Happy Texas Independence Day! Round Up Texas BBQ

While Texas Independence Day is the celebration of the adoption of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836, I tend to treat it like Texas Pride Day. Sure, it's been ten years since I've lived in Texas, but I hold the state near and dear to my heart.













Quite literally, since I wear this awesome pendant on a regular basis.

I didn't get to bake anything to celebrate the day, so instead I want to highlight a recent experience that gave me the warm fuzzies.

The story starts last fall with a scenic train ride up the beautiful Hudson Valley. (No pictures, sorry!) It's Saturday morning, and I find myself on Main Street in Beacon, NY. As soon as I see the store window to home and crafts store Clay Wood & Cotton, I know I'm in for it. I go in and gush over the store, and only after I pick up every handmade piece in the store do I start to chat with store owners Kristy and Kristen. I find out Kristy and I share Houston as a hometown, and she recommends visiting a Texas BBQ joint down in Cold Spring. I can't that day, but I say I'll check it out in the future.

The future didn't come until two weekends ago. I'm back upstate, and Round Up Texas BBQ is the last stop of the day's (secret) mission. We swing open the door, and Linda, Bill, and Round Up's Texan decor greet us. My Texan accent senses the surroundings and feels safe enough to come out. I mention the recommendation from Clay Wood & Cotton, and Linda shares her BBQ adventures. She's proud of her story, and we're eager to taste her hard work. We sample everything they had that day, and I leave as a happy camper.








































Brisket should always be that moist. Photos taken by Albert Cheung.













































They have their sausage made by a local culinary institute, but it tastes like it could be Texas-made.













































Clockwise from the top left: Potato Salad, Green Stuff, Cole Slaw, Mac & Cheese (Linda's own recipe with 4 cheeses, 4 pastas, and jalapeños)













































Their BBQ chicken doesn't steal the show, but it's still tasty and juicy.

On this day, why don't you raise a cold Lone Star or Shiner Bock with me, and let's give it up for Texas!

Round Up Texas BBQ and Tumbleweed Saloon
2471 Route 9
Cold Spring, NY 10516

Also check out Metromix Hudson Valley for a detailed slide show feature on Round Up Texas BBQ.

Coffee Foundry

Here's a blurb I use when describing my interests: I love coffee, cake, and coffee cake. Cake and coffee just go so well together, right? Well, meet my friends Norm and Wilson. They've been roasting single-origin coffee locally for the past several years, but within the last year, they opened shop at The Coffee Foundry in the West Village. This video by local menswear label 3sixteen highlights cool things being done in their jeans (and they did a whole series featuring other creative professionals).

Singularities: The Coffee Foundry from 3sixteen on Vimeo.

Now, I've definitely come a long way from my hatred of coffee at first taste. Me - hate coffee? Yes, I was 8 years old, and what I thought was a glass of iced Coke was in fact my mom's glass of olieng, or sweetened black coffee. But since then, I've had quite the coffee journey, and it looks a little like this:








My coffee journey can be summarized as disguising the coffee with sugar and cream to learning to appreciate the coffee itself and simply experience it. Last year I discovered a lot of West Coast roasters with the help of Citizen Bean, but I'm also lucky to have access to locally roasted beans by Norm and Wilson. The Coffee Foundry is a place where I can sit back and have their roasts brewed on the spot, and like 3sixteen, I think what they're doing is really cool.

The Coffee Foundry
186 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10014
coffeefoundry.com

If you're an NYC blogger interested in joining a cupping event at The Coffee Foundry please email me at talidabakes at gmail dot com.

Azuki (Red Bean) Filled Mochi

新年快樂! Happy Chinese New Year! I wish you all a prosperous year, and may your celebrations be filled with lots of food and warmth!

It's been terribly frigid here, and in the city that never sleeps, I'm still expected to go into work as long as the subways are running. Luckily my commute only involves strapping on my boots and walking (though with this week's weather, ice skates would have been more fitting).

In these frosty conditions, nothing warms me up like food, friends, and family. Tonight we will feast on lots of Chinese food, and I'll be snacking on this azuki mochi throughout the day.

