Disclaimer: If you are disturbed with fish that is presented to you with its head on, then you are not a true foodie! I grew up eating whole fish with the head, tail, fins and all!

When I was 10, my dad had me make a whole steamed fish by instructing me verbally while playing mah-jong with his brothers’. It was quite a challenge but it turned out great! My dad and uncles’ seemed to be impressed with my skills I have no fear of handling fish nor cleaning it nowadays. I just think of it as yummy goodness at the end of the work.

When selecting a fish, please make sure it looks FRESH. If your fish monger is super nice, he will whisper in your ear and tell you, “Don’t buy the fish today, its not fresh.” You will know when the fish is fresh by the clear silky flesh with super clear and bright eyes. If the eyes look foggy, please avoid it and eat something else. I find fish and seafood is always fresh in Asian markets – why?! Um, hello…Asians love seafood Supply n’ demand, my friend. PLEASE, do not buy your fish in your local supermarket unless its Whole Foods. *Shame on you if you do!*

I decided to parchment bake the fish than rather steam in a wok. I was too lazy today and didn’t want to clean the wok (he he) so baking in parchment should be your best friend! Bake time varies depending on fish size. 350 degree oven, 20-25 mins. Just check the fish after the bake and if it needs more time, give it another 5 minutes. You can tell if the fish is cooked by the eyes – my mom said, “a fish is cooked when the eye pops out and the eyeball is hard.” Don’t be scared to cook a whole fish – it’s much more moist and healthier that way!

One of my husband’s favorite dishes is either my Chinese sausage fried rice or my flank steak lo mein. He was a happy camper when I made this for lunch for him today. Lo mein is egg noodles stir fried with anything imaginable. You can use any protein: beef, chicken, pork or shrimp and a mixture of favorite veggies. My recipe varies every time I make it – so just innovate

I think this dish taste better with beef as I prepared this dish with flank steak. Flank steak is a great piece of beef for a lot of Chinese stir fried dishes. It may be a bit costly but if you do find it on sale, bulk up and freeze it! It’s best to freeze the meat a bit before you slice it so the meat doesn’t slip n’ slide on you so place the meat in freezer for 15 minutes before you slice.

Super fun dish to make – even better to eat and GREAT leftovers

In light of the Chinese New Year, February 14th (shared with Valentines Day!) I decided to get some candy. Not ANY candy, but THIS PARTICULAR ONE! It literally took me a year to find this candy at my local Chinese market. My first taste of this candy was last Chinese New Year, when my co worker bought a bucket of these candies and passed it out to his fellow employees. I was reluctant to take one since I don’t like most Chinese candies, but this bad boy is DELICIOUS!!! Unfortunately, I cannot read Chinese nor tell you the ingredients but I can surely describe it to you in ENGLISH!

This candy is considered a, “crisp.” A light, delectable layer upon layer of light nougat similar to the center of a Butterfinger candy bar! But wait, it gets better. Its super light, almost like candy phyllo dough that comes in different flavors. Here is my order of favorites:

RED: Black Sesame crisp
YELLOW: Peanut crisp
BLUE: Almond crisp
GREEN: Coconut crisp
MAGENTA: Coffee crisp

See how flaky the candy is???


There is actually 2 more flavors – 2 of which I didn’t think would taste good. One of them had the word, “meat” in it, haha. I gave that one a pass.

But, here is the logo – Although, it would probably not even mean anything to you, but I can certainly try to help you find this candy!


I have to say good-bye for now while I eat the whole bowl of this candy…just kidding. I’ll eat it sensibly. Gun Hay Fat Choy, everyone!

My favorite snack and lunch I get at Cafe Zaiya in NY is Onigiri. It’s rice wrapped around a special seaweed wrap (to prevent moisture) and endless possibilities of fillings. My favorite is, “spicy tuna.” You can basically stuff any type of filling but I highly recommend eating them the same day otherwise the rice will get hard. If you use a mayo-based filling – eat them the same day. They cannot be refrigerated since the rice gets hard. Did I mention that twice?! ” Yes I did So don’t let the rice get hard, guys!

Here is my adaptation – they were so much fun to make!

#1: The Kit – although this maybe hard to find, I found it at my local Asian food market. If you cannot find these, pray to God your local Asian market will carry them the next day

#2: Prep your rice & filling: Cook some short grain Japanese rice. I use my go-lucky rice cooker…it’s fast and easy! Make your filling. I made a special spicy tuna filling with some Korean spicy radish, yum

#3: Stuff: This is the fun part – rice, stuffing, rice – press to a triangle (as shown to the left). Have some salt water handy to prevent sticking when forming the onigiri’s.

#4: Fold: This is a bit tricky so follow the wrappers directions, carefully!

Tada, done! Call in your family for this healthy treat – it will surely be gone within the hour

Nothing says comfort food to me than pork chops and rice. I make different variations of pork chops and rice but this one is Spanish inspired. I been making this dish for years and it has never failed me. A bit of spanish safrito is the key to my rice. No, please do not use the jar and chop/prep everything yourself! If you’re asking why I have not posted full recipes of my dishes yet is because it takes time to write a recipe and I do not measure. So how do I tell you, “a little bit of this, a little bit of that?!” That would be funny, actually. I’m hoping to start writing out my cookbook with these recipes so let me sticky note that to my “wall of TO DO list!”

**Missing in this recipe was “Totones” – aka plantanos. My husband and I ate it all before it came to the table! I think that happens in a lot of households I’m told

So here is a sneak peek and steps that are key:

Buen provecho!

My obsession with daifuku is going out of control this past week. This is my second attempt to make daifuki. This time it’s a cute pastel green with red bean paste then rolled with soybean sugar powder!

Hey guys – noticed the new look?! cool I actually had to upgrade my databases a few days ago and lost all my entries…stupid me forgot to backup my site yikes. So I decided to just redesign the whole thing and have a new approach. It’s a work in progress so keep coming back for updates!