Melon Cutting Pictorial

How do you prepare your melons? I used to use a melon baller but found that I would get a lot of half-round balls - not pretty at all. I then started cutting the melon into wedges, then remove the rind, and then cut them into bite-size pieces. That was so tedious. A couple of years ago, frustrated, I just decided to cut all the rind off and I've been doing it since. I am able to cut a whole cantaloupe into pieces in less than 5 minutes (clean up time included). They're ready to store and eat anytime. I'm sure many of you know how to do this already, but for those who don't, I'll let the pictures do the talking. I always sharpen my Santoku knife before cutting melons or slicing meat. A sharp knife does all the work so you won't and it prevents injuries too.

My Newest Gadget Rave

In my last post, I mentioned that I purchased the Tomato Wiz. You must be thinking that I like tomatoes. Tomatoes are okay but I usually buy them canned. So why would I want this gadget? Well, what's kind of similar to a tomato? A strawberry, of course! Well, the stem part anyways. We eat lots of strawberries so this gadget could be a time-saver. Look what this amazing gadget can do to those delicate berries:

It removed the stem and the tart, firm part as well as the fuzzy filling of the strawberry in one twist of the gadget. I hulled this big colander of strawberries in less than 5 minutes! And no mess! My sister thought it was cool so I gave her one of the Tomato Wiz. I will be going to pick up another pack soon. So worth the $1.20 for 2.

My Newest Additions to the Gadget Drawer

For the last month or two I've been making some gadget purchases. I've lumped them up in this post.

Someone gave me a 50% off coupon for one regular priced item at Michaels. I just couldn't resist so I picked up this cute set of animal silicone baking cups by Wilton. I think the kiddies will go wild (no pun intended) when they see their next cupcake treat.














I've been dipping my feet into Bento accessories (remember the egg molds?). Here's the rice molds:


I got this from a store called Silk Living Warehouse.










I also have this fascination with restaurant supply stores. I know, I'm crazy. My cousin wanted to pick up some things there and when I heard she was going, I jumped at the opportunity (I know, no surprise). Why do I do this to myself!?! I guess I could have gone crazy there but luckily I paced myself and picked up only a few items. Pastry bags, a piping tip, a coupler, a decorating comb, a set of measuring spoons (again! You can never have too many), and a Tomato Wiz (I'll tell you more about it in another post).














You know what, I'm going to make another trip out to Nella Cutlery. I'm going to pick up some more pastry tips, couplers, Tomato Wiz (I gave one to my sister) and some wooden spoons. That's my list but, if you know me, I won't be sticking to it!

Artisan Bread - First Attempt

Have I ever mentioned that I love bread? I have a fondness to artisan breads like sourdough, pumpernickel, rye, Italian, and French loaves. These are pretty pricey, but oh so yummy. I always buy mine and just before serving I would warm it up in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. The crust would crisp up and the inside would be warm so that when I spread the cool butter on it would spread ever so evenly.

One day, while browsing online on Amazon, I somehow came across Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day. I read the customer reviews and then even Googled it. I found their official website and watched the authors make their bread on YouTube. It looked really simple. They claim that there is no need to proof the yeast, no kneading, and only 5 minutes hands-on! Could it really be that simple? Is there a catch? Well, being the shopper that I am, I purchased it.

It's been sitting on my bookshelf for over a month now and I finally got up the nerve to try it. And you know what? It was as easy as the authors said it would be. Here is a pictorial of what I did (sorry, but I forgot to take pictures of when I cut the dough and shaped it onto the board before putting it in the oven):

1. First I measured out the yeast and salt.



2. I measured out the water, making sure it was lukewarm and added it to the yeast and salt.

3. I added the flour and mixed with a rubber spatula and it was kind of hard to stir so I ended up using my hands.




This is what the dough looked like after stirring. This recipe makes 4 1-pound loaves. You may not be able to tell, but the dough is pretty wet and sticky.

4. Let the dough sit on the counter for 2 to 4 hours. After that you can bake a loaf or two or you can store it in the refrigerator. It will keep for 14 days.



This is what the dough looked like after sitting on the counter 2 hours covered. See the bubbles from the yeast doing its work? At this point, I could have cut a 1-pound piece and shaped it to go in the oven but I didn't need it just yet so I covered it and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

5. To make my loaves for dinner, I took my doughs out of the refrigerator (I also made a batch of the Light Whole Wheat loaf recipe). I put some cornmeal on some waxed paper (I don't have a pizza peel). I floured the surface of the dough and cut a 1-pound piece from it and shaped it into an oval and placed it on my make-shift pizza peel. I then slashed the loaves three times each.

6. About 10 minutes later, I preheated the oven to 450 degrees with my Pampered Chef stone cookie sheet. Once the oven reached 450 (about 25 minutes), I slid my loaves onto the hot stone and poured some hot water into a pan on a lower rack to create steam. I set the timer for 30 minutes...and Voila!
The one on the left is the Master Recipe for French-style Boule and the one on the right is the Light Whole Wheat version. The regular version is much prettier, don't you think? I think it's because whole wheat flour absorbs more water making it a little more difficult to shape smoothly.
The verdict? It was very easy and it tasted yummy. A little on the dense side but I think it's because I didn't let the dough sit on the counter long enough after shaping. I will definitely be making my own from now on. My guest thought it was great so I packed up the unused doughs for him to bake at home. Success, indeed.

Happy Easter

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!

Lindt Chocolate Bunnies:

The bunnies doing the Bunny Hop!

Sephora Euphoria

Does anyone else have this feeling when she enters this store? This is truly an amazing store that really knows how to bank on us girls. I mean, what would a mother of three young children on maternity leave have any business doing in here? Why would, or should I say, how would I have the time to care about cosmetics at this point in my life? Well, just because I'm a slave, er... I mean a mom, a wife... I still like to put my best foot (um, face) forward.

Ever since my late teens I've been fascinated by makeup. Foundation, mascara, eye shadow, lipsticks, and blush - you should've seen my stock, er...makeup drawers. In the last 5 years (since becoming slave to hubby and children, happily of course), I've put the makeup I have come to love and cherish aside and moved on to tinted moisturizer and bronzers plus lip gloss for a quick pick-me-up. Now that my baby is almost 1 (where has the time gone?), my lack of sleep a soon-to-be memory (ha! I have trouble convincing myself of that one, but you can't blame a mom from dreaming) , I swear I could hear my neglected makeup calling me. So I go to my lovelies and what do I see? Outdated colours, makeup that the pros and dermatologist would claim a bio hazard and blah, blah, blah because they're so old and probably have bacterial growth. So what's a girl to do? Hit Sephora!

I was in cosmetic heaven! Too bad Sephora products don't come free otherwise my makeup drawers would be overflowing by now. I decided to go slow, to pace myself. Start with the very basics: foundation. I've heard lots of wonderful things about mineral makeup, in particular Bare Minerals. I went over to the Bare Escentuals area and they have starter kits! My lucky day! It comes with two foundations (2 different shades), the mineral veil, the warmth face colour, skin rev-er upper, 3 different brushes, an instruction booklet and an instructional DVD! All for $75 (they claim that it is over $200 if purchased separately). Ooh! I like that! Now the only thing with starter kits is that they are packaged according to skin tones. I have no idea which set would be for me. And this is why I love Sephora. The ladies there are informative and friendly. So I inquired about the product and asked which shade would be right for me. I wanted to be sure that I didn't get the wrong one. Although the price is reasonable for what I would be getting $75 is still a lot of money. So the cosmetician did the whole shebang and made me look like a million bucks (so a million minus the $75, I'm richer with it, right?). I was sold.

When Life Threw Lemons at Me...

...I made Lemon Squares.



Well, I had 4 lemons leftover from the large bag I purchased from Sam's Club when they were liquidating their Canadian chain. I didn't want them to go to waste so I decided to make Lemon Squares. I was able to juice 1-1/3 cups from my beloved juicer so I doubled the recipe. I followed the recipe without any major hitches (except that I may have pulsed the crust ingredients a few more times than I should have).

All in all, the recipe turned out great. The surface of the lemon filling was rough looking, but nothing that a little sprinkling of icing sugar couldn't hide. I brought them over to my cousin's and it was a hit. Thank goodness because I was not a fan of it - too tart for my liking. So the next time life throws lemons at me, I will be making lemonade.

Antique Juicer

Isn't this a beauty? You might say, "What's so special about it? You could go out and get an electric juicer with all the bells and whistles or perhaps a citrus juicer that you might hold in your hand."

But this one holds special meaning to me. This belonged to my parents, well actually, my dad. He passed away over 3 years ago. Before my mom sold the house and moved in with us, my siblings and I were faced with packing up our childhood home filled with over 30 years of memories and belongings. My brother, sister, and I each had our own home by now and we didn't need more things to pack into our homes. We sorted through everything and kept what we wanted and the rest went to Goodwill. There were only 3 things that I wanted and, of course, this juicer was one of them. Every time I look at this piece, I am filled with the memories of my father. I picture him making fresh orange juice for us when we were little. No other juicer could ever replace this as I'm sure you'll agree. And IMO, it still does the best job at juicing lemons and oranges.

Tuxedo Sesame Encrusted Wasabi Salmon

Salmon is my favorite fish. If it were up to me, I would have salmon more than once a week, unfortunately hubby thinks that once a week is even too much. Rich and meaty, I like my salmon cooked any which way or as sashimi. Well, we haven't had salmon in a while so after hubby agreed (should he have a choice when he isn't the one cooking?), I picked up a beautiful slab of lusciousness from Costco for $22.56. I usually bake my salmon in the oven with a lemon butter sauce but I didn't feel for it. I decided to make a sesame-crusted salmon that would be pan-fried. I've made this many times before, but this time I wanted to add more depth to this dish, so I incorporated soy sauce and wasabi (the dipping sauce for sashimi) and to make it more special I added black sesame seeds to the usual white.

The ingredients (not pictured are the salt and pepper):

The assembly line:










Look at the sesame. So fancy looking. I eyeballed the amounts and would say I used about equal parts of the black and white sesame. I mixed the wasabi into the soy sauce (add as much wasabi as you want to the amount of heat you and your "diners" can handle). I used a paper towel to dry off the salmon fillets and seasoned them with salt and pepper. Then I dipped them into the soy sauce, followed by the sesame mixture. In a preheated non-stick pan sprayed with oil, fry the salmon to desired doneness.










Served with stir-fried zucchinis in the wasabi-soy sauce mixture and rice, both topped with a sprinkle of tuxedo sesame seeds (do not use the sesame seeds from the assembly line since they've come into contact with raw salmon):


This dish is a winner. It tasted A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Even hubby said it was delicious. This will be on our menus more often. It was so easy and quick. From start to finish, dinner was on the table in 30 minutes. And clean-up was a breeze: 1 knife, a cutting board, spatula, and 1 pan.

Ginormous Strawberries

Look at these strawberries. Aren't they ginormous?!?! I don't want to know what has been done to them to get them this big because these are not organic. I know I should buy them organic because they are on the list of the dirty dozen, but who can resist a big, juicy, ripe strawberry? Not me, and just for the record...they were really sweet and gobbled up in no time.

Pop, Pop Popcorn

Would you say that a person is either a popcorn lover or a chip lover? Well, I love popcorn. Not that I don't eat chips...I do. I just prefer popcorn and that's been the case since I was little. I love 'em savoury and I love 'em sweet. Have you ever had glazed popcorn? They are to die for! They have so many layers of depth (you'd think I was talking about a gourmet dish or something). Crunchy, sweet, hint of salt. To me, it is a true amuse-bouche. And looking at them is like snowflakes: no two are identical.

My love for these popped corn kernels led me to purchase the Theatre II Popcorn Popper. It's very similar to the Whirley Pop.

I've had it for more than 10 years but have only recently started using it more. It is very easy to use. All you have to do is preheat the popper over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp oil, a pinch or two of salt, and a 1/4 C of corn kernels. Crank slowly until popping slows down to 1 pop every 2 seconds and remove from heat. Pour into bowl. I had only one unpopped kernel and it tastes way better than air-popped and microwave popcorn. This is the basic recipe and you could taste the sweetness of the corn. Perfection. If I get adventurous, I will try making other flavours.




















In Canada we have a popcorn store called Kernels. If I could have it everyday, I would be happy, and I would be poor. Check out what my kids got the last time we were at the mall (thanks Auntie R). It's called Bahama Mama. It is their latest flavour. I've never liked rainbow coloured popcorn or even ice cream for that matter. It's so kid-like and usually reminds me of fake bubblegum taste. But I must say this one is delicious and I would buy again. Each colour has a different flavour, some even remind me of various Kool-aid flavours.


So are you a popcorn lover or are you a chip lover?