tiramisu

Yes. The dessert for my Valentine's dinner was tiramisu (See what I made for dinner here).

A little background on this. I had already decided what to make for dinner, but I was stuck on dessert. I was just about to give up and go with the ice cream I already had in the freezer, when I got online with my friend Anusree (yeap, the one mentioned here) and she immediately suggested tiramisu. This is why friends are beneficial. They help you out of ruts and moments of stuck-ness.

She actually made tiramisu for us in India, but she didn't like how it turned out so she added strawberries. I personally thought it was AMAZING, and I'm not big into coffee. So when she suggested it, it was a done deal because she said it was easy to make AND it's one of the boyfriend's faves.

So she, being the awesome person that she is, found me a recipe that was close to what she had made and sent it along to me. You can find it here.

For the most part I followed the recipe, but I made a couple changes, so I've included my version below. I also made this the night before Valentine's Day.** This recipe fills a 9x9 dish.

FYI: I didn't actually use the stove, I'm just short on
counterspace, so I set my dish here.

Ingredients:
1 box of strawberries (a quart I believe? you can always eat the leftovers!)
1/4 cup white sugar (plus a little extra)
1 cup mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream
20 ladyfingers (give or take)
1/2 teaspoon of cocoa powder
a cup of coffee (I used instant)

To Create:

1. Cut the tops of the strawberries and slice them lengthwise. I put the two end pieces of the berry off to the side for decorative purposes.
2. In a bowl, combine the mascarpone cheese, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup sugar and 4 tablespoons of coffee (more coffee for more coffee flavor). Beat with an electric mixer for a minute to a minute and a half or until thick
3. In a glass dish, dunk and lay ladyfingers to cover the bottom. Don't dunk for too long, you don't want them to disintegrate.
4. Spread about half the cheese mixture over the lady fingers. Add a layer of strawberries (as many or few as you'd like)
5. Repeat 3,4 with remaining mixture and strawberries and top that with lady fingers.
6. In a bowl (I used the same one that had the cheese) mix 1/4 cup heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of sugar and beat for about a minute until whipped. Spread over the top.
7. Dust cocoa over the top (I used a wire sieve)
8. To garnish, I took the strawberry ends and laid them down red side up to form a heart (Valentine's Day, after all), but you can garnish however you like. With whole strawberries, if you prefer!

**According to the original recipe, you can cut and serve pretty much immediately, but I let it set and cool overnight and I think it helped. This also saved me time when I was making dinner.

Good thing his hopes weren't dashed when he took a bite!

Notes:
I couldn't actually find lady's fingers because I was in a rush, so I used these biscuit/cookies that said Europe liked them with coffee. They disintegrated a little more than I would have liked, but they still tasted good in the tiramisu and held up well enough. I can't say that it was beautiful once I cut into the tiramisu and moved it to the plate, but I got a 99/100 on it, so I'd say it was a hit!

I must say I'm glad dessert turned out better than dinner (in my opinion), because it was a good note to finish the meal.

I only added 2 tablespoons of coffee to my cheese mixture and my coffee flavor was very very faint, so I think it would have been better if I had added more, so I added more in the recipe I gave.

Hooray for success!

The original recipe called for a more equal ratio of mascarpone cheese to cream and sugar, but I didn't want it to be too heavy or sweet, so I changed my ratios and really liked the result. Not too heavy and not too sweet. Obviously you can adjust to your own palette.

I omitted the strawberry puree part of the original recipe because I didn't think it would add too much to the dish since there was already strawberries in it. I'm sure it made for a classy presentation, though, so let me know if you decided to include it and what your results were.

So I tried two new recipes that I'd never tried before, and they ended up being quite the adventure. Let me know if you try it and what your results are!

Update: This recipe does NOT contain any liquers or alcohol. The one that Anu made for us, tasted like it did, but actually didn't since neither of her grandparents eat/drink alcohol. I think it was the higher concentration of coffee and sitting overnight that created the flavor, but again, that is just my own little theory (in case you were wondering).

chicken and dumplings

Sorry for the picture quality. Bad
lighting. I'll just keep working on
it, shall I?

