Deep Fried Salt & Pepper Prawns

Ok, so either I’ve totally caught your attention with the words “deep fried” or I’ve sent you running in the other direction. Those of you still here with me, you’re definitely my kinda eating buddy. And if you’re still here but you really dislike deep fried foods, I now luv ya even more. Besides the fact that this is a deep fried dish, it’s actually not all that unhealthy, and very quick and easy to make. So enough with the jibber jabber, let’s get started, shall we?

Deep Fried Salt & Pepper Prawns

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of prawns (Shell on and deveined. Headless or not is your choice.)
• oil for deep frying (enough to cover about 6 prawns at a time)
•  3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 and a half table spoons spice salt
• 4 stalks green onions finely chopped
• 2 red chili peppers finely chopped

In a bowl, mix together the cornstarch and spice salt. This is the type of spice salt I like to use:

Spice Salt

If you don’t have this, you can definitely use 1 tablespoon salt and half a tablespoon ground pepper.

Coat the prawns with the cornstarch and spice salt mixture either one at a time ( which is my preference because I’m so OCD like that ) or by dumping all the prawns into the bowl with the mixture and mixing them around untill they’ve all been coated. Heat up a pot of oil to 350 degrees fahrenheit and deep fry about 6 prawns at a time. When the prawns have completely curled (about 1 to 2 minutes), they’re ready to take out. Do not deep fry the prawns for more than 2 minutes or they will start to dry up and be overcooked. Drain the prawns on a piece of paper towel. In a strainer, deep fry the green onions and red chili peppers for about 20 to 30 seconds. Drain and sprinkle them over the prawns.

This is one of my favorite dishes to order at a Chinese restaurant. Now I’m not going to tell you how to eat this, but after discarding the head and the tail, did you know some people actually eat the shells and legs too? That’s right, just like popcorn shrimp. Give it a try, you might actually enjoy the crunch. I used to peel off the shells and just ate the meat, until I tried eating it with shells and all one day and really liked it. Even though I discard the heads while eating, I chose to leave them attached here because that’s how I’ve always seen them being served at restaurants. But if the heads freak you out, you can definitely use deveined headless prawns.

Halloween is coming soon again so I want to take this time to remind everyone to please take caution when driving and watch out for all the little ghosts, goblins, and Supermans out there. Here’s a link for 13 Halloween safety tips for kids. I hope you’re all doing well and that you have a safe and happy Halloween. Thank you for taking the time to drop by again. Until next time, friends and family .

I’m Melting

Yipee! It’s my birthday today! Happy happy joy joy! I’m so glad my birthday falls on a Saturday this year because that means I get to spend my whole day with the hubby and kiddies Plus, my in-laws are coming into town to celebrate with me too. How cool are they?! The hubby and I knew we wouldn’t be alone this weekend so we decided to celebrate last weekend. Have any of you ever heard of The Melting Pot? This is Edmonton’s newest fondue restaurant. It may be old news to those of you in the States but this restaurant just opened about a month ago here so we decided to give it a try. Apparently we’re also the first and only city in Canada (so far) that this American franchise has opened in.

Gary and I decided to order the Big Night Out. This was a set four course meal which included a Feng Shui cheese fondue, lettuce wraps, an entrée big enough for two people to share, and a chocolate fondue. If you’re interested in the menu and prices click on this link and then menu.

Our first course was called the Feng Shui Cheese Fondue. The ingredients of the fondue included white wine, mirin, sake, Gruyere cheese, horseradish, and chive Havarti. Along side the fondue the server also brought us some Granny Smith apples, carrots, celery, cauliflower, and bread to dip. The Granny Smith apples were my favorite as the acidity helped to mellow out the rice wine. Everything you see in the picture below was to share between the two of us.

rseradish and chive Havarti.

Our second course was the lettuce wraps. This included cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, mint, and honey roasted almonds served with a mandarin orange-ginger dressing and a garlic wine seasoning. I really enjoyed this dish because it helped lighten the strong alcohol taste still left over from the cheese fondue. The almonds were a perfect ingredient as they added the perfect crunch to these wraps. I tried one wrap plain (without the dressing or garlic wine seasoning), one wrap with just the mandarin orange-ginger dressing, and one wrap with both the dressing and seasoning. I enjoyed the wrap with both the dressing and seasoning the most. Each person got their own plate like this:

Our entrée came out with this little contraption. Guess it was just to keep the broth from spilling.

