I am starting my Christmas baking a bit late this year. Partly because I didn’t want sweets in the house and partly because I just couldn’t be bothered. That’s sad. But Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if I didn’t share the sweets. JT just had one request, Nanaimo Bars, so it’s on the list again this year, but this time, I shall actually make them. I am also mixing it up a bit for variety.

• Bargain Basement Barb’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cookies
• Mexican Macroons (chocolate spicey coconut macroons)
• Chocolate Mint Hershey Kiss Cookies
• Date filled Oatmeal Cookies
• Namaimo Bars
• Anzac Biscuits
• Butterscotchy Almond Bars

We’re had Gordon and Angela over for dinner this past Saturday and of course, I am still on this Tapas kick so we’re doing Tapas Around the World Part III. Recently a dear friend’s mother reached out asking about tips and tricks to serve a successful tapas dinner (at least, in my own little mind, they have been successful!!), so this post will focus on my tips and tricks! Hope it helps, Noni!

1. 4-6 (including yourselves) is an ideal grouping for tapas, more than 6 is a cocktail party!
2. Mix it up – serve cold, room temperature and hot dishes so that you’re not standing in the kitchen the entire time.
3. Mix up sharing portions and mini individual portions (this allows some who are hungrier to help themselves to a second helping).
4. Prepare in advance and make notes on what’s next (there will always be distractions when you entertain, so I find the notes extremely helpful to make sure I don’t forget something!)
5. KIS – keep it simple. Don’t plan to make something complicated that will take you away from your guests for more than 5-10 minutes at a time.
6. Plan your plating. I generally take out all the dishes I am planning to use and have them ready in the order of the courses. This way you’re not scrambling to find something last minute (check out Tap Phong on Spadina in Toronto, the most amazing store for unique, inexpensive plates!).
7. Plan to have things your spouse can do (such as grilling), that way you can share the cooking time and alternate being with your guests.
8. Use prepared sauces adjusting to your specific taste; you don’t have to make everything from scratch!
9. Multi purpose for example, two out of the three desserts will have Crème Anglais, one I will heat, the other will be served cold.
10. Determine where courses will be eaten (we like to begin the kitchen on our soapstone island and end up in the living room in front of a roaring fire, but you can also move around, depending on what you are serving).
11. Wrap necessary cutlery in a napkin per person and have it ready in the living room (or where ever you plan to eat your tapas).

I have had good success with four rounds of three (four stages, each with three small portions or sharing portions). I will often try to incorporate a portion of something that I have made in bulk and frozen sometime previously and just have to cook/bake – that takes off some pressure of creating everything from scratch just for that meal. You can also mix it up with store-bought items and some home-made to help with the work load.

This is the menu for last Saturday night, my notes for pre-preparation (to do the day or days in advance) are below and the order of preparation (during the dinner party) are below that. It’s a lot more prep work ahead of time, but it does give you a lot more time to enjoy your guests.

Round 1: Thai

• Lemongrass soup (May be prepared 1-2 days in advance and refrigerated. Reheat in microwave when ready to serve). I left out the shrimp this time, due to an aversion to seafood.
• Pork Saté and peanut sauce (Prepare morning of, soak wooden skewers, marinate pork and refrigerate until ready to grill; Prepare peanut sauce in advance or use store bought, refrigerate).
• 10-ingredient slaw (Prepare the morning of, keeping the wetter ingredients separate from the drier ones (such as cucumbers are wet, cabbage is dry) so the slaw stays crunchy. Combine and dress just before serving).

Round 2: Spain

• Chorizo and Tomato Sausage (Prepare raw ingredients and combine, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, ready for a quick fry).
• Onion and Orange Salad (Prepare in advance so the onions have time to mellow). Store covered in refrigerator, I store in serving dish to save time later.
• Bacon wrapped dates (I generally make these in bulk, so all I have to do is pulled out the required quantity from the freezer and bake when ready to serve).

