Boxes of noodles

I'm going on a little trip with my family in late November, to my favorite city on the West Coast - Victoria, BC!

All I have been thinking of (I mean besides seeing all my relatives...) is The Noodle Box. I just want a stomach filled with multi-culturally influenced Asian food as soon as possible. The end of November is too far away. I have a ridiculous plan to stuff my face at least once, and to bring at least 3 take out boxes home with me as carry on. Is that even allowed? I've seen people bring live lobster... so I assume I'll be able to bring dead (but delicious) noodle boxes.

I blame this obsession on watching an unhealthy amount of Top Chef.



These are the three menu items I've already started drooling over:

SPICY PEANUT BOX (available with rice)
Indonesian style peanut sauce, wok fried with peppers, Asian
greens, crushed peanuts, herbs, sprouts, coconut milk and
lime on ribbon noodles.
NOODLE BOX CHILI PLUM (available with rice)
Hokkein noodles, wok fried with peppers, Asian greens,
sprouts, and green onion, tossed in our own sweet chilli plum
sauce.
CAMBODIAN JUNGLE CURRY (available with rice)
Spicy curry broth with rice noodles, simmered with ginger,
mushrooms, peppers, asian greens, sprouts and finished with
mango, herbs and lime.

As a side note, my grandmother house is beside this beautiful ravine. Last time my family went for a little visit it was in the spring... so here is a little picture I found of my dad in the BC jungle.

Jessica's (but Peters) pickled peppers

The funny part about me making a post about Jessica's Pickled Peppers, is that my father's name is Peter. What make this story even funnier is that the peppers in question, are actually his.

And Peter picked these peppers.

Every fall I make pickled peppers from my parents excess peppers and I use them throughout the winter on my sandwiches, on my nachos and in my sauces. A grilled cheese sandwich is beyond words with some pickled peppers.
Also, this recipe is really easy because it doesn't really involve traditional canning. Easy peasy.


Jessica's Pickled Peppers which were picked by Peter

(I just realized writing this down in recipe format is going to be really hard because it all depends on the size of your jars and the kind of peppers. Its now going to turn into a step by step process)....

Ingredients (in unknown quantities) (Ha!)

Hot peppers (any kind!) - enough to fill at least one jar.
Garlic - 1-2 cloves per jar.
Sugar - 2 tsps per normal mason jar
Vinegar - enough to fill half a jar
Boiling water - enough to fill the other half of the jar


1. Grab your hot peppers. Maybe wear gloves before you grab them, because nothing is as painful as hot pepper juice in a paper cut. It doesn't really matter what kind of peppers - what ever you like. I used Banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, and some skinny long green ones that I have no idea the name of.

Try to leave them in the biggest chunks possible, scoop out all the seeds and inside bits. Sometimes if they are really small chillis you can leave them whole.

2. After you have cut up all the peppers you have access too, find a jar. I recycle my pasta sauce jars, but any ol' mason jar will do. Maybe sure it has a really tight lid though because we aren't canning in the traditional sense.

Crush up 1-2 cloves of garlic and place in the bottom of each jar you are planning on filling. Put in about 2 tsp of sugar too(this really depends on the size of your jar - adjust for abnormally sized mason jars).

3. Fill your jar with peppers! I usually make mine stand up because I can fit more in. Then fill your pepper jar half way up with vinegar. Fill the other half up with boiling water. Quickly screw on the cover and flip upside down.

4. Leave on your counter upside down for 2 days.

5. Place in your fridge for at least a week before eating, and make sure they live there for the rest of their life.

6. Enjoy!

Tofurky Kitten

Its my birthday and I would just like to announce this:




My roommate Maria made my kitten into a tofurky!

Dinner with Jessica

[EDIT I did this late at night and the pictures are tiny... I'll upload them again but bigger!]

Finally something I made! I made an excellent squash soup last year, but I am pretty sure this soup beats it hands down. Which makes me really excited considering I made this up. I also got most of the veggies from the Mennonite booth at the farmers market. I've never seen garlic so large and juicy.

