Gastronomic Journey @ CL2

Kazu

2010-04-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

A pleasant surprise to find an authentic, Japanese owned Izakaya near Guy Corcordia metro. Small place, so do expect a long wait. But it is really worth it.

Kazu
1862 Rue Ste-Catherine O
Montreal, QC H3H

Sumo Ramen

2009-11-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Finally, we have a ramen restarant in Montreal. It is located in China Town and the owner is Chinese. So, naturally, being so skeptical, 4 questions came to my mind.

How authentic is the Japanese ramen experience?
How comfortable is the seating arrangement?
How clean is the place?
How bad is the customer service?

I admit I have my stereotype about Chinese restaurants. They are usually not very clean; they care about serving you good food but do not believe in customer service. They also tend to care less about the atmosphere/seating area because it’s all about the food.

The first time I went in there, I was pleasantly surprised. You can tell that they have put some effort in their decor. The place looked very clean (though it should be the case since it is newly opened). They seem to focus heavily on customer service which is really rare in a Chinese owned establishment. But that level of customer service ( attention to your needs, smiling at all times…etc) really helped create the authentic Japanese dining experience.

As far as the ramen is concerned, I didn’t have a good first experience there. They used canned bamboo shoot which gave off a very unpleasant smell and tarnished the taste of the miso soup base. However, I went back a few months later to give them a second and third chance ( there is unfortunately nowhere else to go when you crave for ramen!), I applaud them for stop serving the bamboo shoot in their ramen. Kudoos for their quick reaction to customer feedback.

What really makes Sumo Ramen stand out is its commitment to excellent customer service. That alone makes me want to go back. It feels great when a place promotes “customer is king” philosophy. Ahh, how I miss

Japan

L' academie

2009-07-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Recent visit to the relatively newly opened l' academie turned out to be a big surprise. I have been to their St. Denis location many years ago and was not impressed ( bad service, lukewarm soup...) But since there aren't that many inexpensive BYOW restaurant, we decided to give the chain a second chance.

To my surprise, the experience was very good. The decor was classy and spacious. The waiters were courteous. The food was excellent( My cabonara was al dente and not too salty). And with the $10.95 for all pasta dishes and mussels from Sunday to Wednesday dinner deal, it is really a great pick for downtown resto.

Moreover, I'm glad to say that I have discovered a new place to go for crème brûlée that is worth my while! The burnt sugar was not too thick, the taste was just right. The texture was ever so slightly on the runny side, but it was still very good. If they start using orange water and make it slightly richer, it would be perfect!

Linsley signature house salad

2009-06-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Too many have asked me for my house salad dressing recipe. So, I think it's time to share it to all.

Greens used:

-Usually baby spinach or arugula

Toppings:

-Barlett pear

-Roasted walnuts

-Blueberries

Dressing: ( for 4-5 servings)

-6 tsp olive oil

-2 tsp rice vinegar

-2 tsp soya sauce

-2 cloves of garlic, minced

-3 tsp honey

-2 tsp lime juice

-1/8 tsp Dijon mustard

-3-5 leaves of fresh basil and or parsley, minced

Depends on whether you want the dressing to be more sweet or more salty, you can fiddle with the amount of honey, lime juice and soya sauce.

Cabane à sucre @ APC

2009-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Finally went to APC's Cabane à sucre with a group of friends. I'm glad we went. It was quite an experience to have a gourmet version of sugar shack outing. It was simply put: good and satisfying. However, Martin Picard tried to showcase too many dishes. It was kind of like a " menu de dégustation". So, there were a few that was pale in comparsion to others. I highly recommend the tourtière, which was my favorite dish at the shack. The desserts were excellent as well. I don't know how I can go to any " regular" sugar shack ever again. But I aim to find more interesting and new sugar shack adventures next year...

Until then.

Braised Shitake Mushrooms

2009-01-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

I love mushrooms. And so is my husband. Chinese " flower" shitake mushroom is one of my favorite kind of mushrooms because of the pungent flavor. I used to think oyster sauce and Chinese wine was the key, as told by many. But recently, I discovered the contrary, thanks to the amazing celibrity chef Susanna Foo, who shared with us her secrets in her cookbook.

The wonderful marinate for shitake mushroom's secret weapon is actually balsamic vinegar!

I don't ever follow recipies :p But here is what I do for 15 mushrooms

1 tbsp Soy sauce

1 cup Mushroom water ( from the soaking)

1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp Sugar

2 gloves of garlic, minced

Soak the mushrooms overnight.

Cut the stem and kept it for later if you want to make more broth.

Heat up the garlic with some olive oil.

Throw in the mushroom caps.

Pour in the sauce mix ( sugar, soya sauce, vinegar)

Throw in a cup of mushroom water.

Cook until there is no liquid left!

Cream of leek

2009-01-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

I made a very tasty and fibrous * healthy* soup tonight. In order to remember it, I've decided to blog it!!

Creamy leek soup, Charmaine style!

2 leeks, chopped up
1/4 cauliflower, chopped up
1 small leafy stalk of celery, minced
1/2 large Fuji apple ( OR 1 small yellow apple)
1 can of Swanson chicken broth and 1 can of water
2 small oinions, minced
3 gloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoon of cream or milk
A few drops of truffle oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Stir fry onion and garlic.
Add the veggies until fragant and sligtly brown.
Add apple, broth and water.
Medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
Add cream or milk and mash the soup up with hand-held mixer.
Drizzle a few drops of truffle oil on each serving.
Salt and pepper to taste. Done!

Yule log cake

2009-01-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

My Christmas log desaster! I followed the Cook Illustrated recipe to make a Yule log cake with meringe. Chad said it looked more like a submarine!
Luckily, it was moist and tasty!

Unagi-don/Kabayaki

2009-01-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have been feeling all Japanese and Korean mode in the kitchen. Endless Chap Chae, sukiyaki, okonomiyaki marathon.

On New Year's dinner, continuing with our Japanese theme from Christmas, we had
-ほうれん草のおひたし ( spinach with bonito flakes)
-蒲焼 (かばやき, kabayaki, grilled eel) with some not so fresh anymore 新米( new rice )
-榎茸おでんと椎茸 ( Oden with enoki and shitake mushroom)

It was yummy!

Bronte

2009-01-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

Chad and I were very happy that we found a restaurant in Montreal that was almost comparable to our experience at Initiale in Quebec city. Brontë is on Sherbrooke street,corner St. Matthieu, inside the Meridian Versailles hotel. The presentation of the food was exceptional, the amuse-bouche and all the appetizers tasted better than they look, which is not easy task to accomplish. So, kudos to the chef! Chad had the braised rabbit pappardelle. The pasta was perfect and very fresh. That was really the winning dish of the night.

The main courses were pale in comparison, but still very decent. The excessive use of foam on everything makes it less appetizing, no matter how fancy the foam is supposed to be.

The major set-backs are the service being not outstanding relative to the dining experience and the dessert chef tried too hard to impress.

By the end of the night, the waiters are coming less and less to fill our water. We waited 20 minutes to get our tea refilled. The one thing they did right is to bring the tea before dessert, which I really appreciate.

We heard the pastry chef is half Japanese, half Mexican. I was expecting an amazing fusion of Japanese delicacy and Mexican excitement. Fusion it was, but the desserts were so complicated that it took out the joy of the ordinary " enjoying sweets after dinner" expectation. I ordered a dessert with a long list of ingredients. But it turned out to be 4 separate dessert that hardly went well with each other: palm sugar donuts, roasted banana with cheese, chocolate and chiptotle ice cream and pine nut foam with mole. The chocolate was too spicy to my taste. The donut was as ordinary as any fresh donuts. Chad had a butter squash bread budding that looked nothing like bread pudding and tasted like watered down cheesecake. It didn't taste bad, it just was not as amazing as it marketed to be by its fancy ingredient listing on the menu

All in all, we had good company and good food. I would still go back there and bring my mom, who loves fancy food!

Beaver Hall

2009-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

Beaver hall is a fancy place for a work lunch. The over-sized plates, the nice butter holder with the cute lid, the modern steel vase with fake grass on your table makes you believe that they are attentive to details and presentations. The decor with the merry-go-round and toy soilders makes me feel like I am on the set of Nutcracker rehearsal. The food is not exceptional, but very decent and fresh. A two course gourmet lunch for under $25. I think it's not bad deal.

1073, Cote du BeaverHall

Okonomiyaki revisited

2009-01-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

I usually make Okonomiyaki for dinner parties. But I was craving for it the other day, so I make okonomiyaki for two! No patience to grate chinese yam, I settled for premixed okonomiyaki flour where yam/starch powder and flavor has already been accounted for!

Dough mix:
1 cup of okonomiyaki flour
1 cup of water or broth ( I used 1/4 cup of mushroom broth and 3/4 of water)
2 cups of minced cabbage
1/8 cup of minced picked ginger
1 cup of Tenkasu (天かす) or tempura batter
1 cup of bean sprout
1/2 cup of sliced cheese ( any kind)
2 gloves of garlic, minced
1 scallion, minced

Topping:
Okonomiyaki sauce
Japanese Mayo
Katsuyobushi ( bonito flakes)
Aonori ( 青海苔 )Seaweed flakes

Chap Chae

2009-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all the Dae Jang Geum episodes, Chad and I have been craving for Korean food for the past month. I'm glad my first attempt at Chap Chae had quite good result! I'm surprised how easy it is to make this dish! And you can add any toppings you want!

8 oz yam noodles (Korean grocery on Decarie!)
1-3 pieces of imitation crab meat, julienned
A handful of large spinach, pan fried with garlic and oil( no baby spinach because they are too thin and soft!)
1 carrot, julienned, stir fried with garlic or boiled
1/2 a cucumber, julienned, don't cook it!
4-5 shitake mushrooms, rehydrated, cooked( with soya sauce, basalmic vinegar and sugar) then sliced
1/2 Tbsp Sesame seeds, roasted
2 eggs, pan fried ( add 1tsp of mirin and a pinch of salt), sliced length-wise

1. Boil the noodles for 3-4 minutes until cooked ( kind of chewy texture)
2. Run the noodles through cold water and strain the noodles
3. Mix the noodles with the sauce mix
4. Toss all toppings ( except sesame seed) into the noodles.
5. Sprinkle seasme seeds on top before serving.

The sauce

2 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1. Heat the garlic and canola oil.
2. Add soya sauce.
3. Add sugar after the soya sauce has warmed up.
4. Add sesame oil and let cool.

This dish tastes best when served cold.

Food Mosaic

2008-09-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

From Collages

Café Choco-Latté

2008-06-29T18:48:00.001-07:00

If you're sick of Second Cup, Starbucks, Rockaberry's or even Calories, you might want to try Café Choco-Latté. It's my new discovery of the coolest café in town! The ambiance is very conducive to conversations, with very comfy couch-like chairs. The walls are in beautifully coordinated colors and tones. Their drinks menu is huge and they all look so interesting. I tried a pina colada with watermelon and it was very refreshing. ( It was slightly too sweet for my taste but I'm sure you can ask them to make it less sweet if you want. The staffs there are super nice.) Even though they're a café, they have pasta dishes and sandwiches that could make a very fine dinner. The food was really good. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
A massive sandwich Penne with Italian sausage and Raspberry cream sauce Their big variety of interesting and tasty cakesTheir carrot cake really awesome!!Blackberry hot chocolate ( a bit on the sweet side of things...)

1870A Ave. Dollard Ville LaSalle, Qc H8N 1T8
(514)363-6060

The husband, the amazing cook

2008-06-28T08:58:00.001-07:00

I don't need to cook anymore because my husband turns out to be an amazing cook! He just started to learn to cook this month. His meal creations are excellent on first trial, I must say, thanks to his attention to details and ability to follow the recipe almost verbatim while allowing " his sense of adventure to guide him" with some final twist!

The most important thing is that, he seems to be enjoying it and I'm loving it!
I'm eating gourmet food everyday without lifting a finger myself :p

Lean beef chili with goat cheese and wholewheat corn chips. A touch of basil to enhance the smell and the color of the dish.

Chicken breast cooked to perfection topped with mango salsa. Broccoli with balsamic vinaigrette.
Pork chop with amazing spicy citrus pan sauce and avocado and red cabbage salad.
Shrimp and kielbasa gumbo with home-made southern style corn bread.

My Tiramisu

2008-06-28T08:43:00.001-07:00

I made Tiramisu a lot just because it is the easiest cheesecake to make. No baking necessary yet easy to impress! But lately, I enjoy decorating them with words and rasberries!

-Mascorpone Cheese 500g

-Sugar 100g

-Egg yolk 4

-Egg white 4

-Whip cream 2 cup

-Lady fingers 1 big bags

-Coffee, Expresso or Nescafe 2 tsp +1cup

-Kahlua 1 cup

-Cocoa powder

1. Steam the egg yolk with ½ of the sugar

2. Beat egg white until stand and add sugar

3. Beat whip cream until puffy

4. Mix together the Mascorpone, egg yolk, egg white and whip cream mix.

5. Place the lady fingers in a pan. Soak with coffee and Kahlua mixture.

6. Spread a layer of cream.

7. Repeat step 5 and 6.

8. Scatter the cocoa power on top ( use stencils for words and patterns if you like!)

9. Freeze it for 3-5 hours until solidified.

Split pea coconut pudding: 馬豆糕

2008-06-28T08:19:00.001-07:00

Many of my friends couldn't believe that you can use split peas in a dessert. But it was a very popular Chinese dessert, and I believe it still is. 馬豆糕 is not as easy to make as it first seems. I personally think it is hard to find the correct consistency because it's not the typical gelatin based dessert. It's half way between jelly and pudding. So, instead of gelatin, it's corn starch that holds it together. I have attempted to make it with various recipes over the years. They were either too muddy or never solidified. This is my first successful attempt and I'm quite pleased!

