As the times are getting tough, it’s time to cook more. This is my favorite, quick and easy dish I came up with to cook up for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Serves 2

canola oil
1 can 6 oz. salmon
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cups of cooked, day old white or brown rice
1/2 cup frozen vegetables (optional)
1/4 cup water

Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Add drained salmon and mash it up with a spatula. Season the salmon with onion powder and black pepper. Then stir in the cooked, day old rice. If the rice or salmon starts sticking to the pan, pour in some water, a little at a time, until the rice no longer sticks to the pan. Finally, add in frozen vegetables and stir fry. You can add in more water if you like. When the frozen vegetables are heated, the salmon fried rice is done.

Where to Buy Canned Salmon:

Hot pot is when you order fresh, raw ingredients and cook it yourself in a hot pot of boiling water.

I went to Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot on a weekday for lunch with my husband and mother-in-law. I have to admit, the menu was a little overwhelming. I had no idea what to order.

We went with the original broth, assorted meat, pea shoots, bok choy, shinoki mushrooms, udon noodles, and fish balls. This turned out to be plenty of food for 3 people. FYI: If each person chooses a different broth, they put a divider in the pot. So you can have spicy and original broth in the same pot.

What is different about Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot is that their broth is full of healthy, Chinese medicinal herbs and vegetables like goji berries, dried dates, ginger, garlic, and green onions. This broth also flavors the meat, vegetables, and noodles well. Other hot pot restaurants I have tried only use plain water for the hot pot, giving the food no flavor at all, which leaves you to rely on a dipping sauce for flavor.

The meats are sliced thinly to cook thoroughly and quickly so you don’t have to worry too much about eating undone meat. There is also an order which they recommend to cook the ingredients. Meat first, then the rest of the ingredients since meat takes the longest to fully cook.

We really enjoyed the experience of cooking the foods and slurping the soup. It beats waiting around at a restaurant for your food to be cooked.

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot
215 S. Ellsworth Ave.
San Mateo, CA
(650)343-2566

Tomorrow is Moon Day aka Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinese, when the moon is at its brightest for the entire year. We celebrate by eating mooncake made of lotus seed paste with a salty egg yolk inside. This is the story I heard while growing up.  “Overrun by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, the Chinese threw off their oppressors in 1368 AD. It is said that mooncakes – which the Mongols did not eat – were the perfect vehicle for hiding and passing along plans for the rebellion. Families were instructed not to eat the mooncakes until the day of the moon festival, which is when the rebellion took place.” Taken from http://chinesefood.about.com/od/mooncake/a/moonfestival.htm

This is the first year that I bought my own box of mooncakes since being married. I went to Ranch 99 to pick the perfect box of mooncakes. There is such a good variety of flavors now like red bean paste, pineapple, light lotus seed, and with or without yolks. And if you get the ones with the yolk, you have a choice of 1, 2 or 3 yolks inside each mooncake!

There are too many choices to make. I tried my hardest to remember which mooncake brand my dad usually buys but my memory was fuzzy. There are no brand names prominently displayed on the boxes, just colorful designs like a lady with a fan or a painted lily. Mooncakes come in fancy boxes with 4 well proportioned mooncakes. They are meant for sharing so don’t try to eat a whole mooncake by yourself. Mooncakes are quite fattening. Try cutting them up in quarters or eighths. That little piece of mooncake is filling.

This is the brand of mooncakes that I liked the most. It comes from Macau which is across the water from Hong Kong. The lotus paste is light, moist, yet rich enough for my taste. This seemingly innocent box of mooncakes costed $27.99! It’s quite steep but you can only get it once a year.

Yesterday while I was at Costco, they had sampling for mooncake, with 4 different flavors per box. And it was only $8.88. I regret not getting a box. Anyway, Happy Moon Day!

Mongolian Beef

Last week, my husband and I went to P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Restaurant because we had a gift card to use. The closest P.F. Chang’s is in Stanford Mall in Palo Alto, so off we went. I had low expectations for this place… but it turned out to be a decent place. The restaurant is huge with warmly saturated decor – rich, dark hardwood floors and wood tables, accented by red Asian lanterns.

Shrimp with Honey Walnuts and Honeydew

We ordered too many dishes for two people – Mongolian Beef, Shrimp with Honey Walnuts and Honeydew, Garlic Noodles, Stir Fry Vegetables, and White Tangerine Tea.

Garlic Noodles

My favorites were the Crab Wontons and Mongolian Beef. The Mongolian Beef wasn’t too spicy. The food is authentic Chinese with a bit of Western flair. Basically, it’s like a Chinese restaurant with a full bar and American desserts. I didn’t quite like the honeydew melon balls in the Shrimp with Walnut Prawns or the slices of cucumbers in the Garlic Noodles. But the food was yummy anyway. They also set up a dipping sauce station at your table – mixing sesame oil, soy sauce and hot sauce together.

Crab Wontons

White Tangerine Tea

They did have a good selection of loose leaf teas that are served in a stylish, Japanese style teapot.

Dessert

I’m all about dessert and they have a delicious, mouth watering variety of mini-desserts that are only $2 each! They have strawberry cheesecake, lemon meringue, tiramisu, caramel, chocolate, apple pie, and banana cream pie. I had tiramisu and it was good, worth coming back for.

I love this! I’ve had this chicken noodle soup over 10 times from New Asia restaurant. New Asia is located on the top floor of the Crocker Galleria (at Kearny and Sutter St.) in San Francisco’s financial district, where the food court is. There is actually another New Asia restaurant in Chinatown that is not related to this New Asia, so don’t get confused!

I have to say that no other Chinese restaurant makes their chicken noodle soup like this and at this price, around $5. With tax, it is only $4.87! But starting on June 1st, they are raising prices on all of their food due to the increase in minimum wage and other expenses. What is special about this chicken noodle soup? When I started going to New Asia, I thought it was very similar to Panda Express. You can get readymade food displayed behind glass in a buffet style bar, ala carte or as a 1 item, 2 item or 3 item combo with rice, fried rice or chow mein.
Then one day I noticed their soup menu. They have won ton noodle soup, pork noodle soup, beef noodle soup, and chicken noodle soup. Now to me, “chicken noodle soup” sounds very plain and it makes me think of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup. I didn’t want pork or beef and I’ve had the won ton before, so I gave the chicken noodle soup a chance. And boy was I amazed to see that New Asia’s chicken noodle soup comes with a lot of goodies.

First of all, it isn’t plain boiled chicken. Their chicken noodle soup comes with tender and delicious BBQ chicken straight from their food bar. And they give you a lot of chicken and it’s really good! Then underneath all of the chicken, you will find an assortment of vegetables – broccoli, Chinese mustard greens (gai choy), bean sprouts, and slices of carrots. This chicken noodle soup fills me up too. One time I was eating New Asia’s chicken noodle soup at the Crocker Galleria and someone asked me what I was eating and where to get it. It’s that good, so good that I have this once a week.
If you order to go, they will give you separate containers for the noodles and the soup so that the noodles don’t get soggy. The only drawback is that you have to wait a few minutes for them to make the soup because it’s made to order. Among the over 10 times that I have ordered this chicken noodle soup, they have messed up my order twice. I have just learned to wait near the cashier and be more attentive. It’s worth it, people! If you get this, go early, as a long line forms outside the door after 12pm.