Blueberry Pie

It's been a while, hasn't it? I have spent the better part of the last month on vacation in China! I was only able to do a small amount of baking while I was away (many people don't have ovens in their kitchens, but a relative let me use a portable one to make a cake) so I was eager to get back to baking as soon as the jet-lag wore off.

Luckily, the opportunity presented itself pretty quickly. I found myself in possession of about 8 pounds of blueberries after a morning of productive berry picking, and had no doubt about what to do with my delicious haul: blueberry pie.

Sesame & Vanilla Sugar Challah (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

It's time for the May's Daring Bakers' Challenge post!  I'm really enjoying these challenges.  They force me to bake things I'm not familiar with, and both challenges have yielded really tasty results.

May’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was pretty twisted – Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from “A Taste of Challah,” by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.

Challah is a celebratory Jewish bread, and can be braided with three, four, or six strands of bread.  While deciding how many braids to try, I had a brief flashback to the summer I unsuccessfully attempted to learn to french braid hair.  That summer taught me one thing: braiding is not a great strength of mine.  Therefore, for this challenge, I stuck with the three strand braids.  Maybe someday I'll get brave and try four or six.  I decided to try two flavor variations - sesame, and vanilla sugar.

Vanilla "Companion Cube" Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

I don't usually like video games.  In fact, the only games I've played for longer than an hour are Minesweeper, The Sims, and Portal.  In Portal, you must solve puzzles using your "handheld portal device", which you really need to see to understand.  Throughout, you are prodded onward by an increasingly malicious AI named GLaDOS.  Your only friend (for a brief time) is the Weighted Companion Cube, which is, as the name implies, an inanimate cube.