Thursday, June 18, 2009

All Aboard The Orient Express + Recipe

I've been really in and out of blogger lately. I am, however, constantly looking for hotel deals, train ticket, train schedules, entrance times and fees etc. My flight is booked! I'm not going to Seoul anymore and replacing it with Taipei. I'm leaving next Sunday, June 28 and returning August 5th. And if all goes right and I don't go bankrupt, Europe is in the horizon for the fall season.

**The Itinerary**

June 29 - July 2: Tokyo
Jul 3y - July 7: Kyoto/Osaka/possibly Hiroshima and then back to Tokyo
July 8 - July 15: Shanghai
July 16 - July 19: Hong Kong
July 20 - July 23: Taipei
July 24 - July 30: Bangkok / Siem Reap
July 31 - August 3: Phuket and back to Bangkok
August 4: Tokyo
August 5: Home sweet home

I'm hoping to see some of you ladies along the way! My passport is ready, visa is done, I'm boarding the orient express. Just have to settle on hotels. Oh and my ray-bans arrived...


Now that I'm home I've been trying to eat healthy and cook a little more :) My cooking blog is set to invite only since I never update it and there isn't much to see. I'll share a pork & chinese celery dumpling/potsticker recipe...



Ingredients
- 1/4 lb ground pork
- 1 dozen medium sized tiger shrimps, devined & minced
- 1 bunch of chinese celery, finely chopped
- 1-2 stalks of scallion
- 1-2 slices of ginger, minced
- dumpling wrapper
- some soy sauce, salt, white pepper, chinese cooking wine

*Chop the celery first then lay it flat and sprinkle salt all over and let it sit for 5-10 mins. Drain the water out and mix with the rest.

Put everything in a bowl and mix in 1 egg white (this will make it stick together)

This mixture will have enough to make about 2 dozen dumplings.

Frying potstickers: I use a cast iron skillet, layer the bottom with a thin coat of oil (DO NOT used olive oil, its not meant for high heat). Once the oil is heated place in the dumplings and let it fry for about 2 minutes. Pour in water that goes up to about a little less than midway the dumplings, put lid over pan and set the heat to medium/high. Let it cook till the water dries out.



the bottom of your dumplings should look this the pictures above when done. enjoy with dipping sauce :)

I make a few different types of fillings, I'll share a different one next time

A big thank you to the ladies that gave me the adorable blog award! Its so overdue on my end!

50 comments:

  1. Great dumplings. Look really tasty.
    Good job :)

    XXX
    Julia

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  2. yummy yummy yummy! My dad always makes this too. Actually, he is a profesional Chinese cook, haha... he learnt the profession since he was 16 in Taiwan. ;)

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  3. YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM! I love dumplings! Thanks for the recipe!

    You MUST come to Europe in the fall! Old Cow and I will kill you if you don't!!

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  4. Those dumplings look SoOoOo tasty!!

    Regarding cooking with olive oil- the regular virgin and extra virgin olive oil should def' not be used for cooking, but there's a 'Extra Light' version of OO that is suitable for frying/roasting, so you can check it out.

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  5. woww that sounds like a hell of a trip. your memory card better get full waaay more than just once or twice xD hehehe. hope you don't haul TOO much.. lots of places to haul at O__O;

    YUMMM food!!! oh my goodness.

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  6. SWEET! Have fun and take lots of pictures for us! :D :D :D

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  7. Now that's an itinerary! Wow! Have fun, be safe, and shop! LOL! Oh and EAT!!

    Ray Ban aviators!! Sweet!!


    MMMMM... gyoza! Great recipe! Thanks for sharing M!

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  8. omg lucky lucky! i'm sure you'll enjoy HK and yes bangkok! go visit bangkok's pratunam area, platinum mall and chatuchak. enjoy!!!

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  9. sounds great. LOL you sound like one of my friends omg almost everyday she's looking at flights to LA, Vegas, London, Boston etc.

    have a safe trip!!! yummy food

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  10. that's a big ass trip! but no korea? *sniff* I think out of all places, korea would be the cheapest for lunasol and maquillage because of the exchange rate...but i'm sure you'll have more fun shopping for cosmetics in taipei!

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  11. I love potstickers!! They look sooo good!!!

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  12. Yay you posted the whole schedule! Ugh I made a mistake on my comment on the side there. I'm leaving to Japan on July 6th (isn't it already the 7th in Japan by then?) and so I should arrive in Japan on the 7th?? Not sure about that. Then the next day, the 8th is when you're leaving! I'm not going to be able to meet T_T. Anyhow other than that I hope you have a nice trip!! And your gyoza/dumpling recipe looks so delicious~ Hope you're looking forward to eating Asian food everyday hehe

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  13. mona, u are so good in cooking!!!
    oh, i wish u did come to M'sia,haha xD
    just wanna see you!! <3 <3

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  14. Have fun in Asia dear Mona!!!

