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I’m still in shock, I think.

Friday afternoon at 3PM EST Foodbuzz announced that Tiny Urban Kitchen had been crowned the winner of Project Food Blog.

????!!!!!

Yes, I won!!!!!!!

I can’t believe it. Both of the other finalists, Marc from No Recipes and Angela from Oh She Glows, are such incredibly talented bloggers and put forth thoughtful, well-composed, and beautiful entries. I certainly don't envy the difficult jobs that the judges had!

What a crazy, tiring, but SUPER FUN ride it’s been, these last four months. I have loved the challenge of being pushed and stretched as a blogger in so many directions. As a goal-oriented person, I know it takes contests like these to force me out of my comfort zone to learn new skills, techniques, and dishes. Yes, it takes a TON of energy, but the end result is super satisfying. The best part? I’ve gained skills that will stay with me for life.

Please join me as I take you on a short “behind the scenes” peek at what was happening in the Tiny Urban Kitchen during each round of the competition.

Round 1: Ready, Set, Blog!

Yikes! What horrible timing!

Why, oh why did this competition have to start right as I was about to leave for China? I finished this post on the airplane ride to Chicago. I hastily pressed “publish” in the airport lounge at O’Hare moments before hopping on my direct flight to Beijing. I had no idea whether I would be able to access Blogger from China (China blocks Blogger access), and thus no idea whether I would be able to continue in the competition.

Round 2: The Classics

Just to be safe, however, I churned out some Afghan kaddo bourani in the kitchen days before my trip to China and photographed it just in case I made it to round 2. I figured I could ask a friend to post it for me from the US if I made it to Round 2. While in China, I learned by accident that you can dial into Blogger via VPN!! Hallelujah! The kaddo bourani post went up while I was in China.

Round 3: Luxury Dinner Party

I arrived back in the States from China on Friday evening. Though extremely jetlagged and a bit dazed from my trip, I got together with some friends on Saturday and cooked up a crazy luxurious China-inspired meal.

I’m so amazed at how it came together. Seriously, I was so exhausted, but somehow we managed to cook an incredibly delicious and uniquely luxurious meal that night. Yes, we didn’t eat until 9PM that night, but overall I think the meal was a success. Thank you so much Peter and Chia Chi for your help in dreaming up and executing that fantastic meal.

Round 4: Picture Perfect

One of my favorite aspects of this competition is how it has challenged me to learn dishes I was afraid to try before. For this round, I really wanted to make something that would benefit greatly from a photo tutorial. After countless conversations with my mom over the phone, I managed to eek out some traditional Taiwanese rice dumplings, something that has been passed down in my family for generations.

Ha ha, my mom saw the photo of the one I made online and told me, “you put too much rice in it! You need more filling!”

Round 5: Recipe Remix

I’m really a last minute kind of gal. This was an anomaly in that I actually worked on it mid-week – seriously, probably the only time the entire competition! I made France, Italy, and Canada on Wednesday. They turned out great so I ended up making the rest on the weekend.

And then I was stuck with a ton of pizzas. I gave some away to a friend and ate the rest for days on end. By the end of the week, I was pretty sick of pizza, so I think I threw away the rest. 🙁

Round 6: Road Trip!

For the first time, I felt completely at a loss. I generally like trying to come up with a post that is unique and “outside the box,” yet in this case my mind was completely blank. It was Friday night, and I had no idea what to make.

Bryan totally came to the rescue during this desperate time of need. I had mentioned off-hand the idea of packing butternut squash soup inside a butternut squash “shell”. He ran with that idea. “Why don’t you put everything in its own container?”

I really have to give him credit for this post. Yes, he absolutely can’t cook worth a dime, but he has a great creative mind and comes up with some crazy ideas. He was the brainchild behind the pumpkin shepherd’s pie, the apple cider apple cups, and the now famous inside-out apple pies. And unlike other parts of the nation that weekend, Boston was blessed with absolutely beautiful weather and breathtaking foliage.

Round 7: Video 411

I am the type of person who needs tons of encouragement to pursue anything. I guess I doubt myself too often, and will mentally kill ideas before they are able to come to fruition. Because of that, I am extremely thankful for friends who sometimes push me to go forward with crazy ideas that I have.

I mentioned briefly in a conversation the idea of hand-pulled noodles for the video post.

My friend Peter replied, “Now THAT would a really cool post if you could pull it off.”

It was two weeks before the post was due.

I didn’t know how to make hand-pulled noodles.

Crazy? Yes, but I decided to try to learn this skill and make a video of it all within two weeks.

The next week, I basically spent every waking moment (outside of work, church, and my other normal activities) with flour, water, and dough. I made batch after batch after batch, trying to learn how to make this elusive food. The internet was surprisingly devoid of information, save for a couple of Youtube videos here and there. Thankfully, by the grace of God, I was able to learn how to make these noodles and crank out a video in two weeks.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I didn’t know a thing about editing videos. Bryan ordered some basic video editing software for me after I found out I had advanced. Thankfully, the software is pretty easy to figure out!

I pulled an all-nighter in order to publish my video about 45 minutes before my flight out to San Francisco to attend the Foodbuzz Festival. Needless to say, I was sort of a zombie Friday night, which was the only night I was able to attend the Festival!

Round 8: Piece of Cake

The challenges just kept getting harder and harder and harder!! I am not a baker, so this challenge freaked me out. It didn’t help that I was going to Japan and China (again) for a week, and thus would only have Thanksgiving weekend to work on the post.

While in Japan, I tried to get inspired by the beautiful desserts that I saw there. Unfortunately, they all looked impossible to make, and I had no idea what to do.

Then I remembered the famous CHE family pumpkin cake. Of course! This was yet another dish that I have always wanted to learn how to make, but never challenged myself to do it. I e-mailed Bryan’s parents, who were more than happy to send me not only the recipe for the family dish, but also the cool background story about how Bryan’s great-grandmother used to make it from hand-ground rice flour and peeled pumpkin shreds.

I feared that the pumpkin cakes wouldn’t be complicated enough for this competition, so I decided to add in the thousand-layer spiral mooncakes and the pumpkin mochi to the mix. It took me the entire Thanksgiving break to figure out how to make everything.

I remember being almost a little sad at the end of Thanksgiving break thinking, “I just spent my entire Thanksgiving cooking for this post. I am so tired, and I now I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. Is this really worth it??? Was it worth losing my entire Thanksgiving break for this?”

Round 9: You’re the Critic:
"Everything I Learned About Sushi I Learned From My Mom...And Kyubey

Unlike many of the remaining 12 finalists in this round, I actually regularly write about restaurant experiences on my blog. Nevertheless, I had a hard time figuring out what restaurant I wanted to feature.

I finally decided on Kyubey, mostly because I had some neat video footage from that restaurant from our two visits there in the past two years. I also thought it would be interesting and unique to feature a restaurant from another country.

In some ways, it was really nice not having to learn how to cook something, cook it, and then photograph it all in a weekend ON TOP of writing up a post filed with fabulous pictures. It was nice to just spend the entire weekend writing and working on the post.

On the other hand, I struggle with writing a lot. I think of myself more as an artist than a writer. There were many frustrating moments that weekend as I struggled to find a way to write the post in an interesting, engaging, yet informative way.

Round 10: Final Reflections

It’s hard to be motivated to plan for a post when the odds of advancing are one in four, especially when that final post needs to be epic. So, of course, even though I spent time thinking about what I would write, I didn’t purchase a single ingredient nor did I spend a moment in the kitchen.

And then Friday afternoon I found out I had advanced.

The rest of the weekend was a blur. After heading to Chinatown to get some daikons, monster carrots, and winter melons, I spent about 3 hours carving daikons to make the Longfellow bridge “salt and pepper” shakers. At 9:30PM Bryan and I rushed to the grocery store to pick up some more veggies.

I made the rest of Boston alone through the night, accompanied only by the sound of the occasional car that drove by and the sounds of my own carving. I knew I had to finish it as soon as possible because the veggies wouldn’t last much longer than a day. At 4AM, I began filming the stop motion video. At 6AM, I plopped into bed, exhausted.

Somehow, within the next 36 hours, I recorded the song video (thanks singers for coming over on such short notice!), produced both videos, cooked up some octopus (thanks Peter & Chia Chi for your help!), made grape nut ice cream, and wrote up the final post.

Bryan had booked a celebratory dinner after post submission on Sunday night, but I was so tired that I told him “let’s just eat somewhere close by and simple.” So, where did we go? Basta Pasta, of course.

When Did You Find Out You Won?
I found out the results the same way as everyone else. Foodbuzz had contacted the finalists and asked us to participate in a tweet-up half an hour before the announcement. In all seriousness, the butterflies in my stomach tripled when I thought about being "in public" for the final announcement. Thankfully, everyone was so encouraging, kind, and positive during the tweet-up that it was actually reasonably exciting and fun (as fun as it can be when you are super nervous!).

I'll never forget that moment when Foodbuzz tweeted the link. For some reason it reminded me of when I took the patent bar exam on computer - you find out right there and then whether you pass or not. Those moments the server is churning are the most butterfly-inducing moments you can imagine.

And then I saw the little medal on my profile.

Shocked! Speechless! Relief??

And then the "congrats" started pouring in. It was really hard to keep up with the quick scroll of super kind and encouraging words that rolled up my screen at seemingly lightning speeds. I could hardly keep up. Marc and Angela were super gracious and positive. In fact, all of the people with whom I have been competing were so encouraging and supportive. I couldn't believe it. I was so touched.

So Now What?
Well, I'm still recovering from the shock (seriously!) but I'll find out more about the year-long feature next week! Right now, I know as much as you do about what happens next!

As for the prize money . . . starting around Round 8 or so (when it looked like I might actually have a shot at winning the entire contest), I started becoming more and more convinced that if I won the contest, I wanted to give away $10,000 to those in need. This came about mostly from studying the Bible and seeing Jesus's example on how he cared about the poor.

