Radiating Risotto

For me, risotto is one of those great comfort foods, both to make and to eat. It's a recipe that requires a lot of attention, but really not that much skill, contrary to what seems to be popular belief. I feel, it seems complicated only in that it requires almost constant attention and stirring. I enjoy this somewhat tedious process, though... watching over it, stirring, putting more effort and energy into it. These are the most rewarding dinners for me... the ones that require more effort for a greater, tastier pay off.

Earlier this winter, I made a butternut squash risotto which was pretty much an utter failure. My brain was scattered... I totally lost track of what I was doing and ended up adding a good portion of my stock all at once... resulting in WAY undercooked rice which lead to unpleasant eatings... but the squash was nice. :) This time I may have slightly overcooked the rice (it lacked a slight bite that I wish I had maintained) in an effort to use up all the stock, the last scoop may have been one too many. Nevertheless, still creamy and all the right flavor components were there.

I'd began craving risotto again... pretty much right after the earlier disaster. Ha. I needed to redeem myself. Having some decaying peppers from Jean Talon, I decided it was necessary to roast them so that they would preserve in my fridge for a little bit longer. This, in my opinion, gave me a perfect excuse to make risotto with roasted peppers. :) And what a magnificent notion that was. (Although I still have a good cup or two of peppers left over and am wondering how I will utilize those.) This was one of the greatest risottos I think I have ever made. So many flavors that didn't overpower each other, but rather worked in copacetic harmony... with just the right amount of blissful heat from a jalapeno pepper.

Again, kind of going on a Mark Bittman binge these last couple days as this recipe stemmed from his cookbook too. Stemmed pretty loosely, though. I only really USED him for the basic idea of how to make risotto (sorry Mister Bittman... I feel a bit dirty for that :P). Having become a bit obsessed with food blogs and finding new, interesting dishes others were tasting, I have been ignoring my mountain (well... not mountain... maybe a small hill, or a mini mound, if you will) of cookbooks. What was I thinking? Trust the experts, that's what I should be doing... mastering the basics and then making my own tweaks.

I'm feeling a bit uncreative tonight :( so I'll save you all the agony of scanning further through my mundane thoughts by going on to the recipe. It's essential to have all the ingredients prepped and ready to add to the hot pan because there's little to no time to chop once you get going. Oh... right... feeling a lack of protein in this meal, I poached an egg to put on top. I learned this trick from a fellow blogger and I adore it. Poaching eggs is my new favorite culinary task to master... and I must say my skills are being honed nicely. I used to stare at the pot of boiling water, reciting a short prayer in my head that all goes well and wince as I put the egg into the swirling water, hoping all turned out well... but now it's no big deal. And the outcome is superb. I love the creaminess of the yokey egg spilling over my risotto... they mingle so wonderfully together.

Roasted Pepper Risotto

Adapted from Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything'

Halved for little old me (As it is, the full recipe is supposed to serve 4-6, so I'll get a good three meals of this.)

Ingredients (halved)

• 2-3 cups chicken broth (again... I used all three cups, but could have omitted about 1/4 for a slight bite to the arborio.)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 a medium onion (I used 1 small red one)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds and all (of course, for slightly less heat, remove the seeds)
• 3/4 cup arborio rice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup basil, chopped (Further devastating my basil plant. I didn't have parsley, so I used a mixture of basil, oregano, and cilantro... Bittman states that any fresh herb will do (and suggests chervil to be "especially good") but not to substitute dry ones.)
• 1 Tablespoon softened butter (Master Bittman suggests that adding butter is the key to a truly excellent, creamy risotto... but I opted out of it.)
• 1/4 cup parmesan, grated
• about 1/2 cup Roasted peppers, chopped (I roasted a green, orange, yellow, and red one days before making this, but, in my haste to incorporate them, I took a bit from the top of the mix which ended up being only red and yellow... which I like anyways because they are slightly sweeter, adding a nice flavor contrast.)
• 1 egg

Preparation

Warm the stock in a medium saucepan over medium heat and leave the heat on.

