Samgyetang - Ginseng chicken soup

Samgyetang - Ginseng chicken soup

Samgyetang (Korean pronunciation:[samɡjetʰaŋ])is a variety of guk or Korean soup, whose main ingredients are a whole young chicken and Korean ginseng. The dish's name literally means "ginseng chicken soup", so sometimes is called as such in English. Samgyetang is traditionally served in the summer for its supposed nutrients, which replaces those lost through excessive sweating and physical exertion during the hot summers in Korea.

Info by Wikipedia

Ingredients

* Half medium size chicken
* 1 quarts cold water or add enough water to cover chicken.
* 4 red dates (Chinese or Korean jujubes)
* 1 fresh or dry ginseng rootlet
* 1/2 inch fresh ginger
* 5 Garlic cloves, peeled
* 3 Chestnuts
* 1/2 green Onion, chopped
* Ground black pepper, salt and sugar
* Red pepper, thinly sliced as a garnish.

How to make Samgyetang - Ginseng chicken soup

1. Place poultry in a heavy pot and cover with water. Bring to a full boil over high heat, skimming oil and foam as needed.
2. Reduce heat to medium, add ginger slices to the pot. Cover and cook for one hour.
3. Remove the ginger. Add garlic, dates, chestnuts and ginseng rootlet. Cook for an additional thirty minutes, adding water as needed to maintain 1/2 the original volume.
4. Pour onto serving bowls, top up with chapped green onion and thinly sliced red pepper. Serve hot. Adding salt and pepper to taste.

Side dish for Ginseng chicken soup

How to make Celery and imitation crab salad

Slice celery and imitations crab. Combine celery, crab, minced garlic, slat, sugar, vinegar, roasted sesame seeds in a large bowl. Mix well. Place onto serving dishes, top up with thinly sliced red pepper. Serve cold.

Homemade Fish Cakes

Homemade Fish Cakes

If you like crab cakes, you're probably going to love fish cakes just as much. Enjoy this homemade fish cakes recipe.

Ingredients

* 1 medium size cuttlefish
* 1 large fillet of skinless thick whitefish
* 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
* 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
* 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
* 1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped
* 1/2 small carrot chopped
* 1/2 cup canned corn
* Approximately 1 cup flour
* 1 egg, beaten
* Cold water
* Ground black pepper, Salt and sugar
* About 1 cup oil for frying (peanut, canola, or other vegetable oil)

How to make fish cakes

1. Clean the cuttlefish, removing the beak, eyes and quill; discard the insides. Peel off the skin and chop the flesh into small pieces. Place in a mixing bowl.
2. Cut the raw fish into small pieces and place in a mixing bowl. Remove any bones you might find.
3. Combine cuttlefish, whitefish and next 9 ingredients (onion through sugar) in a large mixing bowl. Mix well (don't worry if the fish falls apart).
4. Now, using your hands or two spoons, make small patties or cakes. If cakes won't stay together because they are too wet, add a little flour. If cakes won't mix together because they are too dry, add a little cold water.
5. Pour oil into a work or frying pan, about 1 inch deep. Turn heat to medium-high. Oil is hot enough when bubbles begin to rise from the bottom of the pan. Test it by dipping the edge of a fish cake into the oil - if it sizzles and begins to cook, the oil is ready.
6. Fry fish cakes until golden brown, approximately 2-3 minutes on each side. Use tongs to turn the cakes. When they are done frying, place on paper towels (or a tea towel) to drain excess oil.
7. Serve hot.

Tips: You can also cut cake into bite-sized pieces.

Chicken and Yam Porridge

Chicken and Yam Porridge

Yams are high in Vitamin C, dietary fiber, Vitamin B6, potassium, and manganese; while being low in saturated fat and sodium. Vitamin C, dietary fiber and Vitamin B6 may all promote good health. Furthermore, a product that is high in potassium and low in sodium is likely to produce a good potassium-sodium balance in the human body, and so protect against osteoporosis and heart disease. Chicken and yam porridge is a great combination.

