During the week of October 10th, it was extremely difficult to avoid the hype surrounding the release of Britney Spears' new music video for the debut single of her sixth studio album, "Circus." Entitled "Womanizer", the single set a record 5 days after the music video's release, jumping from 96 to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. According to wikipedia.net, the single also garnered first-week download sales of 286 000.

Now what does the music video for a pop star's comeback single have to do with food? If you watch it, one of Britney's character's alter egos serves her love interest a square egg, presumably for breakfast.

Womanizer

First Alter Ego

One Square Egg!

That girl must be talented to produce a square egg...Hey! Wait a minute! I've seen something like that before...I remember coming across a webpage years ago with something similar. Go google!

The webpage featured a gadget that produces square-shaped hard boiled eggs. It links to a flickr photoset showing someone, trying to make square eggs using the featured doohickey..

Egg Cuber from Makezine.com

Step 1 - unpack the cuber

Step 2 - read the instructions

Step 3 - unsuccessfully cube eggs

Step 4 - show off the only one that sorta worked
Source: Original Vendor c/o shinyshiny.com

Reading the comments with the flickr images, I found the following more extreme egg shaping device. Apparently, "shapely" eggs are popular in bento boxes in Japan.

Egg Star-er

Step 1 - Find a volunteer...

Step 2 - Stick it in the mold

Step 3 - Seal and chill it good

Step 4 - Unmold and tell children it came from a special chicken
Source: cookingcute.com
According to the cookingcute.com website, the secret to successfully molding eggs involves 1) using large or extra-large eggs and 2) putting the eggs into the mold when they are still hot (i.e. when the proteins haven't yet set).

BTW, a star egg mold is the tip of the iceberg...

Here's a Hello Kitty mold

And, here's a tube of hard boiled eggs...
Hmm...I guess that makes 5 degrees of egg shapeliness. Thanks Britney!

Over a year ago (November 14, 2007), Marianne White from the CanWest News Service, published a piece entitled "The Curd Degree." In it, she interviews Charles-Alexandre Theoret, the author of a book entitled "Maudite Poutine!" (rough English translation: Damned Poutine). The book, which seems to be only available in French, follows the emergence and growing popularity of the iconic Quebec dish of fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy. All the while, its author posits that how the dish has been viewed reflects Quebec and its relationship with the rest of Canada.

For instance, poutine was once described as "fat lumberjack food." Today, the dish is recognized internationally and is even served in New York. There, it has been described as "a staple from Quebec, embarrassing, but adored." Theoret further states in his interview that "as poutine stature grows...the emblematic junk food could succeed where no Canadian politicians have -- bringing together the two solitudes."

Perhaps to test Theoret's theory, the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC commissioned a picture of famed French explorer Samuel de Champlain, holding a plate of poutine, to advertise its annual (2008) Canada Day party. The result: quite a few feathers were ruffled by the advertisement, some belonging to a French-language rights group that demanded the ambassador's resignation. According to cbc, the image was intended to "play" on Quebec City's 400th anniversary. It was also featured on a website, which is why the image can still be found on the Internet.

The following month, from August 29 to 30, the residents of Drummandville, Quebec dedicated an entire festival to poutine. The town of 67 000 claims to originate the dish. Accordingly, restaurateur Jean-Paul Roy invented poutine in 1964 for his diner, Le Roy Jucep, which still stands today. The Canadian Press estimates that approximately 1500 servings of poutine were served during the first day of the festival, most being of the classic variety. Further, at $23, the most expensive preparation from the festival was a variation of Chef Martin Picard's legendary foie-gras poutine, which still graces the menu at his Montreal restaurant, Au Pied de Cochon.

According to Theoret's book, poutine originated in 1957 in Warwick, Quebec. There, restauranteur Fernand Lachance remarked to a customer on an order, "Ca va te faire un maudite poutine" (rough English translation: It's gonna make a helluva mess). The order mixed fries and cheese curds together in the same bag. Lachance added gravy as an after thought to keep the fries warm. The customer enjoyed his "mess." Poutine was born. Unfortunately, Lachance's restaurant, Lutin Qui Rit, eventually closed, so there is no monument to mark poutine's birth.

The coverage of the Drummandville festival also higlights that poutine, as a dish, has evolved several regional specificities. Restaurants in the Drummondville region add pureed tomato to their gravy for acidity and sweetness. Restaurants in Montreal use a chicken velouté. Additional variations have also appeared that go beyond adjusting the classic recipe.

• Poutine Itallienne - Substitutes marinara sauce for the traditional gravy
• Poutine Bourguinonne - Adds ground beef and fried onions to the traditional gravy
• Poutine BBQ - Substitutes heated BBQ sauce for the traditional gravy
• Poutine Mole - Substitutes a Oaxacan black mole sauce for the traditional gravy
• Disco Fries - Substitutes shredded cheddar cheese for cheddar cheese curds

With so many variations, a website dedicated to the Montreal poutine, decidedly establishes the fundamental characteristics of poutine: "a heap of crispy French fries topped by a handful of cheddar (cheese) curds, and a chicken (sometimes veal) based sauce." It further states that great fries do not make a great poutine. Instead, it is the combination of "curds and sauce" that make poutine a "trascendent culinary experience." The cheese curds need to be fresh. They need to squeak when eaten. The sauce is best if it comes powdered from a pouch, labeled St. Hubert. This is because St. Hubert brand sauce packs contain thickened chicken-stock, seasoned with pepper and onions, in other words chicken velouté.

Personally, I feel that a good poutine could benefit from good fries. Take for instance the fries under the fois-gras poutine at Au Pied De Cochon (above). The fries look Belgian. That is, they seem to have been double fried to produce an extremely crisp exterior, while maintaining a tender interior.

