Noodle/Pasta/Rice

In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Vegatables

Improved Smoked Cheese Risotto

I have a severe case of post-vacation depression. NOT that I don’t miss my kids achingly on each and every trip, and want to tell’em about places where they could potentially live in the next life where they’d be allowed into every eateries (woof!) and ~~crumbs shops~~ PATISERIES (woof! woooof!). But for reasons beyond me, they instead insist on residing in a city that I loathe full-heartedly. Not an uncommon problem among modern parents I guess. So every time I return home, my kitchen becomes a laboratory for recreating things that I crave from each trip to ease the symptoms (which, if left untreated, could develop into doomsday-scale meltdowns). The shwarma sandwich from Paris. The laksa from Malaysia. Bonci’s pizza bianca from Rome. Oh, right. Rome. Well, about that… I haven’t told you everything yet.

01.24.2013

In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Vegatables

Spicy Green Pesto + We’re off to…

Oh YAY! SHORT POST! Good for you because “Gawd! she’s finally gonna shut up…!”, and great for us because from here and here you can guess… yes, (whisper…) vacatiooon…. Can you guess where we’re going? Hint hint… what are we having here? No, not the poblano. The PAASTAA… shh… I think I just made me jealous of myself….

12.14.2012

In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Vegatables

Doomsday Roasted Eggplants

(简体)（繁體)

On Nov 28th at exactly 7:20pm, I got fed up. I’ve had my 5th servings of chronic-crashing on my chrome in 1 day and my whipped iTune seemed to be super-unnaturally allergic to my iPad because it decided to kill itself everytime at the sync of it. So in the attempt to steer my PC into the shinning new-era and deliver it to the promised land of salvation, I upgraded it to – Windows 8 (plug your best Angel music here). …The reported beacon of hope had turned out more to be the beacon of NOPE, and I was punished for it. Because then came as I previously mentioned here – the ultimate internet doomsday which led to my double emotional-meltdowns on the kitchen floor. You didn’t think I was gonna spare you that story, did you? Neeu…

12.10.2012

In All recipes, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Snacks

Wontons for Him

(简体)（繁體)

There are about a hundred activities that are on my list of things to AVOID at ALL COST in Beijing. Taking a cab is one of them. I’m from New York, the international training-hub for cab-EQ and I thought I graduated smoothly with only one slip that caught me off-guard somewhere on Christopher Street. So to say that I have NO tolerance for supposedly my favorite transportation in the world, is saying a lot. If you think New York cab’s got attitude, how about multiplying that by 10 folds then add these to top the cake: a) The car is built to be as safe as a tin can. b) Driver tells you that it’s his second day on the job so that he’s completely CLUELESS on the directions OR how to keep you alive for that matter. c) A thick stench of body odor permeating throughout and you realized only a short stub of screw is left where the window control used to be. d) It’s 104 degrees outside but the AC doesn’t work (they never do) PLUS the window STILL doesn’t open and YES of course… odor, while you are being dragged aimlessly around the city in a lovely tin can. See?

12.06.2012

In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Quick Meals, Seafood

Cured Roe aka Botargo

(简体)（繁體)

My fabulous friend Sharon recently opened a fabulous wine bar in Taipei called Whinos, and I had the pleasure of visiting her awesome little space the last time I was around and needless to say, it was FABULOUS! It is chic but warm, cool but inviting, intimate and private but bubbling with mingling chatters. It was everything I look for in a little-spot-to-call-your-own that’s tucked in a city corner, and I’m totally ~~envious~~ happy for her. You know how sometimes you hold a little dream but not-you, instead a friend who obviously has more guts and awesomeness to pull it off before you did, and you couldn’t help but feeling overwhelmed with ~~envy~~ best wishes for them? That’s how I feel. My utter ~~jealousy~~ happiness for her total fabulous-ness.

11.14.2012

In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Vegatables

Fried Rice Go Green

OMG… did anybody see Tony’s Rio episode? WHAT the hell happened to… OK, better and wiser human beings once said that if you got nothing nice to say, don’t say anything. So I’m just going to subtly leave with – I’m post-traumatically frozen… ambushed then shocked and awed… still stumbling to pick up my jaw from the floor and maybe a few teeth… then thank Lordy that this episode was strategically aired AAAFTER his roast… and of course now totally understand why he had to leave the show because there’s a bigger crisis to attend to (I get it now, Tony).

Was that too much? That’s all I’m gonna say…

11.09.2012

In All recipes, Got Nothing But Time, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Soup

Bok Choy and Pork Ravioli

(简体)（繁體)

Is it getting cold over there? Wherever you are.

