Crab Fest

Sorry, I know it’s been a while since I posted something worthy, and even longer since I posted anything relating to my own cooking. Ever since my first trimester hiatus from cooking, my husband took over most of the cooking duties to satisfy my hunger needs. It’s now the middle of my second trimester and I’m slowly getting back into the groove of things, even though I feel like my cooking’s a little off right now.

Anyway, we had the pleasure of going to Apple today to experience crab fest! A plate per person cost $25 and includes the following:

Whole crab with drawn butter
Ravioli with lemon oil and parsley
Caesar salad
Garlic bread
Roasted garlic bulb
Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream sundae

This picture doesn’t do the huge plate any justice… although everything was pre-made, it was still delicious, especially the crab (sundae not pictured).

Gary Danko

Yes, it took FOREVER for me to update again… only because nothing has really been worth the update and yes, I have been a bit lazy, amongst other things. Anyway, my husband surprised me and took me to Gary Danko for my birthday/one year anniversary and it was a nice surprise indeed! The prices for the courses were actually cheaper than most tasting courses we’ve had before in the past. The dress code is strictly semi-formal, though I didn’t mind, since it was nice to dress up and go out every once in a while.

First course:

Glazed Oysters with Osetra Caviar, Salsify and Lettuce Cream

Risotto with Lobster, Rock Shrimp, Shimeji Mushrooms and Butternut Squash

Second Course:

Roast Maine Lobster with Potato Purée, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Edamame and Tarragon

Third Course:

Quail Stuffed with Foie Gras, Mushrooms and Quinoa, Barley Risotto, Fall Vegetables and Pomegranate Gastrique

Roasted Pork Belly and Tenderloin with Brussels Sprouts, Bacon, Parsnip Purée and Maple-Cider Glaze

Dessert:

Trio of Crème Brûlée with Assorted Cookies (chocolate, pumpkin and regular)

Birthday Dessert of the night: Lemon Mousse (complimentary)

… yes, that’s a whole lotta dessert!

Mocha Chip Bundt Cake

For those who have followed my entire blog, I mentioned once that I’m not a baker and won’t even touch that stuff. After a couple months, I decided to go back on what I said. Does a basketball player who can’t shoot free throws just avoid getting fouled in general? No. So should I avoid baking overall just because I couldn’t do it in the beginning? No.

I think I figured out what I have to do, take baby steps! With that in mind, I started baking out of those box mixes first just to get my self-esteem going (and let me tell you, it worked!). Still taking baby steps, today, I tried this mocha chip bundt cake! It’s like Sandra Lee, semi-homemade.

I actually took this recipe off allrecipes.com, but tweaked it a slight bit. Instead of instant coffee granules, I brewed my own coffee to replace the 1/2 cup of water and instance granules. Instead of sour cream, I used a cup of plain yogurt (I’m not a fan of sour cream, and yogurt is much healthier. For you ballers out there, Greek yogurt works better). The purpose of yogurt is just to make the cake more moist. You add coffee bits to anything chocolate to bring out the chocolate flavor.

Everything else, I took from the recipe, so… 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, box of chocolate mix, box of chocolate pudding (also makes cake more moist), 3 eggs and 1/2 a cup of semisweet chocolate chips. Mix mix mix and then pour it into a bundt pan. The recipe said to bake it for an hour, which I’m glad I didn’t follow. By 40 minutes, I smelled my chocolate burning and had to scrap off the top part (which essentially becomes the bottom part). Luckily, the inside was still moist and it didn’t get completely overbaked, thank goodness!

After cooling the bundt cake for at least 15 minutes, melt roughly 3/4 cup of whipped cream in a pan, when it’s melted, add in some chocolate chips (to your desire) and mix till it’s nice and smooth. Then drizzle it on your bundt cake!

Oh, I actually added some powdered sugar to decorate the cake before I drizzled the ganache and drizzled some more powdered sugar after the ganache cooled a bit.

Black Bean Short Ribs

I promised my husband I wouldn’t take the credit from him since this is technically his “recipe”, which he got from his mom.

I believe you can only get ribs cut like this at an Asian market, like Ranch 99. They’re basically baby back ribs that are sliced into even smaller bits.

First, dry rub the ribs with the following ingredients…

(Yes, that’s a “tablespoon” of corn starch.)

Then throw in dabs and specks of the following… note: you may want to add more black bean sauce since the recipe is black bean short ribs (but add to your own discretion.

(From top L–>R: hoisin sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, virgin olive oil, bottom L–>R: black bean sauce and white wine)

Next, you want to find a large pot with a “rack” so you can place your bowl of marinated ribs in there.

Add water to it just below the “rack” and let it come to a boil. After it boils, place the bowl of short ribs on top of the rack and reboil on high again for half an hour. After half and hour, open it up, taste one to make sure it’s cooked and serve hot!

