Boil carrots first

Add broccoli to the water.

Cook shrimp next

Cook mushroom and add butter and flour

Mix the white sauce well

Add shrimp and veggie back to the pan.

White Sauce Seafood (with Rice)

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Shrimp, 1 pound (cleaned and shelled. Or you can use a pound of mixed shrimp and other seafood).
• Mushroom, 1 pack (pre-cut)
• Broccoli crown, 1 (about the size of a hand)
• Carrots, 3
• Garlic, 2 cloves
• Butter, 2 tablespoon
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp
• Cornstarch, 1 tsp
• All purpose flour, 1.5 Tbsp
• Milk, about 1-2 cups
• Chicken powder, 1 tsp

Steps:

1. Cut broccoli into bite size. Cut carrots into bite size. Boil some hot water in a pot. Use high heat.  Put carrots in the pot and let it cook for 5 mins or so.  Add Broccoli to the pot and let it cook with the carrots for another 4 or 5 mins.  Turn off the heat. Drain off the water.  Put it aside.
2. Finely chopped the garlic. Put it aside.
3. Mix cornstarch with the shrimp.  In a large pan, spray non-stick oil on it.  Use high heat. Put shrimp in the pan.  Let it cook for one side for a minute or so.  Flip it over to cook the other side for a minute or two. Turn off the heat. Put the shrimp in a plate and put it aside. It’s ok that the shrimp is not fully cooked yet because you will put it back in the sauce to cook more later.
4. Spray a little bit more oil to the pan. Put mushrooms, garlic and Chinese cooking wine onto the pan.  Stir fry the mushroom until it is cooked.
5. Add butter and all purpose flour to the mushroom in the pan.  Turn down the heat to the lowest.  Mix the flour to the butter.  Add a little bit of milk at a time, and mix it well until it turns into a sauce.  You can adjust the amount of milk according to the thickness of the sauce you prefer.  Add chicken power, a pinch of salt and pepper, mix it well.  Taste it.
6. Add broccoli, carrots and the shrimp back to the pan. Mix everything well with the sauce.  Let it cook for 2 minutes or so until the sauce is well mixed and the shrimp is fully cooked.  Turn off the heat. Serve hot.  Serve it with rice.

Get fresh large scallops

Scallops and Snow Peas - Yummy

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Large fresh scallops, 1 pound
• Snow peas, ½ pound
• Carrot stick, 1
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Soy sauce, 1 tsp
• Salt, a dash
• Pepper, a dash
• Corn starch, 1 tsp
• Water, 3 Tbsp

Steps:

1. Peel and cut carrot into small strips.  Put it aside.
2. Chop garlic finely. Put it aside.
3. In a small bowl, add corn starch and water, mix it well. Put it aside.
4. Pat dry scallops with paper towel.
5. In a large pan, spray non-stick cooking oil.  Use medium high heat, cook scallops on one side for a 3-4 mins untouched.  Flip the scallops over and cook the other for a few minutes untouched.  Remove the scallops from the pan, put them aside.
6. Spray a little more oil to the pan.  Add garlic, snow peas, and carrots.  Stir fry it for a couple of minutes.  Add soy sauce and stir fry for another minute.  
7. Add scallops back to the pan.  Add the corn starch and water mixture.  Add a dash of pepper.  Mix everything well.  Let it cook for a minute or so, or until the sauce thickens.  Taste it.  Add a pinch of salt if needed.  Serve hot.

Use really large shrimp

Peel and clean shrimp first

Poach shrimp for 2 mins

Put shrimp in a bowl of ice water

Shrimp Cocktail

Ingredients:

• Large shrimp, 1 pound
• Water, 4 cups
• Ice cubes, plenty

Steps:

1. Shell and devein the shrimp first.
2. Prepare a large mixing bowl with ice cubes and cold water.
3. In a large pot or pan.  Add 4 cups of water in it.  Use medium high heat. Boil the water first.
4. When the water is almost boiling, add shrimp to it.  Stir/flap the shrimp a few times so that it cooks evenly.  Cook it for 2 mins or until it turns solid in color (not translucent).  
5. Use a drainer or a ladle with holes, put shrimp in the large mixing bowl with ice cubes.  This will stop the cooking right away.  Let the shrimp soak in the water for a few minutes or until it is cold enough.  BTW, the water in the pot has a lot of flavor, you can save that for making soup. Just make sure you heat up the water until it boils before you put it away in the refrigerator for later use.
6. Discard the ice water and ice cubes.  Serve the shrimp with cocktail sauce.  You can chill the shrimp a bit more in the refrigerator if needed before serving.

