Archive for February, 2008
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
With Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided to try making chocolate covered strawberries, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time! I’ve always loved eating these at our catered work functions, as they seem to make the strawberries extra tasty.
The task appears simple enough - heat up chocolate, dip, cool, and serve. Before venturing forth, I checked for recipes online to see what other tips and tricks others have. Some appeared fairly complicated, but I decided to stick with simple, easy and quick.
I went down to my local Superstore and purchased a pound of Strawberries for $5, along with bulk Callebault chocolate baking chunks, about 250 grams of each. I didn’t end up melting all of it - my suggestion is to start with a small amount, and keep adding chunks as you need them. I’m no kitchen connoisseur, as you’ll soon see - my makeshift double-boiler consisted of a saucepot with an inch of water in it, and a ceramic mixing bowl.
I washed and patted dry the strawberries while starting to melt the chocolate on low heat. Make sure to keep the bottom of the bowl out of the hot water as this will make the chocolate too hot. I started with white chocolate first as that’s my favourite, and used a trick I learned from one of the recipes I came across - using toothpicks to hold the strawberries as you rotate them around.
I’m alright with things being a little messy, so I just rolled them as best as I could, and tried pulling them out so that that last point of contact is the little tip on the bottom of the berry. I noticed as I moved along my batch that the chocolate mixture starts to become dry if you take too long, making it harder to have a nice smooth coat of chocolate. Some cooks recommend adding shortening to the mixture, but I don’t find this too appealing. All I did was added some more chocolate chunks, and that seemed to help with the consistency problem. I think the key is to act fast, however.
Next up was milk chocolate - some prefer dark as this might be too sweet but I figured I would give it a try. I made a few milk chocolate ones and tried to copy the tuxedo strawberries by dipping my white chocolate ones at an angle. Make sure you have refrigerated these first, as you don’t want the two mixtures blending in to one another. Another trick I tried was drizzling the opposite coloured chocolate onto the berries. Some suggested using a fork to do this but I found it very difficult. Some of my drizzles became plops and I had to improvise and blend things together! I have to say I didn’t get very far with the tuxedo idea, but perhaps with practice and a steadier hand, I’m sure one could get these to look great. I popped everything into the fridge to cool and poured the remaining chocolate into a small dish with some dried cranberries to form a candy bar of sorts.
I just tried one of the white chocolate strawberries with milk chocolate drizzle and it was ho yummy! Looking back, I spent about $11 on the strawberries and chocolate, and the whole process was quite fun and relaxing. This recipe, if you can call it that, yielded 17 strawberries. You can easily take breaks while melting the chocolate as everything is pretty steady on low heat. I would love to do this with my little niece who would enjoy licking the mixing bowl afterwards!
Let us know if you have any other tips and tricks, or comments on store-bought ones that you have tasted!
Posted in Articles | 7 Comments »
Monday, February 11th, 2008
For the past few months, I have heard nothing but rave reviews about Steveston Pizza Co based out of Steveston Village in Richmond. I read reviews about how the pizza was so good, people would order it and would finish the whole box on their way home while still in the car! For me, pizza is always more of a lunchtime event and unfortunately, Steveston Pizza Co doesn’t open until 4pm on Tuesdays to Sundays.
Jenkins and I happened to be in the area one day so we decided it was the perfect opportunity to pick some up for dinner. Jenkins’ brother and dad were back at his house so we ordered two large pizzas to take back to his place.
The Italian pizza was loaded with pepperoni, Genoa salami, capicolli, olives, roasted peppers, and caramelized onions. The crust on all the pizzas here are thin and not oily at all. Surprisingly, all the ingredients on the pizza did not make the crust too soggy, even though it took us about 20 minutes to get back to Jenkins’ place.
We also ordered a Hawaiian pizza, which is one of Jenkins’ favourites. Similar to the Italian pizza, the Hawaiian also came loaded with yummy toppings…this time ham and pineapple. Both pizzas came with chunks of basil that were sprinkled overtop and roasted in the oven. This gave the pizzas a unique taste that really complimented both the base ingredients.
Most large pizzas at Steveston Pizza Co cost about $20, which is about average for even places like Panago and Pizza Hut. What is different about this place is that the pizzas taste MUCH better. 
Another thing I liked about these pizzas was that there was not too much cheese nor tomato sauce. I find that some places tend to overload on these two items, which makes the pizza turn out to be too heavy. If it was the summer, I would have bought a pizza to eat on the pier, which was just a couple of blocks away. :) Even though we put in our order just before six, there was a huge queue of pizzas waiting to be picked up already and a steady stream of people walking in to place more orders.
