Grilled Chicken for tonite!

As a stay at home mom taking care of an almost 2 years old, I hardly able to find time to cook when he is so clingy to me. Luckily we don't mind eating take outs. I heard about the Mexican chicken at El Pollo Loco recently. I would love to enjoy this citrus-marinated flame-grilled chicken with some salsa on a warm flour tortilla. May be if I am able to find the time, I may cook some Asian rice to go with this delicious chicken. I love citrus marinated meat!

Craving for Ice Cream

Whenever I visit Disneyland with my family (we have the annual passports), I always have the craving for their waffle cone with two scoops of ice-cream and toppings. They are very tasty and the aroma of the freshly made waffle carries all the way on the Main Street Disney. I can't describe the flow of aroma but it sure brings in a lot of customer to the ice cream shop.

And everytime I am there, I sure pay a visit to the ice-cream shop. I stand there and look at their menu and my teeth start tingling and having one of those sensitive teeth moments.

I remember I had problem eating frozen ice-cream on stick because I couldn't bite on it as it made my teeth painful. But then I've started using the Biotene sensitive toothpaste and it helped with my problem and I no longer have sensitive teeth now.

Biotene helps to protect the sensitivity of the teeth and with the natural Enzyme LP3 Complex™ that heals bleeding gums as well as act as a soothing treament for dry mouth. Biotene is also sodium-laurly sulfate- free. Although you may not see much bubbles with Biotene but my mouth does feel clean after brushing.

So during next trip to Disneyland, I will be sure to order myself a waffle cone ice-cream cup with chocolate fudge and peanut toppings. No, I am not sharing it with my Hubby, if he wants; he has to get his own cup.

I love noodles

I just love to eat noodles, soup or dry, doesn't matter. Usually when we go out for restaurant hunting, and when Hubby what I want for lunch/dinner, I will usually suggest noodles. I love it and the second reason is that my son can eat it easily. We haven't been to any local steak house since a long time back (except the time we went up to SF when we stopped at Harris Ranch). My son can't take a lot of meat. I guess he still need to develop more teeth for chewing this. So the best food for all of us either noodles or rice. I would go out for noodles any chance I have, as rice I can make at home.

Vietnamese Noddle for dinner

We love Vietnamese noodles. My first experience with this dish was in Rowland Heights when I was still in college. An ex-college mate (I don't know where she is now), her name is Nina, had introduced me to Vietnamese noodles. I love it since then.

Luckily, we no longer need to travel to Rowland Heights (travel time between 30-35mins from home) for Vietnamese noodles as we found one that is even better in their soup base located in Lawndale. It is also very near to my Hubby's work place. So at times when I don't prepare dinner, we will get this to-go.

They pack the noodles, onion/cilantro and cooked meat in 1 box, the soup in another box (we don't use plastic bag here), and the 'taugeh' (bean sprout)/basil/lime in a plastic bag. This is such a comfort food for us, especially on a cold winter day.

Baking adventure with little one

If you know me, you would know that I am a dessert enthusiast. I love sweet things so much that i can eat it all day. Before the birth of our son, baking was one of my favorite past time. But since he joined our family 20 months ago, I hardly can find any time to bake at all.

One thing is because my son needs so much of my attention. Yes, I am a stay-at-home-mom. Don't get me wrong, I love playing with my son. But he also love playing with me until I can't leave him playing his toys on his own.

So with this demanding son with me, I can't be holding a handheld mixer as well as playing with him at the same time, well unless I have a hands-free Hamilton Beach® Eclectrics® Mixer. Then I can have my ingredients mixing in it by itself, freeing my hands and me standing there while I can be away somewhere else, may be playing with my son in the next room.

This is a strong mixer with 400 watts and can whip up a huge 9 dozens cookies or a 4 one pound loaves of bread. The mixer I am using (see video) doesn't come with professional 2-way rotating head like the Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer. This mixer has great features like 12 settings, a 4.5qt stainless steel locking bowl with handle, all kind of accessories for versatile mixing and pouring & splatter shield. This is one mixer that comes with a long 3 year limited warranty compared to some of the competitor brands.

I wish I can win a new Apple Hamilton Beach® Mixer in time to bake some cupcakes for my boy's two years old birthday party coming up beginning of March. It would be fun to start baking again and I can't wait.

