baby rambutan

husband to the rescue once again. lucky me yeah?

this is one of the dishes husband whipped up recently when i waved the white flag and surrendered to lack of energy/appetite/drive: clams in black bean sauce, a very fine entree that needs white rice for soaking up the juices. (from Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen: Classic Family Recipes for Celebration and Healing by Grace Young.

2 dozen littleneck or cherrystone clams (or big fat mussels too)
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. finely shredded ginger
1 tbsp. finely minced garlic
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp. rice cooking wine (Shao Hsing brand preferred)
2 tbsp. Chinese dried black beans, well rinsed
1 scallion, finely shredded

thoroughly wash the clams in several changes of cold water, discarding any open clams. scrub the shells with a vegetable brush to remove grit and rinse well. Drain the clams in a colander.

heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok or skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, ginger, and garlic, and stir-fry 30 seconds, or until fragrant. add the remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, black beans and clams, and stir-fry 3 to 4 minutes, or until the shells just begin to open.

add the broth and rice wine and cover 2 to 3 minutes, or until some of the shells have opened. transfer the opened clams to a platter and continue stirring uncovered, on high heat until all the clams have opened and the broth is reduced slightly, about 3 to 4 minutes. stir in the Chinese black beans. discard any unopened clams. garnish with the scallion.

serve immediately. serve with rice to 4 to 6 as part of a multicourse meal.

Daddy’s been in the kitchen, and he has lately whipped up some tasty meaty treats:
a delectable beef Stroganoff

and a meatloaf to convert the non-meatloaf-eater in the family (er, that would be me! yeah, it’s that good, and moist, and tasty).

recipes upon request!

meat loaf recipe:
1 &1/2 pounds ground chuck
1 medium onion minced
2 eggs
1 15 ounce can stewed tomatoes
2 slices of firm white bread, torn into pieces
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 & 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 & 1/2 tsp. mustard powder
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
4 slices bacon

preheat oven to 350F. put the ground chuck in a roomy bowl. add the onion, eggs, and tomatoes, and mix well. it is easiest to mix meatloaf with your hands. add the bread bits, pepper, salt, chili powder, mustard powder, and garlic and mix thoroughly. put the meat mixture in a loaf pan and pat it to fill the pan evenly. lay the strips of uncooked bacon over the top of the meatloaf, tucking the ends under. place the loaf pan on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 & 1/2 hours. every 30 minutes, check the meatloaf and remove any excess fat with a turkey baster.

source: forgotten! it was cut out from a magazine years ago…

*note: the meat loaf shrinks quite a bit as the beef fat cooks out.

by dear darling husband.

from all recipesbaked Vietnamese-style chicken wings

roasted scrod with basil butter from epicurious.com.
(i apologize severely for these photos, i even tried to doctor them but alas no improvement. they were taken with the bright over head “green” lights at night. i know that natural day light would be perfect but these were our dinner items over the vacation week, when darling husband gave me a break and cooked from some new recipes he found on the web.)
anyway! they were really truly madly delicious! three thumbs up from the childrens!
recipes supplied, on request!

“the consequence of a particularly ruinous event.” yeah, ruined my diet, fer sure!

we kept a lot of old recipes, and added a few new ones. the crowd favorite: husband’s New England codfish chowder.

i’ll supply recipes/links later or upon request. it feels like i just ran the Boston Marathon.

starring roast turkey with oyster stuffing, with a fine supporting cast…

brussels sprouts with chestnuts

Southern Pride sweet cornbread (special request of my 3littlekids)

cranberry-dried mango sauce

taro sweet rice pudding by MaMa (Grandma)

shrimp with celery and and dried fungus from sis-in-law

20 of us for dinner! it was a tight squeeze…

the remains of the desserts…(it got pretty hectic after dinner, which was so contrary to how i felt: sleepy-tired, almost slumping over at the counter. must be that good old tryptophan!

deep dish apple pie from Cook’s Illustrated

pumpkin cheesecake with streusel topping

pumpkin flan with toasted pumpkin seeds

kids had their own “dessert buffet” with the leftovers…this is #2son’s plate.

my favorite photo:

found at his usual spot, positioned right in front of his favorite shrimp cakes brought by a GooGoo (paternal auntie). later on during dinner, “i don’t know why i feel so full…”

we know why #2son !!!
my brunch the day after

and i am not above rewarding myself with a treat, what i call my “kiss-the-cook” trophy:

i saw husband sneaking off with one of my magazines. he was staring at a photograph, he was plotting and planning, reading and re-reading.

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