Place the oil in a large saucepan or skillet, preferably non-stick, and turn the heat to medium. When it's hot, add the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the rice and stir until it is coated with oil. Add a little salt and pepper, then the white wine. Stir and let the liquid bubble away.

Begin to add the warm stock, 1/4 cup or so at a time (I added by the laddle-full), stirring after each addition and every minute or so. When the stock is just about evaporated, add more. The mixture should be neither soupy nor dry. Keep the heat medium to medium-high, and stir frequently (constant stirring is not necessary). (<---- Except, in my opinion it kind of is. Maybe because I'm too afraid that the rice will burn, but every time I left for a bit and came back to stir, the rice began to stick to the pan... I didn't like that... so I'd say constant monitoring is a must.)

Begin tasting the rice 20 minutes after you add it; you want it to be tender but with a tiny bit of crunch. It could take as long as 30 minutes to reach this stage. (I would say 25 is ideal.) When it does, add the butter (which I omitted), herbs, and parmesan. Adjust the seasoning and serve immediately.

I assumed I would have more time to chop my herbs and roasted peppers during cooking... which was not the case and so I ended up forgetting to add the peppers when I originally planned to (which was with the onions, garlic, and jalapeno). This actually worked out perfectly, though because ultimately I added them with the herbs and parmesan. As a matter of fact, this seems the better place to add them as they are already roasted and soft.

For the Poached Egg

Bring about two inches of water with a splash of white vinegar to boil in a medium pan. Whilst you wait, crack your egg into a small dish. Once boiling, bring the heat down to a slight simmer, swirl the water violently and slip the egg into the water. Let it be for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the whites are set. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined plate to dab dry a bit. Place atop a mound of risotto.

So delicious. In my opinion... this picture is almost Food Porn worthy. :) I molded my risotto in the bottom of a circular tupperware :P... and served it alongside a simple salad of mixed greens and my favored vinaigrette.

Sourdough Starter, Day 3

First of all... what is with this Montreal weather?? Yesterday it was drizzly and quite comfortable temperature wise. The day before it snowed and rained (and I think there might have been a bit of hail knocking against my window in the morning). Then we get to today and it's BLIZZARDING! Okay... so maybe it's not a blizzard outside as that would require gale force winds in addition to all this snow (when I think blizzard I think Jon Krakauer's 'Into Thin Ar' and the intense conditions on Mt. Everest... this weather is most definitely nowhere near that). There is a lot of snow coming down though which has me wondering if I dare venture outside for fear of turning into a snowman as I walk down St. Catherine. It's pretty cool to watch out my big windows, though. There actually seems to be little to no wind at all sometimes, which means I get to view these large tufts of snow drifting straight down in front of me. Other times it looks as if the snow isn't falling at all, but rather suspended in air, dancing around each other. It's actually quite mesmerizing.

***Shakes self back to reality***

Right... onto to our fermenting buddies...

The morning of Day 3 has arrived and I'm a little worried for the health of my starter. Is this the first sign of disaster? I sure do hope not. There's clearly fermenting going on... but there's also a bit of discoloration and this peculiar line of separation at the bottom. :/ Still going off the idea from 'What the #$*! Do We Know?', I'm trying to send it all my good vibes and lovin' (maybe a sticky note of love would do it some good?). I really do believe in the power of words and good thoughts to change the outcome of an event. On that note... I also talk to my little yeasty friends. :) Telling them to grow, feed, and be good... just do their thing and live. That might sound silly, but all the great gardeners talk to their crops, don't they? Encouraging them to grow, maybe even playing them music. (The show 'Mythbusters' on one of the greatest networks, The Discovery Channel, did an experiment with the power of music on plants... but, alas, I forget what the outcome was. For my purposes, I'm going to assume that some pleasant music did them well.) After all, the yeast emerging from the flour is a living creature and all living creatures need love and nurturing.

That's better... no more examining that unsightly segregation going on in the previous picture. Look at those bubbles, baby. Today, the starter is even more thinned out than it was yesterday and you can kind of see it's a bit darker. Not quite as many voluptuous bubbles today... it looks more foamy that bubbly. The scent (dare I say perfume?) seems to have intensified over night as well.

