My February Adventures!

February has passed us by and with the month ending, we take a look back at all the little adventures that happened! Its been a crazy month with a lot of work and overtime and just fatigue, more and more. I took some days off here and there and there were some inconsistencies in the blogging schedule. I also did manage to have some fun little moments between all the snowstorms and daily life things. I already know that it would be a hard and busy month but hey, we’re done now! Suffice to say, it might not be as eventful but still, let’s check it out!

Bouge Bouge 5KM Montreal Souterrain

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Did the @bougebouge_com #mtlsouterrain #5krun . Time 35:08 #running #indoors #mtlunderground #mtlundergroundcity #bougebougemtl #winterevents #mtl #mtlevents #stayactive

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Feb 2, 2020 at 7:13am PST

Kicking off February in absolutely style as I went to do the 5KM MTL Underground Run. The second year participating and this year, while I didn’t feel tip-top and wasn’t sure whether to go for it despite the fatigue from work and really wanting to recuperate, I was the one who said that I’d do it this year, unlike last year where my friend signed up for me and was slightly forced into it. I toughed it out and my time wasn’t too bad. I’m actually enjoying these 5KM runs that keeps me motivated to train a little. This one is a bit tough on the knees with all the stairs going up and down. I’m thinking of doing one or two more 5KM runs throughout 2020 but we will see how things go.

Ramen – Lunch at Kumamoto

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Saturday lunch outing to try out #japanese #ramen at @kumamotomontreal . #food #downtownmtl #mtl #514 #mtlfood #japaneseramen #foodporn #foodie #kumamotomontreal #yakitori #karaage #karaagechicken #japanesefood

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Feb 8, 2020 at 10:25am PST

We had a crazy snow storm on Friday and after having to dig ourselves out and help out our neighbor and then go save my friend from a little dilemma, we headed out together for a lunch at Kumamoto. Previously, I went there for a hotpot for two people but they are a ramen restaurant so we went to give that a go. I have to say that, in terms of variety of soup bases, this one has a lot. They also have a nice bit of side dishes to choose from. The karaage chicken here is probably the best out of the few places that we’ve been to.

Ultimate 2010s Blogathon

Just like clockwork, Ultimate 2010s Blogathon started the week after Valentine’s Day. This year, we’re celebrating the movies of 2010s the stood out to ourselves and our guests. As the blogathon is in its final few posts, nearing out wrap-up. You can find all the reviews released HERE.

Snowstorm, Family Dinner, New Plant & Souvenirs

I didn’t take a lot of pictures for any of these things so I figured I’d just cover it all in one section with what little pictures I have. First to hit in February was possibly the first big snowstorm. An actual storm with like 35cm of snow or something that made for some crazy shoveling. When we went back to shovel our backyard patio, it took the collective effort of the husband and I over and hour to clear it all out.

As holidays are a rarity in the first 2 months of the year, my mother-in-law gathered up the family to have a dinner together. We had some surprise news drop and then also had a delicious meal with Italian soup, ham, potatoes, meat pie and then chocolate dip for fruits and cakes. That was a lot of fun.

We went shopping for something to fix my shower and ended up picking up a cactus because the husband wanted one. I’ve never had a cactus before so I’m going to read up on it and try to not kill it.

Finally, my friend went out to UK for a few days vacation and ended up getting me some cool souvenirs including a UK themed Mickey and Minnie to join my collection. They currently occupy the empty office table so I guess they are quite royalty in my house.

Cute Kitty Pic

That’s it for February Adventures!
Anything fun that you did in February that you’d like to share?

Goodfood Recap #33

After an over-extended break from Goodfood, we finally got back to one of these boxes. It was a huge help to get back to cooking some Goodfood meals especially with some cool new recipes to try out. They all looked very delicious so I was excited to give all of these a go.

Let’s check it out!

