An Imperial Delight

On my way back home from Winnipeg the morning after the wonderful concert by Emilie-Claire Barlow Tuesday night, I decided to stop by the High Tea Bakery to get some cookies, and specifically some Imperial cookies.  Already locally renowned for making Imperial cookies, wedding cakes and other sweet delights, the bakery's received greater attention when it was asked to produce cookies for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she made a visit to Winnipeg in 2010.  I'd been meaning to try some of these cookies, and I thought I'd share some with my colleagues as well when I returned for work that afternoon.

An Honourable Mention to a Hotel

Normally I wouldn't mention anything about hotel breakfasts.  Where they are included in my past hotel stays, they were often Continental breakfasts.  Those are fine during the warmer months, but I personally like to have a hot breakfast during the winter.  Some hotels in which I've stayed provide breakfast buffets which include your standard hot fare like scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages, but I got a couple of pleasant surprises during my stay at Holiday Inn Winnipeg South.

Friends, Manitobans, Countrymen...

It's not often I go to Winnipeg more than once a month, but this was my second trip in March, the first one being just two weeks ago for a planning conference.  This time it was to see Emilie-Claire Barlow perform at the Park Theatre.  Though there was no dress code to see the show, I thought that wearing a suit was in order.  With my wearing a suit, I decided to take the opportunity to try a fine dining restaurant for dinner before going to the show.  I'd been meaning to try Amici (Italian for "friends") for a couple of years, and at last the opportunity arose.

Bamboo - Part 2 of 2

After making the Bamboo, Preserved Vegetable & Beef Stir-Fry one evening, the following week I opted to use the remaining unused segments of bamboo shoots.  Having at the time recently returned from my latest Winnipeg daytrip on Louis Riel Day, I decided to marry the bamboo shoots with another one of my favourite vegetables, mushrooms.  I'd managed to buy a decently-sized package package of fresh oyster & shiitake mushrooms at a Winnipeg Chinese supermarket and was looking forward to cooking them that week.  The result of this inspiration to cook with bamboo was Stir-Fried Beef, Bamboo Shoots & Oyster Mushrooms.

Bamboo - Part 1 of 2

I've always enjoyed eating bamboo shoots since I was a kid.  They have a nice crunch to them which, unlike most other vegetables, isn't lost when cooked.  They are also usually found in canned form in supermarkets, which makes them good vegetables to use when fresh vegetables are in shorter supply.  I remember how my mom would, usually due to lack of time, create simpler dishes for dinner on weeknights, and sometimes that involved using cans of bamboo shoots.  One of those dishes I remember well is Bamboo, Preserved Vegetable & Beef Stir-Fry.

Head South to Go North

I'm still not sure why a restaurant in the southern quarter of Winnipeg would be named "North Garden", especially since its focus isn't on Northern Chinese cuisine.  Whatever the case may be, it has become my favourite Chinese restaurant in Winnipeg, and so far it is the restaurant I've visited the most whenever I'm in Winnipeg.  It offers a wide selection of authentic Chinese dishes, at times adapting with certain more local ingredients (such as steaming fresh Manitoba pickerel instead of more traditional saltwater fish like tilapia).  On days I've been there, which has either been on weekends or on holidays (my most recent visit being on Louis Riel Day), one has had to show up before 6:00pm to get a table; a line-up for both dining in the restaurant and to complete take-out orders was almost certain by 6:30pm.