Shepherd's Pie for 1

Nom Nom Nom.

Here's a shot of my second helping of my delicious homemade shepherd's pie with a glimpse of part of my 5head. so really, its' a shot of a 2head?

Super!

I know i have totally been MIA. mainly cause i'm super lazy. I mean i made super amazing slow cooked ribs yesterday that turned out amazing and i just ate them. the whole rack. myself. without blogging about it. maybe it's laziness? or maybe i am ashamed that i ate a whole rack by myself?..... NAH. it's laziness.

Anyway, today i got the urge to make some shepherd's pie, i had a bunch of little yukon golds sitting and probably rotting away, and i'm feeling for some comfort food, and this hit the spot.

Here's a quick recipe for people who dont follow recipes (IE ME), basically

1. cooked the potatoes til tender, mashed with grated cheese, butter and milk, and more cheese

2. sauteed ground beef, i like adding paprika to everything, salt and peppered it, onion and garlic seasoned it.

3. added chopped shallots to beef. layered in casserole when done
4. sauteed chopped carrots, layered
5. sauteed peas and layered
6.sauteed corn and layered
7. poured gravy over everything
8. layered the potato mash and baked at 400 til i thought it was ready for me to eat.

9. Eat. for dinner. for lunch. for dinner. til done.

haha. i am the worst at instructions. but it was sooo good. i used packaged gravy, i am not above packaged gravy.

timmys rant

Timmys Rant

----- Original Message -----

From: Jessica 

To: Chris 

Sent: Fri Aug 12 10:59:56 2011

Subject: timmys

I don¹t know why I keep buying food there, the food is disgusting

That wrap is so gross

Thanks,

Best Regards

Jessica L

On 11-08-12 11:51 AM, "Chris"

wrote:

The wraps aren't that good but I don't mind them. But my stomach is

bothering me now

On 11-08-12 11:58 AM, "Jessica"

The wrap are so overly salted, I can feel my blood thickening... Sooo much

sodium

I kept thinking, shit I can make this, and it would be so much better, put

a tomato in there, some mayo.

Need to wake up earlier.

Soon these sunny mornings will be gone :( its almost fall again

And the tea, the sugar is always on the bottom, its like drinking creamy

water til I hit the end and its sugarville, population: diabetes.

Ugh

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to sleep outside today.

And don¹t get me started on that muffin.

Even the muffin top isnt satisfying, its like gluttonous starchy rubber.

One note flavour.

If I didn¹t need to eat every 2 hours to survive.... Stupid tim hortons, I

wish they brought that mac and cheese here, it was good...

Thanks,

Best Regards

Jessica 

Hot Lazy Friday Link: move, eat, learn

I'm heading up to cottage country for the first time as an Ontario!
But keep tuned cause i really want to update my meet with Chef Lynn Crawford @ Ruby Eats last Saturday! (my SD card got corrupted cause i prematurely ejected....whoops)

Anyway, my friend Aimee sent me this link, it's pretty awesome, it's a series of 3:

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films.....


move, eat, learn


Ugh, so much more moving than that trinity of female douchness known as Eat, Pray, Love. (sidenote: i bought that book cause Oprah told me to after my break up, and i returned it after like 3 pages, i couldnt... it was so bad)


EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Doughnut cheeseburger debuts at CNE

My coworker showed me this gem today:

This is the link to the article

Here are the highlights:

Epic Burgers and Waffles's $8 dollar donut burger: American cheddar cheese, tomato and lettuce.

For $2 dollares more - you can top it with a fried egg and bacon. 

the CALORIC intake, of just the donut+cheese+tomato+lettuce is 1500 calories! That's WITHOUT the bacon and egg.

I've seen a similar version of this on MAN VS FOOD, however they grilled the donuts with the icing facing inside, so the frosting melts into your burger, and you get a cleaner finish.

Last year at the CNE, i tried the deep fried mac and cheese (too dry!), and the deep fried butter (like a buttery timbit made of corn dog batter), and they were all ooookayyyy... 

This burger DOES look pretty epic...but i'll think i'll pass on this one... for that many calories, 

Golden Star Restaurant: "Burgers are amazing my dad used to go there in high school, its so old" - Mark Barbetta

Golden Star Restaurant

7123 Yonge St., Thornhill, 905-889-6891

When I drive up to Golden Star, I feel like I've been transported back into time, when gas was cheaper, and the ozone hole was smaller, and asian people hadn't taken oven all the communities.

I constantly see "Golden Star" on all these "BEST BURGER IN TORONTO" lists, and I've always passed by on my way home from work when I used to take the Viva bus down Yonge.

I would think. This place looks old. and its stayed around this long, must be good, gotta check it out!

I asked my coworker Mark, who grew up in Thornhill, this is what he had to say:

"Rich history, quality product, pillar of the community"

"Burgers are amazing, my dad used to go there in high school, its so old"

I may not known the history, having grown up in Vancouver, but its true the burgers are pretty awesome!

Check out my vintagy looking photo of the Golden Star sign! 

If you can read it (click to enlarge), here's the Golden Star menu board.

heehee, greeted by this sexiness when we arrived.  I showed this to my coworker and he's like, "oh! this guy!" he's famous!

here's our burgers being gussied up! Everything please! (Eveything on my face)

2 home burgers and a side of onion rings

"can i have some pickles on the side" = THIS. AWESOME!!!!! 

Burger says =P . I say i'm going to eat you for your cheekyness.

omg my burger was a huge mess. i used up 20 napkins just to wipe burger off my face and hands. but it was sooooo worth it.  

cash total. BTW, CASH ONLY but they have an ATM on site. but let's not waste your hard earned money on ATM fees ok, just bring the cash.

Bone Sucking Delicious Jamaican OxTail Stew

I was GONNA stay home today, cause for the 2nd time, the A/C guys were gonna come fix the leak in the A/C. and for the 2nd time, that fell through.  So what a bitch, coming in to work for a few hours, (we have summer hours), and then going back home. I wasn't even going to go… But!!! Thank the food-gods that I did! Cause my awesome friend and coworker, Maria, left me a container of her home made jamaican oxtail stew on my desk.

Marvel at the glistening gelatinous supple meat.  If you're a fan of sucking meat off the bone (like I am, myself, thank you very much!), then you'll love oxtail!  Which I think is really just cow tail.

I've only had Oxtail soup, like the chinese kind, so this was a first for me!

Maria's end result was delicious!!!! I say was cause I ate it all up in 5 minutes. Its now just bones at my desk. 

Here's her recipe for Jamaican Oxtail Stew:

"Before preparing everything I washed the oxtail in lemon juice (you can do either lemon (bottled juice) or vinegar)

Everything was cut is small to medium pieces….

2 pounds of Oxtail 

6 cloves of garlic

2 large onions

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 spoon of pepper

1/2 spoon of salt

Soya (this is to make it dark, you do this but don't put too much salt)

1 scotch bennet pepper

1 sprig fresh thyme

Carrots

In order for it to be tender I cooked it for 5 hours. The first 1.5 hour I cooked it in a pressure pot with 2 cups of water the rest of 3.5 hours I put on a crock pot in threw it in the oven and added 3 cups of water)

I pretty much follow this recipe, but I didn't follow everything.

http://www.negril-tour-guide.com/jamaican-oxtail-recipe-stew-in-a-crockpot.html"

Wow! Fall off the bone deliciousness! 

Thank you so much Maria!!!! xxx

Aimee Eats!: MIHO Gastrotruck, San Diego California

One of my bestest friends, Aimee lives across the country, in another country... from me :(

It's no surprise that friends of Jessica (hahaha i could have easily said my friends! Third person is way more creepy!), ANYWAY, friends of Jessica LOVE to eat too!  

MIHO Gastrotruck

The gourmet food truck craze has hit San Diego and I've become a regular food truck seeker (http://sdfoodtrucks.com/). Lucky for me they always show up near my work so I never have to travel far. 

Today's nearby truck was http://mihogastrotruck.com Their slogan is farm to street, and you can really tell from their fresh ingredients that this is all true! Their menu changes weekly depending on what is in season. 

I got the Grilled Peach Burger: grass fed beef, grilled local peach, local arugula, chipotle aioli, gruyere, local brioche bun* with a side of Mixed bean salad: local mixed beans, local wild mushroom, local cherry tomato, local arugula, roasted garlic vinaigrette, hard boiled free range egg. 

YUM. the beef was tender, flavorful, and juicy. The peach added a sweet flavor and the chipotle aioli was spicy and tangy. What a delicious combo! Green bean salad was fresh and crispy, made me feel less guilty because I was getting my greens. 

My coworker got the BLAT: brown sugar & black pepper glazed all natural Vande Rose duroc bacon, local lettuce, local avocado, local heirloom tomato, roasted garlic aioli, local multigrain bread with Belgian style fries on the side: hand cut kennebec potato, hand made moroccan spice catsup. 

He is not a fan of avocado or tomato (not sure why he got the BLAT) so I got to eat them..hehe. Fresh heirloom tomatoes were sweet and juicy. The avocado was smooth and creamy, but I must admit I've been pretty spoiled by good avo here.  I had a nibble on some leftover bacon which was everything I dreamed it would be. Brown sugar on fat. also YUM. The french fries were delicious, just the right crispiness and just enough beef oil flavor without being too overpowering

All in all one of my fave food trucks so far. I also got a HOMI stamp card, 10th meal is free! which is great, because these meals are kind of expensive ($8 for burger, $4 for salad or fries). I think it's better than restaurant food though and I would gladly pay that plus tip, so it's still a good deal.