Cucumber and Prune Yogurt Salad

Sounds weird right? But it tasted quite good and my younger son had several servings.

How I cook for my dog 1

Eggshells are high in calcium and good for cleaning teeth - perfect for dogs. 

We are a family of five: my husband, two kids and a dog, Coco. I enjoy cooking for the whole family. 

I am sure some reputable dog foods on the market are high quality. One of our neighbours had two dogs, which lived to age eighteen and seventeen, both only dieted on Royal Canin. Coco used to eat the same brand too.

Angel Hair with Salmon and Julienne Vegetables

I decided to try a new method for cooking my pasta sauce last night. It was a method I learned from an Italian cooking show where the chef used it on a soup.

Grilled Pineapples with Cinnamon

We ate a delicious all you can eat Brazilian Grill dinner the other night that became a new favorite for everyone. The grilled steaks were great, of course, but one of my favorites was their grilled pineapples.

Baked Broccoli and Cheese

My Husband bought some broccoli heads just few days ago, but I total forgot about that and bought few more today. Seven broccoli heads in the fridge...what to do? That's when I decided to make this quick casserole for dinner tonight.

Speedy Beef and Mushroom Stir- Fry

Mushrooms are perfect for stir-fry dishes if handled properly. The key for stir- frying mushrooms is to keep the heat high so that the mushrooms have no time to "sweat" and all the flavorful juice is locked in the mushrooms. 

Tuna Rotini. Ready in 10 minutes!

I usually buy canned fish packed in olive oil rather than in water, for added flavor, and for the infused olive oil that can add flavor to the dishes. I also prefer canned fish from Europe as they taste better to me. 

Gado Gado Indonesian Salad

Toronto is so multicultural that authentic restaurants of different cuisines are everywhere, yet Indonesian restaurants are rare to find. 

Making steamed rice without a rice cooker

This post is for my own reference. I never know how to make a good pot of steamed rice right without a rice cooker, until my friend recently showed me how. 

Oyster Pancakes

Don't freak out. This is not a breakfast dish. Just like crepes are not usually served as dessert.

I am pretty sure that I was born to love foods, as I fell in love with Oyster Pancakes at the first bite at age 7. This exotic pancake is loaded with strong flavorful ingredients that compliment each other so well. The traditional ones are made with baby oysters; however, those are not found here so I substituted them with regular oysters. Costco sometimes carries these oysters at a very good price.

Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce

While cleaning the fridge to make my fried rice, I found a bottle of left over red wine from the Christmas party I hasted a few weeks back. To sour too consume; but perfect for stewing beef.

BYOS Night

BYOS = Build Your Own Sushi

How often do you have a sushi craving? Well, for me it's about once a week. But with such a hectic schedule, sometimes it's hard to get some Japanese with the whole family, especially during the weeknights. Good sushi is not cheap too. So we usually save a few bills and have BYOS at home.

Beef and Eggs in Tomato Sauce

This easy to make Cantonese home-style dish is one of our family's favorite comfort foods. In fact, this is the first recipe that my teenage son tackled independently. An oriental twist on ketchup and eggs, this dish is quite simple to make.

Here is the Beef and Eggs in Tomato Sauce from my kitchen:

Fried Rice

This is a very popular dish that is now very well known anywhere. Here is my twist on the classic Asian dish.

Born and raised in Asia, I cooked my first fried rice at age 12; and even though others may not be as familiar with this dish, I wouldn't say it is a challenge. A co-worker of mine (she was Italian), once asked me how to make fried rice. I told her the steps quickly and she was so confused with lots of questions. Later I found out that, from her point of view, I missed out a lot of steps. Because I have grown up with this dish, the little steps may slip over me head, so bear with me!

Chicken Garlic Soup with Jumble Dried Red Dates (Jujubes)

Popped by the Korean supermarket last night and spotted these gigantic dried red dates. I have never seen such big ones!

I later looked it up on the internet and found out that they are also called jujubes.

The other day I read an article about a Taiwanese dish, chicken garlic soup, and wanted to give it a try. Koreans are also famous for their chicken soup. So when I saw those jujubes, I decided to make a crossover chicken soup.

Here is the chicken garlic red date soup from my kitchen: