Happy Chap Goh Mei or 元宵节快乐！

Happy Chap Goh Mei or 元宵节快乐！  Chap Goh Mei (literary translates to 15 nights) marks the last day of Chinese New Year celebration.  I served Mala steamboat for an early Chap Goh Mei celebration.  I used packet mala paste and because of the spiciness of this soup base, no dipping sauce is required.

I found a smart way to reduce washing dishes!  That is to put all the ingredients into these two containers!!  If I put all the ingredients into individual bowls or plates, imagine how many dishes I have to wash.  Since we have been eating lots of seafood and meat during the Chinese New Year, I wanted something light with more fresh mushrooms, fish and vegetarian based ingredients.  Fish fillets, DoDo fish balls, fried fish rolls, pork balls, baby corns, scallion.

Romaine lettuce heart, nai pak, oyster mushrooms, beech mushrooms, fried tofu sticks.

Taro Tapioca Shreds Sweet Soup

I had a taro sago sweet soup as dessert recently at an authentic Chinese restaurant up in Denver with some friends.  I enjoyed it as I loved taro!  Always loved the taro in buburchacha, a popular Malaysian dessert when growing up and until now I still loved it.  I also loved the "or nee", smashed taro cooked in sugar and oil.  Taro is also high in dietary fiber, low in fat, high in vitamin E and rich in potassium and magnesium.

Since I don't have sago at home, I used dried tapioca shreds instead.  You can use either one or both.  This is a lovely dessert but quite fattening because of the high amount of coconut milk used.  Would be nice as an occasional treat!  And one of that occasion would be during Chinese New Year!

I am sharing this dessert with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  Go check out the roundup on Feb 7th.  :-)

Dragon Yu Sheng/Yee Sang (龙年鱼生)

My dragon yu sheng for the dragon year.  I saw some dragon inspired yu sheng and those pictures really inspired me to create this dragon yu sheng.  Yu Sheng or 鱼生 literally translate to raw fish.  It is a raw fish salad that Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore enjoy throughout the 15th days of the Chinese New Year.  I omitted the raw fish because my family don't eat raw fish.  The salad in itself was so delicious that it was worth the day of slicing those vegetable.  My version was quite simple as I omitted the fried colorful taro strips and some other things.  I also got the fried crunchy wonton from my friend's restaurant which they happily gave it to me (which cut down my labor of making this).  It was so good and I wonder why we only eat it during Chinese New Year?  Why don't I have the urge to make it some other times, just like the CNY cookies and nian gao?  How strange we are right?  Anyone of you make yu sheng other than during CNY?

Click here for the full recipe.  This salad is very versatile, you can add whatever extra you desired.

I am also sharing this dish with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  The deadline for submission has been extended to Feb 6th, the last day of CNY.  So go see the roundup on the 7th!  :-)

Pan-Fried Stuffed Lotus Roots

Eating lotus root is auspicious for Chinese as we believed that eating it during Chinese New Year will foster the grow of your new venture or business.  When I saw this dish on Chinese T.V. cooking show, I thought that it would be perfect for Chinese New Year.  And then I saw a similar dish at a Taiwanese cooking show, was it asking me to make it?  Haha...  Anyway, it looked delicious and I couldn't wait to try it myself.  Sharing here is my version.  I served it with a sauce so that the stuffed lotus root remain crispy.  A bit time consuming to make this but the result is well worth the effort.

Today is also 人日.  The 7th day of Chinese New Year and also everyone birthday.  祝大家人日快乐!! This day people normally celebrate it with longevity noodle, tang yuen (glutinous balls), yee sang (raw fish salad) and another great feast!

 
Crispy stuffed lotus root drizzled with scallion garlic soy sauce.  Click next for the step-by-step pictures guide.

