Avocado Toast Recipe ★★★

Avocado Toast. My all-time overpriced brunch favorite.  Recipe below. Had it with Pomegranate Orange Vodka. Just mix Pomegranate Orange Canned Soda with Vodka.

Avocado Toast
Ingredients:
Bread – 1 piece
Butter
1/2 Avocado
1 Egg
Parmesan Cheese
Chives or Basil for granish
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Spread butter on bread and toast until golden brown
2. Fill tiny pot 2" high of water and boil. Add a drop of vinegar in water. Crack egg in a bowl, add to boiling water and simmer in low heat for 3-5 minutes. Drain water.
3. Smash avocado in a bowl or inside its skin. Spread on toast. Add poached egg on top. Sprinkle cheese. Add salt and pepper.
4. Toast until cheese melt. Garnish with chives or basil.

Chinese Boiled Shrimp Recipe ★★★

Shrimps 2 Ways. Boiled Shrimps are my favorite at Chinese restaurants. Recipe below. Soy Sauce Ketchup Shrimp is just made with sliced garlic, soy sauce, and ketchup.

Boiled Shrimps

Soy Sauce Ketchup Shrimps

Boiled Shrimp Recipe

Ingredients:
Shrimps
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Spring Onions – 1-2 stalks, cut 1 inch lengthwise
Ginger – 2 sliced
Rice Wine – 1 teaspoon
Water – 1/2 cup

1. Wash & clean shrimps
2. Add water, spring onions, ginger, and salt in wok. Cook until boiling.
3. Add rice wine and shrimps
4. Cook until shrimps turned orange
5. Plate shrimps. Can make dipping sauce with minced garlic, soy sauce, oil, cilantro, and chili.

Alcoholic Dole Whip Recipe ★★★

Adult Dole Whip with Dole Whip Ice Cream on Top. I did 1/2 portion of the Dole Whip. My Dole Whip melted quickly. The images below are the official Dole Whip recipe released by Disneyland.

  

  

Dole Whip [Ice Cream] Recipe
Ingredients:
1 big scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream
1/2 cup Pineapple Juice
2 cups Frozen Pineapple

Directions:
1. Add all ingredients to a blender.

2. Blend until smooth.

3. Make a swirl.

Adult Dole Whip [Margarita Drink] Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups Frozen Pineapple
1/4 cup Tequila
1/6 cup Triple Sec
1/2 cup Milk

Directions:
1. Blend everything except the milk.
2. Blend in the milk.
3. Serve and drink up.

Tofu Noodles Recipe ★★★

Tofu Ramen from Japanese Market. The shrimps from Little Tokyo MarketPlace Korean market were really fresh and tasted great. Pork from Japanese market. With soft-boiled egg, shiitake mushroom, and napa cabbage. Boiled the egg for 6 minutes. Topped with spring onions. Added sesame seeds and Japanese spicy garlic seasoning afterwards.

Tofu Ramen from Marukai Japanese Market in the Refrigerated Section

Homemade Mickey Waffles Recipe ★★★

Making Waffle from scratch. First time. It's actually pretty easy. I had it with maple syrup. Tasted great. Disneyland Esplanade music in background a plus. Got this Select Brands Mickey Mouse waffle maker from BoxLunch years ago. Recipes vary. Below is one of them.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Beat eggs in large mixing bowl with beater until fluffy. Put in the rest of the ingredients and beat altogether.
2. Let the batter rest. Preheat waffle maker for 4-5 minutes.
3. Pour batter into waffle maker and heat for 3-4 minutes.
4. Serve with maple syrup on the side.

Filet-O-Fish & Cold Wakame Udon Recipe ★★★

At Home Filet-O-Fish with Buttered Breadsticks. The Fried Fish Filet from Trader Joe's reminded me of Filet-O-Fish from McDonald's, so decided to give it a try. Just happened to have bread, tartar sauce, and lettuce at home. I skipped the cheese. It turned out amazing. Recipe below. For the Cold Wakame (Marine Seaweed) Udon, I had it with soba soy sauce, sliced seaweed, wasabi, spring onions, and ginger. Wakame is healthy.

