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It’s summer and is it too obvious that cooking has been taking a back seat? In blogging years, this would have been MIA or a long sabbatical. If it were years ago, I’d be posting a “hiatus” message. [Bloggers from the days of yore: remember that?]

I’ve been seeing friends and keeping up with all the festivals the summer brings into this sun-deprived city of Vancouver. There’s the dragon boat festival last weekend. Believe it or not, carnival/fair food is one of my guilty pleasures. Roasted corn on the cob — gimme, gimme! Who can think of cooking when you can stuff your face with vendor food from these events? And in this multicultural city, there’s no shortage of delicious stuff to sink your teeth in — there’s Greek, Indian, Chinese, Thai, etc.

There’s also the Coastal Jazz Festival this time of the year and I went with a couple of good friends to see Kenny Colman last Monday night. It was a nice evening of music, wine and martinis. That’s how we roll.

Aside from that, I’ve been helping another good friend launch her Yoga Body products. Go check it out! We are going to be a vendor at the Camp Moomba Yogathon on July 12th. If you’re in town, drop by and say Hello. Try out the sprays and go buy some for your family, friends, and girlfriends. Even boyfriends!

What else…work, meetings…and all that jazz that comes with life. You know. ;-)

Cooking will commence soon, I promise. I have an alcoholic soup coming up and a classic Filipino cheesy bread treat called Ensaymada. Hang in there fellow hungry foodies!

Barley Tea + Corn Tea = Coffee

Read it again, I think you missed it.

Ok, you can smooth your wrinkled foreheads and lower your raised eyebrows now.

I know it sounds ludicrous and almost insulting to the church of java beans. I apologize, but hear this — I’m on your camp, too.  And as a lover of good black coffee, I’ll put my fussiness in matters of taste and gladly attach my Certified Coffee Substitute seal on this one.

I discovered this almost-perfect combination by accident. My friend Alice, my personal purveyor of ALL kinds of tea, made this for me one afternoon. I could smell it from the dining table as I waited so I asked if she was making coffee. Not a coffee drinker herself, I thought she was making an exception for me that one time. She emerged from her kitchen with a teapot and poured golden brown colored tea into the cups. I sniffed the sweet smelling coffee aroma, and was quietly wishing it would taste something close to coffee because I was already craving for it. And then…I took a sip. And fell in love. I love both coffee and tea, and I couldn’t have been on a higher caffeine cloud at that moment. It was REALLY good. It was like drinking coffee, but with the lightness of tea.

Barley and Corn tea are two of the most unusual, if not exotic, types of tea I’ve ever had. One that makes me all giddy, though, is the subtly sweet and fragrant blush-colored rose bud tea. Having a baroness of tea for a friend does have its own benefits. And I encourage you tea lovers to find one of your own! :-D

Do you like tea? What’s your favorite?

Mine is the Coconut Macadamia tea from Hawaii on the right. Alice got me hooked on it as well.

Aside from my dear friend, I learn and get to taste teas from around the world through my like-minded penpals who I exchange teas with. We love mail and we love tea!

Have you participated in a tea exchange before?

It’s so fun! Anyway, my enthusiasm is getting the best of me. But do let me know if you’re into that and I’ll get something going for us tea lovers!
Oh, and enjoy your weekend!

Are you fluent in French?

I need help translating 5 phrases for a friend’s product. Let me know and leave a comment, Internets. You’re great. :) Thank you!!!

[Alternate Titles for This Post: How To Recycle An Old Favorite or How To Coax Your Boyfriend To Eat What He Doesn't Like]

We absolutely loved this simple dessert of Apples in Honey and Pine Nut Caramel and have made it on more than one occasion. So one morning, with one too many apples forgotten, I finally used them with the a variation of the recipe to top off the breakfast oatmeal. I skipped the cream and pine nuts (because we didn’t have either, honestly) and decided to stick to just butter and honey. Mmmm.

I cooked old fashioned organic oatmeal in whole milk. God I love that. I made sure not to overcook it.

This was a winning combination. Yumm.

You might be wondering about the second alternate title. Well, Dan dislikes oatmeal. It’s one of those things on his long Will Not Eat list. This does not sit too well with me as I’m pretty open to all kinds of food and when I travel, I try as much local fare as I can. Food, as in life, is an experience — and for me, you’re missing out if you don’t at least try new things or revisit old ‘ew’ stuff labeled from the days you couldn’t even spell your name.

So slowly, I’ve began to lead him into a new chapter in his Foodie life and have him retry food that he ‘hates’. He cringes when you mention “oatmeal”, “mushrooms”, “cabbage”, or “bananas” as if he was going to be sick at that instant. From the mere mention of the food. I told him that if he tries it again and still hates it, then fine. But to completely shun them would be a shame. There’s a whole world out there outside of steak, pasta, and potatoes. Come to think of it, it’s like training a child to eat veggies, really. Haha.

