Cook, eat, play, repeat.

Update!

2011-01-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

Again, sorry for the long bout of silence. I have been trying to get into a healthy routine, and it'll probably take me a little longer to do that fully.

So far I've been eating great (and also enjoying myself sometimes). I have a bunch of recipe posts that I'd like to blog about, but just haven't had the time (I will make some recipe posts soon though).
As for exercise: so far it's hit or miss...I've been doing a daily 10 minute strength training video on most days (some days I do more then 1 to make up for days I did none) and 30 minutes of cardio has been about 3 days per week. I really want to make cardio 5 times a week, so that's doable.

I've been feeling great, and I want to keep this up. It's also saving me money since I now bring my lunch to work on most days.

I'll do another update post in the next couple of weeks and hopefully by then I'll start updating this blog more often ;)

Happy New Year! No more resolutions; Just quit messing around!

2010-12-31T14:18:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't updated in ages...I just kinda lost my blogging mojo! :(

I'm so far behind on Daring Cooks' that I think I'll just have to give it up for now...and maybe just follow along as the recipes are revealed (though I'd love to take part again in the future). I haven't stopped cooking! In fact I've been cooking up a storm. And I do love blogging, I just need to get some other things in my life organized before I can tackle being a consistent blogger.

So since I never keep resolutions, instead I shall be making goals for the New Year (goals that I will be working on for my whole life ;) )

1 - Eat healthy. No, I'm never giving up bacon, but I'll try to live by the 80/20 rule. Just in general, I want to stop eating out so much, and start being kind to my body.

2 - Make fitness a priority. I want to do at least 10 minutes of fitness a day. Be it walking, running, biking, skating, yoga or strength training. 10 minutes is EASILY doable!

3 - Keep the apartment, my purse, my blog and my stuff organized! No more dumping piles of stuff everywhere. Also, keeping the apartment clean by cleaning a little bit of something everyday.

4 - Start blogging more. No specific goal here. I just want to try to remember to blog more often, even if its just about my progress of my goals. But recipes would be great :)

5 - Save more money. Stop buying my lunches, stop shopping at the mall and just be mindful about what I buy. I'll try to come up with a more specific goal for this.

So those are my goals. Pretty standard goals, but ones that I think will really help me. I've become very lethargic and I just want to feel better and have more energy!

So far for the 2 days I've been eating healthier, I can already feel a difference in my body. I'm starting to crave healthy foods, and I am enjoying my meals :)

So good luck to those of you who also have goals or resolutions! And to everybody: Have a safe and happy New Year! :)

Daring Cooks: Chocolate Souffle

2010-11-25T10:59:00.001-05:00

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I was so exited when I saw that Novembers challenge would be soufflés! I've always wanted to try making them, but just never got around to it. And I almost had to skip this month's challenge, but decided I would post late so I could take part.
Making the soufflés was a lot easier then I expected it to be. They came together pretty quickly and there also wasn't as big as a mess as I thought there would be. Would I make them again? Yes, most definitely! I'd try a different kind though next time :)
I loved how light and fluffy they tasted. And the chocolate tasted so good (I used 86% Dark).
Sorry the pictures are terrible...I had to use my phone to take the pics as Martin has the camera as he is in China right now for work.

Chocolate Soufflé
Serves 4

Ingredients

FOR THE DISHES

2 Tbsp (30 ml) 1 oz (30g) unsalted butter, for greasing
Cocoa powder or finely grated chocolate

FOR THE CREME PATISSERIE

2 tbsp (30 ml) (18 gm) (2/3 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 tsp (10 gm) (0.35 oz) caster (superfine) sugar (regular sugar is OK)
½ tsp (4½ gm) (0.15 oz) corn starch (aka cornflour)
1 medium egg yolk
1 medium whole egg
4 Tbsp (60 ml) milk
5 Tbsp (75 ml) heavy cream (or double cream)
3 oz (90gm) good-quality dark chocolate preferably 70+% cocoa solids, broken in pieces
2 Tbsp (30 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
Optional: 2 tsp orange zest or 2 tsp minced chipotle chile en adobo or 1 tsp chipotle chile powder. (The chile version is a Monkeyshines favorite!) Optional: powdered sugar for dusting

FOR THE EGG WHITES

6 medium egg whites
6½ Tbsp (95 ml) 3 oz (90g) superfine/caster sugar (if you don’t have it, regular sugar is OK)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to moderate 375 ˚F/190 ˚C/gas mark 5.
2. Take four 1 cup/~240ml soufflé dishes and brush them completely with softened butter. Tip a little cocoa powder or grated chocolate into each dish, roll the dish around tilting it as you do so it is evenly lined all round.
3. For the crème patisserie, mix the flour, sugar and corn starch into a small bowl. Put egg yolk and whole egg into a medium sized bowl, beat lightly, then beat in half of the flour mixture to give a smooth paste. Tip in the rest of the flour mixture and cocoa powder and mix well.
4. To make the ganache, pour the milk and cream into a pan and bring just to the boil. Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and beat until it is melted and smooth with no lumps.
5. Gradually stir hot chocolate ganache into the paste from step 3, and add the orange zest or chile if using. This is your crème patisserie.
6. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks with an electric whisk. Sprinkle in the sugar as you are mixing. Keep whisking to give stiff, firm peaks to give volume to the soufflés.
7. Stir about 2 tbsp (30 ml) of the beaten egg whites into the crème patisserie. Carefully fold in a third of the rest, cutting through the mixture. Fold in another third (take care not to lose the volume), then fold in the rest.
8. Spoon the mixture into the dishes. Run a spoon across the top of each dish so the mixture is completely flat. Take a little time to wipe any splashes off the outside of each dish, or they will burn on while cooking.
9. Bake the soufflés for 15-17 minutes.
10. The soufflés should have risen by about two thirds of their original height and jiggle when moved, but be set on top.

Sorry for the Silence

2010-11-14T11:09:00.000-05:00

I haven't had a lot of time or motivation to make any posts lately (and I have a new furry addition to the house now too :) so I've been busy). I'm hoping to finish this month's Daring Cook's challenge, but it will be late (I totally forgot that the reveal date was today!).

With the holiday season coming around, I'm hoping to be back to my regular posting frequency.

Thanks for hanging around :)

Daring Bakers: Doughnuts

2010-10-29T12:00:00.000-04:00

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

When I found out the doughnuts was this months challenge I was quite happy! Doughnuts are a pretty common food in Canada, and right now because it's fall there are pumpkin doughnuts showing up in the coffee shops! I was really eager to try making some myself, and I'm happy to say they were a success! They were moist and actually tasted pumpkiny (which I've found a lot of versions do not). They were pretty easy to make, though I don't know if I'd make them again since it made so many doughnuts that it kind of ended up being wasteful (And I don't think making a handful of homemade donuts is really worth the hassle). Glad I've made them though (so now if I ever move to another country again I'll still be able to get my yummy doughnut fix!).

Pumpkin Doughnuts:
Yield: About 24 doughnuts & 24 doughnut holes
(I found that the recipe made less then that)
Recipe from: Bon Appetit

Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour 3.5 cup / 840 ml / 490 gm / 17 ¼ oz
Baking Powder 4 teaspoon / 20 ml / 24 gm / .85 oz
Table Salt 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Cinnamon, ground 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Ginger, ground ½ teaspoon / 2.5 ml / 3 gm / .1 oz
Baking Soda ½ teaspoon / 2.5 ml / 3 gm / .1 oz
Nutmeg, ground ¼ teaspoon / 1.25 ml / 1.5 gm / .05 oz
Cloves, ground 1/8 teaspoon / .6 ml / ¾ gm / .025 oz
White Granulated Sugar 1 cup / 240 ml / 225 gm / 8 oz
Butter, Unsalted 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml / 42 gm / 1.5 oz
Egg, Large 1
Egg Yolk, Large 2
Pure Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon / 5 ml
Buttermilk ½ cup + 1 Tablespoon / 135 ml /
Pumpkin 1 cup / 240 ml / 285 gm / 10 oz (Canned pure pumpkin or fresh cooked and pureed pumpkin – DON’T use pumpkin pie mix!)
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Powdered Sugar Glaze:
Powdered (Icing) Sugar 2 cup / 480 ml / 250 gm / 9 oz
Whipping Cream (About 32% butter fat) 4 Tablespoon + more if needed / 60 ml

Directions:

Whisk together the first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until blended (the mixture will be grainy and not smooth). Beat in egg, then yolks and vanilla. Gradually beat in buttermilk; beat in pumpkin. Using rubber spatula, fold in dry ingredients in 4 additions, blending gently after each addition. Cover with plastic; chill 3 hours.
Sprinkle 2 rimmed baking sheets lightly with flour. Press out 1/3 of dough on floured surface to 1/2- to 2/3-inch (12 mm to 15 mm) thickness. Using 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) -diameter round cutter, cut out dough rounds. Arrange on sheets. Repeat with remaining dough in 2 more batches. Gather dough scraps. Press out dough and cut out more dough rounds until all dough is used.
Using 1-inch (25 mm) diameter round cutter, cut out center of each dough round to make doughnuts and doughnut holes.
Line 2 baking sheets with several layers of paper towels. Pour oil into large deep skillet to depth of 1 1/2 inches (40 mm). Attach deep-fry thermometer and heat oil to 365°F to 370°F (185°C to 188°C). Fry doughnut holes in 2 batches until golden brown, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Fry doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time, until golden brown, adjusting heat to maintain temperature, about 1 minute per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to paper towels to drain. Cool completely.

Glaze Directions:

Whisk powdered sugar and 4 tablespoons whipping cream to blend. Whisk in additional cream, 1 teaspoon at a time, to form medium thick glaze.
Can be made up to 3 hours ahead.
Add doughnut holes to bowl of spiced sugar and toss to coat.
Spread doughnuts on 1 side with powdered sugar glaze.
Arrange doughnuts, glazed side up, on racks. Let stand until glaze sets, at least 30 minutes.

Presto Pasta Nights #184 Roundup

2010-10-08T10:28:00.001-04:00

I have the great pleasure of hosting Presto Pasta Nights this week, and I am happy to say that there are a lot of great dishes that I want to try out myself! I was very honored when Ruth of Once Upon a Feast asked if I would like to host Presto Pasta Nights; and of course I had to say yes!
So please enjoy this weeks roundup!

First of this week is Limecake who cooked up some Fried Bee Hoon; a dish that is made with rice vermicelli and is very veratile like fried rice.

Amritha of AK's Vegetarian Recipe World made Mixed Vegetable Vermicelli, and says it is a very common Indian dish and can be cooked for breakfast or for dinner.

Rachel of The Crispy Cook brings us a gluten free dish; Korean Chapchae. She says that the noodles had a springy texture and that the dish was even better the next day because the noodles absorbed more of the sauce.

Anu of Truth Personified brings us a wonderful dish to celebrate the end of summer vegetables. Summer Veggie Tomato Basil Fettuccine is full of zucchini and yellow pattypan squash and is a great end to summer veggies.

Elizabeth of blog from OUR kitchen made a delicious looking Smoked Penne and Cheese dish. I don't know about you, but I LOVE anything that is smoked! I'll have to try this sometime!

Daphne of More Than Words brings us a fresh and spicy Spiced Thai Style Soba Noodle Soup. I just love the vibrant colours of the soup and just want to dig in to it!

