My first-in-a-long-while attempt at baking a cheesecake

I don't think I remember making a cheesecake since college or before. While I like eating cheesecake, the idea of baking one usually just seems way too torturous because of the wait-time needed to completely cool and chill the darn thing before eating it. And the act of making it reminds me of how deliciously caloric a piece of cheesecake can often be.

Mom had one of those pre-made graham cracker shells that was nearing it's recommended freshness date so I flipped over the label for some help. The recipe was simple enough, but I didn't have 16 oz of cream cheese, sour cream, or a fresh lemon on hand to complete the uncake cake. What I did have was a cup of heavy whipping cream, a mostly unused 8 oz tub of mascarpone cheese, and vanilla extract.

In the end, I made substitutions and recipe tweaks with what I had on hand and came out with an airy, slightly sweet and lemony cheesecake.

Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, softened at room temp
8 oz(more like 6 oz) mascarpone cheese
1/2 c super fine sugar
3/4 c heavy whipping cream, whipped into soft peaks
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. lemon zest
1 t. vanilla extract
6 oz. Honey Maid graham cracker pie shell.

cake pan filled 1/3 of height with water

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees Fahrenheit
2. Whip cream into soft peaks with an electric mixer, set aside
3. Blend cheeses with mixer on medium speed
4. add sugar, blend
5. add eggs , blend
6. add lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract
7. fold in whipped cream

Pour into shell and bake for 25 minutes. Place the cake pan of water on a lower shelf to keep a moist, quasi-bain marie atmosphere. The cake will rise a bit and still be jiggly, not-quite set when done. Cool cake on rack until completely cool. Next, chill in the refrigerator until chilled through (4-5 hours for me or 24 hours if you can bear it.

Eat some. Share some. Be merry.

The Boiling Crab - SJ

Many people have made incredibly detailed reviews of this place. You should read them.

Pros: Tasty shellfish in butter, garlic, and/or Cajun spice by the pound. Pints of steamed white rice as a side dish option. Great sweet potato fries.

Cons: Unreliable servers (a little on the "young" side). Less than stellar fried fish basket (in Mei's experience). How messy are you willing to get?

Blueberry Cream Scones

I made a bunch of scones last week and brought them to the office. I was pretty pleased with myself since folks overwhelmingly praised them as the best scones they ever had.

It all started with a Cook's Country recipe for quick cheddar biscuits. I upped the sugar and added the dried blueberries to turn my savory biscuit treat into a sweetened delight. They remind me a bit of the scones Danielle and I had at Tea Time in Palo Alto.


2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dried blueberries (or dried currants)
1 c heavy cream

To finish:
1 T melted butter
1 T demerara sugar (aka, turbinado sugar or the stuff in those Sugar in the Raw packets)


A. Preheat oven to 425 F
1. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and blueberries into a large mixing bowl.
2. Stir in heavy cream, gently binding the ingredients into a crumbly dough. (30 turns of the spoon - or just use your cool, clean hands to mix)
3. Turn the dough onto a smooth surface and pat into an 8-inch diameter disk.
4. Use a pizza cutter to get 8 scones out of the dough.
5. Place scones onto a baking sheet for 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, melt butter in the microwave
7. At the 10 minute mark, brush the melted butter onto the scones and sprinkle the demerara sugar.
8. Return the tray of scones to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes until slightly golden.

Serve warm.

Goosecross Cellars 2004 Twentieth Anniversary Sparkline Rosé

I bought this sparkling wine a long while ago. It was the store's "last bottle" and I had been using the store's free wi-fi for three hours on their deck, so I had to give it a try.

I just liked the idea of a wine maker crafting this sparkling rosé (Chardonnay/Zin) as a 20-year wedding anniversary present for his wife. The shelf-talking notes or the sales woman may have also mentioned that this was the winery's first and perhaps only sparkling number.


I finally opened it for a brunch with Sylvia and Stacey. It was totally good. Not overly sweet and with a really clean finish, it suited our brunch of turkey bacon sourdough eggs benedict and Nutella crepes just fine.

California Roll Salad for a Crowd

This is my first recipe post since I've returned to California. I credit this recipe to Charlotte who made it for church lunch in Boston one Sabbath. I tweaked her recipe by adding cucumber and pre-mixing the crab salad over chopped romaine hearts.

Imagine a typical inside-out California roll: imitation crab, cucumber, and avocado wrapped tightly in nori with a sushi rice exterior and rolled in bright orange tobiko. Now imagine taking out the nori and rice, and mix the rest of the ingredients with some mayo. Top it over a bed of light leafy lettuce greens and you've got yourself an impressive salad.

