Mamie Clafoutis

An outpost of this favored bakery opened recently near me on St-Denis so I had to go try a few of their offerings. Within just 2 visits I can tell this place will be part of my waistline next summer.


On the first visit I tried their plain croissant which had an incredible taste as though they sprayed some liquid sugar on the crust. Another friend found them uncooked however so I don't know. It still doesn't replace Fous Desserts' as my favorite in town. I also had the Tarte Tatin which had very good caramelized apple slices but the crust was somewhat bland.


On the second visit I tried the "cake" with salted caramel. It felt like a powdery pound cake but I really enjoyed it. The caramel wasn't salty at all though.I also had the "Ficelle Bleye" which is like ArHoMa's blue cheese baguette except the cheese was baked thru the entire bread as opposed to be just on the top and there were walnuts in it too. This made it a very satisfying light meal on its own.

Menu of the Week - November 15 2010

Breakfast: 2 slices of Gadoua Multigo (white whole wheat) bread, butter on one and mustard on the other. Prosciutto di Parma and Surimi slices.

Lunch: Romados grilled chicken pieces, boiled egg, blue cheese piece, soba noodles, boiled Chinese broccoli.

Snack: Yoplait cup (100g)

Bread and butter

I mentioned Au Pain Dore's 36 hour bread in the last post. It's a bread that is kept to rise for 36 hours before baking. The result is a more pronounced bread flavor that tastes a lot like a light sourdough bread. The crust is also different which makes this an all around good alternative to a "regular" baguette. Unfortunately for Au Pain Dore it's the only thing worth buying at the store as their competitors are much better at pastries, croissants and desserts.


To go with that bread I would suggest a nice tasting butter such as Lactantia's My Country butter. I am a fan of this brand since the 80s and even tried to have them ship it to me in California. Whenever there's a special at the market I buy 6 1-pound bricks to store in the freezer (each sealed in a plastic bag) so I never run out of it. I also use the half-salted butter with jams or to finish a sauce.

ArHoMa bakery

My friends who live in the  HOchelaga-MAisonneuve area has told me about this place before so I decided to drop by last weekend to have a sample. I found Philippe eating his breakfast there and he gave me a few of his recommendations. He made some of the art decorations in the store.


I tried a half-baguette which had a good crust. It wasn't bad but nothing extraordinary like the 36 hour baguette at Au Pain Doré. The magic came from the Ficelle Benedictine which is a soft baguette with blue cheese baked into the crust. This is like a super charged cheese croissant. I ate this with some prosciutto for lunch and it was heavenly.


Another specialty I also enjoyed is the croissant aux pistaches which is like an almond croissant but with pistachios instead. It's a little variation on a common theme that is quite interesting. This store also sells chocolates, jams, cheese and cakes. The desserts will be for another time.

A cheesy revelation

This year I really started to enjoy fancy cheeses. Previously I would eat cheddar or monterey jack only because it was safe and mild. In California I learned to enjoy pepper jack which is jalapeno laced monterey jack. No brie, no blue, no swiss, no mozzarella except if it came with pizza.


These days the mozzarella replaced cheddar as the safe cheese and I've been eating more of the soft goat cheese and blue cheese. In my trip to Switzerland this summer I had emmental and gruyere in the fondues and raclettes.


René from my choir had me taste all sorts of cheeses during our Glee soirées and my current favorite right now is the Bleu d'Elizabeth from Central Québec. Here's a good description from Chasing the cheese:


Bleu d’Élizabeth is an organic, cheese made from raw milk from both Holstein and Jersey cow. The cows feed on dry hay but are also pastured on clover, timothy grass, bluegrass and other organic grains. This semi-firm cheese has blue and sometimes green veining, as well as a natural rind. It takes its name from the church rectory of Sainte-Élizabeth de Warwick, located at the front of the farm.

Why Japanese food ?

When I moved to Northern California for work in the mid nineties, Japanese food was still a novelty for me. My coworkers would never eat Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese or other Asian food, they prefer Japanese food for health reasons. They also eat mostly chicken and turkey as their main protein but that's another story.  Eventually I didn't miss Chinese or Vietnamese food anymore, the Japanese food fulfilled my taste buds on the Asian flavors.


