Mom's Kitchen: Chinese Egg Custard Dessert

Between our recent trip to Hong Kong, a broken toe, and craziness at work, I've been rather absent in the blogosphere.  I hope to regain normalcy soon!

Whilst I get back on my feet (literally and figuratively), I'd like to share another Mom's Kitchen recipe.  This one is inspired by all the egg custard desserts I had in Hong Kong.  :)

Prep Time: 5-10 min

Cook Time: ~15 min on low heat

Ingredients: (2 servings)

• 2 whole eggs or 4 egg whites (shown here measured out to be ~100mL)
• 150 mL Milk (for the 4 egg whites)
• 4 tsp Sugar 

Directions:
Start by boiling water in your steamer and then simmer on low heat.  If you do not have a steamer, you can also use a lidded pan and add a metal rack like this one.  You can then place a plate on your rack to hold your cups of custard.

Combine egg whites, milk, and sugar in a bowl.  Beat.

Strain your mixture to ensure smoothness and pour into your custard cups.

Place your cups on your steaming rack.  

Put foil over your cups either individually or my lazy-cover-everything way :)

Let steam over low heat for about 15 minutes.  When done, the egg should appear jiggly but set similar to soft tofu.  Serve hot or cold.

Enjoy!

Dessert Crawl: Honey Toast & Shaved Ice

On the weekends, we tend to go overboard with eating.  And lately, we've been dessert-crazy.  At the moment, we are particularly focused on Honey Toast variations, Taiwanese style Shaved Ice, and perennial favorite - fruit desserts.

Fruit desserts - Sweet Indulgence, Millbrae

Watermelon Sago Dessert

This is my husband's favorite combo.  He said this was tasty, but that the sago was a little clumped together.

Mango Pudding w/ Mango Delight

This one may not be as visually beautiful as the watermelon sago, but it tasted divine.  Love the pomelo and jelly bits with a mango trinity of fruit, sauce, and pudding.

Mango / Coconut and Red Bean / Black Sesame

Can't seem to go wrong with mango at this dessert cafe - mango drink was delicious!  The red bean portion of the other drink was good - a tad sweeter than expected - but the sesame jelly didn't really taste very sesame-esque.

On to Honey Toasts!  When I originally saw these toasts, I was a little confused as to why a toast dessert would be appealing.  Toast is, after all, a pretty simplistic breakfast staple.  However, when you smush fruits and ice cream with familiar crisp edges and warm centers, toast becomes elevated to new realms.  Ok, ok, probably a little overdramatic there.  Net, dessert toast is yummy and makes my stomach happy.

Sno-Crave Tea House, San Jose - Banana & Chocolate Honey Toast

In most Honey Toast places, they tend to stick with vanilla ice cream so we appreciated the chocolate option (which we devoured) here.

Cafe Lattea, Cupertino - Black Sesame & Berry Honey Toast

This place is pretty awesome.  They've got cute Totoro / bear latte art, honey toast, AND milk tea.

Tea River, San Mateo - Macaron Toast Box

This was my personal favorite because they buttered all the little toast pieces inside prior to toasting it.  Given my affinity for butter, this was an easy win for me.  My husband, on the other hand, was not a fan.  He prefers Cafe Lattea or Sno-Crave.

Taiwanese Shaved Ice is another type of dessert I'd never tried prior to moving to CA.  It tastes like a hybrid of ice cream and a sno-cone.  This hybrid effect lulls me into thinking it's healthier for me :)

Sno-Zen, Mountain View - Rocky Road (for the kiddos)

Sno-Zen - Earl Grey Shaved Ice w/ Black Sesame Condensed Milk Drizzle, Mochi, and Toffee

I LOVE customizing my desserts!!!!!  The Earl Grey had a nice, delicate flavor and if they had offered me the option, I would have doused this with a river of that black sesame condensed milk (what a genius concoction).

Snowflake, Dublin (East Bay) - Almond / Black Sesame Shaved Ice with Toasted Almond, Red Beans, Popping Boba, Jellies, and Condensed Milk

One word - WOW.  I love how generous Snowflake is with their toppings and the flavor combos of everything shown here were perfection.

Gone (Fabric) Shopping

I've been slooooowwww with the sewing lately and am working on some holiday sewing projects that aren't yet ready for sharing.  Whilst I tweak those, I have a bit of a mishmash type of post on fabric shopping and food.

