Real Canadian Maple Syrup

Our other cousin Hyun Jin came from Toranto.  She has been going to school for a bit there.  She brought us real Canadian maple syrup.  I haven't opened mine yet but my little bro made breakfast last weekend and made blueberry pancakes where he opened his.  

The color was rich amber and Soung and Dong said the flavors were amazing and not sweet at all!


I can't wait to try mine!


Thanks so much Hyun Jim!

Macarons From France

My cousins came to visit our family and brought gifts!  Soo Jin went to Paris for an internship and brought us my favorite French macarons.  Yes, real macarons from France!  They are not just any macarons but from Laduree! http://www.laduree.fr/  Laduree is the historic tea shop in Paris.

These were amazing!  I've tried every version I can find in Seattle and those don't do real justice to these. The cookie itself was nicely thin crispy with good amount of air and almond texture and flavor.  The filling flavors were the best I've had.  Yum!

The green one tasted like jolly ranchers.  Fruity and subtle sweetness was so good!  I'm not sure on the exact fruit.  I looked up their website for the flavors but can't figure out this one.

The yellow one was a butter cream of some sort.  The butter cream was so velvety and this one waws not as sweet.  The cream one I think was vanilla butter cream.

The purple one was blackcurrent violet.  I can taste the tart fruity flavor and the subtle violets. Wow!

The pink was a rose buttercream.  Very interesting.

I was only going to try two to savor these and not eat at once but I ended up eating all of them.  Man I need to go Paris for more.  Seattle macarons won't be the same.  I better master making these soon!

Thanks so much Soo Jin!  My mouth wants more!

The New Mama Melinas

After a long day of shopping, cousins, mom, sister, and my little bro checked out the new Mama Melina near Uvillage.  http://mammamelina.com/


Food was good but not spectacular.  Nothing to write home about.  If you are in the area and crave Italian, you should go but not a destination spot.  Flavors were so so, exception was the eggplant parmesan.  The food and restaurant is beautiful but the flavors weren't there for me.  It's good but not great.


The Appetizers...
Eggplant Parmesan.  This was my favorite dish of the night.

Vongole con Fagioli e Pancetta (Clams, white beans, and pancetta)

Bruschette

The Entrees....
Spaghetti Pomodoro

Ravioli Con Porcini e Formaggi

Penne with Smoked Mozzarella

Pizza Salciccia e Rapini

Pizza with Mushroom and Truffle
I don't recommend this at all.  Barely any truffle favors. 

The Dessert....
Cheesecake 
This was made with ricotta.  I find this is my favorite way of eating cheesecake. Ricotta gives it a velvety texture and a lightness.

Tiramisu

The diners....my familia!

Mom's Korean Food

My cousins are in town!  They are the daughters of my mom's youngest brother and we've not seen one of them for 16 years and the other since 6 years.  Mom cooked up a storm the first night they arrived!


Kalbi, Korean BBQ

Japchae, Korean Noodle Salad

Tempura of Shrimp and Vegetables

Stir fry of Peppers and Vegetables

Stuffed Peppers Fried in Egg Batter

Lotus Root with Chili and Sesame Oil

Salty Sweet Deep Fried Seaweed
These are so good.  It's just seaweed deep fried then tossed in sugar and salt.  

Regular Seaweed Toasted and Brushed with Sesame Oil
These are simple but so good when you wrap plain rice and eat it with kim chee.

Cucumber "Oie"  Kim Chee

Turnip "Moo" Kim Chee

Homemade Rice Cakes 
You can buy these from any Korean grocery store these days.  I don't think Korean people make this regularly but when they do, it's so Korean rustic and good.  My mom grows the herb that makes these so green.  

Shortbread - 3 Ways

I learned how to make shortbread when I worked at a local bakery cafe.   It's the simplest cookie or "biscuit" to make.  Not only is it easy, but you can vary it up to any flavors you like.   The recipe I learned is was what I call 411, 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 pound of butter.  Since then and doing some research, I've learned that shortbread has traditionally been made in ratios of 1 part sugar, 2 part butter, and 3 part flour.  I still use the 411 ratios but usually halve or quarter the recipe for home baking.


I remembered last minute that I had another birthday event to go to this weekend thus decided to revisit making shortbread since it's so easy to make and people always seem to love it.  I decided to do it 3 ways.  My initial goal was to keep the classic flavors the same but only change up the type of sugar to test the textures.  Well...I decided to change flavors to match the sugar type.  I made the classic,  black sesame, and almond.


The recipes below are a quartered recipe of the 411.  It makes about 16 give or take 1/2" cookies.  