These days I eat at two Japanese restaurants weekly: Furusato for traditional at-home dishes and Kazu Izakaya for modern preparations of Asian ingredients.


At Furusato I often make myself a meal out of their appetizers section. They make the best Chicken Kara-Age in Montreal. I also enjoy the simple preparation of grilled mackerel or Oyakodon (chicken and egg over rice). The word 'oyako' means 'mother and child' and is either creepy or poetic when applied to a dish. The only things I miss is the amaebi and fried fish appetizer I enjoyed from Masa's Sushi in Mountain View. I get my fix of amaebi at Zenya on Ste-Catherine St.


At Kazu I like the smaller dishes which also lets me compose my own meal with several choices. I particularly like the shrimp okonomiyaki, a cabbage pancake not found elsewhere in Montreal. Do sit at the bar if you can so you can watch the food being prepared. I've been going to Kazu since their 2nd week of opening so I now know how every dish is prepared. There's only raw salmon and tuna in this restaurant so don't go if you just want sushi.

why Lego?

I decided recently that the only toys and games worth buying now are Lego's. Although I did buy a Transformer toy recently because it was 50% off, I will "invest" in Lego because even if I tire of them from time to time, they are infinitely reusable and compatible. 


ps: the nephews in California, can I have my Star Wars Episode 1 Lego sets back ?


I purchased the Lego Universe game recently and although it doesn't have as much content as World of Warcraft, it is very fun and has room for infinite play time with the built-in model designer. As part of your adventures you will collect pre-built models and single bricks. You can use the single bricks to form model parts and then manipulate the parts to form bigger models. The money that you also get from your adventures is not the main currency in this game and I think that's revolutionary for these kind of games.

Croissantcrawl

Last weekend we had Dishcrawl Montreal event #3, the croissantcrawl. As the weather was uncertain we decided to do it indoors and so we had 55 people tasting 9 different types. I'll let other people tell you about it.


Dishcrawl post
@FoodGuyMtl post

Dishcrawl "week" part trois

I wanted to write about the rest of the week's food experiences while @ladyleet was in town but I'll just summarize it now. 


Thursday - Kazu with @ladyleet
Friday - break
Saturday noon - Noodle Factory in chinatown with @ladyleet, @EatalianGirl, and @cgoldwax. We also went to Qing Hua dumplings
Saturday evening - I followed @ladyleet to Restauramt Biron where I met @massaymaha and @calliope27, two gals working in the social media scene at @Telegraphe. It's asian food made by a white guy and there are innovative preparations of the foods I know.

Dishcrawl "week" part deux

After the visit to l'Atelier, we walked to Macaroni Bar, a spot I would never step into. I would come back however to get a bigger portion of what we tasted, the fried gnocchi poutine. Instead of fries they deep fry gnocchi balls and then serve with a veal demi-glace and cheese curds. It's very rich tasting and very good. It's a bit expensive for a snack after drinking but it's all good. We also had pork meatballs served as lollipops but I didn't like the taste.


The night was officially over and some of us wanted to go to Juliette & Chocolat for dessert but it was already closed (11pm for a Wednesday) so we rushed to Lemeac as their kitchen closed only at midnight. I have never been to Lemeac even though I reserved there many times, thinking it was Laloux. Everytime I get to Laloux I'd have to ask the bartender to call Lemeac and cancel the reservation for me.


I'm told by the person in front of me at the table that everything is good at Lemeac. I had the chocolate tartelette with ginger ice cream which was ok.

Dishcrawl "week"

This week started on Wedneaday September 1st 2010. I had signed up for a dishcrawl where you pay $40 up front and you will be guided thru 4 courses at unannounced restaurants. It may be scary for you to surrender your meal decisions to a stranger but our local matchmaker @EatalianGirl was someone I trusted. We also had to wear walking shoes to go from place to place.

Our hostess with the mostess is @Ladyleet from San Francisco where she ran many successful dishcrawls. This event was to launch dishcrawl.com in Montreal. She is in love with our city and its food. As it turned out I got to show her many of my favorite spots in the city.

