Rock out with your guac out.

After our last meeting where I brought groceries down from home in Scarbz, J had the opportunity to stock up on EVERYTHING. In addition to the extensive list of ingredients she acquired over the weekend, she had a serious hankering for guacamole. And when nature calls, damn right, we gotta answer!

First thing we did when we got home though was a Beer Store run.  We picked up two beers that J never tried before: Brava (THE BEER OF SUMMAAAA) and Czechvar (can you ever go wrong with Czech beer?! Well, not any of the ones that they've exported to Canada anyway).

Got home and got down and dirty in the kitchen. So dirty I had to wear an apron...but I'm always ridiculously messy in the kitchen - honestly, half the shit we cook ends up on the floor (and back in the pan, but don't tell J. Just kidding...sometimes I just eat it.).

First up, guacamole.  If you want to be a hit at a party, bring guacamole.  ROCK OUT WITH YOUR GUAC OUT.

Guacamole

You need...  - as always, amount and proportion is up to your own liking!

• avocado - 2 medium sized
• garlic - at LEAST 4, but I also enjoy having raw garlic breath
• onions - 1 small
• tomatoes - 2 plum/roma tomatoes or 1 large hot house
• cilantro 
• lime juice
• splash of milk (THIS IS THE SECRET INGREDIENT MY MEXICAN FRIEND TOLD ME THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR GUAC WORLD!) 
• chips/nachos/crackers/whatever you wanna eat it with

Then what?

1. Dice the garlic, onions, and tomatoes - the finer, the smoother; the bigger, the chunkier.  
2. Halve and pit the avocados - SAVE THE SEED ON THE SIDE, tell you why after.  
3. Chop the cilantro. 
4. Throw everything in a bowl. 
5. Liberally drizzle the lime juice.  
6. Splash the milk around.    
7. Mash your heart out!  
8. Now put the seed back into the guac! It will keep it from browning! Don't ask why. 
9. Serve with your choice of dipper.  We ate it with Kashi Pita Crisps in Zesty Salsa. SO GOOD. 

Now for dinner...


Stuffed Chicken Breast with Basil, Tomato, & Cheese

Stuffed chicken breast with baby bok choy and white rice

You need: 

• chicken breast (boneless, skinless)
• fresh basil 
• diced tomatoes
• cheese - either feta, mozzarella, gruyere, but it doesn't really matter 

Then what?

1. Preheat oven to bake at 375 degrees.
2. Clean each breast and slice a "pocket" in the middle.
3. Layer the basil, tomatoes, and cheese inside, liberally.  If you've stuffed your breast too much, use toothpicks to hold 'em shut. 
4. Season the outside with salt and pepper.  You can also sprinkle some cheese on the outside for extra flavour. 
5. Lay on a baking sheet and stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes, until juices run clear. 
6. Serve with side of rice/salad/veggies! 

After slaving away in the kitchen and then stuff our faces,  J and I do what she does best - NAILS, but I have no photographic evidence, which means it has escaped my horrible memory.  After having a few more beers, we went app crazy. Now, if you haven't used the Action Movie Fx app, GO GET IT for plenty of exploding entertainment.  After a few videos, we called it another successful Totes Amaze Tuesday. 

We're still trying to decide what the best way to format this blog is.  The bottom line is that we want to visually document our good times together doing a lot of random shit, create a little recipe book, and just keep a record that we can look back on. I don't know - more interspersed photos? Less? Recipes on a separate page? Nail polish reviews? Stop Instagramming the images?  I JUST LIKE ORDERLY SQUARES, OKAY?!

We're making it up as we go along, but we'll figure it out!

Special Edition: Mini Totes Fancy Weekend

Quick hits!

Friday night, J was feeling cagey and I was making shit up as I went along, so we decided to make a Fancy Friday (J, I just named it, not even official!), even though this one wasn't particularly fancy.  We started at my dude K's house for dinner, with our other boy D.  Now K is a culinary artiste - he is the one who has shaped my gourmet palate...best of the best!  He decided to make spicy fish curry with Aroy-D green curry paste and an array of vegetables.  We devoured it so quick, there are no photos to prove it even deliciously existed.

We worked our way through a couple growlers from Granite Brewery that D brought, and then seriously spent another couple hours watching the most ridiculous YouTube videos ever.  And it ALWAYS COMES BACK TO STUPID BABY AND ANIMAL VIDEOS.

Anyway, we finally made our way over to the best kept karaoke bar secret of Regent Park.  GREATEST PLACE EVER, that I cannot tell you about or else I'd have to kill you.  They have amazing blender drinks, as J fully experienced. IN REGENT PARK.  Oh, the characters that were in attendance!

