Sunday Lunch at An Nhau Vietnamese Restaurant

How lucky are we ?!

We get to visit our baby sister at An Nhau Restaurant, with such charming decor and most importantly, delicious dishes. Talk about a pleasent welcome, she ran to me with open arms , so adorable! ! ( wonder if she greets everyone that way )
We decided to sit in the open garden surrounded by cozy gazebos and bamboo. Oddly the weather worked out for us in the month of November. Here I will share what we ordered:

Shrimp Summer Roll served with peanut * traditional sauce

Salt * Pepper Crispy Calamari

Shaken Beef Cubes with Watercress serve with

side of sliced lime and S*P

( squeeze the lime juice into the S*P dish and dip the beef cube, a nice twist and a first for me )

Caramelized Pork Belly, delicately sliced .served with pickle greens

do i need to say more.... just that i'm getting hungry posting this.

Slow Drip Espresso with Sweet Condense Milk

A little bird told me something lovely is going to happen to the Garden*

Definitely Returning..

For location information and to view the complete An Nhau Menu ,click HERE*

Previous An Nhau post : http://cookng.blogspot.com/2009/09/little-vietnamese-girl.html

Dried Beancurd Pork Barley Soup - Fu Jook Tong

I think this is the best soup I ever made! This was the first time I made it and I think I nailed it! I wish I can say the same of all my dishes. The results vary a lot especially when working with new ingredients. I love this soup and all its wonderful ingredients. Chinese soup is so enjoyable and simple to make.

Ingredients: A

• pork neck - parboil first
• dried shitake mushroom - soak until soft
• gingko nuts
• pearl barley
• garlic

Ingredient: B

• dried bean curd sticks -break into desire size ( i like it 1-2") break into bits for creamy texture - soak until soft.

In pot of boiling water add ingredients A, bring to boil again then let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Add * B , the softened beancurd sticks (skin, sheets - there so many variations, looks like a stick and I will call it a stick)

Simmer for 30 mins on low flame.

Seasoning : salt , white pepper , and oyster sauce.

First taste..starts with the bold flavors from the pork and mushroom, then you get the great textures of the barley and gingko nuts and finally a creamy finish with the soy bean curd, some of it melted in the soup.

How lovely ..

This is actually also a base for a very popular dessert,

just remove the pork, mushroom, garlic

and add rock sugar!

Top Chef thoughts

I know. There isn't even a new episode and I'm posting and it's only Tuesday. BUT! Checked the Bravo site today and saw this: http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/photos/top-chef-out-and-about-in-nyc

Why do they do this? This obviously is a recent party and why is Kevin the only one there. Perhaps because he is the WINNER??? Why do they do this?

Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

I spoke to baby cookng yesterday and she did not mention the password. I've started to feel bad about calling her out so publicly. To her defense she has posted on the blog in the last 10 days and I love that she asked me for my recipe so here goes...

This is a great cookie base for chocolate but you can add any of your favorite cookie items. My favorites are callebut milk chocolate chips and pecans. A few years ago during the holidays I added peppermint bark which was a big hit! I must warn that if you like cake-y cookies with a dry crumb, you will not like these. These are crispy and chewy, perfect for the Cookngs.

• 1 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 stick soft room temperature unsalted butter
• 1/4 stick cold margarine
• 3/4 cup golden brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• chocolate chips, a few handfuls (I personally do not like a lot of chips)
• couple handfuls chopped pecans

1. preheat oven to 350
2. sift dry ingredients together
3. cream butter, margarine, sugars with mixer on med until creamy
4. add vanilla and egg to butter mix
5. incorporate dry ingredients with mixer on low, add in a third at a time
6. fold in chocolate chips and nuts
7. bake for 10 to 13 minutes depending on your oven, start watching them after 10 mins, they are done when edges are brown

My favorite cookies are these and my friend Kristen's oatmeal cranberry cookies. I had to beg to get the recipe from her so you know, its super top secret which means I can't post it. If you're lucky enough to be her friend, you would know about these cookies.

Happy holidays!!!

Chocolate chip cookies

Baby cookng has requested my beloved chocolate chip cookie recipe. It has been a few days and I haven't given it to her yet. She hasn't told me what the secret password is. She doesn't even know that she has to give me a password for it. In truth, this is a test to see how grossly negligent she has been to this blog because if she reads this, she will know she needs to give me the password. Will she know what the password is? Maybe she can ask the other cookng that has been living at a retail store on Madison Ave. This blog misses the triple shift workaholic cookngs.

Hey, don't you guys love Molly? Because if you do, you would read and contribute to this blog. In fact, Molly's new word is "mamawhydoesn'tyeeyeethreeandfivewriteontheblog"