The Comforts of Home

Posted by Bonita

There’s something very comforting about dumplings. I haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what it is about dumplings that make it so comforting: it is the delicious meaty filling mixed in with vegetables? Or is it the yummy vinegar sauce that is served alongside a plate of dumplings? Perhaps it’s the fact that they are golden and crispy on the outside, but juicy and tender on the inside when pan-fried? Whatever the reason, dumplings rank high on my list of comfort foods, especially my mom’s homemade dumplings (also known as potstickers, and pronounced “gow-gee” in Cantonese). My mom used to make them on a free Saturday or Sunday afternoon, while I helped her wrap and my brother or my dad would roll out the dough for the dumpling skins. It was quite a family affair, and we would always make about 2 big trays of them, freeze them and put them into freezer bags so that we could pull them out of the freezer whenever we wanted to have some. They go directly into a pan frozen and are cooked until ready.



As I mentioned yesterday, my mom typically makes 2 kinds of dumplings: pork and Napa cabbage or pork and Chinese chives, which are grown and cut from our own garden out back. Since it’s spring, my mom made full use of the Chinese chives this time around, and so we made the Chinese chives variety yesterday. I of course helped with wrapping. Obviously mine are slightly uglier than my mom’s, considering she has YEARS of experience on me. However, my mom does get a kick out of mine since she thinks they look more like the shrimp dumplings (har gau) you get at dim sum because mine always somehow turn out nice and small and plump. We like to pan-fry our dumplings in a cast-iron pan to give the bottoms a nice crusty bottom, and my mom usually serves it with a soy-vinegar sauce mixed with some garlic, ginger and sesame oil. So delicious when it’s nice and piping hot!



When we make dumplings for dinner, it’s tradition in my house to make hot & sour soup along with the dumplings and scallion cakes (or green onion pancakes). Sometimes we’ll make a noodle dish too, but since it’s only three living at home now rather than four, less is more. Yours truly had the pleasure of making the scallion cakes tonight (although my mom had prepped the dough for me in advance) and they turned out beautifully! I’ve included the recipe below so that you too can enjoy this tasty and delicious Chinese snack.

Scallion Cakes
Adapted from Chinese Snacks: Wei-Chuan's Cook Book
Makes 6

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1 tbsp chopped green onion (see N.B.)
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Place flour and salt in a mixing bowl; add boiling water and mix well (add a little cold water if dough is too dry); knead into a smooth dough and let sit 15 minutes.
2. Roll dough into a long roll and cut into 6 pieces. Using a rolling pin, roll each section into a 4-inch circle; brush surface lightly with the sesame oil and sprinkle over with green onions. Roll up jelly roll-style and then roll up the sides like a snail, making sure to tuck in the ends at the top and the bottom. Flatten and roll a little with the rolling pin. Repeat procedure for each dough piece.
3. Heat pan with about 4 tbsp oil. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Remove and serve.

N.B. You can always put more or less green onions, according to your own taste. We usually put more green onions in our scallion cakes at my house.

Gearing for the Long Weekend

Posted by Andrew

Ooh, I can't wait for the Victoria Day long weekend to begin, I'm gonna put myself into full culinary experimental mode. Went grocery shopping today after work, and stocked myself up on several items, the key ones being over a pound's worth of various mushrooms and a bottle of white wine.

I've got several ideas on what to concoct this weekend. Once I've made them (and tasted them) I'll let you know how successful I was. Hey, if most of the long weekend's gonna be wet and dreary and the only good day I have to stay home thanks to an afternoon Sens game ("Hockey Afternoon in Canada" just doesn't have the same ring), I might as well spend my time at home in the kitchen.