Details:
100-3400 Moncton St, Richmond
Tel: 604-204-0777
Summary:
Food: 
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Italian, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
I went to King’s Bakery one day to continue our hunt for a wedding cake. This place came recommended by my dad as a good bakery for Chinese baked goods so we thought we would give their western-style cakes a try too. King’s Bakery is nestled in a little plaza right by Aberdeen Centre on No. 3 Road in Richmond. I didn’t make an appointment so I just dropped by
one morning and picked up some cakes and drove over to Jenkins’ house to do our tasting.
We started first with the flourless chocolate cake. This cost $6 but was actually quite big. The cake was really moist and full of rich chocolaty flavour. I really liked this but wasn’t sure how good it would be as a wedding cake since it was a bit crumbly and eating just chocolate cake seemed a bit plain.
Next, we had the German pear cheese cake. We couldn’t really taste the pear flavour in this and it tasted like a regular plain cheesecake. It also wasn’t as creamy as I like my cheesecakes.
Next came the Tiramisu. This came with some “shards” of chocolate that surrounded the cake itself. The coffee and chocolate flavour here was very light, which may appeal to some palates but I like mine to have a slightly richer taste.
Last came a chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream and chocolate. I found this to be a bit bland and couldn’t really taste the chocolate. The layers of whipped cream and chocolate were ok but I would have preferred more chocolate chunks and less whipped cream.
Moreover, the cake had trouble staying together once you poked your fork in:
My favourite of the four cakes was definitely the flourless chocolate cake. It was very rich in flavour but not heavy at all. I found that the taste of the other cakes was too mild and bland for my liking. I wonder if their other baked goods (i.e. Chinese buns and pastries) are better tasting though as I have heard pretty good reviews from most people. I would definitely come back and give that a try some day.
Details:
135-4200 No. 3 Rd, Richmond
Tel: 604-276-2811
Summary:
Food: 
Service: n/a
Price: $
Posted in Cake, Wedding, Dessert, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
Another dinner at Ogenki, another new roll to try. This time, we tried the Mango California roll and another roll that I can’t remember the name of.
The Mango California roll (on the right below) is exactly what it is. It’s a California roll with some mango tucked inside. What I found strange about this roll was that the mango seemed canned and was kind of tangy and candy-like. I’ve had similar rolls before but with fresh mangos, which I prefer more than the candy-like mango here.
The second roll is another California roll-based item. The difference here is that it has slices of tuna on top with some spicy mayo sauce. I liked this roll a lot more than the mango although the spicy sauce is quite spicy and can be a bit overpowering if you’re not into spicy food. But then again, why would you order this if you’re not into spicy?
So far, I’ve tried quite a few “special” rolls at Ogenki now. It’s been a bit hit and miss but I’ve enjoyed trying out the new rolls nonetheless.
Details:
4342 Main St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-875-9975
Summary: (for the two rolls I tried only)
Food:
Service:
Price: $
Posted in Japanese, Asian, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, February 4th, 2008
Louis and I popped over to Bubble World for an end-of-week debrief one Friday. As you have probably noticed by now, it is our preferred location for bubble tea due to its proximity to our work office. It was pretty cold that day so we both picked hot drinks.
Louis picked the hot almond milk tea. I like almond tea, both hot and cold. It is made with Chinese almonds and the taste is stronger than the regular brown almonds people usually snack on. Sometimes, this drink is a bit on the sweet side but is still one of my favourite drinks to order.
I picked the honey green tea. I like the taste of green tea more than black tea and the lemon really brings out the green tea flavour. I normally opt for honey because I feel that is healthier than plain sugar.
While we were at Bubble World, who should walk through the door but Farz and Derek! Derek ordered the hot longan tea, which came in a nice little tea pot. The taste is a bit medicinal but it is supposed to be very good for you.
Farz picked the hot taro milk tea and also added bubbles to his drink. Because plunking the bubbles directly in the tea would probably melt them, they came in a cute little pot. One thing to note is that if you put all the bubbles in your drink right away, the hot liquid will overflow in the cup so take a few sips first before adding the bubbles.
Hot drinks at Bubble World are usually about $0.50 cheaper. I guess ice is expensive these days.
Details:
1-4300 Kingsway, Burnaby
Tel: 604-434-5551
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $
Posted in Drinks, Reviews | No Comments »
Posts (RSS)