I'd definitely make it again for a potluck or church lunch. I like that it's a no-cook recipe, so the most time-consuming part of prep was the washing, drying, and chopping up the romaine hearts. The fake crab sticks are pre-cooked (much like hot dogs), so using a mandoline to slice the frozen sticks on a bias make for really pretty crab bits and it kept the salad cool for transport. The salad was even kid-friendlier than I imagined. I figure the no-raw fish aspect of the dish and the automatic Japanese-food-is-cool factor helped. Even more, I cut costs of the roe low by buying frozen masago (capelin roe @ $4.95 lb) rather than frozen tobiko(flying fish roe @ $9.00/lb) or "fresh" tobiko ($20.00/lb)

The results are:
delicious (probably because of the touch of MSG in Japanese mayo);
colorful (tobiko/masago sweat food coloring like nothing else);
crunchy (romaine + cucumber + tobiko); and
kosher (as far as I can tell if you use regular mayo - maybe we should ask a Rabbi).

Prepares one party tray of salad/20-25 people

• 5 romaine hearts (I used a Costco pack)
  
• 1 package of frozen imitation crab sticks (2 lbs - the package should confirm kosherness)
  
• 1 large cucumber
  
• 3 large avocados
  
• 1 package of frozen masago (capelin are in the smelt family and smelt have scales, so that's why I think it's probably kosher)
  
• 1 cup Japanese mayonnaise (use a kosher mayonnaise to be sure - the MSG might be pork-based)
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

1. Prepare the bottom layer of the salad by washing, drying, and chopping the romaine hearts.

2. Prep the "crab" from frozen. Unwrap each stick from its platic forming tube and slice the sticks on a bias using a mandoline or chop sticks into bite-sized chunks.

3. Prep the cucumber. Quarter the cucumber in long strips, then use a spoon to scrape out the seeds. Use a mandoline to slice each quarter into fine slices.

4. Prep the avocado. Half and pit the avocado. Score the flesh with a paring knife without piercing the skin. Use a spoon to harvest your diced avocado bits.

5. Combine the "crab," cucumber, avocado, masago, and mayo until all are uniformly distributed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Finish the salad by topping the greens with an even mix of the "crab" mix.

As with all salads using mayo, keep it chilled until serving time and don't let it sit out for too long.

Return to the Bay...

The first thing I ate upon my return flight to the Bay was a thermos of my mom's sinigang with some rice.

The next morning, I made sure that my first meal was a double meat, lettuce and tomato In-n-Out burger. P.S. Did you know you can ask for a free sticker with your meal? Awesome!


My first trip back into Napa to pick up my winter wine included a trip to Bouchon for some uber-buttery brioche.

The first thing I cooked/baked was my first attempt at no-knead bread. Delicious!


My first "new-to-me" place was Gyros House in Mountain View where I tried to keep up with friendly airan-chugging, pistol-shootin' Bulgarians. Another bit of awesomeness!

My first "impressive" meal was Nga and Thomas's Chinese-Vietnamese seafood wedding banquet. Of course I was too busy eating and enjoying company to take pictures =)
javascript:void(0)

My first California fix of Mexican was in Oakland at Taqueria El Farolito. The torta was hearty, but I learned that I'm not a fan of Mexican Coke.

Closing the Boston Chapter - Part 5: The Final Wish List

I've been sitting on this post for a while.

In my final months in Boston I made it to a lot of my favorite places and wish list spots.

Scups in the Harbor. This is a wish list spot that I didn't have time to visit. If I ever make it out to Logan Airport, I'm taking the airport shuttle or a cab to the harbor to make it to this too-good-to-be-true spot.

Sticky Sticky Bun from Flour. This Food Network Throw Down challenge winner is extremely rich and delicious. I really like the fact that it uses a minimum amount of cinnamon to let the brown sugar and butter flavors shine through. I will attempt to make it on my own someday...

Chacarero from Chacarero. The secret hot sauce! The bread! The steamed green beans! The mashed avocado! The salt! The pepper! The meat! Bright, clean flavors, freshness, and simplicity --- I shall miss it all.

Baked goods. Most notably I shall miss my walks down the block to Kupel's for fresh, eggy, sweet challah. I'll miss my half-priced after 5:00 loaves of bread from Sel de la Terre... the crusty french breads of Clear Flour Bakery... and lots of other carby gems.