Chocolate chip cookies

Baby cookng has requested my beloved chocolate chip cookie recipe. It has been a few days and I haven't given it to her yet. She hasn't told me what the secret password is. She doesn't even know that she has to give me a password for it. In truth, this is a test to see how grossly negligent she has been to this blog because if she reads this, she will know she needs to give me the password. Will she know what the password is? Maybe she can ask the other cookng that has been living at a retail store on Madison Ave. This blog misses the triple shift workaholic cookngs.

Hey, don't you guys love Molly? Because if you do, you would read and contribute to this blog. In fact, Molly's new word is "mamawhydoesn'tyeeyeethreeandfivewriteontheblog"

Pasta tossed with Marmite & Butter and Chinese Greens

A good friend shared one of his favorite marmite recipes, pasta with butter and marmite! Nice and simple. Sounds good to me! Here is a quick simple healthy lunch I whipped up one day. It was very good, the flavors were great together with the freshness from the greens, the deep flavors from the sausage, marmite sauce and a nice kick from the white pepper.

Why don't you give it try..

Ingredients:

• pasta of choice ( here i used macaroni)
• butter
• marmite
• snow peas
• baby bok choi
• chinese sausage ( lop churn)
• salt and white pepper

Start with the pasta.
While the pasta is cooking, steam the greens and sausage together until done ( sausage a little longer then the greens)
In sauce pan , heat the butter and marmite together
When pasta is done, drain, return to pot and toss with desire amount of marmite & butter mixture.
Add the cooked greens and sausage.
Season with salt and pepper.
All Done .....Molly would say...
and a thank you to D.Corio for the birth of marmite and pasta for me.
Such a versatile dish ....what to do next...hmmmm.....

The freezer

I've been giddy all day. Partly because I had a nice lunch date with the hubby on a rare day off with the munchkin at day care. But really because I salted 2 whole chickens and a rack of baby back ribs and threw it all in the freezer. I went to Trader Joe's and bought 2 packs of Empire kosher chicken, you know the one that's a whole chicken cut into 8 pieces and some ribs. The ribs were in place of pork neck bones. I can only find those at the Asian market and figured the ribs would work for soup just as well. I got home and broke open the chicken, took off the skin, trimmed the fat rinsed and dried. Then I poured kosher salt into a bowl and got to work. I salted, wrapped and bagged the chicken into portions for chicken rice. Then I did the same with the ribs. Then I spent the rest of the day thinking about what soup I was going to make with the ribs. Maybe I'll make sae mae tong? Maybe I'll make Lisa's soup again. I also thought a lot about the salted chicken and how it was going to be so easy to make chicken rice on one of those work nights that I'm exhausted. I'm so giddy. Think I'm going to go to 99 Ranch and get some more bones to salt next week. Should I salt a fish while I'm at it?

Top Chef thoughts

Now that was an episode!! Finally some good all around excitement and cooking! I liked all the dishes and the elimination challenge. I thought using the Bocuse d'or platform was really exciting and of course the all star panel added to the overall buzz! Like all foodies, I just LOVE Thomas Keller. He just opened a Bouchon here in LA and I can't wait to go. Its not French Laundry or Per Se but it'll do. The man himself is so gracious and commands respect in such a warm and fuzzy way. He was a great guest panelist! This is also the first episode where I'm compelled to talk about the food. Everything looked so delicious and thoughtful. I was even impressed by Eli who unfortunately had to go home. You know it is getting towards the finale when Tom starts praising everyone instead of throwing confused looks. It seems that Michael V. got put in his place after being overconfident. Loved how Kevin won cooking food Michael cooks on his day off. Just love that Kevin, always sincere with his cooking. Jen finally got her mojo back and it was cool when Padma said "Welcome back" at the quickfire. When she is at her best, her food really is the most interesting and sophisticated. Hopefully she will continue on this upswing and maybe even win as I predicted??? Brian's food was exciting even though it wasn't executed so well. Its a good thing his food is not like his personality. I often wonder if he is capable of showing any more emotion than a member of the queen's guard. Hey Brian! Boo! snoooze.

I'm starting to feel the sadness that comes on towards the end of the season of a show I love. Although not as profoundly sad as for the finale of BSG, btw Ellen is going to join the cast of Heroes!! Ok, I'll stop before the tangent goes too far. I just hope top chef masters airs right after the Vegas finale!! We know that Marcus Samelsson (sp?) will be one of the cheftestants!

Shanghai Nice Green Bo - #2

Another Sunday visit to Green Bo. We can't help it everything on the menu sound so delicious we must try them all. Can't wait to try their Rice Cakes.

Here we started with an cold dish of aromatic beef (chilled sliced five spice marinated beef tendon ), side with roasted sesame oil jelly fish ( crunchy and slippery with hints of sesame oil and vinegar).

Gave Soup dumplings a rest ordered Wonton soup instead ( the wrap just melts in your mouth)

Dry stir fry string beans with pickle greens.

Fish Belly in brown sauce.

All good except the fish was a bit on the sweet side.

Previous Green Bo Lunch 

Nice Green Bo Shanghai Restaurant - Click for the full MENU *

Top Chef thoughts

I really enjoyed last night's episode for a few reasons. There was a week's hiatus with last week's boring reunion dinner so there was more anticipation than usual. I'm also a big fan of Nigella Lawson, even though I think she would be more beautiful without all that botox. The biggest reason of all? ROBIN FINALLY GETS BOOTED!! I mean, she was just horrible and really did not belong in the competition.

I think I've given up on Jen, sigh. She was my favorite but has totally let me down. She has totally lost her mojo and is totally sabotaging herself to get sent home. The only thing worse than sucking is giving up.

Even though the challenges have been entertaining, I've yet to see them really take advantage of being in Vegas. Where's the glitz?

Next week's goner? A no-brainer, Eli. Well, unless Jen continues to be a debbie downer.

the march...

I love the penguins on the bottom of the page!!! We;re marching to food!!! Let me guess...am I the little gray fuzzy one?!

running back with open arms...

So I'm back! I've been away at the world of fashion, but alas! I came running back to the food and restaurant world! I realize that I love talking about food way more than fashion.

So what's new?

The List for the Curious

Ever wonder what the ingredients are in your favorite chinese dish?  The range of chinese cooking ingredients is daunting even to me who grew up eating chinese food.
I've stumbled upon this very useful list and hopefully it will be helpful with your cooking or just eating out
Sunflower Recipes is the Blog's name and I very much enjoyed it!
Here is a list of Chinese Ingredients which you will find in authentic Chinese cooking.


 Hopefully I will find more list like this for all types of cooking!