Minnesota State Fair

Chong and I went to the Minnesota State Fair together for the first time  back in September and we both had a blast.  Chong hates crowds so he didn’t want to go but I dragged persuaded him and we actually went two times; once with my family and once by ourselves.  I’ve lived in MN all my life and have only been to the State Fair once when I was little (5-6 yrs old) and didn’t care for it until now.  I don’t know if it’ll be a yearly place we’ll visit or something we’ll do once every couple of years.  Maybe next year, we’ll try the Renaissance Festival since we didn’t get the change to go this year.  Here’s what we ate and saw:

We forgot our camera the second time we went so these pictures are from our first visit.  The pork chops by Midway was REALLY good!  WE bought some at another stand and it didn’t come close. I loved the Hawaiian Ice and the footlong hot dog (not pictured).  The onion flower was a big disappointment and so were the Australian potatoes (the cheese/ranch drenched potatoes).  We bought a container of Sweet Martha’s  Cookies but didn’t even finish 1/4 of it.  There’s always next year…or the year after that.  Readers, let me know if you went to the State Fair and what you recommend/wouldn’t recommend.

Seafood Boil

I’ve been wanting to have a seafood boil for a long, long time and I finally got my chance to have one last Sunday.  We went to a certain seafood restaurant last month and were extremely disappointed by the food and the service so I’ve decided that if I’m ever craving for seafood, I’ll just make it myself.  Too bad Chong’s allergic to shellfish so he wasn’t able to have any–but he did have roasted pork and duck so he wasn’t complaining.

Chong and I went shopping and got fresh lobsters, dungeness crabs, shrimp,clams and chorizo at Dragon Star (an Asian grocery store).  We also bought some sweet corn from the Farmer’s Market.  I found my mom’s huge pot and threw some fresh-from-the-garden carrots and sweet onions.  I also cut up a few lemons and threw them in, along with 1 bottle of Heineken, since that’s all we had on hand.  And there was lots and lots of salt.  Brought that to a boil and added my potatoes and sweet corn.  Then added the lobsters and crabs (and yes, Chong killed them before adding them into the pot), clams, shrimps, and sausage.  35 minutes later, everything was cooked.  We ate outside, on a newspaper lined table, and everything was delicious!

And this is what we had for dessert: lychees and rambutans.  Rambutans are my favorite fruit.  Their flesh is thicker than the lychee and has a sweet and tart flavor.  The annoying thing about eating rambutans is the seed–which looks similar to an almond.  Lychees have this strange aftertaste for me so I’m not that big of a fan.

My Mom’s Garden

I got the chance to visit my mom’s garden for the first time this month.  I wasn’t able to take pictures of all the stuff she grows because I was too busy harvesting all the goodies.  I love late summer because that’s when everything is in season.  And yes, her garden is located near a pond.  Here are some pictures of what she has at her garden:

Update!

Hello everyone! I’m back! Things have been super busy these past months and so much has happened. I started a new job and my hours are later than what I’m used to. Chong and I moved and although we’ve been living in our new home for about 2 months now, our house is still a mess. I haven’t been cooking or baking much–partly due to time, the weather, being lazy, no motivation, etc. Rest assured, I have lots of ideas of what I want to make and will be doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen. I also had to buy a new laptop because mine was old and Chong’s laptop didn’t want to work properly. Here’s a teaser of what I’ve been up to lately:

 

Product Review Coming Soon

CSN Stores has given me another opportunity to review another one of their product available from their website.  CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find anything you need, whether it be “outdoor playsets” , purses or shoes! Stay tuned!

Summit Brewery Tour

Chong and I went to the Summit Brewery Tour back in January and we had so much fun! The tour was about 30-45 minutes long and then each (legal) person got 3 free 10 ounce beer of his or her choosing. I’m not much of a beer drinker but it was a great experience and the beer was mighty tasty. Next time we go, we’re planning on taking a bunch of friends and family with us.

Zojirushi Indoor Electric Grill Review

It’s good to be back!  Chong and I have been extremely busy these past few weeks due to a death in the family and traveling out of state to visit his family.  Now that almost everything is back to normal, expect me to blog more often.  For some reason, my camera’s usb cord isn’t working so I had to buy a new one on eBay so there probably won’t be any videos up for a while.

