whole wheat apricot nut biscotti

WHOLE WHEAT BISCOTTI

w/dried apricots, pecans and walnuts...no fat added

Cheap Eats in Waikiki

There are lots of wonderful places to eat on Oahu but finding reasonably priced places right in the tourist zone of Waikiki is a challenge. In fact, finding a really tasty meal for under $10 is almost impossible. Here are a few of spots that not only fit the bill but are worth seeking out.

Gyoza No Ohsho

This tiny restaurant in the King's Village Shopping Center serves gyoza, ramen and some rice bowls. But the thing to order, not surprisingly, is the gyoza. Japanese gyoza are like a smaller, thinner more delicate version of Chinese potstickers. At Gyoza No Ohsho there are 6 to an order for $3.95, served in a cast iron skillet. The dumplings are available in the traditional style, fried and steamed, and there are also boiled and cheese varieties. They are juicy and flavorful with a pork and ginger filling and have a very thin and delicate wrapper. Dip them in a combination of soy sauce, vinegar and chili oil, if you like. The ramen is ok, but I think you're better off with the gyoza, either as a snack or a light meal depending upon how many you order.

Fatty's Chinese Fast Food

The fast food in the name really just means the food is cooked quickly. This little hole-in-the-wall can be a bit hard to find because it doesn't face the street; it's in the alley next to the Miramar Hotel. It looks and feels like a real dive, but sitting at the counter you can see all the dishes, mostly stir fries, being cooked to order. I had a very large portion of beef and choi sum chow fun which was plenty for two people. Although not on the menu, you can order a side dish of choi sum, which is a bit like a cross between bok choi and broccoli. It would go well with the "three meats on rice" which is three neat lines of sliced char siu pork, chicken with a minced ginger cilantro sauce and roast duck on top of a bowl of rice. Whatever you do, avoid the already cooked options and order from the menu.

Me's BBQ

This little Korean takeaway counter offers a lot of options including some really delicious vegetable side dishes and kimchi. You can make a meal of vegetarian sides, or pair them with barbecue chicken, "kal-bi" short ribs or order other classic Korean dishes such as Bi Bim Bap or fried "Man-Doo" dumplings. Almost everything is between $7 and $10 and everything I've had here has been fresh and tasty. Whatever you end up ordering, keep in mind the portions are huge. They also offer very cheap sandwiches and breakfasts at certain ours of the day, though I've never tried them. Eat outside at one of the picnic tables or take your feast to the beach just a couple blocks away.

Teddy's Bigger Burgers

If you're in the mood for burgers, this retro burger spot is the place to go. It's really just a fast food outlet, but the burgers are cooked to order and quite tasty. So are the onion rings. Order the small size which is 5 ounces, anything else is obscenely large. Burgers come with "secret sauce" if you don't like that kind of thing, ask them to hold it. I also recommend the chocolate shake which is very intensely flavored, thick and creamy, almost like a soft serve ice cream. I had no problem getting a burger rare though I've been told when it gets very busy the wait may be long and the chances of getting your order done the way you like may decrease.

If you have any other cheap finds in this area, please feel free to share them in the comments section.

Gyoza No Ohsho
131 Kaiulani Ave
Honolulu, Hawaii
808-922-2161

Fatty's Chinese Fast Food
2345 Kuhio Ave
Honolulu, Hawaii
808-922-9600

Me's BBQ
151 Uluniu Ave
Honolulu, Hawaii
808-926-9717

Teddy's Bigger Burgers
134 Kapahulu Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii
808-926-3444

Cookbooks and chocolate and spatulas!

The Menu for Hope campaign has been extended until December 31st, allowing you a little more time to give back and maybe win something wonderful. For every $10 donated, you earn one virtual raffle ticket to bid on a prize of your choice. At the end of the campaign, raffle tickets will be drawn and the results announced on Chez Pim.

If you got what you wanted this holiday season, think about the children of Lesotho, Africa, and help them get what they really need, healthy meals.

This year I am offering the Baker's Delight (prize code UW18) a fabulous baking kit designed for a home baker or professional pastry chef with brand new cookbooks, a selection of artisanal American chocolate and a set of silicone spatulas.

