Wahoo's

Wahoo's Fish Taco

Ward Centre

I wouldn't have considered Wahoo's Fish Taco for lunch if I didn't have a fistful of coupons for free tacos. How can you resist a free lunch? Our family wasn't too impressed with our first and only visit to Wahoo's about a year ago. I thought the food was overpriced and didn't deliver in terms of flavor. However, free is a blessing in these days... so off we went. Surprise, surprise! We were rewarded with tacos, quesadillas, and burritos filled with fresh ingredients, well seasoned and satisfying.

We ordered 3 tacos ($3.75 each)- a flame broiled fish, a flame broiled chicken and a blackened mushroom taco. There are several more options like blackened fish, carne asada, carnitas, shrimp, and veggie. The tacos came with a generous topping of cheese, dark green lettuce or cabbage and a lightly tingly fresh salsa. Two soft corn tortillas made up the base of the tacos. They were hardy enough that they resisted soggification even after sitting under the fish and toppings for most of the meal. The fish taco was a flaky, seasoned fillet that engaged my 4 year old and she refused to share more than a bite with Mom. My 3 year old ate a couple of bites of the chicken taco but was much more interested in the cheese quesadilla which was a bargain at $5.50. The quesadilla had a crisp, flaky tortilla stuffed with just the right amount of cheese. Even better were the sides that came with the quesadilla - chunky guacamole, fresh spicy salsa and sour cream. My girl ate triangle after triangle of quesadilla after dipping it into the guac and sour cream. The guacamole and salsa looked homemade with chunks of onion and irregularly sliced tomatoes. Both had a good bite to them which added to the flavor of the food. The blackened mushroom taco was an interesting vegetarian version. I've never tried mushrooms as the filling of a taco. I wouldn't try to fill up on only one mushroom taco as it was light and tasty. There was also a tofu option and a rice and veggie option for the vegetarians in your group.

I was impressed enough to return the next day to use the rest of my taco coupons. This time, we ordered a carnitas (pulled pork) taco, another flame broiled fish taco, and a carne asada wet burrito. The carnitas was cold unfortunately but it was filled with lots of pulled pork, cheese, lettuce and salsa. It came with a tangy green sauce and a cuplet of fresh salsa. The fish taco didn't disappoint and Wahoo's was happy to substitute the cabbage for more kid friendly green lettuce. I was worried when I tasted the wet sauce of the burrito that it would be too spicy for my kids but they loved it and they clamoured for each bite offered to them. Their long disappointed faces were heart breaking when the burrito was eaten up. The carne asada burrito was a large flour tortilla filled with chunks of steak mixed with lettuce, rolled, and topped with cheese and a spicy wet tomato based sauce. The beef was a little chewy but manageable as it was cut into smallish pieces. Of course, when the beef is chewy it better have good flavor which this one did. Remember, my kids? They're as picky as the short set get.

The servers were friendly and accommodating. They checked on us regularly to make sure we had everything we needed. They came by and chased birds away when we sat at the lanai and cleaned up promptly to keep them away. The lunch crowd was bustling but the food came out timely. Perhaps they should have taken a few more moments to heat up the carnitas in the carnitas taco. I felt taken care of at Wahoo's. The decor was bright and tropical party place like. My kids counted all the pinatas in the place - I believe there are 5.

Overall, what really struck a chord with my family was the pictures of surfer girls. My older daughter was enamoured by them and asked about them repeatedly. I told her she could surf if she wanted to but she'd better learn to swim first. They watched the obligatory surfer video with big eyes, impressed with each surfer that carved a wave and laughed maniacally when a surfer bailed into the wave. Any place that encourages my kids to stretch their wings and imaginations are thumbs up with me. Maybe my kids' will be on a surfer video someday. A restaurant that produces food that gets my kids to chow down two days in a row wins kudos too. I'm a Wahoo's convert and I'll be stopping in someday to enjoy their happy hour specials - pitchers for $6 and chips/salsa, fries or onion rings for $2. I was eyeing their polynesian shrimp last time, so I'll try that next. Also, I'll convince someone in the group (my hubby) to try their Banzai burrito which seemed to be a signature dish. The food at Wahoo's was high quality and fresh which is what you are paying for. If you want a $1 taco, go to instead.

Hank's Haute Dog Take 2

Food Network, here we come! That sister of mine and I are going to be stars. Ok, ok, ok... maybe only her. Perhaps only a shot of her stuffing a "haute" dog into her face.

Rewind. CC came to visit back in October. I know... there's been a lot going on in our lives! Nunu started ballet and tap classes. Did you know it's hard to find ballet and tap shoes to fit a tiny 3 year old foot? We looked everywhere and ended up special ordering some only to have the teacher offer us a pair at the first class. Boo is going strong in her Kung Fu classes and outruns some of the boys in her class. Don't underestimate her "one finger block!"

Anyways, CC came to visit and arrived late one Friday night. My folks had planned a big dim sum reunion with all the cousins, aunties and uncles on Saturday. Well... do you think CC wanted to go straight home and to bed? Nope. Of course not. Stopped at Wailana's for saimin and... onion rings?!?! Then home to a late night chat and a showing of all the goodies and presents from Vancouver.

