My Breakfast Sandwich

First things first... I'm on a roll with blogging!!!

Ok, now back to the subject.  I got this recipe idea from allrecipes.com.  It tastes so good because it's so high in everything bad for you (cholesterol, sodium, fat, etc).  To cut some unhealthy stuff, I used vegetable oil and margarine in place of butter, two slices of ham and cheese per sandwich, and no salt or pepper (why, there's enough salt in the ham).  Making these "kind" of sandwiches (i.e. having a piece of bread in a heated pan) requires patience.  You can't have the heat turn up too high, or else it will burn, and so having it on low heat setting means you need to wait for the egg to cook and not burn the bread.  I have to admit, my first sandwich was a bit on the burnt side.  Good thing B likes his bread toasted.  Well, he pretty much eats anything I cook because then he doesn't have to cook.  Nonetheless, he likes this, I like it.  It's all good, but I definitely need to go on the elliptical (or mall roaming for at least 4 hours, oh darn) after eating this sucker!

Chinese Cooking

So after leaving the nest for almost 3.5 years now, I have learned to cook pretty well.  In fact, I quite like it, provided that I have time, such as the weekends.  As you have seen on previous posts, I had successful dishes, as well as complete failures.  However, the dishes I seem to enjoy making happened to be Chinese-style.  Maybe I grew up eating Chinese food or there is just so much variety (besides pasta and sauce).  This post is to celebrate some of my recent Chinese dishes, because I've only been gathering memories and not posting them.  Please put on a bib, as these photos may cause some drooling.  Just kidding!  Sorry, no detail recipes.  Seriously, I just buy whatever is on sale, and season whatever I can find in the house.  However, there is one important thing that all these dishes have in common:  A wok!

Clockwise from top left: Fish and Tomatoes, Bulgogi Beef, Chop Suey Vermicelli

Fish and Tomatoes:
I don't know how to describe it besides fish and tomatoes.  Well, I guess I also had onions in there, but the main ingredients are fish and tomatoes.  The sauce was mostly ketchup and some herbs (I like basil and oregano).  All mixed in a wok.  I guess this dish isn't quite Chinese, but whatever, it's cooked in a wok.

Bulgogi Beef:
Here's a cinch: buy slice beef and a big bottle of bulgogi sauce, put it all together in a wok and add in whatever vegetables you like (as you can see, I like carrots... sliced ones that you can buy to save time).  Ta da, done.

Chop Suey Vermicelli:
I really don't know what to call this, but I love vermicelli.  I seriously could devour this whole plate myself, but I can't be selfish as I now have a husband who needs to eat more than me.  Anyways,  to make the vermicelli easier to cook, it needs to be soaked for a few hours.  While it's soaking, decide what to have in it.  I had eggs, black Chinese mushrooms (those need to be soaked too, or else it will never cook and you'll be eating rocks), and suey choy.  Again, add it all into a wok and add some soy sauce and oyster sauce.

Left to right: Fish Paste stuffed in Tofu Puffs and Hairy Squash, Spicy Mussel Stir Fry

Fish Paste stuffed in Tofu Puffs
TnT had a sale on all these ingredients.  So what else can I do but to put all these three things together.  I remember when my mom used to make these.  I haven't had them for a while.  Yum.  Cut the puffs in half and stuff them with fish paste.  1 tsp will do.  I like to fry them up a little bit in the wok before adding the squash ('shaved' of course).  This gives them a little more... crispiness.  Sauce: soy sauce?

Spicy Mussel Stir Fry:
So I bought this pack of on sale mussels and it was sitting in the freezer for a long time.  It's time to eat it.  I also had a half wrinkling red pepper left.  Why not put them together?!  Yep, I put everything in a wok again and mixed it all together with some green onion.  As for the sauce, it was a mixture of some black bean sauce and Rooster hot sauce and dried chilli peppers.

Tofu Cupcakes

Tofu Cupcakes:
I really don't know what to call this, since I made this dish up on my own with no recipes.  The combination of tofu, fish paste, and a sausage on top does seem like a cupcake, icing and a cherry on top.  Ok, I'm pushing it.  Seriously, I made this one up based on what was on sale and what I had on hand.  Both the tofu and fish paste were on sale at TnT, but the tofu and fish paste together were too bland looking and probably taste wise too.  So why not add the some preserved sausage that's been sitting in my freezer for a while?!  I steamed this dish... in a wok.  It tasted fine the way it was, but I had a spoon with some soy sauce and Rooster hot sauce and it tasted even better after being dunked in it.  However, I will need to find a way to incorporate that without having to take the fish paste off the tofu, dunk it, and put it back on.  Any ideas?

My First Pair of Pumps

Christmas parties are coming up.  With B and my new job, I have enough dresses (to recycle) for Christmas parties (if they still fit).  However, I have no shoes.  Back in the days when I was a "wee" one, wearing a dress meant bare legs with sandals.  Therefore, I own a good number of dress sandals (yep, I have at least two pairs over 10 years old, and are still awesome - one being my prom sandals. I think I just divulged my age...)  Now that I'm older (and couldn't stand the Christmas cold), I'm in need for some pantyhose and a pair of pretty (grown up) dress shoes.
I'm a practical person.  I don't mind spending good money, but it better be well worth it - as in it could be worn many times for different occasions.  But as a girl, I can only be so practical.  I fell in love with Franco Sarto's black leather pumps with 0.5" platform and 4" heel.

A pretty pair of shoes deserves some photo editing.  LOL.

Yes, they are gorgeous.  For the last few years, I've only purchased "good for feet" shoes - Merrell, Keen, etc.  It's been a while since I bought a pair of "kill my feet in 2 minutes" shoes.  Beauty over comfort.  It's definitely a girl's thing.
  

A Malibu Experience

So my car finally got into the shop to get the hail damage on my car repaired.  Since I also included a "car rental" allowance on my insurance policy, I got a car rental while my little Subaru is in the shop.  I was given two options: Enterprise or Discount.  I didn't really care, so they chose Discount for me. I should have made my own choice, and choose Enterprise.  This Discount seriously has the worse customer service.  It had a pickup service, and the driver didn't say hi, didn't say bye.  He was this kid who just had the look of "I hate this job."  Then the lady at the pick up desk was so zoned out.  Then I got the car, and the TPM said a tire was low in air.  The 'garage' guy came out and said, "I filled the tires and probably the gauge is not working.  You'll be fine."  Uh ok?  A rental car place giving a car to a customer that might have a flat tire and/or broke tire gauge.  Great.
So what car did I get?  An automatic black Chevy Malibu:

It was nice to drive an automatic again.  No jerking, and you just... park.  I do have to admit, when I first picked up the car, I felt like I needed to shift gears.  As for the car, the Malibu, it sucks.  It's heavy.  It doesn't handle.  The shocks suck; I felt every bump on the Henday.  Gas efficiency is bad; I used half a tank in 4 days.  Flex fuel my ass.
Based on this experience, I learned two things:
1. Chevy Malibu will not be on my "Potential Car" list.
2. Don't rent from the Discount on the west end of Edmonton.

Henday Bitchin'

I meant to blog about this earlier, but have been procrastinating and putting it off.

As some may know, the Anthony Henday is the outer ring road in Edmonton.  It is a very convenient way to travel around Edmonton.  The original design of it had tons of lights and stops (which was retarded), but after last year, overpasses had been constructed and most of the lights and stops had been taken away.  Now the Henday is usually pretty free flowing.

Last year exactly this same time of year, my exit off the Henday was completed.  I posted my bitching of how retarded it was.  This year, I have to bitch about repaving it.

The road is brand new - one year old and for the last two to three months, my turn off had been suffering significant slow downs and line ups because there is repaving going on.  Can we say WTF?!  I can't imagine repaving is required after 1 year.  Maybe I'm just dumb, and don't know the exact details of the road construction and maintenance schedule.  Let's just hope they'll get it done right this time.  I expect a 25 year service life on this.

The signs say the work will be done by mid October.  So for two more weeks, I will have to endure more line ups and more slow downs.  Sigh.  Oh well, at least I get to practice my stop and go in my standard.  Positive thinking.