Rainy Saturday Treats and Eats

My rainy Saturday ended up being a day of eating.

Around 6 AM, I woke up to a hungry stomach so I prepared my sunny side up + almond chocolate drink.

I was feeling a bit restless at home so even though it was raining outside, I decided to go out for a walk straight to this small cafe around 1.5 kilometers away from my place. This was probably around 10 AM and I ended up trying out the hot chocolate plus a nice cinnamon roll. Yummy.

I went back home for lunch and then went out to the grocery to buy a few missing ingredients that I needed for my weekend project – Super Moist Carrot Cake! I ended up getting a whole lot more than what I needed for my baking though. I ended up getting ruffles! Talk about junk! Just tastes sooo yummy. I’ve been eating a ton of veggies lately, then I guess I’m entitled to have a splurge on junk every now and then?

Anyway…

Carrot Cake

For this weekend’s baking creation, I decided to try out the Super Moist Carrot Cake recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

This is my first attempt. When I eat baked goods, especially cakes, I want it to be very moist, but not to the point of being a little too oily. Thus, just based on this recipe I picked, it sounds like I’ll be getting what I am hoping for, plus the fact that it is quite simple to make.

So here’s before we put it in the oven:

And this is the finished product:

 

It turned out yummy! Again, not too sweet, and not oily, and super moist!

The only problem that I had was that I used a smaller pan than the recommended size from the recipe. This meant that the suggested baking time may not be enough for my cake because at around 35 minutes, the center portion of the cake was still wet. I had to leave it again in the oven for another 15 minutes… I was worried because the carrot cake may end up too dry just because I wanted to get the inner section of the cake to bake! Good thing it didn’t!

I didn’t make the cream for now. Maybe on my next attempt! What I want to do next is to add one of my favorite ingredients to the carrot cake next time, chocolate chips!

By the way, we don’t finish everything each week. I end up giving a few of my friends the food, they do the taste test (like the siopao, banana bread).

food again

I kept myself busy this weekend by spending a lot of time in the kitchen, and in food related activities. Well, I did clean the bathroom, which I hate doing, but is a necessity anyway – in other words, no choice! Oh and I did go back down to the garage just to check if my bike’s back – but of course it’s not! I must be wishing!

And so instead of punishing myself for not getting better locks for my bike, I instead decided to move on by being a busy bee for the rest of the weekend. So here were the results:

Barley and Lentil Soup

I love making soup because it is very easy to make and at the same time, there are no rules… you can put in whatever you want, season it, and that’s it! But so far, my favorite soup to make is barley and lentil soup. I like barley because its texture is the same as rice and you know how we love rice! And it’s healthier than white rice too.

According to this livestrong article: Is Pearl Barley More Nutritional Than Rice? -

Including more whole grains in your diet can lower your risk of heart disease and help you maintain a healthier body weight, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Both pearl barley and brown rice are examples of whole grains. White rice is an example of a refined grain. While some of their nutritional components are similar, pearl barley is a better source of fiber, iron, potassium and folate than either brown rice or white rice.

Lentil on the other hand, is a legume. It’s quite healthy, high in protein and fiber and they give some added thickness to the soup.

The rest of the ingredients I added were broccoli, mushroom, tomato, green peppers, and veggie broth. I didn’t get the taste right after, but my aunt helped me with seasoning it further, and after a few adjustments, it actually tasted pretty good! I made a whole bunch… it’ll probably last us a whole week. Haha!

Banana Bread

And so I’ve been waiting for my bananas to go overripe for more than a week already and finally it’s ready. When I say overripe, I let it turn to black, you know how bananas turn out if you don’t eat it, they turn black, and that’s the state I want my bananas to be. I got this recipe named “Ridiculously Simple Banana Bread” from my aunt and that’s what I followed. To add some more zing into it, I included chocolate chips too!

I think it turned out pretty good, better than what I expected. It’s moist and it’s not too sweet too. My boss in the office brings her home made banana bread to the office every now and then, and I think mine’s much better. Hahaha!