Shrimp Ramen
with Quick-Pickled Ginger, Spinach & Mushrooms

Seafood meals are always the first to be done. Its been a while we’ve done anything with shrimp. Its winter and ramen is a great option as a nice cozy food to warm up. Another really great about both shrimp and ramen and spinach because these foods all cook very quick so its a nice efficient meal. The only thing here that needed a different pot was to make the pickled ginger which is also a fairly easy thing to do also. In terms of taste, the broth here is what stands out. The pickled ginger has always been the portion of these meals that I don’t quite care for. Everything else from the fresh ramen to all the flavors here is pretty good.

Polenta-Crusted Chicken Breasts
with Endive-Spinach Salad & Honey-Herb Dressing

I don’t normally make food thats heavy on the crusting and stuff. So, its a nice little change in pace to do this one. What really adds to this is that its actually pretty easy to put together. Plus for something with both the oven roasted and frying in pan, everything times together really well to do simultaneously and not feel too rushed. However, I didn’t actually try the salad on the side. It does look fresh and good, plus it uses endives which I’ve only ever cooked with once and still wondering how to incorporate it into other meals when possible.

Agedashi Tofu & Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce
Garlic-Furikake Green Beans, Daikon & Rice

I’ve only had Agedashi Tofu in restaurants. In my memory, it uses the softer tofu than the one used in this recipe. However, it is a fun little one to put together as well. On top of that, I’m a big fan of daikon but never know how to make it so this is a lovely way to do it especially since the seasoning in the rice as well also makes it mega delicious. I really liked this one a lot. Agedash Tofu’s magic is also in the sauce and this one is very similar to the Japanese restaurant around my area. Not my habit to cook a lot of Japanese food at home except with these boxes, however, its a nice change in pace from the normal. I’m probably going to make the rice, daikon and green beans outside of the box and make the fried tofu instead of the agedashi one though.

Spiced Pork Bowl
with Blistered Cherry Tomato & Pepita Salsa over Red & White Quinoa

The last meal we made was this bowl. We always love to make bowls because they are so convenient to put together. Credit goes to my husband for putting this together on the weekend when I had to go to work for some overtime and it turned out to be the star of the box for myself. The pork had delicious seasoning. The crunchiness of the lettuce and the acidity of the cherry tomatoes plus the quinoa blend all matched together so awesomely. I ended up eating both of the meals for dinner and lunch the next day. That is how good it is. Definitely one that I’m going to try to make on my own time.

Overall…this week was pretty good.
It had a lot of fun meals with all kinds of different spices and meats. 
Also, all the meals were within the 30 minutes cooking mark so efficiency also gets it some points.
My favorite goes to the Spiced Pork Bowl but everything was really good this time. 

My Weekly Adventures: Announcement Time!

Hey! A late post going up today! I had to insist on this going up today because I do have an announcement here, which if you are familiar here, you’ll have an idea of what happens in February.

Life’s pretty routine when it comes to the beginning of the year. January is a crazy month in general so I don’t have as much time to do a lot of stuff outside of work and home. I also have some personal stuff that’s been lingering in the background that I have to settle (well…follow-up at this point). Either way, enough of this serious stuff but not a whole lot to talk about in this weekly adventures.

Snow Storm

Winter took a while to get here but it finally did. We got a snow day of maybe 20cm or something. I don’t remember anymore but then it turned around a few days after with some lovely ice rain and such turn it into a slippery ice rink and then massive puddles because the city didn’t get the snow cleared fast enough.

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Well. Thats nice. After conquering skating rink (aka icy roads), we head for a few lakes (giant deep puddles of mush and water). It is an adventure to a bus stop this morning. Fellow montrealers and others in surrounding area, be safe on the roads today if you have to go. #montreal #suburbs #icyroads #badroadconditions #giantpuddles

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Jan 24, 2019 at 4:59am PST

Ultimate 2000s Blogathon

So, we’ve been attacking everyone with announcements and reminders but I’d like to share for anyone who is interested to share their fave 2000s film in a form of review (or some other format that we can discuss). You can find all the details HERE.

