Off for two weeks

Hey Dear Blog friends! to avoid boring your eyes with uncreative food, I will take two weeks off ….to prepare the dissertation proposal defense. kinda lack of sleep already recently:-D

Will be Back soooooon!

XOXO

Tou Tou

Finally, My Waffle Maker is HERE !!!!!!!!!!

Can’t be more excited to try out this new baby!!!!!!!!

The people from Wayfair  generously offer me a double duty , waffle/pocket sandwich maker to review. What an awesome opportunity! hoooray!!! I have been waiting, waiting, waiting, and finally its here!!!

So my breakfast becomes much fancier this morning

you know I eat a lot for breakfast 😀  Today’s breakfast menus is:

Home-made soymilk ( with soybeans and Goji berries)

Waffle (oh yah!) x2 + laughing cow

grapefruit

1/4 cup of walnuts ( I already ate them , no pics sorry :-P)

This is the first time I have home-made waffle , with a bit creations here. I used:

Bean dregs ( leftovers from making soymilk) + wheat bran + whole wheat flour + flaxseed + 1 egg

The waffle maker is really cool –

My Review:

Functionality: 5/5. It’s pretty small (as you can see from above, only two pocket), perfect for one person. I haven’t tried out the pocket sandwich yet – but can’t wait!!! it’s fun to have a double duty waffle maker, isn’t it 😛

Easiness to use: 4.8/5. the waffle plate and the sandwich plate are all cast-iron, non-stick. I am actually surprised how easy to get the waffle out, and how crispy the waffle is. It takes about 3 min to pre-heat, and 4 min to get waffle done. The only problem I have is it takes a bit long to cool it completely down.

Easiness to clean: 4.8/5! It just can’t be easier to clean, since it’s non-stick plate, just wipe it with the paper tower and good for next morning 😀 or you can wait till it cools down a bit and rinse it ( and maybe u need to wait for another half an hour :p)

Price : $47.99

Over all, I am pretty happy with this new baby.  I give it a 4.9/5 highly recommend this 😀 (or maybe you can interpret it as “I am way to excited to try out home-made waffle” ). anyway, this is a pretty good choice if you are looking for a waffle maker, at a reasonable price. Don’t forget you can also made pocket sandwich with it ..he he he he he, I am already drooling on a ooey gooey cheese pocket sandwich ~~~~

Speak of the toppings for waffle – I tried the laughing cow today 😀 coz I am kinda craving for something salty and milky. I am also thinking of pineapple as toppings. Can anyone give me some ideas for the toppings??? how do you like your waffles ??? Thanks a lot for making my breakfast more exciting!!!!

Happy 101 Award & Chinese Chives Dumplings

Happy 101 Award ?!  Best award ever 😀 I am so happy to get this award from LeQuan @LUVTOEAT.  She is an awesome Mom with adorable kids and a very happy family!!! Please stop by and say hi for me 🙂

isn’t that nice ~~ People who have joy and peace in mind can stay strong for all the obstacles in life. Happiness for me is to be appreciated with what I have and enjoying the life as it is.

This award ask me to 10 things that make me happy (in no particular order):

There are a lot!!!!

1. Progress in my work.

2. Chat with friends, or even gossip 😛

3. See my parents getting healthier and younger

4. Driving the car up and down hills

5. Grocery shopping

6. Almonds and Chocolate (oh pleeeease!)

7. Trying new recipes

8. Going to pier one and get some new plates

9. Traveling

10. Taking pictures

I want to pass this award to :

coco @ balance, joy and delicias

Aletheia @ La Fille Naturelle

Sophia @ Burp and Slurp

Joanne @ Eat well with others

Lynn @ The Actors Diet

and so on and so on….I hope all my dear blog friends are happy in 2010!

Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink).
3. List 10 things that make you happy.
4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know about the award.

Okay, Back to Eats.

What’s the most popular Chinese veggies in spring????  I would say ” Chinese Chives”! with a very special taste like combined garlic and onions, are my favorite. Chinese Chives “contain much carotene, vitamin B and C. The volatile oil of Chinese chives is believed to heal bruises and kill germs in the intestines. Eating fresh Chinese chive helps heal bruises”

The Chinese Chives Dumplings/Box is a very typical spring food in China – you will love it once u smell it from the kitchen :-D. I was kind encouraged by Joanne’s “dumpling” creations. So finally I summon up all my courage and make the first Chinese Chives Dumplings in my life!

