Stir Fried Chicken Breast with Chayote (佛手瓜炒鸡胸肉)

I first read about chayote at Tigerfish's blog in 2009.  Since then, she had been cooking up a few dishes with chayote.  I saw chayote in the Asian market often but I just didn't pick it up because it was unfamiliar to me.  Also, I was afraid that my family would not like it.  Finally, almost 2 years since I last learned about it, I decided to pick it up at my last Asian market's shopping.

Chayote also known as 佛手瓜 (Buddha hand melon) or 合掌瓜 (closed palm melon) in Mandarin and can be eaten raw or cooked.  The fruit has very mild flavor and it has a crisp and crunchy bite to it.  It doesn't have to be peeled, just wash it clean with water, cut into half and scoop out the seeds.  Then, thinly sliced it for salad or just slice it however you want for the dish that you are intended to cook.  Chayote is rich in amino acids and vitamin C and have diuretic, cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory properties.  It is also very affordable.  It only cost me about 38 cent each.

Steamed Pumpkin Kuih 2 (蒸南瓜糕点)

This makes a delicious breakfast, afternoon snack, dessert, supper or even lunch.  With the abundance of pumpkin this holidays season, why not give this a try?  I used my old recipe here but this time I used fresh pumpkin to make this.  I steamed the cut pumpkin for 30 minutes and then just chopped it into small pieces with my cleaver.  You can squeeze some water out before adding into the rice flour batter for firmer texture.

Since the steamed pumpkin contained more water, the resulted pumpkin kuih is moist and soft unlike the steamed taro kuih even though the methods are the same.  Serve this with crispy fried shallots, chopped scallion and sriracha sauce.

The undress pumpkin kuih

Halloween 2011

My two princesses!

Got dress and ready to head out

She said this is how I'm going to say trick or treating at the door

My Experience with Common Warts and Curcumin

I found an interesting connection or an epiphany recently that I wanted to share with you.  On and off I have been a common warts sufferer for years.  But the most I had was about 1 or 2 warts in one hand and it would disappear after a year or so.  Common warts are small lesions on the skin, usually on the top part of your back fingers or under your fingernails that are caused by HPV, or human papilloma virus.  It is harmless but might leave an unsightly view on your fingers.

In the beginning of this year, I found warts on my fingers again, it started with one, and then it gotten worst and spread to other fingers on my hand.  I had a total of 6 warts on my fingers and 2 more under my fingernails and it looked utterly awful.  I was pretty good at hiding my ugly warts and tough it out until I went to see my OB/GYN (I had this for 4-5 months now), I showed her my hands and of course she recommended the over-the-counter freezing thing to remove it but she said it would be painful.  She said it would never go away.  But I knew it would go away on its own since I had it on and off for years before this.  Just that this time I got it bad, really bad that even I felt disgusted looking at it, it was like another living things attached to my fingers.  Remember during this time, my thyroid hormone was out of whack, I had low metabolism and I believed my immune system was pretty bad as well.  It was still as bad when I went to see my family physician 3 months later, I showed her my warts too and she suggested I try duct tape.  I didn't have duct tape at home at that time and so I didn't bother with it.

Happy Halloween!!!

I want to wish my readers a Happy Halloween!!  Have a safe and fun time trick-or-treating!!  And keep the kids warm!

These spider cookies are very easy to make.  All you need are some round shape cookies, thin pretzels, Nutella/ peanut butter (I used Nutella) and mini M&M or raisins for the eyes.   Take one round cookie, spread it with Nutella/ peanut butter as a glue, then top with 8 broken pretzels as legs.  Spread the other half of cookie with more Nutella/ peanut butter, glue it together.  Take one M&M or raisin, dip with some Nutella/ peanut butter and glue it on top of the cookie as eye, finish the other eye.  There you have it!  Evy took this as her afternoon snack at school and she had a fun time eating it.

Korean Style Spicy Chicken (韩国辣子鸡)

This is one fingers licking good chicken!  Spicy, sweet and sticky, it will beg you to have more.  Very suitable for any party that you are throwing or bring it to a potluck party.  I believe it would be a hit!  I took a short-cut on this as I had some leftover fried chicken wings and drumettes.  If you don't have the leftover store-bought fried chicken wings, just make your own.  Marinate the wings and drumettes with salt and pepper.  Coat it with corn starch or corn flour and deep-fry in hot oil until cook.

As for the sauce, if you like it spicier, you are welcome to add the Korean red pepper powder or substitute it with cayenne pepper powder.  That would be an extra kick for you!