as promised

jump to the new blog!

blogging

There was a time I cooked or baked something different every day. Then, life, school, work, eventually a wedding happened, and the food blog was repeatedly neglected. But I refuse to retire it.

A few months back, while still completely devoted to wedding planning, I asked Steven what he thought about starting a blog together. Understandably, he was skeptical. I mean, I can’t even keep my food blog running, how could I start a second blog? But he didn’t dissuade me either. Maybe he was enticed by the prospect of writing about craft cocktails.

The truth is, blogging is hard work. Kudos to the people who are able to make a living blogging full time. I am not a chef or photographer and certainly not a writer. Cooking and snapping a few pictures is easy, taking a good picture is hard, using photoshop with nonexistent photoshop skills is ridiculous, and the writing, oh man the writing, would easily take hours. That is how blogging became tedious. This time around, the pictures with be straight out of the camera and there will be typos. If you want stunning photos or witty prose, I can recommend some other food blogs, but chances are you’re already reading them.

My blogging will return to being my creative outlet. Now is a time of change; a new job, new city, new place, and a new blog with just a little bit of everything.

Guide to Crabs: how to clean and pick meat from a crab

Seattle is best known for salmon but my favorite local seafood is the Dungeness crab. Eating crab is messy and time consuming so the puny guys are not worth the time. Dungeness crab, on the other hand, are sweet, meaty, and easily two to three pounds. Whenever it was Dungeness crab season, that is, when they were cheap, my family would buy a few live ones from the Asian market, steamed them at home, and make a rice noodle soup with the flavorful liver. Because of this, I've become quite adept at extracting meat from a crab.

Valentine's Day 2012

Steven and I just celebrated our 9th Valentine's Day dinner and our last as an unmarried couple. Instead of going out, we continued our yearly tradition of dining quietly at home. Each year, we mix up the menu a bit but we always do ribeye for Steven and some kind of seafood for myself.

Thanksgiving 2011

I'm a night owl. It is officially Thanksgiving as of an hour ago, which marks the start of the holiday season and my favorite time of year. Now it's perfectly acceptable for me to eat a little more than I should, indulge in buttery baked goods, and most importantly, listen to Christmas music.

Blueberry Muffin

The fact that this is my seventh muffin recipe on the blog shows how much I love them. I'm certainly not the first to proclaim the muffin top to be the best part. When the muffins are not intended for any occasion the following day, there can be half a dozen mangled muffin bodies after Steven and I are through with them. The tops are best after the muffins have rested for a few minutes after coming out of the oven. This crucial wait allows for the exterior to set into a slightly crunchy crust and allows for the muffin to cool enough for eager fingers to pry the tops off of the unsuspecting body. We can't let the precious tops go to waste. After muffins sit around, you lose the distinction between the top and bottom and the next day, you're left with a plain, uniform muffin. The tops are never the same, even after reheating them in the oven. I wondered why I’ve never seen a pan that capitalizes on muffin-top love like game changing edge brownie pan.

Meat Lasagna

updated from archives

Every time I open the pantry, I'm accosted by two lingering boxes of lasagna noodles that have been sitting at eye level for the last two years. They are the final edible remnants from when I catered E's wedding over 2 years ago. I have not made lasagna since then--perhaps it's because I'm still a little traumatized by all the prepping and cooking that went on that week. But if I'm to be successful in clearing out the entire pantry, I had better start making some lasagna.

Hearty Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

(updated from archives)

I grew up on spaghetti with Ragu. Not the lowercase italicized ragu, but the capital R followed by a copyright sign Ragu. And it was Hunt’s more often than not since it was cheaper. As a child, I always wanted the meat flavor thinking that it sounded better than plain tomato. Then one day, I thought it was odd that there wasn’t actually any meat in the sauce. Upon further inspection, the sauce was merely “flavored with meat.” Gross.

Fondue for Two

I'm in the process of tidying up the blog after months of being away (pardon the dust). While I was going through old flickr photos, I stumbled on this gem:

See the date?

This episode aired May 3, 2011 according to the wiki. Shoulda copyrighted that gem of a phrase! (You can watch the episode on FOX, which is where I got the image clips)

Further similarities:
Mr. Bunnington

Lord Tubbington

Hmm... curious...

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Carbonara is Steven's most requested dish. It's one of the few recipes on this blog that I make regularly, so I'm a little embarrassed I haven't updated the recipe since 2007. The ingredient list has stayed the same in the last four years but I added the trick of tempering the eggs with boiling pasta water before adding it to the pasta. On the rare occasion, I get a little fancy but I always go back to the original recipe of 5 ingredients, 6 if you include salt for pasta water. Traditionally you would use pancetta or guanicale, but let's face it, that stuff is expensive and I'm a poor student. Because this recipe is so simple, there are a few things I feel strongly about. First, I don't believe in adding cream; I think it's like cheating. But I unfortunately don't know anyone Italian who can back me up. Second, use freshly ground pepper; this is non-negotiable.

