The happiness of receiving a post card--coconut banana shrimp ball

I think this is the first time I got a post card since I got to the States, although it is for the resident proof and I asked him to send it to me, but still it looks like a super surprise for an ordinary day,  I thought it was lost, since it had been almost two weeks, and it turned out to be  a surprise.

I hope my friends that have got my postcards were as happy as I am now, since they were actually really unexpected. Everytime, when I sent out a post card, I would be nervous, would it arrive? how long would it take ? would you like it? All kinds of guessing  were haunting around until I got a 'thank you' letter, then I got relieved. But still, I couldn't get to know how it was when you found it in a bunch of billing mails, commercial mails,  did you smile? did you  imagine how I was when I wrote down those words? did your day get a little bit brightened? ....well, right now, I know!

Thank YOU, XGs!

(1st time)

(2nd time)

This shrimp ball also has a little connection with travelling. It was I took connection in San Francisco when I flew back from Seattle. I had a dim sum stuff, called banana shrimp roll, it sounded interesting and was very delicious, I didn't know shrimp and banana had this kind of friendship : D

Shrimp ball with banana

shrimp, cilatrol or scallion, oyster sauce, white pepper, starch, egg white, coconut milk, cubed banana

Marmalade dip: orange marmalade, dijion marstard,

I made it twice, the first time, there was too much panko, which made it not taste very coconut, and the banana didn't get cooked enough to be soft

the second time, I reduced the amount of shrimp, the shrimp layer was thinner, then the banana got cooked well also added coconut milk into the shrimp, and it made it very moisture.

You won't be alone--Salmon Gravlax tart(whole wheat) with tomato bruschetta filling

One of the mission to Seattle was to bring little robot back. I got one when I visted there in spring break, and gave it to a friend, since summer ended, I had been missing it so much, what I had by hand was only the picture of it:

so I decided to bring it back when I visited seattle again. The past year, it looks like I had a lot of connections with the west coast,  so in Christmas I got to fly there again. When I got to the store, I was surprise to see its  sisters( I assumed the ones in red) and brothers ( in blue), so I brought them all back home to make sure they have their family here in Cambridge too.

Honestly, when I am having it in hand, it feels very strange... And I find little robots can't hug each other, when I put the arms of one on the other one, it looks like one is hitting the other 8-\

And this, is more like dancing tango  -_-"

Back to the food, this is another 'Wwo' food for me, and it also involves lots of works. Firstly, I made myself salmon gravlax, besides those regular ingredients for curing it, I added ginger. I had been worried about how it would come out for 48 hrs, but it really doesn't let me down, sweet, spicy, melt in mouth.

Tart is made from whole wheat fillo sheets.

The filling is similar to bruschetta, tomato, tomato paste, garlic, shallot, basil, Parmesan , work in a sauce pot, let it reduce, then use  a filter to get the sauce, fill the content into the tart. Add some olive oil into the liquid as the sauce.

Bake first time ( 375F) to make the tart shell, after the shells are formed, fill the tomato fillings into the shells, bake (400 F) second time. At last, add the salmon on the top of each tart, dizzled them with the sauce.

This is a recipe I read from a book( 'the cook's book, concise edition') , and made some modifications .

the filling is so creamy, I can't tell which is tomato sauce ,which part is salmon ! and the shell is just so crispy, .........................

Farewell, my grill and a cooking assignment 'A'--curry chicken skewer with cucumber yogurt

Grill sold@200909019

I can draw an umbrella on the wall , and when it rains but I forget to bring it, I might smile even still frustrated;
I can draw a motorcycle, and with the fall coming, it will remind me the bright summer when I so wanted a bike.
I can draw a cup of hot chocolate, it also looks a like a cup of coffee though , but I write 'L.A.Burdike' on the mug ^^
But one of the things that is difficult to draw is vanilla ice cream without waffle corn, I can only imagine the happiness feeling it brings to me.

I drew you, my grill, you are gone, but you are part of this summer, for ever, ever and ever...

