Some Random Pictures at Monterery

Moroccan Spiced Lamb with Date Barbecue Sauce

好吃不怕麻烦。如果有着这种态度和心里准备。这到菜就不是个大挑战了。 这道菜很是有点西域风情。

老妈笑我。 做个饭这么麻烦。满厨房乱转。一会儿书一会儿电脑的。搞忙完！她没有搞清楚的是。这个又不是她的家常便饭。把一堆佐料弄到一起，在锅里乱弄一下就搞定的。 这就是为什么，老妈是二厨，我是大厨的原因。

Mom laughed at me. She could not understand why I was so all-over-the-place when I just made one dinner?! Why I had to reference both the cook book and my computer all the time？！

What she did not realize is that this is not a simple Chinese pan fry. This is why I am the chef but she is the sou-chef. :)

Ingredients to marinate the lamb
The lamb needs to be marinated for at least 6 hours in advance.
1) 1 tbs ground coriander
2) 2 tsp ground cumin
3) 2 tsp paprika
4) 1 and 1/s tsp ground ginger
5) 1 tsp cinnamon
6) Pepper and salt
7) 2 lb of lamb leg
8) 4 garlic glove and thinly sliced

Marinate the Lamb
1) In a bowl, combine all the ingredients above and set aside 1/2 of the spice mixture for the BBQ source.
2)Stir in 3 tbs of olive oil
3) Adjust pepper and salt to taste
4) Use a small sharp knife to make 1/2 inch deep slits all over the lamb.
5) Press the garlic slices into the slits
6) Coat the lamb with the spiced oil. Make sure to tub it in the slits
7) cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours

Ingredient for the BBQ source
1) 5 garlic glove minced
2) 1 medium onion, finely chopped
3) 3 tbs tomato paste
4) 1 and 1/2 cup beef broth
5) 1 tbs honey
6) 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
7) 6 large pitted dates, minced (2 ounces)
8) 4 tbs fresh lemon juice

Make the BBQ source
1) IN a medium sauce pan. Heat some olive oil
2) Add the chopped onion and minced garlic. Cook over moderately low heat. Until it's softened
3) Add the remaining 1/2 of the spice mixture (the one made to marinate the lamb)
4) Add tomato paste and cook. Stirring for about 1 minute.
5) Add beef broth, honey and cayenne pepper. Simmer over high heat until slightly thickened. About 8 minutes
6) Add minced dates. Simmer over low heart until they break down and the sauce is thick and glossy. About 10 minutes
7) Remove from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice.
8) Season with salt and pepper

Grill the lamb
1) Gril the lamb over moderate heat. Tuning once, until the lamb is nicely charred all over and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the leg registers 130 degree.
2) During the last 3 min of the grilling, brush the reserved date BBQ sauce all over the lamb.
3) Transfer the grilled labm to a carving board and let rest for 10 min

Serve the lamb
1) In a small bowl, toss some mint and cilantro.
2) Slice the labm across the grain and serve with the BBQ source with the mint and cilantro

Roasted Beets with Enchive Salad

今天请朋友过来吃饭。 于是一个下午都在家折腾吃的。烤了一个玉米面饼子，有做了一个甜菜的色拉。 我家老妈打趣我说，“这那里是请客吃饭？！ 请客吃饭应该弄点好吃好喝的。 我的选择简直是强迫性的忆苦思甜。

对他们这些经历过困难时期的上辈人来说，吃甜菜啃窝窝头的日子算是过够了。

Beets are often considered as the vegetable of the cold weather. Especially, many years ago in China, when Chinese people did not have as many choices and supplies for food during the winter, beets were a very common choice for the everyday meal especially for the northern part of China. Nowadays, when people have more than enough choicies for food and everything, beets are not that commonly found on a dinner table any more. Guess people had enough in the old days.

Well, I still like the deep burgundy color of beets, and it seems to me a perfect salad choice for the winter.


It's quite easy to make. If you like something simple, colorful and yet delicious. This is a good choice.

1) Toss 2 medium beets with 2 tbs of olive oil on a sheet of baking foil. Fold the baking foil to cover the beets and place it one a baking pan. Roast with 350 degree for about 60 min till it's tender and can be easily poked through with a fork.
2) Let it cool. Peel the beets and slice them (not too thin)
3) Toss up some olive oil, black pepper, Dijon Mustard, and champaign vinegar
4) In a little bowl, mix up the dressing and the beets
5) Place each slice of beets on the plate.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Creamy Goat Cheese

Home cooking can be elegant and gourmet!

