giving thanks

A Foodie's Thanksgiving Diet

I was a bit late this year to be doing a cleansing diet; my goal of 4 weeks of clean eating ran right thru Thanksgiving! However, following a rather rich-in-Italian-food-and-wine-consuming binge in October, I felt I definitely needed to reset, and at least I would have reached my 4 week goal before Christmas and the promise of all those holiday goodies.
This time I was even more determined to cook my allowed foods in a way that was palatable - I did not want to feel deprived during Thanksgiving. And yikes, I was supposed to only "enjoy certain fish and chicken or turkey breast meat" during this diet. The fish part was no problem, but I have never "enjoyed" chicken or turkey breast.

Luckily, I had alot of help. So this Thanksgiving, not to downplay the usual thanks I must give for the health and happiness of my friends and family- I also give thanks to the availability of many things organic like a 7 pound Turkey breast with skin and ribs attached, a non-grain like quinoa, and the unusual baked mung bean chips - all from the Whole Foods within walking distance from us.

Also the dreaded dry breast meat dilemna was resolved by the recent experience of a lovely dinner at our friends' Byron and Euni. I was reminded of the possibility of brining! Brining and a wealth of adaptable internet recipes has made for a pretty decent Thanksgiving. There's nothing like forced creativity...
Here are some of the recipes from this year's Thanksgiving foods. Jimmy and I were invited to friends dinners' Thursday, Friday and Sunday of that weekend, but I brought my own food to all functions.

my first roast chicken

mom's bean curd roast chicken

This recipe is something my mom came up with over 10 years ago. I have it as hastily jotted notes onto Day Planner paper - pre PDA days for sure! Mom, you likely need to make corrections to my interpretation.

My mom likes to make up her own recipes. They are often a hit with my Dad. You especially knew when a dish is a hit with him because he will have my mom make it for all the dinner parties they happen to have during that time. This roast chicken was made quite a bit for a year or so. Maybe longer. I would say this was a time period before my mom preferred a more vegetarian diet.

Now I don't remember exactly the fermented bean curd she used; mom you will have to specify. I remember a small square jar of little pasty cubes that were in I think a reddish liquid? I remember I would look for it and other familiar condiments in the Chinese market by sight as I can't read Chinese. I actually only made this once, with phone help from my mom. I think I ought to try it sometime with the organic chicken from Whole Foods.

best evah banana bread

tutu's banana bread

This recipe came from my sister Karyn. She gave it to me a long time ago; I somehow think she might have been in college - Karyn, you must remember better. I've had to re-request recipes from Karyn on a number of occasions; somehow managing to lose this one and the mochi recipe a bunch of times. I think she must be relieved not to get any more of those phone calls for misplaced recipes, particularly as I usually call needing it "now"; having a bunch of spotting bananas begging to be made in bread....

Hey Karyn, how did you get the recipe? Tutu means grandmother in Hawaiian, but its defintely not from our grandmother.

This is my favorite banana bread recipe by far. Its very moist, unlike other banana breads I've had, and has a nice rich flavor from the brown or raw sugar. Its also not overly sweet, as it gets some of its sweetness from the raisins. My dad demands nuts in his -he's a big time nut lover- but I usually make it without nuts. This is changing though, as both my husband and his mom say they prefer it with nuts...

I recently found that in a pinch this bread can serve as dessert. Its pretty good a la mode, with vanilla ice cream :)

unexpected benefits of diet food

pomegranate avocado chicken salad


Sometimes out of neccesity good things can happen - and from a cleansing diet no less!

I signed up to do a cleansing diet last October. When it was suggested to me I decided I would start it with a vengeance-so I could get off of it before the holiday food season started. This way I could bargain my way through - be very strict about what I was eating in October so I could treat myself by Thanksgiving or very least, by Christmas :) .

I've done a cleansing diet once before that I vaguely remembered was a real struggle for flavor and variety. This time around, armed with an expanded cooking repertoire and a greater range of food sources - like our local farmer's markets and the Whole Foods that opened two blocks away - I collected/developed a set of recipes made only with ingredients within the diet. This way I could lessen the panic come dinner time, knowing I had a few good dishes I could make where I wouldn't feel deprived.

The diet was very challenging at times, particularly with going out for dinner. But because of it I widened my scope of cooking to include some Indian-style of cooking for the first time. I discovered some great cookbooks. One especially, called "Mangoes and Curry Leaves".

