Live, Love, Laugh, EAT!!!

ALOHA!

2012-02-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well the hubby and I are off to some fun in the sun on Hawaii, Maui and Kauai! I earned the trip through Pampered Chef and can't wait to see some friends and most importantly: RELAX!!! It's been a very busy year and I'm excited to tune out for a bit.... I cannot wait to share with you all of the great EATS that I have reserved, planned and can't wait to experience... SEAFOOD and SUSHI and MUCH MORE!!! WOOO! Thanks for following and inspiring me to keep writing :)

The Red Fox

2012-02-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the smallest hole-in-the-wall looking dives can be the most unassuming gems right in front of your nose. The shady looking Red Fox pub located at 708 8th Avenue SW is a prime example of this! My co-worker Kevin, featured in the photo above, heard about this place from a few friends and has been there a few times since.. First of all: the all-you-can-eat roast beef buffet is only $12 and the yorkshire puddings were AMAZING! $12?!?!?! They also had a salad bar, buns, chicken, and veg. I will be back! Here are some photos. The place was PACKED and obviously not that unknown- our waitress said we were lucky to arrive at 11:30 on a Friday, by noon it was standing room only. Yummm these might make you hungry:

I was lucky enough to snap a shot before it was carved. WOW!

Salad bar- I made the mistake of filling my plate with two much lettuce the first go around.. After plate #1 it was straight up yorkie, gravy and roast. MmmMmm! Salads were still really good and homemade though!

Yorkies, jus and a mushroom gravy... SO GOOD! Who doesn't like all you can eat yorkies?!

Half way through lunch.. They apparently slow roast this slab of meat ALL night and change the temperature at certain cooking points etc. What a beautiful piece of meat- not fatty at all either.

Potatoes and chicken which was a tad dry but flavorful

After plate #1 I went up for about three of these plates... YUMMM!

Vin Room for Chanty's birthdayyy!

2012-02-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Chanty!!! <3

On Tuesday it was the birthday celebration for one of my very best friends, Chantalle! She managed to score some hockey tickets through work and we treated her to a super yummy dinner at Vin Room first. I have to say though, I've never done tapas with more than 5 people and I think I would keep it to 4 people maximum next time. There were 7 of us and we found that we had to order A LOT of tapas. We did leave full and tipsy though! Love Vin Room's selection of bubbly, wine and oysters. They are located at 2310 4th Street SW. Here are some highlights from our night!

Starting the night off right- with some bubbly! 20% off between 4 -7 pm

Oysters for $3 with hot sauce, lemon and an apple mignonette

These east coast oysters were super briny which Chanty loves!

Lobster nachos!!! We ordered these last time but these had even more lobster meat than usual. Amazing for $12!!!

Mmmm this was one of my favorite dishes.. Just hard to be split a number of ways so we ended up getting two orders and split them. These BC seared scallops with brussel sprouts and lemon honey were $12

"Pura Vida Beef Carpaccio" aka thinly sliced, rare slices of beef with a brassica mustard (a genus of the mustard family) for $10

Yum! This seared chorizo with baby potatoes, cherry tomatoes and fresh oregano was delicious. It was great for sharing for $12 and although I was looking forward to a big bite of sausage, the thinly sliced chorizo had a great charred flavor. Yummmm!

Mmmm. my girlfriend Courtney LOVES Mexican food and this Oaxacan Mole Chicken was so tender and DELICIOUS! We tore bits of chicken and mole into a grilled tortilla and topped with the mint cream sauce. $12

This dish was a real hit at the table. Grilled calamari, fresh mint, sweet potato, bacon and peas. It was ALL about the sweet potato and bacon. Love this dish.

Each night Vin Room has a "flight and bite" which is a tapa and a paired wine and a "Vin Plate" for $40 which is the chef's daily selection of four tapas. We ordered the Vin Plate and clockwise from the top left there was Israeli couscous with smoked mushrooms in a tomato sauce with grana padano cheese... omg DEFINITELY one of the best dishes. Israeli couscous has larger grains and I love the texture, almost like pasta. To the right of that were some fried chickpeas that didn't really do anything for me, calamari in the bottom right and this DELICIOUS "squash dahl" in the bottom left made out of lentils and squash. Who would have guessed?!

This. Was. FRicken. AMAZINGGGG! I WANT ANOTHER ONE RIGHT NOW! At the last minute... And when we were all full we decided to order one last dish.. of DUCK. I don't know how I missed this on the menu and I am so glad someone pointed it out. The duck breast was served with a brown butter squash and Saskatoon berry gastrique.Think amazing sweet potato pie combined with uber-juicy duck with a crisp skin. YAAA MAMA!

Pretty amazing row 5 seats! WOO!

Partying at the Whiskey in the Dome

Family Portrait! Meet my wolf pack! ;)

After party at Jaro Blue on 17th Avenue SW... I had so many unique martinis. Thanks James!... A little rough around the edges the next day but a super fun night.

Four words: ICE CREAM BROWNIE SANDWICHES... Why didn't I think of that? Delicious!

Ryan & Jess got marriedddd!

2012-01-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

The Fairmont Banff Springs is an enchanting place to get married. What a wedding!

On Saturday we were lucky enough to get an invite to an amazing wedding at the Banff Springs. Ryan and James grew up in the same hometown and throughout the years Jessica and I have become friends and a few of us even traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 2008. The only word to describe a wedding at the "castle in the Rockies" is magical. From the mountain backdrop to where the ceremony took place, to the candle lit reception which was reminiscent of medieval times- we were swept away! It was one of those nights where you reconnect with people you didn't expect to and have more fun than you were anticipating. Here are some highlights! Congrats Ryan and Jess- what a great wedding!:

James and I before the ceremony

Beautiful bride! LOVED her dress!

Drinks and a bite to eat at the overpriced Rundle Lounge at the hotel... Loved how the caesar came with cheese stuffed olives, a pearl onion and a pickled asparagus though! NUMMM!

Ever wonder what a $25 champagne cocktail looks like? Now you know! We asked the waitress who said the "average cocktail was $16"... got the bill and ... $25 EACH! It was delicious though! HA!

For some nibbles we decided on this $20 charcuterie platter with raclette melted cheese, smoked local meats, potatoes (randomly) and "pickled vegetables" although the menu mentioned pickles so we were a tad disappointed on this one.

Margarita pizza was really delicious! These used to be my favorite and I haven't ordered one in a while.. I think I am re-converted.

Gorgeous cake and SO yummy!

Dinner time! We had such a fun table- party table! :)

Cuties! Had a blast with these two!

and these twooo..

Told ya we had a fun table!

How beautiful are all of the candles and the rose petals?! The lighting was so romantic.

Course #1: deconstructed caesar salad. Love the full hearts of romaine and the sweet, roasted garlic on the plate. This was a DELICIOUS dish!

Lobster bisque as course #2

Chicken entree

Or beef.. Now THAT is a steak ;)

First dance!

Served wedding cake. Thought it was great that they presented each piece with such care.

Cameras and friends lost and found ;)

Bride & Groom

Party timeeee!

Things got a bit wildddd

After party #1

After party #2... Gotta love the white jacket ;)

Piero's Pizzeria

2012-01-31T15:25:00.001-07:00

On Friday after work one of my besties and I headed for a few drinks before I had to leave for a Pampered Chef show.. We initially stopped to pick up some vino at our favorite wine store and ended up dining at a little hole in the wall called "Piero's Pizzeria" located in the strip mall at 3220 28th Street SW. When we walked in to take a look at the menu we were overwhelmed by the welcoming personality of the owner, Piero Perrotta, who offered us a free beer and to take a peek and their pizza pie!:

Moretti Italian beer.. much better than the Corona I originally ordered ;)

Piero suggested an Italian beer which was a great idea considering his family is from Southern Italy and were on their way with a fresh batch of meatballs.. Hilarious! We HAD to order some pizza. In fact the Italian sausage, roasted peppers, pizza sauce and pasta sauce are all made in house. A few regulars cozied up to the bar with us to have a pint with us and we had a great chat with them about the quality ingredients Piero uses. Here is the pizza we ordered:

You can tell just by looking at it that they use quality ingredients.. We chose the La Calabria pizza for $21 which had tomato sauce, hot calabrese salami (great quality Italian cut), pepperoncino, blend of dried chiles, mushrooms, red onions and their house blend of cheeses. It's hard to stumble across a quality pie and fortunately this made the grade!

Check out Piero's Pizzeria! Wouldn't you rather support a local business than some conglomerate like Boston Pizza?! ME TOO! :)

Blowfish Sushi Lounge

2012-01-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

MmMmM SUSHI! Do you crave sushi as much as I do? Maybe it's because it is not something I would whip up at home. EVER.. haha. Maybe one day I should give it a go but I prefer to leave it to the pros. I made the trek over on Friday to meet a client who works near the restaurant and it was so worth the walk! I really feel that Blowfish, located at 625-11th Avenue SW is one of the best sushi restaurants in the city. The maki rolls do take some time to come out but you are rewarded with unique sushi that offers diverse ingredients. I still want to head back to try their "Maui Roll" which has pineapple but my lunch date isn't huge on sweets ;). You can see my previous review including volcano rolls shaped as volcanoes here. This is what we noshed on this past Friday:

Miso soup that was chalk full of veggies which I have never seen in miso before. There were carrots, celery, green onion, and big chunks of tofu. Delicious! You can also get crab miso but it is a larger portion and I think the crab flavor might be lost and it wouldn't be worth the extra cost.

The waitress mentioned that the tuna was really fresh so we got these spicy tuna rolls which were mighty spicy with the jalapeno on top. Love the spicy mayo on the plate as well. The tuna inside the roll was really creamy for $12. :)

MMM! The Kamikaze roll was my favorite for $15. Tons of crunch and a lot of different fish in one roll described as "an explosion of tuna, salmon, and avocado topped with Blowfish's signature crunch and spicy mayonnaise"

This is the Blowfish Special for $16.50 (not cheap... I'm moving to Vancouver!) with tempura shrimp, tobiko, and cream cheese enveloped in salmon and mango and topped with a sweet sauce.. I LOVE this roll! It was a bit too sweet for my date though unfortunately... Too bad.. DELICIOUS! HAHA! ;)

Smoked salmon nigiri.. Thought it was weird that only one of them had some roe ?

Home Tasting Room

2012-01-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you have an awesome weekend. We are headed to a wedding at the Banff Springs which we are looking forward to :). Yesterday I took a great client to Home Tasting Room located on Stephen Avenue at 110 8th Avenue. The cozy dining room wasn't too busy and I'm not sure they have gotten the word out there much but the lunch menu is great with starter plates, sharing plates (a bit bigger than an appy, meant for sharing), and entrees. Home offers a wide variety of wine and there are daily creations from their executive chef, Geoff Rogers. We decided to split four sharing plates for fun and here is what we had :):

I felt as though we needed a salad in the mix so we chose the a Caesar salad with crispy pancetta (the best part!), hand-torn ciabatta croutons and an anchovy garlic dressing. Delicious and we loved the homemade croutons although besides that it wasn't especially unique for $14

Oh MAN this was good! The highlight of our meal for sure. Ricotta & herb gnocchi, parmesan cheese, braised black kale, beech mushrooms (small, wild mushrooms) and chili oil for $15. The gnocchi was cooked perfectly and I was surprised how scrumptious this was without a sauce for the gnocchi.

We chose the cheese tasting board for $20.. I found this one to be really overpriced for the quantity of cheese that we got. The best part was DEFINITELY the amazing house steeped lavender honey to add on to your cheese. All of these cheese were sharp and delicious.. The one on the far left reminding us of parmesan almost. There was also a roast shallot chutney in the back right which went well with the honey and the cheese. I don't recall the waitress informing us of the cheese selection though and if she did I didn't catch it....

Charcuterie Board for $21... Also not cheap. Today the board featured air dried bison, paprika salami and Hungarian salami with pickled vegetables, crostinis, house made mustard and a pork rilletes. I'm not a huge fan of rillettes but you can see it in the top left and it is similar to a pate with meat that is cubed or chopped, salted heavily and then cooked slowly in fat until it is tender enough to be shredded.. Kind of reminded us of chicken salad or something. The house made relish & mustard was the highlight on the board for me as I found the pickled carrots much too salty and had a strong taste of vinegar. I also wouldn't have minded more of a diversity in the meat instead of mainly all salami or some sort.

Anthony Bourdain and... ORTOLAN ??!!

2012-01-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

I've been a fan of Anthony Bourdain for years- chef turned writer turned traveling story teller and eater of weird things. Look familiar? His show "No Reservations" appears on A & E or the Travel Channel to this day. You can also catch episodes of his global crusades on TV series features on long flights abroad as well:

This cursing, chain smoking wise guy is a straight shooter who has been getting a lot of attention recently for publicly slamming Paula Deen for hiding her diabetes and then partnering with a diabetes drug company. A recent Tweet: "Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later." Love his attitude and stubborn will to not "sell out".