I still have about four hours left until the next feeding and at that time I'll stir it all up (of course) and incorporate the separated bits. I'm afraid to do so now as I know for packaged yeast, mixing too much damages the product. So I'll just wait... and hope for the best.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

As promised... here's the first installment of my tracking of the sourdough starter featuring the first and second day of this yeasty journey.

I contemplated detailing the process of how to make this starter, but that's not the goal of these posts. Mostly, I guess, this is for me to track the process of this fickle creature so, if something goes awry, I can return to these posts and check where I went wrong... or, if all goes well, then this will serve as a shining beacon of a job well done. :) For now, I will just say that this recipe comes from 'The King Arthur Flour Baking Companion'. The basic idea of a sourdough starter, according to my minimal understanding, is to halve and feed, and halve and feed, and halve and feed, etc. over the course of 5 days to a week to develop the natural yeasty product already existing within the flour. This is a daunting process for me on account of it's a long and involved one. It's only day two, and I am already feeling pretty attached to this little baby. Maybe because of the awesome transformation that I have already witnessed... wait... I'm getting ahead of myself there. Basically... I'm very fearful that my starter wont work out, and I will have wasted all that flour, time, and nurturing on a failure. As it's still early in the process, though, for now I will attempt to push that trepidation out of my mind and just focus on loving this smelly, yeasty being.

Day 1

This will hopefully be the most boring picture of the bunch (if all goes according to plan) on account of here, we simply have the mixture of water, rye flour, and a bit of molasses, pre any sort of fermentation. Looks normal, right... like if you add a few more cups of flour, a little yeast, and knead... you'll get a regular loaf of bread. No. That's not what we want... so we place it in the oven with the pilot light on (as per Sir Arthur, King of Flour's suggestion... supposedly this creates an environment that is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit... admittedly, leaving the pilot light on in the oven kind of kills the environmentalist in me that goes around the apartment unplugging all appliances not in use and turning off lights to rooms nobody is in :/). There it remains for the next 24 hours for our microscopic buddies that live deep within the flour to awaken and start feeding. Nom nom nom.

Day 2

Woah, baby!! Look at that action. The concoction doubled over night, thinned out, and is fizzing with fermentation. In addition to the the visual cues of activity, the starter has developed a very pungent smell. I've been attempting to find the words to describe this intense smell ever since I unscrewed the jar this morning. Some of the intensity, I assume, comes from the fact that I used rye flour which gives off a slightly different scent than regular, all-pupose flour... but mostly, the smell is that of extremely potent yeast. Although, normally I enjoy the light aroma of yeast, this definitely has a more tangy, offensive odor to it (but also grows on you the more whiffs you take :P).

Okay... that's it for the first installment... 5 more days to go.

Oh right... the sound track for this post (and most of my day) has been WNYC's Radio Lab Podcast. CHECK THEM OUT. This show, springing from NPR, is such an interesting and creative listen. (One of the podcasts I listened to today involved a sort of love story between this couple essentially revolving around the exchange of a few of these podcasts. Anyways, that's not the point, the guy in the story described this podcast as an "investigation of what it's like to be a human being..." and then later went on to say that if you listen to these podcasts (specifically speaking of a certain three, "Who Am I", "Memory and Forgetting', and "Sleep", but I think it can be aptly applied to all their episodes) "you will find afterwards that your soul has been expanded, even if just a little bit." I thought those were extremely superb explanations of the show and how it makes me feel/think.) So go onto iTunes, or their website, and listen to some of their podcasts... it's FREE... how can you say no to free?? :)

(Towards the end of writing this, though, I switched over to some songs from the movie 'Clueless'... as I couldn't concentrate on both listening and typing. :P)

The BEST Spring Roll Recipe

WHAT?! Two posts in one day!?! It must be break... and I must be bored. :P (Or maybe I'm just getting better at this whole blogging deal... I'd like to think the latter is true... but we all know it most likely is not. Ha)

Oh spring rolls... how I love thee. The inspiration to make these delectable, savory treats this evening came from my building. Every Monday evening they supply us with a dinner if we choose to purchase it. Usually they offer pizza for $1.50 (recently increased from $1.00 ***gasp***), which I usually opt out of because I enjoy home made pizza more than that from a chain restaurant. However, tonight the woman in charge of said order-ins decided to go for sushi from the restaurant across the street. Now this is advertised all weekend, but it wasn't until this morning that I woke up and had an epiphany... SPRING ROLLS... what a great accompaniment.

