Yesterday, I wanted something Asian for dinner... Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, whatever. I just needed something comforting over rice. Hungry Bear suggested making a stir-fry with flank steak and I reminded her about the asparagus in the fridge. So, she whipped up garlic beef with asparagus and shiitake mushrooms.

The key to any stir-fry with thin slices of beef is not to over cook the meat. Hungry Bear made it perfectly as it remained tender and moist. The stir-fry was really flavorful from the oyster sauce, soy, garlic and shiitakes.

Although I wanted rice, Hungry Bear made me eat it over noodles... something about my birthday and long life. I don't believe in that type of stuff, but I obliged. Sadly, the fresh Asian egg noodles we had in the fridge weren't so fresh anymore and had grown a little "hairy." We searched the pantry for a suitable substitute and could only muster up spaghetti noodles. Maybe I should have told you that we wanted to make an East meats West dish!?!

The garlic beef stir-fry was so delicious, it didn't matter if it was served on spaghetti, egg noodles or rice. But maybe I added a few extra years to my life by eating noodles on my birthday!

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A few weeks ago, Hungry Bear and I went to lunch at Ella's, our favorite breakfast place in San Francisco. Usually, I order a burger or a heavy egg scramble for lunch, but this time I went with a mushroom, onion and gruyere sandwich on a buttermilk bun. The sandwich was great and I knew immediately, we were going to make this at home.

We tried to replicate the sandwich a couple of days ago. It was easy to make and only required sautéing onions and mushrooms. Our version of the sandwich included portobello mushrooms, crimini mushrooms, onions and provolone on a focaccia roll. It was supposed to be gruyere, but our Trader Joe's didn't have any... not that provolone is a second class cheese. The sandwich was simply delicious. We served the sandwich with a tomato and English cucumber salad. If we had a ripe avocado, it would have gone into the salad too.

The sandwich is a lighter and healthier alternative to lunch meat or a burger. I think it would also be great as a panini sandwich. Next time, we plan asianifying this thing. Think shiitakes, soy sauce, green onions and maybe served on roti.

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The SND kitchen is officially open again. We just cooked our first big meal in the new digs. To christen the place, Hungry Bear and I wanted to make a decadent multi-course dinner to celebrate the end of our moving process. We tossed around a few ideas for the main course, including braised pork belly, but went with veal chops with morel mushrooms. I couldn't pass up making the fantastic morel sauce. So, we created the menu as...

Chicken and Duck Mousse with Peppercorns 
with a sweet French baguette and cornichons

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Red Butter Lettuce with Baby Vegetables
carrots, radishes, cherry tomatoes, avocados and lemon Dijon vinaigrette

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Veal Chops with Morel Mushrooms 
served with roasted parsnips purée and sautéed asparagus

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Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
topped with mini M&Ms, chocolate nibs or crushed pistachios

We picked up the liver mousse last week at the Serramonte Farmers' Market and saved it for this occasion. And this past Saturday, we bought the baby vegetables and some fresh morels at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market. In our first SND post, we made the chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, so I thought it was fitting to make the dessert again.

The veal chops on their own are really good, but they're even better with a morel sauce made with cognac, dijon mustard and coconut cream. Yes, I said wrote coconut cream. Eric Ripert's recipe calls for crème fraîche, but we substituted coconut cream for two reasons. First, we have many cans of coconut milk in our pantry. Second, one of the SNDsters is a little lactose intolerant, so we try to minimize dairy products whenever possible.

Dinner was fabulous and fun. The liver mousse was a great starter and the salad with baby vegetables was much needed with this heavy meal. The veal chops and morels were delicious and no one missed the crème fraîche. The sweet parsnips purée paired well with the rich morel sauce. All in all, it was a very successful Sunday nite dinner. However, we're still getting a feel for the new stove and figuring out where the the best lighting is for photos.

