Easter Brunch at Home, Part I

What a BEAUTIFUL day!! Once I stepped out, it was hot and slightly stuffy and reminded me of good ol’ Hong Kong. A perfect 25*C, super sunny but slightly overcast and breezy hinting a brewing storm.

Walked across the street to my friend’s to make pancakes and eggs Benedict. I whipped up my frat-boy style hollandaise sauce (mayo + hint of mustard + water) for the poached eggs which were perfectly wobbly and round. Then we mixed up some pancake mix with frozen blueberries… which was a bad idea because all the ice and berries melted and the pancakes became a toxic-blue goo in the pan. I imagine it would make a great Halloween dish. Instead, we made fluffy banana pancakes from scratch! We added sliced strawberries and sieved some icing sugar on top. It was restaurant quality and picture perfect. The only fault of this brunch was we had milk rather than juice!

The lack of juice only inspired us for an epic Easter Sunday brunch and afternoon… stay tuned! Pics will come soon :)

Happy long weekend everyone!

Fridge Fetish

A follow up to fridge fetish: This is what happens when both persons in your two-person household buy groceries from the same grocery list. The fridge is literally filled to the edges of each shelf with produce.

Basically, my sister is on a strict healthy diet and needs lots of fruits and vegetables. They filled both crisper drawers and the one halves of both lower shelves. I had witnesses to how much groceries my sis and I bought and I had to pack away just because she was running off to somewhere else. It was a monumental task just to fit everything in and make sure everything is accessible and organized (fruits with fruits, veggies with veggies, onions not with potatoes. Except I had to place some defrosted raw fish above fruits and veggies because it was lighter and fitted in the upper shelves).

How boring can I be? Blogging about my fridge? That’s cuz I’m done school and no longer need to procrastinate on studying but procrastinating on job hunting har har. At least I didn’t create a twittering toilet.

No thanks.

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Do you have a fetish for fridge contents?

How much can fridge content tell you about people? (Read caption below each image). And oh, have you seen my rattlesnake? >> (via)

Macarons and Japanese cakes

La Bamboche – A chef combines Eastern flavours with Western desserts

Lemon Macaron. I love citrusy stuff – it was sooooo good. Not too sweet, and still fresh from a 30 min commute.

Half eaten Lemon Macaron, with its travel companion Vanilla Macaron. I usually don’t have a preference for vanilla or regular cream pastries, but this was really good too. The vanilla scent was very rich and not artificial at all.

Inside the box…

Three pieces of cake!

Actually, 2 pieces of cake and one half eaten eclair, lol. The eclair was heavenly. This was the best eclair filling I’ve ever had. The chocolate flavour was rich, and not too sweet nor fatty.

Next to it is the Green Tea and Sesame mousse cake with crunchy base. Again, key word — rich. You can taste the matcha and black sesame flavours individually. The base was a graham cracker like base, only crunchier. I wonder what exactly it is!

Last of all, the Strawberry Lavendar mousse cake. This was quite special. I’ve only tried lavendar teas and Taiwanese lavender milk-tea drinks before, never a cake. The top layer was slightly sour & tarty, but in the good way. There were actually chunks of mushy strawberries , which I guess are preserved ones, like the type you find in jam. The lavendar layer tasted very unique. The two flavours accompanied each other really well. My sister speculated that the piece of twig on top is thyme, and that it was probably mixed into the lavendar mousse. The base was made of fluffy brown cake.

I would like to try the red wine and sake macarons if I get the chance!

Conclusion: La Bamboche – Pricey at $4-$5 per piece (around the size of a ring box), but you are paying for quality organic ingredients, culinary school technique and presentation, and rich flavours in special combinations. Go there when you deserve a treat :)

Spring eating!

Old post, forgot to publish!

What’s this?Assorted egg based tarts custard tarts and egg based chocolate tarts; topped with pecans, almonds, banana slices, apple wedges, and semi sweet chocolate chunks.

Of course, I didn’t do a thing. My sis made it for her dinner party and I got the leftovers :P

Healthy brunch. Going into fish addiction!!

Grilled/pan seared salmon fillet strip on blanched baby spinach. Poached egg on buttered wheat toast.

The salmon was delicious – required absolutely no seasoning. The leftover oil in the pan can be used to sautee mushrooms so they can absorb all the flavour. Mmm fishy fungus. hahaa
I bought a strip of salmon fillet the size of a small keyboard, only having portions the width of a ruler each time. Still, I managed to finish half in 2-3 days before my sis got to it. She resorted to putting a post it on the ziploc box containing last remaining strip, with MINE written in Sharpie.

Also, I planned on making my usual Eggs Benedict but didn’t have English muffins. (Tip to yummier muffins: smear butter as usual, but pan fry instead of toasting. Mmmmmm.) I also had to make hollandaise sauce from scratch:

LOL. It works! Hollandaise sauce is based on fat, which you can get from mayo. Just add a dot of mustard and a dash of lemon juice, mix it all together, then you get what I consider “frat boy’s” version of hollandaise sauce. It is much more appealing than watching yourself put a fist size amount of butter to mix with the powder form.

Sigh to poor lighting in kitchen + lack of photography knowledge with digital camera. Must ask le BF.
Next: I want to try make fish tacos!

“Substitute the bread for plantains.”

+

“For those who don’t dig on swine, beef, poultry, or fish, a roasted vegetable sandwich”

=
Next culinary attempt for Mr. Cow.

Ideas for an atypical sandwich >>

Harvest!

Today is a day of harvest!!

Downtown – went to Urban Outfitter’s to wait for my friend, then met her up there instead. I wanted to go on Friday with another friend but forgot and bought a shirt dress at F21. Anyway, bought a loose fit varsity cardigan on sale for twenty dollahs and the famous origami/ geometric dress. You know which I’m talking about?

Considering to return it… a) if I see other people on the street with it. I’ve seen it on that “bikini girl” from American Idol -_- b) if my friend retrieves a cheaper version across the border next week! Stilllll craving for the watercolour silk skirt and Jefferey Campbell sandals… I need a trip to Buffalo!!

Secondly, while having dinner in Chinatown I bought a whole bunch of Chinese bakery pastries due to lack of opportunity to catch a ride for major grocery shopping… (deep fried curry beef bun, pineapple bun with red bean filling… mmm).

Then later that night my dearest neighbour across the street gave me a whole bunch of mini cakes! Food overload. Then an hour later, le BF happened to be free and needed to go grocery shopping too. So much fooooood! I just stacked everything into the fridge, and 10 minutes later, which is just 2 seconds ago, my sis returned from her neighbour friend with our chairs, and brought cinnamon buns back!! Okay, I’m stocked up for last 2 weeks of school eveeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

PS. tempted to have one of the many pastries for midnight snack…

LOLSindy

iz hapeez todai. had Popeye’s fried chikun and browneez fur dinnah. wuz very produktiv too. and see post beeloh! gnitez

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

Click for more awesome foods! >>