June Throwbacks! + Quick Vietnamese Crab Soup Recipe

Honestly, June has been a tough month for me. I was having intense summer classes every single day so I couldn't really focus on anything else. I'm on a short vacation right now and I'll be going back to school tomorrow... However, I still managed to have fun with my friends because it's summer! So for this post, I will be posting pictures about some remarkable June events. I want to show you guys a glance of my life in Boston! ~ 

1/ Samurai Sushi - 827 Boylston Street (next to Apple Store) 

Lovely Korean-Japanese restaurant on Boylston! I highly recommend Pink Lady (pink ones with spicy mayo on top); my all-time Samurai favorite! Even though the prices seem a little bit higher than other sushi places, they do serve bigger portions. I'd also like to try the Shrimp Teriyaki some day cuz I heard it's pretty good too! ~ 

2/ Pho Pasteur - Chinatown 

Hmmm... I was craving for Hu Tieu Nam Vang (Phnom Penh Noodle Soup) so I went straight to Pho Pasteur hoping that they would have it. And yes, they do have it, but it's not what I was looking for at that moment. The authentic one usually includes shredded pork slices, fresh shrimps, pork liver, even beef balls sometimes. However, they served me a bowl of imitation crab meat, fish cake and some other stuff, which is totally... weird?

3/ Homemade Vietnamese street food - Stir fried corn with fried shrimps 

Super yummy! :) The crunchiness of fried shallots, fried dried shrimps along with the softness and sweetness of the corn make such a perfect combination! :)

4/ BBQ Day

Fun BBQ Day out at Larz Anderson Park, Brookline. We rented out 2 BBQ spaces in the park and brought our own food (meat, corn, sausages, shrimps, etc.). It was really fun and exciting! :) I also brought some seasoning spices to marinate the meat because I thought it would be more tasty. I was grilling the food so I didn't have time to take any pictures besides the one above. But if there's another chance, I will definitely take lots of pictures and share them with you guys! :)

5/ Vietnamese food night

All of these dishes are marinated with the same ingredients: garlic, shallot, salt, pepper, a bit of sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, vegetable oil (to keep to moist), etc. 

You guys will need to prepare caramel sauce before cooking these dishes. You guys can simply heat up a pan with some vegetable oil/canola oil in it, then add sugar until it turns brown. After that, turn the heat off to cool down the pan and add in some fish sauce. Then, turn the heat up again and add in the main ingredients. 

Caramelized Shrimp and Pork Belly

Caramelized Pork Spare Ribs

Caramelized duck tongues (Super yummy)

*However, you need to soak the duck tongues in white wine + ginger for 10-15 minutes prior to cooking. After that, you need to wash them extra clean under running cool water to remove the odor. 

6/ Vietnamese crab soup (with shark fin, abalone, fried fish swim bladder?, quail eggs and shredded chicken)

This recipe takes a long time to prepare but only takes about 15-30 minutes to cook. 

Quick recipe here: 

1/ Boil the water and put the pork bones in and shimmer for about 2 hours. After shimmering for 1 hour, put in a cube of sugar/1 tablespoon of rock sugar (to keep the stock clear). You can also substitute with a peeled onion as well. 

2/ Meanwhile, soak the shark fin in a bowl of luke warm water along with white wine and some slices of ginger (to remove the fishy smell). After an hour, wash it gentle under running cool water and steam it. You can put it in a small bowl and then put the bowl in a pot (pour about 1/4 -1/3 water in the pot; just enough to steam the shark fin). Steam for about 30 minutes over low-medium heat. 

3/ Cut the abalone in small pieces. In the picture above, I haven't cut the abalone yet. 

4/ Soak the fried swim bladder (I took about 3 pieces) in about 10 minutes along with white wine and salt/ginger (to remove the fishy smell). After that, wash them gentle under cool running water. Then, cut them into small pieces. 

5/ Put 10 quail eggs in a pot and bring to boil over high heat. Wait about 5-10 minutes then peel the eggs under cool running water. 

*Tip: If the eggs are easy to peel, they are completely cooked. If not, then the eggs are just somewhat cooked. 

6/ Stir fry the crab meat over medium heat with some seasoning until slightly brown

7/ Put one small piece of chicken in the shimmering pork bones pot until the chicken is fully cooked then take it out. Wait for it to cool and then start tearing it off to small pieces. 

8/ After shimmering the pork bones for about 2 hours, take the pork bones out. Start putting processed ingredients such as stir fried crab meat and boiled shredded chicken in. 

9/ After that, put in 2-3 beaten eggs and stir well. 

10/ Start putting in the rest of the ingredients (except for quail eggs) and start seasoning your soup. I put in some chicken stock/chicken powder, salt, pepper and fish sauce.

11/ Then, in a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of tapioca starch/corn starch with 1/3 bowl of water then put it in the pot slowly. Keep stirring until the soup reaches the desired stickiness. You can put in the quail eggs now. 

