Thea's Food Blog

Which pork product is best? (or Fried Rice Battle - East vs. West)

2011-08-09T23:45:00.003-04:00

So it's 11 pm and I need a snack. I look in the fridge and what do I find? Two pieces of precooked bacon and leftover rice. So, "Western" fried rice it is. (Since egg and green onions are staples, they don't make the "ingredients" list)
As I'm making this, I can't help but feel like I've betrayed my roots. Fried rice is either made with SPAM (preferred) or BBQ pork (plan B). This makes the outcome all the more intriguing as I just can't wait to compare the two once and for all.

I was pleasantly surprised that I loved my Western Fried Rice just as much..if not more! The taste is different but still true to fried-riced-ness.

Recipe for Western Fried Rice (for one or 1.5 (mom and baby))

Ingredients:
1 C leftover rice
1 egg scrambled with splash of sesame oil, soy sauce, and white pepper (the chinese scrambled egg trifecta)
1 tbsp chopped green onions
2 pieces of chopped bacon (precooked)

Instructions:
Heat wok, put in onions and bacon, let sizzle 5 seconds. Add rice. Stir and mix well. Pour scrambled egg mixture around the rice mixture. Scramble and keep heat high. When well mixed, leave the rice/egg mixture to brown (on the bottom) to desired taste/texture. Serve hot!

In the end, who reigns supreme? Even though I love my Western, I would still have to say that Eastern FR(fried rice) is better, but only a true battle will tell... To Be Continued.

Home-fried Fish Fingers, Coleslaw, and KD

2011-08-06T20:07:00.006-04:00

This was a cool summer night's fun and easy dinner with Ian.

We had such a good time making this together. He looked up the coleslaw vinaigrette while I fried the fish. Both taking turns stirring the KD.

Fish
2 pc of basa fillet
cornstarch
panko breadcrumbs
salt, pepper, garlic powder
oil for frying

Instructions:
1. Thaw and pat dry (obviously!). Cut up the fish t0 desired size (finger-size)
2. Season with salt and pepper
3. Whip up egg mixture and add desired amount of garlic powder - usually just a few generous sprinkles
4. Line up the fish, cornstarch, egg, and panko assembly line style
5. Heat and test the oil - should be on medium
6. Take each piece of fish, coat it with cornstarch, then egg wash, then panko. Tip: make sure you coat with panko well - no lilydipping hands! coat, press down, coat press down, and repeat until the whole thing is generally covered in a layer of panko
7. Test oil again by putting in a small piece of panko, see how it fries. If the piece is frying vigorously, great! If not, wait a little longer. The way this small piece of panko fries should be the way you want you fish to fry. Alternatively, you can fry a few piece of shrimp chips (this creates a nice little appetizer as well. A thing mom my used to do!) When ready, place fish pieces in oil gently. Note: make your fish in batches, fresh, if you pre-panko the fish, it may get soggy, so this may be a good time to get a second pair of hands, or if you're doing this all by yourself, make sure you alternate monitoring the coating process and watching your fried pieces so that nothing gets burnt and you're not left behind with no inventory.

Ok.. so the fish is NOTHING if it isn't paired with this amazing creamy dill dipping sauce:

1 tbsp mayo
splash of lemon juice
3 tbsp (the more the better) fresh chopped dill
2 grinds of the pepper mill

Mix together. Dip fish generously on service.

Ian made the coleslaw at the same time, so here it is.

Coleslaw dressing
1/4 Cup of Sugar
1/4 Cup of White Vinegar
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 Teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Toss with about 5 cups of other salad ingredients (cabbage, carrots and lettuce was in our salad) until well covered.

KD -- as per instructions on the box! No brainer! Actually you can also skip this as we found that our meal was actually quite large. Another bonus to not making the KD is that you may have more room for the fresh friend fish!!!

This recipe actually makes like 2 dinners.

Enjoy! I know WE did :).

Shanghainese Street Pancakes

2011-07-31T10:20:00.005-04:00

I've been reading a book called "Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See and it helped me remember that I'm 1/4 Shanghainese. And of course what do Shanghainese people love to do? Eat.

The following is a recipe of a snack food that my mom (she's 1/2 Shanghainese) used to make sometimes in the afternoons on weekends. We sometimes even have this for a light lunch. When I experience Shanghainese food as an adult, I can definitely see the root of this recipe coming from the food vendor streets of Shanghai.

To make six:

Fine dice 2 tbsp of each of the following: ( you want this to be chewy in your pancake but not so big that it takes over)
- Scallions (green part)
- Pickled turnip
- Chinese sausage
- Dried shrimp (remember to soak properly!)

In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups of white flour with 1 tbsp of five-spice powder and 2 tsp of salt. Add water until desired pancake batter consistency.

Pancake Consistency: If you like your pancakes thicker, then use less water. If you like your pancakes thinner, then add more water (for a runny mix). But make sure you don't make it tooo runny, or the pancake may not be able to form. My mom's rule of thumb is to make it thicker, test one piece, and see. If you need to thin it, you can always add more water. Remember if you are reconstituting for the right thickness, you need to compensate the recipe with the equal amount with chopped ingredients, 5 spice powder, and salt.

Once you have the desired thickness to your pancake mix, add all the ingredients into the batter. Stir.

