My other brother...

It's been a fabulous weekend! Food! Drinks! Friends! Loveliness!

I'll post one at a time.

On Saturday, my old friend (old as in I've known her a long time, not old as in decrepit), Agnes, and I went to the NSDCC Designer Craft Show Christmas 2012. So much amazing talent! I can't even begin to imagine. We picked up some lovely things. We hopped on over to the Farmers' Market for more lovely things. Plum berliners for the win! 

After the market, we went up to Darrell's. Darrell's has been around for twenty years and it's pretty amazing. It's best known for its peanut butter burger. I knew right away that's what I was gong to order. 

The menu board.

The infamous peanut butter burger. 

Yup. There's the peanut butter. So. Good.

Agnes' order, the Hen Den Burger with a fabulous salad.

I love the food action shots. Agnes is a great sport! She really enjoyed her meal.

Yup, that's me stuffing my piehole.

I've noticed that most my X-ring is very prominent in all my facestuffing pictures. I'm going to start telling people I majored in Stuffngmyfaceology.

The mess after the first bite. 

Darrell's is an institution here in Halifax, and deservedly so. The service is fabulous (Becca was lovely!), the food is delicious, and the atmosphere hasn't really changed much since the place opened. I was stuffed afterwards... stuffed full of awesome! 

dinner ditty ~ Barely Legal - The Strokes. 

For the love of peanut butter and Mom

Behold the humble peanut butter sandwich.

I love sandwiches. I love grilled cheese sandwiches. I love ham sandwiches. I love BLTs. I even love the sixty zillion breakfast sandwiches I ate at my last job. I am an equal-opportunity sandwich lover. 

Alas, if I had to pick a favourite sandwich, it would be the peanut butter sandwich. Crunchy peanut butter on whole wheat or multigrain bread. Not toasted. No jam or jelly. No banana. The only thing I like with it is a glass of milk. 

When I was in high school, I had to bring my lunch to school. I had the same thing almost every day; a peanut butter sandwich, a granola bar, and an apple juice. My mom would make it for me (these were the days before I could cook), and she always offered to make something else. Why bother? To me, that lunch was perfection! (That said, sometimes, Mom would make me an egg salad sandwich, which was almost as delicious. She makes the best egg salad). 

I've been out of school and on my own for a long time. I can make my own sandwiches, and they taste pretty good. I still love the peanut butter sandwich; in fact, I just ate one. Sure, it took a little while to eat it, thanks to my little drama queen toof, but it was still delicious. And, yes, my mom still makes me the odd sandwich. When I moved down to Sydney earlier this year, my mom packed lunches for me, my dad, and my uncle. We tore into them once we had the truck packed up. We were so hungry and those sandwiches tasted SO GOOD that I'm sure any of us would have caused serious damage to anyone foolish enough to stand in our way of said sandwiches.

I hope she packs a lunch for me next week...

dinner ditty ~ What Ever Happened - The Strokes

Loving the loaves!

Meatloaf. 

I think all food should be loaved. Loafed? Loved!

I'm a huge fan of meatloaf. From the bog-standard ground beef, egg, milk, breadcrumbs, and seasoning, to fancier loaves with foie gras and truffles... I love it all. And I'm not alone! When I was in culinary school, meatloaf day came five times a school year. You always knew what day it was, because you would hear excited shouts down the halls, 'Hey! It's meatloaf day!'

Meatloaf day, indeed! It was the same when I worked in restaurants. Everybody still got excited about meatloaf!

Why? It's comfort food! It makes you think of running home after school, finishing your homework, playing with your sisters in the backyard, then coming in for supper. It makes you think of fighting with your brother over the last piece, which may or may not have included stabbing him in the back of the hand with your fork to get it...

Do you have a favourite comfort food? What is it? Why? 

dinner ditty ~ Sorrow - David Bowie

Maple chiffon pie and the obsession with staff meals

I am obsessed with staff meals. 

It is my dream to walk into a restaurant and be asked to join in the staff meal, as they sit around and eat delicious food not found on the menu. The picture above is of mohinga, a Burmese dish. 

There is a restaurant in Moncton, Delightfully Delicious, owned by a Burmese family. It's a Japanese restaurant that serves some of the best Thai food I've ever eaten. I used to go there with my coworkers. We all ordered the same things; I used to get the avocado salad and Pad Siew. YUM. 

I was talking to the owner one day and asked him if they ever served mohinga. Mohinga is a fish soup with rice noodles. It's pretty much Burma's national dish; they eat that tastiness for breakfast.

