Dejah

Shrimp seemed to be making a frequent appearance on here lately. Spicy Shrimp ( and a few scallops) and Creamy Cheesy Grits: Hubby is not used to eating savoury grits, but ate it! He prefers his for breakfast with milk and brown sugar. Crunchy Oven-baked drumsticks - done in the air-fryer. Used the Kewpie Deep Roasted Sesame dressing as a dip It was lovely. Sides: turnip fries and mixed veg.

Caribbean Beef Stew with Coconut Brown Basmati Rice - from Weight Watchers Cook Up Comfort cookbook. Need to try to flatten this Covid weight gain...again! This is a make again recipe. Used a blade steak from the freezer, marinated with Jerk Paste (called for jerk spice but none in the pantry), browned with onion & garlic, added canned diced tomato, beef broth, simmered for 50 minutes. Added cubed sweet potato and green beans and simmered another 10 minutes.

I had planned a Caribbean Beef Stew for supper, but my cousin dropped off ANOTHER TWO packages of the Costco Kirkland Polish Beef Sausages! I still have 2 pks of 15 sausages each all separated and frozen in the freezer. So that's what we had for supper. Not sure why they are labeled sausages when they are wieners. These are the ones they serve at the Costco food counters. I love raw onions with mine, but hubby likes them slightly cooked. Sweet and Spicy mustard, mixed veg, and oven baked potato wedges = satisfying supper. Tomorrow - dropping off a pkg to our son and family, and some to other friends. As much as we enjoy these as hot dogs, too much of a good thing will spoil hot dogs over a camp fire!

@Ann_T Halibut's the bomb in any shape and form! Envious of your fresh source.It's quite expensive on the prairies, but I do pick it up whenever it's "on sale". @rotuts and @chromedome: Have never tried salmon or lobster in Fish and chips. Can frozen lobster work? Split the tail in half or use smaller ones? Sounds delicious! With leftover wonton filling (pork, shrimp, waterchestnuts), I made one of my favourite: spicy tofu with eggplant and pork. Not sure I can call it Mapo Tofu but it was good over rice.

A good friend had a hernia operation down in her diaphragm a week ago. Had been on pureed food until now, and was craving for some wonton soup and congee with pickerel and ginger.. So I did up a care package or two and delivered it to her house - no-contact delivery, of course. She can keep some out for supper and lunch tomorrow and the rest will go into her freezer. There was still some congee and several wontons left, but not enough of each to make a complete serving for each of us at home. So I threw the wontons into the congee, added century egg, fuyu, pork floss, pickled radish, and voila! a new combo for Al Yankovic's Wong Way Kitchen! 🤪 "Hello, Welcome to Wong Way Kitchen. I take your order please? I highly recommend the combo #5! Yeah! Combo 1,2, ah 3,4,5 Everybody loves Chinese steamed or fried, from the Chinese restaurant around the corner, so you say you want some won-ton soup, I’ll bring your order

As @liuzhou and @MokaPot said, abalone needs to be tenderized or slow cooking. I shucked, cleaned, and blanched the little abalone in hot water for a few minutes. The 10 little fellas and re-hydrated Shitaki mushrooms went into the liner pot of the Instant Pot with sauteed garlic, ginger slices, mushroom soaking liquid, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and cooking wine. The whole lot was cooked for 50 minutes on high pressure. Everything was just tender, and each abalone was 2 bites! I also had some scallops on the shell to cook up. These were steamed on a rack in the wok with the Shanghai Bok Choy . The liquid from the abalone was perfect, thickened with cornstarch slurry. There wasn't much flavour to the abalone other than from the braising liquid. I was dreaming about the fresh baby abalone we enjoyed at a seafood buffet on the 15th floor of our hotel in Soeul, but alas, the ones I cooked didn't quite measure up.😉

Picked these abalone up at the Chinese grocery. Have never had them like these before. Only kind I've ever cooked were the canned whole abalone, which is outrageous price-wise these days. So, don't really know how to prepare these. I want to do them sliced and braised? with Chinese mushrooms in oyster sauce. Will the abalone be tough? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

I do use my Ninja Foodie air fryer function whenever I make ribs that I used to deep fry. They turn out great. Fish & Chips, definitely deep frying is the way to go - once in a while. It does do a decent chips. The best is for crispy chicken wings instead the oven method. And speaking of air fryer ribs, I tried again to replicate the Crispy Coffee Pork we had in Singapore years ago. The last 3 times, I used the instant coffee granules as in the recipe. There was always a bitter taste and not enough coffee flavour. I finally picked up some Watkins Coffee extract and it worked better! After marinating, the ribs were tossed in flour and potato starch and into the air fryer @400F for 20 minutes, turning once. The coffee flavour is really just in the sauce: maltose, Worchesterchire sauce (brings to mind @liuzhou's post on Shanghai Worchestershire sauce), sugar and coffee extract. Costco finally brought in the Kewpie Deep Roasted Sesame dressing and marinade. We love it on salads, but hadn't tried it as a marinade. Definitely didn't show well in "deep fried ribs". The sesame ribs I used the soda cracker meal / crumbs we used in our former restaurant. The dressing didn't work as a dip either - might have worked better hot? I just used the Hot Momma Spicy Mango Drizzler I had and sprinkled on lots of toasted seeds. Hubby said they were great with his beer.😊 I was hesitant to post the saddle of lamb we had a couple of nights ago after seeing @Margaret Pilgrim's leg of lamb! I had marinated the saddle with whole grain Dijon mustard and fresh rosemary overnight. Stuck it in the 275F oven while I had a power nap. Turned out to be a 2 hour nap! The lamb was well done, but it was still tender and juicy. I gather the small roll of meat on either side of the backbone didn't require a long roasting no matter the temp! Had lots leftover and we ate that 2 nights later with a curry gravy.

That leg of lamb is a thing of beauty!

Lily Bulb and Pork Neck Bone soup. I love how simple this soup is, and the "sweetness" (not sugary) the bulbs have. To balance the healthiness of the soup, we had deep fried fish'n'chips! 🤪 I used a beer and soda water batter with baby pickerel fillets. 2 sauces: malt vinegar and curry gravy for the double-fried chips.

Last of the goodies I grabbed when we were in the city. Ho fun and gai lan with oyster sauce. Picked these tofu skin rolls up, then wasn't sure if they'd work for the stuffed tofu rolls we'd eaten at dim sum. They were pretty crispy when I took them out of the package. Was obvious that I couldn't stuff them as they are, so I soaked them like I would with dried flat tofu skin. They softened and I was able to unroll them. I made a filling with ground pork shrimp, Chinese mushrooms, ginger and green onion. The rolls were browned in a hot pan, sliced in half, and placed into a plate. I made a sauce with chicken broth, cooking wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and thickened with cornstarch slurry. The rolls were then steamed for 15 minutes. They were really good for a first attempt! Combined with the Ho Fun and Gai Lan for a fine supper! Have lots leftover, so may try and freeze them for a later meal.

The trip to Winnipeg last week netted some lovely fresh watercress and guy choy (Chinese mustard greens). Both made lovely soups with pork neckbones and breast bones. Had the long simmered watercress soup for supper after our massive Costco hotdogs for lunch at 3 pm a couple of days ago. Did not need anything else! Had the mustard greens soup as "appetizer" yesterday around 4 pm. Before the soup, I had mixed up Ras el Hanout for the Moroccan Chicken Tagine for supper later at 8pm. Love getting to use my tagine, which a friend gave me. Her s-i-l is from Algeria and they gave me their extra one! Marinated chicken into the tagine and olive oil Mise en place All together now! Simmered for 45 minutes Sprinkled with more cilantro and toasted almonds Eaten with Jasmine rice, naan bread and cukes and radishes in sesame seed dressing The tagine was delicious and the kitchen smelled lovely!

Hot dog for lunch: Kirkland / Costco Polish Beef Sausage / weiner, on a Villagio sub bun, diced onion, cilantro, watercress, and a squirt of sweet & spicy mustard. Hubby had Jalapeno peppers with his. I had radishes.

A dinner I made with leftovers from the care packages that went to the kids. Black Bean Garlic Beef & Bitter Melon over Ho Fun. Good fresh Ho Fun is hard to find. At our local store, they are packed so tightly and vacuum sealed that they basically crumble when they hit the wok. Now, I use the dried noodles that I hydrate before cooking. They retain a bit of chew and so easy to stir-fry. I love the fresh noodles when I can get into the big city Chinese grocery stores. Had tofu and bell peppers in the fridge that needed using up. So, it was spicy tofu. ground pork, onions, and peppers in spicy toban sauce. Tossed in some ground up Szechuan peppercorns for that extra zing! A former colleague is married to a Chinese lady who has not done much Western cooking, like his favourite - lemon meringue pie. They were coming into town for apptns, so I made him a pie last night for pick up today! I only gave them half a pie as his wife is keeping close tabs on his calories!🤪 It helps us out too as we don't want to eat a whole pie!

Lunch - a riff on Vietnamese Bun Mam using a cube of seasoning from my Chinese grocery store haul yesterday in the big city;-) Also had rice noodles. Added some meatablls from leftover wonton filling, a few little shrimp, Thai basil, fresh beansprouts, Shanghai bok choy, and some green onions. Very satisfying!