TWO umbrellas! You fancy, huh.

Saturday, we had a quick frap date for Starbucks' happy hour promo, and of course, did our nails (okay, J did my nails), before we parted ways.

Just a bit of love for the weekend!

Oh yeah, I saw a Storm Trooper on my way to J's.  Best.

Spicy Beef Pho (Pie Original)

Hello!  I'm Janny ("J" here, if you didn't figure that one out already...).  When I'm not spending (wasting) my time at grad school or work at the hospital, you can usually find me doing one of the following: shopping, painting my nails, painting the nails of all the females in my life, napping, eating, reading Harry Potter, watching Gossip Girl (can Chuck destroy Dair already? kthxbye - Pie won't understand this) or causing havoc with my partner-in-crime and co-author of this totesamaze blog, Pie.

Whether you're here because you're a foodie, by mistake (and have already wasted too much time reading this first entry to leave now) or simply love and want to support us (forced to read because you're our friend), welcome to totesamazetuesdays!  Join, share and learn with us as we discover food, share our deepest, most intellectual thoughts on nail polish/cosmetics and figure out life and stuffs.

First up... Spicy Beef Pho, a Pie Original Recipe!

This was our very first totesamazetueday and we started off with a bang!  Of deliciousness.  Anyone that knows me knows that I love my noodles - of all variations.  Pie and I love pho and 8 out of 10 times (see what I did there...highly complex statistics) that we spontaneously eat out, will be for pho or noodles of some sort (Japanese ramen).

Anyway, this is the simple, makeshift and delicious recipe that Pie taught me on this glorious Tuesday. Disclaimer: my memory is a bit foggy as it has been a couple weeks and I am also currently starving for today's totesamaze cooking). 

What you need: 

• Chicken broth
• Kikkoman Teriyaki sauce
• Sesame oil
• Fish sauce
• Chili sauce (we used a homemade one from our gramma's Saudi-Chinese friend or "goo por" as we know her)
• Garlic (you'll see soon enough that we love our garlic....)
• Onions
• Sliced Beef (like for hot pot)
• Beef/Fish balls (optional)
• Cilantro garnish - at the end
• Thai basil - at the end 
• Vegetables (of your choice) - we didn't use any but feel free!
• Noodles (of your choice/convenience) - we used "Canto noodles", some call it "Japanese noodles", basically they're thicker and flatter but somewhat thin

What to do: 

1. Prepare ingredients (garlic, chop onions, wash veggies).
2. Boil noodles.
3. Heat up cooking oil, add garlic, chopped onions.  Let soften a bit. 
4. Pour in chicken broth/stock to ingredients (can add water to dilute if you wish).  Add Kikkoman Teriyaki sauce, sesame oil and chili sauce. Bring to a boil. 
5. Add meat and cook. 
6. Add cilantro/thai basil.  
7. EAT!

And it's as simple as that, folks.  Honestly, this is such a makeshift "recipe" that being creative/customizing to your own preferences is even better!  Thank you to Pie for teaching me this, I look forward to making it on my own! :) 

I now leave you with one more totesamaze-worthy thing: 

I present to you, Almond Croissant, courtesy of K.  Deliciously fluffy and satisfying.  Nommmmm...

That's all from me, for now!  More yummy food (and foodporn) on the way.  

Stay tuned for Stuffed Chicken Breast and guacamole next! 

xx J

FIRST POST HOLLAAAAA!

Today is the official birth of Totes Amaze Tuesdays! We will back date our first dinner session, but tonight, we decided to name and immortalize our regular Tuesday night dates. What do our meetings consist of, and why are they so damn special anyway, you ask?

 J and I are cousins by blood but best friends by destiny (BAHAHA SO CHEESE). When we get together, it is an extensive dissection of interactions - social, physical, intellectual, personal; an eruption of loud uncontrollable laughs as a result of offensive material; a cosmetic experiment with nail polish, lip gloss, and other aesthetic fancies; an experience of basic, exotic, and usually spicy culinary concoctions; and ultimately, a boisterous affair that should be documented by all means. (And "by all means", I mostly mean Instagram, goddamn lazy man's Twitter.)

I think I just exhausted my vocabulary. Thank god for Urban Dictionary and the thousands of dollars that J and I both spent acquiring our useless English minor and major, respectively...pinky up.

I promise to update regularly and swear minimally. Hold me to that.

Here we go!

What a couple of clowns.