1 - Life in London

Yesterday, my baby blog turned a year old (despite my month-long absence). Things have been very hectic lately, and mostly because I have relocated to London (the Canadian one) to pursue further education. In celebration of my blog's anniversary and my big move, I am introducing a new in cognito segment entitled, "Life in London" where I will post about my culinary and dining adventures here in the western East! (You can follow these posts by the label.)

I have a segment from before that was called "Cardio and Cooking" which I hope to have back up and running once I start running again too. I will tentatively say that this will commence next week...tentatively. I feel the need to refurbish my blog and organize it a bit better, and will try to do so before my workload increases! We shall see what happens :)

I was actually planning to do this blog entry last night since it was my first homemade meal in my new residence, but unfortunately, I didn't have time because I had a late Skype dinner date with P.
So. Here it is!

Things I learned over the past few days about how to be overly frugal:
- Be on the lookout for free stuff, coupons, and sales ALL THE TIME.
- Compare prices between stores and find out which is the better deal. Any savings are still savings!
- Know that forks are good for whisking, mashing, and forking, so you don't need a whisk or masher if you already have a fork.
- You can cook a decent dinner for yourself with less sodium, fat, and no MSG within 30-45 minutes, so it's probably a good idea. It is also less expensive than eating outside.
- Buying packages of more rather than less is usually a better idea. Consider whether or not you can freeze the rest. If you can, it's probably a more worthwhile investment :D

My first homemade meal in my residence that wasn't leftover pizza! Yay! (I also learned that Prego tomato sauce might actually be better than Classico.)

Simple Chicken Pasta with Tomato Sauce for One (Plus toast because there was too much garlic)
1/2 chicken breast
Salt and pepper
Rosemary leaves
Canola oil
3 white mushrooms (You can actually use less if you want. I just really like mushrooms...)
1 1/2 cups Prego tomato sauce (Because I was too lazy to make my own :/)
1 cup dry penne pasta (Barilla pasta boxes are on sale at Metro for 99 cents!)
3 cloves garlic
2 slices French bread (97 cents at Superstore for a whole loaf! Freeze the rest!)

1. Bring a medium pot filled 1/3 of the way with water to a boil. Add a few drops of oil and a sprinkle of salt. Once the water is boiling, bring down to medium heat, and add your pasta. Cook for about 12 minutes or until "al dente" with the lid off.
2. Chop 3 cloves of garlic and set aside. If you don't want garlic toast, you can probably just use 1 or maybe 2.
3. Slice the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces and set aside. (Now) I usually slice the mushroom in half vertically, and then flip the halves so that one side is flat on the cutting board. From there, I cut the half mushrooms into slices.
4. Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces. Add to a small bowl, and mix in a sprinkle of salt and pepper to your liking, along with a light drizzle of oil, and set aside.
5. In a medium pan on medium-low heat, add about 1/2 tsp of oil and swivel the pan so that it spreads. Add about a tsp of chopped garlic to the pan and stir fry until fragrant, then add chicken.
6. Stir fry the chicken until almost cooked. Add the sliced mushrooms, and cook slightly. Sprinkle some rosemary, and continue to stir fry until the chicken is cooked through.
7. After the pasta has finished cooking, transfer the pasta to a colander, and use the same pot to heat up your sauce on medium-low heat until ready.
8. Turn on your broiler. Line a small baking pan (like a pie plate) with parchment paper. Butter 2 slices of bread and place them face up on the parchment paper. Use the remaining garlic and sprinkle it evenly over the slices of bread. Place under broiler until browned and crispy on the edges, remove from the oven, and serve!
9. Assemble your dinner! Pasta, then chicken and mushrooms, then sauce. Add some Parmesan cheese on top if you prefer (and if you can afford). Parmesan cheese was not a worthwhile purchase for me since I rarely use it. :(
10. Enjoy!

With whatever time I have to myself in my lonely dorm, I will try to update and finish my draft entries from this summer! Until then, look for more updates from London!!

-M

B-b-b-baking: Murderer's Roll?

I'm sorry for being behind on my posts :( Things have been crazy busy as of late! I have time today for a quick post, so here it is... (as for the others, I will work on updating July's entries over the next few weeks, so bear with me!)

P has a jungle in his backyard consisting of such things as rhubarb, currants, and raspberries! I will be updating my rhubarb entry soon enough!

