TNT #37: Bread and burrito

A lucky find at the local Middle Eastern store. Huge "loaf" of bread. Makes excellent burritos or breakfast sandwich.

Burrito made with diced tomato with green chile, soy flakes, green onions and cheese.

TNT #36: Chilean mussels with garlic and onion

As used as I am the gigantic New Zealand green-lipped mussels, these teeny frozen mussels were an easy weekday dinner. Another night the mussels and sauce were incorporated into mac & cheese.

TNT #35: Beef Pasty

Made with beef suet, this is the closest thing I've had to a meat pie since the trip to Auckland. Definitely an option for those homesick times.

TNT #34: Uttapam

My first attempt at uttapam from a package. Unusual in that it came with a packet of dried vegetables to be incorporated into the dough.

TNT #33: Red Leicester and Double Gloucester Cheese

A trip to Aldi scored these two hard English cheeses. So far they've been used on toast and in mac and cheese.

TNT #32: Macaroni Cheese

Finally managed to assemble all the ingredients for a classic mac and cheese (butter, milk, cheese and breadcrumbs) at the same time.

TNT #31: Scotch Eggs

Baked scotch egg with turkey turned out a little dry, but definitely a recipe worth experimenting further with.

Washington, DC

Stayman apple from Eastern Market (TNT #29) was soft but the chicken empanada (TNT #30) from a nearby stall was tasty. Overall the market was a lot smaller than expected.

Vancouver Eats

A 10-day trip to the Vancouver International Film Festival allowed me to see some excellent films at an amazing festival, and enjoy some great Chinese food and patisserie, as well as try so many new things.

From left to right, top to bottom: Pistachio kirsch cake from Thomas Haas, self-saucing hotdog model outside my hostel, buffet lunch from Saravanaa Bhavan, hazelnut cake from Boulangerie La Parisienne, honey cake from T&T, cumin beef flatbread from Peaceful (TNT #23), oroshi hotdog from Japadog (TNT #24), cold handpulled noodles from Peaceful, cold spicy pickled cucumber and tofu skin from T&T, amazing croissant and Goyave et Fraises from Ganache Patisserie, pates from Oyama (TNT #25), Burmese tea leaf salad and satay from Bo Laksa King's Bubbles and Bits (TNT #26).

Not pictured are a Clover coffee from Caffe Artigiano (TNT #27) and poutine from Fritz (TNT #28).

TNT #22: Protein Bars

Desperation forced me to turn to a Special K protein bar one day at work, and it was surprisingly edible. Since then coupons and samples have led to acquiring an assortment of varieties and flavours. Most are, at best, edible, but they've been handy while traveling and working late.

Weekend Baking: Coffee Break Muffins and TNT #21 Flaxmeal

I was attracted to these muffins by the promise of coffee in a not-too-sweet base. These came together very easily and were moist and fluffy. Butterscotch chips added a slight sweetness, which were just right with the base recipe. I had some trepidations substituting flaxmeal and water for the egg, but the muffins turned out great texturally. With two pounds of flaxmeal I need all the ideas I can get! The mini muffin size is also perfect for morning tea.

Recipe: Coffee-Break Muffins from Dorie Greenspan on Week of Menus
Changes: substituted flaxmeal and water for egg and instant coffee with vanilla flavour for espresso, added butterscotch chips.

TNT #20: Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Served alongside a vegetarian sausage for a quick meal.

Weekend Baking: 5 Grain Cookies (TNT#19)

A recent score of closeout Bob's Red Mill products led to my first attempt at baking using oatmeal. Excellent and hopefully, not too unhealthy.

Recipe: 5 Grain Cookies
Substitutions: increased quantities of coconut and cranberries to make up for omitting raisins and pecans.

TNT #18: Orange Blossom Water

My local dollar store, like many others, has increased its food offerings lately. Good additions have been canned octopus, numerous varieties of bulgar, lentils and now orange blossom water. Added to agar to make a cool jelly to combat the seemingly unending heat, this added a delicate floral flavor to this light dessert. Can't wait to try it out in baked goods.

TNT #17: Sockeye Salmon

Living in the Midwest I don't have access to a large variety of wild salmon so this dinner of sugar snaps, steamed salmon and Rainer cherries was a very spring-y and delightful treat.

TNT #16: Splenda

I'm not a fan of sugar, and even less of sugar substitutes but a free sample of Splenda's Hazelnut-flavored product came my way. I'm more tolerant of milk, sugar and added flavours in iced coffee than hot. With the recent heat, cold-brewed iced coffee is my current morning drink. This made a nice change from the usual.

TNT #15: Pandan Pound Cake

Scored some pandan paste last week so decided to try to recreate one of my favourite childhood cakes: pandan chiffon cake. Most chiffon cake recipes seemed to require cream of tartar, lots of egg yolks and a bundt pan. Not possessing any of these I decided on a pound cake instead.

This turned out great: a bit greener than expected but good pandan flavor, rich but not dense.

Recipe: Pound cake by Michael Ruhlmann on The Recipe Circus
Substitutions: omitted juice and zest, added pandan paste, reduced sugar

TNT #14: Spam

Spam, fried egg on toast, sweet icy cold cantaloupe with French press coffee make a luxurious breakfast on this holiday weekend.

TNT #13: Havarti

One of my goals this year is to try new cheeses. I'm not making much progress on this goal but did get this dill-flecked havarti which I enjoyed. Here, in an English muffin with fried egg white and Morningstar sausage patty.

TNT #12: Gooseberries

Gooseberry icecream from the USDA Farmer's Market along with a Jamaican beef patty made a quick lunch on a stiflingly hot humid day. Gooseberries were refreshingly tart.