Peanut Noodles

As promised, my peanut noodles. Adam's (common) misjudgement meant I made almost double the amount of spaghetti noodles. Seriously, why did I even bother to ask him how much to make, lol?!

Regardless, I made a lot of vegetables to go in it too, plus a whole block of tofu, so I was glad for the extra noodles to even out the dish.

The sauce is super simple to make, and because I know Adam finds tofu bland, I made sure to marinate it beforehand:

• 3 tbsp smooth peanut-only peanut butter
• 3 tbsp low sodium light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp seasons rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp golden sugar

The sauce is quite thick, so I bumped up the soy sauce from 2 to 3 tbsp.

I let the tofu marinate for 2 hours before making dinner.

The stir fry was simple, with just broccoli and carrot. The noodles are just some Healthy Harvest spaghetti I had kicking around and topped with fresh basil leaves.

Deliciousness on a plate!

I know how much Adam loves peanut butter, so I thought this would be a nice treat for him after a long week.

Train - Marry Me

So Train's been semi-quite since their Drops of Jupiter days, but their last album is a so soothing to listen to.

As the 3rd single to their album, it's also cracked the top 100.



Forever can never be long enough for me
To feel like I've had long enough with you
Forget the world now we won't let them see
But there's one thing left to do

Now that the weight has lifted
Love has surely shifted my way

Marry me
Today and every day
Marry me
If I ever get the nerve to say "hello" in this cafe
Say you will
Say you will

Together can never be close enough for me
To feel like I am close enough to you
You wear white and I'll wear out the words I love
And you're beautiful

Now that the wait is over
And love and has finally shown her my way

Marry me
Today and every day
Marry me
If I ever get the nerve to say "hello" in this cafe
Say you will
Say you will

Promise me you'll always be
Happy by my side
I promise to sing to you
When all the music dies

And marry me
Today and every day
Marry me
If I ever get the nerve to say "hello" in this cafe
Say you will
Say you will
Marry me

Top Crop Manager

This seems to happen a lot, and seriously I'm not sure why. I guess I should just assume that potatoes are a big enough industry in Ontario to garner this much attention.

What am I talking about? Oh, nothing much.

At the end of last year (I think??), Ralph Pearce had my edit the article he was working on about the UoG/UoT collaborative potato research. He tells me he wrote the article last year, but didn't get it done on time to make it in the issue. Somehow, it got left behind.

Anyways.... Tracy and I were doing reviews on it to make sure the information was still up to date. Not a few months later, the issue (and article) is out.

So, this is the 4th time my research has been written about (that I know of), and the 3rd that the focus has been on me. Awesome eh?! (See #89 on this list)

Oatmeal delight!

At lunch today, I had an odd craving for oatmeal. I decided I would go home and make oatmeal cookies, and indeed I did.

Two hours, two recipes and 5 dozen cookies later, violà!

What's oatmeal cookies without a tall glass of ice cold milk?!

Oatmeal raisin cookies, because I bought a bag of raisins last week and don't enjoy eating them quite as much as I remember.

Oatmeal chip cookies, because you can't go wrong with chocolate. I ran out of my regular semi-sweet choice, so I topped them off with some of my dark chips.

Fish Tacos

Taking a few pages from Martha Stewart, I made peanut noodles and fish tacos this weekend, both with my own spin on it, of course.

I don't yet have a photo of the peanut noodles, but could probably get one with my leftovers tonight. But the fish tacos were divine!

My salsa verde was more liquid that preferable, so I'll be sure to wash my cilantro well ahead of time so it dries out before I process it.

I discovered radishes, and how delicious they are. Good thing I don't mind the aftertaste too much, as I have an entire bag sitting in my fridge waiting to be devoured.

Fish Taco: you can find the recipe on www.marthastewart.com

Thai Salad Rolls

I always seem to experience cooking/baking benders on weekends...

This time, I was set out to make my Thai comfort deliciousness (aka. salad rolls) and to utilize a fancy glass-fuse dish that's been sitting on the front hall table for a while now.

Who says you can't put food on blue??

Changing things up and making a different kind of salad roll, these ones have carrot, cucumber and red pepper inside, with a Thai sweet chili lime sauce.

I know, I know, I forgot the all important ingredient that is the basil leaf. They were sitting in my fridge and I completely forgot about them!

Vegetarian Chili Fries

Taking another jab at the vegetarian cookbooks, I decided I would make Vegetarian Chili Fries.

I cut up 2 Russet potatoes to make the oven-baked home fries, and added my own twist (aka. vegetables) into the chili. Thank goodness for canned beans, I think I am officially done with the dry bean business. Soaking and pressure cooking just takes too much of my time!

As usual, my chili is wayyyy too spicy for my own good, so what's omitted from the photo is the 4L bag of milk.... jokes! I had a glass of orange juice next to me which I definitely nursed, and later on the addition of a massive bottle of ketchup to the table to quench my burning tastebuds. You think I'd learn, from all my chili making, not to put in that much freaking chili powder!!

Kudos to Adam for seasoning the fries before they were baked. They were delicious and the cayenne was an added kick!

Star Trek

So I know the movie's been out for a couple years now, and I've always said "yeah yeah, I'll watch it", but now I finally have. Cross that one off the list, or rather, add it to the DayZero list (#27).

We're a boring old couple (already, I know), and didn't have plans this weekend. So it was another Friday night in, with a vast assortment of movies to choose from. This is the one Adam selected, and since he so adamantly claims he likes chick flicks, I decided to sit this through. Plus, I actually really have been meaning to see it... Nonetheless, I'm sure the glasses of wine beforehand reeealllly helped getting through it.