Toasted Bread with Butter Spread
not wasting the edges – use as breadsticks

Wakame (Marine Seaweed) Udon from Japanese Supermarket

Filet-O-Fish with Breadsticks ★★★
Ingredients:
Fish Filet from Trader Joe's
Bread - 2 slices, can use breadends
Lettuce
Tartar Sauce
Cheese (optional)

Recipe:
1. Spread butter on bread, cut out the sides (keep them and toast together), and toast in oven
2. Bake Fish Filet
3. Spread tartar sauce on bottom sandwich layer (to keep crispiness on top of the fish)
4. Add cheese (optional), lettuce, then add fish, and finish with break end on top
5. Continue to toast breadsticks (cheese optional) until crisp. Serve as side.

Masago Salad & Miso Eggplant Recipe ★★★

Favorite Easy Side Dishes. I made the Masago (Smelt Egg) Salad based on the one I had in Hong Kong decades ago. I attempted a lazy version of Miso Eggplant a few days ago. This time I improved it with pre-mixing the marinade. It got bumped to wow, Japanese restaurant quality. Both recipes and masago tip below.

Frozen Masago from Korean Market
just scoop out what you need and put it back into the freezer

Hong Style Masago Salad ★★★
Ingredients:
Masago (frozen one got from Korean market)
Frozen Imitation Crab Meat – 1 stick, boiled, hand-shredded into strands and cut 1" lengthwise
Persian Cucumer – 1/2, sliced
Japanese Mayo

Directions:
Mix everything together and garnish with additional masago on top.

Masago Longevity Tip *Exclusive!
Masago is a trouble itself. When you get a frozen box, you have to thaw it in the refrigerator and use it within a week or so before it turned bad. Recently, I discovered a game-changer hack inspired by its 3-year shelf life:
• Buy a few boxes of them when they are on sale (I usually get it with $1 off each box)
• As instructed, keep it in freezer and never freeze it back after defrosting
• When you are ready to use it, before you cook, pull it from the freezer, use a thin spoon to only scoop out what you need. You will be surprised by how easy it is (put what you scooped in another container if needed and consume within a week)
• Put the frozen Masago back into the freezer
• Now your Masago will never go bad in the freezer and you will always have Masago on hand for any dishes you need! It also tastes great with California Roll, Japanese Tarako Mayo Spaghetti, or Kamameshi Steamed Rice Pot


Miso Eggplant ★★★
Ingredients:
Eggplant – 1, Sliced
Miso
Mirin (Japanese cooking wine)
Olive Oil

Directions:
1. Mix Olive Oil, Miso, and Mirin (about 1 teaspoon each) in a mixing bowl with a spoon.
2. Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat foil lightly with oil so that eggplant won't stick.
3. Coat sliced Eggplant in sauce (dip or brush, front and back) and bake at 425° until Eggplant turns golden brown.

Taiwanese Sliced Noodles with Sausage Recipe ★★

Taiwanese Comfort Food. The thick Taiwanese Sliced Noodles are available in the Chinese supermarkets. I added sautéed onions, sliced sausage, napa cabbage and spring onions to it (also goes well with cilantro, bean sprouts and spinach). For the sauce, I did Asian sesame sauce and Japanese chili oil with garlic (oyster sauce and soy sauce can be another option). I made Hong Kong style Masago Salad on the side. Recipe to follow in the next post.

Japanese Chili Oil with Garlic
secret seasoning that tastes good on almost anything
tip: get it on sale from the Japanese market

Uni Ramen ★★

Instant Ramen Enhanced. Bought this Uni Ramen when I was in Hokkaido. Added Real Uni, Mushroom, and Dried Shiso Leaf to it. Adding Spinach would be good too. The broth did not have a strong uni flavor, but it's still nice and fun to try. Need to get more of this next time I go to Hokkaido.