This salad recipe I've included got improvised due to diet restriction and because these gorgeous ruby globes of pomegranites were available at our local farmer's market. What is lacking in flavor with the two ingredient dressing is the variety of flavors in the salad. I'm not on the diet anymore but next pomegranate season I think I will be making this recipe again.

Chinese New Year food

pork hash


On the 8th of this month, my cousin had us over for a belated Chinese New Year dinner. We celebrated Chinese New Year with my brother-in-law and his family, so my cousin postponed this get together for March. My aunt's family joined us this year, making a total of 6 adults and 3 teenage boys. My aunt ambitiously made a huge dish of what we call in our family "jai", or monks food. My cousin and her husband made green beans, 2 bowls of steamed pork hash and 2 bowls of steamed egg. My husband made dumpling filling and had many helpers there to make trays of dumplings in individual wrapping styles. I made a tray of coconut mochi, wanting something different from the pumpkin version we've been eating the past holidays. There were purchased sweets as well for dessert; JJ Bakery cheesecake sticks and egg tarts and assortment of cookies, including one that was very chocolatey-fudgy.

The end result: we all ate alot! We didn't manage to finish the enormous bowl of jai or the entire tray of mochi but the beans, steamed egg, pork hash, and somehow, 130 something dumplings disappeared. Amazing.

My cousin's pork hash recipe is from a Chinese cookbook she likes alot. This recipe I included is one I wrote down when my grandmother demonstrated it to my sisters and I. My mother was working alot when I was in my late teens and Popo used to come over a couple times a week and either brought cooked dishes or finished pre-prepped ingredients at our house. My parents encouraged us to have Popo teach us how to make some of the dishes, so I have a few recipes haphazardly jotted on all kinds of scrap paper. Most of the instruction for assembling the pork hash is missing, but I've guessed at it.

I should get my cousin's recipe from the cookbook for comparison. I suspect Popo's was tastier because hers has shrimp in it.

old family recipes

family thanksgiving turkey

I've been going through my recipe "collection" - a slim folder of jumbled pages from magazines, newspaper clippings, xeroxes, printouts, even an old fax. I've got alot I want to post! But I'd like to start with some of my family-familiar recipes. Its nice for me this time of the year to remember who used to make what when I was younger. My recipe collection isn't so old, but I have a few that I've had for 10, 15 years. Some must be even older.

This recipe may be one that dates back the most. It is the only one I have from my Uncle Keoung, who has been deceased for a number of years now. I wish I'd been better at getting recipes over the years, but I do feel lucky now that I made an effort that year to get this one. I was a nuisance delaying the turkey from going into the oven that Thanksgiving, but he was nice enough to demonstrate and my Aunt helped translate.

When he was alive, my Uncle was the one that made the Thanksgiving Turkey. He was thought of in my family as a good cook. My great-grandmother and grandmother were the "feast" cooks in my family, so thinking back, it was saying something that he made the turkey. The turkey and the stuffing (made by my great-grandmother) both were strongly Chinese influenced. I never thought about it much growing up, but I do remember that when I went away to college and started experiencing my friends' Thanksgivings on the mainland, their family turkeys seemed so dry and their stuffings seemed so wet and bland by comparison.

Somehow this recipe seems to be missing some steps. I need to check if my Aunt can fill in any gaps. And maybe she might remember something about that Chinese-sausage stuffing my great-grandmother used to make...

If not, I'll have to see if I can get a similar recipe. I do remember many years ago, a Chinese friend of my cousin brought her a similar stuffing made with sticky rice to an L.A. Thanksgiving dinner we had together. Beth, you have to get that recipe for me :)

pumpkin mochi

thanksgiving taste of hawaii


For Thanksgiving this is one recipe I seem to be making on a regular basis. For a number of years now we go to my cousin's house in Orange County for Thanksgiving. Its become a nice tradition with my LA relatives, and I'm so lucky not to have to make the turkey! This pan baked, cut into bite-size sweet is easy to snack on while the dinner preparations are being finished. Its popular with my cousin and her two boys! I got this recipe from another cousin who lives in Hawaii, where I have alot of family. Its nice to have a taste of home for the Thanksgiving holiday.

(It's also popular around Christmas and well, the rest of the year too)