Goodfood Recap #36

Its been a month and time for another Goodfood box! This time had one repeat recipe and a few that I’ve seen but never found enough in the previous times to want to order the box. This time, we wanted to give it a go.

Let’s check it out!

Braised Cod
with Roasted Garlic Chickpeas & Blistered Cherry Tomatoes

Kicking us off for any box is the fish recipe! This time we have braised cod. This meal was absolutely delicious. It would be paired perfectly with a baguette to just eat all the remaining sauce. I actually ending up making the closest thing I had: toast. The flavor is fantastic and the lentils give it such a nice bite. My husband cooked the fish perfectly. He actually took care of this one as he had a spontaneous day off. This is one that I’m definitely getting again if the opportunity presents itself.

Chipotle-Honey Chicken
with Pineapple, Cucumber & Tomato Salsa

This menu was pretty spicy. The chipotle completely covers any honey that was in there. To be honest, I think the meal works well because it has the whole rice and salsa so balance it out. Its still fairly intense (but that could be because I don’t eat spicy food a lot in the first place). My biggest issue of why I wouldn’t do this again was that I spent a good part of my time, extending the prep time a lot just taking out the seeds from the chipotle pepper and then chopping it up. That took a ton of time since it was my first time doing it.

Spicy Peanut Tofu Bao Buns
with Charred Miso Broccoli & Chili Mayonnaise

Bring on the next fire-breathing dish. The chili mayonnaise was extremely spicy because of the sambal oelek which I only used half of the portion in the first part and then my husband also used half of the portion in the second part of when we had to use it. Props to the instructions for the broccoli being pretty accurate and it turned out to be pretty good. Plus they gave us much more than the recipe asked for. Bao buns are something that I don’t have frequently and a Taiwanese street food style and in this recipe, it is pretty decent. Its spicy but the different elements and the sauce and everything really pulls it together.

Fresh Udon Noodles
with Ground Pork & Napa Cabbage

The last meal is the repeat meal that we’ve had before. I love udon noodle meals and this one is really easy to put together. Its almost like a one pan dish aside from the having to cook the noodles in advance and then it just basically turns into a stir fry. Plus, it tastes really great.

That’s it for this Goodfood recap!
Some new stuff and one repeat meal!
My favorite meal in box had to go to braised cod but then everything else worked well. 

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.

Goodfood Recap #30

And we’re back to business with the recap image sorted out!

In general, we’re doing the monthly boxes so I actually forgot to post up the last one. Its been a bit crazy on my end. So I actually have another post coming up soon. First, lets get this overdue Goodfood recap up from 2 weeks ago!

Soy-Steamed Cod
with Sesame-Ginger Kuri Squash and Baby Bok Choy

My husband was the one who cooked this meal. I always say that we try to pick up some fish meals. This one is really good. I’ve never had kuri squash before and it tastes delicious, especially with the spices used here. It had a little kick but still was really lovely.

Citrus-Miso Udon
with Sesame-Ginger Tofu Orange Segments & Bell Peppers

One of the two vegetarian dishes in this box. I’m a big fan of udon noodles. My husband is not so while I love to get them, its always a struggle to see whether he will like it. This one is mostly uncooked except for the tofu. I can’t say this is my favorite dish both in terms of how the tofu is done or how the whole dish comes together but I like the tofu with ginger and sesame bit, I guess and udon in general is a noodle texture that I personally enjoy so it worked in that sense.

Malabar Curry
with Chickpeas & Sugar Snap Peas, Basmati Rice & Roasted Cashews

The surprise of our box is this second vegetarian dish. After our experience with the Miss Fresh boxes and their love for curries and such, we took a huge break from it once we started Goodfood boxes because the variety here is fantastic in comparison. After 29 boxes, we finally decided to go for a curry meal in the Goodfood boxes and let me tell you, this dish was a highlight. My husband loved it. I thought it was immensely delicious. We’re putting some serious reconsideration on getting some more curry meals now.

