House of Annie

If the House of Annie’s Foodie Gift Guide and Rasa Malaysia’s guide weren’t enough, I give you guides from over 80 different sites, full of gift suggestions for foodies.

Here’s a Gift for You!

1. The Foodie Gift Hunter, based in the UK, is a huge respository of foodie gift finds. You could get lost on that one site alone!
2. Something We Dreamed shares a delicious list of mail-order foods, including a Rebuen sandwich kit from Zingerman’s that Oprah calls “an 11 on a scale of 1-5”.
3. Treehugger.com gives us their list of Green Gifts for Foodies, such as a Lodge cast iron pan that could probably outlive you.
4. Fanny at YummySF.com picked out a list of under $25 gifts, including a 3-tier cooling rack to save you space when you’re baking up a big batch of cookies.
5. Bon Appetit magazine published their list of must-have gifts for foodies. I like the “Space Invaders” ice cube tray :-)
   
   
6. Dine Dish Delish came up with a list of different foodie gift basket ideas that you can put together yourself. I could use one of her “Grillmaster” baskets, actually ;-)
7. The website “Fair Trade the White House” has a huge list of gift suggestions of fair trade products, including fair trade foodie gifts.
8. Delish.com, part of the MSN network, has a list of foodie gifts for under $10. I like the cute farm animal-themed kitchen timers.
9. The Sweet Tidings craft blog gives us her picks from the ETSY.com Home Chef Gift Guide.
10. The Holiday season isn’t just about Christmas. Epicurious.com shows us a list of tasty and kosher gifts for Hanukkah. I know I’d love some lox and bagels from New York!
    
    
11. These aren’t technically holiday gifts, but our readers K&S from “Our Adventures in Japan” showed us some lovely Japanese foodie gifts that they received from a wedding reception.
12. Dig Under Rocks, another craft blog, presents their list of foodie finds from ETSY, all under $40. I’m drooling over that one cookie collection.
13. The New Zealand-based Pretty Clever blog has some pretty clever foodie gifts. The Milly’s Vegetable Twister is totally cool. You have to see it for yourself.
14. Confessions of a Bookworm says don’t buy cheese for a foodie because cheese smells. While I don’t agree about that, I do like her list of non-cheese suggestions, including the Drinking Chocolate set which features no cocoa powder!
15. The UK website Not Delia has their own list of Five Fabulous UK Foodie Gifts.
    
    
16. The blog at Craftzine.com has a baker’s dozen list of affordable or homemade foodie gifts. The chalkboard table cloths are a great idea!
17. The Evergreen Moms list focuses on artisanal products from the Pacific Northwest. Can someone send me the DIY Mozarella and Ricotta kit?
18. L.A. Splash magazine has a tasty list of foodie gifts under $15. Lots of chocolate ideas, including Hot Chocolate on a Stick.
19. Australia-based Lifestyle Flossie, part of the Flossie network, shows off their foodie gift list. I am intrigued by the Wine Finer, which is an all-in-one aerator, filter, pourer, and stopper. Me likes!
20. The site “Creative Christmas Gifts” is all about gift ideas for different intetests, like foodies. What foodie wouldn’t want a deep fat fryer?
    
    
21. The Unconfidential Cook gives us her terrific cookbook recommendations over on the Bookstore People blog. “Lost Deserts” by Gail Monaghan gets a compelling mention.
22. Beth, who Eats, Drinks, and Smiles in Tennessee, passes along her foodie gift ideas. Gimme that Kuhn Ricon Corn Zipper!
23. The Retro-Modern Housewife tells us about her ETSY list of gifts for men, including Foodie Men. I think the Masculine Spice Rack is a great idea, but it should be BIGGER!
24. L.A. Weekly suggests you stay off the road and just order from their list of online specialty foods stores. Zingerman’s is their top pick. I wonder why?
25. Camilla Cheung, writing for the Suite101.com network, offers her list of budget gift ideas for the aspiring chef. The cupcake carrier suggestion – now that’s a great idea!
    
    
26. Raging foodie “Dreaming in Meta” shares her wish list of foodie gifts. They’re mostly cookbooks, but she has a Shun 8” chef’s knife thrown in for good measure.
27. Country Living Magazine gets in on the action with their Farmer’s Market Foodie gift list. How about the “Cast Iron Cookbook”?
28. Check out The Foodie Forkful blog, which is doing a whole 45 days’ worth of foodie gift ideas. Did you know there was a board game called “Foodie Fight”? Someone, bring it over!
29. LSD site (Love, Sex and Dating, not acid!) YourTango.com has a big list of gifts for every type of guy, including the Foodie Guy. I totally endorse getting your guy a smoker!
30. The Chapters chain of Canadian bookstores selected their Top 10 picks of cookbooks for the fab foodie. I think Julie and Julia is a great read.
    
    
31. The “Cooking with Anne” blog has a nice list of holiday gift ideas. I want Nigella to cook for me from her Christmas cookbook!
32. WineCountry.com has a wish list that is guaranteed to please the foodie in your life. I couldn’t agree more about the Silpat baking mats.
33. The CafeMom blog presents their list of gifts under $10. Check out the cute Head Chefs Silicone Turner!
34. Bee and Jai of the fabulous Jugalbandi blog posted their list of gifts for the Foodie, Photographer, and Fitness Freak. I love their list of Japanese knives.
35. Jamie Dougherty, the SF Life Coach on Examiner.com, features food fanatic gift ideas, all made in California by small companies. You HAVE to get the Rancho Gordo heirloom beans.
    
    
36. The Palm Beach Post’s food writer/snob, Charles Passy, gives us his list of Stuff He Likes. The DaysAgo Digital Food Counter is a brilliant stocking stuffer.
37. Inside Jersey Magazine offers some unique foodie products, all from New Jersey-based producers. Nice to know you can get more than M2 plastique from Jersey. (Just kidding!)
38. If you’re in St. Louis, MO, then you ought to look up the St. Louis Today’s list of local foodie gifts. Somebody please send me some salumi! Please!!!
39. Look on My Gourmet Connections for their guide to Great Foodie Gifts under $50. I like the kitchen compost pail made of sustainable bamboo.
40. Mandy in Toronto has Everyday Obsessions, including her favorite foodie suggestions under $50. How about that cute Sur La Table waffle set?
    
