Recipe

Ingredients:

1 medium head of cabbage, chopped up small
2 lbs bacon
1 (12 ounce) bag egg noodles
1 (16 ounce) package sliced cheese

Method:

1. Cook bacon until crisp. Remove from grease, but leave grease inpan. Set bacon on papertowels to finish draining.
2. Cook chopped cabbage in grease until soft. When done removecabbage with a slotted spoon to drain off as much grease as possible.Put into a large microwaveable bowl.
3. While cabbage is cooking, cook egg noodles as directed onpackage. Drain noodles when done. Mix with cabbage, add the bacon.
4. Cover with cheese slices and microwave until melted. Remove and stir until everything is covered with cheese.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp cooking oil

100g Japanese yellowtail fillets

1/2 Japanese spring onion, cut into 4-cm lengths

Seasoning:

1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp mirin

1 1/2 tbsp sake

Method:

1. Combine seasoning ingredients, mix well and set aside.
2. Heat cooking oil in a frying pan. Pan-fry yellowtail fillets and spring onion over medium heat. Remove spring onion when lightly browned.
3. Continue to pan-fry fillets for another 1-2 mins or till golden brown and crispy on both sides.
4. Return spring onion to pan and add seasoning. Cook for 1-2 mins, till sauce is reduced and fillets are well coated. Sprinkles with ground Japanese pepper and serve.

Serve 4

Ingredients:

300g short-neck clam
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp ligh soy sauce
2 myoga ginger flower buds, thinly sliced

Stock ingredients:

700ml water
10-cm dried kelp (konbu)

Method:

1. Soak clams in a basin of water with i tsp dissolved salt for about 30 mins to remove grit. Rinse well, drain and set aside.
2. Put water and kelp into a saucepan and leave for 30 mins. Cook over medium heat and remove when small bubbles appear from the bottom.
3. Reheat stock, add clams when its boil. Return to the boil and reduce heat and skim off any foam that rises to the surface.
4. Season stock with salt, sake and light soy sauce. Simmer for 3 mins or till clams open. Discard any clams that are still closed.
5. Ladle into individual serving bowls and garnish with ginger flower buds, serve hot.

Wow.. it has really been a very hectic week for me, plus the fact that I had food poisoning, complete with the works. Will not go into the details. Don’t intend to spoil anyone’s day *grins* . Anyway, I am so glad that the week really ended with a wonderful time at Min’s place on Sunday. That was my basic Sugarpaste & Gumpaste class at Min’s. I thought it would just be me and Sue, but had to pleasure of making a new friend, Sarah and I am sure Sue and Sarah had as much fun as I did.

Finally meeting Min was indeed a pleasure for me as I have been following her blog Baking Project way before I even started my own blog (this one, I mean heehee) and her creativity has always inspired me. Looking at her creations and my own, I realize that I have a long way to go and I was very happy that she does carry out classes. However, due to my hectic schedule, I could only finally make it for a class yesterday.

Wow… looking at her well equipped kitchen immediately sets my mind planning on how I could afford to buy my first heavy duty mixer :). At the moment, I only have a hand mixer at home :(. But I think Sue and I felt the same about the maid though…. sure could do with one to help clean up all the mess after we are done “playing”, especially when it comes to washing up buttercream and shortening… you can use half a bottle of detergent and the utensils are still oily… yucks!

Min sure has a lot of tools and I was totally impressed. This is truly a sign of a real artist in the making. Which great painter or sculptor or cake decorate goes without his (in this case, her) tools of trade? I am not sure about Sarah or Sue, but I think I have a long long way to go. At the moment, I am living on borrowed tools …. heehee.. the flower cutters which I am using actually belongs to my neighbor. Will have to go and buy my own set soon.

We were taught the basics of marzipan, fondant and gumpaste making before we were let loose on creating our cake’s deco… I wonder if I’ll turn out to be the next pro-cake decorate or the guy who created Frankenstein ?? *Sweats*

3 of us really got into the heat of things that by lunch time, Min was telling us to take a break and grab some of the spaghetti she made for lunch. Looks like there were no takers. I hope Min’s not insulted. There was nothing wrong with the spaghetti but the thrill of watching our cakes take shape was just too exciting.

At 3 plus, I think Min cannot take it anymore… made some coffee and virtually made us drink it up. I dare not take any as I was still recovering from gastric pains caused by the food poisoning. Thanks Min.. I’ll take up the offer the next time …

We finished off our cakes at almost 4pm….. and thanks to Min’s guidance all the way, these are our cakes…..

Sue’s beautiful Sunflowers on a Sunday

Sarah’s Sweet Spring Daisies

My Roses from the Heart

There are lots more ideas and if you are really interested, do go to Min’s blog. Her classes are really absolutely fun and the best part is you also get to meet people who shares the same interests as you….

mmm.. how to work today, when I am still living in yesterday…..sigh!!!

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Japanese Women do not get fat How to use Makisu Bamboo Mat

Please note carefully that we can not recommend typical sushi as the diet food. We just provide introduction of Makisu Utensil for indication purpose only.

