Black Chicken Tsukune with Ginger Broth

This recipe wound up being like an Asian take on an albondigas soup, using black chicken(also called silkie fowl) as the base. Black chicken is a popular ingredient in Asian cuisines because it creates a gorgeous broth. My mother actually loves eating black chicken, which is why I opted to use it to make one…

White Rabbit and Salted Egg Mimosa Cake

Easter is one of those holidays I literally never understood. I never grew up in a household that celebrated it beyond Easter Egg hunts and getting sick from eating chocolate rabbits and jellybeans, so whenever people talk about how it is this whole commitment that they had to spend with their families, I did not…

Cajeta-Duvalin Layer Cake

This recipe was meant to be a celebration of my friend, Frances. Frances, or as I lovingly call her, Francois, is a longtime friend of mine, dating back to when we worked together at the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach in 2018. We were in the same department, and we were basically partners…

Injeolmi-Dulcey Shortbreads

Whenever I think of injeolmi, I think of my dear friend, Ellie. Ellie and I were classmates since elementary school, all the way through high school, and we went to college at Boston College and Boston University respectively(meaning that we would see each other often during our formative adult years). She is one of the…

Souffled Nutella Crostata

Back when I was in high school, one of the recipes I made that was surprisingly well-received by my classmates was a Nutella crostata. I say surprisingly because when I came up with this recipe, it was mostly out of boredom. I still remember this because a classmate who really went out of his way…

Stracciatella Layer Cake

Unless you’ve been to a place that sells Italian ice cream, you might be wondering what stracciatella is. In Italian, it translates to “little rags”. And in Lombardy, stracciatella is a kind of gelato, that is creamy vanilla with shards of chocolate running through it. In other regions of Italy, it could refer to a…

Lemon-Elderflower Cake

With this mousse cake recipe, I was really aiming for something light, using flavors that I knew meshed well together. Lemon and elderflower is a combination I have grown quite fond of, just because you have the tart sharpness of the lemon against the floral, sweetness of the elderflower. The two play off of each…

Pink Lemon-Olive Oil-Rose Cake

This cake is dedicated to my friend, Na’ama, specifically for her birthday. Fun facts, she was one of my friends that attended my apron battle for season 12(she was in the podium instead of the balcony), and we went to college together, but did not actually know each other back then. Since Boston University was…

Chocolate-sesame-cardamom cake

How this cake came about was hilarious. It was 6:35AM, and I had just finished my workout. It was also my friend’s birthday, and I was debating if I wanted to make a cake for her or not. But I did not want to be a crap friend, and I decided, screw it, 50 minute…

“Beautiful World”: a plated dessert

So I conceptualized this dessert around initially two flavors, being pistachio and olive oil. From there, I sort of expanded it to include rosemary and lemon, since I have fresh rosemary in my backyard, which has been blooming these beautiful flowers, and the lemon adds a nice acidity to counterbalance all of the other ingredients….

Matcha and cream roll cake

So I actually made this cake for my mom’s birthday, but I figured that the green color just made it perfect for St. Patrick’s and March, so I held off on posting it until then. The unique thing about this roll cake compared to other ones I have done in the past is that the…

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…

Passionfruit Souffle

Passionfruit is easily one of my favorite ingredients of all time. My dad has fond memories of eating a ton of them in Taiwan, mostly because they grow quite frequently there. For me, it is a reminder of my heritage and I just love the sweet-tart flavor of the pulp coupled with the crunch of…

Khanom buang: Thai street crepes

Khanom buang are Thai crepes, which can be either sweet or savory, and are typically found in stalls served as street food. The first time I ever heard about Thai street crepes was actually watching Iron Chef America, Battle Tamarind. The challenger, Hong Thaimee, was making these with her dessert, although she prepared a baked version….