Everything In Soup

Are you wondering why I named this soup Everything In? For pure simple reason because we needed to go away for a 4 days vacation to South Dakota and I needed to clear my fridge. I had some tofu leftover, half open canned of button mushroom, some leftover baked chicken breast and a packet of Enoki mushroom that won't keep long in the refrigerator, so I just dumped everything in a pot of chicken stock. I added a canned of corns, a bundle of "Tang Hoon" (vermicelli) and 2 beaten eggs. I also thicken the soup with potato starch and tada, a bowl of yummy and feeling soup to last us for a day. So good for cold weather too!


Closer look of my ingredients.

I made similar soup before which was named Golden Prosperity Soup by a reader. I made that for Chinese New Year.

Rice Dumplings/ Zongzi

Zongzi is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival which falls on the fifth day of the Fifth month of the Chinese calender. You can read more about it here. I decided to make Hokkein Bak Chang this year (Meat Dumplings) as it was easier to prepare for me. All items ready for wrapping. I added dried scallops with my dried shrimps this year. The other ingredients were Chinese dried chestnuts, Chinese dried mushrooms, 5-spices pork and for my glutinous rice I added mung beans in it.


Nicely wrapped waiting for boiling. For the rice that was soaked overnight, the boiling time was only 1.5 hours. However, I didn't prepare enough rice, so I had to use the glutinous rice that was not soaked and for that the boiling time took 3.5 hours.


Zongzi that was done and ready to be served.


The inside was packed with ingredients. I didn't make Zongzi last year and I sort of lost my touch because my Zongzi turned out not salty enough. Luckily it can be saved by sprinkle some salt on top before serving. Enjoy and Happy Duan Wu Jia!

South Dakota Vacation

If you have noticed that I have been missing in action for couple of days, that was because we went to a little family vacation to South Dakota. We took a spontaneous four days three nights trip to South Dakota. I literally only had two days to plan this trip, as I am a planner while my hubby is the spontaneous kind of person. Luckily with the help of the Internet, anything is feasible and I managed to find the lodging and places to visit in time. I will guide you through our visit to South Dakota with short illustration.


We first arrived at Mouth Rushmore National Memorial in the afternoon. Just nice to have a quick lunch at the cafeteria and walked around the area.


Bright sunny sky after our lunch, nice for photo shoot.


Evy enjoyed her chocolate chips mint ice-cream after lunch.


Edda loving her strawberry shortcake ice-cream.


Then, we took a stroll at the 1/2 mile loop Presidential Trail. The last 1/4 mile was stairs.


We stayed at Palmer Gulch Resort in Black Hills National Forest, 10 minutes from Mt. Rushmore. No cellphone signal here.


Enjoying the free continental breakfast.


Cosmos Mystery Area- unusual happening happen in this area where water flow uphill and ball rolls uphill. We couldn't stand straight in this room as well, some unexplained forces at work here. The tour guide was trying to show us his Matrix move here. Haha...


The ground is level and yet one seem to be taller standing on one side, how is that possible? Definitely blow our mind! $9.50 for adult and kids free.


Bear Country U.S.A. - A place fulled of black and brown bears, I think at least hundred. I never seen so many bears in my life before. The animals roam freely in this 200 acres natural Black Hills habitat.


This black bear just enjoying himself walking back and forth at the entrance and blocking our car from entering.


Timber wolves and bears run wild here. They have Elks, Big Horn Sheeps, Mountain Goats, Arctic wolves, mountain lions, reindeer, Dall Sheep, miniature donkey, buffalo, Grizzly bears, lots of small animals and baby bear cubs too.


Cool up close and personal experience with wild animals.


We even got a bear bite souvenir here, look at our bumper. Luckily my hubby didn't drive his favorite car.


One of the many tunnels at Custer State Park.


Sylvan Lake Area at Custer State Park.


Peter Norbeck Visitor Center at Custer State Park.


Wildlife spotting along Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park.


Wildlife Loop.


Bison herd at Wildlife Loop.


Casually walking by our car.


