One last toast...

Posted by Bonita

It has certainly been a busy time of the year for me. With only two more weeks left to the school year (and my undergraduate career!), I’ve been buried behind a mountain of notes and books, and my computer screen, churning out those papers, or at the very least attempting to churn out those papers. Needless to say, it’s meant that I haven’t had much time to cook anything special, surviving mostly on salads, soups, and lots and lots of chocolate chips (Yes, I didn’t even feel like going out to buy myself some cheap chocolate, which resorted in dipping into and finishing off all my chocolate chips!). I’m certainly not painting a pretty picture of myself right now, but then again, I’m not a pretty picture during essay time. So it was definitely a nice change of pace last night when I was able to trade in my sweats for a cute skirt, slap some make-up on and look like a human being again, if only for a few hours.

Last night, my Italian friends and I (or the “foodie four”—we’re still working on a group name for ourselves) decided to go to The Tasting Room Bar & Bistro. I’ve driven past this restaurant a good number of times these past four years, so when Vincent and I were chatting during a study session a month ago, we thought that the place had our names written all over it. Plus with the (almost) end of term, Vince’s upcoming birthday, and the fact that all my friends will be heading off to Europe next year, we thought it would be a great way to celebrate together one last time before the summer.

What’s unique about The Tasting Room is it features different wine flights, allowing patrons to try out four different wines at one sitting. Their extensive appetizer list also allows patrons to share the dishes while trying out the wines, thus adding to the whole aspect of “tasting,” as suggested by their name. They do have a dinner menu as well, however, and we opted to have the best of both worlds; that is to say, to try out some appetizers together and have a meal as well. Who says you can’t have your cake (or more appropriately, steak) and eat it too?!?

None of us ended up trying one of the wine flights. We ended up ordering a French Beaujolais, which was light and smooth and very easy to drink. After much deliberating (and sending our waiter away about five times), we settled on sharing the Wild Boar Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and the Seared Ahi Tuna Loin as our appetizer. The appetizers were absolutely delicious, and a great way to start off the evening. I especially loved the wild boar bacon; it wasn’t as salty as your regular bacon and it was leaner too, while not overpowering the shrimp. The ahi tuna was also delicious as well, crusted with white and black sesames and seared to perfection; it melted in the mouth. We were also very fascinated with the butter that was served with our bread. After trying to figure out what was in it (Squash? Apricot? Ginger? Basil for sure…), we found out that it was a Sweet Chili and Basil Butter. It was so good that Dana was eating the butter…with some bread.

For the main course, I ordered the Honey Walnut Rack of Lamb. The lamb was cooked perfectly, and the rosemary jus that accompanied it was nice, with a slight sweet kick to it. I did find that the walnuts were a little lost on me; it would have been nice if they had a few chunkier bits of walnuts in the crust for some contrast in texture. We did try a bit of each other’s dishes though, since everyone ordered something different and they all looked delicious. Dana had the special of the evening, Lemon and Parsley Tilapia, Kait had the Crab and Lobster Stuffed Chicken and Vince had the Beef Tenderloin. I’ve recently been really big on tilapia; it’s a mild fish that holds well together when cooking, but also melts in your mouth. Kait’s chicken was also really nice; the crab and lobster stuffing added great flavour to the chicken, and put a new spin to “surf & turf”. Vince’s beef was also cooked very well, and the mushrooms that accompanied it were delicious together with the beef.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the evening, then, was dessert. Which is really a shame since it is always the last thing a customer will remember, and you always want to end your evening with a bang, particularly when the rest of the meal was going so well. Firstly, their dessert choices weren’t really amazing. Personally, from the sound of the dessert offerings, the restaurant doesn’t have an in-house pastry chef, which probably explains why the desserts are all cake-based and pretty common cakes at that, like chocolate cheesecake, carrot cake, lemon and poppy seed cake, etc. However, I could be wrong; perhaps these cakes are all made in-house, but it would have been nice to see more variety in their dessert menu. I ended up trying the Maple Walnut Apple Torte, which didn’t really impress me all that much. They warmed it a bit beforehand, so the sides were kind of “toasted,” which I found kind of odd on a cake/torte.

