cooking together: bacon wrapped scallops, chocolate souffle

Will and I love cooking. We try new recipe on the weekend. i just decided to documents our cooking adventure like other adventure we went through together :)

The weekend menu is bacon wrapped scallops with spicy and soufflé.  I remembered the first time i tried the bacon wrapped scollops is in a restaurant in lake placid after a day-hike on Mt. Marcy. Maybe because i was super hungry or because everything tastes better than energy bar, the dish was wonderful.

We got the bacon wrapped scallops recipe from . According to the recipe they used applewood smoked bacon, which is exactly the same as what we used this time. However, it's hard to wrapped around the scallop and I felt it's too oily to eat at the end. I'll try to use a thin-sliced bacon next time.  We serves the scallops with orange sauce( the sauce they used in the restaurant was maple BBQ). I like the orange sauce better since it brings the fresh taste and makes the dish not so oily.   

Orange sauce:
ingredient:

orange juice       150 ml
butter                 1 Tbsp
white pepper and salt for taste

Bacon wrapped scallops

The soufflé's recipe is from one of William's  favorite cooking website named cooking for engineers. The website is using an analytical ways to cook~really engineers style :D. When we baked the souffle we followed the standard operation procedure:p~we even use the Scharffen Berger's dark chocolate as she recommend (Although i like this brand anyway) The result just turned out exactly like the website.  

Chocolate soufflé

Aug 29, 2012 my lovely string of pearls :)

I have a new member in my plant family. It's a string of pearls. It looks just like its name with round, succulent green gem hanging down. We had at least four basket before and they all end up dead. The plant hates to be soggy. However, my mom usually watered it too often. I was so happy when I first saw it in the Farmer's market in union square. I carry it carefully all the way back to SB. However, after strictly follow what the seller said (watering once per week and put it in full sun) for three weeks, my first string of pearl looks almost dead:( I googled to see how other people take care of theirs and found one sell in Amazon also sells it. Wow~The first time I knew you can even buy live plant in Amazon. Even the review is half positive and half negative~i still got mine.
I got mine really quick after i ordered it (around 4 days). The string of pearls is careful wrapped. All the vines was moved to the top of the basket. It took me a while to untangle all the pearls. I was shocked by how long and full it is. The top of the basket is completely covered. I hang it close to the window in the kitchen~hopefully this one can live longer :)

Instruction form the seller:

Light: Window.

Water: Water when surface is dry. They are forgiving if you forget.

Fertilizer: Use either a balanced or low-nitrogen formula at low levels, but frequently---March through October.

Soil: Should be loose and porous like a cactus soil.

Aug 19 2012 Hiking at Mohonk

It's almost the end of summer and Will and I are trying our best to catch the tail of summer :) Today, we went hiking in Mohonk~This place is recommended by one of Will's family friend who is an outdoor lover. It turns out we had a great hike there.

We left stony brook at 7:30 AM~I waked up earlier on the weekend than weekdays :( It took about 2 hrs to drive there since the traffic is good on the way.
The beginning of our hike didn't turn so well. We park in the parking lot in the northern section of Mohonk preserve park. we began our hike at the Table Rocks Trail(blue) ,then connect to the cedar trail (red) and to the Bonticou ascent path(yellow). The last one is a mistake. Instead of scramble up, we found we were on the top of Bonticou crag. Since descent from there looks scary, we decided to take the same trail back, take the blue one( Northeast Trail)  and ascent again on the other side. However, if someone just want to enjoy the spectacular view on the top but doesn't want to scramble up. It's a good way to go.  When we are in the intersection of yellow and blue trials, we mistakenly took a right turn instead of left~We found it out after we were on the wrong way for a while T___T. The rock scramble is enjoyable~It's briefer than Breakneck ridge. We finished our lunch on the top with the great view of valley.

The view from the top of Bonticou crag

black vulture 

Then we headed to the mountain house by the carriage way. After taking a break at mohonk mountain house, and enjoying the view of the lake and garden, we started climbing on the red trail (The labyrinth trial). There is a warning at the trial head which is the most serious one I've ever seen. It said the challenges you'll encounter on the trail include headache rock, fat man misery, lemon squeeze~All the names sound scary.

The warning at the trial head of labyrinth

The beginning part of the trails is fun. I hoped between stones, climbed the ladder and squeezed through the crevices. I really enjoyed the beautiful Shawangunk Ridge view on the trial. We left the trial and went up to see the tower. The tower just like the crown of Mountain Mohonk. Following winding up stair, the view on the top is far and beyond. You can see the terrane miles away.

