Dejah

Speaking of green stuff, grabbed a bag of pea shoots at the small Chinese grocery yesterday. It was perfect with steamed black bean garlic pork ribs and jasmine rice. Winter melon soup made it complete.. Tonight's meal was citrus marinated roast chicken with more green stuff (asparagus, and green beans sauteed in fermented tofu - fuyu) and coconut rice. This is the only way I can get hubby to eat green beans.

Temps still warranted "extreme temperature warning", so more comfort food to warm the belly: Cooked in a small cast iron pot: rice with cured Chinese bacon, sausage, and duck. Was making some chicken and mushroom filling for steamed baos, so threw some of that in with the rice. A bowl of chayote and pork bone soup made a lovely meal. Had to fight for the crispy rice (flavoured with all the oils and seasoning) on the bottom of the pot!

Have everything in the fridge...sounds like a plan!

Picked up a heavy cast iron grill pan 'cos I didn't want to BBQ outside with temps at - 2C, windchill of -40C. Started racks of whole grain mustard coated lamb on the pan then finished in the oven. A bit over-cooked but still juicy and tender. Picked up the 2 four-rib racks at 50% off - $15.00 for both. Marinated a package of country-cut pork chops in hoisin sauce, wine, and five3-spice powder and roasted them in a 450F oven. Diced and stir-fired in a sauce to be made into char siu baos later.

Beautiful meals by everyone over the holidays! The dust has finally settled here with all the kids, kidlets, dogs gone back to their respective homes. Some of the food we've indulged in over the last few days: Safeway had cooked lobsters on for Xmas. They had too many so on Boxing day, they were on sale at 50% off. I picked 4 up for $30.00 and split them for the two of us. Covered with herb butter and grilled. The tails were a bit chewy from the double cook, but the claws were lovely. Eaten with black bean spaghetti Trying to get back to simpler food, we had Chinese Ham Yeu (salty fish) steamed with ground pork and ginger. Rice is SO good with the juice from the steaming! I got some silver chopsticks from our s-i-l for Xmas. Had to try them out with some Shanghai noodles - a bit messy! Think I'll keep the bamboo ones for these dishes. Friends came for the day on New Years Eve. We were also visiting other friends in the city, so I put together a slow-cooker pot of Coconut Chicken Curry for supper. It was ready by supper time and all I had to cook then was the rice. Safeway had another batch of cooked lobsters for New Years, so I picked up 3 more for our supper tonight. Heated up some butter with slivers of ginger and cilantro. Warmed the extracted lobster meat gently, and eaten with ciabatta bread and a salad of mixed greens. Think we've had our feed of lobster now, unless they were fresh!

@Anna N: Want to double, triple LIKE that liver and onion, with a helping of the fried rice @chefmd Been baking and shopping all day. Something quick for supper: Panko coated pork loin, mashed cauliflower with fresh dill, sauteed mushrooms.

So I braved the duck fat issue today! Thawed a duck out last night, and other than rendering the fat, I didn't know what I was going to do with the duck! I've always made Cantonese BBQ duck, so I googled for recipes. Found Jamie Oliver's Spicy and Salt Duck. It looked do-able in the amount of time I had before supper. We'd been outside trying to finish putting up Xmas lights. (The week-long -32C temp went to -9 C by morning!) Rendering the fat gave me 1 1/2 cups of fat! How is that possible from one little duck?! The kitchen smelled wonderful, and the "quacklings" were incredible with a sprinkling of Szechuan peppercorn / sea salt mixture that also went into the flour for the breasts. The breasts were steamed for 12 minutes, rested for 20, then coated with a mixture of flour, ground cumin, ginger, fennel seeds, chili powder. I only had baby taters, so cut them into thick pieces and double deep-fried them in the duck fat. Then I deep-fried the duck pieces. OMG! Then tonight, I saw where @liuzhou mentioned duck-fat ROASTED potatoes...Damn! But these were delicious. The skin on the duck was crispy, and the flavour was delectable...with a delayed numbing of the lips from the Szechuan peppercorns. Thanks for the push to the "duck side"!

Made up a batch of beef filling for my Moroccan Spiced Cigars. They'll be rolled in phyllo pastry tomorrow and into the freezer for Xmas parties. Took out 1/3 of the filling and made it into Moussaka for supper. We first had this dish while on our first musical tour in England in 1976. Every night, after our gigs, we'd head for either an East Indian or Greek restaurant. These were the only establishments open after 11:00 PM. Food was cheap, so this was where entertainers, musicians, strippers went "after work". Moussaka was usually ground lamb, served with lovely chips and peas. Tonight, we appreciated the extra warmth in the kitchen with the -32C (windchill -41C ) temperatures outside. Buttered Panko crumbs on top of the bechamel sauce. I love the eggplant, but hubby is not keen. He had leftover corn and taters cooked in foil. I had the green beans and tomato wedges.

I always get big slabs of beef fat when I order roasts. This is rendered and kept in a sealer jar, for yorkies AND for deep frying fish 'n' chips. The flavour can't be beat. Then there's the crispy bits left in the pan after the fat is drained off...A sprinkle of sea salt and num...NUM...! I haven't had duck fat...something that must be remedied.

