GZ Tai-Tai

Party Foods

This week I hosted the cook club at my house. I decided to do American recipes as I am asked time and again by members and non members about easy recipes to make. Many of the easiest recipes to make are American food recipes because they are made up of boxes, cans or packets of mixes. It is a lot easier now to find many of the cans, packets and so forth to use in many recipes than it was 10 years ago in China. Though I did have problems with one recipe I wanted to make and found out I would have to borrow from someone who brought in the ingredient from her home country. Well I nixed that idea and found a recipe for the same thing to use that did not call for the packet, my survival instinct at work perhaps but, I wanted to make sure the girls could make all these recipes while they are here in China. They should all be able to find the items in their home countries or an equivalent that will work.  We also watched a video that explains the history of American food. When we lived in the states we had taped the show, when we happened upon it a few months ago we burned DVD 's for each member to have and watch at home.
I will post the recipes we made and a photo of each in the coming days.  The recipes were from family,and friends and even that great Lutheran Church cookbook that is such a treasure trove of all those great dishes we ate at the potluck dinners when I was a kid.  It was a fun class to prepare for because of the memories it brought me of home, all those parties,family get togethers, and church functions over the years. It was difficult to choose which recipes to teach..I picked several, maybe too many ...... but now the girls have some easy recipes they can make this summer when they host a family gathering in their home country.

The dessert was Seven Layer Magic Cookie Bars we substituted white chocolate chips for the butterscotch chips cannot get those here. I wish!

A day in the kitchen

Today was a day spent in the kitchen. Doing what you might ask? Teaching...... yes I spent the day teaching my helper Ling to make Beef Bourguignon  the recipe comes from a food blog that I visit because not only are the recipes enticing but the photography is so awesome. Simply Recipes is not only a great place to find great recipes but it is informative too. A while back I bought a new Kitchen Aide mixer at a really great price because Simply Recipes had the scoop on the great sale that Amazon had on the machines. So while the new machine waits for me at home in the US I use my old one here in China!

I  digress though..... Ling and I spent most of the day preparing the Beef Bourguignon . I interpreted in my very bad Chinese and English (Chin'glish) and lots of body language. We managed to get it all prepared though and now I have about an hour before Expat son arrives home. After we have an early dinner of Beef Bourguignon and then we head out to see CATS here in Guangzhou China!
So as we head out to meet the rest of Expat Son's classmates to see the show. Hubby will be having dinner  at home probably watching a football game. The meal will be a gourmet meal though!

Going to Macau

We are heading to Macau for the weekend. Woo Hoo!

One of my favorite places to chill out and what else? EAT GOOD FOOD!

Here are a couple of places we will eat on our visit. These are our favorite restaurants in Macau.

A' Lorche is the best for Portuguese and Macanese food. It was recommended to me by a Portuguese woman who lives in Macau. Her husband is a Doctor there. She told me when I asked that it was better than Fernandos not as oily. She is right but if you cannot make it to A' Lorche then Fernandos is alright. The atmosphere is a little on the rough side, with dogs running wild, as you walk in and can be a bit crowded in the evenings, and you may have to wait hours for a table. The temperature is quite warm at Fernandos it tends to be more open air and no air con to speak of except the rustling of your napkin to cool you down.

If you don't have the time or the patience then do what we do. Book a table at A Lorche for lunch or dinner. You have to book it fills up fast! The food is great the menu, has English translation,the air con is cool and the Sangria is good too!

On to the other favorite eating spot of ours, this time Italian food at Pizzeria Toscana.

Pizzeria Toscana , Avenida da Amizade (tel 963 831). Genuine Italian food and not just pizzas, though these are superb, as is the coffee. There is a second location on Taipa but I have never been.

We always go to the first location the one which is located at the Macau Grande Prix pits the address above.

Very good food  everything we have had has been a winner,and only their Tiramisu comes close to mine!

Next a trip to Macau is never made without one stop at Lord Stow's Bakery. You have to go just for the Natas. What are Natas you ask? They are Egg Tarts. But the best egg tart you will ever have in your life. They are a bite of heaven. Creamy egg custard in a flaky puff pastry shell. Sprinkle them with Cinnamon before you leave the shop, and eat them while they are warm. One of the best pleasures of almost as good as sex!  You might even run into Lord Stow himself, I did last time.

While you are eating your Nata you can roam the quaint little village of Coloane and see Tam Kung Temple and the Chapel of St. Francis of Xavier.   The chapel used to house the right arm bone of St. Xavier. The square in front of the Chapel is very quaint and nice place to sit on a bench and have a cool drink.  While strolling in the village if you listen carefully you may here the mahjong tiles being shuffled inside of one of the homes.

We will visit these place and who knows maybe a few new ones too. With the new Casinos in town we may go have a peek and a taste of their food offerings.

Last but not least our favorite place to put our head down at night,  and eat breakfast is The Westin Macau our home away from home the last 10 years when visiting Macau. There are other fine Hotels in Macau but what we like is that the Westin does not have a Casino. We are in comfortable family atmosphere without the heavy smoking, gamblers that play hard. This is the place to Chill out and Relax!

Happy Weekend!

