Mom's Steamed Egg Custard

It's cold. I want comfort food. Namely, mom's home cooking. I decided to replicate another favorite dish - her steamed egg custard. It's kind of like Japanese Chawanmushi (a dish I regularly order at Sakagura and squeal when I get as a panchan in Korean restaurants), but way simpler.

Mom's Steamed Egg Custard
- handful of shitake mushrooms, cut in small pieces with stems removed
- 3 stalks green scallion, finely cut
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 cup dried shrimp
- 3 large eggs
-1 cup water (or Asian chicken or seafood stock)...good thing I made stock today!

Heat canola oil in wok and add scallions, mushroom, sesame oil, salt, shrimp and fry for 3-5 minutes. Find a bowl that will fit in the steamer or stock pot and add the fried ingredients and water or stock (enough to fill 3/4 of bowl) to make a "soup". Scramble 3 eggs and slowly stir in soup. Place bowl in steamer/ stock pot and steam for "just a little bit!" For me, that was 15 minutes until the egg was light and puffy and a skewer comes out clean.

Hot Milk Sponge Cake

I'm a simple girl. While I appreciate all the steps and exotic ingredients that go into a really good cupcake - buttermilk, eggs separated into whites and yolks, vanilla from actual vanilla beans - I just want to make some good cupcakes that aren't too sweet with the ingredients I have. Growing up, I made the Hot Milk Sponge Cake that was in my mother's ancient Better Homes and Garden cookbook. I was cursing myself for not copying the recipe down when I was home last time when genius that I was, I decided to Google it and found this recipe from Robert Hammond, chef and owner of The Kitchen at Honeyman Creek Farm in Warren, Oregon. For cupcakes, I reduced the cooking time to around 16 minutes and topped with whipped cream.

Hot Milk Sponge Cake
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or 1/2 teaspoon each vanilla and lemon extracts)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly spray two (9-inch) round cake pans with vegetable oil spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Cover the eggs (still in their shell) with hot tap water. Allow eggs to sit for at least five minutes to warm them up. NOTE: It is important that the eggs be warm to the touch when they are whipped with the sugar. This gives an extra lightness to the cake. See Lagniappe below. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the milk and heat until the mixture is steaming. NOTE: See Lagniappe tips below. Remove from heat. Into a large mixing bowl, crack the warm whole eggs. Using an electric mixer, whip the eggs until frothy. Gradually add the sugar and whip on high speed until the batter is light and thick. NOTE: This takes a good ten minutes. Turn the mixer down to low and add the sifted dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt). Mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the egg batter, stopping once to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl. Add the scalded milk and butter mixture. Mix on low speed until the batter is smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and continue mixing on low just until the vanilla is incorporated into the batter. Divide the batter equally into each prepared cake pan. NOTE: The batter will be quite thin so don’t be alarmed. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove from oven and place the cake layers on a wire cooling rack. Sprinkle each layer very lightly with granulated sugar. Leave the cake layers in the pan to cool for thirty minutes. When cool, carefully run a paring knife around the edge of the each cake layer, using an up and down motion, to avoid tearing the sides of the cake. Turn the layers out onto a wire cooling rack. Cool completing before serving.
Serving: Cake is great served as is, but also can be used with your fresh berries. Makes two (9-inch) round layers


Lagniappe: Having the eggs warm and whipping them to the proper consistency are the keys to making this cake successfully. While whipping the eggs, feel the bottom of the bowl to make sure that it doesn’t feel cold. If it does, then the eggs aren’t warm enough. Place the mixing bowl in a slightly larger bowl filled with about 3 inches of hot tap water. Stir them until they are warm to the touch. The eggs are properly whipped when they get light and thick, resembling softly whipped cream. Lift the whip from the bowl and the batter should slowly flow from the whip in a ribbon that slowly incorporates back into the batter.

10 Tips that Might Save Your Life

I don't really read forwards but for an SVU/ CSI/ Dexter paranoid freak like myself, it provided some good tips and is apparently from a cop (with my comments). Plus, I've always wondered what to do in these situations. I highly recommend taking a self defense class (although I failed "be aware of your surroundings" in Mexico and can only deflect a punch from a right-handed assailant). You got more? Add it in a comment!

1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!
2.. Learned this from a tourist guide. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you.... Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!
3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy.. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. <<>>
4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON'T DO THIS!) The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR , LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.. If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, Repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it . As soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.
5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage: A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor , and in the back seat B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars. C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side... If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)
6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!) <<>>
7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern! <<>>
8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.
9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird.. The police told her 'Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door..' The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, 'We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.' He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.
10. Water scam! If you wake up in the middle of the night to hear all your taps outside running or what you think is a burst pipe, DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE! These people turn on all your outside taps full ball so that you will go out to investigate and then attack.

