Ruby@Cuisine

Never stay in Hyatt Regency Boston

2011-08-05T00:20:00.001-03:00

My family went to Boston (MA) for a vacation last weekend. I booked a room of king size bed one week in advance via expedia.com, and I was told that the room was guaranteed.

However, when we arrived there at ten late in the evening, exhaustedly with a sleepy baby, what welcomed us is “I know you will be upset, but, the fact is, the room is not available any more. We have only a room with two twin size beds left.” We told her the concern that our baby is only 19 months’ old and she will fall on the floor if she sleeps on a twin size bed without bed rails and that’s why we booked a king size bed so that we two adults can be the bed rails for her. The woman said:” Don’t yell at me!” God, please check the dictionary and find the definition of “yell”. …Eventually, she agreed to find a crib for my baby.

We waited in our room but no crib appeared. We called them twice and in the end, a portable crib came. It is very small, very uncomfortable. But we had no choice, because at least, our girl won’t fall out of the crib.

Okay, another problem emerged afterwards, the sink failed to drain. They promised to come and fix it, but, nobody showed up.

The next day, in the afternoon, we were taking a rest in our room. We felt the room temperature was high, so we checked the meter. It showed the room temperature to be 19 degree. That was not true, it was definitely not 19 degree for sure. We had to set the temperature to 17 degree, so that the air conditioner could start to run. Then we called the technician. He came to check the air conditioner and then said:” Temporarily, I have no idea how to solve this problem. Your way works.” But, the weird thing is that in the evening, the room temperature suddenly showed to be 23 degree, which should be the REAL room temperature. Why did the meter suddenly work in a normal way? Was it controlled by some system for some reason?

Our car was parked in the valet parking of Hyatt Regency Boston. On the third day, we were leaving. When we got our car back, my hubby found a cell phone lying on the seat. Beside the cell phone, we were shocked to see that the “precious cargo inside” sign was broken and all the tissue was gone. Looking at the floor, what a mess! There were pizza crusts everywhere! My all coins were gone and only an empty bag was left. Our GPS was unplugged and the car was hit somewhere.

We realized that our car was used by somebody else. After talking with the manager, we called the police.

Our vacation was totally ruined by Hyatt.

Again, never stay in Hyatt Regency Boston, never, never!

Cute strawberries

2011-05-11T00:31:00.001-03:00

Strawberries are in season. I carried back some strawberries from MOPS meeting, which are locally picked. So cute, so beautiful, taste so fresh...I am happy to see that my little girl didn’t show allergy to this fantastic fruit.

Two little love birds

2011-04-04T01:01:00.001-03:00

Two little love birds sitting on the deck...

K-i-s-s-i-n-g...

First comes love...

Second comes marriage,

Third comes a little baby in a baby carriage.

Cherry blossom in Washington DC

2011-03-29T01:19:00.001-03:00

We were so anxious to see the cherry blossom in Washington DC. During the last whole week, we checked the weather broadcast everyday. Fortunately, it changed from rainy to mostly sunny eventually. I was excited and made some banana chocolate chips muffins – sweet treats for the coming joyful day!

I was worried about parking, but we were so lucky to get one without any problem. Our car was parked near this amazing spot.

Wow, aren’t they beautiful?

A valentine heart:

Gorgeous:

What a cloud!

We didn’t plan for travelling in Washington DC. But since we still had some time, we took a walk along the park and saw Capitol Hill。

Nice local people told us that White House is nearby, so we decided to pay a visit.

Cherry blossom under sunset:

How quiet:

The next day, early in the morning, it snowed:

We are soooooooooooo lucky!

First spring blossom in the yard

2011-03-07T13:54:00.001-04:00

Maryland is really warm, I am surprised to see blossom in early March. Are they Northern Blue Flag?

Whole wheat chiffon cake

2011-02-21T17:02:00.000-04:00

I am told that baby should eat whole wheat foods but not the white ones. When I planned to make a chiffon cake last weekend, I wondered if I could substitute cake flour with whole wheat flour. One of my cooking buddies warned me that REMEMBER, BAKING CAKE IS A SERIOUS THING, DON’T TRY TO MODIFY THE RECIPE! This made me hesitate for a while, but, then, brave me! See my historic step on the moon, HooHooHoo:

1. Line parchment paper at the bottom of loaf pan.

2. Separate egg white and yolk of three eggs. Keep egg white in the freezer.

3. Whisk 40 ml milk and 2 tsp sugar to have sugar completely dissolved; whisk into 2 tbsp vegetable oil; sift into 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder; add yolks and blend to smooth batter.

4. Beat egg whites until foamy; add several drops of lemon juice and 2 tbsp sugar; beat until stiff peaks form.Well beaten egg white won't drop when its container is turned up side down.

5. Adjust the rack in the oven to the low position and preheat oven to 325 F.

6. With a rubber spatula, fold 1/4 beaten egg white with batter obtained in step 3 until smooth; then pour the smooth batter back into the remaining 3/4 beaten egg white, fold batter very gently but quickly -- try to finish this step in no more than two minutes otherwise, batter will be deflated. There should be no egg-white lumps in it.

7. Pour batter into loaf pan; give the pan three gentle raps on the counter to release any large air bubbles and smooth the top with spatula.

8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the cake is golden.

9. Immediately remove the cake from the oven, invert the pan and stand it on the rack. Let the cake cool completely.

10. Run a rubber spatula around the inside of the pan, then remove the cake from the pan.

Voilà, here comes the cake! The texture is good, the taste is good… my little girl likes it… we love it… why not try? Happy ending :-)

『Toddler food』Spinach pancake

2011-01-28T00:42:00.001-04:00

I didn’t take photo for this pancake, because I never expect that my daughter, Felicia, will like this leafy veggie pancake after her first bite. And the recipe is the result of my first experiment, I was not confident at all if it could pass the “inspection”.

When I showed this green pancake to Felicia, she starred at it seriously – what is this strange thing? She tried it very carefully, just a very tiny bite. Then, she leaned on the high chair and degusted it. All of a sudden, her eyes shone; she sat straight up and pointed to the pancake,which means, please go ahead!

I feel so excited and well, it seems that the recipe is almost perfect.

Here it is:

1- Add a little water and puree 9 oz baby spinach.

2- Add two eggs, 6 tbsp whole wheat flour and a pinch salt into spinach puree and mix until smooth.

3- Under medium high power, heat a non-stick pan. Add 1 tbsp batter for each pancake. I didn’t add oil, because this batter is very wet and it can absorb any drop of oil to make itself greasy.

Next time, I will try to add some butter in the batter, which can give my little toddler more energy, and create some aroma as well.

I freeze those pancakes. Before served, it is heated in the microwave oven @ pizza mode.

Very soft pancake, and it is GREEN.

『Baby food』Steamed egg yolk

2011-01-04T00:48:00.007-04:00

My 11month+1week+3day’ old daughter Felicia has never felt interested in hard boiled egg yolk. Mix it in cereal or fruit puree? Not that easy, only banana puree used to work. You see, I use the word "used to”, that means new problem needs to be solved. Since she had four pearls in her mouth, she would like to take banana as finger food instead of the infantish puree. Then, the yolk has no way to hide.

Felicia likes my home-made yogurt. Maybe that’s why she names all her favorite food YOGURT(yes, no lying,she can say yogurt). She prefers the tofu-like protein part, if I blend it with whey, she will shake her head.

So, what if I make yolk taste like yogurt?

My memory turned the page to Silky steamed egg custard. I separated yolk from egg white and cooked in the same way. But it came out in a poor shape, not silky at all.

Then, next page, Crème brûlée! Congrats! It is like baked egg yolk, isn’t it? In the recipe, there is NO water. I bet water is a problem.

Okay, here comes my recipe of silky steamed egg yolk, lah-lah-lah:

1- Beat one egg yolk in 1/4 cup whole milk and then strain the mixture to a small bowl (in this way, foam is removed).

2- In a steamer, bring water to boil; place the bowl into the steamer, cover the bowl first, then, cover the steamer.

3- Let it steam for 8 minutes.

4- Remove the bowl from the steamer as soon as possible, let it cool to room temperature and then serve.

Does it work? I gave Felicia one tiny portion to try, she tasted it and then opened her mouth for the next spoon. Yeah~~~~

Caution:

If your family has allergy to egg white, don’t try this recipe to your baby until you know egg white is safe for her. Because there must be some trace amount of egg white staying with yolk via this kind of separation.

Roasted duck

2011-01-01T01:10:00.002-04:00

This is my first time to roast a duck. Compared with my old way to cook duck, it saves a lot of time and the duck comes out so perfect, with crispy skin and pleasant sweet taste. Around one cup of fat has been removed from the duck, so, you see, it is relatively healthy.
The duck I bought is about six pounds. Rinse it and then rub it with a lot of coarse salt and five-spice powder (don’t worry, it won’t be too salty, because all the excess season will be removed later), including the outside and inside. Wrap it with plastic wrap and chill at least overnight.
Boil around 2 qt water, pour boiled water all over the duck (don’t miss any tiny part) as soon as the water is boiling (the temperature is very important, water needs to be as hot as possible). Mix 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp syrup and 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar and brush it over duck. Place duck on a rack with drip pan and let sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours, turn over the duck in 12 hours to dry both sides.
Before roasting, let duck stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375F, add 1 liter water in drip pan and roast duck uncovered for 1 hour and 30 minutes, turn duck over and brush with syrup every 30 minutes. When duck is cooked through, turn off oven and keep it in the oven for another 30 minutes.
One popular way to enjoy this yummy duck is thinly slice duck breast (keep the skin) and wrap it in steamed pancake (extremely thin, kinda transparent) together with julienne scallions, cucumber. Dip sauce is sweet with garlic flavor. I am too busy to make the pancake, maybe next time, I will do it.
Don’t throw away the skeleton. Use a fine sieve to remove the fat in drip pan and simmer bones in the broth for 1 hour. Remove bones. Adding some veggies in the soup, for example, lobok (daikon), Chinese lettuce and tofu, brings comfort soup in this cold winter.
Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Pearls in nursing pad

2010-09-07T23:14:00.000-03:00

Very beautiful pearls in nursing pad when it absorbs breast milk:

Deer chop

2010-04-04T20:20:00.000-03:00

It is the first time that we eat deer meat. The barber in our town hunts deer every year. This time, he nicely shared with us three deer chops.

Deer meat is very lean, it had better been marinated before cooked. I found a light marinade source recipe and modified some based on my own taste.

Here is the marinade sauce (for 1 1/2 lb deer chops): 1/4 cup soy sauce (light), 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1 tsp minced ginger.

The marinated deer chops can be grilled. But since it has been frozen for a couple of months, I decided to braise them. Place chops in a non-stick pan under medium-high power. Add 3 tsp brown sugar to marinade left and pour the well mixed sauce over chops. Cook uncovered until chops are cooked through. Don't overcook chops.

For the sauce left in the pan, I added sliced frozen hard tofu (freeze hard tofu and then defrost to develop a special texture) in it and stirred until sauce is fully condensed. Tofu absorbs the flavor of deer and tastes so good.

Baked pork chop with breadcrumb crust

2010-02-19T12:54:00.002-04:00

I used to fry pork chop for a crunchy taste, but with this recipe, things get easier and healthier. I really enjoy it.

You can use any kind of pork chop. It takes shorter to bake lean and boneless pork chop. The key is using an instant-read thermometer, if the temperature reaches 150F, then it is cooked through.

Glass bead microbes

2010-01-23T10:02:00.001-04:00

My friend's mom is an artist, she makes a lot of glass bead microbes -- when science and art meet, it is incredible. I recently took some photos, aren't they pretty?

Mini egg tart (custard tart)

2009-12-25T08:04:00.001-04:00

Time for Potluck! I made mini egg tart, cute and yummo~~~~~

(1) tart crust:

Beat 5 tbsp soft butter and 4 tbsp icing sugar (add one tbsp once) until the color turns white and the mixture becomes very creamy. Sift 12 tbsp all purpose flour and 1 pinch salt into the cream and fold until it forms a smooth ball. Knead a little and then chill for 10 minutes.

(2) tart filling (custard, about 1/2 cup):

Heat 75 g evaporated milk and 20 g sugar, whisk until sugar is totally dissolved. Cool to room temperature and then add 1 beaten egg, mix well and drain to remove bubble.

(3) tart:
Roll dough into a cylinder, evenly divide into 12 parts, roll each one into flat dough and then put into non-stick mini muffin pan. Fill with filling (around 80~90% full). Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes. When the tarts are not hot, de-mold and cool on a wire rack. Don't leave tart in the pan for too long, otherwise it won't be perfectly puffy.

Happy holiday!

Gorgeous roasted pork loin

2009-12-10T07:17:00.002-04:00

Pork loin, is one of my favorite type of meat, which has clear texture and very juicy no matter how I cook. Most of time, I would like to shred the meat and stir-fry in a Chinese cuisine way. For holiday, I thinly slice the meat and then grill them on my cast ion pan -- with the beautiful grill mark, it makes the holiday more joyful. However, sometimes, I am too lazy to be creative. Then, the easiest way is, as that I do today, roasting the whole meat. Still tasty, actually, and, you can see, how gorgeous the color is!

First of all, marinate pork loin with any kind of my favorite source. Today's sauce is very simple, a mixture of dark soy sauce, sugar, salt, white pepper. Don't forget to puncture the meat all over with a fork for the sauce to soak in well.

Then, place the marinated meat fat side down on the rack with a drip pan underneath; for the first 40 minutes, use 400F and for the rest of 50 minutes, use 375F. Brush the meat with marinate every 30 minutes.

Dinner is ready:

Ruby Tuesday

2009-12-01T16:50:00.002-04:00

This is a season of pomegranate. Very pretty, eh? A bowl of ruby.

Today is Tuesday, which reminds me of the song, and one professor I met in Quebec, who is now living in the heaven.

My home grown bean sprout

2009-11-30T17:06:00.001-04:00

Have you ever seen mung bean, little tiny greenish bean? That's the raw material of bean sprout. It is easy to home grow the bean sprout, and believe it or not, it tastes totally different from the one sold in supermarket -- very fresh, very very fresh.

(1) Soak 2 tbsp dry mung beans in water (room temperature) overnight or 12 hours.

(2) In a 4 L icecream container, place a wet towel at the bottom, add some water (the level is just over towel).

(3) Evenly place the beans on the towel and then cap the container, put the container in a dark and warm place.

(4) Check the water level very 12 hours, add some water if necessary, but never let the beans soaked into the water. What happens in the container? Let's peek in the container on the second and sixth day:

Well, how much can I harvest?

Walnut date muffin

2009-11-14T10:54:00.000-04:00

This muffin, is a healthy tasty one --nutty soft little bread with sweet date flavor.
Muffin is easy to prepare, just remember, never over-blend, it always comes out to be perfect.

Ingredients:
(1) Dry mixture: 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour, 4/3 cup all purpose flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, whisk together;
(2) Wet mixture: 1/2 cup milk, 6 tbsp oil, 2 large eggs, combine together;
(3) Nuts mixture: 11/4 cup walnut and 1 cup pitted dates, both coarsely chopped.

Directions:
(1) Stir dry mixture into wet mixture, mixing just until moistered.
(2) Fold in nuts mixture.
(3) Preheat oven to 400F.
(4) Add batter to lined muffin pan, bake for 20~23 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.

We love this muffin.

A beautiful sunny afternoon

2009-11-11T17:12:00.000-04:00

Baked glutinous rice cake

2009-10-11T14:27:00.003-03:00

It is a famous saying that the moon one day after the Mid-autumn Festival is even rounder. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day. I shot the moon on the next day, it seems that the moon was still pretty round:

As a 24W6D's pregnant woman, I just feel lazy and haven't touched my baking pans for almost six months. Even when the traditional Chinese Mid-autumn Festival arrived, I didn't find enough passion to make moon-cake.

When rearranging my kitchen, I found a package of glutinous rice flour which my hubby brought from China this April. Well, maybe, I should start to do something? Deal! Let me bake a glutinous rice cake. If the glutinous rice flour is available, this cake is incredibly easy to prepare. In North America, this kind of flour can be bought in oriental stores, the package is like (be very careful and check the long name word by word, because there is another rice flour with the similar appearance):

In a mixing bowl, well blend glutinous rice flour 500 g (1 lb is okay), 1 tbsp baking powder, 3/4 cup vegetable oil, 3 egg, 2 1/2 cup milk (I use 2% milk), 1 cup sugar. Lightly grease a 9 inch baking pan and then pour in the batter, bake under a preheated oven (375F) for 1 1/2 hours (or until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean). I personally like to bake only half of the ingredients in the same size baking pan (around 45 minutes), which brings a thin cake and tastes more fantastic. Different nuts can be sprinkled on the top of the batter to create nutty aroma.

Happy thanks-giving!

Candied orange zest

2009-05-18T15:40:00.002-03:00

Candied orange zest is perfect topping for dessert. It is my favorite snack too. The color is adorable.

(1) Wash oranges and trim zest with peeler. Don't peel too deep, if zest strips have any pith, remove them, otherwise it will taste very bitter. I like the wide strips for snack. If they are going to be used as topping, julienne strips.

(2) In a sauce pan, add zest strips and 1 cup cold water, bring to boil and then drain, discard water. Take one strip and taste, if it is still bitter, repeat this step, until zest strip is not bitter any more (usually three times).

(3) In empty sauce pan, add 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup sugar, heat under high power and stir until sugar is fully dissolved. Return drained strips to pan and bring to boil, simmer under medium-low until strips turn translucent. Remove cover, stir until juice is all absorbed by strips.

(4) Remove from heat. If a very sweet taste is preferred, coat hot strips with sugar; otherwise, cool strips completely and then coat with sugar.

Palmitos (Le Palmier)

2009-05-17T22:58:00.004-03:00

I asked my friends what is the exact name for Palmier, one of the funny answers is "elephant ears". When I was a little girl, my grandpa used to buy me one after he came back from shopping center, where there was a famous bakery store with all kinds of puffy and flaky cookies. He named it as "puffy butterfly" -- what a beautiful name.

I would like to make my own puff pastry. Although it is time-consuming, it is not hard, just do step by step, with great patience. It is like my daily job in the lab, full of fun. In my pastry, I use 250 g all purpose flour, 250 butter, 1 pinch salt and 135 ml cold water. I love this video, it is my bible:

The website below gives a very detailed direction of how to make palmitos:

http://www.cuisine-french.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/recettes/palmitos_ill.html

I bake palmitos under 350 F, which gives light color, very pretty. I brought these palmitos to a party, and everybody loves it:

Kong (Gong) Bao Chicken

2009-05-15T21:51:00.001-03:00

Kong (Gong) Bao Chicken is one of my favorite dishes. It combines spicy, sweet and sour taste.

One important ingredient is raw peanut with its red skin. Peanut is fried and then mixed with other ingredients, which provides beautiful color and nutty aroma. Baked peanut or cashew is often chosen as substitute, however, neither of them can really give that fantastic result.

My recipe:

(1) Cut 1 lb chicken breast into 2-cm cubes, dice one green pepper, finely chop green onion and grab some dried red pepper;

(2) Marinate breast cubes with 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp salt and 1tsp corn starch or tapioca flour;

(3) Prepare sauce: 3 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp corn starch or tapioca flour and 6 tbsp water, mix them well;

(4) Heat skillet under medium power and add some oil, fry peanut until it develops aroma;

(5) Remove peanut from oil, drain and set aside;

(6) Heat skillet under high power, add some oil, stir-fry green pepper dices until they are cooked through, season dices with some salt and transfer them to a plate, set aside;

(7) Heat skillet under medium-high power, add oil and dry red pepper, stir until pepper changes to brown in color;

(8) Add chicken cubes, stir until cubes fully separated (raw meat tends to stick to each other);

(9) Add chopped green onion, stir until aroma develops;

(10) Pour sauce over, stir until thickened;

(11) Add fried peanut and then green pepper, mix well;

(12) Transfer to serving plate and serve with warm white rice.

Eight-treasure rice pudding

2009-05-11T21:49:00.003-03:00

Eight-treasure rice pudding is a very traditional dessert in Chinese cuisine. The two main ingredients are sweet rice (also called sticky rice or glutinous rice) and adzuki bean paste. For the preparation of adzuki bean paste, please read my old post. This dessert is like upside-down cake, with beautiful and tasty topping, the filling is so soft and creamy, and the rice is shinny.

(1) Steam rice: Soak 1 cup sweet rice at least 5 hours, thoroughly drain and then blend in 4 tbsp water, steam under high power for 15 minutes. Sprinkle some water on the rice and stir a little bit, continue to steam for another 15 minutes. Immediately blend in 3 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp soft butter and 3 tbsp sweet shredded coconut.

(2) Shape the pudding: Grease container (a bowl -shaped container is ideal) first. Place dried fruits at the bottom of container. I this time use dried apricot and golden raisin. Dried pineapple, cranberry, cherry and mango are also good. Add a layer of sweet rice, then place pitted date and nuts (almond, pecan, walnut...etc) around, add a layer of adzuki bean paste (about 1 cup), thenanother layer of sweet rice.

