Chicken Teriyaki

Hubby and I love Chicken Teriyaki especially the ones from Sarku Japan. I have tried to recreate it previously and it turned out good, not great! It was a little too oily and dark.

This time, I was bought boneless and skinless chicken thighs and was careful with the amount of soy sauce I added. I thought the color were quite close this time. Flavors were good too. It helps that this time, the dish weren’t as oily as the last time I cooked Teriyaki Chicken.  Hubby thought it was good, but not quite similar to Sarku Japan’s Teriyaki Chicken. Maybe next time, I’ll buy me a portion of Sarku’s Teriyaki Chicken, bring it home and try to figure out how to get it exactly the same. That’s if I do not finish the chicken first! I wonder if it was because my teriyaki chicken had a bit more gravy?

Anyway, here’s my version of Chicken Teriyaki which I opted to have a little more gravy to drench my rice in. =) Just omit the water if you prefer a drier version .

CHICKEN TERIYAKI RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 Lb Boneless & Skinless Chicken Thighs
• 1 Tbsp + 2 Tsp Light Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 1/2 Tsp Sesame Oil
• Dash of White Pepper
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Corn Flour
• 1 Tsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Oil
• 1 Tbsp Garlic, Minced
• 1/4 Tsp Sesame Seeds (Optional)
• 1/4 Cup Water (Optional)

Method:

Cut chicken thighs into strips of about 2” x 3/4” and put them in a bowl. Add 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, dark soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, white pepper and corn flour to the chicken. Marinate chicken for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Heat oil in work over medium high heat. Add garlic and stir fry till garlic turns slightly brown. Add chicken and stir fry chicken for about 5-10 minutes. Add sugar, remaining soy sauce and continue cooking for about 5 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked and slightly charred. Add sesame seeds if desired.

At this point you could scoop it up and serve with some white rice. If you prefer your chicken to have a little more gravy, add water and let sauce thicken before transferring it onto a plate. Serve warm!

Deal from Panda Express

I don’t think there’s any Panda Express near me, but I used to frequent them when I live in Chicago! Stumbled upon a freebie deal (with purchase) from Panda Express. Go check them out and find the nearest location HERE. Coupon expires October 27, 2009

PS: I’m not affiliated with Panda Express. I’m just passing along/sharing a money saving deal whenever I see them! =)

Sightseeing Barcelona – Oct 4, 2009

We walked so much the previous day before, we did not set our alarms and thought the rising sun will wake us up from our sleep. WRONG!! SO WRONG!! Hubby and I woke up to a dark room to realize that it was not 7am, it was like 10 am plus! We quickly woke up the rest and got ready and started our day……..late! I forgot if we even had breakfast! From that morning onwards, we always set our alarm clocks the night before! =)

 

Since the husbands were nice to let the wives planned out the whole trip, we thought it would be nice for them to visit Camp Nou/Barcelona Football (Soccer) Club. The huge stadium is a little out of the way away from where most attractions are, but is reachable by Metra (Still in Zone 1) and a bit of walking. And since we started the day late, the guys were anxious that the place will close by the time we got there. The stadium closes early on Sundays.

Camp Nou (Top) is where football (soccer) matches are played and is home to the Barcelona team. Entrance fee to visit the stadium and museum is a hefty Euro 17 per person. Personally, if you’re not a huge football/soccer fan…… it’s not worth paying that much to see a soccer field. If you’re a fan of the sport like the husbands, that you’ll get giddy and excited! =) Camp Nou according to Wikiepedia is the largest stadium in Europe and the 11th largest in the world with a capacity of 98, 787.

The Champions League Trophy..I think (Top) was also on display. Hubby (and many other guys) got all excited….. I had no clue what the deal/excitement was. =P

We then took the Metra to Montjuic Mountain area in hopes that we’ll still be able to get into the Barcelona National Museum. We arrived in the Montjuic area to be greeted by two large pillars (Top Left) and many exhibit/convention halls. The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya Palau Nacional (Barcelona National Musuem) (Top Right) was so grand, so breathtaking, so unexpected. I did not expect the building to be that huge and that palace like! Entrance to the Museums are free on the first Sundays of each month (that’s why we chose to go there then) but it also closes early on Sundays! We missed that by a couple minutes! Boo!

  

Since the Barcelona National Museum is located on Monjuic Mountain, you therefore get a nice view of Barcelona (Top Left) from the entrance of the museum. We walked around the museum to appreciate its architecture (Top Right) and headed to the Olympic Village where the 1992 Olympic was held in Barcelona. No pictures of it as we got tired of walking towards the Olympic Village and decided to walk towards the Spanish Village which was on the other direction instead.

Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village) built in 1929 for the Barcelona International Exhibition in order to provide an insight into the wealth and diversity of Spanish cultures. This is an open-air museum of architecture, featuring replicas of 117 buildings, streets and squares from the Spanish territory. This village was supposed to be torn down, but due to the overwhelming response they got from tourist, they decided to keep it and it remained open till today.

Entrance fee is Euro 8.50 per person. And this was worth every penny. I have to admit I was at first skeptical of the place will offer after reading about it from Seyda’s notes. I was glad we decided to go in to the Village which was built to represent the different areas in Spain. There are restaurants, craft shops with life demos and museums in the village. You can see at first hand a variety of crafts workshops such as ceramics, sculpture, textiles, jewelry, painting, glassblowing, and performing arts workshops.

Happy Birthday, Father-In-Law!

Thank you for everything! Hope you have a wonderful celebration tonight!

Happy Birthday, to my special Father-in-law! XOXO

Sightseeing Barcelona – Oct 3, 2009

 

Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria (Top Left), large public market in Barcelona which is also one of city’s foremost landmark with an entrance from Las Ramblas. There were cured meat shops (Top Right), fruit stores, bakeries, pasta stores, seafood stores, poultry stores, meat stores, vegetable stores as well as a couple eateries in the market. It’s open 8am – 8.30pm everyday, Monday thru Saturday. I guess I got the wrong information as I thought it was open at 7am….that explains why the market was just opening at 7.15am.

 

 

Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família or more commonly called Sagrada Familia (Top) is a privately funded Roman-Catholic Church that has been under construction since 1882 and is expected only to be completed in 2026. This was another spectacular work by Antoni Gaudi (1852–1926). Entrance fee is Euro 11 to see the church up close. As impressive the structure is, I’m not sure if it was worth to pay to go in as there weren’t much to see in the inside. Many tour buses just stop on the outside and let the tourists take the pictures from the gates. We got the combo ticket (Euro 13, save Euro 3.50 if you get it separately) which gives us entrance to the church and Casa Museu Gaudi (Gaudi Musuem)in Park Guell. It wasn’t worth the savings (or in our case extra Euro 2) to go into the Gaudi Musuem.

Some random yet cool architecture/house? (Top Left) we saw on our walk up to Park Guell. Without a great map, we took the longer and more “zig zag” to the side entrance of the park…..Of course we only found out we went to the park thru the tough way after we saw a different bigger, grander entrance upon arrival! Park Guell (Free Entrance) is also designed by Antoni Gaudi. Yes, you’ll see his name is everywhere in Barcelona! The park is about 20-30 minutes from the nearest Metro stop.

Casa Museu Gaudi (Top Right) is where Gaudi once lived is now a museum with various theme rooms and furniture from obtained from the places Gaudi designed. Entrance to the museum is Euro 5.50 if you buy the ticket separately. If you buy it with the Sagrada Familia entrance pass, you save Euro 3.50. Nothing too interesting in this small museum. I would definitely advice not to pay to go in there. Save those Euros for some desserts/pastries later!

    

Park Guell (Top) is filled with whimsical interesting sculptures/architectures. All cleverly designed by Gaudi. Each part of the park is intriguing, each more than the previous. We probably spent at least an hour in the park discovering each different design.

Casa Mila or better known as La Pedrera (Top Left) is another building by Antoni Gaudi completed in 1912. Entrance is about Euro 10 to see the amzing designs in the apartment as well as the different odd structures on the roof top of Casa Mila. We had a little too much of Gaudi that morning, we decided to take a pass and just observe the building from the outside!

Assorted pastries (Top Right); these were some of the delicious pastries we saw in the many pastry shops. Who could resist these yummy treats? =)

La Seu (Barcelona Cathedral) (Top Left); before the church was built, there was a Roman temple then a mosque. Construction of the church began in 1298 and completed in 1448. The site where I researched this attraction said that entrance was free. When we got there, a fee of Euro 5 was imposed to enter the cathedral. We decided yet again to skip! Yes, we were cheap frugal!

Palau de la Música Catalana (Top Center) is a concert hall designed in the Catalan modernista style. We stumbled upon this building during our walks around Barcelona.

Random fountains (Top Right) are easily found around Barcelona. Some of these fountains have unique elaborate designs, some just plain. We stumbled upon this drinking fountain which during our walks around Barcelona. I forgot if this drinking fountain was working or not…. we stumbled a few non-working ones.

Arc de Triomf (Top Left) was built for the 1888 Universal Exposition/Exhibition which took place at the Parc de la Ciutadella. It served as the exhibition’s entrance.

View of the Arc from Parc de la Ciutadella (Top Right). This park is Barcelona’s most central park with a zoo, lake, musuems and water fountains in the park.