Boba Tea Drinking a break or breaking for a drink

To my boba ladies - SN, SH, HK

I need a break.  Its always at the end of the year - the months of May and June where I feel my tension rise at rapid rates and the desire to scream comes far more often than it should.  Its the season of schedule changes, camp signups, changes in students, preparation for vacation, and all in all the complete mish mash of tasks that I have before me.  (Im not counting the regular stuff that still needs to get done in all this.)

I admit that I easily get overwhelmed at this time and find myself wanting to crawl somewhere to try and catch my breath - as if that would even be possible.  But still.  I think about it.  I dont often do it, but I do think about it.

Ive found, however, that making boba tea helps me.  Its kind of counterintuitive as Im amping my body full of caffeine and sugar and carbs, but something in the process helps me calm down.  I dont know if its the kind of precise detail required in making boba, or if its the fragrance of the tea, or perhaps its simply that the kids start getting mellow when they learn that Ill be making them boba.  Whatever the case, boba making calms me down and its an excuse to have friends over to drink and chew with me.

In case youre unfamiliar boba or bubble tea, Ill simply just say its like drinking something and having something to chew while you drink.  Some of my non-boba fans have described the texture of the tapioca pearls, or boba, as being similar to gummy bears.  One even mentioned it was like drinking tea while chewing flavorless gummy bears.  Ill assure you its way better than that, although some people may  take some time to getting used to it.  

These days, it seems that bubble tea shops or boba tea shops are popping up everywhere, with lines that go out the door.  Ill admit, in the early days of my quest to do this boba thing at home, I was frustrated and I thought to myself that having boba made by someone else was well worth it.  I feel much less that way now, as Ive been working on my boba tea practice and method and Ive gotten it down to a pretty decent science, at least a science that works for me.  I find my home method offers me more flexibility in tea flavors, a freedom from artificially flavored syrups with their artificial colors, and an ability to control the sweetness level and how its sweetened.  I can use higher quality cream (like organic cream instead of non dairy creamer) and I can reduce the amount of waste in that I use glass mason jars instead of disposable plastic cups.  The straws I still havent figured out how to get around, but I think glass jars are a dramatic improvement.

I divide the work of boba tea into two tasks - make boba and make tea.  I like to focus on one and do the other afterwards.  Boba requires time, an hour of it, and its important to time this hour well.  Tea requires precision of time - oversteep your tea, and no matter how much sugar you try and add to fix your error, you cant.  I know this from experience.  

Making the Tapioca Pearls
The most important element of this is finding THE RIGHT PEARLS.  My own personal struggle to source these darn cassava root balls (you read that correctly - cassava root) has led me down several roads of extreme frustration.  I couldnt find them in a search of 7 Asian grocery stores in the Bay Area, so I turned to online sources.  There are plenty of online sources, but the shipping tends to be fairly hefty unless you luck out and find one on Amazon prime, which is what Ive been able to do a couple of times.  However, brands that are reputable and have a following (despite their lower rating on Amazon) are:

Tea Zone Boba (which is used at some of the tea shops around the nation)

Bolle Boba - Ive heard that some Asian markets on the east coast sell this.

Possmei - this is the brand Ive been using, and I snatch it up when its available on Amazon Prime.

Do not bother with "instant" boba pearls (ones that take 5 minutes or less) because quite simply, they arent the same thing at all.  Those have other starches in them (namely potato) and they wont give you the springy proper boba texture you are looking for.  A great blog post which basically goes through all the boba brands you shouldnt be buying is this one.

This process takes 60 minutes.  Not 55 or less.  60 minutes.  Ive heard of rice cooker methods and microwave methods, but I think the best method is boiling.

How to make boba pearls
2 cups of uncooked boba pearls
12 cups of water
1/3 cup of honey

The nature of these boba pearls is that they crumble easily.  Take time to sift out some of the crushed pearls powder so that the cooking liquid doesnt become too thick.

In a large pot, bring 12 cups of water to a rolling boil.  Once water is boiling, add all at once 2 cups of boba pearls.  Gently, with a spatula or wooden spoon, give a slow stir to help the boba not all stick to the bottom.  Within a 20 seconds, most of the boba should float up to the top.  I know youre thinking that these brown balls dont look like the black boba that youre used to, but they will be transformed in their hot water bath.

Once the water begins to boil again, reduce heat to a low boil and allow boba to cook for 30 minutes. Stir every 8 minutes or so, to make sure the boba isnt sticking to the side.  

Once boba has cooked for 30 minutes, turn off the heat, and allow the boba to sit in the hot water for another 30 minutes.