馬豆糕 was actually my favorite growing up. Whenever I saw it walking down the street, I would nag my mom to buy one for me. But from time to time, I got disappointed because some stores would cheat and use gelatin instead because it's the easy way to form it. But it would have a jello-like consistency.

Split peas 2 oz
corn starch 3/4 cup
evaporated milk 3/4 cup
granulated sugar 1 cup
coconut milk 7 oz
Water 3 cups

1. Soak the split peas overnight.
2. Cook them in boiling water for 30 mins
3. Cover for 20 more mins.
4. Strain and let it cool.
5. Boil the water and add the sugar to the boiling water.
6. In the meantime, mix together corn starch, milk and coconut milk.
7. VERY slowly. pour the milky mixture into the sugared water.
8. After it is well mixed, add the peas into the mixture.
9. Pour into your desired container and let it set.
10. Refrigerate it for a day before serving.

Patati Patata

2008-05-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

My husband took me out on a date to explore the Plateau. We stopped by Patati Pitata, the famous burger joint on the corner of Rachel and St. Laurent. It is famous for the freshness of their ingredients and smallness of their price and size. Their mini hamburger steaks are indeed quite tasty. I quite enjoyed their home-made ice tea as well. They cut the veggies, the cheese, the mushrooms right in front of you and grill the steak fresh in front of you. The fries are decent, but my poutine gravy was a bit on the salty side. It unfortunately wouldn’t make it to my top poutine list in Montreal. At the end, it was more for the Plateau experience than for the food itself. I had a fun outing with Chad regardless.

Kouign-Amann

2008-05-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

Last week, we went to Kouign-Amann, a tiny pastry shop on Mont Royal Ave. Besides their Kouign-Amann, they have excellent croissant as well. This time, I got myself a sugar tart which satisfied the Quebecer in me. My husband got a blueberry tart which, surprisingly, has marzipan in it. It's a cute little place that I would recommend anyone to stop by if you're taking a nice stroll in the Plateau.

Good bye Sakura Garden!

2008-05-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was a sad day for CL2. We went to visit our favorite Japanese restaurant. They are one of very few Japanese owned Japanese restaurants in Montreal. They don’t just focus on the sushi part, but a whole array of Japanese cuisine that could help satisfy anyone who is nostalgic about Japan. Sakura Garden on de la Montagne has moved. It’s not a big deal to move up two numbers on the same block. It is a problem when we found out that they passed on the renovation/moving cost to their customers. So, it’s not half as affordable as it used to be. My favorite katsudon, for example, has gone from $9.98 to $23. It just doesn’t make sense anymore. So, CL2 gotta stick with Kanda sushi for the time being until a better place comes along.

Spring Tofu Salad

2008-05-11T19:19:00.001-07:00

This spring, I am experimenting with other Asian ingredients for salads.

With references to several recipes I’ve seen, I came up with my brand new crunchy spring salad.

Spicy peanut dressing: ( based on celebrity chef Susanna Foo’s spicy peanut sauce)

¼ cup coconut cream
1 tablespoon Organic non-sweeten raw peanut butter
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice (wine) vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
2 gloves of garlic, minced
½ teaspoon of chilli pepper sauce ( or fresh chilli pepper)

1. Sautee the garlic and chilli pepper with canola oil in a skillet until softened.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring it to boil.
3. Cool for later use.

Spring Tofu Salad
A block of Firm tofu, diced
1/8 cups of sliced almonds, roasted
2 cups of Baby spinach or arugula, washed and dried
2 cups of Fresh Bean sprout, washed and dried
10 Cherry tomatoes, halved
A few leaves of fresh mint
Very small quantity of Havarti cheese, tear into small pieces ( optional)

1. Heat up the canola oil.
2. Cook the tofu under golden brown.
3. Set aside for later.
4. Mixed the ingredient

It would be a nice touch to throw in a quartered soft boiled egg next time. I remember having that in a tofu salad at an Indonesian restaurant in Montreal. We also tore some left over Havarti cheese from my baked Portobello steak recipe and threw it into the salad. It was surprising how well it integrated into the taste. The flavour of each ingredient was well-represented. Chad said the dressing did not draw attention to itself. It worked with the vegetables beautifully. I was well pleased! (Chad said if he knew salad could taste this good, he would have it for every meal!)

Baked Portobello with melted Havarti

2008-05-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

It's one of those vegetarian nights at home again! Here is a new twist to my beloved Portobello steak. Instead of stuffed, it is au gratin...

Ingredients
4 big Portobello caps
Fresh mint leaves
4 slices of Havarti Jalapeno cheese
¼ cup of pin nuts, roasted zucchini, diced

Marinade for the Portobello
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Pinch each of minced fresh basil and dill

1. Marinate the Portobello mushroom with the marinade for 10min
2. Bake them for 30min, 350 degrees F.
3. 2 min before it’s done, add the cheese on top.
4. Decorate with extra fresh dill and a leaf of mint.

It was tasty but not enough texture for my taste. I would add some pin nuts and diced zucchini on a bed of spicy sundried tomato sauce next time.

Until next time!

Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth

2008-02-29T22:46:00.000-08:00

We had a chance to enjoy afternoon tea at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in downtown Montreal. It was a birthday gift from Mom and Dad. It turned out to be the best afternoon tea experience we've ever had.

When we got there, our table was already set out for us because we made a reservation. There was only one waitress for the whole afternoon tea area. So, the service was not fast. But again, we’re not having fast food. There is no rush. In fact, the wait helped us unwind from our busy day.

Chad ordered the Buckingham Palace, which is a fusion of Earl Grey and Jasmine. I had the Jasmine dragon tear, which is a hand-rolled premium green tea. Both were marvelous. As we enjoyed our tea and conversation, Tammy, our kind and friendly waitress came with the 3-tier platter. First of all, Chad and I each had a mini jar of clotted cream, so we didn’t have to fight for it :P The scones were perfectly done: warm and fresh. Chad had the best finger sandwiches he has ever had. I really enjoyed them as well. For some reason, finger sandwiches are not easy to make it taste good. But the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth exceeded our expectation. The sweets were very good quality as well. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to enjoy all of them because somehow we were too full.

According to the wonderful waitress Tammy, tax and tips were already paid for. So, we enjoyed over 2 hours of relaxing tea and conversation without a worry in our mind.

All we can say is, we’re going back.

Afternoon Tea at the Pennisula

2008-01-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong has inherited the afternoon tea tradition since its days of being a British colony. Among the places to go, the Peninsula attracted the most attention because no hotel in Hong Kong can compare to its colonial grandeur: the high ceiling and grand lobby with its historical architecture. Sitting at The Lobby for afternoon tea is like experiencing Hong Kong in its early colonial times.

Because it is so famous, the Peninsula attracts many tourists and local curious minds. It has a policy of no reservation for the afternoon tea unless you’re a hotel guest. From around 2 to 6pm, people queue up to get a much coveted table at the Peninsula. Apparently, Japanese tourists think the Peninsula’s afternoon tea is a must-do in Hong Kong. They would go all the way to show the bill to their friends at home to prove that they went.

Before I decided to go, the tourist factor was an obviously red flag to me. First of all, with such a big queue crowding over, it cheapens the whole experience (for the people who are dinning as well as for the people who are waiting). Secondly, the fact that they d’ rather fill the tables quickly than have a reservation model is not very classy. It shows that their priority is money and not quality. High class restaurants always have reservation because they value their customers as very important people and you don’t make important people wait. Thirdly, the food quality naturally suffers because the basic of quantity( of clients) over quality( of client and food). In fact, my mom likes to go there from time to time and has been their keen customer for over 30 years. She herself has testified about their decay in quality. Yet, she insisted that we should go there to ‘experience’ the Peninsula. So I got a chance to validate my assumptions.

It turned out that the queue wasn’t as disturbing as I first thought. The hall is quite big and the queue is off to the side from the back entrance. Because of the high ceiling, the sound is quite dispersed and the noise blended in well with the live trio playing up on the balcony. So, you don’t really notice the queue once sat down. The one praise is that the tea was decent. We tried their organic house brand, their Chinese black tea and their classic English tea. They were all very good. However, the food quality was to be desired. We ordered a set for two people to share among us three. We couldn’t finish it because no one wanted to. The food was very average. The pastries looked slightly better than the ones you find in Chinese buffets in North America but tasted pretty much the same. It was too sweet and mediocre. The clotted cream wasn’t rich enough; the scones were cold and not fresh at all. That was really to my surprise, especially after I was greeted by freshly baked and warm scones from the Prince of Wales hotel* in Niagara-on-the-lake, a hotel with less fame and star rating than the Peninsula.

Long established fame and enduring quality are two very different things. The next time I go to Hong Kong, I would try the Mandarin Oriental or the Intercontinental because at least, they don’t have the curious tourist crowd and allow reservations, which is something that any self-respecting, customer service oriented establishment should do.

To me, the Peninsula went from famous to infamous. It’s a sad thing.

* Check out my review of the afternoon tea at the Prince of Wales hotel:
http://charminglamb.blogspot.com/2007/01/afternoon-tea.html

Castella (カステラ)

2008-01-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

Castella (カステラ), a popular Japanese spoonge cake (originally came from Portugal in the 1600s), is one of my favorite Japanese-Western dessert! Everybody knows how much I like sharing food, but castella is the kind of dessert that I have a hard time sharing with people! I bought a whole box of 文明堂(Bu-mei-do) castella roll in Japan and virtually ate the whole box by myself back in YMQ. The last two in the box (above) served as a model to test the macro of my new camera. One is green tea, the other one is the regular honey castella. Don't they look so appetizing?

Of course, food always tastes better when it is shared. So I did buy a premium, extra moist, high-grade honey version of the Bunmeido castella for my Uncle Danny's family when I visited him in Hong Kong. We opened it after dinner so that we can all try it (Charmaine, you scheming little thing!)You could almost feel the honey taste seeping through when you bit into it. It’s very moist but not soggy at all. In terms of cake texture, it just simply couldn’t get any better.

Christmas chocolate cookies

2007-12-12T19:18:00.000-08:00

I baked some peanut butter chocolate cookies over the holidays. But I didn't know how they tasted like because I made them into little packets and gave them all out at work.

Tenya Tempura-san

2007-11-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

Another of my favorite cheap eat in Tokyo is Tenya. It's a tempura fast food joint. Again, I was only able to spot it on my last day in Japan. So, we went right in about 10 secs after the pork rice sandwich went into our belly. They have the most amazing pumpkin tempura! Chad had to agree with me. A set lunch with tempura and soba is only about $7.

Since tempura is pretty much the only thing they offer, you can rest assure that they are very good at it. Their tempura is freshly fried, very good quality and not too oily. My favorite is definitely their pumpkin and other veggies. Their fish and shrimps are of course very good as well. I've never had any bad experience at Tenya. I even brought my mom there once when she came to visit me in Tokyo. So, if you're ever in Tokyo and craving for tempura ( and looking for tasty cheap eat), try to spot a Tenya! They are usually located just a few blocks from a major station.

I have this picture as my wallpaper at work, and it has been making me hungry. I just love tempura!

Rice sandwich at ampm

2007-11-21T16:51:00.001-08:00

When I used to live in Tokyo, as a poor international student, I used to love to go across the street from our Ichigaya campus to the ampm ( it's a convenient store) to get their really cheap fast food lunch. One of my favorite happens to be this rice sandwich with meat. The ones I used to get have teriyaki beef in it. This one shown below is ginger pork, sandwiched between rice patties. They are not regular fast food quality at all. I don't know how they do it. You order it. They give you a number. And you wait. Then they call your number and give you this box( shown above). You open up the box and the white thermal-wrappings. Then, hot air comes out it, together with the smell of meat that makes your belly move. The rice is not dry, it's soft and sticks well together. The meat is marinated just right, tender and juicy. There is no better fast food than this 340Yen( about $3) sandwich.

Two weeks ago, I went back to Japan for a wedding. I passed by an ampm on the last day of my stay in Japan, right before we were about to head to the airport. So, I got a chance to revisit my beloved rice sandwich. I was well pleased and glad that my hubby could try it too.

New adventure with crème brulée

2007-07-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

I last time I blogged about crème brulée was March 2006. It's time for an update.

(To see my old entry on crème brulée , click here)

I hate to give negative reviews on my favorite dessert. Yet lately, my crème brulée experience has been disppointing. Premiere Moison has put "sweetness" to a new level. Not only are their crème brulée not fresh, the sugar is so thick that you feel like you're eating a lollipop. They should really do what De Gasgogne does. De Gasgogne only burn the sugar when you order it.

Even Chez Queux, although still the best, has taken their fruits away from their toppings. Why can't restaurants keep up their quality? Is it because we're not in France and they don't think we care?

I even tried a crème brulée at Remingtons, apparently the best restaurant in Brandon, Manitoba. It was nicely presented( see above picture). But the sheer size of it, I knew I was in trouble. It had a good taste, but the texture was very eggy.

Of the crème brulée I had this year, Monkland Tavern is a decent choice. Chez Queux is still a best bet, even they took out the fruit. Bonaparte is also decent.

One of the more disappointing one is Modavie.
Modavie's crème brulée was almost not eatable. It was so sweet that I could not stop zipping my tea to balance out the taste. The sugar couldn't be cracked, because it was ever so slightly too thick( though I've see worse at Boris Bistro). There were also unmelted white sugar on the side. The custard was too eggy. Bottom line is, you know it is bad when you can't finish it. I barely finished half of it.

