Chez Pim's Roast Chicken

Can't you tell already that I like to peruse food blogs? This dish is a result of hours and hours of reading through more than 60 food blogs. I know, I know, I'm crazy sometimes. Pim from Chez Pim is living my dream life. Travelling all around, meeting all sorts of people (mostly awesome people), and eating extraordinary food. Who can say no to that?

Recently, Pim posted this roast chicken recipe which she learned from her friend, Laurent. One look at it and I decided that I had to make it!

Elise's Onion Potato Gratin

Since I have only had potato gratin once before in my life, I'd like to try out different variations of this dish to familiarize myself with it. Last week, it was Kay's potato gratin with bacons. I want to try to make a vegetarian potato gratin, so Elise's onion potato gratin fits the bill.

If you don't know who Elise is, you need to go her food blog Simple Recipes ASAP!. Not only the recipes are wonderful and super easy to make, most of them are family recipes.

Kay's Potato Gratin

I've been following Kay's cooking blog for a while now. This potato gratin recipe is the first one that I have decided to try to make after so many days of oogling at Kay's drool-worthy food photos and recipes. You can find the original recipe for this dish here and then follow my adventure in making it below.

Weekend Misadventure

For weekday culinary activities, we do not want or have time for lengthy recipes or experiments. However, for the weekend, the lab is wide open for all sorts of culinary adventures.

This week, my culinary adventures led me to make apple chutney. So I peeled,



sliced,



and diced apples.



Then I chopped onions and gingers...



...and added the necessary spices and sugar.



I even went and found a bottle of red wine vinegar for the purpose.



Then everything went on the stove to boil and simmer. It was going great for a while and then...I smelled something odd. That "odd" smell turned into a "burnt" smell the closer I approach the stove. Well, whaddaya know? I went and doggoned burnt my apple chutney. The sugar has become bitter caramel and stuck to the pot. Therefore, I have no recipe for you. I'm sorry. If you still want to make some awesome apple chutney for your next roast pork meal, please go see Elise at Simply Recipes. (Hint: click on the words "Simply Recipes")

What about you? What sort of culinary misadventures you've recently been through? Please share!

Jap Chae

Back in college (it feels so weird saying this because some times I still think that I'm in school), my friends and I would always go to Steve's Korean Barbecue for some bi bim bap or jap chae (also spell chap chae). Steve's Korean Barbecue means a huge plate of rice, vegetables, kim chi, and a mean pile o' meat! Well, unless you get the vegetarian bi bim bap, then there's no mean pile o' meat. After moving away from school for a few years, I was craving for some jap chae a.k.a. Korean glass noodles with beef, but I was too lazy to deal with the lack of parkings and seas of pedestrians near Steve's. So I decide to make my own jap chae! Hah! Let me confess this, I failed miserably the first time around. Like epic fail. The noodles came out too dry, the shiitakes too chewy, the beef was tough, basically the whole thing was a mess. Since the downfall of the first try, I hit the books and studied the art of making jap chae and this time, it was a success! Wanna know how I did it?

Baked Apples

It's November. In northern California, the temperature is starting to drop into the 60's and the 50's at night. For the tough folks out there, it doesn't mean much. But for a girl originally from the tropics, it's darn right cold.

Fall means...

Baked Chicken with Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

I thought of how to cook this dish all on my own. I said "Baked chicken, pshaw, I don't need a recipe for that, I'm too hip!" And for once in my life, it turned out that I am able to create a dish without a recipe that did not turn out to be a disaster. However, I'm sure during my years of eating and perusing through recipes, I probably have came across this type of baked chicken before. So, I'd like to say that this recipe was inspired by all of those other baked chicken recipes in the world! I love being inspired.