    
41. Thomas Richie on the Siouxland Voice blogs his 10 Great Gifts for Foodies. I don’t like his BBQ Fork with Thermometer suggestion, but can’t argue with a KitchenAid.
42. The Constant Chatter site has a Foodie Edition Holiday Gift Guide. It’s an eclectic list, but I agree with their CaliBowls suggestion.
43. Although not specifically a holiday gift guide, Ken’s Wine Guide has a list of highly rated Cabernets, all under $50. Find a deal in the Charles Krug 2006 Cabernet.
44. Single Minded Women’s Food and Wine section came up with their list of foodie gifts. Hey look! Another offer to adopt an olive tree!
45. Did you know there was such a thing as a Disney Food Blog? Check out their list of Disney-themed foodie gifts!
    
    
46. Project Foodie has a great list of foodie gift options. I like the “Wine Wars” game – kinda like Foodie Fight but focused specifically on vino.
47. Judyfoodie from Culinary Escapade has a three-part series on foodie gifts, starting out with gadgets: gadgets, dinner/cookware and appliances. Those Trudeau pot clips are sure to make great stocking stuffers!
48. The Santa Cruz Sentinel came out with their list of foodie gifts, sourced on the California Central Coast. Try some John Kelly Truffle Fudge Bites…mmm…
49. The Guardian newspaper in the UK came out with their foodie wish list chosen by their own writers and editors. One of them even chose a tin of fabulous smoked anchovies! Okay, I’ll go with that.
50. Kerry Lowe of the Nashua Telegraph reveals her list of foodie gifts, broken out by price. I highly recommend getting a digital food scale!
    
    
51. British Columbia-based Kelowna.com published a small list of Foodie Faves. All of them seem to come from one shop – one stop shopping!
52. About.com’s Nutrition Guide Shereen Jegtvig published her terrific Top Ten equipment pics for healthy cooking. It includes items seen on other lists, but also touts the FoodSaver vacuum sealer.
53. The venerable New York Times has 5 separate gift lists created by their own food writers. Check out that Chocolate Wine sauce featured on Florence Fabricant's list!
54. Our good friend Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen came out with a list of food blogger cookbooks that will definitely make great gifts for any season. Of course there's Steamy Kichen and Pioneer Woman, but there are many others that I was not aware of.
55. Delphine Ephemera has a wonderful list of foodie favorites. I’m drooling over the Italian Black Truffle paste.
    
    
56. The folks over at Change.org posted a big list of sustainable producers and products. But they also list of organizations, charities and community service to support as well.
57. The lovely Sarah’s Cucina Bella blog presents her list of favorite gifts for food lovers. I think everything on it would be my favorite too!
58. CNN Money.com came out with a short list of culinary gift ideas. Can’t argue with dry-aged steaks!
59. Epicurious.com shows up with another gift list – this one focusing on edible gifts you can make, or alternatively buy. I wanna try making some chocolate truffles.
60. Gaby from the excellent What’s Gaby Cooking? blog shares her holiday foodie gift guide. I really want that Kitchen Aid Pasta Press!
    
    
61. Maria and Josh from Two Peas and their Pod also put together their great holiday gift list. Everything they list is great, but I most want the Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller attachment. (Hm, I’m detecting a pattern here…)
62. Julie Anne of Peanut Butter and Julie revealed her Favorite Things list. And what is her #1 favorite thing? Her own granola mixes. Cool!
63. I just found out about the site Yummery.com. It is a "shopaholic food fantasy". Every post is a new and interesting foodie item. You could seriously get lost on this site.
64. Kathy over at the fantastic Panini Happy blog has a most excellent list of 10 gift ideas. Of course, there would have to be a panini press in it!
65. Mike and Carol of Everyday Simplicities cooked up their own Top 5 gifts for the home chef. You'll want at least one of everything!
    
    
66. Eric Braun, the beer columnis for the San Antonio Express, pours out his own list of gifts for craft beer makers. First thing on his list? Other peoples' beers.
67. Not to be outdone, A Blog About Beer (seriously, that's the name of the blog) in New England has its own Top 10 Gifts for beer lovers. What's this game called "Cornhole"? Sounds naughty.
68. Watch this video from the Gift Gal on the Today Show for the Hottest Edible Gifts (hottest edible gifts, hottest edible gifts) for the foodie in your life. I want that tea basket!
69. Mainline Magazine presents their list of Tasty and Useful Gifts for Food Lovers. The whiskey stones which chill your premium liquor without diluting it are a great idea.
70. There's an article on Suite101.com by Cherrine Banks aimed specifically at cheese lovers. Everyone who is into cheese should have some proper tools for cutting the cheese.
    
    
71. Blogger Megan from Megan's Cookin' cooked up an extraordinary list of her 10 Favorite Things. I am intrigued by the Smokey Blue Cheese Truffles!
72. There's an ETSY shop called LittleFluffStuff that makes cute felt toys, some of which look good enough to eat. Those felt Shanghai dumplings are wow!
73. Sara Rich, an editor at Dwell.com, shows off her kitchen tools wishlist. I think every kitchen should have a Le Creuset dutch oven.
74. The fun Bay Area blog Blame it On the Food shared their Cheapskate Foodie Gifts for 2009. Everything is under $25 (except for the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook).
75. Uber-cool gadget site Craziest Gadgets unveiled their Gifts for People Who Cook. All of them are awesome, but I am ga-ga over the measuring cup with integrated digital scale. Somebody get me one!
    
    
76. New York-based Wined & Dined compiled a list of their favorite gift ideas, shopping, and events. I like the Party in a Box idea.
77. Another wine blog, Wines Gifts, put together a list of Top Wine Books for Wine and Food Lovers. "The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion" sounds useful.
78. Chef Gusteau and Monsieur Anton over at the Cleveland-based blog "At the Pass" delivered 2 lists: "Shopping Ideas from Chef Gusteau" "Shopping Ideas for the Bar". They may be the best foodie gift lists in all of Cleveland!
79. Fabiana Santana, A Girl Who Eats, stopped eating long enough to write her suggestions for foodie gifts. Hey, waitaminit - it's the same list as the one on Single Minded Women.com! Sneaky.
80. The Fashionable Foodie rolled out its list of Kitchen Gift Ideas. Some very neat ideas, some of which I've seen on other lists. But I TOTALLY want that Mario Batali outdoor brick oven!
    
