We Are Not Fans Of Planters Chipotle Peanuts

This new flavor of Planters peanuts isn't as horrible as the Salted Caramel Flavor that we tried a while back.  These Chipotle peanuts are edible to us, but they aren't something that we can't stop eating.  They aren't something that we will fight over either.  We just aren't fans of them. We can eat a few of them when a bowl of them is passed to us, but we won't ask for a repeat.  To us, the heat and the spicy fragrance in the Chipotle flavor don't marry well with the flavor of the peanuts.  We love grilled Chipotle chicken or Chipotle shrimps but we don't care too much about Chipotle peanuts. We bought them, we tried them and we can finish the rest of them so as not to waste our money, but we will not buy again.

Bucilla Cookies & Candy Non-Perishable Christmas Wreath

Many foodies are now probably busy baking all kinds of cookies and goodies for Christmas gifting.  For those of us who want to gift something more non-perishable, and yet beautiful and useful for the holiday season, this cookies and candy wreath felt applique kit  has everything you need to easily make an adorable and mouth watering Christmas wreath (15 inches in diameter), yet without the calories.  It will be fun to host a wreath making and stuffing party while serving cookies and high tea... if only you want to do something different this holiday other than the same old cookie exchange party.  $26.02 per kit and free shipping.

Delicious Salted Caramel Mini Bundt Cake

While shopping for cookbooks at Barnes & Noble today, we discovered a heavenly Salted Caramel Bundt cake at the coffee shop inside the bookstore.  We requested the server to warm it up for us and it paired so deliciously with just a plain cup of coffee.  The cake tasted so good that it was addictive.  This Bundt cake is going to make our $25.00 Barnes & Noble membership so worth it because we are going to go there a lot for this delicious Bundt cake, and we get a 10% off  the $3.15 regular price.  It's not that long ago since we left the coffee shop but we are already craving for the caramel sauce and the buttery cake.... Yum!

A Decent Thanksgiving Meal For Those Who Haven't Had Enough On Thanksgiving

Coco's Bakery Restaurant is one of our few favorite chain restaurants.  They serve really decent roasted turkey dinner there.  They were open on Thanksgiving which was nice for those of us who had no where to go.  The turkey was tasty, tender and juicy.  The mashed potatoes with gravy were great. The stuffing was delicious.  There wasn't much exciting vegetable side dish but the same old steamed broccoli and cauliflower.  The vegetables are decent if you ask for more gravy to dip them into.

Of course, we couldn't round out a Thanksgiving dinner without a piece of the good old pumpkin pie. We don't like cold pies so we specifically asked the server to warm it up before putting the whip cream on it.  This restaurant is very famous for its pies and there were many people standing in line claiming their pre-ordered pies on Thanksgiving day.  We haven't tried out other pies but we think the pumpkin pie was pretty good, even though we had better. The total cost for one dinner and a slice of pumpkin pie is about $16.99. We could only finish half of the portion on site and brought home half for another meal.  But then we aren't big eaters.

Last Minute Quick & Easy Thanksgiving Table Decoration

If you are spending too much time cooking the Thanksgiving food and thus leaving you no time to decorate the Thanksgiving table, then just simply put some big orange and bronze flowers in a few glass vases and put them all over the dining table for a last minute beautiful and festive Thanksgiving table decor.  It's amazing just how a few bunches of flowers can make a beautiful difference.

Minestrone Soup

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

I usually get turned off by a recipe that has a long list of ingredients that I have to go to the store to get before I can cook it.  So after my mother-in-law gave me the recipe for this minestrone soup that my husband loves so much, I have been sitting on it for a very very very long time.  All these dried herbs, canned items and Italian sausages are usually items I don't have lying around and I have to specially remember them so I can grab them when I'm grabbing the usual grocery items during my usual shopping trip. I had never even heard of  Ditalini pasta until I saw this recipe.  But I have to admit, this soup tastes much better than any I had tried in restaurants. It makes a great meal when served with toasted garlic bread. I also love that the soup freezes extremely well (without the pasta).