@ShelbyYour siu yook / pork belly looks pretty darn good to me! Do you use the method / recipe on https://thewoksoflife.com/cantonese-roast-pork-belly I've only ever made it once 'cos I love the crackling too much!

Great combination! Fondant potatoes - did a goggle and will have to try these. They look delicious!

I am pretty sure 2 of my granddaughters are named after characters from Firefly as both sets of parents are big fans. Our oldest granddaughter is Inara Jane (Jane for Tarzan's mate as my husband is a huge Edgar Rice Burroughs fan (creator of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars)and maintains the company's website ERBzine.com . Our youngest granddaughter is River Jade Galaxy. She's the one kidlet who would appreciate everything in the care package! @Shelby: You noticed all the seafood I had in my paella. 😋 I don't have your option of having seafood shipped in, but the frozen works well, and I am able to access them readily in town. I got tired of picking fresh clams and mussels in the store only to have half dead by the time I am ready to make supper. The kids and kidlets enjoyed the food in the care packages. It was a joy to see them - albeit outside and no real hugs and kisses. Thank goodness the polar vortex moved on. It was 5C! I did a LOT of shopping in Chinatown in Winnipeg - happily tired after unloading the car. Was glad I picked up the fresh rice rolls AND Ong Choy - water spinach. These are two favourite foods and made for a quick supper after we got home. I pan fried the rice rolls and sprinkled on sweet soy sauce at the end. Ong choy was stir-fried then stirred in a couple of cube of Fuyu - fermented tofu. Added a quick stir dry of beef and supper was on the plate! We had lunch while shopping at Costco. Due to Covid, their seating area is closed, but we had to have their $1.50 hot dog and drink. We love their Polish Sausages, but had to miss out on the diced onions this time. Picked up fries too and we ate lunch in the car. I did pick up packages of the sausages for home. Divided the 15 up into bundles of 3 and froze for future lunches. They are hard to find once BBQ season starts in earnest!

Have not seen our kids or kidlets in Winnipeg (3 hour drive) for many months other than on zoom. Will head in tomorrow for an early Monday morning appointment. Kids hinted for a care package of Ma-Mah's comfort food. I made up wonton filling and froze it in packages to take in so they can make them when they want a feed. The filling has ground pork, shrimp, and waterrchestnut, so it's a tad fancier than usual. Today, I did up 5 dishes, using lots of fermented black beans, garlic, etc, which the kids love: Black bean Garlic Beef & Bitter Melon for daughter and son Black bean garlic Beef & Bell Peppers for s-i-l and d-i-l who do NOT like bitter melon🤪 Gai Lan and Ho fun for our 13-year-old vegetarian granddaughter. The same with added beef for the carnivores Steamed Black bean Garlic Pork Ribs for all carnivores And Cantonese Shrimp Chow Mein for the youngest kidlet, 7 year old River who loves everything! She's the most adventurist of our 5 grandchildren. I also have 6 packets of Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf for her - her favourite dim sum For our supper, we'll have bits of this and bits of that which wouldn't fit into the containers!

I believe there was a thread called "Regrettable Dinners". This one was in terms of appearance, but actually, tasted not bad. It's one of Jamie Oliver's Quick and Easy 5 ingredients meals - Gnarly Peanut Chicken - a riff on Chicken Satay. We enjoyed the lime, chili, and chunky peanut butter, but if I make it again. I would really thin down the sauce (chunky peanut butter, lime juice, red chilis)and do a heavy drizzle rather than a slather. What attracted my attention was the crisscross scoring on the chicken breast. It looked pretty when seared, and took in all the flavours. It also cooked quickly. Cumin Lamb Stir-fry with Cardamom Basmati rice.

One of our favourite sand pot dishes is salty fish. chicken, tofu, and rice.

The Polar Vortex has finally snapped! Last night was only -20C. Today, we are heading to -15C! So may be, we won't need to add the oven heat to warm both the kitchen and us. Had a chuck roast ready to use along with a large daikon. Cantonese Instant Pot Braised Beef with Daikon. Too lean and not enough chewy bits, but it was lovely over Jasmine rice. My favourite part - the chunks of daikon!

The best dim sum experience (outside of China) we had was in Boston when we visited our daughter. Walked into the restaurant, and I was transported back to China - the combination of the servers calling out their dishes, the clinking of chopsticks and tea cups, and the chatter - in Cantonese and my village dialect - Toisanese. It was amazing as we hear mainly Mandarin now with the influx of new immigrants. All your sandwiches look amazing, Kim!😋