    
81. Foodie-bia, the foodie surviving in suburbia, pulls out her own foodie gift guide.  The Le Creuset Heart Casserole would make a lovely gift!
82. The Mindful Table blog in Montreal started a series of gift lists, the first of which is a Top 5 Recipe books list.  Get “Whole Grain Baking” by the King Arthur Flour Company.  Read it. Use it.
83. The Delicious Sarah Gim of The Delicious Life gives us her list of 25 Cookbooks from Los Angeles Chefs. She would have done more but then it would have thrown off her grid pattern.  I think I’d eschew Roy Yamaguchi’s books for Nancy Silverton’s.
    

Do you have any more foodie gift guides to add? Leave a comment below and I’ll add it in!

Please Share

If you think this list is useful, please share it with your social network friends!

Aloha, Nate

Continue Reading: "The Big Guide to Foodie Gift Guides"...

If you’ve wracked your brain thinking about what gift to get for your foodie friend or relative, and are just about ready to get them a lame gift card, STOP RIGHT THERE!

Trust me on this, a gift card is NOT the way to go (in case you don’t know, most gift cards don’t get used and it’s the STORE that benefits, not your friend). But, have no fear! We decided that this year, we would make a list of things any foodie who is like us would love to get for Christmas.

To help you decide, we’ve decided to break it down into three categories:
1. Gifts under $25
2. Gifts under $100
3. Splurge gifts!
Edit: Our good friend Rasa Malaysia also has a Holiday Foodie Gift Guide up on her site.  Click here to see her gift ideas!

Making a List

We thought long and hard about this gift guide and we want you to know that some of the things we have listed here are already mainstays in our kitchen and things we cannot live without when it comes to cooking. Others are things on our “wishlist” which we hope one day to purchase or receive as gifts!

Gifts under $25

1. Microplane grater. One of the most useful tools in my kitchen—grate zest, chocolate, ginger, garlic, cheese with ease and confidence.
2. Silpat silicone baking mat—one would be under $25 unless you got them the large sized one (one of my wishlist items really, just can’t justify it at $50) which is the perfect gift for the baker friend of yours. You can never have enough of those!
3. Silicone spatulas in various sizes. These things are great stocking stuffers and they are also very useful in the kitchen. I have about 5 in different sizes but the ones I find most useful are the medium sized ones from Williams-Sonoma (and I love that they come in so many colors!).
4. Cookbooks! The more the merrier. I just received Asian Dumplings as a gift for my anniversary and trust me, it would make a great Christmas gift as well. You should have seen how giddy with joy Nate and I were when we made our own gyoza skins from scratch. It was so easy with Andrea’s book guiding us all the way (look for our post and review of the cookbook in a future post). Other cookbooks we recommend include: The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook, Momofuku, Ad Hoc at Home (this one is just a little over $25—sorry…). It was hard for me to stop there. I am a lover of books and have so many that I would love to own and there’s another long list…maybe I should just have a list for books alone!
5. Ready cut 9-inch parchment paper rounds in different pan sizes—especially the round ones. Trust me on this—I have cut enough parchment rounds for my cakes to wish I wasn’t so pake and would just buy the ready cut ones! I would be thrilled if someone got me some to put me out of my misery.
6. Tea! Because it’s Christmas, splurge and get them some really luxurious teas—Mariage Freres flavored teas (Marco Polo is my fav!), Lupicia flavored teas, Harney and Sons, Republic of Tea…
7. Specialty salts from Spice Hound. We love Tammy and we love her spices but we love her salts even more. Where else can you find salts from all over the world as well as seasoned salts that are so unique and delicious? Our favorites right now are Kala Namak (smells like eggs and tastes WONDERFUL!), Murray River seasalt, White Truffle sea salt, and Himalayan Pink Salt).

Gifts under $100

1. Wusthof Santoku knife and sharpener—Other than my chef’s knife, I love this knife for everyday cutting. If you are going to give a friend a knife, don’t forget to ask for a coin back (ancient Chinese belief—cannot give knives as gifts, therefore coin given back denotes friend buying from you, therefore friendship is saved and not severed).
2. Remote probe thermometer—so you don’t have to keep opening that oven door to check if your roast is done, or opening your grill to check if your meat is done. Amazing thing, this!
3. Butcher block cutting board—what is a good knife without a good chopping block to go with it?
4. Ice Cream Maker and David Lebovitz’s “Perfect Scoop” Cookbook—because it’s only winter for a little bit more and nothing is better than making your own ice cream in assorted creative flavors. And because I could use some really good ice cream right now…
5. Magazine subscriptions to Fine Cooking and Saveur—they are my top two favorite magazines and what better than a gift that keeps giving throughout the year!

Splurge gifts

1. Kitchen Aid—cannot live without it! I’m discovering this the hard way as I haven’t bought a transformer for mine here in Malaysia and had to knead bread by hand in this hot sweaty climate. THAT was tough!
3. Any Zingerman’s Gift Package—after having had their apple pie, I would die for any of their other gourmet food items, like artisanal bread, or their cheeses and their coffees.
7. Fancy Camera and lenses and lighting equipment. Had to put this in for Nate who wishes he had more than his ghetto lighting equipment and second hand camera to take all our wonderful pictures. Doesn’t he do such a great job with the little he has?

Gift Someone a Home

Some of you may feel that this whole holiday season just smacks of too much commercialism. We are just as big a fan of giving to charity and making this season something meaningful for others. Our favorite cause is Living Stones Village, an orphanage in China that houses abandoned children with disabilities.
The orphanage has just recently purchased a large piece of land and is in the process of turning that land into a village that will not only house these orphans but build a community around them (with family units, a music and arts center, rehabilitation center, schools, training center, and roadside businesses to provide career opportunities for the handicapped orphans) and they need the funding to finish building this community. Click this link to donate directly to LSV. No amount is too little!
All of the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links, which means we get a small percentage of any purchases made through those links. We will donate 100% of the earnings made from now until Christmas to LSV. So click away and buy, and enjoy your retail therapy!
If you have more ideas to add to our lists, feel free to leave a comment.
Cheers and Aloha, Nate and Annie

Continue Reading: "Holiday Foodie Gift Guide"...