The package contains four of the years' best baking books:

* Chocolate Epiphany: Exceptional Cookies, Cakes, and Confections for Everyone by French pastry chef extraordinaire Francois Payard

* Baking for All Occasions by much loved author Flo Braker

* The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread: Cakes, Cookies, Bars, Pastries and More from New York City's Favorite Bakery, your source for bakery treats like Amy's signature scones, White Chocolate Cherry Chunker Cookies, Definitely Devil's Food Cake, Soft Brioche Rolls with Melting Chocolate Centers, etc.

* The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Pastry Professional, an excellent reference guide for every kitchen cookbook shelf

It also includes four pounds of E. Guittard chocolate wafers, a top choice of professional bakers and chefs:

* One pound E.Guittard 72% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate, this super-dark chocolate has a smooth mouthfeel and provides intense chocolate flavor. It’s the perfect choice when a dessert is unequivocally about chocolate – flourless cakes, molten chocolate mini-cakes or an unforgettable chocolate fondue.

* One pound E.Guittard 61% Cacao Semisweet Chocolate, the super-rich chocolate flavors last and last, with a refreshing chocolate finish. This chocolate is extremely popular with pastry chefs, and makes a great eating chocolate as well.

* One pound E.Guittard 38% Cacao Milk Chocolate, enjoy bold, rich, milk chocolate flavors with caramel accents, fresh dairy notes and a signature hint of cinnamon that set this milk chocolate apart from all the others. It’s an extremely versatile blend that can be used in recipes ranging from crème brulée to ganache.

* One pound E.Guittard 31% Cacao White Chocolate, this French-style white chocolate has a sweet, fresh cream flavor with nutty undertones and lingering hints of citrus and vanilla. It adds a balanced dairy flavor to any recipe, and stands alone as an extraordinarily smooth white chocolate with rich cocoa butter taste.

To use with your next recipe:

* A set of four silicone spatulas, perfect for mixing, scraping and folding, they won’t chip or crack and can be used can be used to stir extremely hot mixtures

The Baker's Delight prize package is worth nearly $200! A big thanks to Guittard for the chocolate, and to Clarkson Potter, Chronicle Books, and Wiley for the books.

To win this or other fabulous prizes:
1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at Pim's site, the Baker's Delight prize is UW18
2. Go to the donation site or click on the Menu for Hope logo below, to make a donation.
3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone and no one but us will be able to see it.

Click here to donate:

For the US West Coast prizes specifically, please visit Matt at Matt Bites, the West Coast host (and food photographer extraordinaire.)

Helena's Hawaiian Food: Restaurant Review

If you want to experience authentic native Hawaiian food, as opposed to the fusion of Hawaiian, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese that is common today, you must eat at Helena's Hawaiian Food. I've been going to Helena's since 1977 and while Helena is sadly gone and the location has changed, the food is exactly the same as it ever was. Absolutely delicious. But don't just take my word for it, Helena's was actually recognized with a James Beard award for outstanding American regional cuisine in 2000.

To say Helena's is an unassuming little place would be an understatement. You eat here, you don't dine. It's the kind of restaurant where they don't clear the tables until customers come in the door. Despite the posters and photographs on the walls, it has zero ambiance with mismatched plastic plates and formica tables. It's all about the food which arrives on small plates that are intended to be shared.

While you may have had kahlua pork before, you need to try it at Helena's where it is cooked the traditional way in an underground oven called an imu. It's smoky and tender, mixed with cabbage and so much better than what you'll find at most places.

Another dish you have to order is lomi lomi salmon. I'm not sure how salmon arrived in Hawaii, because it is not local, but the dish of chopped tomatoes, chiles, onions and salted salmon is a standard Hawaiian dish these days. It's like a juicy salsa with salty bits of fish.

Pipi kaula ribs are another Hawaiian specialty, but one you don't see all that often. Pipi kaula is Hawaiian for "beef string" and it used to be two beef strips were tied together then hung to dry. While the beef is still hung to be dried, today it's also marinated in honey, garlic, soy and sometimes sherry. I don't know Helena's exact recipe, but the chewy ribs are succulent and have the right balance of intense salty and sweet flavors.

