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Date archives: December 28th, 2009

XMas Lights @ Ethel M's Cactus Garden

28Dec09

For an all-out chocolate experience, when you are in Las Vegas, you must check out the Ethel M Chocolate Factory and Botanical Cactus Gardens, which also includes an Ethel’s lounge.

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Located in Henderson, Ethel M Chocolate Factory and Cactus Gardens is quite the adventure. Only 15 minutes away from the Strip, it attracts more than 700,000 tourists a year. Guests get to see chocolates being made, sample gourmet treats and meander through the maze of paths at the Botanical Cactus Gardens at no charge. The cactus garden features a breathtaking display of Christmas lights during the holiday season. Guests can also see caroling, dancing and visits from Santa.

http://www.ethelschocolate.com/about_us/cactus_garden.aspx

We’ve visited this chocolate factory and the cactus garden a couple of time. Just yesterday, we went there again. Here are some pictures we took from this trip:

http://www.daudfam.net/gallery/v/2009/LasVegasWinter2009/EthelMCactusGarden/

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Mac Mail TruePreview Plugin

22Nov09

How can we ‘stop’ macmail from automatically marking mails as read when we scroll through them? Answer is practically we can’t. A simple problem that’s very annoying.

There’s a work around. The so called ‘preview’ pane is, in mac mail, actually a ‘reading’ pane. Because it is a reading pane, your email is, obviously, marked as read as soon as it shows up in the reading pane. The work around is to close the lower window (so called preview pane) by dragging it’s edge down to the bottom of the page then mac mail won’t mark any selected messages as read. Still … very annoying and not a solution I want.

So come TruePreview (http://christianserving.org/project/truepreview) to the rescue. TruePreview adds a preference panel to Mail’s preferences that allows you to mark messages as read immediately (Mail’s default), never, or after a delay. It also allows you to specify these settings independently per-account, if desired. That’s just what I need … now mac mail is so perfect. Thank you!

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Steamed Crabs, Baltimore Style

14Oct09

I love crabs, we love crabs, who doesn’t?  I have tried all kind of crab dishes and one of my favorite is the Baltimore (Maryland) blue crab, steamed, the Baltimore way.  If you are in the Baltimore area, you’ll notice that the Maryland Crab Cakes are not the only popular crab dishes around.  Venture into the harbor/marina area and you will find plenty of steamed crabs for you to feast on.  There are also plenty of ‘crab houses’ all around the Baltimore area.  about.com lists the top crab houses in the area.

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The secret to steamed blue crab Baltimore Style is Old Bay seasoning.  I have used Old Bay for so may years and loving it.  I know some people who would prefer the J.O. Spice instead.  Frankly, I haven’t personally use J.O., but I have tried someone else’s dish seasoned with J.O. and I don’t really see much of a different. I have also seen references where people would mix the two seasonings together.  Bottom line, I think it’s a matter of personal preferences.  I stick to my ol friend Old Bay for now ;)   Old Bay can be found in many supermarkets and therefore a lot easier to purchase … or maybe you can even try to produce the seasoning yourself: http://www.bluecrab.info/recipes/seasoning.htm.

So, how do you steam blue crabs?  The basic method I follow is, surprisingly, provided by the maker of Old Bay itself: http://www.oldbay.com/Recipes/Crab/Main-Course/OLD-BAY-Steamed-Blue-Crabs.aspx. My added value, personal touch to the recipe is to replace water with beer.  Beer seems to help soften the crab shells a bit so it is easier to crack open the shells.  Beer also add a nicer smell to the steamed crab, naturalizing the vinegar smell a bit.  We still want the vinegar for the acidic smell and taste.

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Enjoy your crab feast and to help you novice out there, here’s a how to pick/eat your crab instructions ;-)

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Stir Fry Long Beans, Szechuan Style

13Oct09
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I found this recipe on about.com site: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/vegetablesrecipes/r/greenbean.htm.  In summary, here are the ingredients:

  • 1 pound Chinese longbeans (also called yardlong beans or just longbeans)
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
  • 2 scallions (spring onions, green onions), white parts only
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili paste
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • Pepper to taste, optional
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil for stir-frying, or as needed

Preparations:

  • Wash the longbeans, drain thoroughly, and trim the tops and bottoms.
  • Cut the longbeans on the diagonal into slices approximately 2 inches long.
  • Chop the garlic, ginger and white part of the scallions.
  • Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add the longbeans and stir-fry until they start to shrivel or “pucker” and turn brown (5 – 7 minutes). Remove the long beans and drain in a colander or on paper towels.
  • Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the wok on high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions. Stir-fry for a few seconds, then add the chili paste and stir-fry for a few more seconds until aromatic.
  • Add the longbeans and the remaining ingredients. Mix together and serve.

The only thing I added was some dried chili peppers.  Actually I didn’t have those on hand when I was about to cook.  I did however found some fresh chili (thai red chili pepper) so what I did was to ‘dry’ (with just enough, small amount, vegetable oil) fry the peppers separately.  Easy and delicious dish.

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Badminton, an old favorite sport

11Oct09

Badminton is a world sport that is very popular in Asia and Europe.  I used to be a nationally ranked junior player of Indonesia.  I used to love the game and played it a lot until about 1990. I had not played the game since until just this morning.

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We were invited to a birthday party at ‘City Beach‘ in Fremont. I did not expect a badminton court and was ready with my basketball gears.  Once we were there, we saw not one, but two badminton courts, ready and very inviting.  I could not wait.  My girls played with me.  It was their first time and obviously it’s a little frustrating for them (learning it).  In the end, we had a lot of fun though.

Some badminton links:

Album: http://daudfam.net/gallery/v/2009/BadmintonCityBeach/

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