I had planned to make a salad with the leftover crab meat from our fondue meal but the weather called for a warmer meal. Since Mike was home (snow day), it was his turn to make dinner. He used Rachel Ray’s Fettucine Alfredo recipe and substituted the proscuitto with the crab meat. Instead of fettucine, I opted for penne (When Mike cooks pasta for me, my job is to pick the shape/form).

Penne Alfredo with crabmeat/Penne Alla Polpa Di Granchio
1/2 pound penne
2/3 pound crab meat (we used Alaskan king crab legs)
2 tablespoons butter
1 to 1 1/4 cups half-and-half
1 cup (3 healthy handfuls) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 pinches ground nutmeg or about 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Coarse ground black pepper
A pinch coarse salt

Bring salted water to a rolling boil for the pasta and cook to package directions for al dente pasta.
Sort through crabmeat and chop roughly. Set aside.

Preheat a large skillet over moderate heat. Drain the pasta. Add the butter to the pan and melt. Add half-and-half to the melted butter. Stirring constantly, add cheese and cook sauce 1 minute. Toss crabmeat in to warm through. Season with nutmeg, pepper, and a pinch of salt. Turn off heat under sauce and add pasta to the skillet. Toss pasta until sauce coats the noodles evenly.

—
Since this is the season for crabs, I’m looking forward to preparing more crab dishes.

Last night, the snow and hail really came down here in Seattle. I felt thankful to be in a car on my way home, even though traffic was slow. Mike had to run an errand so we went to Costco. The flakes came down even harder as we made our way home.

While at the store, we decided to make some fondue (AB’s recipe) for dinner since I had been having a cheese craving lately. Some gouda, gruy�re and King crab legs later, we had a simmering pot of cheesy goodness. I was too hungry to take a picture but just imagine “gooey cheesy”. I loved the touch of curry powder flavor that AB adds to this recipe.

Fondue is a scrummy and easy dish for a cold evening, albeit a bit 1970s
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We are not putting up our Christmas tree this year. In less than 2 weeks, we head home to the tropics so we won’t have enough time to enjoy it. I am, however, determined to bring some Christmas scents into our home.

First stop, candles.

A regular favorite: Yankee Jar Candles. My picks for the season: Mistletoe, Cranberry Mint, Balsam & Cedar and Holiday Sage.

I haven’t sampled Jonathan Adler’s candles but the combination of scents sound great for the holidays, especially Big Sur.

Another good candle option for the holidays is this Capri Blue candle (pictured above) from Anthropologie. I love how the scent actually stays strong even after burning for a while. My picks: Volcano and Rain.

What are your favorite candles and scents this holiday?

We didn’t take pictures during our little Thanksgiving dinner but I would like to share what we did. We walked out in the cold night, across the street to Hapa Izakaya. An izakaya is a Japanese-style restaurant that serves food and great drinks (namely sake).

I had heard good things about it from a friend and since it was a stone’s throw from our hotel, it was the perfect spot to try.

We loved it.

We enjoyed marinated saba (mackerel) grilled at our table, whipped kobacha (pumpkin salad), salmon/scallop gratin and octopus croquette, as well as Mike’s favorite – gindara (grilled black cod).

I was very tempted to have the Hello Kitty cocktail but decided on the ume martini. The atmosphere was lively and from where we sat at the counter, we could tune in to the rowdy cooks or eavesdrop on conversations around us.

What I love about small plates is that they usually leave room for dessert. We had green tea ice cream and this amazing almond scented tofu – annin tofu (see Arthur’s pic from the link below). The tofu was silky and creamy all at the same time. I was in heaven.

Mike and I toasted to utter gratitude that this was a dinner we didn’t have to cook or clean up after.

{Someone else was smart enough to take pictures. Thanks, Arthur! }

We had a fabulous little getaway in Vancouver. We ate at places that lived up to the good recommendations we received and we’re home now.

Pictured here are Mike’s sushi combination platter and my spicy tuna combination from Maguro. We stopped there at lunch and my spicy tuna combo consisted of an ebi salad, miso soup, and the platter you see here. The fish was so fresh (like but-tah!) and the portions were generous. We were stuffed and didn’t eat till much later.

Ladner is near the B.C. ferries and Maguro is located in a strip mall. Still, it isn’t hard to find. Definitely worth a stop before you head into Vancouver.

Maguro Sushi
5241 Ladner Trunk
Ladner, Canada
(604) 940-2267

I looked back on my past Thanksgiving posts and I am happy to say that I am still thankful for all those things, if not more.

For health, happiness, loving family and friends – that’s my wish for you!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and may you have something to be thankful for every single day of your life.

I got my latest issue of ReadyMade and found a really good water saving tip in it. I thought I might share it with you.

You know how you turn on the water in the shower in the morning (or whenever you do take a shower) and wait for the temperature to get warmer before you step in? Instead of letting the initial run of cold water to run off into the drain, save it in a bucket that you can use to water your houseplants or to mop hardwood floors.

I love NPR and one of my favorite things to listen to on NPR is StoryCorps. It hits close to home because I have a story-telling dad. He has the greatest stories and even though mum sometimes gets tired of listening to them (36 years of marriage, can’t blame her!), I never do. In fact, thanks to my inquisitive hubby, I’ve been privy to stories that were new to me.

I sometimes feel desperate to remember it all because I hope to retell it some day.

Maybe one day I’ll interview my folks and ask them to tell their favorite story. Maybe the one where my dad valiantly re-crosses a busy street to pick up a floral pin that fell off mum’s shoe.

Eyes barely opened, I shampoo and rinse my hair. Then I bend down to reach for my glycerin soap bar and inhale the lovely spicy mango scent. I pry open my eyes and wonder what it would be like to find the perfect shower rack.

Someone was obviously thinking along those same lines because I checked my email and found this cool new shower rack from simplehuman. I love their innovative, well-designed products. From the dishrack to step cans to papertowel dispenser.

I like the rubber grip, the pivoting suction cup and how you can store your bottles upside down.

The company has not paid me to write about it. I just thought it was a most curious coincidence that my thoughts strayed to a shower rack this morning (I’ve never wanted one before).

Since we will be going away for Thanksgiving, I wanted to cook a nice Singapore dinner to share with my brother, sis and kids. Nothing says Singapore more than a homemade Peranakan meal.

I spent days trying to decide on the menu but eventually settled on this:

Bakwan Kepiting (Meatball ball soup)
Sayur Lodeh (Vegetable Coconut dish)
Opor Ayam (Fragrant Coconut Chicken)
Sambal Belacan (spicy sauce pictured)

All served with steamed white rice.

Dessert was Sago Pudding with gula melaka (palm sugar) and coconut.

I think this will hold me until I return home, for some more good eats.