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banana nutella spring rolls

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While we were in Houston in December, we stopped to have dinner at one of my favourite restaurants, P. F. Changs. We may have gone there a couple times, but more on that later.

We had ordered the banana spring rolls for the three of us to share.  Hubby and I were lucky to get a bite before Q inhaled the dessert. He loved it! How could you not? Bananas enveloped in the crisp spring roll wrapper and topped with ice cream and caramel. Yum!

This was a super easy dessert to make at home. In fact, it was made even better with Nutella!  A spread of chocolate down the middle of a spring roll wrapper, a spear of banana, rolled and fried to perfection. It’s fruit so it’s not bad for you, right?

cruising on the disney wonder – palo restaurant

We had a fabulous brunch at Palo. Recommended by veteran cruisers, it was a definite must-do and we discovered for ourselves why. Located on the 10th deck, the restaurant has a great view of the ocean while you dine. Your brunch, now $25 per person (an increase of $5 from when we booked) includes a glass of sparkling wine or a mimosa.

There are a few tables full of delicious food as well as a selection of entrees that you can order. My favourite table was the seafood one. Crab, jumbo shrimp cocktail, salmon mousse, cajun ahi tuna, scallops and caviar. It was amazing and I would have been happy with just this one table.

There was a huge table filled with cheese and crackers and another with Mediterranean dishes like hummus and sundried tomatoes and a really lovely tuna nicoise salad made with ahi tuna.

There were two tables filled with sweet treats. One with pastries like croissants and cinnamon buns, the other with items like panna cotta and cakes. It took a lot of restraint to not try it all but the couple that I did try definitely satisfied my sweet tooth.

We had a fantastic server from Croatia, Tony. He was helpful and attentive and provided amazing curstomer service, like we experience through out the ship.

If you have a little bit of time, I would definitely recommend Palo for brunch.

cruising on the disney wonder – castaway cay

http://www.foodmamma.com/2014/01/cruising-on-disney-wonder.html

We lucked out on our day at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas. It was a sunny day, 28 degrees celsius and the water was a lovely blue, so clear that you could see the fish swim right by our legs.

There are 4000 chairs, so no need to rush off the boat to claim one. Right when you get off the ship, there is a post office, where you can buy stamps and mail some postcards. There are two post cards in each room but you can always ask for more from your state room attendant.

Just past that, we were greeted by Donald, and down a little ways, Minnie. It was a great chance to get some pictures with the characters without standing in long lines. We got off the boat an hour after we docked, so perhaps we beat the rush.

There is a tram that takes you to various points on the island. We got off at the first stop which was close by one of the souvenir shops as well as to Cookies, where lunch was going to be served. If you continue on the tram, it ends up at Serenity Bay, the adults only part of the island.

Lunch was a big barbecue with burgers, hot dogs, ribs, cajun mahi mahi and rotisserie chicken. It included all the fix-ins like coleslaw, potato salad and corn on the cob.  For dessert, there was cobbler and great big chocolate chips cookies. There were also stations set up with whole and sliced fruit, ice cream and drinks.

Hubby went snorkelling and saw a submarine with an abandoned ship under the water. It was a fantastic stop and made for a really fun beach day.

smoked salmon crepes

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I love a good crepe. Whether it be savoury for lunch or dinner or sweet for a perfect dessert, they are so versatile. 

When deciding what to have for dinner the other night, I noticed some smoked salmon in the freezer. With spinach and cheese in the fridge, crepes just seemed like the way to go.

I decided to go with a recipe from Alton Brown. As intimidating as he seems, he really knows his stuff!  This recipe comes together really quickly in a blender.  Brown suggests placing the batter in the fridge for an hour, allowing the bubbles to subside thereby making it less likely for the crepes to tear.

Usually with crepes, they say one for the pan. That was true in this case, but the following crepes turned out great! They cooked quite quickly and dinner was on the table in less than half an hour. Smeared with Boursin and topped with the salmon, spinach and green onions, these were delish!

This recipe made quite a few crepes, meaning we had some for dessert as well! Dulce de leche was poured down the middle, and rolled into the perfect sweet ending.

Crepes
From Alton Brown, Good Eats

2 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1 cup flour

3 tablespoons melted butter

Butter, for coating the pan
In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10
seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour, allowing the bubbles to subside.

Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of
batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for
30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the
cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all
batter is gone.

president’s choice for the holidays!

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Christmas and baking seem to go hand in hand and that’s certainly true in this household. Baked goods as gifts for friends and family just seems so personal and special. With just a couple days left until Christmas, President’s Choice has you covered with a giant array of mixes for those with time constraints or those who think they can’t bake.

I was excited when they sent over a box of holiday goodies for me to try out. It included everything from mixing bowls, measuring cups, baking mixes, cookies as well as great hostess gifts like chocolate!

Q and I spent the morning making gingerbread men! All that we needed to add to the mix was an egg and some water. This was perfect, since I didn’t really feel like running out for some molasses and other stuff I would have needed. Q was in charge and he felt a great sense of accomplishment, being able to say that he made the cookies himself.

I loved that President’s Choice also had a gingerbread man cookie cutter complete with stencils to help with the decorating.  He gave these out to his cousins and they made cute little gifts.

President’s Choice also has some great items that would be perfect for your dinner party, either for Christmas or New Year’s. Items like the PC Moroccan Cigars or the Shrimp & Scallop Sushi Bites would be perfect appies. For dessert, our Christmas dinner will definitely include the PC Decadent Molten Chocolate Cakes. I might also have to include a sugar cookie tree (cutters from PC!).

Disclosure: I received a variety of products from President’s Choice along with a gift certificate to try out some of their frozen items. I was under no obligation to write about them. Opinions are my own.

food blogger cookie swap: lavender shortbread

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I had a really fun experience last year when I participate
in the 3rd Annual Food Blogger Cookie Swap. I got to connect with bloggers that I didn’t know and of course, taste some delicious cookies!

This year, with us leaving on holidays, I had to think twice
whether I could make the deadlines. I decided I just couldn’t miss out. For the
swap, we needed to make a new recipe we hadn’t tried before and send it to
three assigned food bloggers.

I knew I wanted to try something with lavender. Most of the
cookies I had found with lavender were of shortbread. Mmmm….shortbread!

I chose this recipe from Dessert First because it was simple
– butter, sugar, flour. My kind of shortbread. You don’t need a lot of
lavender, a little goes a long way.

In the midst of work deadlines, Q’s activities and packing,
I managed to find a chunk of time to bake, wrap and send the cookies. In my
haste though, I completely forgot to include the personalized letters along
with the recipe – sorry folks!

Thanks to the bloggers that sent me cookies. I did receive
one package before I left and they were a nice sweet treat. Looking forward to
devouring more when I get back home!

Thanks to Lindsay and Julie for organizing another
successful cookie swap! Through blogger participation, over $13K was raised for
Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

Lavender Shortbread
Adapted slightly from Dessert First

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon dried lavender

Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer until creamy.
Add the flour and beat until combined. Add the lavender and beat just to
distribute through the dough.

Form the dough into a log, wrap in plastic and chill for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cut the logs into rounds and place on parchment lined baking sheets
and bake until just golden, about 18 minutes.

cousin’s night out: pio peruvian

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I am loving our monthly cousin’s nights out! We’ve had a few now and it’s been fun trying new restaurants and taking the time to hang out.  We all get a chance to choose a restaurant, order dependent on birthdate.

This month, it was hubby’s turn to choose a restaurant. After much deliberation, he chose Pio Peruvian. We had been wanting to check out the place for a while so it was perfect that we could do it with our cousins. The restaurant, located on Sunridge Way, was small but packed – always a good sign for any restaurant.

Since we were having dinner on a Thursday, we were able to have the El Menu Special – an appetizer, entree and dessert for $18.99.  We started with ceviche. The marinated tilapia was served with sweet potato and toasted Peruvian corn. This was refreshing and spicy and a great way to start the meal.

Hubby and I also shared the Salchipapa – beef sausage with fries and Pio sauce. The sausage was sparse but good and the fries were amazing.

For our main, we had the Pollo Saltado. Flavourful pan-fried chicken with onions, tomatoes and peppers served with fries and rice. Our chicken dish was amazing. It’s one I think about often and I can’t wait to go back for more.

We ended our meal with Alfajores – shortbread cookies filled with dulce de leche. I thought it would just be a regular shortbread cookie but it was far from it. The warm cookie was buttery and flaky and the caramel made an amazing addition. It was a delicious way to end a tasty meal.