I still have to figure out all the logistics and everything, but I'll keep you updated!

A Super Huge Thank You
As you know, this contest was 50% vote-driven. I absolutely could not have done it without all of your support. I loved reading your comments and tweets throughout this entire contest. It was fun "talking" with some of you over twitter or through your blogs. This food community is AWESOME. All-in-all, I have been blown away by the love, encouragement, and graciousness of everyone in the community, especially my fellow competitors, who I feel I have gotten to know throughout this competition (and some of whom I got to MEET at the Foodbuzz Festival!).

Thanks so much to Foodbuzz for organizing this competition, and to the judges, Dana Cowin, Nancy Silverton, and Pim Techamuanvivit, who had the most difficult job of all!

Of course, I could not have done this without the support of my friends and family. Bryan stood by my side round after round after round, patiently coming with me on endless supermarket runs, encouraging me and pushing me when I was feeling discouraged or when I was ready to give up.

My extended family, especially my parents and Bryan's parents, have been crucial by sharing recipes with me and I've cooked through several family traditions this contest - not to mention the constant love and support they give.

My good friends Peter and Chia Chi have been with me this whole competition, everything from helping me cook the Luxury Meal in Round 3 to coming with me to Boston's Chinatown for the video shoot. Also a quick shoutout to my friend Beata who lent me a pizza stone, and her husband Loren who relieved me of the burden of eating all the pizza flags by taking some for lunch.

Thanks also to my super talented singing buddies Grace, Ele, and Daniel, who came over at a last minute's notice. These guys are super talented - they listened to a recording and figured out how to sing and perform the background in less than two hours! You all ROCK!

And most importantly, above all, I thank God, without whom none of this would be possible.

Thank you all! What a wonderful Christmas present. 🙂

I absolutely, absolutely cannot believe this, but I am actually one of the remaining three bloggers in Project Food Blog. The competition has been insane, and I really didn't think I would ever ever make it this far.

Anyhow, for some crazy reason, I am now one of the three remaining.

For this last post, we were given free reign to do whatever we wanted. I really wanted to share about my home city of Boston, so of course, I decided to go about it in a sort of unusual way.

I built the city of Boston out of vegetables, and made a cute little stop motion animation about them. I also shared some of my favorite Boston restaurants, along with some recipes of dishes from these restaurants.

Finally, there is a surprise video at the end where I sort of sum up my impressions of this contest . . . again, in a very unusual way.

Voting opened Monday and will be open until Thursday. The final winner will be announced on Friday at 3:00PM EST. 

If you are so inclined, please check out the post and vote here.

Again, I can't thank you all enough for your support throughout this entire competition. I have loved reading every single comment, tweet, e-mail, vote, etc.

Thank you!!!

Voting is now open! To vote, click here.

So here we are.

Almost to the day, three months ago, hundreds of us embarked on this crazy journey to figure out who we were as food bloggers. Most of us would be challenged, stretched, (twisted! baked!) beyond what we ever thought we could accomplish. Through this entire time, there’s been laughter, disappointment, excitement, frustration, sleep deprivation, horribly messy kitchens, and expanding waistlines, no doubt.

But at the same time, there’s been tons of encouragement and support, long-lasting friendships that have formed, and the building of a real, true community. Not only that, we’ve all grown. Those of us that have gone through round after round after round, week after week after week, know first hand the insane amount of stamina that is required for a contest like this.

I can’t believe it’s almost over.

For this last post, I really wanted to reflect on this entire contest in general, and revisit what I had written in my first blog post, “Ready, Set, Blog!.” In that post, we had been asked, What defines your blog?” “Why should you be the next Food Blog Star?”

After much thought and self-reflection, I had come up with three key attributes that define Tiny Urban Kitchen.

• Fearless Pursuit of Crazy, Ambitious, and Fun Ideas
• A Deep Commitment and Passion for the Local Community
• A Love of Food, Photography, and Friendship

It’s been quite a journey since those young, naive days back in September, but I think those three attributes still stand.

Throughout this contest I have shared many things with you. I’ve shared recipes from my Taiwanese heritage; I’ve told stories about grandmothers, both from my side of the family and Bryan’s side of the family; and I’ve described stories and dining experiences from my various travels around the world.

Yet here I am, sitting in my home city of Boston as I realize there is a wealth of amazing food experiences locally, none of which I’ve shared with you.

So let’s experience Boston, Tiny Urban Kitchen style.

I. Fearless Pursuit of Crazy, Ambitious, and Fun Ideas

Tiny Urban Kitchen Builds Boston

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

OK, neither was Boston, but when you’re building cities out of fresh produce, you have to build it, photograph it, and eat it within a day. Day old vegetable buildings don’t look or taste nearly as good.

Who am I? What defines this blog? I have always loved art and design, which is evidenced by the crazy bentos (and pizzas!) that I’ve made in the past. I love combining art with food in unusual ways. I also love vegetables, and could probably be a vegetarian were it not for my weakness for sushi.

I also love crazy, ambitious, and fun ideas, and will fearlessly pursue them with a passion.

Enter Project Food Blog Round 10 Part 1:

Boston Veggies Build Themselves A Skyline

Music by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons "Attribution 3.0". 

Highlights Of Some Boston Landmarks
* Longfellow Bridge*

One of my favorite jogs (and one of the most beautiful jogs, in my opinion), is a loop that runs along the Charles River and crosses two bridges, one of which is the Longfellow Bridge, also known as the “Salt and Pepper Shaker Bridge.” The vegetable version is made out of daikon radish and carrots. I painstakingly carved out the individual bricks of the towers with a very sharp Japanese knife, and then layered the pieces in between large carrot slices.

*The MBTA*

Boston’s “red line” subway runs on this bridge, so I made little subway trains by carving red radishes to resemble the bi-layered look of the subway trains. The windows are made out of eggplant skins. My favorite part of traveling on the red line is when you cross the Long fellow Bridge. Not only is there an astounding view out the window, you also have a brief moment of cell phone reception!

*The Prudential Tower” and “101 Huntington Ave” (Also known as the “R2D2 Building”)

Known affectionately as “The Pru,” the lower levels of this building is one of the premier shopping areas on Boston. The Pru is covered with over a hundred green beans, lined up in a way to imitate the patterns on the actual building. The R2D2 Building sits right next to the Pru, and is made out of a handcarved eggplant.

*Fenway Park*

I never knew what it was like to live in a city with a national sports team until I moved to Boston. Even if you’re not a sports fan, you can’t avoid getting caught up in the excitement of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. I still remember 2004 when the Red Sox finally won the world series after 86 years of “the curse of the Bambino.”

The whole city was so tired but happy the day after each game in the playoffs as everyone stayed up late at night watching that magical run - this is how dedicated Bostonians are to their team! I’ve made Fenway Park, including the Green Monster, out of a cut out watermelon. The seats at Fenway are red, and the stadium is green, so I thought a watermelon would be the perfect fruit to represent the stadium.

Other Boston Landmarks Featured
Hancock Tower
Boston Common
Public Garden

II. A Deep Commitment and Passion for the Local Community
Where would a food nerd go in Boston?

I’ve lived here for over 15 years, and I have my own little list of favorite hidden (or not so hidden) favorites where I consistently bring out-of-town guests. Here are a few of my all time favorites. For those of you who can’t make it out to Boston, I’ve included some recipes below for how I cook some of my favorite Boston dishes from these restaurants.

1. A Moqueca at Muqueca

Muqueca is one of those little hole-in-the-wall family owned restaurants that everyone wishes they knew about. Unlike your typical Brazilian restaurant, which serve various cuts of meat in the form of a Brazilian Barbeque, Muqueca focuses on moquecas, a delicious Brazilian seafood soup cooked in a clay pot. Your choice of seafood is cooked with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cilantro. No additional water is added, and thus the liquid in the "stew" is rich full of flavors from the vegetables and the seafood. Moquecas come mainly from two coastal Brazilian states: Bahia (Moqueca Bahiana) and Espírito Santo (Moqueca Capixaba).

All of the moquecas are made on the spot, so you have to wait around 15-20 minutes for your dish, but it’s sooo worth it. Though the ingredients are simple, the resulting combination of flavors is fantastic, and something I could eat over and over again.

2. Toro Truffle Maki at Oishii

After my Round 9 post, more than one person asked me about my favorite sushi place in Boston. I would love to introduce you to my all time favorite sushi roll in my favorite sushi place in Boston.

This roll is decadently crazy, with toro (fatty tuna), caviar, and shaved truffle slices. At $25 a roll, this insane roll does not come cheap, nor should it, considering the ingredients.

Seriously though, everything at Oishii is well executed, so you won’t go wrong no matter what you order. But if you have a chance, definitely try this luxuriously delicious roll.

3. Grilled Octopus at Craigie on Main

Grilled Spanish Octopus from Craigie on Main

Craigie on Main has always been one of my favorite restaurants in Boston. Tony Maws (chef-owner) is a genius in the kitchen. He’s totally a farm-to-table type of guy, and it shows in his food. Not only are his ingredients superb, his dishes are consistently well executed, thoughtfully designed, and artfully plated. The food is fantastic, and I’ve never had a bad meal there.

The grilled Spanish octopus is one of my favorite dishes. The meat is juicy and succulent, while the outside is just slightly charred. Tony Maws’ version is made with grilled cipollini onions, fresh hearts of palm and lemon salad, spiced pumpkin purée.

I decided to try to make my own version of Tony Maws’ dish by using the sous vide technique. If you don’t have a sous vide machine, you can try baking the octopus at low temperature (around 200 °F) for several hours.

Grilled Octopus
Sous vide octopus leg in 1 teaspoon olive oil and salt and pepper at 190 °F for 5 hours. Remove purple skin and then grill over high heat until just charred. (I used a grill pan). Serve with pureed butternut squash soup, microgreens, chives, grilled cippolini onions and sliced palm hearts.

Home version of Spanish Grilled Octopus

The sous vide technique really brings out the tenderness of the octopus, which was soft and juicy. The octopus itself is already very flavorful, full of savory umami from the sea. The grilled onions and the butternut squash puree add a nice sweet counterbalance while the microgreens and palm hearts balance out the richness in a bright and crisp way.

4. Potage of Spring Dug Parsnips at Craigie on Main

Bryan and I enjoyed this parsnip soup at Craigie on Main during one of our anniversary dinners. That was the first time I had his amazingly simple spring-dug parsnip soup. This soup is super easy to make at home, and is a great way to use up those farm share parsnips! Tony Maws puts pork jowl croutons on top, but it tastes delicious without. Tony Maws has kindly shared his recipe on his website, so I will not reproduce it here.

5. Grape Nut Ice Cream at Toscanini’s

Grape Nut Ice Cream from Toscanini's

Toscanini’s is my all time favorite ice cream place in Boston. We used to have one on my college campus and I used to go there all the time (hello “freshman 15!”). Not only is the texture of Toscanini’s premium ice cream uniquely thick and doughy, the flavors at Toscanini’s are constantly changing and are always really, really interesting.

My all time favorite ice cream flavor is Grape Nut Ice Cream. I know it sounds weird, but the Grape Nuts soften considerably once they're mixed into the ice cream, and they give a wonderfully malty flavor to the ice cream.

Here a recipe to my own version of Grape Nut Ice Cream, which I love making at home in the summertime, or the wintertime, or . . well, anytime, for that matter.

Grape Nut Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups half and half
¾ cups sugar
4 egg yolks
¼ to ½ cups Grape Nuts Cereal

Day 1
Heat the half & half, heavy cream, and sugar in a pot on medium low heat until the sugar is dissolved. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the hot cream mixture while continually stirring.

Heat the half & half, heavy cream, and sugar in a pot on medium low heat until the sugar is dissolved. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the hot cream mixture while continually stirring.

Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon (~8-10 minutes). Optionally filter the cooked liquid and allow to cool overnight in the refrigerator.

Day 2
Pour the cream mixture into the ice cream maker and make ice cream according to the manufacturer's instructions. Halfway through the process, pour the Grape Nuts into the mixture. Freeze finished product for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.

III. A Love of Food, Photography, and Friendship
As I reflect upon these crazy three months of sleep-deprived nights, disastrously messy kitchens, and nerve-wracking Friday afternoons, I wonder many things. Was it worth it? What did I learn about food? What did I learn about myself?

I have been challenged and pushed beyond what I ever thought I could do
In life, we tend to get comfortable and stick with things we know how to do. Sometimes, it takes a fierce competition to kick us out of our little comfort zones. Round after round, I found myself stretched, pulled, and twisted in ways far beyond my comfort zone. In each round, I continued to think outside the box, trying to “up” myself every round, even though I had already poured out what I thought was my “all” in each previous round.

Though at times it was painful, I have grown tremendously in so many ways. I never thought of myself as a baker, much less a pastry chef. Yet all of a sudden, I found myself learning to make thousand layer spiral mooncakes - by far not the easiest of Asian baked desserts! Similarly, I had absolutely no knowledge of video whatsoever, yet this competition pushed me to quickly learn and perfect (as much as I could in a week!) these valuable and important skills. Yes, there was a ton of stress at multiple points throughout these last few months. But was it worth it? Absolutely.

In the end, it’s all about the people
Back in Round 1, I described my discovery about how I was relational to the core.

I’ve kept on writing because of the people. I love sharing my ideas with others. I am relational at the core, and I love the interactions, conversations, and support I receive from my readers. I could have all the passion in the world about cooking, eating and photography. Yet without readers, I would have no motivation to write. I have made some amazing friends through this process.

The support and encouragement of this food-loving community is beyond overwhelming, and I am continually surprised by the humility, grace, and love of the people I’ve met.

This is really what Project Food Blog is all about. Sure, it’s nice to have a big prize at the end to motivate everyone to participate. But what this contest really does is bring people together. We motivate each other to write, to challenge ourselves, to become better at what we do.

In that sense, we are all winners. Whether it be the new skills we have learned, the new friends we’ve made, or new insights we’ve gathered about ourselves, we have all gained something valuable, priceless, and that will stay with us forever.

Despite the sleep-deprived weekends and nerve-wracking Fridays, I will miss this in some ways. Now don’t get me wrong - I am beyond relieved finally to get my weekends back. However, in some ways I’ll miss the camaraderie of the contestants on twitter; I’ll miss the excitement of trying to figure what to do for my next round; and I’ll miss the challenge and energy-filled spirit that any competition brings.

Or maybe I don’t have to miss those things. I mean, after all, those same food bloggers are still around. And why not challenge myself continually by thinking of crazy, fearless, impossible but fun posts to write? It’s not like Tiny Urban Kitchen is going anywhere anytime soon.

