Ginger Surprise

From the last time I made ginger cupcakes, I had some a few sweet ginger concoctions left over that I wanted to make use of. First, always reserve your ginger syrup from the candying process and make a well deserved cocktail for yourself. That's what I did with my ginger syrup and now I want to go get some more ginger just to make the syrup for the cocktails. It's also a great idea to share drinks with friends, so good thing a friend visited today. Thanks for giving us a reason to drink today!

I also had some candied ginger left, so I made some ginger walnut cookies. A special lady I know loves ginger, so I made some the other day and shared it with her. I do believe she likes them, she did finish one while I was visiting, then again, she always does and I later find out she hates something I've made, so who knows.



So very refreshing and not strong at all. The combination of different citrus fruits is just right.

All the ingredients (minus the orange): lime, lemon, ginger syrup,
lime and lemon juice, mint syrup, vodka, and mint.

Left: muddled mint and lime wedges                   Right: everything mixed together, ready to drink

Ginger Mint Cocktail

40 mint leaves

1/2 cup orange juice

1 large lemon, juiced

1 lime, juiced
1 lime, cut into wedges

4 tablespoons ginger syrup
4 tablespoons mint syrup**

1/4 cup vodka

1. Place mint and lime wedges into a pitcher and muddle with a wooden spoon.
2. Add juices, syrup, and vodka. Mix until incorporated.
3. Strain into glasses filled with ice.

**Mint Syrup: equal parts sugar and water (1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar) and a few mint leaves (I used 10 for 1/2 cup of water and sugar)

Ginger Walnut Cookies

1 cup flour

1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/6 cup candied ginger
1/2 tablespoon grated ginger
1/8 cup chopped walnuts or almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix flour and salt, set aside.
3. Cream sugar and butter.
4. Add grated ginger, candied ginger, and walnuts to butter. Mix until incorporated
5. Add flour, mix until incorporated.
6. Shape into balls and place evenly on baking tray.
7. Gently press down on each cookie so make a 1/3 inch disc.

8. Bake cookies for about 20 minutes, the tops of the cookies should be slightly golden.

Price breakdown
Ginger*: $1.00 (bought them for super cheap at the Asian market, 79 cents per pound)

Ginger Mint Mojito
Mint: free
Syrup: free
Limes: $1.00 (10 for $1.00)
Lemon: $0.96 (6 for 96 cents)
Orange juice: $1.49

Ginger Short Bread Cookies
Almonds: free (I bought a bag at CVS for $4.99 and used my $5.00 extrabucks, so it was free!)
Everything else I already had in the refrigerator or pantry.

Total: $3.45

*I candied all the ginger and made about 1.5 cups of candied ginger and 2 cups of syrup. I'm excited for the future!

Life and it's Many Stepping Stones: The Hmong Wedding

Life is constantly changing and sometimes I simply don't accept it until I'm a part of it. I'm always amazed by people who can make life-changing decisions, because I've always been a bit afraid of change. But over this past week, I was part of a beautiful change, one that I've been anticipating for a very long time now. But I have to admit, looking back now, I'm still adjusting to this change.

Two weeks ago, two of my closest childhood friends got married, to each other. There was our gang of five year olds who grew up playing in dirt together, and as the years passed, each one of them has gone on with their own lives and now most of them are either married or married with children. And now that these two are married, there's only a few of us left to bear the pressure and worrisome questions of our future as forever single individuals.

The drive north, stopping for lunch. What's on the menu: boiled chicken, rice, and cucumbers
(this is what's one the menu for the entire wedding).

Nonetheless, this weekend was a reminder to me that no matter where life takes you, you will end up where you're suppose to with who you're suppose to be with if it's meant to be.

I wanted to take this space and explain a little bit about the proceedings of a traditional Hmong wedding, but as I got 1/10 of the way into it, I realized I was leaving out too much details and I started to feel like I was writing a book, because that's what a discussion on such a topic requires. I deleted the five page essay I wrote and decided to do something simpler, something more informal, and this is what we have, a brief blog post.

Wedding and dowry negotiations the night before the wedding.
If a dollar amount is not agreed on, they will be no wedding.
This process can take a few hours or a few days. We were up only until 2 am.

Left: butchering a whole pig for the wedding
Middle and left: the mej koob offers each male member of the family 2 shots and a piece of chicken, not too sure what this process entails (let me know if you do)

Top 2 pictures: drinking, no hands
Bottom left: parties from both the bride and groom sides dissect the beck of the chicken to foretell the marriage of the couple, whoever gets a negative reading must drink (saib yaig)
Bottom right: wedding song

Left: the send off chicken, wishes the bride luck in life as well as any other lady who shares the chicken
Middle: as we leave the parents of bride's house, the mej koob divides a whole chicken between mother and daughter
Right: before we leave, anyone from the bride's family can give the green lady (equivalent to a maid of honor) a drink as a token of her acceptance of a new family member

This particular wedding took place in Oregon and thus there was a 12 hour trip involved, but it was well worth it, both ways. There were 12 of there crammed into a 12 passenger van, and all they way there and back we all slept, so major thanks to our driver who safely delivered us to Oregon and home again.

Granola Bars

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Today, very bright and early, the man-friend (because we're too old to call them boys, and they're too old to be called boys, though they act like boys most of the time) decided he will escape any prep work for our fourth of July celebrations, and go biking. Being the wonderful person that I am, I decided to make him some granola bars  for him to make sure he does not keel over during his 50 mile ride.

Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bars

1 cup oats
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp honey (I used the ginger syrup I had left from my candied ginger)
4 tbsp corn syrup
1 egg white
1/2 cup raisins
3 tbsp chopped almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. 
2. Mix wet ingredients together in one bowl. Mix dry ingredients together in another bowl.
3. Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until evenly distributed. The granola should stick together but no liquid should pool at the bottom (if there is excess liquid, add another tablespoon of oats and stir again).
4. Pour the granola out into a small baking pan lined with parchment paper and mold it into the shape you want
5. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until granola is lightly browned on top and no longer feels wet.
6. Allow to cool, and cut into bars.

Price breakdown:
Free!

I actually had all these ingredients in my pantry. And if you're reading the rest of my recipe posts and find that most of the prices are free, it's because I modify recipes to fit whatever ingredients I have on hand. I also just try to make things with what I have already. I wouldn't have made granola bars if I did not have oats or raisins. I would've substituted more ginger syrup in place of corn syrup, but for some reason I had corn syrup (oh, I made sneakers once).