Listening to the birds singing-- Peanut Chipotle BBQ baby back with cheddar sweet corn polenta and red cabbage mango slaw

--(:(:(:(:( this pic looks so fake
This is Bobby Flay's recipe!, His Mexican bbq sauce, I love it, and I don't think I want to buy bbq sauce from store any more.  The highlights are chipotle chilies puree, molasses and, and ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,PEANUTBUTTER(old fashion,unsweetened)

The secret for BBQ:
1. Dry rub: my coffee rub -No.1 recommended Mexican Coffee Ancho  rub( I still prefer doing it overnight)
2. Drizzle red-wine vinegar before put it into the oven( this is the secrete to make it fall off from the bone)
3. 350F, sealed in the foil, 2.5hrs(at least 2 hrs)
4. pour the bbq sauce over , 400 F, another 10mins

Red cabbage mango slaw( no mayo version):
red cabbage
mango( along with the mango juice with you working on it)
red onion
apple cider vinegar,
Dijoin mustart
sugar
oliver oil

Among all the iron chefs, I think I like Bobby most :) He is so creative, steady and mature chef and his food always tastes the best, his dish is art for sure but he never lets it overwhelm the fact it is food, he never sacrifice the taste in order to go for the appearance.
(also , he is not fat but pretty fit : DDDD)

How many birds at most have you ever seen ?
Ok, you might see some birds migration
But....
How many birds at most have you ever heard them singing together?
How many birds at most sitting in a tree have you even seen ?
Well, this is the picture  I have seen frequently outside my window

they are just singing happily, flying orderly

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.

It takes time for cheese to get melt(*panini*)--zucchini pine nut risotto with basil

Today, I got to know a new definition about heaven, ' rushed into a cafe with an empty stomach, watching your panini pressed in the grill forever, eventually get the first bite..........' oh, yes, I am above the heaven!

Well, we all know, it takes time for cheese to get melt, its PANINI, it's 'toasties' :P

I don't have gear, I can't make real panini at home, this is a story about risotto, a story about stirring, waiting, then getting to the heaven :)

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, .........................

Plant--Beet Ginger Pear soup

I like pretty stuffs, so whenever I see something beautiful, I will try to re-produce it. Love it and it is very delicous too. I added pear which gives it a fresh sweetness and also increase the amount of ginger.

Beet Ginger Pear Soup:

Beet, ginger, pear, leek,  chicken stock, thyme, parsley, bay leaf

Use blender.

And next time, I will roast beet first,  it was a 'bloody' work to cut them : p

This is a *Giant* Josh Tree seed I got from Josh Tree NP, let me plant it at the beginning of 2010. It’s all about hope, good luck, my giant josh tree, let me make a record for you here.

Stuffed squid with red pepper coulis ( gaogao version)

I was going to make some basil oil, but saw it in the market, super happy to have it.(It doesn't look very green, is it?)

Sadly I can't re-produce the stunning presentation. A good chef is also an artist, I have been amazed by the plating by the masters in 'iron chef', and they are just able to come up with those ideas in such a short time!

But still, the taste is always the most important part with no doubt. Long way to go, gaogao

Also , I noticed julie and julia group have a post about 'the most complicated thing I have ever made' in facebook, I guess, for me, they they are portobella bruschetta and this guy :) well, the work is always paid off and super worthy. Remember, how much care you put into it, how much taste it gives back to you .

I want a golden 2010, which starts from a fresh Spring--Roast golden beets, red grapefruit,roasted hazelnut salad with orange vinaigrette

Roast golden beets, red grapefruit,roasted hazelnut salad with orange vinaigrette

Emm...I want my 2010 to be a golden year, I do, because it is a crutial year, I am going to finish my student life and start my career. I want an energetic start.

Not sure since when, I got to be afraid to make plans, subconsciously I assumed I wouldn't be able to accomplish it. But, really , it has been feeling so good that I can sleep 10 hours a day <(-O .

In Bosotn, spring won't really come until April, but it will be too late. Gaogao's spring should start now, wake up, get back on track, make plans, just DO it,

My memory about beets was all from those canned beets, you know how they taste like. But now, it shows up in the supermarkets, always happy to use the in season vegetables. It is my first time to have golden beet and roast it from scratch. Wwo, I claim beets become one of my favorite vegetables.It is sweet like sweet potato but juicy like a fruit( I can’t come up with a more proper match)

Orange vinaigrette: orange juice, champion vinegar, sugar/honey, Dijon mustard , shallot, olive oil

My 2008 : O, My 2009: !! ???

I thought my 2009 would end in Times Square, sharing the moment with people from all over the world, excitedly but chilly. In fact it ended in playing games with my friends in a cozy house, no bell but laughter. It was very impressive because I accidently checked the time on my phone, it was exactly 12:00am, then we wished happy new year to each other during the first minute of the new decade.

My 2009... well, it was more like a loop, a runner finished his route and went back to the start point, exhausted but gratified. I have been growing but not mature enough yet, I know about myself more but I will not be surprised if something more is discovered. I feel thankful and lucky, because I know you, my friends, and I know you better, my old friends. It was not a super happy year, but when I look back, I can see you at each single delighted moment, thank you all :)

The wish, I never ask too much, and just hope if I work hard, my efforts will be paid off. But still, I am very excited about the unknowns in 2010, who will be my new great friends? what kinds of cool experiences will happen to me? which great places will be pinned on my tripadvisor map?

I guess you already heard a lot of 'happy new year', so let me wish you a hopeful new year, which means a lot, isn't it?

When the sale assistant asked me to pick up a pink dog for free, since I started to favor the color of golden, I picked up this one for sure. Then I saw it had a ‘HOPE’ on it, suddenly my world got brightened.

This is something I learned from here, I love the stunning presentation and tried to copy it, but it looks like there are a lot of plating skills I need to learn. But I want to say something about the coulis here. When I was making it, I doubted if it was really worthy with so much work , and I talked to myself if maybe I should just used the canned roasted pepper, but after I had the first taste of it, OMG, it is one of the amazing sauce I have ever made, I felt like all my work had been paid off. I just used red pepper, added Spanish smoke paprika, I guess it would be more authentic if I used piuillo pepper. Also for the stuffing, I added celery and sweet corn, which proves to be a great company.

Spanish Stuffed Flounder roll with Red Pepper Coulis:

Stuffing: chorizo, shallot, garlic, celery, sweet corn, thyme, pine nuts, bread crumbs

Red Pepper Coulis: red pepper( roasted , peeled and chopped), garlic, shallot, chicken stock, Spanish smoke paprika, light cream.

Fish roll: pre-season the fish fillet with white pepper and a little bit salt, lemon juice. Make the rolls, and use teeth picks to secure them. Use the wine and Spanish oliver oil as the bed for the fish roll, brush the fish with olive oil to prevent it from being dried out during baking. 375F, 10mins.  Carefully use a flat spatula to move the fish to plate

Holiday

----What is holiday?

Food

(Celery with Almond butter and Dried Cranberries)

(Apple Cider Brined Pork(cubed) with Apple, Pearl Onion Plum Sauce)

Gift

(Mastering the art of French Cooking by Julia Child)

Santa

(A letter from Santa)

This is my holiday( of couse, there were many other kinds of wonderful food), how about yours?

Celery with Almond butter and Dried Cranberries:

Celery: peeled, put into the boiling water( when boiling , add some oil into water,and the vegetable will be shiny afterwards) , take them out when the water is about to boil again

Almond Sauce: almond butter, white/black pepper(prefer to white), salt, sesame oil, stir as well as adding hot water to adjust the thickness

Serving:  mix celery , chop dried cranberries and almond sauce

Apple Cider Brined Pork(cubed) with Apple, Pearl Onion Plum Sauce( Chinese Version):

Brined the pork tenderloin, sliced them , then using hammer ( or the back of knife) to make cubed pork steak, pan fried.

Sauce: Instead of using Dijon mustard,using Chinese plum sauce and oyster sauce

Have you written to Santa yet..?--Orange and Banana Crepe

I am so surprised that kids believe there exists Santa, besides happy for them , I am jealous~~ I wish I had such a magical memory from childhood too.

Kids: Why did you not have Santa when you were kids?

Grown-ups: Well... you know, we can fly back to China , so can Santa..but before Santa didn't have a plane. But  now Santa can visit boys and girls in China too.

Kids: Ooooooohhhh...

Cooking for kids, it's SWEET ^_^

This orange and banana crepe was so welcome. The secrete is to make a orange syrup and soak the crepe in the syrup ,also brown the banana and orange, mix cinnammon into toasted pecan.

Orange syrup: butter, sugar , orange juice, boil to reduce

I refered to the recipe from Epicurious

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Banana-Orange-Crepes-109044

 Did you write to Santa ?  Have your wish come true?