Round 3: India

• Onion Bhaji with mango sauce (I prepared a bulk quantity of onion bhaja’s in advance and froze them – you can buy ready made bhaja’s to simplify. Now I have onion bhaja’s for another couple tapas dinners; Mango sauce was Sensations from Sobeys with a minor adjustment)
• Mini Naan with Butter Chicken (I made butter chicken for dinner on Wednesday night and made too much on purpose; you can do this virtually with anything!)
• Carrot Pickle (I made this a couple of days in advance, but you can buy ready made condiments just as easily).

Round 4: France

• Madeleine’s with Crème Anglais (I generally make Madeleine’s in bulk and freeze, so I just pull out the number I need). I made Crème Anglais the night before for another dinner party, so I just made too much and refrigerated)
• Crêpe Suzette (I made Crèpes for breakfast the day before, and as usual, I made too much batter so I decided to make the crèpes for the tapas in advance and refrigerate. Remember that these are small portions so the crèpes are only 5″ in diameter!).
• Ile Flottante (Crème Anglais from night before; I made the Ile the morning of).

Below is an example of what my notes would be a few days prior to the event:

Prepare a couple of days in advance:

1. Cook lemongrass soup, cool and refrigerate.
2. Create onion bhajas and freeze (I ran out of my stash, so I had to make them again).
3. Create Bacon wrapped dates and freeze (I ran out of my stash, so I had to make them again).
4. Butter Chicken (I planned to make this for dinner during the week and reserve a small portion for Saturday night – about one to two chicken chunks per person).
5. Prepare Carrot pickle (this needs to sit in the dressing a few days to allow it to pickle). Refrigerate.
6. Make crèpes, cover and refrigerate.
7. Make Crème Anglais, cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Prepare the day of (this takes about 3 hours or so):

1. Marinate pork with a store bought peanut marinate (I altered mine to my taste) and skewer on soaked wooden sticks, wrap in cello and refrigerate.
2. Prepare the ingredients for the 10-ingredient slaw; keep wet ingredients such as mango and cucumber separate to the drier ones such as radish and cabbage. Do not dress until 10 minutes before serving (doing so will wilt the slaw and it will become too sloppy).
3. Prepare the onion and orange salad (chop a few extra onions for the chorizo, this saves time). This salad needs to be dressed in advance so that the citrus can mellow the onion. Cover well and refrigerate (not covering will make your fridge smell like onions!)
4. Crêpe Suzette: prepare the orange liquor sauce and reserve (no need to refrigerate).
5. Prepare the Ile Flottante and allow to cool, refrigerate. (I put the ile into the individual dishes, covered and refrigerated so all I had to do was pour the Crème Anglais on top, and one of my three dessert courses was complete!).

The Main Event. My actual notes are not nearly as detailed, but since I am giving pointers, I thought I would add as much detail and thought behind my madness!