On our first stop of the evening we hit Restaurant Saluté on Laurier St for a porcini risotto served from a cheese wheel infused with saffron. I have had food served like this before but this was a first in Momtreal.

We walked to Lustucru, a market restaurant with a raw bar. I sampled salmon tartare (good), swordfish carpaccio with thin strawberry slices (meh), a beef tartare (not my kind of food), and duck carpaccio (i was praying for no salmonella).

The thrd stop was at L'Atelier where I wanted to go for the longest time. We had some foie gras on a toast (not for me) and a delicious cube of braised lamb. I will come back for sure.

Does it work?

I haven't written anything because the ipad was working horribly with blogger.com but it could be better now.

Japanese Round-Up 2/2

Izakaya is a japanese drinking establishment that serves food to go with the drinks. It's like a tapas bar. It's all the rage now in North America as people look for a new trend to adopt.  A lot of the new japanese restaurants in Montreal are labeling themselves as such and some of the older restaurants also prominently display this to attract new customers. I went to two new izakayas last weekend. Note the Izakaya restaurant on Park is only a regular japanese restaurant.


Big in Japan is where Le Pistol used to be on St-Laurent, near the corner of Pine. It's advertised as a Brasserie Japonaise and the decor reflects the main selling point, drinks. Their main food gimmick is a series of skewered fried things. You can have meat ones (3.50$ for two, taxes included in all prices) and non meat ones (3.00$ for two). I had a small carrot and daikon salad (4.50$) which was warm and satisfying. The skewers arrived next with 2 jumbo panko fried shrimps and 2 triplets of quail eggs. The eggs were too soft (I guess they don't have a good way yet to deep fry them) but the shrimps were good.


I think they comped my 2 cups of tea because the last order took a while to arrive, a pork and potato stew. Unfortunately the pork was ground pork and in such little quantities it felt more like a garnish to the big boiled potato cut into fourths. I was the only person not drinking alcohol in the entire restaurant.


Last but not least is Kazu on Ste-Catherine and St-Marc. It's a tiny place with a counter for 8 people then tables for 12. The chef owner is rather talkative despite a weak english. He wants to knwo how is everything and throws a "see you tomorrow" as a goodbye. I had the lujnch special which is tuna on rice bowl. You have sushi rice at the bottom of this modern white bowl, bits of fresh tuna on top and a small cut lettuce salad at the top. Everything is covered in a miso dressing. I also ordered the soup of the day which was a tomato and rice or barley soup. The green tea isn't as good as at my favorite Furusato. This is definitely a place I will come back to explore the rest of the menu.

Japanese Round-Up 1/2

Last weekend I tried 3 japanese restaurants that have been discussed about on Chowhound. One was a real gem and the others are not so stellar.


Sumo Ramen bills itself as a ramen experience and some people seem to like it for its authenticity. I am not an expert on Japanese ramen joints but this place looks rather kitschy with dark orange walls glass covered tables. I ordered the japanese style fried chicken wings (5 for 3.75$, all prices include taxes) which is a greasier panko-covered wings dish. I also ate the Sumo Ramen bowl with soy soup (7.95$). This came with 3 fatty pork slices and the regular accompaniement of the soy (the other choice is miso soup) mix: seaweed, enoki mushrooms, half a cold soft boiled egg and chop suey. The chop suey is simply spicy marinated soybean sprouts. The soup was ok and the cold soft boiled egg didn't make it better. Despite the averageness of the food it's worth discovering with a group of friends and try out the other ramen bowls. They also have some dishes with rice.


On a different stretch of St-Laurent there's Ramen-Ya which is smaller and looks more upscale. They have a smaller menu as well as they don't have the bubble teas and other pan-asian items of Sumo Ramen. I had the gyoza which was quite well made even though the filling was tasteless. The gyoza skin was superb however. I got a pork belly ramen soup and this stock was much better than at Sumo Ramen.


It was fun to try out these new places but I am not keen on returning to these two any time soon.

Menu of the week - March 22nd 2010

Chicken drumsticks were on special at Provigo so I bought 30 and marinated them in a simple garlic and mushroom soy sauce. I baked them at 375F for 40 minutes in my toaster oven, 6 at a time. I stripped the meat with a knife and munched on the rest. I'm not sure if I will eat this with pasta, soba or just add them to a vegetable dish purchased at the food court.

