Pass the Pocky

Wheat Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Cookies

2012-01-21T20:24:00.001-05:00

Mmm...Homemade cookies that are kinda healthy :)

Hello 2012...

2012-01-01T15:47:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

How to Succeed in Business...

2011-12-30T17:34:00.000-05:00

I spent this past Christmas in New York City. I did all the touristy things like visit Rockefeller Center, Time Square, looked at all the department store Christmas displays, snore, snore, blah, blah. But, the best thing I did was see Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette in the Broadway comedy musical "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying". This is the second time I've seen it. I loved every single minute of it all over again. The singing and dancing is just so energetic and electrifying. You can't help but grin like a goon throughout the entire 2 hour and 45 minute spectacular. Daniel Radcliffe is one talented little cutie. He's also incredibly friendly and gracious to his fans. Radcliffe is definitely one of my favorite actors.

My husband and I waited for him at the side stage door after the matinee show on Christmas eve. It was freezing cold but so worth it.

Daniel Radcliffe signing my husband's playbill

Signed playbill and program.

We love Daniel Radcliffe so much that our stay in New York was extended an extra day so that we could get his autograph one more time. We camped out for 9 hours in 30 plus degree weather to get the entire cast. I know this sounds crazy. Ha!

Rose Hemingway plays Rosemary Pilkington. J. Pierrepont Finch's love interest

John Larroquette plays J.B. Biggley


Playbill signed by the cast. Radcliffe's autograph is the big star looking scribble covering part of his cheek.

"It's Been a Long Day" elevator scene signed by R. Hemingway and D. Radcliffe

A personalized autographed Harry Potter poster made out to my husband

New York was a great time. My "How to Succeed" experience made it even better. It's sad to know I'll never be able to see the performance again. January 1st is his very last show. Boo! Well, at least I can play the soundtrack over and over and over. :D

Mini Chocolate Donuts

2011-08-21T13:11:00.000-04:00

I'm a huge sucker for anything cute regardless of whether or not I need it. So last week when I was walking through a store, this super cute bright yellow machine was screaming at me...."TAKE ME HOME!!!" I said "donut maker....why not?"

The donut maker comes with a manual that includes a handful of basic donut recipes and glazes. I tested out the machine by making a small batch of chocolate donuts with a chocolate glaze.

They came out so cute!!! Taste wise, I need to experiment a little more. I think I over baked them. They were a tad bit crispy and dry. I need to reduce the cooking time and probably add more vegetable oil to the batter. Otherwise, not bad for a $30 machine.

Quinoa, The Everyday SuperFood

2011-07-29T00:10:00.000-04:00

Recently I picked up this cookbook from Amazon for about $17. I haven't had a chance to try out any recipes yet. I'm especially excited about the dessert section. I've always associated quinoa with savory dishes. The idea of using quinoa in desserts intrigue me. There's a recipe for a Raspberry Cake that sounds awesome. I'll be testing this recipe out really soon.

My first experience with quinoa actually happened last month. I was at Whole Foods and they had a buy one get one free sale on bags of quinoa and farro. Never having tasted it before, I took a leap of faith and picked up a small wheelbarrow's worth. I found a simple recipe online with shrimp and veggies. It was AWESOME!!! I was so happy to discover that I liked quinoa, especially since I have enough to last a year.

Spotted Dick

2011-07-26T19:45:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah! I'm showing off my maturity level today. I saw this can at my local grocery store in the international aisle. Don't ask me what this is but it got mentioned in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That's good enough for me! Happy Tuesday everyone! Still working on reloading all my blog pics by the way. Meh!

Google+ Sucks and My Blog Looks Funny

2011-07-25T23:05:00.000-04:00

The other night I noticed all my pictures were missing from every blog post. Each click brought me to Error 404 File cannot be Found. I thought it was a server issue, maybe Blogger had gone down. Tonight I looked up the error and found link after link with one common theme... Google+ and Picasa. While experimenting with settings and trying to figure out how everything worked, I deleted my blog photo album from my Google+ account. I didn't know deleting an album from my social networking account would affect my blog. I had no idea Picasa was directly connected to Google+. The really , really crappy part about this whole things is, photos deleted from Picasa are not recoverable. Doh!!!

I was fuming about an hour ago. I was pissed at myself for deleting the album and pissed at Google for having such a shitty setup. I know this is my own fault but it still sucks!! I even thought about deleting this entire blog and sticking with Twitter and Tumblr. Fortunately as I started to calm down, I realized it would be a very stupid thing to do. I can't delete my blog! This has been the longest running project I've ever worked on. I know I'm not very good at keeping it updated but when I do add new content, I have fun with it. I've also met some really cool people through Pass the Pocky. So with great patience, I will slowly reload all my pictures until everything is restored and right in the Land of Pocky.

Please learn from my stupid mistake.... Whatever you do, do not delete your blog photo album from your Google+ account. Ha!

Whole Food's Macarons

2011-07-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

I was craving macarons but couldn’t make the 3 hour drive to St. Armand’s Circle near Sarasota, FL. So, I hit the Whole Foods. They're about the size of a twenty-five cent piece and as expensive as the macs from specialty bakeries (Boo!), but still yummy enough to kill the craving.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

2011-05-21T23:31:00.001-04:00

I had to blow the dust off the old blog to share what I made tonight. I know the Flourless Chocolate Cake has been around forever and every food blogger has written novels about it, but this is a first for me. I was watching old episodes of Bizarre Foods on Netflix around 2 a.m. in the morning when out of nowhere I had the mad urge to make a flourless chocolate cake. I looked up some recipes online and watched a couple of "how to" videos on YouTube for reference.

Tada!!! Nice eh? It was so easy too. Just 5 ingredients and 25 minutes in the oven. I have to warn you though, this cake is beyond rich. One tiny slice is enough to ease an chocolate cravings.

Ingredients

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 stick of butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8" springform pan with parchment paper.
2. In a saucepan slowly melt the stick of butter and chopped up chocolate. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together sifted cocoa powder, eggs, and sugar.
4. Slowly mix in the warm melted chocolate into your bowl bit by bit until fully incorporated.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan.
6. Bake for 25 minutes
7. Cool for 15 minutes and remove from pan. Dust with powdered sugar or lightly drizzle with a chocolate ganache if desired. Add fresh raspberries for contrasting flavors and colors.

I admit I cheated. I didn't make my own ganache. I used a store bought cake topping called Amazing Glaze by Duncan Hines. Tasted pretty good and comes in a handy squirt bottle. :)

Sunday's Soft Boiled Egg

2011-02-27T10:26:00.001-05:00

Sunday breakfast....because I'm too lazy to actually cook anything else. Couldn't even be bothered to make little toast soldiers. Oh well, next time. Happy Sunday! Is it nap time yet??

Kabocha Squash Creme Caramel

2011-02-26T19:54:00.001-05:00

The hubs is out of town and I'm enjoying a nice relaxing three day weekend. That means I can lounge all day in grubby clothes, not cook, and watch old TV shows on Netflix. But, not to be a total sloth I set aside two things that I had to do.

#1: Clean out my closet. Donate any pieces of clothing that either didn't fit or I didn't wear anymore. By some miracle, I managed to knock that chore out yesterday. It also doubled as my exercise for the week. Check! Check!

#2: Sort through the vacation and food pictures on my digital camera.

I was juggling between episodes of Bizarre Foods and sorting when I found my kabocha squash pics. Actually, I found a lot of blog worthy photos that I have forgotten about. I predict I shall be back blogging for months to come.

I found out about the kabocha (Japanese winter squash) through two of my Twitter friends sherimiya and burp_excuzme. They are both in California where this squash can be easily found at any store. Unfortunately for me, I had to hunt for it. There were tons and tons of acorn and butternut squashes but no kabocha. After a long, long search and covering many miles I finally found it at a fancy "overpriced" organic health food store. I paid $8 U.S. dollars for my beautiful little squash. OK I finally found it. Now what the heck was I going to do with it? As if she read my mind, Ms. Burp_excuzme tweeted a recipe she found in the L.A. Times for Kabocha Creme Caramel. The recipe can be found here.

It looks a lot like an acorn or buttercup squash doesn't it? The sweetness might have been a bit stronger though. Let me tell you I feared for my fingers. This squash was rock hard. I literally pounded my knife through it. There was a lot of banging and slamming of the squash on my cutting board. Later someone suggested I microwave it for 3 minutes to make it softer for easy slicing.

The recipe says to bake for an hour and a half. I think mine was done at an hour 10 minutes. I guess baking time varies with each oven. I think any longer in the oven and the caramel would have become burnt tasting and bitter. To me this tasted just like rich, creamy flan. The kabocha flavor itself was very mild. I think next time I will use more squash puree. On another note, if you like flan but don't want all the fat, this recipe might be really handy because unlike flan, you don't need the condensed, evaporated milk, and cream cheese. Actually, I would even consider this "health" food. Technically you're eating a vegetable right?? Yeah, I know. I'm stretching it a bit. Haha!

Mussels with Chorizo

2011-02-19T23:28:00.001-05:00

I love mussels. It's one of my favorite seafoods. I'd eat it all the time if it wasn't such a pain in the ass to clean. I'll spend a good half hour at the sink scraping "stuff" off the shells and de-bearding them. No good...because I'm a lazy cook.

Normally when I make them at home, I'll stir fry the mussels in a spicy mixture of chili and oyster sauce with green onions. I'll post the recipe after I make it again and actually write down all the ingredients and measurements. I usually just eyeball everything and constantly taste as I go.

For dinner tonight I wanted to try cooking the mussels a different way. I remembered seeing Sunny Anderson on Food Network cook up her mussels in wine and chorizo.

Mussels with Chorizo

Sunny Anderson

Ingredients

2 (5-pound) bags mussels
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound spicy Mexican chorizo, casing removed
1 Vidalia onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, slivered
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bottle dry white wine
Parsley, chopped, for garnish

Directions

Working, 1 at a time, scrub any grit from shells under running water. Discard open mussels that do not close with a few taps of the finger and any with cracked shells. Put the mussels in a bowl of cold water.
Heat the oil in a large wide pot over medium-high heat and add the chorizo. Using a wooden spoon or potato masher, mash the chorizo into chunks, so it resembles ground beef. Saute until brown, about 8 minutes. Remove chorizo to a bowl. In the same pot, add the onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute 3 minutes to sweat. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Pull the mussels from bowl and transfer them and the water to the pot, do not strain, leaving behind any sand and grit that has sunk to the bottom. Stir to coat. Add the chorizo back into the pot and cover. Cook over medium heat until the mussels open, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a large serving bowl, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

This was so fast and easy...minus the cleaning process. I had the chorizo on hand but no white wine. I substituted with chicken stock instead. I also threw in a handful of frozen corn at the last minute for a boost of color. Really tasty! I bet it would have tasted even better if I had the wine. Next time!!

Retro Red

2011-02-07T20:50:00.001-05:00

This past Friday was my 32nd birthday. It was also Superbowl weekend. I had this nice blog post all planned in my mind. I was going to share a kabocha squash caramel flan and chorizo potato skins I had made for the game. Come time to type it up and my mind goes completely blank. So much for my super post tonight. I'm so tired for some reason. I think I nodded off a few times at work today. I'm going to blame all this on old age. Haha! Actually to be honest, I think all my exhaustion is due to the horrible eating I've been doing for the past few months. I need to get back on the wagon and eat healthier!

In the meantime, here's my birthday present from an old friend. I've been wanting red shoes for awhile now. I need some color to kick start the year. This color is called Retro Red. :)

The New York Times' Almond Cake

2011-02-01T20:31:00.002-05:00

I was introduced to this delicious almond cake by the queen of Twitter herself, Lovelylanvin (this chick has over 47K tweets to date). Lovelylanvin kept tweeting about this almond cake she had baked. I got curious and asked for the recipe. Boy am I glad I did!! This cake has a really nice almond flavor, soft, spongy texture, and is not overwhelmingly sweet. With just a light dusting of confectioner sugar and a couple scoops of ice cream, it makes the perfect dessert. The recipe comes from The New York Times and can be found here.

I had a bag of frozen raspberries in the freezer. I thawed some out and spooned it over the cake for that extra "kick". Mmm....not every cake needs a layer of frosting on it to be good. :)

Artsy Fartsy Chicken Pot Pies

2011-01-29T22:46:00.001-05:00

Here's my attempt at "art" photography....umm using my iPhone camera. :) I made these chicken pot pies a few weeks ago when the weather was actually freezing. We're going to hit the mid to high 70's this coming week. I'm sad to say that the cold is probably making its way out of Florida. I'd love to get some of that cold air from up north. They can keep the snow, though.

These chicken pot pies were so quick, easy, and delicious. I used canned cream of chicken soup, frozen mixed veggies, left over store bought rotisserie chicken, and frozen pie crust. I mixed everything together, filled up my ramekins, cut out circles in the pie crust, and popped them in the oven until hot and golden. I sprinkled a bit of Parmesan cheese on top before it went into the oven for the fancy effect. Did it work? Ha! Semi homemade suits me just fine. Believe me when I say I can use all the help I can get (especially during the work week). Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-26T21:15:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I know I'm a little late. January is almost over, and I'm just now making my first post of the year. One of my three New Year's Resolutions included "Updating blog at least 4 to 5 times a week." My other two were "lose weight and save money." So far I haven't been able to stick to any diets, my first post of the year is on January 26th, and I just spent $135 on a pair of shoes and 4 Japanese graphic novels....early birthday presents to myself. :) All I have to say is Chinese New Year's is coming up February 3rd. I'll start my resolutions then. It's like getting a second chance. Woohoo!!

Anyway, yesterday most of central Florida got pounded by heavy rains and tornado warnings. I didn't want to stop anywhere after work and risk getting stuck in the storm. I came home to a pretty empty fridge unfortunately. Luckily I always have a package of bacon. In the vegetable crisper compartment of my fridge, I had a nice bunch of asparagus. I wrapped half a slice of bacon around each stalk and stuck them under the broiler. About 20 minutes later....yummy bacon wrapped asparagus. My awesome friend, Kat from Our Adventures in Japan suggested eating them with some rice and a nice runny fried egg on top. I was such a pig. By the time I saw her tweet, I'd already polished most of them off. Next time I make this again, I will try it with the rice and over easy egg.

Sorry about the weird coloration of my photo. My little Canon point and shoot died. I've been using the camera on my iPhone. It takes horrible indoor pictures. Well I hope everyone is staying warm and dry!!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T10:28:00.001-05:00

I know it's been forever since I've updated my blog. I'm going to blame the end of the year crunch. ;o) Hopefully I'll be a better blogger come the new year. Thank you so much for everyone that has visited my little blog. I absolutely love reading your comments.

