Chinese Egg Rolls

Chinese New Year arrived quite early this year on Monday, January 23, 2012. I wasn’t prepared for it as I was still recovering from Oshogatsu (Japanese New Year’s) and dealing with life’s curve-balls.

I debated whether I would cook this year or not; whether I would write a 2012 Chinese New Year’s post.

Last year, I was highly motivated and made two dishes: Chinese – style egg rolls and Jai (or Buddha’s Delight), a traditional Chinese New Year dish.

Ultimately, this year, I decided not to cook (ordered two small dishes from our local Chinese restaurant), and instead, post the Chinese – style egg rolls that I never got around to sharing over the past year. (Sadly, I still have an entire archive of food that I’ve cooked, over 60 items, but haven’t shared.)

I asked my husband if he ate egg rolls growing-up, and he told me that he ate them occasionally at restaurants, but not at home. He said, “egg rolls are too much work”.

I completely agree.

Any food that requires wrapping up little bites of food in small individual flour or egg wrappers is WAY too labor intensive, and even more so if you have a lot of mouths to feed. In my opinion, gyoza and wontons (another post that’s been sitting on my “to do” list, but my taco wonton post is available here) also fall under this category.

However, last year, I was ambitious. I decided I was going to make egg rolls, in addition to Jai. Crazy? Most definitely.

Pictured above is my first attempt in 2011 at making Jai.

I scoured the Internet for a good egg roll recipe and I narrowed it down to one shared by Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen, specifically her mother’s recipe (usually can’t go wrong with a recipe you got from your Mom).

Side Bar:  My blog, by food blogger standards, is really one of a home cook archiving recipes and family history for her kids – my (unstyled and often rushed and occasionally unfocused) pictures and the contents (rambling) of my blog prove it. There are TONS of what I call, professional food bloggers. These are bloggers with photos of food that are “styled”, in focus, and taken with high grade DSLR’s (I sometimes use my iPhone – haha), they generate ad revenue from privately secured companies or through food blog community advertisers, and some even have online stores within their blog in which you can purchase cooking equipment or related supplies. Quite impressive, I must say. I don’t fall under that category. :) But when I’m looking for an authentic, tried and tested recipe, I scour the Internet for professional foodies. Steamy Kitchen is one such blogger, recipe developer, cook book author and professional columnist.

Below, I share with you Jaden’s mother’s recipe that I found on her blog. I admit the prep-work seemed labor intensive but perhaps this was because I’d never made Chinese egg rolls before (learning curve etc.). They were, however, pretty darn tasty. Although I only made them the one time last year, I would certainly make them again and I would definitely recommend them.

Unfortunately, my favorite egg rolls are still those that we order at a local Vietnamese restaurant, and perhaps it’s unfair to compare Chinese and Vietnamese egg rolls (who am I to know the difference as a Japanese-American girl who grew-up with Japanese style egg rolls – yet another post for the future), but those crispy little egg rolls from our local Vietnamese restaurant are nonetheless still my favorite. And in all honesty, it just might be my favorite because I’d much rather make a two minute phone call to place an order for six egg rolls and take 10 minutes to go pick them up, versus making them myself at home.

Does that make me horribly lazy? Maybe. Maybe not.

Steamy Kitchen Chinese Egg Rolls

(Click here for original recipe post.)

for assembling egg rolls:

• 50 Spring/Egg Roll Wrappers (about 2 packages), defrosted and unopened (Note: defrost at room temperature for 45 minutes or in the refrigerator overnight)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (or flour) mixed with ¼ cup of cool water
• Oil, for frying

for the meat filling:

• 1 pound ground pork (Jaden points out that any time of meat can be used: ground turkey, shrimp, Chinese sausage, crawfish etc.)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• freshly ground black pepper

for the vegetable portion of the filling:

• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, very finely minced
• ½ head of cabbage (about 11 ounces)
• 3 carrots, shredded
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I used “nama shoga” (raw ginger) from the tube)
• 10 fresh shiitake mushrooms (I used reconstituted dried mushrooms), stems discarded
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (I used canola)
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Make filling. Combine all ingredients for meat filling. Marinate 10 minutes and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, make vegetable filling: shred cabbage and carrots using a food processor (or by hand). Slice shiitake mushrooms into thin strips or dice in pulse mode in food processor (I chose the latter).

3. In large pan (or wok), heat oil and cook pork until browned (2-3 minutes). Push pork to one side of pan, add garlic, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and ginger. Stir-fry (1 minute) until vegetables are tender.

4. Add Chinese rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, salt, sesame oil and black pepper to the pan. Stir fry for another minute. Scoop out the filling onto a large baking pan, spread it out, and allow this to cool. Jaden recommends propping up the pan to allow all the juices to accumulate at one end to be discarded. Allow it to cool 15 minutes.

5. Use paper towels to gently blot the filling to remove excess juice and/or oils.

6. While assembling the egg rolls, keep the wrappers covered with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out. (Do the same for egg rolls you’ve already assembled.) Use only 1 heaping tablespoon of filling per wrapper. Don’t overstuff the wrappers because these egg rolls are meant to be long and skinny.

NOTE: For detailed instructions on how to wrap these, please visit the Steamy Kitchen site. Below is an overview of how I wrapped my egg rolls, per Jaden’s instructions. Key points: a) Don’t over fill the egg roll. b) Roll them tightly because any extra loose space will allow oil to seep in while frying, and will result in an oily/greasy egg roll. c) The goal is to make thin and long tightly rolled egg rolls. (Mine didn’t exactly turn out that way. Mine were more fat and stout.)

