Thai Lunar/Curry Festival

Second time going to Thai Town's New Year's Day Songkran Festival! Actually ate food this time around :P The event is also called Los Angeles Curry Festival, but I did not see any curry at all this time... I'm not sure if the curry comes out/ends at a certain time?

Regardless, it is a very beautiful festival! So much color, food, people-- it is definitely an overload to the senses! Parking is ridiculous, but I guess the gods were somehow pleased with me and allowed me to find a randomly open spot that was literally a walking distance of a minute to the festival! A good start!

So, we start out by walking down the street, scoping out what there is to do. There was a Singha Beer garden full of drunken men watching the kick boxing event right across from them.

Walked past a plethora of beautiful art work such as carved fruit/vegetables, silk flowers and dessert displays. Very intricate works.

Now for the food! Definitely started off well with a nice plate of Mango and Sticky Rice. I have been dying to try this for a well and I was pleasantly surprised at how yummy a simple dish can be! The texture, sweetness, visual were all wonderful! Following this are the BBQ Beef, BBQ

Chicken and Fish Ball Skewers. Yum yum :)

And lastly, I got a "Today's Special" plate that consisted of BBQ Beef, Egg roll, fried rice and stir fry noodles. A.k.a. a plate of happiness. Definitely did some grocery shopping after since the

food at the markets here are so much cheaper than the grocery stores!

Overall, it was a fun event, I just wish there was curry, as the name insinuates. Guess you can't have it all. Happy Thai New Year!

White Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies that need to be guarded...

Before....

The fridge was way crowded and there was pumpkin puree that had to be used. Hence, I decided to make these DELICIOUS white chocolate pumpkin cookies I made last October. The batch yielded 27 cookies. I decided to give them out to friends since I love to share such GOODNESS with good people :)

Just after I pulled out the cookies from the oven, my roommate came home and immediately without asking just grabbed a cookie and ate it! "Ok," I thought, I would've offered her some anyway so whatever. I left to meet up with a friend and came back a few hours later. I noticed three cookies I set aside on a separate plate all disappeared (along with the plate actually). "Oh man, " I thought, "Better wrap these babies up!" So I wrapped 13 cookies in one foil and 3 more for myself.

Next day, I took them to class and they were a hit! Not a single one left over and many compliments came haha. All day, I dreamed about the cookies I set aside for myself in the aluminum foil.

After a long day, I come home, I open the foil expecting to find 3 cookies. Lo' and behold, there was only one! My roommates mooched my cookies from me! Out of the 27 cookies I had only two cookies while between my two roommates they had seven! A very sad day for me. But they're popular.

After....

• Ingredients
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 10 ounces white chocolate pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven 300 F. Grease cookie sheet

2. Mix brown sugar and butter in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla and then stir in pumpkin puree. Combine dry ingredients together and then add to pumpkin mixture. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Spoon cookies onto sheet, leaving 2 in of space in between.

4. Bake for about 20 min and then allow to cool.

There you have it folks! Make sure to hide 'em or eat them before others get to them!

• 
  

Pumpkin Saffron Macarons

Having a can of Pumpkin Puree sitting in my cupboard, I decided to make Pumpkin Saffron Macarons. Having not made macarons in awhile, I went through four attempts until my cookies came out just right! The filling was a cinch to make: pumpkin cream cheese. You can probably use the Pumpkin cream cheese that they sell at Trader Joe's. However, since that is seasonal, you can easily make your own.

I've made and had other flavored macarons before. Not a big fan of the pumpkin cream cheese filling (for macarons), but regardless, it still tastes good. If you're a big fan a cheesecake and pumpkin, then this recipe is for you!

Here is the recipe:

Saffron Macaron

3 egg whites

1/2 tsp saffron

5 Tblsp granulated sugar

2/3 cups almond powder

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1) In a food processor combine saffron, almond powder and powder sugar and quickly grind into smooth powder. Set aside.

2) Make sure egg whites are at room temperature (it will help the eggs meringue properly). Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add granulated sugar into eggs. Continue beating eggs until thick and and glossy. Don't over do it or else the cookies won't bake properly!

3) Pour half of the powder made in 1) into 2). Using spatula, mix powder with meringue, scooping from bottom. Try to do it in few stirs possible. Add rest of powder in and mix as before. Try not to do more than a total of twenty stirs.

4) Preheat oven to 300F~345F depending on how hot the oven is. I would go for the lower heat just to be safe.

5) On a parchment lined baking tray, pipe circular cookies about a 1.5in in diameter. Space apart 2in. Wrap tray a few times. This will help the cookies get the prized feet! Leave out to harden for about 15~30min. You can test by touching the cookie lightly. If it does not stick to your finger, it has hardened enough.

6) Place in oven and cook for about 8~15 min. Make sure to check on them because you don't want them to over cook!

7) Once done, remove from oven and let cool for 10min. Remove from tray. Cookies should be crunchy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese

2oz Cream Cheese at room temperature

2oz Pumpkin Puree

1/8 Ground Cloves

1/8 Ground Cinnamon

1) Mix all ingredients together into a bowl.

2) Pipe cream cheese between 2 equal sized macaron cookies

There you go! You have successfully made Pumpkin Saffron Macarons! Enjoy!

Got My Henna Did

Headed off to Downtown to LA originally to go shopping at the Fashion District, but got side-tracked by Henna!

https://sites.google.com/site/monasbeautyandthreading/

Mona, the owner, is the sweetest thing ever! She did an excellent job on both our brow threading and henna work plus provide good company :)

Currently, the dried out henne (took 10min to dry) is flaking off and leaving a nice orange stain. The scent is also very nice. Go to Mona's for decently priced pampering! You'll get your $'s worth!

Brunch at the Royal/T

Came back! This time with my roomie. The Andy Warhol exhibit was still up, but there was a slight adjustment to the layout. Got the Royal Milk Tea again. Food wise, I ordered the Egg Benedict and the roomie ordered the Brioche French Toast. Decent food, but nothing amazing. Don't think I'll be coming back too soon.

Royal-T Cafe/Maid Cafe

Went to my first maid cafe today at the Royal-T Cafe. i wouldn't say it's as legit as the Japanese Maid cafe, but it'll pass.

http://www.royal-t.org/

The industrial, cement floor building contrasts with the very artsy decorations (not to mention the Andy Warhol exhibit!). It is a feast for the eyes!

Ordered the Royal-T High Tea Set: a brew of Royal-T (black tea steeped in soy milk) with assorted canapes and desserts. The Royal-T was amazing! but the sandwiches could've been a tad bit better. I personally thought the bread was a bit stale. The desserts were pretty good, but I'm a sucker for anything sweet :)

Our waitress/maid was very bubbly and fun to talk to! I get the feeling she may be one of their top servers. There are other waitresses there too, who are Japanese, but their English is very limited so they don't make the best "sociable maid":/ In the end, the service was very good.

Xmas in Japan! 5 Fooooooood love

How can I not have a page dedicated to Japanese food?

This here is a Udon bowl (more specifically a Kake udon) with scallop. Udon is a thick-wheat noodle with a warm soup made from dashi (fish broth), shoyu, and mirin (cooking rice wine). Udon originate from China, coming to Japan via Buddhist priests during the 8th century. It was originally only consumed by the nobility, but surpassed soba in popularity during the Edo period thanks to the production of shoyu. Thank God, it's so good, I would hate not to be able to afford such tastiness :)

Beef Curry after a Mandolin concert at Kitara concert hall (looks very much like Walt Disney concert hall! Apparently Yo-Yo Ma played here once some years ago). I've noticed Japanese people like to take other cultures' food and make it their own (Udon from China, Curry from India, Tempura from Portugal, etc). Curry supposedly came to Japan at the end of the Edo period when the ports re-opened. The first curry recipe was introduced in Japan in 1872. The Japanese were eager to adopt the Western ways including food (the West at the time was consuming curry, which they were exposed to thanks to colonies), but it was super expensive! By 1910, the common curry recipe of rice, onion, carrots, and potatoes was invented. Due to its nutritional value and easiness to make, the Japanese army adopted this recipe. It is one of the most common, popular dishes found in Japan today! You can find curry bread, curry soup, curry udon, curry nato (stinky beans) and much more! That's how much love there is for curry!

Oyako-don or "parent-and-child donburi." (because it's made with chicken and egg... kinda eerie imagery, I know.) Donburi's are sweet or savory stems simmered over a bowl of rice. This dish apparently was shortly invented before the 5th National Exposition that promoted Osaka industries. It's hard to find a delicious oyako-don in Japan, but I discovered this place when I was fourteen and I come here every time I come to Japan! It's in a small restaurant on the top floor of Daimaru. The egg is not over-cooked and neither is the chicken. It also comes with a nice bowl of traditional kake udon (plus a fish cake).

Another donburi, this is Unagi-don or broiled eel. I love the smokey flavors of broiled

(freshwater) eel! You can get cheap unagi, but it's worth cashing out on because good unagi is

simply DIVINE! There are many shops that specialize in selling unagi. This unadon also came

with a salad, a broth in which to put the eel's heart in (heart is on small dish in center).

Sushi at Hakodate! BEST. SUSHI. EVER. Hakodate is an old port that used to be a bigger city than Sapporo. Those days are gone now. But being a port means access to ocean and access to ocean means super fresh fish. Apparently, sushi can be traced back to 4th century BC Southeast Asia. It was more of a preserved fish dish: salted fisht fermented with rice (nare-zushi). This was taken out a few months later and was eaten, the rice discarded. Soon it spread through China and made it's way to Japan in the 8th century AD (Heian Period). The Japanese liked to eat the fish partly raw with the rice (seisei-zushi). During the Edo period, the Japanese started making Haya-zushi, which was a way to eat both rice and fish. Here, rice was combined with vinegar and put together not only with raw fish, but also with vegetable and other preserves. Probably one of the most distinct Japanese dishes out there.

Hamba-gu from Burger chain Bikkuri-Donki! I got the hamba-gu + curry set. No need to go over curry history :) Hamba-bu is the Japanese-take on the Salisbury steak. It is made with a combination of meat (usually a combination of pork and beef), onions, eggs, hamburger spices, and panko (instead of bread crumbs). Usually served with a side of shredded cabbage or salad. No buns with this burger!