Asian Fish Tacos: The great garage shakedown of 2010

For RT, who asked me for these.

I have done three international moves in the past eight and half years.  I haven't lived in the same country for longer than a three year stretch.  The result of that many moves are boxes in the garage that are filled with mysterious objects with no clear idea of their provenance.  It irked me to the point of distraction until finally I convinced Husband that we needed to go through the garage and organize.  Once and for all.

He reluctantly agreed for Husband loathes throwing anything away.  He is convinced that at some future date, something that is in the boxes will become useful and he can shove it into my face and say something like, "I bet you never thought we would have a use for THIS?"  It has yet to happen, but husband lives for the day.  We have begun the tedious process of opening boxes, sorting what is in the box into various piles of KEEP, RECYCLE, GIVE AWAY.  It has been a process filled with potential landmines as my gut instinct is to say, "THROW IT ALL AWAY" and his is  "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"  The current item of contention is a complete set of beautifully bound, deluxe Encyclopedia Britannica...from 1985.  (My gut says RECYCLE, his is SELL.)

The cleanup of the garage has left me very busy and too preoccupied to really cook.  With the garage the explosion it is, my minivan unable to be parked inside, I just want it finished and done with.  I can't think about cooking and if I do cook, it needs to be done really quickly.  But friend RT asked me for a fish taco recipe, and has asking for a bit of time.  So while going through boxes, I thought of different ways to do a fish taco.  As I was looking through a box of husband's books from college, I happened upon a stack of Asian-American novels.  Suddenly like a beam of light shining through the huge mess in the garage it hit me...ASIAN tacos.  Why in the world not!

As I got ready to make them, I started to worry that the dust had completely blocked off all my synapses and I was about to embark on a journey that could only end badly.  REALLY bad.  Really bad fish tacos that is.  However, when I went to ask Husband for help grilling them, he got pretty excited and offered to use his "expert" grilling skills to get my fish tacos to work.  He even allowed me to watch and photograph them as they were cooking.  We even had a momentary truce as we bonded with these fish tacos.

The result was very very good.  I was super pleased with these, and even before Kids got to eat one, husband and I were sharing one outside by the grill.  His face lit up for the first time since the "Great Garage Shakedown of 2010" and it said, "These are good." They are light, satisfying and super easy to make.   I'm hoping that the deliciousness of these tips the scales in my favor as we continue to clean the garage.  Serve these with Ginger Green Rice and you're good to go.

**As an additional note, I did try two different type of fish with these, both on the list of ocean friendly seafood.  I did a mahi-mahi (frozen and then defrosted from Trader Joes) and halibut, also frozen from Trader Joes.  The price different between the two was significant.  The mahi-mahi was about $5 a pound and the halibut was $12.  Both were delicious and satisfying.  Daughters both preferred halibut, as did Husband, but I liked the meaty denseness of the mahi-mahi,  If you have a favorite white fish, go ahead and use it and try these tacos out.

Asian Fish Tacos
Serves 6

Fish
2 lbs of firm white meat fish, your choice.  (I used mahi-mahi and halibut.  Tiliapia would be good as well as some cod) (make sure fish is defrosted if you are using frozen)
2/3 cup of mirin
2/3 cup of soy sauce (I use the Kikoman reduced sodium)
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
3 tablespoons grated ginger

30 minutes before cooking, mix mirin, soy sauce, lime zest and ginger all together.  Pour over fish and allow to sit.  After 30 minutes, remove fish from marinade.

Heat grill to medium high.  Using cooking spray or oil, grease the grill so as to prevent fish from sticking. 
You may want to consider the additional precaution of using a sheet of aluminum foil to keep the fish from sticking. (According to husband, mahi mahi was firm enough to make it on the grill without the foil, but halibut was too delicate and needed the foil)

Cook for 4 minutes on one side and then turn. Careful not to over cook, although the fish taco can be somewhat forgiving of a slightly dry piece of fish.  Cook for an additional 2 minutes until fish is firm and opaque.  Remove from grill.

Asian Slaw
 1/2 head of cabbage, thinly shredded
1 bunch of scallions finely chopped
1/4 cup of mayonaise
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
a good dose of black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and pepper.  Toss together with cabbage and scallions.  Set aside.