I am also sharing this recipe with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  The deadline for submission has been extended to Feb 6th, the last day of CNY.  So go see the roundup on the 7th!  :-)

Frozen Tofu with Shiitake and Dried Lily Buds

Dried lily buds (金針菜) is also called golden needle vegetable but don't confuse it with dried golden needle mushroom (dried enoki mushroom) as they look almost similar.  Usually found in Asian supermarket where they sell dried woodear and mushroom.  Once open, I would keep it in a Ziploc bag and in the refrigerator.  When you want to use it, you need to soften it in the water first.  I often see dried lily buds in auspicious Chinese dishes because it symbolizes wealth for the Chinese when celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year.  Shiitake mushroom symbolizes longevity + opportunity and yellow color tofu symbolizes wealth and happiness (like dried beancurd stick and fried tofu puff).  Since frozen tofu is yellow in color and yellow means gold in Chinese, it should symbolizes wealth and happiness.  Whereas the fresh white tofu is not included as it is unlucky for new year as the color white means death and misfortune. You can braise your tofu in a sauce to change the color or pan-fried the tofu until golden before stir-frying to change your luck if you are superstitious like me.

This would make a great vegetarian Chinese New Year dish too!   The frozen tofu cubes and mushrooms soaked up all the flavor of the sauce and made this dish such a plus!  Imagine biting into the spongy and juicy cubed tofu and flavorful mushrooms!!

I am sharing this recipe with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  Go check out the roundup on Feb 1st.  I know I will!  :-)

Korean Mungbean Flatcake (Nokdu Buchimgae)

While flipping through a Korean cookbook, one pancake or flatcake dish stood up to me.  Because it used ground mung bean paste as a batter and it really intriguing me.  I never seen it in Malaysian cooking and it spiked my curiosity.  Furthermore, this recipe appeared again and again in several different cookbooks.  They are all different but one thing for sure is the ground mung bean paste.  Hence, I set to work with my own version with what I have at home and replaced the kimchi with spicy radish.   Instead of raw beef or pork, I used leftover fried chicken breast which I took off the skin and cut off the fried part.  Since everything were cooked, I just pan-fried until the flatcake became crispy and the middle no longer soft, you can press with your finger or spatula.

It can be called Jun or Buchimgae and you can make it all vegetarian by omitting the poultry or meat.  It will be as delicious!  Korean served this dish to welcome the new year too.  With this post, I want to wish all Korean a happy lunar new year!

Verdict:  I loved it!!  All seem to be married well together, the crispy bite on the outside and the soft and fluffy inside and the slightly nutty taste from the ground mung bean, what can I say but I will certainly make this again!  Since I seasoned the batter (oh well the Chinese in me, got to season everything!), it's good even without the sauce but tastes even better with the sauce. 

Crispy on the outside, soft and slightly nutty inside, so good!

Happy Lunar New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Wishing all my readers a prosperous, happy and healthy Chinese New Year!!  Be glad that you get to spend quality time with your family and relative.  Nothing beat reunion dinner and the continuous visiting in relatives' houses for more eats and ang pows (red packet).

The things that I was most looking forward to Chinese New Year when I was young were wearing new clothes and shoes and visiting both grandmas and relatives.  Eating the Chinese New Year sweets, cookies and all the auspicious food and not forgetting receiving the red packets as well wishes.  Playing with fire crackers were fun too and I especially loved the atmosphere back home, very festive.  Moving here, I still try to provide my girls with these CNY tradition, except they don't get to visit both their grandparents and relatives.  We have friends instead.

Red Dates and Dried Longan Konnyaku Jelly

The idea of making this came from Gina Choong.  She has a blog Taste of Time and a baking supply store in Singapore.  Go visit her and her store if you are in Singapore, she is pretty popular!  Do visit her blog for more information.  I have known her before I started this blog in her Kitchen Capers forum, so back in 2004?  Wow, we go way back and we haven't even met once.  I hope I will get to meet her at her store when I am in Singapore in the future.  I will make an effort to go see her and surprise her!  :)  Actually one of the members in her forum encouraged me to write a food blog and see where I am today?  Without her persistent, I won't even know what is blogging back then.  Thank you!

