These past weeks and months have been filled with a lot of holiday prep, baking, and cooking. We usually spend Thanksgiving at my Grandparent’s house, but since they were out of the country we had to host ourselves. It has been such a long time since my family had to plan, cook, or execute a Thanksgiving meal that we didn’t really know where to start. My mom wanted to make a traditional turkey with traditional sides, but I wanted to take this opportunity to try something new. We decided on two smaller turkeys and we had a few sides.

This was my first time ever cooking a whole animal, let alone a turkey! I decided to use Bon-Apetit’s Cider-Brined Turkey with Star Anise recipe and purchased a locally raised, heritage breed turkey to go up against my mom’s Butterball to see if there really was any flavor difference.

To go along with the cider turkey, I opted for an alternative stuffing. Food & Wine’s Sticky Rice Dressing was complex, earthy, and delicious, and though a bit time-intesive, was pretty straight forward. I also made a side of curried quinoa with balsamic roasted brussel sprouts and my Grandmother’s pumpkin chiffon pie. I haven’t been able to perfectly re-create the pie using my Grandmother’s recipe, so I’ll hold off on posting it here until I can refine it further.

For Christmas, we went to our Grandparents’ and had a sort of second Thanksgiving/Christmas mash-up.

With my boyfriend, I made four different types of cookies to dish out to friends and family. Of course, we made the traditional milk chocolate espresso cookies (with Valrhona cocoa, one of my Christmas presents!) and linzer cookies filled with blackberry preserves and lingonberry preserves, plus two other types. It’s tradition for my boyfriend and I to look over the Washington Post’s Christmas Cookie Feature and this year we chose Cardamom-Brown Sugar Snickerdoodles and Salted Nutella Thumbprints. The Snickerdoodles (half recipe) were *awesome* and, to me, were a chai-inspired spin on the traditional. The thumbprints were very similar to the espresso cookies, so I wouldn’t make them again (just put nutella on the originals!).

This year I also made truffles with my friend Stephanie and also tried my hand at homemade vanilla extract. Last year we made many different types of truffles (base recipe to come in a separate post), so this year we simplified and made only two types of truffles and peppermint bark. Stephanie’s truffle was: Horchata – Milk chocolate ganache with egg nog, rice protein, dipped in white chocolate and drizzled with dark chocolate, sprinkled with nutmeg. Mine was: Christmas Cookie Truffle – Speculoos Cookie Butter Semi-Sweet ganache, dipped in dark chocolate, sprinkled with ginger crackers.

My family always celebrates Chinese New Year on New Years Day and this year was no different. We find it easier to have visiting relatives extend their Christmas stay by a few days and gather again for New Year, and members of the family in school always have the time off and are available. Chinese New Year changes every year, from January to February (this year was 1/23), so it’s easier for everyone this way. For the new years, we had two delicious roasted long island ducks, char siu chow fun noodles, potato stuffing with duck liver and many other delicious things. Unfortunately, I was so excited about the food that I neglected to take any pictures! My Grandmother’s cooking is so good, can you blame me? Since my family is from Hawai’i, we also ended the night with a delicious slice of Guava Chiffon Pie, using guava concentrate from the islands.

Lastly, on Martin Luther King Day I took the extra time off for the holiday to try out my mini-donut pan that I received as a gift for Christmas. I used a gingerbread cake recipe from Everyday Food January 2012 which subs pumpkin puree for most of the fat to make them healthier. Since I was baking them in a mini-pan, I followed the cooking directions on the back of the pan’s packaging and greased the pan, then baked them for 9 minutes, letting them cool a bit. These donuts were cute and tasted delicious, though they didn’t look as pretty after transport to the office. Also, the pan only holds 12 donuts, so I had to make *many* batches.

Do you make any special foods for the holidays?

Curried Quinoa with Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

• brussel sprouts, rinsed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoons olive oil, or as needed
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2 tablespoon ancho chile powder

Combine all quinoa ingredients (last 7) in a rice cooker on quick setting, open, stir, allow steam to dissapate. If you don’t have a rice cooker, simmer all ingredients in a covered saucepan for 20 minutes.