Recently I finished his first non-fiction book: Kitchen Confidential about the underbelly of the restaurant world and his rise from a drug addicted cook to a head chef at his reputable New York restaurant, Les Halles. If you haven't read this book I highly recommend it! Bourdain is a hilarious, write-like-you-speak author. I found his tips about dining out fascinating... aka. never order seafood frittata on a Sunday brunch and he doesn't suggest eating the fish special on a Monday because most restaurants get their fish on a Thursday so you will be eating the oldest stuff they have... Order a steak well done? Forget about it- you are getting the shittiest, tail end piece of meat in the kitchen.

What really got my attention is his most recent book that I just started reading:

I'm only a few chapters in but what really caught my attention and that I HAD to share with you is a rare and forbidden French delicacy... the Godfather of delicacies in French cuisine. I cannot stop thinking about this illegal and endangered bird that is served whole, sizzling hot, ungutted... The ORTOLAN! From Medium Raw: "The ortolan, is a finch-like bird native to Europe and parts of Asia. In France, where they come from, these little birdies can cost upwards of $250 a pop on the black market. It is a protected species, due to the diminishing number of its nesting places and shrinking habitat."

The bird is drowned forcefully in a brandy called "Armagnac" for even more flavor and defeathered.

The most fascinating part of this delicacy to me is that the entire bird is consumed.. bones, guts, beak and brain in one bite.. and here's where it gets even weirder: the correct way to eat an ortolan is under the cover of the napkin on your lap??? Reason being is that the consumption is a messy affair and the aroma is apparently incredible and needs to be kept within your shrewd:

Yep... no joke.. Doesn't it remind you of some secret society like the stone cutters or something? I just can't get over this bizarre "delight". Apparently the flavor is incredible... huh. The birds are kept in a small box and all they do is eat figs, millet and oats to fatten them up and add flavor.

TOTALLY BIZARRE!

Ohhhh ya I did

2012-01-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

Nothing beats Michael's pizza at 139 10th delivered to your office

Curried Cauliflower Soup

2012-01-25T09:15:00.001-07:00

My neighbor has started a fantastic blog: This Full Plate and I have found so much inspiration from her "week of soup" recently that I had to try her curried cauliflower soup recipe! YUM! Although my photos aren't have as gorgeous, the soup was super flavorful with only 5 ingredients and a really quick preparation. You can drizzle a bit of honey over the top for a sweeter flavor. I made this for James on Sunday and have been taking it to work for lunch. Delicious and SO easy! I am definitely doubling the batch next time.. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 medium head of cauliflower- chopped

1 Granny smith apple- peeled and cut into pieces. I used The Corer first and then peeled the apple

1 medium onion- chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 Tbsp. curry powder (depending on the heat you want). I actually used Indian masala spice and it was great

4 cups veggetable broth

Directions:

Saute onion in a tbs. of coconut oil (I used EVOO) until soft and translucent

Add apple chunks, garlic and curry powder. Heat until curry powder turns a darker yellow

Add cauliflower and vegetable broth and bring to a boil

Turn down and let simmer for 20 minutes

Let cool and puree until smooth. I used a hand blender.

Drizzle honey on top if desired.

Cora's Okotoks

2012-01-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

A well kept secret is Cora's in Okotoks- while the 130th Avenue SE edition is normally lined up out the door during the weekend, we have NEVER had to wait in Okotoks! I love how Cora's serves a huge selection with fruit each meal and that you leave feeling satisfied... I normally opt for a "latte bowl" which is a large latte with no handle on the cup which are commonly served in Quebec. James and I dined here on Saturday morning since we were getting sick of our usual breakfast fare. Here is what we had:

James opted for the "10 Star" which is an omelette made with bacon, ham, sausages, Frankfurters, bologna, spinach, green onions, red peppers, green peppers, mushrooms and cheddar... Quite a mouth full- literally. The dish is also served with roasted potatoes and toast, not that you need the extra toast but I had a nibble anyways ;)

Most of our breakfast's or snacks will consist of cottage cheese and fruit so we got some on the side.. I thought the presentation was really pretty and thought out.

I had a fresh fruit cup with yogurt, Devonshire cream and muesli

Now don't all go running to Okotoks for breakfast! I like not having to line up at any time on the weekend ;)

Foreplay Friday 2012!

2012-01-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

Right before the theater grabbing a bevy ;)

Once a month a name is drawn in our circle of girlfriends to host the next "Foreplay Friday".. Foreplay Friday was originated to guarantee a fun, out of the box girl's night doing something original. This past Friday was the first Foreplay Friday in 2012 and we had an awesome night! We had dinner at Milestones on Stephen Ave followed by a walking tour featuring five difference performances at the Epcor Center as part of Calgary's "High Performance Rodeo". The High Performance Rodeo runs until this Saturday, January 28th and features theater, music, comedy, visual art and more. What a unique experience! For only $15 we saw "Behind the Curtain" by Swallow-A-Bicycle theater and witnessed everything from monologues to silly rollerskating acrobats to visual art. After the performance we headed to The Bank and UBU for a fun filled night. Here are some highlights!:

Seafood fettucini for $17.99 at Milestones. YUM!

Kobe beef sliders with a mustard sesame sauce.. these were just ok.

California spring salad $16.79. Good except for the overdressed lettuce

MmMm this was SO good! flat bread, French bread, roasted garlic, goat cheese and cranberry relish and fig compote. What a yummy snack for only $8.99

Record number of ladies! 21 YAY! Unfortunately my camera battery was dead so these are all phone photos hurumph :(

Pretty ladies :)

Beginning of High Performance Rodeo- these were our hilarious tour guides!

The Keg 1101 5th Street SW

2012-01-20T16:33:00.001-07:00

How adorable is my co-worker Becky!?

Today we had our biggest meeting of the year at work and we celebrated by heading to The Keg for lunch afterwards. I've never been to the Mount Royal location located at 1101 5th Street SW but the lounge is a popular haunt for business execs and drop-in diners. The food was great, as per usual, and we had a fun lunch and a nice glass of vino. Here is what we had!:

*SHOCKER*.. Mushroom Neptune- one of my favorite foods!

Cute Becky had the mustard salmon with a honey, Dijon and whole grain mustard glaze. The salmon was a bit overcooked unfortunately and she mentioned it was not the best salmon she have ever eaten but man can they make a caesar salad! Big slices of fresh Parmesan shaved on top... Yum :)

California Club with grilled chicken, bacon, avocado and tomato

I had the prime rib sandwich for the first time AMAZING!!!

Without Papers Pizza

2012-01-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posts this week- been super busy and haven't had time! Last night I was SO pumped to dine at a restaurant (I know... I always say this..) that I've been DYING TO TRY! WO PIZZA or "Without Papers Pizza" is a cozy second floor restaurant overlooking Inglewood at 1216, 9th Avenue SE serving up "new world pizza" accompanied by affordable wine and beers. I've heard that this pizzeria gets their name from proudly not being a part of the "Napoletana Pizza Association" which has to approve each ingredient and technique in order to be part of the society. Pulcinella in Kensington is a member of the association and does abide by the rules which originated in Naples, Italy.
Without Papers has had rave reviews from foodies and the popular hangout also features homemade ice cream, floats and local soda. Although they do not take reservations they do have free local delivery! Chantalle and I headed there last night after work and we were NOT disappointed! Here is what we had :)

To start we shared a shaved fennel, frisee lettuce, poached pear, super thinly sliced prosciutto and parmigiano salad for $12. Totally out of the box and SO delicious. They do not have to many starters to choose from with just a few salads, house-marinated olives, beef & pork meatballs or an assorted meat and cheese plate but we were happy with our selection. The poached pear went great with the prosciutto.. NUM!

And the real star of the show- PIZZA! This is the "SHROOM" pizza with wild mushrooms, truffle oil, arugula, and roasted garlic truffle panna for $21. Oh man this was delicious! I love anything involving truffle and wild mushrooms. Loved the char flavor on the crust as well.. :)

Oh wow... This pizza took the cake for us! We shared both and this was our favorite and the most popular pizza they serve: "HUTCH" features spicy cacciatore salami, spicy calabrese salami, pepperonata, mozzarella, fiore di latte (mozzarella made from cow's milk), peppers and tomato sauce for $18. WOWZA! This pizza had the perfect amount of salt and spice that you look for when biting into a steaming piece o' za. I want another one of these RIGHT NOW! You have to check this place out!

We were looking for something to dip our crust in and the waitress suggested meat sauce which is one of the only sides they have for dipping and also served us chiffonade of basil (cut into long, thin strips), fresh parmigiano and chili flakes. Nice to see quality ingredients presented beautifully.

Check out WO PAPERS! We ordered a great bottle of house red for only $27! Another favorite pizza is "Baby Doll" with roasted chicken, eggplant, artichokes, tomatoes, goats cheese, asiago and tomato sauce.... I want to head back for the four cheese... Love tasting each cheese's unique flavor.

Boston PizzZzA

2012-01-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

BINGE DAY! On Saturday we had a joyous time scarfing our faces off and enjoying everything from monster cookies to pizza to pub grub... Gotta love it! It was quite a night for sports on Saturday with my husband drooling over football playoffs, the Flames game AND the UFC fights. We headed to Boston Pizza to take in some of the action and, let's be honest, it's one of the only places I would agree to that had good food and was playing the game! I often crave Boston Pizza za even though I do find it to be wildly overpriced for what it is.. I guess you pay for consistency... Here is what we had:

Cactus cut potatoes for $8.99.. Essentially overpriced chips but James loves them and always gets them to fry them twice til crispy- he used to work at Boston Pizza when he first moved to Calgary over a decade ago and said they used to get these sent back all the time because they were too soggy. Get them to dip em twice ;)

James got the infamous Tropical Chicken pizza which is essentially a Hawaiian pizza with Alfredo sauce instead of tomato and chicken instead of ham.. One of our favs.. Once again- a tad overpriced- the large version is a whopping $27.99.

I get the same thing every. single. time. at Boston Pizza. A small pepperoni and mushroom with a side of meat sauce for dipping my crust in... Can't beat the mushrooms and salty pepperoni.. NUMMM!

Anndddd Sunday dinner.. Spaghetti squash, salmon and green beans... :p

Weekend in Photos :)

2012-01-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! Hope you are staying warm in these extremely frigid conditions and driving safe. I suppose this is more seasonal than the balmy temperatures we have been receiving.. I hope it stays like this while I am in Hawaii and snows a TON! I know... I'm evil. Take a peek at the photos below that my new phone took! I'm impressed with the quality of camera on my phone FINALLY after years of dealing with a BlackBerry camera that didn't even have a flash.

I had a great weekend with James scrapbooking our entire Europe trip and relaxing before a few busy weeks hit with Pampered Chef- I always find the end of the month the busiest. Here are some highlights from my weekend!:

On Friday night I got my hair did! Even blonder than usual.

After my hair appointment a good friend of mine and I headed to Coach and Horses in Midnapore for some pub grub... I decided to throw the diet aside for tonight. He had a pepperoni pizza with homemade dough and full fat mozza as you can see from the deep brown in the cheese. OMG was this ever good! I thought I had eaten their pizza and disliked it but apparently not!

I decided on fish and chips/salad and wished I would have chose pizza... The cod was great but the batter was pretty thick and I'm picky and picked a lot of it off... Shoulda ordered the za but luckily I still got a few pieces! The coleslaw and salad were really good though.

What do you think? Our pot and pan drawers can't even close...

MoNsTeR CoOkiE.. My favorite and the I cut into slices like a pizza

Football playoffs, beer and scrapbooking. HELLA GOOD WEEKEND!

UBU Lounge

2012-01-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

The beautiful Lauren and I :)

Velvet at The Grand on 608 1st Street SW is now the super swanky, UBU Lounge which serves up Japanese fare in a style they are calling "Asian Avant-Garde" also known as experimental, innovative and modern. UBU is a great place for drinks and dancing at night located in the historic Theater which also houses Sociale Bar & Grille and Parker House Grill on 6th Avenue. A great girlfriend and I headed here for lunch after hearing a lot about their food. I was surprised to see the dining room COMPLETELY empty for lunch which might be due to the fact that there is no signage outside indicating the restaurant is even open and there is brown paper covering the windows that says "UBU LOUNGE"... It ultimately looks closed and I hope for their sake that they put a sandwich board out front and let people know what great food they serve so they do not suffer the same fate as Velvet. Here is what we noshed on in the cave-like darkness yesterday.. I almost needed a flashlight to see my food- good thing for flashes ;):

Green tea wasn't cheap running you around $3.95-4.50 a "pot" compared to most Japanese restaurants where green tea is around $0.50 per cup. They were out of all of the specialty green teas we asked for so we chose one of the two that was in stock at the time: the cherry green tea which had great floral tones. Very good but a tad on the pretentious side- they didn't have just a basic, run of the mill jasmine or green tea.

