Pork cheek

Lately I have been frequenting the Mountain View farmer's market, and getting there early for... guess what? Pork cheek! This is one of the more tender and succulent (though fatty in some places) parts of the pig that is not too well-known, partly due to its small limited quantities. However, this cut is also pretty cheap, half the price of pork chop! The lady that I buy from (Full of Life farms -- haha what an irony) says that they normally one have 1 or 2 packs of cheek every week, therefore I try to wake up early on Sunday to get there when they first open. My efforts have paid off so far ^_^
Check out what I've made with my pork cheek (costing only $2.60) this week! 
Yakitori! Marinated in teriyaki sauce, sesame oil and white pepper. I grilled my meat by putting the skewers on a metal steamer rack, in the oven at 375 F. Just remember to put some foil under the meat to catch catch the dripping oil and sauce, and turn the meat occasionally for thorough grilling.

Status: Half-cooked after 5 min at 375F on the grill

Ready for dinner!

Bread pudding

Bread pudding is one of my favorite comfort desserts! I have been craving it for a while now, so I finally got down to making it =)
Here's the recipe (really easy) to make a 8-inch square pan of moist bread pudding!

Ingredients

1. 6 slices of bread (stale bread preferred)
2. 1/2 cup raisins
3. 4 eggs, beaten
4. 2 cups of milk
5. 2 tablespoons of melted butter
6. 3/4 cup of sugar (I like to do a mix of white and brown sugar)
7. 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
8. 3/4 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
9. 1/4 tablespoon of nutmeg

Instructions

1. Heat up the oven to 350 F, or 175  C.
2. Cut the crusts off the bread, and tear the bread into big chunks.
3. Lay the bread and crusts loosely in the pan. (See first photo; I also line my pan with parchment paper to minimize the amount of washing I have to do afterward)
4. Sprinkle raisins amidst the bread.
5. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a bowl, and mix well.
6. Pour the egg mixture onto the bread. 
7. Make sure that the bread soaks up the egg mixture, using a fork to press lightly on the bread. (see second photo)
8. Put the pudding into the oven, and let it bake for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped. (see third photo)

Ready to eat! Enjoy! 

Placing bread and raisins loosely in a parchment-lined pan

After adding the egg mixture

Done and ready to eat!

Enjoy!

Konnichiwa!

It's been a long three months since I last wrote here, and a lot has happened! 

For two weeks in late June I went to London, where I had spent three years getting my undergraduate degree. I experienced so much over a short holiday, things that I didn't appreciate or had the insight to explore when I was a student. I am really glad for my sister for showing me that side of London that I had missed, and even now I miss the UK all the more. 

Lately I have been trying to reconnect with my artsy, non-science side (this blog was one of my baby steps). Being in a relationship with your PhD and with a long-time boyfriend somehow made me lose touch with my non-science, non-girlfriend side, a side of me that I missed sorely and which I had not realized how much was a definition of "me". So I started reading more, listening to more art/personal development-related talks (TED has a good selection), and doing more yoga at home. I also started taking Japanese lessons, a language that has always held interest for me (I'm admittedly a big Japan-phile), and joined a ballet class on campus. 

The ballet classes made me realize how much I had missed dance as a defining part of who I am; I could never get that feeling from social dance such as salsa or waltz. Sure, it's fun dancing with other people, but ballet (and chinese dance which I did for 12 years of my past life) is the kind that allows you to express your interpretation of the piece with your body, and yours alone. The concentration on perfect execution lets me forget everything else, while doing something that I'm good at without really thinking about it. I suppose that is what being in flow feels like (for those unfamiliar with the term, watch this!), and I relish in the contentment of the moment. Unsurprisingly I experienced the same with my new piano, after having not played for so long.

In addition I also made some adjustments to my daily life, such as waking up earlier in the morning, which makes me feel more productive by lunchtime, and making the effort to bike to work once a week. Oh, and revamping my wardrobe, of course.

A part of growing up? Maybe. 

I have much to post about, food-related, and hopefully that would come soon when I stop procrastinating about organizing my thoughts. 

To end off, here's a neat article about how to cultivate more creativity in your life. I like the part where they wrote: "true fulfillment lies not in the finished product, but in the creative work itself. Distinguish between acknowledgement and achievement. Find joy in your labors. Strive for mastery.", which is really what I like about cooking and baking.

=) Happy autumn! It's time to play with layers and colors!

Sumiya Yakitori (Santa Clara)

We came here for date night today. It was our first time here, and it was not bad. The yakitori items we ordered were: pork belly, duck breast, shitake with bonito, kalbi, and chicken thigh. We liked the pork, duck and kalbi best. The shitake was a bit too salty, and the chicken thigh was a little rough. The pork belly had a good fat to meat ratio, and the duck and kalbi were succulent and well-cooked. 
We also tried two other items from the menu: baked avocado with chicken cheese mayo, and Nagoya-style calamari. These were delicious as well -- the calamari was sweet and peppery; it tasted like grilled Ika but with a bit of breading (though not too much). The baked avocado came on a hot plate, and was a generous serving (perhaps too much for two persons) of chicken cheese mayo topped over a baked half-avocado, with salsa on the side. Pretty interesting!

