BBQ Night

I was going to make baked Chili Mac but I opened the frig and there was a rack of babyback ribs from Costco. I decided to grill it. Meanwhile, I wanted to try making Bacon Mac & Cheese since everyone always raved about how good it is. You know what? Bacon does wonder!

Babyback Ribs, Bacon Mac & Cheese, and Mixed Greens
Close up look of the Bacon Mac & Cheese

Spicy Chicken

It seems like I haven't cooked in awhile. Actually I have but just nothing worth mentioning, I guess. I made the usual Curry Salmon, Stir-fry Chinese Cabbage, and Spicy Chicken. Ooooh, the Spicy Chicken was GOOD! Take a look.


My friends want the recipe, but I don't have one. I don't really know how much of what to put in because I cook by impromptu. What I can give is an ingredient list. I learned to cook by cookbooks (have many of them). But after awhile, I start making up my own recipes because of how I want my food to taste. I must say, so far my family really like it. =)

3-Course Dinner #5

We have some sliced beef and chicken left from hot pot, so I thought I'd cook some bulgolgi.

Bulgolgi

The Mayo Shrimp is actually known as Walnut Shrimp. I ran out of candied walnut, so it's just shrimp in mayo. The mayo sauce is really simple to make. Mix mayo with sugar, vinegar, a little water, and touch of salt. How much of each to put depends on your own personal preference.

Mayo Shrimp

The green bean dish is copied from a Thai dish called Prik Khing. I just cut the green beans to smaller pieces to match the ground chicken. Sate with red curry paste.

Green Beans with Ground Chicken in Red Curry

The Everything Omelete

Allen loves omelet. Whenever we go to a breakfast buffet, we always order the everything omelet. Basically we want everything in the omelet; ham, sausage, bacon, green pepper, onion, mushroom, tomato, green onion, spinach, and, yeah, don't forget the jalapeno pepper and cheese! Sounds good, doesn't it? But you know who makes the BEST omelet? ME! Yes, yours truly!
The trick to get the fluffy omelet is to add a little milk when beating the eggs. Also add some garlic salt and black pepper to season. Sate 'everything' in the pan for a few minutes, then pour the egg onto the pan. Once the bottom side is cooked firm enough, flip it over. (I have mastered the 'flipping', just so you know) Place some grated cheese on 1/2 of the omelet. When omelet is fully cooked, fold the omelet and transfer to plate. I guarantee you it tastes yummy!

The Everything Omelet

2-Course Meal #2

In case you haven't noticed, my family loves curry. I like cooking curry, too, because it is one of the easiest dish to make. Cut chicken, potato, onion, and carrots into cubes. Sauteed red curry paste for a couple of minutes then throw in the onion. After about 5 minutes, add coconut milk, a tablespoon of fish sauce, some brown sugar, and the rest of ingredients and let simmer until potato is tender.

You can eat this with rice or baguette. It's so good!

Chicken Curry

Another one of my family's favorite dish is Stir Fry Green Beans. Costco sells a big package. They are very fresh and tender. They don't keep for very long, so make sure you cook them within a week.

There are several ways to cook this. Tonight I was a little lazy, so I basically stir fry it with garlic. Sometimes I add ground meat and dry shrimp for added flavor. Amway you cook it, it is still yummy.

Stir Fry Green Beans

Stir Fry Spaghetti with Beef and Chili

One of the problem with shopping at Costco is that you have to buy in bulk. A package of New York Steak came with 5 huge pieces. Because we eat our steaks medium-well, I usually cut one piece into 2 so it cooks easier. Well, that creates another problem - I now have 10 pieces of steaks!

Trying to use up all the New York Steaks before they go bad, I decided to make Spaghetti Stir Fry with Beef. This is a slight variation of Kung Pao Spaghetti which I learned to cook from eating at California Pizza Kitchen. I can't put peanuts tonight because Allen can't eat them yet. Without the peanuts, I can't call it Kung Pao. Nevertheless, it still tasted great!

Stir Fry Spaghetti with Beef and Chili

Black Pepper Beef

I am not a steak and potato kind of gal. After having a steak dinner the other day, I still had several pieces of New York steak left. I decided to stir fry it. I like my meat cut into smaller pieces instead of one big chop. Maybe it's the Chinese in me.


Just so you can see I actually cooked it, I included 2 more pictures while I was cooking.

Where is the Beef?

New York Stead with Baked Potato and Green Salad

Photo by www.altphotoimpages.com

3-Course Dinner #4

One of the most popular food in a Chinese Restaurant is Tofu. It's easy to make it vegetarian style as well as non-vegetarian style. The only difference is with or without meat. The tofu was first grilled on the pan to give it a little crispy texture. Allen is not a fan of tofu but he actually liked it tonight.

Home Style Tofu (with ground chicken and mushroom)

The Panang Beef is a Thai dish. Panang curry is less spicy than the red curry I usually cook with. Allen just had oral surgery a week ago and can't have spicy food. He loved how I made this tonight and had 2 big servings.

Panang Beef

I usually cook asparagus with bacon, but I ran out of bacon and substituted it with Chinese Sausage. Didn't exactly turn out as I like, but edible. =)

Asparagus with Chinese Sausage

I just throw this in for the fun of it.

Photo by www.altphotoimpages.com

Teriyaki Chicken 2

Teriyaki Chicken with Frid Rice and Cucumber Salad. Damn it was good!

