[*Preface: I hate writing curry recipes cause I do most things on the fly and don't bother with measuring in cooking. I'm a terrible person, I know. I take no responsibility for the outcome of this recipe by anyone who attempts it.]

Anyway, onto the guidelines recipe!

Ingredients
1/2 bottle of tomato basil pasta sauce of choice
4-5 potatoes
2-3 chicken drumsticks (optional)
1/2 bag of baby carrots (or equivalent)
1 whole medium yellow onion
olive oil

Base* [see note above]
cumin powder
curry powder
chili oil
white pepper
rice vinegar (or sushi-su)
ponzu
sriracha

Instructions
Marinade chicken in salt, rice vinegar, lemon, and onion for at least 30 min. Set aside.
Shave and chop potatoes, onion, and carrots.
Heat up olive oil, salt, and all powdered seasonings in a large pot until it becomes paste-like.
Sear chicken in paste if using.
Add garlic, onions, potatoes and carrots and stir until fully coated.
Add tomato sauce as desired. Cook down, and add any remaining dry powders as necessary to taste.
Add water, let simmer 20 mins at low heat until potatoes are cooked through, stirring occasionally.
Let sit for a few minutes after turning off heat.
Serve with rice or bread. Garnish with furikake and/or green onions.

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The household I grew up in… Was dinky, disgusting, and utterly etched in my memories forever. Dreamt about it the other day, in fact.

When I was a child I wanted to be… a comedian, cause I liked making people laugh.

You wouldn’t know it but I am very good at… Guessing the word that people want to say before they even say it. It was how I taught myself to listen to others.

You may not know it but I’m no good at… Both accepting praise and admitting failure. What a cruel joke!

At night I dream of… Epic stories/past lives/utter nonsense

I wish I had never worn… My andro-gothy-emo phase. Oh good lord, I should never try pulling off striped fingerless gloves and cut off Dickies ever again.

What I see when I look in the mirror… Someone willing to look back.

My favourite item of clothing… A comfy cardigan. I’m totally channeling the fashion preferences of an octogenarian.

My favourite work of art… The sky. I think it is an ever changing, ever present canvas for the imagination.

My favorite building… The chapel at St Mary’s College where I spent one summer being an RA. It was like being encapsulated in a warmth I never felt before.

A book that changed me… “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. I never thought becoming passionate about my dream could be a way of life, nor did I know that I had such a strong sense of spirituality.

Movie heaven… Kiki’s Deliver Service. There’s something quite magical about that movie (no pun intended!) every time I watch it.

The last album I bought… Actually just a few songs from an album by a small, local indie band called “Geographer”

My greatest regret… Living the way I have allowed myself to up to this point, which sounds negative but it is something I must come to accept.

My secret crush… (It’s not really such a big secret) Miyavi

My real-life villain… Fundamentalists – of every sort.

The last time I cried… Over winter break, when I learned so much about my dad and myself in such a short amout of time.

My five-year plan… To become a competent educator-researcher-community leader

My life in six words… Happiness, at last, for the first time.

I had apples, tomatoes, and pork chops and wondered how to put them all together. I’m not particularly fond of apple sauce and pork chops, so when I found this recipe, I decided to make a variation of it with what I had on hand. It turned out surprisingly well, though next time I’m leaving out the hot sesame oil. Turns out it makes it more savory than I would have liked but still tasty all the same. The mix of sweet from the apple and sugar, the sour from the tomato and vinegar, and heat from the pepper really make it a dish refreshingly light on the palette with just a bit of spice.

Ingredients:
Half a pack of angel hair pasta (or any other noodle-like pasta)
2 tomatoes, diced
1 Fuji apple, thinly sliced
2 lean pork chops
1/2 chopped onion
1 stalk of green onion
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of chicken stock
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch

Directions:
-Thinly slice pork chops, then marinate them in salt, soy sauce, white pepper, corn starch, and a dash of rice vinegar. Set aside.
-Set a large pot of water on high heat and add pasta when boiling. Add salt as needed. Rinse and set aside when firm.
-In a large pan or wok, put a tablespoon of oil to coat the pan on medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onions. Allow the onions to cook a bit before adding the apples and tomatoes.
-Next add the marinated pork chops and stir till everything is evenly coated and starting to brown. Add a dash of rice vinegar and sugar at this point for a sweet-sour flavor.
-After the meat has browned, add the chicken stock and turn to medium head. Put the lid on and let it cook for 5-7 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
-Once the mixture has reduced a bit, stir in the pasta until it is completely coated. Add the black pepper and cayenne pepper at this time. Lightly cook for a minute or so more.
-Garnish with chopped green onions (optional)
-Enjoy!

The “jong”  is made up of sticky rice, fatty and skinny pork marinated in 5 spice, salty eggs (the ones soaked in brine), and a variety of nuts, all wrapped in what I believe to be a banana or palm leaf (origin to be verified) and boiled for several hours until perfection. The variety of food used varies by region and family preference, such as different nuts, beans, or meats. There is also a sweet version that I’m honestly not fond of (but is still delicious).

The best part about it is that it saves on having to cook any meals during the hot summer months. Since it hales back to southern China, where summers are known to be hot and humid, it’s a very region-practical food. It’s also a veritable microwave dinner in a leaf, only better, more durable.  They can also be frozen to save for those mid-winter cravings for some sticky rice goodness!

The tradition of making jong lives on through the people who continue to make them, like my mother, who diligently wash the leaves, marinate the meat, and soak the rice every summer. It only lives on through the women who take on the task (cause it’s apparently a woman thing. Men supposedly don’t make them. I could be lying, of course).

