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SF Food blog

2011-03-28T00:52:00.005-04:00

My trip to San Francisco with Courtney, Derek and Chris was so cool. We also ate a lot. Here are two dishes from Tee Off Bar and Grill http://www.teeoffbarandgrill.com/ This restaurant was on an episode of diners, drive in-s and dives

The grilled double cut pork chop with achiote & apricot relish over garlic mash and deep fried sweet corn. It was a good dish but way too big. Double cut pork chop means it's twice as thick. It was juicy and flavorful. Too much for me.

Paul's Crafty Mac & Cheese
Mac and cheese with 4 cheeses, pancetta, ziti as pasta (I guess it isn't MAC & cheese) with salad. Quite possbily the best Mac and cheese I ever had. I would highly go back just for that dish.

One of the specials was the Crab empanadas. It was good (probably because it was deep fried). Nothing too special although the sauce has very sweet but not overly sweet.

Crabcake sandwich from Boudin's. Very good but not very crabcake like. Nice avocado pesto and very italian tasting. Very tasty in general.

New England Clam chowder in a sour dough bowl from Boudin's. San Fran makes amazing clam chowder. I think they add clam juice in it. At another place, I saw a guy pouring in a half gallon of half and half. I think that's why it tasted good too.

In & out burger ANIMAL STYLE. My goodness, I hope this would put McDonald's out of business. Very yummy. The animal style adds bacon and sauteed onions to the basic cheeseburger. You have to ask for it animal style, it's not a listed option on the menu

In & out french fries animal style. I had to request both animal style. Same topping as the burger. In all honesty, the fries stink, but the toppings make it taste so much better.

Happy Birthday to me

2011-03-14T22:33:00.004-04:00

We went to Fette Sau in Williamsburg part of Brooklyn. It's located at 354 Metropolitan Avenue.

Here is today's menu. Apparently, the menu changes every day. Pork belly, beef rib, brisket.....OH YEA!!

This was our back wall. This goes to show that meat = education

This is my meal: .5lb pork belly, .25lb brisket, .5lb boneless pork rib, bottle of orange soda, 2 bread buns. (I asked the guy if the boneless rib was the same meat from the short rib. He says this is actually not as dry as the short rib. Jackpot!!! .5lb for me.)

This is Hei's meal: brisket, pork belly and sweet sausage with lemon lime soda and bread.

And this is the birthday party. I don't think we could have fit any more people. It was tight sitting in there.

Result: At first, I was disappointed the menu was so small. On the website, they have options of pork cheek and other stuff but only had a few items here today. I had high expectations of the pork belly. It seemed that we got a very lean piece of pork belly. The meat wasn't as pink as with other smoked pork meats you might have. It was very white. The boneless rib was the best dish. At some bbq places, they charge the same price WITH the bone. I probably could have eaten the boneless rib without a knife since it was so tender. The sausage was ok. The brisket was good in my opinion because it's hard to get good, soft, and juicy brisket. Most of the meats were somewhat under-seasoned. That's ok if you truly enjoy the pure meat flavor. But this was a problem in the pork belly as well. It was a good try. I prefer Hillcountry USA better. Next post will compare the two when David joins Hei and I in 2 weeks at Hillcountry (ok, maybe more than two weeks).

Side note: thanks to Libby for the yummy homemade dessert.

Babyback ribs!!

2011-03-14T01:02:00.003-04:00

Every time I post, it seems like it's the return of the food blog. Hei and I (mostly Hei) found a great recipe for baby back ribs. It is fall off the bone goodness. It is so tender and so juicy. My mom doesn't however like this recipe because it doesn't retain the pork flavor well enough. You be the judge and the only way you can do that is to try cooking it yourself.

The great thing about this recipe is that it is incredibly easy. Here are the ingredients:
-1 or more racks of Baby Back ribs. (Hei and I share one rack. Also, don't get the spare ribs or the country ribs. You can if you want but it isn't as juicy and fatty as baby back ribs.)
-salt and pepper
-Bottled bbq sauce (If you are adventurous, go make your own sauce.)
-Foil (NO YOU DON'T EAT THIS!!!!)
-Oven with broiler (NO, YOU DON'T EAT THIS EITHER)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Generously salt and pepper the entire rack of ribs (If you have any type of cajun or hickory spice, that would work great too)
3) Completely wrap the ribs with 2 or more pieces of big aluminum foil.
4) Place foil wrapped ribs in on oven safe tray and place in 400 degree oven for 90 MINUTES!!! (yes it's a long time. Make sure you don't start cooking this too late in the evening) This is a great time to go for a jog, cook your other food, feed the dog, practice guitar, do your laundry, place "words with friends" on your phone, etc....)
5) Take ribs out of oven and remove foil from ribs. (I told you that "YOU DON'T EAT THIS!!!")
6) Turn off oven and turn on broiler on high
7) Turn ribs upside down where the meat is on the bottom. Brush bbq sauce on bottom of ribs.
8) Put ribs in broiler for about 4 minutes or until sauce starts to bubble nicely.
9) Take ribs out and flip over with meat side up. Brush on sauce on meat side and then put in broiler again with meat side up (until it bubbles and browns slightly)
10) Take ribs out. Brush on sauce on meat side AGAIN!!
11) Let ribs rest for 4-7 minutes (You should really wait for it to cool a little. You don't want the steam to release too quickly making the ribs dry)
12) Cut ribs and attempt to eat slowly and savor the flavor. (Notice I said "attempt" to eat slowly. This is where my patience is tested.)

And here is the end result:

Double-delight peanut butter cookie!!!!

2009-10-12T17:37:00.014-04:00

Yes, peanut butter cookies twice. My reaction to an amazing peanut butter cookie is about my same reaction as a delicious steak. It is an unrehearsed and totally natural sound of amazement. Hei and I saw this being cooked on food network where the at the Food Network Challenge, they had to make something using a Betty Crocker product. This lady made a double peanut butter cookie. It looked so good, I think I drooled on my own couch (was it Hei? Sorry Hei)

So let's get to ingredients and steps. It's pretty simple but it's a little messy.

Step 1: Finely chop 1/4 cup of peanuts. Yup, pretty simple.

Step 2: measure 1/2 cup of sugar (easy easy)

Step 3: 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon with the peanuts

Step 4: 1/2 cup of peanut butter together with the sugar (even a noob can do that)

Step 5: take some Pillbury cookie dough

Step 6: cut cookie dough into 12 pieces

Step 7: cut each slice in half. With each half slice, take a small amount of the peanut butter/sugar mixture and wrap it inside the cookie dough creating a ball. Once that happens, you roll the ball into the cinnamon and chopped peanuts mixture. You have something that looks like these brown ping pong balls.

Step 8: You take a glass with some nonstick grease or cooking spray and you flatten everything evenly. It should be half an inch thick. How thick is that? Beats me, so I just started flattening things.

Step 9: take the remaining peanut cinnamon mixture and sprinkle on top and lightly press it into the cookie dough.

And that's it. I ate them all so fast there are no more pictures. Let's say that if you love peanut butter cookies, you are going to love this recipe. I devoured them in about 2 days almost all by myself.

Like I said, it should be triple delight peanut butter cookie. It's peanut butter cookie dough (#1), peanut butter (#2) and finely chopped peanuts (#3). Who cares, it's awesome!!

ko

another summer blog

2009-08-12T21:42:00.002-04:00

So Hei said to me, let's cook but not anything fried. Apparently, earlier that Sunday afternoon we went to Green Tea Cafe on Mott Street and had deep fried chicken strips, deep fried squid, scallion pancake and Portuguese Chicken on rice. I had some pork loin I defrosted the night before and we went to a Chinese supermarket and got a salmon fillet (boneless) and did something with it. I did make a simple asparagus dish with onions and chicken broth but it didn't make the cut (no pun intended).

So I put on some soy sauce and salt and pepper with some cajun seasoning to this pork loin. One of the things I learned when cooking is.....DON'T trim the FAT. Now I don't say this because I like fatty stuff (partially true) but the fat keeps the meat tender and moist. You can trim it later if you want. Since this is a fried free dinner (partially broken in the next entree), I broiled the pork loin. I really wanted that browning on the pork. Unless you put something sweet on it, it will not burn the outside. It tasted delicious.

The next dish is a salmon that I've made before but didn't get a chance to blog. I patted the salmon nice and dry and seasoned with salt and pepper and SUGAR(!?!) Yea, sugar cuts down a little bit of the acid of the salt and pepper but still retains the saltyness. It's a great thing to add to seafood. Anyways, I did fry the skin side first. Like I said, it's almost a fried free meal. But after attempting to crisp the skin a little, I turned it over and threw the salmon in a 400 degree oven. In the meantime, I had some soy sauce marinade garlic and onions with some sugar and sauteed it till the soy sauce was reduced and concentrated. There was an issue with this dish though. I used onions when I should have used shallots. Chunks of shallots tend to keep shape and texture better than the onion. Other than that, a delicious tasting salmon with a wonderful sauce.

New experiments in the summer!!

2009-08-03T20:19:00.002-04:00

Here's another post of the food blog. I know it's been a while but I guess we haven't had or made much that was really worth posting.

The first dish I made was a sugar and red wine marinated pork chop. I hope to experiment with wine a lot more in the future. So I took some red wine, some sugar and some salt and marinated it with some thin center cut pork chops. The end product was really delicious. As you see in the picture below, some are darker than others. The first batch didn't have as much of the sugar and wine when it was cooked on the frying pan. I was also afraid of overcooking it and essentially drying it out. So it didn't get the same color. In the second batch, I dumped all the pork juice and wine and got the eye pleasing golden brown but a little bit over charred.

The second dish is the traditional shrimp and eggs. Hei knows I love eggs so this was a special treat for me. She took this recipe out of a cook book she got from Hong Kong. The book isn't bad though because the recipes are in English and Chinese but the title and the author's bio is in Chinese only (so yea, don't ask me what the name of the book is). So when you go to Chinatown and order this dish, it's usually a very dry scrambled egg with shrimp and oyster sauce. However, this dish is different. The eggs weren't cooked as a flat dry omelete and there's no ho-yau. So the recipe included some other spices to give life to the eggs and it did not disappoint. It was very well done.

This last dish, Hei wanted to try to cook meatloaf. We all know most homemade meatloafs are much better than restaurant meatloafs. Probably because the ones at the restaurants sit for a while and the ones at home are freshly made and very moist. So Hei consulted another one of our cookbooks written by none other than Tyler Florence. It's called Dad's meatloaf with tomato relish. We tried to follow it by the letter but we didn't have all the ingredients. Besides that, we didn't have the right size baking dish. We made due with what we had. There's one catch to this recipe though. It's not in the title. It's the secret ingredient to this dish. Unlike the movie Kung Fu Panda, there really is a secret ingredient. The secret ingredient is BACON. You've got to be kidding me. This is a bacon meatloaf? Indeed it is. It was moist (probably from all the grease) but most importantly, it tasted great. Till next time!!

ko

Return of food blog

2009-03-21T20:45:00.007-04:00

Hey y'all,

This is Kevin, the husband, taking over the food blog responsibilities. After almost a year of inactivity on the site (plus Hei forgetting the login and passwd), we are back in action.

