daikon flowers

when i was younger i didn't like daikon much, but as with many other childhood dislikes i think of this humble root vegetable differently now. it's wonderful in kimchi, soup, braised... but i haven't been able to enjoy the leaves here. they're not available in any store, as far as i know. luckily i got the idea to save the tops from a japanese kitchen video (which i unfortunately can't find now) where the lady of the house saves the tops from her carrots and radishes. all she does is put them a plate with some water.



i tried it with a daikon top leftover from a kimchi-making party i held last week. i left it in a sunny windowsill and made sure there was always water in the plate and it grew like... well, a weed! all it needs is to have a little bit of leaves on top already. whenever i make kimchi with my friends, i can use anywhere from 2-10 daikon radishes. i'm glad that now i won't waste the tops and i get daikon leaves and flowers out of it. possible uses? salad, sandwich, pickled (in kimchi!), stir-fried, soup, or in vegan sushi.

thanks and two-hundred

yep, that's our mailbox. my husband took that photo. i sat inside the apartment all weekend, going out only to get the laundry. but it's not just the weather that's zapping my will to go out.

all this time my blog has been about food (and moving), with the occasional whine about missing california, but i think now it will take a slightly different turn. seeing as i'm being wrung through the system myself, i can't shut up about it. despite the fact that i am married to a danish man, work at a public hospital part-time, volunteer at a soup kitchen once a week, and speak danish at a conversational level, i am under threat of deportation. all this started because i turned in a form late. then it just snowballed. the problem right now is that i'm supposed to have a full-time job if i want to live here under a work permit (though i couldn't find it stated in the rules anywhere). ever since i was notified of the 'problem' with my work permit renewal, i haven't been allowed to work. yes, folks; it's been a month a half of me waiting by the phone and not bringing home any of the proverbial bacon. my boss is trying to work out a deal with immigration services though i don't know if there's any hope in that. if it doesn't go through, i'll have to go back to california and apply for residency based on marriage, which is looking equally, if not more insane. but this is my 200th post so i'm gonna end it on a happy note.


on thursday night i invited all my friends to the soup kitchen; not for a 20kr dinner but for a vegan-vegetarian and mostly gluten-free thanksgiving meal that would be cooked by us... for us. it snowed all day so some people bailed out due to sickness or just desire to stay at home under the covers. but with the eight of us it was so cozy and so nice. despite the fact that there was only one american present aside from me, i think it was a great celebration. good food with good friends. the lithuanian made the most amazing bean and bread salad, which we dubbed 'stuffing,' and the canadian presented his delicious homemade tofurkey and gravy. before eating, we all took a moment to say what we were thankful for, serious or not. most of us stated that we were thankful for the delicious food and company. this holiday didn't concentrate on discovery (or should i say theft) of land or killing of a bird. it was all in the name! unfortunately i was so stressed out about it that i forgot the camera (so you'll have to excuse the crappy phone photo) and potatoes! what is a vegetarian's thanksgiving without roasted potatoes, seriously? in any case, here's what i made:

• pumpkin pie with a nut crust
• miso-glazed aubergine (without miso for those with a gluten sensitivity)
• salad of roasted broccoli, chickpeas, and bell pepper
• brown rice served with my homemade kimchi and also roasted seaweed sheets

i have no idea why i was so stressed since i love cooking, and especially for friends. i guess it comes with the holiday. i always remember my mom each year looking so frazzled juggling the bird and stuffing and everything else! also it was my first time baking pumpkin pie from scratch, and seeing as how my last vegan, gluten-free baking attempt turned out far less than perfect, i can understand my anxiety. anyway it was a great night without meat or alcohol. it's nice to have one of those nights, especially in denmark. (:


what i am thankful for is my dear husband, all my friends and of course family who have supported me through this tough time in a strange land. the soup kitchen and countless afternoons in cafes for keeping me busy. my asian stinginess so that i could support myself in this time of 'unemployment.' my health. my bike. and last but not least, not having to deal with a kilo of dry-as-hell turkey leftovers for the next week! i ate the remaining vegetables quickly, one of the meals being thai-style pumpkin soup with somen noodles. VERY good. hope you had a good thanksgiving, fellow americans. and for the rest of you, count your blessings at least once in a while if you don't already. ^^

tuesdays are my favourite

about a month ago i began working at a soup kitchen here in nørrebro called kafa-x. every tuesday, i go over there around 4pm and chill out while waiting for the others to arrive. usually it is about 4-8 of us feeding at least 50 people (we haven't taken to doing headcounts yet, but i guess it might be a good idea at some point). around 4:30 we split up and go to two green grocers nearby; they will give us whatever fruit and veg that's about to get binned. occasionally what they give us is too rotten or mouldy to work with, but for the most part it's some very decent stuff that only needs a good peeling or picking at.


