Week of Menus

Hot Jalapeno Dip: I'm that mom

2012-02-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

If you know me, you know I'm stubborn. And if I have my mind set on something, you bet I'm going to do my utmost to get it done. It seems that this stubborn gene does not skip a generation, and has directly passed on to Children, all three of them, but the one that I battle the most these days is Son.

Son HATES haircuts. I have let his hair grow since the first week of October, where I had to take him for a cut before Brother's wedding. Since then I have let it grow and grow. Believe me, it was long. It was so long it covered his eyes, and he'd repeatedly rub them and be irritated by the hair in his face. Everyone else talked about how "cute" it was and so many did love his hair. Husband was extremely fond of the long locks and kept on telling me, "Don't cut it." But I made my case that the long hair was poking him in the eyes, and therefore making it difficult for Son to enjoy his life. Furthermore, as Son has sensitive skin already, because of the eczema, the hair would annoy him and he'd just rub extra hard. Husband relented, and I got it in my head that a haircut was going to happen and now.

I made up my mind that today was the day. I braced myself for the inevitable tantrum, the unreasonableness, and the weepiness over the haircut, and it came in a flood. When we arrived at the haircut place, it took superhuman strength to pry Son from the car and I had to physically move him to the location for the cut. The whole while he cried and screamed and I actually worry that someone might have thought I was doing something wrong to him. When we got into the shop, I had to register Son and wait for a shot. He wailed and blasted his screams the entire time. I got super thick-faced and let him wail and disturb many of the other customers, but I felt their glares, their looks, their judgement of me. I LET my child cry.

Yeah. That's me. I let him cry. I let him wail. I'm sorry it disturbed you, but sometimes, I'm not going to make him be quiet if he doesn't want to be. Sometimes he just needs to be the most annoying child in the shop - and that is my child. I'm sorry you were disturbed today by his shrieks, his noises, and his completely nonsensical babble. Believe you me, that although my exterior was nonchalant and calm, inside I was seething and miserable. But I chose this path, when I decided that he HAD to have a haircut. TODAY.

While sitting in the chair, waiting for my misery to be over (because I have to physically HOLD Him in order for him to even let clippers near him), I thought of all the places I'd rather be. And the image that came up was home, with this dip in front of me. Warm, comforting, delicious with the bacon and artichoke, it was the single thought that kept me from losing my marbles.

The haircut finished and the main problem with the entire thing is...I don't like it. Thankfully, I do like this dip. Very much.

Hot Jalapeno Dip
Makes about 3 cups of dip

Ingredients
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
¾ cups of mayonnaise
4 strips of bacon (good quality) cooked until crispy and golden
1 can of artichoke hearts broken up
2 jalapenos finely chopped, seeds and all
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (I usually put the jalapenos and garlic in a food processor and blitz them together)

Method
In a large bowl, mix together mozzarella and mayonnaise. Break up bacon into small bits and add to mixture. Add artichoke hearts and jalapeno and garlic. Stir to combine and incorporate all the ingredients. Refrigerate until needed.

You can do a LARGE 8X8 baking dish of this dip, OR you can do smaller ramekins (which is what I like to do) and keep the dip piping hot, and just keep on replenishing ramekins. I find that the dip is NOT yummy when it is cold and it is spectacular when it is just out of the oven.

Preheat oven to 400. Spoon dip into your desired baking dish. Bake until it is all golden and bubbly on top. (small ramekins is about 12-15 minutes, larger dish could be 20 minutes or more.)

Serve with crackers or crusty bread.

Printable recipe

Chocolate Sweet and Spicy Rice Krispy Pops: The ties that bind

2012-02-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

For CJR and LR - GO WEBB!

Friend CJR once said to me that we were destined to be great friends. Her husband and I went to four years of high school together and she and my husband went to college together (different years). She also ended up going to the same church as my childhood friend and lives in Texas right near a second cousin of mine. We were, it seems, destined to be friends. She is a great friend, funny, a spiritual encourager, and someone who still loves to laugh at my jokes and thinks that I'm very funny. (a very important trait in my book.) I'm glad God chose to put us in the same space. I'm sure it was a part of His great plan.

There isn't much I wouldn't do for her or her family. Call it whatever you like, but I will go out on a limb for CJR and her family. So when her husband contacted me and asked me for some help with an Iron Chef competition, I said, "ABSOLUTELY." Turns out that their church annually has an Iron Chef competition (doesn't that sound like FUN) and the men break up into groups, and cook food using a "secret ingredient." This year's ingredient? Pepper. In any shape or form.

Friend LR got assigned dessert, using pepper, and I think he was a bit stumped. He asked me for any ideas, and if you know me well - you know that I CANNOT resist competition. For the record, he was NOT breaking any rules by consulting with me, and my only promise to him was that I would help create a recipe that I wouldn't publish on the blog until AFTER Iron Chef. I threw a couple of ideas at him, but I thought that this one held the most promise. I practiced it once and thought it simply delicious. I kept on texting both CJR and LR letting them know that I had created a winning combination and that they WERE going to WIN A PRIZE. CJR gently reminded me that the entry might not win and I shouldn't get too worked up. I DID NOT CARE! I wanted a winner.

The competition was this evening, and sad to say, it was not part of the winning team. It did, however, win "best presentation." In this recipe's defense, it was served after 4 other groups went ahead. Mouths were burning and stomachs were already afire before this baby even had a chance.

Don't be put off by the cayenne pepper - it offers a warm heat, nothing too insane, but enough to let you know that it's there. The chocolate and cinnamon help bind the flavors altogether until you get this perfectly adult rice krispy pop. If you want something to spice up your Valentine's evening, this would be the PERFECT dessert.

LR - you're still a winner in my book!! GO WEBB!!

Chocolate Sweet and Spicy Rice Krispy Pops
adapted from the “Original Rice Krispies” recipe
Makes about 20 golf ball sized pops or 20 squares

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
40 regular marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
⅜ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 cups rice krispies (I actually prefer the Trader Joe’s Rice Crispies - but the Kellogg’s original are good as well)

20 lollipop sticks

Method
In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper and stir until completely melted. Add rice krispies. Stir until well coated.

Working quickly, wearing disposable gloves, shape mixture into balls. Press lollipop sticks into creating a pop.

ALTERNATIVELY
Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

Printable recipe

Lolllipop sticks (I buy from Michaels with the 40% off coupon.)

Korean Spicy Quick Braised Tofu: Cooking with a friend challenge

2012-02-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

For JEL, SH and AKS - all who inspired me.

If you're lucky, you like to cook. If you're especially unlucky, you don't like to cook, but you HAVE to do it for the benefit of those around you. If you're especially lucky, then someone around you will cook, and cook for you. I'm especially lucky because friend SH WILL cook for me (her Vietnamese Chicken Curry - LOVE IT) and SH is lucky because I will cook for her. You could say we're doubly blessed. I bake for the neighbors, drop off food to those around me, because for many, it sucks being in the kitchen.

But friend SH and I, and friend JEL and I -we all like to cook. And we enjoy cooking together. JEL and I will bang out dishes for our family on the weekend, doing weird challenges for ourselves like, "use only the ingredients on the top shelf." Friend SH and I often eat lunch together, while planning what we're going to cook for dinner together, and oftentimes cook for each other, special dishes that we want the other to have. It's a good life, and we should share it.

If you're in a cooking rut - go out and find a cooking partner. Even if it is only once a week, or even only ONCE, cooking with a friend can really dramatically alter your perspective on food. Prep dinner together and both go home with the meal set. It's actually really wonderful to do, and today, my dinner was made for me by my friend SH. Believe you me, it was the PERFECT meal for me and the best thing was it was done, and I didn't have to think about dinner.

For SH - I made this tofu dish for her lunch. I saw a recipe for something similar, but I threw the recipe away once I realized it was going to be extra fussy and complicated with the frying of the tofu. I went simple - fried tofu with a delicious spicy sauce, adding jalapenos for extra kick and garlic for extra fire. The result - on rice? Fughedabout it. With a cold beer? (OH THAT WOULD TASTE GOOD - only it's still 1145 AM.)

I want you to cook this tofu dish with someone. Trust me. You'll enjoy it more when you do it together.

Korean Spicy Quick Braised Tofu
Serves 4 (or only 2 if there are tofu LOVERS)

Ingredients
14 oz to 16 oz package of firm tofu
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 jalapeno, sliced into rounds
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sake
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon gochujahng (Korean chili pepper paste)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Method
Cut tofu into 1 inch cubes. Place tofu on paper towel and allow water to drain from tofu, for about 10 minutes.

Heat heavy skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add oil. When oil begins to shimmer, add tofu carefully, watching for splatters. Be careful! You can be hit with oil. Begin browning tofu on all sides, until most sides are golden brown. Total cooking time is about 8 to 10 minutes, until tofu is golden. Remove tofu from oil using a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels.

Reduce heat to medium, and in the same pan, same oil, add sliced jalapeno and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add water, soy sauce, sake, honey, gochujahng and allow ingredients to come together into a sauce. Once it is uniform and the sauce is bubbling, add tofu and toss together, coating the tofu. Drizzle sesame oil and sprinkle sesame seeds and do one more final toss.

Serve with rice. Enjoy.

Printable recipe

As good as this looks, it tastes better when you share it.

The wok that I just purchased which appears in these pictures is this one. I LOVE it thus far (I'm curious to see how it holds up in the long term) - it's pricey (as you can see) but it is made with green technology and is better than your average teflon pan. The non stick is awesome; you CAN use metal utensils on its non-stick surface. We'll see how long I love it for. It's been about 2 weeks now.

Banana Rum Cake: On my obstinate nature

2012-02-09T22:21:00.000-08:00

Due to the massive highly-localized energy crisis in my own home, we are wearing crispier clothes these days now that I have stopped using the dryer. Don't get me wrong - all the sheets and large items like towels still get dryer treatment, but all of our clothes are being line dried. Each day I do a load of laundry and hang it to dry in the driest room of our house - the guest bathroom. And every afternoon, I begin folding a stack of semi-crispy clothes. The kids don't mind, and I have to say that I mind a little, but I was trained for this with 7 years of living abroad in both Korean and Hong Kong, where in both places we did not have a dryer. (We also did not have three kids, so that could explain why there are so MANY clothes now.) I actually thought of taking a picture to prove to you that I am actually doing this, but you can probably hear the crunch of my clothing even from behind your computer screen. Crunch crunch.