For the entrée you get to choose one of four cooking styles. We chose the Coq au Vin which included herbs, mushrooms, garlic, spices and burgundy wine.

And we went with the Lobster Indulgence for the third course. This dish was to be shared between the two of us. It included two lobster tails, citrus-infused pork tenderloin, Ahi tuna, garlic chili chicken breast, kiwi lime shrimp, vegetable dumplings, potatoes, cauliflower, mushrooms, and broccoli.

It also came with an array of dipping sauces. Sorry, I can’t remember any of the names.

The plate that they bring you is perfect for this entrée.

I was a little disappointed with this entrée as it’s supposed to be the main dish but I found that the food was a bit bland. The lobster was the biggest disappointment due to the lack of succulent seafood taste. I could have steamed a lobster at home and gotten better taste out of it. I don’t think I could choose a favorite out of this dish as everything tasted just blah to me.

Finally, what I’ve been waiting for all night….DESSERT! We went with the Yin Yang chocolate fondue. Half dark chocolate and half white chocolate. I’m a huge fan of white chocolate. I swear I could have just eaten that plain by the spoonfuls. MMM..MMM GOOD!

This dessert came with (from bottom going clockwise) some pineapples, cheesecake, pound cake (on both sides of the cheesecake), bananas, strawberries and coated marshmallows (middle). This was way more than enough dessert for the two of us.

The marshmallows were my least favorite as they were too sweet, and I’ve got quite a sweet tooth. I’d have to say I liked the bananas the most. Oh and because I love white chocolate, we tried to keep the chocolates from mixing so I found that the strawberries with the dark chocolate were the perfect match.

So all in all Gary and I both enjoyed the experience, but for the price (our bill came to about $150) we agreed that this would be a “special occasion” type restaurant for us. The service was great, and with all the different dishes and sauces, the waiters/waitresses definitely have their work cut out for them. Also I should add that it took us about three hours to finish our meal, and we had reservations too. The time flew by fairly quickly though. So if you’re planning to try out this restaurant, allow yourself at least 2 and a half hours to spare. The only big complaint I had was that the restaurant was a bit too dark for my liking. I hate dark restaurants. Other than that, it was a great experience. The Melting Pot is located at:

#117 2920 Calgary Trail NW
Edmonton, AB T6J 2G8
780-465-4DIP (4347)
Fax: 780-669-3753

If you missed my last post and you want a great “food read’, be sure to check out this spectacular post written by Valerie @ A Canadian Foodie. Best blog post I’ve read so far. If you’re here looking for your blogger award that I notified you about then click here. And don’t forget to check in on my giveaways page every now and then. Well I’m off to enjoy the rest of my weekend with my family and some friends visiting from Vietnam. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Until next time friends and family.

Custard Shrimpfu Surf and Tuft…Say What?

Hope I’ve caught your attention. Hello everyone! Thank you for all of your well wishes while the kiddies and I were recovering from our colds! It really makes my day to see all your comments and emails And that thank you also goes out to those of you who read but don’t comment (absolutely nothing wrong with that) cause then I know at least there’s someone out there reading my bloggie. I’m happy to say that the kids and I have recovered from our colds. But here’s a peak at what happens when Mommy is ill:

On Sunday I started feeling better so that day was dedicated to getting things back in order. The OCD in me couldn’t take it anymore. The laundry got done, floors got swept, vacuumed, and swiffered, dishes got washed, every countertop got wiped down and sanitized, garbage got taken out, and the fridge, microwave, and range all got cleaned as well. The only thing that didn’t get cleaned were the toilets. Maybe I’ll leave that for the hubby keekeekee.

So much better wouldn’t cha say?!

Phew, I never wanna get sick again. Oh speaking of getting sick, how many of you get your yearly flu shots? I usually don’t get the flu shot and I’m usually fine. I think the longest I went was 3 years without having a cold. But this past Christmas we went on a cruise with the little ones, so not wanting to take any risks we all got our H1N1 shots, plus the flu shots, plus whatever else shots we had to get. As soon as we got back from the cruise I got sick. It was almost like the flu shot weakened my immune system…hmmm…go figure. So from now on I’m not getting a flu shot. Anyone else experience the same thing?

