Hoo boy, that was another lengthy unintentional hiatus there. The past month and a bit have been absoultely useless for me, cooking wise.
However! My chest freezer is about to arrive this week, and one of my New Years’ resolutions is to quit buying my lunch, getting takeout and eating fast food, so I will be getting back in shape with the cooking very very soon.
I’m going to break my little hiatus there with one of my favorite recipes.
I love cookies as much as the next person, but I really dislike crunchy cookies. Probably one of the only good things that came out of my relationship with my ex is this recipe, which I got from his mother. It makes, in my opinion, the perfect oatmeal cookies. They’re not overly sweet, and stay chewy even days after they were made.
Ingredients
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all of the dry ingredients together for about 5 minutes until all the butter is rubbed in. Then add the eggs eggs and mix it until it’s all mixed together and goes into a ball. Make small balls about the size of a golf ball and put onto a greased pan. Flatten with a fork. Bake for approximately 15 minutes watching that they don’t burn. My oven, which is gas, only takes 12 minutes.
I have finally, after wanting one for many years, gotten myself a proper wok. I’ve been inspired by Tigers & Strawberries to try cooking proper, decent chinese food at home, and that necessitated the purchase of a proper wok instead of trying to get by with my saute pan.
I’ve also realized that I can pretty much never again eat commercial chinese food (as it contains WAY more sodium than my system can handle), so if I want to eat chinese food at all, it’s going to have to be homemade.
I picked it up at the Ming Wo in Metrotown. Because I wanted a relatively small one, since I’m only going to be cooking for myself in the foreseeable future, I was able to get a 14″ flat-bottomed carbon steel wok with one regular handle and one long handle for $30 (it was on sale). I also picked up a wok shovel, but they were all out of the bamboo cleaners, so I’m going to have to keep an eye out for those in the next while. It came covered in some sort of lacquer for shipping and display, so I’ll have to scrub that off with soap and a scrubbie, but after that I’m going to follow Barbara’s directions for seasoning it.
My roommate (the japanese international college student) says she knows how to cook with a wok, so I will have to watch her and pick up some ideas for cooking japanese food in it as well.
My original intent for this weekend was to try out a sushi restaurant that I’d never been to before that is here in New Westminster. That was before I came home to a partly flooded basement suite on Friday night. After partially dealing with that, I was in no mood to cook, and ended up ordering in junk. Since I’d already bought one meal this weekend, I told myself no more, and purchased stuff to cook while I did my grocery shopping yesterday.
Then my landlord, who had rented a steam cleaner and sucked all the water out of our carpets for us, offered to buy dinner for my roommate and I. He had initially suggested pizza, but she had had pizza for dinner the night before, so then he suggested sushi (because my roommate is Japanese, I’m guessing). So we ended up ordering in from one of my current favorite sushi restaurants, which gave me fodder for a review.
Kirin Sushi’s location isn’t the best - it’s situated right across the street from New Westminster Skytrain Station, and that area draws a bit of riffraff most of the time. I’ve eaten there a few different times, as well as having gotten take-out and delivery. The inside of the restaurant is lovely, however. Right inside the front door is a small koi pond. There are the traditional little rooms lining the sides of the restaurant, a few regular tables and of course a bar where you can watch the sushi chef at work.
I don’t eat fish or seafood, so I can’t comment on the actual sushi and sashimi. I stick to the hot dishes, like teriyaki and tempura, and the non-fish rolls. Although, everyone I’ve ever eaten there with has been very pleased with the fish-based stuff.
Last night, I had their beef teriyaki, vegetable tempura and vegetable sunomono. As it is every time I order from there, the food was all very excellent. It did take the full 40 minutes they quoted yesterday, though usually they say 40 minutes and then it arrives in about 20 - we must have caught them at a busy time.
Their prices are all very reasonable as well. I would highly recommend Kirin Sushi to anyone looking for good sushi in the New Westminster area.