Allow me to interject a brief interlude from my travel stories. Thank you for your patience!


I made dinner on Valentine's Day. Since the boyfriend had already taken me out to a delicious but very expensive dinner over the weekend, I wanted to do something for him the day of.

Enter chicken and dumplings; one of his favorite foods. Seriously, watching him eat this at a restaurant called Mama Dips in Chapel Hill, you would have think he had died and gone to heaven and Jesus had given him his choice of BMW.

I've always been a little confused over this dish, because to me, "dumplings" have stuff in the middle. So I find my version of dumplings more satisfying, but hey, that's what you get when he grew up in the South (of USA) and I grew up in China.

Moving on. I've never made this dish, but since he loves it so much, I decided to try my hand. I gave it a "ehh" and he gave it a 94/100. I guess that's reasonable for a first go.

Here is the recipe I based my cooking on, but I sort of altered it as I went. I'll do my best to reconstruct what I did. I doubled the recipe because the pot I used was bigger than it was supposed to be, so to compensate, I just added more! Here is my recipe with a few alterations to the original (the recipe here is not doubled).

Note: there are larger quantities of ingredients pictured here
than you'll actually need. Unless you're feeding an army.
Or a hungry boyfriend.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 + 1/3 cups of milk (extra for the dumplings)
1 cup of frozen corn, peas and lima beans (you can add a little more if you'd like)
1 cup cut up cooked chicken (I just bought some rotisserie chicken)
about 1 cup of cooked potato (also to your preference of potato ratio)
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of normal Bisquick
dash of thyme and paprika (optional and to your flavoring)


To Create:

1. Prepare ALL your ingredients ahead of time (seriously, very important)
2. I used small red potatoes- boiled them, then sliced them into quarters; set aside
3. Prepare your dumplings- mix Bisquick, 1/3 cup of milk and some thyme; set to the side. (Note: when I made it, I think my dough was too moist, so in hindsight I would have added more Bisquick to make it firmer. You don't want the dough to stick to your hands too much)
4. For this serving size, use a 3qt saucepan. Heat 1.5 cups of milk, soup, vegetables, potato and chicken to a boil. STIR A LOT
5. Gently drop in dollops of dough to your mixture. Sprinkle with paprika. I don't think you need to stir. I stirred and my dollops started to deconstruct a little. It turned out fine, but I believe your dumpling-biscuits will be more intact if you just let them sit.
6. Cook uncovered on low heat for 10 minutes, then cover and let it cook for 10 more minutes.

You can make yourself a comforting
honey and lemon hot drink to calm
yourself in this process, as I did.

Voila! Home cooked southern chicken and dumplings!

Notes:
It really would have helped to have everything prepared ahead of time. Since I was cooking on my own, I couldn't stir and prepare at the same time, so the soup and a little of the chicken burned in my pot, resulting in a smoky flavor throughout my dish. If you like smokiness, then my all means, let it sizzle a little (just a little-- I am not responsible for any fires or calls to the firemen), but otherwise, turn your heat down a little and keep that spoon stirring (P.S. letting it sizzle a little may or may not cause your apartment to smell smoky for hours and ruin a pot--consider yourself warned).

Abraham actually liked the smokiness, so the meal wasn't a catastrophe, but I would probably make it in this order next time as opposed to the order of the original recipe. And have him help me. And keep my stove on low heat.

Not actually on the menu. Abraham got me orchids!
He once got me potted tulips and so he says that once you
go live, you can't go back!

For those of you wondering, to combat aforementioned smoky scent, I turned on my stove's vent and put dryer sheets around my kitchen. Consider yourself absorbed Super Stubborn Smoke Smell! There's probably a better way to do this... but this worked.

But wait! That's not all. I couldn't have Valentine's dinner without dessert. So that'll be next up. What did I make? Well, you'll just have to wait and see!


Let me know if you decide to try this and how it turns out!

blastoff

You may have noticed that I was absent for two weeks. I have a very good reason for this. I was on the other side of the world from my normal posting location. Not that this necessarily affected my ability to post, however, I was preoccupied with enjoying my precious time there, so that when I returned, I would have stories and pictures galore to go back and reminisce about.