Do you have any suggestions for our next dinner?

Pio Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken on Urbanspoon

state and main

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When a restaurant is able to provide me with many choices for appetizers that I can fill myself with a meal of them, I am a happy girl.  That is exactly what happened last week when I checked out the new State and Main with some media friends. State and Main is the new kid on the block, opening its doors in Calgary at Chinook Centre. From the same people that brought us Original Joe’s, State and Main offers classic comfort food with character.

All the appetizers we enjoyed were delicious! These included the Chicken Gyoza, Spicy Tuna Tartare, Dragon Boat Lettuce Wraps, Mama’s Meatballs, Calamari and Butter Chicken Poutine. My favourite were the Bang Bang Shrimp. I could probably have eaten these all by myself.

The mains were also tasty and the ones we tried included the Long Beach Fish Tacos, Red Thai Shrimp Curry and the Buffalo Chicken Cheese Steak. The fish tacos were a fave amongst our whole group.

 

Definintely looking forward to going back to try out the dessert menu and for some more Bang Bang Shrimp!

State & Main on Urbanspoon

salted caramel ice cream & liquid nitrogen

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When we went to Teatro earlier this year for their tasting menu, we had one of the best desserts I have ever tasted – caramel ice cream made with liquid nitrogen. The ice cream was so creamy because it didn’t have time to form ice crystals the way it does with a traditional method.  It was amazing!

R and P were with us that night and they asked if we could attempt the ice cream for one of their wedding events last week. Getting to make and eat ice cream and getting to play with liquid nitrogen, how could we say no!

I searched for a recipe and found a great one from Charmian from The Messy Baker.  I made a couple changes, omitting the milk and using only cream.

Making the ice cream on the spot with the liquid nitrogen provided some entertainment while people waited for dessert.  Everyone seemed intrigued with the cloud of smoke coming from the standmixer as the cream and sugar liquid turned into a frozen delight.  The resulting ice cream was delicious and creamy. Definitely a fun and entertaining way to make ice cream.


Congratulations R and P!! Wishing you both a lifetime of happiness!

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
3 1/2 cup whipping cream, divided
1/2 tsp fleur de sel, or any sea salt

In a large pot, heat 1 cup of sugar over medium heat. Stir gently until the sugar starts to melt. When it does, stop stirring but continue to cook the sugar, swirling the skillet occasionally to ensure the sugar melts evenly. The caramel is done when it turns dark amber.

Immediately remove the pan from heat and carefully stir in 1 1/4 cups cream. Continue cooking until all the caramel has dissolved. Pour the caramel into a bowl. Add sea salt and vanilla. Allow the caramel to cool to room temperature. This caramel is delicious, try to save some for the ice cream.

Meanwhile, bring the remaining cream, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar just to a boil. Allow to simmer 15 minutes then set aside to cool.

When both the cream mixture and caramel have cooled to room temperature, remove the skin from the cream mixture and stir it into the caramel. Refrigerate until ready for ice cream.

With your mixer running, add the liquid nitrogen in batches until you get it to ice cream consistency. Be extremely careful when using the liquid nitrogen.

strawberry edamame salad

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Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful dads out there! Hope everyone had a great time celebrating the men in their lives. We had a family potluck and my job was salad and dessert.

Since we were initially going to have a picnic, I decided that cupcakes were the way to go. They’re portable and everyone could have their own. Although we skipped out on the picnic, I stuck with the original plan and made some mini coconut cupcakes.

I know some people think that being in charge of salad can be kind of boring. I think if it is, the salad is just not worth eating. It’s always fun to play with textures and tastes and make a salad that everyone goes back for.

I started with the greens, both spinach and baby romaine.  I also wanted to add a few of Q’s favourite things, so that he would be enticed to eat his veggies. One thing he can’t seem to get enough of, at the moment, is edamame. These were cooked for less than five minutes and cooled.  Added to the mix were crisp rings of sweet peppers, sweet slices of strawberries, tangy goat cheese and crispy fried onions.

I thought a balsamic dressing would be great to go with the strawberries and goat cheese. The tangy balsamic was cut with a bit of sweet honey and the salad went perfect with our Father’s Day meal of ribs, chicken, rice, corn and potatoes.

Balsamic Dressing

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp honey
salt
pepper

Combine and drizzle as needed.