Morinaga Venezuela Bitter

I found these dark chocolate squares from the Japanese company Morinaga, it contains cacao made from beans from Venezuela. I have found Venezuelan cacao beans to be very tasty, and this is no exception. The packaging is in Japanese, so either it has 56% cacao content, or 50% cacao content. Oddly enough, I found this in a Chinese store, in the mostly Chinese mall, Pacific Mall, in Markham.

How does it taste? The chocolate is smooth and not too bitter, despite its name, a very good example of good Venezuelan cacao.

Pork Curry with Pea-sized Eggplants

Having found the pea-sized eggplants that this dish calls for, we decided to make this really simple to make and good tasting fairly authentic Thai dish. You can use an already prepared Red Curry Paste, or make your own. You can also use a Green Curry paste, or even a Yellow one, each one will give a different flavour, but Red is the most common. I prefer my pork to be a little browned, I think that it would serve well, though I have been told that "it is not made that way". Sometime, I will do it that way, just to see what it tastes like.

Pork Curry with Pea-Sized Eggplants
From Authentic Recipes from Thailand by Sven Krauss
1/2 cup coconut cream
1 Tbsp Red Curry Paste (or Green, or Yellow)
350 g pork tenderloin, cut into bite-sized slices
1/3 cup pea-sized eggplants (optional)
1-1/2 cups thin coconut milk
1-1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
5 kaffir lime leaves, halved
1 fresh red chili, thinly sliced
1/2 cup Thai basil leaves

Bring the coconut cream to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add the Red Curry Paste, pork, eggplant and coconut milk. Stir well and simmer over low heat until done, about 15 minutes.

Add the fish sauce, sugar, kaffir lime leaves and chili. Stir and heat through, then remove from heat and garnish with basil.

Little Green Globes

I had seen these for sale in various Chinese supermarkets, but didn't know what they were. I thought that they might be a herb or spice of some kind, something to add to an Asian Spice Paste. Now I found out, and you might guess that the answer came from my beautiful Thai Bride, that they are Thai pea-sized eggplants, similar to the more well-known and easier to find Thai eggplants, and native to South-East Asia. Normally bitter eaten raw, I think most eggplants have that nature, better when cooked, they pair well with, and enhance curries, cooling spicy dishes. Why did I find out now what they were? I came across several more authentic South-East Asian recipes, some Thai ones, in fact, that have this as an ingredient, and I wanted to try them out. The recipes are for pork or roast duck, not for chicken, and it will work to substitute beef. They can also be added to chili or shrimp pastes.

And now that I have tried them, I found them to be a little bitter, and similar to eating a tomato, when you crunch down on one, the seeds and juice burst out on to your tongue, filling it with its interesting and slightly bitter flavour.

Lindt Excellence Chili

The idea of chili and chocolate together is not new, nor is this the first chocolate bar that I have eaten that contains chili as its primary flavouring, but it is the first from Lindt. From their Excellence line of chocolate bars, a few of which I've tasted before, this is a Dark chocolate, though likely is just meets the requirements to be called Dark chocolate, as sugar is the first ingredient in the listing. The rest of the ingredient listing is very similar to most Lindt bars, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, milk ingredients, soya lecithin, chili extract and artificial flavour.

How does it taste? Quite spicy, not for those who don't like spicy, though I would categorize it as being medium spicy but just above mild; definitely you could taste the spice, but it wasn't overwhelming, nor could you not taste the chocolate. I think I would buy this bar again, depending on whether it is popular enough to appear in the normal stores I see Lindt in.

Nestle Princessa Maxi

This white chocolate coconut cream wafer bar by Nestle Polska (Poland) we found appropriately enough in the Polish supermarket Sparsky's in Mississauga, my beautiful Bride wanted to try it, as she likes the combination of coconut and wafers. This is definitely a candy bar, with white chocolate coating, wafers and cream filling with desiccated coconut.

How does it taste? Not bad, I don't really care for white chocolate, but the coconut flavour was definitely there, the wafers were crispy.

Roselle or Hibiscus

Sometimes you take something for granted, don't really look at something, until you examine it from a different perspective. So it is with Hibiscus, also called Roselle, which my beautiful Bride wanted to introduce me to, in Thailand the dried Hibiscus flowers are steeped in hot water, then sweetened with a little sugar, to make a refreshing drink. We found that in the Caribbean, it is known as Sorrel, and we found some for sale in Kensington Market in Toronto. You may also be able to find it in good, or maybe bad, Chinese supermarkets, we've heard, but we haven't found it ourselves yet, but perhaps we're going to the wrong supermarkets. The best Roselle comes from the Sudan, but most of the World's production comes mainly from Thailand, and less so from China (Thailand has better quality).

