Mushroom Farm

I'm starting a mushroom farm. 

Keychain

Christmas is over.  Done making ornaments! :-)

Natasha

 

Natasha 

(sorry for the bad i-phone picture) 

My Favorite Meal of the Day

Sebastian

Sebastian, the Snowman

Sandra

Sandra, the Sheep

Patrick

Patrick, the Penguin

Olivia, Oscar's cousin

Needle Felted Owl

Oscar, the owl

Youtube tutorial on how to make a needle felted owl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GychGBLkEO4

Christmas Ornaments

Mr & Mrs Souffle

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Recipe adapted from Jif(R) Peanut butter Blossoms - Allrecipes.com

48 cookies

 Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup  Creamy Peanut Butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Sugar

48 foil-wrapped milk chocolate pieces, unwrapped

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Cream together butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Beat well. 

3. Sire together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Beat on low speed until stiff dough forms. 

4. Shape into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. 

5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. 

6. Top each cookie immediately with an unwrapped chocolate piece, pressing down firmly so that cookie cracks around edge. Remove from cookie sheets to cool. 

버섯전골

baby shiitake mushrooms

oyster  mushrooms

tofu

thinly sliced beef

chinese chives

broth:

2 Tbs gochujang

1 Tbs gochugaru

1 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp soy sauce

Thursday Night Bapsang

Sansai udon and pork/shrimp/chive mandoos

Golden Gate Park

 

Can you believe it's 70 something degrees in November? 

Started reading a really good book called 'Water for Elephant' today.  Let's see if I can finish it this week.

Spiced Broiled Grapefruit

Ingredients
1/2 grapfruit per person
1 Tbsp maple syrup for each grapefruit half
1/2 tsp vanilla extract for each grapefruit half
pinch each ground cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon per grapefruit half

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to broil.  Have a medium-sized casserole dish ready to set the grapeffruit into.
2. Cut grapefruit in half.
3. Set each half in the baking dish and drizzle with maple syrup and vanilla.  Season with spices and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

꿀 갈비찜 (Honey Galbijjim)

Ingredients

2.5 lbs beef short ribs

8 small radishes

1 carrot, cut/shaped like chestnuts

10 chestnuts

10 ginkgo nuts, toasted with sesame oil

5 shiitake mushrooms, cut into big strips.

Mixture A:

1 small onion, quartered

1 apple, quartered

10 peppercorns

5 garlic cloves

5 dried whole red chilis

1 knob of ginger

Mixture B:

5 cups water

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup honey

Directions

1) Soak short ribs in cold water for 30 minutes.  

2) Cook the ribs in a large pot of boiling water for 3 minutes.

3) Remove the meat from the pot and clean the pot.

4) Wrap mixture A ingredients in a cheesecloth.  (I didn't have cheesecloth so I dumped everything into the pot.  Kinda got messy.)

4) Put the ribs back into the pot and add mixtures A & B.  

5) Cook over medium/high heat for 1.5 hours.

6) Add shiitake, ginkgo beans, chestnuts, carrots, and radishes to the pot.  Cook for another 15 minutes.

Mushaboom

I met Feist tonight.

Monday Night Bapsang

I bought a couple things over the weekend...a sexy(?) black plate and

a red hot Le Crueset cast iron pot!

Chikuzenni - Attempt #1

Attempt #1

1 bag of Shirakiku Mixed Vegetable + 1/2 block of konnyaku + 1 cup of water + 2 Tbs soy sauce + 1 Tbs sugar + 2 Tbs sake + 2-3 Tbs Kikkoman soup base = cook over medium high heat for 20-25 minutes.  Add frozen peas.
Oops, I don't think it's supposed to be soupy.  :-(  Oh well.  Attempt #2 next week!

Pasta with Sausage and Kale

Kale is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties; kale is considered to be anti-inflammatory.  Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium.

Recipe adapted from Gourmet Quick Kitchen magazine

serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb hot turkey sausage, casings discarded and sausage crumbled

1/2 lb kale, tough stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped

1/2 lb dried pasta, cooked until al dente (reserve 1/2 cup pasta water)

2/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup grated pecorino romano, plus additional for serving

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

pinch of pepper

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Directions

1. Heat oil in a skillet over moderately high heat until it shimmers, then cook sausage, breaking up any lumps with a spoon, until browned, 5-7 minutes.  Add garlic, chilli flakes, and a pinch of pepper.