I saw a picture of this at Gina's FB (well different mold but basically the same thing) and thought it would make such a great Chinese New Year dessert!  I had never tried using Chinese tea in making konnyaku jelly before hence the kick was there (I love to challenge myself in new thing) and that was all the motivation I needed.  I chose this pineapple mold because pineapple "Ong lai" means prosperity in Chinese.  Jujube (red date) means wealth, prosperity and fertility (I don't need this, haha) and longan (龙眼, dragon eye) means many good son (well for the married couples who want a son).  For Chinese, we have an old tale that if you are pregnant and someone older in your family dream of a dragon, you are highly carrying a son.

With that said, I am sharing this dessert with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  Go check out the roundup on Feb 1st.  :-)

LCOM's Pizzelle (Chocolate Orange Pizzelle)

My only new cookie for this year, 2012.  By all means, this is not the usual pizzelle cookies, but just a cookie I created that uses a pizzelle press to make.  I was not as impressed with my previous recipe because I thought the rice flour taste was too strong.  Hence, in this recipe, I reduced the rice flour and replaced it with all-purpose flour, added cocoa powder and orange extract and made it into a Chocolate Orange flavored pizzelle.  I loved the pairing of chocolate and orange and this pizzelle remains crispy once baked.

Perhaps the color was not as appetizing (since I used specially dark cocoa powder) but I do love the taste of orange and cocoa powder.  I managed to get rid of the rice flour taste too.

Super Easy Steamed Nian Gao (tikoy)(简易年糕)

It is auspicious for Chinese to eat nian gao/sticky rice cake during Chinese New Year as 年糕 symbolizes "Nian Nian Gao Sheng" 年年高升 which is wishing you to have a higher position in your job and also to increase your prosperity year after year.  Sticky rice also means family unity and togetherness.  So, it is good luck to eat nian gao. 

After attempting a steamed nian gao last year that was kinda hard.  I wanted to create a recipe that is easier to do and softer.  I saw a video on YouTube and see how the traditional nian gao was made and it took 12 hours.  The long hours were needed to caramelized the white sugar to make the nian gao.  I don't want to spend 12 hours in my kitchen and keep adding water to my steamer.  So, this recipe was created.  I used the American brown sugar to cut out the first step in my previous recipe, as it dissolved easily in hot water.  All you need is a bowl and a whisk and a weight machine, then just mix all three ingredients in the same bowl and prepare to steam.  This recipe is especially shared by me to overseas moms who want to pass down the Chinese New Year tradition to your kids and want short-cut!

As you can see, I turned it over to cool on my wire rack.  You definitely learned from your mistake!  Next time I would turn it over and cool on a flat surface so that it would be smooth.  I also decorated the middle with a half red date (I have no intention of eating the red date so I didn't bother to cook it, if you wish to eat it, you will have to place the red date in when it was half cooked, about 30-40 minutes into the steaming).  As I didn't lined my bowl with banana leaves or parchment paper (I just sprayed it with oil), I was afraid that if I left it in the bowl to cool, it might harden and stick to the bowl.  So, I turned it out to cool when it was out of the steamer.   You can also choose to line your bowl with parchment paper at the bottom and just oil the sides of the bowl.

Verdict:   I am very happy with this as the nian gao was really soft on the first day.  My girls and I tried some on the 2nd day and it was still soft and sticky!  The above nian gao had been harden for three days at room temperature and as you can see, it was no longer soft and sticky (This is the time for pan-frying).  Or you can just heat it up in the microwave for 20-25 seconds (900 watts) or 15 seconds (1100 watts), and it would turn right back to soft and sticky!  It might not be as fragrant as the caramelized sugar version that was steamed for 12 hours but I am happy with this super easy version.  The fragrant of this came from the American brown sugar that you used.  I will stick to this recipe from now on, all of you are welcome to try this and feedback to me!  Go, go, go make!

With that said, I am sharing this easy nian gao with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  Go check out the roundup on Feb 1st.  :-)

LCOM's Hei Jian (虾煎) Shrimps Omelette

One of my childhood favorites is "oh jian" or Malaysian style oyster omelette.  It is one of the hawker delights and usually we would order this in addition to our dinner (usually fried or soupy noodle).  It has a gelatinous texture and kind of gooey with crispy edges.  Normally serve with sambal.  In Taiwan, they have their own version too which is called "oh ah jian" but theirs was ladle with a lot of sauce.  This starch mixture recipe of mine came from a Taiwanese cooking show.  I adapted their flour ratios and played with the water amount.  I failed the first attempt which created a hard starch and not gelatinous.