Ingredients

* 1 small size chicken (for chicken broth)
* 2 quarts cold water or add enough water to cover chicken.
* 1 tablespoon sea salt
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 5 Garlic cloves, peeled
* 1 quart cold water
* 1 cup of brown rice
* 1 cup of jasmine rice
* 1/2 cup of sushi rice
* 1.5 pounds yam
* 1/2 green Onion, chopped
* Ground black pepper
* Salt and sugar, to taste
* Red pepper, thinly sliced as a garnish.

How to make chicken and yam porridge

1. Place next 5 ingredients (chicken through garlic) in a soup kettle or Dutch oven. Slowly bring to a boil; reduce heat to a gentle boil. Skim foam. Cover and simmer for 2 hours.
2. Set chicken aside until cool enough to handle. Remove meat from bones. Discard bones; save meat for another use. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Skim fat from surface.
3. Wash yams and cut into 3 inch sections and soak in cold water.
4. Place rice, some shredded chicken and yams in pot. Add water, chicken stock and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer and stir occasionally until rice grains are cooked (puffed up or broken). Switch off heat and close lid and allow to stand for 15 minutes.
5. Add salt, ground black pepper and sugar to taste.
6. Pour onto serving bowls, top up with chapped green onion and thinly sliced red pepper. Serve hot.


With side dish : Canned tuna, pickled jalapeno in soy sauce, stir fried dried anchovy

With Water Kimchi

Tips

Instead of yam, you can add Asian sweet potatoes.

Shrimp and pineapple fried rice

Shrimp and pineapple fried rice

What to do with leftover rice? Don't worry. Make some fried rice. A great way to use up leftover rice, this quick fried rice cooks up with shrimp, canned pineapple, eggs, soy and Thai sweet sauces.

Ingredients

* 6 frozen uncooked medium shrimp, tail on, headless, peeled & deveined
* 8 rings canned pineapple, drained
* 2 eggs
* 1/4 cup peas
* 1/2 carrot, finely chopped
* 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
* 1 green onion, white and green sections
* 2 tablespoons cooking oil for stir-frying, or as needed
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 2 cups cold cooked rice, scented jasmine or basmati
* 1 tablespoon light soy sauce or to taste
* 1 teaspoon fish sauce
* 1 teaspoon Thai sweet sauce
* 2 tablespoons, raisin
* 2 tablespoons, dry-roasted peanut
* Salt and sugar, to taste

How to cook shrimp and pineapple fried rice

1. Run the frozen shrimp under warm running water, pat dry with paper towels. Cut the shrimp in half if desired.
2. Cut the pineapple rings into wedges.
3. Beat the eggs lightly with chopsticks, add a dash of salt, and mix.
4. Heat a wok or frying pan over medium to medium-heat. Add the oil, rotating the pan so that it coats the bottom and sides. When oil is ready, pour 1/2 of the egg mixture into the wok and cook over medium heat, turning over once. Cook the other half the same way. Cut the egg into cubes, and save for later.
5. Add the oil as needed. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and stir-frying until lightly browned, then add the onion. Stir-fry for 1 minute, then add the chopped carrot and peas.
6. Add the pineapple and the shrimp. Stir-fry until the shrimp turn pink and are cooked through.
7. Add the rice, and cook for about 2 minutes, continually stirring and tossing until it becomes shiny.
8. Add raisin and peanut and stir-fry briefly.
8. Stir in the soy sauce. Stir in the fish sauce and Thai sweet sauce and sugar.
9. Add cooked eggs and mix well.
10. Taste and adjust the seasoning if desired.
11. Stir in the green onion or use as a garnish. Serve hot.

Tips for Thai sweet sauce

You can use Thai sweet chili sauce or Thai Sweet Plum Sauce(Nam Jim Bui).

Eggplant with Pork

Eggplant Recipes

Appetizers to entrees, Eggplant is popular around the world. Eggplant is native to India. It has been cultivated in southern and eastern Asia since prehistory. Different varieties of the plant produce fruit of different size, shape and color, especially purple, green, or white. There are even orange varieties. A much wider range of shapes, sizes and colors is grown in India and elsewhere in Asia.