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1. 3/4 cup uncooked Ditalini pasta 
2. 1 tablespoon olive oil 
3. 1 (4-ounce) link Italian sausage, casing removed
4. 5 garlic cloves, minced
5. 1/2 large yellow onion, diced 
6. 1 cup diced carrot 
7. 2 celery ribs, diced
8. 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
9. 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 
10. 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
11. 1 (15-ounce) can unsalted chickpeas, rinsed and drained 
12. 1 (15-ounce) can roasted diced tomatoes, undrained 
13. 4 cups organic low fat chicken stock (I used Trader Joe's) 
14. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
15. 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

Direction:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain. 
2. While pasta cooks, heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add sausage; cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Add garlic, onion and next 6 ingredients; cook 10 minutes. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, and chicken stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta, salt, and black pepper; cook 1 minute. 

Delicious Hong Kong Style Egg Tarts

These Hong Kong style mini egg tarts are one of the very popular Dim Dum dishes at the Chinese Dim Sum restaurants. They are actually very common breakfasts and after school snacks for many children in Hong Kong.  Nobody should finish off their brunch at a Dum Sum restaurant without trying these mini egg tarts. They are very good when they are freshly out of the oven.  The quality of these egg tarts may vary in various dim sum restaurants in the USA.  But we discover a Dim Sum restaurant in Lomita, CA that actually makes pretty good mini egg tarts.  They probably are about $3.00 to $4.50 for a dish of three but we aren't quite sure because the restaurant uses a score-card system to keep track of the dim sum bill at each table. We didn't see a menu with prices but since the score-card categorizes each dim sum in category A, B, C, etc, these must be between $3.00 to $4.50 because we guess this was probably category B. But this is another of our agenda during our next visit, i.e., to figure out the pricing system of the dim sum there.   You can certainly ask before you order it off from the Dim-Sum ladies, but we were so distracted by the traffic of the Dim Sum carts that we forgot to ask.  These egg tarts are really delicious and we highly recommend them.  If you don't see them on the Dim Sum carts, just tell the waiter to get you the "Dan Tat".    Remember to pronounce the "a" sound like you speak Spanish, and you will see that the waiters will be very impressed by your ability in giving out orders.

Restaurant: PV Palace

Address: 2166 Pacific Coast Hwy, Lomita, CA 90717
Phone:(310) 326-3228
Hours: Friday 10:00 am – 9:30 pm

American Grown Sweet and Juicy Comice Pears

It's pear season and we recently found Trader Joe's selling  Harry & David pear gift boxes at only $5.99.  These are Comice pears grown in Medford, Oregon.  Except for one pear that wasn't so great, all of the pears in this box we bought were very sweet, juicy and delicious. We loved the creamy texture. These pears were so good that we are going to Trader Joe's to get another box.     

More Easy But Fancy Looking Halloween Cupcakes Decorating Idea

With these fancy Halloween picks, making festive looking cupcakes for Halloween is just a matter of a poke!! 12 picks for $4.92.

Box Up Your Halloween Treats With These Spider Gift Boxes

For your VIP trick-or-treaters like your own children and your family, these gift boxes with cute spider design and divider inserts are perfect for packing up your VIP Halloween cupcakes!  3 boxes for $4.62.

Haunted House For Halloween Cupcakes Display

This 3 tier Halloween haunted house cupcakes holder can make a festive centerpiece when stacked with the wickedly delicious Halloween cupcakes. $10.00 per holder.

Decorative Spider Web Cupcake Wrapper

Serving cupcakes wrapped in decorative paper Spider Web will delight any Halloween trick-or-treaters.  12 wrappers for $8.99. 

Halloween Skeleton Cupcake

A Halloween Skeleton Cupcake Wrap can easily turn an ordinary everyday cupcake into a special Halloween treat. 18 cupcake wraps for $9.15.

