Peanut Butter with Cinnamon Pancakes!

It is close to the end of the month again, and today I was craving something sweet for a late breakfast that would also be filling at the same time. I was already on my computer browsing around Pinterest where I saw many awesome recipes for variations of pancakes! A few that caught my attention were the pancake recipes with chocolate chips mixed in and the ones that required only banana, egg, and cinnamon. I decided I wanted to make a stack of pancakes that had peanut butter and some kind of seasoning mixed in since I did not have chocolate chips or bananas. I have always liked grounded cinnamon whether in warm drinks, or when making desserts such as apple pie and other kinds of baked fruit crumbles.

The semi-made up recipe for the pancakes is:

2 cups all purpose baking mix,

1 egg

Grounded Cinnamon up to taste

Vegetable Oil

2 heaping tablespoons warmed creamy or chunky peanut butter

1 and a half cup milk

Pancake syrup (any kind)

Have a pan with some oil preheated to medium high temperature. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix with a spoon until thickened but not of a too watery consistency. When pan with oil is heated enough, take one scoopful of the pancake mixture and place into the pan. After 2-3 minutes flip pancake with spatula to cook on other side for another 2-3 minutes. Plate, add pancake syrup and enjoy!

Mixing all of the ingredients

Using a ladle to pour some of the mixture into pan

Finished pancake without syrup

Shabuway and Genki’s Crepes in SF!

Wandering around while I was browsing on Yelp for a new restaurant/eatery to write about was where I found Shabuway, located in the Richmond district of San Francisco. I had been wanting to try this place for months but never got around to because of my busy schedule. Last month me and a friend met for lunch there, and it was a great experience. It was around noon when I made the commute to SF on an empty stomach. When I arrived at Shabuway I noticed how it was already mostly filled except for a table near their back area. As I was warmly greeted by one of the waiters sat down to wait for my friend she brought me a menu and ice water. I really wanted to get their all you can eat lunch option for over $30 something a person, but I was on a strict budget. So instead I opted for the shabu combination of two meats, sliced lamb, and prime beef for a little over $21. My friend had the same, we shared a pot of two different broths. I chose ginger chicken broth to cook the meat and vegetables in whereas my friend had spicy miso for hers. I was very hungry so I decided to put both things into the boiling and perfectly seasoned hot broth. I enjoyed eating the lamb and beef with the side dishes of the dipping sauces (ponzu and sesame).

 All in all, I had a fun time catching up with my friend there in their warm relaxing yet lively atmosphere. After leaving Shabuway me and my friend were feeling satisfied, not overly stuffed and walked over to a nearby pet shop to look at their cat and dog toys. I was craving something sweet from Clement Street and thought of going to Genki’s Crepes, a Japanese togo crepery with assorted food, drink, candies, and other things that I had not been to in years. I decided on one of my favorite dessert crepes from them, the chocolate ice cream with cheesecake crepe! The portion of it was well worth the price of around $7 to 8 dollars, the thickly sliced cheesecake around the good sized portion of chocolate ice cream was just so decadent and the crepe itself was on point as usual, not soggy at all, but more of a crisped texture.

Having tried a few other shabu places in San Francisco such as Mum’s House of Shabu, Shabusen, and Shabu Club Shabuway surpassed my expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised that after many years Genki’s Crepes still makes awesomely great tasting savory and dessert crepes. If I am ever nearby the Inner Richmond district again both of these outstanding places are on my list to revisit.

Late Night Eats at Daimo in Richmond!

Where I am located in the east bay area there are not many options for delivery besides pizza after midnight hours. Daimo is one of the few restaurants that stays open until 3 AM, and has a variety of Hong Kong Chinese food plus dim sum! I found out about this place last year when I was searching through Google for a new Chinese restaurant to try out. My roommate really wanted ha gow (steamed shrimp filled dumplings) so we took bus and BART, walked a few blocks to get to the Pacific East Mall nearby El Cerrito Plaza. This was our third time having dinner there, and my first writing about a review about it.

For this time we were really hungry after trying to win money from playing slots at the San Pablo Casino and breaking even. Upon arriving we were warmly greeted and picked a big table close to the window. It was close to 1AM and there were not many people. I remembered wanting to try their spicy eggplant with seafood clay pot, but as I went through the menu I found their assorted seafood/meat with mushroom and tofu clay pot more interesting to try. Another entrée that interested me was their roasted pork belly with tofu and vegetables. My roommate ordered a curry chicken starter and yeung chow fried rice that had cha siu roasted pork, egg, and shrimp. I was also in need of something to drink so I first asked for a milk tea with coffee mixed in for a pick me up.

I was amazed not how fast the food was prepared and brought over to us, but at how great it was tastewise and very massive in portion. We could only finish at most half of each item. I really wish I lived somewhat closer to this area of the east bay and this outstanding restaurant since they are open at late hours, the service in my experience has always been friendly, and for what you would pay (around $10 to $14 for each main entrée) the very good quality and massive portions are well worth it, whether for dining in or for a late night dim sum fix. I honestly don’t know why I have not wrote about Daimo until now, but I can’t wait for whenever I have spare funds again to try more of their dim sum and other items from their extensive menu the next time I visit!

Curry Chicken!

Roasted pork with tofu and veggies over steamed rice

Assorted meat and seafood claypot, so yummy!

Yeung chow fried rice

Baking Strawberry and Cream Cheese Cookies!

On Pinterest I was browsing around and looking for cookie recipes to add to my collection and chose to make Strawberry and Cream Cheese Cookies for its ease of finding the recipe’s ingredients and because I liked the combination of fruit baked with a cream cheese based cookie dough. I wanted to try making a dessert from scratch instead of from my usual store bought premade baking mix as something new. The next day I found all of the required ingredients at the local grocery store and tried making these delicious cookies later on during the same day. Something I messed up on while putting together the cookie dough was adding 1 tablespoon of baking powder to the mixture instead of 1 teaspoon (it gave an extra poufyness and almost cakelike texture to the cookies). Another thing is that I would not add as much lemon juice as specified in the recipe or to not add any lemon juice to the strawberries for less tartness. Trying this recipe made 12 cookies, my roommates ate all of them the same night and they actually liked how the cookies were more tart than sugary. I had a lot of fun baking these cookies and I would definitely try this recipe again!

Fresh strawberries chopped into small segments

Mixed cream cheese and sugar

Adding in flour to the mixture

Strawberries precoated with flour then folded in with spatula

prebaking

After baking!

Cookie with sanded sugar

All credits for recipe goes to Vera’s Kitchen Corner

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter-softened

4 oz cream cheese-softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped fresh strawberries

2 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)

1-2 tablespoon flour

5 oz white chocolate-chopped (optional)

sanding sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Pour fresh lemon juice over chopped strawberries, drain them after a few minutes.
3. Whisk together 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
4. Beat butter with sugar and cream cheese until it is light and fluffy.
5. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
6. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until it’s well combined.
7. Sprinkle strawberries with 1-2 tablespoon flour, toss them until all strawberries are coated with thin layer of flour and then stir them really gently in the batter.
8. Drop heaping tablespoon of batter onto pan leaving an inch space between.
9. Set the cookies in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes before baking.
10. Sprinkle the cookies with sanding sugar if you want, but do not overdo it because they are sweet enough.
11. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the edges become golden brown.
12. Let cookies cool for a few minutes in the pan then transfer to a plate.