How to keep your fresh parsley/cilantro fresh?

As usually recipes call for only a quarter or at best half the bunch of fresh parsley/cilantro you just bought at the store, so what to do and how to keep the rest for future recipes?

1- Wash only when using them. Dry the leaves.
2- Put them in a pot with water.
3- Cover with a plastic bag and put them in the fridge.
(I heard that parsley don't need to be put in the fridge, so left it on the counter)

Baked Falafel

Don't feel like eating meat? Try this recipe. 

Please finely chopped the herbs/onions, otherwise it won't hold together because they will be too big (several trials and errors caused by my laziness).

Baked Falafel 

Ingredients : 

2 cans 19oz fl chickpea, rinsed and drained

2 TBSP white/whole wheat flour

3 TBSP fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 TBSP fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 tsp cumin, coriander, hot pepper flakes

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp baking soda

salt to taste

Directions :

1- Use a fork/potato masher and press against the bowl to mash the chickpeas until no more whole chickpeas visible.

2- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

3- Use your hands/spoon and form balls on a baking sheets then flatten them.
(more they are flat, more they will be crispy/dry)

4- Bake at 375°F (preheated oven) for 15 min each side. 

(Lazy advice : as I don't want to fatigue myself from flipping them, I switch bake mode to grill mode).

Enjoy plain or make pita sandwich with mint yogurt/tomatoes, according to your laziness level :)

~V.Cat~

Eating less meat

When I moved alone in appartement and had to start cooking by and for myself, I realized that touching meat repulse me. It was kind of weird at first because I have always eaten meat without problem. It is the texture and the coldness of touching it which give me chills. I also have to admit with my background of nursing, germs freak me out. Therefore the fear of bacteria propagation from raw meat doesn't help, because I have to say I am a lazy person, so always thinking about cleaning well after preparing meat makes me want to decrease my meat intake. Yes I am that kind of lazy person. Stupid reason maybe but that's me.

The turning that blog will take for the next year coming is to post more vegetarian recipes to share with you my followers and my friends having the same fear as me.

~V.Cat~

Bitter Gourd - Chinese style

I like and feel eating something bitter and this is the perfect vegetable. I find it easy to cook and healthy. How easy? 2 ingredients : bitter gourd and eggs. 

How it looks inside

Bitter Gourd Eggs
Directions :
1- Cut the gourd lengthwise, remove the white fiber and the seeds.
2- Slice it.
3- Beat 3 eggs with a pinch of salt. Add sliced gourd.
4- Cook.

~V.Cat~

Tiramisu

At my friend's farewell party, her mom made TIRAMISU! It was amazing. The day after, it was even better. As it was so good and she is a generous friend, she accepted to share her mother's famous well kept recipe with you guys :P

Tiramisu
Ingredients : 
4 eggs
120 g sugar
500 g mascarpone
400 g ladyfingers
Strong expresso

1-2 TBSP Amaretto/Baileys/Tia Maria/Rhum
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions :1- Beat egg white + 1 TBSP sugar until forms peak.
2- Whisk egg yolks + sugar until all lighter in color.
3- Add mascarpone to egg yolks mixture -- add Amaretto/Baileys/Tia Maria/Rhum -- vanilla extract.
4- Delicately add egg white in the egg yolks mixture.
5- Assemble a) ladyfingers dipped in coffee (FAST otherwise become soggy)                          
                     b) creamy mixture just prepared.... repeat and finish with the creamy mixture.
6- Sprinkle some cacao.
7- Reserve in the fridge 24h with a plastic wrap. 

~V.Cat~

The Friendly Thaï

Hello everybody,

First day in Toronto and my friend's brother living there suggested us a Thai restaurant called The Friendly Thai. He said a lot of good thing about it, so we simply said «Why not?». It is food and we never tried it, so let's go!

Appetizers : Friendly Thai Appetizer Plate (hot and cold spring rolls, calamari, shrimp satay and mango salad served with plum and peanut sauce) (15.99$)

Appetizers plate

The spring rolls hot and cold were vegetarian and bland taste. The shrimp were good, but did they taste satay sauce? not sure...The calamari were well fried : crispy outside. Mango salad was super yummy : the mangoes were crunchy under the teeth and well marinated.

