Asian sweets→Reason to excite

The school year's almost up and now we're onto final projects and exams. IB Chemistry's done with testing, finally, so now we're working on our projects in which one portion is FOOD CHEMISTRY. Well, we say food chemistry, but what I'm really thinking is party party party. Of course, I'll be doing an experiment on the effects different acids on egg-oil emulsion in homemade mayonnaise to get an excellent project grade, but what I really want to do is make my own mochi with red bean and taro paste!

Talida's recipe here

I absolutely love red bean and taro fillings in buns and especially mochi, but these Chinese and Japanese desserts are really expensive ready-made and packaged. I live in the DC area, and as disappointing as it is for the capital of the famously diverse US, if it were a truly diverse area, our Asian markets or even our Chinatown would have excellent foods at low prices. All the more reason to want to live in Chinatown Bronx. Anyway, now that I have reason to try to make this, I'm really excited to go shopping with mom to the nearby Korean market and get my hands on the freshest taro roots and a package of red/azuki beans. I mean, I guess I'm more than welcome to buy canned red bean paste and taro paste but that would burn a whole through my wallet and possibly my heart. (I hate hate hate canned anything and I especially try my best to avoid them when I know I can make them.)

"What's a taro? It's a delicious flavor that has a taste very similar to a Buttered Popcorn flavored jelly bean!"

 Anyway, from what I've learned after researching methods is that these paste fillings are extremely easy to make! With the help of sugar and heat these beans and roots can easily become pasty and sweet enough for just about anything! I highly recommend going out to any Vietnamese store to get red bean or taro bubble drinks. I took pleasure in going to Sweet Frog today and getting myself a mix of taro frozen yogurt with cappuccino frozen yogurt topped with everything my conscience tells me not to touch, ever. Not only does that make Sweet Frog my favorite place to go to now, but it also broadens my in-the-kitchen ambitions to make red bean and taro ice cream. Just like mochi, these flavors of ice cream are crazy expensive, too. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a little too cheap for my own good because I fight with myself when I buy a standard box of four sticks of butter for about $4 and then my friend tells me that that's $1 per stick of butter and that that's standard. And you'd think I'd learn to accept 'standard' but for something like butter, each time I go shopping I cannot stand facing the reality of its price.

I'm sorry that there isn't much to today's post other than to share my excitement and readiness to start cooking! Once I start I will definitely take photos and blog more. Till then!