(3) Steam pudding: Put the bowl in a steamer and steam for 15 minutes under high power.

(4) Serve: Place a serving plate upside down on top of the bowl. Invert the pudding onto the serving plate. Serve warm.

Carnation bread -- Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T16:37:00.001-03:00

Isn't this bread beautiful? I use cranberry pie filling, it tastes pretty good. And, as a gift for Mother's Day, this carnation color is fantastic.

The ingredients and main procedure:

1/2 cup warm water, 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast, 1/2 cup cranberry pie filling, 1 egg, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp soft butter in small cubes, 3 cup all purpose flour and 1 pinch salt.

Proof the dough as basic bread and then shape in two loaves, proof again.

Bake @ 350F for 35 minutes.

Lobster is in season :)

2009-05-09T23:11:00.000-03:00

Steamed lobster, served with mixture of light soy sauce and rice vinegar -- so simple, so fresh.

Maple blossom

2009-05-07T20:35:00.003-03:00

Maple blossom looks like a shy bride dressing silk gown and wearing silver jewelery.

In sunset:

Super yummy beef meatball

2009-04-27T22:02:00.001-03:00

This beef meatball tastes very special: it has a tight texture, but very tender and light. I would like to use "bouncy" to describe this meatball. Right, it is bouncy!

The ingredients are so ordinary, just 1 lb ground beef, 4 tbsp chopped green onion, 1/2 tbsp salt, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce (if a dark color is preferred), some white pepper, 1 tbsp starch and some oil.

The secret is, after a meatball is formed, throw it between hands. It 's like playing pingpong (table tennis), cast ball to the other hand, use that hand as a racket and bounce the ball back. The meatball becomes very firm and smooth.

Bake meatball under 400F for 15 minutes and it's done!

Believe it or not, it is BOUNCY :)))))

Steamed pork with rice flour

2009-04-26T22:26:00.003-03:00

This recipe is amazing. Sliced pork is coated with rice flour and then steamed. The rice flour absorbs juice and flavor, forming a very tasty wrap. Meanwhile, steamed pork is juicy and tender. This dish has a strong aroma of Sichuan pepper, a little bit spicy; and pleasant smell of star anise.

The key ingredient is rice flour. Add 1/2 cup of rice, 1/2 cup of sweet rice (sticky rice), 1~2 star anise, 1 tsp Sichuan pepper in the skillet, stir under medium power until rice is slightly yellowish in color. Let cool to room temperature and then grind with coffee grinder to obtain coarse flour powder. This rice flour can be preserved in a tightly capped bottle for quite a long period.

Marinade source: 2 tbsp dark soy source, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp sesame oil.

Slice 1 lb pork to 2~3 mm thick, rinse to remove blood, dry with paper towel. Marinate sliced pork for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Evenly coat pork slices with prepared rice flour, place in a container. Then steam for 30 minutes.

If more spicy taste is preferred, drizzle cooked pork with chili oil. For decoration, sprinkle with finely chopped green onion.

High protein bread

2009-04-19T22:54:00.002-03:00

Cottage cheese bread is so white, so soft, and so yummy. It tastes like Hokkaido milk loaf, and has the silimar texture. But, it is much healthier, with lower calorie, instead, higher protein.

I searched the recipe from internet and made some modification.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients A: 1/2 cup warm water and 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Ingredients B: 2 tbsp soft butter, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 warm egg, 1 cup cottage cheese and 3 cup all purpose flour

Ingredients C: 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp baking soda

(1) Hand kneaded dough: Mix ingredients B and C, make a fountain, add ingredients A into the foutain, blend well and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and let it proof until double in size.

Bread machine (dough mode): Add ingredients A into the bread machine, then ingredients B, make a small indentation on the top and add ingredients C. Run dough mode until it ends.

(2) Knead dough to remove gas. Divide the dough into four portions. Round each portion, roll into rectangle, and then roll up into a cylinder. Place two cylindric doughs into one greased loaf pan, cover and let proof until double in size.

(3) Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and hollow sound can be heard when it is tapped with a wooden spoon.

(4) Unmold and let cool on wire rack.

My tip:

I don't use bread machine to finish the whole procedure. Different cottage cheese has different water content, it is hard to control. If the dough is too wet, the top of bread will cave.

Early spring flowers

2009-04-18T18:27:00.001-03:00

I can see beautiful crocuses through the window in my lab:

Crocus is the herald of spring. People feel excited on its visiting and eventually, the warm spring is coming:

Maple is going to blossom soon:

Yes...I know, it will be snow flurry tomorrow... but anyway, it is spring.

My homemade noodle

2009-04-15T23:56:00.000-03:00

Homemade noodle tastes so good and although it takes me some time and energy, it worths. I toss hot noodle with peanut butter, mmm, smells wonderful.

Saturday lunch: homemade roll and cranberry dessert

2009-04-11T15:12:00.002-03:00

To make a Chinese style roll, the first and the most important thing is, of course, the wrapper, which is very very thin.

(1) Boil a pot of water, let cool for 2 minutes. Slowly add 2/3 cup hot water into 2 cup all purpose flour, blend well, and form a dough. Cover, let sit for 1 hour. Knead to have a smooth dough.

(2) Roll dough into a long cylinder, cut into 16 small doughs. Press each small dough with palm, and roll dough flat. Brush oil on each dough, stack four doughs and roll them together as thin as possible.

(3) Heat fry pan under medium-low until the pan is very hot. Place rolled wrapper dough in the pan, cover. When some bubbles appear on the surface of wrapper, turn it over and cover again until new bubbles appear (don't overcook). Transfer hot wrapper on the plate, let cool a little bit and then separate the four layers (each layer is one wrapper). Serve warm.

This lunch, I made stir-fried onion roll:

Cranberry dessert:

Pie crust is my favorite, an easy and neat procedure to get tasty dessert.

(1) In a mixing bowl, blend 1/4 cup cake flour and 3/4 cup all purpose flour;

(2) Cut 4 tbsp soft butter in small portions and sprinkle evenly over the flour mixture;

(3) Mix with dough blender to have all flour covered with butter;

(4) Sprinkle ice water (I put some ice cubes in the water to maintain the temperature) one tbsp at a time on the flour mixture, shake the bowl to help mealy flour absorb the moisture, totally, 5 tbsp ice water is required;

(5) Although the dough doesn't look like a real dough, with bits and pieces and don't fully hold together, don't hesitate, stop, put down the bowl, and transfer into zipper sandwich bag, press out gas, and seal the bag;

(6) Quickly form the "dough" into a ball and pat into a flat disk, chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (I chilled them overnight).

(7) Roll pie crust flat and thin, cut into six portions, wrap cranberry pie filling in each portion, make a cut on the top.

(8) Bake at 375F for 35 minutes.

Raisin cinnamon bread

2009-04-09T23:24:00.000-03:00

Cinnamon is my favorite spice. This raisin cinnamon bread looks fancy and tastes pretty good.

For the dough: 3 cup all purpose flour, 2 tbsp soft butter, 1 tsp lemon juice, 6 tbsp sugar, 2 egg, 1 tbsp active dry yeast and 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp water

The filling: 2 tbsp light brown sugar, 2 tbsp all purpose flour, 1 tbsp soft butter and 1 tsp cinnamon powder

Bake @ 350F for 35 minutes.

Date raisin square

2009-04-08T22:48:00.000-03:00

The first time I tried this square in a café, I fell in love with it. The crunchy top with pleasant smell of oat and the creamy sweet with a little bit sour taste of date paste, no, I can not resist this.

I have quitted coffee for a long time, and this square becomes an ideal mate to my tea.

(1) In a blender, use "smooth" mode and blend 2 cup chopped pitted date, 1 cup raisin, 3 tbsp brown sugar, 1/4 cup orange juice and 1 1/2 cup water;

(2) Transfer the mixture to a sauce pan, bring to boil, stir and then reduce heat to medium-low, simmer and stir often, until the mixture is thick enough to mount on spoon; stir in 2 tsp lemon juice and let cool to room temperature;

(3) In a mixing bowl, mix 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 1/2 cup rolled oats and 3/4 cup brown sugar; combine 12 tbsp soft butter with dough blender until it becomes coarse crumbs;

(4) Butter a baking pan, transfer 1/2 of crumb mixture into prepared pan, press and flat;

(5) Spread date paste overthe crumb and then cover with the remaining crumbs;

(6) Preheat oven to 350F, bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown;

(7) Cool completely (very important) and then cut into squares.

Spring is coming soon...

2009-04-07T21:34:00.002-03:00

This weekend, 10 degree in the afternoon, pretty warm eh? I took a walk in the Waterfowl Park, trying to find the sign of spring.

I am curious why the ice cubes look like the cubes from ice maker machine.

The trail is still covered with snow:

Look, a deep hole:

The ice is melting:

Very peaceful:

Lovely fresh buds:

Beautiful color:

New skin:

Just for fun: do you think this photo is real?

Dumpling party

2009-04-06T20:55:00.002-03:00

A dumpling party, is not only for filling the stomach, but for fun, lots of fun.

Look at the dumplings, row by row:

Wow, how lovely the dumplings are!

Come on folks, lunch is ready:

My first croissant!

2009-04-05T16:39:00.001-03:00

The travel to France drives me crazy in croissant. Since then, I have been dreaming of making my own croissant. Today, I MAKE it! Very light, flaky, buttery on the outside and tender on the inside. I am so excited. I gave some to my friends, and their responses were the same:"Mmmm, yummy."

I use the recipe from Ochef.

And, my tips:

* Butter, had better be put at room temperature as early as possible. A very soft butter helps a lot.

** Turn dough smooth-side down, and then cut it into four-leaf clover shape. This can prevent the dough from broken when rolled.

*** Flour working counter is very important. If the dough sticks on the counter, the bottom will be broken. Any broken layer of dough will result in either bad shape or failure. I unfortunately broke one layer.

**** Triangle dough had better be long triangle instead of the short one. If the dough is too short, stretch it. A long triangle dough can be rolled at least three layers and give a beautiful shape of crescent.

Roll, roll, roll a roll :)))

2009-04-04T11:45:00.001-03:00

Vietnamese spring roll wrapper is really a good thing. It is dry, so it can be preserved for long time. I use it as a backup. When I feel lazy and need some break in cooking, I will just grab some sheets of wrap and roll what ever I can find in the fridge to make a simple but still yummy meal.

This lunch, I thinly shredded stewed pork and fresh English cucumber. The dipping sauce is sriracha Thia-style hot sauce, spicy and sour.

Mmm, tasty.

Breakfast: fresh whole wheat sourdough bread

2009-04-04T10:05:00.001-03:00

Sourdough starter:

Loosely cover the container with a mixture of 1 cup warm water and 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 tsp active dry yeast, let sit at room temperature for 4 days.

Bread:

1) In a mixing bowl, blend 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour and 3/4 tsp salt;

2) Form a fountain, add well-mixed starter;

3) Knead dough to form an elastic ball;

4) Slightly grease a steel bowl, put dough in the bowl and cover air-tightly with plastic wrap;

5) Proof until double in bulk;

6) Transfer dough onto working counter, press to remove carbon dioxide, knead for about 3 minutes to remove as much gas as possible;

7) Halve dough, round each portion and place on a slightly greased baking pan (or line baking pan with parchment paper), cover with damp cloth;

8) Proof until double in bulk;

9) Preheat oven to 425F, cut large cross-hatch into the top of the dough, sprinkle lightly with all
purpose flour, bake for 15 minutes;

10) Reduce power to 375F, bake for another 20 minutes or until the bread is golden-brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

Fresh sourdough bread and fresh smoothie (homemade yogurt + strawberry + banana) =====> A happy fresh Saturday!

Streamed and boiled gluten

2009-03-29T23:25:00.002-03:00

Besides soybean products, gluten is another very important ingredient for vegetarians. The steamed gluten has a chewy texture. It can be cooked like meat and brings very similar taste or even more tasty. And the boiled gluten is quite juicy and smooth, it can be stir-fried with other vegetables.

Here is how I make gluten food:

(1) Add 1 tsp active dry yeast in 520 mL water, and stir in 375 gram wheat gluten to make a dough.

(2) Cover and let it proof until double (or three times bigger) in size. And then halve the dough, knead until the texture of dough becomes fine and even.

(3) For steamed gluten, place one dough in the bamboo steamer lined with cheesecloth, cover the steamer. Put the steamer on the pot with boiling water and let steam for 30 minutes. Flush hot steamer with tap water, so that the steamed gluten can be easily separated from cheesecloth. Cut steamed gluten into small dices (See left part of the picture above).

(4) For boiled gluten, divide the other dough into small balls, and put them into boiling water. Cover the pot and let boil for 30 minutes. Flush hot boiled gluten with tap water to separate boiled gluten balls. Slice or dice boiled gluten (See right part of the picture above).

I stir-fried boiled gluten with green soybean and mushroom:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 16: Paris, her right bank and etc

2009-03-09T00:09:00.002-03:00

This is the second day in Paris. I couldn't help taking another photo for this shinny Hôtel des Invalides:

Moulin Rouge:

Detail of St Jean de Montmartre:

An old street:

Isn't this building beautiful?

Here is Montmartre:

The street artist:

Details of Montmartre:

St Pierre de Montmartre:

Gorgeous window:

Another beautiful building:

Street view from Montmartre to Château Rouge Station:

Sainte Chapelle and Palais de Justice @ Île de la Cité:

Police vans:

Conciegerie:

Pont Neuf:

La Seine:

Monument:

Plant:

Traffic light:

Notre Dame:

Old pendant light:

Hall:

Exterior of Notre Dame:

Crêpe:

St-Michel:

Square in front of University of Paris (La Sorbonne):

Very cute yoghurt bottle:

Au revoir, Paris; farewell Europe...

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 15: Paris, Eiffel Tower ...etc

2009-03-08T23:26:00.002-03:00

This day started with French Breakfast: buttered tartine, croissant, orange juice, jam and hot chocolate:

Eiffel (Tour Eiffel) with rainbow:

Trees in Paris are very elegantly shaped:

Eiffel Tower:

Hôtel des Invalides:

Wow!

The tomb of Napoleon I:

Napoleon's signature:

Eglise du Dôme:

Eglise des Soldats with flags taken from enemies:

Canons in the square:

Musée de l'Armée:

Detail on the canon:

Armour of Chinese Emperor, Qianlong (1711 - 1799):

Pont Alexandra III:

Lunch -- Curry chicken, jasmine rice and fried eggplant:

Musee d'Orsay:

Pavillon de Flore of Palais du Louvre:

Details:

Palais du Louvre:

Pyramid:

Take a walk in the square:

Arc de Triomphe du Carousel:

Monument:

Traffic at Arc de Triomphe:

Avenue des Champs Élysées:

This clock is amazing, with vaporing and condensing system:

Louis Vuitton building:

Peugeot:

Jewelry:

Flame of sunset:

Arc de Triomphe:

Stairs in Arc de Triomphe:

Night view from Arc de Triomphe:

Eiffel Tower and La Seine:

The illuminated Eiffel Tower glitters every hour:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 14: Next stop -- Paris!

2009-03-08T22:39:00.002-03:00

Dover ferry:

On board:

Beautiful scene:

The coach was running on the highway:

Rural area in France:

Our hotel is very close to Eiffel tower:

Something interesting:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 13: London, the second day, sunny...

2009-03-08T21:34:00.006-03:00

EVENTUALLY, we saw a lovely sunny day.

We had a long list to do, but, sigh...the tube was still crawling. We spent too much time waiting for the tube, and the tube frequently stopped because of some signal failure. In the end, we didn't have time to see Natural History Museum and enjoy the afternoon tea at the Orangery. But, anyway, it was a sunny day!

We had our English breakfast in the nearby restaurant, a very heavy, high-cholesterol feast in the morning. I have never had two eggs in one morning. I didn't like the taste of cumberland sausage, but the grilled tomato and mushroom, bacon, sunny-side-up, beans (it might be soy bean) and toast were pretty good. I added milk into black tea, very smooth.

We took District Line to Tower Hill.
Snow was still everywhere.

A bird view from Tower Bridge:

The shinny bullet shaped building is 30 St Mary Axe (also named as Gherkin).

Some details of Tower Bridge:

I took bunch of photos of Tower Bridge from different angles, they all look amazing:

This one is my favorite -- it looks very historic, a heritage after centuries.

The next stop is London Tower:

Byward Tower:

Typical wooden gate in London Tower:

Water lane:

Medieval Palace:

Stairs:

Bedroom:

The centre of London Tower -- the White Tower:

Very fancy cannon:

Yeoman warder:

Waterloo Block:

The guard:

Details on the building:

Exhibition of horses:

Bloody Tower:

Traitor's gate:

We were told "all change" when the tube had just arrived at Blackfraiars Station, which is still several-station away from our hotel. Well, then just grab the chance to take a look there.

St Paul's Cathedral:

I love this statue, so real:

St Brides Church with moon:

Chinese cuisine in London is pretty good. We love noodle with roast duck, wonton noodle... and the stir-fried dishes are tasty too. This is our dinner: stir-fried beef with vegetables and stir-fried water morning glories.

A good dinner does provide energy. We kept on waiting in the Tube station with tens of passengers for more than one hour; in the end, a tube came and carried us back to the hotel.

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 12: London, a city swept by snow

2009-03-08T17:28:00.003-03:00

The overnight heavy snow brought London to a different world. It is a gift for children, they threw snow balls to each other and made snowman, laughing, singing and enjoying. However, the whole city stopped running, and was terribly in mess. Without train, Cambridge University was too far to reach. Anyway, let's stay in London and see something unusual.

Compared with those who had to be stuck at home, we were so lucky to have a hotel close to District Line, which was one of the few lines still crawling to some destinations. We got off at Victoria Station, walked along Buckingham Palace Road, and passed by a square with statue of Ferdinand Foch:

Queen's Gallery:

Buckingham Palace:

The square:

Fountain:

Queen Victoria looks more vivid with snow:

The Angel:

Gate of Canada Garden:

In Garden of Canada:

St James's Park:

Delicate and colorful flowers:

Birds:

What is this?

Graceful weeping willow:

There are many pelicans in Duck Island:

It looks like a bald man:

This one likes to show-off:

Greylag goose and Canada goose:

Old Admiralty Building:

Horse Guards Parade:

Churchill Museum:

The Treasury:

A building:

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament:

A church on the opposite side of Parliament:

Night view of River Thames:

The most fantastic view in London -- London Eye:

Almond butter ball

2009-03-07T17:58:00.001-04:00

This is a recipe from my friend's granny-in-law. She called it Swedish nut butter ball. But since I am not sure if it is really a traditional Swedish recipe, I would like to give it a simple name as almond butter ball. This nut ball is very tasty -- lightly sweet, melting on the tongue and I bet you can't eat just one.

Ingredients:100 g butter, 150 g all purpose flour, 1 tbsp icing sugar, 60 g ground almond

Directions:

(1) Beat soft butter and icing sugar until smooth;

(2) Add flour and ground almond, and blend the mixture with dough blender;

(3) Shape each one tbsp of batter into a round ball (for 28 ~ 30 balls);

(4) Place the ball dough on a baking pan lined with parchment paper;

(5) Preheat oven to 338 F (170 C) and bake for 15 ~ 20 min to obtain a slightly golden color (don't overbake);

(6) Let cool on the wire rack completely and then sprinkle with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 11: Oxford City

2009-03-06T23:16:00.002-04:00

Our breakfast: Scone, croissant and hot chocolate with whipped cream:

At Paddington Station, we took train to Oxford City:

In Oxford City, we started from Hythe Bridge Street and this is Institute for Chinese Studies:

"Dominvs Illvminatio Mea" means "God is my light,the lord is my light".

This one was found at Department of Physics.

Delicate flowers in Oxford:

I wonder what the two "S" shaped metal things are for.

Very typical English architecture:

Oxford University Press:

Walking in the street:

Church Warden of St-Giles:

Another side of the church:

The Oratory Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga:

Keble College, in my favorite Neo-Gothic style, and the beautiful red bricks:

Some details:

As scientists, we would like to pay a visit to the science section of Oxford University, although none of them are in the top sightseeing list.

The department of physics:

New Biochemistry:

School of Chemistry:

Chemical research lab:

University Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum:

I forgot the name of this building:

St. John's College:

It seems that we spent several hours in St. John's College:

St. Mary:

Balliol College :

Architecture:

Saxon tower of St Michael at the Northgate:

Sculpture of St Michael at the Northgate:

A very interesting house located in Ship Street:

Carfax:

Oxford Museum:

Oxford post office:

Christ Church College:

Radcliffe Camera:

St. Mary the Virgin:

Service in the church starts at six:

How long haven't I used a pen?

