Kyoto Travel Post: Maiko Transformation

Kyoto. Truly one of the most amazing and mesmerizing places I've ever traveled to in Japan. On this trip, I went during the height of autumn (with my significant other) granting us the opportunity to witness nature's spectacular change of colors. Abundant with history, tradition, and excellent food, there is no shortage of things to do or see (or crowds for that matter). Aside from the numerous locations we visited and treats we sampled, the most unforgettable moment would have to be my maiko transformation.

To those who are unfamiliar, a maiko is an apprentice geisha. Iconic of traditional Japan you may recognize them with painted faces, elegantly styled hair, and dressed in full kimono. Contrary to popular misconception, they are not prostitutes but rather highly skilled performing artists. As traditional female entertainers they are trained in various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance, games, and conversation. My experience did not include training in these arts, but they did include 1.5 hours in makeup, hair, and finally kimono followed by an epic photo shoot. Here's a look at the complete ensemble:

Of the numerous studios available in Kyoto, I chose Maiko-Henshin due to the quality of their pictures and great value. Considering that the entire experience cost me under $200 USD, this was well worth the money. I went during their promotion and chose their "Special Campaign to Celebrate Completion of New Head Shop" package which included hair, makeup, kimono, studio photos, and an outdoor photo shoot with your very own photographer. For additional details please see their website for more information. Note: If you are terrible at posing for pictures (like me) don't worry! They will guide you to that perfect photograph. Without any further ado, here are some highlights of that day.

After the photo shoot you are given 20 minutes free time to wander around the immediate area. I advise that you bring your own camera to take more pictures, walk around, and feel like a celebrity. Though I must warn you that a lot of people will flock to you for pictures. I forfeited my rickshaw ride so I was allotted 40 minutes. Here's what I did with it:

And so concludes my maiko adventure. To those of you who plan on visiting Japan, I highly recommend this activity. Take a break from the crowds and numerous temples and transform yourself into an apprentice geisha.

http://www.maiko-henshin.com/en

Sopa de Tres Frijoles (Three Bean Soup)

Fall is here! And what better way to kick off a long term hiatus than with a hearty soup recipe. I haven't posted in awhile but this is truly too good not to share. I first tasted this soup when my coworker brought some over to work to share with everyone. It was her DJ roommate's famous three bean soup recipe and she very nice to have packaged a portion for everyone to take home. Impeccable timing because unfortunately for me, that was the same day that I caught the flu. This soup was the perfect remedy for feeling sick and super awesome to have after a long day at work. Who knew DJ's could cook right? (Check him out here!) I'm sure what I have here isn't the exact recipe but the outcome is nevertheless delicious. This version is a bit thicker and meatier than the original so I hope you enjoy. Warm yourself up with some sopa de tres frijoles (three bean soup) as the weather continues to cool down. ¡Olé!

P.S. Many thanks to Helen and Richard for sharing their soup with me!

Sopa de Tres Frijoles
1 cup pinto beans
1 cup black beans
1 cup lentils
1 can chicken broth
1 large brown onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 chicken breasts
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 small can roasted green chili pepper, mild
8-10 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste
green onion, chopped
cilantro, chopped

1. Sort the beans by removing twigs, rocks, and such. Rinse and soak beans for half an hour. (No need to soak the lentils they cook fairly quickly, but I would advise rinsing them. )
2. Rinse the chicken breasts and pat dry with a paper towel. Season one side with salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano.
3. In a large pot, heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and place the chicken breasts seasoned side down. Allow the chicken to sear and caramelize. Season the other side and flip the chicken breasts. When both sides are nice and browned, remove the chicken breasts from the pot. (They do not have to be cooked through.)
4. In the same pot, add another tablespoon of olive oil and saute the garlic. When the garlic becomes fragrant, add the diced onion. Add the chicken breasts back into the pot when the onions become a little browned.
5. Add the pinto beans, black beans, spices, green chili pepper, chicken broth, and water into the pot. Bring to boil, turn down the heat, and allow to simmer for two hours or until the beans are tender, stirring occasionally.
6. After the two hours, add the lentils and cook for an additional 15-30 minutes, or until tender. Remove the chicken breast from the pot, shred the meat in a bowl, and put the chicken back into the soup. Adjust the thickness of the soup by adding more water and bringing it back to a boil.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with cilantro and green onion to enjoy. :9