So on with the program.  I received my Zojirushi Indoor Electric Grill from CSN Stores a while back and have used it quite frequently since then.  The verdict:  I absolutely LOVE it!  It grills everything to perfection and it’s so easy  to assemble and use.  A quick wash after every use and it’s good to go.  The only con I have is I wish the drip pan was a little bigger but that’s not a big deal.  Hot Pot, here I come!  Here are some pictures I remembered to take while grilling:

 

New Year Hot Pot

Sorry I’ve been MIA these past few weeks. Unexpected situations came up so Chong and I have been extremely busy. Hopefully, I’ll fall back into my regular blogging schedule soon after things have settled down a bit.

Now to the good part. Chong and I celebrated the new year with a delicious hot pot that we decided to make last minute. We had lamb, beef, pork, shrimp, pork and beef meatballs, oyster mushrooms (which were soo good!) bean thread noodles, bok choy, yu choy, gai lan, napa cabbage, and spinach. I used my little fondue pot again and while it took a while for the veggies to cook, it was worth the wait.

ADoseOfMee’s 1 Year Blogging Annivesary

Monday, December 20, 2010

ADoseOfMee’s 1 Year Blogging Anniversary Contest is now closed. Thank you to all who participated.  I will announce the winner shortly.

Update:  Monday, December 20, 2010: Congrats to EmmerTT for winning the grand prize.  I told Chong that if I had less than 5 comments (Hello Lurkers!), I’d send out cookies to everyone!  I’m still baking cookies and hope to be done by tonight or tomorrow so please email me your addresses, everyone, and I will send out your packages by Wednesday afternoon.  Thanks for participating!

Update:  Thursday, December 23, 2010:  Congrats to Robin for winning the grand prize.  I will ship out your package tomorrow.

Wow…I can’t believe it’s been one year since I started blogging.  It feels like I just started blogging a few months ago.  It’s been a lot of fun making, baking, eating, drooling, and sharing with everyone.  To celebrate, I’m going to give a lucky reader a 1 year anniversary present.

What’s included in the present:

-1 bag of steamed rice roll flour

-1 bag of steamed bun flour + 1 package of Chinese sausage

-1 can of coconut milk

-1 can of curry paste

-1 package of square 3 Ladies brand rice wrapper

-1 bag of vermicelli noodle

-1 package of bbq powder

-1 package of laab seasoning

-A container full of cookies (chocolate chips, white macadamia nut, peanut butter, etc.)

-And a few more surprises that even I don’t know about….yet!  (This will probably include more cookies and/or goodies to munch on).

**I will take a picture of the final package on Sunday, December 19 so you’ll know what you’ll be receiving.  Who doesn’t love free groceries and goodies?**

How to enter (Be sure to leave a VALID email address or I won’t be able to contact you if you win ):

Leave a comment stating what you like about my blog, whether it be the food, videos, pictures, ramblings, etc.

OR

Leave a comment about what you would like to see on my blog in the future.

I reserve the right to change any information as needed.

One entry per person only, please.  This will close on Sunday, December 19, at 11:59 PM CST.  Again, be sure you leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win, or else no valid email address = no winner. If the winner does not contact me within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck and Good Eats!

I’m Still Alive!

I’m still alive–I’ve just been so busy this week baking for the in-laws, my cookie swap partner, and just because that I barely had time for anything else–much less, sleep!  I doubt my in-laws read my blog so I think it’s safe to post up pictures of what I’ve been baking…and if for some reason they do read my blog, oh well, I guess it won’t be a surprise anymore.

The gum drop tree was for a few of my co-workers (I made 3), the Raspberry Almond Thumbprints and package was for my cookie swap partner, the cinnamon applesauce Christmas ornaments are for me, the box of cookies was a treat I brought in to work, the bag and mint chocolate chip cookies was my treat from my cookie swap partner and most everything else is for the in-laws.  Some stuff not pictured are:  carrot cake, zucchini bread, Too Much Chocolate cake, and a Christmas ornament package.  I just mailed it today so now I can get some rest.

I have some exciting news that I’ll have to share later so stay tuned!