Now that the history and political science lessons are over, it's time to put the characteristics to test:
Exhibit A:

Styrofoam container, dripping with gravy

Food court poutine

Cheese curds, check! Freshly made fries, sorta check! These fries are from frozen. I'm pretty sure that potatoes do not naturally come pre-cut or covered in frost from a plastic bag. Also, because the Franx Supreme in my building's food court specializes in hot dogs and hamburgers, I doubt the gravy is fresh, so...Instant gravy, check! While it was a little salty for my liking, this is poutine.

Exhibit B:

$8 USD brick of fries with cheese
Source: Really cool photo essay on a visit to the Los Angeles County Fair

Cheese curds, zilch! Freshly made fries, check! Instant gravy, zilch! Cheese fries, brick or otherwise, are not poutine.

Exhibit C:

Sweet Potato Fries, topped with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar
Source: Related entry on a re-visit to the Los Angeles County Fair

Cheese curds, nope! Freshly made fries, sorta! These are not strictly potato fries. Instant gravy, notta! While this is not poutine, I think I just found an unhealthy dessert that I want to try making at home...

If today's performance of the Toronto Stock Exchange is any indication, Canada's economy is wavering. Despite Canadians having more conservative banking practices than our American neighbors, our economy is not entirely insulated. It is being affected by what ctv calls a "deepening global recession." There is simply no confidence in the near term. To make matters worse, Statistics Canada released its monthly findings on inflation. While September's inflation rate fell 0.1 percent from last month, Statistics Canada reported that gas and food prices pushed overall prices upwards. In fact, food prices overtook transportation costs as the second major factor pushing inflation upwards.

With food prices changing, it becomes difficult to judge bargains in the supermarket. In the meat department, I remember when economy cuts like chicken legs and pork shoulder sold at $0.99/lb($2.18/kg). Today, chicken legs regularly sell for $1.29/lb($2.84/kg) and pork shoulder, $2.49/lb($5.49/kg). Better cuts like beef rib steak sold at $3.99/lb($8.79/kg) and pork loin, $1.88/lb($4.14/kg). Today, beef rib steak sells for $5.99/lb($13.20/kg) and pork loin, $2.49/lb($5.49/kg).

So, when one of your local supermarkets (Superstore at the corner of Kirkwood and Richmond) advertises skinless, bone in, chicken breast at $1.99/lb is it a good deal? Usually, chicken breast is sold both boneless and skinless.

Skinless, Bone In, Chicken Breast - $1.99/lb

There's only one way to find out. Let's do an experiment and compare prices with another supermarket.:

One package of chicken breast

Please note the recorded mass from the store is 1.2 lb

Here is the what my digital kitchen scale came up with: 1.19 lb

Having removed the bones...

Here's what the bones weigh by themselves: 0.38 lb

Here's what the boneless and skinless chicken breasts weigh: 0.85 lb

At $1.99/lb, we payed $2.41 (before taxes) for the skinless, bone-in, chicken breast. If the mass from the bones is removed, this means, we paid approximately $2.84/lb for just the meat.

If the following advertisement from Food Basics is any indication, Superstore's sale isn't a bad deal.

Skinless, Boneless, Chicken Breast - $2.99/lb
The only difference is that Food Basics sells theirs with the work already done.

Conclusion: Skinless, Bone in, Chicken breast is a good deal at $1.99/lb

However, to complicate things, here is the price of boneless, skinless, chicken breast from Loblaws.

Skinless, Boneless, Chicken Breast
The wrinkle: it's air chilled and not water chilled chicken.

While we at foodiePrints consider how to compare air to water chilled chicken, please take a gander at how Hyundai is using price/mass to sell cars.

Car vs. Chicken Wings
The image was taken of an advertisement tacked to the rafters of a local bus. I wonder if Hyundai would allow me to purchase a car with chicken...

A Stumbleupon posting, which is being dug heavily today on digg.com, makes last year's Christmas-oriented food-shaped USB key post inadequate. The foodiePrints post simply doesn't sport as many pictures. As such, I am addressing the issue with this post.

The following food-shaped USB keys come from SolidAlliance, a Japanese manufacturer of USB keys.

Cream Puffs

Maki Topped With Fish Roe

Siu Mai (Dim Sum)
This is the same manufacturer that made the Strawberry Short Cake USB hub that was the subject of foodiePrints' original post on food-shaped USB keys.

The following food-shaped USB keys come from sourcingmap.com c/o the Stumbleupon post and its referenced fosfor blog entry (entitled: The top 10 weirdest USB drives ever).

Cream Filled Cookie

Chicken or Turkey Drumstick

Strawberry
Please note the handsome metal boxes and their molded foam inserts that the USB keys come in. I may purchase one of these keys for the box alone.

And, here is the weirdest USB key that I have yet seen. It is not food-related and originates on gizmodo.

Barbie
Without further research, I surmise that this product is not endorsed by Mattel. I think that someone made it from his kid sister's Barbie doll, using an online tutorial such as the one from IkeaHacker that produced the following DIY crocodile USB key.

Cute DIY Crocodile Plush
IMHO, the crocodile USB key is much less disturbing and far cuter!

This just in: Food-related, yet not, the following USB key made it around the blogosphere and back. A company named cnk Promotions created a patented USB key that can hold liquid. In a bid to encourage drink companies to use the product, they mocked up a Beer-Filled USB key.

Beer-Filled USB key
Source: cnkpromos.com c/o gizmodo.com

Originally, I was going to just keep appending pictures to foodiePrints' original "Funny Picture for a Dirty Mind" post. Then, I decided that having a posting with too many addendums really doesn't make a good entry.

That said, during my latest visit to one of the oldest and most respected blogs on Chinese teahouses, chaxiubao, I found the following:

A pair of almond cookies labeled Pamela Anderson

A pair of almond cookes labeled Angelina Jolie
I'll just leave it at that.

