Mid-Autumn in 2018

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time for a celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, where the lady on the moon with the bunny rabbits come out according to Chinese folklore.

It’s also the time of year when moon cakes are available and gifted to friends and family.

For many moons, my family and friends have known that I dislike the traditional moon cake. That lotus paste that sticks to the roof of your mouth, the salted yolk that’s rock hard and crumbly at the same time, all encased in this thick lard filled baked covering… In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m not a fan of it.

So this year, I decided as part of my culinary adventures to “invent” my version of a moon cake.

Rather than using traditional ingredients, I created a mango mousse sphere with a mango jelly heart (to replace the yolk), glazed with a yellow mirror glaze.

All in all, it turned out quite well, although I did not know that the glaze would lighten up in color once set. It looked very bright yellow when I was mixing the glaze. But this was the first time I tried making a mirror glaze cake, and I have very limited experience working with gelatin in general.

The color of the glaze right after pouring.

Final product with the heart slightly off centre

Unfortunately, we’ve already polished off all of my moon cakes, and Mid-Autumn isn’t until tomorrow!

100 Days

For my daughter’s 100 day celebration, we hosted a dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant.

Being from Hong Kong, we really would have preferred to celebrate the “full moon” (one month) rather than the 100 days that seems to be more common these days, but the timing really didn’t work out with the holidays (Christmas then New Year then Chinese New Year!), so…

In retrospect, the extra time also allowed me to fit into some of my old clothes again so I didn’t have to show up wearing stretchy yoga pants.

It also allowed me to recover some sort of “me”, at least to feel like myself enough to make a cake for my baby.

And I went all out.

Up to this point, I had never attempted a multi-layer cake or covered a cake in fondant because both were really intimidating tasks that left very little room for error. But for her, I was willing to try.

I also wanted an elegant yet girly look as opposed to my usual cartoonish designs, because, you know, in case I haven’t repeated myself enough, this was for my baby.

I think I did a pretty good job.

A Belated Birthday Dinner

Since I had spent my birthday celebrating with friends, my grandparents had seem slightly disappointed that I didn’t eat with them, especially since work had prevented me from joining in on the weekly family dinners for a few weeks now.  So with some downtime, I decided to invite my grandparents over for a dinner.

Popped a bottle of Cava when they arrived – it took my aunt and mom together to figure that out.

Here’s the menu, a definite deviation from their usual Chinese homecooked standards.

Hors D’oeuvres

Tuna in crispy cups (with a glass of Cava)

Soup:

Butternut Squash soup (with a glass of Cava)

Appy:

Crab-stuffed mushrooms (with a few sips of Cava)

Entree:

Prime rib (definitely with Cava)

Sides:

Purple cauliflower, zucchini and yellow baby carrots sauteed in a light wine sauce (probably with some Cava)

Duchess Potatoes (with more Cava)

Dessert:

Homemade cake (no more Cava)

I had no idea my grandparents could drink that much.  Or that they liked champagne so much.

It’s My Birthday

Another year over and I’m pretty sure I’ve grown wiser in the last 12 months (*fingers crossed*).

Regardless, I am extremely happy to be where I am at this point of my life and I am so touched from the multiple meals, drinks and messages from friends in the “village” – thank you very much Mr. McLuhan.

It would be an understatement to say that I like cooking, so what better way to celebrate my birthday than making a cake for myself?  As soon as my friends found out, I had several asking if they could have a piece 🙂

Not that I didn’t like the cake and the dinner with my best friend, especially that super decadent tiramisu that Italian Kitchen provided at the end of the meal, how could I not?

Could not resist a bite before the photo

I decided to make a cheesecake, something that I hadn’t made in more than 8 years, so it was something of a challenge.  I decided to make a souffle style cheesecake as it would be lighter in both calories and feel.  And since it was my birthday, I gave myself a break and not kill myself with the decorating.

A few smudges, but overall not a bad job.

Shout out to my awesome cousin who sent me a book to remind me of … well, I don’t really know what, but it was still a nice birthday gift from Toronto.

Happy Year of the Sheep

With the (Chinese New Year) upon us, I spent the last week feverishly cleaning out all the dust and bad luck that had accumulated in my home and life over the last year.

I also decided to try my hand at making a couple of very traditional and old-fashioned Chinese New Year snacks.  These were made every year by my grandmother, but since she’s gotten old and I moved halfway around the world, I haven’t had a chance to eat them.

I think I did a pretty good job overall, given that the last time I ate these I wasn’t even 10 yet.

These are deep fried dough stuffed with peanuts, coconut and sugar.  When fried, they become puffy and golden, resembling a gold ingot or purse stuffed full of money.  Obviously good luck.

These taro balls are savoury and crunchy, and soooooo addictive!

Wishing everyone a prosperous and healthy Chinese New Year.

Happy 2015

As we come to the beginning of a new year, there are many things for me to look forward to.

Most importantly, I am looking forward to the new opportunities that 2015 will offer, starting with a good dinner…

Shared with good friends and loved ones of course

And ending the first meal of the year with a sweet offering.

Green tea cake with mixed fruit topping – my first square cake!

Here’s to what will undoubtedly be an interesting and happy new year!

This guy followed me for half a block in downtown as I walked to my car. He became my new friend 🙂

 

Christmas 2014

Another Christmas come and gone…(with a pretty cool gift from my boss)

Another tree for my grandparents (with help from some nifty elves this time)

Another request for my Chinese sausage rolls at the Christmas party 🙂

Happy holidays!

Birthday Cake

Cake making, Take 2

What occasion is more perfect to practice than someone’s birthday?

Rather than the dense chocolate cake that I used last time, I substituted it with a Japanese style chocolate sponge cake instead.  This type of cake is much lighter, since it’s made with very little flour and oil and depends mainly on egg whites to get its rise.  The problem is not letting it sink back down.

But I think I did a pretty good job!

Dinner at the Boathouse on English Bay, the weather cleared up just in time for this beautiful scene.

The restaurant even gave us a piece of mocha mud pie as a birthday present 🙂

My Funny Valentine

Props for ingenuity for an awesome Valentine evening…

This was my first time snowshoeing and I’m still feeling it (I don’t exercise), but I got to see and experience an awesome time.  The sky was clear enough that our tour guide was able to point out the lights from not only all around Vancouver, but as far away as Vancouver Island as well.  And there were plenty of people having a much faster and easier time down the slope.

And Grouse Mountain really made an effort to melt your heart despite the freezing temperatures.

Outdoor ice rink and a fire pit amid lit up trees

The best part after the hour-long 2km trek was the chocolate fondue.

And I came home to find this on my front door.

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Valentine’s Day as I did… (but I am not going snowshoeing again in this lifetime)

新年快樂 Happy Chinese New Year

Yay to good food, new clothes, and lucky money!  This is supposed to be my lucky year, so here’s hoping for continued good food (from my culinary adventures), more new clothes (due to a successful diet to counteract those successful culinary adventures), and stacks of lucky money (fortune cookie anyone?)!

Happy Chinese New Year!