The atmosphere of The Tasting Room is pleasant enough. It's not a very big establishment, and its décor gives off a warm and inviting feeling the moment you step into the restaurant. The one thing we noticed was that this restaurant is very loud, and only seemed to get louder as the evening progressed, despite our going later in the evening. And despite our slightly inept waiter, we still had a good time out. The meal itself, with the exception of dessert, was pretty good, but more importantly, it was the great company. I honestly believe that no meal, no matter how fabulous the food is, is a great meal without great company to enjoy it with. I’m definitely lucky to have three fabulous friends who enjoy food just as much as me. Of course, a part of me is saddened that we’ll all be going our separate ways next year, with two of them heading off to Europe, the other possibly to Africa or Spain, while I’ll be moving to (“who needs Europe when I’ve got”) Toronto. But this is certainly not the last time the “foodie four” will be getting together; our food adventures are only just beginning!

Name: The Tasting Room Bar & Bistro
Address: 483 Richmond Street, London, ON
Cuisine: Continental/Fusion
Price Range: Dinner $20-30 (entrée)
Accessible: Most seats (but not washrooms)

Thai One On

Posted by Andrew

















One of a few small disadvantages of moving to a smaller city is the fact that exotic ingredients are harder to come by. Take lemongrass for example, a staple herb in especially Thai cuisine (sort of like how basil and oregano would be in Italian cuisine). Not one of the three competing supermarket companies in Brandon stocked any fresh lemongrass on their shelves, and I'm rather loath to try either the frozen minced type or, get this, a toothpaste tube style product. Alas, I had to forgo lemongrass in my attempt to do a Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup with Shrimp.

As inspiration, I partially relied on the Thai Curried Chicken Soup recipe found in the Williams-Sonoma Soup book. I substitued chicken with shrimp, which turned out alright. I'm definitely cutting back on the amount of coconut milk for this recipe next time; this recipe called for 3 cups (750mL), or about 2 cans' worth. Definitely helped enhance the aroma, but coconut milk is one of those liquids that can be more filling than others.

Also, you may notice that I've also garnished my dinner with sliced "scrambled" egg (scrambled only in that the yolk and white were mixed well; the egg mixture was cooked flat in a small non-stick pan); a little extra I added to the dish. As well, with the lack of veggies (other than mushrooms) in the dish, I made sure to add some bean sprouts in the soup as well.

After tasting my first attempt at this dish, aside from cutting back on the coconut milk, I also realize that I can add some Thai chilis next time around to give it more of a kick. I should also cut back on the amount of noodles I use for one dinner... oof!

A Nutty Tart

Posted by Bonita



Sure, being called "nutty" is probably not the greatest thing in the world, but I must confess that I am quite a goofball myself, and to the average person out there, I probably do seem a bit "nutty" in their eyes. Calling me a tart however will seriously earn you my well-known "death" glare. However, this nutty tart is neither a crazy nut, nor a scandalous tart, but a delicious Cherry Frangipane Tart. What other kind of tart did you think I could have possibly been referring to?

It's hard for me to stay out of the kitchen for long, especially when I'm at home and thus, at the disposal of many of my beloved kitchen gadgets that I'm sorely lacking back in London. While I should seriously be working on the numerous assignments I have due in March to relieve myself of the workload (and stressload!) that'll be coming up in the next few weeks, I just couldn't help sneaking into the kitchen this morning to make a tart. I've been itching to make a tart lately, a pastry that has seriously been overlooked by me in the past. Mostly it has always been my fear and hatred of dealing with pie and tart crusts, as I've mentioned in the past, but I've slowly been conquering that fear with practice, and gaining confidence.



I came across this wonderful tart recipe over at Happy Home Baking (I've referred to this blog a few times before. It seriously is a great blog to check out if you haven't already!). The pictures of her tart looked gorgeous and beckoned me to try it out for myself. I didn't want to use canned peaches though (can you imagine how good this tart would be though when I'll have fresh peaches to work with later this summer?), so I pulled out a tub of frozen sour cherries from the deep freezer. The sweetness of the frangipane with the tartness of the cherries...how could you go wrong?

