would you like some cheese with your whine? or in that case, spinach and dragees?

gah, just when you think all is fine with the food world...the spinach was taken away now...those pretty silvery dragees bit the bullet. An Dec 2003 SFGate story reports that stores, wholesalers, and internet suppliers will not sell the shiny decorations to customers in California no longer carrying dragees due to the fact a Napa lawyer's lawsuit is stating that they are allegedly toxic.

read the true article: Bay Area faces holidays without little silver balls on baked goods.


link via notmartha for
The Dragee Report @ apartment therapy: the kitchen.

:) boy is it cold outside!! brrrr!

here's a pattern you might like, it's knitted flat and then seamed:

grandma's gloves.

ahhh, i want these flash drives at mimoco! they're soo cute!

Happy Holidays!

i hope the holidays have been great thus far for all.

my husband celebrated his 29th at king wah in daly city. we had hot & sour soup, honey walnut prawns,steamed bean curd with minced shrimp, sauteed shrimp with preserved eggs, steamed jasmine rice, and
sweet red bean tapioca soup for dessert. food good, service bad...notice a theme here. haha.

for x-mas, we stayed at home. the kids had a ball unwrapping their gifts! my little boy saying "wow!" and my daughter clapping her chubby little hands were a joy to behold! my mother was there and enjoying her time with her grandchildren.

we received a cuisinart sandwich grill from my mom. thank you mom~ :*

i hope the holidays so far for you are decent ones. our littlest ones had a blast opening up their presents under our so last minute purchase tree bought at walmart on hubby's birthday. lol. my mom and the babies' grandma came over and dropped off presents. i can see that she's misses my dad so much this holiday. he's pretty much half way across the world handling some loose ends and won't be back until next year. (sigh) miss him too. kids got clothes and toys. hubby got a cuisinart sandwich maker and i got a cute track suit from my mom. thank you mom. thank you everyone. again we didn't get much chance to go christmas shopping, since my husband works soo late. :/ maybe next year i hope.

months ago, one of my favorite places at great mall in san jose, kyun closed up. which totally sucked for me, but now i can buy from them online : japagoods.

i have been posting on my other blog, spatula-girl...but i am not neglecting this one. :P

there is this pattern for snowflakes on berroco.com:

http://berroco.com/exclusives/snowflake/snowflake_lg.html

and holiday ornaments!

http://berroco.com/exclusives/decorate/decorate.html

i've been in a sort of hiatus from knitting, but i haven't stopped loving it. having a two year-old and an almost one-year old is flummoxing, especially when you are trying to maneuver knitting needles out their chubby grip. lol. since it is getting chilly, i have been wearing a scarf i did knit sometime last year! will post a picture here!

Menu For Hope III

a positive light for this holiday season and the end of the year, menu for hope iii hosted by christine at chez pim has finally reached its end...raising over $50 K for the UN World Food Programme! that's awesome. last year i read $17 K was donated to UNICEF and the year before for UNICEF's Tsunami Relief. THIS time the donations quadrupled! thank you so much for the joy you bring to the people who need the help.

being late in the game for this year's menu for hope, i had wished to participate in the drawings, but i hope to try for the next one. i will donate though to the cause.

The Good Home Cookbook and Old School Memories!

got my copy of the good home cookbook!

looking inside it... this is a definitely a user-friendly cookbook! with straight-forward directions and no fancy jargon! :) i look forward to using the recipes in this!

my mom visited today and was sooo excited about learning that there is a bakery in japantown that has her beloved blum's coffee crunch cake...yasukochi's sweet stop! blum's was a san franciscan standard where a lot of my mom's generation had fond memories. Fortunately, I was able to find several recipes for the coffee crunch cake and there is also a cookbook! :)

The Kitchen and Dou Miao

went to have christmas dinner and a reunion of sorts with my husband's family on sunday at the kitchen in millbrae. the kitchen was formally known as seafood harbor not too long ago. we used to frequent this restaurant quite a lot when we lived in daly city, ca. good food, bad service. haha.

we had several dishes:

cold plate ( char siu sliced, pork, etc)
shark fin soup
lobster in garlic sauce
roasted squab
fried rice
bok choy
scallops, squid with snap peas

for dessert:
coconut milk with honeydew and tapioca

now, a recipe:

sauteed dou miao ( snow pea shoots) with garlic

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 lb. or more of dou miao, rinsed and drained
salt to taste about 1 tsp. should do

using a wok or saute pan, heat oil to high temperature. add garlic and toss until garlic has softened and is fragrant. add about half of the dou miao and salt, cook until slightly wilted. toss in the remaining batch of dou miao. stir fry until done.