Eggplant is perfect for simple, creative, delicious dishes. Exotic in taste and texture, eggplant can be prepared in a variety of different ways. From oven roasting to grilling eggplant can be a staple in any diet. Eggplant is low in saturated fat, Sodium, and cholesterol. And also it is high in Dietary Fiber, folate, potassium, manganese, vitamin C, vitamin K, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus and copper. The nutritional value and health benefits of eggplant makes it ideal for maintaining optimum health and weight loss. Don't include too many eggplants in your diet if you're interested in weight gain.

Ingredients

* 2 Chinese Eggplant (Asian Eggplant), cut cubes about 1 inch thick.
* 1/2 pound ground pork
* 1 tablespoon cooking oil
* 2 garlic clove, minced
* 1 fresh red chili, minced
* 1 sliced green onions
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
* 1/2 tablespoon red chili powder
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 cup chicken stock
* 1/2 cup of water
* 2 tablespoons spicy lime sauce
* Ground black pepper

How to cook

1. Heat oil in a wok or saucepan over high heat. Add garlic and cook
until lightly browned. Add pork, soy sauce, fish sauce, chili powder and sugar. Stir-fry until cook.
2. Add eggplant and stir-fry until eggplant get soft. During stir-frying add 1/2 cup of water instead of cooking oil.
3. Add chicken stock and 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add spicy lime sauce, half of red chili and half of green onion. Mix together gently.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Garnish with half of green onion and half of red chili on before serving.

Tips for Spicy lime sauce

2 Garlic cloves, peeled
1 red chili, chapped
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons fish sauce
Juice of 1 medium lime
3 tablespoons sugar
Combine garlic, chilies and the water in a blender or food processor and liquefy. Combine fish sauce, limejuice, sugar and chili-garlic mixture in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve sugar.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Let’s make some “Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup". Homemade soup is way better than canned. Canned soup also can be high in sodium unless you buy low sodium canned soup. However, low sodium canned soups are not tasty and might be high in fat. It's easy to make your own soup.

Cooking Tips:

Making homemade soup is a great way to get more vegetables into your diet. You can add whole-grain products such as wild rice and barley in soups.

Ingredients

*1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
* 4 cups chicken stock, homemade or you can buy chicken broth
* 1/2 yellow onion, diced
* 1/4 carrot, diced
* 3/4 cup diced celery
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 ounces dried egg noodles, cook according to directions on package
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 rosemary leaves

How to cook

1. Bring stock to boil for 2 minutes in a large, non-reactive stockpot with lid on, over high heat.
2. Add chicken, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Lower heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Add noodles and cook 5 more minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Serve with rosemary leaves if desired.

Spicy Korean Pork Barbecue

Do you want to make this? Looking for the recipe?
You've come to the right place. “Spicy Korean Pork Barbecue” (Korean named this dish as “Daeji Bulgogi) is really popular nowadays. This dish is really easy to make at home and tastes great.

Cooking Tips:

If this is a little spicy for you, don't worry. You can remove "1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper" and reduce "1 1/2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean condiment)" to "1/2 tablespoon" and add more sugar and soy sauce.

Ingredients

* 1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1 1/2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean condiment)
* 1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
* 1 teaspoon sesame oil
* 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 green Onion, chopped
* 1/2 yellow Onion, sliced
* 1/2 cup of sprite
* Ground black pepper
* Roasted sesame seeds
* Cooking oil

How to cook

1. Freeze pork 1 1/2 hours or until firm. Cut pork diagonally across grain into 1/16-inch-thick slices. Or you can buy sliced pork.
2. Combine pork, sugar, and next 11 ingredients (sugar through roasted sesame) in a large bowl. Mix well and marinate in refrigerator at least 1 hour.
3. In skillet add cooking oil over high heat. Arrange marinate pork and saute until cook.
4. Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds on before serving.

Water Kimchi

Water Kimchi /White Kimchi / Mul Kimchi

1. Wash a white napa cabbage in cold water and cut into 1 1/2 by 1 inch. Lightly sprinkle the napa cabbage withe tablespoon salt. Let stand for at least 5 hours or one night.
2. Wash a half of cucumber, a quarter of carrot, a quarter of yellow onion and one green onion. Cut into 1 1/2 inch sections and add to mixing bowl.
3. Trim the hard top from the garlic then thin slice from top to bottom. Add to top of mixing bowl.
4. Wash a jalapeno in cold water then remove stems, cut in quarter. Add to top of mixing bowl.
5. Add the salted white napa cabbage to top of mixing bowl.
6. Add salt, sugar, a cup of sprite and water.
7. Toss all ingredients in the mixing bowl untill well mixed.
8. Place in a glass jar and close it. Let stand at room temperature for at least 24 hours.
9. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Crawfish in Garlic Butter

1. Unless you bought them prepurged, the crawfish will have to be soaked in an ice chest full of fresh water for about 10 minutes before cooking, to clean their exterior and cause them to spit up the swampy muck in their intestines.
2. Fill a pot (fitted with a strainer insert) halfway with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add hot sauce, salt and cayenne pepper.
3. Add potatoes and onions to the pot. Boil vegetables for about 10 minutes.
4. Add crawfish to the pot. After 5 minutes turn off the heat, cover, and let the crawfish steep to absorb the flavors for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. In skillet melt butter over low heat. Saute minced garlic and green onion until tender.
6. Arrange crawfish and butter in single layer in skillet, saute 1 minute.

Scallops in Garlic Butter

1. In skillet melt butter over low heat. Saute garlic until golden brown, remove from pan.
2. Arrange scallops and butter in single layer in skillet, saute 2 to 3 minutes or until tender.
3. Add #1 and saute 1 to 2 minutes till golden brown.
4. Serve with "hot sauce - mayo" and sprig of parsley.

"Hot sauce - mayo"

is mixed with Kewpie Japanese Mayonnaise Sushi Mayo, Hot Chili Sauce and Dijon mustard.

Easy Korean Dinner

Dinner for Korean food. Lots of vegetables.


Boiled pork and Korean style Seafood pancake.

Baked Mussels

How to cook

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Remove and discard top shell of each mussel and place mussels on a baking sheet....
3. Apply "Kewpie Japanese Mayonnaise Sushi Mayo" - you can find this any Asian grocery - to mussels and bake for 7 minutes.
4. Apply fish eggs on top of mussels and bake for 1 to 2 more minutes or bake til golden brown....

Cooking Tips:

If you don't like fish eggs you can apply "hot sauce" instead fish eggs.

Japchae - Korean dish

Japchae (also spelled jabchae or chapchae)

is a Korean dish made from cellophane noodles (called dangmyeon), stir fried in sesame oil with and various vegetable (typically thinly-sliced carrots, onion, spinach, mushrooms), sometimes served with beef, or pork or no meat. And flavoured wiht soy sauce, and sweetened with sugar. It is usually served garnished with seasme seeds and slivers of chili. You can add thinly-sliced egg sheets.

Radish Roll (Moo-Ssam) - Korean dish

Place thinly-sliced vegetables (colorful bell peppers, radishes, cucumbers), egg sheets, imitation crab meat and kaiware (radish sprouts) on a radish thinner sheet. Roll up as like in making sushi. You can add any type of meat to this recipe.

Yang Jang Pi - Korean Chinese style dish

Seafood, meat and thinly-sliced vegetables in mustard sauce

Thornless Roses

Thornless Rose Bushes

Chloris rose, Crownprincess Victoria rose, Leander rose, Mme Plantier Rose, Reine des Violettes rose, Cornealia rose

Climbing Roses That Are Thornless

Yellow Lady banks rose, Goldfinch rose, Lykkefund rose, Tausendschon rose, Veilchenblau rose, Zepherine Drouhin rose

If you have a hard time with thorny stems, try thornless roses. Growing roses without thorns makes the trimming roses so much easier.

