Bacon Tofu

I am constantly looking for new recipes to try. I read many food blogs and sometimes I lose track of where I saw a certain recipe if I don't save it in my favorites. I came across an interesting recipe; Bacon wrapped tofu. The balance of a healthy food and major junk food. I won't lie, i love the crispy and salty taste of bacon. I also love the smell of bacon in the morning. When we visit Kev's parents and they make bacon in the morning while everybody is still sleeping...I wake up and go Mmmm...however, I have never bought a pack of bacon and cooked it at home. I could never bring myself to do it until I saw this recipe and it was too interesting to pass up. I think it's safe to say that this will not appear in our meal rotation.


I almost wanted to gag when I opened the package of bacon and had to touch the slimy, oily strips...I even cut off some of the fat. I felt oddly complex about doing that because bacon is essentially just fat and that's what I paid for. And here I am, cutting away perhaps half of what I bought. Cooking it wasn't a lovely ride either...the amount of oil that comes out of it is really nasty. I had to drain my frying pan between each batch...

1 package of bacon, each strip cut in half

1 package of semi-firm tofu cut long and thin

1. Drain the tofu. Unwrap and cut into bite sized pieces that are about the width of your bacon.
2. Wrap each piece in bacon, going around at least once so the ends overlap. I cut my bacon strips in half.
3. Heat up a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Put the bacon wrapped tofu pieces with the overlapping edges side down. Cook until crisp, then turn. Keep cooking and turning until done on all sides.

I served this with white rice and boiled vegetables. This dish was an interesting combination, but it's pretty good. But because of ick issues with cooking bacon, i'd probably not make this again.

Strawberry Jam Crumble Cupcake

I have now spent enough money to call baking a hobby. The amount of money I spend on butter, sugar, and flour is costing me. But I love it. I love being able to share my treats with people and it makes me even more happy when Kevin tells me it's good. Recently, a few colleagues and I have decided to form a little baking group. Once a month, we'll pick a day where we all bake something and bring it into work to share with each other. I looked only for different recipes and had ideas. I originally wanted to make French Macarons, but they were so complicated. So I decided to forget about. I finally committed to a recipe I found on Epicurious. The original recipe is for a cake, but I wanted it to be bite size...an idea I got from Ice Cream Before Dinner.

For cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted (about 6 tbs)
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam or preserves

For crumb topping
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted (about 6 tbs)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1. Make cake:Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Whisk together butter, milk, and egg in a large bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.
4. Pour batter into muffin or cupcake pan (with muffin or cupcake paper lining cups) to about 1/2 full. Dollop jam all over surface, then swirl into batter with spoon.
5. Make crumb topping:Whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated. Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of cupcakes.
6. Bake cake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides begin to pull away from pan, about 15-20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes.

These were a hit with my co-workers. The crumb topping is awesome and sweet enough, while the cake part is moist, fluffy, and not too sweet. It was a great balance. My only problem was that I filled my cups too much and when it baked, the crumble part started falling off. I'm planning on making this again for my mom's birthday.

Mac & Cheese with Italian Sausage

So the stupid groundhogs announced that we won't be having an early spring. What a downer! This calls for some comfort food. When I used to live with Rachelle and we were both lazy and just not willing to learn to cook proper meals (I mean really...sometimes i'd eat a big bowl of cereal for dinner), we would make pasta with tons of vegetables (frozen, couldn't be bothered with fresh ones) and of course a lot of cheese. I'm really glad i'm only semi-lactose intolerant. Cheese has never had an effect on me...besides bliss. When Rachelle made Macaroni and Cheese, it gave me a big craving for it. I made mine with some leftover sausage we had in the freezer, which Kevin didn't like because they were "crazy" flavors.



2 cups macaroni pasta or fusili or any other pasta, cooked
cheddar cheese
1 cup of milk
2 italian sausages, casing removed
1 small onion
garlic
1 tbsp all purpose flour
salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 300. Cook pasta until al dente, drain and put aside
2. On a skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic.
3. Add milk and flour. Boil until thick
4. Add half of cheese. Mix in pasta. Add salt and pepper, if needed.
5. Put in an oven safe casserol dish. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
6. Bake 20-30 min, until cheese is crispy and/or browned.

As you can see from my picture, I couldn't get the darned cheese to brown. I even switched my oven to broil. This is good, but I think I miss the medley of vegetables...This is an extremely easy recipe...you can't get it wrong. You can pretty much add anything you want. Rachelle liked to add a can of tuna or salmon in the mix. You can all any spices you want and many different kinds of cheeses. It's foolproof. Enjoy!

Ma Po Tofu

I think the very first time I had Ma Po Tofu was at my aunts. Back then, I absolutely loved eating anything spicy. I've probably had Ma Po Tofu about a handful of times, but have never made it. I don't recall my mom ever making this dish either.

A few weeks ago, Rachelle and I were in Chinatown. I hardly ever go there, so when I do, I sually make a trip to the oriental market and buy a few things. I was walking through the aisle with the pre-packaged sauces...sort of like Hamburger helper, but Asian. I picked up a little packet of Ma Po Tofu sauce and all I had to add was ground pork and tofu. The sauce I used was from Lee Kum Kee, a well known brand in Asian products.

Kev was curious about this. He said he had never heard of this dish before. White I boiled my tofu, I added some minced garlic when I cooked the pork. Then I added some chopped green onions, and the sauce. The sauce was rather bland and not spicy. I attempted to make it better by adding soy sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, salt, and pepper...It wasn't great, but edible. Perhaps next time I will make my own Ma Po Tofu from scratch. In the meantime, if you're looking for a Ma Po Tofu recipe, my friend Judyfoodie made her own a few months ago.

Sai Mai Lo

My favorite dessert when we eat in a Chinese restaurant is Sai Mai Lo. But most of the time they serve oranges or fruits or some other kind of soup dessert, like the red bean one. Yuck. I've never made Sai Mai Lo before. I looked up several recipes online...Most of them use the same ingredients, but with different measurements. Here's my version:

1 cup Sagou, tapioca pearls

3/4 cup Evaporated Milk

2/3 sugar

1 can of Coconut Milk

3/4 Water

1. Boil the Sagou in water until transparent. Rinse and drain.


2. Boil all other ingredients, add the sagou. Done.

This was quite easy to make, but the water used to boil the sagou turns into a nasty slimey glue consistency, which makes draining it much harder. Other than that, I didn't have any problems. I kept leftovers in the fridge and the next day I had it, it wasn't liquid anymore. It had a pudding texture. You can eat it like that, but I like mine thin, so just mix in some milk or water and heat it up in the microwave.

Cream of Mushroom Pork Chops with Stuffing

To me, pork chops are one the hardest things to make. They always end up tough and chewy. I just don't know how to make it. I don't know if it's the cut i'm getting that is low quality, or my preparation, or that Kevin likes to cut off all the fat before cooking it. So I decided to try simmering it in some kind of liquid. I served it over rice and made instant stuffing, that Kev and I are so fond of. This is one of those super easy meals.

1 cup of vegetable broth

1 can cream of mushroom

4 pork chops

salt & pepper

garlic

thyme

Olive oil

1. Season pork chops with salt & pepper. Add olive oil on a skillet o high heat. Brown chops in skillet.
2. In a bowl, mix vegetable broth and cream of mushroom. add mixture to pork chop and simmer.
3. Season with sauce wit garlic and thyme. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, until chops are cooked through.

The chops ended being okay. Still on the dry and tough side, but better than any pork chops I have ever made. Perhaps if I had marinated it overnight or tenderized it with baking soda (which Kev hates). Kev really liked the mushroom sauce and he's not a saucy kind of guy. I originally wanted to use some white wine in it, but I forgot.

