Health Fare - Downtown

When we decided to stop for lunch today at Health Fare on Jasper and 102 Ave, I didn't realize that there was already an established flagship location down on 108 and 23 Avenue. I guess they are just beginning the franchising process now, so more will likely appear around Edmonton soon.

We arrived just after noon, and managed to get in line right before it began to grow with hungry office workers. Everyone (both customers and staff) appeared to be handling the rush well, with only one customer complaining to a staff member about his wait.

As we waited to place our order, we got to take in the surroundings - it is definitely light and refreshing, with large windows and a colour scheme of bright greens, natural browns and whites. The interior definitely provides a nice midday oasis (despite the noise level), but between the Kirei board and reclaimed wood table tops, sustainable flooring and "green" take out containers, they have also used the decor to remind customers of their eco-friendliness. The decor is completed with an interactive "nutrition centre" in the corner, where you can look up the nutritional contents of your meal on the computer.

Zed decided to skip food as none of the "healthy" options were really appealing to him but thought he would try a latte (~$4 for a large). After passing over a couple sandwiches, salads and the four available soup options, I decided to try the Orange Beef Rice Bowl with Alberta strip loin, Asian greens, brown organic rice, citrus and a ginger soy sauce (~$9.50). I was intrigued by their freshly squeezed orange and kiwi juice, but our cashier let us know it wasn't available yet, so I went for a cup of loose leaf organic Rooibos tea (~$2.25).

We found a couple seats along the wall and waited for my name to be called to pick up our order. I realize they are still working out the kinks, but between the conversation of diners eating in and those coming for take out, it was pretty difficult to hear your name being called... hopefully they will come up with a new system soon. About ten minutes after placing our order we heard them call "Marianne", and I went to grab our drinks and my rice bowl.

Large latte and Rooibos tea

Orange Beef Rice Bowl

The dish definitely looked "healthy" - lots of brown rice and a good amount of veggies and beef all contained in a neat little portion. Unfortunately between the rice and the beef, the dish was a little dry for my liking and neither the orange or the citrus came through... hopefully this is another one of those kinks they will work out with time. Zed's latte was pretty good, with 2% milk their standard, it was definitely lighter than the whole milk beverages found elsewhere.

Although the food wasn't quite up our alley, the restaurant seemed to be an instant hit with downtown workers. Though after today's rice bowl, I'm not convinced that Health Fare delivered on their "...nutritious, mouth watering delicious..." motto. In terms of healthy food options, I was expecting something that went beyond the obvious of goat cheese and veggie sandwiches, tomato soup, salads and rice bowls; with all these lunchtime basics available elsewhere downtown, I hope Health Fare will work out some of their kinks in the next couple weeks to provide an experience beyond the impressive decor.

Croquembouche

A friend of ours decided to hold a feast this past Saturday evening at she and her partner's cabin at Spring Lake. The setting was definitely beautiful, and although the plan to cook at the lake together all day didn't quite pan out, the dishes at the table were great - someone brought a pasta salad with lots of olives and peppers, our host made a pan of roasted beets, leeks and sweet potatoes, there were a couple loaves of home made bread, Moroccan lamb soup, Zed and I made tourtière and picked up a lovely roast from ACME Meat Market (9531 76 Avenue) to cook once we got there.

A couple weeks ago during all the planning, I offered to bring dessert. I've been waiting for an occasion worthy of Croquembouche, and with no weddings, baptisms or first communions in sight, this feast seemed to fit the bill. So on Saturday, armed with about 80 profiteroles, a couple cups of caramel and a homemade cone of tinfoil and construction paper, Zed and I got to work.

The tower

I'm happy to say that I got through the build with only a sugar burn on my thumb, and that we are both otherwise unscathed. And although the caramel was slightly dark and the puffs weren't perfectly round, it seemed to be a hit. But really, how can you go wrong with pastry, whipped cream and caramel?

Bits and Pieces

I've got a bit of a build up of posts, so I thought I would wrap them up into something as tidy and concise as I am able to...

First of all, although I'm sure it has been mentioned somewhere already, we noticed that the Mexican restaurant on 108 St and White (just behind the convenience store) has finally opened. I know there was some drama with the naming, but it looks like it has worked out and they have settled on "Arriba Mexico".

Also, after quite a few months of work, the space that was formerly Nokomis Clothing (on the 108th Street block of Whyte) has opened as Friends and Neighbors "Delight", and is offering more Vietnamese and vegetarian selections than their attached diner.

Muddy Waters Cafe on 111th and Whyte appears to have shut down. All the furniture and equipment have been taken out and it doesn't look like renovations. Although I didn't venture there too much, Zed liked it for its proximity to home and late night hours, so it will definitely be missed if it has in fact closed for good.

I made these nonfat gingersnaps from David Lebovitz' blog. I'm not sure why I decided to venture into nonfat territory, but it sure was a good way to use up some left over applesauce. They weren't quite rich enough for my liking (those ginger cookies from Duchess are the best!), but they are really nice with a glass of milk for dunking.

We went for brunch at The Hat last month. I'm surprised we stopped as we've had really bad luck with service there in the past, but in the spirit of the second last City Centre Market day, we decided to give it another shot. I had an omelet with green pepper, Swiss cheese and mushrooms and was less than impressed - it was thick and heavy and the green peppers made the filling watery. Again, Zed is not a breakfast person unless he's making his own pancakes, so he went for his fall back of ham and toast which he found fine.


Once again the service left something to be desired. There was too much lag time between drinks, ordering and food, and there were only a few tables of two in the restaurant. Also, they were doing server interviews within ear shot of the customers, and it would have been nice if they could have found an alternate location that was a bit more private. We will definitely be heading back to the more reliable Blue Plate for Saturday brunch instead.

We also went to Dahlia's Mediterranean Bistro (10235 - 124 Street) for lunch a few weeks ago. The owner, Fadi Smaidi, just moved to Edmonton from Montreal last year. In addition to Shawarma, hummus and other Mediterranean dishes, Dahlia's also offers panini and Montreal smoked meat sandwiches... the smoked meat is the real thing, flown in weekly from Montreal, so of course we had to get a couple of those. It wasn't quite like being in Montreal, but it was nice to order a "Smoked Meat Sandwich" and actually get the real thing.

We've picked up a couple new kitchen tools recently. In August we found this Peugeot pepper mill in Montreal and couldn't resist. There was definitely some associated sticker shock, but after using it for a couple months and having perfectly ground pepper, it's faded.


After sorting through what seemed like hundreds of knife reviews, we decided to purchase a MAC Mighty Santoku and picked one up on Monday. We made soup that evening to make sure we were giving the knife a good breaking in... I never knew chopping veggies could be so pleasant! And it made quick work of this red pepper on Tuesday morning for my omelet.


And finally, we have finished our culinary classes at NAIT and we both had a great time. Although some of the techniques in either class may have been simple, they were still a bit daunting to undertake at home, so it was nice having an instructor close by to answer any questions and to guide us through the more difficult steps.

The instructor of the pastry course was Curtis, who besides teaching part time at NAIT, also works at Duchess Bake Shop and Kerstin's Chocolates; I think having someone there with everyday industry experience really added to the course.

The pasta below is from the class Zed took at the end of October, and the rest of the pictures are from the baking class I attended last week and this past Tuesday.

Fettucine, marinara and alfredo sauce

Day 1: Caramel Pannacotta

Day 1: Crème brûlée

Day 1: Raspberry Charlotte Royale

Day 2: Pate a Choux and Pastry Cream

Day 2: fresh puff pastry for raspberry & sour cherry turnovers

Day 3: Tiramisu with chocolate cigars (the poor thing sagged on the way home because the inside wasn't set yet... it still tasted fantastic though!)

Spicy Garden via Dial and Dine

Somewhere and sometime this past weekend someone kindly passed on their cold to me. By Monday the thing had fully developed, and after my final mid-term and an entire box of tissue, I was not willing to cook, and Zed didn't seem into it either. After much deliberation, we decided to give Dial and Dine a try.

Restaurants are sorted and selected by postal code (I'm not sure if you can order outside your postal code and pay a higher delivery fee or not). Being in Garneau, we had a decent selection, however many of the restaurants are really within walking distance of our apartment (High Level Diner and Fiore, for example). Zed suggested Chinese, which turned out well - Spicy Garden was listed in our range and was also well out of walking distance, justifying the delivery charge.

