Life: pre-Christmas & recipe for drunk meatballs

As I got back from Quito, I was busy starting a new project that I’m super excited about! It’s like turning my life passion into reality. I’m been working nonstop but loving it. And I got to spend some time with my ever-funnier-cuter-baby girl.

she’s so happy when we take her out, even it’s just a short trip to the groceries store. she loves looking around and explore the world, and I love seeing the world through her eyes.

Sofia is a big girl now, helping me baking cookies for a Christmas party at school

at school, the kids prepared a show for the parents. Can’t believe the teachers made them to do that, so well organized.

Sofia loves her school and her friends, specially the other Sofia. they are best friends… well… more like Sofia pretending to be her mom. 🙂

she loves playing with Lizzy too, always trying to make Lizzy laugh

I’ve been venturing into cooking. I made an Asian-western fusion gigantic meatball which turned out really tasty. Sofia asked for it for dinner 3 nights in a row! I call that a SUCCESS!

Tony named it as Drunk Meatball 醉狮头

Ingredients for the meatballs:

• 1 lb of grounded beef (I used 80/20)
• 350g grounded pork
• 300g grounded chicken thigh
• 70g grounded bacon
• 40g parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• 70g panko or oatmeal grounded
• 1 egg
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp flour
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 80g milk
• S+P

Ingredients for the broth:

• 15g of skin of parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• 1 head of garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 tsp of dry thyme
• 6 leaves of bay leaves
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 4 cups of chicken stock
• 1 bottle of dry white wine
• S+P
• assorted vegetables (I used mushrooms and asparagus)

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the meatball, bake meatball at 425F for 20 min.
2. Sautéed the veggies for the broth with olive oil for 5-7 minutes
3. Add broth, herbs, and wine until it starts to boil
4. Add the meatballuntil they are covered in broth
5. Simmer in medium to low for 2 hrs.
6. Serve with toasts.

Someone turned 8 months!!!

love love this creature.

She’s really into crawling now.

I am not sure how Lizzy differs from Sofia in term of personality, but I can tell she’s a happy and easy going baby.

Since I got back from Quito on 12/13, we only managed to put the Christmas true that Saturday, and Santa arrived just on time. 🙂

I’ve never been a big fan of festivals, but now with two kids, I really embrace it and want to make it special for Sofia and Lizzy. I want to let them know that life needs to be celebrated, Thanksgiving, Christmas and new year are meant to be celebrated with family, with good food, with joy and a lot of laughs.

and gifts too! 🙂

Food: vegan curry with tofu

Vegan curry with tofu:

• 1 block of firm tofu, sliced
• 2 bell peppers, sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cups mushrooms
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• coconut oil, salt

Direction:

1. Cook tofu with coconut oil, 5 min each side

2. sautee onion, bell pepper with coconut oil for 5-7 min and add mushrooms

3. in a small sauce pot, boil almond milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, soy sauce and the spices

4. boil for 1-2 min and add corn starch dissolved in some water

5. pour the sauce into the veggies and tofu

6. simmer for 5 min, add salt if necessary.

Food: making egg rolls

Last weekend we bought a panini/griddle and the first thing I made was egg rolls （蛋卷). When I was a kid, I only get to eat egg rolls occasionally because it is quite expensive in China. And when I turned 20 years old, I stopped liking sweets. But my mom still loves sweets and she misses the egg rolls she used to buy in our old apartment in Shanghai. So I attempted to make it for her. 🙂

The dough was made using

• 70g butter (soften)
• 100g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 90g flour

1. mix butter with sugar

2. add 1 egg at the time

3. incorporate flour

4. heat the griddle until 350F

5. Add 1 big spoon of the mix and spread until a thin layer (1-2 mm)

6. wait 2-3 min until the border starts to get brown.

7. flip and cook for another 1-2 min

8. roll

let it set

It looks and tastes great, although not as crunchy as it should be. More improvement needs to be done! 🙂

Q: Have you tried egg rolls? If you haven’t, I recommend you to try it. It’s similar to crepes but thicker and it is usually eaten by it own.