October 14, 2020 In All recipes, Bakery/Pastry, Sweets

Brûlée Coconut, Palm Sugar, Pork floss sticky buns

"  It's savoury-sweet kinda thing, you know, obviously, but also smokey around where a mixed aroma of coconut, butterscotch and bacon meet and greet.  " [ezcol_2third] What in the world is pork floss?! And where the hell do you get palm sugar?!  Or both, for that matter?! Ok fine, so I knew this is gonna be a hard pitch.  And I'm probably not helping my case when I tell you that pork floss, invented by an anonymous Chinese likely on a night of massive insomnia, is a brownish cotton ball made of predominantly pork, which is cooked, shredded, then painstakingly dehydrated while being tumble-fried inside a wok until what used to be muscle tissues have then transformed into super fine, fiber-like fluffs.  Whaaat?!  And as if that's not mind-bending enough, its flavor profile wonders in between savoury and sweet with a maple bacon or jerky-like porkiness oozing into your sensory space as your mouth grapple to understand this textural anomaly. It's really just like any other culinary ingenuities that took form initially as a means to tackle food preservation before refrigeration, but ended up being cherished by its culture even till this day.  Stretching from southern China down to Southeast Asia, hey, pork floss matters. 

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May 21, 2020 In All recipes, Sweets

Glazed Tadpole-oca donuts w/ salted peanut dust

[ezcol_1half] Publishing a recipe that is aimed at overtaking an old one on a recipe blog like this, is a bit of a dangerous rabbit hole to fall down in. For starter, it implies that the old recipe being replaced, however satisfactory it was left for the public consumption in good faith, was after all, only subpar in comparison.  An uncomfortable admission that these recipes, or at least some of them, are only as good as the limits of their developers at the time whose standards may at some point surpass their own creations.  That some recipes are ultimately, imperfect and transitory.  Which then leads to the question that, well, if one recipe here is found to be less than worthy of eternity, or at least till the end of mankind due to disasters of cosmic proportions, then who knows how many other recipes here are potentially shy of such basic standard?  Because if this isn't the promised space that guarantees unequivocally immaculate cooking manuals that fill the empty pockets of our blip of an existence in a totally indifferent no-shit-given universe, then what are any of us even doing here?  What's the point?  I mean do you know?  Does she know?! 

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June 15, 2016 In All recipes, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice

that spicy, sour Thai street noodle

[ezcol_1fifth]  [/ezcol_1fifth] [ezcol_3fifth] Just came home from an extra long weekend-getaway from Bangkok, my second time visiting this feasting sanctuary and wow, it is even better than I remembered.  I'm not going to play expert and include a traveling guide with this post because when it comes to Bangkok, I'm not, yet.  But I will however, include some links (with or without photos) to some of the memorable moments we experienced on this trip.  It's not a lot.  After all, it was a 2 1/2 day quickie.  Plus a noodle recipe that brings me back whenever I miss that city, which is to say, always. JUST STICK WITH THE DON AND THE HOLY FOURSOME   [/ezcol_3fifth] [ezcol_1fifth_end]  [/ezcol_1fifth_end] [ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end] [ezcol_1third] BOAT NOODLES [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third] RICE VERMICELLI WITH PORK DUMPLINGS [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third_end] DUCK NOODLE WITH CHINESE HERBS [/ezcol_1third_end] [ezcol_1half] T&K SEAFOOD [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] ANOTHER SEAFOOD JOINT ACROSS THE STREET [/ezcol_1half_end] PORK OFFAL SOUP WITH FLAT RICE NOODLE TOM YUM SOUP WITH RICE VERMICELLI SIAM PARAGON - shopping mall with an entire floor of food paradise KITCHEN SUPPLY STORE WITH UNIQUE FINDS THAT SPICY, SOUR THAI STREET NOODLE: Before you say anything, you're right, this isn't authentically anything.  It isn't a particular Thai dish, doesn't even have a real title (the fact of the matter is, I didn't have a clue what most of the dishes

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September 18, 2014 In All recipes, Vegatables

FIRE-CRUSHED CUCUMBER SALAD

[ezcol_1third] THIS IS A CONVICT YOU'LL WANT TO FORGIVE, AND EMBRACE [/ezcol_1third][ezcol_2third_end] I don't mean to sound self-absorbed and overly theatrical if I mustn't, but officers, I have a stalker. Please, listen to me before you dismiss my report after I tell you that, yes, it's a cucumber salad.  Harmless and gentle it may sound, but believe me when I say that this fella, is spicy

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March 2, 2013 In All recipes, Bakery/Pastry, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Sweets

Mochi Brownie

I chose this to be one of the away-from-home-super-short-post collection for a reason - I don't feel like explaining it.  You either know and share a great passion, or even obsession in some cases  for what this "mochi" is, or you don't.  No words I can say will convert you from one side to the other. I can tell you that it's a common treat in Asia (known by different names but mochi, which is Japanese, is the most commonly used), a chewy and glutenous dough made with glutinous/sticky rice loved by all generations.  But let's be honest, that doesn't sound very compelling does it?  Or that there's a wide range of varieties consisting of different preparation methods, regional flavors, soft/firmness as a result of rice:water ratio, even the temperature it's supposed to be eaten at, makes this particular type only a speck in the many.  OH please, I'm boring you aren't I? Like I said.  I can't sell you on this.  Then so be it.  You are either the demographic who will excite in overwhelming jitters at nothing but just the name of OMG MOCHI BROWNIES!!  Or you are not.  So my fellow mochi-eaters.  Jump.  Get to work in

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