Friday, November 10, 2017

Recipe: Pakistani Style Chicken Kebab

These kebabs are AMAZING!

Ingredients below will make 12 skewers (perfect dinner for 2 AND lunch leftovers or a dinner for 4)

2 pounds ground chicken thighs
4 tablespoons finely grated onion
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 teaspoons finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons finely diced Thai green chilies
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons coriander powder
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a big bowl
2. Coat baking tray with olive oil. Form meat into 12 cylinders on baking tray, place in freezer for 20 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400C. Bake for 10 mins flip and bake for another 10 mins.

Serve with seasoned potatoes and a salad!

Thursday, October 26, 2017

5 Stories to Restore Your Faith in Humanity

These were all found on Reddit here but a lot of you tell me Reddit is difficult to navigate so I've essentially copy pasted them here. Grab a cup of your favourite beverage and maybe a box (or two) of kleenex!

1. Party Animal by MeddlingKids1126
I was at a party once when I was about 16, the bday boy was turning 22 so there was a good range of people my age into their early 30s. However there was one guy who stood out like a sore thumb. He looked like he was at least 45 and came straight from his office job. He had a collared shirt buttoned up and tucked into khakis, big thick glasses, a pink necktie tied around his head, jumping around to the live (screamo/hardcore) band that was playing in the living room. This guy was having the most fun of anyone there clearly and we all started joking about him in our corner wondering if he was on drugs, secretly videoing him (I know, shitty teenagers) etc.
As the party went on and I got a few more drinks into me I saw him sitting off to the side and my curiosity got the better. I sat with him and tried to politely ask how exactly he fit in here. When he started talking I could see he wasn't fucked up on drugs, didn't even seem drunk. He just told me to stay young him and his wife always kept up being social and going to parties and no one his own age liked to go out anymore. I made some comment that he was keeping up, as he was clearly the life of the party. He seemed happy and smiled before he told me it was the first time he'd been out since his wife had passed away 2 months prior and he was trying to go extra hard for the both of them.

2. A cup of Coffee by Doodleybugg
The homeless man I met at my grandfather's funeral.
He came into the funeral home, signed the guest book, and took a seat in the very back row. I noticed him because he didn't come up to greet the family like so many others did. And he looked out of place. Everyone else was in traditional funeral attire, the dark somber colors and all that, but he was wearing a red t-shirt, jeans and a jacket that had seen better days.
And he looked so sad. He seemed like he was really hurting.
After the funeral, he stood quietly in the back and watched other people leave. I went to him right before we got in the limos to leave and asked him how he knew my grandfather.
"He let me get in his truck one day when it was really cold so I could warm up. And then he started bringing me coffee. And after a while we were really good friends. I miss him so much."
This guy was the real deal. He knew my name, knew the names of all my family, told me some stories that only my grandfather could have known, and it soon became very clear that they had been friends for a long while.
Then he said, "I want to go to the cemetery but I don't have a car."
Of course he rode in the limo with my grandmother. I'm sure they had quite the conversation.
But after we all went back for the light lunch, he slipped away. I never got his last name. I had no idea where he was staying. I went into town so many times looking for him, but never found him. It's been 20 years now, but I still look for him when I go back home. I wish I could buy him a cup of coffee.

3. Cheeseburger by icanstopwheneveriwan
Pulled up at some lights once and glanced into the car next to me. There was a guy tucking into a massive cheeseburger with a look of pure desire on his face. I was late home and very hungry and he caught me watching him, he just grinned and offered it towards me. It wasn’t a real offer, we were 2 car windows apart but it makes me think about how we’re all just humans and in this together.

4. Roadtrip by Kalvinaissance
I was moving from FL to CO with limited money in a shitty conversion van with no A/C so I was primarily driving at night to keep cool. The van's brake pads disintegrated and the rotors were destroyed by the time I got to Bum-fuck-nowhere, Kentucky. It was early morning and I needed some sleep; technically too early to check into a hotel but I talked the one motel into letting me into a room. They gave me the address of the closest car part store 10 miles away; I was going to buy the parts, take a nap, and then fix the van myself.
Anyways, I go to the shop but they don't open for a couple more hours. I take a nap in the van until a man is tapping on my window: the owner of the shop. He asks me if I needed help and I tell him what's going on with the van and tell him how I'm driving across the country to my new home with all things to my name in the van.
He, luckily, has all the parts I need. He comments on how tired I look and says that he has a buddy up the road that can install the parts while I get some rest. I tell him I have limited funds so I'll just install them myself. He tells me that since I bought the parts at retail price and he makes a good profit, he'll work out something with his buddy and adds: "we try to take care of each other 'round here."
So I follow this owner (who closes his shop for a bit) to his buddy's barn and travel even further into Bum-fuck-nowhere about 30 minutes from my motel. I meet the man who services vehicles in his barn and he tells me that the owner of the store took care of the installation costs. The owner of the store then explains that he'll give me a ride back to my motel so I can rest while my van is repaired, and then he would give me a call when it was ready, come pick me up, and drive me back to get the van.
I don't know if it was from exhaustion, or resignation that my new home may be Kentucky if this is some kind of ruse...but I agreed and decided to put my faith in the potential kindness of a stranger. Even still, I was brainstorming what to do if the men took all my shit or tried to ask for/demand sexual favors or something awful like that.
The store owner gave me a ride back to the motel and only offered some great conversation. I slept for 7 hours until he called me and asked "ready to go get your van?" Sure as shit, he drove me back out about 30 mins from my motel - offering more fantastic conversation and jokes - to the barn in the middle of nowhere and I picked up my van. I tried to tip the man who repaired the van and the owner multiple times and they both refused. I tried to at least give the store owner some gas money, but he refused. Again he said: "we try to take care of each other 'round here" and added "...just take that with you wherever you go. That'll be payback enough." With that, I left Kentucky with only $200 less in my wallet including the motel.
I'm sad to say I don't remember the name of the town, the shop, or the man. I took one of his business cards but couldn't find it anywhere when I made it to Colorado. Needless to say, my whole outlook on humanity shifted that day. It changed the way I give and the frequency with which I offer. I unapologetically believe in the good possible in people if shown kindness and if they have an opportunity to tell their story.
I hope I can affect one person as profoundly as that store owner did me.

