Poached Cod with Tomato and Saffron and Cauliflower sidedish

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted recipes or food/restaurant things… or anything really at all.. I’ve been having too fabulous of a time having fun, cooking ALL the time with L<3 and having adventures and traveling.  I’ll try to add some posts of some special eats I’ve made, eaten and done recently…. including Taiwan posts!  I’m back!!!!

Ingredients:
SERVINGS: 2
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1 14.5-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
¼ cup dry white wine
1/4 cup rice wine
1 cup boiling water
2 bay leaves
pinch of saffron threads
1 fresh rosemary stick
paprika (to taste)
sea salt and white pepper, freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
2 5-oz. skinless cod fillets

Over low-medium heat, add the oil, garlic and hot chili flakes and without adding color to the garlic, just cook until it smells absolutely delicious – about 3-5 minutes.

Afterwards, add in the canned whole unpeeled tomatoes, crushing it while you dump them in.  Don’t add the juice, and make sure not to get splashed by the hot oil.. I  have battle scars.  Then, add the wine, bay leaves and cook it to a boil on high and then turn it back down to medium.  Taste taste taste. Salt and Black/White Pepper to taste.

I took my two fillets and dusted each side with Black Pepper, Paprika.   After placing it in the pan, after a few minutes, I flipped them and added whole rosemary and the rice wine into the pan.  This was basically all to taste.  I also added a little more paprika to the sauce.  Cook until the fish it tender but starting to flake.

Side Dish:

Roasted Cauliflower & Baby Carrots.  I just sprinkled it with fig blamasic vinagrette (or a ny flavor you love), EVOO, Salt and Pepper, Orange Zest and chopped Rosemary… oh and some of my homemade Duck Fat, Shallots and a few finely minced garlic!  Just cook on 450 til your liking.

Put the fish in a shallow bowl, and then pour the sauce over the fish.  Garnish with a bit of rosemary for some green.  Pour some of the wine you cooked with (cuz you never cook with wine you won’t drink) and enjoy!

Btw, i swear the Kimchi recipe is currently in thr works. :] Will be up tonight or tomorrow!

Happy Mothers Day 2014 at Cottage Wellesley

I’m behind on my Mother’s Day Post….. I took my mama to The Cottage in Wellesley for the special day…

We got there in time for the reservation but still had to wait awhile for our table… which was kind of disappointing – and annoying.

Me and my beautiful mommy…

I got her flowers delivered to the restaurant… which she loved because she loves purple roses and we both took a million pictures… this is one of my favorites… she will always be the most beautiful woman I know in my life.

We got a half bottle of champagne to celebrate the day.

Cheers to you mommy for being the most amazing woman in my life.

We said no to bread but they gave it to us anyway and it was SO GOOD.  Warm creamy butter and hot delicious fluffy bread. YAY – so bad for us since we’re both carb-o-holics.  It was kind of foccacia-y….

For appetizers we got  a grilled vegetable salad and fried eggplant fries.

DUDE.

FRIED. EGGPLANT. FRIES.

They came with a sauce that kind of tasted like a tartar sauce mixed with a thousand island dressing…. but just on it’s own it was…. light, fluffy, crisp outside and soooo soft and yummy inside – NOT OILY AT ALL.

They actually split our salad for us.  It came with avocado… like a split whole avocado between the two of us… grilled red peppers… asparagus… corn… squash… different kinds of greens… it was just beautiful… you didn’t even need the dressing to make it delicious.

This was my duck duo – which was duck leg confit and duck breast. BEAUTIFUL.  Pickled Cabbage and mandarin slices.

Mama got the sweet potato crusted cod with Potatoes and corn…. also completely amazing.

 

When we got home I made us Watermelon Margaritas with just Fresh Watermelon and Patron in my vitamix. YAYYYYYY

 I love you Mommy

岩波庭餐廳 Zen Garden Fusion Cuisine

Being in Yilan…. at the spa resort, my uncle reserved a place for us at the Zen Fusion for dinner…. basically we got a set menu and it was DELICIOUS.

We all wore the kimonos that the spa provided…. which was sooooooooo inspiring and free-feeling

Sparkling Sake… oh Uncle, you know me too well

Delicious Scallion Bread…… Yilan is known for their scallions…. so this was amazing

Afterwords when my family went up to the rooms to gossip and talk I stayed at the bar… having whiskey and wine.

Before heading to the hot springs bath in my room to chill out with a bottle of wine.

Life is just so grand.

鹅肉郎海鲜 for Goose and Seafood

After the amazing day and night at the spa… and a super fun day visiting the cultural center and island for biking and coffee… we finally id what we wanted to do.

