When our son gets to decide on a lunch spot, he often chooses the Sunshine Diner, probably mostly for its kitschiness but also because they know how to make a good basic burger, without any kind of fillers or fancy schmancy brioche buns that other places insist on using.
Yes, we've made mulled cranberry sauce, but have we made mulled wine? Not recently. Since we were not having turkey for our Christmas Eve dinner, and it's pretty weird to make cranberry sauce for roast beef, we were more than happy to experiment.
Grog can also be served cold or room temperature, but with the chilly temperatures, we might as well go hot. Like the gimlet, grog was another traditional beverage used by the British Navy to stave off scurvy. Now, at least for us, it's just an excuse to liven up a warm drink on a cold December night.
Somehow, I have it in my head that anything that has molasses as an ingredient is automatically healthy. Regretfully, I don't think that these gingerbread cookies qualify, but they've got to better than regular sugar cookies, no?
One of the mainstays at the Baker's Market this past season has been The Ivy Oven. Mother and daughter team Lori and Danielle are taking the best organic and ethically sourced ingredients and producing amazing goods, inspired by the best the world has to offer.
A few months ago, we called to make reservations for dinner at La Quercia, a popular Italian eatery on 4th Avenue, which has been on our wish list for years. As luck would have it, we picked a day during their annual vacation, and we were forced to dine elsewhere. Naturally, we still have yet to go.
Where in Vancouver can you find top-tier baked goods at rock-bottom prices? If you guessed the Baker's Market, you'd be absolutely correct! Previously located in an industrial area of South Vancouver, they have recently moved to the Creekside Community Centre in the Southeast False Creek neighbourhood.
Opening today in Vancouver was the German inspired Christmas Market. After a fire broke out on the original opening date of November 24, workers tirelessly repaired the damage, and the market opened to enthusiastic crowds and good weather. The market is open every day until December 24th.
The long wait is over. Originally scheduled to open in August, we finally were able to step into Kerrisdale's newest addition to the culinary landscape. Business was steady on opening day as we sat enjoying our hot chocolate and cappuccino.
We found a couple of different recipes for a serpentine. One of them had green creme de menthe and champagne, but the following was a little more appealing to us this week.
Who likes rice pudding? This is our adaptation from Anna Olson's Sugar cookbook.
Another week, another classic cocktail! There are many stories surrounding the origin of the gimlet from the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, but the one I like the best is that the drink was devised by British Royal Navy Surgeon General Sir Thomas D. Gimlette, as a way of getting scurvy-preventing lime into sailors' diets.
There are also many recipes for gimlets. We tried two of the more common ones.
Way back in 1997, when we had a subscription to Bon Appétit, we found a great recipe for a Caribbean Black Bean and Rice Salad by the unfailing duo, Jinx and Jefferson Morgan. That was a great recipe, and we enjoyed making it for years.
Fast forward to 2005. We were in Stong's when we saw a black bean salad that looked appetizing. We took it home and loved it so much, we knew we had to reverse engineer the recipe from the ingredient list.
As much as we liked the black bean and rice salad, we thought it would be healthier to replace the white rice with brown rice, or leave it out altogether.
I don't remember when we first had a Savary Island pie, but it was at least five years ago, when we frequented Ambleside Village. Nowadays, we get our lemon buttermilk berry pie fix from Stong's. Last month, however, we were in West Vancouver again, and I dropped in to the bakery.
A tradition in our family is to make homemade pizza. We've refined our methods over the years, and we finally think we have a crust that's as good as, or better than, most pizza places in town. If we had a wood-fired or even just a commercial oven, we might get even better results.
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This was my third visit to Chez Marianne, a kosher Middle Eastern deli-restaurant in Le Marais. I've stood in line for a delectable sandwich from their take-out window and also feasted on their sampler plates.
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The name of this bistro, Léo le Lion, caught my eye as we were standing at the hotel desk one afternoon. Having an affinity for lions, I did some simple research and decided we would give it a shot.
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Though we've been to France a few times before, this was our first visit to the lovely seaside city of Nice, and to its fabulous museums, namely the Musée Matisse, the Musée Chagall, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts.
We were also thrilled to taste some of the local treats besides the famous salade niçoise.
Ever since we found this recipe in a 1999 issue of Bon Appetit, we have not roasted a turkey without also making this sauce.
Since we had a bottle of cava open, we thought we'd try another bubbly cocktail. The classic champagne cocktail immediately came to mind.
Those who have been following our blog know that we like sweets. No, we really, really like sweets. So we have some nicely ripe bananas ready to be eaten. What was our first thought? If you guessed "drizzle them with honey and sprinkle with toasted wheat germ," you would be right. Our second thought, though, was "coat them with melted chocolate and roll them in sprinkles."
We are having a lot of fun exploring these classic cocktails. The Manhattan is a pretty well-known drink that shows up regularly in films, books and television.
Although many recipes call for bourbon instead of rye or Canadian whisky, we use rye for two reasons. Rye has harsher taste to it, and we prefer to drink our bourbon straight (or with water). Thus, we're lucky to live in Canada where it is easy to find real rye whisky.
On 2nd Avenue near Burrard, you can find a mini gallic oasis, with Les Amis du Fromage, Fabrics de France, and Pâtisserie Lebeau. Yes, the waffles at Pâtisserie Lebeau are Belgian and not French, but you get the point.
As we cling to to the dying warmth of the season, we try to stave off the inevitable by turning to a quintessential summer drink, the daiquiri. Alas, we have been corrupted by popular culture. The true daiquiri is not a blended, frozen, fruity concoction, but a straightforward combination of rum, lime and sugar.
This vegan trans-fat-free margarine from Earth Balance has become a household staple for us. We just love the taste of it. We use it everywhere you might otherwise use butter or regular margarine. It's great on bread or toast, and we use it extensively in baking. We would go through the one-pound tubs pretty quickly, and just imagine how excited we were when we first saw the three-pound tub in the grocery store. Earth Balance even makes a more convenient and more expensive stick form.
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