Tropic's Grill

A cousin-in-law and his wife have just opened a Hawaiian fast food restaurant in Long Beach nearby where SIL works (Boeing). Only recently they had the grand opening. I haven't visited their restaurant yet but will soon. Hubby was reluctant as he is worried that they won't let us pay for our meal. But I insist we go try, and will INSIST that we will pay for our meals.

So if you are in the neighborhood of Long Beach and would like to try some Hawaiian food, drop by Tropic's Grill. I've heard his wife is a very good cook and she is the chef for that restaurant. Here is the address:

Tropic's Grill
2292 E Carson St
Long Beach, CA 90807-3044
Phone: (562) 426-2743

They do catering too if you happened to have a party and too lazy to prepare the food, try ordering from them.

Persimmon

MIL's backyard has a few fruit trees. One of them is a the Nonastringent Fuyu Persimmon Tree. She let them ripe on the tree before taking them down.

I like this variety better because of its crunchiness and sweetness. I eat this like an apple. Cut the stem out by inserting a knife into its core and go in circle around the stem. Then use a peeler to peel off the skin. Walah ... a tasty fruit on hand to bite on. No seeds, no core to remove. Eat it whole. MIL suggested to eat it with its skin on as it provides more fiber. But I prefer the skin off.

MIL made herbal soup for me

Today I am blogging about how nice my MIL is. She suggested to boil some Chinese herbal soup for me to cure my cough and sore throat. She called her Chinese doctor in Macau to get the needed herbs for the concoction mixture. I don't have the list with me, but next time I will definitely get it from her.

She has a lot of herbs at home as she frequently boil them for herself as well as for FIL. She only needed to buy two items from the herbal shop. She said the doctor friend of hers told her that I only need to drink 2 'jai' (times), once a day. I had one big bowl of darkie soup this afternoon after my lunch.

I felt the immediately effect on my throat. It feels much soother and comfortable. I know, if you are not Chinese, you may think it looks like mud water, and yes, it also taste like mud water too.

Papa John's 4 meats Italian pizza

Above is the newest pizza available at Papa John's. It is the 4 meats Italian Pizza. One afternoon, Hubby and I decided to have pizza for lunch. Since there is a new promotion on this new pizza, Hubby wanted to try it out. I asked him, if this pizza has Parmesan cheese on it, he said "Nope!" I hate those sprinkle Parmesan cheese but OK with those freshly shredded Parmesan cheese on salad.

Since he confidently said no Parmesan cheese, I gave the OK sign to order it. He went to place the order while Brandon and I went to Albertson to shop for groceries. The moment we went inside the car, I could smell the Parmesan Cheese. I ask him if he smelled it too but he said "Nope!"

Arrived home and we digged into the pizza. I took my first bite and immediately I had to spit it out because there was Parmesan Cheese in it. Yes, I am very sensitive to the taste. I had to find something else for my lunch. Guess who finish the whole pizza? Hubby did. He ate 4 slices for lunch and another 4 slices he brought to work for his next day lunch.

Jujube at Farmer's Market

Forgot to take the price board. I don't remember how much they were selling these for. There were too many people in the front so I took a picture from the back.

These are jujubes, also knows as red dates - 'hoong jo'. But this is a different variety as they are huge compared to the regular red dates we used to boil soup. They are crunchy and taste like a tarty little green apple. My MIL has a normal jujube plant in her backyard. Every year she dried them up and keep them. She doesn't use much of them. If I boil a lot of soup then I will probably use a lot of these but I seldom cook soup now.

Sapporo Ichiban Ramen

I love to eat Japanese instant ramen. Above is one of them. This particular instant ramen has THICK noodles than usual ramen. I love the thick texture. It comes with the noodles, a pack of seasoning and a piece of soy curd (is this how they call it?). This is good althought a little salty. Next time remember not to add so much seasoning. I was so hungry that I ate the noodles without taking a picture of it. Next time, I will add some green onions and cilantro if I have in my refrigerator.

Cakes for me

My Hubby likes to make me mad and upset sometimes. And the next day he would get something sweet for me and that put a smile on my face when he presents the gift for me.

Last week, he did it again, and the next day he bought me a box full with sweet goodies from Torrance Bakery (see above picture) . It had a dark chocolate cake, a strawberry cheesecake, a petite four chocolate cake, a lemon bar and a pastry. Took me a few days to finish all of them. I only indulge one per day. These goodies definitely put on some extra pound on my body (particularly the butt!).