Breakfast is a simple sandwich with sliced roast turkey (also on special) and cheese.

Another sunny day

It was another sunny day last weekend and that meant I spent more money.


This shopping spree actually started on Friday after my dentist visit. I went to buy all the vietnamese treats I love. I got banh hoi, banh gio, banh mi thit/nem/bi, thach, xoi, and shrimp chips. I was really tempted to get tofu and soy milk but my bag was already full and heavy.


On Saturday I walked towards Romados to get my weekly chicken fix and I stopped at to check out Marche Soares. I got some soda with lemon named Frize. It tasted like dishwashing soap. I also stopped by Schwartz (the next door store) and got a pound of medium sliced. I tried the black cherry soda from Cott but didn't like it.


2 whole chicken ($24) + smoked meat ($14) + sodas ($3) + 36 hours bread from Pain Dore ($3) = $44 down the drain. Hopefully the health benefits of walking for 2 hours is a good offset.

Menu of the week - February 22nd 2010

Breakfast: wheat bread plus something that I will get from the market later
Lunch: buttered tofu cubes and gai lan and spaghetti and parmesan shavings and one banh gio


We had our choir's Mardi Gras party on Saturday and it was an appetizer+dessert event. I brought the soup dumplings from Qing Hua and our host has these little spoons he bought for a Foie Gras Creme Brulee and they were perfect to serve these dumplings. I had one person holding a long white platter with 12 spoons and small bowls of soy sauce and hot sauce and another person with a plastic box to collect the used spoons. People kept asking if I made them and then where they could get more.


I also brought two tarts from Romados and they were also well received. There are more marzipan lovers out there than I thought. At $10 a pie for 12 people it was also a steal.

House on stilts

I read about houses on stilts and it made me remember of my own stay at such a place. I must have been 6 years old (my earliest memory is from 4) and we were up north somewhere for a weekend trip. We stayed in these series of houses on stilts right on the beach. I remember the beach but not how we got up to the houses as they were at least 6 feet above ground.


My sister's godfather was there and he was trying to scare us with ghost stories.

Menu of the week - February 15th 2010

Simple menu this week.


Breakfast pate + cheese sandwich
Lunch: Romados chicken and capellini and paremsan and yogurt+cilantro+green onion sauce


I also ate a rib steak special from Romados and it was really good. I will now try to order rib steak when I go get my red meat meal of the month.

Switzerland

Our choir was selected to join a Choral Festival in Neuchatel this summer. We qualified by sending in a CD with a live recording of some songs. It seems we are the first Canadian choir they have invited in their 13 years of existence. 


The sweet deal includes free lodging and food and local transportation. All we have to do is to get there.


I will be going early so I can spend one day in Zurich. My main goal is to go to the Sprungli Confiserie store and load up on their famous luxemburgli (like french macarons). I wanted to go to Germany to buy some Perry Rhodan books but I don't think I'll have time because Zurich to Munich by train is 4 hours per direction.

Gays in Tet parade

There was a small brouhaha about some vietnamese gay groups marching in the Little Saigon (Westminster) Tet parade today. The expected religious groups made a big fuss how it's inappropriate to have homosexuals - the thing they oppose - in the middle of a family event. The gay groups have been marching in the San Jose Tet parade since 2004 without any problems and they want to extend their visibility to this area.


I am not sure if the gay groups' arguments are 100% kosher but having religious groups dictate what is a celebration of vietnamese culture is definitely not nice. Not everyone follow their beliefs and imposing one's views isn't what Jesus preached IMHO.


http://bolsavik.com/2010/02/tet-parade-gays-marched-people-applauded-alls-well/

Glee night menu

Today is our last Glee viewing party. We're on the last 4 episodes aired last quarter and since I'm off today I will have a lot of time to prepare my food. Here's the planned menu with cost per person.

spaghetti or other pasta (0.35)
5th element spaghetti sauce, vegetarian version (1.50)
grilled chicken from Romados for the meat eaters (2.75)
deviled eggs 3-way : pickle, mustard+garlic, cilantro+nori (1.00)
shrimp cocktail with herb+sour cream dip, a yogurt dip will also be available (1.25)

marzipan fruit tarts (1.60)

TV shows

They're going to cancel Ugly Betty! Granted the show is not as funny as before but it's still a feel good comedy that doesn't exist elsewhere. Dollhouse is also going to get terminated :(


Here are other shows I watch this quarter.