It should be noted that although the stems are thornless, there are still prickles under some of the leaves!

What is Jatobá?

Jatobá or Guapinol (Hymenaea courbaril), is a tree common to the Caribbean, Central, and South America. It is a hardwood that is used for furniture, flooring and decorative purposes.

Although Jatoba is sometimes referred to as Brazilian or South American Cherry, it is not a cherry tree and it is in no way, botanically or otherwise related to Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), a very common American hardwood. Jatoba is also known as South American Locust, stinking toe (because of the smell of its seed pods), Brazilian copal and various other names.

Jatoba produces an orange, resinous, sticky gum that converts to amber through a chemical process that requires millions of years. Amber of million-year-old Hymenaea trees have provided scientists with many clues to its prehistoric presence on earth as well as to the insects and other plants encased in it. (As shown in the Jurassic Park movies)

Jatoba is a very hard wood measuring 5.6 on the Brinell scale or 2350 lbf on the Janka scale, approximate measurements of hardness. For comparison, Douglas Fir measures 660 lbf, White Oak 1360 lbf, and Brazilian Walnut 3800 lbf on the Janka scale.

Jatoba features a tan/salmon color with black accent stripes that over time turns to a deep rich red color.

Info by Wikipedia

Jatobá(Brazilian Cherry) Hardwood Flooring

Color Change

Jatobá is a photosensitive wood, Jatobá original color darkens to a deep red with exposure to light. Color stabilizes approximately three months after installation.

Info by BR-111

Exotic Hardwood Floors like Jatobá (Brazilian Cherry) will be my future hardwood floors.

Tips

When you purchase Brazillian Cherry hardwood floors make sure it is a Jatobá specie not an imitation. Beware, if the price is too good to be true most likely it is an imitation.

What's the diffrence between engineered and solid wood?

Solid

Solid wood is milled from a single 3/4" thick piece of hardwood. Because of its thickness, a solid hardwood floor can be sanded and refinished over several generations of use. Solid wood flooring expands and contracts with changes in your home's relative humidity. Normally, installers compensate for this movement by leaving an expansion gap between the floor and the wall. Base molding or quarter round is traditionally used to hide the extra space.

Engineered

Engineered wood is produced with three to five layers of hardwood. Each layer is stacked in a cross-grain configuration and bonded together under heat and pressure. As a result, engineered wood flooring is less likely to be affected by changes in humidity and can be installed at all levels of the home. Shaw Hardwood flooring offers two different engineered constructions:

• Shaw Engineered with Plywood Core
• Shaw Epic Engineered with EnviroCore? - High Density Fiberboard Core. EnviroCore? is Shaw's environmentally-friendly coreboard made of recycled wood fiber, meaning fewer trees are used with less waste.

Before deciding on Solid or Engineered hardwood flooring, consider these factors:

Location, Location, Location

The location of your hardwood flooring basically falls into three categories:

• On Grade - at ground level


• Above Grade - any second level or higher


• Below Grade - any floor below ground level, including basements or sunken living rooms.

Traditional solid hardwood flooring is not well suited for high moisture areas such as bathrooms or below-grade installations. The construction of an engineered hardwood gives it enhanced structural stability and moisture resistance that allows it to be installed at any grade level.

What type of subfloor do you have?

If you plan to install over concrete, you must use an engineered product to ensure structural integrity. Solid wood flooring or Engineered flooring may be used over plywood, wood, or OSB subfloors.

Will there be moisture in the room?

If so, you'll want to select an Engineered hardwood. The moisture resistance of an engineered hardwood makes it suitable for rooms where moisture is a possibility, such as bathrooms.

Info by shawfloors

Bing Cherry Wedding Cake

What a beautiful wedding cake! I think red cherries are better than red roses. At least you can eat sweet cherries. :)

Bing Cherries

In the United States, most sweet cherries are grown in Washington, California, Oregon, and Northern Michigan. Important sweet cherry cultivars include "Bing", "Brooks", "Tulare", "King" and "Rainier". What I love the most is "Bing". Bing cherries are used almost exclusively for fresh market. Bings are large, dark and firm cherries that ship well, but will crack open if exposed to rain near harvest. A wet climate is required for the harvest of the bing cherry. Bing cherries are high in anit-oxidants.

