Happy Mid-Autumn/ Lantern Festival!

 

Chinese around the world celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the 8 months on their lunar calender.  This day falls differently on the Western calender and this year 2010, it falls on September 22nd, Wednesday.  This day is a day of family reunion and family gathering around to enjoy a delicious spread of food and mooncakes.  Chinese believe that on this day, the moon is the roundest and brightest which signify completeness and abundance.  So, after a delicious meal, the adult would sit outside to enjoy the full moon while sipping tea and eating mooncake.  Whereas, the children would happily holding a lantern and join with the neighborhood kids to parade around the street.  We only had paper lantern back in the old days but now the plastic lantern has become popular as it is safer.  I remembered I used to make my own paper lantern at school as an art project, but with a paper lantern, one has to be careful as the candle would burn your lantern if you are not.  I bought two plastic lanterns for my girls to play, even though the plastic ones are safe, with lights, music and can even spin, it is still lacking compared to the beautiful paper lantern.

Have a happy and fun Mid-Autumn Festival and enjoy this day with your family members with a feast and mooncakes!!

Flat Rice Noodle Soup (Kway Tiao Deng)

A simple noodle dish can be so satisfying.  I wanted something light instead of stir-frying the rice noodle in oil.  So, I decided to make a pot of chicken vegetable soup to go with it.  Just so happen that I have some chicken bones, so I threw that in along with organic celery, organic carrot, two yellow onions, a piece of smashed ginger, and lemon grass.  Let it simmered for few hours and my stock was ready.

For the topping, I prepared some nai pak, fish balls, fried fish balls, tofu fish cake, ground pork and crispy fried shallots.  Serve it with hot chili padi in soy sauce.  Next time I might just try it with ground pork and veggie.  Evy totally loved this rice noodle soup.  She finished her whole bowl and requested the leftover for her dinner the next day.

Indonesian Cantik Manis Kuih

When I saw this recipe at Indonesia Eats's blog, I knew I had to try it.  It looked so pretty in hers as her colorful tapioca pearls retained its color when cooked.  Mine the color seem to be disappeared during the cooking process.  It only has a light tint of green but can't even see it from the pictures.

The reason I wanted to try it is because I have a packet of Korean green bean starch in my pantry and the rest of the ingredients.

This dessert received rave reviews from my hubby and daughters.  They simply loved it.  Just be careful when you stir in the green bean starch, make sure that it is dissolved completely and no lumps present.  If you see lumps, don't scoop it into the mold to cool as it won't be edible.  I let mine harden in the refrigerator and store it in the refrigerator as it is made of coconut milk.  Anything made using coconut milk turns sour easily so remember to store it in the refrigerator.

I am submitting this dish to Indonesia Eats for her CSN store giveaway.

Sweet Corn Dried Scallop Soup

Corns was on sales few weeks ago at the Farmers' Market here, 6 for $1.  I bought 6 and left with two corns to make soup.  You know, sweet corns will make the soup sweet, plus carrots, dried scallops, chicken bone and dried longan, all will make the soup sweet, so what could be not sweet about this soup?

This soup turned out to be sweet of course and with a little salt to bring in the overall flavor.  How you cooked your corns in the soup?

Pandan Oatmeal Waffles

I wanted to try pandan waffle and yet I wanted it to be healthy for my girls.  So, I added instant oatmeal.  I added chocolate chips because my girls loved them.  As this waffle is a to-go waffle and we eat it as is, I also added some dried cranberries and made it sweeter.  The calories for one of this is definitely 2-3 times higher than a piece of plain whole wheat bread.  But for growing up girls it should be fine.  What the heck, I eat it too because it's really good and it has oatmeal in it.

I actually loved the color because it is a change from the usual.  Strangely though Evy didn't like it and she was the one that asked me to make the Pandan waffle in the first place.  Guess I will have to omit Pandan and use vanilla extract for her.  I have an idea for another type of waffle which I am going to experiment next because of an article I read recently.

