London Fish 'n Chips

We were on our way to the London bridge and it was sooooooo cold! When we spotted this place selling fish 'n chips off to the side of the street, we dashed to get in line!

Here it is! Hot fish 'n chips with a spot of tea!

Madeleines and Chocolate Madeleines

We stopped by La Madeleine yesterday night and they had madeleines packaged for sale. I was inspired to make my own madeleines and try out my new madeleine pan. I made a batch of traditional madeleines and a batch of chocolate madeleines. I'm not 100% happy with the results. I think the traditional ones are a little too dark and I didn't like how the chocolate ones are "hole-ly". Despite that they were still tasty and I think acceptable for my first attempt at madeleines.

Traditional Madeleines (Makes 12)

2 eggs - room temp

1/2c Sugar

zest of 1 Lemon - I used a Meyer lemon

2 tsp Vanilla

2/3c all-purpose Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

pinch of Salt

3/4 stick of Butter - melted & cooled

*Sift together flour, baking powder and salt - set aside. Mix sugar and lemon zest until fragrant. Then beat together with eggs using electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Add butter. Cover with plastic wrap for 3 hours.

*Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush molds with melted butter. Fill molds and bake for 12 min.

Chocolate Madeleines (Makes 12)

2 eggs - room temp

1/2c Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

2/3c all-purpose Flour

1/4c Cocoa Powder

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

pinch of Salt

3/4 stick of Butter - melted & cooled

*Sift together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt - set aside. Beat sugar with eggs using electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Add butter. Cover with plastic wrap for 3 hours.
*Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush molds with melted butter. Fill molds and place in oven. Lower heat to 350 degrees and bake for 12 min.

Piquant Burger and Onion Rings

A coupon for Jakes Burgers arrived in the mail today. They're voted Best Burgers in Dallas - I disagree. The patties are thin and that's a big fat NO in my book. The best burger I've ever had was from JC's Burgers located 5 min from my high school. My friends and I would always drive there for lunch and I've never had a burger since that tops theirs. The burgers aren't fancy, just simple and the patties are thick and beefy. Anyways this burger was inspired by JCs - You guys rock!!!

These aren't JC's Burgers, but they're pretty stick-to-your-ribs tasty too!


Beef Pattys
1 lb Ground Beef
1/2 Onion - minced
1 Garlic Clove - minced
Salt & Pepper
1-2 tsp Worchestershire Sauce
1-2 tsp Canola Oil
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
*Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside for about 10 min. Heat grill. Portion and shape beef mixture into 8 patties. Flatten the patties and make an indentation in the center (the patties will plump once they're on the grill). Grill about 2-3 min on each side

Beer Batter Onion Rings (Serves 6)
1 cup all-purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup beer
1 large egg
Canola oil
2 large white onions, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices, separated into rings
Salt
1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving


*Combine flour, salt, and cayenne. Add buttermilk, beer and egg and let sit 20 minutes.
*Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place a baking sheet on middle rack of oven. Heat oil to 380 degrees in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Dip a few slices of onion in batter, turning to coat. Gently drop slices into oil. Cook, turning once with a wire-mesh skimmer, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer rings to paper towels, season with salt immediately, then transfer onions to the baking sheet to keep warm. Repeat with remaining onions. (Adjust heat as necessary to keep oil at a steady temperature.) Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing.

Lotsa Bento!

Don't know why but this turned out to be a LOT of food.
I think I was pressured to eat/use up the leftover kimchi and seaweed and I wanted to have a fruit cup.

Rectangular Bento
Red Grapes

Round Bento
Left: Sweet Seaweed
Right: Mat Kimchi

Square Bento
Top Left: Yogurt Drink
Top Middle: Lemon Grass Beef with Bell Peppers and Shitake Mushrooms
Right: White Basmati
Bottom Left: Garlic Water Sprouts

Random Comment: This little bell pepper was so cute and it was the most perfect ideal bell pepper shape that I had to take a picture of it!

Mommy and Me Bento Time

Another quickie bento I slapped together for my mom and myself. We have lunch together about 2-3x a week and I brought this for us today. Mommy loved it! She thought it was so cute yet filling :)

Bento Items
Left: Rice topped with leftover 3cups Chicken
Top-Right: Stir-fry Bean Sprouts
Middle-Right: Edamame
Bottom-Right: Oden

Bento Numero Uno

Recently started to buy into the bento-mania craze. This a quickie first attempt with store-bought Gyoza and edamame. Hoping the visual gratification will help with portion control and weight-loss.

Bento Beginnings

My first memory of the word "bento" is an image of my Grandmother. She went to Japanese school as a child during their occupation of Taiwan and speaks Japanese fluently. In fact, her attempts at English speech is heavily accented with Japanese BUT I digress.

Lookie! My new bento supplies! I'm really excited to use them. Haven't really figured out how or when I'll use them. Kinda feel like I went overboard with rice molds (3 other molds are not pictured). Oh well, no time to wallow in buyer's remorse for now :)

Bento Supplies (Clockwise from Top-Left): Disposable Chopsticks, Bento box (650ml), Bento dividers, Rice Molds, Silicone Cupcake Liners, Disposable Dividers that look like fake grass.

Also wanted to brag about my bento box. It's NOT really a bento box. I swore off plastic tupperware for several reasons. I'd like to say the main reason was for health and the BPA scare, but that's just a mere 10% of the reason. THE main reason is that I like for things to retain that "new shiny" look. I'm really sensitive to that and plastics, even high-grade plastics always end up looking foggy. Another big reason is that I need my tupperware to be ovensafe and this one is up to 220 degrees (F) since it's made from glass.

My favorite plastic storage solution is the Lock n Lock collection and THIS bento box is from the Lock n Lock Glass collection made by Iwaki Japan. It also has a non-porous polycarbonate lid that won't stain and is shatter resistant. You can't really tell from the picture but the lid has a subtle raised design of flowers/vines and butterflies/birds. All I can say is....Eat your hearts out!