Category: TikTok

I know this is a little after the fact, but what are your New Year’s traditions? I love hearing about all the different things that other cultures and families do to celebrate, or the lucky things that you’re supposed to do or eat.

I’m half Japanese, so my family always does a huge sushi feast for New Year’s. But in addition to sushi, there are a few lucky things we do every year.

We always have to have mochi, which are Japanese rice cakes, as the first thing we eat in the new year. A lot of the time we’ll have that in ozoni, which is a light soup.

We also have to have kuromame, which are these simmered black soybeans – eat your bean for good health in the new year!

Growing up, we always bought a little can of kuromame, and nobody really liked them. But in the last decade, I started making this recipe, which originally came from La Fuji Mama – you should go check her TikTok out if you’re at all interested in Japanese food or culture!

These days, everybody LOVES the kuromame – I have to make a big batch every year!

Kuromame

slightly adapted from La Fuji Mama

Ingredients

• 10.5 ounces kuromame (dried black soybeans)
• 11 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp shoyu
• 1 tsp baking soda

Cooking Directions

1. Thoroughly rinse the beans in cool water, then drain and set aside.
2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar, shoyu, and baking soda and let simmer for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat.
3. Add the rinsed beans and the liquid to the pot of a slow cooker, cover, and let the beans soak 8 hours or overnight.
4. Turn the slow cooker to LOW and cook for about 8 hours or overnight.  The beans are done when they are very tender.

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I’ve been to South Korea exactly once, and it was on a 12-hr layover on the way home from Vietnam.

For the two weeks in Vietnam, we had been wearing shorts and tank tops for the hot, humid weather.

But in Korea it was rainy and cold, so it was a last-minute scramble to figure out what we had with us to layer and keep warm.

I’m not a particularly fashionable person to begin with, but that was pretty bad, even for me.

We took a short tour into Seoul, had a quick meal of Korean food – but you know a few hours is not nearly enough to see a country.

We had big plans to try to go back last year… and well, you know how that went.

South Korea is at the top of our list whenever it’s responsibly save to travel again, but until then I’m bringing Korea to LA… what Korean dishes do you want to see me make?

I’ve made this kimchi recipe that Jen from Use Real Butter adapted from Maangchi a BUNCH of times.

I typically leave out the leek, and sometimes add in some Asian pear, but otherwise we love it! We’ve made it both with and without the fermentation step – Son prefers our kimchi when it tastes fresher, so these days I tend to skip the fermentation.

I usually make a full, or sometimes even a double batch depending on how big my napa cabbage is, but this time around I somehow got the tiniest napa cabbage ever in my grocery delivery! So… I ended up making 1/10th of a batch, which is why in the video, you may notice I skipped some things (because they just didn’t make sense for such a tiny batch!)

Regardless, it was still tasty… but this means I’m going to have to make more kimchi very soon!

Kimchi

from Use Real Butter

Ingredients

• 5 lbs napa cabbage
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/4 cup sweet rice flour (like Mochiko)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1/2 cup onion, cut into medium chunks
• 1/2 cup fish sauce
• 1 1/4 cups coarse ground red pepper powder
• 5 green onions, sliced on the diagonal
• 1 cup leek, chopped (greens too)
• 2 cups Korean radish, julienned
• 1/4 cup carrot, julienned

