Chef Coat

Dear Santa,

Black with green embroidery 'BMG' or  'banh mi girl' 

Anyone have a chef coat they recommend? 

Pickled Jalapeno Peppers

For you folks who like that extra heat in your Asian dishes, you should have this in your home.

I've never tried pickled jalapenos, but my family & friends always add it on as a condiment when we dine at asian restaurants..

My in-laws are Korean, and I'll be cooking Vietnamese food for them. They love to eat spicy food, but the dishes I'm preparing are not spicy at all. I hope these pickled peppers will give them a nice kick for their palate.

Simile ingredients & Prep Work

I saw this Recipe and decided not to use it. I didn't have any rice vinegar and it can get expensive for each batch.

I followed this  Recipe  because its simple steps and uses vinegar. Definitely cheaper using vinegar and I used Serrano Peppers instead of Jalapenos.

PLEASE WEAR GLOVES or use a Mandolin when slicing these peppers.

I made a mistake and chopped them without gloves.

My fingers are burning like crazy, i can feel the heat just throbbing on my fingers.

Hope they enjoy this condiment with my dishes~

Hmm...has anyone ever had pickled jalapeno on their Banh mi?!?

Got Bacon?

Finally! My new kitchen is open for business. 

This recent VDay I made my husband bacon salt. Not bad i say.Just a heads up, it gets quite salty. You might wanna tweak it by adding less salt in the mix or be carful how much you use in your recipe.

If you or know someone who loves bacon, give it a try~ I bet it taste yummy on some French fries smothered with cheese ^_^ 

Thanks to pretty organized for the recipe~

http://www.prettyorganized.com/organizing/bacon-recipes-valentines-day-cards

In the test kitchen:

Steak.Whole Chicken.Baked Potato 

Sharing is Caring

My interest in cooking is growing each day. Big thanks for the people who take their time to post/review recipes to share online. I've learned so much from these posts and videos. 

When I was younger, we didn't have Internet access as we do now. I tried using cookbooks. 

I have a few cook books I randomly bought from borders many many many years ago that was on clearance. They were not useful as I thought they would be. Or there were recipes I didn't care to try. Thank goodness for google. Majority of the recipes I look for is by googling.

No joke, I google everything lol.

A few blogs I found for vietnamese dishes, had mention about Andrea Nguyen's recipes. So I gave it a try and bought her cookbook.

I explored the book but haven't had the urge to make anything out of it. Not sure because I'm not a fan of hers or what. So this book has been collecting dust.

I've been eyeing on these cookbooks for a few years now. But I keep pushing it to the side and not buy them. Now that I have more free time and kitchen space I can't wait to check out these books...hopefully I can buy them soon.

Another book I like to look into is :

A good friend of mine brought me back some milk cookies from her NY trip.

I wasn't a fan of the Cornflake, but the Corn was da bomb dot com.

I tried the cornflake first, it was ok it took me 2 days to finish the cookie. The corn cookie was gone in 10min.

It was a unique sweet flavor I tasted from the corn. I hope to play with this book one day~ 

What's your favorite cookbook? 

Marble It Is!

I haven't got a chance to check out pastry boards at sur la table & Williams-Sonoma.

But, I saw a marble board at Crate & Barrel. Looks like my heart is going towards the marble. Sur La Table agrees too ^_^

Can't wait to try Helen Le's baguette recipe & make Cronuts on this board~

Follow bmg on Instagram : 

banhmigirl 

Marble vs Wood

Decisions-Decisions...

I am looking for a pastry board and can't decide which one i want. I like Williams-Sonoma but I love shopping at Sur la Table.

Unfortunately I can't have both >_<

Let the debate begin-

Sur La Table Marble Pastry Board

Pros: 

-cool surface for the dough (great for Houston's heat)

-$60 cheaper than Williams-Sonoma

Cons:

-Heavy

-can break/crack easily 

-need nonslip mat or towel underneath board to prevent from sliding

Williams-Sonoma Reversible Wooden Pastry Board

Pros:

-measurement guide on board

-Reversible 

-multi use as cutting board 

-wraps over island & stays in place 

Cons:

-too big to store away

-$60 more than Sur la table marble

-apply mineral oil to keep it from drying 

-must be store away from extreme temperatures. 

Hmmmmmm....

I'm back!

BMG is back from hibernation!

Stay tuned for the next project -

Thanks to one of my inspirations to keep me going.