5. Pay it Forward by hermeown
Two small moments of generosity from strangers:
  1. Once, when we were little, my sister and I were at one of those arcade/restaurant places. We managed to scrape up a few tickets for prizes when some lady handed us a huge stack of them. "Merry Christmas!" And she just walked away.
  2. Similarly, almost two decades later, my sister and I were grocery shopping for Thanksgiving (or Christmas, I can't remember), and while we were checking out, our card was declined. We were devastated, we almost had to put everything back. The woman behind us stepped up and paid for all our groceries. My sister and I were almost in tears, the kindness was overwhelming.
Now I try to pay it forward. I have handed off arcade tickets to children, and I've paid for strangers' meals, though I haven't done the grocery thing yet.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Recipe: Mango Coconut Shrimp Curry

We’ve been making this recipe a lot and every time I do, I get a ton of recipe requests on insta stories so here it is! I found the recipe at food.com here but we’ve changed a few of the ingredients as well as amount used of each ingredient so thought I’d share my version as well.

This is one of those recipes that you’ll return to again and again because it’s so easy and turns out amazing every. time. Experiment til your heart’s content and vary the ingredients so you too can enjoy the curry of your dreams J

Ingredients

500g small uncooked shrimp
1 red pepper, 1 green pepper – cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 white onion – slice into 1 ½ inch lengths
1 mango – cut into 2/3 inch pieces
2/3 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons curry powder
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1⁄4 cup cashews
½ lime

Directions

Whisk together coconut milk, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and curry powder. Set aside.
In wok or skillet heat 2 teaspoons oil over high heat; stir fry shrimp until cooked (add salt & pepper to taste)
Transfer to plate.
Add remaining oil to wok; stir-fry peppers for 2 minutes.
Stir in ginger, cook for 30 seconds.
Add stock mixture and shrimp, cook stirring for 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
Stir in onions and mango.
Squeeze in ½ lime juice.
Sprinkle with cashews.

We like to serve it with white basmati rice but this curry is so amazing I eat it on its own, sometimes right out of the pot! It also tastes amazing the next day when the flavours have had a chance to mix with each other. This is one of those dishes everyone seems to enjoy so let me know if you try it and how it turns out J

Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Airport Moment

We are leaving for Portugal in a week! And thought I’d share my thoughts on the ‘airport moment’ and life as a twenty something – I wrote this a few years ago and I can tell you that 
1) Hindsight is 20/20 
2) Everything did turn out alright
3) they were definitely the good old days but these days are pretty darn awesome too :)
Why Life as a 20 Something is Awesome 
I love taking pictures at the airport right before a vacation because I know that when I look back at my vacation pictures, that’s the picture I’ll want to relive most.
And heres why.
The endless preparation is behind me. No more hotel reviews to read, the search for the cheapest, fastest flight is over and my bags are packed and checked in. I’ve crossed off all the items on my to-pack list, I’m done with the frantic last minute shopping runs. And perhaps the most dreaded of all: my bags are under the luggage weight limit! 

And while I’m no fan of sitting in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end, I know that at the other end of that flight lies a great adventure. That is what is so special about the airport moment: anything is possible beyond it. But so often we focus on the check in lines, the security lines, the washroom lines, the crowds of people and the overpriced airport food that we forget about the exciting journey we’re about to embark on.

Being a twenty something is a lot like that airport moment.
We’ve put ourselves through years and years of school, went to saturday morning heritage classes and took some form of extracurricular activity to become a well rounded person.
And while most of us are still unsure of where life our lives are headed, we have a vague idea of what we want and know that the road to wherever that is will be filled with lots of laughs and tears. Sometimes more of the latter than the former.
But that’s ok because if airport moments and vacations are anything to go by, I know that at the end of this vacation we call life, the memories I’ll most want to relive are these. Because it encompasses all the work we put in to get here and the anticipation of all the possibilities that lie ahead.
We’ll look back at these 20 something years and wonder why we worried so much. Because everything turned out alright. Because the decisions we made were the right ones. Because we ended up with the right people. And because these really were the good old days.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Recipe: Spicy Jerk Sea Bream

Let me just start this blog post by saying this: we did not eat frozen pizza tonight.

