I once heard from a skittles commercial “good things come to those who wait.” Being that I am quite impatient, waiting more than 15 mins for a meal, or anything for that matter, is almost unbearable to me.

A few times, I’ve complained when Mc D’s takes more than 5 mins to give me my order, after all it is fast food right? Then there was that time a big boned lady over 50 was taking forever trying on clothes at Forever 21 (which, like the name implies, is mainly for girls in their 20’s, and yes now I have no business being in their either) and I had to nicely say to her, “maybe you should try Lane Bryant,” after her third outfit change and my lunch almost coming up twice. And finally, there was the time I dated my husband for close to 4 years, and he had still not proposed. (Actually now that I think about it, 4 years is a long time! I don’t think I was being impatient there, most girls would’ve peaced out in 2 years in my opinion).

Anyways, the point is that yes I am extremely impatient, but there are a few things I have learned are worth the wait. One of those things are my husband of course =) (which he ended up proposing to me at the end of the 4th year together, which is such a cute story but I’ll save it for another time). And the second thing is, waiting for my bananas to be overly ripe so that I can make Banana Bread.

In order to make the best banana bread, you really do need to wait a while so that your bananas are almost all brown and soft. It may look gross, and you would never eat a banana that looked like that, but trust me those nasty ass bananas make the BEST banana bread. I have tried using bananas that had a few brown spots on them before, and I’ve always been disappointed by the lack of banana taste, especially after spending 2 hours in the kitchen.

So anyways, I bought 6 bananas a week ago, just for this occasion, and I have been patiently waiting for them to turn brown. And today they were finally ready, and I was finally able to make my banana bread. I’ve tried many different recipes before, and even had a few catastrophes in between, but I have finally perfected my banana bread recipe.

This banana bread is moist, flavorful, and so delicious that I was even able to convert my hubby, who hates bananas, into being a being a banana bread lover. I’ve also baked this a few times for his work potlucks, and his coworkers are always asking for the recipe.

So here it is my Banana Bread recipe:

Ingredients:

I got too excited and forget to take a picture, before cutting a slice for myself!

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Wet Ingredients

• ½ cup butter
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 3/4 cups mashed overly ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch bread loaf pan
3. In a big bowl combine the dry ingredients together
4. In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients together by first creaming together the butter and sugar, then adding the bananas, eggs, bananas, and vanilla extract until well mixed
5. Pour in the wet ingredients, into the dry ingredients, and mix until most of the flour is mixed in with the wet ingredients (be careful not to over mix because that will cause your bread to become dry and dense. It is ok if there is still some flour not mixed in completely)
6. Pour mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 60-65 mins, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserting in the middle.
7. Let bread cool for about 10 mins, then cut and enjoy!

It’s been raining for weeks now in San Francisco, and this weather can really bring you down. It’s times like this that you want to just curl up on the couch with a good book, a soft blanket, and some comfort food.

Being Chinese, my comfort food of choice is of course, PORRIDGE. My mom always made porridge for me as a kid. When I was sick, I got porridge. When I was feeling down, I got porridge. When I flunked gym class, I got porridge. Making me porridge was like my Mom’s way of saying, everything will be ok. Porridge can cleanse your system, it’s easy to eat and digest, and it is nutritious too!

So if your boyfriend just dumped you for that whore he calls his secretary, or you got fired from work for making copies of your butt afterhours, or you just caught a glimpse of what’s left of your retirement funds, then make yourself some porridge and you’ll feel better.

I added some green onions for presentation...

So here it is, my mom’s porridge recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup rice
• 3-4 cups water (may use chicken/beef/veggie broth)
• 2 pieces boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut to thin slices (you may also use beef or pork)
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 dash white pepper (according to your taste)
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. First wash the rice, like you normally would before cooking it. If you don’t normally wash rice, don’t worry – it’s simple. You just put it into a big bowl (a medium-sized pot will do), then use water to rinse it 3 times. Rub it with your hands, and drain out most of the water.
2. Then leave it in a bowl soaking in 1 cup of water with 1 teaspoon of oil, and 1 teaspoon of salt. (I usually let this sit for at least an hour, because it helps the rice cook faster, but if you are in a hurry, then by all means, go at it.)
3. Marinate the cut up meat with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, white pepper, and oyster sauce.
4. Boil 3 cups of water on the stove, and add in the meat and the rice once the water is boiling. Once boiling, turn to medium, and leave the lid ajar so it doesn’t boil over. (I find the easiest clean up method is to use a non stick pot that only fills up at most halfway with all the ingredients inside)
5. Stir contents occasionally to make sure everything is uniform in the pot. If your porridge looks to thick for your liking, then just add some boiling water to the pot. When the porridge is consistent and you can no longer make out the individual rice grains, then the porridge is done (usually about an hour at medium heat).
6. You may serve plain, with green onions, white pepper, Chinese donut, or anything else you may find that meshes well with rice.

This is a very basic and simple recipe. Once you have mastered the simple porridge, you can start adding more things to your porridge like preserved eggs, mushrooms, and whatever else you fancy. I find that you can’t go wrong with this recipe. (Well, except this one time my Granny used the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving to make porridge, and let’s just say it did not comfort me).

Enjoy!

_Stella_

Special Tools:

Deep fryer
French Fry Cutter

Ingredients:

2 large Idaho russett potatoes
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1½-2 cups hot water
6 cups Crisco® shortening
1/4 cup beef lard (or save the fat from previously cooked burgers)
salt

Direction

Peel the potatoes. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, corn syrup, and hot water. Make sure the sugar is dissolved. Using a french fry slicer, cut the peeled potatoes into shoestrings. The potatoes should be 1/4″ x 1/4″ in thickness, and about 4″ to 6″ long.

Place the shoestringed potatoes into the bowl of sugar-water, and refrigerate. Let them soak about 30 minutes.

While they’re soaking, pack the shortening into the deep fryer. Crank up the temperature to “full”. The shortening has to pre-heat for a very long time. It will eventually liquify. After it has liquified and is at least 375°, drain the potatoes and dump them into the fryer. (be careful, it will be ferocious)

After 1 to 1½ minutes, remove the potatoes and place them on a paper towel lined plate. Let them cool 8 to 10 minutes in the refrigerator.

While they’re cooling, add the lard or beef drippings to the hot Crisco®. Again, crank the temperature to full. Stir in the lard as it melts into the oil. It will blend in.

After the deep fryer is reheated to 375°-400°, add the potatoes and deep fry again. This time for 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Remove and place in a large bowl.

Sprinkle generously with salt, then “toss” the fries to mix the salt evenly. ( I suggest about 1 teaspoon of salt, maybe slightly more)

Serve hot, serve immediately, and enjoy! Depending upon the size of the potatoes, this recipe make about 2 medium sized fries.