Roselle is enjoyed in many countries, and by many names, Sorrel in the Caribbean, krajeab in Thailand, Jamaica in Latin America, mesta/meshta on the Indian subcontinent, rosela in Indonesia, asam paya or asam susur in Malaysia, the list goes on. It has many uses, including as a food colouring, the fibre can be used to make burlap, and the leaves can be used in making curries. It's also an excellent source of Vitamin C. But it is known more as a tea or fruit drink.

The recipe for Sorrel drink in the Caribbean is fairly simple, steep several of the dried Hibiscus flowers in hot water, with a chunk of bruised ginger, then enjoy.

You can see the bright red colour that results from the dark red of the dried Hibiscus flowers.

Let it cool and add a little ice for a refreshing drink, especially on a hot summer day.

What I learned from this, this brings me back to what I wrote firstly, is that when drinking the refreshing and slightly sour, which is probably why people sweeten it with sugar, is that it tasted very similar to my favourite tea of all, Rosehip tea from the German company Pompadour, which has as its ingredients Rosehip and Hibiscus Flowers, and that the taste that I liked in this tea, came from the Hibiscus rather than from the Rosehip!

Too, I had read, and didn't clue in, in the ingredient listing of several herbal teas that I have enjoyed, including ones from Celestial Seasonings, Hibiscus is somewhere, sometimes second or third, in the listing.

Saxon Chocolates Belgian Dark Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts

This bright Easter or Spring bonnet filled with dark chocolate covered hazelnuts from the Canadian chocolatier Saxon Chocolates caught my eye, it was on sale for about $6. Part of it was due to the pretty yellow colour of the packaging, though not so much by the over-sized waste in the packaging, but I guess you can re-use it as a box; of course, I was intrigued by the combination of dark chocolate and hazelnuts. The ingredient listing looked good as well, Dark Chocolate (made from cocoa liquour, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin as an emulsifier and vanilla extract), dry roasted hazelnuts, cocoa powder. There is no indication of cacao content, though it is likely to be higher than the minimum to make it Dark chocolate, as sugar is not the first ingredient.

How do they taste? Quite good, the hazelnuts are still slightly crunchy, the dark chocolate works well with the hazelnuts, the only part that was weird, was that they were dusted with cacao powder, though it ended up not being as weird as I thought it would be. I do think the $15 that it was supposed to cost, is a little expensive for these.

Restaurant Review - Ba Shu Chinese Restaurant

Wanting to eat something while being out and about, we ended up choosing this Sichuan Chinese restaurant over our first choice, it's a fairly new restaurant and we didn't know it was there. Located in the mall at the southeast corner of Hurontario and Eglinton, stuck in the middle of Pizza Hut and KFC and Quizno's and Harvey's, we entered to find a fairly large restaurant with pretty decor. Having initially wanting takeout, we decided instead to eat in, and chose a booth over a table, which was a mistake, we found out, as it seemed we were forgotten about, or perhaps that's the norm in terms of service, it seemed a little slow, despite there not being many patrons when we arrived. The other big thing I noticed, is that I was the only Lao Wai, or Foreigner, there; as the customers arrived as the evening progressed, there were only Chinese waiting for tables at the door. A good sign, if one wants to eat authentic food.

In looking over the menu with its huge number of offerings, I first read the bit about Sichuan cuisine. One statement I kept in mind, it would serve us later, it told us that despite being know for spicy food, who doesn't know spicy Kung Pao Chicken or Mapo Tofu, many dishes have little or no spice added. Sichuan is a province in Western China, its capital is Chengdu. Know for its spiciness, Sichuan cooking uses chili, ginger, and most importantly, the Sichuan peppercorn, with its unique, the fragrant, hot, one could even say numbing, citrusy, flower-shaped spice.

