Sorry I haven’t updated my blog for ages. Life has changed quite a bit since I last updated here. I am now living in Paris and will start my first class at Le Cordon Bleu next Monday. I am very excited about my new adventure. My kitchen here won’t allow me to make too many fancy dishes here, but I am sure Paris has more to offer than my home cooking. So I will keep you all updated of my life in Paris.

Here are some photos I took today. Also I went to a quite nice Japanese restaurant near my apartment and would like to share those photos with you too.

Here’s the restaurant info:

Restaurant KURA

56 Rue de Boulainvilliers 75016 Paris

Tel: 01 45 20 18 32

Movie Quotes – Beginners

Hal: Well let’s say… let’s say since you were little, and you’ve always dreamed of someday getting a lion. And you wait, and you wait, and you wait, and you wait and the lion doesn’t come. Then along comes a giraffe. You can be alone, or you can be with the giraffe.

Oliver: I’d wait for the lion.

Hal: That’s why I worry about you

I have wanted to learn how to make this miso carrots after we had it at Myers + Chang for the first time. I have lost count of my attempts of making it. Just when I almost give up, I saw this red miso carrots recipe Joanne Change shared on Food and Wine 2011 cookbook! Nav and I were so thrilled when we saw this recipe. We tried and made some modifications. Here’s the version we like:

Miso Carrots

1 pound carrots, thickly sliced (about 1/3 inch thick)

1/4 cup red miso paste

3 tablespoons butter, room temperature

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

3 spring onions, thinly sliced

Method:

1. Cook the carrots in a large pot of boiling water for two minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add the carrots and cook over high heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Mix miso paste with butter, brown sugar and spring onions.

4. Add the miso butter to the carrots and toss until evenly coated.

5. Put the carrot in an oven-proof pan and roast in 425F oven for 20 minutes.

6. Transfer to a nice plate and serve. Enjoy!

It’s this time of the year again. Summer is over, the weather starts to get cold. It’s the time to have a bowl of nice and spicy beef noodle soup….

So I did something stupid yesterday. I accidentally deleted my blog database. I didn’t realize how much this blog means to me until I nearly lose it.

Chef Isaac came to cook in our kitchen this Monday. Because everything was happened too fast, there’s no recipes being written. Next time I will remember to take notes. Thankfully I snapped some photos of this delicious meal. Thank you for a lovely evening. Isaac!

I don’t know about you, but for me, store bought mayonnaise has a very strange taste that I really don’t like. I love making my own mayo. It sounds hard, but actually you only need three simple ingredients – egg yolk, oil and lemon juice, to make your own mayo at home. It only takes 40 seconds to make it and it tastes 40 times better than the supermarket one.  Aioli is garlic mayonnaise, popular in southern France and usually used as sandwich spread or fries dip. Today I happen to have some basil on hand, so I am making this basil aioli to go with Mahi Mahi. Another simple sauce for your favorite fish.

Pickled cucumbers are the best side dish on the humid hot summer day. It’s very easy to make and goes well with almost everything. Make some and put in the fridge, I am sure this will be your favorite summer side dish.

All right, I have to confess: I am a picky eater. Without the right kind of food, I can’t function normally. By right kind of food I mean “real” or “raw” food. By just having over-processed food over my camping trip for two weeks, I find myself constantly in a bad mood, bad temper and lack of energy during that period of time. I was shocked when I saw those unpleasant photos of me from my trip. I feel so sorry for all my fellow campers. The real Yen is way more lovely than you saw at the campground. Now I know myself better. Next time, I will have Bircher Muesli the whole time. I am sure I will be a much happier energetic and easy going person.

What’s Bircher Muesli? I have never heard of it until Nav mentioned it the other day. By googling it, I get some background information about this. Just in case you are as curious as I am, here’s what I found. Muesli was originally invented in 1900 by Swiss doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital. Dr. Bircher-Benner did not call his oat and fruit concoction muesli–the name appeared later and is derived from an old German word for “stew”–but rather referred to it as the “apple diet dish.” His method called for combining a small amount of oat flakes and water with chopped apples, lemon juice, condensed milk or cream, honey and chopped nuts. He claimed that the mixture contained the same protein, fat and carbohydrate proportions as mother’s milk.