I ended up doubling the recipe though, since the original recipe yield one 18-cm tart, and I could only find my 23-cm tart mould. By doubling the recipe, I ended up with one 23-cm tart and 2 mini tarts. The crust was a dream to work with; it was soft and supple and rolled out easily without cracking. I did add two extra tablespoons of egg to help bind the dough better, since I found it slightly too dry (ah, there's my fear of dry, cracked crust dough again!). What's so great about this recipe is that I didn't have to fish out my pie weights; it bakes blind without any weights whatsoever! Hurrahs all around for less cleanup!

Another thing I loved about this recipe is that it completely used all-natural ingredients. No almond extract was used at all, so you didn't get that superly artificial almond flavour in the tart; all you got was the pure almond flavour from the ground almonds used both in the crust and the frangipane filling. The filling wasn't too sweet and definitely complimented the tartness of the cherries rather well, while the crust was deliciously buttery and fragrant from the ground almonds. It will definitely be a crust I will be using in the future for other tarts. Oh, and the mini tarts...they look adorable!



Continuing my obsession with ground almonds today, I also decided to make Almond Cookies. These are quite a popular Chinese treat, but it's hard to find really good ones in North America now, unless you're in the large cities with a dominant Chinese community (ie: Toronto, Vancouver...you get the picture). I found a recipe in a cookie book I bought in Hong Kong last year and thought I would give it a try. The end result wasn't bad, although it still a long way from the true Chinese almond cookies, which are have an amazing almond fragrance and flavour but also melts in your mouth. These cookies were more on the crispier side, and could use a bit more of an almond impact flavour-wise. Alas, it wasn't until after these came out of the oven that my dad pointed out we had whole almonds; oh well, the walnuts add some contrast to the cookie, both aesthetically and flavour-wise. However, I'd love to try these cookies again the next time around with ground walnuts and see how those will turn out!

Almond Cookies
Adapted from Japanese Cookies
Makes about 20

• 70 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 40 g caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 140 g soft (cake) flour
• 40 g ground almonds (see Note)
• Pinch of salt
• 20 whole almonds, cashews or walnut halves

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy, then gradually add the egg yolk and mix well.
3. Sift together the soft flour and the ground almonds. Fold into the butter mixture with a spatula.
4. Divide the dough into smaller portions, each weighing about 15 g (about 1-inch balls). Roll the dough into balls, place on a baking sheet and flatten slightly. Top each cookie with a nut.
5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool completely on a rack.

Note: I like to toaste my ground almonds prior to using them, to enhance its flavour. Put the ground almonds on a baking sheet and pop them in a 250°F oven for about 10 minutes, or until fragrant, shaking the pan every few minutes. I also ended up adding a bit more ground almonds than it was called for in the recipe, to give the cookie a bit more of an almond impact. If you do so, just make sure to not add the flour all at once, so that you can control the moisture of your dough.

"There are always options!"

I was back in Winnipeg once again this weekend, and originally I wanted to try Fusion Grill. Unfortunately I didn't make a reservation, and that place is actually quite small, so I lucked out this time around. So, with a few restaurants to choose from back at Osborne Village I turned my way there to try a Japanese restaurant, Miyabi.

Once I entered the restaurant I noticed two signs that made me realize this was not going to be a "Wasabi" equivalent. First, classic rock was playing in the background. Nothing wrong with that music, but it seemed to sound out of place in a Japanese restaurant with contemporary decor consisting of warm dark browns and red ochre. St. Germain-like lounge music may have gotten away at least. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it was not an all-Japanese cast behind the sushi counter, which so far has made quite a difference between good sushi and extraordinary sushi. Not meaning to put down other non-Japanese sushi chefs out there, and nothing against the chefs at Miyabi (the presentation and freshness is quite passable and can't be overlooked), but it appears that the Japanese chefs have been able to go a cut above the rest in their own culinary art.

