Some of the raspberries that we picked from P's pesticide-free backyard :)

Things I have learned today about raspberries:

- Raspberries bleed a lot more than most other berries when smushed, so be careful about that!
- So far, from what I've seen, the most common use for raspberries in baking is in scones and clafoutis - a french dessert that typically has cherries, and not raspberries.
- When you get raspberry juice and smush on your work area, it looks like blood and guts, but smells a lot nicer.
- Raspberries grow on bushes, and they can be at the bottom of the bush, hidden in the middle, or at the top...basically anywhere on the bush. They should come off really easily from the stem/pit thing if they're ready. Darker red ones tend to be sweeter, and brighter reds are usually more tart. Picking raspberries is fun, but you have to be careful for the thorns. I got too ambitious, going for the ones really inside the bush because they looked so good, but in the process got mauled by several branches of thorns.
- Raspberries, as for most berries, taste really good with cream whether it's ice cream, or whipped cream, or what have you.

Honestly...it looks like a was dismembering a limb of some sort...

After I finished slicing all of the rolls, because of the raspberry juice, it looked like I killed something. I had way too much fun with it... It was awesome.

After being sliced and placed in a greased pan, they all bled together. Such camaraderie. *cue look of valour*

The finished product...P's "Murderer's Rolls" (a.k.a. Raspberry Sweet Rolls)! From this angle, they don't look that disproportionate, but I did a pretty terrible job at making them even :) I'll pretend that I was trying to be considerate of those who might want smaller ones or bigger ones.

After panicking about how to pack all of the rolls away without falling victim to the fly that was zipping around the kitchen, P suggested that I plastic wrap each of them individually. It actually turned out quite well, despite the amount of time it took me to complete such a task. I'm too nitpicky sometimes :(

All set for tomorrow's delivery! :D

This was a really fun baking project for the summer! Berries are so summery and fresh! The recipe is pretty well the same as for the cinnamon rolls, except I made twice as many rolls by making them smaller, and filled them with raspberries instead of cinnamon sugar. For the dough recipe, please refer to the page on cinnamon rolls here.

Murderer Roll Filling

*Makes enough filling for 12 regular sized rolls or 24 smaller rolls.*

2 cups of raspberries (1 cup raspberries for each batch of 12 rolls)

2/3 cups of white granulated sugar (1/3 cup sugar for each batch of 12 rolls)

4 Tbsp canola oil (2 Tbsp oil for each batch of 12 rolls)

*Note: I tried half of the rolls with frozen raspberries, and the other half with refrigerated berries. Other recipes for raspberry sweet rolls suggest using individually frozen raspberries, but I don't really find a difference because you smush them anyways. Either way, raspberry juice oozes out, or at least it did for me. I find that the refrigerated berries were much easier to spread since they were soft.*

1. After having rolled out one half of your dough, spread 2 Tbsp of oil evenly across the surface. 

2. Evenly spread 1/3 cup sugar over the surface of the dough.

3. In a bowl, smush 1 cup of raspberries with a spoon, and spread it evenly across the surface of the dough.

4. Roll the dough into a lengthwise log, and divide into 12 even rolls.

5. Carefully place each roll upside down into your greased pan. This will make it so that the nice spirals show from the tops. You will probably get raspberry blood on your hands during this process.

6. Bake for 20 min at 425 F. (I first tried to bake them at 350 F for about 25 min, but they were still soft from the moisture, so I put them back in for another 10 min at 425 F. You should get a nicer golden brown not pictured here. The pictures only show the 350 F trial.)

7. Cool briefly and individually wrap in plastic wrap, or consume right away. I found that these were already sweet on their own and didn't need a glaze, but if you prefer a glaze or even whipped cream, knock yourself out!

Have fun with these summery sweet rolls! :)

-M

Love for the Locals: Taste of Edmonton 2013

It's actually been at least a few years since I last went to the Taste of Edmonton, but in the spirit of Edmonton's summer events, I went with some friends after playing badminton. One friend was nice enough to order tickets through work so that he could get them 10% off :) P and I shared one sheet of 30 tickets (the perks of having an SO, woohoo), and this is what we came up with...

To start off our venture, we grabbed a large lemonade from Lemon Heaven for 4 tickets to battle the heat and quench our thirst. It was funny because there was a big Lemon Heaven by the Tix on the Square office where there was a ridiculously long line to go with it. Then, there was the smaller booth set up next to ice cream and bubble tea that nobody noticed, where we went. It was your typical lemonade, but it helped that the sweet to sour balance was bang on. :)

Chicken Bhoona on rice from Bob's Bombay Curry 'N' Hurry! It's kind of awesome how the shadow from the window in front of the big vat shone over the mass of Chicken Bhoona. They were smart and had a plastic window with a wall and window to protect the simmering goodness from seagull poop attacks.