I think I will keep the chimney, even when I get a gas grill later.

Gaogao+Chimney

vs.

Léon + Houseplant

This is a cooking assignment, it is also something I can't draw . I wish I made it in the summer...

Cut chicken breast into strips, rubbed them with green curry mix, and also added some soy sauce.Marinade for several hours, make skewers. Brush them with cooking oil, Grilled them using griddle. Squeeze some lime juice during grilling.

Cucumber yogurt dip:

cucumber

yogurt

salt

call for mint(I used extract instead)

lemon juice

It looks exact the same as the ones from restauranta :PP

XGs will give it a A, I am so confident about that.

PS: I know, grilled food, CaNcer, CAnCer!, But

don't you think there are something that will remain as dreams until we die??

Fig rocks--roasted fig , proscuitto wrapped tofu

Love fig, especially Black Mission Fig. My friday dinner, roasted fig with thyme( it is soooo pretty) and proscuitto wrapped tofu with basil. It is proved that soft tofu wins over firm ones. And as alway, proscuitto filled in my house with a pleasant aroma when it was in the toast oven

Eggplant Panzanella and Raisin-Pine Nut Vinaigrette

Sarah is not at home in weekend as before, Noah went to NYC, GG moved out already. The whole apartment is mine again. It was raining, loudly but I like the cool and fresh. Herbert came over to help me move my stuffs into my new room. He was not here most of the summer, so hadn't got chance to have my food. I thought he deserved a great meal. New room is much smaller than I thought, now my stuffs , as well as I , are packing together, we all feel 'close' to each other. But one of the great parts is my coach is eventually facing the tv. I am so excited as soon as I imagine I can lie down on my coach watching food networks after I get home from now on. :)

Eggplant is a wonderful thing, I feel like most Chinese people have a special feeling for it. It calls for Japanese eggplant, I couldn't get it, so I used another kind of eggplant, which is also soft skin.
Eggplant Panzanella :
thin sliced eggplant, then brush with oliver oil , salt pepper, 350F, 30-40mins
Raisin-Pine Nut Vinaigrette:
Golden raisin, soaked in hot water until it is blown up. Following the way to make the basic vinaigrette, mixed with raisin and pine nut.

Cooking is my espresso--Baked Teriyaki Tofu with basil and pesto

I was so tired from work. With the concern about my see sight, I thought I really had to make myself carrot soup, and also some pesto chicken for lunch. That was what I thought after work, but after I walked home ( it was a long walk from central), I really wanted to do nothing but going to bed. Since I was not happy with going to bed at 9:30, hung out for bit. Then, I thought I might want to cook. So I just cooked, lemon-ginger carrot soup and pesto chicken. and I was amazed by myself, after cooking, I have been feeling so relaxed and happy :) That' me, maybe I was born to be a cook???

Teriyaki tofu is very simple. Usually I would marinade tofu with teriyaki sauce overnight, but if it was in a rush, I only marinaded it for about 15min, and I boil tofu in marinade sauce, after the sauce is almost gone, put tofu in oven( I used toaster oven), until it is dried.I saw a recipe to dip broiled tofu with pesto, so I copied it here, but I think it's just OK. But it goes perfectly with basil, sandwich tofu with 2 pieces of basil leaves. Cindy, my officemate likes it very much. Haha, we have been educated ladies should eat more tofu, so almost every Chinese woman like tofu~~

Proscuitto wrapped fig, cucmber mushroom salsa, bacon greased tortilla chips

James is back from Chicago, and will come over for dinner tonight. I knew it last night, very excited, I can cook! My plan is :

Appetizer:
Prosciutto wrapped fig arugula with pesto and balsamic syrup

Main course:
Tamarind glazed pork tenderloin, shrimp pineapple red pepper skew, with
Tomato basil sweet corn risotto.

I am kinda nervous about pork tenderloin and worry about it will turn out too dry. The drama part is I dreamed about the cooking process, but for my parents. As always. my parents never had ll the ingredients I want , and I was kinda messy but not screwed it up.

