港式蘿蔔糕 Turnip/Radish Cake

Ingredients:
Daikon 1
Chinese mushroom/Shikita 8
Chinese smoked sausage (Chicken lean meat) 1 link
Mini dried shrimp approx. 10 pcs
Brown Rice Flour 2 cup
Water 1 cup
Sesame Oil 1tsp
Salt 1tsp
Pepper 1tsp
Ginger Powder 1ts
Sugar 1tsp

Daikon/Radish/Turnip

Shredded Daikon. Add 1/3 cup of water and cook these shredded daikon with medium heat.  Put in ginger powder, sesame oil, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook for 8 mins and remove from heat. According to my home-economics teacher and my grandma, do not overcook the daikon as they will give out excessive water that might turn the cake too mushy. 

Diced Chinese mushroom (Shikita), Chinese smoked sausage , dried mini shrimp (skip the sausage and shrimp if you are a vegetarian). These ingredients give out  great flavor and smell. 

Mix approximately 1/2 cup of water with the brown rice flour, then mix in the above diced ingredients.


Pour the mixture into a glass container or aluminium foil container. Steam this mixture for 45 mins to 60 minutes in a rice cooker, until it is firm.  Let it cool down before serving.

Cut the cake into square or rectangular pieces, use a tsp of oil to fried them until they turn slightly browned. 

This morning, we had turnip cake and congee as our breakfast. Honey K made the sauce, which is composed of  oyster sauce, chili sauce and leeks. I must say this is quite new to me. 

                                     

How to make ramen a healthy meal?

Ramen has always been one of my favourite winter meals despite its bad reputation in the United States. I can see that my students often were surprised by my way of turning a bowl of ramen into a delicious and hearty meal. I always tell them, "Well, it depends on what kind of ramen you have." The truth is I never buy those ramen in the vending machine in the United States and I have never tasted any of them, except the ones in Japan.

There are different brands of ramen one can get from grocery stores, from the fried ones to the non-friend ones. The fried ones taste good but they carry a lot of fat and sodium with it. Sometime, their calories can be as high as 500 without adding anything into it. As I learn about the importance of a healthy diet, I rarely have them anymore. I must say I miss them occasionally, though. As an alternative, I usually get those that are non-fried, such as the following:

Sau Tao Noodle King Oat Noodles has been my favourite.
They are less expensive than the imported Japanese Ramen but still tangy and delicious. They carry a wide variety of noodles and they are not too hard to find in the States. Honey K likes this brand as well.

Simple Ramen Recipe (Vegetarian friendly)

Serving: 1

Ingredients: 

Ramen of your choice

My grandma got this for Kaily while we were grocery shopping in a Hong Kong supermarket during the summer. This is one of the best ramen that I have ever eaten. 

                                                                 Vegetables (for cooking)- Chinese cabbage 

Fried tofu cube (a few pieces) 

An egg

Procedures:

1. Boil a small pot of water and put ramen into it. Cook until it is ready. Most of the ramen will only take 3 minutes. Some take 5 or more. Read instructions on the back of your ramen package. 

2. When the water is boiled, put egg, vegetables and tofu into the pot at the same time. The egg will take 10 minutes to become a boiled egg with a soft interior. If you are using Chinese cabbage (Bak Choy) or  the like, it will take less than 10 minutes The tofu cube will take roughly 10 mins to be cooked. 

                                                                                     The egg yolk is still soft. 

3. Put everything into the bowl and serve. If you don't want to use the soup powder, which often contains MSG, you can make your own miso soup by buying a box of miso paste. If you don't care, actually, the soup powder often taste very good. According to Honey K, if you are not eating a ton of MSG on a regular basis, there is no detrimental effect on your body. 