Sesame Chili Sauce
1/4 cup Sambal Oelek with garlic (or ground red chilis - available at your chinese market - super HOT)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients together. Set aside.

Assembly
Flour or corn tortillas, warmed over low heat in a fry pan
Cilantro sprigs

In a warm tortilla, add a nice chunk of fish.  Top with the slaw, cilantro sprig and a few sprinkles of sesame chili sauce.  Eat and enjoy!

Printable recipe

this is not a good price if you have a Chinese supermarket at your disposal, but just a picture of what I like to use.

Ginger Green Rice: Rice without a rice cooker

For JEL, who makes it whenever I want

I'm addicted to my rice cooker.  It's almost always plugged in with some rice in it.  Part of it has to do with Son's allergies, because he can eat rice, and I tend to give him most meals based on rice.  The other reason is far more self-serving - rice in the rice cooker means that any given meal is only a few steps away.  Sometimes on really busy days, rice with a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce on top can be dinner.  (some people like to throw a raw egg on top of it, but I prefer frying an egg.)  Other days I'll boil some barley tea, dump some rice in it, and serve it with a fried egg and some vegetables and call it dinner.  It's simple but satisfying.  This is why I love my cooker.

But friend JEL makes this rice dish she calls green rice, and it's not made in a rice cooker.  I remember the first time I ate it I was in love.  The flavors of cilantro and the hint of lime came through making for a very delicious bite.  For a while after that, I would ask her to make it and she would oblige.  Recently I had the opportunity to watch her make it - and it wasn't done in a rice cooker!  I was stunned.  Rice without a rice cooker?  It was simple to make without the rice cooker and I could feel the world I knew crumbling beneath me.  Rice can be cooked without a rice cooker!

Of course my amazement at rice without a rice cooker is misplaced - in the old days, I have a vague recollection of my mom accidentally scorching rice as she cooked it on the stove top.  (this is why a rice cooker is great.)  Many other cultures eat rice and are completely not reliant on a specialized cooker, but in my own life, rice is cooked in the cooker.

I adapted JEL's recipe to have more Asian notes in it.  I added some ginger to the mix and used a Thai jasmine rice.  The results were satisfying, and screech causing as Husband kept on trying to scoop little spoonfuls off of son's plate only to have Son screech, "NO DADDY" over and over.  (I reprimanded Husband with a look that said, "Go and get your own rice.")  Daughters loved it and it was a perfect compliment to Asian Fish Tacos. And...I didn't cook it in a rice cooker.

Ginger Green Rice
Serves 6 to 8

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, cut into a 1/4 inch dice
4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
1 1/2 cups of long grain rice (I used Thai jasmine rice, but any long grain will be fine)
2 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1/2 cup of finely chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons of finely grated ginger
Juice from one lime
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot over medium heat.  Add oil and onion.  Cook until onion is translucent, about 7 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Add rice and stir to coat.  Add stock and bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender.

Remove rice from heat and add cilantro, ginger, lime juice and fluff with a fork, gently folding all the ingredients together.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve hot.

Printable recipe

The rice cooker that keeps me company in my kitchen.  It speaks a bit of Korean to me as well, which is always reassuring.  (buttons are in English however)

Korean Braised Short Ribs (Kalbi Jjim 갈비찜): Taking advantage of the interrupted life

The other day I locked myself out of our online banking system.  I was sitting there and entering a series of required passwords and suddenly blanked on one.  Couldn't remember it.  I started typing in standard passwords, only to have the account lock me out after five unsuccessful tries.  This is a banking system that I've used for more than nine years and suddenly I couldn't remember one of the passwords in the series.  I stared blankly at the screen for a moment, and then BAM - it hit me.  I remembered it, only it was too late and I was already locked out.  I was forced to leave Husband a post-it explaining my misdeed and asking him to call the bank directly and fix it.

The next morning, I gingerly asked him if he had called the bank and he told me that he had.  Then he looked at my strangely, peering at me over the tops of his glasses and said, "What happened?"

"I just blanked and couldn't remember," I said shrugging my shoulders.

Peering again over the tops of his glasses, he asked, "Do you know it now?"

I was forced to admit that I remembered it right after I had locked myself out.  He just shook his head and went back to work and I started thinking about why I would forget such a thing.