Haven't made any serious dinner for a while at home, since mom has been my very dedicated personal chef recently. I feel like trying some new recipes. I also happen to have one of my friends coming over for dinner tonight, so might as well use him as a guinea pig. :)

This dish is actually quite easy to make, but does kick the home cooking a notch towards gourmet cooking. :) Compared to other gourmet dishes that usually demand a lot of time and efforts to prepare, this dish has a pretty high ROI.

And, it's delicious, just like anything that has bacon in it.

Ingredients

* a small regular goat cheese
* 12 pitted dates
* 6 slices bacon cut crosswise into twins
* Special equipment: 12 wooden tooth picks

Directions

1. Microwave the bacon between two paper towels for about 4-5 min till it's wrinkled and a lot of fat coming out
2. Stuff 1 piece of cheese into each date
3. Wrap one piece of bacon around each date and secure bacon with a toothpick if desired.
4. Arrange dates, bacon seam down on a frying pan.
5. Pay fry it for a few min till it's browned all over
6. Drain on a paper towel or parchment.
6. Serve immediately.

Tip: Most of the recipes out on the web do not require the microwaving part of the bacon. I like the microwaving part, because it makes easier to get rid of the excessive fat and to reduce the time required to pan fry the bacon-wrapped dates later on. So, a good calories and time saver over all.

New Year Day Party 2 - Gift Exchange

After dinner, we played the game "Frize (left) and Buzz (right)" and gift exchange. Here is how JoAnna tricked us all getting confused about left and right. :)

Basically, whatever Tom opened yesterday, others wanted to have it.
Tom:"Hmm... This is going to be stolen by some other people very soon. So, not fair..."

Tom:"What heck is this thing????? "

Tom:"Awesome! This is a high-tech chopper!"

For a guy who does very minimum cooking limited to boiling and microwaving, I cannot imagine he loves kitchen toy this much. :)

At least, somebody is happy with what they got!

Eric:"Thank God! I loooooooove message with Victoria body cream!!!!"

Just want to help Spencer remember how John heartlessly stole his FengShui fountain yesterday. :)

Alright at least, Spencer got a gigantic chocolate foodball, perfect to share with all the girls that are interested in him. See?! How happy he looked when thinking about that plan!

Philip is a talented chess-player, but somehow, very randomly, once lost a game to a homeless guy on the street and 10 bucks. !@$#@#!?!?

Crystal and mom.

New Year Day Party I - My Friends

Besides his talent in dancing, Tim is also very very good at making delicious salads. One problem of being friends with Tim though is that he once in a while shows up with a great bottle of wine and "unintentionally" upgrades our expectation on wines. Sigh....

Lovely Crystal, Alisa and Lori.

John is a goof-ball, fun, funny, and spontaneous. The first time I met John at a party, I noticed that he is very connected with many friends. Such an important guy, of course, I need to get connected with him too. So, I handed over him my name card, hoping that he would remember me somehow. To my ultimate surprise and disappointment, he glanced at my card and handed over to the guy next to him and walked away. Seriously, that's definitely the ONLY time I had such an experience with a guy. Very refreshing!

So, I told Steve the story. Here is John's reaction:"No, no... That's not the complete truth. Marsha left our some other details to twist the story her way!"

Anyway, that's my version of truth and my little revenge to him. :)

A few candid shots of my friends that I like. Great models for good pictures!

Spencer and John.

Spencer is a talented party host, funny, great sense of humor and full of fun group games for a party. Since he is so awesome, he is of course very much popular among girls. So popular that once while he was hosting a party, a girl openly expressed her interests in him. But, you know what? Spencer did not look surprised at all!!! Guess he had similar experiences quite often before. :)

Eric has blue eyes. That's his tag line. OK. Two truth and a lie for Eric.

1) Eric once wrote 2 lines of congress code/law for the US government
2) Eric once danced with a pair of bra on a table in front of thousands of Japanese girls and guys
3) Eric loves message with body cream from Victoria Secret

What's the answer? All truth? Who know?! :) I know I am in trouble with Eric now.

Tom and Steve.

Tom is a talented singer. No kidding! He once changed the wording of a famous backstreet boy song into one about the church group we go to, and sang it for us. It was awesome!.