Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Apple Dumpling
This is a favorite dessert of my family. I bought this little cookbook from an Amish Restaurant in Bucks County Pennsylvania back in early 1980s. It seems strange to bake the Apple Dumpling in a sauce but the result is so delicious. Over the years with our move to San Diego ten years ago I lost track of this little cookbook. I flicked through cookbook after cookbook, thinking I might have stuck it between other cookbooks, to no avail. Until late last year - it just appeared, in the book shelf. Hey, I have look at those bookshelves so many times over the years for it and for other books.... It is just one of those things. I was so happy to find it that I did a scrapbook page on it! Chinese New Year is the second time we have enjoyed them since the book was found.
Gong Xi Fatt Cai
Gong Xi Fat Cai my family and friends! Welcome to the Year of the OX. Another full circle for my dear brother HT. My own circle completed last year with the Year of the Rat. Ah, the wonders of the Chinese calender - you are able to guess the age of a person by their animal zodiac year and if you know your twelve times table! Now all we have to decipher is whether they have `work done' (aka a little help from the medical profession) or if they have lived a hard life and it shows.
Celebrating Chinese New Year in the West is more quiet unless you have family nearby and many Chinese friends. Schools and work do not acknowledge Chinese New Year with time off so it is become harder to celebrate it properly. Cities with large Chinese populations like New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and even San Diego where we live have events during the weekends to celebrate Chinese New Year. But it is different.... it is not right in your home, your lives... you have to go to it, to a community event. None of those visiting friends homes, nibbling Chinese New Year cookies and eating so many tangerines until you get a sore throat.
I try to celebrate Chinese New Year in some form or another.Luckily, the internet has made the world a whole lot smaller and I am able to `participate' in Chinese New Year back home. Little sister C is close by in New York and this year we have my little nephew M. We celebrated Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner a day earlier with our good friends the Ong from Singapore - our family away from home.
Tired out from the activities of previous weeks and Son A's Lax practices and games, I did not make much by way of Chinese New Year delicacies. We were having steamboat for dinner. I managed to make some Long Yoke courtesy of Lily Sek. It was quite tasty but I think I would buy the pork from the Chinese Supermarket as it needs to be more fatty. I love the fact that it did not have nitrates in it. I would definitely make it again. I might try to make some beef Long Yoke too. All in all it was easy and quite satisfying experience
.
For dessert, I made Apple Dumpling from an Amish recipe that I had lost long ago but found recently.We served it hot with vanilla ice cream. They were delicious. Somehow it fitted in with our western but Chinese reunion dinner.
Another nod to CNY was the Nin Koh I made. I made it on the first day of CNY as I could not find a block of time to make it. Instead of the aluminum loaf pans of last year, I made them in banana leaf lined food cans ( emptied out the canned corn). They turned out nice although some mixture leaked out between the banana leaves.It was easier with the aluminum loaf pans.
For dinner on the first day of CNY we had Oven Roasted Crabs. Ha, ha, I do not know if it is a good or bad dish to serve during CNY but the family had been hankering after crabs lately. When
I saw them in Costco, I had to buy them.I had bought the cookbook just for that one recipe because I knew my kids would love it and they did! All I can say is at least I did not serve squid- Chow Yau Ye!!
Second night's dinner was Pepper Crusted Steak with Salad. Yes, very Chinese.
Do not know what I am serving tonight.......
The one thing I am very happy about this year is my Satsuma Mandarin Orange tree! Remember how we redid my garden last year? We had re situated my potted citrus plants. We have been rewarded by tons of juicy fruits. My calamasi/ limau kasturi plant is covered with more fruits than I could ever use. The Limau perut plant is pumping out so many fruits that I am trying to find a way to use them. Normally we would just throw them away. I love, love, love the Japanese Kumquat. So very sweet! I always eat 6-8 at a time, while walking in the garden. I bit off
the top of the fruit, suck on the juices and devour the
sweet, sweet skin. It is unlike kumquats I have tasted in the past. For CNY, the Satsuma Mandarin Orange is spectacular. I never had them fruit at this time and definitely not in the quantities I see this year. I is like having my own mandarin orange fruit stand- only, I pick them and eat them off the tree. I can smell CNY so vividly now. If course I have the Valencies and Navel oranges almost ready. I think I will have to indulge in my grapefruit next week. So such is CNY in San Diego.
