A platter of fun!

Its been so hot that I decided to do a play on little plates , tapas. The croissants were fresh from Zerelli's Mediterranean Market that I got that morning. The first tapas I had was marinated cherry tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and evoo. I added chopped fresh basil and red onion and topped it with lovely creamy goat cheese! Oh this combination is always a winner. The second tapas was garlic crimini mushrooms with butter and olive oil. This was lightly sauteed and served as is. We had this for lunch and it hit the spot nicely.

Tom Yum Soup

This is a well popularised Thai soup. Coming from Malaysia, I do so enjoy a good Tom Yum soup. But eating out in Vancouver isn't always the most convenient or pocket friendly. Tom Yum refers to spicy fish or seafood soup. But it can also be chicken or other meats, too. It is generally hot and sour. A real hot Tom Yum should draw your sweat and tears.
4 cups water, 3 kaffir lime leaves, 1 lemon grass
1 cup shrimp, 5 mushrooms, 8 pieces okra
1-2 limes, 2 tablespoon fish sauce, 3 chili peppers
5 sprigs cilantro, 1 tablespoon Tom Yum paste

Start boiling the water in a 2 quart pot. Peel and devein the shrimp and set them aside. Cut lemon grass into pieces, 5-6 inches long. Use the back of your knife to pound the lemon grass, just to bruise it to release the flavor. If you want, you can tie the lemon grass into a knot to make it easier to manage. Drop the lemon grass in water and let boil for 5 minutes. Put the fish sauce and 1 lime's juice into the bottom of the bowls you will serve the soup in. Crush chili pepper and add to the bowl. Remove the stems from the kaffir lime leaves and add the leafy part to the pot. Add the tom yum paste. Clean and halve the mushrooms and okra and add them to the pot. Add the shrimp and turn off the heat. Shrimp gets too tough very quickly, and will cook even when it is just sitting in the warm broth. Scoop the shrimp and liquid into the serving bowls immediately. As soon as you add the liquid to the serving bowl, you will see that the broth becomes cloudy because of the lime juice. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve. Be very careful, the peppers can be hot. Take a small sip at a time. Add more fish sauce and/or lime juice if it tastes bland. It's right if it's good for your sinus.

Tips and substitutions: Unfortunately, for the true taste, it is difficult to substitute anything for the kaffir lime leaves. The richness of the sour taste comes from the complement of the different citrus flavored ingredients. I serve this soup directly into individual bowls for each person. If you don't like it hot, cut down on the chili peppers or do not cut them up, but leave them whole for decoration.

BBQ Chicken & Mixed Veg

Very simple but healthy lunch. This time I grilled the chicken we got from Costco and didn't burn it. I used, cauliflower, broccoli, red pepper, mushrooms, carrots for my stirfry with a healthy dolop of minced garlic and evoo(extra virgin olive oil). Yum. No seasoning necessary. So far I have posted our meals. I wonder what other home menus are out there. I would love to hear from anyone out there! BTW, anyone interested in attending EAT-VANCOUVER, the food festival with me?

Spaghetti Meatballs

I am certainly finding that I am not very inspired to do anything fancy on the days I work. So last night, I got my hunny to get dinner together. It was really very good though none of my pictures turned out. That's from trying to take macro pictures with my phone that has only 1.3 MB capacity. He made us a lovely tomato and red onion salad marinated in balsamic vinegar and extra vergin olive oil then topped with crumbled goat cheese served with freshly baked bread. Yum! Its one of our favourite salads. Renovation man also grilled 2 pre-marinated ...chicken breasts from Costco which was very tasty. He actually enjoyed making dinner this time. I think this was so because everything was very tasty. Hopefully this will inspire him to cook more often eh?

Today's lunch was spaghetti meatballs with brown mushrooms. Surprisingly enough, it turned out tastier than I was anticipating. The only difference that might have changed the taste was the addition of a packet of beef stock from OXO. It just seemed to bring out the meaty flavours in the sauce. I could have had this with just the sauce and pasta.