Haribo Gummy Bears for cheap

In case you didn't already know, Haribo Gummy Bears can be purchased for half price from CVS. The CVS brand gummy bears is Haribo's bears. I'm not sure why they do it this way, but it's fine with me.

Best cupcakes in Harvard Square

I don't usually like Finale because they are overpriced and not that great, but I'll give them this: they have the best cupcakes in Harvard Square. It's just sweet enough, and you can taste the coconut/chocolate/peanut butter flavors that you are expecting in your cupcake. Skip that Sweet place, and head back to Finale's for overpriced, but decent cupcakes.

Another Chinatown find! (Sweet sucks)

In Boston. I'm sure you can find the equivalent in a Chinese bakery near you.

A review of Sweet
So I've been very disappointed by my latest foray into American bakeries -- overpriced, overly sweet and undelicate cakes. I tried Sweet out, because they opened a store in Harvard Square. The reviews on yelp looked good; some complained about the sweetness of the cupcakes. I'm a sugar fiend, so I was undeterred. One of their top sellers is the red velvet cupcake, so I had that.

The regular cupcakes are $3.25 each, and regular-sized looked really tiny to me. They also add a generous amount of frosting that seemed to go well with the cake. The first bite should reveal a delicious melt-in-your-mouth feel. I thought it was great, and didn't understand how they could serve such small cupcakes (there are even smaller ones that go in one bite). Halfway through my cupcake (bite #3), I understood. The melt-in-your-mouth delight suddenly becomes a gagging mess of sugary nothing. It took me a while to react, but my friend was gagging from the very first bite.

Back to the Chinatown find:
I chanced upon a crowded bakery in Chinatown this past weekend that also serves western style goodies. They had these adorable mini-tarts at 3 for $1.65 (fruit) or $1.95 (cheese tart) -- how can you pay the same amount for one cupcake? They also had a wide selection of cakes with mousse, which I am going back for. The price range looked like it was $2-4, which is a steal. I tried the double fudge chocolate cake, but it seemed a little dry: perhaps it was the overnight stay in my fridge. Unlike in American bakeries, the frosting in the cake was just sufficient to give the cake a chocolatey flavor without overwhelming it. I think I'll be back to try out the other items so look out for updates. Oh, the place is called Baobao Bakery, and according to some yelp users, the service can be bad. For such a crowded (and disorganized) place, I don't doubt that tempers can get short.

gamja tang in Boston

I noticed Hanmaru in Allston after it was damaged by a fire last year: people were upset about their favorite restaurant closing. Thus I was looking forward to Hanmaru's re-opening, which happened about a month ago.

Before going, I did my research on yelp, and found out that the restaurant is famous for gamja tang, which means potato soup in Korean, but it is really more of a spicy pork soup with some potato. Anyone who complained on yelp ordered something else, and was deservedly disappointed. I mean, if everyone around you ordered one dish, why would a newcomer try a different dish?

The gamja tang was not spicy by my standards (which are low). The meat, if you're looking closely, is pork spine. It tastes way better than it sounds. The meat is very tender after hours of boiling and falls right off the bone, and the soup is flavorful. They serve the meat with a wasabi-soy dipping sauce, which goes surprisingly well with the meat. I'd say that it takes it to a different level.

You should try to pack the leftovers to go: the soup is thick by the time it boils down (it's served on a portable stove by the way) while you eat, and makes an excellent simple fried rice. Just add rice and stir.

The portions should serve 2-3 people comfortably. If you happen to be more than 3, I have no recommendations about other dishes to order. Oddly, the restaurant serves Thai food as well.

Homemade cocoa mochi! A review

I didn't realize that it was possible to make mochi at home till a friend brought homemade mochi to a Christmas gift exchange. The mochi wasn't as good as commercial mochi, but it was near -- just needed a few tweaks to the recipe. Since it was Valentine's Day last week, I decided to make a special treat for the ocassion.

I bought a box of mochiko (sweet rice flour) and it happened to have a very simple recipe on the box. I had fancier plans involving mochi filled with red bean, but it was late and I wanted something that was safe. The website actually shows a slightly different recipe, but it is mostly similar to what I used.

Box recipe: used 6 tbs cocoa
I also made my own modification: used 1 3/4 cup sugar.

Firstly some warnings:

#1. this 1lb box of flour makes a ton of mochi dough. If you don't have a big bowl that can be microwaved, you should really half or quarter the recipe. The mochi dough will bubble out of the bowl if it is too small, and make a huge mess in the microwave.