You may never have tried poi, but it was a staple of Hawaiian cuisine and it really does taste good with the mostly salty savory dishes. It's mashed and ground taro root, and has the consistency of pudding with a mildly sour taste. You really should try it.

Another dish not to be missed is the butterfish collar. This is similar in texture to hamachi kama you might order in a Japanese restaurant. It is a very rich and oily piece of fish that you really only find in Hawaii.

Other wonderful things to try include laulau, luau squid and chicken long rice (which is actually a kind of noodle not rice). Each order comes with some homemade haupia for the table a bit of onion and Hawaiian red salt. The haupia is a firm cold coconut pudding. It is cool and refreshing and not too sweet. If you end up eating it before the end of the meal, you may need to order more! A meal here will probably cost you under $10.

Helena's Hawaiian Food
1240 N. School St
Honolulu HI
808-845-8044

Other reviews of Helena's:

Ono Kine Grindz

Jay's Strange Blog

Honolulu Advertiser

Yelp

"BUTTERY PECAN ROUNDS"....

from Martha Stewarts holiday cookies

melt in your mouth, paper thin and crunchy...

"PEOPLE BISCUITS"

classic shortbread...

CHEX MIX...

a "must have" munchie through the holidays...

Town and Downtown@the HiSAM: Restaurant Reviews

I've had a lot of great meals in Honolulu, but if I had to pick my favorite dinner so far, it would be the one I had at Town. Town is in Kaimuki, a funky neighborhood packed with good restaurants. The bistro menu features mostly local and organic ingredients and the wait staff is knowledgeable about many of the purveyors. The space is cozy and contemporary though a bit noisy.

Aside from the Hawaiian ingredients used, it feels like a restaurant you would find in San Francisco with Mediterranean style selections such as hand cut pasta, risotto, slow-braised meats, a couple of fried appetizers, and cooked and raw preparations of fresh local seafood. But often the dishes have a twist, making them unique and fresh. I loved the mussels cooked with fennel and tomato. So what was the twist? A broth made with the white vermouth Cinzano and a bit of pastina in the bottom of the bowl.

The gnocchi was tender and gooey with cheese and chewy oyster mushrooms, but there are only 12 orders available a night so get your order in early!

Both the crispy fried appetizers were cooked perfectly and not at all greasy. We ordered the salted walu brandade fritters and a frito that had slices of local green Meyer lemon, okra, kampachi and meltingly luscious green onions.

Braised pork cheeks with creamy polenta and bitter greens was a great dish with lots of contrasting soft textures and rich flavors. Sorry for the blurry photo!

The only weak part of the meal might have been the desserts, but only because they didn't "wow" as much as the other courses. We had a panino with chocolate and apple bananas and a pineapple napoleon. Both were fine, but nothing I'd go out of my way to order again.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures of my lunch at Ed Kenney and and David Caldiero's other restaurant, Downtown at HiSAM (Hawaii State Art Museum). The museum is free, so splurge on a weekday lunch, just be sure to make reservations since it is very popular. The menu has many similar dishes to what you find at Town. I was very happy with the tender homemade pasta in the duck confit canneloni, which was served on a bed of bitter greens and topped with a kumquat sauce. Service was a bit rushed and I didn't get a chance to try the churros and chocolate, but I will next time!


Town
3435 Waialae Avenue #103
Honolulu, HI
808-735-5900

Downtown @ the HiSAM
Hawaii State Art Museum
250 S. Hotel St.
Honolulu HI
808-536-5900

HOMEMADE DOG BISCUITS.....

X-Mas present for Ruby...all healthy stuff and she loves 'em...

Favorite Things 2008

Here is a mishmosh shopping round up, just in case not everyone on your list is covered. I'm including a couple of things I've already reviewed this year, and a of couple new ones.

FYI, if you're the "stay-at-home-and-shop" type, today is the last day for 2-day shipping on Amazon.




