Matcha (green tea) Whoopie Pies

I surfed the web trying to look for a basic matcha (green tea) cake recipe that was not too runny. I stumbled across a post on 13Recipes and decided to test out her cupcake recipe. I modified her recipe a bit, so here's a modified version:

Matcha Whoopie Pies and Cupcakes
prep time: 5min, baking time 8 minutes

1 stick (1/2 c) butter
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 cup of milk (whole milk)
1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 tsp matcha powder

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating well between each inclusion. Add the milk and vanilla. Sift over the flour, baking powder and matcha. Mix until there are no lumps.

Mini-whoopie pie cakes: Line baking pan with parchment paper. Place 1 T scoops of batter on pan. Place batter at least 1.5 inches away from each other. Use a spoon or your fingers to shape batter into a circle. Bake for 7-8 minutes.

Mini-cupcakes: Line a muffin tin with cupcake cups. Fill 2/3 full (about 1.5 teaspoon of batter). Bake for 7-8 minutes. Take out of pan and let cool.

Assembling Whoopie Pies:
I did not have the ingredients to make a marshmallow cream filling, so instead I used whipped cream, koshi an (azuki bean paste) and strawberries as a modified filling.

Evaluation of dessert:
I really enjoyed the taste of the matcha cake. It had a consistency of a japanese-style cake. More dense in texture than your basic cupcake, and not too sweet. I think the green tea and azuki bean spread also contributed to the Japanese aspect of the cake.
Would I make this again? Probably...although I'd work on a good filling to place between the whoopie pie cakes.

Daring Bakers ChallengeMarch 2009~Lasagne

Spinach Egg Pasta. My first attempt at making pasta from scratch. And since I am refraining from buying any kitchen gadgets at the moment, I rolled all the pasta by hand! It was a trying night. I think I started mixing the dough together at 8pm and did not finish rolling the dough until 1am.
I chose to make my own pasta sauce because I was not feeling in the mood for a meat dish, and opted to make a vegetarian sauce.
Recipe:
1.5 T olive oil
1/2 c. chopped onions
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1/2 t. chili flakes
1 t. italian seasoning
1-16 oz bottle pre-made spaghetti sauce
1-6 oz can of tomato paste
1-4oz can of mushrooms
4 oz frozen spinach (the remainder from making the pasta)
1 medium sized bell pepper chopped
Salt and pepper to taste.
Fry onions in olive oil, add garlic and fry. Toss in the chili flakes and italian seasoning into the pan. Add and fry the bell pepper. Add the spaghetti sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix in the tomato paste. Mix in the mushrooms and spinach.

I did make a substitution to the lasagne recipe, and instead of using Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, I just used what I had in my fridge which was Kraft shredded mozarella.

The final result tasted fine to me. I never order lasagne at restaurants, so I'm not the best person to judge this dish. I thought it tasted good, but it could be due to the fact that it took me hours to make.

If you're really interested in the recipes, they are from "The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food" by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (published by William Morrow and Company Inc., 1992)

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Product Reviews~Walky Walky and Margarita Chip Shots

A few weeks ago I posted about my adoration for beer chips. So I tried another flavor of this product called Margarita Chip Shots and was extremely disappointed.
Look at all that salt and lime flavor crystals(?) in the package. I understand that margarita glasses are usually rimmed with salt; but it was just too much going on for me. Moving on to a product that I thoroughly enjoyed. Glico's Walk Walky. This is the company that makes those wonderfully delicious Pocky sticks. Mmmmm.....it's sad to admit it, but I ate the whole thing in one sitting. I rationalized with myself and said that the package was deceiving and was only half-filled. The Nutritional Facts label stated that one package was equivalent to one serving and contained 280 Calories. These little pellets are best described as pellets the size of Choco Babies that taste just like the coated portion of pocky sticks.
Aaron and I were first introduced to this snack while attending a session at the Research Chefs Association's conference. The session was about how to target the millennial generation when developing food products. This product was used as an example of an appealing product to gen Y-ers (which is the market segment Aaron and I both fall into). It's super portable for on-the-go trendy consumers who seek non-messy food products they can consume while surfing the internet, texting their friends, or are walking while using cell phones. As you can see, the packaging is just like a coffee cup with a pop lid.
I'm assuming they sell Walky Walky back home in Hawaii, but if not you can purchase them at Amko for $2.39.

Goats and Bagels-Prairie Fruit Farms

Doesn't this goat look like a dog with buggy eyes? It's still very cute to me.
My fascination with goats began when my dad told me the story of how we once had a goat out in the backyard/mountain. Apparently the goat was tied to a stake in the ground and ate all the vegetation in a circular area with a radius of the rope he was tied to. After that, I thought, man...I want a goat so I never have to do yard work. But then there is video footage of me at a petting zoo crying for my mom as a goat starting nuzzling my arm; so I admit, I'm slightly scared of these animals.

Anywhoo, last Saturday, a few of us took a morning drive to Prairie Fruit Farms to buy some local produce and breads and see the new 10-day old baby goats.
After reading a post by Lisa, i had to try "Stewart's Artisan Breads" bagels. Six bagels for $4.25 or $4.50(for flavored ones) seems like a steep price for bagels, especially when you can buy a 6-pack of Lender's bagels for $1.00 on sale. I bought the plain ones since I figured the best litmus test of a good bagel is to stick with the basics (just like the test for a good ice cream is to taste the vanilla flavor). Erika bought the egg bagels and was not too excited about them. She felt that they were too dense and that they " would probably bounce" if she threw one on the ground. I think I'm quoting her correctly.
I enjoyed my plain bagel after I lightly toasted it. I wasn't gaga over it and I am not sure if they tasted so good that I would wake up early on a Saturday morning to purchase them at the Urbana Farmer's Market.