After boba has soaked in hot water, drain boba and give it a super quick rinse with water.

Place boba in a large bowl and pour honey over.  The heat of the boba should help make the honey loosen so that it can coat all the boba.  Add more honey if you like things sweeter.  The boba should be good, for about 5 hours at room temperature.  The longer they sit, the harder and less jewel like they become, so I find that cooking the boba and using them within a few hours the best.  (This is why boba places have to continuously make their boba.)

Isnt it gorgeous?  Now youre ready to make your tea!

Making Tea
My favorite thing about making boba at home is being able to custom make my teas.  With large mason jars, you actually have a ton of flexibility in making individual boba flavors.  Ive made large pitchers of tea and used tea bags in the proper proportion to make large amounts of tea, but the mason jars open up your boba tea flavors to a ton of possibilities.

Because mason jars can handle variations in heat, you can just steep tea for the appropriate number of minutes and sweeten with honey (or your choice of sweetener) and boba and your ice.  Ever notice that the boba tea you drink is never SUPER icy cold?  Its because boba doesnt react well to super cold.  Generally speaking ice is added to the top and then you shouldnt mix your drink up, otherwise your boba will lose texture.

The last few times I had some friends over for boba tea, I allowed them to select their tea options.  I poured honey in the bottom (about a tablespoon) and got the tea bags ready.  If you are going to add cream to your tea, I recommend doing a double bag of tea, but if youre going to go with a lighter version without cream, I think a single bag is fine.  My current favorite is the Stash double bergamot earl grey finished with honey, cream and boba.  WOWZA!!!  Without cream, my favorite is Tazo Green Ginger.  For the kids, Ive tried this  with herbal versions of tea (no cream) and they love it!

I pour hot water into the mason jars (about 3/4 full) and allow it to steep for the appropriate amount of time.  DO NOT OVER STEEP.  I actually set timers because Im always oversteeping.

Then I remove the tea bags, give a quick stir.

When Im ready to serve, I drop a few good heaping spoonfuls of cooked boba and they sink to the bottom.  On top I add ice.

If anyone wants cream (particularly with the chai, early grey, and English breakfast cream is great) I can add that as a finish.

Pop a straw.  Drink.  It.  All.  (Im kind of a poet.)  Be creative and have a ball!

As a final suggestion, boba isnt just for tea.  It can be for smoothies as well.  My kids love their water melon juice with some boba at the bottom.  The main drawback of this is that super chilled watermelon changes the texture of the boba much more quickly than the tea does.  But if you drink it fast, you wont even notice it.

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Modochis Mochi donut When your kids are on spring break

Its the time of year when my kids are on spring break, and I take it upon myself to obsess and perfect some dish since Im with the kids so much.  I have a lot of taste testers as I can use my own three and other families are home more and in need of a break so I even have a few more testers.

This years obsession (last years was boba tea) was a donut made with mochi flour. Ive been debating a good old yeast donut for a while, but havent had the chance to work through all the steps of dough making a yeast donut.  I heard about mochi donuts and took it upon myself to mess around with the stuff until I got something that I liked.

There were three uneven, not-so-skilled batches, and then there were the final four with subtle, yet meaningful differences.  What would the ideal texture be inside?  How should it look when you broke it open?  How crispy should the outside be?  What kind of finish should it have?  Children, Friends, and I explored the various permutations and silently, I cursed my obsessive nature as it came into direct conflict with my healthy side.  Fried dough?  Come on!  It just TASTES so good!  And it can be worked off...later, so dont worry about it.  You just need to make this perfect so that you can stop making it!  My healthy side simply whimpered in defeat as it couldnt combat the deliciousness of a mochi donut...7 times over.

When you make the mochi donut, SURROUND YOURSELF WITH FRIENDS who will prevent you from eating the entire batch ALL ON YOUR OWN!  It gets dangerous and you will thank me for this warning.

And now, on to the modochi itself.  The modochi has a crispy exterior and an amazing chewy interior.  When you bite into it, it doesnt collapse under your teeth but rather springs back at you forcing you to really commit to your bite.  And that springiness and chew is what keeps bringing you back for more and more, because its not soft dough -its dough with character. And it keeps reminding you that you want more, all the time, and that is its weapon.

The trickiest part of the mochi dough has to do with temperature.  There is the temperature of the mochi dough itself and the temperature of the oil.  Both are important to take seriously, because not taking those two aspects seriously will yield to modochis that are dark and that can be used as a golf ball.  Neither is really that desirable to stick in your mouth.  Your oil should be steady at around 375 degrees F and your milk needs to be scalded (nearly boiling) before being to your flour mixture.  If you bear these two crucial facts in mind, the rest is pretty easy (but maybe a little sticky.)

