Boy oh boy, I can’t even give it either a fork or chopsticks. Can’t understand why people like it so much. The better plates are shrimp and snow peas stir fry and bean sprouts.

Suprisingly, the desserts taste much better than the entrées. I had almond biscuit, bread pudding, tapioca pudding, brownies and creme caramel. Not sure if it’s worth $26.99.

Update: The dinner was a hit. It went well into 2am. We did have a small incidence of smoky oven. But at least we didn’t trigger the smoke detector like our neighours did (close to midnight). Otherwise the food was well done. Turkey is always juicy and tender (thanks to Brandy!), Katherine’s deep fried dumpling was fantastic. I’m glad my butternut squash soup and philo pastries turn out very well.

Thanks everyone for bringing the food!

Group picture

Roasted turkey with brandy

Tonight’s menu:

Entrees
1) Roasted Turkey (with Brandy)
2) Steamed baby carrots and green beans
3) Scallop potato
4) Collard Greens

Appetizers
1) Butternut Squash Soup
2) Flio Pastry (Smoked Salmon, Spanish, Feta Cheese)
3) Olives, artichokes.
4) Warmed Brie with cranberry focassa
5) Homemade deep fried dumplings
6) Special salad

Desserts
1) Croquembouche
2) Francois’ mean mean Chocolate Brownie
3) Carol’s rice cake

Philo pastry with smoked salmon and prosciutto

On day four, we need to find new ways to stretch that $25. Fortunately with the Chinese diet, we can make dumplings at home. The cost is $1.96 for the off the shelve pastry dough. We bought around $6 of the minced pork and 50 cents worth of chives from the supermarket. And we made close to 80 pieces of dumpling out of the ingredients. so it’s about 11 cents a dumpling.
We were watching Grey’s Anatomy while we were chucking out the dumplings. We finished it before the end of the episode and I even managed to go to the gym that night.

We steamed the dumpling and bring them to work for lunch. Served with a dazzle of soya sauce and sesame oil and it was quite good.

I also went to an art auction last night. Although I only had two spoonful of o’dourves so I am still in the Challenge. My roommate is having congee for the past few days and she even found two pieces of lamb chop for just $1.96! So it works out to be $1.50 per meal including the Dijon mustard and the 5 herbes des provence.

The biggest challenge I have is I am starting to get cranky. I think the lack of sugar and sweets from my diet is making me agitated. I’m used to have either a Starbucks chocolate chip cookie a day or KitKat or some sort of chocolate a day. Of course these are well over my budget and I am only rationed with 4 squares of Ikea chocolate and 5 pieces of Ikea biscuits (as seen on the above picture).

Only 4 more days left, will see how we will all hold out.

Six of our close friends in Toronto, Canada, agreed to participate in this social challenge. Starting Monday, we will commence our challenge.
Calvin helped me to plan with an Excel spreadsheet and I had my breakfast planned out and I spent a few hours on the Sunday night preparing for my lunches from Monday to Wednesday. I will continue to my experience via Twitter.

• I know my sweet spot is chocolate. Since I’m not a coffee drinker, so chocolate is my caffeine source. I bought a 99 cents Hazelnut chocolate and 99 cents gingerbread cookies from Ikea today. I have meticulously separated them equally for this week. I got exactly 4 squares of chocolate and 5 pieces of cookies.

Let’s see how we all hold out. We are aiming to have a potluck on Wednesday or Friday to cheer up everyone.

Rack of Lamb

Ingredients

1/8 C fresh parsley
1/8 C fresh oregano
1/8 C fresh rosemary
1/8 C fresh thyme
1/2 C fresh breadcrumbs
1 1/2 T garlic, minced
1/4 C + 2T olive oil
1 T Dijon mustard
salt & pepper to taste
1 rack of lamb (about 2 - 2 1/2 lbs)

Steps:

Pre-heat oven to 450F

In the bowl of a food processor, combine all ingredients, except mustard and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and process until well mixed, but still slightly crumbly. In other words, don’t turn it in mush! Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil until just below smoking. Season lamb rack with salt and pepper and quickly brown by cooking for about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove lamb from skillet and place in an oiled roasting pan. Carefully brush mustard over the section just over the top, underside and sides of chops, leaving bones exposed. Gently pat the herb/ breadcrumb mixture over the mustard. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until the meat reaches an internal temperature of about 130F. Allow to rest 10 minutes before carving. To serve lamb chops, slice between bones

Prepartion Time
3-4 Hours or 1.25 hours for chicken

Directions

1. Preparation for turkey/ chicken
Clean turkey and pat dry with kitchen paper towel. Take out the package from inside the cavity and set aside. Rub turkey with salt & pepper and brandy. Put it back into the fridge until ready for baking. Marinate the turkey overnight.

Mix 3 table spoons each of salt and pepper together.

2. Vegetables for roasting
2 carrots, 2 small onions, 4 stalks of celery, 4 cloves of garlic (crushed only, no need to chop!!!)
Chop all vegetables into small dice and place at the bottom of the baking pan. Put about 2 cups of water into the pan or enough to cover the vegetables.

3. Baking Process
Preheat oven to 450F for 15 mins. Once turkey is in, lower temperature to 375F.
For the first 15 mins breast downwards, then turn the turkey over and bake for 1.5 hrs.

During the baking period use melted butter to brush on the surface of the turkey (approximately every ½ hour).

4. For sauce
Drain all veggies & juice into a saucepan. Mix the “turkey sauce” (gravy) into the sauce pan, add red wine (approximate ¼ cup) and cook over low heat until the mixture is a little thick. Taste the sauce to see if you need to add more salt. Drain the sauce into a bowl and serve with turkey.

The guest loves my rack of lamb (a la Provençal)

Thilo said “I am the Iron Chef winner at this first round in Toronto”

Benedict said “It’s the best lamb I’d ever had outside of France”

It’s a nice and happy Thanksgiving and everyone is leaving very well fed!

Check out their location at:
- 1120 Yonge St (@ MacPherson)
- 835 St. Clair Ave E (East of Bathwurst)