Eat. Goose.

So off to 鹅肉郎海鲜… one of my uncle’s favorite places in Yilan.

GOOSE…. we ended up ordering two geese of this and another whole goose to go.

Yummy Greens

DELIIIIICOUS noodles <3 Tender, with chew and just perfection.

Spicy Clams with Basil

Fish Soup

Fried Fish <3

Squid with Ginger

I was so full I was up at 2, 3 in the morning and still FULL and bloated. SOOOOO freaking good.. if you’re ever in the area  YOU BEST GO. YEAH BOIIIII….  Uncle even got me beers to go with the food haha…. he knows me too well….

Dim Sum at 新葡苑 – Cantonese Style

Was ridiculously hungry today… I slept in til super late…. so by the time I was up it was tea time….. which is usually between 2-4 in Taiwan… instead of going to one of my go-to places to eat… I decided to finally try out the Cantonese restaurant I’ve been wanting to try for awhile and just never went to… 新葡苑…. while the waitresses all had stinky faces and meh attitudes… the food was freshly made/steamed…. it took awhile for each dish to come out but it was definitely worth it. If you’re into small dishes and trying lots of different things, this is the place to go.  Don’t expect HUGE portions… but expect fresh, hot and yummy!

Delicious “health” tea.. which had goji, jujubes and lots of different asian herbs… naturally sweet and just delicious.

I’m hungry, please feed me…. waiting for the food was SOOOOOO frustrating because it WAS slow… but, like I said, it was worth it.

叉燒酥 which is basically.. .Char Siu Sou…. Flakey Buttery Pastry with Char Siu Pork inside…. this was the only thing I wasn’t really into… I’m not into Char Siu… and I thought the outside was too buttery for a savory dish…

Squid Ink Dumplings… this was amazing… Seafood innards and just the most delicious thin squid ink wrapper… NOM NOM NOM

Boy Choy and Mushroom, Veggie Dumplings. This was actually my favorite of the meal.

Leek Pan Fried er… bun/thing.. uhhh yumminess?!… needed  more leek/onion taste.. but the skin was crispy and delicious… the filling needed a little more ooomph

Fried Shrimp Roll… we actually ordered a steamed one but they got it wrong and gave us this instead… so we kept it, ate it and re-ordered what we wanted. I’m not a huge fried food fan, so good but not a favorite.  But that’s just personal preference.

Pork Ribs.  Sadly, while it was good, there was little meat and mostly bone :[ Sad. I LOOOOOOVE Pork Ribs at dim sum…. they need to give more, and actually give ribs WITH meat.

Chicken Feet. My favorite Dim Sum item.  It wasn’t greasy like a lot of other places.. had a nice black bean taste to it… not spicy  and just yummy. I can eat tons and tons of chicken feet for ages.

Trotters…. aka Pigs Feet… the same thing as with the Pork Ribs… a lot of bone, not a lot of meat… but I did get some good skin.. and some meat.. so it wasn’t too sad… it was a bit too sweet for my taste and it was on a bed of boiled peanuts.  I did love the addition of cilantro… I LOVE CILANTRO… it really enhanced the flavor of the pork feet…. just wish there was more meat/skin to it than just bone.

This is the steamed vegetarian tofu skin roll that they got the order wrong of before…. I had a better pic but I’m too lazy to re-upload.  This always reminds me of my dad cuz it’s his favorite dim sum dish :]

燒賣, Shu Mai… of course… it’s so typical but I love this shizz… 

After a nice walk…. I went to my fav place for boozy coffee drinks… Cafe Kitchen… got a Rum Coffee and a Jameson Whiskey Coffee… 

YAYAYAYAYAYAY… I’m a LUSH

Me after my lovely massage :]

EVA Hello Kitty from LAX to Taipei!!!!!….

For once I had a plane ride at 6pm instead of 6am….  so off I go…. Boston to LA….

I’m excited for the warmer weather…. so tank top it is

Got a yummy Chicken Marinara with Green Beans over Rice meal… Salad, Roll, Butter, the works… had some nuts too…. MMM, nuts… (I may have already snacked and had a few glasses of free booze at the VIP Airlines Lounge earlier…)

LA!!!!… Beautiful view…

Sat in the VIP lounge and ate tons of food include this self made “Asian Salad” with Champagne….  I took some of the “Asian Salad with Wonton Strips” And added some Teriyaki Chicken to it… why not?!… a lot of the other stuff didn’t look too appealing except for Korean Ramen and Japanese Noodles… all which was consumed (duh)

WAIT “Why is this a Hello Kitty ticket?????”

