My Parents-in-Law

Our Florida trip every Christmas is like our annual retreat. After a year of hard work, we are so blessed to be in the warmer weather, indulge in authentic Chinese food, relax by the pool, open gifts, open more gifts, play ma-jiang, and simply enjoy the best family time.

I often feel I'm the luckiest girl on earth because of my parents-in-law. Their love for me is so unconditional that they never expect anything in return. I truly enjoy spending time with them, and I feel they have given me a family that I've always wanted. Honestly, I think they have adopted me as their own daughter --
I fell asleep on the couch, and they gently put a blanket on me. I wanted to help cook dinner, but they told me everything was taken care of and ask me to go relax. They know I love beef noodle soup, so that's what's waiting for me on the dining table when we arrived. I wanted to get a new handbag for myself, but they insist to buy it for me. Before we were leaving, they packed as much food as possible for us to bring back to Chicago.

These are just a few things they do. How lucky I am.

How lucky I am to have my health, a loving husband, the best dog anyone can ever have, and the in-laws who love me as much as their own children.

陶然亭 Peking Duck

During our stay in Taipei, my good friend, Fion, and her husband Eric (and their 5-year son, Aiden) treated us to a very nice dinner at 陶然亭. It serves the best peking duck in Taiwan! The peking duck was cooked in three rounds. First, the crispy skin and meat were sliced off to go with flour wrap, green onion and plum sauce. Then the rest of the meat were used to cook as a stir-fry with vegetables. Lastly, the bones were cooked in a delicious soup!

In addition to the duck, we also ordered their famous 涼拌白菜心, as well as 炒豆苗 and Crab and Tofu Stew (can't find the Chinese name). Thank you, Fion and Eric for such a great meal! I know we will definitely visit this restaurant again when we go back to Taiwan!

Baked Macaroni

Jeff is a big fan of macaroni and cheese. Unless we go to a restaurant, we typically just cook instant mac 'n cheese at home when he has cravings. Sometimes we would add chili in there to make chili mac.

I was flipping through channels the other day and found Giada De Laurentiis making a yummy and seemingly simple baked macaroni. So I decided to give it a try!

After a night of partying and drinking at Suzi's, I know Jeff would want some comfort food. I got the ingredients in the morning, and while he was watching football, baked macaroni was being completed. Added in the macaroni were assorted mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and Jeff also added the leftover bacon from last night! According to the recipe, I added Parmesan, Romano and mozzarella cheeses. We also covered it with bread crumbs and butter on top and bottom of the dish.

Jeff really liked it, but I think I should put more cheese in there next time, so they would all stick together better.

New Appetizer Trial

A friend of ours, Suzi, invited us to her fab house for a holiday party this weekend. It was a chill party with about 10 friends. Suzi's kitchen is my dream kitchen! Her contemporary kitchen is huge with beautiful counter-tops, large island, a lot of storage space and double-set of stove top and oven. Her modern fridge is blended in with her cabinets. Before Jeff and I got married, Suzi also hosted a couple's shower for us.

For this holiday party, every person/couple would bring an appetizer or dessert. I wanted to try something new this time and found a easy recipe on www.foodnetwork.com! It is Rachel Ray's bacon wrapped shrimp (and/or scallops). We have some prawn left in our freezer, and I've been wanting to put them into good use.

This appetizer really is simple! First, you marinate the shrimp in sesame oil, lime juice, red pepper flakes, black pepper and salt. Then wrap a piece (about 1/3 of a bacon strip) of bacon around the shrimp. Put them in the oven for about 15 -16 minutes at 425 degrees. After it's done, sprinkle chopped green onion on top. It was quite a hit at the party!

Thanksgiving Day

Jeff and I hosted this year's Thanksgiving at our new house! Jeff's parents flew in from Florida and Jeff's sister, Kien, came in from San Francisco to stay with us for a few days. At the last minute, we also had Jenn and John join us for Thanksgiving dinner. We had such a great time cooking together, watching football, playing Ma-Jiang and simply having a wonderful family time together!

Jeff used our fryer to deep fry some marinated turkey legs and wings, and it was a success -- crispy outside, juicy inside! Kien cooked her famous yummy garlic mashed potato. Jeff's mom sauteed green beans with minced garlic. I cooked corn with chopped red bell peppers and onions. We also had stuffing and corn bread as other side dishes. Before dinner, we opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate all of the good things happened to us this year! As always, we are grateful for everything we have.