Eastanah

Singapore Day only increased our cravings for Singaporean food. A friend recommended Eastanah in Soho, which serves Indonesian and Malaysian food. We ordered the sample platter--one of everything from poh-pia, otak-otak, to longtong and rendang. The coconut rice was light and fluffy, and the various curries were delicious.



Eastanah
212 Lafayette Steet
New York 10012
212-625-9633

~Ray

Singapore Day

The first annual Singapore Day was held in New York's Central Park. I happened to be in NYC that weekend and I was lucky enough to attend the event. It was a surreal day--watching geitai performances, listening to Singlish being spoken, and smelling the delicious hawker fare being cooked up, in the middle of Manhatten. Unfortunately, the lines were crazy long and the food were sold out in no time. Also, please check out my very first post on Bonappetit.com.




~Ray

Jazz Cat Cafe

My friend Diane recommended a great mini hot pot place in Alhambra (see the pattern here?). There's approximately 10 to pick from: Korean, Hokkaido, Chinese, Thai, Japanese curry, etc.



I went with the traditional Chinese hot pot. The ingredients were definitely Japanese (the thinly sliced beef, Japanese fish cake) but it went very well with the seafood based broth. The prices were reasonable, about $15 for the beef and seafood combo. My husband had the Japanese curry, and it was surprisingly light and tasty.

Jazz Cat Cafe
640 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803
626-293-8999

~Ray

A Spicy Challenge

I am ashamed to admit it: I like spicy food, but not that spicy. I'm actually quite a whimp, at least compared to my friend S. She recommended Orochon Ramen in L.A.'s Little Tokyo, which serves spicy ramen. They rank it from level 1 to level 7, and a special 1 and 2.



Level 7 is not spicy at all. That's what I had.



Special 2 is the hottest one--so hot that if you finish it in 30 mins, they put your picture on the wall. S. didn't even break a sweat.



Japanese sausage and mayo.

123 S Onizuka St
Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 617-1766
www.orochonramen.com/

Economic Bee Hoon

One of my favorite breakfast growing up was economic bee hoon, wrapped in a waxy brown paper, and a glass of soy milk from the wet market. It's a simple, cheap dish, but till now, I have not figured out how to make it. I got some free rice noodles from work, so I decided to try the recipe from Tried & Tested Easy Recipes. It turned out slightly salty, so just use your own judgement on the seasoning measurements. The key is lots of oil! I added an egg and a spoonful of sambal chili.



1. Soak 1/2 packet bee hoon in warm water. Add 1 tbs each of dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil for bee hoon to absorb.
2. After half hour or more, drain bee hoon, but keep the liquid.
3. Fry 1 tbs garlic. Add vegetables/meat if you like. Do not stinge on the oil.
4. Add bee hoon. Mix well to let bee hoon absorb oil. If too dry, add some of the liquid that was used for soaking earlier.
5. Add 2 tbs dark soy sauce, 1 tbs light soy sauce, 1 tbs fish sauce, 1 tsp kicap manis (optional), salt and msg (optional) to taste. Please note these are all estimates, add according to your own taste.

~Ray

Mike's Noodle House

Here in Seattle, we have the International District (aka Chinatown). Sadly it's nothing in comparison to the Chinatown in San Francisco, Vancouver or New York. But there is a big Asian market there we go to often and we usually eat in the food court for the convenience. Last weekend, while we were there we decided to venture out and check out what the International District has to offer. I was in a mood for noodles so when we came across a small restaurant called Mike's Noodle House, I decided that's where we will go. As soon as we walked in, I knew we made the right choice. It was a tiny place with maybe 10 - 15 tables and it was packed! The food smelled great! My husband wasn't sure if he wanted to wait as it didn't seem like anyone was ready to leave anytime soon but I was determined to eat there. We only waited for 10 minutes.

I was really excited about the menu. They had a variety of noodles and Congee. I had a really hard time deciding what I want. I had wanted noodles but the congee looked and smell really good as well. So we decided to order 1 noodle dish and 1 congee and of course, Chinese Donuts. The food tasted as good as they smelled and best of all, it was really inexpensive. For 3 dishes, the total including tax came to $12.50 which is rare in the Northwest -- unless of course you are eating at McDonalds or something. We definitely plan on going back to try some more dishes.

Chinese Donuts - They were a little cool. I usually like them fresh and pipping hot.


Pork Liver & Kidney Congee - I haven't had liver & kidney for a long time. I was a little worried about how it would turn out as I've had really bad ones. But they did a great job preparing the liver and kidney so it didn't have the usual gamey smell or taste.



Wonton & ShuiQiao Noodles - The ShuiQiao and Wontons were awesome. The fillings for the ShuiQiao were really generous with big chunks of mushrooms and shrimps.


Mike's Noodle House
418 Maynard Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 389-7099
*Note: They only take cash so be prepared. :)

~ Mina

Wonton MeePok Noodles

I bought wonton skins awhile back. Since I have some left over ground pork and shrimp, I decided to make some wontons. It was real simple. The only thing I wish I had was some spring onions.

Ingredients:
Wonton Skins
Ground Pork
Shrimps (cut into small pieces)
Chopped Waterchest nuts (for some crunch)
1 tbsp of Soysauce
Salt & pepper

Mix all the above ingredients. Use a small spoon to scoop the fillings into the wonton skin. Dap some water along the corners of the skin and seal. Boil water and drop the wontons in. When they start to float to the top, it's done.

I cooked up some of my left over egg noodles, tossed the wontons - viola! Wonton Noodles. :) I love dishes that I can whip up quickly.



~ Mina

Phoenix Inn Chinese Cuisine

Phoenix Inn in Alhambra is one of my favorite Chinese restaurant. It's always good to go with a large group of people. You get to sample dishes you might not otherwise order. Like the water spinach with Malay sauce. To my surprise, it turned out to be sambal Kang Kong!



Not as spicy as the Singaporean version, but still very good.



Mayo shrimp with walnut



Yiu Tiao for the porridge.



Duch porridge with century egg.



Chilled broiled chicken. Yummy!



Duck with mashed taro

Phoenix Inn Chinese Cuisine
208 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801-5132View Map
626-299-1238

~Ray

Stewed Pork & Beancurd

This was one of my favorite dishes my Grandmother use to make. It's an easy dish to make and taste great with steam rice. I'm preparing this by memory as I've helped my grandma many times but since she doesn't use measurements, it's hard to remember.

Stewed Pork & Beancurd
Dried Beancurd (soaked and cut into pieces)
Pork (ribs or tenderloin or any cuts)
2 tbsp of Dark Soysauce
1 tbsp of Soysauce
1 tbsp of Fishsauce
1 tsp of salt
2 cups of water

Heat oil in the wok, add pork and stir-fry until the pork is browned. Add beancurd and water. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beancurd is soft. Add salt, dark soysauce, soysauce, and fishsauce. Adjust to your own taste.



~ Mina

Soups

My grandma made soup every meal and I miss that. While I was at Ranch 99 I bought different ingredients to make soups that I grew up with. Over the course of 1 week, I made these 3 soups. I made the soups by memory and by tasting so the measurements is a bit of a guessing game.

Pork Rib and Watercress Soup
4 Pork Ribs
1 bunch of Watercress
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp Fishsauce
3 cups of water



Tofu & Vietnamese Spinach
2 tsp of dried anchovies
Fried Puff Tofu
Vietnamese Spinach
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of fishsauce (add by taste)
1 tsp of Granulated Mushroom Bouillon
3 cups of water



Vegetable Soup
Dried Lily Flowers
Dried Mushroom
Fried Puff Tofu
Preserved Mustard Greens (Sliced)
1 tsp of Granulated Mushroom Bouillon
2 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
3 cups of water



~ Mina

Fried Turnip Cake

I went to Ranch 99 with my friends a couple of weeks ago and went a little nuts shopping. I forgot how much I love shopping there. I've been craving for Fried Turnip Cake and I finally found turnip cake at the market. Definitely satisfied my craving.

1/2 Block of Turnip Cake (cut into small pieces)
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp of preserved turnip
1 Tbsp of Dark Soysauce
1 Tbsp of Soysauce
2 Tsp of Fish Sauce




~ Mina

Prima Mix - Hokkien Mee

I finally tried the Prima Mix Hokkien Mee I bought back from Singapore. I added Shrimp, Pork, Calamari, and Egg to the mix. I found this Vietnamese Brand of rice noodles that is very similar to the rice noodles in Hokkien Mee and Laksa so I added that to the egg noodles. The batch was enough for 6 servings. It turned out pretty good although I think I want to try and make the shrimp broth myself the next time.

Guilin Vermicilli - Rice Noodles




~ Mina

Pa Pa Walk

This restaurant came highly recommended by a co-worker. It's Taiwanese small dishes. There were so many choices, it was really hard to pick.



The pork chop rice was quite tasty but we prefer the one at Tea Station, across the street.



Taiwanese sausage.



Don't be fooled! The fish ball soup looks good, but it was bland and the fish balls were tough. Not springy like Singaporean fish ball.



I guess I'm not that big of a fan of smoked duck. It tastes a little waxy.





We tried ordering two mango ice, but the waiter warned us that it was big. He's right! Look at this gigantic dessert! Mango ice topped with strawberry ice cream. Yum!

All in all, it was a pretty good experience, but there are better Taiwanese places out there.

227 W. Valley Blvd,
Suite 148-B
San Gabriel, CA 91776 (626) 281-3889

Ode to Fellow Bloggers

I have not been making anything particularly interesting lately. But this weekend, I'm inspired by both Sim Cooks and Rasa Malaysia to tackle some Chinese goodies. First, I made the simple, yet delicious char siew. I marinaded the pork belly for about 6 hours.



Then, I made Rasa Malaysia's Ginger and Scallions Chicken. It was really yummy. I think the sauce will also go very well with crab.



~Ray

Banana Bread

The problem with Costco is when you buy fruit in bulk. I found some very ripe bananas that need to be eaten asap. So, I decided to make some banana bread. I've never made it before, so I'm kinda proud of the result. I got my recipe from Simply Recipes. I didn't have a loaf pan, so I made mine into muffins.

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

~Ray