A few weeks ago, I received an email invitation from Kristen Tarnol (on behalf of the marketing team for Columbia Pictures) to participate in the Julie & Julia movie’s “Blog of the Day” program. To be honest with you, at first I did not think it was real. “As in T-H-E Julie & Julia movie with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams about Julia Child (and Julie Powell)?…!…?” was all I could say to myself. Surely this was some kind of joke or a mistake. I was in disbelief until I received another email from her. [Sorry, Kristen!]

Unlike some of the few other bloggers featured, I grew up in the Philippines without having Julia Child on TV, not seeing Julia’s cookbooks as her mother’s or grandmothers’ go-to cookbook, or even knowing who she was until later on. And I mean, later on after my mid-twenties. Here I am, a fairly new cook who avoided the kitchen for most of her life, then decided to have a food blog that is now being featured on quite arguably the most awaited foodie movie of the year. How could this be? Tickled pink doesn’t even begin to describe it.

For those who are not familiar with Julia Child, she was an American chef who introduced French cooking to the American household. She wrote what would become a classic cookbook, with all the basic cooking techniques and recipes for the home cook:

The first volume was published in 1961; no not the one above, it’s a 1973 ed. To ‘celebrate’ being Blog of the Day, I decided to bake choux pastry puffs using Julia’s recipe.

They came out perfect from a recipe older than I am. As she said in her book, “A perfect puff is firm to the touch, tender and dry to the taste.”

She continues:

“Hot puffs will seem perfectly cooked when taken from the oven, but, if left as they are, they will become soggy as they cool because there is always an uncooked center portion that gradually spreads its dampness to the outside crust. To prevent this sad effect, small puffs are punctured to release steam; large puffs are slit, and often their uncooked centeres are removed. This is actually the only secret to puff making.”

Rarely do I fall in love with a cookbook’s text, but Julia’s is right up there. It’s very accessible, clear, easy to understand without being dumbed down, and with a little bit of mischief I would say. If you have seen some of her shows (a quick YouTube search will do the trick), you can see what a fun character she is!

I can’t blame Julie Powell for attempting to cook all of her recipes. How fun is that and why the hell didn’t I think of it? Haha. That’s what her book and the movie is about — the true story of Julie cooking her way through Julia’s 1961 book. A “deranged assignment” indeed, but what an adventure!

Meryl Streep plays Julia Child and I think she makes a great Julia: a six-foot-two-inch Mrs. Child, who’s still admired, loved and honored by home cooks and chefs alike. And because of the movie, perhaps even the masses.

I cannot wait till it’s out! I’d love to see how they portrayed Julia Child, the cooking legend and cultural icon. Watch it with me on August 7.

I’ll post the recipe for the choux pastry tomorrow. You’ll have to wait. :-)

P.S. As I’m about to publish this, Martha Stewart’s Cookie of the Day email came in and guess what it is? Cream Puffs.

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians here and abroad!

This Canada Day marks a decade of our family’s celebration of Canada’s “birthday”. What used to be a country that felt so foreign to me, is now a place I couldn’t be without: home. And there’s no place like it! :-)

[Recipe to follow for the almond sugar cookie above.]

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After making and finishing (which was way too easy) the Bakewell Tart/Pudding, I was left not only with ground almonds, but also a taste for more almonds. I love almonds. When I get pearl milk tea (or bubble tea or ‘boba’), I almost always order the almond-flavored one. I made these cookies with the thought of the tart in mind. I want something that is like it, but in cookie form. To make me feel like I stayed true to the bakewell tart, I even beat the butter and sugar to light- and airiness. The result was a semi-light, semi-crunchy, chewy and slightly sweet cookie that you can enjoy any time of the day. It is even better 2 days after baking. If you’re craving for almond flavor and sugar cookies without the sugar overload, look no further.

