On our way back from California a few weeks ago, we came home with a full box of bread from the famous and most delicious 85C Bakery Cafe.  And since we finished that box, all I could think about is wanting more and more bread.  Unfortunately, where I live, we don’t have ANY Asian bakeries… or at least not any fresh one (I think any store that sells Asian breads has them shipped in).  I had this idea for a few days that I would open up an Asian bakery of my own.  For those of you who don’t know the difference between regular and Asian breads, I guess my best explanation for Asian breads would be that they are SUPER soft and fluffy, like melt in your mouth fluffy.  And they come in a variety of flavors and toppings, my faves being blueberry cream cheese, onion, cheese, taro, and really just any cream filled ones, mmmm!  So obviously to start on my bakery, I realized I had to try making some of these breads myself.  I researched all over the web and landed on Christine’s Recipes, namely her Japanese Style Bacon and Cheese bread which uses the Tangzhong Method of baking.  I’m going to spare you from all the recipe ingredients and directions since they are pretty long so please visit her blog post for it!  So here goes my first attempt at it…!

Made the Tangzhong dough the night before.

Combine all the bread ingredients together (used my KitchenAid stand mixer with bread hook on low for 20 minutes).  At this point the dough was still VERY sticky so I did add more flour to be able to form it into a ball.  Once ball is formed, put it in a greased bowl and let it sit for 40 minutes.

Separate the dough into 4 balls, cover and let sit another 15 minutes.

Roll out dough and fill with whatever you like (I used turkey bacon, cheddar cheese and green onions).

Roll it up… mine needs work, you’ll see why later.

Place the 4 rolled up sections of dough in pan and let sit for another round of 40 minute proofing and then brush the top with egg wash.

Fresh out of the oven, SMELLS SO GOOD!!!

3 hours later… and there you have it!!  See the holes in the second piece of bread, I think that’s due to my poor rolling skills, but now I know what I need to work on for next time!

Can’t wait to make this again and fill it with something different next time.  The 3 hour wait is seriously worth the FLUFFY SOFT texture that melts in your mouth and tastes SO MILKY AND GOOD~!  Or you could just come buy it from my bakery once it’s open… yea…

Have you made bread before?  Does anyone have recommendations on bread makers?

What I love about this recipe is that it is simple.  Are you seeing a theme here on my blog?  The simpler and less time it takes to make food, the better.  Without sacrificing taste, of course!  This cucumber salad is just PERFECT for summertime.  It’s light, sweet, tangy, oh and duh… HEALTHY!    Can it get any better than that?  I could seriously never get sick of it.  It’s just the perfect side dish to go with any hearty meal.  Here’s a rough outline of the ingredients and amounts I use (adapted from Allrecipes), hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup white vinegar / rice vinegar (i actually like to do half white and half rice vinegar)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes / korean pepper powder(more if you like it spicy)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (I used toasted sesame seeds)
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/2 green onion, sliced
• 1/2 carrot, julienned

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together vinegar / rice vinegar, black pepper, red pepper flakes and sugar.
2. Heat sesame oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in sesame seeds, and reduce heat to medium. Cook until seeds are brown, about 5 minutes. (If using toasted sesame seeds like me, there is no need to heat it up, just add sesame oil to it.) Stir seeds into vinegar mixture. Mix in cucumber, green onions, and carrot. Cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. I think it tastes even better after 24 hours of marinating together!

What are some of your favorite summer side dishes?

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Here we go with a somewhat random post again today.  I just wanted to ask for forgiveness for being MIA this past week.  As you know last weekend I had an awesome time celebrating my friends wedding in Vegas, this week I had a client in town so was extremely busy with work, I haven’t kept up my shop at all since my last craft fair, I’ve had to turn down some guests posts and giveaways (really flattered that friends have asked though) and I haven’t kept up with commenting on your blogs as much as I’d love to.  I have to say, it’s pretty hard coming back from a weekend vacation… pretty much a vacation from my vacation has been needed and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing (well after a full day of work which is prime blogging time).  Anyhow here goes with my cinco items of randomness, hope you’re still with me! 

1) I made this amazing Mango, Tomato and Avocado Salsa (from Allrecipes) the other day.  I used Tortilla Scoops to dip them out and they were perfecto.  Such a perfect Spring time potluck type snack.  I hope these pictures make you hungry, because that was my goal.    Maybe you can use this recipe for your Cinco de Mayo party, eh?  What do ya say?

Ingredients

3) One of the things I look forward to at the beginning of each month, is an Oh, Hello Friend desktop calendar!  I especially love this months because of the adorable bunny (it happens to be the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese Zodiac too)!

4) My sweet 2 year old nephew left me a voicemail last night.  I think I’ve listened to it about 100 times, no joke.

It was in half English and half Chinese.  Here’s some Chinese translations haha.  (Goo goo = Auntie) (Lai =  Come Here)  Click PLAY below to listen!! 

VoiceMessage-Evan to Sandy by sandyalamode

5) Don’t forget to visit my previous post for details on how to download a free THANK YOU card designed by Daily Suze, inspired by my blog!

What are your plans for Cinco de Mayo?

Fried rice. You all know what it is.  It’s a staple dish at every Chinese restaurant.  It’s so simple to make, it’s one of those throw everything in a wok type of dishes, those are the best.  Even better, there’s no “set” ingredients you really need, well except maybe rice, duh!  Here’s one variation that I came up with on a whim the other day!  It has one of my favorite ingredients that always reminds me of my childhood, chinese sausage, nom nom.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup canola oil, divided
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup frozen peas and carrot mix
• 3 links Chinese sausage, sliced
• 6 shitake mushrooms, diced
• 1 small bunch scallions, sliced, divided
• 4 cups cooked white rice (best if day old)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

Directions

1. Add 2 tablespoons canola to a wok over high heat and pour in scrambled eggs.
2. When egg is cooked, remove from pan and cut into chunks/strips. Transfer to plate.
3. Add the remaining oil, ginger, garlic, peas and carrots to wok and stir fry.
4. Add the sausage and half of the scallions and cook for another minute.
5. Add the cooked rice, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and stir fry.
6. Add in reserved egg and rest of scallions for garnish.

See how easy that was?  It’s basically add this in, add this in, now add that in and you’re done!    And like I said, you can totally vary the ingredients, swap out sausage for chicken or shrimp, add more veggies, the sky is the limit on this one, foreals.  But honestly, the best fried rice I’ve ever had was at this local Japanese restaurant where they served Ginger Fried Rice…. oh boy.  They made this FABULOUS ginger sauce that they poured over the fried rice, I have a serious weakness for sauces and this one hits the spot every time.  I’m still in the works of trying to figure out how to mimic it, I’ll let you know once I do!!

What’s your favorite kind of fried rice?

First of all, I miss this little booger, I call him that because he’s been sick lately and has a lot of boogers and snot.    The cutest thing ever is that he’ll blow his nose so all this snot is hanging out and he’ll say “Blow, blow” so that you’ll bring him a tissue to blow out all his boogies.  A little TMI, but super cute.    After having spending 4 days with my nephew, I kind of miss him, a lot.  We just always have so much fun together, can’t you tell?

Oh yea, here’s a peek at my new bangs and specs that I purchased at a swap meet for $4.  They kind of look cuter on Evan than me though, but I’m OK with that!    These photos were taken with my sister-in-law‘s iPhone, I kind of want one just for cool photo apps.  I mean who uses a phone for talking anyways, am I right?

Anywho, speaking of things that I love (i.e. my nephew), today I just wanted to share a Mac N Cheese recipe I made for my husband the other day!  It’s not just any old Mac N Cheese folks, it’s got bacon, mushrooms, chicken, tons of cheeses and a super special and kind of expensive ingredient, truffle oil!    Here’s another similar one that’s not sold out already.  I had never used truffle oil or cooked with it before but I know how heavenly it tastes I figured there was a first time for everything!  This recipe was pretty much modeled after Yard House‘s amazing Mac N Cheese with a few tweaks!

Fancy Mac N Cheese

(adapted from food blahg)

Linking this photo up to:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb elbow macaroni, cavatappi, cellantani, or other tubular pasta
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk, heated
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
• 4-6 ounces Gorgonzola cheese (or other blue variety), crumbled
• 1 can chicken breast, or roasted (real) chicken breast, sliced
• Salt, freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, to taste
• 1 cup fresh sourdough breadcrumbs
• 10 slices bacon
• Cremini mushrooms, as much or as little as you like, quartered
• truffle oil for drizzling

Directions:

1. Fill a large pot with water and set it over high heat. Boil the pasta to slightly underdone (it will cook more in the oven); drain. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. As you’re waiting for the water to boil and the pasta to cook, be productive! Heat the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until barely simmering; remove from heat and set aside.
3. Process cubes of crusty sourdough bread (if it’s a day old, it’ll make it easier on you) — go ahead and process the crusts, too — until you have a cup of breadcrumbs. Set aside.

4. Start your roux: Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour; whisk to incorporate into the butter. Cook 1-2 minutes without over-browning. Add the milk and whisk to combine. Bring to a boil; remove from heat.
5. Add the cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses a large handful at a time; mix well.
6. Toss the pasta with the cheese mixture in a large bowl. Add the chicken now, if you got it from a can. Add it later if you’re using roasted chicken breast. Or you can add it now, whatever.
7. Fold in the Gorgonzola — 4 ounces if you like it mild, and up to 6 ounces if you prefer the potency. Add salt (keep in mind that you will be adding bacon later), freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste.Spray a large casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray, or grease with butter. Spread pasta mixture into dish; sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over pasta. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave and pour over breadcrumbs.

8. Bake in the oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes, or until top has browned.
9. While macaroni is baking, cook the bacon; drain on a paper towel. (Adding the bacon to the dish later will maintain its delightful crispiness.) Discard most, but not all, of the bacon drippings.
10. Brown the mushrooms in the remaining bacon drippings over medium-low heat. Add a pinch of salt to bring out a little of the moisture, but be wary not to make them soggy. They should be browned and fragrant, but still firm. Season with freshly ground black pepper.
11. When the macaroni is ready, serve some up in a bowl, and top with sliced roasted chicken breast, mushrooms, crumbled bacon and drizzle with truffle oil.

Are you hungry yet?  Because I am.  I think it’s about time I bake up another batch of these.  Marvin describes this dish as “decadent, scrumptious and indulgent”.  Are you going to make this already?

P.S. Are you ready for St. Patty’s Day yet?  Well if you’re not or you just love the color GREEN, I’m giving away a headband and a hairpin set over on Oh, Sweet Joy!  And btw, if you need a new crafty and inspirational blog to follow, you should definitely follow Oh, Sweet Joy! It’s a daily read of  mine!!

P.P.S. You still have 2 more days to enter a giveaway for this adorable Spring hairpin set over on Be merry, Kate!  And she definitely has an inspirational and happy blog as well that you should follow, kids.  Do it!