Vegetarian Jap Chae...

As a note, it actually IS important how long you marinate the mushrooms for - I left it for way too long, and they sucked up too much flavour, it was crazy! Otherwise, not bad. Although I would have preferred it with beef, but I thought it was too cold to walk all the way to buy some!

For the same reason, I substituted bok choy for spinach, left out green onions entirely, and tried compensating by using a ridiculous amount of mushrooms. Here is the recipe from Lily's Wai Sek Hong, website, which I failed to follow...

Chickpea Curry

I made a Chickpea Curry yesterday - with onions, potato, garlic, ginger, and tomatoes. And, of course, a green chili pepper. It's pretty tasty, even if it's not all that photogenic! The tomatoes, I think, and the ginger, made a difference.

The strawberries I had for dessert, however, were a good deal more photogenic, so let's zoom in for their close-up:

Black BeanTofu on Rice

[My dinner: Blackbean Tofu on rice, with steamed green beans and a white peach for dessert]

Blackbean Tofu was my first attempt at cooking for myself in Toronto - I chopped up a potato and a carrot, started, er, cooking them in a pan, and then I added in a chopped onion and garlic clove. I wasn't quite sure if I was supposed to put the things in according to a certain order, but I figured potatoes and carrots take a longer time to cook...

Anyways, I added in two teaspoonfuls of garlic blackbean sauce, and then added in the extra-firm tofu, which I had chopped up into cubes. Then I mixed some cornstarch into cold water and poured it over the mixture, then cooked while stirring until the sauce thickened. I tasted it, and then added in another teaspoon of garlic blackbean sauce because I liked it saltier :) Especially if I'm going to have it over white rice.

It tasted okay, although I think that since I'm so used to eating korean food, it felt a little off because it was neither sweet nor spicy!

So, did I forget anything vital? I wish I had bought pepper before I made it - I think a little spiciness would have given it a nice kick : )

Next up: MaPo Tofu...I'm going to attempt...to cook with MEAT!!!!!