Go Packers!

So I am not much of a sport fan, but I do love baked goods and parties! So for the superbowl this year I threw my support behind the Greenbay Packers. Turns out, I have lots of green and yellow clothing. It was no problem finding the appropriate sports fan outfit. For our superbowl party I made these vegan cupcakes. They are lemon cupcakes with roasted almonds and buttercream frosting with green food dye. I haven't baked in ages and it was a good reminder for me how much I enjoy making and presenting tasty dishes... not to mention eating them!

A tip for the day, if you are not allergic to nuts, try to add roasted almonds to almost everything. I have added slivered almonds to pasta sauces, crushed toasted almonds to these cupcakes, sliced almonds onto salad. It seems to add that little something extra which makes it truly delicious.

the Distillery District... pictures of Hot Chocolate.

On my day off, I decided to wander to the Distillery District in Toronto. On the way I noticed these massive icicles on all the houses. I took a photo of them as all I could think of was the scene in The Christmas Story where he pretends to be hit by an icicle instead of confessing to shooting his eye out... it was pretty amusing.

The Distillary District use to be a place where alcohol was produced and sold to the United States during the prohibition. However in recent years these abandoned Warehouses transformed into a collection of higher end boutiques, coffee shoppes and art galleries. It is a relatively self-contained area, which is good because the neighborhood surrounding is a bit dodgy.I loved this fixture. In this area there are all sorts of interesting art installations where form meets function, this was my favorite of the lot.

Speaking of favorites... I am no stranger to fine chocolate and had the benefit of living with a Belgian chocolate fiend at one point where I was schooled in all the finer points of this delicious food. I found a chocolate shoppe where the liquid above was served as shown below.Definitely food for the gods. I recommend this place to bring a book and have a little chocolate reading time... a great way to warm up on a cold afternoon.

The photo below is me trying to capture the chocolate making process in the background. They had glass windows so you could watch the raw cocoa being shaped into the delicious liquid heaven I was drinking or the chocolate bars for purchase in the store.

I think this is the most pictures I have taken by myself featuring a hot beverage... that means it is delicious. Plus I liked the colour blue of the wall behind me.

One aspect of Toronto that I really enjoyed is this whole Old World meets New World visible in the architecture all around the city. This is just one of the many examples below, a great older (I'll use older instead of old because it may be old for Toronto, but would be considered a new build in most parts of say, England) nestled in front of two giant skyscrapers. I loved the contrast.

Finally, this perfect day of wandering around, eating chocolates and dodging icicles was complete with a dinner in a pub. I ordered the special of fish and chips and a pint of Kilkenny. Kilkenny is a fantastic Irish cream ale that is not widely available in the United States. If you like a nice pint now and again I recommend this when you come across it.

I enjoyed a few weeks of snow in Toronto, but am pleased to be back in weather where I can wear flip flops most of the time... but the snow was pretty.

The Contest

Those of you who know me at all, and my mother can attest to this, I am a huge fan of yogurt. I always have been and always will be... in fact, I often buy it as a treat to myself as someone else might buy ice cream. It has to be a treat, because otherwise I will eat it all the time. While the consumption would not be terrible it certainly doesn't make for a balanced diet.

In a hotel with a full little kitchenette and no utensils of which to speak (I did manage some cutlery) I decided to indulge in some of my favorite foods. I bought blueberries, granola and the two containers of dairy foods you see pictured above.

I never expected that buying yogurt in Canada would be such a challenge. They mark the labels as 1% 2% or 3% which I assumed meant the fat content or some similar equivalence to the American milk system. I prefer the full fat everything, so I went for the one without any numbers that said "biologique" on it. (cultural side-note: from what I gathered at the shoppe, "biologique" is French for "expensive.")

Then nestled next to my favorite food was kefir. I have heard much in the health circles about this magical food and decided to give it a go. I did a bit of online research and my thought process whilst reading the information on www.seedsofhealth.co.uk went something like this:

"Kefir is a fermented milk drink. The word kefir is said to have originated from the Turkish word "Keif" which means "good feeling". Kefir dates back many centuries to the shepherds of the Caucasus Mountains who carried milk stored in leather pouches where it would ferment into fizzy sour yoghurt." SOUNDS DELICIOUS!

Also, according to the website, Kefir puts good yeast in your body to help fight the bad yeast. A battle! cool! "In addition to beneficial bacteria and yeast, kefir contains many vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes. Particularly calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, B2 and B12, vitamin K, vitamin A and vitamin D. Tryptophan, one of the essential amino acids abundant in kefir, is well known for its relaxing effect on the nervous system." Healthy and a good night's sleep? What is this black magic? I must try it.

The result? After a few days of careful testing, I found both foods enjoyable in their own special and not so different kind of way. However, the health benefits of kefir make an argument for its purchase and I reckon when I return to the motherland I will seek it out occasionally at my local Trader Joe's.

Christmas food adventures

One of the many great things about visiting my folks, is that they are both stellar cooks. What's more? Is that they love to feed me, or at least I pretend that they love to feed me :) My favorite Christmas food has to be lefse. Making lefse with my mom usually involves her making it and me wandering in and out of the kitchen to keep her company. Sometimes I will roll out a few pieces here and there are try to actually be helpful, but mostly I like being around her when she makes it. The one part I really love to do though is flipping the lefse piece with the big colourful stick that you see in the photo below, the one with the red handle.