The chaxiubao blog is maintained by a food journalist, named John Tse. As a foodie, Tse is held in such high regard that, in 2007, he appeared on Chef Anthony Bourdain's television show "No Reservations" when it visited Hong Kong. Here are photos from Tse's flickr collection of the shoot.

Chaxiubao must have recently undergone a layout re-design. I no longer see the photo slide show, originally powered by flickr images, that had me chasing to my local Chinese bakery. The new layout is however clean and Tse's prose is, as ever, informative. Keep up the good work!

More Follows:
Can you believe it's not butter?

Rich Buttery Taste, No Trans Fat, No Cholesterol

Just in time for Halloween, here are two questionably shaped gummi candies

Gummi Light Houses
Source: joeydevilla.com c/o seriouseats.com

Hannah Montanna Gummi Guitars
Source: joeydevilla.com

And here is the obligatory "whimsical picture" for people with clean minds.

Hot Dog

Whenever I think of wedding cakes, I think of ornately decorated multi-tiered cakes, intricate pieces of expert baking and decorating that celebrate a very happy occasion. As the wikipedia entry on the subject states, this is no easy task. A baker must be able to balance producing a cake that is dense enough to support decorations and, at the same time, he or she must ensure the cake is edible. Decorating a wedding cake also requires tremendous skill.

Take for instance the frosting. According to a guide by Amanda Jane, from ezinearticles.com, the following are the types of wedding cake frosting commonly in use today:

• Butter cream: Butter cream can serve as both filling and frosting. As a frosting, it colors easily and it can be worked into various designs. However, it is not temperature stable and can melt easily.
• Fondant: Rolled fondant is used to create the satin smooth finish on wedding cakes. It can also be worked to shapes or mold entire cakes to resemble gifts, flowers or another requested object. However, it does not taste nearly as good as butter cream. Some bakers even layer butter cream underneath fondant icing to make it palatable.
• Marzipan: Marzipan is a almond paste that is used to model decorations. However, it can be pricey to decorate a wedding cake with marzipan.
• Royal Icing: Royal Icing is ideal for creating intricate writing, borders, and lace. It dries very hard and is more shelf stable than butter cream.

Bakers need to make informed decisions as to which frosting or frosting combination would be best to produce a chosen cake design.

Speaking of designs, if the bride and groom are especially geeky, the following wedding cakes may provide some inspiration.

If the bride and groom are Nintendo fans,

How about a consoled cake?
Source: flickr.com c/o diamondvues.com

If the bride and groom are Mario fans,

What would they think of a Super Mario wedding?
Source: flickr.com c/o geeksugar.com

Or just a Mario Land wedding
Source: dumpt.com

If the bride and groom are Star Wars fans,

Nothing says "I love you" quite like a Death Star cake
Source: gizmodo.com

Then again, how about a Droid wedding?
Source: diamondvues.com

While some of these designs may not be what you picture as "every girls' dream wedding cake", they make quite the statement and gain quite the following on flickr. My question: Whatever happened to the horse shoes, doves, or gold rings that wish a couple good luck?

Addendum: The Nintendo wedding cake is a replica of the classic Super Nintendo Entertainment System (AKA: Super NES or SNES). This 16-bit system was all the rage in the early 90s. For a sample of games that were available for the SNES, visit the Cover Arts archive at abduzeedo.com.

Imagine for an instant what cows would say if they could communicate with humans. According to google, someone who goes by the handle Answers101 asked this exact question to the online community of answerbag.com in 2006. Amongst his responses were the following:
"Moo?"
"The grass IS greener on the other side...please leave the gate open!"
"I would tip people over and say, 'How do you like it, huh?'"
"Mooo-ve over will ya, I have udderly no place to go and close the barn door behind ya!"
"How would you like it if I put those machines on you and milked you? "
and, my favourite,
"Chicken, it's what should be for dinner."

Personally, were I to encounter a talking cow, I would first sit her down and show her some of the latest dairy products on the market:

Pro-biotic Yogurt Drink

DanActive

With Active Probiotic Culture

Contains Skim Milk and Condensed Skim Milk
That's right Bessy. First we milk you. Then we remove all the fat from your milk. We concentrate some of it and make a watery product, using a patented "probiotic" bacterial culture. It tastes like cough syrup.

Yogurt In a Tube

Yoplait Tubes

Plutonik Peach
We not only make yogurt from your milk, but we thicken it, color it brightly, stuff it in tubes, and label it. Why? Our young need a source of calcium as they ride around on two wheeled contraptions, called bicycles.

Cheese that's good for Developing Minds

Smart Growth Cheese, it's Cheddarific
We have also decided that we can spike dairy products with chemicals that we then market to make our young smarter. That is, even though the products themselves are packaged with nonsensical words like "cheddarific."

Ready-made Onion Dip (AKA: California Dip)

Heluva Good Onion Dip
And, of course, some of us also go to expensive business schools to specialize in marketing. There, we learn to brand dairy products with misspelled profanity.

I figure my talking cow would be shocked speechless.

So my answer to the question: absolutely nothing!

In today's morning rush to get to work, I forgot to cobble together a lunch. As such, noon saw me visit the salad bar restaurant in the food court. There, I picked up a small rectangular clam shell and added two small blocks of unidentified white cheese, a slice of poached chicken, two spoonfuls of a quinoa salad, two spoonfuls of avocado salad, and a tong full of spinach salad (spinach leaves, dressed with salt, served with thinly sliced red onion). Price: $4.75

Like my better half, I rarely eat salad and prefer my greens cooked. That is, unless they accompany a sandwich. When it comes to spinach leaves, I prefer they be slightly wilted in a hot pan with a tablespoon of a neutral oil (e.g. canola), a pinch of kosher salt, and two finely chopped cloves of garlic. No fuss. No muss.