Childhood Memories

Posted by Bonita



One of my first memories of being in the kitchen when I was young was helping my mom out on the weekends, wrapping wontons or Chinese dumplings (also known as potstickers). Years later, the tradition still stands, and it's one of my favourite activities, to spend some time in the kitchen with my mom and wrap dumplings. My mom makes everything from scratch, from the dumpling filling to the actual dough itself, which makes them taste a million times better. There are two types of filling we often make in my home: the usual ground pork with Napa cabbage, or ground pork in Chinese chives during the spring and summer, making full use of the Chinese chives that grows outside in our garden. Both fillings are just as delicious! My mom and I wrapped some dumplings this morning so that we can freeze them and have them on hand. Here's a preview of the dumplings, but since we're having them for dinner tomorrow, I'll say more about them later!



Tonight, my mom made spareribs for dinner (yummy!) while I made tomato and basil linguine as a sidedish. It's really simple to make. While you cook your pasta, mince some garlic, chop some tomatoes and some fresh basil leaves. Heat some olive oil, throw in your garlic and stir it around for about 30 seconds before tossing in the tomatoes. Let it cook for a bit, then toss in the cooked pasta (if the sauce is too dry, spoon in some of the pasta water). Toss in the basil and voilà!

To Mom, With Love...

Posted by Bonita



There’s nothing like saying “I Love You” than cooking for my mom. My mom has spent countless years slaving away in the kitchen day in and day out to feed us hungry kids. Not only has she fed us great food, but she’s truly fostered a great love of food within me. So thanks Mom, for being so supportive and loving, and for also instilling a passion for all things edible. Therefore, as my gift to you, you’ll get the day off from cooking today!



I started Mother’s Day with brunch, but rather than do our usual pancakes or waffles, I wanted to do something extra special. There was some leftover smoked salmon in the freezer, so I thought it would be perfect to make Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict. Rather than serve the eggs on the typical toasted English muffin, I decided to use French baguette instead. I bought the bread a day before from the French bakery down the street so I wouldn’t have to deal with the LONG line-ups that would be anticipated on Mother’s Day morning. The meal was easy enough to put together…it was all about timing though. I made my Hollandaise sauce a bit too early, so that by the time I was reheating it, it had gone a bit runnier than I would have liked. Poaching the eggs was also quite a hectic event for me, but somehow I survived and only wrecked two eggs (yeah!). I served the smoked salmon eggs benedict. Yes, it was a bit of a pain trying to put this all together, but it was all worth it in the end, and it was delicious. The dill in the sauce was definitely a must as it compliments the smoked salmon very nicely (and we all know that dill and salmon are pretty much best friends!). Also served a basket of freshly baked Pineapple Carrot muffins using an old recipe that my mom has been using since I was a little girl. Ah, those muffins certainly brought back memories of my childhood!



I opted to make a three-course meal for dinner, which was easy enough considering I had no help in the kitchen today. I made the soup a day before so that it would save me time. All I had to do today was reheat them and serve. It took me a long time to decide what kind of soup I wanted to make, but then I came across a recipe for a duo of Roasted Yellow Pepper & Roasted Tomato Soups at Epicurious, and I knew I had to make this for my mother! It sounded absolutely delicious, and I could picture how beautiful they would look in my mom’s new, white dish set. The soup is really easy; it’s just time consuming because you have to roast your vegetables. But I ended roasting my tomatoes in the oven while simultaneously “roasting” the peppers on the grill outside. All I can say about this soup is that it’s probably my favourite part of the whole meal. It was absolutely delicious, with the sweetness of the pepper soup balancing the acidity of the tomato soup. Delicious, light and healthy! I topped the soup off with some basil cream (plain yogurt mixed with some finely chopped fresh basil) and served it with the leftover baguette from this morning. I just popped it in a 325°F oven for about 10 minutes to reheat it and make the outside crusty again.