Rocky Mountain Goat spotted at Mt. Rushmore area.


Second longest cave in the world. Named for the jewel-like Nailhead and Dog-tooth Spar crystals which line over 143 mile of passages.


234 feet under the surface. Temperature in cave is 49'F. Evy didn't enjoy the cave, too dark and scary for her.


Walking up and down 723 stair steps along a 1/2 mile loop in 1.5 hour tour. I was sweating at the end of the tour because I had to carry Edda. What an exercise!


Storybook Island- home of fairy tale and storybook characters for kids.


Storybook Island train ride ($1/ride). My girls loved this place but we couldn't stay long because we had a long drive home.


And back to Colorado!

The trip was enjoyable. The taxes and prices were cheaper than Colorado and we got to see lots of wildlife. If you loved nature, wildlife, hunting, fishing, horse trail riding and camping, you will like South Dakota. But be warn, this place is pretty rural, certain places have no cellphone signal and Chinese restaurants are only found in Rapid City.

Crispy Baked Fish Fillets

Since I had a successful crunchy baked chicken strips the other day, I thought why not try it on fish fillets. We loved baked fish and it would be an extra yum if the baked fish is crunchy right? I was out of the cereal that I used before, so I had to make my own coating for my fish. I was trying with the combination of homemade bread crumbs, walnuts and cornflakes. The resulted fish was not as crunchy as my chicken strips, I think I know the reason. I did not use a lot of the cornflakes, also my cornflakes was crushed too finely. The walnuts and bread crumbs did not give out too much crunch, only the cornflakes. So, make sure you don't crush the cornflakes too fine and pat it on a lot. Added nuts just because I wanted to add more nutrition to my girls diet. By the way, both my girls loved this crispy baked fish as both of them asked for more after given two pieces each. I definitely make it again with just cornflakes and walnuts. This coating is healthy as cornflakes came packed with vitamins and minerals, and walnuts is high in omega 3 fatty acids and an antioxidant food which are heart healthy.



Ingredients & Method:

3 Tilapia fillets, cut each into 4 pieces. Other type of fish fillets should work just fine.

Marinate the fish pieces with olive oil, salt and spices of your choice ( I used The Spice Depot JoJo seasoning and Spicy Sea Salt), season generously. Let it marinate in the refrigerator until ready to bake (about 2-3 hours for me).

Preheat the oven to 450'F. While waiting, take out the cereals, bread crumbs (optional) and walnuts. I made my own bread crumbs by toasting the bread (those top and end piece of bread that we won't eat) until hard and then process it fine in the food processor. Finely chopped the walnuts, I added walnut just because it's healthy. Crush the cornflakes in a sandwich bag, not too fine so that you could taste the crunch. Mix all three ingredients in a shallow plate.

Spray the aluminum foil lined baking pan with canola oil spray. Take a piece of the fish and generously coat it with the cereals mixture. Pat it in and put extra coating on top of the fish fillet before baking. The olive oil used in marinating the fish pieces should be enough to make the coating stick.

Bake in preheated oven 450'F for 10 minutes. Serve hot!

Stir Fried Chicken with DOM

What to do with the leftover Benedictine DOM from the confinement? I know I supposed to drink a little each night before going to bed, but I just never do it. A bottle of this is not cheap at all and I really like the sweet fragrant taste, throwing it away is definitely not an option. So, I used it in cooking! The alcohol content will evaporate during cooking and leave us with the sweet DOM smell. So, instead of using the Chinese cooking wine or Japanese rice wine asked for in a recipe, I just substitute it with DOM. I have used it in making spaghetti sauce too.

Ingredients:

1 skinless and boneless chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
1-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
Canola oil for cooking

Seasoning for chicken breast: rice wine, sesame oil, salt, white pepper, cornstarch.

1 Tbsp. LKK premium dark soy sauce
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. Benedictine DOM



Method:

1. First marinate the chicken breast with the marinade above, leave it in the refrigerator until ready to use.

2. In a wok, heat up with some cooking oil. When hot, add in ginger slices and fry until fragrant. Add in red onion and stir-fry for a while. Scoop the mixture to the side and add in the marinated chicken breast, stir-fry until chicken is cooked.

