October 10, 2021

Fall weather has arrived. I can feel the crisp, cool weather all around me as I stroll through the streets. I have even begun dusting off my fall sweaters and preparing to wear them throughout the season. Fall time is the best time to enjoy cozy, warm foods and spiced drinks. One of my favorite foods to make pretty much year-round, but especially during the fall time is dumplings. My usual go-to dumplings are my pork and cabbage dumplings. They are a family (and friend) favorite in our household. Dumplings are one of those food items where both Kev and I ate tons of growing up. Kev grew up in Hong Kong, so his experience with dumplings differs quite a bit from my own experience. Kev’s favorite dumplings of all time will forever be soup dumplings. He would order soup dumplings whenever and wherever the opportunity arises. For me, I prefer traditional pork dumplings served both fried and steamed. My experience with dumplings was heavily influenced by the variety of dumplings I ate growing up in New York City. I would hop onto the train and take it straight into Chinatown just so I can enjoy some steaming hot dumplings from any one of the restaurants throughout Chinatown. Even on days where I chose not to head straight to Chinatown for dumplings, I usually could access equally good dumplings in the Brooklyn neighborhood where I grew up. My family loved dumplings. They would order them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner whenever the opportunity arises. The popular options served in the restaurants I grew up eating at were usually pork, vegetable, or crab. While I enjoy all three, my favorite is still pork dumplings. These plump juicy gems are always a welcome addition to the dining table. Lately though, I’ve been making a version of dumplings featuring a blend of mushrooms, ground chicken, and aromatics. The composition of a truly good dumpling is a thin wrapper (although I do prefer a thicker wrapper at times) and a juicy filling. Pairing ground meat with a watery vegetable usually does the trick. You get the juiciness of the dumplings from the combination of the ground pork and watery cabbage. Those features are what make pork and cabbage dumplings so good. Since ground chicken is a leaner meat, pairing the ground chicken with a juicy mushroom achieves the same juicy effect. My mushroom of choice is of course dried shiitake mushrooms. The dried variety has a stronger punch of flavor and pairs perfectly with the ground chicken once the mushrooms are reconstituted in some water. The rest of the filling for the dumplings are rounded out with the Asian trifecta of ginger, garlic, and scallion, and a variety of sauces and seasonings to pack in a flavorful punch. My favorite way to cook the dumplings is to fry and steam them in a large pan. I start out with a layer of cooking oil, transfer in the dumplings one by one, let them crisp up at the bottom, add water to steam the dumplings, let the water evaporate, and let the dumplings fry a little bit longer before serving them up. The dipping sauce for the dumplings is always a blend of vinegar and soy sauce with optional garnishes added to brighten up the dipping sauce. These dumplings are so good, we just cannot get enough of them in our household. Even though soup dumplings and traditional pork dumplings still hold the first rank in Kev’s heart, he is slowly beginning to make room in his heart for these mushroom and chicken dumplings. The balance of flavors and textures within these dumplings is what makes them truly delicious.

September 12, 2021

The arrival of September means the start of football season. We’ve been waiting anxiously for the start of football season after Michigan’s performance last year. So far, the first couple of games have resulted in wins. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the remainder of the season as we face other opponents in our conference. In between watching football games, Kev and I have been doing some pre-fall cleaning in our home. We have some major changes coming up in the near future and needed to prioritize cleaning our home. It always seems a lot easier to accumulate stuff than to toss stuff out. I have to confess I have such a hard time tossing out (and donating) old clothes. During these busier days ahead, I’ve been turning to a dish I make a lot of on busy days, congee. Mushroom congee slow cooked and served with carrot scallion pancakes to be exact. Congee is something both Kev and I ate a lot of growing up even though we both grew up on opposite sides of the world. Kev grew up eating the variations of congee offered in the many shops available throughout Hong Kong. I grew up eating many versions of congee made by my family and influenced by the shops available throughout New York City. My grandparents and parents made congee almost weekly for me throughout my childhood and teenage years. Our household favorite version of congee is usually thousand-year egg and salted pork congee topped with roasted peanuts. It is one of the more popular versions of congee sold at shops throughout New York City’s Chinatown. This version of congee is very nostalgic for me and often reminds me of the childhood memories I had of my grandparents. These days, I often turn to simpler versions of congee as a way to save time. One of my go-to versions of congee is a variation of congee using dong gu (a.k.a. dried shiitake mushroom). I love cooking with dried shiitake mushrooms because of the deep, savory flavor imparted by the dried mushrooms into dishes. All I need to do is to toss in a handful of reconstituted dried whole mushrooms into a pot of congee and let it cook low and slow until ready to serve. With the addition of the dried mushrooms and some kosher salt, I get a delicious, savory pot of congee. Depending on my mood, I may or may not top my congee with even more toppings such as hard-boiled eggs, shredded chicken, diced char siu, chopped cilantro, sliced scallions, and a drizzle of my grandfather’s favorite oil and sauces – sesame oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. He swears by the trio of oil and sauces when serving up congee since they add depth and intensity of flavor to any bowl of congee. If I’m short on time, I usually just toss the ingredients into a slow cooker and let the slow cooker do all of the work for the congee overnight for an easy (set it and forget it) version of congee. On weekends, when I have more time to cook, I tend to cook the congee low and slow over a stovetop. This method does require more care as I need to stir the congee over the stovetop occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot. There is no other comfort food in our household like a bowl of warm congee topped with my grandfather’s trio of oil and sauces to help warm the soul. Making this dish always brings back heartwarming memories of the endless variations of congees my family used to make for me growing up. My family usually serves up congee with a heavy helping of you tiao, a type of Chinese fried dough usually in the form of sticks. We would dip the you tiao into our bowls of congee and eat the congee soaked you tiao for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I prefer serving some form of savory pancakes with my congee. My latest addiction to serve with congee is carrot scallion pancakes. These savory pancakes make for a super easy, savory, crispy, and addicting side to serve with a warming bowl of congee.

