Fruit Infusions

It just occurred to me that I never really followed up on my previous post about making ichigo-shu (or strawberry liqueur)...well, it has turned out very nicely! The photo above was from when I first started steeping the strawberries, and as you can tell, I was having entirely too much fun with the photo.


That's the strawberry liqueur on the left there--I finally filtered and decanted the liqueur into a bottle for storage, mostly because I need to make some space in the fridge! Don't worry, the strawberries aren't going to waste--they may not look very nice now (hence no photo) but they taste amazing, and I think I may just freeze them for now and combine them with fresh strawberries later this summer to make some boozy jam. Mm, booze jam. Anyway, isn't the color beautiful? It's a nice, warm, orangey red. Of course, it's very strong (and sweet!) so the best way to drink it is over ice with some sparkling water. Or prosecco, if you want to get fancy.


And here's the new batch I'm making--this time, red grapes. I made it the same way, layering grapes and rock sugar, it's just in a smaller quantity this time (because grapes are freaking expensive right now!). I started this about a week ago, and it's very slowly turning this pretty purple-pink shade. No idea how it's going to taste, and it probably won't be ready for tasting for a few more weeks....


I'll leave you with one more picture! Actually I think I'm going to uh, go do a little taste testing for quality control now...:D

Pi Day

I must congratulate myself, this is the first year ever (I'm pretty sure) that I remembered Pi Day ahead of time, instead of midway through it. I guess I'm not senile yet. Is it possible for your memory to improve as you get older? I mean, usually it seems to go the other way. Well, I better not get carried away, this is only one thing I've remembered, no doubt I've forgotten at least 5 crucial things...(obviously rambling is still a problem I have!)


I had conducted a quick poll on Facebook for suggestions of pie, but in the end, took the lazy way out of making do with what I had on hand. (Hey, I was busy cleaning! I didn't feel like putting on actual pants and going to the store!) I had just bought a couple of mangoes the day before, and thought they would go nicely with some candied ginger (which I have a HUGE stash of). So I chopped up a mango, tossed it with chopped candied ginger, cinnamon, and a bit of cornstarch, and then realized that I only had enough for two tiny pies (well, one tiny pie and one tiny tart). Whoops! I could have frozen the rest of the pie crust (I'm still working on my pie crust recipe, but this one was flaky enough--and the real secret to pie crust is laziness. Yes, be lazy, leave chunks of butter in!) but, well, there's no room left in my freezer...


So I made a simple jam tart, just filled with storebought strawberry preserves, and topped with a disc of pie crust. And why a bunny cutout? Well, why not! It's cute, it lets you see the filling...and well, I had to justify the fact that I bought about 100 cutters at Daiso when I was in Vancouver. The remaining pie dough and scraps got rolled out into a circle and filled with plum slices for a free form, very simple galette (top photo).


A closer look at the lattice top; lattice is really easy when you are only using 4 strips of dough. :) Actually, I suppose technically I only made one pie for Pi Day...and 3 tarts. Is a tart a type of pie, or does it belong in its own family? Well, whatever--pies and tarts are both happy things. And I hope that you are going to have some pie on Pi Day too...and when you're done, test yourself and see how many places you can recite pi to. I won't tell you my number, it's too embarrassing....


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I'm sure everyone has been watching the coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The images are unbelievable, like something out of a movie, except this is actually happening. I'm thankful that everyone I know in Japan is safe, but there are still thousands missing, the risk of nuclear meltdowns, severe damage to the infrastructure...it's going to be a long road. The New York Times has put together a list of ways to help; if you can, please consider donating.

Vancouver again!

Whoops, has it really been two weeks since I posted? Well, I guess I was away for a week, and work has been a bit nuts since then. Actually, I'm supposed to leave tomorrow for a work trip, so I guess things will continue to be hectic for a bit. I think I can muster up enough time to write a quick post though! It was surprisingly sunny during my last trip (nice contrast to my previous trip where it rained every day) although also freaking cold! But we had a nice walk the day I arrived, through Coal Harbor and eventually to Stanley Park. That's the Olympic Cauldron above (it was the one year anniversary of the Vancouver Olympics just before I arrived).


If I lived here, I'd get a boat too.


In Stanley Park, we saw lots of crows, but no raccoons this time. Oh, also a Douglas Fir squirrel, which we initially thought was either a baby squirrel or a chipmunk (fortunately, a knowledgeable passerby corrected us).


We stumbled across Beaver Lake, which according to the display, is slowly disappearing. I haven't been to this part of the park before, but it was beautiful. And, as you can tell, extremely sunny.


But then the sun started to set, and a duck flew into my shot. Can you see it? He was VERY FAST.


We ate a lot of excellent food, but I took very few pictures. However, here is my Caesar (what they call a bloody mary) from our anniversary lunch at Provence (and Py in the background). Yum! We visited our old favorite Plus Alpha and also had an indulgent afternoon tea at the Fairmont Hotel.