Ginger Sesame Chicken

This dish is a cold weather staple in our family. I'm reminded to make it because mom facebooked that she made it during the recent snow storm. Mom calls it sesame chicken - I added the "ginger" so that it wouldn't be confused with the deep fried sweet sticky concoction that one gets at a Chinese take-out joint. Mom gets her chicken from the Chinese butcher - a whole chicken hacked into little pieces. While the pieces are great and the bones lend a rich flavor to the sauce, one always had to be careful not to stick themselves with a chicken shard. Verdict? M says, "Wow, honey, this is delicious!"

Ginger Sesame Chicken
- Around 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 thumb of ginger, sliced
- 1 lb of chicken (I used boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat) cut into 1 inch by 1 inch pieces
- 3/4 cup of rice wine

Dry chicken and sprinkle with some kosher salt. In a pot for braising, add enough sesame oil to coat the bottom. When hot, add ginger and saute until flavor is released. Be careful because sesame oil burns easily. Add chicken (may have to be in batches) and brown. When chicken is browned, turn up heat and add rice wine. Let alcohol cook off, add equal amount of water (add wine and water until meat is just covered). Lower heat to a simmer and cook covered for at least 30 minutes. Salt to taste and add a dash of white pepper. Serve over somen noodles.

DC Favorites...So Far...

It's been about 6 months so I thought I'd jot down a few of my favorite things about DC.

Activities:
- Cooking Class @ L'Academie de Cuisine
- Hiking at the plethora of parks/ nature centers
- Pole Class @ Chic Physique Fitness/ Balance Sport & Fitness
- Rock climbing @ Earth Treks

Food:
- Bethesda: Black Salt, Sushi @ Hinata, French Macaroons @ Cocoa, Georgetown Cupcake***
- DC: Dancing Crab***, Marina***, Hank's Oyster Bar, Rasika (Indian), Dukem (ethiopian)***
- Frederick: Volt (Top Chef Fame!)
- Rockville: Big Saigon Vietnamese, Taiwanese brunch @ Joe's Noodle House, Fractured Prune doughnuts***, Urban BBQ, emerald tofu dish and hot and sour soup @ Vegetable Garden, Lebanese Taverna, Roast duck/ pork @ Maxim, Hwaro (to try for Korean BBQ), The Vyne (to try)
- Riverdale: bulgogi bibimbop, fresh doughnuts and orange-aid at the farmer's market
- Silver Spring: Dimsum at Oriental East

Museums:
- National Arboretum
- National Building Museum: great for kids
- National Gallery of American Art and National Portrait Gallery
- National Gallery of Art: Calder Exhibit
- Natural History Museum (IMAX: Wild Ocean 3D)
- National Museum of American History: Julia Child's kitchen, Dorothy's ruby red slippers
- National Zoo: pandas
- The Phillips Collection: "Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens"
- The Textile Museum: Contemporary Japanese Fashion
- U.S. Botanic Garden

Neighborhoods:
- Frederick, MD
- Friendship Heights, MD
- Old Town Alexandria, VA

Tour:
- Segway tour of DC

Stinks so Good

I really miss my mom's cooking. I decided to try her braised sour bamboo and spare ribs. So, you know how cheese stinks but tastes so good - addictively good? M, opens up the fridge and was like, "what reeks?!" Mind you, the sour bamboo (bamboo pickled in salt) is vacuum packed. They still stink. But, braised with pork spare ribs and eaten over rice, it's all worth it. And LOADED with fiber.

Braised Sour Bamboo and Spare Ribs
- Half pound of pork spare ribs
- 1 bag sour bamboo (yes, mom, they are made in Taiwan)
- 1 garlic clove, crushed

Wash bamboo thoroughly and cut into 2 inch pieces. In pot with cover, heat some canola oil and when hot, add garlic. When garlic flavor has released, add spare ribs and brown. Add bamboo, water to barely cover and braise for at least 1 hour (mine are going on 4 hours). Salt to taste. Enjoy over white rice.

Herbes de Provence Baked Chicken & Gravy

My mom never cooked in the oven. Sure, she made the occasional cake (I can't wait to copy down the Hot Milk Sponge Cake recipe when I get home tomorrow). I wanted a roast chicken with drippings for gravy but I'm still squeamish about dealing with a whole chicken, let alone a turkey! Not quite feeling like brining today. Also, at the end, you have to carve the said whole poultry. Why not just have the chicken already cut up?

So I decided on baked chicken (curiously, roast chicken is a whole chicken in the oven and baked chicken is chicken pieces in the oven). My friend Zach told me about using Herbs de Provence and butter. A couple recipes I found called for stuffing the bird with lemon. So, I mashed everything together and came up with this. I've never baked a chicken before (ok, fine, there was one time with Italian dressing), so I welcome comments/ suggestions.

Herbs de Provence Baked Chicken
- 1 whole chicken cut into pieces (we like dark meat so I also get a package of legs and thighs - and you thought my chicken had mutated!)
- Kosher salt
- Fresh cracked pepper
- Herbs de Provence
- 2 lemons (sliced thinly on a mandolin)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly spray a baking sheet with canola oil and line bottom of pan with sliced lemons. Wash and dry chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Brush one side with butter, sprinkle with herbs and lay butter side down on pan. Brush other side with butter and sprinkle with more herbs. Place remaining lemon slices on chicken and pop in the oven for 20 minutes. Check every 10 minutes after that for a nice brown color, thickest meat cooked through and the juice runs clear. When done, remove from pan and lightly cover with foil to rest before serving.

