#7 Taro Milk Tea

     Hi everyone. I am glad to meet you guys again at my blog. Spring break is over. I had a very good time in Denver with my friends. We had a road trip enjoying the beautiful natural views in Colorado. We went to the Rocky Mountain National Park, went to shopping in downtown Denver and enjoyed the hot spring in Glenwood. The most unforgettable thing is to going skiing. It was my first time to do such exciting sport. At first, I found myself clumsy to ski as it was hard for me to take turns or stop. However, it was getting better. I took a cable car from the foot to the top of a hill and I skied down. I felt really satisfied and confident when I managed to do something I couldn't before. It was a great experience. If you have chance to go to Colorado, I highly recommend you to go skiing.
      When the exciting spring break comes to the end, we need to make our mind back to study. Today I am going to introduce taro milk tea to you, as it a good way to relax and get ready to the hard-working week. Let's begin.

How to make taro milk tea?

Step 1
What you need:
200g taro
some barley rice
2 tbsp condensed milk
80ml milk
50ml tea

Step 2
First, soak barley rice in water more than 6 hours, which helps to improve the texture. 
You can soak the barley rice one night before you make the milk tea.
Then, put them into a pot. Boil them with high heat, and then turn to light heat after boiling. It takes 30 minutes to stew.
It will be finished when 15% of them looks like blossom. 
Get them out of the pot.

Step 3
Prepare the taro. 
Both large taro and small taro are awesome. 
Cut them into thick pieces and put them into steamer, which takes 20 minutes.
Take the taro out and put them into mixer.
Add some condensed milk and milk, then mix it.

Step 4
 Make the tea. 
What I use is Wu Long tea. You can substitute with your favorite one, but I think this kind of tea is better.
Put the tea into a teapot, and wait for minutes until it smells good.

Step 5
Now boil the milk. 
Add some sugar after boiling. Make it into light, medium, heavy or holly sweet as you like.


Step 6
Then make the milk tea. 
Put barley rice first, then add the taro mash. Pour the hot milk into them. After that, mix with Wu Long tea.
Put the straw in your cup.
And enjoy!

#6 Chocolate Mousse

      Hi everyone, the Spring Break is right on the corner. I will travel to Denver with my friends. I feel so excited and I can't wait to enjoy the hot spring and the views of snow mountains. I wish my trip will be wonderful. 
         With the inspiration of the sweet trip in Spring Break, I think of a dessert to express my joyful and expectation. I think something that is made from chocolate is appropriate for it. This post is complete for those who love chocolate and cakes so much. I love sweets since early age. I really enjoy the process to make the chocolate mousse. I can't wait to show you how to make it. Let's begin right now!
       Today we are going to make Chocolate Mousse without using gelatine. It totally depends on whipped albumen and the cream, which gives it a fluffy and light taste. It's really different from the commercial ones!

Step 1

what you need:

150ml cream

50g sugar

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

150ml milk

100g dark chocolate

Step 2

Separate the yolk and egg white.

We put the yolk into one bowl and the egg white into another.

Step 3

Now we boil the milk and chocolate.

Pour milk into the pot, then add a pinch of salt.

When the milk is about to boiling, put the chocolate into the pot.

Now turn to low heat and melt chocolate in the milk.

Turn off the heat when bubbles appear on the surface.

Step 4

Pour the hot mixture into yolk.

We should pour the mixture slowly and whip it in the meantime.

Now the mixture becomes smooth.

If not, just reheat the mixture for a while.

Then put it away and let it cool down.

Step 5

Then we start to whip the egg white.

I prepare a pot of hot water and put the bowl of albumen on it, so that the steam could heat the albumen.

Now add sugar.

High temperature can kill the bacteria in the albumen and the heated albumen and sugar can form a steady structure.

The structure provides a strong support.

Do not overheat part of it, because we don't want to cook the albumen thoroughly.

After a while, use your finger to test the temperature. If you feel it is slightly warmer than your body temperature, it's done.

Then whip it until we can see the texture changes obviously.

Step 6

It is time to pour the albumen into the chocolate.

Do not put them all in together, but do it 2 or 3 times.

The technique is the same as making chiffon cake.

Fold the mixture from the bottom to the top and meanwhile rotate the bowl.

When the mixture is almost done, put it in the fridge.

Step 7

Whip the cream until you can see the texture changes obviously.

Wait for the cream to cool down, then mix the cream with the chocolate.

The technique is the same as the previous step.

Step 8

Fill the mixture into small cups.

Put them into the fridge for more than 4 hours to make the chocolate mousse condense.

