Happy As a Clam

I love clams, so does my brother-in-law who always orders his favorite spicy clam dish from the Chinese Restaurant everytime we go out. I found a recipe that was really easy and it's a cinch to make. Actually, it only takes about 10-15 minutes to prepare this dish.

And it is great over steamed rice. Be careful though, this dish will make you eat more that you think (I found this out after my second serving of clams). One tip in buying clams is that you always buy live clams that still move (when you touch them) or you can visually see them spit water out the nozzle of their breathing hold. When you cook the clams, always get rid of the shells that don't open (they're either dead or full of mud).



SPICY CLAMS WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Ingredients:

1 kilo clams, Manila clams or littleneck clams
2 tbsp fermented black beans (or salted black beans called "Tausi" in Filipino), drained, rinsed and chopped
1 knob ginger, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely diced
½ cup Chinese rice wine or Sherry
½ cup + 2 tbsp water
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp chopped coriander (optional)
Bird chilis or "sili labuyo" for heat (optional)
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Sauté ginger, onions and garlic in medium hot oil.
2. Add black beans, clams and rice wine.
3. Pour ½ cup water, lower heat and cover pan to let clams steam for about 4 minutes or till clams open. Add bird chilis and black pepper to taste.
4. Combine remaining water and cornstarch to make a slurry and add to sauce to thicken.
5. Sprinkle with coriander and serve at once.

Teaching Billy the Art of War

Last night, I taught Billy how to play chess. This made me nostalgic since my dad taught me how to play chess but I was older than Billy when I first started. Billy is just 8 and last night he eagerly played game after game after game.

Here I teach him him the different chess moves and the names of the pieces on the board (I had to get him to stop calling the Knight - a horse - since I ended up calling it a horse several times in the game).


The first couple of games, I had to coach him about strategies and forward-planning (learning how to think ahead and plan your next move/attack).



It didn't take him long to realize that one can not only be defensive in the game but also be ruthless and attack. I lost my queen to him several times in some games.


Here I am trying my darnest to concentrate as my little one gets better and better in the game.



Billy tries his darnest to beat Mommy in the game. He didn't win last night but I think if he plays everyday with me, it won't be long when he will be kicking my butt.



I couldn't believe how much Billy got into the game as he asked for another game of chess until his bedtime. He actually cried when I told him that it was time for bed since he had a Saturday school (yeah, korean schools have saturday classes every other saturday). So tomorrow night, this is what will happen again...



Billy and mommy playing chess and having a great time.

For Moms everywhere...

Thanks Ching for sharing this.

The Invisible Mother



It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this ? Can you tie this? Can you open this??

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!?

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it. And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great job, moms!

Pock-Marked Mother's Tofu

This is one of my favorite tofu dishes. It is actually a lot healthier than a regular meat dish (yay! a healthy dish that doesn't make you feel guilty when you have more than two bowlfuls). A friend from eGullet.com has kindly taught me how to fix this insanely addictive dish.

To give a background on Mapo tofu. Here's what Wiki has to say: Mapo tofu is a popular Chinese dish from the Szechuan (Sichuan) province. It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) and minced meat, usually beef, in a spicy bean-based sauce. Variations using pork or with other ingredients such as water chestnuts, onions or wood ear fungus are not considered authentic recreations of the Sichuan classic. The name means "Pocked-Face Lady's Tofu," and is said to come from a (possibly fictional) food vendor by the name of Ma, who made and sold the dish. Another possible explanation stems from an alternate definition of ma, meaning "numb": the Szechuan peppercorns used in the dish can slightly numb the diner's mouth.

Mapo Tofu

One block tofu (about 1 pound, you can use firm or soft)
Four baby leeks or two leeks
1/2 cup peanut oil
6 ounces ground pork
2 1/2 Tbsp. Sichuanese chili bean paste
1 Tbsp. fermented black beans
2 tsp. ground Sichuanese chilies (only for chili fiends)
1 cup chicken stock (or water)
1 tsp. white sugar
2 tsp. light soy sauce
Salt to taste
4 Tbsp. cornstarch mixed with 6 Tbsp. cold water
1/2 tsp. ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns

1. Cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes. Slice the leeks at a steep angle into 1 1/2-inch-long slices.

2. Season the wok, then add peanut oil and heat over a high flame until smoking. Add the ground pork and stir-fry until it is crispy and a little brown, but not yet dry.

