Sweet and Sour Mahi-Mahi

This is a recipe I learned from watching Chinese cooking shows.  I have seen many different Chinese chefs using this same base sauce for their sweet and sour prawns, fish and poultry.  Since this sauce is so popular, I had tried it on prawns and fish.  It is indeed a good sauce but to guarantee that the sauce comes out perfect, it will have to depend on your years of cooking expertise.  These Chinese chefs don't give measurement in their cooking, only the ingredients, so use your expertise and estimate it yourself.  I added whatever veggie I have at home for the colors and additional veggie intake.  So, feel free to be creative and use what your have at home.

This is the mahi-mahi fillet I bought on-sales at the Sunflower market.  I criss-cross it for faster cooking time.  You can cover the wok when pan-frying to cook the middle as well.  Eat this with some Teriyaki sauce drizzle on top is fabulous as well.  Of course you can use other fish fillets or fish for this dish.

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Ramblers Way's Wool Clothing

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Ramblers Way. All opinions are 100% mine.


As you know, a lot of small towns have seen their downtown street shops suffered from the effects of urban sprawl.  They either left and moved to the strip malls of the suburbs or closed down because they were unable to compete with the giant or chain stores.  If you shop in the supermarket these days or even the branded shops in the malls, most of the clothes were not made in America anymore.  A lot of works have been outsource to other countries with cheaper labor cost and operating cost, leaving the otherwise thriving factories to close down and communities suffered.


Ramblers Way Farm is changing the way American business is done.  They are helping to revitalize the small town by bringing their manufacturing facilities into the distressed small towns thus helping the communities.  They raise Rambouillet sheep for their superfine fleece, they source their raw materials domestically and processed and produced their fine woolen apparel using 100% domestic resources. They also believed in environmental sustainability where their manufacturing process is low-impact and ecologically-minded.  They design, create, and manufacture next-to-skin worsted wool garments with their partners' factories who shared the same values, high standard for quality and sustainability and to benefit the local economies.  I really applaud them for what they are doing to the American economy and small town communities.  Do check out their next-to-skin Made in America worsted wool garments that are soft, smooth, strong, lightweight, and is durable and long-lasting.  Their wool clothing is enzyme-treated for shrinkage and machines washable.  It is also natural, non-synthetic, and chemical free, breathable, flame-resistant, superior insulation that warms and cools equally that can be worn all day and night nearly all year-round.  Best of all, it is made in America, which is hard to find these days.

Simple "Chai Hsin" / Chinese Green (菜心)

This veggie dish is so simple that I feel embarrass in sharing it.  Truly, so simple that anyone can make it.  Not only it is simple, but it is delicious as well.  Slight crunch from the green and the oyster sauce give it a full flavor.  You can buy this Chinese veggie at the Asian supermarket.

Mostly, I would do a stir-fry on this green with some garlic, carrot and flavor with oyster sauce.  I guess after a while, I wanted a change or try cooking it in a different way.  I used this method in cooking my iceberg lettuce which I learned from my hubby long ago.  Always received rave reviews from others who have tasted it.  I am sure this method is good for other green vegetable as well.

A perfect side dish sending to Side Dish Showdown July at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice. 

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Great Tips for Ants Free House (less than $1)

I feel compel to share this great tips I read on one forwarded e-mail months ago, during winter.  I remembered last summer, my house was infested with ants.  Maybe infested was a strong word, but it was pretty scary as we could see rows of ants walking along my kitchen/dining table area searching for food.  It was bad as you know with little kids, the way they ate, food was on the floor all the times.  I could see which holes the ants were coming from, and I tried to close the gap with bathroom paper.  Oh well, it worked a little but I couldn't get rid of the ants completely until the cold weather came.  One of the reasons I loved winter was no ants, fly, or insect in the house.  I am one person who couldn't stand seeing ants in the house, I just had to get rid of it.

My break came when I was reading some great tips forwarded e-mail from a friend, whom I couldn't recall.  I forgot all the tips I read except this great tips of getting rid of ants (because I wanted to remember and use this tips come summer), so I memorized it.  True enough, came this summer and I spotted ants came out from the same gaps last summer.  I took out my bottle lemon juice and dropped some into the gaps.  Killed all the other ants in the house and waited and see.  WOW!  It really worked!  No more ants coming out from the same gaps.  Few days ago, I spotted more ants, I was like what the heck.  They were coming in from two different gaps, again dropped some lemon juice into and along the gaps and now it was clear.  Lemon juice really works wonder as ants hate sour and acidy environment.  Try it next time yourself as this is a cheap and environment friendly way to get rid of ants in your house.  It works for me and I hope it works for you too, welcoming feedback or any other inexpensive way of getting rid of ants in the house.

Oh yeah, it does not have to be fresh lemon juice, just the bottle one selling for few cents in the produce section works just as well.  :-)  Do you like my tips?
 

Fruit Pastry using Puff Prata/ Pratha

Summer came with abandon of fresh berries, peaches, nectarines, melons, mango and all were on sales.  My house was fulled of all sort of fruits.  My hubby bought some nectarines but it were sour and soft and I bought some plums and it were sour as well.  So, all these sour fruits had been left in the refrigerator uneaten as the sweeter fruit would be chosen.  I had been thinking of a way to eat these fruits since I don't like to waste food.  Was thinking to make them into the fruits pastry cake but I was a bit lazy to make the cake.  Then, an idea came when I remembered I still have two pieces of frozen roti puff pratha in the freezer.  Thus, this fruit pastry was created.  Out of convenient and not wanting to throw away sour fruits.

I will show the step-by-step picture in the next page with the simple recipe.

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Satay Dinner

I found a lazy way to eat and grill my satay!  No troublesome and messy way of pricking the marinated meat through a satay stick anymore.  I cut the chicken breast thinly and grill it on my in-door grill.  Our out-door grill, used only couple of times, sadly had been abused by the Colorado weather through strong wind, heat and snow and now was a piece of junk.  I bought this in-door grill 10+ years ago via a home shopping network on T.V.  Yeah, I used to love those channels and loved to see what they were selling.  It was a great buy even though  I only used it occasionally.

The finished product!  Of course you can use boneless thigh meat if you prefer more fat.

Eaten with Malaysian satay sauce.  I used a premix for this, if you want to see which premix I used, click here. If you are using this premix, add 2 heap tablespoons of creamy peanut butter and some toasted ground peanuts when stirring.  Lastly, add more toasted ground peanuts to garnish and for extra kick. If not, you can make a delicious peanut satay sauce here using my short-cut and delicious recipe.