Over Easy Breakfast Co.

Over Easy Breakfast Co.
824 Edmonton Trail, North East
Calgary, AB T2E 3J6
Tel: 403.278.EGGS (3447)
http://eatoeb.com/

What a cute little breakfast joint!  Love, love, love everything about the decor - from the little egg-like lights with overeasy written on them, to the blackboard & chalk drawings, and the lovely expression "Love Eat Live Dream".  All their eggs are produced from their own barn - free-run, dark yolk, omega-3 eggs.  Just remember to come early, the wait will be at least 30 min+.  

Benny upstream……$13.99 ****
2 poached eggs, fresh Organic spinach, smoked Steelhead salmon served on a sour dough English muffin, brown butter Hollandaise, herb potatoes & fresh fruit.
All our potatoes are cooked in Organic duck fat.

THE SOUL ‘N A BOWL ™....$11.95 ****
Two poached eggs, herb potatoes, Quebec cheese curds, slow cooked bacon lardons & brown butter hollandaise

French toast trifle.....$13.95 *****
Meyer lemon curd, seasonal fresh berries, pistachios & torched Swiss Meringue

Smooth Curry

Sakuna Chom Suan $7
Special Smooth Curry appetizer "Bird Shrimp" made with breaded tiger prawns on top of fruit salad dressing served in pastry flower cups

Gaeng Phet Pet Yang Special Roasted Duck Red Curry $15
Smooth Curry signature delicious and flavorful red curry paste in coconut milk with grilled duck, pineapple, lychee, red & green peppers.

Smooth Curry

1301-9650 Harvest Hills Blvd N

Calgary, AB T3K 0B3

http://www.smoothcurry.com/

From this meal, we are inspired to create our own Southeast Asian feast with flank steak and chicken satay, roti, vegetable curry, Philippines spring rolls, and shrimp Tom Yum soup.

Ohh la la Patisserie

Macarons $2.15 each
(from left to right) Cappucinno, Lemon Velvet, Hazelnut Chocolate, Chocolate, Pistachio, Salted Caramel

Chocolate Cake $2.50

Ohh la la Patisserie
8561-8A Ave SW
Calgary, AB T3H 0V5
http://www.ohhlalapatisserie.com/

Winnie the Pooh puzzle

Finally!!! The long awaited mosaic Winnie the Pooh puzzle is done!!! I am so happy to finish this project after 8 long years (of course I didn't work on it everyday haha). I first got this around first year undergrad during Christmas at those seasonal booths for about $20.  Worked on it a bit the first year whenever I am taking a break from studying for finals.  I guess the two times I actually worked on it was during the December finals and the April finals.  Then this Christmas comes. The first Christmas I haven't spend with anybody at all.  Declined friends' invitation to New Year's Eve parties. Listened to the new Taylor Swift Red album (on repeat) and completed this project.  Although it sounds a bit anti social but at the end of it I felt very 'therapeutic' - a time to reflect on my goals, dreams, and believes... Reflect on shortcomings and how to be a better person.  I think it's actually quote suiting for the new year! Happy New Year!

Chocolate Tartufi (Ice Cream Truffles)

Yield: 12 tartufi

Ingredients:
2 cups Real Dairy light chocolate ice cream
6 oz. Baker's dark chocolate, chopped
6 oz. Baker's white chocolate, chopped
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into slices
1/2 cup of almond, chopped
1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup of Oreo cookie crumbs
 
Directions:
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place in the freezer.  Once the plate is chilled, use a dough scoop or ice cream scoop (I used a half sphere measuring spoon) to shape mounds of ice cream, making sure that the mounds are solid.  Brush any dangling bits of ice cream away so the surface is completely smooth.  Place each mound on the chilled plate or baking sheet.  Freeze the shaped mounds thoroughly before proceeding.

2. When you are ready to dip the truffles, combine the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.  Working quickly, dip one ice cream mound at a time into the chocolate mixture, moving between two spoons until the coating is smooth and the excess has dripped off.  Then dropped the truffles and roll into chopped nuts or Oreo cookie crumbs for decoration.  Return to a new parchment-lined chilled surface and return to the freezer.  Freeze until ready to serve.

Thoughts:
1. Super super easy to make! And all the ingredients are easily accessible and not wasteful.
2. Taste like Purdy's ice cream bar rolled in nuts. Awesome!
3. Dark chocolate was perfect in balancing the sweet from the ice cream and toppings. But the white chocolate did not melt properly for some reason, and turned to a thick paste.

Oreo Cheesecake

Ingredients:
For the crust:
4 cups of Oreo cookie crumbs
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
16 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
12 tbsp. sugar
12 tbsp. sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large egg plus 2 egg yolk
16 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325˚ F.  Line an 9-inch baking pan with foil.  To make the crust, add in the melted butter to the oreo cookie crumbs and mix until the cookie crumbs are moistened.  Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan.  Press the crumbs into an even layer over the bottom of the pan.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside and prepare the filling while maintaining the oven temperature.