August 30, 2021

Summer time is also the perfect time to make a variety of refreshing salads. One of my more recent favorite salads was very loosely inspired by a salad I had last month at Ladybird in New York City. I had returned back to New York to visit family and ended up heading to the city to have lunch with my little brother at Ladybird, a vegan restaurant I have been eyeing from afar for quite some time now. We enjoyed a variety of vegan tapas from baos to mac & cheese. Out of all the items I had on the menu, the summer salad was my absolute favorite dish. All of the seasonal ingredients came together into a remarkably simple, yet super refreshing and tasty salad. I couldn’t quite forget the flavors I tasted within the salad and made a mental note to try to recreate it when I got back to Ohio. When I made the refreshing summer salad at home, I did deviate from the version I had at Ladybird quite a bit. My version featured a refreshing blend of diced cucumber, peach, nectarine, orange, and strawberries tossed with a squeeze of lemon juice. Crushed pistachios, caraway seeds, and thinly sliced mint leaves are added at the very end to give the refreshing summer salad some crunch and fragrance. My variation of the refreshing summer salad made for the perfect accompaniment to heavier main dishes. I served it alongside roasted meats, grilled bread, and chicken salad. I love the versatility of the salad and would swap in other seasonal fruits I had on hand when making it. The summer salad does take some time to prep, but I promise the end result is so worth the extra effort of prepping the ingredients. I’ve become so addicted to this summer salad, I found myself coming back to it time and time again over the last month. Even after returning from our summer travels, I am still thinking of the summer salad. Kevin loves to enjoy this summer salad alongside heavier summer dishes. This way, he can feel better about eating a more balanced meal. I’m okay with just enjoying this summer salad with some grilled bread as a light lunch or snack.

August 14, 2021

We are in the midst of summer heat as we enter the middle of August. The month of August has been spent recovering from our travels last month. Kev and I hosted some friends in our home and then traveled to visit family and friends in New York and Boston. We had a blast reconnecting with family and friends, cooking and eating delicious food, and relaxing a bit before returning back to the daily grind. In my last post, I shared a tried-and-true recipe for my barbecue spare ribs, a dish I often make for family and friends throughout summer gatherings. In the same post, I shared photos of side dishes I love to serve with my barbecue spare ribs. One of those side dishes – which has become a favorite in our household – is jalapeño macaroni and cheese. I developed the recipe for my jalapeño macaroni and cheese on a whim one day. I was short on time and needed to get dinner to the dining table ASAP. I could not decide what I wanted to eat and just ended up staring deep into my pantry and refrigerator for inspiration. I kept staring until inspiration finally struck. I would combine the jalapeños I had lying around in the refrigerator (after making bánh mì) and the cheddar cheese powder I had left over (from making my twist on Chicago mix popcorn) together to make jalapeño macaroni and cheese. Thus, my recipe for jalapeño macaroni and cheese was born. Jalapeño macaroni and cheese is one of the easiest and cheesiest ideas for macaroni and cheese. It requires just a few ingredients and comes together very quickly. The jalapeños give the macaroni and cheese a kick and pairs nicely with the creamy cheese. The combination of flavors was in part inspired by the addictive jalapeño cheddar flavored Cheetos I used to eat back in my college days. I lost count of how many bags of those addictive snacks I ate throughout my college years. When I got older, I tried my very best to refrain from eating the addicting puffed corn snacks as much as I could (because of health). Yet, I still find myself reaching for the snack whenever the opportunity arises in vending machines. When making my jalapeño macaroni and cheese, I thought back to the flavor profile of the jalapeño cheddar Cheetos as inspiration. For the jalapeño macaroni and cheese, I opted for the cavatappi or cellentani pasta shape because of how well the pasta shape holds in heavy sauces. The first time I made jalapeño macaroni and cheese using the cheese powder, I poured in some water to help create the smooth cheese consistency. The second and third time I made jalapeño macaroni and cheese, I went straight for milk for a creamier consistency. I sometimes add in half milk and half water depending on the day. The easiest part of my jalapeño macaroni and cheese is it only requires one pot to prepare from start to finish. I start off with a large pot of water. The water is brought to a boil. I add in some kosher salt and gently toss in the dry pasta. I follow the instructions on the package of pasta and cook until al dente perfection. I drain out most of the starchy pasta water leaving about ¼ cup of starchy pasta water in the pot. I then sprinkle in the cheddar cheese powder, some parmesan cheese powder, kosher salt as needed, and jalapeño slices. Depending on how much heat my guests can withstand, I decide how much of the seeds to remove from the jalapeño ahead of time. In less than 30 minutes, a super easy, quick, and delicious jalapeño macaroni and cheese can be brought to the dinner table.

July 31, 2021

July has been a busy month in our family. I started the month off deep in recipe development mode and experimented with putting new spins on some of my favorite summer foods. Some of those delightful creations include my strawberry, chocolate, and hazelnut date bars loosely inspired by my love for Lärabars and a summer vegetable garden tart inspired by beautiful images I’ve seen all over the internet of garden focaccia. In between cooking, baking, general work and home projects, Kev and I also squeezed in some time to host some friends for a week at our home and travel to see family and friends on the East coast. I was eager to see two of my close friends when they visited a few weeks ago. My close childhood friends, Ada and Colleen, traveled to Ohio to visit me and check out some of the fun attractions in Ohio. We spent some time enjoying the delicious baked treats at Findlay Market early Sunday morning and then enjoyed a light lunch at Pho Lang Thang. With our bellies full, we headed to the Cincinnati Art Museum to check out some of the cool new exhibits before making our way to Jungle Jim’s for a grocery shopping experience. Ada was especially excited to check out the options at Jungle Jim’s. Colleen was just excited to see what kind of kitchen creations we would come up with after the grocery trip. We picked up enough groceries to last us for the whole week. For dinner on Sunday, Ada prepared some lobster rolls complete with lobster bisque – two dishes I absolutely adore, but don’t have the opportunity to enjoy too often. Ada, who lives in Maine, is able to access these decadent dishes fairly easily. I asked Ada to prepare some of her favorite versions of these two dishes and she definitely did not disappoint. Even though we still had to work throughout the week, we were able to enjoy dinner together every weeknight and squeeze in a board game each night for the entire week. When Thursday rolled around, we celebrated Ada’s birthday in the evening, packed our bags for our trip back home to New York City, and chatted into the late evening and early morning.

