Yum Cha (Drink Tea)

My first attempt ... Chris, please dont laugh.

Very tasty, even if not so pretty.

Fresh Spring Rolls with shrimp, Seafood Gow Gee, Pork & Lettuce Parcels

There is a Lemon Garlic dipping sauce for the Pork Parcels and a Vietnamese Dipping sauce for the Spring rolls. Served with a nice Pu-erh Tea...

The Seafood Gow Gee are so well seasoned they dont need anything else.

Sweet and Spicy Thai Chicken Thighs

Find a Spoon...


Find a beer for the chicken and one for the cook...


Bath the chicken for one hour before rubbing with equal parts salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder and celery seed. Smoke roast to 180 degrees while basting with melted butter. Top with Sweet Chili Sauce.


Serve with a side of ginger Bok Choy and a little Malbec

Honey Walnut Shrimp and Vegetable Tofu

Go see Three Sisters. Eat like a king.

Marinated Salmon

Find a nice Blues Record and crank it up...


Marinate some Salmon steaks in vegetable oil, Rice Wine Vinegar and the seasoning of your choice...

Broil salmon about 6 minutes. Throw together a Ceasar Salad. Serve up some Brown rice.

All you need is a nice Malbec and your set.

Super Cookies

We were going to a Super Bowl party so we needed to make something to take with us. So we made cookies. The footballs are just the rice crispy treats made with cocoa crispies and shaped into football shapes, with white frosting for the lacing.




Then we made some sugar cookies too. This is rolling out the dough and cutting the helmet shapes.


Baked cookies.


And frosted cookies. Some team logos are way harder to do in frosting than other team logos. But it all tastes good, and that's what really counts.

Tuscan Bean Soup

Well, It hasn't been too cold lately but it has been kind of dreary for a while. This weekend, I felt like soup so here it is...

Soak 1 lb Canellini or great northern Beans in 4 quarts of water and 3 tbsp salt over night. Rinse very well and set aside.

Chop some Carrots and Celery maybe 2 each. Oh and an onion too.

Chop some Pancetta. As much as you like.

In a Stock pot Saute Pancetta till well browned to develop flavor. Add Carrots, Celery & Onion and saute. Smash a couple cloves of Garlic and toss in as well. Add in the drained and rinsed Beans with 4 cups Chicken broth and 3 cups water. Toss in a bay leaf. Bring to a subsimmer and place in a preheated 200 degree oven for 1 hour or til beans are almost done. Chop 1 bunch Kale. Rinse and drain 1 can Tomatoes. Stir in Kale and tomatoes and place back in oven for 30 minutes. when beans are ready remove from oven and sit off heat for 15 minutes with a sprig of Rosemary.

Enjoy

Beefy Beef and Vegetable Soup

1 lb Tri-Tip steak cut into 1/2" cube
2 Tbsp Soy or Tamari Sauce
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 Large Onion chopped
1 lb Mushroom chopped
2 clove Garlic minced
2 Tbsp Tomatoe paste
1/2 cup red wine (perhaps a nice Beaujolais Villages)
4 cup Beef broth
1 3/4 cup Chicken broth
2 Carrot chopped
2 Celery chopped
1 Bay leaf
1 Tbsp Gelatin
1/2 cup cold water

Bloom Gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water

Marinate Beef in Soy sauce

Chop Onions

Mushrooms

Carrots & Celery


Saute Onions & Mushrooms well in 1 tsp Olive Oil. (8-12 min) Remove from pot.


Sear Beef until well browned. (6 minutes ish)

Add in Minced Garlic, Tomatoe paste, Red Wine, Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, Carrots, Celery and Bay leaf as well as the Mushrooms & Onions. Bring to a light boil and simmer for 25 Minutes. When soup is ready remove from heat and stir in Gelatin until dissolved. This step is essential in creating that smooth mouth feel... Garnish with fresh chopped Parsley and serve.

Enjoy!