Challenge of the Week: Panfried Salmon with Lemon Butter served with Roasted Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes

I was just talking to Jk the other day and started commenting on how much I love asparagus. He told me how much he hated them (although never having tried them) as a child and when he finally gathered up the courage to try them when he was older and wiser, he found out that he actually really likes them!

So because of my sudden craving for asparagus, while grocery shopping with Ny, I bought a bunch on a whim and decided to splurge a little and got two fillets of Wild Sockeye Salmon and decided on Lemon Butter Panfried Salmon with Roasted Asparagus (the mashed potatoes were an afterthought as I realized that Jk would probably appreciate some carbs in a meal being the manual worker he is :P)

Panfried Salmon with Lemon Butter

Ingredients:

2 fillets of salmon (salmon steaks work too:))

1/4 cup butter

4 cloves finely chopped garlic

4 tbsp lemon juice

salt

pepper (I love pepper so I tend to add more)

Method:

1- Melt butter in pan and saute garlic. After about 1 1/2 mins, add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 4 minutes and transfer into a small bowl.

2- Drizzle some lemon butter on salmon and put into the hot pan.

3- VERY IMPORTANT: pan should already be hot and once the fish is placed in the pan, do not move or touch it too much as this will spoil the fish (flakes of fish will come apart and presentation wise, it'll be unpresentable) Wait about 5 minutes then gingerly lift and check to see if fish is a bit browned (if it is then it's ready for turning) Repeat the same for the other side.

4- Arrange on plate with Roasted Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes and drizzle some more lemon butter before serving.

Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:

10 stalks of asparagus (5 each)

Canola Oil (Olive oil or any other vegetable oil should be good)

Salt

Pepper

Method:

1- Chop off the bottom of the asparagus (which is the tough part).

2- Preheat Oven to 400F.

3- Rinse in cold water (I was taught to always wash produce before cooking them) and either drip dry them in a colander or pat them down with a kitchen towel.

4- Arrange on a baking tray and drizzle with oil, then sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste.

5- Pop them into the over for 10 minutes and voila! Roasted Asparagus :)

The lemon butter went well with the sweet taste of the fresh salmon and the nutty aromatic taste of the heads of the asparaguses were just ah-mazing!

Bon Apetite ;)

Challenge of the Week: Tonkotsu Ramen and Chasu [Pt 2]

So, this report has not been as prompt as I hope it would be... but here's my verdict of the tonkatsu ramen and chasu challenge:

Tonkatsu Base:

They're not kidding when they tell you that the fatback is VERY important... chewy bits of fats was what ruined my soup... but otherwise, it was great :)

Chasu:

Fabulous! Brought Jk to Kintaro and he loved their soup better but thought that their Chasu couldn't compare to mine :)

The fatback was substituted with normal fat not because I was being cheap (although I jumped for joy when I found that fat is free!) The West Coast of Canada at least seem to be very into the 'healthy' scene and don't really carry fatback or lardon at grocery stores and why would they when butchers didn't even understand me when I asked them for fatback/lardons. Disappointment.

The 10 hours or so put into this little challenge of mine was all in all well worth the effort.. next time though, more pork hocks :)

Chow ;)

Challenge of the Week: Tonkotsu Ramen and Chasu [Pt 1]

As I droned on about different foods I have tried and would like to try and would like to make for what must be the millionth time, I'm pretty sure something in Jk's head snapped.

"That sounds great hun, why don't you make it a weekly thing?" he snapped, or so I thought (I've been known to be more than a little bit paranoid)

But oh well, Challenge Accepted.

After an awesome Ramen lunch with Jy and Ed at Kintaro on Denman and Robson, where we were placed in front of the chefs preparing our ramen and Jy ecstatically video-taping the whole thing on her phone with a live commentary, I realized I found my first challenge: Ramen.

I surfed the internet and searched high and low for a legit sounding recipe for Ramen and came down to:

http://thepauperedchef.com/article/how-make-shoyu-ramen-home

and

http://norecipes.com/blog/2009/12/30/tonkotsu-ramen-recipe/

Shoyu? or Tonkotsu?

Reading through both recipes diligently (if I put the same amount of effort in my classes, I'd be on the Honour Roll), I finally decided on Tonkotsu as I am sure that Kintaro's Ramen had little pieces of fat floating in it and I love the idea of a creamy soup that has no dairy or flour in it whatsoever.

So after reading through it yet again (I should seriously try this method for studying), I decided to pick and choose. For the Tonkotsu base and ramen preparations, I would take it from norecipesblog and for my chasu, I would use thepauperedchef's technique.

To the asian supermarket then!

Wish me luck that I don't end up with a watery oily soup base that would emphasize the epitome of asian dishonourment: Failure.

The Circle of Life

I know the title sounds cliched, but as generic as it is, I've finally gotten a taste of true lost, death.

