The menu:

1. As an appetizer, bacon wrapped dates stuffed with toasted almonds and cheese
2. Roasted sweet peppers stuffed with gorgonzola and colby cheese
3. Honey and thyme glazed bosc pears topped with a gorgonzola cream sauce, bacon, and pecans
4. Strawberry spinach salad with vinegrette, walnuts, sliced almonds, and feta
5. Steak
6. And my favorite, Moscato wine
7. For dessert, chocolate pudding packs!

The food was fabulous. Even with little mister joining us, it was still wonderfully romantic!

Despite our old age we were able to have an enjoyable day! We celebrated just the two of us (Ethan seems to enjoy where he’s at for now).  Nguyen had a hankering for ribs, so we dined out at our favorite BBQ place. Yum, Yum. I baked a special cake, butter pecan rum cake with cream cheese icing. It turned out really nice and was not too sweet – just the way he likes it. I was going to decorate with balloons because balloons are just what you do for a birthday. Is it even considered a birthday without balloons? I’m not sure. So, I bought balloons and got home to start decorating, but sadly, what I did not realize is that the lung capacity of a nine month pregnant woman is rather weak. I tried and tried but could not blow up the balloons… not even one. I stretched and pulled and thought “This is it… I will go into labor trying to blow up these blasted balloons!” I even tried the little electric air pump, but it too was not strong enough. Oh, well. At least we had them, though they are not as fun or festive when not inflated.  All in all, I think Nguyen had a nice day.

Even though I am very ready to have this baby, I’m kinda glad Ethan didn’t come today. Shared birthdays seem so fun, but I would be afraid that Nguyen would loose his special day. I was lucky to grow-up with birthdays being really special days. I have a lot of good birthday memories and I have tried to continue the tradition with Nguyen. Looking at the time it seems pretty safe to say that Ethan will not share his Daddy’s birthday. They can each have their own special day.

Oh happy day, husband! Let’s do this again next year!

Today has been perfect! Sleeping late, searching the web for crafty ideas, watching a movie, and cooking Japanese with my precious hubby… what better to do while waiting on baby to arrive! Our Japanese menu consisted of chicken yakisoba, steamed asparagus with a crab dressing, seaweed salad, sushi, sweet bean crepes, and Azuki ice cream.

Today’s yakisoba was a stir-fry with chicken, veggies, and wheat soba noodles. We didn’t have all the ingredients we would normally use but Nguyen made it work.  We’re in need of an upgrade in the skillet department so the noodles stuck a little and some broke.  We probably should have used the wok.

Along with that we had steamed asparagus.  The dressing was a simple crab in a creamy white wine sauce.

Next on the menu was seaweed salad and sushi. Seaweed salad sounds, well… a little iffy. But it is very tasty. Mostly made from gelatin and seasonings, it is the perfect side dish to a plate of sushi. We actually used sushi rice for our meal this time instead of using jasmine rice. Sushi rice is a short and plump grain and doesn’t smoosh as easily as some other varieties.  Nguyen made a crab mixture for one of the fillings. We also used carrots, cucumber, avocado, asparagus and shrimp.

As for the sweet bean crepes, they didn’t turn out quite as well. (There is no picture for a reason!) Many Asian desserts are actually made with bean in some way. I am used to eating beans with a saltier dish… red beans and rice, butter beans, typical green beans are all salty. Nguyen, however, grew up with beans cooked with sugar and used for desserts. I have had several bean desserts in different Asian restaurants or markets. They are different but very good. So, when I saw this very simple recipe in our Japanese cookbook, I thought it was worth a try. A flour water mixture to make a simple crepe and fill with a small amount of sweet red bean paste. Well, either it was a bad recipe or I am just really bad at making crepes. The crepes had the consistency of homemade play dough. Not very appetizing. Needless to say, the whole batch was thrown out before any incriminating photos could be taken. So much for dessert.

Well, not exactly… Nguyen used the sweet bean paste to make a homemade red bean (Azuki) ice cream!  The first thing you have to do is to forget everything you know about beans.  After that, it’s actually really good.  The first taste is interesting but then it quickly grows on you.  It’s extremely smooth, creamy and not too sweet.  Delectable.

We love fresh fruits. As it is summer, there’s not much like a big juicy watermelon. Emily and I will normally go through one in a day (2 days at most) so we have to limit the times we buy watermelons.

It never fails.  Every time we’re picking out watermelons, someone next to us asks, “how do know which one’s ripe?” The fact is, it’s rather difficult to pick out good melons. But there are tricks that I use to facilitate the process.

Don’t feel like reading all of this?  Skip straight to step #5.

This is easy when you’re buying from a street vendor. You just ask the merchant to pick one out for you. Most of the time, they’ll pick out a good one because they know their crop and they want you to come back… and recommend friends. Sometimes I would ask them their shop schedule. I’d tell them that if it’s good, I’ll return to buy a few more.  With the rate that we go through melons, it doesn’t take long before we’d return for more.  Of course this doesn’t always work as sometimes the person selling them to you are hired hands or relatives who don’t actually have much experience in identifying the good melons from the rest.  Or in the case of my last experience, the merchant relied on his 3 year old daughter to choose for him.  She was very cute but it was the worse melon we’ve had in a long time. 

In a large grocery store, you’re left to fend for yourself most of the time. There’s no doubt that someone has told you to thump the melon. You’re supposed to hear a thump or a thud. One is better. I don’t know about you but I never remember which I’m supposed to listen for. This trick has never worked for me. However, there are other things I look for when picking out a watermelon. It’s not an exact science but here’s what I look for.

1. Does it have seeds?

   I know that many people love seedless watermelons but I don’t prefer them. Don’t get me wrong.  I like them fine.  I just like the regular watermelons with seeds better. I’ve never found a seedless watermelon to be as good as a good regular watermelon can be. Unless you’re making watermelon balls for an upcoming shower, seed is the way I’d go. If you get a good one, you’ll be rewarded with a sweeter melon than any seedless can be.  I think it’s worth the gamble.

2. How does it look?

   Is it well formed? Is the overall shape symmetrical? Are the patterns/lines spanning somewhat evenly from one end to the other and bright in color? Does it have a light “belly” on one side? Is the stem dry, clean, and hollow?  If you scratch it with your fingernail, does the rind come off easily?  You want to be able to answer “yes” to all of these questions. You also don’t want a melon with any punctures or bruises. Any penetration through the surface allows bacteria to get in. It only requires one puncture wound to spoil the entire melon. Unlike cheese, with fruit, you can’t just can’t just cut off that bad part.

   So what about that light yellowish spot?
   Although this is actually a blemish to the surface of the melon, it tells you a little history about the melon.  It tells you that the melon was heavy at one point. It had time to sit and dig into the ground.  That light yellow, and somewhat flatter, spot shows that it sat, grew, and had time to ripen on soft dirt.  Watermelons without the lighter belly may have been picked too early, did not receive a proper nourishment, or has been tampered with often while it was growing. Of course, the smaller the melon breed, the less prominent the belly would be since they would naturally be lighter.  The light belly spot is usually a good thing as long as it’s not soft or damp to the touch. You don’t want any spot of the melon to be soft.

3. How does it feel?

   It’s a watermelon, it should contain a lot of water. As water is extremely heavy, so should be your watermelon.  If you find it to be a good bit heavier than it looks, that’s a good thing.

4. What about the sound?

   OK so the flat, light belly tells you that it was ripened on the vine while sitting on flat ground. The weight tells you if it is still juicy. The bright color tells you it received a good amount of sun. The dried, hollow stem tells you that it was was not cut too early. But what about texture? It could be ripe but am overripe, mealy melon is no good.

   **I don’t recommend doing this at a farmer’s market or street vendor. At a large grocery store, break loose and go wild. Most likely they won’t know what you’re doing. Just make picking out the watermelon the last thing you do so you’re practically on your way out anyways.

