Congrats to the Vancouver Travelers choice winners for 2012 -tripadvisor

Good morning great food lovers….
With the world of information so available at our fingertips the word of mouth gets posted or passed on almost instantly. One area that we all can tap into for clear honest advice is

travelers ratings

or

people’s choice

Please always realize that like any good polling or reviews that the overwhelming feedback is the information that you should most follow or trust. Sometimes you will see reviews and there maybe 98

likes

but 2 don’t likes.
One of two things may have come into play…… Personal preference or simply a bad day.
Either way when you see this list the reviews are a body of work overtime and well earned.

congratulations to the 2012 travelers choice restaurant winners in Vancouver
I have tried many of these restaurants over the years but intend on heading back and re-visiting many of these fan favorites.
Enjoy and beside to pass any great recommendations to your friends, these wonderful restaurants All pay special attention to their guests and customer delight as their target experience.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/TravelersChoice-Restaurants-cRestaurants-g154943

Guilty pleasure…

Guilty pleasure….

dinnerbyjr

As a chef there is always one dish that you dread making – DESSERT! Unlike most other dishes, baking is not forgiving: either it is or it is not what was intended. Now sometimes, with a little creative thinking, hard work and skill (not to mention prayer), you can repurpose a messed up dessert to make it work. More often than not though you will have to throw away the mess up and start again. It is this difficulty and the precision required to constantly produce something great that are the reasons a good pastry chef is worth their weight in GOLD.

As a Chef, if you are able to do both savory and sweet and do them WELL, you just have written your own ticket; especially today when people want from-scratch and healthier than store bought items. Nothing beats fresh baking of any kind! Over the years I have…

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when family calls….

when family calls…..

Dinner at Hawker’s Delight

Dinner at Hawker’s Delight.

Tea for our health

Hi happy foodies, I wanted to repost this great article on Tea and the wonderful other uses other that just drinking.
Think of tea now in your culinary journey and adventures. Tea in cooking or baking you ask? yes
Please read this article for your health and well being and for some creative ideas where we can use tea other than in our cups.
The benefits of teas speak well for themselves

http://t.co/M6VNUVSttea, so many more uses than just drink it

Looks as good as I am sure it would taste! Cherries and Chocolate, two good friends

nade in the kitchen

Every person has feelings of bliss sometimes. Not only sometimes, but very day. I’m pretty sure. May it be that you caught your bus and are in time although you left the house 7 minutes later than normally or that you accidentally find something you think you’ve lost long long time ago.

Or that the vegan cream you found in your pantry looks and almost tastes like “normal” whipped cream.

Makes one cake (26 cm diameter)

for the cake

• 200 g all-purpose flour (1 1/3 cups)
• 20 g cocoa powder (1/4 cup)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate
• 150 g sugar (3/4 cup)
• 70 g vegetable oil (90 ml, 1/3 cup)
• 180 ml non-dairy milk (3/4 cup)
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar

for the topping

• 1 handful cherries
• about 150 ml vegan whipped cream (such as *soyatoo!)
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 20 g dark chocolate
• 1 tsp vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 180° C (360°…

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Vij’s Railway Express hits home again

Happy Monday great foodies (a sunny one at that)
If you haven’t tried Chef Vikram’s and Gourmet Syndicates newer offering Food truck in Vancouver you are missing

the train so to speak

the whole beautiful theory of this new food truck goes so well with my theory of a

Joyous culinary journey

as this story goes as the Railcar moves from station to station on a journey through the rustic South Asian countryside so does the food choices slightly change with the region that it represents.
What a wonderful opportunity for all of us to expand our palates and adventurous culinary journey. We need to remember what a wonderful part of the world we live in and having such a melting pot of wondrous cultures lending us to the perfect choices that we will all love!
Today was Coconut beef with rice and perfect flatbread and no meal of of the wonderful foodtruck would be complete without the perfect cup of Chai!
Thanks again for a great lunch!

BC Fresh- New Nugget lemon Potatoes

Happy Saturday great Foodie lovers….
I was happy to see this great opportunity to use the fresh ingredients to make a simple but excellent accompaniment to any dinner on a summer (or winter night)
BC fresh Nugget potatoes aka

Warba potatoes

Save on foods (recommended by Brent) had an abundance of these little gems….. I start using the freshest and most tasty ingredients but keep it simple and from the heart and the soul. This recipe is from my dear mom who is no longer with us but her memory and her recipes live on in our kitchen.
As I always repeat and tout, food from the heart and the soul will always touch the heart and the soul beyond your taste buds.
I was excited to find the

BC Fresh Nugget Potatoes

and went to work and put together this quick and oh so flavor wow potatoes.

Per-heat the oven at 350 (I use convection)
FIRST, the ingredients.
BC nugget potatoes
1 or 2 lemons ( depends on your lemon love)
Fresh oregano (approx 2 sprigs)
1 Shallots or red onion (minced)
Garlic (minced) “QB” (approx 1 clove)
Fresh ground pepper “QB”
Virgin olive oil “QB” approx 2-3tablespoons
Sea salt (tonight I used Murray river pink flaked salt) “QB”
2-3 tablespoons hot water
Fresh butter approx 2 tablespoons
Panko bread crumbs

Wash and only cut the larger nuggets. I do absolutely subscribe to the term

Quanto Basta

or just enough when I refer to amounts…please always trust yourself in cooking to use the flavors and amounts that make sense and your gut or personal taste tells you.
Drizzle over the olive oil (healthy amount)
Use a lemon rinder and put right on top of these wonderful fresh potatoes.
Finley mince the shallot / onion and the garlic as well as the fresh oregano
and mix it in.
Squeeze lemons over top
Sprinkle pepper over top
Mix this all together and then pour the hot water carefully on the side of the dish.
Dab 1 table spoon over the top
Mix the Panko and other table spoon of butter together and sprinkle over top
Top with the Murray river salt (not to much)
You are now ready to place in the oven

Place in the oven at 350 for approx 35-40 minutes (depending on your oven) the potatoes will develop a slight browning and carmelization and are ready when your fork easily sticks in.

These potatoes will place smiles on your family and friends faces….fresh flavors and smells that pop in your mouth with every bite.
Enjoy my moms recipe and remember that every dish should carry your own signature. It maybe similar to some other recipe but make it your own….