Lazy Lavender Loaf

I'm celebrating Father's Day by writing this post for both my dad and my father-in-law. I've mentioned before how lucky I am to have two wonderful mothers, and in line with that thought, I'm just as proud to have two outstanding fathers. Baba, my father-in-law, has a huge green thumb that comes from his family's background in Taiwan. Dad, my own pop, gave me a love for all music and has quite the collection of stories from his youth in Bangkok, ranging from street fighting to khao soi seeking adventures with his own dad.

Both have a lot in common too: they came to the States for their doctorates, worked ever so hard for their families, and have guided their families through love and wisdom. I have so much respect for both fathers and want to thank them for everything.

Why honor them with my lavender loaf? Well, the lavender came from Baba's own garden in Indiana. Also, I have fond memories of cooking gourmet foods at home with Dad, things Mom didn't particularly like or care to cook. I've named this loaf lazy because I paid no attention to the recipe. Here's what the original plan looked like:

























*I was feeling experimental, and I also ran out of some ingredients, so below is the actual recipe I came up with. And Happy Father's Day, Dad and Baba. As John and Paul wrote, "In my life, I love you more."


Lazy Lavender Loaf

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour arbitrarily mixed with rice flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lavender
2 eggs
1 cup yogurt, vanilla flavored
1 teaspoon vanilla, omitted if using vanilla yogurt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter since you're too impatient to wait for it to soften. Put in a large mixing bowl.
3. Using a rubber spatula, mix sugar into the melted butter, stir for a little while.
4. Add lavender, eggs, and yogurt at this point. Don't bother with alternating wet and dry ingredients.
5. Forget the sifting, just measure out the dry ingredients and dump it all in.
6. Mix until combined, but since mixture will remain lumpy, give up after a minute.
7. Pour mixture into greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.
8. Let cool, slice, then serve. Be surprised the loaf turned out well without following the original plan!

* I also followed in Dad's footsteps by studying Computer Science, so my lists start from zero instead of one. Thanks for the inherited nerdiness, Dad!

Mini Dan Ta

You must know by now that it's springtime. Okay, so it may already be borderline summertime, but I haven't written a proper spring post yet.

Springtime brings new growth in the form of plants and love. From my experience, I can agree with that. Seven years ago during Spring Break, Tim and I started dating. Two years ago, we got married in the spring. Just this month there were two engagements among my friends (Congrats Rich+Tonnie! Congrats Yedeh+Quyen!), and we've already attended three weddings this year.

Last weekend, I attended a college friend's lovely bridal shower upstate in Beacon, and thinking about bridal showers made me realize I never posted the dan ta recipe I made for Tina's bridal shower. Oh, the horror! You can imagine me hitting myself like Dobby for going against the master that is blogging. Not really, but Harry Potter's been on my mind for whatever reason.

I made mini dan ta for Tina's bridal shower because she loves circles and the color yellow. She also makes delicious dan ta, but ironically her husband does not eat eggs (along with many other things). I've eaten many, many dan ta in my life, but this was my first time making them, and I was pleased with their ease. In the future, I'd like to try using lard for the tart shell in place of butter to attain that super flaky texture. How dangerously delicious would that be?


Mini Dan Ta (Chinese Egg Tart)
adapted from various sources

Tart Shell Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt

Egg Custard Ingredients:
4 cups milk
5 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt.
2. Mix in the butter until reaching a crumbly mixture.
3. Stir in egg and mix until forming a dough.
4. Shape dough into 1/2 inch balls, flattening each ball into tart mold (or mini muffin pan). Be sure to cover the bottom and shape dough against the sides of the mold so that dough is higher than the sides.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Combine all custard ingredients into a medium saucepan over low heat.
7. Whisk custard gently until all sugar is dissolved.
8. Strain egg custard through a sieve and let cool.
9. Fill the tart shells with the egg custard to be 3/4 full.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
11. Let cool slightly and remove from molds before serving.

Azuki Shortbread

I'm so happy to be celebrating Mother's Day this year with both my mothers in Fort Wayne, IN. My in-laws live in Fort Wayne, and my own parents flew in from Texas to join us for the weekend. On Friday, the huge storm system in the Midwest challenged our intended celebration, but when two out of three flights from Chicago to Fort Wayne were canceled, we decided to rent a car and road trip the rest of our journey. Tim drove through the storm and got us in town in time for dinner on Friday night.

