A Failproof Recipe For Muffin Tops

Ingredients:
Yourself

Instructions:
Have a baby sometime in your mid-30's, and then after you stop nursing, think that you can eat like a pig and not gain weight.

Because my weight has recently crossed over into a territory that's technically considered overweight for my height, I decided to participate in a Biggest Loser contest at my office. In two months, the person who loses the highest percentage to their original weight wins a bunch of cash. Excellent! Rich and skinny...just like the jeans I can hardly fit into right now. *sigh*

Now I'm not going to jump on the Lean Cuisine bandwagon or anything like that; I love food too much to subject myself to that kind of torture. Nor do I plan on going on the cocaine and cigarettes diet. (Although the prize money would definitely help cover the cost of said chemical aides) My strategy, rather, is to reduce portion sizes and refined carb intake and seek out lower calorie, healthy and tasty foods while making a commitment to work out 4-5 days a week. Which basically means no more chocolate-covered foie gras binges whilst sprawled out on the couch watching Jersey Shore. It's going to be a tough adjustment, especially being a food blogger and all, but hopefully one that will pay off in more ways than one.

Please share any weight loss/get fit success stories as well as any favorite healthy but tasty recipes...I'd love to hear them! Wish me luck!

My Favorite Childhood Dish, Loud and Proud: Steamed Pork With Salted Duck Egg

Coming from where I come from--a podunk little suburb about 25 miles outside of San Francisco--growing up Chinese-American back in the 70’s and 80’s was tough work. As one of a small handful of ethnic minority kids in my grade school classes, I was always guaranteed that anything I did that was remotely culturally diverse was a free pass for taunts, teases and hurt feelings. Had I known then what I know today, those Slant-Eye-Ching-Chong-China insults would’ve been met with the finger and a resounding “Fuck You” from that little Chinese girl with the bowl cut. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that self-confident back then and resorted to taking the “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude in order to avoid being the laughing stock of my school.

I watched shows like the Brady Bunch to figure out how a stereotypical American family lives. Easy enough, right? Everyone calls each other "dear", they eat roast beef for dinner every night and they like to go camping. It would be my job to convince my classmates that these kinds of things were what my family liked to do too.

So when my 6th grade class was studying nutrition and had a homework assignment to keep a food diary and categorize those things into the four food groups, I was determined to replace stir-fried pork intestines and pickled mustard greens with pot roast and potatoes. I didn't think anyone in my class would understand that at my house, we ate from the vegetable, meat, and bread/grain groups as well as the offal group, the soy group and the various-preserved-foodstuffs group.

It was a total shame because my embarrassment and cowardice led me to leave some of my all time favorite dishes off of this food diary. What's worse, my parents somehow got a hold of this project and were crushed that I'd rather show people that I ate meatloaf instead of my favorite dish that they'd prepared with so much love: steamed pork with salted duck egg, or hahm dahn jzing jee yook.

I've been kicking myself in the ass for that food diary incident for as long as I can remember. How could I have been so stupid as to lie about something that made me feel so good? Knowing that it was my favorite dish, my parents always let me have the first scoop, and I strategically dug my spoon into the center every time so as to get some of the salty, velvety egg yolk. I'd plop the spoonful of this porky, eggy Cantonese village dish onto a steaming mound of rice, mix it all up, and start shoveling the stuff into my mouth. My parents would also purposely leave a little bit of the hahm dahn jzing jee yook in the dish because they knew I liked to dump the last bit of rice from the rice pot into it and scrape up every last juicy pork and egg bit.

I therefore made it my goal to make sure I knew how to make this dish for my own children. Even though my son is a little too young to be eating such a sodium and cholesterol bomb right now (hey, I never said this dish was healthy), it's comforting to know that I can one day make this dish for him the same way that my parents made it for me. And being that he's mostlikey going to be growing up in the Chinese-heavy San Gabriel Valley, I don't think he'll have a problem putting steamed pork with salted duck egg on his own food diary.

The basic recipe follows; sorry I don't really use exact measurements. Do like I do--trial and error until the taste and texture is to your liking. You'll be surprised at how super-simple it is!

Steamed Pork With Salted Duck Egg/Hahm Dahn Jzing Jee Yook

Ingredients:
-A large handful (about 1/2 lb?) of ground pork butt preferably chopped by hand for a coarser texture
-Sesame oil
-Soy sauce
-Shaoxing rice wine
-Cornstarch
-1 large chicken egg, beaten
-1 uncooked salted duck egg (available at Chinese markets such as 99 Ranch)

Put a swig each of sesame oil, soy sauce and wine onto the ground pork. Sprinkle with a little bit of cornstarch. Mix it all together with your hands.

Add the chicken egg and mix again with your hands.

Separate the salted duck egg--the big bulbous orangey-yellow yolk will remain intact.

Combine the salted duck egg white with the pork & chicken egg mixture and mix thoroughly with your hands.

Pour the mixture into a shallow dish and put the salted duck egg yolk in the center of the mixture.

Steam for approximately 20 minutes or until the pork is no longer pink.

Serve with steamed rice and enjoy!

Note to parents: I recently started cooking an alternate, lower-sodium version of this for my toddler. I simply omitted the salted duck egg and added an additional beaten chicken egg. It won't have that subtle salted flavor that the duck egg lends to the dish, but at least my kid can enjoy something similar now. It still has that wonderful aroma of steamed pork and sesame oil and the custardy texture of the steamed egg. He's already been eating it at daycare and loving it--he makes mama so proud!

Jook: The Next Best Thing To A Hug From A Chinese Mama

Growing up, no other food that my parents made spelled out love better than jook, or Chinese rice porridge (also called congee). All it took was a little rice and broth or water to make comfort food at its finest. It warmed our tummies alongside noodles on weekend lunches at home. Since it's so hearty yet easy to digest, it made us feel better whenever we were sick with the flu, stomach problems, you name it. It was also traditionally a birthday food with my family--my dad explained it as "simple food that symbolizes your humble beginnings"--pretty wise, eh?

So now that I'm a Chinese Mama, jook has quickly become a staple in my household too. It's cheap, it's delicious, and it's such a feel-good food. Long gone are the days of dragging myself out of bed on a weekend morning to go to brunch in my best I-tried-really-hard-on-purpose-to-look-disheveled-yet-comfy garb. No sirree, I'm up early making jook for my family.

All you pretty much need is this: one part rice to approximately 10 parts liquid (broth, water or a combination of both) I prefer using jasmine rice, and using broth always makes jook alot more tasty than does water, though using water is handy when queasy stomachs call for the blandest of bland foods.

Put the rice in a large pot and add only about 4 to 6 parts of the liquid. Bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer and cover. After the rice simmers for a little bit, it will start to break down and look like the photo on the left.

Keep adding liquid in one to two part increments as the liquid in the pot starts to get absorbed by the rice and stir. As you near the 10-parts-liquid-part, the rice will start to look like the photo on the right. At this point, I always taste the jook for consistency before adding more liquid. Remember, you can always add more liquid but you can't take it out, so don't think that you have to use exactly 10 parts of liquid. Sometimes 8 is the magic number for me and sometimes it's 11, it all depends on how you want it and how moody your rice is on the absorbency scale that day. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can't rush jook; hearty, soul warming foods can't usually be made in 10 minutes, so be patient. Jook can sometimes take up to a couple of hours to make.

When your jook is near done, you can also add meat or other ingredients that would make it more interesting. Make jook as simple as you want, or as elaborate as you want. These days, I usually add coarsely chopped chicken thigh or beef because I'm catering to a toddler's diet, but the possibilities are really endless. Seafood makes for a really tasty jook, as do offals. My favorite jook growing up was a chicken and dried squid one; my brother's favorite contained pigs feet and boiled peanuts.

No jook is complete to me without all the condiments. At bare minimum, I've got scallions, ginger, and preserved turnip laying around for our jook meals. But it's an extra-extra-special day when I've got peanuts, thousand year old egg, deep fried bean threads, or yao zhar gwai--a deep fried cruller of sorts--to add to my jook. And oh yeah, don't forget the white pepper!

So doesn't this make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside now? Makes you wanna go hug your Chinese Mama, right? Don't have one? That's OK, just go make some jook--it's the next best thing.

MEOW: Kid Friendly, Palate Friendly - Tavern, Brentwood

In a part of town where there are as many Bugaboos roaming the streets as there are Bimmers and Benzes, the finer things in life are must-haves for adults and ankle-biters alike. Dining is certainly no exception. And though I am by no means a Bimmer-driving, Bugaboo-pushing kind of mommy, I am still a mommy. Once in a while, this mommy likes to treat herself and her little munchkin to something a little more upscale than homemade butternut squash pureé.

Recently, a visit from my friend S and her better half was the perfect excuse for myself and some other mommy and daddy friends of ours to check out Tavern, the newest venture by Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne of Lucques and A.O.C. fame. It was here at this Brentwood eatery that I had my latest MEOW (MEal Of the Week).

Whereas I'd rather eat chain fast food for a month straight than attempt to bring my little one to A.O.C. on any given night, bringing the little guy into this rustic neighborhoody joint was no problem at all. Tavern's main dining room, an airy, indoor version of Lucque's patio dressed in shades of off-white, sage, and goldenrod was all abuzz with thirty somethings, senior citizens, teens and kids alike on this particular Saturday afternoon. I did have to carry our Zippy down a couple steps into the sunken room which wasn't a problem for us but could potentially be if any family wanted to bring wheelchair bound Grammy or Grampy to eat; the people at Tavern, however, quickly made up for that small inconvenience by setting up our metal-studded table for eight adults plus three high chairs with space to park the stroller right alongside as an added bonus.

But the thing that impressed me the most as a food whoring mom was Tavern's menu. Full of the fresh seasonal fare that one could only expect of the Goin-Styne partnership, the menu presents a nice variety of salads, sandwiches, burgers and main courses for lunch as well as a separate menu for their "Little Tavernistas." Wait, rewind...what? That's right, a kid's menu from the A.O.C./Lucques peeps! I gotta be honest--they're not particularly the best value at $5 for a plate of veggies to $10 for a main dish (I could treat my son to this stuff on a regular basis OR afford to send him to college one day. Hmm...) but it's definitely a lifesaver for a busy mommy trying to rush out the door and haul ass to the westside to meet some friends for a nice lunch with baby in tow.

My little tyke shared an order of Jules' Meatloaf and Mash and a side of Olivia's Steamed Broccoli with his 14 month old homegirl. Placed on white dinnerware that had to be kept in the middle of our table and out of little arms' reach for obvious reasons, the tennis ball-sized tomato sauce topped meatloaf and dollop of mashed potatoes looked like something that could have been served at a retirement community Early Bird Special. But for the kids, the small and simple presentation was perfect, the texture perfectly moist for those tiny gummy mouths the flavor surprisingly satisfying for the parents who finished off what the little ones couldn't. Their plate of steamed broccoli was actually a plate of broccolini which were also surprisingly not devoid of flavor but because of their long al dente stalks, more suitable for older kids or adults than the infant or toddler set. On the other end of our table, our friends' toddler was enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich which was grilled to a perfect golden brown though I'm pretty sure that didn't matter so much to the little cutie. For future visits, it's great to know that we'll have more dishes the little ones can try: Pasta with Butter & Parmesan (parsley purposefully withheld), Mac & Cheese, Crispy Chicken with Mozzarella & Prosciutto, or the Half-Sized Tavern Burger to name a few.

Of course leftover meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccolini weren't the only things I'd lunched on. I started with the restaurant's soup of the day which was a sweet corn chowder with hints of chile and topped with an avocado puree. A soup which my 11 month old, by the way, kept grabbing for as he liked it so much.

Being a cholesterol and sodium lover's delight, I wouldn't let him touch my "Spaniarde" sandwich--a sandwich of mahon cheese, spicy and salty lomo, nutty romesco, sweet quince all nestled between grilled bread and topped with a fried egg--which I ate with a fork and knife so as to not get so much runny egg yolk on my hands since they were pretty full already with you-know-who. It was delicious, but too heavy of a sandwich for everyday eating (at least for me!)

Their "Pork, Pork, Pork" Burger with a ground pork, bacon and chorizo patty served with manchego cheese and romesco was an excellent tribute to the pig in burger format and a unanimous favorite at our table. I couldn't help but think, however, that this burger sounds just a tad similar to a certain well-regarded burger at a certain other joint in town which I actually haven't had myself, and am now wondering which one of the two would win in a triple pork burger smackdown. (Post for another day perhaps?) I also had a bite of their turkey burger, which at many other places would just be an absolute bore, but Tavern's version was a nicely seasoned, all-around good burger.

I'm really excited about Tavern, both as a mommy and as a food-lover. I'm excited to bring my little monster back here maybe to have breakfast or brunch which I hear is in the works or maybe to have coffee and pick up some take-away case goods at the adjoining larder. I'm also excited to try their dinner and bar menu perhaps sans baby as I'm already drooling over items like their fried oyster and bacon brochette with tabasco aioli, fava bean puree with pecorino, olives and toast, and porkchop with cornbread, chorizo, and spiced maple syrup. I think I'd just want to enjoy dinner and drinks without having to clean cheerios up off the floor afterwards. Anyone care to babysit?


Tavern
11648 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 806-6464
www.tavernla.com

Ice, Ice, Baby: The Stress Free Way To Homemade Baby Food

For parents, especially new parents, there's probably no topic more debated than how and what to feed your child. Your mom is asking why you haven't fed your three month old solids yet. Your child's pediatrician is concerned that you'll be spoiling your child by continuing to nurse him or her past a certain age. Your granola-hippy lactation consultant acts as if you're poisoning your baby if you have your husband give him a bottle of formula when you want to take the night off and go out with the girls. Your old-fashioned Chinese aunties are telling you about what foods are going to throw you and your child off balance, which ones are too heating and which ones are too cooling. All these opinions, as well as your own, soon become a cloud of confusion as to what's really right the right way to feed your baby. I know, it's happened to me in more ways than one. Now, I'm no expert by any means, but now that my child is almost nine months old, I have a much clearer head than I did about feeding than I did when he was a newborn. When it comes to feeding my baby boy, there are only two things that I insist on using: lots of love and common sense.

Take the time before our little dude started solid foods, for example. My husband and I wanted to give him freshly made baby food, but were afraid that we wouldn't always have the time because of our busy schedules. I got stressed out as I imagined a counter full of food mills, sieves, blenders and food processors splattered with pureed peas and carrots. Jars of commercially-made baby food just seemed like a more convenient option, but we wanted to try and give him the least processed foods possible. There was also the pressure from well-meaning family members that fresh was better. After some reading though, we found out that making your own baby food is as simple as a fork and an ice cube tray! All you have to do is steam your kid's favorite fruit or veggie (unless it's bananas or avocado where you wouldn't even need to do so!), mash with a fork to the desired consistency, and scoop into an ice cube tray to freeze into individual serving-sized baby food cubes. Oh and don't forget to add the love. Duh!

OK so check this out: we bought a bag of frozen organic butternut squash for $2.19 which filled up this ice cube tray and made 14 servings. A jar of Earth's Best Organic Butternut Squash baby food costs about $0.82 and is only about 2-3 servings. That's $0.16 per serving making your own food vs. an average of $0.34 going the jarred route. Makes total sense considering the economy we're in, right? Plus it's super easy and healthier too!

Now that's not to say that we don't have some of the packaged stuff at home too. Sometimes we're out of freshly made food and sometimes we're too busy or in too much of a rush to even thaw a food cube. In those cases, the jarred stuff is a total life saver.

Again, though, there is no right or wrong. Just do what makes sense for your family, do it with lots of love, and baby will grow happy and healthy!