Ha ha ha! 成功了！紅豆冰！

Wow, I have been craving this drink for months. It's nothing more than a combination of sweetened red beans, a little syrup, and evaporated milk. But the price of fancy Japanese canned adzuki beans always held me back ($5 a can???). So when my mom suggested that I just cook my own red beans, I put aside the voice in my head clamoring for instant gratification and went the long route instead.

And boy, am I glad I did! This is refreshingly delicious, and brings back fond memories of Hong Kong.

Layer of soft sweet red beans on the bottom,
topped with evaporated milk, ice, and
a little extra sweet syrup.

I had some beginners luck; the red beans were soft but not too mushy!
So delicious; hands down my favorite way to have red beans.

Coney Island

I have a soft spot in my heart for Coney Island. It's a little kitschy, a tiny bit touristy, a little old. And after Hurricane Sandy blew by last October, it was a little battered as well. I've been seeing lots of subway advertisements showcasing the newly rebuilt Luna Park lately, and so I decided to go take a peek on this sunny warm Sunday.

The boardwalk always greets me with a wonderful combination of smells. The first to reach my nose is inevitably the heavy grease of fried food. And as I step up to the actual boardwalk, the salty tang of the ocean blows my way. It never fails to put a grin on my face, and is something I uniquely associate with NY and NJ beaches.

The boardwalk was beautifully restored, and bustling with visitors.

The Wonder Wheel stands tall and proud, an old relic built in the 1920s.

The famous wooden coaster, the Cyclone. It's also been around since the
1920s, and has been declared a National Historic landmark.

Lots of shopfronts and rides looked brand spanking new, which made me feel surprisingly wistful. The appeal of Coney Island to me has always been the aura it had, the layer of time that had settled over everything. With everything so shiny and clean, it was almost as if history itself had been washed away somehow.

Lots of families taking advantage of the hot day

I still do a mental eye-roll every time I think about it, but many beaches in the tristate area are not free! Unlike Florida beaches, where you can just park yourself right on the sand, a lot of the beaches here are cordoned off by a boardwalk and you have to pay to get in. Coney Island is a rare free beach, and so it often gets VERY crowded during the summer.

Difficult to see from the picture, but the pier is still under reconstruction.

The very well-known Nathan's hot dogs, with a sign reminding us that
it is only 10 days until 4th of July, when the hot dog eating contest
will take place!

Coney Island has a unique charm. As I stood there soaking in some sunshine (but not too much!), I listened to children laughing gleefully, either playing in the sand or running off to the rides. It seems like a reflection of childhood itself, of an easier time. Spending a few hours there is a lovely reminder to stay in touch with the kid in all of us... and a convenient excuse to gorge on funnel cake and cotton candy!

鹵水鴨飯

It was delicious. I am full. That is all!

Hot from the oven

Sometimes, cooking is like a game show. You look in your kitchen, take stock of your ingredients, then throw something together into an edible masterpiece. So fun!

This morning, I had a humble banana. While delicious, calling it a filling breakfast is a stretch of the imagination. I contemplated slicing it into oatmeal (healthy but boring), or even rolling it in chocolate and nuts (not quite breakfast-y enough). Finally, I decided, banana chocolate chip muffins! Huzzahs for dessert camouflaged as breakfast food!

The muffins start rather unattractively, a combination of egg, butter,
brown sugar, vanilla, and mashed banana.

Dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) are mixed in.

Muffin mix!

The fun part: not measuring how much chocolate chips went into
the batter.

The small batch recipe was enough to make 6 small muffins. I really like
these silicone liners; no baking pan needed, and non-stick!

Finished muffins didn't rise very much; they stayed dense in a good,
banana-y way.

Barely waited for them to cool down before digging in!

Chocolate chip cookie cake!

Turns out, chocolate chip cookie dough + ramekin = previously unknown bites of BLISS. This dessert is AMAZING. So I've been using the same recipe for a small batch of chocolate chip cookies for a while now. And though it's good, I was craving something a little more... substantial last night. Something a little cakey, perhaps.

I'm sure store-bought dough would work just as well, but it's so simple to make your own. I even have an actual recipe! Of course, this can be made into regular cookies too.