Tiny Urban Kitchen featured a post of Chinese New Year recipes, and the nian gao (年糕) post spoke to me. I love making (and eating) mochi, but I usually cook it using steam. So I thought I'd try out a baked mochi cake, stuffed with red bean paste. Thanks for the idea and the recipe, Jen!

If you haven't eaten anything like this before, think of it like a super-chewy-Asian-flavored-brownie. Or blondie. It's super easy to make, and even easier to eat!


Azuki (Red Bean) Filled Mochi
adapted from Tiny Urban Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 lb sweet rice flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups and 1 tablespoon milk
1 egg yolk, beaten
2 cups azuki (red bean) paste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9"x13" baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt.
3. Add 2 beaten eggs and 2 cups milk into flour mixture and stir together until well combined.
4. Spread about half of the mochi batter into greased baking pan. Spoon the azuki paste on top of mochi layer and spread evenly. Cover with remaining mochi batter.
5. Whisk together egg yolk and tablespoon of milk to make egg wash. Brush top of mochi with egg wash.
6. Bake in oven for 60 minutes until golden brown.
7. Let cool 10-15 minutes then slice into squares.

Arpor's 90th Birthday

My favorite memories of my maternal grandmother (Arpor) revolve around her birthday. I seem to always visit Thailand in the summertime when it just can't get any hotter, and about once a decade, we celebrate Arpor's birthday in a big way with a family reunion. I don't know what your family reunions are like, or if you even enjoy them, but these reunions have always been a real treat for me. We feast on great food, and Arpor sits back as we perform endless acts of music* and dancing for our beloved grandma.
























Flashback to 1991's family reunion. Oh boy.

I want to share with y'all some pictures from the latest family reunion celebrating Arpor's 90th birthday on July 3, 2010. These are mostly professional photos from the celebration in the Novotel Bangkok in Siam Square. Those who came numbered 200, making it a bigger party than my wedding. And as you'll soon see, we showered Arpor with our love through our musical acts.
























Meet my dear grandma Sumitra Boonsermsuwong, or as I call her, Arpor.
























The tables were named after her kids as they were all given tables to seat their own friends and family.

















This is a fun fact I love telling people. Can you believe my grandmother gave birth to 11 children?! Here they are, happily reunited. Oldest to youngest from right to left. 7 live in Bangkok, 3 in the USA, and 1 is in Hong Kong.

















And here's the entire family. Each of the 11 got married and had children. Some of those children got married and had children. In total, there are 69 of us in the family, spread throughout 5 different countries.
























My beautiful cousin Dara performing a traditional Indian dance.

















Some of the granddaughters join together in a hip-hop-fan dance.

















My dad and Tim played Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle while food was served.

















Singing to Arpor is a must-have act.

















Three generations of daughters danced to the Girls' Generation HaHaHa song, choreographed by cousin Jent.

















A 90th birthday is well-deserving of a tiered cake and mantou tower.

















Birds' nest soup is a popular present for the elderly, believed to be a health tonic.

















My paternal grandmother (Khun Ya) even came out, and I don't know what my oldest uncle is doing, but that's just classic behavior of our crazy uncle.

















If you're wondering where the food pictures are, then you might be missing my point. While some memories involve food, this is about family itself. If I didn't snap this picture of the menu, I wouldn't have known what we ate that night. I know it all tasted great, but experiencing this kind of love beats even the best steamed garoupa [sic] in Bangkok.

*Wondering why the big emphasis on music and dancing at our family reunions? My grandfather had a deep love for music and performing, having led a big band for many years, and he sent his children to music lessons. He passed away in 1997, but we continue to honor him by displaying the love for music he passed down to all of us.

Grandmothers

Over the weekend, I attended the wake of our Poh-Poh, Ing-Fen Hsu Jeng, who died January 15, 2011 at the age of 85. Technically she's my husband's sister's husband's Poh-Poh (maternal grandmother), but I'm calling her Poh-Poh because she was a woman who loved everybody as her own family. I didn't know Poh-Poh terribly well, but I see and know the fruits of her love through her family. I'm thankful I had the chance to attend her and Gong-Gong's 60th wedding anniversary a few years back, and it was the sweetest celebration to join in, especially as a newlywed at the time.

A snapshot of their 1948 wedding.

