Yay for CAKE...balls!

Not usually one to fall for fads, but I couldn't resist making these cute little cake balls.  My source of inspiration came from my sister Olivia, and her source?...Bakerella!  If you haven't checked out her blog (http://www.bakerella.com), it's totally worth it!  I have to admit, I even teared up when reading the entry where she assisted in a marriage proposal!

For those of you who don't know what cake balls are, it's just a cooled, sheet cake mixed with a tub of frosting.  You can use any combination of flavors you want...like red velvet & cream cheese frosting, strawberry & vanilla frosting.  I used chocolate fudge cake mix & chocolate frosting.  Then you roll them into little balls, freeze them for a bit, and dip them in melted chocolate.  Here are my cake balls pre-dressed:
The dipping in chocolate part got a little messy, but I got some good tips from Olivia.  Add a little vegetable oil to your melted chocolate to really thin it out and work fast! That chocolate can harden up pretty quick.  I used both milk chocolate & white chocolate bark.  Here are some of the toppings I used after the balls got their chocolate bath.


After I rolled them around in the toppings, they were set on wax paper to harden.  Then for a few of them, I went back and drizzled it with more chocolate.  For my first-time, I was pleased with how they tasted because the inside is soft like cake and not chocolate candy...even though it looks like a truffle.  My husband, who does not have a sweet tooth, really appreciated them!  Here they are!

Niu Rou Mein (Beef Noodle Soup)

My attempt to make beef noodle soup stemmed from a conversation I was having with some ladies at church who love making this dish.  I mentioned this to my best friend, Teresa, and she promptly sent me her mother's recipe for this classic bowl of Chinese noodles.  Thanks, Teresa!

Beef noodle soup has many variations: spicy, with or without certain vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, greens), soy sauce or beef broth base.  This particular recipe had a spicy, soy sauce base soup with carrots (I added tomatoes) and the all powerful spice STAR ANISE!  I hate the smell of star anise, but I added it because I knew it would really flavor the soup.  Edwin helped a lot with the cooking and here's our finished product...

We had a few friends over to try it out, and the overall consensus was that it was tasty but didn't really imitate the quality of the classic dish you would get at a Chinese restaurant.  I think most places use a beef-broth base instead of soy sauce.  And maybe most places use an actual tea infuser for the spices rather than a make-shift one from an emptied-out tea bag and a few staples!  Shhh, don't tell...

Roy's Hawaiian

Since I haven't posted in awhile, I decided to do a mega-update...so get ready for a string of entries!
I know that eating at a restaurant doesn't constitute actual cooking, but the experience was so memorable, I had to post about it!  This will probably sound more like a yelp entry.  Edwin and I went to Roy's Hawaiian, courtesy of a great wedding gift from our friend Kyle.  We wanted to try it in Hawaii but didn't get a chance, so we went to the one in downtown Austin.  It was an awesome time...mostly because of all the free food we got!  If you get the chance to go, I recommend sitting at the bar and chatting it up with the chef- you'll get the hook-ups!  We started the meal with free edamame (sprinkled with chili salt), free sushi rolls & free tuna sushi.  It was delicious.  

The pictures to follow will show the rest of our meal (yes, we are piggies):
*Starting from the top we have...
1. lobster-stuffed potstickers
2. sashimi sampler
3. butternut squash bisque w/ goat cheese & cranberries (*complimentary because our entrees took awhile)
4. trio fish sampler (salmon, ahi & butterfish)
5. surf n' turf (filet & shrimp)
6. grilled peaches a la mode w/ french toast (*complimentary because Edwin's shrimp was undercooked!)

Better Than DiGiorno's...but maybe not Totino's Party Pizza :)

I have forever liked pizza.  Back in the day, I would often be found feasting on Bagel Bites, Pizza Rolls, Hot Pockets...ok, so I guess I still do that.  But pizza ranks high among my favorite foods.  Edwin and I are always looking for good pizza places.  Austin does have a few.  Eastside Pies and Mandola's are probably our top picks, but if you know of any thin-crust pizza stops, let us know!