Salmon Cauliflower Porridge

Evy was having a fever last week and I didn't think much about it.  Fed her some Tylenol and expected her fever to go away soon.  We had a potluck picnic in the day and she had been under the hot sun a lot playing and I thought her fever was caused by the heat.  Then, I noticed a suspicious looking bug bite on her leg which had gotten worst, red and swollen.  And her fever hadn't gotten any better, it had been up and down.  So, we took her to see her pediatrician since she was absent from school for three days in a row.  He prescript us antibiotic to treat the infected bug bite.   2 days after the antibiotic, I saw that the infected bug bite was clearing.  She was back to her normal self too.  But we have to take the antibiotic for 10 days.

I made this porridge for her with the thought that it was easier for her to digest.  It was really sweet with the drumsticks and dried scallops added into cooking this porridge.  She only had a bowl of this and after that she asked for rice.  She told me she didn't like porridge and much prefer rice.  Oh well...  Ended out I was the one that was enjoying the porridge!

Braised Five Layers Pork with Extra Firm Tofu

I made the above to bring to a friend's potluck gathering.  I took a chance and bought the Five Layers Pork to make this.  Honestly, it was the best thing to do as the fat would melt-in-your-mouth and blended so well with the meat and oh so good.  Yes, I know it was sinful but I never buy this for our own family consumption so this was just an indulgent once in a blue moon.  I actually threw away some extra fat while slicing the meat which I kind of regretted because the other party really liked it.  Oops!

I used the extra firm tofu to braise with the sauce and it turned out so well marinated as the flavor of the sauce all went into the tofu.  Since I simmered the tofu in the sauce, it turned soft and oh so flavorful.

The recipe of this braised dish can be found here.  I had made this numerous times and it was all good.  I started to miss this dish already.

Oven Steamed Tom Yam Salmon

I loved to use my oven to steam fish.  It was fast and cleaning up was easy.  That's why I named my fish oven steamed tom yam salmon.  I always oven steamed my fish with Teriyaki sauce, miso paste, Chinese soy sauce,  yellow bean paste and I wanted a change.  I was getting bored with the same old way of steaming fish after a while.  And I thought I could try it with Tom Yam paste, but not just the paste alone as I wanted some kick.  So, I added an extra sauce in there to make it better.  Read more to find out.

I likes this as it was a little spicy, a little sour and went really well with rice.  Took less than 15 minutes and you would have a delicious dinner waiting for you. 

Healthy Wheat Oatmeal Waffles

As you know, I just bought a waffle maker.  With the new toy, of course I got to create healthy recipe to serve my girls.  I have a bag of instant oatmeal that no one wants to eat.  So, making waffle is the way to go as I don't like to waste food.  Again, I am making this sweeter as I am going to serve it plain and as a to-go breakfast.  After I added the flour and instant oatmeal, the batter was a bit watery so in some whole wheat flour.  I also wanted to incorporate some fruit into my girls breakfast, so I thought of dried cranberries.  I can say one piece of this waffle is pretty healthy because it has oatmeal, whole wheat flour, milk, dried cranberries, honey and eggs into the mix.  What's best is it is homemade!  When I was done with the waffles of course it was the taste test time.  Quickly gathered my girls and asked them to try.  My girls loved it!  Great news for me as this is way healthier than the basic waffle.

This wheat oatmeal waffles actually crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside when still warm.  Just remember to cook it until brown.  This recipe is for those who prefer healthier recipe and with adaptable taste.

Chicken with Colors Bell Peppers

I always have leftover chicken breast either from the rotisserie chicken or the fried chicken that my hubby bought.  You can either make it into chicken salad for the chicken sandwich or just stir-fry it like me.  Since we eat rice almost daily, stir-frying the leftover is my way to reuse the food.

I loved to buy color bell peppers when it goes on sales.  We must eat with colors as different color of fruits and vegetables will give us a different nutrient that our body needs.  But it is hard to convince my girls to eat bell peppers and onion.  From my posting, I noticed that I have used less onion in my cooking these days because I took their dislike into consideration when preparing meal, even without realizing it.  I used to cook most dishes with onion.  Guess I need to bring back onion in my stir-frying.

Pork with Marinated Bok Choy

I was given some marinated bok choy from our friend who owns a Chinese restaurant.  This marinated bok choy was prepared by the head chef in his restaurant.  I saw this dish prepared by the head chef and it looked really appetizing and I was trying to replicate it.  Typing this post now I just realized I forgot to add red pepper flakes and I shouldn't add water (as the bok choy will release water when cooking).  The head chef version was dry and his pork was sliced really thin and small.  Not sure what was his seasonings though, probably just salt and MSG?

Anyway, this is my version without the MSG.

This was the marinated bok choy that I received.  I used this to cook porridge and it was really good. What do you call this?

Basic Waffles

I finally bought a waffle iron!  Well, if I don't look at brand and read at the reviews, I can get a waffle iron for fairly cheap here.  You can call it my impulse buying.  My girls like to have waffle for breakfast but the frozen ones in the supermarket have partially hydrogenated oil in them even thought they were listed as zero trans fat.  So, I stopped buying frozen waffles a while back.  Thus, the best way for me is to make my own waffle using the ingredients I know and serve it to my girls.  I found the bellow recipe at allrecipes.com and modified it a little to include more sugar and added honey so that my girls can eat the waffle as is.  No extra spread of butter or syrup needed.  I am going to play with this recipe more to create a healthier version like using whole wheat flour or oatmeal flour, etc.

As you can see, I already played with this basic recipe to add some chocolate chips.   Last batch, I added some cocoa powder as well.  This waffle is slight crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.  It crisp up more when toast in the toaster.  Homemade is definitely the best way to go!

Nagaimo Mung Bean Dessert

Nagaimo is also called 山药 or 淮山 in Chinese.  It is a type of yam that can be consume raw.  It has long been traditionally used as Chinese medicine and herbology.  They cut it and dried it in pieces for cooking Chinese herbal soup.  It's the white color herb that we called it 淮山.  I just learned that it has other name which is 山药 from my Chinese friends.  I learned this dessert from them as they gave me a container to try.  It was my first time tasting fresh Nagaimo, frankly I didn't like it as they cut it into big chunks.  It was similar to potato in taste but full of potassium, magnesium, zinc, vitamin C, vitamin B1, and more.  It is also low in calories and a high protein tuber.  I saw a Chinese cooking show, where they put cubed and blanched Nagaimo and Pumpkin into heated milk and serve it as breakfast.  Usually you can cook it like what you would normally cook a potato dish.

You can read more about Nagaimo here. And more about the nutritional facts here.

In this dessert, I diced the Nagaimo into small cubes so that it was easier for me.  Since I cooked it in a slow cooker, some of the Nagaimo was blended into the soup when stirring.  It still have pieces of Nagaimo but quite pleasant since it was not in big chunks.  Definitely a dessert I will be cooking if I buy Nagaimo again.

Merdeka Open House 2010: Tamarind Stew Pork with Daikon/ Chinese Radish

I have been participating in Merdeka Open House hosted by Babe in the City since the very beginning, so of course I cannot left this year out.  This year theme for Merdeka Open House 2010 is Food From Our Hearts.  A local dish that I love and is lovingly prepared by my loved ones and tell a story about it.  My mom is the cook in the family so of course I had to pick my mom's dish.  The most memorable dishes that I missed from my mom are Acar Hu (Pickle Fish) and this Tamarind Stew with daikon.  I really like her Acar Hu but I never made it before because of the limited fish choices over here.  This Tamarind Stew can be made with chicken which I did a while ago over here or pork which I did for this year open house.

I really have no idea where she learned this dish from or it is a pass it down recipe.  The taste just stick to me because I like the spiciness from the dried chili, the sourness from the tamarind juice, the sweetness from the brown sugar, the softness of the daikon, and the tenderness of the pork, it just blend so well together.  When I came over to the U.S. this was one of the dishes I missed so much that I had to call and ask my mom for her recipe so that I could enjoy this dish here.  I hardly cook this dish though because my hubby and daughters do not like Chinese radish or daikon at all, thus every time I cooked this, I was the only one who ate the daikon.  Well, actually more for me because I do enjoy the daikon very much.

