There seem to be a new rave of people who seek out asian comfort and fun foods lately. Bubble Tea places are everywhere these days. For those who hasn't been to one, they are shops that sell drinks (tea, coffee, juices, etc., often served cold) with big tapioca "bubbles" or "pearls" in them. The tapioca has a chewy texture to them and when sucked through the big fat straws that they give you, provides an interesting texture to go with your drink.
Jook (or rice porriage) has been another new fad. There was an article in the paper about them a couple of weeks ago. The article call these places "asian small plates". A bunch of restaurant would serve them either for lunch, light dinner or midnight snack with a bowl of "jook" and a choice of a few dishes of small snacks which goes with them. They range from roasted peanuts, fried fish, bean curd, and a host of other goodies.
Now that weather is getting a little cooler, I've been making that for light meals sometimes. Ummm ... jook ... the ultimate comfort food.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Candy Freak
That's the title of the current book that I'm reading these days. The author claims to have "eaten at least a piece of candy everyday of his life". I guess that's saying something. Even a sugar junkie like myself can't make that very impressive claim.
He went on to talk about how he went into a trance when he was at a candy factory, just tranfixed and staring at the glorious sight of chocolate flowing and covering slabs of candy bars. I can't wait to go visit one myself!
He writes like a gourmet when he describes different candy bars, their "mouth-feel", texture, aroma, taste, etc.
As Halloween comes near, this is a dangerous time to be reading this book as a lot of the old nostalgic candies that's not usually found are stocked on shelves these days. Last night, I went and stocked up on "MaryJane"s. These are peanut butter chews. It comes in these taffy chews with a soft roasted peanut butter center that oozes out when you bite into it. The whole thing is wrapped in a piece of waxed paper. When I opened the bag this morning (I had to have one, it was breakfast time ... peanut butter's a heathy food, right?), the roasted peanut smell permeated my living room. Ah ... nice!
Anyhow ... I've booked a chocolate factory tour for a couple of weeks later. I can't wait!
He went on to talk about how he went into a trance when he was at a candy factory, just tranfixed and staring at the glorious sight of chocolate flowing and covering slabs of candy bars. I can't wait to go visit one myself!
He writes like a gourmet when he describes different candy bars, their "mouth-feel", texture, aroma, taste, etc.
As Halloween comes near, this is a dangerous time to be reading this book as a lot of the old nostalgic candies that's not usually found are stocked on shelves these days. Last night, I went and stocked up on "MaryJane"s. These are peanut butter chews. It comes in these taffy chews with a soft roasted peanut butter center that oozes out when you bite into it. The whole thing is wrapped in a piece of waxed paper. When I opened the bag this morning (I had to have one, it was breakfast time ... peanut butter's a heathy food, right?), the roasted peanut smell permeated my living room. Ah ... nice!
Anyhow ... I've booked a chocolate factory tour for a couple of weeks later. I can't wait!
Monday, October 17, 2005
Moroccan Food? and a busy weekend to follow
Went to a new restaurant about a week ago. I've been hearing and reading about this place for a while now, and have been wanting to go ... if I can find somebody to go with (most of my friends kind of balk at the "moroccan food" label, thinking they'll have to eat with their fingers, etc. Their menu looks good, and inventive too. So ... I've finally convinced my friend to go with me (even better since he offered to pay ... yay!).
The place was dim, almost bar and kind of loung-y like. Most of the tables are in booths with a smallish table lit by candles in a mosaic glass hurricane lamp. I can't remember what they were playing, but I only remember that their musical selection was kind of unusual. Not moroccan, not the usual jazz or whatnot at most other restaurants.
Their food was elegantly presented. We ordered a bunch of stuff to share. Our salad came with thinly sliced pears underneath a bed of fresh mixed salad greens and walnuts. It came with tiny pearls of goat cheese. That was the nice touch, by the way. Instead of coming with big globs of cheese, they squirt or rolled them up in little balls.
The skewers came with tender chunks of beef and these little torpedo onions (didn't know such variety existed). They were sweet enough that my friend and I thought they were grapes!
We had also ordered what the waiter told us was their signature dish - basteeya. It was a braised chicken baked into a phyllo dough pie and dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar. It sounded like a strange combination with chicken (a savory item) combined with cinnamon and powdered sugar??? I was reluctant at first, but since it's their signature dish, I just had to try it. The result was a pleasant surprise. Even though the phyllo dough made it a bit oily (but that's no surprise, of course), I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.
Overall, even though I like my restaurants a little bit more lit, both my friend and I had a very enjoyable meal and we'll definately be going back there sometime in the future.
*** cut to less pleasant subject - my busy weekend.
Had a packed weekend. Needed to finish up my taxes (still trying to find more receipts and more stuff to deduct), but gave up and ended up just sending in more money.
Needed to finish up my budget for work (for next year). Worked on this practically all weekend.
Met a couple of old friends for lunch on Saturday.
Need to buy and wrap a baby gift for my friend's red egg and ginger party.
Red Egg and ginger party. Ended up skipping that since I was both not feeling well, and was working all weekend. More on that later.
So, I was so stuffed at lunch that I ended up not eating anything else the rest of the day. Partly because I wasn't feeling well. I had developed severe neck pains and started having pretty bad headache by mid-afternoon. I tried all kinds of stuff (Excedrene, nap, more water, more caffine ...) nothing seem to help and on top of it, I started getting stomach pains. Thought I was getting an ulcer from all that stress. So, what else is a girl to do but climb into bed and sleep it off. I was getting worst and was starting to feel a little nauseous when my stomach started making this grumbling noise. I got up and went to the kitchen for a bite to eat (what? you think I was going to ignor my grumbly stomach???) and felt SOOOO much better. Note to self ... don't forget to eat.
Well, I'm happy to note that aside from skipping from the red egg and ginger party, I ended up finishing up everything else. Even made some jook and soup on top of that to boot! H came by to "inspect" my kitchen after his dinner and had a couple of bowls of the soup. He gave his stamp of approval.
Whew! who would have thought that it'll be a relieve to see Monday and get back to work?
Oh well, gotta go home and clean house so it looks less like a disaster zone! ;-)
The place was dim, almost bar and kind of loung-y like. Most of the tables are in booths with a smallish table lit by candles in a mosaic glass hurricane lamp. I can't remember what they were playing, but I only remember that their musical selection was kind of unusual. Not moroccan, not the usual jazz or whatnot at most other restaurants.
Their food was elegantly presented. We ordered a bunch of stuff to share. Our salad came with thinly sliced pears underneath a bed of fresh mixed salad greens and walnuts. It came with tiny pearls of goat cheese. That was the nice touch, by the way. Instead of coming with big globs of cheese, they squirt or rolled them up in little balls.
The skewers came with tender chunks of beef and these little torpedo onions (didn't know such variety existed). They were sweet enough that my friend and I thought they were grapes!
We had also ordered what the waiter told us was their signature dish - basteeya. It was a braised chicken baked into a phyllo dough pie and dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar. It sounded like a strange combination with chicken (a savory item) combined with cinnamon and powdered sugar??? I was reluctant at first, but since it's their signature dish, I just had to try it. The result was a pleasant surprise. Even though the phyllo dough made it a bit oily (but that's no surprise, of course), I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.
Overall, even though I like my restaurants a little bit more lit, both my friend and I had a very enjoyable meal and we'll definately be going back there sometime in the future.
*** cut to less pleasant subject - my busy weekend.
Had a packed weekend. Needed to finish up my taxes (still trying to find more receipts and more stuff to deduct), but gave up and ended up just sending in more money.
Needed to finish up my budget for work (for next year). Worked on this practically all weekend.
Met a couple of old friends for lunch on Saturday.
Need to buy and wrap a baby gift for my friend's red egg and ginger party.
Red Egg and ginger party. Ended up skipping that since I was both not feeling well, and was working all weekend. More on that later.
So, I was so stuffed at lunch that I ended up not eating anything else the rest of the day. Partly because I wasn't feeling well. I had developed severe neck pains and started having pretty bad headache by mid-afternoon. I tried all kinds of stuff (Excedrene, nap, more water, more caffine ...) nothing seem to help and on top of it, I started getting stomach pains. Thought I was getting an ulcer from all that stress. So, what else is a girl to do but climb into bed and sleep it off. I was getting worst and was starting to feel a little nauseous when my stomach started making this grumbling noise. I got up and went to the kitchen for a bite to eat (what? you think I was going to ignor my grumbly stomach???) and felt SOOOO much better. Note to self ... don't forget to eat.
Well, I'm happy to note that aside from skipping from the red egg and ginger party, I ended up finishing up everything else. Even made some jook and soup on top of that to boot! H came by to "inspect" my kitchen after his dinner and had a couple of bowls of the soup. He gave his stamp of approval.
Whew! who would have thought that it'll be a relieve to see Monday and get back to work?
Oh well, gotta go home and clean house so it looks less like a disaster zone! ;-)
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