Montreal Day 3

Today was a mix of local culture (Jean Talon Market), and tourist trap (Old Port). We went to the Science Center (geared to non-science majors, unfortunately) and Pointe-à-Callière, and I learned so much about the Samurai and Etruscans!

Cafe In at Jean Talon Market ~17$

I got a smoked salmon, dill, and capers sandwich, made with some sort of bread (it was like a very light, toasted baguette) that started with a "b", and it was either local to France or Montreal. Without the panini press, the bread had been less flat (but still reminded me of a bagel without a hole). The sandwich came with a fruit salad. I used to hate dill, but apparently, my brain now has become quite attached to that fresh flavour.

[UPDATE 6th August 2013: I think it's a bialy. Pretty common in Ithaca, NY]

My brother got the same type of sandwich, but with Cajun chicken filling instead. He also got  coffee with milk (as he had been each day, even though he usually stays away from it).

Jean Talon Market! ~15$

I enjoy looking at how/what food is sold in other cultures. Jean Talon Market was intriguing because there were a bunch of Quebec or Montreal products, and everything was written in French. Finally, the pages of French vocab for vegetables and fruits have come into use! In addition, it appeared that fewer people knew how to speak English.

We saw cotton still on the branches!

Apparently, there is no tax for products bought at the market! This meant that maple syrup that was 20$ for 3 cans ended up being 20$, and not 23$! Maple syrup bought in a gallon-sized container was 48$. In general, the maple syrup was cheaper than at the RESO or at the gift stores at the touristy areas, and although there were maple leaf and log cabin bottles of syrup, there were also plenty of simple jars of syrup and butter stamped only with a company logo. Along with the economic benefit, I wonder if it's better to buy maple syrup from the market because there may be fewer middle-people, but I know nothing of Montreal's food politics. Needless to say, the market gets far less tourist traffic than the gift stores at the RESO or Old Port. There were also some maple butters that were refrigerated, and the store owner gave my brother and I a delicious sample. I chose to buy a maple butter made with 100% maple syrup. There was also a maple butter with some glucose syrup in it, that didn't need to be refrigerated. When I asked why the 100% maple syrup butter HAD to be in the fridge, the woman said that it would harden if left outside. That defies the concept that heat causes liquids to flow more easily, and I didn't want glucose syrup in my maple stuff!

Pomettes! Crabapples! I always thought that crabapples were this apocryphal non-edible fruit, and that Ms. Krabappel from The Simpsons was so named because she was crabby (but is she?). Yet crabapples are actually real fruits that look like miniature Pink Lady apples! They are the size of large grapes, and taste extremely sour - lemon sour. Apparently, people use crabapples to make crabapple jam, but as we lacked a pot to make the jam, I tried to eat half our punnet within the next two days. They did get a tad sweeter over time, but they were all still much more sour than the sourest Granny Smith apple. 2$ a punnet, which actually equates at least a jar of quality jam, had I a saucepan.

There were also cute punnets (everything is in punnets, and when you ask to buy something, they transfer it to a plastic bag unless you happen to have a reusable bag handy) of ground cherries! GROUND CHERRIES! I'd never seen such a thing before I went to the botanical garden, and seeing them being sold commercially was quite amusing. We didn't buy them though, because we already had the crabapples.

I also bought a cone of maple butter. While the cone was the standard tasteless wafer, the maple butter was thick, creamy, and melted instantly in my mouth. I love maple flavour, and the sweetness could sink ship (a large one, mind you). It was great!

La Fournee de Sucreriers de L'erable 7$

Finally, a pastry shop advertising maple pastries and tourtières (a regional meat pie)! Unfortunately, there were no tourtières that day, so I'll have to wait until I return to try one. I got a maple syrup tart that sweated maple syrup during the day, while my brother got a chevre, blueberry, and "basilic" tart. "Basilic" means "basil", but instead, there were almonds (and no basil!). Either way, my brother claimed that it was delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed my super-sweet maple syrup tart. It was basically all sugar and fat, textured like thick, gooey jam-fudge. While eating, my brother told  me that when he was really young, he used to think that one was supposed to eat the foil too.

Lays Dill Pickle Potato Chips 1.72$
We also shared some Dill Pickle chips, obtained from a gift store at the RESO. To both my brother and I, the chips tasted like Lays Salt & Vinegar chips, and we were right! There is acetic acid in the ingredients! However, there is a hint of dill and there are small green specks on each chip. I wonder why Lays doesn't try to advertise these in the US, since I would buy them instead of the Salt & Vinegar chips (multiflavour chips!)

