FOUR: Cooking at Home

Char and Hannah creeping the pasta

The weekend is the perfect time for cooking and eating, what better way to relax after a long week of school than with food? On Saturday night my sister and her friend Hannah (who was insistent on making one of my blogs) made dinner for all of us! Dinner consisted of wild mushroom tagliatelle, BBQ ribs and salad with a lemon poppy seed dressing.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

Baby romaine with feta cheese and strawberries with a lemon poppyseed dressing

Sitting down to eat

So of course what would be Sunday without the delicious dinner! We ended up eating really late because we decided to cook a turkey, which didn’t end up in the oven until 7:00. So we ate around 9:00. My dad tried a new herbed butter sauce recipe from Saveurs Turkey Issue and it was delicious! Normally we do it Chinese style (With Soy, ginger and garlic) but this was a nice change. To complement the Turkey I made some brussel sprouts and my sister made mashed potatoes. This was the first traditional sunday meal in our new kitchen and believe me, they’ll be lots more coming along.

Turkey with herbed butter

Brussel Sprouts

Mashed Potatoes

Dad carving the turkey

Tags: Family, Food, Friends, pasta, photography, picture, ribs, turkey

THREE (and the other half): Of Montreal

So here is the other part of my delicious journey through Montreal. If you haven’t heard of Schwartz Deli in Montreal you must be newly immigrated or living under a rock (just kidding!). This is basically the most famous place in all of Canada to get a smoked meat sandwich, fries, pickle and cherry cola. My Schwartz experience lived up to the expectations from all the people who tell me their stories, it was delicious.

The Famous Smoked Meat Sandwich

Doing his Thang.

Julia, Ivy and Nigel After Schwartz

So after getting out Smoked Meat fix, Ivy and I decided to get some Frozen Yogurt

Frozen Yogurt (Vanilla and Mango) with Reeses Pieces, mochi and strawberries

Later that week, we wanted to go get some French Food and because it was a Monday the place we were planning on going to was closed. So walking around Old Montreal we found a nice bistro, Holder. The first dish was a piece of foie gras with a dried fruit reduction on a piece of ginger bread (it was pretty tasty) and for the main course I had a 6 hour braised short-rib with mashed potatoes. Then finally for dessert, we split a lemon tart with ice cream.

What was left of my Foie Gras

6 hour braised short rib

Lemon Tart

So you basically cannot leave Montreal without having good poutine. On the last day, I had to go for it and get some or else I think I would have regretted it for the rest of the year. I went to Frite Alors, a delicious little place that Ivy Recommended and ordered their Poutine Alors and house salad, both which were incredible. The crispy fries, salty gravy and chewy cheese curds hit the spot and put the finishing touch on my adventure for delicious food in Montreal.

Awesome Staff

Poutine with bacon, onions, mushrooms and peppers

Tin Tin on the walls

Tags: Delicious, Food, Friends, Fries, Frites, Montreal, photography, Pickle, picture, Poutine, Schwartz, Smoked Meat

THREE (and a half): Montreal

On a spontaneous and short-notice decision, I made my way to Montreal for my 6 day long weekend to visit my good friend Ivy. One of my intentions was to eat…alot. These are some pictures from the first couple days, I’ll post the rest later. What you don’t see in my pictures was the mix-up at the Thai place Ivy and I went for the first day, the poutine and gyros Ivy, Julia, Nigel and I had at 4 am (and yes, they delivered it), the awesome Easter Dinner (including Arroz con Pollo and home-made waffles) put on by some of Ivy’s friends, and the late night/early morning couscous and har-gow we at with Atim.

The night after Ivy’s Asian themed birthday, we decided to go for some breakfast at Great Eggspectation. It was a huge restaurant and had a beautiful interior. I ordered eggs benny with gruyere and ham on crepes and it was really delicious, I’ve never had eggs benedict with crepes before.