I realized that mothers no longer have the luxury of thinking without interruption.  Conversations are interrupted, bathroom breaks are invaded by children (mine like to watch me for some reason), books are never finished and the day is never one straight line.  It is a series of broken lines, sometimes making it to their destination and sometimes not.  I would have remembered the password if I had been interrupted in between the series of them, but the sheer shock of having a few moments of uninterrupted time during the day to do this knocked the password right out of my head.  Nowadays I survive on interruption.  I've essentially become my own worst nightmare - I have the attention span equivalent of a five year old child divided by three children.

Cooking with a short attention span becomes more dangerous, because I do things like burn garlic when Istep away from the stove to answer a quick-turned-long question from Daughter, or I forget to flip things over and things only end of half cooked.  I go to the refrigerator to get something only to stare into it not knowing why I went there.  I'll shut it and turn around and it will only be minutes later that Ill remember what it was I wanted in the first place.  I've ruined sauces by overcooking them to the point of reducing them to their most basic carbon forms, and I've forgotten to season many things.  Cooking without focus and attention can lead to plates of somewhat inedible food.

But there are some dishes that are slightly more forgiving, and possibly even accepting of the scatterbrainedness that comes from being a mom with more than one's share of children.  As long as you have a timer that will ring to remind you of something, you're good to go.  This Korean braised beef dish is one of them.  There are a few steps, but you can step away between any of the steps and even if you forget to come back RIGHT on time, you'll be okay for the most part.  I made it today in between talking to Best Friend on the phone, cleaning the garage with Husband, and planning a trip to Southern California to see my parents.  No mishaps, no burnt anything.  Just a yummy dish of braised short ribs which go great with Bokchoy Salad, Green Bean Bits, Asparagus Bits or Ginger Slaw.

Korean Braised Short Ribs (Kalbi Jjim 갈비찜)
Serves 4-6 people (my family being the sauce lovers they are, this version makes a lot of sauce.)

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs of short ribs (if you buy them from a US supermarket, you may have to ask them to cut the bones in half - so instead of a long 2 inch by 4 inch piece, you actually have a 2 inch square)
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup sake
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
2 carrots, cut into 2 inch chunks
1 potato cut into 2 inch chunks
1 large onion, cut into chunks

Preparation
The preparation of the beef is the most important. First - drain the blood by soaking it in cold water. Dump all your beef, bones and all into a large pot and cover with plenty of cold water. Let the beef sit in the water, about 45 minutes or up to an hour.

Drain water.  The meat color will have become a somewhat muted red.

After draining, slice into the beef across the grain - essentially breaking the top of the meat, the chunkiest part into smaller pieces still attached to the bone. This allows for maximum soakage of the marinade and the sauce and maximizes tendering of the beef.

 Each piece should look something like this.

Cooking 1st round

Put all the sliced, soaked meat into a pot and cover with clean water. Bring the beef and the water to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 45 minutes. The boiling liquid will be brown, foamy and ugly.

After drain all the beef and WASH OFF all of the foam and dirty bits. Rinse well under cool water until you have "clean" pieces of cooked beef.  (You can break up the work and do this the first day, and then do the 2nd round of cooking the following day.  Simply cool meat, then cover and refrigerate until needed.)

Cooking 2nd round
In a clean pot (or the pot you used before but make sure it's clean) add the following
1 cup sugar
1 cup soy
1 cup water
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup sake
8 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
 Heat over medium heat until simmering.  

Add all of your beef to the simmering liquid.Cook over medium low heat - turning often and allowing different pieces of the beef to soak and cook in the liquid. Cook for 40 minutes or until the beef is tender.

Add  onion, carrots and potato.

Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are fully cooked, about 15 more minutes.

Printable recipe

 For presentation, you can finish the dish with a bit of egg garnish.

 I am hoping that I can eat this piece without being interrupted.

I

Tomato Chicken Vegetable Soup: Before it gets too warm

The Bay Area has suddenly been blessed with some beautifully gorgeous weather - the one that makes it hard to ever leave this area.  Suddenly it's all blue skies, very little breeze, warm sun and just the gorgeous smell of spring in the air.  This coincides with Daughters trying to put on tank tops and shorts (not warm enough for THAT) and forgoing socks for sandals.  But somehow the warmth of the sun brings cheerier smiles all around and people in general, just seem happier.  I know that now that I have my dose of vitamin D I feel much more vibrant, alive and willing to enjoy the life in front of me.  Somehow when things are grey and gloomy in the weather, it colors my mood as well.

