That time I made my husband work for his birthday gift... [Pok Pok Satay and Peanut sauce kit]

The satay pork skewers a la Pok Pok

"Baby it's your birthday, cook for me!"

That time I bought my husband a Pok Pok ingredient kit to make thai food for his birthday and thought it was a great idea but it turned out to be a lot of work! This kit included authentic thai ingredients used by chef Andy Ricker to recreate dishes that taste just like it does at Pok Pok. We absolutely loved Pok Pok the last time we went (here).

How to make pure vanilla extract [tips from our tour of the Hawaiian Vanilla Company, Hawaii]

I LOVE VANILLA!!

3 glistening vanilla beans from Hawaiian Vanilla Company

We learned how to make vanilla extract while we were in Hawaii and it is so easy, it would be crazy not to share. The only caveat is finding good quality vanilla beans worthy of having its flavors extracted from. Preferably sun dried as it boasts more flavor compounds than chemically-dried or oven-dried beans. Everything I am going to share below is from mental note-taking during our visit to a vanilla farm in Hawaii. If anything I say here is not accurate, please let me know :)

We purchased our vanilla beans at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company on the Big Island. These lovely beans were not cheap and at first I thought, hmm, I can buy way cheaper beans back in New York so I will just leave these $10 beans alone. Well, this was before they subtly sold it by simply telling us how they farm the beans. While eating our delicious vanilla infused lunch (vanilla in everything! Lemonade, ice tea, shrimp, chicken burger, buns, salads, fries, ice cream!! O mee gawd I was in heaven!), we learned about cooking with vanilla but also, some aspect of vanilla farming. Suddenly, the price of those beans were justified. It is the second most expensive spice after saffron mostly because it is so labor intensive to grow them. They hand pollinate every goddarn vanilla orchid, hand pick them and then the beans are cured and sun dried for over 4 months!

Here are the three easy steps to making vanilla extract and it can last you like, forever and save you a lot of money especially if you bake a lot! We certainly do NOT bake a lot so we hope we will be able to bottle these up and give them as gifts one day! It is hot commodity!

1. Split your vanilla beans lengthwise with a knife. Cut through the center (we didn't do that but it should be okay). We used 3 beans in total. I have 3 more beans.

Sundried vanilla beans are pliable and moist. You can roll them around your fingers easily. The beans are covered in a natural oil which you will not find on chemically/oven dried beans. Sun drying vanilla beans help retain vanillin the best which means more flavor!  

2. Place beans in a 12-ounce bottle or any size bottle depending on how many beans you got.

3. Add vodka (use about 4 oz of vodka per bean) to the beans, shake and store in cool dark place. 

We picked the cheapest and most tasteless vodka at the liquor store for $8 (Alexis Vodka). 

Tasteless makes it a good candidate for making vanilla extract even though Smirnoff (approx. $18/1 L bottle) seems like a popular choice. It turns out our bottom shelf vodka is almost indistinguishable from a "premium" vodka brand like Grey Goose! See this NY Post article Dave found!

The process takes about 6-9 months depending on the flavor intensity you desire. If you want to extract faster, you can use a stronger alcohol such as Everclear (95% alcohol). If you decide to use Everclear, I think we were told that the extract would be ready in 6 weeks and the extract will be very strong in alcohol and the flavor, intense. A smaller quantity than what your recipe recommends can be used. It is not necessarily the best way. Being patient may yield better tasting extract! But the bottom line is, the longer you leave your beans alone, the more intense the flavor of your extract will be.

After you attain the desired intensity (sniff it or sample!), you can remove about 1/3 of the extract from the top which you can start using. You can then top off with new vodka so you can make more extract! The wait will be shortened (3-4 months) when you do that since 3/4 of the bottle is already flavored. Make sure you don't remove the vanilla seeds fallen to the bottom because that's where the flavor is coming from! You can make up to 5 gallons with just 3 beans. The restaurant, which uses extracts all the time in their cooking has been using the same bottle for more than a decade! When the flavor de-intensifies, they just add a couple more beans and keep extracting! A small bottle of high quality vanilla extract bottle can cost upward of $20-30+ and I have seen up to $400 for 4 gallons. Our 3 beans cost about $28+ tax and $8 for the vodka. Not too shabby. And purchasing the beans straight from the source gives us a sense of security that we are using good quality organic beans. When you find cheap vanilla extracts, you have to be wary about the quality of the beans used and there may also be additives. Our extract is 100% pure for sure!