I'm off to California for Christmas vacation. Actually I'm on the plane right now. Hooray for inflight internet!! Although, this must be what dial up internet must feel like. Sloooooow!! Here's the view from my airplane window. Just boring clouds. What? Were you expecting a gremlin on the wing? I think maybe 5 people got that Twilight Zone reference. Ha!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Yay Friday and Split Pea Soup!!

2010-11-12T09:08:00.002-05:00

The weather has finally cooled off a bit here in Florida. Since we have such a small window for "winter", as soon as the cooler temperatures set in, you have to jump at it. Break out that awesome new sweater you bought last year because you might get lucky and wear it at least twice! Ha!

To celebrate the glorious 60°F temps, I made a big pot of split pea soup over the weekend. I tweeted a picture of it along with a grilled sourdough cheese sandwich. One of my foodie friends later tweeted that it was Split Pea Soup week November 8th-13th. For once I’m actually ahead of the game. This was the first time I made split pea soup and was very happy to see how easy it was.

I bought a bag of dried split peas, soaked/washed them in water for about 30 minutes. I’m not sure if soaking the peas was really necessary, but the warning label on the bag about possible stray pebbles and twigs scared me a little. Using the bacon fat I saved from breakfast, I sautéed one diced carrot and an onion in a large stock pot. I added 12 cups of chicken broth, brought it to a full boil, dropped in the split peas, turned the heat down, put the lid on the pot, and walked away. 30 minutes later the peas had softened. A bit of salt and pepper and it was ready for my immersion hand blender. Don’t be stupid like me…. PUT YOUR SPEED ON LOW. :)

Tada!!! Split Pea Soup! Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s much you can do to make split pea soup look prettier. No matter what, someone will always think about poor little Regan spitting pea soup at everyone in The Exorcist.

Pomegranates.....Sweet and Delicious

2010-10-30T22:08:00.001-04:00

This little beauty was picked from a tree in my front yard. It's a bit on the small side and doesn't possess the smooth, pretty, red skin that you'd normally find on pomegranates at the grocery store. My pomegranates have a rough, dull, red skin with patches of brown. Maybe I need more fertilizer? Fortunately, what it lacks in appearance, it makes up in taste. I split this little guy open and tons of fat, sweet, juicy, seeds fell out. I couldn't even get myself to share. Teehee! Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Happy Halloween!

Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival

2010-10-18T21:45:00.001-04:00

Last weekend Doug and I went to Epcot's 15th Annual International Food and Wine Festival. The festival runs from October 1st to November 14th. This is the second time we've gone since moving to Florida. It's one big grubbing session. The eleven countries represented in the World Showcase each had food stalls offering different wines and dishes native to their own countries. The foods are served in very small portions similar to tapas ranging from $3 -$7 USD per plate.

Spaceship Earth, Epcot's most famous iconic and symbolic structure.

First up, Italy

Two chocolate cannolis and baked cheese and beef ravioli. Pretty typical, nothing new or special but still tasty.

From France, Escargot in mini buttery rolls. This was Doug's first time trying snails. He pretended they were mushrooms. Ha! He ended up eating two.

From Germany, a very long beer sausage in a pretzel bun and Spatzle. Think what you want about the sausage because chances are I've already said it. :) The Spatzle was my favorite of the two.

Canada, Cheddar Cheese Soup with ham bits. Spicy Chicken Chorizo sausage topped with caramelized onions and peppers with a sweet corn polenta. The sausage was really, really spicy. Thank goodness for the sweet corn polenta. It helped cut through the heat. How Canadian this dish really is, I'm not sure.

United Kingdom, Fish and chips baby!! Can't go wrong with crispy fried fish and salty chips.

Teehee! It's the "The British Invasion Band"

Singapore, lemongrass shrimp cake on a sugar cane skewer served with chilled noodles. The shrimp cake was piping hot. It definitely made an interesting temperature combo with the coldness of the noodles. Sorry about the blue hue in this picture. I ran out of memory on my digital camera just as I got to the park and had to use the camera on my iPhone. lol

Japan... I passed on the sushi because I couldn't get myself to pay $5 for 4 tiny pieces of tuna when I could get an entire roll at a restaurant for a few more dollars. Instead I got some rainbow Kaki Gori. Strawberry, cherry, my favorite melon, and tangerine. It really hit the spot. It was blazing hot that day too.

Souvenirs!! Since I'll never make it to Japan in this lifetime. :(

My very own solar powered geisha! Her head bobs from side to side.

These rice bowls were too cute. I had to pick up a couple for myself.

Doug and I had an awesome time eating and walking around. It's a bit pricey but definitely worth it. We'll do it again next year.

Twitter Taco Party!

2010-10-03T16:15:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I posted on Twitter a picture of fish tacos I made for lunch. I received a lot of really fun and sweet comments from my Twitter peeps. One joke lead to another and #twitterfoodparty was born. It's a really fun idea. The last Monday of every month, we all make a dish that everyone agrees on. Then we tweet pictures of our finished foods. It's a great way to see all the different and creative ways one dish can be prepared. It really makes you think outside the box. This past Monday was the first "twitter food party". Everyone made tacos.

This was my contribution to the party, carnitas tacos with pico de gallo, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime juice. Next month #twitterfoodparty is pasta. Come join the fun!

Ichigo Daifuku

2010-09-12T18:29:00.001-04:00

Awhile back I watched my favorite cooking show on YouTube called "Cooking with Dog". The title sounds funny but it's a really entertaining and informative step-by-step cooking show. This episode was called "How to Make Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Daifuku)". It looked easy enough. I just had to go buy some glutinous rice flour and potato starch....that was last year. Earlier this month I finally made my way to the Asian Market (an hours drive from my house) and bought 2 bags of glutinous rice flour and a bag of potato starch. I'm a procrastinator with a capital "P".

I didn't have a steamer big enough to hold a sturdy, heat proof bowl to make the mochi dough. My blogger buddy Kat came to the rescue. She linked me her microwave method of making mochi. It worked like a charm. I pinched techniques and recipes from both Kat and Cooking with Dog. Thanks guys! The recipe isn't exact but here's what I pretty much did.

Super Easy Microwaved Ichigo Daifuku

1 cup Glutinous Rice Flour
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
Potato starch for dusting
5 strawberries
6 oz of Sweet Red Bean Paste

Cut the tops off the washed and dried strawberries. Take the sweet bean paste and wrap it completely around the entire strawberry. Set aside. In a sturdy bowl, mix together the flour, water, and sugar. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and nuke in microwave for 2 minutes. Remove plastic wrap from bowl and give the batter a stir. My dough formed a slightly dry layer on the surface. Re-cover bowl with plastic wrap and nuke for 1 more minute.

Sprinkle your work surface with potato starch. If you don't have potato starch, cornstarch works just fine. Knead the dough a bit. Roll out into a log. I was able to cut 6 pieces from this blob. The mochi is very hot but you must work quickly. Take a piece of mochi, stretch and flatten it out. Place 1 strawberry in the center and bring up the sides of the mochi. Pinch the top close and mold the cake with the palm of your hands. Rinse and repeat until all your ingredients are all used up.

Notice my strawberry is upside down. Boo!! My mochi layer was also uneven in some places, thicker in some spots, thinner in others. I'll have to work on the whole wrapping and molding technique. Other than those couple of things, it tasted great. I was pretty happy with the results. Now that I have the basic recipe for mochi down, I can start playing around with different fillings....like ice cream!!!

Testing out Blogger Mobile and Ropa Vieja

2010-09-09T07:25:00.004-04:00

I'm testing out Blogger Mobile with a picture of what I had for dinner last night, ropa vieja. Out of curiosity I looked up the meaning and in Spanish, ropa vieja means "old clothes". Interesting, eh?

Update: Looks like Blogger Mobile works when I send posts through my email. Nothing posted when I sent it through MMS on my iPhone. Hmm.... More tweaking to do, I guess.

Project Chrome and Iced Green Tea

2010-08-29T17:04:00.003-04:00

My Facebook and Twitter friends all know I'm a bit obsessive about my new baby, a 2010 MINI Cooper S. To buy the car with ALL the options I wanted would have broken the bank. So, I bought one that was within my budget and I'm doing after market customizations piece by piece. First thing was to replace as many stock parts with chrome as I could. I love pretty, shiny things. But before I go into that, I found an old picture of some iced green tea sweetened with a mint and ginger simple syrup. I had made this a couple of months ago. Today has been so hot. I wished I had a tall glass of this tea to help cut the heat.

There's no real recipe. I just brewed a pitcher of green tea and made the mint and ginger simple syrup. I used one cup granulated sugar and one cup of water. In a small saucepan heat the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Float in a couple slices of peeled ginger root and a few sprigs of mint. When the sugar is completely dissolved remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Remove ginger and mint. Add syrup to tea. Sweeten to taste.

Ok onto the good stuff! This is where the tomboy'ish side of me comes out. I love looking at cool cars. I often torture my Twitter friends with random pics of cars I see on the streets.

The first pieces that I had swapped out were my black stock side mirror caps. I priced a few online stores and surprisingly my MINI dealer had the cheapest price. Unfortunately they wanted a ridiculous amount for labor and shop fees. I told them I'll swap the caps out myself.

Using a $2 Pampered Chef Nylon Pan Scraper that I bought off eBay, Doug with his broken finger used the simple kitchen tool to pry off the stock caps. Once off, it was a breeze snapping on the new chrome caps.

Next up was replacing my stock bonnet air scoop. Doug had to unscrew a bolt underneath the bonnet and used the same pan scraper to lift up and remove the air scoop.

Once the stock scoop was completely removed, Doug replaced it with the chrome scoop which was also purchased from the dealer. Easy peasy!

I'd love a set of shiny, chrome rims for my tires but sadly that's long, long away in the distant future. They're a bit too expensive for me right now. Booo!! I'll be saving up for quite awhile. For now I'll settle for a chrome trunk handle. I need something on the back of the car to balance out the shiny front. Girls and their silly toys, right?!?! Ha! :)

Brown Turkey Figs

2010-08-24T21:24:00.001-04:00

I was on my weekly food shopping trip when I came across fresh figs. Oh I was very excited because my store NEVER carries anything beyond the norm of apples, oranges, pears, etc... Pretty boring. The last time I had fresh figs was when I was vacationing in San Diego during Christmas 2009. The closest I've had to figs since were Fig Newton cookies. Totally not even close!!

These are the Brown Turkey variety. I'm not sure why they're called that. Anyone know why? I liked the packaging. It kept each fig from being crushed and bruised. I don't have any special way of eating them. I wash, slice them up, and eat as is. My awesome blogger/Twitter friend Kat suggested eating the figs with chopped walnuts, blue cheese crumbles, and a drizzle of honey all warmed up. I didn't have any blue cheese so I substituted with feta cheese instead. I also missed the part of her tweet where it said I should warm it up. I ate it all cold and it was still so tasty. I love the sweetness of the honey and figs against the saltiness of the feta. The walnuts gave it a nice crunch.

I still have a handful of figs left over. I will warm it up a bit the next time I make this again. How do you like to eat figs?

Brooklyn Combo (The Sampler)

2010-07-30T23:42:00.001-04:00

Look at this awesome hot mess! It's called the Brooklyn Combo (The Sampler). This Italian heart attack on a plate was Doug's lunch today when we went to Brooklyn Pasta & Pizza in Viera, FL. We've been here once before and really liked it, especially their New York style pizzas.

This combo came with a slice of lasagna, one manicotti, baked ziti, one stuffed shell, a meatball, and a sausage for $15.95 + tax USD. It was A LOT of food. My boy ended up taking almost half of it home.

I stuck with what I like best, their New York style Bianco (White) Pizza in the "mini" portion. Good thing I ordered the mini pizza because it's soooo rich and creamy and oh so ooey gooey. I can't imagine eating more than two slices in a sitting. Maybe next time I'll break the habit and order something different.

Some of you know I bought a Mini Cooper S (my little baby!) last month. Today I finally handed over the keys to my old car, a 2006 Toyota Corolla to its new owner. It's funny but during the time I had the Corolla, I only saw it as the thing that drove me back and forth from home to work. I bought it at the last minute four years ago and wasn't excited about the choice I made. It was a purely economical decision. I was so happy to replace it with my Mini. But today I felt oddly sentimental and was actually sad to see it go. It was a good little car and it served me well. I hope its new owner takes good care of it because that little car will run forever.

If you're wondering, that's a decal of of Ichigo Kurosaki from the manga, Bleach in the rear window.

Chocorooms and Weird Herbal Water

2010-07-24T23:20:00.001-04:00

Today I went to one of my favorite stores, World Market. It's a cute store that sells home furnishings and decor. There's a small section in the back of the store where they sell different beverages, snacks, and foods from around the world. That's where I usually head first.

On this trip I was really debating whether or not to try out Vegemite. I'd been eying the little jars of Vegemite and Marmite for months now. They're probably the same jars as I don't think they sell very well. I asked my fabulous foodie friends on Twitter whether or not I should give it a taste. I received a resounding "NOOOOOO!" on Vegemite and one "Yes" for the Marmite. I passed on both for now and picked up something tastier instead.

Chocorooms! They're not chocolate covered mushrooms or anything like that. Chocorooms are "sweet and crispy" little mushroom shaped cookies. The cap is solid chocolate and the stem is a crispy, crunchy cookie. I had seen these at the Japanese supermarket before but was always distracted by the Pocky aisle instead.

Cute aren't they? I think Chocorooms and original chocolate Pocky tastes very similar. I was happy with this purchase.

I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting looking drinks. I admit it. I'm attracted to cool and unusual looking labels and bottles. I know you're not suppose to "judge a book by its cover" but I do it all the time when it comes to beverages. Not surprisingly 9 out of 10 times, it tastes HORRIBLE. But this time I chose well.

Cinnamon orange peel flavored water!! I've never seen this combo before. Just like the label says "zero calories" and it's sugar free. I've had bad luck with healthy flavored waters before. Almost all end up tasting like super bland, diluted, Kool-Aid. This however tasted surprisingly good. First you get a burst of orange flavoring. It's a bit bitter but quite enjoyable. Just imagine biting into an orange peel until it gives off that light mist. Then almost as if it were an aftertaste, the cinnamon makes a subtle appearance on your taste buds. This is a totally unique tasting drink. Unfortunately, at $1.50 USD for 16 FL OZ it's a bit pricey for me to indulge in everyday. Maybe I should go the poor man's route and just float some orange peels in a bottle of water. Ha!

Mini Fruit Froyo

2010-07-23T15:24:00.001-04:00

Two of my favorite things, Mini Coopers and frozen yogurt with tons of fresh fruit piled on top!

Woohoo! TGIF!!! Have a good weekend, everybody.

White Pizza ,Baseball, and Other Stuff

2010-07-17T18:43:00.003-04:00

I had originally planned to write about my Italian Beef sandwich experience from my Chicago trip last month but some things got in the way. Instead, here's what I just had for dinner. This was leftover pizza from last night.

