Cross-Border Shopping

PPGs!!!! Re-unite.

My girlfriends and I went cross-border shopping yesterday. What an adventure! We had lots of fun and shopped ‘til we dropped. Oh! I can’t leave out that we also went to The Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch. Wow! That was amazing. It was my first time and totally not what I was expecting. A wonderful atmosphere and a grandiose feel. The menu was amazing too.

Some places we hit:

• The Fashion Outlet near Niagara Falls border. The stores of main interest: Coach, Lindt, Corningware, Under Armour, Nine West, Solstice, Nike, The Bath and Body Works
• Walden Galleria: The Cheesecake Factory, Solstice, Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, The Bath & Body Works, Loft by Ann Taylor, Teavana, Geox
• Sam’s Club.

Now, I know that sounds like a lot of places, but I didn’t spend that much. I think I got off easy – total bill was $250. Half of it was actually groceries from Sam’s Club and $35 was for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and for gas. I also got 2 t-shirts (bogo 50%), hand-sanitizers ($5 for 5), swimsuit and a pair of sunglasses.

Thanks, hubby, for watching the children! I know it wasn’t easy with a 4, 2, and 1 – year old, especially when #2 had a bad cold.

Comfort Food, Chinese-Style

What is your comfort food? Some might say Mac 'n Cheese, cookies and milk, grilled cheese, ...Well, for my girlfriends and I it's Chinese-style sausages (lap cheong), salted duck eggs served with steamed rice. All right, so it's not that healthy and you shouldn't eat it on a regular basis. There's a lot of sodium, saturated fat and preservatives. You wouldn't want to have this meal before you go for a medical checkup. My girlfriends have been asking me to make it for the last little while and, of course, I happily obliged. This is a classic, simple meal that many Chinese have had growing up. And it is so easy. And did I mention quick? It takes only 30 minutes to cook, but for the most part you can walk away and do something else.

So here's how I did it:

1. Rinse the rice and put it in the rice cooker (a must-have in any Chinese household) and add the appropriate amount of water.

2. Rinse sausages and add to the rice.

3. Clean and rinse the salted duck eggs. The eggs are covered in black soil. I'm not sure about the purpose of this soil. I think that it is to protect the eggs in transport? Or is it a salty soil that preserves the egg? Anyways, once the soil has been scraped away, rinse the eggs clean and place them on a small plate which is then placed on top of the rice and sausages. Set the rice cooker (I set it to the Quick setting, about 20 minutes).

Now I would've stopped there and called it a meal, but to round out this dish I wanted some vegetables. As the main part of our meal was cooking, I put a pot filled halfway with water on the stove. As I waited for it to boil, I sliced up some ginger and half of a head of lettuce. I added it to the boiling water and cooked it until wilted. I also wanted to add one of my all-time favorite comfort food to this meal - a fried egg, but not just any fried egg. Eggs fried into a coin-purse style. Why do I call it that? Well, actually, my mom uses this term. The egg is kind of shaped like a coin purse. I love it. When you break it over steaming rice, you see the runny yolk seep into the crevices between the grains of steamed rice. It's almost like a sauce for the rice, especially if you add a dollop of Oyster-flavoured sauce to it. Out came the frying pan. Once the pan was hot, I sprayed it with oil with my oil sprayer pump. I cracked 3 eggs into the pan, away from each other. After the bottom side turned opaque, I folded one side of egg over to meet the other side of the egg, almost like closing a book, or in this case, closing your coin purse, and waited for it to set. When the bottom of the eggs are done to your likeness, flip them over carefully so that you don't break the yolk. Once nicely browned, you're done.

Just in time. The rice cooker gives 3 beeps to let me know that it's done. I opened the lid and the steam fills the air. Once it dissipated, we saw our delectable treasures within:

I wanted to show the girls my newest toy, an egg shaper. I quickly peeled a piping hot duck egg and put it the mold and ran it under cold water for a minute. The egg was a little small for the mold so it didn't turn out perfectly but my friends still oohed and ahhed.

Chinese-style comfort food doesn't get better than this:

My drawers of shame and more

...my kitchen gadget and tools drawers:

Drawer 1

Drawer 2

Actually, I guess I have no shame. Believe it or not, I have more scattered throughout my kitchen cupboards as well as in boxes in the basement. But, that still doesn't stop me from buying more! Over the past two weeks I have accumulated more kitchen stuff:

Silicone bakeware that can double as molds and a brownie heart-shaped cutter (the blue pans are by President's Choice, the rest are Wilton). My four year old started school this year and these will be great for class parties and events. All were on sale for 40% off. I've used the Bite Size Brownie Squares pan. I must say the clean-up was not fun. Getting into all the square edges and corners was tough. The instructions says not to scratch it so I had to be delicate too. The Teddy Bear cups and Square Baking Cups are going to be for baking cupcakes as well as be used for making Bentos (I am starting a new hobby). As for the green Flower mold, well, that is my favorite shape so I HAD to HAVE it.

I had a Buy One Get the Second for 50% off coupon for Foogo products from Kitchen Stuff Plus. Walking into that store is hazardous to my wallet and my junk, I mean, gadget drawer. I couldn't just leave with the Foogo sippy cup and food jar for my daughter. Me going into a kitchen store is like a child going into a candy shop. I couldn't resist buying. So here's my loot: measuring cups and spoons (you can never have too many), candy/deep fryer thermometer, oil sprayer pump, a peeler that can cut julienne strips, and the best ceramic stove top cleaner ever. Not pictured here is the instant-read meat thermometer which I actually opened and used (a gadget that got used! Woohoo!). So what's the worst thing that could happen when checking out of the store? Giving me a 25% off one item card for my next visit!!!!! They sure know my type well. Oh, the temptation.

On a different note, yesterday was Girlfriend Day and it's the best kind of day that a mom can have. It was almost like a mini-vacation. A spa, if you will...well, not quite, but just as rejuvenating. Yeah, I don't get out much, not these last four and half years that's for sure (since the birth of my firstborn). I've been dying to go to Panera Bread in Richmond Hill since I drove by it a month ago. It was perfect because one of my dearest friends lives right around the corner from there. So the three of us, with my baby daughter in tow, went to check this place out. The foodie in me was drooling as we pulled into the parking lot. Panera Bread did not disappoint. I ordered half of a Turkey Artichoke Hot Panini with a small order of Broccoli Cheddar Soup. It was served with slice of their warm Multigrain Baguette. Delish! Although we were full, their dessert display was too yummy to pass up. I ordered a Cobblestone (their Raisin Cinnamon Bread cut in cubes baked with apples and molasses with icing drizzled on top). One of my girlfriends ordered the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Yummy - I was pleasantly surprised that there was cornmeal in it. My other girlfriend ordered the Cheese Danish and it was the better dessert of the three. I ordered a coffee to go with my dessert. It was too strong and left me sleepless last night. So what is my review of Panera Bread? Great food, great service (although you order it and bring it to your own table), and great atmosphere. I would definitely go back and highly recommend it to anyone who loves bread.

Upon leaving, I felt guilty for leaving the hubby and two boys behind so I picked up 4 ginormous Chipper Cookies for them: (clockwise from top-right) Chocolate Chipper, Nutty Oatmeal Raisin, Nutty Chocolate Chipper, and Chocolate Duet with Walnuts. They were very happy to see me and I missed them too. A mommy needs some time and space to herself sometimes and Girlfriend Dates are the way to do it.