Taro wrapped Duck

I bought some organic duck breast from a organic farmer, because J loves to eat BBQ duck.  I decided to try to make this dish I tried years ago in a Chinese restaurant.  It was fried taro stuffed with duck inside.  My in-laws were over watching the girls, so I thought it would be the perfect time to try it.  It turned out delicious.  We ate it all up, even the girls enjoyed it.   

INGREDIENTS :

1 Taro 2 duck breast 4 cup of chicken stock 2 cups of corn starch oil for deep frying  SEASONINGS: (1) 1/2 cup of cornstarch, 2 tablespoon of oil, 1 teaspoon salt (2) 1Tablespoon rice wine, 1/2 Tablespoon soy sauce

PREPARATION :

1. Peel, rinse, and slice taro; Pour 1 cup of stock and add sliced taro to a pot; Bring to the boil; Simmer over a low heat until soft; Remove, add seasoning (1) and mash (almost like a play doe consistency) 2. Apply seasoning (2) on the duck evenly; Marinate for 30 minutes. 3. Bake duck breast in oven for about 40 minutes 4. Sprinkle some corn starch over the sliced duck; Cover with smashed taro; Roll in corn starch evenly.  5. (a) place into deep fryer and deep fry until brown.        (b) if you don't have a deep fryer you can use a wok; 6.  Take out and let it cool.  Slice and serve

Made little taro balls with no duck inside because I had so much mashed taro left. 

Garden 2013

Here is an update on my garden. 
 So how were my garden boxes you ask?  They were excellent.  I did not get any animals eating my plants and the organic soil helped a lot of my fruits and vegetables flourish.  I would definitely recommend using garden boxes.  Another benefit of the garden box is it makes it much easier to harvest your food without hurting your back.  Its not on the ground so you don't have to bend over as much.

Here is some of the stuff I got this summer.

Red raspberries

Tomatoes: cherry, yellow boy, beef steak, grape, and roma

 
Spinach

 Peas and long beans

 Yellow and green Zucchinis

 Strawberries

 Lettuce: red, green, romaine and butter

Herbs: mint, Parsley, Lemon Balm

 Carrots

 Beets

Soft pretzels

YUMMMMM, every time we go to the states I have to a Aunt Annie's pretzel.  They are soooo good.  Soft pretzels here are not common, and if you do stumble upon some, it's usually hard and dry.  I found this recipe from allrecipes.com, and the girls had so much fun making them too.

Buttery Soft Pretzels

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons active dry yeast 1 teaspoon white sugar 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F /45 degrees C) 5 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon vegetable oil   1/2 cup baking soda 4 cups hot water 1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

Directions:

1.	In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2.	In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3.	Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
4.	When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
5.	Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

I'm finally back

YEAH! I'm happy to say my mom has returned from her month long vacation from Asia.  The girls and myself are almost all better from our colds.  The van is scheduled to be fixed in November and the insurance is dealing with the bus company for me.  It looks like my life is slowly coming back. 

I have many more recipes that I have made the past month, but just didn't get a chance to post them, so I will write them and post them up ASAP.  I'll also give you an update on my garden as well.  

I'm so lucky my sister is a photographer (www.huaphotography.com).  On the  Friday right before Thanksgiving E had a PD day, so we decided to go out for a little walk/photoshoot.  Good thing we went that day, because on Tuesday when I was driving E to school all the leaves were already on the ground.