June 6, 2020
Several years ago, Kevin and I took a short trip to Da Nang, Vietnam in between our trip to visit his family in Hong Kong. Kevin’s stepmom organized the trip to Da Nang and arranged for us to stay at a villa throughout the trip. During the night, we would hang around the villa and enjoy the beautiful ocean views. When the sun rose, we would venture out to the local streets. My favorite part of the trip was going on a food tour with a local guide and experiencing the dynamic food scene in the heart Da Nang. Our food tour guide grew up in Da Nang, and had a passion for sharing her favorite foods with visitors. We got to enjoy a little bit of everything from beef stew to bánh mì. Every dish we ate weaved in tons of fresh herbs, bright flavors, and intense aromatics. I thoroughly enjoyed every dish we sampled. Some were familiar flavors and aromas and some were not. Of everything we ate on the trip, bánh mì was my favorite. The bánh mì we ate featured grilled pork, fresh herbs, and pickled vegetables served on top of a crispy, toasted baguette. I loved the simplicity of the bánh mì paired with an intensely aromatic cà phê. I’ve eaten bánh mì before, but enjoying a bánh mì in Da Nang squeezed among locals was another experience. With all of the eating we did, we needed to work in some exercise. Our exercise came in the form of sightseeing. We strolled through the busy streets filled with locals and tourists. When we came across a rickshaw, we just had to hop on and snap a photo. Even looking back at the photos from several years ago, I can still remember all of the intense flavors and aromas in every dish we ate. Reminiscing on the trip Kevin and I took to Vietnam several years ago spurred my cravings for bánh mì. I recreated the experience with some pickled carrots, fresh herbs, and my favorite Asian meatballs. My version of Asian meatballs features a lot of the same ingredients I use when making my crispy Asian fishcakes. I began by prepping the pickled carrots and daikon, followed by preparing the Asian meatballs, and finally arranging the rest of the fresh veggies onto the toasted baguette. To bring everything together, I prepared a side of shrimp summer rolls, a simple peanut sauce, and some minty peach green tea to help wash everything down. The meal came together rather quickly. As we were enjoying the meal, we couldn’t help but to reminisce on some of our travels from the past years. We hope to be able to travel the world again and reconnect with family and friends over good food.
Summer Cooking, Chicken Satay, Refreshing Salad, and S'mores Pastry Pockets
May 29, 2020
Summer weather is finally here. After a full week of rain, I’m excited to see some sunshine. I have been going for walks daily to soak in some sun (and to get in some exercise). When I lived in New York, summertime was my favorite time of the year to head to the beach and enjoy a picnic with friends on the hot sand. We would pack some not so perishable foods with us, hop onto the bus or train and ride for as long as it takes us to get to the nearest beach. Most of the time, we would end up at Brighton Beach or Rockaway Beach. Sometimes, we would venture even further out to get to more remote areas. I always looked forward to those days where I could relax by the beach and get lost in a good book. A few summers ago, I visited my close friend, Ada, in Maine. She showed me around all of the picturesque beaches in Portland. The trip brought back fond memories of the days in our childhood where we would spend countless hours eating, chatting, and laughing while enjoying the crowded beaches in Brooklyn. I wouldn’t notice how much time has passed until I feel a slight burning sensation on my skin. The emerging sunburn would remind me to lather on more sunscreen and head back home. When I moved to Ohio, picnics at the beach were replaced with backyard cook outs. Since we’ve been restricted from nonessential gatherings, hangouts have become google hangouts. I still stay in touch with family and friends over video apps, but have been eagerly awaiting the days when I can dine out with family and friends. For now, I have continued to dine in with Kevin. Dining in has helped me challenge myself in the kitchen by cooking using only the ingredients I have on hand. One food I enjoy quite a bit during the summer is skewered veggies, fruits, and meats. My chicken satay is one of those super simple, but ultra-delicious ways to cook up some flavorful chicken. Marinating the chicken for at least 30 minutes before cooking over high heat helps impart a deep flavor into the meat. The secret to the most visually appealing chicken satay reminiscent of the ones served throughout Asia is turmeric. Turmeric imparts an earthy note and gives the satay a distinctive yellow hue. Skewered meat tastes wonderful with a refreshing salad, so I took a note from little bro’s book and tossed together a simple, refreshing middle east inspired salad. To complete the meal, I put a spin on my favorite pastry pockets and made a version featuring some of my favorite elements of s’mores. My s’mores pastry pockets were the perfect sweet treat for a summer meal. Kevin and I enjoyed the chicken satay, middle east inspired salad, and s’mores pastry pockets as we started the weekend off on a positive note.
