Thai Egg Omelet

For the last several days, my computer would not start. Luckily, my awesome dad was able to fix it!  Thanks for your patience.

Here's another recipe you may enjoy ... It's a great dinner option.  It can be tricky to fold the omelet and a little more work, but it's totally worth making.  It's full of flavor and healthy too.

The recipe for Thai Egg Omelets is from the Thai Cuisine, Lemon Grass Cook book, written by Panurat Polanditmontri Judy Lew.

Ingredients: 4 servings

1/4 lb ground pork (or ground chicken)
1/4 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 close garlic, minced

2T fish sauce
1T seasoning sauce  (if you don't have seasoning sauce, don't worry about it)
2T sugar

1  small tomato, diced
1  small onion, diced
1/8c  green beans, chopped or green peas
1/8c  carrots, chopped
1/4c each red and green bell peppers, chopped
6 eggs, beaten
1/8t white pepper
3T Oil

Cilantro and green onions for garnish

Cooking Method:

1. Mince pork (or chicken) and shrimp together. 

2. Chop all vegetables.

3.  Heat a pan and add 1T of the oil and garlic.  Stir fry  meat mixture until done.

4. Add fish sauce, seasoning sauce and sguar. C ontinue to cook until the sauce is reduced.  Add all vegetables and stir to combine.  Mix white pepper into vegetables.

5.  Heat pan on medium heat and coat with a thin layer of oil.  Add 1/4 of egg mixture and roll to coat surface of pan.  Add 1/4 of filling mixture and allow omelet to cook.

6.  Fold two sides together. Then, fold two other sides together.

7.  Place a plate on top of omelet and turn pan upside down to invert omelet, showing the bottom as the top.  Continue to make other omelets.

I love Thai food and this is one of my favorite recipes.  It does require a little more work, but it's a great meal for those days when you crave a great, home cooked meal. 

A Hawaii Favorite: Kamaboko Crab Dip

If you love seafood, you'll absolutely love this recipe.  It's a classic recipe from Hawaii, one that is perfect for any party. 

I found the original recipe in "Hawaii's Best - Quick and Easy Recipes "  by author Jean Hee.  It's a popular dip in Hawaii and one hard to resist. 

I will begin to feature more recipes from Hawaii, which I made a folder for under "Hawaii Food Favorites."  I hope you enjoy it.

Kamaboko and Crab Dip

1 (6 oz) Kamaboko (fish cake)
1 (8 oz) package of imitation crab meat
3 green onion, chopped
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup sour cream

1. Chop the kamaboko (fish cake) and imitation crab meat.  Then, combine with green onions,   mayonaise, and sour cream.

2. Mix ingredients together

3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Personally, I prefer less of a creamy texture, so I reduced the amount of mayonaise and sour cream by 1/2 cup.  Next time, I'll add only 1/4 a cup.  It's still creamy and tasty, but with less fat.  I also increased the amount of green onions.  I'd recommend shredding, then cutting the crab into smaller pieces.  It will make it easier to eat.

I love kamaboko and crab dip! I know you will too.

Updated Oct 2015 (adapted from Hawaii's Best Quick and Easy Recipes by Jean Watanabe Hee)

Vietnamese Tomato and Crab Noodle Soup

Tonight for dinner, I made Vietnamese Tomato and Crab Noodle Soup.  It doesn't actually have crab in it, but it has crab paste oil in it, which makes the soup base turn red.  It's a simple, light soup almost anyone can appreciate.  It does, however, have a unique taste that some may feel hesitant about eating, but it's worth giving a try.  You never know ... It may turn out to be a recipe you keep for a very long time. 

I first encountered this soup as a child.  We had a Vietnamese neighbor who made this soup for us.  I never knew how to make it until years later when I found a recipe for it in "Quick and Easy - Vietnamese Home Cooking for Everyone," written by Andre Nguyen and Yukiko Moriyama.  If you love Vietnamese food, you'll definitely love this book!  It's one of my favorite.

In all honesty, making this soup is far too easy.  It takes no longer than an hour.  In fact, you could make it in 30 minutes or less.  That's how quick it is.

Ingredients:

10 1/2 oz (300 g) rice vermicelli
12 cups chicken or pork stock
1/4 cup dried shrimp, soaked in water
1 tomato
1 green onion
3 oz (90 g) ground pork or chicken
2 Tbsp store-brought crab meat paste
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fine shrimp sauce
1/8 tsp. paprika
2 eggs beaten

1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp sugar

1.  Cook rice vermicelli in boiling water until softened.  Drain and set aside.  Soak dried shrimp until softened.  These noodles cook really fast, so keep an eye on them!

2.  Slice tomato and green onion.  If you have pre-sliced green onions, it sure does save time.  You can also add more tomatoes if you are a vegetable freak like me.  I added three tomatoes.

3.  Combine ground meat, crab meat paste, 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce, fine shrimp paste, dried shrimp, sugar and paprika.  Add beaten eggs, and mix in a blender.  Blend well.

It may not look appetizing here and the smell is unbearable I must add, but after you pour it into the soup, it's all good!  If you aren't used to the smell of crab and shrimp paste, hold your breath!  It will be appetizing once it's in a hot bowl of soup.

4.  Pour meat mixture into boiling stock.  Season stock with fish sauce and sugar.  Add tomato.  In a large soup bowl, place noodles and pour over soup.

If you have the time to make soup stock from scratch, then good for you.  As for me, I use bouillion granules.