Thank you husband for sharing this recipe with me.

I want my baby back…

… baby back ribs!

The best baby back ribs I made was Christmas, 2008, with a slow cooker. Since we don’t have a slow cooker right now, I have to go back to the old school way of putting a rack of ribs in the oven.

First, I like to dry rub marinate the ribs.

Then, brush on BBQ sauce (I used Phil’s BBQ Sauce, straight from Phil’s in San Diego) and colored both sides of the ribs, wrapped it in foil and put it in the fridge for a few hours (a few meaning ~7 hours). When it’s time, set your oven to 300F and put the wrapped ribs in there for an hour, and the second hour, up it to 375F. During the last 15-25 minutes, unfoil the ribs and let it brown on both sides. I’m still working on a better baked ribs recipe, going for a better browning…

Virginia Yumminess

There aren’t a lot of great restaurants in Richmond, Virginia (or anywhere near there), but there is one which stood out, Bonefish. The prices are decent (entrées are around $15-25),  but it’s the appetizers which really stood out.

I introduce to you, their mussels and calamari! The sauce on the mussels are AMAZING!

The fish is quite fresh, for a state which is not really that close to water (it definitely beats McCormick’s, which I’m definitely not a fan of).

A few of these dishes will be on my (long) list of things to somewhat replicate in the future, but with less cream.

Honey Garlic Wings

My husband’s a fan of wings. Every time we do order an appetizer, most likely than not, it’s wings. What boggles my mind is why we always order wings when they’re actually pretty easy to make and relatively cheap to buy at Costco. I’ve had my adventures with all sorts of wings, but out of everything I’ve experimented with, I think this one is one of my better crowd pleasers.

I didn’t get the exact color I liked this time, but it still tasted good. I actually got this recipe off allrecipes and tweaked it to my liking.

Add 1 cup of honey (melted) along with 4 tablespoons of soy sauce (low sodium soy sauce won’t work for this). Mix it and taste, if it’s too sweet, add more soy sauce to it. (Honey wings are NOT good, trust me…) Mince 3 cloves of garlic and add a package of Costco red pepper flakes and sprinkle Korean red pepper flakes to your liking. Once again, do a taste test and when you like the flavor of it, throw it on the wings in a baking pan.

I like to marinate this overnight so all the flavors soak in. When you wake up the next morning, turn the wings over so the other side of the wings gets soaked in the wonderful juices as well. Bake at 375 for an hour, turning once with aluminum foil. Add an extra 15 minutes, foil off and voila!

My First Guac

I love avocado, therefore, I love guacamole. I love avocado, therefore, I love avocado shakes.

Anyway, I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but always got lazy and just bought it at the store. I have learned that when you actually make something yourself and it turns out to be somewhat delicious, you take greater pride in eating that food you made. It also helps that you know exactly what you put in there and that all the ingredients are fresh!

Thanks to allrecipes, my first experience with guacamole turned out to be quite alright. I really don’t know what I need to improve it, I kind of like it just the way it is, but perhaps I should ask the husband.

Oh, it’s almost dinner time and I am stuffed!

Cupcake Minis

In a previous post, I mentioned that it would be smart to start an in-home cupcake business since they charge an arm and a leg for a cupcake. Even with cupcake minis, it’s close to $1 now (what gives?!). In another post, I also wrote that I would most likely never attempt to make dessert  simply because that’s not really my area of expertise.

These cupcakes I present to you are tasty (enough), cheap (enough) and presentable (enough). Okay, I admit, I cheated! I used those boxed cake mixes along with the canned frosting so in reality, I really didn’t bake anything! However, I’ll share a few secrets I learned from a baker friend of mine. Along with following the instructions on the back of the box, add in a cup of plain yogurt (or for you high end people, Greek yogurt) as well as a tablespoon of grinded coffee. The yogurt makes the cake more moist and the coffee enhances the chocolate more.

Instead of the heavier frosting, I opted for the whipped cream light frosting. The frosting tastes more like something you would taste on an Asian cake.

Oops, the one on the bottom left looks like it fell apart a bit (I’m a work in progress, next time (when I have more time). I’ll attempt to make it from scratch).  Here’s something geeky (for those who have actually read this far), you like the way I took this so it kind of has a Star Wars feel to it?

Chinese Night Out

Every once in a while, when I’m too tired/lazy to cook, we go out to our beloved Castro Street where a bit of everything is represented on this short strip. A place that rarely disappoints is Fu Lam Mum (even though it’s better to go in groups). Especially at Chinese restaurants, I like to order something that I can’t make myself at home. Or something I would like to taste first, then attempt to replicate at home.

So that night’s dinner, I present to you: salt and pepper shrimp

and seafood and tofu clay pot in spicy sauce.

Out of the two, I think I’ll like to try making the clay pot, especially with the cold weather suddenly surprising us!