I heard some good news on Friday. So I decided to have a celebration dinner last night. It was a scrumptious meal:
Spiced Squash Soup
Lettuce Salad
Crab Cakes
Broiled Salmon with a medley of green, red, and orange peppers
Mint Chocolate Ice Cream (no I didn't make this myself, but Edy's is pretty good)
It's fun to marry the hearty fall flavor of squash soup with seafood. I was originally going to bake pork chop but I think I ended up with a better combination. Here's the recipe for the crab cakes, real simple, but yummy:
24 oz crab meat
2 tb mayonnaise
1/2 tsp each cayenne and salt
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 eggs
2/3 cups breadcrumbs
Mix crab meat, mayonnaise, cayenne, and salt. Add onions. Mix until well blended. Add the 2 eggs and breadcrumbs until the mixture just binds. Form into patties 1.5 inches in diameter. Don't handle too much or mixture will become too dry and tough. Heat skillet over medium heat with a little bit of olive oil until just sizzling. Fry until golden brown on one side. Turn and fry until the other side is golden brown too.
Bon appetit!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Simple Fall Salad
My out-of-blog life has been kind of chaotic for the past two months, but here I am again.
Today I created a nice salad for lunch. We needed a quick and nutritious meal between eye appointments and fabric shopping. So I cut up some roast turkey breast to make a salad. Thinking that a turkey and lettuce salad seems bland, I added raisins for a nice punch of flavor. But the contrast of taste between turkey and raisin seems a little sharp, so as a binder of the two flavors, I added some cubes of fresh pear. No salad dressing needed. The salad is fine eaten by itself. Here is the recipe:
3 cups of lettuce leaves ( I used a combination of red and green leaf)
about 0.5 lb turkey, cubed( I used a roast turkey breast)
2 small pears, cubed
half a cup raisins
That's it!
Today I created a nice salad for lunch. We needed a quick and nutritious meal between eye appointments and fabric shopping. So I cut up some roast turkey breast to make a salad. Thinking that a turkey and lettuce salad seems bland, I added raisins for a nice punch of flavor. But the contrast of taste between turkey and raisin seems a little sharp, so as a binder of the two flavors, I added some cubes of fresh pear. No salad dressing needed. The salad is fine eaten by itself. Here is the recipe:
3 cups of lettuce leaves ( I used a combination of red and green leaf)
about 0.5 lb turkey, cubed( I used a roast turkey breast)
2 small pears, cubed
half a cup raisins
That's it!
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Recipes from the heart
This weekend some of my husband's relatives are in town for a family reuion. Although we had decided not to join the reunion activities, we did have a chance to get together with a handful of relatives yesterday afternoon. One of the many topics we covered was food. It was delightful hearing this group of older African American women recount memorable dishes by their mothers and aunts.
There was the story of how one woman who grew up in a rural Missippi town was happy that her older sister who had moved to town to work had come back one weekend. Their father had just bought some beef stew meat. The older sister woke up early in the morning and cooked the stew down, really down low, getting the meat all tender and flavorful. It was so good that the other sister still remembers the dish and the love the sister poured out on it more than six decades later.
There was another story about how one woman can bake anything. Moist cakes, crisp biscuits, and ooh she would make biscuits and then use the biscuits to make pie crust for the yummiest peach pie. Sounds great, especially if the peaches were picked from the backyard too.
The lady who hosted this gathering was of course herself a good cook. Even though she had just "gotten something together quickly", the food she served at this gathering was again honest down home cooking with no cheating--baked sausage, jerk chicken, creamed corn, spaghetti salad with tomatoes and imitation crab meat. And she served her famous pound cake for dessert--buttery, moist, sweet but balanced with a slight lemon flavor. A little piece hits just the right spot after dinner.
It gets me to thinking that these Black grandmother on my husband's side of the family are cut from the same piece of silk as the Chinese grandmothers on my side of the family. OK neither of my grandmothers were good cooks because of their particular circumstances. But my great-grandmother was a passionate cook just like these other ladies we talked about yesterday. She made the dessert soups ever--red bean soup, sweet potato soup, etc. She made them whenever she felt like it, whenever I felt bad, and just because.
After hearing about all these recipes that warms the stomach as well as the heart, I decided to make some county food myself. No, not African American county food the ladies were dwelling on yesterday, although I make some finger licking corn bread myself too. But I thought about the movie The Road Home (2001, starring Zhang Ziyi) in which the young girl kept making Green Onion Pancake to send to the school, hoping to get the young teacher's attention. In the end, it did, and they were married for many, many years, running the little village school together.
So I made Green Onion Pancakes (it's actually not a pancake but a savory flatbread). Here's the very simple recipe:
2 cups flour
1 tsp sale
1 cup water
Mix together to form smooth dough. Knead on floured surface for a few minutes. Divide into 12 balls. Flatten each ball into a thin circle using a rolling pin. Heat over oil in skillet for 3-5 minutes each side. Serve warm. Goes very well with soy milk.
Feels good to close the loop on yesterday's conversation with a good country biscuit from my own tradition.
There was the story of how one woman who grew up in a rural Missippi town was happy that her older sister who had moved to town to work had come back one weekend. Their father had just bought some beef stew meat. The older sister woke up early in the morning and cooked the stew down, really down low, getting the meat all tender and flavorful. It was so good that the other sister still remembers the dish and the love the sister poured out on it more than six decades later.
There was another story about how one woman can bake anything. Moist cakes, crisp biscuits, and ooh she would make biscuits and then use the biscuits to make pie crust for the yummiest peach pie. Sounds great, especially if the peaches were picked from the backyard too.
The lady who hosted this gathering was of course herself a good cook. Even though she had just "gotten something together quickly", the food she served at this gathering was again honest down home cooking with no cheating--baked sausage, jerk chicken, creamed corn, spaghetti salad with tomatoes and imitation crab meat. And she served her famous pound cake for dessert--buttery, moist, sweet but balanced with a slight lemon flavor. A little piece hits just the right spot after dinner.
It gets me to thinking that these Black grandmother on my husband's side of the family are cut from the same piece of silk as the Chinese grandmothers on my side of the family. OK neither of my grandmothers were good cooks because of their particular circumstances. But my great-grandmother was a passionate cook just like these other ladies we talked about yesterday. She made the dessert soups ever--red bean soup, sweet potato soup, etc. She made them whenever she felt like it, whenever I felt bad, and just because.
After hearing about all these recipes that warms the stomach as well as the heart, I decided to make some county food myself. No, not African American county food the ladies were dwelling on yesterday, although I make some finger licking corn bread myself too. But I thought about the movie The Road Home (2001, starring Zhang Ziyi) in which the young girl kept making Green Onion Pancake to send to the school, hoping to get the young teacher's attention. In the end, it did, and they were married for many, many years, running the little village school together.
So I made Green Onion Pancakes (it's actually not a pancake but a savory flatbread). Here's the very simple recipe:
2 cups flour
1 tsp sale
1 cup water
Mix together to form smooth dough. Knead on floured surface for a few minutes. Divide into 12 balls. Flatten each ball into a thin circle using a rolling pin. Heat over oil in skillet for 3-5 minutes each side. Serve warm. Goes very well with soy milk.
Feels good to close the loop on yesterday's conversation with a good country biscuit from my own tradition.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Back to food, and more
Back to food, one of my favorite topics.
Yesterday I made pasta with bay scallops (the tiny kind, 60-80 count), brocolli, and a yummy pesto I made on Sunday with parsley and basil. I like making pesto with a 50-50 mix of parsley and basil because the parsley stays green with refrigeration whereas the basil turns black after a while. It doesn't affect the taste, just the asethetics, but I must remember to balance all three senses--color, fragrance, and taste--in my cooking so as not to offend my Chinese ancestors. Anyway, the pesto was great with the pasta. I still have a jar enough for at least 2 more similar sized meals, or maybe one good dinner with friends. Guess I should pull up that address list on my Yahoo mail before the summer is over.
Tonight's dinner was broiled chicken breast with a balsamic glaze. OK, I confess, the glaze was from a bottle, and a free sample from Peapod no less, but it was good stuff. Talking about friends, the last time I used it was almost a whole year ago when an old friend visited from LA with her fiance. She's a teacher and he's an artist. We had great fun and got several very creative original prints a few months later as thank you gifts.
After dinner, I played the piano for a while. Yes, after one's filled with good food, one needs food for the soul as well. I picked up this volume of 68 piano classics from Borders the other day for under $8. It contains a wide range of pieces from Bach to Shostakovitch. But unlike the other 3 or 4 compilations I own, I haven't played at least half of these songs before. It promises to be a fun summer of piano adventures.
Here's what I played tonight: Beethoven's Ecossaises (sounds vaguely Asian, very delightful tune); Beethoven's Minuet in G (heard this before, didn't know it was Beethoven); the intro and Var. 1 of Beethoven's Six Variations from the opera La Molinara (never played this before, will try the other variations later in the week); Brahms' Hungarian Dance (a bit heavy fingered, hey I was sight-reading after all); Chopin's Prelude Op. 28. No. 7 (a short three liner); Caesar Franck's The Doll's Complaint (or Le Plaintes d'une Poupee); and finally Mendelssohn's Venetian Boat Song Op. 19. No. 6 (which I practiced for months years and years ago for music festival competition). It felt good to pour my feelings on the keyboard for a while at the end of a work day.
Yesterday I made pasta with bay scallops (the tiny kind, 60-80 count), brocolli, and a yummy pesto I made on Sunday with parsley and basil. I like making pesto with a 50-50 mix of parsley and basil because the parsley stays green with refrigeration whereas the basil turns black after a while. It doesn't affect the taste, just the asethetics, but I must remember to balance all three senses--color, fragrance, and taste--in my cooking so as not to offend my Chinese ancestors. Anyway, the pesto was great with the pasta. I still have a jar enough for at least 2 more similar sized meals, or maybe one good dinner with friends. Guess I should pull up that address list on my Yahoo mail before the summer is over.
Tonight's dinner was broiled chicken breast with a balsamic glaze. OK, I confess, the glaze was from a bottle, and a free sample from Peapod no less, but it was good stuff. Talking about friends, the last time I used it was almost a whole year ago when an old friend visited from LA with her fiance. She's a teacher and he's an artist. We had great fun and got several very creative original prints a few months later as thank you gifts.
After dinner, I played the piano for a while. Yes, after one's filled with good food, one needs food for the soul as well. I picked up this volume of 68 piano classics from Borders the other day for under $8. It contains a wide range of pieces from Bach to Shostakovitch. But unlike the other 3 or 4 compilations I own, I haven't played at least half of these songs before. It promises to be a fun summer of piano adventures.
Here's what I played tonight: Beethoven's Ecossaises (sounds vaguely Asian, very delightful tune); Beethoven's Minuet in G (heard this before, didn't know it was Beethoven); the intro and Var. 1 of Beethoven's Six Variations from the opera La Molinara (never played this before, will try the other variations later in the week); Brahms' Hungarian Dance (a bit heavy fingered, hey I was sight-reading after all); Chopin's Prelude Op. 28. No. 7 (a short three liner); Caesar Franck's The Doll's Complaint (or Le Plaintes d'une Poupee); and finally Mendelssohn's Venetian Boat Song Op. 19. No. 6 (which I practiced for months years and years ago for music festival competition). It felt good to pour my feelings on the keyboard for a while at the end of a work day.