I am tremendously blessed to have two wonderful mothers, and this weekend was a great reminder of that fact. We cooked together, talked a lot, looked through some old photographs; it was a relaxing weekend and a good break from the busyness that is our typical life.

Both mothers love shortbread cookies, so I wanted to honor them (as well as the mothers at the Chinese Christian Church of Fort Wayne) with these azuki shortbread cookies. I was toying with the idea of making shortbread cookies filled with azuki paste, but in the end I folded the paste into the dough. At a glance, you could mistake these for chocolate chip cookies, but those chips are in fact red beans! Still sweet, but without the extra cholesterol. This recipe was adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe, but I used the shortcut shortbread cookie method that I've posted about before.

Happy Mother's Day! Please call home to your mothers and let them know how much you love them; I don't think our mothers will ever tire of hearing that from their children. So Mom and Mama, I love you both.


Azuki Shortbread
adapted from Cook's Illustrated and previous post

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold
1 cup azuki bean paste

Directions:
1. With a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is smooth.
2. Add flour, cornstarch, and salt to butter mixture, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated.
3. Fold in azuki paste.
3. Transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it does not cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or freeze for 30 minutes. You may keep the dough in this stage up to two days.
4. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat.
5. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one four times with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.
6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool. This recipe makes about 40 cookies.


Azuki (Red Bean) Paste
Ingredients:
1 cup dried azuki beans
1/3 cup sugar
3 cups water

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, cover beans with water and soak overnight.
2. Drain beans. Simmer beans and 3 cups water for an hour or until soft. Continue to simmer until the beans absorbs most of the water. Add sugar and mix beans until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.
3. Put beans in food processor and blend until it becomes a smooth paste.
4. Add sugar and continue blending until desired sweetness and consistency.

Chocolate Babka

On Sunday morning, I tweeted that I was at Temple Beth Sholom with a chocolate babka in the oven. As Jewish as that may sound, I am not Jewish. I just happen to find myself at the temple each Sunday because the temple rents their space out to Living Faith Community Church, the church I attend.

With Mother's Day approaching, we celebrated our congregation's mothers with a tea social and jewelry making session led by the talented Juyon. Everyone contributed to a great assortment of treats and teas; I even spotted a matcha chocolate swirl cake made by Sumin. When brainstorming what to bring, I wanted something that would feel at home in the temple. One particular Seinfeld episode came into mind, and that's when I knew what I had to make: babka. Not the "lesser [cinnamon] babka", but a chocolate babka.
























This yeasty chocolaty cake is divine. With all the butter, sugar, and chocolate that goes into it, how could it not be? I made one large babka and a three mini babkas the night before, and I let them rise in the fridge overnight. The babkas baked so wonderfully in the temple's kitchen, I think they knew exactly where they were.

Now, it doesn't matter what faith you belong to or where you worship, you really have to make this babka. My mind's already brainstorming what other flavors I can marry the delicious babka with. I hope that will be the content of another delicious future post.


Chocolate Babka
Gourmet, December 2006

Dough Ingredients:
3/4 cup warm milk (105–115°F)
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons active dry yeast (from two 1/4-oz packages)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
2 whole large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

Egg Wash Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk

Chocolate Filling Ingredients:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, well softened
8 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips)
1/4 cup sugar


