This is a long overdue post from back in May…

Yukiko's Cafe Bistro

Yukiko’s was one of the restaurants that I had wanted to visit since second year in university, when I first heard about the place. Located at 30 William Street West in Waterloo, ON, it was just a little beyond the typical travel distance from my university residence. And there weren’t any updates or reviews about the restaurant online for the past 2 years. On the very last day that I was in Waterloo, I took a walk and decided to head over there and see if they were open.

Wine Menu

The menu is cafe European type food and was extremely vegetarian friendly, which was perfect for me. They had small sample sizes of their soups, so I tried their soup of the day: a potato tomato bean soup.

Potato Tomato Bean Soup

For my entree, I ordered the polenta vegetable lasagna, which was lasagna but polenta instead of pasta. The food was delicious, hearty and seemed fairly healthy as well.

Polenta Vegetable Lasagna

While there I had a conversation with a nice couple there that told me that the restaurant had been closed for a while and had just recently reopened about a month ago, which explains why there’s no recent reviews around.

Counter with Raspberry Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

For dessert, they had a delicious looking raspberry strawberry rhubarb crisp, but I was too full so I didn’t get to try it :(. The service was excellent, waitress was super friendly and polite. I would definitely return here if I’m ever back in Waterloo.

Tiramisu Toppo

Something BETTER than POCKY? NO WAY. After reading the latest review from Pocky Watch, I just HAD to try out Lotte Toppo. I dropped by the local T&T later that night and checked out the shelf with all the glorious Pocky treats. Naturally, I’ve tried all of the Pocky flavours available there :P. I tried looking for the basic chocolate Toppo, but couldn’t find anything besides strawberry and tiramisu. I grabbed the tiramisu package thinking it would be more like chocolate, and headed home, anxiously waiting to try out what could be BETTER than Pocky.

Tiramisu Toppo in a Cup

I eagerly ripped open the package and bit into the Toppo-y goodness. The outside tastes much more like a pretzel than Pocky, there seems to be more salt and the texture is harder than Pocky’s soft, easily broken pretzel sticks. The filling was much more powdery than expected, but I think that’s due to the fact that it’s tiramisu. Overall, it’s not bad, the pretzel part of the sticks are pretty good, but the tiramisu flavour doesn’t compare at all to Tiramisu Pocky. I’ll have to hunt down a chocolate Toppo sometime so I can compare properly =).

Went with Judy and Alice to Nick & Nat’s Uptown 21 in Uptown Waterloo on Thursday before I headed back home for the weekend. It’s one of the last few places that’s left on my list of places to try in Waterloo.

Open Kitchen

It was a fairly windy day, so the walk though Waterloo park wasn’t as nice as we were expecting. According to Judy and Alice this one year old restaurant sits in the space of where Salute used to be. The decor and atmosphere of the restaurant was modern and clean, and an open kitchen is always a nice thing to have.

Tables

I ordered two drinks, the Jalapeño Martini made with gold tequila, lime and jalapeno sweet syrup. It was garnished with some cheddary cheese and a slice of jalapeno. The drink was certainly interesting, exactly what you would expect it to taste like: spicy, sweet and boozy at the same time. The drink itself was too sweet for me, and not tasty anyways. It was worth a try, not something I’d ever order again though.

The bar also had a bunch of infused vodkas, including a cherry infused vodka. The bartender suggested making an Uptown 2.1 with the cherry infused vodka, so I gave it a shot and it turned really pretty good, just the right balance of fruitiness and alcohol.

Steamed Mussels

Alice ordered the Steamed Mussels and Judy ordered the Cod Cakes. Alice wasn’t too impressed by the mussels, and was kind of frustrated having to “fish” for the mussels in the broth. Judy on the other hand finished her cod cakes quickly pleased with her choice.

Brazillian Cod Cakes

The menu consists of local food, and they also have a daily prix fixe menu (that you can order a la carte from as well). Alice and I ordered from the prix fixe menu, “pillows” filled with chevre and some sort of chilli with ramps. Judy ordered the Potato and Old Cheddar Tortellini served with pecans, shallots in a truffle brown buttle finished with maple/malt gastrique (quite a mouthful there). Both the dishes tasted fairly Asian, partially because their fresh pasta tasted more like wonton than pasta dough and the fact that the flavours of the dishes also tasted Asian. Both dishes were good, although slightly oversalted. I really enjoyed eating the pecans and sauce that were in Judy’s dish.