Mackerel with Sweet Soy

I've been learning to cook and bake a lot more things in the last couple of months. I'm still a beginner cook and I still panick a bit when i'm trying something new. During this time, Kevin is also learning to take risks and be my guinea pig. I'm sure my friends now know that I like to cook, because I received 2 dictionnary-sized cookbooks for X'mas/birthday. I've already mentioned the one I received from Rachelle for X'mas. The second one I received was from Anh Thu for my Birthday; How to cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I usually like my cookbooks with food porn, but after studying the book a little, this is a pretty impressive cookbook. One fo the things I like is how they give you a recipe and then follow it with variations of the same recipe. This mackerel recipe is an Asian twist to a basic grilled mackerel in the book.


4 Mackerel Fillet or any fish Fillet
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1/4 soy sauce
1 tbs minced garlic
1/4 scallion, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbs white wine or water
1 tbs honey or sugar

1. Mix all ingrdients, except fish. Marinate the fish for 5 minutes or more.
2. Cook in a skillet for 5-10 minutes on medium-high heat or until fish is cooked. The sauce will reduce and caramelize.
3. Serve with white rice.
   

I think the brand of soy sauce i have is way too salty for the measurements given in this recipe. My mackerel dish ended up being too salty, but I could really see the potential of the recipe if only I had tasted my sauce before reducing it to a glaze, which probably enhanced the saltiness. Next time i'll cut the soy sauce in half and dilute with water and/or add more sugar/honey. I love mackerel, so i'd definitely try this recipe again. This took no time to cook. When I was done with the fish, my rice cooker was still working hard at cooking our rice.

Beef Quesadilla

When it comes to cooking dinner, it's hard not to fall into a rut. You find a recipe you like and you make it over and over again, until you're so sick of it. I always try to have something new and if we like it, i put in the "vault". Kev's not much of an experimental eater, but he's been better. He now doesn't care what I make, as long as it's edible and not too weird. We usually do groceries during the weekend and we try to buy all the stuff we need for the entire week. So we have to decide what we want to eat over the week so we don't do 10 runs to the grocery store. Last week, Kev came up with the idea of making quesadilla. The only Mexican food we've ever made ourselves was fajitas, and I was getting so sick of the fajita seasoning mix you put in the meat. Sometimes, it give sme bad heartburn, so i wanted to stay away from it.



Most quesadilla recipes were for cheese quesadilla, but we wanted ground beef in it.





Tortilla
Ground beef
1 green pepper
salsa
Cheddar cheese
sour cream/ cream cheese
salt & pepper to taste

1. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper or foil (shiny side down). Preheat oven to 350F.


2. In a skillet, cook the ground beef and green peppers, drain. Add salt & pepper. Mix in Salsa.


3. Place one tortilla on the baking sheet, spread sour cream/cream cheese. Add a bit of cheese, then the beef mixture, and some more cheese. Drizzle water on a second tortilla and place second tortilla on top to make a tortilla "sandwich". Repeat with other tortillas.


4. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes. Let it cool for 5 min. Cut into 4 pieces and serve with guacomole.
   

We ran into several problems. We used foil on our baking sheets, but Kevin didn't know that the shiny side fo the foil should go down. So we had trouble removing the quesadilla. The tortillas were really stuck on the foil...the tortilla would break and the filling would spill out. We also did not let the quesadilla cool before tryign to remove them from the baking sheets. So the tortilla was probably too hot and soft to be moved. Our first quesadilla was a bit of a mess. But after it cooled, they were easy to handle and I was able to put them in our lunch boxes without making a mess. I'd make this again...and no heartburn.

Tom Kha Talay

I had about a cup of coconut milk in my fridge and I didn't know what to do with it. I thought about making coconut rice to serve with pork chops, or maybe make Sai Mai Lo ( a Chinese coconut tapioca dessert)...while browsing food blogs, i fell upon Noob Cook's Tom Yum Seafood recipe. I remembered I had Tom Yum Paste in the fridge as well and some frozen shrimp. All I needed was French green beans and some kind of white fish. I finally decided on mackerel. I love mackerel. During my search online, i found that the recipe with coconut milk, lemon grass, and seafood is not Tom Yum, but Tom Kha Talay. Tom Yum is usually a clear broth with no coconut milk.


2Tbs Tom Yum Paste (or more if needed)
2 cups + 1/4 cup (575ml) Vegetable broth
1 cup coconut milk
12-14 large shrimps/prawns
2 Mackerel fillets
Approx 15 green beans, ends trimmed, cut to about 2" lengths
1/3 hot chili pepper (green and very spicy)
1/2 Onion, chopped

1. Boil Vegetable broth and Tom Yum Paste.
2. Add mackerel, beans, hot chili pepper, and onions. Simmer 5 minutes.
3. Add shrimps. When boiling, add coconut milk. Remove from stove when it starts boiling again.

Unless you like your Tom Yum soup to be spicy, i think i'd omit the chili pepper. The soup tasted just right when I had just made it, but I guess overnight, it got really spicy. Not so spicy that you won't feel your tongue or anything crazy like that, but enough to make your nose runny. I also think I want to put some bamboo shoots and basil leaf in it next time. The shrimps were a little overcooked and chewy. I have to find out how restaurants always have their shrimp so good in the soup. hey probably only add the shrimp right before serving. I'd make this soup again with those changes. It was really tasty and a great winter soup. Not a soup for sissies.

Cilantro Carrot Soup

One of my new found favorite soups is Carrot Coriander. I discovered it when I bought one of those box soups by Knorr. They were on sale at Loblaws for $1.99. One box of soup is 2 portions, but if I don't have enough leftovers to bring as lunch, then I just grab a soup and some crackers. It's cheaper and healthier than buying my lunch at the food court.


For x'mas, Rachelle got me a gift card to Indigo bookstore. I've been wanting to buy a cookbook, but never knew which one to buy...there are just so many. So when I went to buy one, Rachelle pointed out a couple of them to me. The one that I finally decided on was "Just 5 Things: Gourmet Cooking with Just a Handful of Ingredients" by Rachel Lane. The cookbook has beautiful pictures, which I love. I consider the book to have great base recipes that I could modify to my liking. I spend days flipping through the cookbook and fell upon a coriander carrot soup recipe that uses only 5 ingredients. I went online and looked for several carrot soup recipes. I finally modified it like this:





6 large carrots, peeled and sliced
4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup chopped onions
2 cups 2% milk or cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 pinch cayenne
1 Tbs cilantro (coriander)
1 potato, cubed
1 garlic bulb, minced

1. Boil the carrots and potato in the water until tender. Drain and puree in a food processor.


2. In a large pot, cook the onion and garlic in a ladle-full of broth, until tender and translucent. Add the vegetable broth, milk and carrot/potato puree. Simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in the seasonings (salt, pepper, cayenne, and cilantro). Simmer for 5 minutes longer.

The soup was yummy, but I was a little heavy with the cayenne pepper. I also used an extra teaspoon of cilantro. I bought those frozen cilantro cubes at the store. They are quite good and it's more convenient. I also didn't want to use my blender to puree the potato and carrots, because I was too lazy to wash it. I mashed the veggies with my masher, but the soup ended up being too chunky. So I used a mesh spoon to fish out as much veggie as i could and pureed most of it. Much better. Next time, i'll puree it as instructed in step 1.

Part IV: Chocolate Souffle with Gooey Center

To end my birthday Indian feast, I decided to try a recipe from the beautiful cookbook Rachelle had gotten me for Christmas; "Just 5 Things: Gourmet Cooking with Just a Handful of Ingredients" by Rachel Lane. I've been wanting to try my hand at making chocolate souffle ever since I had some at my friend Wynnie's hourse warming.




