vickichowder: BANANA

HOME SWEET HOME

The couple of days where I leave Waterloo and go home for the weekends are filled with food, lack of sleep, and zero homework/assignment accomplishment.

Pre-bbq food

I always come back to my excited mommy telling me what foods she recently stocked up in our fridge that awaits me. One week it was camembert and duck liver pate from a European supermarket.

The crusty, and soft baguette

No bbq here is complete unless there are satays

Marinated quickly in a mix of fish sauce, soy sauce, ginger powder and sugar, it is still a plain canvas after grilled - perfect for dipping in a variety of sauces before you eat them.

Another week was my turn to stock the fridge with a hearty serving of brie from the farmer's market because of my mom's love for baked brie (with honey this time).

With a side of crispy lemon honey chicken

Home is always sweet when it comes with an after dinner dessert:

~~banana muffin~~ / ~~banana bread~~ / banana cake

I make them with whipped yolks and whipped whites so they can be called cakes.

P/S

The waterfall like glaze of sugar

Krispy Kreme had a buy one dozen get the second dozen for 11 cents promotion one Friday. So we bought two dozen and I ate two on the spot. Two the next day, and two the day after that.

Happy Wednesday my dear readers - we're halfway there (to the weekend)!

, by vickichowder

ALMOND

GUU IZAKAYA, TORONTO

My craving for Japanese food hasn't subsided after eating at Spring Rolls, since we ate lots of delicious foods other than the Japanese kind! So I finally got around to going to the highly-raved-about Japanese restaurant, Guu Izakaya, on a Friday night.

You are greeted with a warm towel upon seating.

I called beforehand to make a reservation, and they said that the waiting time will be 1.5 - 2 hours, so my dear friends, who were already in the area (whereas I was still on the highway), got seats for us first.

When you finally find the restaurant, which is off the main street and is only identifiable by the lit-up black and white sign, you'll have to wait outside in a shelter for your seat: because there's no room inside the restaurant!

Unagi Doria: Unagi with on mixed mushroom rice with cheese on top

This place is great if you only have 4-6 people eating together. Otherwise, you'll have to fight over portions or sacrifice a few mouthfuls to the extra person(s) sitting with you. The good part about these small portions is that it's much cheaper!

But you'll have to order more dishes = you get to try more things. So I'll let you decide whether this place's small portions are a good thing or not *because I'm super indecisive*

Deep fried Brie: with mango and blueberry sauce

Oh, how I love Brie.

I just had some this morning as a part of my brunch, and there's still a whole untouched one in the fridge. I usually caramelize some onions and pears to put on top of it to bake until the inside is all melted - but this place makes it so much better. The cheese bursts in your mouth when you bit into the crunchy outside.

Just describing it makes me want it right now *drool*

There was five of us, and only for pieces, so one of them was split between two. Of course, not between me and the best friend/girlfriend. We like our Brie too much to share :)

Ikapiri: deep fried calamari with spicy ketchup and wasabi mayo

I'm not sure what happened, but by the time I finished taking this photo, there were only ~3 pieces left! So I quickly took my very unequal share of the dish and understood why it all disappeared in a matter of seconds after I took a bite.

Why must deep fried foods taste so good?!

Gyu tongue: Grilled beef tongue with salt

I think Asian people are very accustomed to eating any part of an animal, so eating tongue didn't strike us as out-of-this-world. Guu made this very delicious, alongside a freshly grated pile of wasabi (top right) which is very nasal-clearing!

Takoyaki: deep fried octopus ball with tonkatsu sauce and wasabi mayo

The first thing we decided to upon seating was that we each would pick out a dish, and the best friend/girlfriend picked out this one. I love watching the bonito (dried fish) flakes move/wave around when the dish arrives in front of you.

I had Takoyaki at a Night Market during the summertime, and I think the only difference between the two is the presentation and the sauce - Guu makes it nicer.

After the last of our first five dishes arrived and were finished, we realized that our appetites only got larger.

So we ordered more:

Tontoro: pan-fried pork cheek with salt and yuzu pepper

I love the layers of fat in this part of the pork because it's really juicy and gives it a nice, easy bite.

I don't think I could ever become vegetarian - I fall in love with meat all over again each time I eat it.

Kinoko Bibimbap: Mushrooms, cheese, seaweed sauce atop of rice in a sizzling stone pot

In Korean restaurants, you mix your own bibimbap. But at Guu, the server places the sizzling pot in front of you, whips out two spoons and mixes it all in a very experienced manner, then finishes off by smoothing the top and letting us spoon our own servings.

