Cerezo

Cerezo Cafe & Bar

1002 Edmonton Trail NE 

Calgary, AB 

T2E 3K2

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/15/1686915/restaurant/Renfrew/CEREZO-Cafe-Bar-Calgary

Cerezo is a Japanese fusion Taps themed cafe and bar in Calgary.  I was pleasantly surprised that Cerezo looks like a house - with a beautiful garden for outdoor dining as well as indoor uniquely European-style decorated cafe.  The staff were all Japanese.  They explained carefully about the menu is. It works like any cafes, you order up front, find a table to sit, and they will bring you the food and drinks.     

Spanish Latte and Hot chocolate

This is my first time trying Spanish Latte - which uses condensed milk instead of regular milk.  The drink is nice and sweet (but not too sweet) - perfect for a chilly spring day.  The barista carefully gave us all heart shaped latte arts <3

For brunch, we ordered a variety of quiche and paninis. I liked the salad dressing a lot.  The other food were very good too except it was getting heavy as we know we order a dessert each too lol.

Quiche and Salad

Breakfast Panini

Spicy Tuna Panini

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry short cake was amazing here! The cake is super light and fluffy. Cream were nice and light and airy too.  Delicious!

Banana Cream Tart

I really enjoyed the banana cream tart too.  Love the flakes on the outside, contrasting the smooth cream, and then finally the cruchy tart on the bottom.

Lemon Tart

Lemon tart was yummy too, although not my favourite, cuz I don't like lemony dessert too much.

Pineapple Bun (菠蘿包)

I have always enjoy Chinese style bakery buns for breakfast.  It then became a comfort home food for me when our family immigrated to Canada.  I remembered I was really happy to be able to buy these buns in Canada (even though they aren't that great in Edmonton), it gives a warm, fuzzy, comfort food feeling... a piece of home and heritage in a foreign place.

When I get older, now when I think of pineapple bun I remember Danny's happy face with his favourite pineapple bun with butter (菠蘿油) lol.  Though I never thought of making these buns myself.  The task seem so daunting!  Making bread is not an easy task!  With yeast doubling at the right room temperature, the lengthy waiting time, and finickiness of buns not being poofy and moist... the list goes on!  Especially I failed multiple times with making cinnamon buns and anything with yeast.  Kudos to Freddy for his adventurous personality to initiate the task and the most important piece of equipment - the stand mixer.  I'd like to thank Freddy here, his stand mixer has made many, many of my dreams come true.  Thank you Freddy!  Also Haley's extra warm room temperature (23oC) may have been the success to the buns!!  


Here it is!

 

Ingredients

yields a dozen very large buns

To make pineapple buns, you'll need:

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp active dry yeast (not the instant one!)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten

The topping for the pineapple buns is made separately using:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

 

Procedure

1. Mix together 1/2 cup flour, sugar, yeast, and salt
2. Melt the butter, then add oil and milk to the butter and warm it
3. Pour the butter/oil/milk mixture into the flour mixture
4. Add the eggs to the flour mixture, and stir well to combine. Then beat mixture for 3 minutes
5. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough is formed
6. Dust the counter-top and knead the dough on it. Add dough little by little if it's too sticky.
7. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Let it double in size, which will take roughly 1.5 hours. While the dough is rising, prepare the pineapple bun topping following the recipe further below on this page).
8. After 1.5 hours, punch the dough down and let it rise again for another 1.5 hours
9. Divide the dough into 12 equally sized balls, then flatten them to round, flat buns. Place them on lightly greased baking sheets and cover with a slightly damp towel for another 45 minutes so that the dough can rise a bit more.
10. Take the prepared pineapple topping and roll it to a thickness of about 1/2 a cm
11. Brush the buns with a small amount of water, and place the pineapple topping on top of the buns. The water will help the topping stick to the buns.
12. Take a knife and lightly score the toppings with a criss-cross pattern, kind of like grill marks on a steak.
13. Lightly beat 1 egg yolk and brush the buns and toppings with it. The egg yolk will provide the buns with a nice rich yellow colour.
14. Bake the buns at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes on the middle rack.

Pineapple Topping Procedure:

1. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy
2. Add egg yolk, baking soda, and milk together, and mix well.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture, and mix by hand until it's smooth and not sticky. Be careful not to manipulate it too much as it will form gluten.
4. Wrap the topping in plastic and refrigerate it for an hour and a half minimum.
   

Reciped adapted from Homemade Chinese

Thoughts

 

1. The pineapple buns are so delicious!!! I'm so proud of the team that made it happen! The recipe took like 7-8 hours to complete but the result is so WORTH it.
2. I would use more beaten egg yolks to brush the pineapple topping, it wasn't quite yellow enough.
3. I would probably double the pineapple topping next time, I find the topping to bun ratio not high enough.
4. Serve with butter inside the bun is the best way!!

Steam Egg Whites with Seafood

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
2 cups of water (cooled boiled water, or chicken broth)
5 shrimps, thaw, peeled, and chopped
3 sticks of imitation crab meat, thaw and chopped
chopped green onions for garnish

Procedure:
1.  First, set up a wok with cold tap water with a metal lifter.  Place a large round glass dish on top of the metal lifter to check the water level.  The water level should reach to above half the height of the glass dish.
2.  Turn on the stove to medium-high heat.
3.  Beat 4 egg whites in a bowl and pour into a measuring cup.  Measure the volume of the egg whites.
4.  If the egg whites volume is 150 mL, add (1.5 times the volume, 1.5 x 150 mL = 225 mL) 225 mL of water and beat well.
*note the water should be cooled boiled water.  you may substitute with chicken broth for more flavour*
5.  When the water in the wok is boiling, add the beaten egg white mixture on to the round glass dish through a strainer.  Add your chopped shrimp and crab meat and green onions.  Cover.
6.  After 2 minutes, turn off the heat and cover to steam for another 20 minutes.
7.  The egg whites are done when you lightly shake the plate, and they should firm up like a jello and not liquidy.
8.  Serve like that or with a little bit of sweet soya sauce.

**a variation of this can be separately stir fry some marinated chicken strips and then add it on top of the steamed egg whites after step 6.**

Adapted from 吾淑吾食.

君.子.蘭.

君.子.蘭.


We have this pot of plant for over 8 years now.  It has always been green leaves, but this spring flowers have bloomed!!! Words cannot describe this incredible feeling seeing its flower for the first time.  I found this description about this plant in Chinese and found it much more suiting than English.  What good luck will this bring???

翠綠的劍葉烘托火紅的花團     數十朵喇叭狀小花向四方鳴奏

觀其整個植物形體     挺拔青翠的綠葉玉立亭亭  

綽約的風姿以及高雅的神韻 飄然坦蕩大有「君子」之風

 亦是「吉祥」、「高雅富貴」的象徵 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFprdzHje0o