My initial hesitations from the tea episode were set aside when the thoughtful and beautiful food was placed in front of me. Lauren and I both chose the $18 lunch special which included an organic green salad with a miso vinaigrette as seen above. We really enjoyed this salad. The raspberries were so refreshing and I liked the crunch the nuts gave. Very impressive for a lunch combination!

Miso soup with assorted mushrooms and tofu. The chunks of tofu were HUGE in fact I had to cut them in half with my spoon... that is a great problem to have in my opinion- I hate when there is no tofu in my miso soup and I am digging around looking for a spec of white. Delicious!

OMG YUMMM! The lunch special includes four rolls of either spicy tuna, salmon or California and either a wasabi steak or Teriyaki chicken with vegetables and rice. I chose the spicy tuna rolls which definitely had a kick with the jalapeno sliced on top and the wasabi steak. The sushi was incredible with really fresh tasting ingredients and the rolls were nice and chilled how I like- nothing turns me off sushi like room temperature! Lauren LOVED the steak as did I- the sauce it was paired with was great. I would definitely order this again!!!

My only complaint is that we were still hungry after our lunch special- I could have had two more rolls perhaps to fill me up. We decided to split a dessert and it was super unique- the green tea parfait. This homemade dish featured raspberry ice cream on the bottom and green tea on the top with a red bean paste in a spring roll. Red bean paste is common in Asian cooking which sort of tastes like and has the texture of sweet refried beans- really delicious. Our favorite part was the fluffy sugar confection on the top- way too much fun to eat!

Thanks for the delicious lunch UBU- get the word out your open and take down that brown paper on your windows!!!

I FOUND THE PERFECT SHIRT

2012-01-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

That is all

Diet Fooood....

2012-01-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

TWO SLEEPS TIL BINGE DAY! Yep.. on the whole no carbs, no sugar train right now and it's actually going pretty damn well. If your looking to drop some weight quickly before a trip and feel SLIM I highly recommend it! After the sugar and carb overdose at Christmas most of my jeans were having trouble zipping up and I felt like crap.. One of the biggest things that has made a difference for me is a big breakfast full of protein instead of sugars and carbohydrates. (James is probably laughing hysterical reading this as he has to feed a pouty, tired, grumpy little baby dragon who does NOT like to get up in the morning and does NOT like to eat a huge breakfast and here I am saying how great it is. HA!) James gets up to go to the gym in the morning and spoils me with a huge, hot breakfast. I feel bad that I sometimes complain at the huge portion of scrambled eggs, green beans, refried beans and ham or another protein waiting for me. Who the hell feels like eating that at 6 am?! Sometimes a girl just needs a pastry and a coffee dammit!!! It's true that starting your day with protein will alter your metabolism for the better and get your body going with tons of energy. Here is a link about "why women can't lose weight"... So interesting!

It's important to SET a binge day so you can go all out, schedule it and not feel guilty. We are planning for pizza and grilled cheese! I AM CRAVING CHEESE! Found it really interesting and TRUE! Here are some examples of meals we have:

Last night's dinner. Lettuce wraps! Cottage cheese instead of sour cream or cheese, ground beef with lentils, spices, onions and refried beans. Refried beans are one of my favorites now. They have a creamy texture and almost remind me of mashed potatoes which obviously contain too many carbs.

Oh man we have been eating A LOT of bean salad.. I initially HATED this concoction with green, black, and red kidney beans in it but James makes a big batch on Sunday each week with some good quality balsamic vinegar and basil so I take it as a snack for work all the time. The best part about it is that it fills me up for a good few hours and my stomach LOVES IT! hahaha. As soon as I start eating it my stomach starts grumbling all happily and I have found I have a lot less stomach aches. You have to be careful with garbanzo beans- they are similar to almonds in the way that a few are good but if you eat a ton they contain a lot of fat.

I have been eating A LOT of low fat cottage cheese for protein and berries which have low sugar. Definitely my favorite snack!


There's been a whole lot of this!

and a lot of green curry served over bean sprouts instead of rice or noodles.

One of my favorite breakfasts is this "cheesy pesto scrambler" with cottage cheese, eggs, pesto and I cut up some tomatoes on top.

Oh man this is a delicious appetizer!!! You take whole dates, pit them and slice them not completely in half and then fill them with either cream cheese or goat's cheese. The EASIEST appetizer of all time and people never believe how good they are. Dates are awesome for fiber too.

Turkey pepperoni makes for a good snack

I've come to love turkey bacon... It's saltiness and crunch is very similar to true bacon!

and by that I don't mean a true bacon turkey! ;)

Black Bean Vegetable Soup

2012-01-09T15:17:00.001-07:00

Maybe I was inspired by my friend and neighbor's "week of soup" on her new food blog, This Full Plate, but I sure was craving soup last night! James and I leave for Hawaii in less than a month so we are on the no carb, no sugar diet train... No fun but I have been having a HELL of a time getting to the gym and I know that I can slim out a bit if I cut carbs and sugar out of my diet... and there is always binge day on Saturdays!!! I found this DELICIOUS and ridiculously easy soup on allrecipes.com last night and it turned out even better than we had anticipated. I had it for lunch today too and wish I had another helping! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups vegetable stock
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8.75 ounce) can whole kernel corn
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes

Directions

In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion, garlic, and carrots, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until onion is softened. Add chili powder and cumin; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add stock, 1 can of the beans, corn, and pepper; bring to boil.
Meanwhile, in food processor or blender, puree together tomatoes and remaining can of beans; add to pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Onions, garlic, carrots after chili powder and cumin have been added.

Earls 32nd Avenue & Barlow

2012-01-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

Mark and I on my wedding day :)

My cousin Mark, from Red Deer, popped into town on Saturday and we decided to meet close to the airport as he was picking my aunt up. Mark has always played a special part in my life growing up- I looked up to him and thought of him as an older brother who all of my girlfriends had crushes on when I was a teenager. It was nice to see him and I thought Earls would be perfect as it has been a family favorite for years. When I was a kid we went to Earls every single Saturday for lunch to have their delicious hot wings and us kids would normally split a chocolate milkshake and chicken tenders. Because we frequented the Southport location so much, us kids used to get tours of the kitchen and refrigerator with the glow-in-the-dark handle.. I think this is where my love of food may have spawned. If you have never tried Earls wings, you are missing out. In my opinion they are the best in the city. So unbelievably moist and full of flavor due to the fact they are made to order and the chicken is NOT frozen! You can tell they use really good quality chicken. Here is what we had:

MmMm .. I believe they actually use Frank's red hot sauce tossed with a big of vinegar and the "parm dip" for dipping has actually won awards. Definitely my favorite wings!

My cousin had the Caesar salad with garlic chicken. SO good!


I was excited to see gnocchi on their feature menu with a spicy marinara sauce. The gnocchi was cooked perfectly soft and then pan fried for a bit of crunch. Not sure how I felt about the creme fresh on the top as my taste buds were acting up.. I seem to prefer my gnocchi tossed and coated but it was the perfect, pillowy texture which is always so comforting.

Taco Dip and Pampered Chef :)

2012-01-06T15:11:00.002-07:00

I hosted a big "back to work" Pampered Chef meeting at my place last night and it was SO exciting! This is the biggest meeting of the year and we find out where the next incentive trip is for 2013. I have earned three incentive trips through Pampered Chef: Disney World for 4 people, Prague and just recently: Maui & Kauai!:

Tanya and I celebrating earning Hawaii last night! WOO!

Traveling with The Pampered Chef is beyond your wildest imagination... The cost of the accommodation, events and food is nothing that we could afford on our own buck- 5 star all the way!!! When we were in Florida on my first trip the hotel room was $800/night regular price.. WOWZA! It takes a lot of dedication and hard work to earn them but it's the most amazing feeling in the world when you set a goal and achieve it. Did you know that only 3% of people actually write down their goals and that 90% of the people who do, achieve them? Pretty amazing! I am so inspired after the meeting last night and especially after the most recent trip announcement... BARCELONA, SPAIN and a 5 night MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE!!! AHHHH!All of us are starting with 0 points and have until December 31st to earn it.. Let me know if you would like to make some extra income and travel in 2013!!!

I've always wanted to cruise! The food is apparently amazing and I think it will be right up our alley ;)

Barcelona, Spain... Can't wait for some true blue TAPAS!

We had some sour cream and other nacho ingredients to use up so I found this taco dip recipe which turned out pretty good.. I thought it looked kinda neat too. Here is the recipe!:

HOT TACO DIP

Mix one can of refried beans (regular or fat free) with ½ carton of sour cream. Add in one package of Taco seasoning mix (or make your own) and 8 oz shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream, a little more shredded cheddar, and some chopped green onions. This is awesome with any type tortilla chips, and is especially good with hearty blue corn tortilla chips.

Vintage Chophouse ... again... ;)

2012-01-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

As many of you know- Vintage Chohouse on 11th Avenue SW is one of my favorite restaurants, if not my favorite restaurant in the city. Their mac n' cheese is unbelievable and I crave it all the time. What a good restaurant is normally trying to achieve are regulars that will come back again and again for the same thing- Vintage has me hook, line and sinker. Although it seems to be plated differently every time I come and will either be topped with cheese or panko bread crumbs, the quality cheeses and truffle oil always has me from the first bite. Yesterday a few gals from work and I headed there to dish into one of our favorites! We just hired a new gal who had never heard of Vintage so we had to initiate her into our favorite spot! She had a half order and ate about half so not sure if she liked it as much as we did but truffle oil can be a polarizing ingredient. Looks like I only took photos of what I ate because we all ate a variation of these three dishes. HA! No wonder I couldn't finish my mac- what a feast! The mac and cobb salad were double the size as the last time I was in... Not that I am complaining ;) ... Happy Friday!:

First food photo with my fancy new space ship phone: the Galaxy S 2! Love it but it's definitely a learning curve. Here is a butternut squash bisque. A true bisque would be clear so this was more like a cream of butternut squash soup with a perfectly buttery croissant... So fresh! I love Vintage's soups- I try to order them every time I because they are served with a biscuit, scone or pastry and in a beautiful piece of pottery. Although squash isn't technically in season this soup was comforting on a winter day.. (+14 out?!?!)

I have yet to have a cobb salad that beats Vintage's. This is a half cobb if you can believe it. Quite a healthy portion but nothing can beat the creaminess that is created when you mix up the avocado, blue cheese, egg and dressing. SO DAMN GOOD! The chicken is also free range rotisserie so it's super tender and juicy. ORDER THIS! ;)

The infamous mac served in a cast iron mini skillet. The creaminess and flavor of the cheese and truffle always sends me over the edge. The full order is a round version of this cast iron dish. I really liked the crunch from the panko but this time I could have used some extra melted cheese right under the panko.. Why not? haha!

Kamloops & Sun Peaks!

2012-01-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

For James' 30th birthday celebrations we continued onto Kamloops, BC where we had a delicious dinner at Hoodoos at Sun Rivers located at 1000 Clubhouse Drive in Kamloops. I really love Kamloops with its sweeping valleys and this restaurant overlooked the entire city. Afterwards we headed for a 5 night ski trip to Sun Peaks Ski Resort. I was able to get a chalet over New Years and we had a big party to ring in the New Year. Fun trip! Here are some highlights:

Although Hoodoos did have a "two can dine for $70" special- the selections weren't too appealing so we ordered a la carte. We started with sauteed prawns and pistachios with garlic, basil, red onions in a white wine butter sauce with a garlic crostini for $11.95. Super good! I've never eaten prawns paired with pistachios before- delicious.

OH man this soup was good! BBQ salmon chowder for $8.25. You could really taste the BBQ flavor and salmon.

James and I always have a joking "competition" about who orders the better meal- this time I definitely won! This is the seafood linguine with prawns, scallops, mussels, crab, baby shrimp in a Cajun cream sauce. Oh man this sauce was delicious!!! Super good meal for $19.50

James chose the grilled 8 oz. sirloin steak with roasted garlic mashed potatoes with a side of scallops... The scallops and potatoes were good but the steak was quite grisly and tough unfortunately. I guess it's hard to compare to Alberta beef ;)

Perfect dessert- chocolate mousse. So good. Happy Birthday James! See the lights of the city in the background? (He always has to make sure that my back is to the kitchen- otherwise I am constantly looking and thinking our food is up and just sitting there. HA!)

Chalet at Sun Peaks- beautiful view and private hot tub. The calm before the storm!

Beautiful view from the hot tub!

Party time!

Chalet day! The first day some of us hung out in the chalet and had a fun lazy day including three layer nachos WITH Munchies in the middle. NuMmM

Oh! The skiiers are back ;)

"Hooding" became a popular game... Exhibit A.

Exhibit B

BAHAHA. Like our tableau? And my new scarves?!