once we gather the donated roughage, we pretty much just stand there and figure out what we'll make for dinner. everything served is vegan and and gluten free, except the two huge bags of bread that the local organic bakery donates to us. usually we make brown rice and a dhal or a big soup with lentils as a main since it cooks quickly and fill you up. since we get mostly vegetables, we'll also have a salad of some sort. this week we got a LOT of tomatoes so one of the girls decided to make a delicious roasted tomato sauce. the way we work together is something i really like; the first day i walked in there, i was asked to start making the lentil soup. none of the other volunteers met me before, and yet i was trusted with the main dish! all of us volunteers are equal, no leaders, all ideas valid. the more culinary backgrounds, the better!


at around 7, dinner is served. but i suggest you get there earlier if you'd like someplace to sit. it's a tiny, cozy 'cafe' and sometimes it gets so full that patrons have to eat outside. with a healthy meal like that for 20kr, it's easy to see why so many show up. a couple of the regulars did some advance planning the past two times and soaked beans overnight. last week it was made into chili sin carne and this week was refried beans. one of the girls cooked and then mashed the beans with a healthy amount of chili pepper plus tomatoes and stuck it all in the oven to get a nice crust. that was honestly my favourite part of the meal. along with lentils and rice we also had the tomato sauce, beans, cabbage salad, and fruit salad. not pictured is my effort of the 'poor man's pesto' with parsely and toasted sunflower seeds, but i wasn't very happy how it turned out. the handblender is a bit weak so the consistency stayed pretty grassy... /:


yesterday i think our closest green grocer threw in some fresh herbs just for the hell of it. there was nothing wrong with most of them. fresh sage, what a treat! we weren't able to use it all so i got to take a bag home along with some bread and a croissant for my husband. whatever perishables that are left after dinner are up for grabs to volunteers and diners alike. there is always so much bread left, i never buy it anymore. (:

with a cheap meal like this, you can't expect to be served. we hand you a plate of rice and the main, and you can choose how much you want of everything else. sadly we do sometimes run out before everyone gets a plate. the thing is that you gotta wash your own dish and listen to whatever activist, anti-facist, feminist crap we want to say. that's all. and of course, if you want to come help cook at 4, your meal is free.

kafa-x
korsgade 19, basement
every tuesday at 7pm
dinner costs 20kr, tea/coffee are free

folkekøkken

i've known about folkekøkkener, which directly translates to "the people's kitchens," in nørrebro for a while. but some... thing has made me keep my distance up until last month. it's really a beautiful idea. in a city where you're lucky to find a decent falafel for less than 30kr, you can have a mostly vegan buffet at your fingertips for 20-25kr (depending which kitchen you visit). the closest one to our apartment is folkets hus, which means "the people's house." they have a sunday brunch at noon about every other sunday.


i was surprised to see that the, er, clientele was mostly young hipsters. in my mind, soup kitchens are for the poor. but then again, the high living cost in copenhagen can make students pretty poor. but i at least hope that word is getting around in shelters that there is access to healthy food for a few dollars. now... to the food!!


this plate was 25kr. as of today, that is about $4.62 usd. though it may seem expensive to my friends across the pond, it's extremely cheap for that amount of food in denmark. what you see is bread with jam (cheese optional), pasta salad, tabbouleh, roasted root vegetables, green lentil spread, hummus, guacamole, and a vegetarian (not vegan) lasagne. once everyone has eaten, you're free to take some bread home with you. assuming folkets hus is doing the same thing as the soup kitchen i work at, the bread has been donated by a local organic bakery.

if you'd like to eat here, keep an eye on the calendar. they provide brunch about every other sunday. come at 9am to help cook and get a free meal or pay 25kr to eat at noon. though if you'd like a proper seat and not eat standing, i suggest you come at 12 sharp. (:

folkets hus
stengade 50
2200 kbh n

my favourite colour!