Memorial Day Lunch, Summer Pasta Salad, and Ginger Maple Miso Salmon Fillets
May 25, 2020
It’s finally Memorial Day weekend. Kevin and I have been excited for this long weekend for some time now. Kevin looks forward to having an extra day of rest away from work. I look forward to spending even more time than usual creating delicious meals in the kitchen. With the warmer weather finally among us, I’ve been trying to stay away from the oven as much as possible. The easier it is to prepare a dish without the oven, the better. My pasta salad is one of the dishes where I make endless variations of over the summer. It doesn’t require the use of an oven and comes together fairly quickly. For Memorial Day weekend, I decided to put a spin on my usual pasta salad and make a variation using the vegetables I had in the refrigerator. I chopped up a broccoli into florets and quickly blanched the florets, quartered some tomatoes, tossed in some cooked green peas, added some diced carrots, and tossed the veggies with some cooked rotini pasta and a simple red wine vinaigrette. The pasta salad would make for the perfect side dish. I scanned through my freezer and saw a large salmon fillet. I decided to defrost the fillet, cut it up into smaller pieces and fry up some salmon fillets to serve for a Memorial Day lunch. The tricky part about cooking salmon is finding the perfect way to cook the salmon so my husband, Kevin, would actually eat it. Kevin isn’t the hugest fan of seafood and would not eat seafood unless he absolutely had no other choice. The occasional times when he did eat seafood were when the seafood came battered and fried. I tried cooking seafood over the years, but Kevin still hated it. It took several tries and different combinations of flavors until I found one Kevin actually ate. The version Kevin would actually eat is made with a marinade of freshly grated ginger, maple syrup, miso paste, and soy sauce. The first few times I made salmon fillets using a ginger maple miso marinade, Kevin actually enjoyed the salmon fillets. Since then, it has been my go-to way of flavoring salmon fillets. To round out our summer lunch, I prepared some freshly sliced watermelon wedges, corn on the cob, curried chicken salad, and freshly brewed iced tea. We enjoyed the lunch together before heading outdoors for a short walk to soak in the warmer weather. With Memorial Day weekend almost behind us, we are excited to kick start the summer season.
Spring Picnic, Classic Crispy Chicken Strips, Honey Blackberry Galette, Strawberry Salad, and Green Smoothies
May 22, 2020
I still can’t believe Memorial Day weekend is already here. This week marks two months since Kevin and I started working from home. It still feels pretty surreal. I feel like my days are blurred together and sometimes I can’t even tell what day of the week it is. Over the last couple of months, I have been able to spend more time planning meals, cooking all of my favorite foods, and testing out new ideas. With Memorial Day weekend coming up, it means summer weather is not too far away. I always looked forward to the end of May because it marks the transition from spring to summer. Summer days in Ohio are usually filled with cookouts, cool treats, and outdoor activities. Away goes the casserole cookware and hearty dishes and out comes the large serving bowls and lighter meals. Pasta salads and garden Cobb salads become summer staples. Let’s not forget about the essential s’mores. Growing up, s’mores always meant reaching for the box of Honey Maid Graham Crackers, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars, and Jet-Puffed Marshmallows. Pair the s’mores with a makeshift backyard bonfire and I had my perfect summer activity. Summertime is also the perfect time to have picnics. When I lived in New York, I would pack some sandwiches, homemade treats, and cold drinks, and head to the beach with friends. We would spend countless summer days having picnics on the beach. Even after so many years, I still think back to all of my favorite summer picnic cooking and baking adventures for inspiration. Since the weather hasn’t been the greatest all week, I ended up preparing a lot of my favorite classic picnic foods and having a picnic indoors with Kevin. I made some crispy chicken strips with a honey mustard dip, blackberry galette, strawberry tomato salad, and green smoothies for our indoor picnic. My crispy chicken strips are a simplified version of my pretzel crusted chicken strips. They’re perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. My honey drizzled blackberry galette is another take on my favorite galette. To ensure both Kevin and I were getting our daily serving of veggies, I prepared some green smoothies and a simple strawberry tomato salad served with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil (just like how we enjoyed every salad in Italy). My favorite version of green smoothies lately features frozen peaches, frozen banana, tons of kale, and a few splashes of apple juice to help everything come together. These green smoothies are truly irresistible. I get all of the fruity flavor without even tasting the kale. Kevin and I enjoyed our picnic at home indoors and marveled in the joy of our favorite picnic foods while we tentatively planned our next adventure. With everything going on, we can’t even estimate when our next travel adventure will be.
