I remembered having a rather nice Asian salad that included mandarin
oranges, so I decided to see what mixing fruits into a salad would be
like. I peeled and chopped half an orange and one kiwi into bite-sized
bits, then sprinkled them onto a bed of romaine lettuce. I cubed two
crab sticks to add protein and a touch of saltiness. After tasting it,
I decided it lacked a little something, so I made a quick vinaigrette
by shaking balsamic vinegar, pepper, and olive oil in a small jar.

That wasn't a bad lunch, although I suspect it might be better if I
used mandarin oranges instead of navel oranges, and if I could think
of a more Asian dressing…

Mike wanted to know how to cook the sugar peas we received in last
week's Good Food Box, so I suggested a stirfry. He bought chicken
breasts from Dominion, and we threw it all together in my kitchen.
Onions, garlic, carrots, mushroom, sugar peas, chicken, broccoli,
sesame ginger teriyaki sauce… It turned out to be a colorful and
flavorful dinner, and it tasted fantastic! I prepared ginger jasmine
rice to go with it, and the rice was wonderfully soft and delicately
flavored.

Very good food. =) Happy girl.

Pan-frying beef medallion isn't quite the same as grilling it, but oh
well – one does what one can. I'm a little bit skeptical about the
meat, though, as I'm not sure if it's properly medium. If you don't
hear from me tomorrow, you can send someone to knock on my room and
see if I'm suffering from food poisoning…

I was planning to meet Calum for dinner, but I figured it would be a
good day to try out the grill again, so I headed to the supermarket to
stock up on meat. I ran into James, Mike and Mike on my way out, so I
invited them to a barbecue at 7. I met Keynyn on the way back from the
supermarket, so I invited her too.

It turned out to be a terrific potluck. I prepared vegetable kebabs
and Caesar salad (store-bought dressing, but I made the bacon bits and
croutons myself!). Keynyn brought mashed potatoes and cookies. James
brought lots and lots of chicken legs. Mike and Calum helped with
cooking and washing up. (Don't worry, they'll host some other time…)

The chicken legs were slightly dodgy as parts weren't completely
cooked, so I think we'll do beef next time. At least, until we get the
hang of this. Note to self: figure out how to properly grill
vegetables so that they're nice and juicy. Also, buy a basting brush.
Hmm, next Wednesday or Thursday seems like a good time to have another
potluck party. (Psst! Kathy! I need tips!)

_And_ we even got to study afterwards! I much prefer studying with
other people around. Today proved an interesting point. I'm a fraud of
a computer person, really. I'm definitely not as geeky as Calum and
Mike are. I find myself less into writing code than I'm into
explaining things to other people, and sometimes I really do have to
explain things to either people, stuffed toys, or my blog in order to
get things straight in my head. Aiyah. How embarrassing.

(I say that now, sure, but when I'm in coding mode I can't pry my
fingers off the keyboard…)

Anyway, it was a very good day.

Toastmasters from 6 to 8 means I usually can't meet anyone for dinner
on Tuesdays, which is why I was surprised to get a call from Trevor at
8:30 or so. He invited me to a barbecue with Brian. The Kensington
market I usually go to for meat had closed already and I didn't feel
like chancing Chinatown. I also didn't want to walk to Dominion and
being even _more_ late. Fortunately, I had some hamburger patties in
the freezer. Hooray for the well-stocked pantry!

Although the weather was a bit cold (it snowed a little bit today!
argh!), standing around in a coat and chatting with friends was worth
it. I defrosted the patties in a microwave, put one away, and grilled
the other patty under the guidance of Brian and Trevor. The potatoes I
wrapped in foil and started grilling were nowhere near done by the
time the burgers, porkchop and steak were done, so I took the potatoes
off the grill. Brian thoughtfully anticipated that and included me in
his calculations for rice. Awwww. =) (The man cooks rice with a pot!
_Proper_ rice, too, not instant rice! Coolness. =) )

Keynan dropped by with a platter of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
She found the cookie recipe on the Net. I wonder if I can share
Kathy's Top Secret Cookie Recipe with her – but then it wouldn't be
Top Secret, would it?

I washed a number of their dishes to thank them for hosting me and
teaching me how to grill, following the strange rules of my
dinner-party etiquette. Also, it's kinda fun. Eventually Trevor took
the sponge away from me and put it on the other side of the room.
Spoilsport.

Keynan brought a DVD of Terminator. I finally got to watch the thing.
=)

After the movie, Brian pulled a scary face to stop me from finishing
the rest of their dishes. I couldn't help but laugh, which made him
laugh, and then no amount of coaxing could get him to do the scary
face again.

It's nice to have friends.

Steve deserved a break from all the hospital food, so I decided to
cook him breakfast. It always takes him a while to get up, so I walked
to Dominion and bought bacon and eggs. Trent let me into their suite
and showed me where to get all the things I needed. I discovered the
joys of having a proper crepe pan. =)

I fried bacon, prepared eggs, and toasted bread. Steve was touched
that I had prepared both sunny-side-up and scrambled eggs for him, and
kept praising my cooking. We had chai latte (well, just milk for me)
with Trent and Keri. Apparently, Trent's quite the chai latte master.
=)

It was fun chatting with Trent and Keri as well, although some aspects
of that were just a little bit odd, like that singing in the shower
thing… <laugh> It was good having breakfast with friends,
though – it gave me something for which I should wake up early. Might
do it again sometime. Heck, might even do it tomorrow…

Steve's out on a weekend pass, so we celebrated with an impromptu
cooking party. I defrosted and panfried some salmon steak. I
microwaved and mashed potatoes with a bit of butter, sprinkling
rosemary on top. It wasn't a perfect combination, but it wasn't bad
for something I just threw together. =) CookOrDie to the rescue!

Mike brought some of the stuff from his Good Food Box, so we used up
half the cabbage in that soy sauce and onion cabbage thing. We also
used totally random vegetables in soup, which turned out quite well.

We had tons of fun cooking and catching up with each other. =)