Too Long an Absence

Hello there!

Yes, I'm still out and about.  Unfortunately my time since the Christmas season had been so hectic I've had to neglect my blog for a while.  Now that both the holiday season is over and my involvement in "The Producers" is done, I can find some time to catch up with my blog.  I've had the pleasure to discover some neat places to eat over the Christmas season; stay tuned for future posts, and thank you for your patience!

Toronto Dishcrawl to End 2011

Part of the kitchen at Bannock.

(I've unfortunately had to take a pause writing about my Christmas break culinary adventures due to my involvement in a musical production that just finished this past weekend.  So, now we return to our regularly scheduled programming....)

Knowing that she would still be on holidays from work, before my holidays my sister suggested doing a dishcrawl throughout central Toronto.  For those not familiar with what a dishcrawl is, you may have heard of a pub crawl, where people hop from one drinking establishment to another to try a feature/unique drink from each establishment.  So, a dishcrawl is where people hop from one eatery to another to try a feature/unique food dish from each establishment.  Though she had a quite a few places to choose, we originally settled to try five places and eventually only tried four as, in spite of what our tastebuds would tell us, our stomachs could only take so much.

Winter Solstice 2011 Feast

I had completely forgotten that the Chinese traditionally has a festival to celebrate or commemorate the Winter Solstice.  Known as Dongzhi, the main (southern) Chinese traditional activity is for family to get together and have some tangyuan.  Feasts can also occur, especially in light of the family get-together, a significant event in any world culture.  Unfortunately, work commitments meant that my sister couldn't join us in time for Dongzhi.  Aside from tangyuan, neither my family or I have been aware of other traditional dishes from where my parents were raised, so my mother decided to make a few dishes involving food items I've really enjoyed at home.

Bite-Sized Mentions from Vancouver 2011

Eating a fresh Lower Mainland raspberry at Granville Market.

Though I tried quite a few restaurants and eateries, there was definitely more to Vancouver's food scene.  Since the following individual instances were too small for their own posts, I decided to compile the notable "honourable mentions" here.

Hello from Vancouver!

It appears I've now established a pattern of a few weeks of a flurry of activity on my blog followed by a long period of calm. Once again it has happened with my involvement in Ultimate and community theatre. However, I'm now taking a vacation on the West Coast, and on my second day I've managed to try quite a few foods. There will be quite a few blog entries forthcoming I assure you. Stay tuned over the next few weeks!

Another Good Reason to Learn to Cook

I'm sure most if not all of you know some very good reasons why you should at least have a basic ability to cook.  For one thing, we all have to eat in order for our bodies to function properly. 

Restaurant Revisits in Order

With a bit of a lull in terms of new entries, I looked through some of my older "Dining Out" entries and realized that I hadn't been to most of them for a while.  Understandably, the ones outside Manitoba were dependent on my ability to travel to those areas, but in my endeavour to try other places in Winnipeg I haven't returned to some I've previously visited.  Apparently some of my entries have become out of date as well, since I realized that some places have closed, such as Be One and Fazzo.  Others, such as Mise, have moved, in this particular case to Little Italy from Osborne Village.  It's the restaurant industry, some restaurants come and go, it's a fact of life.  Hopefully the ones I enjoyed will still leave a favourable impression today as they did when I first visited them.

I Shall Return

For those of you paying attention to news in Canada and specifically in Manitoba, a good portion of the province of Manitoba is dealing with a 1-in-300-year flood.  Winnipeg itself is apparently safe, but many communities west and north of Winnipeg, including my little city of Brandon, are in the flood's path.  I can say that I'm personally safe and not in harm's way, but with my working in city government I've been temporarily reassigned until further notice.  Obviously, my moments to share the joys of food must now take a back seat for a while.

I'll go back to blogging about food after the waters recede and things settle down.  Thanks for your understanding, and see you soon!

Cream Soda with Milk

During one of my recent trips to Winnipeg I noticed that some Schweppes Cream Soda was on sale at a Chinese supermarket.  This version of cream soda was the Hong Kong version, yellow in colour and mildly fizzy.  Remembering a childhood moment I decided to get myself some and make a drink using the cream soda.

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.

A Weekend of International Indulgence

So, to follow up on my last post... for Chinese New Year, with what little time I had that evening before running off for some extra-curricular activities, I made myself a dinner with two dishes, Salt and Pepper Shrimp and Braised Nappa Cabbage in Milk Sauce.  Well, my sister beat me to the post (pardon the pun) in posting about Salt and Pepper Shrimp, and since we both used the same recipe (minus the ginger juice on my part), I won't write the recipe here.

Chinese New Year and Lieutenant-Governor's Winter Festival 2011

Gung Hei Fat Choy/Gong Xi Fa Cai!  May you and yours have good health, good wealth and plenty of good fortune!

Today is the Lunar New Year and it's the beginning of another Year of the Rabbit.  My time to make dinner tonight will be limited, but I intend to make something decent to ring in the new year before I proceed to other activities tonight; expect a blog post on that.