Acité - Old Port 45$
Throughout our time in Montreal thus far, we commented on the lack of "42nd St"-ness in Montreal. By that, I mean that Downtown Montreal is not littered with gift stores, no one is trying to buy 8 Montreal shirts for 10$, people walking down the streets downtown aren't all waving cameras around, well, it just doesn't look like New York's Times Square, in both atmosphere and cleanliness. However, after shuffling around on the streets of Old Port, we concluded that everything cliche and gaudy could be found in Old Port. Tourists milled around fancy restaurants (steakhouses?), gift stores that sold "I [heart] POUTINE" shirts and "DO NOT TOUCH" beaver tail hats, and overpriced maple syrup, and a guy who juggled sticks of fire.

I wanted to go to Mont Royal Plateau to eat dinner but my brother wanted to eat at Old Port. So, we went to Acité, a nearly empty restaurant with exclusively outdoor seating of about 20, and I ordered snails and my brother got chicken and rice. Out of all things to consume, my brother picked a chunk of chicken and a scoop of rice.

The snails had been deshelled and were like little blobs of rubber in a plain cheese and oil sauce. It was quite bad. I don't recall snails being rubbery and tough (though the last time I'd tried them had been at The Dwarf Restaurant in 2001 or something in Hong Kong, and those had been shelled snails stuffed with delicious mashed potato and cheese). the cheese sauce was nothing special and particularly unctuous. The dish was very shallow. I was disappointed. Needless to say, I also didn't think much of what my brother got, though he seemed happy with the overall meal.

Les Délices de l'Érable 1.73$
My first macaron! Maple syrup flavoured, about 3 cm in diameter, and surprisingly moist! I didn't know macarons were chewy and soft. I always assumed it'd be something like meringue. It was delicious! And, to think that I can make a batch of these for the price of one...

Super C ~17$
We got Oka cheese! With mushrooms! It was semisoft, creamy and mild and had a hint of truffle. It was great! Apparently it is local to Quebec.
We also got ground cherries! Whoohoo! 2.99$ They were phenomenal! They were like mini tomatoes, and tasted like tropical fruit (mango?) and were slightly sour, like a tomato, but were also surprisingly sweet! It was so great pulling apart the outside!

Pancakes!

I found someone selling a pancake maker for $1 on Craigslist last month in Center City. I lugged that pancake maker from 13th St. all the way back to my apartment. Last Saturday, I dragged the pancake maker all the way back to NJ.

I don't need a pancake maker, obviously. I don't care if my pancakes are rectangular or cloud-shaped, or if they're a tad burnt. I just figured that $1 is a nice price to pay for a non-stick electric saucepan with 4 circular compartments. In college, I can now fry eggs, make pan pizzas, create grilled cheese sandwiches and heat up cookies, all in my room! Which will be very nice.

At the urging of my sister, I made pancakes today. I was going to follow this recipe completely, because I do want to try Drop Scones. Unfortunately, my brother had finished the milk last night. So, here's the modified recipe that worked out alright and yielded dry pancakes. Next time, I will definitely follow the above recipe, but since I appeased my sister, all is well.

Ingredients - 20 pancakes
250 g self raising flour (it has salt included)
25 g sugar
4 eggs
170 g raspberry yoghurt (which includes 26 g sugar)
30 g water
25 g melted butter
vanilla (to appease my sister)
frozen blueberries (to appease my brother)

Look at how pointy the tip of this egg is!

Method
1. Sift dry ingredients.
2. Melt butter and add all wet ingredients.

3. Scoop 1.5 tbsp (2 tbsp is okay. 3 is tolerable.) of batter onto pancake maker and let it cook until it poofs up and looks cooked. This takes about a minute.

Things I'm going to have to change next time to make myself happy:

1. Use 200 ml (whole?) milk, of course, instead of the yoghurt-that-no-one-eats-but-my-mum-buys-it-anyway-due-to-advertising-and-familiarity.

2. No vanilla or blueberries. I want to make perfect plain pancakes before I start with the flavourings.

3. Don't melt the butter. Cut the butter in. I really don't like melting butter. The smell is putrid, it looks like adipose tissue, and I might as well use oil if I want to melt butter! I guess it's just preference.

4. Use less sugar and less butter

5. No water.

7-Eleven Free Slurpee Day

It's July 11th, which means that it's "Free Slurpee Day" at 7-Eleven. For some reason, 7-Eleven thinks that today is its birthday.

Lies.

On the company website, apart from the "Happy Birthday" sign, there is nothing saying the exact date on which 7-Eleven was established; it only gives the year (1927, or 1999, if you want to be official about the name change). The 7-Eleven actually refers to the hours it used to have - 7am to 11pm. Of course, most 7-Elevens are open 24/7 now, to be super "convenient".

I do like slushies. The only times I've had them in the past were in the form of Slurpees, at various 7-Elevens in Hong Kong (man, 7-Eleven in Hong Kong gives me so many happy memories!). My favourite flavour was the Coke, for sure! Then, a few years ago I just went cold turkey with soda, and although I don't really ever crave slushies, from now on, having them once a year seems pretty nice. Last year, JM and I ran to the local 7-Eleven at around 7pm to get a sample but they had run out. Thus, today ends my 5 or 7 year hiatus on 7-Eleven Slurpees, and slushies in general (I guess the ones I make at home don't count).

After my swim this morning (8:07 am), I went to the 7-Eleven at 38th and Sansom St., and it was pretty empty and all the Slurpee machines were neatly churning out coloured ice. The cashier showed me the "small" cups, 7.11 oz. It's pretty funny because a decade ago (oh my gosh. Has it really been A DECADE?!?!?) at McDonald's in Hong Kong, this size (or 8 oz) was considered the drink size in a Happy Meal, or the "small" drink. Portion sizes have skyrocketed...

I did have my camera but the Slurpee was melting ridiculously fast so I decided I'd just take a picture of the cup since it's pretty neat. The blueberry flavour was still liquid so I ended up with about 1/10 blueberry-sugar-liquid, 4/5 perfect pina colada slush, and 1/10 Coke slush on top. I know I shouldn't drink Coke anymore, especially as I haven't had it in yeeeeeeeeears, but I had a moment of nostalgia, of drinking/eating a Coke Slurpee at the playground in South Horizons in the humid Hong Kong summer afternoon, with KC, LW, and/or my brother.

So, I had to relive that again, except in the morning before breakfast in Philadelphia, alone. The Coke flavoured one was really caramelly. I guess I've forgotten the taste of Coke. The pina colada flavour was pretty awesome. I don't think the blueberry sugar water did much. I guess I'm a really emotional eater.

What if, way back when, 7-Eleven had opened from 11am to 11pm? Would the drink sizes on the 11th of November be 11.11 oz? Would they save more money, because fewer people would be inclined to trudge out and obtain an ice-cold drink in November?

Snow White -- Pancake-style!!

Today, I am going to blog post about a social event that seriously lacks anything science-y or thoughtful. It is just a story that shows how food brings people together. I actually have a systematic review to write up too for Nutrition, but I'll get to that later today. Now. Storytime!!

Once upon a time, there were 8 people. They weren't dwarves though. They were named Popcorn, MC, MK, MA, MM, KB, CL, and me. MA never turned up though. Anyway, the 7 remaining people decided to make some pancakes on the Sunday after Fling.

There were delicious and plentiful pancakes with a whole box of batter to spare! There were sticks of butter and packages of frozen fruit! There was jalapeno jam and a packet of peanut butter.

MK accidentally poured some oil onto the electric stove. It was a terribly funny but terribly terrible move. The first batch of pancakes were also literally dripping with oil, but that was okay because it meant that they were easy to flip. (When I make pancakes...I add oil to the batter instead...) The first experimental batch were filled with orange/banana/strawberry juice and strawberries and KB and Popcorn loved them. Thus, we were happy.

The second batch of pancakes were filled with M&Ms, and MM and I loved them.

Some of the pancakes were ugly, but the others were beautiful. No one cared, no one judged, and no one said no to more.

The jalapeno jam was delicious!

The M&M pancakes (3 of them) shared between MM and me were the best; they were fluffy and rainbow-coloured and made by Popcorn. Popcorn, CL, KB and I made many of the pancakes.

Popcorn also made some mini blueberry pancakes, and we ultimately also had some blackberry ones.

And so, we were all happy and sated college kids, so KB and I started to do the dishes.

Suddenly, Popcorn exclaimed that she wanted a blueberry pancake!

When KB offered to make one for Popcorn, Popcorn declined the offer because we had already started the dishes. KB, however, decided to make some batter and to make an extra-nice blueberry pancake for Popcorn, because Popcorn had cooked the majority of the pancakes.

So, as we all relaxed and I washed dishes, KB prepared blueberry pancake batter and poured it on a pan.

Suddenly, I turned to see smoke billowing out of the pan and an acrid smell filled the room! The batter had fallen onto the electric stove, and it was bubbling! To make matters worse, the pancake on the pan was smoking too! I immediately opened three windows and KB turned the pancake onto a plate, and we both stood next to the window, with our arms outstretched, letting the smoky pancake and the smoky pan emit their smoke and repugnant smells onto those outside on the street. As we waited for the pancake to cool, we all laughed at the silly situation. Please. Laugh. Make us feel less stupid about this situation.

Now, the Snow White part sets in.

As I went back to doing the dishes, Popcorn ate some pancake...

...and realised that it tasted soapy.

So she ran to the sink and started to get rid of the soapy taste from her mouth, while we all laughed hysterically while our friend nearly choked/got poisoned/got hospitalised/died.

For that pancake, KB had used a soap-filled pan that hadn't yet been washed.

What?! Cheesecake?!

Yes! Cheesecake! With tofu! The recipe is at the bottom of this post! [I haven't posted a recipe in a LONG time... a whole semester, right?]

I had a problem. I wanted to make cheesecake because BV likes cheesecake. However, I have never used sour cream or heavy cream or whipped cream or dairy products like that in my cooking before, so... I felt scared using them. Okay, I've used whipped cream before, but that was at least 5 or 6 years ago, and that was whipped cream used as... whipped cream.

On the other hand, I squeezed a piece of tofu. [haha. weak joke...]...I mean, on the other hand, I know very well how tofu works. I can make food with tofu.

BV hates tofu but I used it anyway...

The first cheesecake turned out tasting like tofu, because I had used approximately 20 ounces of tofu in it... along with some cranberry juice, because, why not? I also threw in some corn starch to keep it from falling apart, although I'm not sure whether it's necessary.

It looks like cheesecake, right?

Or, it looks like stained bacteria cultures...

I personally like frozen cheesecake, and I think this is due to the fact that the first few times we bought cheesecake in HK [33HKD for a plain Sara Lee cheesecake - that's what I remember], we never followed the "leave cheesecake at room temperature for 20 minutes before eating" instruction. Honestly, frozen cheesecake, with the hard, ice-blockish texture, tastes better than creamy, room temperature cheesecake.

I used Grape-Nuts for the crust, because ever since I found out that every graham cracker at Shoprite has PHO, I've decided to dislike them [yes, I'm biased!! But so are you!]. Maybe Trader Joe's has nicer graham crackers?

I've also decided to dislike Keebler because everything they make [that I know of] is grossly full of HFCS and/or PHO.

So, in my second batch, I gave some leftover batter to my sister who ended up decorating them with candy and sprinkles. It is utterly overkill.

This is the cheesecake I gave BV. I probably shouldn't've told him that there was tofu in it... but I guess he couldn't taste it [except for the "weird texture"] because he didn't say that it tasted tofu-y.

This is the 3rd cheesecake [from the second batch] that I gave to JM, and I decorated it using the leftover icing sugar from the cookies.

Recipe for cheesecake!!!!

Filling:

1. 8 oz cream cheese, cut into chunks [one package. GET FULL-FAT. DON'T GET LOW FAT!!! This isn't because full-fat cream cheese is healthy or anything; it's just because I'm not sure how fat-free cream cheese melts/reacts with my other ingredients...so I suppose you could get fat-free cream cheese if you want.]

2. 10 oz squeezed firm tofu [or 20 oz if you want the tofu taste to be prevalent. By "squeezed", I mean, try get rid of as much of the water as possible. I did this by literally squeezing the tofu, which incidentally mashed the tofu so it was easier to blend.]

3. Blueberry, or 2 tbsp cocoa powder, or whatever flavouring.

4. At least half a cup of orange juice. [Or lemon juice. An acidic juice. The orange juice actually left a tiny bit of orangey taste... although that could've just been my imagination]

5. Around 4 tsp of corn starch [add more if you feel like it. I'm not quite sure how much I had, since I initially had 2 tsp, then during the blending, I added more.

6. 1 cup of confectioner's sugar! [YES!! More if you feel like it.]

Healthy Crust!

1. 2 cups of Grape-Nuts

2. Honey or sugar water [However much you want; if you want a crunchy-tooth-breaking crust, don't use that much water, but if you want a soft crust, add more water until it looks damp!]

Stuff to do!

1. Pulse and shake cereal and sugar/honey/water mixture until you get fine pieces.

2. Press into a 11-inch pan if you want the crust to just fill the bottom. Alternatively, press into a 9-inch pan if you want crust on the sides. I used a 7.5-inch pan and had a lot of crust leftover [hence the mini cheesecakes that my sister studded with sprinkles...]

3. Bake at 350F for 5 minutes. You do NOT need to preheat your oven. That is a waste of heat.

4. Stick everything in the Filling list in a blender, and blend! After a few minutes on Low, you should have something that is uniformly blended and has the consistency of American pudding. If not, make it more pudding-ish, by adding corn starch and/or orange juice. I know "consistency of American pudding" is really hard to define, but it shouldn't be like cookie dough. It also shouldn't be like cake batter. It's more... elegant and poofy than those. Actually, it's sort of gelatinous.

5. Taste it. If it tastes good, cool. If it doesn't taste sour enough, add more orange juice!

6. Pour onto crust and smooth it out.

7. Stick that cheesecake into the oven at 350F for 25 minutes. Leave it in there for another 25 minutes; why not? Use up the remaining heat!!

8. In the meantime, eat the cheesecake filling remaining in the blender. No eggs! No 90% fat! Yay!

9. Take cheesecake out, and let it cool. There really shouldn't be any browning...a tiny bit on the edges is okay, though.

10. When cheesecake is COLD COLD COLD, put it in the fridge/freezer/outside - whatever you prefer.

11. In 12 hours, take out the cheesecake and wipe off the condensation at the top, using a paper towel. Do not use a tissue. I'm not sure why the cheesecakes condensed... I think it's due to the tofu, actually, or perhaps the blueberries [high water content!]. Either way, although it makes the cheesecakes look a bit weird, it's just water after all.

12. These cheesecakes taste good for at least 3-4 days. In the freezer, they last much longer [well...duh.]

13. The cheesecake is actually relatively healthy...

Brunch!

How can two dorm rooms feed a whole college dorm house [~100 people? More?] with $80? It's the same question that many families ask themselves; how does one feed a family of 3-5 with, say, $20/week?

The answer? Bleached, refined flour bread, just-add-water-cake-mix with a lot of fat, eggs, and, well, more eggs. Oh, and Tater tots and potatoes. And, apparently, pumpkin pie fits the bill too.

How can two dorm rooms feed a whole college dorm house [~100 people? More?] with $80? It's the same question that many families ask themselves; how does one feed a family of 3-5 with, say, $20/week?

The answer? Bleached, refined flour bread, just-add-water-cake-mix with a lot of fat, eggs, and, well, more eggs. Oh, and Tater tots and potatoes. And, apparently, pumpkin pie fits the bill too.

Did you notice the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables? I really think that if society sold items based on caloric value, we'd have a much healthier society. Plus, we'd make more use of our land, and processing wouldn't delete nutrients from foods [think corn -> corn flakes saturated with sugar].

Cheap muffin mix - just add half a cup of water. $1.39. We bought 8 packs of them.

Tater tots - the other dorm room bought two packs of these.

The cake. No, the blueberries do not count as a proper serving of fruit. Oh, and we used 7 dozen eggs. Just saying.

Other dorm room made biscotti.

We ran out of egg... so we had one loaf [$1.09] of cheap white bread for French toast, and we used half of the other loaf for buttered bread.

More biscotti...

We also made toasted potato cubes [breakfast potatoes]... and a lot of scrambled eggs.

It is apparently a feat to have food remaining after 10 minutes of Brunch. It is an even larger feat to have 3 plates of food [one pie, a lot of cake, and some toast] remaining, 40 minutes after Brunch.

Is it positive or negative? From an energy perspective, it is absolutely more worth it to have fed people vegetable pancakes, or veggies with dip, or fruit. However, from a price perspective...

I do not think that I feel... proud of the fact that we just served really really unhealthy food [except for the eggs] to our dorm house.

However, had we bought fewer high quality vegetables, our brunch would've been cow poop [literally... since crops get manure, if one's into some sort of sustainable farming]. No one would've liked it.

This is why we have fast food chains.