Bulgogi

I haven't been doing much these days except waking up early in the morning to make 便當s (Bento/lunchboxes). JLo's 3rd year DDS schedule is pretty screwed up; on their last 3 weeks, the school decided to add 3 new classes for them. They have classes every day from 8am - 5pm, with only two 30-45 minute breaks in between. On top of that, they have to study for their Pharmacology final and 3 other finals for their new classes. Freaaaak.... so to make his life easier, i thought I'd take care of his lunches so he could have something to look forward to in the looong, tedious day of his. On my first day of 便當-making, i made Bulgogi with the marinade his mom sent him from Taiwan. Since JLo has a pretty big appetite, I made a 2 portion lunch with 1) chicken bulgogi and 2) beef bulgogi. I'm pretty sure he liked it cuz he asked me to make it again. So on Friday, i made him another 2 portion 便當 with 1) beef bulgogi, 2) chinese dumplings (will update on it later), and a salad :D. I actually quite enjoy waking up early to cook; not only does it fix my biological clock, but I also get first pick on fresh food at PP! Morning grocery shopping at PP is the best! Now I finally understand why moms are so willing to wake up early to shop and bargain at markets, hahaha. Well anyways, too bad I can only make lunches until next tuesday (pediatrics training is starting soon). So for now, JLo can continue being one lucky + happy man ;)

Bulgogi
INGREDIENTS:

• 200g beef, cut into thin slices
• Prepared Bulgogi marinade
  - If you don't have/cant find this, try this recipe.
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 stalk of spring onions, cut into 2 inch pieces

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl, mix together the beef and about 2 tablespoons of bulgogi marinade. Refridgerate overnight.
2. Heat oil in a skillet and stir-fry the onions and beef. Add Bulgogi marinade sauce to taste.
3. When beef is about done, add in the spring onions and stir fry for another minute.
4. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with rice.

Bulgogi

JLo's Bento Lunch- 2008.06.13

Berry-Mi-Su: Berry-me-up

I went to Italy for the 2nd time last December with JLo. On our last night there, while we were packing, JLo suddenly realized that we FORGOT to eat Tiramisu (his favorite dessert). 到了ITALY, 該去的地方都去了, 該看東西的都看了, but his trip wouldn't be complete without a Tiramisu. Well, it was already 11pm when we realized this (and we've already had an exhausting day walking across Rome cuz we were too cheap to buy metro tickets XD), but he still dragged me out of our hostel for our last meal. We went to one restaurant and ordered seafood pasta (another must). Then to a second restaurant where we finished our night off with a latte and tiramisu. Omg, you REALLY have to go to Italy for the best Tiramisu. On my 2 trips to Italy, no Tiramisu I’ve tasted has ever failed me. That piece of tiramisu we had was so good that every time I tell JLo about my next baking/dessert project, he'll always go, "Noooooo.... I want Tiramisu... make that instead!" HMPH, 有得吃就好了, 還讓你挑??

I REALLY don't like being told what to do... so instead of making what he wants (the original Tiramisu), i tweaked it up a little and made a BERRY-mi-su. Tee-hee. What is it? Berry-misu is just a way to jazz up the normal, traditional dessert you can find almost everywhere (ahem, JLo). This Berry-misu tasted good the way it was… but even better when it's half frozen!
Oh yea, it took me a while to blog about the berry-mi-su... but it took 3 different desserts to FINALLY use up my 1kg of strawberries :)

Berry-Misu: Berry-Me-Up
from Rachael Ray's Berry-Mi-Su: Berry-Me-Up and ytower.com.tw

INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 teaspoons un-flavored gelatin
• 90mL sugar
• 75mL water
• 250g marscapone cheese
• 150mL whipping cream
• Lady fingers
• 1/2 cup coffee
• Fresh strawberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat water, sugar, gelatin until dissolved.
2. Whip cream until 60% whipped.
3. Thaw marscapone cheese until room temperature.
4. Add the marscapone into the gelatin mixture and mix until well blended.
   (you may want to use a electric mixer)
5. Fold in the whipped cream.
6. Dip ladyfingers in coffee.
7. Layer the Berry-Mi-Su with cream, dipped lady fingers, sliced strawberries. Repeat until ingredients are used up.
8. Refrigerate for 3 hours or more until set.
9. Decorate the top with fresh strawberries, strawberry jam, chocolate syrup, or anything you like.

Basic Steps:


Berry-Mi-Su: Berry-Me-Up

Orange Cream Cheese Mousse

So instead of using my time wisely and study for my Pathophysiology final last weekend, my procrastination took over and out came another dessert XD. Okay, in my defense, I HAD to make something before my cream cheese expired the next day. I didn't really know what to do with it since I wasn't in the mood for any more cheesecakes, so I went back to the hundreds of recipes I saved in My Favorites and found this: 柳橙起士慕斯 on
玉英的部落格. It looked so pretty that I had to try it myself. Thankfully the recipe called for 250g of cream cheese, which is just what i had left... so no calculating or dividing needed. Anyways, 做來做去, another afternoon of studying was wasted and i dreadfully suffered the consequences when i began studying 2 nights before the freakin Final. Gahhh, I have a love/hate relationship with cramming + pulling all-nighters. Even though chugging down a big cup of coffee at 3 AM sounds pretty bad, but to be honest, I rather use that one night and push myself to the point where I can just drop dead after the exam than to die a slow, painful death by studying everyday. Call me a masochist, but i really ONLY work well under pressure-- Stress is my driving force.... haa..aaa..a...a..... But thankfully i had many cups of mousses to help me through those nights so... if you think about it, my 混 was actually time well spent *chuckles*.

