Hot Doug!

Chicago is well known for their hot dogs and deep dish pizza, so these 2 were on our must try list. Yelping hot dogs for Chicago gave us Portilla Hot Dogs as the most reviewed with an overall 4 stars rating. Thing is we have one in Buena Park and it seems silly to go Chicago to have something we can eat here. So I turned to my trusted google and found Hot Doug. It is located beyond the city center but nothing too far that the awesome public transportation in Chicago cannot take you to. An approx 45 minutes and 2 bus rides later we arrived slightly before 11am and there was a short queue and the seats were mostly taken.

We decided to choose the specialties since other regular hotdogs can probably be gotten in other places. I ordered the pork with sundried tomatoes and basil while he ordered chicken sausage with cheese and bleu cheese on top. An order of fries is a must and I'm glad we came on a weekday when duck fat fries were not available otherwise I would have a very hard time resisting them in the name of health.

Our order came shortly and we dug into it happily. I was careful with my first bite, not wanting to squirt out oil. To my surprise the hot dog was not oily at all. The basil and tomatoes added a refreshing twist to the sausage, the whole combination worked well and i couldn't get over the fact that it wasn't greasy! His hot dog was oozing with cheese from within and the bleu cheese added a much welcomed tang. The fries were well fried and the small portion was more than sufficient for us.

Dim Sum Brunch @ Ming Hin Chicago

Took a vacation in Chicago and came back recharged and filled to the brim with yummy food. The trip did not get off to a great start as we were bumped off our flight and the flight we were put on was delayed 3 hours. So we spent a good 8 hours or so stuck in the airport. At least we got some useful travel credit out of this ordeal.

On Sunday we went for dim sum brunch in Chinatown. I did some research and Ming Hin with it's good website drew me to it as they had zha leong on the menu and their website allowed for online booking. We were there around 10am and the place was already close to being full. The decor was nice and modern, far cry from the Chinese restaurants in Socal. They gave us a menu with lovely pictures of the food and we ordered by checking the boxes next to it.

First up was the quintessential har gow. It is the usual suspects that will indicate what kinda dim sum restaurant it is. MH's har gow passed with the not too thick skin, flavorful and succulent shrimp.

We also ordered char siew so which is Chinese BBQ pork enclosed in golden puff pastry. This was goood. I have not had this for quite a while and MH did not disappoint. The pastry was flaky and not oily and a hint of sweetness from I guess brushing syrup on top. The char siew to pastry ratio was also just right. The filling had no fatty pieces of meat which suited me well!

Next was something that captivated both of us. I've had very good salted egg yolk custard pau in Singapore so my expectations were high. I ordered the polo bun version instead. The polo bun was tasty with the right amount of sweetness. The salted egg yolk custard while good did not have the molten lava texture I was expecting. To think I even warned the boy that the insides might flowing out. Nonetheless we both enjoyed this very much. He's never had this before so he was really pleasantly surprised by it.

Then my zha leong came. I first had zha leong several years back in Hong Kong and my cousin brought me to Sweet Dynasty. The zha leong was so good my friend and I visited the restaurant again just to savor it before we left. Unfortunately this is one dim
sum item that is not widely available. It baffles me because chinese fried crullers are so readily available and most restaurants offer it, so why not stuff it inside some cheong fun? Alas, the zha leong at MH wasn't good. The cruller was stale which ruined the whole dish.

Another standard dim sum dish for me would be the lo bak go (pan fried radish cake). This one had a smooth texture but I felt it wasn't fragrant enough.

The boy wanted the glutinous fried rice and that was the last item for our brunch. The rice was ok but I didn't think it was worth $7 for such a small portion.

Crabmeat Pasta

One of my all time fave pasta would be Marmalade Pantry's crabmeat linguine. The sauce it tomatoey with a hint of heat and freshness of the crab with a little crunch from the toasted pine nuts. I've yet to have any crab related pasta at Italian restaurants here, so decided to recreate it myself.

I'm all for convenience and ease of doing things. I simply do not like buying 20 ingredients to make a meal. I had an opened bottle of pasta sauce in the fridge so decided to use that instead of crushed tomatoes. I jazzed it up with sweet onions and shallots and some minced garlic for the aroma. Here's my adaptation of crabmeat pasta.