So, to reclassify the crème brulée restaurants in town:

Worth going to (in order):
Chez Queux
Rosalie (1232, rue de la Montagne)
Patiserie De Gascogne (4 locations )
Bonaparte
Monkland Tavern
Pain Doré (Various locations)
Villa Massimo (120 boul Taschereau, Laprairie)
Le Jolifou(1840 Beaubien E)
Holder (407 Mcgill, Old port)

If you're going to Banff, don't miss the Post hotel. Their crème brulée is very very good.

Disappointing mentions( no order, just don't go):
Modavie
Buffet La Bonne Carte ( Casino de Montreal)
Colazione Pino (1471 Crescent)
Kaizen (4075 Ste-Catherine W.)
Boris Bistro
Première Moisson(Various locations)

Bodum teapot, so nice...!

2007-05-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

" Winner of two prestigious design awards: the 2006 iF Design award and the 2005 Formland design award, Bodum’s new Bora Bora Double Wall Tea Press will keep your tea hotter for longer. Handmade of borosilicate glass, the double wall construction has thermal properties that keep tea hot for a much longer period of time while remaining cool to the touch and eliminating the need for a trivet. "

I wonder if I can get this as a house warming present for myself, he he he....

I'm coveting...

Mango salad

2007-05-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

I made a mango salad with cherry tomatos and cucumber. It was inspired by a salad I saw at a Jewish pastry shop on Queen Mary. It cost over 15$ and I thought to myself, what a great meal idea for a hot sunny day at home with 1/10 of the cost. I don't remember what I put in exactly because I failed to measure anything. I do remember having rice vinegar, olive oil, salt and some herbs mixture for the dressing. It tasted much better when it was freshly made. I tried the mango mixture the next day, it was too sweet and the cucumber lost its fresh taste...

It's a great summer dish and I'll make it again when I get too lazy to cook...

Roasted banana with yougourt and blueberries

2007-04-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

Simply sprinkle butter cubes, cinammon and brown sugar on half cut bananas. Then bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and sizzling. The fresh yogourt cream consist of drained plan yourgourt, honey, whipped cream and cocao powder. Served with blueberries.

Saffron couscous Tukey Roll

2007-04-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big fan of cooking a whole Tukey for Easter because it's too much hassle and too much meat for my household. So, I surrender to a Saffron Couscous Turkey breast roll recipe from Canadian Living. I couldn't find any Turkey breast with skin, so my Turkey ended up being quite dry. The gravy helped a little, but I also wanted to blame my old oven which doesn't give me the right temperature.

Saffron, known as the king of spice, was harder to find than I thought. Partly because they are sold at 0.5 g or 1g. Even the store owner had a hard time detecting their presence. It has a very poignant aroma when uncooked. A few strand of it in the couscous was enough to bring out this almost overwhelmingly pungent fragrance.

The asparagus with mushroom and onion turned out really well. I blanched the asparagus, then stir-fried it with mushroom and onion. Soy sauce, sugar and spices are added to taste.

It was a good Easter meal!

Tomato and onions pork chop

2007-04-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is one of my mother's signature dish. I don't do exactly what she does, so here I'll share with you my own version of my mother's famous tomato pork chop.

Ingredients:
8 pieces of pork chop
3 tomatos, diced
1 big onion, sliced ( about 1 1/2 cups of sliced onions)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 strand of shallot ( green onions), coarsely chopped
2 tbsp of vegetable oil

Marinade for the pork chop:
1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tbsp of corn starch
3 tbsp of Mirin ( if you don't have, substitue it with 2 tbsp of sugar and 1/4 cup of water)
2 tsp of garlic salt ( if you don't have, sea salt is fine)
Optional: Fine herbs ( basil, parley, oregano can be added)

Thickening Sauce:
2 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of cornstarch
2 tbsp of soy sauce
3 tbsp of cold water
1 tsp of sesame oil

1. Using a tenderizer to pound on both sides of the pork chops.
2. Make a thin cut on the thick strip of fat ( so that when it cooks, it doesn't curl up).
3. Dip both side of the pork chop into the pork chop marinade and leave it for at least 30 mins.
4. Turn up the stove to medium and heat up 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large skillet.
5. Sauté the pork chop for 5-7 minutes, both sides, until browned and fragrant.
6. Turn off the heat and set the pork chop aside on a presentable plate.
7. On the same skillet ( now very oily), sauté garlic, onion and shallot for 3-5 mins.
8. Add the diced tomato.
9. Cover and let it simmer for 3 mins or until the tomatos and onions are softened.
10. Add the thickening sauce. Cook for 2 more minutes or until the sauce thickens.
11. Pour the tomato onion sauce onto the cooked pork chop.
12. Voilà! My favorite pork chop dish. One of the biggest change from the original recipe is that I added lots of herbs to make it more fragrant.

Charmaine's VS John Company's carrot cake

2007-04-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

Chad discovered the best store-bought carrot cake in town on Parc Avenue called Salon de The John Company. It's a tea house that serves fancy, hard to find variety of tea. But they serve this awesome layered carrot cake that is so mesmorizing that my husband and I had to stop talking in order to get our share of the cake. Though the place markets themselves as a fancy tea house, the decor do not live up to that expectation. It's so poorly decorated that it looks and feels like a subway fast food joint with self-serve tables and chairs. But the carrot cake alone made us want to go back soon.

Since Parc/Bernand is too out of the way, I finally decided to make my own. Since I only have a 9 and a 8 inch pan, I didn't have a choice to bake two different sized layer. So, I ended up not able to combine them. I made half a 4 layered cake, which my husband thought it tasted better than John company's version; I then tried another one with the cream cheese on the top with walnuts. They both tasted awesome!!

4 layered version

2 layered Cream cheese on top with Walnut decor

Eggplant and Turkey

2007-03-27T21:42:00.001-07:00

One of my favorate dish: Eggplant with Turkey, served with basil fried rice.

I've already shared the recipe in 2005. Click here for recipe.

Basil fried rice is one of my husband's favorite, because of its fragrance. Simply sautee shallot with basil, stir in the over-night left over rice ( freshly cooked rice is too moist to fry. Leftover rice from the night before is the best!)

Grilled Salmon with mango sauce

2007-03-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

I made grilled salmon with mango sauce as my weekend new dish experiment. I had whole wheat penne and spinach as side dishes. The sauce was a bit too sweet. Next time, I'll tone down the sugar a bit. I added more sugar because I'm not sure how the frozen mango would turn out. If I had fresh mango, I probably won't even need sugar.

Well, my husband loved it anyway. That's what matters ;p

Tofu and chickpea red curry

2007-03-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

I made this this vegetarian curry dish and was very happy with the taste. So, I thought I’d share it here.
Two cans of chickpea
One can ( 10oz) of red curry paste
( depending on the brand, some concentrated ones only need two tablespoon)
One can of coconut milk
On can of chicken broth ( Swanson is the best brand of chicken broth with low sodium!)
3 carrots, sliced
One medium size onion
½ tablespoon of minced ginger
2 cloves of garlic
1 strand of green onion
2 pack of fried tofu ( 8 pieces), sliced
1 green pepper ( optional)
Thai Basil leaves, coarsely chopped

1) Use a tablespoon of olive oil, stir fry onion, spring onion, garlic and ginger for 3-5 mins until fragrant and slightly brown.
2) Throw in the chickpeas without water and the carrots. Cook for 2 mins until sizzling.
3) Add the coconut milk, curry paste and chicken broth. Cook till boiling.
4) Add the tofu and green pepper. Cook till boiling.
5) Turn of the heat source. Mix with c basil leaves and serve with basmati rice.

If you prefer strict vegetarian, replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth or 2 cups of water.

Monkland Tavern

2007-02-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

Monkland Tavern generates a lot of buzz over the years in the greater Montreal area. It has been on many " best-of " lists and the general consensus has been good. But because I personally find it very intimidating on the outside, I never tried going in there. I just had an instinct about it. It looked snobby. So, I've never tried going inside until one day, our friends suggested to go there. And it turned out, my instinct was right.

This semi-elegant setting restaurant is not big, with a bar occupied 1/3 of its space. It has nice atmosphere, but very noisy because of its small size. There are not many table in there, so naturally,you would have to wait. The curious part about this restaurant is that you always have to wait: because they don't take reservations. They have a no reservation policy because they think they are worth your wait. Isn't it a basic point of customer service/customer satisfaction to render your customer's life easier with your service? But apparently, this basic rule of thumb of customer service is not important to Monkland Tavern.

Monkland Tavern has to be one of the snobbiest restaurant I've ever been to. They tried to be classy and friendly but wouldn’t fail to remind you that they are worth your wait. When we walked it, the waiter told us we had to wait for ½ hour-45 mins. But we ended up waiting for a bit more than an hour. Our friend complained to the waitress, hoping to get a free appetizer. But the waitress simply said everybody had to wait that long.

The food turned out to be decent. But after you waited for an hour for a table, anything would taste good because you're so hungry. I ordered a shrimp risotto. It tasted like overcooked low quality rice. But the shrimp was very good. All in all, it tasted better than it looked.

Chad had a homemade gnocchi with feta cheese.

The dessert was just okay. The chocolate cake was really rich. But was a bit too rich that my friend couldn’t finish it. The crème brulée was decent, but still a far cry from Rosalie or Chez Queux.

All in all, it was decent food with quality ingredients. But I probably will not have their risotto again. The price is fairly reasonable, given the quality of ingredients they seemed to have made effort to put into their dinner menu. But the bar would explain their popularity and how they make their real money. A classy, semi-upscale place to get the booze and get picked up.

I might go there again if I feel like being treated like a kid being promised to get ice-cream if I promised to sit very quietly in the living room for 2 hours.

La Louisiane

2007-02-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

Chad and I went to La Louisiane on Valentine's Day. We've always like this little stylish Cajun/nouvelles American cusine restaurant in NDG, just across the street from Pasta Caesareccia. It has an open concept kitchen, very good corn bread, very good seafood and very good desserts.

They had mini corn bread that came with the bread basket. It was a bit overcooked today. But I've had very good ones in previous ocasions. The baguette was freshed baked, very crispy outside, and very tender inside. We then enjoyed a plate sweet potato fries, and some crab cakes with creole spicy sauce. Both were really tasty.

We then ordered the Cajun combo: Chicken étouffée, jambalaya, creole shrimps.

The chicken was way overcooked.The étouffée sauce was not too my taste. The Jambalaya was tasty, but a bit too spicy for me. The shrimp was excellent.

We were too full to order dessert this time. But I did remember having excellent experience with their desserts. I would definitely go back, but would probably avoid their chicken and their étouffée sauce.

Address: 5850 Sherbrooke Street WestMontreal, QC H4A 1X5 Canada

Food: 8.0 Atmosphere: 9.0 Service: 8.0 Total: 8.3 Price Range: 20-30$

Tilapia filet with mixed vegetables

2007-02-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

My singing teacher has fish night once a week. I decided that is a good idea. Fish is an awesome menu for weekdays because it is so quick and easy to make. It's also healthy, yummy and nutritious.

I marinated the tilapia fillet with soy sauce and first squeezed orange juice. Then, I pan fried the fish, 5 mins on one side, 3 more mins on the other side. I sprinkled some freshly chopped parsley on top and voilà! The vegetables are sauteed with garlic.

Beef curry night

2007-02-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

Beef curry night at small group

Japanese Beef curry

Mini croissant

Spanish Salad with roasted walnuts

Palmier with maple glaze

Baby Shower with afternoon Tea theme

2007-02-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

My attempt to create an afternoon tea atmosphere at Suzie's baby shower party:

Top layer: cucumber /egg salad with old cheddar finger sandwiches

Middle layer: mini blueberry & raisin muffins ( made by lynn)
Botton layer: Mini fruit tart with cream cheese filling

Beautiful picture of PD's kid with a fruit platter

2007-02-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

Sam, Micaiah & Hannah

Guido & Angelina

2007-01-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

GUIDO & ANGELINA is a very interesting restaurant. A restaurant with open-concept kitchen always leaves a good impression for me. It's AMC-Atwater location has a huge space, high ceiling, wooden polished floor and beautiful lights with a very warm tone but without being too dark. Everything seems to have a designer's touch. However, the high ceiling does contribute to the high noise-level which makes this place sounds like a canteen sometimes.

I have mixed feelings about this place because each time I go there, I had to negate my previous experience there, meaning, I would have a good experience, then a bad one, then a good or average one, then a bad one again. It seems like a hard thing for restaurant to maintain their quality and standards.

When it first opened, I found the food fairly decent. But soon after, I fell in love with their rosé sauce tortellini. They also had a great selection of desserts. Their white chocolate cheesecake was a big hit for me. But gradually, over the years, the food quality has changed and did not live up to the nice and warm atmosphere that the décor has created. Then I stopped going for a while and even tried to avoid the place. Then their St-Catherine location opened and I decided to give it a try. It had fairly decent food but could not compare to the nice atmosphere of the Atwater location.

This was the Lobster Fazzoletti with mango and lobster sauce. It surely tasted better than it looked.

Recently, I celebrated my birthday there because the restaurant my hubby and I initially planned to go was closed for the holiday. We were cold and hungry and happened to pass by Atwater. So, we decided to give Guido & Angelina a try. It turned out that they have completely changed their menu and added daily specials and set dinners. I’m once again impressed with the quality of food I got here. The set dinner came with 3 choices of appetizer: soup, salad or mussels. For main course, I had a Fazzoletti with losbster meat and mango & loster sauce. There was lots of lobster meat and the price was under 25$ for a 3 course meal . The mango lobster sauce was simply delicious. Chad had a chef’s special veal with pepper sauce. It was lovely. Very tender and juicy. The only disappointment that night was that the new dessert menu was not half as good as the old one. Maybe because with a set menu, the dessert came with the meal. The dessert of the day was strawberry mousse and opera cake. It looked way better than it tasted. It was dull and dry. Though since it was my birthday, Chad ordered a cheesecake for me and that was decent.