I was so excited about this bowl of Ramen that I forgot to put scallions on the topic of it. Yummy : )

In the making of a New Year Eve's Dinner

Braised Spicy Pork Shoulder in Tomatoes Stew

Serving: 2

Utensils: 

All-Clad saucepan (or any kind of pan that you can put into the oven for at least 4 hours in 350 F) 

Ingredient: 

Cooking oil (1 tbsp for browning the onion, carrots and garlic. You do not need oil for browning the pork because of its own fat)

Pork Shoulder approximately 1 pound (3 fist sized pork shoulder) 

Baby carrots/regular carrots  (a handful) 

Jumbo yellow onion (half, chopped them into medium pieces) 

Garlic (2 cloves, coarsely chopped)

Italian herbs (1 tsp)

Salt and pepper (2 tbsp approximately) 

Spicy hot pot sauce (1tbsp) [I used Ning Chi 寜記麻辣火鍋醬]

Honey (1 tbsp) 

Nutmeg (1 tsp) 

Canned Tomatoes (1/2 can)  

Chicken stock (1/2 cup) 

Water (1 cup) 

Red pepper flakes (1tbsp) 

Method: 

1. Marinate pork shoulders over night with salt and pepper, spicy hot pot sauce, honey, nutmeg, chicken stock and water. Put them in the fridge.

2. Take them out the next day 30 mins prior to cooking and let them sit at room temperature. Preheat oven at 350 F.

3. Dice onions into pieces. Brown them with cooking oil. Add in carrots and garlic after 8 minutes.

Keep an eye on them and turn off the the heat when they are browned. Don't skip this process as it will enhance the color and flavor of vegetables.

Carrots and onions are slightly browned. 

4. Put the carrots, garlic and onions aside on a plate. In the same pan or another pan, put in the pork shoulders. No extra cooking oil needed. Brown the pork shoulders in medium heat. 

5. Then, combine the carrots and onions with the pork shoulders. Pour in the marinates and tomatoes, and let it cook on the stove until you see it becomes slightly boil.

They should smell fantastic at this point! At least Honey K said so. 

More is better than less for this dish as after long hours of cooking, the water level will decrease. 

6. Cover the pan with a piece of aluminum foil and put it in the preheated oven for 4 hours or until it is tender. 

7. Lower the heat to 200F if it is cooked prior to dinner time to keep it warm.

Ready to serve with rice!

The pork shoulder is very tender after long hours of cooking. If you don't want it to be spicy, just skip the spicy hotpot sauce. You will love this dish!

細說早餐

今天特別懷念在香港的早餐。

小時候，媽媽早就說過起早點的重要性，我也在另一篇日誌談過早餐的威力，詳細可以一讀

Breakfast: break the night fast

還記得很小時候，媽媽或傭人準備的「併盆」早餐，一隻吉蒂碟，三個格，有肉，有菜，有水果和面包，再加上一杯橙汁或牛奶，這是很久很久以前的事。

後來的早餐，媽媽因為忙於工作，沒有時間再準備，三餐基本都是由奶奶或傭人準備的，記憶有星洲炒米、公仔面、三明治、玉米片、點心、米粉、饅頭......在.冬天的時候，我早上總要飲一杯暖暖的蜜糖水，再出門上學。現在長大了，我才真正明自己是很幸福的孩子，應該珍惜及感恩以前在家中安定吃早飯的日子，不應該挑三挑四。

在念高中的時候，我和幾個好友有時候會相約在我們家附近的一家麥當勞吃早餐，吃飽後，我們會去等22号小巴上學去。那些日子，面對會考和高考，以及「青春期」，甚麼壓力都是一大堆的，可是，怎樣想，那些日子總教人回味，或許，這就是懷念的力量吧。

讀大學的時候，如果不在家吃，我可以很便宜的在路上買個吃的，而且是自己想吃的。住在中大的時候，每當要上八半課，我和同學喜歡到NA CAN買那一份千層厚蛋三明治，特別是冬天的時候，那份三明治會熱得冒煙，而我對它唯一的批評是太多油。

後來在美國認識了在台灣長大的Honey K，他告訴我台灣有很多早餐店，賣的都是平日在香港吃不到的早點，例如有我喜歡的蛋餅、手抓餅、米漿等等。在Honey K家的話，我還可以很幸運的吃到劉爸爸準備的早飯，有粥有蒸蛋，還有好開胃的配粥小菜(醬瓜、筍子) 。我剛剛問Honey K最喜歡的台灣早點是甚麼，他第一個說是港式蘿蔔糕。

