• Fun Projects,  Recipes from Monkeys' Kitchen

    Impress Your Guests with This Yummy Braised Oxtail & Mashed Potatoes Recipe

    Over the past few years, Braised Oxtail has been featured more frequently in our San Francisco Bay Area restaurants, gastropubs, and on TV cooking shows. So, of course our curiosity got the best of us, and we had to see what all the fuss was about! This recipe is perfect for any home chef looking to impress their guests with a succulent and flavorful dish. Oxtail isn’t anything new to the culinary scene — there are many Oxtail dishes, with variations originating from all over the globe. But what is it? Well, just as the name implies, it’s the tail of an Ox, though now it primarily comes from beef…

  • A bowl of yummy homemade crab bisque
    Fun Projects,  Recipes from Monkeys' Kitchen

    Best Ever Crab Bisque Recipe

    Sometimes we get spoiled with the abundance of fish and seafood in California. And there is nothing better than to cook a catch of the day, like Crab, fresh off the boat! Crab Bisque, anyone? Thanks to our neighbor, who enjoys taking fishing trips in the Monterey Bay, just under an hour away from the San Francisco Bay Area, we got two beautiful Dungeness Crabs after his recent expedition. These were especially fun to prepare since we had never cooked Crabs at home. Fun Facts In California, Dungeness Crab season runs from November through early June (although the official commercial fishing periods vary from year to year due to whales…

  • Barnyard chicken cutlets with baby bok choy dish
    Fun Projects,  Recipes from Monkeys' Kitchen

    Barnyard Cutlets

    A few years ago, we traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the City history, culture, and of course, the food scene! One of the dishes we tried there was called курячі котлети (or kuryachi kotlety). When translated, it means ‘chicken cutlets’ — tender, juicy, flavor-packed mini meatloaves! But for now, let’s just call them cutlets. In the San Francisco Bay Area, California, there are a few stores that carry ingredients and food (including home-made) from Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union Republics, including Ukrainian and Russian. One of the stores we frequent offers borscht, caviar, and these round chicken cutlets, just like the ones we had in Ukraine.…