Category Archives: Recipes

American, Vegetables

Leek and Potato Soup Recipe

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An easy, healthy, hearty soup with extra oomph.

leek and potato soup

It’s only been in the past year or so that I’ve discovered leeks. Before that, I would use it if it was called for in a recipe, like the cioppino hot pot recipe, but otherwise, I did not know how to cook with it. But this past year, I visited the farmer’s market a lot more and tried to experiment a little bit more with unfamiliar ingredients.

Whenever I would see leeks on sale at the market, I would normally buy some and treat them like onions in several of my dishes, putting them in my quiches, soups or even in my stir-fries. But really, this humble soup is one of the most wonderful ways to showcase leeks.

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Chinese, Poultry

Chinese Lemon Chicken, 1st Try

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We’re looking for a Chinese Lemon Chicken recipe that can match the ones we’ve eaten at our favorite San Francisco Chinese restaurant.

Chinese Lemon Chicken

Whenever we go out to a Chinese restaurant to eat, almost always, my kids (including my BIG kid) will want to order Lemon Chicken. There’s just something about this dish that makes it so easy to eat—the tanginess of lemon, the sweetness of the sugar in the sauce and the crispy, fried chicken.

Now, I’ve eaten my share of Chinese lemon chicken. Some are really amazing and others just mediocre. The best one I ever had was at R & G Lounge in San Francisco. The lemon chicken there was amazing—the chicken was coated in an ethereally light batter and not greasy at all. And they served the really beautiful bright lemon sauce on the side so that the chicken wouldn’t get soggy. That was love on a plate! I don’t know how the lemon chicken is like these days there as I haven’t been in a long time but if it’s as good as that time when we had it (and who knows if my memory has elevated my experience), I would order it all the time!

On the other hand, the really bad restaurants would serve lemon chicken that was more batter than it was chicken. The chicken would be dried out and the batter would be thick and crusty. The sauce would hardly be called lemony, more like yellow coloring and LOTS of sugar which would also be gloppy in consistency. Now somewhere in between these two extremes are what you’d normally find in most restaurants.

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Bakes, Fruit, Western

Cheese Pie with Peaches

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A simple dessert that will satisfy your cheese cake cravings without going overboard with the calories. And making it is as easy as, well, pie!

Cheese Pie with Peaches

cheese pie with peaches
This isn’t a savory cheese pie like a spinach or a tomato cheese pie. It’s a dessert recipe I got from my Third Aunt a long time ago. It’s really very similar to a cheese cake except that the base is made using crushed Marie biscuits. You also don’t use as much cream cheese (only one 250g block) as most cheese cake recipes. And I would say it’s not as rich as a New York-style cheese cake.
Unlike some previous cheese cake attempts, I have never had any cracking issues when baking this cheese pie. I’ve even over-baked it a few times and it still comes out pretty good. So for those who don’t like the hassle of a bain marie (water bath) or if you like cheese cakes but would rather have a lighter version, this is the recipe for you.

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Fruit, Malaysian, Roundups

Rambutans, plus a Grow Your Own Announcement

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Ew, it’s a hairy lychee!

Bowl of Rambutans

Well, kinda. Rambutans are tree fruits which are close cousins to the lychee and the longan. Like a lychee, they are ovoid (egg) shaped, about 2 inches long, and have a hard, inedible seed at the center. But instead of the smooth skins of those two other fruits, rambutans have thin, fleshy spines growing out of them. These spines not sharp like a durian, but pliable like a dragonfruit. The spines are more like thick hairs. In fact, the name “rambutan” comes from the Malay word for hair, rambut.

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