Thanks to a lot of commenters and personal emails, we have been alerted to a site that has stolen content from the House of Annie blog and many others. Compare the two screenshots below:

I am extremely upset to see my work posted on someone else's site, because I have put in hundreds of hours building our site only to see someone else just come and copy our posts to their site. (Okay, they didn't just copy -- they also edited each post to take out our signatures and also changed the internal links to point to their site.)

Because this "scraper" blog is hosted on Blogspot / Blogger (Google), there are a couple of things you can do to report it. If this blog has stolen content from your site, file a DCMA report to Google. The URL for the online report is

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/request.py?contact_type=blogger_dmca_infringment

For the rest of you dear readers who are just plain mad and would like to do something about it, report the blog as Spam by going to

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/request.py?contact_type=spam&hl=en&blog_ID=&blog_URL=

and entering

http://hot-kitchen.blogspot.com

in the text box.

Hopefully Google will investigate and take this site down.

To the scraper who stole our content, I leave this haiku:

I wish you would get
A hundred thousand bug bites
Where the sun don't shine

Aloha, Nate

Update Oct 6, 2009: DMCA report submitted to Google. We'll see how long it takes to get the site taken down.

Update Oct 7, 2009: Google has taken down the site! Hot-kitchen has gone cold.

LET THAT BE A LESSON TO YOU BLOG THIEVES!

Continue Reading: "Stop, Blog Thief!"...

Have you seen this oven (or something similar?)

Toshiba Combination Microwave Convection Oven

When we moved into our house in Kuching, we found that it was completely furnished. The owner had moved out with the intention that she might possibly move back in, so she left all the furniture, and all the pots, pans, dishes, glasses and cutlery. She also left the fridge, the washing machine, the rice pot, and this combination microwave convection oven.

Huh? Wuzzat?

Readers of this blog know that Annie loves to use the oven. Back in San Jose, we had an electric range with a large oven underneath. With it, she could bake scones and layer cakes, roast lamb shanks, braise chicken, broil salmon collars…the list goes on. (Just check out all the items under the “Baked” category on the sidebar!)

In our kitchen here in Kuching, the house does not come with a built-in oven. It only has a gas stove (two burners) and this countertop combination microwave / convection oven. We plugged it in, and found that it still turned on. (Of course, there was no instruction manual to be found)

We managed to figure out the microwave part of it and have used it to reheat our leftover food. But what has us stumped is the convection oven part.

Toshiba Combi Microwave / Convection Oven

How exactly does “Combi” work? Why are there Convec.1 and Convec. 2 settings? Can we actually use this to cook some of our favorite oven recipes? Is it even worth keeping?

Toshiba Combi Microwave Convection Oven

All these questions, but no one we’ve asked here in Kuching has offered a straight answer.

Help!

So we need some help from you, dear reader. Can you tell us how to work this combination microwave convection oven? Please, leave a comment!

If you don’t know, maybe someone you know has the answer. Would you Stumble, Tweet, or share this post on Facebook or any online forum you are active on?

‘Cause we really want to get baking again.

Aloha, Nate and Annie.

I’m sure people out there can help us get baking again, and once we do, we’ll continue posting our baking recipes. Don’t miss a thing! So subscribe to our blog now to receive all our latest posts to your RSS reader or to your Inbox!

Continue Reading: "How to Use a Combi Oven"...

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. I love how it has allowed me to be connected with many friends that I’ve lost touch with over the years. It’s amazing how many old high school/college friends I’ve come to know again just from looking up different connections. And Facebook also allows me to keep up with all these friends via their status bars. In a time when we barely have time to shoot emails to each other, this little status updates have helped me to find out which friends are having children, which friends are travelling, which ones have just broken up with their significant others or gotten engaged. It’s amazing how much we can know from that little status bar!

But then again, do I really need to know what is going on with everyone? And do I need to get “cyber hugged” and gifted dimsum, or flowers, or good morning wishes or any other “cyber” thing in the one million and one applications that can be found on Facebook? And then, there are all these polls—which city/country/continent should you live on, what superhero are you, what does your color say about you, etc. (many of which are surprisingly accurate, but not so grammatically).

And then there are causes. The (Lil) Green Patch that donates money to save the rainforest (has anyone really confirmed this?), the charities that we can support (I support one called LSV-an orphanage in China that takes in handicapped children). Though a great way to showcase some charities, others are more likely time-wasters.

And the games on Facebook! Like quick trends, some start off really fun and after a while, they get tedious or lose their following. And again, a real time-waster as well as something that will cause your eyes to strain too much and your wrists to get carpal tunnel. I speak from experience. Yes, I’m as addicted as most of you out there to these games. Every so often I tell myself that I’m only going to play one game…yeah, you see where I’m going already right? WHO plays only ONE GAME?!?! C’mon, you know who you are…just for five minutes, you say and the next thing you know, it’s a whole hour that has gone by. Time wasting device at its greatest.

And what do you do when you receive a note in your email saying so-and-so wants to befriend you and you don’t even know who on earth they are? Or even worse, you know who they are but you don’t really care to know them that well and indecision grips you…should you not dis them and accept them as a friend and then they will know everything about you and what is happening in your life OR should you ignore them and hope they have forgotten that they asked to be your friend?

I’ve done both, and now I have too many friends to know what to do with. It makes it hard to be really honest in my status bar so most times I end up talking about what I cooked that day (safe, shouldn’t offend anyone). And I don’t really know how I feel either about those friends that have befriended me and then somehow didn’t think I was worthy and defriended me. Yup, Facebook doesn’t tell you when that happens, but you find out eventually. Ah well…do unto others…(yup, done that too). Sorry if that was you and you’re reading this.

