Buttery Croissant My Way

We all love to eat the buttery croissants.  Another perfect warm kitchen and cheaper gas price during the summer beckoned me to try baking the croissants.  Although heat is the enemy of butter in preparing croissant, after timing the proofing time, and using different techniques I learned, my croissant turned out all right.
I made some filled with almond paste, and others with mixtures of raisins and nuts.  Enjoy!

Home Grown Vegetable - Acceptance & Appreciation for the Imperfection

What is it about growing your own vegetables and fruits, then, no matter how distorted they turned out to be, we end up still eating them gratefully by cutting around the blemish, etc. ... Yet, when we go to the grocery store, I will try to look for the perfect ears of corn, unbruised peaches, etc.  My garden veges and fruits this year grew enough to keep me with fresh vegetables and fruits.  And I find myself more forgiving of their imperfection then for the ones we buy from the store. I cut around the bug eaten portion and enjoy the other halves with full appreciation.  

How to make Zong-Tze, Part 3 of 3 CHUKA CHIMAKI NO TSUKURIKATA

Zong-Tze - Summer Memory

My family enjoy some of the traditional Chinese festival meals and snacks  - New Year dinner, Hot-Pots, and in lunar month of July - the  Zong-Tze.   I am not 100% of the correct spelling in English, but it's one of our favorites.   Every country has its own version of this Zong-Tze.  Mexican, Viet-Namese, Hawaiian, etc, they got their special rice dish wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, bamboo leaves enclosing flavorfully marinated pork, chicken, beef, peanuts, etc, etc,  and steamed or boiled or BBQ'd.   However the cooking methods maybe, it is always fun making them together with family  and passing on the tradition.

Catch the video How To at this blog or visit YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DeGPrfiP4A
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Zm1jhyd9c

Making Family Zong-Tze (Part I)

How to Make Zong-Tze

Car care and Brioche based Sweet Rolls and Croissants

The month of July went by too fast, and here it is at the end of August.  But I learned a few things more about my mini-van even after 16 years.  My mini-van is a 1995 Plymouth Voyager SE with 453,230 miles.  For the first time in its life, it didn't pass the smog inspection that was due on July 4th.  And it was all because the smog standard changed.  Not necessarily because my van was emitting too much... but nevertheless, I was frantically trying to get the van fixed so I can drive another 100,000 miles out of it.  It now has new catalytic converter.   And a few fuel pump.  There was no choice.  Then, just when it passed the smog test, I find out that my back brake lights were ON without pressing the brake and my cruise control is out.  After finding out that my brake switch has gone bad, with the help of information available on the Internet, I managed to replace the brake switch myself.  It is now as good as new and drove us all the way down to Disneyland and back with no problem.
So, this is the month of test baking Brioche.  This buttery dough is so easy to make and I liked the way it rolled out and shaped into croissants.