1/2 cup butter, cut up
1/2 cup sugar
4 ounces of semisweet or dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp all-purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven 400 degrees


2. Grease four small ramekins with 1 tbs of butter and sprinkle with sugar, shaking out the excess


3. Melt chocolate with remaining 7 tbs of butter, set aside


4. beat eggs and egg yolks with electric mixer at high speed until pale and thick


5. Use rubber spatula to fold the chocolate mixture and flour into the beate eggs


6. Pour mixture evenly into prepared ramekins


7. Bake for about 10 minutes or until set.

The result was a decadent chocolatey desert. Rachelle almost melted into a puddle. My complaint is that it is difficult to see if the entire thing has set. How am I supposed to know that the middle had not set? So we had something between a chocolate souffle and a molten cake. Kevin thought it was too sweet and rich, but he's not a dessert kind of guy. You really need be to a chocolate lover to eat this. It was simply delicious.

Part III: Rainbow Trout with Coconut Curry Beurre Blanc

The star of our Indian-inspired dinner was the main course. With Rachelle as my guest, I couldn't cook meat, she's a vegetarian who eats fish. So I searched for an Indian-inspired fish recipe. I have been in love with cooked salmon/fish ever since I had the fish dish my friends served at their New Year's Eve dinner party in 2007. They served Maple-Green-Curry Salmon. So I knew curry would taste yum on fish.



3/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
kosher salt to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil
8 (6 ounce) fillets Alaskan king salmon (we used Rainbow trout)
2 tablespoons garam masala
kosher salt to taste

1. Pour white wine, cream, and coconut milk into a saucepan; season with curry powder. Bring to a light boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the liquid has reduced to 1/2 cup, about 10-20 minutes.
2. When the liquid has reduced, turn heat to low, and whisk in the butter, a few cubes at a time, until all of the butter has incorporated. Do not allow the mixture to boil or else it will separate. When the butter has incorporated, season to taste with salt and set aside to keep warm.
3. Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke. While the oil is heating, lightly season both sides of the salmon with garam masala and salt.
4. Sear the salmon in the hot oil for 3 to 4 minutes on one side, then turn over, and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes until done. Briefly drain on paper towels to absorb excess oil, then serve immediately with the curry butter sauce.
   

I actually forgot to season my fish before cooking. We also skipped searing the fish with oil...I always prefer baking my fish...less oily. Once baked, I poured some of the sauce on top of the fish. I also did not have unsalted butter. I had semi-salted. I had to add some sugar in the sauce to balance the taste. The sauce took a long time to prepare, but it was absolutely sinful, and worth the prep time.

Rachelle tip: The leftover sauce seperates. When heated, discard the oily film on top and you're left with yummy thick sauce that you can have on fish, meat, vegetables, or with bread.

Part II: Vegetable Masala

Of course, we needed a vegetable dish for our Indian Feast. Since the main dish had a sauce and so did the Paneer, I wanted the vegetable dish to be "dry", but still spiced. So i found a recipe for Vegetable Masala.



2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 carrot, chopped
10 green beans, chopped
1 quart cold water
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes - blanched, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 sprig cilantro leaves, for garnish

1. Boil potatoes, carrots and green beans until tender.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook mustard seeds and cumin; when seeds start to sputter and pop, add the onion and saute until transparent.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, garam masala, ginger, garlic and chili powder; saute 3 minutes. Add the cooked vegetables to the tomato mixture and saute 1 minute. Garnish with cilantro leaves.
   

I followed the recipe pretty well, except i omitted the frozen green peas. I just do not care for green peas. The original recipe didn't ask to boil the vegetables, it asked to neat them up in the MICROWAVE!!! I looked at the recipe and thought...don't insult me! The result of the dish was okay. I thought it needed more flavor...maybe more salty or a bit of sugar to enhance some kind of taste...something was just missing. Rachelle liked it. I guess it was alright because we wanted the trout to be center stage...more on that later.

Part I: Sweet Potato Samosa

For our Indian feast, I looked online for some fusion indian food...during my search on naan bread, i found a recipe for Sweet Potato Samosa...it's absolutely not authentic, but it sounded interesting. So I printed it out.

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon dry onion soup mix
ground cumin to taste
curry powder to taste
20 wonton wrappers
sesame oil for brushing

1. Simmer sweet potatoes with a little water until very soft. Drain, and mash with butter, milk, onion soup mix, cumin, and curry powder.


2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).


3. Place about 3/4 of a teaspoon of the sweet potato mixture into the center of each wonton wrapper. Brush the edges with sesame oil, fold into a triangle, and press the edges to seal. Place the samosas on a baking sheet.


4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then turn over, and bake for 5 minutes more.
   

At the grocery store, it just so happened that they ran out of wonton wrappers...so we ended up buying egg roll wrappers, which are thicker and bigger. We doubled the filling recipe and it smelled so yum. We pop it in the oven for the time indicated on the recipe...and they came out sort of baked, but they still had the powder film on top...we tried one and...yep, they're not done. The wrappers were chewy and tasted like dough. We finally decided that since we were frying papadums, we'd just fry the samosas. They fried up nicely, but probably tripled the fat intake. Despite the oiliness, even though we placed them on paper towels, they were pretty good. Even Kev liked them. I'd make this again when I find wonton wrappers and try the baked kind.

Indian Feast: Introduction

For my 28th birthday weekend, Rachelle came over to my place and we had an indian inspired feast. We were in the kitchen for two and half hours just chopping, boiling, stirring, frying...It was exhausting, but the experience was memorable. We ran into a few speed bumps and resulted in a detour or two. Some things we cooked from scratch, some not so much...Here is a little photo collage of the food we did not make from scratch.

From top left (clockwise): Naan bread, Green peas and Paneer, Saffron Yellow rice, Papadums

We originally wanted to make home-made Naan bread, but decided it took too long since we had to let the yeast grow. So, we cheated and bought President's Choice Naan bread. Of course, we could have went to an indian restauarnt and get take-out Naan, but we were on foot.

The Green Peas and Paneer and the Saffron yellow rice are from Rachelle. She bought them on a recent trip to Ottawa. Both are pre-packaged. The GP & Paneer were microwaved...and tasted...like pre-packaged stuff. It wasn't aweful, but not good. The Paneer was mushy and tasteless, the peas were...well...I hate peas. I guess if you were incredibly desperate for some Paneer, these would be alright. The Saffron rice was a tad salty and even too mushy. Rachelle had followed the cooking directions on the bag. They were also not terrible, but not great either.

The papadums I bought pre-packaged. I had bought them when Kev and I were having butter chicken for dinner one night and I thought I could just tear the package open and eat the papadums. I should have read the instructions and realized that they were not ready-to-eat, I had to fry them in oil. It's important to mention that I have never, never, NEVER fried anything in my life. I hate the smell of oil in the house. Even when a recipes asks me to pan-fry, i almost always bake it instead. So to have the papadums, I gave in and decided to heat up a pot of oil. Rachelle and I were very afraid of getting burned. The papadums took no time to fry and they were yummy...despite the oiliness.

Things we made from scratch (posts coming soon)

• Sweet Potato Samosa
• Vegetable Masala
• Rainbow trout with Coconut-Curry Beurre Blanc
• Desert: Chocolate Soufflé with Gooey Center
• (Rachelle made Baked apple, which she will blog)
  

Chinese Oyster Stir-Fry and Black bean Oysters

I was looking in the freezer and found a bag of frozen large oysters I had bought a few months ago. I had completely forgotten about it. Hoping that the oysters weren't freezer burned, I cooked them. I remember having a conversation with my mom about how to cook them. My mom usually serves them battered and they are oh-so-good. But I really despise the smell of oil in the house when you fry stuff. So instead, I decided to do a simple stir-fry and another with a garlic black bean sauce.

