Turnip Cake ‘Loh Bok Gau‘ 萝卜糕

Turnip Cake

A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril.  – Winston S. Churchill ~ DIM SUM SERIES ~ A week ago, people of Chinese descent all over the world celebrated the Lunar New Year, welcoming the Year of the Rooster. Following tradition, where Lunar New Year is celebrated […]

Crystal Skin Shrimp Dumplings

Crystal Skin Shrimp Dumplings

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” ~ Mark Twain ~ DIM SUM SERIES ~ Twain was a man after my own heart. I love dim sum. The tapas-style dining means lots of varieties of food to try in one sitting, from […]

Italian Sausage and Kale Stew

Italian Sausage Kale stew

It’s okay to play with your food. ~ Emeril Lagasse How many of us indulged over holidays? We told ourselves it was only an extra drumstick with “only a few tiny” drizzles of dressing, one more slice of pie (a la mode, of course, why stop at pie), one more helping of noodles (to represent ‘healthy […]

Chocolate Chip Cookies (‘Famous Amos’ copycat)

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. ~ Martin Luther King Jr. ~ A THANK YOU POST ~ As the year draws to a close and new beginnings herald, we think upon the many joys and sadnesses, triumphs and defeats, loves and hurts, and we take a moment for reflection. […]

Homemade Mushroom Soup

Homemade Mushroom Soup

In the hopes of reaching the moon, men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet. ~Albert Schweitzer It was with some effort that I managed to haul myself out from under the covers, somehow managed to put on the right clothes, even matching socks, and crept my way out onto the trail. It was […]

Easy Turkey Meatball Soup

Turkey Meatball Soup

May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs. ~ ‘Twas The Night of Thanksgiving’, C.J. Beaman There is a collective gentle sigh as we see the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers. Despite our best intentions to limit our portion sizes, the intentions remained just that – intentions. Folks generally go all out with the food for this […]

Healthy Meat Sauce and Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Whole Wheat Spaghetti Meat Sauce

Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner.  ~ Sophia Loren These days, the mornings are misty, the chill is nippy, and here in California, Uggs® are making their annual appearance. It is not so bone-shatteringly cold as it is in the northeast, though fear not, west-coasters have their own […]

Egg-free, Butter-free Honey Walnut Cookies

Honey Walnut Cookies

“A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.” -Barbara Johnson Pumpkin season is here. Can’t miss it. Decorating nearly every store, restaurant, office, door stoop are the bulbous orange fruit. It’s one of my favourite sights for it means the holiday season is just around the corner. Try our Honey Walnut cookies for a change this […]

Easy Water Spinach 空心菜 (Kangkung)

Easy Water Spinach

All things are difficult before they are easy. ~  Thomas Fuller Here is recipe that starts easy and stays easy. It will make a cook out of anyone. It’s that easy. Water spinach is more closely related to the sweet potato than to spinach as we know it in western countries. It is also called water morning glory, water […]

Chinese Green Bean Dessert Soup 绿豆汤

The wonder, The hunger, And the sound of distant thunder.  ~ “Indian Summer”, Brooks & Dunn (released 2009) Warm, hazy, windless weather prevailed all last week following a few weeks of a cooling trend. This kind of tank-top-and-shorts weather right around Halloween means  it’s Indian summer for us living in California. Soon after it will be time for […]