my version of memere's baked rice

this baked rice is always a hit. i am a huge fan of meals that can be made in one dish, and this one's a winner (as my memere would say...but a winner for her is a loser)...i wonder where i got my sarcasm from?


you will need:

-one cup of rice (i enjoy organic short grain brown)
-2 cups of water
-a packet or cube of onion soup broth
-a plop each of minced garlic and ginger
-a chopped onion
-any vegetables
-tofu, cubed (optional)
-a good glug of olive oil and dark soy sauce
-chili flakes (optional)

preheat the oven to 350 deg. throw all ingredients in oven proof casserole with lid. stir. stick in oven for an hour and a bit for brown rice, about 30-45 minutes for white rice. check it a couple times and give it a stir while it cooks.







tastes great sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.

hope you are all enjoying the longer nights and typically awe inducing sunsets. xx

asian noodle salad

Here is a delicious easy go-to salad if you are having a potluck or are just in the mood for some delicious noodle salad with a twist. You will need:
noodles: soba or udon
vegetables
tofu
wakame (seaweed)
seeds

dressing: citrus juice or rice wine vinegar, sweetener, soy sauce, ginger, garlic

leeks are delicious in this salad



boil up your noodles, cube your tofu and season generously with salt and pepper, saute in coconut oil until golden.

i softened the leeks just slightly in the pan once the tofu was done. there is also some chopped roasted sweet potato in there.

rehydrate the seaweed in some water for 3-4 minutes, then drain and chop that up.

drain the noodles and combine all the ingredients and dressing.

inhale with chopsticks and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Sweet Potato Magic

Somehow in the brilliance of my organization I managed to lose my camera's charger, which is why I've been MIA. I have had some sweet sweet meals but unfortunately no photographic evidence. Here's what's been going on around here lately:

Leak number 4 in as many months. Second letter written to the Regie. Roofers came on Thursday so hopefully this means the leaks are done. Sent my notice of non-renewal for the lease so I'm free to look for somewhere else to live. Fresh start--yes!! P.S. Montrealers, do not rent from C.I.F. they are dicks.

Yesterday was Good Friday, and there was a parade for jesus on my street. Man, he gets everything, his birthday's even on Christmas!

They were walking to Notre-Dame Cathedral. Nice day for it.

Later I went to a matinee of Alice in Wonderland 3D with a friend. That Alice has got balls. So refreshing from the conventional Disney crap. She refuses to marry, and the plot doesn't center around getting a man in the end. Then we had bad coffee and good chats: burkas, France, consumerism etc etc.

Soon it was dinner time and I had a craving for sweet potatoes and nothing but. A recent attempt roasting them was an epic burning charred fail. After perusing the reviews of various recipes debating between parchment and foil vs. Pam and olive oil, I decided to throw caution to the wind and just do what i normally do: grease the pan with olive oil for roasting. That I did for one batch. Then I hatched a foolproof plan...fry the shit out of them in coconut oil for the other batch. How can that go wrong?

Ingredients for the baked: flour seasoned with salt and pepper, eggs beaten with a bit of water, a mix of shredded parmesan and romano cheese.

Cut your sweeties into wedges. Dredge them in the flour, then the egg, then the cheese and place on a greased rimmed baking sheet.

That is the most perfect one. My favorite.

As you can see there was minimal sticking. Win!



The ones going into the medium hot frying pan with a good plop of coconut oil were first dusted with chili powder and garam masala.

They didn't take too long to crisp up and brown nicely...about 4 minutes on each side.

Then I got crazy/fancy and wanted to recreate the Laughing Buddha's banana ketchup they serve with their sweet potato fries. My attempt was edible, but only semi-successful. I used way too much banana. Next time I'd use only 2 slices. Key ingredient: curry powder.

Dinner is served.

Midnight snack. Please note the variety of various dips, from top left. Rice vinegar/soy/sesame, salsa, sweet chili and underneath that salad is some plain yogurt with a tad of mayo. These taste buds need variety after midnight.