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.

Happy Pi Day! (Azuki Matcha Meringue Pie)

The day isn't over yet, so I can still wish you all a Happy Pi Day!

























I took a chance and made a complete experiment of a pie. Remember the dessert I had in Paris I kept raving about? The azuki matcha duomo from Pâtisserie Sadaharu Aoki? This pie is inspired by that dessert. The fillings I made went well together, but I have to work on the pie construction and topping. I also hope to find a way to make it look appetizing. It's certainly not an appealing pie, but the flavors worked.

My recipe for Pi Day is a work in progress, but if you're looking for a simple azuki paste recipe or a matcha curd recipe, I've got them below.


Azuki Matcha Meringue Pie

Ingredients:
1 baked pie shell
3/4 cup azuki bean paste
1 recipe warm matcha curd, recipe below
1 recipe meringue

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Spread a thin layer of the azuki paste in the baked pie shell.
3. Pour the still warm matcha curd over the azuki paste, completely covering the paste.
4. Top the pie with the meringue, also completely covering matcha curd and making sure it reaches the edge of the crust. Add peaks to the meringue with a rubber spatula as desired.
5. Bake pie for 10-12 minutes or until meringue topping turns golden.
6. Remove from oven and let completely cool before serving.


Azuki (Red Bean) Paste
Ingredients:
1 cup dried azuki beans
1/2 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.


Matcha Curd
Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
1/3 cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup matcha powder, sifted

Directions:
1. Whisk egg yolks first in a separate bowl.
2. Whisk together cornstarch, water, sugar, matcha powder, and salt in a saucepan.
3. On medium heat, stir together until brought to a boil.
4. Remove from heat, and gently add hot mixture to egg yolks spoonful at a time, whisking together until at least half of the hot mixture is added.
5. Return egg and cornstarch mixture to saucepan and on low heat, stir mixture together for 1 minute.
6. Remove from heat and gently stir in butter.


Meringue Topping
Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 pinch cream of tartar
2 t sugar

Directions:
1. Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment.
2. Beat egg whites on medium until soft peaks form and add sugar little at a time.
3. Continue beating until stiff peaks form, approximately 1 to 2 minutes.

Tina's Bridal Shower

Last month, I had the privilege of helping out with a former roommate's bridal shower. When the maid of honor (Tina's sister) asked me if I'd like to make some dessert for the shower, I was honored to be asked and immediately said yes!

I've had many roommates in the past, and Tina is one of my favorites. Is she even better than my current one? Hmmm.. that's a tough call. She cooked for me, sometimes cleaned up after me, was a great workout buddy, gave me tennis lessons, got me into baseball, and taught me a great deal about home style Taiwanese food. To bake for her bridal shower was my way of showing appreciation for her friendship and presence in my life.





































































Can you tell the bridal shower had a theme? Well it did, and the theme was Tina's favorite things: the color yellow, the color white, and polka-dots. Cheryl did all the decorations and crafted together paper pom-poms, yarn pom-poms, paper banners, balloon banners, and strew paper circle cut-outs all around the apartment. She really transformed David's apartment into a ray of sunlight. Update: Not that it wasn't already wonderfully decorated by the groom..





















































How awesome is it that guests brought presents wrapped in the same style as the decorations? We made no kind of announcement or demands for this; Tina's friends simply know what she likes.

























Kelly, the maid of honor, took care of the food, and she prepared as many yellow foods as she could think of. We had tamago sushi, assorted cheese and crackers, corn salsa on tortilla chips, deviled eggs, a yellow vegetable platter, chicken salad sandwiches, and sweet potato fries. We had quite the assortment of food, and it looked great altogether.




































In addition to this honey chocolate polka-dot cake, I made a few other desserts in the same theme, and I even brought back lemon and vanilla macarons from Ladurée in Paris. I'll be sure to write more about the desserts in future posts, so check back next week!




































Even more polka-dots! This is the only present picture I'm going to post. But let me say we certainly saw more white, yellow, and polka-dots among the presents.
























The bridesmaids sent us home with these adorable pots of honey as shower favors. They skillfully tied various Burt's Bees items to each honey pot with cute yellow yarn. I heard it was a great feat, so job well done, ladies.




































And here the bride is with her lovely bouquet for the wedding rehearsal. Cheryl came prepared with her glue gun and craft supplies and made this fabulous gift wrap bouquet that could be fit for the actual wedding.

I can't believe Tina will be marrying her fiancé David in just one week! The bridal shower was so bright and cheery, and I hope their wedding will be filled with even more sunshine. Congratulations, you two!

Snacking in Paris

Today is a very special day! This is the day I wrap up my Paris posts. It's also Tim and my two-year wedding anniversary, but I will spare you all by leaving the sap out of this post.

I had grand plans for snacking in Paris. I took many notes from Robyn's amazing Paris trip and thought we'd be able to tackle all the pâtisseries she photographed and wrote about. Alas, her blog isn't just "The Girl Who Ate Something"; it's called "The Girl Who Ate Everything" for a reason. I don't know how you did it, Robyn, but I salute you.



































First on my list was Pâtisserie Sadaharu Aoki. My friend Janice lent me The Patisseries of Paris by Jamie Cahill to plan for the trip, and I read it cover to cover many times. Sadaharu Aoki jumped out at me from the pages because I absolutely love Japanese flavors in dessert form, so I could imagine nothing better than French-style pastries with Japanese flavors. It met all my expectations, and I wanted to buy the whole store. Instead, I walked out with the matcha azuki duomo pictured above (a must try!), an assorted box of macarons, a jar of matcha azuki jam, and various chocolates in all flavors. See more drool-inducing photos captured by Béa and "the chocolate guy."

