    Yummm... your dumplings look super yummy!

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  15. Hi! I follow your blog for some months and I like it a lot! I love your sunglasses and I would like to know where you boght them... thank u so much! kisses from spain!

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  16. oh wow..i love the sunglasses and I love the dumplings!!! yummy!

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  17. The dumplings look yummy!
    Have a fun and safe trip!
    Are you getting the japan rail pass?
    I found it really saved money when taking the shinkansen and local trains.

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  18. Suuuuper exciting!! I hope you have a great vacation!! Take lots and lots of pics and meet up with everyone! =)

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  19. Over a month in Asia?!! Lucky girl! Are you traveling with anyone?? Thanks for the potsticker recipe :)

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  20. Your schedule looks so fun. I'm so envious! And those dumplings are making me hungry!

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  21. w00t! Have a fun trip babes! Bring me back some bb cream, and enjoy the stinky tofu in taiwan! LOL!

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  22. OMG! u are so lucky to spend over a month in asia!!!

    and POTSTICKERS!!! yummm.. i love potstickers!

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  23. Sounds like fun traveling! Hopefully we'll see some updates :D At my work, we steam them first and then just fry them at the very end :)

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  24. look at those dumplings! so delicious!!!

    and i'm so jealous of your fantastic trip! it would be my dream to take time off to just travel all over!

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  25. oooh hopefully ill catch a few times in Tokyo then :D

    the dumpling looks yummy! the bf makes the bet dumplings for me haha

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  26. mmmmm that looks right right now
    && sakljdfaklsjda wish i could be traveling with you! lucky ducky!

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  27. just love your posts..i will have to toss my frozen potstickers and give the recipe a try!

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  28. ur dumplings look awesome!! makes me hungry now!

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  29. have a wonderful trip!! and dumplings are yummy!

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  30. mmm those dumplings look delish! I love dumplings and SO JEALOUS that you're going to all those fantastic asiany places! I miss Taipei soo much... Have fun, do lots of shopping and take lots of pics!

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  31. those look yumm!

    hope you find cheap tickets

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  32. yum yum i want some potstickers!
    whoa a month in Asia!!! have funnnn :)

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  33. the dumplings look delicious! I love potsticks toos >]



    I'm going to be Taipei during that time too. Maybe if you have time we can meet up. Your trip sounds like its going to be so fun!

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  34. Oh i will see you around the end of july then!! what do you have in mind for bangkok??they have this weekend market at jatujak market that sells wonderful and unique items. if you are for those kind of stuff then we can go there together! but no air con lolz -_-" do you know where are u gonna stay in bkk?

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  35. Yummy party!!! YAAAY! this looks totally delicious!!!

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  36. yay! now i finaly can make these! i also order these! thanks for sharing!

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  37. YUM! My bf loves dumplings! Maybe I'll try making these for the weekends.

    w0w M! You're going on a vacay for so long..hope you dont 4get to blog while youre on trip.Ü

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  38. thanks for the dumpling recipe and details on how to fry them.
    also your travel itinerary looks very exciting. did you book it with help from a travel agent? or did you do a multi stop ticket? individual tickets? would love it if you could comment about trip planning on your next post.. :)

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  39. hi Mona, you're so damn lucky to be able to travel for that long! i'm gonna be in asia only for 2 weeks in september. thats nothing compared to your long term vacay!! anyways, i've nominated you for "Butterfly Award"! woohoo here's the URL
    http://misssqueenie.blogspot.com/2009/06/award-skin-secret-revealed.html

    have a nice day

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  40. that's one heck of a travel itinerary! hope you have lots of fun meeting up with blogger gals and take lots of pics of your adventures! you're leaving in less than a week =T

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  41. your raybans look almost as hot as those delicious dumplings!

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  42. I'm so jealous you get to go to all these places! i just recently came back from China and Japan but I only went to Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Kyoto and Tokyo

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  43. I'm so jealous you get to go to all these places! i just recently came back from China and Japan but I only went to Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Kyoto and Tokyo

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  44. that's one heck of a travel itinerary! hope you have lots of fun meeting up with blogger gals and take lots of pics of your adventures! you're leaving in less than a week =T

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  45. thanks for the dumpling recipe and details on how to fry them.
    also your travel itinerary looks very exciting. did you book it with help from a travel agent? or did you do a multi stop ticket? individual tickets? would love it if you could comment about trip planning on your next post.. :)

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  46. yum yum i want some potstickers!
    whoa a month in Asia!!! have funnnn :)

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  47. those look yumm!

    hope you find cheap tickets

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  48. mmmmm that looks right right now
    && sakljdfaklsjda wish i could be traveling with you! lucky ducky!

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  49. Hi! I follow your blog for some months and I like it a lot! I love your sunglasses and I would like to know where you boght them... thank u so much! kisses from spain!

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