Slow-Cooked Beef Shank

Happy Hump Day!

I made this delicious dish last night because I've been craving it for a while.  My entire family likes it, especially me and the hubby, since we've all had it when we were kids.

Although it super easy to make, it takes a long time.  When I say long, I mean loooonnng.  I started cooking this on Monday.  It was finally done...Tuesday afternoon.  So I'd say it took me about 6-8 hours.  See what I mean?!  Then again, it's actually tastier if you let the shank sit in its broth overnight in the fridge.  So it's a good idea to make this a day ahead.

However, if you own a slow-cooker, I think you just might be able to do this in the slow cooker.  I don't have one - we have so much junk in our kitchen, I REFUSE to add more stuff.  So I do it the old-fashioned way: on the stove.  However, I'd imagine you can prepare everything and dump them all in the slow cooker in the morning, and have a delicious dish ready by dinner time.

Ingredients

2 lbs beef shank
1 tomato
1 onion
5-7 slices of ginger
4-5 pieces of star anise
soy sauce
cooking wine
sugar
oil
green onions, chopped

Instructions

1) Blanch beef shank in hot water.  Cook until all the impurities have floated to the top.  Drain water and rinse.
2) Heat oil in pot, stir fry ginger until fragrant.  Add shank.
3) Fill pot with water, covering shank.  Add soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions
4) Let simmer in soft boil until shank is soft.  It takes awhile if you're doing this on the stove.  Like I said, it took me 6-8 hours.  I had to constantly add water.  I don't know what it's like in a slow cooker though.
5) When done, let cool, store in fridge overnight
6) When ready to serve, cut into thin slices. Garnish with chopped green onion.  Reheat broth and pour about 2 tbsp full over the sliced shank.

What's good about this dish is that you can kill two birds with one stone.  You can use the broth to make - you guessed it, beef noodle soup!  I kid you not, it's the best broth ever!  That's how I served mine last night.  The kids and I had noodles, and the hubby, who's not a fan of noodles, had just the shank and some other vegetables I cooked.  Everyone was happy.

Enjoy!

xoxo,
Lin

Stripes

TGIF!!!

Gosh, it has been so hot this week.  Honestly, when you live in So Cal, you really don't experience an Autumn.  I feel like it goes straight from Summer to Winter.  It's been so hot in the past years during Halloween too.  I guess it's good for the kids with their costumes, since they won't have to double up underneath.

So with this weather, I thought it was fitting to still do a summer look.  Whoever said that you can't wear white after Labor Day clearly hasn't experienced the heat waves we've been having recently.

Stripes are all the rage for a while now.  I have to be honest, I didn't love them before.  But the more I see other people wear stripes, the more I like them.  I have a striped t-shirt, a striped sweater, and now, this cute striped dress.  Pair it with the cutest trend of slip-on sneakers, top it off with a hat, and voila!  You're ready to battle this crazy heat.

Dress: Alice and Olivia

Shoes: Ralph Lauren

Bag: Louis Vuitton

Hat: I bought mine from Amazon, but the beige one is all sold out.  Here's a similar one 

Sunglasses: Tory Burch, old.  Here's a pair of Tory Burch aviators.

Try to stay cool!  My goodness, it's just too hot!

xoxo,

Lin

Seafood and Tofu Casserole

Hi Everyone!  I've been so busy recently with my sons' school - I'm running the school Fall book fair with another mom, and it's just been, non-stop go, go, go!  Everyday has a deadline, everything needs to be done immediately.  I'm telling ya, those people doing your children's school book fairs, they deserve a huge pat on their backs for all the hard work they're putting into the schools.  I would've never thought it would be so hard until I had to run it this year.  It literally is running a real business, and it takes a village to make it work.

The only reason I'm telling you this is because I normally do two posts a week - Tasty Tuesday with a recipe, and Fashion Friday with a "look."  My Tasty Tuesday today is already later than usual.  There might be weeks where I won't do any posts at all!  But I will try my very best.  I love sharing with everyone anything food, fun, and fashion related!

