Stickies!

Every Thanksgiving, the story is retold. How my Grandmother used to make stickies all the time, then something happened and she stopped. No one knows why, she just did. In 1994, I called my Gram to tell her that I would be bringing a guest. She asked if I would like her to make Stickies, to which I replied "What are those?". I brought Sanjay home for the first time, she made Stickies. They were heaven! I have never had anything so melt-in-my-mouth tender, with the perfect amount of unadulterated sweetness. Sanjay stayed, and the tradition of the Sticky returned to our family.

We have them at every holiday with brunch (even the ones where dinner is the star), always served with Voget's ham, scrambled eggs, steamed asparagus and fruit (either frozen raspberries and blueberries or a citrus salad)

What are they? Very simply, a baking powder biscuit, rolled out into a large rectangle and spread with a very thin layer of butter and brown sugar (cooked together, 2 parts brown sugar to one part butter, 1/2 stick of butter per batch of baking powder biscuits), rolled, cut into 12 pieces (because that is how many holes are in a muffin tin) and baked in a hot, 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Of course, serving hot with a pat of butter is essential.

I can say without hesitation, that Stickies make everything a little better.

As promised...

Expertly edited by Arjun.

Diwali and Dim Sum

We did not do much for Diwali, as far as I can tell. We did go to the temple in Sunnyvale last weekend. There were things happening, but we are not in the 'know', so we missed the cool stuff. We did eat at a few of the many food vendors there, and apparently the mendhi woman was back, but we didn't get that done.

On Sunday, we had Dim Sum with SnS in Cupertino. It was lovely and amazing dim sum, the kids are always happy with these meals, there is always something for them to eat, and they get to stuff themselves silly with their most loved char siu bau.



I managed to snap a photo before it all disappeared. From the back, the round domes that are cut in half are steamed egg custard buns, then the char siu bau is the ragged topped steamed pork buns. Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce is my favorite, especially when coupled with sriracha sauce (super hot chile sauce). On the place in the right front, is the last chicken wing. This was something that I had never experienced before. They were mind blowing. Very simply prepared with salt and pepper and deep fried. We ended up having to order another plate of them because everyone wanted more. The shallow bowl on the left is a noodle dish, that was very good, but needed salt. This particular restaurant has made it's way to the highest parts of my dim sum list. Their siu mai is absolutely outstanding, and they do lovely things with pea shoots and fresh waterchestnuts.

For anyone around here, who wants to check it out, it is The Joy Luck Place in Cupertino.

So, a chicken, a witch and Obi-Wan Kenobi go walking down the street....

They had a great time trick or treating, the neighborhood was great for it. We met our neighbors next door who have two boys, and the neighbors across the street who happen to be from Camas, Washington. Too much candy. I'll post the video of Julian tweaking on sugar, soon.