Look what I got..

Passion Fruit Flower

PASSION FRUIT!  It sounds so fancy and let me tell you the aroma is amazing and the flowers are beautiful and the fruit itself is super cute.  I can't wait until the fruit ripens, then we can mix it with some water, sugar and ice to quench our thirst = )

Passion Fruit

Mini Donuts

Mini Vanilla Donuts with Magic Sprinkles =)

Summer Goodies

Look what I got today in Old Town!

Barnes and Nobles

Sur La Table 

Octodogs

Well not really....more like quadridog.  My octopi only have 4 legs each.  At one point in my life I enjoyed making bento lunches.  One day I stumbled a upon a website, www.lunchinabox.net, and thought that it was the most creative website ever (still is)!  I was inspired to pack bento lunches myself, however, I usually don't eat a proper lunch because I'm always on the run.  Wait, that just sounds wrong, let me try it again..I am usually on the move at work (much better).  Like many things I find on the internet it was just a trend.  It lasted for about 2 years and I bought lots of lots materials and supplies to pack, decorate, cut,  and store cute bento lunches but once the trend was over everything was placed in a storage container.  So recently on a whim I decided to make quadridogs because me nephew wanted to eat hot dogs so I figured why not?  Also, my sister mentioned that she would be interested in packing cute bento lunches for niece when she gets a little older =)  Maybe by then I'll be super excited to help out.  But in the meantime I'm gonna stick to baking.

Madaleine Cookies

Lemon Madaleine

Madeleine cookies come from France and is a spongy, buttery, citrusy cake.  I call it a cookie, but it tastes like a cake to me, who knows.  This is the third batch that I've made in two days.  I didn't take any pictures of the first batch because it got stuck to the pan and did not have the perfect clam shape so they were a bit on the ugly side, but we ate it all because it tasted so good.  So I knew better today to oil up all the molds really well and by doing so removing the cakes from the mold today was a breeze.  The only reason I made so many batches was because the kids at home continuously asked for more.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour sifted
1/4 tsp baking power
4 tbs melted butter
zest of one lemon

*Updated, Mini Madeleines made on 7/10/12

Directions:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees and oil the madeleine mold with vegetable oil, I would not use cooking spray or the flour method because that's what I did the day before and it would not release!
1. Beat eggs, vanilla and sugar until it becomes a pale yellow color.
2. Combine the flour and baking powder then gradually fold it into the egg mixture, 1/3 at a time.
3. Once combined, fold in the melted butter and lemon zest.
4. Carefully spoon in about 1 1/2 tbs of the batter into each mold.  Bake for about 13 minutes.
5. Remove from over and allow the cookies/cakes to cool on a cooling rack before eating.
Once cooled you can:

• Dust with powered sugar
• Dunk it into coffee
• Dip it in melted dark chocolate
• Serve it with tea

Or instead of:

lemon zest, use orange zest

vanilla extract, use almond and add bits of toasted almonds!

Strawberries

Today I went to my local Albertson's just to browse, but while I was walking around with me niece something caught my eye....strawberries and not just any kind of strawberries, RIDICULOUSLY HUGE strawberries.

  By itself it does not look big, but next to a decent sized cherry it is humongous!  I should have taken a picture of it in my palm to compare but too late i ate it =)

Okay I just wanted to share ^_~

Carnitas

Pork Carnitas w/diced onions and chopped cilantro

At work when there is a party we will usually hire a taco man who will show up for about 3 hours serving some DELICIOUS: carne asada, carnitas, and chicken tacos.  The tacos are so yummy *drool.  So like everything else I have tried and loved or find that's too expensive to pay for I make an attempt to replicate it.  This time I decided that I wanted to make carnitas.  Carnitas is like a mexican version of a pulled pork.  After spending 2 days searching on the internet for a good carnita recipe that I liked I decided to make an attempt.  I tried following the directions I found online, but the only problem when it came down to making it was that after reading so many recipes I took a little from here and a little from there.  So therefore, I usually remember the list of ingredients and add as much as I see necessary.
 Ingredients:
4 pound of pork butt, which is really a pigs shoulder, trim the fat
3 tbs seasoned salt
2 tbs dried cumin
1 tbs black pepper
1 1/2 cup of chicken stock
5 cloves of minced garlic
1 brown onion diced
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 6oz cans of salsa verde

Directions:
1. Wash and trim the excess fat off the pork then cut into cubes.
2. Season the pork for the seasoned salt, cumin, black pepper and brown in a skillet.
3. Remove the pork and place it in a crockpot.
4. Add the chicken stock, garlic, onion and salsa verde in the skillet along with all the burnt bits.
5. Pour all the sauce from the skillet in into the crockpot and set it on high for 3 hours.
6. After 3 hours remove the pork from the crockpot and by this point you should be able to easily shred the pork chunks with 2 forks.
7. Place the shredded pork into a casserole dish and pour about 2 1/2 cups of the sauce from the crockpot into the casserole dish.
8. Place the dish under the broiler for about 25 minutes or until the sauce has been absorbed.  If the meat starts to brown too fast then mix it a little.  I like the brown crispy parts so I left it a little longer.

I decided to serve the tacos on warm corn tortillas topped with fresh diced white onions and fresh chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lemon.  I would have used lime, but I only have a lemon tree ^_^

The carnitas turned out to be a big hit with my family.  I think everyone gobbled down a minimum of 3 tacos each!  Some are way more than that.  We were even thinking about hiring a taco man for my niece's birthday party, but I think that I can handle it now =)

On a Hot Summer Day

Lemonade

On hot summer days there is nothing more refreshing than a cup of ice cold lemonade.  The kids were first introduced to slush like lemonade when we went to Disneyland and we use to go every summer because my younger cousin loved and was a bit on the obsessive side of anything Disney.  Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, you name it she either had it or wanted it.  Since we went during the summer the weather would be ridiculously hot at times and the best way to quench our thirst was to buy lemonade, but it wasn't cheap so of course I made it a goal to replicate its flavor and texture.  So here you go my version of a slush lemonade.


Ingredients:
(I always adjust the amount of lemon and sugar just because there are days I prefer my lemonade more sour and the kids prefer it more sweet)
2 lemons, freshly juiced
2 cups of crushed ice
3 tbs of sugar, more or less 
1 1/2 cup of cold water


Combine all the ingredients a blender or magic bullet and ta da you have slush like lemonade! So refreshing, cold and it'll definitely quench your thirst  =) 


I will post a soju recipe for the adults out there *wink wink

Saturday Mornings

I can definitely say that there is a definite routine to my Saturday mornings, kinda like the way we wake up Monday through Friday for work.  On any given Saturday you can find me....in the kitchen.  I will usually wake up, wash my face, brush my teeth then spend the next hour making breakfast.  Growing up in an Asian household our parents would normally make porridge (you all know what I'm talking about) to eat with maybe eggs, preserved vegetables or something salty.  Anyhow, my nieces and nephew aren't too keen on eating porridge.  So I usually make breakfast before they get up.  The spread usually goes a little like this: bacon or sausage, hash brown, eggs of some sort and waffles or pancakes.  I'm not sure if I actually enjoy making breakfast or I enjoy the fact that my family appreciates it.  I went out on a limb this weekend and made belgian waffles and a quiche.  Surprisingly it came out pretty good.

Belgian Waffle