Anyways, here’s the recipe to that tofu, spinach, and shrimp dish I told you I would post. This dish, like the other dishes I make is very easy and non time-consuming. My dishes have to be simple and easy cause I don’t think my brain could handle more than 5 ingredients. Teehee. I wished I could create such delectable and uniquely wonderful dishes like many of you do but the simplicity of my klutzy brain doesn’t allow for that. So with that said I’m proud to share this simple recipe with you. And by the way, these measurements are just a guideline as to approximately how much you can use of each ingredient. If you’ve experienced trying to learn Chinese cooking, you’ll agree it’s usually a bit of this, a little of that, a dash of this, a drizzle of that type measurements rather than the teaspoons/cups measurement.

Ingredients:

• 3 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 15 – 20 medium-sized shrimp peeled and deveined (I used more)
• 2 packages of tofu
• 2 bunches of spinach
• cooking oil
• white cooking wine

sauce:

• 1 tablespoon chicken broth powder
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 cup water

In a small bowl mix all the sauce ingredients together and stir until you achieve a smooth consistency. Set aside for later use.

Slice tofu into approximately 1 inch thick slices. This is the type of tofu I like to use. I luv luv luv this tofu because the egg inside gives it a custard-like taste and texture. If you’re allergic to eggs there is another type that doesn’t have eggs. I’m pretty sure you can get these at any Chinese supermarket.

In a pan or wok heat up 2 teaspoons of cooking oil on high heat and pan-fry the tofu on each side until a golden brown colour. Take out the tofu and place them on a plate for later use.

Yeah yeah, so I need a little work on making my slices evenly sized.

In a pan or wok heat up 1 tablespoon of cooking oil on high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic. Cook till the garlic turns a golden brown colour and throw in the shrimp. Toss the shrimp around until they are 3/4 cooked (pink, translucent colour). Scoop out the shrimp onto a plate and set aside for later use.

In a wok heat up 2 tablespoons of cooking oil on high heat and add 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic. Cook until the garlic turns a golden brown colour. Throw in 2 bunches of spinach, add 3 tablespoons of white cooking wine and cook for about 3 minutes. Once the spinach is cooked, throw the shrimp into the same wok as the cooked spinach. Pour in the sauce mixture. Cook and toss together for about 2 minutes or until the sauce coats everything. Turn off the heat and plate.

If you’d like, rather than cooking the tofu off the start, you can cook the tofu at the same time that you’re cooking the spinach so by the time you’re done, the tofu is still hot rather than sitting there all that time getting cold. I didn’t do that cause hello, simple-minded klutz here remember? If you do decide to make this dish, I hope you enjoy it. But most of all don’t forget to invite me

Thank you to those of you who suggested names for this dish. I really enjoyed reading them. I should do this more often. Check them out:

Michelle @ Lucky Taste Buds wrote, “Hmmm maybe “Custard tofu shrimp”?? hahah I think i fail”

The Line That Divides Us wrote, “that last dish looks scrumptious! shrimpfu! hahahha.”

Sophia @ Burp and Slurp wrote, “Let’s call it…surf and tuft. Because surf = the shrimp (seafood) and tuft= plants = soy= vegetarian = that tofu. LOL! Haha!”

I loved all 3 suggestions. So now you know where the title of my post came from

And here’s the rest of our dinner: pan-fried salmon which we like to just dip in Worcestershire sauce, and salmon sashimi. With white rice of course.

So just a few things before I leave. I’ve added a giveaways page at the top of my blog to help support my fellow blog friends. Rather than having to go back and add links to my posts, I can just add giveaways to this page. So please check that page every so often for new giveaways. I’ve seen a page like this on some of your blogs so I thought I’d steal the idea, thanks for the idea guys. If you don’t see your giveaway on the page please feel free to shoot me an email lynnchenrocks@hotmail.com with the link to your giveaway and I’d be glad to add it. Hope you’re all having a wonderful start to your week. Until next time friends and family.

Mothering Before Blogging

Hi friends and family. Been off of blogging for a while (but have still been enjoying reading your blogs) cause my kiddies have been a bit sick and now I think I’m coming down with something.  Always a mother before a blogger right  So this is going to be a really short post.

