little bitty girl

We woke up to a very light rain in Paris. As we walked towards the nearest Metro, we saw people who were carrying bunches of flowers and pulling their personal shopping carts. They were obviously doing their weekend shopping. I had been told by a number of friends who lived in Paris that French people have very small fridges in their kitchens. This is mainly due to lack of space but also to the philosophy that everything they cook has to be fresh. So people do food shopping often. The fridge in our rented apartment is a size of what a regular cupboard space at home would be. I have to say that I really like the philosophy of eating fresh, buying produce regularly.

Then we passed by the local marche. If the local marche doesn't inspire you to cook or eat fresh every day, nothing will. Food is displayed in such a glorious manner. It makes me want to move here. Such a silly reason for uprooting everything I know and love, but a country that loves, fosters the love of food (among many other things) has much to recommend them.

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We then headed off to the Bastille Market. Even though we were running a little late, it was curious to see that the market was closing up so soon. It turned out that we were actually an hour behind; we had forgotten about the daylight savings time in Paris. Regardless, we managed to see some really cool stalls. The seafood here is unreal. If we did not have other things to see or do, I would have bought a whole bunch and taken it back to our apartment to devour.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Stefan, Travel

This post is dedicated to Marie, the little pork belly lover.

It's finally cold here in Toronto. About time since it's already November. I have to say, that I have never gotten used to the first blast of the cold. Not only is it cold but it's rainy. Worst combination of weather ever. Give me lots of snow and cold, but rain? Forget about it.

Since I had some leftover banchan dishes from the night before, I thought the perfect thing to do was to make a spicy Kimchi stew to eat with rice. I had some thinly sliced pork belly for a dish I am making my parents tomorrow. I had read that pork belly is a very common ingredient in Korean cooking so decided to add it into my stew.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

There.

Now you know my dirty, little secret.

Marie made a comment about how my fried egg looked funny in the picture. It's because I have never been able to really cook a fried egg without breaking the yolk. Stef is the fried egg cook in our house.

Which to me is the weirdest thing. I can cook fairly complicated dishes, but a single, little egg defeats me in the kitchen, every time.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Everyone can always tell when I start getting ready to hibernate for the winter. Dinner invitations go out more frequently, when people ask me what I've done for the weekend, instead of saying I went to some new/cool bar/restaurant/lounge, I start talking about groceries I've been buying.

For some reason on the weekend, I was really craving this dish. I mean, c'man! The name is so cool, what is not to like? The best thing about this dish is that you can make it for both vegetarians and meat eaters both.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Now I remember why I should never have breakfast at Starbucks. Especially not a muffin. My low-fat cranberry muffin has been a concrete stone in my belly all day. Ugh!

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me

As most people can probably tell, I really love food. I am almost always astounded that I am not some fat, stropping cow (which you know, one day I think I will be if I don't watch myself as I eat almost as much or more than Stef and dude is twice my size) especially since I love noodles - pasta, vermicelli, egg, rice, spirals, you name it and I love it. What comes as a pretty close second and is often cooked with my first love is seafood. What can I say? I grew up by the sea. I have many fond memories of going to the seashore with my mother on Saturday mornings and picking out freshly caught fish for the weekend meals.

I have a really odd (at least most people think so) habit and love of visiting wet markets when I travel. Sure there could be some beautiful park or exhibit somewhere, but give me a fresh wet market any day. I really do feel food is where the heart is and key of understanding any culture. I know for myself, there is so much love, thought and tradition that goes into the preparation of one's native foods. That's why I whenever I travel, I tend to ask locals where they would go to eat if they couldn't go to their mothers. I don't care if the place is small, dark, dank or a little dirty. Second rate pish posh restaurants in other countries are places fools go to pretend to "experience" someone else's culture.

Anyway.

I am so in love with seafood that I think the entire time when Stefan and I were visiting the Seattle Aquarium, I was pointing out fish that I've never tasted before. I think the kids around me were quite grossed out when I stated aloud that octopus was quite tasty raw, as well as cooked.

"You know, if you don't watch it, you're going to get gout one day," Marie mentioned when I was extolling some other virtue of some seafood I had seen.

Gout? As in Henry VIII? The fat, horny, sacrilegious, unscrupulous monarch from the 15th century?

I always thought that gout was a sickness of the rich in medieval times from eating far too rich foods?

Turns out both Marie and I are right.