3, Mix everything together and add in carrot. Stir-fry for a little while. Add in dark soy sauce, water and DOM. Stir to mix well and boil to reduce the sauce a little. Serve hot. The alcohol content should be evaporated while cooking and left the sauce with the flavor of DOM.

Note: During my confinement, instead of adding DOM to cook with the chicken, I just drizzle some on top of the sesame ginger chicken before serving. But if you are breastfeeding and afraid that your baby might get some of the alcohol through the milk, you can certainly used it in cooking.

Ginger Scallion Fish Fillets

This dish was inspired by a dish we ordered at a Chinese restaurant in Denver. Theirs was drier and managed to keep the fish fillets from broken out. Mine was wet because I needed the stock to cook the fish fillets without the fish broken too much. Anyway, here is my version of the Asian-style ginger scallion fish fillets. You can use any white fish to make this dish, perhaps a more solid white fish would be ideal. Regardless this dish is delicious and healthy.



Ingredients:

3 Tilapia fish fillets, cut into small pieces
3 stalks of scallions, cut into 1 inch length, separate the white and green
1 2-inches piece of ginger, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
1-1.5 cup water
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. chicken stock granules
A dash of Japanese rice wine
1 tsp. good quality sesame oil
Thickener: 1 Tbsp. cornstarch + 2 Tbsp. water, mix together

Method:

1. In a wok, heat up the oil. When heated, add in ginger and the white part of scallion. Stir-fry until fragrant.

2. Add water and the fish fillets. Let it boil and stir and turn the fish lightly to cook the fish. Add in all the seasonings except thickener. Do a taste test to see if you need to re-season. If not, add in the green part of the scallion and the thickener, lightly stir it to thicken the sauce. Turn off the fire and serve on a plate.

Lazy and Easy Loh Mai Kai (Glutinous Rice Chicken)

Want to eat Loh Mai Kai (glutinous rice chicken) without all the work? Oh, that's me for sure! I'm too lazy to pack each individually in a bowl and steam it, those are extra work for me. So, have to come out with my super lazy way to satisfy my craving. It is so not authentic okay, but it satisfied my craving, that's the point. I'm living overseas, so anything convenient/easy and yet manage to produce a dish similar to what I miss at home is the key. I really don't care whether it's authentic or not. :P So, stay away from this post if you like yours authentic. But for those who just want a quick fix, come, come, read further, I will share my lazy method with you. :P

First, wash the glutinous rice as you normally would when preparing white rice. Place in the rice cooker according to the water level (same with cooking white rice). Then, add in soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shao Xing wine and a little white pepper, stir-well. Let the rice cook in the rice cooker. When cooked, stir the glutinous rice to mix well.

Second, preparing the chicken and mushroom (you can add Chinese dried sausage too). Marinate the chicken breasts with soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shao Xing wine, oyster sauce, a little sugar and white pepper. Soak the Chinese dried mushroom until soften, marinate with the same marinade above. Slice some shallots for stir-frying as well. In a wok, add oil, fry shallots until fragrant, then add in marinated chicken and mushroom, stir-fry until chicken is cooked, add a little water and the same sauce as the marinade again. Dish out when the sauce thicken slightly.

To Serve: For presentation, put some chicken and mushroom (plus a little sauce) in a rice bowl and top with glutinous rice. Pat it down firmly and turn it over on a serving plate. Serve with your favorite chili sauce.