Without further ado; the reminiscing.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? A very good place to start (please, someone guess what song is going through my head).

Sometime back in October/November 2011, this trip began to take shape. A little bit of family, a little bit of friends and a lot of fun and surprises. All the skyping and online chatting and scheming finally came down to this: I was going to take a two week break from work to spend Chinese New Year with my family and since I was going to be over there on that side of the planet, why not throw in a side trip to India (no big)? I was meeting up with my family in Singapore (they live in China) and this ended up being perfect because they were going any way, and I didn't have to spend money on a visa (US citizens don't need a visa for entry to Singapore; with a 90 day limit, but they do for China-- don't get me started on how I have to have a visa to go home).

Our last tryst, circa 2007, Manila, Philippines

My mom's family lives in Singapore, so I asked my family not to tell anyone that I was coming (insert diabolical glee- have I mentioned I love surprises?). Since my family only had one week vacation for Chinese New Year, I decided to mosey on over to Delhi to visit my girl, Anusree (I wrote about her here). Since my other darling, Nikka, lives and works in the Philippines, we cooked up a reunion.

I know I sound calm and collected, but truly, words cannot convey our excitment. Anu and I have seen each other since we graduated from high school, but Nikka, we haven't seen since graduation. If nothing else, this trip was destined for greatness simply because of the 5 year wait! Two of my greatest friends in the world (literally) automatically gold starred this trip. Oh and INDIA. Need I say more?

Fast forward to Jan 21- day of departure.

If things had gone peachy as I would have loved them to, this post would be quite brief and mostly boring, filled with details of airplane seats and how the pillow I carried made fitting in my seat more challenging than normal (it was firmer and fluffier than I anticipated, making my Economy seat that much cozier) and how the airplane food wasn't atrocious.

Preparing our little plane to fly on down to Singapore.

However, there were no peaches to be had on this already long voyage. NONE. Ok one. I set foot in Japan. After years and years of flying through Japan on our way from China to the US and back again, I have never left the airport. And this time, I did not plan on a stopover in Tokyo. But, nevermind about my plans, because for this little bit, they went to pieces.

My little footsies waiting.

My first two flights were uneventful. Got some sleep. Watched some movies. Stretched and did calf raises in the back of plane (yes, really- it's a long flight). Then we touched down at Narita. Got off the plane. Went to the gate that would board all of us pleasant sojourners on the exact same plane that I had just left and waited. And waited. A 20 minute delay turned into 40. Then an hour.

And then we got on the plane! Happy Day! It was pretty empty and I was looking forward to a nappity nap nap time. Sat down, buckled in, passed out. Awoke. Plane had not moved. It had been at least an hour and a half. I napped for over an hour on a stationary plane. Just as I was figuring this out, a flight attendant got on the intercom and told us she was very sorry but our flight was being canceled. WHAT.

To say I was bummed is an understatement. At this point I hadn't had more than 4 continuous hours of sleep in over 36 hours. And definitely not in a laying-down posture. And I don't function very well without sleep (not kidding. picture slightly crabby and super bad balance.).

So, I stood in line after deplaning to get my compensation certificate and directions to our hotel. Hotel Niko. I tried to absorb as much as I could of Japan after leaving customs and the airport (silver lining, right?). Unfortunately, the airport bus stand didn't give me much. And the drive to the hotel was uneventful since at this point it was dark.

At the hotel, I got in another line to get my key. Along with a room key, I got a dinner and breakfast certificate. Oh good. No need to figure out how I was going to pay for anything with my Yen-less currencies (actually, I had Singapore dollars, Euros and Chinese RMB and a US quarter--none of which would be particularly helpful in this situation).

My biggest concern was getting online to let my parents know what had happened. I knew my dad was tracking my flights (thanks Dad!) and would be wondering what was going on. Although there was no wi-fi in my surprisingly hot room, they had a wired connection (thank you Jesus). At which point I was able to get my rents on video and let them know what happened. I only had a minor tearful breakdown at this point. The combination of disappointment, sleep-depravity, general exhaustion and stress of doing all this by myself broke a couple flood gates.

