so beautiful! Every month has a new set of flavors, so you’ll want to try them all! I ordered in October, so my box came with Devil’s Food Cake, Cinnamon Sugar, Maple Frosted, Beet’N and Bloody Cake, Black Cherry and Dark Chocolate, and Caramel Apple Fritter.

Bakecation by Glo

I found Gloria because people were raving about her alfajores, a dulce de leche sandwich cookie found in many South American countries. These light cookies melt in your mouth!

Bom Bakeshop

Mochi donuts are in Austin! Teresa and Anthony are two foodies who are making some delicious desserts! I love the chewy texture of the donuts. Every month features a different set of coordinating flavors. They shared their whole story on Eater Austin, and it’s a good read.

Cookie Wookie Kitchen

Erica of Cookie Wookie Kitchen makes aged cookie dough cookies and other specialty treats like milk tea madeleines and Thai tea cake. I love that she offers unique flavors with ingredients you usually see in an Asian kitchen. My top three cookie flavors are pandan coconut, black sesame cookies and cream, and red bean mochi.

Gourmet Cupcakes by Megan

You know I love cupcakes. And Megan is baking some fantastic ones. I tried the signature banana pudding flavor – vanilla cake, vanilla pudding filling, and cookie buttercream icing topped with vanilla wafers and a banana chip. There is a whole menu of filled cupcakes that you’ll love like bourbon pecan pie, tiramisu, chocolate mint, and more.

HhomDee

Chances are, you don’t know Thai desserts. You’ve probably had sticky rice and mango, but Hhomdee will share new dishes and flavors with you. My favorite things I’ve tried are the pandan chiffon cupcakes and the coconut pandan layer cake.

The Interrupted Baker

The fun of Stacy’s menus is you never know what will be on it! I tried a delicious pineapple bun and cookies ‘n cream cookie, but you’ll also find items like macarons, cookie choux, galettes, and tres leches cake.

Kat’s Hand-Baked

Kat makes cakes and includes flavors like pandan, matcha, passionfruit, and mango. One of my favorite things is her mille crepe cakes!

Local Bread Baker

Olga bakes incredible burnt basque cheesecake that is magical. There are a few different flavors including vanilla, chocolate, and dulce de leche.

So many great treats, right?! There is no shortage of options in Austin and I hope you continue to indulge a little bit!

Have you had any special desserts this year?

If you’re looking for more options, here are some posts to check out:

• Best Baking Recipes I’ve Tried Lately
• Best Cupcakes in Austin
• Best Pastries in Austin

The post Austin Dessert Pop-Up Orders You Should Try appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

“The world doesn’t need a few people doing zero-waste perfectly. The world needs millions of people doing it imperfectly.” – Anne Marie Bonneau

It’s overwhelming to me to think about the many necessary steps to preserve the state of the environment. The detrimental consumption around the world continues to increase. So, I like to think that many small changes add up to a big impact, just as the quote above illustrates.

Reduce waste, reuse what you can, and recycle the rest. The ideal goal is buying things that are not packaged or packaged in something that is reusable, like glass, or recyclable. This results in consuming less plastic and creating less waste. It’s a bonus if the product is made with compostable and sustainable ingredients and cruelty-free.

Following these guidelines, I’ve tried to implement small changes around the house to make my habits more eco-friendly and low-waste. Finding companies to help me form low-waste habits makes following my values easier. 

Here are 10 household areas you can shift to become more low-waste and eco-friendly.

1. Grocery Bags

You’re likely using reusable grocery bags already! While grocery stores in Austin are able to provide bags, using reusable grocery bags is an easy way to reduce waste. We’ve collected so many reusable bags since it’s a common swag item. Bonus points if you’re using reusable produce bags.

Brand: Your local grocery store will have reusable bags. For reusable produce bags, see PurifYou or the Package Free Shop. 

Cost: 9 bags in a variety of sizes for $30

2. Toilet Paper

What makes this toilet paper eco-friendly? It’s made from 100% recycled paper (less waste) or 100% bamboo (reducing deforestation) and packaged in paper wrapping and boxes instead of plastic. The company – Who Gives A Crap – also donates 50% of its profits to sanitation projects (like providing clean water and toilets) in developing countries. They’ve donated $8 million so far!

Brand: Who Gives A Crap. They provided me with complimentary products to try (love them!) and a discount for you – get $10 off when you use the code “TP4EVA” and purchase through this link.

Cost: $10 off the price of your first subscription order means it costs:

• $28 for 24 recycled rolls ($1.16 a roll)
• $52 for 48 recycled rolls ($1.08 a roll)
• $34 for 24 bamboo rolls ($1.41 a roll)
• $58 for 48 bamboo rolls ($1.21 a roll)

3. Glass Containers

A set of glass containers in a variety of sizes with lids will last for years. Kitchen brands like Pyrex, Rubbermaid, and OXO produce them and they are sold everywhere, so they’re easy to find. Mason jars are also good for storing leftovers, especially liquids. Instead of buying jars, reuse jars from products like spaghetti sauce or pickles. I also recommend saving plastic take-out containers for re-use until they need to be recycled.

Brand: We have a set from Pyrex.

Cost: 7 containers in a variety of sizes for $22

4. Laundry Dryer Balls

Dryer balls have the same effects as dryer sheets – it reduces static cling and softens clothes but without the chemicals in dryer sheets. It is also said to help dry your clothes faster, which means reducing the time your machine is on. If you like the smell of dryer sheets, add a few drops of essential oil to your dryer balls.