Gravy
- drippings
- white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 fine diced shallot
- 2 tbsp flour

Take pan drippings from Herbs de Provence chicken and pour out fat so you have about 2 tbsp or so of drippings. Pour into a sauce pan and put on medium heat. Add pinch of salt, shallots. As shallots cook, whisk in flour. As shallots turn translucent and the pan starts to dry, add a splash of white wine and scrape up brown stuff. As that gets dry, add another splash. As that gets dry, add the broth and whisk. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until sauce is at desired consistency.

Thai Basil Manila Clams

I saw some gorgeous manila clams at the Asian market and had a craving for my mom's Thai Basil Manila Clams. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach her on the phone so I did the best I could from memory (this post will be updated if I missed something). Firstly, I didn't use the clams right away. They sat in the fridge in a bowl under a wet paper towel. When I took them out, the paper towel was dry and they were all open with the meat spilling out all over. "M! M! They're dead! They're so deadski! Fix it!" So, M went over, poured water over them, agitated them and they closed right back up. She says, "why do you buy things that you are afraid to cook?"

Well, now that we've revived them, we can kill them.

1. Prepare half a thumb of ginger (sliced, julienned, whatever), crush 1 clove of garlic, slice 1 Thai chili, rough chop some Thai basil.
2. Heat oil in a wok. When hot, add ginger, garlic and chili.
3. Once garlic has released it's flavor, add clams, a splash of rice wine and a splash of soy sauce.
4. Saute clams until they are partly open
5. Add Thai basil and saute until clams are fully open and done. Optional: fresh cracked black pepper

M added a Cambodian twist by making a dipping sauce out of salt, fresh cracked pepper and lime juice.

Hopped Up on Zyrtec

I usually get an allergy triggered sinus infection from September to October so I take Zyrtec at night to deal with the symptoms. Zyrtec makes me very sleepy (I know, I'm already so sleepy) and gives me the weirdest dreams. I must've been whimpering in the dream below because M woke me up and was like, "Are you ok? What's wrong?" Little did she know...

In my dream, I was watching some reality make-over show (yes, what else is new) and in this show, female serial killers were getting made-up and given whole wardrobes furnished by major fashion labels. Specifically, this brunette named Karen Houser received a wardrobe provided by Seven Jeans. Thinking that I deserved a wardrobe, I went out to kill people. At an intersection, one of the road crew guys came over and resigned to me killing him. He lay down on a bench and I tried to cut his throat with my silicone spatula. When that wouldn't work, I tried a business card. That didn't work either and then M woke me up.

Herbes de Provence Braised Short Rib

I am not surprised that the editors at Bon Appetit magazine declared an entire year the year of the braised short rib. For us, every year is the year of the braised short rib. I felt like doing some kind of short rib with red wine. M is eating her second bowl right now. I think next time, I'll add more tomatoes and some mini or large dice potatoes. I will also make 4 lbs instead of 1.


Herbes de Provence Braised Short Rib
Adapted from Short Ribs Provençale by Rick Rodgers, The Carefree Cook
- 1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pound individual short ribs (not cross-cut flanken)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- 1/4 large onion, finely chopped (recipe also called for carrots and celery but I didn't use any)
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 cup hearty red wine, such as Zinfandel or Shiraz
- 1 cup beef stock, preferably homemade, or reduced-sodium chicken broth (I am a fan of the condensed broth from Trader Joe's that come in little ketchup packets)
- 1/2 diced tomatoes (I'll use a whole tomato next time)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 300°F.
2. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or flameproof casserole over medium-high heat (I used my 3 qt Le Creuset). Season the short ribs with the salt and pepper. In batches, without crowding, add the short ribs to the pot and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the ribs to a platter.
3. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the pot. Add the onion to the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook, stirring often, until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, herbes de Provence, and flour and stir until the garlic gives off its aroma, about 1 minute. Stir in the wine and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the broth, tomatoes, and bay leaf. Return the short ribs, and any juices, to the pot. Add cold water as needed to barely reach the top of the ribs and bring to a boil over high heat.
4. Cover tightly, transfer to the oven, and bake, stirring occasionally to change the position of the ribs, until the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender, about 2 1/2 hours. (for the future, during the last 15 minutes, add the baby carrots and potatoes).
5. Transfer the short ribs to a deep serving platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Skim off the fat from the surface of the cooking liquid, and discard the bay leaf. Bring remaining liquid to a boil over high heat and cook until the liquid is reduced to a sauce consistency, about 10 minutes (the exact time depends on the size of the pot). Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
6. Spoon the sauce with the carrots and potatoes over the ribs, sprinkle with the parsley, and serve hot.