626 Night Market!

I had an absolute blast this weekend at the 626 Night Market held at the Santa Anita Park in Arcadia California! Billed as the largest Asian night market in the United States, I couldn't resist checking it out. They boast over 150 vendors, food stalls, food trucks, music acts, and even non-profit organizations, so I figured it would be a fun night out with tons of fun food to share with you all!

Admission is only $3 ($2 if you get there before 6pm) so it's relatively cheap, and the individual food prices were pretty reasonable. I recommend bringing cash, some vendors accepted cards and some were cash-only. And of course, make sure to bring a big appetite! Just walking to the event, you could smell delicious things wafting to the parking lot.

German Chocolate Brownies

Life in the Mochi household has been rather hectic recently. I've started an accelerated program for veterinary technicians as well as two other classes at another location, seized the opportunity to do some dog-sitting this past week, and consequently ate a lot of El Pollo Loco while feeling it wasn't worth it. I've never been good at stress and juggling so many things at once, and this blog is definitely taking a hit.

No worries, I've got some projects in the works, like umeshu/ichigoshu, and the long-awaited shiso katsuo ninniku recipe!

In the meantime, here's a quick recipe for all your summer hangouts. I made them for Mother's Day at my mom's request, but they would be a great addition for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or any picnic or barbeque celebration. My grandpa and I both love german chocolate cake, but sometimes life is too crazy to commit to making a huge multi-layered cake, so this is a fast fix with the same flavors. The other nice thing is both the topping and the brownies can be made several days in advance.

You can even take the brownies, top them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and pour the topping over it, warm, for an amazing brownie sundae.

Smoked Salmon Crostini

I don't do a lot of entertaining, but when I do, it usually consists of finger foods and tea sandwiches. I love tea parties. Even more than tea parties, I love salmon.

My mother has always championed the healthiness of sustainably farmed salmon, and she served it so much my brother and I would complain as teenagers. Yes, we were spoiled brats. Now, being a terribly poor early-20's girl with her own place, I dream of salmon yet rarely buy it. So when I threw my party recently as mentioned in the previous post, I used it as an excuse to gorge on smoked salmon.

Like my caprese skewers, this is more about assembly than any other cooking skill. I've made these before, but this time I worked a little more on presentation and made roses out of the cucumber. It's a really quick step, but obviously they taste great either way.

As an alternative to crostini, you could even just take plain white bread, cut into squares without the crust, lightly butter to keep them from getting soggy, and make attractive open-faced tea sandwiches instead!

Caprese Skewers

Insalata Caprese is my favorite Italian dish. The most basic iteration is buffalo mozzarella, fresh sliced tomatoes, and basil leaves sprinkled in salt and olive oil. My favorite variation is the caprese with balsamic vinegar. As a kid, I was nuts for the stuff and time has done nothing to curb my enthusiasm for it. I am dangerous around a dish of balsamic and some nice bread for dipping.

Recently on Pinterest, I've been seeing caprese redone as a finger food, by using whole cherry tomatoes and ciliegine mozzarella (smaller than bocconcini) threaded on skewers with basil. Needless to say, I had to try this recipe the next time I threw a party.

I could chug this stuff

Most variations of the caprese skewers seem to forgo the balsamic vinegar, probably because for finger food it is messy and has the potential to stain things if it drips. Despite this, I will not forgo balsamic vinegar. My solution? A balsamic reduction or glaze that is thicker and more concentrated so it's less likely to drip.

You can make your own reduction, or cheat like I did and purchase it ready-made. I even went so far as to get mozzarella that was already marinated, but you can also marinate your own if you can't find them already in olive oil. You may think I'm lazy (that would be a totally sound assumption, by the way) but I like to have party bites that are fast and easy to make so I can focus on the main dishes, or just having fun. This is a ridiculously easy recipe.

Kinkan No Kanroni (金柑の甘露煮)

We are reaching the end of prime citrus season, and I feel myself trying to make it last. Growing up on an citrus orchard in Southern California, citrus are my favorite fruits. The color, the smell, the tang, everything about it is simultaneously fresh and nostalgic. I favor the sour citrus over the overtly sweet, and kumquats have been a favorite since I was a child.

My parents have two dwarf kumquat trees, and I remember going to the Fullerton arboretum to pick out the second one, so small they pulled me around in a wagon. Kumquats are tiny citrus, about the size of a big grape, with a sweet thin edible skin and a pucker-inducing sour middle. Their only downside in my opinion is that the seeds inside can get rather large. The small seeds are edible, in fact you won't even notice them, but the big seeds are larger than orange seeds and are not very tasty.

You can leave the seeds in, and just remove them when you use the kumquats. That will save a lot of labor upfront, but I deseeded mine because I wanted to be able to just pop the candied kumquats whole in my mouth without worry.

This recipe will yield a fresher kumquat and a lighter syrup than some candied kumquat recipes. If you want a heavier syrup and a more candied kumquat, feel free to reduce it farther, but you may not have enough syrup then to properly cover the kumquats for safe shelf-stable preserving. In that case, simply refrigerate. I like to preserving mine lighter like this, and I can reduce the syrup down later with more sugar if necessary.

Strawberry Shiso Citrus Water

If you're on pinterest, you've probably seen these detox water recipes floating around. Water infused with fruit and veggies, they are purportedly calorie-free with lots of health benefits. I'm not too sure about the detoxification claims, because infusing overnight might not cause any of the beneficial nutrients to make their way into the water compared to actually ingesting them, but plain water is important to the body to flush out toxins and promote healthy internal organ function so it's not 100% baloney.

Whatever the magical health claims, I looked at it as an excellent alternative to zero-calorie overly sweet abominations like diet sodas or drinks. I definitely need to drink more water, but somehow I find water to be too boring. I know I'm not alone even though that sounds crazy.

I had this idea in the back of my mind, but didn't act on it until tragedy struck. My poor little shiso sprouts got pounded in a freak hailstorm. Seriously, thundering hail in Southern California in the middle of March?! I didn't know if my shiso would survive, so I decided to make some tasty infused water with the more beaten-down sprouts, using the shiso instead of the more traditional mint for a nice Hapa version.

Rosemary Apricot and Pecan Brie En Croute

If you're a working girl like me, eventually you will be drawn into the world of potlucks and B.Y.O.B. get-togethers. I especially love these bonding times with my coworkers, they are all brilliant girls that look even more beautiful outside of scrub tops. After all, it's hard to look your best when you have an unruly puppy in a headlock. It's hard to get us all together without grumbling, because it seems we live at work, but it's still fun nonetheless.

Usually I bring some Spam musubi, they are easy to make and everyone love them. I have a very picky coworker, and she carefully dissects them to avoid the seaweed, but she still told me "I love the SPAM!"

The problem with Spam musubi is that you need to have rice, and time to fry up the Spam. I know you can make them in advance and nuke them in the microwave just prior (Mr. Mochi loves when I give him refrigerated leftover musubi for his work lunch) but it's just not the same. The nori gets soggy and the Spam loses its crispness. And I never seem to have the wherewithal to make rice ahead of time, so lots of times I am standing over my rice cooker grinding my teeth waiting for the rice to be done.

Enter brie en croute. Fast, easy, and impressive looking. You can even make it ahead, and cook it just prior to jumping in your car. Since it's baked, you can run around putting on your makeup or feeding the dog while it's cooking. The best part is you're supposed to wait at least 30 minutes before cutting into it, so it seems to be designed to take in the car!