So I got today's recipe from a Chinese cook book.  I will share this recipe since it's not online.  This dish was so good.  I always order this when I go to a Chinese restaurant.  So when I saw the recipe in the cookbook, it was almost like hitting the cooking jackpot.  :)

Ingredients
6 scallops
1/2 lb of shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1 box tofu
1/2 carrot
3 mushrooms (cut in halves)
bamboo shoot (optional - I didn't have any so I omitted it)
1 cup of sweet pea
1 stalk green onion
4 slices of ginger
1 tbsp cornstarch solution (cornstarch + water)
3 cups chicken broth (I used chicken stock - it's more flavorful)

Seasoning
dash of salt
1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp wine

Instructions
1) Marinate shrimp and scallop in salt and 1/2 tbsp cornstarch for 10 min
2) Cut tofu into 1 inch pieces
3) Slice carrot, green onion, and ginger
4) Heat pot, fry shrimps, drain
5) Heat pot with 2 tbsp oil, fry green onion and ginger until fragrant, add mushroom, carrot, tofu, and broth - stir.  Then add shrimp, scallops, and sweet peas.  Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, sugar, and wine.  Thicken with cornstarch solution.  Remove to casserole dish.

Hope you liked this recipe as much as I did!  Please don't limit yourself!  Add fish fillets or squid if you like those too!

xoxo,
Lin

It's All Business

If you're a SAHM like me, we're probably in either workout clothes or jeans all day.  But that doesn't mean we can't dress professionally once in a blue moon.  I like the clean, crisp look of a pair of nice pants and some nice black pumps.  Dressing up professionally just makes me feel a little smarter.  I mean, I stay home and listen to talks of Minecraft and princesses all day.  So, if I can feel a little more "adult" just by dressing more like one, then I'm all for it.

I saw this pair of really cute heels on bananarepulic.com the other day, and again, just had to have them.  It's a bit on the edgy side, but pair them with a pair of nice pants, it actually makes the outfit that much more fun.  So you're looking professional but you still have an edge.  My day-to-day style isn't very adventurous, but I can sneak in little surprises to make an outfit more interesting.

And, let me tell you.  If you don't know already (and I don't know why you wouldn't know), the Portofino Shirts from Express are seriously the most versatile, comfortable, and fabulously structured blouses I have ever seen!  And very well-priced at just under $60!  They're also having a buy one, get one for $19.90 sale going on.  I probably own at least 4 of these shirts.  As far as I'm concerned, they're the best thing since sliced bread!  Depending on the style, you can wear them with shorts and a pair of cute sandals, or wear them with pants and heels like I did in this picture, and head to work looking polished.  Honestly, I love them.

Blouse: Super old from Express, here are a selection of other Potofino Shirts from Express

Pants: Banana Republic

Shoes: Banana Republic

Bag: Chanel, here's a fun but still similar one by Stella McCartney from Nordstrom

What did I say about the shoes?  Aren't they to-die-for?!  Oh, and the Stella McCartney bag I found as a substitute for the Chanel?  I LOVE it!  If I didn't have the Chanel already, I just might get the SM one!  Happy shopping!

xoxo,

Lin

Peppered Beef

I've been wanting to write this post for a while, truth be told, it's because this dish is so amazingly delicious.  Seriously.  I never thought the beef I cook could be so tender.  This recipe calls for black pepper, but I skipped it since my kids won't eat anything remotely spicy.  You can decide whether you want to use it or not.  Either way, it's incredibly yummy.  Your whole family will be asking for more and more servings until it's all gone!

Ingredients
Beef fillet (I just used one rib-eye steak)
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
Marinade:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp wine
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cornstarch
water
Sauce:
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp cornstarch

Instructions
1) Cut beef into 1 inch cubes, then soak in above marinade for 20 minutes
2) Cut onion into slices
3) Mince garlic
4) Run beef through heated oil then remove
5) Heat another 2 tbsp of oil; stir fry onion, then add garlic and sauce described above until thickened.  Add beef and stir fry.

Voila!  Bon apetit!

xoxo,
Lin

Kimono Dress

Happy Friday!

I don't know about you, but I've always loved kimono dresses.  I think they're so beautiful the way they drape over your body.  The fabric used to make these dresses are always a soft and flowy material.  Makes these dresses all the more feminine and beautiful.

I saw this kimono dress on ASOS and just couldn't resist getting it.  I don't even have anywhere fancy to go with this.  So I kept thinking about how I can dress this down for everyday wear.  Hence, I've come up with two different looks for this.  As you can see, accessories, hairstyle, and makeup play big parts in differentiating a casual look from a fancy look.

Casual

Dress: ASOS
Shoes: Tory Burch
Bag: Kate Spade (super old, similar here)
Lipstick: Tarte Amazonian Butter in Pink Peony

Fancy

Shoes: Christian Louboutin

Bag: Saint Laurent

Lipstick: Chanel

Got that dress in your closet that you don't know where to wear to?  Follow this recipe and you can wear it from a stroll at farmer's market to  date night with just a change of accessories!

