Steam spare ribs with blackbean garlic sauce

This one is probably one of my favorite recipes from my mom. I ate it since I was a kid and still haven't grown tire yet.

Ingredients:
Spare ribs, cut into cubes


Dried black beans (i used around 20-30 beans)
Garlic (i had to use 4 cloves)
Corn starch
Grounded white pepper
Salt
Soy Sauce
Oyster Sauce


Step 0 (yes, zero):
Boil some water

Step 1:
Finely dice the dried black beans and garlic.

Step 2:
Add the diced black bean and garlic onto the ribs. Also add in some salt, corn starch, grounded white pepper, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Just need a bit of everything, depending on how salty you want the dish to be then you'll have to adjust the portions. The corn starch is to make the liquid more condense so it isn't too watery. 1.5-2 tea spoons should be good.

Step 3:
Mix everything, I usually use my hands for this part. It should look something like this after you are done.

Step 4:
Steam this plate over the boiling water for around 15-18 minutes. You'll need to use a fork to flip the ribs around every 5 minutes. Avoid over cooking it.

Step 5:
serve and enjoy!


Try this plate out sometimes, you wouldn't be disappointed.

Eason Chan fan

Some of the reason y i enjoy listening to Eason.

陳奕迅 - 阿牛


陳奕迅 - 小孩不懂怕


these were cool songs, especially good when sung live by Eason. Sometimes he exaggerates his facial expressions but it just makes it better! lol

Sliced beef with onions

Here's a pretty simple dish to prepare. Also, not too much ingredients are involved.

Ingredients:
pack of sliced beef

Chopped Onion (i'm using sweet red onion here)

Salt
Black pepper
Honey (optional)
Sesame oil
Oyster sauce

Step 1:
Marinate the beef with some salt, black pepper, little bit of honey (the onions will be very sweet already), and little bit of sesame oil.

Step 2:
Heat up a pan/wok with oil and put in the onion. What you want to do is pan fry the onions until they turn brownish. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.


Step 3:
Once the onion is ready, add the marinated beef and stir fried it for 2-3 minutes. Pay attention to the color of the beef, since these are thin slices it'll cook rather quickly. Once the beef is ready add in some oyster sauce and mix.


Step 4:
Do a taste test to make sure the flavor is okay. For me, this dish should be a bit sweet (onions) rather than salty so I didn't put too much oyster sauce or salt in there. Flavor wise, that's your preference. Plate, serve and enjoy!

Goes extremely well with a bowl of rice. Shouldn't take more than 10minutes to cook if you have everything ready.

String beans with beef

"Do you smelllllolo what Keyo is...cooking?!". Lol Z always teased me with that back in college, good times. This will probably be the start of many other recipes i'll be posting. They are my weekend cookouts/experiments.

Ingredients:
String beans

Beef (can replace with chicken, shrimp, pork, etc etc)
Garlic (finely diced, for my portions i used 2 cloves)

Salt
Black pepper
Corn starch (one teaspoon mix with cold water)
Oyster sauce

NOTE: portions are up to you, you can use more meat if you want. i just used whatever was available to me.

Step 1:
Marinate the beef with some salt and black pepper.

Step 2:
Bring some water to a boil and add in the string beans. Leave the beans in there for 2-3mins. This will cook the beans and it'll be easier to stir fry it later.

Step 3:
Remove the string beans from the boiling water and place them into a bowl of cold water. This will keep the beans in a nice green color instead of them turning yellowish.

Step 4:
Remove the beans from the cold water and set aside.

Step 5:
Heat up a pan with some oil...make sure pan is dried! -_-; once the oil is heated, add in the garlic and fried them until they turn gold/brownish


Step 6:
Add in the meat and pan fried them on both sides. Depending on how big you cut them, it shouldn't take too long for them to cook.

Step 7:
Once the meat is cooked for a bit, you can add in the string beans and mix for 1 minute.

Step 8:
Add in some oyster sauce and continue to mix. Do a taste test to make sure everything is okay. Add additional oyster sauce or salt to fit your tasting needs. For me, this dish shouldn't be too salty, it should be a bit sweet as a matter of fact.

