not a boring steak - part 2

I don't cook with a recipe. If I do is just a vague idea in the head as that I plot base on what I have on hand, and what I think would work. I shop ingredients for what look good and never rigidly for a dish that I have in mind. For this streak dish, I did shop for some root vegetable, a half pint of cream, and the steak. The rest are just what are on hand at home. A New York Steak with oyster demi-glace and scallops is born.

a tale of a piece of cod

This is a tale of a piece of cod that was utilized to the fullest. It is a piece of Alaska lingcod that I bought from an Asian market. I have long since given up buying frozen cods as they are always disappointing, in that the precious fish is wasted. It has been more and more difficult to buy good quality fish. I only know of one shop in Portland that I can count on now. While grocery shopping I bought a piece that is slightly over 2 pounds taken from the tail section.

slack season’s danzi noodle 度小月擔仔麵 - part 2

Today I put a little more effort into making my reinterpretation of this delightful snack. Again I have no intention to replicate the dish but to be inspired by it, and using the ingredients that I happen to have. The main difference of today's bowl is I made a proper but simple broth from a piece of Alaska cod bone left over from filleting. I also collected some shrimp shells and thew them into the stock too. It is just a little quantity of stock.

slack season’s danzi noodle 度小月擔仔麵

One interesting little bowl of noodles that I encountered in Tainan is slack season’s danzi noodle (度小月擔仔麵). The origin of this bowl of noodle snack piqued my curiosity. The restaurant that I first came across it prepare the noodle in the open, as a showcase which it built its fame. It claims to be the original invention of the dish.

a month in taiwan, 2019 - part 1

Part 1 was in Taipei, arrived from a flight from Portland, connecting in Vancouver to Taipei via Air Canada. This series of posts are foodie photo heavy, and light on text.

taiwanese beef soup noodles - part 1

I just spent a month in Taiwan, and covered all the main cities. Call it around Formosa in 30 days if you would. As with most trips I took advantage to explore the countries cuisine. I had been to Taiwan before but only on a business trip. You cannot go to Taiwan without trying their noodles dishes and beef soup noodles is one.

winterizing brunnhilde - part 1

I took me so many years to develop a most efficient way to winterize Brunnhilde. When I didn't know any better I purchase many 1 gallon jugs of RV antifreeze. Now I only need may be 1/4 gallon of it, only to fill the sink traps.

dungeness crab ravioli - part 2

Tonight I used up the remaining piece of dough and made a good batch of raviolis. Even with all this there is still some crab meat left. I took a few more photos of the work in progress.

steak and crab meat ravioli

This is just an easily prepared meal by using a few crab meat raviolis that I made yesterday.

new power cord for milwaukee sidewinder saw

This was one of the good power tools that I bought my first home. It would serve me well in the ensuring decades. The rubber jacket of the power cord has cracked badly and I was concerned with it being an electric shock hazard. I would prefer to purchase a replacement cord from Milwaukee. I shopped around and decided it is far easier if I just buy the bulk 16/3 power cord and be done with.

dungeness crab ravioli

I needed some live clams to make fried taro cake so I drove across town to get some. Since I was at the fishmonger I thought it is such a shame if I took a drive to only buy one item. I decided to pick up a Dungeness crab too. I vaguely have the idea that I would make some ravioli using the meat harvest from it.

some slow food dishes - part 1

Here are some of the dishes that I made recently. They are mostly very easy to make slow food.

fresh fettuccini with Dungeness crab meat

On a whim I bought a container of Dungeness crab meat. I have never bought one until now. I prefer to harvest the meat myself from a freshly cooked live crab. For dinner I decided to make a fresh fettuccini with Dungeness crab meat.

an improvised breakfast

I would be bored stiff if I were to have the same breakfast every day. I have no habit or routine, when it comes to meals. Breakfast is no different. I make dishes with the ingredients on hand, and sometime leftovers, or prepared ingredients from recent meals.

curry crusted mahi mahi

I discovered a simple trick to pan fry a piece of fish to give it a light crunchy crust. It is to coat the surface with a dust of ordinary flour.

miso wasabi vinaigrette

It was Sunday and the first of three club days at Oregon Raceway Park. I was catering the lunch for 30. I had done enough of preparation work at home as well as the night before so I knew at least I could drive for an hour before preparing the lunch.

fresh pasta with seafood

I am amazed how little flour you need to make a serving of a delicious dish with home made pasta.

apple card - part 2

The optional physical Apple Card arrived.

apple card

I am an early recipients of an Apple Card.

garage door openers master switch

I have been wanting to do this a very long time. Adding a power shutoff switch to the garage door openers. I dislike and distrust the openers' built-in disable switches. In fact they have the tendency to fail and cause the light to turned on. When I am away for extended period of time I want to be absolutely sure they will not open accidentally and there is no substitute for removing power entirely. To do this I have to unplug their power at the ceiling height which often is too painful with a vehicle parked under under.

