Evelyn's Cafe and Grill

Today we were going to go somewhere else for brunch but we passed by Evelyn's, saw their menu and thought, "why not?"

Their food is CHEAP. For a waffle, omelette, two coffees and 15% tip, it still came out to under $20.

The food was solid. It's not what you would expect from such a cheap menu. I almost wanted to pay more. The owner was also very polite and the food was served quickly. Coffee and water were self serve, but that doesn't bother me.

The waffles came with strawberries and blueberries. It was sweet but not overly sweet, and fluffy. Sometimes cheap waffles made out of prepackaged mix can be very cardboard like. That's why we think Evelyn's make their own batter.

The bacon and cheese omelette was okay. It wasn't as fluffy as I normally have my omelettes, but at least it tastes alright. The potatoes on the side were not cooked in enough oil, it could've been a little crispier. Maybe it's home style cooking, so they don't use as much oil, because the plate was not greasy at all when we finished the omelette.

Overall, solid experience for the price. We will return.

Koerner's Pub

We didn't have enough leftovers to bring for lunch yesterday so we went to Koerner's. It was surprisingly clean and welcoming.

I ordered a cana (6 oz) beer to go with my meal. I had no idea how small it is. Here are two pictures for comparison,

I ordered the pulled pork tacos, which were surprisingly good. It was flavourful and reminded me of the tacos I got on the streets of Tijuana. Guacamole was an extra $2.00.

My dining buddy had the pork belly sliders which were served in a steamed bun. He thought that was pretty unique. I guess it is for a pub, but I've seen it before at some modern Chinese restaurant, Hakasan. Nonetheless, the pork was sweet, flavourful and tender. So tender.

The sliders came with a side noodle salad, which was surprisingly good. It had dried noodles, peas, orange slices, avocado slices, and cherry tomatoes. It was fresh and crunchy.

Tiramisu

This is my signature dessert. The key is to use mascarpone and not to substitute with cream cheese or whatnot. I found the right size at IGA this time, but I know Superstore definitely has cheaper mascarpone cheese.

Ingredients:

- 1 475 g tub of mascarpone cheese

- 3 eggs

- 3 tbsp sugar

- 16 pieces of ladyfingers

- 1/2 cup espresso

- 1 tbsp whisky

Method:

1) lay ladyfingers on a pan and sprinkle with mix of espresso and whisky

2) separate egg yolk and egg white

3) mix sugar and egg yolk until it looks lemony yellow (approx 4 minutes)

4) whip egg white until it peaks

5) fold egg white into yolk-sugar mixture

6) line pan with ladyfingers, pour a layer of cheese on, add a layer of ladyfingers, and then another layer of cheese

7) top with shaved chocolate

8) refrigerate for at least 2 hours, best overnight

Stir Fry and Cauliflower "Rice"

We made stir fry with cauliflower "rice" today because we were a little tired of the carbohydrates.

Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients:

- 1 head cauliflower

- handful chopped cilantro

- juice of 1 lime

- 2 tbsp butter

Method:

1) cut out the core of the cauliflower, then cut into reasonable pieces and place in food processor

2) fry the cauliflower on medium heat until a little tender (still tender and moist)

3) turn off heat

4) add cilantro and butter

Eggplant and Portobello Stirfry

Ingredients:

- 1 eggplant

- 2 portobello mushrooms

- 2 tbsp soy sauce

- dash of fish sauce

Method:

1) slice up eggplant and portobello

2) fry until lightly browned

3) add soy sauce and fish sauce

4) mix

It goes really well together and it's all vegetables.

Three Mushroom Risotto

Today’s recipe was inspired by Chatelaine’s Porcini-mushroom risotto. Because we didn’t have time to look for dried procini mushrooms and cremini mushrooms, we just bought white and brown mushrooms. We also saved some shiitake from Monday’s recipe to add some flavour.

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 100 g white mushrooms, sliced
• 100 g brown mushrooms, sliced
• 100 g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. combine four cups water and 2 bouillons, cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to low to keep warm

2. melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium

3. cook onion and mushrooms until mushrooms are soft (4 to 5 minutes)

4. add rice and stir until glossy (1 minute)

5. stir in wine until all liquid absorbed (2 to 3 minutes)

6. lower heat to medium and medium-low so mixture is just simmering

7. add 1/2 cup of broth at a time until absorbed (28 to 30 minutes) - risotto should be slightly saucy but not soupy

8. remove from heat, stir in cheese

9. serve immediately with or without sriracha

Quinoa with Leeks and Shiitake Mushrooms

We got this recipe from My Recipes, Cooking Light. Even though it is "cooking light", the 4 serving recipe could probably serve 8.

Ingredients:

- 1.5 cups water

- 1 bouillon chicken stock

- salt

- 3/4 cup quinoa

- 1.5 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

- 1/2 tbsp olive oil

- pepper

- 1 leek

- 2 cups thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms

- 1 bell pepper

- 1/8 cup white wine

- 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Method:

1) bring water, bouillon and dash if salt to a boil

2) add quinoa, cover, reduce heat and let simmer until liquid is absorbed (30 minutes for the red quinoa, less for normal yellow quinoa)

3) prepare the rest of the ingredients while the quinoa is simmering

4) heat half the oil in a pan and add leek

5) once the leek starts to wilt (approx 6 minutes), add mushrooms, bell pepper and wine

6) once vegetables are tender, add dash of salt and pepper

7) the quinoa should be ready by now, add the parsley, half the oil, and dash of pepper to it

8) mix the quinoa into the vegetables

9) plate and serve with or without Sriracha

Super Bowl Sunday

This was a two day Super Bowl for us. Yesterday we spent prepping all the food. We had:

Spinach and artichoke dip:

Ingredients:

- 10 oz frozen spinach

- 14 oz artichoke hearts

- 2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of Parmesan and Asiago)

- 250ml sour cream

- 1 cup cream cheese

- 2 cloves garlic

- 1/3 cup mayonnaise

Method:

1) Mix spinach, artichoke and most of the shredded cheese

2) Add sour cream, cream cheese, garlic and mayonnaise

3) sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on

4) bake at 375 F for 25-30 minutes

5) serve with sliced bread from Cobs

Honey Garlic chicken wings

Ingredients:

- 2 lb wings (about 26)

- 3/4 cup honey

- 1/3 cup soy sauce

- 4 cloves garlic

Method:

1) put all ingredients in a bag and let sit overnight

2) turn broiler on High

3) broil 5 minutes then turn the pan

4) broil 5 minutes then flip the wings

5) broil 5 minutes then turn the pan

6) broil 5 minutes and serve with ranch and celery

Honey Sriracha wings:

Ingredients:

- 2 lb wings

- 1 cup butter

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp pepper

- 1 tbsp flour

- 1/4 cup honey

- 1/4 cup Sriracha sauce

- 1 tbsp soy sauce

- juice of one lime

Method:

1) put all ingredients in a bag and let sit overnight

2) turn broiler on High

3) broil 5 minutes then turn the pan

4) broil 5 minutes then flip the wings

5) broil 5 minutes then turn the pan

6) broil 5 minutes and serve with ranch and celery

Frank's Buffalo Wings

Ingredients:

- 2 lbs wings

- 1/4 cup butter

- 8 tbsp Frank's Red Hot Sauce

- 2 tbsp paprika

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsp cayenne pepper

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

Method:

1) put all ingredients in a bag and let sit overnight

2) turn broiler on High

3) broil 5 minutes then turn the pan

4) broil 5 minutes then flip the wings

5) broil 5 minutes then turn the pan

6) broil 5 minutes and serve with ranch and celery

Football sugar cookies:

Ingredients:

Cookies:

- 4 cups sifted flour

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1.5 cups sugar

- 2 eggs

- 3/4 cups butter

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

Icing:

- 4 cups icing sugar

- hot water

- cocoa powder

Method:

1) stir together flour and baking powder

2) beat butter with sugar in another bowl then beat in eggs and vanilla extract

3) add flour in 1/3 at a time (you don't have to add all, just enough to make the dough stiff

4) if dough is too big to work with, divide to roll out

5) cut out football shaped cookies

6) bake at 350 F for 5 minutes rotate pan and another 5 minutes

7) cool for 5 minutes in pan and place on cooling rack

8) mix icing sugar with hot water and stir until the right consistency

9) place half in piping bag

10) add cocoa powder to remaining icing until the right colour

11) spread cocoa icing on cookies

12) pipe laces on cookies

Beef sliders

Ingredients:

- 3 lbs ground beef

- half an onion

- 2 cloves garlic

- 2 Serrano peppers

- 18 buns

- 2 tomatoes

- lettuce

- 2 eggs

Method:

1) dice onion, garlic, and pepper (we used a chopper)

2) mix well with beef and eggs

3) roll up into balls and flatten

4) barbecue

5) serve with buns, lettuce, and tomatoes

Tang's Bistro

I was craving noodle soup and feeling lazy so we went somewhere close by.

The renovations made the restaurant really hip and I really like that the restaurant is divided into thirds. I guess the renovations cost too much because this was the first Chinese restaurant that charged for tea.

I had the brisket and wonton rice noodle soup. My partner had the BBQ and wonton vermicelli. We also had pork soup dumplings.

The food were solid. My brisket was soft and the soup was flavourful. My partner's BBQ pork was overcooked and too tough. They had them under a bunch of noodles so I think they just kept cooking.

We were too excited to remember to take a picture of the pork soup dumpling, but they were mediocre. There wasn't enough soup in each dumpling and although the skin was thick, they broke easily.

I think I would have enjoyed the experience more if the server told us the noodles were ginormous. But solid.

Yaletown L'Antipasto

The last dine out of 2014 and with a great crowd.

A few of us got off work early so we met up at the restaurant first. It was so hard to find, we all walked right past it. I had to look for the address to find it and my friends only found it when I waved at them.

Since we arrived an hour early, they decided to completely ignore us until 6:30pm - though, they did pour water for us and bring us the menu. They also brought the drink menu but didn't ask if we wanted to order drinks. I wanted to order a scotch to keep me warm while we waited for the rest of the party to show up.

Our fourth member showed up right on time and I was able to tell our server we can order while we wait for the last member. Our last member was running behind and by the time the beef tenderloin carpaccio showed up, she was still on her way. Our server was professional enough to realize the heat lamp will warm the carpaccio and offered to put her dish in the fridge while we wait.

The beef carpaccio was a little oily. Luckily we had bread that wasn't served when we were seated to absorb the oil. Maybe that was the purpose of the bread and that's why they didn't serve us bread when we sat down. We were served olives instead, which is a bold choice since not many people like olives.

As main course I ordered the pappardelle rosse. It was pretty tasty. The pasta was al dente and the ribs, chicken and sausage added really good and complex flavour to it. The only downside was that it too was very greasy / oily. Luckily, I eat from picking food off the top. I packed half of the pasta home and was able to avoid the oil collected on the bottom of the dish.

As dessert I ordered the vanilla panna cotta. Solid dessert. Not too sweet and very creamy. Maybe too creamy because the mouth feel was more like a creme brûlée than a gelatin. It should be in the middle.

Overall an alright experience. Plus side, we got tonnes of chocolate with our bill - which was thrown at us, but hey, the restaurant was crowded.