As a young kid, I remembered that just as school was letting out for the holidays, my mom would start making jong. Of course, like all traditions that require manual labor, so my siblings and I were roped into helping out. While they managed to slither out of the task, as the youngest, I would inevitably end up doing what my mom asked by default. In the beginning, she would wrap and I simply watched. My mom would fold a simple leaf, add a few spoonfuls of rice, put a piece of meat here, a few beans there, and with a twist of the wrist, BAM! a fully wrapped jong. Soon, she encouraged me to make my own. Of course, my first attempts were terrible. Hers were a perfect twisted triangle shape with sharp corners with just the right amount of rice and stuffing, while I would somehow manage to squeeze a corner too hard for fear of spilling things all over the floor (which inevitably happened at one point), or making it too long or too small. For my failed attempts, my mom would simply take the mangled mess from my hands, add an extra leaf, give it a few pats, and it was back to normal. I quietly wondered to myself what was the point of ever learning how to make jong outside eating the final product. None of my friends had to, nor did my siblings, who got to eat them WITHOUT making them. I thought it was unfair and obsolete for a kid like me.

These days, I’m the only one who still helps make jong with my mom. It’s a lot of work and is rather time consuming, but I feel it has brought me closer to the life and traditions my mother grew up with, hearing about her days as a child making them herself with my grandma in the countryside of Canton. In her own way, my mom has slowly but surely passed the torch down to me.  This year, as my mom put all the ones I made into the huge pot to boil, I heard her say as she laughed to herself , “Oh, these look better than mine now!” I suppose all those summers spent sitting in the kitchen with her weren’t so unfair after all.

More info: Here, with beautiful pictures and wikipedia’s version

Now, enough update, onto a recipe already!

For the first time in my life, I baked cookies from scratch. Not the store bought mixed package that you just stick in the oven, but one that requires an actual hand mixer and measuring cups and whatnot. I wanted to try a super special secret awesome chocolate chip cookie recipe from my alma mater I acquired through super special secret methods, but alas, having to convert the recipe from 200 cookies to 24 would take some doing, so opted for the “Best Chocolate Chip Cookies” recipe from Allrecipe.com instead.

While I stuck mostly to the recipe, I did make one specific change. Since my mom can’t have a lot of real sugar for medical reasons, I traded out the 1 cup sugar with a 1/2 cup of Splenda alternative (half Splenda, half sugar, not as disgusting as all Splenda). I’ll be the first to admit it’s not the most SUGAR-FREE cookies ever (in fact, they’re not), but it’s a start.

The cookies themselves came out a nice and fluffy, and not quite the rough texture some people like, but again, they were quite a hit with my family who claim they’re the most addictive cookies they’ve ever had. That or we’re just fat asses.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

Ingredients
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 cup Splenda/sugar mix
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons hot water
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1 cup chopped walnuts (I excluded the walnuts cause I didn’t have them)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. (I used nonstick, and found they worked great)
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

So I made this with a pie pan cause I don’t own a casserole dish yet I really wanted to make a tuna casserole. I had all the basic ingredients and threw in a bit of my own flavors, but it can totally be adjusted accordingly. It bakes in less time, so be careful of any dried pasta near the edges and top.

Ingredients
Half a pack of Fusilli (I used mini fusilli pasta because the rotini would’ve been too big)
One can of tuna (in water)
3-4 cheese sticks (or choice of shredded cheese)
3 cloves of garlic (optional)
1/4 tsp of black pepper and/or white pepper
1/3 tsp of Ponzu
Olive oil or light butter

How-to
1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Chop up cheese and garlic into thin pieces.
3. Boil pasta in water with added salt. Strain and rinse. Mix in garlic with a bit of the oil.
4. Open the can of tuna and drain out water. Shred in a bowl, mix in Ponzu and pepper.
5. Line pie pan (or any other flat oven-safe pan) with half the oil/butter
6. Mix pasta, cheese, and tuna in separate bowl OR in the pie pan (if you want to save having to wash another bowl)
7. Place pan in oven and bake for 20 minutes.
8. Take out and cool for a few minutes. Enjoy!

What will my future be?

Courtesy of Troya, a fabulously low key and rustique Mediterranean restaurant on the corner of Clement and 5th. Amidst cheap Chinese food, grocery stores, and all sorts of bohemian hip stores, Troya is a rather unsuspecting jewel on Clement’s aisle of restaurants. Mezes and drinks are all $5 between 5-7, but we hit up right at 7 for a friend’s birthday dinner, so we couldn’t take advantage of that. The black muscat was also a deliciously sweet follow-up dessert wine. A fabulous fine that is a bit higher on the price range that I would prefer but alright for SF range (mezes for $5-7, entrees for $10-16, wine by the bottle is $9-25/by cup $7-9).

On a lighter note, I made a smashing curry a few weeks ago. It was so damn good, my roommate and I finished half of it in one night. The key ingredients were two types of potatos (russett and red), ugly mushrooms (a kind of overgrown shitake that is absolutely delish and a good substitute for meat), lean ground turkey, french shallots (cut in large chunks to preserve their shape and flavor), and Japanese curry bouilon. Topped off with furikake and Chinese pickles, it was perfect with steamed rice. Its the best curry I’ve made to date, I can tell you that. All hand stirred with love. XD

This time it’s home cooked Japanese style ramen.

Mmmm…made with Korean kimchi ramyun, dried seaweed, hard boiled egg, organic miso, Tyson chicken pieces (XD), stirfried cabbage, and lots of chopped green onions. Yum. :p

I contemplated the raw egg, but gave it up in favor of my stomach. Raw stuff usually doesn’t sit well with me.