My Food Affair

Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas

2013-05-23T13:08:00.000-10:00

Ina Garten is my favorite Food Network cook. In my perfect world, Ina and I would be best friends. We would cook and bake together and then we would talk and laugh about food. That would be my perfect world, but since we're not best friends, I'll just stalk her through her cookbooks. Ina just wrote another wonderful cookbook, this one is called Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes you can

Carrot Cake

2013-05-13T10:48:00.000-10:00

At a recent first birthday party, I had an amazing Carrot Cake. It was an unusual Carrot Cake because it was a Banana Carrot Cake. The mom told me that it was from Whole Foods. The moist carrot cake with a bit of banana bread flavor and the sweet cream cheese frosting kept creeping in my head. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I even went to Whole Foods to see if they sell just a single

Bombay Sloppy Joes

2013-04-30T08:22:00.001-10:00

I love sloppy joes and love to make different variations of it. I rarely use ground beef for sloppy joes. I think because sloppy joes are so saucy, you really don't need to use beef. I always use ground turkey for sloppy joes. Before this recipe, I go back and forth between this recipe and this one. Now this recipe will be a top contender. I don't know why I like sloppy joes so much, I

Lemon Crunch Cupcakes

2013-04-18T17:57:00.000-10:00

I'm baaaack!! So sorry for not posting for so long, Mr. G and I have been traveling, but we're finally back to Hawaii! It's nice to be home after a long trip. While away, I was really missing my kitchen and especially my oven. When I got home, I had a long list of things I wanted to bake straight away, but I settled on these Lemon Crunch Cupcakes to start. The creation of these cupcakes

Taiwanese Pineapple Cookie

2013-02-27T23:57:00.000-10:00

Check out my cute plate!! heehee =P I am a huge huge fan of Hello Kitty!! I am a bit of a closet HK fan because as a woman in her 30's, not living in Japan, it's a bit hard to broadcast my love (I'm sorry, HK, I know you deserve so much more!!) I spend more money than I should on HK products, but I rationalize it by buying HK home items. I stand by my $60 HK bread mold that I absolutely need

Strawberry Tart

2013-02-23T11:38:00.000-10:00

I recently went to the afternoon tea service at Halekulani and I was so disappointed (gasp! who dares speak against Halekulani? Don't get me started on the brunch...all I have to say is run for the hills!) I was really excited about it, because it was a chance to hang out with my girlfriends and have yummy finger sandwiches and desserts. Let me tell you, most of the desserts were ehhh at best

Chocolate decadence cake

2013-02-15T10:30:00.000-10:00

This amazing piece of cake is inspired by the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. As you can probably tell by the numerous cheesecake posts, I *heart* cheesecake. It's my favorite type of cake!! I love cheesecake so much I had a cheesecake as my wedding cake. Before I could make my own cheesecake, I used to like going to Cheesecake Factory for their cheesecakes. The other

Portobello Mushroom Wellington

2013-02-01T11:01:00.000-10:00

I love cooking for our friends and family and love having people over at the house. The hardest part is figuring out what to make! A lot of people have dietary restrictions nowadays, either preferences or allergies. I want to make sure my guests have something they will enjoy, but I also don't want to make a separate dish for everyone. When people tell me they don't eat meat, I often turn to

Spicy Korean Chicken with Rice Cakes

2013-01-28T10:24:00.001-10:00

I just came back from Korea not too long ago and the best part of the trip would have to be the food!! It was incredible the amount of great food we encountered wherever we went! On the street, at little hole in the walls, and even at big restaurants. Koreans must have a passion for food. One of the great dishes we had was Dak Galbi, which is a spicy chicken with rice cake. I wanted to

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies

2013-01-03T07:00:00.000-10:00

HAPPY 2013!!!! A friend of mine gave me this recipe and I was so thankful! I was so behind on my holiday baking this year that on Christmas Eve morning, I was scrambling to make something for Mr. G's coworkers before he left for work! This recipe only takes 20 minutes to make and you don't even need to turn on the oven!! The original name for these cookies is Holy Crap These are Amazing

Tomato and Corn Pie

2012-12-27T17:39:00.002-10:00

A late Merry Christmas to everyone and a very HAPPY 2013 to all of you!! I have been eying this Tomato and Corn Pie from Closet Cooking for a little while now. I was thinking of making this one night and when I told Mr. G what was to be our dinner, he was not excited...to say the least. Ignoring his comments, I decided to make it anyway. The results?! This pie was GOOOOOOOD!! Mr. G ate his

Sweet Bread French Toast

2012-12-20T07:00:00.000-10:00

Before seeing this recipe, my French toast consists of drenching bread in lots of beaten eggs. I would use at least one egg per piece of bread. It was okay....but not quite like the ones from the restaurant. I was browsing my The New Best Recipe cookbook from Cook's Illustrated and thought I would try this! What surprised me is there's only one egg for four servings of French toast!!! Is it

Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies

2012-12-14T17:50:00.000-10:00

This cookie comes from the great Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar. I was so excited when I saw this book, I took a look at the Momofuku cookbook that came out before, but I wasn't too excited about it. Everything in there had so many steps; it just wasn't for the everyday cook. When it comes to baking though, I am willing to be in the kitchen all day!! I love the recipes in this cookbook,

Caramel apple cheesecake bars

2012-11-23T18:21:00.000-10:00

A thanksgiving greeting to all of you who have been so supportive during my hiatus. I am hoping to have regular posts from now on (maybe I shouldn't have put that in writing =P). On this thanksgiving, I am most thankful for my friends. When my family moved from Hong Kong to Hawaii, we left most of our family. It is the friends that I've made since that have become my family. So from me to

Carrot Velouté-Chilled Carrot and Orange soup

2012-08-08T16:41:00.000-10:00

One of my all time favorite restaurants in Hawaii is Chef Mavro. Since it's such a splurge to go to Chef Mavro, I try to get my dose of him through his website, twitter, and his blog!! When I found out he was doing a cooking demonstration at Macy's, I jumped at the opportunity. If nothing else, just to bask in his glory!! He was gracious enough to share two recipes during that cooking

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

2012-08-01T20:10:00.000-10:00

I made this pumpkin bread for a potluck we had at work the other day. I originally made some Old World Butter Horns from Cook's Country, but they came out so ugly (cannot post such ugly cookies, even though they are delicious!) that I had to scramble to make something else!!! This came together in no time so it was perfect! This recipe comes from Extreme Dinner Makeover. This recipe is

cake decoration

2012-07-23T23:13:00.000-10:00

I love making cakes because I love eating cakes, but I absolutely hate decorating cakes. I can never manipulate the frosting quite well enough to create the picture that's in my head. I really should take a cake decorating class. I guess I'm not really one to care about what a cake looks like. It matters a lot more what a cake tastes like. But since most of my cakes are gifts for my friends

Mexican Lasagna

2012-07-16T19:20:00.000-10:00

It's been too long!! I'm so sorry, I have been traveling and just really busy with everything that's happening. I bring this apology with an awesome recipe!!! You will forgive me after you make this Mexican Lasagna, it's so good!! I made it for some company we had the other night. I always tend to make casseroles when we have company, it's just so much easier and there's always enough food for

Chocolate Cheesecake

2012-05-18T22:09:00.000-10:00

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE cheesecake!! It is my favorite dessert by far! For Mr. G's birthday, I made him a chocolate cheesecake with oreo crust. It was sooo good!! This recipe is sooo simple and it comes from my friend and fellow baker, Miss W. I just made a few adjustment to the recipe, but otherwise kept it in tack. Try it, it took no time to make. Chocolate Cheesecake from Miss W.

Baked French Toast

2012-03-31T09:53:00.002-10:00

We had some friends over for brunch the other day so I decided to make this Baked French Toast. Normally 30 minutes before we have a get together, I'm running around like a crazy woman in the kitchen. Which is why I hate it when people arrive early!! haha =) Not this time though, this baked french toast is so easy to make and I made it ahead of time and just popped it in the oven. I even

Strawberry Scones

2012-03-22T06:30:00.000-10:00

One day I woke up and just wanted to make something for breakfast. Since it was a work day, I knew I had to make something fast, so I decided to make these Strawberry Scones. The original recipe was called Strawberry Shortbread Cookies and they're from Baker Girl. To me, they are more like scones, so I renamed them. These were really good right out of the oven and for about half the day

A Better Oreo Buttercream

2012-03-19T10:38:00.001-10:00

A while ago, I made oreo buttercream to go with some chocolate cupcakes. Little did I know, it became the most popular post on this blog! I haven't made them since then, but there were comments that some had problems with the buttercream being too runny. I found out why. It's because the egg whites were not heated enough. Because this was such a problem with so many, I decided to create a

Vanilla Pudding Cinnamon Roll

2012-03-06T15:35:00.000-10:00

I saw this recipe probably over a year ago. I kept thinking about it but never got a chance to make it. One, I was afraid to have 24 large cinnamon rolls in my possession without someone to give it to. Two, I just never had the time to make it. One day I just woke up and I knew I had to make it!! I read on the recipe that you can freeze the rolls, so I made half the cinnamon rolls and there

Chicken Pot Pie with Savory Crumble Topping

2012-02-05T23:48:00.000-10:00

As much as I love the people of Cook's Illustrated, I always think they live in this fantasy world of cooking. Their recipes, though tasty, require an entire afternoon of cooking and over 20 ingredients. When I was thumbing through the September 2010 edition of Cook's Illustrated, they had a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie for weeknights. I was skeptical but willing to give it a go. I made this

Gravlax

2012-01-31T20:13:00.002-10:00

So Mr. G and I have joined the rest of civilization and got cable! haha. It has made and ruined my life all at the same time. I'm so addicted to the Food Network, I'm especially addicted to Chopped, but I digress. One day while watching the Food Network, I saw Ina Garten make Gravlax!! To me, Gravlax is like smoked salmon without the smoky taste. It is cold cured salmon with salt, sugar,