HI Cookery is 1!

April 11: HI Cookery Blog Anniversary

Dia duit and aloha! We launched our blog on April 11, 2010, as a personal project to chronicle our cooking adventures, share recipes with family and friends and get experience in digital media. Instead of a recipe, this post is a reflection of our first year.

Maintaining a blog most definitely keeps us busy! It is a time-consuming process to shop for ingredients, “cook the calendar,” style and photograph various dishes, write about what the recipe means to us and do all the technical uploading to the site. Sometimes it is fun (we are especially encouraged by readers’ positive feedback) and sometimes it is frustrating (see our Food Flops page). We are amazed at how other food bloggers can maintain their sites so frequently as we realize that this hobby requires discipline! But HI Cookery is our labor of love.

We hoped to have better photography skills and added more video and audio features this past year. Islander’s little Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera has gone through a lot of abuse to photograph the cooking process; it has survived the stains and stickiness while she took step-by-step pictures for the visual tutorials. Highlander’s bigger Canon Rebel digital camera is older and bulkier but it served us well in capturing the final food shots, most especially when one of our photo entries for Ham and Leek Tarts was accepted into the highly-selective FoodGawker site. We thank Islander’s brother, Kahuna, who produced our first YouTube video for the Oreo Turkey Cookies and helped us post our first audio file for Hawaiian Hurricane Popcorn.

Other HI Cookery blog supporters we want to acknowledge are Lisa L., our frequently mentioned friend, for sending us interesting international ingredients; the MacTweets network, a macaron-making community, for the opportunity of exchanging ideas in the blogosphere; our family and friends for sharing their food-related memories and recipes; co-workers and students for being guinea pigs eating our culinary creations; and our subscribers and readers for visiting and commenting. We thank you all for motivating us throughout our first year of food blogging.

We are proud of what we have been able to accomplish so far. Our main goal for the next year is to fill in the blanks in our new Cook the Calendar page. We look forward to trying more new recipes and sharing familiar favorites in future posts.  We appreciate everyone who has joined us in our journey of cooking and blogging. Have a happy cyberspace celebration with Highlander and Islander on HI Cookery’s first blog-o-versary!

Notes

• As of today’s first blog-o-versary date, there have been 165 posts published, with Cookie Monster Cupcakes being the most viewed.
• Our blog has challenged us to try “ethnic and eclectic” recipes and get out of our comfort zone. Cooking new dishes has broadened our tastes and enhanced our interests in cultural cuisines.
• Several other recipe posts have been already scheduled. Sometimes we cook in advance to compensate for when our time is dedicated to work or travel. We try to post early on the food holiday or feast day, in case blog readers are inspired to cook the dish of the day and can plan ahead and prepare their menus accordingly.
• Have any other food bloggers gained weight during their first year?!?! It sounds like a good excuse anyway to blame the blog!
• All good things, like our blog, is made possible by the grace of God.

Chinese Almond Cookies

April 9: National Chinese Almond Cookie Day

In kindergarten, Islander was the Chinese queen on the ethnic court for May Day at her elementary school in Hawaii. In junior high, she learned how to make Chinese almond cookies in a required home economics class. In college, she and Monica C. from Taiwan were roommates for more than a year at a university in the Midwest. Now she continues to observe some Chinese traditions whenever she can, which can be a challenge when there is not a large Asian community in the area.

Chinese New Year is probably the biggest cultural holiday Islander would celebrate. Although she does not cook a lot of auspicious foods for the occasion, one lucky dish she would make is Chinese almond cookies. Fortunately, there is a National Chinese Almond Cookie Day and she could bake up a batch with the same recipe she has used since junior high. But these crisp confections can be enjoyed not just on Chinese New Year and National Chinese Almond Cookie Day but throughout the year!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable shortening (we use and recommend Crisco brand)
• 1 cup sugar, granulated white
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 2 ½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tube red frosting (optional)
• slivered almond pieces (optional)

Directions

In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream the vegetable shortening with the sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and almond extract. Gradually add the flour mixture.

Knead until a smooth dough is formed. Roll into one-inch balls. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, leaving space between each cookie. Flatten the balls with the base of a drinking glass or cup. Make a dent in the middle with the end of a chopstick or cooking rod or a finger.

Drop a dot of red food coloring in each dent. Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Add a little red frosting in the middle of the dent. Top with a piece of slivered almond. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool to a crisp. Yield: Approximately 3 – 3 ½ dozen.

Notes

• Learn more about Chinese New Year foods at the Food Museum website.
• For additional tips on making Chinese almond cookies, read an article in the Honolulu Advertiser.
• Search our blog for other cookie recipes.

Empanadas

April 8: National Empanada Day

Empanadas, dumplings, turnovers, pasties, samosas, pierogis, calzones, baozi—these dough-filled delicacies are called different things in different cultures and we have eaten various versions of these at food festivals, restaurants or our international friends’ get-togethers.  For National Empanada Day, we focus on the Filipino meat-filled pastry. The recipe is influenced from its Spanish roots and is simplified by the use of packaged pie crusts.

Recipe

(Adapted from Filipino Foods)

Ingredients

• ½ pound of lean ground beef, pork or chicken
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small potato, peeled and diced
• salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ cup raisins
• oil for frying the filling
• 1 package (15 ounces) refrigerated pie crust
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet and brown the ground meat. Add the onions, garlic, potatoes, salt and pepper and sauté until the potatoes are cooked through.  Stir in the raisins. Drain any grease from the skillet and let the filling cool.

Prepare the dough. If frozen, thaw the pie crusts as directed on the package. Roll out the dough and use a 2 ½ inch cookie cutter or rim of a glass to cut out circles. Place about 1 ½ teaspoons of filling in the middle. Wet the edges of the dough with a little water to help seal it together. Press the edges of the empanadas with the tines of a fork.

If using a dough press, cut out circles with the bottom of the press. Lightly grease the press before putting the dough on top. Place filling in the middle. Wet the edges of the dough with a little water to help seal it together. Close the press and carefully remove the empanadas.

Place the empanadas on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Brush the tops with egg wash.  Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until brown. Serve hot.

Notes

• Avoid overfilling the dough or the empanadas will explode!
• An egg wash gives the dough a nice golden gloss.
• Empanadas can also be deep fried instead of baked.
• Search our blog for recipes posts on other dough-filled delicacies.