I am however, open to new recipes to broaden my spinach repertoire. Here are two preparations that I have gathered, but have not yet tried.

The first recipe makes a Classic Mandarin Orange Salad. It was given to me by a wonderful lady named Margaret. I do not know her nearly well enough to call her Marg as her friends and co-workers do. What I can say is that she is extremely healthy and runs marathons on a whim. She is also well respected and highly spoken of by her colleagues.

The picture is of a prepared spinach salad, using a similar recipe from tasteofhome.com.

Margaret's Classic Mandarin Orange Salad
Dressing
What you will need:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp granulated white sugar
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• few drops of tobasco

Method:
Place all ingredients in bowl and whisk to combine.

Salad
What you will need:

• Handful of slivered almonds
• 2 tbsp of granulated sugar
• 2-3 stalks of celery
• 2-3 stalks of young green onion (aka: scallions)
• 1-2 lb of prepared mixed greens
• 1 can mandarin oranges
• One batch of dressing (above)

Method:

1. Place a fry pan on medium heat and add both the slivered almonds and granulated sugar to the pan
2. Cook the almonds in the sugar until the sugar melts and the almonds are coated
3. Place the slivered almonds into a large bowl
4. Slice the celery and green onion finely. The reason they are not prepared before hand is because the almonds need time to cool. Else, they may wilt the greens.
5. Add the sliced celery and green onions to the bowl
6. Add the mixed greens to the bowl
7. Drain the mandarin oranges and add them to the bowl
8. Toss gently
9. Slowly drizzle the dressing over the salad and dress conservatively. Do not worry if there is leftover dressing. It should sit well in the fridge.
10. Serve

I was fortunate enough to sample this salad (made with a mesculin mixture) at a Canada Day barbecue two years back. I remember the sweet and sour flavors playing extremely well with the peppery greens. The celery and slivered almonds gave every odd bite a nice crunch. According to allrecipes.com, young spinach leaves can substituted for mixed greens in similar salads.

And here is something from an oddly rendering web page, belonging to Chef Wolfgang Puck: fried spinach leaves.

According to my director's former assistant, fried spinach leaves are Asian and she had them last at a Chinese restaurant. While I've seen chefs on the food network deep fry basil leaves to use as garnishes, I have never seen deep fried spinach. Apparently, it comes out very crispy and flavourful.

Deep Fried Spinach Leaves
What You Will Need:

• 1/2 pound young spinach leaves
• neutral oil for deep frying (e.g. canola oil)
• Kosher salt for seasoning

Method:

1. Clean the spinach leaves well, drain and dry thoroughly. Running the spinach through a salad spinner would be ideal.
2. In a high walled stainless steel pot, heat about 3 inches of a neutral oil to 375­F.
3. Add spinach in batches.
4. Submerge each batch with either a slotted spoon or oriental spider and fry for approximately 1-2 minutes
5. Remove when the spinach darkens
6. Gently place the spinach on a wire cake rack over newspaper to drain.
7. Season with salt to taste and serve immediately.

I learned two things from the single marketing course I was obligated to take to earn my business minor in university. Firstly, I learned the difference between putting together marketing and business plans. This, I do not feel apt to address. Secondly, I learned that market research allows producers and retailers to tailor their products and approach. Because cultural specificities are regional, the relative success of a product can be determined by such minuscule aspects as how a local sports team is fairing in a national tournament.

In 2007, when Ottawa's professional hockey team, the Senators (or Sens), made it to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in modern history, they faced off against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Local businesses immediately moved to exploit the growing anti-"duck" sentiment in the city. Aubrey's is an excellent purveyor of butchered goods in its own right, but I've no doubt that they shifted a lot of duck, which is ordinarily a niche product. Similarly, a pasta place on Elgin, Fettuccine's, started advertising duck confit ravioli, which is an outlandish product that would not otherwise sell.

In other words, specialized products and marketing reflect what producers and retailers think profitable for specific geographic regions. On that note, let's turn to Pizza Hut.

According to wikipedia.net, Pizza Hut is a restaurant chain and international franchise, based in Addison, Texas. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc., it serves different styles of pizza along with side dishes, including pasta, buffalo wings, and garlic bread. There are approximately 34,000 Pizza Hut restaurants, "delivery-carry out units", and kiosks in 100 countries.

On October 6, 2008, Brandrepublic.com reported that Pizza Hut in the UK will "temporarily" re-brand its stores "Pasta Hut." Nine restaurants will change their signs immediately.

The re-branding is part of an approximately £17 million initial campaign to shift the Pizza-Hut brand upmarket. Why? Market research determined that Brits eat more pasta than pizza. The repositioning also involves introducing eight new pasta dishes and updating more than 100 existing UK restaurants with a "more contemporary" look. In total, Pizza Hut reportedly plans to spend approximately £100 million on its UK restaurants over the next six years.

Of course re-positioning means modifications to Pizza Hut's web presence.

At the moment (October 16, 2008), Pizza Hut's UK website sports a snazzy flash piece that allows visitors to flip between Pizza and Pasta.

Pasta Hut

Pizza Hut

So what does Pizza Hut plan for its native country's website?

Now Serving Pasta
Well, apparently, Pizza Hut now serves pasta. Though, pizza is still the mainstay.

And, what about Pizza Hut's Canadian website?

Nothing!
Clearly, Canadians aren't going to get the new pasta dishes.

In fact, as redflagdeals.com explains, Pizza Hut recently decided to borrow from its American product line and feed Canadians more pizza with its Pizza Mia concept. Pizza Mia pizzas are made with hand tossed dough. They come with one topping. They are only medium size and you have to order 3 or more to get a deal.

