vickichowder: CHINESE

FOOD PORN: BREAKFAST EDITION

As the school term comes closer the end, I've found myself so occupied that I rarely have time to watch my favourite show: No Reservations (though I think I've already watched nearly all the episodes...). After waking up, making myself presentable and going to classes, the rest of the typical day of the week usually consists of:

1. Researching food,

2. Looking at food pictures,

3. Reading the descriptions of food on menus because I'm not rich enough to go to the restaurant to eat their food,

4. Making food,

5. Eating the food I make, and

6. Doing assignments / studying

So let me share some breakfasts I've been having over this month (although I can't guarantee the actual time frame for which these photos span):

Homemade gyozas/dumplings

Radish cake

Glutinous rice with green bean, pork belly, salted egg yolk

Oatmeal + milk tea

Oatmeal + barley

Barley + honey + jujube soup

Avocado + flax seed + milk + cereal

Strawberry + flax seed + milk + cereal

Pancake with lots of hunny (because that's the way Winnie the Pooh spells it, and my love for Winnie the Pooh and everything about him go way back)

Pancake with breakfast sausage and lots of honey

Pancake with avocado and honey

Shawarma, deconstructed, sans wrap, to which I asked for four sauces to be added: garlic, tzatziki, spicy something, hummus. From FMT - Farmer's Market Thursdays

Apple fritter and vanilla icecream. The side that is heavily dusted with cinnamon is mine. From FMT

Super creamy scrambled egg with spinach, on top of sourdough bread

Poached egg with mozzarella sauce, on top of spinach and buttered+toasted rye

Lately I've been really enjoying to make grilled sandwiches. There's just something very comforting and indulgent about biting into crispy-buttered toast to reveal hot, layered - meats, veggies, and melted cheese (and a good spread of grainy mustard which I would like to thank my friends for, because I was just lamenting over how I didn't buy it - which they magically brought along with them when they visited me).

I hope this has contributed to your daily serving of food porn.

Please come again soon,

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

I think I've watched almost all of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, so I began watching another show of his - The Layover. But none on that for now. There was a No Reservations special that was dedicated entirely to food porn, in which he describes the enjoyment of food as sinful as, well, things you do that are considered to be sins. What does Mr. Bourdain say about this topic, exactly? Well:

"The human body reacts in very similar ways when anticipating food and sex. Capillaries swell, lips and membranes become engorged, saliva thickens, and the pulse rises. It’s no accident that the two pleasures have become confused."

Can you guess what this is?

On my lazy-but-must-muster-up-motivation-to-blog days, I will post up these sorts of picture posts, for those who are as lazy as I am - have no will to read words but just want to let their eyes take in everything for them *how thoughtful of me*

Happy Easter! May you eat many delicious foods this weekend (:

, by vickichowder

CHINESE

CNY & SWEET DREAMS

Happy Chinese New Years! Although I am a bit late from the first day of the new year, CNY is typically celebrated for 15 days after the first day of the new year (: Besides coming back for red pocket (envelopes with money) from family and friends, the other big factor to go home is to spend time with family and eat meals together. Here are some pictures from the first meal I ate on new year's eve.

XO sauce fried turnip/white radish cake

Deep fried doughnut (not sweet nor salty), to be eaten with congee

Deep fried fish skin (we eat it dipped with the clear broth)

Along with congee and fried vermicelli, my late, late brunch was finally satisfied. Daddy and I went to the Chinese restaurant Sam Woo for the crispy-skin pork. The line was almost a 15 minute wait, and by the time it almost got to us, only the pork butt was left and a new whole pork hasn't finished roasting yet. To top that off, neither of us had enough cash cause I forgot my wallet at the book store (which thankfully was there when I went back to retrieve it).

Crispy skin pork

BBQ duck

Vegetarian dish with lots of deep fried soy bean curd

More vegetarian food. The round slices with holes are lotus root

Steamed fish - my favourite part of this is the cheek

Chinese braised mushroom and dried oysters (making it have a super concentrated flavour)

Chinese new year cakes (it's sticky and chewy)

Deep fried egg chip/cracker? I really don't know, but it's really yummy!

Before the week of the new years, my throat was incredibly dry and I kept steaming the Asian pears to eat because it's supposed to be very good for your throat.

After cutting the top off like a lid, scoop out the seeds then fill it with honey and jujube. Replace the top part of the pear and steam it for a good 40 minutes so it becomes soft and sweet.

Sweet Dreams is the name of a bubble tea cafe in Waterloo, and recently, the manager asked if I would make some mousse cakes and cupcakes for her to sell there! And so I made mousse cake and cupcake and sold it there.

