fancy popcorn

I had a reunion of sorts... you see, some friends and I met up on Monday afternoon. I know I enjoyed their company... I laughed a whole lot, and loved the fun stories they shared with me. Are you kind of curious as to who I met up with? Well the ladies... you know... Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte. Yep. those ladies. Not really my friends, but I sure did enjoy the two and a half hours I spent with them...

There are two things I have been looking forward to in the last month; seeing Sex and the City 2 and trying out this popcorn recipe. You see... I saw it (the recipe) in the happy baker and just knew that it (the popcorn) and I would be the bestest of friends. The crunch of popcorn, drizzled in a melted chocolate and corn syrup mixture with toffee pieces tossed in. I mean really! How could I not love this popcorn?!

It looks more complicated and time consuming than it really is. It does require about three different steps - but simple simple. I promise. I even made it recovering from running my first marathon.

I enjoyed half the batch while catching up with the ladies, and don't worry if you can't eat it all in one shot... store it in an air tight container for a couple of days. You're golden. I actually think it gets betters the longer it sits.

Step 1: The art of popping corn on your stove top.

You'll need some canola oil and about 1/2 c. kernels.

In a large pot (you need to have a lid), heat a thin layer of canola oil over medium heat - you want to just cover the entire bottom of the pot. You'll know that the oil is ready when you flick a little water into the pot - it'll sizzle (careful! don't flick too much, otherwise the oil will spray everywhere).
Take the pot off the heat, toss your kernels into a single layer all over the base and cover with the lid. Return to the burner, increase the heat to medium-high and gently shake the pot, side to side, over the heat. You'll hear the popcorn start popping... don't remove the lid otherwise it'll fly everywhere! Once the steady stream of popping ends, remove the pot from heat and there you have it! Popcorn!

Fancy Popcorn (aka toffee chocolate popcorn)
ingredients:
8 c. popped popcorn (about that 1/2 c. kernels you just popped)
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. dark corn syrup
1/4 c. butter
1/3 c. toffee pieces

Preheat your oven to 300 F.

Place your popped popcorn in a large rectangular baking dish... I used two half trays instead, which cut down on the baking time, but either will work.

In a medium pot over medium-high heat, bring the chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter to a boil; whisking often.

Pour the syrup over the popcorn and stir until evenly coated. I used my hands - I thought it was simplest... remember, it is a little hot at this point :0)

Toss in the toffee pieces, stir it around again.

This is when you place your pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Since I used two pans I baked it for 30 minutes and stirred every 10 minutes.

Let cool. And then enjoy.

I heart this popcorn so much I think I should host a movie night... only, not at my place since I don't have a tv. Who wants to host? I'll bring the popcorn! And I bet it's even better with some red wine... any takers?

chloé, everything was delish ;0)

On the last Monday of every month, 3 of my friends and I have started meeting at Oz Café. Oz hosts a chef in residence evening... every month a different chef. I look forward to this meal because I never know what I'm going to get... it's always a surprise - the Chef pre-determins a 4 course meal, enjoyed with friends and some bubbly. Always a good time.

Last night was no exception. Actually, last night was exceptional.

Chloé (from Delish) was the resident chef. She totally rocked it. Seriously, I wish my pictures could do this food justice, but I'm just not a good enough photographer.

The first course was a combo of spring rolls; a fresh and light veggie roll, filled with vermicelli noodles. This was offset by a crispy fried boar spring roll. Yes boar. It was divine. Both were accompanied by a soy lime dipping sauce. I will never look at a spring roll the same way again. It was that good.

Then came the main. I was so excited about this course. You see... last January Chloé made something similar for another dinner I attended. It was mouth watering delicious then, so I was so stoked to be able to get to eat it again. Sigh. It was even better this time round. A chicken mango curry; light, and fresh with a kick of hot pepper, some sweet peppers and sweet potato to round it off. Accompanied by a second curry (my favourite in the entire world); bison massaman curry... sigh. How can I describe the tenderness of the bison? Or the perfect balance of the curry with sweet potatoes? Every mouthful was perfect. Both curries had such bold, rich flavours that played so well off of each other that it was hard to decide which one you preferred.