Brand: I’m not sure where I got mine but you can find these easily. I’ve seen them stocked at our grocery store and Tru Earth sells dryer balls.

Cost: 4-pack for $22.95

5. Laundry Detergent

One of my favorite swaps is our laundry detergent. Instead of a plastic jug or a bulky box of detergent, we have a box of detergent strips. One strip per load (sometimes two if the clothes are really dirty) is what’s needed and the strip dissolves in the water. We bought in bulk, so we are set for a few years!

Brand: We’ve only tried Tru Earth, but we like it. Blueland sells a powder detergent packaged in compostable paper.

Cost: $104 for 384 loads ($0.27 per load)

6. Dish Sponges

Sponges are typically made from plastic, but there are good alternatives. There are several types of natural fibers that can be used as a sponge, like a loofah. Loofahs are dried vegetables from the luffa plant. Look for plant-based fiber scrubbers with wood handles. Another alternative we use, though not zero-waste, is a washable sponge. These sponges are made with 100% cotton and can be thrown in the washing machine or dishwasher.

Brand: Our luffa sponges were gifted by a friend who grew them in her garden. Luffa Gardens, a U.S. company, offers several loofah products. We get our washable sponges from Marley’s Monsters.

Cost: Pack of 3 washable sponges for $28 from Marley’s Monsters

7. Hand Soap

If your house is like mine, you have a hand soap dispenser at every sink that needs to be refilled every other month or so. We used to buy a big bulk plastic soap jug to refill all of these containers but have found a different type of refill. We fill the containers with water and drop in a soap tablet. (They are foaming soaps.) The soap tablets are also packaged in compostable paper, so it’s zero waste.

Brand: Blueland

Cost: 9 tablets for $14 (about $1.56 per tablet)

8. Dish Soap

We always have things to wash that don’t go in the dishwasher, so dish soap is a necessity. We’ve been using soap powder sprinkled through an old container. The soap comes in compostable paper, so it’s also zero waste. The cleaning process is the same as other dish soap and it foams up when you start scrubbing.

Brand: Blueland

Cost: 48 oz for $24

9. Toothpaste

There are a few companies that sell toothpaste tabs. They look like mints and you crush them in your mouth before brushing. I’m also glad to see toothpaste companies, like Tom’s of Maine, now packaging in recyclable tubes. https://www.tomsofmaine.com/

Brand: Bite or Unpaste Tooth Tabs. I’ve tried both and would use Bite again. I wish you could order only the compostable paper refills instead of having to buy the glass jar, but this only happens with the subscriptions.

Cost: $12 for 62 bits or $30 for 248 bits (Bite) or $8 for 125 tablets (Unpaste Tooth Tabs)

10. Shampoo 

How do we get rid of plastic bottles of shampoo? Shampoo bars! Imagine rubbing a bar of soap in your hair. It might be a slightly slower process than pouring shampoo but the effect is the same. Also, most shampoo bars come in paper packaging, making this alternative zero waste. The bars should last as long as one to three 16oz bottles do. One company estimates about 80-100 washes.

Brand: HiBar and Lush

Cost: $12-14 per bar

Next Steps

If you’re looking for an easy-to-find product with many uses, baking soda can be used as a household cleaner, toothpaste, and more!

I know there are also eco-friendly alternatives for razors and storage bags, among many other ways to make your home low-waste. See this great post for more ideas.

Any zero-waste alternatives you’ve tried and would recommend?

The post 10 Low-Waste Household Products to Help Create Eco-Friendly Habits appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

Kombucha 101

Let’s start at the beginning. What is kombucha? Kombucha is a fermented tea. Using a SCOBY (more on this later), the sugary tea will create gasses and acid (bubbles). The end product is bubbly and mildly vinegary.

Kombucha is good for your gut and has a lot of probiotics. That means the bacteria in the drink can combine with your body’s bacteria to become stronger. Kombucha is also a good alternative to soda.

How Did We Start Brewing Kombucha?

Around the beginning of the pandemic (March 2020), we were getting groceries curbside (placing an order online and picking up). We were going through multiple bottles of kombucha a week, which was delicious but also a bit wasteful. In April, I connected with someone in Austin who was giving away SCOBYs. We quickly gathered supplies and started brewing!

We read a handful of articles and watched some videos, but we mostly took the cooking route (feel with your heart) versus the baking route (measure everything). Aside from the 14 cups of water, one cup of sugar, and seven tea bags, everything else is flexible. Yes, this means our best batches aren’t replicated but they get close/better and we try different flavors.

Brewing kombucha is a fairly easy and low-maintenance project, and we’ve brewed 265 bottles since we began! We’ve had one or two questionable batches, flavor-wise, but overall, we’ve drunk a lot of homemade kombuchas and enjoyed the process.

If you’re curious, I calculated that every batch of six bottles costs about $4, which is 66 cents a bottle. (This is calculating the cost of tea, sugar, and fruit.) We used to buy kombucha for about $2.80 a bottle. This is about a $12.80 savings every month while wasting fewer bottles.

How to Make Kombucha

First, you need a SCOBY. This stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It looks like a white, dense, and slimy pancake. The easiest way to start is by getting a SCOBY with a bit of kombucha juice from someone (send me a message if you’re in Austin!) or you can buy it off the internet. A new SCOBY grows at the top of a kombucha brew, so SCOBYs are always being produced.