7. AGAIN, keep all unfired egg rolls tightly covered under plastic wrap so that they do not dry out. If stacking egg rolls, Jaden recommends using parchment paper to separate each stack of egg rolls to prevent them from sticking. Refrigerate up to 4 hours until ready to fry or freeze.

8. Fill pot with 2 inches of cooking oil. Heat the oil to 350°F. Gently place the egg rolls (4 to 6 at a time) into the oil, turn occasionally. Fry for about 1 1/2 minutes until golden. Place on wire rack to drain and cool. For frozen egg rolls, do not defrost. Add them to oil and cook for about 3 minutes.

Despite my aversion to cooking on Monday (Chinese New Year), I certainly made the effort to teach Bebe E about her half-Chinese heritage. Sort of. Here are some of my efforts:

∞ We read Ni Hao Kai Lan: “Happy Chinese New Year, Kai-lan!”

∞ We read “The Runaway Wok”; A Chinese New Year Tale.

∞ We taught her, “Happy Chinese New Year” in English.

∞ We taught her, “Gung Hay Fat Choi” in Cantonese.

∞ I suggested that Bebe E wear the color red on Chinese New Year because it symbolizes happiness and all good things celebratory – but she didn’t want to.

∞ I asked her if she would like to make lanterns like the ones that Ho-Ho and Tolee (that would be the monkey and koala, respectively, in her Ni Hao Kai Lan book) hung in the story. She said, “Yes, let’s do dat!” So I cut out lanterns from red paper and let her decorate them by stamping, gluing little Elmo, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie cut-outs, and coloring on them. I punched holes at the top and strung pink ribbon through them so that they would hang like little lanterns. She had a blast. So did I. Then we hung them up, just like Ho-Ho and Tolee!

∞ Then I asked her if she would like to go buy Chinese take-out with me so that we could eat a Chinese New Year feast, just like Kai-lan and her friends, and again she said, “OK! Yes, let’s do dat Mommy!” But it was raining, and we just got over our colds (it took us three weeks to get better) so Bebe Dada didn’t want us out in the cold and convinced us to stay home while he picked-up our food. Bebe E was disappointed at first, but quickly took to making Chinese New Year lanterns again and forgot about our errand.

∞ We ate pan-fried noodles with chicken, fish with black bean sauce, and frozen mini-Korean pork and vegetable dumplings that I happened to have in the freezer (ok, this last item doesn’t quite fit but they were dumplings nonetheless). It was a modest dinner for the two-and-a-half of us, but we ended-up with leftovers anyway.

The day after Chinese New Year, I asked Bebe E what she would like to eat for lunch.She said, “Let’s eat tacos! And eat them outside.” I said, “OK!” So we went out. On our walk from the parking lot to Baja Fresh, she said to me, “Mommy, I don’t want to eat Chinese food.” I laughed and said, “We’re not eating Chinese food, silly goose. We already ate our Chinese New Year “feast” last night. Besides, I thought you said you wanted to eat tacos, because we’re going to Baja Fresh to get tacos.” She said, “Ok! I want que-ss-dee-ah.”

Good thing we’re not getting together with our family for Chinese New Year just yet, so that Bebe E can get in the mood for Chinese food again… and get over tacos… or que-ss-dee-ahs.

After we ate our little Baja Fresh lunch, Bebe E threw coins in the fountain. I told her she had to make a wish when she threw her penny in. She told me, “I’m gonna say ‘happy birthday’ for you Mommy.” So incredibly sweet. (My birthday passed a while ago but the fact that she made a wish for me was adorable. ♥ She melts my heart.)

I mentioned to Bebe E that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. She looked at me and gave me a blank look.

I’m not well-versed on the Chinese zodiac either, and my knowledge is primarily limited to the fact that I know what my sign is. So I thought I’d be a nerd again and do a little research on the Year of the Dragon.

It turns out, the zodiac begins with the year of the rat and is based on a 12-year cycle.

1. Rat
2. Ox
3. Tiger
4. Rabbit
5. Dragon
6. Snake
7. Horse
8. Goat
9. Monkey
10. Rooster
11. Dog
12. Boar (in Japan it’s boar, but pig in China)

Each zodiac sign has specific characteristics and it is believed that one takes on the characteristics of the sign under which he/she was born, much in the same way that astrology signs are often thought to define one’s personality.

So I decided that every year, in my Chinese New Year post, I’ll share the characteristics of that year’s sign. (I need to go back and add this to my last year’s Chinese New Year post so I don’t have to wait 11 years to write about the rabbit…)

Year of the Dragon: 

(Sources: Wikipedia and About.com)

♣ Born (per Gregorian calendar): 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012

♣ Characteristics: Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, eccentric, intellectual, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, and loyal. Can be tactless, arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent, impetuous, and brash.

♣ Personality traits: Stubborn, energetic, gregarious, trust-worthy, and sensitive.

♣ Motto: “I reign!”

♣ Color: Red

♣ Compatible signs: Monkeys, Rats.

♣ Avoid: Those born in Year of the Dog.

♣ Good career choices: Priest, Artist, Politician.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Have a great Year of the Dragon!

Judy

Tags: Chinese egg rolls, pork, Chinese New Year, year of the dragon, Chinese zodiac, egg roll filling ideas, jai

Kuromame * Sweet Black Soy Beans

明けましておめでとう！

Akemashite Omedetou!

Translation: Happy New Year!

A few years ago, I vowed to learn how to make osechi ryori, or traditional Japanese New Year’s food. For as long as I can remember, every year, my Mom would make several different types of osechi ryori for our family to eat on New Year’s Day. Today, this is still true, to a certain extent, but recently I’ve been trying to help her by making a dish or two. Last year, I made one easy-peasy dish, koya dofu, and my Mom taught me how to make ozoni – a traditional New Year’s mochi (rice cake) soup. This year, I made two dishes, koya dofu and kuromame, or sweet black soy beans.