Loh Mai Fan

Another post about food. Ya, I love to eat. I put on 2 pounds since the last time I weighed myself. Gosh ... been eating too much sweet desserts I think. Anyway, Monday evening I didn't cook, no time because Brandon was a handful that day. He didn't want to drink his milk. *sigh*

So I didn't have time to prepare dinner. MIL came over to play with Brandon and offered 'loh mai fun' (glutinous rice) to us. She said she was going to be making plenty and asked if I wanted it for dinner. Of course I said YES. Save me time to think what to eat or buy from outside.

Sushi Lunch

Many of you might have known that I seldom cook, especially for lunch. I only get homemade lunch if I cooked dinner the night before. So if no dinner, then I get my lunch outside. Preferably, I would go somewhere nearby to get it. Well, everywhere near also need to drive the car. There's no hawker stalls or 'kopitiam' (coffee shop) here, or else I think I can eat the varieties of hawker food 7 days a week.

Anyway, last week I got a sushi lunch set (above picture). It comes with 4 pcs of inside out CA roll, 2 tuna sushi and 2 salmon sushi. This box cost $6.99 from Nijiya. I noticed there was a slight change in the taste after the price increased. The CA roll has no taste at all. The rice seemed to be missing some seasoning. I don't think I will go back for their sushi again after this time. Have to scout for new sushi place nearby my house next time.

Steamboat Dinner

We had steamboat dinner last Monday. It was nice as Brandon was having his evening nap (he was tired and only had a short 30 minutes nap earlier) while I could enjoy the dinner peacefully. He woke up when we about to finish the steamboat.

We used the portable gas stove and had our dinner in the living room. We had some Japanese fishballs and fish cakes, enoki mushroom, slices of beef and pork, napa and tofu. There are still some leftover fish cakes, may be we will have another steamboat again this week.

Boba Green Apple Tea

Another item we buy to help us cool down during the hot days. This is Boba Green Apple Flavored Tea. It was good. Sweet with a slight tarty taste of green apple. Love the boba. $2.50 for the tea, 25 cents for the boba, and sales tax. Usually, we don't have to pay sales tax for non-hot food item. But at this place, they charge tax on everything,

Sweet watermelon

Remember this and this? We went to Marukai for groceries that same day and we overhead people saying that the watermelon was very sweet. We passed by the shelf and saw the seedless watermelon looked so good and juicy. Was tempted to buy as it was on sale for only 29 cents/lb. Hubby helped to pick one.

We refregerated the watermelon overnight and had it the next day. Kudos to Hubby for choosing the best one. The watermelon was so sweet and helped us cool down on the HOT days.

Last weekend we went to Marukai again. The watermelon didn't look as good but yet it was selling for 59 cents/lb. No wonder there were so many left on the shelf.

Boba Thai Ice Tea

This is the Boba Thai Ice Tea we usually get when we have subway for dinner. I like to drink Boba because it so nice to chew. Also since we are sharing the 1 foot long subway sandwich, it doesn't really fill us up. So this drink will help to fill us up after the sandwich. This Thai Ice Tea is pretty filling, may be because of its cream. Sometimes, Hubby will also get the fried squidballs from this place too.

Ebi Ten Don

Sometimes I really don't know what to eat for lunch. I am lazy no time to make myself good lunch. And eating out is not as easy as in Malaysia where by I can have gazillion choice of hawker, Chinese, Malay, Indian food to choose from. Here is either fast food, or fast food. Not much what I like.

Above is a rice box which I got from Nijiya, a Japanese Market Place I go often (at least once a week). This is an Ebi Ten Don, Shrimp with organic rice for $3.99. It comes with 2 tempura shrimps. So so lar the shrimp, not particularly good. Its ingredients include - shrimp, tempura (flour, vegetable oil & salt), steamed organic rice, soy sauce, sugar, Mirin cooking wine, pickled ginger, dried seaweed and green onion.

Will I buy it again? Ehh ... may be not.

Boba Peach Tea

I love boba tea. I like to chew chew the very QQ boba. Not many places can make nice boba. But we found one store nearby our home that can do it right. This place is a bit expensive because, unlike in Chinatown where competition is tough and the price can go as cheap as $1, here there's no competition.

At this place, Tapioca Express on Artesia Blvd, it costs $2.50 for the flavored tea and extra 25 cents for boba. Also need to pay tax, which is not normal as cold food doesn't really require sales tax. Anyway, above is my Peach flavored boba tea for $3.00 on a hot day. Just need to catch a $5 opp to pay for this. YummY!