to ice cream with tapioca pearl toppings, to buying dried boba from our local Asian market and concocting my own *special* low-sugar-almond-milk drinks, you could say I’ve become quite the connoisseur. However, last Tuesday, I hit the peak of my bubble tea career: I made my own boba pearls. If you’ve tried bubble tea before, you probably know that the internet is riddled with articles attacking the merits of a bubble tea diet. “The sugar equivalence of 3 cans of soda” and “Carcinogenic pearls.” True, nine times out of ten webmd.com concludes you have cancer, and you probably shouldn’t believe everything you read, but it is a bit suspicious how bubble tea pearls are *so* chewy. It kind of makes you wonder. Ever since I had seen a post on the facebook group, “subtle asian cooking” (a subset of subtle asian traits), I had been dying to give making my own pearls a shot. So there we were. I had just finished an eight hour work day of pipetting and running endless gas chromatographies, and I was ready for my daily serving of bubble tea. We started when it was still bright and filmed the entire process. The lighting was great, and we balanced a meter stick on a cardboard box that sat on a home depot grade bucket to prop my phone high enough to get a birds eye view. A 24 pack of cane-sugar coke sat on the meterstick to keep it from tipping, and the phone was messily taped to the very end of the meterstick with blue tape (I wish I had a picture). At this point, we were off to a great start. Then came problem number one. In order to create the dough, the tapioca starch had to be mixed with boiling water. Else, we’d get an oobleck type dough. We were filming in my living room and planned to use a portable induction stove to heat the water -- it was a scene straight from a Buzzfeed Tasty video. If only we could figure out how to use the induction stove. The stove’s small, modern, and clean design meant there were no buttons, and as soon as we turned it on, the constant whirring followed by loud beeps (that wouldn’t stop) meant it was time for an immediate unplug. So naturally, we cheated. We heated the water on the regular stove, then, carrying the pot, ran to place it on the induction stove, re-setup the iphone, and filmed as if we had been cooking in the living room the entire time. It was messy, and we had to reheat the water several times, but eventually we had formed a clumpy light brown ball of dough. Now came the hard part -- cutting up the dough and rolling out each individual pearl. It was tedious, but there we sat: small balls of dough in our hand, and Gossip Girl playing in the background. Three hours later, the sun had long given up on us when we finally produced about one glorious cup of tapioca pearls. (For reference: we made about 3 servings of bubble tea. It took us a total of 4 hrs. 4 hrs of labor x 2 people = 8 hrs of labor. Minimum wage in Texas is $7.25. $7.25/hr x 8 hrs = $58. Therefore, if you’re interested in trying our bubble tea, we’ll be selling each cup for $58/3 = $19.33 plus the recommended 15% tip, per cup -- not including the cost of materials). :) But seriously. The boba pearls, they were magnificent. A beautiful golden brown thanks to our nifty secret ingredient (black jelly water), the perfect sweetness thanks to a pre-soak in honey, and a refreshing taste thanks to the almond milk substitution. If you have the time to spare, want to see our work, or want to give it your own go, we made a video :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ9oll03xIQ)
29 Comments
A couple of summer 2019 food snapshots (chosen not because they were delicious, although they were, but rather because all of my other photos are saved in an unsupported extension) Picture 1: BUBBLE EGG
Located in the soul of Asian cooking -- Houston's Chinatown. This place was so amazing but most definitely so overpriced ($10...is it worth?) We got a bubble waffle w/ pistachio ice cream and some yum YUM mochi on top. You're probably wondering why I didn't add any bubble tea pearls as toppings and the answer is easy. I got a bubble tea before this pic, and a bubble tea after. Picture 2: KC Donuts My heart. is. BROKEN at the idea that I can't come here after moving off to college. For over a year now KC donuts has been my favorite mom & pop family owned little bakery in Austin. Every time I go it's the exact same familiar smiles and top quality donuts. Picture 3: Mi Casa Anna and I made some bubble tea pearls (hehe) and they were definitely bomb.com so check out that blog post. Picture 4: Unknown You've tried cheese, and you've tried jam. But have you tried a goat cheese and jam burger!?!? Because this guy was DARN GOOD. Picture 5: Fat Dragon The reason I ordered this, despite never eating ramen is ez. Pork belly is my ultimate foodie weakness. Subscribe/ Stay tuned for more yummy Asian eats because ya girl is going to Asia!!!