Halloween Skeleton Hand Glasses

How can we pick our poison on Halloween to only drink it in an ordinary glass?  These skeleton hand glasses are the most fitting for the scariest dinner party of the year.  $18.35 for one dozen glasses.

Halloween Party Favor Boxes

These cutout boxes are great for packing up those Halloween candies and cookies.  Put flameless candles in them and they can serve as lanterns for showing the way to trick and treating.

Halloween Plastic Spider Web Bowls

What is Halloween without spiders and spider webs?  Fill these spider web bowls with Halloween candies and use them as centerpieces on a Halloween dining table. Each bowl is $8.16.

Turn Wine Into Scary Halloween Potion

These fun Halloween wine bottle snickers can add a lot of fun to a Halloween dinner party for the adults.  Making Halloween potion is never quicker and easier.  Halloween is no longer for kids to go door-to-door asking "Trick or Treat",  it's when adults can go around and ask for "Potion or Wine"!  8 labels in 4 Halloween designs are only $6.95 (free shipping). 

How Peanuts Can Go Wrong With Salted Caramel

We love salted caramel on all our desserts and we are huge fans of Planters roasted peanuts.  So we were so excited when Planters launched the new Salted Caramel Peanuts.  After chewing on a few of these peanuts, our first reaction was to want to spit them out.  We couldn't believe how salted caramel didn't pair well with roasted peanuts.  How could that be???  We always drizzle caramel sauce and sprinkle peanuts on our vanilla ice-cream.  We were totally shocked by how weird the Planters  Salted Caramel Peanuts tasted.  A further look at the container helped us realize why.  It was the "artificial flavor" that ruined our beloved Planters peanuts.  We don't understand why anyone will bother to add artificial flavor to something good.  Just when  did  anything "artificial" ever taste any good?   This is a really disappointing product and we couldn't stand the artificial caramel flavor to take a second mouthful, we just tossed the whole container into the trash.

Fluffy French Toasts - Classic Burger Cafe

Written by: Jane Ong

Sometimes I wake up craving for French Toasts in the morning.  But whenever I didn't feel like going into the kitchen to make French Toasts,  I went to get them at the usual diner I frequent. I like the big thick fluffy French Toasts there and I think it's a good deal for under $5.00.  I of course have had French Toasts that tasted similarly delicious at much prettier restaurants, but they were expensive.

Every afternoon between 2:00pm to 3:00pm, this little dinner is jam packed with students from the nearby schools.   Its low price menu and its generous portion are the reasons.  I haven't tried any other items on the menu other than French Toasts, which are pretty good and actually better than the ones at several of the restaurants that I love.

Restaurant: Classic Burger Cafe
Address: 622 Torrance Blvd, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Phone:(310) 316-2224
Hours: Friday 6:30 am – 9:00 pm

Zucchini Chicken Sausage Stir Fry

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

Handling raw meat can be daunting for any new cook, particularly for those who are squirmish with touching or looking at any bloody raw animal flesh. Marinating and cooking raw meat also means longer preparation and cooking time.  Fortunately, there is always a quick and delicious recipe that doesn't trigger the raw meat trauma. This dish is easy and quick to cook.  It tastes good and doesn't require precise and fussy measurement or timing.  Inexperienced cooks can just chop up something and toss something, add a pinch of this or a drizzle of that; and it would still taste good because the store bought sausage is already pre-cooked.

Ingredients: (For 2 servings)

• 2 links of sliced fully cooked chicken sausage (Al Fresco Spinach & Feta Chicken Sausage)
• 2 sliced zucchini
• 1/4 sliced yellow onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons regular soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons low sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

Directions:

1. Mix sugar with soy sauce, stir well and set aside.
2. Heat wok or large skillet with canola oil on medium high, brown the sausage, about 3 minutes, flip the sausage once in between browning time, set aside on a plate.
3. To the same wok or skillet, add minced garlic and stir fry until fragrant.
4. Add onion and zucchini to 3) above and stir fry for about 3 minutes, sprinkle the chicken broth and cook for about 2 minutes, then add the soy sauce mixture from 1) and cook until the sauce begins to dry up.  
5. Add the sausage from 2) above and stir well for about 30 seconds, transfer to a warm plate. Serve with steamed Jasmine rice.