After composing myself, I went down to get some food. I was hoping for sushi (is that cliche?), but they didn't have any (must have had something to do with the unexpected 100+ guests at midnight). Their potato salad was excellent, though.

Early bird view from my hotel room

So after eating a bit, I took my little self back to my room to get ready for bed. Enter culture awakening. I haven't been in Asia for a while, but I think even in China, things are not quite so drastic. When I got ready to brush my teeth, I realized how far away the sink was. By far away I mean low. Like an appropriately-lengthed-pair-of-shorts low. I know I'm tall by Asian standards but really?

After being thoroughly made to feel like a giantess, I decided to go the whole nine yards and take a shower. Oh it felt so good. For any of you traveling with transit locations, I recommend bringing a change of clothes. I highly recommend bringing a change of underwear. Easy to pack, it can make all the difference in helping you feel human again. The other necessities were provided by the hotel.

I was hoping a train would come bursting through the
tunnel, but alas: no such luck. Maybe the train was hanging
out with my decommissioned plane. That wasn't nice.
Sorry. Bitter comments, reigned in.

I slept about 4~5 hours (not bad, jetlag), and got up, picked up my new boarding passes from the front desk and tried to sleep some more. After figuring out how to turn off the sauna that was my room heating system, I got about 2 more hours of sleep, ate breakfast and headed down to hop on a shuttle to the airport.

Some things I noticed about Japan, from my uber brief, less-than-24-hour visit:

• They drive on the left side of the road (guess I just never realized this)
• They have a lot of toilet seats, even in the airport, that have a water jet option (an indescribable experience)
• The hotel had a lot of mayonaise based salads (surprising, no?)
• The view from my hotel room wasn't extensive, but what I could see showed me a picture of old and new and developing all coexisting quite charmingly-- and the mist rising from the ground among the trees in the wee morning hours wasn't shabby either
• The roads were on the narrow end (from my American road perspective), but our bus navigated them with skill and ease
• Hilly
• Intricate infrastructure. I would love the chance to explore this country someday. With a local guide, of course. And time to take pictures.
• Every where I went, all the customer service people were super friendly, smiling and doing whatever they could to help this (probably) forlorn and fraggled (yes, i just combined frazzled and bedraggled) white girl. They would say things like "thank you for waiting" and other things that made me feel like they cared. Lots of nodding and smiling. Very pleasant. I have to say, I feel like American customer service people aren't always so eager to help.
• This observation doesn't apply solely to Japan, but really to Asia in general. I think women designed their public restrooms. Why? Because most all of them had a ledge behind the toilet where you could put your things. I didn't have to worry about what might or might not be on the floor where I set my back pack and I didn't have to balance my wallet under my arm as I held my passport in my mouth and pillow under my chin and went to the bathroom. Brilliant! I should email Congress or somebody about this.

Helloooooo family! Long time no see! Why yes, I am the
frumpy one sharing glass of wine with her mama.

I got checked in and waited for my flight. No mishaps, thankfully, and I was arriving in Singapore just in time to make New Year's Dinner. Not quite the large surprise factor I had been aiming at since there were considerably fewer family members, but it sufficed.

All in all, a pleasant, peachy glimpse of Japan. Though I still wish I had gotten some sushi and wasabi. Yum.



Well, I haven't gotten very far in my recounting of my adventures, but never fear, the story will unfold with time. I wouldn't want to shortchange you on all the little details, after all! I may have to dedicate a series of posts just to the food. Yum.

I know this post is wordier than usual, however, I wasn't expecting a sidetrip to Japan, so I didn't take many pictures. Have no fear, I will remedy this!

Until my next verbal and visual recounting, any unexpected travel stories to share?

Christmas

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Go now and rest for you are weary with sorrow and much toil. Tonight you will sleep in peace."

Do you know where that quote comes from? Perhaps I'll enlighten you in the next post (guesses welcome in the comment section- no cheating via google).

