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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Steamed Fish Fillet with Chili Black Bean

I love to steam my fish in the oven. It is no fuss, no cleaning, super easy and ready in 10 minutes, who wouldn't love this method as compared to the traditional Chinese steaming method using a wok? To steamed fish, you just need to cover the whole fish in the aluminum foil and let it steam in the oven. After you done eating, just fold and toss away the aluminum foil. As easy as that! I was trying a new recipe for my steamed fish and it turned out so good so I would share it here and for my own record. It was a little spicy from the chili oil but not too bad, even my girls had no problem eating it. The saltiness came from the black bean and soy sauce. And I loved lots of ginger and garlic for extra flavor.

Pan Fried Crispy Tofu

Had some leftover tofu and decided to pan-fry it. Tofu can be quite bland so remember to season generously yet not over board. Best to enjoy the crispy tofu with a condiment such as this Thai sweet chili sauce or ketchup.

Baked Raisin Donuts

These baked donuts are not very sweet and suitable for glazing and icing. Texture is cake like and soft. The texture is different from the dough like deep fried donuts that we grew to love. But a healthy alternative to introduce to children. A very good breakfast grab and go or after school snack. I omitted the glazing and icing because I see those as extra calories and fat. I am also one of those that would scratch off the icing/frosting on top of a piece of cake before I eat it (yeah we do exist!). I have learned eating healthy starts at a young age. If you start them young, they will probably follow this eating habit when they grow up. I started when I was in my teens (I used to love all the fatty meat and chicken skin), but when my parents started having issue with high blood pressure and high cholesterol and thus changes in my mom cooking to accommodate less salt, no red meat, no high cholesterol food, etc. It changed my way of eating too and made me awared of the term "cholesterol" and how to eat healthy to prevent it. So, twenty+ years down the road, I can tell you IT WORKS! I'm medium size build, always like this (not the skinny type) and in Malaysia, people are considered me FAT. But, I have very good overall cholesterol reading, good Tri, good HDL and LDL numbers (without any exercise, but now I try to incorporate 30 minutes of cardio exercise and some running everyday). Whereas my older sister and younger brother now both have high cholesterol and my brother is the skinny type. So, it proved to me that my diet works and I just have to keep following this eating habit and fight off the temptation.

Okay, back to topic, I re-created this recipe to accommodate the American 6 oz. size of yogurt. Using 150g out of 170g tub of yogurt we have here just too troublesome for me. I just wanted to use the whole tub without doing any measuring, and hence this recipe for my future reference. Can certainly add a little more sugar if you like it sweeter or just glaze it.

Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Shrimps Sauce

Foodbuzz and Buitoni partnered up and sent the Tastemakers of Foodbuzz a packet of Wild Mushroom Agnolotti to try. This is one of Buitoni newest products and I was glad to be one of the first to sample this, even before it hits the market, cool right? Frankly I never had this before and was scrambling my head of how to cook this pasta. Just so it happen that Buitoni is also running a promotion contest for the original pasta sauce recipe to compliment one of these pasta in the month of April. So, put on my creative hat and started to picture a sauce that will compliment the wild mushroom agnolotti that I received. I thought shrimps will go well with the wild mushroom and some Italian herbs and white wine reduced sauce. So, this recipe was created and it passed the taste test of the four of us. The wild mushroom agnolotti was flavorful on its own but in combination with my shrimps sauce made it a more complete meal. Truly delicious! You guys should try it! Now, just hope that my creative shrimps sauce (something different eh?) will win me a prize from Buitoni. :)

Curry Vegetable Using Leftover

Whenever you cook a big pot of curry gravy for your curry noodle and have some leftover curry, don't throw it away. You can use it to make curry vegetable. Throw in some prawns too if you like. That's what I did with my leftover curry gravy. I was left with a bowl of this delicious curry gravy and it was too "sayang" (wasteful) to throw it away. So, this idea came to mind and I whipped out this delicious bowl of curry vegetable in 15 minutes, just enough to soften the carrot and cooked the veggies.

Ingredients:

• Leftover curry laksa gravy
• 1 cup frozen cut green beans
• 1 carrot, cut
• 1/2 red bell pepper, cut

Method:

Heat up the curry gravy in a saucepan until boiling, then add in all the veggies and let it boil again. When boiled, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Serve with hot rice.

Stir Fried Bok Choy with Chicken

This is one of my easy all in one dish. All nutritious and protein into one bowl. I used the regular bok choy, the one with darker green leaves for this stir-fry. My friend told me the darker the green leaves in a veggie, the better it is for us. I know for a fact that leafy greens are good for us, so I always make sure that I serve lots of green leafy greens in my family.