I was all about soup that evening and the Hot and Sour Wonton soup caught my eye ($10.95). Zed went for the Pork Wonton ($6.95) and we also decided to add in an order of Szechuen Beef Noodles ($11.95) for good measure, as well as a Green Onion Cake ($3.50 for one). The operator took my personal information and requested menu items, read everything back, gave the total, inquiring whether we would be paying via cash or cheque, then let me know everything would arrive in about an hour. All in all, a very smooth and tidy ordering process.

Our food arrived hot (packed in steiro) about an hour after placing the order, as the operator indicated it would. Unfortunately the Hot and Sour soup really didn't hit the spot. I'm pretty sure I ended up getting the Hot and Sour Seafood soup, as I didn't come across any wontons - disappointing as the operator had read back the order to me twice once placed. Zed was glad for the late evening bowl of wonton soup though, and the Szechuen beef ended up providing just the right amount of kick to clear my cold (at least temporarily).

Pork Wonton Soup

Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

Green Onion Cake and Szechuen Beef Noodles

Despite the mix up with my soup, Zed and I both agreed we would use the service again if we found ourselves in similar circumstances. Given the choice though, I would definitely prefer a stroll to a nearby restaurant to pick up my own food, avoid any communication errors and save the $7 delivery charge.

Total (including $7 delivery charge): $40.65 + gratuity

Dial and Dine Hours:
Tuesdays - Saturdays 5-10PM; Sundays, Mondays and Holidays 5-9PM

The Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal

I've been watching In Search of Perfection on Food Network since they began airing it earlier this year (I'm so glad they have picked up the season two episodes), and I think I've been through all the snippets of Heston's Feasts I could find on You Tube, so when I found The Fat Duck Cookbook I couldn't help but buy it.

The "cookbook" definitely has recipes in it, but I doubt many people have the ingredients or equipment available to them to fully execute the dishes at home. I was even aware of this when I purchased the book a couple weeks ago, but I just couldn't help it: beautiful photos and illustrations, a tidy history of The Fat Duck restaurant and Blumenthal's food history and inspiration, awe inspiring recipes, and the back third of the book includes information about "lab equipment" and food science studies. In the end though, the book is really more of an informative read about Blumenthal's attempts to bridge the industrial food science world with the restaurant chef, to give the customer a total eating experience.

All I can really say in my defense is that I didn't purchase The Big Fat Duck Cookbook, the original version of the book, which cost upwards of $200... It must have been those satin ribbons that put it over the top. Price aside, there are definitely some inspiring (however unexpected) flavor pairing ideas, and a few components of certain dishes do contain recipes that do not include crazy ingredients (like gold leaf), or lab gear (like a centrifuge).


I also see that Food Network has picked up Big Chef Takes On Little Chef, where Blumenthal revamps the menu of the UK fast food chain Little Chef. You can see it Thursday evenings at 7PM, and again at 10PM.

**The cover illustration was done by Dave McKean**

Pumkin instead of Potatoes

At ~9:45AM a couple Saturdays ago, our group arrived at the end of the 6km line of cars waiting to get onto the field where the Great Potato Giveaway would be held. When Marie and Morris picked us up at 9AM that morning, we had all agreed that if the line was too long we would turn around and find another destination. And that we did.

Marie and Morris at our alternate location - Brenneis

We ended up at Brenneis, a family owned farm and veggie stand slightly east of Kuhlmann's. There were all sorts of lovely fall items including Swiss chard, beets, various styles of beans and best of all, they had some pumpkins. We picked out a deep orange one, looking forward to some good pumpkin puree for pie and cookies.

Zed with our haul

Luckily the shop was also well stocked with a few different types of potatoes. Although our picking of the vegetable was less difficult than planned, I was glad to not have to hunt around our apartment for an unoccupied, cool, dry spot to store 50 pounds of potatoes.

In addition to Brenneis, we also stopped at Kuhlmann's. They had partnered with the Great Potato Giveaway event that day to raise money for the GEA - Kuhlmann's donated various veggies arranged in bins outside, and shoppers could pay $10 to fill a bag with whatever they liked. Although both the cause and price were right, we had already filled our veggie quota for the week and left Kuhlmann's with the single addition of a medium sized yellow zucchini.