Without presentation, just pour the cooked chicken and mushroom along with the sauce inside the rice cooker and stir together with the glutinous rice. Serve as is. :P

American Ginseng Chicken Herbal Soup (洋参须鸡汤)

Hmm...I don't know how to call this 洋参须 in English and the one I found on the net was translated by Noobcook as American Ginseng Beard/ Fiber 洋参须. You can visit her site here for picture and explanation. This is the cheapest type of American Ginseng and available in most Asian stores. Instead of the Ginseng root, this is like the hair under the root. American Ginseng is traditionally used to increase energy, relieve stress, enhance the immune system and provide overall health. Normally I boil it with water for 10-15 minutes on the stove and pour as drink to sooth sore throat or make it into chicken herbal soup to drink once a month. The taste of this herbal soup is not as delicious (a bit bitter) as Dong Quai so often time I prefer to cook Dong Quai herbal soup so that my girls can enjoy some herbal soup.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken drumsticks
About 1-1.5 Tbsp. American Ginseng Beard, 洋参须 (too much of this will cause the soup to be bitter)
10 pieces of dried Polygonatum (Yok Chook)
10 Chinese dried red dates
1 Tbsp. wolfberrie/Goji berries (kee chi)
6 dried longans
1000ml water
1 tsp. salt

(For pictures of the above herbs, visit my link here)

Method:

1. In a stock pot, add in the water and let it boiled. Rinse all the herbs with water, drained.

2. When boiled, add in the chicken drumsticks and the rest of the ingredients except salt.

3. When boiled again, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 3-4 hours. Season to taste with salt and serve hot.

Green Peas Cookies

This was one of those unplanned baking day. I was snacking the green peas with Edda which we bought two weeks ago and then "ding dong". Finished one packet of this green peas had been slow and I really wanted to get rid of it fast instead of seeing it in front of my computer all the times. And then while snacking some today, the idea of making it into cookies came into mind. I always loved green peas cookies and I know it will get eaten faster than just the green peas alone. I only left with 1 cup of green peas and thus my experiment began and luckily the cookies turned out well. While making this cookie, another idea came to mind, you will have to stay tune to see what new cookies I will invent in the future. ;)

This green peas cookie is melt-in-the-mouth soft but with the crunchy bites from the crushed green peas. This recipe yields 49 cookies for me. It is a sweet cookie, you can slightly cut down on the icing sugar if you prefer it less sweet.



Ingredients:

1 cup salted green peas (the one you bought at store)
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup icing sugar
125ml canola oil

Method:

1. In a food processor. Process the green peas until fine.

2. In a big bowl, add all the ingredients and mix well with your hand. A dough should formed, if not add a little more oil to bind.

3. Take some of the dough, roll with your hands into a log shape, pinch about 1/2 inch off and shape into round shape. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Finish the rest of the dough.

4. Bake in preheated 350'F oven for 15 minutes. Place on wire rack to cool completely before keeping it in an air-tight container.

Crunchy Baked Chicken Strips

I was inspired by Gert and decided to make my own version. I have some leftover whole grain cereal with oats and almonds that no one wants to eat anymore so I thought this would be the perfect crispy coating for my chicken strips. If you have any cereal left at home, use it to coat your chicken, it is the perfect way to use it up. I used very simple seasoning grinders that I have at home, you can season yours however you liked too. My cereal is slightly sweet so my baked chicken strips turned out to be crunchy sweet. It's good eating like this without any dipping sauce. My girls totally loved it. Crunchy Crunch and Crispy Crisp!



Ingredients:

2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
(A)
Olive oil
Italian herbs seasoning grinder
Spicy sea salt grinder
Steakhouse seasoning grinder
Paprika
Kosher salt
(B)
Cereal (cornflakes type) of your choice (mine has almonds, oats and cornflakes in it), crushed

Method:

1. In a bowl, add in chicken strips and (A). Stir with a spoon to mix well and let it marinade overnight (or few hours) in the refrigerator.

2. Preheat oven to 400'F. Prepare a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Spray the foil with canola oil spray. Set aside.

3. In another plate, add the crushed cereal. Use your hand to take a piece of the chicken strip and coat it well with the crushed cereal and place it on the greased foil pan. Finish all the chicken strips.

4. Bake in preheated 400'F oven for 10 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

I am also submitting my recipe to the Original Recipe event hosted by Lore at Culinarty. Check out others' recipes at the third week of the month.

