Oyster Sauce Isn’t Just For Chinese Cooking

What is shrimp Mommy?

Shrimp is “ha” (Cantonese) honey.

What is “ha” Mommy?

“Ha” is shrimp honey.

What is shrimp and “ha” Mommy?

Aaaaah!

So to avoid those kinds of questions all day long, hubby and I usually take the kiddies to West Edmonton Mall almost every weekend. It’s a kid’s paradise.

They have train rides and balloon rides for the kiddies.

Merry-go-rounds.

Dollar rides. (I’m too cheap to put money in most of the time, haha.)

Roller coasters for the bigger kids.

A big swing, and so much more that I didn’t get a picture of.

Are you a rides person? Not me, I’m a little chicken when it comes to rides.

This is more my kind of ride

If you have more time you can even visit the world water park.

With lots of water slides.

If you don’t feel like swimming, you can enjoy some icy fun.

They also have mini golf and submarine rides too, which I didn’t have time to get a picture of either. Not to mention, SHOPPING GALORE!. This mall is a MUST visit if you’re ever in Edmonton.

Speaking of shopping, can someone answer this question for me: Victoria, what’s her secret?

Yup, this was the line up for the grand opening of Victoria’s Secret in West Edmonton Mall about a month ago.

A month later, I finally got in to see what the commotion was all about. Not much different than the Victoria’s Secret stores in the United States (I don’t think). Sorry for the lingerie picture boys (or not? ).

We don’t dare have guests over until we’ve drained out the kids for the day. Our friend Nancy and her hubby Frankie were brave enough to come over and join us, and then I suddenly realized I never shared my steak marinade with you. I know it’s a bit late now with summer almost over, but before I forget again, here it is:

(Marinades 4 to 6 pieces of steaks)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp chicken broth powder
• 2 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 1/8 cup melted butter

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

I used 4 pieces (1kg) of tenderloin grilling steaks and 3 pieces (1.5 kg) of boneless rib grilling steaks. Hubby enjoys the rib grilling steak, while I enjoy my tenderloin, so that’s the reason why we used different cuts of meat.

Before marinating, poke holes on both sides of each piece of steak with a fork.

Spread marinade on both sides. Allow to marinade overnight in the fridge. I like to use an ice cream pail rather than ziplock bags to contain the steaks.

We were so busy entertaining that I forgot to take pictures of our dinner (such a bad food blogger), but here’s a picture of another steak dinner we had using the same marinade.

I don’t eat meat a whole lot, but when I do, it’s gotta be medium rare. Nancy brought over some Boston Cream Whoopie Pie that she made. It’s not her recipe, but she was kind enough to share the link to the recipe with me. I really enjoyed these as they weren’t overly sweet like a Boston cream donut, yet sweet and creamy enough to keep you coming back for more. The dark chocolate helped to balance out the sweetness, and the “pie” itself was deliciously soft and moist. Well done, my friend.

They also brought over this Dr. Loosen Riesling. We didn’t have it that night, but the next day my kiddies were driving me insane, so this bottle came to the rescue. I absolutely loved it, as I’m a big fan of Rieslings. If you like sweet wines, you’ll like this one.

And there’s the shy girl.

Some of you may remember her from the time we made cakepops together with our other friend Anju.

Haha…no point hiding behind your hand when I have MANY MANY incriminating pictures of you. Just be glad I used this one

As we were eating, a rather interesting question came up; so I thought I’d include you all in the discussion since this IS a food blog afterall. If you were having good friends over for dinner, would you think it’d be okay to wear your PJ’s? Don’t worry, that question didn’t come up cause I served them in my sexy Superman PJs (yes, I have Superman PJs and am damn proud of them ). It was a question Nancy had asked.

As soon as I get home, I’m out of my street clothes and straight into PJ’s. My point of view on that question would be, I think it’d be okay to wear “comfortable” clothing, like a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, but not full-blown matching top and bottom flannel cow PJs. What are your thoughts?