Frying: Heat a griddle/pan to medium. Note: It would be wise to use a large pan, otherwise you'll be standing there ALL DAY! When the pan is hot, add enough oil just to grease the bottom. Put the batter into the pan by forming small puddles. When each puddle start to develop a translucent "edge" then you know you're ready to flip the pancake. Once flipped, press gently down on the tops of each pancake to cook the batter underneath.

When both sides are a little browned and/or translucent, remove from heat and dry on paper towels to soak up the oil. Eat right away!

Enjoy! You can tell by the picture that it's good - this was the last piece and already has a few bites in it. Good thing I caught myself in time!

Perfect Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread

2011-05-27T20:13:00.002-04:00

This is the perfect Banana Bread. Honestly, it's the recipe that I tried before and called "Good looking banana bread". I recently re-baked this recipe, and it's as good as it taste if not better. I couldn't even get a picture ... the bread was gone before I could take one.

I did deviate a bit from the recipe - about 1/2 c of both walnut and chocolate chips. And 1 tsp of baking soda.. this was by mistake.

That's all! We serve this bread warmed in the microwave (20 sec per slice) with "Heavenly Hash" Parlour Icecream. Divine!

Best Buttery Cinnamon Cookies

2010-08-22T23:33:00.002-04:00

These melt-in-your-mouth diet-breakers were so good. You just HAVE to try this recipe. Actually a girl at work did try them and it worked for her too, so now it's not only good, but tried and true.

So I pulled this recipe off allrecipes.com coz I had too much cinnamon lying around.

Enjoy! Oh and they stored for DAYS afterwards. I just put them in my trusty tupperware and it was good for like over a week!

Chinese Creamed Corn Drop Soup

2010-08-22T23:20:00.007-04:00

My friend Sharon LOVES creamed corn soup. So do I. And it's such an easy comfort food for a nice quite night in, or a late night snack. I love to make it nice and thick and loaded with real good stuff, imitation crab and corn! And the latest, which i think adds a nice touch and does wonders to make this a real stew: peas.

Here goes: 1/2 C of frozen corn and peas, thaw and drain. 5 sticks of imitation crab, drain and cut into pieces -- depending on how you like your crab pieces, cut it accordingly. Sometimes I like my soup in a more "stewy" texture, then I chop up the crab finer, so the pieces are suspended throughout. On days I like to eat the crab pieces individually, then I cut them bigger and the soup tends to be a bit more runny. If you've got canned REAL crabmeat, ever better!

Put one can of cream of corn in a small saucepan. Add 1 can of water. let it boil. In the meanwhile, get one egg of our the fridge. Whip it up with a dash of white pepper and small splash of sesame oil (nothing makes chinese food taste chinese like sesame oil). give the egg a good whip.

Once the soup boils, remove from heat, stir gently while dropping egg in a steam at a great height. As you stir, you'll see that the egg is formed into different sized strips, giving them that nice texture of a good drop soup. Add the peas, corn, and crab, give it a good stir, put it back on the heat for like 20 seconds so everything heats up nice.

There you have it! It's a meal in itself, but if you like a good "white people" touch, eat it with wheat thins, like i did.

Homemade French Baguettes

2010-06-01T20:37:00.004-04:00

I have a friend, Mike, who made French baguettes in university. He lived next door to me and he made all kinds of goodies. However, this one had eluded him even during exams! (During exams, the number of baked goods, dinners, cleanest res houses goes up exponentially, as do any methods for procrastination). He had tried the first time and we both didn't have the patience to wait all day... so it didn't turn out so well, hard as rock.. all the way through. This memory inspired me to try this elusive recipe -- although I found my own recipe online...albeit in 9 parts.. Annoying, yet .. helpful!

Follow it exactly, and you'll get awesome baguettes! Hard on the outside, bubbly and soft on the inside. One tip: Be VERY careful with the hot water!

Enjoy!

Updated: BBQ Cha-sui flavoured wings!

2010-05-17T17:24:00.005-04:00

So we had an itch for MORE WINGS! And it turned out even better than the last!

I've made it a second time with slight variation on the original recipe.

In addition to cha sui sauce, add 1 tbsp soy sauce all over and sprinkle of ginger (powder or grated if you have it). Bake 10 mins at 425 F then turn (after you flip them, slather on more of the remaining sauce), then increase the heat to 450 F and bake for another 10.
This time then were sweeter, redder, and even MORE scrumptious than before!

Another secret is the use parchment paper! I've tested it with just the pan, with aluminum foil (from my British-Chinese tongue: A-LU-MIN-NI-UM), and honestly parchment wins out everytime! and easy clean up too! (even easier than aluminium foil if you believe it)

It keeps in the fridge for FIVE DAYS! Of course I put it in a tempered glass container with a plastic snap lid! It's the best kind of storage!

Anyway, enjoy!

Fudgy Chocolate Brownie "Muffins"

2010-04-30T00:23:00.002-04:00

This is a recipe from Joy of Baking left over from my "baking frenzy" earlier this year... I think I baked something every night for two weeks and fattened everyone up at work.....i'm sure people were pleased at the time, but was definitely in total regret/guilt mode for eating super rich baked goods for two weeks... anyway, all in all it was worth it.

So the fudgy brownie recipe... for portability sake, I baked them in muffin cups.. hence "quotations" around "muffins". .. I have to say that I think the separation into muffin cups dried out the recipe more than I like. Stick to the recipe and use a "real" "muffin" "pan".

BBQ Cha-sui flavoured wings!

2010-04-30T00:15:00.007-04:00

Honestly, how easy was this?