Recipe Development and Crispy Fried and Steamed Pork Buns
May 18, 2020
I have been in full recipe development mode during the last two months. Businesses in Ohio are beginning to slowly open. Kevin and I have continued to stay indoors. On the weeks in between trips to the grocery store, I find myself scouring through my pantry to try to use up each and every ingredient I have on hand. These days, I try to limit the number of times I stop by the grocery store to replenish on ingredients. I used to stop by the grocery store once a week, but these last few weeks, I have only stopped by the grocery store once every 2-3 weeks. My cooking and baking frenzy have led me to finding new ways to put spins on old favorites and test out new ideas along the way. One dish I have been working on is a version of fried and steamed pork buns, a loose interpretation of Sheng Jian Bao. Sheng Jian Bao is a type of bun in Shanghai cuisine. It features a fluffy bun with a crispy bottom and is filled with meat and vegetables. I love it because it combines two of my favorite foods of all time – pork dumplings and steamed buns. I applied cooking techniques from making dumplings and steamed buns to create my fried and steamed pork buns. I fry the buns first in a skillet, then add water, and steam the buns. This is how I get the perfect crispy bottoms on my pork buns. The dough for the buns is almost the same as the one I use for my pork dumplings. It did take me a couple tries to get the dough just right, but once I got the ratios for the dough down, I ended up with the most fluffy, crispy, and savory fried and steamed pork buns. Before I could share my pork buns, I needed to let Kevin taste them first. Kevin, my husband, grew up in Hong Kong and had his fair share of authentic Shanghai cuisine. Some of his best memories with his family involved sampling some of the best Shanghai food in the world. He is also brutally honest when it comes to giving feedback on the authenticity of my interpretations of his favorite foods. When Kevin and I both traveled to visit his family in Hong Kong earlier this year, we ate at some of the best restaurants specializing in Shanghai cuisine. Kevin always orders Xiao Long Bao and Shanghai noodles. I prefer scallion pancakes. Kevin’s family loves good food, so I know all of their restaurant recommendations are top notch. Back in our home in Ohio, I am constantly testing and retesting recipes to make sure I get them just right. Once I finished preparing my fried and steamed pork buns, I served them up to Kevin and he ended up eating ten buns. He did reserve just two buns for me, so I can at least taste my own creations. Watching him eat the fried and steamed pork buns with pure joy on his face meant my recipe was ready for sharing.