2. Blanch kale in a pot of well-salted boiling water, uncovered, 5 minutes.  Remove kale with a large sieve and drain.

3. Add kale to sausage in skillet and saute, stirring frequently, until just tender, about 5 minutes.  Add broth, stirring and scraping up any brown bits.  Add past and 1/2 cup  reserved past water to skillet, tossing until combined. 

4. Stir in cheese and think with additional cooking water if desired.

5. Serve with additional cheese on the side.

Fast White-Bean Stew

Recipe adapted from Gourmet Quick Kitchen Magazine

serves 4

Ingredients

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 plus extra-virgin olive oil

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 (1/2 lb) piece baked ham, cut into small cubes

1/4 tsp black pepper

8 slices of baguette (toasted and rubbed with garlic)

1 (5 oz) bag baby romaine I used 1 cup of cooked kale, chopped

grated pecorino romano

Directions

1. Cook garlic in 1/4 cup oil in a pot over medium heat, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes.

2. Coarsely cut up tomatoes in can with kitchen shears, then add (with juice) to garlic in oil. 

3. Stir in broth, beans, ham, and pepper and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes.

5. Stir in greens and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes.

6. Serve stew with grated pecorino romano and toasts.

Fall is finally here. <3

iphone pix

Bench: A long seat for more than one person

Honey Broiled Chicken Wings

Recipe adapted from Iron Chef Chen's Knockout Chinese.

My mom and I used to watch the original Japanese Iron Chef on Ch 9 every weekend.  I remember staying up all night and watching the original series marathon on Food Network one new years eve.  Good times.  Ummm...whatever happend to Chariman Kaga? 

Ingredients

serves 4

12 chicken wings

1/3 tsp salt

Mixture A

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp sake

Vegetable oil

Lemon, to taste

1 tsp sesame oil

Directions

1. Place wings in a bowl, sprinkle salt and rub in.  Add mixture A to the bowl.  Marinate for 30 minutes.

2. Line an oven tray with foil and coat with oil.  Arrange wings on top of the foil.  Brush wings with leftover marinade 2 or 3 times while broiling.  Broil for about 15-20 minutes until well browned. 

3. Add freshly squeezed lemon julice before serving.

it will stop raining*

Christmas came early for me this year.

 All sorts of goodies with a lovely postcard (photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson)

THANK YOU, Ai!

Miso-Sauteed Pork

Someone explain to me why this is called  'MISO-Sauteed Pork'?!

Recipe adapted from Iron Chef Chen's Knockout Chinese.

serves 1

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz thinly sliced pork belly

1/2 onion, sliced

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Mixture A:

1 tsp grated garlic

2 tsp Doubanjiang (Chinese chili paste)

1 tsp Hoisin sauce

Mixture B:

1 tbsp sake

1 tbsp soy sauce

dash sugar

dash pepper

Directions

1. Cut pork into bite-size pieces. 

2. Heat oil in a pan and cook pork slowly at medium heat until crsispy.  Add mixture A and stir.  Add onions and saute until tender.  Add mixture B and stir-fry for 15-20 seconds. 
3. Serve over rice of udon noodles.

Shrimp Fried Rice

I'd have to say this is one of my favorite things I cooked this year. So simple, yet so deeelish!

Recipe from Steamy Kitchen.

serves 4

 Ingredients

8 ounces small uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 tsp kosher salt)
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cooking oil (divided)
3 eggs, beaten in a small bowl
2 stalks scallion or green onion, minced  I used Chinese chives instead.
4 cups previously cooked leftover rice, grains separated well
3/4 cup frozen carrots and peas, defrosted
1 tablespoon soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if you are making a gluten-free version)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Added diced spam.

Directions
In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. When the pan is hot enough for a bead of water to instantly sizzle and evaporate, add only 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan.
Now add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the pan so that they are not overlapping. Let the shrimp fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.
Turn the heat to medium and let the pan heat up again. Pour in the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the frying pan onto the same plate as the cooked shrimp.
Use a paper towel to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean (no need to wash) and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the green onions and stir fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add in the rice and stir well to mix in the green onions throughout. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok or pan
Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the peas and carrots, the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed.