Good Times 2011–Part One

You know what?  2011 was quite a good year!

• Happy 2011 – nothing like ringing in the New Year with a great friend and an all night party!

January

• Started photography class – really interesting.  I’ve forgotten everything I learned.
• Thai at Home Cooking Class – I’ve raved about this class all year long.

February

• I met Chibi at a dinner party – little did I know that naked little Xolo was coming to be my new roomie.
• Chinatown grocery shopping – such fun.  I really need to do this again.
• Snowpocalypse – doesn’t Mother Nature know it doesn’t snow in Victoria?

March

• Chibi arrives – and never leaves. :)
• Culinaire Victoria 2011 – foodie fun at it’s finest.

April

• Chibi’s One-Monthiversary – clearly we’re a couple now.
• Curry Party – complete with delicious chick pea curry and refreshing Kachumar salad.

• Hockey playoffs start – and so do my incessant posts about the Canucks.
• German Sparkle Party – you know you want to listen to that nutty song over and over again. 
• Sooke Harbour House – one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had, complete with lovely overnight stay and gorgeous views.  {Part One} {Part Two} {Part Three}

May

• Empress Afternoon Tea – nothing but the finest finger sandwiches for my Mom!
• Backyard Shrimp Boil – bet you didn’t know this is actually where Michael and I met.  That dog in the photos?  Yep, that’s his Burl.  :)

June

• The one where I sneak in a mention of our first date – but don’t give you any details.  mwahaha.
• Trip to Vancouver – complete with Canucks Cup fever!
• {Post One} {Post Two} {Post Three} {Post Four}

• Tragedy Strikes – when the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup.
• True Spirit – stupid people rioted, lovely people cleaned up.
• V.I.C. Fest – local wine, local beer, local art, local music, local food, good friends and good times.
• Fernwood Bites – more local food, more local wine, more good friends and good times.

Wow, all of that went down in just the first six months.  If I ever complain of being bored please refer me back to my own blog. 

Part Two tomorrow.

Chinese Tuesday

Last’s night photography class was a night trip to Chinatown!  I got too cold before it got fully dark out, but it was actually a lot of fun and I got a few cool shots.

It ended up being a bit of a salad day.  Starting with Fruit Salad!

Gala apple, red grapes, strawberries, blueberries, orange and banana!

Mixed up with lemon yogurt.  Deeeelish.

For lunch there was tuna salad!

Mixed with pickles, green onions, Dijon, olive oil mayo, and s&p… all atop a bigass salad!

Romaine, radishes, cucumber, tomatoes, celery, carrots and sunflower seeds dressed with EVOO and s&p.  With bagel chips for tuna scooping.

After a chilly and damp walk around the block with Chibi it was tea time.  I’m slowly stocking my cupboard with only varieties of Rooibos tea….somewhat addicting.

As the sun was setting and the clouds were opening up I made my way down to Chinatown to meet my classmates.  After just about wearing out my horn honking at a tourist (rental car) that made me miss a light twice (while they were waiting for a parking spot they held up a whole block of traffic) I grabbed my borrowed tripod and practiced taking pictures of lights in the night.

I probably should have stayed more than an hour but I was wet and cold…and I’m not THAT dedicated to the craft. ha!  I learned a few neat tricks though and have some fun shots to share with the class next week.

Even though spending all that time in Chinatown made me crave WonTon Soup like nobody’s business I used my willpower and came home to a hot bowl of Chicken Pot Stew with toast.

Followed by another hot cup of tea and a Sticky Bar.

I may just have to trek back down to Chinatown for groceries this weekend and find out what indeed lies behind this sign.

Chinese sweets?  Sounds like something I surely NEED to investigate, no?

Spicy Thai-Style Noodles

My trip to Chinatown yesterday was instigated by my desire to make one of the recipes I learned from Heidi Fink at the Truly Thai at Home cooking class Tiffaney and I took last month.

After blogging about it I couldn’t put off making something delicious any longer!  I checked with Heidi and she was happy to let me share this recipe with you, so I thought I’d better make it and test it out! :)

• Spicy Thai-Style Noodles with Tofu
  • Created by Chef Heidi Fink
  • www.chefheidifink.com

Ingredients (don’t let the long list freak you out!):

• 1/2 lb medium tofu
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/8 tsp salt

• 4 oz dried rice stick noodles, size medium (about 1/4 of a noodle package)

• 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp Hoisin sauce
• 3 tbsp palm sugar (a little over half of a disk) (can use brown sugar if palm sugar unavailable)
• 2 tsp Sambal Oelek

• 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 scallions (green onions), sliced thinly on the diagonal
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin
• 1/2 cup snow peas, each pod sliced in half lengthwise
• 2 cups fresh bean sprouts, rinsed and drained well
• 1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
• 3-4 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)

If you don’t know what something on the above list is, leave me a comment and I will try to explain.  Aside from the palm sugar I have seen all of these items in the regular grocery stores.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Chop the tofu into small cubes (I patted it dry with paper towel first), place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, drizzle with the sesame oil and sprinkle with the salt. (I tossed lightly by hand). Bakes for 20-25 minutes, until tofu is sizzling and light gold in spots. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Soak the rice noodles in hot tap water for 20-30 minutes until pliable but not mushy.  Drain and set aside.

