Butterfly Nets

Today's song is "Butterfly Nets" by Bishop Allen.
[image source]

Teochew Bak Kut Teh Risotto with Tea Infused Apple Slices - A World's First

Bak Kut Teh and Risotto has always been two of my favorite dishes, and despite the fact that their origins are as far apart as they can be, I have always wanted to find some way to combine them together as one singular dish.

The difficulty is to cook either of these dishes will take a considerable effort, let alone both at the same time. On top of that, I also needed a component to simulate the fat cutting properties of drinking chinese tea that comes with eating Bak Kut Teh.

Over the last weekend, I finally endeavored to attempt this potentially world's first Bak Kut Teh Risotto, and it came off really well.

First, to do the Bak Kut Teh, you need to prepare the broth first. To do so, I used pork bones, about 4 prime rib cuts and one strip of pork belly which you can all get from the supermarket.

Char boil all the pork pieces first to remove any skunk and pork odours. In a separate pan, cook about 2 tablespoons of peppercorn until they are fragrant and begin to pop.

Preparing the Bak Kut Teh broth

In a large pot, put in all the pork pieces, 10 cloves of garlic and the roasted peppercorn and add sufficient water until they cover the mixture. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer on a low heat for at least 2 hours.

This is doing a classical Teochew BKT from scratch, and no packet spices or herbs are used. Just pork, garlic and pepper cooked until they are super fragrant and sweet. Once they are about done, season with soy sauce and more pepper if required.

Tea Poached Apples

In  another pan, boil some water and add in some chinese tea leaves. You can use jasmine, Pu-Er or whatever type of chinese tea leaves you can find. Chop some green apples into slices and add them to the tea mixture. Poach for at least 5 minutes or until the apples are soft.

Cooking the BKT Risotto

The last part is cooking the risotto itself. In a pan or a pot, brown some onions with butter until they are soft and caramelized. This will give sweetness to the risotto later. Add in the necessary amount of risotto and let them brown in the pan for a minute or so.

Using a ladle, add in ladle full of the BKT broth each time and let the risotto absorb and reduce the broth. Keep repeating this for about 25 minutes, while stirring the rice continuously.

They should get soft after 20 to 25 minutes, at which time, add a knob of butter and let it melt into the risotto mixture. Keep stirring and cooking until the risotto rice is fully cooked.

To plate, place the risotto in the center and using the pork belly from the BKT broth, cut the pork belly into slices and place them on top of the risotto. You can add a prime rib if you like, but it will be harder to eat on a risotto dish.

Place about 3 apple slices on the side of the plate as an attractive garnish. The apples will act as an acid to help cut through the fat and pork flavors of the BKT risotto and meat.

And there you have it, a world's first Teochew Bak Kut Teh Risotto. It is a perfect mixture of east and west and uses both continents of cooking techniques to accomplish.

If you cook it correctly, there will be slight sweetness in the risotto from the beautifully natural broth, and combined with the apples, it is a perfectly balanced dish that will appeal to both foodies from the East and the West.

Recipe: Gluten Free Peanutty Crispy Dessert Cups

I found this recipe in the cookbook my mom gave me, Recipes for Gluten Free Kids. I realize it is not healthy or good for you in anyway, but if you are just gluten intolerant this will work for you! And lets be honest we all need to cheat our diet from time to time and this is us cheating! ;)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (organic)

2 tablespoons butter

3 cups large marshmallows

3 cups gluten free regular or choc. flavored crisp rice cereal

Ice cream or frozen yogurt

choc sauce, colored candies, nuts, strawberries, and/or cherries

1) Heat peanut butter and butter in large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Add marshmallows: cook until melted, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat: stir in cereal until well blended and cooled slightly.

2) Scoop mixture evenly into 12 standard nonstick muffin cups: press into bottoms and up sides of cups.

3) Refrigerate 5-10 mins or until set. Remove cups from pan: fill with ice cream and sprinkle w/ desired toppings.