It’s actually easier than I thought:

The flat green leaf is the Chinese Chives (don’t miss it when u see it next time:-P). I use about 1 cup of black fungus, 3 eggs, 2 Cup of whole wheat flour for this recipe.

1. Chop the Chives

2. scramble the eggs

3. finely chop the black fungus, and mix everything together, add salt and white pepper to taste.  I also add two tsp of sesame oil to add some extra sesame flavors 🙂

4. Make the whole wheat dough by adding warm water to it. Roll it out , put the fillings in, and wrap it. press the edges with fork.

hehe, you can clearly tell which is the first one I made! the second one looks much, much, much better !

5. Heat the pan and lightly spray it. Put the big box in  – about 3 minutes per side.  Then the kitchen got smoky!!!!!!! 😛 hahaha, just kidding. You should turn down the heat a bit while pan frying it.

Viola !

the whole wheat wrap is so chewy , the filling is very juicy, well, in a green way :-P. the flavor of the chives blends very well with the eggs. Black fungus adds a bit crunchiness to the filling, which can be replaced with shrimps or grounded pork if you like 🙂

Viola !

the whole wheat wrap is so chewy , the filling is very juicy, well, in a green way :-P. the flavor of the chives blends very well with the eggs. Black fungus adds a bit crunchiness to the filling, which can be replaced with shrimps or grounded pork if you like 🙂

I really wish you are here to share it, my dear blog friends !

My Appetite Flares up!!!Flower Radish Cake

Finally the allergy cleared up, and I can enjoy the spring now! my poor stomach , which has suffered in the last two weeks , now need a fix!!!! I am craving for some very Chinese food today!!! M’mmmm, even it normally takes longer time for me to prepare a real Chinese meal, but, worth the effort 🙂

I spend 1 hour making this dish ( normally I ONLY spend 15 min!!!) – Flower Radish Cake

This is a very traditional dim sum , but I made a slight twist – without steaming and frying , which saves lot of trouble. And, it is actually called radish cake instead of FLOWER radish cake. but I feel like call it so !!!!

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium sized radish, shredded in the food processor.

2. 1/3 cup of Edamame, coarse chopped.

3. 3 shiitaki mushroom, which brings nice smoke flavor. Miced.

4. Chinese Sausage , smoked, sweet flavored, with lots of good fat :-D. Miced

5. salt, white pepper , and 2 tsp of sesame oil.

6. 1/2 cup of flour ( or rice flour).

Steps:

1. Mix everything together, give it a good stir.

2. spray a muffin pan. scoop the mix in the pan, and then, don’t forget to spray a bit more oil on the top of the “muffin” , to prevent it dried out in the oven.

3. 350 degree oven, for 25 minutes, they are sizzling inside!!!!!!!!

Then, let it sit for about 5 min, take it out with care. unless u put enough amount of flour, this flower radish cake gonna collapse! 😀 handle with care, please!

I definitely love this delicate flavor from radish and Chinese sausage which are lightly sweet, along with the smoky flavor from shiitake mushroom, and nutty edamame, just melt in your mouth 😀

M’mmm, it just made my day!!!

Powered by Breakfast

Nice Weather outside 😀 want to take a day off, do some reading and have some fun in spring!

What is your favorite meal of the day?????

mine is breakfast. normally lunch is either at school or quick at home, I am not really in a mood to prepare for a fancy meal. and dinner, while, since I am eating alone, have a big table set up sounds a bit weired.

But breakfast is different. I have pretty good mood to prepare a big plate, cutting fruits, churning oats, toasting bread, spreading cheese, adding a bit almonds , biting a few chocolates….oh man. I can’t believe I am eating so much for breakfast!

Today’s Breakfast Menu :

Soymilk made with black rice, black bean, soy bean, walnuts, almonds, and peanuts.

pink grapefruit

Baked egg

steel-cut oats with wheat bran and blueberries.

the soymilk ingredients

The steel-cut oats is now my favorite. The “creamy” texture drag me from bed early in the morning . I found a trick to easily prepare this take-forever-to-boil steel cut oats: bring the water and the steel cut oats to boil , and turn off the stove. let it sit over night with the lid on. then the next day, it only takes about 10 minutes to be ready to serve.

and the EGGGGGGG:

Unexpectedly Delicious!!!!