This soup is exactly how I like things in life - sweet and spicy.




Sweet Roasted Squash Soup with a little spice


2 acorn squash
1 cup butter
1 medium onion diced
2 (or more) cloves garlic diced
2 apples diced (I used Gala)
Salt and pepper to taste (I used 1/2 tablespoon salt and 2 tsps pepper.
3 cups apple cider
3 tsp cayenne pepper (I used more but I like spicy things)
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon (I accidentally put a lot more in and it was delicious).
Roughly 600-700ml vegetable broth.

Also, a dab of cream cheese or a drizzle of heavy cream when served.


1. Preheat oven to 350 C. Cut your squash into four and lather with olive oil. Place on a cookie sheet and back for 45 minutes. Turn about halfway through. When they are soft and cooked through, you can take them out to cool.

2. In a very very large pot, melt the butter at medium heat. Saute onions until they are softened (5 min). Add diced apples, salt and pepper, and garlic. Saute until tender.

3. Add apple cider, and the rest of the spices. Simmer.

4. When it cools and you can hold the squash, scoop out the goodness into your soup pot. Add vegetable broth. Bring it to a boil and the reduce heat.

(I'll let everyone know now that I'm unsure how long I reduced it for, and how I knew when it was the perfect timing to take it to the blender. I probably simmered it for about 40-50 minutes though, until I got tired of waiting....)

5. Blend! If you find its too thick - add some vegetable broth and if its too thin put it back on the stove top.

6. When its all smooth, add the creamy goodness to the top.

7. Eat!



Also, This is Jean Poutine - my kitten :)
(Look at his little ears! I didn't even realize until I looked at this nicely illuminated picture... Poor kitty needs to visit the vet!)

Lemon Spagetti!

This is the pasta dish i have been waiting for, thanks goes out to the Cooking Photographer for putting this into my stomach.

I did have a lot of asparagus on hand (Partially because I know it is healthy for your heart, helps treat depression, has a shit ton of folate, Vitamin K [this vitamin still remains a mystery - what do you do?] and its really good for me because it has a lot of things things like iron and magnesium which this [bad] vegetarian is missing). I also was kind of upset because I tried to made balsamic browned butter for asparagus earlier this week and did something horribly wrong so I had sad greens covered in brown melted butter - instead of something good. I wanted to make it up to both myself and the asparagus.

Here is the recipe in case you are wondering:

Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus
½ cup olive oil, plus more for grilling
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup freshly shredded asiago cheese
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
3 to 4 Roma tomatoes, cut in half then cut into half moon shaped slices
Garlic powder
Salt & lots of freshly cracked pepper to taste
About 1 cup reserved pasta water

Instructions
1. Turn the grill to medium high. Break the rough ends off the asparagus. Rub the asparagus in olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt, pepper & garlic powder. Grill the asparagus until grill marks for or until tender. Remove from the grill and cut into 1 inch pieces.

2. Cook the spaghetti according to the package directions in salted water. Set aside 1 cup of the pasta water near the end of cooking time.

3. Meanwhile place ½ cup olive oil, the lemon juice, asiago cheese, salt, fresh basil, parsley, tomato slices, chopped asparagus, and lots of fresh pepper to taste into a large bowl and stir together.

4. Drain the pasta after setting aside the pasta water. Toss the hot spaghetti into the bowl to coat. Add additional pasta water if needed. Serve immediately.

I did do a few things differently, considering the local sobeys doesn't understand the meaning of variety. I had to use Parmesan cheese instead of asiago, and I forgot about the extra pasta water completely until it was too late. In any case even with my (ahem) creative differences it was still delicious.... so I can only imagine what it would taste like properly made.

For the Record

These are amazing -



Butter - sugar and walnut filled squares posted by this lovely pair Tina and Bob. Its a three layer square that was super easy to make. The hardest part was makings sure I didn't burn the nuts when they were toasting, which I usually end up doing.

Make them like this. I think they'd be a really good winter, possibly festive square. They remind me of really good grandma food.

Maybe I'll make them for my grandkids in a few decades.