Spicy Saté Squid

I had this spicy sate dish in Singapore. Impressed with how tasty it was, I set out (with the help of my sister) to duplicate it. Beware that this is very spicy, so I suggest eating it with rice.



Here is what I came up with.



Recipe under the cut.

Russian Tea Cookies

Okay, so this is not a particularly exciting post. I made these Russian Tea Cookies from Smitten Kitchen precisely as she stated. So no real posting required... except I took some photos for you!

My mom wanted to bake with me, and I guess so did Gandalf!



It's been so long, do you guys remember Gandalf?


The hardest part was powdering them with sugar. Serious. Lots of hard work in that.

Chicken & Shrimp Lo Mein

When my friend, Iva's, mom came to visit her, I was invited back for dinner! Yay! So her mom made a seafood lo-mein, and she got all her ingredients from Whole Foods, so there's no need for an exotic trip to the asian grocery store. Her mom's was way better than mine, but I've only attempted this dish a couple of times. Her dish was a little saucy, and she used corn starch (a staple in a Chinese kitchen), which I don't have with me in Pittsburgh and I was too lazy (and cheap) to buy some.

Eggs, Bacon & Cheese Toast

Sorry for the lack of updates, peeps! Both The Chopping Block and I had finals (and she had work too)! We've been cooking, I swear!

So the Chopping Block had sent me a recipe via instant messenger a long time ago, and I don't think I saved it anywhere, so I can't send you to a reference link! Epps! Well, anyways, the recipe sounded interesting. Eggs. Bacon. Cheese. Dijon Mustard. Worcheshire sauce. How can I resist? Well, it's a misadventure people! Perhaps it's me and not the recipe, but the flavors just didn't mesh well, and I had integrated the cheese into the egg mixture, and so it took forever for the cheese to melt, thus overcooking the eggs to a dry mess and the toast to... a very hard cracker. :(

Smitten Kitchen Monkey Cake

This is not exactly a food post, but I have pictures of a cake, so it sorta count.

My friend's, Michael, little nephew is recently diagnosed with leukemia. I met the little guy 2 years ago and he was the coolest kid. He plays the violin and sings and generally is a very happy little guy. I was so sad when I hear the news and didn't really know what to do for him. So I baked him this cake.

Homefries

This morning I made myself a delicious omelette with a side of home fries and three strips of extra thick bacon. I always need a side of homefries with my Sunday morning brunch, but lots of brunch places have bland and boring homefries, and then I'm left disappointed. One of the very few good things about moving to Pittsburgh is Pamela's. Besides having good (and very different) hotcakes, they also have tasty potatoes (menu item lyonnaise potatoes). Definitely a must-try if you are in the area. So my creation this morning was a mix between Pamela's lyonnaise potatoes and a bacon baked potato. Nothing can go wrong with such a beautiful combination!

Ricotta with Spinach and Sausage Stuffed Pasta Shells

Another recipe taken from Simply Recipes. I might was well make a rule that I would only make food from Simply Recipes.

I first know of this dish from eating in the UCSF Mt. Zion hospital cafeteria. It was actually pretty good because they make a new entree dish every day so I get to try new things everyday. Their ricotta stuffed pasta shell dish used really really large pasta shells. The shells were the size of my palm!

Fish Taco With Mango Salsa

Whenever the weather gets cold, I make Mexican food. What? Oh well, fish tacos it is! Recipe was taken from SimplyRecipes

I always feel like tacos are such a rip off when you buy it. Two or three small tacos for $5 or $6? No, thank you! Even I, a 105 lbs female, feel like two tacos aren't much of a snack. Let me tell you that when I made these tacos to feed three people, it only cost me less than $10 and there wasn't much "cooking" to do, just a lot of chopping.

Tofu, Mushrooms, and Bamboo

I went over to Iva's while her mom was visiting, and her mom made a similar dish for us (among other tasty dishes). So this is my take on her tofu dish. I was snoopy enough to ask her what she put in it.

