During this orgy of tension and stress known as final exams, I haven’t been eating properly. Through no fault of my own, there seems to be no Real Food left in my apartment, except maybe my roommate’s cat food (for her cat, not for her).
However, I did buy a delicious frozen pizza from Price Choppers this past weekend. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Why am I listening to this sleep-deprived chick talk about her stupid frozen pizza? She’s thinking of eating her roommate’s cat food for crying out loud – clearly, a crazy.
Well, call me crazy all you like, but Casa di Mama pizza is by far the best frozen pizza out there – and I should know, I’m a university student! The first thing I noticed is that the dough was so soft I could barely handle it when I took it out of the box. Now, this may have been because it had thawed, but usually, even thawed frozen pizza is still tough as a brick. Moreover, the pizza came on parchment paper. Delissio doesn’t come on parchment paper. McCain’s doesn’t come on parchment paper. But Casa di Mama does.
In any case, I added some toppings (I usually add red peppers because there never seem to be enough toppings on frozen pizzas) and followed the instructions on the box for heating times.
When it was done, the crust had risen into a golden halo around the pizza, with a slightly crunchy surface giving way to light fluffiness. This was comparable to some of the best pizza I have had – ever! Toppings can definitely be improved (I had pepperonis and hot peppers on mine) but the crust was really just perfect.
soft and soundless steps
they meet on a windless field
of floating flames
Until I started writing this recipe, I did not know what these were. I’ve used them before, oh, plenty of times. They’re great for stir-fries, easy to work with, and an easy, tasteless way to add some veggies to your dish.
Turns out, they’re not veggies. They’re fruits! Melons, in fact. I’d always had a sneaking suspicion they were related to melons (the green and the crisp and the seed gave it away), but I never really bothered to confirm it.
Chayote are apparently native to Costa Rica and a popular ingredient in Mexico, although I was introduced to them in a Chinese supermarket. Known as 佛手瓜 (Fu Shou Gua) to me, I’ve used them in stir-fries alongside the likes of chicken, soybeans, and firm marinated tofu. Since they’re related to cucumber, you can imagine that they soften easily, so you shouldn’t cook them too long if you want to retain their crisp character. They don’t have much flavour to them (less so than cucumber), and they’re fairly good at retaining water.
Anyway. Long story short. I’ve been meaning to make something with the rest of my beef chunks, which I had already slow-cooked with some salt, star anise, and dried chilli peppers. I also needed to make some “street food” for Blog Party #33, which I’ve been undecided about the entire week.
Suddenly, inspiration hit.
You know in some Chinese buns, they’ll have pulled pork or beef that’s heavily marinated? Well…
I decided to pull apart the beef chunks into “strings”, and stir-fry it with chayote and onion. The result was a great mish-mash of savoury pulled beef and soft chayote. The best part was that both components were moist (beef looses its moisture quite easily) and packed with flavour.
The street-food element is that it would be a great stuffing for a pita. In fact, it could easily be turned into a main with the addition of any number of carbs: steamed Chinese buns, white rice, or even something made from potato (polenta or mashed).
I’m trying to cut down my carb-intake though (I’ve grown up eating rice with every meal so believe me, this is a lot harder than it sounds), so I had to think of something else.
I also had to make this into an appetizer in order to qualify for the Blog Party. So…
Ta da!
I had been chewing on a stick of cucumber while I was debating (yes, I chew on sticks of cucumber), and realized that the cucumber tasted pretty good with the beef-chayote dish. So the end result was a cucumber-based appetizer with some beef, chayote, and onion. I topped it off with a small piece of red pepper to give it some colour.
The verdict: the makeover of the “street-food” beef and chayote stuffing into an elegant little appetizer is all sorts of genius. Cucumber and chayote naturally marry well since they’re members of the same family (which I did not know at the time! Hence, genius), but they also contrast each other since the chayote is soft and full of flavour, while the cucumber is on the outside, adding a fresh crisp to every bite. The beef is moist and well-marinated in typical Asian fashion, with an aroma of sesame decadence and a subtle spicy undertone. This is probably the healthiest street-food-turned-appetizer ever!
The name of this dish is another brand of genius in itself (thank you, thank you very much). Since cucumber and chayote are in the same family, they are “The Green Sisters.” The love feud is between them and the beef, whose passion is ignited by the spicy undertones and the red pepper topping, much like the tip of a flame.
We recommend that this appetizer be consumed with Amazake, a low-alcohol Japanese drink made from fermented rice.
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…is Folgers in your cup!
Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, hands down. If I could, I’d make myself a home-made extra special deluxe super duper breakfast platter every morning.
It also happens to be one of the few meals I am fully comfortable with making.
- Scrambled/fried/hard-boiled/omelet eggs? I can do that.
- Bacon/fake bacon/ham/sausages/breakfast paddies? I can do that.
- Toast? Toast with butter? French toast? I can do that.
- Pancakes/waffles/Chinese pancakes? I can do that.
- Fruit? I can do that.
- Coffee/(soy) milk? I can do that.
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to do all that every morning. But every Sunday morning, without fail, I make myself an enormous breakfast platter. Sunday mornings are the best. It’s my last day of the weekend, so I know I have to get some work done. The first thing I do is brew myself a nice hot cup of hazelnut coffee. I drink my coffee without milk/cream/whitener because 1) I am lactose intolerant, and 2) that is the way coffee is supposed to be drunk, so buying high-quality (hazelnut) coffee roast is a must.
Then I’ll have any combination of the above (things that I can make). I usually don’t have bacon/sausages so I must forgo the meat portion of the programming, but I can make tons of things with eggs, so I still get my protein.
This morning was no exception. Check out the fancy colourful super duper awesome breakfast platter of the day:
This platter features scrambled egg whites, fresh strawberries, toast drizzled with maple syrup, and yogurt sprinkled with some fiber cereal flakes.
It is also exactly 200 calories.
Huzzah!
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