Thanksgiving Part 1 (Pacsqiving)

I have three Thanksgiving celebrations to attend this year cause that's how I roll. Actually, my friends generally have a potluck gathering, work does another potluck gathering, and my family will do something on the special day if we are not in Vegas. The past few years have been kind of strange because my dad has been going back to Taiwan to spend some more time with my grandfather, who is ... 95+ years old. This year is even more different - BOTH my parents are going back, leaving tonight and not returning until the Sunday after turkey day. Though people have been urging me to just buy a couple turkey breasts, I'm leaning towards buying a turkey anyways. Anyone want to come over and join our sad three-people celebration?

Justin and Kristin were gracious enough to host Thanksgiving at their apartment this year, and we had an extra excuse to get together on account of the Pacquiao vs Marquez fight. Hence, Pacsgiving. Everyone brought a dish, a 22-lb turkey was made, and we enjoyed spending time with friends and food.

brined/roasted 22-lb turkey

rotisserie chicken

beef stew

mac and cheese

potatoes au gratin

stuffing with sausage

seven-layer dip

pasta salad

spinach artichoke dip

paella

spinach stuffed mushrooms

cheesy potatoes

stuffing with chestnuts

creamed corn

sweet potatoes

jalapeno cheddar cornbread

shrimp toast

spinach artichoke dip

green bean casserole

potato wedges

some kind of Filipino/Vietnamese dessert

salted brown butter crispy treats

pumpkin cream pie

We had a total of 35 people in the apartment to stuff themselves with food and watch Pacquiao's third fight with Marquez. A super controversial fight too! I've watched the last three fights with this general group of friends and Pacquiao has won every time - I'd hate to see the atmosphere if he lost a fight one day. And to show everyone how thankful we are, we continued to follow the tradition of everyone filling their plates, but not being able to eat until we had gone around the room and each person said what they were thankful for that year. I hate public speaking and always have something witty in my head to say, but then stutter and sound totally stupid when I have to start talking. Yay for Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Cream Pie
adapted from The Pioneer Woman

1 graham cracker crust
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 box (3 oz) vanilla pudding (cook & serve)
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 Tbsp whiskey (optional)
1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Brush the inside of the graham cracker crust with the egg and bake for 5 minutes. This prevents the filling from soaking into the crust too much and making it soggy. You can make the crust with graham crackers, but I'm too lazy for that.

In a medium saucepan, combiine dry pudding mix, half-and-half and cream. Add spices. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is bubbly and thick. Remove from heat and stir in whiskey, if using. Add pumpkin and stir to combine thoroughly. Taste the mixture and add more spices as necessary - I like it heavily flavored, and remember that once the mixture is cold, the flavors will be a bit dulled. I added maybe a bit more cinnamon. Place lid on pot and place in the fridge to cool completely.

When mixture is cool, remove from the fridge. In a mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup heavy cream and brown sugar. Beat until very light and fluffy. Fold in pumpkin cream mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Avoid stirring too vigorously and defalting the mixture. Pour into cooled crust. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.

Mo-Chica

Yay good news! Burgess claims the laptop has been fixed AND he was able to retrieve all my files on it. I have yet to receive the laptop in my hands (hopefully today or tomorrow) but I have high hopes that everything is indeed there. He made a comment about the virus hiding all my folders - what kind of stupid virus is that?? Oh are viruses supposed to be inconvenient and make the victim panic? Then I guess it worked.

After hearing about Mo-Chica for a long time, I managed to convince Boyfriend last week to take me. Ever since we bought his car last month, he has promised to take me out to dinner. One month later, and no dinner - what the hell. And he said that this one didn't count! He better have something up his sleeve because the window of opportunity in which this dinner still has meaning is dwindling ...

At first glance of the address and street location on Yelp, Boyfriend was convinced that we were heading into the ghetto. Yes, the first time I visited USC in college, I was quite terrified for my life as we were in Watts, but the area has cleaned up a lot since then. When he was in college, he worked at the USC mail distribution center close to the Mercado court, and he said it was somewhere no one wanted to stick around after dark. But that was so long ago! Get into your new car and drive us to dinner, please. If it looks sketchy or like we'll get shot, we don't have to get out of the car.

