Chopped Canada Season 3, Episode 11: Spicy Maple Creme Halibut and Fennel Salad

The mandatory ingredients for episode 11 weren’t all that difficult – especially the main course.  Halibut, maple sandwich cookies, baby fennel and aji pepper paste.  I like halibut and I like maple, so why not create a sauce out of cookie filling and paste?  One doesn’t even need a food processor – just a bit […]

Chopped Canada, Season 3, Episode 10: Mountain Tea and Salmon Sausage Pizza?

So the contestants only had 20 minutes to complete the appetizer round on episode 10.  I say screw that.  I’m going to take my time if I were given the following ingredients:  mountain tea, graffiti eggplant, salmon sausage and barbecue sauce.  I’m going to make pizza.  Because I said so.  And because this is a […]

Chopped Canada Season 3, Episode 9: Deviled Eggs and Sprinkles?

Yes, the appetizer round called for the following ingredients:  already-prepped deviled eggs, Canadian smoked cheddar, venison sausages and…get ready for it…rainbow cake decorations.  In other words, rainbow sprinkles.  Why are ingredients this season so…odd?  Anyway… Can you SERIOUSLY incorporate this into a non-dessert? So what can you make with this?  Let’s think OUTSIDE of the […]

Chopped Canada, Season 3 Episode 8: Deconstructed Beef Tongue Enchiladas?

The basket for the main course were as follows:  peach drink box (ew!), beef tongue, pinto beans and salsa morita.  Well, that’s an easy thing – kind of – enchiladas!  Better yet, deconstructed enchiladas. Raw beef tongue One might think that the peach drink can be used as part of the sauce, perhaps giving the […]

Fuller House: Nostalgic and a bit Cheesy at Times

Fuller House, television, Netflix

Us late Xers and early Millennials grew up watching Full House on Friday evenings, and later, Tuesdays.  And now that the sequel (can we call it a sequel?) has launched on Netflix, many may be binge-watching the first season, which launched on February 26.  I still have a few more episodes to watch (at least […]

Chopped Canada, Season 3, Episode 7: Goat Cheese and Hemp Bites Stuffed Capon?

The mystery ingredients were a bit tougher this week – for me to come up with something, anyway.  After a few days of thinking (or over-thinking, I suppose), I’ve decided that maybe a green radish, goat cheese cheese and hemp bite stuffed capon might do the trick (the ingredients in the main course basket were […]

Chopped Canada, Season 3, Episode 6: Eggs Benny with Bitter Melon & White Bass?

If you ever eat bitter melon with my dad, he’ll tell you a story of how guys in his university residence “forced” him to eat bitter melon because that was the only thing available for dinner said evening (because everything was shared family style, as per Chinese custom and the guys KNEW my dad hated […]

Chopped Canada, Season 3, Episode 5: What To Do With Figs and Sausage Patties?

Well, since the Year of the Monkey started on February 8, why not use the mystery ingredients from episode 5’s second round (frozen sausage patties, Long Island Ice Tea, heirloom carrots and figs)  to make dumplings?  Not too hard to think of something, right?  And to make it more main course-like, it can be served […]

Chopped Canada, Season 3, Episode 4: Roasted Chrysanthemum Crusted Lamb

Ingredients for the second (i.e. main) course on the fifth episode of this season’s Chopped Canada were:  lamb crown, tomato sauce, nutritional yeast and chrysanthemum leaves.  The first thing that came to mind was roast lamb.  But I was trying to figure out what exactly to do with it (if I were to make this […]

Chopped Canada Season 3, Episode 3: Dessert with Quinoa

Tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts!  This might sound a little odd, but why can’t one attempt to make tiramisu with quinoa instead of lady fingers?  Can’t be THAT difficult, can it?  And no, I am using ACTUAL quinoa for the “cake” rather than quinoa flour – it isn’t, after all, quinoa flour that […]