tray 'o drinks

We hosted a work party at our house Monday night.  There were about 25 people here, including kids, and I think it was a smashing hit.  Everybody chatted, drank and ate and left feeling full of Christmas cheer.

One of our party tricks is to offer a tray of pre-made drinks right in the front porch, after people have taken off their coats.  We chill the glasses in the freezer first.  Who doesn’t like a frosty glass?

• Eggnog with spiced rum and nutmeg sprinkled on top
• Cream martini – Starbucks cream liqueur and espresso vodka with a splash of cream
• Limencello martini – Limencello with sprite
• Red wine

I was shocked that it was the Limencello martini that was the big hit, not the cream one.  Mike was mixing those like crazy in the kitchen.

It was a potluck event, and folks brought either an appetizer or sweets.  Someone asked:  why don’t you assign dishes? And then someone wise told me – that’s the joy of potLUCK.  Get it?  You leave the dishes up to LUCK and what you get is what you get.

We had a cheese tray of blue cheese, brie, manchego and calabrese cheese from the Italian Centre.  The favourite off that tray was brie.  And Ella whipped up these super easy appetizers that were quickly consumed.

Roll together sliced proscuitto, provolone and a leaf of basil.  Secure with a toothpick. As pictured below:

proscuitto, provolone, basil appetizer

sweet lollapalooza

Ok, this box of assorted chocolates cost over $50 from Sweet Lollapalooza, but I’m here to tell you that a fifty dollar box of chocolates is TOTALLY WORTH IT.  Well, in moderation.  It ’tis the season, after all.

See the chocolate with the little espresso bean on top?  That is the best chocolate I have ever consumed in my long, convoluted life, my friends.  Sweet Lollapalooza comes with a little description of the chocolates, but no specific ‘map’ per se, so I’m guessing, but I think it is:

Torque:  smoky chipotle pepper blended with dark chocolate ganache and a note of espresso enrobed in dark chocolate.

If that description alone isn’t worth two bucks to read, then I don’t know what is.  I ate this baby super slowly so as to savour it.  I was very sad when it was over, but good news!  It had a twin in the box that has my name on it…

The distinct flavours in this chocolate are out of the world.  I used to like the competition, but Sweet Lollapalooza blows them out of the water, flavour wise.  Dig a toonie out of your pocket and head downtown tomorrow.  You won’t regret it.

spinach goat cheese risotto

Something unfortunate happened to a certain category of foodstuffs in our house.

The basket from the deepfreeze was left on the dryer overnight.  It contained many meat items, including chicken, sausage and ground steak.  I was very saddened to have to throw all the contents in the garbage.  I am not going to say who it to blame.  It was purely an accidental oversight.

But, having given half my family food poisoning on a previous occasion (long convoluted story, involving lamb), I opted to play it safe and dispose of the meat items.

So today it is -36 or some ridiculous temperature outside and I did not venture outside.  I was digging around in the kitchen for Sunday dinner.  Thankfully I had some Arborio rice in the pantry.  This led me to cook Jamie Oliver’s basic risotto recipe.

What I love about risotto is that you can add anything to it.  To the basic recipe, I added:

• wilted spinach, cooked in brown butter with nutmeg and garlic, chopped very fine
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• a big knob of butter
• 1/2 log of goat’s cheese
• rind and juice of one lemon
• lots of pepper and salt to taste

It was an exceedingly satisfying meal to tuck into on a crazy-cold day.  With loads of leftovers for Ella to heat up for lunch (she’s one of the rare kids who comes home for lunch everyday from her junior high school).

satsuma mandarin oranges

What a sweet juicy find at the Italian Centre:   Sweet Nature mandarin oranges – Satsuma variety.  Seedless and the best mandarin orange I have ever eaten in my entire life.  (I don’t make those type of proclamations lightly).

sweet spiced rosemary pecans

I’m hosting a big ole work party here on Monday, so we have a deadline for holiday cooking and baking.  Our freezer is full of Tupperware that has warning stickies on them:  DO NOT EAT!  PARTY FOOD!

Here’s what Ella and I have made.

• Almond Roca
• Caramel Popcorn
• Gingersnaps
• Whipped Shortbread
• Giada’s Apricot and Nut Cookies with Amaretto Icing

Most are tried and true recipes to make sure they turn out…with two new additions, care of Dinner with Julie.  Now, I’ve met Julie and have even broken bread with her, and I trust her baking instincts fully.

brown butter and rosemary shortbread

Sure enough, the Spiced Rosemary Pecans are so addictive that I hid them downstairs in the freezer to save them from myself.   And the Brown Butter and Rosemary Shortbread? I adore the way they taste – that savoury sweet combination is delightful, but when I cut them into wedges, most of them fell apart.  I know this is entirely my fault and I must have mis-measured something.  BUT I did do a salvage job of about 6 nice wedges, and the erratically shaped ones have found their way to a tin that I will happily consume.

I stumbled upon the Bothy via Only Here for the Food’s Food notes.  I love Sharon’s Food Notes.  She has the scoop on everything new in the Edmonton food world.  I’d be about six months behind what’s happening without her.So thanks for that, Sharon.  Chowhound has a few posts about The Bothy too.

