sake + cheese

ding tai fung shanghai dim dum

The great thing about going Uptown is the variety of amazing asian restaurants. One of my favourite restaurants to hit up is Ding Tai Fung Shanghai Dim Sum at First Markham Place. Unlike the traditional dim sum with carts, you place your order through a menu chart, checking off your selections. Here are some of my favourite items to order when I have that special craving for Shanghai Dim Sum.

* Ding Tai Fung

3255 Highway 7 East

Markham, Ontario

* sticky rice and pork dumplings

* shrimp and pork soup dumplings

* mini pork soup dumplings

* Shanghai-style spring rolls

j-town round-up

Ok, this is the last of our J-Town pics. We're hoping to go back soon to visit the new izakaya that has recently opened, Izakaya Ju, and to snag more of those delicious bacon sticks that we've both been craving ever since.

* the entrance to the plaza

* sushi + pre-made bentos

* croquettes

* mini fish sandwiches

* buns

* canned coffees & teas

* ramune sodas (the ones with the marble!)

* sauces

* sweets & treats

davis' mom's recipe

Here is my mom's recipe that I've been dying to try. I love my mom's cooking and I try to make the special comfort foods that she makes when she visits. This recipe for Spicy Siracha Chicken Wings is something I've been craving, so in lieu of Mother's Day I tried it out and I must say they are addictive. My mom says to pair this summer snack with a cold beer.

1-2 lbs of chicken wings (jumbo wings are best if you can get them)

1 C of Siracha hot sauce

2 tbsp of Hoisin sauce

1 tbsp of Ponzu sauce

2 tbsp of brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut off wing tips and separate wings in a bowl.

2. Whisk together all of sauces in a separate bowl.

3. Combine wings and Siracha mixture and evenly coat. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

3. To cook, deep frying or shallow pan frying works best. Make sure the oil is at a medium-high temperature before frying. The hot oil will cook the marinade so be watchful that the wings do not burn.

4. Fry evenly for about 8-10 minutes or until dark brown and cooked through.

5. Remove excess oil by draining the wings on paper towel.

6. Serve with extra Siracha to dip, or alone.

dear mom

In honour of Mother's Day, Davis and I will each be posting a recipe that reminds us of our moms. Check back tomorrow for Davis' spicy recipe!

My mom and I started making these Filipino empanadas after my Auntie gave me her mother's recipe. Filipino empanadas have a sweet and flaky dough and are filled with a sweet and savoury filling. We sometimes stuff these with beef, sometimes chicken and sometimes a combination of beef and crumbled Filipino longganisa sausages.

The dough recipe will have to stay a family secret, but you can use frozen puff pastry as an easy substitute or your favourite dough recipe.

filling:

1 lb ground beef (or about 2 cups of any other filling)

3/4 C frozen sweet peas

1/2 C golden raisins, chopped

1 medium-sized potato, finely diced

salt and pepper, to taste

1. Saute the potato in some vegetable oil until tender. Remove from the pan.

2. In the same pan, add ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook until browned.

3. Add peas, raisins and cooked potato. Taste for seasoning. Sometimes my mom will add about a tablespoon of oyster sauce at this point instead of salt. Let the mixture cool completely.

4. Cut your dough into 4-inch circles and fill with about 2 tablespoons of filling. Fold dough over into half moons and crimp edges shut.

5. To cook, deep fry the finished empanadas in oil heated to about 365 degrees until golden brown.

peanut butter sandwich cookies

I'll admit that peanut butter just isn't my thing. I don't eat it straight out of the jar, I don't slather it on toast, and I usually only have it around for cooking purposes. I had a jar of the nutty stuff sitting in my pantry that I wanted to use up, so I decided to make these. And I liked them. Chewy peanut butter and oat cookies filled with a not-too-sweet peanut butter filling, they kind of reminded me of those Pirate cookies from when I was a kid, but chewy. I may even make these again soon.

cookies:

3/4 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C butter, room temp

1/2 C creamy peanut butter

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 C quick-cook oats

filling:

3 tbsp butter, room temp

1/2 C creamy peanut butter

3/4 C icing sugar, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir to mix evenly.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you can probably do this with a hand mixer too), cream together butter, peanut butter and both sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in egg and vanilla and mix.

3. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Sit in the oats by hand until evenly distributed.

4. Use a small ice cream scoop or a spoon to scoop out about a tablespoon and a half of dough for each cookie. Roll into a balls and place on baking sheet a couple of inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes and rotate the baking sheet halfway through for even cooking. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Make the filling by creaming all of the ingredients in a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) until light and fluffy. Spread filling on the flat side of one cookie and sandwich with another.

bakery nakamura

Located in J-Town between Heisei Mart (the Japanese grocery store) and Famu (the Japanese butcher), is Bakery Nakamura. We eyed the buns here before we even sat down for our lunch and made plans to get our hands on some on our way out. We ended up choosing only savoury flavours, but there are sweet buns available too, like the popular melon-pan and cream or chocolate-filled cornets.

* bacon stick

The chewy baguette-like bread paired with salty bacon was dreamy. We squirted a bit of kewpie on this bad boy and were in heaven.

* cheddar cheese bun

This bun was perfectly cheesy and soft. Nuff said.

* pizza bun

Olives, cheese, tomato sauce and bread, this was a much better version of those grocery store pizza buns. Way better.

* curry beef bun

Definitely the least favourite. Nothing so wrong with it, just wasn't the bacon stick.

dolce gelato

In need of a gelato fix on a hot Sunday afternoon, we stopped by Dolce Gelato. Still one of our favourite gelato places in the city.

* lemon + mango

* lemon + croccangelo (milk base w/ crunchy caramel)

* Dolce Gelato

697 College St.

café green tea

Over the weekend we trekked over to J-Town (a small Japanese plaza in Markham) and had a quick lunch at the cafeteria-style Café Green Tea. Just place your order at the counter, take the wooden number given to you and head to a table to wait for your meal to come. Everything we had tasted fresh, homey and satisfying. Portions were quite big and typical Japanese lunch items, like curry, soba or tonkatsu cost around $7 or so.

* rice + tonkatsu + sides

* oyako don (chicken + egg over rice)

* croquettes (mashed potatoes mixed with either beef, tuna or corn, then dredged in panko and fried until crispy)

* steamed bun filled with pork and vegetables

* omelette rice

* Café Green Tea

3160 Steeles Ave. E, Markham

birthday feast

It was my nephew's birthday party last night and I made some of my classics for his birthday dinner. A go-to favourite of mine is my fried rice, a dish that will feed lots of people and is easy to make. I also got the chance to try those lovely cakes from Herriott Grace. My sister had two of them at the party and I got to take some beautiful shots. It was a night of great food and cooking. Here are some photos from the night's dinner.

* maple bacon wrapped dates

* deviled eggs

* double cream baked brie

with vern's homemade red pepper jelly

* fried rice

* the cakes

taro's fish

Over the weekend I stopped by Taro's Fish for the first time. It's a pretty small place that offers a nice selection of fresh fish, has a made-to-order sushi counter and boasts a Japanese take out section that, on the day I was there, had deep-fried soft-shell crabs, battered perch, oyster rice, and numerous bentos up for grabs. I settled for a sashimi platter and mackerel sushi with shiso. Service was attentive and I was pleasantly surprised when I was offered a bag of ice to keep my fish nice and chilled until I got home.