Vietnamese Flair

Henry's mom is such an amazing cook! She always makes food that hits the spot.  One day, I'll learn how to master some of these authentic dishes; which happen to be some of my favorite dishes to have.

Banh Xeo

Bun Rieu

Apartment warming

Occasion: Jenny and AK's apartment warming party! 04.28.12  Some pinterest inspired recipes.

 Scallop BLT

Panfried scallops used as the buns, roasted sliced tomatoes, blanched bok choy leaves. Jenny used yogurt, dried dill and something else for the mayo component.  It was a biteful of deliciousness. Very easy to make once you get the hang of it and seriously a bite full of flavor that leaves you wanting more.  Perfect for a little appetizer before dinners or if you're just serving hor dourves. YUM!

Avocado Deviled eggs

Zesty twist to your typical deviled eggs.  It's not as creamy as I had expected but it was nice to see something unique and different. Almost reminded me of Dr. Suess' Green eggs and ham.

Lasagna Cups 

Super cute, easy to make and absolutely delicious!

Spray your cupcake pan with some baking spray. Place a wonton wrapper in each cup and then fill it with marinara sauce, whatever cheeses you'd like (we used: ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan), ground beef topped with basil.  You could add another layer of wonton wrapper for a thicker denser cup.  All up to your personal preference.

Food for comfort

Banh Canh 

Tapioca noodles with homemade fishcakes, homemade meatballs with chopped onions and cilantro

This is one of my favorite comfort foods. The broth is so homey and soothing, especially on a cold or gloomy day.  It's not too heavy for a first meal and it's not too bland or boring.  So freaking delicious.  I have to put this on my learn how to make list.

Superbowl Sunday

Occasion: My contribution to Super Bowl Sunday feasting! I was rooting for the NE Patriots because Tom Brady was the Bf's fantasy football player. 02.05.12

Orzo Salad

with cherry tomatoes, craisin, baked sunflower seeds, basil in a balsamic vinaigrette

Boiled the orzo pasta for 9 minutes with salt and olive oil. Drained pasta and added more oil to prevent orzo from sticking together.  Mixed in cherry tomatoes cut in half, craisins, sunflower seeds (that we baked for the extra crunch), basil and balsamic then toss together.  It's a pretty easy dish to make, especially after making it at least one time.  It was definitely enjoyed by older Vietnamese adults. It's refreshing, light with a hint of sweetness from the craisins.  We made it the night before and left it in the refridgerator so by the time it was served all the flavors have been mixed and soaked in.

Caprese bites

seasoned mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinaigrette

Inspired from some recipe on pinterest. Another easy appetizer to make.  I bought every thing from Trader Joe's. It can get your hands a little messy, especially when tooth picking those oily mozzarella balls.  Very self explanatory.  Cut cherry tomatoes in half poke toothpick through cheeseball and place the cherry tomatoes on both ends and finish with basil underneath.  I drizzled some balsamic vinaigrette mixed with some sugar over everything.  It was freaking delicious and easy, I am definitely going to make this at our next gathering.

Chicken Pesto pasta with sun dried tomatoes

Another easy and tasty dish to make.  Boiled the pasta, in separate pan, heat up some oil and add minced garlic.  Once the garlic turns golden brown add chicken broth and pesto. Add a dash of sugar and chicken meat and sun dried tomato and basil and cook and mix together.  Can be served hot or cold, but since we made it the day before, it was served cold.  Another delicious dish. YUMMO!

Work Holiday Party 2012

Custom Chef Catering by David Monson
www.customchef.com
415-990-6300

Occasion: Another year, another holiday party, but same caterer! January 14, 2012 @ Dr. Wong's newly remodeled house!

Passed Hor d'oeuvres

Mini phyllo dough cups with triple cream brie, meyer lemon jam and candied lemon 

There's a mix of sweet and savory in this little bite.  Flaky phyllo dough filled with creamy cheese and a sweet lemon jam.  It was definitely something different, but it was good.

Baked medjol date stuffed with goat cheese and almonds; wrapped with applewood smoked bacon

This was definitely a favorite amongst our group of foodies.  Henry does not like goat cheese, but he loved this appetizer.  I am not a big fan of bacon, but I caught myself having seconds and thirds.  I love the marriage of flavors as well as the different textures of this dish  I am totally going to try to replicate this appetizer at my next get together.

Fresh fanny bay oysters on seaweed salad with salmon pearls and wasabi aoili

Another amazing hor d'oeuvre.  This was served cold and added a refreshing feel to the palate.  I love raw oysters and found this absolutely tasty.  I loved the crunchy texture of the seaweed salad and the juicy surprise of the salmon pearls after it explodes in your mouth.  The wasabi aoili was subtle as it tastes away the fishiness of the scallop. 

Marriage of two soups: butternut squash and celery root puree with chestnuts, smoked bacon bits and green onions

So simple, but so good.  We were all raving about it still days later.  I love butternut squash soup and this was definitely something different.  I'm not usually big on bacon, but it actually added a nice smokey flavor and great texture to the soup.  I really really enjoyed it.

Seared duck and bay scallops with a napa cabbage salad, snow peas, toasted almonds, rice noodles and kumquat vinaigrette

This was one of my favorite dishes of the night. I loved the chunks of scallops and the crunchy texture of the snow peas as well as the crunch of the toasted almonds.  There are so many textures and flavors in this dish that make it amazing.  

Chilled beef tenderloin and poached salmon with pickled turnip, celery, enoki mushrooms and radish sprouts with a red bell pepper sauce

It actually surprised me that it was chilled.  I had expected it to be warm and was a bit disappointed, but good thing it was absolutely delicious.  The bell pepper sauce complemented the salmon very well and the beef tenderloin with the enoki mushroom was very tasty.  By the time I finished my piece of salmon I was already pretty full, and can not remember weather or not I finished the beef.  Beef usually fills me up really quickly, so I most likely didn't finish the piece of meat.  Portions were generous and I loved his variation of surf and turf.

Pair of lamb chops on a maple and dried fruit polenta with a celery root salad and toasted fennel

Lamb was not too gamy and the polenta was delicious. The dried fruit bits added a unique sweetness to the polenta that I actually enjoyed a lot.  With all the other delicious food and alcohol in my system, I definitely was not able to finish this! I love how unique this dish is because it's not something you'd be able to find in a restaurant.

Saffron and honey creme brulee, mini three chocolate cupcake and blackberries

No matter how full I get I always seem to make room for dessert.  Too bad i was only able to finish the saffron and honey creme brulee, which I enjoyed!  The caramelized sugar on the creme brulee was nice and thin and the honey and saffron flavor was perfect.  Great way to end the meal before we took pictures and said our good byes for the night.

Work Holiday Party 2011

Custom Chef Catering by David Monson
www.customchef.com
 415-990-6300

Occasion: Our work holiday party that always happens after the the holidays to accommodate every one's crazy, busy and hectic schedule.  Hosted by Dr. Lieberman and Catherine. Good food and good company, what else can you ask for? January 22, 2011.  Sorry for the super late update (yes on year late).  It was just sitting on my drafts folder for the longest time and I thought it would be appropriate to post this before I post pics from this year's holiday party! We love David Monson and his catering team so much, we've hired them for our past 3 holiday parties.  If you're planning a party and need a caterer, I'd highly recommend hiring him!! He's sociable, fun and cooks up some delicious food! 

Passed Hor d'oeuvres

Ahi tuna tartar with mango, cucumber and wild rice on a crispy wonton

They were a delightful appetizer to start the evening with.  Chunks of sweet mango and and cucumber balls added a refreshing taste to each bite.

 Seared Rosemary and coriander marinated shrimp with meyer lemon 

I love seafood and this was another great teaser before our actual meal! Plump, seasoned perfectly and delicious!

 Potato  and celery root pancake with horse gravlox, sweet mustard, dill and icicle radish

Another amazing appetizer.  If it's anything, it's the taste and texture of the starchy potato that I love.  The marriage of flavors on this one was definitely a winner! Yum!