For the brussel sprouts, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut off the ends of the brussels sprouts and then cut them into quarters. Place sprouts in a medium bowl and toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Pour sprouts on a baking sheet and roast 30-35 minutes or until sprouts are tender. Make sure you stir them a couple of times while they are roasting so that they don’t burn.

Mix together quinoa and brussel sprouts, serve warm.

Happy 2012! As you may have noticed, I’ve made a New Year’s resolution! Or maybe you haven’t noticed because I haven’t been posting as frequently as I should have.

Well, my resolution for this year was to be less lazy/more motivated, and that includes updating my blog more often! I hadn’t changed the layout for a few years, sometimes just changing the header. Not only was it hard to find the time to update my site, but I was also lacking inspiration! Web Design used to be a hobby, but now it’s my profession. As such, sometimes I feel that all my creative juices get sucked out 9-5 and when I get home the *last* thing I want to do is design something or type on the computer.

For Christmas my Grandma gave me a cookbook I have been lusting after since it was first published: Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented. Not only did I get inspired by the stunning photos and typography, but I was also aligned with the book’s philosophy. With a new color scheme (including Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2010) and a new outlook, I played with the design for a few days and then spent a day implementing it.

So, here’s to out with the old and in with the new!

More detailed specifics on the new layout will be found soon under the About section. Please feel free to share your thoughts, or let me know if something is broken or doesn’t look right!

Disclaimer: I was invited back by the owner after my 2010 review

We visited on a Tuesday night (11/15) and had a great experience. Our waiter, Rohit, was very knowledgeable about every aspect of the food and structure of the restaurant. He knew how every dish was made and where all the ingredients were sourced, down to the ingredients in the olive oil! The service was excellent and he had great recommendations for pizza and appetizers. After our meal, he offered to give us a tour of the pizzaiolo’s working space, but no pizzas were in the queue at the moment.

We tried the calamari again; there was a better ratio of zucchini to calamari and the plate came out piping hot. Though the zucchini was a little watery, the texture of the breading and calamari more than made up for it. The sauce was also more flavorful and paired well with the fried morsels. We also ordered two pizzas, the Il Canale and the Diavola. The Il Canale had a perfectly crunchy crust and the toppings were flavorful. My favorite part of the pizza was actually the tomato slices that burst with a great flavor–and I don’t really like tomatoes! My only concern was that after I finished eating one slice of pizza, the rest of the pizza had basically turned to mush because of all the cheese and veggies. The softened crust mixed with the moist ingredients melded together and lacked textural contrast. Maybe a quick zap in the toaster oven at home will revive the slices? The Diavola didn’t skimp on the ingredients and while the crust wasn’t as crunchy, each bite was still flavored well with the salami and cheese. We didn’t have room to try dessert, though we were eyeing the tiramisu.

I’m glad I visited again–I can tell that the ingredients, processes, and service has all been changed. But, I just don’t like soupy pizzas, so I will probably not be back again.

A few things: there was a guy going around selling roses, which made us feel uncomfortable (especially since they were so expensive!). There were also several times that a server tried to bring us other people’s food, or give our food to the wrong table and we had to flag him down. Other than that, the rapport with Rohit and the host was great and the weather outside was refreshing.

2010 Review

I’ve gone to Il Canale twice, both times sitting on the roof.
The most recent time (7/10/10), I went with a WTD coupon for $50.

We ordered the frittura di calamari e zucchine (fried calamari and zucchini) and the Capricciosa pizza (ham, artichoke hearts, mozz, and mushrooms).

The calamari came out and there was no zucchini in it, only calamari. We asked our waitress and she checked with the chef and apparently they ran out of the “cut zucchini”. (Did they run out of zucchini, did they just not want to cut more?) The calamari itself wasn’t even warm and the breading and squid were separate from each other. There was a lot of breading and the squid itself was dry. This means that the calamari had been chillin’ under a heat lamp for a while. If it was freshly fried, it would have been hot or at least warm when it arrived at the table and the squid and breading would have been more linked together.

