Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Instead of New Year's resolutions this year, I'm working on a few goals to make this years holiday season the best possible.  In previous years, the anticipation of Christmas and feel good vibes peaks around the end of November and gradually decreases until by the time the end of January, I'm ready to vomit when I see another left over Christmas cookie.  All kidding aside, here are the three simple goals I'm sharing with you in hopes to keep myself accountable.  I've sprinkled in a few links to recipes just in case you're reading this and were hoping for a food related post ;-)

1.  No room for negativity.  Whether it be a person, thing or situation- keep in mind you are in charge of your own happiness.  Enter every situation with good intentions and positivity.  Realize when someone is not respecting your 'bubble of positivity', they are only projecting their insecurities.  The happiest people are the most secure people.  Realize when something goes wrong, it's a chance to learn or turn things around.
The "No Beef with Nobody" Holiday Prime Rib
2.  Digital detox.  It's easy to get caught up in the lives of others, the constant reminders of what you should be doing, the incessant chatter of what how you should think, feel, want or need.  At my core, I despise social media but appreciate its potential and uses.  I'm limiting myself to text/phone calls only for the 5 days leading up to Christmas.  No web surfing or social media.  The people who are the closest to you, who are truly present in your life are the ones who matter.  They will want to know how you are, what you're up to regardless of whether you've updated your status, tweeted or posted a picture on your Instagram in the last 24 hours.  The key to surviving a digital detox is to plan ahead.  Plan to be busy doing fun things, even better- fun things with people, rather than being busy glued to your device.  By the time you're done doing these fun things, hopefully you'll be so exhausted you will be able to fight the urge to check your phone before bed.

3. Gratitude.  Be thankful and gracious.  Count your blessings and they will multiply.  Truth is, I used to think this was horrible advice.  I would try it and wouldn't immediately feel 'better'.  I've realized that gratitude is a way of life.  Give yourself permission to be upset, sad or angry and then move on.  Be thankful for the time spent with friends and family, everyday.

Blogging is a digital journal so please take this post as such.  These are my own personal goals and my hope is if you internalize any of these, that you won't let stress get in the way of your enjoyment of the holidays.  Are the holidays a stressful time for you?
Although Canadian Thanksgiving has passed, with Halloween around the corner, I thought this pumpkin cheesecake might still be relevant to some of you looking for a pumpkin related dessert.  This recipe was taken from Nigella Lawson's "Feast" and it was very simple to follow and turned out great.  I didn't bother to dress it up or worry too much about the crack down the centre after it baked- sometimes all that matters is how it tastes!  This version, Nigella claims to be "fluffier and subtler" than a regular cheesecake and I would have to agree.  Nice one, Nigella!

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we've already started thinking about what to cook for the holiday season.  If you're looking for an alternative to turkey or a side dish to complement your bird, here are five tried and true recipes from our blog: 


This recipe elevates the Thanksgiving ham with a delicious apple bacon chutney.  Both sweet and savoury, the chutney both compliments and adds another dimension to each bite of ham.  Recipe here.
This Italian 'strata' is essentially a savoury bread pudding flavoured with cheese, bacon, mushrooms and caramelized onions. Although not a traditional stuffing, this side more than makes up for it with the perfect blend of earthiness from the mushrooms, caramelized onions and richness of the cream and smoky bacon. Recipe here.
This recipe uses cornbread which gives the stuffing a wonderful texture and sweetness to balance the savouriness of the bacon and sausage.  The cornbread is also amazing for soaking up that puddle of gravy on your plate so you're guaranteed every bit of gravy goodness gets in your belly.  Recipe here.
If you're sick of the traditional turkey, here's a beef alternative.  This recipe is equally as satisfying as a turkey with the caramelized onion gravy and makes for fantastic left overs.
Recipe here.
If you're not a huge pumpkin fan, here's a different dessert to try.  I discovered a fantastic recipe for sticky toffee pudding last year and made it for Thanksgiving.  The cake is moist from the dates and the toffee sauce rich and decadent; needless to say, it was a hit.  Also, I feel like baking anything in a bundt pan makes your creation ten times more impressive.  Recipe here.
We hope these recipes were useful and at the very least gave you some inspiration for Thanksgiving this year!
Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 9/10
Hog Island Oyster Company Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


