Saturday, July 2, 2011

Tea Time @ Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas

Tea Time @ Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas

Their menu can be found at their website. The afternoon tea set is $40/pp. It includes a huge pot of tea, and 3 dishes of finger foods. They don't seem that they'd be filling, but they are! The tea room is located next to the reception desk area. When booking a reservation, ask for a window table.

The plate setting:


My Formosa tea:


Jams, sour cream, for the scones:


Little sandwiches:


Scones:


Little desserts:


Apple Macaron($2):


The macaron wasn't good at all, pass on those. The tea was good. The setting was a little odd...being next to the reception. Down the dark hall is Twist. It's a very dark hotel except the tea room area with it's huge windows over looking City Center and Planet Hollywood.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

1/2 butternut squash - diced
1 white onion - diced
3 cloves garlic - diced
2C veg broth
1TB olive oil

Warm up pan, add oil. Add onions, cook til clear ~5 minutes.
Add garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add squash, cook for 3 minutes.
Add broth, simmer and cover until squash is soft. Blend until smooth.
Add desired levels of salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Decorated with fresh rosemary

Sunday, March 13, 2011

French Bread French Toast

French Bread French Toast

Cooked on a SS pan with butter.
3 slices on French bread, toasted at low in toaster to harden.
2 eggs mixed with cinnamon and vanilla.
Cooked on a SS pan with butter.

Topped with Blueberry Purée and Powdered Sugar

Monday, March 7, 2011

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Panna Cotta with Mango Purée

Panna Cotta with Mango Purée

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Pad Thai

Pad Thai

This is from a Pad Thai kit, which includes the sauce and noodles. The rest you add to your liking. The only thing lacking was peanuts.

Boil the noodles til soft, rinse in cold water and leave aside.
Add oil to pre warmed pan. Add tofu cubes. Add egg, garlic, sauce, asparagus, chives. When ready, add the noodles in. mix up, and cook for 1 minute. Add fresh lemon juice on top. I also added fresh rosemary.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Mushroom and Broccoli with Sun-dried Tomato Pasta

Mushroom and Broccoli with Sun-dried Tomato Pasta

Based on the recipe from here.

Added asparagus, fresh herbs; tarragon and chives. Side of fresh French bread.

For myself, I added bacon and didn't scoop any mushrooms.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta

The recipe can be found from here.

Add some fruit, drizzle from chocolate syrup, and sift some powdered sugar on top.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Bonjour French Pastry

Bonjour French Pastry

After having lunch at a new hole on the wall ramen place, I dropped by Bonjour for some desserts to eat later.


Profiterole


Merrow

If in the Gardena area, give them a try. Lots of ramen places to eat at first :)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Mac & Cheese & a Bouchon-like Salad

Mac & Cheese & a Bouchon-like Salad

Having the Bibb Lettuce Salad at Bouchon's a few times now...made me want to try and make it at home.

I found his recipe here. I used the lettuce sold with the root still on it (Vons), can't get any fresher then that!

Yum


My son likes to request mac & cheese often, usually the boxed version with the fake cheese and Disney characters. I decided to make a fresher version. The recipe is here. I finished it off in the broiler.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day Dinner

Valentine's Day Dinner

Tonight's dinner was Filet Mignon with a Red Wine Pan Sauce, Cucumbers, and Sunchokes. The sunchokes look like ginger, which I thought I was buying at the farmer's market. He warned us they were not ginger, I bought them to try anyways.

The appetizer was water crackers with imported Brie.


The main course


Dessert - Crème brûlée - click here for the recipe.
Sadly, my oven died after heating up to 400F. I had to use the toaster oven. After cooling and having in the fridge. I used the toaster's broiler feature to finish the top. I used brown and white sugar to caramelize. Blackberries and powdered sugar were added to finish it off.


The setting with fresh roses. The meal was accompanied with Apple Cider.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Panko Chicken & Panko Tofu

Panko Chicken & Panko Tofu

Served with Rice and Spinach



Monday, January 24, 2011

Pork with Pan Sauce, Mashed Yams, and Broccoli

Pork with Pan Sauce, Mashed Yams, and Broccoli

1lb boneless pork loin
1 shallot
1 head Broccoli
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1lb Yams
1/2C white wine
1/4C water
1/2T tomato paste
oil
milk
parsley

Boil potatoes in salted water until soft. Peel of skin, mash with fork. Add to mixer and mix until smooth. Add to heated pot, add nutmeg, salt, milk (and butter if desired).

Pre heat pan then add oil then ready. Add pork, cook on each side 4-5mins. Remove pork and tent on a warm plate. Add diced shallot, cook for a few minutes. Add tomato paste, wine, water and reduce. Before sauce is reduced to desired thickness, add in pork. Serve and add parsley on top.

Boil Broccoli to softness liking.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Bœuf Bourguignon

Bœuf Bourguignon on rice.

I made this yesterday. I tried a different recipe, takes about an hour. That's too short IMHO, it did taste better the next day. I was going to use mashed yams but the yams went bad.
Recipe is here.


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala on top of wheat angel hair pasta.
I used cucumbers instead of mushrooms.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Carne Asada Soft Tacos and Roasted Garlic Soup

Carne Asada Soft Tacos and Roasted Garlic Soup

I bought the carne asada already pre marinated from Henry's. I cooked it with onions and placed it on some cabbage and warm flour tortillas.

The recipe for the soup is here. I followed it for 2 servings and used 3 cloves instead of 2.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Boeuf braisé aux carottes

Boeuf braisé aux carrottes (Braised beef with carrots)

I made dinner based off a recipe for this but slightly modified.

Serves 2
~1lb stew beef
1 medium yellow onion
2 carrots (1/3lb)
2 sweet potatoes (1lb)
2 spigs rosemary
1 bay leaf
3 garlic cloves
1 cup red wine
2 cups water
1Tb tomato paste
olive oil
salt
pepper
rice

I cooked it all in a dutch oven. Warm up the dutch oven, then add olive oil. Once oil is warmed up, add beef and onions. Brown the beef then deglaze with wine. Add garlic, tomato paste, bay leaf, rosemary, and water. Cook for an hour. Add carrots and potatoes, and cook for 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and rosemary stems. Serve over rice or pasta.