Ingredients:

• 3 heads of regular bok choy (darker green leaves), separated, washed and cut into small pieces with steams and leaves separated.
• 1/4 red bell pepper, cut into small pieces
• 1 small carrot, cut
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 chicken breast, sliced and marinated in salt, rice wine, sesame oil, white pepper and cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup water

Method:

In a wok, heat up oil. When hot, add in marinated chicken pieces, stir-fry until half cook, add in garlic, fry for a while. Add in steams part of bok choy, carrot and bell pepper. Stir-fry until chicken is cooked, add the leaves of bok choy and stir-fry well. Add water and season with oyster sauce.

Pandan Dodol - Homemade

My family loved dodol. We adored the triangle shaped Durian dodol and Pandan dodol. But the online store where I got my fix from had closed down. So, what to do? Guess I will have to make my own. When I was at Lily's house on CNY party, I got a taste (more than a taste, :P) at her homemade dodol. It was so gooooood, I got a fix then. Later, her daughter told me it was very easy to make, just use the microwave. Okay, anything easy was what I liked, so I went to look at Lily's recipe, very few ingredients which I have, instruction seem fairly easy too. So, why not?

Well, not so easy! Expect to have some good arm exercise at stirring the mixture vigorously for about 11 intervals or so. I kept stirring and stirring and when I touched the dodol, it still stuck to my finger even though it was shinning. Luckily at 11 intervals, I finally did it, I thought it would never stop. So, if you want to eat some dodol, expect to work hard for it. :P

Salmon with Ginger Salted Bean Sauce

This dish is so good. Definitely saving it to make my salmon dish in the future. The sauce is slightly on the salty side, so remember to eat it with lots of rice. You can probably dilute the sauce with some water, but I like my sauce thick. You don't have to season the salmon at all. Just enjoy the salmon with this thick and yummy sauce is enough to make you clean your rice bowl at no time. This is one of my experiments in the kitchen that turned out superb. Now I am a converted salmon fan (but I only like WalMart wild salmon)! What an opposite to people who dislike WalMart wild salmon eh?

Healthy Whole Wheat and Oats Cookies

The recipe I promised. Sharing with you my healthy whole wheat and oats cookies made using canola oil. No fragrant of butter but each bite leaving you feeling less guilty. Canola oil has lower saturated fat, zero trans fat, higher monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat which are better for your heart. Whole wheat and oats are also recommended heart healthy diet so this cookie is sure a healthy cookie to me. Still no over indulgence, limit to 2-3 cookies per day. Any over snacking will result in gaining weight as you know. But of course it is better to snack on some thing healthy for you instead of bad for you. This is a crispy cookie and sort of addictive (well to me).

Stir Fried Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Ground Pork

One of my quick dinner is to stir-fry noodle. I always have some chopped garlic and cut carrot in my refrigerator ready to be used. So, all I needed to do for this noodle is to julienne some red bell pepper, shallots and washed and cut some baby bok choy (available at WalMart or your local Asian supermarket). I kept boxes of 100% whole wheat spaghetti in my pantry for use in Asian or Western cooking, whichever strike my fancy that day. According to American Heart Association, diet rich in whole grains and other plant foods, and low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may help reduce the risk of heart disease. Only look for those that said 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat to get the full benefit.

100% whole grain or whole wheat spaghetti can be delicious, just cook to the maximum amount of time listed at the back of the instruction. Cook it a minute or two longer if you prefer the texture to be softer. I once tried a sample at Costco where they tried to market the whole grain spaghetti but the salesperson undercooked it as the spaghetti was hard and chewy, what message did he send? That whole wheat/whole grain spaghetti was hard and chewy which seem to be agreeable with what the majority think. Do you think people would buy it with that kind of experience? I am doubtful. Anyway, instead of eating it with Parmesan cheese (as served in Costco), why not try stir-frying it Asian style? I have no doubt it is much delicious this way. Try it!

Girls Update

I am so proud of my two girls. I decided to move them into their own room yesterday after months of mental preparation injected into Evy. I put them on a queen size mattress so that if they fell off from the mattress, they were not going to hurt themselves. Everything was set, I put on a new bed sheet, more mental preparation talk on both girls while doing that. The night came, Edda was easy because she already fell asleep down stair so I just needed to carry her to the bed. I accompanied Evy to brush her teeth, showed her her own bathroom (sharing with her sister of course), but her own sink and her own face towel. Then ushered her into bed, kissed her good night and laid at the bottom of the bed to wait for her to fall asleep. I was afraid that she might be scared because she always told me she is scared to sleep alone. Thus, the co-sleeping with her sister was my solution. But you know what, she actually told me to go back to my room. I was like really and she said yes and I was real impressed. I actually felt weird sleeping in a room without my two girls or simply worrying about them (took me a long time to fall asleep). I had my monitor on the whole time and they did so well, they slept through the night, no crying, not a single sound. I was so proud of them and I told them so. I kept praising them in the morning and told them how well they did and how proud I am of them. They both kept smiling and I know they understood it. So, another smooth sailing move to their own room.