For the first fermentation, you’ll also need a big jar, small cloth, rubber band, bottling jars, sugar, and tea. Some notes on these things:

• Here is an easy kit to get that includes jars, cloth, and rubber bands. You can also reuse a big pickle jar and use any type of cloth, about the size of a face washcloth.
• Black and green tea are best for brewing. Don’t use herbal or flavored teas.

The first fermentation (7-10 days) will give you kombucha. The second fermentation (3-7 days) will infuse flavor into your kombucha.

First Fermentation (7-10 days) – Make Kombucha

• Bring 14 cups of water to a boil. 
• Turn off the heat and dissolve 1 cup of sugar and add six or seven tea bags (or 10 grams of tea). Set a timer for 15 minutes.
• Remove the tea and let the tea cool. (I usually make the tea in the morning and it is cool by evening.)
• Add the tea to the big jar with the SCOBY and juices. Give it a stir. Place the cloth on top and secure it with a rubber band. Place the jar in a place at room temperature and without direct sunlight. (Ours is on the kitchen counter.)
• Check the kombucha in 7-10 days. You can usually smell it if it’s ready or you can give it a stir and take a sip.
• If you don’t want to infuse flavor, give your jar a swirl, bottle up your kombucha, and put it in the fridge. It’s ready to drink!

Second Fermentation (3-7 days) – Infuse Flavor

• Set out your jars (I usually have enough kombucha for six jars) and add your fruit. It can be juice or solid fruit. Use about a third cup of fruit. (I eyeball the fruit and it’s about a fourth of the bottle.)
• Screw the lid on tight and place in a room temperature, dark place for at least three days. You want the lid to be very tight.
• After three days, transfer a bottle to the fridge and when it’s cold, give it a try. This will let you know if all the bottles are ready for the fridge or if you want to let them ferment (for more bubbles) a little longer.

Quick Tips for Kombucha Brewing

• Brewing is a science experiment and differs from your unique SCOBY, how much fruit, etc. Keeping a kombucha journal will help you keep track. It can be as detailed or basic as you want it. Mine (see photo below) has the basic information to keep track of the time.
• Putting kombucha in the fridge will stop the fermentation process.
• Pop bottles were recommended but we found reusing kombucha bottles that you buy at the grocery is better. You’ll reduce waste and it’s easier to add fruit to these bottles with wider openings. Kombucha is more likely to explode out of pop bottles since you’re releasing pressure quickly at one time.
• To take the label off of kombucha bottles, add boiling water to the bottle to loosen the label adhesive. When you think you won’t burn your fingers (10-15 minutes), peel the label off. Scrub a mixture of baking soda and oil to remove the remaining stickiness on the outside.
• You can use fresh or frozen fruit in your kombucha. We found it tastes better with frozen fruit.
• Be sure to strain the fruit out before you drink it.
• My favorite kombucha flavor is pineapple ginger. Blueberry ginger and mango are also good flavors.

Kombucha continues to be one of my favorite beverages and I’m sure we’ll continue to brew many more bottles!

Here are some other posts about the fun I have in the kitchen:

• Best Baking Recipes I’ve Tried Lately
• Cooking Through the Half Baked Harvest Super Simple Cookbook
• A Month of Dinners: What a Blogger Eats
• Farm-to-Table Challenge: 5 Things I Learned in a Year of Local Eating

The post Simple Guide to Brewing Kombucha appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

1. Order Take-Out or Dessert

Take-out and dessert deliveries have been a welcome treat in a year of being at home. I have a long list of restaurants to try, so it’s nice enjoying restaurant food when we’re avoiding eating out. We typically get take-out once a week and have eaten out once a month. I’ve posted plenty of Austin restaurant options in my Flavors of the Month posts (these posts will now be published quarterly). Or check out this post about dessert deliveries I’ve ordered.

2. Take a Cheese Class

In Austin, we are very lucky to have an excellent cheese shop, Antonelli’s, that puts on a variety of cheese classes every month. While a raclette night in their cheese house is the ideal way to enjoy cheese with friends, now you can sign up for an online cheese class together. You’ll pick up your plate from the shop, log on for the live discussion, and enjoy an event with cheese descriptions and more. The online class we joined featured a farm, so we virtually explored the farm, saw the animals, and heard from the farmers, all while tasting their cheese.

3. Play a Game

We’ve played so many Jackbox and trivia games! Friends and friends of friends hosted trivia nights online and while we learned we are bad at trivia, they were interesting and fun. Geeks Who Drink has moved its bar-based games online and is a good option if you’re looking for trivia. Jackbox has multiple game options. One person shares the screen while everyone uses their phone as a controller. We’ve played a few of these with friends.

4. Make a Cocktail

If you’re not going out to bars, whip up your favorite cocktail in the kitchen. You can get many of Texas’ best liquors at your local store and many distilleries have shared recipes to enjoy. If you need some inspiration, order a cocktail kit from HipStirs. Here are some local liquors to try:

• Still Austin Whiskey Co. (whiskey and gin)
• Garrison Brothers Distillery (whiskey)
• Deep Eddy Vodka (vodka)
• Treaty Oak Distilling (whiskey)

5. Tackle Home Projects

This past year as I’ve spent a lot of time at home, I’ve realized the importance of living in a space you love. Having and seeing things you enjoy and things that function well can change your attitude. I’ve been working to make our home more inspiring and comfortable. Here are some projects to consider:

• Declutter your closets, cabinets, bookshelves, and garage
• Touch up your wall paint
• Refresh your front yard with new plants
• Change up your decor and wall art

6. Catch Up on Reading

Buy an e-reader and get a membership to your local library for free and easy reading! It was a game-changer for me to read more. I’ve always enjoyed reading and it’s a good way to make time for yourself. There are three different kinds of Kindle, priced $89.99-249.99. A tablet (I have a Fire tablet that is about $50) does the same thing but the light and glare are different.

7. Do a Wine Tasting

You could DIY this by picking up a few different bottles at the store or you could sign up with a winery for a virtual tasting. William Chris Vineyards in Hye, Texas will send you the specific bottles they’ll guide you through in the tasting. (The plentiful wine display below is at Los Olivos Market in Buda.)

8. Take on a 100-Day Project

The 100-Day Project is a free, global art initiative. While they have specific start dates to help keep you accountable, you can start your project whenever. Choose a creative project you can complete in 5-10 minutes and do it every day for 100 days. From painting a landscape to writing a poem, choose a creative project you want to practice and that brings you joy and see where the daily practice takes you.

9. Take a Cooking Class

Do a quick search and you’ll find plenty of options for a virtual cooking class! I think this is a great idea because you’re in your own kitchen and using your own tools, so there’s a greater chance of you taking the recipes and skills you learn to memory. Thai Fresh and Cocina Maribel are two online cooking class options in Austin. Pictured is the yummy food – four different dishes – we made from Thai Fresh’s class!

10. Train for a Race

Running is an easy cardio workout because you don’t need much to do it. Whether it’s an official race or your own goal, training for something can get your body moving. I’m training for the Austin Half-Marathon happening in April! Let me know if you start training.

11. Use Your Stationery

I have a huge stationery collection and people love getting mail that isn’t bills! Send some love to family and friends. You could also fulfill letter requests from More Love Letters. (Pictured are cute notecards from my friend Kathyphantstic!)

12. Bake Bread or Anything

Bread became a popular activity last year because of the time it takes to bring it to life. Have you tried it? We tried our hand at sourdough and a variety of baked goods. For me, baking is a stress relief and results in something tasty! Get some ideas and recipes from this post.

13. Learn a New Language

Have you ever tried Duolingo? This free language app will teach you the basics of over 30 languages! I’ve been brushing up on my Spanish with the app.

14. Cook Through a Cookbook

I’m sure you have at least one cookbook in your home. Cooking through a cookbook, making a goal of cooking as many recipes as possible, is a way to make sure you get some use out of your cookbooks. I did it three different years and I still go back to recipes I discovered. (I most recently cooked through this cookbook.) I’m currently trying recipes from the Thai Fresh cookbook.

15. Brew Drinks

Coffee and tea are easy brews, but have you tried kombucha? The process is fairly easy once you get the hang of it. For us, it takes about 45 minutes every 10 days to produce six bottles. We started doing this because we were spending a lot of money on kombucha. It’s been a fun project and we’ve made about 150 bottles now. This article gives you an overview and recipe.

16. Host a Cook-Off or Dinner Party

One way to connect with your friends is cooking together while in your own kitchens. You could choose a cuisine theme (tacos are easy) or a specific recipe to make. Cook together or hop online to show the finished product.

17. Learn to Taste Chocolate

Craft chocolate is a booming endeavor. I see new companies mentioned and new bars on the grocery shelves often. If you’ve read this past post, you know it’s pretty fascinating. Chocolate Noise offers virtual tastings or you could pick up some bars at your local grocery and use this tasting guide.

18. Learn a New Craft or Try a DIY Kit

I’m constantly trying to make time for crafts because I know it’s a way to exercise my creative muscle. Maybe you could master a new skill like knitting or candle making. Websites like A Beautiful Mess, Sugar and Cloth, The House That Lars Built, and A Kailo Chic Life have so many DIY ideas. One of the easiest ways to get started is buying a kit with instructions and all the supplies. Local Austin shop The Paper + Craft Pantry sells workshop kits, like this Natural Dye Workshop I tried. Local Austin company Creative Box Studios also has art workshop options.

19. Start a Garden and/or Become a Plant Person

I know at least two people who have become plant people this past year. (Ahem, me and my friend Janna.) “Hard-to-kill” houseplants are a good place to start. I’ve kept pothos, a pilea peperomioides, succulents, and dracaenas alive! In Austin, visit The Great Outdoors, Tillery Street Plant Company, and Succulent Native to increase your plant supply. Wish me luck as I try herbs (again)!

20. Support a Local Business

Buying goods and services is a big way to support a local business but did you know there are things you can do for free that have a big impact?

• Write reviews! You can easily copy and paste the same review on Yelp, Facebook, Google, and TripAdvisor. You could go further by posting on social media or mentioning the business in conversation. Reviews make a big impact as potential customers are in the decision process.
• Engage with their social media. Follow them, give their posts a like, and write a comment.

Ok, I think these 20 things will keep you fulfilled at home for a while!

Have suggestions? Send them over!

P.S. Bonus: plan your next trip while you’re at home! Check out my Destinations page to get some inspiration.

The post 20 Things to Do at Home appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

For January, I started easily with “watch a foodie show.”

And easy it was! There are so many food shows out there, from competitions to travel shows, on every streaming service. I’ve been watching food-focused shows for years and they’re a good stress relief and inspiration source. Here is a sampling of the many food shows out there.

Chef’s Table (Netflix)

If you love chef stories and fancy food, Chef’s Table is your show. You’ll see plenty of celebrity chefs, learn about what inspires them, visit their award-winning restaurants, and ogle some slow-motion food shots. Get excited about future travel by learning about a restaurant. There’s also a Chef’s Table BBQ if you love barbecue! I loved seeing the episode about Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Texas and hope to visit one day.