2 lbs of wingettes (I got these at T and T Supermarket, they give you the option of buying just the middle part of the wing -- just so happens to be my favourite). ACtually most asian grocery stores will have this.

Lee Kum Kee Cha sui sauce.

Instructions:
1. wash and pat dry the wings
2. mix generously with cha sui sauce
3. bake at 425F for 20 - 25 minutes. turn over once at the 10 minute mark

Voila!

I think Ian and I finished this whole batch just the two of us.....yikes! weight watchers, beware!

Chinese Homemade Pork Loaf

2010-02-25T19:06:00.005-05:00

Sounds and looks gross, BUT this is the taste of home for me.

This is my comfort food. Anyone who come from a Chinese family knows what this is and it's what we eat at home. It's not something you typically serve to guests, it's what you eat when you're with the people you love the most. This is completely authentic.

1 lb. ground pork (lean i like, but medium is ok too)
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 egg
3 Shitake mushrooms (chinese kind, it's dried and it's black, usually packaged from cellophane
1 tbsp dried shrimp (chinese kind, also dried, and also package in cellophane)
2 tbsp of Shiitake mushroom soaking liquid

Prepare Ahead: (I usually do this part before work and when i come home it's ready to go; i think it probably takes 3 hours to soak.)
- The Shiitake mushrooms need to be soaked until they are thoroughly soft and soaked through. Preserve the soaking liquid
- The dried shrimp also need to be soaked until soft. No need to keep the liquid for this.

- Once the soaking process is done, take the mushroom or shrimp (they are treated the same way) squeeze out the liquid, and chop into small cubes.

Set up your steamer. For me I use either a steaming basket or a steaming "platform" (i.e. a little metal stand that goes into the pot you do the steaming in). Tip: make sure that before you start to heat up the water that your steamer stand/steamer container will fit! It isn't fun to try to fit a steamer over boiling hot water! Make sure that the water is boiling as you place your pork loaf onto the steamer.

Mix all the ingredients together, Steam for 15 minutes

Serve with Rice! Ta-da, how easy was that?

Aside: The Smell Test
So since the meat is raw -- the question is, how do you know it's seasoned properly? Give it a smell. I don't mean the wafting technique from chemistry class -- I mean, put your face to the dish and give it a good wiff. The way it smells is the way it should taste. It's not exactly the same (just b/c we're human and no two senses do the same thing) but it's pretty close. Just a trick from my mom to me to you!

The consistency is less dense than traditional western meatloaf and much more savoury. We've just had the most perfect Chinese Porkloaf and just wanted to share this recipe with you!
Enjoy!

Finnish Cardamom Coffeecake

2010-01-05T23:20:00.004-05:00

So this is one of the things on my list of things to make. As soon as my silicone easy storage bundt cake pan fell into my hands (santa was good to me this x'mas) I was able to get this show on the road.

Here is the recipe.

I was very happy with how this turned out although it could 've stayed in the oven way longer. Also there was way way way too much wafer crumbs. Even though this made a really good topping, i think 5 wafers crushed would have been enough.

This lasted ian and I like more than a week. We're still eating it!

--

Where did I learn about cardamom cake? I would've never thought about the combination of flavours (nor about baking a bundt cake) -- There was a potluck at work and b/c we're in toronto where there are so many people from all parts of the world, I was privileged to I didn't actually get the recipe although I did approach the lady and offer to buy it off her an start a franchise. We never connected b/c of the holidays and I looked up the recipe online instead. I'll have to go back and ask her (I'm call her "my sensei" of cardamom finish coffee cake) and see if she approves!

Wow, looks-good chocolate chip banana bread!

2010-01-05T23:08:00.007-05:00

It's been a while since my last post, but I've been baking steadily, just not documenting !! (booo)

So here is the latest -- banana bread, it's just come straight out of the oven, we'll have to wait till tomorrow morning to see if this is good.

By looks alone, it's better than the banana bread muffins I made in November -- but this is a new year, isn't it? We'll see if it's as good as it looks tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and here is the recipe. The only thing that I did that's outside the instructions, is melting the butter so it mixes in easier.

Japanese Cheesecake....FAIL

2009-12-27T13:11:00.009-05:00

I googled this recipe -- unfortunately it's not been validated, so i thought i'd test it in my kitchen. I put the springform pan on my x'mas list for this very purpose. So here goes the recipe.

7 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup superfine sugar (caster sugar aka baker’s sugar) This should be next to the rest of the sugars in a well stocked super market
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup cornstarch (don’t use flour!!)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 1/2 cups boiling water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9-inch cake tin with cooking oil spray.
Beat cream cheese with milk to soften.
Add half of the sugar, all the egg yolks, all the cornstarch and all the lemon juice to the beaten cream cheese.
Beat until smooth.
Beat egg whites separately in a medium sized bowl until foamy. Do NOT let any grease get in the eggs whites or you‘re screwed and by screwed I mean your egg whites will fail to get fluffy and peak!
Gradually add the remaining sugar and all of the cream of tartar to the egg whites, beating on high speed until soft peaks form, about 8-10 minutes. This may seem excessive but you must get those peaks!
Gradually fold beaten egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, stirring gently. DO NOT BEAT them into the mixture.
Pour into cake pan and smooth the surface.
Place cake pan into a larger roasting pan and place in lower rack of oven.
Pour enough of the boiling water into the roasting pan to come half way up the side of the cake pan.
Bake 35-40 minutes or until a pick inserted in the middle of the center comes out clean.
If the surface becomes too dark while baking cover with a piece of tin foil, but be careful not to open the oven door until it has been in the oven for at least 20 minutes.
If you can, let the cheese cake (which is a soufflÃ© in disguise) gradually cool for one hour in the oven with the oven turned off.
If you like, you can treat the cheesecake like its Western counterparts and spread some fruit filling on top of it. (I don‘t recommend lychee as it overwhelms the cheesecake).