The pizza was a soupy mess in the middle. All the toppings were in the middle, making the soupy problem even more so. The toppings tasted canned, and were too wet and metallic tasting to be considered fresh. The charred parts of the pizza left a bitter, acrid taste in my mouth.

The view is good from the rooftop if you get one of the seats on the edge. But those are always “held” for “people that know people”, so we were put towards the back. My view was alright–I could see some brick building across from me and the sky above that. My boyfriend was stuck looking at an ill-painted white brick wall.

Glad I went, but never going again. Even at half-off, it’s not worth it.

Long time no post, eh? I started a new job in September and have been crazy busy since then!

A few months ago, I received two bags of Godiva‘s Limited Edition fall coffee flavors — Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Pecan Bark– as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a coffee machine at my house and my new job doesn’t have a small coffee machine that I can use my own coffee in. So, I gave this coffee to my dad and went over to my parents’ house one weekend to try a cup of each.

The coffee has a strong aroma, especially the caramel pecan bark. The pumpkin spice flavor had a weaker smell that was less sweet, but still noticeable. The smell is still strong after being brewed, but the smell did not translate into flavor. Drank plain, there is no flavor in the liquid that is discernible from normal coffee. Adding cream and sugar helped to bring out some of the spice notes, but not any more than adding a flavored cream to regular coffee would. This coffee is good, but I don’t think I would buy it for myself at full price, especially since this coffee retails for $12-$14 per bag.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a bottle of KC Masterpiece® Buffalo Marinade recently. At first, I thought “Wow! Awesome, I can use this for some great things”, and then I thought, “Oh.. It’s a marinade… I need to marinade things…which will take time…and has to be meat”.

So I tried that. I marinated some chicken breasts in the sauce for 30 minutes as was suggested and grilled them on a gas grill. while they were grilling, we brushed more sauce on the chicken and also brushed some on some white onion rings. The chicken tasted alright, but I felt like the flavor wasn’t truly absorbed. The onions on the other hand, tasted great with the marinade. And that’s when I realized: I shouldn’t use this as a marinade, as intended, but rather a sauce or dressing!

The photo above is of some shirataki (yam) noodles that I marinated in the sauce, then added some vegetables and cooked in a pan. I also used some below-average produce (crisper bin potatoes and frozen brussel sprouts) and they got a second lease on life with this sauce! I tossed the cubed potatoes and sprout quarters in the sauce, added some pepper and cojita cheese, and roasted at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. The vegetables had the perfect done-ness and spiciness.

The only thing to mention is that with a marinade-method, most of the sauce is discarded, so the flavor isn’t as strong. When using this as a cooking sauce or “dressing”, the sauce stays put so the flavor is stronger. In the case of the buffalo sauce I received, the flavors are red pepper, garlic, paprika, vinegar, and…hot sauce. The heat tends to build up a bit if you don’t take a break with a beverage or side dish, but that might be my low heat tolerance talking.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received three squares of Ghirardelli Luxe Chocolates to sample — one each of milk, milk with almond, and milk with hazelnut.

Ghirardelli touts that these chocolates blend the finest cocoa beans, whole milk, cocoa butter, and vanilla to “create a rich and creamy chocolate experience like no other”.

I snapped the chocolate in half, rubbed the chocolate between my fingers, and smelled. The aroma was nutty and sweet on the hazelnut and almond flavors, but the milk smelled like regular milk chocolate. All the squares tasted creamy and there were no large sugar granules to be found like in lower-grade chocolates, but this difference may have been noticeable because 1) I was looking for it since it was advertised and 2) I used to work as a choclatier.

These were great, indulgent snacks, but they weren’t much better than regular Hershey’s or Nestle chocolate, especially for the price difference.

I made chocolate whoopie pies with vodka caramel cream cheese filling (tinted green) for a co-worker’s going away celebration in March around St. Patricks Day. The cookies in a bag are from my boyfriend’s mom and are molasses spice cookies (I think the recipe is on the side of the Grandma’s Molasses jar). She also made the delicious chocolate cake in the bottom left. My boyfriend and I made the oatmeal raisin cookies in the bottom right (recipe from the Quaker Oat’s container).

