Guava Pear Juice with Mint

Aloha!

Guava smelled really good in the farmer's market the other day calling my name. I picked up a few for my new juicer. They are not very sweet by themselves, so you want to add sweet fruits. Combined with pears, grapes and some leftover apples in the fridge, there was no need to add any sweetener. Don't forget to put some chopped mint in it. Makes it taste so clean and fresh.

Bright pink flesh

Guava Pear Juice With Mint

3 guavas
2 pears
1/4 apple
1/2 lemon
Handful grapes (red or green kind)
Mint

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Wait for It, Wait for It....

My hubby teases our dog all the time. This time, he put a piece of rice cracker on his lap and made our dog wait for a long time. Notice how focused he is on the rice cracker. He didn't wait for my hubby to say "get it." It smelled too good, Daddy!

He is too fast for our camera

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After the Rain...

Green is so much greener

Encore azalea blooms twice a year

He doesn't like getting his paws wet

Thanks to the rain, the overbearing amount of pollen subsided for now. We can all breathe better. The flowers look much more vibrant in color after the rain.



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Cheese in Wonton Skin

Crunchy creamy yumminess

I like the Laughing Cow cheese. The flavor is very close to the cheese I used to eat when I was a kid. Very sharp. This cheese is relatively low in calories compare to other kinds of cheese. Just place a small chunk of the cream cheese and fold a wonton skin over it. Press gently with your fingers. The creamy cheese helps the wonton skin to stick and makes your job easy. No mess, no fuss. 

Try different cheeses

Easy snacks

You don't even need a lot of oil to fry these. Just drizzle a little bit of canola or olive oil to coat the frying pan, and lightly brown the wonton skins. It's hard to stop munching on these crispy snacks.

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White Dogwood

Our dogwood is starting to bloom. We cut down the pine trees that were on both side of it last year. The dogwood looks happier now that it gets more sun. 

Dogwood in our front yard

Explosion of flowers everywhere

Best time of the year

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Octopus and Cucumber Salad with Gojujan Dressing

I love Korean food. I am always on a hunt for good Korean restaurants and tasty recipes. When I found this jar of Korean gojujun paste at the local farmers market, I was inspired to make all kinds of dishes. The paste can be a little thick, so I recommend diluting it with the rice vinegar if you are using it as a salad dressing. For a lot of recipes that call for soy sauce, a dollop of it would completely change the dishes for you and surprise you.

Tangy and spicy Korean sauce

Octopus and Cucumber Salad With Gojujan Dressing

1/2 cup octopus cooked and sliced
1/2 English cucumber cut bite size

Gojujun Dressing

2 Tbsp gojujan paste
1 Tbsp miso paste
2 Tbsp sushi vinegar
1/2 piece garlic ground or minced
1/2 tsp sesame oil


Mix all the ingredients for dressing in a bowl and set aside
Toss octopus and cucumber with dressing in another bowl (adjust the amount of dressing to your liking)
Garnish with roasted sesame seeds and splash lime or lemon

The dressing and a jar of gojujan paste

The gojujan dressing is red, but it is not too spicy. I make extra dressing for other dishes. It makes a great dipping sauce for your vegetable crudités, too.

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He Has a Job to Do

He loves eating the seed head

Dandelion mustache

... and there's more!

This spring has been unusually warm, and the dandelions are growing like crazy. Our dog can't keep up with all of them in the yard. There is only so much a dog can do.

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Pink Chinese Loropetalum

This shrub by the side of our house is in bloom. It is very tough, heat tolerant, drought tolerant, and best of all, neglect tolerant. My kind of plant! The bright fuchsia flowers brighten up our yard.

If the pictures look yellow, it's pollen in the air, I'm sure.

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Shiso Ochazuke with Pickled Plum and Radish

I can't get over how hot it is and it's only March. I don't feel like eating when it's so hot outside. I had the chilled rice in the fridge, so I made Ochazuke. You eat a bowl of cereal with milk in the morning, it's sort of like the same idea. Simply pour some roasted green tea, Houji-cha, over the rice and top it off with some savory condiments. Pickled plum and pickled daikon radish will flavor the bland rice, the shiso furikake adds a nice fresh aroma to the dish. Even on a hot day, it will go down easily.

Tangy pickled plum and radish with fragrant shiso herb

Pour Houji-cha over the rice

If you'd like, you can chill your tea in the fridge before pouring it on the rice. It cools you down fast on a hot summer day. Houji-cha is roasted green tea, and it is a great match to a bowl of rice.

Shiso herb furikake

Shiso is a Japanese version of basil. If you've had sushi or sashimi, you probably had this, only as in a green leaf form. Shiso adds such a clean fresh flavor to a dish. It is almost lemony. It reminds me of a condiment called Sumac which is used in Middle Eastern cooking. 



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Egg Nested Chicago Roll with Crispy Prosciutto

My mother used to make this when I was a kid. I remember being so impressed with my mother thinking that she was the best cook in the world! She used small bacon pieces on top of the egg, but I crisped up a slice of prosciutto on the side. I like my egg on the runnier side, so I am going to reduce the time to 15-18 minutes the next time. The crust of the Chicago roll is light and crispy... a very good texture combo with the soft egg.

Top it with Parmesan cheese and parsley

Inside the roll... I think I'll make it runnier next time

Egg Nested Chicago Roll with Crispy Prosciutto

1 Chicago roll
1 egg
1 slice prosciutto
Parmesan cheese
Parsley
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350
Hollow out a Chicago roll and drop an egg in gently
Salt and pepper the egg
Bake the prosciutto on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes
Bake the roll for 20 minutes, depending on how you like your egg
Sprinkle Parmesan at the last minute and put it back in oven
Garnish with parsley

Hollow out the roll first

Crisp them up

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Banana Coconut Bread Pudding

I was inspired by the Vietnamese banana pudding with coconut milk, Banh Chuoi Nuong. The combination of banana and coconut milk is one of my favorites. I am so glad I finally made it. I added a dash of rum to spike it up. It would make a great brunch to replace your French toast or a dessert to go with a cup of tea. You can serve it room temp or cold or warm with a scoop of ice cream. I used Stevia to cut down some calories. And it is so easy to make!

Pudding is soaked with coconut milk and rum

Banana turns purple after baking for a while

 Banana Coconut Bread Pudding

(for 11x9 casserole dish)
6-7 bananas sliced diagonally 
6-7 slices white bread
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup Stevia 
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp rum
Brown sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Butter the casserole dish 
Sprinkle brown sugar on the bottom of the casserole dish
Lay banana slices on the bottom
Mix coconut milk, Stevia and rum and warm up slightly
Cut bread into smaller squares and soak lightly with coconut milk mixture and lay them on top of the first banana layer
Put another layer of bananas and another layer of bread
Put the last layer of bananas so you can see the bananas as top layer
Top it off with brown sugar
Bake for 60 minutes covered, and broil for another 5 minutes uncovered to caramelize the sugar on top
Cool it and serve

Thanks to my hubby for this beautiful hydrangea

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St. Patrick's Day

A great way to start your St. Patrick's day. I think I needed to put one more pear to this juice. The flavor of the collard greens is masking the flavor of the pears. Still, the juice was quite good. The juicer seemed to struggle a bit to process the collards. It helped to push them down with big chunks of cucumber.

Green juice 

Green shirt

St. Patrick's Day Juice

Handful collard greens

2-3 pears

1/2 cucumber

1/2 lemon

Handful parsley

Agave nectar 

Beautiful day to take a stroll...Yoshino cherry in bloom 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

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