So here’s my first attempt of making Bircher Muesli. Although this is not exactly the same as the original recipe, I suppose the protein, fat and carb proportion is not similar to mother’s milk either. However, I don’t think you can go wrong with combining all the raw and healthy ingredients together. A bowl of chilled muesli is refreshing, especially for this hot summer day. I am sure Bircher Muesli will be a regular on my breakfast table. Hope it will be on yours too.

Bircher Muesli

1 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (don’t use quick oats)

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 1/4 cup milk

1 apple, grated

Greek yogurt

Fresh fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, peaches, or bananas.

Honey or maple syrup

Toasted almonds or walnuts

Method:

1. Combine oats, cranberries, milk and grated apple in a large bowl and stir together. Cover and chill overnight. This mixture can keep in the fridge up to 3 days.

2. In the morning, combine 1/2 cup of muesli mix with yogurt, honey, fresh fruit and then sprinkle with almonds.

3. Super yummy and healthy!

This green bean dish is very addictive. Ever since I had it at thanksgiving last year, I can’t get this green bean out of my mind. What makes this green bean so great, you asked? Butter. Lots of it. Don’t roll your eye just yet. Give it a try. Butter is not bad for you. What kills you is the portion size. I am not a big fan of green beans, but I love this dish. Can’t tell you how great it is. You have to try it yourself.

I am now sitting here at my favorite spot at home, a comfy sofa by the window. Looking out is the stunning sunset right above Charles river. How lucky I am! I said to myself. No need to travel thousands of miles. This beautiful view is just right outside of my window. Good food with good view. Ah…life is good.

I was on vacation in the past two weeks – went camping at Canadian Rockies. I had a lot of fun camping and meeting new friends. I also enjoyed the stunning and beautiful scenery at Rockies very much. It was a very nice vacation indeed.

Some photos to share with y’all:

Rick called Nav this morning saying he made it to my blog. I am flattered by the fact that he is actually reading my blog! How can I not to blog the wonderful Indian tea Rick and Satnam taught me how to make. Thanks for your visit, Rick and Satnam. It’s very nice meeting you both. I am the lucky one who gets to try the delicious Indian tea. Please come visit again. Next time, I will make some spicy Taiwanese dishes for you both.

Two of Nav’s childhood friends come visit this weekend. They both are very nice and it’s always good to see Nav happy. I remembered I made cinnamon buns years ago, and it came out really nice. So I thought I will make them again today. To be perfectly honest, the cinnamon buns didn’t come out the way I wanted it to be. It’s a bit too dry and too doughy. I usually don’t put those not so perfect recipes on the blog as I think it’s not worth it. However, I think this blog is more for me to record the stories behind food than just to share recipes. Life is not perfect, but it’s still memorable and enjoyable. Even though the cinnamon buns didn’t come out great, but we still have some good laugh of that translator youtube video, some good chat with some really good Indian tea (thanks Rick!)

Here are some photos of the cinnamon buns and the really good Indian tea. No recipe here,of course, it’s not good enough to put on my blog.

The main dish we made was Coquilles Saint Jacques. It’s french, of course, but not as complicated as beef bourguignon or coq au vin. We finished this dish in 3o minutes. Nice and easy and tasty. The recipe is from French Food at Home at Cooking Channel.  We were very pleased with the result. Big success of trying this new french food recipe!

Two of my new friends Alison and Linh came over to cook dinner together! It’s fun to go to your friend’s dinner party, but it’s even better to cook with them. We had a blast tonight.

Here’s our menu:

Salade de Roquette, Vinaigrette d’Echalote et Amandes Toastées

Coquilles Saint Jacques

Banana Bread

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

Last month, my article was published on one of the famous blog in Taiwan. All of a sudden, thousands more hits start flowing into my chinese blog. On top of that, because my article got selected, the author even gave me one of her latest book and some handmade bookmarks as a prize. How wonderful is that!  There’s one quote on the bookmark I really like, I think it’s from Roy Croft:

“I love you not only because of who you are, but also because of who I am when I am with you.”