A dessert that looked better than it tasted.

Atmosphere: 8.9 Service: 8.0 Food: 8.5 Total: 8.5 Price range: 20$-30$ per person

Afternoon Tea

2007-01-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

My attempt to take my hubby and his bro to see Niagara Falls for the first time was sabotaged by my desire to go for afternoon tea at the picturesque Niagara-on-the-lake, an old Victorian town just 20mins drive from Niagara Falls. The reason was that we planned to stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel drawing room for 45mins, but ending up staying for almost 2 ½ hours. So, by the time we got to Niagara Falls, daylight was almost gone, and by the time we parked the car, Chad and Andrew could only hear the grandiose of Niagara Falls with the unevenly distributed spotlights shining on the waterfall.

Though we didn’t regret spending that much time at the hotel( I’ll just have to bring them to the Fall again next time in plain daylight). It was worth it to take our time at the tea room. We throughoutly enjoyed our time there. The drawing room was beautiful and very conductive to conversation. We savored the warm scones with yummy clotted cream and jam. The tartlets were tasty as well. I think the finger sandwiches could have been better though.

Just to throw in some information as we are talking about afternoon tea. I used to think that High Tea and Afternoon Tea were the same thing: dainty little social events, where the ladies gathered together to drink tea, eat sweets and little sandwiches. It turned out that High Tea is often a misnomer. Most people refer to afternoon tea as high tea because they think it sounds elite and lofty, when in all actuality, high tea, is dinner for common people.

AC took this picture in the Willow Tearooms in Glasgow, Scotland

Afternoon tea is also called "low tea" because it was usually taken in a sitting room where low tables (like a coffee table) were placed near sofas or chairs.

There are three basic types of Afternoon:
Cream Tea - Tea, scones, jam and cream
Light Tea - Tea, scones and sweets
Full Tea - Tea, savories, scones, sweets( sometimes even cheese platter!)

In England, the traditional time for tea was early afternoon to help with the hunger in between the early morning breakfast and dinner. The menu has changed over the years from tea, bread, butter and cakes, to include three particular courses:
Savories - Finger sandwiches or appetizers
Scones – Served with jam and clotted cream
Pastries - Cakes, tartlets, shortbread and sweets

AC as our model in the picture, enjoying her conversation and tea.

Reference: Linda Stradley, What's Cooking America.

Unwind Video: Coffee

2006-12-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not updating this blog for so long. I've been busy with other stuff. I also lost my cable to upload photos from my camera. So, I have to use my husband's laptop in order to upload pictures, then transfter them back to my computer using my flash drive...It's time consuming to gather the pictures I took of various food these days.

So, in the meantime, to entertain you, here is my favoriate unwind coffee house original video of all time!

Enjoy!

Montreal downtown Indian Restaurants Review

2006-08-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Phil, Dai Bianti, Jon and CL2 went to the trendy décor Indian restaurant Atma. The atmosphere was not particularly Indian or oriental, it was more modern or lounge-like. Our table was shaped like a tear-drop (or what Dai called a slim pick), and we were in a half enclosed area with curtains on one side, and couch with cushions on the other side.

The food was very average. The butter chicken was disappointing, The chicken dishes in general, the meat was too dry. The mushroom masala was quite good, and the korma dish was decent. The naan and the rice were pretty average as well.

I think it is hard to screw up strong tasting food such as Indian food. Light tasting food like fish, or seafood in general, are easier to screw up, coz if you overdo it, too much sauce, slightly too much spice, it lost the taste of the freshness of the ingredients. But strong tasting food like curry dishes, whether you add too much spice, or much too much spice, it will still be tasty and flavorful in general. I guess I’m no expert in curry, so that’s why it’s hard for me to rate Indian food. They are hard to be “not tasty” because there is always so much flavor in the dish.

From my experience, there are a few restaurants that keep me going back:

Tandori Village 27, rue Prince-Arthur O(best butter chicken, good value for the price too)
Pushap 5195, rue Paré, (vegetarian, super good value for the price!)
Ganges 6079, rue Sherbrooke O (very yummy)
Garam Massala 5601, ave de Monkland (very decent)

Here are a few good ones but on the pricey side( portion vs price):

Restaurant Taj Mahal de l'ouest 5026 Sherbrooke O, ( REAL spicy food there)
Allo Inde 1422, rue Stanley ( Really good Korma Chicken!)
Asha 3490, avenue du parc ( where CL2 first dined out together)
Mysore 4216, St Laurent ( you're paying for the decor, the atmosphere)

Here are a few that I probably won’t go back :

Bombay Place, 2201, rue Sainte-Catherine O( really bad service)
Atma, 3962, boul. St-Laurent ( you're really just paying for the decor...)
Delice Cinq Etoiles 1261, rue de Bleury ( actually not bad for a buffet if you’re into buffets)
Buffet Maharaja 1481, boulevard René-Lévesque O ( it’s buffet, so quality suffers because you have so many choices that you are bound to taste something mediocre that ruins the whole dinning experience)

Now you know CL2 love Indian food...

Satay Chicken with Sesame Peanut Noodle Salad

2006-07-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

I made this great summer dish for my small group yesterday. It's refreshing and light dish that is great for parties!

The dressing ( This only gives you the approximate ratio, it should always be to taste):
1/4 cup seasme salad dressing
1/8 cup smooth non-sweetened natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
( If you want spicy, add a small red chili pepper)

Quick recipe:
1. Bake drumsticks with satay sauce.
2. Let cool and shred the meat.
3. Cook some spaghettini to al dente and rinse with cold water.
4. Mix the cooled pasta with 1/3 of the prepared dressing.
5. Place shredded chicken and cucumbers to cover all the pasta.
6. Pour in the rest of the dressing.
7. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and serve.

Green Curry Shrimp

2006-07-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

While we were in Saskatoon, Chad and I went to Earl's for lunch with Graeme and Karen. I ordered this thai green curry dish that left me craving for more after I came back to Montreal.
So, I've decided to try make it myself.

At Earls, they put pineapple, medium size shrimps, zuchinni and pistachios.

Ear'l's version

In my own dish, I used mango instead of pineapple, put large size shrimps and added eggplants.

My verison

Post Hotel, Lake Louise

2006-07-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

The best decision we ever made in Banff was to go to Post Hotel for a romantic dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The food was just scrumptious!

Lobster scallop risotto

Halibut filet

Dessert platter

I'm usually not a big fan of chocolate mousse cake but this chococate was just divine. No need to mention, the crème brulée was perfect as well. The papaya sorbet added a nice fresh touch to the lemon and raspberry tart. It was just wonderful.

Pain Dore's Lemon Meringue

2006-06-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

I've been obessed with Lemon desserts ever since Chad bought me the Lemon Meringue from Bilboquet. Knowing my taste and wanting to celebrate my first recital at the Madeleine studio with him, Chad bought me another Lemon Meringue, but this time, from Pain Doré.

Well, it's more like a Tarte au citron. But it doesn't matter.
It is tasty! I love Pain Doré! ( And my hubby, of course)

Chinese dinner for Jon Davis

2006-06-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Chad's friend Jon Davis( the guy who sung "For the beauty of the earth"at my wedding) came over for dinner. He requested Chinese food. I was a bit worried coz I haven't cooked a full authentic Chinese meal for a while. The real challenge is that Chad and I have been trying to be vegetarian at home. But most of the Chinese dishes I know how to make are meat dishes. In the end, I've decided to compromise and have 1 out of 3 dishes to be a meat dish.

At first, I couldn't figure out what kind of drinks would be Chinese enough. Then, I remembered the lychee drink that S&G served us at YN's farewell party. The lychee gave it an Asian touch, though it's probably not an Asian drink.

Then, I've decided to make at least one dish that is very homey. Not something you would eat in Chinese restaurant. And it has to be vegetarian. So, I made shallot scrambled egg with tomato. I added zucchini to give it a nicer color and texture.

Finally, I have been very into eggplant lately. So, I found a recipe online with two of my favorite ingredients: eggplant and taro. And so the menu is set:

Cranberry juice with lychee liqueur and Martini ( Forgot to take picture)

Fried Stuffed Asian Eggplant with Taro and Oyster sauce

Char Siu ( BBQ Pork) with garlic stir-fried broccoli
( Pork filet marinated in Char Siu and Hoisin Sauce, glazed wih honey)

Shallot Scrambled Egg with Tomato and Zucchini

The meal was ended with sesame seed paste Tong Yuen( dumplings) in ginger syrup

( no pictures)

More pictures of Chad's customized laptop

2006-06-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

Chad and Annie's birthday party

2006-06-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

This is one of the " posting" on the screen of Chad's prank laptop birthday gift. We had an awesome birthday party for Chad and Annie last week at the house of fun( Joe's).

The " Ace breakfast Edition" Laptop was inspired by the p-p-p powerbook prank.

Our version of the laptop is of course much classier and nicer than the orginal p-p-p powerbook prank.

Here is the coolest keyboard keys, such as off key, cat lock key, C #, font key...etc

Here are some more pictures of the party: Chad exploring his new laptop...

Amanda made them home-made chocolate~

Chad got water guns from Ange!

I made a lemon cheesecake as the birthday cake

Small group extravaganza v.1

2006-04-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

Too busy to blog regularly. Here are some photos from the past few small groups:

Chicken Parmesan/pear arugula salad with orange vinegrette/wholewheat spagettini w Pesto Rosso

Whole wheat couscous with almond flakes/ Marocaine beef stew
Stuffed Portobello mushroom caps/carrot soup/garlic bread/rasberry cheesecake

Chicken parmesan with sauce

Lemon cheesecake ( recipe from Cook's Illustrated, courtesy of Gabe and Gamoon) A Jolly small group!
Too busy to blog regularly. Here are some photos from the past few small groups:

Bilboquet

2006-04-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

Chad brought home a tub of Bilboquet mango sorbet and a lemon meringue....I have to say, Bilboquet is good stuff! Thanks Chad!

45 days of Lent

2006-04-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

Easter was over. That meant our 45-day fasting from meat was over.
I had to say, giving up meat for 7 weeks wasn't hard at all. Nowadays, restaurants are very aware of the health conscious consumers and the vegetarian market. So, it was very easy to find tasty veggetarian food.

Sample of vegetarian adventures:

Lemon sauce spinach pasta at Bistro Boris
( good resto for main course, but the desserts are so-so)

Vegetarian Vietnamese soup

And my home-made pasta cheese sauce with Arugula...

After Easter, Chad and I have decided to adopt the no meat at home diet. Meaning, I won't cook meat at home. But when we eat out, we won't restrict ourselves from the meat section of the menu...

Le Cartet:Boutique alimentaire

2006-04-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

I walked down Mcgill street in the Old port today in search of Le Cartet for some Mightly leaf tea. But as I walked in, I discovered that this place is no ordinary food store. It's a very special cafe with gourmet grocery items. It even has a few long wooden tables for those who want to eat there . The owner said they no longer carry Mighty Leaf tea. I was disppointed, but at the same time, fascinated by the store. I went ahead to buy my lunch there. They are not particular vegetarian friendly. I managed to buy an egg salad sandwish and a lemon pie. Their dessert definitely deserved to be mentioned. They look so good, especially their crème caramel and their fluffy and light looking cheese cake. The lemon pie tasted excellent! (So, Haizhen, next time you want to go to a cafe for gourmet dessert, you know where to go.)

As I passed by the cashier, I noticed a little electronic cellar. Inside, you see boxes of chocolate in it!! Yes, they sell "Chocolat 15-18"in this gourmet grocery shop! They store their chocolate in a cellar to maintain the optimal temperature for ultimate gastronomic pleasure!

Very cool....

Sample of my small group dinner menu

2006-03-27T11:29:00.000-08:00

March 28th 2006
Small group dinner menu

Carrot Soup with sour cream & cilantro

Garlic bread
(Fresh French baguette with homemade garlic butter)

Main course
Stuffed Portobello mushrooms
( with sundried tomatos, pin nuts and zucchini)

Serve with
Spinach Salad with almond and mandarins
South beach diet mashed potatos

New York style cheesecake
With
Homemade raspberries coulis

Graham cracker crust

All these for only 3$!!!

( Of course it's a deficit, but it's kind of a ministry, so the price is merely a suggested donation)

Cream puffs

2006-03-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

My hubby came home after a gig at the Sheraton and brought me back some cream puffs with caramalized sugar on top. There were 2 types, chocolate and custard filling. The custard ones tasted like a cream puff wanting to be a crème brulée!

Gourmet veggie meal at the Linsley's

2006-03-19T18:03:00.000-08:00

Ever since Chad and I went vegetarian, I've been more creative and strive to make tasty food without meat. I went all the way out to prepare this gourmet meal because I haven't made anything impressive lately. I even went to buy new wine glasses and new dishes to go with my menu:

Creamy multi-veggie hearty soup

Spinach Salad

burritos with mixed beans

My famous stuffed portobello mushrooms

Four cheese sauce with fresh wholewheat pasta

Yourgourt with fresh berries

The soup is topped with sour cream, with lots of healthy ingredients such as leek, carrots, celeri and cauliflowers, plus lots of coriander, onions, cumin and garlic to spice it up! It was served with a bagette, gratined with my home-made garlic butter and topped with gruyere cheese.

The spinach salad is tossed with my home-made vinaigrette and top with dried cranberries, walnuts and goat cheese.

The main course featured all kinds of cheese such as provolone for burritos, old cheddar and mozzarella for portebello cap and finally the 4 cheese sauce: parmesan, romano, provolone and gruyere. I am still new to the portion and it was a bit too thick for my taste. I hope to do better next time, with a bit more milk.

They were so full at the end of the main course that we only had a small dessert of yourgurt and berries. I baked a torilla shell with cinnamon and sugar to decorate it.

Spirit lounge

2006-03-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

We revisted the Spirit lounge in the gay village last week with Gas and Suz. We had a great time.
Spirit lounge is a vegan restaurant where there are special rules that you should know when you dine there:
1) There's no "menu". There is only one soup, one main course and one dessert.
2) You have to clean your plate or else you can't order dessert. If you don't finish dessert, you can never go back.
3) It's vegan, so don't expect to get milk with your tea or coffee.

I was very impressed with their food the first time I was there few years back. The soup was full of flavor in each zip. I can't even remember the long list of vegetables they put in it. Same for the main course, usually a crepe stuffed with all kinds of beans, veggies, nuts and fruits. Their sauce is always amazing and exotic. You taste a different flavor in each bite.
However, after the 2nd or 3rd visit, the novelty worn out for me. The 3rd time I went, having similiar veggie soup and crepe as main course, same pineapple sweetened chocolate cake, I got bored of it.
But like I said, your company and your conversations at the table always make a difference. Last week, the 4th time around, I enjoyed it very much, with a surprisingly tasty tofu chocolate mousse cake to end the meal.

Stuffed zuchinni and smashed sweet potato

2006-03-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

This is what we have at small group last week....
1) Stuffed zuchinni
Zuchinni stuffing: ground beef, onions, zuchinni, garlic, egg, tomatos, top with cheese
Veggie version: tomato, egg, zuchinni, pin nuts, garlic, onions, sun dried tomato, top with cheese
2) Spinach salad with walnuts and cranberries
3) Mashed sweet potatos and red potatos
4) Basmati rice

Crème Brulée

2006-03-10T19:45:00.000-08:00

Today, my husband came home with a bag from Pain Doré, I was so excited. I was impressed because I 've always pictured this scene of a husband coming through the door with goodies in his hand...

So, he brought me a crème burlée from Le Pain Doré. And it was good. I already ate half of it before I have time to take a picture. The pair of scissors is to cut the ribbons coz I can't wait! So, I ate it while Chad was doing the dishes!

I want to take this opportunity to rate the best crème burlée in town.

Top honor: Chez Queux.

Orange glazed and top with fruits, the Chez Queux crème brulée has the amazing aroma coming from fusion of vanilla and the ground cherry. The texture is just right, not too puddingy( or custard-like), not to thin, just the right creamy texture. The caramelized sugar is not too thick that it hurts your teeth, nor is it too brulée that it's bitter and dark. It's the most perfect crème brulée ever. ( However, I have to admit, the ones they made at my wedding was a bit too diluted when it comes to sweetness, but I forgive them because they still managed to make 110 crème brulée at the same time with all of them crackable.)

First runner up: Rosalie (1232, rue de la Montagne)
Simply perfect crème brulée with fruits. Just the right amount. However, it's on the pricey side.

Second runner up: Patiserie De Gascogne (4 locations )
Good texture. Perfect taste. Usually crackable because if you eat there, they burn it just before they serve it. Good quality. But no fruits.

Honorary mentions:

Première Moisson(Various locations)
Pain Doré (Various locations)
Villa Massimo (120 boul Taschereau, Laprairie)
Le Jolifou(1840 Beaubien E)

Disappointing mentions:

Buffet La Bonne Carte ( Casino de Montreal)
Colazione Pino (1471 Crescent)
Kaizen (4075 Ste-Catherine W.)

Dinner at the Linsley's with charming guests

2006-02-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

Chad and I just had the most charming dinner guests over tonight! They created a warm, friendly and comfortable atmosphere that the Linsley dining room hasn't experienced for a long time. We had a Japanese cusine night with chirashi sushi as appetizer, followed by an interactive meal of okonomiyaki. Then we played a game of Chinese chess, and enjoyed a angel food cake with strawberries, a cake I learnt to make thanks to Christian's mom. Chad and I are looking forward to get to know them better in years to come.

An intense game of Chinese chess that lasted 1 1/2 hour long!!

It's going to be Carol's birthday this week, so we had cake.See how jolly we were!

Cheese sauce à la Charmaine

2006-02-13T08:56:00.000-08:00

In response to Jasper's request, here is a quick and easy low fat cheese sauce recipe à la Charmaine:

1 tablespoon of margarine ( if you're not on diet, butter tastes WAY better)
1 tablespoon of flour
1 1/4 cup of 1% milk ( again, 2 % up to 35% are good if you're not on diet, if you use 35%, it thickens faster and you can use less flour)
1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmersan or Romano cheese
Pasta: the best pasta shape to go with this sauce is fettucine

1. Medium heat on the stove.
2. Melt the margarine.
3. Stir in the flour.
4. After the flour and margarine are well mixed, stir in the milk.
5. When it is boiling, turn down to low heat.
6.Cook for 2 mins or until it starts to thicken but not yet to your desired thickness.
7. Turn off the stove and cover the sauce.
8. Boil the fettucine to al dente ( usually 2 mins short of the instruction from the box).
9. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the water if you want more taste.( I usually only add salt to the pasta water if I make a red sauce coz Chad want a low sodium diet. You can add salt to a white sauce but not a red sauce, coz tomato don't react well to salt: they get bitter ;p)
10. When the pasta is almost ready, turn off the heat. No cover. Don't drain yet.
11. Go back to your sauce, turn to low heat.
12. Add cheese to the sauce and add salt to taste. Mix well.
13. Drain the water from the pasta. Don't rinse the pasta!
14. Toss the sauce with the drained pasta right away.
15. Serve right away on warmed plates
(if the plate is not warm, cheese sauce tend to get too thick and sticky before your 3rd bite)

Variation 1: Stir-fry mushroom with garlic and add to the sauce at the end.

Variation 2: Instead of fettucine, use 2 bundles of FRESH flat wonton noodles ( they look and shape like fettucine except they are egg yellow colored) It's fresh pasta and it will make a big difference in your bite. Of course, the cooking time is different. Fresh wonton noodles should be cooked in boiling water for no longer than 35 seconds. And you should drain and rince very very very briefly in warm water. Then toss into the sauce right away and serve. This is a cheaper alternative to fresh fettucine and it tastes almost the same, if not better!

Cook's Illustrated

2006-02-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

The very kind Jasper asked me to post more recipes. To be honest, I have been very lazy to cook this past month. Chad can testify to that. The only new recipes I tested was from the Cook's Illustrated 100 best new recipes. It's a very handy book. If you're serious about cooking tasty food and if you are not on diet, this is a good book to get. All the recipes on this cookbook are tested over and over again by the editors of Cook's Illustrated. They don't just tell you how to do it but also why to do it. It's a very interested cookbook just to read. However, because their aim is to have the best taste for a given popular dish, they are very particular, almost fussy about every step. Also, taste is the concern of the book, not health. So, you'll see the use of butter, strong cheese and cooking cream all over the book. Also, since, they're Americans, I suggest our fellow Canadians to reduce the sugar qualities in the dessert sections because as we all know, American dessert recipes tend to be slightly too sweet for our Canadian tooth.

Their recipes are not the simplest recipes and it often takes hours to make. So, being me, I of course only extract the good ideas out of it and hardly followed their recipes verbatim.

Chinese New Year

2006-01-30T07:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we celebrated Chinese New Year at home. It was quite a fun company. It was a Chinese celebration, but all 8 of us were from very different parts of the world. We had representative from Trinadad, Haiti, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Vancouver( Western Canada), Saskatchewan( Middle of Canada), Quebec Nord( Eastern Canada), and United States. Too bad we're so busy talking that I failed to take any group pictures ( as a matter of fact, I didn't take any pictures at all). Though it's okay not to busy myself to capture the moment since we all enjoyed the moment instead.

We started off the night with everybody around the table wrapping wontons. Since everybody was at it, it took no time. I put out the electric frying pan that I used for okonomiyaki, and we fried the Chinese radish (turnip) cake at the table. We also had serveral kinds of Chinese fried dumplings, Chinese New Year Cake ( my favorite!) and lots of wontons with Chinese Kappa( Veggie).

We ended the night with seasme paste dumplings in cane sugar & ginger syrup. It was such a fun group. Thanks Chris, MC, Christian, Dawn, Noel, Suzie for coming! You've brightened up our home coz you all shine!!

Ole Orchard: British pub

2006-01-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

The next time I crave for fish n' chips, I know where to go.

The Ye Ole Orchard has not disappointed us once. In fact, each time we go, we fell more in love with it. At first, we discovered their amazing burgers. Then, we found out that this pub actually has a non-smoking area separated by a fairly long corridor from their smoking section. Yesterday, we found out that this pub is actually very serious about their food, coz their pasta also tasted good. We also had their tomato lentil and carrot soup. It was so tasty that I've decided to try and make it at home sometime this week.

If you're used to the over-crowded, smokey, noisey McKibbins ( on Bishop st.) and their tasty yet super greasy fish n' chips with dripping oil on the plate that can last you a month of cooking, then you might want to try Ye Ole Orchard. Their fish n'chips are not as greasy and disgusting as the rest of the pubs in town.

Ye Old Orchard is a very enjoyable place with nice atmosphere and good food. It recently became Chad and I's first pick in the Snowdon area.

Ye Olde Orchard 5563 Avenue De Monkland, Montréal, QC H4A1E1 (514) 484-1569

Service: 9.5 food: 9.0 Atmosphere: 9.5 Total: 9.3 Price range: 10-18$

French Cusine: LaLoux

2006-01-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

Chad discovered Laloux after typing "the most romantic restaurant, Montreal" in google. And there we were, on my birthday. It was quite nice. It reminded me of L'Express, the famous cusine Francais on St-Denis. Chad took me there 2 birthdays ago.

They don't have a big menu. But I managed to try something quite exotic for me: Pan fried calf sweetbreads, fresh truffle and port creamy sauce. According to Larousse Gastronomique, sweetbread is "the culinary term for the thymus gland (in the throat) and the pancreas (near the stomach) in calves, lambs and pigs." So, the waiter told me it was calf's thymus. It tasted like a hybrid of fatty meat and liver. It was a very interesting texture. The truffle and port sauce was excellent. Though I wished it came with real chunks of fresh truffle. It went very well with my red wine.

Chad had a pan fried bass with orange sauce. It was very very good. I ended up switching plate with him and finished up his fish. They made very good sauce here at Laloux. It went very well with the fruitty white wine that Chad has picked.

We ended our meal with a creme caramel and hibiscus orange organic tea. We're very satisfied and ready for our movie after dinner.

250 Pine Avenue East - Montreal, Canada
Tel. (514) 287 9127

Service: 8.9 Food: 8.9 Atmosphere: 8.9 Total: 8.9 Price range: 30-50$

Ice Lounge

2006-01-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

We went to ice lounge in the Carlton lounge in Toronto downtown over the christmas holiday. It wasn't as great as I have expected. It claimed to be the biggest ice lounge in North America, but it turned out to be about the size of Annie's apartment. They didn't serve us in glasses made out of ice, but glasses with lipsticks still on from the previous drinker.
We still managed to have fun, chat a little be, and took some pictures.

The ladies are given big white fluffy coat with Roots logo on it.

Guys get to be a grey polar bear, also with Roots logo on it.

Annie posing for me in the central sitting area.

Gibby's in Old Montreal

2006-01-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

I went to Gibby's for my department christmas lunch. I can't believe how dark that place was, especially when our table was in the basement. It took my eyes about 10 minutes to get used to the lighting and finally able to see the room. There were no windows and the wall light and the candles were so dim. I am biased and I do not like the place already. How can I enjoy my experience if I can't even see my food? Having said that, I enjoy the feeling of dinning at a historic site. This over a century old mansion used to be a staple. The waiteress are dressed in Novelle-France costumes in the 1800s.

Their seafood is their speciality.
My colleage had their seafood casserole with pastry shell and was very pleased with it.

I enjoyed my cream of mushroom soup. Very creamy and full of flavor.

My filet mignon brochette was decent, but not good enough to rave about.

The dessert is pretty good. Rich chocolate with whipped cream dipping.

It's not as good as most people raved about. Their lunch prices are not as outrageous as their dinner menu. So, if I ever go again, I'll go during lunch time.

Service: 7.5 Food: 8.0 Atmosphere: 8.0 Total: 7.8 Price range: 30-50$

Asiago cheese torta birthday cake?

2006-01-11T17:09:00.000-08:00

Gamoon and I made a veggie torta together last Sunday at her place. I enjoyed the cooking process, although it was long and tiedious to drain the water from the veggies so that the torta won't be soggy. In the process, we burnt the eggplants and as a result, we only had zuchini in the torta. But we still managed to make it look good. It's very beautiful and presentable to me. And it kind of looks like a cake. I didn't cut a birthday cake this year, I guess this is a good subsititue.

The filling is egg custard and zucchini with layers of romano cheese.
The crust is whole wheat bread crumb with Asiago cheese.
The topping is tomatos and left over bread crumbs crust mixture.
The taste is very cheesy.

Restaurant Review: Pucapuca

2005-12-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

Chad and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia at Paramount on Friday. Of course, a good night out cannot end without a nice dinner. We took the metro to St-Laurent and hopped on the 55 bus to head to Pucapuca on St-Laurent street to meet with our dear friends Suzie and Gaston. It was 9:50 p.m. when we walked in. I felt like I was back in the Dominican Republic. The color, the smell and the painting reminded me of the tropical ambiance, although it was so cold and windy outside. The place smelled fishy. It turns out that seafood is one of their specialty. They even have shark filet on the menu.