Next up on SND is the recipe for these chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

SNDsters: Garry, Karen, Jane, Mark, Hungry Bear, Chuck

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Last week, I planned on making a tomato based penne. But as we were grocery shopping, I saw a cheap can of crab meat (1 pound for $7.99). Since we are on a recession budget, I decided to give the canned crab a try. And the penne dish morphed into an asparagus crab pasta with leeks and mushrooms.

I tried to keep the pasta simple and make it a one pot dish... well two pots, you need another one to cook the pasta, but you get my point. After I sautéed the garlic, leek, asparagus and mushroom mixture, I gave it a taste and it was great by itself. I opened the can of crab and finally realized it was all claw meat... damn it! No wonder it was so cheap.

I usually eat my steamed crab dipped in a mixture of lemon juice, salt and pepper. So, I added the juice and zest of a lemon to the pasta. Even with the canned crab claw meat, the pasta was really good. It had great flavors from the leeks and asparagus, while the lemon juice and zest brightened up the pasta. Sadly, I overcooked the asparagus by being overzealous with my picture taking.

Next time I make this dish, I'll use fresh crab meat, not take pictures while cooking and this asparagus crab pasta will be even better. Let's hope this recession ends soon!

Side Note: Hungry Bear and I will be moving next week... a long distance move of 1.5 miles. We'll be busy with packing and un-packing for the next two weeks, so new posts will be limited during this time. The good news is we'll be cooking and baking in a much nicer, remodeled kitchen. I can't wait for the first Sunday night dinner in the new place!

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If you had to choose one dish to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be? As someone who enjoys a good smorgasbord and wants it all, I have a difficult time answering this question. Without hesitation, Hungry Bear's choice is fried rice, because it's a flavorful, balanced meal. And she can't survive without rice.

The beauty of fried rice is the endless variations that can be made from leftovers or random ingredients in the fridge. In my head, I have a basic shrimp fried rice recipe my mom taught me, but I can't recall the last time I made it. Instead, each time we make fried rice, it's a unique, never to be made again creation, because the combination of leftovers/ingredients is never the same.

Leftover sauces are my favorite things to add to fried rice, for example, Thai green curry. Every time we make green curry, we end up with a cup or two of sauce in the bottom of the pot. If you take the curry sauce, add some rice, any leftover meat, sweet petite peas and bamboo shoots, all of sudden you'll have an amazing green curry fried rice. Other times, we make fried rice by just dumping leftover Asian takeout into a wok.

The recipe below is a fried rice Hungry Bear whipped together with some Chinese broccoli, Chinese sausage and Shiitake mushrooms we had in the fridge. The broccoli was leftover from making beef chow fun. Hungry Bear used minimal oil and sodium in the recipe, since there's plenty of it in the Chinese sausage. It was simple and delicious. Could you eat fried rice for the rest of your life?

Other Fried Rice Recipes

• Fried Rice Yang Chow-Style by Wandering Chopsticks
• Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage and Vegetables by Nook & Pantry
• Curry Chicken Fried Rice by CanaryGirl

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Crispy spring rolls, egg rolls or imperial rolls, whatever you call them, it's cha gio in Vietnamese. My mom's cha gio was one of my favorite things to eat growing up. Nothing compares to my mom's crispy spring rolls. I know I say that about all of her cooking, but I really mean it. When I was younger and attended a lot of Viet gatherings and parties, I would always leave thinking my mom's cooking was better.

Cha gio comes in many different sizes and can be made with spring roll wrappers or rice paper. Traditionally, rice paper is used in Vietnam, but my mom has been using spring roll wrappers for as long as I can remember, so I'm partial to them. I grew up on pork and shrimp cha gio, but a few years ago, my dad became a pescetarian. So last month when I visited my parents, my mom made shrimp and crab rolls.

I don't eat cha gio very often because it's deep fried. So it was a really special treat when my mom made the rolls. Of course, she doesn't measure any ingredients and just cooks by taste and feel. She knew I wanted to document the process for SND and indulged me by measuring everything out. Isn't she great?

