A Farmers Market Dinner

pita with greek dill yogurt and smoked salmon

saeyoung as smoked salmon sous chef

beet and orange salad with pine nuts

mushroom and pea gnocchi

butternut squash fries with curry ketchup and sriracha mayo

So this is what I've decided: the farmers market is my disneyland.  If I were to win the lottery, the first thing I would do would be to head over to the farmers market.  We took a family trip to the UCI farmers market and bought some produce for a dinner I was going to prepare later that night.  This is what I want to do every weekend--go to the farmers market and cook a meal with my purchases. 

So happy!

Chocolate Espresso Raspberry Mini Cakes

I went to the 99 cent store the other day and found these adorable heart shaped mini cake pans.  And i'm not necessarily a person that gravitates towards heart shaped much but i got really excited about these.   And then I got mildly stressed out because i felt like i needed to make something worthy of these pans--a run of the mill chocolate cake would not do.  After a little refrigerator rummaging, I found some raspberry extract. And as coffee flavors pair well with raspberry and chocolate, I came to conclusion that chocolate espresso raspberry mini cakes was the way to go.  When making this recipe, make sure to only fill these pans half way as the cakes rise quite high.

Ingredients

1 cup espresso

2 teaspoons raspberry extract

1 3/4 cup flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1. preheat oven to 350

2. stir together wet ingredients in a large bowl

3. sift together the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl

4. add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in three additions

5. bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly

6. let cool and glaze with ganache (recipe for ganache follows)

Raspberry Chocolate Ganache

ingredients:

4 oz bittersweet chocolate

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract

1. heat heavy cream until just boiling

2. add cream to the chocolate in a bowl and let sit for one minute until the chocolate begins melting down

3. stir and add corn syrup and raspberry extract

Brodard

egg noodles

deep fried shrimp and sweet potato 

tilapia with dill and bun noodles

shaking beef

pork spring rolls

So the other day my family went to Chateau Brodard without me! This had to be remedied.  We went to the more casual branch of the restaurant where the food is cheaper.  The spring rolls are their signature dish, I believe.  They were pretty great.  My only complaint is that the atmosphere is quite hectic and I felt pressured to eat frantically and somehow the whole experience left me feeling exhausted and stressed.

Brodard

9892 Westminder ave

Garden Grove, CA 92844

Left over hot dogs don't have to be...left over hot dogs

Unlike my sister, it is a real occasion when I decide to cook for myself. I'm not quite sure I can call it a "decision," because my limited budget essentially forced me to cook at home, but I'm pretty happy with the result. 

I chopped up a left over hot dog from our family Memorial Day BBQ and added a ton of onions. I added a spoonful of corn salsa that I found in the fridge and just added bottled pasta sauce I found on sale at Vons the other night. 

With a giant plate of linguine, parmesan cheese, and tobasco, it's hard to mess this up. I watched VH1's MAXIM's Hot 100, while forking this giant plate of carbs into my mouth!

I topped off the meal with a slice of Nancy Cake (see two posts below). Mmm...

Look at me now Unee, I'm domestic. :)

Chateau Brodard

It's rare that I have a great culinary experience without my sister, and it truly wasn't complete without her. Nevertheless, my parents and I went to Chateau Brodard, a french-vietnamese restaurant) in Fullerton last weekend. The glitzy club ambience was a bit over the top, but the food really was worth it! 

  appetizers: Why is it that so often, the appetizers are the best part of the meal! These may look like ordinary guilt-free spring rolls, but far from it. Deep fried wonton wrappers were folded inside. It was the ultimate cross between egg rolls and spring rolls. I'm not usually a big fan of peanut sauce, but I'll make an exception just this once! 

Next, we had a green papaya & mango salad. It was rather sweet, but still delicious. I really enjoyed the accompanying rice cakes. 

The entrees were less impressive. We ordered a filet mignon to taste the so-called "French" aspect. Let's just say, the french would be pretty upset. The dish pictured above was the best entree we ordered. It was kind of like Korean BBQ bulgogi. The meat was incredibly tender and soft, I almost found it suspicious! We ordered another entree that was just like Tina's Rice, a family staple recipe that I'm sure has been blogged before. 

 To bookend the so-so entrees, the desserts ended the evening on a high note. We had jackfruit fritters and a banana crepe. Both desserts absolute required vanilla bean ice cream to help it go down. The crepe wasn't quite the right texture. It was crispy instead of like a flapjack. 

We're considering going to Chateau Brodard for Saehee's birthday. I'm not sure if it will good enough for her, but then again, nothing is ever good enough for MY sister. 

Nancy Cake

To celebrate the completion of Nancy's first marathon I created a cake for her, which I've appropriately named: Nancy Cake.  Ta Da!

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup sugar...plus additional 2 tablespoons for sprinkling

1 cup halved and pitted cherries

1/2 stick of butter

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1. preheat oven for 400 and grease a 9 inch cake pan

2. in a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

3. in a large bowl cream the butter with 2/3 cup sugar 

4. to the butter and sugar mixture add the vanilla and the egg and beat well

5.  add the flour and buttermilk into the butter sugar mixture and mix until just combined

6. pour batter into the cake pan and arrange the halved cherries in circled pattern over the batter

7. sprinkle the top with the 2 tablespoons of sugar

8. bake for 20 minutes

Fred's 62

california omelet

santa fe frittata

a lox plate?

Today Nancy biked a marathon and with the best of intentions I tried to make it out to see her come through the finish line, but as it turns out Nancy is a much faster biker than predicted and she finished before I got there.  Disappointing for me.  Wonderful for Nancy.  

Despite having missed that grand finale, we went to Fred's 62 for brunch.  I've decided that brunch is the most social meal--it's casual and easy and somehow gives me permission to eat like I've been starved for a week.  It was a really great morning.  Much to celebrate--Nancy's marathon and also Janice announced that she'll be teaching at Calarts next year.  Despite having had very little sleep, I was really happy and feeling very comfortable.  

This feeling of comfort could also be a symptom of over eating, perhaps, because I did indeed overeat.  

Fred's 62

1850 N Vermont Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90027

(323) 667-0062

Nutella Peanut Butter Brownies

To be honest, I'm not really a brownie person.  There's something clumsy about this sort of dessert.  But put nutella on anything and I'm there.  

I've adapted the recipe from here, but with a few modifications.  I increased the amount of nutella and peanut butter to about 1/3 cups each and increased the cocoa powder by nearly double.  Also, I decreased the sugar by about half a cup.

Despite my general reluctance about brownies, I have to say these turned out well.  I love when brownies get that papery cracked top shell.  Oh, and i love nutella.

Corn Muffins

I love corn bread! I especially love it with honey and whole corn kernels.  And I even love that gritty texture (if you don't i suggest soaking the cornmeal in buttermilk overnight)

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

1 cup corn kernals (frozen, canned, or fresh off the cob)

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/3 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. preheat oven to 400

2. combine dry ingredients in a large bowl

3. combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl

4. pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until just combined

5. fold in the corn kernels gently

6. scoop ice cream scoop amounts of the batter into lined cupcake tins

7. bake for about 15 minutes

makes about 15