Kirin Sushi
31 - 8th Street (across from the New Westminster Skytrain Station)
New Westminster, BC
(604) 521-1833
website: Kirin Sushi
I just read the most recent post by Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries (who, I will say, is probably my absolute favorite food blogger to read) regarding picky eaters. It was a follow up to her post from a few days ago in which she states that one of her biggest pet peeves is picky eaters.I have to admit that her first post got my hackles up a bit, for two reasons. Firstly, because I have to admit - I’m a picky eater myself. In some cases, a VERY picky eater. The second reason is because one of my biggest pet peeves is people who discount picky eaters as just being “fussy and a pain in the butt”. You know, the people who say, dismissively, “oh, you’re just a picky eater” when you state that you can’t or won’t eat something, as if it’s a *bad* thing. I grew up with a mother who refused to acknowledge food preferences whatsoever, and this could be where some of my opinions regarding this came from, but really, who knows. I just take issue with people expecting me to just dig into every last thing on my plate with complete disregard for the content of it.
Anyhow. The second post Barbara made, I completely agreed with. While I completely respect people’s food preferences, I also have no use for people who are picky but rude about it. This really should go without saying, but unfortunately there’s a lot of people out there these days who go about their lives with complete disregard for anyone but themselves.
I’m a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA - a medieval re-creation group), and occasionally, we will put on large banquets and sell tickets. Most of these fall into the category of being celebrations of events (like at a Coronation and such), or a group’s yearly awards banquet. When you’re cooking for a large group of people like that, food allergies and preferences will always come into play. What going to these banquets has taught me is that you should never, EVER expect to be able to eat every item on the menu, nor should you expect the kitchen to cater to your every whim if you have a major allergy or food preference. You especially shouldn’t do either of these things if you are a vegetarian or vegan (don’t get me started on the absurdness of vegetarianism and veganism in a medieval society). If you have issues, come prepared. Yes, I know it seems a little silly, but you might want to think about bringing a bit of your own food to the banquet. This also holds true if you are a diabetic or have other similar medical issues that might cause problems if the kitchen is late getting dinner on the table.
Now, I personally think that picky children and picky adults are two completely different things. Children go through phases, and while some of them may retain some of their picky preferences into adulthood, most children that I have seen will “dislike” foods for no good reason other than they decided that today they’re only going to eat things that are orange.
Picky adults are another matter. I’ve noticed that with a lot of picky adults, their quirks will be texture-based, or based around one particular item that they just can’t handle. I have one friend who won’t eat anything with a gelatin base, just because it feels wrong to her. Two other friends won’t eat anything with a significant amount of vinegar in it, because they just can’t handle the bite of vinegar. Some of my personal preferences are texture based, some of them are just a dislike of a particular flavour.
Just for the sake of putting it down in writing, here are a few of the things I can’t/don’t eat, and the reasons. If you’re planning on inviting me to dinner, while I wouldn’t expect you to cater to all of these, don’t expect me to eat everything on my plate if you serve a significant amount of any of them. Then again, if you’re having a fish fry, it would be a rather silly idea to invite me.
Karla’s Food Preferences/Issues
I do not eat:
Things I’m not much of a fan of, but I will eat if I have to:
Back in the summer, I finally got myself a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Like just about any avid cook/baker, I had been wanting one for years. I had discovered that I could get one by cashing in my AirMiles, but had been debating whether I wanted the Artisan model that was available through AirMiles, or whether I wanted to wait until I could afford to buy one on my own and get the professional one. In the end, I went with the Artisan, so I now have a lovely white mixer sitting on my kitchen counter.
Of course, as is with just about everything for me - I bought the mixer and then probably used it once in the first three months of owning it. In my attempts to curb my junk and eating-out habits, though, I’ve finally started using it on a regular basis. The pumpkin loaves from the previous recipe were made using my mixer, as were these:
These were made using a recipe for “Farmer’s Bread” which originally came from Allrecipes (yes, I use them a *lot* - the recipes aredefinitely hit and miss, some are really horrible but there are also some excellent ones onthere), but I have since modified it to suit my own needs. The original directions have you make one very large loaf out of it, baked in an oval on a flat baking sheet. I originally found this recipe when wanting to bake bread for a historical event - the freeformed loafworked quite well for that purpose. Shortly after receiving my new mixer, I tried another white bread recipe (that I don’t remember the origin of) that turned out awful. I decided to try putting this recipe into bread pans, and it worked like a charm.
