Memorial Day BBQ 2011

The weather today has been very windy and cold, even though the sun is out, it wasn't a good day for BBQ. Vanessa asked for ribs and chicken wings in advance. She didn't want anything "fancy", just good old trusted food.

For this meal, I basically just threw together what I had in the fridge and pantry when it came to dressing, marinates, and sauces.

The chicken wings were marinated overnight in liquid made up of soy sauce, lemon juice, hoisan sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, sesame oil, and chopped onion. The baby back ribs were dry rubbed with a blend of seasoning, then slow roasted in the oven at 275F for 3 hours, finally basted with BBQ sauce. The green beans were blanched and then coated in a basil pesto with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Parmesan, served cold. I also made a vinaigrette based coleslaws and roasted yellow pepper instead of creamy, since I also prepared a potato salad, a mayonnaise based with mustard, chopped gherkins, and chopped pistachio. Gosh, they were all very yummy.

Here is a picture of Barb and the kids, hitting the ice cream with fresh strawberries for dessert. The adults had the ice cream with chardonnay poached pears and raisins.

Husbands' Fishing Outing

I didn't recall who's bright idea it was to have a fishing day out by the husbands. Now that I think of it, maybe it was so the wives could have a day off from the hubbies. After seeing a Travelzoo promotion with Davey's Locker in Newport Beach, all three of them signed up.

It was a party boat, so plenty of people and not too many fish. I don't know if my sisters' husbands were as vocal as mine about his complaints!!! Oh, it was too far, it was too long, it was..... haha..... Anyway, I doubt there would be another fishing trip for a long time.

As for the fish counts, nothing big. There were plenty of Mackerels, a few rock fish, and couple other ones I couldn't recall at the moment. But they all were very bony....

I am not a big fan of mackerels, too fishy. I tried to make it better wrapping bacons around them. But who am I kidding???

Easter Brunch 2011

I was pondering what to make this Easter for the family brunch. I finally narrowed it down to glazed ham or roasted pork as main. Vanessa voted roasted pork. I love this recipe, but next time I need to shorten the time, a bit overcooked but not too bad! And the green sauce is amazing.

• Roasted Beet Salad with Blueberries Vinaigrette


• Sugar Snap Peas with Cherry Tomatoes Salad


• Roast Pork with Garlic and Rosemary, Served with Green Sauce


• Wild Greens with Fried Eggs (Horta me Avga Tiganita)


• Glazed Purple Carrots

Of course, Tom had the main task to carve the pork for us. And he did a wonderful job.

There was a hilarious Easter egg hunt with the kids at home. It was kind of wet outside, so we had to move the "hunt" into our living room. Not much hunting actually happened, they just grabbed them off tables, chairs, sofa, floor, etc. The few we did hide, well, mommies and daddies had to help hunt them out. It was so funny. Too bad, I don't have any pictures to post, think Vanessa does, I was busy laughing away!

PREP Kitchen Spanish Paella Class

I decided to drag Tom to a paella cooking class. I bought these two Groupons with full intention of using it with Andrea when she were coming to visit. Well, the trip didn't work out. So the hubby is the beneficiary of that fallout.

The "Taste of Spain" class is at PREP Kitchen Essentials in Seal Beach, in a nice outdoor mall area. The store is well lighted and airy, very good. I have never made paella myself, so a bit of supervision would be good on my first attempt. There were more couples than I expected, Tom wasn't the lone male there...

He actually did very well participating in chopping etc. I wonder if it were the "public" eyes concept. At home, he leaves the entire kitchen to me. For example, he only knows a few spot, like where the microwave is, where the Tupperware are, forks and spoons, and his smoothies blender. It only took him like two months to find the dishes, making one small step each day....

The menu were:

• Paella al Valenciana
• Spanish Style Garlic Shrimp
• Tomato Toast with Manchego and Spanish Ham
• Fried potatoes with Allioli and Spicy Brava Sauce, Allioli a la Catalana
• Roasted Eggplant with Romesco Sauce
• Sausage with Sweetpeas and Mint

The paella was a success! I even repeated it at home the following week. And it was just as yummy.