Blue Mountain State - silly football low brow comedy
Caprica - a Battlestar Galactica prequel with Eric Stoltz!
Kids in the Hall - Death Comes to Town
Glee - everyone has to watch this
Spartacus Blood and Sand - silly softcore 300 clone
Modern Family - I'm not sure why I watch this, I don't like it that much
Cougar Town - silly old women and young men comedy


No more links ... I'm tired.


Project Runway - reality tv so I must watch
Desperate Housewives - good enough
Grey's Anatomy - good cry
Private Practice - good cry
Skins - british humour
The Hustle - british humour
Secret Diary of A Call Girl - british humour
V 2009 - good so far
How I Met You Mother - Neil Patrick Harris
Greek - silly kids comedy
FlashForward - good scifi
Lost - the last season
Survivor - reality tv so I must watch
American Idol - reality tv so I must watch

ipad

The announcement came and I watched the video today. This will nicely replace my macbook 13" as my bed side reading material.


I used to have a stack of magazines and books near my bed so I can read in bed. It got replaced 3 years ago by a laptop so I can browse the web and keep up on useful and useless news. The laptop is small but still heavy. This ipad will perfectly play that role instead. I don't need the 3G access because I don't even have a personal cell phone and I will rely mostly on media I already loaded on the device. I'd have to go for the 64GB model however.


People I know who already have an iphone or itouch are not terribly excited by this product. Since it's unlocked I will probably go get one as soon as it shows up in the US. Maybe I can even bring this on my Switzerland trip!

Menu of the week - February 1st 2010

Even though last week's menu was tasty and enjoyable my tastebuds felt tired after eating so much food. Other things didn't work too. The soba was mushy on the last 2 days and microwaved roast pork is not that good. This week I only work 4 days so I will not make as much lunches (Tuesday is soup day). I also have to plan a menu for our Glee night on Friday.


I decided to make dishes based on what's on special at Provigo. Last week the spaghetti sauce was half price so we'll have some pasta. I'll enhance the sauce with tofu and edamame for the vegetarians in the group. The rest will have a simple beef hash with mirepox. This week we have 31-40 shrimps, large eggs, frozen vegetables and bacon on special. I'll make deviled eggs two way: a cilantro+nori mix and a mustard+garlic mix. I'll serve the shrimp cold with frozen vegetables boiled then cooled. There will be a sour cream+something dip. 


Breakfast box:
7 cooked shrimps
1 hard boiled egg
shredded nori
mayonnaise cilantro dip
6 Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits




Deviled Eggs:
12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
Mayonnaise
chopped cilantro (include stems) and chopped nori
old style grain mustard and chopped garlic
chopped green onion to garnish



"Fifth Element" Spaghetti Sauce - from my unpublished cookbook
ground beef - use firm tofu and edamame for vegetarian version
mirepox
garlic
soy sauce
crushed tomatoes (can is ok)
whole tomatoes (can is ok)
mushroom
tomato paste
vegetable oil
salt
pepper


Chop the garlic and mushroom. Cook the garlic and miraqua in vegetable oil until mushy. Add the ground beef, salt, and pepper and cook thoroughly. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Add the crushed tomatoes and whole tomatoes and let the liquid reduce by half. Add soy sauce, turn heat to low and let simmer until the desired thickness is achieved. Add the mushroom at the very end of cooking.


Suggested serving: To achieve the full umami experience, serve with Parmesan Cheese and Red Wine.

restaurant review: Poulet Bronzé

Fried chicken is not that good for you but sometimes when you gotta have it, you gotta have it. In Montreal we don't have Popeye's or good fried chicken joints and I used to go to KFC twice a year. I would eat one meal and then remember why I don't eat there more often.