So, why am I going on about Facebook and what does this have to do with House of Annie? Nothing I guess, except this is a blog after all and I have the right to talk about something non-food related right? To make it relevant, I will say that I won’t give up Facebook because of the fact that I can indeed get connected with people I haven’t been in touch with for a while. Case in point, I just reconnected with another old friend from my days in the graduate dorm in Hawaii and I couldn’t be happier. The reconnection helped me to remember the good times we shared in the kitchen and how she shared this Thai dish with me.

So here it is, Nat’s Pumpkin with Egg and Green Onion recipe. It’s a simple homey recipe which calls for kabocha squash (I’m sure butternut will work just as well). Like most Thai dishes, it has that interplay of sweet, salty and savory working. Unlike most Thai dishes, this one doesn’t have any heat to it (which isn’t to say you can’t go ahead and add some).

Pumpkin with Egg and Green Onion

Ingredients
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
half a kabocha squash (or other similar squash or pumpkin), cut into 1 inch cubes
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar, or more to taste
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp fishsauce, or more to taste
3-4 green onions, cut into 1 1/2 inch length pieces

Method
1. In a frying pan, heat up vegetable oil over medium heat. Add garlic and lightly brown for a minute.
2. Add kabocha squash to pan and add water. Partially cover pan and cook till squash is just tender.
3. Add sugar to dish and mix it in.
4. Add in beaten eggs and a little bit more water if it looks like it’s too dry.
5. Season with fishsauce and taste. The pumpkin should have absorbed the flavors of the sugar and fishsauce nicely and the eggs should have a nice savory flavor.
6. Add in green onions and allow to wilt.

Serve over rice and enjoy!

(Sorry, no pics. Next time I make it, I’ll put the pics up.)

Cheers, Annie.

So…Facebook…are you glad for it or mad at its amazing ability to suck up all your time? Share your stories with us!

Hungry for more Facebook games to waste your time on? Click below:

Hell’s Kitchen

Bejeweled Blitz

ChainRxn

GeoChallenge

WordChallenge

Continue Reading: "Of Facebook and a Thai Recipe"...

This is what our backyard garden looked like a few years ago.

In previous years, we had made raised garden beds along the side fence to grow our tomatoes. But when Annie got more serious about growing many different varieties of heirloom tomato plants, we needed more space. So I built three more raised beds on top of the existing yard. It took a lot of time, sweat, and more bags of compost than I can count, but we eventually had space for more tomatoes as well as other veggies and herbs.

Right now, our blog is a little like the garden in this picture. It needs room to grow. To do that, it will take some time and sweat, but not so much posting. Here’s what I mean by this analogy:

From Simple to Serious

It’s been a little over a year since the “Spring is Coming” post announcing that we were getting more serious with this blog than we had been before. And we certainly have gotten serious. Our writing has improved, our photography has improved, even our blog design has improved over the past year.

Our monthly blog visitor count has improved as well. Since we started counting visitors, this blog has now reached the 300,000 page view mark. That might not seem like much to some, but for us it is an exciting milestone.

On top of that, our subscriber count has reached 500. (You like us, you really like us! :-D ) I guess we must be doing something right.

Getting Even More Serious

But I believe the blog has outgrown its platform. We’ve been running on Blogger/Blogspot since the beginning. It has been adequate but there are things I want to do with this blog that just can’t be done on Blogger. The time has come (actually, the time came a while ago) to move over to our own domain, running WordPress.

I’ve been wanting to make the move for many months now. But we had so many recipes and foodie experiences to share with you that I just didn’t have the time to set aside for migrating over. I lose enough sleep as it is, just working on regular posts.

Finally, I’ve decided that if I don’t do it now, I’ll never get around to it. There are templates to test, designs to tweak, and over 350 posts to sift through, reformat, and republish. It’s a hefty job, but I believe it’s for the best.

What it Means

What this means for the blog is, posting frequency here will drop off to one or two a week. But no way are we shutting down. I will still moderate and respond to reader comments. We also have a very exciting event in the works coming up, so watch for that next Monday!

I will of course keep you updated on our progress. But if you haven’t already subscribed to our blog, do so now by clicking on either of these Subscribe via RSS or Subscribe via Email links.

Do Us a Favor?

I would like to ask a favor of you. One of my main concerns for the new blog is to make it user friendly. The easier it is to find what you’re looking for on our site, the happier you’ll be. So if you want to help beta test the design once it’s semi-ready for rollout, would you please click here to enter your name on our signup form.

I am hopeful we’ll be able to go live with the new site within a month. Until then, you’re welcome to peruse our Categories list over on the right sidebar. Who knows? You may find a recipe you’d like to try!

Aloha, Nate

Continue Reading: "Our Blog is Growing"...

I don’t understand what all the fuss is about brussels sprouts.

I’ve never had brussels sprouts until Annie cooked them for us recently. But all I heard about brussels sprouts before then was how much people hated them. I wondered why, since it seemed to me that they were just a strange looking little cabbage ball that grows on a stalk. What’s not to love?

The other day, Annie picked up a stalk of brussels sprouts at the farmer’s market and brought it home. First she cut the sprouts off the stalk. She then cut each sprout in half and washed them.

Annie wanted to make a quick veggie side dish for dinner, so she chopped up some garlic, heated a little oil in the non-stick pan, and fried the garlic until it became fragrant. Then she tossed the brussels sprouts in and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Brussels Sprouts Sautéed with Garlic

She sautéed them over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the brussels sprouts started to caramelize. Then she just served it up.

Brussels Sprouts Sautéed with Garlic

That’s all there is to it. It’s so simple, quick, easy, and deeeeelicious! Because of the caramelization, the brussels sprouts take on a sweet, almost nutty flavor. That combined with the fragrant garlic makes for a really yummy dish.

I think that most people don’t like brussels sprouts because they’ve only had (over)boiled ones. If you overcook any cabbage, they’ll lose their beautiful green coloring, turn a nasty yellow, and give off an unpleasant sulfur odor. The best way to cook brussels sprouts is to cook them fast so they don’t lose their flavor and turn into disgusting blobs.