Oh and why did I just write all that when I could have just showed you this. It came with our vanilla beans...

ENJOY! 

xx

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I made Easter eggs this weekend...nah!

Taiwanese tea eggs -nykeiko.com

Nah, I made Taiwanese marbled tea eggs! It was easy and delicioso! I followed this exact recipe but I could have also asked my mommy. I used black tea mixed with some green tea for the tea leaves although I am sure Jasmine green tea would have tasted much better!

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happy valentine's day...

(oops, i meant to post this last night :)

I hope that on this Valentine's day, know that you are loved and love your loved ones back. It is all that matters! Single or not, just remember that someone loves you and smile :)

xxx

Hsini


P.S. Tonight, Dave fed me so so so well...Wine, fish, oysters, steak, lobster was had... He worked so hard shucking those fresh oysters with a screwdriver and even got a little surprise.... a little living crab!  Dave knows the way to my heart is good food  :)

Fresh salmon and Ikura, my favorites!

Oysters galore

What's that?! A baby crab.

Lobster tails

Oysters

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At home...we eat

Before dinner, you put stuff in your belly to open your apetite for the main course....

Sweetest blueberries I've had all year

The sweetest blueberries totally worth the line up at Trader Joe's... Bought 24 oz and ate them all in a couple of day!

Pate from d'Artagnan and pita chips

my comfort food

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Makes me smile...Mac and Cheese/Popcorn!

I made Mac and Cheese, and popcorn this weekend! I couldn't be more proud of something so unimpressive and the satisfaction of making something new for the first time and having it taste good and sharing it and eating it to satisfy some spontaneous cravings is something to smile about!!!!!! *breathe*

I am lazy when it comes to following a recipe. For the mac n cheese, I read about 3 different mac n cheese recipes and combined what I liked together....orrrr it was more like combining whatever ingredients I have in our pantry and take it from there. I actually didn't have any elbow macaroni and took the noodles from a Kraft dinner and Annie's mac n cheese boxes we had lying around and threw away the cheese powder mix. We never eat that stuff anyway so not sure why we have it.

Simple recipes like this need not to be shared and described but if y'all lazy like me..maybe this will inspire you to DIY when you have these junky little cravings. Now I know I won't be ordering Mac n' Cheese when I go out nor buy bags of popcorn which was an obsession at some point. Were you guys also addicted to microwave popcorn like I was? Anyway, I can make it myself now and add as much butter and salt as I want without all the chemical preservatives!

Enjoy!

Mac and cheese -nykeiko.com

Mac N Cheese:
45 minutes to make tops, unless you're slow at grating cheese.

-Grated cheese (Sharp cheddar and gruyere). I was lazy and used a block of Trader Joe's fresh gruyere/cheddar cheese mix. Dave did the grating which is the "hard" part. I used 3/4 of the cheese but I think we could have gone all the way and use it all!
-3 tbsp of butter
-1 egg
-dices of onions (1/4 onions or more  if you like them onions). I think scallion would work too!
-1 cup of whole milk or cream?
-2-4 cups of elbow macaroni (I actually just took the noodles from two Kraft's and Annie's Mac N cheese boxes we had sitting around).
-salt, herbs, paprika, fresh grounded pepper, cilanto or parsley to garnish (I ate the parsley along with the mac n cheese and it was gooood!). Really though, you can probably add anything to your liking!

