My Heart's Aflutter for Cocoa Butter

Valentine's Day is on the horizon, and as an ode to this day of romance, I thought I'd share my love for all things chocolate.  On a recent trip to Edible British Columbia on Granville Island, I happened upon a most exquisite box.  Inside were carefully handcrafted Vanilla Salt Caramels created by Vancouver pastry chef and chocolatier, Wendy Boys. I could not resist, and really there was no need to. These chocolates are every bit as tasty as they are gorgeous to look at, and even better shared :o)

May your Valentine's Day be a sweet one!

For more information about Wendy Boys Chocolates, visit: www.cocolico.ca.  

To find out more about BC's food scene, and locally crafted products, visit: 

www.edible-britishcolumbia.com.

Getting Baked

Ghoulish Goodies from the Baker's Market

The Vancouver Baker's Market is now on and I'm so glad I made it there relatively early in the season.  After getting my first taste of its offerings, I'm already planning many trips back.  Situated inside a warehouse in an obscure part of East Vancouver, it takes a bit of effort to locate, but once there you find a welcoming space with clean white walls that make the perfect backdrop to the multitude of colours on display.  The space is not huge but well-stocked with tables practically poking out the door.  There is a good selection of vendors selling a wide variety of goodies, but not so many that it feels overwhelming at all.  The set-up encourages you to stroll slowly by each table, chat with the bakers and of course, sample.  I found it almost impossible not to buy everything I tasted.  Because there is a variety of sweet and savoury treats, it's easy to get something for your meal and dessert.  I ended up buying a multigrain Epi loaf, numerous kinds of cookies, marshmallows, macarons, and macarons filled with marshmallow!  

One of my favourite tables was Joyful Confections, which featured cupcakes and decorated sugar cookies.  They had pretty packaging, and I just loved their Halloween themed cookies.  Along with ghost and skull cookies, they also had creepy headstones, and candy corn designs.  They looked very professional, and their cookies were perfectly sweet.  

My other favourite table belonged to Buttercup Cake Design.  Unfortunately, save but one, all of the goodies from that table were eaten too fast to photograph.  But the Peanut Butter Marshmallow lollipop is not only visually awesome, but tastes amazing, and the Fleur de Sel Butter Caramel Macarons are crumble in your mouth gooey sweetness, with the perfect touch of saltiness.  Serious magic in your mouth.  

The Baker's Market is aptly titled "The Sweetest Event in Vancouver", because that it truly is.  I hope you get there soon to fill your belly with goodness, and to support your local baker.  This season's market goes until December 11th and is every Saturday from 11am to 3pm, with free admission.

Visit the websites below for how to get there and for more info:  

www.bakersmarket.com
www.joyfulconfections.ca
www.buttercupcakedesign.com (Check out her blog, too!)

Congee in a Can (and Curds in a Can too)!

Taisun's Mixed Congee and Peanut Soybean Curd Jelly

I love T & T Supermarket. It's my one-stop shop for Chinese specialty items like dumpling wrappers for homemade jiaozi, freshly made bean curd skins, or the distinctively flavoured and coloured, century egg. But to me, T & T is more than just a supermarket to meet my meal-making needs; I think of it as a kind of curio shop, a place to discover things new and unusual. I love wandering up and down the aisles, checking out the latest in stock, or what I may have missed on my last trip. This last time around, I discovered Taisun's Mixed Congee in a can. I felt a need to try this thing and while I was at it, decided it was also necessary to take home a can of their Peanut Soybean Curd Jelly. There were several other Taisun varieties, but these two seemed the most intriguing.

I tried the Peanut Soybean Jelly first and as much as I tried to like it, I can't say that I did. The soybean jelly looked curdled and broke easily into unappetizing bits, and the few peanuts to be found had lost their flavour in the overly sweet, gingery syrup. I could only have a few bites before I had to put it down. The Mixed Congee on the other hand was more doable. Made of glutinous rice, oats, lentils, peas, peanuts, red beans, longan and more, it was somewhat similar in taste to Chinese red bean soup, but more runny and more textural. I wouldn't say it was delicious, but for a meal in a can, it felt pretty nutritious. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad snack to have once in a rare while, when not in the mood for fruit, or a granola bar per se. And that they are made in Taiwan, and from all natural ingredients is certainly a plus, as is the price point at just over a dollar a can.

But what I found truly cool was the nifty cover it came with, complete with its own spoon folded neatly inside. Unfold it and snap it into place, and it's like a transformer spoon, only it really just turns from a folded spoon into a fully functioning spoon. But that is still pretty great design for instant food packaging, and it's super sturdy! Even if I never buy Taisun's curds or congee again, I will be re-using the spoons for as long as they'll last me.

