Gyoza

I have never really been into Asian food. However, I have always had a soft spot for good dumplings. Yesterday, I went to Gizmo's in Winter Park and had delicious gyoza. Today I decided to try making them myself. Here is what you will need:

• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon onion, minced, or a bit of onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 24 won ton wrapper
• 1 egg white
• A few lettuce leaves
• Bamboo steamer

I strongly recommend spending ten bucks on a bamboo steamer for this. It's a pretty useful little contraption that steams this stuff perfectly.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the pork and stir it around to break it up. Add the garlic, onion, soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Cook until no longer pink. I wanted a very fine filling, so after it was cooked through I put it in a food processor for a few pulses.

Bring a pot of water to a boil.

Lay out the won ton wrappers. Put a spoonful of filling in the center of each wrapper. Brush egg white around the edges and fold each wrapper into a triangle. Bring the edges together and press to make a tortellini shape. 

Place the lettuce leaves on the bottom of the steamer. These prevent the gyoza from sticking to the steamer. Place the gyoza on top of the lettuce. If the gyoza touch each other, they will stick together.

Put the lid on the steamer. Place it on top of the pot of boiling water. Steam for 10 minutes and remove. Don't peak while they are cooking! 

Alternatively, you can deep fry them. This is also tasty. Steamed, they are fairly healthy. 

Now they are ready to nomnomnom. The steamed lettuce makes a good side dish, along with some sticky rice. Extra soy sauce for dipping is a plus.

Chicken Noodle Soup

It's getting a bit cold here, and Brent is sick. I wanted to make fresh soup for us, and chicken noodle is a classic choice. Here is what I used:

• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• Handful fresh parsley
• 1 cup baby carrots
• 1 cup celery stalks
• 1 medium onion, once again I prefer Italian red
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup egg noodles

Combine the water and chicken broth in a large pot and bring to a boil. Rough chop 1/4 cup carrots, 1/4 cup celery, and 1/4 of the onion. Add these to the pot, along with half the parsley and the bay leaf. This will be used to season the broth.

Cut the chicken into strips and add to the pot. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Remove the chicken from the pot and place in a bowl. Strain the liquid and reserve, and dispose of the vegetables. Shred the chicken.

Chop the remaining vegetables. Heat butter in a large pot (I rinsed and reused the same pot). Add the vegetables and cook until softened. Add chicken and the reserved liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.

Add the egg noodles and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in remaining parsley. Enjoy!

Very simple, but it was fun and tasty in the end.

Today's paintings.

There's nothing like a deadline to get you to finish.

Goals

4 pounds down, 36 to go.


-- posted on the go

Random

I just found this on my computer. ???

Website

I'm using these graphics on my new website. Cheesy? Cool? Not sure yet.

Recording

I never really wrote anything about Nashville. These are from RCA Studio B. It is a really neat, famous, old, still used recording studio on Music Row. There were lots of bet up instruments and neon lights.

Untitled.

I haven't taken pictures off either of my cameras for over a month. :(

Italian sausage pomodoro

I bought some sausage the other day and decided to come up with a pomodoro recipe that included it. Here are my approximate ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound hot Italian sausage
1 red onion
3 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
Handful fresh herbs, like basil, oregano, rosemary

In a large pot, heat one tablespoon of olive oil. Cut the sausage into pieces and brown in pot. While the sausage is browning, finely chop the onion and garlic. Add to the pot and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining olive oil, tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, and herbs to the pot. Stir until well blended and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1-2 hours. Enjoy over your favorite pasta for a delicious meal.

Additions - sometimes I add parmesan while the sauce is simmering, sometimes I wait until the end. See what you like best!

Can't forget...

I was probably one of the most exciting things I have ever done.

Nashville

A few choice pictures from our trip. Maybe I will post more another day--it was an amazing place.

Celebration V

I am going to spend a few days posting about things I have done since June. I have not really kept up with blogging since then, so snippets and photos of all the fun things since then shall follow.

Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin

I've been making this all the time lately. I think we have had it three times in the past two weeks. It's so delicious and easy.

I know, I know. It's not *really* coq au vin. I modified it to use ingredients I like.

1 pound chicken breasts
1 onion, I like Italian red
3 cloves garlic
5 slices bacon
2 medium potatoes, I like gold
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup red wine
1 cup tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

When I cook this in a slow cooker, I just dump everything in and let it cook for 4-6 hours. When I cook it in a pot, I sauté the onions and garlic for a few minutes, add the bacon and cook for a few minutes, then add everything else. That all simmers for 1-2 hours.