On another note, my baby girl is starting playschool next week (sniff sniff) and I know I’ve got some Mommies and Daddies out there who read this blog. I’d really appreciate any advice or input you’d like to share on the first day of playschool, or playschool in general. Or even past stories you’d like to share. I welcome all comments about kiddies/school/lunches whatever you want to share. With school starting, I’m probably not going to have as much time to blog as well, so just a heads up on that. I bid you goodbye for now from the Momoirs of a Food Enthusiast. I hope you’re all having a great long weekend! Until next time friends and family .

Good Times

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are enjoying your summer.  Hubby and I took advantage of the gorgeous summer weather and took the kids out to the legislature this weekend. If you’re not from Edmonton and you ever visit, I highly recommend visiting the legislature.

This place is beautiful year round. In the summer they have gorgeous trees and flowers which attract a lot of wedding couples. We had some of our wedding pictures taken here as well. It’s also a great place for a picnic, and they have three areas where you can wade in.

In the winter time the fields are blanketed with snow and the trees are gorgeously lit with many different colours of Christmas lights. But this weekend the weather was far from that.

So we decided to drop by and soak up some rays. But there was no chance that my kiddies were going to leave peacefully without getting in on the water action.

Parent tip: Always carry an extra change of clothes in the trunk for accidents or unplanned events like this.

In they went, and even though K was wearing a dress, I wasn’t too worried about either of them getting their clothes all wet.

I was more worried about being pulled apart.

K seriously stood there for at least half an hour watering that stone…SIGH! I guess that’s her own special little way of beating the heat, go figure.

You know what else is great for beating the heat? Mochi ice cream!

I love these things! I found them at T & T Supermarket.

This one was taro flavored, hence the purple colour. When we visited Hong Kong three years ago, I would walk down to the 7-Eleven everyday and get a pack of these. I like that they’re not super sweet like most ice cream can be, and I like the sticky rice wrap on the outside. Anyone else like these?

I’m not sure if you can read that but I thought I’d take a picture of it for my more health cautious readers.

I’d also like to share a quick and easy recipe with you since I haven’t done so in a while. Here is my Oven Roasted Eggplant with Fish Sauce. This can be eaten as an appetizer or along side some rice.

Ingredients:

• 3 long purple eggplants
• 3 to 6 stalks green onions (chopped)
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• fish sauce

Instructions:

In a pan, heat up 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Throw in chopped green onions and saute until onions soften. Pour oil and green onions in bowl and set aside for later.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Cut off both ends of the eggplants. Place eggplants in the oven and cook for about 30 – 45 minutes, or until the skin of the eggplants start to wrinkle and brown. If you like eggplant skin you can leave it on (like in the first plate shown above) or peel it off.

Cut the eggplant into bitesize pieces and plate. Pour green onions and extra virgin olive oil on top. To finish the dish, pour some fish sauce over the eggplant. You can use as little or as much fish sauce as you’d like.

Note: This is not fish sauce straight from the bottle. This is fish sauce that has been mixed with other ingredients and most often used for rice vermicelli bowls. My fish sauce recipe can be found here.

I’d also like to share somethings else with you before I leave. The other day while visiting my parents, my Dad dug up an old collection of trading cards that he had in his basement which belonged to me when I was a child. Can you tell I’m a child of the 80′s?

The one I was most excited about was the stack on the bottom right. That’s right, the King of Pop, Mr. Michael Jackson. The first thing that came to my mind was, “Hmmm….I wonder how much these are worth now?” Haha. Hey, can you blame me? Then I wondered if I really could sell away Michael Jackson. Then I thought, oh how I wished my cabbage patch kids trading cards were in here too, along with all my childhood toys. Then I remembered how I idolized Debbie Gibson. Okay, you can stop laughing now. Anyways, good times, good times. Are you a child of the 80′s? What did you love from the 80′s? I would love to hear all your answers. Also, don’t forget to enter the giveaway. That’s all I have for you this week. Until next time friends and family .

Happy Mother’s Day Mommies!

