Ended up being pretty disappointed in this bar. The Venezuelan cocoa beans were too earthy, which did not contrast the dulled flavor of the pistachios well. I couldn’t really taste any of the salt in the pistachios at all, and overall there was lack of good flavor in the bar. Verdict: won’t try again.

Ingredients are cocoa beans, cocoa butter, cane sugar, salted pistachios, and bourbon vanilla beans.

Dai Dai

This concoction includes celery, onion, carrot, shiitake mushroom, azuki beans, and short grain brown rice. It’s my general preference to default to sticky types of rices, but I’ve tried it with other rices as well, including white rice, which does not lend as good of a flavor to the dish as brown. I germinated the rice and soaked the beans in separate bowls for two days.

This mixture of foods is also good for TCM dampness, as all these food elements are great for easing it up on digestion, when prepared properly, and nourish the spleen.

Ingredients
1/2 cup azuki beans
1/2 cup brown rice
1 large onion
2 Tbsp cooking fat (I used EV olive oil)
1 bunch celery
4 medium carrots
4 large shiitake mushrooms
salt to taste (I used 1/8 tsp)

Directions
1. Soak azuki beans and brown rice in separate bowls for at least 1 day overnight, preferably 2 for best results.
2. Dice the onion and cook on medium-high heat with the olive oil until it browns, stirring occasionally.
3. While the onions are cooking, dice the celery and carrots and slice the shiitake mushrooms. When the onions are browned and translucent, add the celery, carrots, and shiitake into the pan.
4. At this time, incorporate the ingredients and let them cook for a few minutes. Rinse the beans and the rice briefly and then add to the pan, incorporating all the ingredients.
5. Take 2 cups of water and pour into the pan. Bring to a boil, and then down to a simmer for about 35-40 minutes.
6. Most satisfying served warm.

Dai Dai

When this sorbet was fresh out of the ice cream maker, it actually had the consistency of Hawaiian shave ice, over which I was very excited, because it is very difficult to match the melt-in-your-mouth snow consistency of shave ice unless you have a special machine. (Note: Mainlanders, it’s SHAVE ice and not shaveD ice. Thank you).

Anyway, this was a great experience playing around with the ingredient dynamics and I am proud to present one with ginger, honey, and lemon juice.

Ingredients
2 cups water
1 Tbsp ginger
1/4 cup honey
1 lemon’s worth of juice and zest

Directions
1. Roughly mince the ginger and add to the water. Bring the water to a boil. Once it begins to simmer, turn off stove and allow ginger to steep at least 60 minutes.
2. Add the zest of the lemon to the water and steep another 30 minutes.
3. Strain the water and add the lemon juice and honey to the now just-warm water. Stir to incorporate the honey into the water (heat up the water if it is not warm enough), and let cool in refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
4. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and allow to churn for 20 minutes.
5. Allow to sit in freezer to finish firming up.

Enjoy!

Dai Dai

It came out very delicious. The amount of basil I used I think was perfect in achieving that minty flavor without being overbearing. I also used local honey in lieu of sugar because I wanted that deep honey flavor to enhance the herbal essence of the basil.

Ingredients
1 full stalk basil (stuffed into about 1/4 to 1/3 cup)
2 cups coconut milk
1/3 cup honey or sweetener equivalent
4 egg yolks

Directions
1. Roughly chop the basil leaves.
2. Heat coconut milk on medium heat in a pan over the stove. Add honey and incorporate for 3-5 minutes as the coconut milk simmers.
3. Add the basil and stir to incorporate. Turn off heat and let steep for at least 60 minutes.
4. Strain the mixture of the basil and return the liquid to the pan, allowing it to come back to a gentle simmer, with just enough heat so that there is no bubbling of liquid.
5. Beat egg yolks in a bowl. Add some hot liquid into the bowl and stir. Do this 3-4 times until the egg yolks are well-incorporated into the liquid added without curdling or chunking.
6. Add the egg yolk mixture to the rest of the liquid and stir. Stir constantly for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is as thick and viscous as pouring warm honey.
7. Let the mixture cool and chill for about an hour.
8. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and allow to aerate/churn for 10-20 minutes, depending on desirability of thickness/airiness of the ice cream.
9. Allow to sit in freezer overnight to allow flavors to incorporate, before digging in.

Enjoy!

Dai Dai

First up is the Moonstruck Coffee from Portland, OR, with its dark chocolate espresso bean with 68% cacao. (As a side, I really want to kick myself for not visiting this place when I was there a few months ago).

The coffee beans were cut and scattered throughout the bar. The chocolate had a smooth and clean mouthfeel and finish, but I disliked the clear continuity of as big of a fan of taste. The bean was faintly smokey and had a tad too much citrus for my liking. Could detect a hint of vanilla, which may have made the taste more confusing.

Ingredients: dark chocolate (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), and roasted espresso beans.

Unfortunately for me, the Charlotte’s Confections espresso chocolate bar from Napa was also disappointing in the same way.

The coffee grounds in this were smaller than that of Moonstruck, but again, a little too much citrus and too smokey. Additionally, this bar was a bit more earthy in taste, which to me, failed in muting a bit of the strength of the coffee. The chocolate was also a bit less smooth than the Moonstruck bar.

Ingredients were: dark chocolate (cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin), vanilla extract, and ground coffee.

Finally, Montreal’s Jelina Chocolatier bar was something I tried a while ago.

I actually preferred this chocolate the most. I think it was due to the fact that the coffee grounds were actually evaporated coffee, not the actual grounds from the bean, which helped to decrease the overwhelming flavors of the overall bar, whereas the actual coffee nibs unnecessarily increased the complexity. Since the flavors were more toned down and the citrus of this bar was not so apparent as the earthiness, I enjoyed this bar the most.

Ingredients included cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter, ground coffee, soy lecithin, and natural vanilla.

Dai Dai

This bar really was a heck of a firecracker. After the chocolate melted slightly on my tongue, the rock candy really took off and danced in my mouth. When the noise died down, the chile created a slight burn, along with the rest of the chocolate, to allow the “embers” of the “firecracker” to die down.

I must say, it was quite a lovely treat. Taste-wise, though, not that big of a fan. The bar was a bit too sweet for my liking, and wasn’t too big on the chile-chocolate combination to begin with. However, I am glad that I was able to try it. A real one-of-a-kind experience!

Nutritionals for the bar: 380 calories, 26g fat, 48g carbs, 6g fiber, 4g protein, 4% Vitamin A, 12% iron. Ingredients were: dark chocolate (60% cacao, sugar, cacao butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla), popping candy (sugar, corn glucose, lactose, carbon dioxide), pasilla chile, chipotle chile, salt.

What a start to a fun week!

Dai Dai

Excessive? Perhaps a little bit. But is it easy? Yes. Cheap? Very. Tastes good? Of course; it’s made by me. Well that makes an awesome lunch then, doesn’t it?

It’s very easy to just dice things up, plop the pork on top, and cook the night before. I’ve used pork sirloin, pork tenderloin, pork center loin, pork shoulder, pork country style ribs, pork stew meat, etc. Basically any cut of pork works best, although I found that it’s best to leave it as a large chunk versus cut-up portions.

Once a week (sometimes more often), I bust out the crockpot and use it to cook 2-3 lb of pork, which I would then spread across 3-4 days of the week for meals. Makes lunch easy. And each portion usually costs me around $3. Use fattier pork for more calories per serving.

Ingredients
1 large pear
1 medium onion
2-3 lb pork (I mainly use sirloin)
salt to taste
1-2 Tbsp rosemary

Directions
1. Slice pear into half-moon pieces about 1/2″ thick. Same with the onion.
2. Spread the onion at the bottom of the crock pot. Add a layer of pear, and add the cut of pork on top. Rub salt along the side of the pork.
3. Sprinkle liberally with rosemary.
4. Position several more pear slices atop the pork.
5. Cook on low overnight or at least 6 hours.

Enjoy!

Dai Dai

This particular bar had cacao nibs plastered to the back. Probably due to the time I ate the bar, haven eaten many nuts earlier in the day, I was not a fan. The citrus flavor completely enveloped me, and the sparse scattering of nibs across the back did not do the chocolate justice, failing to contrast the buttery taste. Overall, the bar was much too strong for my palate.