Supposedly, "Gout (also called metabolic arthritis) is a disease due to a congenital disorder of uric acid metabolism. " It is caused from eating rich foods such as seafood, alcohol, gravy to name a few. One of the main signs of gout is that it attacks the big toe, then leads to other digits, then the feet and finally the entire leg and your whole circulation.

All I can say is my big toe is looking just fine and Japanese people eat seafood all the time, and you don't see them dying off by the masses from gout.

So I stick my tongue out to you Ms. Marie and will continue eating my gouty seafood.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Randomness, Travel

So I know that I am biased about this, but then again this is my blog so I can write whatever I want. My goddaughter is SO smart and has such a good appetite, much like me and her father. She gets SO hangry when it's meal time. I am glad that we have some similarities. So Marie and Bernie have been signing to her and she's learnt the most important sign (to me, at least) which is "more!" She knows other signs as well like "book" and "no more" but she's hilarious when she's eating.

Anyway, I have no idea why I haven't been doing this but I have not been taking pictures of the food I've been eating. I love coming to Vancouver because I get to eat stuff that I never get to eat in Toronto. Most of my friends here are foodies, not in the snobby sense but they share the same love for food as I do.

When we arrived, Bernie had bi bim bap waiting for us. I've always wanted to make this dish at home but Stefan never seemed interested in trying it. However, after having some of Bernie's, Stef asked me whether I can make it when we get back. For breakfast, Bernie made us champurrado which was so EXCELLENT.

After we went for walk to Granville Island, a great little place called Go Fish. It was a small shack that churns out great fresh seafood, served simply. I had a chipotle coconut fish chowder and fish (cod) and chips. The chowder was unbelievable, velvety with a fierce bite, perfectly cooked vegetables and huge chunks of white fish. I really want to learn how to make it when I get home.

We then explored a great food market on Granville Island. I must say exploring food markets is one of my favourite past times. Last night I had my first taste of a West Coast oyster and they really do taste different! It's a question I've been asking Marie but she wasn't sure.

Next post, I won't be such a tease and will have pictures. As for West Coast eating, I am with Ryo - more!

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Travel

Inspired by my own post yesterday, I went out to get some duck breast and attempted to make a decent meal out of it. Holy Crap! What do they feed these things anyway? Two small to medium breasts cost about $20. It's almost the same price as a really good cut of beef.

I have to be the first to admit that I sometimes have issues mixing the proper flavours together. For example, the side dish will overpower the flavour of the main dish. This is the first time that I really put some thought into what each ingredient would taste like together and how I could make it work to enhance one another. Whenever I have had duck, it's usually been cooked in a Chinese rotisserie style, where the fat crisped up is favoured. From friends who are connoisseurs of this particular meat, I was told that duck breast done right should have pretty lean with a really subtle, rich flavour. I have to say that I am so surprised and pleased that my first attempt came out so fabulously. It's definitely going to be added into the list of dishes to serve when guests come over.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Have I mentioned how unbelievable smoldering it's been for the past week? So much for trying to go as AC-free as possible this summer. Although I must admit that we've used it less this year than we have in the past. We just cannot go without it when the temperature hits the 30's because our apartment is always 10 degrees hotter than it is outside. Fans, open windows and doors do nothing to abate the problem. And poor Mindy, when it's preposterous like this, she does nothing but lies on her back with a really pathetic look on her face.

Anyway, the great thing about the summer is that I tend to get so much more inspired to cook. The variety of local produce is simply endless and I tend to take the time to go to the markets that carry local products; as opposed to my cop out of going to those large supermarkets.

So here is my list of things that I want to learn to cook or learn to cook better:

Black Pepper Crab
Beets
Beef Bone Marrow
Cerviche
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Stock
Duck
Miso
New Pastas (other than my regular standbys)
Risotto
Smelts
Truffles

I am sure the list will get longer as I get exposed to cooking shows, magazines, food blogs etc. but I think that's a good list so far. Does anyone have any suggestions?

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Someone needs to explain to me what the big deal is with Rachel Ray. Tons of people love her - she's got TV shows, books, magazines - I am just not one of them. I just find her bubbly personality so forced, insincere and incredibly annoying. I am right now, as we speak watching her "30 minute meal" show and let me tell you, what she's making is not "YUMM-O." In fact, it kind of looks like a dog's dinner.