I at first had a bit of difficulty to decide what to try here, but after some thought and some assistance from the friendly wait staff I made my picks. First up, I ordered myself some Tuna Tataki. Lightly grilled on the outside, the tuna's served in thin, diagonally sliced pieces. Though there was plenty of fresh raw tuna to savour the natural sweetness and soft texture of the fish, I now understand better why Wasabi's version of pan-seared sashimi was only done on one side. To Miyabi's credit, though, the ponzu-spiked soy dipping sauce was a nice touch to this dish, providing that citrus kick that, to be honest with you, I usually opt out of when having fish dishes. (My sister will vouch for the fact that I don't squeeze lemon on my fish and chips at all!)


















Next I had a total of four types of sushi dishes. On the upper photo, from left to right, are the Butterfly Roll, the Spider Roll, and the Ma-Yo Take Roll. The lower photo shows the Rainbow Roll. The Butterfly Roll consists of cooked sweet shrimp resting with a sweet and savoury soy-based sauce, while the soft shell crab was a delight in the Spider Roll. The Ma-Yo Take Roll was a nice contrast as it had a subtle citrus kick to the salmon roll thanks to some more ponzu, and of course, who can resist a dash of panko crumbs? The Rainbow Roll was not what I was expecting, as supposedly each sushi piece would have a different piece of fish on it. For one thing the cuts didn't correspond with the actual fish pieces, meaning a couple of pieces had two different types of fish on them. Another thing... in the end it may have been better to have served the Rainbow Roll nigiri style rather than maki (i.e. piece of fish resting on a ball of rice rather than the fish partially wrapped around a roll). Because it was served maki style the fish on top did not get the tasting focus they deserved.

Miyabi is small, cosy, and has a warm atmosphere, and the food is passable. It definitely highlights the fact that Japanese restaurants abound all over Winnipeg, leaving little doubt behind the argument that Winnipeg has gone gaga for sushi. However, no matter which city you go and whatever cuisine you'll choose, there'll be majority of restaurants that provide a more average level of cuisine or less, while a small few will stand out. While Miyabi didn't get the stand-out impression, it is perhaps safe in the upper half of the average.


Name: Miyabi Japanese Restaurant
Address: 159 Osborne Street, Winnipeg, MB
Cuisine: Neo-Japanese
Price Range: Lunch [unknown]; Dinner $30-60
Accessible: Most seats (but not washrooms)

The way to my heart...

Posted by Bonita



Thursday was that time of year again, when we were surrounded by all things red and white, stuffed toys, hearts, sappy music, even sappier greeting cards, cheap chocolates, expensive chocolates, overpriced roses, PDAs that made you go awwww, PDAs that made you wish you didn't witness, and the flying toddler wearing what appears to be a fancier version of a diaper, more commonly known as Cupid. Valentine's Day is probably the most commercially-driven, consumerist "holidays" following Christmas. I mean, can't you just picture the tagline: "Valentine's Day...brought to you by Hallmark." And wouldn't it make things twice as meaningful if you got flowers on any other day but Valentine's Day, the day when it is expected, thanks to our capitalist society, to give his woman flowers? Some may call me cynical and merely bitter about love (I'm not). I'd prefer it as having far too much of a university education that it's jaded my whole perception on light (or rather, has it enlightened me to my previously jaded life? Hmmm.....).

Despite my views on Valentine's Day, I am a hypocrite by jumping on the bandwagon. I can resist the flowers, the chocolates and the cuddly toys, but how can I resist adorable heart-shaped cookie cutters? They say actions speak louder than words, but it was a few words I overheard the other day that really spoke true to my gift to my lovely friends, "The way to my heart is through my stomach." Amen to that!



If you haven't already figured it out by now (and if you really haven't, please refer back to the first paragraph), I'm not a hugely materialistic girl. Yeah, I like things like most people, but if I want something, I usually get it for myself. I don't like basing my relationships with other people on material objects, which is why when I give gifts, I often give something that has some meaning attached to it, or something that I'm truly giving from my heart to theirs. Food is my passion, and I cook with my heart, so what would make a more fitting gift than something that I made myself in the kitchen?