The Classic

1/2 cup or 1 stick of unsalted butter (soften)
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup of flour
Pinch of salt
2 Tbs of extra sugar
-Beat the sugar and butter until light and creamy
-In a separate bowl, add the salt to flour and mix
-Add the flour mixture into the sugar/butter mixture until well blended and forms a crumbly dough
-Dump the dough onto a large sheet of  plastic wrap and form a log about 2 to 2/14 inches wide.   Wrap the plastic over the log, while holding on the sides of the plastic.  You can roll the log with the edges and form a nice even round log.  Refrigerate the log for at least an hour.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Take the cookie log out of the refrigerator and unwrap from the plastic wrap.
-Put the 2 tbs of extra sugar onto a flat plate or surface.  Roll the cookie log in it until the log is well coated with all the sugar.
-Cut into about 1/2 inch thick slices and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
-Bake for 10 min then rotate, bake for an additional 3-6 min depending on your oven temperature.  The cookie will stay pretty light and have slight yellowing on the edges when ready.

The Black Sesame
The goal here was to make a lighter cookie and add some texture and nuttiness with the sesame.  I also really like the contrasting colors.

1/2 cup or 1 stick of unsalted butter (soften)

1/4 cup of powder sugar

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup of black sesame

Pinch of salt

2 Tbs of extra powder sugar

-Beat the sugar and butter until light and creamy

-In a separate bowl, add the salt, black sesame to flour and mix

-Add the flour mixture into the sugar/butter mixture until well blended and forms a crumbly dough

-Dump the dough onto a large sheet of  plastic wrap and form a log about 2 to 2/14 inches wide.   Wrap the plastic over the log, while holding on the sides of the plastic.  You can roll the log with the edges and form a nice even round log.  Refrigerate the log for at least an hour.

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Take the cookie log out of the refrigerator and unwrap from the plastic wrap.

-Put the 2 tbs of extra sugar onto a flat plate or surface.  Roll the cookie log in it until the log is well coated with all the sugar.

-Cut into about 1/2 inch thick slices and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

-Bake for 10 min then rotate, bake for an additional 3-6 min depending on your oven temperature.  The cookie will stay pretty light and have slight yellowing on the edges when ready.

The Almond

This one was inspired by Samad and his love of almonds.  I also wanted to make a 3rd cookie with brown sugar.  I've made this one before and call it Brown Sugar Shortbread.  It's really a nice warm feeling cookie because the brown sugar emits a fall, rainy day, smell.  You can even add some spices to kick it up.

1/2 cup or 1 stick of unsalted butter (soften)

1/4 cup of brown sugar (packed)

3/4 cup of flour

1/4 cup of almond meal

1/4 cup of sliced almonds

Pinch of salt

2 Tbs of turbinado sugar

-Beat the sugar and butter until light and creamy

-In a separate bowl, add the salt, almond meal, almonds to flour and mix

-Add the flour mixture into the sugar/butter mixture until well blended and forms a crumbly dough

-Dump the dough onto a large sheet of  plastic wrap and form a log about 2 to 2/14 inches wide.   Wrap the plastic over the log, while holding on the sides of the plastic.  You can roll the log with the edges and form a nice even round log.  Refrigerate the log for at least an hour.

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Take the cookie log out of the refrigerator and unwrap from the plastic wrap.

-Put the 2 tbs of turbinado sugar onto a flat plate or surface.  Roll the cookie log in it until the log is well coated with all the sugar.

-Cut into about 1/2 inch thick slices and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

-Bake for 10 min then rotate, bake for an additional 3-6 min depending on your oven temperature.    It will start smelling like maple and touch of molasses.  

Besalu Bakery

After my disappointment with Tartine Bakery's croissant, I needed to do a sanity check and make sure my love of Besalu's croissants were in fact genuine.  It had been awhile since I've had their pastries, so this morning I went before going to work.


I pick up 3 pastries...the plain croissant, chocolate croissant, and my favorite the onion gruyere croissant.  I didn't eat all 3 at once.  :)   Yep and it didn't disappoint but confirmed my love of their pastries.  They do have the best croissant in my eye.  I will keep confirming this as I visit other bakeries and cities and countries.




I feel very luck to have Besalu in my neighborhood of Ballard.  James Miller and his wife Kaire are the owners.  James is the baker and amazing. He is so nice and low key.  The lines are long, around the block, especially during the weekend.  Their pastries are baked around the clock so don't be surprised if you get a warm pastry.  They have quiches, scones, brioche, and many others.  They have great coffee too.  If you've not been there, my friends, please check it out.  Give me a call and I will go with you since they are in my neighborhood.  :)

5909 24th Ave NW
(between 59th St & 60th St)
Seattle, WA 98107
(206) 789-1463

www.cafebesalu.com

The Plain...
The classic, so buttery without being too rich, right amount of salt, and most importantly does not feel too bready.  The outside layers are crispy, light crispy, that when you bite into it, you hear the little whispy crisp until you hit the soft warm layer.  The flavor and this texture is what makes Besalu's croissant stand out.  Perfect!

The Chocolate...
Perfect pastry with rich dark chocolate.  I've never gotten this room temperature.  Every time I've gotten it, the chocolate is soft and warm.  Mmmm...

The Onion & Gruyere....
I love to have this one with a Mocha.  The sweet and slightly tangy caramelized onion with the savory gruyere cheese is amazing.