Cooking for an army.

I don't know what it's like to cook for an army, but it is possible if you have a large slow cooker. I've been wanting a slow cooker for awhile, but there weren't many deals around. Finally, they had a 6 Quart slow cooker (serves 6-7 people) on sale at London Drugs for $26.99 (original $49.99). God answers prayers. Score.

At first, I wasn't sure if the thing could really cook because well, I've never used a slow cooker before. And it doesn't seem to generate enough heat to cook anything! The first time I used it, I was so paranoid that it won't cook anything, I kept running back to the kitchen to check on it. I was afraid that it would either explode and blow up my kitchen (???) or the meat will just sadly sit inside the pot and be raw forever. Anyways, I managed to try two recipes over the weekend and they turned out okay! There was so much food that I was able to pawn off lots to my brother and another good friend of ours. Slow cooker meals are really good when you want to save time during a busy week, or freeze them for later.

Slow-Cooked Chili (courtesy of Allrecipes - one of my favorite sites)

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 (16 ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained (I just got red kidney beans.. they were on sale!)
  
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I put in like 4-5 cloves, I think)
  
• 2 tablespoons chili powder (I added more for hotness)
  
• 2 teaspoons salt (I just use generous amount ... don't be silly, nobody measures salt)
  
• 1 teaspoon pepper (see above comment re: salt)
• Shredded Cheddar cheese

In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a slow cooker. Add the next nine ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4 hours. Garnish individual servings with cheese if desired.

Note: I added garlic powder and italian seasoning to the mix. I served it over sliced french bread ($0.99 for a huge loaf at Safeway OMG). I also tried it with a dollop of sour cream and cheddar cheese and served it with tortilla chips. Equally yummeh. Although I think the recipe would be even better tasting if it has cayenne pepper in it. Let's hope they have them on sale the next time I go grocery shopping. Another word of caution: this chili makes you gassy. I'm not speaking from personal experience, of course. o_O



Don't be scared of the huge slab of meat in the bowl on the top left corner. It was the ever-so-common Chinese soup - "Green and Red carrots with Pork Bone soup".

The other recipe I tried was the beef stew. When you have a slow cooker, you have to make beef stew with it. It is a hearty meal on a "meh" type of weekend. Throw everything into the slowcooker and forget it. A few hours later, you have a full meal. You can pretty much eat it as is, or I sometimes serve it over rice. Freezes pretty well, too.

Slow-Cooker Beef Stew (courtesy of The Canadian Living Test Kitchen)

• 2 lb (1 kg) stewing beef cubes
• 4 potatoes, peeled and cut in wedges
• 3 carrots, cut in chunks
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I just used a bunch)
  
• 1-1/2 cups (375 mL) beef stock (I used 1 can of Swanson's chicken stock and it was still good)
• 1 can (5 oz/156 mL) tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf (Didn't have it, so I used italian seasoning)
  
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) Worcestershire sauce (Generous splashes, please)
  
• 1 cup (250 mL) frozen peas
• generous amount of salt and pepper (don't measure, silly!)
• 2 tbsp (25 mL) all-purpose flour
• Chili powder and garlic powder (not part of the original recipe, my addition)
  

Trim and cut beef into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes. In 18- to 24-cup (4.5 to 6 L) slow-cooker, mix together beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, beef stock, tomato paste, bay leaf, peas and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours (or on High for 5 to 6 hours) or until beef and vegetables are tender.

5.5 hours later:


I like my stew thick and not runny, so I made a flour/water mixture (1/2 cup water to a couple tablespoonfuls of flour... I don't really measure), stirred it in at the end to make the sauce really thick, cover and simmer for about 5 more minutes. The can of chicken stock allowed for enough sauce, so that's good when you are serving it over pasta/rice.



I'm so glad it's Friday tomorrow. The slowcooker saved my ass this week because both Mr.C and I have been working long hours these days. I believe every busy household should have a slowcooker, it's also great for parties/potlucks, too.

Spacious... wha?

I remembered when the Mr.C and I were looking for our first home back in 2006, we came across an MLS listing that caught our attention. It definitely wasn’t the cheap price tag (is there such a thing in Vancouver these days?). It was the two words in the description - “spacious panty”. Spacious panty, oh my! It was actually listed in the description of a property we found on MLS! It didn’t take long for us to figure out what the seller/realtor was trying to say – spacious pantry. Can you imagine buying a property that came with a spacious panty? How big would it be? How many people can it hold? Is it self-cleaning? What color would it be? Anyways, fast forward to 2008… we now live in a place that’s not very spacious. Its pantry is far from it, too. You can just imagine our disappointment!