Sorry my foodie friends, no food talk or pics today so if you want to skip this post I totally understand. Instead I’d like to share with you my thoughts and experiences on motherhood. I’m posting this one day early so I can stay off blogging (well my blog at least ) on Mother’s day. Here are a few things I’ve learned so far through my wonderful journey.

Until you’re a Mom you don’t really understand:
the TRUE POWER of a baby’s smile.
how unselfish you really can be.
the value of time.
the definition of heartmelting.
that even the strongest bonds can be made without saying a single word.
the meaning of responsibility.
how to nurture.

That above is what I like to call the “Mother of all Rainbows”. Like they say, “at the end of every rainbow is a pot of gold,” here’s mine:

They fill my days with joy, love, laughter, and blessings. They are so many things to me:

the reason I breathe.

my source of laughter.

my sunshine on a cloudy day.

the reason I continue to learn so that I can someday pass on my knowledge to them.

my monsters by day,

but angels by night.

Uh huh, sometimes my kiddies may seem like little monsters, but they’re MY little monsters and even little monsters have to nap.

That’s when I can’t help but watch them with loving eyes and think to myself how lucky I am. I thank the powers above for blessing me with such beautiful children.

So how many times have people tried to give you advice that you don’t agree with? Being Asian, I know all too well that there are too many Chinese superstitions/traditions out there to follow. If I listened to all of them it would drive me up the walls. So I try to do whatever works for me. Same goes with reading those baby books. Don’t treat those books as a bible, treat them as a reference or a guide to your journey through motherhood. If someone tells you not to pick up your baby when he/she cries cause you’ll spoil him/her but you feel the need to pick him/her up, then do it. I’m sure every parent will agree that babies grow way too fast. Before you know it they’re toddlers who ask you way too many questions or teenagers who slam the door in your face. Sure, you’re spoiling your baby but I don’t see anything wrong with spoiling your baby with love and attention. So hold that baby in your arms while you can and just enjoy the bonding time.

“I loved her first, I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers.
From the first breath she breathed,
When she first smiled at me,
I knew the love of a father runs deep.
Someday you might know what I’m going through,
When a miracle smiles up at you.
I loved her first.”

(By Heartland)

Until you’re a Mom you will never truly understand the power and   heartmelting feeling one gets when your baby smiles at you for the first time. So with that said I’d like to leave you with this touching song. Every parent who has a daughter can probably relate to the heartfelt words in this song. It’s definitely one of my favorites. This song brings tears to my eyes everytime I listen to it. If you have a daughter, you’ll enjoy this music video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. (Sorry, I couldn’t find a song for sons, but if anyone would like to share one with me I would love to hear it.) And this is a country song. Yes, I like country music, so what

I Loved Her First by Heartland

Happy Mother’s Day to all the lovely Mommies out there who sacrifice their time, sleep, friends, sanity, and ALCOHOL to better the life of their children!

Brunch at The Kitchen Buffet and Bistro

Thank you for all your comments on the last post. As always, I enjoyed reading all of them. This weekend we did some Costco shopping. My kiddies love it when we go to Costco cause that means they get to eat samples. I’m not going to lie, I get excited going to Costco too Yes, I live such an exciting life.  Do you think Lex knows he’s at Costco?

We also dropped by the Home Depot (again, exciting life). That has to be the most boring place for kids to go to. I used to hate going to those places with my Dad. And now it’s my turn to drag my kiddies there.

But then some genius came up with this brilliant shopping cart idea. LUV LUV LUV these! I haven’t been to the Home Depot in a while so this is new to me. Whoever thought of this, THANK YOU!

We also visited Grandma and Grandpa.

And we had brunch a the River Cree. This is our go to brunch place. Here’s  their rack of lamb, waffles, and omelette station.

Gary loves their rack of lamb, but I’m really picky when it comes to meat so I usually pass on these. I just can’t stand the smell and the gamey taste of lamb. Although Gary does say that their lamb is not gamey at all and that it’s quite succulent, tender, and cooked to perfection (medium rare). Everyone we’ve taken to this brunch seemed to love these as well. I can stand the smell of durian but not lamb…hmmm…go figure.