When I was stewing this dish for this post, my husband came home from work and said something smell like shit in the house.  I had no idea why this dish smelled like shit to him because it smelled fragrant to me.  He had the hesitated look on his face.  But guess what, he ended out enjoying this dish, even came back for second and third.  See, never judge a dish when you haven't tasted it!

There is still time to participate in this event if you or your spouse is a Malaysian, just go to visit Babe KL's blog for more details.

Rose & Vanilla Spirals Cookies

I was asked for this recipe from a reader last week.  Actually, I made this cookie a while ago back in 2005 and it was out of experimentation.  And I never made it again until today because I had to test out the recipe first.  I made that cookie in 2005 with simply threw more of this here and there and see how it was created.  The original recipe used mint extract and green coloring or strawberry extract and red coloring but I ran out of strawberry extract thus had to use the closes substitute which was rose extract.  Because this rose extract was already red in color thus the coloring was omitted.

This cookie dough was a bit soft at room-temperature thus had to use the scraper to move the dough and helped along with the rolling.  The texture of this cookie is crispy and then sort of melt in the mouth in the end.

The picture of my old post cookies can be found here.  It has the mint version.

Steamed Eggs with Topping

I didn't know how to steam a smooth eggs before but now I know.  I learned it from watching the Chinese cooking show.  I have been watching the CCTV 4 "Everyday Food" Chinese cooking show and learned some cooking tips from there.  I learned this steamed eggs with topping from that show as well.  Have been seeing two different Chinese chefs making this dish with their variation of topping and find it doable!  I have not seen people steamed eggs this way before, we normally steamed it plain or with minced pork or with salted egg or thousand years old egg in Malaysia.  So, this way of serving is new to me.  The chefs guarantee this way of steaming eggs will produce a smooth and silky soft eggs and they made it seem so easy so of course I had to try it myself.

Well, they were right, it is really that easy to produce a smooth and soft steamed eggs.  Now I have a new dish to prepare for my family.  We all loved this easy dish and with the topping, I can even make it a one dish meal.  This dish is suitable for young and old alike as the steamed eggs make it easy to swallow.

Edda Drawings Update

Remember I was complaining about Edda's drawings not long ago?  Click on the highlighted words to see her previous drawings.  And two months later, she surprised me with her flowers drawing.  That was her first real drawing that she had shown me and of course I had to save it.  I was really surprise because it looked so beautiful to me.  I praised her for her excellent drawing and after that, she started to produce drawings after drawings and they were not abstract anymore.  Wow right?  Look at her drawings below, I think it was real impressive and what a fast change, I was worry about nothing.  She started to draw these at 3 years and 9 months old.

 

Flowers by Edda, July 17, 2010

Garden by Edda, July 25th, 2010

Family by Edda, August 3rd, 2010

Drawing by Edda, August 9, 2010

Pan-Fried Mahi-Mahi in Ginger Soy Sauce

This is a pretty common way of cooking fish in my household.  I created it almost 16 years ago.  I remembered when I first cooked this dish for my parents and sibling 15 years ago when I went back to visit them.  My dad asked me what was the topping?  Okay, I did it slightly different, I added chopped garlic and chopped ginger, the ginger were not in slices back then.  I was surprised back then that he would ask me such a question so til this day, I still remembered it.  The reason being my mom didn't cook him this dish before, so he didn't know what was the topping.  So I had to explain to him what it was and he was supposed to take some of the topping with the fish and eat it with the sauce and rice.  I thought it was real interesting.

Next time when I go back, I need to make an effort to cook for them again.  I didn't do that the last few times because it was too hot, also my girls were little back then.  I really need to make an effort to cook for them.

If you want the recipe, click here.  But instead of using dark soy sauce, I used soy sauce in this, thus the lighter in the sauce color.  I think I added too much water too, or you can thicken it with cornstarch water.  And of course, if you think the ginger amount is too much, use as little as you like.

