Diary of a Foodaholic

Today I had a lunch date with my friend Y. We were suppose to meet at 11 am, but somehow she was late and we finally met around 12 pm. The interesting part was the reason why she was late…here’s how the story goes…                                                                                                            

Y was supposed to have interview at 8 am in San Francisco. Since she lives in Fremont, it will take her about 1 – 1.5 hour depending on the traffic…she calculated it and went from her home before 6.30 am….                                       

Then she got lost…..BIG TIME….she was in 880 North…took the wrong exit and suddenly, she was in Berkeley, [ University Ave. to be exact ]….then she drove back and passed by downtown San Francisco….stopped until she arrived in Golden Gate….so she called her husband, and found a way back to the city….kept driving….until she realized she was almost close to Napa Valley….                                          

Can you believe that?                                                                                                                                                                        

If you’re not familiar with the Bay Area Map, imagine you live in the South and got lost in the North East, then the South West, then way way up North…..I didn’t ask the exact mileages, but I’m guessing she would probably drove from Surabaya to Bali if we were to measure in kilometer….I would already be crying if I was her… =P                                                                              

Finally, she called the company and the Partner already left for another appointment and they wanted to reschedule another interview for her…phew…                                                                                                            

Was that it?                                                                                                            

Nope, as if it was not enough… she had another interview at 10 am, but this one was a phone interview…the Senior Manager asked her so many technical questions…she even got 3 Journal Entry Questions…no, not the easy ones…if you’re Accounting Major, you might remember Acct 3211 (intermediate acct) ??? Yuck….                                                                                                              

Depreciation and adjustments entries anyone??? oh the horror…it’s not as if you would remember those journal entries out of the blue right?                                           

Yup, so today was not exactly her LUCKY day…hehehe…but she was pretty happy to see me and we had a good time this afternoon… =)                   

"Soul-mates are people who bring out the best in you.  They are not perfect but are always perfect for you. " Best Friends Forever.  You know who you are =P

We just bought a new grill few weeks ago and I decided to make this BBQ Pork Satay. We used to have a tiny grill so I was really happy with the new one =)

Oh, here’s a pic of Bobo1 who was glued to the TV watching the A’s Game..took it when I was taking pic of my food..haha..see how he holds a ball in his palm? Whenever he watches his favorite team Rico always gets into the game…he would wear the team’s hat, hold the ball, etc…to bring luck for the team he said…so cute when he does that, like a little boy..hehe.. =D

Let’s go back to my intended subject,…so, yesterday was a perfect day to have a BBQ…the weather was nice and sunny, a little bit hot but still tolerable… =P

Actually, these satays are not only our family’s favorite, but also a crowd pleaser. Every time we have a party these satays always the first to go…hehe…and quite a few people ask for the recipe…This food is a Traditional Indonesian Food, called Sate Manado. I’ve got this recipe from my Auntie who got it from her best friend who is a Manado native..hehe.…, here we go…

-Grind the following using food processor:

Garlic (bawang putih), Shallots (bawang merah), Ginger (jahe), Galangal (Lengkuas), Big Red Chilies (cabai)

-Fry the following without oil to make it easier to crush them: Coriander Seeds (ketumbar), Cumin (jintan), Candlenut (kemiri)

(As shown, I used a traditional mortar together with pestle.  My mom actually brought this tool for me from Indonesia, it’s probably hard to find it here in the U.S.but you can find other ways to crush these seeds)

- Heat oil, add the above ingredients, add Kafir Lime (Daun Jeruk Purut), Sweet Soy Sauce, Sugar and Salt. Set aside and let it cool.

- Cut Pork Meat into small cubes and add them to the already cool sauce.

- Marinate the meat overnight to let the meat absorb the sauce flavor. It’s very important to make the sauce taste very strong because when they are mixed with the meat the strength flavor will reduced considerably.

- Put about 6 cubes of meats on each skewer. Heat the skewer over a charcoal fire. These satays are usually eaten with warm rice…

I hope you would enjoy it as much as we do =)

What could be better than drinking a cold soda in a hot summer day?

Well, yesterday I made this Indonesian soda, called Soda Gembira, if translated in English it means Happy Soda..hah… =P

It’s very yummy and simple to make, basically you need to mix condensed milk, red syrup (I used Coco Pandan, but you can use any kinds as long as the color is red) and Club Soda ( any brands is fine). That’s it, you just mixed all of the ingredients together and stir them….lastly, add some ice cubes to make it colder…

Very simple, isn’t it? My friends love it…they even asked the recipe..and they were surprise when they found out it’s very easy..hehe…

I also want to share with you another recipe that I’ve got from my Auntie. It’s a Potato Donut. I love this donut so much and I can eat lots and lots of these…hehehe…and it’s very special because it’s made of potato only, no flour whatsoever…..very yummy…

-So, first, you have to boil some potatoes ( I used 3 pcs of small red potatoes). Then mashed them like when you make mashed potatoes…set aside..

-Boil 1 cup of water and add yeast (I bought 1 small package and used only ¾ of it, you can find it in any store like Safeway or Albertsons in the Baking section)

-In a bowl, mixed 2 eggs (the yolks only), 1 cup of sugar, 3 oz butter, 1 Tbs Vannilla, a pinch of salt.