1 cup raw Oysters

1/4 cup Flour

2 Tbsp Peanut, Vegetable, or Corn Oil

1 piece fresh Ginger Root, (2-inch) peeled and cut into fine shreds

5 Scallions, trimmed and cut in 2-inch lengths

1 tsp light Soy Sauce

1 tsp Sesame Oil

Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste

1 1/2 Tbsp Cornstarch

1 1/2 Tbsp cold Water

1. Place oysters in mixing bowl; add flour and enough water to cover. Stir oysters in the liquid. Drain well, run under several changes of cold water and drain well again. (Flour will cleanse and plump oysters).
2. Drop oysters into barely simmering water. Turn off heat. Let stand 1 minute and drain. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in wok or skillet over high heat. Add ginger and scallions. Cook while stirring for 5 seconds. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper to taste, stirring constantly.
4. Blend cornstarch into cold water; stir into the wok or skillet. Cook 10 seconds. Serve at once.

For the Black Bean Oysters, I just added Lee Kum Kee Black Bean Garlic sauce and a bit of white sugar to dial down the saltiness.

Shrimp Scampi

Shrimps were on sale a few weeks ago, so I found a shrimp scampi recipe. Before this, I always thought of scampi as a species of lobster, but after searching it on wikipedia, I discovered that it is often known as a cooking method in the US. Scampi is often the menu name of a shrimp dish in Italian-American cuisine. It is a dish of shrimp served in garlic butter and dry white wine served with bread and/or pasta. The word "scampi" is often construed as that style of preparation rather than an ingredient, with that preparation being called "shrimp scampi", and with variants such as "chicken scampi".




1 (8 ounce) package angel hair pasta
1/2 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, sliced (more if you like it)
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/3 cup white wine
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Parsley flakes for garnish

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add angel hair pasta and return pot to boil. Cook until al dente. Drain well.


2. In a large saucepan, melt butter, saute garlic until tender, remove garlic and discard or keep if you prefer. Add shrimp and cook until colored pink. Stir in white wine. The bread crumbs are used as thickening, so stir in a little at a time until desired thickness is reached.


3. Serve shrimp over angel hair pasta, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Man! This stuff was yummy, but so heavy. I scaled down the recipe to serve only myself, since Kev was at work when I made this for lunch at home. I put in extra garlic with a dash of garlic powder too. I also kept the garlic slices in the dish instead of discarding them. I love garlic. If you don't have dry white wine, some people recommend using chicken broth. I used plain breadcrumbs, but i've read reviews where people used italian seasoned breadcrumbs, but I didn't want to mix flavors.

Maple-Balsamic Chicken

The idea to make chicken with balsamic vinegar came from my friend Amy. She had recently made Balsamic Honey Chicken Wings (post will come when I make it). I didn't have any balsamic vinegar in my pantry, so I went to the grocery store to get some. When I got there, I had the balsamic vinegar in my hand, but the bottle of Maple Balsamic caught my eye. So i grabbed that instead...When i got home, I wondered if i could make the chicken wings with maple balsamic, but then decided not to mess with Amy's recipe and look for someone else's recipe to mess with. I found a Maple Balsamic Chicken recipe, but I had to tweak it. The original recipe asked for the balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, not maple balsamic vinegar, but decided to try it out anyway. Here's what i did:



2 chicken breasts bone-in, skinless
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can chicken broth
1/3 cup maple balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
sugar for sauces, optional

1. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt, paprika, and thyme.
2. Cook chicken in hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Stir in chicken broth and maple balsamic vinegar and ground pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove chicken to a serving platter, and keep warm. Reserve liquid in skillet.
3. Whisk peanut butter into reserved liquid, and boil over medium-high heat, uncovered, 5 minutes or until sauce is thickened; spoon sauce evenly over chicken. Taste the sauce, if it's too balsamic vinegar-ey, add a bit of sugar to balance it out.

I'm not a huge fan of chicken breast. They're often too dry. I prefer the leg. But simmering it in the chicken broth gave it some juice. I also divided the reserved liquid. I did one half with the peanut butter, and the other without. I know Kev is not crazy about peanut butter, so I had two sauces for the chicken. Since I didn't use pure maple syrup, as required by the original recipe, my sauce was more salty-sour, so I had to mix in some sugar into the reserve sauces. Kevin seemed to be ok with my experimental chicken. He didn't say it tasted weird. lol After tasting both sauces, I decided I liked the non peanut butter kind.

India meets Lebanon?

Okay, here's the deal...we've gotten a lot of snow in Montreal. I'm not going out in the snow to the grocery store...even if it's only 10 min walk away. I have some leftover naan and no butter chicken left. What do I do? I recently discovered a Lebanese pastry called Manakish or Manaeesh (please correct me if i'm wrong). It consists of dough topped with cheese or thyme or ground meat, but used widely in many Levantine countries. Similar to a pizza, it can be sliced or folded, and it can either be served for breakfast or lunch. The classic Manakish is with za'atar. It is a mixture of herbs and spices used as a condiment with Middle Eastern origins. Za'atar is generally prepared using ground dried thyme, oregano, marjoram, or some combination thereof, mixed with toasted sesame seeds, and salt. Some varieties may add savory, cumin, coriander, or fennel seed. A Lebanese variety of Za'atar usually contains sumac berries, and has a distinct dark red color. Recipes I found online for Za'atar consists mainly of marjoram, thyme and toasted sesame seeds. I don't have marjoram or sesame seeds at home. So I had to improvise with what I had to finish off the leftovers, which also included half a tomato.







Naan bread (store bought)
cheddar cheese
thyme
garlic salt
dried onion flakes
Sliced tomatoes

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Sprinkle garlic salt on Naan bread. Add tomato slices, sprinkle dried onion flakes and thyme. Add cheese and finally another sprinkle of thyme. bake about 10-15 minutes until cheese has melted and browned. Serve hot.

I thought this was a pretty good lunch. It was filling. If my work had a toaster oven, i'd make this for lunch. I loved the bits with the dried onion flakes...

Brown Sugar Shortbread Buttons

This is actually my second attempt at this recipe. I found this recipe in Rachelle's free recipe magazine. On my first attempt, I made the mistake by forgetting to take out the butter from the fridge, so i popped it in the microwave and used liquid butter instead of softened. The cookie dough was an oily mess and i couldn't shape the cookies. They taste good, but presentation was a disaster. This time I took out the butter for about 3 hours.


1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Corn Starch
Icing sugar for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil
2. Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add flour and cornstarch. Mix until dough forms.
3. Roll into 3/4" balls. Place on prepared cookies sheets, flatten slightly.
4. Bake for 10 minutes. With a wooden skewer or toothpick poke 4 holes in warm cookies to make button holes. Cool and dust with icing sugar.

When baking this with Rachelle, our first batch didn't work out...we forgot to flatten the cookies. So we had ball buttons. They tasted fine, just looked funny. In our following batches, we got it right. Co-workers enjoyed them. My friends liked them too. One of them said it tasted like Sucre a la Crème. I guess it makes sense because it's made with a lot of brown sugar.

Le Boeuf Gourmand

For our two-year anniversary as a couple, Kev and I wanted to eat out, but didn't know where to go. Our original plan was to eat somewhere in the old port and then rent a horse drawn carriage for a tour. That didn't end up happening, because by then, Montreal had its first snow fall with freezing rain. Since Kevin would be out bowlingwith his co-workers for their x'mas party, he asked me to look for a restaurant near the plateau. So I did. I found this French bistro that looked affordable and had pretty good reviews, but the earlier reviews were horrible. We figured that maybe they changed chefs or something because all the new reviews were great. Their specialty is the Steak-Frites. The Steak-frites is served with either soup or a fresh salad for $18.90. The steak is thinly sliced. The feature that stands out most about Le Boeuf Gourmand's steak frite is the revolutionary top secret sauce they use. They claim it is made with 18 ingredients.