Cooking Directions

1. Prepare the cabbage: Remove any wilted outer leaves of the napa cabbage heads. Quarter the heads lengthwise and cut out the cores. Chop the cabbage into bite-size pieces. Place the cabbage in a large bowl of water (use two large bowls if it won’t all fit). Sprinkle the salt over the cabbage (divide it accordingly if you have multiple bowls of cabbage). Turn the cabbage every 30 minutes to get an even brining for a total of 90 minutes. Rinse the cabbage in a large bowl of water three times. Drain the cabbage and set aside until ready to use.
2. Prepare the paste: Combine the sweet rice flour and water in a small saucepan. Stir over medium high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Keep stirring until it is bubbling and then add the sugar. Continue to stir until the mixture turns somewhat translucent. Pour into a large, clean bowl. Place the garlic, ginger, and onion in the bowl of a food processor and purée. Add the purée to the sweet rice paste along with the fish sauce and the red pepper powder and mix it all together. Stir in the green onions, leeks, Korean radish, and carrot until the vegetables are well-coated.
3. Mix and ferment: Add the cabbage to the paste and, wearing disposable gloves, mix by hand until all of the cabbage is evenly coated with the paste. Pack the kimchi tightly into an airtight container (glass jar, plastic tub, etc.). You may have to use multiple containers. Push the kimchi down so the liquid covers the top, but leave at least 1 inch of headspace in the top of the container. We refrigerate/eat our kimchi immediately because we like it fresher, but if you prefer your kimchi fermented then let the kimchi sit on the counter for a day with some sort of plate or bowl to catch any leaking liquid underneath the container. If it is fermenting, there will be gas bubbles developing down in the kimchi which pushes the liquid up and possibly out of the top of your vessel. Open the lid once or twice a day to let the kimchi de-gas and to push the cabbage back down into the vessel. After 2 days, it should start to sour a little (this is good!). If this is the right taste for you, seal it up and place it in the refrigerator to enjoy as you like.

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In high school, a friend once told me, “you know what I hate about you, Allison? It’s that you have no opinions.”

Unsurprisingly we grew apart real fast after high school, but the thing is, she wasn’t wrong.

I spent most of my life being afraid of people judging me. And because of that, I never wanted people to know what I liked, or disliked, or thought about anything, lest they judge me negatively.

Once, when I was in elementary school, my sister told my best friend after school that my favorite song was the Donna Lewis classic, I Love You Always Forever. I was SO mad that I turned around, stuck my tongue out (which was a serious insult at that age)… and then turned around and walked face first into a pole.

There were many tears that day.

I’m far more confident now, but even to this day – my automatic instinct is to be as neutral as possible – lest somebody judge me.

This is my second time making this dish, because I enjoyed it so much the first time around! I made it on my twitch stream last spring, and I’ve seriously been craving it ever since.

It’s healthy and earthy and delicious, especially when served with a hefty scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

I was NOT a fan of the vanilla goat cheese yogurt topping that’s a part of the original recipe (too tangy, and I’m while I don’t mind goat cheese in salads, it’s just not my favorite thing), but if you love goat cheese then you might enjoy it.

Vanilla ice cream though… yes that’s extremely my jam.

Apple Beet Crisp

slightly adapted from Food 52

Ingredients

Topping

• 12 tbsp (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Filling

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 lb beets (about 4 medium beets), peeled and diced
• 1 lb apples (about 3 medium apples – I used Fuji), peeled, cored, and diced
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Cooking Directions

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F (176°C).
2. To make the topping: Combine flour, oats, melted butter, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and mix using your hands until large clumps form. Set aside.
3. To make the filling: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. (If you use a cast-iron, you can use this for baking later, but I don’t have a cast-iron that will fit in my little oven so I used a nonstick skillet.) Add beets and cook, stirring often, until fork-tender and lightly browned on the edges, about 12 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
4. To the cooled skillet, add apples, brown sugar, orange juice, cornstarch, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Toss to thoroughly coat the apples and beets. (If your skillet is too small or you’re not using it to bake, transfer the mixture into a large bowl, toss to coat, and pour back into the skillet or an 8×8″ baking dish.)
5. Distribute prepared topping evenly over beets and apple mixture. Bake until the top is lightly browned and the sides are bubbling, about 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes.

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The summer before I was set to start kindergarten, my dad came home from work one day looking alarmed.

“The school is on fire!”

Someone – a student, I think – had set the kindergarten building on fire.

And I was absolutely DEVASTATED – I thought that meant I wasn’t going to get to go to kindergarten, and that was just the most terrible thing my four-year-old mind could imagine.

They ended up putting the kindergarten classes in temporarity trailers for the first part of the school year, until the building was fixed up and useable again.

But we still had recess in the kindergarten playground.

The playground equipment was fine, if a little fire damaged, and I didn’t mind most of it.

But for some reason, I was absolutely terrified of the tall metal slide, which had gotten just a little discolored and warped from the fire.

By the middle of the school year we were able to move back into the kindergarten building, which looked like new. But I don’t think I ever got over my fear of that slide.

I’ve made this grilled cheese recipe a number of times, and OHMYGOD it is so good.

Rich and decadent and definitely on the salty side, so don’t skip the jam – it’s a vital part of the recipe!

The amounts I have listed make A LOT of sandwiches, but I really really love these so it’s totally maneagable (we seriously ate these for breakfast the next few days) AND I never like using a partial package of things like ground beef, so I have a habit of scaling recipes to fit the full package when I can.

Is that just me? Maybe it’s just me.

Curry Grilled Cheese

slightly adapted from Lady and Pups

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 9 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 tbsp finely minced ginger
• 6 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 5.4 oz (150 grams) Japanese curry cubes, cut into small pieces
• 1 lb shredded white cheddar
• crusty country bread
• berry jam (raspberry, strawberry, or blueberry are all tasty!)
• unsalted butter for cooking

Cooking Directions

1. TO MAKE THE FILLING: In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter and cook the sliced shallots until deeply browned on the edges. Add the ground beef and cook until evenly browned. Add the ginger, garlic, and curry powder, and cook for another 30 seconds. Transfer to a large bowl, and while still hot, add the cocoa powder, freshly ground black pepper, small pieces of Japanese curry cubes, and mix until the cubes have melted. Let cool for 10 min, then mix evenly with shredded white cheddar. Can be made and kept in the fridge until needed.
2. TO MAKE THE SANDWICH: Smear a very thin layer of jam on one side of the bread, pile the filling on top (not too thick because it’s on the saltier side), then top it with another piece of bread. Butter both sides of the bread (about 1/2 tbsp for each side), then brown in a skillet over medium-high heat until golden browned on both sides. Serve immediately.

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I was 18 when I discovered I was lactose intolerant.

It was New Year’s Eve, and I was at my parents’ house, and the guy I was dating at the time was there with me.

We had been eating appetizers all evening long – especially my mom’s spinach dip, which is my favorite thing ever.

And filled with dairy.

As you might imagine, the process of discovering you’re lactose-intolerant is… er… not a pretty experience. I should have seen it coming, seeing as very few people on my mom’s side can eat dairy, but somehow it came as a surprise.

The guy I was dating was like, “maybe I should leave,” got the heck out of there as fast as he could, and then broke up with me a week or two later.

But – getting dumped led me to audition for a certain ballroom dance team, and… you all know what happened from there.

Lucky for me, I ended up marrying a guy who can handle me at my absolute shittiest… terrible pun absolutely intended.

I’ve posted jalapeño poppers before, but let’s be real, I LOVE jalapeño poppers and will happily make them anytime I just happen to have jalapeños on hand.

So, it’s highly likely this won’t be my last popper recipe on here. But nobody’s complaining, right?

Jalapeño poppers

Ingredients

• 1 lb bacon
• 8 oz cream cheese (I used jalapeno, but plain or any savory flavor should do)
• 8 oz grated cheese
• 14 jalapeños

Cooking Directions

1. Turn the oven up to 400F.
2. Combine the cream cheese and shredded cheese.
3. Wearing protective food-safe plastic gloves, slice the jalapeños in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and ribs from the jalapeños and discard.
4. Fill each jalapeño half with the cream cheese mixture, and wrap with a half-slice of bacon.
5. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes, or until bacon is crispy and caramelized.
6. Serve warm. Enjoy!