Months after writing about it, I am still in love with my Zojirushi 1lb mini loaf breadmaker! It's so easy even my very first loaf was stellar. I'm having fun experimenting with different kinds of flour, gluten, nuts and seeds. Smaller loaves mean fresher bread, everyday. For someone with a small household or not much counter space, this is the ideal bread machine!


I received a Kuhn Rikon Noir Forged 6-inch Santoku Knife in the mail to try out and I adore it. I even brought it on vacation with me! It has a slightly non-stick surface, a very sharp blade and is not too heavy. The Santoko is a great option instead of a chef's knife. This knife, plus a bread knife and a paring knife are all almost anyone really needs. Right now on Amazon there is a special deal, buy this knife and get one of 6 magazines free, including a year of Gourmet or Bon Appetit.


I have tried giving up non-stick pans, but I can't do it, so I have resorted to using various "green" pans. The German-made Fissler Protect Steelux Premium 11.0 Inch Frypan is replacing all of them. I have used it for months without the slightest scratching, flaking or difficulty cleaning. Best of all, the proprietary Protectal Plus nonstick sealing is the first coating to be 100% PFOA-free even in production. It is a very heavy pan and comes with a 5-year warranty. Would I spend over $150 for a pan? I'm not sure, but I am completely happy with this one.




I reviewed this CD earlier this year, and ok I admit it's a bit of a stretch for a food blog, but Putumayo Presents:Acoustic France CD actually comes with a recipe in the liner notes from French chef, Michel Troisgros. It's just happy, fun music that will put you in a good mood and make you wistful about France, if you're not already...

Plate Lunch, Redux

When you come to Hawaii, you have to try a plate lunch. Plate lunches are the ubiquitous "blue plate special" in Hawaii. They consist of some kind of protein like breaded chicken or pork cutlet, beef teriyaki, fried mahi mahi, etc., two scoops of white rice and one scoop of Hawaiian style macaroni salad (which is about equal parts macaroni and mayonnaise!). While tasty, filling and relatively inexpensive, usually somewhere around $5, traditionally they are not very healthy and not very fancy. But that's not always the case. In fact, plate lunches can be healthy, and sometimes surprisingly sophisticated.

Many take out places and drive-ins are offering a choice of brown rice and green salad in addition to the standard white rice and mac salad. There are healthier choices of protein as well, even a fast food chain like L & L Drive Inn now offers "Healthy Plate Lunches" with garlic shrimp, garlic ahi or mahi, salmon patties and grilled chicken.

In Honolulu there are chefs with experience cooking at fancier restaurants who own more casual spots that specialize in plate lunches, offering amazingly fine food for the price, though don't expect table service and anything fancy in terms of presentation. Every time I come to Hawaii I seek out these hot spots. Here are three that that I recommend trying:


First off, Kahai Street Kitchen. Located in an industrial part of Kalihi right across the street from my beloved Ethel's Grill, this take out place has only 2 tables so like most customers you'll probably want to pick up your meal and enjoy it elsewhere. Check out the daily specials online. I had the Hong Kong Stuffed Chicken and it was filled with shiitake mushrooms, lup chong or Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, peanuts and sticky rice. It was outstanding, a perfectly balanced dish and a very large portion that I couldn't finnish in one sitting. I ordered it with salad, no rice and it cost $7.75. My only disappointment was in the salad dressing which didn't taste homemade.


Nico's at Pier 38 is located next to the Honolulu Fish Auction building and there is plenty of parking, though like Kahai Street Kitchen you'll need a car to get there. While there is no indoor seating, there are lots of outdoor picnic tables, some with a view of the harbor. My top pick is the Fried Tuna Belly which comes with two large pieces of ahi topped with a special lomi tomato salsa. This portion for $8.40 easily served 2 people. It was excellent and definitely worthy of a sit down restaurant.

Kaka'ako Kitchen also serves up gourmet lunch plates. Tucked away in the back of the Ward Center Shopping center you'll typically find a line of people waiting to order. I particularly like their salads, like the Ahi Chop Salad, with fresh Nalo greens, crunchy noodle strips and rare chunks of seared tuna, but the prices are a bit higher here and the salad is about $11. Baked goods are really good here though frankly portion sizes have drastically shrunk in the past year or so.