Sauces (left to right) : Plum, peanut and sweet/spicy/vinegar sauce.

Avocado Spring Rolls

I didn't have a chance to taste them, but the person who ordered it loves avocado and definitively loved those spring rolls :)

Main plates :

Marinated Grilled Chicken (10.99$)

Was the chicken really marinated? Bland taste! Fortunately, the fish sauce mixed with sugar (top right of the picture) saved the plate. On the good side, the chicken was very tender, not dry at all. The salad underneath the chicken added freshness to it. How I like to eat it : slice of salad, chicken and dip it in the sauce. Hmmmmm 

Shrimp Curry Pad Thaï (12.99$)

Chicken Oodles of Noodles (10.99$)

Chicken Oodles of Noodles is stir-fried noodles with marinated chicken, mixed with broccoli, bok choï, red bell peppers, tofu and bean sprouts, garnished with green onions, and parsley, lemon and orange. It is served with a bowl of peanut sauce. The noodles were well cooked, the sauce thick and a bit sweet. One of our friend told us to mix the noodles with the peanut sauce, verdict : it made the sauce thicker, add richness to the plate but I found it a bit on the heavy side. 

Note : The plate looks small, but they are really filling. Proof : we couldn't finish them.
Disappointment might have come with the fact that I didn't feel the authentic Thai flavor in the cuisine. I found it very americanized, but overall good. 


Rate :
Food : 3.5/5
Service : 4/5
Price/quality : 3.5/5
Overall : 11/15

The Friendly Thai
678, Yonge St
Toronto, ON
M4Y 2A6
(416) 924-5804
http://www.thefriendlythai.com/index.html
(Menu available)

~V.Cat~

El Trompo - Taco Bar & Cactus Grill

Hello everybody,

My friend and I just arrived in Toronto downtown with Megabus (if you want to travel Montreal-Toronto, I would highly suggest it to you, because it is cheap ~15$+tx and it is pretty comfortable, the bus only stops once at Kingston). We walked towards Kensington market and it is already late afternoon, we didn't have lunch yet. We were starving to death from the bus ride and the walk. What's best to do when you don't know where to eat but want to eat something good? Let's ask people :)

Actually, we get lucky and a Mexican Restaurant was recommended. Frankly speaking, we were skeptical about the choice, but still wanted to give a try as we were tired and hungry with no idea where to eat - brains were not working at this time. 

There you go : 

First, 2 sauces were brought to our table : the red one (left) is a basic salsa with tomato and the green one (right) is made with green tomatoes and chipotle (so a little bit spicy). Both sauce enhance the taste of the tacos we ordered. They brought something *humph a little tanginess but not overwhelming the flavor of the tacos. So it was a plus.

We ordered 2 different taquitos : 1) Spicy tangy chicken (chicken cooked in a sauce made from tomato and chipotle - 9.75$); 2) Chorizo (we choose this one because we were told the sausages were homemade, it was served with coriander, onion and lime - 9.75$). Please, try them with the sauce, they were both DELICIOUS. What's special about them is the soft tortilla (what I have not seen in Montreal). 

                                                                        

We completed the meal with 2 beverages which were really refreshing : on the left, it is the Tamarind (sweet and sour, but for the texture, it is thicker than water which doesn't please everyone - 1.50$). On the right, it is the Jamaica (Iced tea made from a tropical flower called Jamaica or Hibiscus - 1.50$), it is a very flavorful drink and not too sweet.

Note : Don't be fool with the size of their tacos, they seem small but you will be full at the end.

Rate :
Food : 4.5/5
Service : 3.5/5
Price/quality : 4/5
Overall : 13/15

Restaurant El Trompo
277, Augusta ave. (corner Oxford)
Toronto, ON
M5T 2M1
(416) 260-0097
http://www.eltrompo.ca/index1.html
(Menu available)

~V.Cat~