Burning Fat

The past week I've been eating out a lot and so today I decided to cook my own meals like I used to. Last night I began preparing my lunch after my lab had finished. I decided to make soba noodles, but having no materials ready, they were a little bland and uncolourful. I boiled the buckwheat noodles and then stir fried them with green onions. I added a hint of flavour by using soy sauce, sesame oil, and a splash of rice vinegar. The overall result was a bit bland by itself, but I had also decided to make some other items to go along with it. I borrowed a few eggs from one of my housemates and started making a Japanese rolled omlette, or tomago. It came out really nicely as I sampled a piece before placing it into the container along with the soba. Looking at my lunch I realized I didn't really have any source of vegetables so I decided I would boil some snow peas. I only wished that I had edamame beans instead as I was sort of going for a Japanese bento style lunch. Also, I had taken out some pork cutlets that morning, but they weren't completely defrosted so I decided to wake up early the next morning to make pork katsu. It came out quite nicely and I decided to cut it into strips and drizzle some tonkatsu on top. All of this went into my lunch container which was just a leftover take out box with a lid. Sadly, it did not have the separate compartments that many asian tupperware style. The end product was delicious as I enjoyed it alone as Lapin had forgotten we had lunch plans.

I have always heard of brown butter and how delicious it is, but have never attempted to make it. I decided to make it along with my tilapia fillet that I had purchased this week. I began heating the butter in a saucepan until it browned, but sadly, I burned some of the milk fats in the butter. I suppose I let the butter cook too quickly which I'll make note of for the next time. Although the fats were charred, the butter itself was golden and a mere strain would fix my problem all together. I ended up dressing the tilapia with an assortment of herbs and pan frying the fillet until golden brown on each side. I topped the fish with the brown butter and served it beside some 'gai lan.' The meal was not bad for a half guessed sort of dish and I'll definitely be making it again hopefully without the burnt milk fats.

I'm glad to be cooking again after a while as I love to eat and try new recipes. I think the start of this term threw me off and is continuing to do so as I have arranged different plans for the weekends that are coming up. I'm headed to Guelph this weekend and hopefully making a three course meal with my cousin as we are both love to eat and tease each other about that little bit of weight on our sides. I can't wait to try out some new recipes and finally get to make a real dessert.

The only problem with cooking up a storm is cleaning up the aftermath.