If you haven't heard of lefse and are keen to try some, stop by my folks house next Christmas. Alternatively, you can hit up your local Scandinavian market. Another option would be to make it! Great fun! I've included a recipe below:

Old Fashioned Norwegian Lefse Recipe

Cook 10 lbs. of red potatoes with the jackets on using the same amount of salt as for regular potatoes. Chill overnight. Potatoes must be cold. Peel potatoes. Grind coarsely in a meat grinder or use a potato ricer. Add 1 stick soft butter and use masher or mixer to mix. Divide dough in half.

Mix each 1/2 of the potatoes with 2-1/2 to 3 c. flour. The less flour the better. Knead as you would bread dough. Make each 1/2 into 2 rolls, 3" in diameter. Refrigerate 2-4 hours and bring out 1 roll at a time. Slice into 1/2-2" slices and roll as thin as possible, on a cloth covered and well floured board, to about an 11" circle. The rolling pin should be covered with a stockinet and well floured.

Use a Lefse stick to lift the Lefse onto the Lefse iron. Roll Lefse off the stick gently so as not to tear dough. Bake on Lefse plate at 575 degrees. Wait until bubbles form. Check underneath with the Lefse stick to see when the bubbles are browning. Turn Lefse and do same on the other side. Remove Lefse with the Lefse stick and place gently between a heavy folded cloth like a linen table cloth, and have this inside a wool blanket to hold the steam in or the Lefse will dry out. When through baking, fold into quarters and place 2-6 in plastic bags and freeze until used. Leave in plastic bag to defrost and serve small amounts at a time so Lefse does not dry out.

To serve: butter; sprinkle with brown sugar and roll up. Cut in half for easier handling.

Read more: Old Fashioned Norwegian Lefse Recipe http://www.gjenvick.com/Recipes/LefseRecipe.html#ixzz1AsAUMBOO

Another family food favorite has to be Æbleskivers!

Pictured above is my little brother enjoying his Christmas breakfast. These little round beauties are fairly easy to make if you have the right equipment. If you don't have the right equipment, then they sell them in the over priced frozen section at Trader Joes. :)

This is my batch of flipping and cooking breakfast. The trick is to time it so that you turn it at the right moment so that it ends up round instead of looking like a squashed football. Either way, they taste delicious. :)

I had a bit of homesickness for England over the holidays. On sister day 2010, Kelly and I went to the local British pantry where I stocked up on Yorkshire tea and instant gravy granules! Instant gravy is not something I ever thought I would eat, and when I saw the gelatinous substance for the first time I was really put off. However, you grow to love that tasty sodium filled goodness. As a vegetarian, it is a way to have a tasty grave sans meat product, for yorkshire puddings, roast veg or in this case chips! In celebration of the holidays we made egg and chips... a dish I grew to love. I just never realized how much I liked it until it wasn't readily available and I was craving it. This recipe is easy :) Get a bag of frozen chips, bake them. Put two sunny side up eggs on top, a little gravy if you are feeling fancy, (normally not served together, but what the hey! Why not?) and a salad of just lettuce leaves. Of course, a few pieces of white bread would not be out of place with this feast. Ta-da! A cuppa tea and you feel right at home! Travel without leaving the comfort of your own kitchen :)

Canada, eh

So I am back on the road again. Thought since I was doing some legitimate travel, that it might be time to update my blog. Am currently in Toronto for two weeks and so far I love it. After arriving here I've I really enjoy the fact that I can travel to any destination that is required of me on foot. Even if sometimes my feet look like this:
Snow is still a novelty for me. Whilst I wouldn't enjoy the months upon months of snow that my compadres in England and the east coast of the USA are experiencing... two weeks? Absolutely. I realized an aspect about England I really enjoyed was the freedom to move about with just my feet. Perhaps I am destined for city living after all. There are at least 3 sushi houses present regardless of which path I choose to walk between the school where I work and the hotel in which I am saying. Toronto, you're a-okay with me.
Noticed this little sign modification in the Kensington Market the other day. If you haven't been to Toronto, I recommend a wander through Kensington Market, the place is chock a block full of vintage and second hand shops. You can buy everything from used army goods to spatulas. And from the looks of the painting on the building behind the sign, I reckon that you could also buy something to put those interesting vases I see in the windows to use as well. I enjoyed the myriad organic health food store outlets in the area. I thought I had hit the jackpot when I found one, only to discover that there are a dozen within a few block radius!
Just around the corner from Kensington Market on the way to Queen Street is the area known as Chinatown. What a culture shock. Within one block I moved from organic hippie land to noodles and take out every other store. This area certainly knows its niche markets and whatever it sells... it sells a variety of and in mass quantities. For instance, not photographed just past the picture below is two blocks that are full, almost exclusively, with shops selling furs. "Anything worth doing is doing well"- Toronto

This is a picture of the Old Town Hall. Toronto is a great walking city. I am still perplexed by a few Canadianisms... For instance... they seem to love Havarti Cheese. I have never seen such a variety of Havarti Cheese, specifically, every flavour I could think of was available. There also seems to be a penchant for Orange pekoe tea... I've been offered it by several people when at their house and it is the variety available in my hotel. I am sure these are unrelated except that I find them both strange.