Celebrating Chinese New Year in the West is more quiet unless you have family nearby and many Chinese friends. Schools and work do not acknowledge Chinese New Year with time off so it is become harder to celebrate it properly. Cities with large Chinese populations like New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and even San Diego where we live have events during the weekends to celebrate Chinese New Year. But it is different.... it is not right in your home, your lives... you have to go to it, to a community event. None of those visiting friends homes, nibbling Chinese New Year cookies and eating so many tangerines until you get a sore throat.
I try to celebrate Chinese New Year in some form or another.Luckily, the internet has made the world a whole lot smaller and I am able to `participate' in Chinese New Year back home. Little sister C is close by in New York and this year we have my little nephew M. We celebrated Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner a day earlier with our good friends the Ong from Singapore - our family away from home.
Tired out from the activities of previous weeks and Son A's Lax practices and games, I did not make much by way of Chinese New Year delicacies. We were having steamboat for dinner. I managed to make some Long Yoke courtesy of Lily Sek. It was quite tasty but I think I would buy the pork from the Chinese Supermarket as it needs to be more fatty. I love the fact that it did not have nitrates in it. I would definitely make it again. I might try to make some beef Long Yoke too. All in all it was easy and quite satisfying experience
.
For dessert, I made Apple Dumpling from an Amish recipe that I had lost long ago but found recently.We served it hot with vanilla ice cream. They were delicious. Somehow it fitted in with our western but Chinese reunion dinner.
Another nod to CNY was the Nin Koh I made. I made it on the first day of CNY as I could not find a block of time to make it. Instead of the aluminum loaf pans of last year, I made them in banana leaf lined food cans ( emptied out the canned corn). They turned out nice although some mixture leaked out between the banana leaves.It was easier with the aluminum loaf pans.For dinner on the first day of CNY we had Oven Roasted Crabs. Ha, ha, I do not know if it is a good or bad dish to serve during CNY but the family had been hankering after crabs lately. When
I saw them in Costco, I had to buy them.I had bought the cookbook just for that one recipe because I knew my kids would love it and they did! All I can say is at least I did not serve squid- Chow Yau Ye!!Second night's dinner was Pepper Crusted Steak with Salad. Yes, very Chinese.
Do not know what I am serving tonight.......
The one thing I am very happy about this year is my Satsuma Mandarin Orange tree! Remember how we redid my garden last year? We had re situated my potted citrus plants. We have been rewarded by tons of juicy fruits. My calamasi/ limau kasturi plant is covered with more fruits than I could ever use. The Limau perut plant is pumping out so many fruits that I am trying to find a way to use them. Normally we would just throw them away. I love, love, love the Japanese Kumquat. So very sweet! I always eat 6-8 at a time, while walking in the garden. I bit off
the top of the fruit, suck on the juices and devour the
sweet, sweet skin. It is unlike kumquats I have tasted in the past. For CNY, the Satsuma Mandarin Orange is spectacular. I never had them fruit at this time and definitely not in the quantities I see this year. I is like having my own mandarin orange fruit stand- only, I pick them and eat them off the tree. I can smell CNY so vividly now. If course I have the Valencies and Navel oranges almost ready. I think I will have to indulge in my grapefruit next week. So such is CNY in San Diego.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Your Brother is a Beast!
"Your brother is a beast. Wait till you see him in action" said my husband to my daughter L. My son A has been playing Lacrosse for the past 3 or 4 months. To say that he is obsessed with the game is an understatement! Daughter L has yet to come out to a game of his, being occupied with college applications, tons of homework and what seems to be never ending barrage of tests. Finally this weekend after celebrating her birthday, she came out to watch him.
This weekend Son A was guest playing with another team as there were not enough players from his regular team to field a team for the tournament. It worked out great as the team he was with this weekend consisted of new players. The team lucked out with 4 players from A's team- a goalie, a defender, a forward and A, a face-off specialist and midfielder/ forward. They got the top 4 players of our regular team to anchor the team.
Son A got lots of playing time being the face-off person. He was also very aggressive and successful in the attack.He scored 2 goals during the tournament. One highlight of the tournament was when he was checked from behind, right across his back. He came flying towards us, closed to the sideline where I was ready with the camera. The look on his face was precious. Surprise and full of mischief and determination. I was too shocked as were the other parents, when we saw him being knocked into our midst. I missed that photo opportunity! His stick went flying. We thought it was knocked out of his hands but as was later revealed he actually threw the stick. The players were scrambling looking for the ball, when Son A picked himself up and the ball which he still had with his stick that he threw. No wonder they could not find the ball! He then race off to the goal but alas he was taken down right as he was making the shot in front of the goal.Now, we understand that mischievous look on his face.