3.Turn the heat down to medium, add the chili bean paste and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, until the oil is a rich red color.

4. Add the fermented black beans and ground chilies, then stir-fry for an additional 20 to 30 seconds until both are fragrant and the chilies have added their color to the oil.

5. Pour in the stock, stir well and add tofu cubes. Mix it in gently by pushing the back of your ladle or wok scoop gently from the edges to the center of the wok — do not stir violently or the tofu may break up. Season with the sugar, a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce and salt to taste. Simmer about 5 minutes, until the bean curd has absorbed the flavors of the sauce.

6. Add the leeks or scallions and gently stir in. When they are just cooked, add the cornstarch mixture in two or three stages, mixing well, until the sauce has thickened enough to cling glossily to the meat and bean curd. Don’t add more than you need. Finally, pour everything into a deep bowl, scatter with the ground Sichuan pepper and serve.

Makes 2 to 3 servings as a main course with one vegetable dish and rice, 4 servings with three other dishes.

You are my dumpling....

Dumplings - everyone loves them. Especially Asians who have different names for their favorite dumpling: Koreans call it mandu, Filipinos call it siomai, Japanese refer to them as gyoza, some refer them to potstickers etc. But it all boils down to one simple thing, a dumpling is a parcel of food wrapped in a thin layer of dough. Dumplings can be cooked in a variety of ways, steamed, fried or boiled.

I like making my own dumplings. I get to choose what goes inside my little morsels of delight and usually its a list of my favorite things: minced pork, mushrooms, spring onions, grated carrots, etc. Sometimes, I just need to clean out my veggie bin and make "clean-out-the-fridge" dumplings.

There are also a number of ways to seal the dumplings. There is the round half-moon shape, that resembles a nun's wimple. There is also the triangle shaped potsticker. I favor the popular way of making a half-moon shape and then pleating the edges into a pretty ruffle like this.



Here is my recipe for dumplings or what is also known as...

Shrimp Potstickers

Sauce ingredients
1/3 cup rice vinegar (substitute white vinegar if you don't have any)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon chopped green onions (green part only)
1/2 teaspoon chili oil (optional)

Filling ingredients
1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (or just peel it if you're feeling lazy)
1 lb ground pork
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup finely minced green onions
1/2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1/2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 dozen dumpling wrappers or wonton wrappers
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp cornstarch

1. Make dipping sauce by combining ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. Make shrimp filling for the dumplings by pureeing the shrimp in a food processor until it makes a smooth paste or by simply chopping it with a large knife on your cutting board.
3. Add the shrimp into a large mixing bowl together with the rest of the ingredients (EXCEPT THE WRAPPERS).
4. Measure a heaping tbsp of the filling into the center of the wonton wrapper.
5. Fold the wrapper into two and seal the edges with some water mixed with cornstarch (to act as a glue) and pleat the edges into 6 or 7 pleats.
6. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and let the dumplings sit in the refrigerator for about ten minutes so that edges seal completely.

To cook your dumplings
1. Steaming method - Prepare the steamer with hot water. When the water is simmering nicely, drop in the dumplings and steam for 12-15 minutes.
2. Pan frying method - heat up some vegetable oil (2-3 tbsps.) in a skillet over medium heat. Whenthe oil is hot, place the dumplings with the flat side down in the oil and saute for a couple minutes or until the bottom is golden brown. Add 1/4 cup of water and immediately cover. Wait until all the water has evaporated and then take out the dumplings and serve immediately.

Fried Chicken Fillet Salad

I was racking my brains a couple of nights ago wondering what I can fix for dinner last night. I had an "a-ha!" moment when I saw frozen chicken breast fillets in the local supermarket. I bought a pack and decided I was going to bread them with hubby's fried chicken seasoned flour.

To fix the fried chicken fillets, I defrosted them and pounded them flat with my meat tenderizer mallet. This is a great way to let out your stress and frustrations as you happily pound the chicken fillets into a uniform thickness. Then using hubby's fried chicken technique, I turned on the hot water and soaked the pounded chicken pieces in it to make it hot and gummy (this will make the breading stick to it better).

I then heated up my corn oil in the skillet and fried the fillets for about 7-10 minutes. Since I fixed a huge salad bowl for hubby's dinner, I sliced one fillet into strips, breaded that and cooked the strips until golden brown. Then I let the strips cool down a little and place it on top of the salad of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, sliced bell peppers, onions with carrot strips. This was hubby's Chicken Fillet Salad.