Wait, didn’t I say I was fearless back in Round 1?

Fearless indeed.

"The Longest Time"
Written and Sung by Jennifer Che 
(with help from some great friends!)

Again, thanks so much for everything.

Previous Posts
Round 1: Ready, Set, Blog
Round 2: Kaddo Bourani
Round 3: A Luxury Interpretation of China
Round 4: Bah-Tzangs (Taiwanese Rice Dumplings)
Round 5: A Pizza Tour of My Travels
Round 6: A Taste of Autumn
Round 7: Hand Pulled Noodles
Round 8: An Unusual Take On Pumpkin
Round 9: Everything I learned About Sushi I Learned From My Mom ... and Kyubei
Round 10: Final Reflections

This is my entry for Project Food Blog Round 10 (!!!).  Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement throughout this entire competition. Voting opens Monday, December 13. Voting is now open! Click here to vote.

Voting for Project Food Blog Round 8 is now open! You can check out my entry and vote here.

I can't reiterate how much I appreciate all your support in this competition so far. Thank you so much for your kind words, encouraging comments, and of course, votes, the last seven (!!) rounds. I never anticipated I would make it this far in the challenge, but here we are!

For this round, I really wanted to honor family traditions yet incorporate a modern and creative spin at the same time. I contacted Bryan's mother and asked her for instructions on how to make her famous CHE family savory Chinese pumpkin cakes. This is a dish that has been passed down all the way from Bryan's great-grandmother, and is always requested at every family function. She's the only one in the extended family who learned how to make this from Bryan's grandmother before she passed away.

After tackling the traditional dish, I created two sweet interpretations inspired by the Chinese pumpkin cakes - pumpkin mochi cake and pumpkin thousand layer spiral mooncakes. Come check them out here.

In other news, I am back from Japan and China (again) and I have lots to report on that front. I checked out awesome street foods in Beijing, took a hand-pulled noodle making class, and had some incredible sushi in Japan. So many posts! So little time! Stay tuned, and thanks again for all your support.

Hi everyone. I can't believe I am still in the running after so many rounds. Seriously, thank you SO MUCH for all your votes. It goes without saying, but I obviously wouldn't be this far without your support and encouragement.

This round was a new challenge for me. I had never filmed and edited a video before! Bryan ordered some video editing software for me a couple weeks ago (after I found out I had advanced), and it's been a whirlwind learning experience ever since!

I actually had TONS of fun making this video. Please check it out and vote here if you are so inclined.

Thanks so much!

In other news, I am currently in Beijing (AGAIN!) and going to Tokyo today!! Bryan had a last minute business trip to Asia so I decided to come with him. In the brief time I was here, I took a hand-pulled noodle class with an actual Beiing noodle master and also tried a bunch of street foods.

In that spirit, I will be continuing the China Series this week.

Cheers!

There is something elusive and almost magical about hand-pulled noodles.

First off, the texture is out-of-this-world. It's fresh and chewy with a natural resistance that just springs back. In Taiwanese, we call it "Q," similar to al dente in Italian, but with just a tad more "bounce."

The art of hand-pulled noodles is even more elusive. It takes a trained artisan to understand how to work the dough to the right consistency so that it can be successfully stretched, twirled, and pulled. Furthermore, the golden window of opportunity in which the dough can be pulled into noodles is short - act quickly or else start over!

Noodle pullers typically train for at least a year with a Noodle Master before they are even allowed to make noodles for customers. It's tricky to pull out perfectly smooth, even, and chewy noodles without breaking the strands!

It's almost hypnotic to watch a master swinging that rope of dough in front of you - pull, twirl, pull, twirl.

And it's not just for show. In fact, all that pulling and twisting helps align the dough proteins, making it possible to stretch that dough out into such thin strands.

The technique associated with making hand-pulled noodles is virtually impossible to describe or explain without visuals, which is why a video is the perfect tool for introducing you to this art.

For Round 7 of Project Food Blog, we were asked to create a video putting "one of our favorite recipes on film." As you know, Bryan absolutely loves fresh hand-pulled noodles and Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup is the ultimate comfort food that reminds me of home.

I could think of no better dish to share with you all than this classic Taiwanese street dish.

Hand Pulled Noodle Dough
adapted from Luke Rymarz's Recipe

156g cake flour
25g all-purpose flour
110 mL warm water
2g salt (⅓ tsp)
1 g baking soda (a little less than ¼ tsp)
~ 6 g vegetable oil (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a bread machine and knead on the dough cycle for about 15 minutes. Remove the dough from the machine, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest for 1 hour. Put dough back in the bread machine and knead again (dough cycle) for about 15 minutes. If no machine is available, hand knead for about 45 minutes.

Note: You can also use a stand mixer. I have not tried this and thus cannot give detailed instructions, but I have read instructions that say to mix on speed 4 for 15 minutes.

Roll and twist for about 10-15 minutes (see video for details), or until the dough feels soft and pliable like clay. The time can vary a lot depending on the climate, humidity, and elevation! The dough should not spring back if you push it in. It really feels a bit like clay.