Shoyu Tofu Dango

Most commonly featured in animes and Asian dramas, dango is pretty much glutinous rice balls served on a skewer. They can be easily found in Japan anywhere for about 100 to 150 yen each. Well in the USA, that's a different story. I know they can be found at a stand in Little Tokyo in LA, and of course in the refrigerated section at your local Japanese market, but sometimes that may be a whole lot of trouble for something that can be so easily made. This recipe is a modification of ochikeron's recipe from youtube. The dango she makes look good but I do not entirely agree with putting potato starch in the shoyu sauce; it's just not traditional. Not that I am an expert at being Japanese or anything but here you go! (;

Shoyu Tofu Dango

Dango:
100 grams shiratamako flour
140 grams silken tofu, drained
1 teaspoon sugar

Sweet Shoyu Glaze
1 tablespoon shoyu
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon brown sugar

1. Bring a pot of water to boiling.
2. Meanwhile, combine the shiratamako, tofu, and sugar together. Knead until soft but not sticky. Add a little bit more flour or water until the right consistency is reached. ("soft like an earlobe")
3. Separate the dough into twelve equal pieces and roll into round balls. Place the dango balls into the pot of boiling water until it floats to the surface. Allow to boil for an additional 2 minutes.
4. When the dango are finished cooking, immediately place them in a iced water bath for 1 minute. Strain and remove the dango from the iced bath.
5. Now we can make the shoyu glaze! Place all the ingredients in a small pot and heat under medium heat. When the sauce is bubbling, turn off the flame and allow to thicken.
6. Pour or brush the shoyu glaze onto the dango skewers and serve!

Basic Fluffy Pancakes

When I think of breakfast, usually the first few things that come to mind are eggs, bacon, cereal, and of course pancakes! The great thing about pancakes is it's versatility. Add some blueberries. Voilà! Blueberry pancakes. Top with strawberries, strawberry pancakes! Add some chocolate chips, chocolate chip pancakes! The choices are endless. Another plus is the fact that it can be easily made with common pantry staples. In other words there is no reason for you to buy the boxed mix! Well I tried a few recipes online, tweaked it here and there and this is what I have come up with. Pretty much your basic super duper fluffy pancake recipe. Seriously, my dad said it was too fluffy. I berated him and told him he does not know good food. Please enjoy!

P.S. Want to impress your significant other? Make this for him/her!

Fluffy Pancakes
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg
2 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
vegetable oil for frying pan

1. Combine milk with lemon juice and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour."
2. Meanwhile, sift dry ingredients together.
3. Whisk the egg and melted butter into the "sour" milk.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the sour milk mixture and mix until moistened. DO NOT OVER MIX! The mixture should be slightly lumpy but you should not see obvious signs of dry flour.
5. Heat a non stick skillet over medium heat and add a small amount of oil. Wipe away the excess with a paper towel so that there is just a thin layer of oil. Add 1/4 cup of batter (pancakes will be about 6 inches in diameter) onto the pan and cook until bubbles form on the surface. Flip with a spatula and cook until the other side is browned. (If you do it right, and for maximum fluff, you should only be flipping once.)
6. Serve with butter and maple syrup or other fancy toppings.

Green Tea Marble Chiffon Cake

As an avid green tea lover, I love all things green tea. Green tea candy, green tea drinks, green tea sweets, green tea! I decided to make this cake on a whim and loved it so much that I made the same cake in two consecutive days. It is so good that the first one was devoured within 24 hours. The original recipe of this cake came from Cosy Bake, however I ended up tweaking the recipe because it was extremely difficult to combine matcha paste homogeneously with batter. During the first attempt, there was pretty much huge undissolved chunks of matcha. I tried to combine it as best I could but the over mixing just destroyed the fluffiness of the whipped egg whites. In an effort to curb that problem I decided to go with a dual batter approach. Although it is a little more work, I can assure you that the resulting cake is beautiful, super moist, super soft, and delicious! Again, I recommend using a high quality matcha powder for a stronger and tastier green tea flavor.

