Posts from — May 2011

Eat Down the House: Easy Roasted (Sweet) Potatoes

The Eat Down the House Challenge, is to go without grocery shopping, and eat from the stock in the fridge and pantry.
Please welcome guest blogger Sonia, my oldest sister and Restaurant Baby #1, as she eats down her house with one of her go-to roasted potatoes dish. ~Madeline

This is a variation of one of my go-to dishes and one of the few reasons I always keep potatoes handy in the house. The roasted potatoes are really a vehicle for two of my favorite spices, ginger and cumin.
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Growing up, my mother always celebrated every one of the kid’s birthday, by getting a cake. Being the birthday girl doesn’t mean that it’s all about me. All the kids in the household, not just the birthday girl, would get a red envelope from both my mother and grandmother.

A birthday celebration with cake and red envelopes for all.

Even though birthdays were always celebrated, it never excused my sisters or me from working at the restaurant during times of labor shortage. As a 12 year old, I protested “But mom! It’s my birthday,”- my last appeal to finagling out. My mother would respond, “So what? I have to work every day, including my birthday.” Point taken.

I was taught to seize every opportunity to celebrate, and that celebration does not only mean taking. For my birthday, I enjoy not only celebrating me, but those around me who makes my life so sweet. For my recent 28th my best friend, Lee Ann, gave me the perfect gift—a gift that keeps giving.

Lee Ann, an aspiring pastry chef, had wanted to make my birthday cake. Instead of making one cake, I started counting the folks in my life, and suggested she double the batch. Being the birthday girl, Lee Ann happily obliged and made a total of 44 carrot cupcakes over the course of six hours.

Doubling the batch means fractions!

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Star Anise Beef Stew with Bok Choy

The Eat Down the House Challenge, is to go without grocery shopping, and eat from the stock in the fridge and pantry.
Please welcome guest blogger Sonia, my oldest sister and Restaurant Baby #1, as she eats down her house with beef stew. ~Madeline

The good ‘ol beef stew typically conjures up a “just-like-Mom-used-to-make” sentiment. However in Restaurant Baby household, we did not eat traditional Western beef stews. Beef stew did not hold a special place in my heart.

It wasn’t that I did not enjoy a good beef stew, but there was never a craving or a fond memory associated with this classic American comfort food. Well, that all changed on a journey down into the Grand Canyon a few years ago. [Read more →]

Aunt Rancy’s Seaweed and Mushroom Soup

I am fortunate to have a wonderful family (despite our oddball ways). What is more awesome is that I have a very large extended family that includes friends and mentors all over the world who have all taught me more than they realize. That is why Mother’s Day is special — not only do I have my Mommy to celebrate, it is also a celebration of my other “Moms”. And I want to thank my Aunt Rancy for being one of them.

Growing up, the Restaurant Babies (all except for #4) spent summers in Hong Kong where we learned how to eat mango from the peel, how to live in nine-story buildings without elevators or central air, and how to speak Canto-slang. Aunt Rancy and I bonded quickly and easily during these summers. During our teenage years, we stopped spending our summers abroad, but luckily during my last year of official schooling, I had the opportunity to visit Aunt Rancy and Uncle again!

She took me to the gai see or the markets where everyone shops for fresh vegetables and fresh seafood daily for their meals (instead of doing a once-a-week grocery trip). On my last night, we prepared this seafood feast together.

Photo courtesy of Aashoo Tandon. Our seafood feast on our last night in Hong Kong

Aunt Rancy taught me how to make this very simple soup with seaweed and mushrooms. [Read more →]

My mom does many wonderful things for her children – one of which is cooking for us. Whenever she gets the chance, she would make 6-9 dishes and delivers it to my sisters’ place. Here is her latest delivery with a note.
Soup, yu-choy, snow peas, a fish dish with a note attached.

Serena and Teresa Wu have compiled many loving and hilarious submissions on stories of Asian American mom’s on My Mom is a Fob. With Mother’s Day coming up, I’m thinking of ways to celebrate with and honor my mother. What are your plans for Mother’s Day?

Three Treasures Bread Pudding

Please welcome guest blogger Sonia, my oldest sister and Restaurant Baby #1, as she eats down her house with bread pudding.

Yesterday, Restaurant Baby #3 Allison had a fondue dinner party. We were left with a lot of bite-size pieces of bread. You know what that means . . . bread pudding! I love bread pudding, but do not make it very often because Kim does a good job of eating up the bread we buy. No stale bread means no bread pudding.

With Mark Bittman’s recipe from How to Cook Everything, I added bourbon-soaked raisins and apricots, vanilla bean, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and apples (also from last night’s fondue party).

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