Chinese Eggplant & Dumplings

I was super excited to get Easy Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites From Dim Sum to Kung Pao for Christmas and was inspired to do some cooking. Since we had some eggplants leftover from our Christmas ratatouille, I went with the 'Fish Fragrant Eggplant' recipe and then also decided to make the 'pork and chive dumpling' recipe because they sounded good.

Both recipes were a success and I will definitely be making them again. However, since I am a total wuss when it comes to spicy food, I have to remember to cut back on the spicy garlic paste. Even after omitting the pepper in the recipe, the eggplant dish was still way too spicy for me.

Shout out to Ickity for the awesome prezzie!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends!

This year MH was inspired to make a vegetable side dish for our holiday meals and he decided to make ratatouille. However, since traditional ratatouille is a stew served out of a giant bowl, he opted to make ratatouille a la Pixar's Ratatouille movie because the end result is much more aesthetically pleasing.

Ratatouille

It turned out to be a really tasty dish. We just wish it didn't take so long prepare, assemble, and bake!

Since I love baking for the holidays, I made a lattice top apple pie for our Christmas Eve family dinner, our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast Christmas day, and a banana creme pie for our Christmas day family dinner.

Apple Pie

I didn't bother snapping a picture of the cinnamon rolls or the banana cream pie since the cinnamon rolls look the same as the ones I made last year and the top of the banana cream pie was just a fluffy layer of whipped cream. I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word on it that they turned out well and were delish!

Salted Butter Caramels Fail

Caramels are one of my favorite candies and after making a salted butter caramel buttercream to go with a chocolate cake for Thanksgiving, I figured I would give making them a try. I followed the recipe as best as I could, and everything seemed to be going well until I tried to cut them into squares. The mixture hardened into a much harder candy than I had hoped and were more like a sucker/lollipop. Since they still tasted good, MH didn't want to trash them and now we have a giant caramel lollipop on our kitchen counter. Fail.

New York In December

After we punched the clock, my colleague and I caught a train into the city to check out the Christmas tree at Rockefeller center and the decorations in the department store windows.

It was a crisp, clear night which made it perfect for us to stroll through the streets and take in all of the holiday cheer. Happy Holidays to all MH and my family and friends!

Thanksgiving Leftovers

While shuffling all of our Thanksgiving leftovers around in the fridge, I accidentally cracked half a dozen eggs and needed to figure out a good way to use them as soon as possible. Since we already had an excess of leftover desserts, I decided to make something savory and settled on fresh bucatini with our kitchenaid pasta extruder.

Homemade Bucatini

I made a sausage ragu with the leftover sausage and mirepoix from MH's cornbread stuffing and also made sure to include the last bit of leftover red wine.

Homemade Bucatini with a Sausage Ragu

Voila! Unfortunately, I forgot about the apples in MH's cornbread stuffing and as a result there were a few them sprinkled in the ragu here and there, but all in all, it turned out pretty well and made a great dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!

MH and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year, we hosted our first joint family Thanksgiving and it was quite the doozy! With our two families coming together, we had 24 people at the house for dinner.

Unfortunately, since it was a jam packed cooking day, we didn't have time to take pictures along the way or get a chance to take a picture of the final spread before our guests started chowing down but this was our dinner menu...

Needless to say, there were plenty of leftovers and MH and I will be having bits and pieces of our Thanksgiving spread for the rest of the week!

Born To Be Wild IMAX 3D

MH and my visit to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an elephant and rhino orphanage at the edge of Nairobi, was one of my lifetime favorite trip activities.

Earlier this year, IMAX Born to be Wild 3D was released and you can still catch it in theaters today! The short documentary takes you to the Orangutan Foundation International to meet Dr. Birute Mary Galdika and some of the Indonesian Borneo orangutan orphans and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to meet Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick and some of the East African elephant orphans. If you love orangutans, elephants, or animals in general, I encourage you to see this film. For more information, check out the movie link: here.

For more information about the Orangutan Foundation International, Dr. Birute Mary Galdika, or the Indonesian Borneo orangutan orphans, check out the link: here.

For more information about the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick, or the East African elephant orphans, check out the link: here.

Making Mochi

I'm a big fan of mochi, so when I found out you can easily make it at home without having to use a rice pounding mallet and execute a carefully choreographed traditional dance routine, I figured it was worth a try.

Using mochiko, glutinous rice flour, eliminates the need to complete the labor-intensive rice pounding process, and you basically combine all of the ingredients together in a bowl, pour the mixture into a greased pan, bake, cool, cut, and voila!

I couldn't find potato starch at the store, so MH and I rolled our cut mochi in a rice flour and powdered sugar mixture. Our mochi absorbed the coating after a few hours and got a little gooey, but I'm not sure if it was because of the lack of potato starch or the humidity. Nevertheless, they turned out pretty well and the next time I make them I think I'm going to try to make a few different flavors.

Here is the recipe courtesy of AllRecipes.Com:

Ingredients

- 1 pound mochiko

- 2 1/2 cups white sugar

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 2 cups water

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 (14 oz) can coconut milk

- 1/4 teaspoon red food color (optional)

- 1 1/2 cups potato starch

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. Whisk together the rice, flour, sugar, and baking powder; set aside

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the water, vanilla, coconut milk and red food coloring. Blend in the rice flour mixture. Pour into the prepared pan.

3. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool completely.

4. Turn the pan of mochi out onto a clean surface that has been dusted with potato starch. Cut into bit size pieces using a plastic knife. The mochi does not stick as much to plastic knives.

Papaya King

MH and I happened to catch an episode of 'The Originals with Emeril' and his visit to Papaya King, one of New York's famous hot dog stands, caught our eye. They are known for being the first to combine freshly made fruit juices with frankfurters. Who could say no to that?!? Luckily, they recently opened a location in Hollywood, so we decided to give it a try.

We ordered a frankfurter with chili, a frankfurter with sauteed onions, a frankfurter with sauteed mushrooms and onions, curly fries, a papaya tropical drink, and a pina colada tropical drink.

Everything was affordable and tasty. However, we both thought that the bun to frankfurter ratio was a little off and wished there was a little less bread. My favorite part of the meal was the tropical drinks! I thought that the choice to have something other than soda at a hot dog joint was refreshing.

If you plan on going, keep in mind that the place is super tiny with only standing room and counter space to eat. Since it is in Hollywood, parking can also be a challenge, so watch the meter signs.

Financial Crisis For The Future of Ice Cream

I can't say I am surprised by Dippin' Dots recent Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing (WSJ article). Dippin' Dots prices itself alongside premium ice creams brands and clearly does not have the consumer base to support its business. However, my heart goes out to them and I wish they could pull out of their financial funk because I am one of their adoring fans! There is a Dippin' Dots store in Rancho Cucamunga that I like to visit any time MH and I are heading up or coming down the 15 and my road trips just won't be the same without it.