Black & White Cookie Project Part I

I’m working on perfecting the famous Black and White cookie. The first recipe I'm trying out is for the NYC version. This is not the upstate new York version. The upstate New York version is called the half moon (sometimes also called black and white) and I will blog about it at a later time. They are two distinctly different versions and each have their own dedicated fans. I’ve had both versions and since I am not from New York, I cannot say I have any loyalty to either version. I like them both.

I'm starting off with a recipe from Glaser’s Bake Shop. The recipe was published in the May 13, 1998 issue of the New York Times. Glaser's is a small family-own bakery and the recipe has been passed down for generations. I followed Glaser's recipe for the cookie base but I adapted the icing from Gourmet because my coworker wanted me to troubleshoot the Gourmet magazine recipe she has been using. She wanted me to help her “fix” the weird flavor. She said the lemon flavor was off and the icing tasted chalky. I found many of the icing recipes on the internet very similar to each other. They consisted of powdered sugar, water and light corn syrup. Variations included lemon juice and/or vanilla. Some recipes used cocoa powder and others used baking chocolate.

Glutinious Rice Balls in Caramelized Syrup and Coconut Water (Tang Yuan or Bua Loy or Khao Mauk Ma)

My mom was never much of a cook but she knew her way around Asian desserts. One of my favorite desserts was something she called Khao Mauk Ma (the Lue name). I’m making the version that I grew up eating. The Thai Bua Loy dessert is very similar but the balls are usually smaller in size and served with gingered coconut milk syrup. The Chinese version, called Tang Yuan can be plain or stuffed with ground black sesame seeds or chopped peanuts and served with a sugar syrup

My mom always made larger sized balls of unstuffed dough It wasn’t until I was older that I discovered that Bua Loy is usually made in smaller pea-size balls. My mom is a fan of shortcuts and likes to make super-sized versions to cut down on prep time. My mom never had the patience to spend hours doing intricate work. To her, time meant money and she liked to work quickly and efficiently.

I think my mom’s version is a cross between the Chinese and the Thai versions. She like the fragrant caramelized sugar syrup featured in many Thai desserts and she also liked the coconut aroma but didn’t like the heaviness that the coconut milk added to the dessert. She wanted something lighter so she started using the water from fresh young coconuts to give the dessert the coconut-y flavor. She also scooped out the soft flesh of the young coconuts and floated them with the rice balls.

Apple Butter

I can’t remember the last time I made apple butter but it came to mind when we had an abundance of apples at work. We just had our annual team building event and my boss bought tons of apples for one of the challenges. We tried our best to eat the apples but there were still several left at the end of the week. Everyone preferred the Fuji over the Red Delicious so I took a sack of Red Delicious home with me.

Red Delicious apples are not ideal for apple sauce or butter. (But in my opinion, they are not ideal for eating either.) I had a few Fuji apples in my fridge so I added them to the batch to add more flavor.

Pho Fusion Restaurant in San Diego

I flew back to San Diego a few weeks ago to see a friend's new baby girl. I co-hosted the baby shower back in February.

We all met up for lunch at Pho Fusion. The restaurant was very busy so my friend ended up going back to the kitchen to help cook. (It's her family's restaurant so she ends up helping out a lot.) I love the food at Pho Fusion. The restaurant started off as a hip boba cafe. (If I recall correctly, Fusion opened its doors around 2002. Prior to opening Fusion, the yummy food was served at the original Linda Vista Food To Go.) The menu was recently expanded to include pho. I didn't order the pho. My favorite items are the barbecued chicken and the barbecued chicken sandwiches (banh mi).

Khao Piak Sien (Laotian Fresh Rice Noodle Soup)

It's been awhile but I hope this recipe was worth the wait.

I was craving some good Laotian Khao Piak Sien and then I remembered the stewing hens in my freezer. My dad sent me home with a few stewing hens and cocks during one of my visits home. I also asked my mom to pick up some homemade pho meatballs, som moo and isaan sausage from her lady. My grandpa packed a cardboard box for me. It was inspected by TSA. I wonder what they were thinking when they searched the box.

This is one of those dishes that really benefits from a tougher old chicken although, my mom has made it with regular old whole fryers because my sister didn’t want to eat her pets.

Khao Piak Sien is a great dish to serve a crowd. We took turns cooking the meals during our snowboard/ski trip back in February. My friend was in charge of dinner day 2 and was undecided between Khao Piak Sien or Pho. She decided on the Khao Piak Sien. Everyone was glad to have a steaming bowl of Khao Piak Sien after a day on the slopes.