I never liked kuromame growing up.

I mentioned in my 2011 oshogatsu (New Year’s) post that I would, on a good day, force myself to eat maybe one or two beans, just to satisfy the oshogatsu (New Years) requirement that eating kuromame was good for your health and that eating a bean would promise good health for the year. (Never mind that I ate a bunch and started the New Year with a cold….)

2012 is Year of the Dragon

It turns out, that when you cook something, you’re more likely to eat it. This year, I ate a good handful of kuromame, with a bean count close to 15. Crazy, isn’t it? I tried to feed Bebe E a bean and she put it in her mouth but she spit it out. I think it was likely the texture of the kuromame since she seems to have a sweet tooth. Perhaps one day, like me, she will actually eat a handful of kuromame and enjoy the sweet and slightly savory soy bean. Perhaps if she cooked some herself one day, she will change her mind, as I did.

As usual, our oshogatsu celebration was one filled with lots of family, good laughs, and of course, delicious food. In my 2011 oshogatsu post, I listed the traditional food that we eat, along with the meaning behind each type of food. Therefore, I’ll limit my 2012 oshogatsu post by simply sharing some photos. :)

Our oshogatsu spread on our main dining table. There is a second 6′ table with food, as well as a small table for dessert and snacks. :0)
Lots of mouths to feed = lots of food. Love it!!! 

This year, my Mom made two types of sushi rice – gomoku sushi rice (large photo on left) and inari sushi (top right photo). We ordered are usual sushi platters from our local Japanese market.

My Mom and Auntie Sumiko usually make a new dish each year so that our oshogatsu spread is slightly different each year. One of my new favorites was the konbu (seaweed) and surume  (dried squid) featured in the large photo on the left. I also really enjoyed the teriyaki flavored ika (squid) featured in the upper right corner. Finally, because my Mom couldn’t find kabu, or Japanese turnips, at any of the local markets she couldn’t’ make her traditional kabu and ninjin (carrot) sunomono. So instead, she made her shredded diakon and ninjin sunonomo. However, she spoils me because she made kabu sunomono for me last week when we stayed at my parent’s house while Bebe Dada travelled! Love my Mommy. ♥

Even more food: My Dad makes tamagoyaki and BBQ’s two types of chicken for us: teriyaki and salt & pepper flavors – always grilled to perfection. My Auntie Sumiko made a HUGE pot of oden for us and it was SO good! We also had stone crab claws, tsukemono, our regular nimono, kazunoko, koya dofu, and we also had my favorite charsiu pork buns. In the upper left hand corner there is a roll that I really enjoyed: pickled daikon radish wrapped around a piece of cucumber and salmon.

Judy’s 2012 Oshogatsu Plate.
Last year, I ended-up with the small plate. This year, I sought out the BIG plate and Mom had them on the back table where most people weren’t looking! I snagged my BIG plate and loaded up!  As you can see from my plate, there are several yummy items that my photos above didn’t capture. :) I must say, I’ve definitely grown to appreciate osechi ryori with age.

* * * * * * * * 

It turns out that cooking between Christmas and New Year’s is a lot more challenging than I expected, primarily because we were so busy and I barely had time to prep. In a nutshell:

• we celebrated one special birthday;
• ate a delicious dim sum meal with family,
• saw the Rose Parade Floats being decorated in Pasadena;
• dined with good friends;
• enjoyed a private movie screening of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with just 6 of my dear friends in a room all to ourselves thanks to N & N;
• danced at Club Ni-San-Ni (aka Pepe’s house) with all the little kids (Bebe E claims she loves parties now);
• saw extended family from Down Under;
• I burned a whole pot of zenzai because I fell asleep – lucky the smoke alarm didn’t go off & lucky that Bebe Dada has a better nose than I do, even when he’s asleep!
• made kuromame for the first time and almost burned the kuromame too but luckily didn’t have to start over on that dish;
• added over 400 miles on our car driving back and forth within a 55 mile radius of our home;
• loved every minute of our holidays –  it was a fabulous holiday season!!!

Then Big Onechan caught a cold. Then Bebe E caught a cold. Then I caught a cold. Then Bebe Dada caught a cold. Everyone is better now with the exception that Bebe E and I are still recovering after a few minor relapses. Thanks, Mom & Dad for looking after me and watching your grand daughter while I was sick and recuperating at your house while hubby was traveling. ♥

Kuromame: Black Soy Beans

Why did I offer to make kuromame this year?

I’m not really sure. I think it’s because I was at Marukai a few months ago and I came across a pack of black soy beans on sale and bought them. Until then, I believed that kuromame was simply black beans, not black SOY beans. I thought it would be interesting to try and cook them, especially since it’s one of my Mom’s favorite dishes. Never mind the fact that I didn’t like them! I’m a good sport. :) When I told my Mom I would like to help her by making kuromame, she was SO grateful. Now I know why.

Making kuromame requires one to keep an eye on the stove, stirring the beans occasionally, and simmering them for 3 to 4 hours.

What I learned from a friend: use a crock pot! Next year, I’ll try crock pot kuromame.

Even before the black soy beans go into the pot to simmer, they need to be rinsed and then soaked for 24 hours! The beans require a lot of attention – they are high maintenance.

Below is the recipe my Mom swears by, shared by a friend of hers in Japan, Matsumoto-san.

Kuromame

• 2 cups kuromame (dried black soy beans)
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
• Water

TIP: When buying your dried black soy beans, make sure you select the beans that are LARGE and ROUND. I used a pack of kuromame that I bought on sale, and another package that my Mom had on hand. Mine were small and oval shaped – these didn’t turn out looking so great after I cooked them. The larger round kuromame that my Mom purchased were much better looking when cooked.

