Bring the biscuits, leave the dumplings…or Ode to Killing Eve Part Deux

Judging from my previous post about Killing Eve, you might get the impression that our obsession (okay mostly Rina’s) with the series revolves primarily around the brilliantly maniacal Russian assassin Villanelle, played by the spectacularly gifted Jodie Comer. However, let me go on the record by declaring Sandra Oh, who plays the complicated, impulsive, and…

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Crocodile Rock & Pirozhki…or the cure for hiccups

Trapped in our homes for weeks and months on end, we’ve all had to come up with ways to occupy our minds (if not so much our bodies). I’ve been cooking, baking, and writing…in between half-ass attempts to literally get off my ass and exercise–which of late consists of me taking my mom (with her…

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Heavenly Layers…or (not just) anyway you stack it

After last week’s aebleskiver/takoyaki experiments, I was out of ideas as to what to tackle next. Usually I let my stomach do the steering, but lately It’s been stuck in a culinary cut-de-sac, driving around the same six or seven food staples–ramen noodles, bbq pork, rice, chicken, sourdough bread, SPAM, and baby boy choy–though I…

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From Aebleskiver to Takoyaki…one pan two worlds

In another episode of “Mimi finally uses random kitchen paraphernalia during quarantine…” this week I decided to pull the virgin cast iron aebleskiver pan Karen gave me for Christmas two years ago off the top shelf in my kitchen–which by the way is where the twice-used tortilla press resides–and dust it off…with the intention of…

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Donut Run

Since I moved back to San Francisco over 6 months ago I’ve been sorting through a clutter of kitchen equipment and tools, scattered among seemingly endless boxes and crates in the garage. Being the pastry geek that I am, I’ve amassed a ridiculous collection of cake pans, tools, cutters, molds–you name it–so much so that…

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A Choux Story

My choux story begins with cream puffs, the very first pastry I ever learned how to make on my own. I was probably about 12 or 13 years old. By then Mom trusted me to fend for myself in the kitchen, having managed to not set anything on fire (that she knew of). I was…

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The Kolache Chronicles…or how I fell for the Czech-Tex classic

After weeks of cooking, tweaking, fine-tuning my takes on traditional Chinese favorites, I needed to step away for a bit and try something decidedly non-Asian. On my list of “pastries I want to bake” were kolaches, those puffy, tender yeasted pastries with a divot in the center usually filled with sweet cheese and fruit or…

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Sweet construction…or ode to the Layer Cake

A party without cake is just a meeting. Julia Child Also, I would argue, a birthday without a layer cake is not a celebration. Okay, I know some people would beg to differ–like those who prefer pies over cake…or favor individual cupcakes to cutting a slice…or simply don’t like sweets (honestly I can’t relate). I…

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Shredded Potatoes, Smoke Detectors and Shaun Cassidy…or my journey to making the perfect hash browns

I know I’m dating myself with the Shaun Cassidy reference. He was the Justin Timberlake…scratch that…Harry Styles of my generation. Boyishly handsome, teen actor/pop sensation of Hollywood pedigree–both his mom Shirley Jones and half-brother, heartthrob David Cassidy, co-starred on the popular 70’s musical sit-com The Partridge Family–Shaun was for a brief time our teenage obsession….

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While visions of ice cream scoops danced in her head…

Got to say, not my most flattering childhood photo. It was the only one I could find of myself at that age eating something remotely resembling an ice cream bar or popsicle. I could’ve sworn there was more photographic evidence, much much cuter, of my voracious appetite for anything sweet, creamy, and frozen. My brother…

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