I made the soup on a day when things were grey and gloomy, so I could brighten my mood and warm my stomach.  It was also a convenient way to use up leftover Costco rotisserie chicken, which I buy practically every other week.  It was one of those soups that EVERYONE in the family can eat and that also had great appeal.  Son happens to love cooked carrots and celery so this turned out to be one of his favorites.

Unlike Not Your Momma's Chicken Soup, this soup only has one boiling and cooking step, which means it is faster and easier.  I happened to have a lot of chicken meat on my rotisserie chicken this time, so I turned a good chunk of the meat into the Apricot Curried Chicken Salad, and left the bones and bits of meat for this one.  Before it gets TOO warm and you're no longer thinking about warming soups, make this one.

Tomato Chicken Vegetable Soup
Serves 6-8

3 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch rounds
3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
1 onion diced
4 cloves of garlic, smashed with the back of a knife
1 leftover Costco rotisserie chicken, a lot of the meat removed
2 quarts of chicken stock
1 14.5 oz can of tomatoes (I used diced, which I ended up pureeing.  If you like a chunkier soup you can keep them whole, but my kids don't like whole cooked tomatoes.)
1 cup of fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
Salt and pepper

In a large pot over, add two tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic cloves, and cook for 5 minutes.  Add chicken stock, leftover rotisserie chicken and tomato puree.  Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and keep simmering for 20 minutes.  Remove chicken and set aside to cool a bit.  Remove soup from heat.  When chicken is cool enough to touch, remove remaining meat from bones and add to soup.  Heat soup up again (if necessary) and add basil leaves.  Add salt and pepper if needed.  Serve.

Printable recipe

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip: Like a compound word

Do you remember learning about compound words when you were in school?  Why do we have the word "dog house?"  It's a combination of dog and house.  Why do we have the word hairspray?  It's a spray for your hair.  Why do we have the word dishwasher?  It's a washer for the dishes.

The Hot Artichoke Dip I've posted before is one of my FAVORITE things to make.  I love it for its ease, its simplicity, and the ooey-gooeyness of cheese when it gets spread on a cracker. I also really like the Spinach Dip as it is easy to make but wonderful with a plate of crudites.  So when my sister-in-law casually mentioned that she wanted one or the other of the dips, or possibly a combination of them, I decided that I WOULD just combine them and make a compound dip.  It was all that I had expected, garlicky, gooey, spinach-y, and yummy.  What more could you want?

Serve with crackers or crusty pieces of bread.

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip
serves 10-12

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cups grated/shredded parmesean cheese
1 1/4 cup mayonnaise
10 oz box frozen spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dried
1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
8 cloves of garlic, finely minced or crushed
1 jalapeno, seeds and all finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Scoop out the entire contents and place in an 8X8 oven proof dish.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until top is golden and all is bubbly.  Alternatively, scoop dip into little ramekins and bake, so as to keep the dip piping hot.  You just need to keep on refilling the ramekins and continually baking them.  (I like to do it in a toaster oven.)

Printable recipe

Need some bread or crackers for this...

Birthday Dinner Menu: Celebrating with Family

For UY and JY, Happy Birthday!

I love an opportunity to cook a nice meal with a friendly audience of eaters.  While living in Hong Kong and Seoul, away from family, most special occasions of cooking required us to invite many of husband's co-workers and friends, so the meals were somewhat large.  Since moving back, I am able to have nice dinners for just some extended family.  Husband's sister lives closeby, so our two families try and meet and have a nice dinner any occasion possible.  Today was two birthdays - niece and sister in law, and so it was another opportunity to have a meal together.

Funny thing is that sister in law is not a "mains" person - meaning she likes to eat sides, but the main course isn't that important.  I always give the privilege of the birthday person to ask what they'd like to eat and sister-in-law a year ago, gave me a crazy list of dishes that did not go together.  Sweet potato casserole, eggplant pasta, macaroni and cheese, and artichoke dip, finished with sweet potato pie.  I asked her if she wanted, along with her dinner, a side dish of indigestion.  She firmly stated that she didn't want a main course and that just all these sides were fine.  I turned her down saying, "I can't cook a meal that doesn't go together!"  I made a couple of things on her list but not all.