The only fish I’ve ever dealt with is salmon (well…unless you count canned tuna, but then again, I’ve never actually cooked canned tuna meat before…). I often cook salmon. I don’t have a problem with salmon. So I was definitely entering uncharted territory tonight by opting to cook a fish dish. Fish is delicate, and it can either turn out really nice or it can be a major flop. The original recipe was for a Pistachio-Crusted Halibut with a Spicy Yogurt Sauce. Alas, there was no halibut at the store that I went to the other day, so I substituted haddock for halibut. I also didn’t have any madras pepper, not could I find the red pepper flakes, so I substituted a Sriracha hot chili sauce instead. I didn’t have any problems cooking the fish, since I used a non-stick pan. I was worried for a minute when flipping the fish because it looked like it might flake into pieces on me, but luckily the fish held together. Served the fish alongside rice, stir-fried zucchini and the spicy yogurt sauce. My parents really enjoyed the fish, and said that it was cooked perfectly. Phew!

Strawberries and cream are a classic combination, so I thought it would be great to make a dessert using such a classic combo. And who doesn’t love strawberries and cream? I made a strawberry shortcake. Made the cake last night and wrapped it in plastic wrap so that all I had to do today was assemble the cake. Made a HUGE mess while assembling the cake as I was applying the almonds to the side of the cake, but atleast it made the cake look pretty, despite the fact that it was lopsided. The cake was very good, but I credit the chantilly cream for that. The texture of the cake was a bit too dry in my opinion, so I’ll definitely want to dry a different sponge recipe next time, perhaps one that calls for cream of tartar for a lighter cake base. But otherwise, it was still rather quite tasty.



It was certainly a fun day today, cooking for my mom. I had fun in the kitchen, but I’m so exhausted now. And to think…my mom has been cooking for me for the past 20 years!

Another "Tayst" of Osborne Village

Posted by Andrew

Considering how a good handful of Winnipeg's locally notable restaurants are in the Osborne Village area there should be no surprise that the next place I tried was also in this trendier part of town. This time the restaurant was named Fude, and my first impression from reading the name was that this could be a fun place to eat. Unlike Mise further down the street, Fude doesn't have the added luxury of being located in a nicer building that's either old and historic or new and contemporary, and perhaps Fude should ask its landlord to spiffy up the facade to give the restaurant justice.

That said, once you enter the small, casual and cosy restaurant you're greeted by easy-going staff and a smart-looking interior (other than some light wood panelling at and around the bar the black furniture is surrounded by walls painted deliciously in aubergine and honeydew with prairie-themed posters), both of which help to lighten up the dining experience. Fusion-style cuisine is offered using as many Manitoba, and if impossible then Canadian, ingredients as possible in the dishes served here.

For starters I had a creamy mussel and saffron soup. The PEI mussels were sweet and tender, and the broth had a nice garlic kick and a velvety texture thanks to the pureed potatoes in the soup. For bread this place served two types of foccacia, multigrain and mixed herbs, but it was the dipping that caught my tastebuds. Based on traditional Italian cuisine balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil is the basic dipping for bread. True to this restaurant's motive the vinegar is infused with red beets, and the sprinkling of pepper flakes give the dipping a good "zing" factor on the tongue.

Of all the main courses I could've chosen, it was the chili chocolate chicken that kept beckoning me. Okay, maybe it was because I'm such a fan of chocolate, or maybe it was because I never tried a savoury chocolate dish until now... likely it was both ;o) ... but since I knew chocolate is used in traditional Mexican cuisine I had to find out how something associated to a sweet concoction could mix well with dishes that have a salt factor. The dish was in fact a pleasant surprise... in spite of the use of only cocoa powder and dark chocolate there was still a hint of sweetness that helped mellow out the spiciness of the pepper/cocoa powder coating the chicken breast. The fact that it was more of an earthier sweetness rather than a fruity one (my sister can attest my strong dislike for pineapples in savoury dishes!) thanks in part to the natural bitterness of pure cocoa ensured that it wasn't overpowering nor, in my opinion, conflicting with the other flavours in the dish. In spite of the larger-than-expected portion size (that chicken breast could've been a very young turkey breat for all I care), the dish was prepared well, and quality and taste were not impaired at this restaurant by the dreaded "big dish" factor.

For dessert I decided to try the feature, a napoleon made of caramelized Anjou pears and layered with cinnamon-topped puff pastry. Anjou pears don't soften up that easily unlike Bartlett pears, and so those caramelized slices held together very nicely. Perhaps reducing the sweetness just a touch would have made it taste more "natural" rather than "candied". The chai latte served at this restaurant was also rich and fragrant. However, I realized in hindsight I should've asked for some sugar... straight chai latte with no sugar reminds me too much of the bitterness of coffee.

If you're looking for a stylish restaurant in which you can kick back and relax and enjoy food inspired from all parts of the world, Fude could be one of those places. Fude is also one of those rarer places where an increase in quantity does not necessarily result in a proportional decrease in quality.

Name: Fude
Address: 303-99 Osborne St., Winnipeg, MB
Cuisine: Fusion
Price Range: Dinner $50-70
Accessible: No

Honey, You're So Sweet!

Posted by Bonita



I seem to have a fascination with making bread lately. Made a Honey & Fruit Focaccia the other day based on the recipe from Cook & Eat. I love focaccia. I usually make a very simple but very delicious fresh rosemary, garlic, sea salt and drizzled with good-quality olive oil, based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. But when I saw this recipe for a sweet version of focaccia, it piqued my interest and I had to try it. The recipe was simple enough, and I was even able to half the recipe with no trouble at all. Made the dough first thing in the morning, left it to proof for an hour while I went out to play some tennis, and came home to put the rest of the bread together.

I used red grapes for this recipe and normal honey, although next time I might whip out my special blueberry flower honey to add dimension to the bread. While this recipe doesn’t beat my usual savoury focaccia, it wasn’t totally bad either. It was definitely different with the hint of sweetness from the honey. I might try this again in the future with a different fruit and honey.



Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, which means that I’m in charge of the kitchen all day. I already have the whole menu planned out, and I just finished making the soup for tomorrow, which is absolutely delicious. But I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow!

Better Than Sliced Bread

Posted by Bonita

I'm back! After weeks of essays and then finals, school is finally out for yet another year, and I have four months to dedicate my time in the kitchen, so let the fun begin!

What's better than sliced bread? Freshly baked bread straight out of the oven. I love walking into a real artisan bakery because it always smells so amazingly good. The bread baking, the yeast, the butter. There's no better turn-on than bringing those smells right into your house. I've always have a bit of an aversion to making my own bread because it just seemed so complicated. But it really isn't once you get into it and grasp the basics. So my goal this summer is to bake a loaf of bread once a week so that I can gain more experience baking bread, as well as expand my horizons. Plus fresh baked bread around the house never hurt anyone, right?



I ended up making challah today, which is a traditional Jewish bread. I am by no means Jewish, but that didn't stop me from making this. Mostly because I always see it in recipe books and how great it is to use for French toast, and since I wanted to make French toast for my parents some time in the next few days, I thought it would be cool to make my own challah as well. I turned to my trusted Williams-Sonoma Bread book and used their recipe. It was very easy and simple to follow, and after many hours of patient waiting for the bread to proof and then bake, I had a beautiful loaf of bread in the end. The crust was a beautiful golden brown, and the inside was so soft and delicious.

My favourite part when making the challah was braiding it. It was just so satisfying to see this big blob of dough turn into a beautiful braid. And to know that I did it...all on my own! So I've learned today that there is nothing to fear about bread, nor is there anything that beats freshly baked bread.

Keep It Simple Salmon

Posted by Andrew

















With my being busy for the past week mostly due to work, but also partly due to making sure I can watch the NHL playoff games, I haven't had as much time to devote to making dinner as just a couple of weeks ago. With only an hour or so between the PIT/OTT and TB/NJ games today, I had to make sure I made something quick and healthy without missing a minute of the games. With that in mind, I decided to venture into pan-seared salmon.

I'll admit I haven't done pan-seared fish before, but at least I learned a few things from this experience. The wildcard was the cooking time for salmon, and like many types of seafood salmon is temporally finicky. Don't cook long enough, and the fish will still be raw in the centre; cook too long, and the fish is dry and flaky. Salmon tastes best cooked when just flaky but still moist.

