Pastry Wednesday: Tres Leches Cake from Rancho Markets

This was for a Pastry Wednesday a long while ago, but I just found the pictures and I needed to share! And because it was so long ago, I can only remember that it was at the end of a busy day and everyone else was gone for the day.

Sugaraholic said she was going to bring a cake for that particular Pastry Wednesday.

Bam!

Impressive!

Now that's a cake!

It's a Tres Leches Cake from the Rancho Markets. I've never been to the Rancho Markets, but if it's anything like Asian markets, it's a treasure trove of goodness, cheap produce, and weird spices that you have never heard of.

And man, this cake was amazing.

Maraschino cherries and bonus strawberries!

The cake is soaked with the milks--the three milks! Then there was the walnut filling--! Sugaraholic made a ridiculously good choice this time.

Too bad the rest of the Pastry Wednesday crew wasn't here for it!

Rancho Markets

190 East 3300 South

Salt Lake City, Utah

And other various locations.

Asparagus Hunting We Go

My good friend at work, Sugaraholic, one of the same friends who started Pastry Wednesday, and I were eating lunch at the same time one day and she shared with me some of her grilled asparagus.

It was fresh and sweet and smokey from the grill.

Then she told me she picked it herself.

Whaaaaat?!?

In Price, Utah near her dad's home.

(Mind blown.)

For some reason, I thought asparagus appeared magically at my local grocery store, all bundled up neatly. (As I type this sentence, I realize I'm one of those ignorant, uninformed people who thinks their produce and meat grows on trees.)

And for some reason, I also thought that asparagus only grew in exotic places like Brazil or Mexico or California. Definitely not in Utah.

I was thankfully wrong, because Sugaraholic invited me and Lee down to pick asparagus this last weekend. There's only a few weeks in the spring that they grow, so we headed down for a really, really, really quick trip to Price.

We passed by the windmills...

Into the canyon

And eventually arrived in Price around dusk. It was beautiful.

A storm is afar off

We met Sugaraholic and headed to the canals right away before the light was gone.

She showed us that along the water canals that line the side of the road, the asparagus grow. The first canals we went to were starting to dry up--a sign it was the tail end of asparagus hunting season.

Searching for asparagus

Sugaraholic told us to get close to the ground, that the secret was to be "crouching tiger". She kept finding asparagus and we couldn't see a thing!  She reassured us that our eyes would get used to spotting them, that they would start to look different than all the other brush and weeds.

Good thing Lee brought headlamps!

We did pretty good, considering we only hunted for about 45 minutes before it got too dark. We gathered about a pound of asparagus! Not bad!

We headed back to Sugaraholic's dad's home (we'll call him John) for a quick bite before Lee had to head back for an early morning shift the next day. It was fun grilling up a steak and fresh asparagus for dinner and hanging out with John and his girlfriend before Lee left. The asparagus was so tender and sweet!

Sugaraholic and her dad's girlfriend and our asparagus!

The next day, John took us to his secret asparagus picking spot, about 15 minutes away from his house. The water was still pretty high and flowing. And there was asparagus!

I was starting to spot the asparagus better! Yay!  Once you snap off the asparagus, there is so much water that flows out of the stems.

John was the best at finding them--he was so proud of his talent.

A perfect asparagus

It was such a fun and successful morning.

This was only half of what we got!

Though it was a quick trip, I needed the time outdoors and to do something so new and different. Plus, I got to meet and spend time with good people. What an amazing weekend!

Project Life 365: Week 19

What a nutso, nerve-racking, and also nice week.

May 5: We visited an elderly lady in our neighborhood. She wanted to show us some pictures, so Lee got up to help her with the albums.

I love the light!

May 6: We went to pick up some oyster sauce at the Chinese store. We also had to pick up some weird Asian snakcs including these YanYan treats that had these new sayings etched into the biscuit sticks. It was like an edible fortune cookie fortune!

Goat, you are lucky today. Thanks, YanYan sticks!

May 7: We (sort of) surprised our friend, MiSharona, for her birthday at the restaurant CousCous Mediterranean Grill. We all tried to duck and hide when she walked in, but she knew we were there. Doh!

