Asian Franks and Beans - Halloween Costume Ideas?

Another canned food creation. This is what happens when I need to serve something, other than a nice, candle-lit, romantic atmosphere, myself and a pair of raggedy old (albeit) Jimmy Choos for dinner. There was no time to procure any fresh ingredients, so I had to do my kind of dumb-n-dumber-but-smart math equation, which is:

Whatever you have in your pantry/fridge + Garlic + Onion + Ginger + Kecap manis = YUMMY

Using the formula, I came up with my version of...
Asian Franks and Beans
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- half onion, sliced
- 1 cm of ginger, crushed
- 8 chicken franks (chopped into bite sized chunks)
- 1 can of kidney beans, drained
- 1 small can of tomato paste, dissolve with a bit of hot water
- kecap manis, salt, pepper, olive oil, fried shallots (optional as garnish)

Brown chicken frank pieces in olive oil, add garlic, onion and ginger, add tomato paste with a bit of hot water, add beans, add kecap manis, salt, and pepper. Garnish with fried shallot. Serve with steamed rice or mix with pasta/noodles or with bread as a sloppy sandwich.

Gosh, it even made ME delicious ;) hehe

Moving on...believe it or not...I, the self proclaimed party animal, haven't been to a real Halloween costume party. The only one I went to was a karaoke party, and I went as a cross between an omnivore, a big eater and a greedy bitch, which was pretty much myself...downing plates after plates of crappy cheap buffet food...singing my out-of-tune, inaccurately-pronounced version of Chinese songs, on top of my lungs. That could not be counted as a real Halloween costume party, as plenty of people were in slutty attire, but no one was in any scary costume hehe, although I certainly accomplished my mission of scaring some people off the buffet table. LOL

The idea of a costume party made me wonder...what kinda costume would be perfect for me?
Could I be...
- a sexy witch?
- a slutty nurse?
- a naughty devil?
....or a creepy handless chef?

Quick & Easy Beef & 'Shrooms

Yesterday was super hectic, and the fact that Hong Kong has been looking like the picture below these last few days...did NOT help AT ALL.

That's how the IFC Two looked like when I got off work yesterday. Talk about a depressing mid week *sigh*

Juggling a laptop backpack, a handbag and an umbrella under a pouring rain, trying to prance over puddles of rain on Hong Kong's hazardous pavement walkways, in towering heels. Boy oh boy!!!

Hence, I am so proud to achieve the following despite the oh-so-gloomy evening:
- Bought mark six (lottery) tickets based on sous chef's instruction (as expected, those are no winning tickets, I didn't get even 1 number match! Should I start believing that I will win more?)
- Bought the exact materials I needed to cook dinner/packed lunch (the market was almost empty because of the rain, and I got two beautiful baskets of straw mushrooms hehe-SCORE!)
- Cooked and prepared the packed lunch
- Made it just in time to Body Combat class
- Retrieved my income tax form
- Watched 2 episodes of Grey's Anatomy


With such a powerful lazy spell casted over me, I surely didn't plan to make anything fancy, so here's my
Quick & Easy Beef & 'Shrooms

Recipe
- 2 small baskets (HKD10, about 4 cups) straw mushrooms, halved
- 0.5 pound thinly sliced, nicely marbled beef
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 0.5 cm ginger, crushed
- olive oil
- 1 tbsp corn starch diluted in 1/4 cup water
- soy sauce, dark soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sugar, pepper

Saute garlic and ginger in hot oil, add sliced beef, add mushrooms, add sauces, thicken with the diluted corn starch, serve with rice

In Hong Kong, we're either hoping for a bright sunny day tomorrow or for a black rain signal to be hoisted before 8:00 am (please forgive us...)