A final note, a mixer is your friend.  I cannot imagine doing this with your arms by hand, but it can be done...your arms may never be the same after, but it can be done.

Gather a few friends around and have loads of fun!  You wont regret it.

Modochi
Makes 20 donut holes

Donut Ingredients
1 lb box sweet rice flour (mochiko - I prefer Koda Farms brand) after further testing, the preferred mochi flour is actually THAI flour, which yields a fluffier texture.
¼ cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup whole milk
¼ cup (half a stick) unsalted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten together

Method
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook (if you have) or in your mixing bowl, whisk together sweet rice flour, white sugar and baking powder.

In either a pot over medium heat, or in a microwave safe cup, cut up butter into small chunks and add milk.  The goal is to scald the milk at the same rate as melt the butter.  Heat milk and butter to steaming, but not boiling.  (My microwave accomplishes this in 1 minute 52 seconds.)

In the middle of your rice flour mixture, pour in heated milk butter mixture and begin beating for 2 minutes.  The rice flour will look strange at first but after 2 minutes you should begin seeing some clumps coming together. Add beaten eggs and scrape down sides of bowl and begin beating the dough for 8 minutes on medium high, to get everything  into a sticky yet workable mess.

In a pot, heat oil to 350F.  (I like smaller deeper pots with fewer donuts to fry in order to save oil, but if you like to fry them all at once, get a shallower wider pot.)  Oil your hands with spray oil (quickest way) and rub palms and fingertips together. Scoop about a golf ball amount of dough and roll into a ball.  Once oil is the right temperature drop into oil.  The modochi will sink to the bottom first and cook there for about 2 minutes and then float up to the top for the last 6 minutes of cooking time. While the modochi is on the bottom, give a quick stir so that the modochi doesn’t stick to the bottom.  Total cooking time for a donut hole is about 8 minutes.

Once donut is nice and golden and beautiful even in color, remove from oil and drain on a rack over a tray.  Continue rolling donuts until all are cooked.  While donuts are still warm either glaze them or roll them in a sugar cinnamon mixture.

Serve warm or later in the same day.  Modochis do NOT like being eaten the next day.

Glaze Ingredients (enough for 20 modochi)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Whisk together melted butter, powdered sugar, water and vanilla extract until glaze is uniform and smooth.  Dip donuts into glaze and roll around and then allow to dry on a drying rack.

Cinnamon Sugar Ingredients (enough for 20 modochi)
¼ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Whisk together cinnamon and sugar.  Roll still warm donuts into mixture.  Set aside to cool.

Printable recipe

Make sure you call some people over before you start on this.

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It takes 30 Days to Break a Habit Day 3

I apologize for not updating yesterday, I was in New York City all day taking an improv comedy class and showing my friend my favorite parts of downtown.  Let me tell you, being on a diet in the land of temptations felt like fasting.   It was easy the first two days, but for some reason it is especially hard today (Day 4 – I will post on that on its own) and was especially hard yesterday (Day 3).   I am going to make an index card with motivational sentences, reasons, and visuals so that when I am feeling hungry, tired, or weak, I can pull it out and stay strong.  Youll see it when I do.  Here was yesterday’s diet:

Meal 1: Vitamuffin top (100 calories), ½ cup blueberries

Snack 1:3/4 of Justin’s natural almond butter packet (120 calories)

Snack 2: 1 sliced mango

Meal 2: 2 celery stalks. Turkey sandwich on whole wheat English muffin with a slice of cheddar, tomato, lettuce, and 1 tbsp of smart light mayo. (cue angels - I missed cheese like no other)

Meal 3: 5oz grilled chicken.  I made butternut squash, but turned out kinda soggy so I skipped it.

Meal 4:  1 cup of minestrone soup from an Irish Pub called Mustang Sally’s – land of awesome bar food.  I forced my eyes to avoid entrees and go directly to the appetizer section of the menu.  When my soup came out next to my friend’s buffalo wings and burgers, I was actually really excited.  It was hearty and flavorful and surprisingly nourishing.  There was an unspoken agreement between me and the soup that this was a good choice.  Don’t worry chicken wings, I see you, but “tonight is make or break it” I told myself.  

On a completely unrelated note, after we left Mustang Sallys we almost became extras for a Starz show called "Power."   Having just left a 3 hour Improv Comedy class, we were already in a "Yes" mood and treated everything there after as a challenge for adventure.