This got me to think that a well-stocked pantry is very important, especially in a busy household where there are no maids, chefs or servants. If you keep your pantry well stocked throughout the seasons, it will prevent you from running frantically to the grocery stores during the work weeks. Do you really want to brave the grocery stores after a long day of work and commuting? Seriously, you just want to go home, cook and eat! A well-stocked pantry also allows you to cook or bake most things you crave in the spur of the moment, or if you run into dinner planning emergencies (ex. you think you’re working late/going out but ended up having to eat dinner at home), or you have a last minute request to bring an item to a potluck. I find that the more recipes I try, the more I realize there are in fact a lot of common items that are essential to a well-stocked pantry.

• chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, raisins
• flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, you know, the basic essentials to baking anything edible.
• gelatin
• chips (gotta keep Mr.C happy, and you never know when friends decide to show up!)
• pasta (I almost always have 2-3 types laying around; penne, linguini, lasagna)
• jar(s) of pasta sauce
• canned coconut milk (for desserts, curries, etc.)
• Swanson's chicken stock
• Beef broth
• Campbell's cream of mushroom soup
• Nissin instant noodles, good japanese udon
• Instant coffee powder (I actually use this mostly for baking/cooking)
• tomato paste, canned diced tomato
• peanut butter (very necessary when making peanut chicken/thai noodle salad... but of course, you can use it to make PB & jam/honey sammiches!)
• honey (for sauces, marinades, sometimes for honey-lemon drinks)
• chili/soy/oyster/black bean sauces. These are essential when you don't have time to marinate anything and you just want to throw together a quick dinner
• cream of corn
• vermecelli
• spices (ground pepper, italian, cayenne, chili powder, all the good stuff...)

I'm sure I've missed a few items in this list. But, how I wish I have a spacious pantry.

This week, I made some cheese scones. Thanks to Jr., I finally found a recipe that delivers decent quality scones. I've tried two recipes before in the past (with similar ingredients) but they always ended up too dry and crumbly. Interestingly enough, this recipe calls for margarine and I decided to give it a try (I always bake with butter). Surprisingly it turned out awesome! Weird. Maybe it's the margarine. Anyways, I tweaked the recipe a little by adding dry mustard to give it a kick or two.

Cheese Scones (makes 2 dozen)

• 3 cups flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• few teaspoons of dry mustard
  
• 1 teaspoon salt (I never measure salt in baking recipes. Just a couple dashes and you're good to go!)
• 1 to 2 cups grated cheese
• ½ c margarine
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk (I use 1%)

1. Lined a baking sheet with greased parchement paper. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Combine dry ingredients into large mixing bowl.
3. Cut in margarine using pastry blender or two forks till mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add grated cheese.
4. Mix egg and milk together and stir into dry mixture.
5. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet (will spread a little) and bake in a 350 degrees oven for 10-15 minutes (I had a gas oven, and I had to bake mine for about 18 mins)

Tips:

• I use butter spray when greasing parchment paper. Forget melting butter and brushing it all over... waste of time, too much work! I like to bake, but I don't have 5 hours to waste!
  
• Forget the forks. Use your hands to work the fat into the dry ingredients. I find it works better than using a pastry cutter anyways... not that I'd know because I'm too cheap to invest in one. But, why buy one when your hands are your best tools?
• I press each dough gently (so the surface is abit flat) before baking so I can sprinkle more cheeses on top. Mmmmmm cheese.
• Do yourself a favor and buy a bag of pre-shredded cheese. It's not that much more expensive than a block of cheese (unless you're looking for good quality cheeses in this recipe) and it saves you so much time from shredding all day long. Mr.C doesn't like strong cheeses so I just buy a bag of shredded mild cheeses!
  

They're not too big, so they makes great snacks and on-the-go breakfasts. They're not crumbly and dry either, so yay. Perhaps next time, I will use this recipe and make jam-filled scones (basically split the dough in half, roll them out to 1/6" to 1/8" thick rounds, spread jam between layers, cut into wedges and bake!).

Before:


Final Product. Cheesy goodness!

Mr.C's favorite hobby.

Mr.C loves to ride his mountain bike(s). Last Saturday, I went to GM place with him to check out the Outdoor & Adventure Show. He registered for a 1 hour training session on the pump track with one of the Endless Biking coaches and I snapped some photos and videos of him! He did well, considering he was fighting some sort of flu and wasn't feeling his best. In here, he's riding one of his favorite hardtail bikes, the "black market MOB", or what I referred to as the "engagement bike". I bought him the frame shortly after we got engaged. He was so giddy like a little boy! Ahhh, boys and their toys.

