Taste Memories of Bread Pudding

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Recently, I’ve been dreaming of Mrs. Victorine’s bread pudding. It was a dense, custardy block of deliciousness, dotted with raisins and presented chilled.

Mrs. Victorine was our neighbor across the street in Hilo, Hawaii, where I grew up. As neighbors do in Hawaii, we often shared food back and forth—fruits and vegetables from our backyards, and food we cooked and baked.

After Mr. Victorine died, for quite some time afterwards, my mom would send us over with a plate of dinner for Mrs. Victorine.

In return, Mrs. Victorine baked us bread pudding, which was always a hit with our family. But she would never divulge her recipe and since she passed away years ago, that recipe is lost forever.

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Crisp and Juicy Japanese Fried Chicken

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

If you follow my Special Fork blog posts, you know that I am wrangling each Friday with trying to make an appealing bento lunch to entice my pre-school granddaughter. She’s a picky eater and spends more time socializing than eating during the lunch hour at school.

By taking over Friday lunch duties, I save her parents a little time, and it gives me a chance to see if I can make a difference in Little Miss T’s eating habits. At this point, the goal is simply to get her to eat—introducing more whole grains and other noble dietary aspirations come later!

Recently, I made chicken karaage, chicken bites marinated with soy sauce, garlic and ginger; coated with potato starch (katakuriko); and fried until crunchy. This is one of those standard menu items you find in prepared bento lunches from Japanese takeout places, and is a perennial favorite. My grandchild ate it all up!

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For Lent, Meatless Monday or a Pantry Meal

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

I came home from New York City Wednesday night after a three-day business trip. On Friday, I had no ideas for dinner, and for Lent, had to make it a meatless meal, besides.

Rummaging through my pantry, I hit upon a simple pasta dish that took just a few minutes, with ingredients I always have on hand: canned tuna, spaghetti, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and capers, along with a handful of flat-leaf parsley from my garden.

This dish can be made in the time it takes to cook the pasta—11 minutes. Just start boiling the water as you gather and prep the ingredients. Use good-quality olive oil and good-quality, solid tuna. Don’t use tuna packed in water because it won’t have the richness of flavor this dish requires.

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Tamago Maki—When there’s Nothing to Eat

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Don’t you hate those days when you have nothing set aside to cook for dinner, yet don’t want to take the time to run out for takeout?

I always have eggs in the fridge, so when this happens to me, I’m likely to make an omelet seasoned with soy sauce, roll it around a sheet of nori, and call it dinner, along with hot cooked rice and a salad of whatever greens I can scrounge from my vegetable bin.

A cautionary note: today’s simple recipe has the potential of becoming a “Pinterest Nailed It!” moment because, although easy to make, there’s a bit involving rolling the omelet in the pan that takes a little dexterity.

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Start St. Patrick’s Day with Irish Scones

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

One of my best memories of Ireland is of sitting in cozy farmhouses having tea and fragrant, freshly baked scones with an Irish dairy farmer and his (or sometimes her) family. Outside the cows are grazing on the most succulent, luxuriant green grass and there is an air of peace, calm and gracious hospitality within.

I’ve had the good fortune of going to Ireland five or six times on business with Kerrygold, my PR client until 2015, and with whom I still work on a consulting basis occasionally. I’m sure you’ve heard of the brand: highly regarded butter and cheeses from Ireland made with milk from grass-fed cows, raised on small family farms.

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