Creme De Menthe Brownies

Okay, it's no surprise at this point that I am a huge fan of the mint chocolate, especially at Christmas time. So, last year, while dedicating my life to the Food Network channel, Paula Deen blessed my life with mint brownies from heaven! These brownies are AMAZING and so rich. I just add entire Andes mints into the brownies, rather then the chips, mostly because mint chips are hard to come by here in Philly. Also, if you want a serious mint brownie, add mint extract into the frosting rather then vanilla. And for those of you that aren't mint fans (I got your back Jordan!), just add regular chocolate chips and you will have some killer fudgy brownies.


Thanks Paula Deen!!

Ingredients
1 cups (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
11/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 (10-ounce) package Creme de Menthe baking chips (recommended: Andes)
Shaved Creme de Menthe thins (recommended: Andes)
Chocolate frosting

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Using an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, mixing well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Gradually stir into butter mixture. Fold in mint chips. Spoon into greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes.

While brownies are baking, prepare frosting. Combine butter, cocoa, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk in a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until dry ingredients are moistened. Beat at high speed until spreading consistency.

Remove pan from the oven and allow brownies to cool in pan on wire rack. Spread with chocolate frosting. Top with shaved mint thins.



*Baking Tip: If you plan to plate your bars, but hate that awkward process of cutting them and then digging them out of your pan, bake them in parchment paper. Then, once they are cooled and frosted, just lift them out of the pan, peel away the paper (it sticks to nothing), and you will be able to cut and plate them very cleanly and easily.

More Cookbooks for Giving or Keeping

There were a lot of important restaurant cookbooks that came out this year A Day at El Bulli, Alinea and Thomas Keller's Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide come to mind. I am not opposed to serious books, but the books I turn to again and again tend to not be the weighty ones. Just like cooking and eating, I like cookbooks to be fun. Today I am recommending two fun books, two thoroughly enjoyable non-cookbooks and two local San Francisco Bay Area cookbooks, one of which actually is a restaurant cookbook, but also much more than that. And by the way, I did not choose all these books because they have orange covers that complement my blog, really, it was pure coincidence!

You didn't think I wouldn't mention my own book, right? I am so proud of my first cookbook, New Flavors for Appetizers! The recipes are very much my style and by that I mean fairly healthy, easy to make, big on flavor, short on fuss. Since writing the book I have made recipes such as the crostini with white beans and kale, the chickpea dip with pomegranate and the spiced lamb meatballs with yogurt dipping sauce again and again to rave reviews. It's a perfect book for entertaining or gift giving, if I do say so myself.









I am an unabashed Ellie Krieger fan so of course, I appreciate her latest book, The Food You Crave. Her recipes are full of flavor and don't make you think "healthy" but rather "tasty." Kreiger uses real ingredients, nothing fake and doesn't shy away from flavor enhancers such as butter, olive oil, lots of herbs and spices and fresh ingredients to make really appealing food. Noodles with Lime-Peanut Sauce, Miso Glazed Cod, Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper Sauce, Snow Pea, Scallion and Radish Salad, and Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti are just some of the recipes that tempted me this year.











Like a dim sum parlor, Eat, Memory, a compilation of essays from the New York Times magazine is filled with unexpected delights. My only complaint is that the book was too short. I wanted to keep reading and reading because the stories are so well told. I've often felt food is just a lens through which we see the world and this book explores the emotions that accompany that which we eat. There are stories by lots of great contemporary writers, authors, screenwriters, etc. that just happen to be about food. Some of the stories and essays are punctuated with a recipe at the end, but not all of them. It's not a cookbook per se, but a book drawn from the memories associated with food or in some cases, the lack of food. It's just a wonderful read.









I raved about The Flavor Bible a few months ago. It's a book to go to for ideas, inspiration, and sometimes reassurance that yes, that seemingly crazy combination you came up with does in fact make perfectly good sense. Sneak a peek at some of the signature dishes of top chefs and find out what flavors pair well. I find this book helps me get out of the ruts I sometimes get into with a specific ingredient, always cooking it one way, forgetting to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. Since reviewing it, I have used this book many times in creating new recipes for my wine retailer client. This is hands down the best, and most useful culinary reference book of the year.