"Those are some well-dressed homeless people" my friend said, as we stared at the long line of people leaning/sitting against the wall for what we thought was free food.  Long story short, producers counted us in as one of them, but left after realizing it was a 4 hour stint and it was already 1am.  Plus, we didnt want to offend any of the actual extras and instead ended up giggling and singing the whole way home.

What are your tips for saying yes to things in your best interest?  How do you say no to quick fixes and temporary pleasures?  This diet is a mini part-time job, but the pay is rewarding.  Thoughts?

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Coconut Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake 5Cs cake Spring Break is not a break for moms

This past Monday was the first day of spring break for all the kids.  It is the first spring break in 6 years where all three kids are breaking at the exact same time and that in itself should tell you the whole story.

Three kids.  Three weeks because we are a year round school. With me.

Actually, I expected a bunch of benefits from the kids not being in school.  No more lunches to rush around and pack, nowhere to dash off to early in the morning, no more homework to check off, sign off, correct, and no extra commitment of school and the juggling act that comes with it to manage.  The kids would eat lunch at home; theyd have time to read and theyd have time to play.

All was going actually quite well on day 2 of spring break, when I decided that a run to Costco was in order.  We were out of vegetables, eggs, fresh fruit and I wanted to replenish all that.  It also seemed like an easy way to get everyone out of the house and provide them with a change of scenery, albeit the inside of a warehouse.  When I suggested it, all three happily replied YES and we piled into the car and drove.

However, as it has been literally years since Ive gone with all three kids to Costco, I quickly discovered that things were not the same as it had been the last time I had gone.  Although Son and I go to Costco, Ive not had to deal with all three at Costco.  I used to be able to stick all three in the cart and push them around, and suddenly, at ages 6, 8, 10, that seemed inappropriate and probably physically impossible as Id have to push around over 150 pounds.  This meant that all three had to walk next to me as I ran around picking up the few things I needed.

In my head, I had imagined three children, all lined up in chronological order, quietly and efficiently walking with me, with no conversation and only the shopping head in my list to keep straight.  Only no one walked next to me. What I got were three kids, skipping, hopping, jogging, weaving their way through the aisles, as I tried desperately to keep my cart from running into them and the kids out of the way of other carts.  I found myself begging them repeatedly to stop moving and to just stick close to me so that we could get things done.  They chose to point to things, ask questions, beg for different things they wanted to eat, and move from topic to topic so quickly that my shopping list flew out of my head and I began walking around trying to remember the seven items on my list that I had to have.

45 minutes later, as we stood in line to check out, the kids continued their natural antics to utterly destroy my brain and I found myself thinking that Costco with three kids was ill-advised.  I felt like a vampire had taken all of my blood and I was in desperate need of both a blood transfusion as well as a coffin to put my aching head and body in.

Upon arriving at home, the kids scrambled to move all of the stuff they wanted to eat into the kitchen and I found myself suddenly grateful that I had three little scrambly, quickly-moving kids helping me shlep all the stuff from Costco into the house.  I definitely still needed a vacation, still needed a break, and still needed a blood transfusion, but at least all of my purchases were in the house in under 4 minutes.

A happy motherhood is one where you realize what the true breaks are.

I came up with this coffee cake as my desire for another type of break, a luxurious coffee one, lingered in the back of my mind every single day this week. With the three kids that sort of thing is unlikely, but I still managed to throw this cake together easily enough.  It has the chocolate coconut mixture paired with the lovely coffee cake texture.  Its really yummy warm although its more difficult to cut and delicious room temperature as well.  Sit back and relax and enjoy the 5Cs.  Coconut Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake.

I am back to enjoying the 5Cs of spring break. Children.  Careening.  Caring.  Coffee.  Crazy.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
Serves 6 to 8 people

Ingredients
Cake
1 ½  cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup sour cream
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping
?  cup firmly packed light brown sugar
? cup shredded sweetened coconut
?  cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method
Preheat oven to 350.  Butter or oil a 9x13 baking pan.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, the baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and 1 cup of the granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat in the vanilla. Add sour cream and mix well.  Add flour mixture on low speed, being careful to mix just until all the flour is incorporated.  Overbeating it will make for a tough coffee cake.  Pour batter into pan.

In a small bowl stir together the brown sugar, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, and the cinnamon and sprinkle on top of batter and swirl the sugar mixture into the batter. Bake the cake in the middle of a preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Transfer it to a rack, and let it cool.

Cut into large squares and enjoy!

Printable recipe

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