BBQ Pork: BBQ style pork with yuzu honey soy sauce

Another reason we kept ordering more (another reason I kept calling our waiter over to tell him which dishes we wanted) was because our waiter was rather good looking :)

Guu knows how to make money - with good looking waiters.

Scallop Carpaccio: Hokkaido scallop sashimi with wasabi dressing

I'm not sure if the Hokkaido part of the description poses any sort of significance to you, but after google-ing this, it seems that scallops from this region of Japan are renowned for their freshness and high quality.

And I suppose so! Because it was sweet, silky, and with only ~2 pieces to a person (there were five of us), it was the perfect amount to amuse your tongue, and urge you to order another...

Until your next dish comes shortly after you've finished your previous one:

Gyu Carpaccio: seared beef sashimi with ponzu, wasabi mayo, & garlic chips

I've always preferred my beef medium-rare: I like the juiciness that comes with a bloody slice of steak. So I knew I would like beef sashimi. And I did.

The best friend/girlfriend doesn't like raw meat/seafood, so I had her share of scallop and beef *muahs to her*

Almond tofu dessert

Despite the many dishes we ordered, we still had to order dessert (although I think it was only us girls who really wanted sweets after the meal).

With or without the sweet goji berry, I would still be able to eat this cup of almond tofu all by myself. It's like the Chinese tofu dessert on a whole new level.

Deep fried banana: with coconut icecream, mango puree, and chocolate sauce

I was too occupied with the almond tofu to have enough of this. But the few bites that I did have, I really enjoyed. I really like coconut flavoured things, which is why I liked this dessert so much :)

Please look forward to the desserts I make in the next post :)

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

I still have yet to talk about the desserts I've made with butter! I'm sorry... but please anticipate it in the next post for sure (I swear I said this exact same thing in my previous post).

I'm guilty for procrastination and delaying posts *sorry*

I'm off to go to a dinner with minimum meat because we've all agreed that we've been consuming way too much meat these few holiday days.

So, don't eat too much yet - there's still the New Years around the corner = even more meals to come~

Have you been eating yummy food at restaurants this holiday season?

, by vickichowder

BANANA

RECIPE: BANANA CAKE, KOROKKE

I have finished all my midterms! *yay*

So let me tell you about what I had a couple of weeks ago, what I had last week, and what I had this week too!

A week before Halloween I visited a nice bubble tea place that I had no clue existed in Mississauga. The name, Bubble Tease was nothing new, but I certainly did not know they had a store setting like this

one:

The name stands out so much during the night!

I'm usually very indecisive, actually, almost all the time, and the "signature" menu boards right by the entrance, in addition to the permanent menu did not help me in choosing what I wanted at all. But there was a sign promoting their caramel barley tea (To be honest, I really don't remember the flavour. It was something like that though.) so I ordered that.

I want to try the roasted coconut flavour next time!

We also got a waffle with strawberries.

*yay again*

Oh yes, I did instagram this.

I think the Bubble Tease mascot looks like an onion head.

When my drink came, I thought, "Oh, this is nice, there's a nice layer of foam on top!!", and expected a brownish drink underneath (the drink is caramel barley, no?). But as I kept drinking, the foam slowly dissolved and the drink was still the color of the foam: nice and white -

I was fooled.

So there was the couple of weeks ago tidbit, and here's the last week tidbit:

I made banana cake! There were two reasons:

1. The bananas, which I placed in the fridge, were really nice and ripe and smelled too good but were too soft for regular consumption, and I couldn't use all three in my breakfast with flax seed in time.

2. I was really craving banana cake. (Then again, I could always crave for anything at anytime. Like how I'm suddenly salivating just at the thought of the banana cake which is all gone now)

Cooling on the rack

Here's the recipe, if you really must know (i.e. if you plan to make this one day. So dear best friend/girlfriend, since that is not you, you may skip this section ^^):

~ Ingredients ~

250g soft room temperature unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 room temperature eggs

3 mashed ripe bananas

Hot water soaked raisins/cranberries (however much you want)

Walnuts, flax seed... be creative.

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

200g flour

~ Make it ~

1. Beat butter and sugar until it's light and creamy

2. Add eggs one and a time, and beating after each addition.

3. Add bananas, and beat.

4. Sift baking powder and flour together, then fold into the mixture in three additions.

5. Pour it into a lined loaf pan/whatever pan you have. (If you want the nice crack line on top of your loaf cake, you can squeeze a thin line of jam or butter. I didn't do it, but somehow it came out really nicely.)