Simple Gourmet Team Building Event

We had a business team meeting here in CA this month. Since I went to a cooking class recently and heard about team building event in a cooking class environment, I thought it would be interesting to see how my teammates would measure up each other. This could be a competition or a collaborative event. After a bit thinking, I think a collaborative event might be a bit better with some professional facilitation. Otherwise, if we were to do an Iron Chef type of competition, I really wouldn’t know what our dinner might look like. And the boss agreed, I got the coordinator role, sure, you suggested, so you do it.

It was kind of funny to see how some of my teammates were actually a bit anxious before the event. See, a few of them were kind of like my hubby when it comes to cooking. They know what a can opener is and what a microwave supposes to do. And that is the extent of their knowledge.

But at the end, everyone was surprised how well it turned out and how everyone were divided into teams and made wonderful meals for each other, of course, under a lot of supervision from the Simple Gourmet staffs.

We had them catered the alcohol and beverage, so I really didn’t have to do much, just got the boss to sign the bill, picked out the menu, and took plenty of pictures during the event. It was unexpectedly fun for the entire team.

Appetizers to snack on while cooking:

• Fresh Mozzarella and Sundried Tomato Pesto on Endive Leaves
• Antipasto Platter of marinated Peppers, Cured Meat, Artisanal Cheese & Warm Baguette

What we actually cooked:

• Arugula and Grapefruit Salad with honey-Balsamic Soaked Figs
• Linguini with Sautéed Rainbow chard, Garlicky Breadcrumbs and Crumbled FetaSalmon Picatta with Caramelized Fennel
• Black Pepper Grilled Flank Steak with Brandied Mushrooms
• Flourless Chocolate Cake with Mocha Whipped Cream

Cooking Dinner for Coworkers

This was my first time inviting my colleagues home for dinner. We were having a team meeting the following week, and since everyone would be in town for the meeting, it was a good opportunity to have them over. I was expecting 5 guests plus Tom and me, total of seven people.

One of the individual has food allergies in many things, made it pretty difficult to just prep anything. A bunch of emails were exchange the prior week so I knew what to make or not to make. Since I over bought some ingredients the week prior for the house warming party, I reused them for starters: Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus and Marinated Mozzarella Caprice Skewers. Then I found figs in Costco, another perfect timing finds, so I added a Salad of Figs with Red Onion Marmalade. I got the recipe from one of the newspapers when I was in Australia. I couldn't find the exact one online. Holy cow, this salad was so yummy. And I also made the Crab, Avocado and Mango Stack, recipe from Chart House. I did modify a bit to adapt it to fit the food allergy person.

As for the main dish, I went with fish. So Tom and I went down to Quality Seafood down at the Redondo Beach pier to pick fresh stock. I wanted to get fillets, so I didn’t have to deal with cleaning and deboning….and besides, this was billed back to the company, after all, it was a team meeting dinner…..the fishmonger recommended a Mexican Grouper that would go on the grill nicely, something not so flimsy where it would break apart on a grill. I just sprinkled salt & pepper, plus a bit of olive oil and lemon juice on top before it went onto the grill. Perfect.

Then after I prepped everything already, I got a phone call from my colleagues, well, the two coming in from Chicago, their flights were delayed and they wouldn’t get to LA until like 10 pm or so…oh well, so much for business travel…that means, AGAIN, I had way too much food.

We were so overstuffed even when we didn’t finish all the food. I also brought out two nice bottles of wine. The red was a 2006 pinot noir by Morlet, which my team gave us as part of our wedding gifts. Tom goggled and found out it was a 92 point wine. The white was a Leeuwin chardonnay I acquired on a team meeting in Margaret River the year prior. I thought it was good sentiment to open these two. Both of these two wines were over $100 in total, and I didn’t bill the company for it. Hey, it was a celebration….of friendships.

Needless to say, we were well fed and drank….and once again I forgot to take pictures of the crab stack, served in a martini glass, and the fish dish!!!

Clams Dinner for 2

Gosh we had a bunch of leftover! Yes, even after I tried to get rid of some at Dat’s birthday party last week!!!

So one night, I steamed up some clams in a white wine broth, prepped out some more cheese and charcuterie, and opened a bottle of white wine. Gosh, I chucked down the clams that so quickly that Tom was actually laughing at me. It was really really yummy and I love shellfish…what can I say….it takes someone who loves food to make good food. And the only way to know if you did good or not is by tasting it!!!!