All ingredients: Shrimp, asparagus, mushrooms

Cook shrimp first with garlic

Add mushrom and asparagus

Add sauce, then add shrimp back to the pan

Stir fried Shrimp and Asparagus, yum!

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Big shrimp, 1 pound (if you get the peeled and cleaned ones, that would save you more time)
• Mushrooms, 1 package (I got a pack that was already pre-sliced)
• Asparagus, a big bunch
• Garlic, 1 or 2 cloves
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp
• Fish sauce, 1 tsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 tsp
• White pepper, a dash
• Corn starch, 1.5 Tbsp
• Water, 5 Tbsp

Steps:

1. Peel and clean shrimp.  Pat dry with a paper towel. Put it in a bowl.  Add a teaspoon of cornstarch and a dash of white pepper to the shrimp.  Mix it well. Put it aside.
2. Slice mushrooms. Put it aside.
3. Rinse asparagus. You may want to get rid of the rough part.  Just gently hold the asparagus towards the bottom end, then break it. Wherever it breaks, the bottom part is the tough part that is not so edible, discard that.  Cut asparagus into halves (about 3 or 4 inches long).  Put it aside.
4. Finely chop 1 or 2 cloves of garlic. Put it aside.
5. Prepare for the sauce: add Chinese cooking wine, fish sauce, oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp of cornstarch, 5 Tbsp of water in a bowl. Mix it well, put it aside.
6. Use a big frying pan. Spray non-stick cooking oil.  Use high heat. Add garlic and shrimp to the pan.  Lay the shrimp flat in one layer.  Let it cook for a minute or so.  Flip it over to the over side, it cook for 1 to 2 minutes.  Remove the shrimp from pan.  Note you don’t need to fully cook the shrimp because we will add it back to the pan later.  So don’t worry about it.
7. Add mushrooms and asparagus to the pan.  Note you don’t need to clean the pan after cooking the shrimp, that’s the beauty of it.  Stir fry the asparagus and mushroom for 2 to 3 minutes or until it get softens.
8. Add sauce to the pan.  Mix it well with the mushroom and asparagus.  Cook it for a minute or so.  Add shrimp to the pan.  Mix everything well. Cook it for another minute or until the sauce thickens.  Taste it. Add a dash of salt if needed.  Add a little bit of water if the sauce gets too thick. Adjust according.  Serve hot.

Fully cooked unagi in a bag

Unagi dinner, served with rice and pickled vegetable

Ingredients (serves 1 or 2 depending on how big a piece of fish you prefer):

• Eel, 1 pack
• Ready-cooked rice, 1 pack (you can get it from any grocery store.  It just need to be heated up in a microwave)
• Optional: some pickled vegetable (it is usually served with some yellow pickled Japanese radish.  I didn’t have that at home, I served it with some Chinese pickled vegetable instead)
• Optional: some vegetable (I stir fried some chinese broccoli, you can use regular broccoli or whatever you prefer)

Steps:

1. Put the ready-made rice in the microwave.  Follow the cooking instruction of the ready-made rice.  Different brand has different instructions.  When the rice is done, put it on a serving plate or some fancy bowl.
2. Cut off a small corner of the bag of the unagi so that it can vent out steams when heated.  Put it in the microwave and heat it up (with the bag on) on high temperature for 1 minute.  Then check if it is warm enough or not.  Repeat for 30 seconds if needed.  Remove fish from the bag.  Cut it into halves.  Place fish on the rice.  
3. Optionally, add pickle vegetable on the side. 
4. Optionally, you can serve it with some stir-fried vegetable like I did. That probably takes 5 mins to cook it.

Add carrot, onion, soy beans first

Add shrimp

Add rice

Add an egg in the middle, fold the rice in. Mix it well

Easy shrimp fried rice

Ingredients (serves 1 hungry portion or 2 side dishes portions)

• Cooked brown rice, 2 cups
• Uncooked shrimp, ½ pound, peeled
• Carrots, 1
• Onion, 1 small, chopped
• Soy bean, 1/2 to 1 cup (I used 1 cup)
• Egg, 1
• Scallion, 2 stalk
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp
• White pepper, a dash

Steps:

1. Preheat leftover cooked brown rice in the microwave oven for a minute or until it is warm enough.  Put it aside
2. Chop scallion into dices.  Put it aside.
3. Cut carrots into cubes.  Put it aside.
4. Cut onion into dices.   Put it aside.
5. Finely chop garlic.  Put it aside.
6. In a large non stick frying pan, spray a little bit of cooking oil to cover the pan.  Use high heat.  Add garlic, onion, carrots and frozen soy beans to the pot.  Stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add Chinese cooking wine.  Let it cook for another minute.
7. Add shrimp to the pot. Stir well. Let it cook for couple of minutes until it is cooked.
8. Add rice.  Mix it well with all the ingredients.
9. Add an egg in the middle.  Fold the rice from the side into the egg.  Mix it well eventually.  Let it cooked for a minute.
10. Add oyster sauce and a dash of white pepper, mix it well.  Taste it. Add a dash of salt if needed.  Turn off the heat.  Add chopped scallion.  Mix it well.  Serve hot.