Almond Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
•    6 oz cake flour (or ¾ cups*)
•    4 oz unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
•    4 oz sugar (1/2 cup*)
•    2 oz ground almonds (1/3 cup*)
•    1 large egg
•    ½ tsp almond extract
•    ¼ tsp salt
•    ¼ tsp baking powder
•    Optional: colored or coarse sugar for garnish
* Please note that I only measured and baked with the weight measurements. I researched the equivalent of the weights and provided them for you in case you do not have a kitchen scale.)

Preparation
1.    Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking sheet and set aside.
2.    Beat butter, sugar, egg and almond extract until light and airy, about 5 minutes.
3.    Add the remaining ingredients and mix for another 2 minutes. You will end up with loose/soft dough, almost like choux dough.
4.    Wrap and seal dough in plastic wrap, keeping in mind to shape it into a 6-inch cylinder. Cool in the fridge for an hour.
5.    Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice into ¼-inch-thick rounds and place on lined cookie sheet 1.5” apart. You can also roll the dough and use cookie cutters. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired. Bake for 14 minutes.
6.    Cool completely before serving. If you can wait at least 24 hours to eat it, you will be rewarded with a cookie that’s is soft, chewy and slightly crunchy. Enjoy!

** You may also want to check out the Easy Fudge Brownie recipe **

Every now and then, an idea will spark for me from even the smallest triggers in life. This in particular was the result of a discussion about surprises. Mine was to be about dessert. The person that this surprise was for is someone special, so one cannot simply buy something from the store. I wanted to know what would make the best of the best. A kind of channeling of Tyler Florence, if you will.

I gave it a thought and I knew exactly what to do. Since my brother does not like cake, and my nieces and nephews tend to be picky, and my sister will eat generally anything with a sweet tooth, the only thing that made sense for me to prepare were brownies.

A quick google search led me here, The Ultimate Brownie Recipe. And I thought I had all the ingredients listed.

The result is this:

What was I missing? 3 unsweetened cocoa squares. Over 25% of the ingredient I needed was already used from what I thought was a full box of unsweetened cocoa.  What did I do? I dug up some semi-sweet chocolate chips and measured out on the scale 3 oz of the sweetened stuff.  I also reduced the amount of sugar by 1/4th cup to compensate for the sweetness coming from the chocolate chips.

Another thing I did differently was the choice of flour. I didn’t know the immediate impact on brownies but I used bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. I am also not a fan of nuts in my brownies, so I omitted the walnuts.

The result is this adapted recipe:

Better Than Ultimate Brownies

Ingredients:

• 5 1-oz squares of unsweetened chocolate
• 3 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup butter
• 5 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp salt

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 9 x 13 pan.

2. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate squares and chips, and butter; set aside.

3. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes. [I definitely recommend a stand mixer for this.] Add melted chocolate mixture, salt and bread flour and mix until just blended. Let the batter sit on the counter for 20 minutes before pouring into the greased pan. Let air bubbles escape by tapping the pan.

4.Bake for 30 minutes and test with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, take the brownies out to cool before serving.

I believe my substitutions made these brownies above and beyond that of the original Ultimate Brownies! Each square is dense and chocolate-y, and has a nice chewiness to it. It’s better than store-bought or just-put-in-the-oven brownies. If you happen to be lucky enough to have some left over after a few days, you’ll be fighting over the the last few bites of super-moist and ultimately soft and chewy brownies. A little sacrifice of instant gratification truly pays off for these. ;-)

Give them a try in your kitchen and let us know how they turn out!

Wishing all the mothers a Happy You’re-Special Day, especially to my mom.

My younger brother picked up this chestnut cake from the Chinese bakery. It was so, so yum!!!! :)

A random memory just popped into my head today about Mother’s Day. When I was probably 9 years old and my younger brother was about 5 or probably turning 6, I had this idea to write a song for my mom. We had a karaoke machine (perfectly normal for a Filipino household!) and a mic. It was the age of tapes, when CD’s were just beginning. I week before Mother’s Day I had this idea one afternoon and thought of a tune. You know what, I still remember a part of it, but the essence of it was that we love our mom for who she was in a very funny jingle. We were learning how to create jingles in school so that’s where that came from. I sang the main tune and my little brother was my backup singer pretty much scream-singing, “Cause she’s MY MOTHER!” Hahaha. I can still hear it.

