Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream

A frozen ode to Starbucks. 

If you haven't noticed in my previous website, I am a huge fan of homemade iced treats.  Examples of it are here, here, and here.   Currently, I am using an older version of Cuisinart's ICE-21.  I saw on a guest post that Lazaro from Lazaro Cooks! has a beautiful White Mountain ice cream maker that makes mine look like a child's toy in comparison.

Even though having an ice cream maker makes making ice cream that much easier, you actually don't need to have an ice cream maker to make ice cream.

This recipe is a hybrid of two that I absolutely love: Caramel and Coffee.  A happpy accident of joining two friends and making them superfriends.  To me, it tastes like Starbucks's Caramel Macchiato.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

I've only ever had panna cotta once in my life and I had purchased it in the frozen food section of the grocery store.  Since I didn't have any point of reference in terms of taste, I thought that it was alright.  It's one of the desserts I've been wanting to make for ages but haven't made much time for it.

While at Home Depot a while back, I flipped through a Bon Appetit magazine and found a lovely yoghurt panna cotta.  The food-nerd within was super excited and when I got home, I searched for it on their site.  Close down the list of searched items, I stumbled upon a buttermilk panna cotta.  Though I had a couple of tubs of plain yoghurt, I also had a litre of buttermilk sitting in my fridge that was dangerously close to its expiration date *cringes!*.  (Originally, it was intended for a raspberry-buttermilk sorbet, but for some strange reason the desire to make it disappeared.)

Farmer's Market + Hot Dogs

I've decided to ease my way into my new home by starting off with a nice picture post.  Saturday was busy with a trip to St. Norbert's Farmer's Market, an afternoon matinee of Inception (which you MUST see), and a family dinner of tubed-mystery meat at Skinner's for their "world famous" hot dogs.

Lovely coloured carrots, burgundy beets, and scarlet radishes.
I have no idea what's beside them.

Gorgeous and crimson, these currants were calling out to me.
Lesson learned: bring a cooler on next visit.

Nature's Farm pasta.

I was intrigued and bought a pound of their cocoa chili fettuccine.
Can't wait to share the results with you all.

@ Skinner's World Famous Hotdogs.

They were hot dogs.

The Lockport locks.

Family portrait.  Left to Right: Dad, me, Bob, and Mum.

Welcome! Version 2.0

Morning mullets and coffee.

Hi Everyone,

You're probably wondering why I jumped Defunkt Gourmet and decided to start anew. Or maybe not. If you're willing to listen, keep on reading. If not, well... maybe you can come over and we can watch movies and bake some bread; maybe an Almodovar movie-a-thon; discuss the latest on horrible celebrity plastic surgery; or perhaps some bowling?

I started Defunkt Gourmet randomly, out-of-the-blue but mainly as a writing exercise. I seriously did not think much of it. And then things started going quite nicely, meeting exceptional people, learning so much more than I could have ever on my own. Lately, however, I've started questioning the Gourmet part of the name. Defunct is defined as "no longer in use, inactive." But I was never gourmet to begin with so how could I have become inactive in something I was never active in before?

Hmmm... I'm more of a comfort food kind of girl. So I thought I would start anew with an entirely new name that would suit my cooking style (if there is such a thing). I've decided on Chinese Baba as an homage to my mum who makes wicked-good Ukrainian pierogis. (I know - a Chinese woman making Ukrainian food!) My mum always made sure we had meals on the table and did it with love.

In between the foie gras, the caviar, the gourmet... we always want something comforting.

Thanks for stopping by. Are we still friends?
xoxo