Ceci n'est pas un food blog

CHARPOP

2012-01-22T23:33:00.001-07:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Closing out the place!
B. and I were super-lucky to get spots at the last seating of the first incarnation of CHARPOP on Tuesday! Long story short, it involved not getting our reservation request in until 4:08 two weeks earlier (registrations were open at 4 PM), being on the waiting list, my perennial brunchmate Tiffany offering us to share her 6 PM seating but me having other plans (!!!), then the news a few days later that we got the 9:30 PM seating (and would probably be eating till midnight...)

When I'd heard that Aviv from Sidewalk Citizen was involved in this dinner, I had an inkling that the "secret location" would be the bakery. I had never been, but I knew it was small, and would probably make an intimate venue for this pop-up restaurant.

Despite only allowing parties of up to four, tables of six and eight were set up, encouraging diners to interact with their tablemates. I was pleasantly surprised to have been seated at the "media table" with my friends Julie and Gwendolyn, who were there with Shelley Youngblut and a man who only introduced himself as "Jacob", who I later found out was Jacob Richler!!! Now I am slightly embarrassed that I didn't know.

Anyway.

I was surprised to find that the menu was à la carte (Decision Making?!?), having expected a prix-fixe menu, given the four-seatings-per-night arrangement. The menu was very "experimental", featuring items that you usually wouldn't see on a restaurant menu, like beef heart, sweetbreads, pig ear, tongue and octopus. "Small plates" (appetizers) were $17, large plates were $38 and sides and desserts were $12. Aviv's influence was obvious throughout the menu, with many of the dishes paired with croissants, brioche, bannock and scones, and of course, there were the two desserts!

We decided to forego any drinking that night, which in retrospect may have been a mistake as it seemed like everyone else had a drink by their side and there was a lovely looking local blonde beer for only $5! We kicked things off with the Open Faced Croissant with Lamb, Sumac, Nigella Seeds & Mint ($12).

B. was a big fan of this dish, though he thinks he would've liked it better if the lamb was warm. I thought it was only ok - the croissant was soft and pillowy, but lacking a flaky crust, while the lamb was crumbly and a little too subtly flavoured. I had to take a few bites before I tasted the licoricey nigella seeds. Overall, the croissant reminded me of one of those meat-filled buns you get at a Chinese bakery... with just a hint of a more exotic flavour.

Next we shared the Crispy Pig Ear Salad ($17), tossed in a lemon chili dressing and topped with crispy toast and an egg cooked in a 64-degree sous-vide bath.

I was hoping to get a photo of the yolk dribbling out of the egg and onto the salad, but my plan was foiled by the magic of sous-vide! The egg had the texture of a soft-cooked egg, but the stability of a hard-boiled one. It was pretty neat. I also loved the pig ears - crispy little salty nubbins that reminded me of pork rinds. The salad itself wasn't great - it was made mostly of bitter radicchio and wasn't dressed very evenly. I think Jacob commented that he would have the crispy pig ear just by itself, in a paper cone like popcorn. I totally agree.

Julie and Gwendolyn were kind enough to share the last couple bites of the more popular salad that night - Baked Kale with Persimmon, King Mushroom, Farro and Pinenut ($17). I loved the earthy flavour of the roasted kale, and the large slices of king mushroom had soaked up the lemony dressing. Yum.

Our last small plate was the Smoked Veal Sweetbreads with Pig Skin, White Beans and Escarole ($17).

B. and I had recently eaten sweetbreads (the "pretty" food name for an animal's glands, usually the thymus) in New York - at wd~50 we had some small bites of breaded and fried sweetbreads in a bowl of king mushroom "noodles" and ginger-banana chips as part of their tasting menu - so I felt comfortable ordering them. I was a little surprised that the sweetbreads were not deep-fried here.

The first bite was a little weird - the sweetbreads were soft, almost fatty, but not greasy. The tops were lightly seared and salted, so together with the smoky flavour, it was like eating bacon or smoked pork belly, but again, without the grease.

The sweetbreads sat on a stew of white beans and escarole, which was creamy with just a bit of chew, topped with a generous sprinkling of parsley. Usually we hate parsley but we ate it here, and enjoyed the stew's smoky flavour, which mirrored that of the sweetbreads.

For our main dish, we shared the Beef Cheek with Squash and Savoury Scone ($38).

The beef cheek was literally braised for a day and was fall apart tender, while the peppery gravy had a hint of sweetness from the multicoloured squash, reminding me a little bit of Japanese curry. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The scone was nice - a firm, outer shell gave way to a soft, slightly cheesy inside, and worked well for sopping up the gravy at the end.

We had a side of beets ($12) with our beef cheek. I love beets, so I gobbled these down eagerly, but you could hardly tell that they were Hot Vinegar Beets with Orange & Thyme except for the sliver of orange peel that was nestled in the small bowl.

So before we started eating, I posted my excitement on Twitter/Facebook and Tiffany commented back "It was delicious!! Cinnamon buns!!" So I could hardly wait for dessert to arrive.

The Cast Iron Baked Cinnamon Bun with Spiced Rum & Raisin Gelato ($12) was the highlight of our meal. The warm, moist bun was slathered with a sticky, cinnamon sauce and topped with a generous scoop of a very rummy ice cream. Rum & Raisin is one of B.'s favourite ice cream flavours, so he totally fell for this dish, while I thought the rum-soaked raisins were just a little too boozy for me. I commented back to Tiffany, "OMGGGG!!! You were right about the cinnamon buns!!!"

On the other hand, Julie found the cinnamon bun a little too heavy of a finish for an already-heavy meal, but she did have way more food than us ;) We also agreed that it was pretty pricey! We did come prepared to spend, and I get that we were paying mostly for the experience and all the work in turning a bakery into a pop-up restaurant, but still, $12 for a bowl of beets?

Still, I was very happy and excited to have been part of the first CHARPOP, especially since it sounds like the next one will be a while off. I heard Connie telling some diners that they were hoping to do another pop-up in the spring, but in San Francisco! So it may be a few more months yet before CHARPOP will be back in Calgary. I can't wait to see what they will come up with next!

CHARPOP
Locations, hours and reservation details vary. Latest news available on their website or via Twitter @YYC_CHARPOP

Model Milk

2012-01-15T21:30:00.001-07:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

I'd heard lots of great things about Model Milk. Led by Executive Chef Justin Leboe, formerly of Rush, this bistro-style restaurant is known for its modern versions of classic combos like Chicken & Waffles and Shrimp & Grits. Open daily until 1 AM, it's a favourite hangout for local chefs and regular foodies alike.

My perennial brunch buddy Tiffany had to cancel on some brunch plans, so we decided to reschedule for a Tuesday night dinner. The space was quiet at 6 PM, but became more lively as the night went on.

By the way, Model Milk is beautiful - I love the exposed brick, tall ceilings and the way the second level sort of spirals around the space. Modern, but cozy.

We got things started with some wine; Tiffany had a Chardonnay while I had the Noble Tree Tempranillo. I've been really liking tempranillo lately, and it was cool to see one from California instead of its native Spain. The wine was spicy but smooth, with some hints of chocolate.

The food menu (now on iteration #11) is split into "Small Plates" and "Large Plates" - the former are fairly generously sized appetizer-type dishes meant for sharing, while the "Large Plates" are mains meant for enjoying alone.

Tiffany and I decided to split four "Small Plates".

The Shrimp and Grits ($15) arrived first and it's no wonder everyone gushes about it. It was my favourite of the night. The creamy hand-ground hominy grits were infused with the smoky flavour of the chewy bits of ham hock, while perfectly cooked shrimp surrounded a fried egg with a beautiful, orange yolk.

There were an odd number of shrimp (?!?) so Tiffany let me have the last one. She's awesome.

The Hamachi Crudo ($16) was not one of our favourites. We'd forgotten what "crudo" meant ("You can't go wrong with yellowtail!") until the dish arrived.

Crudo means raw. Not that we have any problem with raw fish, but the flavours just seemed disjointed. The fresh, tender slices of hamachi just didn't seem to mix with the tart pickled apple, mustard pecan, black garlic and sprigs of dill.

The Smoked Veal on Toast ($13) did not look as we expected - a crisp crostini was topped with a layer of telaggio cheese, then a mountain of smoked veal and another pile of watercress and green apple.

It was very salty and fatty, but it went really well with my tempranillo (brought out the sweetness) so I enjoyed it.

Last but not least, was the Fried Country Pâté ($14) made with foie gras and smoked chicken, served with a dollop of mustard, a quince, grape and celery salad and five (?!?) toasts.

Tiffany and I enjoyed it - the rich flavours of the pâté matched well with the light, pickly salad and the slightly spicy mustard. However, Tiffany noted multiple times that the pâté had the texture of sausage, and if you were expecting a smooth, spreadable meat paste then you probably wouldn't like it. Since Tiffany gave me the last shrimp I gave her the last toast.

Our service was friendly, but a little strange. We had different wait staff bring us each of our dishes, with only one of them taking the time to explain the different components of the dish. Our main waitress was overly attentive - coming to our table every few minutes to ask us if everything was ok/tasted good even when we hadn't really touched anything. Still, we had a good night and it's nice to know there's a late night hangout with good, high-quality food.

Model Milk
308 17 Ave SW
Calgary AB T2S 0A8
(403) 265-7343
Open Mon-Sun 5 PM-1 AM. No reservations.

Buttermilk Summer Squash Soup with Cumin Brown Butter

2012-01-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

September!

I made my Mac & Cheese with Brussels Sprouts & Ham for the Club Club Community Cookbook Launch & Epic Potluck, leaving me with some leftover buttermilk to use up. A quick search through my Reader picked up this Buttermilk Squash Soup recipe from 101 Cookbooks; one of two in Heidi's repertoire.

I chose this one because it seemed less labour intensive and required fewer ingredients. Because the cumin brown butter features so prominently in the dish, I decided to "splurge" on some whole cumin seeds from Silk Road Spice Merchants - it wasn't really a splurge at all, just $4.49 for the bottle, which was cheaper than I'd expected for an independent company that also imports such rare spices as tonka beans and grains of paradise.

Toasting and grinding my own cumin was so worth it - on top of the usual smoky flavour there were some floral notes that I'd never smelled before.

Making the brown butter was also a neat experience - I was so worried about burning the butter, but I just kept it on low heat and let it turn a golden brown, releasing its rich, nutty scent into the kitchen.

The original recipe calls for yellow zucchini, which I bought up at the Farmer's Market despite being more expensive! Green zucchini is fine too, but I somehow thought a yellow soup would match better with the cumin and the butter.

The zucchini is boiled with some sautéed garlic and onions for flavour, and a couple potatoes to thicken things up a little. Since the soup has such few ingredients, a good (preferably homemade) broth would really make it come to its own, but I used regular store-bought stuff and it turned out fine. Light and silky, with just a touch of tang from the buttermilk - yummy!

I served this with a few slices of sourdough that I made from my starter, Eugene. Since then, Eugene has been living in B.'s fridge... drying up a little :S Once I get a new oven perhaps I will try reviving him.

Buttermilk Summer Squash Soup with Cumin Brown Butter
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Makes 10 servings
1 tsp (5 mL) cumin seeds
7 tbsp (105 mL) unsalted butter, divided
Sea salt
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 lb (454 g) potatoes, cut into ¼" cubes
2½ lb (1.1 kg) yellow zucchini, cut into ½" slices
~4 cups (1 L) vegetable stock
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk
1 bunch chives, chopped
In a skillet, over medium heat, toast the cumin seeds until they are fragrant. Just a minute or two. Use a mortar and pestle to pound the seeds into a fine powder. Alternately, you can use an electric spice grinder. Set aside. In the same skillet, melt ¼ cup (4 tbsp/60 mL) of butter and cook until it's brown and gives off a deliciously nutty aroma. Remove from heat, stir the cumin into the butter along with a generous couple pinches of salt, then set aside in a warm place. You want the butter to stay liquid until you're ready to use it.
To make the soup, heat the remaining 3 tbsp (45 mL) of butter in your largest pot or stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic, and a bit of salt. Sauté for a few minutes, or until the onions start to get translucent. Stir in the potatoes and squash and cook for another 7-10 minutes, or until the squash starts to soften up. Stir in enough stock to just barely cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, roughly 25 minutes. Remove the soup from heat, purée completely with a hand blender (or in batches in a blender or food processor), then stir in the buttermilk. If you need to thin the soup out with a bit more stock, you can do so. Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve each bowl topped with plenty of the cumin butter, and a sprinkling of chives.
Nutrition Info (per serving): 156 calories, 8 g fat (5 g saturated, 0 g trans), 22 mg cholesterol, 18 g carbohydrate (3 g fibre, 6 g sugar), 4 g protein, 454 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin K and potassium. A good source of folate (vitamin B₄), magnesium and manganese.

Calgary Food Events Calendar

2012-01-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

This is arguably not a "real" Chow Down in Cowtown because there is no review, but this could be the start of some future ones! B. picked up the latest issue of City Palate and entered some of the events we found interesting in a Google Calendar and he has been kind enough to let me share it with the world!

Check out the calendar here. If you have a Google Calendar or iCal or whatever, you can import the events into your personal calendar via this link.

We will be trying to keep it up to date with the latest food and wine (or beer... or liquor...) events around the city - please feel free to email me at vincci [at] calgaryisawesome [dot] com if there's an event you want to add on to the calendar!

Minnie Pearl's Grinder's Switch Chili

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

After my only-ok first attempt at making chili, I decided to turn to a recipe that's a little more tried and true. This recipe comes from B.'s mom's collection (We "borrowed" a bunch of her recipes to make her a cookbook for Christmas 2010.) I'm not sure if this recipe was Minnie Pearl's, but I do know that she did come out with a cookbook.

I particularly like it because it is *full* of fresh vegetables, which does make it better in the summer/early fall, when tomatoes and bell peppers are in season.

Some people may find eating chili when it's warm out a little strange, but you must remember that chili is the official dish of Texas, which doesn't get too cold by any stretch.

Definitely miscalculated when doubling the recipe here... it's not supposed to overflow like this!
Despite my love for the fresh veggies, I think the secret ingredient is the canned green chiles - yes, there's probably lots of sodium, but it does add a sort of smoky, pickly spiciness to the dish - you can find it next to the taco kits at your local supermarket.

The only changes I made to this recipe are the spices (I thought we could get a *little* more creative than just chili powder) and I'm a little more laissez-faire with the type of beans (the original recipe calls for pinto). You can do this recipe in the pot, or throw it in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours, or high for 5-6 hours.

Minnie Pearl's Grinder's Switch Chili
Adapted from KL
Makes 6-8 servings
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
2 lb (908 g) extra lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
6 medium tomatoes, chopped
6 jalapeño peppers, chopped
2 medium bell peppers, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup (60 mL) chili powder
2 teaspoons (10 mL) cayenne pepper, or more, to taste
1½ teaspoon (7 mL) cumin
1½ teaspoon (7 mL) oregano
1½ teaspoon (7 mL) basil
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 x 4 fl oz/127 mL cans green chiles
1 x 19 fl oz/540 mL can beans (any type), drained and rinsed
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook ground beef until no longer pink. Drain.
Add onion, tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, bell peppers and garlic and cook until tender. Stir in spices and green chiles. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring often.
Add in canned beans and simmer for on low for 3 hours. Serve hot.
Slow cooker variation: Brown beef and add all ingredients into slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 5-6 hours.

Nutrition Info (per ⅛ recipe): 350 calories, 13 g fat (5 g saturated, 0 g trans), 73 mg cholesterol, 26 g carbohydrate (9 g fibre, 5 g sugar), 30 g protein, 382 mg sodium. An excellent source of niacin (vitamin B₃), folate (vitamin B₄), vitamins B₆, B₁₂, C, E and K, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, manganese and selenium. A good source of vitamin A, thiamin (vitamin B₁), riboflavin (vitamin B₂), pantothenic acid (vitamin B₅) and copper.

Chana Masala

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

We are now into August of my blog catch-up adventure!

This post is a quickie as I didn't take many photos, and it's more of a reminder to myself that I should make this again than anything else.

Perhaps that's another reason why I didn't post very much in 2011 - it's much easier to make a recipe that you've already made (and not have to take any photos!) than trying a new recipe while documenting every step.

Anyway, in August I wrote a fad diet-themed newsletter for work and decided to try a recipe from the Dukan Diet, which was pretty hot then, especially since it was supposedly how Kate Middleton lost weight for the Royal Wedding! The recipe was easy enough and tasted ok, but it was bright pink! Not the most appetizing colour.

Since I am not following the Dukan Diet (or any diet, for that matter), and have no qualms about eating carbs, I picked up some whole wheat naan and also decided to whip up a quick side. Enter Chana Masala.

Chana is Hindi for chickpeas, while masala means a "mix of spices" in a few South Indian languages. Chana Masala is a chickpea-based dish that's known for being a little spicy, with a sour note, the latter thanks to the tomatoes in the recipe, as well as amchur/amchoor, or dried mango powder.

This recipe, adapted from Serious Eats, is a little less authentic - subbing a squeeze of [cheaper and easier to find] lemon juice in for the amchur. The long list of ingredients may be a little intimidating, but it's mostly spices that should already be in your pantry if you're making a lot of curries or Moroccan stews. While I originally served it as a side, I think it'd make for a hearty and nutritious vegetarian/vegan main. Chickpeas, like all other legumes, are an excellent source of protein, fibre and a host of vitamins and minerals, including folate, calcium, iron and zinc. This recipe also works in synergy - the vitamin C from the tomatoes and lemon juice helps you absorb the iron in the chickpeas! I recommend serving with some brown basmati rice or whole wheat naan, and a generous dollop of plain yogurt (or raita, if you're so inclined.) For the sodium-conscious, I really like the "No Salt Added" canned tomatoes and chickpeas from the President's Choice Blue Menu line.

Chana Masala
Adapted from Serious Eats
Makes 6 servings
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
2 medium onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp (10 mL) fresh ginger, grated
1 green chili pepper, de-seeded and minced
1 tbsp (15 mL) coriander
1 tbsp (15 mL) cumin
1 tsp (5 mL) turmeric
2 tsp (10 mL) paprika
1 tsp (5 mL) garam masala
1 x 19 fl oz/540 mL can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 x 19 fl oz/540 mL cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 lemon
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and green chili pepper and cook until deep golden brown, stirring often to avoid burning. Lower the heat and add the spices, stirring them into the oil. Cook for an additional minute until very fragrant, being careful not to burn the spices.
Add the tomatoes and water to deglaze the pan, then add the chickpeas. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the chickpeas are tender and the flavors have come together, 15-20 minutes. If needed, add water to get the right consistency. Add lemon juice to taste. Serve hot.
Nutrition Info (per serving): 278 calories, 7 g fat (1 g saturated, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol, 47 g carbohydrate (10 g fibre, 5 g sugar), 10 g protein, 618 mg sodium. An excellent source of folate (vitamin B₄), vitamin B₆, vitamin C, iron, magnesium, potassium and manganese. A good source of vitamin E, phosphorus, zinc and copper.

Slow-Cooked (or Oven-Braised) Pulled Beef on a Bun

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

This is a recipe that B. and I made twice (!) this summer.

The first time, we used a chuck roast we had in our freezer from the failed Beef in Barolo experiment of New Year's Eve 2010, Cattle Boyz BBQ Sauce and did it in the slow cooker. The meat was super-moist and tender, but the sauce was too watery (very much unlike the dark, molasses-like sauce in Julie's photos).

The second time, we used an eye of round roast (as per the recipe), tried some Presidents' Choice Smokin' Stampede BBQ Sauce and did it in the oven. The sauce cooked down to almost nothing and the meat was so tough in some parts it tasted like jerky. We liked the flavour better though. Perhaps next time we won't change so many variables...

I would definitely re-attempt this recipe again, if only to get the sauce thing right. It's super-easy. All you have to do is slice up some onions, crush a few cloves of garlic, brown the roast, then toss it all together in a slow cooker (or a dutch oven) with some beef broth, your favourite barbecue sauce, then some brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and grainy mustard to amp the flavours up a little. Of course, if you are conscious of the amount of sodium in your diet, choose a low-sodium beef broth and BBQ sauce, and you can replace some of the broth with water too. And if you're calorie-conscious, the eye of round is probably the leanest of the recommended roasts for this recipe.

Once it's braised for about 6 hours, take two forks and pull the meat apart in the sauce. So yummy served on top of whole wheat buns, along with some of the caramelized onions in the sauce that have soaked up all the flavour. (And of course, a big scoop of the sauce - if it's thick enough - wouldn't hurt either!)

Yum... time to bring out the slow cooker again, I think!

Slow-Cooked (or Oven-Braised) Pulled Beef on a Bun
Adapted from Eric Akis via Dinner with Julie
Makes ~10 servings (depending on the size of your roast)
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil, for cooking
1 eye of round, top round or chuck roast
2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
1½ cups (375 mL) barbecue sauce
1½ cups (375 mL) beef broth
2 tbsp (30 mL) brown sugar
2 tbsp (30 mL) balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp (30 mL) grainy mustard
a few (we used 4) cloves garlic, crushed
In a heavy skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown the roast on all sides.
Meanwhile, toss everything else together in a slow cooker or ovenproof casserole. (Tip: Measure out the BBQ sauce first then use the beef broth to get any BBQ sauce stuck on the side of your measuring cup.) Top with the browned meat.
Cover and cook on low (in the slow cooker) for 6-8 hours, or cover and bake at 275˚F-300˚F for 6ish hours.
When the beef is ready, pull the meat apart using two forks. Serve on soft, whole wheat buns.
Nutrition Info (per serving, with bun): 435 calories, 12 g fat (4 g saturated, 0 g trans), 91 mg cholesterol, 39 g carbohydrate (3 g fibre, 17 g sugar), 36 g protein, 726 mg sodium. An excellent source of niacin (vitamin B₃), vitamin B₆, vitamin B₁₂, iron, zinc, manganese and selenium. A good source of thiamin (vitamin B₁), riboflavin (vitamin B₂), magnesium, phosphorus, potassium.

