Pan-Fried Curry Rice Balls

Food adventure #2.

Dinner tonight was leftover curry from a few weeks back (don't worry, it was frozen in a tupperware container and recooked on the stove). I still managed to have leftovers, so got in to an experimental mood with the remains.

Pan-fried rice balls.

I got the idea from seeing instructions awhile back for yaki onigiri. This was kind of the same, except it was curry and rice mixed together.

The consistency was thick, but I was worried about it falling apart in the oil, so I added some flour to the mixture. I used my roommate's Venezuelan corn meal, which had a consistency of white flour but made of, obviously, corn (I couldn't find our bag of all-purpose flour, so had to substitute).

To make sure there was an outer "crust", I coated each ball in more of that Venezuelan corn meal. Then into the pan it went.

I pan-fried (as opposed to deep frying) it in order to attempt SOME level of healthiness, rotating it every now and then to make sure every side was getting cooked (the nice thing about the flour I found out was that the white color made it easy to tell which side hadn't touched the oil yet). I'm pretty sure this is probably still just as unhealthy, but still. Yum.

This may end up being a way I get rid of extra curries from now on! Although, next time, I may add peas or corn or some small-cut-up vegetables.

These are going in my lunchboxes for the next few days. ^_^

Chinese Bakery-Style Cake

Whew. Been awhile, hasn't it?

The thing is, with having a 40hr/wk (minimum) job and a 2nd project and dealing with daily life (insurance? taxes? car maintenance? how does the average joe do it all and still have time for the more adventurous things?), and then the NDAs preventing me from talking about what I do with most of my time, having anything to write about is difficult.

So let me interest you in one of my hobbies: cooking!

This was an impulsive decision. I don't usually bake and I've never done something like this before. I made a cake yesterday, which tasted a lot better than it looked. It was one of those Chinese bakery cakes, light, fluffy, and moist with lots of fruit. I don't have an electric beater, so to make this cake, I had to whip everything... by HAND. Never EVER make meringue by hand. You'll get there, but omg it hurts after awhile. A lot of love went in to this....

I got the recipe for this cake from Lucy Zhang's blog. She makes a lot of delicious-looking things, but this one got me especially excited. I don't have a huge love of American-style cakes because they seem so heavy and too sweet. Asian-bakery cakes feel light and just the right amount of sweet to feel refreshing. It was surprising to learn how little was actually in this cake (it's not healthy, but not terrible for you either)! I mean... 1 cake that fed 8 people (small slices, mind you) had only 3/4 cup of flour and a little less than 1 cup of sugar. I suppose the big count was the eggs, which was 6, but if you think about it, each person ate less than 1. For a cake, this is awesome, but oh so much work! I think I understand when Asian Bakeries charge $20-$30 for a standard-sized cake now. Much respect to bakers.

The frosting was whipped cream. Since this was my first cake, I didn't know better but now I do. Whipped cream does not equal whipped cream frosting. Hence the melted look.

As for fruit, I added peaches, nectarines, blackberries, and strawberries. Next time, I may go a little more traditional and use melon and strawberries (no kiwi for me...).

La Mar

Last weekend my roommate Nadia, her sister Tatyana, and I went to La Mar in San Francisco for some Peruvian ceviche. It is completely unfortunate I didn't even think to take pictures.

With the exception of a ceviche salad I had at the Apple cafeteria, this was the first time I got to eat ceviche. I sort of knew what to expect from watching Bourdain and Zimmerman on the travel channel. But for this trip, I let Nadia and Tatyana take lead and do the ordering, given their expertise. ^_^

If you've eaten sushi, then ceviche is no different in terms of the "gross factor". It is essentially raw seafood that has been "cooked" by marinating it in lemon juice and onion. The acid supposedly kills the bacteria that would otherwise be harmful.

La Mar is really nice. We sat at this lounge-like table in the bar area, which suited us. We each got an order of ceviche and shared an appetizer of empanadas and a dessert sampler. Expensive, of course, but I think well worth it for the special trip it was. I think anyone from Peru or Panama would balk at the prices, but then, the atmosphere was really good too.

I was really surprised how full I was from just eating the ceviche. We didn't even bother with the entrees we were so full.

Funny thing though. I went to the bathroom there and it was like complete night and day between the environment in the restaurant and the bathroom. The bathroom looked like it had no place belonging to as nice a restaurant as La Mar and it almost made me suspicious of the restaurant (sanitation of a bathroom should be a measurement of the sanitation of the restaurant, I think. Everyone there has to use the bathroom at some point). But then as I walked out, thinking "man, maybe this restaurant isn't as awesome as it is pretending to be" I see this sign by the door that says that the bathroom exists b/c of historic preservation. And in my head I go "ah... I see." The plaque answered the question in my head. Guess they knew. :P

INTJ

Have you ever taken a Myers-Briggs test before? They are long and tedious, but I don't know. I think they can be accurate.

I am an INTJ. And I laughed at how well the test had nailed me down, especially the faults. Heck, all the reasons of why I dislike/have-trouble-with/don't-understand/tend-to-end-early dating fit the INTJ persona.

Try googling Myers-Briggs test. They have ones that charge you money, but there are plenty that are free online too. Tell me what you get?