Taking the Bitter with the Sweet

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

I despise licorice but I love fennel. Go figure.

Recently, I was thrilled to find fennel bulbs at a great price at the farmers’ market. They were nice and fresh and I couldn’t resist buying a bagful.

Fennel bulbs are whitish or light green; the skin should be smooth, without blemishes. The fronds, which can be used as a garnish or added to salads, should look healthy. Store fennel in a plastic bag in the crisper of your fridge; it’s best to use in a few days, or within a week, although, honestly, I’ve kept them longer.

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In the New Year, Out with the Old!

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Happy New Year! After a week of celebrating, from Christmas Eve dinner to our traditional Japanese New Year feast, I was maxed out on cooking.

But there was one thing left for me to do after the holidays: I cleaned out my fridge. It was not a pretty sight. Much as I abhor food waste, a lot of what I removed went straight into the green compost bin.

It’s hard to keep track of your food inventory during the holidays—a busy time when you’re fixing special meals and having more dinner guests than usual. Extra ingredients like remaining chicken broth and cream, as well as mealtime leftovers, get shoved into the fridge. Just because we have a large refrigerator (full size; no freezer), doesn’t mean it’s easier to organize. It just means that more stuff gets crammed in.

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How to Make a Graham Cracker “Gingerbread” House

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

It’s the time of year when I get the most excited about crafting and decorating—especially creating memorable centerpieces for my holiday table. This year I have my heart set on making gingerbread houses from graham crackers.

My plan is to make a village of miniature houses for Christmas Eve dinner. They’ll be used as party favors and place cards, by setting each house on a circle of cardstock with the name of the guest written on the circle. I’ll frost upside-down ice cream cones to use as trees, to intersperse between houses. That’s the plan, at least….

These simple, one-story cottages seemed easy enough to make, but they turned out to be more time-consuming and challenging than I had expected.

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An Easy Party Appetizer

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

From our New York City apartment after college, to our condo in Honolulu, to our house in San Francisco, Steve and I have hosted many a holiday cocktail party. At its largest, we’d have about 75 guests.

Four years ago, we threw our last big party. I found that all those days spent cooking, baking and getting ready for the event and Steve spending endless hours grocery shopping and washing dishes, left us little time to savor the season.

So now, if we feel in the mood, we might do a small get-together, keeping food prep to a minimum. I draw from a repertoire of simple things to make, that would go well with a glass of wine.

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Easy Rocky Road Candy for Holiday Gifts

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

When I was in fourth or fifth grade, my mom started a job for the first time. She worked at a small chocolatier in Hilo, where all the candies were made by hand.

She learned to roast macadamia nuts, temper chocolate, dip whole nuts in melted chocolate, retrieve the nuts with a metal loop tool, and drop them neatly on waxed-paper lined sheets, making a beautiful swirl across the top of each piece of candy.

After she quit that job, mom continued to make chocolate candies at home, especially around holiday time when she packaged them for Christmas gifts. These confections surprised and delighted family and friends—they looked every bit as beautiful and as professional as the kind from the candy shop. She packed them in silver or gold foil gift boxes, each candy nestled in its own candy cup and the box sealed in cellophane.

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