6. Smooth top of batter.

~ Let's bake! ~

At 180C for 45 minutes

Or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let it cool on a rack!

I didn't really let it cool much before I sliced it to eat some.

Allow me to elaborate on the importance of room temperature ingredients in this particular recipe. Let's first assume you don't have your ingredients at room temperature (tsk tsk). When you beat the butter, it will be hard to beat, because the butter is hard when cold. You'll have butter flying all over your kitchen - not just on the countertop (unless you have a really big countertop).

But let's say you've completed the daunting task of creaming cold butter with the sugar. When you add the cold eggs and start beating it into the cold butter, it will curdle. You can beat it for a long time, but your butter and egg will never seem to get along - which makes it much like a suspension mixture.

At this point, you'll need to beat the heck out of it to try and get a more uniform batter. Have fun! (or try to because holding the mixer for so long gets tiring.)

Kimchi fried rice

To end the sadness of curdled butter and eggs, here's some yummy kimchi fried rice! I added spring onion, zucchini and onions in this one.

Last week I also put my condensed milk and toast that's been-in-the-fridge-for-too-long to good use:

Condensed milk toast!

I needed a change from the usual French toast we've been eating too often, and so after spreading a generous dose of butter and a good dollop of condensed milk, I popped this toast under the broiler setting and watched as the top began to bubble and brown...

Mashed potatoes, broccoli, corn and peas.

No, this isn't just some intense mashed potatoes, but it was the main feature in the KOROKKE I made last week. What are these funny sounding things? It's basically the mixture in the above picture, formed into rounds, then floured, egged, breaded, and deep fried.

Formed into balls and ready to be coated

Korokke is actually a Japanese food that was derived from it's French ancestor, the Croquette, which is much more meatier. Korokkes can also contain no potato, but a white sauce, or ragou, which is also delicious and will be made by me sometime.

Here are rather simple instructions on how to make

~ Korokke ~

1. Mash potatoes, mix in any veggies or meat (salt and pepper as you wish)

2. Form them into rounds/cylinders with your hand.

*You can also push in a piece of cheese if you want :)

3. Coat it in flour, and pat off excess.

4. Coat it in beaten egg

5. Coat in breadcrumbs.

*I made my own breadcrumbs by toasting bread until dry and then pounding it in a bag.

[You can put this in the freezer until you want to fry it, or fry it right away]

~ Let's deep fry ~

1. Heat enough oil in a pot that will cover more than half of your korokke.

2. Oil is ready when you see small bubbles when you stick wooden chopsticks in the oil.

*I typically keep the oil heated at medium to medium-low heat.

3. Flip it when one side is golden brown.

4. Fish it out when both sides are brown.

5. Place it on a rack until consumption so it doesn't get soggy.

I think I'm slowly beginning to get addicted to deep frying food now...

It was so fun deep frying this! And when its still warm and take a bite, the cheddar cheese I stuffed inside oozes out so beautifully.

On the rack, ready to be eaten.

My friends were the first to eat this, cause I was busy deep frying the rest of the 12 or so korokkes I made. Their first reaction?

"This is so yummy!"

Which made me really really really happy. *tears form from over-joyous moment*

Thanks for loving my food~

The inside has soo much fillings

And I finally got to enjoy it while the last batch was deep frying. And it was actually just as delicious as my friends have told me it was! You can even add come ketchup or mayo or hot sauce : O

This recipe is a very simple one that you could make with just the things you already have in your kitchen, plus a few potatoes and the desire to eat deep fried food.

They look like candies - all wrapped up and everything

Best friend/girlfriend was out and couldn't get the freshly made ones, but I wrapped them up while they were still warm so she could eat it when I met up with her. *feel so considerate of hungry friends*

This week's food picture

A brunch a had this week in order to use the half of the tomato, was a toasted English muffin with fried egg and mayoooo.

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

Last week I also put together a bunch of things that I really like and made a spin on a classic dessert. *ahem*cheesecake*ahem*

What? What kind of dessert? You'll have to wait until my next blog post to find out then ;)

I feel so free now that midterms are done, so I can finally put my baking under more spotlight! I'm currently redesigning my business card, and to the few friends that I've asked to help me:

I really do, because you have a much more creative and artistically talented mind than I do.

It will be in my next blog post, so look forward to it :)

, by vickichowder

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