Indeed, who we are with really make a big difference of what we have become. I have always loved cooking and baking. But it’s not until recently, I start to feel comfortable of my ability of putting together something decent. I guess Nav’s support and inspiration really help me to push myself to the next level.

Our focus lately is to cook and eat healthy. Therefore, quinoa is a regular on our dining table. Basil chicken is Nav’s favorite Taiwanese dish. So I combine these two together, create this basil chicken quinoa recipe. Don’t laugh, it’s actually very tasty! One of the key ingredient of making this dish is Thai Basil, which is available at chinese supermarkets. Thai basil has a very distinctive flavor that sweet basil doesn’t have, so these two are not interchangeable. Once you get the Thai basil, you are half way there of making a delicious taiwanese basil chicken (or some people called it three cup chicken).

One of the popular ingredient on Kripalu’s menu is “quinoa”. My friend Mike, who is very into healthy cooking and eating, has been raving about quinoa for a long time. The recipe below was my first attempt of making quinoa, and it came out really nice. (yay!) When we were at Kripalu last weekend, we sampled so many different quinoa dishes. Now I feel more comfortable with this ingredient. I think I will include quinoa in my daily cooking more often.

Some background information about quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah): Technically quinoa is not a true grain, but is the seed of the Goosefoot plant. Therefore, quinoa is gluten-free. Quinoa is high in protein (about 12%-18%), calcium and iron. It contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development in humans. Of course there are some other good things about quinoa I didn’t mention here. If you are interested in reading pages and pages of research on quinoa, I am sure you can easily find it online. To me, I think the information above is good enough. Honestly, I am more interested in learning how to cook it and eat it than reading it.

The recipe is originally from allrecipe.com (with 1,518 positive reviews. you really can’t go wrong with that). But if you read my blog often (hello, mom!), you know I like to change recipes a bit. So here’s my version of making quinoa with beans:

I have been super busy in the past couple days – went to Kripalu yoga center for the weekend, NYC for two days, preparing my photography final portfolio, and etc… I was too busy to cook, too busy to blog, even too busy to think in the past two weeks. Finally, everything seems to quiet down a bit. On my way to work today, my brain start thinking and I have something to say from the bottom of my heart.

If the world ends on Saturday, (which we all know is NOT gonna happen. Sorry God, no offense), what would you do? Party all night, dance all night or drink all night?

In my favorite book, Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie said “Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?… The truth is once you learn how to die, you learn how to live; Most of us walk around as if we were sleepwalking. We really don’t experience the world fully because we are half asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do; Learn how to die, and you learn how to live.”

Yes, learn how to die, and you learn how to live. We don’t need to wait until the day before we die to do or say things we always wanted to say, always wanted to do. If the world ends on Saturday, I want to say thank you to all the people who have shown up in my life. My life is colorful and meaningful because of y’all. I am grateful to have the best family in the world, best friends around me, and the best boss ever (yes, it’s you, Mark. I am not saying this because you might read my blog. I am saying this from the bottom of my heart). Last but not least, I want to say I love you to all the people I love, especially you, Nav!

Here’s the final portfolio I put together for my photography class, which will be criticized by all my classmates tonight. Hopefully they won’t be too harsh on me…

Pound cake is traditionally made with a pound of butter, flour, sugar and eggs. According to Wikipedia, there are many different styles of pound cake: Southern style pound cake is usually a staple at picnic and potlucks; British style pound cake is usually with dried fruit, therefore, it’s tenser and heavier than the American style one. French style pound cake usually contains some lemon juice or chocolate.

No matter which style of pound cake you are making, the basics are more or less the same – same ratio of flour, eggs, sugar and butter. However, it’s not easy to make a light and fluffy pound cake. I have read and heard so many different tips regarding how to make a perfect pound cake. Some people say using chilled eggs, butter and sugar, while others say using room temperature ones. I had good results with both methods, so I can’t tell you which one is correct.