Shrimp Asparagus and Penne For Two

Content contributed by: Jane Ong

I used to order Pasta dishes very often in restaurants.  Now, eating out everyday is banned by my husband because he wants to save for the down payment to purchase our own home.  He told me to learn how to make pasta at home.  But I'm too afraid to learn to cook anything that involves raw meat or raw seafood. When I was at the meat and seafood sections at the grocery store, I felt somewhat phobic and somewhat overwhelmed.  These feelings reminded me why I couldn't go to medical school like my dad always wanted me to....  Anyway, I went to get a bag of  Bertrolli  Frozen Shrimp, Asparagus & Penne Dinner instead.  While it doesn't taste as good as the one that I had in Italian restaurants, it's  pretty close and it's the best tasting frozen dinner that I ever had so far that is  close to a "real" meal. It's unlike the pitiful TV dinners that taste fake to me. One bag provides a satisfying meal for my husband and I at 450 calories each.  It's only $6.49 a bag,  and it may be cheaper than cooking from scratch? I won't know since I don't cook much. I will definitely buy this again.

The actual dinner itself of course doesn't look like the photo on the bag. But it tastes good enough for me to like it  when  dining at an Italian restaurant is not an option. 

Buttery Apple Biscuits

Content contributed by Jane Ong

When I first met my mother-in-law before I married my husband, she offered me biscuits at a breakfast she made.  I remember how I was taken by surprise when I saw them.  All my life, I had  biscuits that looked very different and then I later found out Americans call the biscuits I had learnt in my English class back home  "cookies" or "crackers".   One bite into my MIL's American biscuit, I decided that I didn't like it.  It was too salty for me and then it had that  hint of bitterness that turned me off. I remember how I used to fight with my sister over the "biscuits" back home when I was little.  I was shocked to find out that there would actually be a kind of "biscuits" in the world that I dislike.  My mother-in-law later told me proudly that those biscuits were really easy to make and they were from her favorite Pillsbury's biscuits from the tube...

I had stayed away from all biscuits ever since, until I found  this recipe.  I was determined  to learn to bake something simple and easy.  After browsing through ton loads of recipes online, I finally found this recipe that is short, that doesn't seem to take too much time, that doesn't seem to need a mixer, a blender, a food processor, a mold, or other gadgets.  I was initially skeptical about it because it was a recipe for making biscuits and I thought I didn't like biscuits.  I decided to risk a second try at it though.

But no matter how short and simple a recipe is, a dumb cook in training like me can still encounter complications.  The recipe instructs me to cut in butter. But I absolutely have no idea what it really means.  Cut with what? How to cut?  My butter was already cut into pieces when I dumped them into the bowl... I just didn't get it.  Anyway, I just mixed everything together with my own two hands since I didn't know what to do next after I had the flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl...

Since I don't own a rolling pin, I used my hands to pat down the dough.  I also don't own any biscuits cutter so I used my glass to cut the biscuits.  Regardless of everything I lack of as a new cook, I'm very happy that I gave this biscuit recipe a try.  These biscuits are so delicious and buttery.  The apples and the molasses made the biscuits super tasty.  It's amazing how my perception about food can change if only I keep an open mind and give it a second chance.

Anyway, my husband and I love these biscuits so much we ate them all already.  Thank god that the recipe only makes six so I'm not feeling as guilty.  (Click here for the recipe.)

Country Fried Steak - Good Stuff

Written by: Jane Ong

I love country fried steak for breakfast. I had this yesterday morning for a second time in this month, at a restaurant that is very loved by the locals. There is always a long line every weekend, but it was well worth the wait. I had country fried steak in some diners before that gave me a really stuffy and sick feeling afterwards. I guess it could be the low quality of old oil, the gravy, or the meat. But this restaurant makes fried steak that tastes really good and fresh; and it gave me a good clean feeling afterwards instead of that bloated and stuffy feeling. I just wish I could have it again now.