We were about to play Heads Up Seven Up

May 8: I drove Robyn, our corvette to Mutual and I forgot to turn off the lights until after I turned off the car. Robyn was winking at me!

Wink wink!

May 9: Dinner at one of our fave places in Bountiful--Aloha Grindz.

Aloha Grindz--a hole in the wall with the best food!

May 10: We headed down to Price, Utah to go asparagus hunting with my friend. It was beautiful there.

Missed the storm by a little bit in Price, Utah at sunset

May 11: My friend's dad's neighbor in Price raises Shetland ponies. They also recently bought a couple of mini donkeys--they were SO cute! Look at how cute their faces are! SO CUTE!

Mini donkeys--adorable!

I hope you have neat-o upcoming week!

Triple Ginger Caramel Cookies

Me and Ginger: A story in 3 parts

Ginger and caramel--so happy together

Part 1: When I was younger, my dad would make these super tasty stir fry dishes. My only issue were the nickel-sized pieces of ginger he'd use. I'd accidentally bite into a chunk, thinking it was a tender piece of meat or a golden vegetable, but instead I would be shocked and my mouth zinged. My young palate couldn't handle it. Sometimes, my dad would make us eat the thick slices of ginger, because it was "good" for us.

I dreaded ginger. That stuff was strong!

Ginger three ways

Part 2: I joined a running club to train for my first marathon in my mid-20s. It was so fun having a support system, but man, those 6 AM Saturday runs were early! Because of those early morning starts and the Gatorade that usually makes me nauseous, I took a liking to gingersnap cookies that gave me energy and tempered my queasy stomach.

I guess ginger could be helpful.

Ginger--ready to go

Part 3: My former roommate had moved back to New York. She was turning 30 and wanted to do something to commemorate it, so she started a blog, documenting her baking batches of 30 different types of cookies and sending them to family and friends to say thanks. I received a batch of soft ginger cookies and fell head over heels in love with them.

I was finally sold on ginger.

Good ol' Brach's caramels

But I honestly could have gone for more ginger (my palate has finally matured), so I made these lovelies.

The best ginger cookies!

These are awesome because you use 3 types of ginger (go big or go home!). Plus, a little caramel doesn't hurt the situation at all--am I right or am I right?

Mmmm...caramel!

A hidden treat inside

Triple Ginger Caramel Cookies
Makes 4 dozen

1 1/2 c butter, softened
1 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c molasses

4 1/2 c all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 c finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 tsp salt

14 oz package of individually wrapped caramels
Additional sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter; add sugar and mix till fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add molasses and mix well.

Combine all dry ingredients, including the grated ginger. Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed mixture until combined. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes to an hour until it handles easily.

Unwrap caramels and cut each piece in half (aka hamburger style), so that you have two flatter pieces. Take enough dough for a one-inch ball and press it a little flat in your hand. Place one of the divided pieces of caramel in the dough and roll to cover the caramel and so that the caramel is in the middle of the dough. Roll in additional sugar. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Serve plain or with some vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Your home will smell so good when you start baking these ginger cookies!

Quick Outdoor Summer Party Tip

Learned this tip from Mom K:

Take a wheelbarrow. Get a plastic picnic table cloth.

And voila--a really big tub for drinks and ice!

Easy, homemade beverage tub

Time for a summer BBQ!

Games We Play: Where's Domo? + Contest

We recently started playing a new game called Where's Domo? (Remember, we play games to amuse ourselves as we've described in the past (here, here and here)).

It all started when one of my favorite T-shirts (The Wizard of Saws) went missing. Lee and I got matching ones a few years back on one of our favorite cheap deals websites, Whiskey Militia. Lee loves chainsaws, so I bought us a couple of these shirts with Dorothy donning a hockey mask and a chainsaw.

We know--these are weird T-shirts.

But one day, I couldn't find my shirt. Poof! Gone! I was pretty sad. We ended up saying it was the domovoy's fault. In a Russia, a domovoy is a house spirit, who will protect your home, but also can be very mischievous. It's pretty easy to blame the domovoy for things that happen around the house, like a missing sock or misplaced keys.