Luckily, the area was all cleaned and safe, though the street was quite deserted. Upon walking into the Mercado, we expected more of a food court but was surprised to see that it was sit-down and had waiter service. We glanced through the menu a but, but I already knew what I wanted - the only item that did not list its calorie count. We presumed it was because the calorie count was higher than 650, which is the highest number on the board ... our waitress confirmed this hypothesis was correct. There goes the diet. I have included the calorie counts below for your entertainment pleasure.

some kind of corn nut

maracuya - passion fruit juice (140cal) and Inca Kola

ceviche del dia (270cal)

seco de cordero - lamb shank, canario beans, salsa criolla, cilantoro beer sauce (510cal)

oxtail risotto - braised oxtail, berley huancaina risotto (probably 2000cal)

The meats were fall-off-the-bone soft and tender, and the sauces were great. However, no matter how hard we try, we can never really really like risotto. I've had some really good ones, but most of the time they're just very heavy. Maybe next time I can request the oxtail over white rice - the sauce with plain carbs would be delicious and homey/comforting! Home cooking at it's best. Speaking of home cooking. this is the following conversation I had with my family this weekend after dim sum, after I tried to give them some of MY homecooking in the form of frozen Book Club wontons:

Mom: Eleana (or the Chinese equivalent thereof), I ate your wontons. They're no good.
Dad/Brother: Hahahahaha
Me: What do you mean? The ones I wrapped?
Mom: Yes. No good. The meat is too hard. You need the meat to be softer. Did you add egg?
Me: Yessss.
Mom: Did you add water?
Me: Yessss.
Mom: Did you add cornstarch?
Me: Umm no.
Mom: See? You should have added cornstarch. Where did you get this dumb recipe from?
Me: From Grandma. Dad's mom. When I went back to Taiwan.
Mom: You must have messed up then.
Dad/Brother: Hahahahaha
Me: I did what Grandma told me to do!
Mom: Whatever. I'm just trying to help you make wontons that aren't bad, with hard meat.

So ungrateful. So Asian critical. I love it - it's comedy. Most of it time, it's my mom being all crazy to one person and the other two people laughing in the background. But not too loud, otherwise she'll get annoyed and turn her wrath upon the laughers and all of a sudden, we gots three victims instead of just one.

Mo-Chica
3655 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90007

The Walking Dead S2E4 - Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter

So I haven't blogged the past week because I was about to post about the latest The Walking Dead dinner last Monday when my (work) laptop contracted a virus. I have no idea from where, I swear. Yes, I go to Facebook, various food blogs and read articles on Yahoo/CNN but I don't do that much other surfing. The terrible thing was that I had about eight months worth of pictures on the harddrive that I hadn't gotten around to backing up cause I was uhh, lazy. I think it was like ... 6 gigs worth. Needless to say, I was a wreck and even paged Boyfriend at the hospital he works at so I could cry about it. And then reject all his offers of helping me retrieve the data because he doesn't have admin access on the computer anyhow.

Then I called my friend in the company IT department and made him promise he would try to retrieve the data that was wiped, packaged up the computer with some chocolates/trailmix as bribes and shipped it out to San Francisco. I haven't received it back yet and he hasn't given me any updates. THIS is why I keep buying new SD cards for my camera instead of deleting the pictures on it! That SD card plus scouring Facebook plus a few hours on my hands will probably recover 95% of what was destroyed, if Burgess can't recover anything.

This week (or last week, at this point), I attempted to make gnocchi. I made that decision based on the fact that I had a lot of sage in the refrigerator and wanted to get rid of it. From the extensive research I did on gnocchi-making, I determined that the most importants things were (1) make sure the potato is as soft and smooth as possible and (2) don't overmix the dough.

The gnocchi turned out not as soft as clouds, but were still pretty soft and pillow-like with a good bite. In the future, I'd definitely cut the butter in the butter sauce by half, since there was a bit too much of it and it made the dish super heavy.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter
from Giada De Laurentiis

2 lbs sweet potatoes
2/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/3 cup for the work surface

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
20 fresh sage leaves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbps maple syrup
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425F. Pierce the sweet potato with a fork. Bake the sweet potatoes until tender and fully cooked, between 40 to 55 minutes depending on size. Cool slightly. Cut in half and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Mash the sweet potatoes and transfer to a large measuring cup to make sure the sweet potatoes measure about 2 cups. Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes back to the large bowl.

Add the ricotta cheese, salt, cinnamon, and pepper and blend until well mixed. Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough in a ball on the work surface. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls. Roll out each ball into a 1-inch wide rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. Roll the gnocchi over the tines of a fork. Transfer the formed gnocchi to a large baking sheet. Continue with the remaining gnocchi.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the gnocchi in 3 batches and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the gnocchi using a slotted spoon onto a baking sheet. Tent with foil to keep warm and continue with the remaining gnocchi.