Tropical Sheet Cake

I have cans of crushed pineapple in my pantry waiting to be used. I bought them to make pineapple jam for my CNY pineapple tarts, but my lazy bones kicked in and I didn't make any pineapple tarts this year. So, I went online to search for a quick and easy recipe for me to use up the crushed pineapple. I found this recipe very interesting, very easy to do and no butter and oil required. It really got me curious and hence I had to try this recipe.



Hmmm...this cake is very interesting indeed. The texture is spongy, moist and kind of sticky. A bit like eating "kuih" instead of cake. The sweetness is just nice but sure make a big cake. I gave half away because we couldn't finish the whole cake. Because I added coconut flakes and dried fruits, you can taste that in the cake too. I think the dried fruits gave this cake an extra sweetness.



I adapted the recipe from Beverly. Added a couple of things and change the baking time.



Ingredient:

(A)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
(B)
2 large eggs
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, with juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
(C)
1/2 cup sweeten coconut flakes
1/3 cup cut dried apricots
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup raisins


Before in the oven for baking.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F (175'C). Line a 10 X 15 inch glass baking pan with wax paper, with more wax paper hanging up for easy removal.

2. In a large Pyrex glass bowl, add in (A). Whisk with a hand whisk until combined. In the middle, add in (B). Whisk the middle mixture until blended then blend it together with the flour mixture until combined. Add in (C). Stir to moisten.

3. Bake for 55 minutes. At 25 minutes, remove and cover the top with aluminum foil. Test with a toothpick to make sure it is cooked completely. Cool completely before storage. I keep it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. It is nice eaten cold too.

Lastly, I want to wish all the mothers a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! :) And Happy Mommy Day, Mom! :*

Chinese Ginger Tea (黑糖薑茶)

This Chinese ginger brown sugar drink is said to be very beneficial. Not only it can fight cold but can fix the problem some women encounter when having their periods such as headache, stomachache, heavy flow, etc. Ginger had been used in ancient Chinese medicine to treat illnesses so this is a no surprise. Chinese women consumed lots of ginger after given birth for the full whole month to prevent the "wind" to get into the body, because we believed if the "wind" gets into the body, it will create problem later in life. It is also said that for people who live in the tropical country, if you do travel to another country during the cold weather, boil this tea and drink, it will prevent your body from getting sick. I know for a fact that ginger is anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory. So, if you see a cold is coming, make this tea and drink it hot. Then, cover yourself with a blanket and let your body sweat. You should be recovered naturally. Call me old-fashion but I believed in ancient natural remedy. Now, I make this tea occasionally just to strengthen the body. It is best to use the age old ginger and drink it hot.



I made a tea pot and this is my approximate recipe.

Ingredients:

20 oz water
6 slices of ginger (old ginger preferred)
4 Tbsp. Chinese brown sugar (黑糖) or to taste (available at Asian store)

Method:

In a saucepan, add in water and let it boil. When boiled, add in the ginger and sugar. Let it boil for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot. I pour in a tea pot and share among us.



Note: I would recommend you to get the Chinese brown sugar (黑糖) at the Asian supermarket for this tea as the flavor is different ( less sweet too) from the normal brown sugar we buy at the baking section. Showing you a picture above.

Tofu Glazed with Salted Bean Sauce

I loved this Crab Classic, chunk style imitation crab meat! It came in Lobster Classic too but the only difference I can see is more red coloring added (since it's redder in color), other than that, everything looks identical to me (I forgot to look at the back of the ingredients list, might have a little lobster meat added instead of king crab?). I always buy more and freeze it in my freezer when it is on sales for buy one gets one free (it can freeze up to 9 months). Crab Classic is made with a mixture of seafood, mainly Alaska Pollock. So this is an excellent source of protein and omega 3 fatty acids. Not only that, the shape holds well so it's great in stir-fry, in soup and in spaghetti. A great food to substitute for meat/poultry and for the vegetarians who don't eat meat/poultry but do take seafood.