2012 Resolutions

2012-01-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm sharing my New Year's Resolutions on the blog for a third year! That's a feat in and of itself. I think my work here is done.

KIDDING!

In 2011, I invested my money, won a kickboxing fight, appeared on Breakfast TV (three times - though the first time was not posted on the Internet for all of eternity *phew*) and in Calgary's Child magazine, said "No" to Pub Golf and had commitment-free weekends every month (though many times it was not on purpose!)

I also read six books, have tried at least one recipe from all (but one!) of the cookbooks I own and drink at least 1 L of water every day I'm at work.

I still only sleep about six hours a night and had to give up on blogging more, let alone start a new creative/reflective project, but that's ok.

I was originally planning to write this lengthy, reflective "year in review" like I did last year, but I just read the post again and a lot of the stuff that I wrote about goal setting and New Year's resolutions still holds true. So if you are making your own resolutions, I think it's a pretty good read (if I do say so myself!)

Now onto the goals - this year I actually listened to my own advice and kept the list short!

Clear my plate
Don't worry, I'm not going to join the Clean Plate Club! I meant this plate:

This is what a typical weekday looks like. Most days I spend about 12 hours away from home, commuting to work, being at work, then going to kickboxing straight after. Add on the usual home stuff (I'm lucky Mama T cooks dinner for me!) and I'm left with the magical turquoise wedge of about 3-4 hours a day of "Me" time (less if I'm actually getting enough sleep! The graph is based on only 6 hours), which is sometimes taken over by the work I do from home (don't get me wrong, I love it, but it takes my time away) or just by plain brain-dead, sleepiness - no wonder I didn't blog as much this year!

It's funny how at the end of last year I was fretting about having one job with no guaranteed hours and two contracts from home. Of course that job with no guaranteed hours has turned into a 0.9 FTE (hooray for my "paydays off"!) and of course I've filled all other free time I have with kickboxing. Last year, kickboxing only took up two hours a week of my time... then up to three, possibly four hours a week when I started competing in around November. Then in the summer my instructor asked us to come to class (twice a week) an hour earlier so that we could go for a run - another two hours. I've cut back over the holidays, but before, there were some weeks where I spent eight hours a week at the gym! It's hard to cut back though because I think I would like to keep competing, but if I want to compete even more, it would mean even more time training (one of the girls I train with took time off work to train for a fight!) Some people would say that it would be an easy choice between kickboxing and say, this blog, especially since I probably have so many years (if that) left where I can fight, whereas I can pick this blog back up again whenever I want. But I must admit training feels more like work than blogging, so it's a tough choice!

I have given myself a head start on this resolution though - I recently dropped one of the aforementioned contracts. It didn't take up a lot of actual time, but it felt like a chore every time I did it, whereas even though everything else in my life takes up way more time, I enjoy every moment of it. It's going to be a battle!

Be a tourist in my own city
When B. and I were in NYC for my birthday, we did *so* much - we ate at lots of different restaurants (including the very cool wd~50, though I would say Xi'an Famous Foods was the most memorable restaurant for me), saw a Broadway show and went to all these touristy sites.

Why don't we do that in Calgary?

There are so many restaurants (and food trucks!) here that I have yet to try, let alone the touristy stuff of going to the theatre, going to concerts, doing the zipline at COP, strolling around in Inglewood and Kensington, etc.

I got a headstart on this resolution too - last night we checked out Zoo Year's Eve, which included Zoolights and fireworks!

I also have a few things lined up already! On Friday we're going to High Performance Rodeo's 10-Minute Play Festival (for the third time!) and next Thursday, my friend Kristi and I are going to check out Adults Only Night at the new Telus Spark! Mama T also got B. and I a gift certificate to Rush that I'm super-pumped to cash in! Maybe on Valentine's Day?

Drink at least 1 L of water on non-work days
Thanks to my CamelBak (that sadly, does not fit in the cup holders in my car), I am now pretty consistent in drinking at least 1 L of water a day, and more when I'm at the gym. But for some reason I don't have my CamelBak by my side on my days off! So to try to drink more water all the time, I'm going to try to have my CamelBak with me at all times and keep better track of the fluids I do drink when I'm not at work.

Get at least 7.5 hours of sleep per night (i.e. 10:30-11 PM bedtime)
Boo. You again. I've been working on this goal for two years and still haven't made much improvement. I think I need to take a page from my own advice and try to break this goal down into smaller steps. For January my goal is to simply get back to tracking on a calendar - that way I'll be able to see where I'm at, and maybe (just maybe!) the Hawthorne Effect will kick in a little.

Add more to this list!
I know it's better to keep things short, but I hope that I will be able to progress enough on these goals throughout the year that I'll be comfortable adding other things to this list. Let's see how it goes!

Happy 2012!

Jelly Modern Doughnuts

2012-01-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a restful holiday and are ready for another year of eating with me!

Just before 2011 came to a close, my friend Yen Yi and I decided to finally make our way down to Jelly Modern Doughnuts. We were greeted by a bright, modern, white and pink space, accented with bamboo. Their Christmas decorations - including a giant pink-and-white "gingerbread" house - were still up, but because they kept with the colour scheme of the shop, it made the whole café seem more fun and whimsical, rather than weighed down and kitschy. And of course there was the centrepiece, the giant glass case of doughnuts.

The case housed some of their well-known favourites, like the Maple Bacon and Classic Jelly (though I was a little disappointed that they were out of Carrot Cake!), plus some cute red-and-white doughnuts made just for the World Junior Hockey championships.

Yen Yi, who is super-organized, already came with a plan of attack - she would get two of the 3-bite doughnuts ($1.95 each) so we could share and taste more flavours. I decided to follow suit, plus grabbed an extra Maple Bacon ($2.25 for a regular size) to take home to B. Yen Yi chose the Coconut and Skor Bar doughnuts (the latter as recommended by the girl behind the counter) while I went for Nenshi's Salted Caramel and Peppermint Chocolate (the December Doughnut of the Month).

I loved the eco-friendly wooden utensils and platters - not only does it show Jelly Modern's commitment to the environment, it also goes very well with the decor ;)

A few quick photos, then it came time to eat and chat. First, we sampled the Coconut:

Even with this first doughnut it was obvious why people love Jelly Modern - their doughnuts are not too sweet and they are pillowy soft. I loved the contrast in texture from the shredded coconut and the coconut creme in the doughnut hole was not too sweet, and nice and thick, so as not to be messy to eat.

Next up - the Skor Bar:

One of the great things about Jelly Modern's delicate doughnut base is that it really highlights the individual flavours/toppings (which, by the way are often made in-house with local and/or organic ingredients). The Skor Bar is a great example of this; you can really taste the creaminess of the milk chocolate ganache, while the house-made Skor pieces gave just a nice punch of sweetness without being overwhelming. Another awesome thing about the Jelly Modern Skor pieces is that they don't stick to your teeth like the real ones!

The Peppermint Chocolate doughnut was super-cute with the Christmas sprinkles on top. I was looking for them when I was making gingerbread cookies, but couldn't find them. Clearly was not looking hard enough.

Anyway...

I liked the darker chocolate on this doughnut compared to the milk chocolate on the Skor Bar. I also liked how the peppermint and chocolate tasted separate - no weird minty chocolate here!

Last but not least, Nenshi's Salted Caramel:

I really liked the maple-y, buttery caramel flavour of this one, and they weren't shy about the salt! I am a fan of sweet-savoury things (like kettle corn) so I enjoyed this, but could see some people not liking this.

Yen Yi and I chatted for nearly two hours before it was closing time (holiday hours) and went our separate ways. Later that night, after some "bibimbap" for dinner, B. and I dug into our Maple Bacon doughnut.

This was actually the only doughnut I didn't really like. The bacon bits just didn't do it for me, though I loved that hint of smokiness in the maple glaze. I get that the bacon bits are what make it Maple Bacon, but I'd probably end up picking them off if I were to eat this doughnut again!

Overall, I enjoyed the doughnuts from Jelly Modern, but out of all the flavours I tasted there wasn't one that really stood out as a favourite. After reading some reviews and chatting with friends, I was expecting the doughnuts to be HUGE, but they weren't intimidating. In retrospect though, I would guess that the three-bite doughnuts were at most just a touch smaller than a regular doughnut elsewhere, if at all, and the regular doughnuts are just less than double the size of the three-bite ones. Yen Yi and I polished off our two minis each with ease, however, probably because they aren't sickeningly sweet! (How tricky!) I think I would definitely spring for a three-bite doughnut tray (16 for $24.95, tray and tongs included) for my next party (but the full-sized ones would still involve some cutting and sharing.)

Now, this is totally unrelated to the review but I just wanted to get on my soapbox after browsing through their Q&A:

Does Jelly offer any gluten-free, vegan or sugar free doughnuts?
We offer a Gluten free option on Wednesdays. Please note though that the Gluten free doughnuts have come into contact with Gluten and should not be consumed if you have a Gluten allergy that is affected by products being in contact with Gluten.

I was somewhat offended by this statement. I don't eat gluten-free, but I know people who have celiac disease, and to them this would be a total slap in the face. What is the point of making a "gluten-free" option if it's going to be cross-contaminated anyway? Instead of treating celiac disease and other gluten sensitivities as the serious conditions that they are, Jelly Modern has essentially stated that gluten-free is just some fad diet and they're jumping on the bandwagon. If they'd done their research properly, they would've known to lump the answer to that question in with their "nut allergy" one - No, sorry. Jelly Modern Doughnuts is NOT a nut-free, gluten-free, vegan or sugar-free kitchen. (Now there's a business opportunity...) [/end soapbox]

I think I will definitely choose Jelly Modern over a cupcake place any day, and will definitely be back to try one of those cake doughnuts that everyone is raving about. But not today... because they are closed. They will be open again on the 3rd! Hope to see you there soon!

Jelly Modern Doughnuts
100-1414 8 St SW
Calgary AB T2R 1J6
(403) 453-2053
Open Mon-Fri 7 AM-7 PM; Sat 8 AM-6 PM; Sun 9 AM-5 PM. Parking behind building plus street parking on 14 & 15 Aves. Holiday hours in effect until January 7. (Check website!)

2011 Goals Check-Up: November/December

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Yay! Birthday dinner at Hill Country BBQ in NYC

These past two months have been busy, so this "check up" combines them -

7.5+ hours of sleep per night - Overall I continue to be horrible at doing this, if not getting a little worse - I still average about 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I think I need to start breaking it down, half hour by half hour, trying to get myself earlier to bed every night. I force myself to be "accountable" by texting B. every night when I go to bed, but really it gives me a false sense of goodness because B. always goes to bed later than me *hehe*

Drink at least 1 L (one water bottle) of water per day - I continue to be good at finishing my water bottle at work, but horrible at drinking enough water when I'm not at work, so I think I will focus on drinking enough on weekends in the new year.

Read at least 12 books this year - I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest(my sixth book!) while in New York, but haven't started on a new one yet :( Short of my goal, but I'd like to believe that I read more this year than I did last year. For the New Year, my sister got me The Song of Ice & Fire boxed setfor Christmas, and I'm on deck to borrow The Hunger Games Trilogy Box Setfrom her too :)

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight - I finally did this! I won two fights at a "continuous" event (a tournament for amateurs where people are expected to not fight at full power in short, 1-2 round fights.)

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own - I made a zippy Ginger, Carrot and Yam Soup from Cooking VegetarianI was hoping to slip in a recipe from Italian Easybefore the end of the year, but no dice, and I have yet to cook from the books I have already cooked from, just not this year.

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money - So far I've made $166 on my investments, which is pretty good considering I usually made under $30 a month on interest, so I would consider this a success! I still have to transfer my chequing account over though...

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments - As noted above, we went to NYC for six days for my birthday, which was a lot of fun (and a lot of food), and then Christmas has been pretty commitment-free, minus the dinners and the occasional feelings of guilt...

Rewards
To reward myself for winning my first fight I have been taking it easy in terms of training this whole month, but I should be kicking things back into gear for January! And to reward myself for a good year all around, I'm going to go shopping (I've missed boxing week sales, I know), knock a few things off my wishlist and spend some gift cards! Come back for my 2012 New Year's Resolutions tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas from the gingerbread beach bums!

My brother said that my sister and I make the best gingerbread cookies ever! What more can a girl ask for?

Gingerbread Cake

2011-12-24T13:53:00.001-07:00

This holiday season, I've been quite surprised by the number of people who don't like gingerbread. I guess the spicy, peppery taste of ginger or the licorice-y, almost medicinal taste of molasses might be a bit of an acquired taste, but you would think that more people would appreciate something that only really comes around once a year.

I, on the other hand, am a huge fan of gingerbread and have been meaning to try my hand at gingerbread (not cookies) ever since I saw Lara Ferroni's decadent-looking chocolate gingerbread recipe. I decided to make some for a holiday brunch potluck, but thought the chocolate gingerbread required a few too many ingredients I didn't have available. I browsed through a few of my favourite blogs and finally settled on Cheryl's recipe, which comes from her sister-in-law's mother.

The recipe is uncomplicated and comes together very quickly. The result is a moist cake (with an almost-gooey top layer) rich with molasses flavour and scented with gingerbread spice.

Cheryl's family likes the cake with Bird's Custard sauce or cream cheese frosting, while Cheryl likes it with maple butter. I think a simple dusting of icing sugar works great - since B. doesn't have a sieve, I ended up using a small grater :)

Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Cake
Adapted from Backseat Gourmet
Makes 1 8" x 8" cake
½ cup/4 oz (125 mL/227 g) butter
⅔ cup (170 mL) brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 cup (250 mL) molasses
2½ cups (625 mL) flour (I'm working on experimenting with some whole wheat)
½ tsp (2 mL) salt
1½ tsp (7 mL) baking soda
1 tsp (5 mL) ground ginger
1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon
¼ tsp (1 mL) cloves
1 cup hot (not boiling) water
Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Grease an 8" x 8" baking pan.
Cream shortening/butter. Gradually add the sugar, then the egg. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and mix until just blended.
In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. Add to the batter, ½ cup (125 mL) at a time, alternating with ¼ cup (60 mL) water. Beat until smooth after each addition. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
Nutrition Info (per 2" x 2" piece): 223 calories, 6 g fat (4 g saturated, 0 g trans), 26 mg cholesterol, 40 g carbohydrate (1 g fibre, 21 g sugar), 3 g protein, 256 mg sodium. An excellent source of manganese. A good source of folate (vitamin B₄), magnesium and selenium.

Laab Moo/Larb Mu - Thai Ground Pork Salad (ลาบหมู)

2011-12-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

I don't remember how B. caught onto the idea that he wanted to make "laab moo" or "larb mu" - a Thai ground pork "salad".

I had a Thai friend who once told me that in Thai cooking, each dish should include all the basic tastes - sweet, savoury, sour, spicy... and potentially bitter and umami too. This lump of ground pork may look very simple, but it is flavoured with sugar (sweet), fish sauce (savoury/umami), lime (sour) and chili pepper (spicy), plus the unique aromas of shallots, green onions, galangal, mint, cilantro and kaffir lime leaves.

Another "key" ingredient in this is the toasted sticky rice powder (kao kua). I haven't been able to find it anywhere, but one of the recipes that we used (from Appetite for China) had instructions on how to make it.

This failed miserably for us. Toasting the rice was easy enough, but then we put the rice through a little spice grinder that we have and the grains came out very coarse and hard, instead of powder-like, so we omitted it from the recipe, and it still worked for us. Since then, I've read elsewhere that this ingredient is *essential* - I'm assuming it would add nuttiness and depth so I think next time I'll try a mortar and pestle or a food processor.

We used two recipes - B. originally found this recipe, but we ended up going more with the one from Appetite for China because we preferred to pan-fry the pork instead of boiling it and the ingredients were easier to find, though we did still keep in the galangal and kaffir lime leaves, which each lend their very distinctive flavours. Galangal is like a milder, sweeter ginger, while the kaffir lime leaves perfume the dish with a lemongrass-like scent. You have to cut them very small though, as they have a rubbery texture and are difficult to chew!

This recipe doubles very easily, which you will want to do because it is *so* flavourful and delicious (and because galangal and kaffir lime leaves don't usually come in such tiny portions). We served it with sticky rice, which B. made using the "microwave method".

Laab Moo/Larb Mu
Adapted from Appetite for China/Isan Cooking School
Makes 4 servings
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1 lb (454 g) ground pork
3 tbsp (45 mL) toasted rice powder
1 tbsp (15 mL) fish sauce
Juice from 1 lime
1 tsp (5 mL) chili powder, or 1-2 tsp (5-10 mL) chili sauce
1 tsp (5 mL) sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) galangal, chopped finely
1 shallot, finely sliced
2 green onions, chopped
½ cup (125 mL) cilantro, chopped
½ cup (125 mL) mint, chopped
1 tsp kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced
Lettuce and/or lime wedges for serving (optional)
Heat the cooking oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Cook the pork for 3 to 4 minutes, breaking up larger clumps with a spatula, until no trace of pink remains. Set aside to cool.
Once the pork has cooled for at least 5 minutes, stir in the toasted rice powder (if using), fish sauce, lime juice and chili powder (or sauce). Add freshly ground pepper to taste. Toss the pork with galangal, shallots, green onions, cilantro, mint and kaffir lime leaves.
Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over the salad, if desired, and lettuce leaves for wrapping. Also great alone on top of white rice or sticky rice.
Nutrition Info (per serving): 324 calories, 21 g fat (8 g saturated, 0 g trans), 65 mg cholesterol, 10 g carbohydrate (1 g fibre, 2 g sugar), 19 g protein, 432 mg sodium. An excellent source of thiamin (vitamin B₁), vitamin B₁₂, vitamin K, zinc and selenium. A good source of riboflavin (vitamin B₂), niacin (vitamin B₃), magnesium, phosphorus and potassium.

Blackfoot Diner

2011-12-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

The Blackfoot Truck Stop is one of those Calgary "landmarks". Like Peter's Drive-In, it's one of those one-of-a-kind places (in the city, at least) that you must visit just once just to say you've been there...

The 24-hour diner definitely plays up its "truck stop" identity - the walls are covered with kitschy, retro memorabilia, there is a jukebox in the corner and even the fabric on the chairs are covered with highway motifs. If you're lucky, your booth might even have a phone booth in it! The menu is long, featuring everything from greasy breakfasts to hearty soups and sandwiches to sky-high pies. The crowd is diverse as well, from little old ladies who have probably been meeting once a week for coffee for years, to younger folks rolling in at 1 PM, trying to cure a hangover.

B. and I stopped in on a weekend for brunch. After hemming and hawing through all the choices, I finally decided on a special on the board that caught my eye - mini farm sausage with two eggs any style (poached for me), hash browns and toast.

I was a little disappointed that my poached eggs appeared to be of the poaching cup variety, and were poached a little too hard to boot. The farm sausage was flavourful, though a little tough. The hash browns were greasy and a little bland. I think the buttery toast was the best part.

B. ordered pancakes with two eggs any style (over easy), three sausages (versus bacon or ham), hash browns and toast.

His pancakes were nice and fluffy, soaking up the syrup that we poured on top. I preferred his sausages over mine - they were traditional breakfast sausages that were full of flavour, and brought back many memories of my childhood!

Of course, the best part of Blackfoot Diner is the friendly, small-town ambiance and the waitresses who call you "darling" without a shred of irony. While I don't think I'll be back for brunch, I think I have to try their pie before I pass final judgement, or at least slip in for some wee morning hour eats.

Blackfoot Diner
1840 9 Ave SE
Calgary AB T2G 0T8
(403) 265-5964
Open 24/7. Ample parking available.

Grilled Tofu and Sautéed Asian Greens & Grilled Eggplant

2011-12-17T23:46:00.000-07:00

I think it's pretty awesome that I have a boyfriend who likes tofu... and eggplant for that matter. Let's rewind to sunny July for a moment, shall we?

One of B.'s goals this year was to get a few more uses out of his BBQ after we only used it maybe once or twice last year. I would say we didn't use it as much as we liked (partly due to a less-than-optimal summer), but we did cook quite a few things this year - Korean short ribs, sausages (mostly Missing Link and those tasty Thai sausages from Kingsland Farmers' Market, burgers... B. even made Bobby Flay's Grilled Potato Salad, minus the blue cheese (because I think it's disgusting).

B. and I have made other tofu dishes before, and he likes it partly because it's a protein that doesn't spoil as easily as meat. Eggplant, on the other hand, was something that we hadn't tackled, but we love ordering it at Asian restaurants - our favourite in the city is probably the sweet, spicy, garlicky Eggplant with Ground Pork in Sweet and Spicy Chili Sauce from Szechuan Restaurant, and we had a dreamy braised eggplant at Da Dong Peking Duck Restaurant in Beijing during our trip to China earlier this year.

Anyway...

B. found the recipe for Grilled Tofu and Sautéed Asian Greens on Epicurious, while I found the Grilled Eggplant recipe from local food blogger Bonnie's website, Scrumptiously Fit Food. Both have Asian, soy sauce-based marinades and are total sodium bombs, offering 51% and 89% of the recommended daily upper level of intake of sodium, respectively. So they are best if saved as "sometimes" foods, and I would suggest using any remaining marinade as a sauce sparingly. Both recipes would work well on grill pans on medium-high on the stove, or George Foremans during these cooler climes.

B. did all the cooking.

The tofu was my favourite of the two dishes. I love the texture of grilled tofu, and I liked the nutty flavour of sesame oil, plus the hint of spiciness from the chili flakes. For our "Asian greens" we chose pea leaves (豆苗), another vegetable that I love at restaurants, but haven't prepared at home. I'm not sure if they were out of season or if we didn't prep them properly, but they came out a little tough and stringy. Next time we'll just stick to the spinach, I think.

Compared to the tofu, the eggplant had a saltier, fishier flavour thanks to the addition of fish sauce and oyster sauce. We didn't use the lime wedges and it was still very flavourful. However, we undercooked the eggplant a little bit - it still had a bite instead of the melty softness I'm used to at restaurants. I think I'll give it a little more time on the grill next time, or maybe just stick to having someone else make it!