Eggs Benny with ham and gruyere on crepes

That same day we went for a little snack and came across a baked potato place Ivy wanted to go to for a while now. It was really different, I’ve never had baked potato quite like this. He split it in half and mashed all the insides with a huge handful of mozzarella cheese then topped it with green onions and corn and baked the whole thing.

And finally that night with the Martin family (haha), we went for steak and frites at L’entrecote. I wish I took a couple pictures of the interior because it was pretty much amazing, it reminded me of being in a French bistro in Paris. The menu has 2 options, but basically only serves steak and frites. We ordered the larger option with a carrot soup, walnut salad, the steak and frites and chocolate and almond perioferoles for dessert. This had to be one of the best and simplest meals I had in Montreal. The mustard-butter sauce was incredible, I wish I could just dip everything in it.

Steak and Frites with mustard-butter suace

So that was basically part one of two of my stay in Montreal. The food did not disappointment and it was everything I expected and more! The classic dishes (poutine, smoked meat, steak and frites) are all influenced by the French culture and history of the Quebecois. Eating in Montreal is a unique experience because you won’t find this anywhere else in the world.

Tags: Baked Potato, Delicious, Eggs, Food, Friends, Great Eggspectation, L'entrecote, Montreal, photography, picture, Steak and frites

TWO: Bonding over a birthday and some king crab

I think I can find a compilation of this shot

On Saturday night we went out with my parents friends for some King Crab to celebrate my Dad’s birthday tomorrow (Happy Brithday!!!!!). It was in a tiny restaurant beside the Rave Line in Richmond and filled to the brim with people. At one point a bunch of your typical Richmond kids came in, one wearing a white beater and sweats…yep, that’s where I live.  This is pretty regular outing for my parents and their friends, splitting 2 11 pound king crabs over a couple glasses of wine and some good times. It’s our culture, it’s what we do. Sit down, eat, drink and laugh, have a good time and critique the food.

Swipe!

So we had the king crab 4 ways, two steamed, one with green onion and the other with garlic. The next one was fried with chilis and pepper and the last one was a fried rice with a Portugese sauce. Delish. This is all pretty typical Chinese food here and especially during King Crab season, you’ve got to go out at least once. Oh yeah, and the chef at the front made some pretty awesome noodles with the leftover sauce from the steamed onion and garlic. The rest of the pictures are here, enjoy!

Steamed King Crab legs with garlic sauce

Flipping the noodles

Fried King Crab Knuckles with Pepper and Chilli

Crab Rice with Portugese Sauce

Oh yeah! Who can forget the awesome mango cake from Michelles.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Tags: Birthday, Cake, Chinese, Dad, Delicious, Family, Food, Friends, King Crab, Noodles, photography, picture, Rice, Richmond

ONE: My Grandma

So this is going to be the first post, the first of 52 documentaries. Every week since I was a little kid, our family would go to my Grandma’s house for dinner. Now, this isn’t any ordinary Chinese food, this is home-style Cantonese cuisine that hasn’t changed for generations. I love my Mama’s cooking and nothing compares to it; the delicious fresh fish, steamed meatloaf and beef with broccoli or gai lan…I’m pretty sure the dishes have been roughly the same for the last 20 years of my life.

So it hasn’t been until recently that I’ve begun to take a great deal of interest behind the recipes itself, wanting to learn how to cook the dishes and be able to prepare them myself. This is the typical wednesday after noon my grandma takes to prepare a full meal starting with soup, fresh halibut, chinese meatloaf, and beef and gai lan. Have I mentioned what an amazing cook my Mama is? I decided to share with you guys a little part of my family.

These are the same dishes I hope to serve my kids one day and even maybe my grandchildren because these are the things that make up our history and our culture. They’re the symbols of a past that my grandmother grew up with and her parents, etc. etc. They represent more than the dishes that filled up empty stomaches, but they’re the symbols that bring our family together during dinner.

Tags: Beef, Broccoli, Chinese, Dinner, Family, Fish, Food, Food52, Gai Lan, Grandma, Halibut, Mama, Meat, photography, picture