Ideal Sandwich

So we all have big dreams in life to be happy, have a family and have the careers we want. Since I relate everything to food, I like to call this the ideal sandwich. An ideal sandwich will make your day every time you have one, especially since you can add food but they are virtually inedible which means zero calories.
Today's ideal sandwich:
1 holy land pita
4 tbs sunflower kitchen hummus
1/4 cup french fries
1 fried egg
1 baby

Turns out, the NYT's has a different idea about an Ideal Sandwich.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/dining/30sand.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Churro Borough

With anticipation of my upcoming NYC trip, I decided that along with my hunt for the perfect spring dress, I will be in search of a mighty fine churro. Why, you ask? Well friends, I'm addicted to rhyming and sugar.
So follow my quest for the perfect Mexican-style doughnut. And I don't even like doughnuts.
The things I will do for a rhyme...
If you aren't heading to NYC anytime soon and just can't wait, try this recipe from 1080 Recipes.

Churros

175 g / 6 oz plain flour
sunflower oil, for deep frying
icing sugar, for dredging
salt

(Makes about 25)

Pour 350 ml / 12 fl oz water into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Tip in the flour all at once and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool. Heat the oil in a deep-fryer or saucepan to 180–190°C/350–375°F or until a cube of day-old bread browns in 30 seconds. Put the cooled mixture into a churrera and make the churros, cutting them to the required length with a sharp knife as the dough is pushed out, and adding them immediately to the hot oil. Alternatively, spoon the cooled mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe directly into the hot oil, cutting the churros to the required length with a sharp knife and working in batches if necessary. When the strips of fried dough are golden brown all over, remove with a slotted spoon, drain well, dredge with icing sugar and serve immediately. Note: Some people prefer to use a mixture of water and milk (more than half water, less than half milk), which makes lighter churros.

Moules

So I went to the LCBO and cooked mussels with my friends from Mill Street. They were delicious and you can totally cook them at home if you like.
So here goes.

Buy 1 pound of fresh mussels and put them in a bucket. Fill it with cold running water and pick through to clean the mussels off, pulling off any beards or junk.
If there are mussels that don't close in the water, throw them out immediately.
Heat 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of oil in a large pan (like the one I am using in this photo). Add a tsp of minced garlic and cook until aromatic, about 45 seconds.
Add 1 cup julienne vegetables (I like using onions, peppers and carrots) and toss until slightly soft, another 2 minutes or so.
Then, add your mussels and toss them with the fat and veg until nicely coated. Add 1 tbsp Sambal (a great Indonesian-style hot sauce) 2 tbsp heavy cream and 1 bottle of good beer (I was using Mill Street Belgian Wit). Give a good shot of salt, toss and then cover until the mussels have all fully opened. If there are ones that haven't opened, discard them immediately.
Serve with fresh baguette.
C'est bon.

Keeping it in the family

So my dad is a really good cook and he made this chicken that left me wanting more. Want to make it too? Here goes:

7 sun-dried tomatoes
1/3 bottle beer
1/2 head fennel, julienne
1 large white onion julienne
7 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 summer sausage cut into bite size pieces
1 chorizo sausage cut into bite size pieces
double smoked bacon cut into bite size pieces
1 cinnamon sticks
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 whole chicken, skin on and cut into edible pieces
A generous amount of fresh rosemary
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup of black olives
4 tbs olive oil

Soak the sun dried tomatoes in the beer for 20 minutes or until soft. Blend them with the beer in a food processor until it becomes a paste and put aside.
Preheat oven to 400 Degrees Fahrenheit.
Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet, brown the chicken all over and set aside.
Keep the oil hot and add onion and garlic. Sautee until onions become translucent but not brown.
Add fennel and sautee for another minute.
Add bacon, summer sausage and chorizo.
Arrange the chicken skin side up. Smear it with the sun dried tomato paste, add the cinnamon stick and sprinkle the olives and rosemary all around.
Add the orange juice and cover the pan with tinfoil.
Braise for 1/2 hour and uncover, adding the orange slices and pine nuts. Bake for another 20 minutes or until skin is crispy and chicken is cooked through.
Serve in the skillet and make sure to scrape all the good bits of the bottom of for maximum taste sensation.

Gross

I'd heard of this product a while back and couldn't believe my ears even then. A beef flavored drink doesn't sound even slightly appealing, even to a meat and potatoes gal like me. Drink it with vodka like you would a Caesar. Or, if you were like me, you would try adding it to a soup or something.
Spicy stuff!

Life just isn't Fair!

Some people wax poetic about the fashion in NYC, others about the restaurants or the fact that you can walk everywhere. But I'll tell you the only thing NYC has that Toronto doesn't. The only thing that matters, that is.
Trader Joe's infamous Two Buck Chuck. That's right, get yourself a totally drinkable bottle of California wine for two American dollars (that's $2.01 Canadian) at this Whole Foods competitor. Charles Shaw wines are from the Eureka state and grape varieties range from Cabernet Sauvignon to Shiraz to Merlot. Honestly, I couldn't care less about their white counterparts. But if you do, pick up a bottle of their equally cheap Chardonnay (that's a flavor of white wine, right?).
So, when I head to NYC this April I'll be hitting up the Trader Joe's in Union Square to stock up just like the girl in the photo. I suggest you do too.
Trader Joe's Wine Shop , 138 East 14th Street, 212-529-6326

Reunited and it Feels so Good

Dark chocolate is good, and all, but nothing beats a Cadbury Fruit and Nut. And now, according to The New York Times, I am allowed to like milk chocolate again.
Gone is the dark chocolate craze meaning that, hopefully, milk is here to stay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/dining/13chocolate.html