103. Curry beef fried rice - recipe

I have been hooked on watching Dancing with the Stars since last season. Yesterday was the season finale and I was looking forward to watching Kristy Yamaguchi, Jason Taylor and Cristian De La Fuente and their partners. All three pairs are so wonderful to watch.

But first things first. Dinner had to be cooked. As we got home late, it was a mad dash to cook Mr. KC a meal before 9pm.

What is the best, quick fix? Fried rice, of course. I usually have cold, cooked rice in the fridge. I had some curry beef with lots of coco nutty sauce, shallots, frozen peas and a yellow pepper - most of the items in the major food groups are represented.

It hardly needs a recipe. Just saute some sliced shallots and chopped yellow pepper in oil. Add the curry beef with sauce, frozen peas and fry together. Toss in the cold rice. Fry everything together and add salt and pepper to taste.

Dish up. Top with crispy fried shallots. Leave husband sitting alone at the dining table and dash to sit in front of the TV.

102. Piña colada pudding - Version 2 - recipe

Piña colada pudding

Are you interested in making a delicious dessert that is quick, easy, cheap (about 50 cents per serving) and did I mention absolutely delicious? All it takes are three ingredients: a can of coconut milk, a box of Piña colada jelly and boiling water.

The Knorr Piña colada jelly is sold in Asian markets. This brand is new to me. I used Robertson's Piña colada jelly before. However, the Robertson's box looked pretty much like the Knorr - the company may have been bought out by Knorr. I was a bit confused by the names, googled and found a blog called the Jellophile, the Jellomaniac's Manual! Go there for everything you want to know about Jello!

Follow the instructions printed on the box but substitute coconut milk for the boiling water. The recipe calls for 500 ml of water. I used 100 ml of boiling water to soften the jelly and then added the can of coconut.

When the dessert is unmolded, there is a thin layer of pineapple jelly on top and a thick, creamy coconut pudding underneath. Make two lots, everyone will want seconds!

My original version of Piña colada pudding was made with rice flour. Make both versions, see which you like better.

101. An easy soup - recipe

Watercress soup

The highlights of last night's dinner at my mother-in-law's were vegetables. First the soup - a clear broth chock full of goodness. It is a tonic. There are just three ingredients - a bunch of watercress, a couple of carrots and about 3 Chinese honey dates. Watercress is practically mother nature's medicine cabinet. It is so good for the health.

Bring about 8 cups of water to a boil, add these three ingredients and simmer for about half an hour. Nothing else is added. Double the amount of watercress for a richer soup and simmer for an hour.

The soup is clear, sweet and fresh-tasting. Do try it. This soup is recommended by herbalists for those who have a dry cough.

Then we had a plate of spinach cooked with lots of garlic. A friend asked what we were having for dinner and I said spinach. She said, just spinach? Of course we are having other dishes but spinach is the big deal because it requires so much washing to get out all the sand and grit. Even the pre-washed spinach needs extra washing.

Spinach with garlic

This dish is not exactly stir fried, perhaps one could call it a quick braise. I suggest you use a stainless steel or ceramic pot to cook the spinach. A pot that is non-reactive.

Ingredients:

A bunch of spinach, washed and drained
Minced garlic, about 4 cloves or more
Oil
Salt and pepper to tast


Method:

1. Use a dutch oven, heat some oil on a medium/high temperature and put a bunch of spinach into the pot. Cover the pot with the lid for a minute.
   
2. Open lid and add the minced garlic. Turn the spinach over so that the vegetables on top come into contact with the pot and the oil. Cover the pot with the lid for another minute.
   
3. If the spinach is not completely cooked roll the it over until it is limp and cooked. Warning: Use long chopsticks. The heat builds up in the pot. I used regular chopsticks and scalded my hand. The whole process should take about 3 minutes. The spinach should be bright green and flecked with white (garlic).
   
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. Splash some sesame oil over the spinach. Dish up and serve.

I will bet that even those who claim they hate spinach will like this dish of garlicky spinach. Except vampires, that is. Most people who hate spinach had the misfortune of being served badly-cooked spinach. I remember when I first came to Canada I was served a black mess. I was shocked when told that it was spinach. Of course, nobody would eat spinach cooked in this atrocious way! How did a cook manage to do such a disservice to a wonderful vegetable? I think the spinach was cooked to death in an aluminum pot.

