Sushi Recipe. Yummy!!!

Hey hey, everyone. How are you guys doing? I know, I haven't posted much this week. I have been very busy. I am very sorry about that. I'm even scrunching time in to make this post. A lot of things have happened the past week, with family get togethers, club activities (which are after school) and of course, homework. I've been staying up and waking up early to keep up with all of this (well, more things too). I'm pretty tired right now. I hope I don't fall asleep making this post.
My family hosted a family gathering last night, and it was quite fun. Many people came, and there were delicious food. I made some sushi and everyone loved it. However, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the finished product. Everyone ate it all before I could even take a picture. :(  But, I do have pictures of the steps of how to make them. I made spam rolls and California rolls. The California roll picture looks similar to the one I made. I hope you guys enjoy this recipe. And, if you guys are wondering, sushi is Japanese food. Not Chinese, but both are still Asian. This sushi I make is made by a Chinese person, me. So, it technically is CHINESE food. Enjoy. :)

Ingredients

• 6 cups white rice, Nishiki brand
• water (amount will be in the directions)
• 1 cup rice vinegar (Nakano brand, natural kind)
•  4 tsp salt
• 9 tablespoon sugar (more, if rice is a bit salty)
• seaweed 
• avocado
• fake crab meat
• spam

Directions

1. Put the 6 cups of rice into the rice cooker pot. Rinse the rice. Then, fill the pot up to the 5 and a half mark on the rice pot. The most should be up to the 6. There are usually numbers for measuring on the pot. Then, cook the rice.
2. While the rice is cooking, make the rice vinegar sauce. Pour the 1 cup rice vinegar into a bowl. Add the salt and sugar. Mix and stir.
3. When the rice is cooked all the way, scoop out the rice into a huge mixing bowl (or any type of bowl large enough to fit all the rice). Add 1/3 the rice vinegar sauce, mixing it into the rice. Make sure it is mixed all the way through. Then, add the rest little by little. If you think the rice may be a bit salty, then sprinkle some sugar into the rice and mix. 
4. Place a seaweed sheet onto a bamboo seaweed roller thing ( I don't know what it's called). Spread sushi rice onto it. Then, add the crab meat and avocado along one edge. Roll it over once so that the filling is covered. Then, continue rolling until the whole roll is rolled up. Cut into small pieces. The spam is for spam sushi, if you guys want to make it. You can basically put any type of filling you want in the sushi. Enjoy. :) It should make around 12 rolls.

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies recipe!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed your day. :) So, today has been quite a boring day, unfortunately for me. Nothing exciting happened today, even though it's a special day. Also, it's expected to rain all this week here. That's such a bummer. I hope it doesn't rain too much. I really want to go outside, and enjoy being in the sun...not being stuck inside and having it cloudy and rainy. I can't exercise outside in the rain anyways, which sucks. I guess I'll have to find some other form of exercise during these rainy days.
So, tomorrow, Make-A-Wish Club, which I am president of, is having a "Napkin" Sale. For the sale, I decided to bake sugar cookies, because it's right after Valentine's Day. They're in the shape of hearts, and I made a glaze for them. Don't they look delicious? They taste pretty good too. Well, they should, because it took me at least 4 hours to make them. The only reason is that I made the dough by hand. I didn't use an electric mixer or anything. My hand and arm got a good workout though. ;) I also baked a few cookies, just for my special friend.
Here's the recipe to these awesome sugar cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened ( I usually use less, but since it's for a sale, I used the full amount)
• 3 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

 Directions 

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a different bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and combine. Refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight. 
4. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
5. Roll out the dough on wax or parchment paper, covered with powdered sugar to prevent sticking. Put some powdered sugar on the rolling pin too, to prevent the dough from sticking to it. 
6. Cut the dough with cookie cutters, and place on a baking pan. 
7. Bake for 10-11 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Let it cool.

 

 

Ingredients for the Glaze: 

• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 tablespoon water
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• a few drops of food coloring

 

1. Measure out the sugar. Pour into a bowl, then add the water and mix. Then, add the vanilla extract and then the food coloring. 

• After making the glaze and the cookies have cooled, spread the glaze onto the cookies. Then, sprinkle red sugar on them.

for my special friend. ♥

also for my special friend. ♥

 I hope you guys enjoy these cookies! Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Empanadas Receta

Hey there, everyone. Estoy emocionada porque mañana es el dia de amor. The day of love. Meaning, Valentine's Day!!!! Yummy chocolates, cookies, all that good stuff. :) I got some chocolates from my friend during class today. Dark chocolate kisses, my favorite.That was the only good thing about going to a class on a weekend. -_-. What made it worse is that today was such a beautiful day, even though it's winter. It was mild, warm enough to wear a tshirt, and it was sunny. It's rarely like that here during the winter, and I wanted to go and play outside. Oh well. At least I got a little bit of play time after class.
So, I'm posting today, just to let you guys know that my blog is still alive. Also, it's been a week since I last posted a recipe, and I promised to post one recipe each week. So, I've decided on a non dessert recipe. A Spanish recipe. Empanadas. Yummy. Mi mejor amiga, Valentina, me dio esta receta. Well, the recipe to the dough. I decided to make my own filling. The filling she makes has meat in it. I want a vegetarian one, so that's why I made my own filling. Here is the link to the recipe she gave me. I'll repost it here, so that it'll be easier for you guys to see. By the way, I used butter instead of shortening, if you compare the two.

Dough:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup ice water (a little bit more)

Ingredients Needed

1. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
2. Cut the butter into the flour as though you were making a pie crust by working it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Sprinkle dough with just enough ice water so that it will just hold together. Knead together briefly and allow to rest, covered about 10 minutes.
4. Roll dough out on a lightly floured board to circles about 3-4 inches in diameter.
5. Place a spoonful of empanada filling of your choice on one side of the circle. Moisten the edges of the circle with a small amount of water and fold the dough over the filling to make a half circle. Press the edges together to seal.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Meat Filling:

• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tomatoes, peeled
• 2 cups cooked beef, chopped
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute onions and garlic in hot oil until translucent.
2. Add meat, sauté 5 more minutes. Stir in tomatoes, stock and remaining ingredients.
3. Simmer 30 minutes.

Vegetarian Filling:

• 1 can 15 oz Black Beans
• 1 1/2 cup Mexican blend cheese
• chili powder
• ground oregano
• onion powder ( or 1 onion, chopped)
• 1/2 cup corn (optional)
• garlic salt w/parsley
• diced tomatoes (3 tablespoons, optional. I didn't use it)

1. Open the can of beans and pour it into a bowl. Add the cheese. Mix and mash them together. Add the diced tomatoes to the mixture if desired. 
2. Add a couple dashes of each of the spices stated above and mix. The filling is all set to put into the empanadas.

Stringed Paper Cranes

Hey everyone. Today has been such a busy day. There were exchange teachers from Korea observing our classes. So exciting. It was quite interesting. They told us a lot about the Korean schools. Comparing here and Korea, I feel like a lazy person. Students in Korea go to school at least 13 hours a day, 6 days a week. That's so much. I couldn't possibly do that. I guess their education must be somewhat better than ours. Man, I feel like a slacker.  I still have to study for my really hard calculus test tomorrow, and I'm not ready. It's so hard. But, I guess it is okay as long as I do my best. That's all that counts. What makes it even more hard to study are the paper cranes my school club had to string together today. I'm president of Make-A-Wish Club at my school,and, it takes a long time to string cranes, even with the members helping. We're selling stringed paper cranes to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. We're selling each strand for $5.

If you'd like to know how to string them together, here are the materials that you need: 

• folded paper cranes
• fishing wire/string
• needle

To string them together, cut a piece of really long string (fishing wire). Triple-knot it at one end. On the opposite end, string the string through the needle. After, poke the needle through the bottom of the crane, all the way through, and pull the crane all the way down to the triple knot. Continue until you've reached the desired length. Traditionally, 1000 paper cranes are stringed, but you may choose as many as you wish. After poking the cranes through, remove the needle, and tie the end so the cranes won't fall. You may knot it into a hoop, if you'd like to hang it. Sweet and simple.

So, here's a picture of some of the materials you need.

 

Here are some pictures of some of the club members helping with the crane stringing. 

 

Here are pictures of me and my friend holding the finished strands.

 

 

 

 

The strands are almost as tall as her! 

This is me with the cranes

Thank you guys so much for helping folding and stringing the cranes! And, the readers, thanks for reading my blog. It means a lot to me. And now, you guys know how to make stringed paper cranes, assuming that you guys already know how to fold paper cranes. :)

By the way, to make this post even more random (and to end it), I listened to Indispensable, by Lucero, while string the cranes. Me and my friend love that song. The Spanish and English version. Mainly Spanish though. We kept singing to it. :)

Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Hey everyone! Happy Super bowl Day! Yeah! How do you guys think the game went? Well, I admit, I don't know.  I'm not much of a football fan. But, I know that the Super bowl is really popular. I couldn't watch the game anyways, because  I sat in a cold classroom, taking a practice SAT test while my father watched the game at home. He's so lucky. I'd rather do that than take the SAT practice test. The test was so long too. Around 4 hours. I got really bored..and tired. Oh well. Hopefully, I can watch it next time.

So, after taking the test, I made some chocolate chip cookies to celebrate the Super bowl. I decided on chocolate chip cookies, because my friend wanted me to make some. He loves chocolate chip cookies. And, why wouldn't I make them for him? After all, he's the one who helped me name my blog ( I admit, I love chocolate chip cookies too).  He's also a really nice and cool guy. This recipe is for him. I hope you guys enjoy this.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup salted butter, soften ( I usually use just 1/2 cup)
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. 
3. In another bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. 
4. After creaming together the sugars, add the 2 eggs and the vanilla extract into the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix well.  
5. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix well. Then, stir in chocolate chips. 
6. Drop golf ball sized dough onto a pan lined with parchment paper. Put it in the preheated oven, and bake for about 11-12 minutes. 
7. After the baking has been done, take them out, and wait for them to cool. Eat them with a glass of milk. Enjoy. :)

Chinese New Year and 年糕 recipe

Hello, everyone. This is my second post. yeah me. :) Right now, it is still Chinese New Year, and boy am I really tired. I went to bed at 3 in the morning, because of staying up to eat the first meal of the New Year. I should be sleeping now, but, I can manage.  I've posted some of the pictures of the food. The first picture is the vegetarian meal that I ate. The 2nd picture is 年糕。It's really yummy. It's a Chinese  New Year cake. The last two are the prosperity cupcakes and the sesame rice balls.

 Even though the food was really good, my energy today was not. I ended up being really hyper in my first couple of classes today, playing around and hanging on the desks. I'm surprised I didn't crash. However, I did almost fall asleep during my afternoon orchestra class, while the conductor spent 10 minutes with the 1st violins working on one part. I somehow took a short nap while leaning on my cello. Quite strange. I'm surprised my cello didn't fall and that  the conductor didn't catch me sleeping. So, that's basically how my New Year went today.
  I cannot wait until all the family gatherings start for the Chinese New Year. All the younger generation people receive red envelopes. I get to spend time with my whole extended family, which is actually pretty often. At least once a month. I also can't wait to eat some more of the delicious food. It's so good, and I will post some of those recipes later on. I have to control myself about the eating though. I don't want to gain any weight.

 I think that I should post a recipe. So, as you see, the 年糕 looks really yummy. It's also something that's traditional in the Chinese New Year. So, here's a link to Christine's 年糕 recipe
One thing though,  is that, the measurements are in metrics. Here is her recipe, converted into cups and tsps and such.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup Glutinous Rice Flour
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup Wheat Starch Flour 澄麵粉
• 250 grams (4 full sticks) Brown Sugar Pieces
• 1 cup water
• about 1/3 cup Coconut Cream
• 2 tablespoon oil and a dash for the cake mold
• 1 egg, whisked

Directions: 

1. In a sauce pan, boil the 1 cup of water. Add brown sugar and cook until completely dissolved. Stir in coconut cream and oil. Drain syrup through a fine sieve to make the mixture smoother. Let cool.
2. Sift glutinous rice flour and wheat flour twice beforehand. Add flour little by little into the syrup, stirring constantly. If you'd like your batter really smooth, drain through a fine sieve.
3. Pour the batter into a greased cake mould/pan. Place in a wok and steam over high heat, covered, for about 60 to 75 minutes. The cake is very sticky, even though it may be all the way cooked. So, it sticks to your needle/chopstick if you test it. But if you can’t taste any raw flour, it’s done. Make sure to steam the cake for enough time.
4. Let cool. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. It makes it easier to slice into thick pieces when cold.  Coat the sliced cake with whisked egg, fry on medium-low heat until both sides are brown. Serve hot. Enjoy. :)

  So, before ending this post, I'd like to talk about my blog. My blogs will mainly be in English, with occasional things in Chinese and Spanish. I'll be posting recipes once a week, sometime during the weekend. So, those who are living in New Zealand, for example, it might be early on in the week instead because of the time difference. Besides just recipes, I'll occasionally have posts about random things that have happened to me that day, my thoughts, culture, rants, things about my musical life, and fitness and exercise. I guess that is it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Leave a comment, or email me at helenssugarsweetrecipes@yahoo.com. I'll be happy to answer your questions.:)