not a boring steak

Steak can be quite boring. Tonight I had a moment of inspiration, from a small shallot onion sitting on the kitchen counter. I immediately thought of making a demi glaze sauce with some chopped shallot. Rather than using common Western herbs I used some finely slice scallions and Serrano pepper.

servicing wheel bearings on the trailex car trailer

I was told that as soon as I arrive home from the cross country trip from Ohio I should repack the wheel bearings of the tailer. I thought that is odd that for a brand new trailer I would think it would be a few years down the road before I need to think about lubricating the wheel bearings.

renewing Burnnhilde's side turn signal lenses

I have been wanting to renew these side turn signal lenses a while now. The right side one has visible hairline cracks from UV damage. Most vendors want an arm and a leg for these simple lens. I found a cheap source and purchased two together with other parts to get free shipping. These are not OEM but I figure I would take a chance for 1/2 the price.

brake parts for brunnhilde - part 1

One of the reasons that I write this post is I need to have photo hosting to be able to make a post on the Sprinter forum concerning the procurement of brake parts for Brunnhilde. This is also why this post is a running one as I gather more images.

dim sum at home

This is one of my favorite dim sum dishes. It translates as chicken wrap 雞扎. It is next to impossible to find even in very good restaurants in Richmond and Vancouver BC. Equally difficult to find even in Hong Kong except Lin Heung Lau. I now able to make equally good ones at home with the recipe that I developed myself. This dish is best to make in a big batch and I can freeze some and keep some in the refrigerator for the course of a few days.

a few new tech toys

There is nothing that I don't try to do myself. This is my justification when it comes to tools and equipment and I enjoy learning new things. We live in an era that you can get excellent tools and equipment at very affordable prices. So affordable that rarely it is economical to go rent them especially when it is more than a one project use.

home made dimsum 點心 - part 2

I actually home many posts I have written of making my own dim sum 點心. I have been improving my recipes, techniques, and variety. Now I no longer feel the need to travel to Richmond for some genuine Hong Kong dim sum. Mine is as good as some of the best taste wise and I only use wholesome ingredients. While that are challenges in obtaining certain ingredients I work around them.

mini love - part 51

With the pre-season maintenance and detail inspections completed, Mini went to the two-day track event with a brand new set of Nitto NT01 tires in 225/45 15. Tires this wide was possible with a set of new Konig Dial In 8"x15" wheels. The NT01 has a wear rating of 100 which is essential R compound so they should be grippy short of a set of slicks.

the economy of a meal

I thought I would have some fun with the title. It is something that piqued my interest in preparing this dish. I splurged and bought some Alaska king crab legs and 3 pieces of halibut steaks from Costco. Both items I very seldom purchase especially halibut.

porsche love - part 2

Porsche is an aspirational brand and so is Apple. The main difference is the latter is an affordable one that is more accessible for most. I bought myself a little something - to borrow the Amazon's not so subtle tag line to entice you to spend.

trailex open car trailer towed by brunnhilde - part 2

When I bought Brunnhilde I would not have imagine that one day I would tow a car trailer. She served me well over the the years for my silent water sport. Now that I am really into performance driving on race tracks I managed to equip her with an open car trailer that is a marriage in heaven for this wonderful compact motorhome. Something that I nearly dismissed not being impractical given the 8,000 lb nominal weight of the James Cook plus circa 4,500 lb of car and trailer weight, all to be towed by a engine with 154HP/243 lb-ft.

mini love - part 50

I was very happy to complete the supercharger swap. The other major maintenance for the Mini is the diagnose of the vibration and shake which has been gotten worst started as a subtle tremor triggered by hard braking at the end of a long straight at the track. I suspected it is due to the CV joint(s) of one or both axles.

mini love - part 49

I had taken a month long trip to Asia in mid March. I planned all along to partake in HPDE days upon my return, and wanting to drive in the last two days of April. The problem is there is a long list of things to take care of in the street car named Desire before any track days can be entertained.

hong kong style stir fried noodles with seafood 港色三鮮炒麵 - part 3

From making Hong Kong style stir fried noodles with seafood 港色三鮮炒麵 I have about two serving worth of cooked toppings that I saved. I knew that I can improvise a couple of dishes from it. I used up all the stir fry noodles. My option is to drive to the store to pick up another pack or be versatile and use what I have at home. I chose the latter.

hong kong style stir fried noodles with seafood 港色三鮮炒麵 - part 2

I made Hong Kong style stir fried noodles with seafood 港色三鮮炒麵 again. I often would make the same dish a number of times consecutively because of the leftover ingredients. In this case is the mung bean sprouts and a bit of stir fry noodles. Even making the same dish consecutively there is always something to be learnt. I often refer back to my older posts and see the progresses that I have made over time.

hong kong style stir fried noodles with seafood 港色三鮮炒麵

I made this stir fried noodles with seafood 港色三鮮炒麵. You can call it Hong Kong or Cantonese style. While I call it a stir fried noodles, the noodles was fried separately from the toppings. I used three kinds of seafood for the toppings, which include cuttlefish, shrimps, and scallops. All came out of the freezer.

daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 - part 5

This is a boring post as there is not much new to write about of my culinary ventures to make a perfect daikon cake 蘿蔔糕. It is just that I finished the small loaf and dug into the large one. The small loaf was made out of necessity to use the remaining mixture when the large round cake mold was filled to the brim.

stir fry of beef, cuttlefish, and choy sum 牛肉菜心炒墨魚

This dish was born out of my freezer clearing effort. There is this cuttlefish that I took out. Cuttlefish is meaty and delicious just about anyway you prepare it. With some ingredients I have on hand I made a stir fry of beef, cuttlefish, and choy sum 牛肉菜心炒墨魚 using a bit of the cuttlefish. I like mixing seafood with meat in the same dish.

daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 - part 4

With the momentum of my first serious attempt to make daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 only a week ago, I want to improve upon the firmness and density that I had in mind. I like my daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 firm and dense. When it is firm it cut easier and has less drags on the knife blade. It is also easier to lift the cut slice out of the steaming container which tends to be deep and has steep near vertical sides. So I went and bought 3 pounds worth of daikon. I even made a point to buy a pack of Chinese sausage.

re-fry of a stir fry

I made a stir fry of assorted ingredients with Chinese celery 什錦炒中芹 and it ended up with a rather generous serving. There were enough leftover for two more meals. Rather than reheating it I re-fry this stir fry. Why not just re-heating it in a microwave oven, you ask?

stir fry of assorted ingredients with chinese celery 什錦炒中芹

This is a dish resulted from clearing out the refrigerator and freezer. With the exception of the vegetables all other ingredients are from the freezer or dried from the pantry. It is a stir fry of assorted ingredients with Chinese celery 什錦炒中芹. I retrieved a good amount of frozen shrimps that are freezer burnt, and a bit of leftover marinated beef. The beef was not enough to make a meal. The vegetables are also close to the limit of shelf life.

daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 - part 3

Daikon cake 蘿蔔糕  has been my sustenance all day today. Our local PBS station has a marathon of a NOLA cooking shows by Kevin Belton. I made a few snacks of this between the breaks. Watching all those delicious NOLA dishes made me wanting to go cook up a NOLA storm. However I cannot help but to wonder the impact to one's health especially with the size of the chef.

daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 - part 2

Patience, patience, and good thing would come. I put the steamed daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 into a tub of water to cool it. I then place it into a refrigerator to further cool it so it would be firm to be cut into slices.

daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 - part 1

Daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 is something that I really crave here in North America. When I travel to Hong Kong last time I had it a couple of times at Lin Heung Kui 蓮香居 during morning dimsum hours. It was good but not great. Without much notion of what are needed to make it, I tried once and failed miserably. It turned into a gluey mess as I didn't know what kind of flour to use.

scallion "pancake" 蔥油餅 - part 5

Scallion pancake 蔥油餅 has become my regular fares now. It is so easy to make and great substitute for bread or rice. I refined the procedure and found the techniques that make this simple snack great.

stir fried sticky rice cake 炒年糕 - part 1

This is a difficult dish to make. Stir fried sticky rice cake 炒年糕 (lian gao) is a stir fry dish with glutinous rice cake, which is also called lian geo (年糕), meaning new year cake. It is a dish enjoyed during Lunar New Year holiday. I have write a post a few years ago on Stir fried sticky rice cake 炒年糕 (lian gao) a few years ago.

east meets west

This is an improvised simple meal that I made. It is a meal that I would make when I don't feel like spending much effort.

shanghai thick wheat noodle stir fried with julienne pork 上海肉絲炒粗麵 - part 3

Each time I had Shanghai thick wheat noodle stir fried with julienne pork 上海肉絲炒粗麵 I was not satisfied. I could do better at home making my own. In the past my noodles were the biggest impediment. Slowly I gained some insight into the reasons why. This is a great dish if you are a hungry man and need to fill the voids in your empty stomach.

test, test, this is a test

I have been on the lookout for alternative oil for cooking. As I learnt more about cooking I begun to realize the importance of matching the oil to the cooking method. More important is the realization of the overhyped health benefit of common vegetable oils that is mass produced. Some oil like olive oil is not suitable for frying as it has very low smoking point.

chiuchow pickled oysters 潮州醃蠔

I watched every episodes of this Netflix documentary about cuisines in Chaoshan 潮汕 and really enjoyed learning dishes that I didn't know. One that piqued my interest is the pickled oysters 潮州醃蠔. As it is a food and culture documentary there is no recipe nor the ingredients are listed, except the few that were mentioned. As soon as I watch this may be 2 minutes segment on this dish I had a very good idea how to make it even though I have never tasted it. I can taste it in my imagination. It is analogous to ceviche in which raw seafoods are cured in vinegar or citric juice, except high salinity condiments are used.