Yellowstone National Park Trip 3

 

Black Pool, West Thumb Geyser Basin

Black Pool

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West Thumb Geyser Basin, Big Cone

Mud Volcano, there was a ranger tour guide here and it was really informative.  We got there just in time for the 1.5-2 hours tour, it was long but really worth it.

Red Bean Mochi Cupcakes

I first heard about mochi cake through A Food Lover's Journey.  I looked through the recipe and it is a lot like the baked nian gao that I did for Chinese New Year except probably half the recipe called for.  It is an interesting idea to bake it in cupcakes and I wanted to give it a try.  Since I love red bean flavor and have some red bean paste on hand, I made mine into a red bean mochi (glutinous rice) cupcakes.

It tasted like "kuih" (a Malaysian cake), soft, sticky and slightly chewy with red bean flavor.  You can certainly substitute the milk with coconut milk to make it richer. This recipe of mine stays soft even after three days in a container.  Best eaten within three days, might go bad after that. One thing to note though, the paper will be hard to unwrap on the first day it was baked, but easier on the second day onwards.

You can buy the red bean paste in a can at the Asian grocery stores in the U.S. for those who are interested.  Feedback to me when you try this red bean mochi cake.  I had made it twice and loved it!

Yellowstone National Park Trip 2

Grand Prismatic Spring Area, Midway Geyser basin

 

Mammoth Hot Springs

 

Mammoth Hot Spring

Mammoth Hot Spring

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Spring

Yellowstone National Park Trip 1

We drove there with our relative from Singapore, spent 5 days and 4 nights there (June 9-13, 2010).  It was about 9 hours drive and we got there in the afternoon.  We didn't go into the park on the first day but we drove to Jackson Hole for dinner.  This was the second day of our trip, via South Entrance.

 

Love this picture and the reflection from the lake

 

Road construction delay @ south entrance

Old Faithful, both exploded at the same time.  It rained after that, it rained every days while we were there and mighty cold (maybe due to the fact that I didn't prepare winter coat, but it's summer and I didn't expect it to be this cold).

 

One of the hot springs

 

Midway Geyser Basin

 Midway Geyser Basin

Hope I name the place correctly!  If not, correct me if I am wrong. :)

Stay tuned for part 2 and 3!

Minced Meat Noodle 2

I was experimenting DouBanJiang (Chinese bean Paste) in this minced meat noodle dish.  If you have a DouBanJiang in your fridge, did you buy the spicy one or plain one?  I saw two versions and decided on trying the plain one first because I was afraid the spicy one would be too spicy for my girls.  To spice it up, I can always add chili oil or chili paste in my bowl.

I learned this presentation from Chef Chen Kenichi as this was how he served his minced noodle in his cookbook, cool huh?  I seem to only pile it in the middle but this was a great idea from him.

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.  This week host is Ruth herself! Check out her delicious round up on July, 2nd! 

Easy Baked Tilapia Fillets

This baked fish is super easy even for busy working mom or stay at home mom.  Total time in preparation and cooking is less than 20 minutes.  It looks like it has crusted top, but it has not, all it has on top is just spices and salt.

I used Italian herbs seasoning because I couldn't use Teriyaki sauce or Chinese seasoning in this as it needed to be paired with my macaroni pasta.  You can say it was a western dinner night.  :)