On a lunch-hour walk between Granville and Cambie on West Broadway, I must have ducked into a half-dozen potential lunch spots: Pizza Cono for cone-shaped organic pizzas, Chiffon Patisserie, Saravanaa Bhavan for $5 4-item lunches, and Whole Foods hot food section. I was just hoping La Taqueria at its new Broadway/Cambie location would be open and worth passing up other good food… but not quite yet.
I was marveling how La Taqueria is going to be able to give Chronic Tacos, a California-based chain that arrived in Vancouver last year, a …

Source: Wish Magazine (now defunct), March 2007
3/4 cup margarine, softened, plus 1tbsp for greasing pan
2 cups frozen cranberries
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cranberry or orange juice (I used fresh squeezed orange)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 eggs
1 cup chopped bittersweet (dark) chocolate, melted
1/3 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate, melted
3/4 cup plain cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease and line bottom and sides of a 9- x 13-inch cake pan with parchment paper.
In a small pot, combine cranberries, 1/4 cup sugar and juice. Simmer over …

I thought I would take a gander through my Flickr photostream (double-checking my tagging system works, you know) to see if I had photographs from meals each time on the same day in June for the past five years. While we are ultra-practical when it comes to most dining out (read: Chinese diners), for special occasions we tend to end up at a French restaurant. It’s not too odd in the grand scheme of things but I find it cute how NPY so loves his Chinese food… and then we …

(At least not in Vancouver from what I can tell.)
When I was in Toronto over Easter, I promised my friends LV that I would bring them a splendid Riesling NPY introduced me to: Dr. Loosen Riesling. It’s so light and sweet. But I couldn’t find it anywhere (i.e., I called LCBO and Wine Rack, both of which were close by, and neither had it). So I drove over to the Wine Rack in Loblaws to pick whatever inspired me.
Inspiration was easy to find when the first thing I saw was …

Looking through my Flickr photos (so much fun, eh?) I realized I’ve had brunch enough times for another round-up but this time, instead of a month of brunches, these were consumed over a period of three months. Sadly, Cari Ann and my brunch “tradition” fell by the wayside of late while scheduling has gone haywire (for her) and I’ve been in a three- to six-month bad-funk-streak (blah!).
If you thought perhaps I was flagging in pursuing dine-out activities, there’s been little slowing down as interspersed between these brunches and not included …

I have been reading Cathy Erway’s memoir, The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love The Stove, in the strangest places. I read about two-thirds of the memoir over several elliptical sessions at the gym and some of the rest while, fittingly, eating out. And since it was the kind of meal where I could read while eating, it wasn’t a spectacular meal or while with friends.
Based on an unpublished blog entry of mine where I alluded to Erway’s popular blog, Not Eating Out in …

Original source: Babble.com (I made the five-minute cake I blogged about several more times but it seemed chewy–maybe five minute is too long. Then I learned of this one through The Food Pornographer and haven’t looked back. I love how it is really nice and moist, and uses up the Nutella I have, although it doesn’t not taste greatly of chocolate hazelnut spread.)
4 tablespoons self rising flour
4 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons Nutella
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients in a large coffee …

Another Easter weekend in Toronto. Last year I went over the same weekend and helped Lil’ Sis move into her apartment. This year, her apartment is all set up in her very natural spa-oasis theme and we went slightly nuts again! More diverse this year, too.
Panera Bread

As per my usual custom, I took a red eye flight leaving Vancouver at midnight and arriving in Toronto at 7a.m.; with the three-hour time difference, it meant if I slept continuously I had only four hours of sleep. Then, in Toronto it’s a …

Original Source: AllRecipes.com (I did not use the chili peppers or cheese the recipe called for.)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
ground cayenne pepper to taste
ground white pepper to taste
3 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
5 cups chicken broth

In a large pot over medium heat, combine the onion, garlic and ground turkey and saute for 10 minutes, or until turkey is well browned. Add the cumin, oregano, cinnamon, cayenne pepper to taste and white pepper to taste and saute …

What a nice weekend we spent in Seattle just before Valentine’s Day! We were a small but fun group consisting of two couples and one more guy and girl. For me, some of the best parts revolved around food and drink. We stayed at the Sheraton downtown which one of our friends so kindly donated his Starwood points to lower the daily rate and we relished the opportunity to stay downtown–we didn’t even (gasp) go to the outlet mall!
Our rooms were on the 33rd floor (a Preferred Guest Level), giving …