Once the dough is ready, pull noodles (see video for details) and cook in boiling water for about 1-2 minutes. Eat with your favorite soup (see beef noodle soup recipe below) or stir fry with your favorite ingredients.



Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup
Serves 4
Adapted from Not Much to See Here

2 lbs Beef Shank (optionally cut up into chunks)
1 T vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch chunk of ginger, chopped
2 star anise
2 scallion stalks, chopped
2 T Chili bean sauce
½ cup soy sauce
2 carrots, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
¼ cup rice wine
¼ cup rock sugar
fresh hand-pulled noodles (see above)
hot sauce

Soak beef shank pieces in hot water for about 5 minutes. Drain dirty water, rinse beef shanks, and set aside. Over medium high heat saute garlic, ginger, scallions, and star anise in vegetable oil until fragrant. Add beef shank and chili bean sauce and saute for a few minutes, until the beef is slightly browned. Add soy sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Add carrots, tomatoes, rice wine, and rock sugar. Add water until everything is just covered. Bring to medium high heat and then reduce to a simmer for 2-4 hours, or until the beef is fall-apart tender. Add hot sauce to taste.

Serve with blanched bok choy and fresh hand pulled noodles.

All music in this video is royalty-free and composed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons "Attribution 3.0" except for the Flight of the Bumblebee, which was performed by the US Army Band (public domain).

Voting is open for Round 6!

Thanks so much for your all your support up to this point in the competition. I am honored and humbled by all of your kind, generous, and constructive comments. I know it's not trivial to sign up for another account just to vote, so thanks again for your willingness to do so.

This round we had to take a road trip and prepare a meal that would "travel well and still look great." The entire meal had to fit inside this insulated cooler bag that they sent us.

As you can see, fall foliage in New England is gorgeous this time of year. Bryan and I had a mini getaway picnic at Walden Pond where we enjoyed an autumn-themed meal, complete with a full array of nature's own "bowls"!

Come check out my entry and vote here.

Hi everyone,

I cannot thank you enough for your support through these last five rounds of this competition! Seriously, it's exhausting, but so much fun at the same time! I am totally stretching myself as a cook, writer, and photographer throughout this entire experience. I really do believe I will come out of this a better blogger in the end no matter what happens. 🙂

Anyway, just wanted to announce that voting for Project Food Blog Round 5 is now open! You can check out my entry and vote here.

For this round we had to make pizza. Come see my artistic interpretation of pizza (as flags!), as well as stories from the various trips I've taken to these countries in the past decade or so.

My vain attempts that throwing pizza dough

Hi everyone! Voting for Project Food Blog Round 4 is open!

I can't thank you enough for your support the last three rounds. I'm tickled and pleasantly surprised I'm still in the running. It makes my weekends pretty stressful (why am I such a procrastinator?), but I'm also challenging and stretching myself in ways I would never have done without this competition.

Anyhow, I decided to finally try one of my favorite family recipes, handed down from my grandmother. It's a complicated recipe that involves lots of planning and steps (not to mention some skill in assembling the whole thing!). I was nervous about trying it, but I'm so glad I did! It turned out to be not nearly as bad as I thought. Yes, that final picture is a victory photo of sorts proving that I did indeed make these things.  🙂

You can see my entry and vote for it here.

In other news, I'm almost done working up our pictures from China, so be on the lookout for some China posts really soon!

Just wanted to announce that voting is open for Project Food Blog! My entry is here.

Project Food Blog is a contest held by Foodbuzz seeking out the next "Food Blog Star." Over 1800 contestants have entered for a chance to blog their way through a series of challenges. With each round, about half of the contestants get eliminated. We are now in round three, where 200 contestants are narrowed down to 100!

If you are so inclined, you can vote for me here.

In other news, we finally are back in Boston after 2 weeks in China. Together Bryan and I took close to 2000 pictures! It will take us some time to sort through them all, but look out for a food series on Beijing (we sampled many great Peking ducks and dumplings!), Xian (mutton bread soup!), and Shanghai (we tasted many different types of xiaolongbaos!) - plus photos from cool places like the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Terra Cotta Warriors Museum, and the World Expo.

Just wanted to announce that voting is open for Project Food Blog! My entry is here.

In a nutshell, Project Food Blog is a contest held by Foodbuzz seeking out the next "Food Blog Star." Over 1800 contestants have entered for a chance to blog their way through a series of challenges. With each round, about half of the contestants get eliminated. The first round is pretty brutal though, as these 1800 are cut down to 400!

Anyways, if you have a chance, please vote for me by clicking here.

In other exciting news, I am about to leave for China (I will have arrived by the time this publishes!)! I'm sitting in the airport lounge at O'Hare right now (yay for husbands who are million milers and can get me access to these fancy flagship lounges complete with free internet, free food, and a free cocktail bar!)