We grabbed a regular plate for 3 tickets! It was actually pretty good, and portion-wise pretty decent for Taste of Edmonton too. You got the rice from the ordering window, and walked over to the vat to get your bhoona on. It had chicken, bell peppers, and onions...and bhoona. I'm sorry, I don't know what that means, but it was pretty tasty.

Alberta Prime Rib Stuffed Mini Yorkshire Pudding from On the Rocks for 3 tickets! P and I lucked out because they gave us a larger mini yorkshire pudding and more prime rib than our friends got. Haaa... It was basically that - a mini yorkshire pudding with some slices of prime rib, and some creamy, tangy sauce on top.

Falafel from Drift for 2 tickets! For 2 tickets, this was probably one of the better deals. It came with lettuce, onion, a falafel pattie made of chickpeas and other sorts of beans, on a little bun. My first epicurean taste into the land of food trucks. 

House-Made Alberta Cannelloni from Bistecca Italian Steakhouse & Wine Bar for 3 tickets! Fresh cannelloni pasta with ground bison, and a cream sauce on top. It actually tasted like your average cream-based lasagna to be honest :/ But not bad, and it was somewhat filling, which is pretty good for Taste of Edmonton.

Who says dessert has to come last? Not us - that's for sure. Crepe Glace Au Chocolat from The Creperie for 3 tickets! It was a frozen dessert crepe filled with vanilla ice cream, with a spoonful of dark chocolate sauce, a sprinkle of sliced almonds, and a healthy dollop of whipped cream. Mmm... They also gave each customer a $5 off gift certificate :D Yay!

P really wanted spinach pie, so spinach pie, he had. Spanakopita from It's All Greek To Me for 3 tickets! A spanakopita is a greek spinach pie consisting of phyllo pastry, creamed spinach, and cheese. It tastes pretty good, but it was a bit too buttery and rich for me :/ My tummy isn't built to handle immense amounts of dairy...especially considering I just had a crepe filled with icecream, and ate all of the remaining whipped cream.

"Mac" Scone with Whipped Cream and Berry Compote for 4 tickets from Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. Nothing less than expected from such an expensive place. It was so good...and there was definitely mascarpone in the whipped cream...it was so tiramisu-like, and the sweetness was ever so slight...sigh...I had to let P finish all of the rest because I was reaching my dairy limit :(

Wild Mushroom Bisque, Truffle Oil, and Puff Pastry Stick from Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. Probably one of the best mushroom bisques I've ever tasted...so...mushroomy...and only 2 tickets! 

The last item that we tried was the Mini Mac Melt from Molly's Eats for 3 tickets. It was one of the longest lines at the event, so we left it until the end to try. The melt was very interesting...it was bacon mac 'n cheese and pulled pork inside a grilled cheese sandwich o_O I had never had pasta inside a sandwich before, so that was definitely something. I think it was good that it was a small portion though...it was interesting, but not my favourite. 

Overall, I'd say that P and I had a pretty successful haul from this year's Taste of Edmonton! Most items that we picked were 2-3 tickets which equated to a bit less than $2-3 each, and for the most part had decent portions. We got a good variety of dishes for a bit less than $30!

There was a lot of East Indian cuisine featured at the Taste of Edmonton this year, and a lot of ice cream. Some of the foods vended were more carnival-esque than anything else... You had your deep-fried Mars Bar, candied bacon on a stick (that without the stick was novelty-free candied bacon), deep-fried pickles, and "pig balls", which were made of pulled pork, wrapped in risotto and deep-fried.

Nonetheless, it was a fun summery thing to do in Edmonton, especially with one of our friends who hadn't spent a summer in Edmonton yet. I wonder what we should do next...

-M

Budget-Friendly Bites: Cowgary Commute - Stampeeeede!!