   Place the watermelon on the ground in front of you with one end pointing forward and away from you… the melon should be parallel to your feet. Crouch over it as if you’re about to hike the melon-football. Place both palms on to the center of the melon, ends of your palms together, and fingers fanned out to the sides. Are you still with me? Now do a sharp and short pump straight down on the melon. You’ll hear and feel one of two things… a crisp “snap” or a gritty “crush”. That’s tells you the texture of the melon. The snap (or pop) sound is what you want. It tells you that the watermelon flesh is dense and tight. The alternative, a crushing sound, tells you that the melon is mealy.  If you were to cut the latter melon open at that point, you’ll find that the insides literally crushed under that pressure.  This is why I don’t recommend doing this when buying from a local farmer’s.  They might get mad at you.  For a big box grocery store… well they shouldn’t be selling an old gritty melon anyways. 

   OK so that’s not all. There are a few flaws to step 4. One of them being that if someone had already tested the melon this way before you, you won’t hear a pop or a crush sound. If the melon is too small, you may hear or feel it either. Maybe you don’t want to look like you’re playing with a watermelon in the middle of the grocery store. Or maybe you don’t want to go around crushing watermelons all day. Read on…

5. So can I thump it?

   Give it a good slap.  The sound you’re listening for is a hollow one.  This may be difficult to identify so just take 3-4 melons and give them each a good whack with your palm to compare.  You want to one that sounds hollow and echo-y.  Still don’t know what you’re listening for?  Balance the melon on one hand when you do this thump test.  If you thump it lightly with one hand, you should be able to feel relatively strong vibrations in the other.  This tells you that the melon is solid enough for the vibrations to resonate through the melon.  That’s a good thing.

That’s it!   There are many different ways to pick out different melons but these are the things I look for when choose a watermelon.  If you do try this method out, tell me how it goes. If you have any other tips, I’d like to hear of it too. Good hunting.

Ingredients:

8 c  Rice, cooked and refrigerated
4 ea  Bacon slices; cooked and chopped
1/2 lb  Shrimp; peeled
3 ea  Eggs, large
3-4 ea  Green Onions; chopped
1 ea  Onion, small; diced
12 oz  Mixed veggies – carrots, peas, green beans, corn; frozen until ready to use
2-3 clv  Garlic; minced

1 T  Thick soy sauce
3-4 T  Sesame oil
1-2 t  Butter
Soy sauce

Seasoning Salt:

1/2 T  black pepper; ground
1/2 T  garlic powder
1/2 T  kosher salt

Directions:

Cook your rice following instructions specified by your rice cooker.  Cool and refrigerate overnight… or 2-3 nights.

Before you start, get everything ready and within arms reach.  You’re should be working with extremely high heat.  You don’t want your ingredients to sweat much and you don’t want it to overcook.

In a hot wok, brown your butter with fresh garlic.

Remove the garlic, set aside (or further up the side of the wok). Pour in your eggs and scramble until just cooked but still wet/shiny.

Add onions, a pinch of seasoning salt, and a very light drizzle of sesame oil.  Saute until it just starts to turn translucent (about 2 minutes).

Add shrimps and a pinch of seasoning salt.  Mix until slightly pink (less than a minute).

Pile on the rice, thick soy sauce, about 3-4 tablespoons of regular soy sauce, sesame oil, the browned garlic, and a good helping of the dry seasoning (reserving about 1-2 teaspoons).  Mix well until you work out all the clumps and the rice is rather uniform in color.

Create a well in the center of the rice and pour in the frozen veggies.  Fold the rice over the veggies, cover, and allow to veggies to steam for about 3 minutes.  Depending on your pan or wok, you may need to slightly reduce the heat to not burn the rice.

Mix and add more soy sauce and seasoning mix to taste.

Continue cooking for about 3-4 minutes tossing occasionally.  If you are wanting to add more delicate vegetables like bean sprouts, add it a couple of minutes before you finish cooking. When it’s done, mix in the chopped bacon and green onions, and remove from heat.

Extra Notes and Rambles:

This is sometimes confusing in recipes so I’ll take the opportunity to clarify.  I listed 8 cups of cooked rice… which is about 2.5 cups uncooked.

