Taste vs. Original(Iron Chef won?!) --Beef Stroganoff

It was Battle Almond. I didn't watch the beginning ,not sure if Chef  Phan is from China, but from the ingredients he used and the way he cooked, I guess it was about Chinese cuisine. Very excited, it is not usual to see Chef playing with wok in 'Iron Chef America', I felt proud. When chefs presented their dishes, apparenly, judgers liked the Chef Phan's food more, But to my surprise, Chef Cora won. In face , in the taste aspect, Chef Phan was 6 points more, but he lost a lot in the original aspect, which leaded him lose the challenge.

Food is for eat after all,  the taste is the most important over all the other aspects, isn't it? 

I kinda think the competition is not very fair, it is unfair to assign each aspect equally 10 points, taste should account for more weights ( See, I am taking 'Data Mining' class right now :)

Yes, the classic Chinese cuisine is a little boring, it has been there thousands of years. But it comes from several centuries to today, but still mostly keep the orignal way, it means it is the BEST way to do it, it's not people don't want to be creative, but they can't find a better way to make replacement.

( My aha moments came....)

I kinda got to understand why SK likes the most orignal ways about food, becasue it is classic and nothing can be wrong with it. Although the world is rapidly changing every second, the definition about good taste still stay almost the same, I guess. ( I am not talking about the healthy issues here)

So maybe I should practice more on how to make perfect KongBao Chicken, instead of trying to start some adventure about Kongbao Chicken Lasagna.

Beef Stroganoff can be counted as a traditional dish from Russia . I checked several recipes and decided to make the roxy version. I browned the beef in the way borrowed from Chinese cuisine (medium heat ,wash with starch water ahead)and it turns out super tender! Also I like the idea of using dill to match the sour cream/ yogurt

Sauce
Basic roux plus yogurt and Dijon mustard brandy ( confession: I forgot nutmeg)

Beef
Rubbed with salt pepper Ginger powder brown sugar oregano. Washed with starch water before cooking under medium heat with ENOUGH oil, cooked it until 80% done.

Saute mushroom and onion .dill about 10mins, add beef,  add sauce.
One more declaration, it's not I wasn't cooking, I did make some interesting things but only for testing and of course my weekly squash soup, I have made four kinds so far:

1. Squash sage nutmeg maple syrup with white bean
2. Squash carrot Ginger
3. Squash curry
4. Squash apple cinnamon allspice white bean

I think I like No1 and No2 most.  And this beef stroganoff was a failure last weekend, so I made it again. Although I still took good pictures for it, I don't think I could post them, they were not good eats, it's a food blog but not a photograph blog.

Compromise Vs. 30min running rule--Tofu meatball makeover, 2 ways

I made myself a rule yesterday, I should run everyday, only 30mins, but not 1hr. Since an one-hour running plan is always intimating and I tend to postpone it and everything else that  looks like with higher priority jumps into the queue. So I thought what if I did  it only 30min each time, it  would be easy to keep it on and I would still have energy to run the next day , so  the rule is : No more than 30min!

But the reality is I was super cold, tired and hungry after school, then you can guess, I didn't go...

It is frustrating anyway.  I can easily break my rules without any guilty, how horrible it is! How about my dream about being a real chef? Will it also be compromised? Will it be able to survive from various complicated  factors in real life?

I do other art things as fun and I enjoy it, because I know I will never feed myself by art. But when things become serious, it also brings in more pressure. Is my dream realistic? Am I really talented enough?

Is it too late?

Maybe I should just stop worrying but keep this blog on.

It is kinda boring only have poached tofu meatball, so I worked on them a little bit and made them over in two ways- pan-fried and deep-fried(panko version), the dipping is hoisin sauce. And it is a nice match, I think.

Say Happy Bday in 'person'--Poached Tofu/shrimp meatball

Today (11/10) is XiaoDandan's birthday. I noticed that in facebook , then I decided to give her a call instead of writing the several words in facebook. And I did, she sounded very happy to hear that from me. We are close friends, we should TALK. Do you agree?

I also remember, the other day, my another friend's birthday, I pinged him to say happy B-day, he was so surprised that I knew his birthday , which I did appreciate facebook. And I am sure he was happier to get the wishes on IM. It was a communication between friends, which means an 'asking' will be followed by an 'answer'.

