Sesame Roasted King Mushroom & Pickle Steamed Buns

I’ve been trying to tell you about these mushroom steamed buns for days. That they’re bright and spicy and roasted and chewy. That they’re everything I want to eat in a sandwich. That they’re a very us type of dinner. That I love running with abandon through the Asian market, grabbing everything that strikes me as interesting, forgetting about a budget.

But, every time I try, I look at the pictures that I took and I see a mess. I see Easton’s hand trying to rearrange all the items for the sauce to help me with the picture. I remember her turning on the light every time I turned it off, all in the name of helping. As you’ll see below, I even see Reeve’s chunky legs, hanging out in the background at one point.

I try to cook during naps, during school, during silence. But, there are days that it isn’t practical. On the day that we made these, it was the third time I had tried to photograph them. Both kids were home and I was determined, but so many things got in my way:

• It turns out that one of the best spots in my house to take pictures is also the exact same spot that Easton eats. Typically the two don’t overlap, but on this morning, I was cutting cucumbers as she was eating her banana. We were in a serious tug of war over prime real estate the entire time.

• Reeve didn’t take her usual morning nap and was super cranky and clingy.

• Because I had a baby in my arms, I accidentally grabbed the hot sesame oil instead of the toasted and started drizzling, before noticing the color. Luckily I didn’t get too far.

• It was pouring and dark in the house and really, no spots were good spots for picture taking.

• My chipped nail polish. It’s abysmal. I’m embarrassed.

But, here’s what I’ve realized: It has to be OK. I take my recipes, the blog and my pictures seriously. But, this is about our life in the kitchen (I mean, really, see: name of blog), and this is real life. Real life is that I don’t have a photo studio and that in spite of my best effort, there are often toys just out of shot (or sometimes just in the shot). Yesterday, if you could have watched us, you would have witnessed Larry trying to empty the dishwasher while one baby was using the opportunity to practice her standing/bouncing on a still-in-the-dishwasher cutting board and the other one also in the dishwasher, was pulling out the spoons and telling him to take out the knives because she’s not allowed to touch them. It’s a madhouse.

While, I love so many aspirational blogs and websites out there, I work hard to tell myself just that: they’re aspirational. Life with kids, with jobs to do, with houses to maintain and food to cook, is messy. It’s not picture perfect. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. 

These Roasted Mushroom steamed buns are the same way. They’re messy, they’re not picture perfect. Maybe every single bun in the package ripped just a tiny bit, driving you crazy and making you debate about remaking them for pictures for a fourth time. But, that would be lying. Here’s the truth: sometimes your bread tears, sometimes you accidentally use the spicy sesame oil, sometimes your kid stirs the sauce for you and it messes up the side of the bowl.

But, is that a reason not to tell you about them? I hope not. Because then we’d all be missing out – on being relatable, on running through the Asian market like a lunatic, on roasting king mushrooms until they’re so nutty, firm and chewy you’ll want to eat them all immediately, on making quick pickles that your whole family will try to pilfer as they sit marinating, on roasty sesame seeds that spill off your sandwich, on kids who turn everything into a group project and on a meal, that can be made 80% ahead of time.

So, there it is. My messy truths. And Sesame Roasted Mushroom Steamed Buns.

Deep breaths.