Magdalen College:

Very interesting sign -- we call it "yield" here, don't we? And Londeners use "way out" instead of "exit":

Sheldonian Theater:

Another theater:

The heaviest snow in eighteen years:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 10: Fly to London

2009-03-06T22:47:00.003-04:00

It is a super big surprise to see the Alps when flying from Nice to London:

The bay:

Over the continent:

It is very convenient to take the tubes from London City Airport to our hotel.

The Best Western Hotel in East Putney:

I like the old style of this room:

But the bath tub is too small and we could hardly take a shower (Later, we changed to another room with shower):

Take a cup of hot chocolate and relax:

Putney Hight St.:

The Thames River:

All Saint's Church @ night:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 9: Monaco

2009-03-06T22:29:00.002-04:00

Monaco is 18 km east of Nice. We spent our third afternoon there visiting the old city, the palace and the aquarium. The No. 100 Bus took us to the foot of the castle.

Walking along the "red carpet":

Turn around:

Old style light in the castle:

Here is Prince's Palace of Monaco:

St-Mary's Tower is on the right side of the palace:

Travelers take photo of the guard and the guard take a look at the travelers:

Let's enter the old city:

Narrow street:

Church of Mercy:

An unknown castle:

The aquarium building:

Beatles' Yellow Submarine?

Everyone knows it hard to take good shots in aquarium, but who cares? It is a lot of fun, isn't it? I took tons of photos and feel so lucky that I can pick up some.

The most impressive section -- eel:

The most elegant section -- jelly fish:

Common cuttlefish：

Some unknown fishes:

A face of human being?

Here I am -- Give way, I am SHARK:

Coral:

They look like witch's fingers:

Nemo and his friends:

Scorpion fish:

The shrimpfish is so cool:

Sunset in the garden:

Night fell on Monaco:

The harbor:

Monte Carol：

Shinny castle:

Freezing rain

2009-03-06T20:55:00.004-04:00

Freezing rain came one month later than last year. It was so beautiful, with diamonds hanging on the trees, crystal candy canes everywhere...although there were several outages of power.

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 8: Nice, her Cimiez

2009-02-27T17:02:00.004-04:00

I arrived in Cimiez by Bus 15 from Place Masséna. It was an important rival of Nice, continuing to exist as a separate city till the time of the Lombard invasions, and has left its ruins at Cimiez; it is now a quarter of Nice (quoted from wikipedia).

Here are the ruins located in Parc des Arènes:

In Parc des Arènes, there is a garden of neatly shaped olive trees:

As a neighbour of the park, Monastère de Cimiez is a church of franciscan monks.

This is a gate of Monastère de Cimiez:

Garden of the church:

So beautiful:

Take a look at the sea from the top of the garden:

Obervatory, which is far far away from Cimiez:

Heart-shaped pine tree in the garden:

Walk in Cimiez:

Modern hotel at the bus stop:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 7: Nice, her sunset and night view

2009-02-27T16:47:00.002-04:00

Beautiful sunset in Nice, with palm trees and the sea:

Go to the Colline du Château to have a bird view:

Evening red:

Nice airport @ sunset:

Night falls on the city:

Waxing crescent moon:

The castle again:

When I was walking on Promenade des Anglais, suddenly, I saw the sky was covered with huge black cloud -- actually, this is a flock of hundreds of small birds.

Take a closer look:

Palm trees along the seashore:

Palm trees line on Promenade des Anglais:

Night view of the opera:

The statues on Place Masséna change their color very slowly. It says that the seven statues (I missed one in my pic) represent seven continents, which means the communication between the different communities of today's society. And the tram is running through this square.

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 6: Nice, another view, another angle

2009-02-26T17:22:00.005-04:00

After spending several days in Nice city, I studied the map of Nice again, trying to find another interesting spot. It seems that Cap de Nice is quite attractive, from where I could see Nice in a totally different angle. Besides, this would be a trip along the seashore.

However, on that day, I found this in the tram station. As I mentioned in Part 3, sadly, the strike, and no tram, no bus, nothing can help me to reach there. Okay, I decided to take a long walk and tried to reach as far as I could.

This was really a fantastic walk, although it was quite long. On my way there, I saw beautiful flowers, trees...which inspired me a lot.

Typical view on the road -- a line of palm trees:

And, the rock couldn't preclude the beauty from growing:

This belongs to a hotel right beside the seashore:

People were enjoying sunshine, although it was winter:

Jardin Félix Rainaud looks like a castle. This is a very good spot, it makes me feel that I am so close to the ocean.

I love this view:

Plants on the rock:

The pot on the gate is so cute:

Lion:

Are snow white and seven dwarfs living in the Château d'Anglais?

Here is a trail (Sentier du Littoral), what an adventure!

Huge cactus:

Oh, W~O~W:

My destination is Batterie:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 5: Nice, her harbor and other architectures

2009-02-26T16:48:00.003-04:00

The harbor in Nice (Du port):

Monument aux morts is on the opposite side of the harbor:

Opéra:

Wine stores are very impressive:

On my way to Cathédrale Orthodoxe Russe St-Nicolas à Nice, I visited the railway station (SNCF):

The old postoffice near railway station:

Our conference centre:

In front of the conference centre, there is a statue of violins:

The library (Bibliothèque Municipale à Vocation Régionale de Nice) is very cool. It looks like a building without windows.

Jardin Marechal Juin:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 4: Nice, her church and castle

2009-02-25T17:36:00.002-04:00

The most famous church in Nice is Cathédrale Orthodoxe Russe St-Nicolas à Nice. On that day, the public transportation was totally shut down due to the nationwide strike in France. It took me 2 hours to reach this church, but, I have to say -- it worths. The architecture is amazing!

Some detail:

As for castle, obviously, Colline du Château is a must.

Elegant tree:

Beautiful stone road:

Olives fall to the ground:

My first time to see a real olive tree:

Oh, an olive in the tree:

The view from another side of the castle:

A happy man is playing the accordion, the music is so European :)

Pine cone, very different from Canadian pine cone:

The view of Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate from the castle:

Notre Dame

American Episcopal Church

Église Luthérienne

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 3: Nice, her park and square

2009-02-24T17:36:00.003-04:00

Nice is a city with fantastic parks and squares.

This is Place de l'Armée du Rhin, which is quite close to our hotel:

Place Garibaldi is a very important and famous square in Nice. Look at the typical architecture in the square:

The statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi:

The church behind him is Chapelle du Saint-Sépulcre:

In Square Leclerc, a very beautiful and quite place:

The statue of André Masséna in Square Leclerc:

Place île de Beauté is at Du port (the harbor), I really like the color, full of sunshine:

Popular plant in Nice -- Opuntia with fruits:

High jet fountain in Place Masséna:

So wonderful:

Another fountain:

Tram is running through the square:

Square of Palais de Justice:

Old style street light beside the police office:

Roof terrace of Palais de Justice:

Beautiful flowers in winter:

Statue in Square Yitzhak Rabin:

White horse with little princess:

Cute fountain:

Orange trees are everywhere:

Fluffy tree:

And, a huge pine cone:

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 2: Nice, her old town and narrow street

2009-02-18T17:28:00.003-04:00

Colorful old town and narrow street, typical scene in European movies, are what I am looking for.

Birdview of a narrow street from Colline du Chateau, which extends to Place Massena:

Rue Pairolière and Rue St-françois

The two famous old streets are located in Le Vieux-Nice. A very special entrance:

Late in the afternoon, the street was kinda empty and quiet:

Our group members were looking for the restaurant. It was around seven, however, the restaurants were almost closed. Later, we learned that local dinner time is eightish.

A patisserie was open, which made me feel more hungry ;-P

We eventually got an open restaurant -- an Afghanistan restaurant:

The decoration is very fancy:

Okay, dinner is ready:

Marché aux Fleurs

Marché aux Fleurs is quite close to Place Massena. It is a flower market, and also for arts, patisserie, snacks...etc. Very lovely street.

Pain au chocolat with icing sugar:

A very mouth-watering almond cake, covered with shinny sugar:

Various olive products:

Lavender:

Delicate flower:

Rue Catherine Ségurane

It says: I count only the bright hours:

Handmade stuffs:

Whose hand is on the knob?

Other street view

Typical apartment building in Nice:

Extreamly incredible parking skill with tiny distance:

Save the best for last: traditional shopping basket with fresh vegetables and fruits. In the morning, people go to the patisserie for fresh baguette as their breakfast. What a life!

[Nice - London - Paris] Part 1: Nice, and her beautiful sea view

2009-02-17T16:49:00.004-04:00

From Colline du Chateau:

A walk along Promenade des Anglais:

My favorite photo -- the emerald wave:

Baked pork hock

2009-02-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

It is not possible to break the bone of pork hock with my kitchen knife. For the long pork hock, I often stew it.

I was so surprised to find cut pork hock, which are quite convenient to bake or braise.

Before baked, the pork hock pieces were marinated by the mixture of sugar, salt and dark soy sauce overnight in the fridge. Then they were wrapped in foil bags. I placed some white part of green onion beneath the pork hocks for more aroma and to benefit the flux of steam. They were baked under 400F for half an hour and then under 375 F for another 30 minutes.After cooled a little bit, bone the pork hocks and dice.

Pour the sauce left in the foil bag over dices before serving.

I love to have the sauce mixed with my white rice, it tastes fantastic.

Teabag & water drop -- two wishes

2009-01-18T22:48:00.000-04:00

We had no hot water supply this weekend,

I wish I were a teabag,

A cup of hot water,

Would have been enough for me,

To have a nice and warm dream.

When I was young,

I wished I could have a pure soul like crystal,

Now what?

Happy couple

2009-01-11T00:42:00.000-04:00

Frozen tofu -- a real surprise

2009-01-11T00:32:00.002-04:00

Freezing is an interesting technology. We are familiar with frozen vegetable and fruit, but what about tofu? Try it, I am pretty sure that everybody will be surprised. It is not the tofu we know any more. It turns spongy and tastes so different, amazingly juicy.

To make this frozen tofu, the ideal type is firm or extra firm. It is strongly recommended to fully remove the water before freezing tofu, otherwise, it will take very long time to defrost. An easy way to remove water is pinking some holes with toothpick on the top of the package, so that the package won't be damaged too much and can be put into the freezer as soon as possible. This can prevent tofu from being contaminated.

Frozen tofu is a very good ingredient in soup. Tonight, our comfort dinner is chicken broth with frozen tofu and mushroom.

I am an artist :)

2009-01-08T22:17:00.004-04:00

I never thought that I could draw a sketch some day, but today, I make my dream come true.

