Shrimp Cocktail

中文： 鸡尾虾

Is there any appetizer simpler and easier than this one?  I don’t think so.  I love to serve shrimp cocktail when I host a party or have companies because it takes no time to prepare and look great! 

Cocktail sauce is also sold in any grocery store.  I just prefer to make my own version because I like it spicy with a gentle hint of tomato taste. O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

1 pound fresh or frozen jumbo shrimps
1/4 cup siracha hot sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons ketchup
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

Cook the shrimps in boiling water for two minutes.  Drain well and place them in a large plate. 

In a small bowl, combine siracha hot sauce, ketchup, black pepper and salt.  Whisk them together and it is ready to be served with shrimps together.

It is so easy that even people with no cooking skills can nail it too.

Grilled Peach with Ice cream

Summer is coming! O(∩_∩)O~。。。More and more fresh seasonal fruits are popping up in the market.  I bought some yellow peaches on my last grocery shopping trip.  They turn out to be quite tasteless and disappointing.  So I give them a little makeover.  I grill them with brown sugar and top with a couple scoops of ice cream.  Wow! What a huge difference in flavors!  

Ingredients:

4 to 6 yellow peaches
3 to 4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons cooking oil
a couple scoops of ice cream (I prefer vanilla or coffee flavor ice cream)

Directions：

Rinse and pat dry the peaches.  Remove peach cores and cut each peach into 6 wedges. 

In a big bowl, toss the peach wedges with oil and brown sugar until they are evenly coated. 

Heat a grilled pan on medium high.  When the pan gets hot, places peach wedges onto the grill pan cut side down.  Grill about 2 minutes each sides or until they get beautiful grill mark and brown sugar gets caramelized. 

Remove the pan from heat.  Transfer peaches to a bowl or plate, and top them with a couple scoops of ice cream.  I use coffee ice cream this time.  They really go well together. 

Actually you can grill a lot of other fruits in the same way.  But I think the peaches work a lot better than others. O(∩_∩)O~ 

Raisin Brioche Bread

Both my husband and I prefer rich, sweet, fluffy and soft bread.  And I always prefer to make them from scratch at home, not just because they taste better when freshly out the oven but also because I have so much fun in the bread making process.  It feels kind of relaxing and calming when I make bread in my own kitchen.  

I always make them in loaf shape so that I can use the leftover to make brioche French toast which is another breakfast favorite in the house.  (I posted French toast with blueberry sauce before: http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/cinnamon-swirl-french-toast). 

Brioche bread ingredients：

320 g bread flour
2 tablespoons honey
40 g butter, softened and diced
2 large eggs
130 g whole milk
40 g sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
1/8 teaspoon salt
raisins
brown sugar
ground cinnamon
egg wash
white sesame seeds

The whole process is quite similar to the raisin bread I posted before:http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/10/18/2-1

 

Directions：

Heat the milk in microwave for 30 seconds; add the milk to bread machine container; dissolve yeast into the warm milk; and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add eggs, flour, sugar, salt and honey; start dough cycle.  My bread machine (Amazon this one) will knead the dough for 20 minutes and proof for an hour.  When kneading is done, abort the cycle; add diced butter; and start the dough cycle again. It will knead for another 20 minutes, which should be able to get the dough past window panel test.

When the dough is doubled in size, transfer it to a well dusted wooden board.  Gently press down and knead for a minutes; cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces.  Roll each piece out; sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins; and then roll them up from one end.

Braid all three rolls into a large loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan (amazon link); cover; and let it proof again for another 30 to 50 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F/204 C.

Brush the bread with egg wash.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Cover the bread with a large piece of foil if necessary to prevent dark color on top.

Cool the bread on the cooling rack.  Store the bread in a bread bag.

My favorite way to enjoy it is to slice it thinly and tear them apart with my fingers.  

Raspberry Yogurt

Did I mention that the best yogurt I have ever had is my own blueberry yogurt?  Well, the raspberry yogurt here is equally good if not better. 

I love making yogurt at home so that I can have as much berry sauce/jam as I want.  The best part is that no additives are added!   We all know yogurt is really great for digestion and health.  So we should start asking “got yogurt”? 

ingredients：

4 cups of whole milk
1 pack plain Greek yogurt (172g)
2 cups frozen raspberries
1/3 to 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 to 3 tablespoon blueberries
1 to 2 tablespoon water
fresh raspberries
confectioner’s sugar

I have posted homemade yogurt before.  For more detailed information: http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/homemade-blueberry-yogurt

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high until it boils.  It might take 6 to 8 minutes give or take depending on the microwave oven. 

When the milk cools down, remove the milk skin on top.

Empty the plain Greek yogurt to a large clean bowl; whisk until it becomes smooth and runny. 

Gradually add milk while whisking.

Distribute evenly into the glass jars that come with yogurt maker.  Or you can use any small glass jars as long as they can fit in the yogurt maker.

over with lids and place them in the yogurt maker (buy from AMAZON).  Turn it on.  In 5 to 7 hours, transfer them to refrigerator to settle down overnight.  You will have 7 jars of tasty plain yogurt the next day. 