Dat’s Birthday Party

Tom and I were invited to Dat’s birthday party. I debated whether to go as we just had our own house warming party the day before and we just saw him there!

But friendship takes both ways, so we drove down there with more food and wine, plus a nice bottle as his birthday gift, to Yvette’s condo. She was hosting it. I brought over Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus and Marinated Mozzarella Caprice Skewers.

It was nice to see a few folks that I haven’t seen since our wedding, yes, our wedding, like almost 2 years ago. Too busy at work plus I practically didn’t entertain for an entire year…The guests were good cooks, so plenty of great food, plus of course, these are wine snobs. Dat broke out couple nice bottles, aged a while now for the special occasion….

This is the birthday boy.

Well, needless to say, diet was not in the plan for me at all this entire weekend.

This picture of us is definitely NOT one of my favorite. I forgot my camera at home. Gosh, I looked like I ate a cow…

July 4th BBQ at Home

At first, Tom wanted to throw a house warming party along with it. I dragged my feet as I was so not prepared for any kind of entertaining. Of course, Tom’s only work on any party is to tell me who he wants there and get the ice & drinks for the ice chest. And I being the wife, the executive assistance, the host, the cook, the maid, pretty much took care the rest of works that goes with prepping for a party…Yes, so so so not prepare since the house still needs work….

So the invite went out like two weeks before the weekend, and being a popular summer holiday, most invitees already had other plans. So we postponed the housewarming party until later, and just reserved this weekend for a causal small gathering with the immediate family because I could pretty much serve anything I like and I didn’t even have to change or put makeup on!!! Secretly, I was thankful not have to do it.

The Tams & the Chows came over, along with couple cousins from the Tams, who were down here to assist with the Tams’ move from Minnesota to California. During the day, the kids ran around the house, the adults played mahjong. Tom is totally into the game. He was so so proud of his wining that he wanted a picture to show his sister to get the proper scoring…..yes, a big kid.

Here is mom setting up the mahjong table on the deck.

Tom’s wining hand at mahjong.

The gangs around the big dining table. I didn't take pictures of the food. I remember we had yummy chicken wings and spare ribs (after 3.5 hours in the oven at 300 C, the meat was falling off the bones...) Yum....

We caught a funny piece with the kids. As I said the house was not truly ready yet for entertaining. Tom has his big TV in the living room, but we haven’t hooked up the DVD player. So when the kids were screaming for a movie, Tony put the DVD in a little DVD player. The contrast between the big TV and the tiny DVD player is so hilarious. But the kids didn’t care; they had fun either way…. Look carefully, you can see the big TV in the background.

Finally, here is a shot of the fireworks from our deck, taken by Tom’s shaky hand….

Tea Tasting @American Tea Room

I have been an enthusiastic tea drinker for a long time. This means I pretty much willing to try any kind or blend of tea. But I only drink it black, no sweetener or milk. I have never taken a class to properly drink it. I figure if you like it, you would eventually make it the way you prefer, same as cooking….and hopefully the tea (or meal) you prepare is just as preferable for others as for you!!!

Yvette told me about this class from a Groupon she got a while back. Oh, Groupon is a wonderful finds too if you prefer not to pay full price. Basically, it is a prepaid system to get deep discount on various things. I have since acquired a few other things….

Of course, at this tea course, I didn’t learn about Groupon yet, so it is a bit pricy, $50 for a tasting of 4 teas (White, Green, Black, Rooibos & Other) and you get to keep the cup. I figure it was a nice outing to Beverly Hills and meet up with a girlfriend is worth the full price ticket. After the course, I now think it is worth the course fee. It was fun, educational, and what a nice atmosphere and service oriented staffs! Horray to American Tea Room for putting this course together.

I have purchased a bit of high quality white and green tea while traveling in Asia & the South Pacific, most are pure blend with a few that is a bit “forward thinking”. Drinking it pure is still my prefer choice; however, dabbling into blends can be very fun.

I also have a collection of tea pots and tea cups, both Asian & western style. I just couldn’t make up my mind … I guess that is a definition of “collecting”…haha.