Everyone from Michael Pollan to Mark Bittman is saying the same thing, we need to eat less meat. I for one, am eating more beans, especially heirloom beans. While I love cooking beans, I still need ideas for how to make the most of all the wonderful heirloom beans on the market these days. Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo is just the ticket. I love the recipes and appreciate the substitution notes which make the recipes all the more versatile. The recipes go way beyond just chili, soup and dips, there are also appetizers, side dishes and even main dishes. Love beans? You will love this book!

While A16 is a tremendously popular restaurant in San Francisco, I suspect A16 Food + Wine
will have an even larger audience. It features the big, bold, rustic flavors of the South of Italy. The book helps you to recreate the recipes of the region reinterpreted for American kitchens. It's also a wonderful primer for the lesser known, unique and enjoyable wines of the South as well. This is a really handsome, large hard cover book. And yes, both the much loved pizza and Monday night meatballs are in there.

protein pumpkin pie..."party bites"

PROTEIN PUMPKIN PIE..."PARTY BITES"

this is simply that yummy protein pumpkin pie that i cut into bite size squares. i had to bring something to a party one night that i knew i would eat....you all know how that is....as i stated in the other pumpkin pie post i really do eat this every morning, so i always have a fresh pie in the fridge. so, why not cut it into bite size and "cute it up" with a pecan and little cany-cup?....they went over big time and no one cared there was no crust and had no idea they were healthy. again...i found the recipe here http://habitsofcontradiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/protein-pumpkin-pie.html

PROTEIN PUMPKIN PIE...

this is absolutely my new favorite! it tastes just like reg. pumpkin pie without the crust...1 piece only has 75 cals, but has 10g protein, 5g carb and 1g fat (without the peacans)..i've been eating it for breakfast everyday since i found the recipie. http://habitsofcontradiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/protein-pumpkin-pie.html many many thanks to habits of contradiction. this bakes up great every time...puffs up really pretty, then plops down like a real pumpkin pie. well, it IS a real pumpkin pie, but guilt free. love that !

The Best Enchiladas Ever!!

I discovered this recipe about three or so years ago in the Body for Life cookbook. I LOVE these enchiladas so much and they are always the first thing I think of whenever I have leftover chicken or turkey in the fridge (I'm pretty sure this picture right here is made up of Thanksgiving leftovers). These enchiladas are packed full of flavor, incredibly filling, and they're really good for you. The biggest difference is that rather than using a red sauce, or a cream base, they're made with two huge cans of the Verde enchilada sauce, which I had shamefully never had until making these. Don't let the fact that you're not on a diet sway you from giving these a try, I would make them often even in a world where calories never counted (oh and what a world it would be!)

Ingredients

1 lb chicken breast

4 green onions, sliced

2 TB fresh cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeno seeded and minced (if you get a hotter sauce, you may not need the jalapenos)

3 10 oz cans green enchilada sauce (I use 2 big 20-something oz cans, works just fine)

8 corn tortillas (I usually use at least 12)

1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 cup salsa

1/2 cup light sour cream

1 tomato, diced

1 can ripe olives, sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Light coat a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.

2. Place chicken breast in large pot and cover with water, bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until no longer pink in the middle, about 15 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly, shred chicken with 2 forks.

3. Lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium high heat. Add green onion, cilantro and jalapeno; saute for two minutes. Add shredded chicken and 1 can of enchilada sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

4. Pour the 2 remaining cans of enchilada sauce in a medium bowl and microwave until warm, about two minutes. Dip each tortilla in the heated sauce and fill with about 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Roll up and place, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish.

5. Pour remaining heated sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until enchiladas are heated through and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

6. Divide lettuce onto four plates and place a portion of enchiladas on top. Top with a spoonful of salsa, a dollop of sour cream, tomatoes and olives. Enjoy!

The only downside to this cookbook is that there is no nutritional info posted on the recipes, which is a pet peeve of mine for any cookbook. However, if you are a die hard points counter, the ingredients are simple enough, I don't think you would have much trouble calculating it yourself.