The recipe is for a very plain bread (and mine turns out a little on the heavy side for some reason, though I really don’t mind that), but it’s easy enough to change it up a little, which is what I did this time. The first loaf has the top coated in poppy seeds (which started falling off as soon as they were touched - I guess I would have to use an egg white wash to get them to stick permanently). For the second loaf, instead of just forming the loaf regularly, I stretched the dough out into as much of a rectangle as I could, then sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon on it, then put raisins on top of that. I rolled it up lengthwise, which made a loaf pretty similar to a regularly shaped loaf. I also sprinkled cinnamon on top of the dough, which gave it a very pretty look.
I am intending to continue to play with bread recipes, as while this is not too bad, it could definitely use some improvement. In any case, here is the recipe if you’d like to try it.
Recipe - Basic White Bread
4 tsp active dry yeast (or 2 packages, if you use them. I buy my yeast in bulk at the health food store)
2 cups warm water
6 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold butter
Directions
In a large measuring cup, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy (about 10 minutes).
In the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl, if you’re making it by hand), combine 4 cups of flour and the salt. Cut in the butter (I just chunk it up and put it in the bowl, then run with the whisk attachment for about 8-10 minutes, it’ll mix it right in). Pour in the yeast mixture a bit at a time, with the mixer on low.
Beat in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
Butter a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form the dough into whatever shapes you are using. Put it into the pans, or onto a baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. When the loaf is risen, cut a 1/2 inch deep cross onto the top of it. Brush the top with water before baking.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool on a wire rack before slicing.
I baked the pumpkin bread from this post again yesterday, though I gave the recipe a few tweaks this time. It turned out just as good, but different, from last time. I’m not sure which I prefer more.
The original recipe calls for a full cup of oil, which seems like an awful lot to me. This time, I cut the oil back to 1/2 a cup, and substituted 1/2 a cup of unsweetened applesauce for the other half. The bread did turn out a little dryer than last time, but not so much that it makes the bread nasty. I may do 2/3 applesauce 1/3 oil next time, but I think that if I went to all applesauce it would definitely dry the bread out too much.
Between the last time I baked this and this time, I had purchased some allspice, so I included that this time. I also didn’t put as much cloves in, as I was almost out. I included 1/2 a teaspoon of ground ginger as well. I think I preferred the spicing last time - more cloves, less other stuff.
My last tweak was the inclusion of raisins. I don’t care for dried-up chewy raisins in my baking, so before starting to put together the batter, I plumped them up by simmering them in orange juice. I used about 2/3 of a cup of raisins, covered them in just enough orange juice to cover them plus a tiny bit, brought them to a boil in a small saucepan and then turned them down to simmer. I left them going for quite a while, as these particular ones took quite a long time to reconstitute enough for me. I then let them cool, and then added the raisins at the end of the recipe. I also took the orange juice that I had simmered them in, topped it up with water to 2/3 of a cup and used that in place of the water that the recipe calls for.
Definitely a keeper recipe. It might be nice with the inclusion of some pecans as well.
I have a whole bunch of really bad habits when it comes to food. I work full time and commute two hours per day. I have breakfast as soon as I get out of the shower and get dressed, which usually ends up being around 6:30 or so. I generally have a snack around 10am, because I like taking my lunch break from 12:30 - 1:30, since it makes my afternoon seem to go by faster (I work from 8-4).
Because I eat lunch so late, I’m never hungry as soon as I get home from work. What usually ends up happening is that I come home from work, sit down in front of the computer, and get so engrossed in something (usually an MMORPG), that 8pm arrives and I realize that I haven’t eaten any dinner yet, and I’m starving. So then I end up scarfing down some absolute crap from the cupboards, or I order in take-out. Both of these options are bad for me, and the latter is horrible on my budget.
I’m making a concerted effort to stop doing these things, and that is one of the many reasons I decided to start a food and cooking weblog. Instead of wasting all my money on eating the same crappy take-out over and over, I want to try and get out of the habit of not cooking and having a proper dinner when I get home from work, and instead, once every week or two, I will, on Saturday night, go out for a nice dinner at somewhere I’ve never been before (or get take-out from somewhere new), and try something new, and then blog about it.
Last Friday, I found a website, DineHere.ca, which reviews local (Greater Vancouver area and Victoria) restaurants, so I had a look through for New Westminster restaurants that I’d never heard of. I didn’t really find any that were completely new, but I did discover that Go Thai, a new Thai restaurant over on the east end of New West which I’d driven past a few times, apparently had excellent food. It’s housed in a building that used to be a Nuffy’s Donuts, so when I’d seen it while driving past, I’d immediately written it off.