Case closed.... for now.

After what seems to be many confusing and unpleasant visits at Starbucks in the past year or so (Why do I still go? I don't know. Maybe I'm too cheap to pay for a Blenz drink, which taste way better IMO, or there aren't many choices around), I finally wrote an email to Starbucks. I didn't think anyone would get back to me right away. Who doesn't complain about Starbucks on a regular basis, anyways? There must be a thousands of us complaining about virtually the same thing all the time! I fired an email to customer service last week, and I was surprised to get a response back from a real person (I think?) after 2 days.

Hello Josephine,

I was very sorry to hear about your recent experience at the Safeway 191 at Richmond Starbucks store. I appreciate you taking the time to bring this matter to our attention. I will share your comments with the district manager responsible for the store in order to address the issue properly.

I wrote and complained about my visit to Starbucks on a Tuesday night about 2 weeks ago. I wanted to get a tea misto before worship team practice and I walked into Safeway at 7:45pm. I waited at the till for about 5 minutes and finally got the barista's attention (she was reading a trashy magazine with Britney on the cover. What the fork?). I ordered for my drink and was in the process of digging out my change pouch when....

Snobby barista: Sorry, we're closed.
Me: Oh? I'm sorry. What time are you closed?
Snobby barista: 8pm on weeknights.
Me: *looked at own watch* It's 7:50pm. Is my clock fast? What time does your watch say?
Her: I don't wear a watch.
Me: *points at the clock inside Safeway* Oh, it IS 7:50pm!
Her: Sorry, we're closed at 8pm. Our machine has already been shut off anyways. We have to shut off the machine a little earlier than our actual closing time.
Me (getting grumpy): *trying to be nice* Ok, can I just get a hot tea? You know, a tea bag in some hot water?
Her: Sorry, we're really closed.
Me: Noob. (I actually did mumble this under my breath and walked away).

Interesting experience. I was almost tempted to just ask for a cookie and see if she'd sell it to me, but I couldn't bother. I was already ho anger by then. Maybe I had a bad day at work and my patience was at an ultimate low. Anyhoo, in my original email to Starbucks, I also asked (read: whined) about the soy americano misto issue that I've been trying to find the answer to for the longest time. My concern (read: rant) was basically the fact that I get charged extra for asking soy when ordering the drink, but a) this extra surcharge is inconsistent amongst most stores I frequent (and each barista ring this up differently), and b) the fact that I already get dinged extra when asking for soy. Ok, soy is bling. But, if you were to charge me for milk and soy in an americano misto, shouldn't you be including both milk and soy in my drink? I PAID FOR BOTH. What gives? Anyways.

I was also very sorry to hear about your experience at the No. 1 & Westminister Starbucks store. Regarding your beverage, you should simply be charged for a Misto with added Soy, as the added Milk is accounted for in the Misto price. I will pass on your comments to the store management team responsible for the store in order to address the issue properly.

Sincerely,

Alyssa A.
Customer Relations Representative
Starbucks Coffee Company

There you go, kiddos.

super fast weeknight dinner.

Got home late, and had to be out again right after dinner, so it's another easy quick fix meal tonight.

I made my own version of Mac N' Cheese, and a quick cucumber salad to go with the cheesy goodness. I didn't really follow a recipe as I made my own. And when I cook I hardly measure to the exact cup/tablespoons unless I'm 1) baking, 2) learning a new recipe that is complex and 3) when I know the exactness of the ingredients I use will affect the recipe alot. So here it is, at least to what I remember!

Quicky Mac N' Cheese

3 cups of penne pasta (or macaroni) - I think I cooked too much, but yay to leftovers for lunch!
1 lb. of lean ground beef (or whatever meat you want to throw in)
1 - 1.5 cups grated cheddar (depends on your cheesyness)
1 - 1.5 cups grated mozzarella
1 can Campbell's condensed cheese soup (you're not trying to be a gourmet chef here... Campbell's saves you time and actually makes good, weeknight dinners!)
1 cup milk (I use 1%)
Minced garlic
1/2 of chopped onion
Salt, ground black pepper
Worchestire sauce
Pepper sauce (I use tabasco!)