So if you can , make a call or an email,  at least an IM to your friends on their Bday. I guess your wishes will stand out, because it's specially from you in person

I know Xiaodandan likes steak, not sure she is also a fan of tofu, but should be, ( Chinese girls love Tofu~~)
But I am sure Cindy will like it, ' Hello,Cindy, how are you?'

This is something I learned from '天天饮食‘, very healthy but delicous.

I mixed 'meatball' with what I had by hand: parsley, minced garlic, shrimp, sausage, water chestnut, tofu (medium firm one, pre-processing: boil it so that it will get rid of some water, but still not recommend to use firm tofu)

Use blender to mix them, add a little bit starch, egg( which I think is optional), if too dry, add unsweetened soymilk(or milk or chicken broth)----don't worry , it won't get apart, adding water into meatball is the sercret to make it juicy, season it with white pepper, salt.

Prepare a bowl of startch water, while heating a pot of water or chicken broth.

When water is lukewarm, wash meatball with startch water , then put it into the pot. When the water just starts to boil, turn the heat down to medium , let it simmer.

when meatball are floating in the pot, they are done.
I like the cruching surprise from water chestnuts  : P

Brighten your day by doing outdoor workout --Slow Cooked Salmon with Creamy Broccoli Sauce(soup)

Yesterday, I talked with a friend, he told me he started  a weigh loss plan, including  a swimming in the morning and the change in diet. I can see he is very serious, since he did a lot of research in the mechanism  about weight loss and  food nutrition. I like seeing people working on their the weight loss plan in a scientific way, it means they are serious and determined , which predicts success. He said it felt so good to drive to the pool in the early morning, I said ' then your whole day is brightened, you feel proud of yourself from the most beginning of the day' 'yeah, exactly' he was so excited.  It was his excitement that reminded me the  amazing pleasure from running outside, and I confessed that I had been cheating myself by playing in gym and I knew I didn't enjoy it very much.

So... I ran, today!  And it felt unbelievably  wonderful. I guess it is so impressive that will drive me miss the feeling so much , thus I will run more often .It is not winter yet, it is fall, the most beautiful season in Boston, go out and enjoy it as much as you can...

I learned this slow cooked salmon from steamy kitchen and the sauce is created by myself. Slow cooked salmon is to bake salmon at 200F about 25min, and it will be as pink as before it is put into the oven, but it is cooked and warm. And you will never overcook it unless you leave it in the oven for several days. I guess smoke salmon is made in the similar way. I love it to the death, seriously.

The sauce is from a soup I created, it is a no-dairy creamy broccoli soup, ( dairy is kinda banned in my diet , it is such a pain!) I used Tofu and unsweetened soymilk instead of milk and a LOT of cheese. It comes out  very good, HAPPY. Use starch to adjust the thickness.

Slow cook salmon:

Rubbed salmon with brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, lay the ginger slice on top, about 30min

( you will find out how wonderful it is when brown sugar meets ginger..)

200F  baked about 30 min, test it using a folk.

Tofu Creamy broccoli soup

Garlic

Broccoli

Silken tofu

Unsweetened soymilk

chicken bouillon paste

Starch water

Parmesan(optional)

 Saute garlic , add broccoli,  then add siken tofu, soymilk, chicken bouillon paste, boil until broccoli is tender.

Use starch water to adjust the thickness

Use blender to make a soup, melt a small piece of butter at the end~~

A close look at the silky salmon

Try to do a real project--Honey, Ginger,Pear, Lemon tea

'There is no undo in real life,we have heard it hundreds of times,but I wouldn't understand it so much without playing with my new toy.

My new toy is a set of buckyballs, which are all magnet, so that they can be attached together to make different shapes. It is so fun , as well as a good stress reliever. But it is also annoying , since the magnet is so strong, it is easy to make them jammed together and all my work is destroyed.

Once, when my delicate 'flower' jammed together, and became a mess, to my surprise,  the first thought came to my mind was 'I want to undo'. Then I suddenly realized that there was no 'undo' button here. Yeah,  maybe I spent too much time with computer and I so enjoyed working with those virtual projects, where I can always regret for my choices and make new decisions.

Well, in real life, there is no 'UNDO' button , we all know that, but I still suggest you to try to do some real projects. I am not indoctrinating you how cruel the real life is, the point is even though we screw up and it moves into another direction, it will still have unexpected surprise. We never know, never can make a comparision:

 'Life is weird'

This is the beauty of life, I guess...

