- “I like a friend the better for having faults that one can talk about.” – William Hazlitt
- “The best of life is conversation, and the greatest success is confidence, or perfect understanding between two people.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “The road to a friend’s house is never long.” – Danish Proverb
- “Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer.” – Ed Cunningham
- “We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.” – W. Somerset Maugham
- “Friends are like windows through which you see out into the world and back into yourself…if you don’t have friends you see much less than your otherwise might.” – Merle Shain
- “The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him, his own.” – Benjamin Disraeli
- “Friends do not live in harmony merely, as some say, but in melody.” – Henry David Thoreau
Random Notes
- Liane Faulder (Judy Schultz’s replacement for the weekly Journal Bistro column) published her first few articles this week. She chose the theme of senses, focusing on a select few restaurants that tempt the palette with visual glory, sensual aromas, and textural pleasures, as well as an additional piece on a restaurant in France that serves food in the dark. It’ll take a while to really understand her style, so I’ll hold out judgment for a while.
- Both Giada and Ina will have new shows on the American Food Network. I hope it isn’t too long before it will air on the Canadian side of FN!
- This is probably old news by now, but Gordon Ramsay might be the next superstar chef to break ground in Vancouver. Urban Diner cites numerous sources that Ramsay is in talks with Holt Renfrew to open a restaurant in their store.
- Via Chow, a very cool collapsible coffee cup made with the commuter in mind.
- Though I missed the television airing of House‘s fourth season finale, I managed to watch it on Thursday. Oh, Wilson.
- I’ve watched a few movies over the last month or so, some worth remembering, and some not at all. Iron Man was surprisingly good (Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect choice for the titular character), and P.S. I Love You was a disappointment (I couldn’t wait for it to end). And of course, the countdown to Sex and the City begins!
- At the drugstore, I came across bags of Skittles I’d never seen before – Skittles Chocolate. Each package comes with five flavours: S’mores, Chocolate Pudding, Chocolate Caramel, Vanilla and Brownie Batter. Why mess with the rainbow?
- I tried an Iced Brewed Coffee ($2.15 for a tall) at Starbucks on Friday. It’s apparently just double-strength coffee, iced, with a few pumps of syrup, but for some reason, it’s a lot better than most of the iced coffees I’ve tried – slightly sweet, but still a strong enough coffee taste that wasn’t diluted too much even with the melting ice cubes.
Enjoying an Iced Brewed Coffee
The Cooking Chronicles: Inspired Spinach Salad
At a Sunterra-catered dinner a few months ago, I had one of the best salads I’ve ever had the privilege to try. Atop a base of spinach greens sat sliced white mushrooms, bits of real bacon, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and hard boiled eggs. The dressing of choice was a poppyseed raspberry vinaigrette. Much to my dismay, Sunterra doesn’t offer this specific salad in their deli, so on Saturday, I set out to duplicate it the best I could.
I copped out on the vinaigrette, opting to use store-bought Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Signature Red Raspberry Dressing, and to make life even easier, I used pre-washed spinach greens. Four sliced mushrooms, one crumbled bacon strip, a dash of grated parmesan, and two sliced hard boiled eggs later, my salad was assembled.
The eggs provided the needed protein to an otherwise light dinner, and the bacon added a lovely crunch and flavour boost. While the dressing wasn’t as good as Sunterra’s from-scratch dressing, the salad as a whole was quite good. This would make a great take-to-work meal.
Inspired Spinach Salad
Chinatown: Treats from my Childhood
Besides easy access to reliably inexpensive eats, my newfound proximity to Chinatown also allows me to relive my childhood. Through food, that is.
While the growing diversity of Edmonton’s population means ethnic products are readily available at some major supermarkets, nothing beats the selection and one-stop-shopping convenience at an Asian grocer.
I ended up at 99 Supermarket (10768 99 Street) on a random weekday recently, and was amazed with all of the treats I stumbled upon that I used to consume voraciously as a child.
I always find such colorful displays missing from Western supermarkets
The incredibly tempting cookie aisle – death for dieters to visit
I once handed out Pocky, thin chocolate (or strawberry, or vanilla, or…)-coated cookie sticks to my coworkers one Christmas. Though most of them hadn’t heard of Pocky before, I think the friendly packages are capable of bringing a smile to anyone’s face!