Chocolate is a staple around Valentine's Day, and so I stuck to that general theme. I decided to finally try making truffles. I've always wanted to make them but just never got around to making them; however, this year's Valentine's Day gave me the perfect excuse to venture into unknown territory. I made two kinds of truffles: Pistachio Nut & Vanilla Bean and Orange & Grand Marnier. Unfortunately, all I had was extra-dark Lindt chocolate around the house (85%), which had me a bit worried at first, but my parents seemed to enjoy it since they're not big fans of overly-sweet chocolate. The vanilla flavour wasn't very pronounce, and I think that had to do with the overpowering dark chocolate. Next time, I would also dip the truffles in some melted chocolate before rolling them in the chopped pistachios; I meant to do that this time around too, but my laziness (and lack of time) got the better of me. The Orange & Grand Marnier truffles were a treat though; the orange flavour from the zest really stood out and worked really well with the dark bitterness of the chocolate. It was certainly a huge hit with a lot of my friends as well.



The other treat I made were Chocolate Ganache Heart Cookies (inspired by the recipe found here), which were extremely easy to make. The dough came together fabulously; sometimes rolled dough can be tricky if it's too dry or too wet, but this dough was absolutely perfect and was a breeze to roll and stamp out the heart shapes. I sandwiched some dark chocolate ganache between the cookies, and drizzled some white chocolate on top. These had a lovely, buttery, melt-in-your mouth texture with an intense chocolate flavour that wasn't too sweet. If this didn't win its way into people's hearts, I don't know what will...

Gung Hey Fat Choy!

Posted by Bonita

A belated Gung Hey Fat Choy to everyone! May this year bring you all good fortune, good health and good wealth!

With the Chinese New Year (aka. Lunar New Year) celebrations well underway since last Thursday, I was lucky enough to head back home for the weekend to celebrate with my parents. It's been a good few years since I've actually been home during Chinese New Years, being away at school and all, but with a more flexible schedule to work with this year, I was able to take some time to train it back home, despite the onslaught of snow. And being home meant only one thing: enjoying mom's cooking!

I definitely ate far too much food this weekend (can I say salad for the next month!), but it was certainly worth it. My return home coincided with the first day of Chinese New Year celebrations, and on the first day, it's typical that we have a vegetarian dish, also known sometimes as Buddha's Delight. Our variation features napa cabbage, Chinese mushrooms (shiitake), and carrots, as well as fungus, "fat choy", hair-like algae, tofu and vermicelli noodles.



Another typical dish we usually have is chicken. Typically, we have what would literally be translated as White-Cut Chicken, chicken that's been either steamed or poached, sliced and served with a delicious condiment made of minced ginger, green onions, sesame oil and lots of salt. However, my mom decided to try something different this year, but slicing the chicken and layering it with pickled ginger and century egg.



Another very traditional dish that you would often see at the table during the New Year is pig trotters, which is braised until the meat falls off the bones. My mom typically braises the pig trotters with shiitake mushrooms, fat choy and dried oysters.



Lastly, the meal was rounded off with a dish made from one of my favourite ingredients, tofu. Silken tofu was pulsed in the food processor with some shrimp, green onions and seasoning and then steamed until cooked through. Delicious!



Besides all that food, we also had Chicken Feet Soup. Don't let the fact that it's chicken feet freak you out; it's really good, and chicken feet is a common ingredient seen in Chinese cuisine.



On a separate day, my mom made another New Year's favourite of mine, "San Choy Bow", which literally translates into Lettuce Wraps. The filling is made from dried oysters, a type of preserved vegetable, barbeque pork and other diced vegetables, and is absolutely savoury and delicous wrapped in a crisp leaf of lettuce. A messy affair, granted, but the mess is so worth it! Seriously finger-lickin' good.



And what New Year's morning is complete without the traditional fare of cakes? Rather, these cakes are more like a type of pudding, and there are both savoury and sweet cakes. My mom typically makes Turnip Cake and Taro Cake from scratch, and then panfries them again in the mornings. However, this year, my mom decided to make a steamed-version of the Turnip Cake, which uses less flour and thus is less dense then its traditional counterpart, which would usually be panfried after the initial steaming-process. As for the sweet cakes, my mom made Water Chestnut Cake, Nian Gao (年糕), and Ma Lai Gao, which is the most cake-like of all these cakes, despite being cooked using the steaming-process as well.