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Hog Island Oyster Co. aka Seafood Mecca

With a prime rib roast being one of the most expensive cuts of meat available you want to make sure that you cook it right. By "right" I mean that the exterior is perfectly brown and roasted while the interior is a uniform medium rare. We have tried our hand at a number of different methods here and here, but as they say, third time's the charm. This recipe cooks the roast at the lowest temperature most ovens can sustain (200 F) for 50-55 minutes per pound (internal temperature of 135 F) for a bone in roast. We crusted the roast with ground wild mushrooms to make the crust extra savoury. The results were fantastic!

 
Sticky toffee pudding is my all-time favourite dessert.  We've had our fair share of sticky toffee puddings over the years and I was thrilled to find a recipe for it in Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook, Jamie Oliver's Comfort Food.  I decided to give it a try and see how it would turn out and was impressed with the results.  The soft cake once drizzled with the decadent toffee sauce, gives it the perfect pudding texture.  This recipe is definitely for a special occasion or the holiday season as it doesn't skimp on the ingredients that make it so delicious.
Overall - 7.5/10
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Food - 7/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 8/10
As much as I love Christmas, I have to say that my favourite holiday meal happens at Thanksgiving. You get all of the amazing food but half the busyness of Christmas. This year our Thanksgiving ham was roasted with an apple chutney flavoured with bacon and sage.
Overall - 8/10
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Food - 8/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 9/10
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As you've seen from our previous post on eggnog french toast; leftovers are big part of the holiday season and trying to find ways to use them up can be tough. Here is a recipe that will quickly and deliciously use up some of those main course leftovers. A hash is a simple recipe that consists of two components: meat and starch. The secret is frying each component until caramelized and golden brown. Ours is made up from left over prime rib, sweet potatoes and parsnips. If you have left over ham, turkey, roasted potatoes or stuffing, they can all be used to make a great tasting hash. As a finishing touch, ours is topped with a sunny side egg.

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.

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!  

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. 




This basic chocolate cake can be dressed up in any way you want by icing it with any flavour of buttercream and using a variety of chocolate candies or even fresh fruit.   I made this cake in one cake tin out of convenience, but you can easily divide the batter into two tins and make two layers.  In fact, I recommend this because the icing in between will make the cake more moist.  


A sleek presentation

A more festive presentation

Turkey has been the staple in our family for the past many Christmas dinners so we figured it was time to try something different. We decided on a tender standing prime rib roast seasoned simply with salt, pepper and rosemary.  The flavour of the beef is perfectly complemented with a sour cream horseradish sauce.
I remember when I was six, excitedly biting into a gingerbread cookie I received at school and losing a baby tooth.  For the longest time I avoided gingerbread, thinking they were all unpleasant and hard as rocks.  Thankfully, when I decided to begin making my own, I found this recipe that yields soft cookies that hold their shape with just the right amount of spice.  No gingerbread house walls or tree ornaments here- unless you wait four weeks for them to dry out!




I suggest making the dough and icing the night before since the dough takes some time to chill.
Although Christmas trees, snowmen and snowflake shapes are what the season calls for, this recipe can be used on almost any occasion (i.e. hearts for Valentine's Day).  Easy and fool proof, this sugar cookie recipe will please both children and adults alike at your next holiday party.

As the Thanksgiving weekend is upon us the time to think about a good stuffing to go with our turkey has been on our minds. Instead of the classic cornbread stuffing we made last year we decided to try something different but nonetheless tasty. This year the stuffing to accompany our bird will be an Italian 'strata' which is essentially a savoury bread pudding flavoured with cheese, bacon, mushrooms and caramelized onions. Although not traditional, this side is the perfect blend of earthiness from the mushrooms and caramelized onions and richness from the cream and smoky bacon. 

This is the ultimate holiday stuffing, whether it's Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter.  The cornbread gives it a wonderful texture and sweetness, balancing the savory sausage and bacon.  It is also chock full of vegetables- carrots, celery, corn and onions.  The cornbread can be made ahead of time and is delicious by itself or as a side for other dishes.


Cornbread