Also, to all the Brandonites, Western Manitobans and all others able to visit Brandon this weekend, starting tonight is the 8th Annual Lieutenant-Governor's Winter Festival.  Though this year the ever popular German and Chinese pavilions may be missed, there are still thirteen pavilions across the city featuring cultures from around the world, celebrating them and sharing them with others through food, drink and entertainment.  New pavilions include the Brazilian and the Ethiopian ones, while other mainstays like the Métis, Ukrainian and Irish pavilions are back once again.  For once since I've moved here, the weather gods have heard our prayers, and the weather will be very comfortable; the only potential drawback is that many others will be more tolerant of the line-ups to enter the pavilions.  Don't let the line-ups scare you, though.  If you've never experienced this, you're missing out on something fun to do with friends and family on a mid-winter weekend.  This event runs tonight (Thursday), Friday night and Saturday from 1pm-11pm.  Yes, I'll try to take pics of my culinary adventures through these pavilions and post them here; from bison stew to perogies and beers and liquors from the featured cultures, there's plenty to tempt the tastebuds!

Winter, Season for Stews

Though stews can be enjoyed at any time, I personally enjoy them more during winters.  Stews easily can bring warmth to one's body thanks to the piping hot meat, vegetables and thick broth as well as the hearty nature of these dishes.  Stews can also bring warmth to one's home as they simmer on a stove for a length of time.  Stews can take some time before they're ready to eat, especially if you use more ingredients, but they are comfort food and worth the time spent in making them.  Also, for a bachelor like me, making one batch of stew guarantees at least one or two more dinners later in the week.  With windchill hitting the -40's on Tuesday and with limited time to make dinner the next few days, it was a good time to make some stew.

Victorious Dinner with Friends

On my final night in Toronto for this Christmas break I was able to meet up with three university buddies for dinner and drinks, the second time in as many years I'd visited Toronto.  The first time we did this was at a pub just north of the University of Toronto, but this time we opted for a place located closer to where one of my buddies lived, was less of a detour from a commute home for another, and was still easily accessible by subway for the remaining two of us.  Of course, with the three others wanting to enjoy some good beers in an atmosphere comfortable for conversation, they suggested a little pub called Victory Café.

More Dumplings Please, Mom! (Part 1)

Eating together as a family is important not only to my family and me, but also in Chinese culture in general.  It is therefore not surprising to me that in Chinese cuisine as well as in others where eating as a family is important, some foods are traditionally made by a family as a whole as well.  Take jiaozi, a form of Chinese dumpling, for example.  In our household when my sister and I were old enough to competently help in the ktichen, we massed produced the dumplings in the following manner:

1. Mom and Dad would prepare the pork-and-vegetable filling, sometimes a couple of days in advance;
2. Dad would prepare the dough for the wrappers;
3. I would flatten and cut the dough to create the wrappers;
4. Mom and sis would fill the wrappers and shape the dumplings; and
5. Dad would pan-fry the dumplings that evening for dinner, with the majority rest of the raw dumplings storedi n the freezer for future use.

Recalling NYE Dinner 2010

Another post from my sister, this time about the 2010 New Year's Eve dinner.  Though I helped a bit for the Christmas dinner by making the roasted Brussels sprouts, I was only in the kitchen to take pictures for my own collection, and even then just once in a while.  When she asks for space in the kitchen, you'd better give her some!

It was another delicious meal for sure!

Recalling Christmas Dinner 2010

My sister has finally had the time to post an entry about our Christmas dinner.  I must say the goose was delicious... I can't be blamed for choosing something she'd never cooked before, huh?  :o)

A Twist on Curry at Home, Chapter 2

During the last Labour Day weekend I was in Winnipeg for another daytrip, which has in the past almost always included a stop at a Chinese supermarket.  This time my curiosity got the best of me and I bought some fresh lemongrass. Named for being a grass with a citrus aroma and flavour, lemongrass can be featured quite prominently in tropical Asian cuisines, including Thai.  I had never cooked with lemongrass before, and the last time I had the urge to try cooking with lemongrass was dashed when I discovered that I could only find the frozen variety in Brandon.

Momo-what?

The morning and afternoon of my second full day in New York City afforded me some free time to explore the city on my own before our group gathered for dinner and another show in the evening.  I had taken the opportunity to sleep in a bit as the previous night we had watched a musical then had a late night dinner at the Blue Note jazz club.  (Though the focus there is on jazz music performances, the Blue Note did offer some decent food.  Unfortunately, darkness and a no-flash rule during the performance meant taking pictures of the food was out of the question.)  It was mid-morning by the time I was ready to explore again, and explore I did.

Pesco-Vegetarian Potluck Feast

A couple of friends I met playing Ultimate this year agreed to have a dinner-and-movie potluck this weekend, and with the movies of choice being Red Cliff & Red Cliff II, I thought of cooking Chinese dishes for my friends.  Cooking for people with dietary restrictions can be a challenge, but fortunately for me, with my friends being pesco-vegetarians, I was given some latitude.  With that in mind, I decided to cook three dishes, a noodle dish, a vegetable dish and a tofu dish.