Restaurant: Good Stuff
Address: 1617 S Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Phone: (310) 316-0262

Manpuku Japanese BBQ

Written by: Jane Ong

Sawtelle Boulevard in West Los Angeles is lined with lots of Asian restaurants, from Chinese to Vietnamese to Japanese to Korean.  It's the place to go for lunch because of the many options in East Asian cuisines.  But parking in the area can be very difficult and seating may be hard to find in some of the most popular restaurants.  Just when we were feeling frustrated by the long waiting list in each of the restaurants we strolled by, we were so happy to find Manpuku to have plenty of seats available for us.  Besides, we couldn't resist the enticing  fragrance of the Japanese table BBQ that was drifting by.  With our short lunch hour, we didn't feel like barbecuing ourselves at the table so we ordered the lunch special BBQ bento.  It was a decent and balanced meal even though it wasn't  as good as the Japanese BBQ we normally did at the table top.  The meats were just not as good in quality as the ones we had in other Japanese BBQ joints but they were decent and they tasted good enough for a no fuss quick lunch. We rate it a 6 out of 10 for lunch.  We intend to go back sometime for dinner  to try out their table top BBQ menu. 

Restaurant: Manpuku
Address: 2125 Sawtelle Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90025
Tel: (310)-473-0580

Santouka Ramen

Written by: Jane Ong

Santouka Ramen is one of the many Japanese ramen shops in Southern California.  While it's definitely not the best Japanese ramen I had tasted in America, it tastes pretty good in terms of flavor. The skinny ramen used in this shop is very different in taste and texture compared to the thicker and more chewy ones used by other ramen shops. But  it does blend very well with their rich and flavorful broth.  The texture of the cha-shu   pork is sometimes mouth melting and sometimes tougher and less flavorful.  It never tasted the same to me for each visit.  I guess it all depends on the cut and quality of the meat available at the time and how the various cooks handle the slow cooking process.  The spices in the meat and the broth on the other hand tastes relatively consistent.  Like all Japanese ramen shops, Santouka Ramen has pretty tasty marinated eggs.  Since I personally don't like runny eggs, I prefer the eggs at Santouka to the traditional runny eggs in other ramen shops.  The rice bowl there isn't too impressive though.  Besides, it's just too much carb when consumed with the carb loaded ramen.  I usually order a bowl of noodle with an egg for an extra charge and I don't like ordering the combo that includes the rice bowl.

Overall, it's a pretty decent ramen shop for those of us who want a quick and low budget Japanese meal but don't want to venture out into Little Tokyo near downtown LA.  I rate this ramen shop a 7 out of 10.

**Featured in the above photo is Spicy Tonkatsu Ramen Combo at Santouka Ramen.  Address: Mitsuwa Market Pl, 21515 Western Ave, Torrance, CA 90501.  Tel: 310-212-1101.

Pad Thai With Crispy Fried Oysters

Top Chef contestant Dale Talde is known for creatively tweaking Asian classics.  He did it again in this video by showing us how to introduce new flavor to our favorite Pad Thai by adding crispy fried oysters.

The Best & Freshest Lobster at Quality Seafood Inc.

Written by: Jane Ong

For years I have been walking by this seafood place and I have heard a lot of people recommending it to me.  I never ate there until today because in the past when I had a job, I could only walk by this place during the weekends and the crowds and lines of people always deterred me from stopping by to give this place a try.

Today, my husband took me there and we spent around $50 to pick out our live lobster, a piece of garlic bread, 2 diet cokes, 2 slaws, 1 garlic butter sauce and 1 crab sauce. After I picked out a very energetic lobster that was kicking vibrantly, it was weighted by the counter helper there and we paid and watched him dump the kicking lobster in a transparent plastic bag, mark it with a marker, tie it and throw it in the steamer. We were also given a vibrating pager and was told that we would be paged 20 minutes later to pick it up.  Is it healthy to cook food inside a plastic bag in an extremely hot steamer??  I had never seen a lobster cooked this way.

