Cooking: Shrimp Scampi (Lite)

Alright, after eating what I've wanted for quite sometime, I've put on too much weight. I'm subscribed to self.com's magazine which is inspirational and makes me envious at the same time. I checked my ideal weight on self.com and it says I need to be 134.5 lbs! I'm not even going to tell you what I weigh now, but let's just say I need to lose a bunch. Out of the blue, my friend convinced me to join her in our quest to lose weight together. Fine... I conceded. I love food way to much to lose weight on my own.

Self.com has a bunch of recipes for lighter and healthier meals but I was skeptical of the change in flavor by using healthier ingrediants. I settled on making shrimp scampi which is normally very oil laden, but this recipe (http://www.self.com/health/recipes/2008/03/0324shrimp_scampi) seemed quite the opposite with fresh ingrediants such as bell peppers, poblano peppers, garlic, limes and cilantro. Surely those ingrediants would make the dish explode with flavors right? Well, I still wasn't convinced until I started cooking.

As soon as the shrimp hit the hot olive oiled pan, the smells wafted into the air. Alright, maybe it's not so bad. Justyn was outside charring the poblano peppers for me so I could de-skin them and chop them up.

I added the thinly sliced red and yellow bell peppers, lime zest with garlic and shallot (shallot was my addition) and sauteed them until they had softened a bit.

Next went in the thinly sliced poblano peppers which I then deglazed by adding some white wine.

After the wine had reduced, I added the lime juice. Mix and season and then add some pasta. Speaking pasta, the recipe says to use farfalle which I think is a better choice than penne, but Justyn really doesn't like the farfalle. He says they don't look right (even though it's just pasta). Whatever...

And finally you plate and enjoy. We had a little white wine to compliment the shrimp and sat outside in the patio. The weather outside was slightly warm but not overly hot so we had a perfect Spring dinner. I was a skeptic at first, but after this recipe, I've changed my mind about healthy eating. I think I will still take some convincing but now I have a more open mind to it. The flavor of the cilantro, roasted poblano, lime juice and white wine combination really did make the dish pop and I didn't miss the otherwise heavy and fatty shrimp scampi.

Review: Il Fornaio

Since I didn't get a chance to celebrate Mother's Day last weekend when it was actually Mother's Day, we celebrated this past Saturday at Il Fornaio in Downtown San Jose. I wore painful heels which I could barely walk in so getting seated promptly was a plus. We were a tad bit early but the hostess seated us anyway. Oh yeah, and coincidentally it was also prom night. I dont know why I pointed that out by the way.

When my parents arrived and sat down, I ordered a couple appetizers. Since it was such a warm day, I ordered tuna tartare & bruschetta. The tuna tartare was amazing. It kinda had an Asian twist on it with what I think was either wasabi or hot mustard. The tuna was really fresh and paired extremely well with the thin crouton like crackers. The bruschetta on the other hand was nothing special. In fact, I'd go as far as to say my bruschetta is better!

We sat around chatting until our entrees arrived. Oddly enough, Justyn's mom, Justyn and I all ordered the same thing! That was kinda weird. That's why you only see three entrees below. Our ravioli was expertly cooked with a tiny bit of al dente bite. The only complaint that I had was that the ravioli skin was huge and only held a tiny bit of sausage filling. My dad's fresh pasta bolognese was not good at all. It tasted burnt. "It tastes like burning!" Heh OK, I had to throw Ralphie in the mix. My mom's seafood pasta was nothing special either, but at least the clams were good. Nice and sweet and definitely fresh.

Overall it was a nice relaxing evening with the parents. The only part that really sucked was walking back to the car in my heels. Ouch! Never again.

Random Updating

Whew guys. I have to tell you it has been a rough couple of weeks. One of my closest friends passed away. Work has been super stressful for me. And I just haven't been feeling like I'm on the top of my game lately... Needless to say, I've been kinda blue so I haven't been cooking as much as I should be. However, I just wanted to make a random post about different things.

