Happy New Year

Posted on 10 January 2011 by leacock

beans

Hi everyone. Hope you’ve had a good start to 2011, and are looking forward to the Year of the Rabbit (hip hop) as well.

We were disorganized with the distribution of the 2010 Christmas CD, so it’s a little more do-it-yourself this year. If you haven’t received your copy, just burn one off the iMac in the family room at Leacock next time you’re visiting (the playlist is in iTunes). If you already have your copy, you can grab the song and artist information here by selecting “2010” in the top menubar. Early reviews are good!

(The “beans” shown above were found in galettes des rois from Thobors (627 Mt Pleasant Road, 416-544-1733, closed Mondays and Tuesdays). We started practising our galette technique on New Year’s Day in order to be well prepared for Epiphany, so we got through several of them.)

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Hong Kong (and Macau) roundup

Posted on 11 July 2010 by leacock

hong kong from the peak

  1. Chi Lin Vegetarian, Nan Lian Garden, Kowloon, tel: (852) 3658 9388, MTR Diamond Hill.
  2. Chuen Cheung Kui Restaurant, Lisa House, Kowloon, tel: (852) 2396 0672.
  3. Ginza Bairin, Basement I, K11, Kowloon, tel: (852) 3122 4128, MTR Tsim Sha Tsui.
  4. Lippo Chiuchow Restaurant, Lippo Centre, Hong Kong, tel: (852) 2526 1168, MTR Admiralty.
  5. Restaurante Platão, 3 Travessa São Domingos, Macau, tel: (853) 2833 1818. Closed Mondays.
  6. Suzuki Café Company, Level 12 Langham Place, Kowloon, tel: (852) 2392 3386, MTR Mongkok. Also locations in Vicwood Plaza, Sheung Wan and Ocean Terminal, Tsim Sha Tsui.
  7. Yè Shanghai, Level 3 Pacific Place, Hong Kong, tel: (852) 2918 9833, MTR Admiralty. Also locations in Shanghai (Xintiandi) and Kowloon (Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel).
  8. Yung Kee Restaurant, Hong Kong, tel: (852) 2522 1624, MTR Central.
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Vienna roundup (updated 2013)

Posted on 15 May 2010 by leacock

spittelberg

Eating and drinking

  1. Hollmann Salon, Grashofgasse 3/Heiligenkreuzerhof, near Stephansplatz, tel: +43 1 96 11 960.40. Tucked away in the extraordinarily lovely Heiligenkreuzerhof courtyard of Vienna’s old town, this place has an indescribable atmosphere and fantastic food. The menu changes frequently and revolves around local, seasonal (mostly organic) products and an array of fresh baked breads. The Zisterzienser monastery that owns the building closes up the courtyard by 11 pm, so last orders are early (around 9 pm). Reservations strongly recommended and easy to make online. If you have one meal in Vienna, you wouldn’t go wrong with Hollmann.
  2. Pöschl (formerly Immervoll), Weihburggasse 17, near Stephansplatz, tel: +43 1 513 52 88 01. Great food, mostly traditional Austrian fare but updated and done quite nicely (e.g., wiener schnitzel served with the customary erdäpfelsalat (potato salad); a surprisingly tasty rice dish with chunks of tender pork called Reisfleisch; fried chicken livers; some sort of trout called saibling). Other offerings sampled and greatly enjoyed: the generous cheese plate, arugula salad with avocado and prosciutto. Good wine selection including an excellent Blaufränkisch Steinriche. The space is cosy and welcoming, and there’s outdoor seating in Franziskanerplatz, just 30 metres east of the restaurant itself. Reservations are a must if you want to eat at at normal meal times or if you have more than 2 people; otherwise, you can show up and wait.
  3. Palmenhaus, Burrgarten, Hofburg Palace. Beautiful greenhouse restaurant, but the food is a little uneven. The upshot after 4 visits: the giant black olives are great; the whole pan-fried fish like branzino or goldbrasse (dorade) is quite good but the filleted fish is so-so; meat dishes are alright; in spring, the solospargel (large white asparagus) is really nice; the desserts in general did not impress, with the exception of the apple strudel. In nice weather, you can sit outside on the huge terrace overlooking one of the Hofburg gardens.