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp butter, softened
- 3 tbsp white sugar
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp beaten egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (approx 2.2 oz if going by weight)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:
- Cream softened butter together with white and brown sugar
- Add in vanilla extract and egg
- Add in dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder), mix well (it will be a thick batter)
- Stir in chocolate chips
- Divide the dough into 2 lightly greased ramekins. You want the dough to fill about 2/3 of the container, as it will rise. If there is extra dough, just make cookies from it, or put into a third ramekin.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes

This is what comes out of the oven. Lightly golden brown, and piping
hot. Now is the time, if you wish, to add a scoop of ice cream on top.

This is a perfect blend of cookie and cake. The center is soft and warm,
while the edges are slightly chewy.

Am I making this dessert again tonight? You betcha!

In memories

I had a spare couple hours yesterday in between jobs, and so decided to head downtown. I've been meaning to visit the 9/11 memorial, but have stayed away until now due to many many conflicting feelings. On one hand, I wanted to honor the people who had died there, over a decade ago now. But then, I was also apprehensive about my own memories of that awful day. I bit the bullet though, and headed into the visitors center to pick up my timed ticket.

Entry is free, but tickets are issued so the place (still under construction) isn't mobbed. Upon entering the visitors center, I was a little flummoxed to see a huge picture of the smoking towers in a 9/11 timeline portrayed prominently next to a veritable mound of souvenirs. Mugs, tshirts, magnets, jewelry... my first thought was... who would buy this stuff???

Looking around me, I was struck by the realization that human memory is so incredibly selective. All the tourists surrounding me were just happy to be on vacation, looking forward to seeing the sights. One girl next to me in line actually squealed, "I am so excited!", almost as if she didn't connect the memorial to the horrific day that it represented.

Security was pretty strict, and everyone had to go through metal detectors before moving on to the gardens. Under the shadow of the still-in-construction Freedom Tower, two huge hollows in the ground represented the 'footprint' of the old towers.

The almost-complete Freedom Tower

The square indentations were ringed with water spouts, so that water streamed down into the ground, almost like buckets of tears. Trees lined the area, creating a quiet oasis in the busy city.

Humongous square 'footprints'

Names of all the victims, etched around the two fountains

It was surprisingly difficult to be there, even though I lived in the exact neighborhood not long ago. I suspect that selective memory will triumph at the end though; as the new tower opens up for business, the memorial will just become part of the hustle and bustle of downtown Manhattan. And perhaps that isn't such a bad thing... for everyone to remember, but also to heal.

Getting warm in the kitchen

As the weather gets warmer, I am starting to make more salads. With no bacon at my disposal, what could I possibly do to make all these vegetables tasty??? Here's what I've been making for some clients...

I'm trying to add at least one seasonal ingredient into most dishes I make.
For this dish, I paired asparagus, which is tender and sweet in the Spring,
with shrimp (also sweet!).  I added some sliced hearts of palm, and served
it with a lemon parsley vinaigrette on the side.

Tuna niçoise salad (although with green garlic olives instead of small
French black niçoise). A tuna steak was seared, and arranged artfully
with the rest of the salad. The dressing, served on the side, was a dijon
shallot vinaigrette. Secret ingredient? A brined anchovy filet that was
blended into the dressing, adding a salty oomph.

I brined this chicken breast for about an hour before pan searing, and
the end result was definitely juicier and tastier than usual. This was
served on top of oven-roasted mushrooms and radishes. Radishes are
in season now, and its peppery bite is mellowed when roasted.

Another frittata (the client keeps asking for them... she must love eggs).
This one was made with chicken, spinach, and oven-roasted tomatoes.

Brussel sprouts are really a winter crop, but I couldn't resist making them
into an untraditional salad. The sprouts are thinly cut and mixed with a
mustard-vinegar dressing, so they almost resemble a slaw. Sliced red
onion and radishes add some more crunch, and I topped it off with sliced
almonds (not shown here) for some nutty flavor. Because brussel sprouts
can come off slightly bitter, I thought seared shrimp would go well with it.