Again ,warmest wishes for you, my friends

Hello Seattle--avocado/basil rice topped with seared scallop with orange blenc

 

I’ve been listening to this for a while, but just realize it’s time for me to say hi to her, ‘Hello Seattle! ‘.

I don’t know why I was not very excited about my trip, even you are all more nervous than me, you, reminded me to pack earlier, you, asked to not to stay up late before fight, and you , you and you all wished me a good trip very excitedly. But me… I was so confused to be waken up by the alarm this morning, then after 10 seconds, I figured it out I had fight this morning. o_O

In Boston, I’m almost able to tell who is local, who is a visitor, make a guess about where he is heading to, what she is going to do. But airport is a place full of question marks for me, I like to watch people in the airport, are they visitors and this is their destination, or they are just passages for connection, or they are local and heading to somewhere else??? If by any chance I get to know the answers, I will put labels on them and all the sudden, those strangers with the same labels have a connection between each other in my eyes. How do I look like in other people’ eyes? Will they put a fromBoston label on me?
（ps: I am not from H U though~~)

Time for landing, I remember I used to look at the outside trying to find the place you live, or even to catch the car you are driving on the highway, and then enjoyed the moment of the strong bump, a real feeling, which could physically confirm with me the fact ‘I’m home!’. Unfortunately, not for this destination.

Anyway I want to be a happy visitor for the Christmas, let me uplift myself first, one of my mission is to bring them more delicious food!

This is an avocado/basil rice topped with seared scallop with orange blenc
avocado/basil rice is to make avocado and basil ‘guacamole’ first, then mix it into hot rice.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/green-goddess-rice-recipe/index.html
ps: I catched it from tv and borrowed it to go with my scallop and orange blenc .  although  the review is not very good for this ‘guacamole’,  I still think it works well here

Snow Panda and something others--Maple Apple-cider brined pork tenderloin and polenta

(immature photographer’s bad day)

I am leaving Boston again, every time when you were complaining about Boston’s winter, I just couldn’t get you, now I realize that I actually haven’t spent the holiday time in Boston so far, I always get away. So I hope during I am away, you will stay happy, stay warm, with your family, stay with friends, stay with hope,with peace, with love...but not with loneliness. It snowed, unbelievable coincidently around the same time as last year, the same weekend, the exactly day before I was about to leave. It was just the very first snow for the last year, and my snowman was staying there lonely. But this year, my snow panda was luckily enough to have some audience.

lonely snowman in 2008

 

Muddy Snow Panda 2009( I am not pretty, but I got a little bit applaud

This weekend was very productive, especially on the cooking side. I made brined pork tenderloin and am very satisfactory with it this time.

Maple Apple cider brined pork tenderloin
Apple, Fennel, Orange peopper salad with apple cider reduction vinaigrette dressing
Acorn squash polenta
( Camera was run out of battery—immature photographer’s bad day!)

Leftover meal:
Polenta cake topped with pork and salad

I will memorize these by ...---Seared Scallop with Vanilla Spicy Dressing

This semester is done. It is an.................................interesting one. That doesn't mean I am so good at them, but I think I had *fun*. And this should be my last semester with taking classes in school, ( next year, I only have project left).Wow, no more exams, no more classes( I don't think I want to study for the third engineering master). I think when I look back  I will miss the feeling of being in a class for sure , maybe I will also  be so weird to miss the feeling of being stressful by exams, no matter how I am sick with it now.  Glad that there is one way that can help me bear those in mind--Relient K's Christmas record. It has been accompanying me to get through all of those in this December. The sweet part is, whenever I saw the decorative lights flashing on the tree at night,  there must be some Christmas song singing in my ears :)  and it warmed my heart by making me have some sense of being part of something, but not a miserable student that was touched by school in this holiday season.

Yes, this is the way that I memorize it. Some day in the future when  I listen to this record again, it will remind me the days I was fighting in this chilly winter as well as the happiness of seeing lights on the tree coincodently with christmas songs singing in my ears. Does it work for you too? When you hear some old song,  does it just remind you the feeling you were listening to it  and those sweet days, heart-broken days, glorious days, bad days... ?  No matter what, I guess there must be a smile that already appears in your face.

Dec 7th, Monday, it snowed, not a good one for snowbuddy, I didn't have time to do it though, it was deadline for an assignment

                                                     

Dec. 9th, wednesday Super windy with rain, I almost lost my clear umbrella on the train, luciky I found it

                                                     

 Dec. 12th, Saturday, Sunny, it got cold, I managed to go to libary studying

                                                      

 Dec. 13th,  Sunday, rainy, I drew this to remind myself to hold the umbrella well not lose it again

Dec. 14. Monday, I thought I should have drawn it down since such a sweet thing happened to me everyday and my submarine should have helped to celebrate the holiday season too.

 

Dec. 16th,  wednesday , the eve  of Data Mining exam

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Another pleasant thing, my new gear starts to cooperate!

This is a seared scallop salad wtih vanilla spicy dressing ( borrowed from steamy kitchen), interesting ?!

The dressing:

sweet chili sauce( i used chili sauce and sugar): ketchup=1:1

lime juice

seasame oil

spicy oil

vanilla extract

I didn't remember I have vanilla oil ( it's super spicy) after I mixed the spicy oil into it,  so it kinda doubled the heat.But it gives it the vanilla aroma. I will only use vanilla oil next time.

Oh, there is one thing I just got to know: Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Boston is  0.6miles away from my home on thorndike!! I should stop by , I will, for sure

                               

Researrrrrrrrrch, Maple Apple-Cider Brined Pork Chop with White-Bean Parsnip Puree, Butter Browned Apple Pearl Onion

It has been almost half years, and I can really see my growing. At least, I get familiar with the basic good matching of different ingredients and use substitute when something is not available, I am able to know the doneness of steak by touching it, I am able to make some basic source, dressing and some classic way to cook… But there are still a lot that I do not know, a lot that I am not very skilled at. So it is a must to review and practice all kinds of basic cooking methods, try more new ingredients, I believe creativity comes from the solid  knowledge and basic skills. Of course, I am still a pastry idiot, I am keep postponing this part~~ . Anyway, keep this on, and I think by keep blogging it, I can take it more serious and  be more persistent.

In fact, I started to prepare for this meal 3 days ago, when the idea was come up with . It feel like a long time, after all was done, I made this graph and got the sense of achievement :^^

I referred to a paper found online, I was amazed by their dedication and seriousness and realize the importance of preciseness in cooking.

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/otherdoc/ND01_ISBriningbasics.pdf,

It somehow reminds me 'good eats', where Altonh has been  teaching us a lot. I start to imagine the theory classes in a culinary school, is there also going to be tons of reading assignments? Is there going to be a lot of chemical formulas, data that we are required to remember? Not sure it will be fun or pain.

Brine water: water, apple cider, maple syrup, cinnamon stick,ginger, sage

White bean parsnip puree: white bean, parsnip, garlic(alot) , lemon juice, oliver oil

The Butter Browned Apple and Peal onion is something I created based on my 'Apple Project':

Butter, Apple, pearl onion, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard(HIT)

Confession: A little bit mis-calculate the ratio of salt and water( *PRECISENESS*), and next time I will use completely apple cider instead of water.
BTW: I am still not comfortable with the new gear, I even start to miss my GX100. But I know this new friend will let me love it eventually!

Cooking in San Diego( a Cantonese kitchen )

The original mission for the SD trip is to meet gaogao, but I couldn’t make it. I got to know gaogao is getting old (only 17 years old) and he is a little weak ,not good for him to go out to meet people, so the supers stars in the zoon are the second generation, gaogao’ daughter(su lin) ans son (zhen zhen)and the newborn baby yunzi is a most pleasant news in the zoo. It was disappointing, but anyway, it was a fun trip. As I was told, he would have liked to see me too.

We stayed in a friend’s apartment and it is a classical Cantonese kitchen, no herbs on hand. But I still cooked there, with something I could grab from the WFs, in a very fusion way.

• T-Bone steak(coffee , galanga ginger, Chinese five spices rubbed) with sundried tomato blanc:
• Three-cups of octopus(oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice wine) with polenta cake( jalapeño, sweet corn, cheddar, celery)
• Baked apple with dates and maple walnut stuffing.
• Roasted red pepper, mushroom and orange cauliflowers.( I so wished I had thyme and truffle oil!)

It is so weird, after I travelled so many places, I still love Boston , love Cambridge most. I have been loving the words from ‘the little prince’:

If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers...

I guess it must be that I was captivated by a flower, a leaf , a coffee shop or a street corner or.. ,then every glance at the city is so joyful. But right now I even can’t remember what it exactly is. Recently, I have been instinctively feeling that I will eventually leave this city, it was always sad when it got to me. After I move away, this place will not be called as 'Thorndike Kitchen' any more, I should have knew it when I created it. ‘Thorndike’, it sounded so weird when I first heard it, but now it is such a sweet name for me. I am just a passenger…