Avocado Soup

Finally I saw a recipe which not only uses avocado but also leek that I had no idea how to cook with it. After I tried a few times, the result is quite good. If you desire a lot of veggies, try this. :)

Ingredients

1 large leek

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium celery stalks, roughly chopped

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 bay leaves

1 quart chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 large ripe Hass avocado, pitted, peeled, and mashed

Juice of 1 lime

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 small bunch of scallions, finely chopped

1 small bunch of cilantro, finely chopped

Cooking Directions

Trim the root end of the leek, cut off the tough green leaves, cut the leek in half lengthwise, and rinse well to remove any grit. Roughly chop the leek.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the leek, celery, and onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables soften.

Add the bay leaves, stock, coriander, cumin, avocado, and lime juice and simmer for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and serve topped with the chopped scallions and cilantro to taste.

Yield: 8 servings

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=9536043

Our first homemade chocolate cake

I've been to the USA for 2 years and 3 months and today finally husband and I make our first chocolate cake.

The ingredients are:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups milk

1. Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease bottoms of squre cake pan. Line bottoms of pans with waxed paper. Grease and lightly flour bottoms and sides of pans. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until well combined (3 to 4 minutes). Scrape sides of bowl; continue beating on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition (about 1 minute total). Beat in vanilla.

3. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just combined. Beat on medium to high speed for 20 seconds more. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan.

4. Bake in a 350º oven for 35 to 40 minutes for 8 inch pans and 13x9x2 inch pan, 30 to 35 minutes for 9 inch pans or until a wooden toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Peel off waxed paper. Cool thoroughly on racks. Frost with desired frosting.

My favorite Christmas song for 2009

Alvin and the chipmunks have been my favorite Christmas song singers since my 20. This year I'm so glad that I can get them back to my life.

Enjoy this song "Christmas Don't Be Late". :D

Broiled Lamb Chop

This Sat. finally my husband prepared Broiled Lamb Chop for friends in potluck lunch. We actually wanted to make braised lamb shank, but unfortunately we cannot find lamb shank in Whole Foods one day before, so we changed it to lamb chop.

We soaked the lamb with red wine for about 10 to 15 minutes to remove the strong smell and then rubbed some lemon juice onto the lamb, light coat it with olive oil. Then we rubbed the spice mix (mostly salt, black pepper and rosemary, and also a bit of curry, garlic and thyme) over lamb evenly and marinated it over night in refrigerator.

The rest went easy, just put it into the oven and broiled it for about 16 minutes (8 minutes each side). That's it. I am very glad that my husband succeeded in making this dish so that we all enjoyed it. :D

This is me and ZoZo....

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Hahahaha.... This is the first time I show myself with dear husband ZoZo here in my blog. Though it is not 100% accurate (ZoZo is not so slim and I don't wear skirt that much), but that is the closest image I see ourselves.

Southern Italian Cuisine Class @Whole Foods

Yesterday we went to our 2nd Whole Foods Cooking Class: Southern Italian Cuisine.

Chef Egg gave us a tour of Amalfi Coast learning and trying two delicious plates:

Linguini with Roasted Tomato Sauce & Seabass with Orange and Fennel

We learned about sea salt and olive oil and also enjoyed watching and playing with the kids around us.

It is so fun and we want more... :D

Happy Earth Day!

To celebrate this special day of our dear Earth, I watched a very meaningful TV program with my hubby last night: Poisoned Waters.



If you are interested in this 2-hour long documentary, you may go to the link to watch. It will definitely motivate us to rethink about our daily choices when see the human impacts on the environment pollution.

Let's do little changes to help it to survive as long as it could.

What do you wait for? Spring is already here, go shopping in Farmers market and keep yourself healthy supporting the local harvest. http://www.localharvest.org/