Yokato Yokabai

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Not even a snowstorm can stop us from going to getting a nice bowl of #ramen at @yokatoyokabai . #food #mtl #montreal #japaneseramen #comfortfood #warmbowlofgoodness #delicious #porkbelly #lotusroot

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Jan 20, 2019 at 1:11pm PST

As I mention the snow storm above, the crazy people in us decided to go get ramen as per our last year’s journey with my good friend. This adventure took us to another ramen place which we’re having debates whether we like it between than the other place. I think this place is better because I like the sides. Of course, this also sparked my first time pushing a car because it got stuck. Luckily, my husband and I had a passerby that hopped in to help us both push which was the extra strength that we needed to get out. All around a memorable day, I’d say.

Montreal DemoNight 2019

A few nights ago was Montreal DemoNight 2019. I was swamped with work and overtiming like a crazy person but luckily they did stream it so I was still able to watch it. There are quite a few games that look incredibly interesting. I don’t have much to talk about right now but I’ll leave it for the recap. I’m usually more efficient but the recap will be out some time over the weekend over on the Game Warp blog.

Announcement: Valentine’s Marathon

And we’re here again. Valentine’s Marathon starts tomorrow! This time I’m going to be a bit more ambitious and do a little Netflix Alphabet Valentine’s Marathon in the form of double features. I couldn’t think about a feature franchise (since I didn’t finish last year’s) and I wanted to get through my neverending Netflix list so this seems like a super awesome idea. If things go well, I’ll get double features everyday from Feb 1st to 14 but lets be realistic that it won’t happen whether its not being about to catch up with watching movies that fast or writing up fast enough while having other stuff going on on the blog since I won’t just do movies, of course. So we’ll see how things go.

As this post goes up, I’ve already watched A-D films so hey, who knows, right? 😉

Cute Kitty Pic

That’s all for this Weekly Adventures!
Hopefully next time, there will be more to talk about!

Goodfood #13

Time for a lovely food post! I’ve been writing about books and movies and TV series that this is a nice little break! 🙂

We’re onto another Goodfood box. My darling friend Phoebe (aka Starry Traveler) suggested that I do a video unboxing of Goodfood after this one. Due to the PC issues I talked about earlier today, that will be something I’ll look at in the future once that is settled and operations get back to usual.

Let’s check out this box!

Seared Salmon Ramen with Black Salt Miso, Carrots and Mushrooms

The first meal of the box was the ramen. Its been pretty chilly here with quite a few storms so its always nice to have some warm soup for some heat and comfort. This meal was a lot of fun to make. I was able to multitask a lot of it and timed it all fairly well. There is some chopping involved with the carrots but other than that, its nothing complex. Its also why I love making ramen bowls. This one tasted quite good. Salmon has gotten so expensive that when we get boxes with them, its the rare occasion we actually buy it anymore. This box’s highlight was the black salt and we sprinkled it on top of the fish and it added a really nice flavor to it.

BBQ Tofu Subs with Pickled Cucumber Ribbons and Yellow Beet Chips

Our hesitation for this box went to Tofu Subs. My husband really doesn’t like tofu too much but he opted for this one. Surprisingly  for both of us, it was incredibly delicious. I don’t know if its the sauces they use or just the combination of everything, it was really delicious. The pickled cucumbers were good but a pain to cut especially since I don’t own a mandolin so it was just cutting it as thin as I could with a knife. The beet was kind of annoying to peel as well. This meal has a lot of prep work to it. However, the results were worth it. Writing this up, actually reminded me of something I need to message Goodfood about.