Quickly after ordering, a hot tray was put on our table. I had read reviews, so I knew what it was for. They don't put your entire 8oz of steak on your plate. Only half is on the plate and the other half is on a plate placed on the hot tray, where a candle is supposed to keep the rest of your steak warm (it didn't).



We started the dinner off with the soup. Our choices were the Citrus Carrot soup or their cream of vegetable soup. She highly recommended the Citrus Carrot soup and told us that it was so popular that they had to make it all the time. So we took that...I quickly remembered that I'm not a big fan of citrus in my food. I can do citrus juice, just not in my food. Kevin did not seem to mind it. The steak-frites arrived warm, but not piping hot, which I couldn't quite understand, because we were the only table in the entire restaurant. The secret sauce was good, but is mainly butter. The hot tray failed to keep the rest of our steak from getting cold and the sauce congealed. The fries were okay, not the best i've had. But they were salty and satisfying. We decided to skip the dessert because I had bought some pastries to eat at home, which we didn't.


The bistro was too brightly lit. Kevin said he didn't think it was a very romantic place, and he is right. If they had dimmed the lights, we might have been able to stomach the utter cheesiness of the decor. The entire time we were there, we were the only customers.


It wasn't so bad, i've probably had much worse dinners in my life, however, I might not repeat this place. It was a bit of a disappointment for such an occasion.


Le Boeuf Gourmand/ 3666 St-Denis corner Cherrier/ 514.849.8910

New Year's Eve Dinner: Honey-Ginger Salmon with Japanese-Style Sesame Green Beans and and Roasted Sweet Peppers & Potatoes *phew*

For New Years Eve, Kev and I decided to stay home for dinner. We've just been busy with friends and family for Christmas that we feel tired and neglected. I know we're physically together all the time, but it's not the same. For NYE, I really wanted to make something new, but still simple. I didn't want to slave in the kitchen all evening. With all the turkey we've been having, I was craving fish or seafood...and of course, a lot of veggies. So I looked up recipes on my favorite recipe site; allrecipes.com. I love it because I like reading the reviews. There's always tips on how to improve recipes. I'm constantly on that website, even when i'm not really looking for something to make within the week. I took a look at my recipe book today and found a salmon recipe that I had never tried, but saved. I really liked using honey as a marinade on the chicken I had made before, so why not on salmon?




1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup honey
1 green onion, chopped
1 (1 1/2-pound) salmon fillet

1. In a large self-closing plastic bag, combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, orange juice, honey, and green onion; mix well. Place salmon in bag and seal tightly. Turn bag gently to distribute marinade. Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes (I marinated overnight).
2. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat and lightly oil grate.
3. Remove salmon from marinade, shake off excess, and discard remaining marinade. Grill for 12 to 15 minutes per inch of thickness, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

I'll admit, I wasn't too sure aboutt he salmon, but it came out nicely. It tasted very nice. However, I think I might use a bit less orange juice the next time I make it. I also added some dehydrated garlic slices, along with the garlic powder. I forgot to buy fresh garlic, I thought I had some in the fridge. Reviews recommended using fresh garlic.

For the side dish, I really wanted vegetables. Not just for me, but for Kevin too. He refuses to eat veggies. It's impossible! In one of the reviews from the salmon recipe, someone said they served their salmon with Japanese-Style Sesame Green Beans. I'm not quite sure why they are Japanese style...just because of the sesame? Really?!? Well...anyway...I decided to give it a try. This is the original recipe.

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 pound fresh green beans, washed
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1. Warm a large skillet or wok over medium heat. When the skillet is hot, pour in canola and sesame oils, then place whole green beans into the skillet. Stir the beans to coat with oil. Cook until the beans are bright green and slightly browned in spots, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in soy sauce; cover, and let sit about 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

I didn't have any sesame seeds at home, so I just omitted it. I want to say that the recipeis asking for a lot of oil. I'd cut down on it. I also added a bit of sugar and probably cooked it longer, which is why it looks burned, but it might just be the suagr caramelizing. These were reallly good, despite their appearance.

In addition to the green beans, I had a craving for some sweet potato. So I just roasted them with the sad looking orange pepper in my fridge and some onions. Originally I wanted to make it the same way as I did with the roasted regular potatoes & carrots from previous post, but wasn't sure if Thyme and Rosemary spice would be too strong. I wanted the salmon to be center stage. So I kept the roasted dish simple.

• 1 1/2 Orange sweet Pepper, chopped
• 1 Yellow Onion, chopped
• 2 Sweet Potatoes, cubed
• Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper

1. Preheat to 400F. Mix all ingredients. Pour everything on a baking sheet (with foil or parchment paper) or greased casserole dish. Bake for 20 min. Take out, move them around. Add a bit more olive oil if needed. Bake for another 20 min. Peppers and onions will shrivel, but don't let it burn.

These were yummy, except i used a little too much olive oil. Next time i'll be careful.

The dinner didn't turn out 100% like I wanted it to, but it was still quite good. We had enough salmon and roasted sweet pepper & potatoes for lunch the next day.

Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

In my previous post, I said I served the Salmon with lemon and herb top crust with some roasted potatoes and carrots. It's such a simple recipe, but my only complaint is that it takes a while to roast. The first time Kev had it, he thought i used frozen home potatoes. It's a relatively healthy side dish...When I made it with the salmon, Rachelle really liked it.

3 potatoes, cubed

1 red onion chopped

2 carrots sliced, medium thickness

Olive oil

onion powder

salt & pepper

dried thyme

dried rosemary

1. Preheat to 400F. Mix all ingredients. Pour everything on a baking sheet (with foil or parchment paper) or greased casserole dish. Bake for 20 min. Take out, move them around. Add a bit more olive oil if needed. Bake for another 20 min. Carrots and onions will shrivel, but don't let it burn.

It's a really easy side dish to make. And it's really hard to mess up. You can add pretty much whatever spice you like. Maybe some cayenne pepper to spice it up? Or make it a garlic potato...i've been in a thyme phase. So I just use it in prettu much everything these days.

Salmon with a Lemon and Herb top crust

Two Fridays ago, Rachelle and I had both taken the day off. So she trekked over to the West Island in the cold to join me at the day spa. We both got a massage, then had a nice hearty brunch. I had originally planned on making Curried Honey Dijon Chicken, a recipe I found on Closet Cooking, which I posted about previously (i know my blogs are all over the place). But Rachelle doesn't eat meat, except fish. So we went to the grocery store and bought a piece of salmon. I decided to try out a recipe I had seen online. I made it without the recipe, I vaguely remembered what went into it. Now I remember where I saw the recipe. It's from Soy and Pepper .


Since I was making it without a recipe, I didn't really pay attention to the measurements, but it's pretty foolproof.



Salmon Fillet
Panko breadcrumbs (japanese breadcrumbs, or regular breadcrumbs)
dried chives
dried parsley
dehydrated onion
garlic powder
salt & Pepper
Lemon juice
Olive Oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix breadcrumbs and all other dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix in Olive oil and lemon juices to just moisten the dry mixture. Place the mixture on top of the salmon fillets, press to make sure it stays on the salmon. Cook the salmon in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the breadcrumbs are crisp and golden.

In the original recipe, the temperature was lower and baked longer. I don't quite know how long or what temperature is ideal for cooking salmon. When I took my salmon out, the middle was a medium rare, but the fish continues to cook a bit after you take it out. So by the time it got to the table the salmon was just perfect for me. I hate overcooked salmon. I served this with roasted potatoes and carrots, which I will post later on.

