Sweet Nostalgia: Cream Puffs May 11, 2008

Cream puffs (or we call them “Choux Cream”) have a very special place in my heart, and probably in many Japanese kid’s as well. They were one of those special snacks that you only get on special days in Japan – birthdays, graduations, or when your mother’s rich friend visits (the guest either brings them as a gift, or your mother goes out to buy them to show off). Even now, I get pretty nostalgic when I make cream puffs, remembering the colorful rows of French-inspired puff pastries in a glass showcase in an upscale department store and wishing that I can have a piece.
Despite the sophisticated exterior and image, cream puffs are one of the easiest desserts to make. I’ve tried several recipes and liked them all, but decided to go with Martha Steward’s recipe from Baking Handbook this time for the first time because her version used a total of eight eggs between the pate a choux and the pastry cream, which was exactly the amount I had in a refrigerator (I was too lazy to run out to the store).

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly and altered it slightly. Instead of using the recipe for Cream Puffs, I used the recipe for Pate a Choux and the Pastry Cream and combined them together to make my version of Cream Puffs. I added fresh strawberries to add a touch of spring to the dessert.

And look at the beautiful bouquet of flowers my boyfriend brought for my mother for Mother’s Day. They were beautiful and the wonderful floral scent, coupled with freshly baked cream puffs, filled the entire room with sweet nostalgia.

Paris in Your Backyard: Little Next Door April 3, 2008

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When I walked into Little Next Door for desserts and a cup of warm cappuccino the other night, I felt like I was suddenly back in Paris. The smell of freshly ground coffee beans, the menu written on a chalkboard, and the colorful macarons in the glass showcase took me back to a neighborhood café in Paris, where I spent hours writing postcards to friends back home.
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Little Next Door is a little sister of the lovely The Little Door located … well, you guessed it, next door, and although it’s more of a café than a restaurant, its charm is undeniable. Just like the cafe in Paris, Little Next Door is one of those alluring places where you can sit for hours with friends – and that’s frankly what we did that night, while enjoying late night desserts of Madame Framboise, Macaronade, Éclair, a colorful arrays of delicious French Macarons … with a side of laughter.
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Madame Framboise, chocolate genoise, chocolate mousse, & raspberries
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Macaronade, almond dequoise with pastry cream and raspberries
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Eclair, choux puff filled with vanilla or chocolate pastry cream
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Little Next Door
8164 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
★★★★★

A Sweet Culinary Playground: Green Tea Cake January 13, 2008

One thing I regret to this day is not visiting Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki when I was in Paris a few years ago, to experience his famous Matcha Opera Cake, or any of his world-renowned green-tea inspired desserts for that matter. Ever since I read about him about five years ago in a Japanese fashion magazine, I’ve been smitten by his creativity and the ability to incorporate traditional Japanese ingredients such as matcha (green tea) and yuzu (citrus fruit) into authentic French pastries, and I’ve been inspired to include something similar to my own baking repertoire.
The thing that kept me from making any matcha desserts until now, however, was my inability to locate green tea powder, which is the key component of these desserts. I had tried several Japanese grocery stores in the past but all I could find were “green ice tea mix,” which already included sugar. And when I finally did find them, they were too expensive for me to afford. Then, when I was making my regular rounds to Teavana the other day, I ran into one that was reasonably priced at $16 an once so I snatched up a couple for my pantry. Now fully equipped, I was eagerly ready to enter the Franco-Japanese culinary melting pot.
While visiting Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit a few months back, I encountered this amazing recipe for Green Tea, Lavender, and Honey Cupcake Bombe. I had since filed it away in my baking “to do” folder hoping to someday bring it to life, and I was able to finally wipe off the dust and put this recipe to work! I thought about making the full-blown version of the bombe at first, but after contemplating I decided to just try the green tea cake recipe for more simple dessert.

Would you like a cake to go with my butter?

I recommend this recipe to anyone who is interested in making a dense, moist, oh-so-heavenly matcha cupcake or a sheet cake as I did here. I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of butter and sugar that went into this beautiful pistachio-colored batter but you will realize when you take a first bite that all the fat and calories are worth it.  And because it is rich, a small slice will satisfy your sweet tooth. One mistake I made was mixing the matcha power with the dry ingredients when the recipe called to dissolve the powder with milk and incorporate it into the wet ingredients.  Oops (but the end result still came out perfect, thank goodness).