They also have a bread station which includes croissants, bagels, muffins, strudel,  bread (of course), and a toaster.

Here’s their appetizers station. Be warned though, this changes every week. So if you do decide to give this brunch a try and then decide to bring some friends on another weekend, don’t expect to have the same appetizers. Right beside their appetizers they have a salad station as well but I forgot to take a picture of that.

From top left going clockwise: scallop and pineapple salsa, tuna tartar on crouton, Thai beef salad on wonton, and shrimp cocktail. Sometimes on my lucky days they even have lobster sashimi.

I couldn’t get a good picture of their main cooked food station cause there was always a huge line up so I’ll show you pics of some of our plates instead (sorry).

Here are some mixed greens and some kind of raspberry dressing which I tried for the first time. Not bad. Wasn’t as raspberry-ey (yes, I’m just making up words) as I expected though. I’m still on a search for a favorite dressing when it comes to salads. What’s your favorite salad dressing? Any suggestions?

Here’s one of Gary’s plates. Yes, I said one of. I don’t bother keeping track of how many plates dude eats at buffets anymore…sigh. Oh and I guess I should mention that this is an all you can eat brunch buffet.

If I remember correctly he had scallops, halibut, smoked salmon, prime rib, shrimp, rack of lamb, and some kind of pork all on that one plate. Don’t worry, he did get a plate of vegetables, salad, and fruits as well later. Other cooked items included in this buffet but not shown here were salmon Wellington, eggs Benedict, hash browns, bacon, oatmeal, and vegetables.

Now here’s my favorite station:

Yup yup, that IS a chocolate fountain you see. They have a beautiful selection of desserts but this also changes every week.

And the thing I love about this buffet is that they are kid friendly. So how much does it cost? It used to be $25.95 per person but they raised it to $27.95.  I blame Gary, I think he single-handedly raised their price by eating so much…teehee. All non-alcoholic drinks are included in the price and kids under 5 eat FREE. I love that word  Considering the number of plates of lamb Gary eats, and the amount of seafood they have, we think it’s worth the price. Aaack! I almost forgot to mention that if you go and sign up for a Player’s Club membership card, you get a 20% discount. So it actually works out to about $22.50  per person with the discount. Click here if you want more info.

All right time to get some shut-eye. This is an older picture but it’s one of my faves so I thought I’d share. I like to call it, “Sleeping With the Enemy” For those of you who are new to this blog, my son’s name is Lex.

I almost forgot to ask, my hubby has been wanting to get some All Clad cookware lately. I know some of you who read this blog are foodies so I wanted to get some of your advice. Have you ever used All Clad, and what do you think of it? If not, what line do you like or use? Right now we’re using Saladmaster but we’re looking at other lines just to keep our options open. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Don’t forget to check the giveaways page. Until next time friends and family

Happy Easter/Long Weekend!

We don’t celebrate Easter so this weekend wasn’t too busy for us. However, my mother in-law Wendy came into town to visit for a day on Saturday. Yes, this is the, “I don’t know who Lynn Chen is and why she has a rock”  Wendy…teehee. Doesn’t my hubby totally look like a boy version of her? Anyways, we took her to dim sum at a restaurant called Beijing Beijing. I took a few pics of the food but then I was so hungry I started eating and forgot to take pics of the rest of the dishes so I decided not to post any at all. I’ll probably do a review of this restaurant later some time anyways.

On Sunday we went to our usual pho restaurant in Chinatown called Pagolac. We frequent this place probably every weekend, if not then for sure every second weekend. Does that picture remind you of anything? Say “cheese” Mr. Cow

Here’s what the inside looks like. Sorry for the dark picture. You know how I’m paranoid about taking pictures with other people in them. I think I may have even shut off the flash on this one to try to quickly snap a shot without anyone noticing…teehee. I just don’t want to disturb anyone while they’re eating and I’m a little bit chicken poop that someone will yell at me. How do you other bloggers do it? Any suggestions/thoughts on this? Or do you just not care cause you’re used to doing it for so long.

Anyways, Gary ordered the Deluxe Rice Noodle Soup (Pho Dac Biet) with spicy soup which had a combination of sliced beef, tenderloin brisket, tripe, and meat balls.

The kiddies had a regular Rice Noodle Soup (Pho Tai) to share, which I forgot to take a picture of.

Don’t worry, we fed Lex as well. We have to make sure nothing is within his reach or it’ll end up on the floor. Isn’t that right fellow parents with one year olds?

I usually order the Pho Tai as well but today I decided to get something different. This is the Pagolac Combination 5A. It’s a vermicelli bowl with grilled pork (I like to substitute for beef), egg roll, shredded pork (I told them to hold off on that), meat ball, and grilled la lop shish-ka-bob. If you’re allergic to peanuts like me, you can ask them to hold the peanuts (which I forgot). Good thing it’s not a “serious” allergy. Or if you’re picky like me and want to substitute an item for something else, I don’t think they charge extra like some restaurants do. I hate that and don’t see why restaurants charge extra for substitutions unless I’m substituting chicken with lobster…haahaa

Pagolac has three locations: downtown, southside, and westside. The downtown location is on 10566 97 street northwest Edmonton. I’m not sure of the addresses for the other two locations.

After lunch we visited Grandma and Grandpa. See, if we didn’t feed him, how would he have the energy to be such a great little helper. Like I always say, “gotta teach em’ young.” ;-)

So those were the main highlights of our weekend, always centered around food lol. If you celebrate Easter I hope you had a Happy Easter. If you don’t celebrate Easter like me, I hope you had a great long weekend! Before I leave I just want to inform you that the lovely ladies at The Happiness in Health, The Actor’s Diet, and Lucky Taste Buds are all having great giveaways. Check them out before their giveaways end. Oh and since I’m still learning the ropes of blogging, do I assume giveaways are US residents only unless stated otherwise? Some blogs don’t state and since I’m a Canadian resident I usually don’t bother entering unless it says US and Canadian residents cause I don’t want to mess up anything for anyone. Hope one of you can clear that up for me. Until next time friends and family.

Stir-Fried Shrimp and Asparagus With Oyster Sauce

I’m not much of a tech savvy person so I’m still dumbfounded as to what happened with my deleted comments from the other post. After a lot of breathing exercises, I did email WordPress and am still waiting for a reply. I have a feeling that when I went to add the link to Sophia’s giveaway and pressed update, it must have deleted all my comments. If that is the case then it really was my fault and not WordPress’ fault. Like I said, I’m still an amateur at this blogging thing and still learning the ropes. I think everything we do on the computer should have an “undo” button (for computer 101 idiots like me) so that if we accidentally do something we don’t want, we can push that button and well, “undo” it. I’m not mad that people can’t see my comments. I’m just mad that you guys took the time to leave a comment and they all got deleted. Of course Jessie, being the sweetie that she is, went back and actually recommented (is that a word?). Thanks for doing that girl, you rock! Anyways, I’m determined to get to the bottom of this.

I haven’t put up a recipe in a while so this post will include two dishes that we had for dinner. The first one is stir-fried asparagus and shrimp with oyster sauce.

• 1 bunch of asparagus
• 10 – 15 medium peeled and deveined shrimp
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil
• 5 cloves garlic chopped
• 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp chicken broth powder (or a dash of salt)
• 1/4 cup white cooking wine

Cut asparagus into one inch lengths. Heat the cooking oil and chopped garlic in a wok or pan on high heat. When the garlic turns golden brown, throw in the asparagus. Stir and toss the asparagus around for about 2 minutes. Add cooking wine. Cover for about 3 minutes.

Add in the shrimp. Stir around until the shrimp start to turn pink/orange.

Add in the rest of the ingredients. Toss and stir until all the shrimp turn pink/orange.

This is the chicken broth powder I like to cheat with use sometimes.

This next dish is a stir-fried salt and pepper shrimp.

