Post Valentine's Day never tasted so good

Valentine's Day.

Origin: During the reign of Emperor Claudias II, he obligated young knights and soldiers to leave their families for long battles. To ensure success, the Emperor commanded that all marriages be banned, allowing for the soldiers to focus more on the battle than their families at home. Not a believer in such tyranny, Roman Priest Valentine secretly married young couples. He continued the Christian ceremony until the Emperor became aware and ordered his imprisonment. While in jail, he was visited by many of the young couples he had married, whom brought flowers as a show of appreciation to the Priest. He also fell in love with the daughter of Roman Judge Asterius, who was prayed and healed by Saint Valentine. Right before his execution, on February 14th, he wrote a letter to his lover, with the famous line, "from your Valentine".

The memory of St. Valentine lives on in our annual celebration on February 14th. People who celebrates this holiday typically show their love through flowers, hearts, and cards with the words "from your Valentine". For some, it may not be the most significant of days, almost to the point of detesting, but for others, they share love and happiness with their significant other.

This year, I had seen many anti-Valentine's Day Meme on the internet, but you can't deny the fact that you get a ton of candy this time of year and all the cute holiday dessert ideas. I tested many different kinds of Valentine's Day confections, and I found the most success with the "Red Velvet Cheesecake". I first got the idea from my sister, who had made the recipe and posted on her blog Sweet Tooth Lulu. After a few tweaks for the Diner, I made them both in cake form and cupcake form. I couldn't keep them in the case! Hopefully everyone can smile about this recipe, enjoying every morsel, whether with a significant other or with your favorite spoon and comfy sweater.

Cupcake, my cupcake, so red and so luscious 

The inside look of the decadence 

And we all thought we were going on a diet haha

RED VELVET CHEESECAKE 


10" cake or 12 large cupcakes (cupcake recipe will be in italicize)






Ingredients:

Cake:
1 Box of Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cheese Cake (or use the Swans Down Red Velvet Cake Recipe*)

*One of my favorite recipes for cake. Use it for any other recipes calling for Red Velvet Cake





Cheesecake: (all ingredients room temperature)

20 oz Cream Cheese
1 1/4 cups Sour Cream
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
2 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup Heavy Cream

Topping:

8 oz Cream Cheese (Room temp)

4 oz Butter (room temp)

4 cups Powdered Sugar

8 oz Heavy Whipping Cream

MOP:

Make the Cake:

- For the cake version, bake the Red Velvet Cake in two 10" pans, following the box or Swans Down recipe. The cake will be thin. Let cool, wrap in plastic wrap, tight, and place in the refrigerator over night.

When making the cupcakes, make sure to have the cheesecake finished first.

-Mix the cake batter according to instructions.

-Pre-heat oven to 350F.

-Line large cupcake pans with cupcake liner.

-Fill the cupcake liners to a 1/3 of the way up. Using a smaller scoop or spoon, grab a 1 Tablespoon
size of your chilled cheesecake and put in the center of the cup cake. Pour more batter on top until
3/4 of the liner is full.

-Place in the oven. Turn oven down to 325F and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan around and bake for another 15 minutes or until the cake, when pressed with your finger, springs back naturally (like a sponge) I don't like using the toothpick test on this cupcake because of the cheesecake center.

-Remove from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the pan and let chill another 15 minutes before topping.

Make the Cheesecake: (for both cake and cupcake)

-Pre-heat oven to 300F.

- Spray 10" spring form pan with oil and line with parchment paper (bottom is most important). Line the outside of the pan with aluminum foil to ensure no water seeps in. Set aside.

- In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese with a paddle attachment until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl, ensuring there is no cream cheese lump. Add the Sour cream, sugar, and extract. Beat until combined. On slow speed, add the eggs. Beat until combined, scraping the bowl every so often. (DON'T FORGET THIS STEP! Scraping the bowl is very important for a uniform and very smooth cheesecake). Add the Heavy Cream and beat until combined.

-Make sure all ingredients are homogenous. Pour into your prepared spring form pan.

-Place the spring form pan in a larger pan (can be cake pan or large roasting pan that completely surrounds the spring form pan comfortably, without any tilting). Place the pans inside the oven. Pour hot boiling water into the larger pan to form a water bath. Water should come up to the height of the batter inside the pan. Lower the temperature to 250F.

-Bake for one hour. Turn the oven off and leave the door closed (DO NOT TOUCH!) for another hour. This ensures perfect naturally cooling, which means no cracks and smooth texture. Carefully remove the spring form pan from the water bath, remove the foil, and let set for 15 minutes at room temperature.

-At this point, if you are making the cake, wrap the cheesecake, still inside the spring form pan, with plastic wrap and place in your freezer over night. For the cupcake, the refrigerator will simply do.

Make the Topping:

- In a stand mixture, beat the cream cheese with your paddle attachment until smooth. Add the butter and continue to beat until homogenous and there are no lumps. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until your cream cheese icing is made.

- In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream into stiff peak whipped cream.

-Add a 1/3 of the whipped cream to the cream cheese icing and mix, by hand, with a spatula, until the mixture is uniform.

-Fold in the rest of the whipped cream, in two batches, until the topping is fluffy and smooth.

-Put the topping inside a piping bag fixed with your favorite star piping tip.

Assembly:

For the Cake:
-Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Make sure the tops of the cakes are level to ensure a uniform cake look. Place one of the 10" cakes on a dish or cake board.

-Remove the cheesecake from the freezer. Run warm water on the outside of the pan to ease release. Remove the sides. Remove all parchment paper. Flip the cheesecake onto your cake that's on the dish. Remove the bottom of the spring form pan and the parchment paper. Place the other Red velvet cake on top of the cheesecake.

-Using the topping that's in the piping bag, pipe the top of the cake in your favorite decorative form. I only decorated the top of the cake, leaving a naked cake visual. To finish, drizzle chocolate sauce (I used Hershey's Chocolate Syrup) as an added touch.

For the cupcake:
-After the cupcakes have cooled down, place them on your favorite serving dish.

-Using the topping that's in the piping bag, pipe the top of the cup cakes in a rosette form. To finish, drizzle chocolate sauce (I used Hershey's Chocolate Syrup) as an added touch.

It's almost been a year

You know the saying, "Time flies when you're having fun", or maybe "Time flies quicker when you're older", I'd like to state that they are true. It's either I've had a lot of fun this past year, or I am now old enough to come to terms with my age. Sigh. It's hard to imagine that, one year ago, I was still in Saratoga Springs, NY, organizing my life in order to make my move to Buffalo, WV.

Recently, I spent time with my family in Indiana, and I overheard my 5 year old niece exclaim "I can't wait til I'm older". Naturally, my first instinct for a reply was "Oh, no you don't", but it had me remembering all of my previous wonders and wants of being older. When you are young, unable to do half of the things you see others doing, all you wish for is to turn the clock to fast forward. As an adult, you wish for the time to stop, to give you the big breath that you've been needing since forever. We're humans. We always want what we can't have.

Patience is a virtue and I believe it to be true, as well. Life never seems to play out the way you thought it should (never exactly), so why not just enjoy the journey you are in? It's like making bread. You first have to create the dough, with all the ingredients like flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, and other somethings, and mix it until it is all formed together. Then you have to wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. It can be tough. Depending on the dough, it can range from 30 minute proof time to almost overnight. But why be impatient now? Why stress over a fact that needs time to work itself out? Yes, you can have factors that speeds up the process, like a warm environment for the yeasts to grow faster, but you can never skip the proofing. Anyone who's ever made bread know you have to do this step or you will end up with an inedible brick. Life can be just so. If you don't have the patience to allow yourself, or craft, or something to grow on its own, you won't get the life you deserve. And who said you can't have fun while waiting? You now have 30 min-overnight time to do other things you love. Multi-tasking is NOT against the law! And who knows, a whole year may go by without you even realizing it.

I believe my time in Saratoga Springs, and even before, was the proofing time I needed. I'm still not done growing, but when is anyone really done? All you can do is have fun and be patient. I engaged myself in this new job and I knew it was going to be hard, but I also learned to take it one step at a time. Time does fly now and I want to remember all the good times and learn from the bad ones.

