American Idol Fans, Here's Something For Ya

Sometimes I scratch my head at the things hubby decides to purchase for the kids. Do 3 and 5 year olds really need to have Pop-Tarts decorated with American Idol trivia? Granted, C knows who Simon, Paula, and Randy are, and he likes the music, but I don't think he'd be entertained by AI trivia. By the way if you can't make it out and are you're dying to know, Bucky Covington is a twin.

Bitter Melon (Kho Qua) with Eggs

When I was a wee girl back in the day, my mom would put some bitter melon in my rice bowl and tell me to eat it because "it's good for you" and it will "cool you down". I'd smile and say "cam on", which means thank you in Vietnamese, and then when she wasn't looking, I'd push the bitter melon underneath my rice. Why? Because I knew that after a while, I'd start to accumulate things like bones and whatnot that would continue to hide that piece of bitter melon as I finish up my rice. And when dinner was over, I'd dump the bones along with the lovely piece of bitter melon.

To this day I still can't stand the taste of bitter melon, but I can tolerate it if I hold my nose while eating it. Anyways, for those of you who like bitter melon (and I last night, I found out my two year old, J, likes it), or for those who haven't and would like to be adventurous, here's a simple and supposedly healthy recipe for you, courtesy of my mom. Variations of this dish is found in many cuisines, including Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, and Japanese.

You will need four bitter melons:

Cut them up, and scoop out the seeds:

...and then slice them up further into strips:

Prepare the egg batter by mixing 6 eggs, a quarter cup of chopped cilantro, a quarter cup of chopped green onions, about 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and a dash of pepper:

Now mince two cloves of garlic and stir fry the bitter melon strips for about 5 minutes with the garlic and a few tablespoons of oil until the melon is soft but not soggy. You can sprinkle about a tablespoon of salt over the bitter melon strips to keep them from becoming soggy. Add in an extra teaspoon of sugar to flavor the melon strips.

Then add the egg batter and gently scramble it with the bitter melon until the egg is done, about five minutes.

Enjoy your bitter creation, and if you believe what my mom was telling me last night, drink some water afterwards and the water will taste so sweet. So do you like your bitter melon or can you do without it?

Ya Want Some Dong Gua, Don'tcha?

Last weekend, my mother-in-law gave me this gigantic and amazingly fresh wintermelon (dong gua in Chinese, bi dao in Vietnamese) that she grew in her own backyard. So of course I made traditional wintermelon soup with it. You can find wintermelon in asian supermarkets. They have a mild, refreshing taste to them, almost like a cucumber. Did you know you can keep unopened wintermelon for months and then cook them in the winter? Hence the name wintermelon.

To make good wintermelon soup, the secret is in the stock. I simmered a few chicken bones and a tablespoon of ground pork in two quarts of water for about two hours.

In the meantime, wash 8 shitake mushrooms (I used dried since I didn't have any fresh on hand). Then, cut into the wintermelon and scoop out the seeds. Peel, wash, and cut into large chunks about a quarter of a large wintermelon. I also like tofu skin in my soup:

I usually get the sheets of tofu skin, but Ranch 99 didn't have any, so I got these rolls of tofu skin instead. Tofu skin is actually the sheets that are left over after you boil soybeans for a long time. You can get them dried or fresh. I prefer fresh, but I find that they go bad very quickly, so I always use them within a day after purchase. These are also called yuba in Japanese.

When the stock has been going for an hour and half, add in the wintermelon and the mushrooms and continue simmering. Add in the tofu skin after another 15 minutes and then flavor with about a tablespoon of salt, a tablespoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of black pepper. Simple and healthy.

Guavalicious Smoothie

Two years ago when most of California went through a severe cold spell, the two guava trees we inherited when we moved into our home withered and browned and almost died from frost. I've been waiting patiently, hoping for our trees to bear fruit again. Finally a few weeks ago my hopes were answered. We now have enough to feed ourselves, our families and friends, and those birds!

I love our guavas. They are of the pink variety. Small, but so soft and sweet and so very fragrant. This afternoon I thought I'd fix a quick drink for the boys, so what better way to use up our supply of guava than to make a smoothie.

Guava Banana Smoothie recipe:

Mix in a blender:
4-5 pink guavas
1 banana
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of sugar (or more if desired)

You can certainly strain all of this to get rid of the seeds if you want to, but I usually eat the guava seeds anyways, so I skipped out on the straining. I thought a slice of guava made a beautiful garnish.

Of course you can enjoy the guavas whole...

...or sliced. Look how pretty they are on the inside.

Guavas ripening on the tree: