Making authentic Malaysian chicken curry at a cooking class in Kuala Lumpur
This is Part II of a two-part series summarizing my look back at 2014. The first part of the series can be found here: Happy New Year - A Look Back at 2014 (Part I) Travel
Cooking + Recipes
Where did all the recipes go?
Good question. Travel most certainly took up a lot of 2014, which is why Part I of this series is so long! Bryan's been traveling like crazy for work the past several years, so the best way for me to see more of him is to follow him on some of his trips. As a result of this, however, I've had less time to spend in the kitchen. When it's just me at home (i.e. Bryan's away on a business trip), I don't feel like cooking up anything really fancy. I tend to cook really simple, often vegetarian, healthy dinners for myself - nothing that's remotely exciting or blog-worthy material.
Thankfully, time to time I did find some opportunities to cook. I entertained large groups a couple times, once making a huge, beautiful (easy!) oven roasted prime rib, and another time conquering David Chang's famous Bo Ssam.
I also learned how to make a bunch of Malaysian dishes at a cooking class I took in Kuala Lumpur, like chicken curry, roti jala (lacy pancake), otak otak (fish dumpling in banana leaf), and onde onde (rice dumpling dessert).
Below I've shared a couple of my favorite recipes that I wrote about this year.
Chive Pies are among my favorite dishes to order in a Taiwanese restaurant, partly because I just love Chinese chives, but also because it's fun to eat things in little packages (I'm a sucker for dumplings, if you haven't already noticed). I made these after having leftover ingredients from a Chinese New Year dumpling party. They turned out to be surprisingly easy to make! For the full recipe and tutorial, click here.
I finally adapted my Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup recipe for the pressure cooker, and it's been life changing. I used to not make this dish because it would take a minimum of two to three hours to make. Now, with the pressure cooker, I can squeeze everything under an hour, which has made this a very possible weeknight meal.
My mom makes these soy sauce Braised Beef Shanks almost everytime she visits us in Boston. I finally got the recipe from her and was able to make it on a weekend. It's actually pretty easy. The biggest factor is time: it involve braising meat for 2-3 hours, which can take up a whole afternoon. I am seriously considering trying this in the pressure cooker . . .
Of course there are other recipes from the year. Some other notable favorites include the popular Crispy Basil Smashed Potatoes courtesy of Chef Ana Sortun (Oleana, Sarma, Sofra) from my Siena Farms newsletter; the spicy tomato jam I made in partnership with Backyard Farms Tomatoes; and oven baked beet chips (pictured above).
You can always hunt around in the recipes tab on the blog to see what I've been cooking!
Boston Area Restaurants
Though I do travel a fair amount, most of my time is still spent here in my hometown of Cambridge, MA. We discovered lots of fantastic restaurants in the Boston area this year. Below are the highlights.
omakase at Cafe Sushi
We tried our first omakase at Cafe Sushi in Cambridge and totally fell in love. It is now our go-to favorite sushi place. The restaurant serves up amazing chef's specials (both local and from Tsukiji Fish Market in Japan) as well as a phenomenal and reasonably priced omakase. If ordering a la carte, definitely try at least a few things from the specials list.
Thai North, a small family-owned Thai restaurant in Brighton specializing in Northern Thai cuisine, (e.g., Chaingmai) was another incredible find. Make sure to order off of the "Chalkboard Menu" which focuses on regional specialties that you don't typically find on a Thai restaurant in America. My favorite dishes are probably the Chiangmai Sausage and the Chiangmai Noodle Curry (pictured above).
My favorite ramen shop at the moment is Pikaichi in Allston (though I haven't tried Totto Ramen yet). Newcomer Shabu & Mein in Cambridge is conveniently close and serves a very good ramen as well.
New Restaurants
Smoked Uni Toast from Row 34
Several hotly anticipated restaurants opened in Boston this past year to much well-deserved fanfare, such as Row 34 (by the Island Creek folks), Sarma (by the Oleana and Sofra team), Alden & Harlow (from Michael Scelfo, previously of Russell House Tavern), and Ribelle (from Tim Maslow of Strip T's). I even trekked out to Wellesley on the commuter rail to try Juniper, a lovely new Mediterranean restaurant from the folks at Sweet Basil.
Our first meal at Cafe ArtScience in Kendall (on their second night after opening day!) was excellent and I really can't wait to go back. Their drinks and fun molecular-inspired "snacks" are also fun. We tried a tasting menu at the modernist cuisine restaurant Asta, which had a mix of superb courses and near or total misses.
We were thrilled when we heard that newcomer Dumpling House was coming to Cambridge. The media reported that it was related to the very popular Chinatown restaurant Gourmet Dumpling House, though I'm still not positive that is completely true (why does Gourmet Dumpling House have a sign in front saying they are "unique" and there's no one else like them??). In any event, the menus are very similar and the quality of the food is very close. Best thing yet, Dumpling House virtually never has a wait and parking is not too difficult to find.
And Other Restaurants . . .