For a work potluck, I made a simple blueberry and quince tart by layering blueberries and poached quinces on top of a pie crust and topping it with a simple crumble. Some parts of the quince were a bit tough since I didn’t remove the parts near the seed pods all the way, but it was a great way to use up fading fruit!

Around Christmas last year I made gingerbread houses with my family and spent two days during December making homemade truffles (Oreo, Fleur de Sel, and Hibiscus Tea) and peppermint bark for family, friends, and co-workers with my bestie Stephanie. We packaged them up with twine, artist tape, and stickers for the season. If I get around to it, I’ll post our truffle adventures, including a truffle class and recipes.  I also made gingerbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and milk chocolate espresso cookies since exchanging cookies during the winter is a family tradition.

At a local chocolate shop, my mom picked up these Star Wars chocolate molds. My dad loves Star Wars so I made him some chocolate pops. Some of them have malt powder or pop rocks in them to give them texture.

These are also creations for work potlucks. In the top left corner is a red velvet cupcake with cream de cacao caramel cream cheese frosting and red and white decoration. Next to that are cinnamon rolls with strawberry/peach preserves, almonds/walnuts, white chocolate chips, raisins and a candied ginger cream cheese glaze.  The bottom row are pictures of s’more cupcakes with marshmallow fluff topping, hershey chocolate, and a teddy graham. I didn’t have a kitchen hand torch, so I popped these under the oven broiler. They turned from “not-charred-enough” to “burnt!” very quickly. Oh well, I’m the type of person that always lights my marshmallows on fire anyways.

Like I said, my dad loves Star Wars, especially Yoda. For Father’s Day this year I made Star Wars sugar cookies using the cookie molds sold at Williams-Sonoma. Of course my cookies don’t look as good as the display ones, but it took a ridiculous amount of time to decorate and bake them! I was quite proud of myself when I viewed the final product.

In the winter I fell in love with ratatouille and made an adaptation of the original recipe by opting to use Rasika Goan Curry instead of tomato paste/sauce. As I predicted, it was delicious. I had cooked the curry with shrimp in it for dinner the night before and used the left over sauce as the base so I wouldn’t waste the expensive sauce.

A yummy drink enjoyed on New Year’s eve (Chairman’s Rum & Domaine de Canton, if I remember correctly), spiced with a chunk of crystallized ginger.

I also participated in an iced tea competition at Zen Tara Tea. We were given 2 oz of tea and could add whatever we wanted to to make our iced tea concoction. I brewed hibiscus tea and crystallized ginger together (left) and was an honorable mention. Stephanie had something crazy with almond milk and ice cream (and cookies) and got second place! I love visiting this small tea shop and trying new teas or getting new accessories. They have great educational tasting events too.

I’ve made these mini pumpkin whoopie pies with candied ginger and cream cheese filling several times and they’re always a hit. It’s best to make them with a partner because the assembly gets a bit time-intensive. The right-side is home-made rice pudding with slivered almonds, a treat my mom used to make us when we were growing up.

I went to stand in line with Stephanie for Harry Potter 7, part 1 (you realize how old these pictures are now), so made a bento we could dig into while we waited. There are glazed carrots, ratatouille, curried butternut squash soup, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. To the left are tortellini with butternut squash soup as the sauce. The rest are Thanksgiving leftovers (turkey fried rice mixed with curried butternut squash soup) and a cocopop with shaved manchego, chile, and prosciutto on top.

I recently picked up a spice blend from the Spice & Tea Exhange  and used it to create backwoods hickory rubbed potatoes and chicken. The other photos are delicious homemade sai min and roast pork soup that I had while eating at my parents’ house. I don’t remember eating this good when I lived there!