• 15 – 20 medium deveined unpeeled shrimp
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons spice salt

Heat up the cooking oil and chopped garlic in a wok or pan on high heat. When the garlic turns a golden brown, lay the shrimp down in the pan. Cook shrimp until the bottom side turns pink. Sprinkle the top (uncooked) side of the shrimp with one teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon spice salt. Flip and repeat on the other side of the shrimp with the rest of the sugar and spice salt.

This is the brand of spice salt that I used.

Once the other side of the shrimp all turn pink, give the shrimp one last toss and stir to mix the ingredients. If you want you can definitely add some red chili and some shallots to this dish at the very end for colour. I didn’t because of my kiddies.

We also pan-fried some trout with garlic and cooking oil.

Three dishes with some white rice and dinner was served.

Kayla seemed to enjoy dinner. But where’s her little brother?

Getting into trouble as usual….sigh.

Hope you enjoy these dishes if you do decide to make them. Before I go, Sophia at Burp and Slurp and Michelle at Lucky Taste Buds are having some giveaways. Have a great Wednesday everyone!

My Own Restaurant, Supermarket, and Hair Salon

This must be a very familiar sight for a lot of parents. We usually keep our cabinets locked but sometimes we forget and as soon as this little guy sees, it’s off to the races literally for both of us

My Dad came to pick up the kiddies and I today to spend a day at their house. When I looked outside, I wasn’t impressed. Just when I thought I could take my kiddies to the park soon cause all the snow had melted, old man winter decided to drop by again…grrr.

So out came the winter jackets and head-gear, into the van went the kiddies, and off to Grandma and Grandpa’s we went. Now that I look at this picture, I realize I must be challenged at colour coordinating. My poor daughter…haha. 

Not only do the kids love going to my parents’ house but so do I cause there’s always free food, and who doesn’t love free food? My Mom made some siu mai for us. This is the only pork meat I’ll eat. She makes them extra lean for me. These are nothing like the dim sum ones, they’re more like pork meatballs.

I stuffed them into a baguette and made a siu mai sub. She also made shrimp salad rolls. These are usually stuffed with slices of fatty pork meat but she knows to leave those out for me. It’s not so much that I’m worried about the fat, it’s more the chewyness and texture of the pork skin that deters me.

Of course while I was having lunch, someone continued getting into trouble. If you’re wondering what’s happening in the background, that’s my Mom doing a pedicure on a client. My parents turned half of their house into a salon.

This is her doing threading on a client. I’m not even going to attempt to explain what that is so I just linked it. If you look closely you’ll be able to see the string.  Any of you ever tried this before?  Definitely one of the coolest but strangest hair removal techniques I’ve seen.

Whenever we go to my parents’ house we usually stay for dinner as well. Tonight we had oven roasted eggplants topped with green onions and some fish sauce, stir-fried ong choy (definitely one of my favorite Chinese dishes), pan-fried eggs, pork meat, and some kind of Chinese herbal soup. 

I guess I can say their house is like my own restaurant cause you know how parents are constantly trying to feed their kids. Except this is better cause it’s free  It’s also my own salon cause we get free haircuts after dinner when needed. And it’s my own supermarket cause sometimes I even take groceries home. The fact that I’ve moved out of their house doesn’t stop me from still being a freeloader Oh and I almost forgot to add the free babysitting service we get there too. I’d have to say, parents rock! I hope I’m as good a parent to my kids as my parents are to me. Hope you had a good hump day.`

The lovely ladies at Why Deprive and Lucky Taste Buds are having a giveaway. Check them out quick, may be ending soon.

Am I Seeing Double?

This week flew by super fast! I’ve been meaning to post this earlier but I just haven’t had the time. With more daylight out and warmer weather I just want to spend as much time out of the house with the kids as possible rather than having them cooped up at home all day. Speaking of kids, since this is afterall the  MOMoirs of a food enthusiast, I thought I should post some baby and mommy pics up. My friend Nancy and I decided to visit a friend of ours who just had TWINS! How exciting (and exhausting) is that eh? Here are the two lovely bundles of joy. A boy and a girl!