We went to the Louvre on our first full day, and after spending most of the morning in the Denon Wing, we needed to refuel. We went to the nearest cafe and ordered un café gourmand and a Coke. If anyone's ever advised you against buying a Coke in the Louvre, take the advice. Otherwise expect to pay about 4 euros for the Coke. We knew it'd cost us, but Tim had a thirst only Coca-Cola could satisfy. The macarons were tasty, but I probably would've been okay eating sugar cubes to last me through both Sully and Richelieu wings.

























Yes, we visited McDonald's on Champs-Élysées. Tim and I quickly became accustomed to having espresso every afternoon, so while walking along Champs-Élysées, we popped in the McCafé to enjoy deux cafés gourmand. The WSJ recently ran an article on the recent popularity of the macaron, highlighting their appearance in McDonald's in Paris. The article poses the question, "Now chains like McDonald's have added them to the menu. Can Parisians really tell the difference?" I'm not Parisian, but I believe there's a difference. McDo's version was significantly chewier than Ladurée's, and the chocolate and caramel flavors were only so-so. Seeing macarons at the McCafé on Champs-Élysées is one thing, but what if we saw them at McD's in Penn Station? Now that's a scary thought.

Though our snacking wasn't comprehensive, we did more than what I just mentioned. We ate more macarons from Ladurée, madeleines from Boulangerie Eric Kayser, Nutella crêpes from what I think used to be Crépuscule, assorted snacks from Monoprix, assorted cheeses from Fromagerie Quatrehomme, éclairs au chocolat from La Maison du Chocolat, and more éclairs from Angelina.

Here's the list of places we did not get to try: Boulangerie Poilâne, Pierre Hermé, Gérard Mulot, Berthillon, Mariage Frères, and many, many more. In a way, I'm glad we still have a list of things to do in Paris. (Always look on the bright side, right?) We will certainly be back, and we'll be able to enjoy them more in what I hope will be warmer weather.

If you have any must-see recommendations for Paris, please let me know! I know some friends visiting later this year, and I'd love to be able to give them more recommendations.

Les Papilles

Dinner at Les Papilles was our favorite meal of the trip. I'd read all about the mandatory prix fixe dinner from "the chocolate guy" and had decided we will eat there while in Paris. I was psyched once the decision was made, but then I realized we needed a reservation. I speak zero French. What did I do?

I actually love learning languages, so I took this as an opportunity to pick up a few French phrases to prepare for the trip. I searched around and found this site to be the most helpful one because of its audio tools. Once I pieced together what I was going to say, this site was helpful in pronouncing words for me. When it came time to call and make a reservation, I froze and asked in an apologetic voice, "Parlez-vous Anglais, s'il vous plait?" and the rest of the conversation was completed in English.

Back to Les Papilles. This place was amazing, from the service to the thought put into each course, and though we sat elbow to elbow next to an Irish couple, they made lovely neighbors and even offered us a taste of their wine when we had to choose ours.



































This was the market menu for February 13, 2010. Even if you can't read French, like me, you can tell only delicious words were written on that chalkboard. "Retour du marché" means "back from the market." After figuring that out, it made me feel even more love for this place.

























These were the chips, croutons, bacon, and chives that went with the soup. I was tempted to eat them alone, but a server motioned for us to pour the soup over it all.

























I'm so glad we did. "Velouté de patates douces, quenelle de crème à l'huile d'olives, chips de patates douces, croutons, lardons frits, ciboulette" wouldn't have come together otherwise. In English, that would be sweet potato soup with a dollop of olive oil cream over sweet potato chips, croutons, bacon, and chives. This soup was full of flavor, and we loved all the different textures in it.

























"Poitrine de porc braisée, haricots coco, carottes, pois gourmands, tomates confites oignons nouveaux et sa sauce au pistou" is braised pork belly with white beans, carrots, snow peas in a tomato confit and pesto sauce served on the side. This entire meal was so comforting, but the arrival of this dish especially warmed us up.

























We loved all the vegetables that came with the pork as we were afraid we wouldn't be eating enough fruits and vegetables in Paris. Since Tim switched jobs into the healthcare industry, we've been more intentional about eating healthy. I hope you all are eating your greens too!

























"Fourme d' Ambert, pruneau au vin rouge" is simply Fourme d 'Ambert cheese served with a prune in a red wine reduction. The combination of this cheese with the prune was perfection. I ate the entire thing, and Tim suffered for the next 24 hours. I am sure that is way too much information for you, but I will happily endure the aftermath of eating stinky cheese because I love stinky cheese! Although really, this wasn't all that stinky.




































"Panacotta clémentine et caramel" was a very nice clementine panna cotta with caramel sauce. We were stuffed at this point in the meal, but the flavors of the panna cotta were so vibrant, we continued to feast on the last course of the market menu.




































This place is also a wine bar and has a cellar that contains even more wine than on their walls. We are far from wine connoisseurs, so we asked for a light red wine recommendation and we were presented with a nice pinot noir from the Domaine Ganevat winery in the Côtes du Jura AOC. I can't remember the specific notes or tastes of the wine... so why don't I point out the faces in places instead? What a cute monkey face on the wine bottle.


We wanted to eat at great places in Paris without the fuss of dressing up or caring about being seen. Les Papilles was exactly that. Leaving the question of what to eat in the hands of those who know best is always fine by me, so if you feel the same, definitely visit Les Papilles.


Les Papilles
30 rue Gay Lussac
Paris, France 75005
01 43 25 20 79