Here is my work -- a sketch of my hubby LOL

Did I draw it? Sort of... with the help of photoshop cs2, everyone can be an artist.

1. Open a photo in photoshop cs2 (or other version), duplicate layer as "layer 1";

2. Activate Layer 1, and Image --> Adjustments --> Desaturate；duplicate layer as "layer 2";

3. Activate Layer 2

(1) Image --> Adjustments -->Invert;

(2) layer --> layer style -->blending options;

(3) modify blending options --> general blending --> blend mode: color dodge;

(4) Filter --> Blur -->Gaussian blur --> Radius: 9 (or some other proper value);

(5) Choose brush tool，use Normal mode and set the color of foreground as black, its opacity is 2% and flow is 100%, highlight the characteristic part, then raise opacity to 5%, highlight eye, eyebrow and slash; then change the color of foreground to white, clean the background of photo with brush.

4. Activate both "Layer 1" and "Layer 2", merge layers.

5. Adjust brightness/contrast and curves to have a bright color and sharp curve.

6. Use film grain, rough pastels or texturizer (sandstone mode) in filter --> filter gallery to produce a more pro pic.

7. Make a signature.

Voila!

Molasses bread

2009-01-04T00:23:00.004-04:00

I recently saw a recipe of outback bread. One key ingredient is molasses. This reminds me of the special taste of molasses cookies.

What is molasses? I wikied this "syrup", and was surprised to find it is full of nutrition especially Ca, Cu, Mg and Fe. So, why not substitute molasses for sugar in bread, not for carb concern but just for those elements?

Here is my recipe:
3/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
2 tbsp butter
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Next step, it is easy, just do as the usual steps of making bread.

The bread is very soft, not too sweet, but tasty. I like the smell of molasses.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-25T12:42:00.003-04:00

We were invited to join the Christmas Eve dinner party with my friends’ family. My hubby picked three little gifts for the lovely kids. What cute eyes! Kids were very excited:

A happy bee:

And I brought my favorite dessert Gâteau au chocolat. In my eyes, this is a perfect dessert for Christmas -- deep dark chocolate taste, topped with snowy icing sugar and kinda fudgy moist. The other pleasure is preparing the dessert, especially melting butter and chocolate, what wonderful smell and silky color. Oh, I really love this moment.

My friend and her two girls one boy worked together on the Bûche de Noël, a soft and moist cake roll with creamy chocolate and decorated with white mushroom (made of almond powder). And the table was so warmly set, with different kinds of beautiful candles. I felt happy on lighting those candles, romantic job.

The dinner was wonderful, juicy turkey, mashed potato, beet, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce and gravy. Everyone had a gift hiding in the cracker, and motto of course. Wearing the paper crown and enjoying the dessert is such a happy thing. Kids were busy tracking Santa.

Merry Christmas!

Unique season's greeting

2008-12-22T23:30:00.002-04:00

I have been working on these fossil diatoms for six months. Although they have been buried under deep ocean for millions of years, after cleaned, they look so fabulous. I decided to make a card with these beautiful species. And, here it is!

Moncton Christmas Parade

2008-12-03T20:33:00.000-04:00

Duck

2008-11-16T19:59:00.001-04:00

Here it is: our dinner, delicious duck, which was cooked in a very traditional Chinese way -- soy sauce + sugar. Soy sauce provides special taste and smell, while sugar is the secret of shinny color. Duck fat can be easily separated in the end, so this is quite healthy.

(1) A whole duck, cut into small dices, rinse and dry with paper towel.

(2) Marinate duck with 2 tsp salt and several tbsp dark soy sauce, let sit in the fridge overnight.

(3) Heat the pot under medium power.

(4) Add some vegetable oil, and put duck dices into the pot, stir until brown.

(5) Add two white part of green onion, one star anise, two pieces of ginger root and 2 tbsp rice wine, reduce heat to medium low or low, cover and let cook for 30 minutes.

(6) Remove cover, stir and condense sauce until only clear yellowish fat left in the pot.

(7) Sprinkle 4 tsp sugar on duck dices, quickly stir to let duck dices be evenly covered with melted sugar.

(8) Drain to remove fat and transfer cooked duck onto plate.

Serve immediately.

Gâteau au chocolat

2008-11-10T21:13:00.004-04:00

My first French sentences include: "J'adore le chocolat", "Je veux du chocolat".

I know, I know, "French woman don't get fat". But for me, I have to think about the serious result after biting a chocolate cake.

Well, a party! That's what I would like to hear, and sure, it is time to do something -- make people happy, and give myself a chance to enjoy the aroma from the melting chocolate and butter.

There are tons of recipes or recettes posted on the internet for Gâteau au chocolat, mine is mostly based on http://www.lesfoodies.com/adeline/recette/gateau-au-chocolat-noir, but I did some changes.

Here are my procedures:

(1) In a double boiler, put 200g dark cholocate and 125 g unsalted butter in the upper pot, heat under medium power, stir until the mixture is smooth and silky;

(2) Remove the upper pot from heat, let cool to room temperature;

(3) Line springform pan (9') with parchment paper;

(4) Beat 4 yolks with 200g (minus 1 tbsp) sugar until it turns white in color and becomes very thick;then whisk in chocolate mixture;and mix 100 g sifted cake flour, one tbsp at a time, until the batter is very smooth;

(5) Beat 4 egg whites with a pinch salt and then 1 tbsp sugar, until stiff peaks form;

(6) Preheat oven to 350 F;

(7) Fold 1/3 egg white into cholocate mixture and then gently fold in the remaining whites;

(8) Pour batter into prepared pan, bake at 350 F for 30 minutes;

(9) Let cool with pan on rack;

(10) Unmold and decorate with icing sugar.

Feel it, the chocolate is melting on the tongue, mmmm.

And, an orange pound cake made by Andrew:

Green onion pancake

2008-11-10T14:33:00.004-04:00

I love the aroma given by green onion sautéed in oil, so, I am not the guy who can say "no" to this pancake. Traditionally, this pancake is very thin and crispy fried in a large amount of oil. I have to admit that it tastes so great but, on the other hand, it is not healthy. My green onion pancake is kinda thick, fried with a little bit oil, very soft, and yummy.

Here is what I do:

(1) Heat 1/3 cup water in microwave oven for 1 minute (using beverage mode);

(2) Add this boiling water to 1 cup all purpose flour, mix with dough blender or wooden spoon until flour absorbs all the water and the container becomes very neat (no clumps stick on the inner wall of container);

(3) Knead to make a dough and cover the dough, let rest for 15 minutes;

(4) Knead the dough until it is very smooth and elastic;

(5) Press the dough flat and roll into a thin circle (as thin as possible);

(6) Brush oil on the circle and sprinkle salt followed by finely chopped green onion (green part only);

(7) Roll the dough into a loose cylinder, and then roll up the cylinder to form a shape like cinnamon roll;

(8) Press the dough flat and roll into a circle (no smaller than the palm, otherwise, it will be too thick);

(9) Brush oil on each side of the dough;

(10) Heat pan under medium heat, and put the dough in, cover the pan, let cook until it turns golden in color;

(11) Turn it over, cover and fry for another several minutes until that side turns golden in color too.

Sometimes, I roll the dough into very thin circle and use more oil (a very traditional way), it tastes crispy and smells much more amazing:

Little chicken

2008-10-26T16:50:00.000-03:00

Deep-thinking:

Gossiping:

What about practising "Chicken run"?

Exhausted after picking each other for half an hour:

Pomegranate

2008-10-26T16:31:00.000-03:00

Beet ♫ Rice

2008-10-26T16:06:00.001-03:00

The first time that I tried beet was at the Thanksgiving party. It seems that this root like vegetable doesn't taste bad. So I decided to cook it in my kitchen.

As most people do, I boiled beet root until it can be easily pierced by toothpick. Transfer beet on the cutting board, let fully cool. Slice beet with slicer and serve with favorite sauce.

It said that beet juice is powerful to really cleanse the blood and kidneys. Although the red liquid left after boiling beet is quite different from beet juice, I believe it has dissolved a lot of nutrients.

I used this "red water" to cook rice, the color is very beautiful, eh?

Very creative!

Last color of autumn

2008-10-23T23:17:00.002-03:00

After several windy days, the whole world is half dead with empty branches. I feel lucky that we traveled to some nearby small towns last weekend and captured the last color of this autumn.

Most colorful spots are along the highway, which do upset me a lot. I tried to shoot, but you know, while the car is running, sigh... it is hard.

Here is my most satisfacting pic, at least it is not blurred lol:

Blair River located in Amherst:

Oxford, famous for its wild blue berry:

Pugwash, a town with bilingual street signs -- English and Gaelic:

Wallace, some spots are really amazing, but just nowhere to park :(

A very beautiful road (Lake Road) located in Truro, where there are broad blueberry fields:

Wentworth Provincial Park, which was absolutely an surprise for us. We knew nothing about this park before, but, see, saving the last for the best:

What a reflection:

Party dishes

2008-10-17T21:30:00.004-03:00

　Volcano celery:

(1) Rinse and slice celery.

(2) Prepare a large container of ice water (the mixture of water and ice cubes).

(3) In a pot, add half pot of water and 1 tbsp vegetable oil, bring to boil.

(4) Put a portion of sliced celery into the boiling water.

(5) When celery slices float on water, drain and transfer them into ice water.

(6) Repeat step 4 and 5 until all celery slices are done.

(7) Squeeze and dry celery, then place on a plate.

(8) In a dry pot or skillet, heat under medium power and add some oil.

(9) When pot is hot, add several tbsp chilli paste, stir until aroma develops.

(10) Pour hot paste onto the celery, blend well before served.

Duck breast

(1) Rinse duck breast and dry with paper towel, skin can be either removed or kept.

(2) In a hot skillet heated under medium power, add 6 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp Sichuan pepper, stir until salt turns to slightly yellow in color.

(3) Massage duck breast with hot salt&pepper, let sit in the fridge overnight.

(4) Rinse to remove excess salt and pepper, dry with paper towel.

(5) Put breast into a pot; add water (just over breast), some white part of green onion, pieces of ginger, and wine (rice wine or sherry).

(6) Bring to boil and then remove the foam.

(7) Cover the pot, let simmer under low power for 30 minutes; then turn off power, let stand for another 30 minutes.

(8) Transfer breast onto the rack, let cool and then slice before served.

Rice with pork and carrot

This rice tastes like fried rice, very yummy.

* It is quite different to cook different types of rice. Some rice should be soaked very well before cooked, some rice needs to be cooked with cold water, however, some should be added to boiling water. Check the direction on the package first.

(1) 3 cup rice, rinsed and drained.