The experience was great, I was surprised it took so long for us to finally select our purchases. Guess we were playing around with so many choices!!!

Unfortunately, my little handbag camera decided to quit on me by giving me white light overly expose pictures. It is later on determined to be terminal….so these pictures are from Yvette’s camera. Enjoy.



You can see more pictures from Yvette's Flickr original set.

Thanksgiving 2009

I wasn’t sure how this year’s Thanksgiving dinner would come together until the day before. As you can tell by now, forward planning hadn’t really happen to me lately!!!

I knew I needed a turkey, but from where??? And I got to really do this the day before so I could marinate it overnight…How do I get a juicy bird??? Last year, Fran and I soaked the turkey in brine overnight and it was very moist. I figured I could just repeat that this year. Then what bird? Butterball (my usual), just anything on sales, or something different…well, let’s tried a free range turkey from Sprout Market (and a jar of brine mix). It was definitely more costly…but until I tried it, I wouldn’t know if there is a true difference….

Report card from mom: Yes, mom thought there was a difference between this and last year’s bird. She would know as she always complains about the hormones induced chickens in the states here compared to the free range ones in Asia. She doesn’t like the chickens here.

As for the sides and dessert, there were plenty once again. And they were DELICIOUS.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Pecan and Marshmallow Streusel
Cranberry, Apple and Ginger Chutney (I added pineapple too)
Best Ever Green Bean Casserole
Pumpkin Crème Brulee Pie
Homemade Whipped Cream

The kids went to Chris’s parents first on Thanksgiving Day but they had Chinese food instead the usual western TD fares.

Not that they were hungry, but they were definitely attracted more to gobble gobble. Caden was so happy to see the plate of turkey and actually ate quite a bit. I got a shot of Makayla staring at her brother’s plate of turkey before she got hers….very very cute.

And the funny faces posing in front of the pumpkin cream burlee pie. Kids are kids, always add laughs to any family gathering….

Labor Day BBQ @Home in RB

I barely had time to put the apartment in one piece before the family came over for some BBQ on this Labor Day. I am not required to do this, but in my family, not too many people actually do the cooking…so it is just me.

Chris is out on business trip. Dennis and his family came down from Minneapolis for the long weekend. So the whole gain visited our little love nest in Redondo Beach.

I was too tired to really manage a decent menu. Besides, I have plenty of stuffs in the freezer that I have to use, now that my kitchen size has reduced by half. In the freezer, there was a big brisket from Costco. I needed to cook it. And it wasn’t like Tom and I can eat that in one meal. You really needed a bigger group. I also bought a Cole slaw salad pack. Then you just mix and eat. We had plenty of fresh fruit (pineapples, blueberries, melons, etc).

For a second meat, I just threw together some marinade for like 10 lbs of chicken wings. We LOVE grilled wings. I have no idea what I used; every time is a bit of this, a bit of that, depending on what I have on hand at the moment. The funny thing, it is pretty much a success each time, pretty amazing at times…

As for dessert, I did make a Peach Crisp from scratch. It was yummy, but probably needed a bit more sugar.

Makayla found a package on the table. Actually, I found it stuck in the dresser when I was unpacking and rearranging the bedroom. It was part of the little mermaid makeup case for little girl. The same package Tom got the plastic ring to propose to me. Very cute that he didn’t just trash the rest. Makayla started to play with the makeup case. I guess it must be in the female genes. She just knew that she should apply it to herself???

Ian and Caden fit themselves nicely into Tom’s leather chair. Yeap, they need to be together. So the chair is big enough and in a good position to be closed to the TV. Men, little ones and big one, all about TV…

The kids had lots of fun. I think because this is such a small place, they had to be all together and we left the windows and door open, so pretty much in and out on your own. And of course, there is the beach. They love having sand sands on their feet. After the meal, they went for a walk down the beach. When they came back, all of the little feet need to be washed. And by the time I half wiped them off, it was just much easier to give them a bath!!! When they left, they were in their PJs all ready for the long ride home.

