Singapore Noodles

This is one of my favourite dish to order for lunch. Here is my first attempt at it. Not bad. Now I can have it anytime I like!

Smoke 2 Kinds of Salmon

The red ones are sockeye and the yellower ones are chinook/spring/king. I doubled the smoking time so we will see if I like it.

Near Record Sockeye Return

The news is that this year has the second highest number of sockeyes returning to the Fraser. After a record low year, that is a specially good news. To celebrate I made this slightly blacken sockeye burger on my own bun and tomato. A very happy occasion indeed.

The Cook's Treats

Bought a Fraser sockeye down on the wharf. This is alway what I eat first: the collar and the belly strip grilled and the bones and head made into a rich soup with miso, gochujang, and wakame. This time I have yellow squash and bean sprouts in the soup too. These are the best part of the fish, I hope they remain the cooks' secret.

Mapo Doufu +

Made this like Mapo Doufu with ground beef, garlic, ginger, hot bean paste, sugar, soy sauce, sichuan pepper corns and sesame oil; threw in a yellow squash and some amaranth. Quite good over rice.

Oxtail and pasta

Cooked and then shreded the meaty part of an oxtail in a spicy tomato sauce, tossed with my own egg pasta. Very satisfying.

Smokies

Didn't want to wait to defrost so smokies from Oyama it is. Shredded some potatoes and sliced some tomatoes from my garden. Perfect with an IPA and my own bread.

Blueberry and cake

Made a simple sponge cake and served it with blueberries, whipped cream and dark maple syrup. So easy and fresh.

Culinary Immigration

I have some leftover so I added some sauteed potatoes and ate it with bread. It is like the dish changed nationality.

Big squash, small pork

A nice summer dish, a little thinly sliced lean pork marinated in garlic, sugar, salt, rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and corn starch. The sauce is just garlic, ginger, hot bean paste, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Chinook, King, Spring

Looks pretty, doesn't it? Why can't they agree on one name for this salmon? Tasty by any name, particularly when it is bought directly from the fishwoman who caught and flash froze it.







I don't understand why people peel off the skin on salmon, first thing I did was peeling off the skin and eat it like a chip! The best parts of a salmon are the skin, the narrow strip on the bottom of the belly and the 'collar'. People think of these parts as scrapes, stupid.

Spicy Buffalo sausages

Went to Granville Island today and bought some sausages from Oyama. Good spicy buffalo sausages and sweet creamy potatos play off each other perfectly.

Smoked Tuna salad

I picked the first tomatoes from my garden and in their honour I cut up some smoked tuna to go with the tomato, kolrabi, basil, carrot, green beans and lettuce salad. Summer must be thanked.

Puffy rolls

I was a little tired of pitas so I used the same dough to make these rolls. They really puffed and had excellent texture and taste. I can have one dough in the fridge and make different breads according my mood! I am happy.

Potato and corn pancakes

Got some very fresh and sweet yellow corns and creamy potatos from the farmer's market so I made this. Unfortunately it does not show up well in this picture. Added some chili pepper and garlic to the mayonnaise for a sauce. Rather enjoyed it.

Cold spicey chicken 'salad'

I have some poached chicken left so I shredded it and added my own pickled cucumber and spicy bean sprouts, some soy sauce, scallion and sesame oil. Very fresh, crisp and tasty, great with rice.

Crab Cakes

I like my crab cake light and on the dry side but these are too light to hold together, tasted good still. I was not planning on making them so all I had was green pepper, onion, salt, pepper, eggs, chili pepper, some rather light homemade mayonniase and bread crumps.

Amaranth and poached chicken

This is just so Cantonese summer.

Fried Chicken

For some reason I wanted fried chicken. It was good eating but I felt rather weighted down afterward.

Uncreative

Lucheon meat, bean sprout, rice vermicelli in chicken broth--woke up tired and not very creative.

Big Crab

The truth about crab is that all you have to do is steam it and eat it cold with a good drink. Here I have some warm xiaoxing rice wine.

Giant Squash

I was out of town for a few days and this yellow squash suddenly expanded.








So, I fried some up to go with some cold beer.













And I still have half for dinner. Good thing about growing them is that they are still very tender even this big.

Bye Bye Peas

The last of this season's peas, in their honour I made them almost a main ingredient for this chicken rice.

Raspberry Souffle

When you have crushed raspberry, you make raspberry souffle. Very simple, just beat an egg white, beat an egg yoke with sugar, add mashed raspberry and bake in 400 oven. Not a fancy souffle but this is leftover and it is good.

Season change

All of a sudden, it is cucumber and bean season. I am not complaining. I like this cucumber salad: cucumber, salt, sugar, cider vinegar, rice vinegar, chopped fresh chili and sesame oil.

Guu with Garlic

One of my favorite restaurants in Vancouver, Guu may very well be one of the best drinking/eating place anywhere. Took some out of town friends there with their children, with the variety of food and small size, everybody find something they really like. Here are the Okonomiyaki and fried chicken thighs. The kids loved them.