So, as you can see, I've certainly ate a lot of food these past couple of days. Then again, Chinese New Year only rolls around once a year (just like Christmas), so if I don't eat now, when will I get the chance, right? Happy New Year everyone!

Anyone Wanna Travel for Food?

Looks like culinary tourism is becoming more noticeable now as more and more people start exploring their inner gourmands. Most of the time these tours involve travelling to restaurants, markets, vinyards, food districts... whatever you can imagine to whet your appetite, chances are one tour or another may take you there. For example, one can actually bike around California's Napa Valley to visit the various vinyards to sample their wines and indulge on some of the finest cuisine in the region.

Then there's this one that a Globe and Mail reporter took around Tokyo. Now that's more than enough reason for me to go back and visit that city!

The Taste of Winterlude (and Happy Birthday F&C!)

Posted by Bonita

It's hard to believe that Forks & Chopsticks has been up and running for a year now. It was exactly a year from yesterday that Andrew and I started up this blog, in hopes of sharing with everyone our own gastronomical experiences, both inside and outside of the kitchen. It's been an amazing year of great recipes and more importantly, great food, and hopefully there will be many more years to come! Happy 1st Birthday F&C!!!

Our one-year anniversary will go by with little fanfare unfortunately, with school keeping me busy and the looming reality that I will graduate and be thrust into the "real world" in less than four months time. Scary! However, I did find some time...correction...make some time to come back home this weekend to celebrate the Lunar New Year with my parents. Yes, with any huge celebration, this means that there was lots and lots of food this weekend...perhaps far too much for only three people. But more on that on Wednesday...

My coming home this weekend also coincided with another big festival in the city: the annual winter carnival known as Winterlude, known for it's beautiful ice and snow sculptures, the world's longest outdoor rink, and deliciously pipin'-hot beavertails. Many Canadian cities now also have annual tasting events, where a number of restaurants feature prix fixe table hote menus. I was excited to find out that Ottawa had a similar event, called the Taste of Winterlude. It claims to be in its third year running, but I myself have never heard of the event until this year (after many years of grumbling about why we didn't have one). It is considerably more low-key than other cities, like Toronto's Winterlicious and Summerlicious.

There were a number of restaurants on this year's list that I wanted to try out, but the two restaurants that really popped out at me was Ambiente and Juniper, both of which feature Canadian regional cuisine. In the long run, Ambiente won out, and lucky for us, it did not disappoint.

The ambiance of Ambiente itself is really nice, a little corner restaurant on Beechwood Avenue. The interior features warm brown tones and a semi-open kitchen. The restaurant itself isn't very large, seating 36, and 4 to 5 at the bar, keeping the atmosphere nice and intimate. The evening started off with an amuse-bouche of Butternut purée with an apple and beet reduction and mascarpone. The soup, served in a little Chinese tea cup, was a really nice starter, with the reduction adding an extra hint of sweetness to the squash. Next was the starter itself, between a choice of soup or salad. I opted for the Smoked Yukon gold potato and leek soup with black pepper mascarpone. The soup was really nice, and the fact that they smoked the potatoes gave the soup an amazing woody scent and aroma that screams bacon, without having all the fat of bacon in it.



Next was the main course, a choice between beef tenderloin or trout. My dad had the beef tenderloin, which was served with a some sautéed greens, scalloped potatoes and oyster mushrooms. My mom and I, on the other hand, went with the Steelhead trout, lightly roasted with an almond crust, with fromage frais pomme purée, spinach sautéed with almonds, and caramelized pearl onions. I didn't particularly care for the presentation of my dish (what's up with those blobs topped off with pearl onions?!?), but it was delicious nonetheless. However, I must say that I do prefer the beef tenderloin out of the two dishes after trying a bite of the beef. It was amazingly delicious and tender, and the scalloped potatoes were to die for.