I had spent most of yesterday afternoon sitting in a dark theater surrounded by millions of little kids. I saw Despicable Me with the hubs. It was OK. I got a little bored in some scenes but the kiddies really seemed to enjoy it. I had high hopes because it had a pretty good cast but left a bit disappointed. "It's so FLUFFY!!!!!!"

After the movie we headed to the Florida Manatees' Minor League stadium so Doug could get autographs. The heat and humidity was unbearable even at 6 o'clock in the evening. I was using a white paper napkin to wipe the sweat off my face. Little did I know the napkin was shredding up and leaving bits of white napkin all over my forehead and cheeks. It was pretty. Here I thought the bat boy was staring at me because I was cute. LOL!

Luckily Doug was able to get all the players he needed and we left before the game even started. Yes, Doug pays for admission solely for the autographs. I can't even remember the last time we stayed and watched a minor league game. That suits me just fine. :) By now we're both sweaty and starving which brings me right back to the white pizza. This delicious, rich, and creamy pizza is from a little pizza joint called Brooklyn's Pizza & Pasta in Rockledge, FL. The crust was prefect, thin and crispy....just how I like it. How did it reheat? Very well actually. I threw on some fresh basil from my garden and popped it in the oven for a few minutes.

The lighting in the restaurant was really bad. Dimly lit with yellow over hanging lamps. I had to edit the crap out of the photo to make it look somewhat "normal".

Brooklyn Pizza & Pasta also had rice balls, another favorite of mine. This is filled with ground beef, cheese, and peas inside a softball sized ball of white rice, rolled in bread crumbs, and then deep fried. Good stuff!

A Really Tasty but Bad Dinner

2010-07-13T19:47:00.001-04:00

During my recent two month blogging break, Doug and I went to Chicago and Baltimore. This was my 4th trip to Chicago and my 1st to Baltimore. I'll eventually get around to posting some pictures. They're all sitting in my camera waiting to be looked through at the moment.

All my friends know that when my boy and I travel, it's to EAT. Sightseeing comes second on the itinerary. Unfortunately we always end up overeating (good times!!!) and have been known to gain 5 to 8 pounds after one trip. Once we're back home, it's diet, diet, diet until the next vacation comes up. Then we do it all over again. It's a vicious never ending cycle. :)

It has been almost one week since I came back from my Baltimore trip. I must admit I'm having a really, really hard time getting back on a normal diet. I do well during the day but once dinner times rolls around...watch out. Seems like the evening is when I blow it. Tonight was no different. I went to a place called Jason's Deli and ordered my favorite heart attack on a plate, the Bird to the Wise.

This tasty sandwich is stuffed full of oven roasted turkey breast, hot pastrami, and swiss cheese on a toasted onion bun with your choice of mustard or mayo. I just looked up the nutritional information and this baby packs a whopping 1,491 calories and 113 grams of fat. Luckily I did not even come close to eating the whole thing. To be honest, after looking up this sandwich I may think twice about ordering it again. Sheesh! You just never realize how much crap you're taking in until you see the numbers in print. Scary but oh so tasty stuff.

Maybe you guys can leave me some chastising comments and shame me back on my diet??? Just remember I cry easily. Haha!!

Redberry Gourmet Frozen Yogurt

2010-07-11T21:19:00.005-04:00

I've been whining for a couple of years now that there isn't a decent frozen yogurt place near where I live. Until recently I got my froyo fix once a year when we made our annual California and Las Vegas trip. Usually the first stop was to Yogurtland where I loaded up on taro flavored yogurt topped with mochi bits and fresh fruits. The part that sucked was our trips were always during December. The weather would be in the low 60's and 50's and here I was loading up on froyo. I got used to the numbness, inside and out.

A couple of weeks ago, I struck gold. I found a newly opened Yogurtland in Winter Park, FL. That's about an hour's drive from my house. Have yogurt, will travel. I think I sent out half a dozen tweets about my new discovery. Yesterday I got a text message from my buddy Zackanarnius informing me a new froyo place just opened up. It was about 25 minutes away and called Redberry. Redberry?? Did she mean Pinkberry? Nope she said and meant Redberry.

So this is Redberry, no relation to Pinkberry. Inside it's set up pretty much like a Yogurtland.

First you grab a cup from the wall mounted cup dispenser. Then along the opposite wall are all the different flavors of self served froyo you can choose from. They had Red Velvet, Cake Batter, Original Tart, Orange, Raspberry, Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla, Cheesecake, and my all time favorite...Taro. You can mix and match flavors all you want. Next you visit the topping bar. There's a huge selection of self serve toppings. There's the traditional sprinkles, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, nuts, crushed cookies and candy bars. They also have a nice selection of fresh fruit. I was on the hunt for one specific topping, mochi bits. Lo and behold...there was a bin of untouched mochi bits. Untouched was fine with me. I was glad everyone there steered clear of the powdery looking mini pillows of goodness. That meant more for me!!

Last step, you take your cup up to the register and plop it down on the scale. Like Yogurtland, you're charged by the weight. Redberry charges 44 cents per ounce. They're a little bit pricier than most. For my cup and Doug's (his was half empty) the price came to a little over $9 USD.

There's a handful of tables inside where you can sit and enjoy your yogurt. It's really nicely decorated, cute, clean, and modern.

This is my cup. It was my "lunch" so I loaded up. Underneath the diced mango, kiwi, strawberries, raspberries, and mochi bits lay a bed of Red Velvet, Cake Batter, and of course my beloved Taro. Did I mention I love taro froyo? Well actually I'm a sucker for anything taro flavored. Everything tasted pretty good. The taro was a bit on the tart side but overall I was very happy. I think I'll be stopping by after work at least once a week.

Here's more Mini Love.

I found this cute little black Mini with a checkerboard roof decal parked next to me when I came out of Barnes and Noble. I couldn't resist taking a picture. Awww.....so cute!

Time for a Change

2010-07-10T16:59:00.003-04:00

I started Pass the Pocky last year because I absolutely love reading food blogs. I really enjoy looking at food photos and seeing all the creative ideas people were coming up with. I decided I wanted to be apart of this exploding foodie community. The first few months of posting came to me really quickly and easily (although looking back at old entries, I want to cringe and roll up into a ball. I had no sense of direction). Unfortunately, after I pillaged my backlog of ideas, everything just came to a dead stop. Blogging became harder as I was constantly on the lookout for fresh ideas. With millions of awesome food blogs already established, it was difficult finding something to write about that hadn't been done a hundred times over. My posts came few and far apart as the months went on. Eventually towards the end of 2009, I just stopped posting completely. I'll spare you the "oh woe is me, why can't I gain an audience or come up with more creative recipes?" sob story. Ha! Bottom line for me.....Blogging is not as easy as it looks. I salute all bloggers that never disappoint their readers and posts everyday! You know who you guys are. /clap, clap I'll stop rambling now and get to the point of this post. :)

I know if I continue on this track, my blog will be completely dead in a few months. I'm not ready for that just yet! I was chatting with fellow food blogger, Miu of Spirited Miu Flavor on Facebook today. After sharing stories about our "not very updated" blogs, we came to the same conclusion. The ideas and photos for the posts are there, it's putting everything into a nice little blog post that's throwing me off. I've been known to sit for hours mulling over a single post, making sure my recipes are correct, instructions are informative enough, checking for spelling and grammar, worrying if I'm boring or rambling too much...etc. It just SUCKS the fun right out of blogging.

I'm taking Pass the Pocky in a new direction. I'm going to post nothing but photos of my five, soon to be six cats. Just kidding! Although, I do have enough cat pictures to do it. Instead of the typical "how to" food blog with recipe and step by step instructions, it'll be more of a "Hey look at what I ate today! or Look at this weirdo thing I just did or saw" food blog. I'll throw in a caption here or there. I found that I was already doing this a lot on Twitter and it was really fun. I love reading all the "@" replies too. Instant gratification at its finest. Hopefully this will strengthen my photography "skills" (yeah right, I still use cell phone camera pics) and maybe even help me become a better blogger. Well, it sounds fun and I'm excited about it. Wish me luck!

I leave you today with a picture of the newest member of my family.

This is my two week old 2010 Mini Cooper S in Pepper White with black bonnet stripes. This little baby took me 8 years to get and now she is MINE!!!! Mwahahaha!!!! I apologize to those who have been forced to look at this picture a million times already. Proud parent here, y'know. Did I mention she's all MINE!?!?!

Chocolat Fromage Pocky!!

2010-06-13T14:57:00.001-04:00

I've been really slacking on my blog posts lately. It always seems to happen around Summer time. The weather gets unbearably hot and I lose interest in cooking and baking (BUT NOT EATING). Most of my meals are either take out, frozen dinners, or eating out. I do enjoy eating out though.

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I've been in Chicago for the past week doing the whole touristy thing. I'm heading to Baltimore, MD in 3 1/2 weeks. I'm really excited at the thought of eating crab cakes the size of my head. I've never been there before so if you have any "must do or eats", please let me know. Thanks!

Hopefully by then I'll have lots to post about. Until then, here's a new Pocky flavor for me that I found at my favorite Japanese supermarket, Mitsuwa in Chicago.

Mmm...Chocolat Fromage. Fancy eh?? Ha!!

Summer Carpaccio Salad

2010-05-02T17:54:00.002-04:00

Remember those posts I wrote earlier this year whining about the cold front Florida was having? Well, I take it all back. I'm begging on my knees for another cold front. It's been sweltering hot these past couple of weeks and it's only the beginning of May. I don't even want to think about when summer hits. I predict a lot of salads and icy cold drinks for months to come. For today's lunch, I made a light and refreshing carpaccio salad.

Ingredients

1/2 pound zucchini
1/2 pound yellow squash
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 handfuls spinach
Parmesan cheese

For dressing:
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast almonds on a baking sheet 10-15 minutes or until golden and fragrant; let cool.

Trim zucchini and yellow squash. Cut squash lengthwise into ribbons with a mandoline or vegetable peeler. Put ribbons in a large bowl.

In a small bowl whisk together olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Take garlic clove, mince into a paste and add to mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add dressing to squash; toss to coat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add 2 handfuls spinach to squash. Shave Parmesan cheese into bowl. Add several grinds of black pepper. Toss gently. Transfer to a plate, top with almonds and serve.

I squeezed extra lemon juice on top because I like that extra pucker. It was quick and easy. Even Doug said he could eat it if he had to. Haha! I'll take that as a compliment from the veggie hater.

Lemon Roasted Cabbage

2010-04-27T19:22:00.004-04:00

I bought a head of cabbage about two weeks ago. Somehow I forgot about it. The poor thing just sat in my vegetable crisper until I found it again last night. All the outer leaves were turning yellow. I had to cook it. I poked around for a recipe and found a whole bunch of websites that said to treat your cabbage like a gigantic brussell sprout and roast it. A fellow Twitter peep suggested I roast the cabbage with a bit of olive oil, Herbes de Provence and sea salt. Awesome idea but unfortunately I couldn't find any Herbes de Provence. Next best thing....olive oil and lemon.

Ingredients

1 head of green cabbage
1 lemon
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

Remove dirty outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage in half and then slice each half into quarters. I removed the core from mine but next time I will leave it intact. My wedges were falling apart mid roast.

Place the wedges on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Roast for 20-30 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking time, until edges are a bit brown.

Remove from oven and squeeze lemon juice over the wedges to taste.

I drowned mine in lemon juice. It was so good and mouth puckering next to some BBQ grilled chicken. It made the house smell a little funny but I'd definitely would roast cabbage again. Next time I'll throw in some bacon and leave it in a little longer to get a darker brown leaf.

Prosciutto Asparagus Spirals

2010-04-25T09:51:00.005-04:00

Puff pastry, the stuff is just awesome. The way it puffs up in the oven, it makes simple ingredients look elegant and "gourmet". I was on puffpastry.com again and found a really cool looking appetizer right on the front page, Prosciutto Asparagus Spirals. These are so fast and easy to make.

Ingredients

1 package (17.3 ounces) Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed
6 tablespoons garlic & herb spreadable cheese, softened
8 slices prosciutto or thinly sliced deli ham
30 medium asparagus spears, trimmed

Directions

Heat the oven to 400°F. Unfold the pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface. Spread 3 tablespoons cheese on each pastry sheet. Top each with 4 slices prosciutto. Cut each into 15 strips crosswise, making 30 in all.

Tightly wrap 1 pastry strip around each asparagus spear, prosciutto-side in. Place the pastries seam-side down onto 2 baking sheets.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.

These were good. Although I could have added more of the garlic herb cheese spread and wrapped the puff pastry a bit tighter. Doug ate three which is actually a big deal since he doesn't like most veggies. That's okay, more for me. He was dunking them in creamy Italian salad dressing . He wants a Hollandaise Sauce for dipping next time. Not a bad idea.

Orange Zest Cupcakes

2010-04-21T07:52:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a cookbook called "Perfect Cupcakes delicious, easy, and fun to make". Yup, it's a cookbook filled with nothing but cupcakes. There are plenty of decadent and dangerous looking cupcakes in this book. The nice thing is each recipe is a serving size of six instead of the usual 18 or 24.

The first recipe I tried out are the Orange Zest cupcakes. I thought it was interesting that the cupcakes weren't frosted but had a sugar and orange zest crumble topping. It looked more like a muffin than a cupcake.

Ingredients
Makes 6

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely shredded orange zest
3/4 cup cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 6 cup standard muffin pan by greasing or inserting liners.

For the topping, in a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon of the sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of the orange zest, pressing the zest into the sugar with the back of a spoon. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining orange zest. Stir in the remaining sugar. In a small mixing bowl, combine the egg, milk, melted butter, and orange juice concentrate. Add all at once to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened.

Divide the batter equally among the prepared cups. Sprinkle the tops with the sugar-orange mixture. Bake until the tops spring back when lightly tapped, 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely.

The cupcakes came out really light and fluffy but they were on the dry side. Maybe more butter or the addition of some cooking oil could help keep them moist. Next time I will frost them with chocolate frosting and then sprinkle the orange sugar mixture on top. A cupcake just isn't a cupcake without frosting. Ha!

Colcannon...Not just for St. Patty's Day

2010-04-17T22:05:00.004-04:00

I love potatoes. I love a huge loaded baked potato, baked sweet potato with tons of brown sugar, garlic mashed potatoes, home fries, fried taters, whatever...the list can go on and on. Several years ago when Tyler Florence's show called Tyler's Ultimate first came out on Food Network, he went to Ireland and made this simple dish called Colcannon.

