Monday, October 31, 2011

Birthday stash

On my birthday, there was the unfortunate event where my house caught on fire. Literally. With me and the dog in it. Luckily, the fire was quickly put out and most of the damage was just exterior damage contained to one wall of the house. It could have potentially gone really wrong had it not been the quick thinking of the landscaper guys who were here at the time. (Long story short, they indirectly caused the fire tho it seem for the most part it was a freak accident.)

I on the other hand, had the nice experience of calling 911 for the first time.

Funnily enough, now that I remember it, nobody shouted "Fire! Fire!" My first thought when I ran out of the house with the dog and saw the flames blazing into the sky was "oh this is just fucking great". And then I dialed 911 and even had a debate with the dispatcher on which county my house was in lol.

All in all, I feel lucky about the whole incident. Nobody was hurt, the house is still liveable save for a tarped off wall, and since it is a rental home the landlord's insurance will take care of it. Me and the bf even went out to a club to celebrate my birthday/Halloween weekend that night itself. My friends are now cracking "bringing down the house" and "too hot handle" jokes.

Anyways...on to happier things. My bday stash!

Marc Fisher Kevins boots..ok maybe this doesn't count because I bought it for myself lol. It's more expensive than any of my other shoes..but so worth the money! So comfy and it looks gorgeous!

Here is me trying the boots on at the store...once I put it on, I knew I had to have it!


Hype Miriam lambskin clutch with matching wallet..gift from the bf. I LOVE this one! Already used it several times. I love the stud details and the chain link straps!


Hype hobo...another gift from the bf!

Strap details...I love my chains and studs.


Lining of the hobo

Friday, October 28, 2011

Sweater day

It's a chilly day today..so on goes the dog sweater...
There he is on my lap like usual.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

A healthy attempt

I bought a bag of mini cucumbers and have been crazy about them lately:

They are so sweet(definitely sweeter than the regular big cucumber), so crunchy and I love how nice they look when you slice them.
Also, one cucumber is good enough for a salad serving, so there is no need to store leftover cucumbers! How convenient.

Today I decided to go healthy for lunch. Salad! For protein in my salad, I sliced up some beer brats and cooked them on a skillet. No need to fry with oil as the brats exude their own.


I mixed some arugula, cucumbers and diced onions in a bowl. Drizzled a mix of balsamic vinegar+ olive oil on top...my favorite way to dress salad! Sprinkle with a little garlic salt and paprika.

Top 'em with the sliced brats:


Fairly healthy lunch!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Mussels Round #2: Drenched in Sweet Chili Sauce

Wow, I have been really prolific with posting today.

As mentioned in my last post, I still had about a lb of mussels left. (I was honestly getting sick of them) I had to finish up the mussels before they go bad;it's best to cook them up within a day or two of buying them. As it is, I had to toss quite a few of them into the trash as some of them died in my refrigerator overnight. :( RIP mussels that I threw away, at least you managed to miss dying slowly while being cooked in my pot.

Yes, you don't have to tell me I have problems lol.

Also, as mentioned, I wanted this round of mussels to have more of an Asian flavor. I am missing home pretty badly lately for some reason..and food always comforts me.

So, on with the ingredients:
  • Chili garlic paste
  • Palm sugar
  • 1 lime
  • Minced garlic
  • Basil leaves
  • Dried whole chilies, chopped into big pieces
  • Mussels
Here's a visual of some of the ingredients; minced garlic,dried whole chillies(chopped), fresh basil from my garden. Sorry for the browning leaves of basil..fall weather is coming and my poor basil plant is slowly dying. These are still good tho...smells very fragrant! I love the smell of basil.