Was that a runny yolk? If so... I opened a carton of Campbell's Pho Broth by mistake, so I added shirataki noodles, ground pork/shrimp/waterchestnut meatballs (left over filling from wontons), Romaine lettuce, and cilantro. It did the job.

Been eating a lot of beef lately, so last night was pickerel night! It was coated with coconut flour, dipped in egg, then bread crumbs from my low-carb bread. Served with oven fried potatoes (looks like someone's "flat fries" and roasted cauliflower. Steamed green beans is my choice of veg while hubby had canned corn.

This looks like the wind-dried Lap Yook my Mom used to make: soy sauce, rice wine, spices, sugar but not smoked. It has to be cooked before eating, but it is fabulous cooked on top of rice or sliced and stir-fried with veg as you did, @liuzhou:_)

Threw a 2-rib prime roast in a slow oven while we went for cake and ice-cream at our granddaughter's 2nd birthday. Yup...dessert first Also did up a foil pack of baby taters, carrots and celery ( I REALLY like roasted celery!) Made gravy with frozen green peppercorns and drippings.

@Anna N I love watercress. No Asian grocery stores nearby? I often find it at our Superstore. Was so mad at myself when we were in Winnipeg. Picked up 3 beautiful big bunches and left them in a bag with canned goods...2 days later, I remembered and they were brown... I usually buy some for soup and some used like lettuce in a sandwich - lovely bite. Cold snap (-30C, windchill of -41C) hit the prairies after the big dump of snow, so more comfort food was needed. Beef Stroganoff over noodles with liberal sprinkle of smoked paprika and peri-peri powder. Can't have too much heat with these temperatures!

New hair-do, pedicure, massage, supper and now, off to see Dr. Strange! It's been a good day... Supper: Fajita with the works...

I've got stove envy! Another favourite comfort food. Picked up dried octopus and lotus root when we were in the big city last weekend. Lotus root soup with re-hydrated octopus and pork breast bones. It's actually for tomorrow Tonight, we had Bitter Melon and Beef in Black Bean Garlic Sauce - eaten with Jasmine rice.

Been enjoying everyone's food vicariously. The teaching term is done, so I can get back to some real food! Finally had our first major snowfall which closed some of the major roads across the province. Glad I didn't have to go out and happy to have time for comfort food. Slow-roasted some side ribs then brushed them with mix of Hoisin sauce, 5-spice powder before finishing them in 400F oven. Savory Tang Yuen (dumplings) with braised beef tendon, daikon julienne, rehydrated dried shrimp, cilantro stems. Hubby has a hard time chewing the dumplings, so I made him wonton soup, shrimp roe noodles, and some shredded meat from leftover BBQ pork ribs Bone-in Curry Chicken with curry leaves, eaten with basmati rice cooked in ghee, cumin seeds and cardamom.

This happened when I inadvertently left a bag of 4 lobster tails out of the freezer in the garage. The tails were just thawed by the time I got home from work. Pulled out a rib steak and grilled it in a heavy fry pan with Montreal steak spice. In another pan, the split lobster tails were cooked in chipotle-lime butter (from Sobeys). All eaten with roasted cauliflower.

Went to one of the stores for a couple of items and saw lovely fresh beef kidneys! Weather was blustery yesterday and we were rushing to finish putting up the gazillions of Xmas lights on the trees, bushes, house. Something warm and comforting was needed for the end of the day, and meat pie was perfect! Steak and kidney pie with puff pastry top: equal amounts of kidney and chuck steak, onion, celery, carrots, and poultry seasoning? Yup... It was great! Eaten with stir-fried sugar snap peas and salad.

Rice paper, a layer of over-lapping sliced avocado, lettuce leaf, shredded red cabbage, julienne carrot, cucumber.

Char siu baos, of course

Been slacking - down with sinus issues, so Hot 'n' Sour soup was needed. Delivered several containers to friends with the same virus. Energized for the weekend, so cooked... Cantonese Shrimp Egg Foo Young as we used to make in the restaurant #23a Fresh clams came into our Superstore - in black bean garlic sauce Hot 'n' Sour Soup

Our second meal with friends, we had mussels steamed in coconut milk, Kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass, paella, and avocado salad rolls. Dessert was Ambrosia Delight: a base of graham crumbs, a layer of bananas, coconut cream pudding stirred with cream cheese and Madarin oranges, topped with whipped cream and toasted coconut flakes. Forgot about pictures until "leftovers" stage...

Our visitors this weekend brought supper Friday night. Shahedah made Curry Chicken with the curry powder her elder sister blended in their village mill. It was full of flavour and delicious. She made crispy ikan bilis just before supper and I added stir-fried sugar snaps and coconut rice.

Have had company this weekend, and I was afflicted with a chest cold and laryngitis...Before sending our friends on their way, I made a big pot of congee with fresh pickerel fillets. Had the usual fixings on the table, left to individual taste.