We talked about calling our domovoy by the name of Domo (makes sense, right?), since we're pretty big fans of Domo and he's a little hairy monster like a domovoy should be. We also talked about actually getting a stuffed Domo that we could have sitting around in our home...

Then one day, guess who appeared in a package at our front door?

Lee cuddles our new arrival--Domo!

Yup, Domo! Isn't he so cute!

Now that we have an actual stuffed Domo in our home, we play a game inspired by my friend, Mrs. Untamed.  Her family owns a good-sized metal pig that would show up in random places--in someone's bed, in a closet, in a sink, in the middle of the hallway.

Although the pig has since been banished to the kitchen counter because Mrs. Untamed's dad stubbed (broke?) his toe when he stumbled upon it as he exited his bedroom into the hallway, I love the idea of finding something random in an unexpected place.

Here are the Where's Domo rules:

1. One of us hides Domo in a place where the other person could feasibly find him throughout the course of the week. 
2. The other person goes about their business and if they happen to find Domo, hooray! Surprise!
3. If he isn't found for more than a week, then hints can be given to Domo's whereabouts. Domo gets lonely.

We are keeping a log of all the places Domo has frequented since he's been with us. That monster gets around!

It's pretty funny/surprising/delightful when you open up a cupboard or drawer and see his beady black eyes staring back at you. We love it!

Since we love playing games, here's a Domo quiz for you. Those who get all the answers correct will be entered into the drawing for $25.00 gift card to The Olive Garden.

Rules:

1. Last day to enter is Friday, May 10 at 11:59 pm. 
2. Please enter by commenting in the blog comments (not on Facebook).
3. Please don't say your name is "Anonymous" or I can't enter you in the drawing! Enter your name as Full First Name and Last Name Initial (e.g. Winter R.)
4. Entries won't show up in the comments section till after the contest closes, to prevent cheating off of each other.
5. One entry per person only please!

Quiz:

1. What TV station introduced us to Domo and in what year?
2. What country is Domo from?
3. How was Domo born?
4. What food does Domo hate the most and why?
5. What food does Domo like to eat the most?
6. What does Domo do when he is nervous or upset?
7. Who is Domo's best friend?
8. True or False: Domo sweats a lot.
9. Name one company in the US that has used Domo in their advertising campaign.
10. True of False: Domo is the awesomest monster out there.

Bonus Question: Which Japanese athlete has Domo tattooed on their back to bring him/her good fortune?

Good luck! And after you've entered, you should watch this:

Project Life 365: Week 18

What a glorious, grand, and great week it's been!

April 28: Tried dragon fruit for the first time today. Whoa! It's like a milder version of a kiwi--but pink and white!

Such pretty and unexpected colors for dragon fruit

April 29: I accidentally sent this crazy text message to Lee. Holy pocket texting, Batman!

I really liked the letter a and v in this pocket text

April 30: We had dinner with a good friend at The Wild Grape. This Smoked Trout Gnocchi was delish!

The trout was perfectly done!

May 1: We got snow today. Crazy spring! But I noticed the "Imagine" on top of the block U for the first time today.

Imagine U

May 2: Lee is taking a menu design class where he had to dream up a restaurant and make a up a menu for it. He scored 395 out of 400. The menu looks so rad.

Lee's restaurant would be Danish cuisine

May 3: We had a Tres de Mayo party and I love this easy trick I learned from Mom K. Wheelbarrow + outdoor tablecloth = automatic container for drinks and ice at an outdoor party.

Easy party trick

May 4: After a busy day of working and cleaning, watching Psych and eating a Little Caesars $5 pizza. We're not picky sometimes.

Simple tastes sometimes!

Have a generous upcoming week!

Our Easy Homemade Bread Recipe

You may or may not have noticed--but I'm Asian.

I know, shocking, right?

Well, being Chinese, we ate a lot of rice--it was the base of every dinner I ever ate as a kid. I love rice.

And I love bread too. But we rarely ever baked bread growing up. Why bake bread when you've got rice, right?

Baking bread was a foreign concept to me for a long time. I tried it, but things never really turned out well.

