Diary of a Foodaholic

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)… =)

I went to my friend’s house few weeks ago and helped her baby sit her 3 year old while she went to school……mumu loves to pose and plays pretending…hehe…very cute, isn’t she? she might become an entertainer when she’s grown up…

Amusing thing happened right after my friend left for school, mumu told me she wanted to poo…I thought, oh that’s a piece of cake…since I often play with her and I know that she can clean up by herself after she pee….

She asked me to wait by her side when she poo, she sang songs for me, she even “created” some songs about me and Rico, very adorable…. =)

Then mumu asked me, " Caroline, do you want to look at my poo?" uh oh.. I asked her……"Why do you want me to look at it?" She said, "my mom always check on my poo…" okay….

I will not go into the detail, but after she’s done, she asked me to clean up after her….I have never in my life clean up a baby’s poo, let alone a 3-years old’s poo…so, mumu is my first…haha….and she’s a very nice girl, after I was done cleaning her up, she said thank you to me….

Then we played for a while, mumu showed me some dance movement that she has been learning from her dance class…then, after Rico came from his work, my friend and her husband got home too, we started to prepare dinner together…they have been inviting us for hot pot dinner for quite some time but we never had time to match our schedule…finally, that day we can meet and had a great time having hot pot while enjoying each other’s company…and it’s a perfect day to have a hot pot too, because it’s very cool and cloudy, while just few days previously were hot and humid…

So, here is how my friend made her "infamous" hotpot…

First, she sautéed garlic, green onion and ginger, and add the chicken with bones to make the seasoning base for our hot pot…

Then, she sliced some bamboo shoots, clean up the octopus and slicing  some mushrooms and tofu…

We had two types of hot pot, red and white base, the red one is hot and the white one is not hot…I love the spicy ones best….

On our individual bowl, we put chopped garlic, mixed of soybean paste, sesame oil, vinegar and cilantro for our dipping sauce….

As shown on the pics below, we had 2 different kinds of mushrooms, 3 types of tofu, octopus, tripes (babat), and also LAMB….yes, I never liked lamb before, but this one is great, didn’t smell at all…yumm…

Overall, I would rate our dinner 9 out of 10 scale…it was great….we also had beer along with the hot pot, it was a perfect combination… =P

This is a picture of my breakfast at Panera Bakery two days ago..it’s an Orange Scone…the texture is rather dry…which is a dissapointment considering that their souffles is very yummy and moist…they have different kinds of souffles and I love all of them…cheese, bacon, and spinach….yummm….Rico loves their pastry, the apple and the strawberry ones…

I often went there to study because it offers free wifi…so I usually bring my laptop and study while waiting for Rico works…the place is right accross Rico’s office… also I love to go there because it offers variety of breads (from foccacia to bagel..with different filings, cheese, nuts, anything you can think of..), their salad and soup are great too….

This recipe is from my friend, who is originally from China, and the food is kind of her traditional food…

I actually ate this type of imitation meat before, my mom used to make it for us back in Indonesia, but her way of cooking and the taste of the dish is totally opposite from my friend’s…my mom is deep fried and salty, while my friend is stir fried and sweet…

Both are delicious but I will talk about the sweet one because I made this one today…hehe =) When my friend first made this dish for me few months ago, I asked her the recipe right away because it’s so yummy…

alright, here we go…

First, you need to boil some peanuts because we will mix them with the dish at the end…

Next, boil some water and pour on dried shitake mushroom, but if you want to use the fresh mushroom it’s ok too..

Slice some imitation meat, you can buy these at chinese supermarket like Lion or Ranch 99, usually they are next by the Tofu section….

Then you wash, yeah…wash =P… the meat in cold water 3-4 times, and squeeze until no more excess of water in the meat….

Fry the meat until golden brown, but not dry…add some soy sauce and lots of sugar…and add on the shitake and the water from shitake…put on a lid and let it shimer for about 20 minutes or until the meat is tender…We are suppose to add some ear mushroom too on this dish but I forgot to buy it =P

When the water is reduced and the meat is tender..open the lid and let the dish cool off…

After it’s cool, sprinkle with sesame oil, and add the boiled peanut in…don’t mixed the peanut in when the meat is hot, otherwise, the peanut will change color to brownish…for garnish you can put some chopped cilantro, it will look nicer and the taste is refreshing….unfortunately, my bobo, the "picky eater" doesn’t like cilantro…hehehe…that’s why I didn’t put any….

Hope you enjoy it…. =)

Sorry for being MIA for a while…I just finished the first part of the CPA exam today….phew…I’ve been studying non-stop for the past 3 weeks, so I really hope that I pass…3 more parts to go…I plan to take all of them by August so that I can relax for 1 month before start working in October…I just cross my finger this time…it’s been really hard studying latety, I need to get my self motivated….hmmm…

Anyway, here’s one picture that I took when I did ‘cook’ few weeks ago…hehe..I’ve been eating junk food for a few weeks, didn’t have time to cook due to studying and getting sick because of pollen allergy… =(

It’s a marinated beef steak over steamed broccolli…it’s very easy, just marinate the beef with soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, sugar, sake/wine, pepper for one night in the fridge and the next day you just fry them with butter and add ketchup and/or sweet soy sauce…steamed broccolli and cut the beef thinly and pour it over the brocolli…it’s yummy and have complete combination of protein and fiber…I’m very sure that you will get a nice BM (bowel movement) the next morning…ha =P

Enjoy,….