Prairie Fruit Farm Dinners

Prairie Fruit Farms Dinners are posted now!!!
Last year Erika, Aaron, Mike and I enjoyed ourselves at a Dinner on the Farm. If you want to check out our dinner, look at this previous post. Hopefully we will be able to snag a few seats for one of the dinners this summer.
If you have the cash (the dinners range from $45-100 a person), you should definitely check out Prairie Fruit Farms for dinner. All ingredients are grown/raised from local farms, so it's a great way to support local farmers.

Also, if you're interested in checking out the cute goats or purchasing Prairie Farm cheese, they are having a open house on Saturday, March 21st from 9-12noon. Not only will they be selling their goat cheeses, you'll be able to purchase produce, bread, and eggs from farmers that are usually at the Urbana Farmer's Market.

Going home to Hawaii!

I'll be back in the islands for a few days! Yippee! A couple of months ago I snagged a roundtrip ticket from Chicago to Honolulu for $385 RT on American Airlines. I haven't been back since last August when Mike and I got married. He's been back since February, so it'll be nice to see him again. I'll also be able to see my friends, go to the beach, and dog-sit the rascals back home.

Here's the foods and restaurants I would like to visit:

Restaurants and shops
*Roy's (preferably the Hawaii Kai one)
*Imanas Tei (to try their chanko nabe)
*Le Bistro (I want to try it after reading Lori's review)
*Kuru kuru sushi
*Zippy's (even though Mike doesn't like it)
*Rainbow Drive Inn (can you believe, I've never eaten there in my life?)
*Bale
*Manu-bu
*Boulangerie

Foods
*my mom's cooking
* fresh fish...none of this frozen white fish (tilapia, cod, etc) they sell in the midwest
*gau
*squid luau
*good dim sim
*good local chinese food
*shave ice w/ ice cream and red beans
*korean sushi
*samurai maui-style sherbet
*Dave's ice cream lychee sherbet


I'm not sure what other restaurants I want to visit. I think I'll be searching and reading Hawaii food blogs for inspiration.
Any suggestions on restaurants and foods that are a must? Or do you know of any places that serve any of the foods I listed?

Research Chefs Association (RCA) Conference Part 1

We're back from our short but eventful trip to the Research Chefs Association's (RCA) conference. I'll be posting pictures of all the food that we partook in and events that we participated in. Here's one of the highlights of my trip. We met Richard Blais from Top Chef Season 4-Chicago. If you do not know who Richard Blais is, he's the guy who did the "molecular gastronomy" cooking, but wasn't the arrogant mad scientist guy from the previous season. Personally, I think he should have won the season, but Stephanie, the girl who won that season was pretty good too. I just felt that through out the show, the producers were trying to push for a girl to win the season. Stephanie was consistent and didn't mess up in the finale. And if we've learned anything this past season of "Top Chef," a mediocre guy can win just because he did not mess up in the finale (this is in reference to Hosea's win). Yeah, after this season I think I'm going to refrain from adding "Top Chef" to my TV lineup.
When I watch these reality TV shows like "Top Chef" or "American Idol" I end up rooting for the contestants who seem like nice people. For example, my favorite this season of AI is Anoop. Do I think he has the best voice or that he is going to win? No, but I sure hope so. In reality (or in Vegas for that matter) I'm sure the odds are in favor of Adam (the Broadway singer) winning AI this season.
I digressed...my point was that Richard Blais is down to earth. My friends and I concluded that he seems like a star that did not want the spotlight. His "molecular gastronomy" session was speckled with self-depreciating humor and tidbits about "Star Wars" and "Top Chef," but I think that's what made him likable. Blais's "Tongue and Cheek" sous-vide pickled beef tongue and pork cheek with a yogurt ravioli (sodium alginate/calcium lactate reaction) over a picked beet and pear relish, with a horseradish foam all served in a petri dish.
And for kicks (and Derek) I took a picture with Louis Petrozza. I never became a fan of watching "Hell's Kitchen" but I did watch the season 4's finale and I thought this guy should have won that season. After talking to Derek, he said that Petrozza was the guy to watch during the season and he didn't win because he was much older than the girl who won.

So, I did not pull a "Bayless" as we now call it. Please refer to my previous post about my missed opportunity to meet Rick Bayless. When in the company of a famous person or someone I want to meet, I am not going to hesistate for a milisecond. I am just going to tap him/her on the shoulder and introduce myself. I am such a groupie....argghh.

We're off to Texas!

Panel is done! I can have a life again. Well, sort of...as much of a life as a grad student can have. Now SAS statistical software and I are becoming friends (or more like enemies).
A couple of us students are road-tripping it down to Dallas, Texas this week to attend the Research Chef Association's annual conference. Road Trip! Woot woot!
There are so many super cool workshops such as the "Make room for the Millennials:Product Development Geared to Generation Y" and "R&D Insight from Panera Bread: A Fresh Look at the Product Development Process."
Yes, I have "D-O-R-K" written across my forehead, but seriously, this kind of stuff makes me really excited!

On our road trip down to Texas, we'll be "Diners, Drive-In, and Dives"-ing it and some hole-in-the-wall places for yumminess. Get excited!

And gasp...I am not taking my laptop with me. This will be the longest time (~4 days) I'll go without checking my email or browsing the internet. I'm only taking my digital camera, cell phone, and my new camcorder!