You can put one spoon of the fresh cream on top before eating.

And you can also do some decorations with some chocolate shreds.

The chocolate mousse has a light texture with an intense taste. Now we can have a bite of it!

#5 Romantic Rose Syrup

     Today is the first day when we step into the daylight saving time this year. I set my alarm clock as usual, but I felt so tired when I got up. I didn't realize that the time changed last time until I checked my phone. How are your day?

      The weather changed a lot these days. However, it's getting warmer and warmer, which means that spring is coming soon. Flowers are blooming in Topeka. It reminds me of a drink-- Rose Syrup. It's such a romantic thing to drink something made from roses in spring with friends. This might be the most dreamlike food I've ever made. After reading my post, you guys will feel like you are princesses. So let's begin!

Step 1

What you need:

350ml water

350ml sugar 

17 edible roses(350g rose petal approximately)

Do not use the ornamental roses, because ornamental 
roses don't have strong flavor. 

Step 2
Clean the roses. Then pick off the petals and put them on the kitchen towel. 

Step 3
Cook the syrup. Put the same amount of sugar and water in the pot. Boil it for 3-5 minutes, until the sugar is melt.This is a basic syrup, and is frequently used when making beverages.

Step 4

Drain off the rose petals, and put them in a glass bottle. And press the petals. Then pour the boiled, hot syrup into the bottle. Cover a piece of plastic wrap and put it into the fridge for 24 hours.So the flavor and color of rose petals will be extracted out.

Step 5
After 24 hours, the syrup becomes rosy. Filter the rose petals. Now we  boil the filtered syrup. Although the high ratio of sugar can prevent the syrup from going bad, we still need to boil it one more time. It can help kill the microorganism, and the syrup can preserve for a longer time.

Cook for another 3-5 minutes, but do not boil it for too long as you might lose some of the aroma from the roses.

Step 6
Now prepare a clean and sterilized(using hot water) glass bottle. Use a funnel, pour the boiled rose syrup into the bottle. The finished product needs to be stored in the fridge. It can store up to 2 months.

    




You can use the syrups in many different ways. You can make drinks with it, pour it on top of ice cream, or make other desserts with it. The easiest way is to put some ice cubes in the glass. Do you want to know how to make tasty rose soda?

Step 1
Freeze some rose petals into the ice cube. So it loos prettier!

Step 2
Pour in the rose syrup.

Add some sparkling water. 

The ratio of the syrup and sparkling water should be 1:4 to 1:5.

Step 3
Garnish with 2 slices of lime. Stir it, and a beautiful, tasty rose soda is done!

If you don't know how to make ice petals with rose petals in it, I have a video for you. It's really clear and helpful.

Enjoy your beautiful and romantic spring. See you next week.

Photos by Amanda Tastes, July 27, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqTNclEjRF8

Video by Tom Jones, August 23, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwU7_C26if8

#4 Chilly Day, Hot Matcha

       Hi everyone. Last week was so warm and nice in February in Topeka, but this weekend became a little chilly. I got up at about 8 a.m. this morning then hung out with my host family. However, I didn't check the weather forecast before I went out my home. It was such a chilly day and I just wore T shirt. As I went out, the cool wind blew to my face. At that moment, I really wanted to stay at home and enjoy a cup of hot drink. I was thinking of some drinks of matcha, or you may call it "green tea".     

Here is a video about the matcha culture.

 

    Today I would like to show my steps to make a cup of matcha latte. It is easy, but it retain the good taste of matcha.
    Now let's begin to make Matcha Latte.
                          

Step 1
What you need:
1 cup of milk

Matcha powder

Milk frother

Step 2

Heat Mike to 65°C or 149 °F

Step 3

Add 1 1/2 tsp hot water into 1 1/2 matcha powder in your cup to dink. Mix it until it becomes thick.

Step 4
Whipped the milk with milk frother. (If you use the milk frother as mine, put it 1/3 under the milk.)

Step 5

Pour 1/3 milk into the cup with matcha powder in it.

Shake the cup of milk a little bit, then pour the rest into the cup slowly. In this step, you can do your own pull flowers latte. But I am bad at pulling flowers.

If you want to make good pulling flowers, 
it's better to use Steel Milk Frother Double Mesh Milk Creamer.

  

I have another choice for you here. If you are so busy that you don't want to make matcha latte at home, you can have green tea latte or green tea frappuccino at starbucks. 

Here is the address in Topeka.

  I hope you like my post for this week. I am a matcha lover and I like anything of matcha. I wish you could try something of matcha. It is really great!