The New Domestic

Food


03/02/10

Scooters & Macarons

I wanted to put together a special package for Valentine’s for Nerissa. While searching through our hard drive, I found a photograph of scooters and macarons Nerissa shot in Paris. It’s a beautiful image and it was a shame it only existed in our digital archives. I came up with the idea of printing and framing the photograph and packaging it with a set of macarons. Unfortunately, sourcing macaroons in Vancouver was more difficult than I anticipated. There was none to be found near home or near work. With a little one in the house it’s hard to sneak out on long secret missions and I wasn’t able to put all the pieces together for the 14th. Luckily, the next special occassion, Nerissa’s birthday, is soon after Valentine’s. Perfect timing since I figured I would need one or two more weeks to get everything together.

I sent a message out on Twitter asking where in Vancouver I could find macarons. I was told La Baguette et L’Echalote on Granville Island or Thomas Haas. I chose Thomas Haas. I then packaged the macarons in a Ladurée souvenir box we bought in Paris; fitting since Ladurée started Nerissa’s macaron obsession. The framed photo and box of macarons were stacked together, tied with a ribbon and, viola, there it is. Bon Anniversaire!


02/28/10

Night Out at Munch

Dinner last night was at Munch in North Vancouver. What a fantastic place! I had a nice creamy seafood risotto with a glass of Malbec and Peter had a bison burger. I could have seriously had another plate of that risotto but was too embarrassed to order another one. Well, I’m going back with my friend Sisi for lunch next week so I could have my second serving then. It’s nice to have a place like this in the city where Peter and I can enjoy a really good meal and not have to worry if Luna cries. How many places have a play area for kids and a full bar for adults? Yippee! We’d definitely recommend this place to other young families too.


02/21/10

Lemon Meringue at the Schoolhouse

First treat of the day for us was a visit to Mark & Shannon’s new place for coffee and a slice of lemon meringue pie. Mark converted a 70 year old schoolhouse in Strathcona into an innovative mixed-use multi-family dwelling. The conversion maintains 40% of the original structure with modern updates getting the schoolhouse to Built Green Platnium standards. Each of the five units have a flex-space that could be used for an income-suite, additional living space or a home studio. The main floor of the schoolhouse is Shannon’s studio/workshop with future plans for public community programming. It’s a beautiful and thoughtful conversion which I’m sure must be the talk of the neighbourhood. Now, about the pie…it was baked by Shannon’s mom and it was spectacular!


02/18/10

Omelette + Anthropologie

Breakfast today: Homemade whole wheat bread (freshly baked yesterday), coffee, Casa Giulia blueberry preserve & cheese tarragon omelette. I was also happy to receive my Anthropologie catalogue in the mail this morning. Like a magazine subscription, Anthropologie mails out a new catalogue each month with great photography, locations and styling. It’s incredible to think they’re essentially producing 12 different lookbooks with 12 different themes each year. That’s a lot of imagery/creative to produce. And it’s all top quality. Having produced a few photoshoots and lookbooks in our day, we really respect the effort and imagination put into these monthly catalogues. We’ve kept every issue we’ve received neatly stored in our library. It’s a nice monthly visual treat and it’s free to subscribe.


02/17/10

Simple, Quick & Delicious

These days, I’m all about simple and quick breakfasts but…it has to be delicious, too. Today’s breakfast consisted of: homemade whole wheat bread with flax & sunflower seeds, hard boiled eggs, coffee and Casa Giulia blueberry preserve from Italy. Peter’s Note: If you can’t get enough of breakfast photos visit Jennifer Causey’s Simply Breakfast blog. If anyone is keeping track, Simply Breakfast is, hands-down, the number one breakfast blog. Jennifer has documented 507 breakfasts (and counting) over the last 3 years. Simply awesome!


01/31/10

Raclette

Last night we borrowed Nerissa’s parents’ electric raclette grilll and had Jonathan & Anita over for raclette. Wikipedia describes raclette as “both a type of cheese and, informally, a dish featuring this cheese“. I’d describe the dining experience similar to a fondue but with the cheese and accompaniments grilled instead of boiled. While there’s one or two places where you might be able to order a savory fondue, it’s really hard to find a restaurant that has raclette on the menu. The only one, in Western Canada, that we’ve seen is the Grizzle House in Banff which is fitting because the dish has an old school Swiss alpine feel.

The cheese is grilled in tiny pans and served over bite sized potatoes along with sweet pearl onions, cornichons and sausages. It doesn’t sound like much but the flavor combination is really delicious. Raclette’s fun because you eat at a casual pace and the table has a communal feel fueled with conversation. Jonathan & Anita also brought over prosciutto, melon, pâté and manchego cheese. As an experiment, we melted the manchego in the raclette pans and grilled the pearl onions. Pretty yummy, actually. Those were probably one of the many raclette etiquette rules we broke last night but that was part of the fun; it was interactive and a new adventure for all.


01/24/10

Little Nest

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I spent an afternoon at Little Nest with the girls (& Peter). We had a lot of catching up to do so the afternoon was filled with non-stop chatting, laughter, entertaining Luna, coffee and munching on food. I love this place. It’s casual, kid friendly and has great food too. I could spend everyday here if I lived on Commercial Drive.