Info by Wikipedia

"French Garden" Dinnerware

Made by Villeroy & Boch

It is absolutely beautiful Mix & Match! I've been collecting "French Garden" since 2000. It won't be out of style.

Different Styles of Furniture

By William Brister - EzineArticles.com Expert Author

There are several different types of furniture available today to suit diverse styles and tastes. The environment that you live in portrays the person you are. Your furnishings and the décor that you style your home in represent your choices as well as your personality traits. Thus, not only should the living space designed and created by you be comfortable, but also adaptable to changing fashions and trends.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common styles of furniture being designed today.

Contemporary

Also known as modern, it is created to be comfortable, solid and more than anything natural. With not too many trappings, the colors mostly resonate around black,white, beige, brown and taupe. Polished surfaces, sleek and geometric designs are often the characteristics that represent contemporary furniture. Though the colors are simple, they are used in a bold and vibrant way for a true contemporary look. For instance, stark white cushions on black upholstered sofas makes for a bold statement. A lot of metal, fibreglass, aluminium is also used. The most essential feature of this kind of look is that every piece of furniture is striking and sophisticated. Most people today enjoy designing their house and office both, in the contemporary style.

*Ethan Ellen, Crate and Barrel, Lifestyle Solutions, Pottery Barn and more...

Traditional

The quintessence of traditional furniture is dark woods with ornate carvings and a majestic appearance. The final look is busy with floor layouts matching the details of the furniture. With classic features of form and ornament, the lines of traditional furniture tend towards being elegant. Queen Anne, Chippendale, Hepplewhite etc are some of the common types of traditional furniture.

Urban

The more modern trend, urban leans towards the minimalist. The woods have either a black finish with brushed aluminum highlights and glass or light, blond woods with brushed aluminum and glass. The pieces are small scaled and designed to fit small apartments.

Country and Cottage

Lighter shades of woods, muted colors, simple lines and vintage fabrics make for country and cottage styles. The most important aspect of this type is comfort and color. Furniture is sometimes painted or decorated and furniture lines are simple and graceful. Textures include baskets, bead-board walls, natural fibers in floor and window coverings, and weathered finish on wood furniture.

Transitional

Simpler lines than those found in more traditional styles, but not as simple as contemporary. Transitional furniture is about melding comfort and simplicity of the contemporary with the graceful styling of traditional furniture.

Eclectic

An eclectic style is a reflection of an individual’s love of different design aspects from different time periods or styles. The overall look of an eclectically styled room though unique, is amalgamated harmoniously through the creative use of color and finish, shape and texture.

Rustic

This style of furniture represents lots of exposed woods, walls, columns and beams, simple lines and a practical feel. Often wood panelling and stone are also used. Rustic furniture looks tough and durable while the accessories are primitive and somewhat minimized.

Amish

If you are looking for good handcrafted furniture, Amish furniture is a great style to consider. Most Amish furniture is composed of oak, cedar or pine. You can find everything from living room to bedroom to office furniture in the Amish furniture style.

Art Deco

Art Deco is both, geometric and streamlined with bright colors, strong vertical lines and rounded corners. While often Art Deco pieces are made of exotic woods, the use of use of bakelite and Formica also abound. Juxtaposition of opposing elements is common to this style – for instance, rare and expensive jade and inexpensive bakelite.

Colonial

It simplifies the look of European furniture and leans greatly towards Queen Anne and Chippendale styles. Chairs characterize spindled legs and backs rather than ornate designs.

Tips for your sweet home…

You don’t need to have a million dollar house.
Of course you don’t have to bake sweet cookies at home.
Things you really need to have for the sweet home can be very small things.
It can be your lovely pets that wait for you with a big smile.
It can be your old chair in your family room since your childhood.

What's on your mind right now?