Grilled Tofu & Sautéed Asian Greens
Adapted from Epicurious
Makes 2 servings
14 oz (397 g) firm tofu, drained
¼ cup (60 mL) low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp (5 mL) sesame oil
1½ tsp (7 mL) brown sugar, packed
1½ tsp (7 mL) ginger, peeled, finely grated
1 small garlic clove, minced
¼ tsp (1 mL) Tabasco sauce, or red pepper flakes
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp (20 mL) vegetable oil, divided
10 oz (283 g) Asian greens or baby spinach
Cut tofu crosswise into 6 slices. Arrange in 1 layer on a triple layer of paper towels and top with another triple layer of towels. Weight with a shallow baking pan or baking sheet and let stand 2 minutes. Repeat weighting with dry paper towels 2 more times.
Stir together soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, Tabasco, and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a glass pie plate. Add tofu slices in 1 layer and marinate, turning over every couple of minutes, 8 minutes total.
Turn grill on to medium-high heat and brush with oil. Lift tofu from marinade with tongs or slotted spatula (reserve marinade) and grill, turning over once carefully, until grill marks appear and tofu is heated through, 4 to 6 minutes total.
While tofu grills, heat remaining teaspoon vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté greens, tossing with tongs, until beginning to wilt. Add reserved marinade and sauté, tossing, until greens are just wilted, about 1 minute. Lift greens from skillet with tongs, letting excess marinade drip off, and divide between 2 plates. Serve greens with tofu slices.
Nutrition Info (per serving): 327 calories, 21 g fat (2 g saturated, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol, 12 g carbohydrate (3 g fibre, 5 g sugar), 25 g protein, 1177 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin A, folate (vitamin B₄), vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, iron, magnesium, potassium and manganese. A good source of riboflavin (vitamin B₂) and vitamin B₆.

Grilled Eggplant
Adapted from Scrumptiously Fit Food
Makes 4 servings
¼ cup (60 mL) light soy sauce
¼ cup (60 mL) oyster sauce
2 tbsp (30 mL) dark soy sauce
2 tbsp (30 mL) fish sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) brown sugar
8 cloves garlic, minced (less if you’re not a big garlic fan)
2 tbsp (30 mL) cooking wine
2-3 tablespoons (30-45 mL) Sriracha sauce, or other chili sauce, to taste
1 eggplant, sliced lengthwise
Lime wedges (optional)
Make marinade by combining all ingredients except eggplant and lime wedges in a baking dish or zipper storage bag.
Place eggplant slices in marinade, ensuring that they are well-coated. Let marinade for 30-60 minutes.
Turn grill on to medium-high heat and brush with oil. Place eggplant slices on grill, reserving marinade. Turn slices over after 5 minutes and baste with remaining sauce. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until eggplant is soft and cooked through.
Serve with lime wedges, if desired.

Nutrition Info (per serving): 87 calories, 0.4 g fat (0.1 g saturated, 0 g trans), 19 g carbohydrate (5 g fibre, 8 g sugar), 4 g protein, 2053 mg sodium. An excellent source of potassium and manganese. A good source of folate (vitamin B₄) and magnesium.

Club Club & Booze Booze

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Hey, remember that cookbook launch and epic potluck I told you about a couple months ago? It was epic and I hope you went.

If not, recreate your own potluck by buying the cookbook! There are only a few copies left, and the girls aren't planning a reprint, so run over to these locations and get your hot little hands on one now!

Of course, the Club Club girls already have another project up their sleeve. It's called Booze Booze, and it's a community cocktail cookbook. Submit up to three *original* drink recipes to club club [at] hotmail [dot] com by January of next year, and the book is set to hit the streets in the spring! I am totally uncreative when it comes to booze, so I'm looking forward to this one... and the epic (drunken) potluck that will probably come with it!

2011 Goals Check-Up: October

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's getting cold out there...

It's November! The month that Canadians seem to forget as after Halloween people fast forward to Christmas. I'm slightly jealous that Americans have Thanksgiving to keep all the holiday "cheer" at bay. Of course, I would never forget about November because it's my birth month! Here is my monthly check-up of goals I should be working on:

7.5 hours of sleep per night - I continue to fail at this and I have no excuse other than a sheer lack of self discipline. I've gotten into the bad habit of telling myself that the goal is to "get to bed before midnight" and "get to bed earlier than you did the previous night" and that is helping a little, but I'm still tired most days. :S

Drink at least 1 L (one water bottle) of water per day - On most days I usually have a cup or so leftover in my water bottle, and I've been bad about drinking from my water bottle on my weekends. However, there are some other days where I drink more than 1 L... work in progress!

Read at least 12 books this year - This technically happened in November, but I finished The Power of Social Networking (My fifth book this year!) Next up: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight - There were no fights this month and for some reason I feel myself becoming increasingly lazy! Don't think I will achieve this goal by the end of the year, but we'll see.

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own - According to my photos, apparently the only things I cooked this month were Thanksgiving dinner (based on Thanksgiving dinners of years past), Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Maple Spiced Pecans and chicken soup for the November newsletter at work. I still have two cookbooksto cook from, plus four more thatI've cooked from before, but not this year.

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money - Again, this happened in November, but I finally met up with my bank and invested in some mutual funds! Also, the meeting has convinced me to move all of my banking back to one bank (thanks to having an account since I was a young child and having been upgraded by my parents), which will happen later on in November.

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments - Thanksgiving long weekend was kind of like this as I did get some blogging done, and it was pretty amusing having the family (my siblings, my brother's girlfriend, B.) around watching Chopped! together :)

Rewards
To reward myself for finishing a book, I'm buying another book, and to reward myself for my [could-be] hard[er] work that I've been doing with training B. and I are going to NYC for my birthday! Hoping this will help meet some of my other goals, like setting aside time every month without commitments, time to read and getting more sleep.

Manuel Latruwe

2011-11-06T16:10:00.001-07:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

I recently reconnected with someone I met at a conference two years ago who recently moved to Calgary. Yen Yi had been reading my blog and making some of the recipes (!) and wanted to meet and find out more about the local food scene. She mentioned that she liked pastries, so I suggested Manuel Latruwe, a Belgian patisserie on McLeod Trail that I had always been meaning to try.

Upon entering the cozy shop - named for its eponymous Belgian-born owner and head patissier - we were greeted by rows and rows of elaborate-looking pastries behind the glass counter, with shelves of golden-crusted fresh-baked breads overlooking the scene. In addition to its sweet treats, Manuel Latruwe also offers savoury sandwiches, soups and quiches. We arrived at around 2 PM last Saturday, therefore just missing lunch, and the shelves were starting to dwindle as regulars came in for their weekly loaves and business began to wind down for the day.

Yen Yi had already eaten lunch before, so she settled for a coffee and a Merveilleux ($6.50), which had whipped cream sandwiched between two layers of meringue and coated with chocolate shavings.

The Merveilleux (prounounced "Mair-vay-euh", not "mervelloo", for you non-French speakers) was creamy throughout, but not too sweet and not too rich. The meringue was so cold it reminded us a bit of ice cream. Yen Yi was impressed by the little flecks of vanilla bean throughout, but wished that the cream was a little smoother.

I had just come from the gym, so decided to get something savoury as well as a small dessert (I was in a patisserie, after all.) Since there were no more ham and cheese croissants (again, end of the day!), I grabbed a spinach and tomato quiche ($11.50 for a small), a lemon tart ($6.50) and a pot of Earl Grey.

I really enjoyed the quiche - the flavours were very mild, the egg was soft and the crust was light and flaky. I hadn't planned to eat it all, but I did. The lemon tart was a great little treat - I loved the texture of the shortcrust, the soft, caramelized, marshmallowy meringue and the thin wedge of chocolate on top. I think I would've preferred the lemon custard to have a little more zing, and that my pot of Earl Grey would've lasted a little longer! We ended up chatting for two hours, and was thankful that we never felt rushed to leave the store.

I was naive in not expecting it to be so pricey - I ended up paying a total of $24.50! Because of this, unfortunately Manuel Latruwe probably won't be on my regular rotation of places to go, but I will keep it in mind when I'm looking for something a little more special!

Manuel Latruwe
1333 1 St SE
Calgary AB T2G 5L1
(403) 261-1092
Open Tues-Wed 7:30 AM-5 PM; Thu-Fri 7:30 AM-6 PM; Sat 7:30 AM-5 PM. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Parking available.

Interactive Mondays @ Casel Marché

2011-10-16T17:33:00.001-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

I often drive by Casel, the months-old condo development towering over 17th Ave and 24 St, on my way to work. I'd heard fantastic things about Cassis Bistro, the restaurant that is part of the bigger Casel Marché on the main floor of the building, which includes Market 17, Vie Café and J. Webb Wine Merchant.

Despite all the buzz and me not living too far away, I had never been to Casel Marché, so I was really excited when I heard that I'd won two spots to their first ever Interactive Monday night.

The 10 of us lucky folks met at J. Webb Wine Merchant, where owner Janet Webb kicked off the evening with a round of Val d'Oca Punta Rosa ($19.95), which was light and bubbly with a hint of fruity sweetness. We were then introduced to our host for the evening - Joel Goralski, president of Niklas Group, the developers behind Casel. Joel spoke briefly about being inspired by the pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods in Europe for the Casel Marché concept, and noted that he hoped to bring similar principles to his future developments. Since Cassis Bistro is closed on Mondays, Joel and his wife Jillian, also of Niklas Group, were our chefs for the evening, whipping up a few quick and simple weeknight dishes. Janet took the task of pairing the dishes with some affordable Italian wines from her store.

We familiarized ourselves with Market 17 by "shopping" for the recipe's ingredients. Because of the small space, Market 17 manager Alan has to be really choosy with what goes on the shelves, which are dominated by organic and gourmet products, mainly from smaller producers. After our brief "tour", we sat down to our meal, where the table was already set with baskets of Aviv Fried's Sidewalk Citizen bread, cubes of Old Amsterdam and Manchego (?) cheese and ramekins of olives.

Despite being so well known across the city, I had yet to try Aviv's bread, so it was a definite treat - the crisp crust gave way to a moist, chewy centre, and I ate slice after slice. I enjoyed the choice of cheeses as well; although they were hard cheeses, there was a bit of a creaminess to them, with a hint of nutty flavour. Of course, I didn't touch the olives.

Our first course was a salad of sliced tomato with chopped basil and chunks of buffalo mozzarella, dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

I loved the creamy and mild buffalo mozzarella paired with the sweet-tart tomatoes, peppery olive oil and aromatic basil. This simple dish definitely whet my appetite for more.

Our second appetizer was a small plate of Rising Moon Organics Wild Chanterelle Mushroom Ravioli with shaved parmesan and a drizzle of truffle oil on top. Janet paired this with Librandi Cirò Rosato, which at $16.95 per bottle is a total steal.

The ravioli was really good. Despite being frozen, it still had an al dente texture, and the truffle oil really brought out the mushroom flavour. A few of us hadn't tried truffle oil before, so Joel was kind enough to pass the bottle of it around for us to see and taste a bit by itself - a little goes a long way! The Cirò Rosato was a great wine - it was deceptively fruity and berry on the nose, but turned out to be very full-bodied for a rosé.

Our main course was rotini served with a sauce made with Simply Natural Organics Vodka Cream Sauce and Sunworks Farm chicken chorizo. This was served with a Red Leaf Lettuce & Cucumber Salad dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Janet paired this with Taurino Salice Salentino ($17.95), a dry but flowery red wine that went well with the chicken and tomato.

I really liked this hearty pasta dish - again, the pasta was cooked just al dente, and I liked the spiciness that the chicken chorizo added to the sauce.

For dessert, we were served a couple of chocolatey treats from Urban Baker, available at Casel Marché's Vie Café - Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars and Chocolate Bombs. This was served with Marcarini Moscato d'Asti, a very light (only 5% alcohol!) dessert wine.

Both were super-decadent and delicious - the creamy, savoury peanut butter married well with the sweet, chewy nanaimo bar in the former, and the chocolate bomb was so rich and chocolatey; we were lucky that it had been pre-cut into pieces for us! A whole one is only $6 at Vie Café... The wine tasted like a slightly drier sparkling grape juice, making it very easy to drink, and really brought out the creaminess and sweetness of the chocolate desserts.

As a mostly from-scratch cook myself, I was impressed that a meal made mostly with pre-prepared ingredients could taste almost gourmet. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't an "instructed cooking class" as advertised, but who can complain about a free meal? My favourite part was how the entire meal was served family-style - it really encouraged everyone to chat, especially about the things that Casel Marché prides itself upon - food, wine and building communities and neighbourhoods.

If you are interested in participating in a future Interactive Monday at Casel Marché, entry forms are available at J. Webb Wines and Market 17 at Casel Marché, or you can follow Casel Marché on Twitter.

Casel Marché
2505 17 Ave SW
Calgary AB T3E 7V3
(403) 770-4770
Market 17 open Mon-Sat 9 AM-8 PM; Sun 10 AM-6 PM. J. Webb Wine Merchant open Mon-Fri 10 AM-8 PM; Sat 10 AM-6 PM; Sun 10 AM-5 PM. Vie Café open daily 8 AM-5 PM. Cassis Bistro open Tues-Sun 11:30 AM-2 PM; 5-10 PM. Closed Mondays. Underground parking available, ample street parking on 24 & 24A Sts and 17 Ave.

A #yycMNSC Thanksgiving & Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Maple Spiced Pecans

2011-10-13T23:48:00.000-06:00

Holiday Monday = No kickboxing class = #yycMNSC Thanksgiving Potluck!

I had read many of the delicious goings-on on Dan's blog of previous Monday Night Supper Clubs, and was looking forward to my second #yycMNSC (and my first-ever Monday Night Supper Club potluck!)

Of course, the spread did not disappoint - Dan made the centrepiece, a turducken that Co-Op gave him for his birthday (cooked in a slow cooker as per Julie!), as well as an acorn squash salad with a matching squash-based salad dressing. There were green beans (but no Brussels sprouts - boo!), a cheesy and gooey onion casserole, a rich pumpkin risotto and some *killer* stuffing courtesy of Sarah.

Chelsea brought tofurkey! It was surprisingly delicious.

While my two previous Thanksgiving dinners that weekend (yes, I had three Thanksgiving dinners!) only had one dessert each (though B.'s cousin's fiancé's decadent Oreo Cheesecake is probably worth 5 million), I satisfied my sweet tooth with THREE pies at Dan's. Ksenia brought a delightfully messy bumbleberry pie, while Jacinthe made the other two pies. One was a pumpkin pie made entirely from scratch (including steaming the pumpkins) while the other was a sweet-tart pear cranberry pie. She also brought some of her pickles she had canned earlier this year for the cheese plate - they were good, and this is coming from a non-pickle person!

Please excuse the POS cellphone pics
For my contribution, there were GIANT (literally 2 lb each) sweet potatoes on sale at Superstore, so I bought a few for my Thanksgiving dinner (there is still a big bowl of leftover mashed sweet potatoes in the fridge because I forgot Mama T doesn't like cinnamon! Worst daughter ever), for B.'s family's Thanksgiving dinner (which were ultimately unused because we were told not to bring anything - I felt so guilty! But there ended up being way too much food anyway) and for the potluck. I thought mashed sweet potatoes would be too run-of-the-mill, and as I tried to dream up a dish, I thought of the nuts that I sometimes sprinkle on top of my mashed sweet potatoes...

The result: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Maple Spiced Pecans.

I stole the recipe for the pecans from Julie (of course). I would recommend making extra because I couldn't stop picking at them! If B.'s mom didn't make her own spiced candied pecans during the holidays, this would've been what everyone would be getting from me this Christmas.

Then I just roasted the sweet potatoes by themselves and mixed everything together. It was a hit, if I do say so myself.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Maple Spiced Pecans
Partially adapted from Dinner with Julie
Makes 16+ servings (I would assume this recipe scales down easily, especially with normal-sized sweet potatoes)
1 lb (454 g) pecan halves, about 4 cups
½ cup (125 mL) maple syrup
1 tbsp (15 mL) sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon
½ tsp (2 mL) ginger
¼ tsp (1 mL) cloves
¼ tsp (1 mL) nutmeg
¼ tsp (1 mL) allspice
4 lb (1.8 kg) sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil
Preheat oven to 350˚F (175˚C). If you have a Silpat, this would be a good time to use it.
Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet (or two if needed). Toast in the oven for 7-8 minutes, until fragrant. Drizzle with maple syrup and toss to coat; continue baking for another 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the nuts absorb most (but not all) of the syrup.
While the pecans are baking, in a small bowl, stir together sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. When the nuts are ready, sprinkle your spice mixture over them and toss to coat. Don't worry if not all of it sticks to the nuts (it will stick to the sweet potatoes later). Move your baking sheet to a cool place (i.e. not on top of your stove) to allow the pecans to cool a little bit.
Crank your oven up to 400˚F (205˚C). On another large baking sheet (or two if needed), spread sweet potatoes in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Roast for about 30 minutes, until the largest chunks are pierced easily with a fork, stirring occasionally to ensure that the sweet potato is evenly browned.
Toss together roasted sweet potatoes and pecans along with any leftover spice mix in a large baking dish or serving bowl. Serve warm.
Nutrition Info (per serving): 337 calories, 21 g fat (2 g saturated, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol, 34 g carbohydrate (6 g fibre, 13 g sugar), 4 g protein, 63 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin A, potassium, copper and manganese. A good source of thiamine (vitamin B₁), pantothenic acid (vitamin B₅), vitamin B₆ and zinc.

Pub-Grub Veggie Burgers

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

I made these burgers over the summer for the July newsletter at work. (Yes, this is the part of the blog where I slowly slog through the backlog of recipes I've accumulated!) I was writing about whether barbecuing causes cancer and I essentially concluded that grilling vegetables minimizes the production of the carcinogenic compounds often associated with BBQ.

I was warned that homemade veggie burgers often lack integrity for grilling, so I perused Lukas Volger's Veggie Madness (he did write Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, after all) and chose the one that I thought would most likely survive grilling. Lukas's Pub-Grub Veggie Burgers are made of a purée of black beans and chickpeas (as opposed to grated vegetables), held together by a matrix of eggs and cheese.

Don't try this at home
Alas, homemade veggie burgers and barbecues are not meant to be - these guys got stuck on the grill as I cooked them and I had to take the whole thing off and clean it so that B. wouldn't get mad at me :S

So unfortunately, when it comes to homemade veggie burgers, they will have to be cooked either on the stovetop, on an electric grill, or in the oven. If you want to slap them on the grill, they can be parcooked then frozen before being reheated on the barbecue. Fortunately, this recipe makes 10 patties at a time and is very easy to put together -

As I mentioned, first you whirr together black beans and chickpeas, along with eggs, onion and chili powder in the food processor.

For you nutrition nerds - between the eggs and beans, these veggie burgers pack in a lot of protein. The beans also offer fibre, phosphorus, potassium, iron and folate. I like the use of chili powder in this because it lends a smoky flavour, and in a way it's customizable - if you have a brand you like, great, if you have a homemade blend that you use, even better!

Anyway, then you mix in grated cheese (I used monterey jack), chopped parsley and panko. Regular breadcrumbs will work too - in fact, one of our newsletter subscribers tried the recipe with oats, and it worked great!

Serve on a whole grain bun with your favourite compliments - some crisp romaine lettuce, fresh tomato (ok, maybe not anymore), thin slivers of onion and a dash of mustard might be a good start!

Since I find 19 oz cans of beans are much more common here, I scaled up the recipe - if you do have 14 oz cans, please refer to the original recipe for measurements.

Pub-Grub Veggie Burgers
Adapted from Lukas Volger's Veggie Madness
Makes 10 patties
1 large onion, chopped
4 large eggs
1 × 19 oz (540 mL) can black beans, drained and rinsed (or 2 cups cooked)
1 × 19 oz (540 mL) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 2 cups cooked)
1½ tsp (7 mL) chili powder
⅓ cup (85 mL) parsley, chopped
2 cups (500 mL) panko, bread crumbs or oats
1 cup grated melting cheese, i.e. monterey jack, muenster, mozzarella or fontina
If baking patties (as opposed to pan-frying), preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
Combine the onion, eggs, beans and chili powder in a food processor and pulse until combined. Turn the bean mixture into a mixing bowl and fold in the parsley, panko, and cheese. Shape into 10 patties.
Bake patties on prepared cookie sheet for 15 minutes or pan-fry in oil over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes per side.
Make Ahead Tip: Let cool before wrapping and freezing individually for several months. When ready to eat, cook on a well-oiled grill on medium-high for 5-7 minutes per side, or until heated through. You can also reheat in the oven or toaster oven at 325˚F until heated through.

Nutrition Information (per patty): 262 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated, 0 g trans), 84 mg cholesterol, 35 g carbohydrate (7 g fibre, 4 g sugar), 14 g protein, 416 mg sodium. An excellent source of thiamine (vitamin B₁), folate (vitamin B₄), vitamin K, iron, manganese and selenium. A good source of riboflavin (vitamin B₂), vitamin B₁₂, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc.

A Brunch Potluck & Maple Blueberry Deep Dish French Toast

2011-10-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

I think my friend Julie simply likes hosting parties and potlucks, because not long after her Pie Party she invited a bunch of food bloggers over to her house to meet Charmian, a food writer and blogger from just outside Toronto. (Guelph? St. Catharines? I'm only embarrassing myself...)

It was great getting to meet and chat with Charmian, who is as funny and charming in person as she is on the blog! It was also nice to catch up with some of my fellow food blogger friends, and meet Wendy from Yelp!

The spread was delicious - our gracious hostess Julie made bite-sized scones served with Devonshire cream and homemade berry jam. She also made coffee to order with her new Aeropress, cracked open a few bottles of bubbly and let us raid her tea stash.

Dan made a delicious quiche with topped with roasted cherry tomatoes (cut off in the photo - sorry!), which was made all the more impressive by the fact that he had just moved the night before and shopped for all the ingredients and made it the morning of.

Pierre and his girlfriend Candace made a yummy, gooey Welsh rarebit (served with the lesson that pewter can't go in the oven - eek!) and a refreshing jelly mold flavoured with lemon verbena and studded with berries.

Gwendolyn brought a simple, but delicious glazed applesauce cake while Wendy brought a hearty oatmeal bake filled with saskatoon berries.

Cheryl and Fareen each brought one savoury and one sweet item - Cheryl made a tomato crisp and a basket of pear, chocolate and tonka bean scones, while Fareen brought some mini crustless quiches and took the opportunity to show off some treats from her new business - Sweet Somethings by Foodmamma Her chocolate cake pops rolled in coconut where a perfect, decadent bite.

In keeping with my New Year's Resolutions, I decided to browse through my cookbooks to see if there was a breakfast item that I wanted to make. Aimée's Maple Blueberry Deep Dish French Toast, which was printed in Blog Aid, seemed perfect - most of the prep was done the day/night before, and it was easily portable for the short drive down to Julie's.

This dish is definitely a special occasion food - it's cream cheese mixed with maple syrup, then layered with cream and egg! The only saving graces are the blueberries and I also bought some multigrain Italian bread (hehe). I was surprised that the nutritional info isn't worse than it is, though I did make the portions small...

The dish is rich and decadent and a little reminiscent of bread pudding. I love the mix of the gooey, doughy bread on the bottom, and the toastier pieces of bread towards the top. My friend Janine says it might be a good Christmas brunch item, which I think is a great idea - perhaps with some cranberries instead of blueberries?

Maple Blueberry Deep Dish French Toast
Adapted from Aimée Wimbush-Borque's recipe in Blog Aid
Makes 4-6 servings
4 oz (225 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter, at room temperature
3 tbsp (45 mL) maple syrup, or maple butter
¼ teaspoon (1 mL) cinnamon
8 slices Italian bread, about ½ inch thick, from middle of loaf
1 cup (250 mL) blueberries
1 cup (250 mL) light cream
4 eggs
2 tbsp (30 mL) maple syrup
1 pinch salt
Grease a 1-2 L capacity stoneware baking dish.
In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter and maple syrup until it is creamy and glossy like frosting. Add cinnamon and mix well.
Lay out the slices of bread on your workspace and divide the cream cheese mixture among four of the slices. Spread it around evenly and top with the four remaining slices of bread.
Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the sandwiches into three ‘fingers’, and each one of those fingers into three. You should have roughly nine bite-sized chunks per sandwich. Don’t worry if everything seems to squish out.
Transfer all the bread to the baking dish and spread out evenly. Top with blueberries, tucking them in here and there, and pressing them down between the cubes of bread.
Using the same bowl as your former cream cheese mixture, crack the eggs and beat slightly. Add cream, maple syrup and salt; mix well.
Pour egg mixture over bread. Using a well-washed hand, place your palm in the center of the dish and gently press all the bread down until the egg mixture seeps up through the cracks. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, preheat oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Cook for 35-45 minutes until puffy and golden. Cover with foil if bread is browning before eggs are set. Serve warm, with more maple syrup and fresh blueberries, if desired.
Nutrition Info (per 1/6 recipe): 353 calories, 20 g fat (12 g saturated), 181 mg cholesterol, 31 g carbohydrate (1 g fibre, 14 g sugar), 9 g protein, 363 mg sodium. An excellent source of riboflavin (vitamin B₂)*, folate (vitamin B₄)*, manganese and selenium. A good source of vitamin A** and vitamin B₁₂.

*From fortification of bread
**From fortification of cream

Check out Charmian and Fareen's takes on the brunch!

Blue Star Diner

2011-10-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

I had always heard fantastic things about Dairy Lane Café, but could never bring myself to go.

Back story: I attended Mayor Nenshi's alma mater, Queen Elizabeth High School, from 1998-2004 (because it's a junior/senior high, not because I'm some sort of academic failure - honest!) and I have fond memories of crossing through the back alley onto 19 St many a lunch hour. Back then, the tiny space was always hazy with cigarette smoke and grease as Judy and Dennis (?) made burgers and milkshakes to order, and cut each potato by hand with a wall-mounted french fry-cutter for greasy takeout boxfuls of shoestring fries that we doused with ketchup, salt, pepper and vinegar. When the smoking ban first came into effect, Judy would tell us in hushed tones to tell anyone who asked that we were 18 - and we were in junior high!

When the Highbanks Society and then the current owners took it over not long before I graduated, cleaned it up and transformed it into the successful, eco-friendly diner it is today, I couldn't bring myself to go there - Dairy Lane will always be the dingy but oddly comforting Judy's Kitchen in my heart.

Fortunately, the owners of Dairy Lane have recently taken over the space previously occupied by Artisan Bistro and turned it into Blue Star Diner! Now I can finally taste what the buzz was all about, and it is only steps away from B.'s house to boot!

B. and I were up "early" one weekend to take his car to the shop, so we arrived at around 10:30 to find a line already starting to snake out the door. We managed to squeeze into two seats by the window, hoping for the chance to people-watch (but quickly learned that it was more like hungry people watching us eat!) The menu is only a legal-sized, two-sided (one for breakfast, one for lunch) sheet, but there was still so much to choose from that it was very difficult to decide what to order. I was also impressed by all the local producers that were featured on the menu, as well as the gluten-free and vegetarian choices that were available.

I was tempted by Uncle Elenko's plate - two eggs served with local sausage, perogies, sauerkraut, baked beans, hash browns and toast for $14.50, but ultimately decided on the Huevos Rancheros ($12.75) with the eggs scrambled instead of sunny-side up.

I loved the bright flavours in this dish, particularly the black bean cilantro salsa and the creamy avocado. The corn tostadas were nice and crisp, but obviously it was sometimes difficult to eat this with a knife and fork!

B. ordered the Blue Star Veggie Burger ($14) from the lunch menu, with yam fries ($1).

Photo by B.

The veggie burger was moist, with a variety of textures and flavours from the different grains and veggies. We loved the garlicky tzatziki sauce as a condiment - very creative for a burger! Of course, the yam fries were delicious!

Of course, I can't review a new brunch place without my Perennial Brunchmate Tiffany! We headed down a couple weeks later at our usual brunchtime of 10 AM, and it was still PACKED. I started with an Organic Loose Leaf Indian Chai ($2.25), served in a Bodum, which the waitress always came by to refill the second it was emptied, while Tiffany had the Guatemalan coffee ($2.95).

I bypassed Uncle Elenko's plate again in favour of the Bridgeland Breakfast Sammy ($12.75).

This was so good - I loved the buttery pesto mayo and scrambled eggs with the fresh, crisp vegetables and smoky bacon. The use of basil instead of lettuce gave a nice, herbal twist. I ate everything really quickly.

Tiffany had the Blueberry Banana Pancakes ($12), which came as a stack of three large, thick, fluffy pancakes studded with real fruit.

Tiffany enjoyed them, but was sad to report that her stomach felt a little upset afterward. When I asked why, she said it was partly carb overload and partly something else...?

Obviously there are still lots of items on the menu I haven't tried, and I'm happy that there's yet another delicious brunch place near B.'s house! Welcome to Bridgeland, Blue Star Diner!

Photo by B.

Blue Star Diner
809 1 Ave NE
Calgary AB T2E 0C1
(403) 261-9998
Open Mon-Fri 7 AM-3 PM; Sat-Sun 8 AM-3 PM. Dinner service hopefully available in the future. Free street parking available on side streets (1 Ave is ParkPlus)

A Pie Party & Frozen Choconut Pie (Vegan & Gluten-Free!)

2011-10-08T16:40:00.000-06:00

Last month, my friend Julie had a Pie Party. It was a gorgeous, Indian summer day and it was so much fun! I tried 11(!) kinds of pie, including a couple tarts, galettes and Pie Fries. I also met lots of new friends (Hi, Jenna, Catherine, Carol and Jaya!) and caught up with old ones (Hi, Lauren and Gwendolyn!)

I think having a pie party comes with the unspoken expectation that rolling out some pastry will be involved, but as I was searching for pie recipes on my Google Reader, I kept coming back to this Frozen Samoa Pie from The Professional Palate.

She did a better job of drizzling melted chocolate, but you get the point.
Samoas (now called Caramel deLites) are a type of Girl Scout cookie sold in the States that are coated in creamy caramel, topped with toasted coconut and drizzled with chocolate. Apparently they're very popular. But because we don't have Samoas here in Canada (Why not?!), I decided to rename this to Frozen Choconut Pie for our audience.

Hanging out with Carol's Virgin Foxy Ladies, inspired by Gwendolyn
But how is it possible that this creamy pie could be vegan? The secret ingredient (which no one even suspected, despite the fact that my Magic Bullet was not the appropriate tool for this creation) was...

AVOCADO!

The original recipe was already very close to being vegan, with its coconut-and-coconut oil-based crust that I just took it a step further and swapped out the honey for agave nectar (how trendy of me!) I was actually more worried about making sure it was gluten-free, especially knowing that Lauren would be there - while I would usually buy coconut and chocolate chips from the bulk bins, I remembered to buy the packaged stuff and read all the ingredients. I also gave everything a good scrub and used a disposable pie tin.

The original recipe calls for coconut flour, which the store was unfortunately out of, so I bought a bag of quinoa flour instead and it worked great. Combined with the toasted coconut and coconut oil, the crust took on a distinctive nutty flavour.

I must admit I wasn't completely smitten with the pie at the party. Something about it seemed a little off, like it wasn't sweet enough or that there was a lingering avocado aftertaste. But I had some leftovers the next day and I finally understood where the compliments were coming from - the chocolate was smooth and creamy, but not too heavy, pairing well with the nutty flavour and cookie-like texture of the crust.

A note about coconut: I know a lot of people will balk at the fat content of this pie, especially because coconut is high in saturated fat. However, not all saturated fat is the same and the saturated fat that coconut oil is predominantly made of, called lauric acid, has been shown to raise cholesterol, but mainly HDL ("healthy") cholesterol (all fats are a mix of different types of fatty acids). Lauric acid is also considered a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) because it is only made up of 12 carbons, while most of the other saturated fats we find in our diet are made up of 16 or 18 carbons. MCTs do not require bile salts for digestion and do not require modification in the way that long-chain fatty acids do, so the hypothesis is their effects on our body and cardiovascular health may be different. While I don't buy some of the claims that coconut is some sort of miracle fruit that can burn fat and shed pounds, I do think that a pound of coconut oil is not the same as a pound of butter or lard! But of course, pie is pie and so this is still very much a "sometimes/special occasion" food!

Frozen Choconut Pie
Adapted from The Professional Palate
Makes 1 pie (8" or 9")
2 cups (500 mL) unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ cup (65 mL) coconut oil, melted
½ cup (125 mL) coconut flour, or quinoa flour
6 tablespoons (90 mL) agave nectar, divided
2 avocados
¼ cup (65 mL) dark cocoa
1 tablespoon (15 mL) Kahlua or strong brewed coffee (I just used instant coffee)
2 tablespoons (30 mL) coconut milk
1 pinch kosher salt
Optional: Melted chocolate chips (I used President's Choice The Decadent)
Toast coconut in a large skillet over medium heat 5 minutes or until golden; reserve ½ cup and set aside.
Combine 1½ cups toasted coconut, melted coconut oil, flour and 1 tablespoon agave nectar in a large bowl; press into and up sides of pie plate. Set aside.
Add avocado, remaining agave nectar, cocoa, Kahlua or coffee, coconut milk and salt to bowl of a food processor (not a Magic Bullet or blender!) Process until completely smooth. Spoon into pie shell and sprinkle with reserved toasted coconut. Freeze at least 4 hours or until firm. Just before serving, drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired.
Nutrition Info (per ⅛ pie): 387 calories, 30 g fat (22 g saturated, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol, 28 g carbohydrate (11 g fibre, 16 g sugar), 4 g protein, 64 mg sodium. An excellent source of manganese. A good source of folate (vitamin B₄), magnesium, potassium and copper.

2011 Goals Check-Up: August/September

2011-10-07T22:04:00.000-06:00

I hiked Black Prince Cirque in Kananaskis in August.

I went to the Club Club Community Cookbook Launch in September.

Can't believe it's October already! Here is my "monthly" check-up of the goals I should be working on:

7.5 hours of sleep per night - Not doing this AT ALL! While I was staying with B., I did average 6.5-7 hrs of sleep per night (August), but now that I'm at home playing "legal guardian" to my underaged sister while our parents are away, I've been averaging ≤ 6 - YIKES!

Drink at least 1 L (one water bottle) of water per day - I am doing pretty good with this; sometimes more, sometimes less. Definitely less on weekends though, so I think I'm going to shift my goal to focus on them.

Read at least 12 books this year - I finished reading A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book Oneand am now working on The Power of Social Networking: Using the Whuffie Factor to Build Your Business. It is taking longer than I'd like because I am taking notes so that I can get continuing education credits, so instead of just reading a couple pages before bed, I have to have the full setup of book, notebook, pen...

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight - Despite scaling back on my training this summer, I participated in a "continuous tournament" two weekends ago. A continuous tournament is a very casual (almost disorganized) event that's geared toward novices - the weight classes are huge (20 lb range), but no one fights full power because the focus is on technique and how aggressive you are, and KOs are not allowed. I lost, but got lots of positive feedback from my trainers and am excited to get back into it again! However, I must admit the time commitment is pretty daunting. One of my friends who recently won a ring fight said that she took time off work to do additional training, which is something that is not realistic for me right now. I've put my name in to fight in December, so we'll see!

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own - In August I made a berry crisp (or "Fieldberry Croustade") from Cooking with Foods That Fight Cancerand I recently made Aimée Wimbush-Borque's (from Under the High Chair/Simple Bites fame) Maple Blueberry Deep-Dish French Toast for a potluck brunch! Will blog ~~soon~~ eventually.

Pics to show it did happen

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money - Ack! We're now in October and I haven't moved my money yet. It's getting down to the wire! I think given the current state of the economy I'm just going to throw as much as I can into my RRSP and TFSA accounts for now and then move it again if I have to once I finally set up a meeting with a financial advisor.

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments - I sort of did this for September long weekend; B. was away visiting family, so I had his place all to myself, and I was on-call so couldn't wander very far away. I did go for brunch with Tiffany at Blue Star Diner (again, will blog eventually), and went to the Club Club Cookbook Launch & Epic Potluck, but neither felt like they sucked a lot of my time. Read a good chunk of my book that weekend, it was nice! I'm hoping to have a similar weekend for Thanksgiving long - Mama T is just coming back from HK, so I don't think we will be doing Thanksgiving dinner due to her jet lag. Hoping to tie up all the loose ends at work and just commit to blogging, reading and eating! Wish me luck!

Rewards
The only reward I want at this point is time to myself so I can do the things I want! I do have too much on my plate and am looking for opportunities to unload :S We are going on a trip for my birthday in November. We ultimately decided New York because New Orleans was too expensive - although we did miss a bunch of sales and our flights to NYC were very expensive anyway... but I think it will be worth it!

Eat-Off: Tiffin vs. Safari Grill

2011-09-11T21:09:00.000-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Anh and Laura at Safari Grill
My friend Anh *loves* Safari Grill so much that she sometimes goes there multiple times a week. Since I like to pretend that anything in the SE is "far", I had never heard of the place, let alone been there, but made a mental note to go someday...

As Anh continued to gush about Safari Grill on Twitter, along came a dissenter.

"Tiffin is WAY better than Safari Grill!" Mason declared. Anh couldn't fathom how any place could be better than Safari Grill, so she organized an eat-off, and invited some of her foodie friends (including me) to play. We managed to hit both places in one night as they are conveniently located kitty-corner from each other on 28th Street, just off of Memorial Drive.

Anh had obviously organized eat-offs before; prior to going to the restaurants, she combed through both menus to find equivalent items that we would taste. Then, she made scoresheets where we rated the items based on presentation, value and taste. Instructions included "Does the food bring up any emotions or feelings?" I don't know about the food, but the scoresheets definitely brought up the feeling of stress as I generally don't like giving number rankings to restaurants, especially while the owners of the restaurants are watching! (We pretended to be "tasting foods for a party".)

Despite the added bit of stress, overall it was a fun night of food and laughs with Anh, Gwendolyn, Gabe, Anh's fellow Safari Grill fan Laura and her husband Ryan. Mason was notably absent.

Round 1: Masala Mogo

Masala Mogo is fried cassava topped with a tomato-based sauce. Essentially, giant fries. At both restaurants, they were close in price, with Tiffin offering them at $6.95 and Safari Grill at $6.99. Tiffin's presentation was sorely lacking, with Gwendolyn saying that they looked like bones. On the other hand, the use of a bit of green and a lemon wedge won points on Safari Grill's side, and it was also steaming hot. Taste-wise, Tiffin's Masala Mogo just tasted like giant fries with ketchup, but for some reason I could not. stop. eating them. The sauce on the Safari Grill Masala Mogo was more complex, with some spicy notes, and the mogo was crisper too. Winner: Safari Grill

Round 2: Spicy Beef Ribs

The Spicy Beef Ribs were the highlight of the meal at Tiffin for me. Unlike everything else we tasted at Tiffin, the beef ribs tasted interesting! They were savoury, tart and spicy all at the same time - despite ordering them "medium hot", these were certainly pushing my spice threshold. On the other hand, Safari Grill's spicy beef ribs were too sour, and the sauce had a bit of a pasty, chalky texture to it. Gwendolyn and Gabe also noted that the ribs were sliced thinner at Safari Grill, so were not as thick and juicy as Tiffin's. Tiffin's ribs were $13.95, while Safari Grill's cost $11.99. While the winner for Gwendolyn, Gabe and I was Tiffin, Anh, Laura and Ryan preferred Safari Grill. Winner: Draw

Rounds 3-5: Vegetarian Curry, Butter Chicken and Roti


Originally we had wanted to try Okra Curry from both restaurants, but Tiffin did not have Okra Curry that day so we just went for whatever vegetarian curry they had instead. In Tiffin's case it was Black-Eyed Pea Curry (part of a combo with Butter Chicken, 2 Roti and Rice for $11.95) and at Safari Grill we had Muttor Alu (Potato & Pea Curry, $9.99). While the use of black-eyed peas at Tiffin's was unique, the curry itself wasn't very interesting and tasted pretty generic. The Muttor Alu was a drier curry, and I loved the texture of the peas (not the mushy, overcooked stuff) contrasted with the starchy potato. I also liked how Safari Grill served its curries on a little burner, to keep things hot. Winner: Safari Grill

The Butter Chicken at Tiffin tasted very buttery, but strangely enough the sauce wasn't thick and creamy to match. Safari Grill's Butter Chicken ($15.99) had a sauce that was thick and rich; flavour-wise, it wasn't as buttery as Tiffin's, but this was actually a good thing, as it allowed you to taste the different spices. The only quibble I had was that it needed more chicken! Winner: Safari Grill

It's difficult to rate Roti, as it is not supposed to have that much flavour on its own so that it can complement all the other dishes, and I'm assuming it is something that's difficult to screw up. At both places, the roti was nice and soft - Safari Grill's had a more pronounced "dough" flavour and was thicker than the roti at Tiffin. At Tiffin you can get a dozen roti for $5.50 while Safari Grill is a little stingier, selling them at 3 for $1.99. Winner: Draw

Free Round: Extras



Both restaurants served up an assortment of condiments for us to enjoy with our meal, including green chili sauce, yogurt sauce and tamarind sauce. Tiffin also had some yummy ginger carrots, and some pickled limes which I did not dare try. Gabe liked Tiffin's green chili sauce, which packed quite a bit of heat, but I thought it tasted too "grassy". I preferred the tangy and refreshing yogurt sauce. The sauces at Safari Grill were good all around, but none of them really stood out for me.

Although Anh is the one who goes to Safari Grill all the time, it was Laura who the owner seemed to recognize. Laura said that the owner is always trying to get her to try new things, and this time was no different - he prepared us a dish of samaki (whole deep fried tilapia) with a side of ugali (maize flour cooked to a thick, doughy consistency) and spinach curry on the house! After our meal we were also treated to two decadent molten chocolate cakes - one with a side of mango kulfi, the other with coconut kulfi. I preferred the mango kulfi - while it did not have a lot of mango flavour, it was filled with coconut, giving it a great chewy texture.

Despite serving similar cuisines, I actually don't think that it was fair to compare Tiffin and Safari Grill. Tiffin is meant to be more of a quick, takeout-oriented place, while Safari Grill is a nicer (questionable animal print decor and flashy Bollywood videos on two TV screens aside) sit-down restaurant. I definitely prefer Safari Grill - its dishes are more interesting and complex and there is a wider selection of food. But if they want to be taken seriously, they need to get rid of the non-African/Indian items on their menu (Philly Cheese Steak? Seriously?) and those zebra print tablecloths.

Tiffin Curry & Roti House
188 28 St SE
Calgary AB T2A 6J9
(403) 273-2420
Open Mon-Thu 11 AM-9 PM; Fri 11 AM-11 PM; Sat Noon-10 PM. Closed Sundays and Holidays.

Safari Grill
100-255 28 St SE
Calgary AB T2A 5K4
(403) 235-6655
Open Tues-Thu 11:30 AM-10 PM; Fri 11:30 AM-11 PM; Sat 1-11 PM; Sun 2-10 PM. Closed Mondays.

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Club Club Community Cookbook Launch & Epic Potluck!!!

2011-09-01T08:04:00.000-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Are you staying in town for the long weekend? You may remember me talking about Club Club's Community Cookbook a few months ago. Well, now it's READY and on Saturday they are going to have their Cookbook Launch and Epic Potluck! So please make something (or bring a cash donation if you are not culinarily-inclined) and join us at Pioneers Hall (3625 4 St SW) from 5 PM- Midnight. I will be making my totally unhealthy Mac & Cheese with Brussels Sprouts and Ham.

Cookbooks will be available for purchase for $16 and afterwards will be available from Etsy and Market Collective. Check out the Club Club website in the coming weeks for a full listing.

Brunch @ Brasserie Kensington

2011-08-22T22:05:00.000-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

I'd heard fantastic things about Brasserie Kensington, and its sister restaurants, Winebar Kensington (the "original", located just below Brasserie Kensington), AKA Winebar (which serves up a decent, classy brunch) and Muse. My perennial brunchmate Tiffany had gone a few times before for supper and drinks, so we decided to check out what their brunch menu was like.

