By admin | September 3, 2010
The weather suddenly got cooler !! It was in the mid 80′s yesterday and today it got cooler , so i thought why not making this bulgogi stew for our dinner tonight . I marinated the beef , i bought sirloin steak and thinly sliced it before marinating the beef with the store bought bulgogi sauce .I love this bulgogi sauce i bought from the Korean Market in Highland . Fortunately , i found a website that tells you how to make the bulgogi sauce yourself , and it seems like it was very easy . Will try it next time .But this one was good as it is
I can’t believe how easy and quick this dish was to make , well aside marinating the beef for 3-4 hours , the whole meal was ready within 20 minutes ! Definately a keeper for fall / winter weather ..
My 5 years old wasn’t too sure about this dish at first because of the tofu , but when i let him try it .. he gave me thumbs up just like in the picture !
For recipe click here
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Sweet and Sticky Drumsticks
By admin | September 2, 2010
This recipe was adapted from Giada’s cookbook , it was very yummy , sweet and sticky .Instead of italian food , this seems more like asian dish , but the balsamic vinegar makes it italian i guess LOL . I love these dish , not only i love drumsticks , with the sweet and stickiness .. it makes it even better . Quick dish that you can marinate overnight and bake it the next day or just marinate it during the day and bake it later ..
I happen to grow parsley in my garden too , so i guess it’s also a good use for my parsley in this dish 
For recipe click here
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New York style cheesecake
By admin | September 2, 2010
Who doesn’t like cheesecake ? Barely anybody that i knew doesn’t like cheesecake , they’re rich , creamy dessert . To top it off , anybody who likes strawberry can always put strawberry topping on it , or just eating it as a plain cheesecake .
My husband Jay’s favorite dessert is cheesecake and lemon meringue pie , well this time , i am making new york style cheesecake . Most of people mentioned that they don’t want to make cheesecake because it’s bound to crack and doesn’t turn out as smooth as bakery cheesecake . Well this cheesecake is not going to dissapoint you , it’s not hard to make it , just have to beat them right , not overbeat it and also have to have a big roasting pan , so you can wrap up the springform pan with heavy duty foil , and it’s like giving them a steam bath , just like when you’re making creme brulee ..
So this is my cheesecake ..
For recipe click here
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Challah ( Jewish Egg Bread )
By admin | September 2, 2010
So , i am not jewish , i am just a chinese indonesian girl who likes to eat challah .. LOL
I guess i was in the mood of bread baking , esp. with my newly cleaned bread machine that’s been sitting in the storage room ever since we received this as our wedding shower gift . LOL .. Back then i barely able to bake or cook .. i was just a wife who didn’t know how to cook or bake , well i could boil water and made instant noodles , that’s about it . Let alone baking a bread . Although bread machine is really easy to make but i wonder why i didn’t have any interest to use it , yet we both registered it on our wedding shower gift list .. Ah .. who knows .. it was back in 2000 anyway ..
So .. an italian friend of mine been busy baking bread using her bread machine , that’s why i thought , why not getting my bread machine cleaned up and brought it up in my kitchen and started trying it . For all this time , i’ve been baking a lot of bread by hand , not by bread machine . But by golly .. bread machine , really saves you time and energy .. i don’t need to work my arm muscle to knead those dough .. although actually .. my kitchen aid mixer did the kneading too .. LOl , still bread machine is really good to have .
Anyway normal Challah won’t come in a loaf shape .. LOL .. it should be braided , but i was just too lazy to braid it , one of these days when i have some time , i will braid the challah .. instead of leaving it in the loaf pan . Although the taste was still very delicious .. my husband loves it , i just love the texture this bread has , and how easy it is to make them !