ALSO

I've been offered another blog award! This one also came from Priscilla at Priscilla Bakes. This girl really knows her stuff when it comes to baking, and I just recently discovered how young she is, which really threw me for a loop because she is so talented! Definitely check out her blog. Thanks again Priscilla!

I'm going to pass this on to Christine at Cooking with Christine. She's got some very fun recipes with great pictures and stories to go with them.

I'm also going to pass this on to Nicole at Test Kitchen Recipes. I actually just discovered her blog last night, but she had me immediately at fish tacos. She's also got a lot of wonderful family friendly recipes that I can't wait to try out.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday!

Dong Ya Seafood 东亚海鲜 .......... Good Chi Char 煮炒 at Keong Saik Street

Dong Ya Seafood is located in a Pre-war shophouse at the junction of Keong Siak Street and Teck Lim Street. Keong Saik street used to be well known as the "Red light" district in Chinatown. Now the "redness" is less pominent. There are many restaurants sprouting out in this area, all attracted by the novelty of setting up business in the pre-war shophouses under the heritage preservation programme.

During lunch time and dinner time, car park lots along the roads are scarce. The parking wardens patrol these streets regularly. So try not to save on coupons if you're lucky enough to find an empty lot. This time when I had my dinner, I parked along the double yellow line for a while and then I had to drop my bowl of rice and go dashing towards my car and drive off to prevent the parking wardens from giving me a fine.

During business hours, tables and chairs spill out of the coffee shop and onto the corridor for the chi char 煮炒 business. You can spot a couple of tourist who's attracted to the ambience ...........

The following are some of their popular dishes that are worth mentioning;

"Cai Por"菜蒲 and minced meat over fried tofu ..........

Honey Pork Ribs ..........

Prawns in Mongolian sauce .........

Here's our desert ........ Toast with butter and kaya. We ordered the toast and coffee here after the dinner after I've told my friend that they're good. I came to Dong Ya for their coffee and toast before.  I think they serve one of the best toast around. Their coffee is GOOD! 

Cost :  about S$15 per person

Address : Junction of Keong Siak and Teck Lim Street

Country : Singapore

Win the Baker's Delight/Menu for Hope

Once a year food and wine bloggers put together prizes for the Menu for Hope raffle, with the proceeds going to charity. For every $10 donated, you earn one virtual raffle ticket to bid on a prize of your choice. At the end of the two-week campaign, the raffle tickets are drawn and the results announced on Chez Pim.

This year I am offering the Baker's Delight (prize code UW18) a fabulous baking kit designed for a home baker or professional pastry chef with brand new cookbooks, a selection of artisanal American chocolate and a set of silicone spatulas.

The package contains four of the years' best baking books:

* Chocolate Epiphany: Exceptional Cookies, Cakes, and Confections for Everyone by French pastry chef extraordinaire Francois Payard

* Baking for All Occasions by much loved author Flo Braker

* The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread: Cakes, Cookies, Bars, Pastries and More from New York City's Favorite Bakery, your source for bakery treats like Amy's signature scones, White Chocolate Cherry Chunker Cookies, Definitely Devil's Food Cake, Soft Brioche Rolls with Melting Chocolate Centers, etc.

* The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Pastry Professional, an excellent reference guide for every kitchen cookbook shelf

It also includes four pounds of E. Guittard chocolate wafers, a top choice of professional bakers and chefs:

* One pound E.Guittard 72% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate, this super-dark chocolate has a smooth mouthfeel and provides intense chocolate flavor. It’s the perfect choice when a dessert is unequivocally about chocolate – flourless cakes, molten chocolate mini-cakes or an unforgettable chocolate fondue.

* One pound E.Guittard 61% Cacao Semisweet Chocolate, the super-rich chocolate flavors last and last, with a refreshing chocolate finish. This chocolate is extremely popular with pastry chefs, and makes a great eating chocolate as well.

* One pound E.Guittard 38% Cacao Milk Chocolate, enjoy bold, rich, milk chocolate flavors with caramel accents, fresh dairy notes and a signature hint of cinnamon that set this milk chocolate apart from all the others. It’s an extremely versatile blend that can be used in recipes ranging from crème brulée to ganache.