The cha gio were fantastic. They contain a few of my favorite things — crab, shrimp, cabbage and shiitake mushrooms. Since they are deep fried, they are obviously nice and crispy. Wrapped up in a fresh piece of lettuce and dipped in nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce), they are absolutely delicious and take me back to my childhood.

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I'd been asking Hungry Bear to make her braised tofu, pork and shiitakes the last several weeks. First off, it's one of my favorite dishes and I had a hankering for it. Secondly, I wanted to take better pictures of it, because the first set of pictures doesn't convey the deliciousness of the dish. It was only our second post on SND, and we were complete newbies at food photography.

Whenever we need Asian ingredients, we walk a couple of blocks to the Richmond New May Wah Supermarket. It's one of the best Asian markets in San Francisco. The prices are super cheap, or as the bay area kids like to say... HELLA cheap! For only $10.52, we picked up the ground pork, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, cilantro and a very large bag of pea shoots at New May Wah. What a deal!

The downside of the market can be the long checkout lines and the crazy Chinese grandmothers, who will box you out while reaching for produce. Hungry Bear has no issues sticking her elbows out to protect her space, whereas, I'm afraid of these aggressive, elderly women. I try to avoid the craziness by going during non-peak times, which means weekday mornings.

Back to the braised pork and tofu, I made Hungry Bear measure out all the ingredients while she was cooking, so we could document the recipe. I threw off her timing a bit, because she's used to just dumping in the ingredients by taste and feel. Still, the dish turned out fantastic as usual.

It's a simple dish with great flavors from the shiitakes, pork, soy and oyster sauce. We always have it over rice with a side of stir-fried vegetables. This time around, we had pea shoots with garlic.

Over time, the amount of pork has increased from 1 pound to 1.5 pounds. What can I say, I'm a meat eater. I love my veggies too, but I won't skimp out on the meat. No matter how much pork is used, it's a great dish and has become comfort food for me!

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Jane and Mark love braised oxtail, as do I. Every very few months, we get a major craving for oxtail, so I made it for Sunday night dinner this past week. The last time I braised oxtails, I used a Ming Tsai recipe, which had too many ingredients. Sometimes I love his East meets West fusion food, but this dish was not one of them.

I wanted a more traditional Chinese recipe and stumbled upon an aromatic Chinese oxtail stew recipe by Jennifer McLagan. The ingredient list was simple, and I really liked how the sauce is refrigerated overnight, which makes removing the fat easier. The orange zest and juice were the only things I didn't like in the recipe. I think this stems from my aversion to orange beef.

Of course, I had to screw around with the recipe and incorporate other ingredients. For ideas, I immediately thought of my favorite Vietnamese noodle soup, bún bò Hue, which uses oxtails and lemongrass. Instead of the orange in McLagan's recipe, I replaced it with lemongrass and a lime. I also increased the amount of star anise, added whole cloves, shiitake mushrooms and Thai chili peppers for some much needed heat!

My additions make the ingredient list seem long, but the dish was easy to prepare because there's hardly any chopping. Once the oxtails were simmering in the oven, the aromas were simply heavenly! The smell reminded me of Vietnamese pho from the star anise and cloves. After three hours of braising, the oxtails were very tender and the meat was falling off the bone. It was hard not to eat them immediately, but the sauce was on the greasy side and the fat needed to be removed, so begrudgingly, I strained the sauce and threw it all in the fridge.

The next day, I skimmed the layer of fat that collected on top of the gelatinous sauce. It's not a pretty process, but it makes the dish healthier. This is my way of rationalizing that it's okay to eat oxtail on regular basis. Once the sauce was re-heated, I poured it over the oxtails and added the shiitake mushrooms.