Why am I not impressed? Is it possible that the Brits chose not to eat Pizza Hut Pizza because it is salty and incredibly greasy?

Take the high road and order pizza from a mom and pop shop like Ottawa's gravy pizza originator, Sorento's (AKA: House of Georgie).

Particulars follow after the jump!

More after the jump...

Last summer, Loblaws and Superstore started selling "burger first" buns under the President's Choice brand. These buns are thin but hefty pieces of bread that replace the thicker and lighter buns that we are used to seeing in the mega-mart. I believe their intention is to address an issue with burgers from certain fast food outlets. There, each bite comes with just as much fluffy bread as it does burger.

But, what happens when you run out of burgers and you've burger first buns leftover?

Suggestion 1:
English muffins are still my favourite, but burger first buns proved a viable substitute.

Scrambled Eggs, seasoned with Parmesan

Breakfast Sandwich

Suggestion 2:
When I first saw the buns, I remarked about how much they reminded me of Greek-style pita. Greek pita can doubles as a prepared pizza base.

Salsa and Cheese

Salsa Pizza
Unfortunately, the texture was just plain wrong. The bun softened under the pizza toppings. Next time, I'm going to toast up the buns first.

Here's some related advertising:

Bank First?

This year, what signified Autumn for me had to be facing, what I like to call, the October/Thanksgiving gauntlet. Here's what got queued up for me:

• Baking two batches of Chiffon Cupcakes for two separate office events
• Getting conned into cooking dinner for my own "surprise" birthday party
• Preparing and delivering 2 oral presentations on cooking and the foodiePrints blog
• Preparing and hosting a large Thanksgiving dinner

It was a harrowing two weeks. To my sweetie, Jenn, I couldn't have accomplished all of this without your help.

Happily, Jenn and I found time to lunch at my favourite restaurant, Allium, just before the temperature started dipping and the leaves coloured. While Thanksgiving and my birthday signify Autumn has come, we lunched at Allium to celebrate summer's passing.

Why is lunch at Allium significant? Firstly, both Jenn and I work in different ends of the national capital region, so it is nearly impossible for us to co-ordinate meeting, let alone having lunch together. Secondly, Allium does not serve lunch on weekends or Mondays. As such, the only time we can lunch at Allium is during the latter half of the work week, should we both be on vacation. On August 14th, a rare window of opportunity opened, so we eagerly took it.

On that note, I highly recommend everyone pick a day during every season to visit Allium. Allium's chef, Arup Jana, changes the menu weekly to reflect seasonal ingredients. More than likely his ingredients are also locally sourced and organic. As such, his dishes change with the prevailing weather. For August, this meant fatty fish, game meats, vine ripened tomatoes, and peppery greens.

Jenn had a fish and chip plate.

Fish and Chips ($13.00)

Fish Cross Section
Think thin coating of crispy fried beer batter draping over delicate white fleshed flakes. The chips were almost Belgian. While not quite glassy (i.e. double fried), they were fresh and flavorful. Neither the fish nor the chips were greasy.

I, with permission from our wonderful waitress, Rebecca, ordered a number of appetizers. I rarely get the pleasure to eat at Allium, so I decided to try as many dishes as possible.

Crab Cake ($6.50)
Gently breaded loosely packed flakes of crab, served on a green mango relish with a chipotle aioli. Again, the dish wasn't the least bit greasy. The flavours and textures just danced: crisp, tender, savory, sour, spicy, sweet.


Cup of Roasted Tomato Soup ($2.50)
Please note that this isn't the canned stuff you get with a grilled cheese sandwich at a high school cafeteria. In fact, I greatly dislike canned tomato soup. It is a processed amalgam of viscous red liquid that tastes more like its container than tomatoes. Conversely, the soup I was served concentrated the character of vine ripened tomatoes into a savory rough puree. It came sprinkled with fresh tarragon. It was great.


Small Salad ($2.50)
What can I say? Peppery greens, sweet vine ripened baby tomatoes, all dressed with a gentle sweet vinaigrette. It's the last blast of summer, served in a bowl!

With drinks, tax, and tip, both meals came out to $30. Speaking of the bill, one of the great things about dining at Allium involves the bill always coming itemized, with sub-totals for each seat.

Autograph, Allium's brand new green-coloured business card, and some cutlery art after the jump!

More after the jump...

Now, I realize that some people will read the title of this posting and think "Apple" as in Mac. I really don't like to disappoint my readers, so I hope the following pictures of Mac-related cakes will appease you.

Torta
Source: docitalia.net c/o theapplecollection.com


Classic Apple Logo
Source: docitalia.net c/o theapplecollection.com


More Modern Apple Logo
Source: docitalia.net c/o theapplecollection.com


www.abhug.it?
Source: docitalia.net c/o theapplecollection.com

I initially found these cakes during my research for another post, concerning geeky wedding cakes. These are the non-wedding ones.

However, the subject of this posting is actually a recipe for Jewish Apple Cake, "Apple" as in Johnny Appleseed. It is an autumnal cake since apples in Ottawa are best purchased during the fall months of September and October. This is when the fall bounty wains and apples are in season. Every Thanksgiving, I usually serve an apple dish after dinner.

This year, I made an apple cake. Though, the cake disappeared long before Thanksgiving dinner, so my better half and I baked a lemon chiffon cake instead. That's another post.

Where did I ever get the idea of making a cake out of a fruit that is usually made into a pie? I found it on a forum that I visit from time to time. There, I came across an enterprising member named Dan, who tried to marry the quick bread/cake principle with apples, using several recipes he found on the Internet. A quick search on my part produced a recipe from the Columbus Foodie Blog's founder's mom. This is the recipe I used, with several minor modifications.