* One pound E.Guittard 31% Cacao White Chocolate, this French-style white chocolate has a sweet, fresh cream flavor with nutty undertones and lingering hints of citrus and vanilla. It adds a balanced dairy flavor to any recipe, and stands alone as an extraordinarily smooth white chocolate with rich cocoa butter taste.

To use with your next recipe:

* A set of four silicone spatulas, perfect for mixing, scraping and folding, they won’t chip or crack and can be used can be used to stir extremely hot mixtures

The Baker's Delight prize package is worth nearly $200! A big thanks to Guittard for the chocolate, and to Clarkson Potter, Chronicle Books, and Wiley for the books.

Where does the money go?
The funds raised by Menu for Hope this year will got to a school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa. Providing food for the children helps keeps them in school so that they learn the skills to feed themselves and their families in the future. The program in Lesotho is a model program in local procurement - buying food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. Instead of shipping surplus corn across the ocean, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is buying directly from local subsistent farmers who practice conservation farming methods in Lesotho to feed needy children.

To win this or other fabulous prizes:
1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at Pim's site, the Baker's Delight prize is UW18
2. Go to the donation site or click on the Menu for Hope logo below, to make a donation.
3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone and no one but us will be able to see it.

Click here to donate:

For the US West Coast prizes specifically, please visit Matt at Matt Bites, the West Coast host (and food photographer extraordinaire.)

Chocolat N Spice ........... for your very soft on the inside muffins

Tanjong Pagar Plaza has a variety of shops .......... Mobile phone shops, coffee shops, hair salon, Singapore Turf club branch and Chocolat N Spice. Chocolat N Spice is the muffin shop in the Tanjong Pagar area. Only when the Toto pool amounts to more than one million dollars, else the queue at Chocolat N Spice will be the longest among the of shops in the plaza.

That muffins that they sell are cheap and good. It is a pretty good size for S$1. On top of that, there are several different flavours to choose from. I bought a box of six during lunch time and only start to eat at home at about 9pm. Athough the muffins are already cold, they are still soft on the inside. I have to resist eating a second one before sleeping. I had 2 for breakfast the next morning and they were still tasty.

The muffins that I bought......... Double Chocolate, Banana Nut, Chocolate chip, Coffee, Orange Peel..........

Cost : S$1 for 1 muffin

Address : Blk 1, Tanjong Pagar Plaza, #01-18

Country : Singapore

Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu .......... Freshly made Yong Tau Fu to whet your appetite

The first time I ate at Xiu Ji was at the temporary market at Outram when the Chinatown food centre was under renovation. I was surprised by the long queue at 6.30am in the morning. Xiu Ji starts business at 5.45am to be exact. When the renovation was completed, Xiu Ji was back in the Chinatown Complex Food Centre.

It took me sometime to locate it. But when you're near, you'll know it. Before I reach the stall or even see it, I saw a queue of people right beside the toilet. How can so many people be queuing for public toilet at 7:45am in the morning. I guess I must be near Xiu Ji. Bingo!

Xiu Ji occupies 2 stall spaces that are right beside each other. #02-87 is used to prepare the fresh Yong Tau Fu and #02-88 is the source of the human queue.

This is my set of Yong Tau Fu with an extra fish cake at S$3.50. Its a good deal ..........



The bowl of freshly made Yong Tau Fu in the tasty soup. At this stall, you do not need to choose the Yon Tau Fu items ...........



I ordered dried kway tiao mee and Xiu Ji's characteristic ikan bilis (anchovies) is sprinkled over the kway tiao mee. The ikan bilis when mixed with the noodles makes it very appetising. The fish cake is an extra S$0.50 a piece. If you order soup Yong Tau Fu noodles, the ikan bilis will be held inside the plastic spoon to keep it dry so that the ikan bilis do not lose its crispiness before you find a table to enjoy your food ..........



Cost : S$3 per serving (S$0.50 for an extra piece of fish cake)

Address : Blk 335 Smith Street #02-88 Chinatown Complex Food Centre

Opening hours : 5.45am ~ 1.00pm

Country : Singapore