2. To make the filling, add the cream cheese to the bowl, beat until light and smooth (original recipe ask for electrical mixer).  Mix in the sugar until well combined.  Blend in the sour cream, vanilla and salt.  Beat in the egg and egg yolk until incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed.  Stir in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula.

3. Pour the cheesecake batter over the prepared crust, smoothing the top with a spatula.  Bake for about 40 minutes, until the cheesecake is set around the edges but slightly wobbly in the center.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool about 1 hour to room temperature.  Cover the pan and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Thoughts:
1. Simple to make and taste absolutely delicious. A bit on the tart side for me because I don't like the taste of sour cream. But everyone else at the party enjoyed it very much. The oreo cheesecake I made was over-baked and there were cracks visibly formed.
2. I wonder if having an electric mixer makes a difference to how 'light' the cheesecake would taste.

Barque Smokehouse

Barque Smokehouse
299 Roncesvalles Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M6R 2M3
416-532-7700
barque.ca/

For my birthday this year, we went to Barque Smokehouse for dinner.  The place is on the small side so we waited for about 1.5 hour before we were seated at the bar. They offer complimentary popcorn with two different BBQ sauce for dipping and house-made sparkling water.  Awesome bonus! After reading the menu, we ordered the Sampler for Two and chose brisket, beef ribs, and sweet heat baby back ribs for our meats and chose crushed potatoes, Barque Caesar salad, and mixed green salad for our sides. The great thing about this place is their sides change regularly to match the seasons. One time we went in the summer there are BBQ corn and asparagus as sides. 

Sampler For Two ($42)
Choose 3 Meats and 3 Sides
Meats:
Brisket, 2 Beef Ribs, 2 Merguez Sausages, 2 Competition Chicken Thighs, 1/2 Rack Baby Back Ribs (sweet heat or dry rub).
Sides:
Fries, Sautéed Garlic Kale, Mixed Greens Salad, Sage & Smoked Provalone Pasta, Barque Caesar Salad, Crushed Potatoes, Pickled Vegetables.

Crushed Potatoes - rich, creamy, flavorful garlic mashed potato topped with some fried onions and green onions.

Barque Caesar Salad - candied smoked bacon, house-made croutons, fresh Parmesan, and lettuce. The candied bacon is the star!

Mixed Green Salad - mixed greens with hazelnut and pears in a vinaigrette dressing

Beef Ribs - savory rub with a sweet glaze, slow cooked to perfection

Sweet Heat Baby Back Ribs - slow smoked in a sweet and spicy rub

Brisket - slow cooked and then sliced to 0.5cm thickness. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this one but there were 4-5 slices of brisket as lengthy as the baby backs

Cookies & Gelato ($8) for dessert - house-made vanilla, cappucinno, and pumpkin spice gelato with freshly baked cookies. Yummy gooodness!

Overall Impression:
Very impressed by the heart of serving food from Barque, everything is house-made and slow cooked, with menu adapting to the changing seasons! Definately my favourite restaurant thus far!

Khao San Road

Since the close down of our favourite Thai restaurant - Buon Thai - in downtown Edmonton, I have been craving good quality Thai food for a long time.  Khao San Road of Toronto have highly regarded reviews on multiple sites.  So we decide to give it a try.  First of Khao San Road does not take any reservations,  so you will have to get in line and leave your phone number.  We went on a Thursday night and waited for about 40-50 minutes since 5:30pm. Even waiting outside, you can smell the aroma of the Thai spices making you hungrier as you wait.  Khao San Road has two menus - a regular menu and a vegan friendly menu.  Great news for vegans!  With our research on reviews, we decided to order three dishes (extra to take home) ;)  We ordered Khao Soi, Chef's special Pad Thai, and a yellow curry.  I was most impressed by Khao Soi - it has tender beef brisket pieces egg noodles in a curry based soup.  The Chef's special Pad Thai was a bit too flavorful for me, a bit too tangy for my liking.  My friend Ply, who is Thai, did mention Thai people love the combination of sour and spicy and sweet.  And finally we had the yellow curry with beef with coconut rice.  The yellow curry was really nice - soft potatoes and tender beef slices... but since the base is very similar to Khao Soi I get the two flavours mixed up.  Khao San Road also have Panang, Red, and Green curries to pick from.  I like how they allow you to pick any protein you want for you curry.  You can choose from tofu, beef, chicken or pork, or with a dollar extra with shrimp.  Other items we would like to try are the Squash Fritters (Gra Bong) and Garlic Deep Fried Tofu.  Portion of food is a bit smaller than normal restaurants.  I would say the portion is enough for a single girl's meal, but small for a boy's appetite.  One other thing I didn't like is that the seats are bar stools, and there is no place to put your jacket, makes it uncomfortable to sit for very long.  Despite this, I think their flavors are authentic Thai cuisine and I would come back.


