honey walnut shrimp

Have been trying to get back into the cooking "groove". Quite easy to get "lazy" in Japan, with all the pre-made foods that are available.

Anyway, my mom gave me this package of candied walnuts when I was in Hawaii last summer.

I made some honey walnut shrimp.

Super easy when the walnuts are already candied. I just coated the shrimp with a little cornstarch and fried them in some oil. Then coated the shrimp with the mayonnaise sauce and then sprinkled some of the walnuts.

Dinner is served!

apple gorgonzola salad

During my trip to Hawaii, we went to Buca di Beppo for lunch, courtesy of my brother's gift cards to my parents (Thanks Keoki!).

One of the things we ordered was the Apple Gorgonzola Salad...this salad was delicious..tart granny smith apples, salty gorgonzola & sweet walnuts top some romaine with a puckery vinaigrette.

Curious to see if there was a recipe online, I surfed around and came upon this one.

The other night, I adapted it and came up with a delicious salad for dinner.

NOTES: For the candied walnuts, I used Ellie Krieger's "Maple Glazed Walnuts" recipe, but instead of caramelizing them in a heated pan, I baked them in the oven (so I wouldn't have to stand by the stove).

Also, for the vinaigrette, I omitted the dry mustard (because I didn't have any) and garlic (I was lazy to defrost some). I also used white wine vinegar which the recipe recommended using and cut back the amount of oil.

Since the market I shopped at only had one kind of apple (Jonah Gold), I used this in the salad.

I also added some sliced carrots and tomatoes. Also, there wasn't any romaine, so I used green leaf.

The salad was close to what I remembered...I'm making this again.

p.i.t.a. (a.k.a. honey glazed walnut shrimp)

Most times whenever I try a recipe, I try the ones that look easiest to me. The ones that don't need me to fuss over them and can usually get me in and out of the kitchen within 30 minutes to an hour.

But this recipe has been tempting me ever since I saw the photo of it. I've had this at Chinese restaurants, crispy shrimp coated with a mayonnaise sauce topped with crunchy glazed walnuts...mmm.

Looking at the recipe, it didn't "seem" so bad, but going through the steps...oh boy!

I started with blanching the walnuts then boiling them in sugar water then coating them with honey...then frying them...

Can I say, I have a phobia of frying things at home because of all those oil splatters on the wall, on me...then having to discard the used oil...

I put as little oil as possible in my pan (and I don't have a wok)...so the nuts took a little longer than if I fried them in a wok.

Then came the shrimp, deveined and cleaned that was the easy part...I forgot to coat them with flour after dipping them in beaten egg whites...so guess who needs to soak her pan?? and maybe need to buy a new one since it is supposed to be non-stick??

Needless to say, it was a p.i.t.a. (pain in the A) of a recipe but tasted similar to what I've eaten in the restaurants. It didn't have that crispy outside that it should have, but it was still delicious.

Will I make it again? Meh, not unless President Obama is coming for dinner. (Though if I find an easier way to make this, maybe omitting the frying somehow, I "may" make this again.) Otherwise, I tried it, it was delicious, let's put it on the "done" pile...

p.s. If you really want to try this one, email me and I'll email you back the recipe.