Aparna of Apy cooking! tried out her first citrusy pasta dish with Lemony Linguine with Creamy Mascarpone. I love the name of this dish! And she has a great tip on how to cook your veggies while cooking your pasta!

Val of More Than Burnt Toast made a Comforting Macaroni and Cheese. I really could have used some of this dish this week since I've been a bit sick! I'll have to give this a try now that it is starting to get cooler here in Ontario, Canada :)

Joanne of Eats Well With Others brings us a mouth watering Mom's Lasagna. I've always loved lasagna and this one seems like it has a good mix of different ingredients.

Supriya of Queen of My Kitchen gives us a great way to get some extra veggies into our day with Pasta with Loaded Pasta Sauce. I know I need to add more veggies to my diet, so I'll be sure to try this out :)

Chaya of My Sweet and Savory brings us a quick to make Pesto Pasta with Feta. I just love how easy this is to make and with how few ingredients that are needed. A great weeknight meal!

Christine of Kits Chow is frying up some Yakiudon this week. I love how easy and adaptable this recipe is.

And last but not least is my submission! I made a quick and adaptable Pumkin Ravioli with Brown Butter.

Thank you so much for joining in for this weeks roundup! Next week's host will be Claudia of Honey From a Rock. Send your pasta dishes for next week to claudiariley (at) yahoo dot) com and cc ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com by October 14. The next roundup will be posted on October 15th.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter

2010-10-06T18:33:00.000-04:00

I was looking for a way to use up some of my pumpkin puree and some leftover wonton wrappers and was lucky enough to find a recipe that could do just that. This was a simple and easy dish to make and is sure to impress if you make them for guests. I made this for myself as a quick lunch! So go ahead and try it! :)

I'm really excited to be hosting Presto Pasta Nights #184. I've only submitted a few dishes to PPN, but I love seeing all the dishes that other bloggers submit! Every week there is always a bunch of posts that make my mouth water and that I want to make myself! I Can't wait to see all your dishes! :)
This is my entry for Presto Pasta Nights #184.

Pumpkin Ravioli
Serves 2, adapted from Cook this, not that.
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
1/2 can pumpkin puree (8oz)
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
pinch of nutmeg
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste
24 wonton wrappers
1 egg white, beaten
2 tbsp butter
sage leaves (Optional)

Directions:
1. Mix pumpkin, vinegar, nutmeg, cheese and salt and pepper together in a bowl.
2. Lay down a wonton wrapper and spoon a small amount of filling onto the wrapper (don't over stuff). Paint the edge on the wonton wrapper with egg white and place another wonton wrapper on top and press the edges together.
3. Cook in salted boiling water for 3 minutes and then drain.
4. Heat butter on medium heat and cook until turning brown (careful not to burn the butter).
5. Add ravioli to brown butter and coat well.
6. Garnish with Parmesan and sage (if using).

Announcing Presto Pasta Nights # 184

2010-10-04T22:14:00.000-04:00

I have the pleasure of hosting Presto Pasta Nights # 184 this week. This will be my first time hosting any kind of event, and I'm very excited to see what great pasta dishes will be submitted this week :)

To participate you need to blog about your pasta dish between now and October 8th, mention and link to Presto Pasta Nights, as well as my blog Cook, eat, play, repeat. Email me your link and photograph at jenisnape AT gmail DOT com and also CC Ruth at ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com.

I can't wait to see your dishes! :) Happy cooking and blogging!

Hot and Sour Soup

2010-09-29T10:48:00.001-04:00

I love Hot and Sour soup! Seriously! I can't get enough of it. I always order it when it's on the menu, and most of the time I'm hugely disappointed. Too vinegary, too spicy, too bland, too thick, too thin. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with restaurant Hot and Sour soup. That is why I am so happy I've found a recipe that works so well that I can just make it at home whenever I want it.
I've already made it twice in one week! The first time I followed Kevin's recipe from Closet Cooking to the 'T'. But I found it to be a bit too peppery and a bit to spicy for my liking; I like to taste the soup, not have my mouth burn off! So I adapted the recipe bit to make it more to our liking. And wow, what a difference! I can't believe how much of a difference there was between the two versions! Changing a few small things can make this soup taste very different (I added different mushrooms in the second attempt, and wow, it was awesome). And considering how much I love this soup, this is a good thing. So I can change the taste a little every time I make it! I can't really describe this soup in other way other then that I dream about eating this soup all day long. In fact, Martin is away for work in BC this week and I'm kind of happy that I can eat this soup all week long and not have to worry about him getting sick of it! Yes, I'm making it again! And again! :) Anyway, on to the soup!

Hot and Sour Soup
Serves 4, Adapted from Closet Cooking
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup wood ear mushrooms, Sliced (I used a mix of Porchini, Chanterelle, Shiitake, Portabella and Oyster)
1/2 cup dried black mushrooms (Black Fungus), Sliced
8 dried lily buds/flowers, sliced
1/2 cup bamboo shoots
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar (I used Mature Vinegar...not sure if it's the same)
4 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp oil
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 pound soft tofu, cut into small pieces (half a small package is about right)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
1/2 tsp white pepper, ground
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp chili oil, to taste
1/2 tbsp chili sauce, to taste

Directions:
1. Soak the wood ear mushrooms, black mushrooms, and lilly buds/flowers in boiling water until softened, about 20 minutes.
3. Cover the bamboo shoots in water, bring to a boil, drain and shred.
4. Mix the vinegars, soy sauce, salt and sugar in a bowl.
5. Mix the cornstarch into the water in a bowl.
6. Heat the oil in a large pot.
7. Add the wood ear and black mushrooms, lily buds/flowers and bamboo shoots and saute for a minute.
8. Add the broth and tofu and bring to a boil.
9. Add the vinegar mixture and the cornstarch mixture and stir until it thickens.
10. Pour the eggs into the soup in a thin stream while stirring the soup.

11. Stir in the peppers, oils and chili sauce.

I'll be sharing this with Souper Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen. I'm sure there will be lot's of yummy soups, salads, and sammies to see over there on Sunday :)

Daring Bakers: Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

2010-09-27T22:02:00.000-04:00

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

When I first found out what this months challenge was I was really excited. I had always wanted to try decorating sugar cookies with royal icing...but I was always too intimidated by it. But this month I was so busy that I didn't get to bake these until yesterday! Needless to say, I felt rushed.

I also wanted to mention that I did not make it to round two in Project Food Blog. I am really disappointed that I didn't even get past the first round, but at the same time I'm a bit happy about it. I'm just way too busy to be able to crank out a new challenge ever week!

Anyway, in the end I learned 3 things by doing this challenge:

1. I am never going to decorate cookies like this again unless it's for a super special occasion! This is far too much work just to 'celebrate September'.

2. I have a pretty quick learning curve for making royal icing.
Here's my first attempt:

Here's the finished product:

3. Liquid colouring sucks! I really wish I could have found gel colouring. So instead of apples to celebrate fall, I now have apples from Barbies fairy land :( Oh well.

While this challenge was not as much work as the last two challenges, for some reason this one I had the least amount of patience for. I'm sure I could have done a better job at decorating, but I just wanted to get it over with in the end. I'm still happy I took part in this challenge, but I will have to try it again some time when I have a bit more patience ;)

I used both techniques for icing and I have to say I prefer the same consistency method. It just seems like the cookies looked better using this method.

I know this challenge was all about decorating, but I have to say that I loved the cookies! They tasted fantastic; Nice and vanilla buttery. I actually preferred the cookies undecorated ^^;

Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes Approximately 36 Cookies
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour, sifted
1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
2. Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
4. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
5. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch). Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
6. Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
7. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
8. Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
9. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
10. Leave to cool on cooling racks. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

Royal Icing:

Ingredients:
2½ - 3 cups Icing Sugar, sifted
2 Large Egg Whites
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Almond Extract

Directions:
1. Beat egg whites with lemon juice and almond extract until combined.
2. Add icing sugar to the egg whites.
• Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.
3. Beat on low until combined and smooth.
4. Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.

Voting for Project Food Blog is now open!

2010-09-20T20:40:00.000-04:00

Voting is now open on Project Food Blog! There are a lot of amazing posts, but only 400 can advance! Help me out by going over here and voting for my entry. Every vote counts!
Good luck to my fellow food bloggers! :) Thanks for all the encouragement!

Daring Cooks: Apple Butter

2010-09-15T11:48:00.000-04:00

"The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation."

I had tons of fun with this challenge. Not only was canning fun, but a bunch of our friends are also into canning right now so we made a bunch of stuff. First, Apple Butter, for the Daring Cook's Challenge. And then we made peach pepper jelly, spicy green beans, whole tomatoes and tomato sauce! And with apples coming into season soon I can see more canning in our future.

For the apple butter I used a recipe very similar recipe to the one that John of Eat4Fun suggested, with some minor changes. The apple butter turned out to be very spice tasting and very thick and spreadable. I loved the taste and it reminded me very much of Fall. We will definitely be using a lot of our apple butter this Fall and we are also hoping to cook some dinners using it as well.
I hope that some of you readers will also give canning a try (if you haven't already!) :)

Apple Butter
Makes 18 jars of various sizes
Found on RecipeTips.com

Ingredients:
4 pounds apples (Various kinds if possible)
2 cups sugar
1 cup apple cider
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1 lemon, juice and zest

Directions:
1. Peel, core, and cut up the apples.
2. Combine apples with cider, sugar, salt, spices and lemon. Cook over low heat stirring frequently until the apples are soft and and the mixture becomes very thick. (Test by scooping up a heaping spoonful. The mixture should keep its rounded shape and not flatten out.)
4. Use a hand blender to blend the mixture until smooth.

Canning the Apple Butter

1. Put jars and caps in the oven on a cookie sheet, open side up, at 200 degrees F until for at least 10 minutes (but longer is ok).
2. You need a pot that will let you add the jars with 1 inch or water above them (and a rack below to the jars are not on direct heat).
3. Take jars out of oven and fill with apple butter leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
4. Put the lids on a screw tight by hand (not too tighly as the air needs to escape in the water).
5. Add jars to pot of boling water. Bring the water back to the boil and time for 15 minutes.
6. Take jars out of water and let them cool down on a dish towel. If you hear the jars popping, that's good (they are sealing).
7. Check to see if all the lids have popped. If so you can now store your apple butter.
8. Make sure to check the lid before opening the apple butter. If it is bulging, or the apple butter has changed in colour, etc, then throw it out!

Ready, Set, Blog! - Project Food Blog Challenge #1

2010-09-12T20:44:00.005-04:00

This post is the first of ten challenges that I am hoping to participate in during Project Food Blog. There are 1,794 contestants and only 400 will make it to the second challenge. So my challenge is to show you why I should be one of the 400 that will make it through to the next challenge.

First off, I wanted to let you know that writing this post for this challenge has resulted in a large debate about what should actually be said in this post.
At first I wanted to tell a story about how I grew to love cooking and about how I love to travel. But then I realized (after much heated discussion) that this would be very generic and that I really needed to share who I actually am. The real me, in all my flawed glory.