i bought some nice danish sweetcorn and other nice grilling vegetables for our wedding reception, hoping the clouds would part and the sun would shine. too bad hoping for the best never got anyone anywhere... it rained almost the whole evening! so only a fraction of the corn was used that night; roasted in a very humid kitchen and chopped for a bean salad. corn didn't turn out to be the simple star of the show as i had hoped, but its day came eventually.


my chinese friend served corn soup as an appetizer one night and i was floored. soup isn't really something that i expect to taste so good, especially with such a humble ingredient as a base. when i asked her for the recipe i was a little surprised to see the seasonings were the usual suspects of garlic, onion, oregano, thyme, and lemon juice. maybe i was expecting some ancient chinese secret? me being arrogant and crazy and all, i wanted to try to asian it up a bit. that's right, i just verbed 'asian.' that's how crazy i am.


i boiled the corn lightly, no more than 9 minutes, before blanching them in cold water. after cutting off all the kernels, i threw the empty ears back into the pot to make stock. we're not wasting food. (:

---

corn stock

3-4 ears of corn, kernels already removed
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
5cm knob of ginger
6 cloves
2 star anise
1 tbsp peppercorns
pinch of salt

quarter the onion and coarsely chop the garlic. skin the ginger with a spoon and cut it into nice, thin slices. throw everything into a pot, add enough water to cover the corn in one layer and bring to a boil. simmer for 15 minutes. strain when cool enough to handle.

---

kinda chinese corn soup

corn stock
kernels from 3-4 ears of corn
1 tbsp oil for the pan
1 medium onion
2 clove garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
sesame seeds
sesame oil

dice the onions and fry them in oil over medium heat until they soften. add the corn and saute for a minute or so. mince the garlic and add that in, frying it only for about half a minute. you don't want to taste burnt garlic (or do you?). add the stock, soy sauce, and salt if needed. simmer for 10 minutes and bust out the immersion blender. puree the hell out of the soup (with caution!) or leave it a bit chunky like me. serve with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and sesame oil, maybe some black pepper too.

if you've got a lovely standing blender like i have recently acquired (thanks, girls!), it would be a good idea to wait until the soup is reasonably cool before pouring it in. unless you like the potential of cracked glass and hot soup all over your kitchen. as for the end result, it was not quite as good as my friend's original... next time i better just stick to the recipe. /:

mawwige...

see my wooden ring? i'd like to say that i haven't posted in a while because of the stress of planning our wedding, but i really have no excuse. between then and now, i've been cooking up a storm and going to dinners and all the normal things... i've just been too lazy to edit/photograph the actual food. hmm... let me retract that first statement; i am glad that we didn't stress out!


honestly, there was very little work and money put into our big day but it turned out perfectly! my dress cost around $100 and i'm definitely not planning to let it rot, unworn, in my closet. i made the bouquet from flowers in our garden, wrapping it in packaging that the rings were delivered in. and of course we took the bus to city hall! the most costly part was easily my parents' flight tickets; it was their first time in scandinavia and i'm so happy they could be a part of the wedding here in copenhagen. my man's parents drove down from århus and met us at city hall. the official 'read us our rights' in about 2 minutes so we got the formal stuff out of the way quicker than i thought.


following a raging photoshoot from friends and tourists alike on the front steps, my man's parents took us to the quiet garden behind city hall and presented kransekage and some bubbly. we got to chat a bit with our friends and mooooore photos. afterwards, we took a few of our friends on a very touristy boat tour of the copenhagen canals! it was a lot of fun and i was so happy to share this unique moment with friends and family. after all, it's not about the glitz and glam and how much you spent on the wedding... right? (;




the night ended on a very high note with dinner at our favourite japanese restaurant in denmark; bento! it was me, my new husband, and our folks. we had arranged earlier to have a selection of different dishes, but they just kept coming with more and more! our table was absolutely inundated with food. everything was so good... in addition to our own bento boxes we had kabayaki eel, agedashi tofu, gyoza, breaded pork cutlet, and chicken karaage-style. when the server announced that sushi was coming, we sadly groaned and had to ask for a reduced selection...