We did notice a difference between Sumiya and Sumika at Los Altos (more expensive) though. The meat, especially the pork and chicken, were better quality at Sumika. Also, the pork belly at Sumiya had some of that soft thin film that you get when you don't grill your meat entirely over a grill, but on a piece of foil, so the meat wasn't entirely dry all around. 
We were pretty stuffed after dinner, and will probably come here for yakitori if we are lazy to make our own, but will go to Sumika for that nice, fancy and perfect yakitori experience.

Nagoya-style Calamari and pork belly yakitori

Baked Avocado topped with chicken cheese mayo and salsa

Shitaki with bonito

Kalbi

Medium-cooked kalbi

Chicken thigh yakitori

Sumika Yakitori

2634 Homestead Rd

Santa Clara, CA 95051

(408) 973-0604

http://www.sumiyakitori.com/

Tea Era

Bubble tea (or boba) is a long-lasting fad in the Bay Area. By far, Tea Era at Castro St, Mountain View, is the best place to get boba. We're lucky that we live so close by!
We usually get the roasted barley milk tea, or the ceylon milk tea. My other favorites are taro milk tea, lavender milk tea, and his favorite for a hot day (like today!!) is honey longan tea. Their pearls are always consistently soft yet chewy (not under- or over-cooked).

Today I tried a new flavor -- dark plum green tea. Yum! (I'm a fan of choya ume by the way.) I added coconut jelly to my tea and it went pretty well! The dark plum is sour but sweet, just right for a hot afternoon. He thought his honey longan was a bit too sweet so we poured it into our glass flask with water and ice -- surprise! Physics at work at home! See the photo below for how the fluids separated out by their respective densities.. Cool!

Dark plum green tea with coconut jelly from Tea Era

Physics at work at home, approved by shiba

Nutella Mug Cake

This is a ridiculously simple recipe. It makes one mug of cake, almost instantly, and requires only a microwave. Tastes like a normal cake! It is really apt for people who like instant gratification, and makes me wonder why we even bake cakes.... Anyway, here goes!

Ingredients:

1. 4 tablespoons self-rising flour
2. 4 tablespoons sugar
3. 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
4. 3 tablespoons Nutella
5. 3 tablespoons milk
6. 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
7. 1 egg (Added last!)

Directions:

1. Add everything together in a mug, and whisk till smooth. 
2. Cook in a microwave at full power for 1.5 to 3 minutes  (cooking time depends on the power of your microwave). You can also have fun watching it rise and cook!
3. Ready to eat!! (I also lightly microwaved some marshmallows on the side to eat)

Like I wrote above, it is soft, and tastes just like a normally-baked cake (a bit more crumbly though), and pretty yummy for a late-night snack!

Bon appetit! 

Saturday @ Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz

We have been working really hard during the week, so we decided to take a day trip out on Saturday! We first went to Asilomar Beach at Pacific Grove, our favorite beach in the area. It was too cold to hang out, but we saw a deer grazing just less than 2 meters from us! Enjoy the photos~
We drove to Santa Cruz after that to hang out at the boardwalk and beach area. It was quite nice; a little windy at times but not too cold or warm. The boardwalk was crowded though, but we managed to find a good spot to lay down our picnic mat and read on our Kindles.
Dinner was at The Crepe Place, a surprising find, that served delicious food. The free bread was a single cute softgrain loaf, very soft and fresh! Our appetizer of hot buffalo wings was yummy but a bit spicy for me. Next came the crepes -- he had the spinach supreme, complete with ham, cheese and egg (his favorite ingredient), while I had the crab crepe, with gyuyere cheese and white wine alfredo sauce on top. Everything was very good, and we were so stuffed! Also the patio area was very quaint, almost romantic (we were almost fooled and worried by the bar front). We wouldn't mind returning to this creperie again on our next trip to Santa Cruz!

Hello there!

I'm going to eat more grass near the beach

The cute loaf of softgrain bread that really impressed my boyfriend

Crab crepe with white wine alfredo sauce

The Crepe Place

1134 Soquel Ave

Santa Cruz, CA 95062

(831) 429-6994

Pearl Cafe (Mountain View)

A surprising find! The bulk of the food menu was Hawaiian. We tried loco moco, morning musubi and the pepper chicken with jasmine milk tea. The milk tea was decent (tasted like Quickly and the pearls were not hard), and the food was pretty nice. We liked how the pepper chicken had a good meat-to-batter ratio. We had never had musubi before, but the morning musubi was quite nice (the hashbrown and the rice melded together), although the seaweed was pretty old and couldn't be torn apart.
It's pretty decent food at decent prices (the portions were HUGE), so we'll probably return in the future. Also, the ambience is pretty nice for relaxing and hanging out with friends!

Loco Moco with katsu and curry sauce. This could be two persons' lunch.

Morning musubi. Egg, spam and hasbrown with rice wrapped in seaweed.