1. Cook pasta, drain. Set aside.
2. Drizzle olive oil in pan over medium heat. Brown minced garlic and chopped onion until clear. Brown ground beef. Season with generous amount of salt and pepper. Add splashes of worchestire sauce and hot pepper sauce.
3. Add cheese soup and milk into pan. Stir and bring to a boil. Heat off. (you may want to taste test... I actually find that I had to add abit more salt to the pasta to bring out the flavor)
4. Toss pasta, cheddar and mozza cheese together. Pour into a baking dish.
5. Bake in a 400F oven for 15-20 mins until cheese melts. You may want to toss/stir the pasta around half way at the 15 min mark so the pasta at the very top doesn't become dry.

Alot of Campbell's soup makes good, quick meals. Every working household's pantry should have at least a can of two of Campbell's soup (Cream of Mushroom, especially!) for those fast weeknight dinner emergencies! I like this recipe because the sauce is not too thick, just enough that it coats the pasta evenly!

Quick Chinese fix.

I had been craving Cha Siu (叉燒) for the last while. Coincidentally, I bought some 叉燒肉 on sale at Langley Farm (my favorite place to shop) over the weekend so guess what I made for dinner?

Home-made BBQ pork, stir-fry veggies in black bean sauce, and I felt like eggs again, so it's 午餐肉 (Chinese spam) in scrambled eggs. (poe - I did in fact have chinese spam in my pantry, buried behind my stash of assorted canned goods. omg, now I want it in my ramen.)

I made the Cha Siu a la lazy style (with Lay Gum Gay BBQ marinade). Depending on how my work day went, sometimes I just want to fix a quick meal after work and don't want to do anything crazy in the kitchen. The hubs usually get home around 1 to 1.5 hours later than I do (what a hard working dude), so I at least have time to wash/chop stuffs, or clear out the stuff on the dish rack from the night before, and cook. Otherwise, I might want to just cook instant noodles or sandwiches everyday. I love instant noodles. Anyways, I usually need a few minutes to clear my dish rack before I wash/chop/prep for dinner. Yeah, the dish rack has nothing to do with the actual cooking, but I think I have some sort of kitchen-OCD. You see, if I don't clear out everything in my dish rack, I can't prepare food. And I have to make sure the sinks have no dirty dishes before I begin cooking. So you can probably now guess that we hardly ever leave dirty dishes (from dinner) overnight. I'm a very strange person! Although I think Col is trying to brainwash me, as he often tells me life still goes on even if there are a few dirty dishes in the sink. And oh, I'm gradually trying not to wash dirty dishes as I prep for dinner (a knife here, a cutting board there....). I do that with baking too. poe would understand. Hey, what's up with that?

Woah, that was some non-sense ramblings.

So onto the topic of coffee. The other day during worship team practice, we had a discussion about Starbucks. I don't even like it as much as Blenz (mmm belgian dark hot chocolate hello thar!!). My usual drink is a decaf americano misto. Sometimes it's with soy (that's the hub's usual order, but non-decaf). Sure, they charge you extra for the steamed milk. Yes, soy is more expensive so we get charged more for that. But almost $1.00 just for soy (it's like, $0.50 misto with milk + $0.45 for soy)?! And why is it only that snobby location in Terra Nova ding you twice, whereas every other location we've been to only ding you once for a milk OR soy misto?

Discuss.

....and this is what happens after endless CNY lunches and dinners, and a heavy Shanghainese lunch at 2pm.



I screwed up my fried egg, and gave the good one to the hubs. I'm not sure why his bowl is overflowing!!!

My ultimate comfort food when I don't feel like cooking a real meal. Nissin original noodle + stir-fry garlic sausages (found it in the fridge), and baby bokchoys on sale. Oh, can't forget the chili garlic sauce!!

I think I'll eat a salad for lunch tomorrow at work. :\

Gung Hay Rat Choy!

It's Chinese New Year again and what does that mean?






TIME TO PIG OUT.

My mom's home-cooking is always the best.

Mom's home-made "Loh-Bak-Go", and my Uncle's home-made XO sauce. Zee bestest!



I actually prefer Chinese New Year over the Jan 1 New Year. I'm not sure if this is due to the fact that I was once raised in Hong Kong where Chinese New Year is a huge deal. I really enjoyed the specialty foods that I only get to eat during CNY; mom's loh-bak-go, neen-go, the decorative box that has 8 compartments filled with chocolates, candies and CNY dried fruits, and all the lai-see! I hope one day I get to experience CNY festivities in HK again.

I made the Coconut Pudding (椰汁糕) last weekend when we went to Grandma Chan's place for CNY dinner. I like this recipe because it's easy and feeds a big crowd. I also like how its light texture/flavors complement a heavy CNY dinner. The original recipe I got was in Chinese, so I'll be nice and translate for those of you who can't read Chinese!



