Dot Com Dinner Chef - Battle Chicken Breasts

Thrifty Foods was having a chicken sale so I decided to see what I could do with the meat that tastes like every other meat…

A couple nights ago, I came up with a Panko and Parmesan Crusted Baked Chicken breasts over seasoned and steamed Broco-Asparagus (I don’t remember what they are called. They look like both, but neither) and roasted red peppers. It was topped with a wasabi tomato sauce and finished off with fresh chopped cilantro leaves. The chicken was very tender on the inside, but the crusting was crispy. All this achieved without frying. It was definitely one of the tastier ways to make chicken.

The next night, I made use of the rest of the chicken breast and used the same homemade Panko and Parmesan crusting to create some of the best chicken fingers that I’d ever tasted. I dredged the chicken strips in flour, then coated them with some egg, and finally, crusted them with the panko and parmesan mixture. I fried these because I wanted them to be evenly crispy on both sides. They were very tender on the inside and the frying made them extra crispy on the outside. They were accompanied by some homemade yam fries and some field greens. The sauce was a mustard mayo concoction with a bit of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Both dishes were easy to prepare and neither of them were pulled out of a box from Costco. It’s amazing what kind of stuff you can come up with if you make the effort and try a few new things with such a generic meat. I think tomorrow night, I’m going to see if the sale is still on and do something I haven’t done in ages: A full roasted chicken. I promise that bacon will somehow be incorporated into this dish

Completely Random Things - Presidential Election 08 Edition

So today is the day that Americans decide whether Obama wins or McCain wins. Although much of the planet is already pulling for some “Barack and Roll” in the White House, it seems that there are some rather interesting opinions about the World Favourite in these elections. For example, my McFast and McFurious post has unearthed some interesting opinions about the candidates in the comments. I would have never thought in a million years that anyone would want Sarah Palin in the White House. Remember, no whining or bitching if you don’t cast your ballot.

Legal To Ride

So on a rainy and blustery Halloween, I did my final road test and passed with flying colours. The lady at the desk commented on how little was on my test sheet when I went up to sign off for my new Class 5/6 license. I did go into the test with a lot of confidence and it looks like that was reflected in my riding. Prior to my test, my instructor, Dave Clayton of 2Wheel2Ition Motorcycle School did say that I was by far the best rider in his final wave of riders for 2008 and that meant a lot. Since I knew that a three of his other students that were testing today were RCMP officers, I just couldn’t help but smile.

My learning to ride a motorcycle journey is over. All the restrictions from my motorcycle learners license have been removed and I’m now able to ride anytime I want, not just before dusk. Where this license will take me in two wheel transport, I’m not sure, but I did pick up a bigger scooter recently and have been enjoying the scooter lifestyle. The weather has been getting colder and I’ll be sure to give you guys a quick post on how I’m staying toasty warm and dry on the roads.

If you’re looking for someone that is willing to take the necessary amount of time to teach you to ride with confidence, I recommend Dave Clayton. He’s got a waiting list forming for next season so make sure you head to his website and get on that list. He’ll be firing up the bikes again in April 2009.

Kelly Raises $2600 for Her Olympic Weightlifting Coach!

This past weekend, Kelly held an Olympic Weightlifting Clinic at the CrossFit Vancouver Gym. She had modest hopes of being able to at least raise a grand or two for her coach to be able to bring his family over from Nigeria. With the help of the CrossFit community, she was able to raise over $2600 to help reunite her coach with his family, who he hasn’t seen in over five years. Well done!

Her next clinic will be on November 22nd if you want to come learn how to chuck huge weights over your head without injury. This session is capped at 10 people so make sure you sign up early.

Kam Do Celebrates Thirteen Years of Cheap Food

Kam Do Restaurant is one of Richmonds best kept secrets for food that is so cheap that it gives the Union Gospel Mission a run for its money. Yesterday, I took a detour to go visit John Chow and family and was feeling rather peckish so we decided to head there for lunch.

Now, John knows better than to bet me that I can’t finish a meal. Even iPhone Gary knows better, especially after witnessing my performance in tackling the Great Feenie Burger. The Dot Com Crew knows that betting against me in a food eating contest is like betting against the grass being green. I thought I put those silly throughts to rest when I destroyed two Wally Burgers and a TOPS Burger in the same day, but John had to tempt fate. He said I couldn’t do it.

To be honest, after this mountain of food arrived along with an unpictured plate of fries, which I also finished, I actually doubted myself. But as I built momentum, it was clear that I would be PWN’ing the largest item on the Kam Do menu. Even the smallest item is bigger than most people can handle. Since it was their 13th Anniversary, they were even doing free refills so I made sure I got in a free refill of my Chilled Yin Yeung. Are there no meals that can defeat me? We call this my “Obama Victory Lunch”.

After killing this one, I took the 25% of my meal that they were giving back as a bakery credit, and bought two almond cookies and two egg tarts…for later. Kam Do is also giving away $1000 CAD in a draw later this month. I just wish they let me put in my own ballot so I could use my patented can’t lose method.

Battle Sea Bass - Rematch

Sea Bass is truly an awesome fish. It’s such a luxurious tasting animal. After using it in a Baked Sea Bass dish with Tomatoes, Green Olives, Garlic, Lemon and Rosemary over oven roasted portabellos and asparagus, I decided to bring in a little Asian influence with the last couple pieces that I had left from the first battle…

As I eluded to in the last battle, I was thinking of trying a steamed version with a black bean sauce. I ended up doing a garlic black bean sauce with ginger, scallions, garlic and a little bit of sugar. I covered two 6 oz fillets of sea bass with the mixture and placed it in my bamboo steamer. On the top section of my bamboo steamer, I placed Enoki mushrooms, firm tofu and Shanghai bok choy.

After the Sea Bass was perfectly done, I plated it on top of a bed of the Shanghai bok choy, firm tofu and Enoki mushrooms that I had steaming on top of the Sea Bass. To finish it off, I heated up some sesame oil and a few slithers of ginger and lightly drizzled it on top of the fish, and finished it off with some fresh cilantro leaves.

Between the first recipe and this one, I would say that this was by far the best tasting of the two. The saltiness of the black bean mated very well to the sweetness of the Sea Bass. Everything just worked really well together. I was very pleased with this one and I’d gladly make it again. The only thing I would have changed would be to maybe use a little less black bean. I’ve actually forgotten just how salty a little bit of black bean can be so I’ll definitely tone that down a little for next time. Fresh jalapenos might be on the order for the next iteration.

After how well this dish turned out, I’ve definitely to awoken my taste for more Asian flavours. I can’t wait to try out another type of fish.