Chinese New Year

So Happy Chinese New Year everybody!

This is the Year of the Rat... (as in Rémy from Rat-a-Touille!!!)

The year 2008 will be a year of possibilities, a time of progress; although, it may not generally be spectacular. Those who take the biggest risks could be disappointed. Everyone should, nevertheless, add something new to their life.

Excerpt from http://chinese.astrology.com Read the rest here.


So that is very good news, about the possibilities I mean. A ver qué inventamos ahora...

In the meantime, let me show you the food I made for you all to celebrate the New Year. (Actually, it was my aunt's birthday a few weeks ago, but the pictures seemed appropriate!)

I miss cooking for you guys...

Please refrain from licking the screen... the sweet and sour sauce is VERY hot, and I do not want to be held accountable for any speech impairments caused by the electric shock on the tip of your tongue.

All of the following pictures will pop-up to a larger size if you click on them.

DO NOT LICK THE SCREEN!

So here is where I was given the title for Fastest Egg Roll "Roller" of the West!!!!







I rolled up 30 egg rolls in about 30 minutes, with a crowd of people watching because it was a last-minute addition to the menu and they arrived while I was still cooking. I felt like I was doing a cooking demonstration in the middle of a tornado. More on that ahead...





Next, the end product, a crispy, crunchy, very tasty Golden Egg Roll.





I know it looks a bit different than the ones I used to make back home. I cheated a little bit this time, and used frozen Egg Roll Wrappers instead of making the crepes myself. I actually wanted to make everything from scratch, but I had very little time to cook. In the end, they still came out delicious and it was less work!!






And finally, the lovely Egg Roll drizzled with Sweet and Sour Sauce!!!!

(Insert applause and sounds of people salivating)

Over to this side, we have the wonderful Fried Rice Explosion.


I had a bit of a hard time tossing it in that huge wok, as you can judge by the rice scattered over the stove.... Since the house has an electric coil stove (which I hate), the wok has to sit on a ring over the metal coil so it will heat evenly. The problem with this, is that it spins and slips around. Hence you will see an extra pair of hands holding on to the wok. Nonetheless, rice still flew all over the place.

The picture was actually taken while I fumbled to catch all the baking sheets and bowls that were sitting on the dish drainer. My mom was trying to clean up while I tossed and suddenly they started to fall all over the place, or I should say, all over me cause the sink is right next to the stove...

You´ll also see a second pot on the back burner, full of already-made fried rice.... Cubans eat A LOT OF RICE.


It was a bit nuts, with all the egg roll-rolling-demonstration, the rice tossing-explosion and 13 Cuban ladies talking VERY LOUDLY..... ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!


But, all's well that ends well. This food was actually cooked to celebrate my aunt's birthday with her family. So of course, there had to be a cake. Unfortunately, she has diabetes, and I didn't have time to experiment with a new Sugar-Free recipe. (I keep saying I didn't have time because the night before, it was decided that we would cook this dinner!).

So, being in the land of plenty that I am, I bought the cake which is made especially without added sugar. I did, however decorate the cake a little bit, just so it wouldn't look totally store-bought.

These are some of the icing flowers that I learned how to make over the summer...


Come back again soon!

To keep in mind in case money is needed...

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Eye-Opener

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Oh for the love of god

What's the matter with the weather?!?!? IT'S F/·$%·"@!* FREEZING!! I've had to get my wool coat, turtleneck sweater, scarf and gloves out of storage...

This is like being in the twilight zone.....

There's even a frost watch, and they said in the news to bring your plants inside the house and put sweaters on your pets...

Current temp: 1.9 Celsius .....I'm not kidding.

And to think I got rid of most of my blankets... at least I kept the flannel pajamas!

Yours truly, frezzing in Not-so-sunny-Florida.

Cold Front

It has been said that a cold front will be affecting my current geographical location.

I have to get my coat out of the closet and let it ventilate. It hasn't been used in such a long time. But I doubt I will be using it. Here they tend to make a big fuss of weather forecasts... and almost 80% of the time, the opposite happens. So I'm not really expecting too much cold anyways. IT will be nice, for a change.

However, the wind... extremely strong. My desk is right in front AND next to 2 windows... And the wind is fiercely howling. I think I will have to put some music on so I can actually go to sleep and not have to worry about the WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOing that is now constantly roaring next to me. I'm actually somewhat afraid to move the blinds aside and look out the window in the overwhelming darkness of night....

