Calamari in white wine tomato sauce

I've been waiting for my stupid pork belly to turn into an amazing melt in your mouth experience (you'll probably read about it later!)... but since it takes forever to slow cook things (who woulda thunk!) i got hungry and decided to try out some of that frozen calamari my roommate got.

So this is my first time cooking it, and since i had an open bottle of white in the fridge, it was a no brainer! and it was SO YUMMY!!!! i chopped up some garlic, tomatos, and olives, fried it up in oil for a few minutes, salt and chilli flakes, deglazed with some white wine, cooked it down, added the squid and yum yum yum! it was super good! i was afraid i was going to overcook it, cause nothing is worse than eating rubber band calamari (ok there are worse things...).. but it was perfect! 

now if only my stupid pork belly would finish cooking......

New Izakaya: Raa Izakaya Sushi and Sake Bar @ Yonge and Sheppard..ish

Don't let the empty seats fool you, cause once we sat down, every 5 minutes there was a couple walking in.  So today I finally decided to check out the new Izakaya place down my street! Place was bustling! 

Raa Izakaya - Sushi Bar and Sake Bar

4848 Yonge St. Toronto

416-224-0075

info@raajapanese.com

Raajapanese.com

The restaurant itself is quite well put together, as i learned from the waitress at the end of the meal, the owner, who was walking around the whole time (see below), was a restaurant consultant who had a dream to open this restaurant, and it became a reality 3 weeks ago.  From the beautiful place settings and slate tableware, to the little touches like accent pillows on the banquettes, and wooden accents, and hanging lights, gorgeous!!!! But here's the con, man it was as expensive as it looked (like Melania Trump... she sure is expensive looking)

Here's the back of the owner's head, yes he's a white dude (who put a lot of thought into putting this together)

and in other news, let me add some CONS:

-There is a lighted menu in the front advertising Wagyu beef tataki in ponzu sauce. there was NO BEEF TATAKI. they changed the menu. i wonder if this has anything to do with wagyu beef coming from Japan?

-There was no Gindara: Grilled Black Cod. which i guess isn't their fault, cause black cod is so delicious, but it is their fault! for not having enough black cod. HUMF!

onward:

So to start, freebee from this kitchen is this fried seafood in some vinegar marinade, it was some white fish and a niblet of octopus.. tasted like the ocean, but otherwise, tasty

Kinpira $4.95

So, always wanting to try something new, i went for this Vegetable Appy called Kinpira (Lotus roots, Gobo, Yam Cake).  I really like lotus roots cause they always retain their nice chompability, love chomp chomp chomping em, it was interesting, like what was it, marinaded in some sweet soy slightly? plus the chewy cakes added nice juxtaposition (HA) to the crunchy lotus. it also tasted like it should be free. 

Spicy Deluxe Roll $8.50

Tuna, salmon, Hamachi and spicy wasabi tobiko.. $8 f*cking 50!!! if i had an $8.50 spicy tuna roll, it better do my laundry as well. wtf. welllll. in short, it was actually quite tasty and the fish was very melt in my mouth but. $8.50! I am so spoiled by Vancouver rolls.

Yakibuta $6.50

MMM Tenderous bbq pork belly with negi nuts sauce.  This was quite delicious (but what is up with the carrot hickory sticks?).. it was melt in your mouth fat and all, and amazingly tasty. This i will approve at $6.50.... maybe.

Snowcrab Croquette $7.95

Crabmeat, Creme Bechamel, tomato sauce

Soo this is new for me, i had no idea what a "Creme Bechamel" is.. but if i were a better student of Top Chef, should have remembered that they reference Bechemel, a thickened milk sauce, as one of the 5 mother sauces (Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Tomato are the others.)

So this is what i have to say... innnteerresting.. its reminiscent to me in some chinese deep fried dish that escapes me right now that's like deep fried milk, but its interesting, and on a bed of tomato sauce... interesting...

Seared Peppered Tuna Carpaccio $13.50

THIRTEEN FIDDY!!!!

