May Mei - Return

I haven't posted in so long , I almost forgot my password!!! - can't be a good thing! I will have to start out my May post with a great Chinese restaurant called May Mei which specializes in the Chinese rice-claypot dish. I found this to be a GREAT alternative to Hainan chicken in the way the rice is so packed with flavor! There really is something special about the aroma and subtle flavors hidden away in claypots that bring out the greatness in rice. I have never appreciated rice so much before! Of course Hainan Chicken and this rice pot dish use different rice grains - and it would be too difficult to pick which one I like better... But summer-wise i'm leaning towards Hainan Chicken and winter-wise definitely going for the claypot.

--> Below: Ordred a Hot Pot Rice with two different types of smoked pork and Gai-Lan or Chinese kale. The Chinese sausage and teh smoked pork belly was AMAZING.. They only topped the rice with it but the smell and flavor just completely wrapped itself around every single grain of rice! - I only slightly exaggerate- but really.. the taste was not so much overpowering but delicate and had a slightly, salty, nutty, smokey, and sweet taste all at the same time!



--> A close up on the two smoked porks : Left the chinese sausage ( like from sim bala) and smoked pork belly (this i'm not too familiar with... reminds me a little bit of char siu meat without the bbq flavorings)

--> If you order this, the waiter/waitress will remove all the toppings on a side plate and pour a sauce infused with black bean sauce and soy sauce... I may be wrong.. but i'm just going with my tongue's intuition here :D


--> Below: A side order of deepfried tofu ... which I have been CRAVING for too long! when it's fresh... its really hard to beat... sigh* I love those slices of jalapenos too.. great with just plain rice!


--> Bite test!: you know it's fresh when its 1. burning your tongue from the heat and 2. steam, oil and tofu juice-ness fills your mouth when biting in!

--> and Just because I love gai-Lan so much... Ordered another plate of it on the side with Oyster sauce

Great Carrot Loaf

I have yet to test the waters on the various and very innovative carrot loaf/cake recipes out there and found that the most popular ones' include crushed pineapples in the recipe! However .. . I lacked in various specialty ingredients and found a recipe that stuck with the more traditional ways of making carrot loaf. The recipe, from my point of view, had wayyy too much sugar... 2 1/2 cups!?!? I'm trying to feed a group of elderly Asian women and men!! (they aren't a big fan of super sweets) so I toned it down to 1 1/2 cups and added another cup of ground carrots! turned out to be a perfect blend of earthy, nutty and carroty flavors- the sugar brought out just the right amount of sweetness from the carrots ! lovely :)


--> I sampled a slice of the cake.. just to make sure I don't overload my elderly tasters with sugar :)... sugar was quite subtle and the raisins made up for the load of sugar I opted out ... A definite success.. will make again !
--> I took a side shot just to show the nice specks of actual REAL carrot chunks! I love to see actual carrots inside my carrotcake/loaf .. makes me feel .. healthy.. hehehe

Goodbye Garden

Spring has finally come to an end and the painful school year must start again! Although I love the idea of moving forward - soon to be graduating and hopefully moving towards my masters... there are just times when I wish time would stop...

The day before I left and I realized I was leaving home again, I couldn't help but walk around the backyard- camera in hand. I was surprised by the little things that would normally bore me to be delightful. For instance:

--> Below: a cute little mushroom... matured with its splendorous soft white curves and ridges


--> Below: A voluptuous lemon... packed with sweet yet sour citrus-exploding flavors --our lemon tree- our only fruit tree that bears fruit year-round... in fact our only fruit tree that really bear fruits

-->Not sure what these flowers are called.... but they sure are cute! .. the strong violet center that gradually finds itself lost on a white canvas... so pretty
--> Never realized until now... our garden has lots of white and purples.....

--> When I was a kid.. I used to take these tiny flower bunches like below- and pluck out each flower, making mini bouquets of flowers for my imaginary earthworm castles.... strange- yes i know

Rainy Day Scones

Approaching the end of March, there really is nothing like a semi rainy afternoon with freshly baked scones, the smell of sweet butter drifting in a warm house, and hearing the rain tap on the windows. I picked up this scone from allrecipes.com and if I remember correctly it was called "Grandma Johnson's scones". . . However, I believe I , once again, changed the recipe. I had completely ran out of all-purpose flour, leaving me with cake flour .. I wasn't quite sure what would happen since cake flour is very different to the ordinary bag of flour... Willing to take risks, I ended up with these little doughy triangles below:

--> Below: Instead of using blueberries etc. I chose dried cranberries and raisins- having boiled them and soaked them in some orange-flavored liquor


--> Brushed the tops with some heavy cream (didn't have buttermilk) and topped them off with a little orange zest
--> Baked till golden brown :D
--> From the picture above, it is too difficult to tell the differences the cake flour made, but the picture below: shows the much more finer texture in the scones rather than the scones we normally eat - after trying a little, the bread just seemed to melt in my mouth- definitely a result of the cake flour ... Since I like my scones quite bland, I decided to be a little bit more flavorful and sifted some powdered sugar on top.... delicious

Final Aftermath~

Today , I have officially completed all my final exams and am ready to do some cooking therapy !! To start my spring break off... while most will probably making scandalous trips to Cancun etc., I will be going back home to get some much needed mental rest :) I'm actually looking forward to staying at home with my dad.. swinging some golf clubs...watching TV...eating some good Asian foodz... quite therapeutic actually- just doing nothing .