Pumpkin Scone with Ginger Honey Glaze

We were having a pumpkin streak where we made pumpkin everything. Watch out for another pumpkin post in a little bit. So since I am poor, I subscribe to Poor Girl Gourmet and found this pumpkin scone recipe that sounded delicious! But let me tell you, it's not cheap.... unless you have everything. But who keeps candied ginger in their cupboard? Anyways, these were really good, especially the ginger honey glaze. It seriously taste like sweeten condensed milk. So awesome!

Almond Sponge Cake

Hi Kids! I'm going to let you in on another Lam secret family recipe: almond sponge cake. This is my aunt's specialty, and I've been eating it since I can remember. It's one of my favoritest cakes in the whole entire world, and she always brings me an entire cake when I go home! I love my aunt (and her cake) to death! So I've decided to share the joy; I hope you like it!

Oxtail Stew

"Have you ever had oxtails? Most people I know haven't even heard of them, which is really quite a shame. Think braised beef short ribs, but with even more flavor, and you'll get a sense of why those of us who eat oxtail get dreamy eyed when we think about them. Yes oxtails come from a steer's tail, a well exercised muscle, marbled with fat. The segments are vertebrae so they have lots of iron-rich marrow as well. My father, who grew up during the Depression, remembers oxtails as being food for people with little money, because they could be had so cheap. You could get them for pennies a pound. These days, they're somewhat hard to come by and no longer cheap (though you can sometimes get a good deal on them at Costco and Asian markets). As with most tough cuts, oxtail are best slow cooked for several hours. They tend to be fatty, so we like to cook them a day ahead, so we can chill them overnight and scrape off the fat from the top the next day." - Simply Recipes

The above is an excerpt from Simply Recipes' Oxtail Stew recipe. It's a little similar to the one in this recipe, and I thought it was a good introduction to oxtails if you've never heard of them. I decided that I wanted to have some of my mom's cooking, so I called her up for her oxtail stew, which is one of her staple recipes. While I was on the phone with her she told me how Gandalf likes to sleep with her, aw! And Gandalf stole my mom's fish while she was cooking, and my mom had to chase her around the house to get it back. My sister says Gandalf also stole her chicken. In case you forgot who Gandalf is, she's this little kitty cat. Anyways, less cats more food!

Coconut Tuiles

Coconut tuile sounds so fancy and difficult, but after making them I will have to say that these are the easiest cookies ever! In fact, if you need to appear fancy pants for some parties, just make some coconut tuiles.

I got the recipe from Simple Recipes. Yeah, I wouldn't be a fan girl if I didn't use Elise's recipe now, would I?

Bumble Bee Tuna Salad

It was Helen who introduced me to this world of ready-to-eat tuna salad. They sure are tasty. If you are a cat owner like me, you would find that it's very hard to eat tuna without cats surround you on all sides. So these ready-to-eat tuna salad is very handy if you want to eat tuna away from home.

So this is a review post of Bumble Bee Tuna Salad* because sometimes, we just don't have time to cook fancy pants food like lamb burgers and beef stew.

Caprese Salad

I used to think that caprese salad is the dumbest thing in the world. Why? I'll tell you why. I was watching an episode of Sex and the City and Charlotte was ordering a caprese salad. When her salad came out, it was one single slice of tomato, one slice of mozzarella, and one basil leaf! I was so perplexed. Why the hell would anyone want to eat that? It's so uninteresting! If I want to eat one slice of tomato, one slice of cheese, and one LEAF I wouldn't pay $5 for it!

Since I'm a grown up now, I decide to go back to all of the food I despised/thought was stupid as a child and try it again. Or else, I'd just be stuck in the child phase forever! Not that it's bad to be a child at heart, but it's pretty stupid to stay ignorant.

Let me tell you, I am a changed woman! ...as far as caprese salad is concerned, that is.

Apple Tart

This week, my friend, Iva, and I decided to make this Apple Tart posted at Smitten Kitchen, an adaptation of Jacques Pepi's apple tart as documented by Alice Waters. I believe this apple tart is still served at Chez Panisse today, which I believe the Chopping Block has visited a couple of times, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyways, this was delicious. We served it with homemade vanilla creme en glaze and apple syrup.

Stir Fry Ramen

This is a lazy post for a lazy dinner for one. I was so lazy that I only took one photo. Heh.

