My Food Philosophy!

My Philosophy:

"Food is, and always will be, a comfort for myself and those around me. Whatever the mood, food can always bring everyone together and show hospitality and care for one another in a beautiful and delicious way. Even when a dish is modernized or altered, parts of the original dish will always remain and push through in a comforting way and that’s why I love to experiment and play around with flavors, especially in desserts"

When I was younger, I’d always watch my sisters bake and never be able to help because they didn’t want me to mess anything up. Occasionally I’d get to stir something up because they got tired or were lazy, but the majority of my time was spent watching in wonder as they created magnificent desserts before my eyes. I think that was when I got inspired to begin my food journey. 

Though there was a lot of both cooking and baking in my family, I was always more drawn towards desserts and sweets and that led me to wanting to bake more than cooking. I think the beautiful form of the desserts and its complex flavors really intrigued me and made me want to be able to create such magic as well.

As I grew older, I started to get more chances of baking either just by myself or with my sisters and I would often bring the desserts to school to eat and share with others. This was another eureka moment for me as I noticed how much joy and wonder I brought to my friends with every dessert I brought. 

One thing in particular that I was always amazed at was eclairs. When I first saw these, it was because my sister had made them for her friends, I never got to eat any of it. Just the look of it was mesmerizing enough for me to beg her to let me try one. In the end I finally got my first piece and it was love at first bite. The crunchy pastry coupled with the smooth silky cream and thick chocolate ganache danced on my tongue and I was so overwhelmed with amazement.

This experience made me want to learn this recipe even more and so I set out to make this for myself but also for my friends because I wanted everyone to be able to experience the joy that I got through this dessert. That was when I realized just how much power I had with my baking skills, I could bring people together and give people a childlike amazement as the desserts played with their taste buds.

As this passion inside me grew so did my creativity and so I started playing around with ingredients that reminded me of my hometown (Taiwan) and altering recipes to see what would happen. This resulted in me creating the bubble tea creampuff!

I could never have dreamed of creating something like this and when my friends screamed from amazement at how good they were I was overjoyed. All this just added more fuel to the passion in my heart to continue to create and amaze my friends and family and keep giving them that amazing first bite.

I think the dish that best fits my food philosophy would have to be my bubble tea creampuffs. It’s a spinoff of the classic éclair dish that started it all when I was a child and the flavor twist is my own way of putting my family and culture into the dessert. The dish has many components to it and takes time to create which is evident and so it’s not just something I can whip up for just anybody. I think if anyone would consider putting in a day's worth of baking in just for me, I’d be overwhelmed and that’s the meaning I want to convey to those that I give my baked goods to. The dish itself is not a dish without each component assembled beautifully together which is an ode to my wish to bringing everyone together through food.

Here's my attempt at an aesthetic ASMR baking video of me making the bubble tea creampuffs!!

Update: The file is too large so if you want I can email it to you guys or something lol