#2. if you have weak arms like me, you should use an electric hand mixer to help you mix the mochiko and water. It makes a much smoother batter.

#3. cooked mochi dough is a pain to wash. You need plenty of running hot water, and a brush.

#4. the microwaved mochi will seem very stiff, but it's okay coz you need to add a bunch of cocoa syrup. I suggest pouring in the syrup a little at a time. This time, I used a spoon to mix because the dough was too stiff for my cheap hand mixer.

#5: the texture of the dough is not suitable for making the type of mochi with filling. Maybe at some special stage when it is semi-cooled, it might be of the right texture. But it mainly pours like cake batter when you're done stirring.

Other tips:

#1. I used parchment paper to line my 13x9 inches baking tray, before greasing with some olive oil.

#2. Oil your knife before cutting the mochi.

#3. Store mochi in an airtight container -- I used Saran wrap before putting the lids on my boxes. You don't want dry and hard mochi the next day.

The taste test:

The mochi was just sweet enough, and mildly chocolately. After dusting with cocoa, it was not sticky. When you bite into it, it's rather soft and again, it does not stick to your teeth. My colleagues really liked it.

Future modifications:

#1. I cut the sugar slightly, but I want to cut it a little more. I intend to drop the sugar to 1 1/2 cups.

#2. I found the cocoa flavor to be kind of weak. I would try to add another 2 tb of cocoa, making it a total of 8tb.

#3. I like a slightly chewier/springier mochi. I think the 3 cups of liquid that was mixed with the flour was absolutely necessary. I think I might reduce the 1 cup water from the chocolate syrup to 1/2 cup and see how it goes.

PS: Total cost of the great mochi project: ~$4.

What to do with old Kimchi

It was a few years after I started eating kimchi (at restaurants) before I realized that kimchi is an actively evolving food -- it is a fermenting vegetable. I bought my first jar of kimchi and realized that it turned a little more sour and soggy a few days in the fridge. It was initially confusing trying to understand what I can or cannot do with kimchi. Here's a summary:

Fresh Kimchi: suitable for eating straight, and making kimbap (Korean sushi rolls). Beware if you're making kimchi kimbap and taking it in your lunchbox, because it will continue to ferment at room temperature (very quickly!).

Old Kimchi: stirfry with pork (and tuna), fried rice, kimchi soup with pork, kimchi pancake (pa-jeon)

"Cheeseboard" in Boston

One of the few icons in the Berkeley eating scene, besides Chez Panisse, is the more accessible Cheeseboard Pizza. It's located in the so-called gourmet ghetto in North Berkeley on Shattuck, and sells only one type of pizza each day (click here to check for the pizza of the day). Slices are sold at $2.50 each, and they usually give you a tiny sliver with each order. That means if you're buying a slice each for you and your friend, you should make 2 separate orders. They also usually have a jazz band playing live on weekends.















Cheeseboard Upper Crust

The Cheeseboard sells my favorite pizza period. They used to say that at Cal, it was between Fat Slice and Blondie's -- yeah right, for 2nd place maybe.

I finally found a suitable Cheeseboard substitute in the Boston area last week. Since D(iscovery) day, I've been there 4 times in 7 days. They have been around since 2001, and they are actually a chain (the Cheeseboard is unique, and a co-op). I've seen the store on Newbury Street, but I never actually tried them till they opened the store in Harvard Square.

Upper Crust sells thin pizza, and they sell more than 1 type of pizza each day. I have only tried the slices of the day so far, and I like them. For $3.50, you get a slice the size of 2 regular slices. The food is fresh and tasty and cheap. Plus it allows me to nourish my Norcal nostalgia.

Differences (for people who care to know):
1. Pizza at the Cheeseboard has a slightly thicker crust, that is baked till hard and crispy. Upper Crust's slices are thin and floppy, allowing you to fold them (New York style). They have an excellent edge that is crunchy though.

2. The Cheeseboard sells only 1 type of pizza each day, so the pizza needs to be friendly to all, aka vegetarian. At least I think that is how they work. I've never eaten a slice with meat on it. Upper Crust puts meat on their slice of the day some times. On those days, vegetarians can order from the rest of their menu.

3. The Upper Crust sells wings. The Cheeseboard has expanded to include a daily salad, and a daily dessert since my college days, but those are sort of complementary. I think the Upper Crust was trying to appeal to the football watching crowd, although they do serve salads.

4. The Cheeseboard has live jazz. The Upper Crust plays contemporary pop cds.

Conclusoin: The Cheeseboard comes first for me. Upper Crust can take its place above Fat Slice and Blondie's, but I don't think it rivals the best.