We will eat out for cabbage rolls from now on

Cabbage rolls turned out to be a fail.  Booooooooooo.

Nearly two hours of my life that I'll never get back for such an unattractive and bland thing to eat. This is where low fat can bite me.

I dunno ... I was pretty jazzed by the sound of the recipe because after all, the recipe comes from a restaurant in New York. But then again, restaurants in New York are a dime a dozen.

Here's the link to this terrible recipe:  http://homecooking.about.com/od/turkeyrecipes/r/blturkey3.htm

When I think about it, this recipe required way too many dishes, steps, ingredients and timing issues.  Plus, steps required mini steps, like carefully separating and washing cabbage leaves so they didn't rip; and getting the rind of the lemons (I just zested).

PLUS, I learnt that I should wear closed shoes or slippers when cooking, because a sizzling hot piece of onion flew out of the pan on to my foot.  Boooooooooooo.

DINNER FAIL.  Luckily, we still have some of the delicious apple-pear crumble in the fridge.  With whipped cream on top ... mmmmmmm.

On another positive note, I got the deal memo for my next gig and I am SO excited to start work!

Oh, I forgot to squash them down

Latkes Attempt #4

I think this is it.  I'm sorry, but from here on out, we're turning the remains of this into quiche.

Accidentally sort of put too much oil in the frying and deep fried the latkes, but unfortunately, they aren't really cooked on the inside.  Blegh.

Decided to try different condiments.

Ketchup = meh.

Sour cream = bland.

Sour cream + peach/apple sauce = not bad but not really worth a repeat visit.

Kozlik's horseradish mustard = I was already regretting putting that much on - but actually quite delightful.

This other Dijon mustard = meh.

This other Dijon mustard with sour cream = slightly better.

Apricot jam = promising

Sour cream + apricot jam = winner

Yes, I know have a lot of time on my hands.  But today's plan is working on the second draft of my screenplay, and it's a lot more agonizing than the first draft.

Ugh, disastrous breakfast

I've sent hubby on a play date with a friend of mine, thinking that he needs more male friends, and this would be good bonding.  I shouldn't say "play date", but they've gone to play video games for a solid three hours at Playdium so that takes care of "play" and it's Sunday, June 13, so that takes care of "date."  First person shooters make me dizzy, so it was best that they take the three-hour play cards and go crazy.

Thinking that I'd give him a good breakfast before he went off, I decided to fry up some bacon and butternut squash latkes, to be served with a dollop of sour cream.  (I know, bacon, how un-Jewish.)

Anyway ... breakfast culminated in disaster.

Hubby is actually quite polite when it comes to terrible food that I've made.  I think it's because he knows that if I get discouraged with it, I'll just keep making boring stuff, and then the culinary adventures will cease altogether.  So unfortunately, I used this recipe, and then bungled it, and then when I fixed it, I just found that the recipe itself was bunk.  

So it called for 4 cups butternut squash (peeled and grated), 3 eggs (whisked), and a small onion (peeled and grated), then grapeseed oil for frying.  You basically had to mix the first three ingredients together, make patties from the batter, and then fry them up.

Ugh, disgusting.

Granted, I put WAY too much butternut squash into this giant mix, so there wasn't enough egg mixture the first time around.  The patties just wouldn't stay together, but hubby was starving last night and wanted to start dinner, so I quickly made a butternut squash hash, which didn't get crispy, and was kind of just ... mush.  BLEGH.

So this morning, I thought that I'd be brilliant and add panko (Japanese bread crumbs), which would give the egg something to stick to.  I learnt this from my chef friend Miriam while working as a Writer/Researcher on Taste Buds (http://www.TasteBudsTV.com).

After adding what seemed like 2 cups of panko to this horrible mixture (of which the aftermath now sits uncomfortably in my stomach), it seemed to work.  The patties kept some sort of form, and so, in a rush, I decide to make the "patties" large-meatball-sized.  As you probably guessed, or may not have, the butternut squash didn't cook all the way through, and we were left eating some pretty crunchy centres.  GROSS.

And of course, like a good little Asian in not wasting food, I'm still fighting through the mix, having made smaller patties around the size of a Toonie (the $2 coin), I plan to fry them up maybe for tomorrow's breakfast, with better results.  

Not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

On another day, I'll tell you all about the difference in food perspectives in this house and how they can spiral into cultural crises.  Sigh.