Saturday, February 28, 2009

March -- Coming Attractions & Contests

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Rusty Nails/Crispy Beef

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The chinese cooking term "Passing through" is a key technique in Shanghai and Szechuan cooking, where the meat is cooked by passing it through hot oil. This step makes chicken breast meat silken, transforms shrimp into toothsome creatures with a firm, almost crunchy texture, and renders paper-thin strips of pork and steak tender and juicy within. In passing through, the food is very briefly cooked in a pool of hot vegetable oil and then removed from the wok. To finish the dish, almost all of the oil is poured off from the wok, and the remaining oil is used to create the sauce. Finally, the passed through food is returned to the wok and stir-fried with the sauce.

While passing through is primarily a restaurant technique, it is worthwhile taking the time to master it because no other cooking technique can give the same results. Yes, the food is deep fried, but if it is done properly, it is not unhealthy. First, the food is always coated with a thin batter of egg white and starch, which helps keep the oil from seeping into the food.

To prepare for the passing through step in a recipe, place a metal colander on a plate near the stove to hold and drain the fried food. Use a deep-frying thermometer to test the temperature of the oil. Be sure to have a wide wire-mesh strainer for removing the food, and if there is to be a subsequent frying step (as in Crispy Beef), have a fine-mesh strainer handy to skim off any bits of fried batter. Use a large metal wok scoop or spoon to stir the food, as the mesh on the wide strainer could disturb the coating on the meat. Place a large bowl on a heatproof plate nearby to hold the excess oil.

Heat the wok for a few minutes over high heat until it is very hot. If you flick water from your fingertips into the wok, the water should sizzle away on contact. Pour in enough vegetable oil to reach at least 1 inch up the sides of the wok - this will be about 4 cups in a 14 inch flat-bottomed wok, there are cases, due to the large quantity of food, use less oil, so that it reaches 1 1/2 inch or 2 inch up the sides of the wok. Don't skimp - any food that sticks out of the hot oil will not cook at the same rate as the rest of the food, and it will get soggy too. But i do skimp, i use 1/2 the amount of oil and cook the meat in small batches.

The temperature of the oil is the key to passing through. The oil should be hot enough to cook the food but not hot enough to brown it . 300 f to 325 f(Higher temperatures are reserved for true deep-frying, where the food will develop a crisp golden brown crust.) With the wok preheated, the oil will take only a few minutes to reach the proper temperature. Do not underestimate the value of a deep-frying thermometer. If you don't have one, you can gauge the temperature of the oil with a 1/2 inch cube of white bread: it should take at least a minute to brown in the hot oil. But unless you are an experienced cook, use the thermometer.

The protein food(meat, poultry, or seafood) will have been marinated in the egg-white/starch coating. Carefully add the food to the hot oil, one of two pieces at a time, taking care that you don't splash the oil. Add the food quickly, but do not dump everything in at once, and try to keep the pieces as separate as possible so they don't stick together. The food will sink to the bottom of the wok, where the oil around it will bubble, but not furiously. The temperature will drop when the cook food is added, so keep the heat on every high to help the oil return to its original temperature. When all the food has been added, stir the food gently or quickly, depending on the recipe, with the metal scoop(wok chan) to keep the pieces from clinging to each other. Cook until the pieces of chicken, shrimp, or fish turn white on the surface, about 45 seconds, or until pieces of beef or pork turn a light brown (which could take a bit longer, depending on the size of the pieces) Use the strainer to transfer the food to the colander.

In most cases, you will now (carefully!!!) pour the hot oil into the large bowl leaving 2 tbsps of the oil in the wok. If you have a subsequent frying step, be sure to heat the oil in the wok to required temperature before continuing.

My family calls this dish 'Rusty Nails' cos the fried meat looked like them. Sorry for the lengthy text but it is so important to know. Now for some action.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound tender beef/flank steak strips (1/2 in wide, 1/4 inch thick and length of 2 - 2/12 in.)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Sauce:

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp shaoxing rice wine

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp cornstarch

Vegetable oil for "passing through"

1 cup cornstarch

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1 small onion - sliced

1 tsp sesame oil

1/4 tsp hot chilli paste(optional)

Chopped spring onions for garnishing

Method:

Mix the steak, baking soda, and 3 tbsp of water in a medium bowl. Cover, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight(The baking soda will tenderize the steak)

To begin the sauce, mix the sugar, vinegar, rice wine, soya sauce, and cornstarch in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat a large wok over high heat. Add enough vegetable to come about 1 1/2 inches up the sides of the wok, and heat it to 375f. Meanwhile, add the cornstarch and egg white to the steak, and mix well to coat the steak with the batter.