On a side note, when I first started this blog I had complained about Giada of "Everyday Italian" fame for being too skinny to be a convincing cook. After watching "Chef-ography" where she explained her loss of weight due to nervousness of doing a new show, and her consequent weight gain to normalcy; I have to say, I've been all over her show like fresh herbs on a rack of lamb.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me

Stefan, like all boys, doesn't usually listen to me. That's to say, he'll hear me chatter but sometimes not all the information filters in. That's not really unusual or insulting, as I wouldn't listen to me as well if I lived with me. I always feel like my brain is on "Operation Overtime" in comparison to those around me. Smells, sights, memories tend to trigger random tangents and I usually like to filter my thoughts out aloud (usually to those close around me, but mostly to Stefan) so it's no wonder that it's tough for the boy to follow.

Once Amy witnessed one of my random thoughts exchanges with Stefan during brunch. After I bounced around several topics ranging from politics, to medieval ideas of society, I finally came to my point. Stefan was nodding and giving me his opinions in his own quiet way when I glanced at Amy. She was all agog and just exclaimed,"What was that?!" to Stef. He just shrugged and said, "That's how she thinks. See how difficult my life can be?" and just kept on eating.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Stefan

I only recently found out that one of my childhood friends (also a favourite cousin) doesn't really eat any greens. How very shocking! I can't ever eat a meal without vegetables and by the end of the week when we run out, I usually complain that I am about to die of scurvy (don't ask me why but that is my favourite thing to say right now).

That's when I go on my anti-scurvy shop; which usually consists of going to the library, going through Kensington market for bread, cheese and fruit and ending in Chinatown for my Asian "weeds." That's what Stefan calls almost all leafy Asian vegetables. In our household, he's in charge of putting all the groceries away. He's always at loss of what to do with all the vegetables bursting out.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, Homage to Hunger

That's who I sound like right now. Stefan had a really terrible hacking dry cough for the past two weeks and, lo and behold, now I have it too. It's one of the many perils of marriage or living in close quarters with someone. I have barely been able to speak without having to cough half my oesophagus out. I am sure, secretly, Stefan is relieved that there is some semblance of quiet in our home.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, Homage to Hunger, Joy-Friends, Me-ness, Randomness

I don't know whether you know this about me, but I just love to eat. So much so that I plan almost every day by the meals I am about to eat and every vacation is planned over how good the native food in that country is. That's why even though everyone tells me that I should go to Cuba, while it is still in its time warp, I just can't bring myself to do it. I heard the food there is quite dismal.

My ultimate gastronomic trip would be to go to Japan. I once wrote a paper on Japanese design and how nothing, and I mean nothing in Japan is done without extreme creativity and thought. This obviously translates to their food.

As I was reading a Vanity Fair article written by Nick Tosches on the fish markets in Japan, I stumbled upon this:

First, a course of monkfish liver, vinegared baby eel, which seems to have been filleted, and a jelly cake of crab and vegetables....Then slices of raw bluefish tuna, raw bluefin toro, raw hamachi, raw hamachi toro, raw tilefish, steamed octopus, ama-ebi (sweet shrimp; the sweetness is in the meat of the brain), a raw Kumamoto oyster, and a fragrant spray of shiso flowers. Then a clear soup of seawood, whitefish cake, bamboo, and asari(a sort of Spring time Japanese littleneck). Then grilled black cod from Toyama and crisp-toasted mild green peppers. Then halfa lobster (served with a spoon to blend the soft, dark meat of the head into the white tail meat) and shiitake and oyster mushrooms. Then a miso soup with straw mushrooms and seaweed. Then minced grilled eel, tilefish, and bonito steamed in a mixture of botan rice and sticky rice, wrapped in a large, salted houba leaf.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Travel

Almost, but not quite. I woke up today in an absolute chill. Our heater is not working again and it's a lovely 3 degrees celcius outside. It's spattering freezing rain. I am having a hard time being inspired to do my spring masthead with this type of weather.

But I can feel it coming, ever so slightly bursting through. I went to the market on the weekend and found some lovely organic heritage tomatoes and some freshly sprouted arugula. Nothing like a simple tomato pasta with freshly grated parmesan to make me believe that Spring is almost here.

I caught the new Jamie Oliver show where he cooks from his home. I am envious of his lovely garden. I can't wait one day to have a house with a huge garden so I can grow all my own organic veggies and eat them to my heart's content. It would really help if I didn't have such a black thumb. But I am sure gardening can be learned with patience and perseverance. Either that, or I'll just hire Mama Kang to be the full time resident gardener.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, Homage to Hunger

I've been battling with my body for the past couple of weeks. Last week some weird stomach flu was going around, this week the beginning of a cold that just dwindled into a sinus infection. I think my body is just telling me that I suck at taking care of it and now it's just rebelling against its master.

Inspired by this month's Domino, last night I made myself a really nice ginger-ey soba noodle soup. I felt instantly better. I mean the thing is, I am a generally healthy eater anyway but I think I just need to detox my system.

I've never done a detox before but many of my alternative medicine friends highly recommend it, and they all do it once a year. They're hardly ever sick or lethargic so I think there must be some merit to their way of living. I'm only going to do it once I feel better though. They said I should only try it when I am no longer so weak as detoxing can be a little straining on the body for the first week.

And in a weird tangent about food, someone once asked me if I could only pick one type of meal that I had to eat for the rest of my life, what would it be? Naturally for me, I would pick noodle soup as there are so many variations to and it spans many cultures. A friend answered steak and eggs. Could you imagine the type of poos that person would have if they ate steak and eggs, for every meal for the rest of their lives?! Not also considering the early onset of heart disease.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Because I really need it to be.

I am really fat from all the overeating that usually comes with the holidays. Really. It's the "my stomach is so bloated that I feel that this is what it must be like to be four months pregnant but I don't look pregnant, just fat" kind of fat.

It also doesn't help that my brother Ken has been staying with me for the past few days. He's back from NY and he's trying to cram everything he enjoys to eat that he can't find in NY. Yeah, you would think that NY is the food mecca of the world but NY does not have Swiss Chalet, Tim Horton's coffee, Salad King and most importantly, Mama Kang cooking.

He's dragged me to every restaurant he misses and eats any snack that catches his eye and we've later spent a good part of our afternoons lying on his blow up mattress bed, holding our bellies and groaning whilst planning what our next meal is going to be.

Either that or we've spent every other day drunk as donkeys.

Ah, the holidays.

The good thing is that while I've been contemplating giving up food and alcohol, I've also managed to get lots of reading in. This is what I've finished reading since I started on December 23rd.

Some of them are re-reads; a concept that many of my friends find puzzling. I call it cleansing the reading palate.

Stef keeps telling me that it's not a race to read every book ever published (even though secretly, it is) but he doesn't realize that it's naturally how fast I read when I get a couple of undisturbed hours to myself.

I'll be happy if I read another six more before the end of the year.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, Homage to Hunger, Joy-Friends

I was browsing in one of my favorite Japanese convenience stores, trying to get inspired for dinner one night when I noticed a sign by the crockery section that said "Now that hot pot season is here, get some ingredients for shabu shabu!" I had no idea what it was, but I knew whatever it was, I wanted to eat it.

So, I called Marie my trusty fellow food connoisseur (who also happens to have an in house Japanese food expert i.e her baby daddy) and asked her to explain what this "shabu-shabu" was and can I eat it when I am out west.

Yes, you heard right. After a much longer than anticipated separation, I'll be reunited with my West Coast family this Friday. I am so excited! Even for the wintry weather they are unexpectedly having because we've had none. I should dig out my winter jacket as I don't think I've even seen the darn thing all winter.

I'm excited to reunite with friends, check out the great stores and restaurants but most importantly see little Ryo, who's already started laughing and making funny expressions. I can't wait to actually touch her tiny feet and toes. Can you believe once upon a time, our feet were really that tiny too?

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Joy-Friends, Travel

As everyone knows, Mama Kang just lurves her beloved son in law. This most recent incident of him having the surgery has brought out her mama-in-law love in full force. Our fridge is simply crammed with all sorts of cakes and tasty meals all marked with "Stef" on white labels.

Oh right. To be fair I did receive a quarter of a layer cake. God only knows, the best way for Stefan to heal is to have cake.

So because she had restocked our fridge on the weekend, she was a little perplexed as to why I was at the supermarket yesterday. But didn't she know? Stefan needs his cold cuts for lunch. Veal bologna to be specific. And of course, with that comes the dreaded baguette. Stef loves bread. He can eat a loaf of bread in two days, I kid you not. But he especially loves baguette for sandwiches. Oh, how I hate the baguette!

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me

I am constantly grateful for where I grew up and whom I grew up with. The food in Malaysia is so unbelievably diverse that you cannot help but be open about food. Having been colonized by the Dutch, Portuguese, then the British and with traders coming from all over the world, our meals were often punctuated by everyone who had left a bit of their cultures behind. I thank my mother for having this amazing passion for food and for passing it down to her children.