After sprinkling both sides of my salmon with salt and pepper, I drizzled a heated pan with olive oil, and over medium high heat I let the pan do its magic on the fish. Depending on the thickness of the salmon one only needs to sear each side for 1-2 minutes; make sure the salmon isn't too thick or the meat will be quite dry on the outside but still raw inside.

Once the fish was seared and cooked through I set it aside and added shredded shallots and sage to the salmon-infused oil in the pan. After tossing the shallots and sage in the oil for a few seconds I then added a cup of red wine (I still had some of that merlot I bought to make my shrimp linguine arrabiata for the office potluck), letting the liquid simmer for a few minutes. While it was simmering I mixed a tablespoon of corn starch with some water and used this to thicken the liquid in the pan. After adding some pepper and chicken broth to bring a bit more flavour to the red wine sauce I tossed the thickener, stirred the pan and drizzled some on my salmon.

In the meantime I cooked some spaghetti on the side, sauteing first some sliced garlic and basil in some olive oil in a pot. I then added the al dente spaghetti and some chicken broth (not too much though, wanting the spaghetti to be on the drier side) and pepper to the pot and tossed it until mixed evenly.

It looks like I made enough red wine sauce and spaghetti to have cooked another piece of salmon tonight. At least salmon cooks quickly, so the extra sauce and pasta may come handy from my fridge this coming week as I know my schedule won't be letting up.

What's more, I finished cooking in time to enjoy my dinner as NJ and TB started playing. OTT sadly lost today, but that story should be told elsewhere.

An Osborne Village Backroom

Posted by Andrew

Osborne Village is a neat little "yuppie" neighbourhood in Winnipeg that's reminiscent of The Glebe in Ottawa. Both Osborne Village and The Glebe are close to their respective downtowns and sit beside major recreational waterways (Assiniboine River and Rideau Canal respectively). Both have all forms of housing from apartment towers to large mansions and everything in between. Both have a central main street (Osborne Street and Bank Street respectively) lined with an ecclectic medley of shops. And both have a mix of new and gentrified buildings that help establish the character of their respective neighbourhoods.

It is not surprising therefore to also see a good selection of decent restaurants featuring cuisines from around the world along Osborne Street in this area, and it is here where you'll find Mise. Had it not been for the red and yellow fascia signs facing Confusion Corner I wouldn't even have known that this restaurant existed at this locally famous landmark. As if it wasn't already hard enough to find it while casually strolling the streets, I realized that this was located in the basement of the two-storey building, and to top it off the entrance was from the back
lane.

Once you enter the restaurant, however, the atmosphere is warmer thanks in part to the treatment of the brick interiors complementing the furnishings and in part to the friendly staff. Mise's style of cooking, officially labelled as "Canadian regional cuisine", is an infused mix of different cuisines, much like Canada is multicultural today. The food presentation may be inspired by the French, but the flavours point to East Asian, Mediterranean, northern European and even local origins.

After ordering my meal I was first treated to an amuse-bouche of a curry potato cracker topped with a mix of chicken and gala apples in a creamy sauce and a cashew, giving the tastebuds a nice spicy kick and a soothing sweet finish. The focaccia was then accompanied by a hummus and sundried tomato butter (fortunately unsalted as the focaccia itself was sprinkled with coarse sea salt). For starters I had buckwheat blini with yellow caviar and creme fraiche. The blini were flavourful, light and cake-like fluffy, and there was just enough fish roe to provide a salty accent.

My main dish was duck confit and breast with spinach, fresh shiitake mushrooms and wild-rice noodles in a sweet soy-based sauce. The duck breast and leg, already flavourful on their own, were simply pan-seared rare, leaving the meat tender and moist while the skin had a light crisp to it. The sauce alone was pretty strong and reminded me somewhere in between of teppanyaki sauce and roast duck marinade. Though the sauce matched well with the duck, it unfortunately proved to be too strong for the fresh shiitakes and drowned out the flavour of the mushrooms. The use of noodles as the starch followed this dish's East-meets-West style, and the use of wild rice in Manitoba to make the noodles was hardly surprising at all.