This one is entitled "Happy Birthday Karen!!"

In attendance are Karen, Becky, Andrew, Kevin and Hei.

Andrew's dish is a sandwich. Most of time, when we hear the word sandwich, one word comes to mind "dull". But when you add dinner to the word sandwich, this word comes to mind, "BORING". However, Andrew did surprise us by making the sandwich from the movie Spanglish. See recipe.

This was a GREAT sandwich. Andrew did an excellent job of cooking this dish and it wasn't easy. Bravo to Andrew!!

Next was Karen's veggie dish. We needed some veggies to add to menu. Karen simply stir fried some pea pods and red peppers with some sesame seeds as the base of the dish.

Yummy as always because Karen cooks so well.

Next was Hei's Mixed Mushroom Udon Mein. This is one of Hei's favorite noodles. And since Hei loves mushrooms and loves udon, this is a perfect combination!! It's a mix of inoki and shitake mushrooms stir fried after cooking the udon. Add some oyster sauce and I think some soy sauce, and we have a simple yet delicious dish.

(Note: Hei did not eat the pot.)

My dish was a simple bacon wrapped shrimp. I decided to do a honey barbeque sauce with it. And since it was something sweet, Becky likes it because Becky loves sweet food. Initially, I thought everything was going great. I did realize, I added too much honey and it was too sweet. Becky commented that there's no such thing as too sweet. At least one person won't be disappointed.

Sorry the picture was so dark. Who was this idiotic photographer that didn't know how to use a camera? (that would be me)

Happy Birthday Karen, can't wait to do this type of thing again with you!!!

DELAYED : /

2008-03-31T22:49:00.003-04:00

: / i made a lot of yummy stuff this month...
but couldn't gather enough energy to post -_-"

DOHHHHHHHH...!

Well, as with this month's DB challenge,
i made:

LEMON & STRAWBERRY LAYERED
PARTY CAKE with BUTTERCREAM!

All from scratch and it's my FIRST for sure : D

It came out pretty well,
and i shall be posting about it (and a ton of other
yummy yummy) VERY SOON... : )

hehe... please bear with me : 0

Birthday Madeleine

2008-03-12T16:22:00.000-04:00

Sorry for having been MIA...

This is a long overdue post, for Karen's birthday : )

Supposedly, we were to SURPRISE Karen
with a birthday dinner : D
Well, the surprise didn't work out...
but hey, DESSERT is still essential! : D

Upon getting this Lindt recipe on Chocolate Petit Fours,
I decided i'd give it a try ; )
Plus it's easier to transport than a huge bday cake : b

EGGS! how can we forget goh goh's favorite? :)

Gooey chocolate mixture with melted butter...

Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt altogether : )

Spray some PAM on the newly purchased
silicone madeleine pan : 0
well... i didn't have any petit fours pan : /
so improvise it is!

Mix everything together : D
oh... semisweet x bittersweet x milk chocolate...
SMELL SO GOOD : )))

Place some raisins & choco chips at the bottom,
fill the madeleine pan with the gooey goodness,
then top it with fresh blueberries : )

Somehow, there was a lot of leftover batter : 0
blueberries ran out eventually...
so i use marshmallows and shredded coconut also!

A close-up of how they came out : )

It turned out that Karen had fun
with the gift goh goh and i gave:
ICE CREAM MACHINE!!
& this warm, gooey petit dessert
became the perfect match to her
fresh vanilla bean ice-cream : D
YAY!

Cleansing my Stomach

2008-03-02T16:18:00.000-05:00

Been feeling pretty FAT lately... : /

Resolution?
Eat some veggies for dinner! : D

Since i don't like salad, canned tomatoes +
canned corn became my best friend! : )

The other night, i bought some Japanese
Seaweed salad (basically some kunbu,
mixed with sesame oil, red pepper flakes
& white sesame as dressing)
and mixed that with Corn...

MMMMmmMMmM : D
Veggies can be yummy and filling, too!

A Daring Marathon -- French Bread

2008-02-29T12:13:00.000-05:00

A month ago, i joined a group called Daring Baker : )
It's a group consisting of a huge group of food-loving,
courageous, persistent, knowledgeable... people --
who join in for a baking challenge every month!

Being a novice like me, of course i gotta be a part
of this group, in order to push myself further
to sharpen my culinary skills! : D

This is my firth month... and the challenge is...
**drumroll**

OH MY! MAKING BREAD FROM SCRATCH!

Everyone from Daring Baker (DB) pointed out
that this takes A LONG TIME...
(anywhere ranging from 7-11 hours!)
On top of that, the recipe was like 10 pages long,
with 13 steps & countless paragraphs of instructions!
So i figured, it's necessary for me to
set the President's Day aside for this challenge : 0

(& Goh goh thought i was a lil' nuts... -_-"
**Sigh...**
can't men be more encouraging sometimes?!)

I've never played with yeast before '_'
& i imagined it to be scary looking...
kinda like some squirmy germs or something?! 0_o

Oh but they turn out to be just some brown powders,
except with a weird smell... -_-

Dunk the yeast into warm water '_' Mix!

Dough in the mixer : 0
It's interesting how French Bread requires salt,
but not sugar '_' hmmm... the dough smells funky.

Kneading with hands!
The sensation reminded me of
playing with play-doh 0_o?!

Kneading some more with the dough hook '_'
Then leave it in the oven with the oven light on...
and wait for it to RISE! : D

3 hours later... the tiny dough -> POOF ->
occupy half a mixing bowl!!

A close-up of how it looks : 0

Take the POOFed dough back out,
and KNEAD! and KNEAD! and...
yeah you guessed it, KNEAD SOME MORE!

Then what?
Put it back and let it RISE... some more : )

Ahhhhh... Another 2 hours later...
such a pretty, creamy-yellow, POOFed ball : D
(It still smelled funky... -_-")

Then... duh!
KNEAD SOME MORE : 0

Cut the dough into small rolls '_'

The recipe called for Canvas Linen...
but i don't have any : /
So i ended up using my Crate & Barrel
lovely Christmas kitchen cloth ; ) hehe...

Guess what the towel's covering?

Taaaa Daaaaa!
The cut-up + kneaded + twisted doughs : )
In my opinion, they almost look just like
Shanghai's Soupy Dumplings / 小籠包 : 0
Except with no fillings...

(BOOOO... i never liked bread all that much,
but those with yummy fillings are worth trying : b
So these bread rolls that i'm making,
is really more for satisfying my curiosity
and desire to conquer a culinary challenge,
than the plain "YUM! I WANNA EAT THAT!" reason.
Well, coz i'm not interested in eating these at all -_-")

Another 2 hours later...

Put flour on the cookie sheet / doughs '_'
The recipe called for cardboard / wooden plank,
but neither i nor goh goh could understand
the instructions : (
hey, i thought my English is bad...
but perhaps there is a foreign baking language
to be learned over time... : /

SLASH! the doughs : 0
I didn't realize that the French slash their bread
differently...
so i ended up slicing the doughs as if
they were Pineapple buns / 菠蘿包
from the Chinese bakeries '_'

Sorry, Julia Child!

After baking them... they needed to be cooled down
for 2-3 hours before putting into the fridge.

A close-up shot : )

It was 2am by then, and i just could stay up
any longer -_-
So i left them out overnight...

The following day, goh goh tried to appear
supportive by asking to try one of the rolls...
& i tried to make it a more special treat,
by putting my newly acquired ALMOND BUTTER
as a filling : )

Verdict?
- it was hard as a rock...
- tastes nothing like bread but everything like yeast...
- the inside doesn't have the beautiful bubbles
that other DBs' bread pictures show : (

* SIGH!
a major defeat, i suppose!

It doesn't hurt my ego too much though...
coz:
a) I'VE TRIED MY BEST!
b) I PERSEVERED THRU THOSE 14 GRUELING HRS!
c) I DON'T EVEN LIKE BREAD! : b

haa : b oh well... hopefully next month's
challenge would turn out better than this ; )
Stay tuned!

Useful links:
The Daring Bakers Blogroll
-- A list of all the DBs : )
Go take a look at all these beautiful sites ; D
(oh yeah... & the ones that made the Bread successfully!)

http://breadchick.com/?p=336
-- The original Julia Child French Bread recipe : )

Pear Chips?

2008-02-22T16:19:00.000-05:00

You've probably had sweet potato chips,
Red delicious Apple chips,
Granny Smith Green apple chips...

But what about Pear Chips? : D

i saw these @ tangers outlet's Harry & David's --
How could i resist getting them? ; D

Taste test verdict:
hmmm... it's ok '_'
not spectacular, nor yucky : b
Could be a 'healthy' alternative to potato chips, i suppose?

Go ahead! Serve Each Other : )

2008-02-21T15:40:00.006-05:00

Last Friday, my church fellowship -- YCF
(Youth Career Fellowship) had a special program:
SERVE EACH OTHER DAY!

It originated from the past years' Valentine's Day
celebrations -- when one year the guys surprised
all the girls by preparing dinner/programs/
decorations / gifts all on their own...
then the following year the girls returned the favor : )

We had very fond memories of love & surprises
that sprung from these events...
but it also involved a lot of work/pain that takes
to plan / prep / make events like these a SURPRISE!

So this year, we went a 3rd route...
and established the SERVE EACH OTHER DAY instead!

We all signed up for various roles...
& without hesitation, i, of course,
signed up for COOKING! duh!

Here's GG cutting the parm. cheese for Goh goh /
biting them off because his tummy's rumbling...

Here's the 3 trays of Baked Ziti with Sausage
that goh goh made : )))

My favorite cooking partner Jules was so helpful
in chopping the various veggies & garlic for me *0*

While Shirls was the main coordinator that
helped us transport the trays from 4/F down
to the basement... for a couple of times!

GG helped out a lot : )
Here he's washing some of the veggies i got...
Although... he got confused about the difference
between Choy Sum (菜心) /
Dau Miu (Snow Pea Green豆苗) /
Bok Choy(白菜)......
GG: "I DON'T KNOW MY VEGGIES!"
; ) hehe that's ok... as long as you eat them : b

Here's my lovely sis Karen,
posing with a full plate of food that
each of us was served : D

P.Al & Cindy made some VERY DELISH beef stew!
Could you please tell me the secret to your dish?! 0_o

Other dishes --
Jules: Puerto Rican Arroz con Pollo with plantains;
Justin: Drippin' w/ Butter Mashed Potatoes;
My Veggies Delight A: Slightly Salted Edamame

P.Al & Cindy: Fresh Bread (to go with the beef stew!)
My Veggies Delight B: Garlicky Soy Sauce Choy Sum
My Veggies Delight C: Spicy Snow Pea Greens
My Veggies Delight D: Garlicky Broccoli

My Veggies Delight E: Soy Sauce w/ scallion
over Enoki + Button Mushrooms & Asparagus

Desserts:
Megin's Spice Cakes (below)/
JJ's Spiked! Tiramisu
(which i didn't get to take a pic of : / )

Everybody was full at the end of the night,
as was God's love & abundance obvious : )
YAY!!!