Any way. I really like that sequence of words. Doesn't it just make you want to sigh and relax? Instant relief. You don't even have to be doing anything strenuous. Enter self. Sitting, typing, drinking tea. And still, ahhhh. I can peace out in peace. Just kidding. Haven't finished typing.

So why am I going on and on about this quote at the beginning of my Christmas post? Well, because I think it suits the reason for the season. The big picture born in a little manger. Can I get an Amen?

Barkley. Sleeping in peace. 

Because of Jesus, we can sleep in peace. We can unload pain, brokenness, guilt, shame, fear and sin (Someone else is carrying it for you). I don't know about you, but if I were there that night and had any inkling what the birth of Emmanuel meant, it wouldn't be no silent night (insert happy dance and much shouting singing, laughing and more dancing).

On a complete tangent (sorry this is just how my brain works sometimes). Have you noticed how Western Christmas music for the most part is very... solemn and reverence inducing? This is not bad, but I've been pondering it since having some conversations with my Colombian co-worker who mentioned being used to celebratory, more up tempo music. Why not? I mean it's only a world altering event. A couple cheers and jigs wouldn't be uncalled for. Anyhoo. Just an observation.

I now return you to your regular scheduled posting.

This was my first Christmas in my entire life (pretty sure about this) that I spent away from my nuclear family (read: mom.dad.broski). My very good reason for this separation is called the Pacific Ocean. Or Atlantic. Or Arctic. Whichever way you prefer to fly. So, instead I headed up to my very amazing aunt and uncle's place in the middle of  a couple of acres of land. My uncle was kind enough to light up a fire in the fireplace every day I was there (sooo good since I'm basically perpetually cold).

Christmas breakfast. Don't drool on your computer.
I know the grits and fried egg look suspiciously alike,
but the top one is the egg (yes, I wanted a second helping
of grits--who wouldn't?).

Aunt opening presents!

Christmas morning, I woke up at about 8:30. Not from excitement per se, but just from the fact that since I've started working, I can't seem to sleep later than 9 (yes, very frustrating). My uncle fixed me up some scrumptious sausage and egg and GRITS (enter drool) and some store bought muffins. After we ate, we moseyed on over to the presents. My aunt and I stacked and sorted and then the flurry of torn wrapping paper commenced. So.much.fun. Yay.

But, we didn't have long to play with our new gifts as we had to get going on Christmas dinner. Oh baby let me tell you. We cooked up a STORM. Turkey. Homemade dressing. Mashed potato casserole. Green bean casserole (more drool). Dressing. Don't worry, we had time to change out of our PJs before the guests started arriving (extra plus!).

Other uncle carving turkey!

The peeps. My aunt and uncle don't have any kids of their own, but have accumulated one or two honorary children in their time. So there was me and another honorary daughter, my aunt and uncle hosts, my other aunt and uncle and their son and his girlfriend, and a neighboring couple. Just enough to be festive but not overwhelming.

I even got some quality Gchat Video time with my family! And the boyfriend was able to stop by from his family gathering for a couple hours!

This was when the bow-tying sessions started. Abraham got a bow-tie for Christmas and my uncle wanted Abraham to teach him how to tie a bow-tie. He hadn't tied one in a long time, apparently. I enjoyed watching.

Note the confused expression.

Ta-da!

All to say, it was a good Christmas. No medical emergencies. No fires. Except the one in the fireplace. Just enough activity to keep us on our toes but not stressed out. Heaps of food. Loads of laughter and love.

The Christmas party. Wearing our hats from our poppers!

What a great time of being able to bask in the gifts of family and friends.

And at the end of the day? I peaced out in peace. With a very full tummy and heart.

How about you? Anything fun? Traditions? New experiences?

tide.me.over Christmas

If I were on top of things, this post would be about Christmas and the wonder of the birth of Jesus and joy of presents. However, since I am not on top of things (you see, I began this post with an "if"), this little snippet will have to tide you over until I can get back on my game.

Photo is courtesy of my uncle. My aunt and I are excited to open presents!

Christmas dinner preparation. I think we were making gravy for the turkey. It's a complicated process.

I hope you enjoy this little teaser of a post. Hopefully I will get back on track before the end of the week. Disclaimer. I make no promises.