Last year I found this gem of a place where they serve really good fried chicken. They have regular and spicy and now also nuggets and fried shrimp.

I take the special order of 4 pieces for 7$ because I am not big on the fries or side items. It's also delicious reheated the next day for lunch (and make all my coworkers drool with envy).

Apple event

Today is the day Apple may announce the tablet product. I'm going to buy one !

School Lunch

Do you know what kids eat in school these days? It's not better than fast food that's for sure. An elementary school teacher has gone CSI for us and started to eat what her school serves. She's blogging about her meals and there have been a lot of good comments from other food related blogs.


Here's Mrs Q. It's like a Super Size Me for the school kids. British chef Jamie Oliver did something like this in England where it was well received and created changes at the government level. He is planning the same for the US by doing a show at some cities but it has met some resistance.

Work Breakfast

I used to not eat breakfast and it started around university when I found myself with less time. I would grab a donut or something and get on with the day. I would end up eating an early lunch and then a snack again before dinner.


This continued until I moved to California for work and I was on the 5am to 9am phone shift. After the shift ended our group would go to have a big beakfast at the cafeteria. Those were the good days of big bowls of fruit and egg sandwiches. I was always amazed at the year round availability of melons, strawberry, pineapple, blueberry, etc - maybe it was just part of the extravagant spending that took the company down.


Nowadays I have to eat something or I won't be able to work plus I need my 6g of fiber a day to get things flowing. I found this bread that has 3g per slice and I started to make sandwiches ahead of time for the work week. I filled them with egg salad, deli meats, butter and jam, etc. After 6 months or so I got tired of eating that so I've been looking for new ideas.


Last week's whole wheat pita was delicious and a novelty but I didn't get enough fiber so I have to go back to the sliced bread. I will however keep the crab+egg mixture for the filling and add some Giò lụa. For lunch this week I will pack soba and tofu and frozen vegetables.

.

Menu of the week

Warm weather costs me money. 


When it's warm in the winter like today (higher than -10C) I end up going on a large food shopping tour. Today I headed to Chinatown first to buy some pastries at Harmonie (6$), a dozen Egg Rolls (8.5$) and 1 pound of lean roasted pork (7.5$) at the butcher below Keung Kee (I don't kow the store's name!). I then headed to a market to buy tofu and gai lan (4$). I finished at the Hoang Oanh banh mi chain with some chả lụa and thach (5.5$).


I then took the 55 bus on St-Laurent to get to the corner of Mont-Royal. I walked to Kouign Amann for the 2nd best croissant (6 for 10.25$) in the city (store number one is closed on Sundays) and also got a slice of tomato+leek quiche for lunch (2.65$). I made my way to Romados for their famous roasted chicken (11$) and an apricot marzipan tart (10$) but they gave me an almond one instead. I walked to St-Urbain to take the 55 bus going south and stopped at Prince-Arthur St.


I walked to Marché Lobo to get cilantro and green onion (2.25$) for my omelet, 2 bags of cherries (6$) and Provigo for my whole wheat bread (3$). This concludes a shopping trip that cost me close to 70$. It yielded 5 breakfast sandwiches and 4 lunch boxes and extra vegetables and cherries and dessert.


The breakfast sandwich is the crab mix omelet slice and slices of chả lụa with Kraft Singles cheese on whole wheat 3g-per-slice bread. I mixed mayonnaise and cilantro stems and green onions for a spread. Material cost is 1.90$ per sandwich.


The lunch box has roasted pork pieces at the bottom, boiled gai lan and a cube of tofu over, and soba noodles on top. I will take the soba out first then reheat the rest in the microwave. Material cost for each box is 3$ with 2$ for the pork roast.

restaurant review: Furusato

This is my favorite japanese restaurant in Montreal. I don't eat a lot of raw fish so sushi and sashimi is not what attracts me although Furusato (formerly named Osaka) has never disappointed me on it. I haven't been to Tri Express, Jun-I, 

I prefer dishes that japanese people eat at home rather than the business/bar sushi. I also like appetizers and this place has most of what I was able to have in California. I have tried most of what they offer on the english menu and I often make a meal out of 4 appetizers.