EVOO

EVOO, extra virgin olive oil, the name for a local gourmet store/kitchen/cooking school/dinner show. According to them, EVOO exists before it became a word Rachael Ray uses on her show. Nilenka arranged a dinner show for Tom and me at this place on Friday night. It is a wonderful find in the Cannon Beach city. Actually, this place is only 3 houses down the street from the vacation home.

We arrived just a bit before dinner show time. I looked around the store and found some nice gourmet cooking stuffs. If I had seen this place earlier in the week, I probably would have gotten some cheese and other goodies for dinner instead of the good old Mariner grocery across the street!!! The grocery didn’t even have ground pork!!! They have no butcher on site.

The menu consisted of 3 courses. Each is individually paired with a matching wine. The idea is to show the audience how to cook this. Most of the prep work has been done prior, save the final cooking to demonstrate to us. There were 8 of us that evening. Full capacity in the shop is 23. Now, I have a difficult time imagine how they can fit that many people in one setting, as the shop is not big!! For us that evening, I feel it is just right and enable a smaller intimate crowd. Not that we were doing much talking with the others since everyone was mostly concentrated on our own food, with a few uh and ah…

We had a very fun evening, not having to cook, but not a real sit down in the black box being served dinner either. Causal, yet welcoming and delicious, and very entertaining. Highly recommended for anyone. When we go back to CB in Dec for the Rudenko family gathering, I want to do this again for sure!!!

Here is the menu and wine pairing:

Herb crusted wild salmon with English watercress & warm fingerling potatoes
WINE: ROXYANN 2007 PINOT GRIS

Cocoa salt rubbed Basque pork, Piquillo pepper cornbread, & Avocado Tomatillo salsa WINE: CATHEDRAL RIDGE 2007 CABERNET-MERLOT

Smoked Tenderloin filet, Manchego dill pasta, & tomato jam
WINE: ZERBA Z BLEND 2005

Almond cake with warm rhubarb-strawberry compote, vanilla bean sour cream ice cream, and Warm chocolate ganache, salted roasted pistachio

And when we came out of EVOO, it was after 9:30 pm or so. The sky was almost completely dark, except for a bit of light on the beach horizon, blocked by the oceanfront homes. Very different composition in this last shot.

Champagne Brunch with the Neighbors

It was high time we entertain Tom’s neighbors. Tom had been living in this apartment for the last 5 years. One of his neighbors is probably just as long. When we got married, we invited them to the reception. But they couldn’t make it because Jacques owns a restaurant in Palos Verdes and he needed to manage the restaurant on a Saturday night. Afterward, he and his girlfriend, Kitty, treated us to a nice sit down dinner at the restaurant. So we need to return the favor.

I didn’t want to entertain on weeknights. And Jacques is busy on the weekend evening at the restaurant. So we finally picked a Sunday brunch instead. We also wanted to invite another neighbor, Eileen had to work; instead Lisa came. She brought the champagne as admission ticket, yes, all 6 bottles plus raspberries and blackberries. I thought there was no way we could consume 6 bottles with 5 people. Well, I underestimated this crowd!!! Both Tom and I are the lightweight and the other three certainly made up the difference! Lisa’s pup came for a visit too; he is an eight month old black lap, so calm and so adorable. We all love him.

As you can tell, we are spoiled. We probably have one of the best settings for ocean front dining, just outside in the community balcony. The weather could be a bit warmer and less windy. But we are not complaining too much after a few glasses of champagne to warm us up. I put the white table cloth on, brought my matching china and linen from Irvine, and got Tom to buy some flowers for the table. Our guests never came to one of my dinner before; they were in for a surprise. Kitty, after waking up on Sunday morning, seeing our table setting, decided she needs to put some decent clothes on, not your breakfast in bed attire. She even joked that this is her engagement brunch to Jacques!!! Of course, Jacques claimed he would never come to our brunch again as this could be a trap for him!!!

By the time we had our dessert, I was ready for a nap. I don’t know how many glasses of champagne I drank, but I was first laying outside on the recliner, then moved myself back inside the apartment to the living room coach because it was still chilly even under a blanket, and subsequently moved inside to the bedroom as some other neighbors started to come by (after seeing us dining) and the Lakers were playing, it got too noisy. The brunch started at 11 am. And by the time I woke up, it was like 4pm in the afternoon. Needless to say, goodwill was built with the neighbors.

