Hi, friend!! How's life? Anything new with you?

I have quite a few life updates to share.

I went out drinking last Friday! I embraced my young 20-something self and stayed up way past my bedtime of 10pm. It was crazy. It wasn't a super crazy night, but the fact that I wasn't wrapped up in my blanket and wearing soft pants on the couch on a Friday night was pretttyyy wild. Actually, I wasn't even wearing pants... I had a dress on. You get the point though!

Reuben quit his job! Which is why we went out on Friday night. It was his last day of work, so we went out for a lot of drinks, french fries, and late night pizza + jack in the box burgers (I've only ate at jack in the box 3 times in my life... all 3 times I've been somewhat tipsy) with some of our favorite people in SF. He will begin working at a new architecture firm at the end of the month! So until then, he is a stay at home boyfriend! A man of leisure. I'm surprised that the amount of cute cat Instagram videos sent to me throughout the day hasn't grown exponentially. 

We're going to Mexico City on Thursday! Have you been there before? Sorry, if I didn't ask you for any recommendations. It just feels like everyone and their Mom has been to Mexico City, except for us. So we definitely have a surplus of food and sight seeing recommendations! We probably can keep ourselves busy for a solid 6 months. We planned this trip pretty last minute. A day after Reuben accepted his new job we jumped on booking flights and a cute Airbnb! We're both pretty easy going travelers though and can entertain ourselves just by walking around all day. I just want to eat all the tacos, quesadillas, tortas, tostadas, sopas, paletas, and all the other delicious things we find over there. I'm so excited!

I've somewhat mastered another recipe from my "food I'll miss when I move away from San Francisco" list! I work about 45 seconds away from a coffee shop that sells Third Culture Bakery Hawaiian Mochi Muffins. They are SOOOOO good. I get one about once a week. It's a bad habit, but I can't help myself. I like to think they are just sliiiighty better for you than a croissant though. Maybe. If you've never had a mochi muffin before, they have a slightly crisp and caramelized exterior that contrasts super beautifully with a soft and chewy interior. Gah, the texture of them is just so amazing. Some people don't like the gooey/chewy texture of mochi, but I think those people are crazy. I can't get enough of it! The Hawaiian Mochi Muffin flavor is a browned butter flavor with hints of coconut. In my variation of a mochi muffin, I incorporated one of my favorite flavors to bake with: black sesame! There's a lot of black sesame flavored things on Eat Cho Food... but still not enough! The black tahini adds a really wonderful nutty flavor. It also makes the muffins taste a tad bit savory, but still sweet from the brown sugar. I like to balance on that fine line between sweet and savory. I've experimented with this recipe about 4-5 times, which I think is a new record. Once I cracked it though, it's actually incredibly easy to make! If you whisk fast enough you can have the tastiest mochi muffins within an hour! Just make sure to spray your muffin tins really well with nonstick spray and don't over bake your muffins! A lot of recipe out there tell you to bake them for an hour, but that's insane. Mine were burnt to a crisp after an hour... 30 minutes in the oven you're all good! You'll thank me later for my testing once you're surrounded by 2 dozen insanely delicious and chewy mochi muffins : )

Black Sesame Mochi Muffins

makes 24 muffins

Materials:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 14oz can of coconut milk
1 12oz can evaporated milk
2 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 3/4 cup mochiko flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup black tahini
nonstick cooking spray - very important!
black & white sesame seeds - for garnish

Steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray your muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray. Make sure to evenly coat all sides of the muffin tin. This is important because it help the muffins get their characteristic flat tops. 

2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook for about 4 minutes until it turns slightly brown. Turn off the heat and immediately whisk in coconut milk, evaporated milk, and brown sugar until evenly mixed and sugar has dissolved. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

3. Whisk together mochiko flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Slowly pour in butter mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour in black tahini and whisk until just combined.

4. Fill muffin tins with mochi batter up to just below the rim. Lift the tin about 3" above the counter and drop a few times to help remove any air bubbles. Top muffins with some black and white sesame seeds. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

5. Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Remove from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack until ready to eat.

enjoy! 

recipe was adapted from New York Times' Brown-Butter Mochi recipe