Okay, now you should have noticed mine is "hei jian" (shrimp) and not "oh jian" (oyster).  Well frankly I loved the eggs and the gelatinous texture but not necessarily the oyster, also I wanted the convenience of eating it whenever I feel like it and not rushing out to buy the oyster.  But of course you can substitute the shrimp with oyster or simply use both.  But this shrimps omelette pancake (虾煎) can definitely satisfied my cravings.

One think I need to note though.  It is not easy to fry an excellent omelette, it takes skill.  I still need to play with it some more as I don't have the feel yet.  Since I love the gelatinous texture, I might want to add more, but more doesn't means good as the outcome with eggs won't come out great.  It needs to have a balance and I haven't gotten it yet.  I got the starch mixture right but I haven't gotten the technique right yet, I still need lots of practices.  If you know how to fry a killer Malaysian style oyster omelet, please share your technique with me.  Thank you in advance!

Taro Chips

When I saw this recipe posted at Simple Recipes, I just had to try it.  I love taro and heart taro chips, so her easy instruction of making taro chips got me interested.  She has some step-by-step pictures at her blog (link provided below), so you can hop over to have a look.

This taro chip is crispy yet a bit hard.  It's like the other fruit and veggie chips that we bought.  I thought this would make an excellent Chinese New Year snack too.  It must be good as my hubby finished the whole thing and left me with an empty bottle!! 

Barley Brown Rice (薏米糙米饭)

I guess I never satisfied with brown rice alone.  I have read that barley is good for us.  It is a very good source of fiber, selenium, niacin, phosphorus, magnesium, copper and manganese. The health benefits include aids regulatory, lower cholesterol, intestinal protection (the insoluble fibers feed friendly bacteria and this friendly bacteria prevent the disease causing bacteria to stay in the intestinal tract), prevent gallstones in women, lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and etc.

In Malaysia, we have barley drink.  In Korea, they have toasted barley tea (I wanted to try this, but always forgot to look for toasted barley while in the Asian/Korean market).  They have barley and beans rice in Korea too.  So, I tried to incorporate some barley into my brown rice so that I can eat it more often.  I experienced with 1/2 cup of barley with 1 1/2 cups of brown rice and it was delicious.  I think my family couldn't tell a difference if I didn't tell them.  Slowly, I want to add more barley into my brown rice and play with the ratio some more.

Make sure you buy hulled barley and not pearl barley as pearl barley is not considered whole grain as the outer hull and bran had been stripped during processing. But if you can't find hulled barley, pearl barley is still good.

Korean Seasoned Spinach (Shigumchi Namul)

 

My version of Korean seasoned spinach.  A common banchan served with Korean meal or in restaurants.  I wanted to keep the original color yet well seasoned, no soy sauce in this.  Next time I would prepare two bunches of spinach so that I would have some leftover for vegetarian bibimbap the next day.  One bunch doesn't make a lot and if you want some leftover, make more.

I feel healthy by eating Korean vegetarian banchan, either the pickled one or seasoned one.  Does anyone knows how long I can keep this seasoned spinach in the refrigerator? 

Stir-Fried Dried Anchovies (Meddruchi Bokkeum)

I tried this soy sauce version at one Korean BBQ buffet place that we went to and was impressed.   It was different from Myulchi Bokkeum and had some green chili on it.  I loved this soy sauce version too so I wanted to recreate it at home.  I added red bell pepper and onion in mine.  You can omit the red bell pepper but don't omit the onion as it went really well with this dish.  This dish can be spicy, it depends on the green chili that you use and how hot they are.  My green chili was not hot at all so it didn't turn out spicy but sweet and savory.  I duplicated it pretty well and close to the one that I had tried.  My hubby finished the whole bowl!!  Luckily I saved some away for bibimbap the next day.  This is part of a banchan or side dish of a typical Korean meal.  Enjoy!  And as you know I welcome feedback.  :)

