Pumpkin Carvings

This year I was lucky enough to carve 3 pumpkins: one for work and two for at home. At work, I carved/sculpted out the store logo and the names of all our employees. It took me longer than I wanted because I also had to do my other duties as a service coordinator. Oh well, at least I got paid lol.
 
                                                                                                                                           

For my two pumpkins at home, I carved the "kewl face" or "troll face" for my brother on one pumpkin. This one took me approx. 4 hours.

 And for the other pumpkin I carved the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. This one also took me around 4 hours. It took me awhile to get the dark and light strips to work on him. I am very proud of this one =D

 

Eggs Florentine

I felt like having poached eggs today and since I have a bag of baby spinach I decided to make eggs florentine.
Eggs Florentine is a version of Eggs Benedict, except of ham, it is layered with blanched, raw or stir fried spinach. In my version, I blanched my spinach and I used a piece of toast instead of an English muffin

Instant Miso Ramen

Noodles, broth, coddled egg, naruto maki, chikuwa, and crab sticks

It snowed today in good ol' Edmonton and on cold days, I like to enjoy hot soups and drinks to keep me warm and cozy. I have been feeling better and decided to get back into the kitchen since I am getting very tired of rice porridge (or congee) with scallions....
So for dinner today, I made a quick miso ramen with vegetarian seafood toppings such as veggie crab sticks, veggie chikuwa (tube fish cakes), veggie naruto maki (pink slices) and for extra protein, a coddled egg. Ramen noodles was from a package of instant noodles (which I discarded of the powder). Quick miso broth made from water, miso paste, salt, pepper, mirin, sesame oil, mushroom granules and brown sugar. Brought to a boil, cooked the ramen in it, added in the toppings to cook and dumped all into a boil and arranged it. I boiled the egg separately and added it in. I know I lack actual vegetables but I didn't have any on hand.
Other than that, voila.
Instant Miso Ramen.

No, I am not Dead

I know it's been a while since I updated anything but that's because I haven't been in the kitchen at all. I have been very sick lately so my mood for cooking has been declined to a very low level. Hopefully I will get better soon because Halloween is coming soon and I really want to make something for it. I also plan to carve a pumpkin so expect that to be posted too ^^.
Until I get better, happy eating. (and don't get sick!)

Five Spice Grilled Quail

Five Spice Grilled Quail

One of the best things I love about Oriental Cuisine is the spices. And the combination in the Five Spice Powder (cloves, anise, cinnamon, ginger powder and fennel seeds) is basically heaven in your nostrils. I made another quail dish for my family because we still had so many quails, adapting the recipe from the traditional Vietnamese dish. I marinated the quails in a mixture of five spice powder, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, brown sugar, onion and garlic powder, and some salt n' pepper. It was a hit with my family because it was very homey and familiar, and since the quails were halved, the portions were ideally "snack" sized. As a meal, I served the quail with Pandan Rice and slices of tomato. And once again, no tasting required!