Hot and Sour Edamame

So, finally, another recipe. That makes what, 3 recipes all this month. Partially this is a problem with what I eat. I mean this week has been all lentils and pasta and there's only so much I can milk out of that [maybe you should have thought of that before starting a food blog! --ed]. I was going to have another lentil dish, but then remembered I had bought some shelled edamame on an impulse buy. So I decided to make a varient of Mark Bittman's Hot and Sour Tofu with Edamame (the varient was, I had no tofu). It taught me a valuable lesson though, if you have a recipe you're downscaling fourfold, do the calculations beforehand. As a result, the proportions are wonky.

Hot and Sour Edamame

oil

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 cup frozen edamame

1/4 cup vegetable stock

2 small chilies

3/4 teaspoon fermented black beans

1 heaping tablespoon Shaoxing wine (I used Fukien Loh Chiew, which may or may not be Shaxoing wine)

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

couple of squirts of honey
Sautée the onion in the oil on high for about 3 minutes. Add the edamame and the stock and cook for a few more minutes. Add the garlic, chilies and black beans and cook for another minute. Add the wine, vinegar, soy sauce, honey and a little water and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Serve over rice.

Serves 1.

For a very ad hoc meal it was quite tasty. Because it was ad hoc I grabbed, edamame right out of the freezer, if you were making this with foresight the edamame should go in with the vinegar. I used a pickled red chili and the mottled green chili from this picture. It worked out well and I hope to make the real thing at some point.

Grand Gardening Generalissimo

Gardeners are somewhat like dictators. You have, what you think, is absolute control over your land. Yet you're constantly fighting a series of internal and external enemies to maintain control. Then there's also the whole notion of the "fit" plants being allowed to survive while the untermenschen are ruthlessly exterminated. Which is to say, I felt slightly guilty about weeding – especially after I realized how many weeds there were (and this is after the weeding I already mentioned):

So I'm not saying its not politically problematic, but given that it satisfies some of the same urges I think that all potential dictators and sociopaths should be redirected towards gardening. And its not just theory, the despot Diocletian gave up the Roman Empire to tend to his garden. I'm just sayin' we need to get the proverbial Diocletian's before their reign starts....

The rest of the garden is going well. There are lots of tomatoes turning red. My chili plants are doing well, my estimate of 4 chilies growing was off, I have at least double that. I had a green chili off my main chili plant for dinner today, gave off a nice amount of heat. I'm really excited about the chili plants my neighbour gave me. They're starting to produce chilies, which should be ready to eat at some point:

Has Low's Hierarchy of Coupons

Unlike humans, all coupons are not created equal. Some are great and some are awful. I get a fair number of coupons in the mail and I've begun to see themes. Therefore, I present, to you the hierarchy of coupons:
1. Coupons for Free Things
These are self-explanatory, a coupon that lets you walk into a store and get something for free. No strings attached. Starbucks had a promotion where, on Earth Day, you could walk in and get free coffee if you had a travel mug. I don't know why I led with Starbucks and not McDonalds, which was also giving out free coffee, as McDonalds apperently has better coffee than Starbucks.
2. Coupons that give a good discount
Okay, you still have to buy something but they provide a tangible reward. I got some Quiznos® coupons in the mail, which included a $2 off coupon. That means a sub is a third cheaper. As I may I have mentioned before, I won a bunch of Quiznos® gift certificates and so it was a no-brainer to go to my local Quiznos® and use up some of these coupons (Quiznos®: It’s the sub sandwich your mouth always wanted!)

3. Coupons where you buy something and get something else free
The pinnacle of this is the "buy one get one free" though it does have its bratty little brother that gives you a couple of free, say, couple of mints. But let's stick to the high-end of the spectrum. Why do I rank it below #2? Let's use the example of Quiznos® coupons. They had a coupon for a free bag of chips and a free drink with the purchase of any sandwich and another that gave a free small sandwich (equal or lesser value) with the purchase of a sandwich and drinks. Both these examples are worth more in absolute terms than the #2 $2 off one, so why do they value it less? Answer, I don't want chips or a surgery soda. Even something that I do want, like a sandwich, I don't really need. The generalization of this is while I can always enjoy getting something I want cheaper, getting other things cheaper or free requires me to want them. And chances are, I won't (This is why we learned in economics that cash transfers were better than food stamps).
4. Terrible Coupons
You know the kind. Buy more of something to get something you don't want. Or buy a bunch of things to get a discount off something else. There are so many different kinds of terrible coupons and, truth to be told, they make up the majority of coupons.