Meanwhile, the peanut butter addition is just because I add peanut butter to literally everything -- EvEryThiNg! Real talk though, the french toast tastes amazing, makes the bagels so soft, and the glutinous rice flour makes the already chewy bagels (that’s the best part of bagels) even chewier. The black sesame isn’t too sweet and the peanut butter & black sesame combo is a match made in my ideal version of Heaven. Also, there’s no sugar added :)
Here goes: Ingredients: French toast soak:
Black sesame drizzle:
Peanut butter drizzle:
Instructions: Mash up the bananas with a fork and combine all of the ingredients for the soak. I recommend using a small/deeper container so it’s easier to dip the bagels. Dip the bagels and transfer them directly to a greased pan. Spoon the dip mixture onto the bagels while they are cooking, to give them a thicker coating. Pan-fry until golden brown and soft. For the drizzles, combine all of the ingredients for the respective drizzles and microwave for 30 seconds. You may need to tweak the ratios a bit depending on your desired consistency. Plate the bagels -- layer on the sesame and peanut butter -- and add whatever your heart desires. Serve warm! I hope you enjoy them :) This is a great, minimal sugar, recipe. Feel free to leave any tips, and definitely let me know if you want to try it out. More good content here: Instagram --> @milksandmatcha Some of the latest creations in the Chieng Kitchen :) #glutenfree #sugarfree #superfood #antioxidant #dessert #weightloss Chia seeds !! The long-raved about super-food. Chia seeds are a great low-calorie way to load your diet with protein and fiber. Especially when you're having a sugar craving, it's easy to turn chia seeds into a sugar-free, healthy, and low-calorie snack. With 137 calories per ounce, the possibilities are endless. For these four recipes, each start with a base of chia seeds and almond milk. I ALWAYS use almond milk because it's environmentally friendly, way less calories than any type of milk, and still includes a healthy dose of calcium. Recently, Hannah and I filmed a video about our tips on college essays. Admittedly, we didn't plan the video very well and looking back, I feel like it would only be just to post the video if I accompanied it with a more thorough, more thought out, and more original blog post. Some of this will be a repeat of what's in the video, and some will be new.
First, I would definitely recommend starting as soon as possible but not too early. In my opinion, when you start too early, you're not going to have great content and you may not have reached the writing skill level you'll have closer to your senior year. Personally, I wrote a lot of my essays about things that happened in the year before senior year. I started my essays in July before my senior year, and I think that was best for me. I was still busy working on college apps during my senior year, but it wasn't overwhelming. Some deadlines were a bit stressful but only because I didn't balance my time well. I started early but ended up spending WAY too much time on my first few schools instead of spreading my time out wisely. To pick colleges, I created pro/con charts for each school I put on my list. The most important thing about picking colleges is making sure that:
When I was picking schools, some things that I considered were class size, how it fit into my major of choice, opportunities (internships, undergraduate research, etc.) and the overall community (is it collaborative?). In terms of how to tackle the essays themselves, I spent the first few weeks to a month just brainstorming. I didn't rush into essays at all because half the time, you've set yourself up for failure just by choosing a bad topic. For me, I wrote down all of my values, most important experiences, and the top 10 or so things about myself on notecards, then grouped them together based on overlap. For example, leadership and Science Olympiad fell in the same category because I was a captain of our Science Olympiad team. By doing this, I was figuring out how I would cover as much about myself as possible, in the limited word counts and essays colleges gave. But also, doing the notecards gave me something to focus on in my essays. For example, if I wrote about Science Olympiad, I could know to highlight the leadership aspect. The best essays are written about things unique to you. Even if you choose a very average/ generic topic like volunteering, or being class president, you have to add "personality plus." Ways to add "personality plus":
The most important thing someone told me was this: It's easy to reject a paper. It's hard to reject a person. Throughout it all, try to insert yourself in your application as much as possible. Come across as a friend or an eager student. Come across as human. The last week has been riddled with more thinking than I could possibly imagine and it’s been exhausting. I feel lost and confused and worried I’m living my life wrong. It’s gotten better, but the amount of thinking hasn’t. Part of me wants to retreat and ignore all of the problems and worries and the other part of me wants to reach out. That’s why I’m writing here, to you. Even after everything we’ve been through and all of the times you’ve let me down, you’ll always be someone special to my life. You’ve been a metaphor that’s run its course on my life but part of me wishes you would stay. So maybe you’re here to listen, probably not. It doesn’t really matter.