As for the menu, I thought I over prepared the amount of food, but I was surprised there wasn’t much leftover. All the recipes here are first time trial for me except for the arugula salad.

Arugula Salad

Billionaire’s Bacon – I read this somewhere before. All I did was to coat the bacon with brown sugar. And instead of cooking them in a pan, I bake them in the oven. The brown sugar caramelized so nicely. One of the quick visit neighbors took a piece with him on his bike ride, and later on called Kitty to ask me how I did it. You don’t even need a recipe for this.

Crepes with Smoked Salmon and Asparagus – after much searching, I finally found
this single recipe that seems to have all the right feel to it, except it doesn’t have the recipe for the crepe itself??? So I kind of mix and match on this one. The white wine sauce is creamy, perfect to go inside the crepe. Smoked salmon, I got it on sale and pre-sliced. So the difficult part is to make the crepes first. Then assemble with the smoked salmon, sauce, blanched asparagus, top it with more sauce and shredded cheese. In the oven it went, and came out beautifully. Impressive and yummy. Recipe for the crepes.

Zucchini and Ricotta Frittata – this is a recipe from the Donna Hay magazine. The ingredients are simple. The pan I used (yes, didn’t bring my good pan from Irvine) probably needed a bit more butter instead of the olive oil I used. It wasn’t burn, but I had to finish the cooking in the oven a bit longer than what the recipe called for. Part of it is also his oven. It doesn’t have the heating element from the top, so you can’t really add quick color to the top of the frittata. But it is delicious and light!!! So doing this again….

Never-Fail Soufflé – when it first came out of the oven, I was wondering if I picked
the wrong recipes. The color looked dark because I use multigrain and wheat bread (already in Tom’s fridge) instead of white bread. But when I took a bite of it, I was sold!!! Oh my god, this is really really good and so easy.

It is hard to say which one of these is my favorite. All of them are good. The frittata was completely gone. So I would say that is probably most popular and perhaps it is so light weighted that people don’t know they consumed a lot.

Wine Pairing Dinner - Spring Menu 09

The last time I did one of these with the wine club was in July last year, before the wedding activities became priorities. Dat asked me couple months ago when I would do another one, after us being absent from the wine and dine social circle.

I selected to do the dinner in Irvine, as we can accommodate more people than the beach house. I usually pick a food theme. I wasn’t too creative this time, just whatever “spring” means to you in terms of food.

We ended up with 8 people, perfect for a sit down multiple courses event! The following is our menu for the night.

Starter
Pork Spring Rolls – Grilled Pork Paste Wrapped In Rice Paper with House Special Sauce (Anne)
Lemongrass Coconut Soup with Chicken and Mushrooms (Alma)

Main
Grilled Tri Tip Sliders (Dat)
Spring Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing (Yvette)

Braised Halibut with Fennel and Tomato (Joanna)
Spaghetti Squash with Sage and Orange (Yvette)

Dessert
White Chocolate Panna Cotta (Monique)

I really didn’t spend too much time cooking at all this round, mainly due to a simple recipe. Halibut is in season right now, and it is perfect for a quick braising, as you will need a fish that has a bit of thickness, yet not dense up after cooking (like a sword fish). Next time, I would cook more braising sauce, as it is delicious and everyone wanted more fennels and the braising sauce.

All the food are excellent, I actually had to control myself not to get a second helping due to so many courses. It is wonderful to have others sharing their choice of recipes, the food, the wine, and the company!!!

We had 4 full bottles of wine (2 red and 2 white), plus a bottle of dessert wine. As you can see from the pictures, we really did well on both fronts. All the wine was gone, and I got rid of any leftover. Yes, it works when you have single people around; they tend to take the leftover home so no need to cook the next day! And I don’t need to deal with eating the leftover by myself (and Tom now).

More inspiration reading: Food Club brings longtime friends back to the table

Salmon Wellington

While browsing through the December issue of the Coastal Living magazine a few months ago, I spotted this recipe. It seems very simple and looks elegant where people think you spent time on the recipe.

I already have the puff pastry in the freezer. Leeks are easy enough to get from the local grocery. Now, even the salmon is portion to 6 oz. size behind the meat counter at Albertsons.