Not just ANY spring rolls at that. It is my firm belief that these are the best spring rolls out there. The recipe comes from Mark Bittman, cook, blogger, columnist, traveler, genius. (If you have not previously stumbled upon his blog, Bitten, I highly recommend you do so. I recently made a fried rice recipe he posted in his "Minimalist" column for the New York Times, so simple, yet so divine.) These spring rolls contain non of those frou frou cellophane noodles to detract from the flavor of the other ingredients and fill your mouth with nonsense. (Yes... cellophane noodles in a spring roll are, in my opinion, complete nonsense.) For me, the key is in the dipping sauce (simple and light with a little extra kick) and the mint... yum... every other bite I got a mouthful of mint that perked up my taste buds. :) One of my favorite aspects of these spring rolls is the transparency of the rice paper, allowing you to view it's colorful contents.

Okay... I'm too excited... on to the recipe. (Oh... I thought it pertinent to mention that whilst I'm typing this, the song Twisted Nerve by Bernard Herrmann (the song whistled by Elle Driver in 'Kill Bill' as she goes to kill a comatose Uma Thurman) is running through my head and escaping my whistling lips. It's a fun one.)

Spring Rolls

Courtesy of Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything'

Yield: 4 spring rolls

Ingredients

• 1 small, fresh chile, minced, or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 Tablespoon rice or other mild vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla, available at Asian markets) or soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (On a side note, in lieu of a garlic press (and me being too cheap to purchase one) I have become quite the garlic mincing pro using a knife.)
• 8 medium-to-large shrimp, cooked, peeled, and cut in half the long way (precooked shrimp are okay, as are leftovers of any type) (I used 10 on account of I wanted to end up with slightly more than 4 rolls)
• 1 cup peeled and grated, shredded, or julienned carrots (Until now I don't think I have ever julienned carrots... it is quite difficult)
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 2 scallions, cut into slivers the long way (This were equally as tough to accomplish, if not more. Again, I slightly increased the amount, to three, for more spring rolls)
• 2 Tablespoons roughly chopped, fresh mint leaves
• 2 Tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 Tablespoons roughly chopped peanuts (Bittman says salted are okay... but I opted for the unsalted variety)
• 4 sheets rice paper, 8 to 10 inches in diameter (I ended up with about 7 spring rolls... and thus needed 7 of my round rice papers... which is no problem because the wrappers are generally sold in larger quantities. What on earth will I do with the rest of them?)

Preparation

Combine the first six ingredients and set aside as a dipping sauce.

Prepare the other ingredients and set them out on your work surface. Set out a bowl of hot water (110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit) and a clean kitchen towel.

Put a sheet of rice paper into the water for about ten seconds, just until soft (Don't let it become too soft; it will continue to soften as you work). (Really... there is a delicate balance between just right and too much, as, if you soak too much, your rice paper will become a gooey, unworkable mess. You want them to just become pliable.) Lay it on the towel.

In the middle of the rice paper, lay a few shrimp pieces (I went for three halves per spring roll... might have needed 4 for a more shrimpy flavor.) and about a quarter of each of the carrots, bean sprouts, scallions, mint, cilantro, and peanuts. Roll up the rice paper, keeping it fairly tight, and folding in the ends to seal. (My method is about two rolls, fold in the edges, and then finish rolling.) Repeat this process until all the ingredients are used up. Serve with dipping sauce... and enjoy!!! :D

Beautiful, non? Maybe not... I have made these three times now and I don't remember them ever being so difficult to assemble. My first roll was an utter disaster due to my over soaking of the rice paper. Literally... the paper turned almost to goo as I was rolling it up and I was forced to pour out the contents and start over. :( I don't recall this happening any of the other 2 times I've made these... but, then again, my memory is pretty poor...so it's possible I just blocked out the devastating aspects of preparing this dish.

Of course, I would say that my spring rolls were better tasting (by bounds and leaps) than the sushi offered by my building. The sushi was average at best, but had a lot of those little, burst-in-your-mouth eggs that make eating sushi such a fun experience. The overall flavor was nothing to write home about... especially because I'm pretty sure the restaurant they were purchased from is a Caribbean one. :/

Yum... can't wait to eat more tomorrow!!

Oh... P.S.

Today I began the process (yet again) of making my very own sourdough starter. I embarked on this mission while home for winter break... but ultimately abandoned it as I didn't have my King Arthur baking book or the proper ingredients. (I wonder if the starter is still lurking in the refrigerator back at home. Knowing my family... it probably is... and is now a living, breathing mass of yeast and mold.) This time around, however, I made sure to purchase the proper flour and am aided by Sir Arthur, King of Bakery. I'll be sure to photograph each step as my starter ferments, bubbles, and becomes a living creature for me to nourish and care for. :)

Over and out blogosphere.

French Onion Soup and Unrelated Ranting

Let it be known that I am not enjoying this hour of day. I most definitely do NOT want to be awake right now. But, alas, silly me forgot to turn my alarm clock (er... rather... phone) off and it woke me up at 8. :( True, today is a Monday and I would normally be awake by this time for class at ten... But... today marks the first official day of my "Study Break". McGill is so optimistic with this name... who actually studies over break? Well... I guess I will be, on account of I am stuck here in Montreal while others are frolicking with their families at home or in far-off warm climates. Woe is me, yes? The good news is that during my one day alone (the one day I had the apartment completely to myself, when all the roommates left and before one of them returned) I got a chance to clean clean clean. Ha. Sounds exciting, I know, but this place gets so darn messy. I swept the floors, mopped, cleaned the dishes (loaded the dishwasher the way I like it, ha), and cleaned the counter... which included windexing the stove top. :P This relative cleanliness will probably not last until the end of the week... but for now it looks pretty good.

Okay... enough ranting about my sorry life... onto the food. It has been ages since I've posted anything... which is, admittedly, a problem for me, keeping up a writing regime. However, don't be misled by my lack of rigor in regards to blogging... I have definitely not stopped cooking... I have however been slacking in the photography department as well. :( Man... I am awful at this. Ha. I'll try to make up for that this week by taking pictures of ALL the food I make... which hopefully amounts to a lot. :)

As for now, I will delight you with a meal I made a while ago. French Onion Soup. I have been dying to make this meal for years. Winter always makes me yearn for this steaming, cheesy, oniony goodness. It just seems to be the epitome of warm and cozy... perfect for a drearily cold evening in Montreal.

I adore everything about this soup. First of all, it is a soup made completely of onions. How can you go wrong? Onions might be one of my favorite foods and, along with freshly baked bread, the perfume of sauteed onions is definitely a favored kitchen smell. Then, there's the individual bowls that look so darn adorable and makes this soup even more enticing. Add to that some crusty baguette slices topped with ooey-gooey melted cheese. Oh man... excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard. In addition to the warm, fuzzy feeling I get from devouring (and looking at) this soup, I also love the process. Yes, it is a long one, but I like dishes that take longer to prepare. Not only does it taste better once it's made (as, by that point, I am most definitely starving), but I feel like the more time you put into a dish, the more time you have to send it your good energy and loving vibes. :)

This recipe was discovered on Cooks Illustrated's website... when I was on my free week trial. What a great magazine, though. I would always buy them for long car trips with the family, but should really start buying them on a regular basis. They churn out a lot of great, tried-and-true recipes and tips. Anyways... since my free trial had expired, I took to the internet to see if a fellow blogger had posted the recipe anywhere. Luckily, I stumbled across a blog entitled Cookography which had the recipe entitled "The Best French Onion Soup (... ever!)". Yippee! This was the exact recipe I was looking for, so I thank you Luke and Carolyn of Cookography for enabling me to make this b-e-a-u-tiful soup. :)

Apparently, traditional French Onion Soup is made on the stove top, which demands constant watching over and stirring. This recipe requires caramelizing the onions in the oven, bringing out more of that delicious oniony flavor and saving my sanity a bit. As for the ingredients... everything (well... almost everything) I put into this came from the ever so lovely Jean Talon market (save for the chicken broth which I had made myself at an earlier date). How I adore that place. Every time I venture there it is an adventure (and not just because I usually get a bit turned around and slightly lost when I go). So much great, local food in one place.