1,Join 1 sheet and a half sheet of nori.

Place a bamboo mat with the skin side up. Lay a sheet of nori with shiny side down on the mat Join the half sheet using 3 grains of rice as glue.

2, Spread the rice evenly

Place 1/3 of the rice a little below the middle. Spread it over, leaving about 3/4 space at the far edge.

3,Make grooves and put fillings in.

4,Bring the edge of the bamboo mat over the other end.

Pick up the corners of the edge of the mat together with the nori, lightly, pressing the kampyo with the middle fingers.Starting with the Kampyo bring the whole to join at the other end.

5,Shape the whole and flatten both ends.

Place the joint of the nori down and hold the whole tightly with both hands to shape.

next holding the roll with the right hand, use the left hand to pull the mat away to tighten roll and shape.

Move the roll to the end of the mat. Flatten the edge, pressing with a hand moistened with vinegared water. Flatten both ends.

6, Cut into 8 equal slices.

with a knife moistened with vinegar water, cut the roll into 8 equal slices from the end. Wet the knife before each cut.

This is a Southern Living recipe that I altered slightly. I used red wine instead of white and parmesan cheese instead of asiago. We really enjoyed it and I plan to make it again soon.

Shrimp and Sausage with Parmesan Grits

1 -1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled
1 tbsp butter
1 lb diced sausage
1 bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup red wine
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp pepper
Parmesan Grits

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add sausage and pepper and cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add shrimp and cook, stirring constantly, 3-5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Remove shrimp, sausage, and bell pepper from skillet.
Add cream, broth, and wine to skillet; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in cheese and pepper; cook, stirring constantly until cheese is melted. Stir in shrimp and sausage mixture. Serve over Parmesan Grits.
Yield: About 5 servings

Parmesan Grits

2 (14 oz) can chicken broth
3/4 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp pepper

Bring chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat; gradually whisk in grits. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 12 to 15 minutes or until thickened. Add cheese and pepper, stirring until melted.

Brown onion, sausage, and bell pepper in a large skillet. Then add shrimp and cook until pink.

Combine cream, broth, and wine and cook until thickened. Then add remaining ingredients:

Cook grits in chicken broth for about 15 minutes. Then add cream cheese and parmesan cheese:

The grits turned out to be creamy and delicious:

Serve the shrimp and sausage in bowls over the grits. Enjoy!

This is a Nestle recipe that I have had for many years. I have made these only once, and that was many years ago. The chocolate mixture in the original recipe is poured into 12 foil muffin cups, but I found these cute miniature trifle bowls at Walmart that I wanted to try. They turned out nicely, but these trifle bowls make for a fairly large serving.

Icy Chocolate Cups

18 chocolate wafers, crushed (I used Oreos)
3 tbsp melted butter
2 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate morsels
1/2 cup half and half
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1/2 cup chopped cashews

In a small bowl, combine chocolate crumbs and butter. Set aside. Spoon 1 tbsp mixture into 12 foil-lined muffin cups; press firmly. (If you use a larger serving container like I did, use about 2 tbsp of the cookie crumb mixture). Set aside remaining cookie crumbs.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine 1 - 2/3 cups marshmallows, chocolate morsels, and half and half. Stir until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and cool completely. Fold in whipped cream, remaining 1/3 cup marshmallows, and cashews. Pour into prepared muffin cups or serving containers. Sprinkle with cashews and remaining cookie crumbs. Freeze until firm.

Melt the chocolate morsels and 1- 2/3 cups of the marshmallows with the half and half over low heat:

Beat the heavy cream until whipped:

I used a mallet to crush my chocolate cookies to keep it clean and simple, but for really fine crumbs, I recommend a food processor.

Fold whipped cream, additional marshmallows, and cashews into the chocolate mixture. (I personally did not like the additional marshmallows because they were distracting to the smoothness of the texture, but definitely add them if you are a marshmallow fan).

This recipe filled four of these trifle bowls plus three small ramekins.

Place cookie crumbs in the bottom. Fill with chocolate mixture, top with cookie crumbs and cashews, and freeze.

I got these Pepperidge Farm wafers to serve with them:

They taste like a frozen chocolate mousse. I recommend serving them after a light meal because they are more enjoyable if you’re not too full.

Ingredients:

1 head lettuce, chopped

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (any color)

1 red onion, chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 (10 ounce) package frozen green peas, thawed

2 cups mayonnaise

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded

8 bacon slices, crisp-cooked and crumbled

Method:

1. Layer the lettuce, bell pepper, onion, celery and peas in a 9 x 13-inchdish or a large salad bowl.
2. Combine the mayonnaise and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Spread overthe layers, sealing to the edges. Sprinkle the cheese and bacon overthe top.
3. Chill, covered for 8 hours or longer.

Here are the photos from the wedding!
My hubby and Me!

The Lovely Bride and Groom

My Beautiful Sister- 40lbs less from her surgery

We had a fantastic time and thanks to Weight Watchers I was 10lbs less for the Event!
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