If you live in the Bay Area, Fabrix in SF got in some nice wools and sweatshirt type knits:

$15 / yd plaid wool - maybe another cape?  I saw this on Pinterest and am enamored

$2.89 / yd striped heavy knit - I'd like to try making something similar to Michelle's sweatshirt of Michelle Goes North (such a cool neckline!)

At Fabrics R Us in San Jose:

$3 / yd pretty checks - would love to recreate this look from Atlantic Pacific in spring

Online, Joann's has a 60% off regular priced fabric coupon (can also use in stores), 60% off Home Decor fabrics (great cottons for structured skirts), and 60% off fleece fabrics through Tuesday.

In other shopping news, Gap has an additional 40% off sale items in stores.  I picked up 2 more pairs of the Real Straight jeans for $15 each.  Since I had $10 in rewards, this netted out at $10 each:

Gap Real Straight, Mid-rise, online here, $15 in stores, got one destructed and one regular

(IG try-on pic here)

If you have a similar body shape (short and pear-shaped), you may like these!  I find the mid-rise helps mitigate tummy overhang and the skimmer length hits the top of my foot - great with flats or a thin cuff to show off the ankle with booties.  I used the "reserve in store" option online and it saved me from having to dig through the sale racks for my size.  I highly recommend this!

This weekend in eats, I got to meet up with Ping and Karen for ramen:

Iza Ramen w/ side of garlic oil

And followed that up with snacks and dessert at my all-time favorite haunt, Mango Medley:

Baked Scallops - amazing bold flavors

P.S. today's post title is a bit of a nod towards Gigi's Gone Shopping, one of my favorite reads :)

P.P.S. I'm trying out some food photography tips from Crazy Style Love - have you seen her IG feed? It's beautiful!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!

Eats: Beyond Pho

Growing up in Indiana, I didn't learn of pho until college (yeah, I know).  And until California, I didn't encounter all the other delicious Vietnamese dishes that our family has come to love.

So far, our favorite place is Ben Tre in Millbrae:

5-Spice Chicken w/ Garlic Noodles - tender chicken perfectly cooked and seasoned on top of a bed of garlicky noodles - how can this combo go wrong?

BBQ Pork Chop Rice Platter - the marinade / flavoring of the pork chop is amazing!

Bo Tai Chanh - beef carpaccio w/ fantastic lime flavor

And from Vung Tau in San Jose:

Delicious Shaking Beef w/ tomato rice (the salad underneath is tasty too)

Banh Khot - crispy little spheres filled w/ shrimp

Eats: Ramen Fest San Jose

When Cee originally told me about a ramen festival in San Francisco, my husband and I were beyond excited.  The night before we were going to go, I decided to look at the Yelp reviews in order to systematically hit the best-reviewed ramen booths.  I was disappointed to see that the event had been rated w/ 1 star citing overall chaos and massive lines (some people waiting up to 5 hours).  Unable to summon the motivation to brave the crowds, we decided to wait for the SJ one instead.  Touting a much larger venue, and presumably valuable logistical learnings from SF, Ramen Fest in SJ is currently being held over 2 consecutive weekends (10/3-10/5 and 10/10-10/12) downtown.  The vendors vary each weekend.

Tatsunoya from Kyushu Japan - Hakata Ramen, Tonkotsu Broth

My favorite of the festival!  I generally prefer the thicker type of ramen noodle as it seems to absorb flavor better, but this perfectly picked up the rich creaminess of the broth.  

Tsujita from Tokyo / LA - Miso Tonkotsu

Another rich broth with very generous fatty flavor (in a good way), but though I liked the thick noodles, I prefer traditional tonkotsu over miso.

Kohmen from Tokyo - Jukusei Tonkotsu 

My second favorite!  This used a soy sauce tonkotsu, thicker noodles, and more veggies than the other vendors.  Broth had great depth, noodles soaked up the flavors well, and the veggies were a welcome departure.

Ramen Vendors (we went during the late afternoon to avoid the crowds)

Spacious venue - one side held a seating area and the other held vendor booths

Doraemon was at Ramen Fest too!