---

so here is an update on the try-out. notice there are no pictures with this post --- the reason being the new pan i received for x'mas leaked on the bottom despite my every careful effort. Ian was so good to eat the non-soaked part and declared it "the best japanese cheesecake" he's ever had. I have a good husband, but a very very bad japanese cheesecake.

This is definitely a fail.

Once I've worked out the courage to start again, I'll let you know.

Knowing that this was a technically and equipment issue, the recipe still remains uncontended/unvalidated. however you wanna look at it.... so there is still a glimmer of hope.

Mrs. Fields Cinnamon Sugar Cookie

2009-12-27T13:11:00.006-05:00

Best thing for x'mas shopping is a good 1/2 dozen of mrs. fields cookies. When I got to MRs. Fields this year, there were only 2 left! So i decided to look up a recipe and make my own!

They turned out marvelously and actually they were really fun to make, and lasted forever, this recipe turned out about 60 bite-sized cookies.

What to make next...

2009-11-27T23:24:00.002-05:00

So I've been baking basically everyday, BUT in order to make something other than two dozen of chocolate chip cookies, here are some ideas that I'm aiming for.

French Macaroons
Why? I love them, that's why. I've been thinking about them since I saw Marie Antoinette.

Cream Scones
Went to a bridal shower at the King Eddie and I just couldn't get enough of this -- plus Devonshire cream, of course!

Finnish cardamom cake
There was a bake-off at the CCAC United Way Campaign and one of the ladies who work in the call centre baked this wonderful thing. It just looked like a normal coffee cake, but it was anything but! It wastotally extraordinary! It was just the perfect mix of spicy and sweet. She passed by my office just after the lunch was over and I sat her down told her she missed my calling and can i have the recipe. I told her she shoudl sell it -- funny enough, when i went back to my office, someone else came to see her and they said exactly the same thing! Cardamom Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Loaf

Gingerbread Halloween man -- recipe still to come!

Pistachio Coffee Cake

That's a good list, don't you think?

Chocolate Muffin with Cream Cheese Filling

2009-11-24T21:01:00.004-05:00

You just can't go wrong with this recipe. Those who know me probably can hear me saying, well, anything that's got butter, cream cheese, sugar, and chocolate mix together is basically a no-fail endeavour. Even so, this is a real no-fail recipe.

I added about 1/2 c of flour in addition to the original recipe b/c when i first mixed everything together, it was just too wet! Also, I piped in the cream cheese filling vs using a spoon, it just gave it more of a uniform structure in the middle of the muffin as opposed to creating a giant mess at the top of the muffin.

This recipe made 12. we ate two for breakfast -- its' not a breakfast food, but we just couldn't help it -- it was so good straight out of the oven, there was a molten custard cheesecake feel to it. And two days later, they were good, but not AS good -- i even put it in the microwave for 20 sec. the texture was good but nothing compared to when it first came out of the oven. i brought it over to Jamie, Sean, and Miko -- and Miko had her first taste of "cheesecake"!

Sweet Butter Dora Fish with Almond Parmesan Crust

2009-11-15T21:34:00.007-05:00

This was done completely by accident while I watched Amazing Race with Ian. We'd just come
back from Barbados and our time clock is all weird. We had a late lunch (at A and W's)...and I started getting the munchies around 8 pm.

1/4 C butter
1 tbsp butter
1/4 C almond slivers
2 tbsp of provencal mustard
two cloves of garlic sliced
two slices filets of dora fish
parmesan cheese -- grated
salt
pepper
garlic powder
honey 1. 5 tbsp
sprinkle of tabasco

This fish recipe is great with basmati rice and
1 C basmati
2 C water
pinch salt
squirt lime juice
1/2 tbsp butter

Cook the rice first b/c fish is not going to take long.
Boil the 2 cups of water, when it comes to a boil, put the rice in. Add the butter, lime, and pinch of salt. Let it simmer for 12 mins and then take it off the heat and cool for 5 mins.

Now, the fish...
Heat the oven by putting it on broiler -- HI. using a casserole dish that can hold two fillets . put the butter, oil, and garlic into the dish. Put the dish into the oven. Heat for 5 minutes -- the garlic is sizzling but not burnt.

Meanwhile, pat dry the fish, sprinkle with salt and pepper and garlic powder.

Remove the cassarole dish carefully from the oven. Add mustard, lime juice, and honey. Stir to mix well. Lay the two fillets on the dish, turn once to cover the fillets with the butter mixture.
Sprinkle the almonds across the fillets and then sprinkle the parm all over.

Put it in the oven and wait 6 minutes or until the almond top is toasted/dark golden brown. Cut open the fillet to make sure it's cooked.

Viola! Sweet Butter Dora Fish with Almond Parm Crust.

Banana Bread Muffins getting better! (slightly)

2009-11-04T21:46:00.004-05:00

I have now made banana bread muffins 3 times and this is the best... so far. but by far not the best banana or muffin I've ever had.