Now, of course, these categories are not completely rigid. A big enough discount for something I like (#2) beats something I only somewhat like (#1), though its gotta be a big enough discount to beat the FREE! Effect. Likewise, the Marble Slab coupon for a buy one get one free cone of ice cream (#3) appeals to me more than their $1 off (#2) ones (because I don't see myself ever buying ice cream by myself). I can't really think of a case where a #4 coupon would beat a #1-3 one but that's because of the tautology inherent in its construction.

"The sweetest flowers, the fairest trees/Are grown in solid ground"

So, I thought I probably should say something about my garden other than various bad things that happen (I realize that this is a very expansive definition of "bad"). My tomatoes have really grown since I first planted them. Just look at the difference from how they used to look and now:

I really should be pruning these, because I really don't need that much folliage. If I'd be more diligent about that I'd probably have more tomatoes now, but what can you do, eh? Besides, I have a lot of tomatoes growing. I ate a couple right off the vine last night on my way from a concert (The Fine Print, tell your friends) which was very tasty. I also have about 4 chilies growing, all still green now but I think they'll probably be turning red soon enough. I'm very excited about some of them because they're from plants that my neighbour gave me and I've never tasted that variety before. I had a very nice conversation with her today, she and her husband have a massive garden (and then an even bigger garden in their backyard). I brought down weeds for her compost and toured it, they have a pumpkin plant lazily sprawling over a lot of real estate. There are two pumpkins and about a million spikes. Seriously, those things are covered with little spikes, including the stem connecting the pumpkin to the plant.

I think I'll try to get ahold of some fresh basil and use it with the tomatoes for pasta and with the chilies for an approximation of this dish.

Restaurant: Ghazale

Toronto has a lot of places that sell falafel. I like Ghazale. They catered my bar mitzvah and I've been a regular, if infrequent, customer. Its a cute little place, nestled next to the Bloor Cinema (along with the upscale burger joint Acme Burger, which is quite good though a little pricey).

I will occasionally grab a samosa from Ghazale on my way back from one of the area's bars (some of which don't have the greatest record) but I mostly will get falafel there. We had some family over and picked up a big order (too many, in fact, but the leftovers were pretty great when it was too hot to cook).

We also got some of their Tabbouleh, which I ate with some of the falafel. The other pita, I added some greens from a salad. In retrospect, I would've thrown in some tomatoes. You may notice that there is no tahini. After a long struggle, I have admitted to myself that I do not like tahini and eat falafel without it. I like the fact that Ghazale respects this choice, unlike another certain falafel place in the area which will always put tahini on no matter how many times I ask for it without.

Ghazale
504 Bloor Street W, Toronto, ON

Cooking With Others

Cooking with other people can be a hazardous experience. Especially in a small kitchen, there's only so much space... and I'm not just talking about counterspace. Cooking is a very kinetic activity, you're darting from one place to another: chopping, stirring pouring. The more people you throw in the more likely it is that people will be stepping on each other's toes – figuratively as well as literally. That said, it can be really fun to cook with others. One thing that helps is a division of labour. If you have one person chopping and another person throwing those chopped items into a pan you're not going to have a lot of collisions. There are also some tasks where its really helpful to have multiple people helping out with. When I was a cook at Science '44, there would usually be at least 3 cooks in the kitchen (it was, also, a pretty big kitchen). When we were breading chicken, it was great to set up an assembly line where each person could perform one of the steps (Yes, I was breading chicken. There were 150 people in the co-op and most of them weren't vegetarians).

One of the nice things about being back in Toronto was getting to cook with my parents. We went to a lot of restaurants (some of which I've blogged about, some of which I will blog about and some of which I forgot to take pictures at) but had some meals we made at home.

The 'rents had bought some pre-spiced tofu and we basically just stir-fried it with a bunch of vegetables. We were planning on making rice but we forgot to put it on so made rice noodles instead. I spent the next few days running around and living on power bars and hor d'oeuvres so it was nice to be able to have a home-made meal before that.

An Open Letter To The Man Who Crushed My Lettuce

Dear Man Who Crushed My Lettuce,
First of all I should say I appreciate you painting my house. I know you're not doing it for charity – my landlords are repainting their properties – but I appreciate you're helping make my house better. I do, however, have issues with where you decide to stand. Now, I don't have an issue that you woke me up today by standing on the roof right outside my bedroom window and spraying water higher up. I was going to wake up anyway around that time to go to work, so really what did that hurt? I am slightly concerned that your standard operating procedure is not to knock on the door first but to climb on to roof outside someone's window in the early morning! How do you know I'm not a 19 year girl. Maybe this hypothetical person would not like to wake up to hear a ladder being pushed against the roof that connects to her bedroom window as a strange man climbs up it. Just sayin'.

But, as I stated, that wasn't the standing that concerned me. When I left for work you were spraying down the porch... while standing on my lettuce plants. Really? Really?

Like, there's a lot of other places in my garden for you to stand. There are areas, for example, that do not have plants growing. There are areas that have more resilient plants, like ivy. There is a wooden path midway through it that has no plants.

Or there's the sidewalk. That's good too.

So, while I'm grateful you didn't wreck any of my other plants I'm not entirely pleased about the lettuce.

Govern yourself accordingly,
The Frugal Veggie

Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu Korean Restaurant

I have to admit that until I decided to do this blog post I had no idea about the actual name of this resturant. I'd always previously just called it "The Korean Restaurant near Clinton's" or merely "The Korean Restaurant". Its usually pretty busy but they have a platoon of orange clad waiters who try to shuffle things along. Its clean, spartan and pretty afordable.

One really nice change this time I came was that it started of with a bottle of cold water at the table. Usually its pretty hard to get water and its a place where water is pretty great to have. The meal started off with a selection of appetizers, some of which I could identify (kimchi) and others that I couldn't.

The restaurant was a little less busy than usual (though still pretty crowded) so they refilled the mung bean dish a few times before the entrees came. The first time I went – my uncle took me – I had the Bi Bim Bop and, quite frankly, didn't enjoy it much. A few years later, I started coming back for the tofu soon soup.

The soup comes to your table in a big bowl still bubbling from the kitchen. Its filled with a delicious spicy mix of tofu, broccoli and zucchini. This is why the water comes in handy. You can either sip the soup directly, or pour it over purple rice to cool it. The practice is to crack an egg in the soup, which gets cooked by the boiling broth. I tend not to do that, though I think I'll probbaly start doing it again. The rice water is left at the table, I have a silly tradition wher I take a sip of it (though I sometimes forget, including at this meal. Dinner comes out to be $8 a person which is very reasonable in my opinion.

Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu Korean Restaurant
691 Bloor St. West, Toronto, ON

Garden Scramble

So I've been away for a bit with real world stuff, this post is therefore a bit like time traveling as the events contained herein occured in the past (woooooooo). I was planning to make a meal using items from my garden and the last vegetables in my fridge (some onions and some mushrooms). It was going to be a pasta dish, but then you-know-what decided to wreck my pasta. So I had it as a breakfast instead, sans starch.

Garden Scramble

Handful of mushrooms

1 chili, chopped

Oil

2 small onions, diced

1 garlic shoot, chopped

1 cherry tomato, garnish
Saute the onion in some oil on high for about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes. Then add the chili and the garlic shoots. Add the tomato on the plate.

Serves 1
I think this would have been nice served over something. I probably could've cooked these particular mushrooms for a shorter period as well. The tomato complemented it surprisingly well, if I'd had more ready I would've put more on (say 4 cherry tomatoes).

CSI: My Kitchen 2: The Return

I am literally angry with rage. Today, I wake up and head into my kitchen and what do I find. Some animal has ransacked it, again.

