Tiffany Bee

Delicious recipes for vegetarians, vegans, pescetarians, & omnivores alike.

Spicy Barramundi Roll

Tiff

Forget Green Eggs & Ham, Let’s Eat Green Pancakes

October 17, 2015 // Posted in Breakfast, Food I Made, Photo Journal, Recipes

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It’s October, not St. Patrick’s Day, I know, but I couldn’t resist DAVIDsTEA’s limited edition Pumpkin Pie Matcha, which is what made my pancakes green. I bought 2.5 oz of it thinking that would be a good amount & after making these pancakes, I bought more the next day. I couldn’t resist. I’m that person who loves pumpkin, but to be fair, I love all squash! The shaming of people who love pumpkin flavored things has become so mainstream that it’s now trendy to bully someone who loves autumnal flavors. I can’t tell you how many times people come into work, ask about our pumpkin flavored teas, & then apologize for being that person. Stop apologizing!!! I don’t apologize for being obsessed with sushi or chocolate, why should you apologize for being obsessed with an orange seasonal squash?! Madness, I tell you. /pumpkin rant.

Let’s talk more about matcha because not everyone’s heard of it & let’s face it, green is the new black. That’s right all you black tea lovers, green tea is getting its righteous revival–& I’m not even referencing Selena Gomez’s new album, but there, now I’ve plugged it because it’s pop royalty. Green tea was actually the first tea to be discovered, but black tea was made popular by the British, especially since it fared the journey from China to the UK much better than green tea. Green tea has fantastic health benefits (antioxidants, longevity, antibacterial properties, etc) & although it has a significantly shorter shelf-life than black tea (1 year-ish vs. several years), it’s making its comeback. While black tea is the most popular tea and makes up about 80% of the sales in the West, matcha is changing the game. So imagine a whole pound of beautiful Japanese green tea that has been pulverized & that’s what matcha is: powdered green tea. It’s not artificially colored, it’s just that beautiful & green. Not only are you reaping all the benefits of green tea, but you are now actually consuming entire tea leaves. Amazing, right?

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DIY Rustic Bathroom Diffuser

October 8, 2015 // Posted in Bath & Body, DIY / Projects, Photo Journal

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Last Christmas, I posted a DIY tutorial on how to make your own holiday diffuser. While you can get creative with all the different combinations of essential oils there are on the market, it’s also perfectly okay with just keeping it simple; even though I like to add 10 different essential oils into my diffuser, a simple mixture of 2 or 3 different scents will do the trick. A simple diffuser with some twig reeds will tie together a really nice rustic look for your bathroom or living room. Spruce up your bathroom with any of these recipes & you’ll always have a nicely scented & decorated bathroom. Channeling a bit of fall scents, these recipes add an air of spice to crisp & fresh scents. Want more autumn in your diffusers? Add cinnamon or clove essential oils!

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Foodie Fridays: My Maine Squeeze

October 2, 2015 // Posted in Drinks I Drank, Food I Ate, Foodie Fridays, Gallery, Photo Journal, Travel

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You can blame Josh & working at DAVIDsTEA for my pun-ny humor/dad jokes for days. I’m not proud of myself & neither are my puns. I’ve put off this post long enough, so here it is in all of its mouthwatering & wanderlust invoking (mayhaps?) glory! It’s another filler post, I know, oh well, I promise lots of recipes are coming your way inspired by my trip to Vietnam!

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Fluffy, yet Dense Vegetarian Matzo Ball Soup Recipe

September 29, 2015 // Posted in Food I Made, Photo Journal, Recipes, Soups

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The first time I had matzo ball soup was at my friend Ben’s apartment in LA circa 2011. Ben was beside himself, upset that his matzo balls weren’t fluffy & that his broth wasn’t flavorful enough. He advised me for help, but all I could really do was tell him how to make his broth tastier (hint: salt). He ladled some soup in a bowl for me to try, repeatedly saying, “imagine these matzo balls are light & fluffy, not dense & hard like these. I messed up, so, I’m sorry I’m ruining your first matzo ball experience.” Since I never had it until that first slurp, I politely asked for seconds because I thought it was like chicken noodle soup, but with balls of matzo meal. I didn’t know what it should’ve tasted like, but I thoroughly enjoyed Ben’s failed matzo ball soup.

Moving forward a few years later when I started dating Josh, we made the soup together for the first time & our matzo balls turned out perfectly. To be fair, we “cheated” by using Streit’s Matzo Ball mix so it was guaranteed to come out fluffy every time. Ben, a former pro matzo ball maker, was still struggling to make a batch of good matzo balls that weren’t hard as rocks. I tried to figure out the science behind it & even adventured to make the balls from scratch. I had a few moments of failure, but finally, last year, I–the Vietnamese girl who only had it for the first time 3 years prior–produced a recipe to make the perfect fluffy, yet dense matzo ball soup. My recipe is so good that the balls don’t obliterate into mush when they hit the nearly boiling water. These babies will stay together & they’ll be fluffy, just like your Jewish grandmother made them. I shared my recipe with Ben before publishing it here, to which he’s confirmed success. Furthermore, I’ve made this recipe 3 times with 100% success & the Jewish boyfriend approves.

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A Soapy Giveaway

September 21, 2015 // Posted in Bath & Body, DIY / Projects, Photo Journal

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It’s been a little dead ’round these parts lately, so I think it’s the perfect opportunity to run a giveaway I planned earlier this year. I’m getting the hang of cold process soap making & I eventually want to go to market with these soap bars I’m making, so what better way to debut them than to send it to a random stranger who won them by luck? I’ll also toss in a free domain & a year’s hosting to make the package all that much sweeter. To add a cherry on top of that, I’ll even toss a few of my favorite sweet treats from Trader Joe’s & a room spray with your choice scent if you’ve had more interaction with me than just entering the contest!

While giveaways are great to promote your website, I also want to reward my readers. So, come for the giveaway, stay for the recipes. This giveaway is open worldwide & anyone can participate. I would much rather have someone who always leaves me comments win over a random person who has never talked to me & will probably never talk to me afterward, win. But it doesn’t always work that way, so take a chance. If you’re already following me on social media, you can still get those points because you’re already awesome. After the jump, check out what else you might win!

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