These past two weeks were packed! My older brother got married (woohoo! 🎉), and my in-laws and brother-in-law were in town to celebrate. I started the week with easy, healthy recipes—smoothies and oatmeal—to keep things light before all the wedding festivities.

After the wedding, my twin brother and I did one of our favorite things—visiting Asian grocery stores together! 🛒 As kids, our dad would always take us after Sunday lunch and let us each pick out a few snacks. Now, whenever my twin is in town, it’s a tradition to stop by an Asian grocery store and get excited over all the treats. This time, my brother-in-law, Alb, joined us, and the three of us spent Sunday after the wedding visiting four different grocery stores, completely in our element. My twin stocked up on snacks to take home, while Alb and I gathered ingredients to cook a Chinese dinner the next day.

That night, Alb was eager to show me the Biang Biang Noodles technique he learned in New York, so we went all out! We cooked five different recipes together:

• Pork Potstickers

• Chinese Pearl Meatballs with Sticky Rice

• Xi-an Biang Biang Noodles 

• Xinjiang Cumin Lamb Stir Fry

• And some crepes for H and my father-in-law!

We tackled everything as a team—rolling out noodles from scratch, pan-frying potstickers for the first time, introducing Alb to using a steamer basket, and having a mishap with way too much cumin in one dish. Thankfully, with the help of my mother-in-law, the kitchen was spotless by the end of the night. It was such a fun night of cooking!

A couple of days later, I had a cooking session with my mom 💛, where we made my favorite crème brûlée recipe and tested three new recipes: 

• Coffee Cake

• Roasted Broccoli Gruyere Cheese Soup

• Roasted Red Pepper and Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Angel Hair Pasta

As I’ve said many times before, there’s nothing I love more than cooking with and for my family and friends. It makes this whole recipe-testing adventure so much more fun and rewarding! 💛🍽️

Recipes Made So Far This Year:

Goal: To try seven new recipes each week 🗓️, aiming for 365 this year!

Number of Recipes Made this Week: 8 ✅ + 9 ✅ 

Number of New Recipes Tested as of 2/23: 91

Weeks Achieving Seven or More New Recipes: 8 out of 8

This Week’s Recipe Test Summary

Impress Someone🌟

Nothing this week.

Would Make Again 👍

Coconut-Miso Salmon Curry from NY Times Cooking by Kay Chun 🍛🐟

Simple, easy, quick, and delicious! A perfect go-to lunch meal.

Sheet-Pan Chicken with Potatoes, Arugula and Garlic Yogurt from NY Times Cooking by Melissa Clark 🥔🧄

H loved this one. His first reaction? “What are these flavors?! They’re amazing!” I think he really enjoyed the kick from the garlic yogurt (he loves garlic ). The only thing I’d change is adding more potatoes—the portion felt a little small.

Pork Potstickers from Damn Delicious 🥟

First time making pan-fried potstickers, and they were SO easy and quick! Loved the crispy bottoms. I topped them with chile crisp, and they were chefs kiss.

Chinese Pearl Meatballs with Sticky Rice from The Woks of Life 🍚🥢

These were so fun to make! We used my steamer baskets, and they turned out beautiful with the glutinous rice coating the meatballs. A great recipe to impress guests. 

Xi-an Biang Biang Noodles from Red House Spice 🍜🔥

My brother-in-law was dying to make these, so we did! He showed me all the techniques for stretching the noodles, and now I’m excited to make them again. The peppercorns were quite strong, so next time, I’ll add half the amount. Still, they're so delicious!

Immune and Skin Health Boosting Gummies | Instagram Reel

Lately, I’ve been having fun making gummies for my niece and nephew, so expect more gummy recipes soon! 🍬 My sister sent me this one, and they all loved them. The only tweak? I’d strain the ginger next time—Nico wasn’t thrilled when he got a surprise bite of ginger in his second gummy.

Would Not Make Again 👎

These recipes didn’t live up to expectations or weren’t to my taste

Tahini Date Smoothie from Running on Veggies: Plant-Powered Recipes for Fueling and Feeling Your Best [Cookbook]🥤

I did not enjoy the taste of tahini in a smoothie. It just didn’t work for me.

Steph Bruce’s Mint Chip Smoothie from Running on Veggies: Plant-Powered Recipes for Fueling and Feeling Your Best [Cookbook]🥤

It was fine, but nothing I’d make again.

Mint Cacao Smoothie from Chef Bae

Did not enjoy this one.

Matcha Overnight Oats from NY Times Cooking by Ifrah F. Ahmed

This recipe was getting hyped everywhere. I thought it lacked flavor.

Cardamon Buns from The Nordic Cookbook by Magnus Nilsson 🇩🇰🍞

I was so excited to make these! Our friend from Denmark introduced us to them when we visited London, and they instantly became a favorite. But this recipe was not it—the wheat flour flavor was too overpowering. Still on the hunt for the perfect cardamom bun recipe!

Sour Cream Fudge from A Hundred Years Ago

For Reddit’s weekly cooking challenge, I had to make a recipe that’s at least 100 years old. It was fun researching old recipes! I’ve made caramels before and nailed the consistency, but I didn’t quite get this fudge texture right.

Coffee Cake from Preppy Kitchen ☕🍰

This was a good coffee cake, but I feel like there’s an even better one out there. Let the search continue!

Waffles from NY Times Cooking by Melissa Clark 🧇

Made these for my brother-in-law and myself—he liked them, and I did too! They were solid, but I think there’s an even better waffle recipe out there.

Roasted Broccoli Gruyere Cheese Soup with Brown Butter Croutons from How Sweet Eats🧀🥣

The consistency was perfect, but it had way too much Gruyère, which overpowered everything.

Roasted Red Pepper and Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Angel Hair Pasta from Cravings of a Lunatic

My mom and I just did not like the roasted red pepper flavor in the pasta.

Xinjiang Cumin Lamb Stir Fry from RecipeTin Eats

WAY too much cumin!!!

I’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, or any recipe requests you might have. Just respond directly to this email.

See you next week. Keep cooking! 👋 

Vale from ValeCooks