And because we were feeling rather gluttonous, we also stopped by Cafe Lattea:

Totoro Art in a Matcha Latte

Brick Toast w/ Sesame Ice Cream

Total food coma, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  :)

Eats: Hokkaido Gourmet Fair

Food festivals.  I remember growing up in the middle of nowhere and yearning to try the various cook-offs, food festivals, etc. featured on the Food Network.  It seems I've hit the jackpot out here in the Bay Area.  Over the past few months, I've been to a Chili Fest in Palo Alto, the Eat Real Food Fest in Oakland, too many food truck outings to count, and most recently, the Hokkaido Gourmet Fair held at Mitsuwa.  I love that there are options like this and hope to frequent many more!

Beautifully Presented Bento

Crab Bento

A little pricey at $30, but I loved the fresh crab on top of vinegar-y rice.

Freshly made obanyaki - kind of like a pancake with filling in the middle

Our Obanyaki sampling

To my surprise, the caramel version was DIVINE.  Richly flavored, but somehow not too sweet.  Bonus?  It didn't stick to my teeth.

Freshly made croquettes

Corn and Crab Croquettes

A little too much potato for me (I prefer Gochi's), but there were many options to choose from!

And the giveaway winner is Skinny Donut!

A Day in South Bay: Eats & Fabrics

Starting the day off with a 6.0 earthquake was quite jarring.  We are thankful that our area is ok and sending our thoughts to those injured or who sustained any damage up north.

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If you search for ramen in San Jose, 2 eateries that inevitably pop up are Orenchi (see here) and Santouka.  I have to say that I was a little skeptical of Santouka given its food court setting, but the broth was well-developed (Spicy Miso, Shio, and Shoyu were distinctively flavored) and the noodles had a good bite.  The regular size bowl gave you a very generous portion of noodles.  

Santouka - Spicy Miso Ramen Combo w/ Ikura Salmon Rice

(Rice was unremarkable)

My current ramen rankings would be 1. Orenchi, 2. Ramen Izakaya Kagura, 3. Santouka, 4. Ramen Dojo / Santa Ramen, and 5. Ramen Parlor.

Diagonal from Santouka was Matcha Love.  We didn't get to try it (too full from Santouka), but are looking forward to it next time!  

As Suzanne mentioned on IG, they have a hojicha offering (roasted green tea) that sounds promising!

 Other Mitsuwa treats included these matcha flavored finds.  I'm saving these for a gal pal outing, but am betting they will be a big hit :)

Matcha Oreos, Hojicha (roasted green tea) Pocky, and Matcha cream sandwich cookies

As if Mitsuwa's offerings weren't enough, there was also a Paris Baguette in the same shopping center (thank you, Caroline, for the recommendation!)

Pain Au Chocolat, Mango Cronut, Strawberry Cronut, Mango Boat

All I can say is Cronut = yummy in my tummy

And what's a trip to San Jose without some fabric shopping at Fabrics R Us?

Pretty checks for $4/yd and chiffon stripes for $2/yd - ridiculously good prices!

Also got to meet up with sweet Phoebe for some boba at Tea Era.  I keep repeating myself, but I love it here and never want to leave!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Mom's Kitchen: Easy Chinese Salt & Pepper Chicken

A long-time favorite, Salt & Pepper (Jiao Yan) anything is a big hit with the family.  It complements a simple bowl of rice or a plate of salad.  The typical chicken preparation for this uses chicken wings or dark meat, but the kids and I are lazy about bones and prefer white to dark meat.  Feel free to use what you like!

Prep Time: ~15 minutes 

Cooking Time: ~15 minutes

Ingredients: 

• 1 Chicken Breast (or chicken wings, dark meat, etc.)
• 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
• Cooking Oil (enough to submerge your chicken)
• Corn Starch (enough to coat your chicken)
• Dried Chili Pepper
• Salt and White Pepper
• Sprinkle of Chinese Five-Spice Powder
• Green Onions (optional)
• Fresh Jalapeno (optional)

Directions:

• Coat your chicken using a mixture of corn starch with dashes of salt and pepper.  Coat evenly.

• Heat up your oil.  Once hot, toss in your chicken to fry.  Do not stir!  Wait until it looks like the batter has solidified, otherwise your coating will fall off.
• Once evenly fried (~5 min), let chicken cool a little bit on a paper towel.  After a few minutes of cooling, place it back in the oil for a quick flash fry.  This ensures it will stay crisp throughout the meal.

• In a pan, heat up a little oil.  Saute garlic and green onions.  Toss in your seasonings and chicken. Stir well to coat.

Enjoy!

I'm thinking about uploading cooking videos on YouTube - is that preferable to pictures / text?