Green Tea / Matcha Ice Cream

We love matcha ice cream especially after tasting the very good one in Japan. We bought some green tea powder from our trip Japan and so excited to try it.

First thing first: cook the milk, cream, salt and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. In another bowl, stir together the egg yolks and green tea powder then pour some of the milk mixture into the yolks. Pour the milk and yolk mixture back to the saucepan and reheat it while continue stirring until it reach 80 degree Fahrenheit.

Ice Cream Making Tips & Tricks

We have been making homemade ice cream for years now. I love the fact that I can make any flavor I like, reduce the amount of sugar, and the fact that it doesn't have additives. 

We use Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. First time my then curious toddler see how the machine works:

We made a lot of ice cream and create lot of memory with the ice cream machines over the years

Some tips and tricks I learned on Ice Cream Making: {so that you don't make the same mistakes I did}:

1. We use Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, which has yet fail us these past 8 years. 
2. For the heavy cream: Do NOT use the ultra-pasteurized one {like the one normally sold in most grocery stores. I also don't like the one that Costco sells}. I got mine either from Trader Joe's or Wholefoods. 
3.   
4. Use digital scale for more exact measurement of weight: and 
   
   
    measuring cup to measure the liquid: 

Camping Menu Ideas

Our family love camping. I never thought I would say it but the benefits truly outweigh the inconveniences. I started to really enjoy camping after we start sleeping inside the van instead of in the tent. After a few camping trips, we have a list of regular camping menu ideas. I thought I put it here for future reference or in case anyone need it.

Indonesian Corn Fritters a.k.a. Bakwan Jagung

Growing up, my grandma cook this appetizer often for lunch or dinner. Unlike American's corn fritters, this Indonesian version is more on the crispy and savory  rather than chewy and sweet.

On the past, I tried cooking with canned corn, using the usual "approximate" recipe and it didn't turn out so well. I am tempted to cook this again after seeing my friend's picture of the dish on Instagram and she told me she was using real fresh corn so I gave this dish another try after finding fresh corn from Trader Joe's. It tasted so much better than my previous attempts but still didn't taste like my grandma's corn fritters. Since she passed away already, I asked my aunts thankfully they know exactly what's the missing ingredient: ground kempferia galanga (Indonesian: "kencur").
So I gave it another try:

Place all the ingredients, except the oil in a mixing bowl

Siomay Jambi

I fell in love with Siomay Jambi when my mother in law first brought it from Jambi, a small town in Indonesia where hubby grew up. The inside is mainly veggies and ground pork with little bit flour, which make it less filling than the more popular Siomay Bandung. 

Soothing drink for cold

Whenever we are down with cough, sore throat, and congestion, my dad often reminded us to consume honey and lemon to soothe the pain. My friend, Carolina advised us to drink Chrysanthemum Tea as natural coolant while another friend suggested ginger drink and lo han kuo drink. I found all of the ingredients in the Asian Supermarket except for the raw honey, which I either buy at Costco of the farmer's market.  Here is my go to drink recipe to combat cold:

What we eat and not eat when recovering from stomach flu

One by one each one of us was hit by stomach flu since last weekend. It always stinks no matter how many times we experienced it in the past;  the diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, fever, we just has to let it run its course. Thankfully, my mom was here the first and second day I got sick. She cooked porridge and made sure I got plenty of rest and liquid.

I thought I wrote down here what we eat or not eat while recovering from stomach flu for future reference.

What we eat/ drink
Day 1:
Most likely they won't be able to eat anything this day. Wait until the vomiting stop before giving the person food to eat because the stomach is still too weak to digest. Do not worry because once they recover they will get their appetite back. Instead make sure they get enough liquid. The doctor here recommends Smart Water/ Pedialyte/ Gatorade/ Vitamin Water diluted but my boys do not like those drinks so instead we give them honey and chrysanthemum tea.


Day 2:
Once they are no longer vomiting and ready to eat, start with easy to digest food such as:
Porridge

Plain bread or cracker

Worcestershire Sauce Chicken

This is one of the most popular home-cooked chicken dish in Indonesia and our family favorite. We call it "Ayam Saos Inggris" in Indonesia.  Over the years, I have been trying different ways and ingredients before finally settle with this one. Instead of deep frying like the way it is usually cooked, I just brown the chicken for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side.

Spaghetti Meatballs Recipe

Like most kids, my boys love spaghetti meatballs. This is one of those quick and easy meals that I cook for their lunch. It's perfect to be paired with french bread and balsamic vinaigrette. 

Banana Blueberry Muffins

My husband loves Sweet Tomatoes restaurant's blueberry muffin. So I thought I should try making it at home. I tried too make one with banana and another one without banana. We agreed that the one with banana was the clear winner both the texture and taste.

Chewy Chocolate Chips Cookies

One of the reason I bake is because most of the store bought cookies or cakes are too sweet to my taste. So if you have a sweet tooth, you may want to add the amount of sugar or chocolate chips on this recipe. We rarely bake cookies except during winter time to be enjoyed with hot chocolate, milk, coffee, or tea; the choice is yours. 

First thing first, the ingredients: I use dark chocolate chips instead of the regular semi sweet chocolate chips on mine. 

The boy who hold the background:

Getting snack after working:

Process the ingredients in the mixing bowl:

Non-edible Homemade Christmas Ornaments

We just made this ornaments again. We made it years ago while my boys were so tiny then we moved and I donated our artificial Christmas tree during the move. I bought a lighted branch from OSH a few days ago and took out the old ornaments we made. Wes wanted to make new ones so we did. This brought so much joy and good memories.

Note: some pictures below were taken years ago.

First, prepare the tools and ingredients:

Cookie cutters, rolling pin 

1 cup of salt

1 cup of flour

water

food coloring 

ground cinnamon

puff paint (I got it from Michael's in the Fabric craft section)

Cheesecake Brownies

I was asked to bring snacks for Max's class. Usually I made the Oatmeal Cookies but I want to bake something different this time. Wes had been asking me to make brownies but I had been wanting to make cheesecake so why not combine them? The idea sounds great; who doesn't like cheesecake and brownies?

First thing first, recruit a strong man to handle the mixing:

He kept eating some but I don't mind after all the hard work he has done.