Bannock: Canadian comfort food

I love trying new restaurants. One of my many pretend jobs is food critiquing. I drag Dustin to a new restaurant, convince him to get what I want him to get, and then I judge the food as if it's my job.

I've shared some of my past restaurant experiences, but there are so many more that I don't post about. It's usually because I don't have nice pictures to accompany the gastronomic experience. And what's a food post without pictures of the food?!

Last week, we celebrated a coworker's upcoming wedding at the new O&B restaurant: Bannock. We've been eagerly awaiting its opening as it boasts a menu of Canadian comfort food: poutine, tourtiere, pea soup, PEI mussels, pot pie, lobster roll, and of course, the deliciously simple, native bannock bread. Are you drooling yet???

I ordered the steamed PEI mussels with fennel and celery root. The flavours were divine. Tasty and light, a touch of the sea. I'm a fennel fanatic, and I think it pairs so well with shellfish.




My lucky coworker (lucky because he was sitting across from me and was therefore obligated to share some of his meal with me...) ordered the roasted duck poutine pizza. It's exactly what it sounds like. Crispy french fries smothered in a roasted duck gravy, all atop a thin slab of bannock bread.




It's always great when coworkers have happy moments to celebrate, especially when you're looking for a reason to try the great new restaurant on the corner!

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Under there. Underwear?

Remember when Jenn and I went lace shopping on a beautiful Saturday morning? We had signed up for a class at the workroom to learn to sew our own underwear. The class was great. We learned to make two different types of underwear: a Brazilian Hipster (shown below my post) and a Low Rise Bikini.

I hadn't shared with you the end product of the class because, well, although I had fun, my sewing wasn't great and I knew I could do better. The plan was to go home, try it all again, and share about the really great underwear I learned how to sew.

That's exactly what Jenn did. She immediately went home, sewed a few more pairs and posted about it. Both classes.

I wasn't so studious. It wasn't until a month ago when I realized that I desperately needed to go underwear shopping and remembered my vow that I would sew my own underwear.

I'm so glad I did.

Here are a couple things I did to make the process a little easier.

1. I focused on the Low Rise Bikini: no need to find stretch lace material, and no need to figure out sizing adjustments because the fit wasn't perfect.

2. Reduce the amount of decorate trim: that was the hardest part in the class, learning how to sew the stretch trim to the underwear. I stuck to a top trim and nixed the trim around the thigh. Bonus: I had smooth, panty-line-free underwear.

Once I reminded myself of the sewing steps, the cutting, sewing, and applying of trim took a total of maybe an hour.

It's actually a really great on-going project to have hanging around. When I need a break from a large quilting project (I've been working on one for several months now...) I just pick up the stretch jersey, cut out the three pieces and sew them together. In one meter correction: 1/2 meter of fabric, I can get at least 4 pairs of underwear. And they fit perfectly!

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Camping meals

Dustin and I love to camp. It's our preferred vacation when factoring cost, proximity to home, peace and quiet, and a little challenge. (Sometimes a little too much challenge...)

This past Labour Day weekend, we made our second trip to Massasauga Provincial Park.  The Massasagua is where we go when we have limited time to hike or canoe deep into the back country. From Pete's Place access point, a short 20 minute paddle gets you to some decent interior camp sites.  There are still motor boats that frequent the area, but in general, the sites are quite isolated and the lack of portages allows us to bring more equipment with us despite the two-person trip (Mackenzie has yet to prove useful in anything other than squirrel/chipmunk chasing.)

One of the (many) things Dustin and I look forward to is camping food. It gives us the excuse to be a little junky, indulging in all those "convenience foods" justifying that while camping, we just don't have the space to bring raw ingredients, spices, and cooking tools. We have one camping stove, a small pot set, a swiss army knife, and usually a spatula.

