今天本来约了和朋友出去逛街，不过，天气不好，计划取消。我决定闷在家里鼓捣吃的。
材料：
意面，鸡汤，肉丸，虾仁，蒜苗，意面酱，黄油。
做法：
1、蒜苗切碎。
2、把意面按说明煮熟，沥干水分，和一点黄油拌匀。
3、煮意面的同时，另用一个煮锅，倒入一点鸡汤，然后倒入意面酱，中火烧开，倒入肉丸，再次烧开。
4、把虾仁倒进锅，煮至虾仁变色，然后倒入蒜苗搅匀。
5、意面装盘即可开吃。
我决定多花点时间在我的院子里，所以我建了一个小小的菜园。现在天冷，没什么好种的，只有一点小葱和蒜苗。往年我都是在屋里用水中蒜苗，今年种在了外面的菜园里，长的很是粗壮，只是长得比较慢。种了一个多月了，还没有长的特别高。
雨后的清晨，一切都看着很清新，充满生机，新的一年，新的开始。
I was never a spaghetti person, until back a while ago, I have some spaghetti at a friend’s place. He cooked the spaghetti so good, I fell in love with it. I know my spaghetti tastes nowhere close to his cooking, but I’ll keep trying.
Ingredients:
spaghetti, pasta sauce, meatball, shrimp, garlic leaves, butter, chicken broth.
Methods:
1. Chop garlic leaves into small pieces.
2. Cook spaghetti by instructions, drain well, then mix with a little bit butter, set aside.
3. Meantime, pour some chicken broth and pasta sauce into sauce pan, bring to boil on medium heat, add meatball, bring to boil again, then add shrimp, keep cooking until shrimp change color.
4. Sprinkle garlic leaves, mix well.
5. Transfer to plate, serve when hot.
I decided to start a vegetable garden. After some work, now it’s almost set up and I planted some garlic about 2 month ago. It’s my first time planting garlic in soil, I noticed that the garlic is growing slow because of the temperature, but it looks much stronger, and looks very healthy. After a rainy morning, everything looks fresh and green.
2015 快乐！我觉得 2015 应该是一个开心快乐的年，所以我放了这个玛芬上来。
香蕉玛芬本身其实没什么特别，不过，上面的糖粒很不错，给玛芬添了不少彩。
材料：
玛芬：1.5 杯面粉，1 小勺小苏打，1 小勺泡打粉（baking powder），半小勺盐，3 根熟香蕉，3/4 杯糖，1 个鸡蛋，1/3 杯黄油。
顶部撒料：2 大勺黄油，4大勺面粉，4 大勺红糖，1 小勺玉桂粉（ground cinnamon）。
做法：
1、香蕉剥皮，然后压碎。
2、黄油融化之后和鸡蛋、白糖混匀。
3、面粉和小苏打、泡打粉和盐一起拌匀，然后和黄油鸡蛋糊一起拌匀。
4、玛芬盘里面放上纸杯，然后把面糊舀进烤盘。
5、烤箱预热 375 华氏度。
6、把撒料的材料混合拌匀，撒在玛芬上面。
要用冷黄油，不要用室温的黄油。
7、放入烤箱烤 18-20 分钟即可。
Happy New Year, everybody! I decided to start 2015 with something sweet. Wish everybody a sweet and successful new year.
I like this recipe. The muffin itself is nothing special, but the topping makes it perfect.
Ingredients:
Muffin: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 ripe bananas, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1/3 cup butter.
Topping: 2 tbsp butter, 4 tbsp flour, 4 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
Methods:
1. Peel and mash bananas.
2. Melt butter.
3. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Mix melted butter, mashed banana, egg and sugar, then mix with flour mixture.
5. Line muffin pan with muffin cup, then scoop muffin batter into muffin pan.
6. Preheat over to 375ºF.
7. Mix topping ingredients with a fork, then sprinkle on top of muffins.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick come out clean.
When I cook napa, I normally separate napa leaves and the white since they require different cooking time.
Napa leaves are easy to chop, most of the time, I don’t chop, I just tear them into pieces with fingers.
To chop the white part, I normally lean the knife with an angle to chop, this way, when you chop it, it can thin the white part at same time.
When cooking, always cook the white part first, then cook the leaves, so they can be done at same time.
I love napa cabbage, much better than regular cabbage.
It’s cabbage, but doesn’t taste like cabbage, and it doesn’t smell like cabbage.
For more info., please check with wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napa_cabbage
When I chop napa, I normally separate the leaf and the white part, since the white part is tougher and takes longer to cook.
The leaf can be torn into pieces by hand after you separate it from the white part. White part can be cut at an angle so the pieces won’t be too thick.
For dishes using napa cabbage, please check the following links:
When you plant garlic, you get garlic leaves.
Garlic leaves can be used as herb in cooking. They bring some of the garlic taste, but a lot weaker compare to garlic.
Garlic can be planted in soil or water. It grows better and stronger when planted in soil. I normally plant them in winter, in water when planted inside, in soil outside.
To use garlic leaves, just cut them for any length you need, and they will keep growing. Normally you can cut at least twice. Of course, once you start cutting leaves out of the garlic plants, you won’t be able to harvest garlic later.
Below are garlic leaves from my vegetable garden after raining:
这次的丝瓜我后院种的，因为天开始冷了，所以没时间长大了。
材料：
丝瓜，蒜，调味料。
做法：
1、蒜拍扁，然后剁碎待用。
2、丝瓜削皮，然后切块。
3、炒锅倒油烧热，倒入蒜末炒香，然后倒入丝瓜块炒软。
4、加入调味料炒匀即可出锅。
如果不喜欢丝瓜出水，可以加一点水淀粉勾芡。
Luffa is one of my favorite kind vegetable. It’s easy and quick to cook it.
Ingredients:
luffa, garlic, seasoning to taste
Method:
1. Peel and chop luffa into chunk shape.
2. Mince garlic.
If you don’t want to mince garlic, you can mash it first then chop it really fine.
3. Heat up skillet, add cooking oil, add garlic into skillet, cook on medium heat until you can smell cooked garlic.
4. Add luffa into skillet, cook until luffa get tender, add seasoning, stir and mix well.
5. Serve when hot.
这种西式的烤茄子比我想象的好吃。
材料：
1 磅茄子，半杯培根碎，半个大洋葱切丁，半杯面包渣，2 个鸡蛋，调味料适量。
做法：
1、茄子切块，倒入烧开的盐水中小火煮软，捞出来挤干水分，待用。
2、炒锅倒油烧热，放入洋葱丁炒软，然后放入培根碎一起煸炒几分钟，放凉待用。
3、烤箱预热 400 华氏度。
4、把茄子和洋葱、培根碎一起拌匀，然后加入鸡蛋，在加调味料和面包渣一起拌匀。
5、把拌好的混合物倒入烤盘，烤至表面金黄（大概 30 分钟左右）。
我用的小烤盘，烤了 25 分钟。