I am not a big egg eater-never really eat eggs for breakfast, but this one will be added to my breakfast menu for the next week, or maybe next month!!!!!!! I have never tried a baked egg. just kinda did it for fun this morning because of the cute bakeware I got in pier one the other day. I didn’t expected it would be so yum!

I did NOTHING, just sprinkle pinch salt, lemon &pepper, plus dills. Baked at 350 degree for 10 mins while I was cooking oats. I would highly recommend u try this one out.  I promise you will love it !!!

and what sweetens the deal is, the people from CSN Stores have generously offers me an opportunity to review a product from their website with a pretty cool name: Home Bars.

Oh yeah, right on!!! I am such a breakfast person 😀 that I am totally into a waffle maker!! I am amazed by the wide selections they have, yet it doesn’t take long for me to decide which product I want to review: a double duty waffle and sandwich maker. M’mmm, I am already thinking of thousands of waffle and sandwich recipes for my breakfast menu!!! Just can’t wait 🙂

A Gooda Gooda Friday ~~~~

Finally I know why I got allergies this spring, obviously its because of my dissertation work!

We got T-storm last night, and the temperature coming back down to 60 something (from 90F!!!, can u believe it , in April, in Maryland!) my skin allergy gets better, and my car is free of yellow pollens , woooohoooo!!!!!

and, what make the life sweeter, I got the chocolate bar from Aletheia !!!

a 70% organic chocolate with gingerbread ( Oh yeah GINGER BREAD! GINGER BREAD!GINGER BREAD! my FAV!!! that x’mas is not over yet, hehe), cranberries and Mandarin. it just made my day. I feel soooo much better from long day of work and seminars and meetings, and finally get into the Friday mood!

I met with Aletheia here, on my food blog, when I just started it last October. We kinda see each others’ “path” on the food blog. thoughts, comments, emails,  and food creations, bind us in a unique and amazing way. I have never met her since she is so far in Canada, however, I have a feeling that if we see each other one day, there will be endless chatting and laughing between us. why? I don’t know. Sometimes I just got the instinct that we are totally “matched’ type of people. Alethia is a very thoughtful young girl ( yeah, much younger than me ), and she does the blog just for the blog instead of something else. If you got chance, please stop by and say hi to this sweet girl !!!

Dark chocolate, my cup of tea. forever. Never get bored savoring a piece of chocolate.

I add this precious gift to my chocolate collection:

while, actually I am a bit over -do in the chocolate collection:

haha…

em….don’t misunderstand me, i am not living on chocolate. I still eat normally food:

This is the last post of my salmon series: Simple Asparagus with Smoked Salmon.

Sauté the asparagus with pinch salt. add smoked salmon.  that’s it. like 5 min meal!  I like the soft texture of smoked salmon, and of cause its very special flavor. Yet it is a bit salty eating it directly. I think use it as pizza topping, or in sandwich might be better.

Blogging adds color to my life , and brings REAL friends to my life. Thank you all, dear blog friends. I hope every one has a wonderful weekend!!!!

A Post For You, My Dear Blog Friends :-D

My Dear blog friends,  this post for you – thank you so much for your care and warm words, and for your email that makes me feel you are so real. I took leave on my food blog for sooooo long, because I had a really bad allergy  , and still having it. It start from skin rush and now my head spins too. I really really really want to go out and enjoy the sunshine, yet my skin now kind of very sensitive and I am suggested to stay in doors as much as possible. But anyway, blogging about food m and  meeting all sincere friends here definitely make me feel better.  I just keep my finger crossed that this allergy season will be over soon, and I hope you are not suffering from this in such beautiful spring!

Well, talking about sickness is NOT fun at all. I want to talk about FOOOOOD!

continue my smoked salmon series : Portabella Smoked Salmon Pizza

A portabella like my palm size :

half it, and top with some smoked salmon and shredded italian cheese:

and some dill, maybe ? 😛 reminds me of the smoked salmon wasabi pizza I had in China!!!

Bake for about 25 min, at 350 oven.

Viola !

doesn’t look very good, wahaha, but taste awesome, I love that crispy smoked salmon , and I know its so weird I am not eating it directly from the bag 😀

pairing with the whole wheat bread from coco:

makes my day ! yah!

My dear blog friends, I hope you all stay healthy in 2010!!!