If you remember my Guu posts, ie. Guu Izakaya Church where i had BC Albacore Tuna Carpaccio @ $6.80, the tuna melted in my mouth... this one, did not, im not sure what kind of tuna it is, as you can see in the colour, this one is like a cassis syrupy purple/red, i mean in comparison, there is no comparison. However, stand alone, it was a tasty and decently done. there's a bunch of tomatoes and avocado on a bed of seaweed in the middle, so its a different mix up from my usual garlic and ponzu.

Seafood Yaki Udon - $13.50

What!!! ok im used to my Yaki Udon from Guu being in the $7-8 dollar range, however, we also needed a "filler" and i love yaki udon sooo i'm gonna have to make a BLLEEUGHH noise to this one. i mean, it is what it is, seafood, and udon and an emphasis on YAAeeuuKKKi! I mean nothing exciting or special about it at all, you got pieces of seafood like a whole octopus tentacle, and niblets of shrimp, perhaps a cameo by calamari, im not sure it was quick, some slivers of mushroom, red peppers and cabbage.. it is what it is. which is not much. not $13.50 worth.

Gyu Tongue Shio $7.50

Grilled Sliced Beef Tongue.

This was deeelicious! $7.50 delicious? verdict's still out. However, tongue was nicely seasoned, and super tender, it was like chewing on a crunchy piece of fat... um if you're into that, if not, it was like chewing on a seamless piece of crunchy tasty cow meat. yum!

Hmm and here's the bill... we got a 15% off from the bartender/hawker outside ... um i THINK this is a pretty expensive meal, i wasnt even appetizer full (1/4 full, if that makes sense), and felt the need to wander to the mcdonalds next door for an aftermeal meal..it was decent, and the decor was beautiful, the food was a decent attempt, however, slightly lacklustre from what i've been spoiled/accustomed to.  If this is your first go, i suppose you would be impressed. But, a nice try.

Costa Dorada, Spain: Tarragona and Cambrils, Spain, Snacks and Lunches

Last Summer, my good friend Jenny and I took a lil trip to Spain to relax in the beautiful southern beaches... I was a lil tardy, as usual... since i didn't pay attention to my ticket, and forgot how to read military time and ultimately... missed my flight... it was a crazy crazy 24 hours getting my ass from Toronto to Madrid, to charter to Barcelona, train to Barcelona Sants station from the airport, and catch the second to last 2+ hour standing train ride to Salou and cab it to the resort... but i made it! and will NEVER mistake 20:55 for 10:55PM AGAIN.... on our second day, we made a trip to Tarragona, Spain. It's a gorgeous southern Mediterranean coastal city, and as you can see from my pic above, boasts ruins from ancient roman times,

a few steps from our sidewalk snack break

mmm fresh spanish gazpacho

We went for a huge walk, as, we're (or i am) a horrible map reader, and was super parched for refreshment.  Since Gazpacho (a cold tomato based veggie soup), originates from Spain, I had to have it! And no wonder, a great summer soup, it was super refreshing, like herby/savoury yet fragrant, it was actually my first time! yum yum! 

fresh? or not fresh. but mussels aioli plucked from the sea.. beard and all

I also figured, hey im at the sea, might as well have some seafood, and ordered the Mussels Aioli, which i only knew how to pronounce from watching Top Chef... they love making aioli,  the waitress was so impressed i could pronounce it, and i was so impressed that she was impressed, so i went to figure out what the hell it was: Aioli is like a creamy garlic, olive oil, yoke sauce, and hmmm i think they grabbed the mussels straight out of the sea, cause parts of it was still attached to it... but the sauce was good!

A few days later, we took a catalan over to Cambrils, another fishing village on the south, to the east this time, of where we were staying in Salou.  What i LOVE about spain, is their prix fixe menus, i read that since lunch is the largest meal of the day, cheap prix fixe meals are sanctioned by the gov't .. awesome for me! I mean check this out. a drink (beer or mineral water), appy, main, dessert, for 11.90 EUROS. that's not even 20 bucks CDN for a great lunch.  and the food, do i even need to say, was great.

so here's my lil cervasa! otherwise, my preferred drink is Fanta. haha.

Here's a free tapas from the bar, we were outside at the patio, but i think if we were to hang out inside, that's were the freebees are. its like a fried tater cheese top.