Chicken Adobo

update from April 2007

When I first made chicken adobo 4 years ago, I was a little apprehensive about the seemingly large amount of vinegar the recipe called for. However, the vinegar mellows with cooking and the sauce is amazing over freshly steamed rice. I prefer a 1:1 ratio of soy to vinegar. I reach for a milder vinegar like rice, white wine, or cider vinegar. I personally find plain white vinegar is too monotonous and abrasive. You can marinate the chicken as long as you want but this is rarely something I plan that far in advance. I usually throw all the ingredients together in a pot and let it sit for about an hour (sometimes I skip this part entirely if I feel particularly lazy).

vanilla pound cake

Two years ago I bought 2 dozen vanilla beans for a great price. They were my precious babies so I used them oh so sparingly. The vanilla beans won't be a problem to move and I intend on bringing them with me but I am less stingy about using them now.

the pantry

My pantry has become increasingly cluttered over the last few years. The new year was a good time to reorganize and figure out just what is in there. Steven and I are anticipating relocating about a year and a half and I figured we'd better start using some of this stuff up. We've accumulated so much, especially after signing up for a Costco membership, that it will most likely take us the full 18 months to clear out the shelves.

Leftover Turkey and Seafood Paella

 

I hope everyone had a spectacular Turkey day. I was too busy eating so I unfortunately don't have any photos of the spread. *sadface* And I'm still recovering from my food coma. As for the actual turkey, I've never been too crazy about it the day of but I do love the leftovers. Aside from the always glorious post-Thanksgiving sandwich, the possibilities for the turkey are endless: soups, chilies, stir fries, casseroles, etc.

Thanksgiving 2010

First I told myself I would blog again after spring quarter, then it was after summer exams, pretty soon after that I planned to put something together while I spent autumn in Alaska. Now it’s been over 6 months since my last post, but hey who’s keeping track anymore? But with Thanksgiving being tomorrow (or later today depending on when I finish writing this), I couldn’t let it go unacknowledged.

Carrot Cake with Pineapple and Coconut and Brown Butter Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

I had some flopppy carrots and a half bar of cream cheese that needed to be used up so the obvious choice was a carrot cake. My original idea was to spice things up by adding currants instead of the traditional raisins because I hate raisins. But Trader Joes, my go-to source for quirky ingredients, no longer carries currants and I wasn’t about to go to Whole Paycheck and drop $10 on some fancy heritage currants from the South of France. Instead I got the next best thing, pineapple. I’ve actually never purchased a can of pineapple before or any canned fruit for that matter, so the first step was locating the canned fruit aisle in grocery store, an aisle I avoid like the plague. Who knew there were so many ways you could cut and can a pineapple—crushed, tidbits, chunks, rings? Many recipes call for crushed but that stuff looked a little too beaten up for my tastes, whereas the chunks were way too big. I wanted discernible pieces of pineapple in my cake so the tidbits were perfect. After adding pineapple, the logical next step is to add coconut (another leftover ingredient that needed using up) and of course you can't have pineapple and coconut without some rum.

Banoffee Bread

jump to the new blog for banana bread recipe



Banoffee Bread

3 large overriped bananas.
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1/4 C plain yogurt or sour cream
2 tsp vanilla
2 C all purpose unbleached flour, (8.8 oz)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
3 1.4 oz. Heath bars roughly chopped (or other toffee candies, like Almond Roca)
Optional coconut topping: 1 tablespoon of cream cheese and 1/2 C of sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position or one level below the middle. Butter and flour a loaf pan or line it with parchment paper.

Optional - making the coconut topping: mix the cream cheese and sweetened shredded coconut until it is evenly mixed (I just used my hands). Set aside for later.

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas until a few chunks remain. Mix in the melted butter, sugar, eggs, yogurt/sour cream and vanilla until smooth and evenly mixed.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together and evenly mix and aerate the ingredients. Add half of the dry mix to the banana mix and fold the batter with a rubber spatula a few times. Then scatter the chopped toffee and the remaining flour mix. Continue to fold the batter gently until there are no more streaks of flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Scatter the coconut mixture on top if using.

Bake at 350 deg F for 60 – 70 minutes, or until a skewer stuck into the banana bread comes out clean. Rotate the loaf pan 180 degrees about 30 - 40 minutes into the baking time. Keep an eye on the coconut topping, if it starts to get too brown, cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of foil. I did this and rotated the pan about 30 minutes in.

French Toast

Breakfast is the one meal where I don't feel guilty about eating a lot. After all, it's the most important meal of the day, right? When I have time to make a big, sit-down breakfast, I like to go all out and hit my major food groups--meat, eggs, carbs, and coffee. Yup, I think that just about covers it.

The last time I made French toast was before I started med school so I had aallll the time in the world to make everything fancy and gourmet. I even baked my own bread. If I hadn't gotten accepted, I would probably be making my own Nutella and grinding my own powdered sugar in a mortar and pestle. Luckily, nowadays, I doing something a little more productive with my time. The raisin bread I bought from Safeway makes for some pretty darn good French toast, and I don't even like raisins. Maybe it's the power of butter and maple syrup. Other than PB&J's I can't think of any other good uses for this bread, so it looks like I'll be making a few more servings of French toast with the rest of the loaf. Oh, I guess I could make bread pudding!

