Celebrated the beautiful Liz's birthday on Friday. Dinner at Woo Chon/Mi-Loc Korean and Japanese Restaurant in Southfield. No pictures available, but if you saw it, you'd drool! Candice and I shared bibimbap and japchae. The japchae was very delicious. The sweet tea served after the meal reminded me of Maangchi's recipe for a dessert punch that I wanted to make. I never got a chance to because it called for dried persimmons and I couldn't find any when I went to the Korean market. It was super sweet so we diluted it with some water =/ I think it would've been really good with some ice.
After dinner, we headed next door for some Karaoke!
Happy birthday girl!
Duet-Liz and Sophia. Cute!
Dinner with the niece and nephew last night at Tokyo's, a restaurant I mentioned in a previous post.
Along with the most delicious salad ever, we ordered:
Gyozas
Shrimp Tempura
Variety of sushi rolls
Spicy Squid Stirfry
Kalbi
and Japchae, because the one I had from Mi-Loc was so good. This one was too sweet.
Side dishes. The sides from Mi-Loc was yummier too!
So I attempted to make the popular Vietnamese braised fish in a clay-pot dish because it look so yummy. I've had ca kho chua with sour mustard and just plain ca kho made with fish sauce and spices, but never actually had ca kho to. I always thought it would be too sweet.
Using a regular pan because I have not clay-pot.
Catfish nuggets seasoned with fish sauce, garlic, and pepper flakes.
Heat up a few spoons of sugar with a little bit of water.
After so long, it will turn into a caramel color.
Take it off the heat, add a little more water, the marinaded fish, and cut pieces of chili peppers. Give it a good stir and back on the heat.
Simmer until the sauce reduces. Garnish with more pepper flakes, chopped scallions, and cilantro.
Serve with rice.
It was good, but some changes for next time:
- Purchase a claypot - Will probably get a better flavor.
- Use a firmer fish - Catfish nuggets are way too soft.
- Make more caramel sauce - I was hesitant to use too much sugar because I didn't want to make it too sweet - but it would make for a nice, thicker sauce. I tried reducing it too much and overcooked the fish. =/
Last month, I put in an order for some girl scouts cookie through a coworker and it finally came in on Friday. I wait for these every year since finding out about them in the 9th grade.
My favorites: Thin Mints and Samoas!
Couldn't help but open a box at work (reason for the missing cookies in the first row) hehe
New PL! I'm trying to recreate a vietnamese music list I worked so hard building up on Imeem. When Imeem was bought by Myspace, I lost access to all my playlists. Myspace tried to recover it, but failed. So very disappointed and sad I was.
I didn't do a good job of keeping the music files, so I've spend that last few days trying to organize what songs I had and obtain the ones I didn't. Internet's been acting goofy so I didn't get in as much songs as I wanted - but the "A" artists or done! For the next week or so, I'm hoping to have my "I Love Viet Music" playlist restored as close as possible to what it was before.
I usually don't like eating alone and very rarely do I have to cook for just myself. When the folks don't come home and many of the sibling are out and about, we usually do not cook dinner. We'll just rummage through the pantry or fridge and grab whatever. One night last week when I was home alone and hungry - I made dinner for one, but prepared enough for the whole family just incase.
One of the dishes for our Tat Nien (Pre-New Year Celebration)was mussels baked in a scallion and sambal butter. I found some left over butter in the fridge and decided to pan fry some beef and shrimp in the butter.
Prepare thinly sliced beef
Prepare peeled and deveined shrimp
Throw a heaping spoonful of the scallion and sambal butter into a grill pan.
Cook the meats to your desired doneness. I like a nice browning. Serve with vermicelli rice noodles, mix of lettuce and herbs, and fish sauce. I prepared everything and who ever wants to eat just has to cook up their meat. Mmm!
It's pretty much a small scale version of Hot Pot w/ Butter.
Changed the music playlist. I think I've heard enough new years music to last me the whole year.
I turned 24 a few days ago. That's equivalent to the number of candles in a standard box of birthday candles! It also means that next year, I will need two boxes! I've been a little bummed because of this whole age thing, feeling like I'm not where I want be at this point in life. I'm at a standstill as time quickly passes me by and I've done nothing about it. Anyway, I'm hoping this year will be a good one. I'm going to start looking into some master programs. Sitting around doing the same'ol same'ol is not going to get me places. Hopefully, I'll be hitting the books in the fall. Be prepared to read my rants!
On Friday night, Lisa and the girls planned a dinner and a movie. We went to Kyoto Steakhouse in Royal Oak.
Artistic plate of sushi
A beating heart of fried rice for the birthday girl, is this a sign?? ^_^
Hibachi.
A cake from Shatila's much thanks to Lisa and Hangs. Can you guess what I wished for? Eternal youth =) haha Not, why would I waste a wish on something that won't come true and why would I tell you what I wished for? hehe If I did, it wouldn't come true
It was our first time at this restaurant and I don't think anyone enjoyed their food much =/ The soup was bland. Instead of the usually ginger salad dressing, our salad came with a white sauce that we couldn't make out what it was exactly. When we asked the waiter, he said he didn't know either. Hmm? hehe The hibachi was okay. I ate too much. I was so stuffed,the sight of the cake coming out made me exhale. Can I even squeeze in another bite? After dinner, we ended the night with Dear John.
Our Lunar New Year party was held on Sunday. Woke up at 8 in the morning to help mom and the sister cook.