HOLY CRAP!!! We’re on the EVA HELLO KITTY PLANE!!!!

Life is now… complete!!!!

Scallops

Sea Bass? It was freaking CHILEAN SEA BASS!!!! SOOOOO good… and of course more and more booze…

And los of veg…

Dessert was fruits and a yummy mousse cake, some tea… and more wine :]

Midnight snack while watching FROZEN was a Turkey Sandwich… which, I have to say was greasy and pretty gross….. sorry EVA… I didn’t like it, maybe I would’ve more if there was a Hello Kitty face on it…

Breakfast Time…

Coffee….

Congee…. with 1000 yr egg, fried tofu with fish ball…. shredded dried pork, Fermented Spicy Tofu, pickles… and then some…

And fruits <3

Oh hello…. Taiwan beer… I’m definitely back in Taiwan

WEEEEEEEEE 5am and ready to party

Yes we’re back in Taiwan

Best Vegas Trip Ever… NICK CARTER – I LOVE YOU ELLIOT [Day 3]

So we realized the day before that NICK CARTER + LAUREN KITT were having their bachelor and bachelorette party at the Palms!!! WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!!… Insane. They went to MOON the night we were at Light, but we HAD to get into the “official” party at Ghostbar.. and while we were told to go to XS or something, WE HAD TO GO. It’s fucking NICK FUCKING CARTER!!!!!…. So thank you to my sexiest Brit friend Elliot we got in :] I love you, you beautiful creature you <3 I’m so glad you’re coming back to the States soon… ok.. I’m off track…

After last night.. this was us basically all day.

But somehow we functioned… had leftover pizza from… yeah the night before.. we woke up all bruised and cut up, WTF?! I think we fought drunk bitches or SOMETHING… I needed to pick out something awesome for Nick Carter’s party and ended up with this….

And Kelly is a creeper – I LOVE IT

Hair done. Dress did.  How I look?

And then the red lipstick came on… and it was BRING IT.

TWINSIESSSSSSSSSS

We were vampires for the night. Sequin black dresses and red lips :] AHHH!!!!!

She always has the same face… mine is rarely ever normal.

First off, dinner at Nove Italiano… which is an awesome story in itself.

We went to Nove Italiano

Amuse Bouche… I don’t even remember what it was.. I think some raw fish bite…

YAY “Hosemade” Sausage – we actually got this tho hahaha…

The “Bread” it looks so sad and bare on there…

Shrimp Franchaise…
It just says on the menu “the best you’ve ever had” BUT MOTHERFUCKER.. it tasted like old shrimp and it gave me FOOD FUCKING POISONING.. I was puking at the club after…. UGH.. there was no texture.. so we ate it with the breadsticks… this definitely needs some crunch factor.. and fresher shrimp. UGH.

It’s okay tho the other food made up for it.

The Classic Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad: Pesto, Pine Nuts, Mozzarella Di Bufala

I like how they split everything for us in half without us needing to share it off of a plate.

Branzino with Salsa Verde

It was good but not amazing… they did filet it and split it for us.. I duno it just seemed….. subpar?! It wasn’t bad and it was definitely fresh and tasty.. but not for 46$

The highlight of the night was the Spaghetti & Meatballs with Sausage: Veal & Pork Meatballs, Housemade Sausage, Basil, Tomato

I could NOT stop eating it… Kelly was DONE like barely a quarter way thru and she went to the bathroom and I devoured most of it. THE PASTA IS SOOOOO GOOOOOOD…..

AND THEN they gave us a special treat of biscottis for Kelly’s Bday. Thanks Caesar. You were an awesome waiter minus the shrimp recommendation.

We are ready for Ghostbar.

The view from Ghostbar

So right before Nick came out I was feeling SOOOO shitty.. I had a redbull vodka.. and I just wanted to leave. I ended up puking up all that BAD SHRIMP, cough cough hint hint and felt soooo much better… but that’s not the end of my throwing up story…. but first. Glow sticks and Nick<3

So while they were outside on the balcony I was freezing so I went inside. I kept trying to sit down somewhere but they were all VIP tables and some bitch/girl would always tell me NO. Luckily [maybe] RIGHT by the door while Kelly was outside taking pics of Nick and Lo a group of guys let me sit down at their table for a drink.

In my head was just “OMG SEAT!!!” I don’t even know WTF they made me but it tasted HIDEOUS and within a few seconds of a micro half sip I was ready to puke.  I ran into the bathroom and security came to check on me.  I got all the usual questions, where are we, what club, what year, the president, I was sober as FUCK and they realized that those guys tried to ROOFIE me.

YES. You heard it here, I got ROOFIED in Vegas and they FAILED at it.  Luckily, Kelly found me and we went back to the hotel.  UNHARMED.  The female security and main security guy said that I was lucky that I caught on and threw it all up. PHEW.

But at least I didn’t miss seeing Nick & Lo being an adorable beautiful couple together. <3 Thanks Kelly for putting up with my food poisoning and being roofied.. first time for everything right?!

Fattest Country in the World ISNT the USA

As of July 2013

Apparently the US is no longer the fattest country in the world….. it’s Mexico.  70% of Mexicans are obsese. Absolutely terrifying.

Mexico has surpassed the United States as the world’s fattest nation, with 32.8% of its population now classed as obese.

This worrying figure is higher than the percentage of obese US citizens, who weigh in at 32%.

The information comes from a report by the United Nations charting obesity rates across the world.

It reveals that 70% of Mexicans are overweight and childhood obesity figures have tripled in the last decade. – Source

and I was actually surprised that the UK wasn’t in the top 5.  I have been so obsessed with “Supersize vs Superskinny” and “Secret Eaters” Shows and many more that I really thought the UK was one of the top one. I was super surprised with NZ and Aussie. AND wtf is Finland food???…… OK I’m gonna put my ideas in PINK after each one.

#1 – Mexico: They may be the world’s fattest country with a 32.8% obesity rate, but they may also have the world’s best food. (Source: United Nations)

Fried. Tortillas. Corn. Meats. Cheese. Fat. Delicious. I get it.  What I DON’T get is that I feel like Mexican food CAN be healthy. Guacamole. Fresh salsas…. WTF. Too much fried food, sour cream and margaritas I guess?!… FUCK THAT. I love margaritas. But I guess it’s like the US…. fresh food costs more than convenience food. That and too much cheese.

#2 – United States: We may not be the world’s fattest country anymore, but we may still be the best at being fat. We did turn eating food into a competition, after all. Obesity rate: 31.8%. (Source: United Nations)

Not that hard to realize. Fruit costs more than the 1$ menu at Mcdonalds… which doens’t mean I don’t like my occasional fries and nuggets but you know what I mean. It’s sad. And this makes me sad. Bad food is cheaper than healthy food.

#3 – New Zealand: The United Nations says New Zealand has an obesity rate of 26.5%. That said, it’s really hard to find a picture of anyone in New Zealand eating or looking unhealthy… (Source: United Nations)

So I had to google this.  And this is what I found….  still need a good reason…. I had a good gf who went to school in NZ and she is sexy as hell.

Yeah I have fucking hot gfs… BUT hey it might be our asian genes…. but still.. blaming obsesity on genes or junk food is just LAME.

#4 – Chile: Some of the best seafood and wine around comes from Chile, so we get it. Obesity rate: 25.1%.(Source: United Nations)

 Actually not sure about this. I dated a Chilean guy who said that they weren’t into “bigger” people and it being a South American place I’d figure it wouldn’t be a problem.

#5 – Australia: When most people think of Australia, tanned beach bodies dotting the country’s coastlines come to mind, so it comes as a bit of a shocker that the nation cracks the Top 5 in world’s fattest, with an obesity rate of 24.6%. (Source: United Nations)

NO IDEA.

#6 – Canada: Canada’s 24.2% obesity rate gives North America its third country in the Top 10 in obesity.(Source: United Nations)

One word: Poutine.

#7 – United Kingdom: America’s fat gene may have been passed down from our colonial parents who have a 23% obesity rate. (Source: United Nations)

Srsly, how are they not right after or before US? All they do is eat takeout and curry and fried crap and fry ups and SHIT SHIT SHIT. Sorry.

#8 – Ireland: Slainte! Obesity rate: 23%. (Source: United Nations)

Meat and Potatoes…. and Guinness?!

#9 – Luxembourg: If you were sandwiched between the world class chefs in France, Belgium and Germany, you might be a little pudgy, too. Obesity rate: 22.1%. (Source: United Nations)

Don’t Germans just drink DAS BOOT and eat like brats?…. and Pretzels… and what saukraut? I guess that’s not healthy but I duno I feel like Euros are either starving or eating shitty greasy fatty fried food,

#10. Finland Traditional Finnish food includes fresh fish, cabbage and wild game – all relatively healthy eats. What gives? Obesity rate: 20.2%. (Source: United Nations)

HAHAHAH so wrong but I saw this forum thread about “Why are Finnish women so fat” so now I read ——— OK now all I read about on google is why are Finnish people so ugly… UHHHHHH……. so this remains another MYSTERY!!!!