But when my older sister, Dimples, got married, she found this amazing bread recipe that she'd make for her husband. I got the recipe from her when I was first married, because I wanted to be a good wife and make this awesome bread for Lee.

Newly married!

I made it a lot that first year of marriage and it didn't turn out well. Lee took a crack at it also and we still didn't have it right for a long while. (It probably has to do with the fact that we live at 3500 feet altitude in dry Utah, while my sister was baking her bread at sea level in sunny, more humid California.)

Finally though, we've tweaked this recipe so much that it's become our own and it works for us. It's simple--it only has 6 ingredients, 7 if you want to get fancy. Honey, warm water, yeast...

Where it all starts

Side note: For Christmas, Dimples got me this ingenious thing that King Arthur Flour makes: a yeast measuring spoon. It measures out a "packet" of yeast (=2 1/4 teaspoons = 1/4 ounce of yeast). We buy yeast in bulk and keep it in a airtight container in the fridge, so this spoon is the best!

One of my best bread baking tools: the yeast measuring spoon from KAF

In the mixing bowl, add the warm water and honey. Stir together so the honey dissolves. Then sprinkle in the yeast. Lee shared a tip with me recently that really gets the yeast going: after sprinkling, take a spoon and stir the yeast around in the water. Increased exposure to the honey water, so it gets nice and frothy and active!

After waiting for about 5 to 10 minutes

.
Then you have flour, applesauce, and salt. The secret ingredient to this bread is the applesauce: our home-canned applesauce made with Grandma Italy's apples. There's a bunch of spices in it too that I'm not sure we would be able to recreate when we do our next batch of applesauce. It makes the bread so yummy and soft and a little cinnamon-y.

Applesauce replaces the oil traditionally found in this recipe

Another thing we love to add, the 7th ingredient, is ground flax seed. It gives it some texture and a nutty flavor. We love Bob's Red Mill brand. Make sure you refrigerate it after you've opened it.

Good stuff = Bob's Red Mill ground flaxseed

Mix everything together in your mixer. Now we figured out that sometimes the dough was too wet and that's why it wasn't working. If you notice that the dough doesn't pull up easily, but sticks to the bottom of the bowl when you raise the dough hook, then add a couple teaspoonfuls of flour and mix again. Repeat if necessary.

Then let it sit for an hour covered. The yeast will do it's thing and rise up nicely.

You've got an hour to let this rise the first time. You should go do your nails.

After the first rise, you knead it again for a minute in the stand mixer. Remove the dough and divide into two. You'll shape the loaves and put them in bread pans. Cover them for another hour and let them rise (and go for a run, do your toenails, or watch that episode of Project Runway you missed). You can preheat the oven about now, so when the hour's up, you're ready to go.

Then bake and enjoy the aroma of fresh baked bread, a nice reminder that you're awesome to actually bake your own bread! Go you!

The bread is great with some butter and this Strawberry Jalapeno Jam. Enjoy!

Watch it grow!

.
The Redds' Easy Homemade Bread Recipe
Makes 2 awesome and tasty loaves

2 c warm water (110 degrees F)

4 tbsp honey

2 packets (or 4 1/5 tsp) yeast

6 c white flour

4 tbsp ground flaxseed (optional)

1/2 c applesauce

2 tsp salt

Add water and honey to stand mixer bowl and stir to dissolve honey. Add yeast and stir yeast around in water. Cover and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes till foamy. Add flour, flaxseed, applesauce, and salt. Knead with the stand mixer on medium speed using dough hook till well incorporated, about 3-5 minutes. If the dough is too wet, add 2 teaspoonfuls of flour and mix again till the dough comes up from the bowl when dough hook is raised. Add more flour if necessary. Cover for 1 hour.

After this first rise, knead for about a minute on low speed. Remove the dough from mixing bowl and divide equally in two parts. Form into loaves and place in loaf pans. Cover and let rise a second time for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. After the second rise, bake for 25 to 29 minutes. Remove from oven and let bread sit in pans for about 5 minutes before removing to cooling racks. Allow to cool before cutting the bread.

You totally just made homemade bread--strong work!