Korean Barbecue Meal

I have this electric grill for about 13 years.  This is by far the best home shopping network product that I had bought.  I used to sit at home and watch the home shopping network all day, I didn't know what got into me at that time but I seriously watched it all the times and knew the names of the hosts!!  Of course, I got tempted and bought some things from them and this was one of them.  But this was the best buy ever, the rest I didn't even want to talk about it. :D

I used it to grill our Malaysian satay and now I used it for my Korean BBQ too.  How convenient!  As you can see, I went all out for my banchan.  I wanted to make pa muchim (scallion salad) too but decided not because I got lazy.  :P

Banchan from top right clockwise, unless otherwise noted:  pickled radish, cucumber & carrot, seasoned spinach, seasoned mungbean sprout, spicy Korean radish, seasoned spicy chayote, spicy cucumber salad, red pepper sauce (for dipping), stir-fried soy sauce anchovies, red leaf lettuces (for wrapping).  Served with barley brown rice. 

Recipes for the new banchan and barley brown rice will be shared in my blog later.  Otherwise, look under the label Korean, you will see the recipes I have already posted.  I marinated some thinly sliced chicken breast in my special sauce for this grill.

Ching's Tutti-Frutti Cookies

Long ago back in 2006, I tried Pusiva's Tutti-Frutti cookie recipe, you can see the post here.   It was similar to Icebox cookie as it was shaped, refrigerate until firm, thinly sliced and then baked.  Her version included desiccated coconut to create a light and crispy texture.  This time around, I played with my own little version by adding slightly more flour, reduce sugar slightly (I remembered I noted it was too sweet before) and also added the sweeten coconut flakes in addition to desiccated coconut for a fun twist.  I just realized I shouldn't call it tutti-frutti as tutti-frutti means candied peels and I used none of it in this recipe.  Oops!

This cookie is light and crispy with coconut fragrant and totally irresistible.  Try it!  I gave some to my friends on X'mas, I hope they like it. 

I also want to take this opportunity to wish my readers a Happy New Year 2012, may you have a happy and healthy new year! :)

I'm submitting these cookies to  Aspiring Bakers #14: Creative Christmas Bakes (December 2011) hosted by Hankerie. 

Easy Apple Raisin Tart (苹果葡萄干馅饼)

I was in the mood for experiment.  When I was making a pie crust for my sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving, I made an extra pie crust and freeze.  And then Granny Smith (green apple) was on sales for 3 for $1 and I couldn't pass it out so I bought 3.  But I only used 2 for this recipe.  With the ready made defroze pie crust and Granny Smith, I set to work.  It was really easy to put together (see instruction on next page) and when I was finished, it looks kind of blank.  So, I scattered some raisins on top and finally it looked presentable.

It turned out great too!  We all liked the flaky crispy crust with the sweet apple filling.  Keep any leftover in an air-tight container and toast it in a toaster oven for 5 minutes to crisp it up.

Easy Oven Baked Spiced Salmon (易烤香料三文鱼)

 
This is one super duper easy oven baked salmon dish.  Even a busy working mom can easily make this at home.  Just thaw the frozen salmon overnight in the fridge and when you come home, the salmon is ready for you to use.  To create a balance meal, buy some washed and cut broccoli, green bean, cauliflower, baby carrot and mushroom, season with extra virgin olive oil and a little salt and put it in the oven to bake together with the salmon (for the harder to cook veggie, just microwave for 2 minutes before roasting).  Serve it with store-bought Hawaiian sweet buns (or whole wheat buns) and you have a complete meal.

I served this salmon with turmeric brown rice, stir fried pumpkin and crimini mushrooms.  Both my girls praised this baked spiced salmon and Evy even requested to save some for her lunch box the next day at school.   Guess I will make this often from now on.

Png Kuih/ Png Kueh (饭桃/桃粿)

This kuih is also called Teochew Png Kuih, but I can't call mine that because I didn't use boiled peanuts in my filling, I also out of dried shrimps.  Also I just used my steamed glutinous rice with chicken and shiitake as the filling.  I wanted to kill two birds in one stone you see so that I would have dinner ready as well as afternoon snack or even breakfast the next day.  Because my steamer was small, I had to steam it twice.

