921mojo Weblog

Avocaco & Crab Croquettes

921mojo — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:05:59 +0000

Sara Moulton (I’m not sure if she is still on the show but she used to be on Food TV as a chef) does great job going back and forth between hands…one dry hand and the other one wet. I’m talking about the process of “flour–>egg–>panko(breading)”. For example, use your left hand for coating the food with flour, next use your right hand to coat in beaten egg, and then go back to your left hand to coat it with breading so your hands will not end up with looking like “the Hulk”:) I did such a terrible job doing it and had to wash my hands between shaping each croquette.

This recipe suggests to repeat the “flour–>egg” part two times so they will be less likely to fall apart while deep frying. I skipped that part because it was already messy enough. lol! Inside the croquettes are avocados, hard-boiled eggs, crab meat, salt&pepper, and lemon juice.

Family Pictures ~Summer 2008~

921mojo — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:23:27 +0000

We went to a professional photographer to get our family picture taken. My mom had sent Leon this traditional Japanese boy’s kimono months earlier to us, but we were not able to find the perfect time to get it done because of all the after school activities and weekend baseball. It was quite a fun experience in fact. Leon did a great job hamming it up for the camera.

Ooops, here’s the Eggplant Steak

921mojo — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:22:33 +0000

Finding the right eggplants is such a big deal to me. Fortunately, our local store often carries the best looking eggplants:)

I made so many slits in the eggplants hoping that it would shorten the deep fry cooking time and also let them absorb more sauce. I used only half an inch of frying oil but it did not come out throughly cooked after 4 minutes. I had to take them out of the pan before they soak up all the oil and stink up my whole house. I simmered them in vegetable stock diluted in one cup of water for another 10 minutes. I topped it with vegetarian crumbled “meat” cooked with ginger, soy bean paste (miso), sugar, ground sesame and sake. The very top is pickled cherry blossom flowers. The greatest thing is…they are edible! I asked my DH how it tastes, and his answer was…”It tastes like a salty flower”!?!?! Yay!

The lessons I learned are that I should have coated the eggplant with a layer of all-purpose flour before deep-frying and to use peanut oil for a lighter taste.

Udon Salad & Eggplant Steak

921mojo — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:55:56 +0000

I love eating noodles in salad style. This time is with shrimp, wakame-seaweed, and diced tomatoes. I used udon noodles, a thick Japanese noodle I bought from the frozen section of an international grocery store. Just defrost it in running water and add whatever I have in my refrigerator and pantry. It is topped with shiso, Japanese basil. I grow this delicious herb in my garden. This is one of the must-have vegetables in my family. It can only be harvested during summer and that makes us appreciate it even more! The sauce is Japanese mayonnaise. Every single time I have a chance to talk about food, I recommend this mayo. It is totally different from any mayos you get in American grocery stores. Usually, it can be found at Asian stores and it comes in a tube, then packaged in a clear plastic bag with a cute cupid picture. Right before starting the meal, we pour Mentsuyu (soy sauce based noodle soup) over the entire salad.

Hide & Seek in the Forest

921mojo — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:12:24 +0000

It has been a long time since I made a set of top & skirt. I wanted to do some real 3-D design and this is what I came up with. Make a two-layer skirt with appliques on each layer. As the result is this woody forest scenery with happy animal friends playing hide-and-seek! The top represents the sky with rainbow, clouds and this red bird.

Serious Business

921mojo — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:09:42 +0000

It seems like dressing up small children like little version of grown ups is becoming more and more trendy this year. However, I really wanted to seek for the dress that shines only on little girls. I had so much fun mixing and matching all these multinational fabrics and colors.

Daisy

921mojo — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:56:18 +0000

Annette is such a wonderful photographer to work with. She always knows the best suited props for each outfit no matter what style & theme it is. I’m always looking forward to work with her!

Kai-Lan

921mojo — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:03:06 +0000

This set was created upon a request from one of my wonderful customers. I had never watched Kai-Lan show before but now I’m so in love with all these adorable characters.

Usakuma Cherry

921mojo — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:50:57 +0000

How to make a dress light enough so that it won’t be too heavy and tiring for a little girl to be in for a long time…it is always a big concern I have when I make a dress. This is the dress I’m very happy with how it turned out for both the appearance and…weight. The blue & white stripe ripple fabric is so light and gathers perfectly for the ruffles. The four layer look skirt part is actually made of two layers.