Many people had made stir fry ramen before, right? Right. Well, who cares? I didn't want to spend money on dinner and I only had enough shrimp and broccoli for myself. Not only that, I didn't feel like rice. So I thought, if other people can make stir fry ramen, why can't I? And so I did.

List of lazy ingredients:

1 package of ramen
1 small thing of broccoli or several florets of broccoli
1 clove of garlic - minced
about 5 or 6 shrimps
sesame oil or vegetable oil
salt
pepper flakes (optional)


Lazy steps:

- Boil some water and cook the ramen without the soup base package. Don't throw that soup base away!
- Mix the soup base with the shrimps. Hahah! I even got too lazy to make my own marinade.
- Wash and cut broccoli into bite size. Like I even have to tell you that.
- When ramen is tender, drain and discard water.
- In a large pan or wok, heat about 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Stir fry the broccoli and garlic for about 2 minutes.
- Add in shrimps. Stir fry for another minute.
- Add salt to taste, but I think the ramen soup base should be enough.
- Toss in the cooked and drained ramen noodle.
- Add about 1 tablespoon of sesame oil or vegetable oil so the noodle doesn't get too dry.
- Constantly toss and stir the whole thing for 30 seconds or until well mix.
- Remove from heat and serve!
- You can sprinkle on some pepper flakes for fun.

This is an any-wo/man's stir fry ramen so feel free to use cauliflowers, or cabbages, or carrots, or peas in lieu of broccoli. Throw an egg in there for all I care! Go forth and make lazy dinners!

So easy, it's child's play!

Bacon Wrapped Brussels Sprouts

I'm afraid I'm one of those bacon worshipers and believe that bacon-everything is awesome! Since I also love brussels sprouts, what am I going to do to double the fun? Wrap the brussels sprouts with bacon, of course!

A few recipes recommended that the brussels sprouts be blanched and the bacons be slightly fried before combining the two. A few other recipes start with frozen brussels sprouts. Well, I decided to try neither!




I started with some non-frozen brussels sprouts.




Wrapped one piece of bacon around each brussels sprout and secured with a toothpick.




Twenty to twenty-five minutes later (depending on how crispy you want your bacons) in a 375 400 degrees oven resulted in delicious bacon wrapped brussels sprouts (I checked my notes, I had it at 400 degrees not 375).

That's it! Almost no work at all. Easiest and tastiest appetizer ever!

Pumpkin Bread

Do you know what time it is? It's time for my favorite season of the year: Fall! Do you know what that means? PUMPKIN! I was reading an RSS from Savory Sweet Life, and Alice had just made this pumpkin bread recipe from the Pioneer Woman. It looked so good, I had to make it too!

Penang Assam Laksa

Nur, my Southeast Asian food go-to person, sent me this penang laksa recipe to try out. According to Nur, it's authentic! How do I know it's authentic? It contains strange sounding ingredients. Let's take a break from my streak of dessert making and go into some real food.

Laksa is a sort of spicy noodle soup and it comes in several types. There's curry laksa and assam laksa. Curry laksa is self-explanatory. Assam laksa is a sour fish base laksa.

Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage

I asked the Chopping Block what I should cook, and she suggested a pumpkin recipe from Martha Stewart, except I thought that it wouldn't turn out very well. I think pumpkin has a pretty mild taste, and I didn't think it'd work with pasta. After some searching around, I found a Rachel Ray recipe, albeit I'm not a fan, but it looked more promising than Martha Stewart's.

Elise's Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Orange Pecan Cookies

If you haven't notice already, I have like a crazy girl crush on Elise at Simply Recipes. You can see that I made food from her blog all the time. As shown here and here and here, and here.

That's right, people, Elise herself commented on one of my posts. I was so stoked I almost peed my pants. Hahahha...not really, but really stoked nevertheless! But all of her recipes are so delicious and simple. Not only that, she's also from the greater Sacramento area, like me! Well, I'm not exactly from from Sacramento, but I lived there when I was 11 to 21 and still consider it home.

Okay, let me end the fan girl craze and move on to tell you about my adventure of making Elise's oatmeal raisin chocolate chip orange pecan cookies or as I like to call it my Out-of-everything cookies...Why? Well, you shall know...