So here it is: the real me.
First off, I need to let you know that I’m the kind of person who needs to write things down right away or else I’ll forget them. I have a terrible memory. And I like to make lists. Which is why if I improvise something in a recipe I need to write it down right away (not that I improvise much). Secondly, I tend to need outside input for a lot of my decisions. I’m horribly indecisive. For example, today when we went shopping, I took so long deciding which cookie cutters I wanted to buy that my boyfriend finished the rest of the shopping! It’s gotten to the point where if I really can’t decide I’ll just flip a coin.

I’m also the type of person who will chase butterflies while everyone else is golfing. And no matter how many times I’ve said it before, every time I see a duck/swan/goose/puffin I will always say ‘oh my god, they are so cute!’. I’m pretty sure my boyfriend just ignores me when I start ohhhing and awwwing over animals. And no, I’m not going to change.

I’m also the type of person who appreciates fine cuisine but who will also still eat her boyfriends perfectly cooked eggs with ketchup. Yes, and that’s not changing either…unless those eggs are cooked with truffle oil!

I am also a bit of a geek. My boyfriend is a physicist and when his colleagues start talking about Star Trek he zones out and I’m the one who chimes in! I can also talk about video games for quite some time too! And I love it when the train goes by in Uptown Waterloo (because there are no crossing signs and someone from the train has to jump off and make sure cars stop…its pretty awesome).
I also love the little vanilla bean seeds in ice cream and crème brulée.

So, why should I be the Food Blog star?
Sure, I’m pretty terrified at cutting myself, but I’m still a foodie at heart and I try my best to eat and cook just about everything. And even though my dreams of becoming a chef are pretty much out of the question since it takes me about half an hour to chop an onion, I know I have what it takes to be creative and have fun with these challenges. I know these challenges will force me to be outside my comfort zone, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s how you change as a person (and as a blogger), and I’m confident that I have what it takes to get through any accidents, mistakes or roadblocks that get in my way. I’m also looking forward to trying new techniques and new themes, and hopefully I’ll have a few friends who are ready for a dinner party ;)

Review: Nick and Nat's Uptown 21

2010-09-11T16:27:00.000-04:00

When I first heard about Nick and Nat's Uptown 21, I was told that the chef from Hannah's was the chef at Uptown 21. And while I never made it to Hannah's before it closed, I did make it to Hannah's Tapa's. I was in love with Hannah's Tapa's and Martin loved Hannah's so we had high hopes for Uptown 21.

And we were not disappointed! One of the first things that stood out about Uptown 21 is that they use seasonal local produce. The second thing that stood out is that they have a daily prix fixe menu.
I fell in love with fixed menus when I was living in the Netherlands; Less choices, but more affordable if you want a 3 course meal. One of the top reasons I love fixed menus is because I often have to try foods that I've never tried, or have not tried in a long time. And Uptown 21 did not disappoint in that sense.

Now, I was hoping to grab the menu to take a picture of it so I would remember what I had eaten, but I forgot to do that (and we were one of the last tables in the restaurant at that point too). So I'll try my best to accurately describe the dishes we ate.
Also, sorry for the quality of the photographs! The lighting was terrible for picture taking so I had to use flash!

First up: Captain Picard’s foie gras bites; Nick’s interpretation of the great French Canadian chef’s foie gras croquettes

The first thing I thought when I read the description was....omg Captain Picard! teeheehee. Sorry, the trekkie in me cannot be contained sometimes. The second thought...oh! Martin Picard! This is going to be awesome! And it was! The fois gras had melted a little since it was deep fried and the texture was amazingly silky. And the sauce! TO DIE FOR! I really had to stop myself from licking the plate (and I obviously could not stop myself from devouring it before taking a picture! Oops!) You can tell it's the chef from Hannah's because of the sauces! This little baby will only set you back $4 to boot! I could go for a few more of these!

Now on to the daily Prix Fixe Menu that we went for. My cousin, Martin and I all went for the 3 courses of 2 apps and a main which is $40. If you did 1 app, a main and a dessert then it would be only $35. Martin's mom went for a main on the regular menu.

First up, the first appetizer:

This appetizer was what I choose. It is a squash carpaccio, blonde frisse with fried onions and a corn and cheese fritter. And again the sauce with it was amazing. I'm pretty sure it had figs in it. The squash was cut so thinly it just felt so light to eat. I think I might be a squash lover now! And the fritter was perfectly fried; not too hard and not too soft. And it just burst with flavour. I could eat this everyday. Seriously, not exaggerating.

This was Martin's first choice. A salted cod spread with toasted bread. He loved it, I however was not a fan since it was very salty and fishy...and I'm not a fan of fish. But any fish or seafood lover would love this!

Next up for our second app:

This is what I choose: Beet salad with aged cheddar and roasted corn. Again, I could eat this everyday! It was a very light salad that was dressed very lightly and full of flavour. Dispite what the picture looks like, this salad was a mountain! I couldn't finish it all so Martin also had some of it.

And Martin's choice was a Morrocan style lamb soup with kale. I loved it! The lamb had a really nice spice taste and the kale was a great addition of texture. Martin was not really a fan of the kale though.

And now the mains!

My choice was the braised baby beef shank. And oh was it good! It was so tender and caramelized. It was really just falling off the bone! I'm really sad that I could not eat it all since I had stuffed myself so much with the apps! Oh well, next time I know to take it easy.

Martin got yellow perch a cheese fondue and pureed pumpkin. Martin said it was amazing, but the least amazing out of all the courses. Again, I found it too fishy (but I am not a fish lover).

And yes, on top of all that found my cousin and I shared a dessert: Crème brulée.

Yes, we ate it all before I remember to take a picture! It was to die for. The BEST Crème brulée I have ever had! Can you see all the vanilla seeds in the bottom. I ate as many of them as I could.

And Martin's mom choice a main off of the regular menu: Choucroute Garnis; house smoked sausages, bacon and pork loin chop braised with white wine sauerkraut, potatoes and apples $28.

I did not try this but it smelled delicious! And it was a huge portion! Two people could have eaten that! (there was more of the side in a hot skillet that is not in the picture).

I really hope that I am able to go to Nick and Nat's Uptown 21 more often. I cant wait to see what else they can come up with!

Overall I was blown away by the food. It took a long time to get to the table, but it was worth the wait, and it was a nice change to spend a few hours in the restaurant and not get pushed out. The only thing that I think needs improvement is the service, as a drink order or two was forgotten. But overall I have nothing to complain about!

Nick and Nat's Uptown 21's rating is: 5/5

Nick & Nat's Uptown21
21 King Street North, Waterloo, ON
(519-883-1100)
http://www.uptown21.ca/

Penne Carbonara

2010-09-01T11:54:00.000-04:00

We had no idea what to make for dinner last night. No idea at all. So Martin suggested that we make pasta. I agreed that that might be a good idea. It was really hot and humid outside last night so we were not going to be making any epic meals that night. Then Martin looked in the fridge and said: Carbonara? I said YES!!!
Now, if you know me you'll know why I said YES so quickly. The reason? BACON! I love bacon! :)

I also remembered that I haven't participated in Presto Pasta Nights in a while, so I thought this you be a great opportunity to submit a meal again. This weeks Presto Pasta Nights is being hosted by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast. Can't wait to see all the other submissions! There are always great recipes to be found :)

Penne Carbonara
Serves 2
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, chopped
6 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 cup white wine
1 1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Sweat the onions, garlic and shallots over medium heat. Add bacon when the onion mixture is almost done.
2. Put a pot of salted water on the stove and boil (You want the pasta to cook while you finish the sauce).
3. Increase heat to medium-high to fry the mixture for about 1 minute, then lower heat so that the fat on the bacon will melt.
4. Increase back to medium high to fry again (By doing this everything will cook evenly and nothing should burn).
5. Deglaze pan with white wine to get all the yummy brown bits at the bottom of the pan.
6. Cook pasta in boiled water according to the packages instructions.
7. Add sour cream and stir well to combine.
8. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste. Grate in some Parmesan and mix well.
9. Drain pasta and add to the finished sauce. Toss to coat pasta.
10. Grate more Parmesan on top and add more pepper to garnish.

Buskers, Burrito Bowls and Beer

2010-08-30T22:50:00.001-04:00

Here in Waterloo, ON we have a street festival every year. It's the Busker Carnival! It's an international street performers festival and it's always guaranteed fun! I had a little bit of time by myself so I decided to stop by on my way to get groceries for my dinner.

Bob was hilarious! And very talented! He put on a great show and really got the crowd going. There were also a few scary moments:

He was juggling knives while doing that! Craziness! I wish I would have had more time to see some other performers too, but I was getting hungry and headed to the grocery store instead.

I wanted to make a dinner that would require a bit more time then I usually have since I had the day off work. I saw Burritos Bowls on Closet Cooking and knew that I had to make them! They were a lot of work since I had to make so many different recipes, but it was so worth it! The rice was tangy and fresh tasting and the Pico de Gallo was so good! Nice and spicy! I didn't want to buy tequila just for this recipe so I used some of the pre-cooked chicken I had in the freezer and heated it up with lime juice and cumin. Though if I made this again I would just skip the chicken all together since the jalapano spiced black beans were more then enough :) And again, just the right amount of heat! Yum!
And of course a nice cold beer is a great way to end a hot day:

Mango Summer Rolls and Thai Green Curry

2010-08-29T18:34:00.001-04:00

I really wasn't in the mood for cooking on the day I made these. Really, I wasn't. But then I flipped through a cookbook of mine and it was love a first sight. I had to make these. Luckily there really isn't much cooking involved (since when I made these it was still pretty hot and humid outside). Though there are a lot of other steps that don't involve cooking ;)

This dinner was pretty much like eating at a restaurant. We could have paid a bunch of $$$ for this. Yes, it was that good. And I had left overs the next day and they were just as good, if not better.

The Summer Rolls were perfect. Not too much vermicelli, a nice burst of cilantro, the sweetness of the mango and the crunch of the cucumbers and peanuts made for the perfect combination. And the dipping sauce was nice and tangy. Perfect for a summer's day.

And the Thai Green Curry was also fantastic. Very fresh tasting and lot's of sauce to soak the rice in! I also loved that the red peppers were still slightly crunchy (nothing is worse then soggy red peppers!). I made it with tofu this time, but next time I would try it with chicken. I think maybe letting the sauce soak into the tofu more would make the tofu taste a bit better. I'll have to keep experimenting with it.

Mango Summer Rolls

Serves 4, Adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

1 mango, peeled and sliced (like matchsticks)

1/2 cucumber, sliced (like matchsticks)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro (Feel free to obmit if you don't like cilantro)

4 oz thin rice noodles (vermicelle)

1/4 roasted salted peanuts, chopped

1 package rice wrappers (You probably won't need all of them)

Directions:

1. Boil water in a pot and turn off heat once it comes to a boil. Add rice noodles and let them soak for 10 minutes stirring once in a while.

2. Drain the noodles and run them under cold water.

3. Fill a large pan with hot water and place rice wrapper 1 or 2 at a time until pliable (takes about 30 seconds).

4. Remove rice wrapper from water and pat dry with paper towel (they are less mushy and last longer in the fridge if you do this).

5. In the lower part of the wrapper place about 2 tbsp of the rice noodles, 1 tsp of peanuts, 5-6 slices of mango, 5-6 slices of cucumber and 3-4 cilantro leaves.

6. Fold the left and right sides of the wrapper over the filling and then roll the wrapper up.

7. Repeat until you run out of filling.

Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tsp Asian chili oil (Or peanut oil with red pepper flakes)

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 tbsp roasted peanuts, chopped

3 tsp sugar

Directions:

1. Mix together and chill.

Green Thai Curry

Serves 4, Adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

For chili paste:

4 jalapanos, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup boiling water

2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed

1 tsp cumin seeds

5 white peppercorns

1 tbsp lemon grass (fresh or from a tube if fresh is not available)

1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 cup fresh cilantro

2 tsp lime zest

2 shallots, chopped

For the curry:

5 tbsp peanut oil

1 block of firm tofu, pressed and cut into triangles (or you can use chicken)

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium red onion, sliced

1 can of coconut milk

2 tbsp maple syrup

juice of 1 lime

1/2 fresh basil (Thai basil if you can find it)

To make chili paste:

Directions:

1. Place the jalapanos in a bowl and cover with the boiling water and soak for 15 minutes.

2. Toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and peppercorns over medium heat for about 2 minutes.

3. Use a food processor or mortar and pestle to grind the spices into a powder.

4.Add the rest of the ingredients (including the water the jalapanos are soaking in) to the food processor or use a blender and grind into a paste.

To make the curry:

1. Heat 2 tbsp of peanut oil and cook the tofu over medium-high heat until golden on both sides. Put aside on a plate.

2. Heat 2 tbsp of peanut oil and saute the red pepper and onions until slightly tender. Set aside.

3. Preheat a sauce pan and cook chili paste for a few minutes while stirring. Add the coconut milk and heat up over low-medium heat while stirring.

4. Bring to a boil and add maple syrup.

5. Add tofu, red peppers and onions to the curry and cook for 5 minutes.

6. Add basil and let sit off of heat for about 5 minutes.

7. Serve with Jasmine rice.

Daring Bakers: Ice Cream Petit Fours

2010-08-27T17:08:00.002-04:00

"The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”."

I was really excited to try making ice cream again, since my last attempt was a little bit of a failure. I was also really excited to try making pound cake, since I'd never made it before!
I'm happy to report that the ice cream was a huge success! It was super creamy and had a great vanilla flavour! And it stayed frozen like ice cream is supposed to! :)

Unfortunately the pound cake was a COMPLETE FAILURE! :( When I took it out of the oven and stuck a toothpick in it it seemed to be done (and I had left it in for the recommended amount of time). But as the cake cooled I quickly realized that the middle was still uncooked! I really didn't have the time to start from scratch again so I quickly put it back in the oven and hoped for the best. But of course the cake came out WAY TOO DRY! :( I was really disappointed. But I continued on like a trooper and finished the Petit Fours anyway!
I tried one of the finished Petit Fours and the cake was terrible! So I decided to salvage the ice cream and throw away the cake.

The cake looked very sad sitting there in an abandoned pile. But I have to admit...the little ice cream blocks are pretty darn cute! :) So it was all worth it in the end.

I tried the one that I cut open for the photo here and the cake was actually not bad! I guess some parts of the cake were not too dry...
My ice cream layer was thicker than it should have been, so it kind of bulged out of the sides and made the Petit Fours look like leaning towers...but it still tasted good! I loved the chocolate on the outside, though next time I would like the chocolate to be a little thinner.

Note:
The pound cake calls for cake flour. You can make 1 cup of cake flour by placing 2 tablespoons of corn starch in a 1 cup measure, and filling to the top with all purpose flour.

Ice Cream Petit Fours:
(Printable Recipe)

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (165g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise OR 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
2 cups (500ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean with a paring knife and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If you do not have a vanilla bean, simply heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams, then let cool to room temperature.)
2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2 litre) bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour ¼ cup warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.
4. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 teaspoon [5ml] if you are using a vanilla bean; 3 teaspoons [15ml] if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make it without a machine. See instructions from David Lebovitz: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/07/making_ice_crea_1.html

Brown Butter Pound Cake

Ingredients:
19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:
9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract

Directions:
Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

Assembly Instructions

1. Line a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) pan with plastic wrap, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and so there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides. Spread 1 ¾ to 2 cups (450ml to 500ml) ice cream into the pan. Cover with more plastic wrap and freeze several hours.
2. Once the brown butter pound cake has completely cooled, level the top with a cake leveler or a serrated knife. Then split the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers.
3. Unwrap the frozen ice cream. Flip out onto one of the layers of cake and top with the second layer of cake. Wrap well in plastic wrap and return to the freezer overnight.
4. Make the chocolate glaze (see above.)
5. While the glaze cools, trim ¾” (2cm) off each side of the ice cream cake to leave a perfectly square 7.5” (19cm) ice cream cake. Cut the cake into twenty five petit fours, each 1.5”x1.5” (4cmx4cm).
6. Glaze the petit fours one at a time: place a petit four on a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.
7. Place the petit fours on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the freezer for one hour.

Yarn Bombs, Cheese and a Wedding!

2010-08-17T14:33:00.000-04:00

I found another Yarn Bomb a while ago...just haven't had time to make any blog posts lately. I also saw a bunch of new Yarn Bombs at Waterloo Town Square, so I'll try to get some pics of those new ones soon. Every time I see a new one it makes me smile :)

Also quite a while ago now, Martin attempted to make some paneer cheese at home. It was successful for the most part, we'll just need to work on the seasoning next time as it was a bit bland tasting. Overall it was a pretty successful day though since we also made homemade pickles and I was also doing my first Daring Cooks challenge of making pierogies :)

And last but certainly not least, the wedding!

Some good friends of ours were married and of course we had an amazing time! The wedding itself was short and sweet and the reception was a blast. It was also great that the weather was nice since the ceremony was outdoors. We got to hang out with some of our best friends and I'm very happy for the Bride and Groom! Here is some of the celebrating that took place:

My hair :)

And we ended the night by getting pizza and going to Ethel's, though by this point I really couldn't drink anymore!

Now all the fun aside, I've been so busy with cooking, cleaning, reading, having fun and working that I just haven't had time to blog as much as I would like. I still have a bunch of things I need catch up on, so expect more posts this week :)

Daring Cooks': Pierogies

2010-08-14T12:21:00.002-04:00

"The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale."

This was my first daring cooks' challenge and it was a challenge I really enjoyed! I made two types of pierogies: potato and mushroom and potato with sauerkraut, bacon, and cheese.
Though it was a lot of work, I would definitely make pierogies again. Not only did we enjoy our pierogies on the night that we made them, but we also froze a bunch of extra ones and have been enjoying them for quick dinners as well.

Next time I would mix the potato mixture more to make it more to make it more smooth. And I would also season the mixture more.

Out of the two, I preferred the Potato, sauerkraut, bacon and cheese one the best. It just seemed to have more flavours and a better balance of flavours; salty, sour, and creamy.
I sauted the pierogies with onions and bacon and served the them with sour cream. Delish!

Here is the recipes I used:

Dough

Ingredients:

2 to 2 1/2 cups (300 to 375 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
About 1 cup lukewarm water (I used about 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center.
2. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time.
3. Mix the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary.
4. Cover the dough with a towel. Let it rest 20 minutes.

Here is what I used for the fillings:

Potato, sauerkraut, bacon and cheese

Ingredients:

3 big potatoes, cooked & mashed
1 cup cottage cheese, drained
1 onion, diced & sauteed in butter until clear
6 slices of streaky bacon, diced and fried till crispy
1/4 cup sauerkraut, rinsed
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 egg yolk (from medium egg)
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt

Potato and Mushroom

Ingredients:
3 big potatoes, cooked & mashed
1 package of crimini mushrooms (225g), chopped
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 egg yolk (from medium egg)
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling into a bowl and mix.
2. Cover and set aside in the fridge until you have to use it.

Assembly:

1. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly and cut with a round or glass. (I used my pasta machine to get the dough super thin! And the rolling went much quicker with a pasta machine!)
2. Spoon a teaspoon of the filling into the middle of each circle.
3. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together and use a fork to crimp the edges.
4. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.

Cooking:
1. Cook the fresh or frozen pierogies by adding them to boiling salted water and waiting until until they float and cook them for 5 minutes more after they started floating.
2. Then remove them with a slotted spoon and fry them in butter, onions and bacon.

I froze the extra pierogies without boiling them. They are cooked the same way as the fresh pierogies :) I will definitely be making more pierogies in the future!

Review: My-Thai

2010-08-01T12:24:00.002-04:00

Let me start off by saying that I was not paid to do this review. I am reviewing this restaurant because I ate there and would like others to know what it is like. You can view their website here.

I had originally intended on going to a new restaurant in Uptown Waterloo called Ish and Chips, but they were closed :( So that review will have to wait. Instead we went to My-Thai. And we were not disappointed.
My-Thai has most of the common Thai dishes that everyone knows of and loves, such as: spring rolls, summer rolls, pad thai, thai curries and more.
Because I went to eat there with a friend we went with the daily 'two can eat for 24.95' deal. We decided to go for the 'Traditional Meal' which consisted of:

Thai Spring Rolls

Pad Thai with Vegetables

Emerald Curry with Chicken

Thai Jasmine Rice (And a view of everything on my plate)

Now that is a lot of food for two people! If you have a big appetite then you will not be disappointed in My-Thai.

The spring rolls were pretty standard, and seemed a little over fried to me. But they were still tasty. The Pad Thai was delicious. It had a very authentic flavours and the tofu in it was the perfect texture. It was sweet and tangy and not overly spicy like most of the crap Pad Thai I've had at other restaurants. The crunchy peanuts were a nice addition and was a welcomed texture and taste in the Pad Thai.
The Pad Thai was my favorite part of the meal.
The Emerald Curry with Chicken was also very good though. It had a nice creamy coconut milk taste and I used the rice to eat all of the liquid in the curry. The veggies were cooked perfectly (not too soft not too hard). I also like the variety of veggies they choose for both the Pad Thai and the Emerald Curry.
Jasmine rice is definitely not an uncommon thing for me so that is just a normal staple you need with dishes like these. In fact, Jasmin rice is my favourite type of rice :)

The service was also good; a prompt greeting, we received our drinks quickly and our spring rolls arrived with enough time to finish them before receiving the main courses.

Overall, I was happy with both the food an the service from My-Thai. Though the decor could use a little more work. I would eat at My-Thai again.

My-Thai's rating is: 3/5

My-Thai Restaurant Waterloo

Something I will start doing on my reviews now is rating. I think a rating system will make it easier to show exactly what I think of the restaurants I am eating at.
My scale and standards will be this:
0/5 Terrible; do not recommend at all.
1/5 Capable cooking, but some inconsistencies
2/5 Decent cooking, but occasional inconsistencies
3/5 Good cooking, using quality ingredients
4/5 Great cooking, showing attention to detail, balance and high quality ingredients.
5/5 Exemplary cooking, I'm excited by what I have ate and dream about eating it again and again.

Urban Knitting/Yarn Bombing and Miso

2010-07-31T14:00:00.002-04:00

I have just recently discovered a new type of graffiti in Waterloo: Urban Knitting or Yarn Bombing.
Here are some examples:

I actually saw the girl knitting the one in the last picture! We were coming home from Ethel's at 11pm and she was sitting there knitting it on! :) Wish I would have had my camera on me.
I'll keep my eye's peeled for new knitted stuff.

UPDATE!: Last night I found tons of new yarn bombs! I guess keeping an eye out for them really worked! I wrote this post yesterday and wanted to post it today so I went out this morning and took pictures of the new yarn bombs that I had not seen before.

The one on the tree had a tag on it that went to this site. Zilliah explains a bit about who she is and what yarn bombing is, and she has a cute blog.
I'll continue to keep my eyes open for more :)

Also, I just bought a tub of red miso and I was trying to think of ways I could use it up. Since I've been taking salads to work a lot recently I figured I should make some miso salad dressing.
This dressing is so amazingly tasty! It's spicy, sour and salty all at the same time! It really livens up salads and you could also use this as a dip for veggies! :)

Miso Salad Dressing
Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 tbsp red miso paste
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp honey
1 tsp mustard OR 1/2 tsp wasabi

Directions:
1. Add all ingredients to a bowl or tupperware and mix well unitl smooth.
2. Add dressing to salad (or keep in fridge until ready to use).

A Day in the Park

2010-07-30T11:55:00.001-04:00

Despite having rain a few days this week, we did have some nice days as well. On on of these nice days I went for a nice long walk in Waterloo Park. Here are some of the things I saw:

Can you tell I like birds??? ;)
The mother peacock has a baby peacock hiding under her wing...can you see the baby? And the miniature pony was scratching his butt on the fence! So funny!
And why do the Canada Geese want to cross the road??? Just to screw with cars...since there is nothing but a fence on the other side of the road!

Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

2010-07-27T09:45:00.000-04:00

"The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home."

The Daring Bakers challenge was indeed a challenge. I had never made ice cream before and there were a lot of steps to complete the cake. I ended up going full steam ahead and finished the entire cake in 1 day (though I would never recommend anyone trying to finish this in 1 day!). I followed Sunita's recipes exactly since I had never made ice cream or swiss rolls before and didn't want to screw it up by adapting the recipes. It would be very easy to split up the baking/ice cream making through several days to make this a less daunting cake to make (and I would do that if I ever made this again). The only problem I had was that the chocolate ice cream seemed to melt a lot quicker than the rest of the cake (and a few others had the same problem so I might try another chocolate ice cream recipe next time).

Seriously, what a mess! But it tasted great! Next time I would try to cool the plates down to help keep the cake un-melted. The vanilla ice cream had a creamy vanilla taste and the swiss rolls were like sponges and just sucked up the flavours of everything else! The fudge was a little disappointing as it seemed to have crystalized in the freezer :( The chocolate ice cream tasted great, but as you saw above it melted way too quickly. Overall I was happy how my first attempt at ice cream turned out.
I had a great time with the Daring Bakers Challenge and am looking forward to the next challenge!

Bring it on! >:)

Here is the recipes I used: - Sunita's Recipes
- Here is a printable version (that does not have pictures).

Crunchy Salad with Hot and Sour Dressing

2010-07-24T09:34:00.000-04:00

I love Nigella Express! I rented it from the library, but after making several recipes I think I might just buy it! :) All of Nigella's recipes are easy to make and easy to adapt! I had this salad for lunch at work and also for a snack at night. The veggies are crunchy and the dressing is just the right amount of spicey and sour. It would be easy to switch the veggies out for whatever you prefer (I am not a fan of beansprouts so I left them out). I did not dress the veggies until I was about to eat them so I am not sure how this would hold up if you stored it after dressing.

Crunchy Salad with Hot and Sour Dressing
Serves 4 (Adapted from Nigella Express)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

For the Dressing:
2-3 tsp pad thai sauce (to taste)
2 teaspoon sesame oil
4 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
2 tsp honey
4 tbsp canola oil
pinch of salt

For the Salad:
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
2 big handfuls of green beans (Or more if you like them), ends removed and cut into 3 pieces
1 can of baby corn
1 box of button mushrooms (or whatever kind you prefer), sliced
romaine lettuce (Use as much as you want in your salad), torn
beansprouts (I did not use these as they only had giant bags at the grocery store and I don't like them)

Directions:
1. Add all the dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk.
2. Cook the broccoli, green beans, and corn in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and add to ice cold water to stop the cooking and to keep them crunchy!
3. Add lettuce, cooked veggies and mushrooms into a bowl and add the dressing. Toss salad to coat with dressing.

Ribfest, lunch and more to come!

2010-07-23T13:18:00.001-04:00

A lot has happened in the past week so this post will have several topics in it. I promise they are all food related ;) And yummy!
First up is the Rib and Craft Beer Fest that I went to in Kitchener, ON at Victoria Park. I only made it for the end of the first day as I had to work the rest of the weekend, but what I did manage to drink and eat was amazing! The BBQ sauce on the pulled pork was perfect. Not too sweet and not too vinegary.

It also came with BBQ chicken, ribs, baked beans (southwest style) and coleslaw. It was delicious! The coleslaw was refreshing after so much BBQ sauce and the beans were made in a style I have never had. I thought the southwest twist was really good and loved the addition of corn to the beans.
We also had lot's of local beers. Some were pretty average, others were real show stoppers. My favourite was the Maple Porter from Nickel Brook.

Martin and some friends went back the next day for lunch and said that the went to another rib booth and that the ribs were even better! Guess I need to book the entire weekend off next year to try them all! :)

Moving on to lunch! This was my lunch today:

The perogies and soup are my leftovers from Jane Bond last night. Jane Bond is a tiny funky little bar close to where I live in Waterloo. They sell vegetarian food only, and it is almost always awesome. The soup was the daily special which was African Peanut Soup. It was very thick and hearty and had just a hint of peanut (which is what I like...I hate when the peanut taste is over-powering). It could have been a meal on it's own. The perogies were also a daily special and they were Potato and Mushroom Perogies with a Curry Onion Sauce and were served with a perfectly dressed side salad...sorry no pic of the food from the restaurant! I think the perogies were even better the next day since the curry had time to get into the perogies more. And on the side are my halloumi bites. I figured out that using a grill pan not only makes them look nicer (hello grill marks!) but I also found that the cheese didn't stick to the pan as easily.

And now for the more to come!
I have been accepted to the Daring Bakers and the Daring Cooks! I have completed my first Daring Bakers Challenge and will be posting the result on July 27th, so check back then to see what the challenge was! :)

Spaghetti with Lemon, Garlic and Thyme Mushrooms

2010-07-18T10:39:00.001-04:00

Now that I'm working again, I need some of my dinners to be quick and easy. This meal is both of these. And delicious too! I was surprised at how tasty this turned out to be considering how simple it was to make. The mushrooms got warmed up by the pasta and they were soft and seasoned perfectly. And the lemon was not over powering. This was a nice light dish for a hot night.
I think next time I'll experiment with different pasta/mushrooms/herbs. I think this will be a staple recipe for me since it is so versatile and easy.

I'll be submitting this dish to Presto Pasta Nights again. This week it is being hosted by Janet at The Taste Space. I love Presto Pasta Nights because I always see lots of great dishes that I know I have to try to make at some point! Plus it's always just fun looking at the pics and finding new blogs to check out :)

Spaghetti with Lemon, Garlic and Thyme Mushrooms
Serves 3-4, adapted from Nigella Express
(Printable recipe)

Ingredients:
225g mushrooms (I used cremini), sliced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 lemon, zest and juice
5 springs fresh thyme
300g spaghetti
fresh parsley, chopped (to garnish, you can skip this if you like)
Parmesan, to taste
fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Put the sliced mushrooms into a bowl with the olive oil, salt, garlic, lemon zest and juice, and the thyme. Mix them together to coat the mushrooms and let them marinate.
2. Cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the package.
3. Drain the pasta and mix it with the mushroom mixture.
4. Serve in bowls and top with parsley, Parmesan, and pepper.

Upcoming review of CSN stores!

2010-07-14T10:59:00.002-04:00

I'm so excited that I'm going to be able to do my first review of a product with CSN stores! Why? Because CSN stores has EVERYTHING! They sell over 1 million different products! And at great prices too! You can't say no to that! :D
From dining room tables to cookware to home decor they have everything I love and more! Looks like I might have a hard time deciding what I should review...decisions, decisions!
Something I like about CSN stores so far: customer service is available 7 days a week! As you can tell by my last post, I really want to have good customer service! I've also heard that CSN stores has quick shipping (which I love since when I order something I want to use it asap!).
I also like that you can search for items by keyword or brand (which makes finding the things you want much easier).

So go take a look at CSN Stores, they have some pretty good sales on right now too!
Check back here soon for the review that I'll be doing!

Sorry for the long silence!

2010-07-14T10:20:00.001-04:00

When we moved apartments we ended up with no internet for longer then I thought we would due to an error on Rogers part. And because the customer service was so terrible at Rogers, the moment we move into a new place that will allow us to have a satellite dish, we will be switching tv/internet providers! I can't believe how much of a monopoly these 2 providers have! It's quite sickening, and almost enough for me to stop watching tv all together!

Anyway, moving on!
I have a bunch of great things to blog about, so expect a few posts in the next little while. I've been a busy little bee since I've come back to Canada and I expect to stay busy for quite some time.
The apartment is finally looking liveable, but still has a long way to go. Today is my day off work (and Friday this week too). Hoping to finally see The Girl Who Played With Fire, which is the second movie of a trilogy based on the books by Stieg Larsson. I'm currently reading the first book :) It's very dark and heavy, but has good acting and seems to be a very good book-to-movie adaption.

Right now I need to deal with laundry and ironing (and breakfast!), so check back later for another new blog post :)

Getting back in the swing of things...

2010-06-28T19:03:00.000-04:00

Much has happened over the past week and we are slowly starting to get back into our normal rythym. And I start my new job tomorrow too!

We've starting cooking more (which I'm really happy about), Martin is playing golf, I'm going to a weekly girls night out on Mondays (cheap drinks and watching the Bacholorette @ Rude Native), and I've also had time to watch a couple movies.

So first things first: The food we've been cooking.
Firstly we had a sushi night:

Second, I made some delicious Salmon Tostadas:

I found the recipe for these on Closet Cooking. Kevin made them using Ahi tuna, but we prefer salmon so we swapped the fish :) The Asian slaw is also fantastic on it's own. I love the fact that the slaw doesn't have mayonnaise in it. Next time I would use smaller wonton wrappers as the big ones made it very difficult to eat these without them falling apart!
And lastly we made some yummy halloumi bites:

They were fantastic also! I love that the cheese is slightly salty and slightly squeaky! The sauce tasted like it had butter in it...but it didn't! I swear ;) These are great for serving at a party as they are simple to make. Here is the recipe:

Halloumi Bites
Serves 2-4 as an appetizer
Adapted from Nigella Express

Ingredients:
1 package of halloumi cheese (mine was about 250g)
3 tbsp of oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper for seasoning

Directions:
1. Cut the halloumi into bite size chunks.
2. Pan fry the halloumi in a dry frying pan over medium heat.
3. Mix remaining ingedients in a small bowl.
4. Coat the pan-fried halloumi in the sauce and serve.

And lastly the golf!

