I'll Be Away!

Dear Readers,

I will be away from my blog for a little while. All our things will be arriving today and we will be at our new home. I am not sure when I am able to get Internet access there so I might not be able to update my blog for the time being. You can still leave me a message here or email me if you have any questions and I will get to it as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I've just posted some pictures of our move from PA at my other blog and you can go and check it out. I hope you have a wonderful day and for those of you who are still celebrating Chinese New Year, have a good time with family and friends. Take care and see you soon!

Meat Spring Rolls

Hi everyone!! Greetings from SF. Carlos and I are here already but still living in the hotel the company set up for us as our things are still on the way here. Hopefully it will arrive by this week. Anyway, hope all of you are having a wonderful Chinese New Year celebration especially spending time with your family and friends and not to mention all the yummy food. This year CNY is a very low key one for us. We just went out for dinner on the 1st day of CNY but I plan to cook something either on the 9th day or the 15th day of CNY once we are all settle into our new home. I will post some pictures here later on of our new home.

Now back to these spring rolls. I made these last month with some leftovers spring rolls wrappers. Instead of the usual vegetables filling I used meat instead. It tastes pretty similar to the Vietnamese fried spring rolls or the Filipino lumpia and goes really well with rice or you can serve it as appetizer. Some people do pre-cooked the filling first but I don’t. Just make sure you don’t put too much filling in it and fried them over medium high heat so that the filling gets cooked inside.

Happy New Year/Gong Xi Fatt Chai

To my dear family, friends and blog readers,

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you A Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year. May the year of Dragon bring all of you good health, wealth, happiness, peace and joy!!

Mixed Fruits in Honey Ginger Dressing

We are at the peak of our moves and I am just too tired to prepare anything elaborate. So it will be very simple meal like sandwiches or take out meal for us this week as all the pots, pans and kitchen utensils are all packed away in boxes. It finally sinks in when I see all the boxes everywhere that we are leaving this place we called home for 6 years. It is sad to leave our very dear niece Diana and friends. All our dear friends who had become our family over here, the stories that we share, and the good times that we have together will be forever in our heart. I hope all of you will come and visit us soon

Enough of my rambling and now back to this mixed fruit salad. I prepared this mixed fruits salad for our lunch over the weekend using whatever fruits that is left in the fridge. You can use any fresh fruits you have in hand.

New York Style Cheesecake with Blueberry Compote

I finally used up the last batch of frozen blueberries in my freezer to make some compote to go with this cheesecake. Baked cheesecake is such a treat and often well received by your family and guests. I served this to a friend of mine who came to visit me before our move and she really likes it. The creamy taste of the cheesecake went so well with the juicy sweetness of the blueberries and paired perfectly with a strong cup of coffee. I baked this in 2 small 6” spring form pan and gave one to my friend to take home.

For the Crust:

1/4 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

Roast Pork Loin with Teriyaki Orange Glaze

non-halal

If I cook with pork, one of my favorite cuts of meat will be the tenderloin. I love how versatile it is and you can cook it any way you like and it won’t turn out dry or chewy. I usually like grilling at the BBQ stove during warm season but as for winter I will usually roast it in the oven. They always turn out moist and succulent. I totally transform Carlos into liking pork with this method of cooking and now this is one of his favorite dishes. In fact I still have two strips of it in the freezer waiting for him and Diana to come home so I can cook it for them next week. With the leftovers we will make sandwich out of it the next day. As for the glaze, you can use it on chicken or fish.

Ingredients:

1 piece of pork tenderloin (about 1 1/2 pound)

Ingredients for the rub:

1 teaspoons salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp olive oil

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries

Vanilla panna cotta is such a refreshingly light yet extremely popular Italian dessert. These softly set and creamy Italian puddings are so silky smooth that they are just delightful to have at the end of a meal and they look really elegant too. It can be served simply with any type of fruit toppings, caramel sauce and even chocolate sauce and it is always one of my favorite desserts. Since I still have some vanilla beans I decided to use them to make this panna cotta instead of vanilla extract. As for the topping I macerate the strawberries in balsamic vinegar with a bit of sugar. The tangy taste of the strawberries goes so well with the silky panna cotta.

Turkey Sausage with Mushroom Galette

18 more days and we will move out of this house and I am a bit overwhelmed now. Zue came and visit me today and I gave her my curry and kaffir lime plants. It saddens to see it go but I can’t bring the plant into CA but I know Zue will take good care of it. I tried packing up as much as I could especially the personal stuffs and the rest I am just going to leave it for the packers and movers. Carlos will be home next weekend and take care and co-ordinate the move. I miss him a lot and it is no fun being all alone here. I can’t wait to see him. Anyway, back to the galette.

This past two weeks I’ve been trying to clear up my freezer and fridge. Man, there was so much crap I freeze in there ha ha.. From meat, seafood, fruits, vegetables, pastries and etc.. I can use all of it to feed an army without buying anything from the supermarket. I made this galette with some the leftover turkey sausage and pastry I had in there. Galette is a free form pastry that can be filled with savory or sweet fillings. They can be served as appetizer, a meal or dessert. It is incredibly versatile and simply delicious.