Add the steak to the oil, one piece at a time so it doesn't splash or stick together, and stir gently until it begins to look crispy, about 1 minute. Using a wide wire-mesh strainer, transfer the steak to a colander to drain. Using a fine-mesh wire strainer, remove any bits of fried batter from the wok.

Reheat the oil to 375 f, return the steak to the wok, and fry again until the beef is crispy all over, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a strainer to drain. Remove all but 1 tbsp of the oil from the wok.

Return the wok with the oil to high heat, add sliced onions, steak, sugar-vinegar mixture, sesame oil and hot chilli paste(if using). Stir fry until all of the ingredients are well-blended about 30 seconds.

Dish out and sprinkle with chopped spring onions.

Serve immediately with white rice.

Serves

Source URL: https://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/2009/02/
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Friday, February 27, 2009

Girlfriends We Need

Labels:

daughters

girlfriends

Mothers

nurses

romance bandits

sisters

Suzanne Welsh

by Suzanne Welsh
There's an e-mail that's been passed around for years that I periodically receive. It talks about the girlfriends we have in our lives and how they serve to help us through different stages and problems we encounter along life's journey. Every time this pops up in my e-mail, (often from my mom or one of those girlfriends), it always makes me smile, get a little teary-eyed and think of those women who have come to mean so much to me.

So, here's my list of women:

1) My mom. Yep, she's one special lady and I'm lucky enough to still have her in my life to talk, laugh and cry with. She taught me to read, to love books and wasn't the least surprised when I called long distance to say , "Hey, guess what? I'm writing a romance novel." Her reply? "I was wondering when you were going to do that." My mom has woo-woo moments...it's really kind of freaky. One of my kids will do something bad or dangerous or life altering...Poof Mom calls to say, "Is so-and-so okay? They've been on my mind all day." I won a writing conte

st. Poof, Mom calls and says, "Is something going on with your writing? It's been on my mind all week."

Mom is also a nurse. She's one of the two reasons I became one. The other was watching Hot-Lips Hoolihan pass instruments during surgery on M*A*S*H. I wanted to be that smart, confident, efficient and still compassionate person. The bonus? When the bad stuff hits the fan, I can always call and chat with mom about patients, doctors, ugly stuff. She understands. (Yep that's me, ready to go do surgery, just like Mom.)

2) My sister, Sam. Many of you may have several sisters, some none. But I was blessed with a younger sister who has the wickedest sense of humor and isn't afraid to say what she thinks. On top of that, she gets my mushy side and loves my kids. Cynical at times, irreverent at most, she was the person who taught my son to fish, play pranks on his sisters and sing to AC/DC songs as if every seven year old should know the lyrics! We've fought, laughed, cried and hugged through good times and bad.

3) My friend Marion. Hey Marion!! Waiving madly in case she's reading this. We met in first grade, but became really good friends in middle school. This was the friend I first talked about boys with. (I still talk about MEN with my friends, but she was the first.) She knew my crushes all through those teen years. We cruised High street together oogling all the OSU boys partying on a Friday or Saturday night. We learned to do all the cool dances in her bedroom before she forced me to watch horror movies. We've gone through weddings, babies, grandbabies, and family loss together. I know her strength, her heart...and we know all the blackmail stories about each other!

4) Nursing friends. This is a BIGGGGGGGG group, since I've been a nurse for nearly 30 years in 7 hospitals in 3 states. These are the women who've been in the trenches on busy nights, held me while I cried to release adrenaline in the cluster**** that just happened or the death of a baby. These are the women who get what it's like to eat chinese stirfry out of an emesis basin and think it's normal. They can laugh at raunchy jokes or find humor in the odd things humans will do to themselves at any given day or night. (Please ask me in a bar about the lady and the snuff!)

5) The Writer Foxes. These are my Texas writing friends. My CPs and those women who understand my passion for writing. These are those ladies I can get drunk with and they may not stop me from acting a fool...(Sandy Blair) but laugh with me later about it. They push me, teach me, support me. They are my sanity!

6) My daughters. Two totally different women I've been lucky to raise, know and love. I see in them the hope of the future. I've been priveledged to watch them find the loves of their lives. Artists and singers, they're talent always amazes me. They're book lovers, like their mama, grandmama, great grandmama! I couldn't be prouder of either of them!