For recipe click here
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Olivia’s Sweet Dinner Rolls
By admin | September 2, 2010
I love bread !! I love making bread .. especially the smell of the dough rising .. and then when you have them baking in the oven , your house is full with freshly baked bread .. I just love everything about homemade bread . In this particular recipe , i didn’t even use my mixer or kneading it by hand .. i just let my bread machine did all the work . The result was a yummy sweet dinner rolls . Super easy and super tasty , of course , if you do not have a bread machine , you can always use your hand , mix it with hand , knead it by hand for 5-10 minutes until the dough becomes elastic enough . Give those arm muscles some work .. But if you’re lazy like me , you can always throw all the ingredients into the machine and sit down and relax , or just use the time to make something else while it’s going in the machine 
Still i prefer to bake them in the oven , although the machine would do all the job , i love making them into different shapes and all ,instead of just a loaf of bread .
For recipe click here
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Deviled Eggs
By admin | September 2, 2010
Do Not ask me why they named this deviled eggs .. Maybe because they’re so good and yummy but not good for your health ? Maybe because you cannot stop just from eating 1 ? Considering how much the cholesterol in the egg yolks ? Mind you , the egg whites are full of protein that is good for you , but without the yolk , what’s the point of making deviled eggs ?
Deviled eggs , mostly popular during easter time . I’ve been in charged to make deviled eggs since i had my easter dinner with my husband’s side of the family . Of course Americans always have a big easter dinner to celebrate Jesus is alive again . The connection between the eggs itself , and bunny ( hence easter bunny ) and Jesus is alive .. i don’t know .. i never found the answer .. LOL
But enough about that .. deviled eggs are so yummy , so easy to make , it’s a pain in the neck to peel the shell , especially if you have fresh eggs , because it’s even harder to peel them . The secret to make a great deviled eggs would be , do not overboil the eggs , of course you do not want to have underboil eggs either , you don’t want a runny eggyolk .. LOL .. Anyway people tend to boil eggs too long , my mother in law used to .. well still .. boil eggs for 25 minutes LOL .. she had a bad experience with salmonella .. so i can understand that . But boil eggs for 12-15 minutes is enough to get a perfect hard boiled eggs . As soon as the water started boiling , you can put your timer to 12 minutes and it’ll be down . Run a cold water after you get rid of the hot water . Then peel the shell , scoop out the egg yolks and be ready to put the seasonings .
For recipe , click here
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Jap Chae ( Korean stir fry noodles w/ vegetables )
By admin | September 2, 2010
I ran across this recipe from a website not too long ago , she’s a wonderful korean lady who cooks a lot and put some tutorial on youtube . So , because i’ve been watching a lot of korean drama lately .. i thought about this dish , as well as Jjangmyun , or Bulgogi or Kimbap .. all of those stuff . According to one of my friend , she said Jap Chae is really good . It got me thinking .. i’d like to try this dish .
What so funny , at the beginning i thought Jap Chae is the same with Cap Jay , Chinese stir fry noodles .. i had that a lot back when i was younger and living in Indonesia . Turned out they’re not the same ..Jap Chae used a starch noodles , called Dang Myun , the package that i bought said the noodles was made from sweet potato starch . They’re healthy for u , with 200 calories per serving and only 7 calories from fat . On top of that , Jap Chae has a lot of vegetables in it , spinach , white button mushrooms , shiitake mushroom ( my favorite ) , carrots , onions , and beef . Basically , it’s one pot dish , it has the carb , and it has the protein , it’s a complete meal in 1 pot !
The main ingredients in Jap Chae was sesame oil and soy sauce , nothing else .. as long as you have those 2 ingredients , i think you can use any kind of meat or vegetables as you like for Jap Chae .
For recipe click here
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Steamed Brownies w/ Cheese Filling
By admin | September 2, 2010
Few months ago my cousin’s wife in Indonesia gave me this recipe , at the time i was in the mood for some indonesian traditional snack , she came across this recipe and thought about giving it to me . Brownie Kukus or we call it steamed brownies , i’ve heard about this , but never made it myself .
So i thought , why not trying it today , i am stuck at home anyway , since my son is being grounded for the day which means he can’t play or watch tv , if i take him to the gym , he’d be able to play and watch tv . To make the point of being grounded , i had to sacrifice my working out time by staying at home with him .
