Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: My tiny kitchen

As the ultimate meat lover, I adore beef, and to me eating steaks is the best way to enjoy beef. On weekend evenings, I would cook a couple of steaks for me and ET, and we’ll open a bottle of red wine to go with them. The key to cooking good steaks is in getting the best grade of beef you can find. Once you have the good beef, then you are half way there. I like cooking my steaks in a simple way. This recipe will give you some really well seared meat in 5 minutes. Enjoy the cow!

I usually get my steaks from Safeway. I don’t go to just any Safeway, I go to the Safeways that have a butcher counter where you can get triple A beef. Their price is a little higher than other grocery stores but the quality makes up for the cost.

ET and I love ribeye steaks. Although they are not as tender as tenderloins, but their flavour is wonderful. We almost always get ribeyes. I always pick the pieces that have the most marble.

The only seasonings I put on my steaks are salt and pepper. Put in a generous amount of freshly ground pepper and salt on both sides. I’m using some Fleur de Sel here.


The second key to cooking good steaks is in timing. It’s all about the time. Heat a pan until it is very hot, which takes about 2 minutes. Put in oil. Put in the steaks.
Sear one side on high heat for 2 minutes.
Cover the pan.
Turn the heat down to medium and cook for one more minute.
Flip the steaks, sear the other side for 2 minutes over medium heat and with the pan covered during the whole time.

If you are using a gas stove, this will give you a medium rare doneness for an one inch thick steak. If you are cooking a thicker steak, such as the tenderloins, then you will need to cook each side for longer. Just like everything else in life, the best way to learn to control the doneness is by cooking more steaks.


There, my perfectly medium rare ribeyes. They were so succulent and flavourful. Yum.

Location: Beard Papa   
Unit 3160, 3/F Food Court Aberdeen Centre
4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond BC 604-295-8193

Beard Papa now has lava cakes! I was just about to make my own but after tasting theirs, I’m not going to attempt. There is so much chocolate in the cake that you’ll think you are drinking chocolate soup.

Other products are available too, finally. At one point I thought the other items listed on the board are only fake advertisements.

Finally, the lineup is more reasonable! Now they can make some business with impatient people like me.

Look at all these chocolate babies, quietly sitting on the tray with no escape.

Yes, they even give you instruction on how to warm them up later.

I didn’t eat mine right away – wanted to share it with my sweet tooth husband – and putting it in the fridge didn’t ruin the taste at all.

Location: My tiny kitchen

This is a curry dish. But there is no rice or nann to go with the curry. This is a dish of penne cooked with fatty italian sausages and finished with a creamy curry sauce. Although the curry flavour is mild, its taste and smell lingers on every penne. I also love the yellow colour in the sauce. This is a spin to the traditional pasta cooked in cream and it makes me happy just by looking at it.

This recipe serves 3 people (I guess all of my pasta recipes serve 3!)
- In a quart pan, bring water to a boil.
- Add in enough penne pasta for 3 people (about 2 and 1/2 cup)
- Add in a generous amount of salt
- To check if pasta is done, do the doneness test (take one and bite on it). For this recipe, I take the pasta out just before they are thoroughly cooked.
- Save 1 cup of pasta water for later.

While waiting for the pasta to be done, coarsely grate 1 cup of parmigiano reggiano cheese.

These are “Tuscan sausages” which I got from Urban Fare. It’s okay to use any italian sausage but I have always used these ones from UF ever since I started making this dish.

- Take a pair of scissors, cut the sausages into 1/2 inch pieces.
I cut the sausages with scissors instead of a knife because I want the sausage meat to break apart during cooking. This creates bits of sausages hanging in the sauce while there are still enough big chunks left to be eaten with the pasta.

Mince two gloves of garlic with one shallot.

To season the sauce, you will need:
- 1 tsp of oregano
- 2 tbsp of curry powder
- 1 tbsp of onion powder

- Heat a quart pan with 1 tsp of olive oil.
- Put in the cut sausages and fry them until all sides are golden brown.
- Once the sausages have been fully cooked, put in the minced garlic, shallot and all spices.
- Mix everything until fully incorporated

- Put in the penne.
- Put in the pasta water. Again, it is tricky on how much pasta water to put. You want to put in just enough to make the sauce without making the pasta tasting bland. I’ve used 2/3 cup of pasta water. Also, if there are sticky bits of sausage meat and spices in the bottom of the pan (called fond), make sure you scrape all of it.
- Put in 1/2 cup of half and half cream.
- Continue to cook the pasta until the sauce has been thickened.
- Put in freshly ground pepper.

To assemble, put in a generous amount of grated cheese on the pasta, then sprinkle in some parsley.