The recipe I am using today is from Flour bakery cookbook. I am a big fan of Flour bakery. In this recipe, Joanne Chang showed us another tip of making pound cake – whipping  eggs and sugar until light and fluffy and then mix in melted butter and heavy cream. I really like this method and I will apply this to some of my own cake recipes as well. Thank you Joanne! You made my life easier!

The Chilean sea bass I got at whole foods was fantastic. Tonight I follow Gordon Ramsay’s recipe and it came out even nicer than my sun-dried tomatoes creation. I guess that explains why he has been awarded 12 Michelin Stars and I haven’t.  Anyhow, the combination is just brilliant. And it takes no more than 15 minutes to make this dish. If you see a good cut of Chilean sea bass in your supermarket, you have to give this recipe a try. Nav and I enjoyed this dish very much. Nav said he can really see my improvement in making savory dishes. This really made my day.  What a wonderful way to end a week. Okay, now it’s our sunday movie time. Got to go now…

Seems like my cooking skills have improved over the past year. Thanks to Nav being my guinea pig and gives me constructive feedback. Therefore, I get the chance to practice and know where and how to improve.

I remember a couple years ago when my friend Hans came visit. We made a pesto pasta and a tomato sauce pasta together. It was edible, but I won’t call it delicious. However, when he visited me a couple days ago. He was impressed by the pasta I made. He even asked me to make the pasta again before he left!  So proud of myself of the improvement and thanks nav for the inspiration!

This is one of the famous Chinese dish, just like General Tao’s chicken, this dish is named after one of the influential people in Chinese history- Su Dongpo (January 8, 1037–August 24, 1101).  Su Dongpo was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, and of course, a foodie of Song Dynasty. He was also a governor of Huangzhou, one of the poor providence in China. When he was at Huangzhou, he invented this dish for the poor people.  Pork belly was dirt cheap there, however, poor people didn’t know how to cook them. He showed them how to use simple and easy ingredients to make a delicious dish. He even wrote a poem of this pork dish. It’s kind of hard to translate ancient chinese poetry, but the main idea of this poem is – use little water and cook the pork at very low heat for a long time. You have to be patient. The pork quality is very good at Huangzhou area, however, rich people don’t like it because it’s too cheap. Poor people don’t like it because they don’t know how to cook it. If you cook it my way, you will be happy and full all the time.

I usually don’t like pork belly as it’s too greasey and flavorless. However, Dongpo Pork totally changed my opinion about pork belly. You have to try it yourself to know how good pork belly could really be. Also, bamboo shoots are the perfect match of pork belly. Definitely put some in if you can find it in the chinese market.

I must confess that I am not a creative person. This month’s daring kitchen really is a challenge for me as I need to create edible containers to put the maple moose in. So that’s what I did – I crushed Ritz cookies and mixed in one egg and then bake for 10 minutes. Voila! That’s my edible container for the month. I know, they are nothing fancy but certainly can do the trick.

I think I am getting old now.

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I made lettuce wraps this month. It’s light and delicious, good finger food for parties.

 

What a beautiful Sunday morning! For days like this, I love to make a quick and easy and healthy breakfast. Then go out to take photos, read a book and have a great cup of coffee. Ah….life is good!

We discovery this recipe at Jamie’s cookbook (thanks again Jamie). As time goes by, we are making it on the run, and never bother to pull out the recipe to measure everything as the recipe says. That’s the beauty of making savory dishes. Once you have the basic right, the rest of it is up to you.

I think I get a hang of making victoria sponge now. My victoria sponge looks prettier and prettier and taste a lot nicer than before too! Today I add some bailey’s to my victoria sponge and it came out very nice. With some simple raspberry filling. This cake is simply delicious. Nav was eating it with a big smile on his face. To me, this is the best compliment.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. Jamie found this recipe on a piece of yellowed paper in her dad’s collection of clipped out and hand-written recipes from the 1970’s, no source, no date, and she tried the recipe and it was brilliant!

It’s very nice of her sharing this special coffee cake with us. It’s unusual to have meringue in the coffee cake, but the result was lovely. I made Ria’s Indian-inspired version with saffron added to the sweet yeast bread dough and garam masala and cashews flavoring the filling. I made one with chocolate chips and the other without. Nav and I both liked the one without chocolate better as the chocolate flavor was too strong. Overall, it was a nice challenge and I look forward to the next month’s challenge.