This is the beautiful Taelyn. Exactly a week old when we visited.

And meet her handsome brother Skylar. Yes, I can’t get over the fact that she had one boy and one girl. Sandy you’re a lucky mom! (so dang jealous)

I had to take this next picture to show you how adorably (is that a word? teehee) small their preemie clothes are. Only about the size of one’s hand. Is that cute or what?

Yes Kayla, we know there are two babies.

Cheeeeeeese!

The happy (LUCKY) mommy and I.

Nancy (left), Sandy (middle), and myself.

Oh and did I mention we fought through driving in 5:00 traffic for an hour just to visit these beautiful twins and their Mommy and Daddy? Needless to say, I’m sure Nancy and I agree it was well worth it. So a huge CONGRATS to my friends Sandy and Tat for giving birth to two beautiful, healthy bundles of  joy. You’ll definitely have double the work, double the trouble, double the headaches. But the best part is that you’ll also have double the love and double the fun. In my books that’s priceless! Welcome to the wonderful  journey of motherhood hun! God bless you and your beautiful new family.

I think this would be an appropriate post to include one of my favorite music videos. Any mommies and daddies with little girls will probably be touched this video as well. Even if you know friends who have little girls you may want to share this video with them as well. If you have the time it’s worth listening to and try to pay close attention to the words. If an ad box pops up at the bottom of the screen just close it so you can read along with the words. Hope you enjoy this beautiful video as much as I did. I Loved Her First by Heartland

Steamed Shrimp With Garlic

Yesterday my Dad brought over barbecued duck from a Chinese supermarket for us to have for dinner. He’s always bringing food over for the kiddies. Well I guess in his books I’m still considered part of the “kiddies” group…teehee. Love how parents/grandparents are so cool like that.

I know it’s so unhealthy but the skin is the best part of a barbecued duck. I remember when I was a kid I used to go for the drumstick but then only eat the skin and give the rest back to my Dad. Having kids of my own definitely brings back memories of my childhood. Now I save the drumstick for someone else:

 For veggies I stir fried two batches of spinach. I hate stir frying my spinach one batch at a time just cause I can’t fit it into my wok so whenever I make spinach I have to take out my mother of all woks. Fits two batches perfectly.

But then after it’s all cooked it seems like such a waste.

I’d like to share one of my hubby’s favorite dishes that I make with you. It’s
steamed shrimp with garlic and so quick and easy to make. Here are the ingredients:

• 15 – 20 peeled and deveined shrimps
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped (about 4 tablespoons)
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 pinch of salt to taste
• 1/2 a teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional)
• 1 dash of white pepper (optional for parents with little ones)

In a bowl mix all the ingredients together (except the shrimp). You can leave out the cornstarch if you want but I like to use it cause it helps the garlic somewhat stick to the shrimp after it’s cooked.

Lay out the shrimp in your steaming dish with the deveined side facing up.

Pour the mixture evenly onto the shrimp and heat on high for about 10 minutes.

Once the shrimp is done there will be juices released into the dish. I like to keep that juice cause all the sweetness of the shrimp is in that juice. If you don’t like it you can always dump that out. To add some colour to your dish you can also chop some green onions and add them as well or some parsley. Sometimes I substitute scallops for the shrimp.

I made also stir fried the rest of the bag of shrimp with some satay oil just to finish off the bag. The barbecue duck was put into the mini oven to reheat. Voila, dinner is served.

While we’re eating dinner we also feed the kiddies while they play. A will sit still for the whole dinner but this little guy won’t.

So it’s only fair to let her join him. We feed them a spoon and once they’ve swallowed they come back for another spoon. I know some parents would disagree with this method but this is what works best for us. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

B just discovered how to go down the slide the proper way. He used to just slide down feet first on his stomach….teehee.

Well if you do try that dish out I hope you enjoy it. You can definitely use less oil if you want or less garlic. I love garlic so I use as much as I’m able to without overpowering the dish. Hope you’re having a good week!

BAM BAM BAM!!!

