Oops, missed a few!

Many apologies. Life got the better of me the last few weeks between work, convention work, event work etc. etc. etc. I'll be resuming the foodie blogs again shortly (probably this weekend) and try and get a few lined up for everyone. 

In the meantime, please enjoy this lovely photo from my local International Lolita Day event at the H. R. MacMillan Space Centre

This was my outfit for the day. I built the moon portion of the wig myself which was a fun project. I've never worked with wigs before so it was definitely a learning experience! I am glad I put the light up LED stars in it though. 

And this was most of us (we did go for tea after where a few other lovely ladies joined us). I love my local community. They're pretty supportive and open minded (as well as excellently dressed)

2016 Foodie Finds: Richmond Night Market

Richmond Night Market

Address: 8351 River Rd, Richmond, BC

Phone: 604-244-8448 (head office)

Website

First off, apologies for missing putting up the post on Friday. Honestly I thought I had set this up to publish, but I read the calendar wrong so it's a day late. T-T Anyhoo onto the review.

So those who live in the Vancouver area know that every summer, the Richmond Night Market opens up. That time is now (last weekend was the first) at least for the night market near the Bridgeport SkyTrain station.

Over the years multiple night markets have opened in the city, however, this particular location has been use the longest. It was home to another group running a night market, but they soon moved elsewhere and were replaced by the current organizers.

This particular night market is particularly popular, most for their food stalls. Many new fad food items pop up here first and gain a name for themselves, but just as many probably crash and burn. Some of the success stories would include the infamous Rotato (images courtesy of VanCityBuzz and westcoastdiscovered)

I'm not a fan of rotatoes personally so I won't go into detail about them, there are plenty of reviews around.

Instead I'm going to talk about the food I had just last weekend (opening weekend). I went twice in fact, with different groups of friends, and the later group asked to have some of the items I ate the first time around.

Anyhoo for those not in the know, this particular night market opens up around 7pm, but you'll want to get there a bit earlier to pick up a zoom pass ($20 for 7 entries and you get to use the zoompass gate which is much faster). There are people selling the zoom passes out in the parking area and the zoom pass line is to the far right of the parking area if you're facing the night market. Failing to get one means you get to sit in the regular people lineup. This line moves much slower and costs $3.25 a person. They also let the zoompass holders in first. The lines can get really long for the regular line (even for the zoompass line it can get long but it moves way faster and is shorter).

If you plan on doing lots of shopping (or eating) at the Night Market, especially over several trips and plan to try multiple stalls, you may want to purchase a coupon book. It's $2 and has lots of little savings. Honestly though, you don't really need it especially if you're only paying for yourself.

Anyhoo, once you're in you'll see all the animatronic dinosaurs (this year's theme) scattered about the grounds and hear them roaring. But honestly if you're there for the food, you want to make a beeline to the far left where the food stalls are. The popular ones will likely already have a line going (see rotato) but you should be able to find many stalls to try that have little to no lineup. We went for savories first as they tend to take the longest to cook up.



The first night I went (opening night) the crowds were pretty crazy from the get go (it should be safer from here on in). I passed by this one stall that hand makes roti on premises. You can watch while they do the hard work of stretching out the dough, folding it all back up again and repeating the process before cooking up the stuff. The have some samples you can try as well as actual examples of some of their popular dishes (mac & cheese roti and chicken cone roti pictured above). I however was lacking in the veg department for the day so I went for the roti salad. 

The dressing wasn't too over the top, tangy and mildly spicy. It's a strange combo but for what I wanted at the time it was great. For those who love dressing though you'll want to add extra sauce. I personally like very little so it was to my taste. The salad was ok. It wasn't old or wilted which was good, but nothing to write home about - iceburg lettuce, cut up grape tomatoes, and cut up pieces of roti. Honestly the roti is the best part of this. However, if I wasn't craving the greens I would have really not even bothered with the salad and just gotten some roti or the roti chicken wrap.



One booth I love to hit up is Chef James Co. - Xin Jiang Man BBQ. Basically all you need to know is that it's skewers, lots of them (plus the coupon book lets you get one free one if you order over $20). They have lots of choices - my friend got a skewer of BBQ shrimp (I assume it was good since she ate it all), lamb, beef, chicken (all very nicely seasoned) and a cool green onion bun that's BBQed with some sauce. They also have a few other things but I usually only go for the meat and bun BBQ. A got my friend from out of town to try these and she loved them too.

However, a word of warning, don't stand in front of the giant fan where Chef James is grilling. All the smoke is sucked out of the tent area and funneled out into the area in front of the fan. Also if you don't like meat on the rarer side make sure you tell them you want the beef skewer cooked to well done (or however you like it). I love rare to medium rare beef so it was perfect for me.



