Saturday, November 28, 2009

Coconut Cream Pie

After Thanksgiving I got into a baking mood. Since my crab quiche, a savory pie, came out so well I wanted to make another pie but this time a sweet one. I attempted one of my favorites, coconut custard pie!
Coconut Cream Pie
Ingredients
1 cup white sugar (I used only 3/4)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk (I used 3 cups of coconut milk)
4 eggs
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flaked coconut
1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt over a medium heat; gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture is thick and bubbly. Reduce heat to low and cook 2 minutes more. Remove the pan from heat.
2. Separate the egg yolks from whites. Beat the egg yolks slightly. Gradually stir 1 cup of the hot mixture into yolks. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan and bring the entire mixture to a gentle boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes before removing the pan from heat.
3. Stir butter, vanilla, and coconut into the hot mixture. Pour the hot filling into the baked pie crust. Cool. Cover and chill to store the pie if not serving immediately. (I actually baked it for 15 minutes.)
Ta-daaaa, my first coconut cream pie:
The consistency was a bit too soft, next time I would bake it longer. The pie filling was so good and creamy! The coconut milk gave it a lot of coconut taste. It wasn't too sweet but I think I could have use less sugar because the milk is already very sweet. I will definitely make this again!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Last Minute Thanksgiving Dinner 2009

My Thanksgiving Dinner 2009:
4 hours of food/supply shopping
5+ hours of cooking
7 dishes
Spending thanksgiving with people I love = Priceless

Our thanksgiving feast:
This Thanksgiving we did everything last minute! I planned what I wanted to make and shopped the night before thanksgiving. I was going crazy running around finding ingredients for each of the dishes. After all the shopping, I was just too tired to start prepping so I told myself I would wake up really early (at 7am) to start everything...I over slept and totally missed my alarm so I woke up around 9. I was panicing because dinner is suppose to start at 2ish. I didn't think I could finish all 6 of the dishes in 5 hours but with the help of my father and sister (Vivian) we managed cook everything we wanted to make. Yay!

So this year I decided to make 7 dishes, 2 of them are my all time favorite potato shrimp salad and corn casserole (I make these every year! My fans, I mean my family members always request them). Five other dishes are new recipes which came out great!

Lumpia Shanghai (Flipinino egg rolls): I love Filipino food so I wanted to attempt my favorite Filipino dish. Special thanks to Maribeth and Joanne for their recipe:
String bean casserole:
Shrimp and prosciutto with alfredo sauce
Crab quiche
Crown Jewel Cake
Let me know if you want any of the recipes, everything was so simple to make!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Un-healthy Salad

Andy's new creation, the Un-healthy salad:
Can you guess what's in here?

Answer: avocados, bell peppers, corn, lettuce, chicken, chick peas, fried eggs, shrimp, cheese, salad dressing = ~$30 worth of groceries = very full and happy stomachs!!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Annual 3ave Festival In Brooklyn

Zeppoles, grilled corn, fried oreos, Italian sausages....all usual items at a street festivals. We found a GREAT deal at the 3ave festival from Chef with soul!

Lobster dinner w/ potatoes and corn- all for $12!!
(I wish they had this everyday! I hope you're reading this Brian)
It was so good, we had 2 plates of it!

Other things we tried:

  • 6 raw oysters for $10
  • New England clam chowder (Large) for $5-it was so good! lots of clam taste with bits of potatoes, and not too salty...so delicious! my picky parents also really liked too.

Two happy lobster lovers!


Chef with Sole

8618 3rd Ave(between 86th St & 87th St)

Brooklyn, NY 11209

(718) 680-7653

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Summer Cocktail Party for Brother's Big 4-0

My wonderful sister in-law planned a lay back summer cocktail party for my brother's 40th birthday in their back yard. It wasn't anything big, just a simple gathering with close friends and relatives. The food and drinks were so good! And I was impressed by the little details and thought she put into the decorations and making this such a wonderful party!
Table of yummi finger foods (egg rolls, crab cakes, piggy in the blanket)and their sauces.
Other food they had but I didn't take pictures of: chicken skewers, korean style beef, korean fish cakes and some other stuff I forgot...)
delicious home made curry fish balls...
Name tags for all the food and sauces along with cute turtle chopstick holders

pretty flowers everywhere...

POG: juice with passion fruit, orange juice and guava
It was very refreshing and perfect for a summer time drink.
White sangriamore drinks...Beautiful bowl of fruit salad..
The guest "supply" table: fun activities for the kids, suntan lotion, bug spray/candle, and hydrocortisone.
mini tables and chairs set up in their yard
I got introduced to Martha's Country Bakery, OMG they make AWESOME cakes! I'm kinda glad they are so far away from me because I would seriously go there all the time, then I would gain like 100000 lbs! We had napoleon and tiramisu cake.
Happy Birthday Broo!!
Thank you, Rachael (ah so) for planning this wonderful summer cocktail party!
I love you guys!!!
- - - - -- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -- -
Bro's Home...

Martha's Country Bakery
41-06 Bell Ave
Bayside, NY
718-225-5200

My Foodie Twin's Birthday Brunch

Birthday Brunch at Double Crown then dessert run at Ferrara....
The food at Double Crown was really good!!! *will write about it later but here's the pics**















Happy Birthday Cecille! <3
- - -- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -- -
Double Crown
316 Bowery
New York, NY 10012
(212) 254-0350
www.doublecrown-nyu.com

Ferrara
195 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-6150

Food Spy for Metro Asian Food Magazine

I had the opportunity to be a food critic for a Asian food magazine called Metro Asian Food. It was such a fun and amazing experience I wish I could do this for a living!

Every issue they have a section where readers participate in "food missions"and a few are selected to be food spies aka food critics. It's a very simple process, you sign up online to be a member then they will send an email to everyone announcing the date, time and cruise. On a first come first basis if you are one of the few who reply the fastest then you will be chosen. I've been trying for a few months and I guess I got lucky! I got so lucky I got Andy to come with me too!! Our mission, Shanghai food!!!
Our special spy pins:
The first stop we went to was Shanghai Cafe.
We were excited!!!
Our other spy members, Vivian and Ling
We got interviewed by the writer after each bite of the food. The photographer was snapping pictures left and right and telling us to pose.
Our food writer Jeny
Here are some of my favorites from each of the restaurants. You can see the rest of the dishes in the article.
The must haves at a Shanghai restaurant, soup dumplings.
this has some sort of veggies and pork
Over all I thought Shanghai Cafe was so so....I've been here many times so I guess I was sick of the food. And the dish they gave us wasn't anything special.

Next stop:
interesting decoration with a mini looking bridge...
the buns were small but the skin was thinner which I like...
This restaurant went all out and served us their expensive dishes which was mostly seafood. I love seafood!!
crabs with salty eggs, one of my favorite of the day...
crispy shrimp with tea leafs, another favorite of the day...the shrimp was so crispy you can eat the whole thing like a chip...
thumbs up to the chef!!
Mission accomplished!!!
our photographer
Perks being a food spy: I got a souvenir bag filled with goodies, a pin, awesome free meal and being in a very popular food magazine!! yay!!
See article here...
- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- --
Shanghai Cafe
100 Mott Street
212-966-3988

New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe
65 Bayard Street
212-566-4884