2012 Resolutions Check-Up: January

I'll save you the photo of my calendar filled with sad faces (nights I got < 7.5 hours of sleep) and x's (weekends where I didn't drink enough water) because I'm not at home right now, but I'm sure you've figured since I'm doing my update on January in the second last week of February, things have not been looking good for my New Year's Resolutions...

Clear my plate
January is an ambitious month, and like most people, I found myself putting more on my plate instead of taking things off. It was good in its own way: I blogged quite a bit in January, reconnected with a few friends, participated in two Chinese New Years Eve feasts (and one Chinese New Year's feast), talked about my job to some university students, took on some presentations at work and started planning a few projects (including the bake sale!)

I did keep my resolution at the back of my mind, and tried to ask myself "Is this something I want to commit to?" every time something new came up, and I did say "No" to a few things, so I think that's a good start.

Be a tourist in my own city
In January, we checked out the 10-Minute Play Festival and ate at CHARPOP. My friend T. and I also ate at Model Milk. Not the full "tourist" experience, but a good start.

Drink at least 1 L of water on non-work days
According to my calendar, I did this about 50% of the time! I find that on my days off, I drink more fluids from other sources (cups of tea at dim sum, glasses of water at a friend's) than from my CamelBak.

Get at least 7.5 hours of sleep per night (i.e. 10:30-11 PM bedtime)
I did very well during the first week of January - I was still staying with B. for the "holidays", but once my sister started school again I had to go home and play mom while the real Mama T is still away (until Wednesday, yay!) Obviously the added extra "chores" of cooking, making lunches and taking the garbage out (though my siblings do help with that - thanks!) made it harder to get to bed on time... and then those extra commitments started creeping in that there were actually nights where I told myself I was choosing to go to bed late. So a lot of work needs to be done here.

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Koto Sushi

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

I can't help but start with a little disclaimer: B. has an odd relationship with seafood - he doesn't like fish, but he eats canned tuna and fish & chips; he doesn't like shrimp, but will eat crab and lobster. Needless to say, I don't enjoy going for sushi with him (it's usually his idea; he likes California rolls and most of the hot dishes) - I know that what he eats shouldn't affect what I eat, but I can't help but feel a little guilty at the thought of ordering an entire plate of sashimi and nigiri to myself. So when we do go out for Japanese, often we'd share a few rolls and hot appies - not the most traditional way of enjoying sushi (sorry, purists!), but more and more places are doing "fusion" anyway.

B. had purchased a DealFind for Koto Sushi, a relatively new restaurant right downtown on the corner of 4th Ave and 3rd St. From the outside it looks like a small space, but inside it is quite spacious, stretching out in an L-shape toward the back of the building. We arrived at around 7 on Friday night and the restaurant was busy but not crowded.

Traditional sushi and sashimi is available here, but the focus of the menu seems to be more on their unique fusion rolls and appetizers, which often make use of Korean chili sauces. On the left side of the menu is a "Koto Must Have" list of the restaurant's recommended specialty items, and we made a few of our decisions based on that.

We started with the Asian Sweet Chili Tofu ($8), Koto's answer to the more traditional Agedashi Tofu.


Usually, I love agedashi tofu - a crisp, piping hot outer layer giving way to a soft, smooth centre. Unfortunately, this dish was a flop - literally! The batter on the tofu was a little too thin and not fried enough, so the slices of tofu were floppy instead of firm as we picked them up. The sauce was cloyingly sweet - it tasted more like honey or plum sauce and there was barely any spicy or savoury flavour.

B. "forced" me to order something that only I would eat, so I picked the Koto Spicy Miso Sashimi ($12). I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation - the sashimi was served on a colourful salad of lettuce, tomato and avocado on a crisp fried wonton wrapper nestled in a martini glass, topped with a few slices of lemon.


So it turned out B. could eat some of this after all ;) The combination of tomato, avocado and spicy miso made this dish seem very Mexican-inspired and it was very fresh tasting and fun. I loved how the lemon really brought out the flavours of the fish. While I liked the dish, I didn't expect the bold flavours, so next time I will probably just order regular sashimi.

For the "main course", B. and I shared two rolls; it was initially hard to choose as almost everything appeared to be fried or had a "forbidden ingredient". We finally settled on the Lobster Dynamite Roll ($18) and Koto San's Seared Salmon Roll ($12.50).