Last but certainly not least was dessert. My dad had the Pineapple tarte tatin with homemade coconut ice cream, while my mom and I both had the Warm Valrhona chocolate cake with homemade banana ice cream, crushed walnuts, banana fritter and caramel sauce. The cake was sinfully decadent, with the warm chocolate centre oozing out when I cut into it. The banana ice cream was surprisingly delicious as well, and made for a lovely compliment to the bittersweet chocolate cake. And while I'm a huge fan of fried bananas, I did find their banana fritter slightly on the greasy side. But overall, it was definitely a satisfying (and decadent!) dessert.





The evening ended off with a petit four and it was another butternut squash creation: Butternut squash ice cream with diced pears and crushed amaretti. The warm spiciness of the cinnamon was really nice with the diced pears, and the amaretti added a nice layer of texture. Slightly on the sweet side in my opinion, but the extreme smoothness of the ice cream made up for that slight fault.

Overall, I was really impressed with Ambiente, and even my parents can't wait to come back to try their full menu. The Taste of Winterlude menu was a bit more pricey than what you might find in Toronto, coming to $45 a head, but I think it was worth it in the end. It was certainly a lovely evening at a beautiful restaurant with some delicious food, and I definitely cannot wait to come back here again!

Name: Ambiente
Address: 101-18 Beechwood Avenue, Ottawa, ON.
Cuisine: Seasonal Canadian
Price Range: Dinner $60-80
Accessible: No (Unfortunately, I didn't spot a wheelchair ramp as an alternative to the stairs...unless all that snow was covering it.)

Wok with me

Posted by Bonita

As I've mentioned before, it's not often that I cook a full-out Chinese meal, despite being Chinese, since I tend to find it a bit more complicated than Western dishes. It's not to say that it's technically more difficult (as long as you stick with the more simple dishes); it's just that I find it a bit of a nuisance to make two or three different dishes to complete a meal, which makes no sense when I'm often cooking for one. So, when I offered to make dinner last night, and a Chinese meal at that, my mom was surprised but was eager to see how I would fare in the kitchen on my own. As my family headed off to the ski hills for the day, it was my duty to have dinner on the table when they got home.



With all the heavy food we've been eating lately, I wanted something more along the lighter side that would also be easy to make. I absolutely love tofu, and there is nothing more simple than Steamed Tofu with Soya Sauce drizzled over top. There is one brand that I absolutely love and always buy: Vitasoy San Sui Tofu. For some reason, there is something superior to the taste of Vitasoy San Sui tofu; it's really smooth with a delightful soy flavour to it. The Vitasoy San Sui series comes in three different textures: silken, firm and extra-firm. I often buy silken and firm. The silken tofu is best for steaming because of it's smooth, melt-in-your-mouth texture. You can also use the silken tofu for dessert tofu by making a simple syrup with some ginger in it. I steamed the tofu and topped it off with a sauce made from light soy, dark soy, sugar and green onions.



Next I made some Braised Napa Cabbage in Milk Sauce. We usually put in some ham, but since we didn't have any ham around, I thinly diced up a slice of pancetta instead. Yes, it may sound weird to add panceetta to an Chinese dish, but considering pancetta is very similar to a kind of Chinese ham, I thought it would be okay. It did turn out nicely, thank goodness! A little east-meets-west never hurts.



Lastly, I made Fried Prawns in Superior Soy, which was so easy to make. It simply requires you to pan-fry the prawns, and then make the sauce, which consists of soy sauce, sugar and water. So easy, and the sauce was especially delicious! Needless to say, my parents were impressed that I could actually dish out a Chinese meal and are happy to know that I'm not a totally lost cause (lol)!

Fried Prawns in Superior Soy
Serves 2

• 8-10 prawns, with heads
• 1 tsp each mashed shallot and mashed garlic
• 1 tbsp spring onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Chinese cooking wine
• 2 tbsp light soy
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp water

1. Remove the intestines from the prawns. Cut away the feelers and legs but retaining the shells. wash thoroughly and wipe dry. slit slightly the back and marinate with the salt, cornstarch and some freshly ground black pepper. Fry in oil till about 80 percent cooked, take out and drain away the oil.
2. Mix the light soy, sugar, water and a bit of freshly ground black pepper together in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat 2 tablespoon oil and saute the mashed garlic and mashed shallot until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the prawns, sprinkle with a bit of cooking wine and add the soy mixture. Fry well until the shrimp are cooked all the way through and the sauce becomes thick. Dish up and sprinkle with the spring onion. Serve immediately.