I was checking out Bloesum Kids the other day and there was an article on this wicked café called Moomah in New York. It’s like a gallery/studio/café/shop all in one. This place is stunning, you have to explore the site yourself to know what I’m talking about. It’s a creative café where parents and kids can hang out. It’s a similar concept as Little Nest but Moomah offers a little bit more by having some classes for kids & adults. Oh, do I wish we had a Moomah here in Vancouver…

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01/24/10

Casual Night with Friends

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Last night was filled with great food & wine at Doni & Gen’s place. These days, gathering with friends at each others’ homes makes for a perfect weekend. We indulged in fresh oysters, cheese, cured meats, paté, Portugese sardines, apples, strawberries, cornichons and some artisan rolls. We ended the evening with some lovely dessert wine and chocolates. Thanks Doni & Gen for another wonderful get together!


01/20/10

Saturday Breakfast & TV Dinner

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I was going through our photo files and I found these. I had almost forgotten what life was like before Luna. These photos were taken probably a year and half ago. The image above was taken from one of our weekend breakfast. I always make it a point to have something special for breakfast as it makes it a good start of the weekend. I still try to do that until now but with less effort and less time to eat.

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The second image shows our favourite thing to do on a rainy Saturday night. It’s something we get excited about. We grab a good film, open up a nice bottle of french or spanish wine and eat all of our favourite food as we watch our chosen film. It’s like our own version of a tv dinner. We usually end up drinking a whole bottle of wine and eat up all the food too. If I remember right, I think we were watching the classic french film Mon Oncle while devouring all this food.

Great film + great food = happy people.


11/28/09

Raisin Bread

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Since I purchased my bread maker, I have been non stop making all sorts of bread from whole wheat bread, white bread, french bread, rosemary, raisin etc… It’s so much fun! Today, I made raisin bread for my sister as per her request. This recipe calls for more work than other bread recipes. After the kneading cycle, I have to remove the dough from the machine and flatten it out as if making a pizza dough and spreading the raising/sugar/cinnamon mixture to it before rolling it like a baguette (I roll out the dough with a mojito muddler as I don’t seem to stock a rolling pin in my kitchen!). I’ve made this recipe a few times and it’s always a hit! It’s amazingly good eaten freshly baked with a spread of melted butter on top!! Here’s the recipe for a 2 lb bread:

Recipe (2 pounds)

Granulated sugar – 1/3 cup
Cinnamon – 3/4 tbs
Raisins – 1 1/4 cups
Milk – 1 1/4 cups (300 ml)
Butter, room temperature – 2 1/2 tbs
Egg, room temperature – 1
Salt – 1 tsp
Granulated sugar – 1 1/2 tbs
Bread flour – 4 cups
Yeast – 2 tsp

The granulated sugar, cinnamon and raisins mixture is spread out on the dough after kneading (see photos above).

Happy bread making!


11/08/09

Grandma’s Congee

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My mom is staying with us for three weeks. She arrived last night and we’re really enjoying her traditional home cooking comfort food. More info and recipes coming up…but first, we’re going to Marga and Dan’s wedding shower.


11/06/09

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

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There’s nothing like having some chewy double chocolate chip cookies on a rainy day. While Luna is fast asleep in her own little world, I’m busy in the kitchen trying  a new recipe. These are truly amazing! They are super chewy and not too sweet. These would make fantastic christmas presents. Just sprinkle some icing sugar on top of the cookies to make them look more festive.

Recipe
1 1/4 cups margarine
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa 
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions
1. Cream together the margarine, sugar, then add the eggs and vanilla.
2. Blend in the cocoa and add baking soda, salt and blend well.
3. Add the flour into the creamed mixture and fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Bake at 350° for 8-9 minutes.

Recipe by Recipe Zaar.


09/13/09

Weekend Special

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I love weekend breakfast so I always make the effort to make something nice. Especially in the summer, we eat breakfast out in the garden as we hear the birds chirping with the sun blazing at us. It’s so lovely. It’s makes a great start of the day.

This weekend, I made a nice omelette with sausages, tarragon (I can eat tarragon with anything!), fresh basil (from the garden), cilantro and cherry tomatoes (from the garden).


09/05/09

Sweet & Chewy

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Since we moved to our house in Beach Grove, I haven’t had much luck with my baking. I’m used to having a gas oven which we had in our previous condos. But buying an older house means older appliances. I don’t get the luxury of a Kitchen Aid gas stove which I absolutely miss from our condo in North Vancouver.

Lately, everytime I bake, the bottom of my cookies or cupcakes get burnt as the previous owners probably bought the cheapest stove/oven they could find as it heats up tremendously on the bottom leaving whatever I’m baking burnt on the bottom and the top uncooked.

However, I’ve managed a way to getting around this. Now, I double up my cookie tray to thicken up the bottom and if the recipe calls for 350 degrees, I make sure to put it at a lower temperature.

And… voila! It works. These cookies are really good. It’s chewy and not too sweet. Indulgence!


09/04/09

Apple Cake

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My parents have an apple tree in their backyard. It’s actually a sad looking apple tree as it’s somehow growing sideways rather than upwards. But whichever way it’s growing, an apple tree is still an apple tree. So last week when Peter and I were there, we grabbed a bag full of apples to take home. I had them sitting on our dining table for days as I stared at them figuring out what to do with them. I searched online trying to get some kind of inspiration and after a few days of searching, i found a Jewish apple cake recipe that just looked too delicious to ignore.

Here’s a link to recipe: http://www.grouprecipes.com/39250/best-jewish-apple-cake.html