Traditionally fried rice is made from cold leftover rice.  It provides a firmer texture and wont mush while cooking.  Depending on the rice that you use, you may not need to refrigerate it over night.  You can also substitute for brown rice if you’d like.  I use the classic Thai jasmine rice (long grain) but you can opt for anything from whole grain brown rice to Japanese short grain sushi rice (aka round-grain or pearl-grain).

Wok cooking, as with most Asian pan stir-fry cooking, requires extremely high heat and ultimate control over that heat.  That’s why the round, tapered walls of a wok on a high powered gas range is best.  I, unfortunately, currently have an electric range… so woks, even flat-bottom woks, don’t give me the control I want.  Then comes in the electric wok.  It’s the next best thing to a big thick wok on jet burners.  I currently own the Breville EW30XL and I’m pretty happy with it so far.

Tips:
When I make fried rice, I like to make a lot… so I end up cooking rice specifically for this meal instead of using leftover.  One trick that I like to do is to immediately spread the freshly cooked rice out on a long sheet of foil to cool.  Make sure it’s even and leave about an inch on the sides of the foil.  Once completely cooled, gently roll up the foil, close the sides, and set in the refrigerator over night.  Spreading it out on the foil will prevent it from collecting too much moisture and getting soggy.  It also provides for a clean and compact way to store the rice.  When you’re ready to use it, unroll the foil and crumble any large chunks of rice in your hands before transferring to your wok.

This particular recipe is fairly different from most restaurants’ as it won’t taste very “fried” at all.  The timing and technique is key.  The egg is cooked first so that it stays separated from the onions… you taste more egg and it stays as fluffy pieces instead of just remnants or an afterthought.  The onion is added second as it requires the most time of the remaining ingredient.  Slightly cooking the shrimp in the pan allows the flesh to tighten and pick up some salt before it’s covered and steamed by the rice.  The veggies are left frozen until cooking so that they won’t mush.  The ice also helps them get steamed in the rice instead of being cooked by the pan or oil.  The cooked bacon is added after the cooking is done so the rice doesn’t get greasy.  The green onions are added last to retain it’s crisp, fresh taste and is only softened slightly by the residual heat.  So really the eggs, onions, and rice gets fried… the rest of the ingredients are actually steamed.  The end result will be bolder flavors. It’s also a bit healthier.

If you want, you can also add more veggies like bean sprouts, broccoli, soy beans, zucchini, etc.

Spring rolls can vary greatly from beef or pork to fish or other seafood. Pretty much anything. Among our favorites is a very simple beef and shrimp roll. The flavors are simple and not masked by any sort of marinade or spice. It is accompanied by fresh herbs, cucumber and green apple. Traditionally spring rolls are eaten with a lemon sauce (actually lime, but called lemon). However, we make a peanut/hoisin dipping sauce to go with it. All this goodness is wrapped in a sheet of rice paper, which is not actually made from rice but mostly tapioca.  The table is set with all the raw ingredients around hot cooking surface such as an electric skillet, hot plate, or portable electric burner with a skillet. Cook, wrap, eat, share, repeat, enjoy!

The basic recipe for two is as follows:

1/2 lb raw shrimp

1/2 lb beef (anything that is not too fatty and that can be sliced very thinly)

1 green apple sliced thinly(or another tart fruit like starfruit)

1 cucumber sliced thinly

1 head green leaf lettuce

1 onion sliced

cilantro

rice paper

butter

optional: fresh pepper, fresh mint, other herbs

Sauce

1 part peanut butter to 2-3 parts hoisin sauce

sprinkle of garlic powder

dash of chili garlic sauce or sambal

add warm water 1 tb at a time until a nice dipping consistency (1/4 to 1/2 cup)

adjust peanut butter and hoisin sauce to taste

-I just play with the ratios until I like the taste and its not too thick. Start off with about 1 tablespoon of peanut butter then expand as needed.

