Recipe: Sugar Cookies (Korilakkuma shapes!)

To match with the Rilakkuma cookies, I also made a batch of sugar cookies to look like Korilakkuma. With many many thanks to my daddy dearest, since I didn't have a mould for it, he just crafted me one like MAGIC. So lucky of me =D

Ingredients:
60 mL     margarine
125 mL    sugar
1             egg
2mL        vanilla
---------------------------

300 mL flour
2mL      baking soda
1 mL     cream of tartar
1mL      salt

Some Useful Utensils:
Measuring spoons
Measuring cups (dry and wet)
Big bowl
Wooden spoon or mixer
Cookie sheet
Parchment paper
Cookie cutter
2 pairs of chopsticks
Rolling pin
Oven mitts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375^oF.

2. Cream margarine and sugar. 

3. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. 

4. Measure dry ingredients in a separate bowl. 

5. Add dry ingredients SLOWLY to creamed mixture.

6. Chill overnight in a container (I tried some unchilled, it was just more sticky)

7. Line two sides with chopsticks (each are reversed, so its more even)
This helps with rolling out a more even dough!

8. Cover with parchment paper and rolllll =)

9. Cut out shapes. 

10. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, or parchment-lined sheet. 

11. Bake 6-8 minutes, then place on cooling rack (I've decorated these as well ^^)

Also made elephants~

Recipe: Peanut Butter Cookies (Rilakkuma faces!)

Itching to use my new Christmas present, and CL linking me to The Sweetest Kitchen, I risked it and decided to bake =D And JC and I are on this Rilakkuma rave, so guess what? Rilakkuma cookies! =D This was a perfect recipe for making Rilakkuma because it was brown, like Rilakkuma!

Adapted from The Sweetest Kitchen's Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (and Jamieanne has more awesome recipes I'm dying to try out soon), I added a bit of flour, since I didn't have any all-natural PB at home and it was too sticky to deal with =P I'm sure it would've been fine without the flour, but I chicken out hehe

Ingredients:
1 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter
¹/₂ cup brown sugar
¹/₂ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda

Some Useful Utensils:
Measuring spoons
Measuring cups (dry and wet)
Big bowl
Wooden spoon (or mixer)
Cookie sheet
Parchment paper
Oven mitts

...and a hint of creativity ;)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF (I usually do this later, cuz I'm slow)

2. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper (or grease with butter).

3. In a mixer, combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes.

4. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes.
(I added a bit of flour at this step)

This is how it looked like for me when I was satisfied with it =P 

5. Roll into walnut-sized balls and create a criss-cross pattern with a fork.
If you'd like, add a few chocolate pieces to the top of the chocolates. 

...OR you could be creative, and make faces ;) 

6. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned (they should look a bit undercooked!)
--when a cookie looks cooked in the oven, it's overdone!!!

7. Cool on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack... or to your mouth =)

After, I decorated mines... (You don't have to do this)

Easy Cookie Icing

Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 ¹/₂ tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional, not recommended for white areas)

Method:

1. Mix ingredients well.

2. Transfer to piping bag (or ziploc bag) then color as wanted.

3. Decorate as you please =) I used chocolate for the eyes and mouth though!
For Korilakkuma cookies, you can find the recipe here~

Munchie Adventure: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家, Burnaby

First off, sorry about lack of posts, just had surgery, so I'm prohibited from a lot of food lately *uber sadface* But! I'm still alive, that's all that matter =) I live to eat another day~~

Anyhow, I know I've done a lot of reviews for this, but I just wanted to say, I went for dinner recently, and was quite disappointed in them. Dim sum is still great, but dinner . . . NOPE. They kept pushing us to order a lamb hot pot which we politely told them we didn't want multiple times, they just kept pushin' ><" Food wasn't that great either, gone downhill since my last visit *sadface* Buttt this is about dim sum =)

Restaurant: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家
Location: 4524 Hastings Street, Burnaby
Cuisine: Chinese
Price range: $5-10 per person




Date of visit: December 6, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 3/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

I actually came here right after my surgery, first meal! =) So it really wasn't that big of a deal, or the painkillers were still working, and I felt fine =P Here's the first to arrive, Wah Lun Special Baked Buns. Very fresh, they were so hot and delicious =) Made me happy. (there's three per order, but I couldn't get a pic fast enough =P)

Then came the Sticky Rice Wrap. There were three LARGE wraps! =O Great deal right there =P The rice was a bit over steamed, but overall quite tasty.

Next! Pan Fried Shanghai Rice Cake, this is one of my favorites, its so chewy and seasoned well. The meat goes well, and the veggies make the oil less overwhelming. Still a bit oily for my liking though.

