Food Overload: Christmas with the Fam

The family spread. Mmm.

Btw, this was a "light" family dinner. I think it's the economy. =P



My sister made sangria.
My favorite Ilocano specialty: Diniguan



A Filipino dessert: Bibingka

Obviously it was delicious because it was gone pretty fast.

Origins

Seeing as this is more a food blog, I felt this was appropriate to put the following video on the blog.



[made by Clay from http://stanley.crazyaweso.me/]

Like Water for Chocolate

Ok what does that title even really mean? What? I just finished reading the book. It's been about a year since I finished watching the movie. I liked the story- I never thought food could be so romantic! Anyway- what the heck does "like water for chocolate" mean anyway? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Does watering down mean bad? Or is it a good thing for chocolate to have water- to be moist?

Ok I broke down and looked it up online. Thank you instant gratification knowledge and wikipedia. Article here.

Like Water for Chocolate's full title is: Like Water for Hot Chocolate: A novel in monthly installments with recipes, romances and home remedies.

The phrase "like water for chocolate" comes from the Spanish "como agua para chocolate". This phrase is a common expression in some Spanish speaking countries and was the inspiration for Laura Esquivel's novel title (the name has a double-meaning). In some Latin American countries, such as Mexico, hot chocolate is made not with milk, but with water instead. Chocolate will only melt to create hot chocolate when the water reaches boiling point. The saying 'like water for chocolate' alludes to this fact. It can be used as a metaphor for describing a state of passion or - sometimes - sexual arousal. It may also be used to refer to anger, such as being 'boiling mad'. Tita actually uses the expression in the book when she says 'estoy como agua para chocolate' (I am like water for chocolate) meaning that she is boiling mad.

The Title could also mean that Tita is becoming bitter because chocolate is sweet and water has no taste, so it is literally like water for chocolate. Instead of something sweet she substitutes water for it.

Can we take a tangent here. Something about the wikipedia article bothers me. It's probably word use. Doesn't the sentence "instead of something sweet she substitutes water for it" sound like an awkward sentence? Oh well. End tangent.

Like water for chocolate is an interesting metaphor. So it can be good (extreme passion) or bad (extreme anger). Oh the world is full of so many interesting metaphors involving chocolate. But you learn something new everyday.

Anyway, the idea of hot chocolate made with water is intriguing. I would definitely want to try out some hot chocolate. Here's the recipe for hot chocolate in the book.

There's a very simple method for avoiding the aforementioned problems: heat a square of chocolate in water. The amount of water used should be a little more than enough to fill the cups. When the water comes to boil for the first time, remove it form the heat, and dissolve the chocolate completely, beat with a chocolate -mill until it is smoothly blended with the water. Return the pan to the stove. When it comes to a boil again and starts to boil over, remove it from the heat. Put it back on the heat and bring it to a boil a third time. Remove from the heat and beat the chocolate. Pour half into a little pitcher and beat the rest of it some more. Then serve it all, leaving the top covered with foam. Hot chocolate can also be made using milk instead of water, but in this case, it should only be brought to a boil once, and the second time it's heated it should be beaten so it doesn't get too thick. However, hot chocolate made with water is more digestible that that made with milk.

Hmm. I'll have to try it one day. And what is a chocolate mill anyway?

This is called a molinillo- a Mexican chocolate whisk. Interesting.

Holidays and Sugar Cookies

I love sugar cookies, but I've never really rolled and cut up cookies. Too much work. I prefer the drop cookies method. But since folks have been bringing goodies to the office- I recently got reacquainted with the holiday favorite: frosted sugar cookies. I love the buttery flakiness of the cookie and the texture and melt-in-your mouth goodness of the sugary frosting. So I decided to try it out.

I wanted to make vegan sugar cookies (just to try that business out), but there were too many specialty vegan ingredients I didn't have. So I just had a normal sugar cookie recipe and a soy icing. Interesting combination. I'd like to try a fully vegan recipe and a fully non-vegan recipe (well I just mean non vegan elements, I'm not going to make pork cookies anytime soon).

These cookies are not exactly the ideal light flaky rolled sugar cookie I like. However, they are still good. They have a nice not-too-sweet flavor (bordering on bland. hmm. more sugar? cardamom? butter? maybe I should use butter flavored shortening instead of butter?) with a little extra (I think the almond extract does it). The frosting is not thick, but more like a nice sugar frosting glaze. However, I like the denseness of the cookie and I like how well it keeps (it tasted better on the 3rd day than it did on the 1st day. What?). So I say "yes" to these cookies however my search is not quite over yet. I would definitely use this recipe for making sugar cookie ornaments. I think they would hold up nicely!