Pork Chops with Agrodolce Sauce and Roasted Vegetables

I had no idea what agrodolce sauce was before but our little menu card gave a delightful description of it. I’d be lying if reducing the sauce had me a little worried because usually the worst results are anything we need to reduce. Surprisingly, it actually turned out quite good. This one is rather sour though. However, I love roasted veggies and the spices blended so well with the sauce to make the pork chops really delicious.

Harissa-Honey Chicken with Spiced Zucchini and Sugar Snap Peas Couscous

Finally to the Harissa-Honey chicken. My bowl didn’t have any  harissa because hot sauce is not my thing. We’re not a big fan of this type of couscous however, the blend with the spiced zucchini and the snap peas actually gave it quite a nice flavor. On top of that, the only issue I had was the instructions on how to make the chicken felt a little inexact and my chicken turned out looking really burnt. Normal because there was honey but I also wondered why it wasn’t blended before. However, despite the burnt bits, it was very good as well.

I’m keeping nice and short today. 4 delicious meals, some nice surprises and nice flavors in the box. My favorite overall for this box would have to go to the Tofu Sub. The Seared Salmon Ramen definitely comes very close to a fave here as well.

Recap: Goodfood #9

Goodfood is a nice routine for us now. Its actually motivating us to cook more regularly even when we don’t order the box. I do have to say that I’m feeling like our lifestyle is becoming more balanced and healthier.

Last week’s box was a bit of some more experimental choices for us however that is also the charm of this experience.

Squid Ink Pasta Puttanesca with Haddock

Squid Ink Pasta Puttanesca with Haddock

I’ve only had squid ink pasta once before in Hong Kong surprisingly. However, I do like it and this dish is pretty good. Its fairly simple to make plus haddock is one of those fishes that we like to eat but never make enough of since salmon turns out to be our default fish to buy and cook. This is a simple dish and I think perhaps one of the few meals in these boxes that I made very easily and almost on par with the time they said would take on the recipe card.

Fajita Bowl with Refried Beans & Fresh Tomato Salsa

Fajita Bowl

The husband chose this one. Suffice to say that its not my favorite meal by far. It was somewhat of a pain to make as it took a lot of coordinating multiple tasks at the same time. Its not complicated though and the chicken tastes delightful. It does pack a little heat in the spices for both the chicken and the peppers. However, the refried beans did turn out tasting better than I had expected them to which is always a plus.

Black Garlic Ramen with Shiitake Mushrooms & Bok Choy

Black Garlic Ramen

The vegetarian meal of the box is the black garlic ramen. Black garlic is also the highlight ingredient that was highlighted for this box. While I didn’t read a lot into it since its been busy, at first glance, it feels like a soy sauce infused garlic. However, I love to choose the oriental noodle meals here because I’m Chinese and it saves me from having to go to the Chinese supermarket which is almost always full of people whenever I have time to go. Back to the meal, simple to make and put together and packs a lot of lovely flavors and tastes so very good.

Provolone-Stuffed Burgers with Rosemary Oven Fries & Aioli

I know that this was a provolone stuffed burger but I let my husband decide on it and for the fact that I can’t have the stuffed cheese, he just made the patties and added the cheese on top. The aioli sauce is pretty good. I would have liked to know how much lemon juice instead of saying the remainder quarter as all lemons will have different amounts so ours turned out quite sour. The balance was lost although it was easy to  see that if there was less lemon juice, it would have been great. The fries also were really good. I never thought of crisping garlic and rosemary as a topping so it was fun to learn that. My husband is the burger connoisseur and he loved this one a lot.

That’s it for last week’s Goodfood box!
A lot of hidden gems here. Some delivered better than others but overall, efficient and tasty meals.

Recap: Goodfood #8

These Goodfood boxes have captured us lately and we’re trying really hard to eat healthier, meaning less processed food. The last month was pretty nice and overall, its already feeling much better. Especially with me starting back up the whole workout process. I’ll talk about that in the upcoming Weekly Adventures segment instead. Who knows, maybe we’ll start back up the old segment for workout roundups. We’ll see, right?