Last night I dropped off the kiddies with my free babysitters and attended this with the hubby:

He had asked about 3 weeks ahead if I wanted to go with him so despite being sick and hating to cancel on people I still went, now that’s love…haahaa. There wasn’t much to eat there as we expected, just some appetizers. But they did have free alcohol, typical engineer party teehee (no offense to any engineers out there reading). Being the food piggy that I am, I took a piece of everything that didn’t have pork in it. I may be shy at taking pictures when others are in them but when it comes to stuffing my face, ain’t no cold  and shyness gonna hold me back.

It was nice going back to the U of A. Brought back a lot of nice memories of our dating days. After this we picked up the kiddies and headed home. I was pretty full already and wasn’t in much of a mood to go out for dinner (if you’re reading this, sorry babes). I wanted to get home for a nice hot shower and get into my nice comfy bed (sniffle sniffle).

I actually wanted to share the recipe of this dish with you, 

but because I’m feeling a bit under the weather I’m going to have to hold off till my next post. It’s a dish of spinach, tofu, and shrimp stir-fried together. I’m not very creative when it comes to making up names for my dishes but if any of you have a suggestion as to what this could be called for my next post I’m definitely open to all suggestions. Hope all of you are having a better week than I am. Until next time friends and family.

Two Birds With One Stone

Hope you’re all doing well. Long weekend!!! WOOT WOOT!!! I’m going to have to do two posts in one today. I wanted to post one this morning but didn’t have the time. Don’t worry, there’ll be lots of pics and very little talking. On Wednesday we had dinner plans with our friends Nancy and Frankie. Okay I’m going to have to do a little complaining first. We were going to go to a restaurant called Sofra but when Nancy tried to make a reservation they said they don’t accommodate to children under 10 years old. I was SOOOO NOT impressed when I heard that. I mean I’ve heard of dogs not being allowed into restaurants (which I don’t know if I totally agree with) but children??? You’ve gotta be kidding me!!!  Until they change that policy, I will never step foot into that restaurant. Actually even if they do change it I don’t know if I would still go. So there’s my rant, thanx for listening. On with the post.

We decided on the Cactus Club Cafe in West Edmonton Mall.

I couldn’t get a good picture of the inside but it’s very nicely decorated. I didn’t want to disturb anyone’s dinner with flashes from my camera. I don’t mind taking pictures of food but when I have to take a picture of the restaurant and there are people i the shot, I like to respect their privacy.

We started with some crispy yam fries with garlic aioli.

These yams were super tasty and not oily at all. Perfectly crispy on the outside.

Our second dish was the tuna tataki -seared albacore tuna, green papaya slaw, orange, avocado, pine nuts, yuzu vinaigrette 

Another great dish! All the ingredients complimented each other so well that when we were finished, there was not one strand of papaya left on the plate. Delicious!

On with dinner. My hubby had the raincoast greens – grilled chicken, avocado, tomato, feta, egg, pecans, seasonal berries, lemon-thyme vinaigrette. Instead of chicken he asked for salmon. One of the most beautiful salads I’ve seen. I had a bite and it was YUMMS! (and I’m not a salad girl) Don’t know why he ordered this cause if you know Gary, you know how much dude can eat. I know my friends can back me up on this one.

Nancy recommended the butternut squash ravioli. I trust her taste in food so I took a glance at the description and decided to go with that.

pan-seared scallops butternut squash ravioli – truffle beurre blanc, amaretti, pine nuts and crispy sage

Holy moly! Best ravioli I’ve ever had! There were deep-fried mint leaves on top of perfectly seared scallops. The only complaint I had about this dish was that I wish it was bigger. Great recommendation Nancy!

Nancy’s husband Frankie had the four mushroom steak – 9oz certified angus sirloin with shiitake, portabello, button and crimini mushroom demi.

And Nancy had the short rib sandwich – caramelized onions, beef jus and emmental cheese on toasted sourdough.

For dessert we had a chocolate peanut butter crunch bar – with tahitian vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and crunchy chocolate pearls.

And a white chocolate cheesecake – dark chocolate crust and the sweet in-house made mixed berry compote, topped off with a chocolate fudge sauce.

Needless to say, both desserts were spectacular. I’ve been to the Cactus Club before and every time without reservations cause by the time we tried to make some, they were already all booked so we just went with first come first serve and waited. I’d have to say, they are definitely worth the wait. If you haven’t tried this restaurant, take a look at the menu here . This is definitely one of the tops on my Edmonton restaurants lists. Nancy was extremely generous and paid for our dinner. Thank you dear! Next one is definitely on me!

