Happy Chinese New Year!

This month the Gourmet Girls celebrated Chinese New Year by cooking up some amazing homemade Chinese dishes! Everything was so yummy. We had quite the variety to choose from...what can I say...another successful night of cooking club.


Kathryn's Tempura Vegetables (technically Japanese, but who cares)


Cindi's Noodle Cakes



Brittany's Chicken Lettuce Wraps


Michele's Chinese Green Beans

Heather's Ham Fried Rice

Amber's Sweet & Sour Chicken

Vanessa's Teryaki Chicken

Jill's Pork Potstickers

Christy's Mongolian Beef

I am missing one recipe that I didn't get a picture of for some reason. Amy made "dessert" spring rolls. Spring roll wrappers around a banana with brown sugare and 5 spice. Fried and drizzled with chocolate sauce and white chocolate whipped cream. It was WONDERFUL.
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Asian Noodle Cakes

1 pkg. Chicken Ramen noodle soup
1 medium zucchini, shredded
2 scallions, cut in long, narrow strips
1 medium carrot, shredded
2 large eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Break package of noodles in 4 sections. Cook as package directs, then drain. Reserve seasoning packet. Put noodles in a medium bowl. Stir in zucchini, scallions, carrot, eggs, flour and seasoning from packet. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place some of the mixture in the form of cakes into the pan. Fry 2 to 3 minutes per side. Repeat, using remaining oil. Mix soy sauce and lemon juice for dipping sauce. (Makes 6 small cakes.)

Chinese Green Beans

1 ½ lbs fresh green beans
2 T chopped garlic
1 t dried chili flakes
1 ½ T sesame oil
3 T soy sauce
1 ½ T rice vinegar
1 T brown sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cornstarch (mixed with water to thicken sauce)
Sliced almonds
Sesame Seeds

Cook the green beans in a pot of boiling water just until crisp/tender about 3 minutes. Plunge into an ice water bath to cool, drain well and pat dry. In wok or large skillet over high heat, add sesame oil, garlic and chili flakes. Sauté for a minute or so, add green beans, toss to coat. Add in soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar and salt/pepper. Cook until sauce reduces slightly and coats the beans. If you need to thicken the sauce mix a small amount of cornstarch in cold water and add to beans. Add in almonds and sesame seeds last.

Bath Time

Cali gets very straggly looking very quickly with all of that hair. I bathed her when we first got her and 2 weeks later she needed another. She is not very cute wet...she looks like a little rat! HA! My mom couldn't even look at her (she hates rodents!). We were pleased to see that like most dogs she looses her mind after a bath and runs all over the house like a maniac. Too funny. I took some video, but can't seem to upoad it here. I'll keep trying. Anyway, she sure does clean up nice. All fluffy and cute...

Max & Oscar

The other day I was snapping some pictures of my 2 cats staring out of the slider at the snow coming down when I realized that they never get any face time on our blog. Well, let's change that shall we. Introducing....Max and Oscar....TUH DUH!!! Here are some fun shots of them doing whatever it is that they do; playing in their tent, laying in baskets that are 2 times too small, watching snow and finally death defying balancing acts!

Sinfully Delicious Site

My cousin Jill turned me on to the wonderfully sinful baking blog site. It's called Bakerella. It is such a fun blog and it offers awesome baking recipes. Some of which are so easy. I got on there for the first time this week and tried out some "cookie-sandwiches." She used red velvet cake in her recipe for Valentine's Day, but she said that any box mix would work so I tried chocolate. I also cheated some by using cream cheese frosting from the can in place of making my own. They turned out perfect. And it was such a cinch. The cookies are made from a boxed cake mix! Well, I just wanted to share the blog with all of you and the results of my first recipe. (You can find a link to Bakerella on the left side of this page under Favorite Blogs & Sites.)

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

Cookies:

1 Box red velvet cake mix*

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients until combined. Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool.

Cream Cheese Filling:

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature1

1lb. Box of confectioner's sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Makes about 24 cookies or 12 cookie sandwiches

*Any cake mix should work.

Recipe amended slightly from this one at allhomemadecookies.com

February 1989

Continuting my 1989 flashback pledge....Ok, so this picture wasn't actually taken in February, more like October. But, it's very difficult to find pictures from 20 years ago that were taken in a specific month. However, the music is from the billboard charts in February of 1989. This picture was from spirit week and these are my sweet friends Danielle and Melissa. We have recently re-connected on Facebook and I'm so glad that we did!

New Beginnings...

We have a new addition to our family! Cali...California Sunshine Girl. She is a nine week old Coton de Tulear or just Cotton. The breed is the official dog of Madagascar. It's only been here in the states since 1970, so it is a young breed. We got her on my birthday, which was a great way to celebrate. I was really lonely without my Cabo and she has really helped to mend my heart. She is a total crack up. When she's not sleeping she is a wild woman. She loves to play with her toys and run laps around the coffee table. She is also a live vaccum cleaner. She sniff constantly and finds EVERY little thing there is on the ground and under the beds and couches. She makes us laugh daily. We've only had her for a week now, but she is slowly earning her name and the potty thing. Although she is only the size of Cabo's head, she thinks she's as big cause she growls at any dog she's seen so far. What a hoot! Anyway, here are some pics from the day we got her and then later in the week playing in the yard.

Book Club Bliss

Here are the girls from my book club! Each year we take 2 months off from reading and meet for dinner instead. This is us at Olive Garden for our January dinner. We have read some wonderful books and have shared some crazy and insightful conversations. We all LOVE our book club. Each year we exchange gifts at the January dinner. This year we exchanged our favorite "children's" book. It was neat to see everyone's choices.

Looking for a great read? Our last book was "Peony in Love," by Lisa See. It was a great book! Very rich in Chinese history and culture set along side a tragic love story and life lessons. Worth the time definitely.

Caleb turns Two!

My little cousin Caleb turned 2 in January. His daddy was getting him a ball and bat for his birthday, so I decided to make him a baseball themed cake. He was so cute, whenever someone asked him whoe made the cake he would say, "Uncle D!" He and Danny have a really cute bond. He loves his Uncle D. We love Caleb so much, he such a sweet and beautiful boy. Here are some pics...