Surprise! I like it! Despite being confused (nothing new there..) for a large majority, I did end up understanding what was going on. Having only the previous knowledge of "Spock" and the weird hang signal gesture and catch phrase, I think I did pretty well.

Banana-Chip Muffins

For my birthday a while back, Kendra had gotten me a vegetarian cookbook. Alongside the one I bought for myself over the holidays, I had a lot of new recipes to try.

I already had my own banana-chip muffin (and banana bread) recipe, but I decided to try out the one that's featured in the cookbook.

It was a strange recipe: calling for the wet to be mixed into the dry, and the mashed banana to be incorporated last. Although muffins are always delicious, these ones didn't have the moistness and light texture I enjoy out of my muffins. They were tougher and denser than I like, and I think it's due to overfolding, because (as all bakers know) it's difficult to mix well when the wet is poured into the dry (which is why we don't do this!).

Banana-chip muffin tower

Regardless, my banana bread turned out flawless as usual, and the muffins were still thoroughly enjoyed by a certain someone...

The Scarlet Letter

I've had this book for a long time, but always had a bit of trouble getting into it. Books written in old English style have always been difficult for me, but I was determined to get through it. I started this book at Christmas time, but after returning from Edmonton, I haven't found enough time to sit through it all. Plus I've been tinkering my way through The Botany of Desire =)

Point being, I finally finished the book yesterday, when I decided that I was going to go home after lunch because there was no reason for me to be at school.

Finally! This is the 13th book for #94 of my DayZero list. Seven books to go!

Vegetarian Enchiladas

Sunday night Mexican night? Perhaps...

To change things up a bit (thai on Friday, American style potluck Saturday), I decided to make Mexican last night.

Taken from Martha Stewart's website, there's a delicious recipe for enchiladas. I don't cook a lot of Mexican, so I wasn't sure of the standards in Mexican. Good thing it's as simple as black beans and corn. The sauce overtop is a simple one from flour, tomato paste and some stock, cooked until reduced.

I made the sauce while Adam prepared the filling. While he did the post prep clean up, I filled the tortillas and baked the enchiladas at 400F for 20 minutes.

Out popped gooey yumminess! I would certainly hope so too, given we used an entire block of Jack cheese in the process.

It was a busy evening for us indeed, since right before this, we made some fudgy espresso brownies too!

Vegetarian enchiladas for dinner, brownies for dessert. Yum!

Dinner Potluck

I realized today I didn't get photos of our dishes, but I thought I'd write about the first dish Adam made all by himself!

Before you start making all sorts of ridiculous assumptions, it's not that Adam can't cook, it's that I usually don't let him cook (type A personality trait, oui oui?).

I was very much resisting even letting him come in the kitchen at first (except to do dishes), but I've slowly let go a bit and am very much letting him help with dinner. But back to the point, Kendra had mentioned she was making appetizers and Matt a dessert, so we felt the pressure to at least match that (and here comes the competitive personality trait...).

We had fun in the kitchen, and apparently two of us cooking really does make twice the mess.

My dish? Vegetable casserole. Simple, understand, and easy to do. Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots and green beans in a cream of mushroom base with bread crumb topping.

Adam's? Scalloped potatoes. I've only had Kendra's scalloped potatoes before, so it was interesting to see the differences in how they make them. Kendra's, of course, are full potato rounds, sliced thinly and layered in a perfect array. Adam's are half potato rounds, thicker sliced and in a random assortment of deliciousness. Layered with a bechamel sauce and topped with cheesy goodness, we were good to go in 90 minutes.

Thanks for hosting, Carolyne!

I Love You, Man

So this past weekend was a pretty lazy one. Aside from a potluck to attend and needing to do some lab work, there wasn't much else to do. Naturally, we watched a movie. Not one I would ever really want to watch (bro-mance movies aren't my type, whaaaaat??).

Anyways, I didn't flip through many of my DVDs, so I kind of went with the first choice (check for 95 on my DayZero list), I Love you Man. My brother has seen this and I know of many guys who rave on about this movie. I like Paul Rudd. Win win?

Absolutely. Paul Rudd is always a hit with me. Jason Segel cracks me up on a regular occasion, but it's unfortunate that I always only see him as "Marshall Eriksen".

I liked the bro-mantic comedy side to movies. Perhaps I should steer more toward this genre?

Cupcakes with buttercream frosting

I've made cupcakes before, but I normally don't make my own frosting. Nor do I try to fill a piping bag and pipe it decoratively on top. Well, there's always a first for everything.

It was Laura's birthday on Saturday, and in lieu of a birthday gift, cupcakes were made instead. I went to the store to get nice pink and blue cupcake liners (which, chocolate is the WORST at ruining the colour of... never again!), and these cute styrofoam pink and blue mini eggs to top.

My buttercream frosting was a simple vanilla recipe. I don't have fancy piping tools, so I simply used a disposable Wilton piping bag and some of their plastic piping tips. I actually didn't think the floral tip would be big enough, so I took the round tip and cut it so it was a fat round tip to pipe out. It worked surprisingly well! And this time, I cut the hole of the disposable piping bag smaller than before, so my icing didn't leak out the sides of the piping tip. Phew!

Happy birthday Laura!

Before the party though, I actually had a potluck to attend. I brought wine, cheese and crackers to that, and stayed for a few hours before leaving for Laura's. Good thing Adam was bright enough to think to bring the cupcakes to Laura's beforehand. Not only were we able to drink at both places (and take the bus/taxi), but it was a really yucky wet day out and it would have been a disaster trying to get the cupcakes to and from places!

<3