This year, I asked her what she wanted and she said, "You know me, I just want some sides and some appetizers."  I thought for a moment and said, "Potato salad?" and she said, "YES!"  I built an entire dinner around potato salad.  After taking into account the kids' and other adult tastes as well I came up with the following menu.

Appetizer
Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip (recipe soon)

Main (cut and prepared ribs the night before.  Sauce prepared day of)
Ultimate BBQ ribs

Sides (prepared potato salad and slaw the night before)
Potato Salad
Ginger Slaw
Macaroni and Cheese

Korean (since Son can't eat the regular meal - and all adults like to finish their meals with a touch of Korean.)
Kimchee
Meeyuk Gook (the original birthday soup)
Rice

Dessert
Vanilla Bean Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting (still working on this - but a cupcake version is available)

Korean-Style Roasted Fish: Because my family loves it

I am actually a wimp when it comes to food.  From a long time ago, I have not been a fan of foods that can look me in the eye.  I don't like foods that come to the table in its most organic shape.  I prefer ones that have been prepared in such a way that I'm not visually sure from whence it came.  (I of course actually KNOW, but I don't always want to be reminded.)  While living in Hong Kong, I was often bombarded with foods that came to the table looking straight at me, and I would quickly lose my appetite and not eat.  (Peking Duck often came to the table with the duck head right on the plate staring me down.) In contrast, Husband is a champion eater, often being referred as to having a "missionary's stomach" meaning he can go anywhere and eat anything and be fine.  He truly is.  While we were in Mongolia on missions, in a one week trip I lost 6 lbs and he gained 6 eating all the food I couldn't eat.

One would think being married to a champion non-squeamish eater would rub off on me and change my ways.  Something did change me but it wasn't really Husband's influence.   It is Daughters #1 and #2 and Son's influence that has changed me.  I always strive to set a good example in front of them so foods that would normally send me running under the table, for children's sake I grin and bear it and even eat it.  I think my attitude has helped, because Daughters and Son eat it ALL.  One of their favorite things to eat is whole fish, which is also incidentally one of Husband's favorites as well.  Paternal Grandma buys it in these handy pre-packaged, pre-seasoned packages and all it requires from me is a quick slice across the body, a rub of sesame oil and a roast in the oven.  The family devours it.  It is clamors of FISH FISH FISH all around the table, while Mommy sits quietly alone eating her dinner, trying not to look the fish directly in the eye.  Tonight I cooked two and Husband sniffed at me across the table saying, "The kids ate it all and I got none."

In Korea, this fish is sold frozen and salted, roped together.  The package that I get here tries to copy this look, but I find this package much more appealing because the fish smell is contained.  The package indicates that this fish is from Jeju Island in Korea and it is the bigger of these Yellow Corvina.

I am including only the simplest of recipes, because this is one of those things that just taste great simple.  You don't need to fuss over it, it practically cooks itself and the family, if they are like mine will gobble it up.  Even me, the most squeamish of eaters, if husband portions off a piece I will enjoy it.

Roasted Yellow Corvina (굴비)

1 or 2 or 3 Yellow Corvina, which have been salted
2-3 teaspoons sesame oil

Preheat oven to broil.  Set oven rack as close to heat as possible.  Line a cookie sheet with foil.  With a knife, make two or three slashes into the meatiest part of the fish. Drizzle and rub sesame oil into the top of the fish and into the slash marks.  This simple step will ensure that you get crispy skin and delicious flaky white fish meat.

Roast fish in the oven, about 10 - 12 minutes, until it the skin is crisp and golden brown.

Serve.

Apricot Curry Chicken Salad: What we do for friends

A couple of weeks ago, friend JEL was in charge of church snacks.  She decided in an impromptu moment to do a curried chicken salad. (Her version is very similar to mine.)  I offered to help her, as making chicken salad for 50 people sounded like it would be a big job.  She accepted my help but told me that if I couldn't help, it wasn't a big deal.

