March 2011 - Life Bites

Chinese pot sticker recipe – dumplings “jiaozi”

I got this Chinese pot sticker recipe from my Chinese mother in law. I learned that pot stickers are a traditional Northern Chinese holiday meal, usually made by the whole family on the Eve of Chinese New Year. Both my in-laws made them from scratch several times and let me help, but I confess I used to find the recipe too mind-boggling. That is, until this week. After noticing how much my two-year-old loves the chicken pot stickers we get from Costco, I decided to make my own. For this Chinese pot sticker recipe, I am using store-bought wrappers, but…

Daytime moon

Yesterday morning, I was driving home from running errands when I noticed the daytime moon... a sight I'd never seen before. As I stared at it and eventually took photos, I was wondering if the moon was trying to tell us something by stubbornly hanging out at unusual times. I then realized that the moon is always there. We just can't normally see it during the day because of the sun. Yet, with the current world chaos and suspicions of more to come, I got this feeling that maybe it is we who are changing ... and seeing more, so…

Pork stew recipe

Try this pork stew recipe for a delicious dish, using traditional stew vegetables and Caribbean-style seasonings. This recipe gives you the option to use "season all", a home-made vegetable and herb seasoning I wrote about in a previous post, and ground annatto seeds, but it can be done without. See easy print recipe below. Pork stew recipe 2 lbs. pork loin or other pork meat (cut into 1½ inch square cubes)½ mid size sweet red onion (chopped)1 teaspoon of mashed garlic (about 3 big cloves)1½ teaspoons salt½ teaspoon ground black pepper½ teaspoon ground annatto seeds (bija or achiote)1 teaspoon oregano…

Homemade season all & dip

I already have a recipe posted for an all natural, homemade season all. However, I recently started using a new recipe inspired by a friend from Peru. The main difference between the two is that for this season all, you will stir-fry the ingredients before blending them, and you will be using red pepper for natural coloring. The result is a delicious orange paste that can be used as a dip or added to stews, soups, meats and rice dishes for enhanced flavor. You will need: 1 big red onion, diced 1 bulb of garlic, peeled 2 big red bell…

Bachata en Fukuoka

Juan Luis Guerra's Bachata en Fukuoka, 2010 Tropical Song of the Year - from 2010 Latin Grammy's Album of the Year "A Son de Guerra". This beautiful bachata song was written by Guerra in Japan, during a visit to the town of Fukuoka. The video portraits a love story that survived absence and time... and lovers who held on to a memory from their youth and kept it fresh through un-aging love: Song lyrics are below. Here's a link to an unofficial English translation. Dile a la mañana que se acerca mi sueño que lo que se espera con paciencia…