Look how beautiful the batter looks!

My initial plan was to sandwich the sweet red bean (azuki) paste between two heart-shaped cake, but the cake was already pretty thick so I settled on placing azuki on the side, and finished off by sprinkling powered sugar on top. I matched the cake with steaming Japanese green tea, of course!

I really like the simplicity of this dessert. Keeping everything beautiful yet clean and simple allow the flavors to take center stage, which is what makes Japanese and French desserts truly timeless.

The Perfect Cure: Chocolate Chip Cookies December 16, 2007

There’s an old Japanese proverb that says that, “stupid people don’t catch cold.” WTF? Well, I’m assuming that it means that active kids who played outside are typically more intellectually inept than those who stayed home and … read or something. Naturally, the latter would build up enough tolerance to fight cooties from being outside, thus making them unlikely to get sick.  I think I can credit my insecurities as a youth to this saying because I was one of those kids who never, ever got sick and because of that I always believed that I was stupid.
Well, either the proverb was proven to be full of shit (yeah) or I’m becoming smarter (neh), but I’ve been susceptible to cooties lately. This “turning 30” thing has really wreak havoc on my system, I tell you. For example, it takes me at least three days to recover from one night of wild fun (and by this, I mean going to a 10:00 p.m. movie), and forget losing weight. My ass gets bigger just by thinking about sweets. But what’s more frustrating than anything is that I get sick now just by walking past someone who’s coughing!  What is all that about?!?
After suffering this nasty cold for nearly a week, I finally felt good enough to get myself out of bed today and do something I’ve been wanted to do for weeks — baking.

I didn’t want to do anything intricate so I went for the good old chocolate chip cookies, which give me enough satisfaction while providing guarantee results. I’ve tried many chocolate chip cookie recipes in the past but my favorites came down to  ① the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chips, and ② Martha Stewart’s.
Although I wouldn’t call myself a fan of hers (she’s kinda scary), Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook is actually one of my favorite cookbooks. Everything that I’ve tried from this book has been successful, and I like the way the instructions are written. I used her recipe this time and the cookies certainly satisfied my sweet tooth.  This particular recipe called for more butter and less flour so the results were more crisp and less chewy, and I loved them. 
Nothing cures cold better than a couple (or a dozen) of no frill, no nonsense homemade cookies, for sure.
Maybe I’ll save some for Santa too.

Holiday Lunch: Michael’s Restaurant December 15, 2007

A great thing about dining with a bunch of people – as in holiday lunch with colleagues – is that you get to check out a wide array of dishes the restaurant offers. The not-so-wonderful part is that the dish you order never looks as good as your friends’, and you end up regretting your choice the entire time. It’s a terrible feeling!
I’m usually content with what I order expect this day at Michael’s Restaurant in Santa Monica, where everything I selected seemed wrong and everyone else’s seemed right.
For a starter, I ordered a Dungeness and Blue Crab Salad because I was in the mood for wonderful pieces of crab on top of green salad. But what I got was a mixture of crab meat, diced apples and Japanese cucumbers in rich mayonnaise-based dressing. The dish was beautiful and flavorful but it unfortunately didn’t satisfy my need for greens (yes, I should have read the menu carefully). The image of the grilled shrimp salad that I passed over was flashing through my mind the entire time I was eating my dish. Boo.

Dungeness and Blue Crab Salad: Organic Market Apples, Japanese Cucumber, Petit Greens, Cider Gastrique

Other starters that made it to our tables were:

Seasonal Oysters, on the Half Shell, Banyuls Mignonette
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Sashimi of Yellowtail, Pickled Vegetables, Baby Cilantro, Black Bean Oil
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Cauliflower Soup, Lemon Brown Butter, Crispy

For lunch, I ordered the Alaskan Hook and Line King Salmon with asparagus and mushroom risotto. The dish was delightful – with perfectly cooked Arborio rice and tender piece of fish – but I didn’t feel that it was seasoned well. Everything was more on the bland side, and I had to add some salt and pepper to season the dish, which I usually don’t prefer to do. The hanger steak that others ordered looked so good, that I was wishing that I ordered it instead!