1. Guests arrive and beverages are served in the kitchen. I asked JT to grill pork satays, so the men do that outdoors while the women chat in the kitchen. We continued to chat and eat pork satay with peanut sauce in the kitchen.
2. JT had prepared a fire in the fireplace in advance, so all he had to do was light it. We moved to the living room and JT lit the fire. This gave me a moment to clean up the kitchen a bit and heat up the soup in the microwave. While the soup is heating, I assembled the slaw and dressed it. On a large tray, we served the individual soup cups, and small plates for the sharing portion of the slaw. The lovely thing about tapas is that you can pace yourselves, so if one coarse is heavier, take a few extra minutes before serving the next round!
3. We cleared the dishes and JT cut the bread, and brought out plates for the Spanish tapas, which were all sharing portions. The onion and orange salad was prepared in advance so all I did was pour it into the previously chosen serving bowl. The bacon wrapped dates take about 10 minutes on 375•F and the chorizo and tomato takes about 6 minutes. I cooked the chorizo while the dates were baking. We served it all at once. Because this course was sharing, it took a bit longer to eat particularly with the great conversations we were having!
4. Because the courses are getting heavier, I waited for the Spanish course to be 1/2 finished before I put the rice on for the butter chicken. It takes 20 minutes and I wanted about 10-15 minutes between courses.
5. When we cleared the dishes from the Spanish course, I started heating the butter chicken in the microwave (sauce and chicken heating separately, to keep the chicken whole and not mushy). The onion bhaji’s go into the oven for about 10 minutes on 350•F to heat through (they are already cooked from deep frying previously, I just need to reheat). The sauce for the bhaji was prepared in advance and was ready waiting on the serving platter. The pickle was also prepared in advance and already in the serving dish.
6. The Indian course was served at once.
7. Dessert had a bit more time between. I had previously plated the Ile Flottante so I just had to pour the Crème Anglais over it. Then I heated the remainder Crème Anglais for the Madeleine’s. The mini crépes had been prepared in advance, as had the orange sauce for the Crépes Suzettes. I heated the sauce in a pan, added the crépes and heated them through. Once the crépes were done, I plated and added the finishing touches and served. In the meantime, JT made espressos and dessert was enjoyed by the fire.

Tapas seem like a lot of work, but it really is a well orchestrated symphony of courses. I’d love to hear your comments about your tapas dinner. Please let me know how it works out.

I have been really bad about blogging lately. My hesitation is that I want to post recipes with photos, but I do hate our crappy little Nikon so I procrastinate. My dear friend Barb gave me the boot last night and suggested that I post my creations anyway, so here I go (thanks Barbie!).

We haven’t seen Barb and Kevin for quite some time, so we had them over for a tapas dinner. What’s really nice about a tapas dinner is that it’s the entire evening. We sat in front of a roaring fire and ate little portions all night long. If you think about the time you spend creating a sit-down meal and the relatively little time it takes to devour said meal, the tapas menu is a much more satisfying experience! I’ll post only recipes I haven’t posted before and I will try to link those that I have posted before. Keep in mind that I never use a recipe verbatim, I always eyeball to my own personal taste. This is a rendition of how I remember doing this dinner. Hope you enjoy.

Round One: Asia
Sushi rolls
Lemongrass soup w. shrimp
Mango salad
Wine: South African Viognier

Round Two: Mediterranean
Chorizo w. tomato & balsamic
Spanakopita
Onion & orange Salad
Wine: Spanish Rioja

Round Three: Europe
French onion soup dumplings
Beef bourguignon
Roasted golden beet & goats cheese salad
Wine: French Cabernet Sauvignon

Round Four: North America
Québec Artisan Cheeses w. crackers and breads
Wine: Ontario Late Harvest Riesling

Lemongrass Soup with Shrimp (80 mL each serving, serves 4)

• 350mL low sodium chicken stock
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots finely chopped
• 3 dried Kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tbsp lemongrass, finely ground
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, finely ground
• 2 tsp or so freshly grated ginger (I like to use my microplane for this)
• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic (I like to use my microplane for this)
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• pinch of roasted chilli paste
• 1 tbsp agave nectar (you may substitute honey for this)
• 4 medium mushrooms (cut into quarters)
• 4 cooked shrimp
• 3 tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro
• 3 tbsp finely sliced green onions

1. This soup is prepared relatively quickly so it is best to have your mise en place  so all you do is add ingredients to the pot.
2. Chopped shallots, set aside. Grind lemongrass and coriander seed, set aside (I like to use my spice grinder aka coffee grinder dedicated to spices).
3. Heat olive oil in a 3 quart soup pot, add finely chopped shallots and sauté until soft.
4. Add lemongrass, coriander and freshly grated ginger and garlic and sauté until you can smell all of the ingredients (less than 1 minute).
5. Add chicken stock, fish sauce, lemon juice, chili paste, kaffir lime leaves and agave nectar and stir to combine.
6. Bring to a boil and allow flavours to blend about 5-7 minutes on the boil, taste to make sure it is seasoned well.
7. Add mushrooms about half-way through the boil.
8. Remove from heat. Remove kaffir lime leaves.
9. Serve in small bowls, adding one shrimp per bowl, garnish with chopped cilantro and finely sliced green onions.
10. Enjoy!