Step 9:
Stir the corn starch water and add it into the center of the pan. Wait until it comes to a boil and mix everything together. The corn starch will create this glistering glow on items in the plate. It just makes them look more appetizing.

Make sure you don't keep it in the pan for too long or else it'll over cook. After adding in the string beans, it shouldn't take more than 3 mins to add in the reminding ingredients.

Step 10:
Plate and serve, ENJOY!

Eason Chan

bound to happen someday...

Eason Chan is one of my favorite singers from HK. I'm not too sure why I've become his fan, maybe because of his silly childish personality which resembles me sometimes? shrug...

Here's a recap of his career to date


Translated by 60699 @ asianfanatics.net
Taken from www.enorth.com.cn

"Next Year Today" a Recap of Eason Chan's Career

Eason Chan, a Hong Kong singer and actor, is regarded as one of the more highly skilled singers in the generation after Jacky Cheung's.

Path into the industry
With his father's status as a senior official of a Hong Kong government agency, Eason Chan was able to receive an education from England. In college he was an architect major who also spent 4 years studying music. In the summer of 1995, Eason returned to Hong Kong and participated in the 14th New Talent Singing Competition. He eventually won the competition and signed to Capital Artist Records as a singer, taking his first steps into the industry. In his Capital Artist years he released records such as 與我常在 and 我的快樂時代.

Relying on his music and singing skills he entertained many and began what would be a career filled with many peaks.

The peak of his career
In 1999, Eason began marking his place in the industry, releasing sellable albums 幸福, 天佑愛人, Nothing Really Matters, and 新生活, along with chartable songs 幸福摩天輪, 當這地球沒有花, and 每一個明天. In that same year, known as the "Big Sister of Hong Kong Music", Anita Mui recorded the duet 同聲一哭 with Eason.

In 2000, Eason joined Joey Yung and Nicholas Tse in EEG. His years with EEG produced many high selling albums such as 打得火熱, Shall We Dance? Shall We Talk!, The Easy Ride, The Line Up, For A Change & Hits, and Live For Today. Along with chart-topping songs 打得火熱, K歌之王, Shall We Talk, and 明年今日. For 3 consecutive years (2000, 2001 and 2002) he won the Four Stations Joint - Grand Media Award and for 2 consecutive years winning the Chik Chak Male Singer - Gold. In 2003, he was awarded IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music - Highest Selling Male Artist

During the SARS outbreak in 2003, Eason participated in the 1:99 Concert and performed 頭發亂了 with "God of Songs" Jacky Cheung.

In his years with EEG, Eason was able to break into the Taiwan music market with albums 反正是我, Special Thanks To... and 黑白灰 selling well in Taiwan and with chartable songs 愛是懷疑, 不如這樣, 謝謝儂, and 兄妹. In 2002, with the album Speical Thanks To..., Eason won the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards- Best Male Singer becoming only the 2nd non-Taiwan based singer to win the award, after Jacky Cheung.

The low point of his career
At the height of his career in 2003, Eason's father Chan Kau Tai was jailed due to corruption and bribery charges, which impacted Eason in a very big way. In 2004, aside from acting in a movie Eason was in the resting mode of his career.

The second peak of his career
In 2005, Eason signed to Cineoply Records and made his "comeback" on March 17, 2005 at a Metro Radio Mini Concert.

His "comeback" album U87 was released on June 7, 2005. The 4 songs that were plugged, 夕陽無限好, 阿牛, 浮夸, and 葡萄成熟時 all became chart-toppers, and with U87 Eason won the Chik Chak Male Singer - Gold and Chik Chak - Favorite Male Singer awards. In 2005, distancing himself from his compeition with 21 awards, he was awarded the Four Stages Joint - Grand Media Award once again.

U87 became the highest selling non-concert, non-collection individual album, and Eason was awarded IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music - Highest Selling Male Artist and IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music - Top 10 Highest Selling Albums.

U87 was named one of the Five Asian Albums Worth Buying by TIME Magazine, giving Eason's music high praise and saying "[Eason is looking to] usher in the next generation of Canto-pop".

