Category Archives: By Ingredient

7 Tips for Making Mouth-Watering Char Koay Teow

char koay teow plated

Even though I’m from Kuala Lumpur and lived there most of my life, I very seldom ate Char Koay Teow there. I’m pretty picky about my CKT. There is a simple reason for that: my dad hails from Penang. ‘Nuff said!

Ok, I’ll elaborate for those not in the know.

I’m sure there will be some who will challenge my opinion, but I really think that, outside of Penang, there are very few good Char Koay Teows to be had. When I was living in KL, it didn’t matter that I went many months without eating CKT because I knew that a trip to visit relatives in Penang was always on the horizon. I would soon be able to get my fix.
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FREE Northern California Tomato Tasting Event

Tomato Tasting at Wild Boar Farms

assorted heirloom tomatoes

“Berkeley Tie Dye”. “Beauty King”. “Pork Chop”. “Furry Red Boar”.

Not many of you would know that these are actual names of tomatoes that Brad (the owner of Wild Boar Farms) has developed and is growing on his farm in Suisun Valley, Solano County. They are the most amazing looking and tasting tomatoes you’ll ever encounter. If you’ve ever eaten at Chez Panisse during the summer and fall months, some of the tomatoes you enjoyed came from Brad’s farm. Wild Boar Farms also supplies many other restaurants around the North SF Bay / Napa area.

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Lichee – It’s (in) My Cup of Tea

I heart tea!

I drink tea all year round. My morning routine is to have a cup of Earl Grey or Lady Grey (Twinings being one of my favorite brands for these flavors). At other times of the day, I will indulge in a cup or two of tea in the mid-afternoon and in the evening.

I have a drawer full of teas that I go to for tea during this time. I have teas from so many places, sometimes it’s hard to keep track. I try not to buy too many at a time as I want to be able to finish the ones I have while they are still fresh. But it’s really hard to resist buying when I walk into a tea shop. Hence, my stuffed tea drawer:

Annie’s Tea Drawer

Annie's tea drawer

My current favorite tea shop is Lupicia (oh, how I wish they had a Mariage Frères near me!). If you are fortunate enough to have a Lupicia store near you, do check them out. They have a vast array of different teas and lots of flavored teas galore!

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There’s More Than One Way to Dice a Mango

We were at Costco the other day when Annie noticed that there was a large group of people congregating in and around the fruit aisle. They seemed to be especially thick and frantic around one particular fruit. Curious as she always is, she went over to investigate and found what everyone was so excited about:

Mangoes

Mangoes

Apparently, there was a shipment of mangoes that happened to be particularly sweet, and all the folks were busily opening the plastic six-pack containers of mangoes to find the absolute best ones. If there were any mangoes in the pack that didn’t look as good as those in another pack, they’d swap them out. (Come on, I know you do it too, just like you do for egg cartons!

Annie snatched up three six-packs and put them in the cart. All the way home she was dreaming of what to do with these luscious, oblong fruit. Of course, we’d be eating them straight off the skins, but she also had something else in mind for these mangoes.
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