Ingredients:

1 packet soft tofu, sliced like above picture
1/2 packet of imitation crab meat, separated (Crab Classic, chunk style)
1/2 cup of frozen corns
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 stalk green onion/scallion, thinly sliced
Chopped onion (I added this just to finish the little bit of onion that I have in the fridge but not required)

Sauce:
1 Tbsp. salted yellow bean, smashed
1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. dark soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar

1/4 cup water
Oil for cooking

Method:

1. Cut the tofu and lay it nicely on a plate. You can have it cold or you can heat it in the microwave for 2 minutes to warm it up before pouring in the sauce.

2. In a heated wok, pour in a little oil. Add in garlic, stir-fry until golden but be careful not to burn it. Add in imitation crab meat and corns, stir-fry well. Add in salted yellow bean and fry for a while then add in the rest of the sauce ingredients. Fry well, add the water and let the sauce thicken a little and pour it on top of the nicely arranged soft tofu.

Chic and Cute Shoes

Summer is just around the corner and it is time for me to get some new sandals and shoes to replace my out of style shoes. I would love some thing chic and cute to pair with my Capri and shorts. I came across AMI Shoes and the shoes there are chic, cute even funky! Best of all there are reasonably priced. You can find all kind of shoes there ranging from flip flops, heels, sandals, boots, flats and wedges. It also carries celebrity brands such as Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson, Kate Hudson, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Victoria Beckham, just to name a few. If you love funky high heels, you should check this out as the selections are huge.


If you are a mom just like me who only wanted a comfortable sandal or flat, look at this cute sandal that I found. I like this the best and what is more, it is only $9.99. Better yet, the shipping is free for order of more than $50 in the states. So, I could either get few different sandals/flats with different colors to mix and match my outfits or ask my friends whether they want to buy some reasonably priced cute shoes for their summer outing. We can buy together and get free shipping, how cool is that? Do you want some new shoes for summer?

Stir Fried ShanDong Ramen (山东拉面)

ShanDong ramen (山东拉面) is a Chinese style dried noodle. It came in three different sizes, thin, medium and thick. The one I got here is medium. It is suitable for cold noodle, in soup or stir-fry. I usually used it in stir-fry, I guess it is easier than cook up a flavorful stock to go with the ramen. I think Taiwanese used this kind of dried noodle for their beef noodle soup.



Below are the ingredients and sauce that I used. My usual sauce for stir-frying noodle as I don't know the secret sauce that the restaurant used. Is there a secret sauce? Anyone knows and willing to share? Or you know or use a different sauce mix for your stir fry noodle than me, please share with me ya. I really cut down on my dark soy sauce for this noodle as I like my dishes dark but wanted a change here to mimic the color of the restaurant "lor mian". Of course Chinese dishes are very versatile, you can add or change the ingredients to what you have at home.

Ingredients:

ShanDong ramen, cooked in boiling water according to direction, drain with cold water running.
Bean Sprouts, a bowl
Carrot, thinly sliced
Yellow onion, thinly sliced
Garlic, chopped
Pork marinated in soy sauce, rice wine, white pepper and cornstarch

Sauce: Oyster sauce, Dark soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and sugar to taste.

I would love to share this dish with Presto Pasta Night . Presto Pasta Night was created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week host is Tigerfish at Teczcape-an escape to Food. Please hop over on Friday, May 8th to see the round up. Thanks!

Wireless Security System

We used to live in a bad neighborhood in Memphis, TN. Moving there from another city and state where the crime rate was low, we really knew nothing. All we knew at that time was the apartment had to be closed to the university and the rent had to be cheap. Only after we had settling down that we started to sense things. Some of the people who lived there who looked like gangsters and the occasional gun shots we heard late at night. Once we settled down, we were too lazy to move, also at that time we had limited budget. So, what we did is to get a home wireless security system installed. It was for our peace of mind. Believe it or not, we even had a 9mm at home in case of any invasion, we just wanted to be prepared. We even attended gun training lesson and practice gun shooting every weekend. Even now, living in a good neighborhood, we still want the peace of mind. Our house is installed with a security system, in case of a break in, we want the police to get here ASAP.

