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Homemade Japanese Miso Soup

I love Japanese food, and I’ve always wanted to make my own Miso Soup, so I finally got a package of White Miso Paste from my market, and found some bonito flakes and wakame from the Asian grocery store. They are tricky to find (well, for me at least!) but, I think it’s necessary for a miso soup. This simple homemade soup smells and tastes like miso soup when you go out to have a bowl!

Ingredients (makes 2 big bowls or 4 little bowls):
3 cup of water
3 tbsp bonito flakes
1 heaping tbsp white miso paste
1 tbps wakame
tofu cubes

To begin any soup – start with boiling some water.

When the water has come to a boil, put some bonito flakes into the water and reduce the heat, and let it steep for about 5 minutes.

Once that has steeped, you’re ready to put in the miso paste. Take a heaping tablespoon (or just 2 tablespoons) and put it into a bowl. Take some of the “soup in progress” into the bowl and mix to dissolve the miso paste so you get a dissolved and thinner consistency. Once you’ve achieved this, you’re ready to pour the miso solution into the soup. Bring the soup back up to a boil at this time, and let it boil for another 3 to 5 minutes.

By now, taste your soup to see if it needs additional salt. Add some if it needs more. To finish the soup, add the wakame flakes, and they will rehydrate and add lots of flavour into the miso soup. Once the wakame has rehydrate, you’re ready to serve and enjoy!

I also like to add some udon noodles to my miso soup, and it becomes and excellent and healthy lunch! Just boil some instant udon in the miso soup. Once the udon noodles are ready, you’re ready to eat too! If you want, you can top it off with sesame seeds, scallions or anything you like – really!

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Chili Club Thai House – Calgary, Alberta

Thai food in Calgary is actually not bad at all! I have a few favourite locations, and I can now add Chili Club Thai House to my list of favourites! It’s a small restaurant with an intimate atmosphere. It’s a great idea to make reservations if you want to go – as the line can get long due to the amount of tables.

We started our dinner with Tom Yum Soup and most places make it so spicy it’s ridiculous, but here, they made it with tons of spice and flavour, but it’s not overly spicy! I think it’s my favourite bowl of Tom Yum soup that I’ve had in the city! This delicious hot and sour soup had lots of prawns, mushrooms and tomato in the excellent broth.

I love how rice comes in individual servings in rice cups with a lid. It really helps not only with portion control, but it keeps the rice warm much longer! It’s a great presentation and a wonderful use!

The first dish that came was the Kaeng Chak Som which was a pan fried salmon fillet with coconut, chili, & lime sauce. The lime sauce was phenomenal, as it was quite different, but the lime made it really light and refreshing! The salmon was perfectly cooked with a beautiful crust on the fish with the awesome sauce. This was my favourite dish of the evening!

Then came the Panang Duck Curry which is a decadent dish of boneless roasted duck with eggplant in a thick curry. The duck was tender and juicy with a great sauce with a nice kick of heat! It made the eggplant really enjoyable.

The last dish we ordered was Musamun Beef Curry Beef chunks sauteed in Thai curry with potatoes, onion and peanuts. This was another fantastic dish, but the least favourite of mine out of the 3 dishes. I actually found that it would’ve been nicer if the beef chunks was a tad fattier so it would be more tender. The sauce for the curry was yummy, but nothing too different or spectacular. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad – just it wasn’t as good as the other dishes!

Overall, this was a wonderful place to dine for Thai food. The prices are very reasonable for a Thai place, and the quality of the food is top notch – so it’s okay to pay a little more when it’s worth it. It’s definitely worth it here!

To top off the night, they had a complimentary dessert which tasted good, and it wasn’t too big at all! It was a lovely end to the lovely evening!

Chili Club Thai House

1904 36 St SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 217-8862

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Ping Pang Pong

Yes, I am aware that having Dim Sum in Las Vegas is odd, but we did it! We went to Gold Coast Hotel just off the main strip for Dim Sum at a place called Ping Pang Pong

I’ve got to say, not bad at all for dim sum!! The quality of the Chinese food was really good, and I honestly don’t really remember the price, but I believe it was very reasonable – otherwise, I would either be saying “it’s a GREAT deal!” or “it was SO NOT worth it!”