Mango Salad (serves 4 small)

• 1 medium ripe mango
• 1/2 English cucumber
• 2 radishes
• 2 green onions finely chopped
• 2 tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
• 4 tbsp coarsely chopped peanuts
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 finely chopped thai chili
• 1 tsp agave nectar (or honey)

1. This salad is best made the morning of the day you are serving so that the dressing has time to blend into the salad.
2. Using a fine slice on a mandolin, finely julienne the mango, cucumber and radishes, toss to mix well.
3. Add green onions and cilantro leaves and toss again, set aside.
4. In a small measuring cup, mix lime juice, fish sauce, thai chili and agave nectar and whisk until well combined. Set aside for about 5 minutes.
5. Strain thai chili’s from the dressing (otherwise it could be way too hot!) and pour over the salad mixture. Toss to coat evenly and refrigerate 4-5 hours.
6. To serve, garnish with additional cilantro leaves and chopped peanuts.
7. Enjoy!

Chorizo with Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar (serves 4)

• 1 cup 1/4″ sliced chorizo sausage
• 2 medium sized plum tomatoes, seeded but skins left on
• 1/4 cup chopped onion (I prefer Mayan sweet onions or vidalia)
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped (I prefer to use my microplane)
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a small pan, add chorizo and caramelize each side.
2. Add onions and garlic and sauté for a minute. Add tomatoes and sauté for another minute.
3. Add balsamic and allow balsamic to reduce slightly 3-4 minutes (this will thicken the balsamic a bit)
4. Serve immediately with crusty bread.

Red Onion and Orange Salad (serves 4) adapted from Spain-Recipes.com

• 2 medium navel oranges, peeled, sectioned and sliced in half into bite sized pieces.
• 1 small red onion finely sliced (mandolin works best)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 3 tbsp salted sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons blueberry merlot balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Section oranges over a bowl to catch the juice that undoubtedly drizzle from the orange.
2. Combine oranges, onions and raising in a bowl.
3. Combine vinegar and olive oil and mix well.
4. Pour over oranges and onions. Refrigerate overnight (this will allow the onions to mellow quite a lot).
5. Sprinkle sunflower seeds on top and serve.

French Onion Soup Bundles (makes about 24 dumplings, which may be frozen for future use)

• 2 large mayan onions
• 2 cups low sodium beef broth
• 1/4 cup Port
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 48 sheets of won ton wrappers
• 1 egg white with a little water to help glue the wrappers
  Beef Broth for presentation
• 2 cups low sodium beef broth
• 1/4 cup port
• 1 clove garlic smashed but left whole
• 1 small onion in large chunks
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 cup gruyère cheese finely grated and broiled on a silpat sheet until crispy

1. Finely chop onion and garlic.
2. Heat olive oil and add onion and garlic, sauté for about 1 minute. Slowly add the beef broth to cover, add bay leaves. Stirring frequently, boil down adding stock as it evaporates until all the stock is consumed by the onions and the onions are golden brown.
3. Add port to deglaze the pan, add thyme.
4. Set aside to cool completely.
5. Lay out 6 won ton wrappers at a time, painting each one with the egg white and water mixture. Add about 1 tsp of the onion reduction to the centre of each wrap and fold two opposing sides into the centre so they overlap and the sides are smoothed out to seal. Layout 6 more won ton wrappers at a time and paint each one with the egg white mixture. Lay filled won tons seam side down and repeat the folding process. Place finished bundles onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment so they do not touch one another. Repeat until the entire onion mixture has been used. Freeze over night and store in a zip lock bag for future use.
6. For presentation, I like to serve the bundles in a beef broth reduction, drizzled with gruyère crème and a gruyère crisp. To make the beef broth reduction, add 2 cups beef broth, smashed garlic, onion in large chunks, 1 bay leaf and thyme into a sauce pan and simmer until reduced to about 3/4 cup. Strain liquid and set aside (discard onion, garlic, bay leaf mix).
7. To serve, steam bundles for about 3-4 minutes until the won ton is done. Heat beef broth reduction and pour evenly into four shallow round bowls (should just be a hint of liquid, not a soup). Add french onion soup bundles and drizzle with the gruyère crème (I like the contrasts of the cold crème and the hot bundles in the hot soup) – garnish with the gruyère crisp. Serve immediately.
8. Enjoy!

