Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 New Year's Eve Dinner

New Year's Eve, of course alone again.
Even though I'm not in a good mood (got hurt badly by someone AGAIN), but well, still have to cheer myself up, so cooking a fancy dinner is a good way. And my new year's resolution is definitely going to do my best to loose at least 10 lbs ( my goal is 15 lbs!!). After this meal, I will go crazy to make it happen!!

This is my whole New Year's Eve dinner.









Caprese Salad.


Fish Fillet with Lemon Herb Mushroom Sauce.



Souffle.

This was my first time to make this dessert, I really think I should have beaten more (I didn't use the machine, I used my hand!!), and baked longer. I'll try it again next time. (wait, didn't I just say I'm trying to loose weight??)


Now I'm drinking my strawberry wine, trying to have a good sleep after that~~~

Happy New Year to everyone!








Monday, December 24, 2012

2012 Christmas Eve Dinner

Got up at 3:50am today. Thanks to my friend who texted me to say "Merry Christmas" so early...... Seriously, I know you guys love me, but we are in different time zones!!!

One of my patients (yes, I work today too, oh, tomorrow as well) told me that she went to the Christmas Tree Lane with her family last night, she said it's so beautiful, so if I don't have other plans, then I should just go. So I decided to have my dinner earlier (well, it's good for me, since I had my breakfast around 5am...... Again, thanks to my friend who woke me up...=_=|||), then go to see the lights!

So let's see my Christmas Eve dinner this year! (of course they were made by myself.)

Bread. not made by myself... but I cut it!! LOL. I got this from the store, it tastes really similar as the bread I love a lot in the Cheesecake Factory.


 Onion Soup. Just got this onion soup bakeware from Crate&Barrel. It's clearance!! Soooo happy!!


 Scallops with Pea Puree and Pimento Cream Sauce (decorated with bacon and green onion).


I made cream brûlée as well, but it was not pretty enough, so I didn't take a picture of it. I'm going to buy a torch!!!!!!



I guess my new year's gift for myself will probably be a torch. Wow, I really need a huge kitchen!




Sunday, November 25, 2012

Apple Custard Cupcakes


I baked some cupcakes and brought to my friend's place on Thanksgiving. I was invited to have dinner with her family.

                                        ( ready to bake!)

                                        ( fresh out the oven. LOL)

It's apple custard flavor. On the top were apple slices (looked like a rose, pretty~~~), and custard filling inside.

This was my first time baking cupcakes (actually, including other cakes or cookies, it was my maybe 5th or 6th time baking things~~~), and they were quite delicious (and beautiful, of course). 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Japanese Style Steak ( Not finished)




Spent all day in the museum, then came home to make myself a good dinner. Just me and myself. It felt so good. Happy 32nd birthday to myself. Damn!! So old....

Friday, October 5, 2012

Crispy Chicken Breast (Not finished)


The other dish I brought to the lunch meeting.
D, L, and me all ate this, but F is more like a pescetarian, so hers was fish not chicken.


Thursday, October 4, 2012

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Kale Salad


Kale Salad


This is the other food I've been drawn to lately.

The first time I had Kale salad was with my ex-boyfriend in a nice restaurant, and it got me immediately!! Their kale salad has kale, quinoa, sunflower seeds, grapes, manchego, parmesan cheese and lemon. I don't think mine is better than theirs ( although part of reasons I believe it's definitely because of the atmosphere... Romantic dinner vs. dinning alone at home... ), but it's very tasty too.


What were in my salad? Kale (of course, lol), corn, salt, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, poached egg, Parmesan, and Shichimi.

I'm going to have it again tomorrow for sure. :-)

Belgian Waffles


 Belgian Waffles



I'm so in love with Belgium Waffles lately, I guess I've just never been a big fan of pancakes ( but I still eat them sometimes, like twice a year. lol)

Belgian Waffles -however the one I'm talking about is actually Liege waffle, it's just one type of the Belgian Waffles- are more attractive to me. Liege waffles are hard and crispy on the outside.

The key in the recipe I would say is the Belgian Pearl Sugar, and I found it on Amazon, which I feel it's good quality with nice price.









As usual, I'm lazy about writing recipe again (seems like I only write Asian food recipe, but I feel it's not bad, cuz you may google all the recipes that I don't write here, but those I write here, you might not find out great recipes online written in English ), but you know what, just google Liege waffle and pearl sugar, hey, you will find out good recipes!! That's what I did!





Saturday, June 30, 2012

Flank Steak Sandwich

Flank Steak Sandwich


I skipped my lunch today at work, when I got home it's already 4:40pm, and was famished.
I spent 15 minutes to cook my lunch-dinner. That's why I chose to make this steak sandwich, cuz it didn't need too much work, I just had to slice the onion, pan-fry the beef flank and saute sliced onion. Then slice the medium-rare steak, put all stuffs together with the bun. Done!!




Ok, ready to eat! Yay~~~


Friday, May 25, 2012

Fish & Sausage Gumbo

Fish & Sausage Gumbo



This was the first time I made gumbo. As I said in other articles, I've been cleaning out my fridge, so I thought it would be a good idea to make gumbo since I have bell pepper, tomato, okra and fish in my fridge. So the only two things I had to get from the store is the sausage (well, it's not necessary, but I thought I might like my gumbo with it) and an onion.

As a person doesn't like carrots, mirepoix is definitely not my choice, but I didn't follow the holy trinity rule either. For some reason I just used cabbage instead of celery. I added tomato in, so I think it's more Creole than Cajun variety of gumbo.

I love my gumbo!!! It was so delicious!! I'm so gonna make this again!




Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Spinach with Braised Ground Pork

Spinach with Braised Ground Pork


Well, I am just trying to clean out my fridge since I'm moving out soon. So there's no recipe of the Chinese Braised Ground Pork today, but I promise I'll write a good one about it in the future.


P.S. In Taiwan, where I came from, it's very popular to see a plate of boiled spinach or Bok Choy, or other kinds of vegetable with the braised ground pork on the top in the restaurants or diners (the only difference is it's not plated like what in my photo).


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Niçoise salad


Niçoise Salad

Acutually, both are non-traditional Niçoise Salad, especially the second one.
To my knowledge, the traditional Niçoise consists of lettuce, canned tuna(in oil), hard-boiled eggs, tomato, olives, green beans, and anchovies. Sometimes potatoes, artichoke hearts and red pepper might be added too.


I am not a canned tuna fan, I prefer raw or seared tuna, and don't like hard boiled eggs either, I dislike the egg yolk hard-boiled, I like it still soft, such as coddled egg. And I did not add anchovies in my salad.

The first one, I did add green beans, but they were hiding under the mixed greens, and the second one, i used strawberries instead of tomatoes (cuz I had two boxes of strawberries in my fridge). I was kinda worried about if it would be weird, but it was actually quite tasty!


The first one was made months ago, and the second one was my dinner today. Both were very good. Although I'm not quite into olives, somehow I really like Niçoise Salad. Maybe next time I'll try tinned tuna, maybe, I'm just saying maybe. :P


Monday, May 14, 2012

Chikuzen-ni (筑前煮/ がめ煮)


Chikuzenni


Since I still had one more pack of bamboo shoots, so after I finally finished the Bamboo Shoots with Salted Duck Egg, I was thinking what else I could make. My friend gave me this idea: Chikuzenni. 

Ok, so let's start this: what is Chikuzenni?
This is what said on wiki:
Chikuzenni is a dish that originated from northern Kyushu, Japan, made of braised chicken and vegetables. It is often eaten when ringing in the new year in Japan
The ingredients are first sautéd together in oil. Bring dashi, shitake flavored broth, and mirin (sweet rice seasoning) to a simmer and let the chicken cook in the mixture. Then, insert taro root, dried shitake mushrooms, konnyaku (yam cake), burdock root, lotus root, and carrots, and cook until the vegetables are tender. Sometimes, snap peas are added after the vegetables are completely cooked.


Recipe?
I'm lazy and not in a mood today, so here is the link of Japanese recipe. Well, there are lots of photos, so even though you cannot read Japanese, I believe you can still easily figure out what's going on in the photos.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Bamboo Shoots with Salted Duck Egg (鹹蛋竹筍)


 
Bamboo Shoots with Salted Duck Egg


I'd been craving for this dish for months. So one day when I went to the Asian supermarket, I purchased two packs of vacuum packaging bamboo shoots.



Ingredients:
Salted Duck Egg
Bamboo Shoots
Green Onion
Broth
Sugar
Salt
White Pepper Powder
Chile Pepper (depends, only if you like it)



Put bamboo shoots in the broth and cook them with low heat. (about 8-10 minutes)

Unshell the duck Egg(s), and smash the egg(s).

Add some oil in the pan, put the smashed egg in and stir it with medium-low heat.

Add the bamboo shoots in.

Season it. ( Be careful the salt! It depends on how salty your duck egg is, there's no way I can tell you how much salt you should add in)

Add the Chile Pepper (if you like) and green onions. Done!

Enjoy it~~