椰汁糕 (Coconut Pudding)

材料 / Ingredients:

Gelatin 3 包 (3 tsp / 21 g) 3 packets of of Knox Gelatin
糖 1 杯 1 Cup sugar
奶 1 杯 1 Cup milk (I just use 1% and it's fine)
椰奶 1 罐 1 Can of Coconut Milk
蛋白 3 隻 3 Egg whites
水 1 杯 1 Cup of water

Directions:

1) 溶 3 包 gelatin 1) Melt gelatin with 1 cup of water, set aside

2) 把奶和糖以慢火煮溶﹐加入椰奶 2) Melt sugar in milk over low/medium heat, add coconut milk. Stir until blended. Turn off heat.

3) 把蛋白打起 3) With a handheld beater (I have my trusty Kitchenaid!), beat eggwhites until stiff. Note: Use the wire whip if you are using the Kitchenaid.

4) 把蛋白和 gelatin 加入﹐ 打勻﹐雪藏。 4) Fold eggwhites and gelatin mixture into milk mixture. Pour into container (I often use my 9"x13" pyrex glass). Refrigerate overnight.

You'll see 3 layers in the final product. I particularly like the top foamy layer as it gives the dessert a really light, fluffy texture. If you don't like it, just omit the eggwhite part of the recipe!

Cinnamon goodness!

Over the Christmas holidays, I baked alot. I can't remember how many times I turned on my kitchenaid and my oven. It was rather nice, because whenever the oven cools I have to open the door which means... FREE HEAT! har har! Uhhhh, anyhoos....

I cooked and baked alot, from cookies/squares/peanut brittle for families and friends, to main dishes and desserts for various parties. It was actually nice because I get to do what I enjoy and I didn't have to go to work, so I had all the time to play around with recipes and ingredients. And somehow, I became the designated dessert-maker for all Chan's family parties/gatherings. It was good, because I now have excuses to try different recipes. I couldn't necessarily make desserts and baked goods every single day because my poor hubs would have to constantly eat (I secretly thinks he has a sweet tooth, despite his denial). He tells me he likes being my lab rat and seems to be enjoying the role, but I don't want him to not be able to walk through doors, hallways and such. Excessive eating with lack of exercises in cold winter days...no good!

Anyways, this was one recipe I tried over the Christmas holiday which turned out to be a great success. Seeing how easy this recipe was I had to try it. And hey, the recipe has one of my favorite ingredients in it - cinnananamon! It was calling my name!



Sour Cream Coffee Cake (by Martha Stewart) - Serves 12

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup for topping
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the topping: In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and walnuts; set aside.
2. Make the cake: Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugar, and eggs until smooth. Add the flour mixture alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. (flour, sour cream, flour, sour cream, flour)
4. Spread half of the batter into the prepared baking pan, and sprinkle with half of the topping. Repeat with remaining batter and topping.
5. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes, then remove sides of pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Serve topping side up.

The cake was really moist and not too sweet (I went easy on the sugars because Dad is diabetic) and the sweetness was just right, especially after a heavy Christmas feast.

omgs first pots.

Welcome to my blog! I think this is like, the 4th blog I've set up. I still remember my very first blog back in 2000 when I had my very own website up and running - robotrix.net!! Ahhh, good times. I abandoned my 2nd blog because it had one "test" entry on it. The 3rd one got eaten alive by blogspot years ago, I'm not sure why.

Now you must be dying to know more about me! I was born and raised in Hong Kong, and has a pretty awesome family. My hubby, my parents and my brother are the bestestest. I also love God very much, too! I moved to Canada with my family at the tender age of 9 in June of 1988. Did you know that I went to an elementary school in Richmond where the majority of the population was not Chinese, and less than half of my Grade 6 ESL class was Chinese. Woah. And I didn't have Chinese friends. :) Fast forward a little bit, I graduated from UBC in 2000 (after many hardcore studying with in-between nap times at the Koerner Library basement. Yea right!). Upon graduation, I began my career at a local not-to-be-named post-secondary institution (no stalkers, please). Fast forward a little more, I married Mr.C in August of 2007 after dating for 9 years, and he's the bestest husband I can ever ask for. Hmm, 9 years, what were we thinking anyways?

I don't know what I should do with this blog. Perhaps I'll use it to release my daily verbal diarrhea, or vent about idiotic drivers in Richmond. Or, I might just use it to journal all the food I've eaten/made/attempted to cook. I love food. I love to cook alot! Cooking de-stresses me!

Now I shall go scoop me some chocolate soy ice cream and conquer the world!