Great British Baking Show (Netflix)

This show is really fun! Take a group of home chefs, make them bake familiar and unfamiliar things, and send them home one by one until you find the best of them. First aired in 2010, the Great British Baking Show is one of many competition shows and appeals to me because I like baking more than cooking. You’ll see a lot of interesting baked goods from around the world. But be warned, you’ll be itching to bake something after a few episodes!

Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles (Prime Video)

Something a little different for this list, Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles is a documentary. It follows Chef Yotum Ottolenghi as he produces an art-inspired food event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Five pastry chefs from around the world are brought to the event to create a unique display inspired by the gardens of Versailles. I would have liked more food shots, but it was interesting to learn about these chefs and see them in action. This documentary made me miss food events!

NYT Cooking (YouTube)

The New York Times is a media company, so it makes sense for them to produce food videos to accompany its other content. They have tons and tons of videos on their YouTube featuring chefs, writers, and lots of recipes.

Ugly Delicious (Netflix)

Chef David Chang takes you around the world to talk about food culture and history. Each episode focuses on a different dish like pizza or crawfish. The commentary is important to think about where food comes from and where it’s going. I shared a little more about the show in this post.

America’s Test Kitchen (Tubi)

This show first aired in 2011 and is still going strong! The 30-minute episodes show you the best cooking techniques and products. As the title suggests, their team has done a lot of research to find the best! Since airing, they’ve also produced cookbooks, like The Complete America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook, which is a bestseller.

Eater’s Guide to the World (Hulu)

Miss traveling? Me too! This show takes you to several places around the world (Casablanca, New York City, and Tijuana are some of the places), taking you to the hip restaurants and helping you travel through the screen. Actress Maya Rudolph is the narrator so expect plenty of comedic bits.

Salt Fat Acid Heat (Netflix)

This show comes from a book of the same name and it is equally educational and packed with tidbits to make you more knowledgeable in the kitchen. Cook and author Samin Nosrat teaches you the four elements of cooking, the foundations, that will help you think like a natural chef. Each episode – there’s one about each element – takes you around the world, shows you the origins of ingredients, and makes your mouth water with the yummy food shots.

Parts Unknown (Hulu)

Twelve seasons and 104 episodes of Anthony Bourdain traveling the world and intimately introducing us to cities and countries we’ve only heard about. The commentary is thoughtful and the food is unfiltered. You’ll feel a little braver about traveling somewhere and eating something new after watching this show.

Selena + Chef (HBO Max)

I watched a few episodes of this new show because I’m a Selena Gomez fan. The premise: stuck in quarantine and wanting to learn how to cook, Selena videos calls a chef to teach her to make a dish. They’re cooking in their kitchens at the same time, with multiple camera views, so you’ll learn how to make a dish and feel glad you’re not the only one that struggles in the kitchen. What, only me?

Here are some other show recommendations:

• The American Barbecue Showdown (Netflix)
• No Passport Required (PBS Video or Prime Video)
• MasterChef Junior (Fox Now)
• Street Food (Netflix)
• Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (Prime Video)

What’s your favorite foodie show? Have you watched any of these?

I’m trying a new ingredient next month. I’ve got some ideas and I think it’ll be a fun one!

Here’s my fearless foodie challenge for the year. I hope it inspires you to be more food adventurous!

The post What Food Shows Do You Watch? appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

Why Cook Through a Cookbook?

This was my third year cooking through a cookbook and like my previous two times, I was aiming for similar goals.

• Saving money by cooking at home more
• Trying new recipes and ingredients
• Getting more comfortable with cooking
• Making use of a cookbook

How did I do in round three? Keep reading to see!

Half Baked Harvest Super Simple Cookbook

Half Baked Harvest is a popular food blog by Tieghan Gerard, and Half Baked Harvest Super Simple is her second cookbook. This cookbook does have a lot of super simple recipes needing fewer ingredients and less time. The cookbook has about 137 recipes, give or take. Some recipes had accompaniment recipes like salsa or whipped butter that went along with the main attraction. If you’re not proficient in the kitchen and want to try some new recipes, I think this cookbook is a great place to start.

While this cookbook and cooking from a cookbook have their frustrations (more on that later), there are some winning recipes I tried and love having in my back pocket. Here are some recipes we made multiple times.

• Caesar Broccoli Salad – We love Caesar salad but it can be time-consuming. This dressing in this recipe uses tahini.
• Chicken Pot Pie – You can’t go wrong here! It’s a classic recipe that is always a crowd-pleaser.
• Chicken and Orzo – This recipe also has artichokes, olives, and feta, and it is so delicious! You’ll likely see me make this for a future dinner party.
• Butter Pecan Bars – These bars were so mouth-watering!

I ended up making 97 of the 137 recipes, about 70% of the cookbook! (I did 56% and 58% on the previous cookbook challenges.) There are more recipes from the cookbook I want to try and there were plenty of recipes I enjoyed, so I’m sure I’ll come back to it.

What I Learned From Cooking Through a Cookbook

Here are some of my notes from a year of cooking through this cookbook.

• The cookbook does a good job of recreating recipes with familiar ingredients. It might not be totally authentic, but the goal is to make something similar with the essential ingredients.
• Recipes will take longer than it says. A lot of this has to do with how slowly I chop and prepare. Recipes usually included chopped vegetables in the ingredients, which is why sometimes a recipe would take twice as long. Not a big deal; I just had to add in extra time to make sure dinner was ready on time!
• Are cookbooks for everyday cooking? Cookbooks include a lot of fancier recipes that can sometimes be complicated and expensive. How do the things you cook every day differ in budget and complexity?
• Why doesn’t this dish look like the photo? I said this a bunch while cooking these recipes. But that’s expected because cookbooks have professional photography with tricks that make the dishes look perfect!
• This cookbook has lots of recipes with cheese and gluten, which we typically don’t do a lot of.