We finished off with desserts, Judy ordering Cheese and Doughnuts, and Alice and I ordering the Clafouti a type of souffle apparently. Judy loved her doughnuts but found the cheese far too strong for her tastes. (Even I found the cheese too strong, and I’m ok with eating Stilton.) I believe the type of cheese that was served was Taleggio. The clafouti was alright, served with cream and baked with apples. The portion size surprised me, considering the menu said souffle, but the clafouti was actually the size of a small plate.

All of the things at this place were hit or miss, but I’m really tempted to try this place again. I really like the strong focus on local and fresh food, as well as the atmosphere and the attitude of the staff working there.

1 exam tomorrow and 5 more days until I’m done in Waterloo. Wow.

There’s been such great weather lately, and with all the daylight it makes for great pictures. I made a nice simple pasta dish for lunch today, composed of

• onion
• mushrooms
• spicy katamala olives
• Classico sweet basil marinara
• rigatoni
• baby spinach
• cayenne pepper
• table cream

Sauteeing Onion, Mushrooms and Olives

Sauteeing the onions and mushrooms and then adding the olives, sauce and table cream creates a creamy chunky concoction that can be placed on top of some rigatoni and baby spinach.

Spicy Rigatoni

The mid-day lightining makes for wonderful naturally lit pictures that can be taken at a low ISO setting. It’s sad to know that I won’t have this type of lighting once I start working from 9-5… Gotta pick up a flash once I get the income…

Tofu Patty with Black Kale

After a long week of assignments, presentations and an incredibly stressful interview, I decided to kick back and cook up something interesting.

I was planning on just making some boring grilled tofu, but decided I was craving something much more… burgery. So I decided to make some tofu patties with whatever I had in the fridge.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the exact proportions for this recipe, but it can be measured to taste.

• 2 pieces of medium firm tofu
• 3-4 cremini mushrooms
• 1 stalk green onion
• bit of flour (or breadcrumbs, I didn’t have any at the moment) to bind
• bit of kale
• 1 chopped walnut (optional, for texture)
• some cooked rice (that I had leftover,  made with vegetable broth instead of water)
• 1 lightly beaten egg
• salt
• pepper

Doesn't look very appealing uncooked...

Mix all the ingredients together and and form 1/2 inch patties. I found that the patties were fairly fragile so making them smaller than I have here should make them much more manageable when cooking. Pan fry the patties on medium heat until both sides are nice and golden and enjoy =)

Hot off the pan!

]]> http://blog.mlee.ca/2010/03/tofu-patties/feed/ 2 http://blog.mlee.ca/2010/01/butternut-squash-star-ravioli-with-butter-thyme-sauce/ http://blog.mlee.ca/2010/01/butternut-squash-star-ravioli-with-butter-thyme-sauce/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:20:26 +0000 Mike http://blog.mlee.ca/?p=494 It’s pretty hard getting by as a University student living away from home. You never have the tools or ingredients that you need to get …]]>

It’s pretty hard getting by as a University student living away from home. You never have the tools or ingredients that you need to get things done, especially when it comes to cooking and baking.

Yesterday, I finally obtained some Baileys, so that I could make some more sugar cookies to share with everyone on my floor, but realised I didn’t have a electric mixer or even batter. After asking about 5 random people in our building, I still came up empty :(.

Butternut Squash Star Ravioli

Today, I still had the incredible craving to make something, so I googled up a recipe for fresh pasta and grabbed some leftover baked butternut squash in the fridge.

No mixing bowl? Use a plastic tub for washing rice.

No blender? Puree with a spoon/knife.

No pastry wheel? Use a cookie cutter. It’s a much interesting shape than cutting straight lines with a knife. And takes advantage of the cookie cutter I bought recently.

No rolling pin? (wait for it…) Use a mug or a cup. This worked fairly well for the pastry dough that I made a few weeks ago.

Probably due to my inability to mix the ingredients properly, I was left with a tough dough and it was incredibly difficult to flatten out, especially without the right tools. It took me about an hour just to make these 4 pieces of ravioli, I just gave up after that and sliced them up into thick pieces of fettuccine.

Butternut Squash Star Ravioli

I cooked them up and lightly coated them in a butter thyme sauce. The pasta dough itself was really thick and tough, but the centre was still light, sweet and creamy. At least they came out looking great =) .