Arugula and Belgian endive salad with marinated duck breast, candied kumquats, pomegranate and blackberries in a mint ginger vinaigrette

Our first entree of the night was amazing! I've always loved the flavor that arugula brings to a dish as it adds somewhat of a peppery taste to it, but I've never been too fond of endives.  The two veggies worked together though.  How? I don't know...perhaps it was the sweetness and the acidity of the vinaigrette and the kumquats that made the dish so refreshingly good! The duck was tender and seasoned perfectly.  What an impressive first dish already.

Chilean sea bass with a lobster ravioli in a saffron broth with shaved asparagus

The seabass melted in my mouth and the ravioli came in one big piece stuffed with lobster meat.  It was perfect because I'm big on seafood.  After this dish, I was pretty stuffed, but it was so good I just had to continue.  Definitely something I'd order at a restaurant.

Marinated beef tenderloin with herbed spaetzle, caramelized parsnips, and sweet carrots in a Merlot thyme sauce

By the time this dish came out, I was super stuffed with food and yummy drinks.  From what I can recall, it was good, though I probably would have preferred my meat more on the rarer side.  Anyhow, another beautifully presented dish.

 Angel cake or pound cake with a grand marnier sauce

I was so in love with last year's bread pudding that I was secretly disappointed that we got served this instead of the anticipated bread pudding.  It wasn't what I was expecting, but still good.

Xmas Potluck

Diana and Giac's Place Daly City, CA

Occasion: 3rd annual Xmas potluck secret santa gift exchange. December 2011. 

Chicken pesto pasta

Made from scratch!  I was in a rush, so it was a little more dry than I had wanted it to be, but everyone loved it. So yay!

Prosciutto wrapped pear

So easy to make and turned out delicious. Again, since I was crunched on time, it was as nicely wrapped as I had hoped for them to be. Next time!  Who would have known the marriage of savory and sweet would work out so perfectly. Such a success that I made it again one week later.

Cookie bins

I gifted all the girls with a bin of goodies.  All the flavors that reminded me of Christmas

Snickerdoodle, mochi cake, pumpkin whoopie pies, mint chocolate rice crispies, mint chocolate cookies. YUM!

Jenny's stuffed mushrooms

Jenny's shrimp cocktail

Mashed potatoes

Anita's soup

Diana's cabbage salad

Late night snack

Occasion: In between baking the snickerdoodle cookies, I snacked on some Pho. Henry's mom is a fantastic cook! YUM! 11.25.11

  Pork base Pho with fancy pork, shrimp, cilantro, green onions and vermicelli noodles

Just what I needed to keep me going late at night.  I had a tiny bowl, just enough to tease my stomach.  Her broth was flavorful, delicious and just what I needed.

Late Night Baking: Snickerdoodle Cookies

Occasion: Decided to do some late night baking. Project snicker-doodle cookies with my new cookie press! 11.25.11 

Snicker-doodle Cookies

First time baking these treats. We played around with the cookie press, which is why you see uneven shapes, but we finally figured it out. They were best eaten fresh out of the oven. Successful batch for our first time.

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

Yield: About 4 dozen
2¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a baking mat and put in refrigerator to chill.
2. Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Gradually stir in the flour mixture, beating on low speed just until the flour is blended.
5. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
6. In the meantime, mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Scoop 1-inch balls of dough and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture to coat.
8. Place on chilled cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 minutes.
9. Chill the dough and cookie sheets between batches.
10. Let cookies set on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack. Store cookies in an airtight container.

Garlic noodles and crab

Occasion: After shopping dinner! 11.14.11

Garlic noodles with crab

I guess crab's back in season!  Henry's mom made some bomblicious garlic noodles with crab.  The crab is cooked in a pot of broth which consists of ginger, garlic, lemongrass and other ingredients I can not recall at the moment.  But the most memorable thing about the dish were the garlic noodles that had a hint of savory sweetness to it.  I loved it!