The ingredients were so simple, steamed potatoes, cabbage, butter, milk, and ham. It looked so delicious and comforting. Unfortunately, I didn't cook back then. The recipe was tucked in the back of my brain and forgotten about until I saw a recent episode of Good Eats on Food Network last month. Did you know corned beef and cabbage is as "Irish" as General Tso's Chicken and the fortune cookie are Chinese? I know it, stunned me too!!! That episode just debunked everything I always thought was Irish. Anyway, the show made me think of Colcannon. Now I knew that was an authentic Irish dish. After all, it was a cute little lady with a thick Irish accent that taught Tyler Florence how to make it. ;)

Ingredients

3 pounds potatoes, scrubbed
2 sticks butter
1 1/4 cups hot milk
Freshly ground black pepper
1 head cabbage, cored and finely shredded
1 (1-pound) piece ham or bacon, cooked the day before
4 scallions, finely chopped
Chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Directions

Steam the potatoes in their skins for 30 minutes. Peel them using a knife and fork. Chop with a knife before mashing. Mash thoroughly to remove all the lumps. Add 1 stick of butter in pieces. Gradually add hot milk, stirring all the time. Season with a few grinds of black pepper.

Boil the cabbage in unsalted water until it turns a darker color. Add 2 tablespoons butter to tenderize it. Cover with lid for 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly before returning it to the pan. Chop into small pieces.

Put the ham in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes until tender. Drain. Remove any fat and chop into small pieces.

Add cabbage, scallions, and ham to mashed potatoes, stirring them in gently.

Serve in individual soup plates. Make an indentation on the top by swirling a wooden spoon. Put 1 tablespoon of butter into each indentation. Sprinkle with parsley.

I boiled my potatoes instead of steaming them (couldn't find my steamer basket). I also skipped the parsley because I didn't have any. I made up for it by garnishing with extra butter! It was really good and homey feeling. My boy doesn't like cabbage, but he said he didn't mind it so much in this.

Bittersweet Chocolate & Cardamom Cream Jalousie

2010-04-13T07:45:00.012-04:00

I think Bittersweet Chocolate and Cardamom Cream Jalousie is just fancy schmancy for chocolate and cinnamon cheese danish with cool slits cut in the pastry. What do you think? Ha! Anyway, I was itching to make something for dessert last night and came across this recipe on puffpastry.com. The name sounded complicated but the ingredients and directions were super simple.

Ingredients

1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package of Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

Heat the oven to 400°F. Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Cut the pastry sheet in half lengthwise to form 2 rectangles. Fold 1 rectangle in half lengthwise. Using a sharp knife, cut 9 slits through the folded side to within 1/2-inch of the opposite edge.

Stir the cream cheese and cinnamon in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth. Place the uncut pastry rectangle onto a baking sheet. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the pastry to within 1/2-inch of the edge. Sprinkle with the chocolate. Unfold the cut pastry and place it over the filling. Press the edges to seal.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

It came out really nicely. The directions didn't say to but I brushed the top with a bit of egg wash and sprinkled it with sugar before popping into the oven. I thought it was going to be really sweet and rich with the cream cheese and chocolate but it wasn't. I think with this technique I'm going to try using fruit fillings for next time. My boy even suggested adding almond paste and making bear claws.

Dim Sum, Chinese Sunday Brunch

2010-04-11T21:31:00.005-04:00

The last time we went for Dim Sum at Chan's Chinese Cuisine was last year for my mom's birthday. I've been having mad cravings for awhile now so Doug and I went this morning for Sunday brunch. We tried out a new place called Lam's Garden in Orlando. Dim Sum starts at 10:30. We were there bright and early waiting for the doors to open along with three other families. Dim Sum is serious business. Ha! You have to get there early or the line will be out the door.

I ordered the usual Dim Sum fare of Cha Siu Baau (steamed bbq pork buns), shrimp and pork Har Gao (dumplings), pork shaomai (more steamed dumplings), steamed green vegetables, fried turnip cake (my favorite), pork spare ribs, tofu skin rolls, and fried shrimp balls.

I was happy to see Lam's Garden used the traditional rolling carts. Each cart offered a different type of dish. One cart had all the steamed foods like dumplings and buns, another cart had all the fried foods, etc.. The steamed dish cart had a very traditional Dim Sum dish....the Phoenix Talons aka chicken feet. The feet are deep fried, boiled, marinated in a black bean sauce and then steamed.

We politely turned down the waitress when she first suggested it. But as the meal progressed, Doug kept bringing up the chicken feet every time the "steamed" cart rolled by. Finally as the meal was winding down, I couldn't take it anymore and waved the chicken feet lady over. Yup, one toe each and we were done. It was like sucking skin off a tiny chicken neck bone. I brought the rest home for my chicken feet loving mom. Oh well. At least I can say I tried it.

What I'm happy that we didn't turn down were the snails in black bean sauce. These were AMAZING!!!

Lemon Pudding Cake with Fresh Mixed Berries

2010-04-05T19:49:00.011-04:00

This past week I made two cakes, a lemonade cake and a lemon pudding cake. My lemonade cake was an epic failure. I'm serious. This cake was so bad that I couldn't even give it away to my human garbage disposal co-workers. Let's just say one melted can of lemonade concentrate mixed with 3/4 cup powdered sugar and then soaked into a cake only be to garnished with more yellow colored sugar is NOT good eats. It looked tasty enough but don't let looks fool you. It was so throat wrenchingly sweet. Death by lemonade cake! You'd need a gallon of water to wash the cake down. I'm cringing just thinking about it. I should post the recipe and see if anyone else has better luck with it.

My second cake came out much nicer. No artificial ingredients this time, just real lemon juice and zest. My sweet Facebook friend Kim from Ordinary Recipes Made Gourmet liked my cake so much that she posted about it on her own food blog. She even suggests a nice whipped cream to go on top along with the recipe. I have to admit it looks way better on her blog than mine. haha! Go check it out.

Lemon Pudding Cake

Tyler's Ultimate

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

2/3 c. superfine sugar

2 eggs, separate the white from the yolk

2/3 c. reduced fat buttermilk

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. lemon zest

1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

For the Garnish:

1 c. fresh raspberries

1 c. fresh blueberries

1 c. fresh blackberries

2 tbsp. confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and lightly sugar 4 ramekins (about 1-cup size).

In a mixer, add egg yolks, buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat until well combined. Reduce the speed to low and sift in flour, sugar and salt. Continue to mix until combined. Beat egg whites until you get stiff peaks then combine the 2 mixtures by gently folding them together, a little at a time. Divide evenly amongst ramekins then bake in a water bath - set ramekins in a roasting tray and fill with water halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 60 minutes until the top springs back when gently pressed and the cakes have a nice golden brown color. Allow to cool slightly, then carefully invert onto a plate. Serve with fresh berries and dust with powdered sugar.

The cake looks pretty fancy schmancy, eh? Most importantly, it tasted good and didn't make me want to cut my tongue out afterward.

Queen of Cheeses

2010-04-03T12:17:00.005-04:00

As much as I adore huge platters of ooey gooey nachos, my all time favorite snack has to be a wedge of Brie, French bread, and some fruit. Real Brie is made from unpasteurized milk. Unfortunately the United States Department of Agriculture prohibits raw milk cheese under 60 days old. So unless I hop a plane to France, I haven't tasted true Brie yet....one day!! But, for now I love the "fake" pasteurized stuff so it's all good! Hope everyone's having a nice Easter weekend.

Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza

2010-03-30T21:42:00.004-04:00

My favorite place to hit for lunch during the work week is Carrabba's Italian Grill. I know it's probably uncool to name a big restaurant chain as being my favorite, but I really like it there. Apparently this particular location that I go to is the only one in Florida that's open for lunch...at least that's what the hostess said. Every time I'm there I almost always order the same thing, the Chicken Caesar Brick Oven Pizza. It's this amazing little pizza with a bit of pesto, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese topped with a Chicken Caesar salad. Pizza with a salad on it, it's practically health food. Heh!

I was craving it in the worst way this weekend so I thought I'd try making it at home. I took a line here and a line there from different recipes and put it all together.

Ingredients

For pizza

1 thin pizza crust
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
2 tbsp Caesar salad dressing
2 tbsp pesto
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled

For Salad Topping:

4 cups hearts of romaine, chopped
8 ounces cooked or grilled skinless chicken breast, sliced
1/4 cup Caesar salad dressing
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Roll out pizza dough and press into a greased pan. Brush dough lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is slightly golden.

Remove pizza crust from oven. Cut the tip off the garlic clove and rub on the crust. Spread the pesto and Caesar dressing over crust, sprinkle mozzarella cheese, and pop back into the oven until the cheese melts, about 2 minutes more.

In a bowl toss romaine and chicken with 1/4 cup dressing, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and fresh black pepper to taste. Remove pizza from oven and serve up the salad on top of pizza.

This was definitely good enough to curb my cravings. I cheated though. I used store bought pesto and pizza crust from a canister. Fast and easy. :)

Pappardelle with Scallops

2010-03-27T20:58:00.001-04:00

It's been a long and slow sluggish week. The only thing I wanted to do after work was lay in front of the TV and watch reruns of The Golden Girls while eating gigantic mounds of nachos (hence the week long gap between posts). To put an end to my "Nacho Eating Fat Slacker Week", I peeled myself off the couch and went to the store to buy ingredients for an awesome pasta dish called Pappardelle with Scallops by Guy Fieri.

Ingredients

1 pound large sea scallops, patted dry
1 pound pappardelle pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon
2 cups mixed chanterelle, oyster, trumpet, mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, plus more for serving
3 cups arugula
2 tablespoons white truffle oil
2 ounces Parmesan cheese
Fresh squeezed lemon juice

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium heat and add 1 teaspoon of salt.

Rinse and pat dry the scallops. Slice in half on equator and pat dry again. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and set aside.

Prep all of your ingredients and have them at ready, then start pasta. Cook the pasta approximately 8 minutes. If the pasta is done before prepping all the ingredients, add 3 cups cold water into pot to hold. (Water will still be hot, but will arrest cooking.) Drain when ready to use.

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, add the scallops, cook for 1 to 2 minutes and turn over. When scallops are just cooked, remove from heat and set aside, keeping them warm. Let the juices in pan reduce for 1 minute, then add the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Toss to combine. Add in the reserved scallops and half of the truffle oil. Add in the drained cooked pasta, then the arugula and gently toss or stir to combine. Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle with remaining truffle oil, lemon juice, the Parmesan cheese and some freshly cracked black pepper.

I couldn't find a few of the ingredients. For starters no one at the store even knew what Pappardelle pasta was. I used linguine instead. I also couldn't find chanterelle and trumpet mushrooms. I substituted shitaki and cremini mushrooms. Oh and white truffle oil...yeah right. Maybe I'll pick up a bottle the next time I'm in the big city. I used extra virgin olive oil. Even with all the substitutes, it was pretty damn tasty. It's a nice and light alternative to my usual heavy cream based pasta dishes.

Cornflake Bacon Cookies...The Breakfast Cookie

2010-03-21T11:56:00.002-04:00

When I told my friends and co-workers about the Cornflake Bacon Cookies I was making, I got a pretty even response. Half said "Yuck" and the other half said "Ewwww". It's OK. These are the same people that turned their noses up at my delicious chocolate bacon bar from Vosges. Meh!

These cookies are really easy to make. The ingredients are basically what you'd have in the house for breakfast anyway....bacon, eggs, cornflakes. They taste almost like chewy, crispy oatmeal cookies. The bacon adds a nice subtle saltiness. When your family asks what that saltiness is, you tell them it's bacon and watch their eyes bug out. Don't over bake these guys. I left mine in a few minutes extra because they didn't look golden enough. Bad mistake. The cookies got chewier and chewier as they cooled. By day two I had to nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them up.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
10 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup raisins
2 cups cornflakes

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Blend thoroughly. Stir in bacon, cornflakes and raisins. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2-in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Store in the refrigerator.

I used Kellogg's Corn Flakes Touch of Honey because I haven't graduated to unsweetened adult cereals yet. These cookies are good but they're definitely not an everyday cookie. I think my cholesterol level would go through the roof.

Artichokes with Curry Mayo Dip

2010-03-15T18:55:00.003-04:00

For as long as I've been married to Doug, getting him to eat vegetables has been a little tough. Since I'm not his mom, there wasn't much I could do except leave out veggies in practically everything I made. He hates everything from corn, onions, cabbage to tomatoes, broccoli, squash...the list can go on for pages. Surprisingly though after his long list of hates, he really digs artichokes. For a really light dinner, I steamed up a couple of artichokes and served it with melted lemon butter (for him) and a curry mayo dipping sauce for me.

To prep for steaming, I sliced about 3/4 inch to an inch off the tip of the artichoke. Using scissors I cut off the thorned tips of all of the leaves and chop about an inch off the stem. I rinse it under cold running water to remove any dirt hidden between the leaves.

Fill a pot with a few inches of water and toss in some lemon slices and a garlic clove for flavor. Bring the water to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Drop the steamer basket on top and cover. It'll take about 30-45 minutes for the artichoke to become tender. These were pretty large. It took the full 45 minutes.

Curry Mayonnaise Dip

1 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoon butter
Lemon juice to taste
Salt and pepper

Melt butter in a small sauce pan. Add curry powder. Let it gently simmer for 1 to 2 minutes over low heat. Cool the curry butter mixture and then add to the mayo. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Mix well and serve.

Pluck, dip, scrape with your bottom teeth and enjoy!

Tuna, White Bean, and Red Onion Salad

2010-03-13T15:39:00.004-05:00

Its only been the past year or so that I've started eating beans in foods other than chili, refried beans, or sweet red beans in Asian desserts. I've read all the magazine articles saying how beans are low fat and a great source of protein. Since I've got a gigantic pot roast with potatoes and carrots cooking away in my crock pot for dinner, for lunch I tried out a nice and light tuna, white bean, and red onion salad.

Ingredients

2 (6-ounce) cans of white albacore tuna
2 (15-ounce) cans cannelini white beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup small capers, nonpareil in brine, drained and rinsed
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Juice of one lemon
1/3 cup of kalamata olives, sliced
Basil leaves for garnishing

Directions

In a large bowl, add the tuna. Break tuna into bite-size pieces with a large fork. Add the beans, kalamata olives, onions and capers. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Toss gently to combine. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with julienned basil leaves.

It was definitely good. I'd make it again. Maybe next time I'll add grape tomatoes and cucumber chunks to add some crunch.

The Chocolate Zucchini Bread that Never Was

2010-03-10T20:20:00.005-05:00

This past weekend I wanted to make zucchini bread. I was actually craving it even though I've never had it before. Weird eh? As I was searching for a recipe online, I found a really simple one for chocolate zucchini bread on Joy of Baking, I thought to myself..."hey I like zucchini and chocolate. Why not?"

I shredded up the zucchini and started mixing up the batter. I followed the recipe exactly as written. Baking isn't my thing. I've baked quite a few things in the past that could have killed a small horse. But, this time I was feeling pretty good. Everything was coming together nicely. I got to the step that called for 3/4 cups of chocolate chips. I went to the fridge and grabbed the Hershey bag, measured out 3/4 of a cup, dumped in the chips, and mixed the batter well. My boy (who by the way was completely skeptical about this whole zucchini and chocolate combo) said "oh so you're mixing cinnamon and chocolate chips?"