7) And finally, The tony margareth. How does one say to 19 friends scattered all over the world in four countries and three continents how much they've come to mean to me? When we got together last July, it was like being with my sisters, only I didn't have to fight with any of them! We laughed like we'd been friends all our lives. These are friends I plan to have the rest of my life!

So, who are the girlfriends in your lives?

Source URL: https://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/2009/02/
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Bandita Booty!!!

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Bandita Booty

Elisabeth Naughton

Stolen Fury

Spicy Crabstick with Fries

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Home Cooking

Seafood

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Love to hate you, baby

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Drifting to the Dark Side

Labels:

dark heroes

reading tastes

romantic conflict

by Nancy

I was seriously tempted to blame this blog on Anna Campbell. Her tortured heroes and tormented heroines make for darker reading (although fabulous!) than I usually think of when romance comes to mind, and I find myself reading darker books lately than I once did. The change struck me when I finished Tempt the Devil. I loved it but realized it was a far darker book than I'd thought of myself as liking. When I looked back, however, I realized my drift toward the Dark Side of the Force started a long time ago. I just didn't stop to recognize it. Today I'm going to trace that drift. As you read, please think of your own preferences and what shaped them because we'll come back to that later.

Here are some springboard questions: Do you prefer Fitzwilliam Darcy or Heathcliff? Georgette Heyer's Marquis of Alverstoke or Charlotte Bronte's Mr. Rochester? Luke Skywalker or Han Solo? Aragorn or Acheron? Superman or Batman? Stargate SG-1 or Battlestar Galactica? Hugh Jackman as Leopold in Kate and Leopold or as Wolverine in X-Men? Hugh Jackman as Whoever?

Once upon a time, I would have chosen the first option, the less tormented one, in every one of the questions. Heyer's Earl of Worth (Regency Buck) was about as dark as I wanted to go. Somewhere along the way, something happened. My tastes have been going darker for a long time, but I just didn't notice. It was sort of like drifting on a raft in the ocean and suddenly realizing the shore had receded.

I think it started when a college friend gave me a copy of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She was appalled that I, who so loved comic books and science fiction, had never read it. If you've read the books or seen the films, you know this is not a story of sweetness and light. Frodo struggles with the ring and ultimately succumbs to its lure. Boromir, a hero of his people, falls from grace in attempting to steal it, only to redeem himself by dying in vain for Merry and Pippin. At the end, Frodo finds that the peaceful, pastoral Shire holds no peace for him. I hated that ending and still do, but somewhere along the way, I came to see it as right. I can't tell you how many times I've read that trilogy. I've lost count.

In high school, I hated and despised Wuthering Heights. I still wouldn't go so far as to say I like it. Neither Cathy nor Heathcliff is likely to be anyone's BFF, and I can't see either of them as pleasant company. Yet I now find the story compelling and the character study fascinating. I admire the book despite its dark undercurrents.

A lot of the 1980s romance novels were very dark in their sexuality and in the characters' experiences. I read many of those books and have kept a handful all this time (Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss, for example because Ruark was so great even though Shanna was a brat for most of the book). I read plenty of books with less tormented characters--everything I could find by Patricia Rice, Mary Jo Putney, Kathleen Gilles Seidel, and Jayne Ann Krentz's various incarnations, to list just a few. These characters had experiences ranging from the painful to the horrible, but they mostly weren't brutal, as in those 80s books. Of course, a lot of the brutal things that happened in those earlier books didn't seem to have realistic aftermaths for the characters, which made them slightly unreal and perhaps less disturbing than they would have been a newspaper story. As I write this, I'm realizing that the books I kept didn't have a lot of physical or sexual brutality and had the hero and heroine with each other and no one else.

Then there're the late Dame Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. Francis Crawford of Lymond could be the poster boy for tortured heroes. I made it halfway through the first book, The Game of Kings, and phoned the friend who'd given it to me for Christmas. "Is there anybody in this book besides this blind girl I'm going to like?" I asked, after a more tactful leadup. There was a short silence, and she replied, "Well, I can't promise, of course, but I think if you keep reading you'll be glad you did." Oh. My. Word. The last hundred pages or so turned everything inside out, and I adored Lymond, who had come across as a serious jerk until then. I bought the other five massive paperbacks, reading every spare minute, reading before work, through lunch lunch, reading far into the night, and finished them all in under week. (No, I didn't have much of a life beyond work then.) When my mom and I went to England, I found the equally massive hardbacks at Foyle's bookstore and lugged them home in my suitcase.