Matcha (Green Tea) Ice Cream

My first exposure to matcha, Japanese green tea, ice cream was during my first trip to Berkeley in high school. My first thought was "What? Tea ice cream? Wouldn't that taste kinda gross?" Good thing I decided to try it and changed my mind on the whole "gross" part. It's so fun when stuff you thought is gross initially turns out to be awesome?

When you have an ice cream maker, you might as well make ice cream with it, right? Right!

Meal Planning Part 2: Seasonings & Pesto Pasta Salad/Crepes

Awhile ago, I posted meal Planning Part 1 and then life, as it is wont to do...descended into chaos...

Which is the very reason I meal plan. Continuing with the topic, I'm going to suppose that the beginning meal planner has kept a food diary and knows his/her tastes. The next thing to do is research. What you want to know is how to flavor the dishes you want to make. There are 3 types of cuisines we eat in my house:

Asian
Italian
Mexican

All forms are intensely Americanized...no avoiding it. I'm white :P But I <3 learning traditional recipes...even if they degenerate into Americanized-whatevers as I become comfortable cooking the dishes. However, my neccesities are my oil and herbs and honey...and garlic....

From 2010-08-01

See?

So this (plus Mirin and Sherry, which I think are missing from this pick) are my essentials. These are what my meals start and end with. In differing quantities and mixtures, these oils, herbs, etc bring flavor to my meals.

My suggestion to the beginner is to choose a lot of recipes you like which require a selection of the same seasonings. Keep those seasonings on hand and develop techniques that use them to their full effect.

The next repertoire to build is based on your favorite (or edible) veggies/meats. Yes, this can be determined in part by budgeting. An example of our favorite dish this summer has been Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad.

First, you need the veggies:

From 2010-08-01

The artichoke hearts and olives came in cans, most of the rest was fresh.
Pesto came in a bottle, but if you have time and fresh ingredients Helen's Basil and Parsley Pesto would be a good addition :P

I used frozen chicken which I defrosted/slightly cooked in the microwave, cut into bite-sized pieces, then added to a pan that included: olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I cooked the mixture until the chicken was brown with the vinegar and flaky.

The eggplant and mushrooms were cooked separately in a similar mixture. The eggplant is done when browned by the seasonings and soft.

When done the veggies and chicken look like this:

From 2010-08-01

The salad is made by either
a) tossing the chicken with pesto
b) adding a portion of chicken, veggies and noodles (we use wheat noodles) together and tossing with pesto.

Or the same mixture can be added to a simple batter:

From 2010-08-01

made from flour, water, an egg and a touch of salt. Cooked like a pancake and then with the mixture added:

From 2010-08-01

You get chicken pesto crepes.

So the veggies and chicken (stored separately) can be made in large enough quantities to be eaten in different meals for 3 days.

This is why establishing precisely what you eat is important. If you love olives or tomatoes, you can create multiple dishes that use the same veggies in different ways. The seasonings will also be used differently.

What are your favorite vegetables? Have favorite ways of cooking them?

Poor Man's Korean Bimbimbap

Oh my god! It's my first "real" post since going to grad school! How exciting! I'm going to teach you how to make a poor man's bimbimbap. (Okay, just to warn you, it's sort of a "cheat" post because ... everything is prepackaged?). It's a poor man's bimbimbap because I don't have any bean sprouts, mushrooms, and etc. But who really needs them anyways?! So let's begin!

Peach Pie

What do you do when someone gives you a bag of peaches? Munching on one or two peaches is fine, but what about the rest? You make peach pies, of course! Or peach galette! But if you really suck at making pie crusts like me, you would go with the pies and buy premade pie crusts!

Sponge Cake

Ever been to Chinatown anywhere? Yeah, there's a Chinatown everywhere! They even have a Chinatown in Singapore where 75% of the population is Chinese. If you've been to Chinatown, you probably saw or ate these delicious airy cone-shaped sponge cakes wrapped in wax paper. Ever wonder how they make the cakes so delicated, soft, and taste like the clouds? Yeah, I wonder about it, too.