The third course was a play on slaw's; light, crispy, fresh, flavourful. A combo of three: fennel orange slaw, daikon mint slaw and a napa apple slaw. Each salad stood out on its own merits: the crispiness of the fennel, the boldness of the mint and crunch of the daikon, and the apple - juicy and with a real bite. Seriously, I can't tell you which one I preferred because I would be satisfied with any one of them individually, but am thankful I got to enjoy all of them.

Finally the dessert. Chloé did not disappoint. A mariposa bar atop a piece of pineapple, accompanied by a spoonful of rhubarb and passionfruit fool. Seriously? Seriously. The mariposa bar is a cross between shortbread, pecan pie and heaven in a bite. It added crunch to the dessert. And the fool... to die for. It was light (fluffy actually), tart and sweet. A perfect way to end the meal.

The entire evening was... perfection. Seeing old friends, having dinner with new ones, enjoying two of my favourite chefs (Charlotte was Chloé's sous chef last night) working together in the kitchen and being completely spoiled. I mean... Chloé even sent me home with some curry, fool and a piece of the mariposa bar for my lunch today. How lucky am I?!

Now... one last thing... Chloé, can I get your recipe for the fool? I heart it as much as I heart you. :0)

i heart balsamic vinegar

Charlotte: "I'd like you to make 4 different vinaigrette's using balsamic vinegar. Use whatever flavours you want, different textures and consistencies, different oils... but I need 4 to taste test tonight."
Me: "Sure!"
Charlotte: "Whichever one I prefer will go on the new menu (starting Tuesday, June 1st)."
Me: "Seriously?! AWESOME!"

3 reasons why this request got me so excited:
1. I heart balsamic vinegar... like, I could drink it straight up and be perfectly happy.
2. I heart challenges... especially culinary challenges.
3. How cool that something I create could end up on the new menu? I think pretty darn cool.

I took some time to think about what I wanted to make... after all, I was asked make 4 different options! So I started off my evening working on some other things:

Cleaning out the fridge and then reorganizing it. Check out all those supplies lined up on the counter. Pretty awesome eh?! I heart getting to the Whalesbone on Friday nights' and getting to set-up the dessert station. Pulling out the sauces and toppings and organizing them so that I can quickly assemble the sundaes as the orders come through - LOVE IT!

Making mini donuts, dipping peppermint fillings in melted chocolate, doctoring up the flambeed bananas, cleaning the fresh berries for that nights fresh fruit option (raspberries, strawberries, pineapple) - don't those strawberries look so juicy and delicious? They were.

I then cleaned some more greens :0) It went waaaayyyyy better this time round - especially dealing with the dill. They seemed to cooperate with me better this time round.

I made some sundaes. I liked Davine's choice: 2 scoops ice cream / strawberry coulis / chocolate ganache / espresso syrup / fresh fruit... lots of it all chopped up. Pretty eh? I though so. Especially that line of ganache. Sigh.

Then I started on the vinaigrette's. Upstairs to the fridge for an egg, lemon, grapefruit, chives, garlic, Dijon mustard, creme fraiche. Back downstairs to pull out the balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, burnt honey, sugar, a selection of spices, and salt.

I started on the first option. I decided to call it India - since i used some garam masala and mustard seed. I thickened it up with some creme fraiche (rather than plain yogurt) and sweetened it with some brown sugar. It needed some lemon juice once I had added the balsamic vinegar and then the canola oil. This was a flavour profile that I would totally enjoy at home.

Number two was called Canadian - maple syrup was the star... along with the star anise that I ground up. Some garlic added a little flavour to it too... but other than salt, this was all about the maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. Again I used canola oil so that the oil wouldn't overpower the flavour of the other ingredients.

Third option was thick and creamy - a Dijon and garlic base, coupled with lemon juice and lemon zest, honey, balsamic vinegar and an egg yolk. I then slowly incorporated the extra virgin olive oil... a slow emulsion. Nice and thick. It still needed something... salt was added.. but I still (even today) think that it needed an extra kick of flavour. But it was nice and thick, super creamy and really consistent.

Finally, the fourth one, and my favourite to make, my citrus vinaigrette. Diced grapefruit, grapefruit juice, finely chopped chives, salt, honey and the extra virgin olive oil to balance the grapefruit with the balsamic vinegar.