12/ After that, you can either put in the sesame oil and chopped green onions in the pot or garnish them on top of the bowl before serving. 

Ta-dah! ~ You now have a delicious bowl of Vietnamese high quality soup! The reason why I called it 'high quality' is because I used a lot of expensive and nutritious ingredients for this recipe. You can also make this soup without using abalone and shark fin as well! It'd still taste super delicious! :) 

7/ Hotpot night 

I prepared the hotpot soup all by myself and it turned out to be sooooo good. I boiled the pork bones in about 2-3 liters of water (depends on how many people are eating) and shimmer in 2 hours over low heat. After that, I separate the soup into 2 portions, one is spicy and the other one is not (for vegetables and non-spicy eaters). Then, I season the two portions with the same seasonings; the only difference is that I put chili powder and chili peppers in the spicy portion for extra spiciness. 

For the side dishes, we bough beef balls, tong ho, mushroom, sliced beef, marinated chicken, tofu, fish cake, fish tofu, fried bean curds, etc. 

8/ Sunny summer in Boston

Yes, it's really really hot in Boston at the moment and it's gonna be the same until the end of September. Lots of people gathered at the fountain near Prudential and Church of Scientology to play with the water ~ 

9/ Father's Day: Dimsum and Haymarket 

I called my dad on Father's Day but he didn't pick up. So I sent him a message and he replied me the day after saying "Thank you my sweetheart!" ~ Gosh! How I miss my family! :( 

It's summer! It's Sunnies time ~ 

Haymarket was really crowded at the time we were there. I also saw a lot of tourists going around. The food in Haymarket is not excellent but it's not bad either; it's acceptable. I was craving for some American food at that time so I ordered a hot dog and a lobster soup from... some restaurants I don't remember...

Blue is perfect for the summer because it's a cool color; it relieves your stresses! 

Dimsum in Bubor Chacha. It's not the best and not the worst; it's somewhere in the middle. I was hoping that we could get a seat in Gourmet Dumpling House but it was so packed that we had to go to Bubor Chacha.

Walking around Boston Common ~ so sunny in Boston! Remember to put on some sunscreen before going out to protect your skin!

More entries coming soon! 

Have a nice summer, everyone! 

Cher Vo

June 30, 2013

Green tea (Matcha) Langue de Chat Cat's Tongue Cookies Recipe!

Hmmm... I'm officially obsessed with green tea! 

So I decided to add a new flavor to my 'midnight baking' session. I was about to bake some langue de chat cookies because I was craving for some sweet yet light desserts. And I suddenly thought about adding some matcha powder to the cookie mix to create a new taste and smell to my cookies! And they turned out to be sooooooo good and fresh! They are crunchy outside yet soft inside, not too sweet and light weighted! Let's get started with these awesome green tea langue de chat! 

Ingredients:

1/ 1/2 Cup - 1 Cup of all purpose flour (depends on how you like your cookies to be; if you want them to be soft, use 1/2 Cup; if you're like me and want the cookies to be on the "crunchy" and "floury" side then use 1 Cup)

2/ 1 stick or 1/4 Cup of Unsalted Butter (I actually used 1 1/4 stick because I love the buttery taste!)

3/ 1/2 Cup of confectioners sugar/granulated sugar (I personally find this a bit too plain so I put more, put if you're on diet or you don't like sweet, this enough is already enough)

4/ 3 medium egg whites

5/ 2-3 tablespoons of green tea matcha powder

6/ 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract

7/ Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (Optional)

Materials:

1/ 1 medium bowl

2/ Whisk/Hand mixer

3/ Spatula

4/ Aluminum foil/Baking sheet

5/ Baking tray

Let's begin baking!

1/ Line the baking trays with aluminum foils/baking sheet. My recipe can make 2-3 dozens so I lined 2 baking trays. 

2/ Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F/ 200 degrees C

3/ In a medium bowl, put 1 stick butter in by cutting them into small pieces or cubes. Or you can use soften butter at room temperature as well (I actually recommend soften butter because it would be easier to blend and it would give the cookies a better texture) 

*Note: Don't microwave the butter to melt it down because it's gonna turn into liquid which would make your cookies turn out to be TOO soft. I recommend putting the butter outside for about 10-15 minutes before baking to soften it (room temperature). 

4/ Measure 1/2 Cup of confectioner sugar and put it in the same bowl. Then mix them together until fluffy!

5/ In another bowl, separate the egg whites and egg yolks. 

6/ Pour in the 3 egg whites (1 at the time and mix well before putting another one in). Mix until combined. 

7/ Put 1/2-1 Cup of all purpose flour in

Also put in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Then mix everything well together

8/ Put in 2-3 tablespoons of green tea matcha powder

If you want the cookies to have better color, add in a few drops of green food coloring.

After that, use a spatula to blend everything until combined. 

