it’s pronounced 包子

Street food — love it, can’t get enough of it. It’s all the rage these days, and I’m anticipating an article about the proliferation of food trucks and carts during times of economic downturn. Someone, please create a bar chart with falafel and burrito towers versus credit debts, or a line graph of people queuing for street meat on 53rd and 6th versus the waitlist for Peter Luger by EOD TODAY. Charts — I have no less love for them than I do for that Taiwanese food truck on Pearl.

Taiwan — it’s not my mother country (USA Rocks!), but its hold on my heart is real, and I can’t wait to go visit all of my island family again. Additionally, there really is a countless number of street food vendors in Taiwan. Now that I’ve said that, I now have a new dream job — Taiwan Street Food Vendor Census Survey Analyst. It’s an impressive job title that I think I’ve earned, and finally, everything about the past two years of my life makes sense.

While I am there, I’m going to see if there’s a market for Asian Fusion Buns. That name is probably also the title of some really terrible “movie”, but that probably makes it even more appropriate for a land where English words are hilariously mishandled. Anyway, what was fused together in this bun, or baozi, was the traditional steamed bun and a filling that was a departure from the commonly found fare of ground pork and cabbage. Will the Taiwanese embrace Hot Italian Turkey Sausage + Leeks? Will my mom still embrace me after she reads about my bastardization of her mantou recipe? Mom, I didn’t do it on purpose, it’s all I had at home. Mom, do you read my blog/親愛的老媽,妳有沒有在念我的博客?

Baozi
Yield: 16 small-ish Asian Fusion Buns

Ingredients:
1 cup Whole wheat bread flour
1½ cup All-purpose flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp yeast
2 tsp baking powder
¾ cup warm water (105°)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ pound seasoned ground meat
1 stalk Leek
16 3″x3″ pieces of parchment paper

Instructions:
1. Dissolve sugar in a large bowl of warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the water and allow it to proof for ten minutes.

2. Whisk together a cup of all-purpose flour and the cup of whole wheat flour, and combine with the liquid mixture from Step 1. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel, and allow it to double in size in a warm area.

3. Add in the remaining ½ cup of all-purpose flour, baking powder, and oil, and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Place the dough back into the bowl, and allow it to double again.

4. Prepare the meat mixture while the dough is rising.

5. Roll the dough into a log that can easily be cut into 16 even pieces. Cut it, and flatten and roll each piece into circles of between 4-4½” in diameter. Edges should be thinner than the center. Don’t stack them. They’ll stick and you’ll have to start all over again. You’re going to get all angsty.

6. Fill each circle with 2 tbsp of filling, and pinch the edges together to the best of your ability, and center on a 3″x3″ piece of parchment paper.

7. Allow the buns to rise again for another 10+ minutes. Steam them for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave the cover on for 1 minute, otherwise, they will wrinkle, and we hate wrinkles, don’t we?

pursuits of happiness

In a rare event, I got home today while the sun was still shining, so much so that I broke out a new pair of running shorts, bounded through the lobby of my apartment building, and took off toward Prospect Park. The trees finally look refreshed after what seemed like an interminable winter, and Grand Army Plaza was a splendid sight at dusk. It was a happy run, even after I encountered the ultra-intense, angry-looking pack of cheetah runners. Where were they going, who were they about to eat, and why not me?

The glee ended about a quarter mile from home, as the last remaining bits of sunlight faded to nothing. I really am a tunnel-visioned runner who, when she forgets to wear her glasses at night, has a depth of vision of about 8ft. Thankfully, la policia have sirens on their cars, and given the number of their vehicles arriving at the scene, they were noticeable. Also, the groups of people trying to leave the area were floating the word “shooting” around, which was another audible cue that there’s no place like home, and being home would be much better than idiotically turning around and around at the corner. Dummy.

Finally, I got my act together and hauled ass across what appeared to be the less crazy side of the intersection, and found my way home. What waited at the finish line? A couple of doors, a dimly-lit studio, and a higher level of perceived safety. And behind my freezer door, more than a couple Earl Grey Truffles, and some happiness, again.

Earl Grey Truffles
Yield: about 40 truffles

Ingredients
½pound bittersweet (70%) chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
½tbsp unsalted butter, softened
5 Earl Grey tea bags
½cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼pound bittersweet (70%) chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Put chocolate chips into a large bowl. If not using chocolate chips, chop up the chocolate into small pieces.

2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, scald the heavy cream and immerse the tea bags. Cover, and steep for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags, squeezing out the liquid, and scald the cream again.

3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips, and wait 5 minutes. Stir the chocolate and cream mixture until all of the chocolate is melted. Mix in the butter, and stir until completely smooth.

4. Refrigerate the bowl of chocolate until it is firm enough to scoop, yet soft enough to shape, which should take at least 2 hours.

5. Scoop out teaspoon-sized balls of the chocolate, and quickly roll them between (gloved) hands. Place on parchment paper and refrigerate to harden, about 30 minutes.

6. Melt the remaining quarter pound of chocolate in a bowl at 30 second intervals in the microwave, or on a double-boiler. Roll each truffle in the melted chocolate, forming a very thin layer of chocolate that will quickly harden. Before it hardens, toss the truffle into a shallow dish with the cocoa powder and move them around until they’re covered.

Serve at room temperature. Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month, or freeze.

The Origin of Everything

Makeovers can be the main thrill of one’s life, giving a sense of control in a world full of chaos. An adage from my most favorite movie, like, ever, I found it difficult to bring that wisdom into my kitchen. Until the end of 2008, I only baked chocolate chip cookies. Assembling and mixing the ingredients, then forming perfectly round little cookies was the nexus of my sanity, my zen, my peace in a world full of papers about causal inference, and worksheets full of vlookups. In fact, I was pretty sure those cookies were why I made friends and went on dates.

Thus, 2009 was the year of the cookie counterfactual — every month, I tried out a new recipe and (sometimes) shared the results. I made over my risk-averse cookie soul. More butter than my body weight, more eggs than we’ve had Presidents, and more kilos of flour than stolen horse in Bad Boys 1 passed through my kitchen than I have previously admitted. Ever notice why I’m still wearing the same stuff I wore in ’08? Follow the flour trail.

By the end of 2009, I was ready to make the following conclusions:

1. Friends and dates are correlated, but not caused, by divulging the secret ingredient in my cookie recipe (why the heck not — it’s CINNAMON!)
2. Burning, under-baking, and ruining what coulda-been-great create a different type of (post-trauma) zen, especially after the NYFD arrives/leaves
3. I’d rather live out a counterfactual than read about it, and writing a blog is more therapeutic than writing a macro

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 48 cookies
Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup softened unsalted butter
⅔ cups brown sugar
⅔ cups white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. In one large bowl, mix butter, brown, and white sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, stirring into the ingredients without over-beating it.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix into the wet mixture a bit at a time, stirring until smooth.

3. Add in the oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts. Form rounded tablespoons of cookie dough, and bake for 9-10 minutes, or until golden brown on bottom of cookie.