A frothy latte you can make with matcha powder and either a cocktail shaker or a mini frother.
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I made an easier version of ginger milk tea that involves no frothing in the blender.
Read MoreAs an over-consumer of food magazines and Pinterest images, I've come to miss the cookie and cake pictures this month.
Now that the holidays are over, it seems like many of us have taken a hiatus from baking. January is supposedly the time for salads and soups and juice cleanses, right? At least, that's what all the cooking magazines are telling me.
And healthy-eating-wise, I've been doing okay so far. I don't get bagels with cream cheese or pizza slices three or four times a week anymore. But the baking? No no no. It's so impossible to ween myself off it that I'm not even going to try.
Green tea pound cake is one of those foods that just has a lovely sound to it. It's fragrant, light, complex, yet indulgent at the same time. As for this particular cake, the texture is nice and buttery like a pound cake should be, but also airy and doesn't make you feel weighed down, even after a eating a few slices more than you should.
Read MoreSometimes I bake late at night as a way to wind down after a long day of work in front of the computer. Mostly chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies, but sometimes pies, if I'm feeling a bit ambitious. (We're talking 10:30 or 11pm, after all.) Yes, there are countless nutritionists who'll tell you that late-night eating is bad for you. But I'll go out on a limb and claim that smelling freshly baked cookies close to bedtime and even eating one or two has the same soothing effect that a glass of milk before bed does.
Lately, though, I've been switching gears and baking shortbread instead. I don't know why shortbread hasn't been on the regular rotation until now. It's such a simple thing to whip up, and pretty quick, even with the time it takes to chill the dough. Laurie Colwin called it "the essence of butter". Yet, it doesn't feel as heavy as a cookie loaded with chocolate chips. Whether that is a good or bad thing is up to you.
Last week for a blogger potluck at Gojee's headquarters in Soho, I made a batch of Earl Grey Shortbread with bits of Earl Grey tea spotting throughout. Like the other great blogger dishes - Kian's Yunnan-style shrimp fried rice, Veronica's Goan shrimp curry, Chitra 's curried and creamed kale, Cathy's vegetarian chili, and Paul and Steve's cheddar-blue fricos, Barb's tiramisu, and a handful of others - it was gone by the end of the night, except for a few crumbs.
Read MoreThere are many things about the US that I started missing immediately after arrival in China: unrestricted internet, entertaining TV, concept of "personal space", the use of bleach and other disinfectants in public restrooms, just to name a few.
Then there are the foodstuffs that, after months of searching, I came to realize are simply impossible to find. Chinese beers may cost pennies, but anything with actual hops are 3 times the Stateside price. Vegetables are insanely cheap, but good luck finding a decent box of cereal for less than $8. Markets have massive bins of Sichuan peppercorn and any dried seafood you'd desire, but I can't find cardamom anywhere in the city.
Therefore, friends and loved ones who go abroad are essential to a worldly cook's sanity. When Jacob returned from his last trip to Hungary, he toted back not only foie gras (hugs!!!), truffles (hugs!!!), and a plethora of Eastern European liquor (drunken hugs!!!), but also whole cardamom and cloves. It's amazing how much those two spices can automatically freshen up your kitchen cabinets. And it was fitting we would take turns making tons and tons of chai.
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This cinnamon and ginger tea, served cold, is possibly the perfect drink for both summer and fall.
Read MoreI guess I could have also called this Hibiscus Mojito Granita, but that sounds a little hokey.
My experimentations with tea desserts continue. Since my Rose Tea Rice Pudding was a success, I moved on to hibiscus tea, another tisane I bought at Maliandau, Beijing's tea street.
Hibiscus tea is also known as roselle in Southeast Asia, red sorrel in the Caribbean, and karkady in the Middle East. Among other benefits, it contains vitamin C and is believed to lower blood pressure. All that is wonderful, but my main concern on yesterday's 30 degrees Celsius afternoon, was how to incorporate hibiscus into a frozen dessert.
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