1. Wash beans four (4) times – rinse and drain.

2. Soak beans in 10 cups of water for 24 hours. To soak beans, the ratio of water to beans is 1:5. While my Mom suggested that I boil the beans in the water in which they were soaking, I drained the beans and added 10 cups of fresh water to a large stock pot.

3. On high heat, bring beans to boil. Then reduce heat to low and skim residue removing any aku (froth).

4. Add 1/2 cup of cold water.

5. Cook kuromame for 3 to 4 hours on low heat until beans are tender. At all times there should be 3 centimeters of water above the surface of the beans. Continue to add cold water to the beans as needed.

MISTAKE:
I set the timer for every 30 minutes to stir the beans and check on the water level in the pot. At the same time, I was making homemade zenzai so it was important to keep an eye on those beans too. Unfortunately, with our busy schedule, I didn’t start making the beans until 9 PM on the 30th, knowing we had plans to be out on the 31st. Well, I was so exhausted that I missed the 11 PM alarm – completely slept through it – and an hour later Bebe Dada (who also fell asleep), jumped off the sofa yelling, “I SMELL SOMETHING BURNING!!!” Sadly, I was so tired, I didn’t even smell the burnt beans. Thanks goodness for my husband else we would have had a fire on our hands! Homemade zenzai #1 – went in the trash. On the way to our New Year’s Eve party I bought another pack of azuki beans and soaked them at the party. Then I went home and boiled them. Luckily, the kuromame pot had more water and was unscathed and obediently simmering away as it should.

NOTE: I learned from a friend that kuromame can be cooked in a slow cooker. Why didn’t I think of that!?! Next year, kuromame will be a breeze to make! If you have a slow cooker – use it, rather than attempting to cook the beans on the stove. I admit, making kuromame is a lot of work because it needs constant attention.

6. When beans are tender, add 1/2 cup of sugar and cook for 7 to 8 minutes.

7. Next, add remaining sugar and cook for another 5 minutes. Add shoyu (soy sauce), then turn off heat. Kuromame is now done!

My Mom and Auntie Sumiko praised my hard work and success on my first attempt at making kuromame… Arigatou! I am SO relieved I didn’t burn it! I told them about the slow cooker technique and offered to make kuromame using this method next year. My Mom especially was extremely happy that I took these beans off of her hands.

* * * * * * * *

Aside from enjoying really great food on Oshogatsu, we had a lot of fun too. The photos below are compliments of my bro-inlaw, Hideki Ueha Photography. His talent is showcased on Flickr. Follow this link to view some of his amazing photography of nature, birds, Rose Parade floats, and more!

Photo compliments of Hideki Ueha.
I don’t know what kids love about balloons but Bebe E really enjoys them. For her entertainment, we had the guys blow-up balloons while they were watching football. :)

I created a collage of what was the highlight of our Oshogatsu entertainment using my bro-inlaw’s photos.
All photos compliments of Hideki Ueha.

Hideki brought over a gift that he bought for my nephew – a Rocket Launcher, for ages 16 and up. My nephew is by no means close to being 16! While we chided Hideki for getting such an age-inapproriate and seemingly dangerous toy… we were all eager to try it. :) You’d be surprised that I actually had a pretty decent score. It’s all in the form, baby – look at those bent knees!  That’s my brother in the center photo – he had the flying eagle arm technique. I’m certain he got the most air off the ground but by no means did he have the highest score. Even Bebe E and my nephew had great form. By far, my favorite facial expression was that of Masanobu’s. Oops. Hope you don’t mind that you’re featured on my blog! ♥ If you’re wondering, my husband timed each of our rocket launches from take-off to landing on his iPhone stopwatch. I know… we’re clearly a little bit too competitive!

Happy New Year!

XOXO

Judy

Tags: black soy beans, Japanese New Year's Food, kuromame, osechi ryori, sweet soy beans

Beef Tenderloin Roast

Happy New Year!

Thank you all for your friendship, love, kind words, encouragement, delicious food and good company!

May you all enjoy a healthy, prosperous and happy 2012!

* * * * * * * *

Soooooo….. Despite my comments regarding beef in my last post for 2011, I ended up cooking a rather LARGE piece of red meat for my family’s Christmas lunch….

….And then, Christmas came and went in a flash.

The days that immediately follow Christmas always feel slightly melancholy.

♥ Holiday music no longer plays on KOST 103.5 FM.
I love holiday music on the radio and I get excited when I first hear it playing mid-November, but always dread December 26th when I know it will cease to air. Sure enough, we’re driving on the 26th and no holiday music. On New Year’s Eve, Bebe Dada says, “What happened to the holiday music?” Ummm…..

♥ All the prettily wrapped presents are opened.
The excitement and anticipation of the kids opening presents that they had been looking forward to the weeks and days leading up to Christmas – comes and goes. Fortunately, as parents, we enjoy watching them play and enjoy the gifts they’ve received from family, friends and of course, good ol’ Santa, for some time even after the holiday has passed.

♥ The joy of planning our holiday meal(s) and the anticipation of feasting are over.
Despite the fact that I wasn’t looking forward to cooking this holiday season (mild case of cooking burn out), I enjoyed it nonetheless because I like feeding our family and it makes me happy when they in turn are happy eating the food I cook. Fortunately, the week after Christmas, we celebrate Japanese New Year with even more delicious gourmet osechi ryori (Japanese New Year’s food). I enjoy talking to my Mom about what I can help her to make during the week between Christmas and the 31st. I’ve vowed to learn a new dish each year and in 2011 I made _ _ _ _ _.  Post forthcoming!