So, if you say you hate brussels sprouts, or have never eaten them before, I do encourage you to give this recipe a try. You won’t be sorry!

This post was submitted to this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Anna of Anna's Cool Finds.

Aloha, Nate

If you liked this article, subscribe to our blog to receive all our latest posts to your RSS reader or to your Inbox!

 

Hungry for more quick veggie dishes? Click below:

Stir-Fried Green Beans with Savory Tofu and Peanuts

Bittermelon and Shrimp in Black Bean Sauce

Roasted Aioli Potatoes Recipe

Vegetarian Chap Chye (Stir-fried Mixed Vegetables)

Five Quick Asian Dishes: Steamed Shiitake Mushrooms with Bok Choy and Fatt Choy

Continue Reading: "Easy Sautéed Brussels Sprouts Recipe"...

Happy Birthday to House of Annie!

This week, we celebrate our two-year bloggerversary! When I look back at our earliest posts, I see how much we've changed over the years, and especially over these past five months. It has been a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun. And we owe a lot of credit to our friend Bee from the excellent Rasa Malaysia food blog. Her example and her guidance have helped make this blog (especially the pictures) so much better.

Guest Posting

About a month ago, Bee asked if we would be interested to guest post on her site. It would be a way for us to work on a recipe that her readers have been asking her for, and a way for her readers to get to know us. We were thrilled to be invited! And so, we cooked the very popular dish, Singapore Fried Rice Noodles, for her site. An excerpt:

Here is a recipe for Sing Chow Mai Fun or Singapore fried rice noodles; while it may not be the version that Annie is used to in Malaysia, it's one of the best Singapore fried rice noodle dishes I've tasted...

Singapore Fried Rice Noodles in Progress

Read the rest of the article on Rasa Malaysia's website!

Welcome, Selamat Datang, and E Komo Mai!

To all the readers who've recently discovered us, welcome. Please allow me to introduce ourselves.

I (Nate) was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. I work in IT here in San Jose, California. I am a barbecue afficionado, but have been known to occasionally make something on the stove instead of the grill.

Annie was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She is a stay-at-home-mom to our two kids. The kids keep her busy, so she has learned to be efficient with her cooking -- like how to prepare tasty meals in as little time as necessary.

The House of Annie blog was started to chronicle our eating adventures, from our own kitchen, to our occasional eating out, to our travels every once in a while. We cook a mix of Asian dishes, including Malaysian, Chinese, and Japanese cuisine. Annie is big into baking, so you'll see breads and cakes and other goodies being turned out from our oven. You'll find smatterings of Western foods as well, including the aforementioned barbecue.

We do hope you stay awhile and browse through our nearly 300 articles. Who knows? You may find a recipe that you've been looking for! And if not, feel free to email us through the Contact link at the top of the page. We're happy to take requests ;-)

Aloha, Nate

PS: As we wrote in the Singapore fried rice noodle post on Bee's site, that version is not the one that Annie is used to in Malaysia. We are working on getting a Malaysian-style Sing Chow Mai Fun recipe up soon, so stay tuned!

LESS THAN A DAY LEFT to register for our Bloggerversary Giveaway! Only those who subscribe to this blog by email are eligible to win. Enter today!

Continue Reading: "Two-Year Bloggerversary Week"...

It's Thursday night, and I'm recovering from dining on an absolutely soul-less McD's double cheeseburger combo. Why, oh why did I have a cheeseburger?!?

So, I'm taking the night off from serious blogging and giving you a Big List of "Things You Must Eat" Lists!

Making a List

By now you've heard about "The Omnivore's Hundred", that list of things that Andrew of Very Good Taste thinks every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. It has gone absolutely viral since he posted it up on August 13.

But you know, Andrew wasn't the first one to come up with such a list. Back in May of 2005, the Observer Food Monthly published an article titled "The Top 50 Things Every Foodie Should Do". Nigel Slater interviewed several food celebreties such as Nigella Lawson and Gordon Ramsay to get their thoughts on what we things we should do, culinary-wise, before we die. Kind of a "Foodie Bucket List".

Andrew wasn't the first to come up with the idea of making the list an Intenet meme, either. Melissa from The Traveler's Lunchbox, inspired by a BBC poll and television show called "50 Things To Eat Before You Die" started a meme in August 2006 called "The FoodBlogger's Guide to the Globe" where she invited floggers around the world to submit 5 things they thought everyone should eat. The list grew to 1665 entries.

Checking it Twice

In any case, the floggerverse is once again abuzz. Soon after the Omnivore's Hundred came out, the non-omnivores began creating their own lists. Hannah at BitterSweet Blog came out with her Vegan's Hundred list. A Vegetarian 100 list was created by Maybelle's Mom of Feeding Maybelle and then another blogger, Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries, came up with her own Vegetarian Hundred.

Yep, two separate vegetarian lists. It goes to show the creativity and range of vegetarian food!

Gonna Find Out Who's Naughty

In response to that, Julie of Wine Me Dine Me (in Cincinnati) created her own Carnivore's 100. White Trash BBQ in New York City came up with his own Americanized, WhiteTrash BBQ Omnivore's Hundred. A few days later, another American Omnivore's Hundred was posted to Slashfood by Emily Matchar. Not to be outdone, Folo has come out with a Southern 100 foods to eat.

Of course, this world is much bigger than America. Acknowledging this, Sarah DiGregorio with the Village Voice developed her Traveling Omnivore's 20. (Only 20!?! Come on!)

Or Nice

The Mediterranean Kiwi living on Crete took The List and offered up Cretan versions of some of the original dishes in her Cretan Omnivore's Hundred. Diana Kuan, who has an Appetite for China, created the list of 100 Chinese Foods to Try Before You Die. Makiko Itoh of the site Just Hungry released her "100 Japanese Foods to Try" list at about the same time. Wandering Chopsticks has compiled an excellent "100 Vietnamese Foods to Try", which I shall endeavour to do.

Inspired by all the other lists, Danielle of Maple Syrup and Poutine came up with the 100 Canadian Foods to Eat list. Getting more granular, Andres over at "All You Need is Cheese" is building a list of 100 Canadian CHEESES to eat, over on Facebook. Mirability over on the Amerikanska Forums started a thread called "Swedish 100 must-eat...or at least try".

