For the Love of...: 2012

Don't feel like another glass of that eggnog but don't want to throw it away either? Here is a great recipe that will use up that leftover eggnog, that's not in your face EGGNOG!- but much more subtle, bringing back hopefully, good memories of that holiday meal. The sweetness of the eggnog french toast paired with the saltiness of bacon makes the perfect post-Christmas brunch.

10:18 PM

If you've seen our previous post on prime rib you'll know that it's a great option for the holidays if you're tired of the traditional roast turkey. This time around we chose a slightly different cooking method than last year where we started the roast in a screaming hot oven first, then lowered the heat for the remainder of the cooking time. Our secret this time around was reversing the process and starting the roast at a low temperature first, cooking till medium rare, then removing the roast; flipping the oven to maximum and then browning it to perfection. The result was an even moister roast that was perfectly medium rare and pink from the crust to the centre!

Beef holiday roasts

7:34 PM

Many of us know a good quality olive oil can make a world of difference in a dish. Not only can olive oil be used in the cooking process, but as a beautiful garnish. The numerous occasions which I've seen professional chefs drizzle olive oil over a dish as a finishing touch, says a lot about the way it can round out a dish, both in presentation and flavour. Luckily for us, we didn't have to go far to obtain some of the best quality olive oil out there...

condiments Italian Review Calgary vegetarian

7:18 PM

This dessert is typical of Hong Kong style bakeries and are dead simple to make especially since tart shells are readily available at any store. Coconut tarts have a light and airy filling rich in flavour with a slight chewy texture and topped with a festive glace cherry. The filling can be made the night before and put in the oven an hour before guests arrive. In my opinion, they taste best fresh out of the oven with a cold glass of milk.

Chinese dessert holiday

3:49 PM

Overall - 7/10

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Food - 6/10

Service - 7/10

Ambiance - 7.5/10

Catch Restaurant & Oyster Bar on Urbanspoon

Beef Canadian dessert Review Calgary Seafood

5:32 PM

Dear wonderful readers,

We know you've been stalking us online for a while now (the stats say so, and apparently y'all really like Chinese Braised Pork Belly. Just saying.) Well, it's time to stalk us in real life and maybe even say hello while supporting a great cause.

The hubby and I will be doing some baking for the Calgary Food Blogger Bake Sale- Holiday Edition, benefitting Calgary Meals on Wheels. We will be making one of my favourite desserts: COCONUT TARTS! And yes, they are THAT GOOD. This Hong Kong style dessert will be my own mother's recipe and hopefully you'll like them as much as we do. Deets are as below:

Help us raise money for a great cause and stuff your face with yummy blogger-love-infused baking while you're at it!

Happy Holidays,

Chrissy & Darrin

P.S. Check out the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/109927729172045/ for a list of other participating bloggers.

events local

5:50 PM

Spragg's Meat Shop has multiple locations around town including one at the Kingsland Farmers Market. This family run farm raises some of the best pork we've ever tasted. It must have something to do with the fact that their hogs are free range and allowed to roam in spacious pastures. Although a bit more expensive we've found that when we purchase high quality meat rather than the 'family packs' at large supermarkets we end up enjoying the flavours more. Here is a great slow cooker recipe that highlights the deliciously tender pork with the classic Chinese aromas of five spice and star anise.

Chinese local pork Slow cooker

8:26 PM

Overall - 7.5/10

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Food - 8/10

Service - 7/10

Ambiance - 7/10

When we were younger it was a sunday tradition to go for dim sum with our parents followed by shopping for chinese groceries. Its was the only day of the week that my brother and I weren't going to school and my dad wasn't working so it made for a special day. Thankfully T-Pot China Bistro with its delicious dim sum is located steps away from T&T market allowing us to relive our laid back family Sundays. Here is an update to our original post from a more recent visit

We started off with egg tarts which if you've never tried them before are little sweet tarts filled with a creamy egg yolk custard. The pastry here is flakey and has a hint of savouriness from the lard used in the dough.

Salt and pepper squid is a great treat every so often and was really crispy with just the right chewiness to the squid.

The nice thing about T-Pot is that in addition to the traditional dim sum dishes above, they also have Hong Kong style rice and noodle dishes. Below is chicken rice dish that although looking simple was full of intense chicken flavour. The rice tasted like it was cooked with both chicken broth and the fat which added loads of richness to otherwise bland rice. The chicken was moist and went great with the sweet chilli and soy sauces.

Chicken Chinese Review Calgary Seafood

9:40 PM

Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 9/10

Beef French Review Calgary Seafood

7:02 PM

This recipe is for people who:

Enjoy baking
Don't enjoy baking
Like chocolate
Would like to have chocolate cake in about 5 minutes

Yes, it's true. Chocolate cake in mug that can be prepared and ready to eat in just under 5 minutes. This recipe I learned from my friend Christine, who posted this recipe on Facebook and immediately caught my attention. I had to try it! The cake is moist and tastes delicious. Definitely satisfies that chocolate cake craving in a hurry! The cake can be eaten directly from the mug or if you feel extra fancy plated with your favourite fruit.

dessert

6:36 PM

If you've been following our blog recently, you'll know that our favourite farmer's market in Calgary is hands down the Kingsland Market. Not only does it have the best food options, but also a great community feel and unique vendors. One of those vendors that we had the pleasure of meeting was the maker of Yatu Gourmet Magic, an Ethiopian spice paste perfect for meats and veggies of all kinds. It's predominately a tomato based sauce but kicked up with a number of different spices including what we think is cinnamon and cardamom. Here is a roasted chicken recipe that really highlights the deliciousness of this spice blend.

