It’s a simple sauce to make. However, I can never get the right ratio of ingredients. Too much of one ingredient can throw the flavor off. I always end up adjusting the ratio, adding a bit of this and a bit of that. Before you know it, I have a gallon of a prepared fish sauce that still doesn’t taste quite right.

This is when I asked my cooking-extraordinaire mother-in-law to quantify each ingredient. Here’s her recipe and her unique unit of measurements.

This makes a medium size jar of prepared fish sauce that you can store in your refrigerator for months.

• 1 small rice bowl of sugar
• I soup spoon of vinegar
• I can of coconut juice (coco brand)
• I can of water (fill up the coconut juice can)
• 1.5 small rice bowl of bottled fish sauce (the brand with three crabs on the label)
• 4 minced garlic cloves (optional)
• 2 minced Thai peppers (optional)

A month later, I dropped him off for pre-school. He walked in as calm as a clam but still held my hand tightly. He reluctantly followed his teacher to his play group, sat in the corner and cried quietly. He repeated the same three words, Mama di lam. Mama di lam (Mama goes to work) as tears slowly streamed down his face.

Fast forward to today. He can’t say Goodbye Mama fast enough before skipping off into the distance to hug his teacher.

My little boy is all grown up.

I walked out of the grocery stores with less grocery and less money in my wallet.

If I’m going to put a dent in my grocery bill, I need to be more proactive. Here are my newly adopted rules when it comes to grocery shopping.

1. Don’t wait till the last minute.

2. The other night, I sent my husband out to purchase a bottle of Ranch Dressing. He came home with a tiny bottle for over $5. I normally purchase a good size bottle for no more than $4. Most of the time, I can get it for under $3. So needless to say, $5 was way over priced. We ended up getting it anyways because we needed it that night for dinner. When you leave something to the last minute, there’s no wiggle room to look elsewhere for a better deal. Take inventory of what you need ahead of time. So when you are out and about and happen to run across a great deal, you can pick it up. Not only are you getting something off your shopping list, but you are getting it for a great price.

1. Take advantage of the weekly sales.

   We get paper advertisements from four different grocery stores in our area every week. They used to go straight into the recycling. One day, I decided to actually look through them, and lo and behold, I noticed items that I would buy at regular price were going on sale for much less. Why pay more when you can pay less? Now instead of doing my grocery shopping whenever, I wait to do my grocery shopping on the same day of the sale. It requires waiting for the day of the sale, but if you can, you end up saving quite a bit.

1. Combine weekly sales with coupons.

   This doubles your saving power! A jar of mayo is currently on sale for $2.99. That’s already a deal. Combine it with a manufacturer coupon for an additional $0.50 off and you can get thatitem for $2.49. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you can do that with most of the items in you grocery basket, then it adds up to a nice chunk of savings!

Happy grocery shopping!

Me: Time for bed.
Edison: Ok, Time for bed.
Me: That’s a good boy.
Edison: Yep, time to go to sleep. Daddy lie with Edison. Mommy go away.

He may not adore me, but hey, he listens!

I used to think that once I become a mom, I would be the best mom ever. I would have the most obedient children in the world. They would listen to my every command and do my every request. Parents all over the world would look at me with envy as they constantly compare their own children to mine.

I’m snapped out of my delusional dream as my 3-year-old son is shoving me out the door and telling me to go away. He spits food on the floor everywhere and every time he pleases. He refuses to pick up after himself after being told multiple times. Basically, he doesn’t listen at all unless he gets what he wants first.

Where did I go wrong? How could I, the disciplinarian, have produced such a child? Or could it be someone else’s fault? Maybe Grandma had too much of a parental role when he was younger. Maybe Daddy is too much of a push over.

Or it could simply be a defiant stage that he hopefully will outgrow.

I’m hoping for the latter and wishing for the best. Otherwise…I’m selling him on Craigslist.

Here’s my recipe for salt and pepper crab. You will find this dish in many Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants. It’s a popular yet a very simple dish.

Ingredients

• 2 live crabs
• 1 cup tapioca starch (or all purpose flour)
• Oil for deep frying
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 2 jalapenos (sliced; de-seed first if you don’t like heat)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon MSG (optional)
• 1 tablespoon cooking wine

Recipe

Prepare the crab by removing the outer shell and the membranes underneath (those spongy looking things). Hack up the crab into small pieces. Also, remove the sharp ends of the claws. We don’t want any puncture wounds while eating, now would we?

Rinse and pat dry.

Lightly coat with tapioca starch.Tap off excess.

Deep fry the crab in batches until the outside shell turns bright red (about one minute). If unsure, it’s always good to undercook than overcook. The rest of the cooking can take place in the wok, if needed.