Not cool, animal. Again, if it was just the bread that it ate – I would be annoyed. I was planning on eating that bread for breakfast today. But y'know, I eat it, it eats it, it all balances out. But it wrecked and contaminated a bunch of my stuff: pasta, barley, lentils, cornstarch. I wish you ill, little animal. I wish you ill. This time it ate through my screen:

I guess that gives a slightly better idea what it is: probably not a squirrel. Whoever you are, little animal, I'd advise you to get out of here cause the town ain't big enough for the both of us.

Julie & Julia & Food Photography

Mere months after I started food blogging, a movie about food blogging is coming out! Coincidence? Yes. The movie has been over-hyped in the NYT but there have been some interesting articles. In particular, there have been two fascinating articles in The Atlantic by the lead food wrangler (not her actual title) for the movie. There are a lot of stories in food photography about glue-for-milk and the such but all the food in Julie & Julia is real.

It made me think a bit about the food photography I do for this blog. I think the photographs have improved (although the one from the Indian restaurant wasn't great). I've not though it necessary to include the whole plate in the picture which gives it a better look than the miles-of-ugly-tablecloth-and-the-food-in-the-middle look of the early blog (also, I have a better tablecloth). I mean, compare this early pasta picture and this later one. One looks like something you'd want to eat, the other does not. I usually snap a few photos and pick the best one.

I think even the early pictures that I liked could do with some cropping. this was one of my favourite early pictures... but I think I prefer this version:

"Asian-Style" Frittata

I'm not a huge fan of the term "Asian-style" (and its older, thankfully mostly disappeared, brother "Oriental-style"). I mean, it makes as much sense as talking about Euro-South-North-Amero-Afrostralian cuisine because there are more people in Asia than those places and just as diverse (you could throw in an extra North America and Europe and Asia would still be larger). This is a rather lengthy way of mentioning that I made the Moosewood's Asian-Style frittata. I was back in Toronto for the weekend and wasn't sure what to make as there was lots and lots of food. Ironically though, I have a lot more (quote/unquote) "Asian" condiments and sauces which really could have helped out this meal.
Asian-Style Frittata

1/2 red onion

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup snow peas

3 bok choy leaves

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon ginger

2 eggs

1 teaspoon soy sauce
Sauce

1 dried chili

1/4 cup water/stock

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 teaspoon cool water
The vegetables sound eclectic, but its pretty much just any 2 cups of vegetables per egg. Sauté the onion on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the mushrooms, snow peas, ginger and bok choy leaves (or the slower cooking veggies you use) and sauté for a few minuets. As you're doing that, whisk the eggs with the ginger and soy sauce. Add the garlic and the boy choy greens (or the faster cooking veggies) and cook for a minute. Poor the eggs in, cover and cook on low heat for about 6 minutes. Bring the sauce ingredients to a boil and then add the dissolved cornstarch. Pour the sauce over the frittata and serve.

Serves 1.

You may be wondering why I had balsamic vinegar in an "Asian-themed" fritatta. Well, as I mentioned above my parents didn't seem to have any mirin etc. Also, once again, cornstarch thwarted me by clumping up forcing me to spoon out half of it. The meal was okay, but I wish I'd used the greens and such for a stir fry and soft-boiled the eggs for breakfast [That's your wish?! Not world peace or something? Geez --ed].

Housecleaning Updates

So to add another hit of meta to this blog I thought I'd give some updates on previous posts.

I've updated my review of Khmer Thai to include a picture of the restaurant and fixed some embarrassing spelling errors that my friend Leo pointed out.

I did perform the promised update for my four sad vegetables post where I tripled the sauce. (I added the same sauce as before, but as there were now half of much vegetables which had gotten half of the previous sauce...) It was better, though approaching too much salt, but still nothing to write home about. I'll have to work a bit more on it.

Finally, I was challenged to go one step further and cook pasta directly in the sauce. So I did. I diluted it one part sauce to one part water and cooked it down with the pasta.

Sauce-Cooked Pasta

Like anytime you cook pasta on high its going to spatter a bit. In retrospect, I should've cooked it lower for longer. I felt the pasta was a bit too al dente for my taste but I can see how some people might prefer it. The sauce really thickened up though, not just loosing the extra water I'd added.