Boil the butter, milk and onions on high heat. Add salt and paprika. Some herbs if you'd like. Stir occasionally until butter melts.  Slowly add the egg to mix and 3/4 of your cheese until cheese melts. Pour in your cooked noodles and mix in medium heat until all the noodles are covered and gooey. Transfer everything into a baking pan and top it up with lotsa leftover cheese. Bake in 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. I broiled for extra 5 to make the cheese crispy. Easy peasy!
Use this recipe from Food Network as a guide b'cause I sure suck at writing up recipes!

Homemade popcorn is easy -nykeiko.com

Popcorn: 
10 minutes tops

-1/2 cup of corn seeds
-3 tbsp of oil (I used grapeseed oil)
-salt, cayenne, melted butter to taste. Cheddar or garlic powder are popular flavors but we didn't have any of that.

Follow instructions on the bag of corn. hehe.
Ok ok. Add 3 tbsp of oil in a pot* and add 2-3 kernels on high heat. Cover lid and wait. As soon as the kernels pop, add the rest of the seed and shake the pot so the kernels spread out. Keep on high heat. Watch them pop away. Shake the pot a little to ease poppin'. When all the poppin' stops, turn off heat and add melted butter, salt and pepper and whatever garnish to your liking!

*I didn't know how much kernels was 1/2 cup and the popcorn overflowed in the pan I used. I learned it the fun way, now you use a bigger pan or pot to prevent overflowing popcorn!

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This weekend I will...

I must blog about it so I won't bail on my to-do list..

1. Make lemonade Popsicle sticks since I bought Popsicle molds in Maine. Don't ask why I bought kitchenware in Maine...
2. Spend time with my big sister and nephew who are visiting NY for the first time since I've moved here for a week!
3. To finally unpack from last week's trip and finish up some laundry
4. Share Maine pictures on my blog
5. Clean apartment!

Seems like a simple to-do list right? I'm simple!

Oh, look what I made today and check out these cool new glasses I got in Montreal! I really didn't know what to do with them but they were on sale but now I'm glad I got them!

When I buy a big bag of lemons, I usually squeeze and drink one lemon per day to compensate for the lack of fruit I eat daily which is none most of the time. I know. Bad. I was really consistent with drinking one lemon per day for more than two months but then stopped because my lemon supplier (a colleague at work who has subscribes to freshdirect.com) failed to supply me some Meyers lemons on demand. Today, I wanted to jump back into my routine and start with freshly squeezed Sunkist oranges. It's so good. I can't believe I never did this before and actually let D spend $5-6 on a bottle of "freshly" squeezed orange juice. I do need a real juicer though because getting juice from each orange with a lemon reamer took longer than it should- but oh so satisfying to drink the fruit 'juice' of my labor.

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nykeiko eats: Brooklyn Meat Hook! They got you hooked! [BBQ Burger recipe]

Seen at the cashier counter at The Meat Hook "Stay Hungry Bitches "

It seems that most Brooklynites (or Manhattanites who visit Smorgasburg) know about The Meat Hook and we're no exception. We have no excuse not to especially when it's about 7 blocks away from our place. The Meat Hook consist of a butcher shop, a kitchen supply store filled with a wide range of culinary goodies and a kitchen where cooking classes take place! For those who are interested in home brewery, they got you covered! We sometimes love to just drop by mostly to wander around the shop with no plans to buy anything but usually end up getting something anyway.

They are also affiliated with 'The Brooklyn Kitchen' where cooking classes are offered weekly and appeal to different kinds of taste! You can learn to make everything from sushi,bread, pies, pasta, ice cream to mozzarella, even learn some knife handling skills and lots more! From time to time, they have special treats like learning how to make homemade pizza a la oh-so-very very popular and delicious Roberta's with two chefs from Roberta's?? How cool is that?

Since we have a newly acquired mini grill and were planning a mini BBQ party at our place, we knew the place to get our beef and sausages would be from 'The Meat Hook' no doubt!

'The Meat Hook' takes pride in their products and pay special attention to the local farm suppliers and the quality of meat they supply to their customers. This is why the ground beef were $6.99/lb as oppose to the $1-2/lb you get at regular grocery stores. Absolutely no fillers! All their cuts come from local farms in New York State however on their website, they mention if you want special cuts from Japan or Argentina, they can accomodate! Interesting no?
They serve mainly beef, porc and lamb.Learn more here!