Rabia's Samosas

Rabia, Helen's friend, sent Helen her beef samosa recipe. Since Helen only has in her possession a pan, I was the one to test out the recipe. Let me tell you, it's awesome! I had a few hiccups with the wraps but that was entirely ... no one's fault.

Extended absense

Hello kids! I'm sure you all missed me and secretly wanting MOAR, but I'm afraid it's going to be awhile before my next post, but this means that the Chopping Block is going to have to double her output!

So for those that don't already know, I've relocated from San Francisco, CA to Pittsburgh, PA for grad school. This means I am way poor, and I will never be able to afford that food processor or electric mixer for another two years!

I condensed my life to a 52lb suitcase and two cats. I'm afraid that I only have one pan and three packs of 20 cent beef flavored instant raman. Obviously I did not think over this purchase. How am I going to make raman without a pot?

Hopefully the next post will be soon(er than I expext)!

Happy Anniversary!

I just realized that it has been one year since we made the first post. Whoohoo!

Other blogs would use the opportunity to give away free stuff as a form of pulling in readership. I am unprepared and I don't have things on hands...so I'm offering free high fives! How about that?

*HIGH FIVE*

Mini Meatball Sandwiches

So The Pioneer Woman said that these mini meatball sandwiches of hers only take 16 minutes to make. I love meatballs. I love fast food. I'm sold! Gone!

Let me tell you a secret, the Pioneer Woman must have magic or something because I most definitely spent more than 16 minutes on them. Either that or I'm slow. The latter seems more plausible, but I'm just going to go with the former.

Gordon Ramsay’s Shrimp & Angel Hair Pasta

The Chopping Block and I had a dinner party because we are old! She even wore a sweater! :O She made her avocado fries (see previous post here). I made Gordon Ramsay's pasta except I used penne and chicken instead. You can see Chef Ramsay making it on hulu here. There wasn't really a written recipe, so I just used what I thought were the right amounts. :| (I think I fed 6 hungry people.)

Avocado Fries

Remember Nur? She was the one who posted this and this. She sent me this link to make avocado fries from Circle B Kitchen.

My first reaction was "Wah? Avocado fries?" Yeah, I have never heard of such a thing before! It looks pretty easy so I decided to make it.

Meal Planning Part 1

 

While my cupboard fails to look organized, it is quite functional. Function is important when you want to start meal planning.

Why meal plan? If you follow my method, it's cheaper and easier than what you might be currently engaged in.

So how do you transform a packed, inaccessible cupboard into one that functions for you (and likely no one else :P) The first things to do have nothing to do with the cupboard but with you. What we think we do, and we actually do is quite different. In the archaeologist Rathje's study of garbage in Phoenix, AZ he found that 15% of the food Americans buy finds its way to landfills. That was in the '80's. While we have started discussing more about waste, that doesn't mean we're doing anything about it. As you can see on that link, Rathje discovered something else Anthropologists have known for a long time: what people think they do and what they actually do are NOT the same. The facts do not mirror the perception we have of ourselves.

So we cost the environment and our pocketbooks with this behavior. Provided you spent $100 a month on groceries, you would be wasting $15 worth (provided the measurement is in monetary value. If it is in lbs, it is likely even more money in your garbage can) a month. That's $180 a year. What could you do with an extra $180 a year? That's a fun out of town trip at the very least.

So the first thing you should do if you want to meal plan, is know your habits. Not what you "think" your habits are, but what they ACTUALLY are.

How do you do this? For two weeks to a month change nothing. Keep a food diary, and keep all of your receipts associated with food. If you eat out, keep the receipt, and write down why you ate out. A birthday? Or was there 'nothing in the house'? If it was the second, and you do this repeatedly and you still grocery shop, your choices and your needs don't match. Also, record what veggies you like, and what veggies you eat. These don't always match.

In order to plan your new (affordable) diet, you need to know what you actually eat. Do you prefer pasta? Rice? Or American Home-cooking: Smashed Potatoes and beef and Broccali n' cheese or Macaroni and Cheese? What does it take to "make you eat your veggies?" Freshness? Light dressing/seasoning? Do you eat more veggies in Asian stir fry's? Curries? Pickled? Salad? Raw?

How do you prefer your meats? What meats?

Chronicle all of these things.

If there are dishes you consistently buy out of the house, perhaps you should look for a variation to make at home. Is there something you buy and eat because it is easy, but you never seem to eat as much of it as you think?

Tips:

Stay away from packaged foods as much as possible. They inflate your grocery bill and are unhealthy.

Buy as many fresh fruits as possible.

If you eat cabbage, a shortcut I've found is shredding and stuffing in plastic bags, for storage in the fridge. When making stir-fry, ramen, or soup it is easy to toss in. Of course, you would have to be using cabbage in large amounts...which I do sometimes.

You will be looking for staple combinations. These are veggies and meat batches that will be able to pull double and triple duty.

Staples that you buy for your cupboard will be seasonings. Oils, spices, wines, vinegars, etc. But in order to select these successfully you need to know what cuisines you prefer.

That returns us to the food diary. Keeping an eye on what you eat before making the shift is essential. In Part 2 I'll discuss how to make the selections of seasonings and combination dishes...all to make daily cooking easy, quick, and delicious.

Drea

Raspberry Ice Cream

When the temperature in the Central Valley of California reaches triple digit, there is nothing better than sweet, fruity ice cream in one's tummy. Nothing, I tell you! I was going to make green tea ice cream but the only place I know that sells macha green tea is closed. So, raspberry ice cream was made and the recipe was found at Annie's-Eats.com

Simply Pan Fried Scallops

If you ate my cooking, the probability of you dying of mercury poisoning or clogged arteries is probably five times higher than average. I love seafood, and I love bacon, but I especially like it when their powers are combined.

The Artichoke Affair

My sister is a cook out of necessity. That is, my mom would call or leave a note saying "Make lunch for your dad when he comes home." So what is there to make for one vegetarian for lunch? Being resourceful, she figured that it's best to combine all of my dad's favorites into one dish: olives, artichoke hearts, and mushrooms!

She called this The Artichoke Affair because, like me, she has a flare for the dramatics.

Chorizo and Egg Sandwiches

Brendan sent me a link to a recipe for Charlotte Tolhurst's Egg Sandwich from Design*Sponge because he's crafty and he reads crafty blogs. Then he requested that either Helen or I make it for him. Why did I accept this request? There are several reasons:

1. I love eggs.
2. The ingredient list is super short.
3. The pictures on the blog are really pretty.
4. I want to volunteer before Helen does because this recipe is easy. I do not want to have Helen volunteer and then have to make a super hard/complicate dish later. :( I am super selfish.
5. The ingredients are cheap.
6. It's super easy to make.

Let's see how I did on my lazy/selfish adventure.

Lamb Burgers with Sun-Dried Tomato Aioli

So I guess if you've been following my posts, you'd probably think I only eat shrimp and lamb, which I guess is not entirely false. I present you with the most delicious burger ever! I definitely have to say that a lamb patty beats a beef patty a billion times over.

Pork Chops

Hey hey, kiddos! Sorry I that I haven't posted in such a long time! It's just that I've been making a lot of "flops," and it's just too embarrassing to post.

Cinnamon Toasts

Who loves a cinnamon toast? I do! When I was little, my grandpa had pieces of the Cassia bark sitting in his tobacco basket. He allowed me to break tiny pieces off the bark and chew on it. I loved the smell and the taste so much that I kept going back to the basket and snuck a piece or two. True cinnamon addict at the age of 7. Imagine how excited I was to know that so many recipes call for cinnamon when I moved to the US. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's move on to make of of these delicious cinnamon treats.

Juicy Sirloin Steaks

After reading the direction on how to make super tender and juicy steaks from "cheap' steaks from Jaden Hair on Steamy Kitchen, I knew I must try it. Who knew that making tasty steaks from on-sale meat was so easy? I'd like to apologize to my vegetarian friends that you have to go through yet another meaty post. But for all of you carnivores out there, you will not have to spend a fortune for a hunk of semi raw meat again!

Shakshouka

Shakshouka is a Northern African dish that none of my friends have ever heard of. Crazy, eh? It's very easy and delicious. Ready for the easy tomatoes and eggs dish ever?