Lordy it has been a week...

No I didn't forget to upload the pass little while. Last wednesday and Thurs I didn't end up making lunches due to one being a friend's bday so I made a special breakfast and the second was because I got super sick again.

Anyways, started up again this week.

Today's lunch was a simple stir fry noodle with Edemame and Dumplings!

Zuza's Lunch (Her own box was dirty so I lent one of mine)

Steph's Lunch (Zuza's edamame is in here too so they didn't get all saucy)

How to make em Noodles!

Noodles were really easy to make. I had cabbage, carrots and onions in the fridge so that was my base. Saute Onions, then add in other two. If you have any marinated meat (which i didn't ...) you can add it in here. Salt, Garlic, Soya, Sugar. Add water and simmer. Chicken Broth works too but I didn't have any...

Add in cooked noodles to absorb all the liquid. Sesame Oil and some Oyster Sauce (or Unagi sauce if you got any...and guess what?! I DID!)

That's my simple noodle recipe. Kinda reminds me of the one they used to make at Tiki Ming...

Chicken Soup Recipe

So being sick, the first thing that comes to mind to eat is Congee. But I personally like my congee thick so...next thing that comes to mind to eat is chicken soup. Usually I am prepped with some chicken bones leftover from deboning whole chickens (cause its cheaper) but its the beginning of the school year. No Chicken Bones. So no Chicken Stock. Cry.

This is my last minute recipe for Chicken soup for the sick!


Ingredients:
1/2 Cabbage
1/2 Cup of Diced Carrots (put more if you want your soup sweeter)
1 Onion
1 Box of Mushrooms (or as much as you like)
2 Bay leaves
2 tsp of Parsley
2 Chicken Breast
Seasonings for Chicken: Sesame Oil, Salt, Garlic Powder, Sugar, Soya Sauce, Corn Starch, Vegetable Oil

1) Dice up all the Veggies, rinse then set aside to drain.
2) Cube Chicken Breast, then bash with knife for homemade mincing. This makes it possible to make chicken meat balls, yet still have textures and chunks of meat so you know its chicken.
3) Add in seasoning for the chicken. The Corn Starch will help the meat stick together.
4) Heat up the pot with some oil, saute onions to sweat them.
5) Add in remainder of Veggies and cook for 3 mins.
6) Top off the pot with water so that it is at least 2 inches above the top.
7) Simmer for 15 mins, with the 2 Bay leaves.
8) Roll chicken into little meat balls and drop them into the soup.
9) Cook for another 10 mins.
10) Finish off with a little parsley on top.

I just realized....I forgot the parsley in the pic!

In case you are curious, if you are better prepared, replace water with the chicken stock, makes it yummier. Then take the breast and you can simply shred it to make little strings of meat. For the stock:
1) Bring to bowl water with chicken bones. Add in Bay leaves here (then you can omit it from step 7) If you want you can put in other veggies. I usually don't since the soup itself has a ton and to me, its a waste if you can't eat it.
2) Simmer for 30 mins.
3) Strain out all the bones/veggies/leaves
4) Skim the fat off the top. Or if you have a Gravy separator, that works too!

Stock is ready!

Being sick bites.

I think we can all unanimously agree that being sick bites the rump. Worst off is being so early in the school year! Thankfully this year's schedule allows time to rest up. So for today, I only had to make Zuza's lunch since I stayed home to rest.

I promise I disinfected myself! Something Simple: Steam bun (sadly not homemade this time) with Veggies and a pecan tart.

High Tea At the King Edward Hotel, Toronto

So it isn't lunch that I made, but I did want to make a quick post about the High Tea I took my brother to this weekend. It was for his 21 birthday, and despite having a tight budget, wanted to splurg for it!

So we went (without reservations) so we got put inside instead of the outside hall. Which was nice in the end since there was a wedding going on at the same time and Eric and I wanted to talk since it'd been ages since we spent any significant time together...(Minus labour day last week I guess....)

Anyways! We both went for the King's Tea (although I was almost tempted to try their asian inspired tea box (which had egg tarts and smoked duck with Hoisin sauce...) with out selective tea blends. They didn't bring us the box to smell the leaves so we just picked from a list.

Eric went for Early Grey, I tried the Golden Assam.


Our food tier showed up, and it was amusing considering I was shorter than Eric, so I had to talk around this thing XD
The top tier is Desserts, Middle is sandwiches, then scones on the bottom.


Its funny since most of their desserts are probably based on seasons so what we got wasn't necessarily what was listed in the menu. In comparing to the menu they emailed me, its definitely not the same, but nonetheless yummy!




Dessert plate: chocolate tarlets, Raspeberry shortcake (I think? in the glasses), the little brown "cookie" was nut based, and sweet honey Madeleine


Sandwiches: I spent so much time trying to identify what was in these...Got an Egg salad, Cucumber and radish, a turkey sandwich, and I couldn't identify the last one. Amusingly it was the first one I nabbed. Green in colour, super rich.


Scones: Currant Scones with Devonshire Cream

Was it worth the experience? Absolutely. Its classy, and definitely worth trying at least once. The food was rich, but worthwhile. Amusing as the ladies behind us were all gasping at the amount of butter and mayonnaise they were consuming but to hell with that. Can't think of calories when having high tea!
.

Oh noes! No photos!

Today was a rushed day. I only packed a lunch for Zuza, and despite that I STILL forgot to nab a picture before it as consumed...and I had a recipe to go with it too...next time!