I was super happy with what I had made and was excited to have the ladies blind taste test... BUT I did learn a couple lessons making these... although I heart the burnt honey on ice cream... it is completely wrong for the vinaigrette's. Just plain ol' honey would be much better. Secondly, I should have gone upstairs and taken some goodies from Charlotte and Jenna's work station - some green onions, other herbs... I would have created a more chunky dressing along with the others.

But... in the end, the ladies sampled them with some beautiful tomatoes and liked the ideas I came up with. They're going to work off one or two (perhaps creating a new combo?) of the vinaigrette's that I had them taste test and round it out... make it a little less bitter or not too sweet.

I still think it's AWESOME that one of my ideas is going to end up on the menu June 6th. Even a tweak idea is UBER COOL!

For those of you interested in finding out which vinaigrette is going to be on the menu - hit up the WBOH as of Tuesday.

Oh! And if you could have made one... what would you have made? Leave me a comment and let me know! I heart hearing from everyone!!!!

ode to Jenna & Kshonze

So... another week, another blog entry about the Whalesbone. I know... you must wonder if I ever go home? I'll admit... I do spend lots of time there... but you see, it's just so much fun. And I don't just mean the working part, I mean the people. I heart the crew.

You've already met Charlotte. She's the head Chef. And she's super cool. But there are lots of other super cool, awesome people that work there too. I want to introduce you to two of them: Jenna and Kshonze (or Kshonz-ay as Charlotte calls him).

Saturday night. Tasting menu. Jenna and Kshonze behind the saucier and me sitting directly in front of them. I think it's the best spot in the house - I get to chat with the Chefs and see what they're doing while eating some pretty amazing food. Yeah... incredible evening. Exceptional food.

You'll notice the blurry pictures of the two Chefs... it's because they move so fast! HA! Actually, just my playing with my camera. But I think the effect is pretty cool.

Notice how Jenna wears pearls while she works? She was also wearing "moderately" short-shorts... it gets really hot back there after all... you can't blame a girl for wanting to be comfortable while working. She also makes the best desserts. Like her peanut butter chocolate cheesecake. DECADENCE in a bite. I took a picture of my piece. Jenna's also the one who walked me through making chocolate ganache last Friday night. I heart her for that (and all her amazing talent).

Then there is Kshonze. The first time I worked at the Whalebone he and I hung out together in the prep kitchen. He taught me how to cut carrots. Seriously. He also let me make cake. I heart him just for that. And the fact that he is cool as a cucumber. Pretty cool eh?

My evening started off with some local bread, brown butter (a million sighs) and an assortment of oysters. East Coast and West Coast representation... B.C. oysters being my favourite of the evening. Kshonze got me some balsamic vinegar and we were good to go...

Jenna and Kshonze then created my tasting menu:

pickled beets and beans / seared albacore tuna / scallop ceviche / blue cheese ... OK the blue cheese just played off the beets and the seafood perfectly. And honestly, the fish was melt in your mouth tender. And doesn't the plate look pretty?

greens and radish / diced potatoes / spotted prawns / lobster tail ... two salads on the plate. Well, the block. You can see the trio getting plated... and then you can see my clean plate. Except for the prawn shells. So light and fresh. I heart lobster (thanks for listening to my request guys).

a shot of Sailor Jerry's spiced rum... it's gross. Seriously. The one thing I don't recommend at the WBOH. But... it'd be rude to refuse right? So down it went. Maybe it was meant to clean my palate for the next course.

fiddle heads / asparagus / beans / seared pacific salmon / white wine butter sauce ... the salmon was... in a word... perfection. The skin was crisp, the centre was tender and flaked apart. The sauce wasn't heavy, it was light and just drizzled the plate. The bed of greens still had a bite and tasted so fresh. I heart this course.

Pascale's vanilla ice cream / chocolate ganache / fresh fruit / salted peanuts ... I don't have a picture of the sundae. You keep seeing them and honestly, the picture just didn't turn out. I personally would have added more ganache... but that's just me ;0)

finally... I know, I know! I'm still eating!!!!

peanut butter chocolate cheesecake ... Jenna's decadent cake. It's dense and creamy with a kick of cinnamon in the filling. Jenna also made an oreo cookie crumb crust. Seriously!