Corn and Lobster Bisque

2010-06-25T11:19:00.002-04:00

Remember the Losterfest I posted about a while ago? Well we had another Lobsterfest at a friends house :) And we ended up with a left over lobster. We also had left over corn on the cob as well. So I decided it was time to make a bisque! I wanted something simple and also a little on the healthier side. Unfortunately I didn't find many recipes on the healthy side so I just adapted a recipe I found from Emeril Lagasse.
I'm taking part in Souper Sundays (Soup, Salad & Sammies) this time. I read about it in one of the blogs I read and I thought this would be a great way to encourage me to post more often and also to find some amazing recipes! And since it is for soups, salads, and sammies, I figured I'll be eating more of those in the near fututre since I got a job!!! (more about that in my next post).
The bisque turned out very creamy, a bit spicy and overall very tasty. I really loved soaking it up with some crusty bread :) Also, I cooked this dish completely on my own since Martin was off at the driving range with a friend. So I have yet to hear what he thinks about it. Now onto the bisque:

Corn and Lobster Bisque
Serves 4-6, Adapted from Emeril Lagasse
(Printable Recipe)

Ingedients:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp flour
1/2 large yellow onion, minced
2 ears of corn, kernels removed
1/2 shallot, minced
1/2 stalk of celery, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup of fish stock or water (I used water)
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup of cream (I used 18%)
3 and 1/2 cups of milk (I used 1%)
lobster meat (from a 1-1 1/2 pound lobster)
1/4 cup green onion, minced

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and add the flour one tablespoon at a time. Stir for 5-10 minutes to make a brown roux.
2. Add the onions, corn, shallots, celery, garlic, salt, and cayenne pepper and cook until the onions are soften.
3. Add the stock and bay leaves and bring to a boil.
4. Add milk and cream. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 30-40 minutes.
5. Stir in Lobster meat and green onions and simmer for 5 more minutes.
6. Remove bay leaves and serve.

Roast Beef with Yorkshire pudding, Mashed Potatoes and Red Wine Gravy

2010-06-24T15:22:00.001-04:00

This meal is a childhood favourite of mine. We had this at my Grandma's house for family dinners and I remember it very fondly. Unfortunately I had not had it in a very long time since my Grandma usually makes ham or turkey instead nowadays.

The reason why I remebered this dish and wanted to make it was because I had rented Gordon Ramsay's book 'Sunday Lunch' from the library and he has a recipe for this very meal in the book. Most of the recipe is pretty basic, so I didn't need to modify it too much. I used Anthony Bourdain's 'Les Halles Cookbook' for inspiration for the mashed potatoes.

It turned out better then I could ever have hoped. I had some help from Martin and Dan for the Gravy and Mashed Potatoes...because let's face it, I'm terrible at multitasking when I cook! haha
The roast beef was so tender and perfectly cooked that you hardly even needed a knife! The yorkshires were exactly as I remembered them and I ate far too many. And for once in my life the homemade gravy actually tasted good! It might need a bit more tweaking to be perfect though ;)

Make sure you read all the directions before you begin cooking, as you need to do a lot of multitasking for this meal.

Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding, Mashed Potatoes and Red Wine Gravy
Serves 4-6, Adapted from Gordon Ramsay's 'Sunday Lunch' and Anthony Bourdain's 'Les Halles'
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
1kg rib of beef, with bone
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1 and 1/2 cups plus 2 tsp of flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten
300ml milk (I used 1%)
12 tsp canola oil
4 thyme sprigs
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled and slighly crushed
1 large red onion, sliced
3 plum tomatoes, quartered
1/2 bottle of red wine
1 litre of beef stock
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
6 potatoes, rinsed and cut into small pieces with skin on
120ml of cream (I used 18%)
5 tbsp of butter (I used salted)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 395F. Season the beef and sear it in a hot oven safe pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil to brown the beef. Transfer the beef to the oven and cook for 45 minutes for medium or 35 minutes for rare.
2. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl and add eggs and half of the milk and mix until smooth. Add remaining milk and mix and leave to rest.
3. Once the beef is cooked transfer to a plate and cover with aluminum foil to rest for 15-20 minutes.
4. Increase the oven temperature to 450F. Put 1 tsp of canola oil into each section of the muffin trays and put into oven to heat the oil.
5. When the oil is hot take the trays out of the oven and fill each section three-quarters full (It should sizzle a bit). Put trays back into oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. Do not open the oven until the time is up!!!
6. While the yorkshires are cooking take the fat and brown bits from the roast pan and put in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add thyme, garlic, onions,and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in wine and bring to a simmer. Crush tomatoes with a potato masher to get the flavours out. Pour in stock and simmer for 10 minutes until reduced by half. Put the gravy through a seive and press the vegetables to get all the flavours out. Bring gravy back to a boil. In another pan heat up the butter and add flour to make a roux. Add roux to gravy to help thicken.
7. Also while the yorkshires and gravy are cooking bring a pot of water with the potatoes to boil. When potatoes are cooked drain them and put them back in the pot. Mash the potatoes (skin on!!) and add the cream and butter. Season to taste.

Homemade Pasta with Tomato and Mushroom Sauce

2010-06-22T21:44:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the long silence here. Things have been pretty hectic lately and I just didn't have a moment to blog even though I have tons of things I've been wanting to blog about!
So the exciting secret that I was talking about while ago was that we were going to be buying a house! But unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the deal fell through and we are still house hunting again. Not going into too many details about that, but lets just say that we would have had a house with no parking spot if we didn't look into things as carefully as we did!

Moving on to the subject of this post!
One of the things we've been wanting to buy for a while now was a pasta machine. So we went on a shopping spree at a local shop called Vincenzo's that has a bunch of high end foodie stuff and hard to find food stuffs. We bought some really awesome salts, meats, and of course a pasta machine!

We also bought a pizza stone so expect some homemade pizza in the near future :)
Since we made pasta I thought it would be a good opportunity to take part in Presto Pasta Night again. This week it is being hosted by Mansi at Fun & Food Cafe.

Martin did most of the cooking for our pasta night and I just helped make pasta with the pasta machine ;) So here is Martin's recipe:

Homemade Pasta with Tomato and Mushroom Sauce
Serves 2
(Printable Recipe)

Recipe for Pasta:

Ingredients:
1 cup of grade 00 flour
1 large egg
1 tbsp of water

Directions:
1. Pour flour onto a clean surface. Make a well in the flour for your egg and water to go into.
2. Add egg and water to the flour well and slowly combine the flour with the egg in a circular motion and keep adding a little more of the flour to the egg until all the flour is combined.
3. Knead the dough a few times to make sure that the flour is combined well. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for xx minutes to sit.
4. Take the dough out and knead it on a floured surface for 10 minutes. The dough should be quite elastic when you are done.
5. Break off a small piece of dough and roll the dough on a floured surface until it is small enough to fit until the pasta machine.
6. Start at the highest setting and gradually reduce the pasta size until it reaches your desired thickness. 7. Hang rolled dough to dry out a little so the pasta does not stick to its self.
8. Cook the pasta or dry it to use at a later time.

Recipe for Tomato and Mushroom Sauce:

Ingredients:
1 cup and 1/4 cup of tomato sauce
1 tbsp of worcestershire sauce
5 mushrooms, sliced (I used crimini)
1/2 onion, sliced
1 tbsp of oil
hot sauce (to your own liking)

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan at medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft.
2. Add mushrooms and cook until slightly soft.
3. Add tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Stir until well combined.
4. Season to your taste. Add pasta to sauce and serve.

Here are our pasta making adventure pictures :)

P.S. Sometimes you need to improvise! haha ;)

Lobsterfest!

2010-06-10T10:19:00.000-04:00

Firstly I need to confess that I am not a big lover of seafood. In fact, I used to HATE seafood. But I have been trying to re-try seafood, since I know that my tastebuds do change (I used to hate coconut and now I LOVE it!).
So why lobster? Well Martin was really craving lobster and a few of our friends were also interested in having lobster, so we decided to have a lobsterfest.

Martin decided to cook the lobster by steaming them; so I didn't do any cooking of the lobsters! Cooking lobsters seems pretty straight forward; you just need to know how heavy your lobsters are so you know how long to cook them. We had some that were 1 pound and a few that were closer to 2 pounds, so we cooked the lobsters in 2 batches. Luckily we did have a pot that was big enough, as we had just bought a canning kit (since we are planning to join a CSA and we will have tons of fruit and veg that we can preserve). I assembled most of the other things such as melted butter, bread, fried bacon/onion and plates/utensils. Also, a friend who came for lobsterfest also made some yummy baked potatoes that had onions and cheese inside!

The verdict?
Lobster is still on my 'alright' list. So if I get lobster at a wedding Martin will still be a lucky bug and get 2 lobsters ;)

Sorry for the silence

2010-06-08T11:10:00.001-04:00

We have been so busy this past week that I haven't even cooked a meal in Canada yet! But I have made a few easy to assemble meals and I'm very happy that I can make pita pizzas again! I was unable to find the correct type of pita in the Netherlands, so I'm very happy to have my stand-by lunch again :)

Also, we have a lot of very exciting things happening but I'll only mention a few in this post.

First up: I tried hot yoga!
I have never sweated that much in my life! And I loved it! The class was 90 minutes, which is longer then the 60 that I'm used to. I was very much looking forward to the shavasana pose at the end ;) I'm hoping to go again today and also Friday with a friend. It's quite expensive though, so I might limit it to twice a month after my 2 weeks unlimited is over.

Second: I've already had one job interview and had a second one set up, but the lady was sick so we had to re-schedule. So I'm pretty happy with how the job searching is going (except for the part where people don't call me back...that's pretty annoying).

Third: Super happy I've already had some Vietnamese, sushi and wings ;) Now I just need to get my hands on a good poutine!

Fourth: Is a secret! I'll be sharing it soon though. I'm super excited about it!

Expect more regular posts as of today, as I have a bunch of exciting things coming up. In fact, we might be having a lobsterfest tonight or tomorrow.

A little bit of Iceland...

2010-05-31T20:53:00.000-04:00

I'll write more about our trip soon, but hopefully these pictures will keep you busy in the mean time :)

Tons of fun so far!

2010-05-25T19:34:00.000-04:00

Just a short update :)

So far we've had lot's of fun and have done a lot of stuff but without feeling too busy. I have tons of great photos and stories that I'll post once I am back. Here are just a few for a sneak peak ;)

MIA for a bit

2010-05-17T15:51:00.000-04:00

Tonight is the last night we'll be cooking at home. Well, Martin is cooking because I'm not feeling well. He's making French Onion Soup, because we don't have the ingredients for anything else.
Wednesday night the fridge is getting cleared out and defrosted. And Thursday is our last going away party. Friday is getting the apartment inspected and then we're off to Iceland for a week before going home to Canada.

If I have time I might make a post while we're in Iceland, but it might not happen. We arrive in Canada on May 27th in the evening, so I should be posting again after that date for sure. :)

Wish us luck! The volcano is still disrupting flights! :S *crosses fingers*

Restaurant Review: Moodz eten and drinken, Delft, Netherlands

2010-05-13T12:24:00.004-04:00

Last week we went out for dinner at Moodz. We had tried to go there before, but unfortunaely we had not made a reservation, so we ended up having to go to another restaurant instead which was right across the street called Maxime. Maxime turned out to be really good! Hoping to go back before we leave and take pictures this time.