Creamy Cajun Risotto and Smoked Salmon

Since we had half a pack of smoked salmon left in the fridge from the other day, we wanted to use it up before it dries out. I looked up online for a recipe with smoked salmon, but I kept coming up with pasta, chowder, or hors d'oeuvres. On the train ride home, I remembered I have one of those fast sidekick-type risotto mix in my cupboard. So I ditched the parmesan seasoning mix (with dehydrated milk products) and used the aborio rice that came in it. I used whatever I had in the fridge to make it. Here's my improv meal:



1 cup of cream
3/4 cup of milk
1 cup water
1tbsp of cajun spice*
1 cup of aborio rice (approx)
dehydrated garlic or 1 garlic bulb
1 tsp of butter

* Make your own cajun spice (makes 1 tbsp)

1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Dried basil
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

1. On medium heat, melt butter in a pan, add aborio rice and coat with butter.
2. Add liquids (cream, milk, water), stir.
3. Add Cajun spice and garlic. Turn up to high heat until it boils.
4. Once boiling, lower to low-medium on a slow simmer. Let it simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is tender. If liquids evaporate before rice is done, add more liquids (I added water). Stir constantly.
5. once done, let it sit for 5 minutes and serve with smoked salmon on the side.

The amount of liquids you use really depends on how much rice you have. I based my liquid on how much was required on the box. It asked for 2 1/2 cups of liquid, but I guess cream counts a bit less. I had to add 1/2 cup of water midway through. I made my own cajun spice and I think i'll use less cayenne pepper next time. It was quite spicy. Other than that, i think it went well. Kev had no comment because he didn't have any. He thinks it's too fancy and weird, so he had cream cheese and smoked salmon on bread. lol

Risotto is actually a lot easier to make than i thought. The only thing is that it requires a lot of attention. You need to constantly stir it.

Curried Honey Dijon Roasted Chicken

I can't remember how I discovered Closet Cooking, but one of the recipes that intrigued me a lot was the Curried Honey Dijon Roasted Chicken that the blogger discovered on another blog. His food porn picture of this recipe looked absolutely delicious. Not knowing if Kevin would like this, I hesitated for a month about this recipe. Kev is not a big fan of sauces and condiments, besides Ketchup. I think he's just way too safe. So sometimes i'll be brave and make him try all these new recipes that I discover through the beautiful world of food blogging. I also hesitated, because I don't like Dijon. I don't mind mustard and I love honey mustard and sometimes even honey Dijon if the dijon isn't too overpowering. And then the odd addition of curry made me wonder if I should skip that step in the recipe, but decided to try it. I used a mix of Closet Cooking's measurements and the original recipes measurements.






1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce
cayenne pepper to taste (or some other form of heat)
pepper to taste
10 chicken thighs (with bone and skin)


1. Mix everything but the chicken in a bowl.
2. Add the chicken, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. (I did it for nearly 6 hours)
3. Place the chicken in a baking dish (reserving the marinade)
4. Bake uncovered in a 375F oven for 20 minutes.
5. Brush on some of the marinade.
6. Bake uncovered until the juices run clear, about 20-30 minutes, brushing with the marinade periodically.



If you are afraid that the chicken will burn, please cover the chicken with foil for the first 20 min of baking. Closet Cooking and orginal recipe recommended this, but I didn't cover it and it didn't burn, just golden. But some ovens run higher. So be aware of this. You can also use chicken breast for this recipe, but like closet cooking, I think chicken legs are not as dry. The results were great. I think we both enjoyed. I served it with boiled vegetables and white rice. The recipe was supposed to use equal amounts of honey and dijon, but I didn't want to taste the dijon too much, so I used more honey. I also did not use as much curry as Closet Cooking (he used 1 Tbsp), instead I followed the original blogger and use 1 tsp. You can taste the curry, but it's not overbearing. I think this would make delicious chicken wings as well.


Kevin comments:
"Smells spicy" (referring to curry) while I was preparing the marinade.
"This is something different!" when he sat down at the table
"I like." while eating it.

Beef Stew

A few weeks ago, my boss told me I had a few more personal days left that i could take before they get cancelled out Jan 1st. So I decided to take a long weekend. While Kev was at work, I had time to think about what to make for dinner. We have this pack of stewing beef that Kev's parents had given us a while ago. We didn't quite know what to do with them. So I looked up online for a stew recipe. The recipe i found actually didn't even have the veggies in it. So I tweaked the recipe as I usually do and took some advice from reviews of this recipe. I've never made stew before and the only stew i've ever eaten is my mom's. That day, I had a lunch/shopping date with my friend Judy. So I didn't want to rush home to make this...knowing that stew takes a lot of simmering. So Kev's slow cooker from the 80s (from his parents') saves the day. This thing is so old that i'm sure it'll burn down the condo one day. lol The very first time Kev and I used it, we stayed home...just so we could watch it.

1lbs Stewing Beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup of beef broth
1 pack of onion soup mix
2-3 potatoes, cubed
1-2 Carrots, sliced or cubed
1 Onion, cubed
2 stalks of celery, chopped
salt & pepper
dried thyme
garlic powder
onion powder
cayenne pepper

***Please note that vegetables should be cut into big chunks as to not turn to vegetable mash in the slow cooker.

1. Brown meat, this is supposed to keep the juices in the beef when being slow cooked.


2. Put Potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions at the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the meat on top.


3. In a bowl, mix mushroom soup, beef broth, onion soup mix and pour it on top of everything in the slow cooker. Set on medium heat and cook for 6-8 hours.


4. Before serving sprinkle the spices and mix.

To begin, I just want to mention that i'm actually a bit fuzzy about how much beef broth I put in. since mushroom soup was a bunch of goop, I was afraid my mixture wasn't liquid enough, so I improvised and used beef broth to thin out the soup. I wouldn't recommend adding much more salt into it since the Onion soup mix gives it enough saltiness, but I think I added a little bit for taste. I served it on rice. Kev wasn't raving about, but asked me what I put it in. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. But I think he didn't mind the recipe. By now, you probably know that i always use the same old spices...i guess everyone has their base cooking style. My mom's is soy sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar. lol I'd also like to emphasize that it's important to put the veggies at the bottom so that the liquids will cook it properly. I didn't know because the recipe I used doesn't have veggies in it. So I had put it on top of the meat and after 6-8 hrs of cooking the veggies still weren't quite done. So I have to cook it on the stove top for an hour before Kev got home. And since the veggies are at the bottom, it would be wise to cut your veggies in big chunks so they don't disintegrate in the soup.

Note about the picture: I took the picture the day after our dinner...the stew is actually cold (right out of the fridge) in the pic. I simply forgot to take a picture of the stew and only remembered to do so when I wanted to write a post about it.

Chunky Cream of Potato Soup

I'm carb queen. I'm pretty sure that if I gave up carbs, i'd lose a lot of weight, however, I just love carbs too much...One of the ultimate comfort foods for me is a nice bowl of potato soup. It's just sinful. One of my favorite places to have potato soup is at Baton Rouge. Last week, when Kev and I were trying to decide what to have for supper, I had suggested a soup dinner. Kev was hesitant because he was afraid it wouldn't be filling. Potato soup is extrememly filling. I just had this for lunch in a tupperware of about 2 cups of soup and i'm about to fall into a coma. I can hardly eat the celery sticks i brought in. Finally, that night, we didn't have soup dinner. we had steak. So the other night I decided to make it while he had his leftover char siu from Chinatown. I found the original recipe online, but tweeked it a little. This is the first time i've made my own potato soup.

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cup of water
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 small carrot, chopped
2 garlic bulbs
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter, cubed
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk/half & half/ cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley/ dried parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt (more if needed)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
dash of garlic powder
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese / cheddar
bacon bits (optional)

1. In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, onion, carrot, celery and broth + water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender; lightly mash.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir into potato mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add parsley, thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese until melted. Add bacon optional.