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When I was a child, I vowed that I was going to read every single book in my little local library.

Unsurprisingly I never quite managed that, but this library was my absolute favorite place. I come from a family of readers.

Every weekend from when we were little, we’d go to their weekly reading event for kids, and once I outgrew that I’d still go but spend the time browsing the shelves while my siblings sat and listened to the librarians read.

We’d always borrow as many books as we were allowed, and then spent the rest of the week voraciously reading.Anytime we had a report due for school, there we’d be at the library, combing through research books or photocopying the books we weren’t allowed to check out.

Mind you, this was back before things like google or wikipedia existed. Practically prehistoric times!

To this day, libraries are my happy place.

I’ve always wanted to try making kugel, and had fully intented to attempt a traditional kugel this year! But then I came across this recipe and just had to try it.

It’s crispy and cheesy and oh so good, total comfort food. I’ve never had traditional kugel before so I have no idea how legit this is, but it sure is tasty.

10/10 would make again.

Savory Onion Crispy Kugel Cups

slightly adapted from Practice with Danielle

Ingredients

• 12 oz wide egg noodles
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream
• 1 1/4 cups small-curd cottage cheese
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp grainy mustard
• 1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Cooking Directions

1. Start by boiling a pot of water to cook the noodles, and preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Caramelize onions in a large skillet over medium-low heat with 1 tbsp of butter and olive oil. You’ll want these brown but not crispy, this should take about 30 minutes. Once they’re finished cooking, remove from heat and let cool.
3. While the onions are caramelizing, boil the noodles for only 5 minutes, to keep them al dente. Drain over the sink and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
4. Meanwhile, mix the sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, mustards, paprika, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
5. Mix in the noodles and onions.
6. Use 1 tbsp of butter to butter 2 dozen muffin tins. Fill them to the top with the kugel mixture. Melt the remainind tbsp of butter, and drizzle over the top.
7. For regular sized muffin tins, bake 20-25 min. Add 5 minutes for larger tins, or check at 15 min for smaller tins.
8. Enjoy!

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The first time I went to Vietnam with Son, was a decade ago, and I was still terribly picky.

I hated cilantro, which was in EVERYTHING, and so I spent the majority of the trip trying to sneakily pick the cilantro out of my food.

I always have a finicky stomach, and the stress of traveling always makes it worse, so I was so incredibly grateful for his aunt and uncles’ housekeeper that trip.

When she noticed I ate a lot of watermelon, she’d make sure there was watermelon at every meal.

When she saw that there was a coconut pork dish that she made that I absolutely devoured, she would make it and place the dish right in front of me with a knowing smile, and even shared the recipe with me before we left.

The second time we went to Vietnam six years later I was past most of my picky tendencies and had learned to love cilantro, and pretty much stuffed my face the entire trip, but I’ll never forget the kindness of that woman who never judged me or shamed me, and just made sure I was fed.

Bánh mì and do chua are a must around here, and I make them often. You really can’t go wrong with any of Andrea Nguyen’s recipes!

A note, because it does frustrate me when people don’t use the right accents, that the fonts on this blog REFUSE to work for Vietnamese accents. So it’s better to have do chua than ?? chua… but just pretend I’m using the proper accents here. *grumble*

Do Chua (Daikon and Carrot Pickles)

from The Bánh Mì Handbook, by Andrea Nguyen

Ingredients

• 1 medium daikon, about 1 lb
• 1 large carrot, about 6 oz
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 2 tsp plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups distilled white vinegar
• 1 cup lukewarm water

Cooking Directions

1. Peel and cut the daikon into sticks abour 3 inches long and 1/4 inch thick, the width of an average chopstick. Peel and cut the carrot to match the size of the daikon sticks but slightly skinnier. Put the vegetables in a bowl. Toss with the salt and 2 tsp of sugar. Massage and knead the vegetables for 3 minutes, or until you can bend a piece of daikon and the tips touch without breaking. They will have lost about a quarter of their original volume.
2. Flush with running water, then drain in a mesh strainer or colander. Press or shake to expel excess water. Transfer to a 4-cup jar.
3. For the brine, stir together the remainin 1/2 cup sugar with the vinegar and water until dissolved. Pour into the jar to cover well. Discard any excess brine. Use after 1 hour or refrigerate for up to a month.