Unfortunately, China chose to ban Blogger access not too long ago, which is what I use to run Tiny Urban Kitchen. Accordingly, you will likely not see too much response from me when you comment. I'm not even sure if I will be able to follow anything that's going on here!

Anyway, I think I'll still be able to find ways to update the blog, but it may not be as refined as normal!

So, I've prepared a few posts for you guys to enjoy while I am gone. Other than that, I'll "see" you when I get back from China!

I am restless by nature. I love trying new things, I love learning, and I’m always looking to see what to do next. As a child, I never stuck with one activity for too long – one week watercolors, the next week writing and recording 80’s style pop songs.

I think at the core, I am still very much the same person today.

After graduating from law school in 2007 (a grueling 3 ½ years in which I worked all day, went to school at night, and didn’t have time for much else), I felt free! Free to finally try tons of different things!

My list of things to try was predictably ambitious, with activities ranging from “taking an art class” to “running a 10k.” Buried in the middle of that list somewhere was “start a food blog.”

Consistent with my personality, I didn’t stick with anything for a long time. I dabbled in an acting class before switching to oil painting. I learned Brazilian capoeira and stuck with it for about 6 months. Most recently, I became obsessed with sewing, churning out handbag after handbag. Alas, that only lasted 3 months before a trip to Japan cut that momentum short.

In the background during this whole time, my tiny little personal food blog, “jglee’s food musings,” silently hummed along. Unlike all those other activities, this one stuck.

I registered tinyurbankitchen.com in September of 2009 when I decided to “go public” with the blog (happy 1-year birthday!) . I signed on with Foodbuzz and began interacting with other food bloggers on the blogosphere. I recently renewed my URL for another 5 years. Clearly, Tiny Urban Kitchen isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Why do I have the passion and stamina to passionately pursue this "hobby" while I inevitably lose interest in most other things? What makes this blog so unique? What defines this blog?

After some soul searching, here’s what I came up with . . .

Fearless Pursuit of Crazy, Ambitious, and Fun Ideas
To say I’m overly ambitious is probably an understatement. Sometimes, it’s tough because I set myself up for failure. Usually, however, I think it pushes me so much further than I ever would have gone without the crazy ideas and goals I set in place. I’ve tried all sorts of crazy things on this blog, like making an entire meal look like Japanese anime characters, preparing a multi-course meal from Michelin-starred chefs’ recipes using sous vide, and bravely experiencing a “tasting of offal” which involved things like lambs brains and duck testicles. Heck, I even made a bento that looked like my husband. I’m not afraid to try most things at least once, and I love a good challenge. This past March, I entered and shockingly won the coveted spot to attended the S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition in Napa Valley on behalf of Foodbuzz. Life is an adventure, and there are so many amazing things to experience. Seize the day and make most out of each meal. In short, this blog is defined by my personality - creative, ambitious, slightly crazy, and never the same thing twice.

A Deep Commitment and Passion for the Local Community
I have lived in Cambridge for over 15 years and I absolutely love the city. It has a wealth of restaurants that belie its small geographical area. I especially love the wonderful diversity and concentration of ethnic restaurants – Brazilian, Afghan, Tunisian, Eritrean, the list goes on and on.

I am highly committed to supporting these local businesses and partnering with them in various things. I take my camera with me wherever I go, and I blog about almost every restaurant I visit (complete with many photos and a detailed review). I strongly support events that promote fair trade, sustainability, and helping out those who are in need. Furthermore, I really enjoy the relationships I have developed with chefs, restaurant owners, and marketing people in the local food industry.

A Love of Food, Photography, and Friendship
Bryan’s mom is really observant and wise, and had some keen insights about why she thought food blogging was so perfect for me.

“You are relational, you really like people, and you like to share with others.”

I’m not the most introspective person by any means, so her comment actually surprised me. It seemed to be so true yet was something I had never realized.

Now don’t get me wrong. I do love food. Heck, I’m willing to travel anywhere for good food, and I center my trips around the interesting meals I want to enjoy.

And I also love photography. Instead of watching TV to relax, I actually like to process my pictures. It’s oddly calming for me to adjust exposure and white balance all while munching on a snack (yes, I'm nuts).

But most importantly, beyond all that, it’s the people that really motivate me to keep this blog going. This food blog would be NOTHING without its readers. Seriously, at the end of the day, why do I keep on blogging? Why haven’t I abandoned this “hobby” unlike most things I try?

Because it’s not just about cataloguing cooking experiments. It’s not just about writing down restaurant impressions or taking pretty pictures. In fact, if it were just about those things, I probably would have abandoned this a long time ago. Instead, I’ve kept on writing because of the people. I love sharing my ideas with others. I am relational at the core, and I love the interactions, conversations, and support I receive from my readers.

I could have all the passion in the world about cooking, eating and photography. Yet without readers, I would have no motivation to write.

So thank you. Thank you all for interacting with me, encouraging me, and pushing me to try my absolute best to make this blog as good as it can be. I sincerely appreciate it and I will try my hardest to fulfill that goal.

Folks, Tiny Urban Kitchen is here to stay.