It's that time of year when the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth livens up the city of Calgary. A few weeks ago, Calgarians and other Albertans in K-Country and the South were struck with the flood of 2013. Many popular areas in central Calgary were flushed out with river water including the designated Stampede grounds. While things didn't look too good for the Stampede, the mayor of Calgary promised his citizens that the show would go on. With commendable efforts of the CPS and EPS, Calgary has recovered quite well. The Stampede was able to carry on with its Chuckwagon Races, Rodeo, and other cowboy inspired festivities, with the exclusion of concerts that were to take place at the Saddledome. Great work to everyone for lending a hand to our neighbours! Remember that organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross and Tim Hortons are still collecting donations to support the flood victims. :)

P and I were able to make it down to Calgary for the opening weekend of the Stampede. We enjoyed all sorts of things from hotdogs and mini donuts to people flying around on jetskis to ferris wheels and fireworks! It turned out to be a great day on Saturday when we went to the grounds despite the rainy forecast. It did rain for a little bit in the early evening, but it was while we were inside watching Superdogs, and when we came out, it was even sunnier than before! Talk about good timing, huh?

P's friends were nice enough to spare us a free lunch from Fhat Dawgs! We got a Japanese (fried onions, dried nori strips, mayonnaise, and teriyaki sauce) and a Mexican (fried onions, bacon, tomatoes, jalepeno sauce, and mayonnaise). It was pretty good (but probably not very good for me)!

Anyways, the purpose of this post is not to go on a cutesy gush about my amazing weekend, but to tell you all that not everything is outlandishly priced at the Stampede! This is where the budget-friendly business starts. Across from the South entrance to the Saddledome is the Agriculture area where you can see all kinds of farm animals like pigs, sheep, baby chicks, and horses. 

In the midst of it all is THIS - A Milk 'n Cookies vendor. For the "say what!?" price of $1, you can get a 250 ml carton of white or chocolate milk and...

A wagon wheel! (We must have looked a little bit crazy upon leaving the place. P and I were getting milk and cookies for some friends too, and I had 6 small cartons of chocolate milk in my shoulder bag. The 6 wagonwheels went in P's camera bag. What do you store in your purse??)

Another amazing find with less than a million calories! While casually walking past all of the crazy deepfried pickles and deepfried cheesecake and barbecued turkey legs, P and I found a vendor just across from the West entrance to the Saddledome!

Hidden Valley was looking to promote its salad dressing, so for the "say what what?!" price of $1, you could get a tupperware container of freshly chopped and mixed greens (grape tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, and cucumber) along with a plastic fork, and a packet of Hidden Valley dressing! What's even better is you get to keep the brand new tupperware container, and it comes with a little tupperware cup that click onto the inside of the lid for future snackings requiring sauces or dressings! 

P and I most definitely took advantage of these awesome deals, but we also haaaad to have a bag of those little donuts (each) because come on! Stampeeeede!!!

-M

(Thank you to P for the awesome way-better-than-from-my-cell-phone-camera pictures!)

Love for the Locals: Koffee Cafe

On Canada Day, I usually volunteer for the Millwoods Canada Day Celebration at the park, so P took me for breakfast in the morning at a place called Koffee Cafe (6120-28 Avenue). Neither of us had been there before, but as in most cases, P consulted the ever so prestigious Urbanspoon and apparently the breakfast was supposed to be pretty good, so what the hay? 

From the outside, it looks like your typical independent strip mall convenience store. Shaaady...

Inside, however, it wasn't so bad. It looked like a mix between a cafe and a diner. That, and they sold practically anything you could think of. So, there's a cafe, but they also sell lotto tickets, artwork (similar to what they do at the Sugar Bowl), internet access (like in hotels?), newspapers...oh, and for the special price of 5.99, you could get a glass of wine! 

If you wanted to feel more at home, there was a strategically placed sofa and loveseat set complete with a table, also set with ketchup, salt and pepper, and cream and sugar.

For the special of $6, you can get the Homesteader breakfast which consists of 2 slices of white or brown toast, 3 strips of bacon or sausage, 2 triangular hashbrowns, and 2 eggs any way. Both of us opted for the Homesteader with white toast, bacon, and 2 "over-easy" eggs (P likes to tease me because since I was little, my dad told me "easy over", so I always say "easy over", but even Wikipedia tells me otherwise :( Talk about dashed hopes and dreams, huh?). Nothing was particularly greasy or salty, so I'd say sure! I also wanted to take a closer picture of their menu, but the people who worked there were already looking at me funny.

For a not-too-shabby breakfast in the Millwoods area, try hitting it up at Koffee Kafe, where you can get Butter Chicken and naan or rice first thing in the morning! :D P and I will be your personal guinea pigs and try that someday.

Oh, and Happy Canada Day ;)

-M

P.S. This year was P's first Canada Day as a Canadian! Woo~