Orange Cream Cheese Mousse
from 玉英的部落格

INGREDIENTS:

• A layer of almond cake cut into 8 small circles
• 250g cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 of a vanilla pod (i used 1 teaspoon vanilla extract).
• 2.5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (dissolved in a little bit of water)
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 package of orange jello OR:
  - 200 mL orange juice
  - 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  - 2 tablespoons sugar
  - 2.5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat the cream cheese and sugar until soft, add in the seeds in the vanilla pod + lemon juice.
2. Mix in the dissolved gelatin and beat until everything is thoroughly mixed.
3. Separately, whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form and fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
4. Place the cake layers in molds/cups and pour the mousse on top. Refrigerate until set.
5. Prepare the orange jello according to package directions.
   - OR combine the orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, gelatin together and heat until dissolved.
6. When the jello has cooled down, pour over the mousse and refrigerate.
7. Decorate with orange slices + whipped cream before serving.

Orange Cream Cheese Mousse

Tortillas + Chicken Quesadillas

I have one more final to go and I'll be done! (that's if I pass it today) But yea, after that I'll have even more time on my hands... all the way till June 18th, where I'm the last group to start Pediatrics. I'm not that bummed about being the last group to finish though. I don't have much summer plans and most of my friends are either staying in the states or... they live in Taichung or Taipei :( dang it. And since JLo also lives in Taipei, i wont be seeing him much over the summer... so i might as well stay here and spend more time with him before i start our summer long-distance relationship. How sad.

Now back to food: I'm here posting up the (so-far) best tortilla recipe that i've found online: Texas Flour Tortillas from homesicktexan. After trying many different recipes, this version makes the softest ones that actually STAY soft without drying or cracking up. They're thick, fluffy, and soft-- perfect for burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, or..... Quesadillas! Yep, which brings me to the second recipe of the day: Chicken Quesadillas. These are like the easiest things to make and they're quite filling too. If you're too lazy to cook chicken, a simple bean+cheese tortilla will also do. So here, no need to spend the extra money (7 ridiculous zlotys in Poland) when you can make double the amount with what, a maximum of 2 zloty worth of supplies?

Texas Flour Tortillas
from Homesick Texan
makes 8 tortillas

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup warm/hot milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix flour, baking poswer, and salt together.
2. Add the oil and warm milk.
3. Knead for 2 minutes. The dough should be firm and elastic.
4. Cover dough in a bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes.
5. Seperate into 8 euqal pieces and rooll ou tthe tortilla until very thin.
6. Heat oil in pan and cook until it starts bubbling.

Chicken Quesadillas
INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tortillas
• 1 cup refried beans (or mash 1 can of kidney beans)
  - Heat/steam the beans until soft and mash.
  - Season mashed beans with salt and pepper.
• 1 cooked chicken breast, cut into thin slices or shredded
  - Season chicken breast with 3 teaspoons cumin, salt & pepper.
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup onions

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat tortilla until it bubbles.
2. Layer half of the tortilla with refried beans, onions, tomatoes, chicken, and sprinkle with cheese.
3. Cover the tortilla and heat until cheese has melted.

Chicken Quesadillas

Pão de Queijo- Brazilian Cheese Buns

picture taken at El Rodizio, Madrid-Spain (12/25/07)

Last year, i had the BEST Christmas dinner EVER! JLo and I were in Madrid, and my aunt (who has been to Madrid a zillion times) made reservations for us at "El Rodizio" restruant. This place isn't just any ordinary res truant-- it was a Brazilian barbecue buffet (emphasizing on "Brazilian" and "buffet", haha). Back in Paraguay, we used to go to Brazilian barbecues almost all the time. What makes Brazilian buffets special is that the food comes to you rather than having to get up 2-3 times throughout the meal. There's tons of waiters walking around from table to table with huge skewers of meat (picture 1, picture 2, picture 3, picture 4). They serve different cuts of beef, pork, chicken, chorizo sausages...etc, and they ALL taste DIVINE! If you're not a meat person, no worries, you can always pig out at their crazy salad bar + Brazilian food buffet (picture 1, picture 2, picture 3). I can honestly say, without the slightest speck of hesitation, that South American barbecues are THE BEST. I can't even find words to describe how great it is so I'll stop here. Back to my Christmas dinner at "El Rodizio"-- I had like 3 rounds of buffet food... and what i mostly got were these cheese breads called: Pan de Queso (in Spanish), Pão de Queijo (in Portuguese), or Cheese buns (in English). I was overwhelmed with joy when i saw these. Ohhh, the good old Paraguayan days when i would pop these little buns like Skittles. Sigh... I couldn't help the nostalgia so I searched up a recipe and made them myself. And ohhh gosh... they tasted just like home :)

Pão de Queijo - Pan de Queso
from brazilcook.com
INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup tapioca or manioc starch(225 grams)
  (i used potato starch)
• 1 egg
• 100g of grated Parmesan cheese
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring to boil in a big pan the water, the milk, the oil and the salt.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tapioca starch. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let it cool down.
3. Put the mixture in a bowl, add the eggs and knead well.
4. Add the grated cheese and keep kneading until the dough is smooth.
5. Roll 1 tablespoon of mixture into small balls.
   (Tip: Grease your hands with oil if it's too sticky.)
6. Place the balls onto a greased baking tray.
7. Bake the cheese buns in hot oven (350 degrees) for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Put the cheese rolls in a basket and serve them warm.

Pão de Queijo - Pan de Queso - Cheese Buns