現在在美國，早餐的選擇沒有很多，價錢也沒有很經濟。在外吃的話，不但沒有蛋餅和腿蛋治，如果要吃的話，我只能選甜死人的鬆餅或高卡的比高配cream cheese，選擇很少，所以我很少在外吃早點，一般都是在家中弄個吃的，或帶著咖啡和乳酪上學。和Honey K在一起的話，而又有時間的時候，我會做早餐，一起吃後才出門。

熱騰騰的香蕉花生醬三明治

周末在家吃的Brunch。雞心豆菠菜餅(在Costco有售)配Broccolini和蘋果黑莓沙拉。

Honey K說他比較喜歡吃我做的Mini Quiche，他一個人吃了3個，所以我這次要分享這個食譜。

自製的mini quiche

2 人份

材料﹕
大蛋 2隻
Parmesan Cheese* (shredded) 約1/4杯-1/2杯 (喜歡芝士的朋友可多放)
Half and Half或牛奶 1 湯匙
Salt & Pepper 少許
Red pepper flake s少許
Pastry dough** 8cmX8cm的正方 4片

*可用車打芝士取代。
**Pre-made and can be purchased at your local supermarket

做法﹕

1. 預熱烤箱400度。先在量杯打蛋，加入half and half, salt and pepper和red pepper flakes，打至起泡。
2. 在四個小型的muffin tin (直徑約6厘米)掃上一層油， 輕輕壓下已剪裁好的Pastry dough (我是用Pillsbury 的reduced fat crescent roll dough。如也是用這個dough的話，每一個quiche用兩個三角型) 約是8x8cm的正方。把四面的角留在muffin tin 上可做成一個小杯狀。
3. 用量杯把蛋醬倒在一個又一個的pastry杯中，不要倒太滿。
4. 最後在每一個上一個handful的芝士。每人的口味不一樣，Honey K覺得一個湯匙的Parmesan cheese有點多，而我就覺得剛剛好。
5. 放入烤箱，烤大概10分鐘，然後可以拿出來在加入少許剩下來的芝士，把烤箱調至Broil，把quiche在烤大概3-5分鐘王呈金黃色。Broil時不要完全關上烤箱的門，留大概5厘米，以防燒焦。
6. 烤好後上碟，可以立刻食用。

Variations：　
1. 喜歡肉食的朋友，可以放入切粒的煙肉和火腿，變成Ham and Cheese Quiche。
2. 喜歡素的朋友，可放入切好益炒過的菠菜，變成Spinach and Cheese Quiche。

Our Homey Christmas Eve Menu

今年的聖誕也是在明尼蘇達和Honey K一起渡過，不一樣的是今年的天氣變得不太冷，有2度也有零下2度的時候，沒有常常的下雪，還有就是我為他準備了充滿驚喜的平安夜大餐，其實也沒有甚麼特別了，可以有時間煮飯，研究一下菜單就很滿足。

本年度的平安夜晚餐餐單

因為我皮膚過敏的關係，今天我們都沒有飲酒，那是雪梨汽泡果汁。

                    

頭盤是Baked Brie 和簡單的羅馬生菜沙拉

Baked Brie with Homemade Cranberry Jam 

這個前菜很簡單，喜歡吃Brie的朋友可不要錯過呢!我買了約兩人份的Brie，然後把它放在烤盆上，在Brie的上面塗上一層厚厚的紅莓醬，然後用一片面團 (可在超市買Pillsbury的dough) 包著，用375度烤約10分鐘，拿出來，可用餅干伴吃。













Barbecue Pork Shoulder Roast served with potatoes and carrots 

這是入口即溶的豬頸肉，煮了大半天。

Homemade Fresh Blackberry Cobbler served with ice-cream of your choice 

Honey K本來說兩個人吃一碗就好了，怎麼知道他吃了一碗後說﹕「我可以吃第二碗嗎﹖」

從果醬到手工餅乾

節日的廚房特別的忙，轉眼間又是一年一度的烤餅乾季節。今年除了做餅乾外，我還自製了紅莓果醬，增添自家製作的樂趣。畢竟明尼蘇達沒有甚麼可以做的，把時間用在為心愛的人做菜總比整天打美少女夢工場或大富翁來得好。(笑)


紅莓醬 (Cranberry Jam)
1包新鮮紅莓 (3杯半份)
1杯柳橙汁
薑份1/2茶匙 (可用1湯匙新鮮的薑汁會更好)
2杯蔗糖 (可用白糖代替)
1/2杯的蘋果醬
1/2杯水

