Hearing the Carpenters for the First Time

YouTube always comes in handy when I have nothing to post. Here are twin dudes hearing We've Only Just Begun by the Carpenters for the first time.

I can barely understand what they're saying, but I totally get their reactions.

Landon's Breakfast Corn Tortilla

This was sooooooo ono!!  Landon said that he saw something similar "somewhere" but can't remember the details. 

He minced onion, green bell peppers, garlic, mushroom and Portuguese sausage and seasoned with curry powder.  He sautéed everything in a pan, then put beat-up egg on top. Before the egg fully cooked he covered with a corn tortilla.


Then he did the pan-toss thing to flip everything over and cooked for a few more minutes. 


He seasoned with this before eating. 


It's so yummy, I hope he makes it again soon.

Garlic Plants

I can't believe I planted these only 4 days ago!

Wendell's Five Spice Pork Belly

Wendell made this the other day.  He got the recipe from Manila Spoon and can be found here. 

To be honest, I haven't tried it yet, but must be good 'cause the guys ate um up. 

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Kilo / 2.2 Lbs Pork Belly, sliced
5 Tablespoons, Dark Soy Sauce*
2 teaspoons, Five Spice Powder
1 inch-ginger (roughly thumb-size), peeled then thinly sliced (like matchsticks) or julienned
2 cups water
1 teaspoon Salt or to taste

*Use a wheat-free brand if you wish to have a gluten-free version.

Procedure

Heat the oil in the wok. Add the brown sugar. Cook until the sugar caramelizes and turns light brown. Add the pork slices. Stir the pork in the sauce until they are well coated.

Pour in the soy sauce and water. Stir in the salt and Five-spice powder. Add the ginger slices.  Bring to a boil. Cover and then simmer gently over low heat for about 45 minutes or until the meat is fully tender.

Landon's Mai Fun

Landon made this a couple days ago.  

He first soaked a bag of mai fun noodles in water for 1/2 hour.

He stir fried "some" bean sprouts, choi sum, shiitake mushrooms, sliced green beans, cabbage, celery, green bell pepper, finely chopped dried shrimp and fried eggs in a pan. He seasoned with "some" oyster sauce, black beans, curry powder, Chinese five spice and chicken broth powder. 

Then he threw in the softened noodles. 

It came out yummy.



This is the noodles that he used. 

On Da Desk

Here's my Mother's Day card for my mom. 



I copied this painting done by Ann Mortimer.

Planting Garlic

A few of the garlic cloves that I peeled had sprouted so I decided to plant them. 



I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do.  Will the one clove turn into a bulb eventually?

Cy's Cucumber Namasu

My brother Cy made this cucumber namasu for my mom who eats it everyday.  He got the recipe from CD Kitchen here.  

ingredients

3 cucumbers

1 tablespoon salt plus

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

directions

Slice the cucumbers lengthwise and scrape out the seeds if desired. Slice the cucumber into very thin slices on the diagonal. 

Place the cucumber slices in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the salt. Let stand for 20 minutes. 

Rinse and drain the cucumber slices well and squeeze out any excess water using a kitchen towel. 

Return the cucumber to the bowl. In another bowl or measuring cup, stir together the remaining salt, sugar, rice wine vinegar, and ginger. Mix well then pour over the cucumbers. Stir gently to combine. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator. Chill until ready to serve.

Snickers Cheesecake Brownie

About a week ago Wendell bought a massive 3-pound block of cream cheese from Costco. He was planning on making some clam dip, but unfortunately, somebody used up all of his clams. Oops!

I searched online for recipes calling for cream cheese so that I could make use of some of that brick that's taking up a considerable amount of space in the 'fridge.

I found a recipe from Yummly website that can be found here. It caught my eye because I could use up a half bag of Snickers (Wendell's favorite) that's been on our counter for awhile.

I halved the recipe, but I mucked up because I chose to use an 8 x 8 inch pan which proved to be a bit too small, making the brownie thicker than it's supposed to be.  

It took 1 hour to bake which is almost twice the recommended amount of time. But . . .  in the end, it still came out hella ono.

INGREDIENTS COOKIE DOUGH LAYER: 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 large eggs 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. sea salt  3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour  2 10-oz. pkgs. Snickers Baking Bites CHEESECAKE FILLING: 2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened 2  tsp. vanilla extract  2 large eggs  1 cup sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

COOKIE DOUGH LAYER:

1. Mix butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, baking soda and salt with an electric mixer until well-mixed.
2. Stir in flour until well combined.
3. Spray 11”x17” jelly-roll pan with cooking spray.
4. Press about ½ to 2/3 of the cookie dough into the pan.
5. Spread cream cheese filling over top of cookie dough layer.
6. Crumble remaining cookie dough over top of the cream cheese layer.
7. Sprinkle all of the Snickers Baking Bites over top.
8. Bake at 350° for about 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

CHEESECAKE FILLING:

1. Mix cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth.
2. Pour over cookie dough crust layer and cover with remaining dough.
3. Sprinkle Snickers Baking Bites on top. Bake as directed above.

   
   

   
   
   

   Half Recipe

   
   

   Crust/Topping

   1 block butter, softened

   1/2 cup white sugar

   1/2 cup brown sugar

   1 egg

   1 tsp. vanilla extract

   
   

   Sift and add: 

   1 3/4 cup flour

   1/2 tsp. baking soda

   1/4 tsp. salt

   
   

   Cream Cheese Filling

   8 oz. cream cheese, softened

   1 tsp. vanilla extract

   1 egg

   1/2 cup white sugar

   
   

   1 10 oz. package Snickers

My Linguine with Clam Sauce

Here's a simple made-up recipe of mine. We were missing parsley, but lacking any better ideas for dinner, I made it anyway.



First I boiled a box of linguine in some water, drained and set it aside.  Then I melted a block of butter in a pan with choke minced garlic. Maybe 1/2 block butter is good enough . . . not sure. I threw in 3 cans of this chopped clams with the juice into the butter/garlic. Then I cooked on medium/high until the sauce reduced and wasn't so watery looking. Normally, if I had parsley I would add a whole chopped-up bunch here. We did have some left-over shiitake mushrooms so I put that in. Lastly, I threw in the cooked pasta. Landon did a taste test and added a little bit of my sister's Dd's Season All. You can add your favorite all-purpose seasoning instead. 



Not to brag but . . . it was gooooooood!