While the gnocchi are cooking melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted add the sage leaves. Continue to cook, swirling the butter occasionally, until the foam subsides and the milk solids begin to brown. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Careful, the mixture will bubble up. Gently stir the mixture. When the bubbles subside, toss the cooked gnocchi in the brown butter. Transfer the gnocchi to a serving dish and serve immediately.

* I halved this recipe for the two of us.

Carmela Ice Cream

I can't believe I've never heard of this place! I was reading though the archives of Darin Dines when I found his post on this ice cream shop in Pasadena. The Yelp reviews looked pretty fantastic as well and then I saw it ... salted caramel ice cream. Which people said rivaled the famous one at Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. I had to try it.

Daily flavors are posted on a chalk board as you walk in. The most popular flavors are the salted caramel and the brown sugar vanilla, and additional flavors are created based on what is in season at the farmers markets. The young man behind the counter was super helpful and encouraged us to try as many flavors as we liked before making a final decision. They also sell cookies, ice cream sandwiches and pre-packaged pints of ice cream.

dark chocolate with cacao nibs

salted caramel

Total for two single scoops came out to $9. I was slightly confused because single scoops are advertised as $3.50 but then the cone/cup is $1 more? The waffle cone they gave us was delicious with hints of honey, but why list the price separately if I'm going to be charged that extra $1 no matter what. When the server asked "cup or cone" and we said "cone" we were just given the waffle cone so I'm assuming there are no additional regular cones that don't add the extra $1, unless you need to specify "I want the cheap-y free cone that tastes like cardboard, not the fancy delicious cone" ... someone shed light on this for me if they've been there. I could just be missing something.

Carmela Ice Cream
2495 E Washington Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91104

The Walking Dead S2E3 - Roast Chicken with Roasted Garlic Gravy

Annnd we are finally caught up. This past Sunday was the third episode of The Walking Dead. I must admit that the show is quite gory at times and I have to avert my eyes. However, rumor has it that the comic is much much much bloodier and has a lot of issues that will not be shown on TV (like a six year old murdering a newborn). I'm sure AMC will not write that part into the show.

This week, after careful deliberation, I decided to roast my second chicken. Ever. I made Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables awhile back and it was great. However, I wanted to explore more recipes, since the world of roasting chicken is so fertile with ingredients and technique. Being super excited to cook, I told my dad that I had to go to the market to buy a chicken to roast. He asked why I just didn't buy the $5 one from Costco. Wut.

Roast Chicken with Roasted Garlic Gravy
adapted from Rachel Ray's Week In A Day

1 (4-5 lbs) chicken, washed and dried
4 Tbps chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 stick softened butter
2 heads, plus 2 cloves garlic
12 small potatoes, halved
4 small onions, peeled and quartered, attached at root end
6 sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped
1 lemon, halved
1 (10-ounce) box frozen or canned artichoke hearts, defrosted, well drained and halved

Preheat the oven to 475F.

Combine thyme, a handful of kosher salt and lots of pepper in a small bowl. Liberally season the chicken inside and out to taste. Rub the bird with softened butter.

Cut the ends off 2 bulbs of garlic to expose all of the cloves for roasting. Put the potatoes and onions in a roasting pan, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, toss. Dress the whole cut bulbs of garlic with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Press the bulbs into the rosemary leaves so that some adheres to the garlic; sprinkle the remainder over the potatoes and onions and toss. Put chicken into the pan, nestled in the middle of the vegetables. Squeeze the juice of the lemonhalves over the chicken and put the lemon in cavity of bird along with 2 large cloves of crushed garlic. Truss the chicken. Add the dressed garlic heads to the pan amongst the veggies and roast for 15 minutes at 475F. Baste the bird with pan juices, then lower the temperature 375F and roast until the juices run clear, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Add the artichokes to the pan the last 20 to 30 minutes of roast time, mixing them in with the potatoes and onion.

Remove the chicken to a cutting board. Let rest for 10 minutes and then carve. Arrange the chicken on a serving platter along with the potato mixture.

I have no idea why it has "roasted garlic gravy" because there was no gravy made. However, as the chicken was resting, I cranked the oven up to 450F and roasted asparagus for 10 minutes. Then I removed allthe vegetables from the roasting pan and skimmed off as much fat as I could, to make gravy. We ate the soft roasted garlic cloves with the carved chicken but they were not incorporated into the gravy.