I sautéed the leeks, definitely need the white wine for taste. I seasoned the salmon fillets well. If you follow the direction, you can't get wrong. It is also a light enough recipe to serve as brunch too. Definitely will repeat this dish!

Chicken Tikka Masala

I didn’t realize I miss half of the recipe until now!!!

I bought a can of Peter Watson’s Chicken Tika Masala spice rub in OZ a while back. Yes, still working off the pantry stash. I marinated the skinless chicken tights over night with the rub (after adding my version of cilantro, green onions, cream, because that is what I had in the fridge!). Chicken breast would have been too dry by the time it is done.

I browned the chicken first, and then let it cooked through in the oven. All the Indian spices are very very strong; we still can smell it in the house two days after. The color of the food looks wonderful after browning.

Now I realize that is only part of the entire dish. After Google a bit while writing up this blog, I am supposed to make a creamy tomato based sauce to go with the chicken. Oops, it is still delicious without it. I need to add a bit of salt next time I use the same seasoning rub.

Regardless, it still tasted very yummy without the sauce. Guess I didn’t mess up too badly.

Osso Buco, at Least That Was the Plan???

Ok, how difficult do you think to find veal shank or beef shank to make this dish? On a Thursday evening in the south bay area, apparently, it can be a mission impossible task!!!

Tom and I planned to entertain his ex-boss, Linda and her husband at the beach home that Friday night. I figure if I selected something that can reheat well, I wouldn’t have to take half day off on Friday to cook. Yes, Linda has tons of children commitments such than a Friday would be better than a Saturday or Sunday. What is better than slow cook meat on a cold evening (ok, cold by CA standard)?

I went to Ralphs first, no luck. Then I tried Albertson, no luck. I asked the butchers at both places and they stared back at me like they never heard of the term “Osso Buco”. Then I said veal shank, they shake their head, I asked for beef shank, they continue to shake their head. By now, it is 6 pm, I am tired of driving around in the infamous rush hour traffic, and certainly in no mood of running to a third store since I am pretty confident they won’t have it too. Now, if I were in Irvine, I can just go to the Asian market. Yes, guarantee to have that in stock. But I am up north. No luck.

I looked around; the next best thing would be braised short ribs. Of course, none of it was on display; the butcher had to dig around in the back to see if it is even in stock. By then, I didn’t care how much it costs; just give me some, as it’s going to take another 2-3 hours to cook the ribs once I get them home!!! You guess it, who in their right mind would pay $4.99 per pound of short ribs? I claim to not in my right mind!!!

Knowing my hubby’s (in)capability of calculating time in the domestic environment, I asked him, “What time are you planning to come home tomorrow night?” He said he would leave work around 4:30pm. Our guests were to arrive at 6:30pm. With at least an hour drive on a typical day for him, and probably longer on a Friday night, that would mean “Joanna” will be doing all the prep work at home by herself. No way. I said, “I am leaving work at 3pm, and I expect you to be home by 4:30pm, not leaving work at 4:30pm. I will need your help to clean up the house and set the tables while I cook.”

He hurried up to call the maid. Yes, pick up the phone to call the maid to clean, and very disappointed when he found out the maid would not be available!!! I had to laugh out loud because he knows he would need to clean the place himself now!!!

Tom is pretty good about participating in “team work”, as long as it is clear instructions and details on what is expected of him. I think a few rounds of this would hopefully let him understand that “entertaining” at home is more than just cooking in the kitchen.

Anyway, everything turned out beautifully. He did a wonderful job in following direction and setting the table nicely, including personally hand polishing the silverwares and wine glasses. And I certainly needed him to do that as it took longer than I expected to prep the first course and desert.