What’s Next in the Kitchen?

Would I do it again? Yes! But maybe in a few years. It’s a huge task to cook through a cookbook. This year, I’ll be cooking from the cookbooks I have, trying more Chinese dishes, and hopefully cooking and baking for friends. I’m sure it will be another tasty year!

Do you have any cooking or baking goals this year?

The post Cooking Through the Half Baked Harvest Super Simple Cookbook appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

Here’s a recap of my year of reading!

My Books of 2020

Here are the stats:

• Books Read: 47
• Pages Read: 14,330
• Average rating: 3.8 stars
• Audiobooks: 7
• Memoirs: 17
• Fiction: 17
• Non-fiction: 23
• Poetry: 5
• Graphic Novel: 1
• Romance Fiction: 6
• Shortest Book: 87 pages, Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Longest Book: 584 pages, Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
• Average Length: 304 pages

My Favorite Books of 2020

Here are some of the books I loved and recommend to you.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
If you’re looking for a page-turning novel about a Hollywood actress’s glamorous life, this is it. This award-winning book came out in 2017 and it’s as entertaining as they say it is.

Know My Name by Chanel Miller
There are so many powerful points in this memoir by Chanel Miller. Her story touches on ways we can help victims of sexual assault and how we can transform our thinking and processes around justice and healing. A favorite line: “You have to hold out to see how your life unfolds, because it is most likely beyond what you can imagine. It is not a question of if you will survive this, but what beautiful things await you when you do.”

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
If you’re interested in self-help, therapy, and psychology, this memoir has plenty of thought-provoking nuggets. The book is structured with the author, a therapist, telling her story and in her revelations, she reminds us we all have much to learn. A favorite line: “But many people come to therapy seeking closure. Help me not to feel. What they eventually discover is that you can’t mute one emotion without muting the others. You want to mute the pain? You’ll also mute the joy.”

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
I was intrigued by this fiction book and love how the lives in the story weave together. It’s topped many lists this year and I agree! It’s a story about twins who grow up to live separate lives with different racial identities.

Untamed by Glennon Doyle
If you’ve read anything by Glennon, you know she speaks the truth and she doesn’t sugarcoat it. If you need some inspiration, a push to be more, and encouragement while you’re stuck, this book has it. A favorite line: “If you are uncomfortable—in deep pain, angry, yearning, confused—you don’t have a problem, you have a life. Being human is not hard because you’re doing it wrong, it’s hard because you’re doing it right. You will never change the fact that being human is hard, so you must change your idea that it was ever supposed to be easy.”

Sorry I’m Late: I Didn’t Want to Come by Jessica Pan
I loved this book because Jessica felt so much like me. While she intentionally set out to do extrovert things, I did some of these things for fun and experienced a lot of the same introvert feelings. Jessica’s humor is also aligned with mine so I thought this book was hilarious!

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
This young adult poetry fiction was an unexpected favorite. It’s a beautiful story about family, grief, and belonging. It also gives a glimpse of the privilege of where you are born as it follows one teenage daughter in the Dominican Republic and another teenage daughter in New York City.

The Beauty in Breaking by Michelle Harper
I picked up this memoir randomly and was captivated by the beautiful writing, the look inside an emergency room, and the thoughtful insight Michelle shares about her life lessons.

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
This graphic novel about George Takei’s childhood, specifically about his time in an American concentration camp for Japanese residents during World War 2, taught me a lot about the shameful U.S. history we don’t talk much about.

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman
This non-fiction book about a friendship, where it went right and wrong, kept me thinking. The subject of growing friendships is one I’ve noticed more and more in media. The concepts might be simple but the process is harder than it looks.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
The title says it all, doesn’t it? The term ‘minor feelings’ refers to the contradiction between your racial reality and American optimism, usually caused by the dismissal of your feelings. This book of essays explores being Asian in the U.S. and is a timely read.

And here are some feelings about other books I read this year:

• The one that had me laughing out loud: Dear Girls by Ali Wong
• The one that made me cry a lot: Finding Chika by Mitch Albom
• The one with a fascinating look behind the scenes: Becoming by Michelle Obama
• The one that was incredulous: Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur
• The one that re-ignited my farm dreams: The Rural Diaries by Hilarie Burton Morgan

Reading Goals for 2021

Next year I want to read 65 books. I have a handful of books that I started this year that I want to finish. I want to read more science fiction and fantasy and food-focused since I didn’t this year. Other than these guidelines, I’m up for anything!

What’s your favorite book you read this year? Do you have any book recommendations?

P.S. Here are my book recaps for 2019, 2018, and 2017. I track books I’ve read and want to read on Goodreads. See my profile here.

The post What I Read: My Books of 2020 appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

She was about six months old when the world shut down and she had only been socializing with other dogs for about two months. I had been wishing she didn’t spend so much time alone at home and I got my wish granted when I started working from home in March. While she shows a bit of separation anxiety sometimes, I think she has loved having so much time together too. We’ve taken her back to the dog park when they re-opened (they actually shut down twice) and she loves playing. I think she has adjusted well to this year, thankfully! (Have you been following her Instagram account?)

