While I threw up the recap post very quickly (was preparing it through the week), I had not originally intended on posting about the food we had. But NPY asked about it and I’m all to happy to throw this together while getting caught up on television shows from the week. I want to honour the week of cooking and dining and sharing in the way I know how–blogging about it.
Home-cooking Chinese meal
I really wanted to share the very homestyle-tasting bamboo shoots and mushrooms dish I learned to make recently. …

A few weeks ago, SmartCanucks.ca informed me that Nordica/Gay Lea was giving away vouchers for a free tub of their cottage cheese if you Like them on Facebook, etc.
Cottage cheese is one of those things I feel like I “should like” and have not given a decent try. I haven’t procured for myself a great amount of it before but have tried it at a breakfast/salad bar with the fruit that was sitting next to it as mixings. Perhaps I did not also take enough of the syrup the fruit was …

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When I bought chicken quarters and ingredients like cloves and star anise earlier in the week to finally make Hainanese chicken curry, I thought I would just be cooking for myself. The logical day to cook fell on today, Good Friday, when everything around my apartment is closed. But ,um visited Toronto for 48 hours and she and Lil Sis stayed over last night. Just before coming home last night after a Ching Ming dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant in North York with three uncles, we …

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On Saturday morning, a little plan was running through my head. I had blown way too much money at Old Navy during their Friends & Family (30%) sale and had to put my credit card on ice for a few days. But food shopping is a justifiable expense and I lined up five recipes I wanted to knock off in the course of two days.
And as I was writing out my shopping lists, I was listening to the most recent DNTO episode Live from Toronto: We’re “in over …

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Post-op meal: avocado, steamed heirloom tomatoes, non-spicy mapo tofu, Japanese rice. Everything overcooked to slide down with minimal chewing effort involved.
 
I totally psyched myself out about my “mini surgery” today until NPY convinced me that it would all be okay. But during the procedure, the periodontist gave me a running commentary, which included him noticing something else wrong, and modified his procedure away his original plan. While in the dentist chair, I squeezed out a tear because the very thought of having to go to that office …

2 eggs
2/3 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp melted butter

Add eggs, milk, flour, sugar, and salt to the mixing bowl.
In the pan you will make the crepes, melt the butter and add to the mixing bowl.
Beat together the ingredients until it is smooth, no lumps.
In the pan on the large element at heat ~4, ladle the batter and immediately swirl the pan to spread it into a circle. (That is, don’t put down the ladle first!)
About 10 seconds after the edges turn brown, flip the crepe …

What was I thinking when I was shopping in Walmart, Target, and Trader Joe’s a couple weekends ago? Five of the food items I bought fall into some kind of Blue Theme:

Archer Farms Buffalo Macaroni & Cheese (made with real blue cheese and spicy cayenne red pepper sauce)
Archer Farms Midnight Blend popcorn with blue corn kernels
Summer Oreos, seems to be the original flavour but the stuffing is dyed blue
Laughing Cow Light — Blue cheese wedges
Trader Joe’s Blue Granite Jack Cheese slices

 
Blue Granite Jack Cheese Slices
The obvious one to start with …

Source: Wish Magazine (now defunct), March 2007
3/4 cup margarine, softened, plus 1tbsp for greasing pan
2 cups frozen cranberries
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cranberry or orange juice (I used fresh squeezed orange)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 eggs
1 cup chopped bittersweet (dark) chocolate, melted
1/3 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate, melted
3/4 cup plain cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease and line bottom and sides of a 9- x 13-inch cake pan with parchment paper.
In a small pot, combine cranberries, 1/4 cup sugar and juice. Simmer over …

Original source: Babble.com (I made the five-minute cake I blogged about several more times but it seemed chewy–maybe five minute is too long. Then I learned of this one through The Food Pornographer and haven’t looked back. I love how it is really nice and moist, and uses up the Nutella I have, although it doesn’t not taste greatly of chocolate hazelnut spread.)
4 tablespoons self rising flour
4 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons Nutella
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients in a large coffee …

Original Source: AllRecipes.com (I did not use the chili peppers or cheese the recipe called for.)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
ground cayenne pepper to taste
ground white pepper to taste
3 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
5 cups chicken broth

In a large pot over medium heat, combine the onion, garlic and ground turkey and saute for 10 minutes, or until turkey is well browned. Add the cumin, oregano, cinnamon, cayenne pepper to taste and white pepper to taste and saute …