Cooking3: Kabocha Egg Salad

Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin) Croquette is one of my favorite dish, especially the one served at Guu. Kabocha is rich in beta carotene, with iron, vitamin C, potassium, and smaller traces of calcium, folic acid, and minute amounts of B vitamins. I love Kabocha so much that i've invented my own healthy hot kabocha recipe:

1 Kabocha (Serves 8)
4-5 large eggs
Japanese Mayonnaise

Direction: Peel Kabocha and cut in half. Take out seeds and wash it. Cut into small cube pieces (It might be hard to cut, if so, soften by heating it in the microwave for a few minutes before cutting). Put kabocha pieces on an oven tray and bake it at 350F to 400F for 45 min to 1 hour (until kabocha becomes mushy when pressed with a fork). While kabocha is baking, hard-boiled the eggs (~10 min). Then take out the eggshell and smashed the egg into bits using a fork. Once Kabocha is ready, mixed with egg bits and Japanese Mayonnaise and serve hot in a bowl. Note: Kabocha is quite sweet and very filling!

The above picture shows the other dishes we cooked to match this dish including yaki soba, miso soup (cooked with onions, enoki mushroom, tofu & japanese fish balls) and the baked terriyaki beef & enoki mushrooms (shown below).

Here's the ingredients for this terriyaki beef:
2 packs of sliced beef (those ready for hotpot)
2 packs of enoki mushrooms
some garlic bits
terriyaki sauce

Direction:Tap terriyaki sauce to each piece of beef & wrap a few enoki mushrooms into a roll. Do the same for all beef and put all rolled beef into a baked glassware. Sprinkle some garlic bits on top and bake the dish for 30-45 minutes at 350F to 400F.

~cC

Cooking2: chicken cacciatore

Chicken cacciatore is a stew cooked in a rich tomato mushroom sauce. I've learnt this simple healthy recipe from Martha Stewart and it is a very good 開胃 recipe. I think it serves better with pasta than rice (i forgot to take a photo, so have to use Matha's photo this time).

Main ingredients (Serves 4):
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (about 1 1/2 pounds)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 pound mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
2 garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
stewed tomatoes


To cook the stewed tomatoes, you need:

2 pounds tomatoes, cut into pieces (note: people usually suggest to peel this but i didn't coz the skin is healthy)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon finely minced onion, optional
1 tablespoon finely minced green bell pepper, optional

Directions: Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan; cover tightly. Cook tomatoes over lowest heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Main Directions:
Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large (5-quart) saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat; swirl to coat bottom of pan. Cook chicken, turning when it easily releases from the pan, until golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
Add mushrooms; cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, stew tomatoes, and oregano. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until tomatoes have broken down, 10 to 15 minutes.
Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pan; cover, and cook until chicken is opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes. Turn chicken to coat with sauce, and serve.

~cC

Flipper's Tennis 101: Hopper

We played tennis again but with special Flipper (our god-daughter still in mom's tummy) and Flipper's parents. We've played in a remote court which will be our secret hide-out. I bought a second-handed racquet today from Ted's sports and it is actually the one Flipper's mom traded in a couple of months ago....Flipper's dad also bought a hopper for picking up the tennis balls.

~cC

PT 4: Tennis

After so many years, i have decided to pick-up tennis (R's favourite sport) coz it's free and a good sabbath time. Here are some snapshots i took today while we played at PW, which is now our favorite PT location. We've played there twice already. The first time we were there, R played with a boy (teen) and lost really badly hehe

~cC

Food: Le Crocodile

My supervisor invited me for a farewell lunch at Le Crocodile, a fantastic french restaurant located in Vancouver downtown. Here shows what we ordered including onion tart, tiger prawns and veal medallions. I plan to bring my brother/sister-in-laws to this restaurant again in June.

~cC

Cooking1: 柱候牛坑腩

My first time cooking something more complicated and I learned 4 things:
1) 冰糖 will thicken the broth
2) 牛坑腩 is much tasty than regular 牛腩 but so expensive
3) 牛坑腩 creates excessive oil
4) Beef is good for the healthy immune system. According to the chinese cooking world, it's function include: energy & blood tonic, strengthen tendons and bones, tone the spleen and stomache, and it is good to stomach eating in winter. It is also a good source of iron, protein, vitamins B3, B5, B6 and B12, and phosphorus & zinc.

Here's the modified recipe which i obtained from T&T:

牛腩 2 磅, 白蘿蔔 1 磅, 紅蘿蔔 0.5磅, 薑 3 片

蒜蓉 1 茶匙
柱侯醬 1 茶匙
桂皮 1 片
鹽 1-1/2 茶匙
冰糖 1 湯匙
生抽 1 湯匙
老抽 1 湯匙
水 適量

1. 將牛腩切件。
2. 煲滾水後，將牛腩放入川盪 5 分鐘，留用。
3. 白蘿蔔去皮，洗凈切件，待用。
4. 燒熱鍋，放入 2 湯匙油，爆香薑片、蒜蓉、柱候醬；加入牛腩同爆片刻。
5. 加入過面水份，再放入其餘調味料；煮沸後炆半小時。
6. 加入白蘿蔔，多炆煮半小時，即可食用 。

Here's a pic of us washing dishes after the yummy meal...and ros noticed we were wearing the same colors which we didn't even notice.

Thanks to T&T (Click here for Original Recipe)

~cC