Chinese Snow Fungus Herbal Soup

Snow fungus (雪耳) can also be called silver ear fungus (银耳) or white wood ear fungus ( 白木耳).  It is just like the name implied, it is a species of fungus, white in color that grows on dead attached and recently fallen branches of broadleaf trees.  It is widely available in the tropics and is cultivated for used in Chinese medicine and Chinese cuisine.  White fungus contains much iron, vitamin C, calcium and phosphorus. It is said to be effective in nourishing the lungs, healing dry cough and clearing heat in the lungs.  We used it in sweet and savory dishes.  Most common dessert would be white fungus stewed in rock sugar with red dates and dried longan.  But I liked mine in savory herbal soup.

I think I didn't boil mine long enough as my snow fungus was crunchy instead of soft.  Is there any other way to make the snow fungus soft besides soaking it in warm water and long simmering time?  

Water Chestnut Jelly Cake

If you have been reading my blog, you probably aware that I did this before but the plain version.   With the yellow rock sugar that I used, my water chestnut cake turned out white, not the result that I was looking for.  So, this time I played with the recipe and used Malaysia's Gula Melaka and added the chopped water chestnuts.  It turned out so much better, love the fragrant of Gula Melaka that I could taste with each bite as well as the added crunch from the water chestnuts.  It is really refreshing eaten it cold straight from the refrigerator.  I prefer this instead of pan-frying it with batter, less grease thus healthier.

This will be the way I am making this in the future until I am out of the Gula Melaka, then the other substitute that I could think of will be the Chinese brown sugar in bar shape.  That would give me the color that I want but with different fragrant.

Soft Whole Wheat Raisin Oats Cookies 2

I liked my Whole Wheat Oats Cranberries Cookies but it was made with butter.  It was delicious with butter, don't get me wrong, but I wanted to experiment it with oil.  To me, using oil is healthier than using butter.  I made this cookie big, as big as a palm of my hand.  I gave some away to a friend.  The rest we ate it all up.  It was good, seriously, and I don't miss the butter.  Even my hubby who normally don't eat my cookies, ate this, he said he needed the calories. (0.0)  My girls loved it especially Edda, after they tried it, they came and told me they are my number one fans again!  LOL!   How cute!  I guess I need to make them more oats cookies since this is about the only time that we eat oats in our house.

Cool on wire rack.

Okay, this cookie is soft and chewy.  I need to experiment with another recipe of mine because I like my cookies slightly crunchy.

Sweet and Sour Mahi-Mahi

This is a recipe I learned from watching Chinese cooking shows.  I have seen many different Chinese chefs using this same base sauce for their sweet and sour prawns, fish and poultry.  Since this sauce is so popular, I had tried it on prawns and fish.  It is indeed a good sauce but to guarantee that the sauce comes out perfect, it will have to depend on your years of cooking expertise.  These Chinese chefs don't give measurement in their cooking, only the ingredients, so use your expertise and estimate it yourself.  I added whatever veggie I have at home for the colors and additional veggie intake.  So, feel free to be creative and use what your have at home.

This is the mahi-mahi fillet I bought on-sales at the Sunflower market.  I criss-cross it for faster cooking time.  You can cover the wok when pan-frying to cook the middle as well.  Eat this with some Teriyaki sauce drizzle on top is fabulous as well.  Of course you can use other fish fillets or fish for this dish.

Simple "Chai Hsin" / Chinese Green (菜心)

This veggie dish is so simple that I feel embarrass in sharing it.  Truly, so simple that anyone can make it.  Not only it is simple, but it is delicious as well.  Slight crunch from the green and the oyster sauce give it a full flavor.  You can buy this Chinese veggie at the Asian supermarket.

Mostly, I would do a stir-fry on this green with some garlic, carrot and flavor with oyster sauce.  I guess after a while, I wanted a change or try cooking it in a different way.  I used this method in cooking my iceberg lettuce which I learned from my hubby long ago.  Always received rave reviews from others who have tasted it.  I am sure this method is good for other green vegetable as well.

A perfect side dish sending to Side Dish Showdown July at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice. 

Great Tips for Ants Free House (less than $1)

I feel compel to share this great tips I read on one forwarded e-mail months ago, during winter.  I remembered last summer, my house was infested with ants.  Maybe infested was a strong word, but it was pretty scary as we could see rows of ants walking along my kitchen/dining table area searching for food.  It was bad as you know with little kids, the way they ate, food was on the floor all the times.  I could see which holes the ants were coming from, and I tried to close the gap with bathroom paper.  Oh well, it worked a little but I couldn't get rid of the ants completely until the cold weather came.  One of the reasons I loved winter was no ants, fly, or insect in the house.  I am one person who couldn't stand seeing ants in the house, I just had to get rid of it.

My break came when I was reading some great tips forwarded e-mail from a friend, whom I couldn't recall.  I forgot all the tips I read except this great tips of getting rid of ants (because I wanted to remember and use this tips come summer), so I memorized it.  True enough, came this summer and I spotted ants came out from the same gaps last summer.  I took out my bottle lemon juice and dropped some into the gaps.  Killed all the other ants in the house and waited and see.  WOW!  It really worked!  No more ants coming out from the same gaps.  Few days ago, I spotted more ants, I was like what the heck.  They were coming in from two different gaps, again dropped some lemon juice into and along the gaps and now it was clear.  Lemon juice really works wonder as ants hate sour and acidy environment.  Try it next time yourself as this is a cheap and environment friendly way to get rid of ants in your house.  It works for me and I hope it works for you too, welcoming feedback or any other inexpensive way of getting rid of ants in the house.

Oh yeah, it does not have to be fresh lemon juice, just the bottle one selling for few cents in the produce section works just as well.  :-)  Do you like my tips?
 

Fruit Pastry using Puff Prata/ Pratha

Summer came with abandon of fresh berries, peaches, nectarines, melons, mango and all were on sales.  My house was fulled of all sort of fruits.  My hubby bought some nectarines but it were sour and soft and I bought some plums and it were sour as well.  So, all these sour fruits had been left in the refrigerator uneaten as the sweeter fruit would be chosen.  I had been thinking of a way to eat these fruits since I don't like to waste food.  Was thinking to make them into the fruits pastry cake but I was a bit lazy to make the cake.  Then, an idea came when I remembered I still have two pieces of frozen roti puff pratha in the freezer.  Thus, this fruit pastry was created.  Out of convenient and not wanting to throw away sour fruits.

I will show the step-by-step picture in the next page with the simple recipe.

Satay Dinner

I found a lazy way to eat and grill my satay!  No troublesome and messy way of pricking the marinated meat through a satay stick anymore.  I cut the chicken breast thinly and grill it on my in-door grill.  Our out-door grill, used only couple of times, sadly had been abused by the Colorado weather through strong wind, heat and snow and now was a piece of junk.  I bought this in-door grill 10+ years ago via a home shopping network on T.V.  Yeah, I used to love those channels and loved to see what they were selling.  It was a great buy even though  I only used it occasionally.

The finished product!  Of course you can use boneless thigh meat if you prefer more fat.

Eaten with Malaysian satay sauce.  I used a premix for this, if you want to see which premix I used, click here. If you are using this premix, add 2 heap tablespoons of creamy peanut butter and some toasted ground peanuts when stirring.  Lastly, add more toasted ground peanuts to garnish and for extra kick. If not, you can make a delicious peanut satay sauce here using my short-cut and delicious recipe.

Deep Fried Oyster Mushrooms

I saw this recipe emerged during the Chinese New Year period.  Deep-fried oyster mushrooms, how interesting and said to be delicious.  I seldom do deep-frying so it has taken me a while to revisit this idea of deep-frying oyster mushrooms.  Speaking of which, I wonder why people only do this during Chinese New Year?  Since I have tried this, I got to say it is very delicious when just out of the deep-fryer, it is hot and crispy on the outside and slightly soft inside.  I was trying a new batter here and it turned soft when cold, so you got to eat this hot!  Or use your trusted batter recipe for this.

This is the fresh oyster mushrooms.  You can buy it at the Asian grocery store.  It is said to be able to lower the cholesterol levels because it is naturally contain lovastatin.  Asian eat this mushrooms a lot, we used it in soup and stir-fry.  I prefer the fresh one when comes to oyster mushrooms, the canned oyster mushroom has a smell that I dislike.

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.