Remove the deep fried crab on a plate lined with paper towels. This will absorb the excess oil.

Heat up a wok and generously coat the bottom with oil. Sautee the garlic and jalapenos until fragrant. Toss in the deep fried crab.

Now, a little at a time, sprinkle in the salt, pepper and MSG. Toss the crab around so the seasoning, garlic and jalapenos evenly coat the crab. Stop. Sprinkle more salt, pepper and MSG. Toss. Stop. Sprinkle. Toss. You get the picture.

One last step that I learned from an expert. Before serving, take the cooking wine and slowly drizzle it on the inside rim of the hot wok. The wine hitting the hot wok creates a fantastic aroma. Now enjoy!

Burger Meat:

Ground beef with a dash of steak seasoning, salt and pepper, molded into individual patties. Grilled with a slice of American cheese.

Burger topping #1:

I sliced up some white onions and mushrooms and sautéed them in a pan with a little bit of olive oil.

Burger topping #2:

I popped a bunch of red bell peppers in the boiler until completely charred. Waited until cool, peeled off the skin and sliced them into stripes.

Burger topping #3:

Green lettuce.

Heated up the buns, slathered them up with mayo and ketchup, and assembled the burger.

Fries? No biggie. Frozen and precooked. Just deep fried them.

Sushi Rice:

• 1 1/2 cups sushi rice (Kokuho Rose brand)
• 1 3/4 cups water

Rice Mixture:

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar (Marukan brand)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the rice mixture ingredients in a small pan until sugar dissolves. Once sushi rice is done, pour the dissolved mixture into the rice. Gently incorporate the mixture into the rice evenly.

Ingredients:

• One avocado
• One package of sushi grade BBQ eel
• Imitation crab vertically sliced
• Red flying fish roe (Tobiko)
• 10 peeled shrimps. Leave 3-4 shrimps with tails attached. This will serve as the “tail” of the dragon.
• Tempura batter
• Seaweed wraps (Nori)
• Oil for deep frying

Thickly coat the shrimps with the tempura batter and slowly drop them one by one into the deep fryer. Do this in batches. Remove shrimps when the outside is a golden brown.

Evenly spread the sushi rice on the seaweed wrap.

Flip the wrap over so that the rice is now facing down. Place the shrimp tempura and imitation crab in the middle of the wrap. Leave a shrimp with the tail still attached at the end so that it’s poking out of the wrap.

Roll up the seaweed wrap.

Thinly slice up the avocado:

Thinly slice up the BBQ eel at an angle like so:

Layer the sushi with an alternating piece of avocado and eel.

Lastly, sprinkle some red flying fish roe on top.

I find it very difficult to cut up the roll with the avocado and eel
on top. These darn ingredients keep slipping around. So to make it
easier on yourself, wrap up the roll in saran wrap to secure the atop ingredients, and then slice into it. Just remember to remove the cut up saran wrap when eating! And there you have it, a Dragon Roll. Enjoy with your usual sushi condiments: soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

No fuss. No refrigeration. Best of all, sweet corn is in season so it’s super cheap to make. I got my sweet corns at Lucky’s. 7 for 98 cents! Can’t beat that!

Ingredients

• Garlic olive oil
• One package of pasta shells
• Half can of Spam, sliced thin
• Three sweet corn on the cob
• Three red bell peppers
• One small red onion, sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Throw the Spam, corn, bell peppers and red onion onto the grill.

Flip the Spam, corn and red onion until you get those nice grilled marks. Once cooked, dice up the red onions and Spam, and remove the kernels from the corn. Place in bowl.

Roast the red bell peppers until the skin is completely blackened.
Remove from grill and let cool.
Once cooled, remove the skin. It should come off very easily.
Dice up the bell peppers and place into same bowl.

Cook the pasta and place into same bowl. Toss everything together.

Season with salt, pepper and drizzle with garlic olive oil. Taa-daa! Simple and delish!

Throughout the years, I learned techniques really do make a difference and I’ve gotten much better at baking. One of my favorite things to bake is banana bread. It’s so simple to make and I get to control how much sugar goes into them since most store-bought banana bread are way too sweet for my taste. The below recipe I believe is the perfect combination of sweetness and moistness. So enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped coarsely
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 dark speckled bananas, mashed well
1/4 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream, milk, buttermilk)
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9×5 inch loaf pan. Dust with flour and tap out excess.
3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and walnuts together and set aside.
4. Mixed the bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla.
5. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just combined and chunky.
6. Bake until loaf is golden brown or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. About 1 hr.

Cool in pan and then serve.