GE Protect America security system is running an offer right now where you will get the wireless security system for FREE with a 36 months contract. You will save $595 for the Silver package deal where it covered 10 entry points for $34.95 a month. Visit the Website for more packages deal. Be sure to call this toll free number if you are interested 1-877-470-2751. By calling this specific number will get you two FREE keychain remotes with order.

Stir Fried Sweet Sugar Snap Peas

I fell in love with sweet snap peas when I discovered it in the market few years ago. Now, I preferred to buy this versus snow peas. I found this to be sweeter, crunchier or has more bite to it as compared to snow peas. But why is this veggie so expensive huh? It is quite pricey even in the Asian market, I bought a small bag and it costs me almost $4!! Sharing an easy and delicious way to enjoy sweet snap peas. One of my home cook dishes.

Ingredients:

Sweet snap peas
Dried shrimps, soaked in hot water until soften, drained
Garlic, chopped
Oyster sauce
Canola oil for stir-frying

Method:

1. In a wok, heat up oil. When heated, add in dried shrimps and garlic. Fry until fragrant and add in the sweet snap peas.

2. Stir-fry until snap peas are cooked. Season with oyster sauce. Add a little water if you like. Serve hot with rice.

The Best Things In Life Are Free!

The best things in life are free and you can make it happen. The memories you created while vacationing with your family is priceless! The laughter from your children and the smile from your wife or loved one face express freely are the best things in life! Kissimmee, a charming oasis, located in central Florida, just minutes away from Orlando and close proximity to other cool attractions makes it a great family destination. A great vacation destination for you to make it happen. The choices are endless, ranging from thrilling roller coaster rides (A new Manta ray at SeaWorld, hello!), world renown theme parks, airboat tours across Lake Toho, glide through a scenic lake tour watching for birds, turtles, and alligators, Kennedy Space Center just an hour away, mystical Silver Springs at Ocala, the largest artesian spring formation in the world to FREE family fun activities such as bass fishing, hiking, wild life spotting and watching in the nature preserve and lakes, shopping and dining at the Old Town Shopping, Dining, and Entertainment Complex, or go to St. Cloud, dubbed "The Friendly Soldier City" for the thousands of Civil War veterans who relocated here in the early 1900s. Stroll, shop, dine, and “people watch” in antique stores, shops, waterfront parks, and restaurants to relaxation and picnic on a beach, and the list goes on.

So now that you have seen all there is to do in Kissimmee you're ready for a care-free vacation yourself! Luckily, Kissimmee is giving away three (3) weekend getaways (3 days/2 nights) for two (2); and two (2) week long vacations for four (4). Drawings will be held on or around 4/1/09, 5/1/09 and 6/1/09. The best vacations are free! So enter the sweepstakes now if you haven't done so as I already did mine.

Reduced Fat Panna Cotta

We loved panna cotta but it was so fattening. So, I was trying to cut down some of the saturated fat in this delectable dessert by cutting down on the heavy cream and used whole milk. I placed it in a jelly mold which was probably not the best idea as it was stuck to the mold. I had to use the satay stick to scrape it down, thus the broken design. Despite the ugly look, it tasted divine. Still fattening but a reduced fat version.



I modified some of the ingredients from this recipe. Next time I would probably use 55g palm sugar in (A) and skip the whole syrup step.

Ingredients:

(A)
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
20g palm sugar

7g powder gelatin + 1/4 cup water

For syrup:
40g palm sugar
1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Add (A) in a pot and bring to boil, stirring to dissolve the palm sugar. Remove from heat.

2. Combine gelatin and water and add into the pot. Stir until gelatin is dissolved.

3. Place the pot into a container that contains ice cube and cold water and stir the mixture until it cool. (I omitted this step)

4. Divide the mixture into cups and place in refrigerator to harden.

5. For the syrup, add palm sugar and water into a pot and bring to boil. Stir to dissolve the palm sugar.

6. Before serving, add some syrup on the panna cotta.