The lighting in there is terrible, and it only just occurred to me that I could probably have used the flashlight on my phone for some additional lighting, but then I would have REALLY looked like a weirdo. Oh well! Anyway, it was yummy, and I really liked the space, although of course, it can't touch the tea at the Peninsula in Hong Kong.


I got to try a currywurst from Eli's Serious Sausage, which was delicious! A few days later, we saw Eli being interviewed on the news on a segment on coping with the cold snap--his strategy? "A sweater...and then another sweater....and then another sweater...and another sweater..."


And I made some banana bread that was pretty good considering I totally winged it!


In a first for me, I tried 5 pin bowling, and I think I'm slightly better at that than regular bowling. Also, I've never been to a bowling alley where you're not allowed to drink beer on the lane--you have to keep your beer on a ledge behind the lane!


Lanterns at the Sun Yat Sen garden. I should've paid and gone into the classical Chinese garden on the other side too, but I was cold and lazy.


And too soon, it was time to go home--this is the terrifying thing that greeted me in the fridge. Yes, it's a carrot. I've never seen a carrot dry out to this degree before in a refrigerator!v

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, I'm not big on celebrating Valentine's Day, but who am I to pass up an excuse to bake something? I'll be bringing these linzer cookies (made with almonds instead of hazelnuts) to work (without the orange heart). Hope my new coworkers like them!



Happy Valentine's Day, if you're celebrating it! And if you're not, here is something we can really celebrate--did you know that on Feb. 14th, 1946 ENIAC was unveiled? :)

Weekend baking: Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

I guess I'm kind of weird about bananas--I only like them when they're pretty green, and as soon as any brown spots show up, I'm not interested in eating them anymore. Which is how I ended up with 3 extremely overripe bananas on my kitchen counter. They were no good for eating (although one of my friends loves bananas so ripe that the entire skin is brown, can you imagine? Yech!) but were perfect for baking! And with whole wheat flour, almonds, and honey instead of sugar, I like to think that these will be a relatively healthy choice for breakfast when I don't have time to make something more complicated. They looked like they were going to be pretty plain, so I added a sprinkle of pearl sugar on top before baking them. Mukmuk seems to approve :) (The recipe's at the bottom of this post.)

It was surprisingly warm (well, relatively speaking) on Sunday so I enjoyed my walk to the Morningside Heights farmer's market. It's a lot smaller than the one at Union Square, but is also a lot less hectic (and, well, it's within walking distance. Sometimes you just don't want to take the subway.)


I picked up some fresh shiitake and enoki mushrooms from Madura Farms. I sliced up a bunch of the shiitakes and sauteed them in olive oil with half of a shallot and a sprinkle of sea salt, then tossed that with whole wheat fettuccine (from Knoll Krest Farm, also at the market) and more olive oil and some crumbled feta from Ardith Mae. Oh man. What a delicious lunch! Half of it is going into my bento box tomorrow and I can't wait.


And for dessert, a winesap (right) and an arlet (left) apple. Yes, I ate both of these in one day. Yeah, I was really hungry I guess! The winesap was extra delicious (so crispy!) so next week I will be sure to buy more. I picked up a few other things from the market (sweet potatoes, yellow potatoes) and I'm sure they will be put to good use soon.


On the way home, I saw these gorgeous tulips at a flower stand and couldn't resist. This winter feels like it's gone on forever and spring seems so far away, but these flowers give me some hope! They're on my table now, brightening up my apartment. Gosh, I really hope spring comes soon.

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins, adapted from King Arthur Flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3!)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped almonds, toasted and cooled
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
pearl or coarse sparkling sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Combine butter, honey, and mashed bananas, and beat until smooth. Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk. Sift dry ingredients together and stir into the liquid ingredients. A few lumps are fine! Stir in the almonds and chocolate chips, if you're using them. Divide between the muffin cups, filling them almost full. I had enough batter to make 13 (the last one went in a stand-alone cupcake case). Sprinkle with pearl sugar, if desired. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a rack and eat!

CNY Lunch at Home

Well, one of the downsides of living in the U.S. is that CNY isn't a holiday! (Although our HK and Singapore business locations are closed, lucky them!) So, we kind of have to celebrate on the days that are convenient--therefore, we had our main CNY meal over the weekend. I seriously think I gained about 3 pounds just from this one meal alone. Just take a look at our groaning board (another advantage to a lunch versus dinner--enough light for good photos! Hehe. You know you have a problem when you try to plan to have food ready when there's still natural light to shoot photos with.) All of this was made by my mom--she's very talented, right?