Ah, another one of my favorites (even as a kid), Steamed Chicken Wraps. Can't find the "traditional" kind, but this one comes closest. Normally, it should have chicken, ham, Chinese mushroom, and fish maw wrapped in beancurd. Most places only have the chicken plus random other stuff, this place has everything but replaced the fish maw with this vermicelli thing =) Not bad. I love the hammm =D

I tried to order things that seemed more appropriate for post-surgery (although eating out is already a big no-no xD), so I got a Steamed Pork Dumpling (Siu Mai). They were quite large, but sadly for me, I had extra work to do, since I forgot there was shrimp in there ><" (mommy says no shrimp or else I'll get a big ugly scar) Not that the shrimp was bad, it's usually so good, but I can't eat it-- for now =(

Last item! We forgot that we ordered it and kinda went overboard with the carbs, but oh well =P Abalone Sticky Rice Wrap. Such a Chinese tradition =)

Lots of green bean, which everyone loves (except me, because I'm just that oddball).

There was ONE abalone in there, so they technically didn't lie. Not worth the $5.95 they charge, but it was made nicely.

Won't be back for dinner until they can stop "hard-selling" menu items, but dim sum is still great =)

Munchie Adventure: Caché Bistro & Lounge, Yaletown, Vancouver

Since I was going to the Christmas Market, and Groupon had reminded me that I haven't used this yet, I decided to come here, since it was in the same area =) It was a $20 for lunch for two deal, very good! ^-^

Restaurant: Name (visit their website here)
Location:
Cuisine:
Price range:




Date of visit: December 3, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 5/5
Food variety: 3/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 5/5 (mainly because of the Groupon =P)

Greeted and seated by a friendly waiter (not sure, maybe he was a host/ owner haha), we were quickly seated and given the Groupon deal menu. Then another waiter came over and explained how it worked to us, and brought us drinks to get us started.

The tea came in a nice set, I liked how they used cloth for the teabags instead of the normal paper. Tea was average quality though. At least it had a nice presentation =P

CL decided on their Pasta A La Carte: Seafood Medley + Pesto Sauce + Fettuccine + nuts + cheese. It looked very good, but he said it was too oily that it soon became too overwhelming to finish.

I *almost* got the same thing, but decided I wanted Alfredo sauce instead =) So mines was Seafood Medley + Alfredo Sauce + Fettuccine + cheese. It wasn't a bad choice! The pasta was done very well, and there was a plentiful amount of seafood on top. The sauce had a gritty texture to it that I didn't quite like though =(

Dessert time =D There were three options, I regret not getting the Pavlova, because it looked really good. I decided to stayed safe and ordered their Crème brûlée instead. It was more watery than the kind I usually have, but so smooth and creamy. It was really delicious! The sugar on top was crunchy, but might've worked out better if the sides weren't as thick, it was hard to crack! =P

CL got their Cold Lemon Soufflé, and I tasted some of it too, it was quite lemony and light. A good end to a nice meal =)

Service was great, and the food was good too, so I don't know why it was so empty in there. Honestly speaking though, for the portion size they gave, I wouldn't pay the full price to dine here. The pasta was a good size for me, but I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't be too happy with the petite size.

Munchie Adventure: The One Restaurant 美味關係, Burnaby

It never occurred to me that this restaurant was the one that was talked about so much by my friends until I came here! It's right across from Metrotown Mitsubishi, which is a perfect location for lunch when I go for an oil change next time! =D But this time wasn't for an oil change, got to watch Wreck-It-Ralph ^-^ It was SO GOOD. Loved it =]

Restaurant: The One Restaurant 美味關係 (visit their website here)
Location: 5908 Kingsway, Burnaby (across from Metrotown Mitsubishi)
Cuisine: Taiwanese, Bubble Tea, Drinks
Price range: $15-20




Date of visit: December 2, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 3/5
Food variety: 3.5/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

It was rather difficult to get into my seat, they fail on the design for that part. The person sitting behind me was helpful and tried to tuck in further but that didn't solve the problem. So I had to slide my chair awkwardly sideways and slip myself in then slide sideways again =.= *dislike* I couldn't decide what to order either, nothing that really caught my eye, besides their infamous GIANT slushes, which I knew I wouldn't be able to finish. They don't have guava drinks either *sadface*

Ok, enough of the whining, onto food! EC ordered their Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets with Noodles in Soup ($10.50). The chicken tasted typical, like most other Taiwanese establishments-- except this one was more salty =( Noodles looked like a big portion. Probably soggy and too soft because he wanted to wait for my food to arrive before he started xD

EC also got Mango Black Tea with Pearls ($5.50 + $0.50). big cup, don't know what the frothy yellowy stuff at the top was though =P Look at my tiny cup of water LOL

I finally decided on their Seafood Hot Pot with Milk ($13.95) (there's a no milk option). It was quite big, and had lots of shrimp. There were also baby squids, fish, mussels, fish balls, pork balls, thick vermicelli, and veggies. Tasted very good, it also came with a big bowl of rice, which I couldn't finish. Rice was cooked well, if only they didn't burn it and give that burnt part to me =.=

Service wasn't bad, but really, they need to fix the seating >< *If* I come again, I'll try their slush for sure, it looked really good when the table beside us ordered 5 of them for 6 ppl xD