It feels so nice to see your cakes inside a display thingy

I wish I had more interesting things to say, but I hope my pictures speak more to you than the words which I am typing now - as I've been through an exceptionally busy week for some reason and feel rather exhausted *yawn*

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

This upcoming week is our reading week and I will be going to a multitude of places:

1. Pennsylvania's Grove City Outlet and Millcreek Mall
2. Buffalo's Walden Galleria
3. Montreal & McGill University
4. The autoshow in Metro Toronto Convention Centre

CNY (Chinese New Year) is near - food and money is near.

I don't know which one of the four I should be most hyped up about because they each encompass my favourite things: shopping, food, cars.

Please be on my blog again soon when I will be posting up pictures of my adventures in the US, Montreal, and Toronto!

This is dough which was made into something delicious that I will post up next time!

Wishing everyone who has reading week this week an amazing break from your studies (:

, by vickichowder

BEEF

COMFORT FOOD

There are foods that I prefer to eat over other foods during certain times in the year.

Every winter season, the hotpot burner just begs to be used, to have a pot full of flavourful broth and foods boiling over top, and to have a crowd of people hovering around, cooking raw food in little baskets or clamped between their chopsticks.

Beef, veggies, fish balls... waiting to be eaten

You may have eaten many different types of tofu for hotpot, but have you tried frozen tofu? Just freeze a container of soft/medium tofu in the tofu and defrost it before hotpot. After it has froze and defrosted, you get a spongy texture that yields a more substantial bite that smooth tofu :)

Frozen then defrosted tofu

Another thing I really love to eat for hotpot is oysters. Although I'd love to eat it any time outside of hot pot as well.

Eating the foods right after you cook it in the soup can sometimes get a little bland, especially when it's piping hot, so a nice sauce (or combination of sauces: soy, sesame, chilli, XO...) is always needed:

I don't recall what was put into this

Another food that gets me all cosy is Japanese pumpkin/squash, or Kabocha. I just cut it up and steam it (with the skin - the most nutritious part!), then make my yummy sauce to go on top.

This is awesome with a bowl of white rice

With some nasu dengaku

I also really like eggplant, and sweet stuff, and baked/grilled stuff. So when you add that all up you get the Japanese food, nasu dengaku, pictured above with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

To make it, bake both sides of an eggplant cut lengthwise (3 minutes each under the broiler mode), then spread the cut side with a mixure of a spoon of miso paste, half a spoon brown sugar, half a spoon of cooking wine. Then broil it fore 3 more minutes.

I really like vegetables, but lets just talk about the way I think green beans taste best: when they're sliced diagonally. I think it makes them look so much prettier too... don't you think so?

With chicken breast

My dear Aunt goes overseas for vacation often, and always brings me back some souvenirs, which is mostly food/snacks.

On her recent trip to Germany, she brought back the Ritter Sport chocolate I love, but in a much different form from the typical square bar we get here in North America.

It comes with four different flavours!

My favourite is the cocoa nibs one, and the praline with hazelnuts.

I don't like chocolate-flavoured foods, specifically milk chocolate. But when it comes to filled chocolates, pralines, truffles, any white or super dark chocolate, I can't say no :)

Hello brunch~

I also can't say no to dimsum. I was so used to eating it once a week that sometimes I feel kind of empty without the loud dimsum atmosphere.

Hence whenever I'm back in Mississauga, I try to always make a trip to a Chinese restaurant. Last week I went to one that I typically don't go to - Sam Woo. It was the kind of dim sum where you check off what you want from a sheet of paper and they steam it fresh for you, but they also have several waiters walking around, hard-selling the already made dishes:

Mango glutinous rice ball, with mango and cream

Fish-cake stuffed, then fried, eggplant and tofu (background)

But of course, there are a lot more comforting foods I like. I'd tell you, but I'd just end up listing all the foods I eat. But for these few months, dimsum, kabocha, and hotpot were my favorites.

And the best thing to have with hotpot is the best thing that you would have with deep-friend food, which is beer:

Heineken

I end today's post with what I ended my hotpot with, along with some festive holiday spirit since Christmas is coming up soon! *cheers!

All ready to go on the trees outside!

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

The holiday decorations in my house are all done! My dad and somehow managed to hang Christmas lights on the outside tree which has grown immeasurably tall over the years (how have I not noticed this?).

Maybe it's due to my lack of sleep nowadays: due to the exams, alongside my awesome procrastinating capabilities, and studying extremely last minutes with my other friends who share these similar characteristics with me *feels less lonely*

This is how I look like in the mornings - lacking sleep, and with bubbles coming out of my nose.

I have my third last exam tomorrow, and I'm extremely looking forward to Saturday, because Saturday = shopping (and shopping = any day, any time. But shopping does not equal Saturday, sadly.).

I'll have to make this post short and stop now because the future of my computer science grade is heavily reliant on the next few hours.

Wish you well do well (physically as well as being mentally prepared) on your exams!

, by vickichowder

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