He told me they only have it as a staff meal, because he didn't think it would appeal to the fine folks of Moncton. He asked me to leave my number, and he promised me he would call me the next time they had it. A few weeks later, I got the phone call. I went down on a Sunday afternoon and they sorted me out with some mohinga.

It was fabulous! It tasted like I was back in Burma. I was very much happiness. They gave me some to take with me when I left, and refused to let me pay for any of it. 

I was the happiest girl in Moncton that day.

Today, I went into Zana's Diner to try some of their maple chiffon pie. They had none left, which doesn't surprise me because it sounds amazing and I should have gotten there sooner to try some. I mean, it's pie! I knew they were making it; Zana told me the other day!

I didn't have any time to be upset about the lack of maple chiffon pie, because I was invited to sit down to have some of the staff meal with Zana, her mom (also Zana!), Heather (the pie maker and server extraordinaire), and a regular customer. I had homemade cheese and homemade flatbread. I had Swiss chard (from Zana's garden!) lentil soup with garlic and noodles. We talked about food and Syria and cooking and other stuff that makes me happy. It was lovely. 

I will be going back for some kibbe and maple chiffon pie as soon as I can. 

I tell you, this move to Sydney was a good one.

dinner ditty ~ A Quick One, While He's Away - The Who

Gyoza for the win!

Gyoza! Whenever I get homesick for Japan, I pick up some Japanese pork dumplings from Bento, the sushi shop at work.

This is what they look like when you buy them ~ 

You could heat them up in the microwave, but then they would taste like sadness. I don't own a microwave, so it's not an option. Here's how I heat them up so they taste just like they do in Japan.

I heat up a dry frying pan ~ 

I heat them for a minute or two, just until they brown and crisp up on the bottom. 

After I check them, I make sure they're sitting up properly. Please ignore the burn on the back of my hand. Stoopid oven rack.

I add a splash of water and return the pan to the burner.

I cover the pan and let the dumplings steam for another minute or two, just until they're a bit soft. They take very little time to heat up.

I throw them on my $1.86 koi plate and eat them with chopsticks. When I heat them up this way, they taste just like they did when I would buy them under the train tracks in Japan. Bliss!

You need to try this at home. You won't be disappointed! Please don't heat them in a microwave. Please. 

dinner ditty ~ Let's Groove - Earth, Wind & Fire

A belated introduction

One of my earliest memories with one of my greatest loves.

A gingerbread woman from McFadgen Bakery in Glace Bay and a coffee.

I love gingerbread people. The taste of gingerbread is one of my earliest memories. I was born in Glace Bay,  but my family moved to Dartmouth when I was three. My dad used to pick up these cookies for us when I was a little girl. It's one of the only things I vaguely remember about living in Cape Breton. The coffee shop (more about that later) behind my apartment building sells these cookies, much to my happiness. 

So. I realized I'm more than a month into this blog and I haven't properly introduced myself. It's somewhat presumptuous of me to assume all my readers know who I am and what I'm about, especially when it comes to food.

My family is pretty adventurous when it comes to food. My mom is an incredible baker and my father is an amazing cook. We were always eating something different; I had my first boeuf bourguignon when I was eight. It took my dad two days to make it and he swore he'd never do it again. Which is too bad, because it's one of the best things I've ever eaten. My mom makes the best chocolate cake in the entire universe; my sisters and I always preferred them to the fancy bakery cakes.

You'd think with this kind of upbringing, I would have developed some baking and/or cooking chops of my own. Not so. In fact, I could barely pass home ec. I set off fire alarms boiling water. I couldn't even master Kraft Dinner. It made me the butt of many jokes in school and university. 

I got tired of people making fun of me, so I decided to learn how to cook. How hard could it be, I thought... I can read a recipe! I can follow directions! 

I started small, and just kept working through all the mistakes and disasters (ooh! I'm going to add even more cayenne to this!). I had dinner parties and brave friends. I had a great support system.

I found myself in Japan. I ate everything. I came back to Canada, worked at an Italian grocery/deli (where I met my best friend, DeeDee), went back to Japan for a year and stayed for just over six. I traveled throughout Asia and the Middle East. I ate everything there, too. 

I came back to Canada, went to culinary school for four years with my other best friend, Molly. I lived with a bear (hello, Mr. Bear). I worked in kitchens and product development. I designed meals with some fabulous people. I got laid off, which made me sad. I found a new job... and moved back to the homeland, Cape Breton.

