Categories
China Travel

Panda wants to hug

Categories
Food Restaurants

Eats: Portland Boiled Bagels

Bundy’s Bagels — 34th & Hawthorne ($2.00) — 8am-3pm, Mon-Sun

Bernstein Bagels – Portland Art Museum — 8am, Tues-Sat, 10am Sun

Henry Higgins — 523 NE 19th ($1.25) — 6:30am-4pm, Mon-Sun

Kornblatt’s – 628 NW 23rd — 7am-8pm Mon-Sun

Spielman Coffee & Bagels – SE 21st & Division – 6am-4pm Mon-Sun

Categories
Recipes

Recipe: Spinach with Garlic

Spinach with Sesame and Garlic Recipe

  • Yield: Serves 2-4.

This is a fun take on spinach, a Korean version, with the spinach wilted in sesame oil with garlic, and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. The recipie is from Mark Bittman’s The Best Recipes in the World. In typical Bittman style, the spinach is quick, easy, and good.

If you are using bagged baby spinach, the presoaking is not necessary, as that spinach is pretty clean. Also baby spinach does not need to be chopped. The spinach you get in bunches from the farmers market can have a lot of dirt at the root ball that needs to be washed out before you use the spinach.

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbsp dark sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 lb fresh spinach, soaked in water to clean, drained, excess water squeezed out, large stems removed and discarded, leaves roughly chopped
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce for gluten-free version)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Method

1 If you haven’t already toasted the sesame seeds, do that first. Heat a stick-free skillet on medium high. Add raw sesame seeds and use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir. The seeds may make a popping noise and jump up, almost like popcorn. They will toast very quickly, so stir constantly until they begin to brown and smell like they are toasted. Remove from pan into a separate bowl as soon as they are done.

2 Heat 2 tablespoons of the sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic. As soon as the garlic begins to sizzle, add the spinach and cook, stirring occassionally, until the spinach is completely wilted. Turn the heat to low.

3 Stir in the sugar and soy sauce. Remove from the heat. Add salt to taste. Serve hot, warm, room temperature, or cold, drizzled with the remaining sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spinach_with_sesame_and_garlic/#ixzz4ZTPmflnr

 

Categories
Food Recipes

Recipe: Steam Eggs

Quick savory, smooth steamed eggs.

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • Water (same volume as eggs)
  • Vegetable or chicken stock (same volume as eggs)
  • Salt, to taste
  • 1 tsp sesame oil (or less)
  • Chopped scallion

Procedure

Crack 3 eggs in a liquid measuring cup and note the volume. Pour the eggs into a large bowl, add salt, and beat for at least 1 minute. Now measure out water at the same volume as the eggs, and add it to the bowl. Do the same with the broth. Whisk in the sesame oil, and make sure everything’s well combined.

Place 4 empty ramekins in a steamer over high heat. (Alternatively, you can also use just 1 shallow, heatproof bowl). Be sure the water will not bubble and touch the ramekins during steaming. Once the water boils, turn the heat down to a slow simmer. Then, divide the egg mixture into the ramekins.

Cover the steamer, turn up the heat to high, and steam for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes have elapsed, shut off the heat but keep the steamer covered. Let stand for 14 minutes with the lid firmly covered. Remove from the steamer, sprinkle with scallions, and serve.

Recipe courtesy of The Woks of Life and Ling.

 

Categories
Food Recipes

Recipe: Coffee Jelly

Coffee Jelly @ Yama Sushi
Homemade coffee jelly

Ingredients

8 oz water
1 tsp instant coffee (or cold brew coffee)
1 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
1 tbl sugar (optional)

Directions

1. In 8 oz cold water, add 1 rounded tsp instant coffee, sprinkle in 1 tsp gelatin, and (optionally) sugar. Stir and let sit for 3-5 minutes for gelatin to hydrate.
2. Place liquid in microwave for one minute on “high” to dissolve the gelatin. Liquid should not boil. About 160° is sufficient to dissolve gelatin.
3. Pour liquid into two serving bowls (4 oz. each), and place in fridge to chill and set gelatin.
4. Top with creamer and whipped cream before serving.

Note 1: Instead of instant coffee, cold brew coffee may be used. Starbucks cold brew coffee contains sugar, which may be preferable.
Note 2: Sugar in the coffee jelly makes the gelatin softer, and more pudding like.