Tororo Soba Recipe ★★★

My All-Time Favorite Simple Vegetarian Dish. Tororo is made from grated Japanese Mountain Yam. Takes plain buckwheat soba to another level. I also topped the soba with sliced seaweed (pre-packaged and pre-sliced), chopping spring onions, sliced shiitake mushroom, and wasabi while dipping it into the soba soy sauce. I oven baked the Eggplant after mixing it with olive oil, mirin (Japanese cooking wine), and miso paste, but I think I will show a better version next time. Edamame beans and Hot Green Tea are great accompanies.

Yamaimo – Japanese Mountain Yam
Use peeler to peel off skin and grate for slimy texture

Korean Tofu Bowl Recipe

Quick Korean Food Fix. Bought BCD Tofu Bowl Packet in the refrigerated section from Japanese supermarket. I comes with the sauce and tofu. Just need to add ingredients. I added shrimp, beef, soft-boiled egg, napa cabbage, and spring onions. It's good with rice. Also paired it with Korean Kimchee Pancake from the frozen aisle in the market (also available at Trader Joe's).

Japanese Gratin with Shrimp Recipe ★★★

Restaurant Style Gratin. Cheesy gratin made with gratin mix. My first time making it. I love adding rice on the bottom layer before baking. Recipe below. Might try adding white wine to it next time.

Prep Ingredients + Milk + Cheese + Rice

Chardonnay – Perfect Pairing for the Seafood Gratin

Ingredients:
Japanese Macaroni Gratin Mix (brought from Japanese grocery store)
1/2 Onion – sliced
Shrimps (or any seafood or meat)
Water – Room Temperature – 1 cup
Milk – 1/3 cup
Butter – as needed
Parmesan Cheese – as needed
Rice
Parsley (optional) – chopped

Directions:
1. Cook Rice in Rice Bowl (The brand I like to use is Temaki from Marukai Japanese Market). Preheat oven at 480°F.
2. Heat a tablespoon of butter in pan. Stir in sliced onions until brown. Add shrimps.
3. Add water, milk, macaroni, and gratin powder from package. Mix well with wooden spoon. Boil until thickened. Turn to low heat and stir for another 3 minutes.
4. Butter baking dish (will need deeper dish than pictured). Add a layer of rice on the bottom. Pour mixture from pan to baking dish. Cover with Parmesan Cheese. Make for 10-12 minutes until slightly burnt.
5. Sprinkle with chopped parsley (optional).

Cheng Can Cook: Uni Spaghetti ★★★

Uni Spaghetti. One of my favorite food to cook. After tasting it at Blue Marlin (closed) for 20+ times, I can finally write my own recipe based on tasting the dish there. My original recipe below.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
A box of uni
Spaghetti, enough for 1 person
About 2 teaspoons of Butter
A few tablespoons of Heavy Whipping Cream
Japanese Mayo to taste (a tablespoon)
Salt to taste (a teaspoon)
Garnish: Salmon Roe/ Seaweed pieces (small slices)/ Sliced Green Onions/ Shiso Leaf (optional)

1. Cook spaghetti.
2. Chop uni roughly into big chunks.
3. In a separate pan, heat up pan with butter. Sauté whipping cream and add mayo. Cook until thickens and add the chopped uni. Stir.
4. Add spaghetti to the sauce in pan and stir. Add salt to taste and mix. Done.
5. When you take the spaghetti out from the pan, leave the uni chunks in the pan. After taking the spaghetti out, put uni chunks on top of the spaghetti. Put seaweed/ green onions/ shiso leaf on top for garnish.

Cheng Can Cook: Asparagus Salad in Miso Sauce ★★★

A Very Good Snack. Very easy to make too.

Recipe:
Boil Asparagus and drain. Pour Miso Salad Dressing and sprinkle Sesame Seeds on top.

Cheng Can Cook: Lobster Tail with Garlic Noodles ★★★

Valentine's Day Special: Lobster Tail. 4oz on sale for $5.00 each@Vons this week (till Feb 14). Super great deal.

First time to make Lobster Tail. I boiled the Lobster Tails for at least 3 minutes with Water, Salt, Butter, and Old Bay Rub (Seafood Seasoning Powder). After training, I rubbed on some Butter on the Lobster Tail, sprinkled some more Old Bay Rub, and squeezed some lemon juice on it. Paired it with Garlic Noodles and Asparagus.