Green Thumb!

Hallelujah for "Good soil, lots of light and plenty of water!" (According to my dad those are the requirements for growing a spectacular garden)
Our backyard apparently has all of the above. Currently we have tomatoes, melons, lemons, Filipino citrus fruit, green onion, potatoes, Chayote (look it up), and we had green snap? beans. This is the first year our tomatoes have actually grown to real tomatoes...hahaha

This is just a feature of my little produce!

(The melon is actually from my mom's coworker's garden...but I'm just emphasizing my love for home grown food! Plus it's really cute!)

Tomatoes from our tomato plant that I transformed into.....
Bruschetta! Well kind of....this was semi-old stale bread that I dressed up with LOTS of olive oil, melted mozzarella, basil and tomatoes of course!

I can't find the pea pictures...but they'll be here soon!

Sun Kwong

1400 Jackson Street
San Francisco, Ca 94109
(415) 673-9478

Good Lord. I thought I had scrapped the surface of all things holy and Chinese but I was strongly mistaken. Located right where the cable car turns is Sun Kwong. This gem of a restaurant is amazing!
With the nicest lady as our waitress in a room that's probably as big as my kitchen, my parentals and I devoured these won tons. 12 deep fried won tons in a gravy like broth (dropped eggs and peas) for under 5 dollars, Shut Your Face. The best Chinese food I've had in a while. Preceding the magical won tons was a house soup, equally as delicious. I ordered curry chicken and rice. Dad ordered black bean broccoli and fish over rice. YUMMMMY!
That's four dishes (including the soup) was....drum roll....a grand supreme total of...15.15. Thats 5.05 per person and we were stuffed to the brim.
According to my dad, these Shut Your Face won tons are a dieing art. Apparently no one makes these anymore because you have to be able to deep fry the won ton wrapper while making sure you fully cook the meat inside. Good lordy, if I knew how to make them I believe I would be extremely content.


*The Shut Your Face Magical Won Tons


Fish and Broccoli
Chicken Curry ovah rice*Goot Tong..sound it out..it's a root....

Yes..that is correct..ALL of that for only 15.15...plus left overs!

Currently reading: Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book (... it has Kosher meals! Mazel Tov!!)

Bob's Broiler

1601 Polk St
(between Clay St & Sacramento St)
San Francisco, CA 94109

Went here...on accident because we were in search of another restaurant, but it was closed. On a loverly Sunday morning I believe we stumbled on Bob's Broiler. It had that Chinese Diner feel (which I'm oh so accustom to) mixed with that mom-and-dad-tag- team essence to it.
I shared a Lox omelet with my mommy. It was delish. It was a special, but I have a feeling that it's on the menu on the daily. It came with a side of potatoes and it was the perfect amount of food.

I have to peep the photos I took to jog my memory about what Dad ate. But that'll come. Have no fear.

Food fear not!

Crepe-adoodle-doo!!

Made Crepes with my friend Alex the other day. It was a little ambitious of me to suggest we make Crepes because Alex has never cooked before. Silly me. Anyways we made a savory Crepe- Scrambled eggs (with Paprika, S/P), onions, sliced black forest ham, cheese and a corn salsa. Then we made a dessert Crepe- Bananas, Strawberries and Nutella.

Crepe batter:
1 1/2 cup milk plus 1 egg and 1 egg yolk (First)
Add to 1 cup flour
Finally add 1 tblspn of melted butter

Mix until a little runny, much runnier than a pancake batter. Butter or Pam a flat, un-nonstick (hahah) pan...at med. high. Ladle 1 1/2 spoon fulls of batter into the center of the pan and move the pan in a circular motion, tilting it...as if you have a tired arm and you're drawing a circle in the air!(Do this quickly or your crepe will be ugly!!!) The batter should start to cook really quick. Using a spatula lift the edges of the forming crepe. Once you can completely move the spatula under the crepe, flip it over! Let it get a little toasty so it's a sandy brown on both sides. Take it off the pan and stuff it! I usually just wrap my fillings with the crepe, like a burrito (hahaha).

Overall I would have to give these a 5-6. The filling was yum yum but I need to work on the batter, though it was pretty tasty.

Note: New restaurants to look up:
-Spice Monkey Cafe: Gluten free stuff. Veggie stuff. Pot Pies. Hippie Chicken. Pita Pizza. MMM!
-Brown Sugar Kitchen: SOUL FOOD! Jerk Chicken. Brown Sugar BBQ Ribs. Chicken and Waffles. MMMM!
-Bellanico: Italian. Dolce Gorgonzola Panna Cotta. Stuffed Squash Blossoms. MM!

New things on the mind:
-Zeppole: "Italian Donuts" Fried dough filled with Ricotta Cheese and dusted with powdered sugar! PROBLEM: I don't have a deep fryer. Tear.
-Flour Tortillas: Mom says they're not worth it. But I have to try!

Pie Cuppies!

Pie Cuppies are basically mini pies, baked in a cup cake tin. I push the dough into the sides and put filling into them...i.e. a mini pie!

Today I made: Graham Cracker Tropical Cherry Pie Cuppies!
Cuppie: Crumble Graham Crackers (about 4-5 full crackers) plus old Girl Scout Cookies ( about 8 Trefoils) and mix with melted butter (less than 3/4ths stick)

"Insides": -Boil 1 cup of water with 2 tblspn of brown sugar
- Add 5 tsp white wine
- Add 'tropical fruit'
*Bring to a boil and reduce to fruit and a little syrup. Take out of pot and pour into bowl. Mash with potato masher until all fruit is mashed...duh?

Spray Cup Cake tin with Pam or nonstick stuff. Fill cup about 1/2 ways full and pack down, up the sides. Fill cuppies with "insides." Bake at 400 for about 10 mins. Turn off oven and let sit in oven for how ever long. Take out and cool.

*Notes: Less butter, add accordingly. Possibly add something 'sticky' (i.e. corn syrup, brown sugar..)

Rating (1-10): I would give it about a 4. It was lacking the sweetness I wanted. It would be paired REALLY nicely with whipped cream or ice cream. I'll have to work on the crust too. I told you, I can't make pies and I don't know why.

Hello World!

I needed to start this blog to document my culinary adventures. At 18 I'm positive that my cooking endeavors are not that exciting but this is a way for me to note recipes, mistakes and uh-oh's for the future.
I hope to take pictures of what comes out of my kitchen but that probably won't happen. I guess I'm using this to remember things that I have made, how I made it, what I want to make it and how it goes!
Enjoy! Bon Appetit!