Becoming a Domestic Goddess

Posted by Bonita

Santa certainly has been very good to me this year, with the addition of a new toy to add to our collection of kitchen gadgets. After yearning for one for a good couple of months, we finally got one: a KitchenAid Professional 600 stand-mixer. The evening (or should I say morning) I returned home, I was flipping through the flyers and saw the ad for the mixer. Screaming in excitement at my mom, we roused my dad out of bed early in the morning, went out and got our lovely new mixer. What's great is that it came with a bonus pasta maker!



The angle of the photo is hard to see, but the machine is slightly bigger, definitely heavier (with the bigger and beastlier motor! :D) and a larger bowl to hold more dough (and to make my life much easier when I add in my dry ingredients--this way things are more likely to get into the bowl rather than all over my counter!). The one downfall is that with the larger motor, it makes for a noisier machine. But hey, I'd take the noise any day if it means that this can double the amount of cookies and knead even the most uncooperative dough imaginable.

With a new machine in hand, I decided to go ahead and make some bread. Went with a simple French Country Bread, since my dad really likes it. The machine kneaded it really nicely; I especially like the design of the new dough hook, since it's in the shape of a corkscrew. Personally, I think it makes for more efficient kneading, but then again, I could be bias!



I also decided to let the bread proof in these little baskets lined with a flour-dusted teatowel in order for the bread to hold its shape while it proofs. The method worked, and I got these gorgeous round loaves rather than flattened out ones. Still need to work on my slashing method though.... The loaves came out beautiful though, so I can't really complain much. Beautiful golden brown with a crispy exterior and a soft, chewy crumb...delicious!



Other baking endeavours these past two weeks included lots of cookies, including these lovely Hazelnut, Cinnamon, Cardamom and Raspberry Sandwich Cookies from Kate Zuckerman's book The Sweet Life. I really love the combination of hazelnuts and cinnamon; it's such a sexy and sensual combination with the incredible nuttiness of the hazelnuts and the warm spiciness of the cinnamon. It was no wonder then that I was dying to try this recipe for awhile. I absolutely adore this book; it's full of really interesting recipes with new combinations of different flavours to make for interesting desserts. Zuckerman really makes things easier by breaking down the recipes step by step, so even the most inexperienced bakers can achieve success in the kitchen. The cookies turned out really nice. The dough didn't give me too much trouble as was rolling it out and cutting the shapes except for a few expected cracks here and there. The nuttiness and spiciness of the cookies balanced really nice with the raspberry jam, and it had a really nice texture to it with the crunchiness of the nuts and raspberry seeds and the melt-in-your-mouth buttery cookie. I also tried this with blackberry jam, which made for an equally delightful experience!



Another cookbook recipe I tried out was the Bacon and Egg Pie from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess. I never really was a fan of Nigella until this year when I started watching her on the Food Network. I must admit, she definitely has an aura about her that really draws you in, and her simple, quicky, homey recipes are a delight when you actually come to appreciate them.

I don't bake pies very often because I find that pie dough is a pain to work with sometimes. If you don't get it right, you'll end up with a tough crust, a soggy mess or a crust that just won't roll because it's constantly cracking into a million little pieces. However, this dough was really easy to put together since I just basically threw all my ice-cold ingredients into a food processor and whizzed it around until it came together. I prepared that the night before, so all I had to do in the morning was fry off some pancetta and onions, beat the eggs and bake the pie. I added extra eggs to my pie and reduced the amount of pancetta.



I was surprised that my pie turned out as nice as it did. The crust was nice and flaky and held up nicely. The filling was also nice too, although I might mix it with a different kind of meat (perhaps ham?) next time to cut down on the amount of salt. However, a slice of this pie with some dressed green salads made for a simple but delicious New Year's lunch.