Beef Bourguignon was JT’s specialty and he followed Julia Child’s recipe which can be found on line at Julia Child recipes: Boeuf à la Bourguignonne (should be made ahead and reheated on the stove for a few minutes, adding red wine if needed).

Roasted Golden Beets, Sautéed Beet Greens and Goats Cheese Salad

• 3 medium golden beets (well scrubbed, tops and bottoms trimmed, cut into 2″ cubes)
• 2 tbsp olive oil in about 4 cups water
• 1 oz pancetta finely sliced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 finely chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 2-3 cups well washed and chopped beet greens
• 1/4 cup balsamic
• 1 tsp pesto (home made or store bought)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup goats cheese crumbled

1. Preheat over to 375°F.
2. Put beet cubes into the water and olive oil, strain (this is an excellent way to reduce fat as the olive oil floats and as you strain the beets, it sticks evenly to the beets). Discard water.
3. Arrange beets in a 13″ x 10″ pan evenly so they are not on top of one another. Bake for about 45 minutes or until beets are tender to pierce.
4. Fry pancetta in 1 tsp olive oil until crisp, add onions and garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
5. Add beet greens and sauté until soft (4-5 minutes). Remove from heat and add roasted beets.
6. In a small measuring cup, mix balsamic, pesto and olive oil together.
7. Place greens and beets on a platter and add crumbled goats cheese. Drizzle dressing over the warm salad and serve immediately.
8. Enjoy!

Our good friends the Marlatt’s are coming up north and we always do some interesting menus. Rae kindly ‘wine pairs’ to round out the experience. Here is the work in progress menu.

Friday – Lunch

• Adult Grilled Cheese Toasts with Celery and Cucumber sticks
• 2 bite brownies

Cocktails

• Roasted Red Peppers with French Sheep’s Milk Feta, balsamic reduction drizzle

Dinner

• Chilled KiWi and Melon Soup with Prosciutto Chiffonade and frozen melon drops
• Old fashioned surf and turf
• Russian potatoes (similar to scalloped potatoes but made with yogurt instead of bechamel sauce)
• Grilled Green Onions and Asparagus
• Mini chocolate cups with Chestnut purée and whipping cream

Snacks

• Roasted seasoned nuts

Saturday

• Breakfast
• Croissants, Coffee and 1/2 grapefruit

Lunch

• Mini Pizza and kitchen sink salad
• 2 bite brownies

Cocktails and Dinner

• A variety of tapas to last throughout the evening (small portions served in 3-4 rounds, about 10-12 courses altogether) (I will do another post with Tapas only).
• Strawberries, Madeleines and whipping cream

Snacks

• Roasted seasoned nuts

Sunday

• Breakfast
• Smoked Salmon, Bagels and Cream Cheese

We are having my good friend (and boss) Kim, her hubby Rob (the TV Star as he so loves to remind us – we’ll get to that later) and their lovely daughter Chloé. I’ve had a few bad hits with dinner with Chloé (she used to eat everything and now she is 7!) so  we’re going the safe route and I asked Kim what she likes – steak and potatoes. Nice and easy at any rate. Chloé also loves oysters so we’re going to get a dozen from the St. Lawrence Market - we’re having the famous peameal on a bun for breakfast YUM!

