I cook, save where I can, and try to live life to the fullest. Along the way, I hope to share some information that I hope others find helpful or at least, entertaining.
My son, husband and I decided to make Eggs Benedict after drooling over it on an episode of MasterChef. I knew it was a simple dish, but thought the hollandaise sauce might be bit tricky, but surprisingly, everything came together quite easily.
Eggs benedict consists of half of a English muffin topped with bacon or [...]
I have wrote about making your own frappuccino at home to save money without totally sacrificing the same great taste of barista-made coffee. Check out Starbuck Drinks for Half the Price. This post uses the Caffe D’Vita Mocha Cappuccino instant mix. Recently, I came up with another awesome version for a mocha frap using Vietnamese [...]
Tis the season for some crabs! At $2.99 per lb, you can bet I’ll be eating crabs until my heart and tummy are content. One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is Cua Rang Me. It’s crabs stir-fried with a sweet tamarind sauce. It’s a sweet, sour and savory dish that is sure to delight anyone [...]
Whenever I’m really hungry and in need of something quick, I can always count on Chinese take-outs. I always get some kind of stir-fry with a side of rice. For the most part, it’s healthy as the stir fry comprises of mostly vegetables and a type of protein (pork, beef, shrimp, etc). However, almost every [...]
I am on a mission to make the perfect cupcake. Recently inspired by Cupkate’s cupcakes (www.cupkatesbakery.com), I, too, want to make a perfectly soft and moist cupcake with the most decadent frosting to ever hit the inside of your mouth. So I assembled my team: my 10-year old nephew, Brandon, my 5-year-old [...]
I usually have a lot of aromatic vegetables lying around the house: celery, carrots, lemons, shallots, garlic and onions. When the week rolls by, and I have yet to use them up, I usually find a good poultry roast recipe where I can jam most of it into the bird’s cavity. So I headed out [...]
I love Vietnamese sandwiches. You have your choice of grilled pork, chicken, meatball, ham etc on a warm baguette that’s perfectly toasted on the outside and soft and airy on the inside. Topped with a thick slice of cucumber, some pickled daikon and carrots, a few sprigs of cilantros and a few slices of fresh [...]
Pho is pretty much all about the beef broth. Master the beef broth and you got yourself a smashing dish. To master the broth, you need to give yourself a couple of hours. Slowly simmering the beef bones is key. After that, everything else is pretty easy.
The Broth
6 quarts of water
20 small shallots [...]
I was browsing through the refrigerated section of Costco and found that they carry an assorted selection of pre-cut fruit. Initially, the thought of pre-cut fruit couldn’t be better. I’m always looking for ways to save time and having someone else cut up my fruit, well…there must be a God. Then I looked at [...]
Want a simple and quick meal that also delicious? My go-to meal is Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. What makes it quick is that I use store-bought sauce instead of making my own, and the rest is easy to throw together.
Store-bought sauce:
Classico creamy alfredo
I usually stock up on this sauce at Costco when it appears in [...]