The Shared Korean Meal / May 10, 2016 by Cynthia Raub

Korean Green Onion and Seafood Pancakes (Pan Jun) and Korean Soft Tofu Stew (Soondoobu Jjigae)

When I was eight years old, a neighbor invited me over for a meatloaf dinner. I had no idea what to expect but he quelled my fears by telling me I could eat as much ketchup as I wanted. Having that meatloaf was a revelation. To my inexperienced palette, it was a burger patty unencumbered by the bun and vegetables. The transparent mashed potatoes from a box didn't require chewing, and I loved every fluffy mouthful. After that dinner, I was no longer satisfied with the Korean meals that were prepared by multiple hands in my home. I craved ketchup and not anchovies. I wanted a moulded meat patty not a pan-fried fish, with it's shriveled and cooked eyes looking sideways at me. Why did I have to eat vegetables seasoned with sesame seed oil when other kids got to eat mashed potatoes?

I begrudgingly ate the Korean food that was prepared in my childhood home, but I didn't come to love Korean cuisine until my mom opened a restaurant (RIP "The Rock"). I waited tables in the restaurant every weekend from 16 years-old until it closed when I was 27, and it was over those 11 years, that I understood how special Korean cuisine is and how hard my mom worked to provide for me. (You're the best, mama! Happy belated Mother's Day!) Korean food is complex, in that a Korean meal includes a myriad of textures, temperatures, and an enormous variety of foods. I'm sharing two of my favorite recipes from my mom's restaurant kitchen with you. They share ingredients to simplify your shopping, and they really compliment each other for a balanced and delicious meal.

I'm glad that I have come to my senses and now appreciate Korean food wholly in the wisdom of advanced age. Eating Korean food connects me to the love and care that surrounded me as a child. My hope is that my children learn to appreciate and love the cuisine of my family as they grow too.

Korean Green Onion and Seafood Pancakes (Pa Jun)

Korean Soft Tofu Stew (Soondoobu Jjigae)

The Shared Pasta and Spring Vegetables / May 3, 2016 by Cynthia Raub

asparagus fava beans and pea salad with gremolata and mozzarella served with fresh pasta

I was probably about 10 years old when I first saw Mary Ann Esposito on PBS's Ciao Italia make fresh pasta. I was mesmerized as to how flour and egg transformed into a taut golden sphere, then rolled out into sheets and cut into elegant ribbons of pappardelle. Since then, I've watched countless cooks, in person and on television, roll pasta, but I've never felt confident enough to try it myself. When I told Amy I signed up to bring a spring vegetable side dish to a potluck, (Yep! Another one . . . ) she suggested fresh pasta to accompany it. Luckily, as the brave and confident cook that she is, she was eager to make it for us. As we rolled the pasta together, we were practically screaming and dancing around, saying how exciting it was and how it was actually . . . turning out! After we boiled our first batch and dressed it with butter and parmesan, we quickly dug into the bowl together. We danced, we high-fived, and in that euphoric moment, we might have vowed to never eat boxed pasta again.

It was very satisfying to make something so readily available, by hand and from scratch. The luscious, tender noodles were delicious - but the experience of creating it and enjoying it with a friend was delightful and just as memorable as seeing pasta rolled for the first time as a child.

Follow us to the recipes:

Asparagus, Peas and Fava Beans with Gremolata and Mozzarella

Fresh Egg Pasta

The Shared Pretzels and Smoothies / April 26, 2016 by Amy Cantu

Pretzels and smoothies came about the way most of my meals do; it was a product of an intense craving for something sinfully carb-y and buttery. Which was followed by a need to balance it out with something more nutritious (but still delicious . . . obviously). Enter these pretzels. Ever since a friend (months ago) mentioned that she used to make homemade pretzels with her dad, the idea of soft pretzels still-warm-from-the-oven, (I want that to be a one word description for all fabulous baked goods,) has been knocking around in my head. I finally couldn't take it anymore. (I eat my feelings . . . often.) After reading at least a dozen recipes for soft pretzels, this one called to me with its ease and speed (no long waits begging for the dough to rise faster) and the oh-so-buttery (also should be one word) tops. Which brings me to the smoothies. I happen to have a friend that concocts brilliant smoothies that taste better than anything I've ever ordered at a smoothie bar. I asked her to whip one up to make me feel better about my buttery pretzel eating, but because she loves me (and two is always better than one), she made TWO smoothies for us to split. Here is a woman who gets me and my multiple personalities with food.

Buttery Soft Pretzels

The Green Canteen Smoothie

Purple Rain Smoothie

The Shared Thai Fish Cakes / April 19, 2016 by Amy Cantu

I have been biding my time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to hit my dad up for his recipe for Tod Mun - Thai fish cake fritters. These savory fried morsels make me really happy - the kind of happy where all my deep-fried dreams come true (because really, all of my dreams involve food and anything deep-fried is by nature, dream-worthy). My son's preschool hosted a Multi-Cultural Event to celebrate the community's different heritages and as a fundraiser for New Child Fundamentals, a non-profit that supports children and their families. Voila! The perfect opportunity presented itself, and you better believe that I called Grandpa Audy immediately for this recipe. So we gathered together in my kitchen to fry up a batch of these crispy and *mildly* spicy fish cake fritters (these are preschoolers after all). My son gobbled up three of them before we even got these to school, and when they finally made their appearance, they disappeared in five minutes flat. You snooze, you lose (or just make them yourself)!

Tod Mun (Thai Fish Cakes) with Cucumber-Peanut Relish

The Shared Brunch / April 12, 2016 by Cynthia Raub

Parenthood is terrifying. It’s incredibly fun, fulfilling, exhausting, as well as physically, mentally and emotionally taxing. I have two children, and I was a much better parent before I had kids of my own! So having multiple children does not make you an expert. (I actually have less of a grip on parenting now, than when I had one newborn.) When someone has a baby, I like to bring them a meal to say: 1) I’m here to hold (and smell) your baby, 2) I’m sorry you will never sleep the same again, and 3) Welcome to the tribe. A new friend had her first baby, and I wanted to bring her and her husband some yummies that could be enjoyed at several different temperatures (hot coffee and warm meals are impossible with a newborn). I wasn’t sure if they had a meal train set up for them, so I decided to play it safe and bring them brunch foods instead of a dinner meal. I made an all-occasion Swiss Chard and Leek Crostata - one of my standards that is always appropriate, delicious, and fool-proof. As luck would have it, Amy was experimenting with making yogurt and granola and wanted to contribute to the meal too!

Swiss Chard and Leek Crostata

Olive Oil Granola

Homemade Yogurt

The Shared Pizza and Salad / April 5, 2016 by Amy Cantu

My kid was begging me to have pizza for lunch. Normally I would probably try to distract him and get him to forget about his request, but this day I saw a fun opportunity for us to bond over mixing together the stretchy pizza dough and scattering toppings over the crust. Also, I am obsessed with this recipe for Broccoli Cooked Forever and all the different ways that I can eat it. Why not on pizza??? The soft, umami-rich broccoli gets smeared all over the pizza crust and topped with stretchy, milky fresh mozzarella and shards of sharp and nutty parmesan. Yes. I want to eat that. Even the kid wants to eat that! This easy-peasy recipe for pizza dough makes enough for two crusts, so for pie #2, we dug around the fridge and found a good nub of fontina, a small chunk of red onion, a package of Canadian bacon, and some grape tomatoes. Last (but not least), this shared pizza meal needed a crunchy salad and some good friends to make it complete. Luckily, we had the makings for both!

Pizza Two Ways

Broccoli Cooked Forever

Pancetta Caesar Salad

The Shared Mexican Meal / March 29, 2016 by Cynthia Raub

beef fajitas and coconut tres leches cake

Sometime last year, I had Amy and our friend Puja over for an intimate brunch potluck. I made a crostata and a simple fruit salad, Puja made a delicious quiche with her very own fresh hen eggs, and Amy brought a sinfully moist Coconut Tres Leches Cake. I have been craving that cake since the first bite I took last year. I mentioned my longing of eating it again and she offered to make it for us! I got excited, and maybe a little sweaty, and my mind began to race in delicious ways I could repay her for helping to satisfy my craving. Since we couldn't eat just cake for dinner (well, WE could. But we have children and husbands that need wholesome and nutritive meals blah blah blah . . . ) so I decided to make beef fajitas for both of our families. You can learn a lot about a person and how they build and eat their fajita. My kids ate the soft and fresh tortilla first, then nibbled on the meat and were persuaded to finish their peppers and onions so they could partake in Amy's dessert. Amy's tortillas were a lot like mine: ridiculously full on the verge of collapse. It was another reminder of why we get along so well and how fun it is to cook and eat with her.

Steak Fajitas and Guacamole

Coconut Tres Leches Cake

Pico de Gallo

The Shared Thai Food / March 22, 2016 by Amy Cantu

Pineapple Fried Rice and Tom Yum Soup To-go

At some point, everyone always asks me if I cook Thai food, to which I say, why would I need to to? My dad makes me awesome Thai food whenever I want! (And better Thai food than I would ever make, too.) I asked my dad, Audy, to make a couple of his favorite Thai food dishes with us, so Cynthia and I could revel in his Thai cooking prowess. He worked his way around the kitchen with such deft speed, that it was hard to keep with him! We were constantly trying to stop him to weigh or measure out his ingredients, because like many wonderful home cooks, my dad cooks by “feel” or “sight”. Oh yes, this looks like the right amount of rice (after scooping a few heaping spoonfuls into a bowl) or just a few more shakes of fish sauce. All I can say is that after a whirlwind of chopping (lots of chopping), frying, and simmering, Cynthia and I were gifted enough mouth-watering food to feed both our families, plus extra for my dad and mom to enjoy for dinner, as well. It was worth the kitchen sprint!

Audy's Pineapple Fried Rice

Audy's Tom Yum Soup