but there's always room for dessert! although i tried my best, it was unfortunately the first time in years that i couldn't finish my sweets... i was so sad! the cupcake was especially delicious. the service there was so wonderful, moreso than usual! the chef came out to congratulate us and his mother even took some photos of us with her own cameraphone. i even got my own bouquet from them; it was an extra sweet touch.

like i said, everything turned out the way i wanted. and i even got to wear my dress the whole day; on the bus to city hall, on the boat tour, at the restaurant... and i was never afraid to get it dirty. so that was my penny-pinching, tree-hugging wedding. ^^

rice drink

i have always loved sikhye; a sweet, slightly fermented drink with rice on the bottom. when i first moved to denmark, i brought a package of barley malt powder with the intention of making it here. 2 years later... haha, i finally made it! it's not as good as the one in the korean restaurants but i like it a lot. obviously i made it with the help of maangchi.


however, like many of my korean food creations, it's hard for me to find someone to share it. the dane is still putting an effort into choking down my experiments, bless his widdle heart. this one in particular turned out very well but it's hard to get a dane to try something called "fermented rice drink." after a week went by and there was still that pitcher sitting in the fridge, i did what any frugal korean mom (wait, isn't that redundant?) would probably do and made it into popsicles.

mmmm...

carrot tops

my vendetta against carrots is over, but i am still no fan of them. however, when i found some bunches with the greens still on, i couldn't help but take two. once i got home i realized i have no idea what to do with the tops. it would be a damn shame if i just picked the carrots for the lovely tops that would just end up back in the bin. those greens sat in the crisper all night but they were in my thoughts up until i fell asleep. probably in my dreams as well. YES, i do sometimes dream about food. you can stop laughing now. :P



after a good washing, i ate a few leaves raw. tasted a bit like carrot and parsley but not as strong. so i took the easy way out and made it into a soup. sauteed some onions in butter (no garlic, as the dane is still avoiding it. so sad!!), added the greens, and then some vegetable stock. then came some diced carrots and potatoes and sun-dried tomatoes and leftover rice. immersion blender. i know i am getting a bit lazy in the kitchen lately but it's just so instinctive to make soup! and also a good way to get all my vegetable servings for the day. the soup was an awful colour so no photo. but it tasted really good, probably because of the butter and marmite. i had a tiny bit left in the jar that i've had for over 2 years now but i just swished some stock in there and poured it into the soup. added a really nice oomph of flavour. (:

conclusion: do NOT toss those tops! there are some good-looking ideas here but i haven't tried any of the recipes. and of course, save that little bit of marmite or off-wine (or what have you) to add to soups. ^^

dumpster diving

i found this spidskål (some kinda pointy cabbage? help me out there) in a bin, along with a massive amount of potatoes, some carrots, and 2 yellow peppers. the peppers got roasted first, then everything was thrown into a pot, boiled, pureed into oblivion, and hit with a generous handful of chili flakes. how's that for veggie torture?



the result was a hearty soup for a rainy spring day. i topped it off with a bit of yogurt but i guess it wasn't really necessary to un-veganize it. bottom line is; it was good and so cheap. all i paid for was the onions, chili, and garlic. it's not that i'm poor (yet). it is simply amazing the amount and quality of foodstuffs that danish supermarkets throw out. but now i am taking advantage of it. (;

copenhagen on the cheap

after being asked a handful of times about what to do in denmark, where you can buy soju, and how to get around, i decided to put together a little guide... mina-style! (:

first of all, you need a CPR card (equivalent to a US social security card) to get work, a bank account, etc. so if you don't have that special number, don't even bother asking for a job. no one is willing to pay you under the table with the risk of a fine. secondly, don't expect to be able to use your credit card anywhere unless it has a special chip in it. you'll have to get cash at an automat. lastly, always be prepared for rain! no matter how bright and sunny it is one minute, it could be a downpour the next. ):

getting around:
rejseplanen is a good website to use when you need to use public transport to get somewhere on time. it even alerts you to traffic changes; for example if one station is down, the website will give you an alternate route. findvej is just your basic map.
during the spring and summer, citybikes are put out all over copenhagen. you put in 20kr and when you return the bike, you get the money back. but do not ride these bike outside the city or else you'll get a fine. and take note of the photo in the citybike link! they have a very specific look. don't just pick up any old bike and ride off with it; it belongs to someone! :P

