Cleansing my Stomach

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!

Go ahead! Serve Each Other : )

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! ; )

Challenge: Cook whatever's home!

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*

STF Reunion : D

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!

Welcome! Taste Testers!

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 : )

Fake Chicken Cacciatore

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...