March 18th, 2011
Cinnamon Bread
Roll out the dough. Cover with melted butter and lots of cinnamon sugar. Cut into squares and stack into a bread pan. Allow the bread to rest and bake!
Pre-sliced bread 
March 18th, 2011
Red Bean Mooncake
This dessert is not too sweet, flaky and something my parents would love. I made mine with red bean paste. Recipe can be found here: http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/2010/12/thousand-layer-spiral-mooncakes.html
December 30th, 2010
Secret Messages
Made my own Morse code necklaces the other day. “Swell” and “Breath”
December 17th, 2010
Ratatouille
Chopped up all the vegetables I had. I didn’t have tomatoes so I guess it’s not a true ratatouille? Still good though and a nice break from all the carb and meat meals I’ve been eating.
December 14th, 2010
Making Macarons suck
I’ve been looking up recipes for macarons and they are known to be notoriously hard to make. I didn’t know what I was in for.
Making chocolate macarons.
They looked pretty going in… but f#%@^! they all cracked!
This one lone ranger made it through.
Time to recuperate and do some trouble shooting. Maybe the oven was too hot? I’ll add some water next time to beat the dryness? I can try leaving the piped rounds out to dry to form a “skin” according some websites.
In the mean time, I can admire the lone ranger:
Nice flat top, no cracks. Nicely risen feet at the bottom. I will savor you lone ranger.
November 30th, 2010
Garlicky Dinner Rolls
What I kneaded during my study breaks.
Mmmm smothered in garlic, butter, herbs and spices.
November 28th, 2010
Apple cider
I dragged myself from bed the day after Thanksgiving and went to my parents’ house for breakfast. While waiting for my mom to finish making the Hainan chicken rice…YUM…my aunt heated up apple cider and ginger, topped with whipped cream.
November 28th, 2010
Tip for getting crusty bread
Making bread is time consuming because of waiting to let it rise for hours. This bread was kneaded and allowed to rise three times. I started in the morning and by lunch I finally had bread.
To get a nice crusty top and a chewy soft middle, cook the bread at a high heat. My loaf cooked at 450 degrees. Place the bread in the oven, and pour a half a cup of water onto the floor of the oven, quickly shut the door. This creates a steam bath that creates that crunchy, chewy crust. Wait 2 minutes and throw in another half cup of water and quickly shut the door. It was quite exciting and made me fear my boyfriend would kill me if I destroyed the oven. But it turned out better than I thought.
Mmmm bread and butter…
Other methods suggest throwing ice cubes into the oven or placing a skillet with boiling water under the rack, but it’s more fun with exploding water.