Makes 12 servings

Glasses USA

iSee frames

GlassesUSA.com offers an amazing array of eyewear in various styles, designs, colors, brands, and budgets. It's a convenient and useful site to browse through different frames at home. A great new addition to their website is their Virtual Mirror. Similar to virtual dressing rooms on a few other retailers' websites, this tool allows users to select their gender, upload a personal photo, and see what it might look like on each individual's face.

It's a fun, amusing way to view how glasses may look on you -- or even on another person (in case you're thinking of surprising someone with this type of gift!). Below, is a little preview.



This definitely can save some time trying to find the right pair of eyeglasses or sunglasses. GlassesUSA offers all types of eyewear products in multiple styles, sizes, material, and content - multifocal glasses, bifocal,  full frames, semi-rimless, rimless, aviators, wayfarers, round, oval, rectangular, plastic, metal, titanium, prescription, and reading glasses.

There's tons of discounts and savings on GlassesUSA.com. They make it easy for one to order glasses with all the information all set up and outstanding customer service. They have a Stella Service star! I once attended a Time Out NY conference where many rising companies spoke (like Birchbox, Gilt, etc.) and Stella Service happened to be one of them. They are extremely thorough about judging brands and making sure companies do have high quality service before they award them with a star. So, if Glasses USA has a Stella star, they definitely do have incredible customer service and satisfaction.

Glasses USA is also offering 50% off any pair of prescription eyeglasses/sunglass frames, plus free shipping, using the ode: SPRING50FS. You can even take 10% off any order of prescription glasses with the code: Blog10.


This was a sponsored post.


Follow me on: Bloglovin' | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | YouTube | Instagram: audreyallure

Who You Are

Today's song is "Who You Are" by Jessie J.
[image source]

waves

matthew cussick plays with maps

Outfit: Autism One- Day 3 of 3

I attended Autism One on Saturday for my 3rd and final day. I was BEYOND excited to see the key note speaker, Jenny McCarthy! Here is  what I ended up wearing: 

Dress: Mink Pink via ThirtySomethingFashion Box Service, Bag: Coach, Shoes: Victoria's Secret, Necklace: Oh, Poppy!, Wrist Wrap: Kristin Hassan, Sunnies: Loft, Belt: Dolce Vita

 Let me start by saying I am a HUGE Jenny McCarthy fan. When I first got pregnant with my son I read Belly Laughs (seriously such a funny book to read when you are pregnant), I next read Baby Laughs, and Life Laughs.
When we first realized that our son may be autistic, I then read her book Louder then Words. This book changed my world. I remember balling as I read it, but in the end it gave me a bit of hope.
Since my son's diagnosis, we have bought almost all her Teach to Talk videos and my kids are obsessed with them.
Outside of the books and the fact I feel like she has had a positive influence on my life, I loved her on MTV's Singled out. I also super love that she is hosting the new NBC show "Love in the Wild". Yes, it is smut TV, but I like a little smut TV in my life.
So, I showed up 30 minutes early and got all the way up to the second row for her lecture. SHE WAS AMAZING. She's smart, funny, and just a great mom/role model to have in this autism journey so many of us are on.

Here she is speaking:

And here's me in line waiting to meet her, have her sign my Autism One catalog, and get a photo:

The closer I got to her, the more I froze. I have never been shy or scared in front of famous people, but she scared the hell out of me! lol

I wanted to tell her how much she has been a positive influence on me, I wanted to thank her for getting all this info out to us, I wanted to try not to cry and be a crazy fan. I froze. I went mute. I said hi and I'm pretty sure I told her I loved her. (lowers head and shakes it).

She was just as beautiful in person, she was even nicer that I thought she would be, I for sure feel fortuniate to have met her!

Here is all the info and coupons I walked away with after my 3 days . Yes, it was a lot to take in. Yes, it was overwhelming at times, but all and all I am so happy I made myself go. I got so much out of it and can't wait to raise the bar a bit at my home, after all, I am a warrior mom!