After an agonizing hour of braising, the oxtails were finally ready and were covered in a thick, dark sauce. We served them over jasmine rice and a side of bok choy. The oxtails were garnished with diced scallions and a squeeze of lime juice. They were fantastic and flavorful from the soy and aromatics. The sour lime juice was a nice addition and cut the richness of the meat and sauce.

The savory sauce was wonderfully soaked up by the plain rice. The shiitakes gave the sauce an earthy taste and a strong mushroom fragrance. We really enjoyed the added flavor and texture of the shiitakes, but they are completely optional. I called my recipe Chinese braised oxtail stew, and while the flavors are predominately Chinese, it's really a melting pot of Asian flavors, which "live together in perfect harmony."

For dessert, we intended to make something light with fruit, but somehow ended up serving root beer floats. What's that quote? "The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry." That pretty much sums up our dessert choice.

After all the rich and heavy meals recently, Hungry Bear and I agreed to cook lighter for a little bit. Let's see how quickly my love for braised hunks of meat foils this pact.

SNDsters: Karen, Garry, Mark, Jane, Hungry Bear, Chuck

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I love Chinese sticky rice. It contains several of my favorite ingredients — sticky rice, Chinese sausage and mushrooms. I know I'm going to have Hungry Bear's sticky rice at least twice a year, at Thanksgiving dinner and during Lunar New Year (Vietnamese/Chinese New Year) festivities. It's become a traditional dish for us on these holidays.

I really enjoy the rich flavors from the Chinese sausage, shiitake mushrooms, oyster sauce and soy sauce that get infused into the sweet, sticky rice. Chinese-American families often serve sticky rice in place of stuffing during Thanksgiving. It's great with turkey, roasted duck or just by itself. I didn't grow up eating this dish, but I now consider it a comfort food.

Hungry Bear started making Chinese sticky rice using a recipe from Grace Young's The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen. The recipe has dried scallops and shrimp in it, which takes additional time to prepare. Over the years, Hungry Bear has altered Grace Young's recipe, excluding the dried seafood, in order to save prep time. The scallops and shrimp are a little too fishy for my tastes and I prefer my sticky rice without them.

Another common ingredient in sticky rice is chestnuts, which Hungry Bear's mom often includes in her recipe. A frequent reader, Judy, told us that her aunty used bamboo shoots in her sticky rice. Next time, Hungry Bear plans on adding either chestnuts or bamboo shoots for some variety.

Until then, I've included two Chinese sticky rice recipes. The first one is Hungry Bear's and the second recipe with dried seafood is Grace Young's, in case you want all the flavors of traditional sticky rice. I need to warn you that Hungry Bear's version makes a huge amount of rice. She likes to cook in mass quantities and all recipes are bear-size, which means they are quadrupled! Hungry Bear loves leftovers, therefore the need to cook in abundance.

I'll never complain about the large quantities because there's no such thing as too much Chinese sticky rice!

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One of my favorite ingredients is hot Italian sausage. Hungry Bear loves sweet petite peas. Add some mushrooms, garlic, orecchiette, a sprinkle of Parmigiano Reggiano and you'll have a tasty pasta dish that can be prepared in 30 minutes.

Hungry Bear likes pasta dishes without tomato sauce because the individual flavors of the ingredients are not dominated by a tomato taste. Recently, we've made most of our pasta without tomato sauce. Our current favorite pasta is an orecchiette with hot Italian sausage.

This pasta dish is simple to make. We really like the spiciness from the hot Italian sausage complimented by the sweetness of the peas. The orecchiette gets coated by the juices from the sausage and mushrooms, so the pasta dish isn't completely dry. I try to make the dish a little healthier by draining off some of the fat/juices from the sausage. But if you remove too much juice, you'll lose a lot of flavor and there won't be enough juice to coat the orecchiette. It's a fine balance between flavor and fat.

To complete the meal, make a side of sautéed broccolini with garlic. You can also combine the broccolini with the pasta and have one big bowl of happiness and deliciousness!

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