Don't buy mussels in a box!!! It wasn't good

Cook onion and garlic first

Add wine and water

Mussels in White Wine Sauce

Ingredients:

• Mussels, 2 pounds
• Onion, 1 small, chopped
• Garlic, 2 cloves, chopped
• Chicken powder, 1 tsp
• Parsley, 2 stalks
• White wine, 1 cup
• Water, 1 cup
• Butter, 2 Tbsp
• Lemon Juice, a few drops (Optional.  I probably use 1 tsp)

Steps:

1. Let mussels soak in water for couple of hours for clearning.
2. Finely cut onion into tiny pieces, put it aside.
3. Finely chop garlic. Put it aside.
4. In a large pan, add butter to the pan. Use medium heat.  Add onion and garlic to the pan.  Let it cook for a minute or two.
5. Add water, white wine, chicken powder and parsley to the pan.
6. Add cleaned mussels to the pan.  Let it cook for about 8 mins.  Make sure all the shells are open.  Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice to the pan.    Serve hot.

Oysters sold in a glass jar

Clean oysters a few times

Add flour, parsley, scallion, fish sauce and pepper

Lay oysters flat on the pan

My Oyster Cake

Mom's oyster cakes

Ingredients (serves 2):

• Oyster, 1 pound (prefer small oysters for this.  Big oysters are ok, you have cut them into pieces after you cleaned them)
• Scallion, 2 stalks
• Parsley, a small bunch
• Potato starch, 2 – 3 Tbsp
• Fish sauce, 1 tsp
• White pepper, a dash
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 tsp

 Steps:

1. MUST CLEAN oysters first.  This is important.  Put the oysters in a large container.  Fill it with water to cover the oysters.  Add a pinch of salt.  Rub the oysters gently.  The water would look cloudy. Discard the water.  Rinse the oyster for 5 or 6 times until the slimy stuff is gone.  Put the oyster in a colander, and let it drain.  There may be some moisture in the oysters, that’s ok. It does not need to be completely dry.  Put oyster in a mixing bowl.  If you are using big oysters like me, cut the oysters into smaller pieces.  I cut each oyster into 3 or 4 pieces.   
2. Cut scallion into dices, add it to the oysters.
3. Cut parsley into small pieces, add it to the oysters.
4. Add two tablespoon of flour first and see if it covers the oysters.  Gradually add a little bit more flour if needed.
5. Add fish sauce, scallion, parsley, Chinese cooking wine, a dash of pepper to the mixture. Mix it well.
6. Use a non-stick frying pan.  Spray oil.  Use high heat.  Add oyster mixture to the pan.  Make it flat like a thin layer.  Let it cook untouched for 5 minutes or so.
7. Spray some oil on the top side of the oyster cake before flipping it over.  Cook the other side for another 5 mins or so.  Serve hot.  Taste it. If you need it more salty, drizzle a few drops of fish sauce on top.

Add black bean sauce mixture

Add scallion after the fish is cooked

Steamed Salmon with Black Bean Sauce

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Salmon, about 1 pound
• Black bean sauce, 1 tsp
• Oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp
• Soy Sauce, 1 tsp
• Water, 1 tsp
• Black pepper, a dash
• Cornstarch, 1 tsp
• Scallion, 2 stalks

Steps:

1. Prepare the sauce first.  Finely chop the garlic. Put it on a bowl.  Add black bean sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, black pepper, water and cornstarch to the bowl.  Mix them well.
2. Prepare a steamer:  Add enough water to a pot.  Bring it to a boil.
3. If the fish filet is very thick (say an inch thick) like the one I got, you can use a knife to cut a few slit on the fish so that it will get cooked faster.  Put salmon on a plate that will fit into the steamer/pot.  I just fold a piece of aluminum foil as a container.  It works too.
4. Pour the sauce onto the fish.
5. When the water boils in the steamer, put the fish in the steamer and let it steam with a lid on for 9 mins.
6. While the fish is steaming, cut the scallion into thin strips or dices.  Put it aside.
7. After 9 minutes, add scallion to the fish.  Put the lid back on.  Count 30 seconds. Turn off the heat immediately and serve.