This recipe is so easy that even if you've never made whole fish (that was Tony and I before today) or you've never set foot in the kitchen, you can do this.



SPICY JERK SEA BREAM!

I contacted Roshan from Kitchen_Guerrilla (check out their instagram page!) last week and he was kind enough to send some homemade sauces. He was also super kind and super duper patient while walking me through this recipe and answering all my detailed (read: obvious/amateur) questions.

The best part about this recipe is that you only need two ingredients:
  • Sea bream or red snapper (Roshan recommended sea bream because it has less bones)
  • Kitchen Guerilla spicy jerk marinade (1/3 bottle)


Recommended sides:
  • Jamaican coleslaw (we substituted with the 7 grain kale salad which worked really well since it had a creamy dressing - super creamy is important!)
  • Plantain chips
  • Lime

  1. The fish was frozen so we brought it home and thawed it out in warm water.  Roshan said not to do this - always thaw fish in cold water. We might've lost some flavour here but the fish still ended up tasting amazing, lesson for next time.
  2. Cut slits into fish - this makes it easier for the marinade to absorb. We cut 1/4 into the fish at 45 degree angle spaced at 1 inch. Not sure if this is the right way to do it, but it turned out amazing so there's that.
  3. Pour the spicy jerk marinade on to the fish and massage into the slits, also stuff inside.
  4. Place fish in freezer bag, pour liquid into bag and place in refrigerator for 2 hours.
  5. Remove fish from freezer bag and place on baking rack. Pour remaining liquid in bag over the fish.
  6. Preheat oven to 400C and place fish in oven once heated. Bake for 25 minutes.
  7. Broil for 2 minutes or until brown - this was probably the trickiest part because we wanted it be crispy but we also didn't want to leave it in there for so long that it dried out the fish.
  8. Remove fish from oven, place on serving tray and serve with coleslaw, plantain chips & 2 wedges of lime.


Tip (courtesy of Roshan): Taste the fish, plantain chip & salad in one bite. It's literally a party in your mouth and you'll be asking yourselves: did we just make this?! All the different textures and flavours work so well together and is SO GOOD.

Tony and I took a vacation to the Bahamas in 2015 with a few of our friends. The food at the resort was horrible so we ventured out and found a Jamaican pepper pot restaurant. We fell in love with it at first bite- they served the most amazing jerk fish and we ate there for the rest of our trip. This dish brought back so many memories of that trip and especially the amazing fish we had there.









Sunday, March 12, 2017

Cancan Obsession: Look #1



 









Hello my loves! I can't believe yesterday marked 7 months since Mr Macaroni and I were married! And so to celebrate, we started a blog! Kidding, he says there's no "we" in this blog. We shall see hubster, we shall see.

If you've been following me on Instagram you know all about my current obsession with the cancan saree. It started with styling my koorai and I just couldn't stop. My mom loves seeing me dressed up so when I asked her to take some pics in her sarees, to say she was ecstatic would be an understatement.

We had an amazing afternoon hanging out, putting together outfits and accessories and teaching her to take pics with the dslr. Tony travelled for work the first 5 months of our marriage so I'd spend Monday-Thursday at my parents'. It still felt like I lived at home. Now that Tony is back in Toronto full-time and we've been living in our house, I only get to see my momsicles for 5 minutes, 2-3 times a week when I pick up food after work.

I sound like such a mommy's girl and I've lived away from home so many times in my life (for uni in UK, teaching in Korea) but somehow being married and moving away feels so different. Also, when you're younger, you feel like you have eternity to spend with your loved ones. As you grow older, you realize how quickly time flies and how important it is to make the most of every moment you can steal. So I'm happy we've found one more way to spend a little more quality time together, just the two of us :)

All the pictures in this series were taken by my lovely Momsicles 

P.S. This post was originally published on Feb 18 2017 but then I deleted it trying to clean up draft posts and here we are republishing on March 12 

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Hello

Why cookies?
1. Cookies are my kryptonite.
2. I'm currently obsessed with vanilla oreo thins.
3. Cookies and sweets in general comprise my work day.
4. I intend to write about all of my culinary adventures with the macaroni.
5. It starts with C and goes with Cashmere!

Why Cashmere?
There was a show that came out almost 10 years ago called Cashmere Mafia. It was about 4 powerful women who met in B-school, starring Lucy Liu. They wore beautiful clothes, lunched and worked. Think sex and the city without the sex scenes. To say I was obsessed with the show would be an understatement. It only aired for 7 episodes so I guess I was one of very few who thought it was awesome. I also bought the dvd of ALL 7 episodes. So like the tv show, this blog will be about all things I obsess about which isn't always popular opinion.

xo
Tia

Update: I realized after paying $50 for www.cookiesandcashmere.com AND www.cookiesncashmere.com that there's already a really popular blog called Cupcakes & Cashmere. She even wrote a book! Ah well, too late.