One thing about food aversion is that most of the time, it’s just the way it’s been prepared that brings out certain detestable qualities. Other times, you went to the wrong restaurant. When it comes to oatmeal, I found out that Dan doesn’t like the ‘mushiness’ of it, just like how bananas are mushy. And I completely understand that because I hate both mushy oatmeal and bananas. However, that only comes out when you overcook oatmeal and if you use the the instant ones. Even I find it gross. So I remedied that and cooked it my way — not overdone, and with whole grains to munch on. He really liked it! Plus he finished his bowl of cereal with fruit.  Bingo!

I’d say I have a feeding success rate of 80% when it comes to something “different”. So for those who are challenged by their boyfriends, husbands, or even little ones, I’ll share you with a few tips.

What I learned about feeding the (well-loved) ultra-picky eater:

Read the full story

Are you superstitious? Boo!

I was at Granville Island with my mom (that’s her reflection) last Saturday. I love that place because of all the interesting (artsy) things you can see and buy. We walked passed this art gallery and this one caught my eye. Are they trying to catch something?

Speaking of ‘interesting’, that same afternoon there were nude bicyclists leisurely riding around the island. No, I do not have photos and you are very welcome. Haha. Only in Vancouver, people. I could see that happening in Seattle, too. But then again, they’re not #4 World’s Best Places to Live.  I gloat. :) [C'mon, forgive me this one time...haha. I'm not complaining about the weather.]

Anyway, I’ll talk about food later. I promise! For now, off to enjoy some Belgian waffles and yummy cheeses. Yeah, who cares about Friday the 13th?

Enjoy your weekend!

Do you have those moments when you think you should know (how to do) something by default as a result of your ethnicity (or perhaps last name, family, affiliation, etc.)? And then you refuse to seek guidance because “it’s in you”. It’s like assuming that as an Asian I should know how to cook rice perfectly without any measuring tools or timer.

That’s exactly what was going on in my mind when I embarked on this Pot Sticker Adventure. I was pretty confident I could pull this off by channeling my inner 1/minisculeth Chinese. A book I’m reading says this is what artists are prone to do — Wing It. Did I ever wing it. I just wanted to use what we had in the kitchen, including kale.

I think I added shredded kale, chopped carrots, green onions, salt, pepper to the ground pork. I can’t remember. I wrote down the ingredients but I could not find that piece of paper anymore. [insert profanity]

I made the wrapper with equal parts boiling water and flour. [Please don't ask me what got into my head.] The sealing/folding left something to be desired, but it still resembled what it should look like. Somewhat.

In the end, my first pot sticker experiment tasted REALLY good for something that’s based out of nothing. Dan and I were more surprised than anything. The wrapper was not so good, so I’ll stick to pre-made ones next time. Other than that…yummy!

The dipping sauce, if you’re curious, was a mixture of light soy sauce, white vinegar and smashed whole clove of garlic. It’s a Filipino dip that’s normally used for roasted pig but I tried it with the pot stickers to balance the saltiness. Dan loved it. :)

What have you experimented/concocted lately? Share your links if you blogged about them.

Let me tell you now that these are by far THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES I’ve ever made and tasted, even better than the full-fat ones. And I really wish I have myself to credit for the recipe, but alas, no. It’s from Cook’s Illustrated Light Recipes. This is the 2nd recipe of the two that I’ve tried from that issue and I’m continued to be impressed with it.

Seriously. Make this. It’s worth the hassle of cooking and straining the dried pitted dates. You read that right. I know it doesn’t sound so palatable now, but trust me on this: You won’t even know it’s there but boy oh boy this tastes magnificent. It’s like the magical switcheroo, which will have you clamoring for more.

The recipe makes 18 big cookies and it only contains 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 and 1/4 cup of light brown sugar. The chewiness is phenomenal, the full chocolate-y and there’s-something-else-so-good taste is something you’ll remember for days and weeks to come.

I just made this again while I’m here in Vancouver. I would have to emphasize the importance of using a really good cookie sheet to get the best results. When I first made it, these chocolate-y mounds came to life on an insulated cookie sheet [we got ours from Crate & Barrel and I highly recommend it!] and they came out PERFECT — as perfect as gourmet cookie store-bought cookies can be. I used regular cookies sheets the second time around and the results weren’t as stellar. It was disappointing. So, please, invest in a good insulated cookie sheet or use your trusty silpats and bake away. You won’t regret it and the cookie lovers in your household will love you more for it.

I’ve taken the liberty to take step-by-step photos for your viewing (and learning/cooking) pleasure.

Go bake ‘em! This is sure to be a hit at your next picnic. Or just enjoy it at home or pack it in your brown bag and make your co-workers jealous.

Here’s the recipe: Read the full story