Strawberry Mousse Cake

Finally! Midterm season is over (oh, how the quarter system moves so quickly). Thanksgiving break begins tomorrow, and I am thrilled to return home to Walnut and see my beloved high school friends. As novel as UCLA has been, I miss the friends that I've grown up with for the past 4+ years. I'm tired of living with other people (which may sound rather spoiled, but I am used to having and sleeping in my own room). Here at college, it is so difficult to control my studying and sleeping environment. I can't sleep when I want to, have to desperately search for a quiet place to study, and worst of all, I CAN'T COOK! I'm having cooking withdrawal.

I made this strawberry mousse cake awhile back in October, for my mother's birthday. I haven't had time until today to sit down and write out the recipe because of the whole rush of midterms and papers that has been plaguing me week after week. It feels good to be back. Please decorate the cake as you wish. You don't have to cover it with chocolate covered strawberries or ganache, but I believe that presentation is just as important as taste. If you do try this recipe, I would absolutely love to see pictures of your variation.

Happy thanksgiving! Don't forget to say "I love you" to those you most cherish, because to be honest, you can never say that enough. Even I have to admit that I am never grateful enough to my family and friends for all they have done for me. Thanksgiving recipes will come… later. After thanksgiving is FINALS! Look forward to cinnamon rolls, buttermilk clusters, and perhaps even a swirled cheesecake?!

Strawberry Mousse Cake

Strawberry Mousse

• 250 grams strawberries (about 20 medium-sized berries)
  
• 4 tbs sugar
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/3 cup water
  
• 2 ½ tsp unflavored gelatin
  
• 1 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Sponge Cake

• 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  
• 4 eggs (room temperature)
  
• 3 tbs milk
  
• ¾ cup sugar
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 2 tbs butter, melted

• About 20 thin slices of strawberry (to form the outside layer of strawberries)
  

Chocolate Covered Strawberries (optional)

• 6-8 ounces of chocolate chips
  
• 1 tbs oil
  
• 3-4 strawberries (or however many you want to use on the cake)
  

1. To make the Strawberry Mousse: Wash, de-leaf and quarter the strawberries and place in a pot. Add the water, sugar and unflavored.
   
2. Bring to a boil and then simmer until everything dissolves. Let the strawberry mixture cool and then pulse in a blender until mixture is pureed. Refrigerate.
   
3. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the heavy whipping cream until just thickened, before peaks begin to form. Fold in the completely cooled strawberry mixture and mix with a spatula. Refrigerate until ready to assemble cake.
   
4. To make the Sponge Cake: Beat the eggs until they become a thick and creamy mixture (around 7 minutes).
   
5. Add the sugar, and continue beating for another 3 minutes. Add in the flour, milk, butter, and vanilla extract and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula.
6. Pour into a 8-inch circular cake mold (or whatever shape you want your cake to be) and bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes. When completely cooled, cut the cake in half (lengthwise) so you have two circular pieces of cake.
7. To make a large mousse cake: Take one of the 8-inch circle cakes and place it into an 8 ½ inch springform pan. Surround the sides of the cake with the 20 thin slices of strawberry (you might need more or less, depending on the size of the strawberries and how good you are at shoving them in between the sides of the cake and the springform pan)Spoon about half of the strawberry mousse onto the cake and spread evenly, making sure to fill out any air bubbles in the mousse.
8. Carefully place the second 8-inch circle cake and place it on top of the mousse. Spoon the remaining strawberry mousse on top and spread evenly with a spatula.
   
9. Give it a gentle shake or two to make the mousse and cakes settle. Cover the cake with saran wrap (but don't let the saran wrap touch the top layer of mousse, or else you'll end up ripping off part of the smooth top layer along with the saran wrap when it is done chilling). Refrigerate for at least an hour.
   
10. To make the Chocolate Covered Strawberries (optional): Melt the chocolate in the microwave, heating the chips in 30-second increments until melted. Add in the oil and stir with a spatula until smooth and glossy.
11. Grasp the strawberries by the leaves and dip in the chocolate, lifting up the strawberry in a circular motion. Place on a foiled pan and chill. Repeat with the remaining strawberries.
    
12. Use leftover melted chocolate as a base for the chocolate covered strawberries, or simply decorate the cake however you want. Write a message in white chocolate, cover it with chocolate ganache, or leave it simple.

Anything Goes Salad (My Version)

Oh no. You've caught me again. I've once again come up with a recipe that isn't really a recipe (see Rainbow Salad). Oh well. This is just what I do when I'm too lazy to actually go through all that measuring and baking and eating. Oh wait, never mind about the eating. This is my Anything Goes Salad, where seriously, anything goes! Toss together anything you want. Even if it's beyond weird. Don't worry about it. This recipe makes 2 servings.