Steamed pork

Anyone reading this blog will notice we eat this a lot. What can I say? Everyone likes it.

Braised bean curd sticks with vegetables

The bean curd sticks was a cooked dish I bought. I added more vegetables to it.

Steamed chicken

We ate this dish last week also. Back by popular request.

I am entering the watercress soup to Kalyn's wonderful blogging event, Weekend Herb Blogging. This week, Cate of Sweetnicks is hosting WHB.

Lagniappe is a word I have never had occasion to use. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, it means broadly : something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure. So, finally, I can use this word. I am only required to enter one recipe for WHB but I have included another recipe in this post. The recipe for cooked spinach could be a lagniappe!

100. Photographs

This is the long weekend in British Columbia, May 19 is Victoria Day. The sun is shining, the weather is glorious after a week or so or damp, grey days. We should be out at Kits Beach enjoying ourselves, instead we are still at work. A lot of people must be taking the day off, it is so quiet today. I must have spring fever. I can't settle down to work even though I have lots of work to do. Instead, I draped a sheet of white paper over my computer screen and started taking pictures of stuff I have in my office. (I have the best natural light for photography in my office with windows along one wall). Here are some of the things I photographed.

The box shown above. It has drawings, I think from advertising in China (Shanghai?) from the 30s and 40s. Very stylish and modern Chinese women. I've had this box for a while and use it to store small, empty jewelry boxes and empty brocade jewelry bags. Yes, a box that stores boxes/bags! I can't bear to throw them out and who knows when I might need one. The drawings reminded me of my blogging pal, Mochachocolata Rita. She has a fabulous banner with a picture of a Chinese lady from that period also. Here are the other panels:

A bathing beauty

This one is my favourite. I love her permanent waves. She must have been so fashionable. Those waves were done with the permanent wave machine that was like a piece of torture equipment. The hair was attached to wires to the machine.

I can't figure out what this lady is doing. She looks like she is making the bed.



An ink stone for calligraphy. I bought it in Beijing in 1988 and was totally ripped off by the seller. I found out that I had paid about 4 times more than I should. This always happens to me on trips with the first things I buy, before I have an idea of prices. But I still love it. It is my birth sign, Cancer and I keep it on my desk. Sometimes I use it for a paperweight.



A shell I picked up on the beach in Tofino, BC, in the 1990s. I think it is a horse clam. This is really going down memory lane. The brown shell was given to me by my Mom for darning socks. How many people darn socks these days? Do you? I throw the darn socks out, I never darn any of the holes.


Abalone shell. We visited Mendocino, California, also in the 1990s. A friend loves fishing for abalone. He didn't like to eat them so we feasted on them. I brought the shell home as a memento of the trip.



What is this? This is an hand-built object I made when I was studying ceramics. I put it on top of a sample of copper from Sakskatchewan.


This is the first bowl I made that was half-decent. I had a very difficult time learning to throw. It took me about two years to get the knack and I was so discouraged. Looking back I don't know how I preserved and kept going back to class every day. But this difficulty stood me in good stead. Because I had to practice so much, I really got to understand about clay and became a very strong thrower. What do you know, after I could throw bowls and plates without thinking, I lost interest in doing it and went on to hand-building.

My Japanese good luck cat. I walk for exercise and like to make some money doing it. I pick up change and feed this little cat.

That's all. I hope you enjoyed this. I'm going to have to learn to use Flickr.

99. Oysters from the forest and the sea - recipes

Do you believe in the The "R" Myth about oysters? That oysters should be eaten only in months with the letter "R" in them? My mom did so from May to August we didn't eat any oysters. I have tossed that bit of folklore out and we eat them whenever we please.

Some people think that oysters are high in cholesterol. Not so. Oysters contain protein, carbohydrates and lipids - they provide well-balanced nutrition. According to the National Heart and Lung Institute oysters can be included in low-cholesterol diets.

The Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, migrated from Japan to Canada. These West coast oysters are huge. They are like oysters on steroids! They are mild and have a sweet flavour. The texture is firm and plump. Once I bought a couple of dozen live with the shells and thought it would be no problem shucking them - I had seen the guy at the oyster bar shuck them effortlessly and I thought it was easy, peasy. All you need is that flat knife. So I bought the knife and found that it wasn't as easy as it looked. After multiple cuts and scratches on our hands we managed to get them all opened. But never again! I know practice makes perfect but I don't want to practice so now we buy them shucked.

Now we have the forest oysters.

Oyster mushroom, or Pleurotus ostreatus, 平菇

Oyster mushroom, or Pleurotus ostreatus, 平菇 grow in the temperate and sub-tropical forests throughout the world. They have a mild flavour and their taste is similar to real oysters. Oyster mushrooms are a source of statins which help lower cholesterol.

So this dish of ocean and forest mushrooms are good for your cholesterol. I fried the oysters in olive oil which is also good for your heart. All in all, reasonably heart healthy - we need some crispy, fried foods once in a while to satisfy that mouth feel of greasy food, don't we? I'm being good and won't be eating this delicious dish but Mr. KC will enjoy it.

I decided to have cross-oyster (?) flavours - by adding some dried, mushroom powder to the raw oysters and enhancing the flavour of the mushrooms with oyster sauce. I used two oysters per person. You may be more generous with the oysters but they are huge and quite filling.


Recipe for mushroom saute

Ingredients:

1 box of oyster mushrooms
A clove of garlic
1 green onion, sliced
1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce (LKK premium oyster sauce is good or use the vegetarian one for a vegan dish)
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
Pepper
Oil for stir frying

Method:

1. Trim the hard bits on the stem and separate the mushrooms into pieces.
2. Heat wok and pour some oil in. Swirl oil around wok and add the garlic and green onions. Stir fry together.
3. Add the mushrooms and saute.
4. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce and pepper. Mix into the mushrooms and drizzle the sesame oil on top.
5. Set aside.

Note: The mushrooms shrunk considerably with cooking so they only provided 2 servings.


Recipe for fried oysters:


Ingredients:

2 oysters per person
Tempura mix (I used a Thai brand)
1 teaspoon of mushroom powder
Pepper
Oil for frying

Method:

1. Heat some oil (medium fire) in a small skillet. I used about 1/2 inch of oil and the smallest skillet I had. I usually throw the oil out after frying and so keep the amount of oil to a minimum.
2. Take some tempura flour mix and combine it with the liquid from the oysters to form a thinnish paste.
3. Sprinkle the mushroom powder evenly over the oysters and grind some pepper over them.
4. Dip the oysters into the batter to coat them evenly.
5. Fry in the wok until the oysters have a lovely, golden coating on them. This shouldn't take too long. The oysters cook very quickly.

Arrange the oysters and the oyster mushroom attractively on a plate. Serve with wedges of lime and/or wasasbi mayonnaise.


South Beach Diet Meal Plan

Obviously, the fried oysters are not allowed. I am not eating them. They are for my husband.

But, oysters would be allowed if eaten raw or poached in fish or vegetable stock. Oysters are an excellent source of vitamins A, B1(thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), C (ascorbic acid) and D (calciferol). Four or five medium size oysters supply the recommended daily allowance of iron, copper, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, manganese and phosphorus.

The mushrooms are SBD friendly.

This is my entry for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this week by Gay, A scientist in the kitchen. Visit the wonderful bloggers who have great ideas on preparing herbs and vegetables.

98. South Beach Diet - 7 weeks later

South Beach Diet – 7 weeks later

Start date: March 24, 2008

I have been on the South Beach Diet Meal Plan for 7 weeks. Yesterday was the start of the week 8.

Results: I have dropped a dress size!

We went out for dinner on Mother’s Day and I decided to look presentable as my Mom would have said. I tried on some of my old clothes that hadn’t fit me in a long, long, long time. I was able to wear and button a sweater that previously didn’t meet at the centre. I wore a skirt that in February was so tight at the waist I left the button undone. Now that skirt is very lose at the waist. I haven’t really noticed the difference as I was wearing my regular clothes with elastic waistbands. I felt great and my sister in law complimented me on my appearance. She said that I was noticeably thinner.