It was a wonderful experience. I wouldn't say it was solely because of the food. I mean, the food was decent, the salad was tasty and the fish was delicious. But like I proclaim it in my blog intro, the dinning experience has a lot more to do with the company and the conversation. And this evening, it was such a wonderful experience because of the company and the good conversation we had. We stayed till past midnight. I had such a blast that I couldn't wait to explore another restaurant with Suzie and Gaston again.

Tilapia filet with beans, rice and potato

Service: 8.5 Food: 8.0 Atmosphere: 8.5 Total: 8.3 Price range: 15$, 3 courses, tax included

Nostalgia for Okonomiyaki

2005-11-26T23:28:00.000-08:00

We had Jon and Padraig over tonight. It was cool. I love to see Chad hanging out with his musician friends. He is usually very entertaining and a wonderful host with our MCAC gang. But with his musician friends, he's even more alive. Musicians at the table with musician's talk. Although I didn't understand half the conversation, seeing the joy in his face gave me so much joy. It was all worth it to spend the whole Saturday afternoon to prepare for tonight's dinner.

When I lived in Japan, I loved to go to okonomiyaki restaurants. It was a good place to hang out with friends because we cooked the food together at the table and we shared every single okonomiyaki. It's very interactive and it's very easy to have a good time. It was also usually under 10$US. So, for a college student, it was very affordable at that time. I missed those days. So, tonight, I attempted to bring back those memories. I decided to give Okonomiyaki a try. It was as interactive as I remembered it. We had a 5-course meal, starting with a miso soup. The appetizer was a mini bowl of chirashi sushi. Then the four of us had about 5 okonomiyakis together. The first dessert was a hot Chinese dessert: Coconout Tapioca with Taro. I had a hard time finding Taro anywhere in town. So, I settled for mini-taros, which did not taste as strong as the big ones. The second dessert was my famous Tiramisu. It was not as good as it used to be, maybe because I don't make it as carefully as I first learnt to do it. But all in all, the chirashi sushi and the okonomiyaki was very good.

Chirashi sushi is always a big hit! It's my favorite kind of sushi anyway.I used wholewheat flour for the dough. Tonight's okonomiyaki had the usual cabbage base, plus bacon, mushroom, old cheddar and garlic. A quick note for the okonomiyaki base: 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cup of dashi( soup stock), 1/4 of a small cabbage, 2 eggs, plus spring onions, mini-shrimps. Steaming hot on a plate! Since I couldn't cut it on the grill and didn't want to dress it on the grill, I put it on a plate first.

Fist layer of topping, Japanese mayo and okonomiyaki sauce.

The final touch was of course Katsuobushi( bonito flakes) and Aonori ( dried ground seaweed)! It looked quite messy, but it contained lots of favors in layers!!

Jon made funny face for my camera shot, as we were waiting anxiously for the okonomiyaki to be ready.

We got this "Zodiac" Jasmine tea from Loren. It bloomed into a flower bush as it stooped. Cool eh?

The content faces after dinner.

Chad with curry pumpkin soup

2005-11-25T00:09:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist to steal this picture from Jasper's website. It's too cute in my humble wifey opinion.

Vegetarian main course to impress

2005-11-24T23:45:00.000-08:00

I invited my friend Angel and Dai over for dinner. Two days before the scheduled dinner, I found out Angel was vegetarian. That left me panic because I am way more skilled with meat dishes than veggie dishes. I was planned to make my eggplant turkey dish.

I decided to take up the challenge because I like creative cooking.

So, I made a veggie version of my stuffed portobello mushroom by replacing the meat with sun dried tomato. I also had some spinach in my fridge that needed to be used. So, I stir-fried it with garlic. I planned to put a bed of spinach on my fried rice. But it turned out to be quite difficult. The rice wouldn't hold its shape. So, I put the stuffed tomato on the bed of spinach instead.

Angel brought over peanut butter filled chocolate cookies that she baked the night before. It was very tasty. It went very well with raspberry yogourt. I would definitely get her recipe and make some for Christmas.

There was nothing special about tonight's cooking. But just for the sake of sharing, I'll list the ingredients.

Baked stuffed Tomato
Filling: crabmeat, old white cheddar, mushrooms, fresh garlic, oregano, scallion and basil
The tomatoes were coated with ground nuts.

Baked stuffed Portobello
Toppings: zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, old cheddar ( or Gruyere), fresh basil, oregano and garlic.
The Portobello was marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Fried rice It was just regular fried rice. I put whatever I had in my kitchen. That was the idea of Chinese fried rice anyway. This time, I had cauliflowers, scallion, egg, garlic and soy sauce.

This veggie course was very easy to cook because almost everything is baked. I got to spend lots of time at the dining table and had a good time. Also, the presentation was easy to impress. I enjoyed the dinner very much. And most importantly, I enjoyed the company!

Angel and Dai enjoying dinner with fruity red wine and Chad's quirky humor.

Oldest noodles in existence

2005-11-24T23:36:00.000-08:00

"The remains of the world's oldest noodles have been unearthed in China. Radiocarbon dating of the material taken from the Lajia archaeological site on the Yellow River indicates the food was about 4,000 years old(...)Prior to the discovery of noodles at Lajia, the earliest written record of noodles is traced to a book written during the East Han Dynasty sometime between AD 25 and 220(...)When they lifted the inverted container, the noodles were found sitting proud on the cone of sediment left behind.
"It was this unique combination of factors that created a vacuum or empty space between the top of the sediment cone and the bottom of this bowl that allowed the noodles to be preserved," Professor Kam-biu Liu said. " -Excepts from the BBC News.

So, Chinese invented noodles after all. I've always believed that.

C Lounge: The first Ice lounge in Toronto

2005-11-23T07:24:00.000-08:00

According to the news, the very first ice bar in North America will be opened on Nov 22 in Toronto. Annie and I are excited because we’re planning to include this place on our itinerary for our “Christmas in Toronto” trip.

Not only is it the first ice bar to open in North America, it will be the largest in the world, about 2,000 square feet. Customers will sit on ice furniture, cosy up to the ice bar and drink from glasses made of ice.

My estimated expenses for this would be about 30$/ person, including cover charges and a drink. But I think this is better than paying 15$ to visit the ice hotel in Quebec city. At least, you can hang out with friends.

I’ll write a more detailed review of this bar after the visit.

C Lounge 456 Wellington Street West, Toronto, ON M5V1E3 (416) 260-9393

(Also, if time permits, we’ll see if we can visit some of theToronto's "Best of " food scene.)

Recipe: Charmaine's eggplant & "pork"

2005-10-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

I had some of the left-overs of Joe's eggplant and pork last Tuesday. It was so tasty that I have been craving for it again this last few days. I went to the supermaket today and they don't have lean ground pork. So, I resolved to a healthier choice of meat: lean ground Turkey.

At first, I was afraid it would not taste the same. I put extra effort to make it taste like pork. And it worked like magic. So, Joe, this is for you. Turkey is white meat and is much less fat. It's a healthy alternative to ground pork.

To give the Turkey a pork texture, you can either hammer it with tenderizing hammer or a Chinese chef knife for about 10 minutes. This process, according to my grandpa and mother, would give any meat a more bouncy and chewy texture.

Btw, this dish is not only fast and easy to make, it also does not leave you with many dishes to clean!! Chad was very happy about that!

Ingredients
Ground Turkey 1 lb
Chinese Eggplant x 1
Garlic 3 Gloves, minced
Shallot 1 strand, minced
Oyster sauce 1 tablespoon
Chinese Mushroom water *( optional)

* Chinese mushroom water is basically water you left with after you soak the Chinese mushroom for a few hours. It's excellent to be used as a Chinese soup base. It can also be used as vegetable broth in general.

Marinade for 1 lb of ground Turkey
Soy sauce 2 tablespoons
Mirin( or any chinese rice wine) 1 1/2 tablespoons
Salt 1 teaspoon
Sugar 2 teaspoons
Corn starch 1 tablespoon
5 spices 2 teaspoons

1. Use a knife to chop the ground Turkey randomly for about 7-10 minutes as if it is not ground enough ( it's also a good way to release anger, he he!)
2. Soak the meat in the marinade mentioned above for at least 15-20 minutes
3. Put the stove to high and brown the Turkey with virgin olive oil
4. Use another frying pan, heat up some oil and throw in the garlic, shallot and eggplants.
5. To soften the eggplant faster and add some taste to it at the same time, add some chinese mushroom water* if you happen to have some at home.
6. When the Turkey is almost cooked, add it to the frying pan with the eggplants.
7. Cover the lid for 2 mins to make sure the eggplants are all softened.
8. Add the oyster sauce and stir fry it for another 2 minutes.

Serve with Jasmine long grain rice. ( Nice to have a glass of Chinese soya milk too!)

"Sic Fang Lar! " (Bon Appetite!)

Stuffed Portobello caps

2005-10-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

My last Thank you dinner ( at least for this month) took place last Sunday. I was actually happy with the meal. The idea of making stuffed mushroom actually came from my dear friend Selina from Edmonton. I initially planned to make hamburger steak w/ South Beach style mashed potato. But the mushroom turned out to be very very yummy and way better choice of menu.
Lynn likes fried food. So, I decided to fried some taro as a side dish. For veggie, I stir- fried some brocoli with garlic. It was simple and easy to make. I managed to sit at the dinning table most of the time. I would definitely make this dish again. So, before I forgot how I did it, I'd better write it down.
Stuffed Portobello mushroom cap

Ingredients
Marinade for the Portobello
Balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup
Dried Oregano 1 teaspoon
Salt and Pepper

Marinade for Beef
Chinese 5 spices 1 teaspoon
Sugar 4 teaspoons
Salt 2 teaspoons
Pepper 1teaspoon
Soy sauce 3 teaspoon

Extra lean ground beef Approx. 1 lb
Big Portobello Mushroom cap 5-6
Red Pepper small dices 1/4 cup
Zucchini small dices 1 cup
Garlic minced 2-3 cloves
Shallot minced 1 strand
coriander minced 1 teaspoon
Okonomiyaki sauce (can omit if not available) 1tablespoon
Shredded Cheese ( Old cheddar or Mozzarella ) 1 cup
BBQ Sauce 1 tablespoon

1.Soak the Portobello caps in the Balsamic vinegar marinade for at least 20 mins
2.Marinate the beef if the beef marinade for at least an hour
3.Brown the beef with garlic, shallot, and coriander.
4.Add the zucchini, red pepper
5.When all is cooked, add the BBQ and/or Okonomiyaki sauce
6.Place the mixture on the Portobello caps
7.Put shredded cheese on top
8.Bake for 15-20 mins

Big Caps for hungry people!

Only the girls are camera sensitive!! Though my hubby's red hair is very photogenic!

Second Cup Good and Bad

2005-10-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

I am very frustrated with the Second Cup inside Place Victoria Food court. I understand that since Second Cup is a franchise, it is not easy to control the quality of customer service. But still! It's the second time this week that I tried to order from them and was ignored for a good minute. This has happened every time I visit the store previously. People in front of me often look confused too as to why are they always so busy, looking downwards, cleaning, moving stuff, putting things away. There are constantly 3 employees there in this very small Second cup, yet even if there is no one in line, they manage to keep themselves busy and make you wait till they finish cleaning the counter top, putting away the cake, refilling the coffee...etc. They never ever look at the customers unless you stand at the square that is in front of the cashier. You are INVISIBLE to them. Period. Every time I go, I felt very bad. But this is the closest coffee shop from work to get a Chai Latte and a decent cake, so I sometimes caved in to my cravings. But it's one of the worst Second Cup you can find as far as customer service is concerned. Smile is a scarcity too. Not to mention they don't accept credit card and they sometimes cannot give you a receipt because they don't know how or they claimed that the machine is broken.

Another really bad one is the one close to Old Montreal across from Palais the Justice. My friend broke a coffee mug once and they charged him 12$ for it! The owner was absolutely rude about it too. I was there to witness the greedy scheme and was very disappointed at human nature. I was then just a teenager( Yeah, that was years ago ;p)

Today, I just couldn't stand the invisible treatment from this Second Cup's employees and left. I went all the way to Le cafe du Parquet at CDG building to get my Chai latte ( double the size yet half the price of Second Cup). The Financier aux amandes is also 50 cents cheaper than Second Cup.

Seriously, I think the main reason I prefer Second Cup over Starbucks is because Second Cup is a Canadian owned company. The second reason is because I discovered my favorite cake snack "Financier aux amandes" at Second Cup years ago. It's quite expensive, it cost 2.50$ at Second Cup, and only 1.75$ at Underground Cafe at Lionel Groulx metro station. But Second Cup is much more accessible.

Note: I usually don't want to write negative reviews on my blog. Critics who constantly criticizes restaurants seem to be there to show how refined their taste is, which results in exposing their pride and snobby nature. And I don't believe in that. I think food critics are there to promote gourmet experience, and ONLY occasionally warn people about popular restaurants that have bad ethics or practices.

Annie wrote about Starbucks today, but I decided to stick to my "proudly Canadian" motto and write about Second Cup. Unfortunately, what I wrote about Second Cup today is not a positive review, as much as I wish they would give me something positive to write about.

La Goulette

2005-09-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

Chad discovered this little ghetto restaurant in the plateau where you can have very good Persian food for cheap. This tiny restaurant has lots of shells and mosaic decoration with a stereo playing tapes of Persian songs. They have about 3 tables that can sit 4 people max. Obviously, they focus more on delivery than in house dining. The owner is a very friendly and approachable.

They might not have a big menu, but they certainly satisfy your stomach. They have all kinds of couscous from 8-13$ and the portions are pretty big( if you take into consideration the big pot of soup that comes with your couscous.)
My personal favorite, however, is "Les doigts de fatima", a mini-creper stuffed with potatoes, eggs, tuna, onion and cheese.
It's especially good to visit la Goulette in the winter time. The soup that comes with the couscous really warms your stomach. They also have very nice dessert with almond paste and nuts. If you like marzipan, you'll like their dessert.