One after another, family and friends relived stories about what a big heart she had towards others, and some of her grandchildren shared how they always found it weird that Poh-Poh never cooked for them (the cooking was Gong-Gong's job). Hearing these stories made it so sad to say goodbye, but we pray with great hope that God's mercy has brought her and Gong-Gong together again in eternity.

After coming home from the service, I immediately thought about my own grandmothers, and how fortunate Tim and I are to still be able to talk to and Skype with all four of ours today. And how happy were we to visit Thailand last summer to celebrate Arpor's (my maternal grandmother) 90th birthday and Khun Ya's (my paternal grandmother) 92nd birthday with them!

Having lived my whole life in the States with most of my extended family residing in Bangkok, I only saw my grandmothers once every 3 years at best. Still, I have many fond memories of them, and food plays an important part of those memories. I'll be posting a few of those memories (as well as new memories from this past trip) in a mini-series to come. In anticipation of those posts, I'd like to ask y'all...

What are some of your fondest memories of your grandmother(s)? I look forward to reading your stories!

Chocolate Banana Loaf

We had a wonderfully tiring weekend, visiting friends from all over. We drove over 700 miles, stopped in 5 different cities and met adorable baby Joseph, played with a bunch of little kids, chatted with a handful of college friends, had dinner with my old church small group, and even saw a few friends from our high school days. There were many more we wish we could have seen, but we're saving them for another trip.

I made this chocolate banana loaf for Jon, one of the coolest friends we have. Thanks for hosting us and for treating us to some great soondubu! Glad you were able to eat some Sunday morning, and I hope you've enjoyed more since. :)

Among all the catching up, we were asked how our families are doing, and we heard some great compliments about our family members. Specifically, we heard from Tim's high school buddy how he recalls my mother-in-law, Mama, being the sweetest person he's ever met. Mama, I hope that you're reading this and that you realize you've touched many people's hearts with your love and kindness. Happy Birthday to my dear mother-in-law!

Chocolate Banana Loaf

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
4-6 ripe bananas, mashed well
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a loaf pan.
3. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt)
4. In another bowl combine the wet ingredients: bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
5. Fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake about 60 minutes until bread has risen and a cake tester comes out clean.
7. Let cool slightly, remove loaf from pan, and serve warm.

Baba's Mantou 饅頭

Happy Birthday Baba! It's my father-in-law's birthday today, and I'd like to take some time today to share one of his recipes with all of you. I had the pleasure of visiting Fort Wayne, IN for Christmas, and I was delighted to help my father-in-law makes these for the big Christmas Eve gathering their church held at their home. Christmas Eve is just one example of my in-laws' hospitality towards their community. I hear many stories of their lovely home gatherings, inviting over church friends, neighbors, as well as students from North Side High School (where my mother-in-law teaches), and I was blessed to participate in one of their parties during Christmas.



































For our Christmas dinner, we doubled the recipe below and made close to 80 buns! I certainly pulled my weight in eating them up as I must have eaten at least a dozen during our time there. Thanks for sharing your recipe with me, Baba, and I hope to learn many more recipes from you!




































Baba's Mantou 饅頭
makes around 40 buns

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
4 cups warm water
1 tablespoon baking powder
12 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon shortening
1 cup red bean paste
40 - 2" squares of cut wax paper

Directions:
1. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over the the warm water, let stand for about 30 minutes until yeast bubbles.
2. Meanwhile, mix together flour and baking powder, and cut shortening into flour mixture.
3. Make a well in the flour mixture, pour in yeast mixture, and start mixing to form a dough.
5. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth, then cover with moist paper towel and let stand for about two hour in a warm place until the dough doubles in size.
6. Punch down dough and knead one more time and let stand for another 20 minutes.
7. Prepare steamer and begin to boil water.
8. Knead dough to shape into long rolls and cut across the roll to form mantou.
9. To make red bean paste filled mantou, roll one section of dough into a flat circle, put 1 tablespoon of red bean paste in the center, and pinch dough closed, forming a bun.
10. Stick one square of wax paper to the bottom of each shaped mantou and cover with damp paper towel until dough is used up.
11. Place mantou carefully in steamer, leaving enough space in between. Steam mantou for 10-12 minutes.