On March 28, NY Times will start the digital subscription, which means non-subscribers can only view 20 free articles a month. I am still debating if I want to subscribe to the digital version of NY Times. In the mean time, I try to read as many diner’s journal and jot down as many recipes as I can. I came across of this seed cake in my collecting recipe process. It’s very interesting to put caraway seed in the cake. Surprisingly, it’s a perfect match. The strong caraway seed flavor balance out the eggy flavor of the cake. According to the author, this cake goes best with a glass of Madeira. I think I am going to get a bottle on my way home tomorrow!

Nav told me Jamie Oliver has a new book came out in UK and his sister really likes those recipes. It’s called Jamie’s 30-minute-meal. However, it’s not available in US yet (boo!). Good news is there are some recipes published on Jamie’s website. This indian-style steak is one of them. It’s very easy and tasty. I made this steak along with strawberry salad and some home-made naan bread for dinner. Nav and I had a feast. Thank you Jamie!

So what is “The Daring Kitchen”, you asked. Basically, you can look at it as an online cooking club. Every month, there will be a host/hostess pick a recipe for everyone to make. It’s challenging because the recipe is most likely to be something you are not familiar with and won’t make it at home otherwise.

I am excited to join this “Daring Kitchen” club and this is my first daring cooks’ challenge.

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from Peruvian Cooking Basic Recipes by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra. We, the daring cookers, can choose between the two and my pick for this month is – Papas Rellenas. I also made Salsa Criolla, the side dish recommended by the hostess.

Peruvian food is new to me, so trying out this recipe is an exciting and fun process. Also, deep frying is always in my “don’t-try-it-at-home” category. I am so proud of myself conquer the fear making deep fried food at home.

Here’s the second kind of cookies I am going to make to put in the cookie box – Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. The secret ingredients of this cookie are nutmeg and cinnamon. These two spices bring out the flavor and make this ordinary cookie alive and addictive!

Our dear friend Suzi is leaving us soon to pursue a nursing degree. It’s sad that we won’t be able to hang out with her as often after she moves away. But at the same time, I am happy for her starting a new chapter in her life. Her favorite cookies are peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies. So I am making these for her as a small farewell gift when she comes over for dinner tonight.

Creaming butter and sugar is the standard process of making cookies, however,  this recipe calls for melted butter (!) It’s unusual for a cookie recipe. But I think the melted butter really gives these cookies the melt-in-your-mouth texture. Hope Suzi will like those cookies.

Allrecipes.com is my go to place for lots of recipes. This salad is one of my great discovery there. The original recipe is nice but not quite to my liking. I find the white vinegar taste is way too strong and the overall dressing is way too sweet. I make some adjustments today and the result is lovely. This is the version I will make over and over again.

Things like bread once you made it at home, you will feel the store bought ones taste so lame. Naan bread tastes best when it’s fresh, soft and hot. You might have a bread machine at home that you bought a couple years ago, and now that poor thing is collecting dust in your garage. Now it’s time to get your machine out. It can do much more work than you think. Try to make this Naan with your bread machine and I am sure you will make it over and over again.

Sometimes you just like to have little something sitting around at home just so you can have a bite whenever you crave for something sweet. Rugelach is one of those magic little things can do the trick. Rugelach is a traditional Jewish food. The taste is between bread and cookies, and it’s not too sweet nor too filling. It’s a great snack food to sit on your kitchen counter.

Just watched Kings of Pastry on Netflix yesterday, it s a documentary film about the finals of the M.O.F. patisserie competition in 2008. The M.O.F., Meilleur Ouvrier de France, meaning “best craftsman of France”, is the best honor one can get in his or her profession. For pastry chefs, the M.O.F. award – a blue, white and red striped collar is a signature of culinary excellence and the highest recognition.