Leave them in the yogurt maker longer if you prefer firmer yogurt texture. 

When the yogurt maker is doing its job, we can make raspberry sauce.

Combine raspberries, blueberries, water, brown sugar and lemon juice in a small pot; heat over medium high heat until it boils.  Reduce the heat to medium low; cook until the sauce thickens up; stir from time to time to prevent burning on the bottom.

Raspberries will lose their beautiful bright red color once cooked for a certain amount of time.  so I add blueberries to make the color more vibrant.  Just a couple tablespoons of blueberries will do the job.  Don’t add too much, otherwise it is going to be dark red or purple instead of red. 

Remove the raspberry sauce from heat.  Allow it to cool down before transfer to a mason jar.  Seal the jar and store in the refrigerator.  It should be able to last for a week.

Add one layer of raspberry sauce to a glass bowl or jar, add one layer of yogurt, and repeat it again.  Sprinkle on top with fresh raspberries and powder sugar.

Isn’t it pretty? 

A Day at Traverse City, Michigan

Michigan’s spring is finally here, hooray!  Last weekend was sunny and warm.  We spent a day in Traverse city.

It was less than 3 hour drive.  When we got there, the farmer market was still crowded.  So we stopped by to check it out.  I scored several yellow tomato plants and guess what, a Goji berry plant!  Goji plant tips are a special treat in my hometown.  I have seen it for years after I came to America.  I bought one and planted it in my vegetable garden, hoping it will grow bigger and bring me back my childhood memory too.

We were planning to have lunch at an Italian restaurant with good reviews. But when we got the front door only to find out that no one was eating inside the restaurant...  Not a good sign at all.  So we switched to another restaurant, Bubba’s. 

It was not a big restaurant and quite crowed.  We waited for about 15 minutes for our table.  The staff here was very nice.  That made good first impression.

When we were waiting, we went over the menu.  So we ordered as soon as the waitress came to our table, who by the way was also super sweet and nice young lady.

Appetizing snacks. 

I ordered steak fajitas, medium rare.

The taste was good.  The steak was a little bit overdone for medium rare.  And the vegetable was a bit too salty for my taste.

The steak came with another large plate and tortillas. 

I made myself a couple delicious steak tacos.

He ordered Bubba’s tacos.  One was steak and the other one was shrimp.  Good flavor and taste. 

What impressed us the most was the service.  Everyone we met in the restaurant was nice and kind. We will definitely go back there again. O(∩_∩)O~
Food ★★★★☆
Service★★★★★
Ambience ★★★☆☆

We decided to do a winery tour on old mission peninsula.  There are many acres of cherry trees there. It was about to be the peak time for cherry blossoms. 

Guess what?  Turned out my guessing was right.  Thousands of cherry trees were blooming.  It was so beautiful!

I wonder why people don’t rush to Traverse City to see cherry blossoms just like cherry festival.  It is like a post card from any angles. 

There are eight or nine wineries on old mission peninsula.  We have 3 to 4 favorites.

First, we stopped by peninsula cellars.

The tasting room was crowded.  And our bartender was very impatient.  Ok, let’s move on to next one. 

We saw a newly opened sign for Bonobo winery.  Got to check it out!

The interior design is very comforting, modern and bright all at the same time.  I liked it already by the first look.  The bartender was very nice and entertaining.  He introduced with very detailed and educating information every single wine he poured for us, which is so awesome!

One of our favorites is Chateau Chantal. 

We bought wine by glasses here.

A glass of tonight for me.  It is very crispy and bubbly.

A glass of Pinot Grigio for him.

Another glass of Pinot Noir.

Well, their glasses are really small。。。。

The best part of this winery is that there is a huge deck just right outside the tasting room.  You can get a beautiful overlook of the hills and Grand Traverse Bay.

We spent most of the afternoon on the deck.  It felt really good to just relax and enjoy the wine and view.

When we got hungry again, we drove back to downtown to have dinner. Earlier I had my eyes on a little street corner surrounded by several food trucks.  We went there directly.

He bought pulled pork tacos from this food truck. 

The taste was good but the pulled pork at the bottom was too dried out.  Vegetable toppings were awesome.

I bought chicken wings in BBQ sauce from this food truck. 

After a really big bite, the chicken wings turned out to be still raw inside.  I took them back and they made me a new batch of chicken wings.

The taste was good.  

We just walked along the streets in downtown area.  Traverse City downtown is quite neat and clean.  The streets are crowded with all kinds of restaurants, coffee shops, and cute little shops. 

We went into a coffee shop round the corner.

I ordered a cup of cappuccino.  He ordered a latte. 

To be honest, the coffees were not good.  Even I can do much better than that. 

On our way home, we parked in a lakeside park to

 enjoy this gorgeous sunset. What a perfect ending it is for such a perfect day!