The label on the tank said the lobster was from the East Coast, but where exactly I have no idea and the helper there couldn't answer me when I asked.  It may not be the famous Maine Lobster because if it is, then why can't the label just say "Maine Lobster"?  I wish this seafood market could put better labeling on the seafood trays and tanks because I couldn't tell where exactly any of them was from by reading the label. There was no label regarding the origin.

After seeing our lobster get tossed into the steamer, we went to the other side of the seafood market to order and pay for our drinks, bread and sauces.  There was no complementary sauce or anything there, even a lemon had to be bought.  We were given 2 wooden hammers and wet napkins or bucket for shells were not available.  The service was totally DIY. There was  unlimited supply of  free Spanish language newspapers for us to grab to line our table for the shells though.

As for the seating area, I give it zero star out of 5 because the stone tables and seats were kind of filthy. The seating area was extremely unpleasant according to my personal dining experience. It was right inside the parking structure and noisy with cars driving by with smell of exhausts.  Besides the cars, there were also lots of seagulls traffic  underneath my feet eating food debris, or flying around me in close proximity looking for food. There were moments when I was worried that one of them might actually land on our table and dig into our lobster. I was startled a couple times when some of them flapped their huge wings right next to me, taking flight, jumping from one table to the next.  I was also worried that some of the seagulls droppings may fall into our food. But luckily, that didn't happen.

Dining area is inside the noisy parking structure. The space is too confined, and cramped with smelly big trash cans around.  Lots of seagulls were flying and hanging out there. The tables can be dirty with seagulls dropping and food debris.  Whichever table we picked, there was always a big trash can really close by.  There is no air ventilation so when it's crowded in the summer weekends, it can get really hot and stuffy.

Even though we were very shocked when we were paged and handed over our steamed lobster in a really hot, dangling and dripping plastic bag, (we thought it was going to be on a plate or something), the lobster tasted exceptionally fresh and delicious.  The last time I had lobster like this was when I visited my family in Hong Kong a couple years ago. Live lobsters imported from Maine, Australia and New Zealand are widely available there and they are one of my favorites when eating out. But since I moved to California, I haven't had lobster tasted as fresh and delicious as the ones back home, until today.  For the lobster, I give it a 5 star out of 5.  The diet coke was however too watery. The garlic bread tasted somewhat stale and  tasted to be those from the supermarket bread isle which I always avoid because I don't like the smell, the taste or the texture of them. The slaw wasn't good either and we stopped eating it after a couple of spoonfuls.

So the lobster was the only fantastic thing from our dining experience at this place.  We will not go back and eat there again because of the disgusting dining environment.  We will however go back with our cooler and buy a live lobster and bring it home and cook in our own kitchen.  I don't recommend people eating there because there is no clean bathroom, and nowhere and no napkin to wash up after cracking lobsters and crabs.

As for the fried seafood there, I took a look and they didn't look too fresh or appetizing to us. The frying oil in the air smelled kind of old and rancid to me. This is another reason for not eating there, particularly for those who have respiratory problems.  Frying is for seafood  that is not too fresh anyway, the best way to eat fresh seafood is either eat it steamed or raw. So I personally don't recommend any of the fried seafood there.

This place sells really fresh  live lobster. I recommend bringing a cooler to buy the live lobster and cook it at home instead.

I'm glad I finally gave this place a try but I really don't understand why it's such a popular dining destination even though it's a pretty good lobster market.

Lovely Brass Napkin Rings

Set of 12 for $52.00

Cheaper than gold and yet as elegant, these beautifully crafted brass napkin rings will make an elegant and tasteful statement in any dining table.

Utensil Containers That Keep Spoons and Spatulas Beautifully Together

At $12.00, this beautiful container decorates and organizes the kitchen counter. 

With the spoons and spatulas all within a beautiful sight, we will never have to keep buying duplicates because we go nuts after we can't find them in the dozen drawers we frantically open.