The Great Chef

Yes, I am still alive. No, this blog has not perished, regardless of the lack of posting activity it has shown. As most (if not all) of you, I have been quite busy and after accomplishing all my duties during the academic year, few or no time remains to share something with the outside world. I am not complaining. I love being busy for this reason. I am just acknowledging my wish of writing more often. Our most recent cooking experiments have revolved around Chinese cuisine: sweet and sour, spicy and sweet, fresh and spicy; you name the combination of flavors one can find in such rich tradition. We bought two cooking books with recipes from the most representative regions of China and we have been trying them for some time (great discoveries of deliciousness that I will share sooner or later). The most amazing thing about cooking is that you actually developed your senses up to the point of triggering your creativity. That was exactly what happened recently. We had some ground beef tha

Hi everyone, how have you all been doing?  I'm sorry for not updating my blog for so long...... I have been lazy to sit in front of the computer to do posting eventhough I have been busy cooking and baking yu mmy good food for my family here in Auckland. Lately it has been raining almost everyday here ; and instead I just stay at home reading and brow s ing cookbooks. Today post is Chocolate Chips Cookies.  I have wanted to bake this back at home this "Almost" Famous Amos Chocolate C hips Cookies for so long b ut I was afraid that I couldn' t fin ish this cookies all by myself as I am not a big fan of chocolate chips cookies.  So since I am here and my niece is always pestering for chocolate chips c ookies, so I grab th is opportunities to make it for her. I wanted to make half of the recipe and I am glad I didn't.  This chocolate chips cookies are SO GOOD and crunchy.  I LOVE IT and in fact I can say I am in love this chocolate cookies !  I am going to

Last week the weather was good and sunny and we decided to make a trip down to the City.  Instead of driving to the city (as it will be difficult to find parking space in the city), we took the ferry down from Half Moon Bay (near Buckland s Beach). The f erry trip to the City from Half Moon Bay took just 30 minutes only.   You can purchase the tickets in the ferry itself.  Return tickets for two adults and (max.) four children for family package is NZ$36.00 and the other ticket Super Gold is usually for Senior Citizen which is free! Transport Centre - train and bus to other state. Queen Street - long walk with lots of shops on left and right.   at one junction, you will see SkyTower!  A must go for the first timer.  Casino, bungee jump,                        Daiso in Auckland City!   On our ferry return ride, we saw this ferry going to Waiheke Island.   Waiheke Island - a place to those who loves wines, places to visit vineyards and wineries.  (Ha..Alvin of Chef&Sommelier, if yo