Cooking with the Momster.

Cooking with my mom is a lot of fun. She likes cooking healthy, simple meals with no frills and she doesn't demand that everything that has to be perfect unlike someone...ehm *dad*. So when my dad is out of town, we do a lot of cooking together. This past week we made pad see ew, a Thai dish. We used thick rice noodles, chicken and plenty of vegetables: Chinese greens, onions, carrots, scallions, ginger and an egg.


My mom bought a large sheet of rice noodles that I had to cut into strips.






Cooking the veggies and egg. Threw in the noodles next.


The end result: so delicious, easy and have leftovers for days.

A shout out to my cousin and dad who recently ate at Hung Ry in New York which was just featured in The New York Times for perfecting the art of fresh, traditional handmade noodles.

A picture of the hand-stretched noodles from my cousin. Both my dad and cousin said they prefer the $.75 bowl of noodles in Shanghai though ;).

You Know You're Asian When...

... One of your favorite comfort foods is fried rice. I must say I love fried rice and probably always will. But I'm not talking about the fried rice you get at a fast food Chinese take-out that is just rice doused in soy sauce, I'm talking about homemade fried rice with lots of fresh ingredients. The great thing about it being homemade is that you know exactly what kind of ingredients are being put into the rice and how much sauce. Another beautiful thing about fried rice is that you can put any kind of ingredients you want since there is no engraved recipe, so this is also a great time to put in those leftover vegetables or proteins you've had in the fridge and didn't know what to do with them.

This is exactly what I did the other day when I made my own fried rice for lunch since we had leftover brown rice from a dinner. Mine included things that were in my fridge: carrots, leftover chicken from another dinner, a handful of spinach and of course an egg.


Getting my ingredients ready. Egg, spinach, carrots and chicken.


I first cooked the carrots and spinach, then threw in the leftover rice. Then, I made a little hole in the center to cook the egg and I put the chicken in last since I just wanted to heat it up. Finish with some salt N peppa.


Ta-Da! Easy as pie! This is something I can finally say I can make besides instant noodles ;).

The Salad Project.

One of the things I love about being home having a stocked and beautiful kitchen to my expense. Plus, my parents are Iron Chefs and cook with only organic and fresh ingredients. My mom is obsessed with cooking with organic, low-fat, grass-fed, free range, no trans fat, no preservatives, no carbs (I miss rice!!), etc and thank goodness she does. I feel a change in myself. I don't feel lumpy and gross like I did at school, but energized and healthy. While some people don't believe in organic vs. non-organic, I do and will continue this philosophy for myself and my future family.

With that being said, my mom's favorite meal has to be salads. Everyday, all day: salad. Since she always makes herself one for work, she prepares one for me too. But I add my own toppings and dressing. Anyone who has seen me during Pi Phi dinner knows that I love to pile on every single vegetable on my salads. I mean it doesn't hurt if it's all nutritious right? It makes it so I don't get sick of just eating lettuce!

Here are a few shots of my salad creations



Romaine with arugula; leftover lamb (yum!), red peppers and red onions. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing (1 teaspoon of each, probably one of the most healthy, simple dressings).



Spring mix; tuna, tomatoes, red peppers, red onions. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.



Spring mix, tomatoes, red peppers, red onions, tuna, kidney beans...and of course: olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

I am now turning into a lover of salads, but will always be piling on the toppings! It is a great way to add flavor and textures, and of course more nutrition to your everyday pile of lettuce.

Itsy Bitsy Skillet.

My mom has this tiny cast iron skillet that is perfect to cook one egg. It is adorable and I thought it was just a prop and couldn't be used but alas, you can cook with it! I was going to make an egg over-easy (my favorite), but decided to make them scrambled at the last minute to fit on the bread.


Cute right?


Scrambled eggs on top of toasted jalapeno cheddar bread. Before dousing the eggs with Tabasco.

Simple, but so satisfying.

P.S. I wanted to show everyone my obsession lately: Starbucks ice cream, but when I woke up this morning I saw the empty carton of it in the kitchen. Ahem *my dad* ahem must have finished it off.

Cloudy with a Chance of More Cloudy.

Nothing like some hot coco and natural popcorn to spice up a chilly, cloudy day full of job hunting.




My favorite snack since 7th grade.


Boilermaker 4 Lyfe.

The Best of 2010.

Here are my favorite eats of 2010...or of what I photographed since I just started this blog about 6 months ago. This post makes me miss China and eating with my friends. 2010 was full of great memories, I can't wait to see what 2011 brings! My resolutions includes: get a job in a big city (priority), learn how to cook, learn how to take professional-like photographs and of course, lose a few lbs.

1. Beef noodle soup and milk bubble tea in Shanghai.


2. Xiao Long Bao in Shanghai...I'm obsessed with pretty much any XLBs though, thinking about smuggling in a dumpling chef to my house. We have an extra bedroom.


Hello, little soup dumpling.


3. Taiwanese Ice, finally became a fan. Covered with mango and condensed milk.


4. Simple Shanghai breakfast. Vegetable filled buns with soybean milk. Ridiculously cheap and a 5 minutes from my relatives' apartment.

These ladies probably have great skin from all the steam that comes from the buns.


5. Jianbing from Beijing, wish I took a better picture of it. Basically a pancake with an egg and some mysterious crispy thing in the middle with scallions. Great quick breakfast before my adventures to the Great Wall.


6. Margaritas with my parents for my 22nd (ew) birthday.


7. My huge craving for Mexican food after being in China for 2 months fulfilled.


8. Homemade ramen.


9. Anniversary steaks with the boyfriend, celebrating our very belated one year.


10. Making dinner at the girls' house every once in a while, pasta with spinach and chicken before Halloween.


11. Korean feast during Jean's visit at Kibu. (Our tradition :)), West Lala.

Upclose to my beloved Soon Tofu, so hot and bubbly.


12. Of course, the Drew Brees Special from Triple XXX in West Lala. Miss it already.


13. Poutine-a Canada treat. French fries with gravy and cheese curds. It's so good especially after being on the slopes with the warm gravy and you can never go wrong with french fries. We were told it's pronounced: poo-ting. Yum.


Hope everyone had a great New Years! Can't wait to eat my way through 2011.