It's Omaha.

just recieved our order from http://www.omahasteaks.com on tuesday!

we got the fantastic family feast:

2 4.5 oz stuffed sole with scallops and crabmeat
2 5 oz filet mignon
2 5 oz top sirloin steaks
4 4 oz omaha steaks burgers
6 5.75 oz baked stuffed potatoes
1 6 in chocolate cake

it came with a free cutlery set and cutting board...cookbook. for about 49.99.

can't wait to grill 'em!

updated: we grilled for x-mas, made the steaks too dry. too bad. baked potatoes were good. lol. we still have the sole and the burgers.

Am, Stram, Gram, Pique, Pique...wishing I was in Paris.

i've been following the blogs, the girl who ate everything and davidlebovitz.com...et moi, je suis jalouse parce qu'ils peuvent manger d'une telle nourriture magnifique ! (translation:yeah i'm jealous cuz they're eating such magnificent food, k? :P hehe.) roboppy went to laduree and pierre herme. and god, you have to see the pictures of the desserts and food she's had there. and david, he lives there.

i'm drooling...now i want to go to paris and break out the old dictionnaire française and try, note try to parlez français. okay so i'm being a little facetious.

en l'honneur de roboppy et david, je vous donne des recettes du jour:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2005/08/long_live_the_k.html
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/231583

this are recipes from brittany/bretagne/briton, a french province known for their fleur de sel and butter. i'll be working on these as well. wish me luck!

Senseo, Attack of The Coffee Pod.

i got a senseo machine for free not too long ago through an invitation by the manufacturer for word of mouth advertisement. i really do like the way the machine looks. its simple design is pleasing to the eye and makes an interesting conversation piece. i received the machine in the senseo blue. the idea of the senseo is appealing, but the coffee pods recieved free were very blah. the look of the coffee as it pours out with its lovely crema is appetizing, but the taste is like drinking soaked cigarettes in coffee flavored water and gargling with them. i do not recommend the medium roast at all. i do however recommend the cappucino pods. my only complaint is that they only last maybe about 4-5 cups, since i like drinking my coffee in a large mug.

i got a senseo machine for free not too long ago through an invitation by the manufacturer for word of mouth advertisement. i really do like the way the machine looks. its simple design is pleasing to the eye and makes an interesting conversation piece. i received the machine in the senseo blue. the idea of the senseo is appealing, but the coffee pods recieved free were very blah. the look of the coffee as it pours out with its lovely crema is appetizing, but the taste is like drinking soaked cigarettes in coffee flavored water and gargling with them. i do not recommend the medium roast at all. i do however recommend the cappucino pods. my only complaint is that they only last maybe about 4-5 cups, since i like drinking my coffee in a large mug.

this will be also cross-posted in my food blog.

hey all! i hope your turkey or non-turkey day and the following have been great!

i had drama...who doesn't have some kind of drama during the holidays?! anyhoo, don't want to get into details 'cuz it's stupid. haha.

i know for one thing, my husband knows yummy turkey! we had gotten a 14 lb this year. not to brag, but my husband's turkey ever since i've met him has been delish!i made all the fixings except for the cranberry sauce which came out of a can and the stuffing a.k.a. stove top. just two shortcuts this year! made pumpkin pies with homemade crust too. first pie was okay, the second much better.

this year, it was just my husband, i, and our two little ones enjoying thanksgiving! the food which we slaved on was awesome...but hearing my son's screeching during the dinner was not.

remind me to invest in industrial strength ear plugs. @_@

ugh. it's december already?? -_-;;; the malls are a madhouse. i'm scared to go out. aren't you?