To Cook:

1. Add onions and tab of butter to hot cooking surface – medium to low heat – adjust temperature to suit your eating pace (it takes a few minutes for the onions to get nice and caramelized… that’s the way I like them to best. I put them on first so that by my second or so roll they are nice and cooked)

2. Add meat and shrimp

3. Add more butter when the surface looks a little dry

To Roll Rice Paper:

Rolling techniques vary from person to person. You have to find something that works for you and it does take a little practice. The end result should look similar to a tightly rolled egg roll or mini burrito. Wet the rice paper in a bowl of water. It takes just a few moments for the paper to soften enough to begin to roll. You can lay it on a plate or just roll it in your hand.

My method – Fold moistened rice paper almost in half. Lay it in right hand (I’m a lefty). Add lettuce, cucumber, apple and cilantro perpendicular to fingers. Add 2-3 slices of beef and two shrimp on top of veggies. Fold rice paper from bottom of hand over and under part of the filling. Then I roll up my hand towards my fingers. I pull the paper tightly around the filling so that it doesn’t fall out as I dip in the sauce.

Nguyen’s Method - This is Nguyen here guest authoring this section of the post. Please skip this section if you’re not a visual/spacial learner. I’ll likely over explain this process. I hold my rice paper with the rough side up. Like Emily, I valley fold my sheet of spring roll wrapper not quite in half… leaving about 1-2 inches of the rough side exposed. I drape the folded wrapper lengthwise along my left hand. With my hand in front of me, palm up, and my fingers pointing right, the folded edge of the paper is away from me. I layer my ingredients off centered to the right and perpendicular to my fingers. If I visually divided the paper surface into 4 sections, left to right, the ingredients would be cradled in the curls of my fingers at section 3 with the short flap to the right. Generally I’d layer with lettuce at the bottom, other veggies and fruits, onions, and then meat(s). The veggies at the bottom is to prevent the hot meat from burning my hands. I like to leave fold or tear my lettuce in large enough pieces that it extends well into section 2… that is, covering 50-70% of the rice paper and making sure to leave a couple of inches of the rice paper on the left exposed. The flat slices of meat on top will help sandwich the thinner, and sometimes more slippery, ingredients in the center. At this point I will occasionally add a leafy something atop the meat slices… maybe a few leaves of basil. Then I would use my right hand to fold the short finger-side flap of rice paper over the filling.  Here’s the hard part. With the ingredients pinched by my right hand, I would rotate the whole thing clockwise 90 degrees. At this point, the entire thing would be cradled in my fingers of both hands and my thumbs would be pressing down the short flap that is securing the filling. The ingredients would now be sideways and parallel to my fingers. The larger flap of rice paper would be draped over my index fingers. I use my thumbs and index fingers to tighten as I roll upward and away from me. Sometimes, I would free my index fingers from below the wrapper to aid in tightening my roll. The end result would have filling in the middle and lettuce somewhat uniformly distributed all around. This way the wetter ingredients like the meat and cucumbers won’t make parts of the rice paper too soggy, the sharper ingredients like the apple or starfruit wont tear the rice paper, and each bite is more consistent in texture. The roll also comes out more uniform. That’s it. Was that confusing?  OK, now back to Emily.

This meal is so much fun! You can find all of these ingredients at a local super market (Wal-Mart even carries this stuff).

I hope I have inspired someone to be brave and try something new. Hopefully Nguyen and I will be able to share this experience with more of you soon!

So, with my new cookbook and dumpling press in hand, I set out to make more dumplings… this time with detailed directions for the technique (I couldn’t remember exactly how Yen made it). Oh my goodness! I was so impressed with myself! I followed the recipe and the dough actually turned out the way it is supposed to. It wasn’t messy and sticky and there wasn’t flour everywhere! I was able to roll the dough out thinner than before (which is essential in good won ton dumpling making) I think I got it almost as thin as Yen’s.

What also made this experience excellent was the dumpling press. It is a small, cheap, plastic press that made all the difference in the way the dumplings turned out. They looked like actual dumplings and not alien blobs of dough. So, Nguyen worked on a simple yet delectable broth and I honed my dough rolling and dumpling pressing skills. The results were phenomenal! What a team we make!

Nguyen said I was on fire with making dumplings… he said something about a “glow” and then played a song for me. See the audio link below for a super-cheesy 80′s reference!

Happy Birthday, Yen.