I don't like mushrooms and I prefer Italian red onion to pearl. So, it's my own spin. I'm falling in love with my slow cooker.

Blah

I have been so busy with work, school, and other projects. I do not want this blog to die, but I just never seem to put interesting things here.

This is my new project. I am trying to push the limits of my coding knowledge to produce something cool and professional. More later.

Design flaw

Over the past couple of weeks, I noticed that my absolute favorite makeup product was running out. But at $23.00 a pop, I was not happy about having to go buy more. I literally do not go a day without Urban Decay Primer Potion. After a few months on the original, I found Sin XL on sale at Ulta. I fell in love. So I've been saving up coupons and scouting the web for cheaper replacements, as these days find me significantly less able to buy name brand products.

Upon looking for this miracle-product on sale, I saw a review mention "de-bottling" and "re-potting". Why would someone want to re-pot this? The package is so cute!

Curious, I cut open my bottle after a ten minute battle with a knife. OH MY GOSH. Now I am going to switch to engineer mode.

The product comes in a 0.55 ounce curved bottle with a small, straight brush. Upon cutting open the bottle, I was able to extract TWO full 0.10 ounce pots of product from the bottle. That means that 0.20 ounces of a 0.55 ounce product, OR 36.4 FREAKING PERCENT, is unusable without dismantling the packaging. WHAT KIND OF COMPANY WOULD EVER INCLUDE SUCH A MAJOR DESIGN FLAW?! I'm seriously flabbergasted.

I wonder how many poor Urban Decay users throw away their bottle after it is "empty". What a waste of money. That's over $8 of product thrown away with each bottle. And if a bottle lasts one month, that comes to almost $100 per year, per user, of discarded product. Yikes.

So if you are one of the millions of people that use Urban Decay Primer Potion, please de-bottle your product or donate your bottles to someone who will. The numbers are a bit ridiculous.

New new new!

I added lots of new items today at my shop! I've been painting so much lately, but it's been a long time since I sat down at added things. I feel very accomplished for finally getting it all done.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cucinabydina

No posts

No updates because I can't think of how to express things that have happened. I'll be inspired to write and take pictures again one day.

Also, I am going to start a new blog. Hopefully this one will still get some love.

REESE'S Chewy Chocolate Cookies

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. It makes a bunch, which is perfect for giving out to everyone I know. I used to bring a batch to class all the time in high school. Credit to Hershey's Kitchen for a delectable treat!

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chip

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.) Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4-1/2 dozen cookies.

Rocket fuel

It'll mess you up.

Sarpino's

I polished off a whole pizza just now. I might have a heart attack. A delicious heart attack.

Superdawg...

Was just medicoredawg.

Private chat.

Waiting for Masten:

The after after party

Not as epic, but involves pool.

My face...

When I saw the Airblade:

The pinnacle of excitement.

Not the speakers, opportunities, or technologies. This is what has everybody talking at ISDC:

Hancock building.

A view from the top:

-- posted on the go

Chicago.

What I learned from flying over: there is literally a baseball field in every neighborhood. Sometimes two.

-- posted on the go

My first oil painting attempt.

If you can't tell, I am an acrylic girl.

-- posted on the go

Bballin

-- posted on the go

This is how finals make me feel.

Especially after a mind-blowing concert experience.

D end.

Current favorite.

I stopped updating for so long because I felt stuck to the theme of photos of fun things. I haven't been doing fun things, and when I do it's always somewhere I don't want to bring my camera. SO, in lieu of my new favorite hobby, I think I'm just going to make this whole blog a bit more random and general about-me blog-ish stuff.

Pamela made me totally obsessed with makeup and beauty products. I've always liked makeup, but I was perfectly content using the same 3 products every day (pressed powder, eyeliner, mascara). Not anymore! After two Ulta hauls and a Target haul, I have a pretty nice variety of tools.

My favorite thing I got was the NYX Runway Collection eyeshadow pallet in Secret World. Pamela suggested NYX as an affordable, high quality brand. So far, I've been impressed.



I picked Secret World because of the greens, but I've been using the bronze colors every day. I needed green for a costume (Yuri's Night!). They are pretty bold colors and last a few hours without creasing. Paired with Urban Decay eye primer potion, the color literally lasts until I wash it off at night. I've been wearing the middle bronze for lid, lightest for highlight, and copper for crease. Love it.



I also tried NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss and Eye Pencil, both of which are amazing. This is definitely my new favorite brand.

Slacking.

I promise a real post is coming.