Overall the meal consisted of:
-Noodles with sesame/peanuts
-Shanghai Bok choi
-Hot Dogs
-Homemade Pickles

Everything else is just a repeat since I gotta use up the ingredients but the new thing is the pickle. Mom made it a lot during the summer and I discovered that I could eat it so long as all cucumber was pickled out (darn allergies).

I'll be making it again soon, so I'll post the recipe then XD

Sushi attempt #1

I got home from the gym and still wasn't 100% sure what to make for lunch for today. Considering that time was running out, I don''t know why, but I decided to attempt sushi.

Forgive me for being beginners, as the filling was less than traditional and the rice wasn't cooked properly. It was cooked, and seasoned. Just not properly.

I was in such a rush I had to take these at school. Sadly, the lighting made my photo not come through. Anyways, this had Avocado Rolls (needed more salt) and a sweet egg roll.

One of the things that boggled my mind was how to make the egg smooth. I've tried frying it like all of those "How to make Tamago" youtube videos and yet they are always burned or crispy. Then I got it! Ding! Our landlords provided us with a Cuisinart Egg Cooker that has a egg poaching container. So, I scrambled the eggs, added sugar, then poured into this egg poach container. When it was done, it looked so unappetizing. Took it to the frying pan to brown all sides. When done, I simply sliced it into rectangles, then paired it with a little mayonnaise in the roll.

Today's lunch took almost an hour and half to completely make, not including clean time. For sure I'll save sushi for days I start super late...

Zuza didn't need a lunch for today so I tackled at some stuff that was dying in my fridge: Tomatoes and Chicken.

I made this dish that my parents made a lot when I was a kid. Its the only dish Dad knows. This is how it works.

Ingredients:
-Tomatoes (dice with or without skin) ...
- 2 eggs scrambled
-Beef or chicken
-Sugar, salt, soya sauce, garlic (or garlic powder)
-Ketchup

I'm not sure the ratio. I kind of fib it here and there. Anyways!

1. Cut your meat into thin slices and marinate in Soya sauce, sugar, sesame oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Or don't marinate if you are short on time.
   
2. Fry your scrambled eggs into something like an omelette. Doesn't have to be pretty, just has to be flat. When its done, and cooled, cut into thin slices about 3 cm wide, however long you want.
   
3. Fry your meat to 85% cooked, then remove from heat.
   
4. In the same pan (don't bother cleaning out that meat juice!) Toss in the tomatoes. It will bubble for a while and let out a lot of water.
   
5. Add in a spoon of sugar, a pinch of salt, garlic powder and soya sauce.
   
6. When the tomatoes looks mushy-plump, toss in the meat and eggs. By adding these two, that should help get rid of excess water. Squeeze in a tbsp of ketchup then stir.

Serve on a bed of rice.

For Sept 9 2010

How I forgot to post yesterday's, I dunno. Spent the night reading the psychology book I guess. This is the lunch we had yesterday which ended up not being enough to last us the whole day. Note to self, make Thursdays heartier!

Zuza's Lunch box

Steph's Lunch Box

Attempting to be healthier with a salad, and to convince Zuza that my salads are awesome!

• Iceberg Lettuce
• Carrots
• Grape Tomatoes
• Leftover noodles from Sept 8
• Cheddar Cheese
• Grilled Chicken breast (marinated in Soya Sauce, Sesame Oil, sugar, salt)
  
• Poppy seed dressing from Kraft
  

I had that dressing once before, and it was awesome! Although it was Kraft's asian poppy seed... I knew I needed to get it for this year!

Still processing...

Went up for groceries today, so fresh food should be coming along! More fruits and salads and less chilled cooked veggies, I hope. Better to save that kind of cooking for winter. I guess the major difference right how between our two lunches is the carbs. I'm more of a veggie person so I have double of that, whereas Zuz (hopefully?) loves the noodles, so she got double of that instead!

Zuza's Lunch

Steph's lunch

Today's foods are...
- Chilled...Steamed "California style veggies" aka Carrot medallions, broccoli and cauliflower.
- Half of a Octopus hot dog
- One hard boiled egg
- Chilled Peanut/sesame noodles

Everything is still cold foods since I am prepping it the night before. No way I'm waking up earlier than 7 to cook, since that's gym time...

Also, need to get a better cam, other than cell phone one...

Simply Processed....

Had to forage since I couldn't remember what I bought as school startup food. Sadly there really wasn't much. It was quite the salty meal...

Anyways, here we go! Zuza's Lunch Box

Steph's Lunch Box

Today's menu had:
- Steamed Shanghai Bok Choy with sesame oil and Maggie
- Onion Egg omelet with a bit of sugar in the egg
- Beef hot dog
- Fried Noodles (For Zuza) with sesame oil
- 2 Oranges (For me)

Having just moved back into town on a labour day, I haven't had the chance to go do much grocery shopping. But nonetheless, I intend on packing lunches everyday, starting tomorrow. Why pack lunch though! I'm lazy...For a couple reasons.

1) Save money. Cause starving students can't afford Tim's every. single. day.
2) Eat healthier? Cause all animators do is sit on their rears...
3) Hopefully get some cool ideas out of this. And just keep records.

First few days are going to bite. Going to make do with a bunch of processed foods and frozen food until I can get to the market. Also as a bonus, I'll get to visit Toronto china town tons this year. Hopefully that'll get me cooking. bwahaha!

Follow if you be curious, post if you have ideas. This is going to be awesome!