Pearl Balls

A pearl is worthless as long as it is in its shell.
~ Native American Proverb

Here is the other dish that Winnie showed us how to make in our cooking class this week. She called it the Pearl Ball, which is basically meat ball wrapped in glutinous rice. The dish derives it’s name from the translucent appearance of the glutinous rice in a ball shape.

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Ingredients
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1/2 lb fish paste
  • 2 tablespoons dry shrimp, soaked and chopped
  • 2 tablespoons finely diced carrot
  • 2 tablespoons chopped shiitake mushroom
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • 1 tablespoon chopped scallion
  • 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup glutinous rice, soaked in cold water for at least an hour

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Rice Krispies Squares

A good breakfast cannot take the place of the evening meal.
~ Chinese Proverb

This week, Nanzaro wanted to make something for his brother’s birthday party and decided to make Rice Krispies Squares for him. We bought some “Christmas Special” package of Rice Krispies which comes with red and green rice krispies last Christmas and did not use it until now. Anyway, it makes very pretty Rice Krispies Squares, much better than the single brownish rice krispies.

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Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup margarine or butter
  • 1 250g package regular marshmallows
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
  • 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

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Nachos

Man is like pepper — you only know him when you’ve ground him.
~ Nigerian Proverb

I’ve never paid much attention to Mexican food. Maybe it’s because the names are so hard to remember and pronounce — or maybe there are too many syllables to those Mexican names! Maybe too, it’s because that I don’t really care much about dishes with beans. Beans makes the guys at home fart a lot!

I learn a little bit about Mexican food the past week when the Richmond Cooking Club featured simple Mexican food — salsa, guacomole, tortilla, enchiladas and nachos. This piqued my interests now on Mexican food and will try to learn more about it.

Today, I am going to blog on a very simple snack which I believe is a favourite with almost everyone. Nanchos in its simplest form is tortilla chips covered in melted cheese. You can add additional toppings such as salsa, sour cream, olives, jalapeno and what nots.

Here is an interesting story I found out about Nachos in Wikipedia:

Nachos were created in Coahuila, Mexico by Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya in 1943. The story goes that the wives of American airmen came to his restaurant after the kitchen had closed. Anaya quickly prepared the dish and later added it to his menu. The term “nachos” came from Anaya’s original name for the dish, which was “Nacho’s Especiales,” or “Nacho’s Special Dish.” Nacho Anaya’s original nachos consisted of fried tortilla chips covered with melted cheese and jalape?o peppers.

BIG_IMG_3685_edited-1Ingredients

  • A bag of Tostitos tortilla chips
  • Shredded cheese
  • A bottle of salsa, we prefer the hot and chunky type
  • Pickle pepper, optional

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Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorns

The truly rich are those who enjoy what they have.
~ Yiddish Proverb

It’s hockey night today. Nanzaro wanted to watch the Canucks game against our arch-rival, the Flames. He made popcorns for snack for the game.

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The popcorn we bought was a mouthful — it’s called the Orville Redenbacher’s Ultimate Theater Style Butter Flavour Popcorn. Each box costs $2.99 and comes with four separate packs.

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This brand is different from many other popcorns in that it comes with a separate pour-over flavour pouch. The flavour is made from real butter. That’s why they call it the Ultimate Theater Style.

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Peanut Butter Pita Bread

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Qn: What is the only food that does not spoil?
An: Honey

Hello all. After eating out the past week, we’re blogging again about food at home. This is my (Suanne’s) creation — I call this PBPB, the Peanut Butter Pita Bread. I am preparing this as a snack for Ben’s flight to Atlanta today.

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The PBPB is a very simple snack, filling and easy to carry (i.e. it does not get squished like sandwiches does). I made this for all the guys at home. All of them like it very much. We buy the Pita Pockets from the Superstore about once every two weeks. Each pack comes with 18 pita pockets and costs $4.19. About 23 cents each … it is cheap.

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The main ingredients are peanut butter and frosted cornflakes.

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