On with post #2. Today we had dinner at my parents’ house again.

That’s my mom cooking up this dish. It had shrimp, snow peas, oyster mushrooms, wood ear, and celery (my least favorite veggie but I’ll still eat them).

Next it was my turn. After seeing this razor clams recipe on Denise’s blog I had a craving for razor clams but couldn’t find them. So I went and bought some normal clams and made two dishes with them.

A stir-fry clams in black bean sauce. You can definitely add red chili to this but I left them out cause of my kiddies.

Then I tried stir-frying another batch with fish sauce. I liked the black beans recipe better. I think this fish sauce dish would have tasted better if I added some lemon grass.

My mom also made a seafood soup for dinner.

Here’s everything all together.

Because this is the MOMoirs of a Food Enthusiast, I gotta include my kiddies. After dinner when it came time to go home, someone wanted to stay and play longer. He was not very happy.

Gary had to step in and work his magic. Good job hun

Well there you have it, two posts in one. Are you still here? If so, thank you. I hope you all have a great long weekend. Do you celebrate Easter? What is your favorite dish to make for Easter?

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!

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/

What’s “Bun Rieu”?

Hello fellow bloggers, friends, and family! Hope you’re all having a great weekend so far. I love having my friends and family over for dinner. Most of the time when I have friends over I like to make this Vietnamese tomato seafood noodle soup dish (wow that’s a mouthful). This dish is called “bun rieu”. Some of you may have heard of or seen this in some Vietnamese restaurants. This is my “go to” dish when I can’t think of what I’m going to make. Today I’ve decided to post this on my blog because a lot of my friends have asked me how I make it. So rather than repeating myself over and over again, now I can just tell them to go to this blog. It’s kind of a win win situation. You get to somewhat see and learn how I make this dish and I don’t have to keep repeating myself.

So you want to start off with:

• 2 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 Tbsp purple shrimp paste (don’t ask me why it’s purple????)
• 3 Tbsp canned minced prawn in spices
• 4 Tbsp canola cooking oil
• 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
• 1 cup clam meat (or 1 can baby clams)
• 1 can escargots
• 1 cup crab meat
• 1 small package of deep fried bean curd
• 3 cans whole tomatoes (or 8-10 fresh tomatoes)
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 package of fish tofu

Here’s the brand of shrimp paste and hot sauce I like to use. The hot sauce is added to your bowl right before you eat it but never added into the pot of soup.

And the brand of minced prawn, whole tomatoes, and chicken broth that I also use for this soup.

Heat up the oil and dump in the garlic, shrimp paste, and minced prawn. Mix these around until the garlic turns a slight golden colour. Throw in the shrimp, clams, escargots, crab meat, and deep fried bean curd. Cook for about 10 minutes or until all the shrimp have been fully cooked.

Next throw in the tomatoes, but break the tomatoes in half with a spatula inside the pot to let out more juice and flavor. Pour in the chicken broth. Then use the same can from the chicken broth and add in the same amount of water. Lastly, add in the fish tofu and turn the heat to high. Once your soup comes to a boil, it is ready to eat.

There’s one extra ingredient that you can add if you want but you can leave this out if it’s too much trouble or if you don’t have the time. I think this ingredient is worth the extra time though. You’ll need to add 5 tablespoons of minced prawn into a bowl and 5 large eggs. Some people like to add ground pork here as well but I’m not a pork fan so I like to leave out the pork. Beat the eggs and the minced prawn together. Put this in the microwave for 4 minutes.

It should look something like steamed egg when it comes out of the microwave.

Spoon small pieces into your soup.

And now you have a large bowl of “bun rieu” to feed 6 – 10 people.

Don’t forget the vermicelli of course. Basically boil some water and throw in 1 pack of vermicelli. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes in boiling water. Strain out the water and let the vermicelli cool for about another 10 minutes. Here are some veggies that you can add to your bowl. We used shredded regular and red cabbage (left), mint, shredded “ong choy“, shredded banana flowers (middle), and some chopped up green onions.

This is my bowl. I added all the veggies cause I’m a veggie girl. The kids had a similar bowl like mine but smaller and all cut up into tiny pieces for their tiny munchkin mouths.