In 2006, Eason released the album Life Continues and the chart-topping song 最佳損友. Afterwards, he recorded the duet 天下太平 with Jacky Cheung.

In July 2006, he participated in the musical 大煞風景 which received many good reviews.

At the 10th Years of Go East Concert, Eason performed 熱辣辣, 天下太平, 如果這都不算愛, and 最佳損友 with Jacky and many people saying afterwards that they are the new generation 左麟右李 (Alan Tam & Hacken Lee).

In 2006, Eason once again won Chik Chak Male Singer - Gold and Chik Chak - Favorite Male Singer and for the first time TVB Favorite Male Singer, cementing his status as a top male singer.

Overall, 2006 can be said as an even higher peak for Eason as he swept the male singer awards from all 4 stations.

His personal life
Aside from a little rumor at the beginning of his career with fellow New Talent Singing Competition contestant Miriam Yeung, Eason hasn't had any rumors since he started dating Hilary Tsui, who gave birth to their daughter Constance Chan in 2004, and on March 23, 2005 the two officially got married.

The new representative on Hong Kong popular music
Many people regard Eason as one of the new representatives of Hong Kong popular music, with many regarding him as Jacky Cheung's (who is THE representative of Hong Kong popular music) successor. Eason is, so far, the only singer after Jacky to successfully make it in the Taiwan music industry, being only the 2nd singer, after Jacky, from Hong Kong that to win the Taiwan Golden Melody Award - Best Male Singer award. Eason emerged at the end of the 1990's when Jacky's generation was slowing down, creating a low-point in Hong Kong music. Many people believed that Eason's generation would not be able to create stardom for themselves, and because Jacky's generation received so many awards and so many honors, many people felt Eason's generation would never be able to live up to and surpass what Jacky's generation accomplished.

Tao Restaurant Review

Tao
42 E 58TH St
New York, NY 10022-1910
Phone: (212) 888-2288
www.taorestaurant.com

This restaurant has been on my 'check out' list for almost a year. The main reason for my curiosity is mainly due to the fact that it is the top 1 most reserved restaurant in opentable.com. It has realm that spot for probably more than a year. I've read multiple reviews, it ranges from terrible to mediocre and even some at "OMG this place is the best, must try, bring ur friends, family, relatives, neighbors, and even your dog!"...goody. Most of the complaints revolved around the rushed service and occasional poor food. Some of the positive comments are about the trendy atmosphere and very rare praises on the food.

I've decided to make reservations for a 7:15pm friday date. Laura and I braved the rain, navigated to the weird location (yes, i'm direction blinded!) and finally arrived at the door step around 6:50. The entrance door was interesting, two wooden doors with iron ring knockers. The receptionist gave us a beeper/vibrator and told us we can wait in the bar/lounge area. The bar/lounge area was huge, they can probably fit another restaurant in there. It was fully packed with people, i suppose it is a cool happy hour place. I am not a big fan of bar/club environments but we sat down and waited for our table. We were seated rather quickly, definitely before our reserved time.

The restaurant scene:
A 16 foot tall Buddha looks over the entire restaurant, it has multiple levels but we didn't really get to see much of it. The layout and design was interesting, I'm fond of the Abacus wall frames..brings back memories.

The food:
Lots of varieties in the menu but I was a bit surprised that nothing really stood out. The options are more like a redefinition of some of the classic Asian plates instead of trying to reinvent it.

Here are the plates we ended up ordering:

We ordered three appetizers and two entries. Our appetizers came within few minutes of our order and they all arrived at the same time, that seems odd, no?? The plating and timing felt like these were all pre-made instead of made to order.

Satay of Chilean Sea Bass with Wok Roasted Asparagus $15
Two pieces of sea bass on top of 4 asparagus. This plate was actually pretty good, if it is a fish plate and Laura can eat it then it gets my thumbs up! But then again, sea bass is relatively easy to prepare and would be detrimental should any chief fail it. The sea bass was grilled and flavored with some sort of sweeten oyster sauce.