I took out the eggs from the fridge this morning , after it came down to room temperature , i started making the brownies . The step by step how to is actually pretty easy to do , had to make sure the eggs and the sugar is very fluffy and white , double in size , just like when you’re making bolu kukus . What about the steamer ? I don’t use electric steamer , i threw it away couple of weeks ago when Jay got me this steamer . Not like they used to have in Indonesia but it still works well , the only thing with this kind of steamer , it does not accommodate the regular loaf pan , so i had to buy a disposable one that came with a smaller size .The result was delicious , very moist and just perfect sweetness , not over sweet like most brownies that you bake in the oven .
For the recipe click here
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Bolu Kukus
By admin | August 26, 2010
Believe it or not , i’ve tried to make this certain cakes for 5 times , the first 4 times i failed ! And i thought .. what the heck ? This cake is so easy .. it’s not as hard as making black forest cake , or eclairs or even bread !!!
It is called bolu kukus , it has a very smooth and soft texture , and it’s steamed , no oil , no butter , so i think this cake is quite healthy just the way it is . But i failed 4 times !! What went wrong ?
Well ..today i tried again , following what everybody suggested me .. except one , which i suddenly remember this morning . When i was younger i helped my mom a lot making this cake , and the eggs that we used in this cake is always in room temperature , because indonesian usually don’t store their eggs in the fridge . They don’t buy 2-3 or even 4 dozen eggs at once , they usually buy 1 dozen to be used within days they bought it , so that’s probably they don’t store them in the fridge like we do here in States .
So before i left to work out , i took out 6 eggs and left it on the kitchen counter . I thought , it should come to room temperature by the time i got back from the gym . I got home about 11.30 and started making bolu kukus . My aunt had given me a recipe of it , but of course like most indonesian , they don’t come in exact amount , such as for the sprite that was used in this recipe , she only says ” one bottle of sprite ”
Well .. 1 bottle of sprite could mean 2 litres of sprite , doesn’t it ? Because over here , they come in a variety sizes ! I did my research before decided i am going to put 300 ml in it . And then she also stated to put 3/4 cangkir of water . Cangkir means cup in indonesian , but it’s not the same measurement cup over here . Cups in indonesia they use for drinking tea or coffee . So that part i can’t guess . At the end i skip the water all together anyway , because i think the consistency was already right and perfect , if i added more water into the batter it would have been way too runny .
So there it was my bolu kukus .. following all tips and suggestions my friends told me .. and voila .. here is it ..
For my bolu kukus recipe , click here
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Pastel Tutup ( Indonesian Shepherd Pie )
By admin | August 23, 2010
When i was younger , my dad used to take me to this cake shop downtown to get some traditional cakes , and they also sell this Pastel Tutup . Pastel tutup has a similar fillings with chicken pot pie , except it’s a lot simpler , less rich , since pot pie uses butter in fillings . The crust on top is not a pie crust like in chicken pot pie , instead pastel tutup has a mashed potatoes as its crust !
I was always wonder how to make this , although it seems so easy , i was too lazy to make the crust , since i can’t do the shortcut using an instant mashed potatoes ! Using instant mashed potatoes won’t do any good to the dish , i’ve tried it before and it was not good at all . So , i had to get in the mood to get busy .. LOL , after coming home from farmer’s market , where i picked up lots of potatoes , i started boiling them , and it only took 30-35 minutes to boil them . Peeling a hot potatoes is another thing .. haha .. i hate peeling hot potatoes , but when you let it cool too long , it won’t be as easy as when it’s hot and warm . Anyway .. enough about peeling it off .. let’s talk about the filling , i used carrots , chicken , ham , salami , hot dogs , green onions and edamame , oyster mushrooms .Actually as far as the filling , you can do whatever you want .. you can just stick with chicken with ham and hot dogs .. whatever u like ! This is a filling dish if you serve it as a main course for dinner , it has all the protein , the vegetables , and the carb !
Edamame is a great addition to pastel tutup !! It has lots of proteins !! For the recipe click here
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