Nutritionals for the entire bar was 440 calories, 30g fat, 36g carbs, 6g protein, and 8% iron. Ingredients were cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, sea salt.

Dai Dai

Enter my friend Alice. She let me borrow her ice cream maker, since she was letting it sit in storage anyway. With summer around the corner, I guess she figured I could make some use of it, considering I have a bunch of weird ideas when it comes to experimenting with food. Score!

The premise of ice cream is that it is a custard base that is basically churned for some time in an ice cream maker so that it is given some fluffiness and further taffy-like creaminess that you can’t get in a baked custard.

In my version of lemongrass coconut ice cream, I made a coconut-milk based custard due to the fact that I am currently avoiding animal dairy. Since lemongrass is naturally a good pairing with coconut in Thai cuisine, I figured, why not?

I admit that after I “discarded” the lemongrass after straining the custard that I snuck the leftovers into my mouth before spitting out the fibers. I call it preliminary tasting of the custard.

The result turned out amazing. Frankly, because I was so eager to eat the ice cream that I only churned it for 10 minutes, it turned out having the texture of gelato instead of ice cream. Another 15-20 minutes in the ice cream maker would have made my ice cream lighter and airier. Got too excited there.

Ingredients
2 stalks lemongrass
2 cups coconut milk
6 Tbsp sugar or sweetener equivalent to sugar
4 egg yolks

Directions
1. Separate the lemongrass stalk into the green and yellow part. Tear off the outer layer of leaves if also green. Chop the yellow part, which usually is about 3-4″, very finely.
2. Heat coconut milk on medium heat in a pan over the stove. Add sugar and incorporate for 3-5 minutes as the coconut milk simmers.
3. Add the lemongrass pieces and stir to incorporate. Turn off heat and let steep for 30-60 minutes.
4. Strain the mixture of the lemongrass pieces and return the liquid to the pan, allowing it to come back to a gentle simmer, with just enough heat so that there is no bubbling of liquid.
5. Beat egg yolks in a bowl. Add some hot liquid into the bowl and stir. Do this 3-4 times until the egg yolks are well-incorporated into the liquid added without curdling or chunking.
6. Add the egg yolk mixture to the rest of the liquid and stir. Stir constantly for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is as thick and viscous as pouring warm honey.
7. Let the mixture cool and chill for about an hour.
8. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and allow to aerate/churn for 10-20 minutes, depending on desirability of thickness/airiness of the ice cream.
9. Allow to sit in freezer overnight to allow flavors to incorporate, before digging in.

Enjoy!

Dai Dai

Chopped liver is definitely something that will need to sit in the fridge overnight. Right off the bad, it can be quite odd-tasting, and without enough salt, can actually be quite bland.

One thing that I learned from making this dish is that lard makes a huge difference. Lard for frying the liver. Lard for frying the onions. Lard for when everything goes in for a blend. Fat just makes this dish taste a million times better, especially if it’s lard.

Another warning I have is that lots of liver needs to be pulsed in batches in the blender. Otherwise you risk letting the mixture get too pate-like, which isn’t a bad thing, but then it ruins the texture and taste that the boiled eggs give the dish.

Ingredients
2 lb onions, about 5 large
1 lb beef or chicken liver
4 Tbsp cooking fat (I used lard)
6 hard-boiled eggs
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Directions
1. Roughly chop the onions
2. Cut up the liver into medium-sized chunks.
3. Add 2 Tbsp cooking fat on a pan on medium heat and cook the liver until the sides are brown, about 3 minutes. Flip the pieces over and cook another 2 minutes, until center is no longer bloody. Transfer to a bowl.
4. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp of cooking fat into the same pan and add the onions. Cook until translucent, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer to the same bowl as the liver. Let cool slightly for at least 10 minutes.
5. Add the liver-onion mixture, along the with the salt and pepper into a blender. Pulse until the pieces are large and chunky. Crumble the hard-boiled eggs into the blender and pulse altogether, until all the pieces are medium-small, or until to taste preferences. If the mixture altogether builds up to over half the volume of the blender, pulse in batches to ensure even chunks.
6. Leave in fridge overnight to allow flavors to incorporate.
7. Serve cold. Eat with a mild-tasting starch or on its own.

Enjoy!

Dai Dai