Gilead Cafe

My friends, Stephanie and Fred, and I spent the sunny and unusually warm afternoon at the ROM today, checking out the exhibit on Dead Sea Scrolls. We were famished after walking around for three hours, so we headed to Jamie Kennedy's Gilead Cafe for brunch. I am a big fan of Jamie Kennedy's wine bar, and I enjoyed Gilead Cafe as well. The quaint, cafeteria-style space has a very organic and natural feel it.


My order: Smoked fish plate with salad.


The smoked trout was salty, but the saltiness balanced the simple and refreshing salad of lettuce and haricot vert perfectly. The creamy dressing and hard-boiled egg gave the dish a bit of richness. It's amazing how good, but simple this plate is. I can probably put something like this together for lunch.

Steph's order: Poutine with braised beef.



The fries were very crispy, despite the saucy beef piled on top. The beef was tender, zesty, and a little smokey. I was surprised that the dish wasn't made with cheese curds, but rather, a crumbly cheese that was similar to feta.


Fred ordered a burger, which I realized after he started eating that I didn't take a picture of, and a bottle of birch beer. I've never had, or even heard, of birch beer. It's basically a sweetened soda made with birch sap.

Thanksgiving '09 with all the fixings

Sure, I could have made a deconstructed Thanksgiving meal with chicken breast, roasted potatoes, some roasted veggies, etc. Heck, I wasn't even planning on cooking a Thanksgiving meal. I was feeling festive, though. And since I haven't cooked much in the past few months, I was determined to make a traditional meal with all the bells and whistles. The menu: Roasted butternut squash soup, Apple and pancetta stuffing, garlic mash potatoes with pancetta, roasted turkey, and pumpkin pie.

Each dish was made a little differently than before -- the soup was deglazed with white balsamic vinegar before adding the stock, and marjoram was added; the stuffing was made with a dense sour dough bread, apples, onions, pancetta, and raisins soaked in rum; crispy pancetta bits were added to the potatoes and the cream for the mash potatoes was heated with crushed garlic, the turkey was brined overnight in a mixture that included garlic, onions, soy sauce, bay leaves, and cracked peppercorns; and finally, the pie filling was made with caramel instead of adding milk and sugar separately. All that, and pie dough made from scratch, using all butter.

The meal was indulgent, but that's the point of Thanksgiving.

Coconut French Toast

I made this over the weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised. Frankly, I wasn't being creative or adventurous; I was being frugal and stubborn. I woke up with a massive craving for French toast, but realized I had no milk in the fridge. I saw half a can of coconut milk leftover from making curry, so I thought I'd use that instead. I beat a few tablespoons of the coconut milk with an egg and some sugar, and dipped raisin bread in. The result was pretty good. Go ahead. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Back from long hiatus

I'm finally back to cooking! It's been a loooong time since I updated my blog. The summer has been pretty crazy with travels, job search, and starting a new job. To prove that my time off from sharing my food experiences was productive, I'm posting a whole whack of pictures that should send food pornographers over the edge.

Boston

Barbecued eel over rice

Photo credits: Jimmy Wu
Seafood ramen

Photo credits: Jimmy Wu
Ramen in pork bone soup
Photo credits: Jimmy Wu
Seafood platter: lobster, scallop ceviche, oysters, crab legs
Photo credits: Jimmy Wu
Frisee salad with sweet breads and hazelnut, topped with quail egg

Photo credits: Jimmy Wu
Salad of greens, duck meat, and sour cherries

Photo credits: Jimmy Wu
Beignets and coffee pot de creme
Photo credits: Jimmy Wu
Platter of mixed oysters
Photo credits: Jimmy Wu

Seafood Feast

I made a clam chowder with pancetta, celery, onions, potatoes, white wine, cream, clam juice, and clams.


For the main, it was purely oysters.



Spain

From center right: Tapas of chorizo sausage, fried seafood platter, serrano ham, and sauteed mushrooms

Argentinean-style steak

Photo credit: Corinne Wong
Steak with foie gras

Photo credit: Corinne Wong
Albondigas

Photo credit: Corinne Wong
Seafood paella
Photo credit: Corinne Wong
Pan-seared foie gras
Photo credit: Corinne Wong
Smoked salmon with avocados and fried grated potatoes dressed with pink peppercorns
Photo credit: Ryan Chan
Seafood linguini
Photo credit: Ryan Chan
Mussels with peppers and capers
Photo credit: Ryan Chan
Beef Carpaccio wrapped rocket greens
Photo credit: Ryan Chan

Sunday afternoon

Went to Nuit Blanche last night (briefly), so I woke up late this afternoon. After a long night, all I wanted was a comforting bowl of hot soup noodles. I didn't make the dumplings from scratch, but I did fry them up, until they're nice and crispy on the bottom. For the noodles, I made dashi from scratch -- a soup base made of sea kelp and dried bonito flakes. Turns out I threw the miso paste out some time ago, so I made do with adding a little soy sauce to the broth. To top off the noodles, I added a sprinkling of togarashi chili powder.


What do you crave when you pull an all-nighter?