***********************************************

Usually, when a group of people get together to eat,
i'd always wait to see what others make / order,
and come up with something that compliments /
balances the meal : )

This time, i signed up for VEGGIES for the same reason.
But i've never been a Vegan nor
had any signature dish that is based
primarily on veggies '_'

Hence, this was yet another challenge / experiment! : D
I named my dish(es) Veggies Delight,
because i had no idea what would be
in it until that night! : b

I picked up a book from the library --
Great Dishes -- Just Blanch and Eat!
(See my book review at: http://365booksayear.blogspot.com/
2008/02/book-32-great-dishes-just-blanch-eat.html)
hoping to be inspired...

& it sure did! : D

I ended up buying 7 kinds of veggies,
blanching them,
& then drenched them in the 2 sauces i whipped up ; D

WOOOHOOO! : ) STF Mission Accomplished!
Maybe we should have more
Serve Each Other [FOOD] nights! ; )

Valentine's Dinner #2 -- OMAHA

2008-02-20T12:00:00.010-05:00

I'm a little behind in posting this...
but here's our 2nd Valentine's day dinner! ; )

Since goh goh wasn't able to schedule the Kittichai
dinner on Feb. 14th, he decided to go the extra mile
& cook a special homemade meal ; )

Here's the mushroom / onions / diced Tilapia side dish
bubbling in the red wine / Balsamic Vinegar : )

When goh goh announced 2 weeks prior to V-Day,
that he's gonna cook and has planned a special meal,
i knew that something's up.

But i definitely didn't think he'd go so far...
as to order Omaha Steaks!!!

I ended up picking out Ribeye &
Pork chops for the night...

Pork chops were cooked on the stovetop
in a corningware dish -- i didn't know that
could be done!
It's so true that you can learn something new
every day : ) hehe...

Here's the chef's content smile,
with a special occasion drink: Sparkling cider!
(Although, we both agree that the traditional
Apple flavor tastes better than the berries / peach!)

Yipppeee! : ) Such a wonderful meal ; )

Thanks, goh goh : D

** p.s. In terms of the Omaha Steaks,
we agreed that they didn't really live up to the hype,
the fame and the $$$.

A normal Ribeye, i suppose, would be much thicker
than what we received in the package.

It doesn't taste bad,
but it doesn't taste any better than
the fresh ones we can get at Stop n' Shop either.

It wasn't an unpleasant experience,
but neither was it spectacular : 0

Well, let's see if the other cuts are better
(we still have the filet mignon & the burger patty
in the freezer).
I'll certainly let you know '_'

Yummy Tummy Medicine

2008-02-19T14:52:00.002-05:00

For quite a long while,
(before Coke Zero came out, to be exact)
Ginger Ale was my favorite soda.

Strange how i hate ginger in my food,
never dared to try Ginger Snaps (cookies),
but like to have it in my soda : )

Did you know that it's not merely a soft drink,
but a great tummy medicine also? : )

Out of the 3 most common brands in NYC,

- Canada Dry

- Schweppes

- Seagram's

The 3rd one has always been my favorite : )

hehe... what about you?

Challenge: Cook whatever's home!

2008-02-18T23:55:00.000-05:00

What's more fun than having friends over for dinner?

: D The answer is... not much!

So this time, we had the NGs over : )

Since i cooked for the past few times
when guests came by,
this time around,
we had goh goh cook instead : b

To make it challenging,
goh goh had to use whatever he can find
in the fridge / pantry : )

What did he come up with, then? : D

Creamy broccoli x spinach : )

Parmesan Cheese Crusted Tilapia Filets

Highlight of the meal:
Sprite marinated Pork tenderloin!

In other words,
Homemade Roast Pork aka Cha Siu : D

A miracle happened after our meal:
NO LEFTOVERS!!!!! *_*

This almost never happened...
But obviously,
a) Goh goh did a great job estimating the portions
of food;
b) the food tasted YUMMMM : )
c) we invited some great guests!!! : D

Afterwards, we got to enjoy some beautiful
+ tasty desserts our guests so graciously brought:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

Pear Pie / Clementine Pie /
Chocolate Mousse Dome Cake /
Espresso Marshmallow Chocolate cup /
Strawberry Cream Eclair

: DDDD we also had Haagen Dazs coffee ice-cream /
Friendly's Orange cream ice-cream /
Bread Pudding : )

OH... SO FULLLLLLLLLL... *0*

JasMart Find # 527

2008-02-17T18:50:00.000-05:00

I know, i know... i buy so many snacks,
& you read about them so often... 0_o"

ANYWAY... i love JasMart! : D
& these goodies are excellent ; )

Top to bottm, left to right:
- Sparkling Fall Apple Soda
- Fresh Apricot Jello Cup
- Creamy Lemon Biscuits
- Yuzu Soft gummi
- Vanilla Bean flavored KitKat

hehe who'd like to try them with me? ; )

Valentine's Feast #1 -- Kittichai

2008-02-15T10:28:00.027-05:00

Last year's V-Day,
goh goh and i made reservations at
WHITE CASTLE... 0_o

HAA!
Not because of their food,
but that it was funny enough,
to mock the rave about spending mucho $$$,
celebrating a 'holiday' we don't believe in.

However, due to the snow storm & the car failing on us,
we couldn't even go through with this silly plan.

This year, however, we turned around and decided:
Hey, why not make this yet another reason
(read: excuse) for us to enjoy some good food?!

Considering that goh goh & i:
A) love sharing Thai food together
B) never miss the Iron Chef show on sundays;

We're bound to come to come here,
after watching that amazing episode:
www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ia/
episode/0,1976,FOOD_16696_47931,00.html

Taaaaa DAAAAAAAA! : D

KITTICHAI RESTAURANT

This restaurant is quite busy,
hence the required reservation beforehand.
Yay for goh goh ; ) who took care of that.

The design of the restaurant is very artistic & classy,
while the atmosphere is romantic & comforting : )

Here, take a look:

A sense of Modern Thai --the theme of the restaurant's
cuisine -- is richly conveyed in the decorations.

Hanging Orchids + Floating Candles = WOW!!!

Goh goh: "Are you done taking pictures yet?
Can we please look at the menu now?"

What's a girl to do,
when so many amazing choices are presented? : (

Appetizer:
Seabass Tempura with Sweet-Chili Tamarind Sauce

Verdict: How in the world can the seabass bites
be SO JUICY?!?!?! 0_o

After the appetizer, i was admiring the design
of their glasses: It's in a rounded square shape,
with a slight dip on each side, very well
fitted for the customer's fingers : )

I admire their detail-oriented design,
even down to one single water glass!

At the sight of the utensils presented to us,
i got all giggly and exclaimed,
"Goh goh, LOOK! These look exactly the same
as the ones we used in Bali!" **huge grin**

awww... such lovely memories : )))

Here comes our entree!

Goh goh's pick:
Wok-seared Tiger Prawns
with Garlic Pepper sauce and green beans

My pick:
Pineapple Braised Short Ribs in Green Curry,
Thai Eggplant and Sweet Basil

Side (A given): Jasmine Rice

Verdicts:
- Prawns were FRESH & HUGE!
Crunchy and flavorful ; )

But we've had better sauce before...

- The Short Ribs were so AMAZING *_*
We were speechless after the first bite,
and had to pause to let the tenderness of the pork,
the fragrance of the coconut milk,

the tartness of the pineapple,
the smooth texture of the curry... sink in.

i deliberately ate really really slow,
and drank very little water,
in order to savor every bite as long as possible *0*

However, we didn't order enough,
given the small portions of the dishes : /

Hence the Random Pick:
Baked Chilean Sea Bass marinated in
yellow salted beans with morning glory.

What's yellow salted beans?

What's morning glory?

NO IDEA.
But we ordered it anyway! : D

Goh goh said, "Let's hope that this dish is
even more amazing than the Short Ribs!"

Verdict?

Haha... goh goh said we must show the world
how fat we are, for we cleaned all the plates : b

The Sea bass, just like the appetizer,
is THICK + JUICY + SMOOTH : 0

The glaze on the fish is mildly sweet,
giving off a faint resemblance to a miso glaze.

Morning Glory turns out to be Water Spinach's
other (prettier) name : )
& somehow, the garlicky veggies complement
the fish PERFECTLY.

It was dish-licking good *0*
& i consider it a (high) tie to the Short Ribs : )

In HEi's book, meals are not complete without desserts!

But... i wanted to try so many of them 0_o
What to do?????

These days, i feel like goh goh's been spoiling me,
esp. when it comes to food.

& here he said, "Go ahead. Order an extra.
You know you want to." : )

Taaa Daaa! ; )

My pick #1: Coconut Crepes with Kalamanci Sauce

Verdict:
I was expecting coconut inside the crepes,
but it turns out to be a ball of REALLY SMOOTH
& MILKY coconut ice cream ; )

The crepes were not filled, but were thoroughly
soaked up in the citrus syrup,
topped with sweet tangerine slices & glazed orange zest.
Loved it, but was below my really high expectations : b

Goh goh's pick: Jasmine Flan on a Sweet and Sour
Fruit Salad with Jasmine Rice Ice Cream

Verdict:
The flan was OUTSTANDING.
I've never tasted anything quite like it.

The petite beauty was infused with
the unique flavor of jasmine,
& it complements the jasmine rice ice cream
like a match made in heaven! *0*

The fruit salad was top quality also ; )

My pick #2: Thai Tea Ice Cream Sundae
with Palm Seeds and Coconut Jelly

Verdict:

The chef's creativity was overflowing in this dish!

All homemade ice-cream:
Thai Iced Tea -- Silky texture,
every bite filled with the aroma of traditional thai black tea
Creamy Coconut -- as mentioned above ; )

Thai Iced Coffee -- Crushed coffee beans infused;

So glad this wasn't smooth like the others,
for the difference in texture makes a sharp contrast ; )

What's even better?

Top them all off with Chocolate + Caramel Sauce +
crushed almond caramel bits!

i was eating so slow at one point,
that goh goh had to coax me into speeding up,
before all the ice cream melted : b

The only disappointment in this dish:
the coconut jelly sat in the banana-like flavored syrup
too long : ( & the jackfruit tasted like banana, too.

(yes, i don't like bananas...
so i'm making personal preferential criticisms.)

All in all, i couldn't have been happier with this meal!

Quoting Goh goh,
"This is one of the best meals I've ever had!"

FYI:

Kittichai Restaurant

Address: 60 Thompson Street, New York, NY 10012

Reservations: 212 219 2000

Website: kittichairestaurant.com

p.s. Don't you want to go there with me again,
to try the family/ tasting menu?! : DDDD

My #1 Bread Pudding

2008-02-14T11:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! : )

Since i don't believe in the common notion:
heart-shaped things = LOVE,
i'll offer you a slice of BREAD PUDDING instead : b

I have never tried bread pudding in my life,
EVER, until 3 weeks ago...
at the Whole Foods Market @ Columbus Circle.

When i was roaming around their cooked food
aisles in leisure (& in circles, coz everything
looked so delicious but expensive 0_o),
i heard the Warm Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
calling out to me... [insert Dreamy / Intrigued face]
Seeing that it's warm and overflowing with raisins,
i held back no more and took the chance,
i meant, i took a big scoop : D

I took a bite out of the pudding,
thinking to myself, "Eh... it's ok."
But then i was unable to control my fork
digging it into it, again and again,
despite my desire to save some dessert for later!

0_o" I wasn't hungry at all
when this incident took place.
Hence the conclusion:
I MUST LIKE BREAD PUDDING then!

So what's a girl to do?
Make it at home... DUH! : D

To be honest, neither goh goh nor i are
super enthusiastic about bread --
which explains the abundance of the
leftover Trader Joe's Cinnamon Apple
Raisin Bread, despite its good flavor combo : 0

Fear not, Bread!
You'll be put to GOOD, GOOD use ; )

Sliced & Diced bread, filling my 10x10 pan : )

The magic ingredient that makes everything tastes
10 times better: BUTTER!

"DING!" : )
Melted in the microwave,
then drizzled over the bread.

Meanwhile, crack some eggs : )
Now that's a beautiful sight, yay?

The recipe calls for milk,
which we don't have in the fridge 0_o
so i improvised and used evaporated milk instead.

That can of E. Milk wasn't enough,
so i added some more Heavy Whipping Cream.
Haa! this GOTTA taste good now,
don't you think? ; )

Add some vanilla extract + cinnamon +
Whisk Whisk Whisk : )

Pour the mixture in... Going into the oven : D

WOWWEEEEEEE!
Golden Brown & Risen ; )
I was getting dizzy at the sight & smell of this...

After it cooled down (& shrank),
i cut a piece and it was satisfying &comforting!

YAY! My new favorite dessert!!!

A Sweet New Rat Year : )

2008-02-13T23:25:00.007-05:00

Happy birthday, everyone! : D

According to Chinese traditions,
the 7th day of the first month of the Lunar
New year calendar is 人日, which translates into
everybody's birthday! : )

& guess what? : )
This is MY year, too!
Since i was born in a RAT year, as indicated by
the Chinese zodiac ; )

Not that i believe in any of those ideas,
but me being born in RAT year plays
a significant role to my parents' love story,
or so i believed : b
So it always makes me giggly & proud to announce,
ME! ME! A RAT! : D

Anyhow, so Fafa bought 2 traditional desserts for
Chinese New Year, and decided to share them with me ; )

Left: Water Chestnut Cake (馬蹄糕)
Right: Coconut Milk Sweet Rice Cake (椰汁糖年糕)

In order to make them edible,
Fa taught me the secret:

1) Whisk an egg.

2) Cut the sweets into an inch thick (or less,
if you're REALLY hungry or impatient, or both)

3) Dip the cakes into the egg batter,
until fully coated & dripping : )

4) Add a bit oil into the skillet.
Keep it on high heat until it's smokin' hot!

5) Lower the heat and
spread out the cakes on the pan.
Cook for 2-3 minutes : )
Or until they appear soft
when poked with chopsticks.

My co-workers made their own Rice Cakes at home 0_o
(Now THAT's SKILLS!)
Fafa cheated : b he bought from Tai Pan Bakery ; )

TAAAAA DAAAA! : )

hehe sorry it's my first time : b
the eggs look kinda burnt,
but i guarentee you it tastes superb! ; )

Trader Joe's Goodies

2008-02-11T10:52:00.000-05:00

There's a new Trader Joe's opened in our area,
so goh goh, Fishcake and i went to check it out ; )

Yippeee!
Besides their bargain valued Cream Cheese,
(which i bought 8 bars... and prompted the
good-natured cashier to ask the question,
"Wow, you must be making a lot of cheesecakes???")

We also got all these!! : DDD [Huge grin ; )]

from Top to Bottom, Left to Right:

- Super Sweet Grape Tomatoes : D
Goh goh and i finished it in 2 days : b
- Freeze dried Mangosteen snack
hmmm... tasted kinda weird 0_o"
I MISS THE FRESH ONES FROM BALI!!!
- Hawaiian hickory BBQ chips
Who can resist the combo of
HAWAII + Hickory + BBQ?!

- Cinnamon Apple Raisin Bread
i read online that Trader Joe's bread goes moldy
more quickly than the usual brands...?! '_'
so we had to stick it into the fridge...
But it was surely a fabulous combination! ; )
- Citron Honey
goh goh and i were both a little sick
when we went to trader joe's that day '_'
so i couldn't help but buy this,
thinking we'd drink it and our throats would
feel 10 times better RIGHT AWAY : D
- Peach Sauce
hmmmm... i haven't come up with a way to use this yet!
Any ideas, anyone? : )
but it was too tempting to pass!!!

Last but not least,
Peach & blueberry PANNA COTTA! : D

hehe i can see us having this for dessert on V-Day ; )

STF Reunion : D

2008-02-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

The origin of this site's name: Share The Food --
also known as STF --
first came about as a playful suggestion by Goh goh...

Back in July 2006, i wrote my very first song,
and entered a song writing competition.
To perform the song in the finals,
i got goh goh to play guitar,
and Christen to play violin ; )
STF became our (unofficial) band name,
and it signifies our special bond : D

Last week, we invited Christen & Joy over for dinner,
but unfortunately, Joy was sick : (
Hence, it ended up being a STF Re-U!

Yup! This depicts our normal role:
Me cook, he washes dishes : D

For this special occasion, i decided to...
do some more cooking experiments : b haha...

This meal contains:

- Boiled Potatoes

Peeled ; )

Sliced!

Mixed in Mushrooms / Minced Pork...
TAAA DAAA! Chinese Mashed Potatoes : )
No butter, but oyster sauce instead!

- Thin Sliced Pork Chops marinated in OJ overnight
(Inspired by my experiment with the OJ chicken)

Laid out flat on the foil

Added dabs of BBQ sauce + Honey : )

After they came out of the oven,
i added ketchup, too ; )

- Stir fried Spinach + Diced Ham : )

Yippeeee! Mo + Ko

& CMS + HLN : b

I wasn't feeling too fancy that day,
so i just cheated and made HK style Mango Pudding.

Stuck in the fridge for a couple of hours...

Served with Orange Creamsicle -- Citrus-y & refreshing! : )

Such was a beautiful night filled with
wonderful conversations & satisfied stomachs ; )

YAYYYYYYY to STF!

Orangey Chicken

2008-02-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

I found 2 lonely chicken thighs
laying around in the fridge the other day : (

So sad...
Let's find a way to cook (then eat!) them instead : D

i was poking my head into the fridge,
trying to figure out what ideas i can get for this experiment.

Then, i spotted:

I poured some OJ + added some rosemary into a bowl,
then drowned the thighs overnight.

Next day, i browned the thighs on a pan,
while realizing that these thick, chunky meat
probably won't be thoroughly cooked 0_o

I was hungry, so i didn't wanna wait another hour
for the oven to preheat + cook the thighs '_'

What then?

Yep, i committed a crime:
i stuck them into the microwave,
after brushing BBQ sauce & honey over them '_'

They turned out sizzling hot, juicy,
and 110% cooked......
[Warning: Unless you are desperate, like i was,
try not to use the microwave to cook meat.
Parts of it (if not the whole thing) would taste CHEWY.]

I'd still say though,
this is quite a fabulous experiment : )
The chicken totally absorbed the citrus flavor deeply,
and the BBQ sauce accompanies this really well : D

GO AHEAD! OJ your meat!

Rice Pot Wonder #2!

2008-02-07T22:16:00.000-05:00

As i promised before,
i continued to explore the potential dishes
that i can make with my microwavable rice cooker : )

Are you ready for this? : D

Minced beef --
marinated in curry powder, salt,
pepper, onion powder......

Meanwhile, i submerged the rice into coconut milk,
water and a tiny bit of sesame oil : )

Sorry, the photo came out a bit disgusting...
i added coconut milk to the marinated beef too : )

When the rice is half cooked,
i added the beef, shallots, seaweed,
peanut butter, and a little water into the pot : )

15 minutes later...
TAAAA DAAAAA!!!!!

Yeah, i suppose it's a bit Thai inspired!
hehe... ok perhaps except the seaweed : b

Probably due to the coconut milk / beef / peanuts,
this is quite a filling dish ; )
Very economical and satisfying!
ENJOY!

Welcome! Taste Testers!

2008-02-06T10:58:00.000-05:00

It's a beautiful thing
to have friends come over to our place,
and be the taste testers of my cooking ; D

Well, as the saying goes...
Friends don't let friends go hungry... RIGHT? : D

Thanks to David,
we got some shots of my cooking in action!

Black bean Garlic Pork Chops bubbling in its sauce ; )

Lap Cheung (Chinese Sausage) diced,
awaiting to be added to the rice : )

The kindest guest, Aaron,
washing dishes for us : )

I made the stir-fry cabbage/corn dish too spicy,
with too much Garlic Spicy sauce... 0_o"
So i was trying to reverse the trauma
by adding sugar... : b haaa!

Yay for friends!
YAYYYYYY for God's blessings & provision,
that we have a home to accomodate others
while serving them with yummy yummy : )

Bali Revisited

2008-02-05T15:24:00.000-05:00

Goh goh came home the other day,
all giggly, with these in his hands:

Passion Fruit Drink + Mangosteen Juice : D

These 2 fruits will always be special to us ; )
coz we had them at their finest @ our Honeymoon in Bali!

Hence, we'll drink these whenever we wanna reminisce
our wonderful time together on that very 1st trip...

p.s. i had the mangosteen one, and it tasted pretty good : D
Well, it's more like nectar than juice... so i added iced water
to dilute the super sweetness : )

Contests!!

2008-02-04T14:44:00.000-05:00

Recently, i found an interesting website:
http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/

They organize a group of food-related bloggers,

send out a recipe once a month,
and make it a common challenge --
everyone has to make the assigned recipe,
and post it before the end of the month : D

As for this month's upcoming Daring Baker Challenge,
i'll be making something i've never made before!

hehehe... you'll read about it by Feb. 29th! YAY!

Besides this, I'm kinda interested in joining the following also:

http://familiabencomo.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/serendipity-bake-off/

...a contest for the Most Pleasing Dessert -
baker’s choice of what to prepare.
Then, take at least one photo during its preparation process...
photograph the finished treat & share the recipe
and your experience with us on your blog.

The Contest Rules are simple:
All entries must be posted or emailed to us
(bencomobaby AT hotmail DOT com
& soapchix AT gmail DOT com)
by February 29, 2008.
By entering this contest, you agree to divulge your secrets.
(ie. your personal recipe or its source)

http://kochtopf.twoday.net/stories/4625274/

Make an "edible heart", take pictures (if possible)
and blog about between now and Friday, February 15, 2008.
Please link back to this announcement in your post,
and eventually to the roundup.