It seems that a true Manitoban chef must use wild rice in as many different forms of his/her cooking. On top of being a base ingredient for the noodles in my duck dish, Mise's chef also sprinkled puffed wild rice on my dessert dish, a chocolate brownie topped with some heavenly cinnamon ice cream. A slice of caramelized banana was served on the side, and though it was a pleasant experience, it didn't seem to register with me how the banana should have played with the brownie and ice cream in terms of flavouring. Capping it all off in the end is a nice mignardise, a mini dark chocolate truffle coated in crumbled puffed wild rice.

Mise has shown that its food, like Canada and its culture, has been influenced by other parts of the world yet still gets its inspiration from home-grown foods as much as possible. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Osborne Street and Confusion Corner, it's a cosy little restaurant with food that befits Osborne Village. Perhaps offering a wider selection of Canadian and especially VQA wines might better round out its claim of "Canadian regional cuisine". All dishes are individually priced; there is no a-la-carte menu.


Name: Mise
Address: 22-222 Osborne St., Winnipeg, MB
Cuisine: Canadian Regional
Price Range: Dinner $50-70
Accessible: No

One for the potluck

Posted by Andrew

It must be karma... computer problems partly explain my own long absence from this blog, along with my being out of town for a conference for half a week. In any case, I'm back now and with a new food story to tell.

Today my office had another potluck lunch, and this time around I decided to up a notch my culinary contribution. Last time I wrapped mini bocconcini with fresh basil and thin slices of proscuitto ham. This time I made my version of shirmp linguine arrabiata. I say "my version" as I'm sure Italians will accuse me of bastardizing a classic recipe. How so, you ask? For one thing, I used Tabasco sauce to give it that nice spicy kick (though I made sure not to add too much in case my colleagues couldn't handle it). I also added some red onion, porcini mushrooms and even some red wine. I really liked the flavour of Inniskillin's 2004 Merlot, so I got my hands on one such bottle over the weekend. As for the basil and oregano, I used the freeze-dried form, so that when they were rehydrated they return to their original "fresh" form, albeit already chopped for easy storage.

Fortunately my colleagues enjoyed it, and that's what's important. However, there was so much food on the table that it only meant more leftovers for me. Not that I'm complaining! ;o)

(Sorry, no photos again this time.)


Andrew's Shrimp Linguine Arrabiata

• 1/2 package (450g) linguine
• ~500-600ml (2-2.5 cups) tomato sauce
• 250g (1 cup) red wine
• ~2-3 dozen shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 1/2 red onion, shredded
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 shallot, halved & sliced
• Large handful of porcini (cepes) mushrooms, cut into bit-sized pieces
• ~2 tbsp. basil
• ~2 tbsp. oregano
• Tabasco sauce
• Olive oil

1. Cook linguine al dente; usually following instructions should suffice, otherwise cook in boiling salted water for 8-9 minutes. Drain but do not rinse!
2. In a preheated pot drizzle bottom of pot with olive oil, coating it and a bit of the sides evenly. Over medium heat toss into pot onions, garlic and shallots, add a small splash of water, cover pot and let cook for ~2 minutes.
3. Remove lid, add red wine, increase to high heat and let boil until alcohol fumes dissipate. Turning on the exhaust fan at this stage is recommended.
4. Once the alcohol has evaporated, reduce heat to medium high, add tomato sauce and mushrooms and let simmer covered for a few minutes.
5. Once the sauce is simmering reduce heat to medium, remove lid and add Tabasco sauce to desired spiciness. Stir evenly.
6. Add shrimp into pot, cover lid and let shrimp cook in the sauce for 2 minutes.
7. Cut heat, remove lid, add oregano and basil, stir evenly.
8. Add cooked linguine, stir evenly and serve.