Last week’s Goodfood was a lot of interesting experiences to say the least. Let’s check it out!

Japanese 7-Spiced Pork Ramen with Lacinato Kale

Its pretty common to start off with the ramen recipes a lot of times because its usually the simplest to put together. Its why I love making them so much. This one was a little crazy since we had to cook the pork chops with the seasoning. Its one of those instructions that I never quite understand the process of and am trying how to pat a meat dry and then season them. My husband says we season it in the pan but that doesn’t make sense since we should season it outside and then put it in the pan. Regardless, the main deal with this one was when I cooked up the pork chops, I think the spices were super spicy because we both started coughing like crazy. I’ve been having allergies and sinus problems so it was a slower reaction for myself. This plate was pretty spicy even without the sambal added in. However, it was also super delicious and my hunch is that the spiciness comes naturally from the ginger cooked with the kale.

Chicken Cacciatore with Seared King Oyster Mushrooms & Mashed Potatoes

I had originally wanted to make changes to the Chicken Cacciatore so that I could have it also. While I did for a part of it, I decided to make the mashed potatoes as is. My plate had the chicken and the mushrooms while my husband had what it was supposed to be like in the picture above. The highlight of this dish was trying out the king oyster mushrooms. I can’t say that I’m particularly in love with it. We’re both much more into portobello mushrooms. However, this one does have a distinctive taste to it, maybe a sweeter taste but a more spongy texture because its cap is so tiny. However, I love how we simmer the chicken in sauce because it makes it super tender and while takes longer, is one of my favorite ways to cook chicken.

Spiced Beef Platter with Hummus, Chopped Salad & Pita

My husband was the only one who ate this one however, I did prepare it. This is probably one of the easiest meals to prepare since we got any of these meal boxes. It said 20 minutes to do and was pretty much on point. Its not a lot of chopping. The multitasking potential for this one is so high as you can get the pita in the oven and cook the beef and everything almost side to side. I had a timer for one task and my eye on the pan while plating in the final stages. It was pretty fun to do and didn’t take too much time which is what I love as a break from some of these more elaborate meals.

Individual Vegetarian Pot Pies with Cremini Mushrooms & Broccoli

Pot pies without any dairy products? Count me in! These vegetarian pot pies were pretty decent. For myself, I thought it was pretty good. Its a little time consuming because there is a ton of stuff to chop and then cook and then bake. I also didn’t quite understand the idea of only having the crust on the top to cover and the bottom not having it. I guess the concept of pot pies is that the bottom of the pie is in a pot? We had aluminium bottoms which I do appreciate Goodfood team for providing. However, it does remain that there is a blandness to it. My husband thought so because of the lack of spices. I thought it was a nice balance to the week full of crazy flavors. I can see myself doing this recipe again but adding some meat in it since I get the concept of how to make it now.

That’s it for last week’s Goodfood box!
A few new ingredients we tried out and learned a few new recipes that we’d probably try again with our own twist.
My fave does go to the 7-spiced pork ramen. It was perfect for the weather and while it was spicy, it was really satisfying.

Recap: Goodfood #3

Welcome back to the next Goodfoods recap!

We are trying out this new eating healthier and more balanced thing so Goodfoods is a nice step in that which means also that we’re trying to order twice a month if the menus work to our taste. We aren’t sponsored so we just do these as we see fit. Regardless, Goodfoods has been a great addition to our lives. We’re starting to see what weeks it works best in our routine. Plus, the different recipes make for some delicious culinary adventures.

In this third box, everything came well. The box was less dented than last time but still a little scarred from the journey. I still say that they need to find a better, at least more careful courrier company to take care of these deliveries. So far, nothing damaging has occurred with the food so I’m still okay with it.

We’re all hear to check out the food and here it is!