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The Nutcracker ballet will always have a special place in my heart. For me, it’s like the dishes you ate at home as a child – they may not have been your favorite at the time, but once you grow up, you realize they’ve become your comfort food.

And that’s how I feel about the Nutcracker – the same songs, the same costumes, the same choreography year after year after year. But now that it’s been so long since I’ve performed any classical ballet… the Nutcracker’s the one I miss the most.

The adrenaline rush of those first few bars of party scene music.

The magic of the snow scene at the end of the first act… and slipping and sliding on all that fake fog.

Sprinting around backstage between quick costume changes, and hoping nobody accidentally steals my Chinese costume again.

Reminding each other to take off our warmups after that one time my best friend went onstage with a legwarmer on.

Fluffing each others tutus before Waltz of the Flowers, the mess of clothing and makeup and flowers that would take over the dressing rooms, and finally going out to eat with everybody after the final show.

I may have missed out on a lot of teenaged things, but I don’t regret dancing, not a single bit.

This is one of those dishes that’s super super simple, fairly healthy, but quite tasty and satisfying.

I ended up having to broil the fish for a good bit longer, due to only having a toaster oven to work with, so I imagine this would be even tastier if you had a true broiler to work with. Just make sure to keep an eye on it so you don’t burn anything!

Broiled Salmon with Scallions and Sesame

from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp sesame seeds, plus more for serving
• 3 8-oz skin-on center-cut salmon fillets
• Kosher salt
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1 Fresno chile, thinly sliced

Cooking Directions

1. Whisk garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, honey, 1 tbsp oil, and 1/2 tsp sesame seeds in a small bowl. Season salmon fillets with salt and place in a resealable plastic bag; add half of marinade. Seal bag, pressing out air, and let salmon sit 30 minutes. Reserve remaining marinade.
2. Preheat broiler. Toss scallions with remaining 2 tsp oil on sizzle platter; broil until lightly charred, about 3 minutes. Remove salmon from marinade and set on top of scallions. Spoon some reserved marinade over and broil until salmon is charred around edges, about 6 minutes (watch closely to keep from burning). Spoon more marinade over; top with chile. Broil until salmon is charred and medium-rare at thickest part, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with more sesame seeds.

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For the last couple of years before he passed away, my dad was paralyzed from the waist down and almost entirely bedridden. We all knew his time was limited, so we started doing Sunday dinners with him every week.

At the time, my now sister-in-law was fully vegan, so it became a fun project for me to find really tasty dishes that not only could she eat, but that the entire family would enjoy.

Although she’s no longer vegan, there’s one dish that not only has she requested over and over again, but now my entire extended family is addicted to it… and that is these carrots.

They’re sweet and savory, caramelized and oh so addictively good. And I’m not exaggerating at all when I say that when the entire family gets together, I can make 20 lbs of carrots and they’ll all disappear.

Maple Dijon Roasted Carrots

slightly adapted from Closet Cooking

Ingredients

• 10 pounds carrots, well scrubbed or peeled
• 1 1/4 cup oil
• 1 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 5 tbsp grainy mustard
• 5 tbsp dijon mustard
• 5 tbsp white miso paste
• 5 tbsp rice vinegar
• 7 tbsp soy sauce
• 10 small cloves garlic, grated

Cooking Directions

1. Toss the carrots in half of the mixture of the oil, maple syrup, mustards, miso, vinegar, soy sauce and garlic, arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 400F/200C oven until tender and lightly golden brown, about 20-30 minutes, turning half way through, before tossing them in the remaining glaze and serving.

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