Sunday, today, suddenly becomes an energetic day. I am gonna cook a good breakfast, since I had a hard run last night; go to work, catch up ; go to grocery; cook dinner! It will be a wonderful day.

For breakfast, I was not going to make it so 'fancy' but it just got there. I want to say something about the salsa . It has cucumber mushroom thyme sweet corn, pine nut, with sherry vinaigrette. The idea of Cucumber +sweet corn is from sK. I like to use the mini cucumber, so I can keep the thin skin, lovely bright green. Mushroom is marinade with sherry vinaigrette and roasted. But it was in a rush this morning, so I pan roasted it. The highlight is THYME, I am dying for it now. It gives a magical aroma, either cooked or uncooked, unlike basil , the aroma is gone in cooked food. So I decide, my second dog will be named as Thyme :)

Because I pan roasted mushroom, so there was some vinaigrette reduction, so no extra vinaigrette needed as dressing.

The chips, I spreaded applewood bacon grease on the foil and backed tortilla( whole wheat ones )

Still using tofu caesar, I know it sounds weird, but it goes well with fig and tortilla, and It is super healthy, more protein than pesto or hummer.

Weekend Despression--Bacon Wrapped Tofu

Really, I am super depressive in the weekend, and usually Friday night is the worst. But last night, thanks to my friends, making me laugh all night and my cheek hurt :D.
It was very annoying that I woke up early in such a humid summer Saturday which meant I had to figure out how to kill a long day. But the positive side was I was able to watch a movie with an early bird ticket. I was going to watch Ponyo, but got there late, so watched the very popular District 9. But it didn't bring me any good mood, it is gross, violent and sad. So I decided to stay in the theater and watch Ponyo . YES, it was a wise decision, and it 's about love, and make you feel life is actually beautiful.

I was going to re-do the bacon wrapped chicken breast, but that little Ponyo doesn't have enough power to brighten my day. So it was degraded to bacon wrapped tofu. But surprisedly good, especially with cherry tomato, a BTT.
I was worried about soft tofu was not as good as firm ones, but it come out perfect. Maybe firm tofu would be very dry. You can never conclude before you try.

For the memory of the Rosemary restaurant--Proscuitto/Baconwrapped fig stuffing with goat cheese with pesto(/Tofu Basil Caesar) ,Fig Balsamic syrup

I really haven't eaten in many good restaurant. The most impressive one is the Rosemary restaurant in Vegas, which gave me a very general idea what the good food is, --small portion, fancy ingredients, amazing sauce, incredible combination, pretty presentation~~
I really hope I can check out a good restaurant in Boston, but I feel awkward to eat alone, and the money is also a pain. Every time I see the food judger in a show, I am so jealous of them. I don't think all of them can really cook, but they can just sit there to have a taste of the wonderful food. How fair?
Coincidently, there is also a special topic about fig in this month's bon appetite. I just started to eat fresh fig recently and they are so good, especially the black mission one, when I had the first bite, it almost felt in the heaven( today's dish can really make me feel IN the heaven :)

I was going to make it for E & T last time, but I didn't read the recipe carefully and thought it used dried fig. Tired from work, really wanted to do nothing but go to bed, on my way home, I just thought of this. I guessed maybe it could bring me some pleasure. And it turns out it is, that is the beauty of cooking , it can help you find out life is actually not bad.

The procedures sound difficult but since I have everything on hand, so it just got there.
1. Cut the smaller end of a fig in cross, so you can put in a small ball of soft cheese , I used goat cheese here.
2. wrapped fig with bacon, it is supposed to be prosciutto, but I don't have. so just go the bold way. Anyway, I like this applewood smoke bacon so much and even saved some bacon grease and it is my secrete ingredient.
3. 350F, 20-30mins, until bacon is crispy. Actually it can't be crispy, but I think prosciutto can make it.
Assemble:

In the center of the plate, using fig balsamic syrup to make a circle, then scope the dressing sauce into this area, so that it is trapped in the circle. I don't have pesto, and I guess my
tofu caesar also works and in order to make it alike pesto, I added some fresh minced basil, how genius I am ! And it works, it does!