I know I will be happy!

Lunch Box

What to put in a lunch for expat son... he is eight and a growing boy. I pack him a lunch and a snack each day. The hot lunch at school was good last year but the expat lady that was running it is now in Hong Kong having  a baby. The school hired a local person that is supposedly a chef. From what I have been hearing from Expat daughter (17) and some of the teachers.... opening  a can of dog food might be a more nutritious and tastier alternative. The school also buys lunch from a local Indian restaurant and from another local western restaurant too. Some of these items are good, once in a while but they just lack the taste and goodness of some of the lunches my friend was cooking up at the school for the kids. Expat daughter says they only have one salad dressing at the school now, she says it is the " GAG Chinese brand thousand island that tastes like crap Mom, Carla would never make us eat that stuff!"

Well I am trying to keep lunches exciting in the box, since I have noticed yogurts I pack for snack coming back home ( the UHT variety). Also sometimes the sandwich is coming back too.  I asked son if he was tired of sandwiches in his lunch. I tried the cheese and cracker thing too, that sometimes comes back as well.

So today I am baking up some little pies with ham and cheese. I will see how these are received and perhaps I will try a few other varieties to see how they go over in the next few weeks. I might try and make up some sort of meat strips and send that too. I am thinking of breading some beef strips and baking those, a cold alternative to chicken nuggets, we'll see how that goes over too.

As a child the only sandwich I would eat was the PB and J or PB and banana with some honey. If it was bologna or any other lunch meat it either came back home or when I was older I would just toss it out in the lunch room bin. (Sorry Mom if you are reading this) My other favorite was PB and J with Marshmallow Cream.  It was like Peanut butter and Jam on a cloud! Yum!!!! Now I would probably just gag ....unless I had a jug of coffee to wash it down with of course.

Son seems to like lunch meat at least real deli type Ham, Turkey almost anything except Pastrami because of the pepper. I don't buy bologna or those crappy lunch meats that come in the plastic...can't find them here anyway... and when in the states I would remember all those sandwiches I threw in the bin so I never bothered wasting my money on those.

We are lucky now to be able to find some deli meats like turkey and ham. When we lived here in China before we would have to smuggle those things in on day trips to Hong Kong to buy Diapers and Groceries we could not find here in Guangzhou. I will never forget the Christmas Ham, but that is another story....

Those little pies just popped out of the oven, they smell great! I hope they will be received well cold in the lunch box for tomorrows lunch.

Daughter and Husband say that Son is spoiled. He's not. Well maybe a little. When he was two, He would say in baby talk something.. something... awfuls... Well he wanted waffles, and guess what... he got them!  But who could turn down that cute little face and those big blue eyes... Oh well, I still can't and he is a big boy now!  That is what mom's job is anyway spoiling her babies just a little bit.

Real Men Love Quiche

Do Real Men Love Quiche or Hate It?

My husband says he hates it. However he has eaten them and though he complains, I notice that his plate is clean at the end of the meal. I do try to put ingredients in the quiche that he will not balk too much about. It is not like I put beets, corn  or something that he cannot identify in these lovely savory pies. Perhaps it is the mixing of egg with the cheese that men don't like. But why do they like omelette's at breakfast that have those same ingredients?

Quiche you can put anything in them. The base of eggs, cheese and cream in a shell of pastry. Those three ingredients alone are a lovely combination. You can add Potatoes, Onion, Ham, Bacon, Meat of any kind would be good, including if you have some good  shredded BBQ Pork, you can make a southern version of the classic Quiche. Then there is the endless array of Vegetables that can be added to a Quiche, and how about the Seafood. Lobster Quiche MMM! Sounds good to me.

If you have not guessed by now the offering tonight on my dinner menu will be a lovely Quiche and a nice Salad to round out the meal. I will be branching out a bit from the Classic Quiche Lorraine and being the adventurous cook will be using some ingredients that husband will turn a nose to...

He complained of Brie many years ago but has changed his tune when he has had it cooked in a pastry. The warm pastry and melted Brie perhaps with some roasted garlic what a lovely appetizer to go with that Beer. I know this works well, so why not try those ingredients with some spinach and perhaps some mushroom and tomato, and perhaps to make hubby happy some Bacon or Ham. I know the carnivore in my man will be screaming if there is no meat. I try to explain that Eggs are really meat /protein but the same response is given. No Meat? So to make hubby happy he will find some type meat in his dish tonight. 

I am confident when hubby tries the lovely Quiche I make for dinner he will enjoy it and be pleasantly surprised, that he actually was able to get it past his quivering lip, as he says to me... That Real Men Don't Eat Quiche.  As I clear the dishes after dinner tonight, I will smile to myself, as I see his plate is clean, and there is no need to scrape his plate, before I rinse it and put it in the dishwasher.

If husband wants to be a stinker and refuse to eat the lovely Quiche he can fix a PB&J Sandwich and politely keep his comments to himself. I would like our eight year old to try, with an open mind,some of those things his father says, he does not like.

Just remember husband dear that I am a very good cook. I could be offering tonight, a soup with a whole fish staring back at you through some black moss. Perhaps some chicken feet or a plate of field frogs staring back at you, would interest you tonight.