This time we made a reservation for Moodz. The decor was really beautiful and stylish. The service was a bit slow (but most places in the Netherlands has slow service, so that wasn't a shocker).
The menu was quite small, but offered enough options to choose a few nice things that both Martin and I liked.

I choose a set menu that had 2 options for you to choose for appetizer, entree and dessert. I selected the tuna tartar with avocado and crayfish for the appetizer:

The tartar was really good. It was a really good quality piece of tuna, though it was a little too chunky to be called a tartar. The crayfish was also nice; it wasn't too seafoody tasting which I liked since I'm not a huge seafood fan.

The beef medallions with asparagus in butter soup with truffle cream and roasted rozeval potatoes for my entree (Sorry I started eating and then realized I hadn't taken a picture!):

The beef was amazing. Tender, juicy and flavourful. It's really a shame that they over cooked the vegetables. The potatoes were good though (Martin didn't really like them so I got 2 servings :).

And for dessert I chose profiteroles with caramel. Unfortunately I inhaled my dessert before taking a picture (I need to work on remember to take pictures! Oops!) But it was really nice looking and tasty. It had homemade vanilla whipped cream (I love seeing the little vanilla speckles :) Is that weird?) and the caramel was delish! The 3-course menu was 29.50 Euro.

I only had a taste of the tartar since I ordered it for Martin since he likes tartar more than I do. Martin ordered 2 appetizers for us to share and one entree.

For the appetizers we ordered Lamb ham from Texel lambs and Reindeer meat sausage:

It was so good! The lamb was really flavourful and had some herbs on the outside. I really like the reindeer sausage! It didn't taste much different from other cured sausages that I've had. It was worth a try. They were 3.40 and 2.90 Euro.

And finally Martin's entree, he chose the duck fillet and lamb chops (this meal is not on the online menu, so I do not remember the whole description):

The lamb was good, but the chops were extremly small. I would have like a bit more of the lamb. The duck was really tender, but I still prefer Martin's Magret de Carnard with apples and maple. This dish was 17.75 Euro.

Overall, it was a good experience and the food was good. But I've had nicer meals at other restaurants in Delft for the same price, so I don't think we'll be back at Moodz.

Fusilli Bucati with Tomato and Pancetta

2010-05-11T14:36:00.002-04:00

Since we are moving back to Canada next week, I've been trying to come up with meals that either use up what we already have, or need food items that I can use in other meals. I choose this recipe because it was simple and quick and because I needed to buy some slab bacon for another recipe (which will be coming here in a few days). I browsed through my Nintendo DS game 'Personal Trainer: Cooking' to get some ideas for a meal, and this dish is the result. I just came across the blog Presto Pasta Nights, which hosts a weekly blog roundup of pasta dishes (I really can't wait to try some of these recipes!). Presto Pasta Nights are also held by guest bloggers and this weeks guest blogger is Chaya from Comfy Cook.
EDIT: Chaya had computer problems so the round up will be at Presto Pasta Night by Ruth.

I'll be submiting this post Presto Pasta Nights, so go check out the roundup at Comfy Cook's blog on Friday :)

Fusilli Bucati with Tomato and Pancetta
Serves 2, Adapted from Personal Trainer: Cooking for Nintendo DS
(Printable Recipe)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 can peeled whole tomatoes
1 small onion (I used red onion), thinly sliced
2 oz pancetta, chopped into thin strips (I used smoked bacon)
1 red chili pepper, seeds removed
1/3 cup white wine
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
7 oz pasta (I used Fusilli Bucati)
Salt
Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
Italian parsley, chopped (I had some basil to use up, so I also used some in addition to the parsley)

Directions:
1. Crush whole tomatoes in a bowl, set aside. Chop all other ingredients that need chopping.
2. Heat oil in frying pan on medium heat. Add Chili and saute for 1 minute.
3. Add onions and saute until browned.
4. Add pancetta and saute for 1 minute.
5. Add white wine and cook off the alcohol.
6. Add the crushed whole tomatoes and bring to a boil.
7. After sauce comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package.
9. Add some parsley to the sauce to release the flavours.
10. Add pasta to sauce and stir until the pasta is covered in sauce. Season with salt.
11. Finish by grating Pecorino Romano cheese on the pasta and garnish with parsley.

Rain, rain, go away!

2010-05-09T11:46:00.000-04:00

It has been raining all week (and looks like this coming week as well). But today was just cloudy (with a chance of rain), so I went out on a run/walk. Since we are leaving the Netherlands in less then 2 weeks I've been trying to take more walks and take more pictures. All the things I love here I want to make sure I remember, so expect a few more picture posts like these :)

And here is our favourite Belgian pub: T'klooster. :) We will miss this tiny pub with all our hearts!

Hot Wings and Blue Cheese Dip

2010-05-07T04:14:00.003-04:00

When I was trying to come up with something for dinner I asked Martin if he had any ideas. He said he was really craving some baked potatoes with sour cream and bacon. I quickly agreed that it was a great idea and suggested we added some 'bar food' to make it a full dinner. First thing we thought of for the 'bar food'? WINGS! Of course!

Now, this isn't just any wing recipe. It's Martin's secret wing recipe. He used to work at a sport's bar so I was inclined to go with what he thought was the best way to make wings (and also because he has more experience cooking ;). These wings are tender and spicy. Just delicious! Serving some home-made blue cheese dip with carrots and celery is a great way to cool your mouth off ;)

As for the baked potato? Well I'm sure you all know how to do that! So I'll skip on that recipe :P

Hot Wings
Serves 2 (depending on your appetite)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
9 full wings (once cut up this will make 9 'wings' and 9 'drumettes')
vegetable or canola oil, enough to cover the wings in a pot
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup of Frank's Red Hot Sauce or regular cayenne pepper sauce
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Wash chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Cut chicken so you have wings and drumettes (or you can leave them whole at this point if you want and pull them apart later).
2. Heat oil in a medium pot on low heat. Add chicken once oil is heated. Make sure the chicken has enough space to not stick to other chicken. Cook for about 10-13 minutes or until cooked through. The chicken should not be too brown or crispy! This will probably take 2 batches.
3. Take chicken out and let cool down on paper towels to absorb excess oil. Once cooled down, put in freezer (I used wax paper and a ziplock bag).
4. Heat oven to 200C. To prepare the sauce combine in a medium bowl the melted butter, Frank's Red Hot Sauce and salt.
5. Take chicken out of freezer and add to the sauce bowl. Coat well with sauce and arrange them on a grill rack on a baking tray (they need to be above the baking tray to cook all over). A cooling rack for baked goods also works well. Cook for about 10 minutes (may take longer if frozen for a long time or if your oven is different). Baste with more sauce if desired.

Why do you put the chicken in the freezer? I have no idea! That's part of Martin's secret recipe! And if it makes the chicken taste this good, I won't complain! It also makes making these ahead of time easy. You can cook the chicken and put them in the freezer. All you have to do is sauce them and bake after that point. Easy, peasy!

If you want extra saucy wings, then make extra sauce.

Blue Cheese Dip
Serves 2-4
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp white vineagar
1/4 blue cheese, crumbled
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients and mix.
2. If you would like the dip to be smoother then use a hand mixer to beat it to a smoother consistency.

Serve with carrots and celery.

The blue cheese dip will get more blue cheesey in flavour the longer you let it sit in the fridge (So if you love blue cheese I would suggest making the dip the day before).

Review: Oh! Ricey Instant Pho

2010-05-05T05:36:00.001-04:00

I'm doing this review on my own (unfortunately not getting any free samples). The reason I'm doing this review is because I'm sure some people might be in the same situation as I am in:

No fresh Pho close to where I live. The horror! :(

I was really craving Vietnamese food and was looking for something to fix this craving. I happened to stumble upon this product when I was shopping at the Asian grocery store in Delft. I picked up a couple to try and fell in love with it! In fact, it went on sale later, so the next time I bought a box full (down to 7 left!).

It really tastes quite amazing considering it's instant. And if you have some hoisin and siracha sauce then it's even better! Now of course it's terrible in sodium and of course fresh Pho is always better, but if your looking for a Pho fix this product is a great substitute. And you can make it even better by adding your own fresh vegetables and meat.

I would like to try making my own Pho at some point, but I want to do it the proper way and not use ready made stock, so I'll save that for a rainy day ;)

All in all I give this Pho two thumbs up! It may not look pretty, but it tastes close to the real thing.

Just for comparison:

Fresh Pho: (Thanks google/www.khamtran.com/)

Instant Pho: (I would suggest adding some fresh ingredients to make it nicer; I added hoisin and siracha)

Asian Chicken Wrap

2010-05-04T08:03:00.002-04:00

I seem to get stuck in a rut sometimes always eating the same thing over and over. In this case, I've been eating far too many sandwiches and I'm getting sick of them. I wanted something new to eat that was healthy, tasty, and exciting. I saw a recipe on Pioneer Woman Cooks and I was inspired to make something a little different. Since I'm trying to purge the house of all the food we have (since we are moving back to Canada in 23 days and leaving for Iceland in 17 days), I didn't want to go out and buy new ingredients. I was also really craving something with Asian flavours. This recipe is the result. Feel free to add different vegetables or what ever you need to use up.

Asian Chicken Wrap
Makes 1 serving.
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
1/4-1/3 cup of cooked chicken, diced
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 small handful of shredded cabbage, carrots, beets (julienne rauwkost from AH)
1 romaine lettuce leaf
2 tbsp green onion, chopped
1/2 of 1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 tortilla (I used multigrain)

Directions:
1. In a small bowl combine chicken, celery, shredded cabbage/carrots/beets, and green onion.
2. In a small bowl or jar combine olive oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and cilantro. Whisk together in bowl or shake jar to combine.
3. Add dressing to chicken mixture and stir to coat evenly.
4. Heat tortilla on stove or in microwave so it is more pliable.
5. Place lettuce leaf on tortilla and spoon chicken mixture on lettuce and wrap however you would like.

Shepherd's Pie

2010-05-02T07:11:00.001-04:00

It's been a bit colder the last few days, so I was looking to make something that would be a warming meal. I was searching some food blogs for something to make, but then I remembered this recipe from Gordon Ramsay. The first time I made it it turned out beautifully. The second time it came out dry.
This time it turned out the best I've ever had! I think this is a dish where you need to adapt from the recipe depending on how your food is cooking. The recipe below is the adaption I used this time. I'm still pretty bad at adapting from recipes, so it was actually Martin that made these adaptions (this is the reason why I am better at baking then cooking ;). You could make your own adaptions depending on what you feel like; such as using cream cheese to make the potatoes creamier or adding corn or green beans to the meat mixture.

Shepherd's Pie
Makes 4 servings. Inspired and adapted from Gordon Ramsay
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
500g ground beef
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 large carrot, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp tomato puree
A couple thyme sprigs, leaves picked
1 sprig of rosemary, needles chopped
250ml red wine
300ml chicken stock (I used 250ml and 50 ml of water, as the chicken stock was salty)
1kg potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks if large
50g butter
2 egg yolks
125ml of milk
2 tbsp Parmesan, grated, plus extra for topping
2 tbsp green onions (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium heat.
3. Add the ground beef, carrots, and garlic. Cook until almost all the meat is browned.
4. Add in the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, thyme, and rosemary and cook for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the red wine and cook until almost evaporated.
6. Add chicken stock and simmer until the sauce has a thick consistency.
7. While the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the potatoes until tender.
8. Drain potatoes and add back to pot. Mash slightly, then add butter, egg yolks, and Parmesan. Continue to mash or use a hand held mixer and add milk until it is a consistency you like. Add green onions to the mixture if using.
9. Put meat mixture into an oven safe dish. Add potato mixture on top. Add extra Parmesan to top of potatoes.
10. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

Hope you guys give it a try :) It's pretty simple to make.
I'm also trying out a different blog format, so let me know if you like this one!

Pictures from my walk in Delft.

2010-04-28T13:06:00.001-04:00

I took a really long walk on Monday because the weather was so great! Here are some of the things I saw:

Round up of the last week.

2010-04-28T12:21:00.000-04:00

I made several nice meals in the past week but only ended up taking a few pictures.
So I'll post the few pictures I have as well as the links to the recipes I used.

Hope you guys try some of these out! :)

Firstly is the Magret de Canard with Apples and Maple. Don't be afraid my Dutch friends! You can buy this meat at the Rotterdam market! And you can get maple syrup at Dille and Camille. This is a great meal if you're trying to impress someone ;)

It was delicious! I liked it so much that we've made this 3 times so far!
Though I should confess that I didn't actually do any of the cooking for this dish (Martin did it all! I didn't even help a little!).

Next up is the Potato Salad I made for the BBQ at Wayne's place.

I was going to make something a little more fancy, but in the end I settled with a classic recipe (that most people should like/be able to eat). Next time I would use less mayonnaise as I found that there was just a bit too much sauce. I also skipped on the hard-boiled eggs.
It is best to make this the day before, as the flavours really get into the potatoes better :)

Next up is one of my all-time FAVOURITE recipes! Seriously, I love this dish.
The dish is Jamie Oliver's Proper Chicken Caesar Salad.

Sorry for the half eaten food picture, but I had already scarfed all of mine down and this was all that was left on Martin's plate.
We usually use the whole chicken leg with the thigh, but AH was out :( So we used smaller chicken legs instead which led to a quicker cooking time and less fat. But you do want the fat as the fat is what makes the croutons so delicious!
The dressing is also really tasty! It's a nice change from the usual caesar dressing. I would highly recommend actually buying the book this recipe is from: Jamie at Home. It has tons of great recipes in it (Or just rent it from the library!).

And last but not least was Pasta alla Vodka! I served the pasta with some steak and garlic bread to round out the meal.

This recipe is from one of my favourite bloggers, Pioneer Woman! Her recipes are never low fat (she loves using butter!), but everything I have cooked from her recipes has turned out really good. Her blog is also great if you are interested in photography.

I'll try to be a better blogger and actually remember to take pictures! I'd also really like to start writing posts in more detail. So hang in there while I get used to blogging! I'm sure this blog will get better with time ;)

Springtime!

2010-04-19T11:45:00.001-04:00

I was going to post some new recipes today, but I forgot to take a picture! Oops!
I will take a picture next time and make a post :)

In the mean time here are some nice pictures of springtime in the Netherlands.

I'm really going to miss the wildlife of the Netherlands when I move back to Canada! But I suppose the bluejays and cardinals will lift my spirits ;)

Hair!

2010-04-13T12:05:00.000-04:00

Finally something that is not about food!

If your an avid traveler then this product is a must! Or if you just want to be more green and produce less waste.

Lush Solid Shampoo and Lush Solid Conditioner.
I linked to the Canadian site, but you can get Lush products in store in most cities (Rotterdam, Toronto, Den Haag).

They are great for traveling as they are not liquid (so no nasty leaks, or getting them taken away by airport security). The have no packaging (except some paper to wrap up the conditioner, as it gets melty when warm).

The shampoos come in a wide range of different scents and for different hair types (I love the peppermint/cinnamon one; it makes your scalp feel really clean!). These lather up really well and last a very long time as long a you let the bar dry so it doesn't get mushy.

The conditioner is a little trickier to use. Just rubbing it on your hair doesn't work well. I've found you can do two different things to get great results.

1. Cut a small chunk off and put it in your palm with some warm water and massage it. It will create a creamy paste you can apply to your hair. This way is a little time consuming as it sometimes takes a while to get it all lathered. For long hair/dry hair a chunk that is half your thumb should be good.
2. Cut a small piece off the bar and chop it into small chunks. Put these in a container of some sort (old bottles work great, or travel bottles). Add hot water. Let it sit and it will get creamy as it cools. This way is very trail and error. No recipe to this. If it's too creamy to your liking then add more water. This is more like a traditional cream conditioner.

Hope some of you guys find these useful! I know I have! :)

My favourite quick meal.

2010-04-08T10:48:00.000-04:00

I know that most of my posts have been more about what the food looks like and how tasty it is. So this time I figured I'd share a recipe that I use a lot and that everybody should love!

Now, to be fair, I didn't make this recipe on my own. In fact, calling it a 'recipe' is kinda pointless, since the point of the entire dish is that it can be changed to suit your tastes. I originally found this via a blog that I read. The blog is *Bitch Cakes*, and here is the post with the original recipe.

Here is what you need for 1 serving:
- Veggies, (as much as you like and any kind that you like/need to use up)
- Beans, 1/2 cup (any kind that you like)
- Oil, 2 tbsp
- Seasoning (again, whatever floats your boat)
- Garlic (optional)
- Tortilla (I like the multigrain ones you can get at AH in Holland)
- Toppings (such as sour cream, cilantro, hot sauce, cheese, etc)

Here is what I do:
First chop up any veggies you want in your burrito (sadly all I had was onion).

Put the oil in the pan and heat over medium heat. Add the veggies and cook until almost done. Then add the beans and stir. Continue until everything is heated.

Add the seasoning and stir until well combined. Now is the time to put the tortilla on top of the mixture so that it will get warmed up. 30 seconds per side.

After the tortilla is warm place it on a plate and top with the bean mixture. Top with your choice of toppings (I topped mine with sour cream, cilantro, and hot sauce).

This is delish for breakfast, lunch or dinner! It's so versatile that you can make this for anyone and they will like it! (such as not adding cilantro for those who do not like it...I'm pointing to you Dan :P)

Hope you like the recipe and will try it out! Would love to hear from you guys if you do :)

Risotto 3.0

2010-04-07T09:37:00.000-04:00

When Martin and I were out shopping we saw some sun-dried tomatoes. I was laughing at the 15-minute risotto packages beside the sun-dried tomatoes. Martin put both of these things together in an idea and suggested that we get the sun-dried tomatoes and make some risotto (obviously we left the 15 minute risotto behind).
We had some salmon to use up in our fridge so Martin set out to make the salmon also using the sun dried tomatoes. I got to work on the risotto.

I was determined to make a good risotto this time.
I've tried making risotto 3 times. The last 2 attempts were edible, but far from a perfect risotto.

So I got to work at the stirring:

Here's all the stuff I needed to add at the end (all ready!):
Also note that my DSi is on the counter...because I was using Personal Training: Cooking to make the risotto (with minor substitutions). :)

More stirring! (at least I look happy though ;)

The end result:

This time I almost had it perfect! A few more tweaks and I'll be a pro :) It just ended up being a little too salty, so next time I'll use less broth and more water.

Ice Ice Baby.

2010-04-02T04:39:00.000-04:00

So it's official! We will be stopping over in Iceland on the way back to Canada for 1 week.

Cue many moments of me saying 'Awwww the puffins are so cute!'.

Martin doesn't know what he's gotten himself into ;)

But really, I plan on soaking in geothermal water for a few days:

Should be back home in Canada on May 27th at 7pm.
Which means we might still have time to hit up all-you-can-eat sushi! :D

Brewing up trouble?

2010-04-01T11:19:00.000-04:00

One of the really fun things that we have been doing in the Netherlands is brewing beer. Not only is it fun, but the people we brew with are hilarious.
Let's just say that those who are easily offended or faint of heart need not apply to be in our brewing club ;)

Yesterday was the bottling of the beer that we recently brewed. This is our third batch of beer that we have made here (and we always make 2 types per brewing session).
This time we made a German style Oktoberfest beer and a Saison. In the picture you'll see one is darker and one is more orange (the Saison is the more orange one).

We tasted both (though at this point they are still flat); the Saison was really sweet and the German beer was really tasty. I'm looking forward to see how these will turn out :) Since we were brewing these for Queen's day we wanted them to be as orange as possible. That is also why we named them the following: The German style is called l'orange and the Saison is called orange dragon.

Now let's move onto the process of bottling:
When we bottle the beer we are not only putting the beer in bottles, but also adding some more sugar so that the beer will carbonate in the bottle. And before we can bottle the beer we need to save up old bottles and then clean and sanitize them.

Here are the bottles being sanitized:

We had an assembly line going on ;):

And here the beer is being filtered (and then we add the sugar):
Notice how we like to drink on the job ;)

I forgot to get a picture of the actual filling of the bottles, but I'm sure you can image what that would look like ;)

And here is a picture of our dinner (or what was left of it):

And the final product (but we'll have to wait 2 weeks before drinking) :

I'm really looking forward to brewing beer once we are back in Canada (at least in Canada we will actually save money by brewing; unlike here in the Netherlands where you can get a case of 24 for 6 Euros...haha). But it will also be great to brew with our friends back in Canada :D.

I'll post another update once the beer is finished!

Stop. Sushi Time!

2010-03-29T11:25:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to post a recipe for sushi. Many people have already done that, so either read the directions on the stuff you buy, or look up a recipe on google.

First off I have to mention that most of the effort in making the sushi was actually from my boyfriend (in fact, I only helped putting together the finished rolls). So thanks Martin for making great sushi again! :)
Secondly, I also have to mention that the sushi we made last night was not how we usually make sushi. We forgot that we had already packed the sushi rolling mat (and all but 1 pair of chopsticks), so we have to make do and just make nigiri and hand rolled maki.
And lastly, we almost always make salmon or spicy salmon. Why? Well because Martin is good at making those types of rolls and the quality of salmon in the Netherlands is good.

So this is how we made our sushi tonight:

First make the rice and then season it with seasoned rice vinegar and sugar. Then cool it down with a fan and keep mixing it until it is cool enough to handle:

Then make the rice until little balls and wrap with nori:

Then the salmon on top of the maki and nigiri. And add spicy sauce if desired:

And the final product:

It was very tasty and it reminds me of hanging with friends at all-you-can-eat sushi :)

New blog!

2010-03-28T09:50:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I haven't been very good at keeping a blog in the past. I tend to update whenever I feel like it and mostly about random things happening in my life.
I'm hoping that this blog will be different. I want to post more regularly and post more exciting content. And I think it is a good time to start a new blog considering the fact that we are about to move back to Canada (as I have been living in the Netherlands for the past year and a half).

I want a place where I can share recipes, pictures and stories. I think this new blog is the place to do it. I also need to make myself accountable (as I tend to start a lot of things, and then stop doing them very quickly).

I will also share other things in my life, such as my attempts at learning French (as my boyfriend is a native French speaker from Quebec), and as the title suggests, food that I eat, as we are trying to eat at more nice places. And also interesting things that I do; the play part of the title.

The real inspiration for this though is actually my mom, spunky suzi. She does such a great job with her blog, and I'd like to do the same :)

So lets break the Champagne on this blog and get it going!