Houston

On Sunday, Tuyet accompanied me in my drive down south from Dallas to Houston, to see my Aunt Anna (Da Bo Mu). I don't think I'd seen her in nearly 20 years! I was glad to have some time to spend with her, however short. She was absolutely wonderful to be with - telling me stories about the past - from my nai-nai and ye-ye to people they knew to funny stories about her kids (my 3 cousins on my dad's side).

She treated us to a delicious lunch at the new Chinatown that sprung up where she lives. I've already forgotten some of the dish names (a tofu-beef soup), but some of my favorites were the jyo-tsai-he-zi and the fan-tuan. I took a much needed nap (having not gotten enough sleep the previous night due to stomach problems) and then felt refreshed for a lovely home cooked dinner and more talking about the family.

It was a visit too short, and I hope to see her again soon. Tuyet and I awoke at 4 am the next morning in order to return the Budget rental and catch my flight out of Dallas. I gobbled up a cha siu bao on the road for breakfast and managed to stay awake for the whole drive up.

Coating fish with Japanese breadcrumbs

Mrs Susie Poozie to you

Susie and Tan got married!

Susie had a radiant smile on her face the whole weekend. I've not seen her so happy in 10 years of knowing her. It was great to be able to celebrate with her and finally meet Tan. They had an American style wedding, with elements of his Vietnamese background and her Korean background thrown in.

Tuyet and I shared a room at the Magnolia Hotel. After a week of camping and cheap motels, I was at a loss as to how to behave appropriately at such a fine establishment. I was going to buy toothpaste at a local drugstore when some friends mentioned that I could get it from the front desk. I called down, asked for it (yes we have it), confirmed it was free (yes with a chuckle), and said I would be right down to get it. "We can bring it up to you," was her quick helpful reply. Oh ya - I forgot that's how it works. Our valet coordinator, Jason, was really good. There were some newbies working there, one who opened my door "Welcome to the Westin!" -- clearly overworked from too many summer jobs. A few of us tried out the gym, which had quite a few broken machines. I made use of one of the working stairmasters for 30 minutes, in hopes of keeping some of the hiking shape that I'd gotten into at Yosemite. The Korean BBQ dinner, the wedding lunch buffet, and the hotel nightly cookies weren't really doing much to help.

Susie, Tuyet and Janet: pre-wedding


getting dressed


Susie with her parents and sister


The Ceremony


Tan and Susie, Vietnamese style


Korean style


Karen Wong '00 with Mrs Susie!

Lake Tahoe, Redwoods, Oakland

The second part of the trip through Northern California included Lake Tahoe and the Redwoods. We left our motel and got to South Lake Tahoe, where we immediately cooled off with a Jamba Juice. The workers there were really chatty and tried to be helpful with our trip planning. We ended up choosing a 4 mile hike to Susie Lake, with the option of extending another 2 miles beyond to another lake. With such a late start in the day (around 4 pm) and the onslaught of mosquitoes near the end of the trail (all near standing water) and the difficulty of hiking on gravel the whole way, we decided to just hang at the lake and turn back.



We filled up on gas (expensive!) and continued north. Christina was in charge of dinner - making a lovely vegetable soup (from a can) with some ramen noodles thrown in. We were sure to store everything in the bear locker - to keep out the riff raff (mostly aggressive chipmunks), as we'd been doing all trip. We got lucky at this campsite and didn't get charged the $11 fee - made up for the $70+ splurge on the motel the previous night.

The next morning we skipped a short hike around Sugar Pine and continued on our drive north, hitting Tahoe City, where we stopped to take an ankle dip into the cold cold lake one last time. The water was beautifully clear, with lots of geese enjoying it.

We drove northwest, along 80, stopped in Sacramento, in search of another Jamba Juice. We had no idea how to find one so decided to ask someone - the first people we sized up didn't look like good candidates. Finally in a state of desperation at a red light, we asked some guy in a truck next to us - he knew exactly where it was and we were close! But somehow we missed it. So we stopped at a co-op and asked for directions. Despite the information worker's disdain in our search for "Junka Juice", we decided to take his directions and go get our free smoothie anyways. We had printed out a few coupons before leaving Berkeley that were begging usage in all the heat.

Smoothies in tow, we took off for the Redwoods, going up I-5. We switched driving at some point (for the first time) and I finally got to do the deer spotting on the side of the road. We even encountered a cow in the middle of the road! She came up to the driver side, then decided to turn round and take off running to a patch of grass. Definitely a safer spot to be standing around. Christina drove to Eureka and then we switched seats again. We stopped at a campground just south of the park. We stopped at headquarters to pick up some breakfast, to meet Christina's only criteria in how to celebrate Independence Day - by eating some pie - blackberry pie.

We got to the Redwoods, saw some ginormous trees and some more wildflowers and enjoyed a loop hike from ocean beach to canyon. We used up some energy doing jumps on the beach for the camera (the hiking wasn't nearly as strenuous as the Yosemite hikes). We did some scenic driving and then turned back south to break up the long drive to the Bay Area. We did it up in another motel, opting for a shower and internet access over monetary savings.

We ended the trip with a wonderful home cooked meal by my cousin Jim, assisted by his girlfriend Susan. They have a wonderful garden filled with fresh herbs in their new house in Oakland. It was a short visit, but Jim was able to share an old photo album with pictures of my nai-nai and ye-ye (paternal grandmother and grandfather) that I'd never seen before. I also test drove their couch for the night - and had a very peaceful night's rest (Christina's sleep talking doesn't really bother me, but I think the presence of someone sleeping right next to me makes me a lighter sleeper - or maybe it was just the wine that put me out deeper than normal). In the morning, I woke up to see hummingbirds at the windows at the feeders. Susan dropped me off at OAK, and I was on my way to TX...

Nai nai and a sibling with their mother


Ye-ye and Nai-nai

4 Campnights and a Motel

Christina and I have embarked on our California trip. We spent the first night with KC, doing research and tying up loose ends in Berkeley (The picture is of Moe trying to prevent Christina from doing anything at all). The next morning we picked up our car from Avis, a white Kia Rio, with surprisingly good trunk space. It could fit the huge tupperware of cookware and the coleman stove (burner and grill), as well as 2 sleeping bags, 2 sleeping pads, 2 water jugs, 2 backpacking packs, and additional bags. We hit Berkeley Bowl to load up on food, Jamba Juice for a free smoothie (buy one get one free), and then REI to pick out some hiking boots and other gear. We finally got on the road by evening and arrived at our first camp site near Pine Lake. $15 for the night with bear and mountain lion warnings everywhere, but we only spotted some deer near our site.

I made my first campsite meal - asian style! Buckwheat noodles with spinach, tofu and sesame oil.

The next morning we packed up and drove on to Yosemite and checked in at Camp 4, the walk in campground. $5 per person per night - what a deal! We stayed there 3 nights, did a lot of hiking and eating and one wonderful shower (also $5 at Housekeeping camp -- supposedly free showers were available at Curry Village without a towel, but we chose instant gratification). We did the first part of the Half Dome hike to Vernal and Nevada Falls, part of the 4 Mile Trail from the bottom up (most do top down), part of the Upper Yosemite Falls hike (too hot to go too far), and my favorite was the Cathedral Lake hike with the trailhead out of the valley on Tioga Road.

We then drove on to Mono Lake and saw some big tufas and tasted the saltiness of the depleted lake. It was surrounded by hoards of flies that you could hear lift off in mass whenever you took a step. Yuck! We had a lovely picnic dinner at sunset at the County Park on the north side, and then swung on the swing set and tossed a disc on the super plush carpety-feeling grass - and even did some layout drills. We ended our time in the park laying on the grass watching the stars come out and enjoying the warm dry air and pleasant wind. We filled up on water at the fountain and then started driving again around 10 pm, driving through Bridgeport on to the town we're in now where we found a Motel with free wireless. This place is the digs. We got Unit 13, which is the handicap unit - after so many days of greasy sweaty stickiness, we were ecstatic to enjoy a hot shower with fluffy white towels and have a real refrigerator to store our food in (If Christina falls ill, it could be one of 10 questionably warm food items that caused it).

We are off to Tahoe soon and then back west towards the Redwoods and Bay Area.

Camping entertainment included a rowdy Scrabble game with some college kids there for the weekend. Despite Christina's low confidence, she won the game!

Gateau Alexandre

Happy birthday to my little nephew who just turned 1. This entry is for the Gateau Alexandre I made in his honor to help my sister out. Unfortunately, with packing up for my trip, I ran out of time to actually send her any useful information before his birthday. Oh well -- next year.

Here are the pictures of the cake in the making and eating.



And the recipe, as provided by the original creator, Jeanne Oh.

Gateau Alexandre

Three components:
1. pastry cream (for gateau)
2. baked cherries (for garnish)
3. gateau

Pastry Cream
1 cup (242 g) whole milk
1 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract--bean is better)
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
1/6 cup (20 g) cornstarch, sifted
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butter, room temp

1. Prepare cooling pan by lining shallow baking pan (or bowl) with
plastic wrap. Set aside.
2. Add milk to saucepan and scrape seeds from the vanilla bean (cut bean lengthwise). Bring milk to a boil and remove from heat. (When the milk violently bubbles over like a volcano, it's boiled)
3. While the milk is boiling, whisk sugar and cornstarch in small bowl. Add yolks to sugar mixture and whisk until the mixture turns pale yellow and is thick and smooth (very important because you don't want clumpy pastry cream). Gradually pour half of the hot milk into the yolk
mixture and whisk to combine. Return the yolk & milk mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Boil for 30 more seconds, then remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter until completely
melted.
4. Scrape the pastry cream into the cooling pan, spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap directly against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Cool at room temp. (Note, you can refrigerate (keeps for 3 days) but make sure that you whisk the mixture smooth before use).

Baked Cherries (for garnish)
2.2 pounds (1 kg) fresh cherries, pitted
100 g sugar

1. Mix cherries in sugar. Bake in covered dish at 475 F or (250 C) for 15-20 minutes, stirring from time to time.
2. Allow cherries to cool (approximately 4 hours).

Gateau
3/4 cup (90 g) slivered almonds, food processed finely ground (about 45
seconds)
1/3 cup (30 g) slivered almonds (for garnish)
1 1/3 cup (193 g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 g) baking powder
4 large eggs
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
14 tablespoons (200 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon (14 g) orange juice or dark rum
Pastry Cream at room temp (above)
3/4 pound (341 g) sour or black cherries, pitted

1. Sift flour and baking powder over ground almonds. Gently whisk until combined and set aside.
2. Place 3 eggs and sugar in large bowl. Scrape vanilla seeds from bean and add to sugar mixture. Whisk the eggs until thickened and pale. Whisk in the melted (and cooled) butter . Whisk in the dry ingredients and orange juice. Let the batter stand for atleast 20 minutes
3. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Butter two 8 inch round cake pans or one 10 or 11 inch round cake pan. Dust the pans with flour, tapping excess.
4. Whisk the pastry cream smooth and fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tip with the pastry cream (you can also make a makeshift pastry bag by using a ziploc bag and cutting the corner off).
5. Scrape 3/4 of the cake batter into each cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Pipe the pastry cream over the batter in each pan, beginning 1/4 inch from the edge of the pan and piping in a loose spiral towards the center, leaving about 1 inch between the coils.
6. Arrange the cherries over the pastry cream, dividing them evenly between the two cakes. Scrape the remaining cake batter over the cherries, dividing it evenly, and smooth it into an even layer, covering the cherries as much as possible.
7. Lightly beat the remaining egg and lightly brush the tops of the cakes with this egg wash.
8. Bake the cake(s) for 30-35 minutes (for 8 inch) and about 45 minutes (for larger), until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake(s) in the pans for 10 minutes. Invert the cakes and cool completely. Reinvert the cakes to serve.

Assembly
1. Cake on dish
2. Arrange baked cherries on top of cake
3. sprinkle slivered almonds on top.

NOTE: I think this cake would taste fantastic with a taste of
chocolate, but I am uncertain if babies can have chocolate. When Hugh
gets older and develops his own taste, you can alter the pastry cream to
a chocolate one by adding about 4 ounces (154 g) of melted dark
chocolate. Alternatively, you can prepare a chocolate sauce on the side:

Chocolate Sauce
5 oz (142 g) Sugar
8 oz (240 ml) Water
2.25 oz (64 g) light corn syrup
2 oz (56 g) cocoa powder, sifted
8 oz (227 g) bittersweet chocolate, melted

1. Combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Remove from heat
2. Place the cocoa powder in a bowl and add enough of the hot sugar syrup to make a paste, stirring until smooth. Gradually add the remaining syrup and mix until fully incorporated.
3. Add the melted chocolate and blend until fully incorporated
4. Optional: Strain the sauce through a fine meshed sieve
5. Serve warm or chilled (warm is better, I think!)