CuisinArt Ceramic Wok

To enhance my cooking experience, I wanted a well rounded wok that is some what not harming the foods I eat. If you haven’t heard, Teflon or PTFE/PFOA isn’t the best cookware coating. As a matter of fact, it can cause high cholesterol and other diseases if it gets absorbed into the food and eaten regularly. FDA recommends that once the coating is scratched, you should rid of the cookware as PTFE/PFOA will get into the foods cooked on the cookware. If you don’t like the idea of throwing away usable cookware, then avoid buying PTFE/PFOA coated cookware. I am gradually moving away from the old school nonstick cookware as it is full of chemicals to create the “nonstick” surface.

The most recent purchase was a cast iron grooved skillet. It’s great for grilling steak or veggies as it doesn’t require any oil once it’s seasoned and cooks evenly without high heat. Most importantly, it adds a hint of iron to my foods. We all need a bit of that! I don’t cook with cast iron often, so it’s balanced!

Now I am just waiting for my >>

GreenGourmet Hard-Anodized Nonstick Stir-Fry Wok

It’s made from hard-anodized aluminium with a ceramic coating. I chose to try out ceramic coating as it seems like the newest and healthiest trend of cookware. Let’s see if I can cook with minimal oil in this!!

Clay Pot Rice

Every now and then, I get asked how to cook clay pot rice. Put rice in a clay pot and cook it! OK, the first step is to throw away your rice cooker. If you never cooked rice on a stove top before, it’s going to be hard to explain. It’s really just using a claypot instead of any other pot to cook rice. Personally, I prefer stove top rice over rice cooker rice. I never bought a rice cooker. I don’t own a rice cooker.

If you enjoy steamed food, you put your raw ingredients into the clay pot after the boil when you don’t see the water line anymore. If you like sauteed, stir fry your ingredients first. Turn down the heat to the middle range. After 15 or so minutes, turn the heat down to low range. After another 10 or so minutes, your pot is ready.

The amount of water is dependent on the type of rice you use. So refer to your box/bag.

The exact time is relevant to your stove and pot. Learn your pot and stove to make it perfect. It usually takes me a couple tries to get it right on a unfamiliar stove.

Me And My Raw Eggs

It’s been floating around for a long time that chicken eggs are bad for you – mainly the yolk. Wicked high in cholesterol so to say. Perhaps, I will get high cholesterol one day. All in all, can someone prove to me that eating an egg a day will promote heart disease or stroke? Or even, just provide me which reputable study/research made a point that eggs is bad for the heart?

I don’t like popping pills to get all my nutrients. I like to enjoy eating my nutrients. Eggs are a good source of nutrients. Of course, if you are paranoid about everything.. don’t eat eggs.

Eggs are not the only thing I eat raw. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with eating anything raw. It certainly does expose yourself to viruses and bacteria. I’ve eaten raw chicken before from parts that were under cooked. It has not killed me!! Salmonella my butt! The way I see it, exposure builds my immune system. If I live in a bubble, I will get sick outside the bubble.

There is a nutrient in egg yolks that you will have a hard time finding in other foods. Choline. This is an essential nutrient. For the brain, it improves brain function. Signs of choline deficiency are fatty liver and hemorrhagic kidney necrosis. I certainly don’t want my brain to deteriorate! Hence, I will continue eating my eggs! Better yet, I don’t want deteriorating eyes. No Cataract! No Glaucoma! I will continue my eggs in my diet!! 

Biotin (water soluable vitamin B7)- Not many foods are rich in biotin. Egg yolks are rich in this nutrient. This is another essential nutrient that is neccessary for cell growth, the production of fatty acids and the metabolism of fats and amino acids. It is also said that biotin improves sugar levels.

There are many more nutrients/vitamins packed in this tiny yolk. To keep it sweet and short, you wont find another food that compact with so many rich nutrients. But why raw!? Besides that I am an animal, cooking will change the structure of the protein.  Truthfully, I just enjoy the slime factor! NOT! I enjoy the taste of the raw egg yolk. It’s a very distinctive taste.

If eggs are really that bad in blood cholesterol, I would’ve gotten XXX by my doctor years ago. My cholesterol level was perfectly fine the last time I checked.

Dry Aging Steak at Home

I love steak. I love juicy and tender steak even more. Silly me that I didn’t know I could dry age steak right at home! All you need is some paper towels, a rack and some fridge space.

 

Go ahead a buy a slab of Mooo. Roll it in some paper towel. Then place it on a rack that goes in the coldest part of the fridge. When the towel gets a bit moist, switch the towel. On the forth day.. wah lah!