Peking Duck Spring Roll with Hoisin Sauce $12
Who doesn't like spring rolls? Well, after eating this I don't like spring rolls! At least not from Tao. It was astonishingly heavy (weight) which raised suspicion. The crispy wrap was normal, however the inside was one or two pieces of duck filled with Hoisin Sauce/paste. The absurd amount of Hoisin paste created an extremely salty spring roll, it contributed to the weight. The duck sauce was not even sweet enough to compensate or balance the flavor. They could've left a better impression if they reduced the portion to bite size spring rolls because the first bite was good until u get swarmed by the Hoisin paste. WHY would anyone use bean spouts as a plate complementary?? They just seem so out of place. Avoid this plate if you don't want to wake up in the middle of the night multiple times to use the bathroom because you'll be drinking 20 cups of water afterwards!

Satay of Chicken with Peanut Sauce $9
First impression when i saw this was "WTF?"...It was three small slices of chicken breast on skewers. The meat was as dry as paper and the peanut sauce was missing the peanut flavor! Like did they forgot to mash up the peanuts that are scattered on the plate or ran out of peanut butter??? Also they have these cucumbers as plate decoratives that looked like last week's left over. Worst plate ever.

Pad Thai Noodles with Chicken $18
So that's where all the peanuts went! We ordered this plate without bean spouts, guess what? they left it on top RAW and with plenty mixed in with the noodles! The waiter apologized and quickly brought out another without them. This plate was normal in comparison to what you can find outside. For that price it better be.

Hong Kong XO Shrimp with Long Beans and Jasmine Rice $28
This plate was a shocker because it contains huge jumbo shrimps and there are more than 4 of them! The XO sauce was a bit weak but it wasn't bad. The long beans were fried then stir fried over the sauce, similar style you would find in fast food restaurants. Rice is rice. This was probably the second best dish from the place. However it doesn't stand out in comparison to what you can get in ghetto chinese restaurants, flavor and price wise.

We finished off with a Giant Fortune Cookie $10
This has very sweet white and dark chocolate mousse fillings. The fortunes were lame and it didn't contain lotto numbers. After such a meat it would've closed it off well if the giant fortune cookie given us a giant fortune! lol

Ratings:
Food - 2/5
We only bite into a small section of their menu but if what we have is any indication then the food quality is not as good as it could be. The aftermath of the hoisin paste spring roll lasted til the next morning.

Service/Atmosphere - 3.5/5
The place is trendy and full of people, might be a bit too noisy at times. Service was adequate so no complaints there.

Overall: 5.5/10
This seems to be a trend for most 'trendy' restaurants where they sacrifice or ignore food quality after they have established a name for themselves. This place is a nice place to check out with a date but don't go there to expect good food. This reaffirms that tons of people reserving a place doesn't mean it is good. A good restaurant in my option is where they strike a balance between good food and nice atmosphere. After all we are going there to eat and that should be the priority if they want us to walk away with fond memories or reasons for us to return and try other options in a sizable menu. For Tao, I don't think I want to go back for a second time, unless someone treats! lol

Bill
Two Soda $7
Satay of Chilean Sea Bass with Wok Roasted Asparagus $15
Peking Duck Spring Roll with Hoisin Sauce $12
Satay of Chicken with Peanut Sauce $9
Pad Thai Noodles with Chicken $18
Hong Kong XO Shrimp with Long Beans and Jasmine Rice $28
Giant Fortune Cookie $10
----
Total: $99 (before tax and tip)

Photoshopped

I came across this site http://www.iwanexstudio.com/ that have examples of touch up photos of celebrities. If you click on the portfolio section, you can open the image and mouse over it to see the original untouched photo. Some of them required a lot of photoshopping, the only one that had the least was Halle Berry's shot.

I've done touch ups on some of my photos, but usually they are minimal adjustments like brightening or contrast levels. Most of those celeb photos contains a burst increase lol.

