say it with pie

Wonton soup is the perfect go-to lazy lunch. I buy those frozen wontons from K.J. Foods from the No Frills or Chinatown East for $2.50-2.99 a pop and stick ‘em in some chicken broth with a touch of soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger powder and garlic powder. Simmer until the wontons are cooked and then garnish with some chopped green onions and pepper.

This wasn’t a recipe as much as it was an excuse to post pictures of me slurping wontons. Om nom nom!

So it might look a bit like dog food, but these Braised Beef Short Ribs are one of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever made! Not that braising is very hard, but oh—how impressive were the results! Plus, it’s been freezing and what warms the bones better than slow-cooked meat and potatoes?

I didn’t work from a recipe (surprise, surprise) but I did have a little help from my friends. First, Chef John from Food Wishes who is always ready to espouse the merits of careful browning and a good roux. Second, the butcher at Loblaws who talked about the short ribs like they were his babies and cautioned me not to over-season them; I just used some salt, pepper and a couple sprigs of thyme. And third, the LCBO guy who introduced me to the La Casona Monastrell and the Castillo de Monseran Garacha, two $9 Spanish reds that are great for both cooking and swilling.

As long as it stays cold like this, I’m going to keep on braising.

Two of my favourite Chinese foods are Mapo Tofu, a popular Szechuan dish, and dou miao, (”dough meow”) which is the leafy part of a snow pea plant. I have attempted to cook both of these dishes on multiple occasions but never got them right…until tonight!

For the Mapo Tofu, I required a few special ingredients. The most essential was dou ban jiang, a paste made from fermented chilis, broadbeans and soybeans, and an essential in Szechuan cooking. The other was douchi, or Chinese fermented black beans. One thing I could not find was Szechuan pepper, which provides a unique flavour and a numbing sensation. Let me know if you know where to find it. Oh, and I picked up a bottle of cooking-grade shaoxing rice wine.

I’m not even going to bother describing how I cooked it because you can find tons of helpful recipes and videos elsewhere.

Then just cook the dou miao like spinach, with minced garlic and soy sauce. Noms!

This is a little stash of sweets I brought home from Chinatown East (Broadview and Gerrard).

On the left, we have something that was billed as “banana cakes”, but they’re pastry filled with goo that doesn’t really taste like bananas. I was feeling adventurous; not sure if I’ll finish them.

On the right, huge almond cookies! There’s probably a half-pound of lard in each. Mmmmmm.

In the front, crispy little biscuit curls from a Chinese grocery. I might get addicted! They have a lovely honey-citrus taste.

I love butchering chickens and turkeys, and I’m really good at it! Sorry, vegetarians!

I used Julia Child’s roast chicken recipe via Foodwishes.com.

What if you needed buttermilk for a recipe, but it was snowing heavily and you have an ear infection and consider that an acceptable reason not to go outside in the bitter winter cold? This may have happened to me today.

Fret not! You can fake buttermilk by adding 1tbs of lemon juice to 1 cup whole milk!

But wait: what if you don’t have whole milk, but you do have 2% milk and a carton of heavy cream left over from a failed crème brûlée experiment? You can fake whole milk by adding 1-2tbs of heavy cream to 1 cup 2% milk!

Thank you, Chowhound.

See? You can get away with anything with cooking. Baking, not so much.

There’s a good how-to article here. Grind in a mortar or a coffee mill and store for up to 4 months. But watch out! Fresh spices are more potent than their pre-ground counterparts.

“I’m the king of the world, on a boat like Leo. If you’re on the shore, then you’re sure not me-o.”

This is us riding down the big blue watery road, the Intracoastal Waterway, which goes all the way from New Jersey to Texas. On our trip, we went from West Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale and then down to Miami Beach. There are bridges across the canal every few miles and you have to time your cruise so you hit them at their opening times, or else they just slow you down. It was so much fun: there are dolphins and manatees, mangroves, big yachts and enormous mansions along the way. Like this:

Holy crap! There are millions of these giant houses with giant boats parked out front. Tiger Woods lives in a house like this somewhere nearby.

Continue reading On A Boat »

White Christmas? Pshhhht! Boat Christmas is where it’s at, as the kids say.

Yes, me and Pete spent Christmas on my parents boat in Florida. Instead of placing presents under the Christmas tree, we placed them under a television tuned to the burning log channel. It was very festive!

Continue reading Christmas in Florida »

Charlie likes licking wine gums!!! Cute!

Wine gums contain gelatin which is what I assume he is attracted to, not the subtle cherry flavour.

In related news, thank-you to Pete’s mom for the wine gums in my Christmas stocking. I promise this is the only one the cat gets.