Friday, March 2, 2018

Coconut Curry Chicken (Recipe)

Apparently this blog is just going to be about food now...

Anyways....

This was based on a whim David had a while back, and just happened to turn out well. We've made it several times since, and are starting to experiment with it, but the original, which I'll write out below, is a simple and mild, creamy curry dish that isn't spicy-hot... Unless you want it to be! The amount below makes about 2 servings.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 sm or med onion
2 chicken breasts, sliced or cubed
1 red bell pepper
1 can (about 12 oz) of coconut milk
2 or 3 (ish) tbsp curry powder, adjust to taste
3 cloves chopped garlic (or a tbsp or so garlic powder)
Salt & pepper
Fresh cilantro

Optional, to adjust the curry flavour to your preference, if you're feeling adventurous:
Cumin, ginger powder, tumeric, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne, hot pepper flakes (basically curry powder ingredients)



Method

1. Start by frying thinly sliced onions with vegetable oil until floppy and translucent. Next, add the cut up chicken breasts, and fresh garlic, if you're using any. Cook until no longer pink. You can also season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some curry powder now, if you like.

2. Add sliced pepper and continue to cook, cooking longer if you want softer peppers, or just for a minute or two if you prefer a little more texture in your cooked peppers, like I do.

3. Next, pour in your can of coconut milk and make sure everything is coated. Once it starts to simmer, it's a good time to take a taste and add more curry powder or any other seasons you think it needs to be exactly how you want it. This is also where you can add some chilli flakes if you want some more spice. I added about a teaspoon last time I made it, and the heat was gentle and delicious. Add more or less depending on your tolerance.

4. Once the sauce has thickened to a consistency you're happy with and the flavours are just right, serve over rice and garnish with some fresh chopped cilantro. I garnish rather heavily because I love cilantro, but you can leave it out entirely if you're so inclined.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Restaurant Reviews || Sho Bu Ramen, Coquitlam

A while back, David was planning to start a foodie blog, where he/we would photograph and review restaurants we tried. We took photos for a while of new places we went, but neither of us ever ended up using them or writing anything. Which is unfortunate, because that was years ago, and if we had kept it up, we'd have an impressive array of reviews because we have tried tons of new places over the past couple of years.

But, since I'm trying something new here, and not bothering about making this too regular or even promoting it, at least for now, I thought I'd give that another go. I decided this on a whim last night, after we/I decided we should try out a new ramen place.

Let me preface the rest of this review by saying that I had tried ramen before last night, but I had never enjoyed it. I've enjoyed various instant ramens, but fresh, proper ramen.... yeah not for me. I'd tried two places downtown that David had been suggested, but neither one worked for me. David really likes ramen, though, and since it's also just such a thing, I've still wanted to find a ramen that I enjoyed. So for my third adventure with ramen, I picked a place a little closer to home, which had some pretty good reviews on Google Maps and Zomato.

Sho Bu Ramen is in Henderson Place Mall in Coquitlam. An asian mall that has survived a surprisingly long time considering how dead and largely empty it has remained for many of those years. The ramen place is a fairly new edition, though, and is one of the many restaurants that now have storefronts on the outside of the mall, as well as enterances inside.

It's just a little place, done in a fairly average (but still cute) japanese restaurant style. There are very few tables, and it was pretty full when we got there around 6/6:30. All things considered, though, ramen is basically japanese fast food, and the wait wasn't long.

OnigiriWe decided to get a couple of appetisers alongside our ramen, as well. David picked takoyaki, I got an order of onigiri, and we split an order of pork gyoza (a personal favourite we share).

The onigiri I've had in the past were from T&T, were always cold, and were basically triangular rice balls with a little bit of meat or fish in the centre wrapped in a crispy seaweed wrapper. These, however (pictured to the left), were warm, soft balls of slightly sticky rice seasoned with bits of seaweed, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and some kind of lovely salty seasoning. They were not what I expected, but I would definitely order them again!


The gyoza (to the right) came with 5 pieces (I devoured one before I remembered to take a picture). This doesn't make them perfect for sharing between two people, but that is the only thing bad I'll say about them! They were excellent. Tender, lightly pan-fried, neither oily or soggy, and they tasted really really fresh. Again, something I would definitely order again.

I forgot to take a picture of David's takoyaki, but he didn't seem to have any complaints and they disappeared quickly, so I'm guessing they were pretty good, if you're into that kind of thing. Which I am not. (I'm realising now that there is a picture of the takoyaki below, behind my bowl of ramen!)

