Ingredients:

• Bottle of red wine (I use Charles Shaw or Carlo Rossi’s Sangria)
• Fruits (1 apple, 1 lime, 1 orange, 1 peach, 5 large strawberrys)
• 1 1/2 cups of rum
• 12 oz. can of Sprite
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Chop up fruit and put into a large pitcher.
2. Add sugar, cinnamon, rum and Sprite and stir and let sit covered in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.
3. Add bottle of wine and let sit for another 1 to 2 hours in the fridge.
4. Serve chilled with ice and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 28 oz. bricks cream cheese
• 1 package Knox unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup mayo
• 1 can crabmeat
• 1/4 tsp. curry powder

Instructions:

1. Soften gelatin in 1/4 cup water.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt soup and cream cheese.
3. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Pour into a mold and set overnight in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of green peanuts
• 1/4 cup of kosher salt
• 5 pieces of star anise
• 2 Tsps of 5-spice powder
• 4 cups of water

Cooking Instructions:

1. Soak the peanuts in cold water for about 15 minutes and then scrub to make sure that the dirt is washed away.
2. Add peanuts, salt, star anise, 5-spice powder, and water into a pot and stir while reaching boiling point.
3. Simmer for 2~3 hours.
4. Drain water and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Background: This is a super yummy dish that goes well with a bowl of rice or in a steamed bun “mantou” (饅頭) with crushed peanuts and cilantro. It’s super easy to make, and you can make it on the stove or in your crock pot.

Ingredients:

• 1 pork belly slab (about 2 lbs)
• 2 whole star anise
• 4 tablespoons of sugar (or 1 medium chunk of rock sugar)
• 1/4 cup of Shao Shing wine or Mi Jiu (rice wine)
• 3 to 4 Tablespoons of dark soy bean sauce (老抽)
• 1/2 cup of dried mustard greens (梅菜) that have been soaked and chopped (Note: sometimes these can be sandy, so make sure that they are properly cleaned prior using in the dish).
• 2 cups of water
• 1 bunch of scallions (chopped in 4 pieces)

Preparation:

1. Slice pork belly in pieces and brown in deep pot (about 1 minute a side)
2. Add star anise, rock sugar, scallions and saute for about 2 minutes.
3. Add water and bring to boil.
4. Once boiled, keep on low heat and add dark soy sauce, wine and mustard greens.
5. Cook for about 2 hours on the low heat.
6. May add additional sugar or soy sauce for color/taste

Enjoy!

“Insider’s gift” – 6 bottles from brix26.com

Having been born and raised in Philadelphia, and working overseas in Asia for most of my career, I never really came to appreciate fine wines until I moved out here to San Francisco. The reason is really quite simple, actually. Back in Philly, wine and other hard liquors are only for sale in government-run “state liquor stores.”  The main types of wine readily available are sold by the jug or in a box. It’s no surprise that it was only later in life that I developed my appreciation.

Brix26.com is a local San Francisco wine company that ships delicious California wines all over the United States. They came highly recommended by the President of the Wharton Club of Northern California, and I figured these would be the perfect wedding gifts for one of my Wharton classmates in New York and one of my business partners living in San Francisco. I chose the “Insider’s Delight – 6 bottle” package, and my friends totally loved them!

Peter and Valerie (who run brix26.com) were a delight to work with, and they were able to provide me with a lot of help when I didn’t know what to order. I highly recommend them, and will definitely use their services again.

When you order, tell them that “Chef Liu” sent you and the will take good care of you. Peter’s e-mail is: peter[@]brix26.com. Valerie’s e-mail is: valerie[@]brix26.com.

Ok, this isn’t a food-related post. But, it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want! Haha. Actually, I’m going to try to post everything related to food here, but since this is the very first baby in my family, I just couldn’t resist showing her off a little bit.

The baby’s name is Alexandra, and I think it’s very pretty.  She came into the world at a whooping 7 lbs 13 ozs on November 9, 2009 @ 4:14pm in San Francisco, California. Apparently, that is really big for an Asian baby. The nurse also said that she had really nice hair, which I agree! I’ll be posted on any baby treats that I make for her here!

Also, if anyone has any cool facts about what happened on November 9th, 2009 from around the world please post here! Thanks!

So this past Halloween, I was fortunate to dine with legendary cook, Florence Lin. She’s written some of the most famous books on Chinese cooking. However, what some people don’t know is that she’s also an extraordinary cook in other cuisines as well. I was able to leave the night with a small batch of her homemade chocolate meringue cookies. Now this is what they should look like! Oh well, at least mine taste good! You can check out my chewy chocolate meringues here.  Next up on the things I need to buy…..one of those KitchenAid mixers. Until then, I’ll keep on beating the egg whites by hand!

Here are some of the pros and cons of each:

Korean BBQ Pros:

1. More flavorful

2. Can cook meats rare, medium, well, etc.

3. You can have thicker pieces of meat

Korean BBQ Cons:

1. TOO SMOKY! Your clothing, hair, and body will stink!

2. It’s extremely meat-centric. Where are the veggies?

3. You have to cook it really quickly or else it will burn.

Hot Pot Pros:

1. Come on…even though BBQ is more flavorful, it still tastes pretty damn good!

2. Because it’s boiled, a lot of the fat gets cooked out of the meat.

3. Lots of variety in the pot makes for a wonderful broth at the end.

Hot Pot Cons:

1. Food gets lost at the bottom of the pot too easily.

2. There is still a strong smell on your clothing, hair, and body after eating.

3. Everything goes in the pot: meats, seafood, veggies — and, sometimes you don’t want that to happen.

So….the bottom line? If it’s once in a while, I’d prefer to eat the BBQ. However, on a more frequent basis, I prefer Hot Pot. Still, both are great to eat with friends.

Ok, so after living in San Francisco for about 5 years now, I finally made it to Chez Spencer for dinner about a week ago. I  went with a group of 6, and it was for a birthday celebration for a friend.  We got there a little earlier than our reservation, and sipped on a bottle of champagne while we waited to be seated. These next few words will probably get me banned from this restaurant, but while were waiting in the outside room sipping on our champagne along came a rather large black RAT! This wasn’t one of the cute ones that were in Ratatouille. Truth be told, it scared me half to death, and I was left standing and looking on the floor most of the night.

Aside from the rat moment, however, I must say that I enjoyed the food and wines quite a bit.  I had the wood seared venison, and it was delicious. It went down well with Cabernet that we ordered, and it didn’t have that gamy taste. For what you pay, however, the portion size is really small. Definitely not an “American-sized” portion.

If you’re looking for a pricey restaurant with good food and a long wait, then this is it.  All in all, I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars. 5 out of 5 for the taste, 2 out of 5 for the price, and 1 out of 5 because I saw a rat on the premise.