Next would be Edda potty training (I will get it done when she turned three, right now I am mentally preparing her) and teaching her shapes, colors and alphabet. I will really work on her when her sister goes to Kindergarten this Fall. At that time, I will have the private one on one time with her and thus the best time to really teach her. I will start to prepare her for kindergarten. Phonic digestion at 3 years old and at 4, she will know how to read like her sister. One thing though her learning skill is a bit slow, I guess it was my fault because I did not read to her from 6 months up to a year every night like what I did with her sister. So until now she still cannot differentiate shapes and colors which her sister already knew at 9 months. I can really see the difference what advance reading do to their learning ability. One a fast learner and really smart, the other a slow learner and not as smart. Luckily she started talking in sentences and more now, at 2 she still hardly spoke at all and I was worried. Just that sometimes I have to figure out whether she is talking in Mandarin or English because her pronunciation is a bit off. But she sure try to express herself in sentences.

Evy is going to Kindergarten this Fall. I enrolled her into a school that teaches Mandarin from K to grade 5. She already has good Mandarin foundation and I hope that it will get reinforce in the school. I have prepared her well for Kindergarten as I did not send her to pre-school. She knows how to write, how to read (very good at reading, can read the whole Dora (1) book with no mistake), how to count, how to add and minus in her mind, without using her ten fingers (her mathematics skill is up to grade 1 level), how to use a computer, how to draw, color and tell story of what she drew. She even made a story book, drew some pictures, illustrated the story to me and had me wrote down the story in that book for her. And she would read the story over and over again and kept it as her possession. I have no doubt she will do well in school.

Extra update: The next day, I put both of them in bed, kissed them good night and left the room. Edda still wanted to play I guess because I heard (through my monitor) Evy said, "睡觉了，好不好?". Edda replied, "好". Some comforter ruffle sounds. Few minutes later, Evy said, "睡觉了，好不好? 姐姐累累了，要睡觉了." Then, silent. The following day I asked Evy, she said her sister was trying to tickle her. Haha...

Translation:
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok?" Edda replied, "ok"
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok? Sister is very tired and wants to sleep now."

Red Bean Konnyaku Jelly

I was in the mood for some jelly and red bean jelly to be exact. The only jelly powder I had in my pantry was Konnyaku jelly powder, so Konnyaku jelly it was. I bought some mooncake jelly molds when I was in Malaysia last year so I thought this would be the perfect time to use it or open ceremony with it like we Chinese said. I do love this molds, making the jelly looking ultra cute. I wanted to make a red bean jelly because I had a canned of red bean and making a red bean jelly was much easier than making a red bean kuih even though both tasted great. Also I got to use my new jelly molds. :)

Deep Fried Chicken Strips

Who wouldn't love fried chicken strips? Anything deep fried with batter is pretty appealing, unless you are a health conscious person who seldom eat fried food. I have cut down a lot of deep-frying at my house, but once in a while I do like to treat my girls to some deep-fried food. I love freshly ground grinder and you can easily find the Spice Depot spice grinders at WalMart. It came in bigger bottle with cheaper price which I liked, any bargain is a great bargain to me. You can visit the website for recipe idea, recipes or check out the variety of spices they carry. Here's my crispy fried chicken strips recipe to share with you.

Salmon with Ginger Slices

Salmon is rich in omega 3 fatty acid and is one of the fishes recommended for heart healthy diet. My husband and I are not a fan of salmon. Often time I eat salmon is due to the fact that it is rich in omega 3, that's the only reason that I would eat it. Another reason is salmon is not cheap at all, especially wild salmon. I don't really like the farm raised salmon mainly because coloring is added to make it looks pink, not to elaborate about the farming of salmon and the condition the salmon were in before it has been packaged. But, I found that you can actually buy affordable wild salmon at Walmart. I bought One lb (16oz) of individually vacuum sealed fillets, wild caught, all natural salmon for only $3.50 (about 4 fillets) on sales, usual price is $3.95. And the whole half size of the wild salmon for only $7+, that's affordable to me. So, I got tempted just because it's high in omega 3 fish oil. I want to balance this fish with the Tilapia fillet that we liked. When I bought this, my hubby actually said who wants to eat this yucky fish. *roll eyes*

Evy's Birthday Cake: Marshmallow Cake

I asked Evy what cake she wants for her birthday, a store-bought cake or a cake mommy made for her, at first she said she wanted a store-bought cake but later changed her mind to a marshmallow cake. So I said okay and since the strawberry was in season again, large and sweet, why not make a strawberry chiffon cake again and decorated it with whipped cream. Just like a cake I made for her last year except this time will have some marshmallow on the cake. When I started to decorate the cake, she said she wanted a smiley face marshmallow cake, so here's her smiley face marshmallow cake for her 5th year old birthday.