Sun Peaks village- it reminded us of Prague of all places! Very European

The pub "Bottoms" at the bottom of the ski hill for lunch on New Years Eve

Deep fried pickles!!!

What is a ski trip without POUTINE?!

Beef dip and salad

Chicken fingers and poutine

My French Onion soup. Super good!

Burger and curly fries. That looks hella good!

Pulled pork sanny

New Years Eve!

We decided to class it up a bit ;)

or not ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Speech! SPEECH!

On New Years day we headed to the Italian restaurant in the village: Bella Italia Ristorante. I was really looking forward to some good Italian but unfortunately this restaurant really fell short for me. The bruschetta was really unflavorful and WARNING: if you see bruschetta on the menu served with pita my experience is that it is always lack luster. Look for fresh bread or crostini.

I ordered this "Gnocchi Minestrone" thinking there would be.. GNOCCHI in it.. I suppose there were two or three but super disappointed and the chunks of vegetables were a bit too filling for a soup.

Garlic prawns as an appy.

This was probably the best dish- fettucini alfredo with prawns. Yum! I love cream sauces... Unfortunately this is not what I ordered.

Carina chose the wild mushroom ravioli with their signature marinara sauce. She really liked this dish! :)

My canneloni reminded me of frozen lasagna or something. Not a fan.

Recovery Day! Happy New Year everyone!!!

Christmas in BC!

2012-01-03T22:26:00.002-07:00

REVELSTOKE

First photo of the trip! Dinner at Emo's in Revelstoke. Every time we head to Williams Lake we split the trip up by spending one night in Revelstoke en route which is about half way. The Revelstoke Lodge is a great place to stay and there are some yummy restaurants near by

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you had a fabulous holiday and feel refreshed for 2012! We spent the break in BC starting with a night in Revelstoke, a great family Christmas in Williams Lake and a 30th birthday celebration for James at Sun Peaks resort. Wowza! We also had some great eats.. As in +10 lbs kind of eats. Meh... what can you do? It's the holidays. Here are some highlights and the food we ate!

James has gotten me SO hooked on Hawaiian pizza. I used to always say "fruit doesn't belong on pizza" and we always used to get half and half.. But then I started having bites of the sweet and juicy Hawaiian and it would always be better than my usual pepperoni and mushroom. They say that your palete matures at the age of 21 and you should revisit all of the foods you disliked in your youth. I definitely agree!

On the road again! En route to Williams Lake hahaha

CACHE CREEK

We stopped in Cache Creek, BC at "HUNGRY HERBIES" for an incredible burger and some fried chicken.. We were going to go to Dairy Queen but we have one of those in Calgary- so glad we decided to step outside the box and tried this unique place that serves breakfast, burgers, milkshakes, golden fried chicken, poutine and a bunch of other roadside classics. We even stopped on the way back because the burger was THAT damn good.

Mmmm I had the fried chicken "snacker" with fries and coleslaw and to the left is James' healthy meal of onion rings and one incredibly juicy and delicious burger. Holiday feeding frenzy has begun!

Can't get this one to flip but... THAT'S a burger!

Williams Lake

On Christmas Eve my mother in law took Shonna, my sister in law, and I to the adroable Yello Umbrella/Thyme for Tea! This super cute tea house located in 150 Mile House has a great gift shop and even better food. With an entire menu full of tea there is a lot to choose from and the staff are so unbelievably friendly. There is something about this place that screams "coming home" and comfort. LOVE IT!

They have so many different colors of tea cups, saucers and I love the tea leaf strainer and holder for it. CUTE! Such a fun ladies day :)

Pouring the tea from it's handmade cozy through the strainer.

The soup of the day was creamy tomato basil. OH. MY. WORD. Incredible is one of the adjectives I can think of to describe this soup. Super creamy, sweet and plum full of chunks of tomatoes. The gold fish provided a great crunch as well. YUM!

Vicky had the market special with a salad (look at the itty bitty salad dressing holder!), half of a sandwich and a cup of soup in a tea cup. Is this a perfect meal or is this a perfect meal!?

Shonna chose the flavorful mac n' cheese baked in a pretty pottery dish. Love how we got candy canes and a fun garnish too. It's all about the details! Christmas Eve is the last day The Yellow Umbrella is open until around March so it was special to be there for the last day of the year.

I was craving pastry so I settled on one of the quiches of the day. This one is a sundried tomato, feta and spinach slice- easily the best quiche I have ever had.

On Christmas Eve it is James and my family tradition to go for a drive and look at Christmas lights followed by Chinese food and a candle lit church service. Perfect night :)

For Chinese dinner we went to Mings located on Oliver Street and had a feast! We all started with egg rolls which were quite big and a tad greasy but oh so satisfying haha.

Beef & broccoli. Yum!

Chicken fried rice

Almond chicken served with almond gravy which was pretty similar to chicken gravy. So interesting how each province and even city has such different Chinese cuisine

Shonna & TJ's favorite! Sweet and sour prawns. The sweet & sour sauce is to the right there- these were super good

Prawn curried chop suey- aka. veggies with whatever type of chop suey you choose.

BC version of "ginger beef".. I love Szechuan dishes that come sizzling! This was similar to beef and broccoli except there were thinly sliced pieces of ginger. Unique!

Amazing penguin Christmas light display. So detailed!

Shonna and Andrea exceptionally excited for Christmas morning! So happy to have my sister there :)

Shonna's world famous PINAPPLE BUNS! Her family has been making these for decades on Christmas morning- they are filled with pinapple, warmed up and served with a buttercream icing that melts into them... Aka HEAVEN! What an awesome tradition. I guess her great grandmother used to use jams before pineapple was so abundant.

James jokingly had only one present under the tree for me but when I opened it up there were a bunch of small ones. YAY!

cute couple

Christmas night!

James' dad Barry makes the most incredible turkey. These free range turkey's are from a family friend and they are some of the juiciest I have EVER had. This puppy is around 29 lbs. and we had tons of turkey and stuffing left over. What's your favorite fixing?! I'm OBSESSED with stuffing and my mom's sweet potato pie. YUM!

Dinner for 16

Boxing Day Bowling in "The Puddle" aka. Williams Lake

Beer time at the bowling alley! It is Boxing Day after all ;)

Us kids carried on to Oliver's Pub to have some pub grub for dinner! The burger was on special and looked fab. I have no idea how I ganied 10 lbs ?! HAHA!

James got a pulled pork wrap of all things... said it was delicious. Man I love me some good pub grub!

Chicken Fingys

Philly cheese steak beef dip with a French onion soup for me- I have been so into beef dips lately!

Party time at the "OV" aka. The Overlander Hotel where everyone parties on Boxing Day

Deluxe supreme za at the OV. AKA resting place for my phone that was stolen off this very table :(

Salmon salad at the OV... Who orders salad at a pub ;) Just jokes Steve! You officially have a shout out on the bloggie~!

HOW WAS YOUR CHRISTMAS?!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

I hope that all of you have a great holiday and enjoy some time with friends and family. We leave this afternoon for James' hometown of Williams Lake, BC followed by a 30th birthday celebration for him over New Years at Sun Peaks Ski Resort. James' birthday is on December 27th so I always joke that I buy all of his presents on Boxing Day ;) ... I'm really excited to spend Christmas with my inlaws and get out of town for a bit. Can't wait to share with you all of the FOOD and fun festivities from my holiday. Stay safe and best wishes!

Master's Pub Spirits & "Fine Food"

2011-12-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

Master's Pub, located at 707, 6th Street SW, has certainly mastered the art of homemade pizza... As for anything else on the menu- I would proceed with caution. My work wife and I dined here today for lunch and although I adored my za, the daily special was sub par at best. The staff seemed a bit frazzled by the busier than normal Christmas diners and they were literally running from one table to the next and a few customers seemed a bit tiffed they had to wait for a menu. Pizza is definitely their specialty and most of the regulars seemed to be noshing on the thin crust perfection... Some of the other dishes looked a tad bit helter skelter and when the waitress came by initially she even said "our pizzas are homemade and delicious".. I took her advice... Here is what we had:

Lisa's "daily special" for $13.95... Chicken in a mushroom sauce with pasta and veggies.... The pasta was something to be desired with no more than butter and a bit of Parmesan.. The selection of veggies cracks me up too- one little floret of broccoli. Lisa couldn't make it through the chicken which she described as rubbery and chewy... Not the best looking either. Kind of reminds me of a weeknight meal that you throw together for your family.

I chose the "Master's Pizza" with pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers and hold the onion for $17.. All of their pizza's were $17 regardless the toppings which I found to be a tad steep for a personal sized pizza. YES,. I did eat the whole thing. Don't judge me. It was damn good and the place smelled like a pizza joint- definitely the right choice. I really liked the thin crust and cheese that went to the edge of the crust. I will be back again .. For ZA!

Sakana Grill

2011-12-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

MmMmM SUSHI! My obsession continues... Went for lunch on Monday with a new friend to Sakana Grill located at 116 2nd Avenue right beside China Town. We got to talking about sushi recently and she mentioned this is her favorite place in the city. The fish was really clean and fresh (clean meaning it didn't taste fishy) and Sakana also features grill-side dining similar to Japanese Village with a lot of steak and teppan selections. Sakana also has a floating sushi bar, sushi school and takes reservations. We sat on the perimeter of the restaurant instead of the teppan grills and here is what we had. Yum!:

We chose some tuna and salmon sashimi combo as an appy for $12.20 and what a nice way to start the meal. I liked how the fish was served on ice and really cold instead of room temperature. Great presentation as well and the fish was so fresh.

The reason Sakana is Kim's favorite sushi restaurant are these little dandies on the left- spicy prawn roll. They were very delicious indeed tossed in mayo and sprinkled with smoked paprika. A tad bit hard to eat because of the seaweed wrap on the outside but that's what sushi is all about. On the bottom right you will see the Sakana roll with tuna, salmon and cucumber for $4.90 and in the top right is the Sake Avocado roll with tuna and avocado for $3.20- great price!

Dynamite roll with prawn tempura, smoked salmon, roe and avocado for $10.95. Loved the mayo drizzled on top.

Creme de Menthe Cheesecake

2011-12-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

Mmmm... Who doesn't like mint and chocolate besides my weird neighbor?? What a delicious combination- especially in a cheesecake! Another Pampered Chef recipe- people often ask me why I use their recipes so often and the answer is simple- they are EASY! I know I am never getting in over my head with their recipes. They have great "Cook's tips" on each recipe and they are always delicious as well.

I make this special cheesecake that I make once a year for Christmas and am freezing it until we can take it to BC with us as we are going back to spend Christmas with James' family which I am really excited about! I couldn't take a photo of my cheesecake with the spring form pan taken off but above is exactly how it looks finished! Here is the recipe and some photos of it all coming together. Merry Christmas!

Crust and Filling

14-16

creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (OREOS!)

pkg (8 oz or 250 g) cream cheese, softened

cup (250 mL) sugar

tbsp (60 mL) all-purpose flour, divided

1/2

tsp (2 mL) Double-Strength Vanilla

eggs, room temperature

1/2

cup (125 mL) sour cream

8-12

drops green food coloring (optional)

2 pkg (4.67 oz each) crème de menthe chocolate candies (After Eight)
unwrapped, divided (about 56 candies total)

Topping

3/4

cup (175 mL) semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 1/2

cups (375 mL) thawed frozen whipped topping

7 crème de menthe chocolate candies (reserved from filling)

Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). For crust, lightly spray sides of Springform Pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line sides of pan with two 3 x 15-in. (7.5 x 38-cm) pieces of Parchment Paper. Press cookie crumbs onto bottom and slightly up sides of pan. Bake 8 minutes. Remove pan from oven to cooling rack
For filling, place cream cheese, sugar, 3 tbsp (45 mL) of the flour and vanilla into Mixing Bowl; beat on medium speed of electric hand mixer 3 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs; mix on low speed 2 minutes. Add sour cream and food coloring, if desired; mix until smooth.
Set aside seven of the candies for topping. Cut remaining candies in half crosswise and toss with remaining 1 tbsp (15 mL) flour. Pour half of the filling into crust. Arrange candies, slightly overlapping, over filling; gently spoon remaining filling on top. Bake 55-60 minutes or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken (center will firm as it cools). Remove from oven to cooling rack; cool completely, about 3 hours.
For topping, place chocolate morsels, whipped topping and reserved candies into small, microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1 1/2-2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring after each 30-second interval. Spread topping over center of cheesecake using Small Spreader. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Coating the After 8 mints in flour

I mixed yellow and blue food coloring since we didn't have any green. Turned out perfectly minty!

Half of the cheesecake poured in and the layer of After 8 mints laid down

After the filling was poured and spread.