I woke up ~~this morning~~ today, and even in my post-dormancy haze I could sense the greyish tone seeping in from behind the curtains. I stumbled into my bathroom to finish ~~morning~~ my wake-up routine, went on to open my bedroom door and was embraced by a slight breeze of cold air. I let out a few sneezes, put on a pair of cozy pajama pants (and a sweater on my 12-year-old Maltese whose name is… no kidding, Dumpling) and thought, “I really want a Starbucks toffee nut latte now…”. And just like that, summer is officially over.

10.17.2012

In All recipes, Featured Attractions, Got Nothing But Time, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Soup

TAIWAN BEEF NOODLE SOUP / NIU ROU MIAN

(简体)（繁體) UPDATES AVAILABLE * 2013/03/11: online sources for ingredients added!

I’m gonna start this by saying something that seems completely irrelevant… The Japanese are marketing geniuses. No, not geniuses. Gurus! No no, NOT gurus. GODS!!! It’s like their entire way of life comes with a built-in marketing system that in comparison would reduce Don Draper down to nothing but just a raging alcoholic. I mean really, something about their culture is so mesmerizing that… OH look! Hello Kitty! (slap! FOCUS!) …that they’ve become easily one of the biggest culture exporters in the world, and most evidently in their success in pushing their cuisine into a world domination that’s stronger than the force of nature. Not so long ago who would’ve thought that Americans, the genetically-hardwired loyal patrons of well-done white meat chicken, would pay $200 and UP to surrender their fork’n knife, pick up the chopsticks (some awkwardly) and chew down a piece of raw fish on vinegary rice then moan, “Mmmmm… UMAAAAMI…”. Seriously!! Forget X-men, THIS is where human mutation takes a giant leap!

I’m telling you, it’s crazy. Japanese can sell anything like it has a halo on top of it.

09.28.2012

In All recipes, Dairy, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Snacks, updated recipe

Egg Crepes

(简体)（繁體)

I think that more than lunch, or dinner, or snacks and what-nots, people tend to have a more fixated idea on what a breakfast ought to be. Even though I may have my Asian background to thank for (if I may) a broader window on other-than-American foods, I’m still sometimes a bit… pleasantly awed by what other parts of the world eat for breakfast during my travels (that’s IF I ever wake up for it… but let’s just pretend I do).

09.18.2012

In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice

“C” Is For Cold Capellini

(简体)（繁體)

Despite the respectable effort of window displays everywhere and pretty little fashion magazines who would like us to believe that the next season is upon us and seduce us into stocking up on goose-down parkas or snuggy scarfs, the truth is that the chances of heatwaves is right around the corner on any given Wednesday, and will last well into October for the freakier parts of the world at least. This is a confession coming from a dark corner inside a pre-season shopaholic who, almost every year, excitedly opens a box full of winter goodies sometime in September while sweating profusely in her tank-tops and couldn’t stop the idea of downing a bowl of something really cold… ANYTHING cold.

09.03.2012

In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice, Seafood

Curry Laksa

(简体)（繁體)

If you haven’t heard of “Nyonya”, chances are you have eaten it instead. Yeah. It may not have been as justly popularized as Thai or Vietnamese, but its low-key awesomeness is in every Southeast Asian restaurant. The word itself means the union between Chinese and Malays, and the fushion cuisine thus born which is PURE MAGIC. So then… why am I struggling to finish this post after writing then tearing (…symbolically) and rewriting again? Because I JUST can’t escape the thought that people would come, and see, and “huh??” and just FADE OUT. And I’m exhausting all my aren’t-really-there writing skills in an attempt to make this sound like a Rachel Ray’s which has let me to a desperate conclusion to say that… it isn’t. Yes, it is complicated and consists of a blinding array of exotic ingredients. And chances are if you weren’t those who have true affection for a bowl of spicy noodles, I’ve lost you somewhere along the second sentence. BUT if you are those like me, it would be worth the while.

08.30.2012

In All recipes, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice

“Rice Pie” It Is

(简体)（繁體）

And I really don’t have any other better ideas so “rice pie” it is.

I’m sure we’ve all suffered from this. From Cantonese clay-pot rice, to Korean bibimbap, to Spanish paellas. All are different cuisines of rice plus whatnot, cooked in a sizzling vessel that forms a “burnt crust” of rice on the sides and bottom, which many would argue is the essence of such dishes. OK, now here’s the “suffering” part. What’s the point… of creating those wonderful, delicious, toasty crusts… if all they ever want is… to STICK TO the cookware!? Like taking a lovely prospect to a bar to get’em drunk and they ended going home with the bartender… No? Nobody’s ever suffered from this? It’s just me? OK, well fine. I DON’T GET IT. I like those burnt bits, too and I was there first!! How can it choose the pan over me?! It’s heart-breaking that after my useless HACKING and SCRAPING at an innocent cookware that really don’t deserve this violence, I call it quit and just watch them still happily and ever-so contently clinging onto each other while I ponder with frustration, “why?”.

08.02.2012