On the 21st of July at 10.30am, my maternal grandfather, lovingly known as Tata, passed away. He was admitted to the hospital for jaundice, got diagnosed with an 80% malignant tumor on his liver and slipped into a coma. 3 hours after I was told that my mother was on the way back to KL to visit him, my dad texts me and tells me that he had passed away.

Death, I have heard, is something you grow accustomed to. I guess as a 22 year old, I have never experience real loss as I have had all 4 grandparents up till now. So this shock reduced me into a blubbering bit of stammers as I frantically tried to get Jk on the phone to tell him what had happened. Bless him, he showed up on my doorstep on the 25th, ready to take care of me.

I guess this post is supposed to be a tribute of sorts. I realized that I never really thought my Tata showed us his love for us in an obvious way. He was a funny little happy man that always switched from Cantonese to Hakka, thinking I didn't understand the latter dialect. However, as traditionally chinese as he was, he never outrightly said "I love you". Not in Cantonese. Not in Hakka.

As I sat in my den, surrounded by the boxes that Oz had dumped in my house while she went off to her exchange in Spain, I hugged my knees, let out body racking sobs and thought about how pity-ful I was, having just lost my Tata while I was halfway across the globe, unable to rush back in time to attend his funeral and pay my respects and bid farewell to him, I came to the realization that my grandpa had never said those 3 little words, but if a picture were to say a thousand words, his actions spoke of a monumental love that he had for us.

My grandma, being blind and crippled, had lost her ability to cook for us. My grandfather, without complaining, took over that job, and as my grandma instructed him, became a master chef whose food will always hold a special place in my heart. My grandma and grandpa always knew I loved food (they could tell by my size, well grandpa at least, grandma relied on people to tell her I was well-built). They knew my favourite dishes and would set out to get the ingredients and prepare my favourite food whenever I came back for a visit. Grandpa never complained when my grandma ordered him about to get the freshest ingredient for preparation. he never asked for anything in return either.

He just beamed at the slightest praise I would commend him. That was all he wanted from us. All he needed.

That among other things showed his love for us. I just don't know how to write it all down now. I know that there will be many more posts to come about my grandparents, this one's just to commemorate my Tata in a way.

He's with the Lord now, in a better place. I don't believe in souls roaming about the world and eating offerings set out, but I like to think that perhaps now he can travel to Canada and see what it's like. I'm sure he'll love the Lamb Chop we have here.

Tata, I miss you and I love you and I'm sorry I never got to tell you that properly. <3

Homemade Meatballs

mmmMMMmmmmm yyyYYYUUuuummmmmm... Meatballs. Homemade. Need I say more?

The way I make my meatballs, I pack them with so much flavour that it's as enjoyable eating it on its own as eating it with pasta and sauce.

Anyway, signing up for meatball making duty for our church's potluck lunch helped me rediscover my love of conjuring up little spheres of yumminess :D I made so much that we had more at home for dinner. Just because we can.

Ingredients:

Ground beef (if it's extra lean, mix with half ratio of ground pork, it helps make it more moist)

Chopped Garlic (I love lots and lots of it. As Jk commented: "They make me burp garlic for hours but they are yummy!")

Slices of Bread

Milk (just enough to cover up the bread. This helps with making the meat adhere and it makes it even more moist. Ever since I discovered this secret, I have not made dry meatballs ever since)

Grated Cheddar Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1- Wash hands. I use my hands to mix the ingredients together. I find it so much easier and thorough. And then preheat your oven to 200 degree Celsius.

2- Put ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Dump chopped garlic, grated cheese and salt and pepper in.

3- Mash the milk and bread up properly and dump it into the mixing bowl with the beef and the rest of the ingredients.

4- Flex your muscles and start kneading the mixture until you're sure that the ingredients are throughly combined.

5- Roll meatballs about roughly 2 inches in diameter and arrange on tray.

6- Put into oven for about 20 mins, turning the heat down to 180 degree Celsius for the last 5 mins.

7- Take out of oven and serve alone or with pasta sauce. Enjoy.

p.s. I forgot to buy milk while I was making this batch and substituted it with beef stock instead. And I added chilli powder. Any combination of herbs or ingredients that sounds pleasing could be added too :)

Cran-Raspberry Pie

I whipped up an almost-exact-same feast from Christmas 2009 for this past Christmas. The only thing that was different was the pie. I had never been a big fan of mince pie- because I am more of a savory kind of girl, I got very upset when I first had mince pie. I thought it was going to be a glorious mince MEAT pie :(- and so this year I decided to bake a different kind of pie. Also because Jk likes pies (actually, he more than likes them. I think he'd be happy if I baked him pies all day long and he'd have them for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner... Actually, just the other day he skipped out of the toilet singing happily because he got to have pie for breakfast :p )

So anyway, I decided to do some research and happened upon the Cran-Raspberry Pie. The result: An amazing explosion of jeweled ruby colours and an overdose of berry sweetness enough to get a young toddler going for hours and hours on end. Because I am generally bad at following instructions for baking (especially pastry), I ended up buying the pie crust from Pilsbury. Don't judge, it was for Christmas dinner and I didn't want to screw anything up.