At last put the bacon wrapped fig in the center, drizzled balsamic syrup on arugula.
How pretty it is! And it is a magic combination, I wish I could invent some creative dish like this.

I still lack some genius--Apple Cider Glazed Baby Carrot

Eric, he is sooooooooooooo nice, I can't believe How LUCKY I AM. It is always fun to play with J instead of taking care of tickets,

I wrote a note in facebook, the title is ' you make me feel lucky' , for showing my appreciation to my super friends. I guess they must be very happy to see that, see we are closer. I didn't mention sK, I was going to do that, but I removed it. Does sK make me feel lucky? Probably not 'lucky' , but thanks to him anyway, Specially :)

(Now sK becomes 'S&BKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK'
in my pidgin. It is also my little revenge)

When I prepared my lunchbox for tomorrow, I just realized I don't have vegetable, only to bring carrot is kinda boring. Keep working on Apple cider to the end!!
I remember I saw something about orange flavor carrot , and after made the apple cider vinaigrette, I kind fall in apple cider and believe carrot would love it too.

Ingredients:
apple cider
apple cider vinegar
brown sugar
honey
BUTTER
tarragon
cinnamon
Sprinkled with basil

The reality:
Because I didn't measure, it comes out over dressed, I checked other people 's recipe and found out, Carrot: Apple Cider=1:1

Next Time:
I want to use some lemon juice and sprinkle with lemon zest, we will see:)
PS1: I have to admit I am not born to be a cook,otherwise I wouldn't over-dressed. But it's actually not that frustrating, I always have next try, right? Working hard to compensate for the lack of a little bit talent.
PS2: See , It is the plate E gave to me as my birthday gift. How could I close thorndike kitchen?
it is so pretty, thank YOU, E&T :))
PS3: I named myself ( invincible) KUNGFU Panda gao, it is such a happy name;I even can't remember how KF Panda is, maybe I should watch it again. If it was 10 years again, I would be so upset to be called as whatever kind of panda, but now somehow I could be counted as skinny person in North America, so I would never mind to be called as a panda ;p

For Super ZhaoZhao, exclusively--Chinese steamed bun(pan fried) sandwiched with spicy beef

My Super Sweet Zhaozhao lent me her brand-new A/C. So I drove over tonight and accidently made her a wonderful dinner just using those leftover. I am kinda proud of myself.

The highlight part is Chinese steamed bun(pan fried) sandwiched with spicy beef.

The inspiration is from the movie, I saw she used butter pan fried bread then put bruschetta on it. And I did two flavors, one is plain , the other is pepper(chinese styp) salt.

And the spicy beef is Zhaozhao' beef stew( chinese five spices style) , thin sliced , then mixed with garlic, some spicy sauce, and a little bit vinegar(like balsamic)
I am so happy seeing Zhaozhao was enjoying it so much, and it is going to be for my guests in a dinner party in the future.

Tomato Chuntey Shrimp with Cilantro Ginger Rice Ball

This time, I was going to use that tomato chuntey sauce to make some seafood, shrimp!
Cut the shrimp from the back but not break it, marinade it the sauce for about half and hour.
Used my awesome griddle to cook it :)

Mix the left marinade sauce with white wine, boiled it until thick.
Rice is still ginger cilantro. This time I used fresh ginger. When E was cutting the ginger, she didn't know it was going to be in the rice, after she knew about that, it almost freaked her out. But after the rice was done, she agreed it was very GINGER :)
PS: I don't have smaller cup to make a smaller rice ball. It is recommended to sever two/three shrimp with one rice ball :) And sK, if we make it, we can just shrimp, rice and sauce, no troubles :) And it is actually a quick meal ~~

Posted two pictures there, because it is kinda difficult to pick up a better one. I will leave it to E and sK to help me make a decision
(This one, I think it was the first one )

Amazing Combination: Portobella bruschetta

I always can't take good pictures for bruschetta :( and today I have guests , so just did a quick work)

This one is a little bit complicated, but it comes out amazing, my guests almost raved them all.
I should have got some pics of each layer.

