Chinese Hot Pot I get so excited when I hear the words "hot" and "pot" in one sentence. Hot pot equals delicious, healthy eats in a fun, interactive environment. Eating is a communal activity after all and this way everybody gets to take part in the chef activities. A pot of boiling broth sits in the […]
Braised Pork Belly with Banana Wrapped Rock Cod I'm on day three of my six day "vacation". I call it a "vacation" since I'm just visiting the family for the holidays (no sunny island getaways). It's nice to get out of LA once in a while, though my blood has thinned and I've been freezing […]
Every year before everyone makes their trek home for the holidays, the friends and I usually have a dinner/gift exchange. This year I had the itch to cook and had a few fun ideas that I wanted to try so, here's the recap. Meyer Lemon & Goat Cheese Pizza For our appetizer, I made a […]
Spaetzle with Porcini Mushroom Stew I was Christmas shopping and accidentally got myself a spaetzle maker… oops. Here's my first shot at making the dumplings. Many times it's served with goulash, but I took the vegetarian route and made a meaty, mushroom stew.
Bento Box Dinner In the top left-hand corner we have a homemade buckwheat pasta (my take on soba noodles). As you can see, I've been taking full advantage of my new Kitchen Aide Pasta maker attachment. I just subbed out half of the all-purpose flour for buckwheat flour. These were a breeze to make and […]
Thanksgiving Plate My first Thanksgiving away from home. I was hosting an intimate dinner for four at my apartment and was nervous as to whether I'd be able to pull it off, turkey-less. Would I be able to capture the true essence of Thanksgiving sans turkey? Was it even possible? With pescatarians in attendance (one […]
Chicken Liver Mousse Crostini I felt like I had won the lottery on Saturday, when I found these organic, free range chicken livers. Oh what luck! I love chicken livers, especially when they're all whipped up and luscious. Since I had loads of pickled vegetables leftover from my banh mi experiment, I naturally thought to […]
Pulled Oxtail Banh Mi Last weekend, I went up North for a wine tasting/50k bike ride. I love biking and I love wine, so why not do them together? That doesn't sound dangerous at all. Since this was a family event, I stayed with my parents and whenever I go home for a visit, I […]
Saffron Gnocchi Oh gnocchi… love to eat them… hate to make them! These guys are tricky… one wrong move and you've got yourself two pounds of good for nothing potato pellets. I've attempted to make gnocchi a total of three times in my entire culinary history and each time they were mediocre at best. I […]
Skate Wing with Cucumber, Heirloom Tomato & Seaweed Salsa As a recent owner of Chef Ludo Lefebvre's cookbook Crave: The Feast of the 5ive Senses, I just couldn't wait to try out one of the recipes from his gorgeous book. The pictures literally make you want to lick the book. Here's my attempt at his […]
