elite

Yumcha for the first time in two months.
I miss HK dimsum. I miss lai wong bao, xiao long bao, and turnip cake. It SUCKS here.
But everything else was satisfactory.

bright shiny morning

Started reading “Bright Shiny Morning”  last night by recommendation of my sister. So far, it’s good. I love his descriptive writing. Although he was a lying fraud, he’s a pretty good writer. I think I enjoy it even more because it’s about Los Angeles. And I’m an LA girl. :) Love my home city despite the fact that I get sick of it 50 percent of the time.

In Bright Shiny Morning, one of the stories is about a group of Mexican immigrants who move to California because it’s supposed to have the “best fruit in America.” I haven’t been to all of the states, but I’m gonna have to say, I think I agree with that statement. Whenever I travel, I never have fruit as fresh, plump, and juicy as I do back home. We’re spoiled. With our amazing peaches, watermelons, huge Fuji apples, nectarines, thick fleshy grapes… And right now, it’s BERRY SEASON!

The strawberries on the shortcake were so fresh and sweet and amazing, and I love summer because the blueberries are out, too! Blueberries are crazy cheap and so good right now. Gotta appreciate fresh blueberries while they last.

 

I baked some blueberry clafouti for my family yesterday. I’ve never made a clafouti or even tasted clafouti before but I imagined it to be something like a souffle, so I was like what the hell, why not, I’ll just go for it while I’m on a little baking whirl here. I scaled the recipe in half because I wasn’t sure if we would like it or not. And reduced the sugar because I figured the blueberries were plenty sweet enough. The recipe can be easily doubled for guests and made in advance. They make nice little desserts if you’re having a dinner party because you can just serve them up without dealing with slicing or cooling or making them look presentable on a plate. Simple simple. I was amazed at how simple these were to make. Took me a grand ten minutes to whip it up! 

Blueberry Clafouti
yields 4 servings
adapted from a foodie stays fit

1 cup fresh blueberries
2 whole eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
powdered sugar, for dusting, optional
Non-stick spray

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the inside of 4 ramekins with non-stick spray and add just enough blueberries to cover the bottom. Set aside.

Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar on the highest speed until doubled in size and light yellow, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low then gradually add the salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract, baking powder, and flour, scraping down the sides. Add the milk and mix slowly until just incorporated (it’ll kind of look like and be the consistency of pancake batter.)

Pour the mixture over the blue berries.   Transfer to the oven and bake for about 40 minutes (rotating the pan halfway through baking) until golden brown on top and the Clafouti is set.

Let cool about 5 minutes before serving. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. They come out looking like a soufflé and will sink a little, so don’t be alarmed. Best served warm! (Might be good with some leftover whipped cream from yesterday’s cake :) )

strawberry chiffon cake

I really can’t remember the last time I baked a birthday cake…

Has it been months? Years? I really don’t know.

I busted out the cake-baking skills today though because today’s a bit more than a birthday. It’s a family reunion that hasn’t happened since my mom came to the United States since she married my dad. Her extended family attendedthe wedding and then never saw her again. We would exchange phone calls once every couple of years and send photos back and forth, but everyone pretty much lived without seeing each other for about twenty years. An uncle who I had never even met in my entire life until this past month when I was in Korea came to America for the first time a couple weeks ago, and they’re all coming over for dinner tonight with my cousin! One of my favorite uncles happens to be celebrating his birthday today, too, and my aunt is coming home from her trip to Korea today as well, so it’s just a big ole family celebration!

They’re actually probably on their way over right now to get here just in time for the World Cup game – Uruguay vs. Germany!

Exciting. Posting this in a flash because I have to have some lunch and hide the cake before everyone gets here, so excuse the brief and crappy post.

And I’m upset that I left my DSLR at my apartment in LA. I wanted to take pictures of my family and my chiffon cake (probably the most elaborate thing I’ve ever baked. I generally don’t do complicated.) but oh well. The point and shoot will have to do for today.