    4. Continue reading →

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Orange pecan crescents

Posted on 8 April 2010 by leacock

preparation time: 30 minutes
cooking time: 12-15 minutes
emergency contact: valentia

crescents

These crunchy, nutty crescents have been a holiday staple around Leacock since the days of the salmon spinach puff pastry and the mysteriously “Portuguese” curried chicken stew. In fact, it’s almost unthinkable that the recipe has remained undisclosed for so long… although who really needs the recipe when neatly packaged tins of the finished product are regularly dropped off at the house? However, the ancient Word file (from back in the days when file names could not exceed 8 characters in length) was recently delivered to our inbox, so it seemed a good opportunity to share it.
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Mamy’s pear cake

Posted on 27 March 2010 by leacock

preparation time: 20 hours
baking time: 40 minutes

pear cake

This is about as failsafe as cake recipes get. Depending on the size of the pan and the amount of fruit used, the pear chunks may peek through the top (as shown) or not. For the best results, choose pears that are a little on the firm side, so they don’t fall apart during baking.
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Easter at Patrick Roger (again)

Posted on 22 March 2010 by leacock

patrick roger fox

The window display at the Faubourg-Saint Honoré Patrick Roger is currently piled high with Easter eggs, crafty foxes and cooking rats, all made out of chocolate. It’s a smaller version of the display at the Saint-Germain shop, which had too much window glare for photo opportunities. Very festive and a tad more glam than 2008’s farmyard scenes.

See Paris roundup for more Paris addresses.

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Easiest olive oil cake ever

Posted on 13 March 2010 by leacock

preparation time: 15 minutes
cooking time: 45-50 minutes
emergency contact: not even necessary

olive oil cake

This is also known as “Hazel’s cake” (because she can eat half of it in one sitting), or “Amy’s welcome home cake” (because there was one made for afternoon tea each of the 4 days following her return from Saint Mike’s). Perfect for non-bakers, as it requires only one bowl, a whisk and some sort of cake or loaf tin. No beating, no sifting, no adding dry ingredients to wet… no brainer. See more photos here and here and here.
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Chinese New Year 2010

Posted on 15 February 2010 by leacock

With the help of her assistants (Amy, Carol, Wil) Poh Poh officially rang in the Year of the Tiger by making a money tree, setting out offerings to ancestors, and burning ceremonial money.  The money tree is made from dried vermicelli.  The first step is to cut or rip off a small chunk and then tie it around the middle with a piece of string.  Then, deep fry the vermicelli in very hot oil.  The oil must be sufficiently hot before, otherwise the “tree” won’t puff up nicely.  Finally, tie a piece of red paper around the vermicelli and stand it up on a small plate or bowl.  The ceremonial money (or gold bar) is made by folding together 8 pieces of special paper into a four sided structure (see photo).  The offerings typically consist of a few bowls of rice (shaped into nice pointy piles), a plate of “jai” (vegetarian dish), and cups of tea.

Money Tree

Money Tree

CNY Offerings

CNY Offerings

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Holiday cheese

Posted on 6 January 2010 by leacock

Christmas Eve:

Bleubry# — cow — Québec (Portneuf)
Le Cendrillon*# — goat — Québec (Portneuf)
Comté — cow, raw — France
feta marinated with rosemary, red and black pepper, coriander seed

New Year’s Eve:

Blackburn* — cow, raw — Québec (Blackburn)
Blue Haze* — cow — Ontario (Saint-Benoît-du-Lac for Provincial)
Le Cados — cow, raw — France
Eweda Cru* — sheep, raw — Ontario (Ewenity)
Fougerous Coulommier — cow — France
Grey Owl* — goat — Québec (Le Détour)
Wishing Tree* — sheep — Ontario (Fifth Town)

* available at McEwan
# available at Longo’s
local favourites are underlined

Links

  1. Blackburn
  2. Ewenity Dairy Co-operative
  3. Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company
  4. Fromagerie Le Détour
  5. La Maison Alexis de Portneuf
  6. Provincial Fine Foods
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Dueling falafels

Posted on 24 November 2009 by leacock

l'as du falafel

You can’t walk more than 10 metres on rue des Rosiers without tripping over a falafel stand. L’As du Falafel (the Ace of the Falafel) is the most popular, attracting locals and tourists by the hundreds each day. Mi-Va-Mi is apparently the boldest of the competitors, daring to set up shop directly across the street from the Ace. It has to be said that both serve up excellent falafels, 5 euros each, generously stuffed with crisp chickpea nuggets, shredded cabbage, humous, cucumber, eggplant and harissa (the one pictured above is from L’As du Falafel). Mi-Va-Mi seems to provide a better cucumber-to-cabbage ratio, while the Ace’s pita appears to be fluffier, but additional samplings must be conducted to ensure that these observations are robust. Mi-Va-Mi’s falafel was also more garlicky — this being a pro or con depending on which branch of the family tree you ask — although it is unclear whether this was due to any of the actual components (i.e., the yoghurt sauce, humous or eggplant) being more garlicky, or whether it was just because we asked for extra harissa. In any case, you can’t go wrong with either.

Both places are closed Friday sundown until Sunday morning.

L’As du Falafel
34 rue des Rosiers
Tel: +33 (0)1 48 87 63 60

Mi-Va-Mi
27 rue des Ecouffes
Tel: +33 (0)1 42 71 53 72

See Paris roundup for more Paris addresses.

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