My Feeble Attempt at a Gingerbread House

This year I came up with the crazy idea to make a gingerbread house from scratch. I prepared the gingerbread, cut out the shapes, baked it and let it cool. Everything seemed to be good, great, a piece of cake.. but then I attempted to assemble it. Every year it's the same thing, I get so excited about decorating the house, that I skip right past the "letting the walls set" stage and go straight to the "setting up the roof" stage, and lo and behold each time the roof collapses. This problem was solved by hoisting the entire house up with mugs, cds, dvds (whatever me and my sister could find really!). The real dilemma, however, happened during the night, when my dog decided to seek revenge on her faithful walker by ripping off half of the roof. I was not impressed; I had to go through the whole entire cycle again. Who knew that making a gingerbread house could be so distressing?!

The Perfect Remedy for a Cold, Wintery Day

I live in Vancouver, Canada, where it rarely ever snows. However, for the last few days, the temperature has been in the negatives and very, very snowy. To keep warm, I decided to cook a hearty meal of sweet potato gnocchi and a warm chocolate tart.

This was the first time I have ever made gnocchi and I will definitely try it again. I served it with a fresh mixed greens salad and some yummy Italian bread, it was so delicious! For the sweet potato gnocchi I used this recipe from wild yeast blog: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2008/10/20/sweet-potato-gnocchi/

To follow the gnocchi, I made a warm, chocolate tart. I recommend to serve it warm with a scoop of creamy, vanilla ice cream~ I found the recipe from a blog that I really like to follow called chocolate shavings:

http://ourchocolateshavings.blogspot.com/2008/06/warm-chocolate-tart-with-candied-orange_10.html

The Pie of all Pies!

The delicious recipe can be found here:

--> http://joyofbaking.com/pumpkinpie.html

My Brief Love Affair with Japan

This past April, I had the pleasure of visiting Japan for the first time. I spent 17 days travelling the beautiful back-alleys of Kyoto, feeling alone and insignificant beneath the electric lights of Tokyo, and expanding my culinary palette with the many delicacies of Osaka. Japan is a very sacred place to me; the culture is truely unique. Here are some pictures of the many culinary delights that I experienced during my brief love affair with Japan~

The bakeries in Japan were found in the department stores and malls... They had some of the most beautiful cakes and pastries I have ever seen.

That piece of salmon felt like silk in my mouth~it is by far the best sushi I have ever had...

Burgoolicious

For my twenty-first birthday, my family and I chose to go to Burgoo for dinner. Burgoo is a restaurant located in North Vancouver that prides itself on serving "comfort" food. It serves a variety of different homestyle dishes ranging from soups to stews to sandwiches and more. What makes Burgoo unique is that it incorporates a very hearty feel to the restaurant experience while still offering a very sophisticated menu with dishes from all around the world.

For my birthday outing, I opted for the Macaroni and Cheese, which was oozing with delicious aged white cheddar cheese (as evident in the picture). It was very tasty and provided that warm, content feeling that only real comfort food can provide.

I recommend anyone who lives in the greater Vancouver area to try this place out! You can check out their menu here: http://www.burgoo.ca/

The Great Pumpkin

Pumpkin Waffles

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

pinch of allspice

2 cups milk

3 large eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/4 cup canola oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until just blended.

2. To make the waffles: preheat your waffle iron, brush it lightly with butter and cook until golden brown. You can keep the waffles warm by placing them in a 250F oven until ready to eat. Serve hot with warm maple syrup ^__^