Husband in the midst of all of this has told me, asked me, begged me to PLEASE just use the dryer. But I'm stubborn. And I WANT my energy credit. I will go to great lengths to get it, and if it means line drying the clothes, well gosh darn it, I'm going to do it. He regularly shakes his head in disbelief at my stubbornness, and looks heavenward for a break from my mulish tendencies, but there is no respite. I'm going to pursue this energy credit until the end of March.

Only - BAKING gets in the way. Baking - the act of turning on the oven, causes MASSIVE energy usage spikes in ways that I shudder to think about. An oven on for an hour? Kills my daily lowering average. But as the bananas were browning,this idea was just jumping up at me from behind my brain. "Choose me! Make me! Pick me!" and then the energy hungry oven would loom into view, and I would choose something far less energy hungry to make, like rice krispy pops. (Now you know why I went on a bit of a binge making those!) But today was the day that FINALLY I picked this idea, formerly pushed to the back of my mind; I gulped and turned on the oven. It was a painful 65 minutes with the oven on and I counted the therms that I was burning through.

But let me just say -it was WORTH IT. Even the smell as it filled my house, drove the kids crazy. They asked what I was making, what smelled so good, why did it smell so good and went on and on about the SMELL. And friend SH was over, and immediately said, "It smells so good!" Once the rum sauce went on , I couldn't slice into that thing fast enough.

And the result was just so good. As I ate, I thought of new ways of saving more energy in order to enjoy this cake again. (Current attempt - typing and blogging in the dark. Thankfully typing lessons in the 6th grade means that this is easy.)

If you're in the midst of your own personal energy crisis at home, don't let this recipe scare you. Just tighten your belt, prepare for some crunchy clothes, and just ENJOY IT.

Banana Rum Cake
Makes 10-inch bundt cake, serving 12 to 14

Cake
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1⅓ cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
4 ripe bananas mashed (about 1 ⅓ cups mashed)
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup of dark rum
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Rum Syrup Glaze
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup of butter)
¼ cup of water
½ cup of rum (you can use ¾ cup of rum if you really like the flavor)

Method
Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour inside of 10 inch bundt pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. Mix together rum, buttermilk,and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Using either a stand mixer (paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 30 to 40 seconds after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Beat in bananas until incorporated. At low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk rum mixture. (Add a bit of flour, a bit of buttermilk rum, a bit of flour, a bit of buttermilk rum, a bit of flour.)

Scoop batter into pan and smooth out. Bake cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the cake, on the rack, over a baking sheet.

After the cake has been baking about 40 minutes, begin to make rum syrup glaze. In a heavy saucepan, heat together butter, sugar, water and empty vanilla bean pod over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and allow to boil for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour in rum. Return to heat and cook for an additional minute.

Once cake is done baking, place cake on a rack over a cookie sheet and immediately drizzle about ⅓ of rum glaze over the cake while it is still in the pan. Drizzle all over and begin saturating the cake. Allow cake to rest for 5 minutes after drizzling. Then invert cake on rack and with a fork, begin poking holes all over the entire surface of the cake. The more holes you poke, the better the absorption of the rum syrup. Drizzle the remaining syrup over the cake allowing it to saturate fully. Cool to room temperature to allow for maximum soaking of the syrup.

Printable recipe

the bundt pan I love

Green Tea and Espresso Mocha Rice Krispy Pops: Adult time

2012-02-05T22:08:00.000-08:00

For EK and SK, for giving me adult time

There is something about having children and being a parent that makes adult time near impossible. What I mean by that is this - if you have the kids, generally you're spending time with them. Not spending time with them means I think about them - which makes it hard for me to enjoy not spending time with them, and then I find myself spending time with them. For a vast majority of the day, the kids consume me. They want to talk to me, touch me, interface with me, eat my food, complain about something, or get help from me. It's pretty much non-stop face time with the children. I'm okay with this. I'm used to this, and I know that this is a reality and part of the duality of parenting - both hardship and joy.

It has come to the point that to get away, to not spend time with them costs money - as I have to hire a sitter, or pay someone to be with them. Doing so is a luxury, so as it turns out, I end up having most of my time with the kids. But yesterday, a remarkable opportunity arose. Friends EK and SK were getting married, and it was to be an ADULT ONLY reception. The words like a beacon, sprang out from the page, and I was excited as it meant - well - Children COULD NOT come. They were not invited. Not allowed. It was an adult only space. And this...I'm slightly ashamed to admit, excited me beyond all belief.

I called up Mom-in-law, explaining that we had a wedding and asked if she would watch Children. She readily agreed and last night - let's just say a fun time was had by this momma of three. I danced the night away in shoes that were too high for me, toasted the bride and groom many times, ate midnight snacks on the dance floor, feeding only myself and not any small people under 4 feet, and basically did NOT think of Children once. It was, quite literally, an 8-hour vacation from my life as a mother. And it was FUN.

I know that Children invade my space - and quite honestly, most of the time I welcome it. They make it chaotic, nutty, funny, but they love ME, despite all of that. And it is a wonderful thing. But there are times when just being an adult, without the responsibilities that come with children - is also really something special. And I will not feel guilty, enjoying that adult time.

These Espresso Mocha and Green Tea Rice Krispy Pop are a simple away to make an adult only zone (unless you are not opposed to having massive amounts of caffeine coursing through the bodies of your young ones). I make them, explain to Children that they are not allowed to have it, and have a moment all to myself, enjoying the rush of sugar and caffeine. After the quick hit, of course we're back to reality, but in that single moment - it's adult time.

Green Tea and Espresso Mocha Rice Krispy Pops
adapted from the “Original Rice Krispies” recipe
Makes about 20 golf ball sized pops or 20 squares

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
40 regular marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows
2 tablespoons green tea/matcha powder (higher quality more intense green - I could only find a not so great one)
OR 2 tablespoons espresso powder and 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 cups rice krispies (I actually prefer the Trader Joe’s Rice Crispies - but the Kellogg’s original are good as well)

20 lollipop sticks

Method
In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Add matcha OR espresso and cocoa. Mix quickly. Remove from heat.
Add rice krispies. Stir until well coated.
Working quickly, wearing disposable gloves, shape mixture into balls. Press lollipop sticks into creating a pop.

ALTERNATIVELY
Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

Printable recipe

A pretty mix, including the Strawberry Krispy Pops.

The lollipop sticks I bought. (You can get them at Michaels with a 40% off coupon if you want to pay less)

Coconut Sesame Ginger Rice Krispies Treats: My Knight in Shining Armor

2012-02-02T23:14:00.000-08:00

For Husband - for all the right reasons.

I'm not sappy. Really I'm not. And I'm not one of those girls who bats her eyelashes and the boys come running. (I can get the boys to run by waving my spoon wildly in the air yelling "Chow Time.")

But Husband. He will run when I call. And when his damsel (me) is in distress, he charges to her (my) rescue. And even when I'm merely complaining, he'll act on my behalf to make my world a little bit better.

My Knight in shining armor, I am forever in your debt.

In honor of the upcoming Valentines' Day - I thought that theses would be a nice easy treat to share with Husband. He loves good texture, good flavor - and these he can eat, easily, while on his horse, wearing a full coat of armor.

Coconut Sesame Ginger Rice Krispies Treats
adapted from Helen Jo’s recipe on the The Gilt Taste Kitchen
Makes about 20 golf ball sized pops or 20 squares

Ingredients
6 cups rice krispies
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons virgin coconut oil (available at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and natural supermarkets)
40 regular marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows
1 tablespoon ginger juice (or ½ teaspoon ground ginger)

20 lollipop sticks

Method
In a large bowl, mix together rice krispies, sesame seeds and salt. Set aside.

In large saucepan melt coconut oil over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Add ginger juice (or ground ginger.) Remove from heat.

Add rice krispies. Stir until well coated. Working quickly, wearing disposable gloves, shape mixture into balls. Press lollipop sticks into creating a pop.

ALTERNATIVELY
Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

Printable recipe

Strawberry and Blueberry Rice Krispies Treats: Waiting for spring

2012-02-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

For all those who come over, even when they are shivering.

Our house is from 1969. Everything about it is from 1969. The only room that has even been slightly upgraded is actually the master bath and that is it. The rest of the house is pretty much in semi-pristine 1969 condition.

Our house, despite our best efforts, stays cold. The first year we lived in the house, I tried to warm it up because I had just had Son, and then got slammed with a gas and electric bill that topped $650. Even then, the house wasn't super warm. I made a vow, right then and there, that since the sweaters were already paid for, people would be wearing more layers in lieu of a warmer house.

People know that when they are coming to my house, they need to put on the long johns, the extra warm wool socks, and anything else that they can comfortably move around in -because the house WILL be cold. I've heard mothers say to their unsuspecting children, "Layer up! We're going to Auntie Joanne's house!" and "Don't take off your socks! Your toes will freeze!" I've heard it all - and I'm not budging. Even if I DID blast the heat - it wouldn't be enough to take off more of the chill - so our house stays a comfortable 66 degrees in the winter. This is with the heat running.

Our electric company offers annually a "credit" if you use less energy than the year before. The first year I did it, I easily qualified because I just heated the house less. It was simple to meet the target. We just went from 69 degrees to 68 degrees and the gas bill dropped. The year after that dropped it another degree and made it 67 degrees. This year however, after my diligent check-in to see my usage, I've discovered that I am NOT on track to receive my credit. The gas is still lower than what I used last year, but my electricity usage is up. And this makes me nuts. And so, I've become obsessed with reducing the energy usage in order to get the gas credit.

The other evening, Husband called me from the office and asked me, "What are you doing?"

"I'm sitting in the dark to save electricity."

"Honey. Turn on the lights."

"No. I want my energy credit."

"TURN ON THE LIGHTS!! You're going to ruin your eyes!!"

Reluctantly I turned on the lights, thinking of all the wasted electricity. I could have easily operated by candlelight or flashlight.

Upon doing an obsessive analysis of my daily energy use, I discovered that the days I did LAUNDRY, my energy use was significantly higher. Since laundry is done only Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, it was easy to see the usage spike on those days. I began to think, in order to get my energy credit, I'm going to have to resort to something drastic. And I did. I bought a clothes drying rack. My logic is this - the warmest, DRIEST room in the house, when the heat is running, is actually our guest bathroom. If I could manage to get two or more loads on the rack and dried during the week - I'd make a dent.

So here I am, waiting for my laundry so that I can hang dry it all so I can receive a 20% energy credit. Is it worth it? I think so. But in the back of my mind, I'm really waiting for spring, when I no longer have to really heat the house, and our gas bill drops dramatically. And then I'll feel free to use the dryer, relax a bit, and think about new things.

Despite my brain's obsession with the redistribution of energy use in the house, I managed to think up these pretty spring treats. The are easy to make and just look so pretty with their pastel purple and pink. They also have the flavor of strawberry and blueberry so it's not just a pretty color -but a delicate yummy flavor. They'd be really lovely for a Valentine's day treat if you were so inclined, or just a fun treat at any birthday party. They are familiar to make (who hasn't made a rice krispy) but with the addition with the freeze dried fruits take on a whole new personality. They also remind me that spring is really, just around the corner.

Strawberry and Blueberry Rice Krispies Pops
adapted from the “Original Rice Krispies” recipe
Makes about 20 golf ball sized pops or 20 squares

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
40 regular marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows
1 bag (1.2 oz) freeze dried strawberries or blueberries, pulverized in a mini food processor (Trader Joe's, Target, or Whole Foods)
6 cups rice krispies (I actually prefer the Trader Joe’s Rice Crispies - but the Kellogg’s original are good as well)

20 lollipop sticks

Method
In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Add pulverized strawberries or blueberries. Mix quickly. Remove from heat.

Add rice crispies. Stir until well coated.
Working quickly, wearing disposable gloves, shape mixture into balls. Press lollipop sticks into creating a pop.

ALTERNATIVELY
Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

Printable recipe

Freeze dried fruits I used

Really just can't wait until spring.

A pretty little spring bouquet

Simple Roast Chicken and Potatoes: Simple things

2012-01-30T00:18:00.000-08:00

To the W family - wonderful neighbors!

I heard last week that my neighbor had to have some unexpected surgery. It was sudden, unexpected, and with all things unexpected causes unexpected things. Schedules had to be rearranged, people had to not go to work, and children had to be put on hold. Routines were broken, new routines and rules had to be made, all from a one surgery.

I called asking if I could do anything, and they said that they were fine and all was well. But still - I wanted to do something! I went and bought them some fruit and dropped it on their doorstep. I later got a text thanking me with a picture of a delicious breakfast dinner that they had made using the fruit I had given. I also had the opportunity to pray for them and it was just awesome, being able to lift them up in prayer.

Two small simple things. Together made me feel great.

This dish - is two simple things as well - chicken and potatoes. But the combo cooked together - also GREAT. The chicken juices and fat help flavor the potatoes and the two cook together in the oven quickly - 500 degrees for 30 minutes. The result is a really yummy chicken dinner that can't be beat. Daughters and Son love the potatoes cooked this way, and the chicken skin is crispy while the meat is succulent and juicy.

Simple Roast Chicken and Potatoes
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
A whole chicken, cut up (or bought cut up - 4-5 lb chicken)

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 ½ teaspoons salt
Spice mixes, poultry rubs, lemon pepper - all option and nice additions if you have it.

1 ½ lbs potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks (I used Idaho gold, but your favorite will be fine)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
Rub chicken with olive oil, pepper and salt (and seasoning rubs if you so desire.) Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This gives the salt a bit of time to season the meat.

Remover chicken from fridge about 20 minutes before you want to roast it.

Preheat oven to 500.

Toss potato chunks with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place on a roasting pan. Add chicken pieces covering the surface of the potatoes, skin side up.

Roast for 30 minutes. Take out from oven. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Printable recipe

Cannelés: When not knowing is actually better

2012-01-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

For SH - who made these possible. Literally.

Let me be honest. I didn't even KNOW what a cannelé was until about three years ago. I happened across a blog post at 101 Cookbooks, and I read through it fascinated by the description of some brulee like, crepe like concoction that was so difficult to make it made grown men cry. It sounded heavenly, but I didn't plan on making them as it sounded so complicated (and expensive) that I just said to myself that I would eat them some day...while traveling through France or something.

Soon after reading that blog post however, Husband and I decided to go out to dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We booked a posh dinner at Masa's San Francisco as a way to celebrate one of the few anniversaries that we could spend together. I wore my high heels, nicest dress and Husband also looked sharp and elegant in his clothes. Together we sat down to a long, wonderful meal, where we talked for three hours, uninterrupted by the sound and cries of young children. It was one of the most memorable meals of my life - the food was excellent, but more than that, the luxury of just really eating sitting down was amazing.

After dinner, and after dessert, our server brought over a tray of small tiny little delectables. There were handmade candies, caramels, lollipops, cookies, macarons and a host of other things. He explained what all of them were and allowed us to choose several items for a plate. At this point I was soooo stuffed I couldn't even think of it, but Husband, ever the one to want to try something, asked for five or six different things. He pointed to a very dark, crusty thing and said, "I'd like one of those." It was a cannelé. I also said, "I'd like one of those too" and together the two of us bit into it. Husband was immediately ecstatic and asked me "WHAT IS THIS?" and I told him confidently, "It's a cannelé." Only I didn't have the pronunciation correct. I said KAN-ELLE. Husband said promptly, "I need another one."

Our server saw Husband and my looking longingly at that special cart and wheeled it back over. "Would you like something else, sir?" he asked.

I confidently spoke up. "We'd like two more of the KAN-ELLE's please."

He arched his brow. "You mean KAN-NA-LAY." He promptly served us two more.

After he left, and my face slightly pink, I memorized the word. KAN-NA-LAY.

After that experience, I hadn't really thought of them in a long while, until friend SH mentioned them in passing, how they were a holiday tradition at her house.

"YOU MAKE THEM? HOW?" I asked her.

"They're easy," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. SH's Husband proceeded to make them for a cookie exchange, where I promptly gobbled down three and I decided I wanted to make them for Husband.

SH generously lent me her molds, the recipe she used and even the sweetened condensed milk. I went home, made the batter, and baked them up for Christmas Day Dinner. I kept on telling Husband that I was making him something that he liked, but it was a surprise, and when I pulled them out of the oven, he was not impressed. However, after tasting one, and biting into it, he remembered and grinned from ear to ear. The side effect is Daughters ADORE them and know how to say the word perfectly, KAN-NA-LAY.

The downside to all of this? I want to make them often. Daughters and Husband want them often. We have the KAN-NA-LAY obsession and we want them all the time.

Note - I did study a bunch of different recipes for cannelés, and this method is slightly unusual with its use of condensed milk. It also does not call for beeswax or copper molds, which is the traditional method. These however, do turn out wonderfully crusty, moist on the inside and are virtually fool-proof. (If you do want to read about a more traditional and difficult method, try Chef Pim's post.) I, for one, am a fan of this recipe as it is far easier to execute, more forgiving, and you don't need the tricky copper molds.

NOTE: Batter must be made 24 hours in advance of baking. Plan ahead please.

Cannelés (adapted from a recipe by Nick Malgieri, printed in the LA times)
Makes 50 small ones, 25 larger ones

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
5 tablespoons dark rum
2 vanilla beans, split with seeds removed (but save pods for extra flavor in the boiling milk process)
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk (powder)

Method
The day before you intend to bake the cannelés, make the batter. Combine the sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl and whisk to mix evenly. Whisk in the eggs, yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and rum. Mixture will be stiff.

Combine the water, vanilla bean seeds and pods, butter and dry milk in a saucepan. Take care to whisk and make the mixture as uniform as possible (get all the nonfat dry milk powder dissolved.). Bring to a boil over low heat, whisking occasionally.

Whisk the hot mixture into the flour-and-egg mixture until thoroughly combined. Pass the batter through a fine-meshed strainer, in order to remove any stray bits of cooked egg and vanilla bean, into a container; let cool slightly, then cover tightly and refrigerate a minimum of 24 hours, a maximum of 5 days.

Preheat oven to 400. Remove the batter from the refrigerator and whisk to combine, 1 minute. Fill cannelés molds 3/4 full. (If using silicone molds, do not grease; tins should be lightly coated with oil.) (smaller molds take about 45 minutes to bake.)

Bake until the cannelés are firm and very dark brown, about 1 hour, changing the position of the pans several times -- back to front and top to bottom during baking. Let sit 5 minutes, then invert onto a rack. Gently pull the sides of the silicone mold out to release the cannelés onto a rack. Serve warm.

Printable recipe

Molds - medium sized

Molds - mini sized

Lemon Buttermilk Bundt Cake: The hunt for simplicity

2012-01-22T15:20:00.000-08:00

I've been away from blogging, mostly because I have found my mind too boggled, to bogged down, and too befuddled to write. Or at least to write well what I wanted most to say. And it wasn't until recent weeks that I found that what I really want is simplicity. A simple life, without complications, with a straightforward end goal and a simple way of living.

Easier said than done. But I'm striving for it. The best piece of advice I found which sums up most what I am trying to live comes from the Cornell Legacy Project , where the wisest (most usually the oldest) Americans are offering their viewpoints and insights after having lived a long life. There was one quote that really struck me that I'm trying to adopt, in order to simplify my life and it is this one: "I learned to be grateful for what I have, and no longer bemoan what I don’t have or can’t do." (a 90 year old daughter of divorced parents, who lived a very hard life.)

I am going to be grateful for what I have and not think about what I don't. I'm going to be happy where I am instead of hunting for what I think I want. I'm going to enjoy my children and love them for who they are right now, instead of focusing so much on what I think they should be or what I want them to become. And I will love Husband just as the man he is (as difficult, tortured, and adorable as he is) instead of hoping that he changes. I am happy with what I have, and I'm not thinking about what I don't.

This cake comes about as a result of that, as I was in the mood for cake, but didn't have my normal ingredients for a regular bundt cake. I did a bunch of substitutions and streamlining to come up with a simply lemon buttermilk cake. The result? Yummy, and enjoyed by neighbors and many around me. I have to say - I appreciated what was right in front of me at the moment, and didn't think about any other bundt cake I wasn't having.

Lemon Buttermilk Bundt Cake
Makes 10-inch bundt cake, serving 12 to 14

Cake
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze
Ingredients
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar

Method
Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour inside of 10 inch bundt pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Using either a stand mixer (paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 30 to 40 seconds after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Beat in lemon zest and vanilla extract. At low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk. (Add a bit of flour, a bit of sour cream, a bit of flour, a bit of sour cream, a bit of flour.)

Scoop batter into pan and spread with spatula.

Bake cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then invert it onto another rack. Place the cake, on the rack, over a baking sheet.