So, here I am. Eating and cooking and eating and ranting about margarine (don't use it!) and eating and finding my feet here in Sydney. 

I'm pretty happy to be here... I feel like, for the first time in years, I'm home. 

So, enough about me. I'll get back to the food tomorrow. 

dinner ditty ~ Heroes and Villains - Brian Wilson

A chip off the old block

Well, maybe not quite the block. A few blocks over from the old family home in Glace Bay, you can find this little blue wagon of happiness.

I present to you, the Chip Wagon.

Do not sit! I had no plans on sitting, because I wanted to get them chips into me as fast as humanly possible. Sitting would have delayed the awesome.

More pics of the chip wagon, which is a 1942 GMC truck, built for the sole purpose of selling fries. How awesome is that! 

The Yorkes have been running the Chip Wagon since 1987. They've kept the original menu (pop, chips, and hot dogs)... why mess with perfection?

Mike making magic... magic being awesome chips!

Worth the drive to Glace Bay (thanks, Lily)!

I soaked those straight-outta-the-fryer bad boys with vinegar and salt. I ate them so fast, they didn't have time to get hot. These chips don't need ketchup... although I would have loved to have tried them with some olive oil mayonnaise. But, I can't really carry olive oil mayo in my bag just in case I run into a chip truck, right? Hmm.

Yes, I know I've already raved about Fuzzy's Fries. I have enough love in my heart for more than one chip truck. The Chip Wagon is my new crush. I think we'll be very happy together!

dinner ditty ~ Handbags and Gladrags - Stereophonics

Come for the lobster, stay for the strawberry shortcake

It was balls-out busy the past few days at work. At 5 o'clock last night, I was free. Free for a four-day weekend! Hooray me! 

I had a surprise this morning. My older sister, Beulah (haha, her pseudonym from an old blog) showed up with her family. We spent some time in the park near my apartment. It was lovely to see them; I wish they lived closer. 

This afternoon, Aunt Margie and I went out to Louisbourg. She never shows up empty-handed, and today was no exception. She brought me an old favourite; a gingerbread woman from McFadgen's Bakery in Glace Bay (more to come in a future post). We went out to Kennington Cove Beach, which is gorgeous. Here, take a look! 

So lovely! I love the ocean. I get twitchy when I live too far inland. 

We looked around for somewhere to eat and decided on the Lobster Kettle. I'm glad we did! Look how cute it is. And the view is great.

I had the seafood chowder ~

It was dilly. I like dill. It also had big chunks of seafood and veggies, which I also like. The snow crab the people were eating at the next table looked delicious. I will definitely order it the next time I'm there.

I also had the wonton shrimp. I felt like having shrimp, and I worked on a product similar to this a few years ago, so I wanted to give it a taste. The marinara sauce looked and tasted in-house made, so I was pretty happy. Besides, I wanted to be able to hum one of my favourite mangled lyrics... 'I took a wonton and I just kept going'.

Margie had the hamburger, which she said was pretty tasty.

The best part of the meal was the strawberry shortcake. I love strawberries and homemade biscuits, and strawberry shortcake is one of the few things with which I like whipped cream.

It was really good. Terri, our server, brought two forks so I could share it with Margie. She luckily had a few bites before I devoured it like someone was going to take it away from me. I still managed to taste some of it. Best strawberry shortcake I've had in years. You should check it out. 

The prices are reasonable and the servers are lovely, so I'll definitely go back. And, we picked up something special for someone special, which made the day full of more win.

I also picked up a Cape Breton slang dictionary so I won't stare blankly when someone says 'hang gallus' or laugh whenever I hear 'cousint' (which is my personal favourite). And, because I wanted to reach my sweets saturation point for the week, Margie and I went to the Tasty Treat for sundaes when we got back to Sydney.

Margie is a great partner-in-crime for my Eating All of Sydney venture. We giggle about important things, like new shoes and handsome devils.

I also have a new partner-in-crime to join my in my eatings. My 'cousint', Lily, will be coming along to try a few places. Yay!

Today was the best Sunday I've had all week!

dinner ditty ~ Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen

Hot fudge fatayers

My old cellphone was in full shit-the-bed mode, so it was time for a new one. I went uptown and got a fancy new one that won't zip through all the screens when I'm trying to send a text, or randomly turn itself off, or lose memory on a daily basis. It'll also be easier for me to update this blog and post pics of food as they happen. How very exciting! I'm also proud of myself; the impossible has happened! The phone guy was a foxy fox, and I managed not to turn completely red, say something incredibly awkward and/or embarrassing, and stare at his shoes. It's almost like I'm a real adult!