I thought it would be appropriate to show my dad's Kung Pao chicken attempt #1 as a welcome-back-home symbol ! He didn't stick to the traditional Chinese methods of cooking and pretty much made it according to American methods/taste/ and style. By using low-fat chicken breast as primary meat and opting out peanuts (apparently we're not a big peanut family) my dad with very little advice from me... made this creation below -->

While it definitely tasted edible- much better than the fastfood I get back on/near campus- it still was missing a certain flavor.. tang.. or perhaps key ingredient?... we both recognized it.. the dish was ALMOST there.. but something small but key was absent!? Perhaps a certain bean paste??




~~~~~



Meanwhile, I was mixing up a batch of brownies- lazy from just coming back - I grabbed an emergency brownie mix (always have a couple laying around for guests/events) and pretty much pulled a SandraLee (for those of you who watch FoodNetwork you'll know what i'm talking about). By adding a 1/4 of a cup approx. of shaved dark chocolate in the batter and adding a little cake flour, my brownies became.. well completely different!! I absolutey loved them! For all of you fudgey-gooey brownie lovers this will not be your thing, but the cakey/bread/puffy type brownie lovers!! this is it!! i'm a huge fan of fudge but my brownies... well what can i say? I want it lighter so I can eat more of it without feeling that super sweet chocolateness gunking down my throat, making my saliva ooze and stick to the back of my mouth! A lighter, fluffier brownie with the same powerful and distinct chocolate flavor is definitely my thing :D You could almost call this so-called brownie a chunk of extra moist chocolate cake... but for me..... its still a brownie :)

--> below: although I find this picture beautiful, the picture does not do the brownie justice i'm afraid.. well alot of my pictures don't do the food justice ! haha well I was pleased with the crackled top that i'm quite fond of and the thickness of the brownies ... this is a great way to start out my spring break :)


--> below: although its not as clear as the picture above, this side view of the brownie proves to show that even with the cakey/fluffy texture, there are still strong brownie-like features you could easily point out. Probably because of my amateur baking skills/knowledge, the bottom is fluffier than the top , which i'm guessing is because of the concentrated heat at the bottom of the pan... either way.. the top was definitely gooey-er than the bottom ... yum... want more :(

~Hacienda Heights~

So two weekends before finals week hits, I decided to go out and treat myself to Curry House in Hacienda Heights-ish area and gawwwdd, I didn't realize I was in such a deep need of menchi-katsu (or ground beef patty deep fried with panko crust). There's just something about the menchi-katsu from Curry House that makes me feel like i'm biting into a little bit of Japan. When I was in Japan for awhile, I had many-a-hamburger steaks at restaurants and specialty stores (of course the experience and tastes never exactly duplicated in America). The menchi-katsu here just brings back those juicy, succulent and beefy memories. It's great to bring back some nostalgic moments; I believe the tongue truly needs moments like these every so and then.. .very neccessary!



--> Some of you have probably gone to Curry House before- for those of you who haven't, it's quite decent for a chain curry restaurant. They have japanese-style pastas, omelete rice, etc. They servea little salad on the side, a good amount of rice and meat... for some reason however.. I feel like I never seem to have enough curry sauce :( I get mine very spicy.. which is like.. a slight pepper-spicy tinge on your tongue.. not very strong at all :) so don't be afraid to go for the "very spicy".. TRUST me :]

--> Dessert: I took a quick dessert grab at the Nijiya market next to Curry House and picked up a small little to-go strawberry parfait! yummers!


--> very light, creamy and of course.. the beautiful display of fresh fruits with whipped cream !
--> examine here, the various layers : top strawberry reduced gelatin, the mousse which was very light, creamy and the right amount of strawberry sweetness, with the last layer of soft sponge cake!

Taiyaki Paradisio

No joke, lately, with the cold rainy days, I've been having serious cravings for some roasted asian sweet potatoes and taikyaki!! this might be too much information but I crave carbs on a daily basis, but when the time of the month arrives... by the end of it I'm pretty much a walking ball of carb sugars. I can't help it, some people need pizza, others ice cream, mine is bread... good bread and bread with fillings is a huge plus ... I suppose I could always work off the fat but I think i'll just cut down on the carbs from now on... i'll manage somehow...
Anyways, it just so happened to be that I was around Hacienda-ish area and found a Genki Living in diamond plaza! Genki Living is just a small cute litttle japanese snack place with crepes, drinks, and other japanese snacks. THeir taiyaki is especially great just because of the variety of fillings!
-The first filling I bought was the traditional all red bean filling, then the cream filling yum!, and then a red bean with mochi :) the mochi was nice and gooey right off the taiyaki molds! I truly wish I had bought a good dozen but my pocket couldn't afford it :(



--> Near Diamond plaza is a small Japanese market where I picked up a cream pan or Cream filled bun - yummers
--> can someone say food porn? .. . you can use your imagination :]
--> not as much cream filling as some of the cream pans I get at korean bakeries, but it wasn't too bad... though I would realy like more cream please :D