We made reservations for when they opened at 10 AM, which was completely unnecessary as we were the only ones there for the entire time, save for a young couple who came in a few minutes after we did. It was nice having the restaurant (almost) to ourselves - the service was friendly, attentive and efficient and the space itself is classy but cozy, with a lot of dark wood accents and nice, big windows overlooking Kensington Road.

Of course, we have to start with coffee - there is no brewed coffee here; Americanos are your closest bet and they are $3 each. I decided to splurge on a cappuccino for $4, which had a nice, thick layer of steamed, foamy milk. Yum. For those who prefer booze in the morning, there is a short list of classic cocktails for $10, and of course, you can order from their extensive beer and wine lists too.

On the food side, Brasserie Kensington's brunch menu is heavy on the eggs, in the form of classics like Eggs Benedict (always love it when the smoked salmon costs as much as the classic ham!) and Steak and Eggs, sweet dishes like crepes and French toast, and the Brasserie's own creations, like the Vegetarian plate with eggs, grilled tomato, mushroom, fried potato and toast. The restaurant also seems to have a flare for richness, as evidenced by their Duck Fat Omelet, Breakfast Poutine and the option to order Foie Gras as a side ($10 per oz). They also use 100% duck fat in their fryers. Aside from the breakfast options, Brasserie Kensington's brunch menu also offers salads, soups and sandwiches. (Tiffany likes the "Hog Wild", a wild boar burger topped with gruyère, arugula aioli and grainy mustard.)

I went for the Brasserie Confusion ($14), which was essentially an omelette folded over layers of mushroom and green onion, topped with slices of crisp pancetta and creamy Hollandaise sauce.

This dish was so good - there was something about the way all the ingredients were layered together that made everything very rich and umami; I could've sworn there was cheese in there somewhere! Despite the richness it wasn't too heavy, and I managed to finish it all. I also loved the potato - simply cut into thick slices before being fried. Much less fussy and "real" compared to the usual hash browns. The plate was rounded out with some slices of brown (rye?) toast and the bit of fresh fruit was nice light way to end the heavier meal.

Tiffany went for the big guns - Breakfast Poutine ($12).

The fries would probably be considered too thin by "authentic Quebec poutine" standards, but so good for people like me who like their fries thin and crisp, with a soft, fluffy centre. It did look like it could've used more cheese curds, but it was probably for the better as I'm sure when you swirled the egg yolk around the poutine it would've made it quite heavy anyway. I had a bite and was blown away by the duck fat gravy - a very nice touch of booze, and not too salty. As a testament to how good it was, Tiffany ate it all - even before I finished my plate!

If you're looking for a greasy, hangover-curing diner breakfast, Brasserie Kensington is not the place to go. Although the price point at Brasserie Kensington is a little higher than most places, they make a solid, classy brunch.

Brasserie Kensington
1131 Kensington Rd NW
Calgary AB T2N 3P4
(403) 457-4148
Open Tues-Wed 11 AM-10 PM; Thu 11 AM-11 PM; Fri 11AM-midnight; Sat 10 AM-midnight; Sun 10 AM-10 PM. Brunch available Sat-Sun 10 AM-2 PM. Closed Mondays. Online reservations available.

Uzbek Beer Can Chicken

2011-08-19T23:31:00.000-06:00

I am pleading guilty on multiple counts of a major dinner party faux pas:

5. Cooking something that you’ve never cooked before. (I would also say I have been guilty of #8, especially at parties for two.)

And of course, this time I had to drag B. into the mix...

The dinner party in question was for one of B.'s friends, and one of her friends who is here from Japan to learn English. B. wanted to grill something, and somehow that evolved into beer can chicken, then one with a spice rub to boot.

It starts off easy - first you throw a bunch of spices, garlic and oil together in a food processor and whirr it into a fragrant, copper-coloured rub.

Then you spread it all over the insides and outsides of your chicken and wait until all the flavour has had to seep through all the little nooks and crannies in your chook.

When you're ready, you seat it on top of your beer can (we chose Big Rock Gopher Lager - as per my blog browsing, the verdict is still out on whether the beer makes a difference. Thoughts?)

There was a bit of a panic here as we feared that our chicken was too tall. We had to get rid of our beer can holder contraption (but we kept the dish) and flip over our grill, but in the end, it fit. *Phew!*

At the time, we didn't know about these "dinner party" rules, but we may have subconsciously as we paired the chicken with a recipe we are very familiar with - our Greek Orzo Salad, without the chicken.

Photo by Mitsuru Oda

Despite the "faux pas", our dinner was well received (possibly because one of our guests got a little tipsy!) and we were spoiled with dessert - an assortment of cream puffs from Cruffs.

Uzbek Beer Can Chicken
Adapted from Serious Eats/Planet Barbecue
Serves 4-6
1 chicken, about 3½ - 4 lb (1.6 - 1.8 kg)
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tsp (10 mL) coarse salt
2 tsp (10 mL) sweet paprika
2 tsp (10 mL) turmeric
2 tsp (10 mL) coriander
1 tsp (5 mL) cumin
1 tsp (5 mL) black pepper
¼ cup (60 mL) vegetable oil
1 can beer, or club soda, if you are not a beer drinker
Prep the chicken: Remove and discard the fat just inside the neck and body cavities of the chicken. Remove the package of giblets and set it aside for another use. Rinse the chicken, inside and out, under cold running water, then drain and blot it dry, inside and out, with paper towels.* Make two deep slashes to the bone in both sides of the chicken breast and in each leg and thigh so that the spices and heat will penetrate the meat more easily.
Make the spice paste: Place the garlic, ginger, salt, paprika, turmeric, coriander, cumin, and pepper in food processor (a mini processor works better than a full-size processor, but you can use a full-size processor if you scrape down the side of the bowl often with a rubber spatula). Run the processor until the garlic and ginger are finely chopped, then gradually add the oil and puree to a smooth paste. If you don't have a food processor, mix spices together in a mortar and pound them into a smooth paste with the pestle, then gradually work in the oil.
Marinate the bird: Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the tandoori paste into the neck and body cavities of the bird, spreading it around with the spatula. Place the bird in a baking dish or aluminum foil pan just large enough to hold it. Spread the remaining spice paste over the chicken on all sides. (Alternatively, you can marinate the bird in a large, heavy-duty, resealable plastic bag.) Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 6 hours or as long as 24; the longer it marinates, the richer the flavor will be.
Prep the grill: Set up the grill for indirect grilling, place a drip pan in the center, and preheat the grill to medium.
Impale the chicken!: Pop the tab off the can and remove half of the beer or club soda using your preferred method. Using a church key–style can opener, make 2 additional holes in the top. If you are using a beer-can chicken roaster (and your barbecue is tall enough to accommodate a chicken sitting on it), pour half of the club soda or beer into it. Remove the chicken from the marinade, setting aside any remaining marinade. Hold the chicken upright, with the opening of the body cavity at the bottom, and position the bird on the can or chicken roaster so that it fits snugly into the cavity. If you are using a can, pull the legs forward to form a sort of tripod, so the bird stands upright. The rear “leg” of the tripod is the can. You don’t need to do this if you are using a chicken roaster. Tuck the tips of the wings behind the chicken’s back. Alternatively, truss the bird with butcher’s string or a bamboo skewer.
Roast the chicken: Place the chicken-on-a-can in the center of the grate over the drip pan and away from the heat. Spoon any remaining marinade over the chicken, then cover the grill. Grill the chicken until it is handsomely browned and cooked through, about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or when the internal temperature (insert the thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh) is about 170°F (77˚C). (Please note that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recommends that whole chicken be cook to 185˚F/85˚C.) If the top of the bird starts to brown too much, loosely cover it with a small piece of aluminum foil.
Serve and eat the chicken: Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Carefully lift the chicken off the can or roaster, if using. Cut the chicken into pieces and serve with lemon wedges, if desired.
*At this point, you can remove the skin from the chicken, if desired (but risk losing a lot of yummy flavour!) You can pull most of it off with your fingers; use a paring knife to cut the skin away from the wings and ends of the drumsticks.

Nutrition Info (per 1/6 chicken, with skin): 328 calories, 21 g fat (5 g saturated, 0 g trans), 87 mg cholesterol, 2 g carbohydrate (1 g fibre, 0 g sugar), 28 g protein, 858 mg sodium. An excellent source of niacin (vitamin B₃), vitamin B₆ and selenium. A good source of pantothenic acid (vitamin B₅), vitamin E, iron, phosphorus and zinc.

Photo by Mitsuru Oda

Culinary Bootcamp for Dietitians

2011-08-15T08:00:00.002-06:00

Back in June, I took part in a very exclusive cooking class hosted in the home of one of my dietitian colleagues. The Dietitians of Canada Annual Conference was in Edmonton this year, so Mary Sue Waisman, author of Cook!, the latest cookbook from Dietitians of Canada, swung by Calgary to teach us a few techniques while we tried out a few recipes from the book.

Although Mary Sue is now based out of Halifax, I was surprised to learn that she spent most of her 20+ year career here in Calgary and completed her chef's training at SAIT. Mary Sue's nutrition philosophy is based around the value of family meals, and with that comes a focus on the food and cooking, and returning to dietetics' roots in home economics. Mary Sue emphasizes flavour in her cooking - her first cookbook is actually called Flavour First, and during the class she showed off her copy of The Flavor Bible

Over the course of the afternoon, we chopped, stirred, simmered, roasted and baked our way through 10 recipes while learning techniques like trimming the "silverskin" from meat. Mary Sue's philosophy was evident in the recipes she chose for the class, which either used different spices and herbs to season the food, or cooking techniques that enhanced the natural flavours of the ingredients, instead of straight-up S&P.

Although Mary Sue is credited as the author of the cookbook, the recipes were actually submitted by dietitians across the country and tested by Mary Sue (with the help of some fellow dietitians and interns) in her kitchen in Halifax. It was interesting to see Mary Sue's surprise at how differently some of the dishes were turning out (i.e. thicker batters, different cooking times) here in high-and-dry Calgary.

We started with some appetizers:



The Holy Smokes Pita Chips were rounds of pita bread brushed with a mixture of garlic, cumin, chili powder, curry powder, black pepper and hot sauce before being baked to a crisp in the oven. They were smoky and delicious, but I think I personally would've opened up the pitas so that the "chips" wouldn't be so thick. They were served with Legume Guacamole, which replaces some of the avocado with green peas for a dip that is lower in fat and calories than traditional guacamole. The guacamole tasted lighter as well, and surprisingly did not have any pea flavour.

I loved the mix of textures and flavours in the Bulgur and Vegetable Lettuce Wraps - the bulgur was cooked to al dente, a nice contrast from the tender butter lettuce, while the onion, bell pepper and lemon juice made the wraps taste fresh and summery. In contrast, the Roasted Chickpeas had a richer, nutty flavour, with a hint of smokiness thanks to the addition of chili powder, cumin and garlic.

A bit more cooking, and it was time to eat again:




The Barley Terrine was a unique vegetarian main dish, combining barley, wheat bran, sunflower seeds and walnuts into a cheesy loaf that to me, tasted like a healthy mac-and-cheese. Another unique vegetarian main we tried were Pecan Patties; the batter was too runny to shape into patties before cooking, but once they were ladled into the frying pan, they formed up quite nicely, and were oh-so-good with some jams and chutneys our hostess found in her fridge. We gobbled them up so quickly I couldn't even take a picture! These were originally meant to be sort of a vegetarian burger - probably more of a substitute for a lighter burger like chicken or turkey instead of beef.

The Rye Salad, like the filling in the Bulgur and Vegetable Lettuce Wraps, was another interesting blend of texture and flavour. It used rye berries, which seemed to pop in your mouth as you bit into them, mixed with sweet and tart dried cranberries, savoury feta and black bean sauce, crisp cucumber, peppery onion and cilantro, and crunchy and nutty sunflower seeds.

Mary Sue's version of Roasted Parsnip and Pear Soup was very simple, emphasizing the earthy sweetness of the ingredients, and using the starchiness of the parsnips to create a creamy texture while still keeping the soup light - very different from my/Julie's version that I made months ago.

I helped make the Pork Tenderloin with (unpictured) Strawberry-Rhubarb Chutney. We actually made the pork tenderloin two ways - one we roasted, as was written in the cookbook, and the other we sliced, flattened into medallions with the heel of our hands, then pan-fried with some of the chutney. The latter cooked a little too quickly for us and the pork came out a little tough, but the roasted tenderloin was perfect - it had developed a bit of crust on the outside, while the meat inside was moist and tender. Of course, the strawberry-rhubarb chutney was the star of the show, permeating the kitchen with its aromatic fumes as it simmered on the stove for what seemed like hours as it thickened into a jam-like consistency. The sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb were paired with ginger, garlic, onion, cumin, cinnamon and cloves, giving the chutney a hint of savoury and spice.

We also had dessert (not pictured) and despite what you might think about dietitians, they were not just plates of fruit! The Date & Nut Pinwheels were like refined Larabars, spiced with cardamom and saffron and shaped into delicate little bites before being rolled in coconut. I helped to make the Sweet Barley, which was cooked in milk and flavoured with a touch of anise. It reminded us all of kheer, or Indian rice pudding. It's no surprise that I couldn't get photos of either of them!

All in all, it was a fun afternoon, and I thought it was a great way to really get the feel of a cookbook - perhaps a future idea for some sort of cooking party, or even a Monday Night Supper Club, eh, Dan?

Just for a bit of a teaser, I will share my favourite recipe of that day - the Bulgur and Vegetable Lettuce Wraps. I think the filling alone would make a great grainy salad.

Bulgur and Vegetable Lettuce Wraps
Adapted from Cook!
Makes 16 wraps
¾ cup (185 mL) bulgur
¾ cup (185 mL) warm water
1 cup (250 mL) tomatoes, diced
½ cup (125 mL) cooked or canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
¼ cup (60 mL) parsley, chopped
2 tbsp (30 mL) green onion, chopped
2 tbsp (30 mL) red onion, chopped
1 tbsp (15 mL) fresh mint, chopped
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
1 tbsp (15 mL) fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp (1 mL) salt
½ tsp (2 mL) black pepper
1 head butter lettuce, leaves separated
In a large bowl, combine bulgur and warm water. Let stand for 30 minutes, or until bulgur is softened and liquid is absorbed.
Add remaining ingredients except lettuce. Stir well to combine.
To serve, top each lettuce leaf with 2 tbsp bulgur mixture. Wrap lettuce to enclose filling.
Nutrition Info (per wrap): 51 calories, 2 g fat (0.2 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 8 g carbohydrate (2 g fibre, 1 g sugar), 2 g protein, 61 mg sodium.

Q Haute Cuisine

2011-08-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

B. and I went to Q Haute Cuisine a few weeks ago. It wasn't an anniversary, a birthday, or any other special event... we just had a LivingSocial deal to use.

Q Haute Cuisine is an upscale restaurant in what used to be La Caille on the Bow that serves up French cuisine with an emphasis on local foods whenever possible. Dinner is a rare, expensive occasion for most, but many people who work downtown enjoy their $15 lunch specials. For dinner, adventurous palates can order the Chef's Tasting Menu - you can order from three up to eight courses, with or without wine pairings; a 12-course menu is available upon special request. The restaurant also offers an à la carte menu - two courses for $57, three courses for $73 and four courses for $89.

Although I would have loved to splurge on the Chef's Tasting Menu, this was, after all, not a special occasion, so we decided to play it safe and ordered two courses each from the à la carte menu.

But first, we were treated to an amuse-bouche of smoked tuna on red and golden beets.

The tuna was only lightly smoked, so not overly salty, pairing well with the earthy sweetness of the beets and the tangy vinaigrette. A perfect bite to start the meal.

For my starter, I ordered the Digby scallops, topped with sunny-side-up quail eggs and surrounded by roasted pearl onions and a small bundle of abalone mushrooms.

The scallops were warm and tender, and I liked using them to sop up the sauce from the quail eggs (we had a basket of bread for that too). The onions were little sweet jewels and the abalone mushrooms were meaty but light.

B. had roasted quail paired with white beans and goat cheese in a red wine reduction.

B. shared a bite, and underneath the crisp skin was moist, flavourful meat. After the meal, B. declared that this was his favourite.

For the main course, I had the cardamom-infused venison with grapes in a port jus.

I would say the cardamom was a little too overpowering for me, but it was interesting how it brought out the rich, gamey flavour of the venison. Surprisingly, B. liked the cardamom more than I did. The bold flavours of the meat played interestingly with the sweetness of the grapes and the sauce. I had ordered the venison medium-rare, though it seemed that the chef had put the emphasis on the "rare" - it was still fine; even as I was ordering the waiter warned me that the venison is better when it is less well-done.

B. ordered lamb two ways - a simple roasted rack of lamb, and a leg of lamb stuffed with gorgonzola. Everything was drizzled with a Madeira jus.

Like my venison, the flavours in this dish were bold, but leaning toward a more savoury spectrum. The meat could have been more tender, but overall it was an interesting dish.

If you're wondering how we were able to fill up on this meal, not pictured here was the fact that soon after we were served our meal, the waiter came by with a copper pan of baby vegetables - tiny carrots, golden beets, green beans and summer squash. And a copper pot of truffled potatoes.

I loved these truffled potatoes - rich, creamy and rustic. B. thought the sauce tasted like cream of mushroom soup. Too bad, more for me.

Once we had scraped up the last morsel of meat and scooped up the last bite of potato, our plates were whisked away and replaced with our bill (of course, not before we were tempted again by an offer of dessert, but none of them sounded appealing that day) and a pair of chocolate truffles rolled in shredded coconut.

The smooth chocolate started melting almost the instant that it hit our tongues, finishing with a bit of a tangy note.

Overall, we had a good experience at Q Haute Cuisine. The atmosphere is quiet and formal, with rustic, classy decor and beautiful views of the Bow River and Prince's Island Park. The service was professional but friendly. However, I'm not sure if I'll go back again - although the food was good, considering the cost, I didn't find myself "wow"ed by the meal... the food was just too "precious".

Q Haute Cuisine
100 La Caille Place SW
Calgary AB T2P 5E2
(403) 262-5552
Open for lunch Mon-Fri 11:30 AM-2 PM; cocktails Mon-Fri 4 PM; dinner Mon-Sat 5:30-10 PM. Closed Sundays except for private events. Online reservations available.

2011 Goals Check-Up: July

2011-08-10T15:22:00.001-06:00

We hiked Sundance Canyon in Banff on Parks Day

Here is my monthly check-up of the goals I (should be) working on...

7.5 hours of sleep per night - Not really doing this, but getting there. By the time it's "lights out", I should usually get somewhere between 6.5-7 hours of sleep... and often I'm still dead tired in the morning :(

Drink at least 1 L (one water bottle) of water per day - I am doing this! As I mentioned last month, my previous water bottle was broken and leaked (so I had to carry it upright all the time) and I was on the hunt for a new one. B.'s sister recommended this Camelbak and I love it! Having a straw originally seemed a little sippy-cup-like, but it is easier to drink from and great for kickboxing (can drink without taking my gloves off while not worrying about spills). The only downside is that it doesn't fit in my car cup holder, so I would probably recommend the smaller size (750 mL) to others. The water bottle claims that it helps people drink 24% more, and for me it does - I easily drink more than 1 L every day now :)

Continue increasing number of blog posts per year - I'm failing so hard at this goal it makes me a little sick. A few nights ago I worked it out and I realized if I keep posting at the same slow rate as I have been all year, I will end up with fewer posts than I had in 2008, and my readership is falling with it. When I realized this I actually spent the evening pretty upset; wondering if I was doing the right thing with my time, whether there was anything in my life I can give up so I can spend more time writing... and the answer is, I think I can live with it for now. It's definitely difficult to not write as much as I'd like because it makes people think that you don't like blogging/writing and don't feel that it's important, which is simply not true. The reason that I'm deciding not to scale back on my kickboxing even more for now is because I know I will reach a point in my life where it won't be an option, where I would have to stop doing such an intense, physical sport. And at that point in time, my blog will be there to fill the gap, and the people who will stick around to read it will know that I love food, I love writing, I love photography. And that's all that matters. But I think for now I am ok with striking this goal off the list and working back up from 2008 levels.

Read at least 12 books this year - I finished Outliers: The Story of Success, and now, after falling in love with the TV series (we watched the whole thing in maybe two or three weeks) I'm working on A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One. (Speaking of A Game of Thrones, have you checked out The Inn at the Crossroads or Cooking Ice and Fire? I feel like some nerdy food party needs to happen when the next season starts.) I also bought The Power of Social Networking: Using the Whuffie Factor to Build Your Business for work purposes, and Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is finally coming out in paperback in September! ...At this rate I will still probably only finish six books this year *sigh*

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight - I've totally scaled back on training over the summer, though my trainer added the element of an 8.8 km (and counting) run before my kickboxing class so it's still taking up a good chunk of time, but mentally, I'm so not ready to fight right now. Again, will most likely be tackling this goal in October.

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own - We have been cooking mainly from blogs again lately, so can't say I've made progress on this one.

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money - My original plan was to make an appointment with [one of] my [three] bank[s], but I was always worried that they would only sell me their products and I won't get the full scope. Now with the markets doing what they're doing, perhaps it's even a good thing I have most of my money in a savings account right now. But I was listening to this financial advisor on CBC the other day, and I think that is who I should be looking for. Now... anyone have any recommendations?

Create more/Participate in another creative/reflective project this year - It makes me sad, but I think I have to strike this goal off my list for the year as I have my hands in so many different pots that there's no way this is happening.

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments - We went on our first hike of the year in July, an easy hike in Banff called Sundance Canyon, by the Cave and Basin, on Parks Day. It was nice - you get a walk along the Bow, waterfalls, short steep sections, forest... we couldn't take a lot of photos because the mosquitoes were out in full force!

