First cooking lesson and treats from JJ Bakery - Irvine

I've never been very good at cooking, at least on the stove. I can do prep work, and baking, and simple things like spaghetti with meat sauce, japanese ramen, chinese pork chops, and pan-seared steak, but things like vegetables always turn out kind of dry and funky.. so, as an official first lesson of the summer, we started with cabbage with mini-shrimp otherwise known as "tzao gao li tsai"(please excuse me as I butcher chinese romanization.) I think it's called Sauteed Taiwanese cabbage in English, or maybe cabbage stir-fry?

I think in America, cabbage tends to get a bad rep because many Americans are all too familiar with the reek of overcooked, boiled cabbage. Personally, I love cooked cabbage and am amazed at the tastes and textures that all exist in one head of cabbage. There is an innate sweetness that comes from Taiwanese cabbage(available in most asian supermarkets), that is less distinct in the American version.

American cabbage (left) is a brighter green with a more spherical shape. Raw leaves have a crunchier texture than that of their Taiwanese cousin (right). The Taiwanese cabbage is paler in colour with a flatter shape, and sweeter taste. The texture of the uncooked leaves is less crunchy, and more tender and tastes much better cooked than raw(in my humble opinion).

The leaves cook much more quickly than the base of the leaves, so the bases must be added first and allowed to soften a bit before the addition of the leafy units, so that the leaves don't get overcooked and become mushy. When fully cooked, the bases release sweet broth in one's mouth, and the leaves themselves are tender and seem to melt on the tongue. All this is achieved quite simply with only a few ingredients: a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil, a small handful of dried mini-shrimp, coarsely chopped taiwanese cabbage, a dash of salt, and if desired- a dash of chicken boullion powder and voila!



For dessert, my mom handed me a big white ball in a little square pink paper cup that I eyed warily before realizing that it was a really FAT mochi. The sticky rice powder wrapping encased a mini strawberry shortcake. Ingenious! It's so simple and delicious and yet I'd never had anything similar before. Instead of the usual red bean, black sesame, peanut or lotus seed fillings that I'd previously encountered, there was a small piece of vanilla spongecake, some real whipped cream and a whole fresh strawberry. Amazing. (I'll add a picture as soon as we get some more... I tried taking a picture earlier today but my mom informed me that they'd all been eaten already! hehe)


I've been an avid fan of the dry milk powder buns since I was a kid; especially the ones that my mom makes, though unfortunately, she hasn't made any for a good decade...( note to self: convince her to teach me how to make them :D) so imagine my delight when I discovered a bakery that makes an even better version: a milk powder bun with an extra filling made of real taro paste! If you've ever had real taro, you know how insufficient artificial taro flavoring can be (especially in bubble tea, I still cannot understand why the fake purple liquid is so popular) Suffice it to say, this became a new favorite until I left for college. Yesterday, I revisited the bakery and had another of these delicious buns. However, I must express my regret that the one I had yesterday was not nearly as good as I remembered. The filling has been much diminished in portion, so it becomes a small patty-like filling about half the size of my palm, enshrouded in lots of bread, rather than the delicate roll that I used to be so fond of. And I've noticed that prices have gone up too, on some items, as much as 2 dollars. Alas.. inflation sucks sometimes.

But the mochi is from the same bakery so it's still a decent bakery and they have some nice mousse cakes, though I'm not entirely sure what the bakery is called. I thought it was another branch of the JJ Bakery, but elmomonster called it J Sweet Bakery, and yellowpages lists a bakery called Double J Bakery that is on Walnut and Jeffery (in Irvine) and I think that must be it. It's next door to Tapioca Express and in the same shopping center as the 99 Ranch Market on Walnut, across from the street from the shopping center that houses Yogurtland.

I think this is the right address
Double J Bakery
(949) 654-1768
5408 Walnut Ave
Irvine, CA 92604

*edit 6/22/07 pictures of fat mochi next to quarter added*