Science fiction and fantasy did their part in leading me toward darker waters. Elizabeth Haydon's Rhapsody series is extremely well done but isn't for the squeamish. As I reached the halfway mark in the first book, Rhapsody, I found myself wondering why I was still reading and concluded it was because I had to know what happened. Even in comic books, the stories I found most engaging were the ones in which the heroes had the most to overcome. Which may explain the appeal of Battlestar Galactica, which I don't love the way Trish does but can't seem to stop watching anyway. Yet if I had to list preferences in TV shows, I'd pick Stargate SG-1 or Heroes (which has taken a definite darker turn) over BSG despite giving BSG credit for grittier, more intricate plotting and characters, and how strange is that?

Then there are the Dark-Hunters. I put off reading this series because I had an unfortunate feeling that liking them would lead to obsessive serial reading, as with Lymond. It did. And the comic book geek in me wants to read in order, a habit with problems of its own if the next book doesn't happen to be in the store. Every one of the dark-hunters died a horrible death. That's part of their motivation. And Acheron himself had a life brutal beyond horror. But I asked for and got his book for Christmas and had devoured it by Boxing Day.

I can no longer deny that I've drifted far from the bright shore and into the dark ocean. I still love books that don't feature such heavy torment. The banditas run the gamut of light to dark, and the other books I've read in the last year fall i varying points on that spectrum. In fact, those less brutal books are still the bulk of my reading. The characters still have things to overcome. I think that would be called conflict. It doesn't have to be vicious, but it does have to be deep and difficult. So maybe that's the answer, that I like the triumph after the arduous struggle and, with age, have come to appreciate the darker side of it more than I once did.

So, getting back to our original questions--I pick Darcy over Heathcliff, Alverstoke over Rochester, Luke over Han (with respectful raspberries to Joan and Beth), Acheron over Aragorn by an molecule, SG-1 over BSG, Superman over Batman, and Wolverine over Leopold. With a serious nod to the "Hugh Jackman as Whoever" option.

What about you? Do you gravitate more toward lighter or darker books? What are your favorites in either category?

Source URL: https://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/2009/02/
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Chrysanthemum tea Jelly

Labels:

Asian

Dessert

Party

Snacks

Chrysanthemum flowers is one of the items in my pantry which gets replenished even before the last flower is used up. My generation grew up with this tea but not the younger ones though. Since i got a new jelly mould which is available online from Biodiversityherbs.com, decided to make jelly with chrysantermum tea to entice Renee. To my surprise, she liked these jelly, now i know what to make her when her throat hurts.

Read about the medicinal values from Wiki:
Chrysanthemum tea has many purported medicinal uses, including an aid in recovery from influenza, acne and as a "cooling" herb. According to traditional Chinese medicine the tisane can aid in the prevention of sore throat and promote the reduction of fever. In Korea, it is known well for its medicinal use for making people more alert and is often used to waken themselves. In western herbal medicine, Chrysanthemum tea is drunk and used as a compress to treat circulatory disorders such as varicose veins and atherosclerosis.
In traditional Chinese medicine, chrysanthemum tea is also used to treat the eyes, and is said to clear the liver and the eyes.[citation needed] The liver is associated with the eyes and the liver is associated with anger, stress, and related emotions. It is believed to be effective in treating eye pain associated with stress or yin/fluid deficiency. It is also used to treat blurring, spots in front of the eyes, diminished vision, and dizziness

Ingredients:

1 pkt (10 gm) konnyaku powder

210 gm sugar

30 gm chrysanthemum flowers

700 ml water
250 ml boiling water

Method:

Put chrysanthemum flowers in a teapot and pour 250 ml hot boiling water. Put the lid on and let the tea steep for 10 minutes. Strain and leave aside. Reserve the flower for garnishing.

Mix konnyaku powder with sugar and stir to mix.

Bring 700 ml water to the boil and add in the konnyaku with sugar mixture. Stir until the sugar and konnyaku dissolve. Add in the 250 ml chrysanthemum tea and stir to blend.

Wet the konnyaku mould with water but do not wipe dry. Put a chrysanthemum flower onto every mould and fill the mould with konnyaku jelly.

Leave to set in refrigerator.

Remove from moulds when set and serve cold

Serves

Source URL: https://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/2009/02/
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Kuih Siput

Labels:

Malaysian

Snacks

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Deadline Musings

Labels:

comfort reads

deadlines

Kate Carlisle

New York Times Bestseller

By Kate

I’m writing to you from Deadline Hell, an actual place located hundreds of miles beneath the earth in the depths of the Cave of Desperation.