Hors D’oeuvres: Oysters with a chimichuri style sauce, and a balsamic tomato and green onion salsa and Roasted Red Peppers and Sheep Milk Feta with a balsamic drizzle
Appetizer: Rustic mushroom ragu ‘raviioli’
Main: Steak, Baked Potatoes with all the trimmings and Caesar Salad with Garlic Bread (I may also add a healthy vegetable for me!)
Dessert: Strawberry Shortcake with Fresh Whipped Cream

Rustic Mushroom Ragu Ravioli (appetizer portion for 5)

Eva's Rustic Mushroom Ravioli

I was inspired by Laura Caulder’s Rustic Mushroom Ravioli on French Cooking at Home – but I tried to do it a little healthier, of course! I made my own pasta because I wanted to use only egg whites and I wanted a very thin pasta (this recipe is about the mushrooms and not the pasta!) I eyeballed my pasta so I won’t repeat the recipe, but any simple pasta recipe will do (semolini, egg, water) – you can even use won ton wrappers in a pinch!

• 10 x 3″ squares of pasta, cooked and drained
• 2 cups assortment of wild mushrooms hydrated in 2 cups hot water (I love the one’s you get from Costco US) – liquid reservered
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter (a little pat won’t make you fat!)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 cup of carnation low fat evaporated milk (cream substitute)
• 1 tbsp cognac
• 1 tsp unsalted butter
• Parmesan shavings (about 3 per plate)

1. Begin by sweating the onions until translucent in the tablespoon of butter and olive oil, add 1 cup of the finely strained mushroom broth and the rehydrated mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are soft (the mushroom broth will evaporate, intensifying the mushroom flavour.
2. Add the garlic and cognac and stir until the alcohol has evaporated.
3. Pour in the evaporated milk and 1/2 cup of mushroom broth, and simmer until liquid is reduced about 1/4 (there should be enough sauce for about 2-3 tbsps per person).
4. Add the remaining butter and stir until melted.
5. Place one sheet of pasta on each plate and spoon the mushroom ragu among the 5 plates with a little sauce on each – reserve a mushroom or two and some sauce per plate.
6. Place the remaining pasta sheet over each one, not perfectly, this is rustic ravioli!
7. Spoon the remaining mushrooms and sauce on top of the pasta and garnish with 3 shavings of parmesan cheese.
8. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

We’re having birthday month girl Pam and her new beau Don with Barb and Kevin for dinner tonight. I would have like to make a really supper fancy dinner, but work has been a bear this week (pulled a mid-nighter on Wednesday, which, I have to admit is not too bad – maybe one or two a year – but, I’m not 21 anymore! Really, I’m not. Oh, just stop it!!!!).
It’s exciting because tonight is Earth Hour between 8:30 and 9:30 where you make every effort to turn off ALL your lights. So we will be eating by candle light (thank goodness I have a gas stove!)
Here is the menu:

• Hors d’oeuvres: JT’s Artisan Pizza with Goats Cheese, Prosciutto and Baby Spinach
• Amuse Bouche: (my new favourite) Leek and Potato Cappuccino with Gruyere crème

• Salad: Boston Bib with Pears Poached in Spiced Balsamic Vinegar, Candied Spicy Walnuts and Crumbled Stilton with a Balsamic Raspberry Vinegrette

• Main: Mushroom and Chestnut Barley Risotto with Seared Giant Scallops and a Lemon Sage Butter Sauce
• Dessert: Birthday Normandy Apple Tart, complete with a candle.

Not sure if there will be new photos, but I will surely post new recipes shortly.

…just in time for cocktails on Sunday! Unfortunately, his lovely bride T won’t be able to join us this time, but you can bet we’ll be cocktailing over the phone! I was thinking about setting up the iMac in the kitchen and toasting on-line, but I was so busy this week I didn’t have a chance to figure out how to do it safely! So I chose not to rather than compromising the security of our new iMac!

