by ·4 Comments

Check out this wicked awesome care package we got from Scott’s mum in Australia!

Savoys (similar to Ritz but way crunchier/better), BBQ Shapes, various minty things, choc ripple cookies biscuits, Flake, Wizz Fizz (haven’t tried this yet!), Freddo frogs, Fruity Tingles, Chomp, and some Aussie socks!

It made Scott very very happy. He is rationing everything, heehee.

We may have to send Scott over with an empty suitcase just for Savoys. Australia really has better crackers biscuits.

P.S. How does it make sense to have the same word for a cracker AND a cookie??!

by ·0 Comments

This weekend was the UBC Apple Festival. We had a really good time last year, so both Scott and I were quite excited to go again this year. We brought along a friend of mine (one of my classmates) this time and all three of us had lots of fun.

We tasted a million kinds of apples. My favourites were Jonamac, Fiesta (which apparently I liked last year too!), Honeycrisp, and Lord Lambourne. Both Scott’s and Gill’s favourites were totally different than mine, and each others. All apples really do have different tastes, textures, and juiciness. It’s really neat to try so many at the same time. I prefer softer, juicy and not overly sweet, while Scott likes crunchy and very sweet.

Actually we all liked Lord Lambourne, but that one wasn’t available for sale!

Scott entered an apple peeling contest.

I ate the whole peel except this tiny strip, so Scott used it for a disguise.

Scott and Gill shared a piece of apple pie.

And we took a corny photo (that I love).

We all bought one bag of apples. Jonamac for me, Senshu for Scott, and Aurora Golden Gala for Gill.

It really was a great Saturday morning. Unfortunately the rest of the weekend is filled with homework. Back to studying now…

by ·2 Comments

me and my turkey

Our Thanksgiving party ended up being a big success! Lots of fun!

Do you like my homemade sushi apron??

lotsa food

I overcooked the turkey a bit (was so worried about it being safe!) but everyone said it was still good. We put bacon on the top! All 12 of us ate through most of the 13 lbs, except for one tupperware of bits of meat that I pulled off later for sandwiches and a bunch of lunch packs that I sent home with some people. My stuffing got devoured, mmm it was so good. It was a savoury fruit stuffing with apples and cranberries, and vegetarian so Scott could eat it too. We also had two kinds of mashed potatoes (one with mascarpone and crab!),  roasted vegetables and squashes, bread, cheese, beans, salads, 50 million desserts and lots of wine. Probably more that I am forgetting!

I’m pretty impressed that we had such a big dinner with the supplies we had. We had to share knives and Stew had to eat out of a tupperware container though, haha. And Scott had to perch on the back of the couch. I loved how it all went though, with everyone just digging into the food and lots of laughter.

post-turkey pre-dessert coma

haha why does Rosemarie look so disgusted?

After dinner we played a few games of Wits and Wagers and drank more wine. Then the night ended with the boys playing Street Fighter and girls playing Carcassonne, and then one final late night Carcassonne game with Scott since Lauren would be leaving in the morning.

Took me ages to fall asleep. Too much adrenaline after all the hosting and all the fun!

A+ Thanksgiving 2011. Hope yours was amazing as well!!

by ·3 Comments

Sigh, I really wanted to take pictures of our apartment/art today but it’s really grey and gross outside and that means our apartment is extra extra dark inside. It’s already very dark on a normal day, so now it’s like a cave. The lack of light may be my biggest complaint about this place. I really like all the big trees and flowers and plants around our building, but bye bye sunlight.

Instead I will leave you with two Katrina recipes.

Katrina’s Modified NY Times Cookies

My new go-to cookie recipe. The recipe is a bit picky, but you should have seen the original! I simplified it in a few different ways and think that these are still REALLY good, and quite a bit easier. You do have to plan ahead for them though, as they need to sit in the refrigerator for 3+ hours. They’re worth it though!

I like this recipe because the cookies turn out soft and chewy, and they don’t spread as much as Fannie Farmer cookies. I guess they look pretty humongous in the picture above but they’re not! Our oven is really tiny, we even had to buy a new smaller baking pan because the old one couldn’t fit. You can see that our silicone mat is too big now. :(

Yield: 50 cookies! This recipe can be halved fairly easily.