When I made the recipe, I only had one can of chicken broth in the pantry. It's about a bit over a cup of liquids. So I topped the required 1 1/2 cup of chicken broth with water, but the liquids hardly covered the vegetables that need to be tender enough to mash. So I added an extra cup and half. Knowing this would make the soup more bland, I had to add more salt. At this point, it's taste over health. I'll try a healthier version of this soup on my second try. I added dried thyme to the recipe for more taste and a dash of garlic powder. I also chopped some garlic and probably added more celery than needed. The result was absolutely delicious. I had co-wrokers try my soup and one said it's restaurant quality and another said i should open my own restaurant. LOL I'll call it Carb City. LOL

Tatami

I discovered Tatami through Kevin's aunts around this time last year. We had a Capricorn birthday dinner there. Since Kanda became a popular sushi eatery in Montreal, I haven't been to many à la carte sushi restaurants. But since discovering this place, it's the only à la carte sushi place i've been to in 2008. The selling point is the ambiance. The tables are aquariums. You can see different tropical fishes, sea horses, and shrimps while you eat their fishy friends.

But the most impressive thing about this place is the presentation of their food. Every plate is garnished with flowers, herbs, and fruit...it's like a garden. One time, they hid the wasabi inside an apple. I believe pictures speak for themselves. And yes, they do taste as good as they look.

My favorite is the salmon tartare. I have it every time i'm there. On our last visit, Kev and I shared the handroll special (the actual menu name escapes me). 4 handrolls (chef's choice) for $20. The very first time we came here with kevin's aunts, some of them had the steak teriyaki. Instead of steak strip stir fried in the teriyaki sauce, they served you a big huge steak. Since that time, Kevin has been wanting to try that plate, but every time we go, the steak is not available. Perhaps next time we make a reservation, we will special order it. My sister had the chicken teriyaki. She's a picky eater and she likes to try the chicken teriyaki at different places. She liked this one. Although, I think I heard her rave more about the teriyaki at Zenya. The service is always good there. However, every time i've gone, it's very quiet. I fear that the lack of customers will make this little gem suffer.

This is a place I would definitely recommend. The prices are reasonable for a restaurant in the Old Port and for the quality. It's a quiet and romantic place for intimate dinners. Although, i'd definitely recommend a new music selection. The music is not bad, it just never changes. I can imagine how crazy it makes the staff.

Tatami Sushi Bar Restaurant / 140 rue Notre-Dame Ouest / 514.845.5864

Pecan Shortbread Cookies

As mentioned in previous posts, Rachelle and I took a baking course at my local Loblaws. We made Hazelnut Chocolate Orange biscotti and the Irish cream filled cookies. Since the class was only two hours and our chef likes to talk and socialize, we didn't have enough time to make the pecan shortbread. She showed us how to make it, but there wasn't enough time for the students to make their own. However, she prepared the dough for us to bring home and I rolled out the cookies during the weekend. A few days before making these, i bought these super cute little cookie cutters from Stokes. I had a mini gingerbread man and a mini star shape. I think I made 200+ bite sized cookies, so of course, I brought them in to work to share with my co-workers. Most fo the time when I bake, I don't have enough to share with the entire office, but with 200+ cookies, I was able to. Everyone loved them and a few have asked me for the recipe. I am now known as the cookie lady at work. Kevin calls me Betty Crocker. lol

• 3/4 unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp pure almond extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped peacans (lightly roasted before chopping)
  

1. Mix butter and sugar with electric mixer until fluffy
2. Add vanilla and almond extract
3. In differetn bowl, mic together the flour, and salt. Add butter mixture.
4. Add nuts and mix slowly until dough comes together
5. Divide in 4 sections. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven 350 degrees
7. Roll out one section on a floured surface to about 3/8 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice.
8. Place cookies on parchment lined baking sheet and cook approx. 20 minutes or until edges are golden.

Due to the size of my cookies, they only needed to bake for 5-6min. You can serve them as is, or dust some icing sugar on top. I think they would look very cute in a gift box.

Aged Cheddar

I'm a big cheese fiend. Kevin not so much. I think that's one thing I miss most about not living with Rachelle anymore. She's a cheese fiend as well. We always had cheese in our fridge. During my 2 years living with Rachelle, I went through several cheese phases. At one point, I was obsessed with swiss cheese. Then I fell in love with Goat cheese for some reason. Lately, i've had a growing affection for aged cheddar.

The first time I knew I had aged cheese was when Rachelle invited me to a marketing party hosted by one of advertising companies ourcompany deals with. They had plates of cheese on the table and one of aged cheddar. Rachelle exclaimed that she did not like it and when i had it, all i could think was how strong it was. Not the kind of cheese you just pop into your mouth.

I didn't think to try it again until Kevin told me he had aged cheddar with some pasta at his friend's place. When Kevin made his bowtie pasta with peppers, i bought a small block of aged cheddar. I was a bit overwhelmed with the choice. Aged 1 year, 3 years, 5 years...not to mention all the different brands. I finally settled with Canadian Reserve Agropur 5 year aged cheddar. I went for the most mature cheese they had because I didn't want to end up with something that tastes almost like the regular cheddar cheese we have. The more aged, the more pungent, crumbly, and acidic the cheese is. The agropur website states that the 5 year aged cheddar is not available in the UK...I wonder why?

The aged cheddar went great with Kevin's pasta. Kev didn't try any with his pasta. He says he doesn't like mixing cheese in his food. But he cut himself a piece after dinner and made a face when he ate it. "Why is it crunchy?" I actually noticed it too, but I remember noticing this kind of crunchiness from other cheeses i've had in the past. So I decided to do some research. The following is what I found:

Those bits are called tyrosine, and they're actually amino acid clusters that form with age. Tyrosine clusters are signs of a well-aged cheese, which is why you'll find them in some of the world's most loved cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano, aged goudas, and mountain cheeses like gruyere.

Tyrosine is a non-essential amino acid found mainly in casein, the dominant protein found in milk. The word itself is from the Greek tyros, meaning cheese. What's most fascinating (from a dorky cheese fanatic perspective) is the reason that these protein clusters form.
When cheese is made, fats and proteins are trapped within chains of proteins that have bonded together during acidification. Groupings of these fats and proteins make up the solids, or curds, that form cheese. When cheese spends a long time aging, these protein chains begin to unravel, leaving small, crunchy deposits behind.

Tyrosine lends a distinctive textural charm to cheese, and is a welcome interruption within the body of an otherwise smooth paste. And sometimes it even compliments the beverage you may be drinking with your cheese, as in the case of pairing a full-bodied stout with a super-aged cheddar; the crunchiness of the cheese somehow matches the fullness of the beer by contributing its own textural intensity.

Tyrosine is not to be confused with the crunchiness you can find in some washed-rind cheeses. Since this category of cheese is usually washed in some kind of salt water brine, residual salt crystals are often left behind on the crust of these cheeses. When you take a bite of rind and inner paste together, the crunchiness from the outside can be mistaken for existing on the inside.Now go and impress your cheese-loving friends with your new vocabulary word!

Source: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/the-cheesemonger/the-cheesemonger-a-bit-of-crunch-in-your-cheese-047988

Massage therapist tried to steal my soul

In late November, Rachelle told me she was booking 2 massages a week until Dec 31. She exclaimed that our insurance company takes a lot of our money, why shouldn't we get something back. Our policy allows us a maximum of $500 worth of massage treatments in one calendar year. Since I had already paid my deductible for massages, I forgot I could still continue claiming until i reached my $500. So I began my massage-a-thon.