For the rest of the fillets, I fried them up until they were crispy on the outside but still juicy on the inside. These I then placed in hamburger buns and served as a Fried Chicken Fillet sandwich. What you see here is Billy's sandwich without any garnishings or condiments. He likes it plain that way. I prefer mine with lettuce, sliced onions, tomatoes and a smidgen of mayo & mustard.

For dessert, we had this trio of jelly rolls that were given to us by one of Bill's students. Tina, Bill's high school student, lives about 10 floors up in our building and dropped by earlier today to help us figure out how to work our water heater. She then pulled out this box of rolls from our local bakery (Paris Baguette) from her bag and said it was a gift. How sweet of her! From the left we have a spring green tea jelly roll, then a summer raspberry roll and lastly a winter mocha roll.

The Easiest, Tastiest Chocolate Cake Ever...

Do you love Chocolate cake but can't seem to wrap your head with the complicated recipes that you encounter for it? Well, lemme share you our family's favorite chocolate cake that is a cinch to make. And to think I found it at the back of the Hershey's Cocoa Powder can.


This recipe is easily adaptable for making cupcakes. Just bake them from 10-15 minutes or until the toothpick comes clean when you insert it in the middle of one cupcake.



Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa powder
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on med. speed 2 minutes. Pour wet mix into dry ingredients bowl and blend until well mixed. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).

2. Pour into pans and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pan to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with chocolate frosting or any favorite frosting flavor.

Chocolate Frosting

1 stick butter or margerine
2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Beat on medium speed with mixer and alternately add powdered sugar and milk. Beat unting spreading consistency. Add more milk. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups of frosting.

Note: This recipe doesn't require you to cream butter or use chocolate baking squares. It is THAT simple. In some occasions I didn't even use a mixer, just my wire whisk and some elbow grease. :)

My Favorite Sandwich - The Po' Boy

I have always loved oysters. I remember when I was little and we were eating our Sunday lunch of grilled pork chops and pork spareribs when I saw my mom and my dad eating oysters with the meal. They were shucking them in between bites. I asked for a tiny oster to try. The burst of flavor in my mouth made my eyes wide open. It was like the sea and all its freshness exploded in my mouth.

I have always loved oysters fresh or blanched briefly in hot water before shucking. Then I came to Korea and in one of my recipe searches I came across the recipe called Oyster Po'Boy sandwich. Po' Boy is a shortened term for Poor Boy('s sandwich). Po' boys are usually made with Lousiana French bread that is lighter in mass and airier in the middle than a normal baguette. Usually ingredients would be fried shrimp, fish or oysters (I prefer the latter). There are also roast beef, soft shell crab, crayfish and even shellfish Po' boys.



I usually make Oyster Po' Boy sandwich with a regular baguette. First I take a baguette and cut it in half. I tear the insides off (and usually munch on them while I am doing it) and toast the outer shell lightly in my toaster oven. Then, I take my shucked oysters (so easy to get here in Korea when it is oyster season), bread them in flour and cornmeal and deepfry them in medium hot oil for 3-5 minutes until golden brown.

Then, I assemble my sandwich. I layer the bottom half of the toasted baguette with some lettuce, then some thinly sliced onions, slices of tomatoes and then top with the fried oysters. Drizzle some mustard and mayo on the oysters, close the sandwich and then take a huge bite. Try not to make animal grunting noises of pleasure when you consume the Oyster Po' Boy Sandwich. :)

Fruit Bento box

On eGullet.com, which I am a member, there is a thread there about Bento boxes. Bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. - Wiki quote

Hubby wanted to bring fruits to snack on during his school breaks. Since we had these in the fridge, I decided to cut up an apple, an orange and this weird small green melon for him and put it in a Lock & Lock container. <- I love these airtight containers.

I really have no idea what this green melon is called. It smelled and tasted vaguely like a cantaloupe. Anyway, here is what hubby's fruit bento box looks like in the end. I added a couple of cherry tomatoes to give it some color.

A Very Talented Man

Can you guess who is the actor playing Igor in the commercial? It's no other that my hubby! He nailed the audition for this role right away. In fact there is a version of this commercial with him doing it in a southern hillbilly accent. It is hilarious! What's neat about this Mr. Sheenbrite ad is that is was a CLIO entree of the Philippines during that year. The CLIO is the advertiser groups version of the Oscars.