The pumpkin from Brenneis was turned into cookies earlier this week. I used a recipe out of Martha Stewart's Holiday Cookies magazine that was published in November of 2005. I love this magazine... it's full of a little over one hundred cookie recipes for fall/winter and has a fantastic index with pictures of each cookie divided into separate categories (ie. soft and chewy, light and delicate, etc.). There are even instructions included that show fun ways to package your baked goods as gifts... if you are feeling particularly crafty.


I've had great success with every recipe I've made from this magazine, and these were no exception - they are light and airy (more like small cakes), and the brown butter icing gives them a nice, nutty-sweetness that contrasts well with the nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon in the cookies themselves.

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing from Martha Stewart's "Holiday Cookies" issue, November 2005

Makes approx. 6 dozen
Cookies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

For the cookies:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups solid-pack pumpkin (14 ounces) - the recipe calls for canned...
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the icing:
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon evaporated milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. For cookies: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (I used my arm and a spatula). Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk and vanilla; mix until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture; mix until combined.

3. (*I was being lazy and opted to scoop the dough rather than pipe it.) Transfer 1 1/2 cups batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe 1 1/2 inch rounds onto parchment lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until tops spring back, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.

4. For icing: Put confectioners' sugar in a large bowl; set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Immeidately add butter to confectioners' sugar, scraping any brown bits from sides and bottom of pan. Add evaporated milk and vanilla; stir until smooth. Spread about 1 teaspoon icing onto each cookie. If icing stiffens, stir in more evaporated milk, a little at a time.

A Summer Re-cap (now that it's finally fall)

Well, I sure wasn't very successful in keeping up with blogging during the summer. I don't really have any excuses except that we were not eating anywhere but at Folk Fest for about a month and a half. At first the plan was to blog about the meals on site, but once arriving home at the end of the day it was just too much to re-think the day that had just past.

Anyhow, I'm back in school and ready to get back into things again...

The only pictures I have of site food is of the Christmas in July feast. Turkey with all the fixings is served (along with something fun for the veggies... ie. nut loaf). It also marks the completion of the Festival Kitchen, used to serve the volunteers over the weekend.

The food line-up in the newly completed kitchen

The Tree, courtesy of Terry (this is the top of a tree in his backyard that broke off during the July 25th wind storm)

After July, everything became a blur, but below is the first meal we ate at home since mid July, and I had to get a picture to remember it by. We even celebrated the warmth of the end of August by eating outdoors and using our not-quite-broken-in bbq.

An end of August meal of steak, string beans and grilled eggplant, along with the Adam's Apple wine from en Santé Winery

The hi-light of the summer was our end of August vacation to Prince Edward County in Ontario. We stayed in the lovely Eckhart House (thanks to Peggy, Zed's sister in-law, for organizing!), that was complete with a giant kitchen and a garden in the back full of fresh onions, garlic, herbs and other delights.

The area was full of fresh produce, wineries and cheese.

Blueberries, pears and peaches on pancakes made fresh by Paul (on the left)

A touristy shot of Cecile, Peggy, Zed, Zoe and I outside at Casa-Dea

The cheese cave at Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co.

After a fun day at the beach, we ate our final dinner at the Bloomfield Carriage House. It was excellent - they gave us an eight seat table in the loft upstairs and of course all the food was lovely too. I had a Venison chop with gnocchi as well as duck confit and risotto, while Zed went for potato and leek soup and a Bison steak. The kitchen even offered to make something special for Zoe (Zed's neice) - she is pictured below eating a custom creation of penne with a parmesan cream sauce.

I think that is about it. My most recent adventure in the kitchen was this lemon tart that I made the other day. I used Anne Burrell's crust recipe, but then a lemon curd out of the Bouchon cook book that was posted on Epicurious (you can find the curd recipe here). It tasted alright, but I think I need a bit more practice with that crust.

I'm hoping to discover more pastry secrets at a class I'm taking at Nait in November - Cakes, Pastries, and Plated Desserts. Zed opted for a class that will teach Pasta Making Fundamentals... I'm looking forward to the carb feast at the end of our classes.

We are off to the Great Potato Give Away tomorrow with some friends. I'm hoping to break out the camera for lots of pictures... but we'll see how it goes.