Now this beauty was a first try for me this year. While I was waiting for my meat skewers, I saw this stand beside it - Fish Stick. Since my other friend is Pescetarian I pointed it out to her and she ordered one (in garlic flavour no less!). She let us try some of it and it was probably my top savory food pick for the night. Now this isn't just a hunk of fish battered and deep fried, it's like delicate thin layers of battered fish, weaved back and forth on the skewer. It doesn't taste too heavy but it's flavourful. Only drawback is that it's deep fried so if you're watching the waistline, probably skip it.

From here we went for the sweets. We wanted to try all the taiyaki that was happening so we ordered 4. 2 red bean and 2 custard filled - and one of those custard ones we had ice cream put on it with a cookie topping. While it can't be compared to taiyaki in Japan, we knew that we also had a brand new kid on the grill making ours. I felt kinda bad for the kid since he wasn't good at it that the boss had to take over and try and save the taiyaki on the grills. The batter itself is fine, but the red bean paste and the custard paste need fine tuning if they want to get closer to the real deal. Still if you haven't had one before, it's worth a try.



Next we went to this little gem that I found on the first night (those are my lovely friends by the way who ate their way through the food stalls with me). I think this is a new stall, but whatever, there was no line and with the warm weather setting in I can see that this fro-yo stall will only get more popular. I love the name of the different yogurt parfaits.

So on the first night my buddy ordered this chocolate one (Dream of Choco Choco). It must have been good since he gulped it down quickly.

I ordered this lovely gem (which is more expensive than the others but also fancier), which my other two friends ordered along with me. This one is the Dream of Secret Garden and features white chocolate butterfly and lady bug, purple sugar sprinkles, strawberry chocolate pearls, Honey Heart cookies (which I swear are just palmiers), the fro-yo with a layer of strawberry sauce and a graham layer. All of this itself is awesome, but then they shove in another cup a tablet of dry ice, add water and plop your parfait cup on top and there you have it, steamy dreamy parfait! 

To be honest though, I'd rather pay less and not have the dry ice gimmick (something you'll see in other stalls along with flashing LED ice cubes and the like). Either way it was tasty and probably my favorite dessert at the night market.

This is not to say that I've tried everything, but out of what I have tried this year, it's been pretty tasty and worth at least one visit. However be prepared for the price tag. Eating at the Night Market is not cheap. Bring at least $40 and if you have a big appetite bring $60. You may not use it all, but you might, depending on how many stalls you hit up.

2016 Homestuff Foodie Finds: Instant Jja Jung Men

Paldo Jja Jung Men - Instant Noodles & Sauce

So, just trying something new, since I have been touching on foodie finds locally and out of town, and on top of that some frilly bits here and there, I figured hey, why not try some foods you can bring home and make? So here's the first one - Paldo's instant Jja Jung Men.



(image courtesy of 3 Hungry Tummies)

So this is a Korean brand instant noodle with sauce, based on the Chinese noodle dish (see above). This version however is vegan - using potatoes and soy beans to create not only the sauce but all the bits in the sauce. The original Chinese version typically uses ground pork, hoisin sauce, dark and light soy sauces, some green onion and sesame oil that's tossed onto on a thin flat noodle which you can also add julienne cucumbers, bean sprouts and whatever other greens you like.



So this is very much a simplified version with a Korean twist that you can have ready in just a few minutes. The nice part is if you're watching your calories, it's also a lot leaner than other instant noodles in that department (weighing in just under 300 calories per packet). I think that may be because there's less noodle or that the noodles aren't as dense but who really knows? 



Anyhoo, the instructions tell you to boil the noodles and slip the sauce package into the boiling water for a minute. I'm lazy so I just pop the sauce packet in and put the noodles on top so they don't stick to the pot. I pull it out once it's ready and I personally like to put the sauce in the bottom of the bowl, but most people wait and pour it over the noodles.



The noodles seem to boil pretty quickly - note the water is on the oily side somehow so be sure to rinse and drain those suckers well. Pop the noodles into the bowl, add the sauce and away you go. If you're finding the sauce a bit hard to mix in, add a touch of water and that should make it easier.



Anyhoo, while not an authentic taste, I do find these noodles delicious for an instant noodle. It's not soupy but the sauce is pretty rich - the noodles have a nice chew to them and the potatoes are nice and soft. The soy beans they somehow processed and almost have the texture of meat. I love the taste of the sauce itself which lends itself to go over pretty much any starch. I'd not recommend eating it on its own since it's pretty potent stuff.

