Vancouver Christmas Market

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.

Faubourg

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.

DOW: Serpentine

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.

Brûlée Rice Pudding

Who likes rice pudding? This is our adaptation from Anna Olson's Sugar cookbook.

DOW: Gimlet

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.

Black Bean Salad

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.

Savary Island Pie Company

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.

DOW: Secret Garden Creamy Earl Grey Tea

The best-selling tea at the Secret Garden Tea Company in Kerrisdale is Creamy Earl Grey, in which vanilla adds a smooth accent to the classic bergamot.

Homemade Pizza

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.

Steeve Raye Pastry

apple tart

On my first attempt to visit Steeve Raye Pastry in early October, I was foiled by the simple fact that it had not yet opened for business. Harrumph! I had to "settle" on Thomas Haas instead.

Thanks to Mia Stainsby, I learned that this pâtisserie was finally open, and I hopped on down to check it out. The staff, and the man, Steeve Rayé, were super friendly even before I whipped out my camera.

Lolita's

We know we're not the only ones who have extreme difficulty in deciding where to go out to dinner. A couple of Friday nights ago, we found ourselves stumped again. As seven o'clock drew near, we finally decided to head downtown to Guu with Garlic, Gyoza King, Toratatsu, or somewhere similar. Naturally, we ended up at Lolita's South of the Border Cantina.

Rose Bakery

Hidden gem. Find it if you can.

40 rue des Martyrs
9ème arrondissement
Paris.