My method was unconventional as well as I used a microwave to make the skin.  So, if you are a traditional cook who wants authentic recipe and the traditional way of cooking, skip this post!  This post is for people who loves short-cut and who don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen.

I used the cheap pink plastic png kuih mold to make this instead of the more expensive wood png kuih mold.  Not bad at all as it fell off easily and didn't get stuck to the mold, furthermore, I could still see the print after it's steamed.  For own consumption, I'm happy with it.

The Winner of LCOM t-shirt is....

Congratulations to Mochachocolata Rita!!

You are the winner of my t-shirt giveaway!  Please e-mail me your home address at littlecornerofmine@gmail.com and I will get it ship to you asap!  :)

The lucky name that she picked!

Thank you again for those who had entered into this giveaway, much appreciated.  Sorry that you didn't win this time but I hope all your wishes for the coming holidays will come true, that's the most important right?  Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!!

Spiced Holiday Cookies

 

 

This spiced holiday cookies is like a gingerbread cookie without the molasses.  I created this recipe because I don't buy molasses.  But yet I wanted to make a ginger based cookies with other spices and thus this was the result.  My girls had been bugging me to make gingerbread man cookies ever since they seen the Christmas lights in my neighborhood.  My youngest almost ask me every day is it Christmas yet?  How many days away is Christmas?  etc.

That's all the motivation I needed as I know my youngest loved to help me decorate the cookies.  She helped decorated more than half of the cookies, it was fun for her and easier for me.  This cookie is crispy with the fragrant of spices.  I hope you like it!

I'm submitting these cookies to  Aspiring Bakers #14: Creative Christmas Bakes (December 2011) hosted by Hankerie.

Stir-Fried Curry Shrimps (炒咖喱虾)

The inspiration of this dish came from chatting with my mom on instant messenger.  While chatting, she happened to mention that to whip out a prawn (we call it prawn in Malaysia and not shrimp) dish is very easy for her, just need to slice onion and add curry powder.  And it sorts of stick to my mind and I want to make it too.  I kicked mine up a notch by adding more spices and bay leaves and this easy shrimps dish was really delicious.  See the black gooey stuff there?  It was really flavorful and little Edda kept picking on that black gooey stuff to put on her rice.  Hahaha...she even ate 5 of these shrimps, usually she only had 2 or 3 the max.  Thanks mom for this great dish!!  :)

Did you notice that I started to cook shrimps dish again?  The last shrimp dish I cooked was back in April, 2011.  I very seldom prepare a shrimps dish, I just use it in fried rice or add it in a noodle dish.

Korean Meal 2

My second set of Korean meal.  Except my potsticker is a Chinese version without any kimchi, not the Korean mandu. Banchan, clockwise from top:  candied lotus root, seasoned spinach, seasoned mung bean sprouts with chili powder, seasoned spicy chayote and lastly Chinese chicken chives potstickers.  Not very authentic as it was served without kimchi as I believe all Korean meal has to include some sort of kimchi.  I am still not a fan of kimchi yet so I don't even attempt to make that.  :P  So, I usually would just prepared the banchan that I like to eat.

Chicken Chives Potstickers/ pan-fried dumplings

I made a big bag of chicken chives dumplings and freeze it.  On the day when I don't have any leftover for my girl to bring for her school lunch, I just boil (healthier and faster) this dumplings and let her bring to school.  She loved boiled dumplings and she always finished it.  If I had some cut broccoli, I would par-boil that and added in with the dumplings for her to bring to school.  Easy for me and delicious for her.

Candied Lotus Root (yeongeun-jeonggwa)

 

Jeonggwa is a traditional Korean confectionery made by boiling/ simmering plant roots, fruits and seeds in sweet syrupy sauce.  Usually served along side other banchan, as a dessert, snack or appetizer.  The one I have here is yeongeun or lotus root (served as side dish), there are ueong jeonggwa made with burdock (served as dessert), saenggang jeonggwa made with boiling down ginger, danggeun jeonggwa made with carrot just to list a few.

