Cooking: Pork Chops and Veggies

Menu
Pan-Fried Glazed Pork Chops
(from Jamie's Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver)

Baked Winter Squash with Tomatoes
(from Best Ever Three and Four Ingredient Cookbook)

Pan-Fried Glazed Pork Chops
- 2 x 8oz pork chops
- olive oil
- sea salt and black ground pepper
- 4 sprigs of fresh sage
- optional: 1 lemon
- applesauce, mango, chutney, apricot jam, maple syrup or honey to glaze

I used honey to glaze the pork chops.

The first step was to cut the fat trimmings off to use it to use it as garnish (extra flavouring) at the end. My pork chops didn't have much fat trimmings so that didn't work out so well. I was supposed to fry the olive oil soaked sage in the frying pan for about 30 seconds. I looked away for a few seconds and I burnt them. I left some sage in the olive oil so I can use as garnish at the end.

The next step was to pan fry the pork chops. It seemed like it burnt more than it cooked. Because I brushed on the honey, it caramelized. The recipe said to fry it for about 4-5 minutes each side. After 5 minutes, it was still pinkish. I fried it for a few more minutes. When it was done, I put a piece of pork chop on the plate and garnished it with the fried sage and the fresh sage.

Baked Winter Squash with Tomatoes

- 1 kg pumpkin or orange winter squash, peeled and sliced
- 2 x 14 oz cans chopped tomatoes with herbs
- 2-3 rosemary sprigs, stems removed and leaves chopped

I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin or orange winter squash and used about 1/2 a kg. I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned tomatoes and it wasn't as much as 2 x14 oz cans. I used thyme instead of rosemary. I guess I made my own recipe but used this as a guide.

First step was to fry the squash until a golden brown. After I fried the squash, I put them aside. But the recipe said to leave it in the pan and then put the tomatoes in. I fried the tomatoes in the pan until it was sauce consistency. I added the thyme, salt and pepper and also included some chili pepper paste for some extra flavour. In a shallow glass casserole pan, I layered the squash then the tomatoes. It was then that I realized I didn't use enough tomatoes. It was all I had so it had to do. It was then baked for about 35 minutes. It came out ok.

Cooking: Chicken and veggies

Menu:

Crunchy Garlic Chicken
(from Jamie's Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver)
Tomato and Aubergine Gratin
(from Best Ever Three and Four Ingredient Cookbook)

We were in a rush so there were many substitutions and I skipped some steps.

Crunchy Garlic Chicken
The recipe said to put crackers, butter, garlic, parsley sprigs, lemon zest and salt and pepper in a food processor. I am not even sure if my parents own a food processor. If we do, it's probably in the garage somewhere. I didn't have time to look for it. I put all those ingredients in a ziploc bag. I mixed everything up and crunched it with my hands. I should've cut the parsley smaller. The food processor would've grinded the crackers and parsley to much smaller pieces.

Another step told me to bash the chicken a few times. I think to flatten it out a bit. I didn't have time to do that either. The pieces of chicken I bought were a bit smaller than the regular chicken breast.

I had to cover the chicken pieces in flour, then dip it in egg. Then dip it in the cracker / parsley mixture. It is supposed to be nicely covered because of the finely grounded crackers. It became a kinda chunky. I put it in the oven and cooked it for about 20 minutes.

Tomato and Aubergine Gratin
Of course I forgot that this recipe makes 4 servings. Aubergines are also known as eggplants. I cut off the ends. I then cut it into smaller pieces. I cut them into slices then in half. I put them in the oven to cook for about 20 mins. I was supposed to brush on olive oil before I put them in the over. I was in such a rush that I forgot to put the olive oil before putting it in the oven. Once I remembered about the olive oil, I opened the oven and brushed the olive oil on the eggplants.

It was time to cut the tomatoes. Tomatoes were a bit expensive at Superstore so I didn't buy that many. The recipe calls for 400g/ 14 oz of sliced tomatoes. I have no idea how much is 400 g or 14 oz of tomatoes. I just decided to use 3 tomatoes. The recipe says to toss the cooked eggplants and tomatoes in a bowl with some seasoning. I skipped this step. I used a glass baking pan. I put a layer of sliced tomatoes. I used some dried herbs as my seasoning. I then put the eggplants on top of the tomatoes.

The recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I thought 1/2 a cup was a bit too much. I just sprinkled the Parmesan cheese on top until it looked like it was covered. I didn't want a thick layer of cheese.

Back in the oven it goes for another 20 minutes until the cheese is browned.

Cooking: Dinner for Jan 14 - part 2

The dinner menu was:

Appetizer - Bacon-rolled enokitake mushrooms
Meat - Beef patties with onions and peppers
Vegetables - Mushroom stroganoff
Carb - Minty courgette linguine

I am glad I prepared some of the dishes the night before. That night we were in a rush and didn't have time to do lots of cooking before heading out.

The bacon rolled enokitake mushrooms was the easiest to make. Because I prepped it the night before, I just had to put it in the oven. The recipe book said to put in their for 10-13 mins. I set the timer for 13 minutes and the bacon wasn't cooked yet. It took about 25 mins in total to cook the bacon. Of course the picture in the recipe book made it look beautiful. When I took it out, the mushroom was wilted but it tasted great.

The beef patties with onion and green pepper recipe was the one recipe that didn't really work out for me. I made the meat into patties. Once I put it in the pan, the meat started falling apart. I think the recipe was missing a 'sticking agent', like flour or egg or something. The recipe called for green peppers but I substituted colored peppers instead. I wanted to add some color. In one of the steps, it says to add seasoning. I added some Chinese flavours like hoisin sauce, sweet Thai chili sauce to the beef. It ended up becoming ground beef with onions and coloured peppers.

I didn't end up making the mushroom stroganoff. I didn't have time. I had to make white wine sauce then add it to the recipe. The dinner was fine without this dish. Maybe next time.

The last dish is minty courgette (zucchini) linguine. This dish had the most substitutions. I asked my dad to get the mint for this dish. I didn't have time to check if my dad bought the mint. There was no mint added to this dish. I used spaghetti instead of linguine. This dish became just zucchini and spaghetti. The night before I cooked the zucchini. I think I overcooked it. The recipe said to cook it until it is brown on one side. By the time it was brown on one side, it was overcooked. Oh well. It still tasted fine.

Overall, dinner was great. Everything tasted fine even with the substitutions. I would make them again.

Cooking: Dinner for Jan 14 - part 1

One of my goals this year to learn to cook. I will be cooking more using recipes from my cookbooks, my iphone apps and online recipes. I will be writing about my experience cooking the recipe, if I substituted any items and of course the final product.

I bought a recipe book called 'Best Ever Three and Four Ingredient Cookbook'. The recipes call for 3 or 4 ingredients. They don't count olive oil and salt and pepper as ingredients.

For tomorrow's dinner the menu is:

Appetizer - Bacon-rolled enokitake mushrooms
Meat - Beef patties with onions and peppers
Vegetables - Mushroom stroganoff
Carb - Minty courgette linguine

I am trying to prepare as much as I can tonight because we don't have much time to make and eat dinner tomorrow night.

Because I have a small kitchen, I did one dish at a time. The enokitake mushrooms look similar (maybe the same) as shitake mushrooms. I bought shitake mushrooms to use for this recipe. This recipe is easy. You just wrap the uncooked bacon around the middle of the shitake mushroom, then you grill it for 10 mins (or until the bacon is cooked). Then you take it out and cut it in half and serve standing up. Tonight I just wrapped the bacon around shitake mushrooms. I will grill them tomorrow.

The beef patties with onions and peppers are supposed to be like hamburger patties but with some veggies. The recipe calls for green peppers. I decided that it would look prettier with red and yellow peppers. This recipe took the longest because you have to braise the meat with the veggies for 20 or so minutes. I think I used a small frying pan, I only used half of the veggies.

The mushroom stroganoff was the only dish I didn't make yet. I didn't have time tonight. I think it would be easy enough to make tomorrow night. It is basically various types of mushrooms with a white wine sauce. I didn't know what white whine sauce is until I googled it.

For the minty courgette linguine, I substituted spaghetti and fettuccine for the linguine. The only ingredient I am missing is the mint. My parents said they will get the mint for me tomorrow. Courgettes are also known as zucchini. I fried the zucchini and cooked the pasta tonight. I just have to add olive oil and the mint tomorrow.