July 16, 2021

We are in the midst of summer in Ohio. Summer in Ohio is when a lot of produce is at its peak of freshness. It’s the perfect time to incorporate as many fresh fruits and veggies into the food I cook as I can. I’ve been seeing a lot of amazing garden focaccia floating around the internet and felt inspired to create my own version. Instead of a garden focaccia, I opted to make a garden tart featuring spears of fresh asparagus, slices of beautiful heirloom tomatoes, discs of colorful baby potatoes, and rounds of jalapeños. The vegetables are sliced, trimmed, and arranged artfully over a canvas of homemade pie dough. The pie dough is then baked into a stunning tart making for both a stunning and delicious summer meal. Summer vegetable tarts are one of my favorite easy meals to whip together during busy weeks. This month has been especially busy in our household with projects at work picking up, family and friends visiting, and home appliances needing to be fixed. When it comes to busier days, I like to find ways to make simple, homemade meals using as little effort as possible. This is where my garden tart comes in. Not only is it super easy to pull together, it also makes for a tasty main dish. I just freehand the design using some of the produce I have on hand, bake up the tart, and serve the delicious dinner on the same sheet pan I baked the tart in. As long as I prep some pie dough ahead of time, slice up some veggies, and prepare the oven, the tart comes together fairly quickly. Usually, I like to make my tomato pesto tart during the summer using the fresh basil I’ve been growing in my AeroGarden and some heirloom tomatoes I pick up from the local supermarket. Making a simple pesto is beyond easy when I had some basil growing wildly in my AeroGarden. Pesto is not absolutely necessary to add in a tart, but it sure does make for an even tastier tart. I would often round the rest of my meal off with a combination of sliced up summer fruits and chopped mint. Mangoes, peaches, nectarines, citrus fruits, and even berries would often make it into the fruit salad. For my vegetable garden tart though, I deviated slightly from the tomato pesto tart I usually make. Instead of spreading a tasty green layer of pesto onto the pie dough, I just sprinkle on some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, kosher salt, and pepper. That’s it. The rest of the flavor in the tart comes directly from the seasonal produce. Making a tart is also a great way to use up some leftover tomatoes from making sandwiches and jalapeño from making crispy tofu bánh mì. For Kevin, the quicker the dinner goes from the kitchen to table, the better. My garden vegetable tart is one of those dishes where it’s impossible to mess up. It comes straight from the oven to table in almost no time. The tart is perfect on its own, but can also be made into a more substantial meal when served alongside some oven baked chicken wings, a simple minty fruit salad, and some iced tea. A summer vegetable garden tart is a tasty dinner waiting to be customized to one’s own liking. I can honestly say it has saved me on many occasions when it comes to getting a quick meal onto the table.

June 10, 2021

We have reached the peak of warm weather heading into June. June in Ohio is usually when the weather begins to settle into its warm rhythm. Kevin and I have been taking advantage of the warm weather by going on longer walks whenever we get a chance. One of my favorite activities other than going for leisurely strolls is to pack some food and head to the local park for an afternoon picnic. Right by where we live is a beautiful park with walking trails, picnic tables, and ponds for fishing. I have been using the warmer weather as the motivation to pack food into portable containers and take them along with us to enjoy at the park. My latest food obsession has been putting a spin on the classic bánh mì. Recently, I’ve been building a lot of crispy tofu bánh mì sandwiches featuring layers of homemade pickled daikon and carrots, jalapeño peppers, fresh cilantro, and crispy tofu slices topped with coconut cream, sriracha, and hoisin sauce. A light squeeze of lime juice at the very end adds the perfect brightness and tang to the sandwich. I ate tons of bánh mì sandwiches growing up in Brooklyn. Just a few blocks away from the home where I grew up in Brooklyn was a Vietnamese restaurant well known for its classic pho, grilled meats, stews, vermicelli bowls, rolls, and bánh mì. While I loved each and every dish I had at the restaurant (especially the spring rolls), the bánh mì in particular was a favorite lunch item for most customers. The bánh mì was always packed with tons of fresh aromatics, a protein of choice, and the crispiest and fluffiest bread you can imagine. Plus, it was portable. Many customers would swing by to order the bánh mì and take it along with them for a quick, satisfying lunch. My appreciation for bánh mì only magnified when Kevin and I traveled to Da Nang, Vietnam a few years back during a family trip. We dined amongst locals and had the opportunity to enjoy some of the most authentic, satisfying Vietnamese foods ever. Out of everything we ate, I still gravitated towards the bánh mì. The combination of aromatic herbs, sweet and tangy veggies, grilled meats, and spicy, creamy sauce brought the whole sandwich together. I still think back fondly to those aromas and flavors long after our trip abroad. When recreating the bánh mì at home, I made sure to include all of the elements and textures into the sandwiches. I prepared the pickled daikon and carrots the day before. I mixed together the ingredients for the bread the evening before. I prewashed and precut all of the remaining ingredients the morning of. Making the bánh mì sandwich from scratch does take some time, but the end result is a super satisfying sandwich. Traditional bánh mì uses a crusty baguette. For my version, I substituted in one of my go-to equally tasty bread recipes. Instead of traditional grilled meat, I subbed in a super easy crispy tofu coated in a seasoned cornstarch mixture and fried into crispy thick slices. The combination of the ingredients, flavors, and textures really does tie the whole sandwich together and makes for the perfect summer sandwich. To round out the rest of the picnic, I just had to pack along a simple cilantro lime corn salad, whole apples, watermelon wedges, my fav cheese crackers, and my white chocolate chip coconut cookies. Add in some frozen bottled water, sparkling juices, and condiments (sriracha and hoisin of course) and our perfect summer picnic was complete.