Back with red velvet cake!

Wew! It has been a while since I posted anything on here. Since I last posted, I have moved through two apartments and to a different country. Now, I am blogging from Copenhagen, and boy do I have a lot of food posts for you!

There won't be as many restaurant posts now, as CPH is a very expensive city for eating out. However, I have upped my kitchen production and have been cooking and baking as a form of relaxation.

Lately, I have been obssessing about Red Velvet Cake. This is mostly because i cannot get the right food coloring here for that deep red cake. Finally, I have succeeded, and it only took a bottle and a half of food color (about 40ml). :-) The cake also was kinda difficult to make, and I have a few ideas for improving it. The icing on the other hand is unlike other cream cheese frosting out there. With the addition of mascarpone cheese and heavy cream, it's a lighter version of cream cheese frosting!

General Tso's Sesame Chicken

I've been living in Germany for the past two years, and I have to say, I am fairly embarrassed that I haven't made any more posts on here.  I blame it on Facebook and how easy it is to just upload a photo on there with a short caption. :-)  I'll try to update more, especially since I have a lot of material to work with. :-)

One of the things I have missed greatly about New York City is the food.  Mind you, it's not the fancy schmancy stuff, but the simple everyday dishes you get from (one of) your neighborhood chinese take-out place.  The running joke with me and my friends who travel back home to the US is that they were going to bring me General Tso's or Sesame Chicken in their luggage.  No one has done it yet, and it seems like I don't need for someone to do it anymore. 

I found this quick recipe for General Tso's chicken online, and decided to make it yesterday.  I think the most challenging part of this dish was deep-frying the chicken.  In my tiny studio apartment, I didn't want all my stuff tainted with oil and smelling like fried chicken strips after! lol.  Also, since I can't always seem to follow a recipe, I used the linked recipe as a guide.  :-)

I used chicken breast that I sliced to bite-sized pieces, then seasoned with salt and pepper.  Then I dipped it in the cornstarch/egg mixture before frying.  Also, for the sauce, I added a bit of water to the rice wine, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch mixture.  Here's how it came out!

Bo Luc Lac

I have been craving steak for a while and decided to make Bo Luc Lac.  This is something Dino and I ate a lot of when we were in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Who knew steak meat in Germany was that expensive?  I certainly did not!  The butcher I went to charged me 5.40 euros per 100 grams of beef.  I got 300 grams, then went to a grocery store and got 200 grams more of rump steak for 2.99 per 100 grams.

They both tasted the same.

I ganked this recipe from the Ravenous Couple.  Instead of serving it as a salad, I served mine over steamed white rice.