The spread: Nem chua, banh u, banh cuon, banh bot loc, roasted quails, crab & quail egg soup, goi ngo sen, ga bop, rau cau, rau song, mussels baked in sambal & scallion butter, tuna sashimi, shrimp crackers, and thit heo & mam dua.
Not pictured - Pitas, sliders, chip & dip, and fresh cut fruit to eat while watching the game.
Nieces and Nephew
Tired... but must eat chips...Aaron's such a cutie!!
Vy's so pretty!
Happy Birthday to me! A small celebration with family. DQ's Strawberry Cheesequake. Also, Happy 8th Birthday Steven!!
"Chuc Mung Nam Moi" fruit cake from QQ Bakery for the older folks.
A homemade birthday card from Brandi =) If only all nieces were this great. One munchkin threatened to ruin my birthday after I told her to stop rolling in a chair. She's lucky I'm nice and I don't like making lil girls cry or else - game over!
Big Thanks to Phuongie for everything and thank you all for the birthday wishes.
Movie: Dear John was okay. Channing Tatum can't act and it was a little slow paced. I teared up for a good 30 seconds though.
Music: There's a few songs I'm listening to right now. Just recently discovered Khalil Fong from a niece and listening to some vietnamese based musicians.
- Nguyen Duc Cuong: Em Trong Mat Toi - Pham Thanh Thao: Giac Mo Ve Mot Ngoi Nha - Truong The Vinh: Hanh Phuc - Lil Knight Ft. JayTee: Khong Tin Som Mai Binh Yen Remix (I usually do not listen to any kind of rap, most especially viet rap, but I like the vocals and beat) - Khalil Fong: Is This Enough - Khalil Fong: Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You (what a voice! Love Love Love!)
Books: Yet to touch The Eclipse since who knows when...
Last Sunday while we were at the concert, Mom started making the pickled ham rolls. By the time we came home, there were only a couple batches left to make.
Looks very different from other nem chua huh?
Refrigerated for a few days to set.
Fully cooked ham, vinegar soaked pork skin, garlic, pickled pepper, black pepper corns. Mmm. (after I pick out the pepper. hehe)
What's Tet without sticky rice cakes? Phuong stayed home one day and made all these cakes.
Mom stayed up to cook them. 5-6 hours in a pressure cooker. Conical ones are called Banh U.
Square shaped ones are called Banh Chung.
Peel away the banana leaf and cut with fishing line or in this case, a thin ribbon.
A pretty tint of green and aromatic smell from the banana leaf. Pork and mung bean filling.
We went to Laura's place Saturday night to celebrate Anthony's birthday.
First Course: Beef, shrimp, and squid hotpot (Bo Tom Muc Chien Bo) =P Second Course: Phuong's Chicken Pot Pie and Gai's Crawfish. Third Course: Lisa's Vanilla custard cake from Shatila.
While the guys played poker, us gals blew up the mic with some karaoke - I topped the scoreboard with two 100's! Woohoo! The scoring system must've been set to easy because I butchered those songs. haha
On Sunday evening, I went to Motorcity Casino Detroit to attend a Vietnamese New Year Concert, Mung Xuan Canh Dan 2010. The show was hosted by the beautiful Ky Duyen and performers included Quynh Vi, Nhu Loan, Van Quynh, Luong Tung Quang, Manh Quynh, and the talented Liberty Band.
The Liberty Band starts off the show...
The singers performed their songs and a few duets. The overall concert was a little disappointing. I was hoping for more nhac xuan, but only a few were sung. I'm not much of a fan of any of these artists and the songs choices, imo - were a little boring,
If I were to pick a favorite performance , I'd have to go with Luong Tung Quang's Mai Mai Ben Nhau (Vietnamese version of Fate from the Kdrama, Full House)
He originally performed it with Tu Quyen in Paris By Night 92.
CD signing. LTQ reminds of Daniel Wu in the picture =)
My ultimate concert would be a combination of artists from Thuy Nga, Van Son, and Asia:
Hosted by the hilarious Van Son, Bao Liem, and Viet Thao
Perfomances by Quang Le & Nhu Quynh, Minh Tuyet & Bang Kieu, Dan Nguyen and Bang Tam, and save the best for last...Nguyen Thang & Cat Tien.
It's that time of year! In preparation for Lunar New Year, which is only 2 weeks away, we've started making some of the essential dishes often eaten during this celebration.
The first of which is candied carrots, coconut, and ginger.
1 regular pack of carrots (about 12) cut into thin ovals and blanched.
About 4 pounds of ginger, cut into thin ovals as well. Blanched with lemon juice to keep from browning.
3 Coconuts, flesh removed from it's shell, and cut into long thin strips using a potato peeler (the one from the asian market works best). Blanched slightly.
In a hot shallow pan or electric skillet, add the fruit/vegetable and the same amount of sugar.
After a few minutes, the sugar will dissolve into a thin syrup.
A few more minutes go by, the sugar is bubbling and thickening. The fruit/vegetable will also become translucent like.
It's getting really thick. Make sure to keep stirring.
The sugar has crystalize again.
Pour the contents out on some parchment paper or newspaper, and press them out flat while they're still hot so that can dry.
The same process is done for the carrots...
and coconut. You can also add food coloring to make colored 'Mut'.
I find the Mut a little too sweet, but the inger ones are delish. Serve this with tea to guests.