Hint: Double click on slide show for larger pictures
/span>
This weekend Son A was guest playing with another team as there were not enough players from his regular team to field a team for the tournament. It worked out great as the team he was with this weekend consisted of new players. The team lucked out with 4 players from A's team- a goalie, a defender, a forward and A, a face-off specialist and midfielder/ forward. They got the top 4 players of our regular team to anchor the team.
Son A got lots of playing time being the face-off person. He was also very aggressive and successful in the attack.He scored 2 goals during the tournament. One highlight of the tournament was when he was checked from behind, right across his back. He came flying towards us, closed to the sideline where I was ready with the camera. The look on his face was precious. Surprise and full of mischief and determination. I was too shocked as were the other parents, when we saw him being knocked into our midst. I missed that photo opportunity! His stick went flying. We thought it was knocked out of his hands but as was later revealed he actually threw the stick. The players were scrambling looking for the ball, when Son A picked himself up and the ball which he still had with his stick that he threw. No wonder they could not find the ball! He then race off to the goal but alas he was taken down right as he was making the shot in front of the goal.Now, we understand that mischievous look on his face.
Hint: Double click on slide show for larger pictures
/span>
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Dear Diary Cake
"You might want to keep that part, it will probably be worth a lot some day" said daughter L's friend S. Her friend S is a star football player on her school's Varsity Football Team and he is probably right too! It was hard to imagine we would cut into and eat up all those all those wonderful (and some strange) birthday greetings. Yes, eat them up!
I seemed bitten by the baking bug lately or maybe I am realizing how little time I had left to spoil my daughter L before she goes to college. How many more times will I be hearing the sound of her friends celebrating her birthday? I had to think hard on how to top the spaghetti and meatball cake I made on her actual birthday. After a few days of browsing on the web, I came up with a cake shaped as a book. It would of course be Red Velvet Cake her favorite with strawberry butter cream frosting in between the layers. The face / top of the cake, that is the "paper part" would have to be firm so that her friends could write their birthday greetings. I used rolled fondant for it.
You should have heard her excitedly greeting each guest that arrived."Come signed my cake." The puzzled looks she would get and then excitement they would get when they saw the cake. She had them all wipe their hands with a wipe before signing. Invariably they would ask,"Are we really going to eat this cake?" "Yes, we are!" she would happily reply. They signed the cake with markers of edible food coloring...... Those markers were what truly inspired the cake. I had seen an autograph book cake featured on the Ace of Cake show, where the cast of bakers had autographed the birthday cake for the client who was a huge fan of theirs. When I found those markers, I thought it would be even better if her friends could sign it making it an interactive cake. Those markers made it easy for them as it was the same as using markers. It was not until the afternoon of the party that we decide the book would be a diary and daughter L excitedly albeit nervously pen in her entry.
The first signers just signed their names. Later, other got more creative. As the evening wore on, many came back to add to their original entry. Of course, late comers had to find a place to sign!! All in all I think the cake was a hit. One girl even made away with a marker at the end of the night- oh yeh, we know Miss K.
Hint: Double click on slide show to see larger pictures online
I seemed bitten by the baking bug lately or maybe I am realizing how little time I had left to spoil my daughter L before she goes to college. How many more times will I be hearing the sound of her friends celebrating her birthday? I had to think hard on how to top the spaghetti and meatball cake I made on her actual birthday. After a few days of browsing on the web, I came up with a cake shaped as a book. It would of course be Red Velvet Cake her favorite with strawberry butter cream frosting in between the layers. The face / top of the cake, that is the "paper part" would have to be firm so that her friends could write their birthday greetings. I used rolled fondant for it.
You should have heard her excitedly greeting each guest that arrived."Come signed my cake." The puzzled looks she would get and then excitement they would get when they saw the cake. She had them all wipe their hands with a wipe before signing. Invariably they would ask,"Are we really going to eat this cake?" "Yes, we are!" she would happily reply. They signed the cake with markers of edible food coloring...... Those markers were what truly inspired the cake. I had seen an autograph book cake featured on the Ace of Cake show, where the cast of bakers had autographed the birthday cake for the client who was a huge fan of theirs. When I found those markers, I thought it would be even better if her friends could sign it making it an interactive cake. Those markers made it easy for them as it was the same as using markers. It was not until the afternoon of the party that we decide the book would be a diary and daughter L excitedly albeit nervously pen in her entry.