After cake has COMPLETELY cooled, make glaze. Combine lemon juice and sugar in a bowl and mix together until smooth. Pour over completely cooled bundt cake and allow glaze to drip off. Allow glaze to set before cutting.

Printable recipe

My bundt pan

A book which shares the wisest advice from the Cornell Legacy Project

Savory Tart with Fig Butter, Caramelized Onions, Brie, and Arugula: Cheating

2012-01-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about the word "cheat" a lot in recent days. I heard recently a very disturbing story about academic dishonesty, where the student (not one of mine - and no one that I know) had gone to great lengths to protect his grade in order that he not be penalized. It included taking stuff from a teacher, burning a test, along with a few other things that were so shocking to me, I could only listen with my mouth agape.

It brought me back to my own high school senior year, while during the middle of my AP English test, friend RDC caught my eye, signaled to me to cover my test. I was confused but she made a very strict face, and I then moved my test closer to my chest and covered my answers with my arms. After the test, she informed me that someone had been blatantly cheating off my test during the exam. I couldn't understand why anyone would do that? Why cheat? It was the furthest from my mind, especially when the repercussions were potentially so great. (The student unfortunately did not get caught, nor did I tell - but I'm sure my score was better than hers.)

And just last week, while swimming in the lap lane at the gym, I noticed a young guy slipping in and out of the water, back and forth and back and forth. I couldn't really understand what was going on, but found myself slightly annoyed as he kept on jumping in and out of my lane swimming a little and then getting out. As he repeated this over and over, it became clear that he was trying to race me - only he was getting out of the water mid lap, running along the side of the pool, and then would jump in, swim a few strokes, and finish a hand or two ahead of me. Once I realized that this was what he was doing, I of course turned up my own steam, and wouldn't let him win by simply slipping in the water ahead of me. It came to the point where he was forced to literally jump in almost at the end of the lap, because I was pushing it. From the sidelines, Daughter #1 watched and asked me later what was going on. I explained to her that the young man was racing me and she looked confused. "If he's racing you, how come he's running half the lap?" Good question. The funnier thing was that he looked SO SATISFIED at beating me in the lanes, and I could only think - you're satisfied from cheating?

I'm worried about what the word cheating means or rather I'm worried that it has lost its meaning. The gravity of the word itself, its significance, its inherent meaning has been watered down to nearly nothing, because we don't think it is serious anymore. People talk about cheating on their diets or their taxes. They talk about cheating time or cheating death. Cheating on spouses or cheating our children has become ordinary daily conversation. Our public officials are caught cheating, taking money, or cheating the fundraising system - and suddenly - cheating-it ain't no thing at all.

It bothers me and makes me pause. It makes me wonder how much I'm cheating? What am I cheating on? Do I even think about the ways I cheat - my children of my full, undivided attention, my students of a teacher that is really well-rested and focused, and Husband of a wife who is happy and not exhausted. Yes, I am too a cheater. And I am disturbed.

I have a love/hate relationship with puff pastry for this reason. In many ways, it is cheating. I could make my own puff pastry (NOT LIKELY) or not use puff pastry and use something else, but I love its convenience, its simplicity, and ease of use. For that reason, I also cheat in the kitchen with puff pastry, and I am bothered. Friend SH tries to assuage my guilt by reminding me that to make puff pastry, it would require hours of work that are best left to the professionals. Perhaps. I'm not sure.

This savory tart, is so delicious, it's hard to imagine that it's anything but good hard work. But it's fairly simple, easy to execute and SO good to eat.

Savory Tart with Fig Butter, Caramelized Onions, and Brie
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 sheet of puff pastry, defrosted (Trader Joes is nice as it is one sheet, unfolded and totally flat)
¼ cup fig jam or fig butter

1 large onion sliced (about 4 cups sliced)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

4 oz brie cheese, thinly sliced (rind is okay)

2 cups of arugula, washed
2 teaspoons olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper

Method
In a heavy fry pan, over medium high heat, melt butter and olive oil together. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium high heat until onions have softened and begun to golden brown, and then reduce heat to low, cooking onions slowly for an additional 10 minutes. Add oil if onions seem dry or sticking to fry pan. Set aside to cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with parchment or grease it liberally. Place defrosted puff pastry sheet on top and spread fig jam over entire surface. Spread caramelized onions and arrange Brie cheese slices over the top. Bake for 25 minutes, until pastry is puffed and golden.

In a small bowl toss together arugula, olive oil, salt and pepper. Place dressed arugula on top of puff pastry onion tart and slice into pieces. Enjoy warm.

Printable recipe

Kimchee and Pork Stuffed Korean Sweet Potatoes: I am a chicken

2012-01-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

I am a chicken...and not in that "you are what you eat" sort of context, which would imply that I love chicken. I do in fact, love chicken and eat it more often than other protein, but that is not what this post is about. I am talking about how things scare me. Freak me out. There are certain things I avoid and will for the rest of my life, simply because I am a big huge chicken.

1. I never ever ride rollercoasters that go upside down. I can handle the old style roller coasters that weave and whirl around (truthfully not totally into this either) but the ones that make me see the world from a whole new angle, I won't.

2. I refuse to kick up to a handstand. Friend SH is constantly after me to try and I know I have the strength to do it (as I can do a headstand, and a lunge against the wall, and handstand facing the wall) but I'm chicken. There is something about the whole kicking up thing that FREAKS ME OUT and makes me cluck.

3. Scary movies. Please no. Never. Even scary scenes in movies. Friends in college will attest that NO ONE wanted to EVER sit next to me in ANY movie because in variably I would scream, squeeze my eyes tightly shut and hold on tightly to someone's arm and give them bruises. Horror movies, thrillers, super suspense all get my stomach churning and my fears a-racing. There was a time when Husband watched the movie "The Sixth Sense" and I begged him not to. I ran into the bedroom, and sat inside with my ears plugged and my eyes squeezed tightly shut as I tried to block out everything of the movie. Later, Husband really wanted me to see it (so we could discuss it), so offered to watch it with me, where he would pause right before anything that was slightly scary or terrifying, explain what I would see and then play the movie. I watched "The Sixth Sense" but I will NOT be watching it again, thank you.

4. Haunted Houses. I don't go. Enough said.

The four areas listed above are pretty much a no fly zone for me. However, I want to get over my fears, think about them, process them, and get over my fears for the sake of my children. I want them to think of me as brave, fearless and an awesome mommy. (As a side note, I can kill bugs with my bare hands and that makes Children think I'm pretty darn brave. But I think it will only go so far as they get older.)

Now - I know that there are many who are chicken of the kitchen. (ooooh - almost rhymes.) Chicken about cooking. Chicken about trying new things. Chicken about trying a new dish for fear that it fails. Chicken about the look on their family's face when they see something that is unfamiliar, and I challenge you - do not be chicken. Because the benefits from conquering your fear of the kitchen? They are tremendous and intangible. Do not be scared. Do not fear the space and get in there and TRY.

This dish is a result of friend SH encouraging me to explore the options of kimchee with Korean sweet potato. After I had introduced her to the basic combination, she pushed me to think about it in more advanced ways. When I bounced this idea off her, she said, "Why not!! Don't be afraid!!" The result? Really good. If you love the idea of a baked potato stuffed with yumminess, this is very similar, only it's a Korean sweet potato stuffed with kimchee yumminess. It has a very satisfying fill, with the pork and the sweet, salty, spicy combination. Now get in that kitchen, and knock this one out!

Kimchee and Pork Stuffed Korean Sweet Potatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 to 8 (depending on the size) good sized Korean sweet potatoes (gogooma 고구마). Purple sweet potatoes work as well.

2 tablespoons oil (I use Canola because of Son, but a mixture of canola and sesame oil is fine)
¼ lb pork belly, chopped into bite-sized pieces. (the Korean market sells it pre-sliced so I just chop it into small pieces.)
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of grated ginger
2 cups of kimchee chopped into bite-sized pieces, the "riper"(more fermented), the better

Optional garnishes:
chopped scallions
sesame seeds

Method
Preheat oven to 400. Place washed sweet potatoes in oven, cooking for about 30 to 40 minutes until they give a bit when you squeeze.

While potatoes are baking, prepare filling. In a large fry pan or wok, over medium high heat add oil, chopped pork belly, garlic and ginger. Cook and saute until pork is almost cooked through and fat has rendered, about 3 minutes. Add kimchee and cook until kimchee is translucent and cooked through. This time will vary as the riper the kimchee the less cooking time it will need. The more "fresher" kimchee will require more time for it to reach translucent stage, anywhere from 7 to 10 minutes.

Slice potatoes in half, fill with kimchee pork mixture. Serve and sprinkle with a bit of chopped green onion and sesame seed.

Printable recipe

Come on! You know you want it!

New Year's Day Brunch: Rice Cake Me Baby!

2011-12-29T09:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all my blog readers! Thanks for making 2011 so fun!

On January 1st, of any given New Year, Koreans eat rice cake soup. My paternal grandmother did hers with these special balls of dduk that she would hand roll herself while most families are familiar with the sliced kind. No matter your preference, rice cake soup is what you traditionally eat the first day of the New Year. I will be partaking of a bowl or two with family, Son and Daughters this year and I know it's going to be delicious because Mother puts in homemade Korean dumplings (mandoo 문두) in there which just makes it more special.

When younger, single, unmarried, child-less and more ENERGETIC, friends and I would find ways to have fun in through the night, in a manner more exciting than sitting in front of the TV watching the proverbial ball drop somewhere else in the world. Newly married, in Hong Kong, husband and I found ways to go out and have fun with all the other young hipsters in the city, but I have to say that it feels like a very distant memory, those days of staying up late. If I were hosting a New Year's Day brunch, I'd just want to invite some families over, have the kids play together and relax and not do anything too strenuous. Even if I didn't do much else the night before except watch the ball drop.

Here are two potential menus you might find helpful for planning your New Year's Day brunch or meal. I've done a Korean one and one with more Western leanings. Happy New Year my dear readers and see you on the other side!

Korean New Year's Day Menu
Traditionally a mother will slave over the kitchen making lots of complicated things which require effort like individually pan fried vegetables (Juhn 전), mung bean pancakes (bindaedduck 빈대덕), and fresh vegetable side dishes (nameul 나물). Me? Not so much. I want a satisfying meal that will come together with minimal craziness in the kitchen.