Photo by www.altphotoimpages.com

Club Salad

Mmmmnnnn, Salad! I like to mix my dressing, Italian and Ranch are a perfect combination. They should invent a dressing like that.

Wendy's Burger

No, not that Wendy's. It's mine, Wendy's! Before Jessica left for school, she said 'You should make hamburger for dinner tonight.' There was no more ground beef in the frig so Allen and I headed to Costco. It was a nice break for me. My right shoulder/arm has been acting up again.

Photo by www.altphotoimpages.com

The hamburger turned out pretty good. I used 2 lbs of ground beef (extra lean), 1 cup of minced red onion (red onion is sweeter than yellow or white onions), 4 cloves of minced garlic, garlic salt, black pepper, 2 eggs (beaten), a little olive oil, and sesame oil, mix well, shape into patties and grill or BBQ. Add cheese just before removing from pan or grill. Butter the buns and grill to slightly brown. The butter gives the buns nice buttery taste.

Assemble the burger on the buns, add sliced tomato, red onion, and lettuce. Garnish with dill pickle and chips.

3-Course Dinner #3

Sometimes when I am low on creativity, I stick to the basics. My family loves curry, so anything cooked in curry is a hit.

Chicken with Sour Mustard Green is a classic home dish.

Stir Fried Broccoli and Cauliflower, pleasing to the eyes as well as the palate.

Salmon in Red Curry Sauce - Everyone's favorite!

Photos by www.altphotoimages.com

2-Course Meal #1

This is my version of a 30-minute meal. Sometimes when you don't have a lot of time or just don't want to spend a lot of time, stick with a meat dish and a veggie dish. You still get a satisfying and yet balanced meal.

Chicken, Mushroom, Bean Cube with Dried Chili

Stired fried Chinese Cabbage. One of the simplest dish to make.

Photos by www.altphotoimages.com

3-Course Dinner #2

A co-worker once told me cooking was very therapeutic for her. I didn't understand it back then, mainly because I didn't really enjoy cooking all that much. I started cooking more because of my two fans; my daughter and my fiance. It's kind of rewarding to see people enjoying your food. And I am finally getting the 'therapeutic' part - you do forget everything that bothers you when you are focusing on cooking. =)

I am really proud of my dinner tonight. But too bad Allen won't be home until later tonight after his class. My daughter is working late, too. Food really tastes better when it's first served HOT.

Chinese Satay Beef (Beef, Satay Sauce, Curry Powder, Red Onion, Green Onion)

Sweet Peas with Mushroom and Carrots

Cashew Shrimp (Garlic, Green Onion, Dry Chili, Shrimp, Cashew Nuts)

3-Course Dinner

I usually cook 3 dishes for dinner. At least one of them is a green vegetable.

First dish - Stir Fried Chicken in XO Sauce.

Second dish - Spicy Bean Curb with Minced Chicken and Pickled Turnip.

Lastly, the Stir Fried Mustard Green.

Photos by www.altphotoimages.com

Teriyaki Chicken with Stir-fry Vegetables

The secret to good teriyaki chicken is the marinate - apple juice, beer, soy sauce, crushed/grated garlic, and LOTS of sugar! Marinate at least 24 hours in the frig. Use boneless chicken thigh meat instead of breat meat because it retains flavor better.

Photo by www.altphotoimages.com

Grilled Chicken with Broccoli Alfredo Pasta

I think Western meal is so much easier than Chinese. A piece of grill meat a couple of side dishes, then you're done.

Southwest Chicken Salad

Salad as a meal is probably the easiest dish to make. It is also a healthier meal as long as you don't douse it in salad dressing. This is my Southwest Chicken Salad.

1. Season the chicken breast with garlic salt and cajun seasoning for about 2 hours or more.
2. Grill and cut into strips.
3. Toss salad with corn, avocado, boild eggs, and feta cheese in dressing. Transfer to plate.
4. Place the grilled chicken strip on top salad and serve.
   

Bon Appetit!

Shik Do Rak - Garden Grove

I might as well have been born a Korean because I LOVE Korean BBQ and Soondoobu (soft tofu)! I am constantly looking for a good Korean restaurant to try. When I read about SDR on on Daily Gluttony, I was just drooling! Even though her review was about the one in LA, I thought this one in Garden Grove shouldn't be too far off. I was not disappointed at all.

The first time I went, our server didn't speak much English. After some verbal (she in Korean and I in English) and hand exchanges, we opted for the small combo as our safe bet. In our subsequent return, our server spoke fluent English. And instead of the combo, we ordered Black Angus Deckle and King BBQ Ribs.


The banchans were plentiful and the big plate of lettuce made me feel less of a carnivore. Whether you order the combo or a la carte, it was definitely more than enough for 2 people. This was not my first time at a cook-it-yourself KBBQ, but it was the first time I ate KBBQ correctly, thanks to Daily Gluttony!

Photos by www.altphotoimages.com

You use a piece of thin slice radish or thin rice paper (Duk Bo Sam) to wrap your meat, lettuce, and banchan, season it with some bean paste then dip it in the salted sesame oil and chili sauce. Even if the meat was not marinated, the combination of everything in the wrap and the dipping sauce gave it enough flavor and was super yummy!

The service was attentive. Our server came over to check a couple of times and we got our refill of water, Duk Bo Sam (rice wrapper) and salty oil. Don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like a second class citizen in a Korean restaurant simply because I don't speak the language! Not here. They are as friendly as can be.

Shik Do Rak
9691 Garden Grove Blvd
Garden Grove, CA 92844
(714) 534-7668