Mama Chen's Kitchen

Occasion: Thomas' mom was visiting from Illinois and we were invited to try some of Mama Chen's home cooked Taiwanese food! 11.05.11

Egg rolls 

Delicious appetizers. Secret ingredient: watercress, which adds a crunchiness to the roll.  Henry love love loved it and ate about 5-6 of these.  I must admit, they were really good.

 Cucumber Salad

Crunchy and refreshing with just a tad bit of heat.  It reminded me of those pickled cucumber ban chans at korean restaurants. Yum!

 String beans

You can't go wrong with some string bean veggies with minced beef or pork?

 Fried Rice

 Beef noodle soup

The infamous taiwanese beef noodle soup.  It was definitely a hearty meal.  Love love loved the springiness of the flat noodles in this soup.  The soup broth  was just a tad bit too salty for my liking, but Henry LOVED it.  I like this more homey and bland.  

Birthday Cupcakes

Occasion:  I went on a baking rampage.  I had baked cupcakes to bring to my little sis' Singing Karaoke Birthday bash after dinner at Thomas and Fanny's place. 11.05.11

Red velvet cupcakes with Cream cheese frosting

I was on a baking frenzie.  I actually used red velvet cupcake mix, but made my own cream cheese frosting.  Since I needed cream cheese frosting for the pumpkin whoopie pies, I just used it for the cupcakes as well. The cream cheese frosting was delicious! These cupcakes seemed like it was a hit at the party! Yay.  Excuse the not so perfect writing...I tried! Happy Birthday to my lil sis!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (Round 2)

Occasion: Our perfected pumpkin whoopie pies. I wanted to document the steps we took in producing these scrumplicious cookies. It was so much better the second time around, especially after learned what we liked and didn't like about it. I got this recipe from the Brown eyed Baker blog and modified it just a tad bit.   It's really easy and should be a must for this holiday season 11.05.11

Yield: About 4 dozen assembled whoopie pies (will vary depending on how large you make them)

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 10 to 12 minutes

For the Whoopie Pies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Maple-Cream Cheese Filling:
3 cups powdered sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons maple syrup ( I replaced this with honey, which makes it less sweet)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, the dark brown sugar, and the oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.

4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.

5. Use a small cookie scoop or a large spoon to drop a rounded, heaping tablespoon of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, making sure that the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. The cookies should be firm when touched. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.

7. To make the filling, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth with no visible lumps, about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then add the maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth.

8. To assemble the whoopie pies: Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe or spoon the filling (about a tablespoon) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spread to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.

Our dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin puree, olive oil, egg and vanilla

Instead of using a cookie sheet I decided to use two cupcake pans.  I used it because I figured it would yield good shape and that it would ensure that the cookies would not bake into each other.  We used a plastic bag to fill up the mixture and cut a little hole on the corner of the bag to use as a pipe.  We piped out the mixture into the cupcake pan to get the shape. Genius don't you think?

We didn't have a cooling rack, so we used chopsticks and a plate.  Improvising to see what works!

Wah-lah our end result!!

Enjoy and happy baking everyone!

One Saturday Morning

Occasion: When I wake up early, I get hungry.  Henry stirred up something quick and simple to hold me down for a few hours. 11.05.11

Apple chicken sausage from trader joes, scrambled eggs and wheat toast

Simple, filling and delicious.  Who needs to go out and eat when you can make a deliciously simple meal at home?

Bakesale Sarah's

Occasion: We made a trial run of pumpkin whoopie pies to see how they'd turn out.  If we yielded good results, we'd make it again the next day to bring over to Thomas and Fanny's for dinner.  If they came out horribly, we were going to buy desserts. 11.04.11

Home made pumpkin whoopie pies

Excluding the fact that the shapes of he cookies were not consistent, it turned out amazing.  The cookie was soft and fluffy like cake with a nice pumpkin spice flavor and the cream cheese was perfect as it was not too sweet!  We snacked on this batch and shared it with Henry's family and friends, but made a new batch with a different technique to bring over to Thomas and Fanny's.  I didn't like the presentation of these cookies.  Some of them were too thick and others were too thin.  Read upcoming post to read about more details in how we perfected these scrumplicious cookies!