Parked: Food Truck Rally

I don't know if there is a better way of spending your Saturday than going to a food truck festival with a friend who is equally in love with food as you are. You mean, I don't have to track these trucks down using Twitter and Midtown Lunch? You mean, they are all converging in one spot and I can have anything I want all in one place? Sold.

I'm very glad Hilary and I got to South Street Seaport--where the event was located--as early as we did. By the time we left, around 1:30 PM or so, the lines were crazy long and there was obviously no guarantee that the dish you wanted would still be around.

We started our gluttonous day with some meatball sliders courtesy of a stand (not an actual truck) called Mighty Balls.

The three choices they served were beef, pork, and veggie meatballs. You can choose a sauce for each slider (African Onion, Cranberry Horseradish, Not Your Average Brown Sauce, Jalepeno Jelly, and Tempting Tomato) and for a$1 more, a cheese to top it off (Parmesan, spicy Feta, Mozzarella).

Hilary and I ordered the beef meatball with the tomato sauce (top photo) and the pork meatball with the brown sauce (bottom photo). The brown sauce had a hint of sweetness which was great given the general lightly-sweet flavor of pork. We actually didn't know what the brown sauce tasted like before we ordered it, so kudos to us for choosing wisely. The beef meatball had a bit of a spice kick to it which was amplified by the tangy tomato sauce. The highlight of our food tour, for sure.

We also ordered their pomegranate lemonade, which was enticingly displayed in a clear jug beckoning us to try it in the hot weather.

Continuing our food-shaped-like-spheres theme, we decided to try another stand called Teriyaki Ball. For $6, you get 6 dough-y balls with potato, sausage, or shrimp tucked inside. It is then topped with teriyako sauce and mayo, some crispy tempura flakes, and sliced almonds. I was pretty underwhelmed with this mostly because of the price, but also because it was a lot breadier than I had expected. I SEE you sausage, but I can't seem to taste you. It doesn't help that the sausage was reminiscent of sausage that you top on a pizza from Pizza Hut. The girls working the stand were very adorable and nice though, on the other hand.


By now, the lines were getting ridiculously long. I had wanted to try a few more things from some of the trucks like Mexicue (barbequed meats on tacos) and Gorilla Cheese (fancy, gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches), but the sun was bearing down on me and I am generally a very impatient person. Neither one of us wanted to get full meals because we wanted to try as many little things as possible, so a lot of the food trucks were out (Ed's Pizza, Two Pitas, a bunch of the burger trucks).

One of the trucks with no line was Rickshaw Dumpling. I had seen this truck idling near Astor Place plenty of times but was always wary of it because dumplings = an Asian thing and I never saw any Asians manning the truck. This time was no different, but I was still hungry and again, no line. For $6, you get six dumplings that come out of this steamer-oven-type thing.

Hilary and I ordered the Thai Basil and Chicken dumplings since we realized we haven't tried anything with chicken yet (and you know that is my favorite protein). Oddly enough, it came with a sauce? As Hilary said over dim sum today, "White people love their sauce." So true. This one came with a peanut satay sauce. The dumpling consisted of minced chicken, Thai basil, glass noodles, sliced carrots. It was...okay. I get why they gave you sauce though. The dumpling skin was so dry, probably because it's been chilling on a tray for a long time. At least they offered you chopsticks to make it SOMEWHAT "authentic."

To end our food truck day: dessert. There were a bunch of trucks and stands serving desserts like waffles (Wafels & Dinges which Hilary and I have gone to a bunch of times so we didn't need to get it that time), ice cream sandwiches (CoolHaus), slushies, cupcakes, cookies, and other baked goods.

I wanted to get some Wooly's Ice again but since there was another shaved ice stand, I decided to give this one a whirl to see how it compares.
For $6, you got shaved ice with a scoop of either green tea ice cream or mango sorbet, and three toppings. The ice is then drizzled with condensed milk. The ice is your run-of-the mill shaved ice (unlike Wooly's, which is like sheets of snow ice, Taiwanese style). For $6, it's a bit more than Wooly's, BUT you do get a lot more toppings. If only I could combine the ice of Wooly's with the generous amount of toppings of Shaved Ice Shop, then it would be the perfect dessert. Regardless, still pretty tasty.

We got mango sorbet with chopped mangoes, strawberries, and matcha mochi. The mochi was a tad bit too chewy for me but I liked the freshness of the sorbet.

Since Hilary and I are both very organized people, we had a list/game plan and had taken notes as to what we both ate. Here she is in action, with her game face on.

And to end, here I am in front of an Ethopian food truck with what had to be the weirdest people working there. A girl was wearing a green wig, which can't be that sanitary around food...

Lemon tart pie

Summer is all about refreshing baked goods, I believe. Lemon-y things are no exception. For a dinner party last week, I decided to re-appropriate a lemon bar recipe and turn it into a pie. Main reason being I don't have a deep enough baking pan but really, it's easy to gobble up a dessert when it's in slice form!
Adapted from Hostess with the Mostess.
What you need...
Crust:

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
• 6 ounces (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
  

Filling:

• 6 large eggs
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• About 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar to powder on top.
  

What you need to do...
to make the crust:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Combine the flour and confectioners’ sugar in a bowl until mixed well.
3. Add the butter and continue to mix. I mixed it by hand so that it would be an even, buttery, dough...sort of like what a butter cookie looks like pre-shaped/baked.
4. Gently press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan (or in my case, a 9" cake pan). Bake until golden brown, 25 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
5. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.
to make the filling:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until smooth.
2. Stir in the lemon juice and then add the flour.
3. After checking your crust is at room temperature, pour the filling on top of the crust. Bake until the lemon filling is set, about 50 minutes.
4. Let cool to room temperature. Afterward, you can either put in the refrigerator for 1 hour or keep at room temperature for 3 hours before cutting. Dust the top with confectionery sugar.

Just powdered the pie. About ready to be served!

And voila! A slice of pie!
I would recommend you make the crust just a TEENSY bit thinner than I have in this photo, though.

Susina Bakery and Cafe [[Los Angeles]]

After our big dinner at Fish Grill, we decided to have dessert to punish our stomachs even more. Susina is a little quaint cafe, brimming with lots of different cakes and pastry items (oh, and policemen for some reason). Dim lighting, French 1920s music, and brick walls...this is my sort of place.

The banana cream pie we ordered (seriously, the four of us could barely finish it!) was light, fluffy, and not too sweet. Lots of sliced bananas (apparently they use two bananas in one little pie!) to make it taste super fresh. However, the crust was crazy tough to break. I think I almost had an aneurysm trying to puncture it with my fork!

Is this photo awkward enough for you?

Susina Bakery and Cafe
7122 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 934-7900

Crème de la Crêpe [[Hermosa Beach]]

I've been coming to this French restaurant for a few years, but always just to have a dessert crêpe and hang out at the beach. However, after a failed attempt at trying something super healthy (the vegan/raw cafe we went into was way too hippy dippy for us!), we decided to actually have dinner at Crème.

Anam ordered the vegetable pasta, which was ratatouille mixed with seasoned flat pasta. A little cheese on the side, as well. I don't think it is too difficult to mess up a simple pasta, and Anam had no complaints.

I ordered the beef bourguignon, which was served with a side of pasta and ratatouille. The pasta wasn't seasoned with anything but a smidge of butter, but adding a little of the wine stew from the beef made it better. The beef left something to be desired though; I wish it was more tender. I also don't think the beef absorbed enough of the red wine broth, which is to say that the broth was excellent. More broth taste, please!

The crêpe, of course, was excellent. I've always just had it with various fruits and Nutella because I have a serious love affair with the chocolate-hazelnut spread. However, we decided to order something different this time. Served with vanilla ice cream and homemade whipped cream on the side, the crêpe had sliced strawberries and honey. The honey was light and complemented the tart/sweetness of the strawberries.

Next time I have a hankering for actual food though, I'll forgo the dishes that are time-intensive to cook and go for something easy, like a quiche or a savory crêpe.

And of course, a picture of me with food because this is what this blog is all about.

Crème de la Crêpe
Three locations:
424 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach - (310) 937-2822
1708 South Catalina Avenue, Redondo Beach - (310) 540-8811
6000 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City -(310) 398-8811

Café Bizou [Pasadena]

Although I was only a quick hop away from Andi, I didn't want to bother/lure her away from premium grad school studying. Thankfully, I had a few hungry friends who wanted to take advantage of Pasadena Restaurant Week with me. We decided to go to Café Bizou, which has been around for awhile and probably written about a hundred times. But since we can rarely afford luxuries, let alone an ~expensive~ meal, on our pithy budgets, $25 for a 3-course meal was right up our alley.

First up, two types of bread. A nutty raisin bread which was not great, and a sort-of sourdough bread, which was bland. I suppose this is fine since it made it harder for me to be full before our meal.

We all got the lobster bisque to start. It was creamy and not too heavy. However, the lobster bits were really tiny--at least in my portion. Of course, I shouldn't compare it to the best lobster bisque I had ever had over at Craftsteak...but still. Couldn't you have spared a lobster bit bigger than half an inch in diameter?

For the main course, my friend Jessica and I ordered the same thing, steak au poivre, cooked medium rare as it should. The slices were thin enough and cooked just right, but I felt it was over-peppered towards the end. Perhaps I'm not used to this much pepper. It was served with a creamy brandy sauce, which tasted great with the mashed potatoes which were also creamy and fluffy. Usually I eat the veggies given, especially since these ones were dark and obvs good for you. But uh, who decided to cook spinach with NOTHING but pepper? Bland...and peppery. Broccoli was bland as well, but I suppose a dip in the brandy cream sauce would have done the trick.