Basically this recipe is Costco's Iceberg Lettuce Mix married to Rainbow Salad. I know, ingenious right? Yes, that's because I snuck went into Costco yesterday, and bought a giant bag of Iceberg Lettuce mix! And then I had to call my mom to come pay because I don't have a Costco card. As for the lettuce, apart from those icky purple things (which is one of the three ingredients of the mix), I like it, but it's too plain. So I decided to spruce it up with random fruit from my refrigerator topped off with several dollops of vanilla yogurt! Truth be told, I hate vanilla yogurt. So you might be wondering why I used it in a salad? Well, that's because I hate vanilla yogurt! It's never going to get eaten if I just leave it in the refrigerator, so might as well use it in something and hope I still like it. If that logic doesn't make sense to you, don't sweat it. It doesn't make sense to me either.

Anything Goes Salad

• 1 cup watermelon chunks
  
• 1 yellow nectarine, cut into chunks
  
• 1 cup grapes
  
• 3 cups Costco's Iceberg Lettuce Mix
  
• 1 container (Light) Yoplait Very Vanilla Yogurt
  

  
  

1. Cut everything into chunks (except the lettuce mix and yogurt, of course).
   
2. Toss fruit with lettuce mix.
   
3. Pour, douse, throw, or simply plop the yogurt onto various parts of the salad.
   
4. Present it to your sister who will "ooh" and "aah" at your genius.
   
5. Take it back if your sister doesn't marvel at your genius.
   

Calories (1 serving): 160

BBQ Short Ribs

I'm not too sure where I stand in terms of cooking with other people. I enjoy other people's company, and I like to cook with other people, if they're the right people and I'm in the right mood. There are pros and cons to both sides. When I cook alone, I can enjoy the peaceful tranquility and focus my entire being on one task. It's my form of meditating. However, when I cook with other people, I can laugh and joke, listen to stories, and simply be with my friends.

The bad thing about cooking by myself is that it gets lonely sometimes. The silence can be overwhelming and even oppressive at times. Then, there's cooking with other people. Sometimes they can be too noisy, they don't know where the sugar, the measuring cups, the salt, the baking powder is… it's chaotic, messy, and you end up giving inexperienced people menial tasks like stirring together the flour and the salt. Not fun.

This recipe is for BBQ short ribs, from Kevin's Closet Cooking! I absolutely adore his blog. Really. Plus, I find it amusing that his name is Kevin (which is my brother's name), and he lives in Canada (the same country as my adopted brother, Matt). Plus, the photos look absolutely amazing on his blog. Really. He's a pro. Anyways, I adapted this recipe from his recipe, because I don't like ginger very much, and I didn't have a pear in the house. I'm pretty sure grapes or watermelon wouldn't have been a good substitute.

BBQ Short Ribs

• 1 ½ lbs short ribs
  
• ¼ cup soy sauce
  
• 2 tbs brown sugar
  
• 2 ½ tsp white sugar
  
• 1 tbs sesame oil
  
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
  
• 1 tsp ginger, grated
  
• 2 tbs green onions, chopped
  
• 1 tsp onion, grated
  
• 1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
  
• ¼ to ½ of an onion, thinly sliced (the optional base of your dish)
  
• 2 tbs green onions, chopped (optional topping)
  
• 1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted (optional topping)

1. Wash the short ribs under cool running water, drain and pat dry.
   
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl (reserve 1 tsp of marinade for the base), and then pour the marinade over the short ribs.
   
3. Mix well to coat all the short ribs in the marinade.
   
4. Put in the refrigerator and let marinate for at least 5 hours.
   
5. Make the base of your dish, slicing ¼ to ½ of an onion very thinly (use however much you want).
   
6. Refrigerate the onion in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.
   
7. When the ribs are done marinating, take out of the refrigerator and let sit for about 20 minutes.
   
8. Lightly coat a pan with oil, and then heat on high heat until the pan is hot.
   
9. Place the ribs in a single layer on the pan. Cook each rib for 2 minutes on each side on high heat, then turn the heat to medium.
   
10. Continue cooking the ribs until they are slightly charred (or however you want them to be), flipping every once in awhile. Repeat until all the ribs are cooked.
    
11. To make the base of onions, lightly oil a clean pan and heat on high heat. Stir fry the onions until they are slightly translucent, then add the 1 tsp of reserved marinade. Continue stir frying until desired. (I like my onions extremely well done, so I add in ¼ cup of water while I'm stir frying to really cook the onion through).
    
12. Serve with the onions on the bottom, and the ribs on top. You could also top the ribs with the 2 tbs green onions and 1 tsp sesame seeds.

Three Cups Chicken

Dad: "KELLEY, KELLEY! I forgot to tell you something really, really important!"

Kelley: *panics* Oh no. I must have forgotten to do something for UCLA. Did I forget to submit something? Did I miss another housing deadline? WHAT DID I DO WRONG?! "What?! What did you forget to tell me?"

Dad: "The Three Cups Chicken you cooked last night was AMAZING!"

Kelley: "…"

A few things about this conversation. First of all, everything was spoken in Chinese (except the words in my head- that was in English). Second of all, I am usually a very high-strung person. And I missed a UCLA housing deadline recently and had to pay the $25 late fee. Therefore, I usually FLIP OUT when people scare me like that. Third of all, my dad enjoys freaking me out. When I was little, and I would scream for him to come and kill the spider that would supposedly eat me if he didn't come right away, he would kill the spider and then pretend to eat it. Of course, that didn't help my character very much.

