Refreshing Fruit Salad with Mint

Summer is here! Even though I love summer, sometimes it is very difficult to cook something when it is really really hot and you are sweating just sitting.

So one hot summer day, I made this very refreshing Fruit Salad for snack. My son and myself enjoyed this snack and I regained coolness to tackle in the kitchen with heat.

This Salad is super easy. This time, I used Strawberry, Blueberry, Orange, Banana and Mint. You can use any kind of Fruit but the important part of this Fruit Salad is the MINT!!!

I didn't add any sugar or honey but if your fruit are to tart, you can add some sugar or honey.

This is super healthy snack for you and your kids in summer!

It is a good idea to grow mint at home. They are super easy to grow and you just need a small pot for it. I have Mint, Basil, Thyme and chili peppers on my small balcony and everytime I need one of those, I take it little bit from the balcony.

This saves a lot of money since often times you buy these herbs and won't be able to use them all.

Well, enjoy this salad on a hot hot summer day! This for sure cool you down and refresh you!

Blueberry Scone

When it is raining outside, I often feel like baking. This was one of those days which rained all day and we couldn't do any outside activity because it was pouring all day long.

So, in order to keep myself and my son busy, I decided to bake something. I had two package of blueberries in my fridge so I made Blueberry Scones which are not too sweet so my son can have some also.

I used the recipe which I found on a website called "All Recipe". If you are interested in this Blueberry Scone recipe, click here to go to All Recipe website.

It is fairly easy to make blueberry scones.

Mix dry ingredients.

And also liquid ingredients.

Mix them both and make some dough. Actually, I made a mistake with the amont of half and half so my dough came out to be too soft and sticky. So I added some more flour to make it manageable.

Then shape it and put in the oven.

Right after it was baked, I tried it. It was good but was not sweet enough for my taste. This is perfect for my son because we try not to give him something too sweet.

As I have guessed, my son looooooved this scone. He took a bite and made a big big smile on his face and said "Mama, this is yummy!!!!". Then he asked "Who is this?" Well, he is supposed to say "What is this?" but he still makes mistakes and ask me "Who is this" when he is talking about some object.

I told him about 10 times that this is called "Scone". After asking me "Who is this?" for 10 times, he finally said "Mama, I LOOOOOOVE SCONE!!!!"

I think those moment makes it worth putting an effort for cooking. I love hearing someone say "This is Yummy." when I cook something.

My mom also loved when my son tells her "This is yummy." She said that she cooks every single day but nobody tells her that they are yummy. So she loved cooking and feeding our son. He makes my mom so happy :-)

He is starting to talk quite a lot. He also started to throw a fit and sometimes it is very difficult to talk to him or calm him down. I get frustrated and get upset sometimes but then he does something funny to makes me laugh and I can not be mad at him.

OK. Back to Scone. My husband also liked this scone. I think this is a great snack for everybody. Though it is getting hotter and I don't think I will be using oven quite often till fall, I think I will keep this recipe in mind so I can make this again when the weather get little cooler like in Oct or so.

By the way, don't you love this plate? I fell in love and bought 4 of them at Ikea. It was $2.99 each!
It looks very elegant and classy. I think this is a perfect plate for dessert!

Ginger Fried Rice (Spice Market-like)

One of my favorite restaurant in NYC is the Spice Market. (Click here for the Spice Market website)
This is one of the restaurants which is owned by the famous chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. He is a french chef but this restaurant features South Asian flavors. I also love the interior of the restaurant. 

I love everything I tried here but one of my favorite is their "Ginger Fried Rice". Very simple dish but the best fried rice I ever had. If you are interested in how it looks, click here for the photo I took when I went to the restaurant. 

So the other day, I tried to make this my favorite ginger fried rice at home. A while back, I bought this book from Jean Georges Vongerichten just because I wanted to have the recipe for this ginger fried rice. I actually never made this so this was the first time using this book. 

I also added some lemon glass since I had them in my fridge. This is how it came out. 

Was my ginger fired rice as good as Jean-Georges?? Well, not really. It was not bad but it was not the same. I guess he is famous for a good reason. It is definitely better at the restaurant. You know, sometimes you eat something at a restaurant and think "Well, I think I can make this better." This dish is definitely not one of those dishes. 

You have to go there to enjoy this wonderful dish. If you ever have a chance to go to NYC, I recommend going to the Spice Market and trying this Ginger Fried Rice! 

The Spice Market is close to Chelsea Market which is another place I like in Manhattan. They have many different food stores and you can have a wonderful brownie from Fat Witch Bakery! 

So after I had my ginger fried rice, I crave the Spice Market's ginger fried rice even more!!!! 

Cherry Tomato and Mini Zucchini Pasta

This is a super easy and yummy pasta which my mother-in-law makes for us. Since we love it so much, I started to make this one quite often also.

This is quick and easy and vegetarian. Perfect summer pasta when tomato and zucchini are at its peak!!

Normally, I use red cherry tomato and regular zucchini but this time I had yellow cherry tomato and mini zucchini so I used those.

Here is how I made it.

Cherry Tomato and Zucchini Pasta

Ingredients:
Spaghetti     about 1lb
Cherry Tomato  about 20
Mini Zucchini   about 6
Garlic                 3 cloves
salt and pepper   for taste
red chili pepper    (optional)
Freshly Grated Parmesan cheese  for taste
Olive Oil      about 3 table spoons

1. First cut the tomatoes into hald and zucchini into a bite size pieces. Chop garlic.

2. Start boiling pasta in salt water.

3. In frying pan, add olive oil and heat up. Add zucchini and saute.

4. When zucchini start to get some color, add tomatoes.

5. When tomatoes started to get soft, add some salt and pepper.

6. Then add garlic. (Don't let the garlic burn)

7. At this point, your pasta should be ready to drain. Drain and add pasta to the pan and mix well. If needed, add some pasta water or olive oil.

8. plate pasta and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I love this pasta. Hope you like it too!!