While I’m sad that Christmas came and went in a whirlwind of activity, it was nothing less than spectacular.

* * * * * * * *

Parenthood

This was Bebe E’s first Christmas where she could fully understand some of our family traditions, talk with Santa at the mall, “write” Santa a letter, learn and sing holiday music, decorate the tree, make holiday cookies AND vocalize all that was magical to her. She even left out a cookie for Santa that she decorated herself! On Christmas morning when she discovered the empty plate that Santa left on one of her big presents, her expression was priceless. With wide eyes she whispered, “Santa ate cookie!”

This is Bebe E’s sugar cookie gingerbread man that she cut-out all by herself. His arms and legs are a little stubby but he was absolutely perfect. She then decorated this special cookie all by herself, with sprinkles (which she loves) just for Santa.

Bebe E was intrigued to find that Santa left her a ‘thank you’ card atop the empty cookie plate. He thanked her for the cookie, reminded her to listen to her Mommy, Daddy, and Nene (Big Onechan) and be a good girl. He hoped that she would like the presents that he left for her. :)

As expected, Bebe E was extremely surprised to find that Santa left presents for her under the tree, but she was even more intrigued to discover that the stockings weren’t hanging from the fireplace as they had been on Christmas Eve. She actually noticed this before she noticed the many presents Santa left under the tree. She said, “Where stockings, Mommy?” I said, “I think Santa might have moved the stockings to the foot of the fireplace because they are too heavy?!?”

Bebe E is able to recognize our names on the stockings by the first letter of each of our names. She brought us our stockings and then quickly looked inside her own stocking. The fact that Santa filled her stocking with little goodies made her giddy. Had we left her alone at that point, she would have spent the entire day happily playing with each of the little goodies in her stocking. We had to encourage her to move on to some of the presents Santa brought.

As a mother, it gave me so much joy to share many exciting Christmas “firsts” with Bebe E in 2011. I keep telling myself over and over that this has got to be the best age! I wish she wouldn’t grow up so fast….

* * * * * * * *

Meaning of Christmas

My husband, who is sometimes in a grinch-y mood during the holiday season because of the commercialism of Christmas, annually complains of  the lost message of Christmas and overcrowded malls.  Fortunately for him, he wasn’t subjected to entering a mall once this month, given I enjoy doing our shopping, not to mention the wrapping too. It’s a good thing he met me. On several occasions he thanked me for “taking care of Christmas”.

Around 11:00 PM on Christmas Eve when I was still prepping food for our lunch the next day, trying to bake cookies (keyword “trying” as there is still dough that I had to freeze), and wrapping still more presents, my husband commented on my excitement about Christmas and asked me why his wife, who grew up Buddhist, loves this holiday so much.

Well, that’s easy.

I have great memories of my childhood Christmases and I would love for Bebe E to feel the same way about her childhood when she looks back as an adult.

Without delving into an analysis of religion and Christmas, there are millions of non-Christian families across the world who celebrate Christmas as a cultural and family tradition (yes, I Googled). For many, to celebrate the birth of Christ is wonderful. For others, perhaps Christmas is less religious, and more about family tradition? My paternal grandparents, who were also Buddhist, annually celebrated Christmas with a tree, a big family dinner and presents. Gift giving and the celebration of Winter Solstice around December 21st pre-date the religious celebration of Christmas which some believe were “merged” to celebrate the solstice, the sun, and the birth of the son of God. (See National Geographic article here.)

Perhaps the meaning of Christmas does not necessarily mean the same for each of us, and it doesn’t have to. It’s ok if it doesn’t. To me, what is important is love, friendship, giving thanks, family, friends, warm fuzzies and the sharing of good food.

* * * * * * * *

Childhood to Present, in a Nutshell

What I remember most about my childhood Christmases is the excitement on Christmas eve about opening presents first thing in the morning and waking up to a stocking filled with little goodies. Then there was the fact that my grandparents and Auntie would come over mid-morning to spend Christmas day with us. We would all eat a big turkey lunch along with some Japanese food, I would play with my family and it would simply, feel like Christmas should. I have many good memories of my childhood Christmases. It was magical, gave me lots of warm fuzzies and how we celebrated Christmas was filled with tradition. As a parent, all I want to do is recreate that same magic, warmth, love and tradition.

By Christmas morning, despite Bebe Dada’s grinch-y-ness, he came around and happily joined me among the ranks of parents who take joy in the simple things in life, and the little things that make our children happy.

Little Prin-Prin E (she calls her princesses, “prin-prin”), dressed in her holiday dress with prin-prin accessories, sans princess gown. She was ready to party at Bachan and Jichan’s house.

Today, we still celebrate Christmas day with my parents and my brother’s family and we still enjoy a fabulous lunch together. One of the best things about our Christmases now, is that we share them with our dearest friends the Tree Village family. When I was in 6th or 7th grade, my grandparents moved to Hiroshima, Japan to care for my ailing great grandparents and help them with their family business. Our Christmases just weren’t the same after that. If she wasn’t volunteering, my Auntie would still join us for Christmas lunch occasionally, but my brother and I primarily celebrated Christmas with my parents. It was a cozy affair with the four of us. Eventually, my parents began inviting the Tree Village family to join us for Christmas lunch, as they too were a family of four with most all their relatives in Japan.

A new tradition was born.

From then on, we’ve celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year’s with our dear Tree Village family. My Auntie and Uncle are closer to me than any blood relative could possibly be. Their daughter is my little sister – she was even one of my bridesmaids. Their son, despite the fact that I already have a wonderful younger brother, is my little brother. No major family event is celebrated without them. They’re our family.

After I met my husband, yet another Christmas tradition was born – - – to celebrate Christmas Eve with my husband’s family. My husband has a large family and it’s always nice during the holidays to be amongst them, especially with all the kids. Having grown up with my parents and my brother, our family of four was cozy, yet in my “hope-list-of-sorts” (a post for another day) I always hoped to marry into a larger family, to experience what that was like. Fortunately, my husband is one of several siblings and our Christmas Eve together is just that, a large family celebration and it’s wonderful. Unfortunately, this year my in-laws were under the weather so we postponed our traditional Eve dinner. We’re looking forward to when we can all get together.

Because we no longer had plans for Christmas Eve… all I can say is, “thank goodness for Asian restaurants open for business on Eve”, because my husband, Bebe E and I strolled down to a new Vietnamese restaurant and enjoyed pho (noodles) and egg rolls, along with our complimentary Vietnamese ice coffee and Thai ice teas. It was the perfect break from my baking and cooking and wrapping. The food was good, but the Thai ice tea didn’t work too well for me – should have known better not to drink it since I can’t handle caffeine. Oops – - – 3 hours of sleep on Christmas Eve was rough the next day!

Despite my lack of sleep, Christmas 2011 was fabulous! We ended our Christmas day at my sister-in-law’s parents’ home for a delicious shabu-shabu dinner. We’ve been fortunate to enjoy Christmas day dinner with them the past few years and I must say, after a heavy lunch of good ol’ traditional mashed potatoes, creamed corn, and holiday meats… there’s no better way than to end the day with a traditional Japanese shabu-shabu hot pot for dinner. I love my Japanese food!

Many thanks to all of our family and friends for good food, good company, and many thoughtful gifts. Thank you for making our Christmas so special!

* * * * * * * *

FINALLY. About the beef….

I am still a carnivore and I enjoy an excellent piece of well-cooked red meat. Just because I didn’t eat much beef this past year, doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t enjoy it for Christmas!  After contemplating fish as our main dish, I decided we still needed a beef dish, in addition to our Honey Baked Ham and turkey meatloaf. I admit that I didn’t enjoy handling a 7.5 pound large piece of raw beef, but it was well worth the effort.

The reason why I broke our Christmas prime rib tradition this year, is because I just didn’t have enough time on Christmas morning to roast a prime rib for 4 hours. After much research, I found that the beef tenderloin required less cooking time and was par with our favorite prime rib.

I’d never cooked a beef tenderloin so I did my research. A few years ago I saw an episode of Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” where he trimmed a large beef tenderloin and made filet mignon medallions. I immediately found that episode and watched the video clip online. Gotta love Food Network! I highly recommend watching Alton’s video as an introduction to PSMO, or beef tenderloin.

There is no recipe for the beef tenderloin roast that I made for Christmas 2011. I used the primary ingredients that I use for my prime rib, and winged it. I did, however, do quite a bit of research prior to cooking this expensive and very large cut of meat. The following is a summary of what I learned from Alton Brown (AB) and the nice elderly gentleman (EG) at Costco who was standing over the beef tenderloin roasts at the same time I was. As you might have guessed, I ended-up talking with this gentleman for over 20 minutes about tenderloin. It was quite an educational conversation.

What I Learned about Beef Tenderloin

♦ Tenderloin is known as “PSMO”, in beef-speak, and refers to beef tenderloin with muscle chain attached as well as the fat. (AB)

♦ Each cow has 2 PSMO’s to offer, located beneath the ribcage . (AB)

♦ The “chain” should be removed from the beef tenderloin. It can be saved and frozen for use in another dish. (AB)
♦ Costco sells PSMO’s.

♦ The butcher at Costco will tell you that the untrimmed tenderloins are more tender and cost less than the trimmed tenderloins.

♦ One serving of tenderloin per person is approximately 8 ounces. (EG)

♦ If a tenderloin is 5 pounds, it will feed approximately 10 people (16 ounces per pound => feeds 2 people per pound). (EG)

♦ The tenderloin is a great piece of meat because it satisfies rare, to medium-rare, to well-done beef eaters alike. To achieve, this, cook the center to medium rare, and the ends of your tenderloin will be perfectly well-done, but not over-done. (EG)

♦ Stick the meat thermometer at the end of the tenderloin, parallel to the meat. Don’t stick it in perpendicular to the meat because you won’t get an accurate temperature reading. (EG)

♦ The beef will cook 5° more than the temperature at which you pull it off the heat; therefore, remove from heat at 125° F and you’ll have a perfectly cooked medium-rare tenderloin at 130°F. (EG)

♦ Grilling a 5 LB tenderloin on the BBQ works well. (EG does this annually because his wife usually has other meats cooking in the oven.) It’s important to use the meat thermometer even when you’re grilling the meat on the BBQ. (EG)

♦ Don’t trim the fat off the tenderloin. This adds flavor. The reason why filet mignon’s are often wrapped in bacon is because there is very little fat on the cut of a filet. (EG) I didn’t trim the fat off the tenderloin, but I wrapped it in bacon anyway. :)

♦ Trim all the “silver skin” off  the tenderloin. This is the white, silvery-blue colored connective tissue found along the tenderloin. When cooked, this connective tissue will “curl-up” and get very tough. It’s inedible. Better to remove it. (AB & EG)

♦ There is a skinny “tail” on one end of the tenderloin. Fold this under the tenderloin and tie it up with butcher’s twine. (AB) Or, cut it off, freeze it  and save it for another meal. (EG)

Beef Tenderloin Roast

serves approximately 14 to 16 people

ingredients:

• 7.5 pound beef tenderloin, untrimmed
• 1 pound of bacon
• 6 to 7 cloves of garlic
• 8 to 10 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• Ground thyme (Supplement with fresh thyme, if you have some on hand. I didn’t, and dried works fine.)
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Sea salt
• Olive oil
• 3 to 4 pats of unsalted butter
• 2, 15 ounce cans of beef broth

tools:

• Digital meat thermometer (I have a remote digital thermometer and it’s one of the best investment I made 10 years ago). Tip: be sure to remove the batteries when you store the unit.
• Baster (Stainless baster came with the roasting pan set.)
• Butcher’s twine
• Roasting pan, with rack and meat forks (Yet another wonderful investment. Can’t go wrong with Calphalon)

method:

1. Watch Alton Brown’s video on how to trim a PSMO. Trim the tenderloin. It was surprisingly easy, considering it was my first time. I didn’t enjoy handling the meat but it was worth it.