Green Tea Marble Chiffon Cake
Note: We will be making two different batters to combine to create the marble effect.

Plain Batter:
90 grams cake flour
1 tablespoon matcha powder, high quality preferred
2/3 teaspoon baking powder
4 egg yolks
40 grams vegetable oil
40 grams sugar
90 milliliters water

Green Tea Batter:
90 grams cake flour
1 tablespoon matcha powder, high quality preferred
2/3 teaspoon baking powder
4 egg yolks
40 grams vegetable oil
40 grams sugar
90 milliliters water

8 egg whites
80 grams sugar

1. Preheat oven to 356°F.
2. Sift the cake flour and baking powder together. (Sift the matcha powder along with the flour and baking powder in the green tea batter.)
3. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, water and oil together until combined. Add the sugar into the mixture and mix well. Then in small additions, add the flour to the mixture until combined into a batter. Repeat for the green tea batter.
4. Whip egg whites until foamy and then slowly add in sugar. Continue whipping egg whites until stiff peaks form. Divide the whipped egg whites into two equal portions.
5.  Add 1/3 of the egg whites with the batter and mix to combine. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites into the batter. Repeat the same process with the other half of the egg whites in the green tea batter.
6. Fill the chiffon tin with plain batter and then layer with matcha batter in between. (You can combine the batter in any fashion you like. Play around with it to get a design you like! )
7. Bake cake for 10 minutes at 356°F. Reduce heat to 320°F and bake for another 40 minutes. To check if the cake is fully cooked, take a skewer and poke the cake from the top of the cake to the bottom of the pan. If the skewer comes out clean, it is finished! Remove the cake from the oven, invert the pan immediately and allow to cool.
8. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Blueberry Mint Lemonade

Bipolar Southern Californian weather has us burrito-ed up one week to wearing shorts and a tank in another. Well, what better way to cool off on a hot day than a nice cold glass of lemonade. This is just a quick post and simple recipe for you to try this week which I'm sure you'll appreciate in this blistering weather. I actually first saw this recipe on Pinterest and the original poster is "A Crimson Kiss." It looked really yummy, so I decided to try making it at my food blog photoshoot with Sachiko Studio. Of course, with the help of my boyfriend, the sous chef of the day. Unfortunately we had a bunch of things to prepare and did not get around to making the lemonade until the last minute. It became really hectic during the last hour so I left the task to him. Funny thing is, it took him ten minutes to make a single glass; he says it's cause we didn't have a pitcher... Just so you know, it's not supposed to take that long!  Word of advice, make this in advance in a giant pitcher and put it in the fridge. Hope you enjoy!

Blueberry Mint Lemonade
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
4 cups water
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves
lemon slices for garnish

1. Juice the lemons into a large pitcher and add the sugar and water. If you use, granulated sugar it may be a good idea to melt the sugar in some warm water so it is not all gritty.
2. Throw the juiced lemons and mint leaves into the mixture and muddle up the lemon peels and mint. (The flavor is much better if you do this!)
3. Add the blueberries, garnish with a lemon slice, and some more mint leaves, and serve. (Make ahead and let the mixture sit for the flavors to develop more.)

Lentil Soup

After being in college for four years of my life, it is inevitable that routine starts to form. One habit that I made was that I would always get the soup and salad combo from Veggie Grill before a big exam. One of my favorite items was their lentil soup, only served on Thursdays! What made it so elusive was that it's nearly impossible to copy their recipe; you can't really tell what ingredients are in it since it's pureed into a homogeneous mixture. I also searched the internet for it to no avail. Alas, the recipe is a mystery. I still love lentil soup though so I decided to try other recipes. Funny thing is, the soup here doesn't really follow any of the recipes available online. The reason being I did not have all the ingredients needed for any particular recipe so I just tossed in what I thought might taste good. Well, it worked. What I love about this recipe most is that it's reminiscent of the Veggie Grill lentil soup from my college days. The trick to this soup is to stir, stir, stir! It has a tendency to stick. Anyways, it's been cold lately so I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Eat this with some fresh bread for a simple meal or maybe even a side of salad.