Rewards
Despite taking two trips earlier in the year, seeing everyone go on holidays over the summer is making me feel a little left out, so I am taking six days off in November, around my birthday (the way that stats and my schedule works around that time means I only take two vacation days - what a deal!) Talking about going on another trip has been fun, but we're still stuck on where we want to go. Our main criteria are good food (Sorry, Cuba), warm weather (Sorry, Montreal and New York) and sights to see (as opposed to lying on the beach at a resort all day). New Orleans is the current frontrunner - what do you think?

Monday Night Supper Club @ Anju

2011-08-07T15:20:00.001-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

I wasn't going to write about Anju again since I already reviewed them here after a visit about a year and a half ago. But the meal I had last Monday, as part of my friend Dan's Monday Night Supper Club was so delicious I just had to blog about it.

Some background first about the Monday Night Supper Club (#MNSCyyc) - during the Top Chef Canada run, Dan would reserve the big table by the bar at CHARCUT every Monday to watch the show with a bunch of his peeps and tweeps. By the time the show ended, the group had already become accustomed to having plans on Monday night, and so the Monday Night Supper Club was born. New "members" are always welcome, so if you're interested in joining us, just send Dan a tweet!

We were so lucky to have Anju's Chef/Owner Roy Oh and Manager Dave open the restaurant just for us on the Monday of the long weekend! Before the meal, which was a chef's tasting menu for $40/person, Chef Roy came up to introduce himself and explain the concept for the restaurant - "anju" is the Korean word for small plates of food that you share over alcohol. Anju's dishes uses familiar, local ingredients, but adds a bit of a Korean twist with the use of traditional flavours and seasonings.

First up were two dishes of hoe, or thinly sliced raw meats, topped with sesame, fried garlic chips and thin curls of green onion. The lobster was drizzled with chili oil for some extra heat, while the beef (tataki, so not completely raw) was dressed with plain sesame oil.

The lobster was sweet and meaty, while the dressing added richness and a little bit of heat. The more simply dressed beef really allowed the flavour of the meat to shine through. Roy didn't want to leave out pescetarian Chelsea K, so he presented her with a plate of lightly seared tofu as well.

Next up was crispy tofu with sauteed kimchi and citrus aioli. This dish was the first of many highlights that night.

Seriously. I'm sure this dish will convert even the staunchest tofu hater. The crispy breading dressed with sweet citrus gave way to soft, pillowy tofu. I usually don't like the harsh flavours in kimchi, but here, the sauteed kimchi was mild and sweet.

Next, we were presented with a bowl full of mussels seasoned with serrano soy sauce, onions, ginger, sesame and white wine.

These mussels were so easy to eat, and we found ourselves picking at them one by one as we waited for our next dishes to arrive. The light seasoning highlighted the fresh flavour of the mussels, but the best part was when we got near the bottom of the bowl and were able to scoop up some of the boozy broth before nudging the mussels out of their shells.

The following dish was well worth the short wait. Dave grinned as he laid two plates of chicken wings in front of us, "We don't want people to confuse us with fine dining," he said.

We hungrily dug in to the wings, which were fancy in their own way - the gochujang wings were sweet and sticky, with a bit of heat, while the flour-battered salt & Szechuan peppercorn wings were crisp from the fryer, with just a hint of the floral aroma of the Szechuan peppercorn (and fortunately, none of the numbing "mala" sensation). I have totally cut back on my chicken wing consumption ever since I learned that a wing is about 100 calories, but I would gladly use up my daily calorie allotment on these ones!

Finally, it was time for the main course - Bo Ssam, or lettuce wraps.

Large wooden tubs filled with butter lettuce (perhaps Roy read my last blog post saying that romaine lettuce was too crispy?), perilla (better known as shiso in some circles) and Thai basil were brought to each end of the table, along with an assortment of condiments - sliced serrano pepper, fried garlic chips, kimchi, peppery sesame oil, ssamjang and hoisin sauce.

Of course, the star of the show was the meat - first was the Berkshire pork shoulder, which was marinated with traditional Korean seasonings and slow-roasted for 24 hours.

We didn't need any knives for this - as the pork was passed around the table, the meat slid off the bone easily with just a tug of the tongs. The meat was juicy and tender, and I snagged a piece of the crisp, fatty skin as well.

We also shared slices of marinated beef flatiron steak. Usually the restaurant serves up short ribs for the wraps, so Roy made sure to marinate the steak for a shorter amount of time so as not to lose the beef flavour. There was also a slab of grilled mackerel for pescetarian Chelsea.

These wraps were so good, and it was fun to get our hands in and make our own wraps with our favourite flavours and textures - the crisp lettuce, peppery shiso, sweet hoisin, crunchy garlic, spicy and sour kimchi, and of course, succulent meat... I couldn't tell you how many wraps I had!

Of course, this would not be anju if there wasn't any alcohol! Some ordered bottles of wine to share, while others tried their unique cocktails, like the Kimchi Caesar. Dan, of course, had his trusty Steamwhistle. B. and I tried to order a bottle of soju, but Dave only said, "Don't worry about it," and before long, pitchers of lychee-flavoured and yogurt-flavoured soju were brought to the table and passed around. I preferred the fresh and floral lychee-flavoured soju, which hardly tasted like alcohol. The yogurt-flavoured soju was a little stronger, but still sweet and easy to drink - I think everyone at the table was feeling a buzz by the end of the meal! (Everyone except B., who had to drive me home :P)

Somehow, after all that was left of the pork shoulder was bone and the wooden tub that was bursting with greens was bare, we had room for dessert.

There was no introduction for this dish of vanilla ice cream and berries, accompanied by a warm, crispy fried dumpling filled with... Asian pear, perhaps? (There is an Asian pear pie on the regular menu - perhaps this was the filling?) Dan could swear he could taste some star anise. No matter - someone at the table named this the Amazing Wonton of Goodness. (Although, I suppose, "Mandu" would be more culturally appropriate) A satisfying little treat to end the meal.

After the meal, Chef Roy came back up to some much-deserved, thunderous applause. He treated us to a round of a sweet, citrusy shot, and then we all slinked off into the night, our bellies filled with a delicious meal shared between old and new friends, amongst tons of fun and laughter. I won't be waiting another year and a half before I go back to Anju again.

Anju
507 10 St SW
Calgary AB T2P 5B8
(403) 532-9419
Restaurant open Mon-Sat 5-11 PM; Lounge open Wed-Sat 3-Late. Closed Sundays and holidays. Ample street parking (ParkPlus) available along 10 St and 5 Ave.

Nando's

2011-07-16T23:35:00.002-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

I'd been meaning to try Nando's ever since Andree raved about it on her blog, are u gonna eat that?. Now that I work only minutes away (for at least half the week anyway), I had no excuse, so a few weeks ago I went with my old high school friend/new semimonthly lunchmate Roger.

Nando's is a casual dining restaurant chain that started in South Africa in the late 80's, serving Portuguese/Mozambique-inspired chicken. Its claim to fame is its spicy marinade and sauces, made from the African bird's eye chili, otherwise known as peri-peri. Nando's is most well known in South Africa, Australia and Britain, but it also has locations in India, Bangladesh, Mauritius, US and of course, Canada.

Nando's Calgary is housed in what appears to be a former Pizza Hut (based on its uniquely shaped roof), but inside, the decor is classy but cozy, with lots of booths available. As soon as you walk in, you are faced with the decision of what to order - you can get any amount of chicken, from quarter to whole, as well as wings, kebabs, sandwiches, pitas, wraps and... grilled chicken liver on a bun. Then you choose what heat level you want, from medium to hot, or if you can't handle any heat... lemon and herb is for you. Nando's also offers combos, which pairs some of their mains with one or two "sidelines", as well as sharing platters for up to six people. (So much decision making!)

Roger and I both went for the aforementioned meals for one - I had the quarter chicken with tossed salad ($10.50), and since Roger is a baller he chose the most expensive meal - a half chicken with Spiced Rice and Peri Potato Wedges ($15). Roger is known in our circles as one who can't tolerate spice, but he has been working hard and he decided to brave the "Medium" while I had "Hot". After you place your order, you are given a number to take to your table, and we didn't have to wait very long for our food to arrive.

OK, I will stop embarrassing my friends now.
It was only after we sat down that we realized that there was more peri-peri sauce at the table, so you can further control the heat of your chicken and sides.

The chicken was nicely spiced - garlicky, smoky, with a hint of heat. Next time, I may step it up to extra-hot, or perhaps see what the sauces at the table are like. My chicken breast was a little overdone and dry; I am a thigh girl anyway, and it was only after that I realized that they do offer a bottom quarter chicken (leg and thigh), just not as a meal (what?). But, if I'd gotten that and a salad separately, it would've been cheaper anyway! Roger liked his chicken as well, but was less impressed by the sidelines - the Spiced Rice was essentially yellow instant rice with some spice sprinkled on top, and the potato wedges were just cooked from frozen with the same spice sprinkled on top. Still, we ate all the potato wedges, and I finished my salad.

I would definitely go back to Nando's for their chicken again - I especially want to try their kebabs, and maybe... some chicken liver? On the other hand, the sidelines aren't really worth what they charge ($3.50 for a regular portion, $6.50 for a large), but sometimes, I just need my vegetables... or potato wedges... They are also licensed, so you can have a beer with your chicken, if you are into that sort of thing.

Nando's
3333 32 Ave NE
Calgary AB T1Y 6M5
(403) 769-0610
Open Sun-Thu 11:30 AM-9:30 PM; Fri-Sat 11:30 AM-10:30 PM

Chicken with White Beans and Tomatoes

2011-07-14T22:18:00.008-06:00

My friend and fellow McGill alumnus Mallory started a food blog as part of a new year's resolution to cook more and write more. Her blog, Total Noms, features recipes that are simple and approachable. This recipe, adapted from Real Simple, is no different. In fact, now that the market is full of Alberta-grown *sigh* greenhouse tomatoes, I'm sure I'll be making this recipe again over the summer!

A dish that requires an oven hardly seems appropriate for summer, but this might be the ticket if you want to spend a little more time out in the sun and less time cooking. You toss a can of beans, a pint of tomatoes, a few sprigs of herbs (the recipe calls for thyme and oregano, but we have some thriving rosemary that I think will work too), some crushed garlic cloves and a dusting of spice (the recipe calls for paprika, but I like cumin for its smoky flavour... I'm sure chili powder, or chipotle powder would be great too) in a casserole, top with chicken thighs or breasts, and roast for just 35-45 minutes. Ta-da! You have your main course and a side.

Of course, if you are feeling keen, this dish would pair well with a salad, steamed rice, a warm baguette to sop up the juices or rotini with pesto...

Chicken with White Beans and Tomatoes
Adapted from Total Noms/ Real Simple
Serves 4
1 x 796 mL (19 oz) can cannellini (white kidney) or navy beans, drained and rinsed
1 pint grape tomatoes
4-6 sprigs fresh thyme
4 sprigs fresh oregano, plus leaves for garnish
3 cloves garlic, smashed
¼ tsp (1 mL) cumin
2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil, divided
4 chicken thighs, legs or breasts (preferably bone-in, skin-on, but boneless, skinless would work too - cooking times may need to be adjusted)

Heat oven to 425°F (220˚C). In a large baking dish, toss the beans and tomatoes with the thyme and oregano sprigs, garlic, cumin, 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of oil and add salt and pepper to taste.

Pat the chicken dry and place on top of the bean mixture (skin side up if you have bought the chicken skin-on). Rub with the remaining tablespoon of oil and add salt and pepper to taste.

Roast until the chicken is golden and cooked through (a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 74˚C/165˚F), about 35-45 minutes. Garnish with oregano leaves before serving.

Nutrition Info (per serving using bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs vs. boneless, skinless chicken breast): 345 (vs. 272) calories, 16 (vs. 8) g fat (4 (vs. 1) g saturated),57 (vs. 45) mg cholesterol, 25 g carbohydrate (7 g fibre, 2 g sugar), 24 g protein, 266 (vs. 296 mg) sodium. An excellent source of folate (vitamin B₄), vitamin E, vitamin K, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, manganese and selenium. A good source of thiamine (vitamin B₁), niacin (vitamin B₃), vitamin B₆, phosphorus and copper.

Proof that I was good and didn't eat the skin!

Branana Chocolate Nut Muffins

2011-07-12T22:25:00.001-06:00

This is a recipe from Julie, via her work on The Family Kitchen on Babble. While Julie was inspired by the last crumbs of a box of cereal, I was inspired by a bunch of overripe bananas... and a nearly full box of bran cereal that B. decided he didn't like after the first bowl.

This recipe is so ridiculously easy (yet I just remade this yesterday and somehow managed to forget the oil, so I ended up with a batch of mushy pucks) - first, you pour milk (or buttermilk, if you have it) on top of bran cereal to form a slurry, then you add all the wet ingredients on top and mash it all up with a potato masher. (However, if you don't have one, I would recommend mashing the banana separately with a fork before adding it in.) Then comes the dry ingredients, and you're all ready to fill your muffin cups and bake.

Despite the use of bran cereal, these muffins don't taste gritty at all. I even used whole wheat flour to make things more wholesome. If you don't like or are allergic to nuts and/or chocolate, let your imagination run wild! You can leave your muffins plain, or add raisins, fresh blueberries, coconut... the list goes on...

Branana Chocolate Nut Muffins
Adapted from The Family Kitchen (Julie van Rosendaal)
Makes about 20 muffins
1 cup (250 mL) bran cereal
1 cup (250 mL) milk
3 very ripe bananas, mashed if you don't have a potato masher
½ cup (125 mL) sugar
¼ cup (60 mL) vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
1½ cups (375 mL) whole wheat flour
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
¼ cup (60 mL) chopped walnuts
¼ cup (60 mL) chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Pour bran cereal into a large mixing bowl, and add milk on top. Set aside for about 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed into cereal. Add bananas, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla, and mash everything with potato masher. (If you don't have one, make sure you've mashed the bananas with a fork first, and then stir everything until blended.)
Add flour and baking soda, and stir until almost combined. Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips and mix until the batter is just blended.
Divide into paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are golden and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.*
Nutrition Info (per muffin): 126 calories, 5 g fat (1 g saturated), 9 mg cholesterol, 20 g carbohydrate (3 g fibre, 10 g sugar), 3 g protein, 80 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin B₆, folate (partly from fortification), vitamin B₁₂ (partly from fortification) and manganese. A good source of selenium.
*If you'd like to make branana bread instead, spread batter into a greased 8" × 4" loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until tops are golden and springy to the touch, and a cake tester inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.

Breakfast Quinoa

2011-07-10T22:39:00.002-06:00

Now that I'm *supposedly* taking the summer off to spend less time training, more time with the blog, it's time to clear the backlog! This recipe was one that I made for the May newsletter at work... Celiac Awareness Month.

I eat the same thing for breakfast nearly every morning – two slices of toast made from Silver Hills bread (The Big 16 was my favourite, but recently they came out with something called "20 Grain Train" which has pumpkin seeds. So amazing) topped with raw almond butter (though not too long ago I bought myself a jar of Peanut Butter & Co.'s "The Heat is On"... a touch too spicy for toast, but delicious nonetheless) and sliced banana.

I wanted to find something approachable but different for a gluten-free recipe, so I settled on Breakfast Quinoa after referencing a few recipes online.

Quinoa is the darling of gluten-free grains these days. Botanically a seed, it is one of the rare plant foods that is a complete protein, meaning that it has all of the essential amino acids. It is also a good source of B vitamins, iron, potassium and phosphorus.

Breakfast Quinoa is not too finicky of a thing - you cook it one part quinoa to two parts liquid (water, milk, or a bit of both... plant-based milks like soy or almond work too), then flavour as you wish. You can keep it simple with brown sugar and cinnamon, or add in your favourite fruits, nuts or seeds.

Mama T had bought the year's first case of Ataulfo mangoes (my favourite!) at the time, so in those went, plus some dried cranberries and cherries, and some pumpkin seeds. In the end, it was a nice summery combo for a breakfast that would probably be associated more with wintery weather. Plus, the additions work well nutritionally, as the vitamin C in the fruit helps you absorb the iron in the pumpkin seeds (but the calcium in the milk blocks it. Err...)

Breakfast quinoa is a great weekend breakfast, and you can make it as comforting or a crazy as you'd like. For weekdays, try Sophie's idea of heating leftover cooked quinoa with milk, so you don't have to wait for everything to cook through.

Breakfast Quinoa with Mango, Dried Fruit & Pumpkin Seeds
Adapted from Dinner with Julie (mostly)
Makes 4 servings
1 cup (250 mL) quinoa, rinsed thoroughly and drained
2 cups (500 mL) milk
1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon
¼ cup (60 mL) dried cranberries
2 mangoes, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)
¼ cup (60 mL) pumpkin seeds
In a saucepan, heat quinoa and milk on medium heat and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to cook, stirring occasionally, until the milk has been mostly absorbed, about 30 minutes.
Stir in cinnamon and dried fruit, and cook until milk has been completely absorbed.
Remove from heat. Stir in mango and garnish with pumpkin seeds before serving.
Nutrition Info (per serving): 326 calories, 8 g fat (2 g saturated, 0 g trans), 6 mg cholesterol, 53 g carbohydrate (6 g fibre, 23 g sugar), 13 g protein, 56 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin C, riboflavin (vitamin B₂), folate (vitamin B₄), magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and manganese. A good source of thiamine (vitamin B₁), vitamin B₆, vitamin E, calcium, iron, copper and selenium.

PS - Speaking of work, we are having a CONTEST! I was putting together our Recipes page and realized that we have no beef or pork recipes. So send them to me at vincci [at] fitnutconsulting [dot] com for a chance to win a copy of Cook!, the latest cookbook from Dietitians of Canada. I recently attended a "Culinary Bootcamp for Dietitians" and we made 10 recipes from the book - all were delicious! So far I've had very few entries, so you have a very good chance of winning!

2011 Goals Check-Up: May/June

2011-07-03T22:06:00.000-06:00

Why I don't blog as much anymore
Here is my "monthly" check-up on the goals I (should be) working on:

7.5 hours of sleep per night - Definitely not doing this. I'm getting better at making sure I'm getting to bed earlier than the night before, but then it all resets on Sunday night. I've been "tracking" by texting B. every night, but it's clearly not as effective as having a calendar full of red squares staring back at you...

Drink at least 1 L (one water bottle) of water per day - This is something that training is *definitely* helping me with. I don't hit 1 L every day, but on the days I train, I definitely get a little closer, if not more. The only problem is right now I'm having a negative relationship with my water bottle. It's broken a few times and I've "fixed" it with crazy glue, but now it leaks (and I don't know how good it is that I'm ingesting mg of crazy glue every day!) so it's not as convenient to carry around. I'm on the hunt for a new water bottle, preferably one that I can drink from with my boxing gloves on.

Continue increasing number of blog posts per year - This is something that training is definitely *not* helping me with. My plan is to slow down a little bit over the summer though, so hopefully I can at least get through the backlog! Don't think it's realistic to expect to post more in 2011 than I did in 2010 though, which is too bad, especially because I've also been losing readers along the way... :S But, I think the training is worth it!

Read at least 12 books this year - I did end up picking up Bitter Medicine and read it in two days! It was a little bit strange reading it as I know a few of the members of the Martini family, and I felt like I was peering into a part of their life I wasn't supposed to know about. It is an easy, but poignant read, and a very personal call to arms for more support in mental health care. Now I'm working on Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. It took me a while to actually open the book since I bought it, but once I did, I got through quite a bit of it very quickly. I've since slowed down (again, time) but I think once I give myself some time to just sit down and read it, I'll finish it quickly.

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight - As I said in my previous entry, I entered an exhibition fight during May long weekend. My opponent was younger, smaller and less prepared. Unfortunately it wasn't adjudicated, so I'm not sure if it counts as a "win". I had another fight on June 18 where I lost against someone who has been training for twice as long as I have, and has a few full fights (this was a "smoker", so there were fewer rounds, and they're shorter) under her belt. Despite losing, I got a lot of positive feedback in terms of how I was able to hold my own against someone as experienced as her, which was good. My trainer has been dangling a fight in August in front of me, but more realistically, I'm expecting to fight again in October.

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own - A few weeks ago, I participated in a "Culinary Bootcamp for Dietitians" taught by Mary Sue Waisman, who wrote/edited Cook!, the latest cookbook from Dietitians of Canada. As a group, we tackled 10 recipes from the cookbook - my partner and I were personally responsible for two. I will definitely blog about it ~~soon~~ eventually, but I just want to say I thought it was a great way to just try to tackle a lot of recipes from one cookbook. Perhaps if I could get a few people who like cooking together, we can have cooking parties where we can help each other work through our cookbooks...

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money - Now that I have every second Wednesday off with my new permanent position (!) I should make an appointment soon...

Create more/Participate in another creative/reflective project this year - I have not been journaling at all. I'm secretly hoping that #reverb11 will do daily prompts again in December, which will be better at forcing me to stop and reflect, I think.

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments - During May long weekend I had my fight, but then for the rest of the weekend we just sat around the house and watched Netflix. That was nice. We did end up having some sort of plan every weekend in June, but we also did take downtime here and there... just not two days in a row.

Rewards
To be honest, having the time to sit and write this blog post feels like a reward after two months of training up to six times a week, in addition to starting a new almost-full-time position in June. I am looking forward to more downtime this summer...

Galaxie Diner

2011-06-26T15:19:00.003-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Galaxie Diner has been a Beltline favourite since it first opened in 1996, but surprisingly, I had never been! So when my perennial brunchmate Tiffany gave me a choice between there and Holy Grill, I happily chose the former.

Galaxie Diner is your typical, little greasy diner, with bright red barstools and tables and an old-school letter board listing the menu above the grill. Each table boast an out-of-order jukebox and a dizzying array of condiments. The diner serves up its breakfast and lunch items all day, seven days a week. Even looking at the menu, you can tell this is not a dainty breakfast place - each dish is large and jam-packed with ingredients.

I ordered the Montreal Smoked Meat Hash ($13) which combined Montreal smoked meat (which Galaxie serves up next door at Myhre's Deli, as well as at its other Calgary restaurants, Belmont Diner and Avenue Deli) with hash browns, garlic mushrooms, onions, banana peppers and cheese, topped with basted eggs and toast.