Crabmeat Pasta (Serves 4)
- 2 6oz canned crab meat
- a bottle of ready made pasta sauce (approx 15oz)
- half a white onion
- 1 big shallot
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 packet of pasta
- salt and black pepper to taste
- chopped parsley
- shredded parmesan

Saute onions and shallots with some preferred oil of choice. When onions and shallots are soft and are starting to brown, throw in minced garlic. This is so the garlic will cook for a shorter period of time as burnt garlic will render the sauce not as tasty. Pour in ready made pasta sauce or canned crushed tomatoes. Let sauce come to a boil and reduce slightly. Add in the canned crab meat together with the liquid in the can. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you are using ready made pasta sauce, it probably is already seasoned, so be light-handed on the salt. Bring sauce to a boil and serve over pasta of choice. Add chopped parsley and shredded parmesan.

Pizzeria Mozza Orange County

I can only attribute my absence for the last 3 months to sheer laziness. It is hard taking good pictures with the iPhone and I'm too lazy to take it with my digital cam or the dslr so I've been putting off many posts because of that.

Nonetheless, I feel compelled to share this meal because it was simply too good. I'm sure there are many fans of Pizzeria Mozza out there but just wanna contribute my 2 cents!

It was the eve of the Lunar New Year and so we decided to give ourselves a treat and make a long overdue visit to Pizzeria Mozza in Orange County. I was so excited about this meal because the last 2 times I tried it in Singapore, I left feeling so happy to have tried such yummy food.

We started the meal with their famed Proseco and we were served breadsticks. Wait a minute, breadsticks???!!!! What happened to the herby crusty amazing crisp bread I had in Singapore? Needless to say, I was disappointed in the plain un-creative breadsticks but that did not ruin my anticipation for the meal.

Knowing that their appetizers are as good as the pizzas, I suggested getting 2 appetizers and a pizza. I've read so much about the herbed fried potatoes I knew we had to have that. The baby potatoes were smashed flat and fried, with the outer layer crispy and the insides still soft and warm. They were served with a bunch of fried herbs (sage and rosemary) and chickpeas. Sea salt was sprinkled over to lend another layer of flavor. This dish was great, something I would order again and again. Would have preferred to have more potatoes and less chickpeas though.

Next appetizer was the mussels in a spicy broth. It was served with 2 slices of crusty bread. The spicy broth tasted vinegarish, reminding me of the chilli sauce for chicken rice. This dish was decent but did not have me awe-struck. I still prefer the Tasting Kitchen saffron mussels.

The star of the meal arrived next. I have to admit that when he ordered the brussel sprouts, red onion and pancetta pizza, I didn't have high hopes. I was not a fan of brussel sprouts (yet) and thought this might just be an okay pizza. Boy, was I wrong! The sprouts were cooked till tender and yet retained their lovely green color. The red onion lent a refreshing taste to the pizza and the pancetta gave it the saltiness and smokiness. Cheese was sprinkled sparingly over the pizza so as not to steal the show. The crust, Mozza's signature crust, so yeasty and crunchy at the right spot. This was perhaps the best pizza I've had at Mozza.

I'll definitely be back to try the other delectable items, but I really hope they will replace the ordinary breadsticks with the herby bread they serve in Singapore.  This will certainly kick it up a notch!

Mapo Tofu

One of the things I like best about Chinese food is how well it goes with a steaming bowl of rice, especially if it includes a savory sauce. Wanting to whip up something comforting and easy for a weekday night dinner, I turned to my trusty Mapo Tofu recipe. Now, you can easily get those packet sauces at many grocery stores, but I like being able to concoct my own sauce to suit my tastebuds. While gathering the ingredients from the fridge, I found this interesting bottle of chilli sauce (we absolutely love chilli sauces, so at any time we will have various types on hand)and decided to mix it in.

- 1 pound of ground pork (I bought ground kurobuta pork and it was so smooth)
- 1 packet of firm tofu
- 1.5 tablespoons of chilli bean sauce
- 1 tablespoon of black bean sauce
- 1 tablespoon of your fave Asian chilli sauce
- 2 tablespoons of Shaoxing rice wine
- 1 teaspoon of corn starch
- few tablespoons of water depending on how thick you want your sauce to be

In a bowl, marinate the pork with the Shaoxing wine and the corn starch. Let it sit for about 10mins.