The first signers just signed their names. Later, other got more creative. As the evening wore on, many came back to add to their original entry. Of course, late comers had to find a place to sign!! All in all I think the cake was a hit. One girl even made away with a marker at the end of the night- oh yeh, we know Miss K.
Hint: Double click on slide show to see larger pictures online
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
My Husband, My Hero
So the other night, my dear husband turns to me and hands over a section of the newspaper. "Does your spider looks like this?". I had been talking to him earlier that day about my spider - Spidy. I told him that I was worried Spidy was going to die soon as she is supposed to. She had in the fall laid an egg sac and look after it until eggs hatched. She is so much smaller than she was when I first spotted her in the summer. To top things off I found her with another egg sac this morning. Already exhausted from tending to the first egg sac, I do not know how she will fair.
Back to the newspaper article, he handed to me. It was about the Brown Widow Spider. The Brown widow venom is twice as potent as black widow but less is injected. "No, my spider does not look like the brown widow spider. She is a Green Lynx Spider." I left it at that but did continue to read the article.
Today, when I went to take
in the trash cans from the curb, I remembered the article and what it said about the spiders favoring the underneath the handles of trash cans. Low and behold, there they were, egg sacs with tiny spikes. I did not touch the handles directly but use something to help me pull the trash can into the yard. I search for the article to see how to best handle it. It says to squish the spiders as they do not die immediately from insecticide. So tomorrow I will do that.
Meanwhile, thank you my husband for looking out for me ( although I suspect he thought I did not know one spider from another!)
Back to the newspaper article, he handed to me. It was about the Brown Widow Spider. The Brown widow venom is twice as potent as black widow but less is injected. "No, my spider does not look like the brown widow spider. She is a Green Lynx Spider." I left it at that but did continue to read the article.
Today, when I went to take
in the trash cans from the curb, I remembered the article and what it said about the spiders favoring the underneath the handles of trash cans. Low and behold, there they were, egg sacs with tiny spikes. I did not touch the handles directly but use something to help me pull the trash can into the yard. I search for the article to see how to best handle it. It says to squish the spiders as they do not die immediately from insecticide. So tomorrow I will do that.Meanwhile, thank you my husband for looking out for me ( although I suspect he thought I did not know one spider from another!)
All things Spidy
Throughout this summer, it seems like I was always stepping through spider webs in my garden. Overnight,huge net of spider webs would appear. I would walk straight smack into them and have to pull the web off my face. So, awhile back I took my camera out and tried to photograph them. It was not the easiest thing to do! I manage to take a few nice shots. I took that opportunity to check out who Spidy's neighbors were. Remember, Spidy, my gardening friend? I will update you on Spidy later but for now Spidy's friends.
I found this spider web across one of my Lavender bush. I tried identifying it from charts on the web. It is one of the Orb Weaver spider. I think it is the Labyrinth Orb Weaver Spider. It was fairly large, maybe the size of a dime and ugly... like how a spider should be.
Then, I found this spider making a web across a Tomato Cage. Isn't the web beautiful? Like pearls glistening in the sun. It is another member of the orb weaver family, I think. It is very much smaller than the spider on the lavender plant. I had to zoom it a fair bit with my camera to see what it looks like. The silk of the web was finer giving it a ethereal look, especially with the morning sun glistening on the dew drops.
As I wander down the lower garden I see this huge web stretched between two trees. Webs of all sizes from spiders of all sizes. I guess Spidy has quite a cosmopolitan neighborhood.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A message (posting) frrom the past
2009 resolution - tie up all loose ends, finish as many unfinished symphonies as possible! Note, I did not say all - just as many as possible. As previously mentioned there sits many unposted blog posts on my account. So thinking I am off to a great start and will have many new postings this year, I edit and post one of these projects. I looked for it after I posted only to find out it posted to 2008 - i.e. the year I created the posting! So friends and family, check out 2008 for "new posting". Just posted my Black Hokkein Spaghetti (Mee) recipe- find in September 2008.
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