Battle of Ingredients #16: New Year’s Eve Hotpot

Welcome to Battle of Ingredients hosted by myself and Phoebe from Starry Traveler’s Road. As usual, we had our New Year’s Eve shindig. Just like last year, we decided to have a chinese fondue aka Hotpot. There’s not a whole lot of new things to share this time but its procedure to share a little of what we’ve been doing, even if its just sharing with you hotpot which is a really fun time to spend with friends and family, cooking and catching up.

Drinks

Kicking off the New Year’s Eve, our friends brought us Val Caudalies to try. The first was an ice wine of sorts which was pretty decent. It had lovely sweet notes that pleased everyone’s taste buds. The second was a vermouth which we tried to drink on its own and did taste pretty good but mostly mixed with soda (CocaCola, Ginger Ale) and then ended up trying some simple syrups that I had inherited from one of my friends when she moved (see below).

The Hotpot & Table of Food

Here’s the table spread of all the food (except two things which we opened afterwards).

Phoebe took care of vegetables and such:

• Nappa Cabbage
• Baby Bok Choy
• Watercress
• Coriander
• 3 types of mushrooms: Enoki, Oyster, Shimeji
• Winter Melon
• Tofu

I took care of the meat and other things:

• Udon Noodles
• Marinated Sliced Chicken Thighs (garlic, ginger, salt)
• Store-bought sliced beef
• Homemade pork dumplings (Filling: Minced pork, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper)
• Store-bought fish pancakes, cuttlefish balls, beef balls (not shown above)

With all that, we were ready for a feast! Hotpot is pretty much the concept of fondue so we all through things in gradually. We have a two sided pot. One side started out with boiled hot water and the other was with chicken broth diluted with water. Water is the key element here and needs to always have some extra boiled water on hand to fill it up whenever needed to keep things going. We did it in phases of tossing a ton of stuff we wanted in and then covering it until it boiled, eating all of it and then on to the next round, so on so forth. It was a pretty decent system and gave us time to sit down to chat and mix drinks and whatever in between waiting.

Dessert

So I’m not going to lie that at this point, I didn’t remember to take pictures as food coma was kind of in the midst of all this. My mom joined our little shindig and brought us a banana cake (which saved me from some baking), which I forgot to take a picture of because for me, its a normal thing.

Aside from bringing alcohol, my friend also brought an apple crumble which I also forgot to take a picture of.

One of the fun little things is that Phoebe found a little Japanese gummy making set for her little one to do under adult supervision and here were the results:

Some of us had a taste of it but I’m not sure it actually tasted that good. It was more of a fun little experience as a group rather than it being really meant to be eaten as I think the main consensus was the texture wasn’t too good and it was really sweet. Phoebe can weigh in on it in the comments as I believe she did taste it.

That’s it for this Battle of Ingredients!
It was a great way to ring in 2020 as we ended the evening as usual with more chatting and video games.

Restaurant: Nom Nom Cantine (Montreal, Canada)

You can see the last visit to Nom Nom Cantine recap HERE.

Nom Nom Cantine

I recommended Nom Nom Cantine as our co-worker lunch spot last week and we ended up going there. I’ve never had the lunch menu before and only been there once before. The restaurant decor was still the same and the atmosphere is still very relaxing.

Appetizers

Chicken Dumplings

The most impressed dish I had in my last visit was the dumplings so this time, I came back to try them again. These ones are steamed and the sauce is a little sweet and a think maybe a tad bit spicy. While I don’t have pictures, my coworkers also took dumplings. One of them took the pork and the other took the vegetarian. The latter is fried. I actually liked the chicken dumplings the best while the other two are pretty good also.

Main Meals

Chicken Poke Bowl ($19)

General Tao Chicken (They have another name but I can’t remember it)

Two of my coworkers ordered these two meals and shared it between them as they both wanted to try both of them. While I didn’t try the poke bowl (which wouldn’t matter since I’m not sure what its supposed to taste like as I’ve  never had it before), I did help them finish up the General Tao Chicken. The chicken here is done really nicely. There’s a nice flavor to it and a good texture in the bite of the chicken.

Shrimps Soba Noodle

My other coworker and I ended up getting the Shrimp Soba Noodles which had some interesting ingredients like lemongrass and such that gave me the impression that in a soup, it would have this refreshing taste to it. Plus, its supposed to be pretty popular dish at Nom Nom. This noodle bowl did taste good and was quite the comfort food. The shrimps are done perfectly and the soba noodles done in a soup bowl is the first time that I’ve had it this way. Usually its served cold in my recollection. However, it was a little disappointing because the soup lacked a bit of flavor. It leaned a bit more towards the blander side. For myself, I’m used to it so it didn’t bother me too much but my coworker also didn’t quite like it as much because of that. On top of that, the disappointment came with the fact that it lacked all those flavors it seemed to have promised and turned into a very normal bowl of soup noodles.

After Lunch Tea

Green Tea

I forgot to take the desserts that my coworkers ordered but I got myself a tea. Its always nice to see the care taken to present the tea and in this case, they had this whole thing. I believe the tea was sencha tea and had a fantastic flavor to it.

Overall, Nom Nom Cantine is still decent. It hasn’t really changed how I felt about it the first time around. The service is pretty good. The waiter was helpful and very friendly. The food presentation is very attractive. The flavors were mostly good except for the slightly blander soup base. The selection of food isn’t a huge amount but its a good idea to limit the options but offer a good quality of food in my opinion.

***As an ending note, the waiter did explain that Nom Nom would be changing form into an Italian restaurant later this year  because the restaurant was always meant to be more of a pop-up concept. You can see their first form was as a French restaurant called E.A.T. where we did go to in this post HERE.***

Restaurant: Mama Dumpling (St.Hubert, Canada)

Sometimes we find the things we are looking for when we aren’t quite looking for it as is the case with Mama’s Dumplings, a Chinese dumpling restaurant on the South Shore of the island of Montreal. As dumplings become quite the new thing popping up over the last few years in Chinatown, its been a hunt to find out where to find it on a more suburban setting and then I came across this place and called up my friend who is equally passionate about finding a dumpling place not in downtown. And here we are! At this point, we had gone back a second time, both recapped together. The main suggestion for going to dumpling places is to get a bigger group to be able to order more types to see which works the best to your tastes.

Food

First visit

Chicken-Shitake Mushroom Pan-fried Dumplings

Pork-Cabbage Steamed Dumplings

Beef Coriander Pan-friend Dumplings

The first visit was just a little trial where we gave each type of meat a try so we took the more basic flavors: Chicken and Shitake mushrooms, Beef and coriander and Pork and cabbage. These are very normal ones. Some types have choices of pan-fried and steam while others one have one or the other option. For each, the wrapper skin is different. For dumplings, that is a huge component to how heavy the dumpling is and how the bite of the whole thing is. its one of the things that Mama Dumpling does well.

Talking about the food here, the first time around the one that stood out was the chicken and shitake mushroom. It had to do a lot with how the pan fried was done well and not too oily. Plus, the mushroom elevates the chicken especially because these ones have some soup sort of thing on the inside like the soup-filled dumplings (shanghai specialty) so its pretty tasty. The beef and coriander tasted almost exactly like the beef balls dim sum. While the pork and cabbage was exactly as you’d expect and the taste is good.

The first visit was a quick run and we managed to eat all three plates with just 2 people. It worked a ton for us so it was obvious that we’d come back for a second run which happened the week after….

Second Visit

Pork and Mushroom Dumplings

Shrimp, Pork, Leek Dumplings

Pork and Green Onion Dumplings

I’m going to be honest that I can’t remember if the last one was pork or chicken with green onions. Its not like it shows that much difference. With that said the second time around, the three different types of dumplings were better than the first time. The first visits standout was the chicken and mushroom. Anything with shitake mushrooms has a really nice flavor to it so the pork and mushrooms was really good because of that. Green onions in dumplings are best pan fried because it doesn’t only taste good but smells really good also. Finally the star of the show goes to the Shrimp, pork and leek ones where the dumpling itself had a small whole shrimp in there which gave it both a nice texture and a good flavor. This choice is only available steamed and it works so very well. The wrapper was really delicate but not too thin that it’d break either. This second visit was really tasty.

