misstcc's Xanga

Xmas Gathering with my buddies

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:12:26 GMT

We had a pretty nice Christmas Gathering with my buddies over the holidays.

Our friends made some nice dishes like ...
Ham and Potatoe soup
Mediterranean pizza with olives, feta cheese, spanish onion and spinach.
Pasteis de Bacalhau
Lasagna
Beer Mussels
Taiwanese style chicken 三杯雞

It was also nice to have some veggie platter, fruit platter and dessert for people to munch on to begin and end the meal

My and I also made several dishes. It was our first time cooking for 20 people crowd.
Sweet Potatoe Casserole
Garlic Roast Beef
Green Bean Casserole with French Fried Onion
Honey Garlic Chicken Wings
Chicken Cannelloni
Shepard's Pie

It was a lot of work but well worth it to have everyone enjoying the food and company so much.

I discovered some of my friends really like karaoke singing. It was great to see that everyone was enjoying themselves.

199 days

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:59:50 GMT

Then it'll be all done... no more getting senseless comments from certain people ...

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:38:17 GMT

I really enjoyed the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

UP is a really good movie but I think this one is even better.

There is a lot of imagination and creativity in the small details of the movie.

My favourite scene is when Flint made a jello place for Sam. It was fun and romantic!

Highly recommend this movie!

Thanks for making yakisoba and the movie!

Trattoria Nervosa

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:58:13 GMT

Bday celebration for genie81 at Trattoria Nervosa at Yorkville

Taste: 5/5 (for risotto )
Presentation: 4/5
Portion: 2.5/5 (entree = appetizer portion for guys)

Spaghetti ai Gamberi
Tiger shrimps, salt cod, parsley, cherry tomatoe sauce

Capellini
Sun-dried tomatoes, basil, rochetta goat cheese, tomato sauce

Braised Veal Meatballs
Fresh ricotta polenta, peperonata

Proscuitto e Arugula
Tomatoe, fresh mozzarella, niagara proscuitto, arugula, shaved parmigiano

This pizza looks very delicious loaded with proscuitto and arugula.

Risotto Nervosa
Local field and porcini mushroom risotto, 6 hr barolo braised beef short rib, fig vincotto

The risotto was bursting with flavour, very delicious dish. The braised beef was a little stringy after 6 hr braising

Linguine alle Vongele
Little neck clams, chili, garlic, herbs, white wine and cold pressed olive oil

The linguine is al dente. Clams are quite fresh.

21 Wineries

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:16:52 GMT

Thanks to pirates_ahoy and her SO, we all get to go to NOTL to participate in the Taste of Season for the weekend.

Originally, we aimed to go to about 15 wineries but we made very good progress of going to 12 on the first day. After the whole weekend, we ended up tasting all the wines listed in the 21 participating wineries.

The main categories of wine featured in the tasting were Chardonnay/Gewürztraminer/Riesling, Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon and Ice Wine.

I realized that Merlot is my least favourite red wine because of its dryness / sourness. Also, its body is very light. I tend to enjoy the Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz full bodiness more.

I got a pretty full bodied Chardonnay at Chateau de Charmes which I liked almost immediately after the tasting. I was happy I was able to get it as a gift for the holiday season.

I think it was nice to have the food pairing with the wine to make it easier on the stomach It seems that most of the food pairings did not really enhanced the flavour of the wine. If the wine is good on its own, it would be as good after the food and same goes for the not-so-good wines.

My favourite food pairing was the Black Currant, Pepper and Venison Medley. The venison meat was very tender and yummy.

I am still a beginner in knowledge of wine but I learned a lot more after this weekend

My favourite though is still the sweet dessert Ice wine and iced fruit wines.

My and I both enjoyed the vidal ice wine, iced cherry pair with chocolate brownie, and blueberry wine.

New vocab: "select harvest", "late harvest", "cabernet franc ice wine"

- the name of the wine is named after the grape in Niagara region
- the name of the wine is named after the region in France (e.g. Bordeaux, Champagne, Alsace)
- champagne made in Niagara region cannot be called champagne because it is France's trademark for the wines made in Champagne. The equivalence is "traditional French method" for making the champagne.

http://www.sunnybrookfarmwinery.com/page/wines

Iced Cherry
A sweet dessert wine made from 100% Niagara cherries. The ripe fruit is picked in July and frozen. The frozen fruit is then gently pressed. The resulting juice is sweet and bursting with cherry flavour.
Serve with desserts such as Black Forest cake, fruitcake, cheesecake, chocolate mousse, fruit, or Marscapone cheese. Or serve Iced Cherry alone as dessert.
Serve slightly chilled. (375ml bottle)
This is a Limited Edition bottling, featuring 3 cherries in each bottle.

Iced Apple
A sweet dessert wine made from 100% Niagara Apples. The ripe fruit is picked in October, frozen, and then gently pressed. The resulting juice is sweet and bursting with the flavour of many different varieties of apples. The wine has a heady aroma of apples and a hint of vanilla and caramel.
Serve with desserts such as fruit tarts, angel food cake, or pastries. Serve with cheese such as a sharp Cheddar, Brick or Swiss.
Serve slightly chilled. (375ml bottle)

http://www.southbrook.com/main.html#wines

Blueberry
Courageous. On the wild side, with a hint of northern herbs.

Omakase II

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:54:10 GMT

Inatei Japanese Cuisine

Presentation: 5/5
Taste: 5/5
Portion: 4/5
Atmosphere: 5/5

Sunomono Salad: Fresh squid, octopus, surf calm, konnyaku, kelp in a nice, light sauce

Conch soup: basically miso soup with conch meat. The presentation is nice but the soup can be better if broth is made from fresh conch meat.

Cucumber Roll, Hamachi sashimi, fish liver: all very yummy. I like the little bottle of tangy soya sauce that goes with the hamachi

Foie Gras Sushi: Absolutely melts in your mouth! Very delicious! This was the highlight of the meal along with the sashimi shown now.

Sashimi: Hamachi Belly (very fresh), Semachi (maybe spelled wrong), Scallop (very very fresh), Salmon Roe (very fresh), Uni (fresh but kind of metallic taste to me still). I enjoyed the Hamachi belly and scallop sashimi because they are extremely fresh. Also, I must mention that the wasabi is made from grated wasabi horseradish rather than the paste from the powder. This makes the experience more authentic.

Grapefruit Jelly: to cleanse the palate before the cooked food courses. Very refreshing and non-artifiicial

Angus Beef with garlic, egg wrapped with roe and imitation crab, spinach with bonito, chawanmushi with scallop

I like the beef, egg wrap and chawanmushi because they are pretty simple dish but made very delicious

Unagi okonomiyaki and Toro rice burger (forgot the Japanese name of it): both are very yummie

This dessert ended the meal very nicely:

Green Tea cheesecake, Black Sesame Ice Cream and Tofu Cheesecake

They are all made with a lot of real ingredients and very delicious

HB2MK

Babu

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:46:37 GMT

Had some really good Indian take-out with loafy on the weekend at Babu

When you walk in, you will see two main sections:
1. Express : snacks, wide selection of dessert, fried foods like samosa and baked goods.
2. Open Kitchen: rice, many kinds of curries

We ordered a Lumprice (rice and curries wrapped in a big banana leave).

Mutton / Chicken / Beef 5 Veg.Curries, Egg Plant Pickle, Sprats,	...................................................	$7.45

We picked mutton curry, 5 veggie curry (paneer, potatoe, mushroom, and others which I forgot). It even came with curry smelt fish and a piece of king fish. It was like 3 pounds of food! The taste is pretty good and spicy. We couldn't finish all of it as it was a lot of food.

We also ordered butter chicken special with 2 naan. The butter chicken is not too creamy like other places .. it tastes more authentic that way.

I give high ratings to Babu!

Portion: 5/5
Presentation: 3.5/5
Taste: 5/5

http://babudelivery.ca/

11.1.09 i haz a manju <3<3

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:47:25 GMT

A new member, a new chapter for us.

Thank you

We are eating pie!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:34:16 GMT

Autumn means enjoying things like applie cider, pumpkin spiced latte or conversely some homemade apple and pumpkin pie!

Following last week's apple pie, you made a delicious pumpkin pie that was enjoyed by everyone! It was the best pumpkin pie I ever had and it wasn't my favourite pie until now The blend of the nutmeg, ginger and pumpkin were just right and yummie!

Thanks!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:29:10 GMT

Yummie turkey in my tummy

Yummie stuffing with turkey gizzard, carrot and celery in my tummy

Yummie apple pie

The pie after it went to the tummy

Thanks for making the pie and turkey