Since it had so many positive reviews, I decided to make that my first weekend special dinner take-out from Go Thai. I ordered the chicken satay appetizer, green curry (chicken) with jasmine rice, and the pad thai (with chicken, not shrimp). I ordered them all mild, since with thai food I find that even the mild is hot enough for me.
I have to say, I was extremely impressed with what I got. I honestly don’t have all that much experience with Thai food, but I’ve had stuff that’s been pretty good, and also not so great. All of what I received was extremely flavourful, was obviously cooked fresh, and was excellent. I paid about $26 and change (excluding tip) for all of the above, which would easily feed two people (I had leftovers for lunch on Sunday). I was quoted 30-40 minutes for the delivery, and I think it arrived in more like 20-25, and the delivery driver was quite pleasant.
I will definitely be ordering from them again, to try some of their other offerings.
Go Thai (website)
502 East Columbia St. (Braid St. at Columbia)
New Westminster, BC
(604) 524-3453
Is it just me, or does anyone else get just a little overwhelmed at the varieties of apples available in the grocery stores these days? Ok, maybe it is just me, but I think it’s partly because I live in British Columbia, and parts of the interior of BC is Apple Country.
Every time I go to the grocery store, I’m confronted with at least a half a dozen different varieties of apples. Macintosh, granny smith, and golden delicious are pretty standard, but it’s not unusual to find others such as fuji, jonagold, red delicious, and spartans available as well. All of these have their own flavour characteristics and uses - for example, I certainly wouldn’t want to eat a Yellow Transparent raw, but they make excellent apple butter, pies and applesauce. I grew up with a lot of these, as my parents have a Yellow Transparent tree in their backyard. Supposedly these are good raw, but I like my raw apples cold from the fridge, and growing up we always had way too many to keep them in the fridge, so this might be part of why I don’t like them raw.
Up until now, I haven’t really been all that big of a fruits & veggies eater, except for certain things, and I’m trying my best to change that. As I don’t seem to have a very good memory for what I’ve liked in the past and not liked so much, I’m going to keep track of all
my taste testing on my food blog.
For reference, a couple of websites on apple varieties available in British Columbia:
BC Tree Fruits
Canadian Apple Online
First up:
Ambrosia apples:
Apparently these are a chance variety of apple - from a tree which was pollinated naturally rather than grafted. The ones I bought were mostly a warm yellow color, with some pinky red blush on them. They were pretty average size for an apple. They were very sweet and excellent for eating raw. The flavour wasn’t sharp at all. Definitely a variety I like and will buy again.
Welcome to my new food blog! I’m still getting set up around here, but in the meantime I wanted to get some actual content up on the site.
While I love to experiment in the kitchen, I have no qualms about getting recipes from all over the place. Earlier this week, I made up a batch of pumpkin bread, since the fall weather we’ve been having lately has gotten me in the mood for some homey, heartwarming, wintery food. I also made a big pot of beef stew with dumplings, and a pot of turkey soup last weekend, but as the stew is all gone and the soup’s in the freezer, I’ll save those for later posts.
I had a can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, but just cooked pumpkin) in the cupboard, so I decided that some pumpkin bread sounded just right. I didn’t have a recipe in my arsenal already, so I headed to Allrecipes, as that’s where I usually look first if I know I don’t have a recipe for something already. The reviews on that site are usually pretty reliable, and the first recipe that came up on my search sounded good and had a 4 1/2 star rating, and I had all the ingredients in the cupboard, so I went with it.
The reviews for it held pretty true in this case. I can never keep myself from altering a recipe, so in this case I changed the spices a bit. I think next time, I might try substituting applesauce for the oil, and adding in some raisins or nuts for some texture.
Pumpkin Bread
(recipe originally from allrecipes, altered slightly by me)
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
3 cups white sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 eggs
2 cups solid pack pureed pumpkin
2/3 cup water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). Grease two loaf pans.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Dump the wet ingredients on top and mix until completely blended. Pour into the prepared loaf pans and bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes.
Let cool for 10-15 minutes before taking out of the pans or attempting to cut it (or it will crumble).
I will post a picture the next time I make this, which will be soon.