Eggy noodles without eggs, with baked baking soda

I love reading Cooking Issues, and today came across an article that talks about corn and the process used to make tortillas. In that article he linked to a NY Times article that talks about baked baking soda, a stronger base that you can use for certain cooking applications, among other things, springy egg-like noodles that don't need eggs to make them springy. Nice coincidence that I came across this during lent! And also good to know if ever I can't find any kansui (see under noodles) in Chinatown to make noodles for my tonkotsu ramen!

Culinary traditions

I've been reading Eating Asia for a while now. This morning I decided to search for posts about the Philippines by them since Carlo is half Filipino (and half Italian) and I was curious as to what I'd come up with. That and I've been reading Burnt Lumpia for a while too, all of which makes me want to cook Filipino food lol. I came across this post on Eating Asia and started to think about how blessed I am to have been exposed to so many different culinary traditions, Swedish from my mom, French Canadian from my dad and my friends, and now Filipino food with my boyfriend, in addition to all the ethnic food browsing I do on the internet.

I've thought before of starting to make and post Swedish recipes once a month or so, and now I'm thinking it would be cool to do that with French Canadian and Filipino food as well. Oh, and early-settler-era Canadian food too, I have a cookbook called the Canadian Food Book with a bunch of recipes from a hundred or more years ago that sound really yummy. Assuming I actually get around to doing it lol. I should really start planning ahead for stuff like this, instead of just going "Hey this would be really cool to do someday!!!" and then never get around to doing it, as usual lol. And it would give this blog some direction other than "random life happenings" lol. Well it's nap time now so I'll think about this more after lunch :) Here's to hoping I actually get it done lol.

Les Delices de l'Ile Maurice, and other phone pics

The view from Boul. Pie-IX on our way back from a failed trip to the Botanical gardens to see the live butterfly exhibit 2 weeks ago. We went too late, arrived at 3:45 and there was an hour and a half wait to get in, it closed at 5:00.

The calamari in sweet and sour sauce I had at Les Delices de l'Ile Maurice last weekend, been meaning to go there for years now! It was really good:

My sister and Carlo on Sherbrooke St. E, we decided to take a walk after going to the botanical gardens, the Olympic Stadium is in the background:

The fried cabbage at Les Delices, absolutely addictive! Especially with the homemade chutney they have:

Inside Les Delices:

My cat licorice this morning enjoying a ray of sunshine:

Another shot of the Olympic Stadium as seen from Boul. Pie-IX:

The mussels in curry sauce at Les Delices, delicious!:

Tiffany, Carlo and Scott in front of the restaurant last weekend:

And here's a video of a kid with squeaky toy shoes across the street. I can't imagine why any parent would want to do that:





Hopefully I'll have time to upload all the camera pics tomorrow or Monday...

Tonight going to visit Steph and watch some more Beck, waiting up for Carlo to finish work at around midnight, then going home to watch some Stargate Universe and/or Mythbusters. Tomorrow church, then lazy afternoon, then dinner at Carlo's mom's place. I'll have try to remember to take some pics of all 3 of us! Off I go to vacuum, then off to Steph's..

Second week of Lent

So true! loll XD

An Orthodox View on Salvation

Taken from Steven's blog, read the quote by Elder Paisios in the comments:

Love is War Cosplay

Ok here's to my geeky-anime-fangirl side, I found a really nice cosplay pic of a song I love by Miku Hatsune:


LOVE IS WAR by *kirawinter on deviantART

I would post a video of the song too but youtube is blocked at work and the Android Blogger app doesn't work for me yet. Just search Miku Hatsune Love is War on Youtube and you'll get like a billion results lol.

Parsi Tomato Chutney

Here's something that I really want to make right now...

GO MAKE THAT SOUP!!!!

Ok people go out and make that senegalese peanut soup I posted about earlier, I just made some and it is SOOOOOO GOOOOD!!!!!! OM NOM NOM NOM NOM

*goes to have a bowl*

Seriously! Go make some! NOW!

Edit: I didn't put any jalapenos or cayenne pepper when I made it, please leave them out if you don't like spicy stuff! Oh, and I used about 3 times as much mild curry powder lol. Maybe the stuff I had wasn't that flavorful? Anyways adjust to your liking!

Okra Stew

Here's something I just came across, that reminded me of another delicious okra recipe that my boyfriends mom gave me once but I lost, but I'll ask her for it again so I can post it here. I love okra! I eat it so rarely though, I should make it more often. Anyways here it is!:

2 Must-Try Cakes

Ok these are non-lenten (actually I think the first one can be modified to just remove the eggs), but I just have to post them so I remember to make them when Lent is over because it is SO rare that I find a cake recipe that I actually want to try! I'm not a big cake person, so when I ran across not one, but TWO intriguing, absolutely amazing-sounding cake recipes chock full of things I love, I knew I had to try them. I love anything with rosewater and almonds, and Early Grey tea too, and these cakes are full of them. I've never tried recipes with either of those ingredients yet, and I bet I'll be kicking myself for not doing so earlier once I make them! Here they are, Love Cake:

And Earl Grey Cake:

I'm so glad I came across those two websites that bring out the ethnic-food-lover in me, The Traveler's Lunchbox is so much fun to read, and has so many recipes I want to try, and Taste of Beirut makes me want to try making everything Lebanese! I already love our Montreal-Lebanese favourite Shish Taouk, which apparently is mis-named Chicken Shawarma. I almost always go for that at the mall food courts, but I prefer the chains that serve it with garlic sauce instead of lemon, I've never been a big fan of lemon. Anyways, have fun browsing! I'll have to look through those sites and find a few Lenten recipes to post here too. Off I go to drool some more...