(2) 1 slice of pork belly, shredded and marinated with dark soy sauce + 1/2 tsp salt + a pinch white pepper.

(3) 1 carrot, diced.

(4) In a hot pot heated under high power, add some oil and pork. Stir until pork is cooked through and strong aroma can be smelled (the white part of pork shrinks and meat color changes to dark brown).

(5) Drain pork and transfer to the container with drained rice.

(6) Return pot on the hot stove, add carrot and stir until carrot fully absorbs oil.

(7) Transfer carrot to the container with drained rice and pork, blend well.

(8) In a 4 qt. pot, either mix rice/pork/carrot with 4 cup water or just add 4 cup water, bring to boil. If rice has already been in the water, stir rice with wooden spoon and then cover the pot, reduce heat to medium-low, cook for 20 minutes. Otherwise, pour rice mixture into boiling water, stir well and cover the pot, reduce heat to medium-low, cook for 20 minutes.

(9) Turn off power, let sit on the stove for another 5 minutes.

Good Morning, Sackville!

2008-10-16T22:06:00.002-03:00

I am a giant LOL

Mini frozen almond cheesecake and apple pie

2008-10-13T10:13:00.005-03:00

This is a season to have feast all the time.

Today, we will have a party. I prepared mini frozen almond cheesecake sfor our guests. The recipe was found @ www.kraftcanada.com.

Some tips:

(1)Coarsely ground almonds look more fancy than finely ground.

(2)Heat 1/4 cup cold water in the saucepan is quite difficult. I sprinkled gelatin in a glass measure cup with cold water. And then let measure cup sit in warm water bath, it worked well.

Well, an apple pie for the turkey party (yesterday):

Autumn

2008-10-12T00:09:00.003-03:00

Chinese flaky pastry snack

2008-09-27T23:55:00.001-03:00

Chinese flaky pastry can be used to make Su-style moon cake and other snacks with different filling, such as ground pork, red bean paste...etc. It is different from flaky pastry in western countries, using vegetable oil instead of lard or butter and the ingredients are very simple.

I prepared this snack for the party tomorrow, I hope friends will like the taste.

(1) Mix 2.5 cup all purpose flour, 2/3 cup water, 1/3 cup vegetable oil and 1/4 tsp salt, knead until the dough is smooth. Transfer it into a sandwich ziploc and let sit in the fridge overnight. This dough is called water-skin.

(2) Mix 1 cup all purpose flour and 1/3 cup vegetable oil, make a neat ball and put it into a sandwich ziploc. Let sit in the fridge overnight. This dough is called oil-skin.

(3) Transfer water-skin on the counter, roll the dough into a circle. Place oil-skin in the center and wrap well.

(4) Roll this mixed dough into a rectangle, then fold it into third.

(5) Roll into another rectangle.

(6) Starting at the long end, roll up and then cut into small portions.

(7) Roll each portion into circle, put a small cube of pitted dates, fold and then shape it well with fork.

(8) Brush the mixture of honey and water, sprinkle with white sesame seeds.

(9) Preheat oven to 350 F, bake for 30 minutes or until the skin is golden.

(10) Let fully cool on the wire rack.

Take another look, the skin is very flaky, eh?

Baked chicken thigh with crispy skin

2008-09-27T23:31:00.002-03:00

I like baked chicken with crispy skin and juicy meat. Recently, I learned this recipe and it works so perfect.

(1) Rinse chicken thighs and dry with paper towel;

(2) Marinate thighs with salt and white pepper powder;

(3) In a big flat-bottomed container, line some sticks at the bottom and then put thighs on the sticks (so that they don't touch the bottom), loosely cover the container and let sit in the fridge overnight;

(4) Rinse thighs to remove excess salt and pepper, dry with paper towel;

(5) Mix barbecue sauce and dark soy sauce, brush on the thighs;

(6) Let wire rack sit on a plate, place thighs on, and keep them uncovered in the fridge for another one to two hours;

(7) Preheat oven to 350 F;

(8) Put thighs on the rack with drip trap, bake for one hour or until the instant temperature reaches 150 F.

Yummo, yummo.

Soybean in soy sauce

2008-09-27T23:12:00.001-03:00

As we know, soy sauce is made from soybean. In my eyes, cooking soybeans in soy sauce is a warm hug of parents and children. My granny used to make this snack in winter. We watched soccer games and grabbed this tasty and chewy snack, what a happy time!

It is very easy to make this snack, all the ingredients can be found in local supermarket or the store like Bulk Barn. One important thing required is patience LOL.

Here is the recipe:

(1) Soak 2/3 cup dry soybeans (uncooked) in water for at least 12 hours;

(2) Drain soybeans and pour them into a 1 qt. pot, add 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 5 tbsp brown sugar and 1 star anise;

(3) Add some water just over soy beans;

(4) Heat under high power to bring it boil, remove foam and then reduce heat to medium-low, simmer for 1 hour or until soy beans are cooked through;

(5) Switch to medium-high power again, fully condense the sauce (there should be no liquid left in the pot).

This kind of soybean is a good mate for porridge too.

No name pics

2008-09-22T23:18:00.000-03:00

I tried to take some photos by changing shutter speed and aperture value instead of using automatic settings. Oops, it is so hard. I felt that I was unable to shoot...everything was in mess.

Okay, let me try try try. One day, I can do it.

Marble chiffon cake

2008-09-16T20:43:00.008-03:00

Last Saturday, we had a small party to celebrate the Mid-autumn Festival. Because I could not find some main ingredients for moon cakes, I made a marble chiffon cake instead. This is my most successful chiffon cake that I have ever made. One of my friends once told me that a good chiffon cake shows some cracks on its surface. This time, I got them! Yi-ha! Look at the texture, isn't it gorgeous?

Marble chiffon is just a little bit different from chiffon cake, not very difficult, but, you know, there are always some tricks in baking cakes.

1. Prepare a 9-inch spring form pan, don't grease the pan so that it can allow the batter to cling to the sides of the pan as it rises.

2. Cocoa mixture: Combine 4 tsp sugar, 4 tsp oil, 4 tsp cocoa and 40 ml water, whisk until smooth. Set aside.

3. Take five eggs from the fridge and place them on the dry towel, dry the surface of chilled egg to avoid any drop of water. You need three bowls for separating egg white and yolk: yolk bowl, egg white bowl and working bowl. Crack the egg to get a sharp and even break; pull the shells apart over working bowl, the egg white runs to the bowl; flip flop the yolk between the two shells three times, let all white leave the shell. Never let any yolk drops into the egg white (That's why you need a working bowl, in case the egg white is contaminated by yolk drops or even rotten egg or egg with blood). Put yolk into yolk bowl. Transfer egg white into egg white bowl, cover the bowl, in case it is contaminated by water or something else. Repeat the steps to finish separation of the five eggs. Bring egg white and yolk to room temperature.

4. Whisk 1/3 cup skim milk and 5 tsp sugar to have sugar completely dissolved; whisk into 1/4 cup vegetable oil (check the label: the oil should not contain silicates as they tend to inhibit foaming); sift into 1 cup cake flour and mix them well; finally, combine the flour mixture with five yolks to obtain smooth batter.

5. Beat egg whites until foamy; add several drops of lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar; beat until stiff peaks form.Well beaten egg white won't drop when its container is turned up side down.

6. Adjust the rack in the oven to the low position and preheat oven to 325 F.

7. With a rubber spatula, fold 1/4 beaten egg white with batter obtained in step 4 until smooth (Some folks say that you can just blend them. Yes, if you use baking powder, I agree. However, if you don't use baking powder, any portion of egg white is important to create the great texture. So, just fold, gently but quickly fold.)

8. Pour the smooth batter back into the remaining 3/4 beaten egg white, fold batter very gently but quickly -- try to finish this step in no more than two minutes otherwise, batter will be deflated. There should be no egg-white lumps in it.

9. Remove one-third of batter to a separate bowl, gently fold in cocoa mixture.

10. Pour half of the non-cocoa batter into spring form pan; gently swirl the pan to flat the batter and allow it cover the whole bottom.

11. Top with half of the cocoa batter, gently swirl the pan to allow the batter evenly spread over non-cocoa batter.

12. Repeat layers.

13. With a narrow knife (with sharp tip), swirl gently through batter to form marble (don't overwork).

14. Give the pan three gentle raps on the counter to release any large air bubbles and smooth the top with spatula.

15. Bake for 50 minutes or until the cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the cake is golden.

16. Immediately remove the cake from the oven, invert the pan and stand it on the rack. Let the cake cool completely.

17. Run a rubber spatula around the inside of the pan, then remove the cake from the pan, invert the cake onto a greased rack. (Most of the time, the cake falls off the pan after cooling to room temperature.)

And I made this dessert for the party as well. It is as round as moon LOL

Festival dinner

2008-09-14T23:28:00.002-03:00

Today is the Mid-autumn Festival, a very traditional Chinese holiday. I cooked rice (a mixture of sweet rice and red rice), soup (pork riblets with vermicelli) and stir-fried green pepper. I didn't make moon cake, maybe, next year?

Happy Mid-autumn Festival!

2008-09-13T22:42:00.003-03:00

[Breadmaker] No fail White Bread, Whole Wheat Bread

2008-09-10T23:12:00.002-03:00

Since I bought my breadmaker, I have made several recipes. Here are two of them, the easiest and above all, NO FAIL.

#1 White bread

(1) Add 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast into 3/4 cup warm water (water works better than milk), let it become foamy;

(2) Add 1 egg (room temperature), 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tbsp margarine or butter (cut into small pieces);

(3) Add 3 cup all purpose flour;

(4) Make small indentation with my finger in the top of flour and add 1 tsp salt (don't let salt touch liquid below);

(5) Insert bread pan and select: sweet/2.5 lb/light;

(6) When the bread is done, let it sit in the breadmaker for 1 hour and then transfer it onto the rack to cool (this makes bread softer).

#2 Whole wheat bread

(1) Add 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast into 2/3 cup warm water, let it become foamy;

(2) Add 1 egg (room temperature), 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tbsp margarine or butter (cut into small pieces);

(3) Add 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cup all purpose flour;

(4) Make small indentation with my finger in the top of flour and add 1 tsp salt (don't let salt touch liquid below);

(5) Insert bread pan and select: whole grain/2.5 lb/light;

(6) When the bread is done, let it sit in the breadmaker for 1 hour and then transfer it onto the rack to cool (this makes bread softer).

Faculty concert

2008-09-06T00:21:00.001-03:00

Fundy National Park

2008-08-31T21:27:00.003-03:00

Last weekend, the weather was amazing. We spent the whole Saturday in Fundy National Park of Canada.

