I went French, will I ever go back?

I was served a bowl of vichyssoise two summers ago during summerlicious. The closest I had ever been to tasting chilled soup previous to that was pouring milk or fruit soda into the soups my Grandma made me everyday as a kid. Not surprisingly it didn't taste that well and I stopped soon after starting. The point is that chilled soup, is something different, away from the norm that I had associated with soups. I was able to share that experience when I made vichyssoise for my family last night. Even my sister had a bit, reluctantly.

There was nothing overly complicated with the preparation, but damn was there flavour. I let it sit in the fridge for two nights before serving, it really does get better with time.

*Big thanks to Jel, for providing me with a really amazing cookbook, I obtained the recipe to make this soup from it.

Week 3 and a very long bit

I had a couple of great sirloin steaks left over from our family dinner over the weekend. I decided on making some steak sandwiches for Auri and I on her day off. I sautéed some peppers and onions with some Portuguese bacon, along with the steak slices before piling it all on a nice slab of pita bread. I topped off the sandwich with a serious amount of blue cheese and mozzarella on top of tomatoes, and put it in the oven for a couple of minutes. My god was it good.

Week 2 and a bit

I decided upon Fried Chicken for this weeks dish. Gotta say it was one of the simplest things I've ever made and one of the tastiest. All I did was leave the chicken overnight in the flavoring liquid I made. Before frying I applied an assortment of spices before coating with flour. 30 minutes later I had some of the best crispy fried chicken I've had without the 1 inch layer of skin found in the KFC variation.

Week 1: Pretzels

Every week I'll be posting something new that I've made. This week its pretzels! Little interesting piece of information about making pretzels is that before baking, you quickly run them through a bathe of boiling water mixed with baking soda. This allows for them to brown quickly.

They were very tasty in my opinion, but next time I'm defiantly going to jazz them up a bit.

Waking up from hibernation

*I beg forgiveness for how the picture's are shown, I'll be resizing them from now on

Thanks to my cousin I have decided to rededicate myself to updating my blog on a regular basis. After all as she put it "do you not eat every day?".
My mother turned 54 this Tuesday. I made a simple pea soup for the occasion.

I just boiled the pea's seasoned with some salt and blended them down.

Added some Portuguese bacon and bam its done.
I was extremely pleased with how it came out and it only took 20 minutes or so to prepare.

.....................................0.............................................

I dined at Little Anthony's tonight with Jamie. A pleasant Italian restaurant right off Osgood station. Both of us were really impressed with the decor, and we were seated within 10 minutes. Here's a breakdown of what we ordered.
Miguel: Bean soup-->Chicken Ravioli-->Blueberry yogurt cheesecake
Jamie: Salad--->Arctic Char--->Chocolate Tarte

Jamie and I both agreed that I ordered the far superior main course with the chicken ravioli, but she had a slight edge with her chocolate tarte. It was a really good time, we were there for over 2 hours and it felt like less then 1. Service was efficient and quick but felt a little to prompt. The food was simple, and good, exactly what I'd expect from a cozy Italian restaurant.

Who likes fresh fish?

I went to a sushi bar last week and the food was so amazing that I was inspired to try recreate the art of sushi making at home. Now it takes years to perfect sushi making, and this will have only been my second time preparing sushi, but nonetheless I was happy with the results. My taste buds agreed as well. I used fresh salmon and tuna for both my sushi and sashimi. I was very impressed with the quality of the cuts, and to that I owe thanks to my dad who's known the fishmonger for decades now.

These are my sashimi cuts. I was able to convince my mother to try one, but my dad wouldn't eat them unless I lightly seared them.

My finished sushi and sashimi pieces=D.

La'Maquette and the future

So winterlicous is finished for the season. I went to three restaurants this winter, all of them amazing of course. First up La'Maquette, my second time having dinner there and it was as enjoyable as the first. The ambiance of this establishment is unmatched anywhere. Our seating offered us a great view of the restaurant as well as an ability to perfectly hear the talented classical guitarist performing that night. The food was what I expected, fresh ingredients, prepared with French techniques plated simple and clean. Other then the rainy, cold weather I had a perfect time at La'Maquette, and I intend to give it another visit during the summer.

I'll complete my inexperiences of the other restaurants later this week when I have more time. As well I intend to do a lot of cooking during my reading week so I'll be posting pictures of my experiments, as well as the tasters opinions(if i can find any takers:P).