Send an email to heartforyourvalentine(at)gmail.com
including - your name - your blog's name and your blog's URL-
the recipe name and the post's URL-
your hometown/region and country.
Last day of submission is Friday, February 15.

http://machetiseimangiato.wordpress.com/
2008/02/01/an-apple-a-day-blog-event-3rd-march-2008/

In your recipe apples must be present
(one apple is enough)
plus one of the other ingredients listed below.
APPLE(S) +
Almonds
Black Tea
Cinnamon
Dark Chocolate
Fish
Peperoncino
Tomatoes

Cook something with apples and one of these ingredients
and send me an email by the midnight of the 3rd March 2008.
In the email to rori[punto]rori[at]libero[punto]it
write:
-email object: An apple a day
-who you are
-your blog’s name
-your blog’s URL
-your post’s (with recipe and picture) URL
-name of the recipe
-the ingredients of the list that you used

: D We'll see how all these turn out for a novice like me! : b

Mac n' Cheese Casserole

2008-02-02T21:48:00.000-05:00

Guess what Goh goh made the other day? : D
This is one of his FAVORITES... with a new twist ; )

Taaaaa Daaaaaa!

Cooked mac & cheese +
fried onions +
diced ham : )

Hearty & wonderful for this chillin' weather! ; )

The Best Souvenirs for hei : D

2008-01-31T17:54:00.000-05:00

YAY to Carol & Eddie!!!
They went to Hong Kong : 0
So Goh goh and i had to cat-sit Sugar for Carol : )

What did Carol get us in return?
The BEST kind of Souvenirs for STF, of course!

From Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
- Calbee Curry Flavored Chips
- Calbee Teriyaki Honey Chicken Wings Flavored Chips
- Glico Chocolate Cream Collon
- Freshly Sealed Beef Jerky *_*
- Air Bubble Chocolate
- Air Bubble Strawberry & Milk Chocolate

YAYYYYYYYY!!! : D
Y'All know what's the right thing to do,
next time you go on a trip, RIGHT? ; )

Fake Chicken Cacciatore

2008-01-30T12:07:00.000-05:00

I set out to try to make Chicken Cacciatore
for the first time. EVER.
(ack... i can't even spell CACCIATORE by heart.)

The night before:
Marinate Chicken thighs (skin on) with salt / pepper overnight.

Next day:
Drenge them in flour : ) so juice would stay in, i suppose?

Slice up some onions

The recipe suggested chopping rosemary.
but i failed miserably... -_-"
i couldn't find a way to chop them without them flying
all over the place.
i gave up before they had a chance to land on my eyeball 0_o"

Sauteed the onions, rosemary with minced garlic : )
AROMATICS! : D ahhh haaa!
i learned that word from Mr. Alton Brown.

Ohoh... backtrack a little.
before cooking the aromatics,
i deep-fried the thighs in the same pot with olive oil.

There's gotta be some sort of starch to go with this dish, right?
So i decided, SHELLS pasta would be a good match : )

Although, i didn't realize how long it'd take for them to cook,
just because they're LARGE 0_o (14-16 mins!)

While the pasta's boiling away,
my focus turned back to the sauce.
Added a) Dry White Wine + b) Canned Diced Tomatoes : )

After a while, dump all the chicken back into the rich, beautiful sauce.
(Private remorse of the moment: NOOO!
There goes the crispy skin! : / )

On my way home from work,
i saw my new favorite veggie: Mini cabbages!
For some reason, they taste somewhat buttery *_*
BUTTERY veggie!
Can you imagine how satisfying this is,
for those that enjoy the intense flavor (& thought) of butter
minus the horrifying calories?!

After lots of bubbling in 3 pots...
TAAAA DAAAA! : D

Goh goh's comments:
- "I don't know what I'm eating,
but I'm hungry!"

Okay, what he meant was this:
This dish does not taste like what he expected
of Chicken Cacciatore...
The sauce is not as thick as it usually is --
(which brings the question... does it mean i should use:
a) cornstarch? b) tomato paste instead of diced tomatoes?)
BUT IT TASTES GOOD NONETHELESS!

Yup! I'd call this the most successful Pasta dish as of today : )
Despite the unsuccessful recipe and all...

Semi-Failure: Beef Pot Roast

2008-01-29T15:37:00.000-05:00

YAY! New Toy : )
Do you know what this is?

The Japanese call it "Shuttle Chef,"
which in essence, is like a slow cooker
minus the electricity : )

Fafa recommended using it to make soup / congee,
but i was in an adventurous mood the other day,
so i decided to test it out & make a pot roast.

Originally, i set out to buy a pork pot roast '_'
But somehow Stop & Shop doesn't have it that day...
so i got Beef instead, thinking i can improvise...
(hmm but that might have been the fatal error...)

Aromatics / Veggies: Potatoes, Onions,
hmmm and i don't know why i used an apple also.

Everything diced up : )
you can see the garlic being diced at the corner, too!

then i marinated the pot roast with
salt, pepper, garlic powder & onion powder : )

Brown it, baby!

I skipped a few steps in the pics coz i was busy:
1) take the roast out of the pan,
2) pour the veggies into the Shuttle Chef pot,
3) put the roast back in,
4) cover it with diced garlic,
5) pour a can of chicken broth into the pot,
6) bring to a boil,
7) pour a can of cream of mushroom in also,
8) stir!

BUBBLE BUBBLE BUBBLE...

Then i put the heavy hot pot into the Shuttle Chef,
leave it in overnight, and in the morning...

VOILA!

But then... this post is named
'Semi-failure' for a reason. : /

I guess due to the nature of Beef,
the pot roast came out quite tough,
and for those that like their steak RARE,
i'd have probably killed the cow like 10 times, in their opinion.

The sauce came out really well, very flavorful,
and so was the roast & veggies.

i made macaroni to go with this : )
& Fafa suggested slicing the roast REALLY THIN,
to make up for the toughness : b
while goh goh suggested cooking with red wine next time,
to break down / tenderize the meat texture.

Yay! it's all good : )
No successes could be achieved without mistakes, right?

Teerah MeeSue

2008-01-28T21:41:00.000-05:00

Hi.
I made Tiramisu again.
I'm getting bored of this dish.
But it could feed lots of people,
and it's easy to make.
Plus they all love it : )

Maybe I should challenge myself to make it
more from scratch next time --
whatever that means... 0_o

*Credits: Adeline & Winxy --
for the huge Mikasa bowl! : )
What would i have made this cake in without your gift?!

i heart Jasmart!

2008-01-27T23:35:00.000-05:00

I just can't get enough of Jasmart! : DDD
These are my newest finds at this fascinating
Japanese supermarket @ downtown Manhattan,
@ St. Marks / Astor Place : )

From left to right, top to bottom:
[Top]
- A 12 pack of the yummy chocolate cookies,
Japanese style -- in acorn shape! --
Crispy & bought @ bargain price : D SCORE!
- Mango nectar drink
with chunky, chewy mango jello *_*
- White Peach nectar drink
with feather-like peach pulp... DROOL 0_o
- Grape Juice with a sharp, genuine
(black) grape flavor --
without the extra cup of sugar!
Mighty goodness! : )
- Konbu Onigiri (Rice Ball)
with soy sauce flavored konbu
(seaweed) and sesame : )
MY FAVORITE!
- White chocolate capped mushrooms,
with dark chocolate cookie bottoms.
- Creme Brulee flakey cookies!
This was so buttery & yummy
that i didn't want to finish them all
at once... : )))

[Bottom]
- Aluminium tray instant udon...
MmmMMmmmMM... *_*
- Pizza flavored chips! : D
Super cheesy & flavorful.
I love the ridges in the chips too!
(Why are Japanese chips so much better
than the American ones?!?!?!)
Goh goh and i finished it in no time!
- Spicy Scallops snacks *_*
They use REAL scallops yo!
Soooooooooooooo goooooooooooood...
- Rice Crackers! : D AHHHAAA!
On sale! YUM! : )

Runny Raspberry

2008-01-25T16:00:00.000-05:00

For this past Sunday's dinner,
i got very ambitious --
even after spending all day in the kitchen,
deboning those monstrous wings --
i decided i could make a dessert dish also!

So i made a Runny Raspberry...thing.
[Some call it bar, some call it square,
some call it strudel... but it's sorta none/all of the above.]

Alright. The RUNNY part was unintended,
and i've been trying to find out what went wrong in the process.

I used:

Eggs

All-purpose Flour + Sugar

Salted butter
(coz there were no unsalted around...
& as a result? i added more sugar...)
+ Lime juice

Seedless Raspberry Preserves
+ Some semi-sweet chocolate morsels,
which became invisible after baking.

So what went wrong?
I suspected it could be:
a) i added too much lime juice.
b) i added too much preserves.
c) i didn't add enough flour.
d) All or some of the above.
e) i may never find out 0_o"

Anyhow, thanks to the Chins
for enjoying this Runny Dessert nonetheless,
& letting me play in their kitchen! : D

p.s. MUST SERVE THIS DESSERT HOT!
This with Ice-cream was like a match made in heaven!
(wait a sec... is that why this Thing was runny?)

Dessert Only

2008-01-24T19:47:00.000-05:00

One day, goh goh and i got home after work,
and neither of us feel like cooking...

What did we end up eating for dinner?

Yup. All desserts!
Cheesecake, Loaf cake, Chocolate truffles,
Vanilla Fudge Ice-cream, Chocolate covered Almonds...

As if to make ourselves feel HEALTHIER,
we had some apples / Korean pears afterwards.

Don't you wish you live with us? : )

Deboning Session

2008-01-22T14:08:00.000-05:00

We caught Zach in action again...
HAVING A FEAST eh, little buddy? : )

Yes, we created these BONELESS monsters again...
as requested by the Chins : )

Although, this time --
i hosted a deboning session with 2 participants--

Student #1. Donna

She's dicing some tilapia, which we were going to use
to stuff the chicken wings : )

TAAA DAAAA! Such a beautiful sight... *_*
I then, proceeded to marinate them with:
sea salt, white pepper, lime juice, garlic, rosemary...

Stuffing #2: Marinated Minced Pork with Mushrooms
(Marinated with: salt, black pepper, sesame oil...)

YAY! There you see Student #2, Nick!

According to Nick, deboning chicken wings
make his hands 'Chickeny';
& he called this thumb-in-wing action "Chicken Finger."

There, you see us putting Chef Nick at (more) work,
dicing up the mushrooms : )
This boy is growing up to be ladies' ideal man!

Meanwhile, Donna's friend Nancy came by,
and made very yummy guacamole *_*

i wonder if i can find a way to stuff chicken wings
with guac one day... that'd be something i can eat ALL DAY!

These are worth 2 hrs of hard work yo!!
(Totaling over 70 wings!)

After that, Donna had more fun with some chicken breasts...
Fajita in the making : )

Meanwhile, i sauteed the minced pork with the mushrooms.
Note: They're not fully cooked!
I just cooked them to about 70% done.

Then, we sauteed the fish also,
let them cool a lil bit,
then start stuffing! : )

Left: Minced pork/mushrooms;
Right: Apple / ham.

Goh goh seemed quite troubled,
when Donna suggested him to don an apron.

Pan-fried goodness : D

MMmmmmmMMm... O-I-L-Y.

A close-up shot of the apple & ham wings : )

After adding honey & bbq sauce,
they're put into the oven,
then transformed into these juicy, crispy beauties!

Yeahhhhhh! Such was our perfect Sunday dinner
with the company of friends & families! LOVELY! : )

Precious Gems from the 'Mall'

2008-01-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

Can you imagine going to a mall, an outlet,
or a supermarket (since this is a food blog),
carrying a card that allows you to bring whatever
you desire & however many (up to 50) back home with you,
without having to pay a single penny?