I know you will be happy because you have told me many times, that you could not survive without me by your side, cooking meals that you enjoy.

So as the saying goes, it must really ring true. That the way to a man's heart is through his stomach?

I am not sure about that...As I recall 22 years ago it was not the food that hooked my man.  Rather my very pretty smile, big boobs and nice ass! Those are his words not mine.

Fulfilled a promise..

We have been back to China for a few weeks now. I promised one of the Chef's at one of our favorite places I would send him my recipes for Baba Ghannouj and Hoummus. They are from a wonderful friend of mine who is Lebanese. One is mine that I just adapted a n easier version and smaller for my family size.(Hummus)

I figure since the Chef was willing to give me a couple of recipes for some Malaysian food we liked I could help them with a better recipe for the Baba Ghannouj and Hoummus than they were serving on the breakfast buffet.

Now I need a cup of tea, I was out shopping again and had to pick up some more of those brews that I scored for my wonderful husband.

Thank God he is better now.... I was getting tired of hearing all the whingeing and moaning... Hee Hee!

Hoummus B' Tahini

1 1/2 Cups Dry Chick Peas ( Soaked Overnight)  or you can use 2 - 16 oz cans of Canned Chick Peas.

*** Note I use canned Chick peas it is easier and I never think to soak anything!** 

Water from Chick peas reserve for later.

2 teaspoons salt ( 1 tsp of this used for boiling dried chickpeas)

2 cloves garlic

3/4 cup Tahini

1/2 cup Lemon Juice

Olive Oil

Pinch of Cayenne and Some Chopped Parsley to garnish

Preparing with Dry Chick Peas

Rinse and drain the dry chick peas. Add three times the amount of water to the peas and add 1 teaspoon of salt boil vigorously for 10 minutes. turn the heat down , cover pan and simmer until the chick peas are soft . Approximately 1 hour. Drain and reserve water.

Directions:

Drain off Liquid from chick peas and reserve it.

Puree the chick peas, garlic, 1 tsp of salt.

Then add tahini and lemon juice alternately.

Blend in a little of the reserved water from the Chick peas.to make the mixture a thick and creamy consistency. Adjust lemon and salt to taste. You may also add a little Olive oil and less water to help get the right texture.

When satisfied with texture garnish with cayenne and parsley  and drizzle olive oil over Hoummus.

Serve with Pita bread,crackers, vegetable sticks.

Hoummus

Smaller Amount version I adapted

1 16oz or 400gm can Chick peas

1-2 Tablespoons Tahini

1-2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

Salt to taste

1-2 cloves garlic

Olive oil

Cayenne and Parsley to garnish

Same instructions as the above recipe just smaller quantities

Baba Ghannouj

1 large eggplant ( American) or 3 large Asian Eggplant

1/4 cup lemon juice

4-5 Tablespoons tahini

2 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

Chopped parsley to garnish

Remove the green from neck of eggplant but leave stem on.

Place in hot oven until soft 15-20 minutes. Cool.

remove the pulp from the skin. usually by slicing the eggplant open and scooping the flesh out with a spoon.

Place in blender and slowly blend in lemon juice and tahini alternately.

crush the garlic with the salt and make a paste. Blend this into the eggplant mixture.

taste and adjust salt / lemon juice as needed.

Garnish with parsley

Cinco De Mayo

In honor of Cinco De Mayo I will be making Enchiladas  for dinner. To put me in the mood I have a couple of links for you under the "food" category. One is for Tequila straight shots, the other for Margaritas. No other Tequila will pass these lips than Cuervo Gold so they are from the Jose Cuervo Website.  They also have the history about the Margarita drink on their website.  Named after a girl named Rita. Well I could be called Rita after a few Margaritas.

Not sure how authentic my recipe for Enchiladas are, as I have to alter the recipe to make the family happy. A 7 year old that doesn't like this and that, and a husband that does not like other things.  Here goes...

Remember a recipe is just a guideline, have fun and be flexible make it the way you want it!

My Version of Enchiladas

• 500g Ground Beef, very lean
• 1/2 large red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• Brown Ground beef, with onion and Garlic drain and set aside.

Heat a can of 400g Tomato sauce with 1 1/2 Tbsp Chili powder, 1 tsp  Oregano,  1/2 tsp cumin, 1 clove crushed garlic, a couple of diced green Chilies chopped if you like. ( I will use a few Thai chilies since that is what I have in the house now).  Turn this off and set aside

Grate Cheese - Cheddar or whatever you like. I love Monterrey Jack but cannot get it here in China. Not unusual for me to use Mozzarella, Gouda or Edam what ever is available I will use.  The amount is up to you, I like Cheese so I tend to do a lot. About 2 cups maybe more.

I dip the Corn tortillas in a little water to soften, then put some meat in the center and some cheese, roll place in 9X13 pan. If they break don't worry it will be fine. Pour the Enchilada sauce over all and top with more cheese.  Bake in a moderate oven 180C or 350F  for about 15-20 minutes until hot and bubbly.

• Garnish with Sour Cream
• Serve with a Salad

Don't forget the Margaritas.