This my friends, is why I keep going back to the WBOH. Clean flavours. Major taste. But really... it's the crew. They rock. I heart them. This is my ode to two of them.

Oh! I also added a picture of the Paella Valenciana... so that you can see what my paella portions look like when cooked ;0)

wanna toffee break?

I heart it when I find a recipe and just can't wait to try it. I mean, seriously, isn't it great when you flip through a recipe book (or are surfing the inter-webz) and you find that one recipe that gets your taste buds going and your hands itching to pull out all those ingredients?!!

That's how I felt about this recipe. That's how I like to pick my recipes... sigh.

I'm back to the happy baker's recipe book (well, she's just so darn happy... and so am I, so why not right?)... Erin baked an (i'm not boy crazy) toffee maple shortbread... just the thought of maple and toffee together made my mouth water. There was only one thing... I didn't have any maple extract. And I really try to stay away from imitation extract when possible... so I swapped out the maple for some vanilla. Am I ever happy that I did!!!

The shortbread ended up being nice and crunchy, with the surprise of the toffee bits (which luckily didn't overwhelm the buttery base), and the vanilla was just a nice subtle compliment. I think I have a winner. AND I am totally inspired for my holiday baking (I know... it's only May and I'm already thinking Christmas baking... sad, but true): cherry-chocolate shortbread. Yep. That's right. I bet you can't wait for me to share those with you eh? Well... knowing me, I'll be making them sooner rather than later... I do need to test them out right?

If you're in the mood for a delicious cookie (which I might add would go GREAT with ice cream and freezes well), turn on your oven and whip these together. Totally worth it. I promise.

Toffee Vanilla Shortbread
ingredients:
3/4 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. toffee baking bits

Preheat your oven to 300 F. Spray your 8-inch square baking pan with some non-stick spray and set aside.

In the bowl of your stand-mixer (using the paddle attachment), beat together the butter and powdered sugar; increasing the speed to medium, you want it to get like and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and the salt. Continue to beat together.

Lower the speed of the stand-mixer and stir in the flour and toffee pieces. Erin's recipe says not to over mix... I took that to mean that the batter should come together and be as smooth as possible (given toffee bits).

Once the batter has come together, put it in your square pan and gently pat the dough out (get it nice and even); I used my fingers... just wet them a little and the batter will spread nicely.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Place your pan on a wire rack and allow to cool before cutting them into squares.

note: you'll notice that I use my zester as my guideline for cutting my squares... I was able to get over 2 dozen shortbread's out of this recipe... and they were evenly cut and sized! Gotta love that trick :0)

lobster, ganache and a whole lotta sundaes

Let me tell you about my Friday night... which means, let's talk the Whalesbone.

I arrived early and was able to enjoy the family meal (fried chicken, burgers, salad... delish!). Then Char and Jenna handed me my list of tasks.

1. Portion seafood for paella. No problem. See all that lobster tail? Yeah, I thought it was pretty darn awesome. Cut in half, grab a claw, some clams, some spotted prawns and mussels. Add all of that to the deliciousness of sausage, peas, rice... that's something I think everyone should check out when they stop by the restaurant.

2. Cut up dark purple beets. On it! I HEART beets!!!! And Char is all about it being organic and artisan... so not having to cut everything in small, precise pieces was fine by me :0)

3. Clean greens... a task I thought would be the simplest and it turned out to be a right pain... the miniature greens all over the place... and they took forever to dry (in order to be put away). I didn't heart that task.

4. Asparagus. Prep it by removing the woody ends and store it in water in 1 L containers. Easy as pie.

5. And finally... make ganache. Sigh. You'd think that would be the task I'd be most enthusiastic about... but you see, last week Jenna asked me to make ganache and I figured "no problem, I make ganache at home, I can make a batch for Jenna." Nope. I messed it up. I actually labeled my 1 L container the "fucked up chocolate ganache"... it was that bad. Jenna apparently went on to save it after I left. You could understand why I was tentative to make another batch. ESPECIALLY because it was going to cover a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for Adrienne's birthday (she works at the WBOY). The pressure was on.