Wow, that's crazy, isn't it? CRAZY GOOD, i'd say!

Obviously, that kind of heaven exists in my world,
& it's called... the LIBRARY!

While frequenting the library for the 365 Project,
[Plug: see 365booksayear.blogspot.com
for reading recommendations : ) ]
of course i gotta pick up some culinary good reads as well!

I'll let you know how it goes : )
[Plug again: see 365booksayear.blogspot.com
for reading recommendations ]
& you'll read about some experiments
derived from the above in the near future ; )

Coconut x Lemon x Cream Cheese?

2008-01-15T16:51:00.000-05:00

Originally, I found a nice recipe for an Orange Cheesecake.
However, I realized that I didn't have condensed milk at home;
& there's no way to turn a can of evaporated milk into that : /

When i was about to give up the whole idea
of making my first non-baked cheesecake though,
i saw a recipe on the Knox Gelatine box,
and decided to improvise by combining the 2 : )

Sugar x Gelatin...

+ pressed butter x cookie crumbs
+ Cream cheese
+ half & half x coconut milk x lemon extract...

I have yet to do my taste test... 0_o
But it sure looks beautiful! : D

Edit on 1/17 --
Goh goh & i taste tested it last night ; )
MUAH! It tasted SO GOOD! : D
I got all excited about the endless possibilities /
prospects of future cheesecake experiments! : )))

Jules, you'll be getting a piece, worry not!

Creamy Coconut

2008-01-14T16:18:00.000-05:00

After a busy week, I'm back on my baking experiments! : )

I've been pondering what to make for Fafa --
Since he likes coconut flavored stuff,
i decided to make up something tailor-made for him.

A whole bunch of ingredients...

I found a recipe online for a creamy coconut layered cake,
but decided that it'd be too complicated, to transport
a huge cake with frosting from Forest Hills to Chinatown...
Plus Fafa is not a huge dessert person,
so i thought creating something small might be ideal : )

Fill the muffin cups with the batter,
which contains coconut milk : )

Then whip up the filling:
coconut milk, sweetened coconut flakes,
sugar, sour cream... MMmmMMMmmm... : )

Place it on top of the cake batter,
then top it off with some more coconut flakes : D

Since there was so much batter left,
I decided to make 2 loaf cakes also : )
Coconut should go well with white chocolate chips, too -
I suppose?!
So let's experiment and put some in,
then top it with the fillings!

After baking @ 350F:

Hehehe...
I got some extra to give away...
Who's interested -- please let me know! : D

Rice Pot Wonder #1

2008-01-08T09:35:00.000-05:00

This has to be the fastest REAL dinner e-v-e-r.
No, cooking instant noodles or nuking leftover doesn't count.

Thanks to Hippo Grande's Chef Fafa,
I've grown accustomed to the fabulous
Microwavable Rice Cooker years ago.

A lot of people have doubted,
but if you've come over and tasted our RICE,
your doubt shall cease.

Now, to take that to another level,
I decided to mess around with cooking a 1-pot dinner,
Chinese style with a hei twist ; )

Marinate the beef with sugar, cornstarch, yada yada...
You know, the usual suspects.

Then i bought a pack of spicy pickled veggie,
we call it 柞菜 (zha choy) --
It's got a crisp texture, with a slight spicy/salty taste.

Marinated with sugar & sesame oil as pictured.

Cooked some rice till the water is bubbling,
but the rice not quite done.
Stir and mix both ingredients in,
put it back to the microwave to cook some more : )

Taa Daaaaaa!
There's no going back after trying this : )

I'm now contemplating a future cookbook, written by H-E-i...
Freshly titled: Rice Pot Wonders : b

Well, until then, I gotta explore & experiment more!

Adornments

2008-01-07T16:55:00.000-05:00

Ever since moving into our new home,
I've been increasingly fascinated by any
(read: all) stores that provide cute/pretty/classy
food related items, esp. those that represent my personal tastes.

You have seen quite a few of my collection of
CB dishes here @ STF,
so I'm not going to display them all over again.
But here are some fabulous new finds,
that I totally adore ; )

If you & i have similar tastes,
maybe you'll appreciate them
(or just be nice enough to get them for me : b).

Pinocchio Mug @ Three Potato Four

(http://threepotatofourshop.com/
specials.php?osCsid=661fdcf0c30c945c29e87d88b0533775)

Bubbles Dinnerware @ CB2

(http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=222&f=4377)

Blossom Appetizer Plate @ CB2

(http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=222&f=3653)

Mediterranean Blue Set @ Target

(http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/
ref=sc_qi_collection_item/602-7633651-
9865458?ie=UTF8&asin=B000EFMNYM)

Blue Blossom 2 Tier Plate Stand @ Target

(http://www.target.com/Blue-Blossom-
2-Tier-Plate-Stand/dp/B000WUYAAE/
sr=1-6/qid=1199742273/ref=sr_1_6/602-
7633651-9865458?ie=UTF8&index=target&
field-browse=1038576&rh=k%3Aplate&page=9)

Oh, i'm getting dizzy,
gazing at all these beauties!!

0_o One day, you'll all be mine...
muahahaha... >: D

Meaty Pasta

2008-01-06T21:12:00.000-05:00

Goh goh loves pasta --
hence his nickname... P-A-S-T-A.

I tried numerous time... cooking pasta,
but i just couldn't get it right : (
Therefore, he took up the role as our home's
Master Pasta!

Let's take a peek at the Pasta Kitchen:

YUM! : D

Homebound Brunch

2008-01-04T17:31:00.000-05:00

When you're hungry and stuck at home,
(well, or just lazy & don't wanna go out)
you gotta make something to eat with whatever you have!
& i think Chef Fafa taught me that doesn't mean
the meal has to be bad!

Goh goh totally demonstrated this spirit:
Yay! Super duper brunch!

Cinnamon brown sugar apples,
made from scratch pancakes,
bite-size potatoes with mushrooms & onions ; )

Instant Tart... no more!

2008-01-03T16:04:00.000-05:00

A few years ago,
when i was vaguely interested in making desserts,
but very interested in bringing something homemade,
something special for people's birthdays,
(wow, that part of me has not changed a bit!)
I decided to make an easy birthday 'pie.'

i used something that every baker would be shameful about:

Keebler Ready Crust Graham...
I remember decorating the pie with colorful M&Ms,
while mumbling to myself,
"Wow! That looks... cheap & disgusting."

I love my friends, and that was the end of those pies.

Fast forward to 2 days ago,
seeing 2 tubs of sour cream +
finding 1 sour cream tart recipe while flipping through
the beautiful book: Desserts by the Yard (Thx Jules!) --
I took it as a sign *_*

I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE A TART!

Although... I'll be honest.
I still took a semi-cheat route 0_o"
I used betty Crocker's Pie crust mix...

But hey! At least i tried rolling a dough
with a wooden pin for the very first time.
I decided to add some cocoa powder also,
just to see if i can incorporate any chocolate flavor --
but i couldn't taste it at all after the crust came out...
so that was a waste -_-"

Yard's recipe called for fresh raspberry
or red currents - neither of which i had at hand
nor was able to get coz EVERYTHING is closed on 1/1
(or so i was told).

So, hei's creativity came in and covered the tart
filled with dainty marshmallow instead! : D

Ohhhhhh...
I found myself smiling at the tart
as i took it out of the oven...
*_* Creamy, slightly brown dessert heaven!
Best paired with ice-cream / fresh fruits! : D

New Year's Intimate Dinner

2008-01-02T13:32:00.000-05:00

We had a quiet, relaxing New year's eve --
then we got lovely company for a dinner gathering
on our first day in 2008 : )

We love company of all sorts,
but not all parties have to be big ; )
Since Fishcake & Jules both love Food Network
as much as we do (high-5!!),
we spent the late afternoon watching:
The Next Iron Chef Marathon : D
It was a capturing show -- very inspiring too!

Then, goh goh made an appetizer
that hit a home-run, according to our opinions:
Bacon wrapped Jumbo shrimps
with BBQ & honey sauce *____*

An hour later,
i forced goh goh to make another of my favorite:

GUACAMOLE!!!!! : D
[So sad, Fishcake's allergic to it : /]

Can't you see how happy i am? : D
muahahaha...

For dinner, I made:
Chicken soup with Chinese mushrooms --
learned from Chef Homer aka Fafa : )

-Cauliflower with spicy soy sauce/oyster sauce;
- Pork chop bites & sauteed onions with garlic black bean sauce;
- Pan-fried Chicken thighs with sweet & sour peanut dip.
While goh goh made white rice with garlic & chicken broth : )

I think it's true that cooking is easier than baking,
in the sense that you don't have to be as precise & neat.
However, i'm seeing how there's plenty of room
to be creative in both arears.
Yes, I aspire to master higher culinary skills! ; D

Obviously, I won't let them leave
without sending them off with desserts.
They were excited (& probably watched too much TV)
as they exclaimed: Wow you plated it like an iron chef!
I made a marshmallow sour cream tart
(more about that in the next post),
served it with coconut sorbet & toasted peanut sauce.

Thanks for coming by, sis!
I look forward to cooking over @ your home! ; D

Happy Anniversary!

2008-01-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

2 years ago, we said a little prayer together,
asking God to help us serve Him & bless others:
May Jesus be the Center of our lives : )

2 years later, we're newly-wed, with our humble home.
We continue to be amazed at how blessed we are,
by the loving people surrounding us,
as well as the various opportunies we get to learn,
grow, be free, change for the better...
as individuals & as a family : D

To commemorate this special day,
i made what goh goh really enjoyed:
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins : )

Nothing fancy here,
just like our story.
But that doesn't mean it can't be good ; )

Lemon Cookie Tree

2007-12-31T11:47:00.000-05:00

2 years ago, when i had no idea about baking at all,
(i have just started getting serious this November,
so i'm still VERY new & got a lot to learn.)
i bought a pack of 4 japanese flowers cookie cutters,
but the dough got stuck to the cutter
(coz i didn't use any flour... duh!)
& i quickly gave up.

So recently, when i received a box of 10 mini-cookie cutters
as a birthday gift -- Thanks to ShirLing! --
I remembered how i failed last time,
& determined to conquer this quest > : 0

I set out to bake some lemon cookies.

I read a few articles/tips online,
learning that putting the dough in the fridge,
cooling the cookie cutters before & in between,
as well as being generous with flour --
are essential to success!

It was definitely labor intensive,
and i don't think anyone who has not baked
these 1 by 1 could fully appreciate them : 0

I guess part of it is that I was new to this,
and it took me a while to get the hang of this.

3 hours are a lot of time, don't you think? '_'
Hmm... I am convinced though, it's a test of patience
& perseverance, which are keys to succeed in every/any form.

I tried experimenting here:
Would it taste any different,
if i put the lemon glaze on the dough before baking,
or right after it comes out of the oven?

The answer is:
there's no difference in taste,
but i notice the ones i brushed with glaze before baking,
were apparently more brown when they came out.

Mmm... maybe i'll play with food color next.