Khao San Road
326 Adelaide West
Entertainment District
Toronto, ON
http://www.khaosanroad.ca/

Khao Soi ($14)
Egg noodles in a coconut milk enriched curry, garnished with crispy noodles, green onion, coriander and lime. Choice of Chicken ($13) or beef brisket ($14).

Chef's Special Pad Thai (Sam Roas) ($15)
Three flavours style - sweet, sour, and savory. Topped with home roasted peanuts, dried chillies, and freshly squeezed lime juice for that extra kick.

Gaeng Graree (Yellow Curry with Beef) ($13)
A thicken curry dish that has more tumeric than other Thai curries. Choice of tofu, chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp (add $1).

Braised Atlantic Salmon Steak

This dish was inspired by the absolutely delicious black cod I had at Iron Chef Morimoto's restaurant in New York City. I had ordered the bento lunch box which includes: salad, miso soup, 3 pieces of nigiri, 3 pieces of maki, 3 pieces of tempura in a cheese sauce, a choice of braised black cod or grilled wagyu beef, and seasonal fruit panna cotta (mango with fresh berries was our flavour) for $24US dollars. My bf had the wagyu beef and I had the black cod. After he tried a bit of my black cod, he keeps asking for seconds! So we decide to look up the recipe and try making it ourselves. However, it was difficult to find fresh nice black cod in Canada. So we tried it with Atlantic salmon steaks and it works just as beautifully! Here it is!

Ingredients

• 0.5 cups sake
• 2 slices of fresh ginger
• 2 Atlantic salmon steak with skin on
• 0.4 cups sugar
• 0.25 cup soy sauce
• 0.25 teaspoons tamari (we bought the kikkoman brand ones)
• 1 tablespoons mirin (we bought the kikkoman brand ones)

Preparation

1. Grill the ginger and fish steak skin side down in a large, deep skillet. After a minute, rotate the fish to grill all sides a minute each. Pour in the sake and  cover and cook over high heat for 3 minutes. Add the sugar and cook over medium-high heat for three more minutes.

2. Pour the soy sauce and tamari over the fish fillets. Cook over medium-high heat, covered, for five minutes. Add the mirin and cook for three minutes longer. Be careful not to burn the fish; glaze the fillets by repeatedly pouring the thickened sauce over them while cooking.

3. With a slotted spatula, carefully transfer the black cod fillets to a platter. Check the fish to make sure it has no residual bones hidden in it.

4. If the braising liquid is not thick enough, keep cooking it over high heat until it becomes caramelized.

5. Garnish the cod with the julienned scallion and ginger and sprigs of kinome, and drizzle with the braising liquid.

Source: Modified from Iron Chef Morimoto's Braised Black Cod recipe in The New Art of Japanese Cooking

Magnolia Bakery

Magnolia Bakery is famous for their cupcakes and Depression era icebox cakes in New York City.  Apparently they are considered the first to start the cupcake craze in the 1990s.  In fact this bakery is so famous that it is featured in Saturday Night Live, Sex and the City, and the Devils Wears Prada to name a few.  Now Magnolia Bakery has 7 locations in USA and 4 locations internationally, in addition to the online shop that has nation wide shipping.     

During our NYC trip, we actually heard about Magnolia Bakery on TV one night.  And coincidentally we walked by the bakery on our way back to the hotel from Rockefeller Center that night, and saw every single person in front of us walked into the shop.  So we looked at the name of the store and realized IT IS Magnolia!  So we walked in to order a quick snack.  We were actually very lucky to got to the bakery just 30 minutes before closing.  Most of the goodies are sold out by this time, otherwise I would definitely order a few cupcakes and some cheesecakes.  Also for future reference, their Banana Pudding (layers of vanilla wafers, fresh banana, and creamy vanilla pudding) is famous!  We ordered a slice of red velvet cake and a large hot chocolate.  The red velvet cake was very moist, the layers of the cake and vanilla icing were perfect!  I'd bet the cupcakes would be amazing too.  I also enjoyed the hot chocolate very much.  The hot chocolate was prepared from real chocolate melted in steamed milk.  Can't wait to try their coffee next time too.  And I will make sure we come earlier in the day to have a great selection of goodies with coffee! =)

Magnolia Bakery

Rockefeller Center

1240 Avenue of the Americas (at the corner of 49th and 6th Ave)
New York, NY 10020
http://www.magnoliabakery.com/

Hot chocolate made from real chocolate melted in steamed milk ($3? Large)

A slice of red velvet cake ($4.50)