Classic Spritz Cookies

2011-12-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

I had intended for these versatile cookies to be pressed out of my Cookie Press but decided on larger cookie cutouts at the last minute... This basic Pampered Chef recipe can have sprinkles added on top or even be decorated with icing. Hope you enjoy these sweet treats as much as we did this weekend.. Love that taste of shortbread.. Mmm BUTTER!:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Colored sugar, icing or sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium speed of electric mixter about 3 minutes or until creamy, scraping down sides as necessary. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Add flour; mix on low speed just until blended, scraping down sides as necessary.

Roll dough or fill cookie press with dough and form into desired shapes. Decorate if you wish and bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool cookies 2 minutes on cookie sheet; remove to cooling rack.

LOVE my Kitchen Aid mixer.. Don't know what I would do without it.

Fun! Dang dough is quite fragile though so be careful :)

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

2011-12-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

Christmas at the Cooper & Shepherd's!

This was one of those weekends that was full of eating, drinking and being merry. We had a great time visiting friends and celebrating the season including the above annual Christmas party at our good friend Alicia & Matt's place Saturday night. They got us each our own little stocking and we had a ton of great finger food. I made one of my favorite dishes for the holidays- bacon wrapped water chestnuts! My mom only makes these once a year and I was happy to carry on the tradition this weekend for two events. Here are the directions- super easy with only three ingredients!

Before popping in the microwave for the final cooking process

Ingredients:

1 package bacon (1 lb.)

2 cans whole water chestnuts

Bull's Eye Bold Original BBQ sauce

Directions:

Lay bacon on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven until nearly done but still malleable. The reason for this is that the bacon will cook flat and not curl up. Remove from oven and pat dry.

Rinse water chestnuts under water.

Cut a bacon strip in half and roll water chestnut in the bacon and secure with a toothpick. For larger chestnuts cut in half. Liberally coat bacon wraps in BBQ sauce and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Place bacon wraps on a cookie sheet or ridged baker and cook in the oven or microwave until crispy. Yum! I prefer these even to bacon wrapped scallops because scallops can be so easily overdone and are much more expensive.

Pre-BBQ sauce

Local 522

2011-12-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

Wow. I have beautiful friends :)

I had the pleasure of dining with these three amazing beauties yesterday at Local 522 located at 522 6th Avenue SW. This seems to be a new hang out for Chantalle and I who dine out a few times a week for lunch... The place has great food, a good atmosphere and tons of attractive men in suits. BAHAHA. Chantalle and Kylie (on the left) are headed abroad tomorrow until the middle of January and I am going to MISS THEM! This was a bit of a farewell lunch and we had a great time and a few bevy's. Here is what we dined on:

We started with the calamari for $11.69 which was incredible! This is some of the best calamari I have had in a long time and it even beat the calamari that was ordered for a group dinner at a nice Italian restaurant that I had last night. The squid was really tender and not chewy at all and I really liked the fact that the batter was really light and super crispy. I would definitely order this again! Great chili citrus aioli on top toooo.

The beautiful lady in red, Lauren, chose chili cheese fries of all dishes! The fries had both potato, yam, cheddar and a short rib chili. Everyone raved about these. This gal cracks me up- downs entire JARS of Cheese Whiz, orders fries and still rocks a runway. YOU GO GIRL! :)

Ky ordered the delicious "Tavern Curry" for $16.42 with chicken, cumin seed rice, naan bread and cashews. This was a hit I would definitely order this one on a cold day.

I'm clearly still on the Christmas binge and ordered the fish and chips for $14.49... Beer battered haddock, fries and tartar sauce. I like how they mix potato and yam fries to give the side some variety. The beer batter on this fish was a tad thick for me- I prefer a light batter or the crunch of tempura but it had great flavor.

MmMmMm Local's mac is fantastic. Rich and creamy sausage mac n' cheese for $14.42. I find that sausage can overpower mac sometimes but this dish is just downright delicious.


DON'T LEAVE MEEEE! Just jokes.. HAVE AN AMAZING TRIP AND YOU BETTER COME HOME TAN AND SAFE AND WITH PRESENTS! BAHAHAHA JKKKK

Aman's AMAZING MEAL!

2011-12-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

Aman and Andrea in the kitchen!

For this post I think all I need to do is show you some photos with descriptions.. We ate, we drank, we were hella merry. This was an incredible meal that we will not soon forget.. MUCH better than going to a restaurant. This was prepared with love, in house. FOODGASM!

To start Aman made this beautiful arugula salad with beets, cranberry goat cheese and toasted pecans. He joked that a "blind man" could make the dressing followed by stating "it was a 5 part salting combination"... RIIIIGHT ?!

Try to envision the SMELL right now... BACON and BUTTERNUT SQUASH risotto made with a very special carnaroli rice that Aman and Steph brought back from Italy.... I dieee.

First Aman rendered the fat from the bacon and added his aromatics: garlic and shallots followed by the carnaroli in which he completely covered in the fat. Then he deglazed the pan with some of the Prosecco we were drinking and kept adding chicken stock to make it creamy... And of course some Parmesan cheese. TO DIE FOR!

This beautifully wrapped package is a pork tenderloin wrapped in sausage and bacon. You heard me.. pork on pork married to pork. AMAZING! Each layer is sealed with a bit of egg white to keep it all together. The sausage was actually Spolumbo sausage that was decased and enhanced with different spices and flavors. Wow.

TA DA!!! We put the pork under the broiler for a bit to crisp up the skin :)

PERFECTLY COOKED

Plating! The sauce over the pork is just browned butter with a myriad of spices such as cardimum, cinnamon, allspice etc.

A thing of beauty! The flavors blew our minds! AMAZING JOB THANK YOU AMAN!

My dessert contribution! Check below for the recipe :)

French Macaroons with Espresso Buttercream

2011-12-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

My foodie soul mate, Aman, and his awesome girlfriend came over for dinner last night and said they would prepare an appetizer and entree and my job was the wine and dessert.. EASY! A meal created by Aman is a treat indeed- he just graduated from Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School in Paris and he has an unbelievably finesse for flavors and ideas. We were so excited and I wanted to make a special dessert for them! I found this macaroon recipe in Pampered Chef's Simply Sweet cookbook and immediately remembered visiting Aman in Paris and trekking across the city to find the best macaroons. PERFECT! Hope you enjoy these as much as we did- we ate an ENTIRE batch after dinner- I couldn't believe it. Aman and Steph spent 8 hours a few weeks ago making a ton of French macaroons and they said these were comparable. And super easy! You have to try these and impress all of your friends. Here is the recipe:

MACAROONS:
1 cup sliced almonds, finely ground (use a food processor if available)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 egg whites, room temperature (very important!)
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
3 Tbs. granulated sugar
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for garnish
BUTTERCREAM
4 tsp. instant espresso granules (I used instant coffee)
1 tsp. hot water
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Combine ground almonds and powdered sugar; whisk until well blended
2. In a stainless mixing bowl, beat eggs on high speed with electric mixer until frothy; add cream of tartar. Continue beating until soft peaks form. While continuously beating, gradually add granulated sugar in a very slow, steady stream. Continue to beat until sugar is dissolved, mixture is glossy, and stiff peaks form. Turn off beaters. Add almond mixture all at once to egg whites; fold in gently. (Almonds will not be completely incorporated and batter will be somewhat thin)
3. Attach round tip to a piping bag or decorator; fill with batter. Pipe batter onto cookie sheet in 1 1/4 inch rounds, 1/2 inch apart. Bake 45 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove cookie sheet from oven; slide parchment and cookies onto a cooling rack. While cookies are still warm, remove from parchment to cooling rack.
4. For the buttercream combine espresso granules and hot water in small bowl and stir until combined. Combine butter and powdered sugar and using clean beaters beat on medium-high speed until creamy. Add dissolved espresso; beat until smooth. Fill piping bag or decorator with buttercream. Pipe buttercream onto flat sides of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies and sprinkle with cocoa powder.

Beating the egg whites

Folding in the almond mixture

I used a star tip for the macaroon. Like the textured look.

My Masterpieces!

Chicago Chophouse

2011-12-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

YuMmM... Yesterday was one of those "I WANT A BURGER AND FRIES" kinda days.. which don't come along very often for me. The building I work in backs onto Chicago Chophouse so it's an easy choice to take a great client for a yummy meal... Especially on a cold day when I don't have to work far. Really wish my office building was attached to a +15- love going out with no coat. Chicago Chophouse is obviously famous for their steaks but they have a really large lunch menu to satisfy a wide array of appetites. Chicago Chophouse is located at 604-8th Avenue SW and here is what we dined on yesterday:

My lunch date has recently lost a lot of weight and looks awesome! He is on a new meal plan and works out three times per week. A lot of diets will tell you that if you have to cheat- sometimes a burger isn't the worst. Normally it is lean ground beef and the bun is the only real sin. Okay and the cheese. and possible mayo. This is the Chophouse Burger with prime beef, boar bacon, cheddar, balsamic mayo on a kaiser bun for $17. The best part about Chicago Chophouse is the wide array of sides you can choose from, everything from mac & cheese, asparagus, creamed spinach, loaded baked potato, cottage cheese, onion rings, sauteed mushrooms ETC! Wicked!

Burger, fries and gravy for boss man. The fries are home cut and made of Kennebec potatoes meaning they are really flavorful and seasoned well. YuM!

Although I was after a burger and fries the boys beat me to it so I asked the waiter for his advice and he suggested the onion rings which were HEAVENLY and came with a great aioli to dip them in. I also chose the Chophouse Brisket Reuben $18 which was very unique for a reuben- it tasted more like beef on a bun or something because of the tender brisket meat. The marble rye was perfectly toasted but the bottom got a tad soggy. Either way the Swiss cheese was perfectly melted and who can complain about a pickle?! Our meal took forever to come though- I highly recommend an appy to tie you over!

NOtaBLE

2011-12-12T14:16:00.000-07:00

NOtaBLE is a restaurant I have been dying to try since I watched Michael Noble prepared a meal for small group and I at Cookbooks Co. Cooks a number of years ago. I remember Chef Michael Noble stating he wanted to open a restaurant in the suburbs because people "eat where they live" in this city... Located at 4611 Bowness Road NW, Michael has accomplished that and so much more. Advertising "come as you are" and "gourmet casual" cuisine NOtaBLE has received rave reviews and strong foodie following. The cozy dining room features an open kitchen, daily rotisserie creation and homey furnishings such as tree trunk walls and glass fence post lighting. What a treat! James booked here for my birthday and it was the best meal we've had in a LONG time. NOtaBLE has private dining, walk in seating, reservations and even a take-out menu! James had reservations for two months for my birthday and although we found the service a tad slow because it was so busy we had an incredible meal... Here's what we ate!:

Oh. My. I loved the fact that a lot of the appetizers you could have as a starter to share OR an entree! I don't think I've ever seen that before.. Brilliant. This is the Dungeness crab & shrimp bake with wilted spinach, aged cheddar and toasts for $16. One of the best dips we have ever had. Huge pieces of shrimp and the flavor... Ohhh the flavor. Very decadent. Think cheese and butter and heaven. Wow.

James is so great to dine with. If I am debating between two dishes he will always order the other one so I can try it. Match made in heaven! haha. He chose (or my other choice) was the famous rotisserie free range chicken with seasonal vegetables. Loved the rub on the chicken and the carrots tasted candied. Outstanding for $27 and super moist.

They had me at roast mushrooms and Boursin... I chose the entree sized ravioli of confit chicken, roasted mushrooms and Boursin cheese for $24. Very reasonably priced and this dish was rich and very comforting. The carrots were one of the stars in this dish and I really enjoyed it :)

After dinner I was completely shocked with a SURPRISE party followed by a Hummer limo to Commonwealth downtown- (think ugly cry). What an incredible night!!! I have the MOST AMAZING friends- so blessed! XOXOX

EEEK! LIMO TIME! :)

One of my besties Courtney :)

Party time!

Pretty sure I had a good time ;)

Bookers & Birthday's

2011-12-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you are having an awesome day... I am... Because it's my BIRTHDAY! YAYYY! Let the week of festivities begin.. Yep... My birthday normally lasts a week- I am spoiled rotten :D. Last night one of my good guy friends took me to Bookers BBQ Grill and Crab Shack located at 10, 316-3rd Street SE. Bookers is part of Vintage's chain of restaurants including Red Water, Vintage Chophouse, RUSH, etc. Luckily we had a gift card or I would NOT think our meals were worth the price of admission. I have been to Bookers once before for drinks but never to eat. Being a BBQ & CRAB SHACK you'd think you would have an option of ribs you could enjoy aka. baby back, beef etc or a choice of crab aka. snow crab or Alaskan King Crab. What a shame. Here is what we had:

My date had a steak sandwich which he said was good.. Then again he ordered medium well so could he REALLY tell? hehe I'm an Albertan snob ;) ;) ... The fries looked home cut and there was also some KFCish gravy. Not bad he said.

