Chinese Egg Custard Dessert

I've loved all different kinds of custards ever since I was little. When I was a child in Vietnam, my grandpa would always give me a piggyback ride to my English school and never failed to treat me to a custard sandwich along the way. Oh, how I miss those days! Life was simple and full of piggyback rides and sweets. I've never seen sandwiches like that in the U.S. When we came to U.S., my grandma started making me steamed egg custards when she cooked rice and I fell in love it that too. I got a steamer a couple weeks ago and I've been hooked on steamed egg custards ever since (Walmart's Mainstay 8 qt multi-purpose pot with a large and small steaming basket for $25, not available online). Just subtly sweet and so smooth. It's also so simple to make! Here's how...

Ingredients:

• 1.25 C of milk
• 3.5 tbs sugar (My family back in Vietnam uses a little bit of condensed milk instead, but I didn't have any around.)
• 2 eggs

Instructions:

• Heat the milk and sugar in a pot and stir constantly.
• Be sure that all the sugar has dissolved and remove from heat to cool.

• Once the milk has cooled, start boiling the water for the steamer.
• Break the eggs in a small bowl and beat well.
• Slowly pour the milk into the eggs and mix as you do so.

If you don't care about the presentation, start steaming per steps below.

I prefer my custard without the foam on top AND

without misc bits of egg that didn't mix well into milk (see in the image above)...

...so, I pour the egg/milk mixture back into the pot. Then, I pour it into the small bowl through a mesh strainer.

Steaming:

• Place the bowl into the steamer basket when the water is ready.
• Cover it with a plate and steam at medium heat for about 15 mins.
• The longer it cooks, the firmer and less smooth it gets.

I got distracted and steamed it for a couple minutes longer than I should have.

It was still pretty smooth, but just firmer than I prefer. Still loved it though!

Sewing An Apron For Mother's Day

I decided not to wait until the last minute to sew a Mother's Day gift for Mike's mom. It feels great to cross one project off my list for this week. I gave Mike's mom an apron last year and I decided to give her another one this year. I am satisfied with the pattern I draft, but will give it another go when I make one for myself. I found a cute cupcake remmant a while back at Hancock Fabrics and I had aprons in mind when I saw it. The best part is that I have enough left to make myself one with this fabric too. What do you think?

Materials:

• (1) 3/4 - 1' of outer fabric
• (1) 3/4 - 1' of lining fabric
• (1) 66x6" strip of lining fabric - waist tie (piece together several pieces, if necessary)
• (2) 22x3" strips of lining fabric - neck ties
• (1) 12x12" of lining fabric - pocket (optional)

Instructions:

I fit XS-S sizes and included my measurements for each section of the apron below. The only modification I would make next time is to cut about 2" from each side of the chest section. I rounded all corners, but the waist corners do not need to be rounded (I had intended to add the waist tie differently).

Top - 13"

Waist - 16"

Bottom - 20"

Top to waist - 10.5"

Waist to bottom - 21"

(1/2'" seam allowance)

When the two body pieces were cut, I started preparing the accent pieces. I ironed after each step.

• Iron the waist strip in half long ways wrong sides together.
• Open up with the right side facing down.
• Fold the corners towards the middle crease line, making sure to come to a clean point.

• Fold the both top and bottom edges towards the middle.

• Fold the whole piece in half again and top stitch all around.

• Do the same thing for the neck ties, but skip the pointed corners.
• Fold in half to get your crease line.
• Fold top and bottom edges towards the crease line.
• Fold a little bit of one end in before folding the whole strip in half again. (You can leave the other end unfolded because it will be hidden between the two body pieces)

Optional pocket:

[You can create the pocket pieces like the ties straps (fold sides to the middle and then in half) If your fabric is thick enough, you can just hem the sides. I did it the following way to get the desired thickness for the fabric I was using.]

• Fold the pocket piece in half right sides together.
• Sew the three unfolded sides together and leave a 3" gap.
• Turn the pocket right side out and edge stitch the folded side. This will be the top of the pocket.

• Iron the other three sides in about 1/2".

• Sew the two body pieces right sides together, but leave the top of the apron open.
• Cut notches into the corner seam allowances and turn right side out.
• Pin the neck ties in place (in between the front and back body pieces at the opening) and top stitch the whole apron.
• Pin the waist tie amd pocket in place and sew onto the apron.

 Good luck to all your Mother's Day projects!

Easter: Cupcakes and Bacon Deviled Eggs

Happy Easter! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I spent the weekend with Mike's family for Easter. It was a great time and lots of great food. Typically one meal here and you are set for the rest of the day. My contributions included cupcakes and deviled eggs. :)

~CUPCAKES~

I used Betty Crocker's white cupcake mix. I think it's pretty tasty for box cupcakes. For the first variation, I used Nutella (works amazing as icing) topped with coconut M&Ms. Doesn't it look like nests of bird eggs? For the second, I made my own strawberry whipped butter icing (will post a recipe when I perfect it) and made an attempt to top the cupcakes with roses. I think I did alright on my first try. Here is a great site that I used to help me learn a little about how to frost cupcakes: Cupcake Basics - How to Frost Cupcakes.

~BACON DEVILED EGGS~

The first time I ever made bacon deviled eggs for Mike and a friend during an impromptu BBQ, it blew their minds. Anytime we talk about appetizer or bacon in general, Mike loves to brag about this moment. It's so sweet and endearing and might even make me blush a little. :) Here's how I make it:

Ingredients:

• 12 eggs
• 1/2 C of mayonaisse (I like the kind with Olive oil)
• 1 TB of mustard
• 5 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 TB paprika, extra for dusting over completed eggs

Instructions:

• The first thing that you need to do tape up a carton of eggs and turn the carton on the sides the night before. The reason I do this is so that the egg yolk will settle in the center of the egg for a better presentation. You won't run the risk of part of the wall being too thin and the white breaking as you scoop the yolk.
• Place the eggs in a large pot and pour enough cold water in to just cover the eggs. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and cover for 12-14 minutes. Remove eggs and put in a bowl of cold water to cool.

• Scoop the yolk into a large bowl and mash it with the mayo, mustard, and paprika with a potato masher. Mix in the bacon.
• Put the mixture in a ziplock bag, cut off a corner, and pipe it into the shell.

• Dust some paprika over them, garnish, and you will have yourself some fine deviled eggs which are sure to impress. This is another example that goes to show that bacon makes everything better.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

I love cooking meals, but I'm not much a dessert person or baker. I can make fancy cheesecakes, but my cookies always turn out burnt or flat. I made a large batch of chocolate mint cookies that I think was probably my best batch of cookies ever. The outside was slightly crispy, but the inside was so soft. It could also be that I finally have good cookie sheets. I got these Calphalon cookie sheets from Target. They work so well and they are huge, so they fit a bunch of cookies. I was able to make 25 per sheet for smaller-medium size cookies.

I made a bunch of cookies as a way of saying thanks to the neighbors for being sooooo nice and patient while Winston is getting crate trained. I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com, Chocolate Mint Cookies I. I pretty much followed the recipe to the T, except that I used only 1 cup of brown sugar. I have been stuffing my face all day with the leftover cookies. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 C butter
• 1 C packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 C semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 package of Andes mint chocolate

Instructions:

• In a large pan over low heat, cook butter, sugar and water until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large bowl (or your mixer bowl, if using a stand) and let stand 10 minutes to cool off slightly.
• At high speed, beat in eggs, one at a time into chocolate mixture. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating until blended. Chill dough about 1 hour. Prepare the dry ingredients while it is chilling.

• Roll dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart (I did 1-in balls and that yield 56 cookies). Bake 8-10 minutes. While cookies are baking unwrap mints and divide each in half (1 pkg of Andes has exactly 56 halves!).

• When cookies are brought out of the oven, put 1/2 mint on top of each cookie. The mint may slide off, so watch for this. Swirl the chocolate around when melted. Let the frosting harden before storing away.