The other essential skill to develop:
PACKAGING/PLATING.
The concept of a Cookie (Christmas) Tree dawned on me,
so I tried doing that twice.
1) [Above]
I just stacked them carefully on a CB twig plate,
and put clear cling wrap over it.
2) [Below]
I stacked & wrapped them layer by layer,
over each layer of cookie is 1 layer of green cling wrap.

Obvious 1) was more environmentally friendly,
but i feel that if i were to travel far with cookies,
or even ship them, I'd definitely go with 2),
coz it's safer & well-protected.

Yay!
Snowman delivery express! : D

Pick-me-up

2007-12-30T15:16:00.000-05:00

From what I observed, people rave about this dessert THE MOST,
whenever i make it.

Perhaps people perceive it to be hard to make /
quite fancy to be homemade /
has a bit of what everyone is bound to like:
chocolate, cream, coffee...
Well, except i didn't put liquor in mine : b

Honestly though, it's so much easier to make --
than cookies & cakes:
No-bake, since the fridge does all the work for you;
No perfection needed, you can be sloppy & it still looks decent;
No need to use any flour... oh the counter is so clean!

Essential items: Coffee powder & ladyfingers.

Cream cheese makes every dessert tastes wonderful ; )

Layering is essential.

The italian dessert is widely known as Tiramisu,
which means: Pick-me-up.
Considering how easy the recipe is,
I'll certainly make it again ; )

If you want one too, send in your request & i can cater : b

Yay Nicole!

2007-12-29T23:14:00.000-05:00

Nicole made some chewy, decorated, moist cookies!
: D So yummy ; ) Thank you!

Childhood comfort food

2007-12-28T11:27:00.000-05:00

Last week, I got a pretty nasty cold : /
With minimal strength & low spirit,
i simply whipped up an easy lunch box,
with materials found in the fridge / cabinet.

I remember back in 4th Grade in HK,
Fafa already started educating me how to feed myself --
Granted, most of those microwavable packages
weren't all that spectacular,
I was well fed & somewhat fat... 0_o"

I'm not instant-food-crazy as some HK people are,
but I don't hate them either.
They kinda bring back fond memories,
& serve somewhat as comfort food.

Why am i talking about all these?
Coz I found a package of the Japanese curry 'brick,'
the kind that I used all the time back then : )
& used it to create a simple vegetarian dish over rice:

Being a 100% meat-lover,
obviously I'm not too thrilled with veggies alone.
However, curry brings out a lot of flavor,
and makes all the differences in the world! : D

For this one, i simply sauteed spinach, mushrooms,
Japanese yam cake & onions with salt, pepper
& sesame oil (all the basic ingredients);
dump the curry bricks in, stir the pot,
Pour the mixture over rice -- TAAA DAAAA! : )

So easy that everybody should be able to do it!

* then again, I think it'd taste heavenly...
if only there's meat!
(Look at that picture on the box!)
MmMMMMmmm... till next time.

East Meets West Concoction

2007-12-27T15:29:00.000-05:00

Goh goh has been cooking way more than me lately.
& boy... it's been quite a feast! : D

He decided to make:
- Garlic Butter Shrimp with Fettuccine

- Chinese Mushroom with sliced beef/pork/chicken.

The shrimps were juicy & meaty,
pasta al dante (why can't i ever cook pasta like that?),
the mushroom bursting with flavor,
& the meat soaked in all that BBQ sauce goodness!

Obviously, I'm still floating in YUMMY heaven...

Raspberry Goodness!

2007-12-26T14:22:00.000-05:00

This was the most tempting baked goods i've made thus far --
tempting as in... i don't wanna give it to anyone,
but keep it all for myself! : D

MmMMMmmmm... all that fruity rasp. goodness!

The recipe i got online was actually for apricot crumbles,
but i combined it with another recipe for raspberry bars,
and created this instead ; )

Hei just can't make anything straight from a recipe!!
& the only time that i did...
was with the peanut brittle -- which failed : /

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup jam or preserves

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 375° F.
2. Coat an 8-inch square baking dish with 1 tbsp of butter.
3. Combine the flour, granulated and light brown sugars,
baking powder, and salt.
4. Add the remaining butter and mix until crumbly.
5. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix
until the mixture just comes together but is still crumbly.

6. Transfer 1/2 cup of the dough to a small bowl
or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
7. Use your fingertips to press the remaining dough
evenly into the baking dish,
pushing the dough up about 1/4 inch around the edge.

8. Spread the jam evenly over the crust.
9. Crumble the remaining refrigerated dough over the top.
Bake until golden, about 35 minutes.
10. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before cutting.
** Tip: If you're time-pressed, just stick the pan
in the freezer for 5 minutes instead of waiting
for the bars to cool on the counter.

I sure hope those who get this for Christmas
would appreciate it ; )
It was hard to part with them... '_'

Coffee + Peanuts?!

2007-12-25T00:35:00.000-05:00

Dear friends,

I love you,
that's why you received my experiments
as Christmas gifts.

I trust that it'd nourish your body,
unless you're allergic to peanuts like Evan / Davey.

So this is how the Coffee Crumb Peanut Cake came about:

: ) They go well with ice-cream / milk / coffee!

New Toy! : D

2007-12-24T13:02:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Andy & Grace,
who were too kind to buy this new toy off our CB registry
as our wedding gift ; )
Hence, I got to play!

I just made simple spritz cookie dough --
butter and flour -- nothing fancy : )
The gun was easier to control with the Tree plate
than the candy cane plate : /
Some of the candy canes came out kinda FAT... -_-"

Clicking trees and canes out were kinda fun,
except I have yet to master the skill,
so it took quite a while...

Goh goh didn't appreciate the buttery taste
(hence the lack of other flavors...) too much;
but others who got it told me they finished it
in one sitting / way too fast.

So i guess it wasn't too bad as an experiment ; )

Apple x Cranberry x Coffee =......

2007-12-23T17:44:00.000-05:00

I've always loved apples in my dessert --
Apple pie, Apple crumbs cake,
Warm Honey glazed apple with vanilla bean ice-cream...
MMmmMMMMmmm......

My eyes totally lit up when i saw what Kevin brought home on Friday:

Harry & David Apple Cranberry Muffin Mix!

Yes, yes, using mix is cheating...
But hey! It's Harry & David's!!!
It can't be bad ; D

& the instruction couldn't have been any easier...
1) Add the mix in a bowl.
2) Add water, milk or
apple / cranberry juice (Recommended).
3) Scoop it into muffin cups.
4) Bake at 350F in the oven.

Then again, it's Hei baking.
So we must tweak it a bit.

We don't have apple nor cranberry juice;
and the milk went bad into one big clump,
for it was expired a week ago...
(Thank goodness it wasn't green & moldy...?!)

But I'm not as boring as plain water, am I?

Hence, I used 1/4 cup of heavy cream,
1/4 cup of half & half,
& half a bottle of Starbucks Vanilla Frap.

No, I don't know why : b
Except the feeling that it should taste good : )

So here you go ; )
& the empty muffin wrap was Goh goh's verdict.

YUM!

Failure : /

2007-12-22T18:47:00.000-05:00

"What are you gonna do with all those peanuts, hei?"
That was what Jess asked me when she came over.

I want to try to make peanut brittle! : D

The recipe suggested melting sugar in boiling water,
as you roast the peanuts in the oven till brown,
then stir in the peanuts into the sugar water,
and transfer the hot mixtures onto a cookie sheet,
let cool.

so i did what i was told...

& FAILED : (

The mixture never set,
even after i place it under the ceiling fan for hours.
I ended up putting it into the fridge overnight,
it did become solid but it was NO BRITTLE at all!

: / so sad...
Jules suggested reserving it as a topping for ice-cream,
which sounded like a decent idea.

Hmmm... let's see what else i can
come up with in the future *_*

Thanks Mar!

2007-12-21T12:51:00.000-05:00

1. Loves chocolate.
2. Neat & artistic.
3. Loves me : D

That's the one who gave me these yummy babies!

YUMMMMMMMMY! : D

Tilapia w/ Mushroom Sauce

2007-12-19T22:30:00.000-05:00

You know, I think goh goh really is the better chef
between the two of us : )

He created this out of nowhere the other night...

MMmmMMMmM...
We pretty much inhaled the whole thing ; )

Maybe i'll try to get goh goh to guest-blog,
so i can learn his secret chef skills : b

Savory Cupcake?

2007-12-18T00:54:00.000-05:00

Expectation is an interesting thing.
We have all kinds of expectations in life,
and many of them associate with stereotypes.

If i say 'cupcake,' what comes to your mind?
Whatever flavor it is, it's quite likely to be sweet, yay?

That's why this Sour Cream Cupcake experiment
was so interesting.

Some appreciated this, but some did not.

Besides the mere taste factor,
I think it has a lot to do with expectations.
When I told people I gave them cupcakes,
they believed it'd be sweet --
(or even too sweet, as most cupcakes are...)

However, I did not add sugar into the mix at all.
The Sour Cream cupcake recipe did not call for much,
except lots of sour cream & some butter.

(You see how short the instructions on the paper are?)

I wasn't sure how people would take a 'non-sweet' cupcake,
so i decided to try things out,
and added a dozen mini-marshmallows to each cup.

Thinking back, that might have been a mistake.

After the oven drill, they puffed up very beautifully...
& looked almost like a biscuit 0_o?!

After re-evaluation, I decided this:
a) If i were to make this a sweet cupcake,
i shall add sugar to the mix,
even though the recipe omitted it.
b) If i were to add marshmallows,
I would lay it in the middle of the mix,
instead of the bottom.
c) I shall try to make it a real savory one next time,
with cheese & salt... & maybe bacon?

Whatever I try next time,
maybe i need to let people know --
what it looks like --
might not necessarily be what they expect it to be.

Mini-Cheesecake cups

2007-12-16T20:57:00.000-05:00

MMmmmMMmm...
Who doesn't like mini-cheesecakes? : )

The best part is... it's No-bake!
Super easy & fast ; )
Oh, did i mention YUMMY?! : D

Ingredients:
- 12 Vanilla Cookies
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (i cheated & used bottled ones)
- Fresh fruits of your choice
(Recommend: Strawberry / Blueberry / Cherry...)
I used Peach & Raspberry : )

Steps:
1) Pulse the cookies in a food processor until you have crumbs.
(I haven't gotten my hands on one yet back then,
so i smashed it with my fist, with the cookies sealed in a ziploc bag.)
2) Line the cups of mini-muffin pans with paper liners;
spoon a layer of cookie crumbs into the bottom of each.
3) Beat the cream cheese & sugar at medium speed until smooth.
4) On low speed, beat in the sour cream & lemon juice till well combined.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

5) Spoon the filling into the cups.
6) Refrigerate for 2-4 hours, until set, or overnight.
7) Before serving, top each cheesecake with the fresh fruits of your choice.

Happy birthday, mom : D

Yummy Japanese Snack Finds

2007-12-14T16:14:00.000-05:00

As others can testify...
I can linger in any Japanese supermarkets all day...