Thanks again Sachiko Studio for the amazing pictures!

Lentil Soup
2 cups red lentils
2 cans chicken broth
2 cups water
1 large brown onion, diced
2 large carrots
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 pound can of tomatoes with basil, puréed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pinch of marjorham
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
plain yogurt for garnish

1. Dice the brown the onion and tomatoes, set aside.
2. In a food processor, chop up the carrots. Alternatively, you can chop the carrots by hand.
3. In a large pot with some olive oil, saute the onions until they are half translucent. Add the carrots and saute until the onions are soft.
4. Add the diced tomato, tomato purée, chicken broth, water, herbs and spices, and red lentils. Cook for about 40 minutes or until the lentils are soft, stirring frequently to prevent the lentils from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning. Let the soup cool. 
5. When the soup is cool, purée the soup until smooth. Reheat the soup and serve. Garnish the soup with some plain yogurt to make it extra tasty.

Cucumber and Tomato Tzatziki Salad

Are you ready? CHIBICHOMPS has again collaborated with Sachiko Studios!!! Salad is probably one of the most well known diet foods out there. Whenever someone tries to lose weight, most likely they'll opt for salad for meals. However, not all salads are created equal. Often times, salads are calorie bombs; the addition of goodies such as bacon bits, croutons, etc and/or a heavy dressing can make it more fattening than a regular meal. Conversely, the healthy olive oil and vinegar option can get pretty tiring and bland. It sure makes it difficult to stay on course with healthy eating; however, I have something I'm sure everyone will love. Here's a super easy and refreshing salad to be eaten as a side or even a meal. Here, I've paired it with a side of pan fried crispy salmon (stay tuned for the recipe!) For those tired of salad, try stuffing it into pita pockets or even making a sandwich. By the way, did you know that Greek yogurt has twice the amount of protein as regular yogurt plus other benefits? . Anyways, this one's definitely a winner so I hope you enjoy the photos and the recipe! Thank you again to Sachiko Studios for the amazing pictures!


On a side note, I prefer Persian cucumber because american cucumber sucks.

Tzatziki Salad
3 cups Greek yogurt, strained
2 pounds Persian cucumber
1 pound cherry tomatoes
4 tablespoonds extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon mint, chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

1. Strain Greek yogurt over night to get rid of excess liquid. The amount of yogurt will be significantly less than you started with. To set this up, place coffee strainers or paper towels over a mesh bowl. Take the mesh bowl and place over a larger bowl. Scoop the yogurt onto the paper lined mesh bowl and cover with saran wrap. Leave over night. Voila!
2. In a bowl, combine the strained yogurt, mint, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and olive oil together and mix well.
3. Cut the cucumber into half centimeter slices and slice cherry tomatoes into halves.
4. Fold in the sliced cucumber and tomatoes into the yogurt mixture.
5. Serve cold and enjoy!

Italian Truffle Cheese Pizza

Hello all! It's been a while since I posted but here it goes! My inspiration for this recipe actually came from a restaurant called 800 Degrees Pizza from when my boyfriend took me to eat there. Funny thing is, we never ordered the truffle cheese pizza; I just saw it on the menu and thought it seemed tasty but was expensive (an extra three bucks for truffle cheese?!). Luckily, this is easy peasy gourmet; you can purchase all these ingredients from Trader Joe's at very reasonable prices. To be honest, I have no idea how it's supposed to taste like. However, my thoughts for this recipe are: Success!!! Often presumptuous of me? Well why don't you try it out and tell me what you think. I'm hoping to get into habit of posting more regularly! Enjoy!

On a side note, I always buy crimini mushrooms over button mushrooms because the overall flavor is better.