Here is the whirl-wind menu:

• Cockails (martini’s, of course!) with curly calamari and smoked paprika & garlic mayo
• Leak and potato soup with gruyere creme
• Hungarian Hortobagyi Palacsinta (which is chicken paprikas in crepes) with a tangy cucumber salad.
• Peach cheesecake with home-made creme fraiche

Breakfast will be home-made meusli muffins (good for the morning after!) – updated, I decided to make Cinnamon Buns…see next entry for recipe, but here’s a sneak peak

We invited Kim and Rob over for dinner last night. He mentioned Todd and Tina bought a house (congrats you two!!) Here is the menu, recipes to follow in separate posts.

Hors D’oeuvres: Fresh Figs, with Goats Cheese, Arugula wrapped in Proscuitto

Amuse Bouche: Leek & Potato Capuccino with Gruyere Crème (no doubt enspired by our dinner to Europa in Montréal on Feb 15)

Main: Home Smoked Salmon (cedar and maple), New potatoes with garlic and parlsey and steamed green beans and JTs famous no knead bread

Dessert: Double Chocolate, Peanutbutter brownies.

Coffee

JT made this with the Naan for dinner last night. This is quite tasty but it’s not the ‘butter chicken’ I know. What’s different about it is that it has almonds and raisins in the recipe. It’s a lot of work, and not really worth it, so I won’t bother posting the recipe, but it looks pretty good, so here is the photo. Recipe came from Simply Indian by Tahera Rawji and Hamida Suleman, published 2003 by Whitecap books, page 51.

This is what we did differently than the recipe: substitute Carnation Evaporated Milk for the Cream and we also puréed the sauce so that it is more creamy and added about 1 tbsp of tomato purée and about 2 tbsp tandoori paste instead of 1 tbsp tandoori powder. In my opinion is that this is too sweet (too many raisins when puréed) and it needs about 1/2 cup to 1 cup plain yogurt for the tang.

JT surprised me with a getaway to Montréal; we left Friday morning and returned on Monday afternoon! What an amazing romantic mini-holiday!

We rented a Toyota Camry Hybrid…totally cool. It cost a total of $65 for gas all the way to Montréal and Back that’s 1,100 km or 782 miles round trip!

We had an amazing time. Great meals, great entertainment and great shopping. We stayed at L’Hotel De La Montagne. They have recently renovated the rooms – nicely appointed, modern style.

We arrived Friday afternoon, unpacked and settled into our room, and then ventured outside for a brusque walk. The temperature wasn’t bad, but the wind was awful. We didn’t venture too far from our base dropping into stores along the way (I spotted a great pair of Italian leather boots, which I spent the next 2 days pondering). We had a Guiness at The Irish Embassy, just down the road from our hotel. On the way back, we dropped into Ogilvy’s a Montréal department store icon.

Dinner on Friday night was at Globe Restaurant. We started with two raw oysters (just to get the romantic mood going…JT is such a trooper!) I had the appi sizes of Bizon tartar (YUM and very generous portions) and stuffed grilled calamari (Calamari stuffed with chorizo, Beluga (black) lentils, tomato confit). JT had the Cole Slaw and Crab, and the Roasted Grain Fed Chicken, yukon mash and oyster mushrooms with Alexander sauce (he said it was very tasty!). I would definitely recommend this place. I would have gone back on Sunday, but our friend’s Denis and Lynda had another suggestion!

Saturday, Febrary 14th

We woke relatively early and had breakfast at Eggspectations – we shared a mexican style omlette with rye toast and Café au Lait – YUM.
Then we had a chilly walk to the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts. We enjoyed their permanent collection, but I was surprised at how small it was.