Started off with some Calamari, great light breading, not overcooked or stringy, though i will reconsider ever ordering a squid dish for myself again cause it can get super heavy.

My main was this awesome grilled fish on top of deep fried battered peppers. I really liked the fried crispy veggies as a contrast to the fish, it just gave me some texture to play with. super awesome.

And look at this! decadent piece of awesomeness, I have no idea what i ordered, can you read what i ordered? but it was good, and soaked in sweet goodness. 

And here's Jenny's prawn salad! Those prawns are the size of giant fingers!

Sushi Bong Reprise and every single pomegranate in the world in one place

So last week, i had dinner with my lovely co-worker girls, and we all loooove sushi, and since i'm the lone pedestrian, they let me pick the place, somewhere close by me, so they can drop me off after work. (they're the best!).  And since i'd been raving about the neighbourhood hole in the wall, Sushi Bong, i insisted we check it out. We did end up getting kicked out of the 10 people seater eatery, so i suggest you be ready to cut your meaningful conversations short when the sole waitress hands you the bill to get the hell out. 

Here's the bong sashimi for 2, @ around $20 bucks.

shrimp tempura @ around 9 bucks

this is 1 softshell crab roll... @ around 10 bucks

Dynamite roll @ around 6 bucks and spicy salmon roll @ around 4 bucks.

So after we got kicked out of Sushi Bong, it was SOMEBODY'S good idea to walk into the first brightly lite store, Marouf Tochal... i still have no idea what this place is! Like Ned Flanders' store where everything is left handed, everything here is pomegranate, pom juice, pom ice cream, pom slushes, pom smoothies.... 

After mulling over the menu for about 5 minutes and not finding anything, 2 of us decided to try the pomegranate ice cream with pomegranate syrup.  Which, the syrup is actually quite interesting (they sell it there in bulk as well, for making dressings, or marinades, etc.)  The ice cream was tart as hell, and i had an instant Renee Zellweger lemon face, but.. it tasted healthy! the PERSON who brought us to this place ordered nothing... haha

I checked out its facebook page and it lists it as:

For ppl who love sour flavor of pomegranate juice,pomegranate ice cream,pomegranate lavashak! and more products of pomegranate!

which, i cant really fault it. if you like sour. this is what you like

Lots of pom EVERYWHERE.

Bay Sushi - Vancouver

Bay Sushi

678 Seymour Street

Vancouver, BC

(604) 806-0363
http://www.baysushicafe.com/

Here`s another Vancouver post, cause... again, i was visiting last week, and i have sooo many pictures to update with, seriously, the amount of eating i did in vancouver last week would have served me well for 2 normal weeks... So 2 wednesday ago, I went downtown to Zeal Salon on Robson to get my hair did (i LOVE their massage chairs, and friendly, cute, anime Japanese service, detail oriented and man i love that scalp massage on the, did i mention massage chair).  Anyway, since i used to live in that area, after my hair appointment, I went to check out my once favourite neighbour cheap sushi joint: Bay Sushi, by... well The Bay (HBC), across from the granville skytrain station... that place is always packed with exchange students, and suits, and hungry people of all sorts.  You go pick out your food, they have the same specials since i was around 3 years ago on a chalkboard out front, and various pics around inside, so order your food, get a cute laminated ticket, wait for your food, and eat in, or take out! 

I choose the eat-in option with a Chirashi Don at around $13-$14 bucks. This thing was MASSIVE as i could not even finish it. The fish was fresh and assorted. salmon, tuna, some other white fish, and squid maybe, i dunno. I got the hot version, which really, just came with a big bottle of hot sauce. Fresh and delicious! Man i miss vancouver

here`s a shot of the fish once i moved the seaweed out of the way... 

Jessica's Famous Seafood Chowder

hehe this is totally in my arsenal of jessica's go to dishes cause it's sooooo easy, and soooo tasty, and soooo satisfying and a crowd pleasure for sure.  the only pain is chopping up all those dang veggies, but otherwise, its a completely painless process.

it all started one day when I was in the gym catching up with my food network (cause i only get basic cable now :( ) and  it wasThrowdown with Bobby Flay: Salmon Chowder challenge with these guys at Seattle's Pike Place, and i was like, this is so easy! Im gonna make it.  Bobby used crab stock and crab meat, and the pike place guys used a shrimp/prawn based stock, but i chose to use lobster, cause I wanted to eat lobster meat.  This is actually my second go at making this, so this time this was a 3 lb lobster (my first one was 3.5).

So step 1: Cook and eat a delicious lobster and save the shells, brains, goo, everything. 

While i was cooking the lobster, i was simultaneously cooking a shit load of bacon for the chowder. Funny useless fact, we ate the lobster with a lemon bacon butter.... how awesome is that! haha.  

Threw the lobster shells in with water, 1 lemon cut in half, onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 bay leaves, fresh thyme, celery, corn husks, couple peppercorns, salt, and.... i think that's it. Cooked it for an hour and a half.

And here it is, an hour and a half after, check out all its guts against the pot... mmmmm. lobster flavoured water.

At the same time i was making the stock, i was chopping up all the veggies... its a tiresome activity, and no a slap chop would not help. I used 1 large carrot, 1 large onion, 4 stalks of celery, 3 yukon gold, and 3 baking potatoes (they used yukon gold on the show, and i know why, it retains its shape and bite), kernal from 4 corn cobs, I "sweated" it in my roux (butter + flour, is that what you're even suppose to do? who cares). and then my bacon!

Strained the sock and added it to my pile of veggies and let it boil for a while... then i added half and half cream and all my seafood which were: Salmon Chunks, Seabass chunks, and scallops. What i should have done, was fried the scallops in the bacon fat... next time.

And there you go, seafood chowder for your family and your neighbours. which i did feed as well. haha.

Ta da! I ate this for like...6 straight meals.... if it wasnt THAT GOOD, it would be down the toilet. .. yeah i ended up giving it away to my neighbour... hahaha. but still... its THAT GOOD.

Make shift meal: Salmon Potato Cakes

So last night, I was hungry and had barely nothing in the fridge...sure i had a bunch of frozen stuff, but i was really craving FRESH, and really not feeling like leaving the house (it was snowing?) so i pulled together what I had to make my makeshift Salmon Cakes.

ingredients i used:

-2 cans of canned salmon (i'll probably try with fresh and other types of fish)

-2 potates (whatever i had leftover from my salmon chowder)

-1 onion

-fresh thyme (leftover from my salmon chowder)

-6 quail eggs (i had NO EGGS, my roommate had quail eggs, haha i would probably use more quail eggs to bind it, maybe 8? 10? whats the equivalent in normal eggs?)

-Bread crumbs - i used panko bread crumbs i had bought when i wanted to fry japanese style shrimp... love these impulse buys that i do nothing with

-salt, pepper, montreal salmon steak seasoning, paprika

damn quail eggs equate to nothing!!!!

I scooped out lil ... im trying to figure out what kinda sports balls they were the size of... baseball? no... not softball... bacci ball? no.. Pool Ball. yeah, size of a pool ball.  cubbed the potatoes, boiled and mashed and threw everything in. breaded it with more panko

Fried it up on low-medium heat in some butter... yeah you can see it was kinda falling apart, maybe cause i only used 6 quail eggs, or maybe i shoulda let it sit, cause the leftover ones i had today were perfectly held together.  As you can see, the salmon  cans (super tasty and juicy) were courtesy of jenice from her awesome fish store in Burnaby, FISH.

With no tarter sauce, I tried to make my own with some lemon yogurt, relish packets i stole from the movie theatre, and dill in a tube.  The flavours were all there, plus its fresh and the least fattening tarter sauce ever!  I ran out of relish this morning, so i chopped up dill pickles and threw it in with the yogurt, worked just as well, more tart. 

Here's the mid nom nom noming dish... hehe. 

 And here is my attempt at a plating pic. haha. 

In conclusion.  A super quick and cheap eat at home, will in the future attempt to add other stuff in the cakes (like leeks! never used leeks before, but saw it on TV), as this is my FIRST TIME ever making a potato cake of any variety, i am indeed a fan as they are cheap, delicious, and i get to pretend im fancy.