Sources:
Health Zone
Huffington Post

Homemade Thai Red Curry with Cod

I decided to go out of my comfort zone and cook Thai Red Curry tonight.  I made Thai curry once….. I think green? Or whichever. and it was meh, it was also in college… and me and my then boyfriend had to taste and tweak the entire time – It wasn’t bad… so glad my cooking skills have improve since then

I Vitamixed all the ingredients… added extra thai chilis, a habanero, extra ginger and extra lemongrass and garlic for more punch I don’t like going by recipes…. I’m a rebel

After the sauce started bubbling [oh I used LIGHT coconut milk for a little more healthy kick] I added in my veggies… chopped green beans, multi colored peppers….. red onion and eggplant…

After cooking for awhile I put in my cod and slowly added in some fresh basil

One for mama, one for me

Spicy, ilght and delicious!!!!!  FULL of veggies and delicious Cod.  Can’t wait to make it for J <3

BTW, Crazy bruins game tonight…. we were leading and then WTF 3x OT!?!?!?!

No worries… we let you win tonight Chi…… so it doesn’t look as bad when we win the rest :]

Miami Day 3… Pool, Cigars, Bubble Bath and Blade Sushi at Fountainbleau

After a super crazy fun night… we just wanted to relax… and cover up from all our sunburns.. of course J took caution and I didn’t…

Ready to beach….

After our free breakfast!!!

That’s a pulled beef  benedict…. OMG….

We also got some cigars for later…

Adult Pool

Beach

Yep I got tanner and burn-ier….

And then it was cigar time.. the “cheaper” one so we can compare

GANGSTA YO

And then I left J to the balcony and a good book and I decided to bubble bath…. not enough bubbles….

CAW CAW CAW CAW

Ok too many bubbles…

Drowning…

UHHH…

I am now dubbed the bubble/foam Queen <3

This is After I let the water out and got out of the tub…

And awesome BF cleaning up my mess hahaha

SO MUCH BUBBLES

This is for you Steve. Stellar Revival shoutout YO. Wait what… yo… way to be so famous and have a FAN OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE….

OK cleaned up and time for my last night in Miami… Mokai here I come….

So first we had dinner at Blade Sushi Bar/Lounge at Fountainbleau… yes yes remember I came here last year? Well we were supposed to go to Hakkasan… but decided that partying after dimsum and Cantonese food/dimsum [omg I’m so craving dim sum tho] would suck [food coma] more than sushi at Blade.

BLINDING menus. Unnecessary

Magical hot towels that grow…

Edamame

I love piping hot edamame… freshly steamed and large sexy sea salt flakes… :]

We couldn’t choose which sake to to buy so our waiter suggested we try a flight first and then choose what we liked most.

Sake Flight

The Sake we ended up choosing… delish! Oh and J called it… we liked #1..  the others were way too sweet…

Octopus Carpaccio
Sweet pepper, Tomato, Red Onion, Cucumber and Spicy Vinegar Dressing

AMAZING. I remember I loved it when I got it the first time and was asked if I was in the food industry/food critic – cuz I guess, people don’t REALLY get the things I do?!

Yellowtail with Yuzu Miso Glaze
Asian pear, Avocado, Micro greens, Yuzu Miso vinaigrette

Amazing… delish yellowtail… yuzu tang… and the sweetness of the asian pear and creaminess of the avocado… this literally MELTED in my mouth. SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD.

Salmon Sushi and Uni Sushi

You can never fuck up OG sushi. AMAZE.

Geisha Maki
Yellowtail, Ooba leaf, Orange, Asparagus wrapped in Soy paper,  Wasabi, Tobiko, Yuzu Miso Glaze

This was my roll choice. I loved it… jalapeno… light, refreshing.. definitely super fusian…. so Miami.. reminded me of Samba Sushi.

Bleau Maki
Tuna, Yellowtail, Salmon, Avocado, Scallion, Masago wrapped with Daikon, Soy Onion dressing

J’s choice. Also good. It was tasty but WAYYYYY over-doused in that dressing…. ugh.. drowning in it….

And dessert…

A gorgeous Key Lime Tart with pineapple and blackberries

The tart was creamy and also grainy from the sugar. Not sure how much of a fan I was… but it was quite delicious, super sweet…. hey we had a HUGE ASS bottle of sake to finish, we needed to keep on eating until it was gone… and while, yes, if you havent noticed we rarely do dessert, we did it and loved it.

Afterwards…. we decided we were old. We hit up the Lobby Bar… got some scotch, whiskey and champagne… brought it up to our balcony and had our other cigar and drank the night away in the beautiful weather and view. Life is perfect.