The reason I’m here is that I’m racing to finish my second book, due in just a few weeks. I’m sure I won’t make it on time. I know everything I’m writing is dreck. And why am I italicizing words for emphasis? I've forgotten how to write. Gah!

I’m stressed out and not sleeping well. I’m forgetful and prickly. I don’t know what I’m doing and don’t know where I’m going. My butt hurts from sitting in this chair all day.

I’m living on chocolate kisses and frozen foods. My skin is pasty and I wear only sweat pants and work shirts. Big, shapeless shirts and comfortable shoes. Oh, just call them slippers.

I squint a lot.

I have a stack of new and exciting books I’d love to read—but I can’t. Reading something new would mean focusing on the words and the story—and I’ve lost my ability to focus.

So I’m re-reading. Comfort reads. At night, before I crawl off to bed, I’ve been re-reading old favorites. I started with J.D. Robb’s Naked in Death and plowed through the next four "In Death” books. Then I jumped to Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Nobody’s Baby But Mine. Next, I might move to some old Julie Garwood Scottish historicals. Gotta love those Highlander heroes. Men in kilts, 'nuf said.

So tell me, who do you turn to for your comfort reads? What was the last book you re-read?

And I would be remiss if I didn’t send a super-dooper wowzer yowzer THANK YOU to my darling Banditas for the incredible bouquet of star lilies and box of chocolate yummies they sent me to celebrate my first book hitting the New York Times Bestseller List!!

Thank you, my lovelies!

Cabana Boys, attention please! Sven, front and center! Pina Coladas and soothing massages for all my friends!!!

Source URL: https://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/2009/02/
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Secretive Cake

Labels:

Cakes

Dessert

Malaysian

I named this Secretive Cake cos every blogger who made this cake did not share the recipe. There are several names to this cake - Seri Kaya Sarawak Cake, American Midnight Cake and even Kek Belacan. My friends have been giving me recipes on this cake and i have found that the ingredients are pretty much the same and the cake is steamed instead of baked. It has to use a browning sauce to make the cake black. When i got the first recipe, i tried making with gula melaka and it did not turn out black but more like Ma Lai Koh color. Then i made again using coco caramel and mollasses, still not black enough and this time the cake really looked like Belacan. This 3rd trial, i used 2 tbsps of Thick Caramel Sauce from Yuen Chun, longivity brand and the cake is dark enough.

Ingredients:

6 ozs(1 1/2 sticks) butter

1/4 cup fine granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

140 ml condensed milk

1/3 cup Kaya

1/4 cup Horlicks

2 tbsp Thick Caramel Sauce/browning sauce

Method:

Grease a 8 inch round cake pan and line base and sides with baking paper. Allow the baking paper to extend over the top by 1 inch if using the shorter tin.

Sieve flour with baking powder.

Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one by one, until well combined.

Beat in sweetened condensed milk and serikaya until well mixed.

Stir in Horlicks until well combined.

Fold in sieved flour. Finally stir in vanilla and browning essence.

Pour batter into prepared tin. Cover the top loosely with a piece of aluminium foil.

Steam over high heat for 30 minutes.

Fill up with more hot water if the steamer is low on water after 30 minutes.

Turn heat down to medium and steam for another 60 minutes, or until cooked (if you wish to keep cake without refrigeration, then it has to be baked for a longer period, perhaps up to 4 hrs and the cake can last a month). Remember to replenish steamer with hot water whenever it is drying up.

Serves

Source URL: https://plasticsurgerycelebrities.blogspot.com/2009/02/
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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Labels:

coming attractions

contests

Jaye Wells

Jodi Thomas

Kay Stockham

March

Miranda Neville

Sophia Nash

Labels:

Asian

Beef

Chinese

Friday, February 27, 2009

Labels:

daughters

girlfriends

Mothers

nurses

romance bandits

sisters

Suzanne Welsh

Labels:

Bandita Booty

Elisabeth Naughton

Stolen Fury

Labels:

Home Cooking

Seafood

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Labels:

dark heroes

reading tastes

romantic conflict

Labels:

Asian

Dessert

Party

Snacks

Labels:

Malaysian

Snacks

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Labels:

comfort reads

deadlines

Kate Carlisle

New York Times Bestseller

Labels:

Cakes

Dessert

Malaysian

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