( From top to the bottom)
1st, Rosemary Aioli

Mayo
Minced garlic ( It is the feature of Aioli)
Balsamic, -------
Champagne vinegar/rice vinegar, -----------> acid
lemon juice -----
Dijon mustard
Minced Rosemary

2nd layer------Roast red pepper
Roast red pepper, ( I just used the jar, since it was soaked in water, so I used toaster oven(broil) to let the water go away , so it was almost like freshly from char grill :)
Basil
Green onion
Olive oil
You can imagine how beautiful they are after combined together; unfortunately I don't have pictures of it.

3rd Layer---- Caramelized onion
Onion
Balsamic mix ( balsamic, honey, brown sugar, thyme)
Soy sauce ( I used my magic hero, that trader joe's teriyaki sauce, usually it doesn't use soy sauce when do caramelize onion, but I think it adds more flavors

4th Layer---Portobella
Portobella caps
Balsamic mix ( balsamic, honey, brown sugar, thyme) Oil( which I think is very neccessary, the aroma of mushroom can't be sent out without oil)

5th Bread
Brush olive oil.

Assemble them together , put it in the oven until bread is crispy.

Each part is not very impressve if you taste it seperatly. So I was very nervous I would disappoint my guests, but when they are put together, it is so wonderful, unbelieveable.

But the sad part is sK doesn't enjoy mushroom, but I think I can use meat. This one can be transformed to a sandwich or hamburg. Or even use shrimp as a subtitue for mushroom (they have similar texture, I think) Let me try it , some time, for Special K.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just thought of an idea, I can use eggs instead of mushroom, beat eggs ( mixed some minced basil), make a small no-cheese omelette. And it must be very colorful bruschetta. sK, is it a too bold idea? I think it's fine.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls withSpicy Peanut Butter Sauce

It was 5 years ago that I had vienna spring rolls at the first time, and because of that together with green papaya salad, I tended to claim ' I love vienna cuisine'.After I got there, I barely had satisfying spring rolls, even in Brown Sugar and evern worse for peanut butter sauce. So I want to make my own.

Spicy Peanut Butter Sauce:
Peanut butter--Super hero Valencia Peanut Butter, this special kind of peanuts has incredible flavor, naturally sweet , go for the unsalted ones, and you will get a real impression of it.

Minced garlic and ginger: I like to cook them to before mix them with peanut butter, one is for make it milder, the other is to let heat bring up the flavor. Just use the oil separated from the peanut butter jar(the all natural peanut butter usually has separated oil on top)

Fish sauce and soy sauce: originally it uses several drops of fish sauce, and some soy sauce
I don't have fish sauce(just skip it), instead used Teriyaki Sauce( trader joe's star product) , but surprisedly good! But if you use regular soy sauce you will need brown sugar.

Lime:

Rice vinegar: NO substitute . I have tried other kinds of white color vinegar, not good

Spicy Chili oil: a touch

Topping: any kind if chopped nuts, here is pecan

Spring Rolls:



Vienna rice paper: of course

Shrimp: cut into halves from the back

Basil, Mint: Highlights, my magic hero is mint- orange!!
------------->>


Cucumber or lettuce: English cucumber , seedless more crispy

Rice noodle: but but I use julienne potato!! Never like the rice noodle in spring rolls in restaurants , so I used potato as a substitute. All we want is CRISIP, right?

1. Use red potato, more crispy than yellow ones .
2. Very very thin julienne, soak them immediately after cut, ( Important: let starch dissolved in water ,more crispy)
3. After cutting, boil a pot of water, drop some oil to water ( it will make your potato more shiny :) put potato in for about half minute, don't let it boiled again, drain water then put them in water with ice cubes. Save for use.

Then lay and wrap, as beautiful as you can !
Here we go: