The Food That Made Me

Kids, sometimes things are not as hard as you think. If you are like Daddy, you will meet the Anxiety Monster sometime in your life. The monster makes you worry and fear many things. Is that safe? That looks really hard. Can I do it?

Daddy loves bread and pastries. But, never did daddy think that he would attempt to make them, let alone enjoy the process. The Anxiety Monster kept telling me not to do it because it was really hard. Baking is yucky and messy. Flour everywhere. Stickiness everywhere.

One day, I bought a book called Mooncakes and Milkbreads by Kristina Cho. I don’t know why I bought it. Maybe it was because of the lovely pineapple buns on the cover.

But I just wanted to take a moment to thank Kristina. Woot, Cleveland and the Bay. I went to Case Western and I grew up in SF. The Mother of all Milk Bread was wonderful. Every time I bake it, my nieces tell me that I should open up a bakery. Baking my childhood favorites makes me feel closer to my roots.

I have made the milk bread multiple times, fluffy steam bun, moo shu wrappers, Egg Custard Buns, sweet potato mantou, and hot dog flower buns.

Oh! Recently, I made the fruit cake. Never in my life did I think I would be making a cake.

Thank you, Kristina, for teaching me a new skill and opening up a whole new world to me. But, also, thanks for helping me defeat the Anxiety Monster. Turns out it wasn’t as hard as I had expected. As mommy tells me, I can do hard things.