Italian Truffle Cheese Pizza
16 ounces of pizza dough, premade
4 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 ounces Italian truffle cheese, shredded or crumbled (or more depending on how cheesey you like it)
4 cloves garlic, minced
sprigs of fresh oregano
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

1. Split dough in half and allow to rest for 20 minutes. (Handling instructions may vary depending on the dough you buy or if you choose to make your own pizza dough)
2. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
3. Meanwhile, drizzle some olive oil in a hot pan and saute minced garlic until caramelized, set aside for later use.
4. After the dough is fully rested, stretch the dough out onto a baking sheet until the desired thickness. (I made my pizza super thin so it was a little less than a 11 by 17 inch baking sheet.)
5. Sprinkle the dough evenly with cheese. Add sliced mushrooms and sprinkle with caramelized garlic and fresh oregano leaves. Don't worry if the amount of mushroom seems overwhelming, they do shrink after baking. Lightly drizzle with olive oil.
6. Depending on the thickness of your pizza, bake for 8-10 minutes or until fully cooked. The cheese should be slightly toasted and golden.
7. Serve while it's still hot!

Macaroni Salad with Imitation Crab

Although this post is titled 'Macaroni Salad,' no macaroni were actually used in this recipe. You've just been trolled! In all seriousness though you can pretty much substitute any non-noodley pasta. In this case I opted to use campanelle which are bell shaped pastas; it was nice because the bell kind of served as little cornucopias for the sauce and ingredients. I decided to do this recipe because I've been craving macaroni salad for ages. No not the gooey crud you get in a bucket from the supermarket; I was craving something restaurant quality. More specifically, I was craving the macaroni salad from a little business in the South Bay called Cherrystones. The quality of their food is amazing and one of the most memorable things of course was their macaroni salad. If you're ever in the area, do try the Chilean sea bass; it comes with macaroni salad. (;  Bon Appetit!

Macaroni Salad
1/2 pound pasta
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I went real light on the mayo, just add more if desired)
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 stalks of celery, diced in small pieces
1/2 carrot, diced in small pieces
1/4 cup onions, diced finely
4 sticks of imitation crab, shredded

1. Cook pasta as instructed on the package. Rinse cooked pasta under cold water and allow pasta to cool and excess water to drain.
2. Mix the mayonnaise, onion, rice vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
3. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and coat evenly.
4. Fold in the chopped celery, carrot, and imitation crab.
5. Refrigerate and serve cold.

If desired, you can also add some chopped boiled egg! I didn't add egg because I forgot. ): Enjoy!

Kimchee Quesadilla

I got the idea for kimchee quesadilla during my college days when one of my roommates brought some back from the famed Kogi Truck. If you are not familiar with the Kogi Truck, it's basically a Los Angeles based food truck that has gained substantial popularity in the food industry and has since then caused the gourmet food truck explosion; they serve yummy korean fusion food. My impression of their food is that it is delicious but what they charge is a little steep for me; especially if it's just quesadillas. So I decided to make some on my own! After some experimenting and many calories later, I got something that taste pretty good! The only thing that's missing is the sauce but I'll figure that out later. Enjoy! (;


Kimchee Quesadilla
1 cup kimchee
2 stalks green onion shredded
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Mexican blend shredded cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, mozzarella)
tortillas (flour or corn is okay)

1. Heat sesame oil in pan over medium heat and fry kimchee and sugar until caramelized and translucent.
2. Add green onion and sesame seeds to the pan and cook until the green onion is wilted.
3. Place tortilla on a heated pan and sprinkle with cheese. Add one layer of kimchee and sprinkle with an additional layer of cheese and fold in half. Cook until the cheese is melted and the tortilla golden and crispy.
4. Serve immediately!

Blueberry Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is one of those staple comfort foods that everyone loves. Carbs + Milk + Eggs? Yes please! It's hard to believe that this dish used to be poor man's food. Back in the day it was just a means to use up stale bread and it still is today but one of the major differences is that instead of soaking the break in water, we use milk. And it doesn't suck. Nowadays the dish can actually be quite decadent and rich. On the one hand summer is here so I opted to make a lighter bread pudding. The beauty of this recipe is that because it is so light, it's good both as a breakfast dish and dessert. Bon appétit!

