Creamy Goodness

It's been a while since I last posted something, sorry about that. I've just been overwhelmed with stuff, and I haven't had any time to post anything.


With that being said, I have more post ideas, but I still need to find the time to publish them all! But to start, I'll start small, I made this Fettuccini Alfredo recipe, which I must say was DELICIOUS.  With added pan fried chicken pieces... heaven.


I devoured it before I remembered to take pictures (I do that too often...). So I don't have any pictures BUT I slightly adapted this recipe from Smells Like Home.


Recipe for Fettuccini Alfredo:
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup half and half
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (may need more)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
9 ounces fresh fettuccine (you can also use more if you would like, I used a whole box of fettuccine (500g))
1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (about 3/4 cup)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Garlic and italian seasonings (such as basil) to taste


Directions:

1.  Bring 4 1/2 quarts of water (or however much you need for your pasta) to a boil.

2.  As water is coming to a boil, heat 1 cup of heavy cream and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and gently simmer until the mixture has reduced to about 2/3 cup, 12-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in half and half, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

3.  Add 1 Tablespoon of salt to the boiling water and add pasta.  Cook until  al dente (or however you like to enjoy your pasta).  Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water and drain pasta.

4.  Return cream to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat to low again and add the pasta, Parmesan, nutmeg, garlic, and italian seasonings.  Toss gently with tongs to coat the pasta, and cook an additional 1-2 minutes.  Stir in the reserved pasta water.  Stir some more, and voila, your meal is done.

NOTE: The sauce might seem thin, but it will thicken as it begins to cool and is served.

This recipe goes great accompanied with Garlic Bread which I adapted the recipe from All Recipes. 

Instead of Normal bread I used Foccaccia, I pretty much used all the ingredients but not in the order, or following the directions at all.  I also toasted mine in the oven, but I found that the toaster oven set on "broil" did produce a more fluffy, soft texture for the bread.  Though the normal oven almost did the same job.

So I suggest you try this recipe, because I guarantee you will enjoy it.

RECIPES

I've been baking a lot lately, but I'm running out of idea's to try. Any suggestions?


I recently made Chocolate cupcakes and Billy's vanilla cupcakes with the chocolate buttercream frosting (I cut the cupcakes in half, made them half chocolate and half vanilla, filled them with buttercream icing, and topped them off with the icing too).  I devoured them before any photo's could be taken... BUT I did recently bake my sister's advisory a brownie cake, so I'll put a post on that up soon! This time with pictures!


So if anyone has any recipes they'd like to see being made and tested (by me, family, and friends), leave a comment and I'll get to it ASAP.


Follow me :)


Recipes for cupcakes found at www.marthastewart.com:
Butterlane's Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 40 standard muffin cups with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add chocolate and beat on medium speed until well combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until well combined, 1 to 2 minutes.
4. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with 1 cup water and beginning and ending with flour; beat until just combined, 1 to 3 minutes.
5. Fill prepared muffin cups three-quarters full with batter. Transfer to oven and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate muffin pans and continue baking until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 10 minutes more. Let cool completely before frosting.

Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

Makes about 30 cupcakes

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Billy's Vanilla Buttercream
• Alternate frosting: Billy's Chocolate Buttercream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Bake, and test 'em, then tell me how you liked them!

Pancakes or Flying saucers?

Breakfast: My favourite way to start the morning.  It jumpstarts your day, making you feel satisfied, happy, and energized, all of course are amplified if you make an amazing breakfast or go out for an exquisite brunch.  Either way, I love breakfast.

So it's quite often that my friends and I decide to go for brunch, and Jethro's was our spot that Saturday morning.  As an east-side style of diner, it serves everything from burgers to pancakes and even alligator bites.  It's location on Dunbar is convenient for us Westsiders, allowing us to have reasonably priced, exceptional food, all in the comfort of our backyard.

I've heard of their infamous pancakes before coming to dine here, and decided that I would try them out.  Little did I know, when my other friends were explaining the size to me, they were not exaggerating one tiny bit when they said they were two pancakes, larger than frisbee's, with the width of a finger and a half. Yes, they really are that big, don't believe me? Look below.

They're pancake selection is quite something too, its not your regular pancake.  Not at all.  They've concocted brilliant selections such as "Grrrreat Cakes:

Buttermilk stack with frosted flakes and fresh strawberries baked right in. 

Served with whipped cream", which surprisingly were REALLY good.  The above picture is "The Rooster: A shot of espresso and dark chocolate chips folded into our buttermilk recipe. Topped with whipped cream, with the option of adding chocolate gravy".  Every delicate bite of the fluffy pancake melted in my mouth, with the occasional shot of espresso or chocolate chips.  Did I mention that when the whipped cream soaked through the pancake, it make it taste THAT MUCH BETTER.  You may be sick of pancakes for a little while, but during the moment, it's so worth it.

The closest pancake: Grandma's pancakes

Middle: Strawberries and cream

Farthest: The rooster

So this $9 meal was my breakfast, and snack(s) for a few days, as there was plenty of leftovers.  Is it worth the price? Hell yeeah. Its a great price for what you get quite honestly, but that's when we're talking about the pancakes.  I've yet to go back to try to french toast, which I'm looking forward to.

The Omelet on the other hand is a different story...

I found that my mushroom, pepper, and cheese three egg omelet was meh.  Nothing special there.  The hashbrowns were also just normal potatoes, that were fried.  Taste wise, they were also just ehh.  The toast was on the dry side, but I enjoyed the colour of the rye toast haha

So my suggestion is, stick with the pancakes for brunch time, because that's what stood out pour moi.