Shrooms and Weed

Mushroom Fresco Veggie Chips

Tao Kae Noi Japanese Crispy Seaweed

I love snacks. This is probably because I'm hungry all the time and am known to have a voracious appetite. It's therefore necessary for me to have a cache of little edibles with me at all times. I am always on the hunt for a new snack, one preferably that is packed with flavour and devoid of ingredients I can't pronounce. Fruits and veggies are always an option but sometimes you just need a little something else; something that comes out of a pre-sealed package.

A good place to discover new snacks is T & T Supermarket. A while back, a friend introduced me to Tao Kae Noi Japanese Crispy Seaweed. I've always loved nibbling on nori, but nori is quite delicate in flavour and these are anything but. The first flavour I tried was Wasabi, and these still remain my favourites with their slightly spicy, savoury taste. They are fried and a little on the salty side, but this is forgivable considering how delectable these seaweed sheets are.

MSG is not listed as an ingredient (which I'm skeptical of), but am choosing to believe because although I do try to avoid MSG, I just like these snacks too much to give them up. Besides the wasabi, you can buy them in classic, hot & spicy, ketchup and tom yum goong and they cost $2.89 for a substantial bag's worth. They also come in tempura form, but these in my humble opinion are, as Liz Lemon would say, "Bleurgh!" All the others save for ketchup are awesome.

This mushroom snack and "fresh food material from Taiwan" (as the package reads) is really quite original in taste. These whole mushrooms that resemble shiitakes are hard to the touch but easy to crunch, and surprisingly nutty in flavour. What I find most interesting is that they taste very little of mushroom. They are not what I would call delicious, but there is something about them that makes you want them. I found myself nibbling up the whole bag in a few minutes, and I wasn't even that hungry at the time. That there are about 10 in a bag however, made it pretty easy :o) They also come in green bean, apple and pumpkin and cost $1.79 a bag. I have yet to try the apple and pumpkin, but the beans, tasting even less of their original selves, are a bad kind of curiosity. In other words, these ones are probably worth skipping.

For your own homemade snack crisps, check out the next post!

It's Like Comparing Cupcakes and Cupcakes

While on Fourth Avenue in Kits today, a sign caught my eye. It read: cupcakes. Having just passed a cupcakes shop earlier in the day, and having been unable to stop and fulfill my cravings then, I immediately found myself inside the shop taking in the display of puffy sugarballs. Displayed much like the bedazzling bling found in jewelry shops behind glass cases, each cupcake looked dreamy. I knew I had to have coconut, so chose the Snowball: a vanilla cake with coconut butter cream icing, rolled in coconut. My other choice was highly recommended by the salesperson, and was one of the premium cupcakes called the Chocolate Mound: a chocolate cake with coconut butter cream icing, shredded coconut on top, and a chocolate ganache centre.

I could not wait to get these inside my mouth but resisted until I got home, so I could sit down and enjoy them with a cup of tea. At home, I dove first into the Snowball, ready for the flavour of another I had had before. This former cupcake was perhaps the best cupcake I had ever had.

cupcake tops: Snowball on the left, Chocolate Mound on the right.

Awhile back, a friend had presented a lovely package to me. Inside were five cupcakes, and each of these were little prizes for the mouth. The best of these prizes was a divine morsel made of coconut cake and cream cheese frosting sprinkled with shredded coconut. The cream cheese is what made it, giving it a depth of flavour and contrast to the overall sweetness you would expect from a cupcake, and it was super moist.

When I bit into the Snowball, I had been expecting the Koo Koo, (the actual name of my beloved cupcake), and have to admit initial disappointment. The cake of the Snowball and of the Chocolate Mound were a little on the dry side and the icing a little too sweet as well but, paired with my cup of black tea, satisfied my cupcake craving quite nicely. For chocolate lovers, the Chocolate Mound's injection of chocolate ganache filling takes it over the top (in a good way). I must admit that in my eagerness for sweetness, I hadn't looked at the store sign correctly, so did not get the Koo Koo I wanted. I thought I was going into the original cupcakes shop, a local business started by two gals from Victoria, who use only natural ingredients in their recipes. What I had entered was Big City Cupcakes, a newer, B.C. owned company with a similar passion for cupcakes, an equal concern for quality, and is on par with its pretty packaging. Yes, I did end up with a product I wasn't expecting, but Big City Cupcakes can expect me back.

Prices are $1.25 for minis and $3.10 for regular sizes at cupcakes. Big City Cupcakes' minis are $1.50 for unfilled, and $1.95 for filled; regular sizes are $2.95 for unfilled and $3.95 for filled and premium. Discounts are available for orders in the 1/2 dozen or dozen.

For more info on the original cupcakes store and Big City Cupcakes, check out:
www.cupcakesonline.com
www.bigcitycupcakes.com