Directions:
1. Stir together warm milk and 2 teaspoons sugar in bowl of mixer. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
2. Add 1/2 cup flour to yeast mixture and beat at medium speed until combined. Add whole eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Increase speed to medium, then beat in butter, a few pieces at a time, and continue to beat until dough is shiny and forms strands from paddle to bowl, about 4 minutes. (Dough will be very soft and sticky.)
3. Scrape dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
4. Line each loaf pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper (1 lengthwise and 1 crosswise).
5. Punch down dough with a lightly oiled rubber spatula, then halve dough for large loaves. Separate dough into 6 pieces for mini babkas. Roll out 1 piece of dough on a well-floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into an 18- by 10-inch rectangle and arrange with a long side nearest you.
6. Beat together yolk and cream. Spread 2 1/2 tablespoons softened butter on dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Brush some of egg wash on long border nearest you.
7. Sprinkle half of chocolate evenly over buttered dough, then sprinkle with half of sugar (2 tablespoons). Starting with long side farthest from you, roll dough into a snug log, pinching firmly along egg-washed seam to seal. Bring ends of log together to form a ring, pinching to seal. Twist entire ring twice to form a double figure 8 and fit into one of lined loaf pans.
8. Make another babka with remaining dough, some of egg wash, and remaining butter and chocolate in same manner. Chill remaining egg wash,covered, to use later. Loosely cover pans with buttered plastic wrap (buttered side down) and let babkas rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough reaches top of pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Alternatively, let dough rise in pans in refrigerator 8 to 12 hours; bring to room temperature, 3 to 4 hours, before baking.)
9. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
10. Brush tops of dough with remaining egg wash. Bake until tops are deep golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped (when loaves are removed from pans), about 40 minutes, 25 minutes for mini babkas. Transfer loaves to a rack and cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies

Jury Duty 4/12/10 - 4/22/10. Yes, that's exactly what the frame around the picture says. The past two weeks of my life were spent serving as alternate juror #1, and it was an experience that certainly was interesting. Sure, it took much too long, and sure, I didn't even get to contribute to jury deliberation, but it gave me a first-hand look into our judicial system.

What surprised me most was how much our jury bonded. And as much as we bonded, I still don't know all their names. We didn't bother with formal introductions because we were all hoping each day was our last day. We didn't know each others' names, but we knew all about each other. We shared about our professions, hobbies, background, and faith. To keep each other awake during the trial, we brought candy and gum and shared with one another. Juror #1 noticed when alternate juror #2 was unusually quiet one morning, and asked if everything was okay with her. I found a great lunch buddy for the week, and after the trial ended, we're still playing a game of Words With Friends.

We sensed our last day would be the 22nd since closing statements finished the 21st. The very talkative teacher insisted on taking a group picture, and we found it too funny to pass on. She gathered our email addresses and said she'd email us the picture. Instead of emailing, she printed out copies with that silly frame for each of us. She distributed them to us on our last morning together, while I brought cookies and my lunch buddy brought brownies for the group. It was like a grade school party for the last day of class.

Who knew jury duty would feel like going away to a weird adult camp? Maybe instead of a boring summons, the state should send out flashy mandatory invites to "Jury Camp." Surely then, people wouldn't try so hard to get out of it. Maybe?


Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups butterscotch chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute.
3. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the butterscotch chips.
4. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
5. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Crawfish Boil in NYC

I'd seen 24, 24, 24 proposal requests from Foodbuzz many times, but was always busy the day it was to happen. This month was different; I checked my schedule to find I was free, and I really wanted to participate.

What's 24, 24, 24? Foodbuzz, a food blogger community I belong to, showcases posts from 24 bloggers around the world, highlighting 24 unique meals happening around the world, all within 24 hours. When I got the email asking for proposals this month, I had only one thing on my mind. Crawfish.

























Much like a beloved food blogger in New York City, I am a fellow Homesick Texan. I miss the variety of foods from around the Gulf Coast. Among the many foods I miss, crawfish is at the top. I remember St. Patrick's Day marking the start of crawfish season in the area, and there were many times my family bonded over buckets of the well-seasoned crustacean among a bed of spiced corn on the cob and potatoes.

For this month's 24, 24, 24, I wanted to share that favorite pastime with extended family members in New York by flying in live crawfish from Louisiana and having a crawfish boil in my own apartment in Long Island City. I invited my sister-in-law Jenn, her sister-in-law Nina, and all the husbands to join the fun. Nina brought her Flip to document the process, and I even had my friend Irene help photograph the event.

If you're interested in having your own crawfish boil in an apartment, follow the steps below. You won't regret it one bit.

Update: Nina just sent me her video, and it rocks! Thanks a bunch, Nina!

Crawfish Boil With Talida from Christina Jeng on Vimeo.