Language Research
I'm participating in a language research project by U Penn, http://mixer.ldc.upen.edu. Basically folks are recruited to call into the line and have a 10 minute conversation with another caller in theri native language. Usually you just dial in and see who is around who may speak your language. If not, you continue the conversation in English. Earlier today (I know it's past midnight, but I haven't gone to bed for the night yet...) I talked to two different Cantonese-speaking women. Very fun. And of course I fell asleep with the full intention of dialing back in at 9 pm EST for another round of conversations. The purpose of the research is to gather a large speech corpora recorded over the phone to help telephone sound technology deliver high quality speech sounds for a large number of languages. Hey only an ex-linguist would understand the significance. My conversation partners this afternoon were totally in the dark with respect to why anyone would want to record Cantonese phone conversation.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
A new look and feel
I decided to retitle this blog to "Not By Bread Alone". This is a reference to Matthew 4:4, where Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God". I thought, how appropriate to frame my interests in exactly these two categories--food and words. Food of course refers not only to food that we eat, but also food for thought (i.e. ideas, learning) and food for the soul (i.e. music, art, etc). And word of course is expression of thought (again not just in written and oral expression, but also as expressed in culture, in emotions, and in spirituality.) In other words, food can also sometimes be word and vice versa.
But now onto some real words about some real food...
Here's the list of entrees I made last week: Broiled Salmon with Lemon and Soy; Lemon-Oregano Chicken (a fantastic organic chicken from Peapod, with fresh lemon and fresh oregano from my Angelic Organics boxes); Beef Stir-Fry with Broccoli and Cauliflower (the garlic tops from my Angelic Organics box give a mild and fresh garlic flavor) ; and Portabello and Tomato Pasta (at which my husband gently suggested, "This would taste good with Italian sausage in it") Humph, carnivores!
Unfortunately because I had to work late on Friday, hubby ordered Edwardo's. Good hearty all-meat pizza for the rest of the family and a wimpy chicken caesar salad for mommy. Saturday again was another order out day, because I came home after a long day of shopping with my oldest daughter. Knowing that I wanted more flavor for dinner, I ordered from Noodles, etc (www. noodlesetc.com), a very cute, woman-owned Pan-Asian noodle shop in the neighborhood. I think everyone else enjoyed their selections, but I especially enjoyed the Pancit, a nice mild blend of flavors very reminiscent of the luscious terrain of the Phillipines.
After having to taste other people's cooking two nights in a row, tonight I made a pork tenderloin with Charlie Trotter's Thai BBQ sauce. The guy may be a primadona, but he sure makes good food. The pork was accompanied by roasted yellow squash, very tender and yummy. I also roasted some beets too, but haven't yet figured out what to do with the roast beets. They'll probably make an appearance in a salad within the next couple of days. Right now, bread is being baked in the bread maker for the kids to make sandwiches to take to day camp tomorrow. Hey my mother never did this for me. :)
That's enough talk about food (even bread). Tomorrow I shall turn to other kinds of things that feed my soul.
But now onto some real words about some real food...
Here's the list of entrees I made last week: Broiled Salmon with Lemon and Soy; Lemon-Oregano Chicken (a fantastic organic chicken from Peapod, with fresh lemon and fresh oregano from my Angelic Organics boxes); Beef Stir-Fry with Broccoli and Cauliflower (the garlic tops from my Angelic Organics box give a mild and fresh garlic flavor) ; and Portabello and Tomato Pasta (at which my husband gently suggested, "This would taste good with Italian sausage in it") Humph, carnivores!
Unfortunately because I had to work late on Friday, hubby ordered Edwardo's. Good hearty all-meat pizza for the rest of the family and a wimpy chicken caesar salad for mommy. Saturday again was another order out day, because I came home after a long day of shopping with my oldest daughter. Knowing that I wanted more flavor for dinner, I ordered from Noodles, etc (www. noodlesetc.com), a very cute, woman-owned Pan-Asian noodle shop in the neighborhood. I think everyone else enjoyed their selections, but I especially enjoyed the Pancit, a nice mild blend of flavors very reminiscent of the luscious terrain of the Phillipines.
