Plant-Based Croissants

To say a lot has happened the last 17 months is an understatement. I think a lot of us have spent the last year doing a lot of thinking - I know I have! What do I want to do? What makes me happy? How can I live my life to the fullest? What will I regret if I don’t do it know? I’m still figuring these things out but what I do know for now is that I need to stop putting things off for the future!

So with a new apartment (aka new natural lighting) and a renewed sense of “let’s do this!” here’s to hoping for more cooking, more travel, more photos, more life.

First up - plant-based croissants! There are very few times where my non-vegan past is pulling at me - where I feel a little desire to just eat something else. Croissants are one of those times but not every croissant though - only croissants when I’m with BaBa. When I first started going vegan, I remember him saying “but who will eat the croissants with me” queue the heartstrings. I immediately felt guilty.

This always seemed like a time-consuming challenge - hours needed to be spent making the layers and I wasn’t sure I had the patience. But, with a three-day weekend (July 4th) and no desire to go out into humid NYC, I was determined to make it happen. I watched Youtube videos on repeat and after 36 hrs, was very happy with my first attempt.

Inspiration:

• Claire Saffitz x NYT Cooking (video) & Joshua Weissman (video)

• Used Earth Balance Butter and no mixer

Birthday Noodles

I bought this domain over 3 years ago, but always kept a “Coming Soon” sign up. I was too afraid of what to write and what to share. What should my first post be? What reflects who I am and what I love? As 2019 comes to end, I’m taking a step forward and out of my comfort zone. I want this space to be a collection of my memories - of what I’m passionate about, where I travel, and what I learn.

My first post is about something very important to me - BIRTHDAY NOODLES. For as long as I can remember, we’ve celebrated my family members’ birthdays with noodles. It’s a Chinese tradition that I hold close to my heart and as a Chinese-American, it’s important to me to hold on to as many of my culture’s traditions as I can.

Like a lot of traditions in the Chinese culture, the food symbolizes something. In this case, we eat (long) noodles because they represent “Longevity” - our wish for the birthday recipient to live a long life.

Growing up, we almost always had the same dish for everyone’s birthday - a bowl of soupy noodles topped with a piece of pork chop. These days, we’re spread out across cities and my tastes have changed, but I still make sure to eat birthday noodles (at least) four times a year. Goodbye pork noodle soup, hello ramen, chow mien, pasta, and more! As long as there’s noodles and they’re long (longevity) - I’m happy.

Today’s birthday noodles - my version of Crispy Fried Noodles 两面黄 (or Two-Faced Pan-Fried Noodles). Normally, there’s pork on top and the noodles are egg noodles, but eating plant-based means a few changes! I used udon noodles and topped it with some stir-fried veggies (oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, bamboo, and edamame). Didn’t quite taste like grandpa’s recipe, but I’ll keep working on it!

Happy Birthday 1. 生日快乐。Love you. ❤️ (and sorry this is late)