I ordered the "two meat BBQ combo" for $24.95 and got a half rack of ribs with their traditional rub and Kansas City BBQ sauce and a half pound of snow crab. You have your choice of three BBQ sauces for the ribs and I chose the more traditional flavor- she said the other two were either sweet or sweet and sour. The first thing I did was bite into my ribs... Which were cold.. and dry... I liked the rub on the ribs but I could NOT get over how DRY they were. I know they have been roasting for "4 hours" but for a rib place these were disgraceful. The crab was overcooked and didn't slide out of the shell like perfectly cooked crab should. I also am not a huge fan of snow crab since it is smaller and more fiddly to crack. I definitely won't be rushing back and I've heard a few of my friends say the same about Bookers.

I've been pretty spoiled in the food department though! Look at this amazing ice cream cake my girlfriends got for me!!! I walked into sparklers, candles and a happy birthday tune! YAY! I LOVE ICE CREAM CAKE! MY FAVORITE!

I was a TAD bit excited ;)

At work today my amazing co-workers set up a taco bar! How much fun is this!!! Spicy beef and ALLLL the fixings. Even tiny cubed dill pickles- man that is good on a taco. Jalapenos, guac, cheese, and all different shells. I felt special :D

CRAVE cupcakes for dessert.. I chose a red velvet one. Yum! They have a new "pop up" crave in Holt Renfrew...

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes and love today!!! James is picking me up in an hour for dinner.... He keeps telling me we have to leave early to beat the line up at Moxies aka HE BETTER BE JOKING! HEHEHE! Photos to follow and have a fabulous weekend ;)

The Metropolitan Grill

2011-12-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

I seem to frequent The Met quite often with clients and it always has great food and is used to a large number of customers slamming them for lunch between 11 am and 1 pm. We always book at the central TD Square location on 8th Avenue and I LOVE their lobster mac and great salad choices. The Met changes up their menu quite a bit and I enjoy taking clients there because it is a hip atmosphere and generally quite quiet in the dining room. Here is what we dined on on a busy Monday at The Met.. My male clients especially appreciate dining at The Met with all of the attractive servers in skirts ;) .. PFFT:

I decided to take a lighter approach and decided on the Delmonico salad which had steak, stewed tomatoes, hard boiled egg, candied pecans, romaine, blue cheese and the most amazing part- CANDIED PORK BELLY.. Think candied bacon. It was almost to decadent to eat all of those pieces but a very satisfying salad for $17

A great client of ours ordered the candied salmon salad with pecans and goat cheese which she raved about. There seemed to be a large difference in portion size from mine to hers with hers being quite a bit larger. It was also a tad hard for her to stir the salad so a bigger bowl would have been nice. Goat cheese and salmon- always a winning combination :)

My boss ordered the seafood club which I was drooling over on the menu and may have influenced his decision. Crab, lobster, prawns and mayo on brioche served with a wild mushroom soup. Oh man I wanted to this!

Gypsy & DEATH BY CHOCOLATE!

2011-12-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

At The Palliser

My longest running friend/sister, Shannon, and I had a long overdue date on Monday night starting off with appetizers at Gypsy Bistro-Wine Bar followed by Fairmont Palliser's Death By Chocolate buffet they put on every Monday evening from 5:30 -9 pm for $28/person including coffee, tea or juice. What a perfect date for my expectant bestie! One downfall to Gypsy, located kiddy croner to the Palliser, is that they do not have their menu online so I harassed the maitre d a number of times about specific menu items since Shannon is 5 months pregnant. They are a bit behind in the curve this way and hopefully they will post their menu online soon! I was offered tickets to the Death By Chocolate event by Twitter friend and fellow blogger Home to Heather. The event took place to gain awareness about the smart new app "shopcatch" which informs consumers of in-store shopping deals offered by major retailers at your favorite malls across Canada. Shopcatch can locate deals nearest you via GPS, keep track of and save mobile coupons, share deals with friends and family and customize your deals according to where you like to shop. Shannon and I are very experienced shoppers ourselves so we found this app to be a great idea. We had a great time and it was nice to meet some of the "Tweeple" I have only met virtually and put a face to the name. Here are some photos of our fun night :)

We didn't want to be too full for our chocolate FEAST so we both had a bowl of the mushroom and roasted garlic soup which was quite good. We were worried the garlic might be overpowering but it was really subtle. The mushrooms were ground up which was interesting- good but sometimes I like the texture of a big mushroom to gnaw on.

We ordered these "Cajun shrimp" which were a bit disappointing for Shannon who just arrived back from MAUI! Obviously you can't compare Calgary seafood to somewhere coastal but these were really small and had a crunchy, over cooked layer on the bottom of them. They reminded me of the frozen shrimp I buy at Safeway. I wouldn't order these again.

THIS amazing dish is the reason I suggested Gypsy. I remember having this brie a few months back and have never forgotten how delicious it was omggg.. Brie wrapped in phyllo dough with a mango salsa and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. TO DIE FOR! I could have eaten three of these to myself. I think it would be even BETTER if it was served with toasted crostini instead of the basket of bread that you get when you sit down. NUM who doesn't love melted brie with some type of fruit ?

The chocolate BEGINS! Chocolate tarts, mousse and creme brulee

To the left: chocolate cheesecake. One of the BEST things on the entire buffet. The martini glass in the middle had profiteroles or cream puffs but they were SO disappointing shockingly. Dry and barely no cream inside. At the top is a banana chocolate cake and to the bottom right a white chocolate and mandarin orange tart.

Bottom center: CHOCOLATE PIZZA! Black forest cake, chocolate chocolate CHOCOLATE!

Dark & White chocolate mousse glasses. I love the crunch tiny malt balls on the top. Where can I get a BAG of those?

Love the detail that is taken for each dessert :)

Preggers at the chocolate fountain! ;)

This was EASILY one of the best items on the buffet- warm chocolate bread pudding.. OMGGGG

Fancy!!!

How delightful! Little baby cones filled with chocolate mousse and those crunchy things I love! NOTE TO SELF: Do not give preggers 'a bite'.. She ate the rest of it whole *WEEP* HAHAHA

Mini amaretto cheesecakes

The carnage

Peanut Butter Balls!

2011-12-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

MAKE THESE!

I'm so bossy hey? "Make these!"... Well they are damn good. Of all the baking I did on Saturday these were definitely my personal favorite. They were easy and used simple ingredients as well. Hope you enjoy these as much as we did on our BINGE DAY! GET IN MY MOUTH! I made them about 1 tsp. each or pretty small so I would yield more. I think I am going to make another batch before Christmas.This is another awesome Pampered Chef recipe from one of my fav cookbooks: Simply Sweet.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup plus Tbs. butter, divided

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

3 squares (1 oz/30 g each) semi-sweet chocolate for baking, chopped

1 1/4 cups dry-roasted peanuts

Directions:

1. Line a large sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper allowing 1-inch to extend past the sides. Set aside. Place peanut butter and 1/4 of the butter in a microwavable container and cook, on HIGH 1 minute or until butter is melted; stir until well blended. Add powdered sugar and mix well. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until easy to handle! IMPORTANT!

2. For each truffle roll 1tsp. of peanut butter mixture into a ball; place on prepared pan. Repeat with remaining peanut butter mixture and refrigerate 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place chocolate and remaining 3 Tbs. butter in a microwavable bowl on HIGH 1-1 1/2 minutes or until chocolate is melted and smooth, stirring after 1 minute; set aside. Coarsely chop peanuts and place on a plate.

3. Dip several truffles at a time into chocolate mixture, strain out of chocolate with a fork and roll in peanuts. Remove to same parchment-lined pan. Repeat with remaining truffles.

Peanut butter balls before chocolate. Their so cuteee

Mmmmmm... I want one RIGHT NOW!

Cookie Truffles!

2011-12-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

Look how magical these cookie truffles look in this photo from Pampered Chef! Mine didn't turn out QUITE like this but I am damn proud of them!!! I made the vanilla-almond variety and James can't stop raving about them. Below is the recipe for crème de menthe, peanutty-chocolate and vanilla-almond cooke truffles... MMMM! They were relatively easy as well. I did some Christmas baking on the weekend and I wanted to do something a little out of the norm and make homemade truffles! Here are what mine ended up turning out like:

Well.. ONE of them is a masterpiece. The rest are... SANTA HATS!

Crème de Menthe Cookie Truffles

15 creme-filled chocolate-mint sandwich cookies

2 oz. (60 g) cream cheese, softened

1 pkg. crème de menthe chocolate candies (unwrapped- about 28 total)

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1. Break cookies in half and place into Manual Food Processor OR a food processor you have and process until cookies are very fine crumbs. Add cream cheese; process until dough forms. Using a small spoon scoop cookie mixture and form into small balls. Place on a pan lined with parchment paper.

2. Microwave chocolate candies, stirring every 15-30 seconds until melted. Cool slightly. Dip truffles in chocolate; place onto pan. Let stand 5 minutes or until the chocolate is set.

3. Microwave chocolate morsels, uncovered, on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until melted. Spoon chocolate into a resealable plastic bag, trim corner of bag and drizzle chocolate over truffles. Let stand 10 minutes or until chocolate is set. Store truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Vanilla- Almond Cookie Truffles

Substitute creme-filled vanilla sandwich cookies (white Oreos!) for the chocolate-mint sandwich cookies. Add 1/2 tsp. almond extract to cookie and cream cheese mixture. Process and shape truffles as directed in Step 1. Omit crème de menthe chocolate candies. Roll truffles in 1/2 cup toasted, finely chopped almonds. Substitute white chocolate morsels for the semi-sweet chocolate morsels in Step 3.

Peanutty-Chocolate Cookie Truffles

Substitute 12 peanut butter sandwich cookies for the chocolate-mint sandwich cookies. Increase cream cheese to 3 oz. (90 g). Process and shape truffles as directed in Step 1. Omit crème de menthe chocolate candies. Roll truffles in 1/2 cup finely chopped dry-roasted peanuts. Drizzle with melted semi-sweet chocolate morsels as directed in step 3.

WURST Brunch

2011-12-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Brunch at WURST was definitely NOT the worst brunch I have ever had.. In fact it rates in my top 3 of all time. I met my sister-in-law here on Saturday morning for an early morning catch up and we had a sinfully HEAVENLY meal! It was binge day and the menu sounded so mouthwatering, as usual. WURST restaurant and beer hall are located at 2437 4th Street SW beside Tin Palace Earls and if you haven't been yet- book a reso! There are so many great things on their lunch and dinner menu which can be followed by a giant boot o' beer in their German Style beer hall. We were the first ones there at 10:30 am and had a great meal... Can't stop thinking about it! Here is what we had:

Shonna chose the smoked salmon and double cream brie benedict with fried capers and Hallandaise sauce that was served on a cheese & herb biscuit, heavenly pan potatoes with bacon chunks inside and a mixed green salad for $18. This meal was FILLING due to the biscuit base but absolutely to die for. Shonna raved over the potatoes and really enjoyed this.

I chose the "Brown Butter Wild Mushroom and Comte" benedict that was easily one of the best benedicts I've ever had. Atop the biscuit there were leeks, wilted spinach and Hollandaise sauce. The browned butter really gave this dish a nutty flavor and I ADORED the wild mushrooms of all different shapes and sizes for $17. Can't wait to take James here!

Oh. My.... We were stuffed but wisely decided to try one of their desserts. This a-mazing jam jar contained white chocolate mousse, raspberry jam and the best part- a thick base of praline that would make a grown woman weep. The jar was served with two pistachio shortbread cookies for $8.50. This was unbelievable and moaning ensued.. *DROOL!*

Nathan's Restaurant & Bar

2011-12-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! On a cold, windy day like today I met some good friends for lunch and although we were hoping to hit up Local 522, it was packed. We ended up at Nathan's Restaurant & Bar next door located at 550 6th Avenue which is a very casual restaurant that also randomly offers an Indian buffet? Whatever- it was cold and we were all HUNGRY! The waitress was really nice and so were a few delicious bevy's that we had. Apparently Nathan's gets pretty packed at night during the weekend with people gathering to party. Who would have known? Here is what we had:

Mike ordered a clubhouse. Can't go wrong right? This smelled so good... He chose brown bread to be "healthy" but stuck with fries. hehe came to $14

Chanty opted for fish and chips which see said "tasted a lot better than they looked"... Hahaha!

I was a good girl and chose the Greek salad which was actually super tasty. Not overdressed and I donated my garlic bread but other than that it was really satisfying and healthy :)

Essence Restaurant

2011-11-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

Essence is located right beside The Keg in the Westin Hotel located at 320 4th Avenue. Essence serves breakfast and has an all day menu that is popular for business people and hotel guests downtown. I decided to take a good client here today because it is normally quiet and we can hear each other to catch up but it was super busy and loud today unfortunately. Not as loud as The Keg downtown though- wowza we have all but banned meetings there because of the volume of music and voices during the lunch hour. The lunch was quite good and I was really happy with what I ordered. I do find the food quite overpriced and the service a tad slow though.. I guess they are playing on the corporate angle with most guests dining with a company credit card. Here is what we had!:

I was not able to partake in the freshly baked bread with an olive whipped butter and olive oil side but it smelled delicious!