Portuguese Chicken
with Crispy Potato Rounds, Romaine-Carrot Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

The last meal of the box goes to this portuguese chicken. We do use piri piri spice when we make our own chicken here. This one is not bad. Its actually quite tasty. My only issue all the time with these recipes is how long it asks us to make the potatoes in the oven. I don’t know if I cut it too thin or the time is not correct but that is the only thing that didn’t quite work out. The start of the show, the chicken itself didn’t disappoint and that has to go to my husband for making it.

That’s it for this overdue Goodfood recap!
Another recap coming next week for last week’s menu and then we’ll be back on track!

What did you think of this Goodfood box?

Recap: Goodfood #27

Welcome to the next recap of Goodfood for last week’s box! One repeat and a few that sounded pretty good. Bowls usually are surprisimg winners, burgers always have a nice twist and well, sometimes meatballs and couscous are the simple combo that we need.

Grilled Tofu Dragon Bowls
with multicolored carrots, snow peas & red rice

Tofu isn’t our cooking specialty so a lot of it is either at my mom’s or when we get a Goodfood box. My husband isn’t a huge fan of it either. We ended up getting this because we have loves past meals in bowls. Granted, usually it is something I have generally tried before and this one, I haven’t. However, the tofu and the red rice is super nice. The sauce here is amazing. My only issue was the raw veggies which I went ahead to cook because I had a part of it raw and honestly didn’t enjoy it at all. I’ve always liked my vegetables cooked so that is honestly a personal preference.

Chicken Yakitori
with roasted carrots, chinese broccoli & miso butter

The repeat here is this chicken yakitori which still remains as delicious as what I remember. On top of that, I always forget to do it for the Battle of Ingredients but the recipe calls for roasting chinese broccoli in the oven and the leaves turns out like making kale chips. It comes out some delicious flavors and its mostly seasons with salt and pepper which is all very awesome. Plus, Jasmine rice is my favorite variety of rice so everything here really justifies why I like this meal a lot and enjoy making it also.

Paprika-Garlic Chicken Sandwiches on Pretzel Buns
with horseradish mayonnaise & green salad

The husband took care of this meal and the next. Its been a crazy week for us so these meals had a lot of it just being myself eating it and him only tasting it. I’m not going to lie that I ended up skipping most of the salad because of the horseradish. They gave a warning of the spiciness of it and washing hands afterwards. Luckily, my husband put together only a little bit of horseradish so it worked really well without burning my mouth. The chicken spicing with the paprika and garlic is really delicious. I’m adding this recipe to my chicken burgers ideas whenever we ever think about it and want to change up from beef.

Pork Meatballs & Roasted Vegetables
with wild jungle peanuts & lemon balm couscous

Finally, we wrap up with the pork meatballs and roasted vegetables on couscous. I have to say that the entire meal here is pretty well balanced. The tomatoes add a more acidic taste as tomatoes usually do with their more sour flavor but it works to give a lot of balance with the other vegetables added in here. The highlight here is the wild jungle peanuts which are specially picked from some region (Amazon, maybe? I can’t remember…) but taste pretty much like a peanut. The couscous is my issue as I had to pick out  the lemon balm because it was just too much in it and was so strong. Other than that, this was a pretty decent meal. I just need to remember to cut the onions into smaller pieces so the meatballs don’t have such coarse onions, making it stand out a ton. However, the spices are quite delish.

Overall, this was a pretty decent box. I liked everything fairly well. There were some issues here and there that makes me say that I love it with the obvious exception of the Chicken Yakitori. One more box next week and then we made the decision to drop the meal boxes to monthly basis for a while so we clear up some of our frozen meats in the freezer and eat some garden veggies from our garden and my mom’s garden, which she’s been sharing with us.

Recap: Goodfood #15

Time for another Goodfood recap!

As I struggled with a few things last week, my husband was a major champ and came home from work and still helped me out with cooking the meal. Bad time management on my part due to little bit a temporary dose of depression and some stuff on my mind. Luckily, we did get through the week and the meals all turned out really well. A little mixed bag for this box.

Let’s check it out!

