Lately, I've become obsessed with Parisian Macarons - those delicate, light, fluffy cookies made only the more visually appealing by its beautiful colors and simple composition. I don't know what spurred on this sudden urge to try making macarons, but it's stayed with me this entire week. I've even gone as far as to buy a food processor, a food scale, and some piping bags to prepare myself for this culinary adventure!

As a plus, for those who follow a gluten-free diet, macarons are naturally made using almond flour, which are simply blanched, finely ground almonds. No gluten in these recipes! I didn't even know almond flour existed until this past week, but apparently it can be used in all sorts of desserts in lieu of normal flour. I don't follow a gluten-free diet, but it still sounds delicious to me! I love almonds.

Apparently, macarons are really difficult to master. You need to mix it just so, fold it just so, bake it just so, and a mistake in any step of the process will cause the macarons to not rise properly and form the delicate "feet" at the base of the cookie.

This will be an interesting experiment in the kitchen! I'm excited though, and hopefully they turn out well enough to gift as holiday presents! Wouldn't that be beautiful? A few colorful macarons stacked inside a plastic gift bag, tied up by a bright ribbon and accentuated by a beautiful holiday-themed gift tag.

Taiwanese Braised Pork on Rice Recipe (滷肉飯)

I had a craving for Ru Lou Fan (滷肉飯) a few weeks ago, so I decided to try my hand at making this seemingly simple and delicious comfort food. Ru Lou Fan is a Taiwanese braised pork rice dish that can be found at many Taiwanese restaurants. It's a very simple dish consisting of just pork belly, rice, and some garnish (like pickled radishes or braised eggs). If you want to learn how to make Taiwanese Braised Pork on Rice, follow the step by step instructions below.

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One of my biggest annoyances of cooking for the past few years has been that my knife is absolutely horrible, and dulls quickly. I replaced my old knife two years ago and got a Calphalon knife that was great when it was new. After many months of use, it started to dull and I bought a sharpening steel for it. It helped slightly, but not enough to stop my frustration.

A few days ago, I spotted a Gold Box "Lightning Deal" on Amazon.com for a 7" Shun Classic Chef's Knife. My eyes lit up!
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Toasted Sesame and Honey Gelato

I finished making my Toasted Sesame and Honey Gelato a few days ago, but just haven't found the time to put it up onto my blog until now. I promise I'm not failing my goal of posting a recipe every two weeks...yet! Yum, Gelato!

I followed a recipe from the book "Making Artisan Gelato" by Torrance Kopher. This book has a good mix of history, technique, and recipes. I actually read through this cookbook front to back, which is typically not something I do with cookbooks! With gelato, it's all about the perfect ratio of ingredients. I've tried a few recipes from this cookbook and they've all turned out amazing. I've tried some online recipes from different websites and they were always too icy at the end, because there was too much liquid ingredients and not enough fat and sugar to counteract.

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I was bored this morning, browsing through Netflix trying to find something to watch, and I came across a movie that caught my eye: "Jiro Dreams of Sushi." The short summary read:

"This delectable documentary profiles sushi chef Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old master whose 10-seat, $300-a-plate restaurant is legendary among Tokyo foodies. Ono is also a father, whose sons struggle to live up to his legacy and make their own marks."

I love sushi, so the words "legendary" and "$300-a-plate restaurant" caught my eye. I wasn't really in the mood for a documentary though, so I scrolled on by. But it stuck in my mind, and I pulled out my phone and did a quick search on it to see if it'd be worth my time. It got overwhelmingly positive reviews, with four and five star ratings. More interestingly, one of Jiro's apprentices started his own restaurant right in my hometown of Seattle! Okay, I'll bite the bullet and watch.

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Gelato, oh how I love you so! You're so light, creamy, and full of flavor. Why did you wait so long to come into my life?

For those of you who may not know, gelato is Italy's version of ice cream. I will emphasize, however, that it is not ice cream. There are some significant differences between the two.

For the health- or diet-conscious, gelato typically contains half the amount of butterfat as ice cream, which can lead one to assume it has less saturated fat than ice cream. However, the flavor is still intense due to less air being whipped into gelato versus its counterpart. This makes gelato denser, but more flavorful, than a similar sized scoop of ice cream.

I first fell in love with gelato during a backpacking trip through western Europe a few years ago. After walking around in the sweltering 95-degree heat all day, I was looking for anything that would cool me down! Gelato was the answer.

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