After enjoying the view on the top of the tower, we went back to the red trial and we turned left to The Crevice.  It's most exciting part of the hike today. The crevice become narrower from the bottom to the top. The opening at the top is less than 2 feet which i can barely go through with my backpack on. The three sections of ladder make the whole climbing much easier. After enjoying the view at top~we took the carriageway back to the parking lot. There is a lilly pond on the way back and it's very pretty and remind me Monet's garden~

ladder up to the crevice

Lemon squeeze in Mohonk 

Chill at the top of the crevice

On the way home, Will asked me why I enjoy hiking. There are tones of reasons~I like the view like the feeling of challenge my limit, and like changing the environment and away from work.... Can't wait to have another hiking adventure with you, Will <3
Hiking route today

Aug 17, 2012 Will's special~lava cake

I found having a boyfriend can cook is one of the happiest things in the world. Will is the first boyfriend I have can cook. Last time, when we went to JoJo in the restaurant week, the desert served was lava cake( they call it warm chocolate cake though). I just told Will I like it and he said he can make it for me. At that time I think he's just joking. However, he really kept his promise in mind. 

Today I am suffering from the cramp. So Will decide to come over and cook dinner for me. Besides the ingredients for dinner tonight, he got something like sweet-bitter chocolate and other staff for lava cake. I was touched by how he kept his promise.  

After dinner, we cooperate to make a lava cake. I am in charge of making raspberry compote. Will found an easy recipe for me. There are only three steps in the directions, which is the shortest recipe I've ever seen=.=

Ingredient:

1 pint of raspberry 

1 pint of water 

1/3 cup of sugar

Directions:

1. boil the water

2. put the raspberry and sugar in 

3. stir and keep it boil until the desired thickness (it took around 25 mins)
I don't know which recipe Will followed. However, the lava cake taste delicious~although I took too much photos before i started eating~so it didn't act like a volcano eruption:( 

Mt. Marcy is the highest point in the New York, with an evaluation of 5,344 feet. It's a popular hiking trial in NY because of it's astonishing view from the top. Since it's so close to the place we do white water rafting, we decided spending one day on hiking at Mt. Marcy. The shortest route which people usually take from the heart lake ( Adirondack  Loj) is about 14 miles and the total evaluation is about  We planed finishing the ascent in one day and predicted taking 10 hrs to finish the whole journey. 

We left the B&B at 7am even before the breakfast is served T__T and headed to heart lake. It's about 20 minutes drive to Adirondack Loj. There is a sing in place at the trailhead~That makes me feel it's a really serious hike. Actually, according to the summit ranger, there are few people got lost each year in the Mt. Marcy. The beginning of the hike is pretty easy, the only thing bothering me is the trial is muddy because of the rain. I spent a lot energy on hoping up and down to avoid the water=.=. There is a lot of different kind of moss on the way. The last 1.2 miles from the top is intense, although it's not as hard as last time when we hiked at breakneck ridge. My stomach kept complaining all the way because i only had cracker for breakfast.( good breakfast before the hike is really important). Finally I made it. The 360 degree of view on the top is really stunning. I was so hungry at this point~I had best ever tuna sandwich at the top: )

The view from the top of Mt. Marcy

Since It's a little bit late (1pm)  when we climbed to the top, it may have thunder storm at late afternoon and we didn't have enough water, we decided not to keep hiking to the skylight and directly head back to heart lake. 

Hike Map

To celebrate we finishing the hike we went to Caffe Rustica. The restaurant is inside the plaza and we almost missed it. We got the last table so we didn't need to wait. The staff is attentive, the atmosphere is cozy. I order the special of the day which is bacon wrapped scollops with maple BBQ sauce. It's delicious. I forgot what will order but it's also taste good. The desert is Tiramisu~I was sad because they ran out of butterscotch creme brulee.  

July 23 Will's Bday

July 23 is William's birthday It's also the last twenty something birthday for Will and the first birthday we spending together<3. I tried my best to make it memorable. Will told me later that night that it's the best birthday ever lol.
I made a card~i haven't done any hand-made card for a while. I made it like to gingerbread man drinking coffee together since both of us are coffee-holic.

I left the job early that day in order to get the cake in whole food. The girl in the bakery section ask me if I want any thing written on the cake. I said "William". The girl wrote "William!" on it and asked if I am satisfied with the words on the top. Although I don't like the exclamation, I still said" oh it's nice..." When Will saw the cake, he's laughing and said it's just like the way when I said his name. I always so excited and happy=.=. I found out the other interesting thing that "William" can be reassemble to "i am Will" after cutting the cake : )

Then, I cooked the dinner lol it's peri-peri sauce chicken and avocado shrimp salad. Will is crazy about spicy food but I am not. So the good thing about peri peri sauce is you can adjust how spicy it is by putting different amount of pepper.

It's the gift time~and i think is the hardest part. Will is the kind of person need nothing. He has all thing he needs and even has a lot staffs which are unnecessary. Original, i want to give him the silkweight T-shirt from Patagonia. However, he ordered it before me. Then, I was thinking about GPS for car since he only has iphone as GPS. However, he still likes his iphone better. Whenever I asked what he want on his birthday, he always said" I only want you>///<. Finally, i found he may want a GPS for hiking. Bingo~he's really happy about it.