Honey, Pear, Ginger,Lemon Tea

A kind of light color tea: green tea or jasmine tea or mate;

Asian Pear

Lemon

Ginger

Honey

It is a wonderful stuff that can warm you in the cold season.

Legend of Fall Series II (Squash)-- Green day meets Special K

Super Super Super Happy, eventually finished the whole project , and I am so surprised that 'green day' pumpkin can stay longer than I thought to meet Special K . Congratualtion ,  You made it!

Inspiration:

I think when green day meets Special K,  somehting magical must happen. So some imags came to my mind: red grenade jumps out the guitar and the guitar is about to fly!

------Under constructon ------

  

------Finish it up------

------The guard of my house------

------"Hello ,World !" ------

  

------When Green Day meets Special K...

Legend of Fall(Squash)--My ahamoments

Buttercup Squash, bacon Spinach Kizza with sage garlic cream (uncharacteristic)

"What is an aha moment? It's a moment of clarity, a defining moment where you gain real wisdom - wisdom you can use to change your life. Whether big or small, funny or sad, they can be surprising and inspiring."

----www.ahamoment.com

--Just give it a kickoff, you would find out how much you love it

I have so many things going one, I cook, I draw, I carve, I run.. I never expected my life is so colorful and enjoyfully busy. Actually they all started from some momentary ideas, it was just I didn't let them go but gave them a try. A little try is much easier than you thought, it doesn't need your a lot of time and work for the commitment. It is just a try. You never know how much you would  enjoy it , how much surprise you would give to yourself.

--The  magic of encouragement

I get to used to hear completments from my friends, and I even started to assume it as gratuitous, didn't feel too much special about that. But one thing that happened recently changed my thought. It was about my 'Green day' pumpkin carving. My friend( the Supporter) appeared avery amazed and kept saying it was so impressive after seeing my first draft, I was super  happy with the endorsement. And then I showed them to some other friends, very unexpectedly, they said it was an ugly and scary pumpkin. I was almost crushed at that moment, felt like losing all the energy keep working on it , then I turned to my supporter, and got some amusing words that suddenly lift up my head( 'it is a halloween pumpkin, it is supposed to be ugly and scary') so that I was able to finish it and make my idea come true.

Now I almost finished the second carved pumpkin, and I realized how important those encouraging words are, which made me be able to work confidently so that I could get my inspiration flowing. This is the magic of encouragement, some simple little words( like 'good job', 'impressive'...) could bring others so much pleasure as well as helped them make their dream come true.

I should do that... and you , keep doing that , please :)

This is a very uncharacteristic kizza, using pita instead of nannbread, with squash, and spinach no mozzarella.
But I just like buttercup squash, especially the green skin round one. People that love squash all have a kind of concern that would we turn orange??

Cream sauce:
minced fresh sage, cream, sugar or maple syrup( if the cream is unsweetened), garlice(minced), chicken broth.
Saute garlic with butter --> add chicken broth and cream--> add sage,sugar-->let it boil-->add starch to make it thick
Topping:
Roasted buttercup squash, bacon, spinach
Kizza:
it's better to be direcly on the rack, 400F 5min .( I used toaster oven)
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and sping onion

Legend of Fall(Squash)-- Hey, we miss your smile

Spaghetti Squash+ Shredded Chicken with Korean Spicy/Sweet Sauce

The motivation to smile:

It was actually a while ago, one day, a friend at work gtalked to me, said I was one of few people that smiled at work and they missed that. Beside flattered, I felt guilty at that moment, because I hadn't smiled for long. I think my friend must be very disappointed if he got to know I didn't smile too much during that time. So I just turned around and smiled at myself in the mirror. And from then on, when I am rushing around, I will remember to stop for a second and make a smile, because I know there might be some people somewhere talking about gaogao, the girl who likes smile'. It is such a pleasant fact that can make me smile itself and as well as it turns out to be a motivation for me to smile at the life...

Theorem about happiness:

Lemma: Doing exercises is a treatment for weeping , because tears will be transferred to sweater and be taken out from your body. Based on the lamma, it can be inferred that people that do exercises regularly tend not to to cry very much, therefore: people that do exercises are happier!

(I like this deduction!)

Does that also mean people are more tough in the summer than in the winter?

Recommended medication:

Deep breath + ice cream, and ...............................cook

Then magically, you will find you can smile again.

This is a spaghetti squash topped with Korean chili sauce chicken.