Here's what turned out:

Apple Cake

A luscious slice.
While dense, the cake tasted distinctly of brown sugar and apples. It was moist and flavorful, a great addition to my Autumnal repertoire.

Recipe follows after the jump...

More after the jump...

On September 20, 2008, the following image started climbing the charts on the somewhat bacon-happy digg.com, the social media-driven content mega-site.

Heaven for Bacon Lovers
As of today, the image has garnered 1260 diggs, extremely respectable for a "food and drink" item.

Clearly from the image's file name, "prsut2", and the image itself, what was used to create the food escape is prosciutto, not American bacon.

The image is in fact a "foodscape" from London artist and photographer Carl Warner. Here are more foodscapes from an online feature by UK's Telegraph Newspaper.


Bread and Cheese
Source: Telegraph Media


Broccoli
Source: Telegraph Media


Fruit Balloons
Source: Telegraph Media


Salami Trees
Source: Telegraph Media


Salmon Sea
Source: Telegraph Media

Poster-sized prints of the Warner's foodscapes can be purchased from Lens London.

I'm partial to the following image:

Tuscan Market
I've a soft spot for tomatoes, especially from an open air market.

Comme le site d?Internet Chocolate & Zucchini nous dit «si vous n?avez jamais goûté un gâteau chiffon, imaginer manger un nuage» Le gâteau chiffon resemble un peu au gâteau au anges.

Pour faire un gâteau chiffon classique, on utilise un moule circulaire avec un tube - typique pour le gâteau au anges. Parcontre, dans les pâtisseries chinoises, le gâteau chiffon est cuit dans un gobelet métallique chemisé par du papier. En chinois, les gâteaux de chiffon s'appellent zhǐ bāo dàn gāo qui ce traduit «gâteau enveloppé par un papier».

Deux mois passé, j?ai trouvé une recette pour faire des petits gâteaux chiffon.

Petits Gâteaux de Chiffon

Recette
Ingrédients:

• 150 g (5 1/4 onces) de farine pâtissière ? five and a quarter oz cake flour
• 1 1/2 c. à thé de poudre à pâte (levure chimique) ? one and a half tsp baking powder
• 1 c. à thé sel de kasher ? 1 tsp kosher salt
• 5 oeufs grosses séparés les blancs et les jaunes ? 5 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 c à thé de crème de tarte ? 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar
• 170 g (6 onces) de sucre granulé, divisé par 142 g (5 onces) et 28 g (1 onces) ? six oz sugar, divided into five oz and one oz
• 60 mL (1/4 tasse) d?eau froide ? quarter cup of cold water
• 60 mL (1/4 tasse) de l?huile végétale (j?ai utilisé de l?huile d?olive légère) ? quarter cup of vegetable oil (I used a light olive oil)
• 1 c à thé d?extrait de vanille pure ? 1 tsp vanilla extract

Méthode:

les jaunes d'oeufs

farine pâtissière tamisée

les blancs d'oeufs

les blancs d'oeufs fouettés jusqu'ils forment des pics bien fermes (oeufs en neige ferme)

le mélange (sans oeufs en neige ferme) bien battu avec un fouet électrique

le mélange prêt pour ajouter des oeufs en neige

le mélange avec une partie des oeufs en neige

mouvement enveloppant en bas

mouvement enveloppant en haut

le mélange versé dans les moules en papier

cuit au four pour 30 minutes

Si vous n'y avez pas des moules à muffins, vous pouvez prendre n'importe quels autres plats a gâteau.

exemples d'autres plats au four

deux plats de gratins

1. Préchauffer le four à 325°F.
2. Déposer les moules en papier dans deux plats de moules à muffins.
3. Tamiser la farine, le sucre, la poudre à pâte et le sel trois fois. Réserver.
4. Dans un grand bol, mélanger les jaunes d?oeuf, le sel, l?extrait de vanille, et 5 once de sucre. Réserver l?autre once de sucre pour faire des oeufs en neige.
5. Battre le mélange avec un fouet électrique jusqu?a le mélange devien un peu pale et vous pouvez former des ruban épais en soulevant le fouet.
6. Ajouter l?eau et l?huile tout en fouettant
7. Ajouter le mélange de farine soigneusement et fouetter pour l?incorporer. Réserver.
8. Dans un autre grand bol mettre les blancs d?oeufs et la crème de tarte.
9. Fouetter les jusqu?a les blancs d?oeufs forment des pics velloutés.
10. Ajouter l?once de sucre réserver
11. Fouetter le mélange jusqu?a les blancs d?oeufs forment des pics fermes.
12. Ajouter les blancs d?oeufs un peu a la fois au premier mélang. Incorporer délicatement en utilisant un mouvement qui enveloppe le mélange de bas vers le haut de bol.
13. Verser le mélange dans les moules.
14. Faire cuire au four trente minutes, jusqu'à la surface des gâteaux soit doré
15. Retirer les gâteaux, puis les laisser refroidir complètement.
16. Glacer au choix.

Corrigée par Caro

Références:
«Cupcakes doré à la vanille», Le Guide Cuisine: La Magazine complet des plaisirs de la table - Oignon Et Ail, Vol(13): 4
chocolateandzucchini.com
marmiton.org

In 2006, I was invited to celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival with Jenn's family and friends. Also known as the Moon festival, the event celebrates the harvest and dates back 3000 years. According to wikipedia.net, the festival originated in China's Shang Dynasty and is now held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which translated to sometime mid or late September in the Gregorian calendar. The legend and lore that are associated with the festival are rather complicated to explain and come in several versions. Five, are included in the wikipedia entry on the festival.

Today, the festival is celebrated amongst family and friends who gather together to eat moon cakes and pomeloes after partaking of a large meal.

