RIP rice cooker

This rice cooker has been with me since college. My friend Marc dropped it when we were juniors (I think), hence the missing right handle and the busted face plate. But miraculously, it has been working in this condition for more than 10 years.

But this evening while making rice, one of those wire hanging out front snapped, and there was a loud bang. I am not sure if it was dead for sure, but I think I will retire it just to be safe. I am grateful for all the perfectly cooked rice I got from it over the years, I am a bit sad to see it go.

Wine from Lebanon

read an article in a magazine a while ago about the wine growing regions of Lebanon so I went looking for Lebanese wine at LCBO stores. This cinsault/carignan blend was so good that I went back and got three more bottles. It is earthy, and the tannin soft and dusty, even though it is 2007, it tasted older, in a good way. Nice cherry flavor gives it freshness.



Feeling like making a festive meal for one in these late December days, I drank the last one of these bottles tonight with some roasted lamb (leg).

Winter is here

-13 celsius today.

pork bone soup

If you have been to a few casual korean places then you have seen this on the menu. I don't know what it is supposed to be, and I have had different versions that are different in one way or more. But the common denominator of course is pork bone, bone from the neck or spine seem to be the choice here. The other thing that you will always find is soft chunks of potatoes.

Although the broth is typically pretty thick (probably from the potato starch), but they can be in different shades of brown or red, and sometimes spicy and sometimes not.

I have had this dish at a few places on the bloor st. korean town here in Toronto, and a couple places in the chinatown area. But I think the best one I have tried so far is from this little place just a couple of doors down from the korean supermarket on Bloor (sorry, can't remember the name right now).

The broth is slightly spicy and very very savory (in a nice porky sort of way), the pork super soft, and the potatoes practically dissolves once in the mouth. The rice is not the white rice typically eaten in north america (like jasmine or calrose), but this slightly purple, short grain variety that is faintly sweet, which goes well with the spiciness, although cooked to a bit soggy for my taste.

I tore through the whole thing including the nice selection of banchan in like 20 minutes. It was a little too much food for me to eat for lunch, but I just can't help it but to finished it all. As the temperature outside dips below freezing, I think I will add this place to pho Tien Thanh on the list of places to go in the winter when I don't feel like making my own lunch.