What I ate for Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. Wishing you and your families a safe and happy holiday season!!!

This Christmas was like all the other Christmas. We ate dinner with our family and the food were pretty similar to the previous year. Even though it was just a few items but we weren't able to finish the food until the next day.






Mayo sauce for mayo shrimps. Too bad I accidentally deleted the picture of the shrimps. :(

Taiwanese Peppered Pork Pastry

Thanks Lily for sharing the peppered pastry video. I didn't understand everything so I had a friend to translate some of the ingredients. I didn't totally follow the instruction since I have a lot more meat and decided to use all the meat. I've never tried the pork pastry from Taiwan so I'm not sure if my version is similar or not. However, these were pretty good since I ate three for dinner. The dough is light and flaky. The peppered filling was a little spicy and good. The video ask for medium and low protein flour. I didn't have any so I made my own by mixing all purpose flour and cornstarch. The more cornstarch, the harder and crispier the pastry. Next time I might mix a little less cornstarch for medium protein flour so the dough can be more chewy.




Ingredients:

2 lb ground pork
1 lb ground belly pork
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 1/4 cup water
5 stalks scallion chopped
1/4-1/2 cup sesame
syrup = boil 1/2 cup water + 1/2 slab sugar

Dough 1:

3 cups medium protein flour = 2 c all purpose + 1 c cornstarch
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup water

Dough 2:

1 c low protein flour = 3/4 c self rising + 1/4 c cornstarch
4 tbsp lard

Method:

1. Mix all the meat together with the spices. Stir until homogeneous and add a little water at a time. Then add in sesame oil. Continue to stir. Wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

2. Mix the dry ingredients for dough 1. Then form a well and slowly add in the water. Knead into a soft dough. Cover for 1 hr and let it double.

3. Mix the lard with the low protein flour for dough 2. Knead into a dough. Roll out and cut into 16 pieces.

4. After dough 1 double. Roll out and cut into 16 pieces.

5. Using dough 1 and wrap dough2. Roll it flat. Then roll into a swiss roll. Then pinch the two end to the middle and roll it out again. Again roll into a swiss roll. Then pinch two ends to the middle and then flatten.

6. Place meat in center of flatten dough and add in scallions. Wrap and then dip the smooth side in the syrup and then on the sesame. Then place on a nonstick pan. Let the dough rest in the oven for about 10 minutes. Then turn on the oven for 350 F. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Serve hot.

September Figs Update

I bought my figs from treesofjoy on March 2010. They were still dormant when I bought them. After some care they grew beautifully and produced some delicious figs! It is hard to describe the taste and some more fruity than the other. All were very sweet. The skin on these figs were thin compared to the store bought. The taste of course is way better than the store bought. I just ate some brooklyn dark and it was so good, juicy, and fruity. The brooklyn dark fig is the largest in size compared to ronde de bordeaux, black mission, or hardy chicago. The dark portuguese figs still not near ripening. I would say the dark portuguese is a late season fig in PA or because this is the first season so the figs came a little late. If you ask me which is my favorite, I would say I like them all. If I have to pick then I would say brooklyn dark and ronde is the best because of taste, size, and color. Both have a really nice color inside. The ronde is a little prettier because of the dark purple color and reddish inside. Ronde is also a fast growing tree. I might have to change the pot again next year. Just picked a few more Ronde so I will enjoy these slowly.....hehehehe
Picture taken 9/16/10

Picked 9/22/10

9/22/10

Picked 8/22/10
Picked 8/22/10
Picked 8/22/10


Picked 8/29/10

Picture taken 9/22/10

Tropical fruits in Toronto

We went to Toronto for a 5 days vacation and it was a lot of fun. We bought a lot of tropical fruits, visited the Niagara Fall during the day and night, visited some relatives, and went to dinner in the CN Tower. The only sad thing was CAD money worth more than US dollar. The best rate we got was with TD bank because they didn't charge an exchange fee. I think it was 100 US dollars for 101 CAD. There were many fruit stores and some were cheaper than the other. The fruits were a little cheaper than in the US and a lot fresher!

Niagara Fall during day
Niagara Fall at night

Niagara Fall w/ lights
Free fireworks




Chinatown on Spadina Ave. More than 5 fruit stores.
Best sugar apples
Longkong and rambutan so sweet

Best mangosteen ever.
Didn't try the sapodilla since it was still green.
Atemoya- some were good and some just ok. I still think the one we got from Florida was better.
Mangoes were so good with salt and chillies.
Try not to buy the 10 for $20 sugar apple as they're not as good as the 7 for $20.
June plum was good and not too sour.

Sour sop may looks good but the ripe one is not good at all. We got one ripe and unripe. The hard one was better and sweeter than the ripe one.
First day there and we spent $95 on fruits. For the rest of the 3 days we spent $90 each day on fruits.
Sour but yummy
Ripe sour sop not so good
Baby jackfruit chempedak was very good. The flesh was soft and sweet.
CN Tower
CN Tower at night was so beautiful with the different light.







Dinner at CN Tower was very expensive after tax and tips. But the food was good. We also get to see the city from up high. It was a beautiful scene.