Planning camping meals is always a little tricky -- that is, if you don't resort to the dehydrated packaged food from the outdoor stores.  Any meat that we bring starts off completely frozen, then over the course of the camping trip, the bacon, ground meat, or spaghetti sauce slowly melts.  When picking foods, we pick things that are dense or flat so we don't have to worry about squashing it.  Things like bagels, tortilla wraps, rye bread or pasta work really well. (And crunchy cheetos...) Our favourite lunch and dinner meals include spaghetti, shepherd's pie, fajitas, or BLTs.

Our first lunch meal, grilled cheese. Made with Kraft Singles. Two slices each. Mmmmmm.



One of our dinners was a beef fajita made with stir fried beef that we froze with the marinade. As the beef defrosts, it soaks up the delicious marinade and helps make a little bit of a sauce. A little ziplock bag of premixed sour cream and salsa adds a little fajita tang.



Breakfasts are always a little easier. Bacon keeps well, and the fat doubles as cooking oil (don't judge. We're being resourceful here.) Oatmeal packages take up next to no space in the pack. Pancake mix (the just-add-water kind) is ever so easy.  If you don't want to risk bringing maple syrup (no one likes sticky leaks) we add chocolate chips to the pancake mix. If you're extra lucky and have some Ah Caramels leftover from snacktime, throw that on top of the pancakes. Double mmmmm.



This year's Labour Day weekend boasted rain, wind, and plenty of cloud cover. There were short breaks of sunshine where we did a little fishing off the rocks and out in the canoe.

No fish for us, but nothing beats that peaceful whir of each cast (if I don't tangle my hook on nearby vegetation.)








The Massasauga has a knack for giving us troublesome camping trips. Our first trip 4 years ago included an encounter with a bear and a small incident with a nest of wasps. This year, Mackenzie cut open her foot and the wind and rain gave us a scary paddle back to the access point. Like I said, a little peace and quiet with a dash of challenge.

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Garden kohlrabi risotto

It seems like forever ago when Dustin was planting kohlrabi seeds.  The kohlrabi is a german turnip, but I had always thought it was an asian vegetable. My mom has cooked the peculiar-looking bulb in stews and stir fries. Apparently it can be quite tasty in a salad or a coleslaw. or "Kohl"slaw. haha.

Whenever Dustin is skeptical about a vegetable (which was often the case when we got our mystery produce in our CSA box) he suggests a risotto. "Cut it up in really tiny pieces and make a risotto."  We've done this with squash, kale, even beets. Always with success. It's a really great way to ease the flavour of any vegetable into a creamy, starchy rice.


Our garden is also overflowing with vibrant red cherry and roma tomatoes, so I decided to do a tomato risotto with basil, and substitute the celery for a double dose of finely diced kohlrabi.


To prep the kohlrabi, I peeled off the outer layer, much like you would a brocolli stem, and then finely sliced to matchsticks before making an even finer dice.


I cooked the kohlrabi, onions, and garlic a little longer at the beginning, ensuring the kohlrabi was nice and tender. Then I continued with a usual risotto recipe adding the tomatoes in the middle, and the basil and parmesan at the very end.

In a recent episode of Top Chef, Tom Clicchio said that risotto should "fall" rather than keep its shape after being scooped onto a plate. My risotto tends to stay in a mound, so this time I made it a little soupier.  I don't think the consistency changed the experience; it eventually thickened anyway, so I may not bother next time.


The kohlrabi flavour was deliciously subtle. Similar to when you add a couple parsnips to a stew. There's an added depth to the dish that you can't get from herbs and seasoning. The kohlrabi holds its shape and texture quite well; there's still a bite to it that pairs really well with the al dente rice.

I guess my husband was right (again) and a kohrabi risotto is a wonderful way to eat yet another strange vegetable.

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Pleated Marble Dress

Another wedding season means more dresses! I was determined to sew at least one new dress this year, especially since I had such success with my first party dress.

I still feel most confident sewing with cotton, so I made a quick trip to the workroom and picked up a beautiful pale sage marbled print by Princess Mirah Batiks.