 Pearl Cafe

506 Showers Dr

Mountain View, CA 94040

(650) 917-8988

Sushi Sam's Edomata (San Mateo)

At least two friends recommended this Japanese sushi restaurant to us, so we decided to make the drive up to San Mateo. It was worth it.
We ordered salmon nigiri (our standard for testing sushi bars), soft shell crab roll, and omakase sashimi (our friend recommended we try it). Everything was provided at very generous cuts, and the salmon had lots of fat (close to salmon belly). We quite liked the soft shell crab roll although we found that the batter was a bit too thick and we couldn't really taste much of the meat. 
What I really wanted to talk about was the omakase. It was completely worth the $40 we paid for it. 8 big cuts of a variety of white fish, special yellowtail, flounder, TORO, and a seasonal baby squid marinated with miso. The toro simply melted in our mouth, no need for chewing! We hadn't had the other kinds of fish before, and it was a good first experience. 
Finally, the omakase dessert, white miso parfait, was simply delicious. The blend of flavors in the cream and spongecake was heightened by the slightly salty taste of the miso puree. 
We would come here again!

Salmon nigiri and soft shell crab roll. Check out the thick layers of fat on the salmon

Omakase sashimi

White miso parfait. YUM!

Sushi Sam's Edomata

218 E 3rd Ave

San Mateo, CA 94401

(650) 344-0888

http://www.sushisams.com

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my favorite recipe for making dark chocolate chip cookies that are soft on the inside, yet crispy on the outside.

The whole recipe takes less than 1 hour from start to finish, and made ~60 mini bite-sized cookies:

Ingredients:

1. 2+1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 1 teaspoon baking soda
4. 1/3 cup cocoa powder (*** Omit this if you don't want double chocolate cookies***) 
5. 3/4 cup granulated sugar
6. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7. 1 cup (= 2 sticks) butter, softened
8. 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
9. 2 eggs
10. 2 cups semi-dark chocolate chips (I like using Guittard's or Ghiradelli)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda.
3. Beat together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy.
4. Add eggs to the liquid mixture, and beat well.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture, and mix well. (The dough will become rather stiff)
6. Stir in the chocolate chips until evenly mixed.
7. Drop by rounded teaspoon-fuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (Or use your hand to pinch off and round off a small chunk)
8. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned, or the top has hardened and cracked.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Enjoy! The cookies will look like little round mochi balls.

It's all about the crockery

The size of the plate and cup determines how much you will eat and drink.

I greedily choose a large cup for my juice and now I'm bloated.

Also a good principle to remember for those on a diet. It affects how much you perceive yourself to have eaten!

Funny post about how lunch can make or break your day..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9900230/My-entire-day-can-be-spoilt-by-a-badly-chosen-lunch.html

My first Omu Rice!

Made my first omu* rice today =) Paired it with japanese curry, what a simple yet delicious dinner!

*translation: Omelette-wrapped rice 

  

Things don't have to be perfect to have a good time..

Sometimes we think that, to have a good time, the event we had planned must execute perfectly. I don't deny occasions when I've become a wet towel when things didn't go as I had anticipated. But one should realize, most of the time, it's not the things you do, but the people and the time that you spend doing those things with, that really make all the difference!

During my last trip to Hong Kong, my mother and I tried to make pork floss springrolls for our family. It turned out to be a frustrating process, as the springroll skin from the supermarket was too dry to roll and stick to itself. Nevertheless, it was one of the most memorable experiences I've had this trip, amid all the family visits and catching up with old friends, because we just ended up having fun making different shapes and experimenting with what would work with the skin (read: creativity at work!). Also it was a rare time where I could sit down with my mum and make things with her (I'm away so much during the year), so it really meant a lot to me.

The photos probably doesn't look like much, but the feelings behind them weigh a ton.

when i'm bored on the flight....

i read the home and furnishings magazines, and found interesting recipes to try!
(just uploading for my own reference)

took sia on my way home to singapore, i must say their food is getting more decent now. the pre-touchdown breakfast dimsum was actually close to street-side quality, instead of gag-i-don't-want-to-absorb-this food

Madeleines

Fran came over for the weekend and we made madeleines!

Here's the recipe (really easy!):

Ingredients:

1. 2 eggs at room temperature
2. 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature 
3. 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 
4. 1/3 cup granulated sugar
5. 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
6. A pinch of salt
7. 1 tablespoon lemon zest

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour 12 (3 inch) madeleine molds; set aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, vanilla and salt at high speed until light.
3. Beating constantly, gradually add sugar; and continue beating at high speed until mixture is thick and pale and ribbons form in bowl when beaters are lifted, 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Sift flour into egg mixture 1/3 at a time, gently folding after each addition.
5. Add lemon zest and pour melted butter around edge of batter. Quickly but gently fold butter into batter. Spoon batter into molds; it will mound slightly above tops.
6. Bake 14 to 17 minutes, or until cakes are golden and the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertip.

Baked apples recipe

New recipe to try! From here, a healthier alternative to apple pie