All posts by Nate

Nate is the Techie / Barbecue-y half of the House of Annie team. Born in Hawaii, his favorite hobby is surfing...WEB surfing that is. Visit my Google+ Profile
Noodles, Pork, Tofu, Tomatoes, Vietnamese

Bun Rieu Cua

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Here’s a tip for any would-be bloggers out there: never say you’re going to blog about something "coming up next." You’re just setting yourself up for serious trouble when Murphy strikes you with a serious case of writer’s block.

It’s been a month since I put in that darn scrolling marquee, proclaiming the soon-to-be posted memoir of our visit to Scott’s Seafood. I thought it would motivate me to keep up with the regular posting. Instead it has been mocking me the whole time.

"C’mon already! What, can’t even put two sentences together? Neener neener neener!"

Bleah. I’ve gotta get over this funk. And the only way to do it is just get posting again. So, I’m going to put the Scott’s Seafood post on the back burner and pull something up to the front burner. A post that has been waiting just as long as the Scott’s Seafood post to see the light of day, but at least hasn’t been thumbing its nose and blowing raspberries at me.

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Bakes, Vietnamese

Pandan Waffles

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We all know waffles, right? A light, slightly eggy cake cooked in a waffle iron so that it’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. We enjoy it with a pat of butter and real maple syrup. Some people eat waffles with fried chicken as a savory Southern twist.

The Southeast Asians put their own twist on the waffle by adding a bit of pandan extract to the batter. Pandan, or screwpine, is a tropical plant that has fans of long, green leaves that, when cooked, imparts a sweet, pleasingly fragrant aroma to whatever it is cooked with. We used whole pandan leaves to infuse our nasi lemak coconut rice dish.

Here’s a pandan waffle recipe that makes a delicious breakfast, snack or dessert so good, you won’t want to stop eating them. It is a tried and true recipe, something we make quite often. The recipe comes from food blogger Andrea Nguyen of Viet World Kitchen, who is the author of “Into the Vietnamese Kitchen“.


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Egg, Tofu, Tomatoes

Tofu, Tomato and Egg Scramble

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Sometimes, you look in the fridge and you just don’t know what to cook. There are the usual basic ingredients in there, plus some ingredients that have been partially used up for other dishes. But what can you do with that?

For Annie, it’s all instinct. Or, “simply hantam“, as she calls it.

Here’s how she came up with this “Tofu, Tomato and Egg Scramble”
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Fish, Mexican

Semi-gourmet Fish Tacos

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One of the more popular posts on House of Annie is the pan-fried tilapia post (which reminds me, I really gotta update that page and do a proper recipe for it). When I was growing up in Hawaii, tilapia used to be known as a “rubbish fish” because it lived anywhere (fresh water, brackish water, salt water) and ate anything. We’d catch it in the stream behind our house, let it live in the laundry room sink for a week to clean out and then we’d steam it whole with black bean and ginger to mask the muddy smell.

Mmmmm.

Nowadays, tilapia is becoming more widely used around the world, especially as frozen fillets become available in local markets. You don’t have to gut, skin, or fillet it. It tastes fine, with no muddy smell or flavor. Tilapia fillets have a firm, white flesh that lends itself quite well to lots of different applications.

Here’s a semi-gourmet, muy delicioso fish taco recipe using tilapia fillets that is perfect for Cinco de Mayo, or any day of the week for that matter.

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