I haven’t lost as much weight as some people on the SBD but I am following my doctor’s advice to make the diet plan suit myself. He said that it is a lifetime change and not a short term goal to lose weight for a reunion. So I haven’t followed the plan exactly and have allowed myself some leeway. I figure I would make changes slowly. I have decided to go back to Phase I. I find that Phase I is a lot easier to follow than Phase II!

On Mother’s Day, I gave myself the evening off the Meal Plan and ate everything that was offered. Was it worth it? Not really. I ate a lot less than I used to pre-SBD but a lot more than what I eat these days and I felt really stuffed. For the past seven weeks I have seen the scale go down or stay in place. I never gained but after that meal on Sunday, I didn’t dare weigh myself and this morning I found that I had gained 2 lbs. I’m back on Phase I now. I think perhaps it was a good thing I indulged on Sunday as I don’t think I would do it again. Perhaps my taste buds have become changed. I didn’t enjoy the food as much as I thought I would.

Here are some of the positive changes I have made:

1. No fried foods. No Church’s fried chicken. We walked past the store and I didn’t want them even though I could smell the fried chicken.
2. No potato chips. I haven’t bought single bag of potato chips, Nachos, Doritos, etc. I haven’t touched a single potato chip since I started on the meal plan! This is a tremendous achievement for me. I could hoover up chips anytime and I did. We never had a half-eaten bag of chips in our house.
3. On the weekend I was at a bakery and people were buying hot egg custard tarts that came straight out of the oven. I bought one. It was for Mr. KC but I had a bite. He was really pleased because he wanted one but he didn’t ask me to buy any as he didn’t want me to be tempted. That one bite was enough. I just wanted a taste. In the past, I would buy half a dozen tarts and we would polish them up in a couple of days.
4. Our meals are delicious as I think about what I cook. Here are some of the South Beach friendly dishes I have made.

Seafood fennel salad

Spinach mousse

On the the things that really helps me is the wonderful Kalyn and Weekend Herb Blogging. I have been submitting SBD friendly recipes to WHB and Kalyn has posted some of them in her SBD friendly monthly round ups. I gives me such a thrill to see bloggers at my site looking at those recipes that I try to come up with good recipes for the event. It makes my own meals so much better!

Next goal. Another size down! Hopefully by my birthday in July.

97. Steamed chicken with sausage and mushrooms - recipe

Steamed chicken with sausage and mushrooms

Here is our dinner last night at my mother-in-law's place. Another Cantonese home-cooked meal. My MIL made papaya soup. I don't know the names of the herbal ingredients she used. Chinese soup is your best medicine! This soup is good for the lungs and helps get rid of phlegm. It was sweet and mild tasting.

Tofu with spicy sauce

Baby bok choy

Stir fried oyster mushrooms and bamboo shoots

Steamed chicken

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken, cut into small pieces - I used chicken wings (flat)
4 or 5 dried shitake mushrooms
1 pair of Chinese sausage

Marinade:

1 tablespoon of ginger, minced
1 tablespoon of green onions, minced
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon of ground white pepper

Method:

1. Soak the mushrooms in a bowl of boiling water until soft. Cut off the hard stem, slice the mushrooms and set aside.
   
2. Strain the soaking water into a bowl. (I use a Melitta coffee filter and #2 filter paper to do this).
   
3. Slice the mushrooms diagonally.
4. Slice the sausages diagonally.
   
5. Marinate the chicken with the ingredients except the cornstarch.
   
6. Put the cornstarch in a small bowl and pour a bit of the mushroom soaking water to make a thin paste.
7. Mix well with the marinated chicken wings.
8. Put the chicken wings in a glass or ceramic pie plate or similar type of dish.
9. Spread the mushrooms and pieces of sausage on top.
10. Put a steamer rack in the wok, add water to cover the rack and place the dish on the rack.
11. Cover wok and steam on high heat for about 15 minutes. Check the water hasn't boiled dry. Check that the chicken is cooked. If not, steam another 5 minutes.
12. Splash a bit of sesame oil on top of the meat.
    
13. Place hot dish on a plate and bring to table.
14. Enjoy!

This dish was polished up by my MIL and Mr. KC. There were no leftovers!