Alaskan Hook & Line King Salmon, Asparagus & Wild Mushroom Risotto, Black Truffle Jus
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Seared Hanger Steak, Red Bliss Potatoes, Wilted Spinach, Bordelaise Sauce
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Seared Tuna Salad, Romaine Hearts, Fingerling Potatoes, Hard-Cooked Egg, Blue Lake Beans
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Alaskan Halibut, Hen of the Woods Mushrooms, Soybeans, Sweet and Gold Potato Puree, Mushroom Vinaigrette

The dessert, however, was perhaps the best part of lunch. I ordered the Apple Pie Souffle Tart, which had the combination of flaky, chewy, tart and sweet, all in one. But again, the Chocolate Fondant Cake looked more delightful than anything else.

Apple Pie Soufflé Tart, Salted Caramel Sauce, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
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Hot Chocolate Fondant Cake, Gaviota Strawberries, Green Tea Ice Cream
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Panettone French Toast, Maple Panna Cotta, Poached Seckle Pear, Cranberry Sorbet

Michael’s was, to me, one of those “perfect on paper” restaurants. The menu was sophisticated, food was good and the ambience was pleasant,  but it wasn’t … excellent. There was something missing from making it a divine experience, although I cannot pinpoint exactly what that would be. Maybe it I tried it again and order different dishes, I may be able to figure out that missing piece of the culinary puzzle.
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Michael’s Restaurant
1147 Third Street, Santa Monica, CA 90403
★★★☆☆

Changing the Dessert Landscape: Beard Papa November 17, 2007

Certain events in history make me feel incredibly proud of my Japanese heritage. For instance …
The moment Kurara Chibana was crowned Miss Universe Runner Up in 2006, although she should have won the title, in my humble opinion (photo courtesy of this site, thank you!) …

The day Yutaka Fukufuji became the first Japanese-born player to debut in the National Hockey League the same yaer with my beloved Los Angeles Kings no less  (and I was there to witness this momentous occasion!) …

And the day Beard Papa came to town and changed the cream puff landscape forever.  Desserts like éclairs and profiteroles used to house exclusively in fancy French patisseries, but the emergence of this Japanese-born bakery franchise made these sophisticated pate a choux desserts more accessible and less intimidating to us all.  Now, that’s a history-changing event! 

Beard Papa successfully replaced donut shops as the source of quick sugar rush by McDonalizing the way cream puffs are made. The assembly line is formed behind the glass-window counter to create each cream puff in flawless sequence: ① select the choux (plain or chocolate-covered), ② insert the choux with custard cream, ③ sprinkle powdered sugar, ④ place the cream puff in a yellow, logo parchment paper, and finally ⑤ carefully place it in a bag or a box. The result is a perfectly soft and airy dough filled with lightly sweetened custard cream that melts in your mouth.  Boy, I love my papa! 

Available flavors vary by location. The original vanilla flavor is available in all locations, but consider it your lucky day if you can get a hold of green tea (subtle yet delicious), Earl Gray tea (too good for words), or strawberry (tangy, just the way I like it), among other delicious flavors. 

I frequent the one in Hollywood and Highland the most because, contrary to its busy location, the store is relatively quiet. This minimizes the wait which, in a popular location like the one in Sawtelle, can add up to a whopping 15-20 minutes. One mistake I made was to go right before the closing time and they were all out of cream puffs, so go as early as you can.

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Beard Papa’s Fresh’n Natural Cream Puffs
Hollywood and Highland
6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028
(Click here for list of locations)
★★★★★

The New “Third Place”: Pinkberry November 5, 2007

Saturday night … out with the girls … and waiting in a long line just to get in to the hot spot in Los Angeles. But unlike the good old days of getting all dressed up and waiting to get into a hot nightclub, we were instead waiting in line of at least 20 people deep at 9:30 p.m. to get a bite of an unbelievably refreshing frozen yogurt from Pinkberry.
I think people either love this place for the mouth-watering flavor of the frozen yogurt that tastes more like real yogurt than the traditional kind, or hate it because its popularity has gotten a bit out of hand. I, myself, belong to the former group of Pinkberry minions, and my heart beats in delight every time I see the brightly-lit pink swirly logo.
Well, there’s really not much that hasn’t already been said about this place so I won’t say much other than to state that I love it. I tried the pomegranate topping for the first time, along with strawberries and blueberries, and it was absolutely jaw-dropping good. What a way to welcome the arrival of autumn. 