I loved the gooey cheese and soft potatoes, but this dish was really heavy, and after a while the salty smoked meat and banana peppers were a little much. I still managed to finish about 2/3 of the hash, both eggs, but no toast. Tiffany was impressed.

Tiffany had the Barnyard ($11.50), which was their daily special scrawled on a chalkboard. It had bacon, smoked meat, sausage, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mushroom, onion and banana peppers all on a ciabatta bun... with a side of hashbrowns.

Tiffany wasn't able to eat this like a regular sandwich, so she had to knife-and-fork it. I imagine it was heavy too, because she could only finish half, but she did eat all of her hashbrowns.

The Galaxie Diner is a great choice if you are looking for a big, greasy, hangover-curing breakfast. The service is quick (the line was already snaking down the sidewalk when we arrived at 10:30, but we didn't have to wait long) and friendly. However, I must admit I prefer a daintier breakfast!

Galaxie Diner
1413 11 St SW
Calgary AB T2R 1G7
(403) 228-0001
Mon-Fri 7 AM-3 PM; Sat, Sun, Hols 7 AM-4 PM
If you can, try to get free 2-hr street parking on 15 Ave; 11 St is ParkPlus

Tilted Grill

2011-06-05T11:26:00.001-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

A few weeks ago, I had the honour of being invited by the talented Chelsea Klukas to an event promoting one of her most recent clients, Tilted Grill.

It was a smaller, more intimate event than the last tasting event I'd been to, and it was great catching up with fellow Calgary food bloggers Dan and Anh, as well as meeting the girls of Club Club! Most importantly, who can turn down free eats?

Tilted Grill is owned by Paul Paterson and Brian West (the latter of Vicious Circle and Loungeburger fame) that takes over the previous spot occupied by BLVD on the corner of 18th Ave and 4th St SW. It is a large space, seating about 175 people inside, and their patio, which just opened this weekend, doubles their capacity.

The menu is inspired by the street trucks in Los Angeles, where Paul lived for many years before moving back to Calgary to realize this restaurant concept. Thus, there's lots of fusion items on the menu, with an emphasis on Asian and Mexican flavours.

We started the night off with a few caesars - the Chinook Caesar ($6.75), which is made with Alaska Distillery Smoked Salmon Vodka. Paul brought around a bottle for us to smell, and it really did smell like smoked salmon! In the caesar, it imparted a salty, smoky flavour. B.'s Pepper Caesar ($6.75) had a lighter, spicy, peppery flavour, thanks to Absolut Peppar Vodka.

Then came the food. First were the Viet Pork Skewers ($8), which came with a chili-garlic sauce and hoisin sauce for dipping.

The pork was nice and moist, but these were unfortunately too salty. Also, in the description they were oddly described as "banh mi", which is the Vietnamese word for Vietnamese subs (or more specifically, the baguette that they are made in) but there was no bread in this dish...

Next came the Gogi Sliders ($11), which were little buns with sirloin marinated with Korean BBQ sauce topped with shredded lettuce, the bane of Anh's existence. ("It's usually soggy and doesn't add any flavour or texture.") There were also clumps of shredded carrot wedged between the sliders, which we put in the sliders ourselves.

These sliders had the potential to be very interesting - the marinade imparted a salty-sweet flavour with a bit of a spicy kick, but like most of our dishes at Tilted Grill, the salt again dominated the flavours in the dish.

The Grilled Calamari Tacos ($14) are made with calamari that are soaked in a buttermilk marinade for 24 hours before being grilled and placed into warm flour tortillas along with shredded lettuce and pico de gallo, with sides of housemade salsa rayo and chipotle aioli.

I wasn't impressed with the white-on-white presentation (perhaps the pico de gallo should go on top next time?) and the tacos were very messy and soggy (granted, we did spend time chatting and taking photos). However, the salsa rayo was very lovely, with its smoky, sweet roasted tomato, and the chipotle aioli was good too.

I was really looking forward to the Smoked Mac-N-Cheese ($11), as it is one of my favourite comfort foods.

I really liked the flavour of this dish, and the smoky, crunchy bacon bits in each bite. However, the sauce was very thick and starchy - it reminded me of cheesy mashed potatoes.

While not originally on our menu, Paul treated us to some of the main platters as well. First was the Peking Crackling Chicken ($24), which is the Tilted Grill's take on 炸子雞, a *ahem* Cantonese chicken dish, which was served with a sweet soy dipping sauce.

The skin was, as promised, nice and crispy but it is obvious that the chicken has been brined for two days - my first bite was very salty! B. asked, "Is it because of the dipping sauce?" So I cut off a new piece with no sauce. "No."
The second was the Mole Chichilo Poblano ($17), chicken breast with a sweet-and-spicy mole sauce over rice.

I'm not sure how I feel about having two chicken dishes on such a short main dish menu, but of the two, I would probably choose this one. The mole sauce definitely has more interesting flavours, and the chicken was very tender.

The highlight of the night was dessert - Glazed Donut Satay ($7):

The mini, baked donuts were melt-in-your-mouth goodness, with just a hint of cinnamon. I was worried that the candied banana would be mushy, but it was nice and firm. I would recommend skipping the gritty Lindt chocolate sauce though.

Tilted Grill offers an extensive wine list (including some wines for only $7.50 per glass) as well as an impressive list of flavoured vodkas. Twitter and Urbanspoon are abuzz with lots of positive comments about their weekend brunch menu (Red Velvet Pancakes, anyone?). Their big patio in Mission is also the perfect place to people watch. There are lots of things to like about Tilted Grill, but I personally will be staying away from their savoury dishes until they have had some time to work out their initial growing pains.

Tilted Grill
1800 4 St SW
Calgary AB T2S 2S4
(403) 229-3366
Underground parking available.

Mango Coconut Bread

2011-05-23T18:14:00.000-06:00

This bread was so good that the only good photos I have of it are of this little half-slice.
Recently I participated in my friend Kristina's 100 Women Project. Kristina is always baking treats for everybody else, so I decided I would bring some to share with her and the other ladies at the event. Mama T had just bought a couple cases of Ataulfo mangoes that surprisingly were not disappearing nearly quickly enough, so I decided to try my own version of this fresh mango bread from Montcarte, which she adapted from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours

I know when it comes to quickbreads, many people like them light and sweet, like a cake, but I prefer to play up the word "bread" and make them dense and substantial. I've had success with cutting half the sugar out of one of Dorie's recipes before, so I did the same here, and obviously swapped in whole wheat flour for white. Generally I sub in a mix of ground flaxseed and oat bran for part of the flour (here it was that last ½ cup) just for some extra fibre and nutrition – you can do the same with whatever ground nut, seed or bran you have on hand; those are just what I usually have in my home.

The original recipe calls for raisins, but I thought coconut would be a better addition to the mango and lime zest. Next time I would definitely try the fresh ginger as well, and maybe tinkering with the spices a bit more.

This bread is so great. Overall, it has just a hint of sweetness. The coconut adds to the bread's dense, chewy texture, while the diced mango adds pockets of fresh, bright, sweet and tart flavour. I know the saturated fat content might be a little scary, but most of that comes from the coconut - while I don't buy into the marketing that it is some miracle, fat-burning fruit, the main saturated fat in coconut is lauric acid, which is made up of shorter chains than palmitic acid (the most common type in foods like beef and butter), and is processed differently in our bodies. (For example, patients who have malabsorption in hospitals are sometimes given these medium-chain fats so that they are easier to absorb.) Like palmitic acid, lauric acid does increase our LDL "bad/lousy" cholesterol, but it also increases our HDL "good/healthy" cholesterol. Of course, all fats (healthy or not), contribute 9 calories per gram, so enjoy in moderation!

Mango Coconut Bread
Adapted from Montcarte/Baking: From My Home to Yours
Makes 1 loaf
3 large eggs
¾ cup (185 mL) canola oil
2½ cups (625 mL) whole wheat flour
½ cup (125 mL) sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1½ tsp (7 mL) ground or fresh grated ginger
1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon
¼ cup (60 mL) light brown sugar
2 cups (500 mL) diced mango (about 2-3 mangoes)
¾ cup (185 mL) sweetened shredded coconut
Zest from ½ lime
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Grease and flour a 8½" × 4½" loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and oil. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, flaxseed, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Rub the brown sugar between your palms into the bowl, breaking up any lumps, then stir it in.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and use a sturdy rubber spatula or wooden spoon to mix until blended. The batter will be very thick and doughy, but persevere, it will soon come together.
Stir in the mango, coconut and lime zest. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Nutrition Info (per ¾" slice): 349 calories, 19 g fat (4 g saturated), 50 mg cholesterol, 42 g carbohydrate (4 g fibre, 21 g sugar), 6 g protein, 196 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin E, manganese and selenium. A good source of vitamin K and magnesium.

Without Papers

2011-05-16T22:58:00.001-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

You may be surprised to learn that my friend Tiffany and I eat meals other than brunch together. A few weeks ago, we went for supper at Without Papers, a new pizzeria in Inglewood run by the owners of Sugo just next door.

The name "Without Papers" is actually a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that although the restaurant specializes in thin-crust, Neapolitan-style pizza, they are not registered with the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana, the international group that ensures that its members adhere to strict specifications (including ingredients and method) that make a Neapolitan pizza.

The restaurant takes over the space that was previously occupied by Nectar Desserts, the former venture of ousted Top Chef Canada competitor, Rebekah Pearse. The new owners have made the space appear larger by knocking down a few walls to create a semi-open kitchen. They've also gotten rid of the clunky (but comfy!) furniture that was in Nectar, and replaced it with seating that lines the perimeter of the restaurant and the stairs in the middle that blends in nicely with the existing creaky wooden floors and exposed brick walls. The only downside to the renos is that there isn't a lot of space for people waiting for a table - when it's busy, potential patrons are either blocking the narrow stairway or hovering awkwardly close to people seated at the bar.

Tiffany had been to Without Papers once before, and recommended the Hogwild ($18), a white pizza with spicy wild boar sausage, prosciutto, braised rapini and friulano cheese. She did warn that some people found the combination of sausage and prosciutto too salty. Coincidentally, shortly before we ordered, we ran into Julie, who, without asking what we were planning to have, said that she found the Hogwild too salty.

We ordered it anyway.

Perhaps the trick to enjoying Hogwild is the expectation that it would be salty. I liked the contrast in texture between the crisp prosciutto and the bits of spicy, ground boar, and I thought that the bittersweet rapini did a great job cutting through all the saltiness. The crust was nicely charred and full of air pockets, though those who like Neapolitan pizza may find the crust a little too crisp, without much chew. (I didn't mind.)

Interestingly, it was our other pizza, the Baby Doll ($18), that I found too salty, with its large chunks of canned artichoke. I felt that it took away from the rest of the toppings, which included eggplant (don't remember this being on the pizza at all), roasted free-range chicken, cherry tomatoes and goats' cheese.

As per fellow Calgary is Awesome editor Irene's advice, we paid the extra $3 to get the bolognese dipping sauce. The sauce was warm, tomatoey and meaty, but there's so little crust on the pizzas at Without Papers (which is a good thing, in my opinion) that next time I would probably skip it.

Tiffany and I each ate four slices of pizza (aka 2/3 of a pizza each), so we couldn't enjoy all the other delicious treats that are available at Without Papers - their menu boasts a list of shared appetizers, an eclectic selection of wines and beers (including Mill Street Lemon Tea ale) and house-made ice creams that can be enjoyed by themselves, or in a Grizzly Paw soda float (mmm...)

Without Papers doesn't take reservations, so be prepared to show up early (and wait!)

Without Papers
Upstairs, 1216 9 Ave SE
Calgary AB T2G 0T1
(403) 457-1154
Open Tues-Sat 11 AM-11 PM; Sun 3 PM-11 PM. Closed Mondays. No reservations.

2011 Goals Check-Up: April

2011-05-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but I blog much faster without photos
Here is my monthly checkup for the goals I (should be) working on:

7.5 hours of sleep per night - I slept so much in Cuba! Usually I am always up before B. on weekends, but during the trip I slept as long - and some nights longer - than he did. On top of that, I'm pretty sure I napped on the beach or by the pool every single day. Upon my return to Calgary, unfortunately, I think I managed to get to bed on time for only one night :(

Drink at least 1 L (one water bottle) of water per day - I think I lied in March. I've been drinking as much, if not more, water as I did last month and, well, I'm not going to finish that sentence. I came down with a cold for a couple weeks and *definitely* met this goal. Now that I'm not sick anymore I have to force myself, but I probably finish at least 750 mL/day... which I know isn't really that much in the grand scheme of things...

Continue increasing number of blog posts per year - I only wrote five posts in April 2011 vs. eight in 2010. It's not that I have nothing to write - in addition to the new recipes and new restaurants I've been trying, I should also write about the food in China and in Cuba. You'll notice that my posts sort of come in spurts, and I think it'll be like that for the rest of the year. Now if only I could get a solid chunk of time off just to blog... (and still somehow get paid.)

Read at least 12 books this year - I still haven't bought book number... 2... yet. My friend's dad is the author of Bitter Medicine, which is up for the Alberta Readers' Choice Award. I'm voting *almost* every day, and seriously thinking of picking it up.

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight - I'm entering an exhibition fight during May long weekend! I've been putting in my hours, but not getting as much sparring practice as I'd like. We'll see how it goes.

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own - Mama T is away right now, so I think I will tackle a few recipes this month. Unfortunately I only cooked from blogs in April.

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money - I need to book an appointment with a financial advisor.

Create more/Participate in another creative/reflective project this year - I find that every time I think of journaling, I end up picking up the phone and talking to B. about it, which allows me to put it into words and get some form of feedback. I'm slightly disappointed that the May #reverb11 is very similar to the February one, but I am still enjoying their "resources" (when I have time to look) and there's an interesting article from the Harvard Business Review called Four Reasons to Keep a Work Diary. Huh. Maybe I should start journalling again.

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments - Cuba was *fantastic*. I'd never been to an all-inclusive resort before, and wasn't sure if I'd like vacationing that way because usually when I travel, it's all about doing stuff and seeing stuff. It was a truly relaxing trip, and we still did a couple of excursions, so we weren't just laying around *all* the time. My only regret was that the weather wasn't very cooperative (it was sunny, but windy) so we couldn't try any of the water sports. Other than that, the week away is perfect.

Now a dilemma - B. feels that since we've spent seven days away in Cuba, plus 25 days away in China (though it is arguable whether or not we had commitments on the days we were in Hong Kong), that we've used up all our "commitment-free-weekend days" (i.e. 24), so we shouldn't allot anymore time. I think that it's not about the number of days, but about giving ourselves an opportunity to take a breather every month. What do you think?

Rewards
Aside from the days where I was sick and drank copious amounts of water, I don't think I achieved any of my goals in April. So no rewards. Hopefully May will be better.

Pimento's (is back!)

2011-05-08T08:00:00.002-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Chef Mario waving at me as he runs out to deliver some gelato to a customer eating in their car
A few weeks ago I started noticing the sign tacked onto the little white, brick building on 1 Ave NE as I drove to and from B.'s house. "Chef Mario - Opening Spring 2011"

Chef Mario... Isn't that the guy who drives the pizza van? B. and I had tried calling him once last summer, but he was unfortunately tied up at a catering gig. Last Friday, Pimento's finally opened, and as I drove my usual route, I could see through the windows that the building was *packed*, with people spilling onto the streets.

As I drove by the restaurant a few more times, I became more perplexed. Did that sign really say "Pizzeria Cones"? Was Pimento's now in the pizza and gelato business? Finally, B. and I headed down for supper yesterday to see what the new Pimento's was all about.

As we entered the *tiny* space (it's standing room/takeout only), Chef Mario was manning the counter by himself while another customer who had eaten there nearly every day since the restaurant opened (he turned out to be a high school friend of Mario's) helped us navigate the menu. While B. and I had intended to share a pizza, we learned that Mario's classic combinations (plus a new one called "Una" with apricots and brie) now came in the form of "flowers" and "cones", thanks to fancy machinery imported from Italy that shaped the dough into a trumpet-flower-shaped single serving, or a longer, narrower cone, respectively. The flowers and cones are placed on custom racks and baked in a state-of-the-art oven, also from Italy. Currently, only the "flowers" are available, but Mario hopes to perfect and roll out the cones by next week. Non-pizza fillings are also available.


B. ordered the Capricciosa ("cabbage patch") while I went for the classic Pimento's. Both flowers were topped with a green olive and a cheese-filled pepper.

B.'s Capricciosa was topped with bocconcini, prosciutto cotto, mushrooms, artichoke and black olives on a simple tomato sauce. B. enjoyed his flower, but said the flavours didn't quite excite him.

The same tomato sauce serves as the base for the Pimento's, which is loaded with provolone, bocconcini, prosciutto cotto, peppers, onions and Italian sausage. I loved the stringy provolone and mild, tender sausage.

We both agreed that the flower shape made eating the pizza quite convenient. The thin crust has a nice balance between chewiness and crispiness, but lacks the char that some may have become familiar with, now that there are so many Neapolitan-style pizzerias popping up around town. You'll have to eat these fast as the crust does become a little soggy in the middle with all the toppings. But the best part comes after you've eaten around the round part of the "flower" and get to the cone in the middle - the crust is a little thicker here so it doesn't get soggy, and some of the warm filling has slipped into the centre. Yum.

B. and I can't wait till the cones come out, because we are imagining that the entire "pizza" is just going to be this good, warm cone part.

While we waited for our pizzas to cook, Mario talked us into trying one of his "dolce" flowers, which are the same shape as the pizza flowers, but with a flavour and texture reminiscent of a sugar cone. They come filled with housemade gelato (right now it's lemon) or Nutella. Since I had a brick of a camera with me (my "tiny" GF1 is currently cruising the Mediterranean with B.'s family), Mario invited me behind the counter to watch him make the whole shebang - first he spreads around some soft, lemon gelato, nestles in a piece of Lindt milk chocolate, then dabs on some whipped cream, before finishing it off with a sprinkling of pistachio.




This was so yummy - both the gelato and cream were light and airy, with a touch of bright lemon flavour, going well with the crunchy cone and pistachios.

Pimento's has been a Bridgeland/Renfrew establishment for many years, first in its former location on General Ave, then in its roving pizza van, and now its current incarnation. For those who loved the van, Mario still uses it for catering. I'm hoping for warm summer nights so we can walk down to Pimento's, then sit outside on the stoop or across the street on the benches, downing our pizza cones.

Pimento's
814 1 Ave NE
Calgary AB T2E 0C1
(403) 515-0065
Cash only. No orders by phone.

Asian Radish Slaw

2011-04-19T21:52:00.000-06:00

For April's FitNut Consulting newsletter, I went with a general spring theme, focusing on the nutritional benefits of spring vegetables like asparagus, peas, rhubarb and of course, radish.

Asparagus is by far the most nutritious of the bunch, as it is rich in folate, potassium and vitamin K, as well as a few antioxidants. While radishes don't offer as much nutritionally, they are still good sources of vitamin C and potassium.

For this recipe, I picked up a bunch of "regular" radish as well as a gorgeous watermelon radish. Not only does it provide some contrast in colour (I hope that they will have some different varieties of radish at the farmer's market this season!), it was also sweeter, and less peppery than its bright red cousins.

I don't ~~have a~~ know where Mama T keeps her mandoline, so I got to work julienning the radishes. Tip: once you cut off the ends and slice the radish, cut the strips cross-wise so each string of radish has pretty red tips.

A sprinkling of spring onions adds a spicy kick before the salad is dressed simply with some rice vinegar sweetened with sugar, so it's like a quick pickle. In fact, the longer you let the salad sit, the more softens and pickles, turning all the radishes pink! I tried to use honey as the sweetener to see if I could use less to achieve the same taste but this salad still ends up being so low-calorie that it doesn't matter either way.

Since the dish itself doesn't offer very much macronutrient-wise, I'd suggest to serve it with some grilled fish and some nutty, brown rice (actually, this bamboo rice that Jen found looks absolutely precious) for a healthy, balanced meal.

Asian Radish Slaw
Adapted from Tea & Cookies
Makes about 2 cups (serves 2-4 as a side dish)
2 cups (500 ml) radishes, about 2 bunches, julienned or shredded on a mandoline
2 green onions, sliced
¼ cup (60 mL) rice vinegar
1½ (6 mL) tsp sugar
¼ tsp (1 mL) black sesame seeds, optional
In a large bowl, mix together radish and green onion. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, heat rice vinegar and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Let the rice vinegar cool before pouring over radish and green onion. Toss to coat. Top with sesame seeds and serve.
Nutrition Information (per ½ cup): 21 calories, 0.2 g fat (0 g saturated, 0 g trans), 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g carbohydrate (1 g fibre, 3 g sugar), 1 g protein, 24 mg sodium. A good source of vitamin K.

Book Review: The End of Overeating

2011-04-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

The End of Overeatingcame highly recommended to me by some of my clients at my previous practice, and I'd heard some of the Internet buzz when it first came out. Its author, Dr. David Kessler, is a pediatrician known for his role as former commissioner for the US Food and Drug Admistration (FDA). During his tenure (from 1990-1997), he played a role in speeding the process of drug approvals and setting regulations for tobacco marketing, standardized Nutrition Facts tables and food safety. In the past, he had also struggled with his weight, which was part of his impetus for writing The End of Overeating.

The overarching theme behind the book is Kessler's theory of "conditioned hypereating" - foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt cause neurological changes that motivate us to seek more of those foods to get that same "high". As we eat more of these foods, it continues to reinforce that "high" and eventually, eating these foods becomes a subconscious, automatic response as opposed to a conscious choice, which has ultimately led to the obesity epidemic today. However, Kessler notes that the problem of overeating is not exclusive to those with weight problems - I'm sure most people can relate to sitting down and snacking on something mindlessly until the package is empty, unconsciously scooping up a few candies from the candy bowl sitting on their co-worker's desk every time they walk by, or consistently picking at a bowl of chips or popcorn at any party (that's me!).

Kessler explains, "I've termed the resulting behaviour 'conditioned overeating.' 'Conditioned' because it becomes an automatic response to widely available food and its cues, 'hyper' because the eating is excessive, driven by motivational forces we find difficult to control."