How to Make Fried Chicken

I did tell y'all that Bill is from Kentucky, USA? Home of KFC? Well, I am fortunate to have authentic Southern Fried Chicken whenever I want to, I just tell Bill he is fixing dinner tonight.

First, he cuts up the chicken in manageable pieces and soaks them in very HOT water. Bill explains that this makes the chicken gummy which would let the breading stick to it better.

Then he takes his seasoned flour and dredges all the chicken pieces thoroughly.

Here's the interesting part, Bill actually leaves the coated chicken pieces on the kitchen counter for several minutes to let the coating dry and stick on it good. This is the secret to good fried chicken, your coating doesn't slide off on your first bite.


Now heat up your trusty seasoned skillet or any large heavy bottom frying pan (iron skillets are the best). Add your corn oil (our preference) or lard (the best choice but not really that healthy) and heat until hot. Add the chicken and fry on medium heat until it gets that golden caramel color.


While the chicken pieces are frying, try to clean up the kitchen to get Pogi points (what we call in our family, points to get on your wife's good side).

The chicken usually gets done after 30-40 minutes of frying. This would depend on how small the chicken pieces are or how hot the oil is. A good tip on knowing if your chicken is done is when the juices that come out of the chicken runs clear. It the juice is pink or red, it is still raw inside.


Now the sides for your fried chicken dinner could be as american as mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered corn and collard greens. I love my fried chicken with steamed rice (very Filipino).


And most of all, I love my personal "fried chicken cook". :)

What a way to start the day...

...breakfast that is.

With a multicultural family such as mine, breakfast is basically a "what-you-want" affair. Hubby prefers a ver American breakfast like sausage and egg in a bun (American breakfast sausage, to clarify things). Sometimes, he pairs his sausage with a bowlful of cereal (Cheerios or Kellogs cornflakes) with sliced bananas on top.


This is what Jai prefers (and most of the time, what I would prefer too), a Filipino breakfast of garlic fried rice, egg and a savory meat with it. Usually it is bacon, egg and fried rice. Or dried fish (tuyo), egg and fried rice. Or Spam, egg and fried rice. You get the picture. It is a hearty breakfast that lasts you well into lunch.

Billy usually prefers his brekkies with a hashbrown. Like little korean vienna sausages with hash browns. Oh and he loves buttered toasts. Sometimes he imitates his dad by having cereal and milk with sliced bananas on top. But his real favorite is his dad's sausage gravy. This is simply crumbled sausages fried with bacon grease and then with added flour to make roux, milk is the last ingredient to make everything come together with gravy. It is perfect over biscuits, crumbled bread or toast (which is affectionately called Sh!t on a Shingle or SOS).

Me, I sometimes prefer a bowl of noodles and some fried dumplings or siomai on the side.

Or more garlic fried rice, longganisa (Filipino sausages or what Bill calls "short-ganisa" as a joke) and a small heaping of salted egg salad with tomatoes and onion on the side.

Then again, sometimes I just want hubby's hotel scrambled eggs that as fluffy as the clouds in the sky. What a perfect way to start the day.

Cobbler, Cobbler, Cobbler...

No, I am not imitating a turkey. I am talking about Fruit Cobblers, one of the easiest dessert one can "cobble" up for a dinner. Since, I am feeling under the weather today, I'll share one recipe of my fruit cobbler.


This recipe is easy to adapt for fresh fruit, just look for firm fleshed fruit like peaches, mangoes, pineapple, etc. Just peel, cut and boil in a simple syrup before using in the recipe.



Cobbler Recipe

1 can fruit cocktail
½ cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. Baking powder
1 tbsp. Cinnamon powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup sugar
1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain fruit from the liquid in the can. Add the drained fruit to a small pan and add the sugar and cinnamons. Boil the fruit mixture turns syrupy. Boil for 4 minutes.

2. Pour the melted butter into a 13x9 or 12x7 glass baking dish. Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and ¼ cup sugar in a bowl. Add the milk and combine until it looks like the consistency of pancake batter.

3. Pour the batter over the melted butter. Do not stir. Then pour the fruit over the batter. Again, do not stir. Bake until the cobble is bubbling and the top is golden brown, about 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan until warm.