After college, I became slightly obsessed with making my own pizza.  It was largely because of a Trader Joe's store that opened not too far from where I lived in St. Louis.  Trader Joe's has the best pizza dough; it has herbs already pressed into it, and it's super cheap.  I also enjoyed making pizzas because it always gave me an opportunity to clean out my fridge.  It's so satisfying to use up that quarter of an onion or the last few leaves of spinach left in the bag.  

So last week as I was attempting to clean out the fridge, I decided that making a pizza would expedite that process.  Also, Edwin had brought home a large tub of fajita chicken & steak from his office.  Woo-hoo for Pappasito's leftovers!  I used regular pre-made pizza dough (kind of like Boboli) but got the thin-crust kind.  Then I topped it with red sauce, cheese, and the fajita meat (1/2 and 1/2).  After baking it on my pampered chef pizza stone (thanks, Olivia!) for a few minutes, I took it out and topped it with mushrooms, spinach, and a sprinkle more of cheese.  Then I stuck it back in for a few minutes.  Usually I dump all the toppings on at once before baking, but I think waiting to put the wet toppings on near the end in combination with the thin-crust dough, helped with preventing sogginess that might have otherwise arose.


We both thought the pizza was great
  ...especially paired with a glass of Target's white box wine!

Curry-not-in-a-Hurry

One time in college I made curry for my roommates and sat down next to my friend Alice.  I put my arm around her neck as she proceeded to squint her eyes and say, "Ew!  You smell like B.O!"  I reassured her that it was the smell from the curry that I just made.  She insisted it wasn't, so I gave myself a sniff to appease her.  Alice was right...

*Just a little vignette about curry! 

I've always enjoyed eating different types of curry- Thai, Indian, Japanese.  Last Monday I made Chinese curry with chicken, onions, potatoes, and carrots and of course, the ever-popular Golden Curry tablets!  What would one do without these little things?  My friend, Janel, didn't even know about these until recently and has always made hers straight from the curry powder!  Props to her!  

I tend to cook in huge quantities, so I made a gigantic batch of this stuff.  Cooking in huge quantities is also time consuming, and I thought we'd eat it all week, but really I just got tired of it after all the cooking.  I think I only had it twice this week.  Can you tell from the picture which bowl is Edwin's and which is mine?  He liked it enough and wound up eating 2 servings the first night!  His only suggestion was to use dark meat rather than white- the man likes his dark meat.  If you want any, I still have 4 servings in my freezer!

Later that night we went out for the free Chick-fil-a sandwiches and split one of those.  Why does everyone say you gain weight in your first year of marriage???

Honeymoon Noodles

Edwin and I got married this summer in Honolulu, Hawaii.  It was the perfect wedding and the perfect honeymoon.  At the end of the trip, he turned to me and told me the highlight of his trip was the bowl of saimin noodles he had in a little noodle shop in Kauai at the beginning of our trip; we made sure to stop there again before we headed back to reality.  :) 

I wasn't offended by his comment because I know how much this man LOVES soup noodles.  He is a 58-year old FOB trapped in a 28-year old ABC's body.  He could eat this dish day in and day out for the rest of his life.  So I was happy that he found a bowl of noodles that more than satisfied his old-man palate.

Upon returning from the honeymoon, I relayed this story to my sister Olivia, and told her that I was going to attempt to recreate this tantalizing dish!  My culinary expertise is limited (ok, non-existent), but I have always dreamed of cooking like a true chef.  As my older and wiser sister, she quickly recommended that I start a food blog to document the different dishes I would attempt to make.

So here we are now.

For those of you who don't know what saimin noodles are, you are not alone.  This was a foreign word to me before we went to Hawaii.  They are basically ramen noodles, but for those a little more skeptical, here's what wikipedia had to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saimin.

Here's my version!

Saimin noodles can be made with a variety of toppings, but in ours I included the following: bok choy, chopped ham, kamaboko (fish cake), shrimp, carrots, green onions, enoki (straw) mushrooms, chicken broth, and thin Soba noodles.  A couple weeks later, I tweaked the recipe after my friend Kyle recommended I add the Hon Dashi spice (essentially MSG straight up!); we also added some red chili powder.

Edwin's response?  "It's better than the one we had in Kauai!"
Yea baby!