The Saturday before church, I showed up at her house ready to help in anyway possible.  What I ended up doing was chopping celery, red onions, apples, cilantro and shredding chicken (six large rotisserie chickens from Costco).  Preparing the salad took much longer than we had anticipated, even with two very fast cooks in the kitchen.  JEL kept muttering under her breath, "I can't believe it is taking this long."  The difference between making a chicken salad with one rotisserie chicken and six chickens, is a couple of hours.

After all that chicken salad, and eating it the next day, I sort of wanted to back away from chicken salads. However, I opened the fridge today only to see the rotisserie chicken I had bought the day before.  I leaned towards making a soup, but there was just too much delicious meat on the chicken so I decided to make a chicken salad.  A different one.  I stared into my pantry for a bit, trying to figure out how to make it different, and then remembered seeing in Gale Gand's book Brunch, a chicken salad where she put in some dried apricots.  I decided to play around with that a bit and came up with a curried chicken salad with some apricots in it.  It was really yummy, especially on top of some crackers.

Curried Chicken Salad with Apricots
serves 4-6

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces (I use a mix of dark and white meat off of a Costco rotisserie chicken)
1/2 cup of celery, chopped
1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup of apricots, cut into thin slivers
3 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 cup of mayonnaise (you may need a 3/4 cup if you like it creamier)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds, optional

In a large bowl gently mix all the ingredients together.  Season with salt and pepper if necessary.  Cover and chill for 30 minutes.  Serve either on crackers or as a sandwich.

Printable recipe

Curried Chicken Apricot Salad with avocados on a soft roll

A great book, and the one that inspired me with the apricots.

Oatmeal Carmelitas: Trying to live like a 20-something again

For the Tahoe group...EK, GC, CY, CJR, LR, JEL, HJL, SWC, PDC - anyone for some more?

When it was decided that a group would go up to Tahoe for a three day weekend, I was excited.  After all, what could be more fun than hanging in a huge house with your closest friends and family?  It was particularly exciting for me as we had decided that we would be cooking, staying in the huge house, and just mostly playing and spending time with one another.  In the 15 plus years that the group has known one another, marriage and children have dramatically changed how we hang out.  No longer are we able to stay up late and forget about sleep as now our children need to go to bed and need to go home.  We aren't allowed to do things on a whim, as often times managing the children becomes a hurdle that is sometimes to hard too climb over.

This trip helped smooth those issues out as we stayed all together under one roof. We stayed up far too late laughing and playing Settlers of Catan together, as the kids were already tucked in bed upstairs.  We laughed late at night, without worrying about getting home on time, as we just rolled into the beds at the house.  We ate together, many meals and just giggled around the table and didn't have to worry about affecting our kids, as they were already fed and playing on their own in the next room.   It was such a fabulous weekend and although I ended up incredibly sleep deprived, the opportunity to play as a young person again was wonderful.  I'm still paying for it now, as the sleep deficit has completely caught up to me, but it is no matter.  The time spent together, laughing until my gut split open was well worth it.

I made these Oatmeal Carmelitas specifically for this trip.  I saw the recipe a few weeks back and thought that I would save this special bar for a special occasion - our group Tahoe trip.  I wanted to make it for those people closest to me, as we retreated away from our daily life and acted like young twenty somethings again.  They are completely yummy, fairly easy to make, and special enough to share.  

There are lots of versions of this type of cookie, but I was excited by the ones at Dana Treat because the recipe didn't used evaporated skim milk or prepackaged caramels.  Instead she made the sticky gooey filling with a mixture of cream and honey, which I thought was a stroke of genius.   These hold up well and are great when you take them on trips away from your regular life.

Oatmeal Carmelitas (from Dana Treat)
adapted from With Love & Butter

makes 36 bars

1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups flour
2 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned)
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1½ cups chocolate chips
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup honey
½ cup cream

Preheat oven to 375° with the rack in the center position.  Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer.  Add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt and combine. Set aside 1/3 of the dough.  Press the remaining dough evenly into the buttered baking pan.  Bake for 10-15 minutes.  The crust should be barely brown.  Leave the oven on. Scatter the chocolate chips and walnuts over the hot crust. 

Now blob the reserved dough as evenly as you can on top of the chocolate and nuts.

Combine the honey and cream.  Heat in the microwave or on the stove until hot but not boiling.