In addition to sharing a bunch of cute photos from the last year, here are some of my thoughts, the pros and cons, on a year of having a dog.

Cons of Having a Dog

1. All the hair

Kaira is a shedder! Between spring and summer when she was shedding for the season – WOW. It was EVERYWHERE. We were emptying the vacuum every day and it felt uncontrollable. The rest of the year has been much more manageable but the shedding, in general, has been a bit hard for my black-heavy wardrobe. Thank goodness for our Roomba and new handheld for the couch.

2. Adjustments to schedules

Kaira’s needs for feeding, playing, and walking take time, so there’s a lot of putting aside things I’d rather be doing to take care of her. Working from home without a commute has helped with this because it gives me extra time before and after work. As with anything you commit to doing, you have to make time for it!

3. It costs a bit of money

Financial experts estimate spending about $500 on a dog annually. Between the “start-up” costs like crates and food bowls, annual shots, food, toys, and unexpected medical expenses (two infections), we’ve probably spent a little more than that this past year.

4. You’ll need to find a dog sitter

We took a few weekend trips, so we needed to find someone to take care of her. Thankfully, my brother-in-law lived with us, so it was easier. We also had a friend come over one weekend. Having a dog won’t keep us from going on a trip, but it is a little stressful lining up someone to take care of her and then wondering if she’s ok while we’re gone. There’s also a cost to this!

5. All the little stresses

On top of all the above stresses, there’s the time I thought she ate a green tea bag and drove her around to make her throw up. Or wondering if big dogs will beat her up at the dog park? Or when she kept getting ant bites in the summer and scratched her skin raw. Or when she got an ear infection. I could go on and on! All of these little stresses when you’re caring for a living thing.

Pros of Having a Dog

1. You’ll get more exercise and time outdoors

As I mentioned before, I have a bit more time in the morning since I don’t need to commute, so Kaira and I use it to go on a walk. We also play in the yard and take her to the dog park, so there’s plenty of time outside! I love it!

2. Companionship

It’s the reason why people get a dog, right? Constant companionship, like when she wants to play but I need to work, can be distracting, but she also looks to me because I’m her friend. She is so joyful most of the time. She is excited about playing all of the time. Then there’s watching her learn new tricks, snuggling on the couch, and having a shadow wherever you go. She has so much genuine, pure, and simple joy, it’s easy to feel that joy in yourself. There might be fewer items on my pro list, but for me, this one outweighs them all.

I’ve always been a dog person, and adding Kaira to our family has made this year so much better. 

Having a dog has made me much more aware of the hundreds of dogs in Austin waiting for their forever family, especially older pups (over a year) and pit bull mixes. Speaking from the experience of having a pup that is a half pit bull and Staffordshire terrier, these breeds get a bad reputation for their playful nature and the shelter environment doesn’t help with their desires for companionship. In Austin, visit Austin Animal Center and Austin Pets Alive to find your new family member!

Hug your pups for me! I’m wishing you lots of joy with your four-legged best friends!

Do you have a dog? What’s your favorite thing about him/her?

The post Pros and Cons of Adopting a Dog appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

So, here are some of the things I’ve baked and loved.

Sourdough Everything

Yep, we jumped on that sourdough wagon. We got our sourdough starter from Easy Tiger and had a few months of sourdough baking. We mostly followed the Easy Tiger bread recipes. Our sourdough adventures ended because we realized we didn’t eat that much bread, but it was fun while it lasted! Many of our friends were also baking sourdough, so it was fun to share photos of our loaves and talk about baking tips.

Will made several loaves of sourdough and I’ll say, hot bread straight out of the oven is heavenly!

I was in charge of baking with the sourdough discard. Fry bread was one of the easiest and tastiest recipes. I also made rosemary crackers, herb rolls, biscuits, and blueberry muffins.

King Arthur Flour has a wealth of recipes on their website. I also considered making pretzels and cinnamon rolls. (This is another sourdough cinnamon roll recipe some of my friends loved.)

The Doubletree Signature Cookie

If you’ve ever stayed at a DoubleTree Hotel, you know about the free cookies they give to guests. Lucky for me, I work at a hotel near a DoubleTree, so they graciously send us cookies every once in a while. Well, they released the secret recipe a few months ago and I’ve made a few batches of this delicious cookie since.

These cookies are made with rolled oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts, but I think the secret ingredients are the pinch of cinnamon and the freshly squeezed lemon juice. I highly recommend making the full recipe (26 cookies) and having extra in the freezer whenever you crave some dessert.

Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats

If you’ve ever been to a party I’ve hosted, you’ve probably had these rice crispy treats. I found this recipe when I was cooking through the first Smitten Kitchen cookbook and it’s been my go-to dessert recipe since. It’s quick, easy, and always a crowd-pleaser. You can find the recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog.

Confituras Biscuit

A local shop called Confituras is known for its jam and biscuits and they have a buttermilk biscuit kit so you can bake the biscuits at home. These biscuits were so good!

Recipes from Half Baked Harvest

I’ve been making my way through the Half Baked Harvest Super Simple Cookbook this year and baked a few hits the last couple of months. I’ve found the recipes (or variations of it) on the Half Baked Harvest blog, so you can try them out.

I’m becoming sure that browning the butter makes baked goods tastier. In the cookbook is a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe with browned butter. This recipe on the blog is a variation.

I made the Cinnamon Roll Bread Rolls from the cookbook and the chai frosting is the best part! The recipe is also on the blog. As the name suggests, this recipe is more bready than cinnamon rolls, so be warned if you’re looking for a different type of recipe.