Coming almost full-circle, "The British One Hundred" by Helen Graves focused primarily on the food of the United Kingdom.

Omnivores are Coming to Town

Even traditional media can't resist. The Nashville Scene had a bunch of food-related entries in their 125 things to do in Nashville. The De Moines Register has a list of "100 things to eat in Iowa before you die" (who knew?). The Alabama Tourism Department came out with a list of 100 223 Things to Eat in Alabama. And the Houston Press came out with a list of 10 Texas Sausages you must eat. (They are asking commenters to come up with their own top 10 lists, and are offering a cookbook as a prize.)

Vancouver Magazine has a great list of "101 Things to Taste Before You Die", complete with pictures, descriptions, and locations of where to get these foods.

Your Turn

How'd you do on these lists? Do you know of any more "hundred" lists focusing on specific cuisines, countries or dietary restrictions? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

Aloha, Nate

Big List of "Must Eat" Lists.

The Omnivore's Hundred

The Top 50 Things Every Foodie Should Do

The FoodBlogger's Guide to the Globe

Vegan's Hundred

Vegetarian 100 by Maybelle's Mom

Vegetarian Hundred by Barbara

Carnivore's 100

WhiteTrash BBQ Omnivore's Hundred

American Omnivore's Hundred

Traveling Omnivore's 20

Cretan Omnivore's Hundred

100 Chinese Foods to Try Before You Die

100 Japanese Foods to Try

The British One Hundred

100 things to eat in Iowa before you die

100 223 Things to Eat in Alabama

10 Texas Sausages you must eat

100 Vietnamese Foods to Try

Southern 100 foods-to-eat

101 Things to Eat (in Vancouver) Before You Die

100 Canadian Foods to Eat

Swedish 100 must-eat...or at least try

100 Canadian CHEESES to eat

Continue Reading: "Big List of "Things You Must Eat" Lists"...

Guess what came in the mail the other day?

It's the Flip Ultra Video Camera!

Jaden of Steamy Kitchen had a birthday giveaway, asking people to submit Asian recipes that could be done in 15 minutes. Annie and I submitted nine entries, five of which became a series on this blog. Well, our entry for Steamed Shiitake Mushrooms with Bok Choy and Fatt Choy was chosen as the entry that won the video camera!

So after we got back from our trip back home to Hawaii, Jaden sent the video camera to us. But that's not all she sent...

Canon Digital Rebel XT

When Jaden read that one of my options for spending the money we won by winning the FoodBuzz Traffic Challenge was to buy a Digital SLR camera, she offered to sell me her used Canon Digital Rebel XT. Yes, Queen Jaden sold me the camera that took some of this beautiful food porn! That's so cool. It's like Luke being given Anakin's lightsaber!

Annie wanted me to get a digital SLR a long time ago. But I was afraid to spend the money on such an expensive item. So all this time, the pics on the House of Annie food blog have been taken by this little guy:

Canon PowerShot A710IS

Just compare the shot of the Rebel XT that was taken by the PowerShot A710, with the shot of the A710 taken by the XT. The difference is remarkable. Annie picked up the XT and snapped a picture of her breakfast toast and tea. That one shot, taken without any staging or fussing, looked a billion times more beautiful than my Turkey Omurice photo, which I had to take multiple pics of to get the right look.

Here's a picture I took of our lunch:

Kangkung Belacan with Tomato

The depth of field and the detail are so breath-taking. And I love how quick the autofocus works! I can tell already, this camera is going to make it easier to take more delicious pictures. (I can hear Annie saying, "I told you so!")

Kangkung Belacan with Tomato

Ingredients:

1 bunch kangkung / ong choy / water convulvulus, chopped into 2 inch-long pieces

4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons laksa paste
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small tomato, cut into wedges
Fish sauce to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok or large saute pan over medium heat.
2. Add the laksa paste and the minced garlic and fry until fragrant.
3. Add the chopped kangkung and stir-fry until the paste and the garlic are mixed will in with the vegetable.
4. Add the tomato wedges and cook until they start to soften.
5. Season to taste with a few splashes of fish sauce.

Steep Learning Curve

In less than two weeks, Annie and I will be attending the TomatoFest in Carmel Valley, as "foodie correspondents" for FoodBuzz. In addition to all the perks like dining out on FoodBuzz's dime, FoodBuzz has also arranged for Annie and I to get media passes to this event! We're so stoked.

I'm even more stoked that we are taking our two new friends, the Flip Ultra and the Rebel XT along with us. But it's going to be a steep learning curve, for sure. I hope I have enough time to get used to this new equipment.

Which would you take?

If you were in my shoes, would you take the new DSLR, even without knowing all its capabilities, or stick with the more familiar old point-and-shoot A710? Leave us a comment!

Aloha, Nate

This post was entered into the September 7 edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and hosted by Küchenlatein

Continue Reading: "Say "Hello" to My Little Friends!"...

Before we begin, let me just say that that was the most spectacular and jaw-dropping Olympic opening ceremony I have ever seen. I was totally geeking out at the LED floor. The amount of fireworks shot off at the Bird's Nest Stadium is just staggering. What an awesome production!



When I started this blog almost two years ago, it was just a place where I could store some pictures and brief descriptions of the food we were eating. I didn't really understand how powerful and beneficial the food blogging community could be. Then in February of this year, we heard about the FoodBuzz community. In exchange for putting an ad banner on our site, FoodBuzz would pay us a small amount per 1,000 pageviews.

FoodBuzz also had a traffic challenge, starting in March and ending in July, to see which blog could build its traffic the most. I signed up with FoodBuzz then, but kept blogging as before, which was not very seriously. I even stopped blogging for almost the whole month of May!

Then in early June, Annie kicked me in the butt and told me to get serious. I started studying other successful blogs and seeing how I could make House of Annie better. I started submitting pics to TasteSpotting and FoodGawker and actually managed to get a few of them accepted!

