Freddy's Harajuku

Meyer Lemon-Elderflower-Meringue Beignets

I love a good beignet. Fluffy doughnuts are honestly my favorite thing ever for munching on, especially when they’re stuffed with something. In this case, I had a ton of Meyer lemons sitting in my fridge, and I wanted to use them up. Immediately, my mind went to lemon curd. And with lemon curd, you…

Thin mint-Oreo Doughnut Creams

I really love making Doughnut Creams. I don’t make them as often as I used to, but I do still like their aesthetic. A seemingly perfectly glazed doughnut with cute toppings, but when you bite into it, it’s not fried dough. It’s a set mousse with fluffy cake on the bottom. Sometimes, two mousses. Sometimes,…

Gnocchi with lamb and pork brodo

I love making pasta. There are so many different kinds of shapes you can make, and they are all perfect for different functions. Stuffed pasta is great for keeping a filling and a sauce distinct, noodles are great for soaking up a sauce or broth, and for the case of gnocchi, they are great for…

Basque cheesecake with chocolate chip sable crust

Now I have been dying to make Basque cheesecake for quite a while now. For those of you who do not know what these are, they’re basically a Spanish-styled cheesecake which is airy and light at the edges, with a almost blackened, if not burnt top, and a gooey, creamy, and oozy center. They’re basically…

Find my heaven: a plated dessert

I really wanted to try branching out and doing new things this year, be it with techniques or plating. The dessert itself is inspired by me just trying to find my happy place in the kitchen, and obviously, that’s through baking and cooking with Asian-fusion influences. So I went with a hojicha panna cotta with…

Pineapple upside down layer cake

So with all of the recipe-testing I have been doing, not going to lie, there’s been a LOT of leftover components here and there accumulating. One of such leftover items were the tea-smoked cherries from my earl grey-spumoni dessert. So I wanted to get rid of them bring them back in another dessert! Rummaging through…

Love like you: a mirror glaze cake

When I was thinking of my quintessential Valentine’s Dessert, I had to go this route. A mousse cake would be perfect, since they are gorgeous, and almost resemble a box of chocolates in a way. I decided to go with a classic and simple combination of raspberry and vanilla, just because the contrast is sharp,…

A conversation, an experience: a petit gateau

For this dessert, I decided to go with a very specific drink as my flavor-inspiration, being Kir Royale. This drink comprises of cassis(currant) liquor, champagne, and fresh berries. Honestly, I was inspired by a pocket cake we were running at milkbar lab, which was a Kir Royale flavored cake, as well as the similarly flavored…

うつろい(utsuroi): a plated dessert

I really wanted this dessert to be the sister counterpart to “kakawari”, as it is based on yet another song by TrySail, and almost a given here, another theme song from Magia Record. The name roughly translates from Japanese to English as “waning” or “fading”, or an unfortunate kind of change. Since my other dessert…

かかわり(kakawari): a petit gateau

I have been re-watching a ton of the Madoka Magica franchise, including the new Magia Record series(oh god, I’m such a weeb), and a part of that includes listening to the tracks in the show/game, including ones sung by a girls group called TrySail. One of their songs, which is one of the theme songs…

Endless: a chocoholic’s chocolate tart

So continuing with my inspiration drawn from Carole and Tuesday, I wanted to do a dessert inspired by the rather depressing song, Endless, which addresses a lifetime of abuse, only to be followed with the abrupt death of the abuser. While that theme was dark, I decided to go literal with some of the lyrics here, going…

Let this feeling go: a plated dessert

So continuing with my Valentine’s/Singles Awareness Day desserts, I wanted to make something with berries, cream, champagne, and chocolate. But I didn’t want to do just the obvious strawberries with champagne and white chocolate combination. I wanted to be a little different, so I opted for ruby chocolate and raspberries, and for my cream component,…

In my dreams: a plated dessert

So this dessert, as cheesy as it sounds, actually came to me in a dream. Specifically, I had drempt I was a dessert menu consultant for restaurants, and that I was served this exact dessert. I was in the middle of tasting it when my alarm went off, but I distinctly remember this rich, creamy…

Give you the world: a plated dish

So this dish was actually in my to-do list for about four months. I wrote up the concept back in October, but I never really got around to making it. This dish is an homage to Middle Eastern food, which is actually a cuisine I came to really love during my time in D.C., living…

Breathe again: a plated dish

So this dish was obviously inspired by the song “Breathe again” from season 2 of Carole and Tuesday. The song itself talks about reaching new heights, and being able to take a sigh of relief now that you have succeeded in making something of yourself. For me, a component that perfectly embodies all of that is…

Lamb potstickers with mala-pepper broth and whipped yogurt

Now it’s no secret that I love Halal-styled Chinese food. The spices, the flavors, it’s really a warming, comforting cuisine. In the spirit of Chinese New Years, I definitely wanted to do something festive, comforting, and family-friendly, so my mind immediately went to dumplings. Specifically, potstickers. I feel like any and every Chinese family has…

Want to: a plated dish

I really love to take classic and rustic dishes and breathing new life into them. For some odd season, I have always been attracted to Southern food, despite never really visiting the South. There’s just something about biscuits, barbecue, buttermilk, and corn that just really, really appeals to me. So I wanted to do a…

Fantome: a plated dish

So this was a concept I had in my back pocket since the summer, but just never got around to making until recently. I love blood orange and I love scallop, and I wanted to do an Asian fusion take on it with elements of French, Chinese, and Japanese cuisines. The one issue I always…

After the fire: a petit gateau

So I really wanted to make a dessert using these new wooden sake cups I bought, since I don’t exactly drink, and I really have been enjoying seeing these wooden box tiramisus on my Instagram feed lately. I did want to do a take on a tiramisu, but I didn’t exactly want to do a…

STEP: a plated dessert

I have been listening to a ton of ClariS again recently. ClariS is a Japanese pop group consisting of two girls who sing extremely girly songs that make me question my own gender identity. That being said, I do appreciate how dessert-friendly their songs and aesthetic are, and it makes it a lot easier for…