Another look of my tall chiffon cake. Can you see the smiley face?


This time I made it three layers with two layers of whipped cream with strawberry bits.



I definitely added too much red coloring as this cake is redder compared to my previous one. This time I also used 2 cups of fresh whipped cream plus 1/3 cup of confectioner sugar to ice the cake. Remember to place the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator before you whip the cream. The whipped cream beats best when the bowl and beaters are cold.

Note: The marshmallow turned soft the next day but nevertheless still delicious.

I realized I haven't shared the pictures of my girls for quite some time, so here are the most updated pictures of them saying Hi.


Evy with her birthday cake saying cheese.


Edda saying cheese without looking at the camera.

Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy

Baby Bok Choy has been a regular vegetable in my household. All Asian grocery stores have it, even WalMart and the grocery stores here have it. It is one of the common Asian vegetable and most people know what it is. I buy my Baby Bok Choy at the Asian market here because it is cheaper. Sometimes the Asian grocery store here doesn't carry much vegetable choices, but they always have the Baby Boy Choy and regular Boy Choy (darker green) available and looking fresh. That's why this vegetable is a staple in my house. Sharing with you an easy and delicious recipe.

Chinese Steamed Mantau (饅頭) with Red Bean Paste & Mung Bean Paste

Assorted steamed buns or Mantau with filling. I used the breadmaker mantau recipe I posted earlier. The ones at the back with pleats were with mung bean paste filling. And the round ones were red bean paste filling. I made these and freeze individually in the freezer before putting them all in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Each time I just take out whatever I needed for breakfast or afternoon snack and reheat it in the microwave. Those were the store-bought pastes that I brought back from Malaysia, need to use it before it expired.


Steamed mantau (饅頭) with mung bean paste.


Steamed mantau (饅頭) with red bean paste.

Since this is made using the mantau recipe instead of the bao recipe, the texture is soft and slightly chewy. We can use this recipe to stuff filling but for best result mantau recipe is still a mantau recipe, leave it plain, or brush it with sesame oil and add green onion, or make flavor mantau like yam, black sesame seeds, green tea, chocolate, etc. I saw some duo colors mantau before.

Ground Pork Patties

I had some ground pork at home and was wondering what to make of it because I just used some to stir-fry tofu the previous night. Was thinking of making deep-fry wontan but my girl was having sore throat so that was a bad idea. Then, probably baked meat balls but was too lazy to make a sauce for it. Then, why not pan-fry some pork patties as this would be easier. So, I started seasoning my meat and let it marinated. Wow, this turned out to be so delicious! It's slightly crispy on the edges, moist inside and so flavorful. It will be suitable as a hamburger patties too. Next time try this Asian fusion pork patties for your Summer grilling party ya. It was really good that I quickly pen down my marinade ingredients. I will give an estimate recipe so that you would know which one to put more or less. I will certainly make this again.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls and Best Peanut Dipping Sauce

We love Vietnamese summer rolls, spring rolls or fresh rolls. We used to frequent one Vietnamese restaurant which served "Nuoc Cham" with the summer rolls and we loved it. And then we started to be more adventurous and tried out other new Vietnamese restaurants around town and discovered a new dipping sauce that was made of Peanut butter and Hoisin sauce. My girls totally loved this dipping sauce and would just lick it off from the spoon. And we started to like this too and would rather prefer this dipping sauce than "Nuoc Cham".

The version of the peanut dipping sauce here are thick and non-spicy. I think they made it non-spicy to suit the American taste buds. Also you can always add the Vietnamese chili sauce if you like it spicy. Because of this peanut sauce, Evy had two summer rolls in one setting for her afternoon snack. Frankly I was surprised because she never had one before and she didn't really like the skin texture of the summer roll. But she said she loved my peanut sauce and thus the summer rolls. My version of the peanut sauce was a hit and both my girls had lots of summer rolls and my hubby didn't touch the "Nuoc Cham" at all. Another surprise because he used to like this sauce with his summer rolls. I guess from now on, I only need to make the peanut hoisin dipping sauce.

Chicken with Chilli Paste with Sweet Basil Leaves

I always liked Lee brand, I have been using the Tom Yam paste from this brand. So, when aunty Lily said this paste is good and bought me a bottle to try, I was glad. Want to know my verdict? I loved this paste, it's better than the chilli paste with holy basil leaves that I tried earlier. Recently while shopping at the new Asian market here, I actually spotted this paste, but more expensive, so will see if I can get it at PO or VH Asian markets at Denver. Anyone knows?

This is how the paste looks like, I strongly recommend it.

I don't think you need me to provide a recipe for this dish. It's quite straight forward but in addition of adding the paste, I also added a little fish sauce and sugar. One thing though, you need to stir and mix the basil leaves with the chili paste before using. Hope you can find this product at your local Asian markets.