Curry

One of my favourite dishes is curry. Typically, when I plan to make this dish, I chop up root vegetables (carrots, potato, turnip) and onion and put it in my slow cooker with some cubed beef. I add beef stock, beer or sake and spices and let it cook all day. 

When I get home from work, I make the sauce (which can be purchased in any asian grocery store). It comes in a block, and I usually boil some water or some of the liquid from the crock pot, and then dissolve the block and cook until it thickens a bit.

I serve it with rice, and in this case, a bit of furikake.

It's delicious!

Until next time, Happy Munching!

A Romantic Raclette for Two

I decided that my husband and I should have a special dinner just the two of us. We really enjoy the raclette, so I got it out and prepared all the fixings!

I marinated three different meats in various ways, each cut into strips.

I also prepared a variety of cheeses

and don't forget the vegetables!

A favourite in my family to eat with raclette or fondue is what we call greek potatoes! These potatoes are peeled and placed directly on the rack in the oven for about 45 minutes. What results is a crispy exterior with a soft interior!

To make things a little more special, I pulled out our nice dishes that we got as wedding presents, and set them nicely.

And last but not least... a bottle of a favourite wine....

Well, that's really all for this entry! Until next time, happy munching!

Happy Year of the Dragon!

   It's Chinese New Year again! This year is the Year of the Dragon! I have been excitedly anticipating this event. :)

      I decided not to break with the tradition we started last year, so it's hot pot again this year! I went out and got some fun decorations for the event.

    After decorating, I chopped up all the delicious things we like to put in our hot pot. I don't think I used anything different than usual this time... so if you would like to know the details of how I do hot pot please reference this post here.

   We had lots of fun and enjoyed it very much. I hope you have a wonderful Year of the Dragon!

   Until next time, Happy Munching!

Healthful Lunch - Salad

       I really love this new lunchbox that I purchased. It has great size and versatility. Today, I decided to make a nice salad in it. 

    This is a pretty hearty salad and will be quite filling! This salad has baby romaine lettuces, snow peas, baby corn, peppers, mushroom and a nice red tomato! On the side, sliced up some montreal smoked meat quite thinly, I will mix it in before I add dressing. In the small container in the right hand corner is the dressing! How handy!

       This was really so simple and easy to do and is going to be a really delicious lunch. I am really looking forward to eating it!

     I hope I could inspire you a little with your salads, and until next time Happy Munching!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's been a pretty nice day.  I just wanted to share with you guys the adorable cupcakes my husband had made for me on my birthday!  

This lovely one was for me!

All the other cupcakes looked like this!

   The cupcakes were delicious and from my favourite cupcake place! These were all chocolate chocolate flavour. The icing is amazing. You pretty much need a fork!

    Anyways, that's all for today! Until next time, happy munching!

Leftover Hot Pot Stir-fry

Occasionally, when I made hot pot, I have left over veggies that are already cut up. This is super convenient and these can be reworked into many, many different dishes. I decided to make a stir-fry because I hadn't made one in awhile. I used baby carrots, napa cabbage, baby bok-choy, cauliflower, broccoli, a variety of mushrooms and snow peas. I plated it on a bed of udon noodles which were cooked in a flavoured broth, and also threw in some shrimp (also cooked in flavoured broth). I topped it all with a homemade sweet and sour sauce with a bit of a kick. 

That's all for now! Until next time, Happy Munching!

New Lunch Set!

     I've been checking out this new product line from black + bulm lately, and I finally decided to spring for a few of their products. They are very clever lunch containers and accessories. One of the items i purchased was this nifty lunch bag. It is pretty simple looking, and at first glance may not seem anything special....

      But if you check out the diagram on the packaging you can see that it opens up to be a little table cloth, or even can be used to sit on the grass.

      Another great item I found was this book of recipes. They seem fairly simple and tasty and there are lots of great pictures to help inspire people!

     So, I didn't try one of the recipes yet, but I was really eager to try the container, so in this box, I have some leftover beef bourguignon that my sister-in-law made (very, very tasty), some slices of baguette, a few cherry tomatoes, and in the other small container is pickled cauliflower. One of the nice features about this container is the removable inner containers (which also have their own lids). I can now easily remove the beef and reheat it in the microwave seperately. Also the container with the cauliflower can be used for sauce instead. Additionally, you can remove both and just use the whole container for another dish. Here you can also see the opened bag, and the cute fork (which has a side that can cut like a knife).

     The container closes up nicely, and has a little loop for the fork.

Very clever and convenient! I am very excited about this new product and look forward to trying new ones and the recipes from the book! Until next time, happy munching!