It feels more meaningful to write to someone than to be trapped in the mental confines of spiraling thoughts. The truth is, I live life so busy even these past few days that I feel like I haven’t gotten a chance to breathe — even though in reality I’m constantly breathing and constantly thinking. It’s exhausting even when I sleep in, and my life feels insatiable. I don’t know where happiness lies and I don’t know where to find it. That all makes me sound like a very unhappy person, I know. That’s not exactly true. I don’t deny I feel like my part is nearly perfect..but I just feel disconnected from that perfect life. Does that make sense? I love the people around me, a lot. I feel closer to a lot of people than I have in a while. Of course, some friendships have grown distant and I’m more or less okay with that. I guess what I’m trying to say, which I’ve made no attempt to say this far, is that I feel in free fall. Everyday I wake up thinking today is the day I get my life on track and everyday is another day laziness overcomes any desires to deviate from my “stuck” lifestyle. Stuck in the sense of preventing deviation, not stuck in the sense of staying in one place. In just as confused as you are at this point. Imagine you live a normal life and one day you decide to sleepover at your friends house. But then, you keep sleeping over, you keep eating their food not your food, and it’s been a while since you’ve gone home. That’s how I feel. I’m stuck in a sleepover, which is a life that is very much mine, but I want to go home. Badly. There’s not enough hours in the day for sleepovers and home, and now I just want to be home. I am home. A lot more than I have been in a while but it doesn’t feel like home, still. It doesn’t feel like I’m breathing and maybe I need to spend 24 hours chained to this house and my family or maybe it’s a matter of disconnecting or maybe I need to communicate with the people I’ve been ghosting. Maybe I need to create another list because those always seem to work or maybe I should be talking to my best friend instead of you. So, I guess I’m reaching out and asking for some advice. Maybe a visit. Maybe a walk over the river. Thanks for messing with my head John Green. It really is Turtles All The Way Down. The first day of work! It’s so strange to think I’ve finally graduated to driving myself to work -- emphasis on driving, emphasis on work. My report time this morning was 10:00 am, which I thought was a bit late but boy oh boy, I’m in love with working here.
A bit of background, but I actually found this place because my MIT College Application Interviewer, Mark, works here. Since then, I’ve come here a second time where he gave me a tour of the place and introduced me to the various projects. In many ways, he’s been a very helpful guide and friend as I explore uncharted waters. Walking in at the wonderful time of 9:52, Mark gave me the run-down of the place, a brief tour, set me up on my very own personal Dell laptop, and gave me a folder of readings and the project proposal for what I would be working on. The project I’ll be working on deals with using fluorescence lysosome dyes to detect water toxicity. In terms of how my day looked, the morning was spent reading, and for lunch Mike (CEO(?)) took me, and the rest of the interns who began earlier than me to lunch at Juan in a Million. Most of us ordered the famous Don Juan taco - a single taco that I could only finish 1/3 of. It was SO GOOD and I would definitely recommend the place to anyone, unless you’re a hater of tex mex. In the afternoon, I spent several hours reviewing and discussing the project with the principal investigator, John, and spent the rest of my day reading some background and playing around with an arduino. Overall, I’m so grateful to be working here -- I feel like I’m being paid to learn. There’s a wonderful encouragement to work on projects even if you don’t think you’ll succeed and produce a workable end product -- working instead in the name of learning, trying new things, and gaining a productive experience. The atmosphere is great, my desk-mate intern, Austin, is great, and the people here are close-knit, friendly, and joke around. After work, I went to Shake Shack / Domain the SciFair squad (Bryce, Ananya, and Adi) and it’s just so nice to be able to have a meaningful day filled with productivity and be able to end it having fun. On to day 2 (and eating at home, because I definitely haven’t done that in a while)! Each day my desperation to fly only grows. Like Icarus, I crave to feel the wind torment my hair, rustle my clothes, and conjure tears in my eyes. Latitude 26.06, longitude 119.306, the skies are finally clear.
All aboard Shanghai Airlines -- connecting flight to Fuzhou -- call a taxi -- trek past the gates -- the gazeebos floating on beds of fish -- dent in the mountain barber shop -- up three flights of broken stairs -- pass the garlic plants rooted in old bottles -- stop. Breath. Inhale the humidity and embrace steep, unrailed dirt stairs behind the deceptive apartments to another world I've never been old enough to climb. Maybe this time. I open the door that abandons unrestricted internet and clear lungs. My memory has deceived me. I'm happier than ever before. 5 years ago, I stood outside this same apartment watching the mangoes yellow. Jetlag had woken my mosquito-sweet frame at an hour that out-raced the sun, but this little city never slept. Farmers laid their crops out on sheets along the roads, and I forfeited dimes to a an old man who baged a bundle of vegetable with his right arm and left stub. All around are plastic stools and a poverty and stench for only the strongest. At the peak of day I'd shed the safety of our apartment again, chasing the sweetness of bubble tea, a taste unlike any FDA regulated American drink. A small child satisfied so easily, I never wanted to leave. Finally, halfway through Senior year, I crave to return, but no longer for the food, endless shopping, and relentless attention in the form of money filled red envelopes from relatives. It's not a chance to discover what my heritage means, figure out where I belong, or even spend time with family. This time, it's because I'm finally old enough to drive my own scooter through the unpaved roads. The freedom of self-exploration. I've viewed this country through the lens of my parents. As I've matured, I recognize just how different this place is, but also how little I know about it without the instruction and safety of my parents holding my hand up the three flights of stairs. I want to learn to survive on broken Chinglish, navigate an over complicated bus system, and learn to survive here on my own. It's terrifying to leave a safety net, but in a place as culturally significant to me as my family's hometown, it's important. |
AuthorLearn more about me here. Archives
June 2020
Categories |