Mafé

Ok this is supposed to be made with beef or chicken but I'm gonna try it with shrimp or scallops. I read a lot of comments about this on the peanut soup recipe so I decided to look it up, it sounds really yummy!

Senegalese Peanut Soup

I  found a really yummy-looking recipe courtesy of Byzantine in the Bible Belt:

Normally I don't like stuff with peanuts but this looks delicious!

Edit: I didn't put any jalapenos or cayenne pepper when I made it, please leave them out if you don't like spicy stuff! Oh, and I used about 3 times as much mild curry powder lol. Maybe the stuff I had wasn't that flavorful? Anyways adjust to your liking!

Lenten quote of the week

Me, last Monday: : "Owww... my leg"
Non-Orthodox boyfriend, to me: "what happened to your leg?"
Me: "I pulled it at church yesterday"
Boyfriend: "How'd you pull your leg at church?"
Me: "Well, the last Sunday before lent starts we celebrate something called Forgiveness Vespers..."

Rice recipes with saffron, and a seafood recipe (finally!)

I came across this recipe just now, and it reminded me of an article they wrote a while back in the Spice Hunting column about saffron, and this recipe. I think the second one looks yummier.

 

And I bet you're thinking "enough with the starch and veggies already!" so here's a seafood recipe that I came across while searching for the second saffron-rice one:

And I think that's enough recipes for today, I'll go do something else now...

Parsnip Soup with Vanilla

I can't remember the last time I had parsnips. This looks yummy!:

Deep Fried Spinach

I LOVE this!!! I've had it a few times from asian restaurants, usually sprinkled with sugar, maybe a little salt? It's addictive! I've never made it at home though, I can't wait to try it :)

Corn with Aromatic Seasonings

I'm sure you can modify this recipe to make it with water, or coconut milk:

Coconut-Vegetable Rice Pilaf with Peppercorns

Here's another great lenten recipe I found:

Moong Dal and Red Lentils with Browned Onions

Here's another lenten recipe I came across in the same column by the same guy:

Koshary

Here's a great lenten recipe I found just now on Serious Eats, gonna try it tomorrow night! It's looks simple enough, and I have everything already needed in my pantry. Serve this with some seafood and salad you've got a complete meal!

From Fr. Stephen's blog: On Inner Stillness

Here's a good pre-lent read. I'd encourage you to read the entire article linked to at the end of his post as well.

A really cute cheesefare recipe! Cheddar cat muffins!

I love cats. And I love cheese. And this is just too cute to bear, I wanna make some now! And I can ice them with the same cream cheese/imperial cheese icing I used on the meat cake I made for Carlo's birthday (which I want to remake properly after Lent)... GO BASK IN THE CUTE DELICIOUSNESS!

Another snowstorm

The one I posted about 2 posts ago was the snowiest snowstorm I had seen in a while, you could barely even see the building across the canal. Well this afternoon we got an even snowier one, it went from this:

...to this in the space of about 5 minutes, then back to sunny again after another 15 minutes:

In other news, I have a big weekend coming up. Sister coming over, friend from Rawdon coming over to crash at my place for the weekend so he can attend the Geekfest, a trip to the botanical gardens on Sunday afternoon to see the live butterfly exhibit, and my parents and mother-in-law coming over for dinner on Sunday night. I can't wait! :D

2 Cheesefare Recipes, potato leek soup and cheese casserole (strata)

I made these last night. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the soup but it's pretty plain to look at anyways. I love this soup! I remember my mom making it when I was a kid, and last night at the grocery store I wanted to get lots of fruits and veggies, and spotted the leeks so I said what the heck I'll buy one and call my mom to get the recipe for that soup she used to make. So I did, here's the recipe:

2 leeks
4 medium potatoes
1/2 cup cream
1L chicken broth
2 cups grated cheddar
1 tpsp butter

(all measurements are approximate since I just threw everything together without measuring yesterday)

Peel and cube the potatoes, then boil in the chicken broth. While the potatoes are boiling, cut the tough green part off the top of the leek, then slice it lengthwise and wash it out if needed. Slice into 1/4in. slices, and fry in the butter on med. heat till limp but not browned, then set aside. When the potatoes are done mash with a masher, and puree with a blender if you have one. Add leeks, cream, and cheese, and heat until the cheese melts, but not to boiling

Here's the cheese casserole, when I made it I filled the baking dish to the brim, and it puffed up like crazy in the oven, but luckily didn't spill much. It flattened once it cooled though:

Here's the recipe, which I doubled for this batch. I added some fried onions in between the layers too. That's it...just onions... >.> *whistles innocently* XD

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, I have to get back into the habit of using my camera, it's just that for posting this stuff to fb the phone is much more convenient.

So go forth and MAKE CHEESINESS!!!

Oh, and look at the cool t-shirts we're getting! I'll have to post some pics of us with them on soon :D Hopefully we'll be able to wear the to the Montreal Geekfest this weekend XD