Welcoming Spring Weather with Peppery Cheesy Tomato Basil Spaghetti and Simple Desserts
May 14, 2020
Spring weather has finally arrived in Ohio. The last few days were filled with historic cold weather for the month of May. Temperatures have dipped for a few days before rising again today. With warmer weather finally here to stay, I’ve started preparing more and more light meals featuring a combination of fresh and pantry ingredients. This week, I noticed the rainbow cherry tomatoes I had on hand beginning to wrinkle again. This was my cue to toss together an easy pasta dish using up the cherry tomatoes. Most of the time, when the cherry tomatoes I have on hand begins to wrinkle, I like to pull together simple soups, pastas, and pizzas to use up the cherry tomatoes. My experiments have led to many iterations of my blistered tomato soup, simple focaccia, endless pizzas, and even more pastas. Preparing dinner this week using cherry tomatoes brought back memories of the trip I took with Kevin to Italy last year. Kevin and I went on our honeymoon to Italy last May and experienced some of the most amazing food we’ve ever had. We ate endless variations of pastas, pizzas, and desserts throughout each day of our trip. In between our meals, we snacked on gelato, unique snacks, and more carbs. Every time I came across an unfamiliar or new snack, I wanted to try it. Kevin had to stop me from snacking so I could fully enjoy dinner each day. The same went for dishes I saw on the restaurant menus we came across. The food I did end up sampling were ingrained in my mind to this day. I still think back to the different flavors and textures of the foods we ate on our travels for inspiration in the kitchen from time to time. This week, I decided to recreate some of the flavors Kevin and I had during our travels by tossing together a simple pasta dish. I combined my love for cacio e pepe and tomato basil pasta salad into a peppery cheesy tomato basil spaghetti using only ingredients I had on hand. My peppery cheesy tomato basil spaghetti is tangy, creamy, savory, and bright. A touch of red wine vinegar and chopped garlic yielded the most palate pleasing spaghetti I’ve made to date. We were able to put the basil plant we’ve been growing by our dining room window to good use in the dish. I served the spaghetti alongside a simple minty orange fruit salad and the easiest chocolate almond pudding topped with a sprinkle of coconut flakes. Once all of the elements of the meal were complete, I poured Kevin and I a glass of our favorite accompaniment (green tea) to help wash everything down. All of the bright flavors in the pasta and fruit salad along with the indulgent chocolate dessert brought back memories of the amazing food we had in Italy. We definitely hope to be able to return back to Italy in the near future.
More Virtual Hangouts and Revisiting Some of My Favorite Recipes Including Egg Rolls and Braised Pork Rice
May 9, 2020
I woke up this morning with the most intense cravings for egg rolls, braised pork rice, and milk tea after an evening of virtual hangouts to celebrate Kevin’s birthday. Kevin’s close friend, Clay, had arranged a virtual hangout through Houseparty with some of Kevin’s closest friends in Ohio. We spent a few hours playing a digital version of Mysterium, a board game popular amongst our friends. I still prefer the physical game, but with the social distancing, the digital game sufficed. By the time 10:00 p.m. rolled around, I was ready to sleep. Kevin stayed up much later to continue playing additional digital games. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I woke up at 9:30 a.m. the next day. I finally got myself to get up off the bed when I heard my stomach grumbling. I headed straight to the kitchen to reconstitute some dried mushrooms to make some braised pork rice, a spin on the classic Taiwanese style minced pork rice. Minced pork rice was a dish I spent many years eating during my college years in Ann Arbor. The minced pork rice I ate at my favorite college tea spot always had soy braised eggs served alongside the rice bowl. Instead of braised eggs, I made some egg rolls, fried them up, and served them alongside my rice bowls. I also brewed up some tea, brought out the condensed coconut milk I’ve been obsessed with lately, and some whole milk to serve with the tea. Whenever I had minced pork rice in college, I always made sure I had some milk tea on the side. A couple spoonful of condensed coconut milk was all I needed to get the creaminess and sweetness I needed in my perfect cup of milk tea. Kevin prefers a classic milk tea with whole milk, so I brought out some whole milk for him. A few years after graduating from college, Kevin and I got engaged and made a special trip out to Ann Arbor to have our engagement photos taken. We walked through some of the same streets we used to frequent throughout our college years. Much to my dismay, the tea spot was gone. I was bummed to not be able to have a bowl of minced pork rice and glass of strawberry milk bubble tea again from my favorite tea spot. To this day, I still have intense cravings for minced pork rice. Luckily, my braised pork rice works wonders to satisfy my cravings for minced pork rice whenever the cravings kicked in. The combination of flavors has been ingrained in my memory after eating and making the dish all of these years. Today, I made a simplified version using red onions instead of shallots. I halved the ingredients in my typical braised pork rice recipe, omitted the eggs, and made egg rolls to serve on the side instead. For the egg rolls, I also simplified the list of ingredients I typically add when making egg rolls to accommodate the ingredients I did have on hand. My simplified eggs rolls featured a blend of cabbage, carrots, scallions, and aromatics. The throwback meal was just what we needed to start the weekend off on the right foot.