Steps:
  1. First, make the sauce. Depend on how saucy you like your dish, put as much chili garlic paste as you want into it. I used about 2 tbs of chilli garlic sauce and added about 1tbs of palm sugar to it. If you like it sweeter, add more sugar to it. Mix both till the palm sugar has dissolved in the chilli sauce. Then squeeze half a lime into the mix. For me, it turned out a little too sour with the lime, so I added a dash of soy to offset the flavor.
  2. Heat up a deep skillet, or use a pot. Pour about two tbs of canola oil into it to heat up. Toss the garlic, dried chillies and cook till the garlic is lightly browned.
  3. Add mussels into the pot. Give it a quick stir to coat with the oil and garlic and dried chilli. Squeeze the other half of lime into it and close a lid on it. Let it cook for a few minutes.
  4. When you see the shells opening, toss in the chilli sauce concoction that you made in step 1. Toss to coat the mussels and close the lid to cook for about another minute. Then add the fresh basil.
  5. Let the mussels cook for another minute or so till the basil leaves are slightly wilted. Then they are ready to serve.
I ate them with a side of arugula and baby cucumbers. Oh man, these mussels turned out even better than the wine version one of yesterday. I had leftovers from yesterday, which I finished off during lunch today over pasta. The one from tonight..I ATE IT ALL. The sauce was spicy and sweet and really hit the spot for me.

Instagrams because it makes everything look so good:D

Mussels

+
Arugula drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar with local baby cucumbers

=

Fantastic dinz!

The verdict: This version definitely beats the white wine version of yesterday. Even though the white wine version was tasty, it was more on the rich side. The sauce of today was what that really made the dish. I even saved the leftover sauce so I can maybe use it for noodle soup flavoring for lunch tomorrow. Don't believe me? Check this out:

Yeap, in a baby container. Don't want to waste that nice seafood flavor and all lols. Just look at the basil and garlic floating in it! Yumz...I am still craving the flavor in mouth. Can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow heh.

Mussels in Garlic Butter Wine Sauce


....exactly as it says on the title.

I love, LOVE ordering mussels in restaurants..cooked in wine sauce or cream sauce, baked or pretty much any way they serve it in restaurants... I'll eat them all. Unfortunately, they also always come with a pretty "nice" price tag on the menus.

So when I saw fresh mussels going on sale for $2.99 per 2-lb bag at the Asian store, I grabbed them and put them in my cart. Never mind the fact that I *possibly* could not eat all 2lbs of mussels myself(the bf hates mussels so it's all on me). Never mind the fact that I've never cooked mussels before. Never mind the fact that I've never handled mussels before and I could very well give myself *gasp* shellfish poisoning. I WANTED THEM.

If I die eating them, oh well.

When I brought them home, I initially placed them in a bowl of ice which I later learned is a very big NONO. The ice melts and the live mussels will then drown in a pool of fresh water, which essentially suffocates them and kill them. And eating dead mussels is a great way to get sick and die a horrible death. So kids, don't do it.

I had to find this out by doing research online lol. I didn't know that you had to debeard mussels! Here's a very nice informative Youtube video on how to clean, debeard and store mussels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Od7_XYye0&feature=related

Once again, be VERY careful to make sure that your mussels are alive when you cook them. I know, it's cruel to cook mussels alive(I did feel a twinge of guilt while doing it) but you REALLY don't want to get sick from these things.

OK, on to my recipe. I decided I wanted to cook my first round in the traditional French way..with wine sauce. I looked up several recipes online and adapted it to what I had in the kitchen. So here it goes:

Ingredients:
  • Minced garlic (I love garlic so I had a LOT of these)
  • Chopped up green onions(also a huge fan of this)
  • A single bay leaf
  • Half a jalapeno, diced (I like a kick in my food, add more if you like)
  • About a cup of white wine ( I used Chardonnay that I had sitting in my fridge forever..a cheap one is good enough)
  • 2 tbs butter
  • Olive oil
  • Chicken bouillion powder
  • Dash of paprika
  • and of course the mussels
  1. In a deep pan, cook the olive oil and butter for a few mins. Toss in the minced garlic, jalapeno and bay leaf.
  2. Add chicken bouillion powder to taste.
  3. Add the wine and let it cook down. Grind in some black pepper.
  4. Add the mussels and stir it around for a bit. Close the lid on the pan and let it cook for a little under five minutes. The mussels are cooked when the shells are opened.
Garnish with green onions and they are ready to eat! Happy nomz! I ate mine with some "yar char kuai" (Chinese crullers) to soak up the sauce. How's that for an international taste? :) Or if you like you can serve these with a side of salad of your choice.

After cooking that batch, I still have half of my mussels left. Next plan: Cook mussels Asian style..maybe with tom yum, or ginger scallion stir fry?