做法﹕
1. 先把紅莓洗淨，然後放鍋。
2. 混入糖、橙汁和水，用中火煮至紅莓變爛。
3. 加入薑粉和蘋果醬，用慢火煮大概20-30 分鐘，變成果醬。
4. 冷卻後，可放入冰箱，隨時可伴面包或餅干吃。


紅莓醬手工餅乾 (Cranberry Jam Thumbprint Cookie)
份量: 24-30片


1杯All-purpose flour
3/4杯全麥面粉
1/2茶匙的baking soda
1/2茶匙的nutmeg
1/2茶匙的cinnamon sugar
1.1/2條的無鹽奶油
3/4杯蔗糖
1隻蛋
1茶匙的香草精華 (Vanilia Extract)
1/4茶匙的鹽







1. 先把奶油和糖用mixer打拌好，中度打5分鐘。

2. 加入香草精華和雞蛋，慢慢拌好。
3. 在另一個碗，把不同的面粉倒在一起，加入baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon sugar，拌勻。
4. 把拌好的(3)分開幾次，慢慢的加入(2)，用fold的方法拌勻。
5. 把以上(4)的面團，放冰箱冷兩個小時。
6. 兩個小時後，把面團拿出來，把他們分開，弄成一個又一個的約1吋小球。
7. 把他們放在baking sheet上，輕輕用手指頭一壓，或用小茶匙在面團中間輕輕壓下。
8. 放入已預熱350度的烤箱，烤約7分鐘，拿出來。如果此時那個餅的小圓洞升了起來，可再用小茶匙，輕輕的壓一下，再做出可以放果醬的小洞。注意請不要把面團壓穿。

9. 加入之前煮好的果醬，每個大約半湯匙果醬便可，不要太滿。
10. 再放入烤箱烤7分鐘。

11. 拿出來冷卻後可即食。

會心微笑

做我們這一行的，最讓人感到滿足的就是聽到客人和學生擁有夢想，在困難中看到希望，並在充滿內心爭扎的時候，想起那些心理輔導的日子，想起還有我們為他們的生命故事鼓舞。


無論今天的她有多不如意，是進是退，她還是記得輔導時我們談過的一切。人生是自己走的，作為輔導員，我是她的鏡子，照出她看到的，也照出她看不到的，但是我永遠照不出她不想看到的。昨天，我問她﹕「你的人生目標是甚麼﹖」她說﹕「這個問題很難。(笑) 我嘗試寫那封信給自己(上星期的治療功課)，但是我認為這是一個沒有辦法解答的問題。」她問我﹕「那你的夢想是甚麼﹖」正常來說，我不會回答客人這種有關我的問題，我可能會說一些像這樣的話﹕「你對我的夢想好像很有興趣，告訴我為甚麼你想知道。」可是，這一次，我覺得給她當一面鏡子去模枋是有治療效用的，所以我簡短的告訴她我的人生目標是有一個家，有一份事業，做我自己。我並跟她說找出人生的目標需要的是時間和自我了解，每個人的目標不一樣，也會隨著時間和處境改變，最重要的是需時。


我這個客一生受盡肉體和心靈的虐待，家人沒有珍惜她，也沒有關心她，她不知道自己是誰，也不知道自己需要甚麼。處於中年的她既沒有人生的意義，對很多事情也沒有感覺，生活就像「自己看著自己拍的一部電影。」經過一年多的心理輔導，她終於決定離開她現有的生活處境，也開始感覺到自己的情緒。可是改變是極需要勇氣的，她正在分叉點踏步，有時候向前走十步，有時候後退五步。久不久，她便很懊惱，是進是退﹖


人生是自己走的。我告訴她。我不能幫你選擇最適合你走的道路，不過我們可以看看這條路是否能達到你的人生目標。她雖然說她不知道前路是怎樣，但是她知道她很希望回到從前那些馬術表演的日子。我跟她說或許這就是你所追求的。她說對。


今天黃昏，我收到她的電郵和一張充滿著馬和人的照片，她寫上這就是她的夢想。我會心微笑了。我的客人，謝謝你跟我分享你的生命，你的夢想。