February 6th, 2010  
 Asian, Vegetables
I am very suspicious of people who tell me they hate mushrooms. I just don’t think that is possible. The only time I don’t like mushroom is when it’s served raw in a salad, but other than that my favorite pizza topping is mushroom, 80% of the time I always add mushrooms on my burger, I love mushroom omelettes, sautéed mushrooms and onions goes great on everything,.….I just love mushrooms! When I found out January’s Beet ‘n Squash YOU! vegetable was mushroom the problem wasn’t trying to figure out what to cook but I needed help narrowing down my list.
Two of favorite mushrooms are creminis and shiitakes. I grew up eating the dried variety of shiitakes and didn’t even know it was possible to buy or cook with fresh ones until I was in my teens. Dried shiitakes have an intense earthy deep flavor and are perfect in braises and soups. Fresh shiitakes are less intense in flavor then the dried ones, but it still has that earthy quality. I love adding fresh shiitakes in a tomato sauce or simply grilled. Creminis, which are the older varieties of button/white mushrooms, are perfect when cooked with caramelized onion and topped on burgers and cheesesteaks.
After a few days of thinking I finally narrowed down my list. I wanted to make mushrooms with pasta. Not very exciting right? While there is nothing wrong with a simple mushroom and pasta dish, I love mushrooms in either a red or white sauce, I had to do something different. In comes the mentaiko!
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My tiny kitchen cabinets are not bursting at the seams, it has already exploded. As I started to cook more throughout the years I’ve accumulated a large collection of print out recipes, subscribed to a handful of food magazines, stacks of cookbooks, a mountain of baking trays, pans, seasonal molds and cookie cutters I regretfully bought, and boxes of neglected kitchen gadgets that includes a juicer, an ice cream sandwich maker, and a fondue kit. I have a feeling I will bust out the fondue kit in the near future though, hopefully. I know my small kitchen can’t handle any more cooking thing-a-ma-jigs I believe I desperately need, but tell me how could I turned down a Le Creuset French Oven. It’s simply not possible.
Owning a Le Creuset enameled cast iron cookware is something that has always been in the top position of my “Must Have, But Can’t Afford Right Now” cookery list. It sits right below a KitchenAid Professional 600 Series Mixer (which I now happily own since last year) and right above a Vita-Mixer blender (someday you will be mine). I received the Le Creuset as a gift this pass Christmas and couldn’t wait to put it to work. I thought about stew and pot roast recipes, but I wanted to cook something I never made before and rabbit instantly hopped into my mind.
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December 5th, 2009
Breakfast, Vegetables
UPDATE: December’s Beet ‘n Squash YOU! winners are announce. Check out Bouchon For Two for all the participants entries. Congrats to The Bite Me Kitchen, Nastassia from Let Me Eat Cake, and Quasi Serendipita on winning this month’s fight! January’s battle is napa cabbage. Come join in on all the fun!
It’s that time of the month again! Maybe that’s a bad sentence to start this post, but I just don’t know how else to word it. For the past 30 minutes as I’m writing this, I’ve been typing and pressing backspace faster than Sandra Lee can pour hot water on dried onion soup mix and call it stock. ZING!!! I’ve been feeling very tired and uninspired to write and cook lately, and finding myself getting caught up on things that shouldn’t be weighting me down. It’s been only a few days into December and I’m starting to feel this might be my hump month. I’m ready for a new year. So, as I was saying, it’s that time of the month again! It’s Beet n’ Squash time, a monthly food fight competition hosted by two lovely ladies, Mel of Bouchon for Two and Leela of She Simmers. This month is battle fennel and I’m ready to defend my winning title. I might have “beet-ed” my competition last month with my Braised Beef with Beets entry, but can success be repeated? This time I’ll be throwing eggs at my competitors and hopefully it’ll be a winning hit.
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 Sweet, spicy, crunchy, and smooth all comes together. Whenever I think about Korean food, I can’t help but be transported back to my college years of standing in line in front of a white Korean lunch truck outside Temple University’s SAC building and just waiting, waiting, and more waiting. If you wanted to grab something fast to eat between your classes, this was not the place to order. What it was though, was a good change of pace from the usual college fares of pizza, greasy Chinese food, and whatever expensive crap they were trying to sell kids who got stuck buying a meal plan for the semester. It was not the most amazing Korean food I ever had, but it did jump start my interest in the cuisine. That same year I was also introduce to Tampopo. A casual self seating, but mostly take out Korean and Japanese restaurant on 21st street between Chestnut and Samson. It’s a tiny little place. You order at the counter, wait for your food, and you would either eat it there or take it home. It was simple, quick, good Asian food, and the type of eatery I believe we need more of in Philadelphia.
One of my favorite things I like to order at Tampopo was the Gyutan-don (thinly sliced grilled beef tongue rice bowl) and the Fresh Tuna Bibimbap. They no longer serve Gyutan-don on the menu. Hmmm…I wonder why? I can’t imagine it not being popular?! Seriously though, I do miss it. If you ever get the chance to see it on any menu, give it a try. Thank goodness the Fresh Tuna Bibimbap stayed steady on the menu. There’s something so texturely and flavory great about this dish. You have the crispy and cold elements from the cucumber and lettuce. The sweetness from the pear. The creamy avocado. The kick from the gochujang dressing. The texture of raw tuna. The nutty and warm brown rice. When you put all of that together, it just works.
 
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November 12th, 2009
Asian, Fish & Seafood
Plump and juicy shrimp dumplings.
I was completely surprised and thrilled when Bee from Rasa Malaysia asked if I would be interested in guest blogging on her blog. Of course I said >>>
I always knew I will return to my birth city, but I never expected it to be this year. While this was my third time back to China, my first visit was in 1991, this would be the first time I ever traveled north of the country to Beijing. My trip begins in Guangzhou, and I spent the majority of my time in the city and traveling outside to its nearby districts Shunde and Dinghu. Hong Kong and Macau was also on my itinerary and finally my last stop was in Beijing..[Continue Reading]
November 5th, 2009
Asian, Meat & Poultry
It was time to reintroduce my taste bugs to beets. I cut and boiled a few pieces and found it tasted similar to a radish, but much sweeter. Many different types of dishes came into my mind. Dessert was the first idea. Maybe a beet and persimmon tart? But I was worried how well the texture of the beets would go with the persimmons. My second idea was a beet sorbet, but I decided that would be my plan B idea instead. As my fingers turned redder and a few more bites later, I couldn’t stop thinking how much it tasted like a radish to me. I decided I would use it as a substitute for radish in one of my favorite Chinese dishes, braised beef.[Continue Reading]
My blog is finally getting a face lift and I’ve decided it’s time to move from Blogger to Wordpress. I was very happy with Blogger for a while, but after a year into the relationship, I began to strayed. I developed a wandering eye and was soon charmed by Wordpress and all its fancy features. So, please bear with me as I’m making the switch. There might be times when the blog is acting coo-coo, but I’m working hard on trying to get the blog up and running as fast as I can. Oh…and I have not forgotten about my post on my trip to China. Once the blog’s face lift is complete, that will be my very first post![Continue Reading]
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