I guess I should read the fine print. All the dishes I made serves four. That's why I have so much food. I wanted to follow the recipes 'as is' so I know what it is supposed to be like before I modify the serving size. I wanted to make as much as possible tonight and just reheat tomorrow.

Yin Yoga

I am getting my money's worth at Yyoga. Today is my second time going to yoga using the 2 week 'pass'. I went to Yin yoga today.

I didn't know what the difference was with Yin yoga and the other forms of yoga. It was a 8pm class. It was in the small room. At Highgate Yyoga, there are two rooms that are used to practice yoga. It is called 'This' and 'That'. I know it's kinda weird names for the rooms. I asked the receptionist where the Yin yoga will be practiced. She said the smaller one. The smaller room only holds a max of 15 people. The larger room, where I took the hot yoga yesterday, holds about 30 people. There were only about 10 people in this class. I guess it isn't a popular class.

The teacher explained to us the main difference in the beginning of class. The difference is that in Yin yoga you hold the poses for a longer period of time. It focuses on stretching the thighs and the lower back muscles. The teacher said you won't feel it till the next day. I'm really looking forward to that ;/....It is yoga with almost all the poses sitting or laying down. Once or twice there was downward dog. That was the extent of standing poses. At the end of class we were laying down, it's like meditating laying down. Some people where so relaxed that they fell asleep. The person on my left and the person on my right fell asleep and both were snoring a little bit.

Overall, I didn't like it too much. When you hold a pose for a long period of time, your blood rushes in that direction. Then you do many poses, your blood rushes everywhere. Especially when I get motion sickness easily, I have to be careful on how long I hold the poses so I don't get sick.

Hot Yoga at Yyoga

I was getting my car fixed at my friends house by Highgate Mall. There is a Yyoga at Highgate Mall.

The Passport to Prana expired on July 31 and isn't valid again till Oct 1. Yyoga has a special promotion going on. It is $30 for unlimited two weeks. It is $15 for a 60 minute class. I thought even if I went twice in the two weeks, it would be ok. I can go to yoga for the next few weeks before my pass is valid again.

I have been a hot yoga at Yyoga before, that was months ago. I like being hot but hot yoga is almost at an uncomfortable hot temperature. I haven't been to yoga for a long time so my balance is a bit off and I am not as flexible.

I like yoga. It is very relaxing. There were 18 people in the class today. It was a 12-1pm class. Maybe people were probably on their lunch break.

Semperviva Yoga Sea - Granville Island

http://www.semperviva.com/locations.php

On Saturday morning I was ready to start my day with some yoga. I took the 11 am Power Yoga class. The Sea Studio on Granville Island is a bit hidden away. You have to walk thru a walkway from Emily Carr to get to the building which Semperviva is located. I had to walk up the short set of stairs to the yoga studio. I walked into a really small reception area. The prior class was just leaving the studio and the 11 am class was just entering. There was only one shelf and it was taken from the prior class. The 11 am class had to leave their shoes under the bench. There wasn't much room for everyone's shoes. Once I left my shoes under the bench, I walked into the studio. There were already mats laid out. I just picked a spot and put my mat on top of theirs. There was about 30 people that attended the class. There were two walls that had windows. It was a really warm day so they had to open the windows for some fresh air. Outside on False Creek there were lots of boats out and there was something going one with 'pirates'. They were making lots of noise. For me, yoga is about serenity and relaxation. The 'pirates' made it really difficult for me. The teacher had the music loud to try to drown out the 'pirates'. But then the music was too loud for me I couldn't hear the teacher. I depended on watching what others were doing.

I should learn that Power Yoga means it's more of an intermediate class. Some poses are more difficult for me. One pose that I can't do yet is the headstand. Maybe it's the weight one my head that I'm not used to yet?

I realized that I enjoy a yoga class which is quiet, serene, the smell of incense (or other nice scent) and quiet relaxing music. Semperviva did not provide that for me. It wasn't quiet enough for me. There was no incense (or nice scent). Of course it's not that important but it provides the whole yoga experience. The reception area was too small. There was too much traffic congestion between classes. The music was too loud. I would have wanted more relaxing music like nature sounds.