- Posted on
12th November 2011
- in
Breakfast, Misc, Vegetarian
- by
blackdogfoodblog
Gosh I am so happy that a new yoga studio opened up in Santa Barbara. It desperately needed a good yoga class. I have been looking for a good one since I moved here. (My ‘good’ means you barely crawl out of the class…) Power of your Om - it’s heated power yoga, but not Bikram hot (and stinky). My body is still shaking from the morning class- exactly what I was looking for. (no meditating/chanting yoga for me please ^*^ ) And having a zero body fat pretty instructor doesn’t hurt either. It does motivates you, you know. I eat healthy 70~80% [...]
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- Posted on
11th November 2011
- in
Bread & Sweets
- by
blackdogfoodblog
Sometimes, I go on a what I call ‘biscotti phase’. I obsessively make 3~4 batches of different kinds a week and give away….I love biscotties – I feel more like a grown up…haha! Something about dipping in coffee, mocha,dessert wine, milk(especially nutella biscotti which I will post soon – it’s my version of oreo and milk ) This one has pistachio, dried cherry, oat, lemon/orange zest…it’s super flavorful and delicious. Biscotti translate as ’twice baked’. It’s baked first as a log then you cut them into slices and goes back in the oven again till dried out and become crispy. Making [...]
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- Posted on
7th November 2011
- in
Asian, Main course
- by
blackdogfoodblog
Temperature dropped, I can feel a crisp chill in the air…my Uggs came out so did my appetite for Pho. When we go to vietnamese restaurant, I usually get beef pho with you know, ‘other stuff’ in it. (Tendon, strip, brisket, meatball, eyeball (just kidding)….) but I didn’t want to freak out my husband so I made chicken pho. As much as I love pho in a restaurant, I find them a little too salty for me. It tastes so good at that moment (I love broth..so I go way down of the bottom of a bowl) but afterwards, I [...]
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- Posted on
6th November 2011
- in
Bread & Sweets
- by
blackdogfoodblog
Panna cotta means ‘cooked cream’…not that I speak Italian…:) But I always liked the meaning of it because it’s, yes, that easy! You just cook cream, add a little gelatin and let it chill. That’s it! Once you realize how easy it is to make, you can make all kinds of variety of it. You can add buttermilk, lemon, green tea, your favorite Oolong tea, coffee, hazelnut, mint, sage, saffron, midori sour, kahlua, baileys….you name it. I came up with this recipe for my culinary school graduation menu and ever since that, it became one of my dessert cravings. (I [...]
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- Posted on
2nd November 2011
- in
Main course
- by
blackdogfoodblog
My chef friend, John Fernadez is an amazing chef who is classically trained in Italy. The other night, we had our friends over at our place for a ‘Pasta night’. We made three different pastas and tiramisu….Seriously I have never had pasta like that in my life. It literally melts in your mouth! Emily (my dear friend & fellow food blogger) and I, Chef John, his friend Niki and Susan(Pastry instructor at my culinary school-my favorite class) working in the kitchen and Susan’s boyfriend, fong and my husband hovering in the background…what an amazing time and food we had!!! I don’t have [...]
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- Posted on
29th October 2011
- in
Main course
- by
blackdogfoodblog
My friend Emily and I had a lunch today and we were talking to someone at our next table. He told us to watch ‘Eat, drink, man, woman‘. It sounded good so I searched it on Neflix. And it turned out it was my favorite movie growing up back home….it just didn’t click in my head it as it’s title in English. I watched it again. Aggghhhhh sentimental. I remembered every scene….I myself is a baby girl among three daughters….I miss home, noises of busy streets, smell of street food, my family…..and of course, it’s 10pm and I’m having a [...]
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- Posted on
28th October 2011
- in
Main course
- by
blackdogfoodblog
Did I say I make ‘mean’ tacos? I mean MEEEAAAANNNN. I do love Lilly’s taco here in Santa Barbara but man.. mine is off the chart good. heehee …no really. I moved from San Diego so of course I like my tacos beer battered. Blue moon though. Blue moon! (Just kidding. It just happened to be my favorite beer.) And then there are my two secret sauces-white sauce and pasilla chile sauce…Not so secret anymore now~ Crack open your beer and turn on some reggae. Have a ‘mean’ taco night. And tell me this wasn’t the best fish taco you ever [...]