Hello?!?! I had grabbed the wrong bag. I even thought to myself that the chips looked kind of funny but figured the discoloration was from keeping them in the fridge. The kicker was I took a picture and never even noticed. By now everything was already mixed well. I didn't have enough zucchini to start over, so I added in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. The batter was really, really lumpy by the time I poured it into my loaf pan. An hour later....

I've got brownie'ish, cakey, Chocolate Zucchini bread! The cinnamon chips stayed intact and sunk to the bottom of the pan forming a nice chewy and crunchy layer All that cinnamon really gave the cake a nice spicy kick. Doug loved it. He especially loved the fact that you couldn't even tell there was zucchini in it. Hmm...
I brought most of it to work and fed it to my co-workers. I got the thumbs up and was told I should mess up more often. Heh!

This is the tastiest mistake I've ever made. If you'd like to try it, reduce the amount of chocolate chips to 1/2 cup and add 3/4 cups of cinnamon chips. Yum!

Day Old Bread & Mixed Berries equals Berry Strata!

2010-03-06T14:53:00.009-05:00

These past couple of weeks I've been on a Giada De Laurentiis kick. She makes really simple and tasty looking dishes. I like her a lot, but her over sized head and tiny body still weirds me out a little.
On a recent show she used day old bread and frozen berries to make an awesome looking dessert. I had to give it a try.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons honey
4 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup orange juice
4 slices of bread, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
1 (10-ounce) bag frozen mixed berries, thawed and drained

Directions
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Turn off the heat, add the honey, and stir to combine.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the eggs, ricotta, and sugar. Using a fork, mix to combine and beat the eggs. Add the milk, orange juice, butter and honey mixture, and bread. Stir to combine. Gently fold in the berries.

Place the ingredients in a 10-inch round (2-quart) baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the strata until golden on top and baked through, about 40 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Spoon into dishes and serve.

I used day old sourdough bread and sprinkled one teaspoon of cinnamon over top before baking. It was really easy to make. It's similar to bread pudding but really light and fluffy in texture.

Dinner at Pho Cali

2010-03-02T20:17:00.010-05:00

Recently my friends and I hit a little Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Cali. I really like the food there but service is a little weird sometimes. For example on the previous visit, I ordered the spicy beef stew with Viet-French bread for dipping in the broth. The owner/waiter brought out a bowl of chicken curry instead. When I told him that wasn't what I ordered, he insisted it was. He eventually took it back into the kitchen only to come back out a few seconds later. He told me they were out of beef so the cook made me a bowl of chicken curry instead. By this time everyone at the table already had their food and I didn't want to wait anymore. I gave in and took the chicken curry. Lucky for him it was good. Ha!

If you've ever eaten at a Vietnamese restaurant, you'll always find a bottle of hoisin sauce and a bottle of Sriracha hot chili sauce sitting on every table. These two sauces are a must have for practically every noodle soup specifically Vietnam's most famous soup, Pho.

On this night I ordered what I like to call "The Everything Bowl". I can't remember the real name of this soup. It's a chicken broth based soup with yellow noodles, shrimp, squid, thin slices of roasted pork, fish balls, broccoli, cauliflower, a roasted chicken drum stick, and garnished with chopped green onions. A squeeze of Hoisin and Sriracha sauce mixed into the broth, a few sprigs of Thai basil, and some slices of fresh jalapenos makes for one tasty and fiery meal. I'm breaking into a sweat just thinking about it. If you're wondering, yes I devoured the entire bowl. It was not an easy feat but I did it! They certainly don't skimp on the portions.

My friend Zackanarnius, ordered a similar noodle dish but minus the seafood and roasted pork. Her soup came with a roasted chicken leg and thigh on the side. Pretty yummy, eh? Despite the "interesting" customer service, I'd come back again. :)

Giada's White Bean Chicken Chili

2010-02-28T13:34:00.009-05:00

It warmed up in Central Florida for a couple of days last week but the cold weather came back. I love it!! It's perfect today, not a single cloud in the sky. Sunny, breezy, low humidity (equals a good hair day), and high in the 60's.

I wish it were like this year round.

Taking advantage of the cooler weather, I decided to try out Giada De Laurentiis' recipe for White Bean Chicken Chili with Swiss Chard. I haven't had much experience with white chicken chili before, but she made it look really easy.

Chicken chili served with cheddar and green onion toast sticks

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds ground chicken
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons chili powder
3 tablespoons flour
2 (15-ounce cans) cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1 bunch (about 1 pound) Swiss chard, stems removed, leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces
11/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir the flour into the chicken mixture. Add the beans, Swiss chard, corn, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 55-60 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened. Add the red pepper flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle the chili into serving bowls. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.

I couldn't find Swiss Chard so I substituted with one bunch of kale. I went a bit heavy on the greens, one pound lighter on the ground chicken and used one less can of beans. The chili didn't come out as "white" as I'd expected. Maybe too much kale muddied up the broth? Oh well, still really tasty!

Chocoflan

2010-02-26T19:43:00.010-05:00

My mom first introduced me to flan when I was 10 years old. At the time all I could compare it to was really, really good pudding. 21 years later I finally made flan for the first time, but with a cool twist. Flan on top of chocolate cake. Chocoflan, the best of both worlds. I saw this awesome cake on Food Network. Where else right? lol

Ingredients

12-cup capacity Bundt pan
Softened butter, to coat pan
1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce

For the cake:

10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the flan:

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For garnish:

1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions
Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup cajeta and put it in a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan will serve as a water bath during baking.)

For the cake: Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in a medium bowl. Beat 1/3 of the flour mixture, and 1/2 of the buttermilk into the egg mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture. Blend until well incorporated.

For the flan: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.

Scoop the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spreading evenly. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Cover with foil and add about 1-inch of hot water to the roasting pan.

Carefully slide the pan into the oven, and bake 1 hour, until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When cake is done, remove from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Invert a large, rimmed serving platter over the Bundt pan, grasp tightly together, jiggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining cajeta from the pan onto the cake, garnish with chopped pecans and serve!

Another really cool thing about this cake is that when you pour the flan on top of the batter, it looks like the two are starting to mix, but they completely separate while baking. I topped mine with chopped almonds instead of pecans. My boy is not a fan of pecans. I don't really know what's wrong with him sometimes.

The recipe calls for cajeta. Cajeta is a thick and creamy spread or paste made with caramelized sugar and milk. I couldn't find any. I used Hershey's Syrup Caramel Dulce de Leche from a squeeze bottle instead. Works great. Afterward, you can mix a couple of tablespoons into a glass of milk and go into sugar overload. That's always fun too.

Honey Chicken

2010-02-22T20:52:00.006-05:00

I don't cook much during the week because Doug is usually away on business. I'm too lazy to cook just for myself. I either eat leftovers, frozen dinners, or a big bowl of Cap'n Crunch (or whichever cereal happens to be in the house). Doug is home for a few days this week so that means I have to cook a real dinner.
This past weekend we were at the butcher shop and picked up two really nice, plump chicken breasts. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them until I found a recipe for Honey Chicken this morning while surfing Allrecipes.com. I like sweet bourbon chicken so I decided to give it a try.

Honey Chicken served with roasted green beans and Parmesan mashed potatoes

Ingredients
3/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Directions

To Marinate: In a nonporous glass dish or bowl, combine the orange juice, lemon juice, oil, honey, salt, pepper, curry powder and paprika. Mix well, then add chicken breasts and toss to coat. Cover dish and refrigerate to marinate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Remove chicken from marinade, discarding of any remaining marinade, and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

I could tell this would have been a really good chicken recipe...had I followed directions. First off, I really should have marinated the chicken overnight, and baked it for tomorrow's dinner. But, I was starving and couldn't wait until tomorrow. I only let the chicken breasts sit in the marinade for about 30 minutes. I made some cuts to the meat hoping it would absorb the flavors quicker. Nope it didn't help, but it did make the chicken look all fancy schmancy. Secondly, I didn't use skinless, boneless breast halves like the recipe called for. My chicken breasts still had the bone in and were about the size of my head. It took way longer than 25 minutes to bake, more like 45 minutes.
Overall, my boy was not a fan of the Honey Chicken. He ate more mashed potatoes than anything else. This is just another reason why I should NOT cook during the week. I take shortcuts and manage to butcher a perfectly good recipe. I'll try this again some other day, and I'll actually follow the directions this time. :)

Shiny Tomatoes

2010-02-20T10:22:00.004-05:00

Who knew tomatoes could be so shiny and reflective... :)

Bánh tét for Lunar New Year

2010-02-16T18:05:00.002-05:00

I'm two days late on this post but this past weekend was a busy one for everyone in my family. Not only was last Sunday Valentine's Day (or Black Sunday if you prefer) it was also Lunar New Year a.k.a Chinese New Year. I never exactly understood why it's called Chinese New Year. It's widely celebrated throughout most of Asia. Growing up in a Vietnamese household, we just simply referred to it as New Years. The days prior to New Years are spent cleaning the house from top to bottom to sweep away any "ill-fortune" in hopes of making room for good incoming luck. As a kid I used to look forward to receiving the beautifully decorated red envelopes filled with money. Who am I kidding??? At 31, I still get giddy seeing my parents approach me with the red envelop in hand.

Food also plays a major role in my house during this time. My parents are in the kitchen all day making eggrolls, fried wontons, wonton soup, rice, and big pots of Thit Kho (caramelized braised pork belly with tofu and whole boiled eggs). But...New Years wouldn't be New Years without the traditional staple, Bánh tét.
As Wikipedia best explains it" Bánh tét is a Vietnamese savory cake made primarily from glutinous rice, which is rolled in banana leaves into a thick, log-like cylindrical shape, with a meat or vegetarian filling (such as mung beans), then boiled. We've never tried making any at home before. It was just something that was always store bought. This particular cake cost $9.99 + tax U.S.D.

This one has a center filling of mung beans and pork/pork fat with a bit of cracked black pepper. You can eat it served with a bit of soy sauce and small pickled onions. I like it pan fried to a golden crisp and drowned in a pool of soy sauce. Yum!!!!

Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day and "Chinese" New Year!

No Bake Peanut Butter & Jelly Pie

2010-02-13T17:58:00.008-05:00

This is another recipe that I got from Food Network. It's one of those really simple no bake pies. This is even pretty enough to serve on Valentine's Day. There's not a lot of work involved so that leaves plenty of time for more important things....like catching up on the last three episodes of Lost on Hulu.com. Heh!

Ingredients

1 (1/4-ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup warm water
1 (12-ounce) jar seedless strawberry jam
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 pre-baked (9 or 10-inch) graham cracker pie shell
Roasted peanuts, for garnish

Directions

Sprinkle gelatin over the water to soften and let stand for 5 minutes. Over very low heat, warm the mixture in a small saucepan, just until gelatin is dissolved. Do not boil.

In the work bowl of a food processor, add jam and process to break up the chunks. Add gelatin mixture and process until smooth.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the peanut butter, cream cheese, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Add the confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth. Very gently fold in the thawed whipped topping.

To assemble the pie:

Add 1/3 of the jam mixture to the bottom of the pie crust, spreading with a spatula to smooth. Add half of the peanut butter mixture evenly over top. Top with another 1/3 of the jam mixture. Add the last half of the peanut butter mixture. Using the back of a spoon, make dips and swirls in the top mixture. Drizzle the remaining jam in and around the swirls in a decorative manner. Add small groups of roasted peanuts to the top, in and around the peanut butter swirls and in the jam. Chill for several hours before serving.

I went wrong somewhere and came up short on filling. I didn't have enough whipped topping to make the dips and swirls. I ended up spreading the rest of the strawberry mixture evenly on top. I also forgot all about the peanuts for garnishing. I think the mint leaves worked though. Doug really liked it. He said it tasted just like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, only soft and mushy. Thanks, I guess?!?

Meat Kabobs and Crunchy Noodles

2010-02-08T19:33:00.017-05:00

As everyone knows, yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday. I'm not into football, but I'm really good at pretending for Doug's sake. He's jumping up and down screaming at the TV, and I'm on the futon playing games on Facebook. It's "quality time" together. Haha!
I'm also really good at eating too. Unfortunately, it was steady grazing all day yesterday. We had the usual chips and dip, potato skins, buffalo wings, pizza, etc...but the main event were our meat kabobs and Ina Garten's Crunchy Noodle Salad.

There's no room for veggies on these sticks. I bought one turkey breast, and a little over 2 pounds each of pork belly and beef. We sliced the meat into 2" long by 1" wide pieces and marinated it overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, garlic powder, fish sauce, black cracked pepper, sesame oil, MSG, a wee bit of Worcestershire sauce, and a bottle of beer. My poor mom spent over an hour skewering the pieces of meat onto water soaked bamboo sticks. Afterward, it was onto the grill. The fat from the pork belly really kept the turkey breast and beef moist and flavorful. Mmm...fat. Oy! I need to go on a diet. *facepalm
The side dish came from Ina Garten. It's a cold, crunchy noodle salad. I usually don't dig cold pasta salads but this wasn't bad. It was a nice contrast to all that meat. It had a nice slight sweetness to it but not overwhelming.
Ingredients

1/2 lb thin spaghetti
1 lb sugar snap peas
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2 tablespoons white sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded, and thinly sliced
4 scallions, sliced diagonally (white and green parts)
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds, toasted
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, bring another large pot of salted water to a boil, add the sugar snap peas, return to a boil, and cook for 3 minutes, until crisp tender. Lift the sugar snap peas from the water with a slotted spoon and immerse them in a bowl of ice water. Drain.
3. For the dressing, whisk together the vegetable oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, peanut butter, salt and the pepper, in a medium bowl.
4. Combine the spaghetti, sugar snap peas, peppers and scallions in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the spaghetti mixture. Add the scallions and the parsley and mix again.

I threw in some roasted cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and zucchini sticks so I wouldn't slip into a meat coma.

I didn't have spaghetti noodles so I used fettuccine. I also skipped the grated ginger. I REALLY, REALLY don't like ginger. It brings back bad memories of when I had stomach aches or felt nauseous as a kid. My parents would make me eat pieces of raw ginger to "warm" up my stomach. Just thinking about it makes me want to huddle in a corner, hug my knees tight, and rock back and forth. Ugh!

Lazy Saturday

2010-02-06T21:48:00.005-05:00

Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.

Homemade Sushi and No Parasites!!!

2010-02-03T07:27:00.002-05:00

This weekend my boy and I and made our own salmon sushi. Doug loves sushi. He seeks out a sushi joint in every town whenever he's traveling on business. Most guys that travel for work look for a Hooters. Doug looks for raw fish.
We normally go out for sushi but it can get really expensive. Buying fresh sushi grade fish from the local fish market and making your own rice is definitely the way to go. I have to be honest though, it took a really long time for us to work up the nerve to make homemade sushi. I had this fear of the fish going bad and poisoning everyone. I watched a bunch of "how to" videos on YouTube for tips and instructions.