I was quite fascinated by the first few sections of the book, as Kessler reviewed some of the studies done with foods high in sugar, fat and/or salt and how subjects (animals and humans alike) responded to them as a reward, or how MRI scans showed that they activated our brains. It was particularly interesting to read how the combinations of sugar, fat and salt that you find in restaurant meals or packaged foods are by no means an accident.

Kessler then goes on to elaborate on the neurological/psychological basis of "conditioned overeating" and some of the psychological theories behind reversing it. I wasn't as impressed with these sections of the book as I found the writing to be a bit "clunky" - Kessler would present a hypothesis (i.e. highly palatable foods drive a cycle of overeating behaviour via reinforcement learning), add in a few quotes from researchers working on the topic (usually *not* in a food/nutrition context), repeat. The skeptical, evidence-based practitioner in me sees why this is a book as opposed to say, a review article - while Kessler's statements make sense and could be proven if study design allowed, there really isn't enough, if any, evidence to prove that it is true. Ultimately, this is why health practitioners may not use these theories in practice.

As an aside, I think that's the sad thing when it comes to health research and innovation - there's obviously some great research that's being done on new theories and therapies, but it takes a lot of research to finally have enough evidence to have something included into practice, and ultimately that does not get communicated to the public because all that stuff is stuck in scientific journals as opposed to books or other forms of media. At the same time, anyone can write a book, no matter their credentials, so the market is saturated with misinformation and we have to slog through a lot of crap to get to the good stuff.

Anyway...

I was a little disappointed to see that the "solutions" section of The End of Overeating was very small as I think a lot of the times when people pick up books like these they are looking for answers. Kessler calls his system Food Rehab (as per the book the term is trademarked but I haven't been able to find more information anywhere), and some of the basic principles are concepts that I've already heard. For example, "Treating conditioned hypereating means recognizing it as a chronic problem that needs to be managed, not one that can be completely cured," sounds almost exactly like Dr. Arya Sharma's approach to obesity management. Although the concepts were not new to me, I do like seeing how other people present them to help me explain them differently to my own clients. Kessler goes on to say, "I don't offer a one-size-fits-all technique, because I know it will not work. New learning that sticks is new learning that resonates for you."

I particularly liked his idea of setting "rules" - while I try to avoid being very restrictive with people because it can often backfire, I do see how making rules can help to simplify the process of trying to overcome overeating. Instead of trying to force your thoughts onto something else when you see the prohibited food, you simply tell yourself that you're not allowed. I think it could work as a starting strategy for a person's "problem foods", and then as a person tries some of the other strategies in the book to make food a more conscious choice, they can slowly reintroduce foods that had caused them problems in the past.

Despite some of my qualms with the quality of the writing in parts of the book, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in a more psychological versus physiological look on overeating, and by extension, obesity and weight loss.

PS: This blog is where I write about food, but if you'd like to read some of the stuff I write about nutrition, please sign up for a monthly newsletter I write for FitNut Consulting, "like" us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Thanks!

Brunch @ The Bottlehouse

2011-04-17T15:05:00.000-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Breakfast with Tiffany again. This time we decided to check out The BottleHouse on the corner of Memorial Dr and 10 Ave NW, otherwise known as the "doomed corner" for the short lives of the previous eating establishments. The BottleHouse is still going strong, and its weekend brunch - particularly their Hollandaise sauce - gets rave reviews.

The BottleHouse is a spacious pub with large windows that let in a lot of natural light. When Tiffany and I went a few Saturdays ago (on a Market Collective weekend) the place wasn't too busy. Their brunch menu consists of mainly egg-based dishes (eggs with different breakfast sides, omelettes, eggs bennies) plus a short list of "sweet treats" like waffles, French toast, pancakes and granola. You can also "create your own" breakfast by ordering from their list of sides.

I had the Super Trooper ($11.25, pictured above), which was sort of a breakfast hash with hash browns, veggies and Hungarian sausage topped with two eggs (my choice: poached) and their signature Hollandaise sauce.

The hash browns were probably my favourite part of the dish - perfect cubes of crispy, battered potato. I also loved the slices of mild sausage and the creamy, buttery Hollandaise, but in the end the dish was a little too heavy (I was "egged out" from the two poached eggs and the Hollandaise) and I ended up leaving about a quarter of it on my plate.

Tiffany had the O Canada Omelette ($13.25), which came with ham (no Canadian bacon?), green onions, mushrooms, tomato and marble cheddar.

The picture doesn't look like much, but under that top egg layer was a mound of toppings that were barely held together by the rest of the omelette. (BottleHouse's omelettes are cooked frittata-style) I don't think Tiffany was able to finish her brunch either.

I have read previous reviews of inefficient service at The BottleHouse (i.e. lots of waitresses standing around when it's not busy) but overall we had a pretty good experience. I would go back again for some pre-Market Collective fuel, but I will probably be splitting a dish next time.

The Bottlehouse
102 10 St NW
Calgary AB T2N 1V3
(403) 265-0018

PS: I know I'm sounding like a broken record about this, but please update your RSS feeds and bookmarks to www.cecinestpasunfoodblog.com. According to Google Reader, 180 of you still haven't done it!

Mushroom Bourguignon

2011-04-14T20:04:00.002-06:00

A certain TV appearance back in February left me with a glut of mushrooms. The "fancy" ones (oyster, shiitake, enoki) became part of an *epic* hotpot... (and they were very good - I'll have to include more mushrooms into my future hotpot plans)

Photo by Joyce Li

...while the more "common" ones (portobello, crimini, button) were all incorporated into this mushroom bourguignon.

This recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen via Montcarte. The flavour is super-rich and if you use nice, big slices of portobello, I'm sure you can trick non-vegetarians into thinking that this hearty, filling dish that there's meat in it!

In reviewing my photos versus those of Deb and Kim though, I think there are a few things I might do differently next time...

I definitely took the instruction of "dice carrots finely" a little too literally... (it's the knife, I swear!)

For the wine, I used Cabarnet Sauvignon... from a can! Which was surprisingly good - I wouldn't necessarily say it was "full-bodied", but it was very fruity. Perfect for when there's no way that a bottle can be finished.

And those blasted pearl onions! They were such a pain to peel - will use frozen next time.

Finally, I probably could've let the sauce thicken much, much more. Kim from Montcarte suggests adding cornstarch dissolved in water to help speed up the process.

Instead of the traditional egg noodles and sour cream, I served it with whole wheat spaghetti and plain greek yogurt (at least I didn't skimp on the parsley!) Despite these mistakes, the dish was ok, and I might make it again... properly!

Mushroom Bourguignon
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen/Montcarte
Makes 4 servings
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter, softened, divided
1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
2 lb (900 g) portobello mushrooms, sliced (1/4 inch thick)
½ carrot, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup (250 mL) full-bodied red wine
2 cups (500 mL) beef or vegetable broth
2 tbsp (30 mL) tomato paste
1 tsp (5 mL) fresh thyme, or ½ tsp (2 mL) dried
1½ tbsp (22 mL) all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 mL) pearl onions, peeled (thawed if frozen)
Heat 1 tbsp (15 mL) of butter in a medium Dutch oven or heavy saucepan over high heat. Sear the mushrooms until they begin to darken, but not yet release any liquid - about 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan.
Lower heat to medium and add olive oil. Toss the carrots, onions, thyme and salt and pepper to taste into the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
Add the wine to the pot, scraping any stuck bits off the bottom, then turn the heat all the way up and reduce by half. Stir in tomato paste and broth. Return mushrooms and any juices that may have collected into the pan. Once the liquid has boiled, reduce the temperature and simmer for 20 minutes, until mushrooms are very tender. Add pearl onions and simmer for 5 more minutes.
Combine remaining tbsp of butter and flour with a fork until combined; stir into stew. Simmer for 10 more minutes. If the sauce is too thin, increase the heat and boil it down to reduce to the right consistency. Season to taste.
To serve, spoon the stew over a bowl of egg noodles (or whole wheat pasta, or rice), dollop with sour cream (or plain yogurt) and sprinkle with chives or parsley.
Nutrition Info (per serving): 239 calories, 9 g fat (4 g saturated), 15 mg cholesterol, 22 g carbohydrate (5 g fibre, 10 g sugar), 9 g protein, 406 mg sodium. An excellent source of niacin (vitamin B₃), folate (vitamin B₄), pantothenic acid (vitamin B₅), vitamin B₆, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese and selenium. A good source of thiamin (vitamin B₁), riboflavin (vitamin B₂) and zinc.

PS: If you haven't yet, please don't forget to switch your RSS feeds and bookmarks to www.cecinestpasunfoodblog.com. The Blogspot link still redirects to this site and the Blogspot feed still works (though with a bit of a delay), but it's always good to keep things consistent. Thanks!

2011 Goals Check-Up: March

2011-04-12T22:35:00.000-06:00

Photo by Jo Pearse

I don't feel like I'm quite ready to be home yet. I just returned from a week in Cuba celebrating the wedding of friends, (yes, this was our "weekend" with no commitments for April) and I guiltlessly slept in, ate, drank (but not to "Pub Golf" levels), lazed around in the ~~sun~~ shade (but I still have a bit of a tan) and read a bit about parenteral nutrition for good measure. Fortunately for me I didn't have to go into work until tomorrow, so I had a couple days to recover from a less-than-optimal flight home (7 hour layover overnight in Toronto, yeesh!) ...and do my taxes.

Perhaps a little more sleep, then I think I'm ready for real life, which should consist of...

7.5 hours of sleep per night - Towards the end of March, B. and I resolved to call each other at 10 PM to remind the other person to go to bed. The first call failed miserably - at 1:42 AM I texted "Finally in bed. Good night!" and the reply I got was "Me too :( Just turned lights out". Our results improved slightly over time, but we never got to bed before 11 (...for 6:30 AM wake-up, so I guess I achieved my goal somewhat?)

Drink as much fluid necessary to have clear pee - I find it easier to try to force myself to drink at least 1 L of water a day (I know, I know, some of you out there drink 4 L... I'm not very good at this!) just so I have some sort of a benchmark... I don't always achieve it, but I do have clear pee for the most part. But it's probably better to change this goal to Drink at least 1 L (one water bottle) of water per day and hopefully increase it back to last year's goal of 48 oz once I get better at it.

Continue increasing number of blog posts per year - I wrote nine posts in March 2011 vs. seven in 2010, but I'm still far behind the year-to-date count.

Read at least 12 books this year - I finally finished The End of Overeatingwhile in Cuba. It was a little clunky to read, but Dr. Kessler does make some good points toward the end. Full review to come soon. My next book will probably be related to social mediafor my work, but part of me is yearning for some fiction. Why isn't The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nestout in paperback yet? What have you been reading lately?

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight - I gained 2 lb in Cuba, which isn't too much, but I still feel lazy and out of shape and seriously need to kick my training up several notches if I want to fight within the next few months (my trainer says possibly as soon as a month from now...)

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own - I recently realized that B. and I haven't cooked together in a while. That makes me sad.

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money - On hold until I know how much I'm allowed to contribute this year. The Calgary Herald published a good (to a savings n00b like me) article on investing. I like the idea of setting goals for the money, and I know those have definitely changed for me within the past year.

Create more/Participate in another creative/reflective project this year - I am still loving the #reverb11 monthly prompts and resources. Honestly, if you need just a little nudge, plus some reading (and videos and audios) to keep those creative vibes flowing, you should sign up for their mailing list! April's prompt is simple - "What's blossoming?" I'm envisioning a colourful collage with flower-shaped cutouts of things that are happening in my life and in the world. *sigh* I still have my annual horoscope that I clipped in January that I've been meaning to make into a collage. I've just been letting other things take priority over journaling and blogging. Ironically, I'm reading the horoscope again now and it says my mantra for this year is, "I'm not giving up things. I'm lightening up!"

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments - At the beginning of March, B. and I were still away on the China trip. Despite the lack of formal commitments, I still felt like I stressed myself out over "commitments" I made to myself to see as much as we could and I worried when I felt like we weren't doing everything, or not making it to sights because we chose to sleep in. Cuba was different; I can't wait to write about it at the end of this month!

Rewards
What did I achieve in March? I guess I slept for 7.5+ hours for a night or two and had clear pee... So Cuba was my reward. While we were there the groom said something that I need to remind myself because I know I make this mistake all the time - he thanked us for travelling down to the wedding because "there are lots of reasons to choose not to do something. We don't give ourselves enough credit for choosing to do something."

Taste's New Menu

2011-03-27T15:53:00.001-06:00

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Last Monday, I had the honour of being invited to a media event put on by Taste to rub elbows with media types, catch up with old friends and meet new ones, and of course, taste some great eats from their new menu!

I hadn't been to Taste before, but I'd been thinking of them ever since they were at Slow Food Calgary's Feast of Fields last September - they had postcards at their table advertising their Taste Test Tuesdays, a three-course meal for $30 offered every Tuesday. On Thursdays, they have a Sausage Party - $5 beers and a different house-made sausage each week.

On the other days of the week, the cozy, 36-seat restaurant focuses on "small plates" priced at $5-increments, and you can order one of everything on the menu ("The Big Bankowski") for $250. During the day, there's soups, salads, pastas and a selection of sandwiches for $12.

Monday's event highlighted some of the new menus that will be unveiled in the coming weeks, as well as some long-standing favourites, like the Duck Fat Popcorn ($5) we munched on as guests trickled in and sipped on glasses of bubbly:

The air-popped popcorn is tossed in melted duck fat and topped with a sprinkling of duck skin cracklins. I don't know if I've had bad luck with air-popped popcorn lately or if it's just the way it is, but I've found that when it's warm, it's a little chewy, but as it cools it actually crisps up and tastes better. The duck fat and cracklins gave a depth to the flavour of the light, airy popcorn - a very indulgent snack!

We also munched on some pillowy Pretzel Bits ($5), which came with a zippy white wine mustard for dipping:

Then it was on to the "main courses". I noticed that many of Taste's dishes like to mix sweet and savoury flavours, like this Organic Heirloom Tomato Salad ($9, lunch menu) topped with a dollop of basil mascarpone and a balsamic reduction.

I'm a sucker for colourful heirloom tomatoes, but they're not quite in season yet and were a little sour, though it went well with the sweet balsamic reduction. The smooth and buttery basil mascarpone was surprisingly light (I think it was whipped?) and packed with herb flavour.

Next up was Taste's take on bacon-wrapped scallops - seared scallops topped with crisp pancetta on a bed of braised savoy cabbage and fennel ($15).

The scallops were prepared simply, emphasizing their natural sweet flavour, while the crisp, non-greasy pancetta provided the savoury contrast. The braised vegetables were very tender, releasing their natural sweetness.

The pistachio-crusted Lamb Chops ($15), made with lamb from Sunterra Farms and sitting in a pool of maple glaze, were quite popular amongst the group. The sweet, nutty flavours were a nice change from the usual flavours that I generally associate with lamb, like rosemary or mint.

Another crowd favourite was their Mac 'n' Cheese ($10 at night, $12 for lunch), made with cavatappi (or, as I like to call them, Scoobi Doos) in a classic Mornay sauce with aged cheddar and parmesan, sprinkled with garlicky sea salt.

Yum. The ultimate comfort food.

Taste did up a few fusion dishes as well, like their Tuna Tartare ($15) which was topped with wasabi tobiko and served on wasabi tuile cookies.

I loved the fresh, melt-in-your-mouth tuna, which was perked up with a hint of ginger and sesame. The tuile cookie was a bit soft and I could hardly taste any wasabi in neither the cookie or the tobiko. I'm not sure whether the sweet-savoury combo worked here.

My favourite dish was the Asian-inspired Beef Tataki Tacos ($15), crispy wonton wrappers fried just so the tacos could stand upright, filled with slices of seared beef and a heap of carrot salsa. The flavours were fresh, tart and perky and I loved the crunchy shell and crisp carrots. The only quibble we had at our table was that the wonton wrappers still seemed to have a bit of raw flour on them, but otherwise they were delicious!

Throughout our meal we sipped on two wines - a red and white - chosen by wine director Brad Royale. Taste's wine list is unique in that it changes every month, corresponding to a different theme (March's was "Blend Your Mind", focusing on - you guessed it! - blended wines) and all wines are available by the glass. Since most of the dishes seemed lighter I gravitated toward the white - a light and fresh blend of Riesling, Weissburgundur and Chardonnay from the German vineyard Schloss Reinhartshausen. The red was a 2007 Antinori Tignanello - a blend of Sangiovese and Cabarnet Sauvignon.

We finished our meal with these delicious Chiffon Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream. Instead of offering mints or chocolates, Taste serves these at the end of every meal, though you can buy a dozen for $12. The cake was light and spongy, but I was most impressed with the icing - although deceivingly pale in colour, it packed a lot of espresso flavour and had a fluffy and airy texture.

All in all, it was a great event, a fantastic meal and a perfect introduction to Taste. I can't wait to go back!

Taste
1210 1 St SW
Calgary AB T2R 0V4
(403) 233-7730
Open Mon-Sat 11:30 AM-late. Closed Sundays. No reservations available, but may be booked for private events.

Spicy Indian Chickpeas

2011-03-26T15:10:00.000-06:00

I didn't think that simply making croutons (which was actually just an optional topping for a lentil soup recipe in the book) counted as cooking from Lucinda Scala Quinn's Mad Hungry, so I decided to tackle a recipe that I'd had my eye on for a while - Spicy Indian Chickpeas.

These chickpeas (or garbanzos, if you prefer) are not spicy in the fiery sense of the word (though you can certainly bump up the spice factor with some extra cayenne or fresh chilis), but instead in a sweet, aromatic way from a blend of cinnamon, garam masala, cumin, coriander, cloves, a touch of cayenne and fresh ginger. Since it uses canned chickpeas, this dish is quick to prepare as well - all you have to do is mix together the spices, sauté the ginger with some onion and garlic, then toss in the spices and the chickpeas, let it cook for a few minutes, and you're ready to eat!

I skipped the optional sliced onion, tomato and green chili garnish but I followed Lucinda's advice to serve it with some store-bought naan. There is a recipe for raita (Cucumber Yogurt Salad) in the book as well - simple plain yogurt or even a squeeze of lemon will work perfectly for a light, tart contrast to the chickpeas in a pinch. Because Lucinda's book is called "Mad Hungry" and geared toward large families (she has three boys of her own), many of the recipes in the book serve around 6 (often 8). Fortunately they halve quite easily for those who are not-so-mad hungry :)

Spicy Indian Chickpeas
Adapted from Mad Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys
by Lucinda Scala Quinn
Makes about 4 cups
1½ tsp (7 mL) ground cinnamon
1½ tsp (7 mL) garam masala*
2 tsp (10 mL) ground cumin
1 tsp (5 mL) ground coriander
½ tsp (2 mL) ground cloves
¼ tsp (1 mL) cayenne pepper
1 3" (7.5 cm) piece of ginger, minced (about 3 tbsp)
8 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tbsp)
1 onion, finely chopped (about 1½ cups)
2 tbsp (30 mL) canola oil
2 tbsp (30 mL) tomato paste
2 × 710 mL (19 fl oz) cans chickpeas, plus 1 cup (250 mL) reserved liquid
In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon, garam masala, cumin, coriander, cloves and cayenne. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet and swirl in the oil. Add onion, garlic and ginger. Sauté until soft and lightly golden, 5-6 minutes. Add spices and stir to lightly toast, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another few minutes to combine. The colour should be dark red.
Add the chickpeas plus the cup of reserved liquid. Stir to combine. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, removing the cover in the last few minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute to allow the beans to soak up the spice flavours. Season to taste.
Nutrition Info (per ~¾ cup): 352 calories, 8 g fat (1 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 59 g carbohydrate (12 g fibre, 2 g sugar), 13 g protein, 691 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin B₆, folate (vitamin B₄), iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc and manganese. A good source of vitamin E, phosphorus, copper and selenium.

*Garam masala is a mixture of spices commonly used in Indian and other South Asian cuisines. I find it more aromatic than curry powder as the primary ingredients are usually cinnamon, fennel, cloves and cardamom, while curry powder's primary ingredients are usually turmeric and cumin.

Curried Sweet Potato, Carrot and Red Lentil Soup

2011-03-25T23:00:00.000-06:00

I knew I wanted to make this soup as soon as Julie posted the recipe on her blog - I had almost all the ingredients on hand (I only had to go to the store to pick up a sweet potato) and it was nice to use the last bit of a small bag of red lentils on an "invisible" protein, fibre and nutrient boost to a flavourful, creamy soup. (Of course, don't forget the vitamin A and potassium from the sweet potato and carrots!)

This soup recipe came together much like most soup recipes - chop up a bunch of vegetables, sauté the aromatics, cover them with broth/water, add some herbs/spices and simmer before pureéing with a monster immersion blender. Julie says any curry paste or powder is fine, and I had some Thai red curry paste kicking in the fridge - I love the distinct aroma of the kaffir lime leaves and galangal. The original recipe also calls for a dairy ingredient like half & half, heavy cream or plain yogurt to be added to the end, but I prefer to omit it so I can really taste the ingredients.

Curried Sweet Potato, Carrot, Lentil and Ginger Soup
Adapted from Dinner with Julie
Makes about 8 cups
1 tbsp (15 mL) canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp ginger, grated
½ cup (125 mL) red lentils, rinsed, drained and picked through for rocks
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tsp (5 mL) curry paste or powder
4 cups (1 L) total low-sodium chicken/vegetable broth and/or water
1 cup (250 mL) water
In a medium pot, heat oil over medium-high heat and sauté onion, garlic and ginger for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Add the lentils, sweet potato, carrots, curry paste and broth, along with a cup of water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down, cover and simmer for half an hour until the vegetables are very tender.
Puree soup using a hand-held immersion blender, or transfer it in batches to a blender and puree until smooth. Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt (or sour cream).
Nutrition Info (per ~2 cups): 189 calories, 4 g fat (0.4 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 29 g carbohydrate (5 g fibre, 5 g sugar), 11 g protein, 632 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin A, folate (vitamin B₄), potassium and manganese. A good source of vitamin B₆, iron, zinc and copper.