Vegetarian Paella with Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

Vegetarian Paella

The first meal we did was the vegetarian selection, Vegetarian Paella with Grilled Portobello Mushroom. I love portobello mushrooms and the Spanish spices used for this dish is awesome. I’d have to say that this is my favorite out of this box. It did however (somehow) take longer to make than I expected. I’m still not quite a fan of making rice in a pot. Being Chinese, making rice in the rice cooker is how I’m used to. This was a true collaboration between me and my husband as I had the rice ready and he wrapped up by making the portobello mushrooms to add in. There’s a little bit of heat and there’s a nice balance of rice and veggies. The portobellos had a beautiful texture. I really like this one a ton.

Blackened Haddock with Herbed Rice & All Dressed Corn

Blackened Haddock with Herbed Rice & All-Dressed Corn

Kudos to my husband to taking care of this one. We modified this one and removed the cheese that was supposed to be on the corn. I can’t remember if there was yogurt somewhere else also in the sauce but if there was, my husband took it out also. This one was okay. Nothing really spectacular. It was still very tasty. The seasoned corn was the highlight for myself. The fish was good and the herbed rice was interesting.

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches in Pretzel Buns with Broccoli Salad

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich

My husband’s winner in this box was this sandwich. The chicken was really delicious especially with the barbecue sauce. The broccoli was a nice addition. Looking back at the picture, the broccoli was supposed to be added to the sandwich but we left it on the side. I actually even had extra chicken to eat. The pretzel bun is also a lovely touch.

Mazemen Pork Ramen with Grilled Carrots & Yu Choy

Mazemen Ramen with Grilled Carrots and Yu Choy

With the increasing love for ramen, it was inevitable that it would reach one of these boxes as well. Unfortunately, this meal had to be modified as we were so busy that we waited for too long and the pork had expired so we went the vegetarian route here. However, the taste here is really amazing. The veggies they use are great. I like Yu Choy a lot and particularly the multicolor nantes carrots are also something I personally love to use all the time also. They use a Japanese spice blend which is rather unique. It added some heat but never too overpowering.

Overall, this box was a win. The haddock was not a fave but it still turned out well.
We can’t wait for the next subscription box. Coincidentally, the menu in 2 weeks looks fantastic.

Restaurant: Kinton Ramen (Montreal, Canada)

I’m super behind on some restaurant stuff lately. A week or so ago, my friend and I had a change in plans and ended up going to Kinton Ramen for dinner. Japanese ramen noodle restaurants have had an a huge popularity in Montreal in the last few years. I’ve never been to this one before but its in downtown Montreal. We got really lucky and found a decent parking spot so let’s check it out!

Kinton Ramen

Combo Menu

There is another main menu which has some appetizers and a similar ramen choices sort of menu to customize however there is a slight price difference. We each took one of these combos.

Tea

I can’t remember if I’ve talked about these before but I had these types of teabags when I went to the Maritimes for vacation this summer. Its a pretty interesting way as it just overlaps the side of the cup. Its a cute idea. Back to the tea, it was a good green tea.

Appetizers

The actual appetizer here is the fried chicken. My friend wanted to order this. I took a taste of one piece of it. Its very tasty. Crispy outside and tender on the inside, it was really good.

Meal

My friend took the little extra for his meal on the top. Its rice with some chicken and whatnot. It was alright. I didn’t end up taking it since I already had the chicken combo (where as he had the pork one). You get to customize what you put in including the type of noodles and the soup base. That is nice to have those choices. I chose the normal soup base with thin noodles along with seaweed, scallions and the egg came with the base meal already. There may have been other stuff I added but I can’t remember anymore. The day we went was starting to get a little cooler. Autumn weather is definitely hitting us earlier this year so it was nice to have some warm soup noodles. Everything was very delicious and done really well.

Overall…Kinton Ramen is definitely worth a visit. The food is great. The service is quick and friendly. Plus, its always a bonus to have the customization options for how you want in your noodles. Just beware that the options do add up in price. 😉