Korean Rice Cake Soup (떡국)
Sweet and Sour Spicy Wings
Bokchoy Salad or Tofu Salad
Spinach Nameul (if you are feeling industrious, do this in lieu of one of the salads above)
Steamed Tofu with Spicy Sauce (an extra nice touch)
Mochi Cake

New Year's Day Brunch

Bagels with cream cheese, lox, capers, onions
Spinach Dip and Vegetables
Chicken Salad (done the night before)
French Toast Bread Pudding (Takes 90 minutes in the oven, so if you're doing this and the potato bake as well, you'll need two ovens.)
Egg Havarti Asparagus Potato Bake (Prepare the night before, and take it out of the fridge and cook it day of, but give it about 20 minutes at room temperature before sticking it in the oven. It takes 1.5 hours to bake.)

New Year's Eve Party Ideas: Make fun and have some fun too!

2011-12-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

Husband and I host quite a few parties, but one that we never have hosted is New Year's Eve party. For the most part, it has to do with the fact that either we were living in another country away from family OR that we are WITH family and not really doing anything outside of enjoying the love of our loved ones.

But I do know about hosting, and what I know about New Year's Eve parties is this - you wanna have fun with your guests. You don't want to be the one slaving away in the kitchen while your guests are footloose and fancy free and enjoying themselves without you. And truthfully, although the food is important, your bubbly presence is just as essential for throwing a great party. New Year's Eve parties also tend to mean that people stop by, drop by, swing by at various times. This means, the food has to be easy, make ahead, grazeable (it can stand up to room temp and hang out for a while without being gross) and self-serve to make it the most fun for you. Depending on the guests at your party, you also want it to be fairly kid friendly.

If your guests are anything like mine, they will want to bring something. My choice for most people to bring? Drinks. I usually like to control the entire menu (my control freak personality) while my guests just bring the drinks to share. But feel free to divide up the work amongst many so that it is less work for you. Because, the key is to make sure that you can get out and have some fun too. Here are some fun and easy menu ideas that you might want to consider.

Noodle in the New Year Menu
Drinks
Beer and wine

Dishes
Spicy Sesame Noodles
Sesame Noodles
Korean Style Non Spicy Ribs
Korean Style Spicy Wings

Dessert
Mochi Cake

Nosh and Graze into 2012
This menu does require that you tend to it a bit more, going back and forth and making fresh batches of stuff, but you can make all the components ahead of time and then just put them together.

Drinks
Whatever the guests want to bring you!

Grazing
Brie Pancetta Arugula Crostini
Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Tart
Sweet and Sour Glazed Wings
Sesame Orzo Salad with Chicken and Apricots
Hot Artichoke Dip (done in ramekins, so that you can continually make up a fresh batch)
Cheese, Salami, Cracker Plate

Dessert
Everything Cookies
Mochi Cake

Chili and the Fixin's Menu
Drinks
Margaritas, beer, non-alcoholic beverages

Appetizers
Chips and Salsa
Guacamole
Michigan Caviar (best made a day or two ahead so it can really chill)
Spinach Dip

Main
Turkey Chili
Salt and Pepper Wings

Dessert
Ice Cream
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Tart: Getting REALLY into the pantry

2011-12-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

Friend SH said in passing to me last week, "I really should eat through my refrigerator and pantry." I perked up when I heard that because it really is something that I love to do - every once in a while just eating up whatever we have and really consuming it all. I looked at her dead on and said, "Let's do it together. We will borrow from each other's refrigerators and pantries and see what we can make." She looked doubtful, because I think she REALLY wasn't ready to do it, but I put her up to the challenge and together we began planning what we would do with our stuff.

I did not go to the grocery store for 12 days. (In a regular week, I'm happy to go almost daily.) The break from the grind of daily shopping - I have to say was really nice. Shopping for groceries takes a lot of time and as much as I love cooking new foods and experimenting, the challenge of really trying to make use of what we had was one that I couldn't pass up. So we set off to do it.

This past Monday, while working out together, SH and I began talking about what we had in our fridges and pantries and began planning what we'd do with the stuff. She decided to bring over a random assortment of whatnots and see what we could do together for lunch. I was excited and jazzed and ready to rumble. Of particular note in our refrigerators was an excess of puff pastry. She had a pack and I had a pack and so it seemed that we'd be doing a lot of work around that.

Here is a list of some of the crazy stuff we made with stuff from our food supply. (excuse photo quality as I took them with my phone.)

Braised Asian Pork Shoulder (SH had some leftover pork shoulder, and I offered to braise it for her in a soy sake concoction. I didn't taste it, but she said it was good.)

Popovers (SH had some half and half and I had some non-fat milk and eggs and flour and we mixed it all up for our first run at popovers.)

Pigs in a Blanket (Puff pastry from my freezer with sausages sliced in half from my freezer. Rolled them and baked them. Dipped in ketchup it was so good.)

Cherry Turnovers (SH had some cherry preserves in the pantry (which turned out to be AMAZING on the popovers) and more puff pastry from the freezer)

Pesto Potato Quiche (sheet of puff pastry, and then some roasted potatoes I had tossed with some pesto I had and mixed with egg and the half and half and some additional milk. Caramelized onions as well. YUMMY!)

AND.....Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Tart. This was the first thing we ate (we were starving) and it was so yummy. I had a half bag of arugula, so I wanted to use that up to, so I eventually topped this with some lightly dressed arugula (like the picture above) and it was really delicious.

Caramelized Onion Gorgonzola Tart with Arugula
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 sheet of puff pastry, defrosted (Trader Joes has a nice one)
1 large onion sliced (about 4 cups sliced)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 leaves of sage, finely chopped
¼ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (or other blue cheese)

2 cups of arugula, washed
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper

Method
In a heavy fry pan, over medium high heat, melt butter and olive oil together. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium high heat until onions have softened and begun to golden brown, and then reduce heat to low, cooking onions slowly for an additional 10 minutes. Add oil if onions seem dry or sticking to fry pan. Set aside. to cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with parchment or grease it liberally. Place defrosted puff pastry sheet on top and spread caramelized onions over entire surface of puff pastry. Sprinkle Gorgonzola cheese over entire surface and chopped sage as well. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until pastry is puffed and golden and cheese has melted.

In a small bowl mix together vinegar and olive oil. Add arugula and toss lightly. Place dressed arugula on top of puff pastry onion tart and slice into pieces. Enjoy warm.

Printable recipe

Apricot Cardamom Shortbread Bars: Losing it and in need of humor

2011-12-22T20:52:00.000-08:00

I hit a low point in my career as a stay-at-home-mom last weekend when I completely lost my temper with my children. I yelled harshly at my children, screaming at them to get away from me, to leave me alone to just GET AWAY. I couldn't stand to hear them one more time, to see their faces and I broke down in tears. It was a day fraught with much stress of the season - the combination of work, parenting, Christmas, and being sick. Even as I yelled at them, the reasonable part of me thought, just calm down. Just relax. It's not that big of a deal. The reasonable part of me observed the completely insane part losing it and couldn't do anything about it. Torn into two, the crazed side won out. I don't know if I cried more because of serious stress or the dismay over my lack of control over myself.

I apologized to the children and explained to them that I shouldn't have lost my temper. And children are resilient. They looked solemnly at me and nodded their heads and said that they were sorry too. But that night, after they had gone to bed, I couldn't help but crawl into each of their beds, and pray that my own lack of control did not cause any trauma and that the would recover. Snuggling with each of them as they slept, when they were quiet (no talking back or bickering), warm and innocent in their sleep was a balm for me. I prayed over each of them asking God for forgiveness for not taking care of them better.

The days that have followed have been better. I've made a point to hug and cuddle them more. To listen to them more. To SMILE at them more. (I generally scowl because I want them to do something and they aren't obeying me.) To giggle, to make funny jokes, to just be silly with them more. And it's been fun. My heart is lighter from the effort and even though Son and Daughters still drive me crazy, I try and view their antics and their behaviors with a bigger sense of humor than I did before.

This shortbread requires a bit of humor because as my friend JEL puts it - it looks like melted cheese but doesn't taste like it. These shortbread bars are made with the very unusual technique of grating frozen dough. Sounds crazy and nutty, but the result is a crisp, light, tender and totally delicious shortbread. With the notes of vanilla and cardamom, it is really a special treat. Just get yourself past the fact that you're grating dough and you're set to go. Do NOT attempt this if you do not have a food processor with the grating disk, because grating frozen dough is WAY harder than grating cheese. (unless of course you have a great sense of humor and then maybe you can put up with it.)

Apricot Cardamom Shortbread Bars
(adapted from Gale Gand’s Butter Sugar Flour Eggs)
Makes 32 bars (large ones, or 64 smaller ones)

Ingredients
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
4 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean, split, and seeds scraped out
2 cups granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons ground cardamom
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup apricot jam at room temperature

Method
Cream the butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until soft and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and the inside of a vanilla bean and mix well.

Whisk the granulated sugar, flour, cardamom, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Add to the butter and egg yolk mixture and mix just until incorporated and the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and form into four balls, small enough to fit into your food processor tube. (Doing smaller portions for the freezer means that the next day you won't be trying to cut chunks of dough small enough to fit into your food processor.) Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours or overnight (or as long as a month, if you like).

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove two small balls of dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it by hand or with the grating disk in a food processor into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking pan lined with parchment or a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Make sure the surface is covered evenly with shreds of dough.

With the back of a spoon or a flexible spatula, spread the jam over the surface. Another technique is to put the jam in a plastic bag and cut the corner and squeeze all over the shreds of dough. Found the squeezing jam technique slightly easier but not much. Remove the remaining dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it over the entire surface. DO NOT PRESS DOWN.

Bake until lightly golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes. A Cool on a wire rack, then cut in the pan with a serrated knife.

Printable recipe

This piece of equipment will be your friend.

Really wonderful book - but many of the recipes were beyond my ability to make.

Vanilla Bean Rum Cake: Drinking in front of the parents

2011-12-22T01:05:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I was incredibly straight laced. I NEVER took a drink of alcohol until I was actually way past 21 years old. I never experimented, wanted to try, or was even tempted by alcohol. It just wasn't me. Therefore, Mom and Dad have never worried about me and alcohol because I never drank as a young adult.