This past October I made “Happy Birthday” linzer cookies for my dad since he’s been requesting them ever since Christmas 2009! I think they turned out pretty awesome after I used my alphabet cutters from Japan to cut-out a special message for him in each cookie. I also made linzer cookies for Christmas 2010, though they didn’t turn out as well.

Another of my dad’s favorite things to eat are macaroons. These are ridiculously easy to make and reminded me of the days back when I worked at Godiva and would dip these every morning. They’re crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside — just the right amount of sweetness!

Last but not least, here are some awesome pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting that my boyfriend’s mom made. We have a running joke with this pink container that it’s never sent back empty, always returned with delicious treats inside!

This is a big chunk of what I’ve been making in the past months, but I have some special posts coming up, including totoro cookies, blueberry coffee cake, carrot cake cupcakes, and peach cobbler bars, peach jam, and peach cinnamon rolls.

Last Thanksgiving I was looking for ways to mix new and familiar flavors together in order to get people to try new ingredients. When I saw the recipe for Pumpkin Layer Cake with Goat Cheese Frosting and Quince-Ginger Compote from a local food blog Bitten Word, I knew I had found the perfect fit. These cupcakes were such a hit at my office that I made them once for our group Thanksgiving Potluck and a few weeks later for our organization’s Holiday Bowling party.

The frosting is basically half goat cheese and half cream cheese, which makes the final product thicker and tangier. This way, it doesn’t compete with the spicy cake or become too sweet when paired with the quince topping. Since I used the recipe for a two-layer cake and adapted it into cupcakes, there was a lot of quince topping left over. This just meant that the second time I made the cupcakes I didn’t have to make the topping again! The topping also goes well with yogurt, oatmeal, or could be baked into a dessert of its own. I also drizzled some of the quince syrup on top of the cupcakes to add some more moisture and flavor.

If you aren’t able to find quince in your local grocery store, try substituting with Asian pears. The peak for the quince market often depends on your physical location and by the time you hear whispers of quince, they’re already gone!

Last year, October 16th 2010 I went to Crooked Run Orchard with my boyfriend to pick apples. Crooked Run is a bit of a trek from the city, but it isn’t the furthest orchard by far. Prices were quite reasonable and there were many variaties to choose from. Pumpkins were advertised, but the gourd lot was barren. Parking was a bit tight, but the day was crisp and sunny. After picking the apples I couldn’t believe that I had never been apple picking before! It’s such a fun activity, especially when you’re able to move at your own pace. We took our spoils home with us and made an apple pie out of the apples we picked. In my experience, picking or growing whatever produce you use makes the end product taste much better, since you know exactly what went into it.

Here is my boyfriend’s family’s apple pie recipe, which has been in his family a while.

Mom’s Apple Pie

Make dough for crust first and put in refrigerator to chill while you’re peeling the apples.

Pie Crust

• 1 c. flour
• 1/2. c. Crisco
• 1/4 c. ice water (scant cup)

In small mixing bowl combine flour and Crisco by smashing the two together with the back of a fork until completely mixed.  Add ice water and mix together with the back of the fork.  Chill for an hour if possible.  It will roll out better if it’s cold.

Apple Filling

About 6 cups of Macintosh Apples, peeled and sliced.. Mound the apples up as high as you can in the pieplate to measure.

In a small bowl, mix together:

• 3/4 c. sugar (If using Splenda, only use 1/2 c. and omit the cornstarch)
• 2T. cornstarch
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. nutmeg

Add sugar mixture to apples in a large bowl and mix to coat.

Divide chilled pie crust dough into half, and roll out bottom crust on a floured board.  Put in pie plate, addapple mixture, then roll out top crust.  Make slits in top crust so steam can be released.  Put over apples and crimp the edges.  Sprinkle top of pie with cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 55 minutes.  You may need to put foil under the pie plate as it may bubble over in your oven!

These cupcakes were made by my boyfriend’s mother last September. She used a recipe similar to the carrot cake cupcakes she made for CupcakeCampDC 2010 and won first place for!  The little fox in the bottom right hand corner is a baby fox that I picked up at the Christmas Store in Outer Banks the month before.