For ramen, I decided to go outside of the classic pork ramens, which I haven't loved, and got a BBQ Chicken ramen which came with a soy based broth, instead of the classic tonkotsu base I've disliked in the past. David, on the other hand went totally classic, and got the Cha-shu ramen with the tonkotsu base.

The BBQ Chicken Ramen, aside from being pretty to look at, was also delicious! I was actually surprised, at this point, that I could enjoy a ramen, but I am glad, as well. In the past, I've found ramen too salty, too greasy, too mleh (that's a technical word...), etc. But this was lovely. The soy base was lovely, not weirdly creamy like tonkotsu bases seem to be. Instead, it basically tasted like a mild miso soup, which I guess is probably what it is, in essence. Aside from the crispy breaded chicken cutlet with a teriyaki-esque bbq sauce and the obvious ramen noodles, my ramen came with a big pile of sliced white onions, bean sprouts, a half an egg, corn, and green onion. I don't love white onion, but David reminded me the soup was really hot, so I just pushed them down into the broth to cook and soften, and they really didn't bug me, and I didn't feel any need to pick them out. The noodles were tender but also chewy; basically they were perfect. The corn added a nice sweet zing to some bites, and the bean sprouts and green onion flavours just made sense. I'm not sure I needed the egg, but it didn't offend me at all. All in all, I would definitely order this again, but I would also like to try some of their other flavours, now that I've found a place where the ramen doesn't offend me! Maybe I'll get more adventurous!

I didn't get a picture of David's Cha-Shu Ramen, but he said it was pretty standard and he really liked it. I tried a bit of the broth, and it didn't seem as greasy and rich to me as others I had tried, which to me is a compliment, but obviously he had a lot more of his own ramen than I did! The cha-shu ramen contained corn, green onions, bean sprouts, and half an egg (just like the BBQ Chicken), but instead of onions, it had bamboo pieces. I really dislike bamboo, myself, but David wasn't offended, and said that there was very little in his bowl.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention the tea! I'm pretty sure it was the free tea that most japanese places will just give you if you ask for it, but I really enjoyed their tea here! It was that lovely sweet, toasty grain tea, if you've ever had that. Sometimes made with rice, barely, or a mix of the two, I'm pretty sure this one was a barley tea. And I have to say, I'm a huge fan of the light, toasty sweetness that is barley tea!

So if you're in the Coquitlam area and looking for some good ramen, personally I would highly recommend Sho Bu Ramen in Henderson Place mall. If you've been, let me know what you thought in the comments, as well as if you have any ramen restaurant suggestions in the tri-city area, or anywhere in the GVRD, really.

  Sho Bu Japanese Noodle Ramen Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Monday, February 19, 2018

Easy Vegetable Soup (Recipe)

Canned soup is surprisingly expensive, and since paying rent and stuff is also expensive, David wanted to try making soup to take to work for his lunch every day. We decided to start with a very simple vegetable soup, and it was delicious and filling! So here's what we put together:

Ingredients:

1 medium onion
3 celery stalks
2 large carrots
1 red pepper
2-4 medium potatoes
1 carton of vegetable stock (~1 litre)
0.5 carton of chicken stock (~2 cups)
2 cups water
whatever herbs you want your soup to taste like. (I used thyme mostly, with some rosemary and sage)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Chop onion into small pieces and fry in large soup pot with some vegetable oil until translucent and soft.

2. Add chopped celery to soften before adding other ingredients, adding a good sprinkling of salt now can help.

3. Add all the other chopped up vegetables now: carrots, pepper, and potatoes. Feel free to add in anything else you think will be nice. This is also the time to add your stocks and water. You can also add your seasonings now. I probably used a tablespoon or so total, but use more or less to your taste.

4. Simmer until the flavours are blended, and you have soup!

Monday, February 12, 2018

Homemade oven fries (Recipe)

So the other day I wanted fries but only had potatoes. I didn't wanna fry anything or do too much work, and these fries turned out perfectly!

It's not scientific, the numbers or amounts below are estimations or my experiences. Your results may vary. Also, feel free to play around with different oils and seasoning for different flavours.

Ingredients:

1 medium to large potato per person/serving
A splash of vegetable oil
Salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 420 degrees. Wash potatoes, peel if desired (I left my skins on and really liked them that way).

