Chocolate Granola. The Mast Brothers Cookbook.

I am loving the Mast Brothers Cookbook. On our last day in New York - also the day of the book release - I walked back to the factory to pick up a copy, and found they had all been signed! It wouldn't fit in my already overstuffed luggage, but it was well worth lugging it across the subway system to the airport. Also, have you seen the cookbook trailer? Adorable.

I made the chocolate date cake soon after arriving home - delicious - and marked the chocolate granola for later, soon realizing it would be a perfect give to give coworkers. No last minute baking for me!

A couple weeks ago I made three batches, scooped the granola into six jars and still had some left to keep around the apartment for breakfast. Win.

The recipe is pretty simple - Mix 1 cup each of almonds, pecans and rolled oats with a 1/2 cup of honey and 2 Tbsp brown sugar and place in a 350 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes and let cool. In the meantime, melt 3 Tbsp of butter* with 2 Tbsp cocoa powder and set aside. Combine a 1/2 cup each of cocoa nibs and dried cranberries (or cherries or figs or other suitable dried fruit) with the roasted nuts/oats and stir in the butter mixture. Once everything is cool, mix in 5 ounces of chopped chocolate (I chopped up chocolate from one of the Mast Brothers tablets).

*I used the canola oil from Mighty Trio Organics since I wasn't sure when people would be eating the granola. It worked out well since it's so nutty and light.

So there it is. Christmas gifts (well, some of them) done.

Hawkers Market Edmonton.

On Saturday evening Charles and I stopped in at the first Hawkers Market in Edmonton. We arrived around 7pm to a pretty full room, although the place (and the beer line) swelled around 8pm - Definitely a well attended event!

The Hawkers Market people are from Vancouver, but their intentions work just as well here -

Drift was there with the best booth design ever! They served delicious curry chicken and noodles (khao swe) that you could top with cilantro, chili flakes, egg, green onions and other things. Mine was mostly covered in cilantro and chili flakes - Thanks, Phil!

They also used the event to unveil their jarred ketchup and spice blend for the first time. We walked away with a jar of ketchup that will surely taste just like summer.

Parts and Service, a food truck starting up in the spring of 2014, also made their debut... With bone marrow and duck confit. Needless to say I'm looking forward to next spring; both dishes were excellent.

Torching the bone marrow.

Duck confit with Brussel sprout slaw.

Finally, we stopped at Bully for their pork shoulder medallion with an incredibly creamy wild rice (they said 'au gratin'), crisp kale and pickled red onions.

We also ate very good, fresh donuts from Paper Bag Donuts that I did not take a photo of. There were other vendors we didn't make it to - Sailin' On, Nineteen and Casa 12 Doce.

The event felt similar to Street Feast in London, except, you know, inside (now that I've searched Street Feast for a link, I see they have a 'Hawker House' market during the winter).

Minor things - A second beer tap to get the line going would have been nice, and some more bar height tables to set food down, but of course these are easy improvements, and considering this was their first event in the space...

Excellent - I have to say, we appreciated the forethought of a giant coat rack at the entrance; That space heats up fast! They also had two of the guys from Shout Out providing their dj services, which meant the music was incredible.

Hoping there's another Hawkers Market in the works for Edmonton soon!