Wolfe Lake：

Bennett Lake, where many people do fishing, kayaking and swimming.

Low-lying fog bank of Fundy Bay:

(click on the picture to view its full size)

Look at the cliff in thick fog -- what a romantic scene:

This one was taken at six in the afternoon, high tide time:

A typical scene of Alma town in low tide / high tide:

We had our lunch at Tide Restaurant, the Scallop and Shrimp Linguini is fancy and tasty. It gave us plenty of energy for the next 4-hour-hiking.

Okay, here it is: Third Vault Falls.

Deep wood, a bit steep. We expected to see animals, but, no big surprise.

This fluffy plant can be found everywhere:

Eventually, we heard the sound of water. But...is this the 16-meter waterfall? Of course not.

We were at the foot of the wooden steps. From that site, it was very hard to see the trail except for a steep rock. It seems very dangerous, because the rocks are slippery. Fortunately, when we were hesitating, we saw three persons climbing up towards us. Therefore, we knew it might be possible to go through the right side with stream and the big water fall probably hides deeply in the valley. Okay, let's go.

Those little water falls are so beautiful, running through rocks covered with green moss.

Wow, look at this, amazing! It took us about 90 minutes to reach there and the hiking was somewhat rough, but see, all worth it!

Later, we went to Herring Cove. What a gorgeous scene!

It looks like a wolf:

I look forward to my next travel there.

Friends are coming :)

2008-08-20T21:17:00.002-03:00

Every summer, our friends come to visit us. We would like to host but not drive far away to visit, because we rarely have long holiday.

This photo was taken right before the dinner party, while baked pork ribs were still in the oven. What a happy party!

Sandy beach in Cap Pelé

2008-08-12T22:29:00.003-03:00

What a lucky thing it is -- it only takes us 30 to 40 minutes to reach the beach, a real beach with golden sand and blue ocean. Let my bare feet touch the sand, wow, so soft and so warm. I really love it!

Aboiteau Beach is located in Cap Pelé (New Brunswick, Canada).

Beautiful kites were flying in crystal blue sky:

Low tide time, what a beach!

After lunch, the water level started to rise:

The typical scene on the beach:

Clear and warm seawater:

Tons of fish:

Puppies were enjoying the water too:

We found a rock crab! This is my quick shot, later, I tried to make a better focus, but it suddenly disappeared :( As we know, it dug a hole and hid itself under the sand.

　Poor crab, if it didn't hide that quickly, it would have already been a feast for gull like its partner:

This is the world of sea birds:

I was so excited when I saw sandpipers. I have visited the Bay of Fundy twice for sandpipers. As I mentioned before, from mid July to early August, it is time for nature lovers to see millions of sandpipers gathering here to prepare for their long journey to South America. However, I didn't see any of them. Here, although the number of sandpipers is not that much, it has already been a surprise for me.

After dinner, we took a walk in this small village. It is a French community, however, we didn't see "fleur-de-lis" which is a symbol in Quebec province; instead, the Acadian Flag is everywhere, even painted on the power pole.

Park Tidiche is beautiful:

A sculpture:

Church:

Isn't this house strange? With Japanese painted on the wall:

The first store in Cap pelé was in this house, now, it is a restaurant with a Chinese name owned by Vietnamese.

Mussel

2008-08-04T17:04:00.001-03:00

This must be the best season of mussel, otherwise, why do all seafood stores post "PEI fresh mussel" now? It drove us mouth watering and, we carried about 8 lb mussels back.

Usually, we cook it with shell. But this time, I would like to try the shucked ones.

(1) Rinse and brush mussels;

(2) In a 5 qt pot, add about 2 liter water, bring to boil;

(3) Add a small portion of mussels (allow water layer over mussels), remove any mussels with shell open as soon as possible, drain and transfer to a big container;

(4) Remove shell and pull out byssus threads (a bundle of brown fibres found between the two shells of the mussel);

(5) Prepare 12 dry red peppers, some slices of ginger, chopped green onion;

(6) For spicy mussel:

Heat skillet under high power, add some oil; stir in red pepper and ginger slices to develop aroma; stir in mussels and blend them well; add some rice wine or white wine; add some green onion.

(7) For sweet and sour mussel:

Heat skillet under high power, add some oil; blend hot oil with ketchup; stir in mussels and blend them well; add some rice wine or white wine; add some dry parsley flakes.

They taste soft and juicy.

Oh, what about the broth?

I kept the broth in the fridge, let the mud settle overnight. Then, remove the supernatant (I mean, the clear part) to another container, leave about 1 cm broth and discard it (try not to disturb the settled mud).

The broth tastes very delicious. My granny used to cook porridge with this broth, yummy. I am kinda lazy and I only boiled it, add some dried seaweed, let soak for several minutes and that's it.

Hopewell Rocks (NB, Canada)

2008-08-03T22:22:00.003-03:00

Hopewell Rocks is located in New Brunswick, Canada.

Before traveling to Hopewell Rocks, we checked Website of Hopewell Rocks for the timetable of tide. The best time walking on the beach is three hours before / after the lowest tide, and of course, this is the safest time. We don't want to meet the extraordinarily huge high tide when we are staying in the beach. Think about it, the total height of tide is 15 meters, which spends only 12 hours to reach this height; therefore, for each hour, the tide rises about 1.25 meters!

Here we are, Hopewell rocks.

The most famous spot -- Flowerpots. I have seen this picture on every poster or magazine cover, but I still take a shot. How can I resist having this beautiful natural creation in my camera?

I love this so much, it is incredible:

Look at the cliff, it is reddish, isn't it?

A super mushroom:

Okay, here, the layers in the rock has a tilt about 30 degree, that's how the rock was formed millions years ago.

Suddenly, the dark storm cloud was coming:

Oops, rushing in the heavy rain, and we were all wet. Take a seat in High Tide Café, enjoy the lobster roll and have a good rest.

Sunny again, we went to Demoiselle Beach; we were told that we could meet deer, moose, fox, coyote and sandpiper. HOWEVER, because of the rain (I guess), nothing at all.

Oh, my god, gonna shower again? Quickly shooting a scene of mudflat; and then, run run run...

What a day.

B-day, flower ~&~

2008-08-02T23:24:00.000-03:00

First bread by breadmaker

2008-07-16T22:35:00.001-03:00

Okay, I eventually made up my mind to buy a breadmaker, so that I could still enjoy the fresh and healthy bread even though I am busier and busier.

The first baking failed. I tried the sandwich recipe in the manual book. The bread was almost white on the top, not brown at all. I read the manual book once more, and found that I should not open the unit to peek. Well, I admit that I did it twice. But who could help oneself from doing this at the first time using breadmaker? :P

Besides, the bread was very heavy. I bet if I throw it to someone, he would be unluckily hurt.

I tried again, no peeking, and adding more yeast according to my own recipe. The result was not bad, brown bread and lighter. But, compared with my hand-kneed bread, it was definitely a bad bread. And a big problem was that I could see some yeast particles on the surface of bread, which means the yeast was not all dissolved yet.

I wonder why we should add yeast last. That's really weird.

Look at my third try -- isn't it good?

My secret is adding yeast FIRST. Here is my recipe:

(1) Add 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast into 3/4 cup warm milk (or water), let it become foamy;

(2) Add 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tbsp margarine (cut into small pieces);

(3) Add 3 cup all purpose flour;

(4) Make small indentation with my finger in the top of flour and add 1 tsp salt (don't let
salt touch liquid below);

(5) Insert bread pan and select: sweet/2.5 lb/light;

(6) When the bread is done, let it sit in the breadmaker for 1 hour and then transfer it onto the rack to cool (this makes bread softer).

Joggins Fossil Cliffs

2008-07-10T22:41:00.003-03:00

Last weekend, we traveled to Joggins Fossil Cliffs:

Joggins is located on the head of Bay of Fundy, famous for its high tide -- the marks on this wind turbine shows the range between lowest and highest tides at Joggins, which is about 15 meters.

The tidal action causes steady erosion of the 23 metres' high cliffs, constantly revealing new fossils.

This cliff looks like the sculpture of "Mount Rushmore National Memorial":

Joggins is a former coal mining area; but it closed after Springhill mining disaster (1958). Coal can be easily found on the beach.

Most of the famous and important fossils are now in the museum:

What we found:

It is very important to check the timetable of tide before heading to Joggins; staying on the beach two hours before/ after the highest tide is dangerous. We arrived there at five in the afternoon, which was three hours after the highest tide. Look at the beautiful ocean:

A funny stone:

Baby mud Shrimp:

Soft beach:

Sunshine:

Here it is -- Sunset!

After seven, it became foggy and windy, the new tide was coming:

So long...

Braised chicken leg with green onion

2008-06-29T15:03:00.002-03:00

This braised chicken leg tastes so wonderful. I love the strong aroma of green onion, it's so... special.

Preparation:

Rinse chicken legs well and marinate them in the mixture of dark soy sauce and salt.

Cook:

(1) Heat wok or skillet under high power;

(2) Lay a large bunch of green onion at the bottom of hot wok or skillet;

(3) Lay chicken legs on green onion with skin side down. Chicken skin and green onion are both browned by the fat of chicken, the mixed aroma develops -- smells great!

(4) Turn chicken legs over, let the other side be browned.

(5) Pour marinating sauce into the wok or skillet, sprinkle 2 tbsp of sugar over the skin of legs, cover and let cook for 10 minutes under medium power;

(6) Turn legs over, cook for another 10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 F;

(7) Increase heat to medium high, condense sauce until legs are evenly covered with thick sauce and only clear oil can be seen left in the wok or skillet;

(8) Drain fat from legs and transfer cooked legs to plate.

Believe it or not, the taste of "dark onion" is also amazing.

Another simple asparagus

2008-06-25T21:21:00.001-03:00

For my tips on how to preserve asparagus, please visit: How to keep asparagus fresh

Directions:

(1) Rinse asparagus and trim off tough ends;

(2) Cut asparagus into three portions; halve the thick portion lengthwise, but don't break the delicate part;

(3) In a skillet, add chicken stock (about 1 cm deep) and 1 tsp salt, bring to boil;

(4) Place in asparagus (one layer only, don't stack), cover and simmer for 3 minutes under low heat, and transfer asparagus to a plate;

(5) Repeat until all asparagus has been cooked;

(6) Whisk into 2 tbsp tapioca starch, condense the sauce;

(7) Drizzle sauce on mushroom and asparagus, serve immediately.

Asparagus looks very fresh, doesn't it?