Favorites: Pain Bakery

A few weeks ago, I almost died from having the best bread of my life. It was a Country Loaf given to me by Theo's amazing preschool teacher Ayla's boyfriend, Chase, who bakes these lovely loaves for Pain Bakery. This loaf was 50 ounces of pure bliss--with a perfectly toasty crust and a super tender open crumb.

After eating one slice on its own, I decided to make avocado toasts the way they do at Bartavelle, one of my favorite spots in Berkeley--lightly toasted, drizzled with the best olive oil (I used ILA), smeared with organic avocado, a squeeze of lemon, a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt, and a little red pepper (if I had Marash pepper flakes I would have used that instead). SO. GOOD.

Man, if bread could be sexy, this would be Beyonce.

So this olive oil from ILA is the best one I've had with beautiful packaging to boot.

Look at that crumb! And I totally devoured that butt even though I normally don't even like bread crust :)

+ Find Pain Bakery bread here for now.
+ Find me on Instagram (@good_on_paper), Twitter (@good_on_paper), Pinterest (@goodonpaperdes) and Tumblr (hellogoodonpaper)
+ Subscribe to receive the latest posts and Good on Paper updates delivered to your inbox.  You could also use Blog Lovin' or Feedly to follow along.

Recipe: Black Bean Polenta

When nick and I met over 12 years ago, he was a vegetarian and I was a big time carnivore (growing up in a Chinese household meant some kind of meat protein with every meal). We came to a compromise on our dietary preferences very early on in our relationship (true love!) which consisted of eating mostly vegetarian but fish, chicken and turkey were okay. We weren't strict and my willpower was next to none--I mean, how could I resist the occasional slice of pepperoni pizza?

Fast forward to 2016, and many documentaries later, Nick has gone back to his vegetarian ways but includes fish (so, a pescatarian). I truly admire his tenacity but I must admit, as the cook/baker in the house, this was initially a bit of a challenge for me. Of course, Nick told me not to do anything differently and he'll just eat his own thing. But that would not be enjoyable for me-- the idea of the kids and I gorging on my Lemon Olive Chicken while he ate a bagel and cream cheese? So I've challenged myself to cook more vegetarian and fish meals--on the nights Nick isn't home for dinner, I'll cook my chicken dishes if I feel like it.

One of the biggest challenges as the cook in the house is making something that satisfies everyone. This Black Bean Polenta does the trick--we all love it, it's inexpensive, makes amazing leftovers, great for potlucks, plus it's vegetarian and gluten free. I love the version the Juice Bar Collective makes and found a version from Farmgirl Gourmet that I slightly modified.

+ Full Recipe for Black Bean Polenta
+ Find me on Instagram (@good_on_paper), Twitter (@good_on_paper),
Pinterest (@goodonpaperdes) and Tumblr (hellogoodonpaper)
+ Subscribe to receive the latest posts and Good on Paper updates delivered to your inbox.
+ You could also use Blog Lovin' or Feedly to follow along.