Anyhoo, that was my foodie find. Since I first bought this (it was hard to find a few months ago except at the tiny Asian grocery store near my house) it has become a lot more readily available though pricey since they only come in packages of 4 compared to other noodle packs (H-mart had them for about $7 yikes! my local grocer has them at $5.75). Either way, worth a try at the very least :)

The (Mis)Adventures of Vegan Sponge Cake

Original post 4/8/12

Sorry for the long silence between posts. Life gets hectic sometimes. Thankfully Kurasune has returned (yay) and we are up to our old antics again.  

I've actually been meaning to try out this vegan sponge cake recipe for a while, ever since my friend in Olympia (limulimu) made some for me to eat. Her hubby can't eat a lot of things so it was fun to try out foods I normally don't eat. Either way I was curious to see how it would turn out once I tried my hand at it. My friend Pamesque is allergic to eggs and usually complains about the texture of eggless cakes so I decided this weekend would be the weekend of vegan baking! woohoo!

Kurasune was kind enough to let me into her kitchen and use her lovely baking supplies. As usual we gathered all our ingredients before starting (it's always a good idea since you can find out before starting if you're short anything rather than mid way). FYI recipe is at the end of the post.

As you can see, no meat or dairy products there...when we saw the ingredient list we puzzled over that apple cider vinegar. After some Google-fu, we discovered that apparently soy + apple cider vinegar simulates buttermilk. Cool! Learn something new every day :)

After assembling all our ingredients (and of course the always necessary hamming it up photos--note to our gentle readers, eat salt and oil in moderation.  Heart attacks may result from excessive consumption.) we greased our two 8"x8" pans. Then put the vinegar + soy milk into a medium bowl and let it sit while we put all the dry ingredients into the large bowl. Whisk the dry stuff so it's nice and even (note: do not use coarse salt...I will explain later, as Kurasune only had coarse salt available)

Next we put all the 'wet' ingredients in with the soy mixture and mixed it well. Once that was done, it looked quite...well... unappetizing with all that oil floating on top and the vinegar was slightly curdling the soy (or so it looked to us).

Now with that lovely mixture, add it to the dry ingredients. I made a well first in the dry so it incorporated better. Now just blend it all together until the lumps are gone (or mostly). Try not to over mix.

Put half of the batter into each pan and then pop it into the oven. It'll take about 18-22 minutes to bake, just test with a toothpick, or test if it springs back when you touch it for doneness.

Now you can do whatever you want with it! Kurasune made a lovely blackberry filling and we sandwiched it all together. Toss a bit of icing sugar on top and we had a lovely looking vegan cake!

This is actually almost identical to the regular (non-vegan, butter, cream and egg rich) "Cake Classic" - Victoria Sandwich that we've done in the past.  Post HERE

Now some notes. We ended up using coarse salt. Do not use this unless you pound it or grind it to a fine consistency before using. You'll end up with 'salt pockets' in the cake which will surprise those not expecting a burst of saltiness when eating a cake. I think it also changes the texture slightly as the baking soda and baking powder may reactive differently and create large air pockets around the salt. My friend Pam very much enjoyed the cake though, and said that she loved the consistency and the lightness of it.

I was talking with Kurasune today, and though the salt pockets weren't great in our view (the boys seemed to like it though) the coarse salt gave us an idea...next time we're going to use those Belgium sugar crystals in the batter much like those in waffles to make 'sugar crunch pockets'. But alas, that's for another day.

Onto the recipe which apparently comes from "Vegan Yum Yum Book"

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup of soy milk mixed with
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and grease two 8x8 inch baking pans.
• Add the apple cider vinegar to the soymilk and set aside.
• Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl.
• Add the oil and vanilla and almond extract to the soy milk mixture and mix, then add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until ther are no more lumps or just a few small lumps.
• Spread te batter out evently between the two baking pans
• Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden on the top, a toothpick tets clean and the cake springs back.
• Let cool and you're done!

Frilly Finds: Automatic Honey's Mermaid Cove Release

FrillyFoodie ~ Frills Edition

Automatic Honey's Mermaid Cove Release
http://automatichoney.com/

So you could say I have a obsession with Automatic Honey (the accessory brand); it's got tons going for it - cute and delicate designs, lovely artwork, and lots of love poured into them. They make great statement pieces as they're so different from the run of the mill junk you can find in your nearest Claire's or Aldo's. Heck most of the time they have more design work put into them than some of the brands you'll find out of Nordstrom's.

So this impromptu post today is all about their newest release (in fact it was only put up online 2 hours ago). Mermaid Cove is a cute seashell design made up to look like a compact and perfume bottle. The colours are right on point with this time of year - in lavender, sax (baby blue for those not up and up with the lolita lingo) and mint.

The release isn't terribly big, but I love the transparency of the material - it gives it a sort of glowy ethereal look. The rings and necklaces match well together and can work well with most of my spring and summer weight dresses and outfits.