The "cold plate"--I suppose you could call these appetizers? Anyway, clockwise from the top: a type of bitter green cooked with mushrooms, dry-rubbed chicken, cabbage and carrot pickle, waxed meat and Chinese sausages. Braised eggs in the center. Most of these foods are chosen because they are symbols of luck, prosperity, and happiness, although don't ask me which means what. I was too busy stuffing my face to remember :)


Our other appetizer, stir-fried diced shrimp, water chestnuts, and mushrooms wrapped in lettuce. This is traditionally made with pigeon, but I vastly prefer shrimp (when I think of pigeon, I think of your standard dirty NYC pigeon. Which reminds me, does anyone know why there are so many freaking pigeons on 32nd St. by Penn station? What gives!)


Another cold plate, with kao fu (fried wheat gluten cooked with woodear fungus and bamboo shoots) and a vegetable salad. The kao fu is one of my favorites! I know the description doesn't *sound* that appetizing, but seriously, the chewy wheat gluten and crunchy fungus and bamboo shoots are so good together.


My absolute favorite! These are supposed to look like gold ingots and are egg sheets rolled around a pork filling. Some of them are wrapped in tofu sheets instead, and the whole thing is braised with napa cabbage. I took a huge container of this home with me. So yummy.


Claypot fish head soup! The fish head is underneath the other goodies (tofu, glass noodles, veggies, and chilis) and was really, really good. Fish cheeks, yum. This would not have made good leftovers, so I did not get to bring any of this home :(. The noodles soaked up all the flavor of the soup and were soooooo yummy.


Nice plating, huh? These are "red-cooked" (braised in soy sauce) pig trotters. Like any long-cooked, braised dish, the meat was super tender. Great to eat with rice, although we totally forgot that there was rice because there was so much other food. And the bok choy was good for fiber :) This is also the sauce that the eggs from the cold plate were cooked in.


And last, but not least, braised pork ribs, thick fried tofu, and bamboo shoots. Another good-with-rice dish. I should have brought more of this home, I loooooooove fried tofu.

Can you imagine that after all this, we still had room for dessert? Well, a few hours later anyway ;) We had bunny cookies, pineapple tarts, and jiu niang yuanzi dan. I don't know how to translate that, exactly, but it's a sweet dessert soup made with fermented (and slightly alcoholic) sweet rice, with dumplings, fruit, and egg in it. It probably sounds crazy to you if you haven't tried it, but it's delicious and winy and totally warming. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it, but next time I'm home, I will demand some and take a picture then. Oh, and of course, lots of nian gao (sticky rice cake) to snack on. You can check out this post from last year for photos of nian gao and a recipe to make the coconut type.

Well, I think that's the end of my CNY posts! The food is gone, but at least the memories (and photos!) are still there :)

More Baking for Chinese New Year

Woohoo, only one more day until Chinese New Year! I had dinner with some of my girl friends last night to celebrate and gave them each a box of bunny cookies. Haha, I wish I had taken a picture, but one of them started petting the bunny. I think she might just keep it on her desk and not eat it :D I also included some pineapple tarts, and that's what I'm going to talk about today!


The first step to making pineapple tarts is to get a pineapple. I admit, I didn't look very hard, but I don't know if you can find ready-made pineapple jam in the supermarket. Anyway, I actually like making jam; even if it does take a fair amount of time, it's very simple. Peel your pineapple, remove the eyes, chop roughly, and then puree in a food processor (or a blender, or grate by hand). Pour the puree into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and add one clove, one star anise, and 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar, depending on how tart your pineapple is. Boil over medium low heat until it turns a dark amber color and is thick and sticky; oh, hey, you can go and look at the post I made about pineapple tarts two years ago to see what the jam should look like. Scrape into a bowl and refrigerate. You can do this a few days in advance.


The next thing is, decide whether you want to make closed (see post linked above) or open tarts. I had shamelessly asked my friend Kaimono if she would send me some pineapple tart molds so I went with open face! I like this style because you can see the yummy jam, and because I like the design of the cookie molds.


Look how many she sent! There are different sizes and patterns. Thank you, thank you!! :D I can tell I'm going to be using these for lots of cookie baking in the future, and not just pineapple tarts! Oh, and in case you're curious how they work, the cutters are in two pieces, one to cut the actual cookie, and then an inner piece that stamps the pattern and makes a well for the jam. Just make sure you roll your dough thick enough to accommodate a well (for these molds, I rolled dough to 1/4").


Roll your pineapple jam into balls and place one in each well. I guess you don't actually have to roll them into balls and could just scoop it with a small spoon or pipe it, but I like them to be neat! Plus then you get to lick your jammy fingers.


Before baking, you can glaze the cookies with an egg yolk-water glaze, or leave them plain. The ones above are glazed. (Aren't the tiny ones cute?)


And these are unglazed. I think I prefer them unglazed, actually, seems to make the pattern easier to see!

Okay, well we are in the midst of an ice storm, so I'm going to sign off and attempt to make it to work. One more post on CNY tomorrow :D Gong xi fa cai and xing nian kuai le to those of you who are ahead of U.S. time :D