Friday, February 05, 2010

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)

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

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

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

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!

Monday, February 01, 2010

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.