9/ Put the mixture in a ziplock bag with a tip. Or, you can use a scissor and cut the corner of the ziplock bag to create your own tip! 

OPTIONAL: You can add some cookie chunks/chocolate chips in the mixture and make choco green tea langue de chat cookies! 

10/ Squeeze the mixture onto the baking tray (3" each) and bake the cookies for about 6-7 minutes. You should check the cookies regularly because these cookies are really easy to be cooked. 

If your cookies are still not done after 6-7 minutes or the center of the cookies are still kind of wet then you can flip your cookies downwards and leave them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 1-2 more minutes. 

Bake until the edges are golden brown/slightly brown and your cookies are done! ~ 

11/ Cool on baking sheet for about 1-2 minutes then move them to cool completely on a cooling rack and your cookies are ready to be served!

Plain green tea langue de chat on the left and mini chocolate chips green tea langue de chat on the right. They both taste fantastic. The plain ones are more buttery and not that sweet while the choco chips ones are somewhat bitter-sweet. You can also add other ingredients (up to your own reference!)

Cheers!

Cher Vo

June 30, 2013

Chanel CC Cream :)

What is CC Cream?

CC Cream, also known as correction complete/color control cream, is the all-on-one complexion perfecter that acts as both a skin-care and makeup product. 

The difference between CC Cream and BB Cream is that the texture of CC Cream is lighter so it's smoother when applying and it would give you a less oily/greasy finish. 

Chanel CC Cream

This time, I would have to say that I'm fully satisfied with this Chanel CC Cream! It's the best CC Cream that I have ever used! It's even better than the Dior BB Cream that I thought was the best! It beautifies your skin at the same time as nourishing it. It blends out really quickly and gives you a great covering. I wouldn't say it's a light-weight product but it is currently the lightest CC Cream/foundation that you can find on the market. 

Moreover, CC Cream is just imported to the U.S. a few days/a week ago because I got it on the first day it got to the U.S. And the only available tone was 20 Beige, which is the lightest one. Fortunately, it's perfect for my skin tone! And I'm totally in love with this product after 1-2 weeks of using it. I now use it every single after putting on the Elizabeth Arden facial anti-aging serum as a base. It really compliments your skin tone a lot. It does brighten your skin but not like ghost-white! It's more fair and warm. 

The reason why I prefer CC Cream is that it provides more coverage while nourishing my skin. And this CC Cream from Chanel also offers SPF 30 and PA+++ which also acts as a sunscreen! This will protect you from the damaging UVA and UVB rays, especially in the summer when it tend to be more sunny outside. When I use this CC Cream, I don't need to put on any concealer, highlighter or skin corrector because it also treats and covers uneven skin tone effectively! 

This is how the packaging looks like! :)

Chanel CC Cream combines 5 actions in 1 single step:

1. Soothes sensitive skin
2. Moisturizes and gives skin hydration
3. Protects skin from the damaging UVA-UVB rays
4. Prevents external aggressions
5. Evens out imperfections

This is the swatch of Chanel CC Cream and how it looks like after applying. It blends, evens out my skin tone effectively and gives my face that natural look. For some reasons, it just doesn't show up on pictures, at all. But it really works for me!

And the one thing that surprised me after all is that my skin looks even better after removing makeup. It gives my skin a glowy effect and a flawlessly radiant complexion every single time. It's really hard to see in the pictures because of the light (And my skin is not that yellow!)

The things that I love about Chanel CC Cream:

• Perfume scent upon application but will soon fade away (still smell really good after all)
• Long-wearing - makes it a good choice for summer!
• Nourish your skin while giving you that perfect natural look! 
• Packaging is travel-friendly, thin squeezable tube. 
• Gives your skin a lot of hydration
• Evens out our skin tone effectively (say goodbye to concealer/long-wearing foundation)

Down sides:

• Even though it's the lightest CC Cream you can find on the market, it's still somehow a little bit heavy-weight
• It tends to get a bit greasy at the end of the day but it's still better than other BB Cream products that I have used so far
• You cannot really use it for the nighttime because it has SPF in it... and it's just unsuitable. 
• If you don't have pale skin, you would find this product to be a little bit light. However, I was talking to the Chanel saleswoman the other day and she said Chanel would be selling 2 darker tones very soon, so be patient!

Etude House CC Cream

This is Etude House CC Cream. As you can see, the texture is very glitter-like and TOO white. I don't know why it doesn't show up on pictures but it looks uneven/too light on my hand. 

I have tried Etude House CC Cream before and unfortunately it was a bad experience. The texture was glitter-like and pretty sticky when applying on the face. Moreover, there is only one color which is TOO light for me as an Asian (even though Etude House is a Korean based company). If you have super duper bright/pale skin, Etude House CC Cream is a good choice for you. 

So hopefully you've had a good idea of what CC Cream is and how Chanel CC Cream has worked for me! :)

06/17/13

- Cher