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- Posted on
25th October 2011
- in
Bread & Sweets
- by
blackdogfoodblog
Who said only kids can have fun on halloween? Halloween is the only day where we can dare to wear a hooker shoes and strut down the street, right? Why not make these scrumptious chocolate cupcake (coffee in there- so don’t feed these to your kids) with mascarpone frosting (Baileys in there-so don’t feed these to your kids either) and have some grown ups trick or treat? Ingredients For cake: 1 cups all purpose flour 1 cups sugar 6 tablespoon good cocoa powder 1 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup buttermilk, shaken 1/4 cup vegetable [...]
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- Posted on
20th October 2011
- in
Bread & Sweets
- by
blackdogfoodblog
I have been searching for the best banana bread recipe for a long time. I have made a ‘brick’, ‘gooey’,’dry’….at times I had to toss the entire loaf in the trash. Wasted so many bananas, butter….Is there anybody out there feeling this pain? I personally think banana bread is the hardest quick bread to make it good. But after a few melt downs, I finally made the best banana bread ever. It is super moist and flavorful. I added a teaspoon of matcha green tea. (Don’t get too excited and put more than what you need…It will taste like pot…in a [...]
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- Posted on
20th October 2011
- in
Main course
- by
blackdogfoodblog
I am not a huge fan of chicken (except for fried chicken) but my husband loves chicken. He thinks chicken meat goes straight to his muscle-best muscle gain protein…. So I’ve got a few good chicken recipes up my sleeve. And this is by far my favorite chicken dish. Toasted farro give the whole dish nutty and robust flavor. I did spin and went to ’fit buddha‘ (my new favorite fitness class-spx fitness) today so I guess I will eat some chicken tonight. Please, chicken, go to my muscle. Ingredients Chicken (halves)-please buy a happy chicken. For marinade: 1 Tablespoon chives, [...]
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- Posted on
19th October 2011
- in
Main course, Misc
- by
blackdogfoodblog
My friend, Emily and I used to go to this local restaurant where our friend is a chef, and have a glass of wine and this grilled cheese. Blue cheese, white truffle oil and honey! Ever since I had my first bite, it became my favorite grilled cheese ever. Can you smell this now? Mmmmm… it’s time to upgrade your grill cheese! Ingredients 2 slices of your favorite bread (french rustic, thick wholewheat…I don’t recommend sour dough…it competes with other yummy flavors…:)) Blue cheese 1 Tablespoon Honey 1/4 teaspoon White truffle oil (Don’t buy an imitation one. Buy real [...]
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- Posted on
19th October 2011
- in
Main course
- by
blackdogfoodblog
I love simple food. And this fish dish is one of my favorite recipes I always make whenever I can find fresh white fish that day. Because this is such a simple dish, the key is to toast coriander seeds and grind yourself. Don’t use ground coriander. I did that one time and the flavor of the dish was not even comparable. So buy the seeds and grind yourself. It’s worth it. Ingredients 6 ounce wild sea bass (or you can use halibut) 1 pound assorted heirloom tomatoes, cut in half 1 Tablespoon olive oil & chopped rosemary Dressing: 1/4 [...]
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- Posted on
18th October 2011
- in
Breakfast, Misc
- by
blackdogfoodblog
I make breakfast for my husband every morning. So I have to come up with a lot of breakfast ideas and this is one of them. Steel cut oats with tons of other ‘stuff ‘ in it. I didn’t specify exact amount below….just add everything….till it makes sense…. Ingredients Steel cut oats (I use trader’s joe’s quick steel cut oats because I’m not that patient to cook regular steel cut oats) Teaspoonful of Wheat germ (tons of minerals, fiber, zinc, iron, anti-oxidant) Teaspoonful of Chia seeds (yeah chi chi chi chia-controls blood sugar, omega 3, it hydrates your body) [...]
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- Posted on
17th October 2011
- in
Bread & Sweets
- by
blackdogfoodblog
My dearest friend Megan came up to visit me from San Diego. I love when she comes. We workout, cook, eat, yoga, watch chick flicks on the couch…dye each other’s hair… And she made these ridiculous cupcakes for me. She got the recipe from a blog called ‘Ming makes cupcakes‘. What can I say, ‘Ming, I love you. Please keep making cupcakes.’ and thank you for posting. I recreated what she made and gosh it is so good! Let’s just say what can not taste good with brown butter, right? I always try to modify a recipe but just this [...]
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We had some guests over for dinner last night and had a big fillet of salmon leftover. I got it at the fish market(so fresh!) so there is a no way I am having it go waste. What can I do with it? —I decided to whip up salmon crepe with bechamel sauce. Ool la la And it turned out omg so good. Ingredients Crepe batter: 2 large eggs 3/4 cup milk 1/2 cup water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup flour 3 tablespoons melted butter a pinch of salt Butter, for coating the pan Salmon filling: 1 pound salmon fillet [...]
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