Now that I’m thinking about the only line that I remember, I swear to god I was lucky my mom hasn’t disowned me at an early age. Are you ready for this?

“She’s kind of fat and kind of short, but I’m not bothered ’cause she’s my mother”

YEP. What a horrible, horrible child! I know I’ll pay for this somehow in the future! GAH. This song wasn’t Dad-approved — well, we didn’t pass by it by anyone. Us kids pretty much have a free reign over a lot of things, which I couldn’t be any more grateful now that I’m older and appreciate the amount of creative freedom that gave me. But…well, I guess it could be way too free. Look at what I said! The truth is, we’re small-framed Asians and when I said kind of fat, it wasn’t even anywhere near chubby. Nothing. Anyway, horrible daughter. I’m so sorry!

I haven’t told my mom about that memory, but I guess she’ll read it from here. LOL.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Thanks…for putting up with us! :D

Even before the show, “Chopped“, was conceived in the offices of the Food Network, millions of us all over the world were already facing and battling own versions of the show–right in our own kitchens–you, me, and all the other home cooks in the world. Unless you’re a complete meal planner, making each homemade meal is like a Chopped episode. It’s all up to us to make the most of what’s available and rock it, right?

I had  fresh flank steak one evening that I didn’t want to freeze and ginger roots that begged to be saved before they go to waste, so it just makes sense to use them both. I was inspired to make a beef steak with the flavors of the beef and broccoli dish I love to order at Chinese restaurants. We always make steaks with wine and some herb as a combination, but I’ve never tried it with ginger …so why not?

Oh…and how my experiment delivered! The ginger-garlic flavor seeped into the meat in 30 minutes. It was so good! At first I wanted to make sauce from the drippings, but the flavors in the meat were already intense so I didn’t find the need to.

The photo above is left over from dinner. I didn’t want to take photos at night and waited the next day to get decent daylight photos. It still looked good the 2nd day, huh? :) It still tasted amazing, too.

I like using flank steaks. They’re easy to find and they’re cheap. And with dishes like the one I made, it’s easy to create something nice without breaking the bank. The other ingredients I used are wallet-friendly as well and what’s more, the whole recipe is just made of 6 ingredients. I like simple. I like tasty. I like dishes that look like they took a lot of effort and worth a lot more than they do. Recessionista extraordinaire dish right there.

Asian Ginger Garlic Steak

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1.5 tbsp ginger, chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 400 g flank steak

Preparation

1. Mix the oil and sauces with the chopped ingredients. Soak meat in this mixture and marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge. You can marinate it in a small bowl covered with plastic wrap or in a ziploc bag. If in a bowl, turn meat after 15 minutes.
2. Preheat your oven to 350°F then take the meat from the fridge.
3. Roll the steak lengthwise, as if rolling like a log cake, with ends meeting at the bottom. Place on an oven-safe wire rack on a cookie sheet to catch the drippings. Bake for 20-30 minutes depending on your preferred doneness.
4. Take the meat out of the oven and tent it with aluminum foil for about 10 minutes. Slice and serve warm with rice and steamed broccoli.

A few months ago, Sara of Amazing Taste sent us packets of their seasonings to try. To tell you the truth, we haven’t really entertained the idea of having prepared packet seasonings, and the only thing I can remember that we had was the gravy packets from IKEA for the meatballs (sorry, food snobs, but it is our once a year guilty pleasure). So why not go for something new, eh?

The first thing that we tried was their burger seasoning. For test purposes, although we were very tempted to add our own things into the mixture, we stuck with the recommended recipe for the burgers to see how good they are. We baked them in the oven to demonstrate just how ‘lazy’ we can be!  Haha. I really like the subtle flavor of this one. It’s nothing complex, but it works. It’s tender and juicy, and just enough flavor.

We also tried the Malibu seasoning is a “zesty blend of garlic, onion, black pepper, and paprika” seasoning to meat, poultry and seafood. I just rubbed the chicken with it, poked it with a fork and marinated it for an hour before frying it.