Here’s the hubby’s bowl. He added a piece of beef brisket from the beef noodle soup we had the other day. Men and their meats. This bowl doesn’t look all that big here but look at it in the picture below.

The happy, hungry hubby with his gigantic bowl of seafood tomato noodle soup. If you noticed, that bowl is bigger than his head. Dude has been referred to as “the bottomless pit” before.

Ok now my friends can stop asking me how I make this soup cause I have it all right here in my bloggie. I hope you enjoy this soup if you ever try making it. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Wrap Wraps

Wow, there goes my plan of blogging 3 to 4 times a week. Guess it totally got thrown out the window. That happens a lot when you have kids So before I start I would like to show you this cute soup mug that I bought at Superstore. It was in their 50% off pile of Valentine’s stuff. Also came with a sweet little stuffed puppy. I figured I’d keep the soup mug and my daughter could have the puppy. Two gifts in one for only $3.99. I thought it was a sweet deal.

 Anyways, just wanted to share this neat and easy dinner with you. I like to call it wrap wraps. It’s basically Vietnamese style fajita. Just like hot pot, the ingredients are all raw and set out on the table but instead of using a pot to cook  our meats we use a skillet. The veggies are left raw to be wrapped and they include:

• romaine lettuce
• bean sprouts
• cucumbers
• mint leaves
• chives

The only thing that’s already been cooked is the vermicelli noodles. One bag will usually feed about 3 to 4 people. For meats I like to use slices of lean beef and peeled and deveined whole tiger shrimp. You can easily substitute those with chicken or fish. Keep in mind that if you use fish, make sure you get a type of fish that isn’t too flakey such as halibut or cod so that it doesn’t break apart too much when you flip the fish on the skillet. Here’s the table all set up for “wrap wraps”.

So here’s what you want to do. Set the electric skillet to 375 degrees farenheit and add a small block of butter to it. There should be
just enough butter to thinly cover the surface of the skillet once melted. Add in the beef slices and shrimp to cook. Make sure you flip them once each side has been cooked. While your beef and shrimp are cooking you can start setting up your wrap.

Have a large bowl of hot (hot to the touch) water ready (just like the one you see beside the big bowl of vermicelli noodles in the picture above) to soak the rice paper in. It only needs to be soaked in the hot water for about 5 to 10 seconds. Then lay the rice paper on your plate. Now start adding lettuce, and then vermicelli on top of the lettuce. Here’s what the beef and shrimp should look like before you place it in your wrap.

Place the beef and shrimp on top of the vermicelli.

Next add in the mint, bean sprouts, cucumber, and chives.

Here’s some good advice: try to set all your fillings at the edge of the rice paper rather than right in the middle. This allows you more
room to wrap which allows you to wrap the roll tighter. Also if you noticed, I like to place my lettuce right at the bottom (and
sometimes one right on top of everything) so that if the rice paper breaks while wrapping you at least still have the lettuce there
encasing everything

So to wrap, you want to make one complete roll pushing the fillings in tightly just as you would if you were to wrap sushi.

Next fold both ends up.

Then continue rolling your wrap to the end of the rice paper and voilà… you’ve got wrap wrap.

There’s also a sauce that you can dip your wrap in to add more flavour. I like to use fish sauce that I’ve mixed myself (bowl on the right above). Here’s the brand that I use in my mix:

There are many versions of fish sauce but here’s mine:

• 125 ml water
• 5 Tbsp fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 Tbsp white vinegar
• 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 red chili peppers

Combine fish sauce, vinegar, water and sugar. Cook over medium heat while stirring until it comes to a boil or until all the sugar has been dissolved. Allow to cool. Stir in the garlic, chili and lime juice. This recipe serves one so if you want more you can always double or quadruple the amount of ingredients. My husband likes to use a plum and hoisin sauce mix. If you would like that recipe feel free to email me. The good thing about this dinner is if you have leftovers you can dump everything into a bowl and make a vermicelli bowl instead of having wraps.

So there it is….wrap wraps. Hope you’ll try this at home cause it’s super easy and fun to eat as well. So there’s my 2nd post and it’s only taken me two weeks…lol. I’m excited for my next post. Here’s a hint of what’s to come:

That all depends on when my kiddies give me the time to try out this dream machine and blog about it. We’ll see if it’s really that great. Hope to see you real soon