I have been eating here since 2007 when I started to work again and I go at least once a week. The staff knows me well and these days I always get extra food. Here are my favorites:

Chicken Karaage

Agedashi Tofu

Shrimp + Vegetable Tempura

Petit Sukiyaki

Chawan Mushi

Fried Squid (no longer available)

Nabeyaki Udon

Oyakodon

Unadon

Tamago (sweet omelet)

On the raw side I like (in sashimi form)

Sake (fresh salmon)

Maguro (tuna)

Toro (fatty tuna, usually belly)

Ikura (salmon roe)

Tobiko (flying fish roe)

Finally there is a special maki using pickled plum (umeboshi) and perilla (shiso) that is a very good combination of tartness and herbal. Shiso (tía tô in vietnamese) is my 2nd favorite herb in the world, after cilantro.

There are some dishes that I like but they don't have: amaebi (raw sweet shrimp), tempura'd "golden" california roll (from Satsuma Sushi in Sunnyvale), fried fish,  Teridon (from Shogun Restaurant in Mountain View), 

Bun Rieu

There are many soup dishes in Vietnamese cuisine and my favorite is Bun Rieu. The recipe is simple but the preparation takes time. My aunt has a simpler recipe that uses less ingredients What I end up doing most of the time is to use the crab meat mixture in an omelet to get the main taste of the dish. I would eat the omelet in strips with noodle or rice and I even use it as a sandwich filling.

I made some this weekend for my super-breakfast sandwich. Eggs, crab mixture, scallions. Whole wheat pita bread (bag of 6 for 1$ at Marché Lobo), Kewpie mayonnaise and a slice of cheese.

Eggs II

I read about a method to parcook soft boiled egg and then use them later by simply reheating in warm water. This will result in perfect liquid yolk egg any time you want. I have to buy a food thermometer to try it out but in the mean time here's an example of the application: Eggs Bacalao. If you have a deep fryer please try it out for me.


Another fancy preparation using eggs is the famous Arpege Egg made popular by the Arpege restaurant in France. The original recipe is quite involved so I made a simpler version that I served to friends at a New Year party. As people were leaving the party around 4am we made this as a goodbye snack that you can just eat in one gulp. I got a lot of suprised looks but everyone enjoyed it once they got past the fact that it was a dessert and not a savory dish.


Simpler Arpege Egg


soft boiled egg, with yolk liquid and white solid
maple syrup
heavy cream
sea salt flakes


Once the egg is boiled, cut the top of the shelf 1/3 way down. Place the egg in an egg cup to keep it stabilized. Pour in some maple syrup and top with a dollop of cream. Sprinkle sea salt flakes on top and serve before the yolk has solidified.


When I was trying this out for the first time, the eggs' yolk was not as liquid as I wanted so I ended up with a dozen eggs with a mushy yolk. I decided to use it anyway and I ended up with a sweet deviled egg dish. The yolk was mixed with whipped cream and maple syrup and spooned back into the egg white halves. You can also use the yolk mix to spread over toast for a nice breakfast-dessert combo.

This Week in Holy Crimes

The customers are keeping me busy today so I'll just link to a regular blog I read.


Every Monday it compiles a list of church sins.

Eggs

I love eggs. I can eat eggs every meal and never get tired. I think I inherited this desire from my dad who said that when he was young it was the luxury item his family couldn't afford so he was always up for it.


There are several ways you can prepare eggs.


Poached


I used to eat eggs only poached in the Eggs Benedict dish. I would not eat any eggs during the week and on Sunday I would meet up with a friend to have brunch and get my fix.


I tried to poach eggs in the microwave but they never come out with the yolk liquid. Cooking it in a pot of boiling water was too complicated for me. Whenever I go to a restaurant for breakfast I will always get the poached egg dish.


Scrambled


I don't like to scramble eggs because it requires too much effort and cuts into my computer gaming-while-cooking. At the restaurants it's very hard to get good scrambled eggs. You usually see the big block of eggs they make and reheat. I had good scrambled eggs at a fancy restaurant once but it's still hard to find one.


Microwaved


My mom used to make this as a quick protein dish for the family. Crack several eggs in a bowl, add left over ingredients and vermicelli and sliced mushrooms. Microwave and eat. You could say it's like a baked egg dish.