Happy birthday Will 

4th July, 2012

I got my housewarming gift from Will on July 4th~It's a charcoal grill which is really an occasion gift
According to Will it's a gift more for himself than for me since he is really crazy about BBQ.
However, if someone brings the equipment and cooks for you, it still a pretty good gift :)

So this year I, like most of my neighbors, celebrated independent day with BBQ lol
I haven't done BBQ for a really long while~almost forgot how hard to start fire
We soaked the news paper with oil, put it on the charcoal, and lighted the news paper.
However, the news paper usually finished burning before anything happened on the charcoal.
After the stack was burning, the other problem happened.
While burning, the charcoal was not only crackling, but coming with flying embers, and sparks
It's really like we bought a holiday edition charcoal( firework).
Will needed to use the cardboard to protect himself from the tiny pieces charcoal pop out.

Will is fighting with the charcoal 

Finally, we got our first food cooked~Although they doesn't even look edible:(

Anyway, after a little bit more waiting for the flame went down, we started BBQ
My favorite is the bacon asparagus roll and corn

Then will say we should go to the smith point~
We arrived there at almost 8 so we wait a little bit~since it stop charging the parking fee after 8pm
We only played a little bit on the beach before the sunset.
Will buried my leg into the sand so i just look like a dwarf

We sat in the car in the parking lot to see the firework on long island
The view is pretty good
Before, I was always saying I want to go to New Jersey on July 4th to see the firework on Manhattan.
Although for some reasons we didn't go, will still keep my words in his mind
Thanks for Will you are so sweet lol

Memorial weekend: camping at fire island

We went to fire  Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness for camping on memorial weekend. It's the first camp after we got our tent (REI quarter dome T2). Actually it became a really memorable one( not in a good way>"<)
We called the fire island wilderness visitor center before we came. They told us we can get the permit there. The permit is free and is first come first serve basis. They give limited amount of permit everyday. They don't recommend  us go on memorial weekend since a lot of people will be there. However we still took a chance and went there on Saturday morning at 10 am to see if we still can get in. Luckily we did~The ranger told us people usually went there on Friday during the long weekend. 

We started our hike at fire island wilderness visitor center which is next to the smith point beach. We need to walk down the beach about 3 miles before we can pick a place to camp. On the way we passed the clothing optional beach and piping plover nesting area. The scenery on the way is pretty. Dunes are covered by the green. Seagull and piping plover walk on the beach. We hiked to the place we can camp at 1 pm and it's till early so we decided to hike all the way to the other side of the wildness area, Watch hill visitor center( which is only accessible by boat or ferry)

My backpack looks huge on me:)

We started setting up the tent at 4 pm. We found a perfect spot between two big dunes, which block the wind. I was really impressed by how quick to set a tent (10 mins). The pole clips designed make the assembling really easy even for the beginner.
Chief Will started cooking the meal for us. The stove is beverage can stove made by Will. It is ultra light weight. It's made from aluminum can and burn the alcohol( we steal the methanol from the Lab :P). The dinner is instant noodle and dehydrated beef pasta which is super delicious. 

Chief Will is preparing the dinner

Next morning, we waked up at 5 am to see the sunrise. We didn't see anything since it's cloudy:( . When we went back to the tent, we saw a ticks on the mash outside our tent. It's a dog tick. We guess it got on our backpack yesterday when We tried to hike deeper into the interior of the wilderness around 5 mins. 
After the ticks, bad things keep happening. I started feeling dizzy and headache. I took one . I throw up after i took it. At that moment i still think it's only the serious headache like i had before.  Will asked me to take a nap inside the tent and hoped i can feel better. However, The headache became stronger. We started heading back at 10am. I just kept vomiting. At that moment, we found it may be heatstroke. I become waker and waker and Will carried all the staff we brought. i kept vomiting and the water went out become yellow. We hiked 5 miles back to the visitor center. The ranger said i should call them and they can give me a ride. I guessed i got the heatstroke since i stopped drinking water at 9 pm last night since i don't want to pee at night. 

Jun 02, 2012 Painting Day

After finding the house, the first thing we did for the house is painting our room. 

The philosophy students lived here three years before painted crazy color on the walls
One bedroom is dark brown with pink,  another is dark blue. 

The color of mine is light green on one wall and white on the other three,which is OK. 

However, since my housemates are painting their rooms, I just thought I should do the same. 

Painting sounds a lot of fun~Which is completely wrong~
Just think about how Tom Sawyer tricked his friends painting the fence for him.

William and I went to Lowe's to get all the painting staffs(rollers, brushes, primer, paint...)
Painting staff is more expensive than I expected~

We followed the standard procedures of painting:

wash and rinse->Tape the window & door frames-> paint primer->first coat-> second coat

After taping, I started saying"Oh~actually I think green is a great color, we should keep it"

I thought tape is the most skillful work for the whole processes. 

When we painted the primer, I was kinda excited and really enjoyed. 

Then after the first coat~I felt so tired and same as William

anyway when we finished it's already 12 am 

Thanks so much for William's help~
without him i would never insist so many details and paint my room so pretty<3