Here's bone marrow we picked up for dinner a couple of months ago. Delicious and easy to prepare.

Bone marrow 

We first thought of making kim chi burger or add onions, herbs and cheese but when you have good freshly ground beef, it is unnecessary to overcompensate with the extras. Just appreciate the pure taste of freshly ground beef. We followed simple burger making guidelines inspired by an article found in Bon Apetit's mag but I found the recipe online here.

Remember, a tasty patty needs to be fatty or else it will be all dry and full of blahness. Pick 80% lean meat/20% oh must-have delicious fat and we sprinkled with kosher salt and freshly ground peppercorn. We used Martin's potato buns and garnished with fresh vine red tomatoes, red onions, all-American cheese, crispy lettuce such as iceberg is preferred though we just used red leaf here. Of course your Ketchup, mayo and mustard. If you want, you can make a special sauce too. I mixed Hellmann's mayo and Heinz ketchup and added some chopped up Kosher pickles. You can also add spicy sauce at any ratios to your liking :).

Good old American cheese on your patties make everything allll good

Don't hold back on the fat!

We picked up the following sausages (+comments taken from Meat Hook's sassy staff):

French onion: "A pork, beef and Swiss cheese concoction that came about when we had too much time on our hands. Fresh thyme and marjoram add the flavor and yes, there are caramelized onions too"
Chicken and garlic sausage:"For those chicken sausage fans out there we have this easy adaptable sausage.  We roast the garlic and make a paste of it mixed with herbs before introducing it to the chicken.  It’s very early Boulud or Puck.  In a good way."
House Italian Braising Sausage:"A slightly spicy link that we dry for several weeks to intensify the flavor of paprika, garlic and fennel inside.  Add it to a red sauce or white bean stew to give it a porky intensity!"

Don't they all sound so tasty?? Indeed they were! Cook to 160-165 deg F to make sure it is good to eat. Don't overcook!
They've got meats and sausages to offer on a weekly basis. You just have to check their website or call them to find out what is in stock as they make these in-house!

The sausages take the heat

My roasted garlic sausage with mushrooms looks fine

Condiments to complement

For the drinks

What a good idea!

White wine and crushed berries!

Sparkling wine and crushed berries are even a better idea! Champagne and berries,..you get my point!

OH and I made that dish in the background! *proud!

Memorial weekend bubbly...

I bought this two years ago on a trip to Napa Valley. This was a vineyard exclusive bottle so you cannot buy this outside Mumm. I have been saving it for some special occasion but Sunday night of the Memorial day long weekday, trapped in our apartment from weekend rain and no possible sleep with bangin' music from neighborly parties, we decided to open it.

*I bought this shirt for Dave in Beijing

Yummy smoothie mathematics

 

These (frozen wild berries + strawberries+ bit of orange) + this (Agave syrup)+ this (Almond milk) + blender = yummy!! + mint leaf to garnish

Zha Jiang Mian noodles à la Keiko

When you have nothing in your fridge and you’re hungry, you improvise.

I bought a $1.99 cucumber for dinner and I was lucky I had a box of tofu in the fridge to work with and made this… Zha Jiang mian à la Keiko. I like to add "à la Keiko" because that’s when I improvise on a recipe and it can only be re-created once..taste wise anyways.

There are no real quantities or anything but that’s okay and is what makes it fun! The sauce goes really well with rice too! mmmm

This is what you will need:
-For the Noodles: With the cooked noodles blend in some olive oil (not very AZN), Sa Cha sauce (Find in Chinatown), scallions, Guilin hot sauce (recipe from my sister).
Add some freshly chopped cucumber to garnish and offset the salty flavor from the sauce.

-For the sauce: Use porc (or tofu like I did), on a pan simmer in with bean sauce, onions, scallions, garlic, water, sesame oil, sugar and oyster sauce. Add anything else you’d like: shitake mushrooms, cucumber, carrots…Of course using meat will enhance ze flavor.

Enjoy!