Alright... I feel as if I have rambled on quite enough about this recipe, now it's time to actually share it with you all, so here it goes...

Oh, before I continue, though, it should be mentioned that the best flavor is achieved a day or two after making this soup. Also, the onions can be prepared, through step one, cooled in the pot, and refrigerated for up to three days before proceeding with the recipe.

THE BEST FRENCH ONION SOUP

Courtesy of Cook's Illustrated via the Cookography bloggers

Serves: 6 (or just me for several days :P)

Ingredients

• 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
• 6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole-to-pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• Salt
• 2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing
• 1/2 cup dry sherry (I, foolishly, neglected to buy this item thinking I would have no other use for it and not wanting to waste the money, so I used red wine vinegar instead. I assumed I would enjoy the additional tanginess, but next time I will definitely opt for the sherry.)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock (again... I used my own :D)
• 2 cups beef broth (This was purchased from Jean Talon and actually looked like hand made broth, with bits of the herbs still floating in it, as opposed to that boxed stuff you buy from the grocery store which was probably never touched by human hands until it reached its box.)
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
• 1 bay leaf
• Ground black pepper
• 1 baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 8 oz. shredded Gruyere cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

Directions

For the Soup:

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 400 degrees (Fahrenheit).

Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot, add the onions, and a teaspoon of salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and the sides of the pot. Return to the oven, with the lid slightly ajar, and continue to cook until the onions are soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping the sides of the pot after one hour.

Carefully remove the pot from the oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle the pot (don't forget you JUST took this scorching pot out of the oven), cook onions, stirring frequently and, again, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the bottom of the pot is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. (Scrape any dark, caramelizey goodness that collects on the spoon back into the onions.)

Stir in 1/4 cup of water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen the crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until the onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust that has accumulated on the bottom and sides of the pot.

Increase the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the croutons:

While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

To serve:

Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual (and oh so adorable), broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups of soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle with Gruyere. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. Voila! Then it's time to eat and revel in all it's oniony, cheesy fantasticness.

Oh how I wish I had this steaming bowl in front of me right now. **sigh** What a delight this was to eat... day after day after day.

So that's it... the BEST french onion soup. This is definitely a keeper of a recipe. :)

Oh, right, before I leave... my roommate, from Brazil, returned from a week in Florida with her visiting family yesterday (lucky little ba... er... girl) toting a ginormous wheel of authentic Brazilian cheese. (Apparently this is a highly sought after cheese in Brazil, as she squealed with joy upon presenting this beauty of a cheese wheel to me.) It's quite delicious, and nothing like I expected it to be, slightly soft and very flavorful. I'd assumed it would be a super mild cheese on account of it's white and soft and doesn't give off the appearance of being particularly strong, but it can definitely hold its own flavor wise. (The cheese wheel excited me too... so I thought it necessary to share with you.)

Alright... now I've gotten myself hungry. Time to root around in the fridge for something to satisfy my desire.

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to...

Okay... so one of those two statements is correct. It most certainly IS my birthday... but hopefully no tears will be shed today. Celebrating (or maybe lacking a celebration due to the heavy work load that I've managed to neglect and accumulate) my TWENTY-FIRST birthday... in Montreal... where the drinking age is eighteen. This is a bit anti-climactic seeing as how the big 2-1 is supposed to be the INSANE birthday in which you are finally, legally allowed to drink... whereas I've been here, drinking legally for three years. :P This is no big deal, as I'm not a big drinker anyways, but I feel a bit cheated out of the "21 shots on your 21st birthday" experience (not that I would dare embark on that mission for fear of approaching imminent death).

