2/1/2012

In the bento: rice, dried tofu, pork, egg, cabbage.

1/31/2012

In the bento: rice, carrot, cabbage stirfried with enoki mushroom, pork shoulder, shrimp and pork balls.

Cranberry Buttermilk Cake

I don't seem to have luck on cake these days. This cake recipe was posted with a very appealing picture attached, which I decided to bake the moment I saw the picture. But my cake was not as good as I expected. The top was very nice hot from the oven. After rest for a night, the cake was dry and hard, like a scone. I still ate it with my cranberry sauce, but it fails the name of cake.

1/19/2012

In the bento: rice, stir-fried carrot, stir-fried cabbage with enoki mushroom, oil soaked tomato, roast chicken, pan-fried gyoza.

1/18/2012



In the bento: rice with oil soaked tomato, stir-fried collard green with carrots, pan fried egg, pan fried gyoza, chicken breast with satay sauce

Satay Sauce

Satay sauce is very versatile in cooking. It promotes flavor of all meat and vegetable. Also, it is a great sauce to add to any sandwich or sub. I made a batch tonight and used in my chicken sub. It is so yummy.

Gyoza with Ground Shrimp and Pork Filling

Frozen gyoza is very handy if running in a hurry or out of food stock. When I have time, I like to prepare my own filling and make a bunch of them so I can freeze some for later convenience. The filling made with ground shrimp and pork is an all time favorite in my family. I seasoned the filling based on the memory. Because the shrimp is fresh enough, simply salt, ground ginger, cooking wine, egg white, corn starch and tiny sugar will do the work to bring the nature flavour out. I made the shrimp broth by cooking tne shell to accompany the gyoza. It was just like mom used to make.

Fancy Instant Noodle

Instant noodle is considered junk food usually. I can't deny it tastes good and easy to prepare. When I was a kid, I liked it a lot, and at some running morning, I ate it as breakfast. But now, I don't eat it, unless I was awfully craving it. This simple dinner was prepared by adding more stuff to nutrition the pure noodle. There are carrots and onion added in the broth, and some sliced marinade beef topped on the top.

1/17/2012

In the bento: rice, carrots, stirfried cabbage with enoki mushroom, roast chicken, butternut squash pan fried gyoza.

Miso-Maple Syrup Marinaded Roaste Chicken

After successfully roasting the first chicken, I had high confidence to roast the second. Here it is, perfectly juicy and tender, with crispy skin outside. I made the lose paste of miso, maple syrup, mirin, ginger and soy sauce. The chicken was massaged all over with the paste and sit over night. I baked it in my all time favorite cast iron pan, which turned out beautiful!

Home-made Yogurt

Yogurt is good for health, only if that is real yogurt. The flavored yogurt cups found in the market are usually thickened with additive. I can't help doubting how much real stuff it has in the cup.  Making your own yogurt is easy and fun. Simply 2 ingredients: milk and real plain yogurt, can make the best yogurt you have ever had. Though I always have issue with temperature control to make the perfect yogurt, I can eat it without worrying how much additive my body consumes.

Stirfried Rice with Shiitake and Dried Scallop

Dried shiitake mushroom is a good source of fiber. It stores well because it's dried, which if the green vegetable is running out of stock, this mushroom can be used as a fiber savor. I soaked some last night and use it to stir fried with rice. Also, I soaked some dried scallop in wine and added them in to give more in depth flavor. The rice is also flavored with garlic and soy sauce, with some tomato added at last. Very delicious! The bowl holds the rice the another new gift from the holiday. Love it!

Black Truffle Oil

Every one knows truffle is expensive (€3,940 per kilo in a retail seller in 2009), and yet people love it. Truffle is the thing that a little goes a long way, and there must be someone smart enough to come up the idea of extracting the flavor via oil. That's how I can enjoy it without exhausting my wallet. Though truffle oil is only olive oil infused with truffle, it gives everything a kick by just drizzling a bit on the top. I will not say this small bottle is cheap (3.4 fl oz cost over 10 bucks), but compare to the real mushroom, it's much affordable. I am thinking of idea using it in mind...

Olive Oil Soaked Tomato

One of my bad habits is to store food more than I can consume. Even knowing I will be away for the break, still I got plenty of products. To avoid wasting them, this is one of the things I do to the cherry tomato: preserve them in the oil. I started doing this late last night. The tomatoes were halved and dried at 215 F in the oven. After 2 hours, they were taken out to cool. Meanwhile, I crushed a big clove of garlic, put it into a jar together with the tomatoes and bay leaf. Then I poured oil until it covers all items in the jar. After coming back from the break, I am ready to enjoy it :)

12/12/2011

Plenty of leftover from the group dinner last night. Also the salmon steak from the lunch.
In the bento: some kind of pasta, stir-fried pepper and green beans, Chinese sausage, mayonnaise baked salmon, stir-fried rice.

Ground Pork in Tofu Skin

One of my grandma's signature dishes is this pillow like goodie. The star of the dish, from my point of view, is the tofu skin wrapped outside the meat filling. Tofu skin is not commonly seen here, but is one of the ingredients used on a daily base in Shanghai. This is made from soybean milk. When the soybean milk is cooling, the top of the surface will slowly develop a thin layer, like the same that milk will do. The thin layer is then collected and dried for future use. So the product is very fragile, also super delicious.
My grandma usually bought the tofu skin and filled in with ground pork, shiitake mushroom, wood ear and diced onion. Then the pillow will be pan-fried until the meat is cooked. Yum~~

Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Curd

This cake was baked for the birthday celebration in my office. I have to say because I am not a gingerbread person, this is the first time I made this cake and it didn't turn out as good as I expected. The cake was very dense and a bit dry. I can taste the molasses but need more ginger taste. Although I like the lemon curd more than the cake. It helped to cut out the dryness a lot.
And as usual, I did a terrible job on frosting, never improved :(

Mashed Butternut Squash w/ Boiled Egg and Cheese

It's not always lucky to buy a good butternut squash. Generally winter is the season that all those squash taste sweet and creamy. I happened to have a butternut squash that is kinda bland. So I baked and mashed it. Spread on the toast with hard boiled egg and some sheep cheese. Not the best but eatable.

12/16/2011

In the bento: quinoa, steamed cabbage, butternut squash, broccoli, tofu skin wrapped ground pork.
I forgot to season with salt, uh...

12/14/2011

In the bento: rice, broccoli, daikon, ground pork wrapped with tofu skin.

12/13/2011

In the bento: rice, steamed broccoli, shiitake mushroom, bean curd skin wrapped ground pork, egg.

12/9/2011

In the bento: stir-fried cabbage, egg, shiitake mushroom, lamb, shanghai style rice.

12/6/2011

In the bento: Shanghai style rice, braised pig feet, egg, butternut squash, daikon.

12/5/2011

This is a magewappa!!! For people don't know what magewappa is, this is a wood bento box hand-made with cedar by craftsmen. It is the most traditional Japanese style of carrying and eating bento.
This beautiful piece of work of art feels light and smooth. There is nothing covering the wood so the rice in it can breath, thus it tastes better.
Also it is an art. Elegance says itself.
THANK YOU!!
In the bento: rice, braised pig feet, meatball, egg, shiitake mushroom, stir fried cabbage.

Everything Rice

Recently I discovered the beauty of store bought curry paste. Whenever I need to clean up the fridge, these curry paste makes everything taste good. These yam, Swiss chard, soaked shiitake mushroom are the last bit of fresh food I need to eat up. I cooked them and stirred with cooked rice. The mixture was covered with milk-base curry and baked for about 40 min. Needless to say, yum~~