Mall Trolling

Since we had a few days holiday for Christmas we did a bit of sightseeing.  A long the way we stopped by a few malls to show Ethan the decorations they had for the holidays.  The displays they have are pretty impressive.

City Gate in Tung Chung:

IFC in Central:

Harbour City in TST:

Meeting Santa

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays Everyone!  Hope everyone a fantastic Christmas and a great 2011!

This year we celebrated with Mike and his new family.  Great food, good wine, and lots laughs.  It was a good Christmas!

Christmas 2008

Ethan at his very first Christmas.  He was much more willing to pose for me back then - this year I had to resort to bribing him with raisins just to sit still.

I miss how his hair used to stand straight up.

Nuggets Nuggets Nuggets

Once upon a time we had a little boy who used to love eating anything and everything.  Whatever veggie/fruit/meat we placed in front of him, he would gobble up and actually get impatient if we did not feed him fast enough.  Times have changed.  Our sweetie has turned overnight into a picky eater who now refuses most vegetables unless it is sneakily pureed and hidden in sauces and soups.  As E loves anything crispy or anything that can be dipped into a sauce nuggets are right up his alley. 

The following recipes show nuggets three different ways and are pretty delish and super easy to make.  And most importantly these are Ethan approved!  We tried them both baked and fried in a little bit of canola oil.  Broccoli nuggets turned out much better baked, but the bean nuggets taste better fried.  All can be cooked in advanced and then frozen.

Broccoli Nuggets (you can substitute Cauliflower or a mix of both):

1 broccoli crown, steamed or 1 bag frozen broccoli, cooked
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 cup grated cheese, cheddar or parmesan

1) Chop cooked broccoli finely or pulse in food processor
2) Add bread crumbs and cheese and mix.  If necessary, add more bread crumbs and cheese until the mixture reaches the same consistency of meatballs.
3) Form into small balls and flatten into nuggets.
4) Bake at 180C for 15 minutes.  Turn over and bake for another 5-10 minutes until crispy. 


Black Bean Nuggets:

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 scallions (white and light green portions only), thinly sliced
1/2 cup sweet potato, grated
1/2 cup panko
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
1/16 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
3 tablespoons canola oil

1) In small bowl combine egg, chili powder, hot sauce and pepper.  Beat lightly with fork and set aside.
2) Place black beans in large bowl and coarsely mash with potato masher or back of a fork.  Add scallions, sweet potato, panko and the egg mixture.  Mix well.
4) Form patties of the black bean mixture.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes (I always skipped this step)
5) Heat the oil in pan.  Cook 3-4 minutes until patties are brown and crisp on one side, then turn and cook another 3 minutes until the other side is brown and patties are heated through.
6) Place nuggets on paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil.


Garbanzo Bean Nuggets:

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
Parsley
1 large egg
1 teaspoon each cumin, salt, lemon juice
1/16 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons canola oil

1) Finely dice onion, garlic and parsley in food processor.
2) Place black beans in large bowl and coarsely mash with potato masher or back of a fork.  Add onion mixture.  Mix well.
3)  Mix seasonings with egg, olive oil and lemon juice.  Add to bean mixture.
4) Fold in bread crumbs and combine until mixture is easy to handle.
4) Form patties of the black bean mixture. 
5) Heat canola oil in pan.  Cook 3-4 minutes until patties are brown and crisp on one side, then turn and cook another 3 minutes until the other side is brown and patties are heated through.
6) Place nuggets on paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil.

iheartfaces Fix-It-Friday #81

SOOC:

Color Edit (Lightroom):

-used preset Vivid Pop 2 (I don't know where I found this one), followed by Lightroom preset Autotone

-increased highlights to +21, fill light to +31, exposure to +1.05, brightness to +4, clarity to +60

-shifted yellow hue to -98, green hue to -45

B&W Edit (Lightroom):

Holiday Cheer

We started playing some Christmas songs the other day as we decorated our house.  Of all the holiday songs Ethan's fav by far is Rudolph, followed by Feliz Navidad.  Side note: Ethan seems to really like Spanish.  We have some toys that teach both English and Spanish and he has picked up a lot from them: he can now count to 10 and sing the ABC's in Spanish.  I guess I should really be pushing the Mandarin.  Kids are such sponges!

Birthdays!

We celebrated two birthday's this month, one of which was my wonderful husband's. Happy birthday to my sweetie!

And also to Mike! It's so great that our family is living so close to each other (Taiwan, Shanghai and Hong Kong) and can get together for special occasions. While I'm excited that we will be moving back to the States soon, it'll be sad to be moving so far away from family.