More Birthday Celebrations, Simple Spring Meals, and Confetti Pistachio Chocolate Balls
May 6, 2020
Tomorrow is Kevin’s birthday. To celebrate, I have been making him some of his favorite foods throughout the week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like many of the occasions during the last few months, we have been celebrating together indoors. Kevin’s idea of the perfect birthday is one where he gets to relax at home, enjoy some good food, and catch up on gaming. This year, his birthday landed on a week day. This means he will likely be glued to his work laptop for the entire day. I had already anticipated the upcoming busy week and prepared celebratory treats all week long. Sunday brunch included some roasted cauliflower tossed in an orange soy glaze, a rustic blueberry galette, toasted bread with butter, raspberry kale smoothies, and confetti pistachio chocolate balls. Sunday dinner featured sausage, mushroom, and arugula pizza, homemade granola, and confetti shakes. Monday dinner included more confetti pistachio chocolate balls, and a whole roasted chicken. I saved the bones from the roasted chicken to make a concentrated stock for chicken noodle soup the following day. Tuesday dinner featured a confetti version of my sweet bread and confetti waffles. Today, we enjoyed some calzones using leftover pizza dough,, from Sunday dinner and of course more confetti pistachio chocolate balls. By this point of the week, I’m all confetti-ed out. My confetti pistachio chocolate balls were so good, I just had to share the recipe. Kevin isn’t huge on cakes or heavy desserts, so confetti pistachio chocolate balls were the perfect birthday treat for him. As we were enjoying all of the celebratory treats this week, we reminisced on all of the adventures we’ve had over the years. We’ve explored the warm tropics of several Southeast Asian countries, spent countless holidays in New York visiting my family, jetted to Hong Kong every other year to visit his family, cruised through the Bahamas for our mini-moon, flew to Italy to celebrate our honeymoon, and traveled to see some of the best parts of the United States. Although we probably won’t be able to travel in the immediate future with everything going on in the world, we still made some tentative plans to see other parts of the world as soon as we can. In the meantime, we will just participate in virtual tours to see some of the best sites throughout the world.
Birthday Celebrations, Veggie Pot Pies, Smoothies, and Spicy Chicken Salad
Today is my 30th birthday. My birthday this year is especially exciting because it marks the end of my twenties and start of my thirties. I spent some time reflecting on all of the milestones from my twenties. Thinking back, I still can’t believe how many adventures I packed into a decade. I’ve been able to live in three different states in the Midwest (Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio) and met some of the most wonderful and genuine people in all of the places I’ve lived. This year, with everything going on in the world, I celebrated my birthday with Kevin at home. We have been spending a lot of time at home rotating among working, sleeping, cooking, eating, reading, writing, and watching television. When the weather is nice outside, we sometimes go for a short, brisk walk. Most of the time, when I have some free time, I turn to the kitchen to experiment with cooking up new dishes. For my birthday this year, Kevin and I celebrated with a simple meal filled with some veggie pot pies, layered fruit smoothies, and spicy chicken salad. Chicken salad is one of my favorite dishes to whip up for a simple, flavor packed lunch. I typically make it when I roast a whole chicken in the oven. Kevin and I would enjoy some of the roasted chicken for dinner, shred the remaining chicken meat to use for chicken salad, and reserve the rest of the bones from the chicken to make stock. This way, I can ensure no parts of the chicken would go to waste. My go-to chicken salad is usually either traditional chicken salad or curried chicken salad. A couple weeks ago, I made the most splendid spicy chicken salad entirely by accident. I had roasted a whole chicken the day before, prepared some stock, and made some chicken salad. The next day, after letting the chicken salad rest in the refrigerator overnight, I