Hard Boiled


I eat hard boiled eggs most often because they are easy to make and relatively healthy. I like them with salt and pepper or with mayo. On a sad day I can gobble up 6 in one sitting.


Soft Boiled


I don't make this - I need a kitchen timer and a good recipe. I've made it for the Arpege Egg dish at a party once.


Special preparations


In the near future ...

restaurant review: Qing Hua

I bought 80$ worth of dumplings for a party last night. Most were available as frozen but I also bought two uncooked dishes to be boiled at the party. Everyone enjoyed them immensely. They cost from 10-13$ for 30 frozen dumplings to cook at home (6 minutes in boiling water). You get 18 boiled or 15 fried if you eat at the restaurant.

This restaurant only sells these soup dumplings and a few appetizers. All the meat dumplings have a broth in them so when you eat them there's soup gushing out. If you are not careful you can burn your tongue or splurt liquid all over yourself and your dining party.

The best flavor combination is lamb and coriander, I also like the shrimp/egg/leek one.

The restaurant started as a small below street level join on St-Marc and Tupper. It opened last winter and has been a hit at the chowhound board. They recently moved into a larger location on Lincoln and St-Mathieu (see sidebar for a google map link).

This place is part of Montreal's "Chinatown 2" which is in the Concordia ghetto. I'll be reviewing more restaurants in this area.

Buzz Lightyear Lego

Last weekend on a soda trip to Plattsburgh, I bought the Buzz Lightyear lego set from Target. It was $10 cheaper than in Montreal. 


Toy Story is one of the new themed Lego sets for 2010. It's a great combination for licensed toys but I don't like the sets so far. I have a particular fondness for Toy Story as it was the first fully CGI animation movie and there was a funny line that we used in the support group at SGI.


When a martian gets picked by "The Claw", he says


"I have been chosen. Farewell, my friends. I go to a better place."


We all laugh how we wanted to get away from customer support as a dead end job.


I even bought a big doll of the martian model to go with my Tinky Winky doll.

Random dish ideas

If you provide the kitchen and equipment, I'll bring the ingredients to make these.


Slice thin sashimi-grade salmon and roll into cigars. Stuff with extra-ripe avocado and mango. Dress with a white miso dressing. Serve with roasted red beets.


Boil edamame and chill for a salad with mini cucumber balls and green peas. Sprinkle some basil and mint chiffonade. Dress with a lemon, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and rice vinegar mix.


Steam rice with tomato water. Mix with finely chopped dill (almost a powder). Serve with a robust flavored meat.


Soak sultana raisins in rum. Make maple syrup rice krispies. Brown banana slices in butter. Serve with high quality vanilla ice cream.


Slice zuchini and use as lasagna pasta. Use avocado instead of cheese. Use crushed pistachio with tofu crumbles for the meat texture.

Baked Ginger Tofu on Soba

I'm bringing meat dumplings to a party tomorrow and there are two vegetarians in the group. The restaurant doesn't sell frozen vegetarian dumplings so I had to make a dish. With the success of the soba noodle I made for Lanie's x-mas party I decided on it with a ginger tofu dish I like at Le Commensal. I found a copy of the recipe online (in french). The soba dish is copied from my favorite japanese restaurant.

2 tablespoon of no taste (not olive oil) vegetable oil
1 cup of light soy sauce
2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce with mushroom
a 2 x 1/2 inch rhizome of ginger minced

Mix the above in a blender (I used my Magic Bullet) until you get a smooth sauce. Cut firm tofu into slices or cubes. Marinate for more than 3 hours. Bake the tofu in an oven for 30 minutes at 400 F.

soba noodle
finely chopped green onion
toasted sesame seed
nori cut into thin strips
sesame oil
minced ginger and daikon
soy sauce

Cook the soba noodle as indicated on the package, be sure to rinse it 5x with cold water. Toss the noodles with a tiny bit of sesame oil to prevent the noodles from sticking (they shouldn't if you rinsed enough).  Serve with the green onion, sesame seeds and strips of nori. Garnish with the ginger and daikon. Soy sauce is added if you want to eat this by itself.