While I was uptown, I went to the Tasty Treat for a hot fudge sundae. I wanted to get some action shots of the tastiest hot fudge sundaes in the world. 

I can't quite capture the deliciousness in pictures. You'll just have to head out to the Tasty Treat and try it for yourself. When I was little, my parents used to call the road by the Tasty Treat 'JL Drive', because a certain curly-haired girl would turn almost inside-out with giggly glee. I still smile every time I see the Tasty Treat sign.

Oh, and for the bears keeping score at home, they also sell hard ice cream... like Moon Mist!

Since I moved to Sydney. Aunt Margie has been telling me about her friend's fatayers. There are few places to buy fatayers around here, which are similar to a samosa. Seeing as I can't find samosas around here (I don't want to talk about it), I'm happy that fatayers are an acceptable substitute. 

When I lived in Halifax, I could get samosas at coffee shops and corner stores. When I lived in Japan, I could shamelessly hustle for them at work, then tackle my coworkers in the staff room if they tried to eat the last one. When I lived in Charlottetown, Mr. Bear and I used to ankle it to the North African food stall at the Farmers' Market for the samosas. When I lived in Moncton, I'd get them at the Indian stall on Saturday morning.

The fatayers of awesome.

Here, I will have to make my own samosas, or happily eat the aforepictured fatayers. They were delicious! The filling was very similar to the North African samosas from the Charlottetown Farmers' Market. This makes me insanely happy, because I really miss them. 

I'm trying not to focus on the food I can't find here. Besides, I'm chef, right? If I really, really, really want it, I can make it myself.

dinner ditty ~ Perfect Situation - Weezer

Feeding Walt

Sometimes, an old friend shows up and you have to feed him. I'm used to feeding bears and large men, so this shouldn't be a problem. When I lived with DL and Beautiful C (and any of the equally large men who were usually hanging about), I would cook enough for ten. There were rarely leftovers.

So, tonight I'm cooking for Walt. He knew me before I could cook, so I am somewhat nervous. I hope he doesn't take one bite, smile politely, and say, 'Oh, I forgot to tell you. I ate before I came. But thank you for thinking of me.', when he's really thinking, 'Holy shitcookies, this tastes like ass.'

I have the maple dressing made for the salad, and the drinks ready for dessert. Now, I just need to make everything that goes in between. Whew!

A week without pictures, but full of air hockey...

So, I've been eating, going to movies, and playing air hockey. I have a partner-in-crime at the moment, Walter*. Walt's an old university buddy who shares my passion for eating, but, tragically, lacks my tolerance for spice.

Well, he's lovely regardless.

We went out to two well-known Canadian chain restaurants and had okay meals. The first night started with the phrase, 'If I order the lasagna tonight, you can punch me in the face'. Which totally made me laugh, mostly because I'd need to stand on a chair to do it. Although, not the chair Walt was sitting in; it had blue Jell-O smeared on it. We scoffed down hamburgers and beer and went to see the new Woody Allen movie. I enjoyed it, and was happy that Walt didn't pretend not to know me after I burst out laughing several times.

Afterwards, we went out to a Cape Breton institution... the Tasty Treat! He bought me a hot fudge sundae and randomly quoted a line from the movie Top Secret... with that, I knew we'd be friends until the end of time. I will get pictures of a Tasty Treat hot fudge sundae and post them here, because they are awesome. I couldn't get a good shot of the sundaes the other night because it was dark and somewhat rainy. It wouldn't have done the deliciousness any justice.

The second chain is known for chicken, so I had a steak. Walt had chicken, and I managed not to eat my meal like someone was about to take it away from me. It's my goal to eventually get through a meal out without a) swearing b) eating much quicker than my friends and then staring awkwardly at them as they finish their meals.

I know, lofty goals.

We worked off this meal with four games of air hockey. I had warned Walt about my air hockey, er, problem, but I'm not entirely sure he believed me. Even after flashing the whole of Sydney by tucking the bottom of my skirt into my knickers, I managed to recover enough to beat him in two games. I should know better than to talk air hockey trash to a man who is almost a foot taller than me and can reach past the centre line. Again, kudos to Walt for not pretending not to know me after I swore in front of the pre-teens watching us play, and then again for laughing like a demented hyena in the movie theatre.

Tomorrow night, I'll be making dinner. I'm going all out, which always ends in ridiculousness and far too much food. I'll definitely be posting pictures. Watch this space!

*names have been changed to protect those who can't handle spicy food.