After I made hot chili chicken, I looked up many Chinese website and tried to find out the best way to stir –fried meat, so this dish is for experimenting.

Actually the way I did it last time is not very correct, but it still turned out good.

The correct way is :

1. Rinse the meat in the starch water+wine, but NOT dry flour. It will help to keept the juice in the meat, while dry flour/ starch will absorb more water from meat.

2. Heat the wok until very hot

3. Pour into enough oil, so that meat can swim in it( it sounds greasy but you don’t have to eat all the oil)

4. Heat the oil to medium temperature but NOT very hot. Then add the meat, and let the meat and the oil heated together. Other wise, under a high temperature the outside of the meat is cooked right away but inside still takes some time , and then the outside will be dried out.

5. Take meat out and sit aside.

Korean Chili Sauce:

Korean sauce can be identified solely by the color of the box, no language required 

Red: Spicy, used for bibimbap

Green : Not spicy, used as BBQ dip sauce( not marinade)

Yellow: Soybean paste

This sauce has: red/green/yellpw box sauce, sugar, a little bit wine, ginger, scallion, garlic, oyster sauce(I don't have it on hand)
Cooking :

When everything is ready.
1. Cook chicken->, take them out, put it on the side
2. Cook garlic/ginger/some red color vegetable(red pepper, carrot)(I didn't have it on hand) , add sauce
3. Put chicken back
4. Quick stir, done

Spaghetti squash: Put garlic in the squash, spread with olive oil, then bake them together,(Garlic lover, you know what happened in the kitchen, right?)  about 30-40min

After it’s done, cool aside, mix with sesame oil and scallion before serving.

Legend of Fall(Squash)--Green day will meets...

I think it is also about winter squash, and the giant one: pumpkin, although I didn't work in the kitchen, no doubt it is part of the kitchen. But I swear I didn't eat the discarded part. 
It is the pumpkin that colores fall orange, isn't it?

Inspiration....

It is actually my second pumpkin after I came to the States, and I did want to so something different.

The original idea is about ?? ( it will be revealed later) but it is not cool to carve ?? on the pumpkin. Then something heavy metal came to my mind, but it looks difficult, so at the end, I thought of 'Green Day'...

It is the cover of green day's album(21 center breakdown), the background is the flame and it is orange, the other parts are black. This is coincidently  how a carved pumpkin works after lighted up in the dark. Wonderful!

Supporter...

It is still a challenging project, so I think I need someone to support me. So  when I feel weak or unconfident,  I will have someone to make a complain to. It is such a best choice, because my frinend gave me so much encouragement, and really can understand what I am going to do. (ps: it is one that's carved an orange pepper)

Thank you, my friend

Tool and Design:

I wish I could have some proffessionl ones  to make me work easier. And if I have the right tool, I can do the inner surface to make it as the brick wall.

Finished under the light:

It is ugly.. But ..

Light it up :

Well, it starts to get dried out and collapse,  so sad. But we will see:

Green Day will eventually meet whom??

Legend of Fall Series II(squash) -- Let me cook for you [Assignment]

Hot Chilli Chicken in Squash Bowl

I read something about ' if the food is prepared for you, it will be extremely delicious ', and it just reminded me Mommy's food, those kizzas, chicken and super handmade dumplings... yes they were, not only I could taste it but also I could feel the attention and affection in it , and the good taste as well as the feeling of being loved both will be lasting. And that is also the reason that I don't quite like buying food from stores, especially after I saw them preparing the food in a very casual way, ( I guess they are complaining the time passes so slowly) so the taste in my imaginations was already degraded. Well, I understand them, they are serving hundreds of people everyday and to some point, it was just a job. But without any reason, I just believe the happy single Executive Chef in the Friendly was full of passion , making sandwich, quesadilla, sundae and all kinds of friendly food, I feel happy for those customers that could enjoy his work.

So, every time, when I cook, I will imagine cooking for you, you , and you, and let my food achieve the most top level of gourmet:

every bite has the taste of Love

This is an assignment based on JoJo Taibei's Hot chilli chiken. I was amazed when I had the first bite, it is such a hit to add (A LOT) cilantro to balance the spicy, no wonder it is the start food in that restaurant, (of course, thanks to the genius foodie that ordered this for us). I had wanted to make it for long, but not sure if I was really busy or just a slacker, I never go to Chinatown to get Chinese hot chilli sauce(剁椒).

Until recently, I accidently found this guy, very similar to Chinese hot sauce, so I gave it a try. But in fact, they are not the same, to make Chinese hot chilli sauce, it also uses some alcohol for fermentation , so it comes with more flavor, and it is sweeter.

It is actually  very simple to make your own and it is fresher and much much more healthy than the one from stores, which could be in my age.

Scientific Fact:

When vegetable are brined (like pickle~~), and the process is actually to produce nitrate, and the longer it is brined, the higher the nitrates contains. So, eat fresh and drink green tea.

Squash bowl: brushed with bacon grease, sprinkle sweet paprika, bake until tender.

Hot chili chicken:

The secrete to stir-fried meat in Chinese cuisine is: Hot Wok, Quick Work,

1. Pat diced chicken with flour(or meat tenderizer) , mix in scallion or minced arlic or minced ginger, depends on what flavor you want to emphasis.

2. Heat enough oil in the wok, until it is hot enough, quickly stir fried chicken until 80-90% done.

3. Take them out of the wok, then you can cook other things, like vegetables and make sauce. For this hot chili chicken, I used medium heat to saute garlic , then adjust to high heat, add cilantro and hot chili pepper, the next step is season, adding soy sauce and sugar( important)

4. Put chicken back to the wok, stir a bit, and it is done

This is my submission, which I cooked specially for YOU ^_^

Cuisine way or mommy's way?--Ravioli ,Sauted Salmon and Parsley with Creamy Tomato Sauce

----If I told you, "you are doing great", you probably wouldn't be convinced but just feel grateful, since I am encouraging you all the time, But what if , I told you a lot of your friends agreed with me and it was just they hadn't got chance to tell you, I guess you are smiling at this moment. So , thank you for passing on the 'complements' from *my* friends, it is really a wise way to show kindness, very SPECIAL...

This is a ravioli topped with sauted salmon and parsely with some garlice and tomato paste,  underneath is creamy tomato sauce, which is made from tomato paste and cream.

What I really want to show here is the magic combination of salmon parsley and tomato paste. And I just used canned salmon here. I used to cook them as a fried rice or mix them with one kind of pasta, and parsley here is not a garnish , but a major ingredient here, so don't worry about using too much.

I really like the plating work from those talented chefs, and admire, also with a little bit jealous, their genius that they are able to come up with beautiful patterns in such a short time, so a good chef has to be an artist as well!

I can always get inspiration from watching those shows, and I also got another funny rule: if something is usually served as a mixture, you can often make it prettier by separating them before serving, like a minestrone soup, in’the next iron chef’, he plated all the ingredients and put the broth on the side, not pour the broth until served, I think it is something creative that I would never thought of.

But sometimes, when something traditional shows up in a very unconventional way, it will appear a little ironical, I read about some adult made Mac&Cheese with some fancy truffle oil , and I drew it here to  show you how to serve a Mac&Cheese in a fancy restaurant way:

           Step1: Take the macaroni on the left

           Step 2: Dip into the creamy sauce in the middle

           Step3: Dip into the Cheddar cheese on the right

There is no Mac&Cheese in my childhood, but I am pretty sure it is definitely not the Mac&Cheese that has fed most of people here in their childhood. In your memory, isn’t it supposed to be a big bowl of hot and squabby mararoni covered with melt lovely yellow cheddar?

Legend of Fall Series II (Squash)-- it snows, (frustrated by unsatisfying pics)

Ravioli with Orange Scent Carnival Squash Sauce

It really surprised everyone, by the greeting from big pieces of snowflakes. I guess most people are cuddling at home watching this show offered by fall. When I caught the first sight of those big snowflakes, just rushed to facebook to broadcast this significant event. But after I published my excitement,  realized I was almost the last one to see it, > <
Well it starts snowing, which means it's time for gaogao to go out to start her snowbuddy projects, this winter, keep an eye on it, don't miss a signle one, I promise it will please you and help you to fight the winter despression, aza za fighting!

In my imagination, the winter squash should go perfectly with bacon, I was going to make bacon cup filled with squash hash, but I don't have two small muffin pans to make bacon cups, so I came up with some pasta dishes. I looked up online and found very interesting butternut squash filling ravioli with orange butter, I believe the winter squash sauce will amaze me by orange flavor. Since I am not ready to make my own pasta, so I used something from store, the filling was actually doesn;t go well with orange scent squash sauce, but the sauce itself is really wonderful, further, it can become a soup or a pasta filling.

And I also found sage loves bacon, so I pan fried the sage leaves in bacon grease, then sauté squash and onion, besides chicken broth, I added orange juice and orange scent oil( the one I got from Seattle) , then suddenly, the orange scent diffused around the house, felt like in the heaven with lovely oranges. After squash got cooked, I added a little bit cream and maple syrup, then used blender to make it into a sauce.

Without beans, it is hard to get that creamy texture. But maybe for the orange flavor, it is better to go light? Anyway the orange sent sweetness combine with bacon flakes and those barriers, it is a hit for sure !

<---Squash report--->

Canival squash

More creamy than butternut squash, after baked, the skin tastes good as well

Legend of Fall Series II -- Let us warm you up!

 Whit Bean  Butternut Squash Soup

It looks like this year, the winter can't wait until fall finishes its glory and just sneaks in, so when you are wandering along the Charles' River, enjoying the full color of mid-autumn, you can only obtain the warmth from the vision. Although I am amazed by the people that are still in shirts or shorts, I just put on my big coat and hide my face in the scarf. But when I see those little flowers are still blooming in the chilly wind, I can’t help questioning myself, “Should I be more tough?” I really don’t know…

It is often the appearance of squash, pumpkins that reminds me Halloween is coming! Actually in the early September, stores already put up boards with ‘Limited Time, Pumpkin….”, I like seeing those pumpkins flavor coffee, cake, pie…and they often come with cinnamon, nutmeg…it makes me feel like relaxing around the fireplace in the holiday, and they are orange, the color you like, spontaneously my heat will smile.

So let those lovely orange sweetie warm us up! It is a soup.
Ingredient: butternut squash(1), white bean(1 can), red onion(1 medium or smaller), butter
Maple syrup(1/8 cup), nugmet, sage(4-6 leaves), chicken broth (3cups or so)
After boil until butternut squash gets cooked, process in a blender.
I garnished it using fried sage leaves.

I guess I will be more savory if come with butter sage croutons, I might try it when I have guests.
But it is already ‘WOW’ed me, the subtle sweet brought by maple syrup, the creamy texture brought by the white beans, sage and nugmet are perfect machted her. It is really some kind of soup that can make you lip the plate.
I did some research about butternut squash soup, there are many versions, besides this subtle sweet version , there is also a curry flavor which often can be find in grocery, also something like squash+apple, squash+pear+, squarsh+apple+carrot , all sounds interesting.
Since it is going to be my regular soup for this fall , I think I can definitely try them all.
Also, I would like to try different kinds of squash in person, to see the differences of the flavors, textures, and make my own squash notes.

Girl food vs. Guy food--Poached pear with Port , ginger and anise Synrup

XGs: How to cook green pea?

Gaogao: Stir fried with tomato and eggs, or ground meat, OR just Bacon,

XGs: How to cook korean rice cake?

Gaogao: Use korean chili paste, saute Bacon first to add more flavor

XGs: It looks like you like bacon a lot

Gaogao: > <

It's often to hear a guy to  claim 'I Love Bacon!' , but it is a little hilarious for a girl or say lady to do that. But woman have the right to love bacon too, our labels are not constrained to 'salad', 'seafood', 'fruit' and 'yogurt', and that doesn't hurt the fact we are still elegant and graceful.

OK, fair enough, Gaogao admits she LOVES Bacon.

But today's food is completely a lady food, a beautiful, wonderful poached pear with ginger and anise syrup.

Basically, poached pear is : a kind of wine, lemon juice, sugar, pear, but pear goes well with ginger and nutmeg, and if want to go Asian, anise and cadamom are alsogood complements.

Poach pear first in the port with all the other ingredients, it takes about 20-40min.

After pear is done, take it out and boil the port to let it reduce to a synrup.

And if you want to pear to be colored well, you can also steep it overnight and make syrup before serving.

It can be served with ice cream or yogurt, I also added rainse and pecan. Pretty girl,right?

I though port would give my pear a stunning red color, but it didn't. Maybe I also added apple cider reduction which is brown. I read some tips about using beet can bring in the vivid red color and won't add other flavors, I will try that and use RED wine.

PS: of course, no one will judge if  a guy like it :)

I just want to be better , but not perfect--Quick Beef Jerky(Fruit and Ginger Flavor)[Assignment]

Sometimes, you have to spend a lot of time to figure out a problem, but some other people are just able to have it done much quickly. It is definitely frustrating. But it looks like I am not as upset as I was when it happens, it's not I don't want to fight any more, but I get to realize I am not perfect, so I think I just want to be better, which already can make me cheerful.

So, now when I hear the complements like ' you are doing (MUCH) better...', I will smile and  know I can still grow, to be the 'perfect' gaogao in your imagination.

This is a quick beef jerky, by using deli rost beef. Usually, I make beef jerky from beef shoulder chuck, boil it first, then cut into the cube or sliced it whatever you want. Boil /marinade  it  in the teriyaki or spicy sauce. Bake them to the texture you want.

Trader joe's deli roast beef is a good deal but very bland, well, it is not a very thin , but thin enough for beef jerky. And it turns out very alike the real beef jerky in stores.

Remember the beef skewers in some bar with some secrete sweet flavor, I thought about it afterwards and got to know marinad is made from fruit juice/preserve(apricot, or pear) as well as ginger. So I call this as an [Assignment] , since I wanted to make it come true here.

1. Saute onion and garlic

2. Add a kind of juice( I used the leftover apple cider reductions), julienne ginger, soy sauce/teriyaki sauce, aslso some red wine if you like

3.Add deli roast beef

4. Boil to reduce the water, until water is gone.

5.400F, Bake them until dried to be like a jerky, turn in the middle

Fruit juice and ginger, that is the secrete, got it?

1st secrete ingredient is always

affection and love,

so I appreciate every chef that cook with care
 to bring us the wonder food

The 5th class, Dream can really come true -- Tuna, Sundried tomato Bruschetta Fusilli

I found a very cool place from my friend's blog, it is http://rouxbe.com/cooking-school and it has the partnership with Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver, I think it should be famous :)

I did a quiz about steak there, but it turned out I only got 14/24, very disappointing > < . So I made a decision, I am going to watch the videos there from the most basic. So it becomes my 5th class for this semester , 8-)

Besides Jule and Julia, there are actually many inspiring stories about cooking. Shari , the host of http://www.whiskblog.com/, started working through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook from Jan/2008, and she never expected that after 20 months, her lifelong dream about attending a culinary school came true ! Of course , she was admitted by Le Cordon Bleu at Ottawa.

It is another dreams-come-true story, I am so happy for her and I understand the excitement about attending a real culinary school for an avid foodie. And I admire all the people that make their own dreams come true.

There is only one step away from 'thinking about it' to 'starting doing it', but it usually takes a lot of determination and is such a tough decision, but aware, once we start it, there is going to be some day when dreams come true, never doubt your decision when you get frustrated, you are doing S&S great ; )

This is my quick past salad. It is just tuna, tomato, sweet corn, basil, Trader Joe's sundied tomato bruschetta( it is one of my Trader joe's starts), some lemon juice, olive oil, with whole wheat fusilli. Super quick and delicious!

I was so surprised that H started to cook and do bakery, but after I got to know she moved in with her bf, I just smiled ... most chefs started cooking on love

Legend of Fall( Apple seriers)---'Just do your best and that is what matters'

Curry, Apple, Andouille,Raisin,Pecan, Spinach Couscous

Someone that I admire and regard as 'rock' told me, he also got frustrated sometimes, it was kinda unexpected, I thought only the little me that often gets shocked. Think about it in another way, in fact all of us have something to be bothered by, and it is good because this makes us feel like part of something, being responsible for something, and we are so important :)

And only when we are busy, those little surprises, brought by a cute flower on the sidewalk or a glance at the sky that is so bright , would be able to brighten our day. It is going to be sunny on Sunday, I think that is a reward for the hard-working of all of us so far , we know we did our best, and that is what matters, I wish you a super relax for the coming long weekend.

My apple:

This is an apple , chicken andouille, raisin, pecan and spinach couscous with curry flavor.Andouille is a kind of cajun flavor sausage. I used the prepared Trader joe's Chicken andouille. it is a little spicy , good match with curry flavor.

I like couscous for the two reasons:
1. it is a kind of pasta( actually there is some debate here), which means PROTEIN
2. it is super quick
So for me, it is like a busy-person's rice.