Time: 15 minutes of prep, 3+ hours of waiting! 15 minutes baking time.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp course salt
  • 1 1/4 cups butter
  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • chocolate chips/disks (white, milk, semi-sweet etc), skor pieces, as many as you prefer

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and course salt. Set aside.
  2. In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugars. I don’t have a mixer so I soften the butter a bit in the microwave.
  3. Stir in the eggs and vanilla.
  4. Add in the flour mixture. I do it in several phases to minimize mess, since this recipe makes quite a lot of dough.
  5. Add in your chocolates chips/disks and candy pieces
  6. Cover the top of the bowl and put it in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
  7. Preheat oven to 350º F. Pry of chunks of dough and roll into 1″ diameter balls and bake for 15 minutes.

—————————

Ummmm… Mexican THING

This monstrosity is what happens when it is my turn to cook. Hehe.

Layered from bottom to top: diced tomatoes, tortilla, black beans, tortilla, cheese, chipotle peppers and sauce, diced tomato, tortilla, cheese, green onions, and two eggs cracked on top. Basically whatever you ingredients you like.

Bake for 20 minutes. Top with a bit of sour cream and some sliced avocado.

by ·2 Comments

I always enjoy the food when I visit America. You just can’t get the same stuff for those cheap prices in Canada! The food we had on this trip was awesome. I had a few recommendations written down from several sources (internet friends, New York Times, yelp) and they did not disappoint. Mmmmmmm.

from Cuban Food USA

The first day we went in search of Paseo, a Caribbean sandwich shop a little bit out of the downtown area. We had to go to a tourist information center to get instructions on how to get there, then take a bus ride, and then walk up a big hill. But mmmm it was worth it.

from Seattle Weekly

I had their popular Cuban slow-roasted pork shoulder sandwich, with aioli, cilantro, japapenos, lettuce and caramelized onions. It was drippy and moist and SO GOOD. The meat was tender and yummy, the caramalized onions were amazing, and the baguette was tasty. I have no complaints.

Scott had the tofu delight, which was similar but had tofu instead of pork. He liked his too but it was a bit small considering it was the same price as mine (and mine was humongous).

Both of us had sticky hands after eating, it was impossible to keep the sandwiches together.

I also tried McDonald’s strawberry lemonade that I’d seen on TV but we didn’t have in Canada. Verdict: meh. Even though that is basically my favourite drink combination, the strawberry stuff was too sweet and the whole drink was just average. I guess what do I expect from Maccas.

The same day we went out in search of drinks and ended up at Barca, a moody bar in possibly a student area. The music was cool and the patio was good and the drinks were ultra cheap. Awesome.

After getting a bit DRONK we headed off to the Mexican restaurant that Scott had picked (Barrio). It was fancier than either of us had guessed, but mmm delicious.

We only ordered two small appetizers and one enchilada plate to share and still ended up with piles of food. In the top left you can see a pork tamale (braised pork in pepita mole, sweet pepper crema, cotija cheese, onion and cilantro, for me, obviously). In the top right is mushroom quesadilla (chipotle roasted portobello mushrooms, oaxaca, jack and cotija cheese, poblano-onion rajas and crema served with pickled vegetables and tomatillo salsa) and then in the foreground is grilled local summer squash enchiladas (with onion-red pepper rajas, jack, oaxaca and cotija cheese and tomatillo sauce).

Everything was super tasty, except for we both thought the corn tortillas were too thick and took away from the tastiness of the dishes.

I also had a strawberry margarita and Scott had a margaveza (a ginormous combination of a margeurita and a beer!). He liked it.

Me with rosy cheeks from walking.

After lazing around for a bit the next morning we headed off for breakfast. The whole walk was uphill, but again, IT WAS WORTH IT. I am still dreaming about this breakfast. We went to Glo’s, another recommendation from an internet friend/NYT. It was a small cozy breakfast joint, with a line out the front door.

We ordered way too much. I didn’t know the dishes were going to be SOOOO big!! We shared the Eggs Californian (avocado, grilled tomato and two poached eggs on English muffins with hollandaise, plus hashbrowns) and the huevos rancheros which I can’t find on the menu but basically had eggs, salsa, avocado, tortilas, sour cream, cheese, jalapenos and more, plus hashbrowns.

I’m drooling again just thinking about it. Everything was extremely yummy. We couldn’t finish it all, but we did give it a good go. Neither of us even thought about lunch at all, we were so full. Actually I was still kind of full at dinner time, but I knew we should eat something otherwise we’d end up starving on the train.

We ended up getting some light Chinese food near the train station at Ho-Ho Restaurant. Scott had some veggie chow mien and I had wonton soup with a bit of duck in it. Yummy. I don’t have any pictures of that.

Well that’s pretty much everything we ate over that weekend. All good stuff! The food was definitely one of the best parts of our trip. Now back to my salad….