2. Remove tenderloin from the refrigerator at least 2 to 3 hours prior to placing it in the oven. It’s important to bring the meat to almost room temperature, prior to roasting. This was a “MUST DO”, according to Alton Brown.

3. Pre-heat your oven to 350° F. (NOTE: There were several recipes utilizing varying temperatures from 425 to 400 to 375. I went with a lower temperature for longer – low and slow.)

4. Lay 5 to 6 pieces of butchers twine along your workspace, perpendicular to the meat, for the length of the meat. You can also use a criss-cross pattern with one long piece of butchers twine, which is what I had to do because the butcher didn’t give me enough twine.

5. Gently make small slits in the tenderloin and place rough chopped garlic pieces within the slit. Be careful, as the tenderloin is extremely tender and the meat will quickly “fall apart”, so to speak. FOLD the skinny tail-end of the tenderloin under the meat to create a “thick” end, similar to the shape of the rest of the tenderloin.

6. Drizzle with olive oil. Generously season with freshly ground black pepper, sea salt, and a lot of ground thyme. Add fresh thyme if available.

7. Lay fresh rosemary sprigs along the tenderloin.

8. Wrap bacon slices on top of the tenderloin, covering the entire top of the meat.

9. Tie tenderloin using butcher’s twine. Drizzle a little bit more olive on top. Lay a few pats of butter on top.

10. Place the roast in the oven.  Periodically, BASTE the roast using the beef broth. Eventually, use both cans of the beef broth. Roast until the center reaches 125° F. The time will vary, depending on your oven. It took approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours to roast, but please, don’t attempt to roast your tenderloin according to time!

11. As with all meats, allow your meat to “rest” outside of the oven, un-carved, for about 1/2 an hour. Allowing the meat to rest allows all the juices to absorb back into the meat, creating a juicy, tender piece of meat for your enjoyment!

12. Prior to serving, remove butcher’s twine, slice to desired thickness and enjoy!

I hope that everyone enjoyed a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and a joyous holiday season.

Bon Apetit,

Judy

Tags: Alton Brown, beef, beef tenderloin cooking tips, beef tenderloin roast, christmas lunch, Costco beef tenderloin, delicious gourmet, happy new year, holiday meat, how to trim beef tenderloin, japanese new year, PSMO

Baked Brie with Honey

The holiday season is in full swing!

Earlier last week I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that I needed to do, yet all-in-all it’s been great. Most all of our Christmas shopping is now done, presents are wrapped and under our decorated tree. Christmas cards have been sent. Bebe E “wrote” her letter to Santa and even visited him and his elves (twice) at South Coast Plaza. She told Santa she wants a bicycle (a.k.a. tricycle) and a puppy. She also told Santa, “I good girl.” Heh-heh-heh. Because all little children know that Santa only brings gifts to good little girls and boys! Oh, I should mention that, according to my Mom, I never wanted to visit with Santa because I was scared of him. LOL. Hence, I have no pictures of me with Santa…

Not much else to do this week before Christmas other than to think about our menu for my family’s Christmas lunch and later this week we’re planning to make a few different types of cookies. Bebe E is excited about decorating them!

I love the holiday season!

Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised with a phone call from Pepe, one of my besties (1 of the 10 WLA girls I grew up with) that I hadn’t seen in MONTHS, letting me know she was in the area shopping and whether I was available to meet for lunch at Nordie’s Cafe. Who else but a bestie would call to ask if  we could have lunch at Nordstroms. “Of course I am available!” Due to our various calendars, our gang doesn’t get together to celebrate Christmas until January so it was such a treat to see one of my besties. ♥

Last night we had the pleasure of enjoying “Sounds of Christmas”, a holiday concert performed by The All American Boys Chorus. My husband’s dear friend is a board member with a son who is an alumnus of the Chorus. He kindly extended an invitation to us and the concert turned out to be a wonderful way to celebrate this holiday season. We all enjoyed the singing, and it was a joy to watch Bebe E happily dance to the music in her seat and clap her hands. Jingle Bells and Here Comes Santa Claus are her two favorites. She can even sing a few of the words which makes the music all the more merry. What a difference a year makes! It was only a year ago that she was still a little baby, using baby words and dancing, but unable to sing a tune and now she tells me what her favorite songs are!

Unfortunately, despite the fact that I’m enjoying this holiday season, I don’t feel like cooking for our Christmas lunch! I’m looking forward to baking (and eating) cookies, but oddly, I’m feeling like I just want to eat a Christmas feast, without having to cook… In other words I wish someone else would cook! :) There’s nothing wrong with that, is there? I’m usually in charge of the prime rib. That big guy below is what I made last year for Christmas, and every year before that for the past 10 years, at least. These days, I only occasionally cook beef at home and I just can’t motivate myself to make a huge prime rib this year! I’d rather deep-fry a whole turkey!

