Shrimp and Quinoa Salad

I used to be a fool and pronounced quinoa as kwi-no-ah because I didn't know that ki-nwa was the correct way. Anyway, I walked around like an idiot saying KWI-NO-AH for the longest time and no one corrected me until someone laughed at me. I'm glad those days belong to the past now.

Hopefully, I helped someone step into the light on the pronunciation of this seed with this post. Let's move on to the actual food part.

Cilantro Pesto Pizza

I am not dead yet! I've been um...lazy and there isn't any good excuses (or excuses at all) as to why I neglected the blog. I am so sorry!

Back to the actual food part, remember how I made the mango salsa? It was quite delicious. Actually, Helen and I like it a lot.

The thing about making salsa is that you will always be left with a giant bunch of cilantro that you have no idea how to use up. I mean, do you make more salsa and eat it for two weeks? I love them salsa but that would be too much. So I searched for an easy way to use most of my leftover cilantro and found Bobby Flay's Grill Shrimp and Cilantro Pesto Pizza. It was actually really convenience because I had leftover mango salsa to use as a topping for the pizza, too!

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.

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!

Honey Walnut Prawns

I was talking to The Chopping Block the other day, and somehow she challenged me to make Honey Walnut Prawns. So I am seeing her challenge! ... But note that I also tagged this as a "misadventure."

Gordon Ramsay's Fish Cakes

For those of you who don't know this, I am a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay. Why? Why not? The guy has enough angst to shame a teenager. Well of course, his recipes are also amazingly simple! Well, at least in his current books. I heard his older cookbooks are actually pretty complex and difficult. I found this fish cake recipe on-line from his show "The F Word," which I have to admit, I've only watched a couple of times while I was flying on Virgin America, and yes, that was a shameless plug for my favorite airline.

Chipotle Shrimps and Mexican Rice

They lied about global warming because it's freaking cold! Why is it that San Francisco temperature dips down into the 30's?!? The thirties!!! I decided to make something spicy and south of the border to help me cope with this cold front. What says spicy and warm better than some chipotle shrimps and Mexican rice?

Thai Pad See Ew

Pad See Ew is one of my favorite Thai dishes. Move aside Pad Thai, you're over-rated! This is one of my more complicated dishes, with exotic ingredients that you will have to venture into an Asian supermarket for. Epps! Scary!

Baked Scallops

Garlic Shrimp Curry


Baked Scallops


Mixed Green Salad

"Jambalaya"

One of my favorite dishes to order of all time is jambalaya but it had never occured to me to make it. When I start making it, I started to break the rules by using angle hair pasta instead of rice and adding mushrooms to it. Hence, the quotes around "Jambalaya." Enough blah blah, on to the cooking, please!