This is how we eat our French fries.
Dipped in ice cream. Mmm, the clashing flavors. How do you eat yours?
Oct 222011
Oct 172011
Well, these may look be quesadillas to you but to me, they’re kissadayas. Read on…
Months ago, I tried my hand at homemade quesadilla. I used pizza base then as I didn’t have any tortillas and my quesadillas were so ugly 
. But this time, I’ve got the tortillas so I made meatless quesadilla for our vegetarian Saturday!
You know me, I don’t really have a recipe for anything. I just kinda slap everything together. Spread some pasta sauce on and have the girls layer on the onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers and way too much cheese. Fold, press, shove into a preheated oven and wait impatiently for it to beep four times.
Man, these quesadillas are dabomb! Raine couldn’t resist lifting up the top of the crunchy shell to take a sneak peek inside. Scrumptious and healthy! Better yet, I earned myself a cheekful of cheese-y kisses from Skye for a meal she can’t wait to eat again. Go kiss-adayas!!
The good news is I’ve got 4 more of these amigos in my fridge ready to pop into the oven tomorrow. Worth at least 4 more cheese-y kisses 
!
We finally decided we had to get out of the house, sniffles and all, or risk cabin fever. Japanese, anyone? In our household, no one says no to Japanese. So we headed for the unknown, a restaurant we’ve never been to.
As we entered, a line of restaurant staff quickly formed to bid what we assumed to be a very warm welcome even as they started relieving us of our jewelry and items of value. We were led inside. The place was empty because well, we were early. Or could there be another reason?
Flipping through the oversized menu, we were both impressed and overwhelmed by the choices. It wasn’t easy to decide.
The tri-fish sashimi came with 3 slices each of salmon, salmon belly and tuna. The presentation itself, as you can see, is worth 20 pictures (according to Raine, our resident photog), what with the dried branches and yellow chrysanthemum (a real flower, yes!) providing such a rustic backdrop to these tasty morsels.
Then came the assorted set that included a stone slab of sizzling wagyu beef. Wagyu beef comes from pampered cows who’ve lived the good life of air-conditioned comfort and routine body massages and spa treatments to ensure their meat would be beyond tender.
Flipping the beef over, listening to the sizzle and flipping it back to see a nicely browned other side was half the food adventure. We’re simple folks and little things such as a few slices of beef can get us all excited. By the way, when savoring this melt-in-the-mouth morsel, it’s best not to linger on details like, um, the price 
.
And finally for tempura freaks like us, what’s a Japanese meal without this?
It was only when the check arrived that it became clear to us why we had to leave some sort of collateral at the door. Safe to say, our next trip back there will be delayed indefinitely, at least till my credit card recovers from the damage!
Aug 232011
It’s been a while since we were this crazy. Set us loose in a newly-reopened grocery store and this is what happens.
We filled our tray with… well, these are veggies disguised to look like pastries. I swear there’s so much variety to choose from we had to flip a custom coin to help us decide!
And these are, well, I know what you’re thinking. Sushi, right? Heck no! Look again, see, they’re good old cauliflowers topped with peaches (some folks call them smoked salmon) and um, mushrooms (sometimes called unagi or eel, I think)?
Aug 082011
This is our third baking weekend in a row. The girls are really getting the hang of it and we decided to be bold and bake a banana cake this time.
Now and then, we do buy the occasional commercial banana cake with the artificial flavoring and sugar overkill. But enough of that. We’re baking our own, or at least making this our first attempt at banana cake, and if all goes well, we may open a bakery down the street , just kidding.
Okay, on with the good stuff…
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 4 ripe bananas, mashed
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds (you can use walnuts if you like)
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars till light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
Add in the bananas. We used Dole, I think they’re sweeter maybe. Everything went well up to this point. This is where we got clever and tossed in an extra banana . Clearly a case of going bananas with the bananas!
Then in another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add flour mixture, then buttermilk to the creamed mixture, alternating between the two. Stir in chopped almonds.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until done. The end result is this moist banana cake. Looks pretty good, huh? For a first attempt, I mean.
Actually it doesn’t taste too bad either and my girls love it. We would so make this again. Just a couple of things I would do differently next time – reduce the sugar because well, the bananas themselves are naturally sweet, and avoid that banana overkill which I’m thinking, might’ve contributed to the slight sogginess in the final product.
So can we consider this a success? Oui?
Yeah, I definitely think so. It looks, smells and tastes like the real thang. So goodbye, store-bought banana cake?
Aug 012011
The weather’s been just beautiful. Heavy rain overnight for the past few nights leaving the days cloudy and breezy. Nonetheless, it’s another quiet weekend for us.
Life in the city can be mundane if you don’t consciously go and seek out fun things to do. But seeing as how one person’s entertainment can be another’s sleeping pill, this whole idea can be the subject of a huge debate.
The girls and I have just spent 3 hours in the kitchen baking more of, yes, those scrumptious chocolate chip cookies we baked last weekend …
… and a carrot cake. Some of the batter went into cupcakes for Skye’s recess.
Friday night, we were caught in massive Friday night traffic which turned our 20-minute drive into 2 hours. So on the way home, we rewarded ourselves with a yummy Chinese dinner at almost 9pm!!
An unearthly dinner hour for us, I know, but the night life here is anything but quiet, so finding a place to eat or shop is as convenient as Self-inking Stamps. Even late at night, traffic is still crazy, and restaurants, stores and malls are open late.
Saturday, we had lunch out as usual, just before our grocery run. And that’s basically it. We’ve been holed up in the comfort of home since then except for taking Tyson, our beagle, for his evening walks.
How’s your weekend going?