Blueberry Bread Pudding
1 pound white bread cubed (I used Asian bread)
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 tablespoons of melted butter cooled
1 can 12 oz evaporated milk
2 cups milk
zest of half a lemon
1 cup blueberries (do add more if you like)
sliced almonds for garnish
powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. In a mixer whip eggs and sugar on high speed for about 5 minutes or until mixture forms a ribbon when the wire whip is lifted, the color should be pale yellow.
3. Beat in vanilla extract, spices, and lemon zest. Then beat in melted butter, evaporated milk and milk.
4. Place cubed bread and blueberries in baking pan lined with parchment paper or cupcake pan lined with foil cupcake liners. (I made a dozen bread pudding cupcakes and one 9 by 9 pan.)
5. Careful ladle prepared custard over bread until completely covered. Press down on the bread cubes so the bread pieces absorb the liquid completely. Sprinkle with almond slices.
6. Prepare a water bath. Carefully pour in enough hot water until the water is halfway up the sides of the pans. Bake cupcakes approximately 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Pans take about an hour to cook through. Remove the bread pudding from the water bath and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Serve chilled or still warm with fresh fruit, nuts, whipped cream, ice cream, or any combination of the above!

Springtime Lunch ft. Sachiko Studios & Drifting Pretty

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to cater for the very first time for the ladies of Drifting Pretty. Needless to say the day before and the actual date was hectic but the event turned out better than expected. I'm kind of surprised because this was the first time I attempted these recipes. Heh... shame on my for being such a procrastinator but luckily my foody senses are pretty good. To make the experience even more memorable, Nadine of Sachiko Studios was kind enough to do a photoshoot for my blog. The theme for the shoot was spring and because of my natural affinity for all things Japanesey I chose to do a Japanese fusion kind of menu. The experience was awesome; you can never go wrong with good food and good company although I certainly won't mind having an assistant the next time! Apologies for not updating my site for awhile but I hope you enjoy this super epic post featuring the photography from Sachiko Studios (check out her blog here), the ladies of Drifting Pretty (check out the cool things we do here), and of course yours truly, CHIBI CHOMPS. Please enjoy my recipes for kabocha pumpkin croquettes, chashu pulled pork, and lotus root chips. We're hitting three birds with one stone in this post!

Kabocha Pumpkin Croquettes

Chashu Pulled Pork Sandwich with Lotus Chips. 

Perfect cook book cover? (;

Drifting Pretty gals. (;

P.S. I'd like to thank Nadine and Mark for taking these awesome pictures and of course my helpers during plating! 

Chashu Pulled Pork Sandwiches
6 pounds pork (boston butt with bone)
3 cups water
1 cup soy sauce
2 cups sake
2 cups mirin
1 cups sugar
12 scallions
12 garlic cloves
2 medium shallots
6 inches of ginger
Spring veggie salad mix or vegetables of choice
Sesame Seeds for garnish
Bread

1. Place all ingredients save the pork in a crock pot and bring to boil.
2. When the mixture is simmering, place the pork in the crock pot, set a timer, and relax. (Cooking time may vary depending on the crock pot but I cooked my pork for 12+ hours and it was fall off fork tender.)
3. Remove pork from the slow cooker and allow meat to rest.
4. Take the left over juices from slow cooker and simmer to reduce the liquid. When the sauce is thickened, ladle onto the pork for extra deliciousness. (I added the sauce after assembling the sandwich so the bread absorbed the extra liquid.)
5. Assemble the sandwich and enjoy.


Lotus Root Chips
Recipe inspired by Spirit House Bar. 
6 pounds of lotus root
furikake
salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
oil for frying

1. Heat oil to 340°F.
2. Slice the lotus root to 2-3mm in thickness.
3. To make glaze, mix the powdered sugar and water together until smooth.
4. Fry the lotus root slices in the oil until golden brown and place on a wrack to drain the excess oil.
5. While the fried pieces are still hot, brush the chips with glaze then sprinkle with salt and furikake.