As an older adult however, things have changed. I like a little celebratory something here and there, and I don't mind taking a little bit of something boozy every once in a while. Even on my 40th birthday I had a some small drinks with friends, when I have never celebrated as such in the years before. While in SoCal visiting around my birthday, my high school friends wanted to take me out so we all agreed to meet at restaurant. While getting in the car with my best friend, I said goodbye to Mom. She said in Korean, "You're going to dinner right?" And I responded, "Yes. And then maybe a bar." The expression on my mom's face as she exclaimed, "A BAR?" was so funny I couldn't stop laughing. At 40 years old, being questioned by your mom about what you do when you go out is pretty darn....humiliating.

So Mom, I am warning you that this cake has some alcohol in it. Rum to be precise. 1 cup of it (or more if you like) and it tastes like...rum. It's like going to a bar and having some fun, all the while eating a piece of cake. And I have to say - although I'm not a HUGE fan of boozing while eating cake, this combination is really quite delectable. And moist. And delicious. And not to be missed. Just make sure my Mom isn't around while you're consuming it.

Vanilla Bean Rum Cake
Makes 10-inch bundt cake, serving 12 to 14

Cake
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1¾ cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds removed (empty vanilla bean used for the syrup) OR 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup of dark rum

Rum Syrup Glaze
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup of butter)
¼ cup of water
½ cup of rum (you can use ¾ cup of rum if you really like the flavor)
empty vanilla bean pod (leftover from the cake)

Method
Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour inside of 10 inch bundt pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. Mix together rum and buttermilk. Set aside.

Using either a stand mixer (paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 30 to 40 seconds after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla bean. At low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk rum mixture. (Add a bit of flour, a bit of buttermilk rum, a bit of flour, a bit of buttermilk rum, a bit of flour.)

Scoop batter into pan and smooth out. Bake cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the cake, on the rack, over a baking sheet.

After the cake has been baking about 40 minutes, begin to make rum syrup glaze. In a heavy saucepan, heat together butter, sugar, water and empty vanilla bean pod over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and allow to boil for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and pour in rum. Return to heat and cook for an additional minute.

Once cake is done baking, place cake on a rack over a cookie sheet and immediately drizzle about ⅓ of rum glaze over the cake while it is still in the pan. Drizzle all over and begin saturating the cake. Allow cake to rest for 5 minutes after drizzling. Then invert cake on rack and with a fork, begin poking holes all over the entire surface of the cake. The more holes you poke, the better the absorption of the rum syrup. Drizzle the remaining syrup over the cake allowing it to saturate fully. Cool to room temperature to allow for maximum soaking of the syrup.

Printable recipe

The vanilla beans I love

the bundt pan I have

Popovers: My commandments

2011-12-20T23:32:00.000-08:00

For SH, who gave me my pans and is always willing to try things out.

If I were ruler of my own land, and Queen of this land where I could make royal decrees and commandments, I'd like to firmly instill in Son and Daughters, their understanding of a few simple commandments.

1. Whenever mommy (aka Your Highness) asks you to do something, you immediately say YES, jump up and execute whatever command is being made.

2. Always wash your hands after the bathroom. (this is really Son's commandment.)

3. Exercise excellent manners, where ever you go, for failure to do so reflects poorly on mommy (aka Her Highness.)

Alas, getting them to follow those few simple rules has been nothing short of impossible, especially in recent weeks. Nonetheless, I like to imagine a world where they can follow those rules and follow them they do.

It's easier, I think to write, commandments about popovers, and have THEM followed, than have Son and Daughters follow the ones listed above. I'd like you to imagine yourself in the Land of Popovers, where I am the Queen, and I have given you the following commandments when making popovers.

Popover Commandments

1. ALWAYS work with room temperature eggs and milk. This means take your ice cold milk and eggs out of the fridge and leave them at room temperature for at least 1 hour before you actually make popovers.

2. PREHEAT your oven so that it is REALLY at the right temperature and PREHEAT your popover (or muffin) pan.

3. NEVER EVER peek inside the oven.

Popovers use very simple ingredients (eggs, milk, butter, flour, eggs) but it's following the RULES that changes how they come out. In the past two days, I've actually made 5 different batches of popovers, breaking and bending rules as they come to see how things work out. Don't bend the rules. You'll end up with bad popovers. FOLLOW my popover commandments, and you WILL get fabulous fabulous fabulous popovers. Making Popovers requires Preparation, Precision, and Patience. Think a bit ahead (get those ingredients room temperature) and you're well on your way to total deliciousness.

Popovers (adapted from Williams-Sonoma’s recipe)
Makes 6 popovers (easily doubled to make 12)

Ingredients
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup of milk, room temperature
2 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 cup of flour
½ teaspoon of salt
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, optional (you can sprinkle on top of popover batter before sticking them in the oven.)
oil spray for greasing pans

Method
Preheat oven to 450. You really want to make sure that the oven is good and hot, so even after it says it is 450, give it another minute or two.

While oven is preheating, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs (room temperature.) Add milk (room temperature) and melted butter. Whisk again. Add salt and flour, and whisk, using a bit of arm muscle to really get the batter smooth and uniform. It might take about 2 minutes of hand whisking to get the batter really smooth. Batter will be pale yellow and quite runny. Set batter aside until oven and pan are ready.

Once oven is preheated, place empty popover pan into the oven for exactly 2 minutes. DO NOT place popover pan in oven before the oven is ready, as you will not get the pan up to temperature. Once popover pan is preheated, carefully remove from oven, and spray oil in all the cups. Then fill cups with batter, about ¾ of the way full.

Place pan carefully into the hot oven. Once the door closes, DO NOT OPEN IT until the time is finished. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes, reduce heat to 325, and bake for an additional 15 minutes more. DO NOT OPEN IT UNTIL TIME IS UP!!

Remove from oven, turn popovers out onto a cooling rack. IF desired, stab sides of popover with a knife to release excess steam. (some people like the moist inside and others do not. You decide.) Enjoy with butter or your favorite preserves.

Printable recipe

the popover pan I have (Amazon has them cheaper than most places, and if you have other friends who want it, you can take advantage of their 4 for 3 offer - which allows you to buy 4 items for the price of three.)

Definitely recommend that you whisk your popover batter with one of these guys

Caramel Pretzel Bars: Won't you be my neighbor?

2011-12-18T23:40:00.000-08:00

Remember watching Mr. Rogers as a child? I do. It was one of the few TV shows I watched before my parents unceremoniously chucked the TV on the curb of the street for the trash men to take away. I remember Mr. Rogers putting on his sweater, and allowing us to spend time with him and be his "neighbor", even if it was only metaphorically through the TV screen.

When I was growing up, I remember being close with the neighbors on our suburban street. There was Kevin, who lived across the street whose mother was an opera singer who made the best popcorn balls ever, Troy who lived next door to us, a boy whose father was a doctor and a boy who at one point got in a fight with Brother #1, next door to us on the other side was an older couple who used to talk to us through the fence (like Wilson on Home Improvement). Around the corner from us lived my best friend Lily and a few other school mates from school. Around another corner was Brother #1's best friend George, and invariably on summer nights we would all get on our bikes and ride around the block, shouting and playing cops and robbers until our respective mothers all called us home. I enjoyed feeling this sense of neighborhood.

Since buying our home, I've been thinking of ways to connect with the neighbors. The ones on either side of us are different from us. On our right is a family with older children, and these folks tend to keep me up late at least once a month with their raucous talking and pot smoking ways. Our walls are pretty close to one another so I hear their laughter and shouts and their dog also barks wildly and sometimes keeps me up. (I actually have called the police on them on more than one occasion.) They aren't my favorite people as neighbors, but they do live next to us and we share a fence. On our left is an older gentlemen and his son. Once again we share a fence and these two gentlemen are always cheerful and chipper when we walk by their house, waving to us and giving us a smile. I'm not sure why a family of two men has four cars, but that's another story.

We do know two families very well in our neighborhood, and they live around the corner from us. One of the families has my "emergency" babysitter in house, which is wonderful in case I want to run somewhere really quickly and have a responsible person come to my house. The other family has two children, similar in age to ours and are easy playmates and easy fun when we are walking the neighborhood. We've had parties and get-togethers and it's wonderful knowing them and being able to have fun with them.

I've been talking to Sons and Daughters about how to give to others and we talked about whom we would like to share something with during this holiday season. They definitely wanted to give something to the two families that they knew well, and they also had this idea of giving something to the two homes who have the best lights in our neighborhood. I thought it was a good idea and suggested that perhaps we might want to give to the people who live directly next door to us, and they were excited. The girls made cards for everyone, I made two kinds of bar cookies to pass out and we packed them up in the stroller and made some deliveries today.

The kids were on their scooter and mommy behind, pushing the stroller loaded with boxes. And I have to say - it was FUN. We took on the challenge of delivering to COMPLETE strangers first, going to the two homes with the best Christmas lights. The kids were very excited to SEE who was behind the lights and rang the doorbell. I had to do all the talking of course (suddenly talkative kids become very shy kids) and simply presented the cookies and the card saying, "My children have gotten so much joy from your lights and they wanted to say thank you." The first house a very tall gentleman (I heard Daughter #2 mutter, "He's a giant") came to the door and when I said my little statement, broke out into a huge smile and thanked us. The kids hopped on their scooters and we went to the second light house, where again, they were thankful and even said, "You didn't have to do this." The two neighbors to either side also were wonderfully warm and kind and when we delivered to our good friends, it was just loads of fun.

Son and Daughters really enjoyed the experience of just handing out treats and cards simply for the sheer enjoyment and it was fun for me too.

If you want to do a mass handout of treats, I have learned that bar cookies are really the way to go. I decided to explore a non-nut caramel bar cookie and came up with this fantastic concoction that is really good. (I'm going to enter it into Saveur's Cookie Contest.) Pastry crust, caramel pretzel topping, with a salty sweet finish. You can't go wrong! Bar cookies make for easy handouts because it's one tray, you can cut it into various sizes (depending on your need) and it's one pan. Make some of these, and hand them out to the neighborhood, and let's see what happens when you extend yourself just a bit.

Caramel Pretzel Bars
Makes 32 bars (large ones, or 64 smaller ones)

Sweet Pastry Crust
Ingredients
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Line a 9X13 baking pan with parchment paper or grease bottom and sides very well. In a small bowl, whisk together flour and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment (or a bowl that you use your hand mixer with), beat the butter and brown sugar at medium speed until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla extract. At low speed, add the flour mixture and mix just until the mixture is crumbly, 10 to 15 seconds.

Pat the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Prick the dough well with a fork. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Allow to cool slightly as you prepare topping.