2 C flour
1/2 C oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 C sugar
1 egg
3 very ripe bananas

Mix all liquid ingredients. Then add the dry ingredients one by one.
I also added 1/4 cup of pecans and also 1/2 cup chocolate chips. and also 1 tsp vanilla.

bake in cups for 35 mins. I think 32 mins. should be fine. This makes 12 muffins and actually i did get some muffin tops.

......If at first you don't succeed ... try three more time and then keep going....

Thea's Amazing Accidental Cha Sui! (Homemade Chinese BBQ pork)

2009-11-03T21:33:00.008-05:00

Ian makes a very good pork tenderloin. It's basically the $4 pork tenderloin that you get at Metro or loblaws, you make little cuts into it and you stuff the little cuts with slivers of garlic. They you cover it with olive oil and then spices like salt, pepper, paparika. Pretty white-man bland, but really good when it comes out of the oven.

So I tried to recreate it, went to chinatown and bought something that looked very similar to pork tenderloin but is actually another very similar cut that's leaner, with a very small/thin amount of fat only on one side. It's called "lau mui" i think.

I bought some lee cum kee cha sui sauce as well -- this is the key, honestly i would never try to make my own cha sui sauce, that's just crazy.

I guess it was about 1.5 lb of meat. I put it in a ceramic loaf container and cover it with cha sui sauce, grated about 1 in. of ginger, 1 tablespoon of soya sauce, grated 4 cloves of garlic. I spread the sauce/grated material all over so it's covers the meat evenly. DON'T PUT ANY SALT, the sauce is tasty enough, trust me.

Baked it for 45 mins covered with aluminum foil at 450 F. Then uncovered it and baked for 20 more minutes. I think it could have been done in 30/15. We'll give that a go next time.

I totally didn't follow ian's recipe..but it still turned out quite amazingly. Goes great with fried noodles. total meal cost = $2/person. taste like the stuff you get at a chinese bbq store.

oh yeah ...and my mom makes this too. I must have accidentally channeled my mom's cooking abilities! Thanks mom!

Meringue Ghost Colony!

2009-10-29T19:04:00.007-04:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

So when i saw this cute little recipe on Joy of Baking, I just couldn't pass it up.

They turned out so cute and was sooo easy to do -- Ian and I had such a great time making them. Yes, ian did like 1/2 of them. And they turned out exactly like the picture, except i used chocolate chips instead of googly eyes. (I think they actually taste better and gives a good contrast) Btw, pics to follow.

Everyone in the office love them. Naz this one's for you!

Ginger Orange Meat Balls and Asian Roasted Potatoes

2009-10-26T23:29:00.004-04:00

This was honestly one of the easiest meals I've every made!

Potatoes
small potatoes wash and cut in half
boil in microwave for 15 mins

salt
pepper
grated lemongrass -- 1/2 stalk and chopped 1/2 stock
6 cloves of garlic -- 3 grated , 3 sliced
cumin to cover each
paparika to cover each
oil to cover
green onions 1 stalk chopped (green parts only)
heat oven to 450 F roast for 20 mins.

Meat Balls
Frozen meatballls (as many as you need -- I usually do about 6 per person, max!)
VH orange ginger sauce
soya sauce
ketchup

boil meat balls, drain, put it back into the pot, add oil, brown the bottom/sides of the meat balls, add sauce to cover, turn down the heat, let it boil for a few minutes, add two big squirts of ketchup, sprinkle of soya sauce.

I paired this with sliced fresh orange peppers and cucumber. good balance.

There were no veggies left, but the potatoes and meatballs lasted a dinner and a lunch.

Thea's Lasagna

2009-10-26T23:10:00.005-04:00

Ok I've made lasagna before. But it's never been this good!

I'm no Italian, but i don't need to be one to tell me a lasagna's good.

All u need:

1 pkg of lasagna noodles
1 can of Primo tomato pasta sauce
1 lb fresh ground beef -- i always do lean, but if you do not-lean (fat) they it's more beefy for sure. (you'll just have to make sure you eat less of it? what? nevermind)
two packages of cheese, this particular recipe took a "pizza" mix and an "italian" mix. the former being a mix of cheddar and mozz and the latter being a mix of povalone and mozz. -- the secret is really in the cheese
I clove of garlic
salt and pepper
onions
diana sauce (secret)
soy sauce (secret)
olive oil

--

brown the beef slightly
add generous salt and pepper
1 table spoon (I just eyed it) just a bit all over diana sauce original
sprinkle of soya sauce

continue to brown
add can of sauce when 1/2 brown
grate in the one clove of garlic using a rasp
chop 1/2 an onion and put that in the sauce once it's on a soft boil (turn the heat down and put on a clear lid (if you have one, so you can make sure it doesn't burn. I'm not kidding make sure it's turned down to a gentle boil like min-med or you're gonna get little red sauce volcanoes -- you don't need this)

Boil some water at the same time, enough to cover your noodles
Boil the noodles for about 6 - 8 mins. (7)
Do NOT salt the water, honestly there is no need
After done al dente, drain and add olive oil all over so the noodles don't stick together, plus olive oil is just yummy!

Ok, now assembly. Make sure you have your cheese ready. if you are gungho, you can buy your cheese in a block and grate/process if you're lucky enough to own and have room in your downtown condo for a processor.

choose a container that you like that can go in the oven. if i don't think there is any difference between a teflon coated aluminum, glass, or ceramic. I think everything under the top layer is basically the same: wet, gooey cheesy and saucy goodness. I use a glass container that has a plastic lid -- so i can close it up when it cools down -- it makes an amazing lunch! everyone at the office will be jealous.

layer the sauce , cheese, and noodles in whatever order you like. make sure that you stick to that order though, so that you don't get double layers of anything. if the lasagna is not spaced out correctly it may fall apart (2+ consecutive layers of sauce and cheese) or be too dry (2 plus layers of noodle) when you go and cut it open to eat it.

ok last step: preheat the oven to 425 F . once you have it stacked, make sure the top layer is lasagna and just sprinkle enough cheese in a thin layer. when you look at the top, you should see mostly noodle and not cheese. this is how we make a crunchy lasagna top.
make 16 - 18 mins. (17).

Take out the lasagna -- the top should be crusty, crispy and slightly brown on the edges. sprinkle garnish as you like. Let cool for five minutes. I don't know why, this is ian's advice. and it turned out great and who can argue with greatness.

This will make at least 6 regular servings. 10 servings if this is a second course of three.
--

Since this is a pretty hearty meal, I paired it with fresh thickly sliced cucumber. Very refreshing -- bon appetite!

Mini Chocolate Brownie Cheesecakes

2009-10-24T14:35:00.003-04:00

So here is my next project, and it involved everyone on my team at work. After having them try out my banana chocolate chip muffin recipe and the chocolate chip cookies. i thought I'd get on a row to challenge myself to keep baking.

so i did a poll and they came up with a few key words/ingredients:

1. chocolate
2. low fat
3. cheesecake
4. brownie

--

The answer came just minutes after the poll, seconds actually. So scrambling those, we have:
Low Fat, Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake.

(I'll throw in the mini)

Mini, low fat chocolate brownie cheesecake.

---

What's the recipe?

I thought I'd start off with thinking about the bottom and go bottom up.
And combine a few recipes at the same time. What can I say I love hybrids.

Starting at the bottom: A chocolate wafer.
Then...a variation of the mini cheese cake.

Then top it with a roasted marshmellow and some chocolate shavings OR whole chunky cherry glaze.

Just got one other amazing idea. i can bake for the prizes of an upcoming event and put our tag to them: Theian Catering?

Best Egg Salad! -- SIMPLE!

2009-10-22T01:54:00.002-04:00

6 eggs

that's all it takes. i used only 3 - 4 of the yolks -- in my feeble effort to decrease my cholesterol.
Hard boiled.

also didn't have any celery. but i thought, what's refreshing, crunch and green? A celery replacement? Good ol' english cucumber.

so what did i do after the eggs are good and hardboiled?
1 tablespoon of mayo/ or more if you like it more creamy
then season to
2inches of cucumber. Sliced, then use 2 slices for dicing , put it in the egg mixture. Use the rest for garnish. nice to chew on while you enjoy the salad.

Even better. if you get a chance to stop by and get an olive baguette from Kensington , the salad goes great on the bread sliced and toasted!

enjoy!

Banana Bread/Muffins

2009-10-22T00:42:00.002-04:00

One of my best friends, J, just gave birth to a little girl (little "M) and i thought I'd bring her/them something while she's in hospital. I worked at that same hospital years ago and really the food isn't that great. If there is one thing that j and I can't live without, it's good food.

So here is the recipe i'm trying out and actually the baking takes more like 30 mins and not ten from the original recipe on google.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 bananas
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup *Chocolate Chips

Mix, fill muffin cups, Bake at 375 for 28 mins.

enjoy!

Amazing Chololate Cookies

2009-10-22T00:03:00.004-04:00

Let me just start by saying: I HATE CHOLCOLATE AND I HATE COOKIES AND I HATE BAKING.

But somehow, These are the best CHOCOLATE, CHIP, COOKIES, that i ever BAKED!

the batter lastest forever! and i cooked them every day! actually like everyday i baked at least 10 cookies over three days.

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups unsalted butter, melted
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 egg
2 egg yolk
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

melt the butter.
mix all the stuff together.

bake for 16 mins in a 325 F oven.

good luck! like i said this will make a huge batch of cookies that you can bake over three days.

Asian Deep Fried Chicken Wings

2009-10-21T23:48:00.002-04:00

I made the most AWESOME deep friend chicken wings.

Shrimp paste
lemon grass
ginger
garlic
fish sauce
soya sauce
3 lbs chicken wings

1/2 cornstarch + 1/2 flour OR just corn starch for coating
oil for frying

1. clean chicken wings of feathers etc. The easiest way to do this, is to boil a pot of water and blanch
them quickly.
2. then make sure they are pat dry/drained
3. mix all the ingredients for the marinade. The secret weapon here is the rasp! use the RASP! just grate the amount you want into the sauce boom there ya go! as for the wet parts, make sure you mix enough of the sauce of cover the chicken up properly.
4. taste it -- not if it's been contaminated by the chicken.
5. mix it with the chicken
6. soak the marinade in the chicken (or vice versa) say for 15 mins.. b/c this this really salty stuff!