served up a large scoop of chicken salad for lunch with some arugula and crusty bread. The chicken salad was wonderful on its own, but I wanted a spicy kick, so I drizzled on some sriracha. The moment I bit into the chicken salad, I knew I created a magical combination of flavors. The sriracha added the perfect kick to the chicken salad without being overly spicy. The mayo mellowed out the heat from the sriracha. The end result was the perfect combination of textures and flavors. Yesterday, I was craving chicken salad again. Instead of using a whole roasted chicken, I just roasted some chicken breasts in the oven. While the chicken breasts were cooling, I chopped up the rest of the veggies, tossed in the dried cranberries, mixed everything together, and chilled the chicken salad in the refrigerator until the next day. I like to prepare chicken salad at least one day in advance to allow the flavors within the chicken salad to deepen. With the chicken salad chilling in the refrigerator overnight, I just needed to prepare some veggie pot pies and fruit smoothies this morning for our celebratory brunch.
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Upcoming Birthday Celebrations, My Homemade Spin on Baked Pork Buns, and Milk Tea Floats
April 26, 2020
In the upcoming two weeks, Kevin and I will be celebrating our birthdays. This birthday is an especially important birthday for me because it marks the end of one decade and a start of another. I will be celebrating with family and friends virtually instead of in person and have already been brainstorming dishes to make using mostly pantry ingredients I have at home. Last week, I made the most marvelous baked bread filled with raisins to serve for brunch. The bread turned out beyond beautiful, extremely fluffy, and perfectly golden. I thought why not use the dough as a base to make one of my all-time favorite snacks, baked pork buns. Yesterday, I made some light tweaks to the ratios in the dough and had the perfect base to work with for my pork buns. My baked pork buns are a loose adaptation of char siu baos, one of my favorite bakery breads. It is the one baked good I always order during dim sum no matter where I am. Earlier this year, Kevin and I traveled to Hong Kong to visit family. The very next day of our arrival in Hong Kong, we enjoyed dim sum at a restaurant in Pacific Place. The first dish off the menu I ordered was char siu baos. Kevin didn’t mind at all because he also loved char siu baos — especially the baked ones. I love both the baked and steamed char siu baos. I even tested out a steamed version using chicken a few months ago. With both of our birthdays coming up soon, I thought why not recreate one of our favorite baked goods at home. I prepared a dough similar to the dough I used for my raisin bread for the buns and pork chops I had on hand for the filling. After preparing the dough, I left it to rise undisturbed for an hour as I moved onto the filling. The filling featured some cooked pork chops, diced onion, garlic, and my mom’s ever so popular all-purpose sauce. Combine the cooked ingredients with a simple slurry and the filling came together rather quickly. I left the filling to cool as I waited for the dough to finish rising. Once the dough was ready, I got right to work to create the most magical homemade pork buns in the kitchen. The moment the baos came out of the oven, both Kevin and I had the widest grins on our face. One bite into the baos and we tasted success. My pork buns had a perfectly golden exterior, fluffy interior, and the most delicious filling. The meal, of course, was not complete unless we had some milk tea on the side. Instead of traditional milk tea, I prepared some milk tea floats. They’re actually just tea floats, but milk tea floats sounded better. My milk tea floats are a loose interpretation of the milk tea shakes Kevin and I both had at Shake Shack on our trip to Hong Kong earlier this year. The moment I saw this drink on the menu at Shake Shack in Hong Kong, I just knew I had to have one. It was such a simple, yet delicious drink, I can’t believe I haven’t thought of the idea before. My version features a concentrated hot tea poured over scoops of vanilla ice cream (kind of like affogato). Baked pork buns and milk tea floats were the perfect early birthday celebration meal for Kevin and I.