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Alice's Summerthing (97.3 FM) + Soy Milk recipe

EDIT!!!
I have a confession. I'm a horrible food blogger. I was so excited about devouring the food we had that I didn't take any pictures!!! ahhhhh!! /tucks tail between legs

Last year, I wanted to go to Alice's summerthing too, because Lifehouse was playing for free!. Sadly, I had work. This year...I am unemployed with plenty of free time. I told JSB about it and we decided to do a picnic. As we were putting our picnic together, we thought we made too much food. Turns out we didn't make enough!

We made:

Pasta salad with salami, onions, and celery.
-delicious!

The Salad. I realize it seems "plain," but that's the way I like mine. Not overly saucy.

Sandwich: sourdough slices with spinach and melted mozzarella cheese.
-also yums! Simple, and easy enough for JSB to make! <3

Fruits in separate containers: lychee, apricots, mangos, white nectarines.
-sweet and juicy, but the nectarines turned into a nice shade of brown. =( At least it still tasted delicious.

Lychees and Apricots.

Ginseng with honey jello.
-great idea, poor execution. What went wrong? Needed more knox! It tasted fine, but it was practically melting before our eyes.

It was an awesome day. The sun was out with a minimal amount of breeze, which is super rare in SF. I loved it. I was lounging around on the grass reading a book and listening to the awesome free music. For those that are curious, the bands that played were Parachute, Sugar Ray, Matt Nathanson, and Gavin Rossdale.

The only negative aspect of my day was my sunburned face (forehead, nose, and cheeks). Dammit, time to break out the sunblock like sunblock obsessed JSB! She is practically a vampire when it comes to the sun. She refuses to stand in it. If she has to be in it, she puts on sunblock right away, covers her face with her hands too, and wears a cap.

Oh oh, I was also productive in the morning before I left. I had soaked some soybeans the night before to make soy milk. I recently discovered how to make it a few days ago. The process is extremely simple and cheap to make.

Soy Beans.

Soy Milk
Adapted from Just Hungry and Beauty and the Biscuit

Serving size: Unlimited

Ingredients:

• cheesecloth (or any other type of material that will strain tiny granules)
• dried soybean
• water
• blender
• a big pot

Directions:

Important key point: 2:1 ratio of (water: soybean). That's it! You can make an endless supply of soymilk now.

1. Soak dried soybeans overnight in a bowl of water that covers the soybeans by at least 2 inches.
2. The next day, pour out the water. Put 1 cup of soybean and 2 cups of water in the blender. Blend until all the big chunks are ground up. Pour into the pot. Repeat until all the soybeans are used up. Remember: 2 to 1 ratio (water to soybean).
3. When all the soybeans are ground up, make sure the soy mixture in the pot is not past the halfway point.
4. Time to boil. As the soy mixture is heating up, skim off all the foam from the blending process. You have to be observant at this point. Watch closely, because as soon as the soy mixture hits its boiling point, it will foam quickly. The moment you see it happening, turn the heat to the lowest setting or if you're scared, just turn the heat off.
5. When the foam subsides, turn the heat to medium/low so that the soy mixture is at a gentle boil, but not at the point where it will start foaming.
6. Boil for 20 minutes. Stir often to prevent the bottom of the pot from burning, which will give the soy milk a burnt taste.
7. When time is up, take another container, place a strainer on top of it, and the cheesecloth on top. Ladle soy milk on top of cheesecloth. When the cheesecloth is filled with soybean fiber (called okara), pick it up and squeeze to take out the remaining soy milk. Repeat until all the soy milk is filtered!

Yums!! Fresh and delicious soy milk for consumption! You can drink soy milk unsweetened, but I prefer my soy milk sweet so I add sugar.

Creme Puff v1.0

Cream Puff.

The scary attempt at cream puffs...

Creme puffs are surprisingly easy to make. The recipe came together perfectly. The only thing I would improve is piping the mixture instead of using a spoon.

oooh....Shiiiny!

I also found out I need to work on tempering chocolate. My chocolate came out horrible.

Driiip.

Next time, I also want to work on a custard filling for the cream puff.

Pizza

Mmmm...the finished pizza.

For the past week, I've been dreaming and craving for cheese. Mac n' cheese, grilled cheese sandwich, and even a slab of cheese would make me happy. I decided today to make pizza to satisfy my cheese craving.

Drool once.

Drool again.

JSB and I made pizza dough from scratch and it turned out better than we expected. I decided to play safe and stretch the dough on a surface instead of tossing it.

My huge air pockets on the crust.

JSB preferred the more dangerous route of tossing the pizza. She did a pretty good job and it showed on the pizza.

JSB's perfect pizza crust -- the magic of tossing the pizza crust.
(JSB's picture)

As you can see, my dough crust shows all the air pockets from the yeast, but JSB's was dense, smooth, and perfect. Another lesson I learned was that a pizza stone or pizza baking pan is necessary. The pizza crust turned out wonderful, but the center of the pizza was soggy. Lessons for next time.

Okra Chips.

Ingredients: Okra, Palm Oil.
(Haha, oh... I wish I made this! But nope, store bought. Price? ~$3. Was it worth it? Good to try. Serial buyer? Maybe not.)

What was good (or maybe bad)?

Lost the slime.


It retained that "okra flavor."
It was weak... but it was definitely there.
"If you suck on it, the flavor intensifies." - says piee.

Onigiri.

:) I got a new "toy" for my birthday. Onigiri Rice Molds? Wooo! I went home immediately after school and sister piee used left over sushi rice to make some cute onigiri! hahahahha, it was her first time... so they are not even close to perfect. Still, they were delicious!!






Weee! Piee is cutting the shapes out! Hahahah!!











There is a little cucumber surprise inside each
onigiri!








Isn't it pretty?

Double Chocolate Cookies

Milk and Cookies.

Ah yes, another late night creation. This project occurred approximately between 11:00 PM and 12:30 AM. This is my second attempt making this type of cookie. I made several adjustments to the recipe, and it turned out a lot better. The top of the cookie was crackly and crispy similar to a brownie crust. The inside was even better. It was soft, chewy, and full of chocolaty goodness. I should warn those with a super sweet tooth that these cookies do not taste sugary sweet at all. It is more on the bitter side with a hint of sugar to calm the taste buds.

That's right, high quality chocolate from TJ'S!

Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies
Adapted from Last Night I had a Dream About You and Feed my World

Serving size: 16 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. of an unsweetened chocolate bar, chopped
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) of butter (I used salted butter. If you are using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt)
• 1/2 tablespoon of instant coffee granules
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of chocolate powder
• a little less than 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into chunks

Direction:

1. Melt unsweetened chocolate, a few chunks of the semi-sweet chocolate, butter, and coffee granules in the microwave. Start with 40 seconds and stir the mixture. Continue microwaving in increments of 15 seconds and stir. When the chocolate looks nearly melted, continue stirring and the chocolate will melt completely without burning. Set aside and allow it to cool.
2. Beat eggs and sugar in another bowl. Stop when the mixture is thick, creamy, and lemon colored.
3. Add the chocolate mixture to the eggs/sugar and combine until blended.
4. Preheat oven to 325 F.
5. Sift the flour and baking soda over the liquid mixture. Add vanilla, chocolate powder, and salt (if you used unsalted butter). Mix.
6. Stir in semi-sweet chocolate chunks and stop when all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
7. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are puffed and cracked.

All neatly stacked together.