Put some salt and pepper at most 40 mins prior to cooking. I found that cooking steak in the oven give the best results. Turn the knob to broil on high and in the steak it goes. I only broil each side for a few minutes since I like my steak bloody.

Google+ / Zagat Contains Fake Reviews?

Tonight, I was poking around Google+.. checking out reviews. I was surprised to see what I saw on Google+ (or was it Zagat)?

I was checking on a restaurant and noticed a several reviews from last week. And then it drops off in frequency dramatically. I kept reading and then reviews started to sound familiar so I scrolled back up to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.

If you paid attention in my photo of an example dupe, you will see that the duper is a lazy ass. Too lazy to shift for CAPS! Wouldn’t it be easier to just cut and paste anyways!? I suppose you can’t fix punctuations on the fly that way.. lol

I have no idea why Zagat or Google+ would dupe reviews? I did go to Zagat.com and looked at the reviews. The most recent reviews are from 2010, no duping on the main Zagat website.

To say the least, I’m not trusting Google+ for reviews at the moment. Going directly to review websites is more reliable. I did send a comment to Google+ of what I noticed in case there is a bug or error. Curious to see if it submits to a black hole.

My Tuna Salad Recipe

My recipes has not exact measurements as I am an eyeballer so I am just going to be a descriptive as I can in creating tuna salad.

Ingredients for tuna salad:

Canned Tuna, Balsamic Vinegar, Sugar, Peppercorn, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Mayo, Red Onion, Celery, Olive Oil

In a bowl mix together approximately 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, splash of olive oil, 2 dashes of ground sage, 1 dash of ground thyme, 1 pinch of oregano flakes and 2 turns of peppercorn.

Mince approximately 1/3 of a red onion and mince 2 celery stalks. If you like garlic, mince 1 clove of garlic.

Drain 2 cans of tuna and place in the above bowl. Mix till tuna is shredded and evenly coated with herbs. Squirt mayo and mix till the consistency that you prefer. Then mix in the minced produce to the preferred ratio.

Voila! Tuna Salad loved by the Cat!

Curing Chinese Sand Pot

I bought a Chinese sand pot last night from Kam Man. I haven’t used one for many moons. When I used to live in my condo, I didn’t own a rice cooker and always cooked rice in a single person sand pot. It just taste so different.. so much better! I literally ate plain rice out of the pot as a snack!

I spent this evening curing the pot for first use. I was heavily debating about making a 煲仔飯 tonight but it’s getting late. I’m still curing the pot so this venture will have to wait till tomorrow.

I didn’t do much beside just soaking it water for a few hours. Now I am drying the sand pot. I even bought a piece of metal thing for cooking this style. Don’t ask me why. It’s just how I was taught. If you don’t separate the direct heat, it will be an uneven cooking and may cause the rice to burn in the bottom center. Also, it’s not a good idea to use wicked high heat quickly when cooking with clay pots. The cooking should be a gradual change in temperature.

There was actually one time that I didn’t listen. I ended up cracking a 20 year old pot. Ooops! I sure was glad that I didn’t get whipped by the duster! Good thing these sand pots are not expensive.

The one I bought was less than $7! The metal thingamajig was less than $3. Now, this is much more affordable than a rice cooker! Ya, I know.. not everyone knows how to cook rice on the stove top. Isn’t it exhilarating to have a yummy bowl of rice?

Sand pot is termed this way because of the exterior texture of the pot rather than the type of clay used. The interior is glazed to keep the moisture and flavor in, as well as for preventing odors from previous cooking adventures to seep in. It is also not recommended to use detergent to wash clay pots because the it can alter the flavor of the food. Keep a box of baking soda handy!

A&E in Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/ae/restaurants/gallery/chinesefood?pg=3

I am for certain now what section of Boston. com is popular amongst my friends and the friends of friends!

“Is this you?”

“You are in Boston.com”

“So and so forwarded me this link”

My first reaction was, “Why would I be part of any news?”

I just laughed when I saw the picture and the topic. I have no idea why the Globe dug up pictures from 2009. At least, now I know that any pictures of current articles may not be current pictures.

The picture is from a fundraiser by Joslin. I was doing volunteer work for Changsho that was donating to this foundation. It was a great time to do something for a cause. I don’t do a whole lot of volunteer work. Shame on me since I believe in giving back to the community. Certainly, when there’s an opportunity and I can find time, I will participate. Perhaps, part of my New Year resolution is to partake in more volunteerism. You can never give too much!