We took the Metro for free (was it because it was Valentine’s Day? Who knows) down to Montréal’s Old City and had lunch at one of our old favourites Crêperie Chez Suzette, and had a ham, gruyere and béchamel sauce crepe, with a lovely glass of wine. JT had beer from a local brewery (sorry, couldn’t find it on the net).

We were so full from lunch, Valentine’s dinner was take out Onion Baja’s from one of Montréal’s top restaurants, Le Taj!

Sunday, February 15

We ate breakfast at Dundees Bar and Grill, just up the road from our hotel. We were bad and I had eggs benny and JT had smoked meat hash both with just about the BEST crispy fried potatoes I have EVER had!

We took the Metro to the Montréal Botanical Gardens and spent the next hour and a half walking through some of the loveliest exhibits (we saw lemongrass, nutmeg, vanilla, cardamom to name a few!) We passed on the insectarium (for obvious reasons, if you know me).

Another short Metro trip and we’ve arrived at Montréal’s China Town. It’s a lot smaller than most Chinatowns – just a couple of streets. We popped into a few gift/dishes stores, but they were no Tap Phong!

We did come across a great Pho place, but damned if I can remember the name of it. After searching on line was unsuccessful – it’s the modern asian restaurant just down from the Japanese Fondu place! (it also has a takeout area right beside it – if you know the name, kindly let me know!).

With a stop along St. Catharines to Simons (a fantastic shop, reasonably priced) where I bought some great cami’s and a new sweater; and of course a great shoe store J Bloom, where I bought a rocking pair of boots I’ve been thinking about since Friday afternoon! That’s double, right?

Sunday night dinner was at Europa with Denis and Lynda (we went to their wedding about 2 and a half years ago.) The three of us had the chef’s tasting menu, and fortunately for John, he was able to enjoy all the extras!
Menu:

• Teaser I: Lobster cream Cappuccino with truffle shavings
• Appetizer: Lightly seared and smoked King salmon, celeriac and Alaska king crab salad, granny smith apple caviar
• Teaser II: Jellied shot of something fruity, but I cannot recall and the menu on line doesn’t say
• Amuse Bouche: Spoon of bizon tartar
• Main Course: I had the Pétoncle Géant: Roasted U10 scallops, “Blanche de Chambly” beer beurre blanc emulsion, barley risotto, rice lettuce espuma
• Main Course: John had the Slowly braised veal cheeks, fondant potatoes and parsnip purée
• A selection of desserts from our pastry chefs (these wonderful mini-cookies were served on the three-tier platter AND pink cotton candy!)
• Dessert: Chocolate macaron presented on a crispy feuillantine, chocolate ganache (unfortunately, I was not able to taste this, as JT gobbled it before I had a chance!)

Wow…That was Delicious!

Monday, Feburary 16 (Statutory Holiday, Family Day in Ontario):

We rose relatively early again and had an amazing breakfast at Reuben’s Deli on St. Catharines. I had the Montréal Bagel with Smoked salmon and cream and JT had Smoked Meat Hash – both delicious. The egg dishes were quite reasonably priced. As we were walking back to the hotel, a few snow flakes started to fall!

We begun our journey home around 10:30 – a little later than anticipated. The day was overcast, which is great for driving. We made good time to Belleville where we stopped at the Crabby Joes for a bite. They really should have called it Crappy Joes! I had French Onion Soup. How doe you screw up French Onion Soup? Every pub in Ontario has this soup on the menu and this one was by far the worst I have ever had the misfortune of eating (what a shame, we were scoring so high with food in Montréal!). The first thing was that they put in way too many croutons (yes,croutons and not toasted french stick), so the damn things soaked up all the liquid, AND the liquid, whatever was left seemed to be a gelatinous goop. The cheese was plentiful, but tastless. JT ordered spinach salad, and oops, the kitchen ran out of spinach…so he had a roasted turkey wrap, which wasn’t bad. Oh well. We arrived home around 4:30, returned the car, unpacked, started laundry and got into the wine. We had popcorn for dinner. We’re working out every night this week.