We started with a bowl of jook or congee – pork with thousand year old egg (Preserved Egg Porridge), which is a very common and popular Chinese rice porridge! It was actually really good, and the texture of the jook was smooth and done quite well!

No matter where I go, I’ve always got my favourites – like Chicken Feet which always seems to be delicious! It’s not exception here, the sauce is really one of my favourites and it was tender!

Also, you really can’t go anywhere without enjoying some Ha Gow – Shrimp Dumpling, and the shrimp was really fresh, sweet and crisp! The dumpling skin was really nice – steamed to perfection!

My parents really like Steamed Pork Balls, so of course they order it! I didn’t mind it here, and it was great!

Steamed Bean Curd Roll

Beef Tendons are one of my favourites when done right. Here, they did this right too! The tendons was infused with flavour and the tendons were soo soft with the “tender” gummyness texture. It was intense and deep, and cooked with the perfect marinade!

This was a weird order, it’s a Shrimp Balls with Crispy Rice, which is like the typical shrimp balls, but they covered it in crispy puffed rice! It added a new dimension of texture to what seems like a simple dim sum! It was a great idea! It worked!

I love any sort of rice crepes, but we ordered 1 order of Beef Rice Crepes, and I honestly thought it wasn’t enough! They actually stuffed their crepes with lots of filling, as some places just put a thin layer of meat in. The actual crepe was really fresh, soft, silky and quite thin!

Overall, this turned out to be a fantastic place for lunch! Everything was so delicious, and the service was excellent. Food constantly came out – which was really easy to over eat! This would be a place I would return to if I wanted a dim sum fix in Las Vegas! Everything was really fresh and you can definitely tell all the dishes were steamed not long before arriving onto the table!

Ping Pang Pong (Gold Coast) on Urbanspoon

Ping Pang Pong – Gold Coast Hotel

4000 W Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89103
(702) 367-7111

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Homemade Vietnamese Sandwich with Grilled Chicken

I really love Vietnamese Submarines, and these days, it seems to be hard to find some in the city – for a reasonable price. I had to make a few modifications as I didn’t have all the ingredients, but the sandwich sure tasted great!

Ingredients:
1 French Roll or similar bun (crusty outside, soft inside)
1 chicken breast or 2 chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 or 2 slices of cucumbers
cilantro
pickled carrots
chili pepper (optional)
onions
soy sauce
fish sauce
white soft cheese (I use mozzarella cheese)

To make this, I actually made my own pickled carrots, which is really simple to do. Some people have a mixture of pickled daikon and carrots, but I opted for just carrots as that’s the way I’m use to! If you’re making it, make this step at least an hour ahead of time.

Pan sear the chicken thigh or breast with some oil, salt and pepper. Once it’s cooked, take off the stove and let it rest.

In the mean time, cut your bun, spread one side with mayonnaise and the other side with a few shakes of soy sauce and fish sauce, and salt and pepper.

Place the meat on the bun, and top it with some cheese and bake until the cheese melts in a 350F oven, which takes a few minutes. Then, take the submarine out of the oven, and top it off with the pickled carrots, cilantro and other fresh vegetables. (I usually don’t put the raw onions on as I’m worried about onion breath at work – if I’m having this for lunch) Put the top of the sandwich on and you’re ready to enjoy!

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French Market – Orleans

My parents really like to go to Las Vegas, and I do follow them a few times when they go. They seem to really like the more “economical” priced places to eat – probably because how often they go. I found myself a little off the strip on Tropicana Avenue at The Orleans hotel, walking into a buffet called French Market.

The buffet is actually huge as there are many “stations” from different parts of the world. I did find that the buffet selection remains more or less the same through the days of the week. The stations feature Italian, Mongolian, Barbecue, American, Seafood, Mexican and Chinese cooking, as well as an oversized dessert bar!

I’ve got to say, I really enjoyed the selection. Even though there’s no way I could try a little of everything, I did get a huge plate of food, soup and dessert!

Overall, it’s a fabulous place to enjoy lots of food – and quite a large selection. The price as mentioned was really reasonable, and I believe my parents had a “B-Connected” loyalty card which gave them a discount as they qualified for “Young at Heart” coupons. Even without coupons, I was really happy with the price I paid!

French Market (Orleans) on Urbanspoon

French Market – Las Vegas

4500 W Tropicana Ave
Las Vegas, NV
(800) 675-3267