-After they mixed together, add the mashed potatoes and yeast. Let the dough rise for about 30-45 minutes before you make a small round ball, then make a hole in the middle and then fry them…(you can also make any other shapes like I did =P )

-After you fry the donuts, wait for a while until they are cool down, add butter on one side and pour some small chocolate…..

It’s very simple and de-lish, I hope you enjoy it =)

A friend of mine gave me these Japanese recipe books when she went back to

Japan

last year….twice!! it’s very thoughtful of her to think of me, since she went there to have surgery for her health problem….I’m glad she’s fine now =) & I hope we can finally go to the chocolate factory tour in Berkeley asap!!

The first book she gave is a mini cookbook which provide an easy to cook japanese food recipe…it’s a useful book if you’re new to cooking because of its simplicity…

The second book is thicker and more comprehensive than the first one. It has both Japanese and English instructions with clear step-by-step pictures…I love this book so much because it has more detailed  instruction =)

So far, I have tried making miso soup and some sushi with different fillings….I think the hardest part to make sushi is to roll the rice..it can be tricky because sushi rice is very sticky…

- the first thing to do to make sushi is to make the vinegared rice by using sushi rice, mirin and rice vinegar. After the rice is cooked, it will take a while to cool off.. in the meanwhile, you can spread the rice on the wooden/bamboo bowl and top it with a wet napkin…

– I used imitation crab meat for the CA rolls that I made previously but then I don’t really like the taste of that imitation crab,…probably if I bought different brand it will be different? So, if any of you know where I can buy a yummy imitation crab please let me know =)

Few weeks ago I decided to use a real crab meat to make the sushi…and, of course it’s heaven…=P..

So, for this rolls, I used the same ingredients for CA rolls like avocado and cucumber, but I replace imitation crab with a real crab meat, also..I didn’t use any tobiko (the tiny, orange, salted eggs) like last time I made and I kind of regret it because they made the rolls look pretty =D

Besides making CA rolls, I also made some rolls with fried spam and omelet…it’s just an experiment but this combination taste pretty good actually…

Btw, you can buy the wasabi (the hot green horseradish) in Asia supermarket, it comes in powder and paste…I like to use the powder one, you just mixed it with a bit of water and it’s done… while the paste wasabi is too watery in my opinion….

Enjoy….!

Real Crab Meat:

Imitation Crab:

I just found out on Sunday that I pass the CPA exam =D

That day my brother got the result of his TOEFL score, so I thought maybe I should check my CPA score too…low and behold; the score has already been posted.

It’s only one part of the exam, but at least it’s a start. Actually, I was very nervous about the result and I couldn’t even sleep very well lately…I even had nightmares..haha..silly me, I know.. =P

The thing is, I was not confident with my performance during the exam. I spent way too much time in front of my computer and tv =P

Well, I still have 3 more parts to take, I promise myself that I will be more discipline for the next exams…speaking of which, I should start now….hahaha =D

You might notice that I posted few chinese food recipe lately.. =) the reason is because I have been experimenting with these recipe, which I got from my friend, whose cooking I enjoy very much…

This time, I will show you how I made the Spicy Pickled String Beans with Pork….

– First is to slice some scallion, garlic, ginger and raw chilli (my friend uses dried red chilli, but I prefer to use the raw ones)  and then sautee them….

– Take out the string beans from the plastic packet and wash them few times…you can buy the pickled string beans at the Lion or Ranch 99 Supermarket, they are located next to the pickled vegetable (sayur asin) section / tofu section…..

– After the water excess is dried out, cut the string beans into small bites….

– Back onto the sauté pan, when the garlic smell is released, you can start adding the ground pork, and when the pork color become brownish you can add the string beans…then add some soy sauce, salt and sugar…

– This food will taste differently based on your preference, if you like hot food you can add more chilli….also, the more you wash the string beans the more u will diminish the sour taste, so if you like stronger taste then you might want to wash it one time only….

It is best eaten with warm rice…  enjoy… =)

This food is similar to Indonesian Snack called Martabak, which is a mixed of vegetable and ground beef with onion in crispy dough….

However, this particular recipe is using shrimp, chives, eggs and vermicelli (white, small noodle)…so, here we go:

– First, you clean up the shrimp and cut in small pieces…

– Wash the chives and wait until the excess of the water is gone before you cut it thinly….the best time to get chives is during spring season like now, because the weather is perfect, not too cold and not too hot…you will get the best taste and the price is pretty cheap too…right now you can get them for .67cents/lb but if you buy during winter season it will be around $3.99/lb

Chives looks similar to Green Onions, but it’s slightly thinner and the taste is quite different too…

– Next thing to do is to scramble some eggs…

– And boil water for the vermicelli..and when it’s cooked, cut the vermicelli into small pieces, to make it easier to eat

– Sautee some chopped garlic and add the shrimp, chives, vermicelli, and eggs….

– Add some oyster/mushroom sauce, salt and sugar…

–Use lumpia skin and put about 2 tbs of the ingredients above for each skin….fold the skin and then fry them using only a little bit of oil, just to make the lumpia skin crispy, because the filling is already cooked….

They are best eaten while still warm, because the skin is crunchy…but, you can also fry lots of them and when you are ready to eat you can just pop them in the oven to make the skin crispy again…….also, u can eat them as snack, appetizer or as main course (with warm rice)… =)