Thus, I embark on my 100 day journey to cleanse my life!!!

Wish me luck

Recently, my friend Michelle and her husband, Sang, moved back to LA after having left me here 6 years ago to move to Colorado. When she moved I was really sad as she was one of the few close friends I had in LA. That same year my best friend moved back to Hong Kong and another good friend of mine moved to San Francisco. I felt like all of a sudden I didn’t have anyone to bear my chest to and I was left with acquaintances I wasn’t sure I wanted to get to know further.

When I heard Michelle was moving back I was almost in disbelief. Could this really be happening? I was ecstatic when 2 weeks later she really was back and settled in.

The first moment I saw her was a bit strange, admittedly. I mean, how are you supposed to feel when your good friend comes back after 6 years of not seeing each other? I was fearful that our friendship had changed and that we had grown so different that we wouldn’t be able to pick up from where we left off.

My worries were put to rest and I realized that nothing had changed between us and it felt like no time had passed. It was as if Michelle and Sang never left.

This past Friday I went over to have dinner for the first time. They made me their traditional Korean dinner, which I loved.

We had Kalbi and Kimchi Chige amongst other typical small Korean side dishes paired with a nice bottle of red wine.

Needless to say I had a great evening with my long lost friends and a warm home-cooked meal. We talked and talked and the evening flew by.


You all know I love food but food shared with good friends cannot be beat. There is something to be said about the old adage “Old friends are like gold” because a true friendship is as hard to find as gold. So treasure your true friends because they are hard to come by.

As for me, I am just so happy to have Michelle back in my life again. And home-cooked Korean food

I was forwarded this email today and decided to share it with you my dear readers! I actually have tried this before and while it may not be a miracle, it did soothe my burn! 

Healing Miracle for burns:  A young man sprinkling his lawn and bushes with pesticides wanted to check the contents of the barrel to see how much pesticide remained in it.  He raised the cover and lit his lighter; the vapors inflamed and engulfed him.  He jumped from his truck, screaming.  His neighbor came out of her house with a dozen eggs, yelling: “bring me some eggs!”  She broke them, separating the whites from the yolks.  The neighbor woman helped her to apply the whites on the young man’s face.  When the ambulance arrived and when the EMTs saw the young man, they asked who had done this.  Everyone pointed to the lady in charge.  They congratulated her and said: “You have saved his face.”  By the end of the summer, the young man brought the lady a bouquet of roses to thank her.  His face was like a baby’s skin. 

Keep in mind this treatment of burns which is included in teaching beginner fireman this method.  First aid consists to spraying cold water on the affected area until the heat is reduced and stops burning the layers of skin.  Then, spread egg whites on the affected are.One woman burned a large part of her hand with boiling water.  In spite of the pain, she ran cold faucet water on her hand, separated 2 egg white from the yolks, beat them slightly and dipped her hand in the solution.  The whites then dried and formed a protective layer.  She continued at least one hour to apply layer upon layer of beaten egg white.  By afternoon she no longer felt any pain and the next day there was hardly a trace of the burn.  Ten days later, no trace was left at all and her skin had regained its normal color. She later learned that the egg white is a natural collagen and The burned area was totally regenerated thanks to the collagen in the egg whites, a placenta full of vitamins.

So lovers of chocolate seem to fall into 2 categories:

1. Those who love See’s
2. Those who love Godiva

I fall into the first category, hands down!!! I love going into See’s and buying a one pound box of chocolates handpicked by myself. Chocolate nougat, , scotchmallow, marzipan, dark chocolate covered almonds, caramel, dark chocolate raisins…I can go on and on and on…

My love for See’s began when I was just a little girl of 6. My grandma always had many different boxes of chocolate hidden away in her room. Everytime I visited Taiwan, where my grandma lived at the time, she would always summon me into her room and tell me to pick the chocolate of my choice from her stash. This would be the highlight of my day. I would pick a chocolate and lay on her chaise lounge munching away while she lay on her bed smoking away. See’s was always a staple box amongst Godiva and Nestle! Fond memories I have of days spent in Taiwan as a child.

So tell me, are you a lover of chocolate? If so, do you prefer See’s or Godiva? Or maybe something else entirely? Does your love for chocolate bring back childhood memories?

Now, here are some decadent pictures of chocolate everything!!!

The first cookbook I have on the table at the moment is “Apples for Jam” by Tessa Kiros. This is her third cookbook and is arranged by “color”. I love this concept and picked my first goulash dish I have ever made at home.

This recipe was easy to make, quite quick and very tasty! I ended up making it for a few of my friends (my lucky friends who get to be my guinea pigs) and we had a wonderful meal filled with good food and good laughter.

So here is the recipe if you’d like to try it at home yourself. It is important to use good quality sausage. I used Italian sausage for this.

Ingredients:

- 1 3/4 pounds good-quality sausage of your choice
- 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 large red onion, finely chopped
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 5 to 6 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite size chunks
- 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups hot water
- salt to taste
- 2 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Method:

1. Slice the sausages into rounds about 1/2 inch thick

2. Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy-bottomed pan (cast iron is good)

3. Sauté the onion for a couple of minutes over medium heat

4. Stir in the paprika and then add the sausages

5. Continue cooking, stirring fairly often, until the sausages turn golden in places
6. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, cinnamon, bay leaf, and 2 cups of hot water

7. Season with salt and bring to a boil

8. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for approximately 20 minutes until the potatoes are softened and the goulash is thick and stewy
9. Stir with a wooden spoon from time to time and loosen the bits at the bottom to make sure they don’t stick
10. Garnish with parsley and serve hot or even at room temperature

Voila! Dinner is served!

Breakfast is one of the meals I experiment with the most. Breakfast just allows you to play with all kinds of fun food such as waffles (oh the things I do with that), pancakes (I created an oreo pancake once), eggs…and cereal! YES! CEREAL!

Here I created a fun bowl of Fruit Loops with strawberry and blueberries topped with whipped cream! All these with milk – delish!

What are some creative things you have done with food?

 Enjoy!

 Gourmand Chic

Gourmet ingredients like Brie, truffle oil, leeks and cream make this soup a special-occasion indulgence.

2 tbsp plus 1/4 lb. butter
2 finely diced leeks (whites only)
2 finely diced shallots
1 bay leaf
1 branch thyme
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock; heated
1-1/2 cups 32% cream
Kosher salt and ground white pepper
1 cup diced ripe Canadian Brie (with rind)
Truffle oil and fresh thyme leaves for garnish

via House and Home

I am very lucky to have grown up in a house where my Mother loves cooking and started teaching me family recipes at the tender age of 10 years old.  I have always been her Sous Chef and have admired her creative ability to make any dish her own.  We would host dinner parties once or twice a week for anywhere between 10 to 100 people.  We would never hire a caterer, we just cook our own Shanghainese or Cantonese dishes.

In this picture, this is a very famous and typical Shanghainese fish dish called “Shanghainese Deep Fried Smoked Fish” or “Fun Zing Yu”.  It is common for Shanghainese dishes to use sugar, especially in combination with soya sauce. 

And voila…you get this beautiful dish (with some secret ingredients too, of course)!