To kill time I've been watching youtube videos and while doing this, I stumbled upon Cloud8745. Admittedly, he has been part of the reason why I haven't been motivated to cook. As nerdy as this sounds, I really like what he does. Basically he does narration while playing video games and this stuff is HILARIOUS. Well, to me at least. Here's a taste of it which is also one of my favorite videos: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jH16KpygLw4. Anyway, I think I may have found my next calling. I have also made some videos with narration while playing GTA3 on the PS2. Some of you may ask why I haven't been playing GTA4 on the PS3. Because... I don't own the system nor the game yet. Soon... then I can do videos on that too! In the meantime, enjoy my videos. Warning: It's pretty nerdy and stupid so keep an open mind haha. http://youtube.com/user/Jadedone888

Alright... well. The next thing I wanted to talk about is something called Oden. Justyn loves the stuff so we went to Nijiya Market in Mountain View to pick some up. It comes in a frozen pack with a soup base. Just add water and boil. Presto! Instant dinner. I have to say that it was pretty good and healthy.

Angel's birthday was a couple weekends ago but due to circumstance, I couldn't celebrate it with her. Instead we celebrated her birthday this past weekend which pushed Mother's Day dinner out to this upcoming weekend. Sorry mom! I owed Angel this much for missing her birthday. Justyn baked her a sherry cake and we ended up going to Cache Creek. If you're wondering how I did, don't ask. Just know that I still have to go to work. On top of that, I have to go to work to make up for the money I lost. Poopie. At least you guys can enjoy some pictures. By the way, the food there sucked. I expected so much more but then again, I probably ordered the wrong thing. The soup was bland, the noodles were soggy and WTF was up with the toppings. Yucky. It was a good time.

Ohh, we're almost caught up! Yesterday, Justyn wanted to do something with some leftover dill so I immediately thought of salmon. I found a recipe on epicurious.com but I put a spin on it because I wanted to serve it with some pasta. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/104705

Instead of roasting the salmon with the rest of the ingrediants I simply seasoned it with salt, pepper and olive oil. While the salmon was roasting with the asparagus, I made a sauce with lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, salt, pepper, capers, thyme, shallot, fennel, white wine, splash of milk and honey. Whew, say that 3 times fast. I'm out of breath. No I'm not, I'm typing. Haha... OK moving on. Here's how it turned out. Flavor wise, I didn't think the sauce was good, but once paired with the salmon, asparagus and pasta, it worked somehow. Miracles!!

Lastly, I just got back from getting a haircut after not getting one for more than 6 months. I feel so much lighter. Just in time for the upcoming heatwave that's going to hit. This was the only decent picture that came out so yeah.

I hope those that are reading have a good rest of the week and weekend. Take care and thanks for reading!

Oh yeah and because I love you guys so much, I'm sharing these cookies with you. OM NOM NOM.. Panda approved! I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but damn these are good.

Yelp Elite Event: Parcel 104

Yesterday, Justyn and I went to a Yelp event after work at Parcel 104 which is located in Santa Clara, kinda near Great America... next to the Marriot. I've always heard excellent things about this restaurant but never got the time or chance to visit. This event was so popular that within 2 hours of the email invite being sent it, it was fully booked. I'm glad I happened to check my email when I did!

Here's a couple pictures of their menu. The one on the right is the Yelper tasting menu.

The first thing I had was this cup with fresh veggies including edamame, fennel and fresh spring peas. On the bottom of the cup was this almost custard like thing. Unfortunately, this did not do it for me. It looked good though.

Scattered throughout the event were bowls of garlic and thyme marinated olives and spiced mixed nuts. Both were amazing and I don't even like olives straight up like that.

Here is a picture of a couple of the kitchen crew. I'm pretty sure one of two was the chef, but I didn't ask because I was shy. On another note, their kitchen is really open and amazing. I wouldn't mind living there heh.

J. Lohr winery was set up in the backroom with wine tasting. I was pleased to see that they offered a Pinot Noir since that's currently my favorite wine, however I didn't care for it. It was way to oaky. I'm used to Pinots that are sweeter and more fruity. Justyn liked it though.

The next thing I tasted were the Pacific Oysters in a Spring Onion Fondue. Basically a fried oyster on top of carmelized onions, a dallop of uni and sprig of chive to garnish. Absolutely amazing. It was heaven on a half shell.

Next came out the 28 Day Dry Aged Beef Sliders which were snatched up before the waiters could get out of the kitchen. I luckily snapped a picture before they were eaten. Unfortunately, this was one where I didn't get to taste, but I'm sure they were amazing. Can't go wrong with sliders.

I'm not sure what this was. It was definitely strawberry flavored with some sort of liquor and the rim was salted. Blech... I hated it. There was just nothing good about it. I wonder if this was the "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test". The description was Bay Are seasonal inspired cocktail that pays homage to Ken Kesey. Strawberry flavored grain alchohol that contains secondary notes of vanilla, ginger and lime.

Next came the Delta Asparagus Fries with a bernaise sauce. I didn't like these either nor was I impressed with them. Anyone can batter asparagus and fry it. There's very little skill involved with it. Justyn ended up peeling the batter off and eating the asparagus.

Now the gem of the evening. These little rock shrimp tacos were simply lucious, fresh and packed tons of flavor. It had heat, acid, cold, meaty and crunch all at the same time. I could've taken the entire platter and eaten them. The avacado lended a nice creamy cool finish as well.

And there you have it... tasting at Parcel 104. Thanks to Connie, the Yelp staff and Parcel 104 for a lovely evening of cocktails and hors d'ouvres. No thanks goes out to Justyn who got drunk so I had to stay sober and drive. Heh... J/K.

I know I didn't give enough credit to Parcel 104 for the tasting, but it's my honest opinion of the food and there were definitely highlights which blew my mind. In fact the shrimp taco and oyster are drawing me back. We're going to visit Parcel 104 for dinner on Tuesday night!

Cooking: Shrimp Toasts and Partying Pics

On Saturday, C and JTT invited me over for a game night of Pictionary. I wanted to make something different to snack on rather than my usual BBQ pork pastries. Since we now get BBC on cable, I've been watching F-Word. On a particular episode, Gordon Ramsey shows how to make an easy appetizer of shrimp toasts. You basically grind up some raw shrimp, add flavorings that you like, spread it onto slices of bread and coat the shrimp with sesame seeds. Easy enough, now to find a recipe that I like online. I found a Thai mother and daughter video that shows how to make authentic Thai food. You can see the video here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zR2OrSTGUnI

I was worried about making these and transporting them to the party since they are deep fried. However, when I brought them to the party, people devoured and loved them! I was really happy with how they came out and I'm definitely adding them to my list of things to make for parties. Here are a couple pictures of them.

The party was fantastic and I enjoyed spending time with this particular group. They're so full of energy! We played Pictionary and sipped on wine throughout the evening and ended up playing some weird Mario board game on the N64 system. I didn't get how to play and the wine was swimming in my head. I don't think we went to bed until 3am! That's the latest I've stayed up in a long time. Thanks goes to C and JTT for inviting me over for an awesome weekend! You guys rox0rz my b0x0rz!

Cooking: Sweet & Spicy Pork Noodles

Today, Justyn was supposed to go eat Mexican food with his friends so that meant that I could have whatever I wanted for dinner. He doesn't exactly like eating aZn food twice in a row, so I decided to either hunt down a recipe or go out for Vietnamese food. The thing is that I needed dryer sheets so I opted to cook. I found a Ming Tsai recipe online by searching for pork noodles. Sounds good to me!

I picked up some serrano chilies (they didn't have Thai bird chilies), a couple shallots (the red onions were too big), 1 1/2 lb. of ground pork, black bean garlic sauce (they didn't have fermented black beans), and some stir-fry noodles (they didn't have egg noodles). So as you can see, I went to Lucky instead of Marina to get my groceries. I was a bit down because they didn't have all the ingrediants I wanted, but I also went in knowing they wouldn't.

I started by boiling water for my noodles and chopping up the vegetation. I combined the black bean garlic paste with grated ginger, minced garlic and serrano peppers. I also did a fine dice on the shallots and chopped up some scallion that I had leftover from yesterday's recipe. Do you like my froggy cup? Hehe..

I stir fried the ground pork until it was fully cooked and then seasoned it with salt and pepper. I didn't understand why the recipe said nothing about seasoning it to begin with so I used common sense here. I removed the cooked pork to set it aside.

Next, I added the serrano peppers, garlic, ginger, shallots and black bean garlic paste. Delicious, mouth watering aromas filled the kitchen immediately. My stomach growled but I had to finish in order to eat! Then I added a 1/3 of a cup of Chinese rice wine and let that reduce. Aw shit... I forgot to get Hoisin sauce. Grrr... Instead I used oyster sauce which I already had on hand. I know for a fact that Hoisin is sweeter than oyster sauce, so I added some honey to sweeten it up.

The pork went back into the mix along with 1 cup of chicken stock. Now, the recipe says to let it simmer until the mixture thickens, but I let it go for 5 minutes and it wasn't getting thicker.

So... I added cornstarch slurry to thicken it up. I let it simmer a bit and then added my chopped scallions.

Oh yeah and somewhere in between all that, I cooked an drained the noodles.

Plating time! I put the noodles at the bottom of the bowl and then topped it with the pork. A little garnish with some more green onion and you got dinner! It's such an easy recipe for another weeknight dinner and really delicious. There are so many different flavors going on. I've even got some for tomorrow's lunch! Justyn had a bit to try it and he didn't really like it, but then again, he didn't have a clear reason for it. Whatever... he wasn't supposed to be eating it anyway. On a side note, it turns out that his dinner plans got cancelled so it looks like he'll be eating last night's leftovers for dinner haha!

Recipe: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/sweet-and-spicy-pork-noodles

Cooking: Thai Chicken Saute

Ah.. what to do for dinner? I need something quick, Asian flavored and somewhat healthy. Hmm... Well, while I was doing my daily drive-by at tastespotting.com, I stumbled upon a picture that caught my eye. Thai Chicken Saute. Sounds good.... let's click on the picture to get the recipe. Ohh, it was from Cooking Light too. Perfect! I'm making it.

I go to Lucky to grab my ingrediants. Chicken tenders, broccoli, cilantro, limes, onion, ginger, garlic, Sriracha and coconut milk. I was supposed to get light coconut milk, but whatever.

I started by cooking some Thai white rice in the rice cooker and then prepped my ingrediants.













I also boiled some water so that I could quickly blanch some broccoli florets for a quick and easy side dish.










After that, I sauteed the chicken tenders in a little canola oil. By the way, they marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, cornstarch and a touch of honey. The recipe says to use fish sauce, but the kind I had on hand is too salty and not a lot of depth in flavor.










I put the cooked chicken on the side and sauteed my onions, garlic and grated ginger.










The chicken goes back in....










And then you add the sauce mixture of coconut milk, lime juice, sugar and Sriracha.











I plated it up with a bowl of rice, broccoli and the chicken. Flavor wise, it could've used a touch bit more soy sauce but I didn't want the sauce to overpower the chicken. It had tartness from the lime juice, sweet from the coconut milk and honey and deep flavor with the onion, garlic and ginger. Yum! I'll definitely be making this again.












Recipe: http://ellesnewenglandkitchen.blogspot.com/2008/04/thai-chicken-saute-and-six-word-memoir.html

PS - Blogger is pissing me off. Look at the format!! Ugh... on top of that, I can't upload more than one picture at a time.