Yam Neua (Thai Spicy Beef Salad)

Yam Neua (Thai Spicy Beef Salad)

One of my favorite Thai dishes is Yam Neua (a.k.a. “Spicy Beef Salad”).  I guess I was spoiled when I lived in the Los Feliz/Silverlake area of Los Angeles many years back…  Being that close to Thai town, it was always possible to get excellent Thai food, even later than 2am.  Now that we live [...]

What to do with leftover Chocolate Ganache… (Chocolate Tiramisu)

Quick and Easy Chocolate Tiramisu

So after making a large dark chocolate sheet cake with chocolate ganache frosting a few days ago… I found myself with about 1 – 1 1/2 c. of leftover ganache taking up space in the refrigerator.  What was I going to do with it?  Sure, I could make some cupcakes and use the ganache as [...]

Dark Chocolate Ganache Cake (and birthday sheet cake)

dark chocolate ganache cake

  Sometimes I feel like eating a really rich, decadent dark chocolate cake.  Butter cream frosting simply does not satisfy when I get in that CHOCOLATE mood.  This is one of my most favorite chocolate cakes to make for those times – but consider yourself warned: it is a really rich cake – a little slice [...]

Chicken Katsu and Japanese Curry

chicken katsu and curry

Growing up, we ate tonkatsu (pork katsu) all the time.  While I love tonkatsu, I much prefer chicken katsu for ease of preparation.  I always keep a bag of frozen chicken tenders in the freezer – which are great for making chicken katsu. Japanese curry was also something we had for dinner often – at [...]

Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes

Taiwanese pineapple cake

A few years back, my husband’s aunt came to visit from Taiwan and brought us some wonderful Pineapple Cakes from a famous bakery in Taipei.  Apparently, people stand in long lines to buy these specific pineapple “cakes” (pineapple jam filled shortbread) – and after tasting them, I understand why!  Not too long ago, I saw [...]