❤ From This Day Forward ❤

Many of you may already know, that Keith and I officially tied the knot on March 12, 2016. We have been living together since 2 years ago, and have been talking about spending the rest of our lives together since November of the same year.

 

We have the same cultural background yet extremely different upbringings, and we have the same values yet opposite personalities. As every relationship has it's ups and downs, we did too. We worked through them and will continue to work on them. We will continue to be us, each in our own unique way, but appreciate and support each other, with our eyes on the road, hands held tight. We will be each others' home, a safe place, but encourage each other to thrive, to soar, and be the best we can be. We will continue to make each other laugh, and be there for each other during tough times. Because everyday, we renew our decision to be each others' life partner, and because we love each other, despite our differences.

 

Our rings, which we don't really wear. Engraved: Team JK

We had originally planned on getting married in our home on May 1st (the May 1st that hasn't happened yet) and live broadcast it so everyone can join in. But we had to move the date to March due to a family emergency (luckily things are much more stable now). I've always wanted my wedding to be unique and unconventional, and I definitely got my wish. We ended up getting married in the ICU, in the presence of Keith's family while skyping my parents in. We received lots of love from Keith's family and my coworkers, but I never knew that I would miss my family so much and wished they were there in person.

Love and wishes from family and friends

With every that went on, we weren't sure if we could still go on our annual adventure. Fortunately, things are stable and looking good so we will be traveling to Tokyo & Taiwan in 2 weeks! We will explore the different neighborhoods of Tokyo, head over to Taiwan for a professional wedding photo shoot, spend a few days with family, then head to Taipei and shove our faces in all the yummy goodness Taipei has to offer before coming back.

So stay tuned as I work to post new photos and updates about our trip!

xoxo

港式蘿蔔糕 Cantonese Style Radish Cake

It's been a long time since I've posted anything and I apologize for that, but life has been very busy, which I will try to write about maybe in my next post.

Today, however, I'd like to talk about one of my favorite dishes - the Cantonese Style Radish Cake. This "cake" is a compacted rice flour savory dish that I grew up eating for breakfast. However, you can eat it for whatever meal you like, because it is ultimately more of a snack dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 large Daikon radish
• 2-3 Chinese sausages (there are a few types of flavours, but feel free to use any of them)
• 8-10 Chinese or Shitake mushrooms (I like mushrooms a lot so I tend to put more than other people)
• 100-200 grams of ground pork
• 1 packet of rice flour (make sure it's not sticky rice flour but just regular rice flour)
• Ginger, about the size of your thumb
• 2-3 chopped garlic
• 2 green onions
• 1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• Salt, to taste
• 1-2 tbs of oil

The reason the ingredients seem to vary in quantity/weight is because it really depends on the individual how flavourful or plain they like their radish cake to be. The radish cake I grew up with in Taiwan tend to not have anything in them, whereas the Cantonese style radish cake has a lot of ingredients added. So, as long as you can get the final consistency sort of like mud (sorry I really can't think of anything else that accurately describes it), then it really doesn't matter what you put in it.

Directions:

1. Shred the daikon radish using a grater, set aside in bowl
2. Put a little oil in a wok or pan, heat it up first, throw in the garlic, ginger, and green onions, fry for about 1 minute
3. Put the ground pork, sausage, and mushroom in. Stir fry for 4-5 minutes, then add in Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, and salt and continue stirring for another 2 minutes.
4. Finally, add in the daikon radish and stir until fully cooked (about 10-15 minutes, the radish should appear almost transparent when fully cooked). The stir fry would be fairly watery, which is ok.
5. Let chill for half an hour, then mix in the rice flour. Make sure the final consistency is still fairly fluid but quite sticky. (Tip: if you like your radish cake soft and silky, make it more watery; if you like your radish cake to taste fairly carby, then make it thicker) Pour mix in container to steam wish and smooth the top (I usually use a metal dish).
6. Steam for 20-30 minutes, then let cool.

There are a few ways of eating the radish cake, you are welcome to eat it directly after it is cooked, or, we usually keep it in the fridge overnight to fully harden, slice it, then pan fry it and eat with Siracha sauce and cilantro. Enjoy!