Nearly everyone in my elementary school class had one (or two) of these savoury cookie packages in their lunch kits every day. Satisfyingly salty, crunchy, and light, they’re like a Chinese equivalent to a rice cake. Asian producers definitely had the pre-sized snacks down pat ages ago.
Death to those with a peanut allergy, these caramel-coated pieces are a sweet, filling alternative to the more prolific sesame cookies. Made with peanuts, they also taste more substantial.
And who could forget the chip selection?
Our receptionist once stashed a family-sized bag of these shrimp crackers at her desk. Needless to say, they were gone within the day.
More oily and less crunchy than shrimp crackers, cuttlefish snacks just magically melt on your tongue. You’ll just have to try it and see for yourself.
Of course, relatively healthy snacks exist at the supermarket as well. One example are the packages of preserved mandarin peel. My sisters used to love to chew on these tangy bits of fruit – a bag can be head for just 69 cents!
Preserved Mandarin peel
Lastly, in the drinks aisle, I came across Milk Tea. Separated into individual, one-glass servings, the dry mix contains coffee, sugar, and milk powder. Iced, the sweet drink is perfect to be sipped out on a patio on a warm summer evening.
Milk Tea
Now that I know what is available just a few minutes away, it will be awfully difficult not to simply run over to one of the supermarkets every time I have a craving for a treat from my childhood.
Culinary Q & A with Kimmi
Occupation: Student/Grease Monkey’s Assistant
What did you eat today?
All Bran bar for breakfast, Homemade Leftover Fajitas for lunch, fish and chips for supper, and wings at Hudsons
What do you never eat?
Cabbage, Eggplant, Most Milk Products (I’m Lactose Intolerant) and Citrus as I am allergic
What is your personal specialty?
I would say my personal specialty would have to be Tacos or Fajitas. As well I make a mean tuna casserole! Dessert wise I would have to say Sex-In-A-Pan!
What is your favorite kitchen item?
This is a hard one, I would have to say my cutting board and a good sharp knife. Many creations are made there, just randomly adding new and different ingredients to things.
World ends tomorrow. Describe your last meal.
My last meal would have to be Shake’n’bake chicken, really good Jasmine or Basmati Rice, and Asparagus tips, with Blueberry pie for dessert
Where do you eat out most frequently?
Um, I don’t think that I have a most frequently, I don’t eat out very often, however my favourite by far would have to be Arbys.
What’s the best place to eat in Edmonton?
The Dish & The Runaway Spoon. It is a little restaurant off of 124st downtown, and their creations there are just so appetizing and interesting. Flavour combination is very original there!
If you weren’t limited by geography, where and what would you eat?
I think that I would go to my parents house for sure! I love my dad’s cooking, I could be more extravagant however, I absolutely everything that my dad makes, and my mom’s baking is TO DIE FOR! She always makes the best desserts! I think I would ask my Dad to make his Shepherds Pie, and have my mom’s icebox cookies or Banana Bread!
The Cooking Chronicles: Banana Muffins
Though I rarely eat raw bananas, the fruit, unlike others, are useful even when overripe and nearly black. To use up the four remaining bananas in Mack’s fruit bowl, I hunted for a recipe that required oil and not softened butter (as I didn’t have time to wait for the butter to cool to room temperature), and Giada de Laurentiis’s Banana Muffins (minus the marscapone cream frosting) were perfect, even in the quantity of bananas it needed.
My only substitution was extra cinnamon in place of nutmeg that we didn’t have, but other than that, I followed the instructions to a T. Happily, the muffins turned out great! Aromatic (Mack was loving the smell as they baked up in the kitchen), subtly sweet, and lovingly mingling banana and cinnamon flavours, they made a nice treat after dinner.
A basket of these banana muffins would make a great housewarming gift, or afternoon tea addition.
Banana Muffins
Food Notes
- Vue Weekly released the results for their annual Golden Forks awards last week. I agree with some of the choices (Italian Centre as the best deli, Wildflower Grill as the best new restaurant, Hardware Grill as provider of the ultimate dining experience), but some of the choices, that seem to remain the same year after year, still puzzle me (Creperie as the best for lovers, Barb and Ernie’s for breakfast). I wish the paper did some more analysis, however, and compared this year’s winners with those chosen last year (Calgary’s Fast Forward does a cheeky job of that).