After having to taste other people's cooking two nights in a row, tonight I made a pork tenderloin with Charlie Trotter's Thai BBQ sauce. The guy may be a primadona, but he sure makes good food. The pork was accompanied by roasted yellow squash, very tender and yummy. I also roasted some beets too, but haven't yet figured out what to do with the roast beets. They'll probably make an appearance in a salad within the next couple of days. Right now, bread is being baked in the bread maker for the kids to make sandwiches to take to day camp tomorrow. Hey my mother never did this for me. :)
That's enough talk about food (even bread). Tomorrow I shall turn to other kinds of things that feed my soul.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Creative outlets
Catching up on my daily blog here with a little pre-dawn action. My current job (or role as they call it in my company) has proven to be rather restrictive in terms of scope, influence, and creativity. So to balance the style I'm boxed in for about 10 hours each day, I've been trying to feed the creative side of me with music making and food making. Soon I should get into some craft projects and perhaps learn a new language. The possibilities are endless when you're interested in so many things.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Passion for good taste
Among my many passions is the desire to create good food. I naturally like Asian or Asian inspired tastes, but sometimes also like good old American, but always with a bit of a twist. For Memorial Day, I wanted to create a Surf and Turf meal, but with a bit of an Asian and Middle Eastern mixed in for a modern American taste. Here are my recipes for Broiled Steak and Fish and Tomato Chickpea Salad. If you work quickly, the salad can easily be completed while the steak and fish are under the broiler. Enjoy!
Memorial Day Surf and Turf
2 10 oz NY Strip Steak
4 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 TB soy sauce
Memorial Day Surf and Turf
2 10 oz NY Strip Steak
4 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 TB soy sauce
2 8 oz. Mahi Mahi filets
4 TB olive oil
2 TB lemon juice
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 TB soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Brush each steak with 1 TB olive oil, then put ¼ tsp each salt and pepper on steak. Spread with brush or back of spoon to evenly coat. Then repeat seasoning in the same proportions on the other side. Place steaks on broiler pan.
Brush each filet with 1 TB olive oil followed by ½ TB lemon juice, then put ¼ tsp pepper on each filet, again be sure to coat evenly. Again repeat on the other side. Place filets on the same broiler pan with the steaks. Be sure to set the filets with skin side up.
Tomato Chickpea Salad
1 15-oz can of chickpeas
1 small onion, chopped
2 green scallions, chopped
3 plum tomatoes , cut in large pieces
1 teaspoon cumin
3 TB balsamic vinegar
Put the cumin and chickpeas in saucepan. Simmer in just enough water to cover the chickpeas for approximately 3 minutes. Take out the chickpeas, draining the water and set aside. Cook chopped onion and scallions in 2 tsp oil for 30-45 seconds until just tender. Take out and add to chickpeas in bowl. Cool completely (I put the bowl in the fridge at this point while I cut the tomatoes up). When cool (about 3-5 minutes in fridge), toss tomato pieces, chickpeas, onions, and scallions in 3 TB balsamic vinegar and serve.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
I have a dream
My youngest child learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr at school this week. In his words, "The teachers asked me if I knew about him and I said no, so they read a book, and then everyone had to talk about it." The teacher then posted what the children said on the bulletin board entitled "I have a dream" and my son's entry was "that the black ones and the white ones can drink water together." Very nicely accomplished for a 4-year-old.
Then I asked him if he is a white person or a black person, to which he answered, "I have a white shirt so I'm a white person; and Daddy has a black shirt on so he's a black person." It's refreshing to know that 4-year-olds don't distinguish between people based on skin color yet. :)
Then I asked him if he is a white person or a black person, to which he answered, "I have a white shirt so I'm a white person; and Daddy has a black shirt on so he's a black person." It's refreshing to know that 4-year-olds don't distinguish between people based on skin color yet. :)
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