The best part is of course the freshly brewed Persian mint tea!

Address: 930 Roy Est
Delivery #: 526-1539
(They don't really speak English. French is your best bet).

Service: 9.0 Food: 8.5 Atmosphere: 8.9 Total: 8.8 Price range: 7-15$

The best Persian cuisine in town:Tehran

2005-09-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

My Operations Manager, who is a Persian born and raised in Tehran, recommends Tehran, the restaurant across from Vendome metro to be one of the most authentic Persian restaurants in Montreal. Among all the Persian restaurants in town, their kebab tastes the closest to the ones that done by her mother and her uncle.

Chad and I has been there before and really enjoyed the food as well. The service was alright, depending if the waiter is in the mood to give your good customer service. The kebab was really excellent. Pita and onions are served as appetizers. I'm not a big fan of the soup, because I don't like goat cheese.

Address : 5065 de Maisonneuve blvd.
Metro station : Vendome, then walk east on de Maisonneuve street.
Tel. : (514) 488-0400

Service: 7.5 Food: 8.2 Atmosphere: 7.5 Total: 7.7 Price range: 10-15$

Restaurant sanitary inspection

2005-09-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

The city of Montreal conducts about 30 000 food inspections of restaurants each year. They publish their court decision on the charges for restaurant hygiene violations on their website. The cases are updated monthly. I recommend you to go every month to check out which restaurants are fined for sanitary violation. Most small fines are for temperature violation, which is not that bad. But some are for dirty kitchen, rat excrement..Etc. When I went through the list month of month, I was quite sad to see that I'm familiar with most of the restaurants on the list. I don't know if the list will stop you from going to your favorite restaurants, but you should not be surprised if you get sick after eating there.

Ville de Montreal: Liste des contrevenants condamnés ( sorry, the report is in French only)

Among the list of restaurants, a few familiar ones worth mentioning:
Soup and Noodles, 5 tickets of a total of 6500$ in fine. The top of the list!!!
Hot and Spicy on Decarie, 1500$
Sun Sing on Queen Mary, 1800$
U & Me , 2000$
Valentine, 1600$
King of Noodles, 3100$
Wokexpress, 1400$
Nickel on St-Catherine, 3600$

There is also Kam Fung, Pho Bang, Java U....etc

Mesquite revisited

2005-09-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

When I first visited Mesquite, the Tex-Mex/Cajun/BBQ restaurant, I was very impressed. Chinese used to say Westerners don't know how to cook tender chicken. But Mesquite's BBQ chicken are tender and juicy. The best BBQ chicken I ever had in my life. The second time I went, for some reason, we had a very bad waitress with very bad service. The food reflected the bad service, turned out to be dry and much worse than I have expected. I wrote about my disappointment in the comment card. A week later, I received a 25$ gift certificate to go back for a retry. I finally found time to go back, this time, they vindicated themselves. Both Chad and I think this is the best BBQ chicken in town. Plus, they have spicy onion ribbons that are truly tasty. However, their corn bread cannot compare to the ones at La Louisanne on Sherbrooke street in NDG.

They also have ribs, live jazz on weekends, and big brunch menu.

Address: 3857 Blvd Decarie, 514-487-5066 ( Right next to Orange Cafe, which, by the way, is not as good as it cracked up to be. The orange juice is alright, the rest of the breakfast is very average, the dinner is worse)

Service: 7.0 Food: 8.9 Atmosphere: 8.7 Total: 8.2 Price range: 9-18$

ALL INCLUSIVE VACATION PACKAGE HUNT

2005-09-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Ruby is getting married. She has a few questions about honeymoon packages. She is not the first person who asked me about this. So I decided to write down what I know and share it with all my friends.

I realized that most people don’t know the difference between travel agencies and tour operators. Tour operators are companies that actually assemble the elements of the tour package. They are usually huge corporations. They are the ones who plan, design and print the brochures. They are the ones who have the connection with the hotels, the cruises, the excursions and the airlines. They are the ones who get paid the big bucks from your trip. Travel agencies are merely sales agents of the leisure products.

A) Travel Agencies

Travel agencies are there to do the job for you. They consolidate the deals from all or most tour operators, and present you with what they have. Local walk-in travel agencies often look very lazy and only quote you the brochure price. So, you can forget about them because you never need to pay a published price of a package. (However, the brochure is nice for reference purposes). Most local walk-in travel agencies don’t have as good a deal as online ones because of the low running cost of online companies. However, be aware of online discounted travel companies, which demands a membership fee. They might have cheap deals, but you should know that online discounted travel companies without membership fees give as good a deal as the ones with membership fees.

Here are my favorite picks( I show you the link instead of embeding it in the title so that this blog can still be useful if you print it out:

Trip Central
http://www.tripcentral.ca/
Best for research and info!
Trip central ‘s website is very well done. You can filter your search very nice and clearly up to the type of hotel room.
They are very cheap, but not the cheapest. However, phone and email negotiation of prices is possible.

Voyages A Rabais
http://www.voyagesarabais.com/
Best deal within Quebec !
To support French Canadian business, this Trois-Rivieres company has a very good website, and cheapest deal you can find in Quebec. Also have selection option up to the hotel room availability at a glance.

Travel last minutes
http://www.travellastminute.ca/
Best for booking and quoting cheapest deal!
Not very advanced website. But call them to quote for the cheapest deals after you have well researched at Trip central and/or have something very specific in mind. They are slightly cheaper than Voyages a Rabais. You can pick up your package at the airport anyway. So it doesn’t really matter where you buy, Ontario, or Quebec. (At Pierre Trudeau, formerly Dorval Airport, Tour operator package pick-up is located at the first entrance door from the right in the departure level, behind the information booth, very easy to spot.)

Voyage Plateau Mont-Royal
http://www.voyagesplateau.com/d-7.htm
Best consolidation of Montreal D7 deals
They have up-to-date D7 deals of all 6 active tour operators in Montreal
( D 7 means “Derriere 7 jours” , deals 7 days prior to departure)

B) Tour Operators

Tour Operators are those who are actually handling the packages on the brochures. Different tour operators favor different hotels (because of the relationship/connection they have with each) Travel agencies such as Trip Central, Voyage a Rabais actually link you to the tour operator site once you click into the package details. If you have a particular hotel in mind, you’ll notice sometime, only one tour company has a package there. For some other bigger or more popular resorts, several companies might have package tours there. Also, note that different packages are available from different departure airports. For example, Air transat vacations have packages to Palladium palace Puna Canta from Montreal, but not from Toronto. ( But in general, Toronto departure gives you more choices of departure dates and resorts). If you use Trip central for research purposes, you don't really need the tour operator websites. But here they are anyway:

Air Canada Vacations
http://www.aircanadavacations.com/
More high end packages. Subsidiary of the airline with almost the same name. So, obviously, if you choose packages from Air Canada Vacations, you’ll be flying on Air Canada Charter flights.

Signature Vacations
http://www.signaturevacations.com/
One of the best website as far as tour operator is concerned. They have they own last minute deals site. Very easy to navigate in. Also more high end, better service. They use flights from Air Canada, Air transat, or any other charter flights available for the destinations.

Tours Mont-Royal
http://www.toursmont-royal.com/
More low end, often features 3 stars products.

Nolitours ( outside of Quebec, it’s called “World of vacations”)
http://www.nolitours.com/
Well balanced of low and high end product. Usually uses their own charter flight, since Nolitours is a subsidiary of Air Transat.

Air Transat Vacations
http://www.airtransat.ca/
Parent company of Nolitours. Just a question a branding.

There is also Caribe Sol and Tours Maison. But they don’t even have a decent website and they offer low-end leisure products.

C) Resort/Hotel chains

Resorts are owned by large corporations. Each hotel chain has high and low end leisure product( high end or low end resorts). Some of them has higher general standard than others. My personal favorite in terms of style, quality and luxury level are:

El Dorado ( part of Karisma hotels chain, features adult only resorts)

Secret Excellence ( Also features adult only resorts. No kids running around or yelling for sure!)Iberostars
Palladium Palace ( part of the Fiesta hotels chain)
Barcelo

These hotel chains have several or many resorts in different parts of the Caribbean or around the world. They seem to have a higher quality standard in general without the outrageous price of Club Med or Sandals, which offer the ultimate all-inclusive packages( all extra curriculum activities are included in the price. So, you feel like you’re paying less because you don’t spend a penny on the island. But in fact, you have simply paid in advance in your package fee).

D) Other useful sites

Judy and Mary Travel
http://www.jmtravel.com/
Best for extensive reviews and pictures of up scale all inclusive resorts!
This is an American site. Can’t book with them, but very useful information with many many many pictures and details of 4stars and up resorts.

Trip Advisor
http://www.tripadvisor.com/
Best up-to-date user reviews!
Type in the destination or even the specific hotel you’re interested in, you’ll get many very recent review of the places. Very very good and up to date because of the large user pool of this site.

Disclaimer: This is all my original material and my personal opinion. Use it at your own risk!

Review:Les Halles of Crescent

2005-09-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

"Last August, after more than 30 years, Les Halles, the fine restaurant located at 1450 crescent street, welcomed its last customers."-destination centre ville.

It was a fine French restaurant indeed! I can't believe when I read about them closing after all these years in business. They are a bit snobby and pricey, but they serve excellent food. Among the restaurants on Crescent street, this is one of the very few decent ones with quality gourmand dining and superb ambiance.

I took Chad to Les Halles on his 25th birthday ( followed by a "very surprised" party).
We ordered the table d'hote. I had the roasted fillet of Walleye pickerel and he picked the rabbit.
LE FILET DE DORÉ POÊLÉ À L'UNILATÉRALE
AUX ÉPICES, GINGEMBRE ET HERBES POTAGÈRES

LES ÉPAULES ET GIGOTIN DE LAPEREAU DE FERME
FARCIS DE CHORIZO ET BLETTES, LE TOUT RÔTI À L'AIL

But the main course was not the most amazing part. After dinner, our table d'hote came with a choice of Home Made Pastries. When they said home made pastries, I didn't expect much. But when the waiter brought in the desserts one by one for us to choose, I was so excited by the choices we had. They really had the most amazing dessert.

Here is their dessert menu:

Les Fraises au Poivre ( 2 personnes ) 22.00
La Tarte aux Framboises La Tarte Tatin 8.95
Le Paris-Brest Le Saint-Honoré 8.75
Le Gâteau au Fromage 8.75
Le Succés à l'Orange Confit 8.25
La Coupe de Fruits Frais 7.95
Le Gâteau ``Joséphine`` 8.50
Le `` TRIO `` 9.50
La Feuillantine 8.95
Les " Mousses au Chocolat 8.50
L'Assiette de Sorbets Maison 8.25
L'Assiette de Fruits et Sorbet 8.75
La Crème Brulée 8.50

Chad had an amazing Tarte aux Framboises and I had the most amazing Cheese cake I ever had. I am usually not a big fan of cheese cakes. I find them too cheesy. But this pear cheese cake totally change my opinion on cheese cakes. It was very light in texture, very fluffy, kind of like a polish peach cheese cake, except it was even lighter, yet moist at the same time.

It is sad to see such a fine French restaurant coming to an end. It's part of Montreal's heritage.

Service: 7.0 Food: 9.5 Atmosphere: 8.7 Total: 8.4 Price range: 50-70$

Ding Ding and a Fly

2005-09-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday night, I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory produced by Mel Stuart in 1971. This was a great movie with beautiful music. We enjoyed the movie with shrimp chips, a piece of leftover Polish peach cheese cake and German vanilla tea. Wonderful combination (way better than soy milk!) I am glad Chad recommended this childhood favorite to me. Gene Wilder is a good actor though I have a feeling I'll like Johnny Depp more. I'm looking forward to see the new one.

After the movie, Chad and I read a book together. Every now and again we watched the most amazing fly-catching performance by our cat Ding Ding. Ding Ding was so excited the whole night in my bedroom because the fly came into the house when Chad opened the door to bring out the garbage. With Chad and I so focused on Ding Ding's performance, we would stop the book from time to time to assist her. We turned off the ceiling light so that the fly went to the bedside table lamp instead. Ding Ding tried and missed a few times and the fly turned to hide quietly. Then, we turned the ceiling light back on to attract the fly out again. After a few minutes, the fly came back. We then turned the ceiling light off again. Again, the fly went towards the bedside light. Ding Ding was VERY focused this time. She jumped up with both paws, caught the fly, opened her paws, and put the fly right into her mouth. All this in a matter of 5 seconds! With a triumphant and satisfactory look on her face, she chewed for 30 seconds before composing herself. She then spent the next 5 minutes touching, smelling and looking around the bedside table to see if there was any residue of fly left.

Chad and I had never felt so proud of Ding Ding. Suddenly, we felt like proud parents - as if our kid just won a trophy at a school sports day.

Thank you Dinner again

2005-09-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

We had our yet another "Thank you dinner" tonight. This time was Ange and Tim. I told them to dress up coz I know they would enjoy it as much as I do. I enjoy dressing up and have a nice meal. Feel more sophisticated somehow.