Paella from Toro
Bryan finally got to try the pig's head for two at Craigie on Main for his birthday (something he's always wanted to try). We visited the super popular tapas restaurant Toro and avoided waiting in line by showing up right at opening time - 5:30PM on a Monday night. We stopped in to try Tasty Burger in Harvard Square one random day and really enjoyed it. "I like it better than Shake Shack" said Bryan. We also had a lovely al fresco dinner at Belly Wine Bar in Cambridge near the end of the summer when they were featuring a ton of different Rosé wines.
For fun, this year I wrote a post about what I thought were Boston's Top 10 Restaurant Dishes. You can also find my recommendation for top restaurants to visit in Boston. Though the post was written in 2013, it's still reasonably current. I would probably add to it several of the excellent new restaurants from 2014, such as most of the ones I've mentioned above.
Miscellaneous
#Totoro100Days Series
I began a fun little series of posts on my social media accounts which I tagged with the hashtag #Totoro100Days. Totoro is a character from the Japanese animation film My Neighbor Totoro. I have loved Totoro since I was a kid and have collected various Totoro themed things throughout my life. My goal was to post a Totoro a day, sort of a photojournalistic record of all the Totoro things that I have amassed or made over the years.
I don't come close to owning 100 Totoro things, so I've had to get a little creative lately to complete my goal (e.g., making sand Totoros in Hawaii, snow Totoros in Boston, or all different sorts of Totoro foods). It's been a fun outlet for my creativity, especially during this holiday time when I have a bit more time at home to create all sorts of fun stuff in the kitchen. I love how these challenges sort of stretch me to cook, make, bake, or even learn new crafts in the pursuit of a goal (even if it's just a silly fun one).
The series is about to finish, seeing that we are on Day 94 today!
If you want to follow the final days of this self-imposed challenge, you can follow along on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to get the latest update.
New Blog Look!
In October of 2014, almost five years after christening "Tiny Urban Kitchen" as an official blog, I finally switched my blog from Blogger to WordPress. I had been thinking about doing it for a long time but just didn't have the energy to look into exactly what I needed to do. I finally decided that if I was ever going to get this done, I should just hire someone. Even though I pride myself in being able to learn how to do things on my own (e.g., up to this point I had personally designed, drawn, and built every single aspect of the blog myself), I knew for this project it would be worth the time and money to hire an expert.
I finally decided to work with Lisette from Northern Belle Diaries, who was great. Even though she was super busy during that time, she took time out of her busy schedule to walk me through the migration and answer all my burning questions (I had a lot and she was patient!). Overall, the migration went very smoothly and I was very pleased with the results. Lisette did a great job and her prices are very, very reasonable.
Currently, I am using Bluehost {affiliate link} (update! I now use Synthesis WordPress Hosting, which is pricier but fantastic) as my server and Shay Boch's Foodie WordPress theme. Overall I am very pleased with the performance of everything, though sometimes I wish Bluehost were just a tad faster (perhaps I need to upgrade to a more expensive plan - I'm on the most basic one right now). Overall, I love the power of WordPress and how the Foodie theme has made it so much easier for me to make photo galleries of all different kinds. The overall blog is still a work in progress (I have seven years' worth of posts to catalog!), but I've already done a lot of work, and overall I am thrilled with the new look and functionality of the blog. I'm hoping it makes my content a lot easier to find!
I keep saying one of these days I want to write a more detailed post about what I did for the migration. I promise I haven't forgotten - one of these days!
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Looking Ahead: 2015
I guess being busy is a good thing. Yes, time flies, but in a good way. I love being productive and I enjoy creating things. Traveling, cooking, photography, and writing this blog all allow me to do that at my own happy pace.
Thanks again all for coming on this journey with me. We'll see where 2015 leads. I don't ever make concrete, specific New Years resolutions. However, I always have general aspirational goals in mind.
I want to really improve my photography. Perhaps that means using a tripod at home (I have one - I usually just can't be bothered to set it up while I'm rushing to get dinner out!) or playing around with different filters and such for my landscape photography. Food stying is something I haven't spent much time on, but is something I know would bring my cooking shots to another level. Maybe this year.
I do want to cook more. I am a bit saddened by the paucity of recipe posts this past year. I'm hoping to dig a bit deeper into my Taiwanese heritage and learn some more classic dishes. I got David Chang's Momofuku book {affiliate link} for Christmas, so maybe I'll start working my way through that one.
Haleakala, Maui during sunset
I definitely want to continue exploring new experiences and new places. This past year I overcame my fear of the water and conquered open water diving (something that wasn't easy for me!). I'm hoping to be less scared and more willing to try new things, even if it's not naturally easy.
In the midst of all this busy-ness, I don't want to forget what's most important: quality time investing in my relationships with friends, family, and God. I want to set aside ample time to develop and maintain relationships I’ve made, both past and present. I think there’s some truth to the fact that it’s harder to make friends as you get older. Cherish (and foster!) the ones you already have.
Here's looking ahead to great new year.
2015 . . . here I come!
Up next . . . we continue series Hopping the Hawaiian Islands!