The reason why this place works is because it provides people with the “third place,” a place for people to meet and hang out outside of home and work  — the way that Starbucks became a mega success. It’s very smart that Starbuck’s Howard Shultz is now a part of the fro-yo phenomenon because Pinkberry would have given the coffee giant a little, friendly competition.
Pinkberry (they are all over the place now): 332 E. Second Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

★★★★★

Trick or Treat? Sprinkles Cupcakes November 1, 2007

The recent food trend that settles well with my stomach is frozen yogurt. I’m a self-proclaimed fro-yo addict so the fact that shops are popping up right and left is nothing short of pure delight (competition only helps consumers!). My date night with my boyfriend is not complete until we take a trip to a nearby frozen yogurt shop that we feel, believe it or not, may offer better yogurt than Pinkberry (if that were possible). I somehow always find ways to squeeze in a spoonful (or a bowlful) of ice-y swirl even on a full stomach.
Well, another trend I’ve noticed in the last couple of years is over cupcakes (even a magazine like InStyle dedicated a section on celebrities and their favorite shops). This, unlike the frozen yogurt fascination that is completely justifiable in my book, is still a bizarre concept for me. Although I like eating cupcakes, it’s difficult for me to tell the difference between the gourmet kind and the one you pick up at a local bake sale. Afterall, isn’t a cupcake just a miniature sponge cake smothered in sugary frosting? Really, how do you make a cupcake outrageously better than a bakery next door, and moreover, how can each cost as much as a meal?

So I turned to the trendy and popular Sprinkles Cupcakes for answers. But after sampling a few of its offerings, I became further confused.
Let me preface this by stating the obvious: the cupcakes from Sprinkles are good. The place have great selections, from the basic vanilla and chocolate, to more exotic flavors like Chai Latte and Red Velvet, and the entire experience of visiting the most talked-out place is truly titillating. But if I ignore all the fluff and focused solely on the product, I’m afraid I’m not able to justify the whopping $3.25 each cupcake costs.
I know that cupcakes have great possibilities. Just take a look at this amazing blog, Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit which features colorful and unorthodox recipes like Green Tea, Lavender and Honey Cupcake Bombe (ooooh). Or a mouth-watering recipe like Pomatcha Cupcakes found on Raspberry Eggplant (aaaaah).  Now, for a bite of something like that, I’ll be happy to dish out my hard earned money. But nothing at Sprinkles stood out as extraordinary, and they were just … well, good, at best.
I’m not dismissing Sprinkles altogether though. I will probably pick some up for special occasions as the decoration/packaging alone makes it a lovely gift. I hope someone will bring me some soon so I can enjoy the sweet cake without burning a hole on my wallet.

I went to the Sprinkles in Newport Beach (in the same shopping center as Tommy Bahama) but there’s a more popular one in Beverly Hills.

Sprinkles Cupcakes: 944 Avocado Avenue, Newport Beach, CA 92660
★★★☆☆

I met this sweet pup, Hug, dressed up as a lion for Halloween while waiting in line at Sprinkles. He was so charming that I could not resist taking a picture!  Happy Halloween, everyone! 

In Your Dreams: Jin Patisserie October 31, 2007

If I met a kid who says his dream is to be a professional hockey player but does not even know how to skate, I will probably die laughing. Kids can dream, sure I’m all for that, but there’s something definitely wrong if that kid is 30-something.
Well, I’m THE kid, and my dream is to one day open my own boulangerie (those of you who are culinary challenged, it’s a bakery). My fascination with bread began in 2004 when I strolled into a baking contest while walking in the streets of Paris. It was a complete coincident that I walked in to witness the professional bakers in action. It must have been the heavenly aroma of freshly baked bread that lead me there and I’ve been in love with bread-making ever since.
But the problem (just a minor one) is that I can’t bake bread. My only two attempts ended in utter failure and yeasts, well, they scare me. So yes, I’m the kid with no magic skates but that doesn’t mean that I can’t submerge in my imagination, just for fun.
Jin Patisserie in Venice is the place that allows me to imagine what my shop would be like. Although it’s a patisserie and not really a boulangerie, it’s close enough. The place is a part botanical garden, part someone’s backyard, and part irresistible pastry shop. The little waterfall in the middle of the garden provides a very zen-like atmosphere, allowing patrons to bathe in the nature’s beauty. Despite the trendy location, this place is so unpretentious that you can often find celebrity owner/chef Kristy Choo doubling as a server between magazine interviews. Make sure to enjoy the selection of lovely tea from Le Palais Des Thes with your sweets or savory, or both.
Once you experience the wonder of Jin Patisserie, you may dream about opening your shop too.