These seasonings weren’t too salty and they do not overpower the flavor of the meats. I find the Malibu one wasn’t as tasty as the burger, but it’s possible that I didn’t put enough. Between the two, I’d pick the burger. We still have the rest of the flavors to try, by the way.

Overall, I think they are nice to have in the pantry. They’re better alternatives to getting fast food on busy days: just get your choice of meat, poultry or seafood out, mix it and cook. For those who want to prepare a home-cooked meal without the fuss of mixing their own seasonings and figuring out flavors, this would be a blessing. It’s also recession-friendly at a price point of $0.99 each.

Thanks, Amazing Taste, for letting us try your seasonings!

Disclosure: We were sent the packets to try, but are not paid for this post.

If you’ve heard of Bon Appétit’s Best American Restaurants episode from the Food Network, you will know that Pizzeria Bianco was named the best place in America to get a pizza. Between authenticity, taste, and quality of ingredients, it beat out countless thousands of  pizza chains and parlors in America. There is a great reason for it as well. Mr. Bianco himself is passionate about pizza as Joy and I are about eating it.

When we learned of this mecca of a pizza joint was in Phoenix, Joy and I planned for a date downtown. But this date did not come without setbacks. Our first challenge was getting there when it was open. We found that the restaurant is only open Tues-Sat. When we were able to get a night to do this, I wanted to verify my directions. In looking for them, I found a review and I thought I would cruise it. The review calls Pizzeria Bianco a low-rated location. His only argument? He had to wait 4 hours for a table. When I told Joy about this, she told me to call. The person who answered the phone confirmed. There was a 4 hour waiting list. This phone call took place at 4:05PM.

We decided that we will brave the wait. It was the perfect night to do it. It was not that cold, not too hot. After finding the location and being told it was a 3 hour wait, we took a couple of couch seats in the bar until the sun went down and ordered from their appetizers. I recommend the meat platter! The ambiance of the bar is cozy and their music library is a great mix of R&B, lounge, and other mixes for a comfortable experience.

Three hours later, slightly starving, our name is called.  We were moved to a table in the corner of the main house and we knew exactly what we wanted. I ordered “Wiseguy” — a sausage and onion pizza,

Joy got the “Margherita” — the basil and tomato pizza. It was the most flavorful pizza we’ve ever had!

But, was it worth it? Was the opportunity cost worth the value of the pizza that we waited for? I think it was, but, I think some little things could have been changed to make the flow of customers better.  The bar where we stayed at was filled with tables and chairs which could have easily been used for patrons to get the pizza. The location does not take reservations, for obvious reasons, but you can make one if your party is 6 or more. I think if we go again, we’ll get a couple of friends together and make sure we can get them to experience this pizza as well because this is a pizza worth the price, but not so much the wait.

The past couple of weeks, I’ve made a dent on my very long list of Things-To-Cook from Scratch, crossing out homemade bread, caramel popcorn, granola and risotto. You could say I’m feeling very adventurous these days.

I made this a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty dang good. I put it on top of some greens and together they worked out quite well. I know…what the heck of a combination is that, risotto with a bed of greens? Well, it just came up because we had leafy greens to eat or they will go bad. Are you guys like that, too? I hate throwing out food especially since we go to Whole Foods, which is not exactly cheap. During these times, we are lucky to be enjoying good food so I try to get what we buy onto the plate and into our mouths where we meant to put them. Admittedly, if Dan and I were to let ourselves go buy what we want, we’d easily rack up $300 a week in groceries. And that’s just for the two of us. It’s so easy to get carried away in the supermarket when they make everything just look so enticing.

So there, that’s the story behind that. Many of the concoctions we’ve had has some similar reasoning somewhere.

I loved the risotto, which is a given since I enjoy rice dishes. Dan loved it in spite of him not being a mushroom person (as I’ve mentioned many times). I hope you don’t think I’m dissing him, I just want to let you know in case you are serving someone with the same taste preference, that perhaps they just might like it.