Christmas wishlist....fulfilled

I think I hadn't been this excited about my Xmas gifts since I believed in Santa Claus... Case in point, I have absolutely no complaints. My new additions are:

A lovely silicone rolling pin, which lets you roll out dough without it sticking to the pin. The cool thing is, you have minimal need of flour to prevent sticking, thus your pastry turns out very tender. I just wish I had gotten it before Xmas so I could've used it for my cookies. Oh well. I'm still happy I got it! If you'd like to get one, you can go here (yes, it's one of my favorite stores in the world) or here.


I've been dying to get a Kitchen Aid Hand Mixer...since I don't know how long. And thankfully, my wish has come true. The cool thing is, it's digital...it also has a super slow speed so you don't make a mess with the initial beating, it also has enough power to mix a very thick batter, such as cookie dough! And also, a set of red color-matching melamine mixing bowls, courtesy of Williams-Sonoma. And what can I say, I simply love Kitchen Aid products Some women go crazy about clothes, shoes, handbags. I go crazy about kitchen tools, gadgets, appliances... Have you noticed?

I also got a mini food chopper , which I like for chopping nuts, or hard candy so it doesn't all go flying across the chopping board and counter. The food processor chops too much, so this is pretty good. Also good for an arm workout from all that pushing down.




A pajama set, with T-shirt, pants and shorts, with cute penguins. Very comfy and cozy.

The complete series of My So-Called Life in a DVD box set. I can finally throw away the VHS tapes I recorded... The show takes me back to junior high school, plaid shirts, lumberjack or combat boots, rock concert T-shirts, etc. Teenage angst is deliciously painful-sweet-funny-sad, especially in the nineties.

And to top it all off, I was given a Panini Press from a friend who received one for Xmas, and she gave me the "old" one. Granted, the "old" one is only 1 year old and has been used very few times.

A dear dear friend also sent me a very sexy and very cool blue top, which I hope I can use in a few months, once I lose the holiday weight.

Before I finish this show-off list, I also have to thank J for her gift. Initially, it was a Birthday gift, but it ended up arriving in December instead. I now also have a snowman cake and snowman muffin silicone pan set, a huge Baking handbook binder with all sorts of neat things, and the DVD of one of my favorite movies.

Jess, me hiciste la Navidad antes de que fuera Navidad. THANKS!!

I hope all of you also got what you wanted for Christmas...

Recovered

Bueno, after sleeping in late (at last), I feel refreshed now. New Year's Eve celebration was quite dull. I've never been a fan of that party. But oh well. I played along with the grapes (which I could not finish eating because I was so full from dinner), the hats, the noisemakers and the hippocritical kiss and hug, mostly with people I'm not really close to. But anyways.

I haven't uploaded the cookie pictures yet. I'm waiting for my computer memory to arrive. I do love this about this country... You can buy ANYTHING by mail, and it actually arrives!! Mexican postal service is so unbelievably BAD. Yesterday I was told by a friend, that he JUST RECEIVED a postcard I sent back in NOVEMBER. Hello?!?!?! The Xmas card I sent him will be arriving by Easter!

Anyways, after my rant about the Crappy postal service over there.., I was trying to convey that I'm awaiting for computer memory for my dear old iBook. I also got an upgrade to the operating system so I can actually use the iPod I got as a gift.

Speaking of which, I must show off my Christmas gifts. I must've been so very good this year...

I'm so tired

After 4 days of intensive cookie making (mixing the doughs, chilling, packing, shaping, cutting, thawing, rolling in sugar, baking, cooling, packing, mixing colors in frosting, decorating, counting, packing again in pretty vessels...along with heating up food for Nochebuena, setting tables, cleaning my kitchen, washing lots of bakeware and gadgets, gift-shopping, gift-giving, AND sleeping 4 hours a day for 3 days in a row, I can finally say Christmas is officially over this year, and I am totally wiped out.

My whole body aches, lower back, upper back, neck, shoulders, FEET!!!!!!, eyes, E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!!!!

But I do confess, the joy I feel when someone really enjoys what I baked, is a wonderful feeling.

I realized today, after packing little Christmas paper plates with cookie samplers (more on that in the following posts), I missed my friends so very much. Especially when I was decorating Gingerbread men, just like I had done with my friends some years ago. That was so much fun...

Friends, I miss you all terribly... I hope you all had a lovely and happy Christmas.

I hope I can finally sleep in. Although....tomorrow I need to deliver those cookies, or they will get stale if I take too long.

This is what happens

after being sucked in by American consumism...along with a dash of kookiness, a touch of simplistic humor, and a so-so attempt at amusing the people I love, since it's impossible for me to do it face to face.


http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1745823581


UPDATE: They say after January 1, the website no longer works, but perhaps by chance, you'll still be able to see me dressed like an elf, dancing and singing "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas"

What holiday food am I?

You Are a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

What Holiday Food Are You?