OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO!

For more pictures, check out the website here.

Dine Out Volume I: CinCin Ristorante + Bar

To continue our fine-dining adventures, my friend and I decided to challenge our food tasting experience at West with CinCin, an Italian restaurant renowned for its wood fire oven. Fortunately, it is one of my favourite times of year, Dine Out, where different restaurants in the Vancouver area offer three-course meals for affordable set prices. Like West, I had to take my sister's camera... so the quality of pictures are not the best.

To begin the night we ordered a bottle of an Amano 2006 Primitivo, one of Italy's oldest grapes. The wine menu at CinCin was daunting, at least 15 pages of new world and old world reds and whites, as while as an extensive list of sparkling wines and ports.

For my appetizer, I chose the baby romaine lettuce salad with grana padano cheese, gem tomatoes and a creamy roasted garlic vinaigrette; their version of an upscale caesar salad.

As an entree, I picked the wood oven roasted lingcod which was topped with a tomato basil crust and served with umbrian lentils and broccolini. The lentils were amazing; I never knew they could be saturated with so much flavour!

Lastly, for dessert I had a valhrona chocolate fondant with a honey anglaise and lemon sorbetto. The fondant was deliciously rich, however I found the pairing of the fondant and lemon sorbetto to be quite odd.

For more information about CinCin check out their website: http://www.cincin.net/

Up next on the Dine Out schedule... Chambar Belgian Restaurant!

I think I may need to get back on a plane....

To celebrate the International Food Festival in Sydney, the flags of all the countries involved were recreated in foooooood! Check out the full list here: http://wildammo.com/2009/09/26/national-flags-never-tasted-this-good/

Italy:

Greece:

Japan:

France:

Australia:

India

High Tea at the Secret Garden Tea Co.

Every year, my mom and I go to the Secret Garden Tea Company in Kerrisdale. Besides the excellent tea and treats, this place has exquisite decor that will make you feel like the dainty queen you have always secreted wanted to be. This place is the ONLY place in Vancouver that serves you authentic English high tea. Check out their website here: http://www.secretgardentea.com/

To start, you pick your tea from their extensive tea menu. This year, I opted for the Buckingham Palace tea, which was a mixture of earl grey tea with jasmine.

The bottom of the tier is my favourite part, the sandwiches. This year there were three different kinds: mini croissants with tomatoes and brie cheese; caraway crackers topped with cheese, portobello mushroom and sweet onions; and devilled egg pinwheels.

The middle tier has the pastries: slices of cranberry and white chocolate muffin, and mini apple scones, both served with fresh devonshire cream and raspberry jam.

On the highest tier is my mom's favourite, the sweets! The dessert selection included: mini lemon tarts; an espresso and chocolate cake topped with filo pastry; and a strawberry and pistachio mousse cake.

Coconut Cheesecake

wow. wow. wow.

yum. yum. yum.

the recipe can be found here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Strawberry-Coconut-Cheesecake-109722

Easter!

For easter this year, my sister and I decided to make a seafood feast! To start we had smoked gouda, Mediterranean olives, and roasted garlic with parmesan on Italian bread.

After that, we had a cioppino with mussels, clams, crab and white fish, and a tossed green salad.

And for dessert we had lemon buttermilk pie with fresh strawberries and whipped cream! :)