After pouring the meat mixture into the soup and the tomatoes, I like to simmer it for sometime, just to be extra sure the meat has been cooked.  Afterwards, I grab a bowl, put noodles inside, and pour the broth over it.

If you like, add some green onions and cilantro on top!  It really adds to the dish.

Hope you enjoy the recipe!

My First Philly Chicken Cheese Steak

While in Philadelphia, I had my first Philly Chicken Cheese Steak.  Although Philly Cheese steaks are popular at Gino and Pat's, my brother-in-law said there are actually better places he knows of, such as the one below. 

Look at how huge this cheese steak is!  It was about $10 for it too.  If that's not a deal, I don't know what is ...

The first time I had a Philly Cheese Steak, it was either from Pat or Gino's ... I can't remember.  All I know is I took a bite out of the sandwhich to see what it tasted like because I was so full from eating at a buffet earlier in the day.  There were a lot of people outside, eating Philly Cheek Steaks there from what I remember, so it must be pretty good!  What I didn't know, however, was that Pat and Gino are rivals.

Chicken Soup with Coagulated Blood

While on vacation, I was not only exposed to, but I tried a lot of foods I never thought I would - ever.  Frog legs, crayfish, and arctic clams are nothing!  It was  just the begining ...

In the morning, I was worried about the meal I knew I would soon eat.  Coagulated blood? Oh my gosh!  I didn't know if I could, but I knew I had to or else I might come across a being disrespectful towards another culture. I imagined my soup being bloody.  Dread slowly creeped up inside, as I tried to repeat to myself "you can do it!"

My newphew yelled, "I'm not eating that!" 

I wish I could say the same.  I thought to myself, "Do I have to too? Is there another soup without the blood??  Pleeeese, tell me there is." 

And to my surprise, chicken soup with coagulated blood isn't what I thought it was.  It didn't make my soup bloody.  In fact, it's blocks of blood I easily removed from my soup.

 I'm not that picky, but there are somethings I just can't eat!  However, the chicken soup was incredible, after I removed the chunks of blood from it. 

Here's the soup!

There's nothing like vegetables and herbs to add to your chicken soup.

Bread

Chicken for the soup

The coagulated blood!!

The soup ... It's not the most pleasant photo.  I forgot to take a picture, so I took one of someone's left overs.  It really is an amazing chicken soup.  Fortunately, if you don't eat blood, take it out like I did!  People will understand. You'll at least get to enjoy an incredible chicken soup, blood free! Thank Goodness ...

"The Sweetest Place on Earth" - Hershey, PA

While Philadelphia may be nice, there's nothing like the countryside.  I love a lot of places, but Hershey is one of those towns I would love to live in.  I felt like I was in "The Truman Show" the first time I visited Hershey because it felt so peaceful and perfect there. 

I absolutely love main street too.  There are hershey kiss street lights and you can smell chocolate in the air!

A snapshot of Hershey Park from a hil

Too beautiful

Hershey Kiss street lights!

Who wouldn't want to live in such an amazing house?

Chocolate Avenue

From what I hear, a lot of famous people stay at the Hershey Hotel.  I wonder how much a night costs because it looked amazing from the outside.

The one thing I love about Hershey is that the founder had suh a good heart.  Milton Hershey created a place for orphans and for those in single-parent homes under difficult circumstances.  There's a tear jerking documentary about the children who have been given an opportunity for a better life here. 

Hershey is an incredible place to live.  My husband is sooo lucky he had the chance to live here.   It's the perfect little town to enjoy life in simplicity.

From Betsy Ross's House to the Liberty Bell - Philadelphia, PA

After touring Betsy Ross's home, we walked down the road to find the liberty bell, where I noticed a ton of interesting things.

On the way to the liberty bell, we passed the Quaker Meeting House ... Betsy Ross and other notable figures used to meet here frequently.  There's a ton of history here!

If this isn't Ben Franklin, I'm not sure who it is, but I thought it was pretty cool, so I had to snap a photo!

Wow ... Hoopskirts!

A souvenir shop

A walk down a historic street from Betsy Ross's House to the Liberty Bell only takes about 5-10 minutes.  It's not very far at all.

 Let me tell you ... this flag is humongous!  It's the biggest flag I've seen.

The Liberty Bell is now in the building before this one feautured below.  Before entering, you have to walk through a metal detector and your bag will be searched if it's bulky, as I remember.

As we walked towards the building housing the liberty bell, I noticed a woman in a fur coat.  I had to take a picture as she passed by because it's the weirdest thing to me.  Being from Hawaii, no one wears fur coats. It seems classy, yet too cruel to wear. 

A ton of info is available inside ...

There's so much history to see in Philadelphia

Finally, reaching the building with the Liberty Bell ... Inside, it's pretty crowded.

I never realized how so many international figures also stop by Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell.

It's really busy at the Liberty Bell!  There are tons of people.  After waiting for quite sometime, I noticed people come in waves, so catch a photo before the next wave of people hits because it's not easy to squeeze a photo in unless you don't mind strangers in your pictures.

The Liberty Bell is a lot smaller than I imagined and the crack is a lot bigger than I thought.

It was a lot of fun visiting the Liberty Bell.  There really is a lot to see in Philadelphia!  If only I had more time, I'd spend days touring the city.  I'd also comment more on the liberty bell, but I didn't get a chance to really soak in much information because it was so crowded!  I did enjoy visiting the Liberty Bell though.  It's history and something to see for sure!