That being said, I think due to some releases happening at the same time, we're lucky enough to still be seeing some of these up on the website available for sale. Normally their items fly off the site and you have to fight to get anything. Literally you need to be on the website at 8pm Pacific on the dot and in a mad rush put everything in your cart.

So if you're wanting something a bit different and special head on over to Automatic Honey's website and grab something while you still can! It's pretty affordable for great work like this and makes for a great present!

2016 Foodie Finds: Ladurée

Ladurée: Macaron

Address: 1141 Robson St, Vancouver, BC

Phone: 604-336-3030

Website

Not everyone may know, but Ladurée finally opened it's doors in Vancouver - it's first location in Canada. Now I was silly and decided to drag my good friend to wait in line on opening day. Suffice to say we endured the horrid lines (2+ hours) outside and then more lines inside (1 hour, but only because these 3 Asian ladies were holding up the entire staff behind the counter for 30+ minutes).

Now, suffice to say, the lineups are not nearly this bad anymore (it's been a few weeks), however on weekends there may still be a lineup as tourists and people off of work will be more likely to try and stop by. During the week however, it's much emptier and you can just walk right in (thank goodness).



The decor is pretty much what you would expect to find from a high end brand patisserie (even if it isn't a full one) - painted ceilings, brass/gold accents with the clean white spaces, all very European in feel.



The back area is where the sit down service is provided. The price tag is somewhat jaw dropping considering Afternoon Tea Services elsewhere get you much more bang for your buck. 





So there are a plethora of items you can purchase from the front end of the shop - macaron key chains, reusable lunch bags, reusable shopping bags, candles, perfumes, honeys, jams, teas, chocolates and more. It's quite overwhelming if you're not going in for something specific.



However this wasn't the time to try it out so I simply purchased a box of 6 macaron and two of their teas (violet and rose black teas) to take home with me.




The box doesn't cost anything extra (unless you want whatever limited design box they may or may not have at the time) and they have a number to choose from, I went with the black since my very good friend in Seattle likes black and gold designs (no so much the macaron from Ladurée). There are 17 flavors total, a couple of which are seasonal/limited flavors (and yes there are different boxes for different amounts so you don't have to haul about 3 small sized boxes if you want 18).



So just talking about the macaron here (I won't go into detail on each flavor though to save you all from reading a horde of information) some were ok and others not so much. At $3 a pop, these are the most expensive macaron in the city (though cheaper than at other Ladurée locations around the world funnily enough). Pictured above was the Strawberry Candy Guimauve - the white filling is a marshmallow filling so it's springy and a bit chewy while being very sweet. The shell on this particular macaron didn't quite get to temp as it had the tell tale section of air between the outter shell and the chewier innards. Otherwise it was ok in taste, but I wasn't sure I enjoyed the filling. The sugar granules made for an interesting mouthfeel.



So shown above, was the special maple flavor that was released for the store. Out of all the macaron that I had bought, this one was surprisingly the best. Typically I cringe at maple flavored items as they tend to be overly sweet and far too strong in maple flavor (like someone distilled maple syrup for too long and packed as much of the resulting stuff in as possible). However this one was light in flavor, but gave enough of the maple push to give you the feel and taste of maple. The shell was well baked, and the filling was a great silky texture. As for the mouthfeel of the macaron, I think I prefer the Ladurée macarons in Tokyo - there was a strange granular gathering of the sugar/almond flour in my mouth when the initial bite and feel is quite smooth. I think it may have been the humidity that day as it was quite rainy.

Other flavors I had notes on - the Marie Antionette flavor, Ladurée's tea flavored macaron, is quite heavy on the floral scent and taste. If you don't like overly flowery flavors this one is not for you. For me personally it was a little over the top, and probably why I didn't buy the tea itself (the violet tea is quite mild and lovely though). The salted caramel flavor was delicate and not overly salty, though perhaps a touch more would have enhanced the flavor more. 



Overall for most of the flavors (Marie Antoinette and Citron aside and the well balanced maple) needed a touch more oomph to them if you're planning to eat more than just one. The flavor profile can be very subtle in some of these flavors, and perhaps not as well suited to the North American taste-bud. Also due to the strange texture/mouthfeel of the macaron I had that day, I would say that these are not my favorite macaron. I may go back and try them again but even comparing to the ones I had in Tokyo, there are better macaron in the city to be found for much cheaper.



I did happen to dress up for opening day, in my Angelic Pretty one piece dress (aptly named French Cafe for the outing). The workers there (specifically the ones from headquarters in France) seemed to quite enjoy my dressing up, so I take it that they would be quite happy to have several of us turn up for tea one day.