This is one of the major reasons I will miss my neighborhood when I move out next year. I am knee-deep in love with the contrast of all these quaint triple-decker houses painted brilliant colors (or sometimes not) amongst the chaos of college life and the urban decay in general. I really don't like using that term, urban decay. Makes me sound like an artsy snob.And Now!

Adventures in Cooking:
I got it in me yesterday that what I really needed was some Wife Cakes, or Lao Por Bing, and that I didn't need to buy them, I needed to make them.

So, after class, I took a trip to Chinatown and bought my ingredients...or what I could find. Only problem? Couldn't find any candied winter melon in the store (most likely due to the fact that I could read none of the labels) but instead found a giant hunk of fresh winter melon. I bought that instead. And, of course, I bought other things too. I love that grocery store in Chinatown.

That there is the wintermelon all cut up. Once I got home...I needed a recipe. And for that I must thank this other blogger for providing it. Though next time I may use this recipe, which I didn't before because I did not think I could get the Golden Syrup from my grocery store (I could...I saw it when I was there for the other baking supplies)

So...first I needed to candy that wintermelonLook at that lovely, lovely mess. First I was candying the melon, then roasted the sesame seeds and finally making the dough (which needed to sit in the fridge)

I think I should point out that I had never candied anything in my life up until this point, but am not unfamiliar with the fickle ways of incredibly hot sugars. I am now the proud owner of the leftover material of this foray in candying - a half honey half sugar mixture that is cemented into a bottle...

So then I had to make the filling

I can't help but notice...it doesn't look like the filling in that other blogs photos.
I was a little concerned, because the rice flour I had bought was not imported from China but rather was a Goya product for Mexican/Spanish cooking. I was hoping it was the same difference.

But I was too far at this point to not make it so I got my dough out and started rolling all fancy like...

With a beer bottle. Because I am nothing if not CLASSY

Then put them all in the oven! AAAAAAAAAaaand:

Ta Da! I would say it was fairly successful for a first try. A few things to note, though:

1. The pastries turned out much smaller than I would have liked (about half-dollar size) and I can not reeeaaaally taste the filling. I think I either did not flatten them enough or did not role the dough thin enough because the crust really does become thick
2. Seems to me the rice flour works fine, the insides were a little less gooey than usual but I suspect this is because I had them in the oven at the wrong temp to begin with (the recipe recipe I used said 200c and I did Fahrenheit of course)
3. Other than that, all the flavors I wanted where there
4. AND I learned how to candy fruit
5. I found this website really handy for converting all those grams to things I understood.
   

By midnight, when I finally ate one, I was pretty impressed with myself.

Also, I got myself an internship at Marvel Comics for the summer. I'll just let the awesome sink in on its own.