Bacon Wrapped Mochi (餅の豚巻き)

I love mochi.

I've written odes to mochi.

My last meal on earth would involve mochi. Possibly several courses of mochi.

I love mochi stuffed with red bean paste, flavored with purple sweet potatoes, baked with coconut, stuffed with fresh fruit, grilled until puffy and covered in soy sauce, stuffed with peanut butter, covered in chili paste, served with boy chok and beef...

I've yet to meet a mochi I didn't love.

Mochi and I understand each other on a deeper level.

If you've only tried mochi when it is either A) filled with ice cream or B) as a topping for frozen yogurt, you are missing out. If you've never had a savory dish that included sticky rice cakes, you are a poor poor soul.

Here's an easy-to-make, easy-to-love recipe for a savory mochi snack. I was inspired by my recent trip to the 626 Night Market, where Nani Kore Hawaii had huge skewers of Korean mochi wrapped with paper-thin bacon for sale. Mine certainly upped the meat to mochi ratio!

Blueberry Butter Mochi: Updated post!

This old post of mine wins the award for the worst photo of something very tasty! I'm pretty sure this was the worst quality photo on my blog, so I'm very happy to put such a tasty dessert in a better light. I remember making this recipe and forgetting to take a picture of it beforehand, so the original was snapped in the coffee room at my former hospital.

Blueberry Butter Mochi is super easy to make and was a potluck favorite at my former hospital. Remaking it made me a little sad, not to mention tempted to do a mini road trip to deliver it to all my former colleagues who are now spread out around Southern California. I'm forever grateful to the few gals who were always brave enough to try my crazy creations.

This is actually a very visually interesting dessert, with the golden butter mochi marbled with rich blueberry pie filling. I love how easy it is to prepare (nothing but a spoon and a large mixing bowl needed) and how fun the marbling is. You can also make it the day before as well, for convenience.

Here's a fun contrast for you: my original and updated photos of Blueberry Butter Mochi!

Mapo Tofu: Updated Post!

A lot of my earliest posts were done without a camera but with a very old iphone and no photographic concern at all. I can't say this blog has the best photos. I don't have an SLR, nor do I have the best lighting to work with (my apartment is like Golem's cave from Lord of the Rings when it comes to natural lighting) but I believe I've improved a lot from the first posts.

I've already begun updating recipe pages, like my Ichigo Daifuku post, but recently I've updated my Mapo Tofu recipe page as well!

It's worth revisiting because it's just a tasty dish. I also love how fast it is, how well it reheats, and how easy it is to prepare. If you haven't made mapo tofu, I recommend giving it a try! While the ingredient list may seem exotic to some, a quick trip to your local Asian market of choice and it will be easy to grab the seasonings.

old photo

new photo

Here's a fun contrast for you: my original and updated photo of Mapo Tofu!

Happy Third Blogiversary to Miss Mochi's Adventures!

I'm of two minds. Half of me can't believe it's been three years since I started rambling about food and identity, and the other half can't believe it's only been that long. Anthropologists and the like say that most identity formation occurs in adolescence and so part of me can't believe it took me this long to start writing shit down.

What's in store for me in 2015?

Fuck if I know.

Part of me wants to quit my job, pack up the essentials, and vagabond around the world. Maybe I'll even rock dreadlocks. Maybe I'll go back to school, get my PhD and start lecturing on Asian American topics. Maybe I'll write a book.

Or maybe I'll just keep treading water.

Stay tuned for my adventures in Japan and Portland coming soon along with more recipes and restaurant reviews of Southern California.

Salted Nut Bars

Best. Cookie. Ever.

No seriously, I'm not the biggest fan of sweets, but this bar cookie rocks. It's an old family recipe that was obviously way ahead of its time because now treats like salted caramel and sea salt desserts are all the rage.

When we used to go up to a cabin in Big Bear Lake, CA to snowboard, my mother would bring these cookies to serve for dessert after her infamous turkey soup. These freeze amazingly, and you can just zap them for a couple seconds to thaw them, or even just wait for your coffee to cool down a bit and they will be edible by then. I just gnaw on them frozen.

Shown here with my Peppermint Sugar Cookies

I love bar cookies because I really hate using a rolling pin. If you look, I haven't included a single recipe that uses one in all my years of blogging. I just don't have the counter space here in my little shit hole of an apartment, and it's a bother. Plus bar cookies are less time consuming to make large batches without having to form cookies. And you never have to worry that you overcrowded the cookies and your cookies will turn out funny shaped as they spread.

Bar cookies are for smart but lazy people, basically.

Taberu Rayu English Muffins

This is one of my infamous not-sure-if-it-even-counts recipes because there's really nothing to this recipe. It's more instructions of assembly than a true recipe, but that's the sort of thing I excel at. Some days even the microwave takes too long, you know?

It's no secret I've been in a funk lately. My nature tends towards introspection, analysis, and the esoteric on a good day. That's just the way I am. But sometimes my mind, which most people deem as a gift, lazily spirals into morbidity, melancholy, madness.

The most important thing for anyone to do is simply what they can do now, and not focus on what they could have done. You have to find happiness not tied to measurable things; happiness not tied to titles or success or how you stack up compared to other people. You have to just live.

So fuck it. Let's make some English muffins.

Slow Cooker Mulled Wine

Some of these recipes on this blog are really for my own use. I needed to record them in some lasting way so that way I would be able to recreate them. My mother's Turkey and Hominy Soup, for instance, is a behemoth of a recipe that really stands out like a sore thumb compared to my usual repertoire.

I like simple and fast recipes that usually feed one or two people. Her recipe uses a twenty pound roast turkey and six pounds of hominy to start.

Her recipe takes two days to make normally (one to roast the turkey, another to simmer the bones all day to make the broth), while most of my recipes take less than 30 and some can barely be called "recipes" but more "mildly fun food ideas" in actuality.

So why do I feel the need to record these recipes that really aren't my style? Because someday my mother won't be able to make them. Some day it will be just me in charge of holiday celebrations, and I will be lost as how to capture the nostalgia.

Creamistry Corona

I had the opportunity to try out some ice cream at Creamistry's new location in Corona during their soft opening. I brought my mother, because she is the uncontested queen of ice cream. The lady is obsessed. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and felt I needed her expertise in the area to really get a grasp of Creamistry for my readers. I wasn't disappointed, as she was capable of dissecting every spoonful with an intelligent discourse on the merits and drawbacks of each ice cream establishment in competition with this new ice cream outpost.

No really, it was quite an intellectual debate.

Creamistry has a novel concept in that they make each batch of ice cream to order by use of liquid nitrogen. Each batch then, can be made with whatever addition you want, frozen right in with the custard base. I love their unabashed affinity for asian flavors: azuki (red) beans, black sesame, mochi, and taro are just a few of the asian-influenced flavors and topping you'll find on their menu. Other stand outs: condensed milk, nutella, and cookie butter. I wonder if anyone has calculated the combinations possible, because the list is almost overwhelming when you walk through the door.

WTF 2015?

Wow. I am shocked that it is 2015. Last New Year's Eve my sentiments still ring true; while most people make resolutions and are giddy about the future, I normally get morbidly introspective on the failures of the past.

Speaking of failures: I swear I haven't died. I've just been busy!


Since getting promoted into a management position at work, I've been struggling to find time to blog. Especially since I now have a commute that I didn't before, finding time to cook has been very hard.

The good news is that I've stockpiled plenty of recipes as well as reviews to keep me going for months! I'm very sad that I didn't get to make anything with persimmons this year, as I normally do (hence my picture). Here's to a happier and healthier 2015!