Kabocha Pumpkin Croquettes
4 pounds kabocha pumpkin
6 hard boiled eggs
1 large brown onion
2 tablespoon butter
1 can corn
2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch pepper
panko bread crumbs
2 beaten eggs
flour

1. Cook hard boiled eggs, set aside the yolk, and roughly mince the egg whites.
2. Cut the kabocha pumpkin into medium sized chunks (leave the skin on) and boil in salted water until soft. (You should easily skewer a chopstick through it.) Drain and mash the pumpkin while still hot. To further evaporate excess liquid, mash over low heat. When most of the moisture has evaporated, mash in the egg yolks.
3. Mince and saute onion in melted butter until soft. Season with salt, nutmeg and pepper.
4. In the pot of mashed pumpkin, mix in the egg whites, corn (drained), and onion.
5. Divide mixture into 24 equal portions. (You can make smaller ones if you like.)
6. Make flat and oval shaped patties with the mixture. Coat each piece with flour, dip in the beaten egg, and coat with panko bread crumbs.
7. Optional: Place the finished pieces in the fridge for 30 minutes prior to frying to decrease the chances of the croquette falling apart.
8. Fry the croquettes in 340°F oil until golden brown.
9. Serve the croquettes with bulldog sauce, ketchup, or mayonnaise if desired, and garnish with vegetables of your choice. (Typically Japanese croquettes are served with finely sliced cabbage.)

Sweden: More than just meatballs

I visited a number of places on my European adventure and I must say Sweden takes the cake for best food of the entire trip. I went to Sweden not knowing what to expect; aside from swedish meatballs, lingonberries, swedish pancakes, and IKEA. In fact, I had no idea what was there. However I was pleasantly surprised with what I found; Sweden is a country that's more than just meatballs.

Our first meal in Sweden: Swedish Meatballs. If you're in Sweden, how can you not have the meatballs right? Disclaimer: These were American made! Either way, they were tasty. 

One of the things I love in Sweden is their caviar. It's basically fish roe in a tube and is eaten with eggs. After this trip, I think I've developed a new appreciation for eggs. Stay posted for egg recipes!

This here is a herring sandwich. It is absolutely delicious and puts McDonald's fillet-o-fish to shame. Yum! Again, the freshness of the ingredients in Europe is amazing!

Smoked fish shop near Ale's Stones which is pretty much Swedish Stone Henge. We tried the smoked eel (sea snake ;D) and it was really tasty; I love smoked foods! This is also where we got the fish sandwich above.

Swedish Easter was so awesome. Traditionally Swedes eat herring, drink Schnapps, and sing Easter songs during the meal. Unlike the US, what's interesting is that on this holiday, they have witches, cats, and tie feathers on branches! 

This was my plate. Look's like a an entire meal in itself right? Well this was just the "appetizer." Can you see why I gained weight on this trip? Totally worth it though.

And so our Swedish adventure ends. I'm pretty sure this post barely scratches the surface of what Sweden is. Hopefully this will not be the last time I visit! To be honest, I don't think we would have had half the fun we did without the hospitality of the Simonsson family. We were really fortunate to have them welcome us into their home and pretty much take care of us the entire time in Sweden. How awesome were they? They bought lactose free milk because they knew we were lactose intolerant. Wow! It's thanks to them that we were able to have such a good time there and experience a Sweden that's beyond the meatballs so I dedicate this post to them! Tack! Please visit in California! (:

Thin 'n Crispy Almond Cookies

You'll often find these cookies in Asian bakeries for about 3 bucks for a very small package. Considering how thin they are, you're not really getting much. Good news is, these are super easy to make. Unlike your conventional cookie, I think these are great as a light snack or something to munch on without feeling too guilty. If you're a fan of almonds and crispy things, this is the recipe for you.

Thin 'n Crispy Almond Cookies
80 grams powdered sugar
40 grams cake flour
50 grams melted butter
3 egg whites
100 grams almond slices

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Sift flour and powdered sugar together in a bowl.
3. Add egg whites and melted butter to the flour and sugar mixture and mix well.
4. Gently fold in the almond slices to the mixture.
5. On a large rectangular baking sheet lined with a nonstick silicone mat or greased foil (grease with butter or oil generously), spread the batter onto the baking sheet evenly and thinly. (I split the batter in half to make two sheets but you can probably do 3 or 4 depending on how patient you are and on how thin you want your cookie to be.)
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes, checking halfway, until golden brown. (If it does not brown evenly, no worries, break off the golden parts and pop the non-golden bits back into the oven.)
7. Allow to cool. When cool and hardened, peel cookie off the foil and break into desired pieces.

