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Knitting Log

Knitting Log

A good, avid knitter friend of mine once said that she has a journal to keep track of the things she has knit. I thought this was so nice. With passing time and looking back, I don’t remember a lot of things that I have 

Beef Marrow Beet and Vegetable Soup

Beef Marrow Beet and Vegetable Soup

Servings: ~ 6 Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 5 minutes on high pressure cooking Ingredients 8 cups of water 4 tsp of chicken broth powder 1 tsp of salt 1 tsp of tarragon 1 tsp of rock sugar or regular sugar 1-2 beef bones/marrow bone 3 – 

Instantpot/Pressure Cooker Pho *Quick Version*

Instantpot/Pressure Cooker Pho *Quick Version*

Servings: 3-4

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour (more if you choose to cook it longer)

Ingredients

For sauté 

  • Onion: 1
  • Ginger: A few slices
  • Cinnamon sticks: a small stick
  • Garlic cloves: 4 
  • Oil: a dash

In teabag

  • Bay leaves: 2
  • Cardamom seeds: 2
  • Cloves: 2
  • Coriander seeds: 1 tsp
  • Fennel seeds: 1 tsp
  • Whole peppercorn: 1 pinch
  • Star anise: 3

Meat ideas

  • Chicken/left over rotisserie chicken. Throw the bones in to be extracted during cooking! 
  • Turkey
  • Lamb
  • Beef
  • Meatballs

Broth

  • Water: 6 cups
  • Salt: 1 tsp. If kosher, 1.25 tsp
  • Chicken broth powder: 1 tsp
  • Sugar (of choice): 1 tsp
  • Fish sauce (brand of choice): 2 tsps

Garnish ideas

  • Cilantro
  • Thinly slicked onion
  • Ground black pepper
  • Bean sprouts
  • Lime
  • Green onion in thin slices
  • Thai Basil
  • Hoisin sauce
  • Sriracha sauce
  • Arugula
  • Red cabbage thinly sliced
  • Poached eggs
  • Radish
  • Jalapeno chili 

Preparing the broth

  1. In a small pan, sauté onion, ginger, cinnamon sticks and garlic cloves until onion is translucent and golden. Even if the onion looks a bit burnt it is okay. This makes the broth more aromatic and gives it a beautiful golden color
  2. Prepare instant pot by putting in sauté content from step 1, teabag spices, left over meat in desired amount, and ingredients from the broth section.
  3. Instant pot under “pressure cook” for 5 minutes if meat is left over and has been cooked before. Can cook longer under any “soup” setting if you are not in a rush. If cooking tougher meat, use “meat” for 45 minutes. Because this recipe is for leftover cooked meat, the time setting is irrelevant and as per your timing need. The longer you cook, the thicker the broth and softer the meat. Up to you!

Preparing the noodles

  1. Grab a large pot and bring it to a boil for the noodles. Cook according to your package’s instructions which is usually about 3-8 minutes for the noodles to be al dente. Always rinse with cold noodle to stop the noodle from continuing to cook or it will become broken up or soggy.

Plating

  1. When noodles are ready, drain and divide into desired servings. Place filling and garnish ingredients around bowl. Pour hot broth overtop. Enjoy!
Spices in tea bags

Sauteed the ingredients
Ready to pressure cook

Ahi Tuna Steak

Ahi Tuna Steak

Servings: 2 (depending on many pieces you want). Photo made 2 dishes with 1 Ahi steak Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 5 minutes Ingredients Cooking oil Soy sauce: 1tbsp Mirin vinegar: 1/2 tsp. can substitute with regular vinegar, rice vinegar, wine vinegar. Honey: 1 tbsp Sesame oil: 

Wonton and Dimsum

Wonton and Dimsum

Feel free to add or take away anything from this recipe. Servings: approximately 140 dumplings Preparation time: ~ 20-30 minutes for combing ingredients. Give yourself 2-3hrs for making large batches. The time depends on your experience with folding the wontons or dumplings Cooking time: 10-15 minutes. Frozen wontons 

The-Go-To Instant Pot Stew

The-Go-To Instant Pot Stew

This recipe is applicable for the substitution of any meat and can also be made vegetarian!

Servings: 6-8 (serving increases with increased additional vegetables of choice). I fill my instant pot up to the maximum 2/3 line (using an 8 quart instant pot).

Preparation time: ~ 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30-45 minutes

