Uhh...

Well, yeah. It is a salad. Yet again. But this time, I'm not quite liking it. Okie, I was inspired by this when I decided to try making what I made. I've had and made barley salads before, but in a different way and my mushrooms were begging to be used and I just thought, why not? I didn't follow the reference recipe to a T, (Okie, I confess, I didn't follow it! Except for the idea of putting mushrooms, onions and barley together.) so I'm not saying I don't like what 28 cooks has done!

Here's what I did differently:
- I didn't have balsamic vinegar and I wasn't keen on substituting apple cider vinegar or black rice vinegar for it so I used terrayaki sauce. Very different, I know! But hey, terrayaki sauce is nice! With mushrooms at least.

- I didn't only mix the cooked barley and sauteed mushrooms with the "dressing". I actually dumped the barley into the pan with the mushrooms and dressing to "fry". I thought it would taste better warm. (And it did, because it tasted quite horrible cold/at room temperature.)

I actually like all the individual ingredients that I've used, but put them all together and something just isn't right. I think it was too heavy, which probably was my fault, because I decided on terrayaki sauce instead of balsamic vinegar.

So why am I posting this? Well, because I took photos before tasting and decided it looked quite alright photographed and also because I'm running out of things to post about. Tee hee.

La Note

Dear Evinrude/Melody/Whatever-you-call-yourself,

I've decided to run away. For months, you've put me away into that cold, cold closet of yours (I think you humans call it the refrigerator). Ever since that one time in February, you've decided to set me aside and not let me into your life again. I've been hoping that one day you would take me out of that icy dungeon and put me on that bain marie again. Melt me and stir me into whatever you're baking. But, everytime you ravage through the fridge, you only glanced so briefly at me. Each time, I harbour more hopes that you'll look at me for more than 3 seconds. But you've let me down again and again. So, I've now left you in search of greener pastures. Don't bother looking because I'm probably in someone else's cake now.


WhChoc



P.S.: Your testing pin didn't run away with me. He's in the box grater.

Seven

Pistils, originally uploaded by Ms_evinrude.

For the Child in Me

When I posted about nostalgic foods back in this post, I forgot about something. I forgot about these small little munchies I used to have as a kid. They tasted great back then, still do now, and I also know, in my head, that it's all sugar! But that doesn't stop me from reliving my childhood.

Honestly, I got quite excited when I found out that an old provision store opposite my alma mater sold these goodies! And quite cheaply too. Now, I don't think it was the taste that got me all excited and sentimental, but the way it was presented. Fact is, it was the same as before. Those square, gold-ish metal tins with a clear plastic panel on each of the 4 sides for customers to see the goods. Stacked upon one another, the biscuit tins held memories of my childhood days when I used to go shopping with my nanny at the market. Everything about that provision store was nostalgic too. The wooden carved-out signboard, tarnished metal grilled fans, old turquoise weighing scale, small plastic bucket hung from the ceiling for keeping money and, the shop owner. Hee.

I couldn't resist the temptation to buy myself some treats home to savour. Back to the old times! Well, young times. In all the excitement, my maths slowed down. By the time it started working out fine again, I had such a big pack of chocolate-filled wafer that I was taken aback. I sort of "realised" that $2 worth of wafer priced at $5/kg meant I had bought nearly 1/2kg of it. Whoever knew $2 could buy THAT much wafer! But I wasn't going to leave with ONLY wafer! So I learnt my lesson. I used weight as a measurement instead of money. 200g of these and 100g of that.

Now, time to go home and work those jaws!



Thong Tat
Blk 18 Bedok South Rd
#01-69
Singapore(460018)

Pink

Vibrancy II, originally uploaded by Ms_evinrude.

More Sandwiches!

Lunch In 4 Steps Under 10 mins

Step 1: Wash lettuce, slice cheese, fry egg, toast bread.
Step 2: Spread mustard, sweet chili sauce and mayonnaise on toasted bread.
Step 3: Layer lettuce, cheese, ham and egg on prepared bread.
Step 4: Eat!

Recreating Mushroom Swiss, Without the Patty

What do you do when you run out of ideas of what to eat for lunch but desperately want to get into the kitchen to make something?

Well, I'm not sure about you, because maybe you're not the kind who suffer from kitchen-withdrawal. But I make sandwiches. Other than salads, sandwiches are the next thing that I make most often. Probably because I pack my lunch a lot. Like salads, they're really easy to make, sometimes no cooking is required, and really flexible eats. Besides the 2 slices of bread, you can put, or not, anything in between. Hell, you can even skip the slice of bread on top and make tartines or bruschetta (I don't know what's the difference between them, but I think they're just open sandwiches sort of).

There's the usual ham and cheese, tuna mayo, egg salad sandwiches. But everybody gets tired of that sooner or later. So what can you do to spice up the humble sandwich? When I saw this over at the Homesick Texan's, I just thought I had to try it somehow! Now, I'm not a very big asparagus fan, and my mushrooms were sitting sadly in the corner of the fridge. Mushroom and cheese sandwich, a la Burger King's Mushroom Swiss (I just realised Mushroom Swiss seems to be available only in Singapore), with a crispy cheese coating. Now that's something!

Nicer-Than-Mushroom-Swiss Sandwich
Ingredients
2 slices bread (I used flaxseed loaves from the supermarket)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic, chopped
4-5 baby Portabello mushrooms, sliced thickly
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper, to taste
2-inch length cucumber, thinly sliced
Mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

Coating
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

- In a small frying pan, stir olive oil and garlic over medium high heat till fragrant, about 30 secs.
- Add mushrooms and saute for 3 mins.
- Season with salt, pepper and Italian herb seasoning and saute till mushrooms are tender.
- Line 1 slice of bread with half of the cucumber slices and arrange mozzarella cheese on top of the cucumber.
- Pile cooked mushrooms onto the prepared slice of bread and top with the rest of the cheese and then cucumber slices. Finish off with the second slice of bread. This way, you will have mushrooms in the very center, followed by mozzarella, then cucumbers and lastly, bread.
- Brush the top of the sandwich with melted butter and sprinkle generously with half the grated parmesan cheese and some Italian herbs. Turn the sandwich over and repeat this procedure.
- Place on a baking tray and toast in a 200 deg C oven for about 10 mins on each side until the cheese is nicely browned.

Straight out of the oven, this sandwich is sinfully delicious! The crunch of the outer coating, juicy mushrooms, melted mozzarella and refreshing cucumbers. I made mine vegetarian because meat is such a chore to prepare when you want a quick bite. That said, it is no healthy meal (obviously) with that guilt-ridden cheesy coating. I also found that the cheese for the coating can make the sandwich quite salty, so don't dredge your mushrooms with too much salt when cooking!