This candied lotus root keeps well in the refrigerator.  Edda liked it a lot, both of us had the most of it.  Love the chewy bite and sweet flavor!

OoShirts and a Giveaway!!

First of all, I would like to thanks ooShirts, a rapidly growing customized apparel company located in Berkeley, California for sponsoring this t-shirt for my giveaway.  They strive to provide the best quality product at the lowest price, and to make sure the ordering process is fun and easy.  And I got to test it myself.  The website is very user friendly and I had no problem finding a t-shirt and make a design on it.  I wanted to upload my logo on the t-shirt at first but it failed to pass the ooShirts graphic artist as my resolution was not high enough.  I received a call from them on the same day and they were helpful as in explaining that for a full color print I needed at least a 150-300dpi resolution.  My logo resolution was only 72 dpi and I couldn't find a replacement, hence I just used the texts and colors provided by their website.  My design got approved on the same day and they sent me the artwork proof two days later before it went into printing.  Overall, the customer service was excellent, I had a problem and they worked with me on the same day until it got resolved.  It said that my t-shirt would be ready on the 23rd and it was shipped on the 23rd.  I received it 5 days later.

If you are looking for a customized apparel company for your office, school, event, family, sport team, marketing, holidays, give ooShirts a try.  They have a user friendly and easy to use website and great customer service to answer all your questions.  If you are a first time user at ooShirts and intend to order 12 or more t-shirts, please use my referrer code: qyuyevh when checkout so that I could get the credit and you would get a slightly expedited shipping.  Thank you and hope you would have the same good ordering experience as me.

Front

Now on to the GIVEAWAY!!  This giveaway is open to all my readers around the world, except family members and relatives.  All you need to do is to leave a comment and tell me what you would love to receive as a Christmas present.  One comment per person please and for an additional entry, like my Facebook page and leave a comment under the giveaway post on my Facebook page that I created just for this.

 Back

This is a white unisex t-shirt size Large, front and back as seen on the photos. 100% cotton preshrunk.  I would run this for 2 weeks until December 13th mountain time 11:59pm.  Entry older than this would not be accepted.  I will have one of my daughters to draw the lucky winner on the 14th and winner will be announced on the 15th.  I hope to get it ship out to you asap.  Okay, GOOD LUCK to those who enter! :-)

Steamed Glutinous Rice with Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom (蒸香菇糯米鸡)

I don't know who wouldn't love a bowl of steamed glutinous rice.  I ate this while growing up in Malaysia and now I passing this dish to my daughters.  I hope when they grow up, they will learn how to cook this and pass it down to the next generation as well and let the tradition continue.

Instead of the usual waxed sausages, I substituted it with the waxed pork belly that was given to me.   I was out of dried shrimps so this was without it.  But this dish won't be as flavorful without the dried shrimps.  Best to serve it with chopped scallion, crispy fried shallots and chili padi.

Waxed pork belly courtesy of a Chinese chef who works in our friend's restaurant.  His departure gift as he will be leaving here for good and back to China to be with his daughter.   A bit sad as no more special treat from him.  :(

Stir Fried Lo Mein with Pumpkin (南瓜炒捞面)

As you know, I love stir-fried pumpkin!!   I created a recipe last year and still love it to pieces.  Do check out my stir-fried pumpkin with eggs!  This year, I stir-fried the pumpkin with yellow noodle or lo mein.  Can you spot the pieces of pumpkin on my noodle?  It went so well together too.

Again, I had some yellow noodle left, not enough to feed my hubby, so I cooked it for my girls and me for lunch.  Sorry hub, you had to miss out on this yummy.  :P  This was one colorful dish too, I added in all the colors I could think of.

I would love to share my Lo Mein Pumpkin with Presto Pasta Nights created by Ruth and this week host is Simona of Briciole.  Check out her blog on Friday for the full roundup! 