These two are my latest fabulous finds:
- Dark Chocolate Mushroom biscuits

- Fresh Pear Sparkling soda

Not only do their products taste wonderful,
Their packaging & designs are also the BEST!
How can you resist these? : D

Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

2007-12-13T15:09:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday, Evan!

Here's the chocolate chip raisin cookies
(NO PEANUTS!) i made : )

I stole one and it tasted yum ; )
Yay!

Peach & Pineapple Jello

2007-12-12T21:55:00.000-05:00

For our hot-pot / early christmas party with my CCHC friends,
i decided to make something quick and easy ; )

Peach & Pineapple Jello : D

A Meal with the Chins

2007-12-11T15:46:00.000-05:00

What can make Zach stare with such enthusiam?

Kevin and i were trusted with the responsibility to
babysit Zach, Nick & Kim this past Saturday.

We did so by letting them play video games all day,
and cooked up a feast for them : b

Here's the menu --
Cha-siu (Roast Pork) sauce Chicken drumsticks:

Texas Coountry Potato Salad:

& of course the Crowd-Pleaser...
Boneless Chicken Wings : )

Practice indeed makes perfect!
I removed the bones much faster than last time : )
(though... it still takes a lot of time...)

I made it with sauteed mini portabella mushrooms
with scallions this time around : )

At the end of the night...
the Chins were happy! : D

Yay! Mission accomplished ; )

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies... x3!

2007-12-10T13:16:00.000-05:00

All desserts make great gifts,
but not all of them are good when you have to mail them '_'

Therefore, when i had to decide what to make for Princess in HK,
i found the recipe for this : )

Taaa daaaa! Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies!

* Princess got these : )

After the taste test, i decided that it tasted so good...
that i needed to master how to make it : D
So i made it again... and again!
Three times in a week...
& they all tasted moist, rich & delightful!

*Christen and Fa/Ma/Ruby got these : )

The first time I put it into 2 loaf pans;
(i must get my hands on a square pan some day!)
The second time i stuff them into a mini-muffin pan;
& the third time i made them in a rectangular pan : )

Each time, I improvised a little more,
and tweeked the recipe here and there.
(well, with some online tips i found also : b)

Recipe

Ingredients:
· Nonstick cooking spray
· 8 chocolate wafer cookies (Optional)
· 1 bar (8 ounces) cream cheese
· 1 cup sour cream (reduced-fat if you're health conscious)
· 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
· 2 tablespoons cornstarch
· 3/4 cup sugar
· 1 large whole egg plus 1 large egg white
· 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.
Line with two crisscrossed pieces of parchment or wax paper,
spraying between sheets.
Spray lined pan; set aside.
(I used butter instead of spray.
Worked just as well.)

2. Process cookies in a food processor until finely ground.
Gently press crumbs into bottom of prepared pan.
Do not rinse processor bowl.
(Skip this step if you don't want a crumb-base.)

3. Blend cream cheese and sour cream in food processor until smooth,
scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
(I didn't have a food processor,
but a wooden spoon/rice spatula worked well too : D)

4. Add cocoa, cornstarch, sugar, egg, and egg white;
process until smooth.
Pour into pan; sprinkle with chocolate chips.

5. Bake until just set, 35 to 40 minutes;
cool completely in pan.
Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

6. Invert onto a tray;
peel off paper, and reinvert crust side down.
Cut into 9 squares.

*The Chins family got this : )

They go so well with ice-cream!!!

After this, i think I can finally claim:
Hey I know how to make brownies! : D

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupkie

2007-12-07T17:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Justin!

Criss-cross patterns are so easy to make with a fork!
FUN! : D

Honey Sesame Pork Chops

2007-12-06T17:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry, i didn't do any plating for this one...
it smelled too good and i was too hungry : )

Ingredients:
1 pound whole pork tenderloin (I used pork chops instead...)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger or 1 tsp dry ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp sesame seed

Instructions:
1. Combine soy sauce, garlic, ginger and sesame oil.
2. Place tenderloin in a heavy plastic bag.
Pour soy mixture over to coat.
Let marinate 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in refrigerator.
3. Remove pork from marinade; pat dry.
4. Mix together honey and brown sugar in a shallow plate.
5. Place sesame seed on a separate shallow plate.
6. Roll pork well in honey mixture, coating well, then roll in sesame seed.
7. Roast in a shallow pan at 375 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes,
until meat thermometer inserted registers 160 degrees F.
(i don't have thermometer... so i guessed!)
8. Remove to serving platter. Slice thinly to serve.

Goh goh's comment: Hei put way too much sesame over the pork chops...
So next time i'll put less : )
& i think this will go very well with sliced beef too (& reduce cooking time, yay!).
I'll definitely try that next time : D

Aloha Chicken and Pineapple

2007-12-05T12:38:00.000-05:00

Who can resist pineapples? : )

This recipe is simple to follow & yet finger-licking good!
It goes well with rice, or you can make a sandwich out of this : )

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
[I tweaked it and used Thighs instead : b]
1 (20 ounce) can sliced pineapple in juice,
pineapple drained and 1 tablespoon juice reserved.

Instructions:
1) Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Combine pineapple juice, oil, honey, vinegar, soy sauce and mustard;
shake marinade well.
3) Toss chicken with 3 tablespoons of marinade to coat,
discarding chicken marinade when done.
4) Brush pineapple rings with other half of marinade,
reserving leftover marinade.
5) Coat 2 large baking dishes with vegetable oil spray.
Arrange chicken and pineapple rings in a single layer.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until chicken's juices run clear.
6) Before serving, brush chicken with leftover marinade.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 servings.Per serving: 403 calories;
44g carbohydrates, 42g protein, 6g total fat (1g saturated),
98mg cholesterol, 1g fiber, 342mg sodium.
Calories from fat: 13%

Try it tonight! : ) You won't be disappointed!

Cheesecake Factory Birthday Dinner : )

2007-12-04T17:33:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, my parents offered to take me (& goh goh) out for dinner for my birthday.
For a dessert-lover like Ma, and pasta-lover like goh goh,
it'd be a no-brainer that i picked Cheesecake Factory : )
& indeed, it was quite a DELICIOUS choice, despite the long wait... 0_o"

To save tummy room for dessert, we skipped appetizers & dove straight in for the entrees.

Fafa picked: Skirt steak with Mushroom White wine sauce,
Served with Mashed potatoes & Fried onion rings.
Fa's testimony: The steak is very flavorful : )

My choice:
Shrimp Scampi x Steak Diane,
Served with Mashed Potatoes & salad veggies.
My testimony: MMmmmM... Creamy garlic sauce + Tender steak!

Ma's choice: Shrimp Scampi Cappellini
Ma's testimony: She kept saying she's full but she didn't stop eating...

Ma & my choice: Vanilla Bean Cheesecake : D
Our testimonies: So Smooth! Def. one of my favorite cheesecakes ever : )

Goh goh's choice: Pineapple Upside-down Cheesecake
Our testimonies: SO fruity! It's the kind that brightens up your day! : )

Aww i wanna go back already!
Next stop: Waffle house!! : D

IHOP

2007-11-22T14:14:00.001-05:00

I got to try IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for the first time!

I liked the tenderness of the steak
& the softness of the eggs;
But i didn't like the soggy hash brown,
nor do i like the steak without any sort of seasoning.

I determine to make something better than this in the near future.

> : 0

The other half of STF...

2007-11-19T13:02:00.002-05:00

As some of you know, G0h goh cooks too : )

This was our first home-cooked meal after the Honeymoon:

Stir-fried String beans with sliced beef,
on top of thick Chinese noodles.

Another homemade meal --

Garlic sauteed asparagus +
Chicken thigh chunks with soysauce lo-mein.

Goh goh's been making all our breakfasts,
on days we go to the gym & work-out ; )
Fresh Ham & Cheddar / Parmesan cheese sandwich!

[Special thanks to Ters & Eric for the sandwich grill!]

: D YUM!

Hot Chocolate Cupcake

2007-11-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Kenny!

For our krazy bro, i decided to try making this Hot Chocolate Cupcake : )

Here's the recipe : )

Ingredients:

220g dark chocolate broken into small chunks(minimum 70% cocoa content)
250g butter
3 large eggs
200gms sugar
1 1/4 cup plain flour
1 pinch salt
Marshmallows - for an added touch of melted gooey goodness!

Instructions:
Melt chocolate and butter in a microwavable bowl.
Heat for 90 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds.
Cream eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl till pale and fluffy.
Beat in the smooth chocolate mixture and add in the flour and salt.
Beat for another 1-2 minutes till well combined.
Spoon into cupcake molds/cases and bake for 10-15 minutes in preheated 375 degree oven.
They should still be soft and wobbly in the centers.
If using mini muffin pan; bake for 6-7 minutes.

Now here's the exciting part that turns it to HOT-chocolate-like:
Top with sprinkles of marshmallows of different sizes,
and pop back under the grill for 1-2 minutes to create a full "Hot-chocolate" effect.

YAY~ isn't that easy? : D
& the best part is... it's gooey, warm & the richness is just right! : )

Assorted Boneless Chicken Wings

2007-11-08T22:55:00.000-05:00

A lot of people know that i LOVE chicken wings : D
Hence, it's no wonder that this dish has been on my mind for a long time,
and tonight i finally got to try making it!

The main hurdle to leap over for this dish is obviously...
How to take those bones off?!

Now, here's how:
- You need scissors
- You can't be afraid of touching, squishing, twisting... raw meat
- You must remain patient. VERY patient.

Steps:
1) Before you try de-boning them, all the wings must be completely thawed.
(If you bought frozen ones that is)
2) Set aside all drumsticks from the mid-section of the wings.
(i cooked Salt & Pepper Chicken drumsticks while preparing for this dish.
One wing for two dishes ; D)
3) Use scissors/knife to cut open the joints between the two bones.
4) Straighten the wing, use fingers to push the meat down towards the other end.
If the skin is stuck to the bone, use scissors to carefully cut it off.
5) Twist the bones in a spiral fashion a few times, and the bone will fall off.
TAAA DAAAAA! : )

** What's great about this dish is that,
you can stuff pretty much ANYTHING you like into the wings,
then pan-fry it!
Tonight, i tried:
A) Spinach
B) Cheddar Cheese
C) Bacon

The recipe advised putting a toothpick through the opening,
so the stuffing won't fall out.
There were no toothpicks to be found at home... so i did without, and it was fine : )

Next time, i plan to try stuffing it with mushrooms / potatoes...
MMMmmm... : D

23rd Year - Day 1

2007-11-07T12:30:00.000-05:00

(See cookingismypassion.blogspot for more cakes like this!)

To commemorate the Day 1 of my 23rd year, i decided it was time to begin this blog : )
& I'm gonna make it food-related!

How this blog's name came about is obvious to some: STF --
Which officially stands for Share The Food,
jokingly as Share The Fat,
and deep down, Share the Love.

One day, I hope to take cooking classes in culinary schools!
But for now, experiments and concoctions at home will do : D
Perhaps you can join me in discovering new ingredients and inventing new dishes each week!

If you're lucky, I might even STF the yummy ones with you!

Pics & recipes for my recent experiments to come! : ) Stay tuned!

P.S. I didn't make this cake, but aspire to be able to do so some day! : D
YAY!