The Bothy is a brand spankin’ new wine and whisky bar, just off Calgary Trail, across from the Weber Centre in the strip mall that houses Eddie’s Men’s Wear, and a Bin 104, a very nice wine shop.

I didn’t bring my camera because it was dark, dinner and the place just opened.  I mean, ’tis fair to give a place at least a month to get its legs before descending upon it with a review.  I just offer up lame-ass reviews, anyhow.

But first impressions?

• love the space.  deep reds, paintings, cosy bar feel
• bluegrass music mixed with dance tunes.  eclectic, fun mix
• this is a thinking (wo)man’s place for food and drink.  what luxury to have decisions about choosing a wine flight, cheese and charcuterie.  the standard menu features an eclectic choice of French (cassoulet) and Scottish (haggis, anyone?)
• the sharing plate was impeccable and came adorned with sweet chutney, dried apricots, pesto and a warm bagette that was voluntarily replenished
• service was exceedingly knowledgeable about the vino, and very attentive.

I have been waiting for a place like this to open in Edmonton for a long long time.  Wine flights?  Check?  Sophisticated bar?  Check?  And special for my Mike?  Whisky.  PLUS it is in our part of town…I think we may have finally found ‘our place’ to dine in Edmonton.  Welcome to the neighbourhood Bothy…

The Bothy
5482 Calgary Trail
Edmonton
780.761.1761

birthday food

I’m sad to report that my ‘authentic’ Mexican food experience consists mostly of tacos and, if I’m lucky, enchiladas.  This is rather pathetic.

But my youngest son is lucky to be in elementary school that’s super diverse.  There are over 40 cultures represented at this one little school.  Many of the kids there have recently moved to Canada.  Imagine immigrating from Mexico in the midst of -20 degree weather and knee deep snow?  I would think the whole experience would be surreal, and proves a real strength of character of the people who come here to this barren land.

Aaron was invited to a birthday party today for a little girl who moved from Mexico this summer.  The moms all brought big panfuls of food.  I’ve never seen so many different kinds of moles – including a green one that was very hot for my soft palate…and delicious potato cubes with chorizo, a chicken, rice and corn soup, homemade refried beans and a big bowl full of feta to sprinkle on top.

The food was especially delicious because it was made with love.  The dads orchestrated a pinata game afterwards, which consisted of a lot of shrieking and even more fun.

salted caramel popcorn

Ella is experimenting with homemade Christmas gift recipes.  One year I made almond roca, and it was a huge hit.  Today’s tester recipe was Salted Caramel Popcorn.  The title itself is irresistable.  Salt with brown sugar?  I’m in!

Because this is a tester recipe, we learned a few things.  We had too much caramel sauce for the amount of popcorn made.  The whole thing is sticky!  And there should not be even one unpopped kernel in the popcorn, or we are going to break someone’s teeth.  Nobody wants a broken tooth for Christmas.

The question is:  can we make batches and batches of this and package it up and mail them to people?  Or should we go with the almond roca standby instead?

Salted Caramel Popcorn
-from Thibeault’s Table

a really big bowl of well popped popcorn
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup golden corn syrup
1 can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
sea salt

Pop the popcorn (we did it on the stove) and put in a really big bowl.  Combine all caramel ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to melt and blend all ingredients together.

Reduce heat to low and continue a slow boil; stir constantly to avoid the caramel from burning. Caramel is done when it reaches the soft ball candy stage (approximately 10 minutes at slow boil).  A candy thermometer will read 240 degrees.

While still hot, pour caramel over the popcorn, mixing well to coat. Sprinkle liberally with the sea salt, again, mixing well for even coverage throughout the batch.

damn good cookie

I said to Aaron:  Want to make cookies with me? And he said:  COOKIES FOR SANTA!? Everything is about Santa this time of year and we are in a full blown Advent calendar countdown.   There is a looooong 24 sleeps to go.

These are my mom’s cookies, and I’m not going to pronounce that they are the best cookies in the universe or anything like that.  But they kind of are to me.  I think it is because I grew up with them.  But if you want a crisp on the edge, soft on the inside chocolate chip oatmeal cookie, that turns out every single time, bake these.  They are damn good cookies.

Washington Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
-cream this stuff together LOTS until it looks like icing

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
-mix in this stuff to the creamed stuff

1 1/2 cups oatmeal
lots of chocolate chips
-add this

Bake at 350 x 15 minutes.

Clearly I’m not a recipe writer.  But I think you get the gist.

sweet packaging

As he promised, Mike brought home chocolates from the grand opening day of Sweet Lollapalooza in Commerce Place.  He was the third customer to buy something in the brand new shop.  He told me it was ‘foo-foo’, which means in IT guy terms that it is beautifully decorated.  I eat that kind of stuff up.

I also am eating up the chocolate.  The chocolate truffles were laced with a liquor of sorts and melted in my mouth.  Bliss..  I have a soft spot for almond roca – the mix of caramel with chocolate and nuts is irresistible to me.

Sweet Lollapalooza’s version is called Buttercrunch.  It is crushed hazelnuts with the ‘crunch’ of brown sugar candy, sandwiched between melty chocolate.  Pure heaven.

Sweet Lollapalooza
10155 102 Street
Edmonton
780-436-3190