Holiday '08 Sugar Cookies

(photos courtesy of roomie Grace)

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flours, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

* * * * *
ICING RECIPE
Each batch is enough to easily coat 24 cookies. We made four batches, one for each color.

2 cups confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
6-8 teaspoons of soy milk (Silk Vanilla) Assorted food coloring
4 teaspoons of light corn syrup

Directions:
1. In medium bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and soy milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Add food coloring to desired intensity. Dip cookies and allow to dry overnight.

Chili Cha Cha

(picture courtesy of Joanne*)

I'm not a big fan of chocolate- it's always too sweet or too rich or too something. But one of my favorite combinations is chili and chocolate. Ever since I had a chili chocolate truffle at this schmancy bakery I went to- I've always enjoyed consuming those flavors together. Its a surprising, but refreshing combination. By the way- "Mayan" chocolate in restaurants means chocolate and cinnamon. "Aztec" means chocolate and chili. I don't know how that got that way but don't get me started on "ethnic labels" on food. Say what?

Anyway, it was my friend's birthday and I thought I would make her a cake. But just a plain yellow cake or a chocolate cake wouldn't do. And due to the limitations on my kitchen stock- I decided a chili chocolate cake would do it.

This is what my friend had to say about the cake:

My sassy bday cake made by the amazing Diana. It was a lovely, chocolate-y, spicy, sassy delight;) (I like to think it was a great homage to me.)

Yeah Joanne! It totally was! I should call it "Sassy Cake" instead of Chili Chocolate cake.

Chili Chocolate Cake aka Joanne's Sassy Cake

(recipe from http://www.janespice.com/recipes/chili-chocolate-cake with a few alterations)

(photo courtesy of roomie Grace)

Ingredients

1	cup or 7oz. best quality cooking chocolate, I used 72% unsweetened chocolate
6 ⅓	tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2	tablespoons all purpose flour
½	teaspoon chili powder
1	cup super fine sugar
3	eggs, separated

2 dashes cayenne powder (I added to make a little more spicy)

Preheat oven to 350°C.

Gently melt the chocolate. I used a double boiler.

Mix the chocolate with the softened butter, flour, chili powder, cayenne, sugar and lightly beaten egg yolks.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Which was hilarious because I had to hand beat it. It takes about 5 or so minutes. So I would switch hands. It might be better to use an electric mixer, but I'm a purist/masochist.

Turn the cake mixture into a buttered loaf tin (approximately 8 inches long) and bake in pre-heated oven for 35 minutes. The cake will be cooked when a thin crust has formed on top. It may appear slightly under-cooked inside, however it will become firmer as it cools. The ultimate result is a moist, dense cake with a crackly exterior. I wanted the cake to be more round and festive (birthday cakes are round right?) so I used a pie plate.

Turn out onto cake rack as soon as it is cooled.

I ended up decorating the cake by sifting confectioner's sugar on top. I made the words by cutting up wax paper in the shape I wanted and removed it after the dusted the whole thing with powdered sugar.

Just for the cake (and extra sassy-ness) I hand dipped strawberries in chocolate and a sweet pepper too.

Reflection:

Next time I want to try a chili chocolate cake with actual chiles. Ancho sounds good. Maybe a double layered frosted cake? We'll see...

(photo courtesy of roomie Grace)

*Note: Sorry I had to crop you out Joanne! It's for artistic license. Haha. But I'm glad you liked the cake!

A Moment of Epiphany

There have been many momentous occasions in my life, some of them large (graduating from college!) and small (my first chain of single crochets!). But this one I feel strikes a chord that was more like "I always knew I could do this, but I always denied it".

I am a baker. Less so a "cook", but I'm adequate at making meals. However, baking is what really gets me inspired and motivated.

Let me tell you a little story:

Growing up, my mother cooked Filipino desserts and sold them to various Filipino bakeries and stores all over San Diego. I guess you could say "caterer", but the word sounds too cold and American for what my mother made. What my mother created was culture and community and memory. She would make carioca, bibingkang malagkit, suman sa lahiya, pitsi-pitsi, kutsinta, puto, maha blanca, cassava cake, and a host of other things depending on what people ordered and if my mother wanted to make it.

Year later, what she made for me was what I remember is feeling like I'm at Home.

What I like about cooking is the sense of agency that one has while they're cooking. Consuming the food is a community endeavor (and a part of the cooking process I enjoy a lot!), but the actual making is really only a solitary activity. Sometimes you have more than one person cooking, but usually that involves teaching and learning. Once you have the cooking aspect down though- it is usally room for one in the kitchen. As the saying goes, "too many cooks in the kitchen" is a negative thing.

This blog is for my mother, the First Cook of my life, and really everytime I cook I feel connected to her even though she lives many many miles away. So that's why I say its "diwa" on many levels, but cooking is almost spiritual in a way.