Recreating my favorite Crispy Beef recipe from the Pearl Restaurant in New York City

After discovering this dish in New York I knew I had to at least attempt it on my own. But I have to say I was very nervous, I had never attempted such a dish before and it seemed like it would be a hard one to duplicate. But after enough convincing both from myself as well as my husband, who was determined to have me try to make this, I took the plunge.  The key with crispy shredded beef is making sure that you have all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go before hand.  This is a very quick cooking dish so having the ingredients ready is a must. It is fun to be able to create dishes like the ones you have in restaurants, especially when it is from a restaurant that you can't go to very often.

General Tso Chicken better then you can get at restaurants

After a very disappointing experience at a Chinese restaurant last week I decided that it was time to go back to what I do best and make some at home.  For me Asian cuisine is my culinary staple, it is how I really came into my own as a cook.  I always enjoyed cooking meals but I never realized how good of a cook I could be until I decided to get more into my Chinese food.  It too all started from a bad Chinese food experience at a restaurant.  Sadly because I grew up in Hong Kong I am a bit of a snob when it comes to Chinese food and at the time I was living in East Texas and no matter where I tried the food was way below par.  So I began experimenting, seeing if I could do better and thankfully I discovered that it came quite easily to me.  Sometimes I stick to very authentic dishes, but I do also like to try and cook up some of the Americanized Chinese dishes. This time I decided to try my hand at a very American dish that normally in restaurants I avoid, General Tso Chicken. What I discovered about this dish is that not only is it an easy dish to prepare but it is so much better prepared at home then in restaurants.  This dish turned from being something my husband would never eat to a dish that he will now request.