Elderflower syrup – Carbonated Water Drink

Last Friday night, my friend brought me to this wonderful vegetarian restaurant and got me to try out different types of vegetarian food. That was one of the best dinners I’ve had, but I think I’ll reserve that for another post (if I can get to it). One thing that stood out was that he wanted me to try out an Elderflower drink. That’s the first time I even heard that word! No idea at all what it is. And so when it was served, oh did it make a really good impression. It’s a nice sweet flavor. Actually reminded me of sprite, but a lot less subtle. So anyway, I enjoyed it so much that this morning, I went to Gourmet Warehouse, as suggested by my friend because that’s where I can get this (the one of the left):

It’s an Elderflower drink concentrate, like a syrup, but not as thick as let’s say, pancake syrup.

The one on the right, the Gerolsteiner is a carbonated water that I got from a regular grocery store here.

The suggested mixture is 1:6 between the elderflower and the carbonated drink. You can also add some lemon and ice to the drink to make it yummier!

And thus, I made my own drink! Wonderful!

Stolen: my Kona Dew Black 46

My first expensive bike that I love so much… is now lost and probably will never be found.

The last time I used my bike was last Saturday after I rode it to go to Granville Island to attend a walking tour. The next time I was going to ride it was supposed to be this morning, when I was about to go for my Saturday morning bike ride to Stanley Park. I was all geared and up and ready when upon going down to the garage to get my bike, my bike was nowhere to be found!

And more annoying things this is, my other old bike, which I locked my kona with, was still there! F**K!

The problem is, the bike may have been stolen any day of the week!

What a lousy, depressing (and expensive) for a weekend to start. Iniyakan ko pa iyan. Nakaka depress talaga.

Just in case someone just stumbles upon my blog and my bike somehow, here’s the picture.

It’s a Kona DEW Black 46

Stolen around Fraser Vancouver area.

Ramen and Ice Cream

I invited my friend to join me and have a yummy ramen lunch at Motomachi Shokudo. It’s been two years since I was last ate here and it’s still very good. 

Afterwards, we were craving for desert so we walked by Denman and saw Marble Slab where I ended up eating this! It’s similar to Cold Stone creamery. Yummy.

 

We were so guilty afterwards that we decided to walk from downtown all the way to Broadway for MEC store where I was looking to buy front and rear lights for my bike. I think the distance was roughly around 5km, took us an hour or so. And what made it more tiring was that the sun was out and shining the whole time. Nasunog na ako, napagod pa. Well, I do hope nasunog din yung ibang taba ko from the ice cream! But, I was able to walk by Burrard Bridge which showed a spectacular view of the English Bay area.

I was exhausted that I asked my aunt to pick me up from the store afterwards. Haha

Juicy Chicken Breasts

After n times, I think I finally nailed down my juicy chicken breasts. I think I finally got it. My two previous attempts of cooking a juicylicious chicken breast has been a success! I’ve attempted to cook it a lot of times already and they usually ended up dry. But this time around, it was really juicy and tender!

My recipe is simple. Chicken breast + seasoning - salt and pepper, and maybe some garlic powder and oregano. What I used to do was after seasoning the chicken, I put it inside the oven. The problem is that they always end up dry because they get overcooked! Quite tricky. Chicken breasts cook so fast! 

After a few more tries, I finally got it. Thanks to Google's search, I got to try one way that made my chicken breasts really juicy! And it was very simple! 

The solution was simple. Cook the breasts in a pan first, you can use butter or any cooking oil. Cook it only for a while, you don't want to cook it thoroughly Maybe just after 5 minutes, the breast should be partly cooked already. Afterwards, put it straight to the oven. I use around 375 degrees (preheated, by the way), and I leave the chicken for around 10-15 minutes, turning it over once. 

Now, on to getting my potatoes right (which I still haven’t perfected!).

`