Having finally caught the eye of the waitress, we were told to write down the selection numbers of the dishes we wanted, a point of note for the next time we go there. One of the dishes that I found intriguing was called, in English, Chicken Braised with Fresh Chilies and Beer in Hot Pot, it is medium-spicy, I ordered that. My beautiful Bride wanted the Braised Diced Tofu with Fish Fillet, Shrimp, Scallop, Squid and Mushrooms. She also ordered the Basa Fish Fillet and Vegetables with Rice; the waitress couldn't tell us what Basa was, I found most of the waitresses spoke mostly Chinese and a little English (Basa is a type of white-fleshed catfish, I found out later, though one that feeds on plants, rather than being the typical "garbage"-eater). To drink, I ordered a Strawberry Milkshake; my beautiful Bride ordered a Red Bean Freeze, though they apparently did not have any red beans that day. After a few moments, the head waitress came back to inform us, that they did not have the Chicken Chili Beer dish today, a trend I did not care for, she suggested a Sliced Chicken Fillet with Sweet Bean Sauce and Green Chilies, apparently a popular dish, but rather I decided on pork, and specifically Poached Pork in Pungent Sauce, a high-spiced dish.

The first to arrive was the Basa Fish and Vegetables, which we found belonged to the non-spicy Sichuan dishes, and it seem non-tasty as well, bland even. The Strawberry Milkshake arrived as well, though I was shocked to see this small thin glass with light pink likely Bubble-Tea powder mixed with ice and milk, lesson learned not to order this the next time, not worth the $4.50. The Tofu and Seafood dish arrived next, this was much tastier, we could enjoy this one more than the Basa fish one.

Finally, after about 20 minutes, came the saviour of the whole meal, the pungent sauce immediately apparent as the dish arrived at the table, the Poached Pork in Pungent Sauce was very tasty, very spicy and filled with the taste of sichuan peppercorns and lots of oil, with green onions and soya beansprouts. It was even better the next day, over rice.

There are many items that look intriguing, including the Chicken and Beer dish that I didn't get, lots of Sichuan Dim Sum, Congee, and various Meat and Seafood dishes, that I think we will go back to this restaurant again.

Cod Croquettes with Sweet Red Pepper Gravy and Mashed Potatoes with Spinach

My beautiful Bride wanted to make these, as soon as she saw Rachel Ray make them Sunday morning, so we went and bought all the ingredients and made them for Sunday dinner. And they tasted great! The cod croquettes were especially tasty, and different from salmon or crab cakes.

Cod Croquettes with Sweet Red Pepper Gravy and Mashed Potatoes with Spinach
From a recipe by Rachael Ray
For cod cakes:
1 lemon
1-1/4 pounds fresh cod
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons seafood seasoning blend (2/3 palmful), such as Old Bay brand
2 ribs celery and their greens, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (a few sprigs), chopped
3-4 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley (a handful), chopped
Black pepper
1 egg
2 cups plain breadcrumbs
For Sweet Red Pepper Gravy:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock
For potatoes:
3 large starchy potatoes, peeled and cubed
Salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup cream or half-and-half
1 pound triple-washed spinach, stemmed and chopped

Place potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Put a lid on the pot and bring the water up to a boil. Salt water and cook potatoes until tender, 15 minutes.

Bring 1/2-inch water to a simmer in a large nonstick skillet. Zest a lemon and reserve. Cut lemon and season the fish with some lemon juice and salt and add to the simmering water. Cover pan and cook fish for eight minutes.

Remove and flake fish into a bowl. Add reserved lemon zest, seafood seasoning, celery, onion, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper to fish. Add egg and one cup of the breadcrumbs. Form eight fish patties and toss in remaining breadcrumbs to set the patties.

Discard water and wipe out pan, returning it to medium heat. Add 1/4 cup vegetable oil to the pan. Cook the patties in the oil for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden. Reserve under foil or in warm oven.

Return skillet to heat again over medium heat. Melt in two tablespoons of butter, then add the red bell peppers and shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add in flour and cook a minute more. Whisk in broth, thicken, then season with salt and pepper to make savory red pepper gravy.

Drain cooked potatoes and return to hot pot. Add in remaining butter, garlic and 1/4 cup cream or half-and-half. Mash and season the potatoes with salt and pepper. Fold in spinach leaves until they all wilt into potatoes.

To serve, pile spinach mashers on plates and top with cod croquettes and gravy.

Hale's Blue Boy Brand Red Sala Syrup

The Sala fruit is one of the many fruits available in Thailand, it is similar to Snake fruit, and has a unique flavour, smoky with a tangy aftertaste. This syrup, produced by Hale's, uses artifical flavour to achieve its Sala taste, though it does an admirable job. As a syrup, it is really only sugar and water, with red food colouring. Most of the time, I have it with mineral water, it tastes unlike any soda I have tried from North America.