Cooking: Potstickers & Thai Salad

This Tuesday I'll be hosting a dinner party but I needed to practice the recipes before serving them to guests. I always tend to pick new recipes to try when I cook for other people which isn't always smart because I don't know how the dishes will turn out. I planned on making Potstickers, Thai Cabbage Salad, Jasmine Scented Rice & Grilled Lemongrass Chicken.

I grabbed a generic Potsticker recipe and tweaked it. The recipe called for chopping half a Napa cabbage and squeezing the water out. That didn't make sense to me because there's no way you can squeeze water out of cabbage without salting it first. When I used to help my mom make potstickers, she would add salt to the chopped cabbage to draw the water out before squeezing it dry. I then added that to half a pound of ground pork, chopped green onions, ginger, sesame seed oil, soy sauce & pepper. I didn't add any additional salt to the mixture since the cabbage was already pretty salty. I took a shortcut by using premade potsticker skins. They turned out pretty damn good for my first time. They were definitely no where near as good as my mom's but I was pretty proud of myself.



The rice was something I had actually made before and it's super easy. I just prepared the rice as normal and added a couple splashes of coconut milk before popping it in the rice cooker.

As for the Thai Cabbage Salad, it was just a lot of prep work cutting up all the veggies & herbs and making the sauce. I chopped up the other half of the Napa cabbage from the Potsticker mixture and added julienned red bell pepper, carrot and cucumber. I actually bought a mandolin just for this salad but it was a crappy cheap one so it didn't work all that well. I also intended for this to be a green papaya salad but the mandolin botched that up. Oh well. I chopped up some mint, Thai basil & cilantro as well. For the sauce I combined Sriracha, lime juice, palm sugar, fish sauce, soy suace, grated garlic & peanut oil. I topped the salad off with some honey roasted peanuts. It turned out really complex with all the different things going on but I think I need to work on the dressing a little more before it'll be perfect.



I didn't get a good picture of the chicken but that was just some drumsticks marinated in peanut oil, lime juice, lime zest, green onions, cilantro, garlic, ginger, soy sauce & fish sauce.

Wish me luck this Tuesday! I hope it all turns out good :D

Haircuts, SF & Franchino

Ever since I moved out of my parents house (a loooong time ago), I've been struggling to find a hair salon that can cut my hair and style it in a way where I'll been happy with it. Nobody knows how to cut my hair! Well... now there is one place that does it right. My sister took me to a place in SF's Japantown. I was extremely happy with the results. The place is called Japan Center Beauty Clinic located in the Japantown's main shopping center. Of course I was very skeptical of this place because I haven't had a good experience with my hair to date. The hair stylist knew what he was doing though.

Before I show you pictures, I want to tell you what happened on the way to the salon. My sister was driving and we saw a guy on the sidewalk leaning against a crosswalk pole kinda wobbling back and forth. he stuck his foot out as we were stopped at the light. I told my sister that he was probably drunk but she didn't believe me so she rolled down my passenger window and asks the guy if he had been drinking. The guy denied it but you could clearly tell that he was intoxicated. After that he starts telling my sister that he loves her even as I rolled up the window and we started to move.

My sister was getting her hair permed so I walked around with Oscar to kill some time. When she was done, we drove over to North Beach to grab dinner. We ended up at a small restaurant called Franchino. She had yelped this place on her handy dandy iPhone 4G (which everyone simply drooled over). The owner of Franchino, who was a very friendly Italian guy, greeted us with open arms, almost as though we were family. We ordered a couple glasses of Cabernet, and a smoked mozzarella cheese appetizer. Janice wanted to know if they served buccatini pasta, but it wasn't on the menu and the daughter of the owner who happened to be our waitress, confirmed that they didn't have it. The owner, overhearing our conversation, rushes two doors down to buy a box of buccatini pasta just for Janice. Talk about going above and beyond! Our appetizer and entrees were amazing. Janice, who used to go to Italy on business, told me that the buccatini pasta was cooked perfect. I thought it was overly al dente, almost crunchy. The flavors were nice though.. very simple. I ordered the salmon fettucini with pesto sauce. Delish!

For dessert we went to a nearby coffee shop and got tiramisu (which I hate), some sherry & a cappuccino. The tiramisu was SO good! I was surprised and before we knew it, I had devoured half of it. By the time we were done with dessert we were pretty beat but I had to stop by the Rogue bar to pick up a Brutal IPA for Justyn before heading back home. It was such a relaxing and fun day in SF with my sister :D Thanks Janice!

This Is Why I Love My Mom..

My sister brought some potstickers and hot & sour soup from my mom's house last night. You guys do not realize how much I miss my mom's cooking so this is definitely a treat :D

Reader's Choice Color Inspiration Challenge No. 4

I haven't participated in a Kristina Werner Color Inspiration challenge in a while have I? I really loved the picture in this challenge.. so bold. Perfect for a more masculine card which I actually needed. This card is actually a 2nd attempt. I started stitching on the dark blue cardstock and really loved the contrast so I redid it in a way that made it the focal point. I hope the recipient likes it :)

Edit: Wow. Epic FAIL. The deadline to submit this card was earlier this afternoon. NooOoOoO.. Oh well.

The Best Vodka In The World?

Justyn recently saw a video where Oz Clarke & James May went to Chase vodka to see how it was made and to do some tasting. He also stumbled upon an article where the same vodka was declared the best in the world. I wouldn't call myself a vodka connoisseur but I definitely drink it often enough to know what's crappy and what's decent.

Justyn ordered a couple bottles online so we stuck a bottle in the freezer to chill it. Tonight we gave it a try. Justyn didn't like it at all but once I took the first sip, I knew this stuff was good. It has less of an astringency feel than the other vodkas I've tried and it's smooth. Normally, sipping vodka straight will make me gag but this stuff doesn't do that. I can easily see why it was ranked as the world's best vodka. I also like the fact that the people who make this stuff don't take short cuts. It shows.

This vodka is pricey and will run you $45-$50 per bottle but I think it's worth it.

NAC: A Couple Cards

I've been taking a break from making cards since nothing has caught my eye inspiration wise. That's kinda sad considering there are so many great cards out there. I've just been in a funky rut lately. Don't even ask me where I got inspiration for these cards. They kinda just happened.

I did, however, finish a birthday card for my friend Bri. I can't post that yet since she frequents this blog ;) I even used a stamp that I've never used before! You guys will just have to wait until next week for that card.

Leyla & Cormac's Party

Leyla had just returned from a trip to Thailand, Cambodia & Korea and it was Cormac's birthday so they had a party at their house. I brought some Mediterranean meatballs which I honestly didn't really like but everyone else seemed to enjoy them so that was a relief. Leyla made some kimchi fried rice which I helped with and Cormac made some steaks which by the time they were done, my camera was out of battery. Ohwell... enjoy these pics instead :)