2. Cut into fry-shaped rectangles. Make sure they're evenly sized, or they won't all cook the same.

3. Pile fries onto a foil-lined pan, and pour a bit of oil over top. Use less oil than you think you need, you can always add more if you need it. If you really need measures, start with a tablespoon or two. Use your hands to mix the fries so they're evenly coated in the oil. Arrange in a single layer on pan.

4. Season with a good sprinkle of salt. All other seasonings are optional, but I also used some black pepper, garlic, and dried parsley. The parsley just looks nice, to be honest, and it came with my spice rack.

5. Bake fries for about 20-30 minutes, or until they look how crispy or soft you like your fries to look.
Enjoy!

Thursday, February 1, 2018

So, I've been thinking...

I know no one actually reads this blog right now, but that's alright, at least for now. I've been thinking of doing some kind of life blog for who I am now. I miss blogging, but I don't feel much like taking my beauty blog back up. I'm more interested in talking about living on our own (me, David, and Brit), witchcraft, work, reading, tarot, and other things in my life.

I thought about making a separate blog for this, something new, but I still love the name of this blog, the reference to The Fault in Our Stars, and also how it kinda works for witchy things as well. I dunno how regular this will be, I'm not going to put any pressure on myself to do it daily or weekly or anything, but I'm going to try to do it sometimes.

I hope to post life updates, witchy things I've learned or am learning, tarot spreads, book reviews, recipes, rants, house things, etc. Basically, whatever the fuck I feel like. I guess that makes this a lifestyle blog? But it isn't going to be aesthetic. It's going to be mine, and I'm not going to worry about readership or views or courting brands to send me things to review. I did that. It's exhausting. I'm over it.

Hopefully, I can also use this as a place to post photos taken with my bigass expensive Canon DSLR, because that baby is beautiful and expensive, and I need to use him more, even if I'm not filming.

If you read all this, thanks for reading.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Ambiverts... Who knew?!

Sorry I've been neglecting this blog, but honestly, it's mostly for me anyways, so I'm only a little sorry...

Also, did you know there was a setting between Introvert and Extrovert? Because I didn't...! Ambivert discribes me soooo much better than either of those ever has!

You Are 70% Ambivert
You are a full on ambivert. You probably have never felt like extrovert or introvert both describe you.
At times, you like to look inward and appreciate the quiet things in life... but you also like to get out there into the mix!

There's also a BuzzFeed article which is equal parts annoying and amusing which you can look up describing some ways to know you're actually an ambivert... but I can't find it within myself to link to BuzzFeed... so I'll let you google it if you want!

Are you also an ambivert? Did you know this was a thing? When did you hear about it? Why did no one ever tell me, not even my psychology classes?!

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Book Chat #1 (Previously would have been titled: Read and To-Read -> October 2014) { + video}

It's that time again! Time to catch up on what I have been reading, and what I want to read next! Only this time, I've started a video series, which also went up today. If you would like to hear me talk about the 12 books I've read over the last 3 months, then feel free to head over to my video, which I will also embed at the bottom of this post, or else, let's get started!

I'm not going to talk too much about the books I've finished here, since I talked for a long time in my video, but I will of course do a little blurb about whether I liked it and what it's about.

Books I've read:

1. The One by Kiera Cass

For those who don't know, this is the last book in the Selection trilogy, so I clearly wouldn't recommend starting here, but I would recommend this series! This series is a teen post-apocalyptic dystopian romance... kind of. I mean, you have the post-apocalyptic world, and you have conflicts, and you have the obvious teen-romance love triangles... but it's a cool mix of dystopian world and The Bachelor! It sounds really cheesy, but it's really well executed, and a cool break from the teen dystopians which are frankly starting to become pretty formulaic. Hunger Games was fantastic, and Divergent was excellent. Delirium was pretty good. But I love that this series is a little something different!

2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

For those who are a little nerdy and/or a little awkward and like teen fiction, I would totally recommend this book. It is disappointingly a one-off novel (I'd love so much more of this story!), but really cute and a really quick read. I love the characters in this one so much. Cath isn't your normal teen novel protagonist, she's socially awkward, nerdy, and an extremely talented fanfiction author with a big online following, and this story starts when she and her twin sister Wren go to college, but Wren refuses to room with her sister, since she wants to meet new people. Yeah. Read it.

