Looking Back: 2013

I can't believe it's already 2014.

I started this blog in September 2012 not knowing where I would go with it. I have since continued writing posts and taking pictures of my food, getting looks from people thinking "omg > >...it's one of those people", and with much encouragement from P, there aren't any signs of stopping!

What has happened? Well...
- Food adventures have travelled outside the realms of Deadmonton and Cowtown to my current location in London, Ontario and 2 hours away to Toronto, and I can't wait to try visiting places beyond Canada!
- Numerous mishap experiences in the kitchen, because most food blogs seem all pretty and nice, but that's because they tend to only show you the pretty and nice things. Both the black bean cookies and choux pastries took me at least 3 tries before they were presentable to the public tongue. Before that, I sacrificed my own tongue for the good of humanity, as did P. *insert patriotic expression here* He actually told me to give him my botched batches of black bean cookies to consume over time, but never did. Instead, the tupperware sat on the desk in his bedroom for a week, and the "cookies" started growing things. I never saw the animal it became...I hope I never do :S
- P became my #1 companion on food adventures, my #1 photographer, and my #1 fan :)
- My blog surpassed 50 posts! In fact, it is now nearing 80! :`D
- More potlucks were had (including one at my campus residence in London which was probably one of the most interesting case I have ever experienced). I never knew that there existed potlucks where some people didn't bring a dish or beverage to contribute (not even a 33 cent package of instant noodles) but only came with a plate and cutlery. My roommate and I were practically the only ones who made main dishes from scratch with enough to serve at least 12 people. The potluck was before the Christmas break and consisted of my roommate's beautiful lasagna, my curried pumpkin soup, 2 boxes of Chinese takeout, a chocolate cake, a bowl of fettuccine, 1 2L bottle of Pepsi, a case of vitamin water, a box of SnakPak pudding cups, and 1 batch of beautifully decorated cupcakes. Mind you, my residence has 6 floors.
- As always, much delicious food was consumed!

Of course, my experiences from 2013 have brought about some New Year's Resolutions!
1. Continue exploring the likes of London, Ontario to uncover more wonderful hole-in-the-wall eateries that have yet to be uncovered!
2. Perhaps invest in a better camera to take photos for the blog. I say perhaps because my budget as a student is a little iffy.
3. Revamp the blog to a real domain website complete with the various social media components.
4. Try more food from different places and cultures that I have yet to experience.
5. Stick to my reasons for food blogging from the last year as follows:
a) To remember what I ordered at a place I visited for the first time,
b) To remember what something I ate looked like,
c) To remember good times and company I've had,
d) To remember food and restaurants that I will rarely get the chance to visit,
e) To document my culinary ups and downs in the kitchen,
f) To share with others,
g) To stare at when I'm bored because I have a fascination with browsing food photography,
h) And lastly, to remember places I like to eat at and those that I do not like to eat at/should not go back to.

A special thanks to P for making my blog have that extra umph from your fancy schmancy camera and photographing! And thank you to all of my readers even if you flip through my blog like a magazine just to look at the pictures! I really appreciate all of your support and hope to keep entertaining you all with my dining and cooking escapades.

Here's to another year of great eats before the end of the world actually comes around! ;)

-M

Budget-Friendly Bites: Chili Hot Pot

Happy New Year~ I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday break as much as I did! :D I flew back home to Edmonton where I was able to spend ample time with my family, friends, P, and as always, some great food.

On one cold night, some friends met P and I for hot pot at Chili Hot Pot. Chili Hot Pot is the newest dig in Edmonton for hot pot on the south side. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Chan have actually been around for a while. They used to own and manage Chili Hot Hot downtown, then Unforgettable which was actually at their current location across the street from Strathcona High School. Unforgettable was in pretty good shape in terms of business, but it just got too busy and taxing for Mr. and Mrs. Chan, so they decided to take a bit of a vacation for a while before returning. There was a Thai restaurant that ended up taking over the space, but I guess they didn't do particularly well, because it was renovated and reincarnated as Chili Hot Pot!

For those of you who aren't familiar, "hot pot" is basically a Chinese version of fondue. You get a constantly boiling pot of soup to cook various meats, seafoods, vegetables, noodles, and so on. Your table will be given a sheet of paper that's basically like a self-checking All-You-Can-Eat menu, but for hot pot food items.

At Chili Hot Pot, it's about $25 per person plus $3 for the soup which is actually lower than the norm, but after 9:00pm, it's 20% off which is an even better deal. We totally went for that. They allow you to choose to share bigger pots or have your own individual ones. We had 10 in our group, so it worked out better to have individual hot pots, but even then, you could choose between having 1 or 2 different soup bases! Interestingly enough, Chili Hot Pot also offers chocolate fondue for $15 per person, but I haven't delved into that just yet. If someone does, please let me know how it is!

P, as lovely as he is, took the photos for this post! I'm sorry about not having too many, but since we came after 9:00pm, everyone was very hungry including the two of us!

I opted for one soup base - Satay. It has a bit of kick to it that builds as you continue cooking and eating. Great for keeping warm!

P opted for 2 soup bases, both which looked like deathly pools of chilies and spices that would make the average man cry (much to his liking - the spice level, not the man crying). He seemed to enjoy it too! :) 

Here is one of our plates with items to cook. It had fish balls, meat balls, dumplings, strips of bean curd sheets, bittermelon, and another type of tofu.

Here, you can see our plate of lamb, and our gorgeous plate of Alberta AAA beef. Hot pot was one of my ways of scarfing down as much of the stuff as I could over the break before heading back to London. You never realize how much you miss something until it's gone...I'm sorry, but Ontario corn-fed beef just isn't the same.

The food selection is diverse and plentiful, the hot food (prepared by Mr. Chan himself) is very tasty, and the prices are reasonable at Chili Hot Pot which makes it a great place to get together with friends and/or family. There are a couple of minor setbacks, but they have nothing to do with the food or service provided. First of all, you'll notice that the parking in front or behind the restaurant is rather limited. Second, especially if it's cold outside and you wear glasses, it takes a few minutes to get used to the hot pot sauna that gets you as soon as you walk in. Other than that, I have yet to hear a complaint about its operations!

Some friends and I believe that they keep an eye on how you're doing from a distance. Our table had filled out a third sheet, triple checking the beef, but they must have noticed us dying as we tried to clean up from the previous order because that triple checked beef didn't make it to our table. Thank goodness.

I love having hot pot on a cold winter day, and we have plenty of those every year in Edmonton...I keep telling my friends how I found the dry squeakiness of the snow, the sound of chipping ice off of cars, and feeling the cold bite in the wind oddly comforting! If you don't find comfort in the cold as I do, and happen to be in the University area and it's particularly cold, I would definitely recommend going to Chili Hot Pot to fill up on your protein and hot soup! (I plan to go back when I'm in town again. ;P)

-M