I am not a professional chef and don’t know how to make a sugar sculpture. But that doesn’t mean I can’t use the skills and tools I have to make my cake look pretty and tasty. This sponge cake recipe is my all time favorite. It’s perfect to eat it as is, but today I want to decorate it with chocolate caramel icing. So I reduce the sugar amount in half to balance out addition of caramel icing. This icing is on the gooey side, with some toffee-like flavor in it. If you like this kind of icing, make sure give this a try!

Coconut macaroon is one of the best potluck dessert. It’s sweet, easy to share and probably one of the easiest dessert I can think of. The killer secret ingredient of my coconut macaroon is cream of coconut. Thanks to cooks illustrated magazine’s suggestion. Using cream of coconut makes this already easy dessert literally effortless. If you need something quick and easy, this coconut macaroon is your best bet.

If you like orange, you have to try this cake. Maybe I shouldn’t say “cake” to give you the wrong expectation of this dessert. The texture of this dessert is between pound cake and bread. There are so many ingredients in it, but yet it’s not overly sweet or heavy. The well balanced citrus, almond and butter flavor gives it a very unique and unforgettable taste. Because its strong character, this is the kind of cake you will either love or hate. I know you are curious if you will love it or hate it. And there’s only one way to find out…

In terms of making this cake. It’s a good test of your “mise en place” skill, which is essentially French for “everything in place”. In other words, if you have everything in place in advance, you will be able to march through the recipe without any problems.

My first encounter with biscotti was not a romantic one, but surely was love at the first sight (or at first bite rather). I bought one of those plastic wrapped Starbucks chocolate chip biscotti at my school cafe. The reason was – I have some meal plan money need to use up. I know, it’s not romantic. But after dipping it in my coffee and had my first bite – I immediately fell in love with those little things. Just like Oreo and milk, peanut butter and jelly, biscotti and coffee are absolutely a perfect match. But unlike Oreo and peanut butter, there’s NO butter or oil in biscotti. (some Americanized recipes might have butter or oil in it, but for the one I am making today. there’s no butter or oil in it.) Amazing right? Give it a try, you will fall in love with it too!

Creme caramel or flan is the dessert I grew up with. In Taiwan, we called it pudding. It’s every Taiwanese kids’ favorite dessert. There are so many ways of eating pudding. Other than eating it as is, we also like to mix it with milk tea, eat it with tapioca or put a stick in it and freeze it as an ice pop. I am not a big fan of super creamy flan so I am pleased with this milk only (no heavy cream or condensed milk) recipe.

After making the Canadian dessert nanaimo bars, I decided to try out new recipes from different countries. Today’s pick is Bobotie from South Africa. (Pronounced ba-boor-tea according to BBC good food, or buh-booty according to Chasing Delicious)

I did my research online and came up with this combination of the ingredients that’s easy to get and I am comfortable with. The result is SUPER TASTY!

Red bean soup is one of the most popular dessert soup in Taiwan, Japan and Korea. The color red means good and happiness in taiwanese tradition. Therefore, this is one of the soups that we usually drink during the chinese new year. Taiwan is known for having good quality of red beans. As a taiwanese, I feel obligated to put this dessert soup on my blog, just so people around the world can understand taiwan a little more. And maybe, they will get to try this delicious dessert soup at their homes too!

My mom called me the other day saying she made this wonderful apple jam that everyone loves. She chopped the apples into small pieces and cook them in the caramel sauce. The caramel sauce gave this apple jam a shinny amber color and lovely caramel flavor. I was just wondering how to use up the excess apples in my kitchen. This recipe came in just in time. You can add this jam to your homemade yogurt, spread on your bread or scone, or even add a little to your black tea, adding some fruity flavor to the tea. This jam can be stored in the fridge for about two weeks.

What’s your favorite dessert? I like asking this question to all my friends. My mom’s favorite is pound cake; my sister’s favorite is cheesecake; mine is mochi. As for this raspberry crumb bar, it’s Nav’s favorite. I made this as a welcome home treat for him. This crumb bar is one of the kind. The delicate butter cookie texture along with a little bit sour and crunchiness of the raspberry jam. It literally melts in your mouth. This luxury treat at Flour bakery used to be Bostonian’s privilege. Now with the publishing of this wonderful Flour cookbook, everyone around the country can make this at home too! It’s the kind of dessert that you can’t stop eating and talking about. Yes, it is indeed that great.