eating:
i've been laughed at for doing this, but because of it i can go out and enjoy myself on the weekends! there are regular catalogs put out for grocery stores and i check them almost every week. it saves quite a bit of money when you compare prices instead of just going into superbrugsen and just buying all your groceries there. check minreklame and see the foodstuffs all the way at the bottom. of course the other catalogs can be useful as well. ^^
green grocers can be a good way to save on produce, spices, and of course more exotic ingredients. they are easily spotted by their wares being displayed outside the shop. there are a lot of good middle eastern grocers in nørrebro and you'll find several asian shops close to the central station facing istedgade. but be friendly and beware; they can rip you off just as well as irma. (;

drinking:
most importantly, it is perfectly okay to drink from the tap. no bottled water needed!
my favourite watering holes are in my neighborhood, but obviously there are some nice places in the rest of copenhagen too. lades kælder is relatively grungy compared to the rest of the upscale nightlife in centrum, but the concerts are intimate and the beers are well-priced! if you can spend a bit more cash, i definitely suggest den tatoverede enke for a great selection of belgian beers. of course christiania is full of great places to hang out with a drink, especially in the summertime.
nørrebro: all you have to do is walk down two specific streets to find a bunch of nice bars. blågårdsgade has props, kate's joint, and of course blågårds apotek. fælledvej boasts gefahrlich and rayeula. further up nørrebrogade you can find drone, which can be a nice bar or a crazy dance party. and a little hidden away is underwood ink, a classy bookbar with good vibes and a great cheese plate.
if you're b.y.o.b then don't forget to recycle your bottles. there's a reason why you have to pay an extra 1kr even though your coke only costs 7kr. inside supermarkets there is usually a machine where you can return your bottles and cans that have this mark. after you have put in all your recyclables, click giv dit bidrag to donate your money to unicef or click pantknappen to keep your money to yourself (you selfish pig!). a receipt will print out and you take it to the cashier. it counts towards any groceries you're buying at the time or you can just get cash.

bonus:
everything is expensive in copenhagen! even a dress at h&m will cost more than the same dress in stockolm. so flea markets are always a good thing. they are plentiful in summertime but you can always find one somewhere.
check out concerts to buy tickets beforehand and maybe you can save a few kroner at the door. soundvenue is a good site to check out who's playing all over denmark.

anything to add? (:

lasagne!

i finally managed to make an edible lasagne (much to the dane's delight). before i knew how to cook, i attempted all sorts of 'low-cal' approaches to classic italian dishes and ended up with nightmare dishes. zucchini-crust pizza, spaghetti squash with 'meatballs', lasagne with no decent source of carbohydrates within... yes, i did have one of those miserable stages in life... of course i was slim, but i was sad. so very sad. now i'm chubby but at least i experience the joy of good food every day. ^^


the best part about the lasagne was undoubtedly the ricotta filling. i MADE cheese. it blew my mind! big ups to david lebovitz for the recipe. this method was a lot cheaper than buying ricotta in the supermarket. it was even easy, there was no reason for me to watch the pot on the stove the way i did. the cheese turned out so perfect! the only hard part was scrubbing the pot afterward... /:


overall i think it was a really nice lasagne despite all the chopping and waiting that it took. however, the broccoli felt pretty out of place here. i enjoy this vegetable very much but it was just a strange texture with the rest of the dish and it also smelled bad after a day in the fridge. you know, that old broccoli smell... red, white, and green lasagne is no problem... i'll just pick a different green next time, perhaps spinach or kale.

who's got the cutest new lunchbox?

okay, it is not exactly new... i picked it up for a few kroner at a second-hand shop that just opened close to our apartment. man it just looks so adorable! the vintage artwork really inspired me to make some smørrebrød for lunch at work tomorrow. at the same time it seems quite boring since, everyday, more than half of my coworkers have rugbrød for lunch. don't get me wrong, i love that sour bread. but every day?! hmm, maybe i just have to get more creative with my toppings. so here's hoping for a more interesting madpakke.

thank god for leftovers!

dinner? bibimbap.