Topping
Ingredients
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
¼ honey
¼ cup maple syrup
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
6 ½ cups small pretzel twists, lightly crushed

Method
In a large saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, syrup, and salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until foamy and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Add cream and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer inserted in the caramel registers 240°F (soft ball stage), about 11 minutes longer. Add the pretzels, quickly incorporating it into the caramel. Pour the filling over the crust, spreading it evenly. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the topping is bubbling. Let cool completely. Remove onto a cutting board. Cut into bars and serve.

Printable recipe

The candy thermometer I want to get

Kale, Arugula, Persimmon, Pomegranate Salad: On kicking someone out of bed

2011-12-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

For HKL, for always keeping an eye out for me and telling me what the next best thing to eat is.

Everyone makes their own choices about how to to deal with children's bedtimes and sleep routines, and each family has to make the choice that is right for his or her family. Before we actually had kids, Husband had the idea that he'd like to cuddle with the children and sleep with them, while I always said that I fully intended for the children would sleep in their own beds. I won. It was the right choice for our family, and firmly, one by one, Son and Daughters learned to sleep in their own cribs, sleep through the night and just sleep well on their own. Husband admired my resolve and since Son and Daughters went down to bed easily every night, on time, there was nothing really much for him to complain about. It was the right choice for us and from the beginning, whenever Daughters tried to stray from the path, I gently walked them back to her room with minimal fuss.

In recent months, Son has developed a habit where he wakes up about an hour or two before morning wake up and crawls into bed with me. Husband watched him from the sidelines and commented, "You NEVER let the girls do that." I justified it to Husband saying that it was only a bit of time before we had to get up anyways, so it wasn't a big deal. Truthfully, I didn't like it because Son insisted on poking and talking and breathing loudly and I'm not a great sleeper, so that morning interruption upset my sleep. But I put up with it simply because I was too lazy to walk him back to his room.

But things have finally come to a head as my sleep has been reduced and the quality has deteriorated, and I told Son that I need him to stay in his room, because it's better for his sleep. He definitely needs the sleep and in the early morning when he wakes up, he has a harder time falling back asleep. I want him to sleep all the way through, getting more solid sleep and resting more deeply. I explained it to him, promised him a prize if he could carry through, and basically explained what he needed to do.

The first night? BAM. He did it. He came into the room in the morning and said, "Good morning mom. I slept the whole night in my bed." The second night, he did it again. The third morning he did it again, but he looked wistfully at my bed and said, "I really do like lying down next to you. But I want my prize." And slowly and but surely we are moving towards his staying in his bed and not with me. Now the moment when he looked wistfully at my bed and expressed that he likes lying down next to me was a slightly bittersweet one, and it was a mixed bag of emotions. A part of me was so excited about having him stay in his own room while the other part of me was sad that he was missing our time together. That mix of sad and sweet is oftentimes the very flavor of parenting and one that I still can't get quite used to.

This salad, with its mix of bitter kale, peppery arugula, sweet persimmon, and sour pomegranate is a mixed bag of flavors and experiences, but delicious together. And eating it reminds me of how sometimes the craziest flavors come together and become something great.

Kale, Arugula, Persimmon, Pomegranate Salad
Serves 6

Ingredients
Salad
¾ lb of kale, stems removed, cut into small bite sizes (about 3 cups of kale chopped up)
3 cups of arugula, washed and dried
3 fuyu persimmons, washed, peeled and cut into wedges
½ cup pomegranate arils (the little jewels of the pomegranate - from about half a large pomegranate)
½ cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Dressing
2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Method
In a large salad bowl, mix together kale and arugula. Arrange persimmons wedges and pomegranate arils and sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well to coat evenly.

Printable recipe

the mix of yummy flavors coming together

Healthy Holiday Celebrations: We never leave the schoolyard, do we?

2011-12-13T14:52:00.000-08:00

For SH and JA who share my passion.

It's holiday time and it's a stressful time for many parents and families. In December alone, I think we had over 10 invites to various parties and activities, more than half of which we had to decline. Personally, it's always a hectic time for me because of my work (college applications are due after all) and the intense pressure of that plus celebration has made things hectic.

And someone, please remind me, that if I ever want to have another child (I do, but not realistic) NOT to have the birthdate in December. The pressure of dealing with that on TOP OF the regular intensity of the holidays isn't fun either. So yes, it's a stressful time. It's a stressful time for all involved.

And if you have school age children, then there are additional pressures of holiday teacher shopping (or making of presents), classroom holiday parties and celebrations as well as preparing for activities to occupy the natives, once they are out of school, occupying the home territories.

After Son's enjoyment of sharing muffins with his friends during Thanksgiving party, I decided to do two things that he would be able to pass out to his friends at school. I made vegan banana muffins as well as these snowflake crayons. After printing out 20 of the cards, I realized I didn't really like EXACTLY what I had written (wasn't being a good wordsmith at 2 AM) but decided to let it go and save some trees. If you ever want to do it, I'd go with a phrase something like this: "I am thankful for all my wonderful friends, as different as all the snowflakes that fall from the sky." I had a few other ideas as well, but you get idea.

These are simple to make. I simply bought this mold and followed instructions on Sillie Smile's blog.

In addition to Son's party planning, I was asked for some advice for Daughter #1's holiday party by one of the room moms. I simply asked if we could not do a party that involved a ton of sugary treats, especially since the classroom has been focused on healthy eating since the beginning of the school year, and instead make it more interactive and craft like. She immediately agreed with the idea and with the teacher planned really wonderful activities.

There would be a couple of crafts to do, and in addition, there would be a "gently used" book exchange, where each child brought in a book, appropriate to 2nd and 3rd grade reading, and exchange and trade with classmates. I LOVED this, and I thought it a wonderful addition to the holiday party.

But it turns out, not all did so. One father questioned the meaning of the term "holiday party" and demanded to know WHY the party wasn't called "Christmas Party" to the room mom. The room mom calmly explained that there were many different cultures at our school and not everyone celebrates Christmas. He wanted to know WHY there were no treats, no sugar, no candy, no fun things to eat. She also calmly had to explain that the party was going in a different direction, one more interactive and more fun for the kids (beyond eating sugary treats.) His parting comment was something to the effect that "they" were going to take America back and restore it to "America."

Now I'm not sure what he meant by THAT comment, but I am pretty sure I'm supposed to be insulted. This father has his child at a school that is ethnically 75% people of color. Our school is blessed with an amazingly rich diverse environment, so if he's planning to take America back from all of us, I'd like to see him try. And to that father, I'd just like to say, open up your eyes, and see this is not the playground of your childhood. There are more people from different places than there were when you were growing up, and although this may be at times, like the holidays, a slightly awkward thing, it is a good thing. And if you really can't figure it out, then your child is going to be working for mine and not the other way around. (Ooops. I didn't really mean that. Okay maybe a little. )

And I'm brought back to a time, growing up, when two mean kids came up to me on the schoolyard (I was one of TWO Asian kids at this school) and said to me, "Are you Chinese?
"No," I replied.
"Are you Japanese?"
"NO," I said.
"Then WHAT are you?"
"I'm Korean. I'm American," I replied tentatively.
"You're WHAT?"

I'm brought right back there with this father's comments. I have a few more zingers to send his way (already I have yelled them into the air to no one in particular) but I'll restrain on this blog. But I'm still going to insist on a non-sugar, non-Christmas, healthy, holiday school celebration. And I'm proud to do so. And I'm happy to be one of the different snowflakes that fall from the sky.

Food as Gifts: Appreciating those around you

2011-12-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

I try and do a bit of homemade gifts every year, because I think it not only lets someone else know how much I care and appreciate them, it also gives me a chance to reflect upon and think about what individuals have done for me in the past year. When you make things homemade, it really makes you evaluate those who have touched your life and left a bit of a wonderful mark on you and your family.

I always spend a great deal of time thinking of the teachers in our life as being one reminds me how much those who teach and instruct our children need to be appreciated. This year, just thanking the teachers in Children's lives - regular school, Sunday school, music school got me to the number of 26. I wanted to give 26 individuals a bit of something homemade to thank them for all of their care and affection towards my children and all the goodness that they have done.

I came up with various different packaging ideas and various different treats to stick in mostly mugs. I was very happy with what came about this year and so here are some ideas.

Option 1: Treat Boxes for the Sweet

Caramel Almond Pretzel Bars
Apricot Vanilla Bean Shortbread Bars (A modified version of this)

Option 2: Mug for the Coffee Lover

Anthropologie Mug

Various Starbucks coffee and hot chocolate

Option 3: Chew and Brew

Anthropologie Mug
Pecan Rolo Pretzels

Option 4: A Little Bit of Everything

Anthropologie Mug
Caramel Almond Pretzel Bars
Apricot Vanilla Bean Shortbread Bars (A modified version of this)

My Grown-Up Cooks Wish List

2011-12-12T21:58:00.000-08:00

We have bought the house that we live in, but the kitchen is still it's original 1969. It's hard to even fathom doing anything like a remodel with it, and harder to even imagine putting something brand spanking new into the kitchen. But I do it every year. I lust over things I see in catalogs, online, and in magazines, and I dream, just dream about the kitchen I could have in my imagination.

And if it is only a dream, it doesn't stop me from thinking about all the things I want to ADD to this dream. kitchen. Some of these things I just want to add right now! So here is this year's recommended list of things to buy for your loved ones, or anyone who loves to cook.

Pizzelle Maker
Okay - since I got the ice cream maker a while back, I've been thinking about adding one of these so that I can really rock some ice cream. With a thin crispy pizzelle. It's definitely a one use piece, so not practical when my kitchen is bursting, but it seems like it'd be loads of fun to have and it's on my list for something I want in the future. :)

Kitchen Aid 6 Quart Stand Mixer
I tried to double a batch of cupcakes this past weekend and ran into several technical problems. My mixer bowl was too small and so I ended up not being able to properly mix the cupcakes. I ended up making less than my greatest cupcakes. Of course I can make cupcakes in my current 16 year old mixer, but the thought of this newer, more powerful, larger one makes me excited, perhaps in the same way a man might be about a car.

Cuisinart Food Processor
I know...more big ticket powerful kitchen tools. And I have one of these. And so I don't need one. But if you don't have one, or you know someone who doesn't have one, this is a great gift. I don't use it as often as my mixer for sure, but for big chopping jobs, or big pastry making jobs, this is definitely my friend.

Kitchenaid Immersion Blender
I burn through these things often. I've also not had so much great luck with the cuisinart version. This one, I'm incredibly happy with, but it looks like it might not be as easy to find as a cuisinart. Definitely better as you can control speeds from 1 to 8. I have black, but the red looks sassy as well.