Tonight's Menu

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Grilled Salmon with Orange glazed and Ginger

(Side dish: Stuffed Tomato with spinach and sweet and sour rice)

Polish Peach cake

German Vanilla Tea

It's a very rare night where I'm sitting at the table most of the time. I think I'm starting to manage to cook things that allow me to prepare more in advance than spending the whole dinner time in the kitchen. I once had grilled salmon on a bed of spinach at L'Express( famous French restaurant on St-Denis) and I really like that idea. However, after cooking the spinach, I realized that I don't have enough spinach to do that. So, I put a bed of rice on a bed a spinach instead! It looked great. It tasted just okay because I stir fried left over sushi rice from yesterday's worship team party. I tried to use tomato, bbq sauce, garlic, and shallot to make it taste stronger, but the vinegar still prevails. As for the salmon, it's my very first time cooking salmon at home, so I overcooked it a bit. I think the French onion soup was the best of the night. Traditionallly, it should be beef broth and red wine, but I made a vegetarian version with vegetable broth and white wine. It tasted great.
All in all, it was a decent meal. The presentation did make it taste better than it actually is.

I took this picture before I added the lime and the parsley for decoration. And the stuffed tomato was somehow falling apart...

Polish Peach Cake. Somehow it was not as good as before. Chad ate my share.

Ange and Tim posed for us. Romantic couple pose.

Lovely couple pose. This one is more natural coz they're not posing for us, they're laughing about the previous pose. They're great people, and I can't thank Ange enough for all she has done for me for my wedding. I can't wait to go to theirs someday!

Easy Pizza

2005-09-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Chad liked this pizza a lot, despite his bad mood today. So, I figure it's worth noting it down.

Pizza base: Whole wheat Tortilla
Sauce base: Sweet BBQ sauce and shredded mozerella cheese
toppings: Fresh Asian basil, garlic, onions, mushrooms, smoked sausage
Bake 350 for 7-10 minutes

I usually do all my sauces from scatch, but Lynn left this sweet BBQ sauce at my place months ago, I figure I should use it up before it goes bad. It turned out to be quite good.

Crispy on the outside, sweet in the inside, with a strong aroma of basil and mushroom! Hmm..Yummy.

12 hours of sleep

2005-09-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

The Corporation is a very good documentary. I would recommend to anybody. It's good for discussion, awareness, 2 1/2 hours to kill, argument or conflict catalyst... However, the unedited special feature is not as captivating as the movie.

Yesterday, Chad and I were not too hungry for dinner, so we decided to sit down, munch on shrimp chips, drink soy milk while watching the deleted scenes, interviews and other extra features on the DVD. After an hour or so, we both got very very sleepy. We decided to crawl into bed, and it was 8pm. I woke up at 8am.

It turns out that the next day is Chad's first day of class! I feel bad not to cook him breakfast.
After all, he made me French toast yesterday morning.

By the way, soy milk and Thai shrimp chips is not a particularly good combination.

Quebec city

2005-08-31T10:56:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to give Jasper a guided tour of Quebec city. Jasper wanted to go this weekend. I was all hyped up to go too because I LOVE showing people how enjoyable Quebec city can be. But due to various reasons( I've been there recently, short of cash, tiredness, my husband wanted me to take advantage of the long weekend to rest at home, too rush to book the hotel...etc), I am not going anymore. Feeling guilty and what a pity to miss this chance to show Jasper around, I decided to write a summary of Quebec's attractions that I personally think worthwhile to check out...
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Before you get to Quebec city, you’ll be hungry after a 3hrs drive. Stop by St-Foy ( the city before you reach Old Quebec), behind Laval University, next to the Allo stop/pyramid mall for lunch. There’s an Italian restaurant where you pay like 9$ for custom made pasta dish with all the ingredients you want. You can add scallop, chicken, sausages and everything else with the same price. The chef cooks it in front of you, of course. It’s a tasty and cheap alternative to over-priced touristy restaurants in Old Quebec. After a nice meal at Foccacia, you’re ready to drive 15 more minutes and find parking in the heart of Old Quebec…

Focaccia Café :2383 CHEMIN SAINTE-FOY SAINTE-FOY, QC G1V 1T1 (418) 650-9449

Highlights inside Old Quebec city

1) Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Québec It is the first church ever built and established in North America( in year1633). It got burnt down 3 times, so the building itself is not THAT old. Just take a peek inside if you’re not planning to see the multi-media show. The show is actually not bad. It gives you an idea of the history of Quebec. It’s pretty high-tech for a church to have huge 3D projectors and stuff.

2) Place-Royale in Québec City was the birthplace of French civilization in North America and is also one of the oldest inhabited areas on the continent. Samuel de Champlain built the first permanent establishment of New France at Place-Royale. This is where the last scene of “Catch me if you can” is filmed. Chad and I both recognize it right away in the movie. Continue upward, you’ll see a fresque( a mural) on your left. It’s pretty cool to take pictures in front of it by pretending you are part of the fresque.

3) Plains of Abraham is a must go place only if you like Quebec history. It’s a nice open space where the 1759 Conquest took place. It is the battle that changes the fate of North America( Well, Quebec at least) I find it a good place to meditate or just contemplate. There’s nothing really to see, but from the Dufferin Terrance you can easily hike up there. Nice sunset view of the river.

4) Casse-Crêpe Breton Before you leave for Old Quebec, don’t forget to wait in line for the busy crepe place on St-Jean street: Casse Crepe Breton. 1136 rue St-Jean, Québec City. It’s across from MacDonalds and Gap. It’s small and easy to miss. I have mixed review about this place. I personally like the crepe there ( as long as you don’t order your crepe with ice-cream, which ruins the texture of any crepe). But because of the lack of employees, the experience could be bad if you’re in a hurry. So, make sure you have plenty of time. For detail review of this, please go to http://charminglamb.blogspot.com/2005/08/casse-crepe-breton.html

Outside Old Quebec

1)The Montmorency Falls, cascading 83 metres down to the river below (30 metres more than Niagara Falls), this Fall is situated in the historical site of the Montmorency Falls Park. A cable car runs up to the Manoir Montmorency, where the French restaurant is located. Make sure you go up the stairs to visit the tiny museum which talks about the history of this park. It’s quite interesting. Don’t take the cable car, it’s a nice hike up. Though you have to allocate time to hike back to get your car, and drive back up to the restaurant, if you wanna eat there. And don’t pay parking twice! I believe it’s actually free parking if you eat at the restaurant. It’s a gourmet restaurant for regular French cusine price. (About40-45$ for a 5 stars 4 courses gourmet meal.)

The experience would be much better if you have good company though. The service is slow, you’ll expect to spend at least 2 hours at the restaurant. When you come out, pause and take a picture of the bridge right across from the Manoir Montmorency. It’s the bridge that takes you to Orleans Island( ile d’Orleans).Both the autoroute de la Capitale (A-40) and boulevard Sainte-Anne (Hwy 138) lead to the Montmorency Falls Park, located 12 km east of downtown Québec.

2) L’ile d’Orleans
I highly recommend you to stay at one of the historical houses in Orleans Island( Ile d’Orleans) The price can be as low as 70$ with nice home-made breakfast.
I recommend to spend the 2nd day morning here. Visit historical houses, enjoy the scenery, and apple cider factory. Comprehesive maps and detail attractions can be found here: http://www.iledorleans.com/ Housing information is also there. Try to pick the small “gites”( B&B) because services have a very personal touch. I think the Maritime museum is not worth it, but the Island’s landscape is wonderful experience for a long weekend.

3) Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre Basillica If you have time in the afternoon before heading back to Montreal, go further to Sainte Anne de Beaupre where the Basillica with the same name as the town is located. The second largest Basilica in Quebec, it is quite impressive. Full of mosaics in the vault. But you’ll notice a mother holding a baby all over the place and the baby is not Jesus ;p The mother is St-Anne and the baby is St-Mary. Next to the church is the cyclorama. If you have 7$ to spend, it’s an interesting place for Christians to go to. It’s a wonderful tribute to Jesus’life. Bring your own binoculars so that you don’t to pay extra to rent one. I went there twice already, I think one time is enough. But it’s amazing how detailed the painting is.

Spicy Mango Salsa

2005-08-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

I like the typical tomato based salsa for my nachos. I used to make it all the time with mushrooms and Chad( my lovely husband) always loves it. Yet, I discovered a refreshing and exotic salsa that would be a nice kick especially for the summer. It's healthy because it's all fresh ingredients and uncooked. This version is an alternation from the orginal receipe on allrecipe.com I personalized it because I am someone who can never follow receipe verbatim.

Spicy Mango Salsa
2 tablespoons minced ginger
4 cloves of garlic, mined
1 tablespoon of minced fresh cilantro( or coriander)
2 tablespoon of minced fresh basil
1/4 cup of fresh lime juice
2 cups of diced mangos
2 cups of diced peaches
1/2 of a red pepper, diced
1/2 of a chili pepper, minced( skip this if you can't eat spicy food)

No salt or pepper needed. Just mix them all together and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
It's a tasty treat that is easy to make and excellent for home movie nights.

For home made nachos, just get some tortillas( I prefer whole wheat ones), brush on some olive oil mixed with oregano, chili and/or curry powder, salt and peper, cut them into triangles ( Just like the way you cut a cake) and oven bake for 10-15 mins in 350 degrees, and you'll get fresh hot nachos!!

I served this dish yesterday at my small group's Thank you dinner and the food was gone before I could take a picture...I hope that's a good sign.

Casse-Crepe Breton

2005-08-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Casse Crepe Breton has always been my favorate crepe restaurant. I have been there so many times and their crepes never disappoint me. I don't doubt there might be better quality crepe out there, but Casse Crepe Breton has a good price for exceptionally good quality crepe. Like the French said, "La texture" in the crepe is very important. Casse Crepe Breton has the chewy texture that makes a crepe a good crepe. I never understood why people would ever fancy the soggy, doughy crepe at Marche Moverpick in Montreal. Even when it's two for one, it's just not worth it.
I 'm excited to go back to Casse Crepe Breton this month because Jasper wanted to visit Quebec city. One thing though, the place has its short-comings. It doesn't stop me from going there, but these are a few things to be aware of.
The service is very slow because there's always a line up and the waiteresses are quite overwhelmed with too many tables to serve.( They really should hire more people, because the waiteresses have to help out with the food, the cashier, the line up at the door and waiteressing at the same time! Last time we went, Chad's dessert crepe had oninion taste on it because apparently, they forgot to wash the cutting board. ) They are very pleasant but you just have to learn to be patient and wait for the food to come. Also, in the side of the restaurant where the open kitchen is, there's a stuffy smell. I know this sounds bad, but really, it's good crepe for as low as 4.00$!! They also have fresh fruit juice and grandma style hot chocolate!

Service: 6.9 Food: 8.5 Atmosphere: 7.9 Total: 7.8 Price Range: 5-10$

Thank you Dinner

2005-08-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

Gabe and Gamoon came over for dinner. It's a thank you dinner for their friendship and their generous help at our wedding. This is our first dinner date at home after the wedding. It was an awesome night. We had Polish/Ukrainian food. I usually cook my dinners from scratch. But today I was occupied with other appointments that I prepared a meal that require no cooking really.
Soup: Homemade Borsht from a Polish store called "Chopin"
Main dish: Perogies, kielvasa sausage with mustard and sauerkraut
Dessert: Polish Peach cheese cake( Fluffy and light!)

We had a good time afterward with Chinese Checkers and Gabe won!( Apparently he has no previous experience with it!!)

I love dinner parties at home, especially small ones. 2 couples, perfect size. Not too much to cook, good size to entertain. Cozy and intimate.

Veggie Curry with brown basmati rice

2005-08-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

Married life is fun. I am starting to get into this "coming home and cook for your husband" mode. The situation is not much different from before the marriage, since Chad comes over for dinner all the time. Now, I'm a housewife cooking for my husband. It feels so different. I'm in this blissful mode that is very unexplainable.

Chad is trying to avoid meat. So, to go in line with that thought, I made a vegetarian dish today.

Veggie Curry with brown basmati rice

The basmati rice is not very clean for some reason, but it was very good brown rice after all. I added some coconut milk to cook it, and added cumin and olive oil after it is cooked to give it a more Indian taste.

Chad already had his second helping when I took this picture. So it doesn't look too clean.

I added some south Asian shrimp cracker to make the dish more attractive ( taste-wise).

For the curry, here are the ingredients:

5 cloves of garlic
1 zucchini
1 eggplant
5 white mushroom ( halves)
1 can of coconut milk
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of Indian spicy chicken yourgurt curry powder
2 tablespoon of regular curry powder
a pinch of nutmeg and oregano

1)Sautee garlic with mushrooms, zucchini and eggplant. Then put in coconut milk, and the rest of the spice.
2) Cover lid and cook with medium heat for 10 minutes or till the sauce is thick and the veggies softened.

It was a good night. The curry for not very spicy, which was perfect for me. We had a good time before heading to the house of fun for bible study.

Chez Queux good and bad

2005-07-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

July 16th, 2pm. The Birks chapel was so well decorated that I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in as the bride... But this is a food blog, so I gotta talk about food. The reception was very nice, despite the heat wave that hit Montreal, especially Old Montreal, in my opinion.

I wish the air conditioner would work better, because I believe the food would taste much better if everybody was not sweating like crazy, especially at the left end of the hall. Apparently, one of the air-con was not working, and so they started opening up the windows, yet no wind was blowing, so the limited cold air from one of the air-con would not stay either. It was pretty pathetic, but our wonderful MC Gamoon managed to joke about it and figuratively explained how "hot" the wedding was in difference senses.

The food is decent, but not as good as I expected. I have been to Chez Queux twice previously, and I know they could do better. The original flaky pastry snails became a tartelette, it was disappointing, but it was still tasty; the creme brulee was "cracky"( as it should be), yet somehow diluted and not as sweet as it usually is.

Despite all these misfortune, thanks to our wonderful loving friends and families, we still had a hell of a good time. Chad and I both enjoyed it very much. It was a lovely wedding reception and it was HOT in every way.

And so as the story goes along, I'm married!!!! It's been 2 weeks and I'm lovin'it!