Stir Fried Pumpkin with Dried Anchovies (干尾鱼炒南瓜)

 

I love stir fried pumpkin but I am also not someone who would cook the same dish over and over.  I need variation!  So I thought instead of dried shrimps and eggs, it should go well with dried anchovies and chili and I was not disappointed.  I still keep the fish sauce with this dish though because to me pairing of pumpkin and fish sauce is a winner.  So, don't go substitute the fish sauce with soy sauce, it might ruin the dish.

Pumpkin has many health benefits, it has anti-inflammatory properties, antioxidant, low in calories, high in fiber, high in carotenoid which help protect your vision, improve joint health and protect against lung and prostate cancers.  And don't forget to save your pumpkin seeds and roast it yourself, it's packed with nutrients too.

Tired of pumpkin soup?  Roasted pumpkin?  Give this stir-frying a try!

Healthy Olive Oil Cookies with Sunflower & Sesame Seeds

This is the extension of my healthy cookies attempt.  In 2008, I created a Healthy Cookies which I shared the recipe in 2009.  Today, I make it healthier with extra virgin olive oil and increase the energy of this cookie by adding oats, walnuts, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds (all these are health boosting food).

I grew up from eating cookies as a snack so it will be very hard to ask me to give up on cookies.  Most of the cookies selling at the supermarkets today have trans-fat (partially hydrogenated oil, hydrogenated oil or shortening) listed in their ingredients list.  So, the choices I have were limited unless I pay more for all natural or organic cookies.  Even the cookies selling at Asian markets have trans-fat or shortening, imagine I have to give out the Asian cookies that I grew up eating and loved.  It was heart breaking to take down the cookies that I loved and had to put it back on the shelf when I read the ingredients list.  It happened to me so very often.  I am someone who is very careful about trans-fat because I realized over the years I had been eating trans-fat laden cookies, cakes, donuts, or bakes when I grew up when trans-fat was not listed in the label and people were not aware of it.  But now we know, it is all a choice and it is your choice to decide what you want to put in your body and how you want to raise your kids.  It is hard to avoid trans-fat food all the times but I am trying very hard to. 

So, these days I try to bake cookies and cake as best as I can.  I baked this cookies for my girl's school snack and also my afternoon snack, limit to 2 a day.  As this is a healthy cookies, it's only suitable for those that are eating for their health, love the taste of extra virgin olive oil and whole wheat flour and won't miss the smell of butter in a cookie.  This is not an indulgent cookies that when you sink your teeth in it, you taste butter and extreme sweetness.  This is a crispy cookie that when you bite into it, you would taste olive oil, whole wheat flour and walnut.  This is not a super sweet cookie too.  Of course you can use canola oil for the neutral taste and cheaper alternative, just change the extra virgin olive oil to canola oil.  Seriously, if you are a little health conscious and love to snack on cookies, it's worth a try.  Did I also mention that it's super easy to make and put together?

I am also submitting this recipe to Dr. Oz Healthy Holiday Cookie Challenge.

Korean Spicy Chayote Squash Muchim

 
While I was slicing the chayote preparing for my Stir-Fried Chicken Breast with Chayote,  I remembered that it can be eaten raw.  So, I took a piece and tried it and immediately fell in love.  It was really good when eaten raw.  Hence, I was figuring out what to make of it and I thought that it would go well with Korean muchim preparation and serve as a banchan/side dish.  I saved half of the chayote for experiment, therefore my recipe only had half chayote.  It turned out delicious as the refreshing and crisp chayote made such a good banchan.  I thought I might be the first one to thought of this as I really thought of this combination while slicing the chayote for another dish.  So later, I did a search on Google and I found out that other actually made this before, as I saw a picture of this dish being served in a Korean restaurant (no recipe though).  What a surprise, as I figure chayote is not common in south Korea and seriously thought that I invented a new Korean recipe, but realized that Korean American would probably know of this.  Please tell me if this is common in Korea?  Or just an adaptation dish for Korean American?

I am sharing my spicy chayote banchan recipe with you and strongly recommend you to try it.  It's going to be my regular banchan now.  Chayote can be bought at Asian and Hispanic supermarkets.  It has become my regular buy at the Asian market now, I just love it!