Being a good girl I chose the broiled green tea-lacquered salmon in shittake essence. The original dish came with sweet potatoes but since we are staying away from carbs I asked for asparagus and there were also fava beans (perfect!), spinach and shitake mushrooms for $32.50. Super good I loved the broth it was in.

Shitty picture but I try to not get too "in there" at business lunches... haha. This is the grilled steak salad with romaine, avocado, caramelized onions, peppers and caesar dressing for $18.50

The special on Wednesday is prime rib with a big yorkshire pudding, garlic mash and veggies.. My cattle rancher boss got this one and really enjoyed it. This is what I DEFINITELY would have ordered had I not been so strict :p

Essence is ESSENTIALLY good.. I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than a business meeting your NOT paying for though.

Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs

2011-11-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

After two great shows yesterday James and I decided to have our own little Grey Cup party... We did avoid carbs and dairy mostly but indulged in some wings and a mini shrimp cocktail I picked up from M & M Meats since I had a coupon for $5 off a $50 purchase. I also picked up some herbed and dill salmon which will be good for us to eat during the week.. To make it to $50 I grabbed some smoked salmon which I love but have never worked with before. I decided to make this Pampered Chef deviled egg recipe that I have been eying up for a while and they turned out so yummy! I halfed the recipe and here it is from the "Easy & Impressive Appetizer Book"... Did I mention there is NO shipping on my website today for Cyber Monday?!?! CHECK IT OUT!:

Ingredients:

12 eggs

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 oz. (60 grams) cream cheese, softened

1/2 Tbs. Dijon mustard

2 tsp. freshly chopped fresh dill weed (I used this)

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. salt

8 oz. (250 g) cold-smoked salmon, divided

Snipped fresh dill weed for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Hard boil eggs and let stand for 20 minutes. Immediately run cold water over eggs or place them in ice water until completely cooled. Remove shells.

2. Cut eggs in half lengthwise. Carefully remove yolks and place in mixing bowl; set whites aside. Mash yolks and stir in mayo, cream cheese, mustard, dill weed, vinegar and salt until well blended. Finely chop salmon and reserve a large piece for garnish. Add chopped salmon to yolk mixture and mix well.

3. Using a piping bag or my favorite: the Easy Accent Decorator, fill egg whites with yolk mixture. Thinly reserve piece of salmon and garnish eggs. Sprinkle with additional dill weed if desired. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Me using my favorite tool! James the photog ;)

Stockman's Restaurant & Lounge

2011-11-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

BINGE #2 of BINGE DAY!!! Since I chose a gourmet lunch James was in charge of dinner. He had heard that the lounge located in Dewinton was under new ownership and trying to get the word out to people in the south. We thought we would give it a try and wowza! WE WILL BE BACK! The menu is huge with tons to choose from and I still really want to try their french onion soup, mac n' cheese, and a ton of appetizers. Great pub grub! It wasn't too busy but the atmosphere is cozy and warm with a fire going and wood accents. We found the staff really nice and everything seemed to be homemade. Here is where our gluttony took us Saturday night ;):

Remember how I was craving mushroom caps?! These fit the bill!!! YUMMM! Cream cheese stuffed mushrooms with a perfectly cooked prawn on the top. Yes please. These were clearly homemade and fantastic. We will be back for these! :)

James heard they had great wings and man did they live up to it! These were sweet chili and they are my favorite kind of wings: crunchy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. Perfect! We loved these!

What would binge day be without a big fat ZA?! Half sausage, ham, pineapple and half pepperoni, mushroom and green pepper. Funny though- we could only stomach about one piece each ?! We had a bit on Sunday too... Bad! hehe.. Whatever super good. The pizza sauce is homemade as well.

Support Stockman's and their new husband, wife ownership! I don't think you'll be disappointed with the service or quality of food ;)

Selkirk Grille at Heritage Park

2011-11-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend!!! I SERIOUSLY needed a really great day off and I was super happy to get it on Saturday with my family and James. I was supposed to have a trade show all day followed by an evening show but everything fell through and James suggested a trip to Heritage Park's "Once Upon a Christmas" with my rents. What an awesome day! The weather was gorgeous and we were running around like kids from the candy shop to the bakery to the Christmas decorations! I highly recommend you check this out if you haven't been yet. We listened to carolers and got to pet reindeer. Did I mention it was our BINGE DAY?!?! First indulgences included 5 cent candy and old fashioned classics from the candy store followed by freshly baked cookies and butter tarts from the bakery... Moaning did ensue. James and I were like monkeys with machine guns and my parents got a real kick out of it. For lunch I made reservations at Heritage Park's new Selkirk Grille which has Canadian favorites such as short rib poutine and a really great menu. We had an awesome lunch and here is what we ate:

To start we split the "Crispy Squid" with a warm tomato eggplant dipping sauce for $12. This was quite yummy and we liked the dipping sauce

Being that it was binge day we also decided to indulge in some straight up carbs and dairy. We chose the "Canadian Cheese Fondue" which was raclette and gruyere cheese with dry Riesling and Sherry with brioche bread, apples and candied walnuts for $13. The cheese in this dish was amazing but I think I would have preferred the bread toasted or more of a crostini. The bread wasn't fresh enough to be served untoasted in my opinion.

I always have to take photos of my mother's food first because she is so impatient with my picture taking haha. She chose the ginger honey glazed duck confit with wild mushroom risotto and green beans for $17. I was impressed that there were no entrees over $20 for lunch. Very reasonable.

My dad and James had the Selkirk burger for $16 which was so good. The beef was Alberta ground chuck and had a really great flavor. The fries were homemade too... yum!

I chose the pear and gorgonzola flatbread for $17 with mozzarella, candied walnuts and fresh arugula. I couldn't taste too well so it was okay but my damn tasters were not working! I think I would have liked the pears to be thin slices instead of wedges texturally.

Loved how they served our cappuccinos in vintage tea cups :)

What would a nice lunch be without dessert?! We had the lemon chiffon creme brulee.

If you haven't been to Heritage Park to check out their new digs you should really make a trip! Gasoline Alley is pretty awesome including a brewery section and some great new shops. You can find 50% off vouchers for "Once Upon a Christmas" at most Safeway stores. We had a great lunch as well although we were a bit disappointed at the end- I had a $65 Open Table gift certificate which are supposed to be accepted at ALL Open Table restaurants but the manager argued with me for some time until finally giving in. Her loss really, it kind of soured a great meal with good service.

CRAVINGS

2011-11-24T16:25:00.003-07:00

Can I share my cravings with you?!?! Ya know.. Just one or two things? This protein, veg, beans diet is really starting to take it's toll on my food happiness level... THIS is the diet we are on. Look how joyful and upbeat I sound in this post? I just finished mowing down a salad with eggs, beans and ham.. I know you are jealousss! My husband thinks I am torturing myself watching cooking shows, dreaming about food and now.. I am going to BLOG A SMORGASBOARD! Luckily our binge day is only two sleeps away.. BRING IT ON!!! Here is what I am craving the most.. Right now... Get in my mouth:

WARM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. CAPS LOCK. Homemade, straight from the oven with a glass of milk. Did I mention we are not allowed dariy?!?! Cookie batter... Gooey chocolate... *DROOL*

A specialty coffee! I would like a peppermint mocha latte or a Nutella latte please.. STAT! Warm and sweet and festive.

My mom makes these amazing little dandies at Christmas. Marshmallows dipped in caramel rolled in Rice Krispies.

SHOCKERRRRR

In particular- Pulcinella Italian style pizza. Quatro fromaggio with extra basil. Mmmmm

Garlic cheese bread

Perfectly cooked grilled cheese...

Bacon-wrapped little smokes in a brown sugar and maple glaze. Oh yes.

Crab stuffed mushroom caps.

French. Onion. Soup.

OMG

Oh back to sweets.. Ice cream cakeeeee

Fried ice cream. If you've never had this.. The next time you are eating Mexican you must.. MUST ORDER IT!

Pie bites

Apple nachos- perfect girls night snack.. No fruit for meeee :(

Take me back to Paris. PRONTO.

Classy McDicks hehehe

Oh yes.

Frozen banana bites

MAMA WANTS HER SOME FRIED CHICKEN!

Okay let me just wipe the tears off of my keyboard now... I promise I will blog each and every glorious binge cheat this time... Cannot wait to share this with you... Hope I didn't make you too hungry... ;)

Escoba Bistro & Wine Bar

2011-11-23T09:52:00.001-07:00

I know... I blog about Escoba a lot.. I probably dine there more than I even blog about it but I work right around the corner from it at 624 8th Avenue and I love their menu! Not to mention you get a free wine sample every time you sit down. What's not to like? There are tons of different choices on their depending on what you are feeling like (you must try the elk and bison duo.. oh my) and for right now... Diet friendly. I met my foodie soul mate Aman for lunch yesterday and here is what we had on this windy lunch hour:

We were in the mood for something lighter- very unusual for us considering we normally split a bottle of vino and get at least three dishes. Aman chose the poached pear salad with golden beets, pickled red onion, manchego cheese and crispy Proscuitto. Aman added "charred chicken" which he was hoping would be more blackened and flavorful. They should really just call this grilled chicken. Not a cheap salad at $23 either.


Continuing on the 4 Hour Body so diet I stuck to meat and veg. I got the grilled vegetable salad with chorizo sausage for $24. The chorizo was fantastic- what a great choice. I loved the balsamic vinaigrette but always wish the veggies were warm in this dish instead of cold. Either way still very delicious and I loved the button mushrooms.

One of the biggest reasons for our lunch date was to discuss Aman's exciting new business venture: THE NAACO TRUCK! The newest food truck coming to your mouth in Spring 2012- it's a spicy affair ;)

I absolutely love the idea and am so proud of Aman for conceptualizing such a unique combination- Indian tacos?! Even better: butter chicken, beef vindaloo and falafels served in naan bread. You can get combination's with basmati rice and tea or mogo fries and tea. What are mogo fries you ask? Your going to have to wait and see! Love the tag line: "My Naaco, your mouth, Spring 2012". Congrats and can't wait for Calgary to experience Aman's cuisine and hilarious personality.

Tom Ka Kai

2011-11-22T10:41:00.001-07:00

This is the photo on Pinterest that enticed me to make "Tom Ka Kai" soup last night for dinner. What is Tom Ka Kai you ask? It is simply Thai chicken coconut and mushroom soup which works well with our new diet plan! We are still plugging away on our 4 Hour Body diet and it really has worked out great. So far I have lost 8 lbs and James 12 lbs!!! WOWZA! To review we have pretty much cut dairy, carbohydrates and sugar from our diet and we eat four large meals per day consisting of protein, vegetables and beans. Lots of beans... The first week was definitely the hardest getting used to massive breakfasts and not eating ANY carbs (I'm talking not even rice or tortillas!) but the best thing about this diet is that we are never hungry! The protein really fills you up and we can still have steak, asparagus and all the good meats which is awesome. Saturday was our cheat day and oh man we went to town. I was still feeling pretty crappy but I still managed to put back a bunch of pizza and grapefruit beer at Craft Beer Market. YUM! Here is the recipe for the soup I found here- we ARE allowed coconut milk so we have been eating a ton of curry and this coconut soup was unique and really comforting:

Ingredients:

2 whole chicken breasts, cut in chunks

1 whole onion, chopped

6 cups water

1 cup Shiitake mushrooms (or regular- we used regular)

14 oz. fluid canned coconut milk

1 Tbs. red, yellow or green curry paste

2 Tbs. fish sauce or soy sauce

1/4 cups sugar (we just used 1 Tbs. Splenda)

1 piece lime wendges

1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

2 whole tomatoes, cut into wedges

1/4 cups fresh basil, chopped

Directions:

In a large sauce pan, cook the chicken in a little bit of oil until done, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the remaining ingredients except for the tomatoes and basil. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and basil and cook until warmed through. Taste and adjust seasoning. If it needs more salt, add a little more fish sauce. This is a strong ingredient so be gentle with it. If you like it a bit more spicy, add a little more red chili flakes.

We used red curry and this is just after adding the mushrooms and tomatoes. Although it doesn't look at all like the photo- it was DAMN GOOD! Love my wok!

Zen

2011-11-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday everyone! I am sorry for my absence these past few days. I have been sick with a cold and finally on the mend. Feeling much better today and ready to blog some good eats! On Thursday a great client took my work wife and I to Zen, formally known as Zen 8, is located at 103-414 3td Street SW. Zen 8 was previously owned by Penny Lane Entertainment Group and was recently purchased by the general manager and head chef and changed their name to "Zen". Zen is one of my favorite places in the city to get sushi. The fish is always incredibly fresh and "clean"- clean means you will not taste any fishy essence at all and I really love some of their funky rolls. I wouldn't say that is the cheapest sushi place in Calgary but it is one of the best quality... Here is how I broke our "4 Hour Body Diet" on Thursday and indulged in a fun feast!:

We started off with some super yummy tempura- asparagus, yam and prawn. Delicious!

