Veggies with Wood Ear Fungus

Wood ear fungus, Clouds Ear, Tree Ear or Black fungus are the same thing.  It is used widely in Chinese cuisine and recently had been known to provide lots of health benefits.  It is high in vitamins and minerals, improve blood circulation, lower cholesterol, anti-viral, etc.  Its texture is crunchy even after stir-frying and take the flavor of the sauce, as it is tasteless by itself.  Usually sold in dried form in the Asian supermarket.  Again, very affordable and I would suggest to eat this often, at least once a week would be nice. I even made this into a very healthy veggie dish with color super food from celery, carrot, garlic and red bell pepper.
 

Kuih Bakar

Kuih Bakar is a Malay kuih and can literally translated to baked cake.  This kuih can be easily spotted at pasar malam or pagi (night or morning open street market) in a flower mould shape.  I made mine in a 9"x13" pan so it was flat compared to the one sold outside.  You can make it in a 8" square or round pan for better height, just adjust the baking time as needed (longer baking time).

Certainly one easy kuih to make (just blend, pour and bake!), if you are short of time and want to eat Malay kuih, this would be a great choice.   The crisp and toasty edges are the best!  Note:  when you store it in the air-tight container for the next day, it won't be crisp anymore.  You can also freeze it for much later.  Just thaw on the kitchen counter until it is soft and you are ready to eat.

Firmoo Global Online Optical Store

I adore magnetic clip-on eye glasses and semi rimless is a plus.  Once I tried the magnetic clip-on sunglasses  ten plus years ago, I never go back.  It provides such a convenience for me and that is what I was looking for.  However, this type of eyewear is hard to find and the store that has it have limited selection.  The old pair that I had was such a hassle to put it on, I have to take out the glasses in order to clip it on and it came with full rim and I paid $159 for it (only the frame)!!!  So, when Firmoo contacted me for a review, I was surprised at how cheap the glasses were. I never want to go back to the store for frame anymore!  Go check out the prices yourself!  I loved the glasses that I received, it was well made and the customer service was prompt.  It fits my eyes perfectly without any adjustment and it clip on and off easily without taking the glasses down. In addition, I think this pink semi rimless frame makes me look younger. Haha...

I love the detail on the side! 

Firmoo is the world's most popular online glasses store and has over half a million Facebook fans.  They believed in providing the best quality and fashionable products at the most reasonable and affordable prices to their customers. The customer service is great, wide selections and the delivery is fast (I tried it myself!).  They also have a Virtual Try-On Feature that I liked, where you can see whether the glasses you pick would fit the shape of your face.  You can even upload your own photo to see how it would fit on your face if you prefer.  In fact, they are so sure of it that they are giving a FREE eyewear to their first-time customer so more people can try their products and excellent customer service.  So, what are you waiting for?  If you don't need a new pair of glasses now, just bookmark it for later.  Their 514k+ Facebook fans speak for itself!

 

The glasses was sponsored by Firmoo for the purposes of this review.

King Oyster Mushroom with Tofu

King Oyster Mushroom (杏鮑菇) is antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral, antioxidant and has positive effects on the immune system.  You can buy it at the Asian and Korean supermarkets here in the United States.  All kinds of mushroom are good for us so I would suggest you to add a variety of mushrooms into your diet.  Just read that Enoki mushroom has a very high anti-cancer property too. 

Tofu is high in protein, has selenium, omega-3 fats, iron, calcium, etc and low in calories.  A great substitution for meat in those meatless days.  I always strike for a balance meal and diet, so serve this with a plate of green vegetable and a little brown rice and there you have it.

Kimchi Pancakes

Kimchi pancakes have been on my to-do list for quite some times.  Glad to say I finally made it happen.  I made it vegetarian and vegan without adding any meat and egg.  I also added the spicy radish that I made earlier for extra kick.  I didn't add any seasonings in these pancakes as the kimchi and spicy radish were well seasoned.  Furthermore, I served this kimchi pancakes with ginger scallion soy sauce.  Hence, I didn't want to make it too salty.

Makes a great side dish or appetizer in any meal.

By the way, Evy made the pretty flower origami!  :-)

Minced Chicken with Bottle Gourd (Lauki)

Frankly, I hardly buy any Asian gourd or melon.  But since I am trying to eat healthier, I also want to explore into unfamiliar Asian vegetable.  Asian melon and gourd are one of them.   For me, stir-frying it with eggs or make soup with it should be a very safe approach because my mom did that.  But I was out of drumsticks and we had eggs for lunch, so I needed to think of another approach.  Hence, this was created.  Later, when I did a search on this, I found out that it was actually very common in Indian cuisine.  Perhaps next time I can try cooking it with Indian spices and recipe.  Indian version is more mushy while this stir-fried version has a bite to it.

Bottle gourd has lots of benefits, one of them is low in fat and calories while high in dietary fiber.  Also said to treat urinary tract infection, balancing liver function, treatment for blood pressure and heart disease and more.  You can read more about the benefits here.