Week Six - Last-Week-Was-A-Long-Week Treat

I am currently making one of my favorite things in the whole world:  GREEN TEA ICE CREAM.  BE EXCITED.  (I suppose you don't have to be so excited because I'll be the one consuming it, but you can be excited for me, if you would like.)

Needless to say, I am very  excited.  This process started at 3:30pm and I probably won't be able to enjoy it until tomorrow.  I am learning the essential skill of delaying gratification.  But I am so excited.

In other news, I wish I had an ice cream maker.

This is the recipe I used:  http://aeriskitchen.com/2010/09/green-tea-ice-cream/

Week Five - New Vegetable

I've run out of vegetable options at the grocery store in the winter.  I was kind of tired of cauliflower, broccoli, kale, cabbage, and others.  So I decided to give spaghetti squash a try.  It was pretty great to find out that how people described the inside of a spaghetti squash to me was exactly how it really was on the inside.

Take a look-it really kind of looks like spaghetti!

I kind of experimented and didn't really go off a recipe.  (I didn't go off a recipe because so many of the recipes called for butter and I'm not a fan of cooking with butter.  I'd rather not clog my arteries if possible.)  And that's kind of why it ended up being just mediocre.  I added olive oil, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, soy sauce.  All sorts or random things. Ha.  So, it was just okay, maybe even bad. Ha.

And then I pan-fried salmon with garlic black bean sauce, paprika, cumin, scallions, and ginger.  It also just tasted okay.  And I burned the scallions and gingers a bit too.

I tried again a few days later and I spread the black bean sauce on the salmon and put the ginger, scallions on top with the paprika and cumin, and baked it for about 10 minutes.  It tasted so so much better.  I might even say it was great :)  No pictures though. :(

Week Four - Remembering Taiwan

This week, I decided to have a Taiwan throwback--Taiwanese Meat Sauce Over Rice.  Though I'm pretty sure I've never had this in Taiwan, but my mom used to cook it at home all the time growing up.  It evokes a nice feeling of nostalgia.  And it's pretty easy to make.

Here's the recipe that I used:  http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/2009/06/taiwanese-meat-sauce-over-rice-lo-bah.html

It was my first time cooking with 5-spice powder and shallots.  Kind of exciting.

It turned out well.  Maybe I would use a little less soy sauce because it ended up being a little salty for me.  For me, it's one of those once-in-a-while foods, but I don't think I could eat it super often.

Week 3.5- Treat for My Life Group

Since Chinese New Year celebrations in NYC and in China last for two weeks, I decided to continue my celebration by making Prosperity Cakes or 發糕.

I found this great recipe that is much easier than the real way you're supposedly supposed to make it.  But this recipe tasted good to me.  And it's great if you have pancake mix but don't feel like eating pancakes.  And get this, you steam them!  I suppose it makes sense now that I think of all the other times I've eaten them, I just never knew they were steamed.  But I think when I packed them into the steamer, I packed them in too much and so they didn't rip open like they were supposed to.  So, I guess this means I won't be very prosperous.  And I'm okay with that. Ha.  And they ended up being funny shapes too.

Here's the recipe I used:  http://newasiancuisine.com/5372-prosperity-cakes-fatt-gou.html

Week Three - Stuff for a Bento Box

For the next week, I used a recipe found on the blog of my language partner from freshman year-Aeri.

It's the potato side dish that you get at Korean restaurants--Potato JoRim

The recipe is found here:  http://aeriskitchen.com/2009/12/potato-side-dish-%EA%B0%90%EC%9E%90-%EC%A1%B0%EB%A6%BCgamja-jorim/

It tastes pretty good, but it's one of those things you have to eat the day you make it, otherwise it's not the same. :(

I enjoyed it, even though I don't super like potatoes.  But it was worth a try.  And I did like it. :)