If there is one thing I have learned over the years- it is how much sushi to order! The suggested serving size is 10 pieces per person so we each ordered a roll. Top left you will see spicy tuna, top right is the AMAZING Samurai roll which is pretty much a California roll with tiny shrimp tossed in mayo (OMG YUM MY NEW FAV!), Kamikazee roll in the middle with a great crunch and lots of tuna and a rainbow roll at the bottom. Everyone LOVED this sushi!

Close up of the Samurai roll (top) and Kamikazee roll.... DELICIOUS! My two favorites by a long shot

I was trying to stick to my diet a bit and got some salmon sashimi which was so fresh and my favorite- special scallop tossed in mayo. YUM!

Close up of the rainbow roll. Our eyes got a bit bigger than our stomachs and we ended up ordering another spicy tuna and Samurai roll which ended up being a bit too much. Remember 10 pieces each is normally a perfect amount :)

Ox and Angela

2011-11-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

There has been SO much buzz surrounding this new South and Central American inspired restaurant located at 528 17th Avenue SW that opened at the beginning of July... Couldn't wait to check it out! The owners of UNA Pizza and Wine opened this second restaurant and what a great amount of effort and detail has gone into their food and cocktail menus. James and I arrived early last night and had a glass of vino in the lounge. Sitting at the wood was really entertaining watching the experienced bar tender mix up a bunch of specialty drinks and garnishes included everything from mint to orchids to grapes... What a great place to have a drink! Once our dear friend and dinner date arrived we moved over to the small, white-walled dining room that was dark and inviting with candles flickering and mirrored walls. Ox and Angela's food is meant to be served "family sized" and most of the meat entrees are not to be taken on alone so we ordered a bunch of things and shared- my favorite! We were impressed that we were even able to stick to our 4 Hour Body Diet! They do say that Mexican and Thai food is the best for this and I suppose this was Latin American. Here is what we had:

"CALAMAR" for $11 that was spice rubbed squid, grilled watermelon and shaved radish. We were happy to see that the squid was not batter so we could stay on track and OMG... Grilled watermelon?! My new favorite food! The watermelon tasted marinated and having it warm was surprisingly comforting. It went so great with the squid and how unique!

"COCTEL de GAMBAS" aka. Prawn cocktail for $12... This is the only dish that unimpressed me a bit. The prawns themselves seemed a tad overcooked and the prawn "cocktail sauce" was really watering tomato sauce I guess that didn't really stick to any of the corn chips or the shrimp. Maybe this is true Latino but I wasn't a fan.

For our shared protein entree or "Parella" we had the "PESCADO ENVUELTO" or snapper in a charred banana leaf. You should have smelt this when it arrived! Amazing.. Perfectly cooked and love the flavor from the banana leaf.

OMG... This was definitely our favorite- housemade chorizo with beer braised peppers, parsley and salt... I cannot stop thinking about this and will be back.. How perfect that there were three too! :)

CALABACITAS or shaved zucchini, crushed almond, mint and queso fresco for $9 served chilled. Really light and refreshing. Although we expected it to be a warm dish it really hit the spot!

FRIJOLES or pan fried fava beans, serrano ham and a fried egg for $10. This came out a little later than everything else because they apparently broke the yolk on the first egg but wowza.. WORTH THE WAIT! You'd think I'd be extremely sick of eggs, beans and ham with the 4 Hour Body Diet but the egg yolk mixed with the fava beans was amazing. I really enjoyed this side dish!!! Kind of like eggs and bacon or something.

The waitress suggested we get one more accompaniment to go with our protein dishes and suggested this refreshing salad with pickled tomato, crisp potato, lemon and radish slices. Really good!

Cappuccinos to top off a great feast. Thank you Ox & Angela- we will be back. And I have GOT to try one of your cocktails!

The 4-Hour Body

2011-11-15T09:00:00.001-07:00

Yesterday James and I have begun a new diet plan to get ourselves in shape before Hawaii in February. This "diet plan" is quite interesting and we read extensively about it before settling on this one after a few of our friends have lost around 20 lbs. or had a 20 lb. "body re-composition" from this book. I have found that since house boating I have just been eating whatever I want, when I want and it is starting to show in the way my clothes fit and the way I feel. Apparently the first week of this diet is the hardest but after that it becomes quite a bit easier. James and I even went and got our body fat and measurements tested this weekend to really see some results from the diet. Stay tuned and *maybe* I will even post some before and after photos ;) ... The best thing about this diet is you get one insane binge day per week which they suggest for Saturday... The book tells you to go completely nuts and you can have three servings of pizza if you like. They do suggesting starting the day off with a glass of grapefruit juice which helps. Here is the basis of the diet and some of the "rules":

4 meals per day, no snacking
Avoid all "white" carbohydrates aka. all breads, rice, cereal, potatoes, pastas, tortillas, and fried food with breading. We have NEVER completely taken carbs out of our diet so I think we will see results with that alone. Previously we have done the "GI Diet" and switched the whole grains but not like this
Eat the same few meals over and over again. (BLECH!!!... I LOVE VARIETY!) Meals should have protein, legumes and vegetables, 4 hours apart
Don't drink calories but LOTS of water, tea and coffee (black but you can add cinnamon). You are also allowed 2 glasses of red wine per day. WOOOO!
Don't eat fruit. Exceptions are tomatoes and avocados
Take one day off per week and go nuts... We are already dreaming of pizza and sushi...
Use spices and herbs not cream sauces or processed sauces
Breakfast is important- eat at least 30 g of protein. Eggs, spinach and lentils are a perfect breaky
For dining out Mexican and Thai places are good. Try subbing more veg for carbs
Common mistakes: eating too late (morning and night), not eating enough protein (you shouldn't feel hungry and do not need to snack. So far we are really full)

Here are what some of our meals have looked like so far. I do have to say that I feel great cutting carbs, dairy and sugar out thus far. I find that I have a lot of stomach attacks because I am mildly lactose intolerant and I don't feel as bloated:

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, lentils, spinach & green beans

How disgusting does this look? Bean salad... Definitely my least favorite part so far. The texture is just wrong. The bean combo is mixed with basil and balsamic vinegar though which is good. I like green and kidney beans the best... I'm having trouble stomaching the black beans. I guess chick peas are considered a "domino effect" food meaning a few are okay but eating hummus or a ton of them are just fattening.

Dinner last night was so good! Coconut curry over bean sprouts and green beans. Weird not having any rice or anything but we found that we didn't miss it. For my second lunch I had a really big spinach salad with hard boiled eggs, carrots and a bunch of mixed greens.

Breakfast day 2

Stay tuned as we make our way through this.. Love how we can have wine and of course: BINGE DAY! I plan on working out 3-4x per week and seeing how that goes. Tomorrow night we are also eating out for the first time at a restaurant so we will see how that goes... We plan on substituting any carb sides for extra veg. COME ON HAWAII!!!
Here is a couple that is living The Four-Hour Body: http://www.fourhourbodycouple.com/

Potato Leek Soup

2011-11-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

I've never worked with leeks before and was really excited to take them for a spin. Leeks are normally used for mainly the white bulb portion and are similar looking to onions when thinly sliced and sauteed to a translucent color. I wanted a hearty soup that wasn't too fattening or rich so I found this recipe that didn't use any bacon or heavy cream. It turned out SO yummy and comforting without the fat. We really liked this soup and will definitely make it again. It was pretty easy too and we froze a bunch for a later date. Here is the recipe that I found on allrecipes.com!:

Ingredients

5 pounds white potatoes, peeled and quartered
6 cups chicken broth
2 leeks, bulb only
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup white wine
salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Directions

Cook potatoes in chicken stock until soft. Set aside, do not drain.
Put potatoes in the work bowl of a food processor in batches. Add 5 cups of chicken stock from the potato cooking pot. Puree until smooth.
Half the leeks lengthwise, and soak in water to clean. Finely slice. Saute in butter until transparent. Add white wine, and cook for 3 minutes.
In a soup pot, combine remaining cup of chicken stock from the potato cooking pot and sauteed leeks. Stir in pureed potatoes, and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and white pepper. Cook to desired consistency, adding more stock if necessary. Garnish with parsley.

Mango & Strawberry Cobbler

2011-11-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

YumMmM happy Monday! Sorry I have been off the map lately- it is my busiest time of year with Pampered Chef so it feels like I am literally working two full time jobs. Oy! Super fun though! It was so nice to have an extended long weekend with Remembrance Day. I took time on Friday to cook for James since I haven't been home much. I had a ripe mango and some strawberries and found this great recipe from one of my favorite celebrity chef's: Michael Smith. It turned out SO damn good! I thought grating butter would be weird but it actually worked out really well and much easier than using a pastry blender to get that "pea like" consistency for the topping. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

The Filling

2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries (I used frozen)
2 cups fresh or frozen mango
1/2 cup cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

The Topping

1 cup flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup cornmeal (I didn't have any cornmeal so I used oat bran. Worked great!)
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 stick stick butter, frozen
1/2 cup milk

Directions

The Filling

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Place fruit into a large bowl and toss well with the flour, sugar and lemon juice.
Pour into a 2-quart ovenproof casserole or other dish.
It is best if the fruit fills the dish but doesn't rise above the edges.

The Topping

Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Grate in frozen butter and mix lightly with fingertips.
Pour in milk and stir until mixture comes together and forms a rough dough.
Place spoonfuls of the dough on top of the fruit evenly covering it.
Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden, about 45 minutes.
Serve warm.

Love the colors

Once the fruit was covered in sugar and flour and spread in my baking dish

Grated butter in the topping portion

Before popping in the oven!

Chuckwagon Cafe

2011-11-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

If you are up for a beautiful weekend drive or craving an incredibly delicious breakfast, I highly recommend the Chuckwagon Cafe in Turner Valley. Good friends of ours introduced us to this small town gem a few years back and Saturday morning James and I were headed to the Millarville Market- which ended up being closed until next weekend- and ended up at Chuckwagon. This quaint barn style restaurant will NOT disappoint. All of their beef is free range organic AAA beef and O.M.G. one of the BEST breakfast's we have ever had! I love the homey feeling inside this restaurant with antiques and branding iron stamps for decorations and country music blaring. It feels like home and the staff are so friendly and welcoming. Here are a few photos of the interior and what we had... that I can't stop thinking about:

Antique stove for coffee and cups :)

Cute interior and homey accents

The real star of the hour- the FOOD! The special of the day was an $18.99 eggs benedict with thinly sliced beef tenderloin served on a toasted croissant. O.M.F.G. The croissant in itself was buttery and delicious never mind the perfectly seasoned and melt-in-your-mouth beef. Wow. James had home cut potatoes with his.

I had a side of fruit with mine which I was happy was not all melon and contained some kiwi and grapes. I made the switch to fruit last minute and the staff was very accommodating.

Oh ya... Absolute perfection

On the drive back through Okotoks James stopped at the historic Big Rock, Alberta to take a look at the "big rock" that Big Rock Brewery gets its name from. I guess it's his randomness that I love...

Looks kind of strange to see such a large quartz rock in the middle of the prairies. This Albertan landmark was actually carried out on a glacier thousands of years ago starting at around Jasper in the Rocky Mountains all the way out to near Black Diamond. Hard to believe!

1410 World Bier Haus

2011-11-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

Friday night James and I went to 1410 for dinner followed by a birthday celebration for one of my girlfriends, Laura, at Classic Jacks. It seems like it's been a long time since James and I have had a night on the town together. Normally I am out for Foreplay Friday with the ladies or we will opt for a quiet night in with some vino. We had an awesome time and 1410 rarely disappoints for its reasonably priced, delicious fare and fantastic service. 1410 is located at 1410 17th Avenue SW right beside the McDonalds and is a great place to view sporting events or people watch. 1600 World Bier Haus and Classic Jack's are all owned by the same company- great group of bars if you ask me! Here is what we had:

We started with calamari served with tzatziki, red onion and fresh tomatoes. Mmmm I really liked how this wasn't a huge portion and that the squid itself was not too fried. The calamari was tender and not chewy as well. We really enjoyed this meal.

James opted for the healthy choice "Heartsmart chicken" for only $16 that included TWO seasoned chicken breasts, coconut rice, carrots and asparagus. The chicken was surprisingly flavorful and we both like hot sauce and the side of Frank's hot sauce added some pizazz to the chicken

I decided on "Haus Fish & Chips" which really hit the spot!!! Homemade fries, my favorite, and wild haddock served with a lemon caper remoulade.

Super fun night!!!