Chicken Ethiopian local

8:18 PM

Overall - 8/10
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Food - 9/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 7/10

Kaffir Lime Indonesia Grill (Kingsland Farmer's Market) on Urbanspoon

Beef Chicken Fast Food Indonesian Lamb Review Calgary

8:03 PM

Overall - 8/10
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Food - 9/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Service 8/10

Chicken Korean Review Calgary

7:51 PM

Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9.5/10
Ambiance - 8.5/10
Service - 9/10

Vintage Chophouse & Tavern on Urbanspoon

Beef Review Calgary Seafood

5:38 PM

Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9.5/10
Ambiance - 9/10
Service - 8/10

Beef Review Spain Seafood Spanish Tapas travel

11:14 PM

Overall - 8.5/10
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Food - 8.5/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10

Beef Chicken Japanese Korean pork Review Calgary Seafood

5:50 PM

This simple recipe is a great dip, using just a few ripe avocados, tomatoes and herbs and seasonings. Served alongside tortilla chips, on fajitas, or tacos and a cold beer, you can't go wrong.

appetizer Mexican vegetarian

5:42 PM

Check out Spartan Training's new Kale Shake recipe and get a head start on those new year's resolutions!

vegetarian

5:05 PM

'Chow mein' directly translates into fried noodles. Typically it involves deep fried egg noodles that are then topped with a sauce made of any combination of meats and vegetables. The beauty of chow mein lies in the contrast of textures between the crispy noodles on the edges of the plate and the soft noodles that have soaked up the sauce. Our recipe is a lot easier to make at home and recreates the crisp noodles by pan frying instead of deep frying. The sauce can be made from any combination of whats available in your fridge.

Chinese pork

8:28 PM

Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9/10
Service - 8.5/10
Ambiance - 9/10

Cheese pork Review Spain Seafood Spanish Tapas travel

10:17 PM

Overall - 8/10
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Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance 8/10

pork Review Spain Spanish Tapas travel

11:32 PM

Overall - 8.5/10
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Food - 8/10
Ambiance 9/10
Service - 8/10

Beef Canadian Chicken dessert local Review Banff Seafood travel

9:21 PM

Traditionally, Chinese sticky rice is served at dim sum and contains a variety of fillings including minced pork, Lap Cheong (Chinese sausage), Chinese mushroom and salted egg yolk. This delicious mixture is then wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed producing a rice dish that is infused with the aromas of each separate ingredient. Unfortunately this method of cooking can be quite time consuming and some of the ingredients hard to find. Here's a recipe that is much simpler to make but produces a dish that's just as good!

Chinese pork

4:57 PM

As mentioned in one of our previous posts, one of our favourite dishes to enjoy in the 40 degree weather of Seville was this chilled tomato soup. Although similar to gazpacho, Salmorejo is richer and doesn't include cucumber. Traditionally its served with spanish ham and chopped hard boiled egg however our version is served with prosciutto, toasted croutons and some grated parmesan cheese which were much easier to find and which complimented the creamy chilled soup well.

Cheese pork Spanish vegetarian

6:45 PM

Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9.5/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance 8.5/10

dessert pork Review Spain Seafood Spanish travel

7:41 PM

We love sushi. Outside of Japan, probably the most popular is "maki", sushi rice rolled with a nori sheet containing different fillings from seafood to even meat, depending on your taste. I happen to love the creaminess of imitation crab and mayo mixture with ripe avocado in the California roll. So we decided to get the ingredients necessary to make our own sushi at home. Since my favourite food/ingredient is egg, we also made tamago (sweet egg 'omelette') to use as a filling. We were pleasantly surprised at the results- our sushi tasted just as good or even better than sushi we've had at different restaurants. We hope you enjoy this recipe!

Japanese Seafood vegetarian

9:28 PM

This is my take on the classic steak florentine; in addition to the traditional flavours of lemon and olive oil, shaved parmesan cheese adds just the right amount of richness to this steak recipe. If you choose, aging your beef in the refrigerator for 1-2 days prior to grilling both tenderizes the meat and intensifies the flavours.

Beef Cheese Italian

8:28 PM

Overall - 8/10

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Food - 9/10

Service - 8/10

Ambiance - 7/10

Mallorca 196

Barcelona, Spain

934531033

dessert pork Review Spain Seafood Spanish travel

6:45 PM

Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 9/10

Plaza de los Venerables 1
Seville, Spain 41004
954 228 483

Beef Cheese dessert pork Review Spain Seafood Spanish Tapas travel

10:40 PM

Having spent a whole month traveling around Spain we've had our fair share of tapas that has been either amazing or grossly substandard. Prior to leaving for our trip we read a few articles about tapas 'etiquette' but never really found anything that told you how to differentiate a good tapas spot from those all too frequent tourist traps that leave you with a huge bill and a whole load of food regret.

Review Spain Spanish Tapas travel

9:00 PM