A few weeks late, but I really liked how they turned out.

For the holidays, I decided to make some cookies and wrap them up nicely for my friends as just a little gift. I tried a few different recipes, including trying to make macarons three separate times, all three times resulting in complete failure :(.

COOKIE! omnomnomnomn

I ended up sticking with the sugar cookies recipe that I wrote about last post, but added a little alcoholic twist to it. The remaining bottle of Baileys I had sitting around in my room seemed perfect for the occasion. I replaced the sugar in the recipe with the Bailey’s which adds some extra liquid to the recipe softening up the cookies (since the original recipe cookies were a little hard). Also, about halfway through the baking, I lightly brushed the cookies with Baileys to give them the extra shine and flavour.

Fresh out of the oven, ready to be glazed.

Baileys Sugar Cookies (Preparation)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup Bailey’s (plus some extra for glazing)
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Waiting for the cookies to dry after icing.

After the cookies had dried, I placed them in some clear cellophane bags and wrapped it up with some nice fuzzy ribbon. The cookies themselves don’t taste recognizably like Baileys, but add a delicious hint of chocolate to the cookies.

All wrapped up.

Happy New Years!

Christmas is quickly coming up and that means finding presents for everyone! Since I’ve met so many new wonderful friends over the course of this year, I figured I should make a little something for everyone. Since I’ve picked up baking lately, I figured the most appropriate festive gift would be some cookies nicely wrapped up. And who doesn’t like cookies? So over the next week or so, I’ll be looking for a good recipe to use!

I’ve never actually made cookies from scratch before. The last time I remember making cookies is back in elementary school with my mom using instant Pillsbury dough, which I’m sure everyone has done.

First up are some sugar cookies. I used this recipe since it was the only type of cookie that I had all the ingredients for in my house. Also with a lack of a cookie cutter, I just decided to cut them into little bite sized squares. I’ll  have to buy some nice cookie cutters too, before I can make the final products.

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

I followed the recipe, replacing the butter + salt with salted butter (since it’s the only kind I had at home). Icing the top with a traditional royal icing (salmonella, oh noes!). The cookies themselves came out pretty well, I thought they tasted pretty good, especially since they weren’t too sweet and the salted butter didn’t cause the cookies to taste salty. These cookies also provide a really good blank canvas to get creative with icing and decorating.

Why does all the red icing I make turn pink/salmon coloured?
Perhaps it’s time to invest in some better food colouring!

After baking the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes and seeing how much everyone enjoyed them, I decided to try my hand at some more cupcakes. This time around, something a little bit healthier, carrot cupcakes!

Shortly after coming out of the oven

I used this Carrot Cupcake recipe and also made the Candied Carrot Curls for a garnish.

Dipped in Icing

The recipe was a lot simpler than the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. I personally didn’t really like the recipe, since I prefer my carrot cake light and fluffy. The icing also started to separate after a short time, even when refrigerated which left most of the icing on the bottom of the container I was storing them in, perhaps I added too much orange juice? The icing also left an orange taste in my mouth long after I had finished the cupcake, which wasn’t great :(

Leek & Ham Quiche

Quiche is one of my favourite dishes, EVER. The creamy eggy, the strong flavours of cheese and whatever filling is inside, as well as the flaky crust. Irresistable! Since my mom had returned from her vacation, I haven’t had the opportunity to cook. Fueled by the strong desire to cook something up, I dropped by the grocery store and grabbed some leeks and Yves Meatless Ham.

Here’s the recipe I used, based on a recipe from Canadian Living. (The crust recipe is identical, so I’m not going to duplicate it here.)

Ingredients:
1/2 tbsp olive oil
6 slices of Yves Meatless Ham, 1/2 inch pieces
1 large leek, 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp (2 mL) pepper
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
4 large eggs
5/8 cup (150 mL) 2% milk
2 tbsp (25 mL) dijon mustard
3/4 cup (175 mL) shredded Gruyère cheese
1 tbsp crumbled Blue Haze cheese

Directions:
In a large skillet on medium heat, add olive oil and fry ham, leek, pepper and salt until softened.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and milk together. Add ham, leek and bluze haze, mixing all the ingredients together.

Spread mustard over the pastry shell. Sprinkle the Gruyère over the crust and pour in egg mixture.

Bake in oven at 375°F for about 40 minutes, until a knife through the centre comes out clean. Remove from heat, and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy =)