Filed under: Party And Events
On Saturday, I attended my nephew’s 7th birthday party. His parents arranged for the kids to have a tae kwon do lesson which was a lot fun and served pizza at the tkd studio. Not my most favorite food but since I was hungry, I ate 2 slices of pizza but really saved my appetite for dinner. Afterwards, we schlepped to their house for the much awaited Vietnamese food. Her MIL (one of the best cooks I know) prepared the most delicious Vietnamese spread. Cha gio, pork stuffed tofu called dau phu noi (this is probably wrong bcoz don’t have the correct markings); nem nuong, bbq pork, and pho ga. Needless to say, I was stuffed to the bone : ). I took some pictures with my sis’ camera so pictures will come later.
Filed under: Drinks
Hot Chocolate
The recipe calls for heavy cream, milk, chopped chocolate, vanilla and to enhance the flavor of chocolate, coffee. In her recipe, she used choppped chocolate but since I had leftover Alfonso tablea, I put it into good use. The coffee, in Ina’s recipe, was instant decaf. It so happened I have instant decaf in my cupboard.
I slowly simmered the cream and milk and then added the tablea. I used a whisk to stir the mixture. Later on I added the vanilla and then the instant coffee. Served on top are tiny marshmallow.
Woodranch Grill BBQ & Chocolate Purses
We ordered a whole chicken, babyback ribs, peanut cole slaw, and mashed sweet potatoes for the side dishes.
The baby back ribs are mouthwatering, succulent and smoky in flavor! They fall off the bones and the bbq sauce is sweet and tangy at the same time! The BBQ chicken is the same in flavor; the chicken breast is very tender and succulent as well and has the same smoky flavor as the ribs. They offer many side dishes but our family favorite are the sweet potatoes because of its sweet and buttery taste and the peanut coleslaw because of its crisp texture and light refreshing to the palate flavor.Its dressing is a simple vinaigrette that gives it the tangy and sweet flavor.
For dessert, I could not resist making something so I made “chocolate purses” and the recipe is courtesy of Paula Deen. It is one of the simplest dessert recipe you could ever make. It’s puff pastry with your favorite chocolate inside to stuff the “purses” and bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes. I used Dove milk chocolate and also used up the fresh strawberries I bought from the other day. They ended up as a side decoration for the “purses”.
Filed under: Beef
There’s nothing more American than the good ol’ steak and baked potato. I had some New York steak thawed in the refrigerator and some russet potatoes leftover from about a month ago. I pressed on it and they still seem ok. I washed them and off they go into the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. The steaks were just seasoned with good ol’ salt and pepper and were put on the grill for 10 minutes each side. They were perfectly grilled – well done! Served the baked potato with butter, sour cream and chives! That was lunch for us today!
Just went to the store and passed by Mastantuano’s strawberry stand not too far from my house. They actually grow the strawberry right behind their stand. I noticed the strawberry patch as I was driving off. This stand actually sells very good strawberries if not the best! They are actually a lot better than the grocery store! And don’t think you can’t get fresher than these as they harvest them right from behind the stand. I could not wait so I wiped off one and tasted the juiciest and sweetest strawberry of the season : ) as soon as I got into the car! Oh well, if I end up with some bacterial disease ; ) – it was worth it, I guess!
Since it’s Valentine’s Day this Tuesday, I was planning to dip them in chocolate and have them for dessert! Am sure the girls would love making them and hubby would love eating them! So we will have to wait and see what I come up with….to be continued!
Filed under: Beef
I had some avocados and my daughter and I whipped up a quick guacamole for dipping while the meat was cooking! Yummy!
Filed under: Dessert/Snacks
The Yeast Also Rises
Tis indeed a labor of love. Baking this bread took most of today. It’s about 9 pm Sunday and I will be just finishing baking the chocolate loaf bread. Four hours total of proofing – i.e. letting the bread rise. I had mixed emotions about doing this. The anticipation alone was driving me bananas!
I have baked bread from scratch before. Again, the waiting was the most painful part!
But when all is said in done, the finished product was worth the wait.
Filed under: Beef
I was craving for seafood….well, particularly Alaskan King Crab legs. My girls and I really enjoy it. No muss, no fuss….just simply steam it in water and then dip in clarified butter and lemon : )! When I was at the grocery, though, I saw that New York steak was on sale, so I grabbed me a package and pan fried the steak. My original thought was to put the steaks on the grill but it was getting late and it was too cold outside.(California cold ; ) anyway)
This meal is very simple, expensive : ) but simple. I steamed the crab legs and pan fried the steak! And voila, your good ol’ surf ‘n turf meal.
Filed under: Dessert/Snacks
I love lemons! I like the savory tart taste than most sweet desserts! Don’t get me wrong I like the sweets, too – he**, I wouldn’t be making truffles, leche flan, etc., if I did not like sweets : ). In any case, sometimes I prefer the tart and acerbic flavor of lemon and when I’m in the mood, there’s no stopping my creativity: ).
This very easy recipe is from the cake mix box but I “kicked it up a notch”! I added some lemon peel shavings from the rasper of course, and added more lemon juice to the mix. I added it to the water to make 1 cup of water to make the cake a little more tart!
Lemon Pound Cake
1 box lemon cake mix
1 box of lemon pudding
4 eggs
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 cup water- added juice of one lemon to make one cup of liquid
peel of one lemon (only use the yellow part). Using a rasper is the best way to achieve this.
Mix all the ingredients in a mixer. Pour in a bundt pan, bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees. Frost with your favorite frosting. My favorite frosting is cream cheese. I kicked it up a notch buy also adding lemon juice to it! It turned out great!
Filed under: Rice/ Pasta Dishes
I was thinking about rice and adobo the other week and had this brilliant : ) idea to mix them together! Not fried rice but actually having the rice taste like the adobo sauce. So here it is, I cooked the chicken and pork adobo style. Then, drained the liquid off, then added the uncooked rice and sauted it for a bit until the rice grains turned opaque. Then added enough liquid to cook the rice. I added coconut milk in my adobo broth/sauce to make up the liquid you usually use to make rice, then put it in the oven for 35 minutes.
Recipe is easy. Just cook adobo like you would in your regular recipe. Drain the liquid, then add rice until it turns opaque. Use the drained liquid to add to the rice mixture. Make sure it equals the rice/liquid proportion.