Stefan is going away for his annual boys trip this weekend. As much as I'll miss him, I do enjoy my solitary time and meals without him. I get to test cook and eat whatever I want. Not that I am obligated to cook for him in any way, there are many times when I've just felt like cooking something knowing that he won't eat it. He's fully capable of looking after himself. That and Mama Kang always provides a freezer full of "Stefan's Emergency Food When Karen Is Too Busy To Cook Or When She Is Away" for him. I don't know why she spoils him so much, I guess she just hates that he'll eat canned food. Little does she know that canned food such as Alpha-Ghetti is his comfort food.

Tonight, knowing that Stefan would be working late, I had a very delightful light dinner of freshly shucked oysters, mache salad with marinated spanish onions and vine tomatoes, and moules provencale. This was accompanied by toasted freshly baked french baguette slathered with butter and a glass of sauvignon blanc.

Bliss.

I wonder what other meals I will be making while he's gone.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Stefan

S: So, what are we having?
K: The usual - clams in spicy black bean sauce, snow pea leaves sauteed with garlic, Korean BBQ short ribs, crab....
S: For Thanksgiving?
K: We're asian....

Later on....

K: Can you please feed Mindy? She gets wet food today...Turkey...
S: Hey, how come she gets turkey?
K: She's only half-Asian...

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, Homage to Hunger

Last night I decided to cook some mee goreng, a Malaysian style stir fried noodle dish. I had been feeling homesick for food. It's funny how I've lived in Canada for almost 15 years and after all this time, I still crave food from my hometown in Malacca. The last time I went home which was about four years ago, no one could understand why all I wanted to do was eat. Even though my mum makes a lot of food from home, it never tastes the same. I think it's because the food is missing the spicy, hot, sultry, sea tinged air of back home.

Sambal is essentially a chili paste used commonly in South East Asian cooking. It varies from ingredient to ingredient and you would use different sambals for different types of food. It is the base or foundation for many types of Malaysian food, from laksa lemak , a noodle soup dish with a spicy coconut broth to beef rendang, a spicy nutty curry.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

I've been reading my cousin's blog in Asia and she's been talking a lot about food that she likes or is craving. Which has made me start to think that what my Kong Kong (Grandpa) used to call me (Banana - Yellow on the outside, White on the inside) might not be so far off. Mind you, I think he just called me that because I could never master the different dialects of Chinese that he would speak and not because of my food preferences. These are some reasons why I think I might not be 100% Asian.

I can eat cheese until the cows come home.
Most Asians I know tend to be lactose intollerant. Ken, my oldest brother, happens to be one of them. The man loves the cheese but giving him any in a small enclosed space, (like his apartment in NY) is like asking for a slow, painful toxic death. I usually toss it into his apartment and run away. I, on the other hand, can eat all types of cheese and it never affects me.

I don't like chicken feet.
I know many food bloggers have extolled on this delicacy and how if people could get over the fact that they were feet, they would come to understand how tasty the morsel really was. I think that there is a special way on how to eat them and I've never mastered it. Now, I'm just way too old to be bothered. After all, there are many other weird things in the world to eat, what's one less in my repertoire? Unfortunately, for my Asian friends and family who have to sit next to me during dim sum, I am the person that everyone in the room will give me the googly eye because I always pass on the stupid chicken feet.

Durian is not my king.
The Durian has long been called the king of fruit due to it's thorny shell. This fruit is mainly prevalent in South East Asia and Malaysians worship it. I have to admit that I love the taste; the fruit is a little like rich sweet custard, there is nothing like it in the world. The smell? Imagine wet hockey equipment left in bag, sitting in sunny spot all week and the stench that emanates when you finally deem to open it. Disgusting! As a little girl, as soon as I found out that the family had gone out to buy the fruit, would run around and lock all the doors and windows and make everyone eat the fruit outside. I am sure I'll eat it again at some point, I'll just have to make sure that my nose is plugged.

You can take my rice but don't take my pasta.
A lot of Asians I know can't live without having rice every day. My dad freaks out if there is anything less than 20 pounds of rice in the pantry. I don't really care if I never eat rice again for the rest of my life but you really can't take anything noodle-ish away from me. I blame this on living in an Italian neighbourhood when we first moved here. I just love my pasta!

