Spring

FINALLY decided to blog after a lonnnggg hiatus! Spring quarter is here and I am SOO HAPPY because the sun is shining everyday! It's simply GORGEOUS .. or GOHGEOUS dahlings (british accent). Today is actually Picnic Day, the notorious day where students get up as early as 6am to get drunk! LAST year was horrible. My first Picnic Day was ruined by 1) heat, 2) bad food, 3) OBNOXIOUS profanity spewing frat/sorority/alcoholics/immature DRUNK college students. It was disgusting how people carried themselves around campus where little kids held hands with their grandparents. UGH. Top it all off, we couldn't get to see any events because it was all full =\ At any rate, I think it's pretty overrated. But, I'm still going to go just because .. well..it's a Davis tradition and it's my last Picnic Day! I am currently at home STUDYING though because I have two midterms and a quiz the following week!! I'm excited for tonight though! My friends and I are going to watch a dance competition called Davis Dance Revolution. Super stoked to see the Popping Club. They seriously have got some mad skills!

Anyhow, I wanted to do a post about cooking and some of the dishes I've been making this quarter, but I realized I hadn't uploaded the pics yet...so, I leave you with some of my cooking tips! The dishes I make are usually Chinese dishes. I come from a Taiwanese background so I introduce the flavors into my food as well. Taiwanese dishes have a very distinct flavor. They use a lot of garlic, onions, dried shallots, and seafood. I don't use seafood because it's too pricey.

Ingredients that will make ANY stir-fry dish amazing:

1) GARLIC--one can NEVER have too much garlic. Simply get two to three cloves and pound with a butcher knife to get skin off and throw it into a pan with heated oil. If I want my dish to be extra garlic flavored, I like to dice a LOT up and throw some into the heated oil and then use the rest after my dish is done and stir it into the food.

2) Onions--I use both green and white onions in my dishes. Simply chop, and throw some slivers of onion into the heated oil along with the garlic. If you want to have that fresh, spicy onion flavor in your dish, I suggest saving some onions toward the end to cook OR sprinkle onto the dish. YUMMO

3) Ground pork/beef--I like to use this in certain dishes such as stir fry cucumbers, stir fry bell peppers, etc. The meat makes a BIG difference in flavor. Throw the meat in after the garlic and onions. Then, stir fry a bit and some salt, sugar, soysauce, and some water. (I eyeball everything)

4) Salt/Sugar!!--SAY WHA? Sugar?! YES!!! TRUST ME. Add your desired amount of salt and ADD some sugar. It adds dynamics to the flavor of your dish! It HAS NEVER failed me. Delicious. All my friends can attest to this too. Don't be afraid of the sugar. Sounds weird.. I know :)

Now some people say, "Don't you need oyster sauce/soysauce for stir fry?" Nope. I can stir fry spinach other veggies with just salt/sugar and garlic. Also, I have NEVER used oyster sauce for my stir frys, only soysauce :)

Another great addition to all you Asian food cooks is Hondashi Fish Stock

Tastes 100xs better than chicken broth. SO. MUCH. FLAVOR. Put a little in your soups, stir frys, etc. MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE. SO flavorful! It has a salty taste that doesn't taste super fishy. It just tastes good. Trust me.

I also like to use this:

SO good and flavorful. GREAT addition to soups and stir fry as well. I LOVE putting this in my scrambled eggs! It's great in any dish :)

Alright. Well, those are my tips for now! I'll post some pictures of food next time :)