Anyways... this is what I woke up to from my beautiful roommates. :) Gotta love 'em.

Granted... this is from a box brownie mix... but I still maintain that box brownies are the best brownies. :)

So... another year older... another year wiser...? Not too sure about that one... but I'll work on it as I go to class. What a way to spend my birthday. :P

P.S

Planning my anti-Valentine's Day celebration... Horror movies in the theater (at my apartment) and Chinese take-out. Ha. Sounds like my idea of a great valentine-less Valentine's Day.

Goat Cheese, Sun Dried Tomato and Sauteed Onion Omelet

First of all, I am so EXCITED about this post because it contains my first photograph!!!! I have been toiling with my camera for years now trying to take an acceptable picture to start blogging with. Finally, my mom got me a lamp (with instructions to buy energy efficient DAYLIGHT bulbs) for this very purpose. The lights in my apartment give my food a sickly yellow appearance when the photo is snapped. My what a HUGE difference this lighting makes. I am beyond satisfied with the outcome and can't wait to blog with even more pictures. :)

What a great Saturday breakfast this was. :) Upon my very first visit to Montreal, to tour McGill Campus, my parents and I ate at this little cafe inside the Desjardins shopping mall. Sadly, I think this cafe has since closed, but it was a wonderfully unexpected find near the other more food court-esque stands. Their water pitchers contained a variety of fruits in them (I don't quite remember what kinds exactly as this was now about four years ago) which infused the water with a light, fruity flavor. That, however, was not the best part of our meal. Here, at this little cafe in the mall, my mom and I were introduced to goat cheese and spinach egg white omelets. So simple, but so delicious. It has since become one of my favorite breakfast meals (with the addition of a little tabasco thrown on top when I have it).

This morning, though, I lacked spinach, but did have goat cheese and was craving an egg white omelet. So, I took a look in the fridge to see what other ingredients lurked behind the door. Happily, I came upon sun-dried tomatoes (in oil) and some onion. What a fantastic combination. There were only three eggs left in my carton so I decided to use the whites of all of them for this omelet, sauteed the onions, chopped up the sun-dried tomatoes a bit, crumbled some goat cheese and threw it all together. Well... I suppose it took a little more effort than just "throwing" the ingredients in a pan and watching this beautiful omelet magically take shape. It takes a bit of skill to transform your eggs into an omelet, as opposed to a scramble. I've adopted the "scrape-and-swirl" method. This method starts off with a heated and greased pan, lest you want your skillet to turn into the omelet itself as the egg will never come clean from an un-greased pan. I separate my eggs into a bowl, add salt, pepper, and a few drops of milk then scramble it all up with a fork. Next comes the part that requires a bit of skill, but nothing that can't be easily learned. Pour the egg into the pan and swirl it around so it covers the bottom of the pan. Then I take a spatula, scrape up some of the cooked egg on the edge, and tilt the pan to fill in the new emptiness with some uncooked egg resting on top. I do this all around the edge of the pan until the egg is still slightly uncooked on top, but, when given a tilt of the pan, none of it makes enough of an advance to fill in a new gap. This is the point when I add my fixings. Usually I'll add the cheese first so that it has longer exposure to the heat and thus more time to become ooey gooey. Then comes the spinach, normally, but in this case it was my sauteed onions and chopped up sun dried tomatoes. Once I'm satisfied with the egg-to-other-ingredients ratio, I top the pan with a lid for a bit. (When using spinach, this encourages it to wilt a little more but also makes sure that the eggs get fully cooked.) Oh, also, I only cover one half of the pan with the filling because it's folded in half anyways. Next, you turn off the heat, fold over the omelet, and slide it onto a plate. And voila! A beautifully delicious omelet awaits your knife and fork (and your mouth :P).

Yummy! Look at that cheesy, oniony, tomatoey goodness seeping out. This is a good contender for my normal spinach-goat cheese omelet. All this need now is a giant latte sitting nearby... and it's perfect. :)