7. make sure that you PAT DRY. this was my mistake the first time around. make sure the wings are really dry and THEN pat them in flour. DON'T SKIP this step or you're gonna be stuck with three pounds of wet/soggy wings.. and no one wants that.
8. pat with 1/2 cornstarch and 1/2 flour. or just rice flour. make sure you use very little and pat the wing free to excess flour jsut before frying. Dont' "pre-pat" b/c it will be less crispy.
9. make sure oil is 350 F or sizzles slowly
10. after you patted the wings lightly with flour, fry slowly.

then drain on a cookie rack/other metal rack.

enjoy!

Artistrhi is Awesome!

2009-08-05T02:39:00.000-04:00

Just look at these before and afters.. i don't think you can beat this.

Montreal Hookahs. Toronto Hookahs.

2009-08-05T02:00:00.001-04:00

Ok, it's not what you think.

It was a rainy day in montreal, actually more than torrential rain that herded us indoors. Thanks to Maude, we landed in the best of places.... a small homey awesome little hookah bar on Rue St. Dennis.

Now I'm determined to find its equivalent in TO. It was the best smoking experience i've had.... so far.

Looks like i've already found my first one.

and second... wow this one is even better!

why don't i just share the whole map?

Paneer, my dear!

2009-08-05T01:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I've always dreamed of a test kitchen, where better to start than indian food? (really? coz that's not easy).

I remember the time i made "cinnamon buns" when I was 10 years old... what a disaster. We didn't have any yeast at home at the time, but i figured, how needs yeast? It came out like the "doughy dolls" that you make at camp, except in cinnamon bun shape....my mom was so kind to still encourge me to cook..! yay mom.

So what have i made? Paneer, my dear!
and i think i added WAY to much lemon juice b/c the cheese tastes sour... I don't think that's supposed to happen. also it didn't drain very well -- althought perhaps it was bc i got lazy and didn't get a real cheese cloth. and also i used two percent milk. in retrospect, i really should've thought this through. what i thought would take 15 mins took almost two hours. plus clean up (still not done).

the "end product" is sitting on the kitchen counter...i keep it around thinking it'll get better with age. Ah, denial, what would i do without you?

What's next? I'm going to perfect it. it seems easy enough.

But what to do with paneer? Mutter.

Mutter paneer is one of my all time favourites. every since i had it at ghandi on queen w. honestly it was love at first eat -- and of course, it was ian who introduced me to it. (who else?)

What else with mutter paneer though. good as it may be, you can't eat it just by itself (although i probably could; mutter paneer to me is like raw cookie dough for most people: you shouldn't eat i just by itself, but you couldn't help it)

How about naan?

There are so many recipes.

And what else? Gol Guppi! I got this amazing recipe from Sharon. this girl should write a blog.

i'll let you know how it goes.

Dining With TasteTO â Please Join Us at Harvest Wednesdays at the Gladstone Hotel

2009-07-28T01:00:00.001-04:00

Dining With TasteTO â Please Join Us at Harvest Wednesdays at the Gladstone Hotel

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For Home: Easy Spaghetti and Meatballs

2009-07-27T22:21:00.001-04:00

Ok, so what's the deal with having to cook everyday? What's wrong with having leftovers?

Nothing, except that I come from a family of in-house food critics...that is, they evaluate each dish that they ever eat whether they are at home, dining out, on vacation, or dreaming about it. My mom, dad, aunts, uncles, brother, grandparents ALL comment on the trifecta of food criticism: taste, smell, look/feel.

Needless to say, they would probably disown me if they found out that I had leftovers -- the same leftovers -- not one day but five days in a row.

So what is the miracle dish that's kept me eating it everyday for an entire work week?

Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Spaghetti. Not handmade spaghetti. No fancy semolina flour + fresh eggs pasta (although I have a recipe for that too). Just primo spaghetti, two dollarfulls, cooked 8 minutes, till al dente. Drained, then mixed with olive oil. I didn't even have to season the water.

And Meatballs. What but Janes' Swedish Meatballs. 5 meatballs per serving is enough. Boil them, drain them, and then into the sauce it goes!

What sauce you ask? Primo (again) 2 cans, with a package of basil + a bit of cumin and paparika (this last bit is Ian's special touch; dont' know where it came from, but it give it a nutty taste which so reminds me of home).

It's about 50 cents a serving and great with salad.

Another mundane piece of life becoming extraordinary.

For Fun: Movies: Orphan, The Child-Killer Thriller

2009-07-26T01:23:00.000-04:00

Ok so it's been a while since I've seen a psychological/thriller/horror movie, especially one with children in them. I guess the last one must have been Omen, and I can't honestly say that I saw it b/c i was covering my eyes and plugging my ears through 78% of it.

I got scared really bad when I was a teenager, you know, like they say don't every hit anyone in the back of the head when they're cross eyed or they'll stay that way? It was the equivalent of that, only it was my stupid boyfriend at the time, and he scared me with one of those things that you are asked to stare at on an internet site and then some stupid big noise jumps out and scares you to death. I almost cracked over that one, so a decade later, I'm much better and am now able to get over the handicap of not being able to enjoy psychological horror movies, especially, the "child-killer thriller". So Ian and I went to see Orphan.

Ok, this was a really really really good choice. And those of you who know me know that it's RARE for me to say that something is really really good on CynicalThea-scale.

I was tempted to go see it after the piece on this movie done by the Globe and Mail, "Evil children subgenre spawn Orphan".

Believe it or not, the movie was both horrific AND comedic. The suspense was worth it even with the sometimes absurd elements that are so common for the horror/thriller genre. At one point after one of these inane scenes, someone just blurted "what?" And you know it was exactly what every single person in the room was thinking b/c of the giggles that followed. For a 1/3 full theatre, it was actually quite a positive film experience. We laughed, we held our breaths, we reacted to the the utterly impossibility of some scenes, and we cheered when the good guy gets a break. Honestly what more could you ask for?

It's hard to provide a good review without giving anything away. So instead this is what i'll do. I'll compare it to The Good Son, a similar movie from 1993 (play back from the way back) starring McCAuley Culkin. Incidentally so was Elijah Wood. The kid form home alone AND Frodo ? Weird, who would've thought?

The Good Son vs. Orphan
Small animal was killed by the "evil" child Yes Yes

Slippery icy surface involved Yes Yes

Oblivious father Yes Yes

Two other kids in the family Yes Yes
(10 year old brother,
4 year old sister -- too young to cry foul)

Sounds increadibly similar, doesn't it? Hmm, but let me tell you, on the "disturbing" scale, Orphan is like The Good Son to the infinity!

In 1993 I was 13 and honestly, The Good Son scared me to death. I was afraid of my younger brother for days afterwards even though he is my biological brother. But as an adult now, I can honestly say that Orphan has done for me what The Good Son did for me when i was 13; but as you can imagine, as adults we are hard to scare b/c of that well-polished film of cynism that all adults have built up over the years. So you can imagine how good this movie is to actually have made me sit up and pay attention.

The acting is superb, the cast perfect. There were so many people I've never heard of in this movie, but it was good enough that it makes you google/IMDB them when you get home. Peter Sarsgaard, of course I've heard of him, but I really stuggled to remember a blockbuster...so really all in all it wasn't really like one of those movie that you go to see famous people play another character, you really went there to be thrilled by the concept, the movie, the acting.

Anyway, at the end of the movie, I realized how thoroughly entralled I was. My hand was stiff from gripping Ian's (his hand was so clammy from my crazy-grip : men, take note, bring a kleenex). My back, my butt my whole body was so tense, and i was so lost in the movie and the suspense that i had literally NO idea until I tried to stand up.

I was totally thrill-chilled. Well, isn't that the reason we go to these sorta movies in the first place?

So apparently there are a whole bunch of these movies, maybe I'll review and expand my critique to the next level (from the choices named by the GnM article): The Bad Seed, Omen, Village of the Damned, Children of the Damned (and the Corn), little Billy from The Twilight Zone, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Angels with Dirty Faces, Dead End Kids, Rosemary's Baby.

It's amazing how many choices i have ahead of me. I'll have to come back with a total breakdown next time I come back. I'll have to work out a schedule with Ian to make sure he's home with mem when I watch these....

For Home: Cars: Friday night car rental

2009-07-25T03:14:00.000-04:00

First post ever!!!

So it's the weekend again and Ian and I had to delve deep into Scarberia to visit our friend Ben for yet another intense games night. On the list of games worthy of consideration are: Agricola, Powergrid, Caylus, Dominion, El Grande, Puerto Rico, etc.....

But games are not what I'm going to talk about... that's a total other posting. So what am I really going to talk about? (and you will see this a lot in my blogs to come... is something totally different in the intro than the body of the blog; this is an atypical style; but is a pretty accurate representation of who i am and how my feeble mind works)

Where was I? Oh yeah, the real topic:
Autoshare! The hourly rental car company!

This is a perfect example of how to live well and cheap in the downtown T.O.

When people think about car rentals, they usually think of family road trips that take days and days, car games, sightseeing to the point of living in your car, cross country endeavours that transcend tears, car-cabin fever, and the likes. But my guess is that most people don't think of renting a car for a few hours to pop over to a friends' house. Which is what Ian and I are starting to really love, not only for the convenience or not having to take care and pay for a car, but also for the experience of being able to drive safe, comfortable, clean, cars that are close to our apartments for a really reasonable price. The pay-as-you-go plan is perfect for couples or single families living downtown that don't need to use cars everyday.

This hourly rental stuff largely came out of high costs that result from downtown parking, car payments, regular car maintenance, gas, oh yeah, did i mention parking? I didnt' mention parking two times for no reason. Parking happens not only at the place you're going to , but also the place you're starting from -- your home. So this means that you have to have a parking space at your apartment. If you are rich enough to live in a house downtown, you can probably afford the parking too, so you can probably skip this blog.

But for the rest of us lowly minions who live in our overpriced <500 sq ft downtown apartments, parking and owning a car becomes just too much of an expense. It could really be the straw that breaks the camels' backs (esp newlyweds with a huge debt). So, what to do, what to do..
RENT BY THE HOUR! Sounds dirty when i say it like that, but really I'm talking about walking down the street, (<5 mins), putting your key in the lock, doing a minute amount of documentation, and then voila! off you go!

It's the perfect way to go and see friends who live our of town, go to that non/not easily-TTC accessible grocery store that has all the good stuff (T and T Supermarket), or just a day trip around town.

The best deal around town for this is with Autoshare: http://autoshare.com/rates.html.
Their rates range from $5.50/hr - $9.75/hr depending on how often you need a car per month. And after midnight, it's FREE!

And here you will find that the most mundane experience become something worthy or record: After our second trip (first one was driving to Ajax to see our friends Adam and Dotti; second was to see Ben, like i said, in Scarberia) There is a lot down the street from us and it has a silver Toyota Matrix that we've affectionately dubbed as "our little car".