The final menu are:

• Fresh baked bread with Dukka - This Egyptian dipping/dunking spices is delish! I wish I have gotten more when I was in OZ. But I guess I have to see if I can find a decent recipe to make my own blend. Basically, you dip the bread in olive oil, and then dunk it in dukka and eat it. Very aromatic.
• Lobster and Butter Lettuce Salad - I didn't have any white wine vinegar at the beach house, so lemon juice was used. I put in some pomelo, as it is in season now and added a touch of citrus freshness to the overall salad. This was soooooooooo yummy.
• Braised Short Ribs with Mashed Red Potatoes - I browned the ribs first, then the veggies, then poured in a whole bottle of red wine. I used a Grenache labeled "Bitch" (yes, I bought it because of its name, was planning to consume it last year when the girls were in town, but too much other consumable were around then...)
• Caramelized Nectar with Orange Almond Flourless Cake - I did not make this from scratch. It was high time to use this gourmet cake mix. I added the caramelized nectar on top. And Tom helped to whip the cream too!

Everyone enjoyed the dinner and conversation. Les was in love with the lobster salad while Linda decided to make short ribs herself the following week!

Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quiche

It’s that time of the year for another round of bake sales at work, a fundraising project for Revlon Breast Cancer Walk in May. I have done this last year with batches of cookies and cakes. This year, they reduce the sale dates to only 3. I think last year was every week for 6 weeks or so.

I volunteered again this time. Instead of sweet bakery, I opted for a breakfast item. After flipping through a bunch of recipes online, I settled on a caramelized onion & spinach quiche. Honestly, I was surprised that there aren’t too many recipe variations online. I was hoping for something unique and fun.

I cheated on the recipe. (1) I didn’t make the crust. I used the store bought deep dish pie shell. I didn’t want to risk losing my pie dish after the bake sales and the pre-made pie shells are just as good. (2) Forget about French cutting the onion. Come on, once the onion is cooked, do you think anyone would know if it is French cut or not??? (3) I added spinach to substitute out some of the onion to give it a bit of variation.

The baking turned out really great, at least the color did. I didn’t have a taste. It would be funny to cut a slide out and presented the 1.8 quiche for sales….I had to talk myself down from tasting it, as if I take a bit, I have to take the whole pie! May be I would make one for my next brunch…

I certainly hope they were able to sell the quiche for more than what I paid for in the ingredients!!! For the two quiches, I spent $18 (cheese is expensive!!!). And that did not include my labor and time. My girlfriend, Monique, suggested that I should just buy the quiches from Costco, and it would cost me less than $10 for two. Well, first, I never checked out the quiche price at Costco, but 2 for $10 seem awfully inexpensive. Second, I wouldn’t feel like I am volunteering. One of my goal is to at least volunteer once this year, buying one instead of making one would really really makes disqualifying myself!!! I can’t pass the mirror test…

Entertaining 101: Sunday Brunch with Pam & Tim

One of Tom’s goals in the “after marriage” life is to reconnect with his friends and colleagues. This means having gatherings at the house, implying I serve as “hostess” to these gatherings.

I actually don’t mind, as this can be fun. The only thing is Tom’s place is small; we can only accommodate 2 other people in addition to us. And I only want to do one gathering a month. So this will be a long process, just to rotate through his friends. Then there is my side of the family and friends. So, yes, I think there will be plenty of “entertaining” in the near future.

For the first one, we invited Pam and Tim. Not sure if you recall, Pam is Tom’s musical partner. She played for us during the rehearsal dinner. They are a fun couple. So we had them over for a Sunday brunch. I figure that is a good test drive at the Beach House.

The menu is:

• Mimosa


• Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Quiche – This recipe calls for half & half. So the end result is actually pretty light body and custard like, instead of creamy and thick. It depends how you like your quiche. I think next time I would probably use whip cream and 4 whole eggs, instead of 2 eggs + 2 yolks. Anyway, it was still very yummy. But it did take 65 minutes to bake it into solid state. The recipe calls for 35-40 minutes, not enough!!!


• Spring Mixed Salad with Caramelized Peaches & Chile Pepper Roasted Almond


• Avocado & Tomato Salad


• Slut-red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly – Love the name of this course, Slut Red. It was pretty easy to make and quite tasty. The only thing is the recipe called for 5 leaves of gelatin. Well, we only have powder form and it wasn’t clear how the conversion would work even after I googled it. I used 3 packets of powder. Well, it is more like jello (a little stiff) rather than jelly. I think next time I would use 2.5 packets instead.

We had fun. It is evident. We polished off a whole bottle of champagne and a bottle of chardonnay. This doesn’t include the entire bottle of chardonnay I used in making the jelly!!!