Besties Baking Date!

So a few weeks ago, a few of the gang met up and enjoyed Seattle Restaurant Week at TanakaSan. One of the specials that were offered includes this amazing Triple Coconut Cream Pie as dessert, and we were all blown away by how yummy it is. So today on a rainy Monday, after dropping Ri off at his work in Auburn, I trekked to Redmond and made this even more amazing Triple Coconut Cream Pie with my dear Ling Ling.

We went to QFC and Trader Joe’s to shop for supplies which includes actual vanilla bean pods! It is probably not exciting for other people, however, it was my very first time using actual vanilla bean pod instead of vanilla extract. Ling Ling showed me how it’s done, so you split the bean pod lengthwise in half and scoop out all the tiny little flecks of black dots (for whatever reason, I thought it’d be like papaya seeds) and also drop the entire pod into whatever you are using for. For our project today, it was milk + sweetened shredded coconut + eggs + sugar = coconut pastry cream. *just thinking about it makes my mouth waters* The flavor and fragrance honestly trumps the vanilla extract, and the black dots look pretty mixed in with the pastry cream, too.

Then Ling Ling took me to this cute little Thai restaurant and I finished all my food! (Richard are you reading this? You weren’t there, and still I finished my food. You should be very proud of me.) It’s been so nice to catch up with everything that has been going on. I really like waiting for Ellie to move and listening to her heartbeats, too! Sometimes I still can’t believe we are moving on to the next stage of our lives so fast! It’s also really awesome to have some girly time, to bake and talk and look at die-cut templates and craft supplies, especially because my husband is making my watch a zombie movie right now. So thank you, bestie, for letting me spend this day with you!

Anywho, Ling Ling toasted some unsweetened coconut and place it on top of some whipped cream with some white chocolate. we made this pie (picture above) and the husbands loved it. So overall a very happy success!

HERE is the actual recipe link we used.

HERE is another one with crust recipe included.

Now, I think I need another slice of this pie. Ta ta~!