I kinda made it in risotto's way.
1. saute curry powder and a little bit cumin first-- this kind of spices needs to be heated to let the aroma come out.
2. same pan, brown sausage, saute onion, mushroom,
3. add couscous, brown it
4. add wine
5. chicken stock and raisin,
6. when couscous is almost done( the stock is almost gone), add apple, and pecan. spinach
7 . at the most end, add half tsp of butter OR olive oil. (it is a french way :)
Move the pan from the heat, stir it HARD to prevent it from binding together( the last butter also helps in this way)

Oh, I also find my new favorite apple flavor: Ambrosia, it is so sweet and
I can't believe it is apple!

Thanks to Giada's idea--Pesto fennel with proscuitto

I have been enjoying drawing outside so far, and it makes me never want to go back to the room doing boring objects.
It's kinda like running, once I started run outside and never run on treadmill.
I am imaging, one day I have a gas grill, I wouldn't want to cook in the kitchen for sure : D

(PS: Boston is soso lovely, I should feel cheerful and thankful. Is it because of Fall? The first time I visited Boston was a Fall, and I fell in love with it right away, then in the next 2nd fall, I traveled around most of Boston, even now the memory about how I walked each street is still vivid , and this Fall, I guided Freedom trail. I think I should make efforts for staying here, since I love it so. )

This salad was earlier this week when I was preparing for packing for school and thinking about the idea for dinnerbox, catched Giada's idea on TV and I had everything she mentioned, such a perfect improvisation.
It was simple enough, just assemble fennel, pesto and prosciutto.
Honestly , this combination is not very impressive, I still think fennel is better to go with sweet stuffs. But it is simple and healthy.
        -------------------------Congratulations---------------------

To Chef Xiaodandan, made perfect steak with tempting grill prints

Legend of Fall(Series I), Apple, Apple, I love you--I hope you will find the moon cake you like

Grilled chicken with Sage Pesto and Grilled apple, Raisin Salsa

I drew a sheep for the little prince and right now he is riding his sheep going back to his little planet to meet with his rose, I think this is the happy-ending most people would like it to be. I wonder when he passed China, if he got chance to have a piece of moon cake, did he enjoy it?

I hope when the moon is full and bright again in the fall next year, the little prince will be enjoying the moment with his rose together and at that time, he is lucky enough to find the moon cake he likes : P

Go back to my Apple:

(I call all of them as ' Grilled', if I cook with the cast iron pan)

It was an apple , sage pesto ,grilled chicken sandwich from Epicurious. I made a little change here to make it as an entree and I grilled the apple and make an apple raisin salsa。

About the salsa: there must be something sweet in it, I used to use super sweet corn, but raisin goes better with apple here. And it can't lack lime; I think , to some point , lime defines salsa :)

I didn't have jalapeno, so used cayenne pepper instead, and it works too.

The salsa is the hit for the (sage) pesto chicken, very juicy and refreshing. I am so enjoying my Apple cooking journey so far. Today, got the new bon appetite, it is one of the most exciting moments for me in the everyday life, and most of it is about thanks giving, of course, it is full of the color of fall. I have never felt fall is such a lovely season as much as now. Although it predicts the winter, for me it is also connected to the word 'warm', look at those warm color, comfort food, I'd rather let the time stop at now and save the fall for me :)

Best well-done steak ever and my favorite steak sauce-coffee rubbed rib eye with tomato sauce

This piece of rib eye is left from the birthdayS dinner. Since I already rubbed it with salt and coffee rub, I was so worried about it would be degraded. So I asked Jaden from steamy kitchen
and she responded me in a short time, I was so surprised as well as encouraging. I got the instructions from Jaden! She told me it would be fine, then I got to be relieved and didn't cook it until 3 days later. But still nervous and a little unsure...

Yeah, it is different. I timed it in my usual way to make a medium one, but it turned out to be almost well-done( the picture is from the leftover, so one more cook). But my disappointment went away right after I had the first bite... It was soooo tender, even well-done, if I cut it thinner, it would be like deli rost beef :P I guess salt and rubs had contributed a lot, and it is easier to be cooked.
So next time, if I dry-marinade it overnight or for a couple of days, I am going to the skip the oven step, only use the cast iron pan. CAN'T WAIT~~

The tomato sauce is something I read long time ago from bon appetite, it is called pizza sauce for steak. It sounded interesting for me. So I just use the way to make tomato sauce but without meat: onion, mushroom, garlic, tomato sauce, sherry vinegar, basil, oregano, Ketchup , remeber to melt a little bit butter at the end.
It is very savoury and goes well with steak, and the part that makes me happy is unlike those butter sauce, mayo sauce, I can enjoy my steak without any guilty : DD