Three cups chicken. Doesn't that sound funny? It sounds so much better in Chinese, I assure you. One of my favorite dishes is Three Cups Squid, but I didn't have squid on hand when I tried this recipe. So, three cups chicken it is. This recipe is adapted from Rasa Malaysia. Rasa Malaysia has amazing Asian recipes. If you like Asian food (ME!), you should go check it out. The photography is pro as well. Well, when you suck at taking pictures (ME!), all photography looks pro. But no really. Their photography is pro.

Three Cups Chicken

• 1 lb chicken (I used chicken thighs)
  
• 4 slices ginger, julienned
  
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
  
• 2 tbs sesame oil
  
• 3 tbs soy sauce
  
• 1 ½ tbs rice wine
  
• 1 ½ tbs white sugar or 2 tbs brown sugar
  
• 4-5 basil leaves
  
• 1 tbs baking soda
  

1. Cut the chicken into pieces of desired size (you can use all boneless meat if you want).
   
2. Sprinkle the baking soda all over the chicken, and stir until the surfaces are covered. Set aside for 10 minutes.
   
3. Rinse off the chicken thoroughly with water. Make sure all the baking soda is gone. Pat the chicken pieces dry and set aside.
   
4. Heat a clay pot (or wok) on high heat and add the sesame oil. When heated, toss in the garlic and ginger and stir-fry (爆香*).
   
5. Toss in the chicken pieces, and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Toss in the soy sauce, rice wine, and the sugar. Continue to stir-fry the chicken.
   
6. Place a lid on the clay pot/ wok and turn down the heat to low. Let the chicken simmer for 5-7 minutes.
   
7. Toss in the basil leaves and stir well with the chicken for another 2-3 minutes.
   
8. Serve with rice! Because that's how Asians do it. ^-^v
   

*爆香, or "bao xiang" is a phrase that describes stir-frying aromatic vegetables (garlic, onions, scallions, ginger, etc) in oil.

Teriyaki Tuna Steak

I'm so excited! Tomorrow night, I am officially MOVING INTO UCLA. I get to live in a dorm called Sunset Village! I have two roommates, named Marbella and Brittany. They already know each other, so I think I'm going to be the odd one out, but hopefully we'll all get to be great friends. Either way, first year of college is exciting, but I'm also a little bit nervous.

I hope that it isn't too hard to adjust to life at UCLA. I've already gotten over the devastation of not having a kitchen where I live, but since I'll be coming home occasionally, I can just cook when I get home. (Or maybe I'll smuggle in a slow cooker or something). Although I'm moving in tomorrow, I still haven't finished packing. This blog post is just… a way for me to procrastinate some more. Packing my entire wardrobe and everything into one suitcase makes me feel as if I'm going back to Taiwan again, for another one-month adventure away from home.

Aaah. My mood these past few days have been constantly fluctuating between excitement and dread. Since cooking calms my nerves, I decided to try my hand at this teriyaki tuna steak. Plus, earlier, my mom's neighborhood friend came over and dropped off 3 yellowtail filets, and I wanted to try my hand at cooking some fish. It turned out really well. Don't forget to use the oil, otherwise the tuna steak will turn out really dry (like mine did). Aren't you glad that I make these mistakes so that when you make the recipe, it comes out better than mine did? ^-^ But it helps me as well, because the next time I make Teriyaki Tuna Steaks, they'll be even more delicious than before!

Teriyaki Tuna Steak

• 16 oz of raw tuna steak (I had 3 filets)
  
• ¾ cup teriyaki sauce
  
• ¼ cup olive oil
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 1 small onion, sliced thinly
  

1. Wash the tuna steaks and cut them to desired thinness. Pat dry and put into a plastic Ziploc bag.
   
2. Pour the olive oil into the bag and shake it, distributing the oil so that it comes into contact with all sides of the tuna steaks.
   
3. Using your palm, rub the desired amount of salt and pepper onto the tuna steaks (I don't use any, because I think the teriyaki sauce is already very flavorful). Let it sit like that for about 10 minutes.
   
4. Pour the teriyaki sauce into the bag, and shake it so that the teriyaki sauce envelopes the tuna steaks. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
   
5. In an oven (I used a convection oven), broil the tuna steaks on the highest rack for about 5-7 minutes. Be careful not to over-broil the tuna steaks, or else they will be extremely dry.*
   

   If you want to grill the tuna steaks, grill on a high fire for about 5-8 minutes, depending on how rare you want the steak to be.
   

6. When the tuna steaks are done broiling/grilling, pour about 2 tbs of the pan drippings into a bowl. Add another 3 tbs of water to the pan drippings (don't add water if you like your onions rare).
   
7. Heat a lightly oiled skillet on high heat, and then toss the thinly-sliced onions onto the pan. Sauté the onions for about 1 minute then add the pan dripping-water mixture onto the skillet. Sauté until the water has mostly evaporated (again, don't sauté it as much if you like your onions rare).
   

*Remember that even after removing something from the oven, I will continue to cook for about 3 minutes, depending on how hot/what it is.