Overall

Mama Dumpling is a nice environment. The description on the menu talks about it being originally a chain from China. I don’t know where but the dumplings that we’ve tried so far is good to great so definitely a place that delivers some nice stuff. The only dumplings we didn’t try yet are the vegetarian ones which I might go back one time with my mom and give it a go as well. There are also some other appetizers on the menu that look really interesting. I can feel there is a strive for authenticity here and being healthier than other places so I’m looking forward to go back and check out more items on the menu. I have a massive unexplicable love for dumplings. Its kind of my comfort food so this find is a great one especially since I don’t have to stick to the same choice available in Chinatown.

Are you a fan of dumplings?
Are there any dumpling places you’ve tried that you recommend in your city or somewhere that you’ve visited elsewhere?

What’s Up Week 17 & My Weekly Adventures: Its been a few days and I’m finally back!!

Welcome to the duo segment post of What’s Up and My Weekly Adventures!

Due to the lack of things going on and if you haven’t noticed, my unannounced hiatus for the past 4 days, its been rough and mostly just out of control on the work life personal side of things. I did give a warning last week but things just got more intense. Hence, to save everyone an overload of the same thing, I will do both segments together in this post. Lets start with Whats Up and move onto My Weekly Adventures!

READING

• Forever People (Review)

I finished up Forever People just in time for the blog tour so I will keep things brief here so you can see my thoughts over on the review. Overall, its a good story: good premise and compelling characters to say the least.

PLAYING

• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The husband and I finished up The Vanishing of Ethan Carter very soon after we started it. Its a pretty creative indie title with a lot of mystery and nice execution on gameplay and narration. Plus, the game sets itself in a visually stunning backdrop. I’ll be editing the playthrough after last week’s Rime. It’ll take a little while to get things back on track on my end.

WATCHING

NOTHING…absolutely nothing. I can tell you that I’m planning on catching up with all the Marvel movies in the next little while: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp as well as all the other Pixar stuff in case it gets removed from Netflix at some point and get around to rewatching The Shape of Water for the next Movies and Tea episode.

BINGING

• My Daughter’s Boyfriend (女儿们的男朋友, Season 1)

Currently binging: The Brightest Star in the Sky, Put Your Head on My Shoulder, Z Nation (Season 1), Idol Producer, Rush to the Dead Summer (rewatch)

My Daughter’s Boyfriend is a 6 episode variety show which follows the daughters of 4 different famous fathers (actors and soccer player) and watch how they interact with their boyfriends over a few weeks time as they comment on various aspects on relationship and how their views and their daughters view on marriage, life and everything else changes. These shows usually can get very heartwarming and China has a lot of these variety shows from different angles and in the end, other than watching the relationships here whether its the love life or the father-daughter one, the main thing here is usually opening up the channel of the importance of communication and family and probably talk through some issues that everyone at one point or another might encounter in dealing with these different situations. Its 6 episodes and I thought it was really good. I’m not going to write about this show but it seems to already be greenlit for a second season so I’m looking forward to it.

As for the other shows, I’m pretty much watching the same things. Due to having a lot of overtime at home, I ended up rewatching Rush to the Dead Summer in the background while trying my best to stay on track with my two current favorite shows The Brightest Star in the Sky and Put Your Head on My Shoulder. I’ve been also semi-watching Z Nation with my husband but not completely focus although the show really doesn’t seem to have that much depth in Season 1 yet. The new thing this week is Idol Producer which I went back to watch to see how boy group Nine Percent started because a good few of them is now Nex7 which I think has some potential to do well and is the focus on Master in the House which I didn’t get a chance to catch up with this week but will get back to soon as well as Great Escape and such.

What have you been watching/reading/binging/playing?

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Suffice to say not a ton happened so I’m going to keep it short and sweet as its pretty much the upcoming post recaps and such that I’ll be talking about. A few upcoming plans and perhaps some seasonal segment revivials and all that great stuff. The few days off reminded me of how much I miss writing and editing and recording so I have a few things to also deal with and get back on track on all projects.

Restaurant Discovery: Mama Dumplings

Its been a crazy hunt looking for  a dumpling place not on the island of Montreal or more specifically Chinatown and by complete spontaneity, I drove by one  a week or two ago and since then have gone two times with my friend. I’ll have a post soon about it.

Movies & Tea Podcast: Crimson Peak

If you didn’t see the reblog last week, Movies and Tea has a new podcast episode for Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak. My first time viewing feelings back when it released and this rewatch definitely had some differences.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was probably a mistake thinking back now with all the overtime but I think it also charged me up a little. We didn’t really do a ton for Easter weekend and mostly just relaxed and took advantage of the relatively nice weather and took care of some chores like changing tires and you know, taxes. However, my husband and I did go for a little walk in a park and its nice because the park itself has a lot of workout stations so I’m planning out some way to incorporate cardio with these exercises to get into shape. Add some changes here and there and whatnot. Only 7 weeks until my best friend’s wedding and I’m living in constant fear that I won’t fit into the bridesmaids dress at the lack of exercise, especially after this work rush. We are still working out the workout routines and such but the big plan starts in a few days after I’ve recuperated some energy.

Cute Kitty Pic

That’s it for this Weekly Adventures!
What have you been up to?

Battle of Ingredients: New Year’s Eve Hot Pot

It seems we do about 6 Battles a year looking at things to land on our 12th session for NYE Hot Pot in our second year of Battle of Ingredients. We are definitely getting more organized, I can tell you that much. Most of the time, things don’t happen because we are busy with one thing or another with life. 2018 wrapped up in style with ourselves doing a New Year’s Eve Hot Pot session. There isn’t really much to talk about usually but here’s a little sharing on the stuff I put together and other vegetables and noodles we used.

Wines

We actually only got to drinking the J.P. Chenet Rose Sparkling Wine. It was a nice match for the meal. We mixed up some drinks for the rest of the evening with some people spiking their soda with tequila or Rum and Coke and myself, I had some Cranberry Ginger Ale spiked with Irish Whiskey or Apricot Brandy.

Hot Pot

Our division of tasks for this battle of ingredients were Phoebe with the vegetables, fruits and other things necessary like noodles and she prepared a soup base (which we didn’t end up using because of technical difficulties she is still thinking about).

She brought:

• Bok Choy
• Chinese Broccoli
• Enoki Mushrooms
• Udon Noodles
• Konnyaku Noodles
• Egg Tofu
• Apples and Oranges

I took care of meats and dessert. I forgot to take a picture of everything so forgive the incomplete bits.

• Pork Balls (Homemade with minced lean ground pork and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper)
• Dumplings (Homemade with the same as the previous and store-bought wonton wrappers)
• Sliced Chicken breast seasoned with sesame oil, salt and pepper
• Store bought Frozen fondue beef slices
• Fish Tofu (from my mom)

As for dessert, I had some dough left from the previous potluck so made some more Pumpkin Cookies.

Also bought:

• Marshmallows
• Lindt Dark Chocolate
  • 70% Madagascar
  • Swiss Dark

For soup bases, we had a divided pot borrowed from my mom. One side was with water and all the flavoring was from the ingredients added in while the other part was diluted Chicken Broth.

The hot pot went really well. Phoebe and I did most of the cooking and allocated food to everyone around the table. There’s always the worry of not having enough food and it all worked out. We even had leftovers. Definitely something to consider for the winter months to do as it makes it a lot simpler and actually quite nice to explore what ingredients to use and soup bases to make and such. It is an idea that we can discuss further to change things up just like how we slot in BBQ during the summer.

MTL a Table 2018: Nom Nom Cantine

As usual, our November Battle of Ingredients is put aside as we head out for MTL a Table. This year’s MTL a Table included a good many more selections as more restaurants joined into the fun. A lot of new restaurants also participated which makes it all the more exciting. This time, we return to a familiar location where we went to previously when it was owned by another restaurant called E.A.T (Etre Avec Toi), the restaurant is closed so meaningless to check the post now (although you can if you want HERE).

The current restaurant in this location is Nom Nom Cantine which serves Asian fusion food. Just one look at the menu and it shows off those qualities right away.

Nom Nom Cantine

Decor

Nice and soothing to say the least. We had a pretty early reservation so we were the first group to arrive which gives me the chance to take these pictures with no one else in there. However, rest assured that the restaurant did fill up as the evening went along. However, one nice thing is that it stayed fairly casual and relaxing.

Cocktails

This time, our group went for the interesting selection of cocktails that it offered. Trust me when I say its unique when one of the cocktails (I think the Bloody Caesar had fish sauce as one of the ingredients). However, these are two popular choices among us. On the left is The Noble One (the guys took this one) and on the left is the one I chose called Deadly Sin which had a bunch of stuff I liked including the so underused Apricot Brandy. Both tasted fantastic (well, to us). Deadly Sin has a lot of citrus flavors including yuzu so it was more sour and floral. The Noble One is a stronger one but still very smooth.

Bread & Amuse-Bouche

Ten out of ten for presentation alone here. I didn’t taste the bread but our little bread expert (aka Phoebe’s toddler) approved it and ate a bunch. Props to the restaurant for making this happen although normally the MTL a Table menu doesn’t come with it.

They also offered up an amuse-bouche. This is a slightly modified one for my husband and I, the lactose-intolerant option. The original was peppercorn salmon with sour cream and coriander (I think) and ours is replaced with a mango and something sauce. I should seriously write these things down. Regardless, it still tasted really good.

First Course

There are two options for first course.

Dumpllings Basket (4)

Dumplings basket was one of these choices and the one that I chose (along with a few others from our group). Four different dumplings here: chicken, pork and shrimp, beef, vegetables. I could swear that mine came with two beef ones but I didn’t quite mind because it tasted like the beef that we have at dim sum and its a flavor that I’ve missed eating. Regardless, my husband did have all four and he liked it. I thought the dumplings are also really good. Actually, I’d love to go back just to have dumplings.

Second option was the white fish tartare, matcha, citrus, coriander, coconut cream. These were really clever as instead of having bread or something as the accompaniment, they went with shrimp chips to eat with the tartare. Its a very  nice twist that matched with the restaurant concept.

Second Course

Another two choices for second choice below.

Pork Roulade, Quebec Butternut Squash Puree, Roasted Mushrooms, Chestnut

While the portions were fairly little, there was quite a lot to like about this dish. For one, the Pork Roulade is pretty good. The barbecue sauce is made in the restaurant so it has a nice spicy kick to it. I really liked particularly the butternut squash puree along with the roasted mushrooms and the chestnut. Although they weren’t plentiful, they felt like it was done perfectly. I’m not a big fan of arugula but it wasn’t a huge amount so it was okay. That is really just a personal preference. The dish here is done very good and has a nice balance of textures and flavors.

Fish Tempura, Papaya Salad, Coconut and Chili Sauce

My husband took this meal. I tried a little piece and the fish tempura was done really tender. I didn’t try the sauce since I’m not really into spicy sauces much however the little taste I had was pretty decent.

Dessert

For dessert, there are two choices as well however due to the lactose intolerance issue for us, we got our own little thing.

Rocher Brulé, 70% Chocolate Mousse, Milk Chocolate and Puffed Rice Crisp, Coffee-Caramel Fondant, Vanilla Creme Brulée, Quebec Honey And Coffee Ice Cream

Judging from my friends, this one was a sweetness explosion. For those with a sweet tooth though, they enjoyed it quite a bit. The chocolate mousse looked delicious to be honest however, I have no first hand experience to talk about.

Cocolada (Pineapple Carpaccio, Rum-Coconut Sorbet, Tapioca, Poppy Seed Meringue, Lime Gel)

If this one didn’t have the tapioca, we could had it but unfortunately it also had that one.

Fruit Bowl with Poppy Seed Meringue

As for our fruit bowls…lets say that my one comment is that if restaurants could do substitutes for lactose intolerant people and not give fruit bowls, that would be really thoughtful. The bowl itself and the fruits were pretty good, except the extremely sour blackberries. They did add in the poppy seed meringue which tasted really good.

Overall, Nom Nom Cantine was a pretty nice experience. The food tasted really good. There were some delicious and creative cocktails. The service especially is what I’d like to compliment on. Our waitress was fantastic in both being attentive to all our allergies and dislikes as well as accommodating the best that she could. The food presentation was nice as well and all the little details were matching to the concept. At the same time, the decor was also really nice and lots of ambiance.

That’s it for the recap of Nom Nom!

Recap: Goodfood #28

We’re back with last week’s Goodfood meal box. This one has one repeat in it. However, a lot of them looked so promising that we decided to give it a go. Just a note that if you follow this series specifically, we’ve dropped from biweekly to monthly subscriptions of the box. The main reason is that this box was always structured to be a balance for when we were busy with stuff and event coverage season is pretty much done for this year except for one more in November so we are getting back to finding cool recipes to work on. I’ll share some of those here whenever we try something new on our own.

Let’s check out how this Goodfood went!

Fresh Tagliatelle with Chicken & Sundried Tomatoes
Portobello Mushrooms & Baby Spinach

My husband loves to eat pasta. Honestly, I can get pretty picky about it. We have our definite fave recipes. Surprisingly, tagliatelle is never our first choice. My husband isn’t a big fan of the texture. He’s never been one to enjoy the thick noodle variety. As for myself, I actually quite like it but then stick to the more traditional normal stuff. Either way, I chose this recipe because it doesn’t have a cream sauce. Its so rare to find recipes, unless I make it up myself to not have that rose sauce or white creamy sauce. Lactose intolerance definitely doesn’t work with pasta so well so this recipe looked simple and delicious with all its ingredients. It lived pretty much up to its standards. Plus, I multitasked like a beast and even got the chicken perfectly cooked, which is super rare. I’m really not that great of a cook..more a baker at heart. The meal here works really well. Its nice and simple and everything blends so well together and has a decent amount of protein and veggies. Delicious stuff! My husband doesn’t admit it but he ate everything else but the noodles so I think it worked for him also but for us, we’ll probably go with some other type of pasta using the same recipe.

Braised Berbere Chicken
with Green Beans & Tangy Couscous

I’m not sure if you know what Berbere is but we sure didn’t. However, it apparently (if you didn’t already know), is a common Ethiopian spice blend. Its a tad spicy if you look at the spice combination. Matched up with the couscous which this time is made in water rather than just soaking in hot water in a bowl, it was such a difference in fluffiness. I liked it a lot more than usual. Plus, its more neutral flavor compliments well with the strong spices used on the chicken and there’s a decent amount of veggies to also make it a very tasty and balanced meal. This was pretty much our experiment new flavor of the box and it turned delicious.

Peanut Butter Dumplings
with Sesame Green Beans

Our repeat menu of the box! Actually its the third time, that I’ve gotten this recipe. It shows how much we love it. Especially since I’ve been having massive dumpling cravings of late. This was the first time my husband had to help out with this one. It turned out every bit as good as I remember it. I imagine you will see this one again whenever it pops up as a choice. Right now, its just waiting for that veggie banh mi that we love so much to come back.

Pork Katsu
with Sticky Rice, Yu Choy & Wafu Sauce

The final meal of the box is Pork Katsu. I’m kept think that we had done this recipe before but I think its because I had almost gotten it once before but change it last minute. Either way, props to the husband for stepping up and getting the pork katsu done on point. Its pretty much the replica of the recipe card except without the sauce, because I just keep forgetting to put it. Its a Wafu sauce that goes on top and it would work great with it. Calrose rice is what’s here so it has that sticky rice texture. We like yu choy quite a bit and the pork katsu turned out pretty good. Its a nice contrast to the heavy flavors in the rest of the box, particularly the Berbere chicken earlier so this ended off the week with something a little more subtle in taste was nice. As good as this was, I might not exactly choose it again unless for a filler when something else I have comes up and its a choice.

Overall, no doubt that the peanut butter dumplings were my faves. But I think the surprisingly good discovery was the Berbere Chicken which was delicious. However, on an everyday cooking idea recipe, the tagliatelle is definitely in for an easy pasta night idea except with something other pasta.

Recap: Goodfood #21

Welcome to the next Goodfood recap. Its a rare occurrance that we don’t spread out our orders more but this menu, despite some repeats had some of our fave things and other recipes that I was interested in learning as well.

Lets check it out!

Fennel Crusted Salmon Bucatini with Baby Spinach

I can’t say that I’m a pasta expert so I don’t really know the difference other than the fact that it looks like thicker spaghetti. However, we don’t eat fish a lot so we chose this one. This meal was both easy to do and pretty delicious. Fennel powder is less overpowering than actual fennel so the crust around the salmon worked well with the bucatini.

Vietnamese “Com-Bo” with Cucumber, Carrots & Thai Basil

I can’t say I’m a particular expert at Vietnamese food either so I never knew about what Com-Bo was before this. I’ve had the Banh Mi and the Rice Vermicelli and the Pho but no idea what this is but I can tell you that its super tasty if this is any true reflection of it. However, you will notice that cucumbers are non-existent here. They were forgotten from my meal kit. However, when I contacted customer service about it, they were very quick to resolve the problem and reimbursed the price of a meal. I was very pleased with the service. Back to the meal itself, it was a really nice simple one. It was quick to make, except the chopping the carrots part. If I had to prepare the cucumbers too, then it would definitely have gone over the time they had asked for. However, the rice worked with the sauce and crisp-tender carrots added a nice contrast to the beef strips. It just came together really nicely.  This is so simple that I actually would cook this on a regular basis.

Pork Burgers with Sauteed Mushrooms, Swiss Cheese and Chive Mayo

As usual, burgers are my husband’s tasks. Its nice since I got to keep going with some of the garden work while he put this together. We weren’t quite sure whether we had it before but I’m fairly positive that we’ve talked about it before. Still, chive mayo is yummy. The pork burger spices are delicious. Its an awesome summer meal. I’d absolutely use pork patties more.

Peanut Butter Dumplings with Sesame Green Beans

Our vegetarian meal of the box and also one of my fave meals that we’ve had before are these peanut butter dumplings. They are absolutely fantastic. Its not too hard to make and the sauce is so delicious. Last time, I talked about us ending up just pan frying it on all sides or asking my husband to at least. However, this time, I followed the instructions and cooked it the way it was supposed to be cooked to see the difference and honestly, I have to say that we’re a little split. My husband liked it both ways but enjoyed the pan fried on all sides and I also liked both but thought this version  was a little better. I’ve been having a massive dumplings craving so I’m just happy these were part of this box. 🙂

Overall, a very awesome box! All the recipes delivered in my opinion.
The peanut butter dumplings are repeats before they are my fave, as well as the pork burgers.
For the new ones, I do prefer the Com-bo more than pasta, but I’ve also liked Asian food over Italian food.

Goodfood Recap#16

Last week’s Goodfood box was quite a few cool menus and the first time we went with a repeat. We actually love the menu so much that we forgot to take the picture again before chomping it all down. Either way, we took the picture from the last time we cooked  the meal. We will talk more about it.

Let’s check out last week’s meals!

Marinated Salmon & Noodle Stir-fry
with Yuzu Sauce, Baby Bok Choy & Snow Peas

We always opt for fish dishes when we can since fish in general is so expensive to buy. This one turned it pretty well. Its a stir-fry so already guaranteed to be pretty simple to put together. The preparation wasn’t too long either and it was just a bit stir together in the pan when all the elements were done. We always love the added sesame seeds to a dish. It adds a nice little bit texture to the dish. I can’t say I love this recipe but it definitely wins on being easy to put together. Its always great to learn what ingredients to put together a nice little stir-fry and this one is a solid choice (especially since there was recently a sale on salmon and we have some frozen and to be eaten soon).

Ancho Chicken Taco
with Beet-Cabbage Slaw & Toasted Pepitas

My husband apparently doesn’t know how to put together a taco and assembled a quesadilla resemblance thing here and ate it like a sandwich. I only took a bite from this meal since I had some other food that I needed to eat but from the bite, its a pretty decent meal even if its not wrapped into a taco style. Its fairly simple to put in and didn’t take too much time. I’m not sure about the ancho part of the thing though but thats just my personal preference. My husband absolutely loved it.

Grilled Ratatouille Sandwich
with Sundried Tomato Hummus

The repeat meal of our box goes to this fantastically delicious vegetarian sandwich called the Grilled Ratatouille Sandwich. Its packed with flavors from the sweet peppers to the tangy cherry tomatoes and then rounded off with a sundried tomato hummus. Its really a lovely sandwich. The last time was actually my husband who put together a lot of it and this time, I took my shot at it until I went to toast the buns and then burnt them a little. Still, its one that I’d definitely make again. Its truly fantastically delicious!