- See Magazine reviewed a new Indian restaurant on the city’s southeast side, called Rasoi on 50th (4341 50 Street).
- The Globe & Mail had a great piece about BC residents going the distance to affirm their 100-mile diet commitment by finding farmers to grow grain when they couldn’t source it otherwise.
- The New York Times has a good primer of an article about the ways in which cities are trying to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste.
- Andrew had a “going-away” dinner at Kyoto (10128 109 Street) last week before his three week trek across Europe. I’ve only had positive experiences at the restaurant – until that day. Our server was either new, or didn’t care very much, and the bento boxes that Megan and I ordered arrived a clear twenty minutes after the other half of the table received their platters of sushi. Unacceptable. Here are some pictures:
The Boys
Andrew & Amber
Kristen & Joe
Bento Box with all things cooked
Rainy Day Comfort: Hoang Long Restaurant
Though I miss the accessibility of greenspace, my new office building provides many walkable lunch options in Chinatown. And on a day when a power outage pointed to the definite detriment of not having a window in my room, it seemed the perfect opportunity to patronize my restaurant neighbours.
The wait at Thanh Thahn Oriental Noodle House was five parties deep at 12:30pm, so I wandered over instead to my second choice – Hoang Long (10715 98 Street).
This was my first visit to the eight month old location (Hoang Long has three locations in Edmonton). The peripheral tables were occupied, but the dining area was surprisingly quiet and mellow, in stark contrast to the bustle and crash of Thanh Thanh. At that point, I knew I made the right choice – I was craving a quiet space to settle in with my daily paper.
The decor of this Hoang Long was surprisingly similar to Thanh Thanh, actually, minus the fish tank. Clean, with natural light, the furnishing were still fairly new. I liked the sleek black tables with hinged extensions, perfect as a work or, in my case, a reading surface.
I knew from experience not to have the Pad Thai again, so went straight for their Northern Vietnam Noodle Soup with rare beef ($7.95). It was a rainy trek from my office, and next to chicken noodle soup, I find that nothing warms from the inside as well as a hot bowl of beef broth.
Ten minutes later, my order was brought to me with a side of bean sprouts, mint, and various sauces. Though cilantro wasn’t present, I was so aghast at the sheer size of the bowl that I hardly noticed. Between the silky-slick rice noodles, savoury, chewy slices of beef, and rich, from-scratch broth, I left Hoang Long feeling full, warmed-through, and thoroughly satisfied.
With expedient, no-nonsense service and good food, Hoang Long may become a go-to restaurant for me in the future.
Menu
Northern Vietnam Noodle Soup with rare beef
The Cooking Chronicles: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate chip cookie recipes never seem to jive with me – I usually have issues with the cookies spreading too much, or not rising enough. As such, I was hoping an Anna Olson recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies would end up okay. The recipe called for an unusual ingredient not usually seen – cornstarch. Apparently, it is what gives the cookies their chewy consistency. Strange, but it worked!
Very straightforward and quick, the only issue I had was keeping Mack from eating all of the cookie dough.
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Definitely give these a try – and see if you can prevent yourself from eating them all straight out of the oven!
Instantly Gratifying: Little Caesars Pizza
After a lazy Sunday afternoon, Mack and I continued the calling of the day by getting take-out from the nearby Little Caesars in Oliver Square (11588 104 Avenue).
It had been a while since either of us had reached for their Hot-and-Ready deal, but both of us were readily familiar with their inexpensive grab-and-go pizzas. For just $5, a small pepperoni and cheese pizza can be had immediately – no waiting. Like combos at other fast-food joints, however, the Crazy Bread upgrade (for $2.79/package) is difficult to turn down, so tempting are the soft, parmesan-drenched breadsticks.
Quality-wise, this pizza doesn’t compare to their more authentic Italian cousins (see Famoso, Leva, or Da Capo), but where else can you instantly satisfy a craving for a tangy yet savoury pie?
Hot-and-Ready Pepperoni Pizza
Only Here for the Food 