We had dinner at a restaurant called Boualouang with some friends last night. They serve Laos and Thai cuisine. There were 6 adults, 2 toddlers, and 1 baby. I think we were the noisiest table there but shhhh….don’t tell anyone….teehee. The service was pretty good and I think everyone enjoyed the food as well. Between 6 adults we ordered two appetizers, one soup, one salad, six entrees, steamed rice, coconut rice, and two desserts as well. We shared everything and there was nothing left on the plates when we were done. This first plate was on the house. It was scallops and I think shredded papaya with a tangy, spicy sauce on top of some kind of tortilla chip. A nice start to our dinner.

The next dish we had was quite spicy. Actually all the dishes we had were really spicy. Any moms reading this, I would not bring my kids to a Thai restaurant again, but if you must bring your kiddies then be sure to feed them something beforehand. I brought A cause she’s pretty good at sitting still when we go out, and left B at my Parents’ house cause well, we all know how long the attention span of a one year old lasts. The only thing A was able to eat were the appetizers and Pad-Thai The soup we ordered was way too spicy for her.

TOM-YUM: Chicken breast and mushroom spicy Thai hot and sour soup with lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal.

YAW-TWAT-GOONG: Shrimp and avocado with sweet mayonnaise wrapped in spring roll paper and deep fried. Served with hot sweet and sour sauce with peanuts.

I thought that appetizer could have been much better. The avocado was a bit too mushy to my liking and I felt it was also a bit too greasy. But then again, what do you expect when you order something deep fried?

Papaya salad. I really enjoyed this dish. The Vietnamese version is quite similar except it’s topped with beef jerky. I really liked the crunchiness of the green papaya.

PHANUENG: Phanueng curry with chicken breast in coconut milk and peanuts.

GAENG-KIEW-VAHN: Green curry and coconut milk with fish, mushrooms, zucchini, sweet basil, and Laos eggplant.

In my books you can’t go wrong with anything that has coconut milk as an ingredient. Both these dishes were delicious and I would definitely order them again.

PAD-KEE-MOUW (DRUNKEN NOODLES): Stir fried noodles with shrimp, chicken, fresh chillies, broccoli, basil, and onions.

Wow! The chef definitely kicked this dish up a couple notches cause it was uber spicy. BAM BAM BAM!!!

GAENG-KIEW-VAHN: Green curry and coconut milk with shrimp, mushrooms, zucchini, sweet basil, and Laos eggplant.

PAD-THAI: Fried rice noodles with shrimp, beef, bean sprouts, green onions, carrots, tofu, and roasted peanuts.

Other than the appetizer, this was the only dish that A was able to have which wasn’t spicy at all. She seemed to like it though cause she had a full bowl. I think by the time this dish came I was so used to everything being so spicy that I felt like this dish was missing something. My friend beside me kept commenting on how her lips were burning and felt like they were going to fall off. I don’t blame her cause I must’ve said the same thing a couples times as well.

PAD-KA-POW: Mussels, straw mushrooms, long green beans, hot basil, and red chillies.

If you like seafood you’ll probably like this dish. Needless to say, tres spicy. If you look you can actually see the red chili in the dish.

And finally some dessert. We decided to order two of their desserts to share.

KOW-SUNG-GA-YA WITH TARO ROOT: Thai baked egg custard with taro root served with sweet purple rice, vanilla and coconut ice cream. (plate on the left)

KOW-NIEWH-MAHK-MWANG: Purple rice steamed with coconut milk. Served with fresh Thai mango, vanilla, coconut and mango ice cream.

Both desserts were great. Only complaint I had was that the mango was a little bit sour. I loved the taro root custard though. All in all it was a great dinner. Our lips didn’t fall off but our sinuses were definitely cleared Great food, great friends, great conversation. What better way to start a week. Have you ever had Thai food? What did you think of the experience? Hope you’re having a good start to your week!

Last but not least, Jocelyn @ Peace.Love.Nutrition is having a giveaway. Head over there and check it out. http://peacelovenutrition.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/product-review-chai-seedsdirect-com/