The Butter Pecan Bars from the cookbook were so good! Here’s a variation of the recipe on the blog.

I hope you have been baking some delicious things at your home too! It’s about to be prime baking season, so I hope some of these recipes will make it to your oven!

Have you found any favorite recipes? Share in a comment below!

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The post Best Baking Recipes I’ve Tried Lately appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

In the office, I had been pretty lucky (possibly spoiled) to have access to a work cafeteria. Sure, sometimes the options were limited and questionable (hmm…Salsbury steak), but there was always a fresh salad bar and on occasion, there would be happy surprises like burgers or bread pudding. The best thing was never having to prep or cook my lunch!

Now that I’ve been working from home, I have to give more thought to what I eat for lunch. I’ve found that variety is important! Since I haven’t been leaving the house much, it’s nice to have a good meal, even though it’s steps away from my desk. Eating lunch has become a necessary and refreshing break to bring variety to my day.

I’ve been trying out a bunch of different eats. Here are some of the things I’ve been eating at home for lunch. Maybe it’ll spark some new work from home lunch ideas for you.

Leftovers

The easiest lunch option is leftovers from dinner. A few of my favorites have been spaghetti or our favorite chicken, orzo, artichoke, and olives dish (from the Half-Baked Harvest cookbook I’m cooking through). But, Will typically takes his lunch to work, so there’s usually not enough leftovers unless it was a really big dinner. From this post of what we ate in a month, you can see we don’t usually eat leftovers a lot.

Snack Lunch

Eating a few different snacks can fill me up. This happens when I’m not super hungry, when I don’t have the time or ingredients to make something substantial, or I’m simply being really lazy. Real-life here!

Some of these snack lunches have included adult Lunchables (buttery crackers with slices of cheddar and summer sausage), guacamole/salsa and tortilla chips, cereal, bananas, chips (dill pickle reigns supreme in our house), clementines, and carrots with hummus.

Quick Preparation Eats

When it comes to making lunch, I prefer something that’s easy and can be made in 15 minutes or less. This category includes almond butter and honey sandwiches, fried rice, frozen dumplings, eggs on toast, and stir-fried veggies.

For the first time in a very long time, I put instant ramen and Spam on our grocery list, mostly for nostalgia and it’s also easy to prepare. I put Spam in my fried rice and ramen. In my cookbook challenge cookbook, there’s a 15-minute recipe for garlic butter ramen that was delicious! It involves cooking garlic in butter, mixing in the cooked ramen, and topping it all with a fried egg. The ramen and Spam were not as great as I remembered, hence a can still waiting in the pantry, but they were an easy-to-prepare meal.

Your grocery frozen food aisle is stocked with quick preparation options for lunch. I’ve been trying Cocina54 empanadas and Steamies Dumplings. Both come frozen and are local Austin companies. For the empanadas, I got a combo pack with four flavors: beef, spicy beef, spinach and cheese, and chicken and veggie. You may remember Steamies from my visits to the farmers market. They now sell frozen dumplings from their brick-and-mortar. I love their chicken and shittake dumplings, wontons, and soup dumplings. I also got packs of Wundernuggets, another Austin company to try.

Prepared Meals

There are a lot of options with this one. I know people who meal prep all their lunches for a few hours on Sundays. Kudos to you! Right now, many catering companies, like Vanilla Orchid, and restaurants, like Brentwood Social House and Suerte, have pivoted to providing prepared meals for you to simply warm up at home.

I partnered up with local Austin company Prep To Your Door to try out their meals. They share some of my similar values: organic ingredients sourced from local farms and zero waste with reusable packaging. Plus, with a new menu every week, it’s hard to get bored with lunch, AND the meals are delicious! I don’t usually eat gluten-, meat-, and dairy-free, but the meals are spot-on in flavors, hearty, and creative.

This has been my lunch go-to for the last few weeks, and I’m excited to share because they’ve been a welcome change for tasty and easy meals. Here are some of my favorite meals so far:

• Oats – PB&J, Maple Pecan and Peach, and Cacao with Hazelnut Butter
• Cobb Salad with Vegan Ranch
• Lemon Orzo Soup
• Siete Enchiladas
• White Bean Kale Soup
• Gardener’s Pie
• Buddha Bowl
• Thai Green Curry
• Potato Leek Soup

If you want to try Prep To Your Door, you can use the code “WANDERLUSTANITA20” for $20 off your order. If you try it, let me know your favorite dishes. Thank you, Prep To Your Door, for keeping my lunches fresh, delicious, and fun!

Take-Out

If you can’t tell, I don’t leave my desk a lot. It’s a bad habit of mine in the office and working from home. But I’ve learned it is nice to get out of the house and see other human beings. I also take it as an opportunity to support my local restaurant industry. Here are some of the places I’ve gotten take-out from:

• Stiles Switch
• Polkadots Bakery
• Easy Tiger
• 101 by TeaHaus
• Inka Chicken
• Komé
• Broth and Basil
• Tiny Pies
• First Chinese BBQ

You can see more in my monthly Flavors posts. If you’re looking for more takeout options in Austin, check out this Eater Austin list, this take-out website promoting restaurants without an online presence, and this post from my food blogger friends.

What Are You Eating for Lunch?

I know eating at home has made my diet healthier the past couple of months, despite the plethora of baked goods I’ve been making. The meals I’ve been trying have given me some food for thought for future ideas.

Have you changed up your lunch routine because you’re staying at home? Do you have more or fewer options? Do you have any favorite lunch recipes?

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