I was very surprised to find out how easy it was to make homemade pasta dough, and also shocked about how fresh it tasted. There’s still times when you want the hardier, al dente texture of the boxed pastas. Fresh pasta isn’t objectively better than boxed, but it is amazing and a must try if you haven’t already. My girlfriend and…
99% sure I get it from my mom, but I’m a control freak. A huge benefit I like with home cooking is control. You can control everything: the process, timing, ingredient proportions, quality of ingredients, cleanliness. Everything. I love eating out at restaurants, but control over all the little details pulls me back into cooking at home, just like with…
For the mornings when I don’t want to wait for my espresso machine to heat up, or to bother having to concentrate on my pour over technique, Aeropress wins. It brews coffee fast, it tastes great, and there’s less risk of shattering brewing tools. For those reasons, this is the tool I always bring camping, brewing for all my camp…
This easy garlic noodles recipe is super rich and buttery, and is a punch in the mouth of garlic and onion. We use wonton noodles here so it’s kinda an asian garlic noodle vibe, but it’s great with just about any kind of noodle or pasta. Each year my family and some friends gets together for an event called ‘crab…
This wonton soup recipe is super simple to make at home and despite its simplicity, it is thoroughly satisfying as a complete meal. We’ll use a pork-based filling and chicken broth as a base for the soup broth. If you have some roommates to help wrap these wontons, you’ll have dinner ready in no time! These last for a few days…
Espresso was a new frontier for me, as someone who regularly made pour over coffee for more years than I can remember. Some friends were knee-deep in coffee education as they were starting up a coffee shop. I saw all the geeky gear, science, and technique–I was instantly hooked. Before that it was me sippin’ occasional shots of espresso that…
Pour over coffee was my only method of brewing twice daily for a span of 3-4 years at one point. It is pretty easy to learn, very enjoyable and relaxing to do first thing in the morning. Making pour over coffee can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. I chose the more complicated way because…
Bánh giò is a originally a steamed street snack from Northern Vietnam. It’s a small, savory snack great any time of the day, made with a rice flour outer layer, ground pork, mushroom and onion filling and all with a special aroma from a banana leaf wrapper. I learned this recipe and technique from my Mom many years ago. More…
Bún riêu is another very popular and flavor-packed Vietnamese rice noodle soup loaded with herbs and vegetables. Compared to the other Vietnamese soup recipes we have here, this is the only one with shrimp, crab, tomato and tofu. We’ll cook this with a relatively easy method, but still delicious results. If you want to get a little crazier with effort I’ll…
It’s a dirty trick ice cream shops use to churn out fresh waffle cones, luring unsuspecting passers by with the aroma. The smell is amazing and often makes me forget about the original reason for visiting the shop. This bánh kẹp lá dứa recipe from my beloved mom will let you fill your home with that same aroma and put…