The preparation for the batter is fairly easy. The trick to this recipe lies in spreading the batter evenly and thinly. Otherwise, its a piece of cake.

London, you're my mate.

Hello my fellow followers. As you may have noticed I have been MIA for awhile and that is because I have been backpacking in Europe. The trip was great and for the next few posts I will be sharing my foodie adventures with you. Let's start with London shall we?

My first meal in London was Fish and Chips at The Half Moon near the Queens Mary Campus. Unfortunately the picture I took of that was blurry so I'll provide you with a shot of my beer instead. Besides, it's just fish and chips right? What surprised me most is that the pint in the UK is huge! In the US, a pint is 16 ounces whereas in the UK it is 20 ounces. What do you get when you add exhaustion and alcohol together? This:

Needless to say, I did not feel very well however I managed to recover so yay me!

One of the things I really enjoyed was the Farmer's Market on the Queens Mary campus. There was fresh produce, sausages, baked goods, exotic meats, and food vendors.

All very tempting. 

Unlike the US doughnut, the ones here have a more bread-like texture. 

Giant vat of paella!

I've never even heard of some of these veggies before. I'd love to live here to be able to have access to all these awesome ingredients. 

Cheese bread; still warm!!!

The only thing I bought; it was delicious! There's just something about farmer's markets that I love. 

Prior to coming to London, a friend of mine suggested that I try a pasty. There were numerous flavors to choose from such as lamb and mint, chicken and mushroom, cheese and bacon, etc; I opted for a steak and ale pasty. Although this is probably more of a snack kind of food, I thought it could be a meal by itself.

If you're going to London, you must try an afternoon tea session. This was definitely one of the more memorable moments. It's just a great opportunity to feel fancy, eat dainty goodies, and have a nice chat. Pinkies up!

High tea ranges from approximately £10 to £50 depending on the place. As a more wallet friendly alternative, we had sweet tea at Bea's of Bloomsbury. There's actually more than one location for this place and funny thing is we got lost getting here. We ended up going to an alternative location and they happened to be having a 2 for 1 deal. It was only for sweet tea so the set did not contain sandwiches however it was as lovely as can be and more than enough to eat!

I chose Earl Grey, however my sister got the Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea and it wass AMAZING!

One of my most favorite things from London is clotted cream.  Average of 64% fat content? YOLO!

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is one of the cooler pubs I had the opportunity to visit during my stay in London. I'd say you should go too because it is one of those places with a lot of history and the interior is super cool. Apparently this pub has been frequented by the likes of Mark Twain an Charles Dickens. Awesome huh? Originally I wanted to come here for the Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding but unfortunately I cheaped out and got the Ye Olde Famous Steak and Kidney pie instead.

I'm not sure if this was one of my favorite dishes but I thought the meaty filling would've been great with a side of rice. Am I too Asian or what? Next time, I definitely need to get that Yorkshire Pudding!

And of course, if you're in the UK, you need to try a full English breakfast. I thoroughly enjoyed this! Yum!

Although it makes me feel guilty to say this, the rumors are true! Food here is generally on the bland side. On a positive note, compared to the states the produce in London is amazingly fresh and of superior quality. I just wished they used more spices than salt and pepper. So is food in London all bad? Not at all! I loved their Asian food and by Asian I mean their Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine. After all, the national dish in the UK is Indian Curry.

With all seriousness, seriously. Indians sure have a way with spices. 

This was not a typical Indian biryani. I think it's actually Bangladeshi. What I found was interesting was the  ingredients they put in here. Lemon peel, herbs, chili peppers, etc; great ideas for future recipes no?

And here I end this British adventure with something sweet. There were also a lot of Indian sweets shops nearby where I stayed. (For all your Indian needs, check out Brick Lane.) I'm not sure what this is called but this is just one of the many things I sampled. I say if you're in a foreign country, just try it if it looks interesting. Cheers!