So you can see how big the pancakes are in relation to our (not petit but made petit by the pancakes) selves

Check out their other great menu choices at http://www.jethrosfinegrub.com

Dine Out Vancouver: Hapa Izakaya

As a HUGE fan of Three Course Menu's, I could not give up the yearly experience of Dine Out Vancouver.  Hundreds of restaurants offer Three (sometimes four, five, six, even nine - Yes, Banana Leaf had a nine course menu) Course Menu's concocted of the dishes they believe are top notch, at other $18, $28, and $38.


So for my first Dine Out 2011 Experience, Hapa Izakaya, a western-modern Japanese style cuisine, was my target.  The fact that they divided their menu into three menu's (vegetarian, meat, and seafood) appealed to me, therefore my friends and I decided that Hapa Izakaya on Yew would be the ideal restaurant.  Though you were allowed to choose any dishes from any menu (mix n' match).


Going to restaurants with friends is always the best, because you don't feel bad asking to try their every meal, therefore I was able to try food from all three of the mini-menu's, which I have to say, was delish.

Appetizers from the Vegetarian (Gomaae, edamame, chilled tofu - mini platter of all three) and Seafood Menu (Negitoro: finely chopped Albacore tuna belly topped with sesame oil based sauce, onions and green onions; served with garlic toast)

Yes, that's me stealing my friend's Salmon risotto croquette: dashi risotto with salmon and deep fried topped with oba mayo. And yes, it was delicious.

The Appetizer on the Vegetarian Menu was simple.  Chilled tofu (no sauce) so it was tasteless, but it tasted good when I mixed it with the Ahi Tuna Sauce (sesame sauce).  The edamame was unexpected, and in the good way.  The smokyness of it woke up my taste buds because I assumed that it would be the normal salted edamame beans.  But it had a hint of Miso, which I presume made it taste smoky.  The Gomaae was also very flavourful.  The small bits of feta cheese definitely added a little oomph to the green beans & asparagus delicately covered with the sesame sauce.


When I asked my boyfriend what his favourite part of tonight's dinner was, he didn't say "The  Meatballs and bacon" (two of his favourite things combined), or "Ishiyaki", but he said "The garlic bread."


You heard right.  The bread. (See picture above: Part of the Appetizer for the Seafood Section)

Two plates of the Kalbi: grilled BBQ short ribs marinated in sake soy

I didn't try the BBQ Short ribs, but I was told they were REALLY good, and I trust my friend's taste buds.

To finish the night, there were three orders of the Sesame cheesecake: sesame crust, topped with raspberry puree, and one order of the Crème Brulee: vanilla scented.

C'mon, you have to agree that the cheesecake looks delicious.  AND it tasted even better.  If you don't like cheesecake, no problem, this still might be a choice for you because I'm not a big fan of cheesecake at all.  The cheesecake was smooth and creamy, the crust was the perfect balance of sweetness and sesame, and with a little drizzle of raspberry puree - my mouth is watering thinking about it.

To wash that all down, how about a Hello Kitty?

HELLO KITTY
Vodka, Calpis, strawberry puree and soda

Of course that's available virgin.


Last Words:  Is Hapa Izakaya worth it?  YES.


Speed: Dishes come fast, with the exception of one.
Size:  The plates are perfect for sharing, or eating yourself.
Atmosphere: Uplifting, and lively.
Overall: Why are you still reading this? Go get up and get yourself to Hapa Izakaya on Yew!


No, it wasn't THAT good, but it was high up there.  My favourite dish though is the KINOKO MESHI: Hot stone bowl with rice, mixed mushrooms, and iwanori (seaweed seasoning), mixed tableside, which I highly recommend you try.


So if you're looking at these pictures and thinking "Darn, I wish I went."  You can drool even more while checking out the whole menu below.
Hapa Izakaya Dine Out 2011 Menu

Not as comforting as mom's comfort food, but still decent

Comfort Food makes you feel like a teddy bear: warm and fluffy inside.  So when White Spot introduced their new Comfort Food menu, I thought I'd give it a try.

So the Creamy Curry Chicken it was.

That doesn't seem much like comfort food, and it did not create the "warm and fluffy" sensation, but I'd have to say it was alright for a non-authentic Indian curry.  (I'm not Indian so I'm not an expert on Indian curry but I've had Indian curry before so I used that as my comparison).  Ironically, my favourite part of the dish was the broccoli, there was something about the texture that made it so perfect.  They were soft, yet still had a little crunch.  Smothered in the curry sauce... yumm.  Add the rice pilaf and you have a decent meal, if only it came with some naan bread.

Of course it's nothing compared to other dishes available out there, but for White Spot, it's worth a try.

The seafood fusillini on the other hand was in war with my tastebuds.  The noodles were too soft to my liking, the sauce was not "sauce" like (too much tomato), and the whole dish was just not what you would expect out of a pasta dish.  Hoping to receive al dente noodles, those dreams were shattered with a plate of limpy pasta.  This is why White Spot is not attracting Italians.

As for pictures, I wish I took some but I was in such a rush (thank my dad) that I wasn't able to take any.  Next time, I promise you'll have some visuals.

For now, eat yourself silly with chocolates as Valentines day is soon!

Check out their menu:
White Spot Comfort Food Menu

The Beginning.

Food.  It's the one thing everyone on this earth has in common.  We all have to eat, we all have to drink, we all have to live life.

My passion is Food. But I'm sure a lot of yours are too, so that's why I'm starting this blog.  I'm going to update this blog with Recipes, Reviews (of restaurants, recipes, etc.), and all sorts of interesting things that come up, so keep coming back for new posts!

Don't hesitate to comment, ask questions, request, or any of the sort.

Random fact: Svoboda means freedom, and it just so happens that my last name is Svoboda. So that's where the name "Freedom of Food" comes from. 

Keep checking because I will be updating very shortly (right now I have a hugee essay to write. Eeeek!)

For now, enjoy what's rest of your Wednesday night :)