Category

baking

• Christmas, baking, butter, home cooking, huzhou, mysterious ingredients, recipes

  The Bun Also Rises

  12.27.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  Every year for Thanksgiving, my family and I headed out to the desert for a potluck lunch with my grandparents’ friends and their families. Though the location changed a few times, we were always out in the desert, eating turkey and hiking and playing volleyball.
  Every year one of my grandmother’s good friends, Susan, would [...]

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• Thanksgiving, baking, butter, cake, chocolate, cooking, dessert, holidays, home cooking, huzhou, recipes

  Pre-Pear-ed

  12.02.09 | Permalink | 5 Comments

  Western/American holidays in China have a totally different meaning than they do at ‘home.’ Having a Christmas party or a Thanksgiving dinner is, at least for me, more about nostalgia and comfort than about the actual holiday. I didn’t have a big party at my house so that we could all think about the Pilgrims. [...]

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• Thanksgiving, baking, butter, dessert, holidays, home cooking, huzhou, recipes, unruly chefs

  Butter + Booze

  11.27.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel:

  Absolutely totally butter-less.

  Unfortunately, not mess-less. Every silver lining has a cloud.

  I know Thanksgiving is over for everyone, but mine is on Saturday, so drool over all this and keep it in mind for next year.

  Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel
  From Food and Wine
  ½ recipe pie crust, enough for [...]

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• Thanksgiving, baking, butter, chocolate, dessert, holidays, home cooking, huzhou, mysterious ingredients, recipes, unruly chefs

  Bitter Batter, Butter Biscuits

  11.26.09 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  A long time ago in a galaxy far far away before my mother and father married (or perhaps it was just after), my mother roasted a chicken for dinner. Maybe she was trying to impress my dad, maybe they had guests over for dinner; the details of this have always been a bit muddy to [...]

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• baking, dessert, home cooking, huzhou

  Three-Chord Fantasies

  11.03.09 | Permalink | 1 Comment

  It’s a common human fantasy to be a rock star. Why do you think we have shows like American Idol and its Chinese semi-equivalent, Happy Girl? Because most people, when they’re alone in the car singing with the radio, or belting it out in the shower or trying their best to croon at KTV or [...]

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• baking, cooking, dessert, entrees, home cooking, huzhou, mysterious ingredients

  Butter Me Up

  06.08.09 | Permalink | 4 Comments

  I am proud to say that I was a very…unique little girl. You’ve heard about the whole Singin’ in the Rain thing, and at the start of this blog I believe I mentioned how, when I was 5, I was so enamored of the name Crystal that I made my parents call me Crystal. Crystal [...]

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• Shanghai, baking, dessert, home cooking, huzhou, students, teaching

  You Have No Ikea

  04.02.09 | Permalink | 5 Comments

  Every year around this time, I wonder what was going through my mother’s mind as she was delivering me. Of course there’s “OWWWWWW!” and the whole “My life is never going to be the same” thing, but I imagine that as my mother was expelling me into the world, there was another thought pushing for [...]

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• baking, dessert, holidays, huzhou

  I’m Dreaming of a Caucasian Christmas

  12.28.08 | Permalink | 1 Comment

  Most kids wake up early on Christmas because they’re so excited to open presents. This year, I was excited to wake up on Christmas because I was going to bake a cake.

  Cake is always a good reason to get out of bed.

  Christmas has been a long time coming here in China. For at least a [...]

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• baking, cooking, dessert, entrees, holidays, home cooking, huzhou, mysterious ingredients

  What’s the Chinese Word For ‘Gobble?’

  12.05.08 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  Like Moses’ plague of locusts, the Holidays are upon us. The Holidays mean different things to different people—gathering with loved ones and celebrating, shopping, avoiding loved ones and celebrating, watching sports or parades, drinking, and so on. American holidays seem to feel a little more special when you’re an expat. When it’s a holiday [...]

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• America, baking, butter, chocolate, dessert, holidays, recipes

  Jew Eat Yet?

  10.12.08 | Permalink | Comment?

  Food and religion seem to me to go hand and hand. My dad’s family is Jewish and my mom’s is Christian, so my brother and I were raised celebrating holidays from both religions. (And no, this does not mean twice the presents. It just means half the presents twice.) Except for some family bar/bat mitzvahs, [...]

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Plate of Wander

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