Happy styling!

xoxo,
Lin

Ketchup Shrimp

I never knew this until I grew up, but my mom is one heck of an awesome chef.  We didn't have much growing up, but my mom would make the most amazing delicacies out of very simple stuff.  The amount of time she would put into each meal, all the chopping, the mixing, dicing, etc, pairing her dishes into something that not only tastes great, but looks beautiful as well.  I thought all mothers cooked like she did.  Who knows, maybe they do, but her food rivals those from restaurants, and to me, they're always the best tasting ones.

So this was one dish she created and I had forgotten about until recently.  I'm not a big fan of shrimp, but these I do like.  I had to start making shrimp because my children like them, so I was wracking my brain trying to think of a tasty way to make shrimp.  Then I remembered my mom's ketchup shrimp.  The sweet and sour flavor combined with the mixture of ginger, garlic, and green onion makes this irresistible.  Eat this over some plain rice, and you'll find yourself not only mixing the sauce into your rice, but licking the sauce off your fingers as well.

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimp (shell attached)
ketchup
ginger, slices
garlic, diced
green onions, diced
salt
wine
sugar
oil

Instructions:
1) Heat oil in large pan
2) Stir fry ginger, garlic, and green onions
3) Add shrimp, stir fry until it's half done
4) Add ketchup, salt, wine, sugar, and a little bit of water.
5) Mix everything, lower heat, cover and let simmer for about 5-8 minutes.
6) Remove lid, turn up heat, and stir fry for another 3 minutes
7) Enjoy!

You can make this dish with shrimp that have been peeled, or with peel still on.  I like it unpeeled, I feel that the peel preserves the moisture a little to prevent overcooking the shrimps.

Hope you liked these shrimps as much as my family did!

xoxo,
Lin

Lady in Blue

Happy Friday!

I was doing my routine Amazon "stalking," (I say "stalking" because I love going through it and seeing what they have to offer) when I saw this cute dress popping up on my screen.  Albeit the model wearing the dress is so much taller than me.  But I couldn't help but notice how comfortable she looks in it!  So naturally, I bought it.  :)

What is not to like?  It's been so hot to the point where I don't feel like I'm roasting, but more like melting.  My skin is practically falling off my bones.  When is this heat wave going to end?  So when I got the dress in the mail, I immediately took off what I was wearing, and put the dress on.  Ahhh...infinitely cooler.

Because I'm not very tall, and the dress is quite long, I decided to pair the dress with strappy heels like the model on Amazon.  I know Stuart Weitzman has these cute scrappy heels that's all the rage these days, but as simple as it looks, which means it will probably stand the test of time, I was still wary of the pricy tag of $400+.  What if the style doesn't last?  So I opted for a less expensive version from Schutz.  As for hair, I wore mine in a bun, contrasting the flowing hem of the dress.  Add some gold bangles, and an adorable tote from Zara, bam!  I was ready to go out in style!  Only...it was a weekday during summer vacation...so, I had no where to go.  LOL!  Hey, at least I looked good for myself for a moment there!  :)

Dress: Blue Pepper Handkerchief Hem Dress from Amazon

Shoes: Here are the Stuart Weitzman ones from Nordstrom, and here are the Schutz ones from Amazon
Bag: Combined Shopper Bag from Zara
Sunglasses: Gucci
Bangles: Really old from J Crew & Nordstrom, here are some really cute collections from Banana Republic

Have a great weekend, and happy shopping!

xoxo,

Lin

Almond Chicken

So I've been looking for more ways to make chicken these days.  My son loves it, and it's a healthier alternative to beef.  The problem was, I had no idea what to do with chicken other than put it in soup and baking it.

Luckily I found this recipe on Pinterest.  The recipe actually calls for cashew.  But I'm not a big fan of cashews myself, and neither are my children.  So I substituted with sliced almonds instead.  And since my husband doesn't like celery, I skipped that as well, and instead used a yellow bell pepper.  I didn't use exact measurements in my version.  I usually just eyeball everything.  After nearly 2 decades of cooking, that comes easy!  Pour this over rice, and you'll have a crowd-pleasing meal.  Although in my family, I always have to make 3 different dishes for dinner - "variety," says the hubby!

Here's the recipe.  Happy cooking!

xoxo,
Lin