Turns out I'm OK at slicing fish and shitty at making the "rice mounds". My boy on the other hand who refuses to even fry an egg turned out to be an excellent rice ball maker. I underestimated him. He's got hidden talents after all.

Between the one pound of salmon and sushi rice, it totaled about $13-$14 USD give or take a few. All this would have cost us way more had we gone to a restaurant. So far it's been 4 days and no one has been sick or gotten any worms or parasites. Woo!!!! I'm going to get some tuna next time. :)

Lasagna Soup

2010-02-01T07:28:00.003-05:00

I was surfing the net and came across a recipe that sounded really interesting, Lasagna Soup. It's a soup inspired by the flavors of lasagna. The weather was a bit cooler than usual so it was the perfect day to make it.

Ingredients
16 ounces hot Italian turkey sausage
2 cups diced onions
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 cups chicken broth
14 1/2 ounce can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
10 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup dry Campanelle pasta
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
4 ounces diced provolone cheese
1 ounce fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sliced fresh basil

Directions
In a dutch oven over medium-high, add sausage and cook until browned - crumble the sausage as you go with a wooden spoon.
Add the onions and carrots - cook 3 minutes. Mix in the garlic, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper - cook 1 minute.
Pour in the broth, crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and add in the pasta.
Simmer soup until the pasta has cooked. Mix in the fresh spinach and cook until wilted - about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
To serve - place 1 ounce of diced provolone in the bottom of 4 bowls. Evenly divide the soup between the 4 bowls. Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan and basil.
My mom who also happens to be my harshest critic loved it. She even took some for lunch the next day. I goofed on one part because I didn't follow the directions exactly. It calls for one cup of pasta. Doug and I decided one cup looked too puny. I added two extra cups. The pasta became tender and EXPANDED. It sucked up a lot of the broth. Next time I'll just added one extra cup instead of two.

An Honest Award

2010-01-30T19:24:00.011-05:00

Earlier this week, the lovely Ms. K. Hamilton from The Geeky Gourmet shared her award with me. Thank you, thank you. This award requires me to reveal 10 honest things about cooking and blogging. Here goes...

1. I secretly wished that instead of Julie & Julia, it was really Pocky & Julia. Doesn't sound as good but you get the picture. I can only dream of ever becoming that popular.

2. I'm not 100% happy with my food pics sometimes. I need photography lessons and learn about the whole white balance yadda, yadda technical stuff. I still use my crappy iPhone camera every now and then when I'm taking pictures at restaurants. Then it's Photoshop galore.

3. I'm a noob cook and am terrified of making dishes that require more than 5 steps. One day I will conquer that damn macaron cookie recipe!!! Until then, I will continue to pay out the nose for crushed, mail ordered macs.

4. Almost everything I post about is made in very small batches or quantities. I always cut the recipes down to one or two person servings. The picture I post is usually it. So if someone eats it before I can get my shot....it's all over.

5. I treat my cookbooks more as pretty coffee table books than reference/instructional books.

6. I get 50% of my recipes from Food Network, 25% from the Internet, and the other 25% from cookbooks.

7. I use a big glass punch bowl as my universal mixing bowl. Heh! Yeah I need to invest in some proper mixing bowls.

8. I'm jealous of all the lemon squeezers, zesters, and cheese graters that Down Home with the Neely's have.

9. When I'm making a dish specifically to blog about, I'm so obsessed with getting the perfect picture that my meal will actually be cold by the time I get my shot. Most nights I'm eating a cold dinner because I'm too lazy to reheat it.

10. I have 6 cats. 5 indoor cats and one outside. Thought I'd throw that in.

Thanks again Ms. K for sharing this award with me!!!

Cinnamon Chip Scones

2010-01-23T23:18:00.008-05:00

I love scones and the only place I can get any around here is from Panera Breads . This bakery/cafe is a 30 minute drive from my house. It's located in the center of a very crowded outdoor mall, located in the heart of golf course and retirement country. I really have to work up the courage and patience to venture out there. The traffic alone takes 5 years off your life. Apparently some people have no clue how to drive through a roundabout. Usually I'm too late getting there anyway and the scones are brick hard from sitting out all day. Not wanting to deal with road rage today, I stayed home in my pajamas and made my own scones. I found this easy recipe from RecipeZar.com.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cinnamon baking chips
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
cinnamon sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in mixing bowl. Add butter slowly, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, combine egg yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk. Add to dry ingredients, mixing completely. Stir in cinnamon chips.
On a floured surface, roll out dough (with hands only) to 1/2" thickness. Cut into scones, place on ungreased cooking sheet. Brush egg white over scones and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over scones. Bake 18 minutes.
Cool scones 5 minutes, move to plate and cover until completely cool.

These came out surprisingly well. My breads/dough come out heavy sometimes. Over kneading maybe? I didn't have any buttermilk. I had to make my own. One cup milk, one tbsp white vinegar, mix, let sit for 5 minutes. My boy Doug was really nervous about it. He thought it was too "home remedy-ish". I think he offered to go buy some buttermilk about 10 times.

I proved him wrong as usual. Haha!!! Homemade buttermilk works well.

Island Spice Grill and Lounge

2010-01-22T19:48:00.010-05:00

Today some friends and I grabbed lunch at a new Caribbean place that just opened recently called Island Spice Grill and Lounge. The atmosphere is really fun and the food is pretty good.

On Fridays they have live reggae, Saturdays a DJ, and jazz musicians for Sunday brunch.

This is one of my lunch buddies, Zackanarnius. It's not her real name, but only a Twitter alias. Feel free to follow her. She loves to tweet about funky stuff. Zack enjoys Internet stalkers as much as I do. Heh!

I started out with some Jamaican Johnny Cakes. I've always heard my co-worker (who's from the Virgin Islands) talk about her mom's Johnny Cakes. What can I say?? They're little fried dough balls of goodness. My friend and I took up dipping them in granulated sugar. I'm sure if the chef had seen us, he would have been shaking his head.

My other camera shy lunch buddy ordered the Curry Goat with sauteed cabbage and carrots, white rice, and a piece of fried plantain. Apparently it was really good because he was sucking the bones dry and was tempted to lick the plate.

I ordered the Curry Fish with white rice, and sauteed cabbage and carrots. I'm not exactly sure what kind of fish it was. I'm thinking Tilapia. The curry flavor wasn't too strong. I'm not all that familiar with Jamaican cuisine, but I think it would have been even better if it were spicy. But then again, I'm known for hitting the hot sauce bottle. Sometimes I even like a little food with my hot sauce. Next time I go back, I'll man up and try the curry goat.

Movie and a Mexican Lunch

2010-01-18T13:30:00.002-05:00

Doug and I went for round two of the movie Avatar. This time we saw it in 3D IMAX. For all the tweets I received....Yep! Avatar is that good in my opinion. There are a couple of over the top, mustache twirling, bad guys, but I can overlook it. Awesome graphics and there's nothing like gigantic, blue, half naked people swinging out at you through cheesy 80's looking 3D glasses.

First we stopped for lunch at Don Pablo's, a Mexican restaurant chain. I ate here once before about 10 years ago. We started with the Shrimp Queso Blanco Dip and tortilla chips. I try not to indulge too much in big bowls of melted cheese but hot damn this was good. They take creamy, white Monterey Jack cheese sauce, chopped green chilies, jalapeño peppers, little shrimps, pico de gallo and mix it all in one hot bubbly bowl.

For my entree, I ordered the Carnitas. This comes with rice, beans, 3 flour tortillas, a big pile of carnitas, and garnishes...salsa, cilantro, red onion slices, tomatoes, lime wedges, and half an avocado. It's a "build your own taco" dish. I enjoyed it, but I still prefer the ones I used to get from the roach coaches in Southern California. ;)

Show all

Hot Chocolate, Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, and more Chocolate

2010-01-16T18:29:00.012-05:00

I've been on a search for the perfect Mexican hot chocolate for several years now. It has become my white whale. I'm really beginning to sympathize with Captain Ahab. :(

It started when I first saw the movie Chocolat with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. There's a scene where hot chocolate is served with a sprinkle of chili powder. I knew right then that there was more to this drink than mini marshmallows and whipped cream. And so began my quest...

My latest purchase is Mariebelle's Aztec Hot Chocolate. I read about this one from Our Adventures in Japan. If you've never had this before, it's not a powdered mix like most hot chocolates. They're actually little shards of chocolate. It almost looks like tiny chocolate garden mulch. This hot chocolate has a thick and velvety texture. It's very good, but I didn't get the same spice kick in the throat like Kat did in her post. I must not have used enough. I admit to being stingy sometimes. Heh! I picked up this 20 oz can at Williams-Sonoma for $25 USD. My next cup, I will follow the measurements on the canister.

While in the store, my boy had to get this...

Serendipity's Frrrozen Hot Chocolate mix. This 18 oz canister sold for $16 USD. When we were in Las Vegas last month, Serendipity 3 had opened up in front of Caesar's Palace. Doug wanted to try their famous drink/dessert but we didn't have enough time. So here it is served in the Pocky kitchen.

All you need for this mix is a heavy duty blender, whole milk, ice cubes, and whipped cream. We can't compare it to the real thing served at the restaurant but this was pretty tasty.

One last chocolate item, Chuao Chocolatier's Firecracker bar.

This has got to be the strangest chocolate bar I've ever eaten. It's dark chocolate with chipotle, salt, and pop rocks. Yes I said pop rocks, although they call it "popping candy". I've never had chocolate that popped and frizzled in my mouth before. Think Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Remember the scene right before Violet Beauregarde turns into a big blueberry, she chews on a piece of "3 course dinner" gum? This chocolate reminds me of that dinner gum. I tasted the dark chocolate right away, and next the pop and fizzle of pop rocks, then the saltiness, and finally the kick of chipotle. Doug of course experienced everything in reverse order from me. Sheesh!

Cooking with Dog

2010-01-12T19:16:00.010-05:00

No, no...I'm not cooking dogs or anything funky like that. I'm referring to my favorite cooking series on YouTube. The "host" is a poodle with a bad accent named Francis. Francis narrates the cooking segment as a lady stands next to him doing the actual cooking. If you haven't seen it before, check it out. It's pretty entertaining.

Francis inspired me to make my own croquettes. I didn't have the exact ingredients so I altered the recipe. Instead of the ground beef and pork, I used leftover grilled salmon that I flaked up. The potato patties were a bit soft but held up surprisingly well during frying.

These were good but next time I'm going by the recipe and using ground pork and beef. I bet chopped up ham would be really good too or mixed veggies if you didn't want to use meat.

Buster the Cat

2010-01-11T20:51:00.006-05:00

I don't have any dishes to share tonight. It was leftovers Monday. So taking a cue from Bob's Sunday Cats......I present to you my cat Buster.

This is how a lazy Florida cat chills hammock style. Kinda cute, eh?

Chocolate Bread Pudding with Rum Toffee Sauce

2010-01-09T19:52:00.007-05:00

Every now and then my boy breaks away from his MLB Network and watches Food Network with me. On this particular day, Paula's Best Dishes was on and Ms. Deen was making her million calorie chocolate bread pudding with a rum toffee sauce. Doug was hooked. He turned to me and whispered...."I want"

So, here's my crack at it....

Ingredients

1 loaf Hawaiian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
1/2 stick butter, melted
4 large eggs
8 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup chopped pecans
Rum Toffee Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.

Add the bread cubes to a large bowl.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the cream, the milk, 1 cup sugar, butter, and eggs. Add the cream mixture to the bread cubes, stirring to combine. Let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in the chocolate and pecans. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Drizzle with remaining 1/2 cup cream and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until the center is set, about 1 hour. Serve with Rum Toffee Sauce.

Rum Toffee Sauce:

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 sticks butter
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup dark rum
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat, stir in the cream and rum and simmer for 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Let cool. The sauce can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

This is my first time making bread pudding. It's not on the same level as a restaurant's but it wasn't too shabby. Instead of pecans, I substituted chopped almonds. I also added a handful of cinnamon chips along with the chocolate. Doug really liked it but asked I skip the rum next time.

On another note , the cold streak is still going strong here. Yeah!!! There were some snow flurry sightings today in Central Florida. I didn't get any in my area, but I did get pelted with some tiny ice pellets.

Crustless Quiche

2010-01-07T21:16:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago I was on a low carb crash diet to lose about 10 pounds before going on vacation. It's probably not the smartest thing, but it was a quick (and very temporary...booo) solution. One of the recipes I enjoyed most was the crustless quiche. The recipe can easily be customized by adding any ingredients that you like . Without a crust to fuss over, the cooking process was easier and faster. Besides, I don't think anyone really eats the crust anyway.

Ingredients

8 slices bacon, cooked crisped and chopped
1 cup cheddar or swiss cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup spinach
5 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
Salt, black pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft. Stir in spinach and continue cooking until excess moisture has evaporated.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, cheese, heavy cream, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Scoop into prepared pie pan. Sprinkle bacon bits evenly
Bake in preheated oven until eggs have set, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

I also added a cup of chopped ham and some sliced mushrooms to the recipe. It was one loaded quiche.

Smoky Veggie Chili

2010-01-06T19:56:00.008-05:00

Florida has been having some unusually freezing cold weather this year. So cold in fact, an article from the Associated Press today wrote "It was so cold in Florida, freezing iguanas were seen falling out of trees. Experts say the cold-blooded reptiles become immobilized when the temperature falls into the 40s and they lose their grip on the tree." Poor little guys, but I just can't help loving this weather!!! Fellow Floridians enjoy it now before the 90 plus degree weather comes back.

This kind of weather calls for something hot and comforting for dinner, like a hearty bowl of smoky veggie chili. I'm cheating a bit with this post because I didn't have enough time to cook up a pot tonight. I snapped this picture when I made some a couple of months ago. It came out great. This recipe is one of Aida Mollenkamp's No Recipe Recipe. It's definitely worth sharing.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Yellow onion, roughly chopped
Carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
Celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 (15.1/2-ounce) cans kidney or pinto beans
Dried herbs and spices - dried oregano, cumin, coriander, chili powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
Few cups water
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Avocado, sour cream, and cheese, for garnish

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. When it shimmers, add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook for a few minutes to soften.

Add the beans, oregano, and spices of your choice.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and cook, stirring frequently, until you can smell all your spices.

Add the tomatoes with juices, water, and cilantro, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper, if needed.

Transfer to a large serving bowl and serve with avocado, sour cream, and cheese

I had to skip the avocado and sour cream..none in the house. As for the corn muffin, it's just a regular box mix that I threw in a handful of jack cheese and sliced green onions. Hmm....maybe I'll manage my time a little better tomorrow and whip up a pot. Looking at the picture makes me crave it now.

Mushroom and Celery Salad

2010-01-05T20:35:00.008-05:00

I saw Avatar in 3D tonight. Great movie!!! I usually start squirming in my seat if a movie passes the 2 hour mark but the time flew by during this one. I hardly even noticed that Avatar was almost 3 hours long. I won't spoil it with details of the plot. Let's just say James Cameron makes you experience all the human emotions in 162 minutes of pure entertainment.

Anyway, we got home a bit late. Dinner had to be a quickie. I threw together a mushroom and celery salad to go with last night's left over baked chicken.

I got this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. Her recipe actually calls for Pecorino Romano crumbles. I only had shredded Parmesan on hand. It was a quick and light dinner.

Ingredients

1 pound white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
4 large celery stalks, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 cup (about 5-ounces) crumbled Pecorino Romano

Directions

Place the mushrooms in a medium bowl and toss with 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Layer the mushrooms on the bottom of a straight-sided glass salad bowl.

Place the celery in the same medium bowl used to toss the mushrooms. Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Layer the celery on top of the mushrooms. Sprinkle the parsley over the celery. Sprinkle the crumbled cheese over the parsley. Serve.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

2010-01-04T18:32:00.009-05:00

Every year I make a list of 4 to 5 resolutions in hopes of keeping at least one of them for more than a month. The top two resolutions are always the same.

#1 Eat better and lose 20 pounds
#2 Save money

This year I've added:

#3 Stop texting and checking messages on my phone while driving. I know!!! It's a horrible and dangerous habit. *bows head in shame :(

#4 To keep my blog updated as best I can, even if it means a post consisting of only one sentence and a picture

#5 Be on time for work...... I already broke this one on my first day back to work. Oh well. there's always next year.

For resolution #1, tonight's dinner was baked chicken. I marinated the chicken overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, garlic powder, ground black pepper, sugar, and just a teeny tiny bit of MSG. I heard all the gasps. You can leave the MSG out if you're allergic to it.

For a side dish, I roasted a bunch of brussels sprouts. I like brussels sprouts, but they're not my first choice in veggies. I had these sitting in the fridge for almost 2 weeks. They were on their last leg. I had to use them up.

I used the exact same recipe for Tyler Florence's roasted broccoli. I just substituted sprouts for broccoli. I overcooked them a bit and a few pieces got burnt. But then again, it wouldn't be me if I didn't burn something. It actually tasted pretty decent. I'd eat brussels sprouts cooked this way again.

Ingredients

About 1 pound of brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 lemon, juiced

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Trim tougher outer leaves from sprout. Cut in half. Arrange the brussels sprouts on a nonstick cookie sheet, drizzle with some olive oil and season with a little bit of salt and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Toss to coat evenly. Transfer to the oven and roast for 10 minutes.

Remove the sprouts from the oven and sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top and bake until the cheese melt and forms a crisp shell over the sprouts, about 10 minutes. Lift the brussels sprouts out onto a platter with a spatula and drizzle with fresh lemon.

Vosges Haut-Chocolat

2010-01-03T20:06:00.008-05:00

During the Las Vegas leg of my trip, I made sure to stop by the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace to visit Vosges Haut-Chocolat boutique. This was my first time here. I'm more used to the homey feel of See's Candies. The boutique was really trendy looking, almost intimidating. Their truffles were displayed like jewelry in the glass case.

I HAD to get a couple of their famous chocolate applewood bacon bars. I've read way too much about these babies not to try a couple. I picked up one bar in milk chocolate and one in dark chocolate.

Vosges had a mix and match buy 5 bars, get the 6th free deal. I hadn't planned on getting more than the bacon bars, but all the exotic flavors sucked me in. Along with the two bacon bars, I picked up a Matcha bar (green tea, milk chocolate), Goji bar (Tibetan goji berries, Himalayan salt, milk chocolate), Naga bar (Indian curry powder, coconut flakes, milk chocolate), and Red Fire bar (Mexican ancho chipotle chillies, Ceylon cinnamon, dark chocolate) for about $43 USD after tax.

So far I've tasted two bars, Mo's Bacon Bar in milk chocolate and the Naga Bar. I loved the sweet and salty combination of the bacon bar. It reminded me of when you order breakfast at a diner and the syrup from your pancakes slightly drips onto the bacon. The Naga bar was interesting. My mom makes chicken curry sometimes using canned coconut milk, so I knew sweet could mix well with curry. The aroma of curry from the bar was very strong. The curry flavor definitely wasn't shy but not overwhelming either. It was a nice mix. Not too sweet, not too spicy. I couldn't taste the coconut flakes though. I must have gotten a naked square of chocolate. :)

Yogurtland...Go Now!!!

2010-01-02T19:32:00.020-05:00

After a few days in Las Vegas, we drove to California to spend Christmas Eve with the family. Family was priority # 1. Yogurtland closely followed at # 2

I first read about Yogurtland last year at one of my favorite food blogs called Burp and Slurp. I'm sure everyone has already eaten here, especially if you live in California. But for me, I live in Port St. Nowhere, FL where the only frozen yogurt chain, TCBY went out of business a couple of years ago(the froyo sucked anyway).

Yogurtland is not your boring froyo joint with only chocolate or vanilla, m&m's and sprinkles. They offer a huge selection of flavors from your ordinary strawberry to Taro and Gingerbread. This awesome self-serve yogurt store charges by the weight. You grab a cup, fill it with whichever flavors you want, load up at their large topping bar, and place your cup on a scale by the register. The price is only 30 cents per ounce.

During my one week stay, I visited 4 different Yogurtlands around the SoCal area. These are shots from our first visit.

My cup - Taro, Toasted Coconut, and Eggnog yogurt topped with strawberries, kiwi, mochi, sweet red beans, and cheesecake bits.

Doug's cup - Double Cookies and Cream, Gingerbread,and Pumpkin pie topped with almonds, chocolate chips, and cheesecake bits

Lucky me, I got there just in time to catch the tail end of their Tokidok i promotion. The stores had Tokidoki themed cups and were giving out "limited edition" plastic Tokidoki spoons with each purchase. Big thanks to my family who all accompanied me on one of my froyo trips and helped get all these spoons. Actually, I don't really know what I'm going to do with them now, but we all had tons of fun digging through the trash cans and mugging people in the parking lot for their spoons. Just kidding!

I'm Back and Ready to Blog

2010-01-01T17:37:00.019-05:00

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday. I just came back from my annual year end trip to Las Vegas and California. I love Vegas more for the sights, shows, and of course the eating than for the actual gambling. I don't think I touched a single slot machine this trip. My boy on the other hand came out $20 ahead on Blackjack. Can you tell we're high rollers? Just kidding.

Caesar's Palace

New York, New York

Unfortunately I don't have any food pictures to share. The restaurants were all very dimly lit. I felt weird setting off my camera flash. I probably would have annoyed nearby tables too. This year's trip was shorter and on a tighter budget compared to previous trips. We didn't go crazy and overindulge like usual. :( We limited ourselves to the usual eating spots, breakfast at Le Village Buffet in Paris, Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood, FatBurger (apparently under new management now), and off the strip....Sushi Mon "All You Can Eat", and my absolute favorite place for tapas, FireFly* Tapas Kitchen and Bar.

Firefly is where I was first introduced a couple of years ago to stuffed dates, (bacon wrapped, smoked almonds, red wine reduction, with blue cheese crumbles). It's so wicked good! I also love their Crispy duck rolls, and you CANNOT leave without getting the Chocolate "tres leche" cake and Chocolate cherry bread pudding. I'm so mad I don't have any pictures to show. But, anyone that's been here can tell you the place is practically pitch black except for the little red tea candles on each table. You'll just have to go and check it out for yourself. :)

Scary Statue lady inside the Venetian. She moves if you give her money

I usually stay at the "Big Green Beast"...MGM Grand Hotel. On this trip MGM gave us one day's worth of free Internet ($15 per day) and a $36 voucher to any of their restaurants. The down side of going to Vegas during Christmas are the blackout dates for many of the restaurants. We ended up using our voucher for dinner at the MGM Grand Buffet. HUGE mistake! This has got to be the worst buffet in Vegas. The regular price for two people is a little over $50 after tax and before tip. I don't know but for that price, the food seemed like glorified frozen dinners. Hmmm.....

Lemon Shrimp Orzo

2009-09-12T18:02:00.006-04:00

The start of Fall is only a few weeks away, but here in Florida the days still feel like summer. This recipe for lemony shrimp over orzo is a really fast and easy dinner that doesn't take too much time standing over a stove. My boy Doug is a shrimp glutton, but you could probably replace it with chicken if you're not into seafood.

Lemon Shrimp Orzo

Ingredients

3/4 cup orzo
Parmesan Cheese, grated
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove,minced
1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 cup thinly sliced scallions
4 tsp lemon juice or to taste
6 slices of bacon
salt and pepper

Directions

1. Cook orzo in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite about 9 minutes, stir occasionally.

2. Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. Chop bacon slices into small pieces. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned; remove bacon bits. In grease, add minced garlic and shrimp. Cook until shrimps turn pink. Add lemon juice and 1/2 of scallions. Saute for 3 minutes.

3. Drain pasta; transfer into a bowl and toss with olive oil, grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Spoon shrimp mixture over top. Add more lemon juice if desired. Sprinkle with bacon bits, remaining scallions, and more Parmesan cheese.

The bacon and Parmesan cheese doesn't exactly make this dish healthy, but the fresh kick of lemon juice could possibly trick your brain into thinking it is. :)

Not Doubletree Hotel Cookies

2009-09-12T15:39:00.007-04:00

If you've ever stayed at the Doubletree Hotel, you'll know their two gimmicks are the warm cookies at check in and their beds. As comfy as their beds may be, I prefer the cookies (surprise, surprise). I found tons of copycat recipes and recipes that claim to be the real deal on several sites. I settled on one from allrecipes.com.

Doubletree cookies...they are not. The real ones are dense and chewy. These are light and cakey. They didn't suck or anything, but the disappointment factor was still there. Here's the recipe. If your batch comes out more like the real cookies, let me know.

"Doubletree Hotel" Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

Cream butter in large bowl. Add both sugars and beat on medium for 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.
In a separate bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture and stir well to blend. Add chips and nuts; stir to combine.
Drop by 1/4 cup or 2 ounce scoop on parchment-lined baking pans, 2 to 3 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool; remove from paper and cool completely on wire racks.

The Black and White Cookie

2009-09-06T18:14:00.007-04:00

Jerry Seinfeld said it best during The Dinner Party episode..."Oh look Elaine, the black and white cookie. I love the black and white. Two races of flavor living side by side. It's a wonderful thing isn't it?"

Black and White Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
1 (1 ounce) square bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter 2 baking sheets.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk, vanilla, and lemon extract. Combine cake flour and all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually blend into the creamed mixture. Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake until edges begin to brown, about 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely.
Place confectioners sugar in large bowl. Mix in boiling water one tablespoon at a time until mixture is thick and spreadable. (Add more than the indicated amount if you need to).
Transfer half of the frosting to the top of a double boiler set over simmering water. Stir in the chocolate. Warm mixture, stirring frequently, until the chocolate melts. Remove from heat.
With a brush, coat half the cookie with chocolate frosting and the other half with the white frosting. Set on waxed paper until frosting hardens.

These cookies were easy for me to bake because most of my cookies usually come out looking like huge pancakes anyway (insert sad smiley face). Now frosting them is another story. I found out what a pain in the ass frosting cookies are! I didn't use a brush like the instructions stated.... (maybe I should have???). I used a butter knife instead. I wanted to cut my thumbs off. They kept making dents in the icing, and I think I ripped out a few clumps of hair trying to make that straight line down the center. I saved the best two looking cookies for snapping pictures of. Now imagine how messy the others looked. Haha!

Ratatouille

2009-08-29T19:38:00.007-04:00

I've been wanting to try Ratatouille for awhile now (yes the movie was a big influence). When I saw a couple of my favorite bloggers Sophia and Ann make it, I really had to try it.

According to one site I found, ratatouille is a French dish. The name is made up of two parts: "rata" is slang from the French Army meaning "chunky stew" and touiller, "to stir". Since ratatouille is a recipe open to different interpretations, I went through quite a few recipes to find the one with the most commonly used ingredients. I passed on all the recipes that called for bell peppers. Bell peppers like to whispers sweet nothings to me all evening long if you catch my drift. Meh! I'm not sure if this is authentic in any way, but it was wicked good.

Ratatouille

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium zucchini
1 big tomato
1 onion, cut into halves (dice half\slice half)
salt and pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil
2 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried leaf basil
1/2 tsp dried leaf oregano
1/4 tsp dried leaf thyme
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. In a saucepan , heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and diced onions stirring often, until softened, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add both cans of tomato sauce, dried herbs, and sugar. Stir and simmer until sauce becomes slightly thickened. Pour tomato sauce evenly across the bottom of a casserole dish. Set aside.

2. Slice vegetables into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Salt and pepper both sides of each slice. Layer the veggie slices so that they're overlapping across the top of the sauce. Sprinkle the chopped parsley and drizzle the olive oil over the top.

3. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, until vegetables are tender and the tomato sauce is bubbling.

Sophia baked her ratatouille in an oven-proof skillet for a really nice rustic look. Since I didn't have an oven safe skillet, she suggested I cover the handles with aluminum foil and keep the temperature low. Awesome tip but of course, I'm a noob cook and would probably end up melting the handles right off. I'm good for things like that. Heh!

I ate the ratatouille by itself but many sites suggested accompanying it with roasted chicken, crusty French bread, or grilled salmon. The combinations are endless.

Aunt Spunky's Chinese Almond Jelly

2009-08-17T17:46:00.001-04:00

I remember way back in the day when I used to beg my mom not to put fruit cocktail into the jello. She'd always dump a can of fruit cocktail in the jello mold and then pour the liquid mixture over it. Several hours later she'd unmold it. I would stare at the poor little pieces of fruit suspended in a jiggly pool of cherry flavored jello. I don't know why it bothered me so much as a kid. Well, I suppose it had to do with the cool factor. You never saw the kids on the the Jell-O commercials with Bill Cosby eating cups of jello with fruit in it. No way! It was always placed in a cool sundae glass and topped with Cool Whip. Jello with fruit cocktail was something you found in plastic containers in the deli section next to the potato salad.

Anywhoo.... with that silly little story out of the way. Everyone loves jello right? How about a more grown up, creamier, and richer version? Almond jelly is a popular dessert in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong. It can be eaten alone or served with fruit. It's a refreshing alternative to a heavy baked dessert during the hot summer months, but it still has a nice creaminess that keeps you satisfied. I present to you my Aunt Spunky's Almond Jelly.