Gotta love a celebration cake! My first time baking a chiffon cake. It turned out well if I do say so myself. :) I made a mini one out of leftover batter and had my family taste-test. KIM FAMILY APPROVAL. It’s nice and summery and I didn’t frost the entire thing because I liked the more casual, rustic feel of the shortcake look. Strawberries are in season so go go go buy some and if you have an occasion, make this cake. :)

Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake 
adapted from smittenkitchen

Cake layers:
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups superfine or regular sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large egg yolks at room temperature
8 large egg whites at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Filling:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
6 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 quarts strawberries, hulled and sliced

1. Cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Have two 9-inch round cake pans ready, lined with parchment paper that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray, but otherwise ungreased.

2. Sift the flour, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking powder and salt together twice into a large bowl.

3. In a another bowl, beat the yolks, water, oil, zest and vanilla on high speed until smooth. Stir into the flour mixture until smooth. In another large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks are formed. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and beat on high speed until the peaks are stiff but not dry. (I had to google pictures of this because I’ve never really made meringue before. It was fun!)

4. Use a rubber spatula to fold one-quarter of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remaining whites. Do so gently, only until the egg whites are no longer visible. Overdoing it will deflate the egg whites, and yield a denser, shorter cake. (Be VERY, VERY careful. You definitely don’t want to deflate the poofy eggs. They give the cake that soft, airy light texture.)

5. Scrape the batter into the two prepared pans and spread evenly. Bake them until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean 40 to 50 minutes.

6. Let cakes cool in the pan on a cooling rack for at least an hour. When completely cool, run a knife around the sides to release, then flip out onto a plate. Don’t forget to remove the parchment paper!

7. Make the whipped cream: Beat heavy cream and vanilla in a clean mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Be careful to start slowly and then increase speed as it gets thicker because otherwise, you’ll splatter cream all over yourself and the kitchen (Don’t ask how I know this.) You want to add the powdered sugar after soft peaks form because it’ll deflate the cream if you add it from the start. Beat on high speed until it can hold stiff peaks.

8. Assemble the cake: Carefully split each cake layer in half, leaving you with four cake surfaces. One by one, scoop one-quarter of the whipped cream onto the surface of the cake and spread it evenly to the edges, without going over, with an offset spatula. Arrange one-quarter of the sliced strawberries over the whipped cream in one or two layers, depending on your preference. Repeat with the remaining three layers. And then pipe the leftover cream however you wish!

 

9. The cake can refrigerate for a few hours before eating it (mine is in the fridge right now in fact.) We’ll have to cut it later to see how all of it works together, but so far, my hopes are high! Verdicto later tonight~~

taste on melrose

I don’t know how I feel about being back home.

Sometimes,  I feel as if I’ve been living comfortably in LA for the past six months. Like nothing’s changed.

Well, some things have changed.

Now, I’m FAT.

Not that I was rockin’ it before or anything, but I feel obese. And unhealthy. I’ve been eating out every day this week and it’s just out of control. Meeting up with people, socializing, realizing the perks of happy hour and why its so darn necessary after a full day of work. Got called a “big girl”, adults been pointing out that I gained weight, and my other friend told me “having big arms is not the end of the world.” Oh, and of course, someone just straight up called me fat.

So, as the entire cosmos has decided to point out to me:  its officially time to lose some weight.

I started working out today.

That’s a plus right?

Hit the gym for the first time in months.

And how do you balance out an hour at the gym in LA?

You eat a three-course all-American meal chock full of the three dreadful but wonderful C’s: cheese, carbs, and calories.

Say hello to the prix fixe menu at Taste on Melrose. We were lucky to have made a reservation because it was pretty packed by the time we got there which was around 8:30. We had to wait for our table for a little bit and were chatting up the bartender who told us we had to get the mac and cheese because it was awesome. Fsho you know where I’m headed. I love trying “gourmet” versions of mac and cheese. So far, my favorite has been the one at Luna Park.

Promptly seated. I don’t know how I felt about the server, she kept calling us “my love” and “friends.” Not gonna lie, she was trying REALLY hard and being extra nice.

I just got the three-course meal for $26 which I thought was a SWEET deal. Appetizer, full-sized entree, and a dessert.

white truffle mac and cheese

For the appetizer, I got the white truffle oil and mushroom mac and cheese. It was AMAZING. Really good. Maybe a TOUCH salty for my taste but for some reason, I have been eating everything very bland recently. So, I would think just right for others.

