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  Apparently some of my entries have become out of date as well, since I realized that some places have closed, such as Be One and Fazzo.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!

Beef Short Ribs in Black Pepper Sauce

With a Saturday evening free, I decided to clear out my freezer a bit, which meant despatching of some frozen beef short ribs.  Since I didn't have a BBQ grill, I had to cook them by way of my next favourite short rib dish: with black pepper sauce.

All Aboard for French Cuisine

Happy Easter Everyone!  With another long weekend, I had another opportunity to try another restaurant in Winnipeg.  I'd passed by Resto Gare French Bistro & Train Bar a few times but never got around to try it until now.  It had also been a while since I've had some French cuisine, so without further ado I decided to give this place a go.

Inside the train car portion of Resto Gare.

Chinese Eggplant Casserole

With my recent cravings for Eggplant with Yuxiang Sauce Casserole, I was inspired to attempt to make my own eggplant casserole.  Until now I've only done stir-fries with eggplant, and even then I've found stir-frying eggplant to be a bit challenging.  Eggplant stuck easily to the wok, but adding more oil to cook eggplant would have made the dishes less healthy.  Steaming was possible, but not suprisingly the pieces closer to the bottom cooked more quickly than the pieces near the top.  To convince myself to try making an eggplant casserole, I rationalized that the pieces should cook more evenly and in a fairly healthy manner as all the pieces would be equally immersed in a liquid.

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.

White Asparagus Experiment

I've bought white asparagus a few times in the past when they were on sale.  Since I'd no experience nor exposure to cooking with white asparagus, cooking this vegetable has been more of an experimental experience for me, even though recipes are available everywhere.  I decided this time around to cook something less conventional, Stir-Fried White Asparagus with Shrimp and Mushrooms in Green Curry Sauce.

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.