Queenie ordered the lobster tagallini pasta. I don't think I've ever had black pasta before, so I decided to try one noodle. It does have it's own taste, although subtle. Interesting, and I can imagine, would pair well with the lobster vodka sauce.

Alicyn ordered the Alaskan halibut, served with mashed potatoes and a trio of veggies (carrots, snow peas, and green beans). Alicyn said that the green beans tasted the best. As for the tomato garlic sauce, it was light enough that the halibut really could stand on its own.

My favorite part of any meal: dessert! Everyone but me (because I'm a rebel) ordered the flourless chocolate cake. Alicyn, lover of all chocolate, really liked it and said that it melted in her mouth. I tried it, and I could tell it was flourless, but still tasty. Not my favorite though. The homemade whipped cream was great.

And my dessert, homemade tiramisu. The first bites were very rum-heavy, in a good way. After the initial bites, the rum gave way to the light flavors of coffee, chocolate, and mascarpone cheese. Really airy, and tasted great with the vanilla and raspberry sauces. Probably my favorite part of the meal.

Café Bizou
91 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91103
(626) 792-9923 | www.cafebizou.com/

Egg custard tarts

Into the oven they go!

Egg tarts is one of my favorite dessert/breakfast/pastry. It's almost a mixture of sweet and salty, using egg, sugar, and butter. I can't share the recipe with you as my aunt gave it to me (sorry!) but hopefully these photos will suffice. And, I even took an awkward photo with my new creations just for you!

Almost done baking!

Cooling down.

First delicious bite!

Custard-eyes

Green Tea cupcakes

Here's another cupcake post for you because I'm too intimidated to make a real cake and cupcakes are easy and fun to share! Sorry if I'm putting your S'mores cupcakes to shame, Andi but you know what? Yours are more in spirit to this blog though!
I found this recipe from my friend Angela's Tumblr, but I modified it a lot because I don't like following directions. If you're a fan of light and fluffy cupcakes, this is for you. It's not too sweet or heavy, which is a perfect guilt-free snack/treat...even if it's not "healthy."
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs; 2 egg yolks
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk (or soy milk, which is what I used)
2-5 tablespoons green tea matcha (basically green tea powder. I feel that even if you add the 5 tablespoons, it's still not overpowering.)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners...or if you're like me, forgo the cupcake liners because seriously, I don't need to impress anyone.
2. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
3. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each egg. Add egg yolk, one after a time as well.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Add to batter and mix to combine.
6. Whisk 2 tablespoons matcha into the milk until completely dissolved. Add to the batter and mix until combined. Taste and add more if you want a stronger green tea flavor.
7. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way.
8. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before icing with green tea cream cheese frosting.

Green tea cream cheese frosting
I seriously eye-balled a lot of this so you should experiment with HOW MUCH frosting you want. You'll see in my photos that I don't have a lot because my dad isn't into sweets.
Ingredients:
8 oz Philly cream cheese, room temperature
half a stick of unsalted butter
1 cup confectionery/powdered sugar, sifted
2 tb matcha
2 tb milk, if you want a "runnier" frosting
Directions:
Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add sugar and matcha (and milk if needed), beat till you have a whipped-like consistency. Top it on your cupcakes when the cupcakes are finally cool.

Now photos!
Right out of the oven. Look at that awesome green color!

Adding the frosting:

First bite!

Nutella cupcakes

Hey remember that time when this blog existed? I should stop being a lazy food blogger and post to the 2 readers who still visit! This was something I made with a few friends about three months ago.

One of my loves is Nutella. And I can eat it in anything. I found this cupcake recipe through my friend Angela, who also shares my love of Nutella.

So here we go, awkward photos (because phone-camera quality is awkward?) and a recipe to follow. Let me tell you now: this is not for the health conscious. However, if you don't care (like I don't care), you won't regret it. It's crispy on the top, super moist and chocolaty in the middle. HEAVEN.

Nutella Swirl Cupcakes (via this tumblr)

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
~9.8 tablespoons butter, softened (the recipe is in the metric system, so I'm converting these. So even the ingredients will be in awkward numbers. Hurrah!)
3/4 cup white sugar
3 medium eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup nutella

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 320°F.
2. Line 12 muffin tins with cupcake or muffin liners.

3. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl. Leave aside.
4. Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl till texture is light.

5. Add in the eggs, one at a time.

6. Add in the vanilla extract.

7. Gradually add in the dry ingredients into the wet mix till well-mixed.

8. Fill up each liner with batter till about 3/4 full.
9. Top up each cupcake with approximately 1 tbsp of nutella.

10. Use a toothpick to swirl the nutella into the batter.

11. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. And voilà!

Photos courtesy of my friend Queenie and her Blackberry.