The three of us all picked one of the entrees off the choices so we could try everything. I got the Kobe Beef Meatballs.

kobe beef meatballs

As much as I wanted to like this, I was very underwhelmed. In the description, the meatballs seemed to be the highlight and there was something about fondue and some linguine, but I wasn’t expecting a gourmet twist on spaghetti and meatballs. Kobe beef is very, very tender, but the way it was ground up made this overly tender meat mushy. Which is never a good thing. And the cheese sauce on the linguine was a bit grainy…. T-T I really wanted to like it.. Really did.

I really enjoyed the other entrees that came out though.

crispy parmesan chicken paillard

The chicken paillard really was good. Nice and crispy and very well-seasoned. The garlic potato puree (that’s right. Potato puree, not mashed) was really good with the arugula salad, and I REALLY liked the red onion jam that came on the side.

But I’d have to say the risotto was my favorite.

artichoke mascarpone risotto

I think visually, the other two dishes look more appetizing, but I loved the artichokes and the arborio rice here. It wasn’t too stiff nor mushy nor queasily over-sauced. Just right.

liliko'i creme brulee

Finished off dinner with a liliko’i (Hawaiian passionfruit) creme brulee. Huge portion, fresh raspberries, and nice burnt sugar crust. I approve.

I think the nicest thing about the meal today was that on the prix fixe menu, the entrees were full-size. It was a really good deal because although our server told us the mac and cheese and dessert would be smaller, we still had leftovers to take home.

Now, forreal.

Tomorrow, I really will start dieting along with my workout plan :P

ramen showdown!

WHOSE CUISINE REIGNS SUPREME??????

Yeah, yeah, I’ve been watching a lot of Iron Chef on the telly.

But really, best ramen in SoCal? I think it boils down to Daikokuya vs. Santouka.
Tell Orochon to move out of the way. They ain’t that great. Just famous for their levels of spicy. Their miso soup was definitely blahhhh for me. Shio was only good if you like extra spice. The broth is definitely lacking that… rich, deep, fatty, meaty flavor. So, Orochon can respectfully move to third place in my book. Despite the fact that they had Man vs. Food there to deal with their super spicy soup and blah blah whatever WHATEVER, AITE? Not enough scallions and the noodles just taste better at Daikokuya. And they charge you extra for the egg. Oh hell to the no. I will walk across the street in Little Tokyo to Daikokuya and get me egg for free thank you very much.

orochon miso

So, I finally tried Santouka ramen with my friend, Lena, my Japan travel buddy. She’s Japanese. Been to Japan on several occasions. So, when she said this was some legit ramen, I know she’s not kidding. Very legitimate source of information. I wouldn’t drive all the way to Torrance just for ramen unless I knew it was some damn good ramen. Her opinion I trust.

santouka

shio ramen

Got the large shio ramen (Yeah, yeah LARGE BEEYATCH), and it was gooooooooooooood. I haven’t had good shio ramen in a while. The noodles were cooked very well (Can ramen be al dente?) and the soup…. Mmmmmmmm. The soup was delicious.

However good Santouka was though… Daikokuya was the start of it all for me. I remember eating it for the first time four years ago and falling in love with ramen. I didn’t even freaking LIKE ramen all that much. I take all of my friends there who come to LA. I enjoy popping people’s Daikokuya’s cherries. My friends now go there without me (Jerks). They claim its their favorite food joint (Yeah, whatever, I discovered it first NERDS), so (notice how I’m commenting and putting a lot of little disclaimers into parentheses in this particular post? I don’t know why I’m doing it either), Daikokuya will always be number one to me… Big Black House of RAMEN. I love their special soup, their toroniku, their fatty fatty soup, the soy sauce egg, bamboo shoots, and the load of scallions they dump all over my huge bowl of perfectly cooked ramen.

Daikokuya

Mmm mm good. SoCalers are lucky. We get awesome Asian food that’s ALMOST as good as the stuff across the Pacific. I wish I had tried some really famous ramen shops in Japan though.. The places that I tried were still good but not a million times better than Daikokuya which I expected.

Here is Japan post one and two.