I was inspired by this beautiful pleated strapless dress by BCBG and decided to modify the Mary Adams pattern to have a fitted pleated dress.

Modifying dress patterns is hard! There's a lot of math to get everything to fit just right. I knew I wanted to create the pleated detail, add pockets, and even try to mimic the peekaboo lining.

I think I was quite successful in achieving all three details. The difficulty with a cotton dress is that it tends to wrinkle, and doesn't fall or drape as nicely as a more silky fabric.  I think I should have made the lining out of a different fabric so it didn't stick to the cotton dress as much.

In the end, dress number 2 from Mary Adam's dress book was still great.  It's such a great pattern that can be used over and over with slight modifications (but not without a little headache)!

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Bumbleberry Jam

A couple weeks ago, Dustin and I went to Downey's Farm to do some strawberry picking. I wasn't planning on blogging about our berry picking, or the first batch of strawberry jam I made using Ina's recipe, but after a little twist of fate, here is a blog post about jam.

I was first going to name this post "Freezer Jam" but that would be misleading. The term "Freezer Jam" refers to jams that are stored in containers that weren't sterilized for shelf life; you just keep the jam in the freezer.

The jam I want to share about involves all the berries in my freezer. The ones that I had been saving for a pie, maybe another batch of jam, maybe a milkshake. But as it turns out, Dustin and I left our freezer door just a teensy bit ajar and then left for a week of vacation.

We returned home to a melted freezer.  Some items were beyond saving, but the soggy mess of berries were still a little chilled.

It was time to make jam.

In total, I had about 6 cups of strawberries, three cups of Saskatoon berries, and about two cups of cranberries. I added a finely diced apple for pectin, a squirt of lemon juice and about 4 cups of sugar. A low rolling boil until 220 degrees Fahrenheit and voila! Jam!

I guess that makes this a bumbleberry jam.  I've only heard the term (meaning "mixed berry") used for pies, but I don't see why we can't use it for jam.

The jam was quite delicious. Deliciously tart. Perhaps it would be a good mix for a tart. With whipped cream. I bet this would be a delicious topping for a cheesecake as well.

So that's my story of leaving the freezer door ajar, and making a jar of jam.

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Amy Butler's Weekender Bag

It's a good thing when friends motivate you.  When we're in a slump, or simply don't believe we're capable, a little motivation from a good friend is usually all it takes.

I never used to think I could do distance running. In an effort to "keep up with my super cool friends" I've run 5km, 8km, and 10km races. (I just ran a personal best 5km in 28 minutes!)

So, when my friend Julie asked if I was interested in tackling a notoriously difficult sewing project: Amy Butler's Weekender Bag, I was oddly motivated by her eagerness. I read blog after blog where talented, competent sewers tackled this bag. Each review emphasized the importance of patience, and that the patience would definitely pay off.

It was difficult. 5 hours of cutting, approximately 15 hours of sewing, broken needles, broken pins.

Let's take a minute and go back to the race talk.

Every race I run, I find myself questioning why I decided to run the race to begin with. Oh, right, my friends were all doing it. About 15 minutes into the race, I vow never to sign up for a race again. But, and there is a but, by the time I get to the finish line, I'm overwhelmed with pride and can't wait to sign up for the next race.

I kept hoping that this weekender bag would follow a similar trend.

The final product really was shockingly impressive. The bags that Julie and I produced were fantastic. Fabric choices were so different, but great. Julie chose a red damask with polka dot piping; I used a graphic birdcage print with grey piping.  All the difficult parts that we laboured over (some parts took me 4 tries to sew correctly) were barely noticeable.

But I probably won't sew another one again.  :(  It's the most difficult project I've tackled to date. I wanted to forget all the hardship and remember just the final product. I think I need more time...

Perhaps I need another friend to motivate me again one day!

As a side note, our other friend Kelly tackled a different Amy Butler bag and finished it in just one day. Isn't it just the cutest? Her choice of "patchwork-like" fabric added the perfect touch to bring the bag to another level.

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