Singapore Chili Crabs – King of the Crab Recipes?

Living in San Francisco, I’ve had more than my fair share of crab; prepared in more ways than I can remember, but I’ve never enjoyed it more than in this Singapore-style chili crabs recipe. Just be sure to have lots of napkins around. Lots of napkins.

Apparently, this is the national dish of Singapore, and you can’t throw a rock without hitting someone eating a plate of it. By the way, that’s not something you’d want to try. Just ask Michael P. Fay.

Crab stick tempura

Description of the preparation:

Crab stick tempura is one of those salutary snacks that are prepared on once or twice, but on the table look quite convincing and his barroom function is performed perfectly. Crab sticks in batter and cook simply and conveniently, and to eat - and then, you know, sometimes as put the snack on the table - like looks delicious, but how to hook itself on the plate - it's not clear.

Zucchini with tomatoes and garlic

Adam Cho’s Five Spice French Toast Recipe

Chef Adam Cho of Rick’s Cafe at Loews Lake Las Vegas was kind enough to share this recipe for his Chinese Five Spice French Toast which I had the sheer joy of trying when I attended Spice Skool. Chef Cho serves his French Toast with thick-cut,chocolate covered bacon and ginger ice cream. This breakfast treat was served as ourdessert course at Spice Skool, but not surprisingly, it tastes great at any time. For more information on Spice Skool, read my story and get more info Loews Lake Las Vegas.

Pickled Grilled Vegetables

This pickled grilled vegetables technique was my favorite new discovery on the Kingsford University trip. It's quite a simple, and seemingly obvious trick, yet it never occurred to me. It's times like these when I'm faced with the tragic realization that I'm not as smart and creative as I think I am.

Basically, small pickling cucumbers (which I've always called, "pickles," even if they aren’t pickled yet, just to be confusing), as well as other firm vegetables, are seared briefly over very hot charcoal, before being packed in the sweet and sour pickling liquid.

The Ravenous Couple's Bánh Cam – Starring Mom and Dad

This video recipe for bánh cam (or bánh rán) comes to us from Kim and Hong, the very talented duo who publish The Ravenous Couple. They were at my Foodbuzz Festival panel discussion on video blogging, and as some of you may remember, I promised to share any videos those participants sent my way. 

Kim and Hong posted this as a special Mothers Day tribute, and I think it's a great way to celebrate how these heirloom recipes are handed down from one generation to another. I hope you enjoy watching how to make this popular Vietnamese dessert, and I encourage you to visit their blog to read the full post. Enjoy!

White-Balanced Brie with Ripe Pear and Black Pepper

It only took me like a year to realize there was a way to adjust the white balance on the video settings for my camera. Not bad. I knew about this adjustment for still photos, but until recently never figured it out for video.

I was testing my new found skills on a recent late night snack, and when I was done I realized I had a halfway decent video recipe to post. The color still isn’t great, and I'll continue to practice and adjust, but it's much better than the yellow-orange cast I used to suffer with.

This simple and delicious ripe brie and pear appetizer is inspired by one of my favorite meatless sandwiches. A couple times a year, I like to take a warm piece of crusty French baguette (now that's redundant!), spread it with a little butter, add some soft, very ripe brie cheese, and a few slices of juicy, equally ripe pear.