Here are some after-dinner highlights:

Wifey Cakes
Somethings are lost in translation. Yes, the box reads wife cakes. Wife cakes are flat round pastries containing a melange of candied winter melon, almond paste, and sesame seeds. Made badly, their crust tends to be too thick and their filling too firm. Made well, the crust is slightly buttery, light, and flaky. It encases a soft sweet filling. While not traditional to the festival itself, the cakes were well received as they were purchased and brought to Ottawa from overseas by a family friend. Here are two example recipes of wife cakes from the "Little Corner of Mine" and "Do What I Like" blogs.


Keefer Bakery Moon Cakes and Pomelo
Moon cake and pomelo are much more traditional. Pomelo is essentially a very thick rinded Asian grapefruit. Instead of being tart, ripe pomelo is honey sweet. Unripe, pomelo is mildly tasteless. The skin between each segments is actually too fibrous to eat, so each segment is split open to retrieve the citrus flesh inside. Moon cake is a pastry with a thin brown crust and a thick red bean filling. Though, an alternative filling includes lotus seed paste. Some moon cakes come with one or more preserved egg yolks. Others do not. They are extremely rich and need to be shared. Often times, an 1/8th wedge is a sufficient serving.

Packaged Moon Cakes

A Single Serving
The moon cakes pictured were manufactured in Canada by Vancouver's extremely well regarded Keefer Bakery. What sets Keefer's moon cakes apart involves their being made exclusively with vegetable oil, not lard or peanut oil. Every year, Keefer's moon cakes are shipped across Canada and exported overseas. They can be purchased 4 or 8 to a tin at most Asian grocery stores during the months leading up to the mid-autumn festival. I have actually seen places that sell Keefer's moon cakes individually as well.

If you want to purchase moon cakes as a gift, make sure to pickup one of the custom paper bags that are displayed with the tins. They are specific to each tin and serve as gift wrapping.

Speaking of paper, here is some careful paper folding by the elder of my better half's younger sisters. These piggies sparked several conversations that evening.

Piggies on Moon Cake

Close Up
BTW, it was unanimous. Everyone wanted to adopt the red piggie.

Particulars:
Keefer Bakery Ltd
251 E Georgia Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
(604)685-2117‎

Cette recette est très courte et rapide a faire.

Salsa maison à l'ail rôtis

Recette
Ingrédients:

• 1 gros oignon blanc haché grossièrement ? 1 large white onion, chopped coarsely
• 2 ou 3 gros poivrons rouges parés et coupés en petits morceaux ? 2-3 large red peppers, seeded and cut into small pieces
• 1 grosse gousse d'ail dégermée et hachée ? 1 large clove (pod) of garlic, cored and chopped
• 1 c. à thé de sel kasher ? 1 tsp of kosher salt
• 1 c. à thé de poivre noir du moulin ? 1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 c. à soupe d'huile d?olive
• 1 bouteille de 650 ml de salsa preparée au choix ? 1 650 ml bottle of prepared salsa

Méthode:

salsa preparée

légumes rôtis

légumes rôtis haché mince

1. Préchauffer le four à 230°C (450°F).
2. Mettre l?oignon et les gousses d?ail hachée dans un bol moyen avec l?huile d'olive. Saler et poivrer, puis mélanger.
3. Transvider les légumes sur une plaque de métal, puis les répartir sur toute la surface.
4. Mettre la plaque sur l?étage central du four et griller les légumes 25 minutes ou jusqu?à ce qu?ils soient d?une couleur brune et dorés.
5. Les retourner avec une spatule au milieu de la cuisson.
6. Retirer la plaque du four, puis les laisser refroidir complètement.
7. Mettre la salsa dans un bol moyen.
8. Couper les morceaux d?oignon et de poivron rouge rôtis en quatre. Réserver.
9. Prendre le bol et y ajouter l?ail, l?oignon et le poivron rouge. Mélanger, puis réfrigérer au moins 1 heure avant de servir.
10. Accompagner de croustilles de maïs.

Cette salsa peut aussi être servie comme sauce d?accompagnement avec du poulet ou du poisson grillé.

Corrigé par Yannick

Références:
"Salsa maison à l'ail et à l'oignon rôtis", Le Guide Cuisine: La Magazine complet des plaisirs de la table - Oignon Et Ail, Vol(13): 4

Eight years ago, when I was a lowly assistant, working for what, even then, was an "old school" marketing team (forget clicks and mortar, think charcoal on cave wall), I came across one of the first energy drinks: Guru. At 250 mL, the drink was packaged in an atypical aluminium can, thinner and taller than usual. The can itself sported a silver outlined "wave form shape", which was popular for layouts back then.

Since a member of my extended group of friends was nicknamed "guru" for his aptitude in all things engineering, I purchased a can and took pictures of it with my former tried and true digital camera, an Olympus D490Z.

The images were captured with the can of Guru sitting on one of my old notebooks. And, just as I no longer use hard bound notebooks, I also don't drink energy drinks. In fact, that can of Guru was my first and last energy drink. Why? It was rank, tasting distinctly of pureed shoe. I don't even think I finished the drink, opting instead to "energize" (aka: caffeinate) the plumbing of the nearby men's washroom. The can itself ended up in the blue box.

Today, energy drinks are very popular, especially amongst teenaged children. It is so pervasive that certain high schools in the maritimes have banned the drinks from school property. Red Bull and its ilk are also accepted parts of campus culture and are carried by recent graduates to the workplace. I personally know of two IT professionals who treat energy drink like water. Their bodies are so dependent on the caffeine that they cannot function without their daily regimens of energy drinks.

Recently, early deleterious effects from consuming energy drinks have been determined. According to ctv, an article published in the journal of "Drug and Alcohol Dependence" identifies that energy drinks contain between 50 to more than 500 milligrams of caffeine. This means that, at the high end, drinking 1 energy drink is equivalent to drinking 14 cans of pop. Caffeine at these concentrations can lead to dangerous health problems such as rapid heart beats, tremors and insomnia. A total of 28 popular brands of energy drinks were tested.

Interestingly, the very same day (September 24, 2008) that ctv published its report on energy drinks, healthnews.com posted a piece on a study from Loyola University Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine. The study determined that a substance key to the formation of kidney stones in men (called oxalate) is highly concentrated in commercial iced tea. Researchers recommend opting for for vitamin c-rich lemonade instead. I wonder what researchers think about lemon iced tea?

As the title of this entry reads, I guess it's back to good ole' water for me!

Woah...Quizno's delivers now!?! And yes, I must have been living under a rock...Apparently, Ottawa's York Street location was hiring drivers as early as mid August on kijiji.ca. One of my friends has seen ads for drivers in Kanata as well.

While, I have yet to order Quizno's online, or any other food for that matter, the originator of the 1510 calorie chicken carbonara sub seems to have opened a Canadian equivalent of its existing online ordering website.

Sub delivery is an interesting twist in Quizno's business model. Though, delivery maybe a saving grace for the Bank Street location as it has been mired in construction during the past three summers. Road closures must hit the balance sheet pretty hard.

Here is more related advertising:

From E-mail

From Paper Flier

Contact Numbers from Paper Flier
Please note that the coupons are only applicable on delivery orders.

As my Kanata dwelling friend remarked to me, it is much more fun to get a bunch of people together and visit a physical Quizno's restaurant.

Besides, the York Street location has a complimentary hot pepper bar. I don't think the establishment would be too happy filling an order that includes: "Please add a couple of those not too hot yellow peppers from your pepper bar. You know...second from the right..."

In a related note, on Canada Day, I discovered this advertisement on a telephone pole next to a bus stop downtown:

Get your alcohol delivered..
I'm not even going to dignify the issues that this service raises...

And now they may be getting even. As CTV news reported this morning (October 1, 2008), Koala Cookies have been voluntarily recalled by the American arm of their manufacturer, Lotte China Foods Co., Ltd. This is because, as of September 30, 2008, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has implicated the product in the ongoing international controversy involving melamine. The CFIA is warning people not to consume the Lotte brand Koala cookies as they may contain the substance.

According to the related bulletin on the CFIA website, the affected products may have been distributed nationally. Currently, there has been no reported illnesses associated with the product.

From personal experience, the product can be purchased boxed at Walmart. Inside of each box are individual packages. I have disposed of the box and remaining packages that my better half and I purchased from Toronto.

Here is what individual packages look like:

Front

Back

Here is what the cookies look like:

Close Up

Cross Section

Heads
I am going to presume that potential melamine contamination comes from the light coating of cream inside each cookie.

According to the CFIA's online risk information webpage and related FAQ, the health effects from exposure to melamine vary depending on the amount and exposure. Prolonged exposure to high quantities of melamine has been demonstrated to cause bladder and kidney stones and chronic kidney inflammation.

To my readers, please follow my example and dispose of any you may have in your home.

I hope that the cookies Jenn and I consumed do not result in any kidney damage.

As I stated in an earlier entry, I feel very strongly about farm vs. factory grown tomatoes. I feel so strongly that I believe that people's dislike of tomatoes has more to do with the breed of the mega-mart variety than tomatoes themselves. I don't think enough people have tried real tomatoes. Do tomatoes need to pale, plastic, and tasteless? No, but enjoying truly vine ripened tomatoes (translated: fragrant and flavorful) means that you have to purchase seasonally and you have to look into preserving them for the rest of the year.

For me, this means buying pints (5-7 at a shot) of tomatoes in late September and early October from open air markets and spending weekends making tomato sauce. I also buy pints of gold and ruby red cherry tomatoes for out of hand eating.

BTW, insalata calabrese with locally grown vine ripened tomatoes is something worth waiting three seasons for.

My recipe for tomato sauce started with two from Alton Brown. One uses fresh tomatoes. The other uses canned tomatoes.

Here are pictures of one of my original batches, circa Mid-September 2004

Tomatoes Halved in the Oven with a Mirepoix

Roasted

Sauce Done!

Comparison with a Pot Simmered Sauce

Later, I augmented the recipe with tips from former British Chef and natural food enthusiast Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (FW). I have copies of every episode of Chef FW's television series, including the entire run of his earliest series, entitled "Cook on the Wild Side." One episode from the second series of River Cottage (Return to River Cottage) is a particular favourite of mine. In it, Chef FW uses the various varieties of poly-tunnel grown tomatoes to make a myriad of dishes, including salsa, ketchup, a failed jelly, and samosas. These "up-market" products were extremely well received at an organic farmers' market.

The revelation that I took from Alton Brown and Chef FW involves roasting tomatoes to concentrate flavors. This loosens the flesh from the skins and caramelizes sugars, thus enriching and deepening flavors. And yes, the tomatoes need to be burned slightly. Though, not as much as my original batch.

While I won't share the current state of my recipe, the following are proceeds from this year's sauce-making. The way I figure it, if the IT thing doesn't work out, I think I'll give President's Choice a run for its money at bottled tomato sauces.

Here are pictures from this year's tomato sauce making adventure. Many thanks to my better half, Jenn, for her help.

Off to the Parkdale market for ingredients

Wooden Baskets of Crimson Jewels

5-7 pint Range Plastic Baskets

Approximately 6 Pints Bagged

Can't forget the onions

One Refrigerator Jar of Homemade Tomato Sauce

Freezer Jars of Homemade Tomato Sauce

Here's a slight twist. We added roasted red pepper to a partial batch.

Freezer Jars of Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce

An example of what you can do with homemade tomato sauce follows after the jump:

More after the jump...