Next day, we have a wonderful reunion while jacked on caffeine. Off to rest and relax in the sun? Nooooooo.... I'd planned a "get to know my sister and new moon music circle" party for that evening. Oh, yeah... and some cousins wanted to stop in to see our new house. So we head home like good relatives and hosts. Except I remember that this is the only Saturday CC will be in Honolulu. Uh huh. Lots of things go on Saturday. Like Foie Gras Haute Dog day at Hank's Haute Dogs.

Conversation goes like this:

Me: "Ok, Mom and Dad are waiting with cousins at our house. Let's hurry. Oh wait! It's Saturday! It's the only day you'll be able to try the Foie Gras Dog at Hank's!"

CC: "What?!?!? Quick... where's Hanks?"

[sound of tires screeching]

CC: "I'll just run in and grab a dog. I know I'm stuffed from dim sum but when will I get to try a Foie Gras Dog?" (refer to "fg alert" post http://thepleasantpeasants.blogspot.com/2009/05/fg-alert.html to learn about CC's undying devotion to tortured ducks and their fatty livers)

So we blissfully think we are going to stop for 5 minutes to pick up a Foie Gras Dog. But there is a sign at the door saying all that enters may be videotaped for Food Network show, Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." We enter and CC is asked to tape a spot for the show. At first, she refuses, being a good daughter and thinking of her waiting parents. But the allure of being on TV wins her over. Not only that, but her enthusiasm spills over and affects me!

Next thing we know, I've got an Alligator Andouille dog and CC's got a Duck and Foie Gras Sausage and we're waiting our turn to chew in front of a camera and crew. The crew told CC that there was a 99% chance she'll be on the show as her story was unique and interesting. I wanted to point at myself and say "Hey! I'm the sister that suggested the whole thing!" But I got camera shy and couldn't think of interesting things to say cept the hot dog tasted great. Actually, it was kinda chewy.... I can't even remember what the duck and foie gras sausage tasted like. The kids loved the duck fat fries though.

An hour later, we're headed home again. Flushed and excited. I spoke to Hank at last month's First Friday at the State Art Museum lawn. Hank's should be featured on the show in Feb or March. Let us know if you see it coming up... cuz I don't have a TV. Thanks!

Buy Soda Pop No More

The US FDA identified a foreign substance in a can of Diet Pepsi as either "frog or toad."

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/09/02/frog.pepsi.can/

Nasty! But there is a saving grace!

I HAVE MADE MY OWN GINGER ALE THAT I LOOOOOOOVE.

I've made ginger beer (ale? fizzy gingery drink?) before. But it had sorely failed my love of fizz. As Lori coined "it's all about the burn." I love the tssssssss when you first twist off the cap. The little spray of nose wrinkling droplets. That first sip that slips down your throat and packs it with a whallop that has you sit up and smile.

I confess I buy soda pop. Soda for you ahmricans. Pop fer u Canucks. If it's fizzy I'll likely love it. Cept for those nasty ass cans of energy drinks that taste like life savers meets the koolaid man in a fizz inducing state. Blechhhh. I'll even love fizz that falls below fizz whalloping standards. I have drunk juice (particularly grape juice) that's been left on the counter a little too long in this hot Hawaiian weather. It's a little fizzy and hasn't started smelling like someone left the lid off the compost bucket again. It's ok but not worth reproducing.

But the tsssss, the spray, the whallop.... that is what I aim for and I HAVE ACHIEVED IT! All it took was ginger, sugar, yeast (honey too but it wasn't necessary). Mix in a screw cap bottle - I used an old glass fizzy water bottle. Leave it in a cool dark place for 4-6 days - I only could be patient for 4 1/2 days. Refrigerate (even if you ain't gonna drink it cuz otherwise you will be cleaning your cool dark place of sticky mess and glass shards). Drink when ice cold. Sit back and smile. Measurements will be forthcoming as I do this over and over and over again!!!!!

Next fizzing experiment will be a non-yeast fermentation based on lactobacillus from the skin of roots. Yep, root beer (which ginger is since it is technically a root). Mebbe I'll even get around to taking a picture. Metta has requested an orange juice soda....

Clams and Noodles

A simple name for a deelish dish. Was adapted from a recipe that called for a stick and a half of butter! Well... it was called clams linguine with lemon butter sauce.

I used 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp butter, and 4 ice cubes of chicken stock instead. First started by sauteeing onions with olive oil til transparent and fragrant. Then I added the butter, stock and 5 -6 cloves of minced garlic. Let that simmer a bit until the girls finished dicing 1 cup of button mushrooms. Then I added the mushrooms and 1/2 cup of diced mixed heirloom cherry tomatoes. Let that simmer up a bit then added 2 1/2 lbs of cockles. Put a lid on and let it cook for about 5 minutes. I stirred the cockles eery couple of minutes and made sure they all opened up.

At this point, I tasted the broth and it was already heavenly. Then I added the juice of 1/2 lemon, 2 spoonfuls of capers, and a handful of fresh sweet basil chiffonade.

The clams and sauce were spooned over freshly cooked organic whole wheat spaghetti noodles. So ono! The girls liked a little freshly grated pecorino with theirs. Booboo liked the clams wheras Nunu refused to try them at all. They did eat their steamed kale side though.

Loved this dish and it was so easy to make. YumYum.

Posting

Wow...it's been 3 months since I last posted?!?!? Where did the time go. There have been plenty of great meals. Terrible at taking pictures and even worse at posting I guess. We had a 4th birthday party of Boobel - Prince and princesses all the way including a homemade princess castle. Nunu's 3rd birthday is coming up with an Art theme to accomodate a sitting party due to her broken leg. Bought a house and moved. Fell in love again with singing bhajans but this time bought a harmonium and loving playing it! Much more to post. Love and light!

Curry Eggplant Stewp

It was a great throw together meal. I've been feeling a little under the weather today. On top of that I've had to run around like crazy from bank to bank trying to get things organized for our upcoming house purchase. Of course, today is the day that the kids decide to push their limits with me. Or maybe my tolerance is low so I put my foot down. They had a playground session and a cherry shopping trip taken away for poor behaviour.
Anyways. Home again at 6 p.m. Dinner is on my mind. Whenever I feel sick, there are two kinds of food I crave - hot spicy broth and fish jook aka congee aka rice porridge. Well, I had already thrown some frozen chicken bones, onion scraps and rice into my Thermos pot in the morning before I left. So jook was ready to go. But none of my healthy family members would be satisfied with a bowl of soupy jook. So hot spicy broth it was.
I recently acquired a Costco membership so in my fridge was a giganto bag of eggplant and another one of red peppers. Scrounging around brought out a can of whole mushrooms and another of chicken broth. So I sauteed half an onion with some ginger slices. Then threw in some sliced eggplants - the asian long skinny kinds. I had an inspiration for spicy fried eggplant which worked great since I couldn't make the soup spicy on account of the kidlets. I scooped about 2 eggplants worth out of the soup pot and started frying it in a fry pan til they were browned and crispish-chewy. I drizzled shoyu and chili garlic sauce on them and they were delicious. The perfect heat adding condiment for this stewp.
Back to the stewp: eggplant was sauteeing with ginger and onion. I rough chopped 2 red peppers and sauteed them for a couple of minutes. Then I added a can of whole mushrooms, the chicken broth and some water. I tried to figure out seasonings and decided to go with some cumin and mild curry powder. The garam marsala was set aside along with the 30,000 btu cayenne powder as they are not kid-friendly. When the pot boiling briskly, I added a few handfuls of quinoa. I wanted to control this as I wanted to keep a soup consistency and not go all the way into stew consistency. Then when the quinoa was nearly done, I stirred in a cubed breast of chicken. Last time I cooked a chicken breast in this wet heat way I way overcooked it. So this time I was super cautious. As soon as the soup was back to barely a simmer I turned the heat to low and left it for 10 minutes. Then I fished out the biggest cube I could find and cut it open to test it. It was done. So I turned off the heat and put the lid on. Metta and the kiddies weren't in from playing in the street (sound terrible don't it? ) so I headed into the bedroom (by the stream, ahhh) to geek out a little on the computer.
Ten minutes later, little Nunu came in asking if dinner was ready. I told her it was and she ran out to get her Daddy and her sister. Then a minute later I heard her calling "You're taking a loooong time to get my dinner, Mommy." I came out to find her in her high chair waiting for me to serve her. She's only 2! Of course she didn't like the soup and I created a meal just for her with some rice noodles, broccoli, and just the soup broth. She wouldn't eat any of the veggies or the chicken. Booboo loved everything but the eggplant and mushrooms. I added some broccoli to her bowl too. Can't wait to reheat some tomorrow...

Mother's Day Feast

We decided to have a backyard barbeque at our new apartment for Mother's Day. The girls had regaled me with a handmade card and we spent the day at the beach at a 3 year old's birthday party. We were ready for some home time.

I stopped at Marukai, a Japanese member's only grocery store, and picked up some delicious looking sale items - Pacific Blue Prawns, fresh Mullet from Taiwan, Ewa sweet corn, and local zucchini. We didn't have any charcoal so we stopped to buy some and I impulsively bought a charcoal chimney. I remembered how Metta laboured over the barbeque to get the charcoal lit - we didn't believe in lighter fluid. I want to do more barbequing since the weather is getting hotter and cooking indoors heats up the house too much. So a chimney seemed like a perfect easy way to deal with the charcoal. Sure enough, Metta had a healthy fire going in minutes and was able to pull out his ukulele and sing fire songs to encourage the fire.

I was inspired to make kebobs as I felt it would be too hard to manage the veggies and shrimp just on the grill. I skewered shrimp with onion, zucchini and Hamakua Coast cocktail tomatoes. The kebobs were salted and dizzled with organic extra virgin olive oil. I also made some pure shrimp on a stick. If you know me, you know I love food on sticks. I simply salted the mullet and tucked a few bits of onion into the cavity. I wanted to taste the fish as cleanly as possible as I haven't had mullet before. As you can see, the skin crisped beautifully. It's a good fish to feed our 2 and 3 year old as the bones are not too small. You can easily see or feel them except for the meat near the collar where there were more small bones. We stuck to the belly and tail area for the girls. They devoured more than half the fish themselves.

I soaked the corn in it's husk in water for about 30 minutes. I grilled it until the outside husks were blackened - about 15 minutes. Then, the hot corn was rolled in organic butter for a delicious crisp corn on the cob. The kebobs jostled for space on the grill while the girls ate corn and mullet. Afterwards, there was plenty of heat so I pulled out a zucchini and 2 chicken breasts to roast. They were done beautifully and there were still plenty of coals left. Metta suggested roasting potatoes. I put 5 russet potatoes on the grill and turned them every 15 minutes or so til they were soft. Still plenty of coals left so I scoured my pantry. I ended up scooping all the coals to one side and putting 2 heads of garlic on. They started to burn so I put them off to the side and improvised a barbeque lid by putting my roasting pan lid on. They roasted near the coals for about an hours before I pulled them off. The food became the next nights dinner as Chinese Chicken salad and roasted garlic with pita chips. Yum.

Birthday Cookie

Metta's birthday is coming up in a few days and, since we baked Banana Oatmeal Cookies today, we made a giant cookie for Metta. We figured he'd rather have his birthday cookie early and fresh instead of a slightly stale cookie on his birthday. 2 year old Nunu proudly brought the cookie to Papa, telling him it was just for him but he had to eat his dinner first. Nunu returned with the platter minus a bite of cookie! I started grilling Nunu if she had eaten a bite. A voice called out "I'm only admiting to it because I don't want Nunu to be blamed!" I suppose that's a good dad...

We originally made Banana Oatmeal cookies (recipe from bakingbites.com) because we were celebrating Booboo's success at keeping her bed dry at night. It was a private baking party of three - myself, Booboo and Nunu. The girls were given a cookie each when the phone rang and I became engrossed in a real estate call. When I emerged, the girls had silly grins on their faces and the plate of cookies cooling on a rack held a single cookie. They had each swiped 3 or 4 cookies. I had a talk with them telling them that it was ok, they should have asked first, but if they didn't want to get in trouble they better not sugar crash. They gamely agreed and held their end of the bargain. The cookies are now kept out of reach on a high shelf.

Quick Pix

Weekend hash whipped up one groggy morning.  The husky, steamy view.

Second picture is the same weekend hash.

Third picutre is a Pork and Cabbage dinner - roast pork loin, roasted veggies with chinese cabbage (siu choy or won bok), pan-fried sliced baked potates, rice.

Fourth picture is one that I can't figure out how to delete.  Nor how to get the layout just right.  Oh well...

Cinco de Mayo... by accident

I rushed in the door at 7:02 p.m. with 2 hungry kids in tow.  Metta had been blissfully unaware that I wanted him to prep some stuff for dinner cuz his cell phone wasn't picking up a signal.  My original dinner plan went out the door as it involved too much chopping.  Frozen lasagne was out the door as it took too long.  As I had been driving home, the questions in my mind were "what's in my fridge?" and "how can I turn it into dinner asap?"

Leftover chicken, tortillas, cheese... became quesadillas with an organic grated carrot disguised as grated cheese.  Hey... I've got a 2 and a 3 year old.  Gotta sneak veggies in anyway I can.  The carrot added an awesome sweet dimension to the chicken and cheese combo.

A couple of avocados mashed up and mixed with some leftover salsa = guacamole.  I had wanted to make guac for last nights dinner with our veggie friend but I figured his Mexican wife makes it regularly and probably way better than I can.  But we had leftover organic Que Pasa chips imported from Canada.  Love Que Pasa ever since I worked across the street from their former location in Vancouver.  I went there regularly for lunch burritos that were huge, delicious and came with a fresh salsa all you can eat condiment station.  Sadly, they relocated to Richmond and stopped their deli counter and concentrated on chips.  However,  I'm so happy their chips are commonly sold in the grocery stores here in Hawaii.

I fixed a quick green salad with organic romaine lettuce, organic grated carrots, local cucumbers slices, and organic grape tomatoes with a leftover balsamic vinaigrette.  A meal of leftovers but delicious nonetheless.  It wasn't til later in the evening (while reading www.slashfood) that I realized today is Cinco de Mayo.  So our meal was a holiday meal!

Vegetarian Delight

We invited a friend over for dinner.  His wife is visiting her folks for a couple of weeks.  Unfortunately, her folks live in Mexico City and she got on the airplane the evening before the swine flu episode hit the news.  So, he's been worried about her.  We thought he could use some company over a nice home cooked meal.

We are not vegetarians although both Metta and I have dabbled in vegetarianism.  Metta was a vegetarian until... the day BEFORE I met him!  So he can't blame me for his fall from vegetarianism.  I tried being a vegetarian for a couple of years about a decade ago.  I ended up being anemic.  Tried being a vegetarian for about 6 months a few years later - ended up anemic with vitamin B deficiency.  These days, I am allergic to most vegetarian protein sources - I can't eat beans at all - not just cuz they are the musical fruit either :(

So what to make for a nice dinner?  I had been craving baba ghanouj for a couple of months so that went on the menu immediately.  I had some black beans that I can't eat so why not foist em on the visiting vegetarian?  Our friend loves chips so the appy became chips and dip.  I decided to make up a recipe for the beans by making it into a South east Asian inspired black bean dip.  I blenderized a drained can of organic black beans, a couple of tablespoons of coconut milk, juice from half a lime, a bit of ewa sweet onion, salt and pepper, a squeeze of raw honey and a couple of handfuls of chopped cilantro.  Deeeelicious.  I tried a couple of bites and my allergies reared their ugly head a couple of hours later.

It was also the first time I made baba ghanouj.  I was able to find some local asian eggplants but not the bulbous oval variety.   I roasted the eggplants for about 15 minutes under the broiler, turning occasionally.  They could have used a little more time.  I had to do this in the middle of the night so that I didn't heat up the house.  There's been a heat wave here lately.  I curled them into a bowl and covered it to let em steam cook a little more.  

The next day, I put the eggplants in the food processor with some tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, ewa sweet onion, salt and pepper.  They were a little disappointing until I salted them liberally.   Yumyum. 

Dinner was gen-ji-mai rice, which is half brown rice, and seitan broccoli.  Gen-ji-mai rice is not as brown as brown rice but healthier and tastier than white rice.  I simply wok fried the seitan til golden with some onion, garlic and ginger and the broccoli.  A little soy sauce for flavouring and there it was.  A great veggie meal.  

I forgot about dessert though - Haagen Daz chocolate ice cream which tastes like sublime high end fudgsicles to me.  Oh well.

fg alert

Email to CC:

whats fg you say?

hmmmm... what animal do you love to torture so you can have its insides ripped out and seared to crispy perfection?

fg!

thass right - foie gras!!!!

i discovered your reason fer yer next visit. Duck and foie gras hot dog and french fries cooked in foie gras fat at Hank's Haute Dogs. Hank closed his high end frou frou restaurant to open this hot dog joint. i cant remember the name of the place... i tried a normal dog there and it was pretty good. i wanna try the lobster and scallop sausage there. Mebbe ill try the fg dog and tell u how it is.
____________

Of course if you know CC, you'd know she'll give it up anytime and anyday for Foie Gras. Me, I'm more of a husky, musky truffles and uni kinda gal.

_____________

Response from CC:

WHAT!!! How much is this celestrial hot dog????? Try it and take pictures!!

I've been craving fg really bad lately. Probably because I've been on a self diagnosed Izakaya kick lately (I'm actually SICK of izakayas right now, but that will pass in a week) and so haven't been to any nice western restaurants.
______________

Yes, she is craving foie gras. Aren't we all? You can try it at Hank's Haute Dogs on Saturdays.

From their website:


The Hank’s Concept is built around the company’s principal, Henry Adaniya. As a prominent restauranteur he has promoted some of the highest profile chefs in the country. It is a venture founded on his entreprenurial spirit and love for food. Trio, his world-renowned restaurant, garnered hundreds of accolades and awards over the past twelve years. Now, in a bold move from the fine dining to a fast food arena, henry focuses on his family roots here in developing Hank’s Haute Dogs. The hot dog is an edible icon of this story that everyone can savor both in flavor and success.


324 Coral Street
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813
ph. (808) ~ 532 ~ 4265
fax. (808) ~ 532 ~ 4266

2330 Kalakaua Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
ph. (808) ~ 532 ~ 4265

Disaster

It was one of the worst meals I´ve cooked... :( It wasn´t really my fault. The cut chicken I bought turned out to be very bony and fatty. Metta wouldn´t eat it after trying a couple of bites - texture issues. Next time I´ll pay the extra for the breast meat. The worst part was the wood ear fungus I used in the steamed chicken and wood ear fungus dish turned out to be very bitter. Even Metta complained and he loves bitter foods. We gave up on that dish and dined on gen-ji mai rice (almost brown rice) and sauteed broccoli. Not very satisfying - I´ll be foraging in the fridge later for a snack.

Gotta love Hawaii

In the interest of saving money, we packed the fixings for a deli sandwich meal today. Up the windward coast we went on a house hunting mission. The children started to fuss after their noonday nap so we pulled over at Heeia Park. It´s a rustic park overlooking a sandbar on the ocean. Metta found a little covered lanai with a bench to get us out of any possible rain. I made beautiful roast turkey sandwiches while Metta and the girls played. Nutty whole wheat bread spread with mayonnaise and avocado, filled with cheddar, tomato, lettuce. Yummy picnic in a panorama of beauty. Wish I had taken a picture for you folks.

Stuffed sole, finally.

Benjamin has been talking about stuffed sole for weeks now. I haven´t accomodated him since I had envisioned rock hard fillets from the deep freeze at the grocery store. However, today, I´d planned a Mushroom Courgere for dinner but walked by the seafood dept to see gorgeous Dover Sole Fillets on sale. Not only did they glisten invitingly but the fishmonger told me they were fresh, never frozen and wild caught. Yum. Out went the vegetarian dinner plan.
I had no idea what to stuff the fillets with so I started playing with some veggies. An idea formed in my head of a fine mince of onions, garlic, mushrooms, peppers and morphed into a great breadcrumb stuffing. The fish was poorly filleted, so I had to mangle most of them to get the bones out. I made stuffed sole out of only 3 fillets. The other 6 fillets were layered into a pan to make a fish pie of sorts with the fish on the bottom and the stuffing as a crust. Into a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.
I whizzed some onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic in the food processor, intending to saute these veggies to add to my rice salad which I will bring to a potluck tomorrow night. However, I realized only 2 minutes before the sole was done that I hadn´t made the lemon sauce I had planned. Too little time to make a roux and a bechamel sauce now! I looked down at the veggies sauteing in my cast iron fry pan and decided to add some tomato sauce and turn it into a tomatoey sauce for the sole. Some portabello marinara and tomato paste went into the pan. A few glugs of white wine. And the urge hit me for a creamy tomato sauce. So in went a can of low fat evaporated milk. I simmered the sauce for a few minutes and it was divine! Kind of a cross between an Indian Butter Chicken sauce and a Paneer Tikka Masala sauce. So sweet yet I hadn´t added any sweetner - all the sweetness was from the organic red onion and organic carrot.
Meanwhile I chopped up some local organic curly kale and steammered it til just wilted. Stirred in some butter, lemon, bragg´s and pepper for a simple delicious sauce. This meal was so good!

Dine Out 2009!

Yesterday marked the 4th day of Dine Out Vancouver 2009, an event where many Vancouver restaurants come together to offer a prix fixe three course meal in the ranges of $18, $28 or $38.

Unfortunately, this year's Dine Out brought along a lot of controversy as they raised their prices in all categories by $3. Although it is understandable due to price inflation and all that, many people thought that it was unnecessary to have increased the same dollar amount in all ranges. This way, the people that can afford paying $38 dollars only saw a 15% increase, whereas the poorer folk who used to enjoy the $15 dollar mark suffered a 20% increase. Doesn't seem fair, right?

Anyway, my friends and ZZ and I went to Hell's Kitchen (a pizzeria) for the $18 Dine Out. This was not on purpose, by the way. We tried to go to 6 other places but they would not take us because they were either full or they would not allow our friends' 6 month baby in because they were pubs. We were finally left with reservations in hand for Hell's Kitchen. We were a bit apprehensive because all they offered for the entree selection were pizzas! Pizza for $18 hardly seemed like a deal but we had nowhere else to go.

So, for our appetizers:

I started off with the Hell's Poutine - Hand-cut Kennebec potatoes, crispy capers, prosciutto, aged quebec white cheddar, peppercorn tenderloin gravy. I am not a huge fan of hand-cut steak fries, I prefer my fries of the shoestring variety. Super crispy fries are the way to go as my sister, GJ, would confirm. This appetizer was still delicious, though, I never would have thought of adding capers to poutine but they added a wonderful saltiness. Mmm...salt....

ZZ's appy (I use the term 'appy' purposefully here, as it is one of ZZ's pet peeves) was the Hell's Chowder - Local BC salmon, albacore tuna, shellfish, seasonal vegetables, lemon grass, lobster cream. He said it was good although he mentioned that the potatoes were a bit undercooked.

And for my entree, it was a pizza called The Soprano - Spicy capicolla, prosciutto ham, fresh basil, chorizo sausage and provolone cheese.

Delicious with a thin crust and lots of cheese. Some bites were a bit spicy for my tastes but it was good and HUGE! None of us could finish our pizzas, bringing home at least three slices or more.

There was another pizza available that GJ would have laughed at for me: the Aphrodite - Pesto (which was made with walnuts), smoked chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted almonds and asiago. Why would GJ laugh? This pizza is death on a plate for me as I am severly allergic to nuts and peanuts. No Aphrodite for this CC!

Last but not least, our desserts. ZZ had the TiraMisu - whipped mascarpone, sabayon marsala, espresso-soaked ladyfingers, cocoa and whip cream. It was as it sounds - awesome!

As for my dessert, I had the creme brulee with Madagascar vanilla bean. I would have preferred it a bit more burnt on top and the custard could have been warmer but it was still delicious. I was most impressed with the bottom of the ramekin where I saw a layer of actual vanilla beans that had sunk! That was nice, they could have easily gotten away with supermarket bought vanilla extract but they really did use real vanilla beans.

Overall a very enjoyable meal for $18! Oh and I forgot to mention my double lychee Mojito that I got to compliment my dinner. Cool, minty and lychee-ey, it was great. Unfortunately, I sipped it slowly throughout dinner and therefore escaped any buzz it may have produced. Oh well, next time!

Roasts galore

Tonight I decided to try a new roast - pork loin roast. I'd been thinking of trying to roast pork since my usual repertoire for pork is pork chops. Metta grew up eating pork chops and it's one of his comfort foods especially if I can make it nice and crispy. Unfortunately, it doesn't agree with my favourite way of eating pork which is just cooked through and still moist and tender. I find that crispifying pork chops usually renders it well done and therefore dry and stringy. A roast seems to fulfill Metta's desire for crispy and my desire for moist.

I started with a 2 1/2 pound pork loin roast that was pretty much trimmed of all fat. I decided to purchase a roast because I was looking for some meat for a chinese herbal soup and for a chow fun stir fry. Also, it seemed a lot better deal than chops at a full dollar cheaper per pound. However, I fell out of schedule with our meal plan when a craving for Pho overpowered the effort to cook one night. The next night, I had forgotten we were supposed to meet friends for dinner. This left me with a roast that was begging to be cooked.

Wanting to be kind to my vegetarian roommates, I waited until they went out and then I yanked that roast out of the fridge. I heated up some organic olive oil in my wok, seared the salt and peppered roast on all sides til golden, then put it in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes and 350 for 35 minutes more. It was beautifully done. Juicy, tender and crisp on the outside. Metta swooned when he saw it. He'd never had pork roast before and is now a convert. Booboo and Nunu begged for seconds. We used it as a bargaining chip - eat your veggies and you can have more.

To go with that lovely roast, I put some cut up organic russet potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper into a cast iron frypan for the same amount of time as the pork roast. I heated up some wild rice pilaf and stirfried veggies as sides. Yesterday, a hectic trip to Costco yielded way to much organic applesauce which rounded out the meal. No need for a late night snack tonight for the girls. They ate their fill (for once!).

Mange Lasagne!

Aaaaaaah... breathe in deep when there's a lasagne baking in the oven. The smell is homey and filling. I only make lasgane when it's been requested by one of two people - my Mom or Metta. Now, I can understand why Metta loves lasagne - he's part Italian - but my Mom? She's full blooded chinese albeit with an adventurous soul and palate. I guess Pluto is into lasgane too - thanks to little Miss Nunu.

Lasagne is a great meal for a gathering since it's rich and filling. It takes time to make with all the steps that are involved. For an everyday meal, I tend to opt for spaghetti and sauce before I'll go to the trouble of a lasagne. But when I do get into it, then the results are most satisfying.

I'll make this lasagne for birthdays, homecomings, and family celebrations. It's great for the kids because it's chock full of veggies and they never even know about em. It's not for a vegan or anyone avoiding dairy. Layers of yielding pasta, gooey cheese, hidden veggies, and that savoury tomatoey aroma. Mmmmmm.

I start the tomato sauce the night before to cut down on work on the day of and to give the sauce extra depth by allowing the flavours to mingle overnight. The next day, I boil the lasagne sheets - I use dried, whole wheat sheets - and prepare the spinach layer if I'm making a classical lasagne. If not, the layer is usually parmesan cauliflower. I've also made a great lasagne using thinly sliced butternut squash instead of lasagne sheets. I was testing out CC's brand new Wustoff Santoku knife that was truly amazing.

Shredding cheese is usually delegated to CC or anyone I can convince to do it. CC seems to like it as thieving a few scoops of grated cheese is a nice tax. Then you merely have to assemble the layers and pop it in the oven. Don't forget the scoop of sauce on the bottom or you'll be scraping the pan for hours. 45 minutes at 350 degrees, then let it sit for 15 minutes (this helps it become more sliceable). Then call the gathering to the table!

A decadent appetizer

Hello all! So this is CC, the Vancouver branch of the Pleasant Peasants. As my sister said, we have "Champagne tastes on a beer budget", well, I sometimes seem to tend towards the Champagne taste end of things.

Tonight, after staggering home from work through the snow since Vancouver got an unusually large dumping this winter, I peeked in my fridge to put together a snack. I ended up cutting up some cukes, wrapped in proscuitto with some Red Hawaiian Alea Sea Salt and cracked black pepper and decided to amp it up a notch by drizzling some white truffle olive oil. Now, let me rave about my truffle oil. For the better part of a year, I've been tempted by the itsy bitsy bottles of truffle oil found at your local gourmet foodie boutiques but the prices of over $20 for a 10ml bottle always thwarted me. Before Christmas, a friend and I went to the Circle Craft fair in Vancouver, which is an eclectic collection of independent Canadian and American artisans selling absolutely beautiful jewelry, clothes and foodie items (amongst other things). There, I found my shining truffle oil, standing proudly on the shelf at a whopping $20 for 200ml!!! Canadian dollars to boot! To say the least, I was thrilled and snapped up a bottle. Oh, what a treat. High quality olive oil scented with the mesmerizing aroma of earthy white truffles. Amazing how just one ingredient completely changes a dish.

Crown Roast of Lamb

I'm on a pretty interesting diet where I cannot eat many proteins. However, I've recently discovered I can eat lamb again. After many years of not eating lamb, I am no longer allergic to it. YAY! I've been indulging in lamb curries, lamb souvlaki, lamb chops... While digging in my parents freezer the other day, I discovered not 1 but 2 racks of lamb! When you've got at least 2 racks, you may as well make crown roast since it looks really impressive but isn't hard to make. Especially when the frozen packs of lamb are already frenched and marinated... Too bad, I'd been wanting to try a new technique to (supposedly) easily french lamb racks using dental floss. It can be fiddly business to french a rack since that means you need to remove all the membranes and meat surrouding the rib bones of the lamb rack so they appear clean and tidy. Personally, I don't mind a non-frenched rack since I can find a million uses for bones if not simply to kick back and suck them clean.

To serve to company, a crown rack of lamb is a gem tho. I simply thawed the racks, tied the end ribs together, wrapped a few rounds of twine around the roast to keep a circular shape and popped them into a 400 degree oven for 1/2 an hour. A quick pinch test of the meat in the centre of the roast yielded too easily, telling me it was very rare. Another 6 minutes in the oven and it was nicely pinchable - meaning a nice medium rare roast. I prefer rare but I suppose the polite thing to do is to cook to guest and parental tastes.

I'm making myself sound like I love kicking back with rare and bloody meat to chew on and suck on the bones. Well, I am a pleasant peasant. Actually, I have eaten "crude" goat in India as part of a village goat sacrificial ceremony. Only, Metta and I thought they said cured. We were handed handfuls of raw and bloody goat bits.

Back to the roast lamb dinner. I made a mushroom mint dressing by sauteeing onions, garlic, and button mushrooms with salt and pepper. Then I mixed in home made bread cubes and chopped organic mint. A little cranberry jelly left over from Christmas turkey dinner for a touch of sweetness. Then 3 or 4 ladlefuls of delicious broth made at our New Year's "Foa Wao" or Chinese hot pot/fondue. I put it in an oven proof bowl and popped it in alongside the roast.

I try to economize whenever I can so turning on the oven means opportunity to bake as much as can fit in the oven. Potatoes went on the top rack and a very interesting green and white striped spaghetti squash went on the bottom rack. After an hour and a half this squash was still not cooked. Some internet research revealed this was a Chinese spaghetti squash or more commonly known as Shark's Fin Melon (Yu Chi Gwa). Our Polish guest, Fabio, loved the spaghetti squash with butter and parmesan but us Asians decided to use up the melon a few days later as Shark's Fin Melon Soup - delicious. Also, Polish Fabio, is a unabashed meat eater; so, my parents did not think a mere 3 ribs of lamb would be enough for him. Therefore, I was pressed into cooking some Italian sausages as a side. Well, I had been toying with the idea of trying to make Toad in the Hole. It was a success and really easy to make. Brown the sausages for 10 minutes in the oven, pour in the batter which is a mixture of flour, milk, eggs, salt and pepper, bake for 30 more minutes. It turns out that my Mom, Popo, loved it the most.

Ahhh- food with family is divine.

First Bento ever!

Alright, alright, alright. I have a confession to make. I have an addiction that has been festering and brewing until this past trip to Vancouver. BENTOS!!! I love em, they're so pretty and cute. And if you ever meet me, you'd know I'm not the pretty and cute kinda girl. But all the posters on flickr got me intrigued and now I check several Bento blogs regularly.
So the highlight of my trip to Vancouver was my shopping foray into Daiso - $2 mecca for all things Japanese. I loaded my basket with cute pink bento boxes (I have little daughters), animal shaped sauce holders, soooo cute reusable food picks, and craft cutters to use on seaweed.
The next day, we had a family dinner where a mushroom mint stuffed crown roast of lamb was featured. That was completely devoured but here are some leftovers in my very first bento!
My sister, CC, was the lucky recipient. Actually, she bounced with glee when I offered to make her a bento. But first, we had to plead our case to my 3 year old dd to get her to lend CC her francais birdie bento. Belle agreed as long as CC promised to return the bento box.
The top layer features a layer of mushroom mint stuffing topped with sliced italian sausage a la angel and garlic broccoli and cauliflower sautee which was deconstructed for colour effect. A sweet pink and purple swirly pick was poked into a sausage. Made a nice colour focal point if I may say so.
The bottom layer contains thawed fresh blueberries that miraculously resembled fresh blueberries in texture, "tong gut" or sugar mandarins that are teeny tiny and delicious, apple bunnies, and a fresh baked blueberry muffin that was a 3 generation family effort. I didn't have any lemon juice so I dipped the apple bunnies into tonic water to stop discolouring. It worked great.
Not pictured was some chunked baked potates, shredded parmesan in a blue strawberry container, kewpie mayonnaise in a monkey mayo container, and dried cranberries in a green birdie container.
CC said the bento was thoroughly anticipated and enjoyed the next day. It truly did bring a smile to her lips when she opened the lid. I can't wait til my kids go to school so I can make bento for them!

Dinner Thwarted

We had been planning a family dinner at one our favourite restaurants in Vancouver - "Jook Mein Gwoon" or Congee Noodle House. After bundling the kids into the car and fighting traffic for the better part of an hour we pulled into a disconcertingly empty parking lot. Closed for the holidays? Newp - closed for renovations on Oct 6, to reopen on Dec 6. It was January 9th...
I called CC to let her know dinner plans were changed by telling her "Jook Mein Gwoon" was shuttered. Screams came through the phone begging me to tell her I was just kidding. I described the situation to no avail so instead I told her I was just kidding but to meet us at Shanghai City instead. Luckily, it's another family favourite.