Home-Made Corn and Whole Wheat Flour Tortilla

Tortillas are the foundation upon which many delicious Mexican dishes are made. They are readily available at any supermarket, and I bet many home cooks never consider making them from scratch when preparing burritos, enchiladas and the like. That's unfortunate, since the ingredients and process of making tortillas are both incredibly simple.

If you are fortunate enough to have a specialty Mexican market nearby as we do, you can purchase the masa dough freshly made and ready to press or roll out. But this time I wanted to make a healthier version using whole wheat flour. The texture of the tortilla looks very similar to paratha, or Indian flat bread, but the rolling part is much easier, especially if you have a tortilla dough press. The tortilla comes out perfectly each time in a nice round disk.

Fresh Jujube Tart with Walnut Cream (Chinese Date Tart)

Lulu planted jujube trees 3 years ago and they didn't produce much fruit until this year. A jujube (also called Chinese date) is a little date-sized fruit that has a sweet smell and a flavor reminiscent of apples. In Asia, legend says that the scent of jujubes makes people fall in love. They are also a sign of fertility.

The fruits are so much more flavorful and sweet than the ones from our local market. In Vietnam, jujubes are eaten fresh as a snack. The girls have been going back and forth to the garden to pick the fruits from the trees. The crop is so huge this year; each branch holds at least 2 dozen jujubes. We've been asking friends and family to take some home, but we still had more, so I decided to try and make a dessert with some jujubes.

The texture of the fresh fruit is very similar to apples, so I adapted my tarte amandine and made it with walnuts and jujube instead. For a nice glossy look, I drizzled date syrup over the jujube tarts. It was the first  time I tested the recipe and it worked wonderfully.

Falafel Salad with Lemon Tahini Vinaigrette

During our last trip to Philadelphia, Lulu and I realized how narrow the vegetarian options were in restaurants. Lulu had falafel during the entire time of our stay there.

He hasn't touched it since we got back and I thought it was time to re-introduce him to falafel. I served them in a Mediterranean-style salad along with lemon tahini vinaigrette, candied walnuts and thinly sliced kumquat preserves from last winter's harvest.

Maple Pecan Fig Tart

We harvested our last batch of Black Mission figs from the garden today. I've been wanting to share them with our friends, and so I made two dozen mini-tarts this afternoon.

I adapted the almond cream that I use in my tarte amandine recipe, but instead of almond I used pecans because I think pecans complement figs really well. To sweeten the figs and pecans, I drizzle warm maple syrup. The result is a true taste of autumn.

Tips for Perfect Pancakes

Pancakes have an almost magical ability to turn anyone into a child again. There's something irresistible about waking up on a Saturday morning, stumbling into the kitchen and being greeted by the smell of batter and a mountain of fluffy pancakes just begging to be smothered in maple syrup and whipped butter.

Perhaps part of the beauty of pancakes is that they're so simple to make. My teenage sisters-in-law often make them on their own for the family. As with many simple dishes though, attention to detail is the difference between drab and delicious. Read on to learn my tips on making excellent pancakes every time.