breakfast? kimchi bokkumbap. (:

vegan sushi

though i have eaten a lot of sushi over the years, i could never call myself a sushi connoisseur. there are so many choices that i have not been offered and probably won't ever be; at least not outside of japan. and we're not just talking about fish here. most people instantly think of fish when the word "sushi" comes up, but it is really all about the rice. but it certainly proves a challenge to prepare other ingredients that are as wonderful in taste, texture, and presentation as fish. especially in denmark, which may not offer all the 'exotic' vegetables that one may find in america or asia. which is part of the reason why i wanted to do a vegan sushi night for my vegetarian friend.


it is cheaper, better for the environment, and good for you to eat vegan sushi instead of the usual. but hey, who am i kidding? fish is amazing and is the biggest reason i am not a vegetarian. yes, i am a bad person. sorry, vegans. ):

that being said, this night was a lot of fun. my vegetarian friend likes to eat sushi once in a while but it is almost always rolls. not that i have anything against rolls (i believe they have their time and place...) but i wanted her to have a choice between maki and nigiri for once. also i think the latter looks much more beautiful. i have never attempted anything like this before, even though the dane and i have cut sashimi a dozen times at home. a lot of time and consideration had to be taken in preparing this menu but i think it just may have worked out. ^^


cucumber and daikon marinated in rice vinegar, steamed leek with sesame seeds, roasted red pepper, roasted beetroot, miso-marinated fried tofu with a garlic chip, roasted mushrooms, and of course avocado. the beetroot must have been my least favourite; mainly because of its crunchiness. i don't know about you, but i like eating softer things as nigiri. the winner in my mind was the mushrooms, but that's pretty biased since i am a mushroom fiend. after roasting, they were meaty and a little chewy, but not in a once-living-flesh kind of way. i'll definitely be making those mushrooms again. (:

leftovers? well i threw the veg into a flatbread and had myself a wrap for breakfast the next morning. with a generous swipe of chili paste in there, it hit the spot. P:

dumpling leftovers bento

if you've ever bought hot dog materials in an american supermarket, you might have noticed that buns and wieners always come in uneven numbers. well, not to say even versus odd, but you get something like 8 buns and 10 wieners. but it's been a very long while since i've even eaten a single hot dog so maybe things have changed for the better. anyway my point was that homemade dumplings are much like that. i've never seen just the right amount of filling made for the perfect number of wrappers. if you have extra wrappers, you can simply freeze them. but what do you do with leftover filling...?

freeze it?
hmm, might be too moist to become filling again. though i might try it sometime.

toss it?
do you think i'm made of money?!

...make it into a patty to put into your work lunch?
bingo.

to make a vegan filling like mine (tofu + shiitake + spring onions + mung bean sprouts) stick together as a patty, you'll either need bread crumbs, flour, or else you gotta un-vegan it. in my laziness, i just added an egg. it went well with my salad and i still felt somewhat virtuous. but maybe next time i'll just dunk it in panko and fry the hell out of it. (;

chunky or creamy?

no, i'm not talking about peanut butter. because everyone knows crunchy is better than creamy. (;

tomato soup! that's the subject. last week it was rain, rain, rain. surprise! so i was really craving a soup or stew of some sort. canned tomatoes, garlic, onion, herbs... those are all cheap things i have in the kitchen. my only splurge was a red bell pepper, which i roasted with a head of garlic and chopped them roughly before adding to the pot. of course the dane couldn't stand on vegetables alone for dinner, so i baked a chunk of artisan bread in a loaf pan. the results would have been better had i not turned my back on the oven for 3 minutes. the broil function don't mess around, sistah. however it was thankfully still edible.


though i really liked the rustic soup, sometimes i'm in the mood for a creamy, decadent soup. but for some reason we haven't bought a blender for the new apartment yet.

...until now!! today i was feeling totally lost for dinner so i just gave in and bought a braun standing blender on the way home from work. so that's how mina had hummus with cucumbers and carrots for thanksgiving dinner. the end. (:

stuffed hokkaido pumpkin

the main reason i bought this pumpkin was probably for visual appeal; what else could have been on my mind when this tiny, unfamiliar produce found its way into my shopping basket? it sat around the apartment on a cake stand for almost a month before i realized i could make a very familiar food with it. i'm not sure if it is a traditional korean food but i see (acorn?) squash stuffed with rice in the korean markets all the time. it's cheap and very healthy. you could probably just add uncooked rice with the same amount of water you'd use in a rice cooker, but i cheated and stuffed this orange vessel with already-cooked purple rice (brown rice cooked with black beans) from the freezer. before that, i coated the insides with vegetable oil and soy sauce. put the top back on so it can steam inside and after about 50 minutes at 200°C, it could be easily pierced by a fork and i guess that gives the green light.