High Tea with fiinger sandwiches, savories, homemade scones, pound cake, praline and Chef’s selection of mini sweet pastries
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Smoked Salmon Salad (this lovely place offers much more than just sweets)

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Jin Patisserie: 1202 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, CA 90291
★★★★★

Paradise Revisited: Tommy Bahama Tropical Cafe October 30, 2007

I went on my first and last blind date a few years ago, as a naive twenty-something. My friend thought it was a good idea to set me up with one of her single, guy friends. He was a nice guy and a fairly good-looking, courteous fella but the only thing we had in common was that we were single. He rambled on and on about himself the entire time and, although I prefer listening than talking most of the time, it got to a point I wanted him to just shut the hell up.
The worst part of it all was that he took me to Tommy Bahama’s Tropical Café in Newport Beach. The restaurant was superb as always – with wonderfully tropical and coconut-y décor, delicious Caribbean-inspired dishes and consistently amazing service. In fact, this place is one of my favorite places to dine. The worst part was that the place happened to be gazillion miles away from home and thus not giving me the chance for a getaway. It was the most excruciating evening of my dating life and I promised myself then that I would never go on a friggin blind date ever again. I know I sound so mean by saying this but if you were there with me that night, you will totally sympathize. Just for the record, he was not a bad guy at all. We just had no chemistry at all.
Last Saturday was the first time I visited Tommy Bahama’s since the incidence, and luckily I was with a darn good company this time. My best friend’s pals were visiting the area from San Francisco so she and her other friends, who lives in San Diego, decided to meet up in the middle for a mini reunion, and I was her plus-one for the afternoon.  I have met them all before and I absolutely adore them. 
With great wine, food and friends, I was able to wash away the bitterness of the yesteryears and begin a new memory with Tommy!

Tortola Tortilla Soup, a savory blend of ground corn tortillas and vegetables with grilled chicken seasoned with island spices and garnished with lime sour cream.
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Saba Steak Salad, marinated and char-grilled tenderloin medallions served over a bed of fresh mixed greens tossed with tamarind vinaigrette. Garnished with grilled potatoes, vine-ripened roma tomatoes, shiitake chips and garlic aioli.
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Tommy’s Great Big Crispy Fish Sandwich, crispy beer battered local island fish topped with honey-roasted onions. Served with french fries and island tartar sauce.
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St. Bart’s Shrimp BLT, grilled lemon shrimp, hickory smoked bacon, leaf lettuce and vine-ripened tomato with garlic aioli on toasted sourdough bread. Served with pennetti pasta salad.
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Tahitian Tuna Salad, blackened Ahi tuna seared rare atop a bed of fresh arugula, spinach and carrots, tossed in a lilikoi vinaigrette, ribboned with sweet soy glaze and wasabi aioli. Served with wasabi paste and soy sauce then garnished with crispy wonton strips and toasted sesame seeds.
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St., Croix Chopped Salad, diced marinated and grilled chicken breast, fresh mixed greens, vine-ripened roma tomatoes, Maytag bleu cheese, Granny Smith apples, macadamia nuts, hickory smoked bacon and sweet corn tossed with our honey-lime vinaigrette. Garnished with garlic croutons.
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Blackbeard’s Butterscotch, dark brown cane sugar, butter, cream, vanilla and scotch whiskey blended and served chilled.
Garnished with chocolate ganache, “from scratch” caramel sauce and fresh whipped cream.
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Wha’Jamaican Chocolate Cake, a flourless chocolate espresso cake served with white chocolate crème anglaise and
garnished with chocolate shavings.
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Pina Colada Cake, a moist vanilla layer cake with Myers Dark Rum and chopped pineapple, covered with
white chocolate mousse and toasted coconut.

Tommy Bahama Tropical Cafe:  854 Avocado Avenue, Newport Beach, CA 92660

★★★★★