In a heated wok, add some oil and stirfry the ground pork till about 90% cooked. Add in the 3 sauces and mix them into the pork. When pork is fully cooked, add in cubed tofu and water and let it simmer for about 5 mins.

Sprinkle chopped green scallions on top and serve (with rice of course).

Garlic White Wine Mussels with Spaghetti

A few weeks back, we took our good friends who were visiting from Singapore to Tasting Kitchen after getting recommendations from one of my fave LA food blogger.  Unfortunately, it was so dark there I was not able to take any decent pictures of the yummy food.  One of the appetizers we ordered was this saffron cream mussels.  I didn't have high hopes since I'm not much of a shellfish person.  Having tried the highly acclaimed green lipped mussels in NZ and not loving yet didn't do much to help.  However, I only had to try 1 @ Tasting Kitchen and I was hooked.  It was so fresh, non of that yucky shellfishy taste.  And the sauce...oh the sauce, so creamy, so appetizing..I wanted to drink it up but chose a classier route by souping it up with the crusty bread provided.

I've been thinking about those mussels ever since then.  I would totally go again if it wasn't about an hour's drive away from me.  So I decided to take up the challenge and make my own.  Scouring the net for recipes, I found many reputable ones.  While I did like the creamy taste, I wasn't prepared to cook with something that contains so much saturated fat and calories.  I was afraid it wouldn't taste as good w/o the cream but decided to forge ahead.  Not wanting to bog it down with too many ingredients, I tweaked the recipes to suit my lazy self.  The taste definitely did not fall short of expectations.  It was so delightful..sweetness from the wine, shallots, mussels..it felt like I was tasting the sea..please do try this simple recipe.

- 1.5 pounds cultivated mussels
- 4 shallots, sliced
- 5 cloves of garlic
- a handful of chopped parsley
- few threads of saffron
- 1 cup dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Pasta to serve 2

In a pot, drizzle in the olive oil and put in the butter.  Stir fry the shallots and garlic (do not let them burn).  Add in parsley and saffron and cook them a little.  Pour in white wine and water and bring the mixture to a boil.  Add in cleaned and debearded mussels.  Put the lid on and steam mussels for 8-10 mins.  Discard any mussels that are not fully open.  Add in cooked spaghetti and serve.  I would strongly suggest having some toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with garlic on hand to soak up excess juices.

Lipsticks

I have been, and still am, going through a retail therapy phase. I wanted to come across as a more serious professional rather than just look like I have just rolled outta bed. So, I've been adding items to my would like to have list. My mum always says a woman should at the bare minimum put on lipstick as it it just common courtesy. I've never been a fan of lipstick. I find it hard to find a color I like and I hate the constant reapplying or having hair stuck to your gloss issues to deal with. Nonetheless, they are cheap and it has been said that even in recessions, lipstick sales hold up as women would still buy inexpensive items to satisfy their vanity.

I wanted a barely there look, something that will look good but isn't high maintenance. I looked online and found great reviews for Clinique's chubby stick and colors look very neutral, nothing screams tramp. Looking at color swatches online, I was fairly certain I will be getting either Super Strawberry or Chunky Cherry.  When I tried those on, they seemed too bright on me and clashes with my skin color.  In the end, I left with Graped Up.  The color is very similar to my natural lip color so that fulfills my barely there criteria.

Next day, I went to Ulta, hoping to get a NYX or Rimmel lipstick since they are so cheap and have great reviews.  Since I wasn't able to try the lipsticks on my lips, I was apprehensive about buying some color that looks nice on its own but may not match well with my skin tone.  Not wanting to play safe and get a natural pink shade, I stumbled upon L'oreal's lipgloss.  The Candy Apple caught my eye (I've been on a red/fuschia binge).  The color is very pigmented and looks harsh if I apply too much.  However, a little goes a long way.  If I apply a regular layer and then blot it off with a tissue or just apply a thin layer, I get a red tinted look, kinda like Benetint.