Black Peppered beef

Here's what was for dinner tonight...my contribution at least. I was kinda nervous making this dish because so many people were at our house for dinner tonight. Normally, I'm more of a dessert person than a main course person. But actually, this came out pretty well. I will try it with chicken next time. This is the recipe.

Black peppered beef
adapted from the recipe from Angie’s kitchen

Ingredients

200 g steak 100 g Onion, shredded 2 cloves Garlic, minced 40 ml Stock oil Marinade: ½ tbsp Light soy sauce 1 tbsp wine ¼ tsp Baking soda ½ tbsp Cornstarch ½ pc Egg white Pepper Sauce: 1 tsp Black pepper powder 1 tbsp Oyster sauce ¼ tsp Sugar ½ tbsp Light soy sauce

1. Cut the beef into small strips or slices. Mix in the marinade and let stand for at least 30 minutes. Mix the pepper sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. 2. Heat up a skillet with some oil. Add in marinated beef and cook until almost cooked. Remove the beef. Then cook the onions and garlic with some oil until soft. Remove the onions and garlic. 3. Pour in the prepared sauce and the stock. Bring to a boil. Return the beef and onion to the skillet. Stir for about 1 minute until cooked.

Cream Scones

Aaugh!! I have too much heavy cream and I don't know what to do with it. I looked through my cookbooks to find a recipe calling for lots of cream. I found a recipe for cream biscuits in America's test kitchen family cookbook. It was so easy to make and took no time to bake. I would probably add a little more salt next time, as I thought it was kinda bland alone. Otherwise, the texture was really nice and fluffy. Here is the recipe:

Cream biscuits
The America’s test kitchen family cookbook

2 cups (10 oz) unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups heavy cream

1. Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Add 1 ¼ cups cream and stir with wooden spoon until dough forms, about 30 seconds. Transfer dough from bowl to countertop, leaving all dry, floury bits behind in bowl. In 1 tbsp increments, add up to ¼ cup cream to dry bits in bowl, mixing with wooden spoon after each addition, until moistened. Add these moistened bits to rest of dough and knead by hand until smooth, about 30 seconds.

3. For round biscuits, pat the dough on a lightly floured work surface into a ¾ inch thick circle. Punch out dough rounds with a biscuit cutter. Push together remaining pieces of dough. Pat into ¼ inch thick round, and punch out several more biscuits. Discard remaining scraps.

4. For wedge biscuits, Press dough into an 8 inch cake pan. Then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. With a knife or bench scraper, cut the dough into eight wedges.

5. Place rounds or wedges on parchment lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

paper-lined sponge cake

I just got back from a trip to San Francisco and San Jose. While walking in the San Francisco Chinatown, it brought back so many memories of growing up in Hong Kong. All the foods and snacks that I used to eat as a child. So I decided to make this paper-lined sponge cake. If you've gone to any Chinese bakery in Chinatown, you'll often see these paper lined cup cakes. They're not as sweet as American cup cakes and have a rich egg taste. I found a recipe from Do What I like blog and made it yesterday. The cake actually came out really well, just like I remembered as a child.

kooki sushi

This is my first post, and I kept thinking what would be worthy of a first post. I decided on something from Kooki Sushi. A friend of mine works at a cute little shop called Kooki Sushi in San Jose, and she gave me this cute box of sushi. You probably can't tell by the pictures because it's made so well, but it's CHOCOLATE!!! I don't know how they do it, but everything is so beautiful. I think my favorite thing in the whole box is the little soy sauce container! It's chocolate too!! Incredible huh?! The great thing is, it not only looks good, it tastes good!!

A crisp rice cookie under rows of apricot flavored "gummi eggs" then wrapped in dark chocolate

A creamy white "shrimp" with a smooth white almond filling atop a dab of green tea "wasabi

A white, coconut flavored "octopus" slice filled with chewy coconut over a light touch of green tea "wasabi" on a crisp rice cookie

A lemon flavored "egg omelet" with a luscious lemon meringue filling draped over a crisp rice cookie and tied with dark chocolate "nori"

Shoga (ginger rose): Delicate pastel strips of ginger flavored white chocolate
Green Tea "Wasabi": A light green confection subtly flavored with Japanese Green tea
Peach blossom: A peach flavored white flower atop a mini crisp rice cookie
"shoyu" fish: An extra squeeze of dark chocolate flavored syrup in a fanciful plastic shape