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Me-ness

I had such an amazing food day today! Everyone in blogland seemed to be talking about going to the local market lately so I decided it was time to visit my own. Briana wrote a really funny piece about surviving her local market and Mav posted a great picture of what was fresh at hers. Stefan and I usually (usually just me) go to Kensington Market on Sundays to do our grocery shopping. It's such a great mix of interesting stores where you can buy pretty much anything your tummy desires. On hot summer days, an impromptu street festival seems to take place with the local Jamaican music store providing the soulful Raggae beats. The best part about going to Kensington is also that it's right next to one of our Chinatowns where I can buy "random weeds" (as Stefan who is notoriously suspicious of any food likes to call it).

This Saturday however, we decided to go out of our neighbourhood and further to the St. Lawrence Market. St Lawrence Market is located at Front and Jarvis and it's a great bustling spot to visit on weekends. There are usually craft and vintage vendors on the sidewalk and the large complex holds huge stores specializing in seafood, meats, cheeses; pretty much anything you can think of. The building across the street usually hosts a Saturday only farmer's market. I simply love shopping for vegetables and fruits that are in season and are grown just hours away.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

I've been a little bored of food lately.

Gasp! Stop the presses! You heard it right. Me. Bored of food.

I am not sure what brought this on, maybe the wonky weather or I'm just stuck in a food rut. Yesterday, we picked up a new grill pan from Caphalon. We had gotten a gift certificate there for our wedding and now I'm inspired all over again.

Last night's dinner was grilled pork chops, garnished with carmelized baby onions, served with spiced pepper squash and wilted baby spinach. It was very yummy!

Tonight, I think I'll do a twist off steak and frites. It'll be cajun spiced grilled steak with sweet potato fries and kale. Stefan actually hates kale so I'm off to the market to find something else to sweeten it up. And maybe a quick trip to Williams Sonoma to get more toys....

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

I haven't had a chance to post about my own family Christmas dinner yet because, frankly, I am still digesting all the food. There is nothing quite like celebrating with the people you feel most comfortable with in your life. It's really strange and I know that I always seem in awe that my family and I get along so well. I think it's because throughout the years, I have just come to notice how lucky I am to truly enjoy the company of my family and that not many people have this. Don't get me wrong, it's not always hunky dory as we're all also a bunch of opinionated hot heads but we always make up in the end.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, Homage to Hunger

I always find pasta to be very comforting winter food. It's got a heaviness that I always feel I need or want when it's cold. I discovered this pasta quite by accident and it has turned out to be one of my all time favourite pastas to make. It actually happened on a very cold Sunday, where it was snowing out and we literally had empty cupboards.

Actually, I lie. My cupboards are never bare like Mother Hubbard's but for us, it was still pretty empty.

What I like about this pasta is that it's quite light and the colours make me think of summer.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

First day of Christmas Dinners.

I finally narrowed the menu down to -

Herbed Stuffed Oven Roasted Chicken
Roasted New and Sweet Potatoes tossed with fresh thyme, rosemary and sea salt.
Asparagus, young carrot, zucchini, red peppers rolled with baby spinach and prosciutto.

I have to say that I am very thankful to my two families as I am not a big recipe person. I tend to look at recipe books for inspiration and then will just do my own thing. I am glad that they've always been willing to be my guinnea pigs.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

As it is well known, this delicacy is usually a must at all special Chinese banquet events. It's one of my favourite luxury things to eat actually. Today, 60 Minutes had a story about swimming with sharks and how it's all the rage for adrenaline junkies out there. The story was mainly about how dangerous it is to do so, because it's desensitizing the sharks against humans.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

All I can think about lately is food.

As you all know, I am such a food lover. I love to eat it. I love to cook it. I am always surprised that I am not some obese, little girl waddling around for all the food I consume each day. I guess the good thing about it all is that I am not big on desserts and perhaps this is what helps stem the fat possibilities.

Stefan always finds it astounding that I can strike up full fledged conversations with completely random people about food. Food is my unifying factor, I often tell him. Some people say music is the universal language and I agree to some extend but foodies, we can spot each other from a mile away.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Belacan is the dreaded secret weapon in Malaysian cooking. Belacan is the Malaysian word for dried shrimp paste. Essentially, tiny baby shrimp are caught, drained, salted, mashed into hard little bricks and dried in the sun. I used to always dread belacan making season as my mum used to make homemade ones as opposed to buying it from a store. A very smelly process as you can imagine, as it is essentially waiting for the shrimp-salt mixture to ferment just right.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Every so often, Stefan and I have "east meets west" moments. Today, during breakfast was one of them. I have a confession. I eat my eggs with soy sauce sometimes. Stefan finds this the weirdest thing ever but really, I am Asian and soy sauce is very much a part of my food repertoire. I think of soy sauce as a different type of salt. I mean I think it's weird people eat ketchup with their eggs or potatoes but I also realize that it's because ketchup was never part of my upbringing. All I can say is don't knock something unless you've tried it.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

I have had this unquenchable craving for crab lately. It all started about two months ago when I decided to switch my parent's treat of lobster to try some Dungeness crab. I must admit that it was a little selfish on my part as I had not yet tried this crustacean. We all discovered that we much prefered the crab to the lobster as its meat was far sweeter and more fun to eat. That is, all of us other than Kelvin, my lazy eating brother, who prefers all food to be easy and scoopable. Although to his defense, he was happily picking the claws himself this last time.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

It's the end! Can you believe it? I promise not to talk about such long topics ever again, unless one comes up.... like S.B.J (Marie, ya get what I mean? wink! wink!) Ok, enough with the nonsense, here goes -

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

For the love of Marie and Stefan who mutually (trust me, people this NEVER happens) agreed that the last was far too long, I will do this last bit in two parts.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

I have to commend Stef. As you all know by now, that I am always bemoaning his lack of love for food. I can never understand this particular stubborness of his and he can never understand my obsession for it. He is always berating me for always following the dictates of my stomach because I tend to buy and eat whatever I feel like despite cost or season. I have been known to come home with three heritage tomatoes in the middle of winter. And the bloody things cost $15 for 3!!

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Why-o-why does every family member who cooks suffer from the "you-can-never-cook-enough" syndrome made quite worse by the "you-shouldn't-leave-anything-as-there-are-people-starving-in-Africa" syndrome? My family had decided to pay me an impromptu visit for dinner and it was so much fun.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans, Homage to Hunger

I just happened to be channel surfing where a show on the Food Network managed to catch my two second eye. I have never been a fan of the The Surreal Gourmet, and I think now more than ever, this guy should not have a TV show on how to cook food. Tonight, he was showing some girl how to cook a stir-fry. Since the stir fry has Asian origins, I usually find that white chefs don't really demonstrate how to do it very well. The few non Asian chefs (of the shows that I watch regularly) that have seemed to do Asian really well have been Guy Rubino, from Made to Order and the Domestic Goddess herself, Nigella Lawson.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube, Good Monkey, Bad Monkey, Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me

Actually, I have a whole bunch of super fast meals since I can't really abide eating takeout and I need to make everything from scratch. But this is one of my favourite easy meals to make and I love it because there is barely any cooking involved yet it is still so flavourful! Also because I just made it up out of boredom and trying to make a meal with what I had in the fridge. So I am going to share my recipe...

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

Just when I think that I have lost all faith in food, Saveur magazine comes to save the day. It's the Special Issue of favourites.... What I like about Saveur is yes, they do feature snotty things that makes you think sometimes, who really cares? and then they also feature really down to earth people and foods.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

I know, I've been a little slack about blogging as of late. It just so happens that I just started a new job this week, so the weekend was spent celebrating and recovering and now it's adjustment to the new schedule. I am not complaining! I am just saying... hence the sporadic entries.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

This is for my buddy Marie, who also agrees that soup without noodles isn't a "real" dinner meal! Great minds think alike! I can't wait to see her soon in Vancouver and share the love of food.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

I have never been a big dessert fan, much to my mother's despair as she is an incredible baker. Why she should wonder why I don't eat goodies is beyond me because she never really let me have much when I was growing up.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger

OK, about the food sharing thing. I've been emailing a friend who is also a foodie and we tend to share quite a bit of food and she's making me feel like quite the selfish git. So, I feel like I have to just clarify what I meant.

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Posted in Added Thoughts, Family Shenanigans, Homage to Hunger

OK - I just cannot say enough about noodle soup other than the fact that it really is the ultimate meal. Comforting and filling at the same time. Is there anything more delicious than rice noodles with ginger infused chicken broth, crunchy beansprouts, bits of fragrant cilantro and a touch of thai bird chillies? I would take a photo of my dinner but Stef went out and took the camera with him, I have no idea why. Note to self - you also cannot share a digital camera.

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Posted in Homage to Hunger