Dessert Lasagna

It was my friend's birthday on Monday so four of us went out for dinner at Woodenheads: a gourmet pizza restaurant. From start to finish the dinner was delicious and I really want to go back to try more of their unique pizzas. I just had to share with you one of the desserts we had: dessert lasagna. It was amazing. It consisted of layers of phylo pastry and chocolate mousse, with strawberries and various sauces and glazes.

I am not a huge lover of chocolate mousse but this one was so lovely. The dish had so many different textures and was plated so beautifully - what a treat! This has now been added to my list of Things to Make - I'm going to try to recreate it to the best of my ability.

Dim Sum YUM

I love Yum Cha. I just think it's so much fun. You get to pick lots of different, little dishes to share at your table and try them all! My friend drove a few of us home after exams had ended, and she treated us all to Yum Cha! As I could understand maybe 1/4 of what the menu said, I didn't really do any of the ordering. My friend took care of that and she picked so many yummy dishes, some of which I had tried before and were my favourites, and others that were completely new to me...

Rice noodle stir-fry with beef (gong chow ow haw)

Steamed rice roll - bbqed pork (left), shrimp (ha cherng) (right)

Sticky Rice

Bbq pork buns (cha siu bau)

Crystal dumpling shrimp (ha gao)

Pork dumpling with fish roe (siu mi)

Dessert! 

Sesame balls (one of my favourites)

Mango tapioca pudding

Thanks Kathryn :)



My First Homemade Bread

So I have never baked with yeast before. I know, it's terrible. I have been missing out on such a wonderful world of yeast-involved recipes! For some reason I've just always been scared to try...

Last semester I discovered that my friend knew how to make bread. WITH YEAST. So obviously I had to have him give me a crash course in breadmaking. It was time to face my fear. The big event took place last weekend when my friend came over to teach me how to make a cheese loaf. I was so excited... and nervous. We made a loaf with cheese rolled into it as well as individual buns with cheese sprinkled on top. The process was a lot longer than I had anticipated - it took us about 3 hours in total.

We used the following recipe: Basic White Bread - Robin Hood

Waiting for the yeast to activate, mixing, kneading, rising, punching, rising, baking... I can see why the majority choose to buy their bread from the store/bakery.

But let me tell you how satisfying it was to see the beautiful, aromatic buns and loaf pulled from the oven with a perfectly golden brown crust underneath a bed of melted cheese. It was so delicious with a lovely texture, and knowing we had made it ourselves made it THAT much better. I really don't know why I was so terrified of using yeast, it's really quite simple.

Aren't they cute?!

First homemade bread = success!

Slicing the loaf reveals a beautiful swirl of cheddar... yum

Cheese + bread = true love 



So now I'm obsessed. I have to make up for those yeastless baking years and there are tons of recipes I can't wait to try! Next we'll hopefully make a cinnamon raisin loaf - I'm pretty excited for that one.

Thanks Mack :)

A Tea Party

A few friends and I had been planning on having a tea party for a while - a Mad Hatter's Tea Party

It ended up being more like the type of tea party Alice would have had though

Cucumber wrapped smoked salmon & cream cheese

Bruschetta



Crostini with sauteed vegetables and salami, topped with goat's cheese

French baguette toasted with honey and goats cheese

Ginger peach tea - perfect during those cold winter days

Chocolate macarons with salted caramel buttercream, custart strawberry tarts with cream, shortbread

Don't you just love finger foods?

One friend brought sugar cookies with cherries and gingerbread

Dinner in Louisiana

Well actually in Ottawa. For New Year's my family and I went up to Ottawa to visit my sister for the weekend. On the Saturday we went out for dinner and my friend from Ottawa had suggested Fat Tuesday's so we decided to try it out. They had a New Orleans style menu with lots to choose from. The food was great and absolutely full of flavour, we could have been sitting in a restaurant in Louisiana!

Crab Cakes Vermillion - I think these were some of the best crab cakes I've ever had

Honey Dijon Chicken with roasted garlic mash

Honey Dijon Chicken with dirty rice

Blackened Louisiana Catfish with dirty rice

And I had the Jambalaya! With shrimp, chicken, ham and andouille sausage in a spicy creole tomato sauce, accompanied by dirty rice - it was DELICIOUS