Container Garden: Day 8

It's only been a week since I began phase one of my container garden and thus far it's a smashing success. I am proud to report that the radishes have begun to sprout up through the dirt. In just a few weeks I'm going to have the best radish-based salad ever.

Radishes (growing quite nicely in my makeshift milk-turned-container):











Plus the kale and lettuce are really happy!


Lovely kale:









And the lettuce Mix:

From My Kitchen To Yours: Adobo Chicken

From mashed potatoes to Mac-n-Cheese, I have found that comfort foods often have a tie to one's childhood. Often times it is what you ate when you home sick from school or what you scarfed down when you were upset or anxious.

In my case, one of my all-time comfort foods is my Mom's adobo chicken. It's probably one of the easiest, yet delicious meals I make. I am starting to realize most Filipino dishes are that way.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound chicken wings
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 minced garlic clove
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil




Directions:
1) Put all ingredients in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to about medium low and let softly boil for approximately 1/2 hour. If the liquid starts to boil down then feel free to add more water.











2) Warm the 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Place the chicken in the skillet and brown them on both sides.









3) Dump the chicken back in the liquid broth. Bring back to a boil and let simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Serve over fresh rice.

DIY Project: flower brooch for spring

It is nearly 70 degrees today and I'm absolutely loving it. Unfortunately the weather peeps are predicting thundershowers and rain for tomorrow. So to avoid starting my work week bummed with the crappy weather, I made a pretty flower brooch to wear.

I promise it will ward off all negative feelings caused by the weather (or at least it does the trick in my case)










directions here: http://tinyurl.com/c2sofx

DIY Project: easy wall art

I'm tired of the space above my dresser being bare and stark white. Thus I made some decorations with the extra fabric and embroidery hoops I recently scored while thrifting at Unique.

I had to find a nice balance between what I found pretty and what the BF found too girly as I don't have the luxury of residing by myself. In fact, all my roommates are boys except the kitties.

Also I'd like to point out the pretty rose perched on top of my dresser. It was the present waiting for me after my first day of work.

A close up of the lovely trio:










Also I'll have to thank the lovely BF for taking a break from writing to hammer in some nails where I can't reach:

From My Kitchen To Yours: Gyoza

Gyoza. Dumplings. Pot stickers. No matter what you call 'em they are delish. I once walked like 30 minutes into the heart of Chinatown in NYC to get dumplings. Five for a $1. I wish I could do that anytime I pleased, but since I cannot I headed into the kitchen to give my gyoza cravings some justice.

I'm proud to report I tried my hand at making my own and the results were wonderful. Plus the best part is that you can get creative and put whatever you want in these little suckers and they will most likely be awesome.

I was lucky to find a little Asian store in the DC suburbs selling most of my favourite ingredients. Since it's off the beaten path and one of those tiny-aisle, full-on-fish-on-ice types of places, everything is dirt cheap. I got the wrappers for less than a buck.

Once you track down the pre-made dough for the Gyoza (although you can make it if you have a lot of time on your hands) you'll need the following ingredients:
- About a pound of ground chicken for the filling. (I used chicken as per my man's request but beef, shrimp, pork, veggies, tofu can all be used.)
- 1 scallion finely chopped
- 2 cups cabbage (I ended up using Bok Choy because I had an abundance of it laying around and I honestly didn't notice a difference in taste)
- a dash of garlic powder
- 1 egg
- 1 carrot finely chopped
- a little less than half of an onion chopped
- a dash of both vegetable oil and sesame oil
- a pinch of minced garlic
- less than half a cup of water

Make sure you have defrosted the Gyoza wrappers ahead of time. Then you sautee the garlic and onions with in some vegetable oil. Once the onion becomes transcluent in color, add the cabbage, scallion and carrot until the cabbage leaves are wilted. This takes about 3 to 5 minutes. Then throw in your filling, the garlic powder and the egg. Once the meat (or tofu, etc) is cooked through and the egg isn't runny remove from heat.










Now for the fun part....spoon about a tablespoon of the filling in the middle of a gyoza wrapper. Pinch it closed. You can use some water or egg white or oil to seal it.

Then add the sesame oil to the same pan and brown the gyoza on both sides. Make sure not to burn them.

Finally add the water to the pan and cover. The water should come up to less than halfway on the little guys. Let them steam and remove from heat once all the water is gone.










Now get ready to induce some food coma. When I made these the plan was to share with my entire house. The plan miserably failed as none were left in the end. In all honestly I burned a few from the batch making them inedible, but not THAT many. I think the man and I just started eating and couldn't finish until they were all gone.