As for the rest of the breakfast...
Steven and I both love hash brown patties and prefer them over the more homemade shredded potato variety. I'd like to blame McDonald's for getting us hooked on deep fried processed potato in patty form.

Then, we have our breakfast sausage, taking the place of bacon, the usual suspect. What can I say, living on the edge today.

And finally, one of my personal favorites. A fried egg over medium with soy sauce and a sprinkling of furitake flakes. It's way better than plain old salt and pepper, trust me.

French Toast
6 slices of bread (something soft like sandwich bread, challah, or brioche)
1 large egg
1/2 C milk or half and half
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

In a bowl whisk the egg, flour, and sugar together until there are no lumps of flour remaining. Add the milk, vanilla, and salt and mix until smooth. Pour into a pie plate or small tray.

Melt a half to one tablespoon of butter in a skillet or griddle, depending on the size of your pan. Dip a slice of bread into the batter and let each side of the bread soak for approximately 3 seconds. Make sure there are no dry spots on the bread. Soak only enough slices that you can cook in your pan at one time. Fry each side on medium low heat for 3 - 4 minutes, or until the bottom is a crisp golden brown. Flip and cook the second side until crisp and golden brown. Repeat for the remaining bread slices.

Serve with powdered sugar or maple syrup.

Guest Post! Shanghai Drunken Chicken

Shanghai Drunken Chicken at Rasa Malaysia

Yes, I'm still here. No, I haven't forgotten about this blog. I know the crickets have been chirping here more than I've been posting. If only I have more free time because right now it's virtually non-existent.

I can't remember the last time I've been sick but a bug was bound to get me sooner or later. I woke up this morning with the whole nine yards--fever, sore throat, cough, and aches all over. I tried to catch up on my reading but that wasn't happening. I should have known reading about urine and kidneys gets nowhere when you're sleep-deprived and feverish. So, instead of studying, I resigned myself to spending the day in my pajamas with chicken noodle soup, catching up on food blogs and many issues of Bon Appetit (au revoir Gourmet, you will be missed!).

This is long overdue but check out my guest post on Rasa Malaysia! I was torn between drunken chicken or crab cakes; drunken chicken won but I did make some crab cakes after Bee got me thinking about them. This project was 3 months in the making due to a combination of my hectic schedule and perfectionism. The recipe was far more seasonally appropriate when I started it in July. Bee, thank you for being a great host and for being so understanding about my numerous delays in getting this done.

Heirloom Tomatoes and Bacon

The sandwich of summer, the BLT.

I think my laptop caught me drooling over the shiny new Macbooks because it decided to die last week, two days before classes started. Awesome. After running every recovery, repair, and restore program, the consensus was that the hard drive irreparably failed. I've noticed that Dell computers start having problems after a year, suspiciously only a few days after the one year warranty expires. Luckily, I purchased a four year warranty with this computer but that means three more years before I can finally make the switch over to Macs.

Absolutely everything was on that hard drive-a year of schoolwork, previous work files, blog stuff-everything! And stupid, stupid, stupid me didn't back anything up! Before I launched into a full-blown panic attack once I realized I had lost all of my beloved wedding photos and invaluable lecture notes, Steven was able to salvage everything. Whew! Crisis averted! But boy did I learned my lesson. Always back up on an external drive!

Because I was able to get all my files, I'm taking this as an opportunity to post some old recipes and photos I never got around to. These heirloom tomato photos are from summer 2008. This blog has seen three summers now and there isn't a single post about heirlooms. That's just criminal! Well to be fair, most of the time I eat them plain, no salt, no balsamic-not terribly exciting. I don't cook much with them but they are fantastic in sandwiches, especially the BLT. With so few ingredients, there is absolutely no excuse to use subpar tomatoes in a BLT. I'm one of those people that will add as much as I can to a sandwich (Thanksgiving is the best time for that). I try to show more restraint with the BLT because it's a treasured classic, but more often than not, the BLT evolves into a BLAT (avocado), then that turns into a BLATT (turkey). I always stop myself there otherwise I'll start adding cornichons and furitake flakes.


I love all the funky colors and names of heirlooms.

This really isn't a recipe because who needs one for a BLT anyway? If you're a purist, go with white bread and mayo. I like whole wheat and Dijon instead. Or if I'm feeling extra fancy, some homemade brioche, a rare treat. The bacon weave is no longer groundbreaking but it does make for an extra bacony BLT and who care argue with that?

I'm sure someone will make one blanket-sized one, if it hasn't been done already. Mmm tasty.

Summer is coming to an end and school starting again was quite the rude awakening. I don't think I fully adjusted to being a first-year medical student and now you're telling me I'm a second-year? And I have to study all weekend when it's sunny and 80 degrees outside because I have a test on Monday? Welcome back to med school I guess.


If only I could sleep in the sun all day like Mr. Bunnington.