FoodBuzz treated us to a dinner with other Featured Publishers (like Lando of SpotsforDates.com and Michael of CookingforEngineers.com) at Gochi Japanese Fusion Tapas in Cupertino. They even sent us a box of Moo Cards, plus a nifty FoodBuzz canvas bag:

Sungold Girl with her fashionable FoodBuzz bag

Then in late June, we were "Blogspotted" by the Malay Mail and that really got us excited.

July was a seriously busy month for us, with an average of 5 posts per week. But it was paying off, as we started to see the site get more and more attention. The March traffic challenge hadn't even entered my mind, as I thought I had started too late to make any significant growth. I was more focused on building the site and building relationships with other bloggers. We even ran a small giveaway of Lupicia tea to see if we could get more interest.

(By the way, Julie, if you do not contact me regarding the prize you won, I will redraw from the list of commenters!)

July ended, and we kept blogging and kept seeing growth. Then, just this week, FoodBuzz announced the winners of the March traffic challenge -- and we were declared the winners! The prize?

$1,000!

Daniel the Spam Musubi Maker with a Message

So I have a lot of people to thank for this honor:

1. First, God. His love endures forever.


2. Next, Annie. Without her, none of this would even be possible.


3. Next, blogger mentors like Bee and Jaden. Their willingness to share epitomizes the food blogging community.


4. FoodBuzz, of course, for giving me the incentive to get better.


5. Sara and Chuck, for the traffic spikes ;-) .


6. And finally, YOU, our loyal readers! Thank you for letting us share a part of our world with you.

We are more energized, more excited, and more passionate than ever about food blogging. It's not just the virtual interaction we have with you, but moreso the face-to-face meetings with fellow foodies that makes blogging so much fun.

Tomorrow, we go to the 2008 NORCATT in Solano County. We hope to meet some foodies there. I don't know who exactly is coming, but hopefully Chef John from Foodwishes will be there.

Then, next week we fly to Hawaii to visit my family. We won't be posting as many recipes as usual, but we will be posting dispatches of some of the great places we went to eat (of course!). One thing on the agenda is a dinner with other FoodBuzz Featured Publishers in Hawaii. I'm really looking forward to that.

When we get back, Annie and I will be going to an event that we are both really excited about. I'd love to tell you about it but I think I'll leave you in suspense for now. heheheheh!

Well, this post has turned out longer than I expected. I'm going to sign off now, but I would like your opinion on something:

How would YOU spend $1,000?
A. Buy a new camera
B. Buy a new computer
C. Blow it all on a dinner at the French Laundry
D. Save it for a rainy day

Leave us a comment below!

Aloha, Nate

Continue Reading: "A Thousand Thanks, and Aloha"...

You commented. I counted. Your names were placed in a spreadsheet and I pushed a button on Research Randomizer.

And the winner of our Lupicia Lichee Tea giveaway is...

*** Julie !!! ***

Congratulations, Julie, you win a 50g packet of Lupicia Lichee Tea. Please click this link to contact us and let us know your snail mail address so that we can send it off to you!

Rest assured, this is by no means the only thing we're going to give away from the House of Annie. We will be announcing another exciting giveaway in the near future, so stay tuned.

Don't miss a new post! Subscribe to our site by either RSS or, better yet, subscribe to House of Annie by email. It's quick, painless, and free!

Aloha, Nate and Annie

Continue Reading: "And the Winner Is..."...

I use Picasa to manage and edit my pictures and also to upload posts to Blogger using the handy "BlogThis!" button right within the application. Unfortunately, Picasa does not upload more than 4 pictures per post. It's one of the pet peeves that I blogged about on my Blogger Wishlist post.

If I have more than 4 pictures to include in a post (such as the "Es Teler" post yesterday), I would normally have to edit the draft and manually add each extra image. The really bad thing about this process is, Blogger will put each manually added image right at the top of the post, regardless of where the cursor actually was within the post. You have to move the pictures after adding them to the post. It's a very humbug process.

(I read that Blogger in Draft is beta testing a new post editor that has better image handling capability. I've tried it out; it's still not better than Xanga, where I run my personal blog.)

Yesterday's Es Teler post had 10 separate pictures. I did not fancy having to wrestle with manually adding and maneuvering 6 more photos into the draft after I uploaded the first 4. Then, I had a revelation. I didn't have to manually add 6 photos to the original post. I could still use Picasa to upload all 10 photos to Blogger, and have them all show up in the original post, in the correct order.

How'd I do it?

Here's my recipe for uploading multiple pictures to Blogger from Picasa:

First, as I would normally do it, highlight 4 pictures and then click the BlogThis! button

The stripped-down version of the Blogger editor will show up. Next is to give the post a title, click the "Edit HTML" link on the top right to display the HTML code, and then click Save As Draft. Picasa will upload the 4 pictures to Blogger and then open up your blog's homepage in your web browser.


Now, go back and highlight the next four images you want to upload to Blogger, then click BlogThis!. This time, give the post a title slightly different than the first one. In my example, I titled the second post "Es Teler 2". Repeat this step for however many more pictures you need.


Now, log in to your Blogger Dashboard and click Edit Posts. You will see all the posts you've uploaded as drafts to Blogger. If you're using a tabbed browser such as Firefox, edit the original draft post in a new tab, edit the second draft post in a second new tab, and so on and so forth. (If you're using a non-tabbed browser, go ahead and edit the second draft.)

Click on Edit Html. You will see a bunch of HTML code that tells Blogger how to display the images you've uploaded from Picasa. You want to highlight all the code up to the last </div> for the pictures. Do not highlight the code that displays the Picasa icon - that you can ignore.



Copy the highlighted HTML code to the original draft post and paste them at the bottom of the post where they belong. (Here is where using Firefox or other tabbed browsers really helps.) Close the second draft, open the third draft post, and copy and paste the next batch of HTML image code. When you have all the image codes copied into the original draft, you can delete the remaining drafts.

As you can see, it's not a perfect solution. But I think this is a better way to upload multiple (more than four) pictures from Picasa to Blogger. No mucking around with the editor and its wimpy image adding function.

How about you? Do you have any better suggestions on uploading multiple pictures to Blogger?

Aloha, Nate

Continue Reading: "Posting More Than 4 Pictures from Picasa to Blogger"...