Holidays

This holiday, JJ decided to stay in Chicago to relax on our new couch while I went to Toronto to hang out with family and friends.

Over the 10 days I was home, I...

... watched Tiffany throw her awesome annual Christmas food party (thanks Tiff!) with strong jello shots courtesy of Jim.
(Donna: "Is that strawberry or cherry?"
Tiffany: "It's vodka.")


... ate home-cooked food!!!!!


... went to Elora Gorge with my parents for some beautiful winter scenery.


... celebrated Justin's 26th on the 26th at Panorama!


... ice-skated at Harbourfront Centre for the first time.


... demolished crepe and waffle desserts at Demetre's.


... drank bubbletea in the middle of the afternoon.


... shared some Kamasutra Indian food with N4 rez friends that I haven't seen in a while!


... and had some dim sum!


A great relaxing time was had by all!

For more Toronto pictures, click on the album below:

Hanging out with Friends in Toronto

Last home cooking series of 2007!

Pork rolls that turned a little dry...


Hoisin, lime sauce with Sambal chicken (recipe from Simply Ming)


Curry-ginger chicken with zucchini (recipe from Simply Ming)


Curry-ginger beef and leeks (recipe from Simply Ming


Pork chops with peppers and capers (recipe from Molto Italiano)


Mom's potato salad


Proscuitto-wrapped asparagus


Oven-roasted carrots and potatoes

Fruit Flowers

Sue and Mark,

Thanks for the awesome fruit flowers!


:)

US Thanksgiving Weekend

JJ and I like to use our US Thanksgiving to make a snowboarding trip to Colorado and have dinner with Young and his family. This year, we decided to take it easy so we didn't book anything in the mountains and just stayed over at Young's. JJ got to play with Hannah and Saera and we also went shopping at Castle Rock (our favourite outlet mall!).

We did make it up to Keystone one day but conditions were icy and there was no new snow. It was also extremely cold. Not exactly good conditions for pictures so none will be posted here this time.

Every time we go to Denver, we've never actually been through downtown Denver. So this time, I insisted. We managed to visit the Capital Building and walked through a bit of downtown. The art museum seemed to be popular that day but everything else seemed a little dead. No matter, I have proof that I've been in the mile-high city at last! :)

Birthday at Arun's

For my birthday, JJ rented the Zipcar BMW and took me out for a meal at Arun's.


A lot of the dishes incorporated Thai flavours that we know and love in ways we've never eaten them before. Like this appetizer (1 of 6) that you eat in one bite: salad of fresh betel nut leaf with bits of ginger, shallot, lime, peanuts, and toasted coconut flakes.


A few of the dishes were more familiar but presented stunningly - everything from carved carrots to funky colour soup-looking liquid. You can see all the work that went into the presentation of the dishes and it was a treat for the eyes!
My favourite appetizer was this egg noodle wrapped prawn in sweet pea sauce... amazing!


Arun's signature item is the carved nemo... as part of 1 of the 4 entrees served family style.


We ended the night with a drive in the BMW down Lakeshore Drive and a slice of tiramisu courtesy of my parents. Thanks for the cake!

October food pictures

We've done a little more home cooking and here are the results for October!

Fusilli with broccoli (and parmesan and anchovies) and baked salmon with capers and lemon:


Chicken salad:


Crab linguine with fennel (sauce and dish):


Too bad the linguine didn't keep so well...

We've moved!

Finally, after months of delay and weeks of an asbestos scare (see article), we're all moved in with lots of boxes everywhere!

Philadelphia - Lillian & Mike's wedding

Back at the beginning of October, we were honoured to be invited and able to attend Lillian and Mike's wedding in Philadelphia. Since I was studying for an exam, we were only able to stay for a very short time. It was a fun wedding set out really far in the 'burbs of Philly. Thanks for inviting us and we wish you a happy marriage together!


Even though we ate dinner at the wedding, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit a restaurant owned by one of the Iron Chefs, Morimoto.


It was one of the most delicious meals we've ever had! We got the omakase (each!) and sat at the sushi bar.


We were treated to the most fresh and most delicious sushi ever! Our favourite dish was the opening Hamachi Tartare... seriously the best sushi we have ever had!


It was followed by 7 more courses and all were unique, creative, beautifully presented, and delicious!
Click on the album for more pictures!

Morimoto - Philadelphia, PA

Too bad we didn't have much more time to explore Philly but we'll be back!

Food Network inspiration

I'd have to say that our latest obsession lately has been the Food Network. We've been watching a lot of Good Eats (Alton Brown), Good Deal (Dave Lieberman), and Everday Italian (Giada De Laurentiis)! I also like watching Bobby Flay's Throwdown because the people don't know what hit them and then they win and then it's happy (but there are no recipes from this show)!

Anyways, a lot of chefs on these shows love to use cast iron. The even heat is its key selling point but cast iron is heavy and a high quality one is pretty expensive. Nevertheless, we've recently acquired our fair share of cast iron cookware. One of our most recent acquisitions, our star piece, is the 7 qt Dutch oven.


In the last few days since we've got it, we've probably used it as many times as another recent piece, our 11" cast iron skillet. Throw in a grill pan, and our older 3 qt Creuset and you have lots of equipment to make excellent meals.

Speaking of which, JJ has been inspired to cook lots on weekends so we have quick meals over the weekdays. Here are a few of his tasty creations!

From Good Deal,
Potato, Tomato, Corn and Basil Salad:


Braised Hoisin Beer Short Ribs:


A second go at the braised beef short ribs, this time, minus the hoisin sauce but add in some orange:


Mexican Chicken Stew:


From Everyday Italian,
Fusilli with Sausage, Artichokes, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes:


We also have some Kalbi in the making!

Wilmette, IL

Tom invited JJ and his coworkers up to his home in Wilmette for an end of summer BBQ over the Labour Day weekend. We had never been up to Wilmette so a few of us got together early to check it out.


Wilmette's big attraction is the Baha'i Temple. There are only 7 of these temples in the world and apparently, this is one of the 7 Wonders of Illinois (one of the other wonders is Wrigley Field). This building is quite ornate and it's the first thing you see when you enter Wilmette on Sheridan Road.


Some detail of the building... notice that every column in this building has carved in it all the major religions in existence!



Before we went to Tom's, we stopped off at what Pat remembered as the best ice cream in Wilmette... I think.
Homer's!



Tom fed us well. He had a huge chunk of meat and one of the best grilled salmons I have ever had (too bad I didn't take a picture of the delicious salmon)!