Culinary Q & A with Annie

Occupation: Teacher, President of the Professional Procrastinators' Club, sexy Paramagnus intern, ex-fanfic writer, and sane-person-wannabe.

What did you eat today?

Breakfast: Warm cranberry crumble with ice cream (at 9:30 in the morning…that is what my Dept Head decided to bring to school for our PD…it was delicious but I’ve NEVER eaten ice cream at such an hour. I am a strong believer that you don’t eat junk food at least until 10:30 a.m.).

Lunch: SwissChalet’s rotisserie chicken with a Caesar salad and sautéed mushrooms and an iced tea. And may I comment that SwissChalet’s gravy ALWAYS taste like DOG FOOD. It was so gross I ended up using trusty salt and pepper.

Snack: A baby container of Silhouette yoghurt. And a leftover cup of organic coffee that nobody wanted after the PD meeting. It was from the pot and I couldn’t bear to dump it.

Dinner: A nutritious breakfast: 1 cup of Kellogg’s Special Flakes (Vanilla Almond), a toasted sesame bagel with garlic & herb cream cheese, and an orange juice.

Snack: Bowl of apples and strawberries.

What do you never eat?

Donkeys, dogs, and cats.

What is your personal specialty?

Chewy, crystal-like spicy Korean instant noodles. You really have to be an expert microwave/electric water kettle user to tackle this feat.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

I was going to say spatula…but I think I’ll go with chopsticks. You can beat eggs with them, panfry your fish or whatever with them…eat with them…use them as skewers/toothpicks…and oh, they are great for drumming and hitting your dog with.

World ends tomorrow. Describe your last meal.

Appetizer: Chinese cold dish of jellyfish in sesame oil and my Dad’s famous shrimp salad (he always puts in tiny cubes of celery and apples for texture…works VERY well with the shrimpies)
Main course: A bento of sushi (especially tamago, avacado/tempura, and inari ~ you know, that one with the sweet tofu wrap! ) & sashimi (tuna, salmon, and beef).

My Grandma or Grandpa’s ginger fried rice…the story here is that this is what I survived on while on a train trip to Mainland China…I couldn’t eat anything else until we got to our destination. Whenever there was a stop, there would be vendors on the train platform, trying to sell us rice bentos…the problem was…I think they made the bentos on the street...every bite I took, there was SAND…and I remember my Mom finding tiny pebbles in it. YUM. This is how they made their living; I think they did their best for what they have.

A lotus seed bun. This is one of the most vivid memories I have of my Grandpa…when I was really little, he used to take me to DimSum in Hong Kong and I always loved lotus seed buns. When the waiter drops the bamboo steamer of lotus seed buns at our table, my Grandpa would immediately grab one, take the paper on the bottom off, carefully break the bun in half, and then blow on it to cool it down…and then he’d smile and give it to me. You have no idea how I can feel so loved from such a simple gesture. And he laughed when I told him this when he was visiting us in 2005...a good 20 years later.

Some BBQ pork & rice. When I was in kindergarten, my Principal/headmaster used to babysit me for my Grandma while she worked...she loved me and always took me out for lunch and BBQ pork with rice was my favourite. My headmaster also bought me my first plastic baby grand piano with its own stool! They lubbed me!

Dessert: A Japanese rice green tea. Some matcha (green tea) ice cream. Thai Sticky Rice with Mangoes. Bailey’s cheesecake. Fresh fruit. Clearly, all this stuff should be in the main course anyway.I’d probably die from eating all this food …no need to wait for the end of the world…but I digress...

Where do you eat out most frequently?

I want to firstly say ‘ew’ to Mackenzie Male who put down “Denny’s”. Hehe.
I’d say “Tokyo Express”.

What's the best place to eat in Edmonton?

Marco Polo in Chinatown! HAHAHA. Yes, if I want to eat cockroach bits.

Actually, I’d say the La Ronde with their beautiful, well-stocked brunch buffet. Omelettes made to order…woohoo! And the scenery. Nothing beats a rotating restaurant. Worth my 28 bucks or whatever.

If you weren't limited by geography, where and what would you eat?

I suppose I will have to eat all the fresh sashimi in Japan. Spicy rice cakes in Korea. And last but not least, go to Spain and try this scary sounding Hake fish thing. I'd like the gigantic cooked eyeballs...very chewy.

My God...it's all seafood! Um, how about breadfruit? Never tried that.

BON APPETIT!