Pour the honey cream sauce over the dough and bake 15 to 20 minutes.  The bars will be done when they turn a uniformly rich golden color.  Cool and cut.

Printable recipe

Perfect treat with a cup of hot coffee, after you've been outside in the snow.

Menu ideas for weekends away: Becoming my parents

For the old school Mammoth Crew (EC, EC, SH, JH, CS, MS, JS, JS)

Growing up, our closest family friends were the children whose fathers went to the same medical school as my father.  We all went to the same church, same high school, and lived within a 15 mile radius of one another.  With this core of 4 families, we would take off to the mountains (usually Mammoth Mountain by car) every Christmas, spring break and sometimes even Presidents' weekend (when you used to get a separate day for President Washington and another one for President Lincoln).  We'd usually stay two families per condo, kids all jammed up in one room and the parents in their own room.  It was pure fun, lots of laughs, and something that we looked forward to every year.

Our moms would plan food, pack food, take it up and we would never eat out.  We only ate out at lunch if we were on the mountain but the rest of the meals were consumed at the condo.  What this meant was that after a day of skiing the moms would come back and whip up a delicious meal and we would chow down.  We always had a delicious dinner and we never went hungry.  Our moms always planned well and prepared it so that we could always have everything we needed at the condo. There was always kimchee, marinated meats, a rice cooker, rice and Korean staples.  We never went to the grocery store and we always brought everything up ourselves.  I have a clear recollection of my father trying to ram everything into the car (before minivans were popular) and muttering that we'd better eat through everything or he'd leave it up on the mountain.  (This from the man who ABSOLUTELY has to have kimchee.)

Over the past weekend I felt myself channeling my mother.  10 adults and 7 children decided to make the trip up to Lake Tahoe to experience some snow, hang out together and eat together.  Friends JEL, CJR, and I planned a menu and we brought up every single bit of food in our car.  I marinated about 30 lbs of meat, bought 60 eggs, two gallons of milk and the list goes on.  The goal was to have everything we needed to eat well and not have to go to the supermarket.  We planned a menu, created grocery lists, divided up the work and brought up food for 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 3 dinners.  

We ended up eating almost everything and having a blast.  I laughed harder than I have in a long long time and fell off my chair on more than a few occasions.  I did end up with a black eye, compliments of a snow fight, but aside from that, it was wonderful.  The food preparation actually wasn't that hard, so I thought I'd share our menu ideas and that way people can plan and get away in the near and immediate future.  At the end, I felt proud of a job well done, and wondered if my own mom felt the same way when we were young.
Breakfast Ideas

Menu #1
Bagels with cream cheese
Fruit

Menu #2
Scrambled eggs
Sausages
Home fries
Fresh fruit

Lunch Ideas

Menu #1
Asian Sandwiches (marinated meats leftover from dinner)
Hot Artichoke Dip

Menu #2
Kimchee Fried Rice with Spam, topped with a fried egg


Dinner Ideas

Menu #1
Pasta with Tomato Sauce and Sausages
Green Salad

Menu #2
Korean BBQ Flank Steak (cooked on the grill)
Ginger Soy Chicken (cooked on the grill)
Garlic Broccoli
Kimchee Chigae
Steamed Rice

Menu #3
Roll your own sushi with fillings:
     Spam (lightly cooked in sesame oil)
     Fried Egg
     Cucumber
     Radish Sprouts
     Avocado
     Tobiko
Kimchee Quesadilla

Sweet Treats and Fabulous Extras


Oatmeal Carmelitas
Chewy Crispy Oatmeal Toffee Chip Cookies
Cranberry Oatmeal Toffee Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pecan Rolo Pretzels  (these can actually be made at the location - easy ingredients and easy prep.)

Perfect after being in the snow - hot chocolate and oatmeal carmelitas

Coffee-Break Muffins: Lost in translation

For YK and RB, whose translations inspired me to make these

A few weeks back, I hosted my small group at my house.  We had eaten our dinner of Pork Bossam, and the women gathered around my kitchen table for some sharing, prayer and coffee cake.  I poured coffee for the women and asked the women to dig into the cake, which most did willingly.  I quickly noticed that RB was not taking any coffee and I said, "Why aren't you drinking any coffee?"

She responded, "Because I won't sleep."

I reassured her, "Oh.  This coffee is decaf.  Almost always coffee in my house is decaf because I can't sleep either."