I want to make a one-pot dish. A dish that I can eat for a week. It’s wicked cold outside these days. One pot of hearty meal is what I need for dinner in the next coming week. After flipping the recipes on the book shelf for about an hour, I finally found this Pot-roasted Chicken with Sweet and Sour Sauce at Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Bingo! This is what I am looking for in this cold winter time.

I like Nigella’s cooking style – cooking with shortcuts. Unlike professional chefs, home cooks don’t have lots of time to spend in the kitchen. But that doesn’t mean we home cooks need to settle for less. Nigella’s recipes teach us how to cut corners and to make cooking at home become an easy and enjoyable task. I have tried so many of Nigella’s recipes, and every time when I taste those delicious dishes, I can’t help but say, “Thank you, Nigella! You really rock!”

“What’s this, nanaimo bar?” I was talking to myself when I came across of this pretty looking dessert. Oh…so it’s a kind of Canadian dessert, also a very much loved one there. Living in new england for all these years, I have never heard of it nor saw it in the recipe books before. I can never resist of new recipes. I have to give it a try!

St Valentine’s day is right at the corner. If you want to impress your loved one. You are looking at the right recipe. Why? you asked. Reason one: It has a cool name. People usually think it’s super fancy or authentic of the food with the cool name they have never heard of, and even better, don’t know how to pronounce it. Reason two: You have to make some efforts to make this dessert. There are quite a lot of ingredients in it, but each step is fairly simple. In other words, it’s easy, but not simple. As long as you pay attention, it’s almost impossible to screw this up. Unlike chocolate soufflé or chiffon cake, your effort has no guarantee of paying off. There’s nothing worse than seeing a collapse cake on a valentine’s day. So it’s a better bet to stick with a foolproof recipe. Reason three: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. Definitely the top choice on Valentine’s day. Made up your mind? Let’s make this Nanaimo Bar together!

Five years ago, there’s a no-knead bread recipe posted on NY Times. Every food blogs all over the world are raving about this recipe.

Boston’s Flour bakery is one of my favorite bakery for so many reasons. Now here ‘s another reason I love Flour – their cookbook. It has ALL the recipes of the goodies I love at Flour. The recipes of my favorite pastries at Flours -raspberry crumb bars and chocolate cupcake are included in the book!! I am so grateful of the generosity of the author, Joanne Chang, for sharing these wonderful recipes with us. This chocolate chip muffin I made today is the adaption of the chocolate cupcake recipe in the Flour cook book. If you like to bake, this recipe book is a keeper. Definitely get a copy for yourself (or for your baker friends). p.s. The bakery did not pay me to say any of those…

Those muffins are AMAZING!

Come Dine with Me has become one of my favorite TV shows now. It’s very interesting to see how people with distinctive personalities, culture and socioeconomic backgrounds select their dinner menus, make their dinners and entertain their guests. This cheesefake is our best discovery from the show. (Hopefully there will be more to come).

I have a cookie jar in my office. My boss was my biggest fan. However, he left for a job in NYC a couple months ago. Our team has been crazy busy ever since, and the cookie jar has been pushed to the corner.

There’s actually not that many caprese recipes online. Maybe because it’s too simple, but I would never forget the first caprese I put together, which, I believe, is probably the most ugly caprese on the planet!

Nav Mama's Signature Cake

I have lost count of my attempts to make sponge cake. It’s simple, but it’s not easy, at least for me it’s not. But today, I made TWO successful sponge cakes! I think I got the hang of it now !!

Yen's Quizza

After spending 6 hours making coq au vin, I am under the impression that french dishes are complicated and time consuming. However, after taking the bubbly french brunch cooking class last week, I know french cuisine is manageable. As long as I know how to cut corners to save time and energy.

Stuffed chives pancake is another variation of spring onion pancake dough (or roti dough).

Flatbread is a common staple food in almost every culture. This spring onion “bing” is my favorite version of flatbread. Just a piece of “bing”(pancake) can be a meal  itself. It’s nutritious and easy to make.