Ingredients

  • Meat of choice: 1-2 pounds. I prefer beef roast cut into stew cubes with 2 beef bone marrow for a richer broth
  • Salt: 1 tsp or more depending on preference. 1 tsp first and adjust after the stew is done if needed.
  • Worcestershire sauce: 1 tsp
  • Ground pepper: 1/4 tsp. Use ground peppercorn or Szechuan pepper for a good punch in flavor (spicier)
  • Vegetable oil: 2-4 tbsp as needed to quickly brown meat. You can skip this if you choose not to brown your meat.
  • Yellow onion: 1 or 1 tsp of onion powder
  • Ginger: 4 slices or 1 tsp of ginger powder
  • Garlic cloves: 5 or 1 tsp of garlic powder
  • Mushrooms: type of choice, amount of choice. I sliced 6 brown mushrooms
  • Hunt’s Tomato paste: 1/2 of a 156ml can. The remaining half can be put in a ziplock bag for freezing. Can be other brands too.
  • Tomatoes: Fresh of choice or canned. I used Hunt’s Tomato sauce ~680ml. You can use any tomato cans! This recipe is very forgiving and versatile with volume and vegetable choices
  • Broth: 5-7 cups depending on how much vegetables you have in the stew. Start with 5 and adjust after putting all the vegetables in. Do you want more or less soup?
  • Stew carrot: 1 (don’t skip this. This makes the broth sweet!)
  • Celeries: 1-2 stalks
  • Corn kernel: 1/2 cup more or less depending on preference
  • Chickpeas: 1 can of Unico Chick Peas for 540ml
  • Beans: 1 can of 398ml. I used Bush’s Best Sweet & Tangy Vegetarian Baked Beans
  • Peas: Fresh or frozen, 1 cup
  • Thyme: fresh or dry, 1-2 tsp
  • Herbes de Provence: 1 tsp
  • Italian herbs: 1 tsp
  • Small potatoes: Yukon or Alberta, etc. I used 5. More or less depending on preference
  • Bay leaves: 4 
  • Bell pepper: ~ 2 cups. I used 1 Italian bell pepper
  • All-purpose flour or cornstarch: as needed depending on the preferred thickness of broth. I like it without

Preparing the ingredients

  1. Boil water in a large pot and boil choice of meat and bones for about 10 minutes so that the meat impurities float to the top. Scoop the impurities out
  2. If you used meat in this stew, after boiling the impurities out, conserve the water for cooking as that would serve as the broth ingredient. You can also use your own prepared broth or store-bought instead of this
  3. Prepare your vegetables. Cut the onions in any way you like; garlic can be minced or whole; carrot can be large or small chunks; celeries can be in thin “c’s”, and bell pepper can be diced. Basically, you can cut it however you want as it will not affect the stew
  4. Drain the meat and brown it over vegetable oil (2-4tbsp). Add onions, garlic, salt, and pepper. You can skip this step and throw everything into the instant pot if you like. It will barely affect the stew. In theory, the browning adds another depth of flavor. Same as for roasting any vegetables ahead of time. I simply don’t have the time to do this with a toddler and found no lacking of flavor just throwing everything straight in and skipping the browning or roasting steps! Be as fancy and complicated as you wish. 
  5. I like a more watery stew for dipping bread or poured over rice. If preferred, you can wait until your stew is cooked before you adjust the thickness of the stew. This can be done with all-purpose flour, adding 1/4 cup at a time or with cornstarch, mixed with some cold water. You can even add extra potatoes to mash them afterward as a roux. 
  6. Set the instant pot to 25 minutes, high, under the stew function. 
  7. For garnishes, feel free to adjust additional salt as desired and or parsley, cilantro, etc. 

Plating

  1. I love to eat this over rice, toasted bread, or baguette! 

 

Braised Catfish/Basa Fish

Braised Catfish/Basa Fish

Servings: 6-8(depending on how many steaks per person. Recipe contains 10 steaks) Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 30-45 minutes Ingredients Garlic: 5 cloves, more or less depending on preference. Whole or minced. I like it minced. Can be substituted with 2 tsps of garlic powder Ginger: 

Pressure Cooker Authentic Pho Noodles

Pressure Cooker Authentic Pho Noodles

Servings: 6 Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 1.5 hours Ingredients Beef bones: 1 lb (approximately 3 pieces). If you want a more “oily/thicker” broth, add up to 3 pounds. Can combine with beef shank. If you want a chicken pho, just switch out anything beef for 

Knit: Baby Scrub Cloth

Knit: Baby Scrub Cloth

I use Heart Face Scrubby’s pattern to knit baby scrub towels for donations. If you join these squares, you can also make a blanket!

Materials

  • One 95-yard (2 ounce) skein of cotton worsted weight yarn
  • One heart face scrubby uses about 9.5 yards (0.2 oz.)*
  • #7/4.5mm needles

Gauge

  • 19 stitches x 26 rows = 4 x 4 inches in stockinette stitch

Abbreviations

  • k = knit
  • p = purl

Instructions: Heart Face Scrubby

  • (3 inches x 3.5 inches (unwashed) & shrinks to 3 inches x 3 inches after machine washing in cold water )

Knit flat, turning after each row.

Row 1: Cast on 17 stitches. Turn.

Rows 2 – 5: k 17. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 6: k 3, p 11, k 3. (17stitches) Turn.

Row 7: k 17. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 8: k 3, p 5, k 1, p 5, k 3. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 9: k 7, p 3, k 7. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 10: k 3, p 3, k 5, p 3, k 3. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 11: k 5, p 7, k 5. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 12: k 3, p 1, k 9, p 1, k 3. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 13: k 4, p 9, k 4. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 14: k 3, p 1, k 4, p 1, k 4, p1, k 3. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 15: k 4, p 4, k 1, p 4, k 4. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 16: k 3, p 2, k 2, p 3, k 2, p 2, k 3. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 17: k 17. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 18: k 3, p 11, k 3. (17 stitches) Turn.

Rows 19 – 22: k 17. (17 stitches) Turn.

Row 23: Bind off. Cut yarn, leaving an 8-inch tail, and pull through.

Weave in ends. Block if desired.

Landscape Photography

Landscape Photography

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