Jenna walked me through it. "Don't mix the peanut butter with the cream, add it to the chocolate, pour the boiling cream over top and melt them that way." "It'll be OK Lynne... I promise. Your other ganache wasn't that bad... I was able to fix it."

Well my friends. I absolutely HEART this ganache recipe. Easiest one EVER. I'm going to make some... not tonight, but soon :0) And seriously, it combines chocolate, peanut butter, cream and... honey. Yep. Killer combo.

So I did that, re-organized the fridge (let me tell you... it gets cold in there when all you're wearing is a pair of shorts and a tank top), and make SUNDAES! I know... I blogged about it last week, but really... people come up with pretty fabulous ideas when topping their vanilla ice cream.

Take Gordon. I like Gordon. He picked chocolate ganache. fresh fruit (apple, banana, pineapple, maraschino cherry) and... RHUBARB!!! Good choice Gordon. You are one of my picks for "best of" the evening.

Then there was the duo... two scoops of vanilla. One with the coconut dulche de leche, the other with strawberry coulis; both with the peanut butter cups and the cookie dough. She labeled his card as "The Copycat". I like that. Plus, they look really pretty side-by-side. They also win a place in my top sundaes of the evening list.

Nadine. You rock! You decided to top your two scoops with flambeed bananas, brownie bites and salted peanuts. I'd totally pick something like that... well done! You too are on the list.

And finally, the winner. I was being TOTALLY biased when I picked this one. I'm OK with that. I hope you are too. Sara stopped by and surprised me at the end of my shift. She came down and was chatting with me and sampled some of the cookie dough I'd made the week before that I had just taken out of the freezer. She thought it rocked. And since I think she rocks, I made her a sundae. So my pick of the evening is:

1 scoop vanilla ice cream. chocolate ganache. rhubarb. cookie dough. maraschino cherries (from the batch I made). marshmallow fluff.

A solid sundae for an even more solid friend.

So that my friends, was my evening at the Whalesbone. Can't wait for next time... and watch out... maybe YOUR sundae will be selected as one of my favourites. And then I'll be blogging about you too :0)

flour, butter and lemon

I baked 11 dozen cupcakes. All in one go. With my mini little oven only allowing me to bake a dozen at a time; I became a cupcake making machine. And loved every second of it.

You might be wondering how I found myself in this situation... Well, a few months back I was sharing a drink (or two) with some friends when the subject of wedding cakes came up. Here's a snippet of our (slightly intoxicated) conversation:

Me: "Steph, who's making your cake"
Steph: "No one yet. But I want cupcakes"
Me: "I can make cupcakes"
Steph: "What's your price?`
after some negotiation...
Steph: "Done. Your hired!"

The next conversation...
Me: "So Emily... we have a cupcake order for May"
Emily: "Awesome!"
Me: "That means you'll have to decorate 125 cupcakes!"
Emily: "Yep. No problem!"

And that my friends is how Emily and I ended up with an order for 125 cupcakes PLUS a cutting cake. The bride isn't a lover of all things chocolate... but she sure does love all things lemon... and we know that I heart baking anything with lemons. 11 dozen lemon cupcakes later, my entire apartment smelled of lemons, sugar, and butter; tart and sweet - a perfect description of the bride ;0)

I'm most proud of the cutting cake... it's so pretty! I'd recently given in and bought some 5-inch, 6-inch and 7-inch spring form pans and haven't regretted it one iota! A mini tiered cake with a 6-inch round sitting atop a 7-inch round. Too cute. Seriously.

I brought Emily the cake rounds ahead of time, so that she could cover them in a lemony butter cream and white fondant. She then came over to my place to begin the task of frosting lemon butter cream atop each and every cupcake (I tried to help, but really, I'm not a decorator and she's just so good...why mess with a good thing?!). She is the queen of the swirl... her left hand perfectly poised with icing bag in hand, she is able to elevate the simple cupcake into wedding cake elegance.

Oh yeah... and since there were a few "overstock" cupcakes we decided to sample one... the cake was moist, slightly tart, which balanced by the sweet butter cream. I'd call that a success!

Next week we aim for 6-inch, 9-inch and 12-inch rounds... another week, another cake! I am so stoked!!!