"Then I'll definitely have some," she said with an eager smile.

As the women ate up the cake, I ordered RB, "Hey have some cake!"

"Oh, I don't want to eat that.  Coffee is enough," she replied.

"Come on.  The cake tastes GREAT with the coffee," I said.  (I generally don't like it when people refuse my food.)

"Oh, but then I really won't sleep because of the coffee in that cake," she said.

I was speechless for a moment, and then YK interjected, "Yes, don't eat the cake because of the coffee.  You won't sleep."

The rest of the table started giggling hysterically and I said, "There is no coffee in coffee cake."

Both RB and YK looked at us confused and said, "Then why is it called coffee cake?"

Keep in mind that both RB and YK speak Korean fluently and English very well.  So there was something sort of lost in translation which is why they had always assumed the coffee cake had coffee in them.

Which is why, when I saw the recipe for these muffins in Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, I knew I had to make them, if only to take them to small group, pass them around and say, "Now these do have coffee in them."

I made mine decaf, so that my caffeine-fearing friends would eat them fearlessly. (I fear caffeine after noon most days.)  They were not that sweet, slightly mocha and the texture was really moist and squishy.  My small group enjoyed them and most found themselves eating more than they had intended.

Coffee-Break Muffins (From Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)
Makes 12 regular muffins or 24 mini muffins.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso (I did not put this in)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400.  Line or grease muffin pan (either 12 regular or 24 mini.)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar espresso powder, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Stir in the brown sugar, making sure to get rid of lumps.

In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the coffee, melted butter, egg and vanilla extract until well combined.  Pour liquid ingredients over dry ingredients, and gently and quickly blend.  A few lumps are okay as over mixing will make the muffins tough.  Divide the batter into the muffin cups.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing muffins from its mold.

Printable recipe

 Make these with or without caffeine

Spinach Salad with Caramelized Onions, Candied Walnuts and Feta: Trying to be an adult in a kids' world

For the moms that want to eat for themselves and not for others.

As a mom of three small children, I often find myself cooking the foods that I know will most please my children.  I tend to travel on the path of least resistance, meaning I cook the dishes I know my kids will like as long as they are nutritionally balanced and offer some variety.  There are many times I see a recipe and think, "Oh, but the kids won't like it" and so I won't cook it, because no one likes cooking something that the family rejects, and no one likes cooking more than necessary.  If there is a sure-fire meal, then that's what gets banged out in the kitchen.

But I had in mind and in belly, a craving for a delicious salad.  I wanted something complex, delicious, and perhaps not likable by the kids. But I decided that it was okay to go ahead and make something that potentially only I would enjoy.  While the kids were at school, I threw together this salad, and it was so yummy, I couldn't stop eating it.  I may have eaten two person's portion instead of a single portion.  But it was no matter, because it tasted so yummy and I thoroughly enjoyed eating something for myself.

Interestingly enough, Daughters #1 and #2 came around and stared into my beautiful salad bowl and started clamoring, "Hey, I want a piece of feta cheese" and "Oooh, can I have a candied walnut" and before I knew it, both Daughters were eating the salad too.

Which just goes to show you (and me), I should never assume what will be eaten by my family. Note taken, and so more adventurous cooking ahead for me.

Spinach Salad with Caramelized Onions, Candied Walnuts and Feta
Serves 10

Caramelized onions
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds red onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Candied walnuts
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
Large pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups walnut halves

Salad
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
10 oz of baby spinach
10 oz of feta cheese, crumbled or cut into cubes

For caramelized onions
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions. Sauté until golden, about 18 minutes. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with vinegar; stir to blend. Season with salt and pepper.

For candied walnuts
Combine first 4 ingredients in another heavy large skillet. Bring to boil, whisking. Boil 1 minute. Add walnuts; stir. Toss until syrup forms glaze on nuts, about 3 minutes. Transfer nuts to sheet of foil and quickly separate nuts with forks. Cool. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Final Assembly
Whisk oil and vinegar in small bowl. Season dressing with salt and pepper.
Place spinach in very large bowl. Drop in onions, tossing to distribute evenly. Add nuts and feta. Toss with enough dressing to coat lightly.

Printable recipe

A perfect bite - sweet, salty, with some spinach