Here's a clip of this going to the extreme:
http://www.youtube.com/v/iYhCn0jf46U

Kids will be kids

Here's a random youtube clip i found...cute and adorable ain't she?

http://www.youtube.com/v/In5uec02E8U

They are so young and innocent and they seem to absorb or mimic the older folks...maybe that's their sense of admiration.

---

Here's a cute picture of my niece Hailey:

She's super adorable but for some reason she's afraid of me. Maybe i look like a monster?!?. Don't be mistaken, that's not a "kissy" face, according to cousin Lisa that's a frowning face lol.

This is how she looks like when she notice me around. Her eye brows would slant down and she would stop whatever she was doing and just stare at me. In this picture, she was eating/chewing but when i got close she just stared lol. She was giving out peanuts to everyone who puts their hand out, but when i did it she just looked at me and slowly retreated! Seems like I'm having a lot of trouble getting on good terms with kids...sigh sigh

Hopefully when i have kids they'll turn out cute and adorable and would allow me to play with them....

Hainanese Chicken

Hainanese steamed chicken has been one of my favorite dish in Malaysian restaurants. After last weekend's experience, i've seen a new twist to the presentation. Before i go any further, here's a nice plate presentation for this dish. Some would say this is over the top but this was in Hong Kong.

This was a regular order with the drumstick. I don't remember the exact price but it was around $5-$7 (or less). It was definitely served elegantly considering the restaurant was not super fancy...in fact it was a regular "hk tea restaurant".

I've ordered this plate in multiple Malaysian restaurants around NYC and they have never disappointed me, not once, until last sunday. Let me help them advertise a little, this was the restaurant we visited:

Nyonya
http://brooklyn.citysearch.com/review/35719198
5323 8th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11220

I've walked passed this place more times than i can remember and i've always wanted to go in but just never did (should've probably stayed that way for the better). So we placed our orders and to my surprise, this is what they brought out...

Count it, it was 4 pieces of chicken (regular cuts) but 3 pieces were sliced in half to create an illusion that were are 7 pieces. This cut was the lower thigh area so it was mostly bones, usually i don't mind getting this because i'm not a picky eater...however, the 4 pieces mixed in with salty soy sauce was just a bad combination. As for the 'oil rice' it was very soggy, felt like the rice was cooked with too much water. This order cost $4.50. I was hungry (3pm lunch) so i finished most of it anyway! =P This woody place will return to being a passer by restaurant and i'll please my Hainanese chicken cravings else where.

Cars

List of cars that i wanted to own at one point or another:
Volkswagen Beetle
Audi TT
BMW
Mercedes Benz
Lexus
Mini Cooper

I wonder which i'll end up with...

Justin Timberlake in SNL

Here are some of the best SNL sketchs IMO
Special christmas box
Cup of Soup

Japan street food frenzy

Japan's street food vendors are so full of variety. As seen here in Ueno park, this place is packed full of them. A short walk will fill ur stomach without a big dent in your wallet.


Takoyaki, this is one of my favorite. If you are in the NYC area, drop by Otafuku in East Village for some yummy Takoyaki!


Chocolate Bananas, these were interesting but we weren't brave enough to try lol (would u dare?)



Okonomiyaki, this was an interest piece, it was pricey but tasty.



This was an crab meat version of the Okonomiyaki, tasted horrible and the street vendor was scary!!! I got scammed!



Sembei, these are the regular crackers without the added sugar but wrapped with seaweed. It was freshly made but without the sweet boost, it just didn't taste right.



Strawberry pastry, this was a very delicate snack.

How To Be A Cheapo To Buy A House

How To Be A Cheapo To Buy A House

Continental Airplane food

Continental Airplane food is one of the worst airline food I had. Above is their chicken teriyaki, everything taste like a fancy microwave meal. The only edible thing was the roll and the Brussels cookie. Well, the salad+lemon was okay i suppose since it doesn't require any cooking/microwaving.


Here's the snack, Beef & Swiss Sub. This would've been pretty good if the bread wasn't so soggy. The Haagen Dazs was super frozen, almost broke my spoon trying to dig in lol.


Here's the dinner meal, Shrimp pasta with the left over salad from lunch. The pasta had no flavor. sigh sigh...