Alas, there are members of our family that love red meat but I’ve actually been thinking of making a pot roast in my slow-cooker or some other beef dish that is smaller, requires less handling, and can cook overnight so I don’t need to wake up at 4 AM to turn on the oven. I’m afraid that my past life as an ovo-lacto-vegetarian is influencing my negativity towards prime rib. While it was only a year ago that I professed my love for beef and embraced my inner carnivore, in 2011 I started eating less red meat, preferring fish over chicken or beef. Beef rarely makes an appearance on our dinner table these days… That said, what will I make for our Christmas lunch, I have NO idea!

What I do know, is that I will once again make Ina Garten’s very simple baked brie with honey as an appetizer. I made this for Thanksgiving last month, and it was super easy and popular. I thought about making a puff pastry wrapped brie appetizer, which is also a very common brie appetizer, but I went with no frills simplicity. Thanks Ina, for a simple and delightful appetizer!

Baked Brie with Honey

• 1/4 wheel brie (any size works)
• 4 tablespoons honey (I just drizzled and didn’t measure)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.2. Place the brie on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper and drizzle with the honey. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, or until it starts to ooze but not melt. Wait about 10 minutes and serve with crackers.

May you and yours enjoy a special holiday season full of joy, peace and love. :)

Merry Christmas!

Judy

Tags: baked brie, appetizer, Ina Garten, brie and honey, crackers and cheese, christmas lunch, sounds of christmas

Pumpkin Pancakes & Monterey Bay

Until our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the farthest road trip we had ever taken with Bebe E was to San Diego for a visit to Sea World or the San Diego Zoo, which is a mere 1 1/2-hour drive. However, since our 17 hour flight to Beijing, we’ve gotten bold as parents.

Just prior to the Thanksgiving Holiday, Bebe Dada invited us to accompany him on a business trip to Northern California. He suggested we take a road trip and that we visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. At first, I was hesitant to embark on a long road trip, but considering how well Bebe E did on our trip to China I figured we would manage somehow.

In fact, she did quite well on her first trip to Northern California. Well, with the exception of about 1/2 an hour on the drive up when I fell asleep after lunch and Dada was left to fend for himself while driving through Paso Robles and appeasing a whinning Bebe in the back seat until she finally fell asleep. After a car ride singing to Bebe E’s favorite nursery rhymes and Japanese children’s songs, we arrived in Monterey Bay in the late afternoon, just in time for a walk before sunset.

We spent one full day at the Monterey Bay aquarium, from opening ’til closing, and we saw A LOT of marine life yet we find ourselves looking forward to another visit one day. Our favorites, by far, were the touch pools and the beautiful star fish, jelly fish, turtles, giant octopus, sea horses and the Open Sea Exhibit. We also enjoyed the Bat Ray exhibit but we were too frightened to touch them.

Not the best photography, but Bebe E standing in front of the aquarium watching the fish swim by captures all that was magical during our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

There’s something intriguing, yet very relaxing and tranquil about watching fish swim in an aquarium. Bebe E has always loved fish, whether we spied them in fish tanks at restaurants or people’s homes, in ponds and in lakes. It’s no surprise that we gave her little goldfish for her birthday – - – her first pets! She was extremely delighted. I admit, I failed to keep the first 4 or 5 alive for longer than two days, but thanks to the tender care provided by Aya-chan, the last four that we adopted at the end of summer have happily lived in our home for the past few months.

Getting back to our little road trip….

The drive back to Southern California was much easier. The morning we departed, we drove from San Jose, where we were visiting friends, back down to Monterey Bay. It was a quick and uneventful drive. There, we stopped to take the 17-mile drive along Pebble Beach and made several stops to admire the beautiful ocean scenery. Bebe E kept telling us that she wanted to play in the sand with her “sand tools” but we hurried her back into the car as we were on a schedule to get back to Southern California… And never mind the crazy, crashing waves that would have swept our daughter away… no sand tools… nuh-uh.

We ate lunch at the local market and happily found the food to be surprisingly good. Afterwards, we quickly hopped back on the highway and it was prime time for Bebe E’s nap.Thanks to all the festivities of the weekend, she fell asleep instantly and took a fabulous 3 – hour nap. Upon waking, she was in a fantastic mood and literally talked our ears off for 2 1/2 hours STRAIGHT, as we drove to Los Angeles where we made a pit-stop at Bachan and Jichan’s home for dinner. I told my husband that I couldn’t believe our baby talked for THAT long and was happily entertained the entire time she was chatting. He simply stated that, “she’s just like her mother.”

The weekend after we came home I was still obsessed with pumpkin. I’d already enjoyed my favorite pumpkin cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, and I’d already made a huge batch of my favorite creamy pumpkin soup. While I was almost inspired to try my hand at baking my first ever home made pumpkin cheesecake, I shied away, and instead, thought I could whip-up a quick batch of instant pumpkin pancakes using my favorite out-of-the-box Krusteaz Pancake Mix, but woe is me – - – I didn’t have enough mix. In order to feed my craving I reluctantly Googled a recipe for home made pumpkin pancakes, but it was surprisingly quick and easy to whip-up, and even better were the results!

These pancakes turned out beyond thick and fluffy, with pumpkin-y goodness and were absolutely yummilicious! You won’t be disappointed with this recipe. The whole family enjoyed these pancakes and I’m happy to bank this recipe in my blog-a-la-family-cookbook.

Pumpkin Pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Roasted walnuts, for garnish
• Powdered sugar, for garnish
• Pure maple syrup, for yummy goodness

1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve with maple syrup and garnish while hot.

NOTE: If you use walnuts to garnish your pumpkins, be sure to roast them in a pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes until crisp.

 Adapted from Allrecipes.

Have a wonderful week!

Cheers,

Judy

Tags: Homemade pancakes, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Pumpkin, Pumpkin pancakes, Pure maple syrup, Toasted walnuts