The Lobster Dynamite Roll was impressively presented with a fried lobster tail. Each piece was stuffed with a section of lobster tempura with imitation crab meat, cucumber, mayo, avocado and tobiko topped with a sliver of avocado, thin strips of seaweed and a drizzle of Korean sweet-and-spicy sauce.

The large rolls were a little messy to eat, but I loved the contrast of the crunchy tempura with the tender crab meat and smooth avocado. The sweet-and-spicy sauce was ok in this, but the sushi would still have been good without it.

The Seared Salmon Roll was essentially a California roll topped with pieces of seared salmon on "volcano sauce", a slightly spicier sauce that still leaned more on the sweet side. B. picked off the salmon from his rolls and gave them to me, which was fine, because I loved the buttery taste of the barely-cooked salmon. Otherwise, the rolls were pretty good, but why does everything have to have sweet sauce on it?

Our server was very smiley and friendly, and service was quick and efficient. With the DealFind, our tip cost us more than the meal itself! I don't think I'd go out of my way to revisit Koto Sushi, but if I were to go back I'd probably just stick to the basics - if only to avoid the sauce!

Koto Sushi
435 4 Ave SW
Calgary AB T2P 0J4
(403) 457-2898
Open Mon-Fri 11:30 AM-9 PM; Sat 5-9 PM. Closed Sundays.

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Thanks for supporting the Calgary Food Blogger Bake Sale & Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids Society!

2 hours into the Bake Sale... lots of goodies already gone!

Photo by Wendy Y.

This is a thank you long overdue, but a thank you just the same.

Thanks to all of you who had a hand in raising $1,900 for Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids Society last weekend!

Thanks to all the bloggers, who donated their time baking, packaging (into the wee hours of the night!), advertising on their blogs, traveling to the bake sale and volunteering at the booth.

Thanks to Joel, Jillian, Alan and Alison for allowing us to use the space at Casel Marché and Market 17, and for putting up with our seemingly endless requests for storage space, bags, staplers... and moving a 6' table out of my trunk! So many people who came by talked about how they always drove by the building or wondered about the space and were so glad to have an excuse to check it out!

Thanks to the talented Chelsea Klukas for designing our gorgeous poster!

Thanks to Avenue Magazine, Metro News, FFWD, CBC Radio and all the other media outlets who picked up the bake sale and spread the word.

Thanks to Chef Mario from Pimento's and Mighty Skillet for being there on Saturday to give everyone something savoury before they came in for something sweet!

Thanks to B. for running little errands for me and for leaving me a bit of corned beef hash for lunch ;)

But most of all, thanks to everyone who came by to buy some goodies and support a fantastic cause, whether you read about us from your favourite blog, heard about us in local media or came to support a friend. And thanks to all of you for your patience - I definitely did not expect this sort of turnout for this event and couldn't help but feel a little guilty later on in the day when people came by to only find a handful of treats on the table!

Thank you again for a very successful bake sale - I have lots of ideas of how we can make it even better (and maybe crack the $2,000 mark?) for next year, and hopefully years to come.

I've heard lots of you gush about certain baked goods since the bake sale, so I will try to keep this space updated with the posts as they come up!

Anna from Anna's Appetite brought Cranberry Walnut Lemon Scones and Black & White Cookies

Catherine from Chatterpin brought the most gorgeous Chocolate Sundae Cupcakes and Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting.

Jen L. from Chocolate & Ginger brought a tower of gourmet treats - Chipotle Bacon Caramel Popcorn, Valrhona Brownies with Winter Citrus Chevre, Rosemary Toffee Shortbread and Momofuku Mini-Crack Pies - before running a 1/2 marathon! All the treats were gone within two hours. Jen also brought a small batch of Mini-Rosemary Pear Cornbread Muffins to replenish our stock on Sunday!

Wendy from Clearly the Place to Eat brought some yummy S'Mores Brownies and Lemon Glazed Sugar Cookies done up in some cute Valentine's-themed packaging!

Stephanie E. from the popular blog Clockwork Lemon brought five loaves of Wild Rice & Onion Bread, as well as some Brown Butter Rice Krispie Squares. B. bought a loaf of the bread and it's soft and pillowy, and excellent with this British medium cheddar that he gets at Costco.

The girls of Club Club promoted their upcoming "cook"book Booze Booze with boozy cookies - "Old-Fashioned" Snickerdoodles (with bourbon and bitters) and Margarita Coins - packaged with hand-stamped napkins.