before eating, i added a bit of sesame oil. it was so good! this is the kind of food that makes me think of home. the only problem was that it needed some salt and pepper. i assumed that the soy sauce would lend enough saltiness but it needed a pinch or two more. this is definitely going to be made again. (:


hey, i did not buy a $4 organic pumpkin just to toss the seeds. they got roasted and will be my snack on the train tomorrow.

second month on my own

unfortunately there haven't been too many gastronomic feats in my kitchen recently. i blame lack of time with work and school, and of course my own laziness. and when i have a tub of tofu sitting in the fridge and a jar of peanut butter at the ready, there isn't too much much of an urge to cook. most of the drive lately seems to come from trying to use up ingredients before they go off. i just hate hate hate to waste food! both for the 'big picture' and also for my small wallet. /:

this shepherds pie was conceived solely to take care of some potatoes and parsley roots that my roommates had brought for our dinner gathering. though it wasn't really much more than the sum of its parts, it was still pretty good. after i got tired of this mash, it became soup with a couple more cloves of garlic and a handful of herbs. which was what it should have began as since it tasted so much better. ):


to end on a lighter (and less healthy) note, here are some cookies! two types;
world peace a.k.a. korova and plain ol'slice-and-bake. i made them for a friend's birthday since i'm lame and i couldn't think of anything to buy for him. both were light (at least in the hand... maybe not so much in the stomach) and crisp. i'm more a fan of fudgy cookies but these vanished in no time. (:


the world peace cookies had a slight edge on the plain ones. i guess the chocolate chips and a dash of sea salt won the extra points! i remember when i was younger, i hated getting a bite of salt in my sweets. that was around the same time that i claimed i was allergic to onions, egg, and crab. good thing my taste buds eventually woke up!

thai: by me!

i've surprised myself by learning how to make a decent thai dish. once i bought the green curry paste and coconut milk, it becomes a cheap meal with lots of vegetables that can be made in just 15 minutes or so (which is a blessing for moving week). this recipe was what i was planning to use but i noticed there was already some instructions on the tub of mae ploy curry paste.

stir fry 50g of green curry paste in 1 tbsp soybean oil, then add 1 cup (240ml) coconut milk. add 200g of fresh meat and continue cooking. add another ½ cup (120ml) of coconut milk and ½ cup of water. heat until boiling. add 100g of vegetables and cook until the vegetables soften, add ½ tsp sugar. taste and season as required.

i did look back on the intended recipe and added a lime leaf in with the meat and a lot more vegetables. also i didn't let it boil and i left out the sugar. the dane suggested a hit of fish sauce and then he loved it! after the heat is turned off, stirring in some torn thai basil is also a nice touch.


new apartment, new baby! our chili baby. we just moved into a well-lit and very white apartment and needed a splash of colour. hopefully it will live long and prosper, so i can make some spicy weeknight staples. (;

breakfast burger

at 10 in the morning after a long night of beers and friends, what does a mina crave?



BURGER.

it was pretty indulgent with a 'healthy' amount of jalapeño slices, greens, a tomato, klovborg cheese (nothing special, just all we had), patty, dijon mustard, and ketchup all on an artisan bread in 5. but there's something strange about this burger!

there is a severe lack of MEAT. i bought a pack of quorn yesterday on the way home from work. normally i am pretty against fake meats since there is a bounty of other more natural foods that can be used instead of 'textured vegetable protein,' and mycoprotein. plus i find it strange that vegetarians would want to have something that feels just like meat in their mouths. in any case the quorn grounds were only 10kr, which is a lot cheaper than any other kind of grounds that i would consider eating.

when formed into patties, they predictably fell apart while i was cooking them in the pan. however, once the burgers were assembled, the taste and texture was so much like meat that i was honestly a little disturbed. afterwards i was feeling pretty good. there was none of the usual post-burger chest pains and rock-in-the-stomach-itis. unfortunately i don't think i'll be buying this product again since it's usually a bit more expensive and i don't chow down on burgers that often. but it was a very interesting experience!