And since we talked about bread, I can't go without sharing a recipe with you all. I've always trusted Alton Brown and his recipes. Below is the recipe and here's the link to find it on the Food Network's page. Very Basic Bread Recipe. It's delicious, and now you can take credit for the bread at your next party! I do suggest making this ahead of time as there are lots of down time. (Don't you even THINK about going to the frozen section of Wal-Mart and grabbing ready-made dinner rolls.)

Very Basic Bread Recipe

Ingredients

1 pound Bread Flour (extra for shaping)
1 teaspoon (tsp) instant rapid rise yeast
2 teaspoon honey
10 oz water
2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 quarts hot water
Oil for greasing the bowl
2 Tablespoon (Tbsp) cornmeal
1/3 cup water
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Method of Preparation (MOP)

-Make your pre-ferment by combining 5 oz of flour, 1/4 tsp of yeast, all of the honey, and water into a straight-sided container, cover loosely and refrigerate for 8-12 hours. Now go play!!

-After you're done playing, napping, or doing whatever, place the remaining 11 oz of flour, remaining yeast, salt and add your pre-ferment into a stand mixer bowl. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the mixture on low for 2-3 minutes until just combined. Cover the dough in the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rest for 20 minutes. Knead the dough, again, but this time on medium speed and for 5-10 minutes or until the dough is elastic. (He uses the technique of gently stretching the dough into a thin sheet that light passes through)

-While the dough is kneading, pour the hot water into a shallow pan and set on the bottom rack of your oven.

-Grease the inside of a large straight-sided container (like a loaf pan), and place your formed dough into it. Let rise for 1-2 hours. (oohh nap time again!)

-When the dough is doubled in size, turn it onto a clean counter top. Press the dough down with your knuckles until flat. Fold the dough in a tri-fold (one side towards the middle, the other on top), and repeat the process once more. Cover the dough with the kitchen towel and let rest 10 minutes.

-Flatten your dough once more. Now you are shaping it to your end product. Fold one side of the dough into itself, like a jelly roll. Flip the bread and pinch where the seam is. BE GENTLE WITH THY BREAD! Dust a sheet pan or pizza stone with the cornmeal and place your bread, seam side down, onto it. Cover with the kitchen towel and let proof another hour.

-When your bread is almost done proofing, turn your oven on to 400F. Place an unglazed terra cotta dish, or another sheet pan will do. Fill your hot water shallow pan if it's dry.

-Combine the 1/3 cup of water, and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Uncover the dough and brush the surface with the mixture. Make cool slash marks on your bread with a shard pairing knife (an X or 3 slashes like the Wolverine!). The marks should be 1/3-1/2 inch deep. Slide your bread onto your dish or pan in the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes. When the bread is 205-210F internally, or you knock on the outside crust and it gives a beautifully hollow sound, remove from the oven. Place on a cooling rack and wait til cool to slice. Now crackle that bread and enjoy! Don't forget the butter!

How do you tell a good bread is without tasting it? Not the smell, not the look, but the SOOOUUND of the CRUST.
(crackle delicious crackle beautiful crackle yum)

Recipe Courtesy of Alton Brown, Food Network

Black 31

Here I am on my birthday with my Black 31 presents. Here's to you Uncle Joey

Today is Halloween and, although it's a night of partying for many people, or spooky and sugary traditions for others, I am not bothered that I have to work this evening. As a child, due to time and other engagements, there were only a couple of times where I got dressed up and went trick or treating. Although it is a sad predicament now, it was just the kind of upbringing that made me, a kid, value the holidays. It's not always about the presents and prizes, but the food and the people and family around you. In the past five years, I've spent time with the most influential people in my life, whom I call family. And my family isn't just parents and siblings, but my culinary family, too.

Where I worked, the summer months were always the hardest because, well honestly, I was working at the Diner. Doing catering after catering while running a restaurant with a Marine at the head is like going through cooking boot camp every single day. And at the ripe age of 18, Billy D turned me into a make-it-happen machine. No matter how big or small the job, we always made it happen while putting out the best food. He was like a father pushing me daily to be better and work harder. He pushed me to get my Bachelors Degree and work for his brother, Chef Uncle Joey Desimone, whom, when I first met, snapped a picture of me in my Santa hat and said I'm going to make you famous.  Two years after that notorious picture, I spent Thanksgiving in Los Angeles and Christmas in San Francisco, working with Uncle Joey and the rest of the crew and making my dreams, of cooking for some of California's best chefs, a reality.

Year after year, my families have slowly changed. It has grown, like being a part of Kikko's family holiday traditions (where I'll be joining again this year), while others have left me with only the memories and legacies of the greats, like Uncle Joey now. Since his passing, I haven't been able to write without it being all about him. He was a hero to me because of how much my culinary Dad, Billy, looked up to him.  Life goes on through thick and thin and, sometimes, the only thing you can do is to keep living the dream.

Now, just two days after my twenty third birthday, I am reminded by how many different families I have, all over the United States, as I go through my birthday wishes I've received through Facebook or texts. I am blessed to have so many families, all by many different passions but always brought together by food.  Over the next two months, I encourage you to celebrate with the families you have around you and remember the joy and festivities you get to take part in with others during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.

Keep living the dream,

Hines

Great people come and go, but their spirits remain

A week ago yesterday, an unfortunate event, one of true sadness, occurred in the lives of Kikko and Hines. Truly more so for Hines, his mentor, great friend, his hero passed away in a terrible accident and it has shook the world of culinary and Facebook. I will, however, let Hines pay him homage of his own, in his own time. For now, I wanted to share a story of my own hero, or heroin, for that matter.

My mom has been gone for about a month or two already. We all knew grandma, or "Batian" was soon leaving us as she had been suffering from esophageal cancer for a while. I had been babysitting in the hot summers day, days before band camp started, and I was on my way home. As I looked at my driveway, I saw my dad's car, an unusual event as he was to be at work. When I get inside the house,  he looked at me and said, " I am going to Brazil. Your grandmother just passed away". He had been on his computer looking for the next flight to my home country, in hopes to be with my mother as fast as he could. My sister and I, having band camp, couldn't afford to leave, so we were staying at a friend's house until my parents returned. I remember feeling very vulnerable and in disbelief. I talked to my mom for a few minutes before she broke down and had to hang up. I was alone. I didn't enjoy the feeling, but I knew I had to be good, to be a big girl. I never truly cried once. 

Batian was the only one who seemed to understand me. Love me and care for me while others tended to show otherwise. She always played with me when  my sisters ignored me, and she always supported my random crafts even though they were useless. I always loved her from the bottom of my heart, even though I only saw her once a year or so. She was so little and fragile, and yet, you would never see her sitting around doing nothing. She was an inspiration to me. No matter what life hands you, you keep on working. 

The first time I was able to visit her grave was a year and a half after she passed away. I wasn't sure how I would feel. We made it a trip with the whole family to pay our respects.  That was the first time I cried. I had visited that cemetery so many times for my grandfather, but nothing so emotional as that moment had ever occurred to me. I was a wreck. No one, not even me, could understand why I was so upset. Until now. 

I never got the closure I wanted with her when she passed away. I was hundreds of miles away, unable to do anything for the woman who had inspired me to be strong. She was my hero. Seeing the grave with her name on it made it concrete that she was truly gone. 

Memories are a funny thing. They can bring you so many emotions of different forms. They can cause you to suffer, laugh, become mad, smile, or even bring you to a deep thought. As I sat around this week, feeling for Hines, I also remembered my loving Batian. She was one of my inspirations to cook, and if I am right, same for my mother. It's a wonderful feeling, watching a woman in your life cook for the entire family, making so many wonderful goodness and do it out of the joy of her heart. She never had culinary training. She never went to school for an extensive number of years as my sisters and I had, and yet she was one of the smartest person I had ever met. I wish, sometimes, she was still alive to be able to see me cook, be able to taste what I can make now. I just hope that she is proud of me, that's all. 

Everyone has a hero, the one who convinced them to do their best every single day. Mine was my grandmother and I miss her. Although the times are passing, I like to share a few words of wisdom with all. 

-Remember to show your love and enthusiasm every day. You never know who you are inspiring.

-Be yourself. Don't let others change your attitude because that's the environment you are in. 

-Do what you love. Don't settle for something you aren't ready or excited to do. Life is too short. 

-and last but not least, "WORK HARD AND PLAY HARDER."- Uncle Joey

Kikko