The Wicked Spoon

I had a week in Vegas. It was a work trip, but I decided to take a couple of days off after the meetings. Mr Wonderful had not been for Vegas for over 10 years. I thought it would be fun for him to meet up with me.  We had a great time. We did our tourist wander. We didn't plan on any big meal. We agreed that we wanted to keep things simple

On our last day in Vegas, we had to have a buffet to finish our Vegas experience. We chose Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan. We read a few reviews and we decided on brunch since we were leaving in the evening. I would highly recommend this. Reasonable priced. The food is very good and I love the small individual serving. It was perfect for sharing. Mr Wonderful was in a tasting mood. We split almost everything we took. We were not too full. We had fun.

When you go to Vegas, remember to try their buffet, we will definitely go back.

Here is some of the sampling we did

Heirloom tomato salad

Roasted beet salad

Olives wit

Pretzel rolls

Cheese selection

Chicken Apple sausage

Virginia Ham

Grill sausages

General Tsang's chicken

Korean Beef Kalbi

Egg Benedict with Virginia ham

Salmon with cream sauce and fennel

Corn, zucchini and edaname succotash

Mac and Cheese

Cod in coconut milk with lemongrass, great flavor,

but cod was over cooked

Clam in wine sauce

Wicked Fried Chicken

My little one digs right in!

Fudge and Marshmallow

Chocolate dessert, the waffle was a bit soggy. 

This is not ice cream

Raspberry mousse and Chocolate truffle cup

Strawberry and Pistachio Gelato

Berry Tart

Molten Chocolate Cake

Pear Pastry

 

Louie not interested in the cone

Passion fruit meringue

Dessert Display

tempting display

Love the petite size

Other places that we ate: 

Volcano Nacho

We ate at Margarettaville on the night that Mr Wonderful arrived. I was over hungry while he was not. We thought we would order a nacho and a salad to share. We were in shock when the nacho arrived. We were lucky that our waitress was kind to let us cancel the salad and we still could not finish the nacho.

My boys love Frozen Hot Chocolate as much as m

We went to Serendipity 3 for a late lunch. The truth is I wanted Frozen Hot Chocolate. It reminded me of NY.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

We shared a BBQ chicken pizza, it was very good and the Frozen Hot chocolate - heavenly as usual.

 

Wonton Noodle soup

We skipped dinner one l I took him to the Noodles at the Bellagio. The minute I walked into the restaurant, I had the image of Hong Kong immediately. It was that smell of the soup and noodle, so familiar and so comforting. I had to order my favorite Wonton noodle soup. It was always my favorite. I also order an order of Chinese Spring roll. Mr Wonderful had no experience with real Chinese food. He loved the wonton and noodle

Spring Wonton

The wonton is as good as Hong Kong, classic Hong Kong style filled with shrimp with a thin tender translucent wrapping. I was in heaven

Classic Hong Kong Spring Roll

Mr Wonderful learned that Egg roll is American and loved the real "Spring rolls". He now knows the difference between lumpias and Spring rolls. Oh, I am teaching him to use chopsticks now.

 

Aloha!

Na Pua O Zucchini

A title like this, I may get some “whipping” from the Kumu, especially when I skip hula this morning. We were supposed to go to a classic car show, Mr Wonderful got an emergency call and he has to go to work for a few hours.

Na pua means the flower in Hawaiian. I am playing off the name of one of the Makaha sons’ album “Na Pua o Hawaii”. Now you know what I am going to write about today, Zucchini flower

Zucchini blossoms have become a very popular “vegetable” in the past few years. It’s delicate and it is wonderful stuffed with a goat cheese, bread it with panko, then fried. It is one of my favorite appetizer or as a light meal.

There were zucchini blossoms in the CSA for the last few weeks. I am getting a bit bored with the same old stuffed preparation. I was going to stuff it (yes stuffed again) with Mexican cheese and make it into a zucchini version of chili relleno, and serve it with a tomato sauce. However, Mr Wonderful is requesting a German dinner tonight, a REAL man’s dinner with meat. Instead of having Zucchini for dinner, I am going to make this into  a Saturday skillet breakfast.

Relleno inspired Zucchini and Eggs breakfast skillet

1 medium zucchini, clean and sliced into long slices

4 squash blossoms, stem removed, clean and slit open

½ cup of shredded Mexican Chihuahua cheese, you can also use Jack cheese, I like Chihauhau, it melts beautifully and it does not burn easily.

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Directions:

Prepare all the vegetable and shred the cheese.

In a med seasoned cast-iron skillet or non-stick frying pan, heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil till hot.

Lay the slices of zucchini in the pan in a single layer

Brown both side, season lightly with salt and pepper. Be careful not to over salt, the cheese is a little salty.

