[RECIPE] Super Shiny Legit Baklava

Major apologies kiddos! I've been busy lately and haven't had time to post/do anything for my woefully neglected blog :(

I've only recently rekindled my affection for this honey-soaked Greek/Turkish/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern sweet after having had Hayat's Kitchen's amaaazing baklava (their food's good too, kids; will get around to the review one day :P).

Amazingly, there are a lot of ways that baklava can be made wrong and that's probably why a lot of people don't prefer it. I myself have had my share of sickeningly-sweet drippingly-syrupy baklava that hurt my teeth terribly. Browsing around the good ol' interwebs, all the recipes I ran into had absolutely ridiculous amounts of sugar added, which causes you to end up losing baklava's characteristic honey flavor. I'm no baklava expert but I'm sure people wouldn't enjoy something that would be painful to eat, so I made up my own recipe drastically reducing the sugar/butter used.

This recipe came out of a spontaneous midnight baking session (...as usual!) and I wasn't able to photograph the process step-by-step...so you're going to have to take my word for now via my single phone-quality photo that this came out Dericious with a capital D.

Super Shiny Legit Baklava

(Makes ~40 pieces)

[RECIPE] Fancy Nancy French Toast

My first encounter with French toast consumption is (gasp) out of a Trader Joe's freezer box. I never really had legit French toast until my college days where the selection of Americanized breakfast foods, and the presence of strawberry stuffed French toast, pretty much blew me away (go Pippin Commons and your outstanding waffle station!). As a self-proclaimed picky-eater extraordinaire, my idea of the perfect French toast contains crispity crunchity edges and a carmelized warm non-mushy custard-y center all doused in a healthy heaping of syrup and powdered sugar. If I were ever to have my own TV show like Tyler's Ultimate, I'd probably name it Picky-Eater Extraordinaire and curse my younger self for thinking Trader Joe's French toast was as good as it's gonna get. Although I've come a long way from TJs with a renewed appreciation for this classic American breakfast delicacy, alas, I have in my travels yet to come across my "ultimate" French toast...so I scoured the Interwebs and found a recipe suuuper close to what I was looking for.

Fancy Nancy French Toast

(recipe credit to Food Wishes)
(Serves 6)

[RECIPE] Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Boss Sauce

I'm not usually a fan of regular fries since I didn't eat a lot of junk food when I was little. Recently, I was tasked with the mission of dinner pick-up at Bad to the Bone BBQ down in San Juan Capistrano. After getting stares for being Asian and some recommendations raving about their sweet potato fries, I cursed myself for doubting the amazingness that is their sweet potato fries.

A couple weeks later, I found myself at Umami Burger with their equally as awesome sweet potato fries served with Umami ketchup (which frankly in my opinion, drowned out the sweet potato goodness). I'll save the Umami Burger review for another post, but here's a super easy and healthy(er) homemade version of sweet potato fries inspired by my adventures, including my secret ingredient: cinnamon! I actually don't really have an official recipe for this since I eyeballed the seasonings, so feel free to adjust to your taste :)

Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Boss Sauce

(Serves 4)

[REVIEW] Hen House Grill

Hen House Grill

Storefront

Ground Chicken Koobideh (#6)

(Inside the University Park Center)
18040 Culver Drive
Irvine, CA 92612

Phone: (949) 786-2000

Hours:

[will post soon]

Quick Tips:

-Legit Persian koobideh!
-Cheap + generous portions

-Late-night
-Free soda & Persian tea

[RECIPE] Mini Hong Kong Egg Tarts (蛋塔)

I personally am not a fan of Dim Sum or Yum Cha (the Chinese version of teatime and finger foods) since there's never anything that I like to eat...with the only highlight being the desserts. What I look forward to most is the Hong Kong Egg Tarts, or Dan Tat in Cantonese, that's basically a tart filled with egg custard.

The thing that annoys me most about restaurant egg tarts is that the traditional crispy flaky crust (reminiscent of puff pastry) makes eating them so messy...and also the fact that one order only gives you about three tiny tarts (four if you're lucky) for you to share with your whole table...boo.

So I resolved to find a good egg tart recipe so I can make a whole pan for myself. It was super difficult to find one since there aren't a whole lot of English-blogs specializing in Asian desserts, but I stumbled upon this video by DessertzHouse for egg tarts with a butter crust (no flakies!) and I tweaked the recipe a bit to even out the ratio of custard to crust. It was actually a lot harder than I thought, but the yummy result is definitely worth the effort :)

[REVIEW] California Gogi Korean Grill

California Gogi Korean Grill

To-go packaging!

Sweet potato fries + fat burrito

University Town Center
4237 Campus Drive Suite B157
Irvine, CA 92612
Phone: (949) 854-0000

Hours:
(will post when I verify)

Quick Tips:
- Korean BBQ burritos, tacos, and sammiches
- College student budget friendly
- Generous portions
- Sweet potato fries

[DIY] The Knitter's Necklace

As a long-time knitter, I came up with this simple, cheap, and adorable necklace inspired by a skein of yarn. The total cost of this project is mere pennies if you really think about it :)

Although I don't have much time to knit as much anymore (and as a consequence of an unmentionable unfinished sweater...), this DIY is for my fellow knitters (and crocheters!) to wear your favorite fuzzy yarn loud and proud. 

I'm still working on my picture-taking skills since my apartment is terribly dim and I usually blog in the nighttime when there's no more lovely daylight. DIY after the jump!