In a small pot, combine the fish sauce, water, soy sauce, Hoisin sauce, and palm sugar. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves, about 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in Sambal Oelek, and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add oil and swirl to coast bottom of pan.  Add the garlic, stir once, and immediately add the scallions, red pepper and snow peas. Stir fry for about 3 minutes, until vegetables are softened a bit and garlic is fragrant.

Add the sauce, bring to a boil, then stir in the noodles. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring and tossing constantly until noodles are tender.  If pan gets too dry add a tablespoon or two of water and continue cooking until noodles are tender and silky.

Add the tofu and 1 1/2 cups of the bean sprouts and cook about a minute more until sprouts are starting to wilt.  Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with the peanuts and herbs (seems like a lot but use them all!). Drizzle on the fresh lime juice, trying to cover the noodles evenly. Garnish with the remaining bean sprouts and serve immediately.

Heidi lists this as two portions…you could easily stretch to three…or even more if using as a side dish instead of the main event.  The noodles can also be refrigerated and eaten as a cool salad (which is exactly what I have planned for the leftovers!).

This seems like a lot of work but honestly if you are prepared with all of your ingredients out ahead of time and your veggies and herbs prepped it all comes together in just over 30 minutes.  Heidi’s instructions are very clear and I had no trouble following along.

Once that platter hit the table and the obligatory food porn was done I dished almost half of that deliciousness into a bowl and went to town!  Tasted just like the in-class version (maybe even a little better…tee hee)!  Now that I have the sauce staples in my cupboard I’ll be likely to make this on a regular basis.

Also, for you tofu non-believers…give it a chance!  It’s only $2 if you don’t like it and it’s easily picked out. :) You could also substitute chicken or shrimp if you are really anti-tofu or unable to eat soy products.

Enjoy!

Sunday in Chinatown

Prior to my move to Halifax I lived in Victoria for eight years.  I grew up in Nanaimo, a mere 1.5 hours away.  I have been back in town for over 7 months.  And somehow this is only the second time I have ever grocery shopped in Chinatown!  (The last time being about six years ago when my boyfriend at the time was a chef who could not believe I’d never had Dim Sum.  For the record I’ve still never been out to a restaurant for Dim Sum.)

After taking Heidi Fink’s Thai Food at Home class I knew I had to follow her lead and do my ingredient shopping in Chinatown.  Sure, most of the ingredients can be found in regular grocery stores…but not everything, and a lot of things are far more reasonably priced in the Chinese stores.

I parked near by, stopped at Habit for a delicious latte, then wandered over to Tai Sang (right next to Brasserie L’ecole on Government Street). 

Tai Sang is a small (smelly!) store crammed with all kinds of awesome and crazy Asian grocery goods.  I started outside with the produce (where I found red peppers for $1.39/pound!!), then made my way inside to find the other items on my list.

There was only one other customer in the store which made it even more fun to browse the aisles trying to figure out what everything was.

I thought I would have trouble finding things but it was actually super easy to pick out palm sugar, Sambal Oelek, and the right rice noodles.  There were three things on my list I couldn’t find but I wanted to visit other stores anyway so no big deal.

I paid for my loot and was on my way across the street onto Fisgard Street.

My next stop was Fisgard Market…a larger, much busier store.  I had a quick look at produce prices and saw some things the same price, some things more expensive, and some things cheaper than Tai Sang.  Still couldn’t find fresh mint though.

Inside the store I easily found the small jar of Hoisin sauce I was looking for, but not before I enjoyed myself checking out all of the interesting and sometimes weird Asian snack foods.  Octopus chips?  Um, ew. 

I did pick up a bag of way-delicious Shrimp Crackers.  Everyone always cringes when I buy these (not often, but often enough)…but if you like shrimp they are really quite tasty!

I left the store and wandered in and out of a few more shops just browsing dishes and fun little ornaments and such, but eventually my grocery bag weighed heavy on my arm and I decided I should bring my perishables home.

I spent less than $20 on all of this!!

The best deals were definitely the red pepper, kiwis, cilantro, Goji berries, and the sauces.  I couldn’t even find a small jar of Sambal Oelek at my regular supermarket and the Hoisin was whole dollar less. Overall I found everything I bought in Chinatown today was cheaper than the grocery store I visited to pick up the rest of my week’s groceries.

Depending on my meal plans in the future I can see Sunday trips to Chinatown becoming a regular event.  Even if next time it’s just to get one of those yummy looking BBQ buns from the bakery!!