Peanut Butter Dumplings
with Sesame Green Beans

The recipe says that I wasn’t supposed to fold the dumplings this way but this is the way I know how to fold them since I was little so I kept to my own methods. My husband did the cooking and didn’t read the instructions very well for the dumplings so ended up pan-frying all sides when it was supposed to fry at the bottom then steam in the pan to cook the dumpling wrapper. Either way, it still tasted really great. Other than the vegetarian filling taste really awesome, the peanut butter sauce was super delicious. We actually loved it so much that we kept the leftover and cooked some veggies with it the next day and it turned out really well since the peanut butter dissolves pretty much but the taste retains itself. I loved this one a lot.

Overall, this box turned out very good. Two vegetarian meals and both of them were my faves in this box.

Recap: Goodfood #6

Don’t worry! No slacking off on the horror marathon. Regular programming resumes later today (or at least it should since I’m writing this one before the next one).

Goodfood update again. This box is one of those boxes that really caught our eyes as it uses some great ingredients and everyday stuff and just twists on the sauce and stuff. A lot of untreaded territory here so its fun to try out. Most of it worked out really well, except for one that really might not be to our tastes so much.

Chef Garnier’s Sesame-Crusted Chicken with Sweet & Sour Veggies & Matcha Rice

First up was the Sesame-Crusted Chicken. Its pretty cool because I’ve always had an issue with breading things and this recipe let me learn how to figure that part out. This meal turned out quite good. Actually, everything here worked great for the chicken and the veggies. The sweet chili sauce for the veggies was a good balance to the meal. However, the matcha rice wasn’t doing it for us. I already had a suspicion about it since I’m not  a fan of matcha tea in general however, my husband is very picky with the teas that he likes so it was a hit and miss. However, matcha is a powder so it was used for the rice and it was okay. Can’t say that we’ll ever make the rice again but the chicken and veggies are a hit.

Tofu & Shiitake Mushroom Dumplings with Cucumber Salad

Next up is the vegetarian dumplings. This was an all around win for us. We don’t use tofu ever at home although I like it when my  mom makes it. However, I’ve never really figured out how to incorporate it into our meals and my husband isn’t a fan of the texture in general. These dumplings were really cool as it blends the mushrooms and the tofu together for the filling and the sauce is quite easy to make. I let my husband have the cucumber salad which he liked a lot as well. We are slowly trying to eat healthier and possibly seeing the potential having the occasional vegetarian meal and this one is definitely one we’ll keep on our minds especially since I love dumplings so much!

Spiced Pork Chops with Roasted Delicata Squash, Brussel Sprouts & Hazelnut Vinaigrette

Pork chops are a frequent appearance in our house. Mostly because meats are overall quite expensive and pork chops are usually the most cost efficient option. This one was so great. It had brussel sprouts and the vinaigrette was delicious especially since we’ve never used hazelnut to put together a dressing like that. There was a hint of sweetness from the maple syrup (I believe). I’m a fan of squashes in general but my husband is quite picky with them. However, he loved the delicata squash which is the first time I’ve ever made them and they are a win for us both. We loved them so much that I went ahead to the grocery store a few days ago and picked up some more.

Tourtiere-Spiced Meatballs with Mushroom Sauce & Roasted Veggies

Finally, the last choice were tourtiere-spiced meatballs. I’m usually on the fence with the meatballs meals. It always feel odd to use meatballs without spaghetti. Another thing to note here is that I replaced the green beans with brussel sprouts. I guess I could file it under a slight complaint is that when Friday night came around (which is about 5 days since we received the box), the green beans weren’t looking too good. I’m guessing if I waited another day, mold would have happened. Anyways, to be safe, I threw them out and replaced the veggies with what I had on hand. However, the meal was really great. Beef is not my first choice however the meatballs tasted good and the tourtiere flavors are definitely there. The mushroom sauce turned out a little too thick for us however the taste was also on point. The veggies were good also.

Overall…the last week’s box was pretty good. It was a win on all fronts. Sure, the matcha rice didn’t work with us quite so much but everything else was pretty awesome. My fave meal of this box (and its hard to choose) would probably be the pork chops although the dumplings are quite close behind.