Haddock with Chermoula Mejadra & Roasted Brussel Sprouts

First up is this lovely haddock. We are a big fan of trying out new types of fishes. I believe another box at haddock and we liked it. To be honest, we were slightly skeptical with this one but it was an absolute pleasant surprise. The rice was spiced wonderfully and there was a lot so we ended up making a fried rice with it for lunch. We learned how to make crispy onions in the pan and it turned out really delicious. My husband loves the smell of onion so he was elated. Not a whole lot of preparation and the first part is multitaskable which is always important. The final product was pretty delicious.

Spiced Maple-Lime Chicken with Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Blistered Green Beans

The highlight ingredient of this box to discover was maple butter which is in this menu. If you have gone to a sugar shack and had that dining experience, you come to expect these bold sweet flavors on anything with maple. In this one, it was a nice subtle flavor that complemented the chicken really well. The mashed sweet potato was tasty to balance out the meal and the green beans gave it a lovely veggie crunch. This one was one of our faves in this box for sure!

Szechuan Eggplant & Tofu with Jasmine Rice

This was our vegetarian pick of the week and also the Chinese dish. Its a tad spicy but the chili did have its seed taken out so automatically that helps a ton. My husband isn’t a big fan of tofu or eggplant. This one uses a firmer tofu and fries it so it had a lovely taste and texture. This dish came together much better than I expected and other than eating it all in one go felt like my mouth was on fire (just because I don’t eat spicy stuff a lot), this one is was pretty good.

Ground Beef Pizza with Crispy Kale

Finally, we ended with the ground beef pizza. This one did get a advisory recall on the beef afterwards but we cook our beef well done all the time and nothing happened for us. This pizza though is the highlight of the box. We loved every element of it from the simple tomato sauce to the nicely seasoned ground beef onto a crispy kale to top it off. It was awesome. My husband had it with the cheese and my side was without and we both loved it the same.

Overall, this box was great. We were hesitant about the recipes we chose but they all turned out to be pleasant surprises. Our favorite was absolutely the ground beef pizza however, that maple butter was delicious with the chicken and the sweet potatoes. I’m definitely going to make more mashed sweet potatoes from now on.

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: Miss Fresh #9

As I’ve been talking about recently, its been a busy time so what better week than to order another Miss Fresh box. The last one was just two weeks ago. However, this menu fit what we liked so why not, right?

Let’s get cooking! 🙂

Miss Fresh #9

Shrimp Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Shrimp Rolls with Peanut Sauce

This box was quite the adventure since I found my cooking motivation early in the morning as I scrambled to get this together and prepare for heading out to work. Particularly the first two recipes were made in the early hours however, they did turn out pretty good. The first was this shrimp rolls. I used to my shrimp rolls with my best friend however, she always took point and I just had to put it together so learning how to make this felt great because I’m a huge fan of this plus Miss Fresh’s recipe avocado which is a really nice twist since I don’t eat raw veggies so my husband made them with the cabbage while I had a simple one with vermicelli, shrimps and avocado along with the peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was really awesome and really made this dish delicious.

Asian Tofu Stir-Fry

 The first two meals are very easy to make. In fact, they are delicious as well. I’m a huge fan of stir-fry and its not only because I’m Chinese and grew up with it. The idea of tossing a bunch of stuff together in a wok and it turning into a meal is efficient. Of course, it is never as simple as tossing it together but how to cook what and when. We don’t get a lot of tofu and my husband’s not a huge fan of mushroom although he does tolerate shitake mushrooms. This dish made the house smell so nice and it is incredibly easy to do. Maybe one of my faves Miss Fresh recipe.

Shepherd’s Pie with Cauliflower Topping

Shepherd’s Pie

My husband loves Shepherd’s Pie. I just never make it because its a bit of a hassle. I hate meals where I need to cook and then bake. As you see, I’m all about efficiency. Shepherd’s Pie also has that mashed potato aspect which only is good with a decent amount of milk or butter. While I digest butter, I know my husband prefers milk and then there’s the whole corn issue. My health is ridiculous, I know. The price for not taking better care when I was studying in university. Now I’m getting preachy, so I’ll stop and get back on track. However, this one does a nice twist with a mix of mashed potatoes and cauliflowers. I do like the texture of it even though it only uses butter. The minced meat is seasoned well and its all very tasty. Definitely one worth giving a go a second time.

Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Brussel Sprouts and Rice

After the searing part…

Pork Tenderloin with Apples & Brussel Sprouts

The pork tenderloin is pretty easy to put together and it does taste good with just coating with coriander and a spices blend (cinnamon and something else). The searing part after 10 minutes each side gets about that look up in the top picture. Sorry for the blur. However, we’re not much for seared foods so I decided to cook it through instead in making the veggies portion. It turned out for the better and I really liked this one a lot as well. The apples add a little acidity to it that works well with the dish. I’m not huge on the apple cider vinegar part. I’ve tried it out a few times in some other Miss Fresh recipes and it adds a weird taste to it that takes time to like. Overall though, this one is good. I’d redo it but maybe change out the apples or maybe use something else than vinegar.

Overall…

Miss Fresh doesn’t fail us. I’d venture to say that this is one of the better boxes because all the meals were winners even if I would have tweaked it to match our tastes a little better. Shrimp Rolls definitely take the win for this one. That peanut sauce is to die for and the rolls are good even in its simplest form. I’m actually craving it as I write this up (not only because it is during my lunch break).

Food Review: Hong Kong Desserts

Right after Lamma Island and looking at the nightview in Hong Kong and taking a stroll around busy Tsim Sha Tsui on Saturday night, my mom and I headed back home.  My mom had told me about how just around the corner, her and her best friend had discovered a lot of dessert shops.  Chinese dessert shops do not exist in Montreal.  I have been to one in Toronto before.  I love Chinese desserts and its amazing to eat it outside.  A lot of times it consists of pastes or sweet soups or made with glutinous rice or its with some sort of soy product like tofu.

We ended up going this one.  I saw a whole article on how it had won an award for being the best dessert place in 2011 or 2012.  I don’t remember exactly.  This dessert place didn’t have an english name though.

So for your reference, here is the actual link of the restaurant but its in chinese mostly.  I would deduct that perhaps its called Friends Dessert as the English name.

http://www.friendsdessert.com/aboutus.html

But for better reference, this link should give you the actual site of the restaurant that I went to and then the bottom one is the one that have all the other chains if it does interest you to try it out.

I went to this one: http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=51597

This is where all the chains can be found: http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr1.htm?chain_id=10000675&region=0

The decor was pretty nice too.  The service was a bit not as good as expected.  This restaurant had a lousy group of waiters who seemed like they didn’t really want to be there in the first place.  But okay, we got service and we managed to get a decent spot and pretty quick service after that.

I ordered a Black Sesame Paste with Rice Balls with Peanut filling. What this is is Black sesame grinded into little bits and add a bit of sugar and you get black sesame paste, thats my general understanding of it at least.  It becomes a pasty liquid sweet soup. I love it! This tasted pretty good.  It wasn’t too sweet and the texture was smooth.

My mom ordered Beancurd with Gingko Sweet Soup with Rice Balls with Black Sesame Filling. Okay, let me say that again.  She ordered Rice Balls with Peanut filling but they mixed up the order and we didn’t bother to change it.  Nonetheless, she said that it tasted good.  So she didn’t complain about it, which is always a plus when she enjoys her food.

Then we shared a Mango Glutinous Rice Rolls. These rolls were okay.  The mango in the roll was sour as hell.  It was crazy sour, maybe its because I ate my sweet soup first.  Still, I love anything with glutinous rice and coconut shreds.

 

This place was quite good.  I’m not exactly sure if they have an award that this chain was the one they evaluated it with. The only downfall of this place was the service.  It was pretty nice to see the open kitchen next to us and the beautiful crystal lights lighting up the cozy restaurant.  The desserts had a lot of variety and some were pretty unique.  I stuck with the traditional though because I can’t get this in restaurants back home and they were delicious. I think its worth a try if you are ever in Hong Kong and walk past one of these.