Low the heat to medium low, sprinkle half of the shredded cheese on the slices, let it melt a little

Layer the blossom on top of the cheese, I prefer the cut side up (just a preference, not important)

Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the flower. Let it cook for a couple of min, till you see the cheese starts to melt.

Crack an egg one at a time in a bowl and slowly slide the egg on top of the vegetable, one next to the other.

Cover the pan and let it cook 4-5 min till the eggs are cooked to your preference. 

We like the yoke a little running with nice firm white. The yoke become a rich sauce over the skillet melt.

You can serve the skillet, farm style on the table or plate it, toasts on the side.  We don’t get too fancy in the morning. Just keeping my morning simple till the serious caffeine kicks in.

 Serve 2

Enjoy

Aloha!

Cucumber surprise!

I look forward to every Friday, it’s my CSA pick up day. I bring my favorite basket to Jamie at Tangletowns and he would patiently go over the content of the box and transfer all the produce to my basket. I forgot my basket today. We went over the content briefly and  I had to take the box home. On the bottom of my Week 8 CSA box, came a nice surprise - a large pile of cucumber!!

I love cucumber, but this is a lot of cucumber! It’s time for a little pickling. I thought I would make one of my mother’s dishes this week – “Smacked” cucumber. It is a classic Shanghainese appetizer. Mother showed me this recipe a few years ago when she visited me. It is kind of a funny recipe. You do hit the cucumber with the back of the knife. I am not sure why they do that, but I do notice when you smack the cucumber chunks, it loosen the seeds and there is definitely less seeds in the pickle.

As usual, I modified it a bit (don’t tell Mother, okay?)

Smacked cucumber pickle, Shanghai style

4 Medium cucumber

1 tsp salt

½ cup Japanese Rice vinegar

1/3 cup honey

½ tsp salt

¼ cup Shoyu

1/8 cup Asian sesame oil
1 clove garlic, peeled (option)

Directions:

Clean the cucumber, slice into ½” think pieces and then cut each piece in the center into half circles.

Place a piece of the cucumber on the cut flat end, place the knife on top and lightly smack the piece
I don’t really smack down on the cucumber full force with the knife (Mother does that..),  I prefer placing the back of my knife on the cucumber, then press down with my hand. .

it will split into 2 pieces. In the pic you are looking at Left: the cucumber sliced into 1/2" rounds.
Then the slice is cut in half, put in the position ready for some smacking. Then finally the smacked cucumber. Discard the seeds. (if these is no seed, don’t worry about it) Please do not smack the pieces too hard, you will ended up with cucumber paste.

Place the cucumber in a large bowl.

Sprinkle with ½” of salt, set a side for about 15 mins.

In a Stainless steel or non-corrosive pot, mix vinegar with honey, stir. Bring to simmer, till the honey combine with the vinegar, (please make sure you taste the mix, you may want a little more honey if you prefer a sweeter pickle).

Add ½ salt, bring to a boil.

Add Shoyu. If you want the light garlic flavor, add the 1 clove of garlic now.

 Let it simmer for a few mins. 

Meanwhile, raise the cucumber in cold water, and drain

Add cucumber to the vinegar mix. Turn off the heat

Add sesame oil. Toss well

Transfer the cucumber and liquid to a glass jar. Let it marinade in the fridge. It is ready to eat in about 2-3 hours. Store in the fridge and use the pickle within a week

To serve: Place a few spoonfuls in a bowl, and then sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds

It is wonderful as a cold side dish to accompany grilled meat, especially chicken.

Sometimes, I would cut the pieces into smaller chunk and mix in with my tuna salad. 

Enjoy!

Aloha

Thankful for corn and vegetable

What would you do when you have a crazy day at work? For me, it would be to do some cooking when I get home to "chill out". I work long hour. I get home late, I need something to get my mind off work. TV these days is just too depressing. I think the news and the politicians make me more stressed!!

Cooking is what I turn to. Cooking to me is like painting to a painter. It's my form of creative expression and my way to be lost in the creative process for a little while. I was so thankful I had some wonderful vegetable and summer corn in the fridge when I got home tonight. I needed to do some cooking.

If you see my blog yesterday, You know I planned to make some chowder to go with the zucchini bread, here it is:

Summer Vegetarian Corn Chowder

This is my summer chowder, lighter than the usual chowder. There is no cream in this. I took some raw corn and pureed it in a food processor, then added to the soup to give it the creamy texture. I also added some shredded zucchini that leftover from the bread recipe, it acted as a thickener once it was cooked down.

Since I didn't measure, I am not posting the recipe tonight. If you are interested in it. leave me a message. I will make it again and post the details.

Aloha!

When zucchinis get too bountiful... time to bread!

Week 7 CSA came with more zucchini, it’s “backing up” on me. Especially I got on of those “Big boy”. It’s time for some zucchini bread.

I also picked up some corn. It was not as luscious and sweet as what I had last week. I think they were a bit old. It was starchy, however I can still taste the sweetness. I stripped all the kernels off the cobs and together with the beautiful red potatoes and chives, also in this week's CSA, I am going to make a chowder sometime during the week.

With the soup in mind, I am going to my Lemon Olive oil Zucchini bread. It’s more a savory bread with the olive oil.  I like to serve this as a bread with a meal or a side with soup or salad, similar to how you would serve with corn bread. By the way, it’s wonderful with a little honey and a little butter, especially when the bread is still warm, recently out of the oven. 

 Lemon olive oil zucchini bread

 2 cups shredded zucchini

1 egg

½ cup olive oil

¾ cup sugar

1½ cup flour

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

Grated rind of ½ lemon

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease or spray a 9x5” loaf pan

Shred 1 medium zucchini in a food processor. If you have more than 2 cups, you can always freeze the extra in a freezer bag for latter use, just make sure you measure and mark the bag. I am going to use my extra here for my saute during the week. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix zucchini, egg, olive oil and sugar till blended

Mix in grated lemon rind. I tend to grate the rind right into the batter with a micro-plain, my favorite tool!

In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Fold flour mixture into the zucchini batter. Bland well.

Pour into a prepared loaf pan

Bake for 50-60 mins or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 5 mins, Remove from pan. Cool completely.

Wrap tightly and store in the fridge.

(12 slices)

Enjoy!
Aloha!!

Kūlia for Hire

I used to teach cooking at Southwest community school. It was an interesting story. I followed my then husband here from New York, I didn't know anyone and it was in the middle of winter. A copy of the Community school catalogue came into the mail one day and on the back of it, there was a statement "Please contact our Community Coordinator if you are interested in teaching". Well... I did. When I moved to the Twin Cities, most people didn't know what really Chinese food was. Chow mein to me was stir fried noodle, soft and delicious, not something short hard sticks from a can?? Served with some white pasty mystery sauce? I decided I was going to share that part of my culture with the community. At the end of day, I was a daughter of a pretty famous chef in Singapore. I could do this and made mother proud!

I had the idea how to show them I was a good cook and teacher. One couldn't taste a resume or plain talk if they couldn't taste my cooking, so made a basket full of small Chinese dishes and went to the interview. Tom Neiman, the Community Coordinator was shocked!  I got the job!!! I loved sharing my cooking with the groups. I stopped teaching when my job demanded more overseas travels. I still miss that. Oh... I was featured in Minneapolis Star Tribune Tastemakers by Al Sickerman on May 5th 1991.

A few people asked me to cater or open a restaurant in the past few years. I grew up in the restaurant business. I am not interesting in running one. Cooking is my passion and I don't want the business side of things to take the enjoyment out of it. 

Then a couple years ago, I got a call from the brother in law of my friend. He is a judge in MN. 2 judges put themselves up to cook a meal for 6 in a silent auction. It was sold for $3000. Neither of the gentlemen knew much about cooking. They thought they were going to grill a few brats and serve some beer. Well with a $3000 price tag, the brats were not going to cut it. 

When I met with them, I wanted to make sure THEY would be doing most of the cooking. I came up with a menu that I knew they would be able to put together. Since it was their meal, we went shopping together. I helped them cooked the meal at one of the Judge's home.

We did a 3 parts appetizer that I made. Salad was young field greens with baked goat cheese filo "purses". It was a fun getting the judge to make "purses".  Entree was a simple"surf and turf"with a cedar plank salmon and grilled whole fillet, served with Parmesan polenta and another side vegetable. Dessert was Molten chocolate cake with a raspberry compote. Each course was paired with wine. It was a wonderful evening. I had fun too.

I thought about teaching or doing more with my cooking and contemplated different options. One of ladies from the yoga community contacted me about getting a cooking class together. I love teaching and sharing my cultures. I am holding a in-home vegan class this month and I hope to do more. I will be cooking with 5 wonderful ladies. It is a full 4-course meal!

I am going to give this a try and open up  to inquiry. I am going to keep this as in-home cooking arrangement since I don't current have access to a commercial kitchen. 

I will cater the menu to your request. I will do all the shopping,  come to your home with all the ingredients, It will be a hand-on class, you and your guests will cook the meal with me. Time for a cooking party for your friends and family.

I am also open to just cook at your home for your friends and families. I am open to suggestions.

Fee varies, depending on the menu. Contact me @ jwkulia@gmail.com.

Hope to hear from you!

Aloha!