In our building, there's a spa, EQlib. The one-hour massage was $80 + tax and tip. This is not my first massage, i've had a few, but this would be my first time at EQlib. I was quite disappointed. I had booked my appointment for after work. My massage therapist asked me a couple of health questions. Then she left the room to let me get undressed and settle under the soft blanket on the massage table. While undressing their system was playing these oldies music, not really the new age stuff or nature sounds I normally hear at a spa. No matter. It was pretty soft, so I knew i'd be able to relax anyway. Lights were dimmed and it was a pretty nice setting, even though the room seemed a bit small. I figured that my surrounding wouldn't matter since i'll be in bliss when she gives me my massage. I was wrong.

When she began the massage, the music stopped playing. Perhaps the CD finished and no one noticed. So the remainder of the massage was done in total silence...no, i'm wrong...not in total silence. My massage therapist is a loud breather. You'd think she was doing Tai chi or something. If the music was on, I think the breathing could have been more bearable. But would the breathing matter if I had an amazing massage? No, of course not. But did I get an amazing massage? No, I did not.

Now, I know I have knots from stress. I mentioned to her that I have recently been a bit stressed, but only wanted a general massage. I didn't have any pains in any specific area. She told me she felt some knots between my shoulder blades. Since it's not my first massage, i know that when a massage therapist finds a knot, they go a little harder on that spot to loosen the muscles. It would hurt, but only for about a few seconds. This is the first time that I had a therapist really rub their thumb into my entire back the whole time. Instead of relieving my stress, I felt more tense. When she asked me if it was ok, I told her that it hurt. She softened for about 20 seconds and continued running her thumb up and down my back, sometimes in a circular motion on the shoulder blade. Since I was getting tense and rigid from the pain, maybe she thought I was very stressed, so she worked even harder to relieve it. Perhaps this is what a deep tissue massage would feel like, but I didn't ask for one.

After 20 minutes of this painful experience, I wanted to turn around and punch her in the face. I was just so angry. So between the annoying breathing and the painful massage, I was ready to scream and tell her to get away from me. I woke up today feeling achy. My shoulder blades hurt. They feel bruised. WTF!

I am now contemplating on writing a letter of complaint to the spa. I'm usually not one to confront people, but for the price they charge for a one-hour massage, you'd expect a good one. I am never going back there for a massage. When she asked me if I wanted to make another appointment the next week, I said "no, not at the moment"...really, i'm not into masochism.

Irish Cream Filled Cookies

As mentioned a previous post, Rachelle and I took a baking class at my local grocery store, Loblaws. I blogged about the much raved about biscotti, now here's the second thing we baked in the class; Irish Cream filled Cookies.

Cookies:

• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 oz. semisweet chocolate melted, slightly cooled (2 baker's chocolate squares)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• icing sugar
  

Cream Cheese filling:

• 1 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 oz semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled (1 baker's chocolate squares)
• 1tbsp Irish cream (Baileys) or Strong coffee
  

Chocolate icing:

• 3 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp butter
  

Cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl, whisk egg, egg yolk, sugar, chocolate, oil, baking powder, and vanilla.
3. Add flour and mix until combined
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until firm
5. Remove from refrigerator and shape into 1/2 inch balls
6. Cook for 6-7 min on parchment paper
7. Allow to cool and dust with icing sugar
   

Filling:

1. In small bowl, with electric mixer, mix cream cheese, icing sugar, chocolate and irish cream until combined.
2. Spread 1/2 tsp of filling on the flat side of a cookie and cover with another cookie.
   

Icing:

1. Melt chocolate and mix it with butter. Allow to cool.
2. Place in ziplock, snip very small hole int he corder and drizzle chocolate onver cookies.
   

These little cookies are really cute, and festive. Our chef had some on display at the class where these cookies were placed in a nice gift box and wrapped in cellophane paper. When I first saw them, I mistook them for Macaroons. Since we only had limited time in the class, we only had enough time to make one batch of cookies, which resulted in maybe 15 cream filled cookies. So we didn't have too many to share with people at work. But the few people who had it were quite impressed with them. I love these recipes that look hard to make, but are in fact as easy as baking a simple batch of cookies.

I had planned on making these when a co-worker approached me to bake something to encourage people at work to give things to the food-drive, but i guess not many people wanted to volunteer to give free food for people to give other free food to the poor... so it was canceled.

Blue Potato

A couple of weeks ago, I made a dill potato salad. Two weeks later, I made something that required dill weed, but then i found myself with some leftover dill weed in my fridge and I didn't know what to do with them. So I went out to buy some potatoes. Instead of buying a 5lbs bag of potatoes that would take us forever to finish, I decided to indulge in those little bags of new potatoes. I figured I wouldn't need to peel them and it would save me time. I had a choice of regular yellow new potatoes, new red potatoes, or a bag of what they called "mixed gems". It had a mixture of yellow, red, and blue potatoes. I've never bought blue potatoes before. The putside of the potato was a very dark blue/purple...I figured it's the same thing as red potatoes. The color must only correspond to the skin and not the flesh.



When I got home, I got to work. I rinsed my potatoes and I had a pot of water waiting to be boiled. When i got to one of the blue potatos, I cut it and I step back for a moment. The flesh was purple (or blue). It tasted the same as any other potato, but felt a little more dry and mealy than the red and yellow ones. It made an interesting presentation for my dill potato salad.



So I proceeded to google "Blue potato" to find out more about this vegetable. The potato is know by many names, one website called it All Blue. Most authorities suspect All Blue originated in the US or the UK (Scotland) in the late nineteenth century. It is also known as Congo, Blue Marker, Russian Blue, British Columbia Blue, McIntosh Black, River John Blue, Sharon's Blue. Also, probable synonyms: Blue Congo, Congo Blue, Purple Congo, Nova Scotia Blue, Himalayan Black. Black Russian, Davis Purple, Eureka Purple, Fenton Blue, and Purple Mountain. It is believed to be originated from South America. They’re an heirloom variety which means they’re not genetically modified.



All Blue is by far the most widely grown of all blue/purple-fleshed varieties. In Great Britain and Europe, it is well known as Congo and Blue Marker. It is popular in Scandinavia, especially in Finland, where it is served mashed with sour cream. Terra Chips uses it to make its famous blue potato chips. Many references state that All Blue yields small tubers, and indeed these are commonly found in supermarkets. However, if allowed to grow to maturity, All Blue easily produces large, oblong tubers quite suitable for baking and mashing. All Blue is currently being studied in Europe and North America to determine its capacity to fend off human disease and aging with the antioxidants in the natural blue pigments of its flesh and skin.

Sushi

This post is actually quite late.
About a month or two ago, I came accross a class catalogue at our local Loblaws. It seems that Loblaws offered one-night cooking classes. Prices range from $20-30. I looked through the catalogue and expressed interest in a couple of classes. As September passed, so did some of the classes. Kev finally agreed to listen to which classes I wanted to attend and he'd consider attending one with me to make me happy. So I chose to take Basic Sushi with him. (note: I took this class before the pastry class i took with Rachelle)



The class was 2 hours long (7-9pm). We were only 8 students, so it was intimate. Kev was the only male student. The first hour was observation and taking down the tips and advice the chef gave us about sushi and its garnish. He showed us how to make the rice, although we never made any ourselves due to time. All the garnishes for the maki were already prepared and laid out on the counter. So we all went through the buffet line of ingredients and picked out what we wanted to put in our maki. I can't quite remember everything I put in it, but rest assured that there was raw salmon in all of mine. I think I tried to be daring and used dill weed, coriander, basil leaves in some of mine. At the end of the class, we each had made 3 full rolls (8 makis per roll). He even showed us how to make "reversed maki", the actual japanese name escapes me at the moment.

The class was a lot of fun. We both ate one roll each and took the rest home for lunch the next day. I loved the classes so much that I ended up taking a baking class with Rachelle a few weeks after (which I already blogged about: Hazelnut Chocolate Orange Biscotti).