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen Cranberries

1 1/2 cups frozen Raspberries

1 1/4 cups Sugar

2 tbsp Cornstarch

1/2 tsp Almond extract

1/4 tsp Salt

Pastry for double crust pie (I bought these ready made ones from Pilsbury)

Method:

1- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Celsius.

2- Mix everything but the Pastry in a big bowl.

3- Line pie pan with a layer of pastry. Add filling. Top with a lattice crust or whatever else you feel like doing. (just remember there has to be some holes so the steam can escape ;) )

4- Bake at 375 degree Fahrenheit for 15 mins and reduce to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for another 35-40 mins or until the crust is golden brown and berry filling is bubbling away happily.

Let the pie rest for at least 4 hours in a safe place (I was not so smart, I learnt my lesson the hard way when I found the guilty pair Jk an Jy munching away on some crust that they got their hands on when I turned my back to attend to the Turkey...) Resting the pie will help the filling become thicker and gooier... And also give it time to come to terms that it will be ingested by a hungry horde of barbarians :p

(notice where the crust is torn off... courtesy of Jk and Jy..)

CPSC 110

So, it's the new year and the start of a new term. True to my nature, I've been trying to avoid weighing down my schedule with too many classes and so I've decided on Art History, Classical Studies, Medieval Studies and Latin (which up till now has me confused as to why in the world I would have taken it up in the first place...)

Anyway, which such a 'heavy' course load of arts subjects, I decided that it would be wise to sit in one some of Jk's Science classes to determine which science class I should take up next year to fulfill my Science Requirement for my degree. Here's a list of the classes I have sat in on and my verdict...

CHEM 123 (???)

I have sat in on this class TWICE. Not because I like it, but because I have nothing better to do at this time and spending time with Jk in a class was better than sitting alone somewhere (I have an aversion to being alone... even in bed sometimes...)

Verdict: I will never take this class. Chem was my enemy in high school and it seems that it is STILL my enemy. The only upside of sitting in on this class, other than getting to spend time with Jk, was that the professor reminded me of the actor from "The Flintstones" who played the role of Fred Flintstone. The over-usage of his favourite phrase 'turns out' makes Jk cringe every time he says it and thats also a little upside of that one hour of Chemistry :)

BIOL 112 (???)

I sat in on this class once. We got pretty decent seats, right at the back in a little gallery-like box... made me feel like I was attending the opera.

Verdict: I don't think that this is the class for me either. Not only could I not catch up with what the professor was saying, my mind strayed so far that I spent the whole 50 mins alternating between dozing off and drawing a Nerdosaurus Raptor for Jk.

MATH 200 (???)

I sat in on a class talking about matrices and vectors.

Verdict: Need I say more?? Matrices and Vectors and mangni-what-a-ma-bobs... I would not only fail, I would do it epically. I spent this entire class getting ready to poke Jk awake if he dozed off while sketching bug-eyed chicks and squirrels.

Of all the classes that I sat in on though, the one that took the cake was:

CSPC 110

I could at least understand more or less what the professors were talking about in the other classes; endothermic, exothermic, membranes, velocity and multiplications. But as I plopped myself down next to Jk for his CPSC 110 (Computer Science) class, I realized that not only was the population being dominated by males, but that the entire class was made up of nerds. Which made me feel even more like the bimbo that I get accused of being occasionally.

It took me less than 2 minutes to realize that I did not understand a SINGLE WORD that came out of the professor mouth.

Okay, I lied.

I understood the words alright. They were simple English words. I understood them perfectly. Individually. When strung into a sentence, it just made me feel like the professor was just throwing out a random bunch of words that were related to math and science.

One of the best examples I can give you is this:

Professor: So, how many of you are confident with 'render cat'?

*** 97% of the class population raised their hands. I'm pretty sure I was one of the 1/4 who didn't raise my hand. (I'm pretty sure that 1/4 of the class is not 97% of the class... but what the heck... as long as you understand that i was a minuscule minority...)

Professor: So you're confident you can do it? That's good. I want you to practice 'render cat'.

At this point, I was so confused that I was shouting (in my head) "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY RENDER CAT??? Are we supposed to render them speechless???"

A whole load of other fancy smanshy terminology was used by the professor and I cannot for the life of me remember now.

Verdict: I would take Chem, Bio or Math before I would take on CPSC. This course is just crazy. I actually thought the professor sounded like he was a fluent Klingon. Plus, he walks up and down the aisles so much that I was SURE he'd notice that a bimbo was sitting in and call me out to banish me from the CPSC building. Never again.

An so my search for a suitable science course to fulfill my Science Requirement continues.

Wish me luck.