Army stew.

During back to my trip to Korea last month, I tried a dish that changed my world forever. It was budae jjigae.

Introducing sea asparagus.

I finally got the chance to check out the Trout Lake Farmer’s Market last weekend. It was probably one of the best markets in terms of location, market vendors, and food. I picked up some delicious nut pate, bratwurst, cherry tomato plants and bags full of local beets. I also picked up some sea asparagus from one of my favourite farmers whom I cannot remember the name of but he always has the best, most unique produce ever (he’s the big hippy guy with long reddish-brownish hair if that helps!?). He was the guy I bought the stinging nettles from this past spring for my stinging nettle pesto. This time around he had sea asparagus, dandelion greens, and a number of interesting greens and weeds.

Today, I made a sea asparagus stir fry.

Spinach overload? Make goma-ae.

I recently discovered the Coppersmith Farmer’s Market in Ironwood Plaza in Richmond near Steveston. Despite its name, it is not an actual outdoor farmer’s market that occurs once a week. It’s more on the lines of a grocery store (think: Langley Farm Market, Kins Farm Market, etc). It’s a cute little grocery store that has amazing prices on produce where a good chunk of it is local. Hey, Richmond IS practically farmville. I picked up a ton of vegetables for just over $5.00, including 2 large bunches of locally-sourced fresh spinach.

It’s been a week and I’ve only used up one. What to do with the other? Make spinach goma-ae.

Changing the face of samosas.

I’m not sure why but I’ve never been a huge fan of samosas. Sure, they are pockets of deep fried carb-y goodness with the accompanying sweet chutney dipping sauce which, as a whole package, really should be right down my alley but no, I’m not sure what it is.

But I think that might have changed once I made rice paper samosas with mint chutney.

Mexi-rice.

Did you know that one of my very first jobs was at Taco Del Mar? It was back when I was 15 and although it was short-lived, I learned a lot about Mexican food — er, more like Tex-Mex food. And I discovered my love for burrito bowls. And the most important component of a burrito? The Mexican rice.

Asian pesto.

Well, technically it’s a pistou but since so many people are more familiarized with the term pesto, I decided to use that term instead (a pistou is similar to a pesto but it does not contain cheese or nuts). But this recipe here is very close to a pesto, you’ll see why. But…an Asian pistou!? Yes, my friends, I was inspired. Inspired to experiment in the kitchen with yet another chilled noodle salad. This time around? Soba noodles with chive, parsley and miso pistou.

Cauliflower-haters, this is for you.

I’m not sure why cauliflower gets such a bad rep. Just think of it as an albino broccoli. Yes? Okay, maybe not. But still, it is such a delicious vegetable that deserves more credibility than its cousin, broccoli. I have a recipe that will convert cauliflowers into cauliflower-eating-fiends. Yes, it is that good. I’m talking about my roasted balsamic and garlic cauliflower.

My favourite summertime noodle.

It’s been pretty hot in Vancouver lately and when it’s hot, I really don’t feel like eating anything that would warm me up even further. I couldn’t get noodles off my mind so I finally decided on a chilled noodle dish: chilled spicy sesame noodles.

Move over, hummus.

I love it when people are having parties or potlucks because it gives me a reason for me to use up all of my leftovers, yay! Secret revealed. It’s both a good and a bad thing because 1) I’m recycling all my leftovers but 2) I always end up making something amazing. And this time around was no exception. Forget hummus, I made the best damn bean dip ever — red kidney bean dip.

And the last boring post…

Okay, this will be the last boring post that I forgot to write before my vacation. I seriously meant to write all these posts beforehand so I could post them throughout my 3.5 week vacation in Asia but just ran out of time and didn’t get around to doing it! I had the full intention of doing it (all my pictures were upoaded, yay!) but procrastination got to me (read: last minute packing) and, well, now we’re here. Apologies!!!

So today’s post is another one about using up leftovers (actually, this whole blog seems to have that theme…) and it turned out amazing as always: Northern gai lan and chicken yakiudon.