Tangzhong Loaf with Green Tea Custard

Okay, seriously, I surrender. I'll admit it: I'm bored. I need to go back to school, even if it means the hell of finals and stress and week-long, exercise-deprived library visits.  It's horrible! And the worst thing is that we've sort of hit a heat wave here in NorCal, and even I'm not bored or crazy enough to go running in this heat. Plus, Dad is still in Vegas for his convention, so I don't have anyone to cook for (Mom won't eat my food, unless it's to humor me)! So I'm here stuck at home, doing some occasional cooking for no one, and occasionally watching some of Mom's korean dramas (ugh, what have I resorted to!).

The other day I tried making more Tangzhong Starter because Mom has this thing against crusty breads (she says it makes her teeth feel like they're going to fall out), and Tangzhong is supposed to yield a softer crumb. I found a recipe on Do What I Like for a soft bread loaf and thought it would be fun to make some buns with them. Since I had leftover frozen matcha custard filling from my dorayaki pancakes, I decided to fill them up with it. However, I read somewhere (I lost the link) that you can also fill it with pork floss or Rou Song, so I've posted the recipe below. However, in general, this bread is very versatile and can be filled with anything from red bean paste to hot dogs or curry.

Miso Soup

I know, this isn't exactly a recipe, and I certainly cannot claim credit for making this (well, unless you count pouring in the hot water). But our next-door neighbors had just come back from a family vacation to their hometown in Osaka, Japan, and they brought back a very interesting souvenir for us.

It was a very beautiful (as are all things Japanese) box containing 9 different shapes that looked a lot like cookies or cakes. Good thing we didn't eat them though, because they were in fact ready-made miso soup mixes! Apparently, each 'shape' represents a different flavor, but we've only tried the orange one on the left so far. The cookie-like thing is actually a giant inflatable tofu containing dried green onions and some kind of pink vegetable. There's also some seasoning packets inside. Overall, it was very convenient and tasty - just like the real thing! Mom told me to pack it away and take it with me to Philadelphia, where I probably won't have such easy access to fresh food.

Dorayaki with Green Tea Cream Filling

Today was one of the slowest days I've had in a very long time. I hadn't slept well last night and woke up pretty early for no particular reason...after all, it wasn't like I had any pressing issues to address. Anyway, I woke up, ate breakfast (I think I'm starting to OD on fiber, what with FiberOne cereal for breakfast and lunch, and dinner consisting mostly of purple rice and vegetables), and decided to pass the morning making Japanese dorayaki, or sweet pancakes.

Traditionally, dorayaki contains a filling of adzuki (red bean) paste, but Dad doesn't really like it, and we didn't have any in the house. Oh, did I mention that the temperature sky-rocketed to about 95F today? I didn't really feel like leaving my front door, never mind driving to the market. So, anyway, I did some research, and apparently, people have started putting all kinds of fillings inside - peanut butter, custard cream, even nutella! I found a recipe for the custard cream and decided to tweak it a little with our leftover matcha (green tea) powder.

Curry Bread

Okay, I'll admit it. This entire loaf - all 16 ounces of flour - was a failure. It wasn't the recipe, or the baking, or even the yeast; in fact, the yeast had performed a little TOO well. No, ironically enough, it was the fact that my loaf had risen too MUCH in the oven, and as a result, the inside remained raw by the time the crust had turned a nice golden brown. I tried cutting the loaf in half to increase the surface area, but I knew better than that. Once the crust is done, you just can't bake it any longer (I can verify from more than one experience in the past). So by the time it came out of the oven the second time, it felt literally like a rock. Mom tapped on the surface and joked that the thing could bash someone's brains out. Dad took one bite and complained that his gums felt like they were bleeding. Epic fail.

Vegetarian Dim Sum Dumplings

I've been feeling a little guilty lately because a lot of the food I've been making for my dad has been dessert-ish and unhealthy. It's hard, though, because Mom usually makes main dish, and we don't have extravagant dinners to begin with, what with our household consisted of just 3 people. But still, I figured I had to start cutting down on the sugar and fat and maybe look into something a little more health-friendly.

I recently borrowed Andrea Nguyen's book Asian Dumplings from the library (check out her website), and it's filled with all kinds of cute and delicious recipes. Among them were the clear-skinned dumplings that you usually find in dim sum. Of course, you automatically think Har Gow which, disturbingly enough, contains pork fat (still not disturbing enough to keep me from gobbling those goodies down at restaurants - hey, so long as I don't see them putting it in right?), so I chose instead to make vegetarian dumplings, which are significantly healthier. Plus, I felt guilty about using the meat in the house, so veggies were cheaper and available on hand.

Father's Day Part III - Bread Pudding Breakfast

And so, we come to the final part of the Father's Day trilogy. Sunday is supposed to be the REAL Father's Day, so I left dinner to the Big Leagues (Mom). Of course, it HAD to be steak, accompanied by leftover appetizers from Saturday and finished off with my all-American apple pie. I'd have to say that red meat is not very much my thing. I'll eat a little to keep my mom and her rants about me being malnutritioned at bay, but a big ol' hunk of steak is a bit too much for me. But I did eat a little, and I have to say that Mom sure knows how to cook her cow.

So anyway, I managed to secure my position in arranging breakfast...and I thought I'd try my hand at bread pudding. My dad usually loves French toast, and it was what I was aiming for, but in the end, it turns out the pudding didn't taste much like French toast. But oh well, at least it got rid of some of the giant bottle of rum Dad bought me long ago (I used to get away with not making him tiramisu by claiming that we had no rum in the house). And it was actually what I had been saving my braided brioche loaf for from last week. I'd have to say bread pudding takes a while to bake, but other than that, it's incredibly easy and great for getting rid of leftovers. Chances are you'll always have the ingredients on hand (except maybe the rum?), and it's actually very hard to really mess up.

Father's Day Part II - Apple Pie

As a continuation of my last post (the epic Father's Day weekend), I also attempted at the very daring challenge of making apple pie. I know, apple pie isn't exactly what comes to mind when you think 'summer', but my dad requested it along with steak (Mom's department there). And plus, he helped with a lot of the peeling and cutting, so thank goodness, it didn't take as long as I thought it would.

I got the recipe from Joy of Baking, which, by the way, is an AMAZING goldmine of recipes. But anyway, Dad and I had lots of fun attempting this monstrosity of a dessert. I don't know why, but doesn't apple pie seem like such a DAD thing? Like hot dogs and burgers. I guess it's the American/Man image...where foods lose the loftiness and adopt the more down-to-earth character that we often associate with masculinity. Or maybe I'm just rambling and reading too much into it all. Maybe I should just shut up and eat my food.