3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

I'm sure you've all already read Harry Potter, but yes. I'm on my millionth read through, basically. Oddly, because of library books, and class readings and assignments, I stopped about halfway through this book about 2 years ago, and only got around to finishing sometime this summer. I mean, I've read it so many times that I just jumped right back in where I left off, but I can't believe it took me so long to get back to it!

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Quickly following #4, I moved onto #5, and read it quickly like a crazy person. Much better.

5. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

This was my final John Green book to read (if we only count his solo-authored ones), and it was really good! Nothing may ever beat TFiOS, but this one definitely ties for second with Looking for Alaska! Also, it has footnotes. Heh...

6. Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

If you read and loved Divergent, and especially if Four/Tobias was your favourite character, I recommend reading this books, assuming you haven't already. It has some really great backstory on Four before we meet him, and before he becomes Dauntless, as well as a couple scenes from the first book from his perspective. Love! I want to own this one so badly to complete my collection!

7-9. 666 Park Avenue, The Dark Glamour, and The Lost Soul by Gabriella Pierce

I meant for this to be a quick, interesting book, but it ended up being a trilogy... which I didn't find out until the end of the first book, which totally doesn't end in an okay place! This one is about witches and magic on the Upper East Side of New York City, which was a pretty appealing premise to me, even though it looks like a cheap, cheesy little chick-lit novel. Which is kinda is, but all the same, throughout the trilogy, I think Pierce manages to do a really good job developing her world's magic system and rules and history, and it ends up being a good story!

10. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

I first heard of this book from Ingrid (MissGlamourazzi), and it sounded fun and cute, as YA fiction tends to be, so I decided to give it a go. And it was really good, as expected. It's a pretty simple premise that fits in really well with the likes of John Green's first 3 books, but if you want more information on the story, you can find the blurb on GoodReads with the above link or watch my video.

11. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

I also found this book through YouTube, this time from the Vlogbrothers, who I think mentioned it on a couple different occasions, which intrigued me. It wasn't as good in my opinion as the Beginning of Everything, which I read right before this one, but it was still a really good teen fiction novel, and I really enjoyed it.

12. A Clash Of Kings by George R.R. Martin

If you know and love Game of Thrones as a tv series, I would loudly suggest that you read the books, though the show is only up to book three, so don't read any further if you don't want to spoil it. This is the second book in the series, and I'm in looooooove! It's got some plot differences and wayyyyy more backstory and history and characters, and IT. IS. JUST. SO. GOOD!

Currently Reading: (I'm actually reading shockingly few books right now!)

1. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

2. The Silmarrilion by J. R. R. Tolkien

To-Read:

1. The Selection Stories by Kiera Cass

I mentioned this one in my video, when I was reviewing The One, but my boyfriend bought it for me since I filmed that video, so I'm really looking forward to getting to this book next!

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

Here follows a bunch of re-reading, because sometimes you just need to! I've already worked my way through 1-5, so it's time to finish up the series with #6 and:

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

...#7! I'll be really glad to finally finish this series all over again, since it's been years, and these last two books are my favourites!

4-7. The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

I make no apologies for this one. I've read this series once before (I don't think I've ever re-read any of the books), but not for years, and not since I bought my own copies. I think i started reading these in highschool, when the first three were out, but the last one wasn't yet, because I'm pretty sure I remember waiting for the last book. Also, I read them before the movie. I think... Anyways, yes, I really want to read these books again now that I know that so many people hate them, because I always really liked them, and even defended them in my university classes. And I'll point out I rarely speak in class. So yes, looking forward to experiencing this series a second time.

8. Onward by Howard Schultz

I love Starbucks, and have a weird curiousity about this book and if it's any good... what else can I say?

9. The Intimate Adventures of A London Call Girl by Belle du Jour

I loooooved Secret Diary of a Call Girl, the show inspired by this book, with Billie Piper as the protagonist, so of course I want to read the book too! I believe this is meant to be a true story/diary of real woman's life as a call girl in London, which is pretty cool. If I like it, I'll also look for the second book.

10. Uglies by Scott Westerfield

I've had this book for ages! Probably since middle school? Yeah... and I've never read it..! I know this became a pretty big series, so I want to finally give this one another go. I own it, so I should read it!

All images are from GoodReads.com and can be found on the pages linked for each book.

I'd love to know what you've been reading lately, or if you've read any of the books I mentioned, so be sure to leave me a comment, either here, or on my video!

Video time!:

Thanks for reading!

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