You'll never know 엉카버린 내 끈
Cause everybody sees what they wanna see.
It's easier to judge me than to believe."
The world demands evolution and consideration. Failure to follow through renders one incompetent in the perspective of a dynamic society, and rightfully so.
1) Black Sesame Taiwanese Castella
In my work email-buried haste, I had omitted the counter-tapping step to remove air bubbles. However, given that the bain-marie held hot water, air bubbles were naturally urged upwards once the batter had been placed within.
The cake was enjoyed in conjunction with a gift from Bebop, a local business offering two variants of pour-over-ready assemblies. Individually packaged with a sturdy mesh-plastic contraption, one required only hot water to saturate the coarsely ground beans. In this first round, instructions were read, but not adhered to. Further reactions shall be detailed once the brewing process aligns with the manufacturer's intentions.
Despite a decent amount of preparation, fish cake soup (or oden soup) comes together with minimal effort, serving as the ideal weekday lunch. SPAM, or one's preferred choice of meat, can be added for a greater degree of satisfaction. Reminiscent of past KBBQ and alcohol-encompassing occasions, the slightly spicy ssamjang stock stimulates the stomach, banishing email-swarmed sluggishness.
Last week had marked my first and final occurrence of obtaining discount meat from Loblaws. Thirty minutes of wearisome wrist work later, I had vowed to not bother ever again. Given the discolouration of said segments, I deployed my entire roster of meat-tenderizing techniques, from slicing against the grain to removing the sinewy bits. The bite-sized pieces were marinated in advance of searing to promote tendon breakdown for roughly 15-20 minutes; garlic powder, salt, and lemon juice formed the foundation, with the highly acidic last ingredient included to alleviate toughness.
In hindsight, I ought to have blanched the meat first as it was of low quality. This step was forgotten in my haste, though the results were still quite delicious.
High in sodium and best consumed with steamed white rice (or atop toast if adventurous), this dish was inspired by the Cantonese classic of steamed pork with shrimp paste - a rather potent condiment, if I do dare to declare. Unevenly marbled pork shoulder was sliced into fine chunks and marinated in a blend of sesame oil, rose cooking wine, and a few drops of fish sauce. They were then combined in a pot with partially taro chunks.
Scallions, while omitted ̶d̶u̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶l̶a̶z̶i̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ in my rendition, are recommended if available.
Essentially the video that marked my fascination with her videos, I finally decided to attempt her White Chocolate Green Tea Cookies. It would be my foray into the world of Matcha White Choc Chip after a lengthy hiatus. Longing for a tender crunch as opposed to soft chewiness, I ended up swapping the quantities of brown and white sugar; a baking powder substitute for baking soda was also made to prevent unreacted leavener due to reduction in brown sugar.
On a mission to use up the remainder of our soon-to-expire sour cream - Yes, there was more - I returned to the kitchen the following day as determined as ever. First to emerge was a basic galette dough, which was promptly shoved into the freezer for a later undertaking.
But alas, there was still some left! I then turned to Sunday Baking yet again: it was time to remove the packaging from my newly acquired vanilla bean paste.
Chilling the cake for several hours improved its consistency dramatically, all while preserving smooth properties and delicate tanginess. Specks of vanilla were visible throughout, though the paste hadn't seemed to deliver tremendous fragrance nor flavour.
"Yes." came the calm reply.
"Do you like them??" I pressed.
"Yes." Just when it seemed that the conversation would conclude, he followed up with yet another question. "Who is your favourite member?"
"I like Jinyoung!" By this point, I was overcome with excitement. In fact, it hadn't even occurred to me that I wasn't verifying the items being scanned.
He acknowledged my answer with minimal reaction, then proceeded to ask again: "Have you seen their new video?"
I mustered just enough awareness to stop myself from squealing at the mention of Encore. "Of course! It's great! I'm so excited to see what else they'll do now."
And then, it was time to say goodbye.