Brother Label Maker
Admittedly you can't cook with this thing, nor does it make your food taste much better, but in my mind, I'd label everything and everything in my kitchen would LOOK better. Maybe enough labels could hide the fact that my kitchen is from 1969? A handy tool no matter what room I use it in.

Emile Henry Pie Dish
I have one of these, given to me by a friend as a hostess gift. LOVE IT. I want another, so I can have a whole row of pies and crisps when the time comes. They look great, you can serve from it, and the crust just bakes up gorgeously in it.

All Clad Tools
I have these, and I love them. They make a great gift for anyone who loves to cook. Not for use on non-stick but on anything else, you need to use these. After you try these, you can't go back to lesser quality.

All Clad Mixing Bowls
I know what you're thinking - what kind of mixing bowls cost this much? These do. And they are worth every single cent. I've had mine for a decade and they are my still most used thing in the kitchen. I'm thinking about another set, but I technically have no room, so I'm holding off. But the handle, the dripless edge and the shape, construction and size are all perfect for anyone's kitchen. I mix muffins, pancakes in them, marinate meats in them, mix up fried chicken flour in them, and I use them every single day. Great gift for someone who has mis-matched mixing bowls.

Popover Pan
Y'all know my obsession with my dude Tyler. Well, it's at his restaurant where I became obsessed with popovers. I said regularly that I'm going to make them, and friend SH gifted me with my own set of popovers. Time to bust some of these out is what I'm thinking!!!! It's definitely a gift I would have never bought for myself, but love that someone else bought it for me. :)

GREAT spatulas
One can never have enough of these. I love the six that I have, and I'm thinking that this set in blue is gorgeous.

New Telephoto Camera Lens
not really the best for taking pics of the food, but maybe I can shoot food that is from afar. Luckily for me, someone already gave this to me, and I just can't wait. I'll find a use for it in the kitchen. I'm gonna try.

Caramel Almond Pretzel Bars: Borrowing and Mixing Things Up

2011-12-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

For SH - and for more than the reasons listed below.

For the longest time, my closest friends have been those who have not been close by. Most of them live at least 20 minutes away from me, if not further, and although communicating with them with text, telephone, or instant messaging keeps them close by in spirit, it certainly doesn't mean that I can go to their house and borrow a cup of sugar.

But in the past few months, someone who lives very close to me has not only become a close friend because we spend so much time together, but has also become a close friend because of proximity. She lives 1 minute away from me. It is faster for me to go to her house to borrow something (like a cup of sugar or a can of beans) than it is to go to my local supermarket which is also quite close. It is convenient to ask her if I can use something, and I'm happy to lend her anything that she might need. It has been awesome on many levels, companionship, friendship, foodship, and borrowship.

Over this past weekend we each had a party, mine on Saturday (for Son's 4th birthday) and hers on Sunday (for her annual cookie exchange.) We spent some time discussing how we would pool our resources to make for a more economical hosting of the event. I borrowed from her this awesome 100 cup coffee pot (I only used it to have hot water handy) and she borrowed from me my glass water dispenser. I gave her the decoration after Son's birthday party, and let her take home a vase of beautifully colored winter berries. I borrowed sugar for one of my dishes and she tried to borrow from me a boom box. I would have given her one, only I didn't have one to lend out. It's been really fun finding ways to find double use for the things in our house, and I'm happy to say that sharing and lending and exchanging with her is only a 1 minute car ride away.

This recipe is a mix of a couple with my own adaptations mixed in. I saw something of the sort in Bon Appetit, and it gave me an idea of how I could take a couple of my favorite recipes and meld them together into something. I borrowed crust of this one and added to it a modified caramel from this one. I mixed in the pretzels, and voila - out came this delicious, totally amazing concoction that I was happy to take to friend SH's cookie exchange. The combo of chewy, salty, crumbly and nutty is incredibly addicting. Make no mistake, this is something that you DO want to make. The pastry crust comes together simply and the only thing that is slightly finicky is making the caramel.

NOTE: You DO need a candy thermometer, but it's not hard to use nor does it take up much room. I have busted through a few cheapies, and have decided that I am going to treat myself to a professional one. There are plenty of cheap versions that cost less than $10, but this is my next purchase.

Caramel Almond Pretzel Bars
Makes 32 bars (large ones, or 64 smaller ones)

Sweet Pastry Crust (from Tish Boyle’s Book The Good Cookie)
Ingredients
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Line a 9X13 baking pan with parchment paper or grease bottom and sides very well.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment (or a bowl that you use your hand mixer with), beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla extract. At low speed, add the flour mixture and mix just until the mixture is crumbly, 10 to 15 seconds.

Pat the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Prick the dough well with a fork. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Allow to cool slightly as you prepare topping.

Topping
Ingredients
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
½ cup honey
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound almonds (around 4 cups)
1 ½ cups pretzel twists, lightly crushed

In a large saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey and salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until foamy and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Add cream and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer inserted in the caramel registers 240°F (soft ball stage), about 10 minutes longer. Add the almonds and cook for 2 minutes longer. Add pretzels, quickly incorporating it into the caramel. Pour the filling over the crust, spreading it evenly. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the topping is bubbling. Let cool completely. Remove onto a cutting board. Cut into bars and serve.

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The coffee maker I borrowed from SH - and I have to say, it may be enough to keep me in the neighborhood, because this thing was AWESOME.

Korean-Style Spicy Chicken Wings (매운 닭 날개): More than what you ask for

2011-12-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

For CJR, HJY, MK, AKR, AWC, RH - and all those who helped and offered advice.

Today has been a wonderful day, mostly due to the resolution of something so upsetting, I couldn't sleep at night. Last week, I received an unexpected phone call from the mother of a former student of mine, and she broke the news to me that her son had been expelled from his exclusive private school. I immediately came to attention and asked why, and she hesitantly and brokenly told me that her son had been caught with drugs on campus, and the school decided upon expulsion, but was willing to allow him to withdraw from the school. The matter seemed simple enough to the family, that they would simply enroll him in the public school in their neighborhood. Things became complicated when the public school refused to take the student unless he revealed why he was expelled two weeks before finals, considering he wanted to enroll one week before finals at their school. The school eventually denied him access, saying they didn't want any discipline problems on their campus.

My heart sank as I heard the news and a part of me broke inside. The parents were in a hard place, the student in a harder one, and all were at a loss as to what to do. The parents were not saying that their child was blameless, but rather that the punishment was far more punitive due to the timing of the punishment. He had nowhere to go and no one to take him. I began racking my head, coming up with ideas, offering suggestions and offering my help in whatever way possible. In the days that ensued, there were numerous phone calls back and forth as I tried to get them resources in terms of lawyers, advice, and just more information about their rights as parents. I asked them to go back to the school where he was expelled and asked for compassion and mercy so that he could sit his exams at least, and transfer a full semester of grades to another school. The private school wanted nothing to do with him and repeatedly offered no such pardon. The lawyer was not as helpful as we had hoped and I called forth every single resource I could, in order to help the family and the student.

In the end, I decided to call in a few favors. I was intent on having the student move up to the Bay Area, where I would entreat a few friends of mine who were principals to accept him, vouching my personal reputation that this student would not be further problem for any school. I was prepared to wheedle and owe favors to get him in, and as I began gathering my wits for the verbal parlay that was to follow, I prayed. I prayed hard. I cried that God would do some miracle and this child would be let in. I prayed that it wasn't so that I could be a hero that he would be let in, but it would be a sign of abundant mercy and love for this student that would get him in. And I begged and pleaded with God that I would not have to resort to lying and deceit to get this student into school.

I went to my spin class and continued praying and just emptying my heart to God. After my class, my heart prepared, I walked over to my phone, readying myself to beg for favors from those who had the power to give me what I wanted. On the phone were a string of text messages from the mother, who told me that they had just received word that their son was allowed to attend another private high school in their area. Even better was how they school was going to deal with his first semester grades. The icing on top was that this school had the single sport that my student wanted to play and he would be allowed to play at this school. This school showed him mercy and gave abundantly to him, those things I had been praying for. This school was far better a situation than ANY I could have potentially gotten him in the Bay Area. And this school, I knew was God's answer to the prayer that I had cried out, because in this school, God gave MORE than I had asked for. Not my glory, but truly His.

Ephesians 3:20
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,"

Immeasurably more. More than I imagine. And for this I am truly blessed. As I shared this experience with friend CJR, she shared the verse from Ephesians 3:20 with me, and it totally was dead right on the spot. And she told me that she could hear how blessed I was, simply from the fervent prayer that I had prayed on someone else's behalf.

The blessing comes from seeing answered prayer, and seeing HOW beautifully and HOW wonderfully God answers. And after this glorious release from pressure and stress, all I could think about was how I would celebrate and rejoice. I decided to celebrate the lightness and the joy - with wings. (I know -a heavy food, but it's light on the spirit.) These are spicy, sweet, savory delicious. They taste great with rice and I know they'd go down super great with some beer. Son and Daughters in between gulps of water and bites of rice, begged for more, and I have to say, licking my fingers of the sauce wasn't bad at all.

Korean-Style Spicy Chicken Wings (매운 닭 날개)
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
5 lbs Chicken wings, separated into wings and drummettes, tips discarded

Marinade
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Sauce
¼ cup honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons red pepper paste (고주장)
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoons minced ginger
1 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoons roasted sesame seed

Chopped scallions for sprinkling

Method
In a small bowl, mix together marinade ingredients, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and black pepper. Wash chicken wings and pat dry. Rub marinade all over chicken massaging them well. Set aside and allow chicken wings to rest with marinade at least 30 minutes, or overnight. (If you’re going to allow them to sit in the marinade over night, then cover and refrigerate. If you’re going to cook in 30 minutes, leave wings at room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 350. Line roasting pan with tin foil. Roast chicken wings for 40 to 50 minutes. While wings are baking, in a small bowl, make the sauce, mixing together honey, soy sauce, red pepper paste, sake, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and sesame seed. Remove wings from oven.

Increase oven temperature to 500. Brush sauce onto each wing, coating fully. Return wings to the oven, cooking for an additional 2 minutes, until sauce begins to caramelize. Remove wings from heat, and spread one more layer of sauce. Return wings to the oven, and allow them to cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes.

Sprinkle wings with scallions and serve with lots of wet napkins.

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