Dan from Dan's Good Side, who helped me organize the bake sale, brought "Dan's Good Cookies" - Lemon Rosemary Shortbread with Balsamic Raspberry Compote.

Cheryl from Dining Room Empire brought Tonka Bean Cherry Brownies and Blueberry Rosemary Brownies for Saturday, and then a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie bites and Poached Pear Cardamom Muffins on Sunday... and she's due to give birth in a month!

Local celeb Julie outdid herself as usual, with slutty brownies, chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, ganache truffles and a few loaves.

First-time baker David from F-Log for Thought brought the most gorgeous Red Velvet Cupcakes, after two test batches! I unfortunately couldn't get my hands on any, but am sure they were as delicious as they looked.

Alison from Fig & Fennel brought yummy chocolate cupcakes topped with malt balls and giant heart-shaped sugar cookies decorated with pink frosting and cinnamon hearts!

Food Mamma Fareen brought beautiful boxes of Caramel Popcorn Twists and Chocolate & Almond Whipped Shortbread, plus a few squares of Almond Roca shortbread.

Jacinthe from Food with Presence brought an unusual but tasty treat - Spicy Caraway Cheddar Biscotti!

Stephanie A. from Global Dish made Toasted Coconut and Dark Chocolate Meringues, one of the few gluten-free goodies at the sale.

Barb from Just a Smidgen brought Heartland Café Nutri Cookies and Sweet Briar Rose Petal Cookies, and took some gorgeous photos at the event!

Miss Foodie, aka Patricia, brought Andes Mint Chocolate Meringues, which sold out in no time at all.

Gwendolyn from Patent and the Pantry had to bake a double batch of her delicious dark chocolate chunk cookies because she kept eating the cookie dough ;)

Jen N., who writes Prairiesummers, a German-English food blog, brought some Chili Chocolate Cookies with Lime and Cocoa Nibs - little bites bursting with flavour. Jen also brought adorable little Citrus Cakes spiced with cardamom.

Bonnie from Scrumptiously Fit Food brought some scrumptious chewy butterscotch coconut brownies topped with marshmallows... not exactly fit! ;)

Megan, The Vegan Cookbook Aficionado, made some of the most delicious treats that could probably convert any meat-eater. The Peanut Butter Strawberry Tarts were so good that Megan made them twice, and everyone loved the soft, savoury Vegan Pizza Rolls.

The boys at This Sh*t's Delicious made commissioned some *ahem* High Fibre Chocolate Cookies shaped to look like... well, you know! A fun play on their blog name and interesting to see a cookie made with dates!

Michelle from yumyumyummers made bags of mini heart-shaped sugar cookies on Saturday, then brought over some delicious truffles on Sunday.

We also had some non-food bloggers bake! Lori, the 10 Cent Designer, saw that our gluten-free supply was not meeting the demand and brought some giant double chocolate pecan cookies, while Lily, a friend of Jen N.'s, brought some traditional Chinese egg tarts.

Last but not least, I brought Vanilla Bean Marshmallows with Toasted Coconut! Recipe to come soon (after I catch up on my work and a few more blog posts!)

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Calgary Food Blogger Bake Sale - next weekend!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately! I've been busy... putting too much on my plate and not sleeping... planning the Calgary Food Blogger Bake Sale happening next weekend - February 11 and 12!

You may remember the first bake sale back in June 2010 where we raised over $1,200 for Calgary Meals on Wheels.

This time, we are raising money for another fantastic "foodie" charity, Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids Society - we hope to break our previous record!

Please come join us next weekend, February 11 and 12 from 10 AM - 5:30 PM at Casel Marché for some yummy baked goodies, as well as the usual Saturday food trucks and free wine tastings at J. Webb Wine Merchants! I will be there all day Saturday, while Dan from Dan's Good Side will be there all day Sunday. We will be joined by some great food bloggers throughout the weekend so please come down and meet us!

For more details, including a list of all the blogs involved, check out our Facebook event or follow the Twitter hashtag #yycFBBS See you there!

P.S.: Big thanks to Chelsea Klukas for designing our gorgeous poster this year!

P.P.S.: Please check out Calgary Meals on Wheels' charity event, YYC Hot Chocolate Fest, all through the month of February! I'm thinking of organizing some sort of "hot chocolate crawl" before the month is up - anyone in?

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