Almond Jelly with Fruit Cocktail

Ingredients

1 envelop Knox gelatin
3 tbsp water
Mix until dissolved

3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/4 cup water
6 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp almond extract

Directions
1. Mix water and sugar into a saucepan.
2. Add gelatin mixture into the water and stir well.
3. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously.
4. When boiled, lower heat and mix in evaporated milk and almond extract.
5. Pour into mold and leave to set.
6. Chill before serving with fruit cocktail or any other fruit desired.
If you didn't want to use gelatin, you can substitute with a packet of agar agar powder. Agar is derived from seaweed. It is mainly used in desserts throughout Japan. Also, I found coconut milk can be substituted for the evaporated milk. It gives the jelly a nice milky shine and a creamier texture. Good stuff!

Yum Yum Dim Sum

2009-08-16T12:45:00.010-04:00

Today is Mama Pocky's 49th birthday. We all went for her birthday Dim Sum brunch yesterday since everyone had the day off. Living in Central Florida, there's hardly a big selection of Dim Sum restaurants. I can only think of two places. We went to a little place in Orlando called Chan's Chinese Cuisine. This is the second time I've eaten at Chan's. They don't offer a huge selection of dishes but what Chan's does have is pretty good.
Dim Sum literally means "to touch your heart". It consists of a variety of dumplings, steamed dishes and other goodies. You'll find everything from steamed pork spareribs and char siu bao (steamed buns with roast pork) to har gao, those delicious shrimp dumplings with the translucent skin.

Instead of ordering from a menu, you choose from an assortment of dishes that servers push around on carts.

Aside from the many deep fried dumplings and steamed bun dishes, there's a popular veggie dish that mom always requests if it's not available on a cart, stir fried Chinese greens that are tossed in hoisin and soy sauce. Hoisin sauce is sometimes thought of as Chinese bbq sauce.

Doug and I stuck to the "safe" dishes like shrimp stuffed tofu, pork shumai, and sesame balls. Mama and Papa Pocky on the other hand are hard core. Check out the chicken feet held between my dad's chopsticks. He loves his chicken feet. It's pretty obvious by the big silly grin he had on his face.

While everything tasted greasy and great, I found it odd that my favorite dish was a baked slightly sweet bun filled with a piece of what tasted like Hormel canned ham. Haha! It was really tasty, weird but tasty.

Dim Sum is a really fun way to eat with a group of people. The atmosphere is loud and lively with the sounds of clattering trays and push carts, people calling out their orders, and large groups of people talking at each table. It's not your typical family Sunday brunch but it was wicked good and loads of fun too!

Shrimp and Grits

2009-08-14T18:40:00.007-04:00

Last week I made grilled salmon and Parmesan polenta. It was good but this is way better! I don't know what I was doing or watching at the time, but all I can remember is "you want shrimp and grits" kept repeating over and over in my head. The world does work in mysterious ways, that or Paula Deen was channeling me...hmm.

Shrimp and Grits
Recipe courtesy of Martha Nesbit

Ingredients

4 cups water
Salt and pepper
1 cup stone-ground grits
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 slices bacon, chopped
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup thinly sliced scallions
1 large clove garlic, minced

Directions

Bring water to a boil. Add salt and pepper. Add grits and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cheese.
Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned; drain well. In grease, add shrimp. Cook until shrimp turn pink. Add lemon juice, chopped bacon, parsley, scallions and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes.
Spoon grits into a serving bowl. Add shrimp mixture and mix well. Serve immediately.
I didn't have any cheddar cheese. I substituted the only thing I had, Mexican Queso Fresco. Not very Southern but it wasn't bad. I also sprinkled a tiny bit of shredded Parmesan on top because I felt the need to add more fat. Yum!
I think I need to invest in a set of black dishware. It almost looks like my shrimps are just floating.

Almond Panna Cotta

2009-08-10T19:19:00.005-04:00

Cutting corners can really mess up what could have been a good thing. Take for example yesterday I made almond panna cotta. The recipe called for 1 cup of blanched almonds. BLANCHED almonds! Did I follow directions? Noooo, I was too lazy to go through the skinning process and grounded up the almonds with the skin still on. It turned my panna cotta slightly brown and speckled instead of silky white. Taste wise it was pretty rich and decadent but the texture was completely wrong. Instead of creamy, custardlike goodness, it was creamy and grainy. Oddly enough my boy really liked it. Doug said the sandy texture didn't bother him because it reminded him of cookies and cream. Failed!!!

I would have preferred raspberries but all I had on hand were blueberries. My mocha sauce came out a bit thick too. Oh well, next time I will learn to follow directions. Although.... I did do a good job of disguising my mess up, ehh?

Almond Panna Cotta

Ingredients

1 cup whole blanched almonds, toasted
2/3 cup sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp salt
1 recipe Mocha sauce
Sliced almonds, toasted (optional)

Directions

1. Place almonds in a food processor and process until finely ground into a smooth butter.

2. In a medium saucepan stir together sugar and gelatin. Add whipping cream. Heat and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat. Stir in the almond butter, the milk, and salt. Pour into six 6-ounce ramekins or custard dishes. Cover and chill for 6 to 24 hours or until set.

3. Prepare Mocha Sauce. To serve, loosen panna cotta from sides of dishes with a knife. Invert onto dessert plates. Spoon or drizzle some Mocha sauce over or around each panna cotta. Garnish with sliced almonds.

Mocha Sauce: In a small heavy saucepan heat and stir 4 ounces chopped bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate over low heat until melted. Stir in 2/3 cup whipping cream, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp instant espresso coffee powder or regular instant coffee crystals. Cook and stir over medium-low heat about 3 minutes or until mixture just boils around edges. Remove from heat. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Grilled Wild Salmon and Parmesan Polenta

2009-08-09T18:12:00.006-04:00

Inspired by fellow blogger of Burp and Slurp fame, I went to my local seafood market and picked up a one pound fillet of wild salmon. This is the first time I've bought wild salmon. The only difference I saw was that the flesh was extremely red compared to the pinkish orange flesh that I'm used to seeing. To go along with the salmon, I made Polenta with Parmesan and black pepper using a recipe from Tyler Florence's cookbook, Real Kitchen. I love polenta. It reminds me of southern grits! I'm sure some Italians out there are rolling their eyes at me right now.

The salmon was cut up into portions and simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I grilled it on a grill pan for about 3-4 minutes per side. I also lightly sauteed some cremini mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil, garlic, and pepper. All of this sat on a soft pile of creamy Parmesan polenta. I drizzled a tiny bit of pesto around the plate in an attempt at food art. I'll have to practice a little more, or get one of those squeeze bottles. There's nothing cooler then squiggly pesto lines says the big dork.

Soft Polenta with Parmesan and Black Pepper

Ingredients

2 quarts Chicken Stock
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a large pot, bring the chicken stock and salt to a boil. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal in a slow steady stream. The liquid will be absorbed and the cornmeal will lock up; don't freak, just whisk through it. Lower the heat and continue to whisk until the polenta is thick and smooth, about 20 minutes. Add the cream and butter; continue to stir until incorporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, fold in the Parmigiano and black pepper, and serve.

This makes about 6 servings of polenta. I cut all the measurements in half because it's just Doug and I. This was a nice dinner on a Sunday night. Hope everyone had a good weekend because it's back to the grinding stone tomorrow.

Nun's Puffs

2009-08-08T12:02:00.011-04:00

Until last night I had no clue what Nun's Puffs were. I made some this morning, and I still don't know exactly what they are. All I know is they're super fluffy and delicious! I found the recipe in my good old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. I was flipping through when "Nun's Puffs" jumped out at me. The ingredients were simple, and the name alone had me sold. Does anyone know why they're called Nun's Puffs? I have a few ideas but that would be best suited for a different kind of blog. Ha!

Nun's Puffs are really big and fluffy when first taken out of the oven. Unfortunately they don't keep their shape and fall slightly in the center after a few minutes. Nun's Puffs are soft with a hollow center and a crisp flaky outside. They should be served immediately with a drizzle of honey. I had to take my pictures using two different batches because I wasn't fast enough and the puffs would deflate on me. There's a strong eggy flavor to these little guys. If you don't like eggs, you probably won't like these much.

Nun's Puffs

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar or to taste
Honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously grease twelve 2 1/2 inch muffin cups, including the edge and around the top of each cup. Set aside. In a medium saucepan melt butter; add milk. Bring to boiling. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that does not separate. Remove from heat; cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute with a wooden spoon after each addition or until smooth. Divide dough evenly among prepared muffin cups, filling cups about two-thirds full; sprinkle with sugar.

3. Bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Remove from pan. Serve immediately. If desired, serve with honey.

My boy really enjoyed this. He even suggested next time I eliminate the sugar and honey and add cheddar cheese, chopped green onions, and bacon or ham for a savory alternative.

My awesome foodie friend and fellow blogger, Ann shared her much deserved awards with me this week. The award came with a tag. Unfortunately I'm fighting some major allergies today. I'm completely doped up on Zrytec and Benedryl. I'm lucky I didn't burn down the kitchen today. I think I need to save the questions for another day when my brain is chemical free. However, I would like to answer her question.

What would you do, If you crave something sweet in the late night?

If my husband happens to be home, he'd tell me "just go to sleep. You can't crave anything if you're asleep". If I'm home alone...I'd probably give in and go trolling around in my pantry. I'm weak and have no will power. /cry

My 1st Crack at Spanakopita

2009-08-02T13:45:00.009-04:00

I don't know why but I've been craving Spanakopita for weeks now. I originally wanted to make the fancy little triangles but then realized that I'm far too lazy for that. Using a 9 x 13-inch pan is the way to go! When I searched online for a recipe, I found half the recipes called for ricotta along with feta cheese and the other half didn't. Since this was my first time, I decided to go without the ricotta.

Spanakopita

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil and more for greasing pan
1 large onions, chopped
2 (8 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1(8 ounce) packages feta cheese, crumbled
4 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 (16 ounce) packages phyllo dough

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Slowly cook and stir onions until softened. Mix in spinach, dill and flour. Cook approximately 10 minutes, or until most of the moisture has been absorbed. Remove from heat. Mix in feta cheese, eggs, salt and pepper.

3. Unwrap the phyllo pastry on a flat surface and cover with a damp tea towel. Lightly oil a 9 x 13-inch square.

4. Place half the phyllo sheets in the bottom of the dish, brushing each sheet with the olive oil as it is added. Add all the filling and then spread the remaining phyllo sheets on top, brushing each one with olive oil. Sprinkle a little water on top to prevent the phyllo from burning.

5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Eat either hot or cold.

I didn't have any dill so I replaced it with parsley instead. I think it still worked well. This was definitely a win for my first try. Maybe next time I'll try out the recipes calling for ricotta cheese in the mix.

Coconut Bread with Sweet Pineapple Butter

2009-08-01T11:36:00.009-04:00

I've been really lazy (surprise, surprise), and still haven't gotten all my Chicago pictures off my camera. So for now I present to you...."Tyler Florence's Coconut Bread with Sweet Pineapple Butter." I've loved Tyler Florence since his Food 911 days on Food Network.

Coconut Bread

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, toasted
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Pineapple Butter

1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5- inch loaf pan with butter. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another large bowl, whisk together the melted butter with the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Pour in the coconut milk and whisk together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold everything together with a spatula until you have a smooth batter. Gently fold in the shredded coconut until evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and set it on a cookie sheet. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the bread. Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning. Cool the bread in the pan for 20 minutes or so; then when cool enough to handle, remove the coconut bread to a cutting board and let it cool completely before slicing.

Press the liquid out of the crushed pineapple using the back of a spoon. If there is too much juice, the fruit will separate from the butter. In a small bowl, mash the pineapple with the softened butter until well blended. Mound the butter in a small serving bowl. Toast the slices of coconut bread, dust with confectioners' sugar and serve with the creamy pineapple butter.

Day at the Ballpark

2009-07-29T19:47:00.004-04:00

My boy, Doug is a die hard Chicago White Sox nutcase...err fan. This was our third trip to Chicago in a span of a year. The first two trips completely revolved around baseball and autograph seeking (see here and here). This trip was divided a lot more evenly between the two of us. But of course, I knew a game or two would make its way into the itinerary regardless. Heh!

U.S. Cellular Field

Mullet Day at The Cell

SouthPaw...anyone know WTH he's suppose to be? Fuzzy dinosaur?

Doug bought a pair of tickets in the cushy United Scout Seats section, seven rows behind home plate. These tickets included premium reserved parking, all-inclusive Levy Restaurant buffet in a private lounge, access to private United Scout Seat Lounge with flat screen televisions throughout, and most importantly in-seat wait service during the game. Picture it...all the ballpark food at your beck and call. Muhahaha!

The Buffet

Pasta salad in the upper left serving bowl, salads, and ham

Assorted cheeses and fruits. Open bar in background

If I was taller, I would've been able to take pictures of what was actually in the bowls. If I remember correctly, it was bowls of fried mozzarella sticks, onion rings, and a seafood rice dish.

Display wall in the dining room area

During the game my boy had nachos, an Italian Beef sandwich, and a polish sausage. But, I only remembered to take a picture of the nachos. It was a quick snapshot and not very well angled . I was trying to take the picture without the couple next to me noticing. I still get a little embarrassed when people catch me taking pictures of my food.

My soft pretzel with cheese dipping sauce.

Around the end of the 5th inning, we went walking around the stadium. Doug got a huge kick out of all the names on the food stalls.

"Winning Ugly is Sweet"

Looking back I think this might have been the funniest baseball game I've been to so far.

To top the night off.... Sox won and a nice fireworks show afterwards.

More Chicago Eats

2009-07-27T07:20:00.001-04:00

Doug and I took a late flight out. By the time we got our rental, fought through rush hour on the freeway, and checked into the hotel, we were both too tired to go out and forge for grub. Instead of room service, we called out for pizza.....Giordano's, Chicago's World Famous Stuffed Pizza.

This monster of a pizza had to have weighed at least 2 or 3 pounds, if not more. The paper plates and plastic forks they provided barely supported a slice. The grease stains on the cardboard box says it all. 12 inches of greasy, cheesy, pepperoni, and mushroom stuffed goodness, all for USD $21.40 + tax.

To continue the happy fat fest, breakfast the next day was at a little diner 10 minutes down the street from our hotel called Pancakes Eggcetera. This place had really good reviews online. The menu was fairly large and the prices were very reasonable.

When you walk into Pancakes Eggcetera, one of the first things you'll notice is the the train that runs around the dining area. Not realizing how huge the portions were we over ordered and had two boxes of leftovers. That was fine with us. Our room had a mini fridge and microwave.

Chocolate chip pancakes to split.

Doug ordered the Corned Beef Hash Eggs Benedict with a side of hash browns.

I ordered one of their breakfast burritos. This little fatty came stuffed with corned beef hash, scrambled eggs, green bell peppers, cheddar cheese and topped with salsa and sour cream...Oh and a side of crispy hash browns. I ate about half the burrito and a few bites of hash browns. My breakfast kicked my ass. I asked the waitress box up the rest.