black sesame tarte with colored tangrams

baked chai masala pumpkin pie

hand-sliced potato tart

miso white carrot pie with black sesame crust

hummus tart with carrot shingles

cranberry curd tart with persimmon tangrams

hi. it's izzy after a total of 66+ hours of driving after our road trip to new mexico this past week (and a half). i'm kind of grumpy and a little too sick of eating a protein bar every day for breakfast and waking up at 5:00am every day for 3 days of driving there and back. but, it was beautiful. i'm home now. 

god, i didn't think that i would be any happier seeing the actual disgustingness of 40 minutes of traffic jam going into the holland tunnel. yep. honking galore.

while my dad and i were driving the final few miles to our apartment, we listed the things that we had honestly missed: (yes, that honking), jaywalkers, asshole taxi drivers, potholes, narrow lanes, sirens, the smell of trash.

i don't know what i'm going to do when i leave.

onwards.

lauren ko is not only a writer but an awesome self-taught baker. there's a little tagline at the bottom of her website that says, "when all hell bakes loose." awesome.

as a food – art and art – food lover myself, when i found her unconventional colorful, geometric, and truly stunning designs on instagram, i instantly fell into a deep admiration. 

are you surprised that buzzfeed already did a video starring a few geometric pies?

lauren uses pretty eclectic ingredients for her pies:

cheddar cheese

cranberry powder

dragon fruit

blood orange

beets

miso paste

paloma

purple yams

holy heck. psa: not all in the same pie. 

inspired to bake right now? yeah buddy.

enjoy your april fools day easter.

⌇ 

i finally feel 18. it's a weird feeling as i'm writing this between photos of raw brownies. i feel older and like i have a better sense of what's going on. nonetheless, do i actually really know what's going on? not really.

but i don't have to know what's going on all the time. i don't have to know where i'm going exactly. this is all weird thought processes of adult-dom that's going on in my head right now as college decisions are strangely and unexpectedly around the corner. 

anyway, it's "essentially" spring break right now, meaning that it's exam week but, for me, with the non-existence of exams. so, 3 weeks of freedom here i come. 

i've had a lot of time to think and hang out at home with my parents and my dog and cook and bake and photograph and just do things that i want to do.

it's refreshing once in awhile.

anyways, going back to 1-8. eighteen. "legal adult". able-to-fly-by-myself person. voter. woah.

it's funny, i was reading something i wrote back in 2014 when i didn't feel like a teen yet. how is it possible that just four years ago i didn't even feel like a teenager. and now i feel like an (albeit young) adult? what??? 

i feel comfortable, and i know that that's all going to go away in a few months.

i finally feel like i know where i am (who i am??) and it's all too late before i leave. 

but maybe it's not. maybe it's all supposed to work out like this and i will evolve and settle and grow again. just not here. in california. 

*end of existential crisis speak*

onto the elusive raw brownie. where do i begin. i've made raw brownies in the past, and usually the main ingredient is medjool dates. 

but sugar spikes and bouncing off walls and gi upset (for me)-- so i present, no-date raw brownies. these ooey gooey chocolatey brownies are incredible. 

they have the nutty taste of the hemp seeds (which also give a boost of protein) and the creamy taste of almond butter. it's a health chocolate-almond butter bomb. essentially.

no-date raw brownies

serves 6

-

what you need

for the brownies

• 3/4 cup fine almond flour
• 1/2 cup hemp seeds
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (i used valhrona)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond butter
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons monk fruit sugar (or just normal sugar if you're not about that life)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

for the ganache (optional)

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons monk fruit maple syrup (or just, ya know, normal maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• pinch of salt

what you do

for the brownies

1. blend everything together in a food processor

2. press into a corner of a bread pan (since this is a half recipe)

3. refrigerate or freeze for 10 minutes while preparing the ganache

for the ganache

1. blend together all the ingredients until you get a smooth cream

2. add more cocoa powder if it’s to liquidy

3. pour over your refrigerated brownies and let it set in the fridge

4. cut and enjoy

happy happy st. patty's day.

⌇