The yellow hole-y chips on the risotto are parmesan crisps. They’re a combination of grated parmesan and panko breading that I thought of adding to bring a variation in texture to the dish. Too much creaminess can be so unappealing.

I used a cookie cutter to “shape” them.

The ‘stenciled’ crisps did not turn out as good as I planned, but they looked pretty decent. I’m glad I skipped using some other intricate shape. It would just be a loss.

If you don’t have panko bread, just make the crisps out out plain parmesan. This would not be an issue. I just added panko as an experiment. :-)

Here’s the recipe for you to try. And be sure to let me know how yours turns out. We do love getting feedback (just not spam, please). Continue Reading

Going to the Chinese supermarket is like invading an assorted box of chocolates — you never know what you’re going to get. When I go to the regular grocery store, I know what to expect. That’s not the case when I go to T & T. My trip there is almost like a trip to a mall, I not only go there to get what I need but also to find something new — whether it be a snack in those attractive packages, a cute cake, a home gadget that I never thought of before, or a new vegetable (to me). Years ago I had kept asking my friend, who cooks a lot of veggies, the name of the dark green vegetable with garlic and oyster sauce and she kept saying the Chinese name because she doesn’t know the English name. I finally found it at the store — it’s called gai lan. Whew. Things like this hurt my head sometimes. Haha.

I like bean sprouts because they are a part of the Filipino cuisine. What I haven’t tried before were soy bean sprouts.  I know it sounds surprising given that I have gone all the way to a North American country to discover a really Asian ingredient.

At T & T, they put mung bean sprouts and soy bean sprouts side by side in the vegetable section that it confused me at first. After a quick look the former is twice the size as the latter but half the price and with a more attractive color — yellow and bright yellow green. I’m easily distracted and persuaded like that. I bought an equivalent of 4 generous handfuls of them and cooked it the other day with fresh shiitake mushrooms.

I like shiitake mushrooms but I detest the rubbery texture and extra pungent smell and taste of it when it’s cooked from the dried variety. However, I found fresh ones from the Chinese place and tried it. Oh, it was so good! Soft and meaty, but not too overpowering for the soy bean sprouts. It’s quite perfect with subtle bean flavor. I love the extra crunchiness of the sprouts with the bigger beans compared to the mung bean sprouts. Very good buys. Did I mention that this is such a cheap dish to make and very healthy, too?** I never considered buying groceries on a regular basis from the Chinese supermarket before, but I just might. I only spent around $50 for a week’s grocery including meats and fish. In this economy (and I really notice it with the empty malls!), it doesn’t hurt to save where you can. I love that they have a huge variety of seafood and meats, too, including all the ones that I miss about Filipino dishes.

I’ll be going back there to see what’s in store for the Chinese New Year that’s coming up in a week. We’re kind of like that here — those that are not really Chinese start to celebrate it as if it’s our own. Don’t laugh now. :p

[** I've read somewhere that shiitake mushrooms are expensive. I really didn't notice or it would have jumped out at me at the checkout counter. I think the big bag that I had was less than $3.]

Alright, if you made it till here, here’s the recipe:

Soy Bean Sprouts with Shiitake Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• soy bean sprouts (or mung bean sprouts if you can’t find them); I’d say do a 4:1 ratio of sprouts and mushrooms
• 6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced about 1/4″ in thickness (about 1.5 packed cups when sliced)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup yellow onion
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• salt to taste
• olive oil

Preparation:

1. Saute onion with ground pepper and a pinch of salt in a medium pot (big enough for the sprouts) with oil heated in medium-low heat. Do that for about 2 minutes. Then add the garlic and saute for another minute.
2. Add oyster sauce and sliced mushrooms, saute for a minute then add water. Turn heat up to medium and wait to boil, and allow it to do so for 2 minutes to let the mushrooms cook.
3. Once it boils, pour in the washed soy bean sprouts. Mix it with the rest of the boiling ingredients. Toss it regularly and cook until the stems start to become translucent. You can grab a sprout and taste it for your desired crunchiness. Add salt to taste.
4. Serve on its on or with rice.