Crawfish Boil

Ingredients:
Live crawfish (3-5 pounds per person)
Large steamer pot with basket
Seafood boil
Red potatoes (at least 2 per person)
Corn on the cob (at least 2 per person)
Newspaper, bibs, paper towels

Directions:























1. Order live crawfish from the Louisiana Crawfish Co. Get the party pack if you won't be able to make the spices on your own; I did and it tasted pretty good. Upon arrival of crawfish, immediately open and inspect for movement to make sure the crawfish are mostly alive.

























2. Fill steamer pot with water and bring to boil. Once boiling, dump in seafood boil according to package directions. Add potatoes and corn and boil for 15 minutes.
























3. While water is boiling, purge the crawfish. This cleans the bayou goo from the critters. Dump crawfish into a sink or big bin, fill with water and drain. Add salt liberally to the soak, and rinse a couple more times as wanted.

























4. Boil the crawfish for 5-10 minutes in the steamer basket. Potatoes and corn should be ready along with the first batch of crawfish.




































5. Put on some Zydeco music. You can't eat crawfish without it. I used Pandora to create a Zydeco playlist, and it really set the mood. Serve a lot of beer (we had a great assortment of hefeweizen) and continue to boil crawfish in batches.





































6. Instruct friends and family how to eat crawfish, complete with sucking all the good stuff from the crawfish heads.
























7. Eat, drink, and enjoy. Here are the newlyweds enjoying their first crawfish boil!




































The seasoned married couple and crawfish eaters going at it.


























The women were still eating so the husbands graciously shelled the rest of the crawfish for later use.






















Oh, the aftermath of the crawfish boil. Lining all eating surfaces with newspaper makes for a really easy cleanup.

I was very pleased with the quality of service from Louisiana Crawfish Co. They were fresh, they were huge, and the spices were spot on. From now on, when I start to complain about not being able to get crawfish in the Big Apple, I'll look back on this post and remember that a good ol' fashioned crawfish boil is not impossible, even in a tiny apartment in LIC.

Chocolate Honey Cake

I've been driving in the Fast Lane the past couple of weeks. Literally, I mean just that. After helping with Tina's bridal shower, I've been sent to Marlborough, MA twice for work and have driving back and forth on the MassPike in the Fast Lane. Amidst the work trips, throw in helping coordinate Tina and David's wedding, gathering over wine and cheese, and hosting friends, and you've got busy me. I love doing all of it, so I wouldn't have it any other way.

In my previous post, I said I would go into more detail about the different desserts I made for Tina's bridal shower, so I will stay true to my word. The bridal shower had a prominent theme and even the dessert fell in line. If you were tasked with finding yellow, white, and circle desserts, what would you come up with? Well, here's what we had at the bridal shower:
























Lemon and vanilla macarons from Ladurée. If you bring these back from Paris or elsewhere, just keep them in an airtight container in the freezer, and they'll last for weeks.

























"Yellow and White" cookies, a version of the Black and White cookie, a recipe I tried a while back.

























Mini profiteroles with fresh whipped cream. I used the same choux recipe as my matcha profiteroles.

























Mini dan ta, or Chinese egg tarts. I'll save this recipe for my next post.

























A polka dot chocolate honey cake. "This isn't yellow!" you may say, but just hush. I could have made a yellow fruit tart, but I felt the need to vary the flavors. I knew Tina loves honey and chocolate, so it still fit in terms of her favorite things. Drizzling honey over the cake while warm would increase the amount of moisture in this cake, but to better fit the theme, I wanted circles of powdered sugar to top the cake. I had Cheryl make a template out of parchment paper with a circle paper cutter. It was tricky keeping the parchment paper steady, but it worked. The cake itself was easy to bake and was really moist; join me in welcoming a great addition to my list of cake recipes.


Honey Chocolate Cake
adapted from Super Food Ideas, April 2005

Ingredients:
2/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup honey
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons baking power
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and sift cocoa powder covering a 9-inch round cake pan.
2. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Slowly add in eggs, one at a time. Add in honey, and beat well.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
4. Whisk together milk and vanilla in a small bowl.
5. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, then add in milk mixture. Alternatively add in until well mixed.
6. Pour into greased pan and bake at for 20-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
7. Let cake cool in pan for 5-10 minutes. Invert cake and sift powdered sugar on top of the cake, using any desired template.