I think Canadian Living was very smart (marketing-wise) to compile a bunch of magazine recipes into a book. While you may clip something out of a magazine if you really like it, most periodicals have a high turn-over rate. Or perhaps you read a magazine waiting in a doctor’s office, but the copy was at least four months old and you didn’t bring it home. This type of collection is so smart, and I am speaking as a reader/consumer and as a person in the publishing industry.

The Vegetarian Collection is the tenth compilation that Canadian Living has published with Random House of Canada since 1999. They have a variety of cookbooks such as The Slow Cooker, Complete Baking Collection, BBQ Collection, Complete Christmas Book, and (to be reviewed soon) Create, Update, Remake full of DIY articles.

When I saw this book in Random House’s fall catalogue I immediately requested a copy for review. Two reasons: I love magazine-compilation-books. I have a huge stack of magazines that I keep meaning to cut an article or two out of to keep, but never get around to it so I love book collections. Second, I’m a vegetarian (with a number of dietary issues) so I am always eager to see new recipes.

Now, you’re sitting there, tapping your foot, scrolling down, thinking, “When is she going to get to the food? Show us the yummy pictures!” Okay! Okay! I will.

Asparagus Goat Cheese Omelettes

For Christmas Day, I invited my sister (Bonnie) over for Christmas breakfast with her friend Cyrus. First of all, I was an idiot and tried to go grocery shopping at 7pm on Christmas Eve. Yea, everywhere was closed. Fortunately the little grocery store run by a lovely Chinese couple was open on Christmas morning (and, they have great stuff — I am totally making that my regular produce shop).

Anyway, I got my ingredients and started cooking about an hour before Cyrus and Bonnie were supposed to arrive. I had never successfully made an omelette — I always tried to flip them too soon and they turned into an egg scramble with goodies inside. My mom suggested trying a fritata (basically a baked omelette) but this recipe looked so good.

Asparagus and goat cheese omelette with extra goat cheese on top and fresh-cracked pepper

The recipe, Asparaus Goat Cheese Omelettes, calls for asparagus, green onions, fresh tarragon and goat cheese inside the omelettes. However, I also had some leftover Spring salmon and used dill instead of tarragon. Bonnie offered to help me not flip the omelette too early and this recipe turned out amazingly.

Bonnie, Cyrus, and I all devoured our omelettes — they were fantastic. I had also paired the breakfast with a winter fruit salad with mandarin oranges, Chinese apple-pear, pear, and pineapple.

Recipes I want to Try

So far I’ve only had the opportunity to try the omelette recipe from this book, but believe me, it is chock-a-block full of goodies I want to make and eat.

I definitely want to try making the Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup because I love vegetable soups that are creamy without cream. Dilled Potato & Grilled Corn Salad sounds like the perfect thing for a summer potluck. The Vegetable Lentil Gardener’s Pie reminds me of the Shepard’s Pie we used to have as kids but with a good protein source for vegetarians without relying on fake meat products.

The last section is a basics section explaining homemade soup stock, homemade ricotta, multigrain pizza dough, and some basic and complimentary sauces. Very helpful and awesome addition (and I have been meaning to make pizza dough).

There are also several Quiche and Torte-style recipes and I’d be interested in trying one. That’s something I often avoid because it seems very finicky, but this cookbook isn’t intimidating.

While it’s not quite like the ones I’ve been to in England (and I’m sure even less like the ones in Germany) we still managed to have fun. Remember to bring cash!! Lots of cash because 1.) it’s expensive and 2.) you will want to eat all.the.things.

Crowds inside the Vancouver German Christmas Market

Mmm baked potatoes smothered in good stuffs

First stop (after $5 entrance and getting our alcohol wristbands) was The Potato Hut. Some of us waiting in this line up, while a few others waiting in the Sausage line-up to buy bratwurst. I got a baked poutine potato ($7.50) with cheese curds and gravy. While Hilary insisted it wasn’t real poutine, I insisted it was delicious!

Check out the awesome (and steamy) traditional potato baking oven with warming drawers. So awesome! We were so excited about this and all taking photos. The lady at The Potato Hut said we needed to get out more. Too true, too true.

Tammy enjoying her bratwurst sausage and some costumed stilt walkers at the Market.

Giant Santa on Liebrecht Lebkuchenhaus which sells traditional European treats including all types of gingerbread, marzipan and other sweet delights.

Then someone mentioned there were crepes — both fruit and meat types. Ferdy and I began chanting “crepes! crepes!” We headed towards the crepe hut but discovered they were out of apples (I was planning to get an apple cinnamon crepe).

Row of huts and baked apples at the Applehaus

So instead we lined up at the Applehaus for baked apples ($5.50) which were amazing. They were stuffed with walnuts, raisins, cinnamon and smothered in hot vanilla sauce. To.Die.For. Mmmmm

Erin the baby bee sits on Santa Janel’s lap and my steaming gluwein in commemorative mug.

Our last line up was for drinks, which some people had already had too. I got a mug of spiced apple gluwein ($6 plus $4 mug deposit). Very alcoholic! I would have been happy with just a spiced rum apple cider, but it also had mulled wine too. Wowza. I kept my commemorative mug as a souvenir, but a few people returned theirs to get their $4 back.

We also enjoyed the music of Maria in the Shower playing in the gazebo. There was all different entertainment nightly.

Click here to view the embedded video.

All in all we had a lot of fun. We were chatting in the line-ups and enjoyed the food immensely. I think they had to have a closed-site with entrance fee in order to get the liquor license. We have much stricter street-drinking laws than Europe. The site was packed with people (on a Saturday night) and I would love to see the site expanded next year to include more walking room and even more vendors!

Richmond Country Farms

Nursery at Richmond Country Farms

Selection of Local Produce

Resident Ducks at Richmond Country Farms (look at those awesome colours!!)

View all my photos on my Flickr set: Richmond Country Farms.

Richmond Country Farms is located off Highway 99 in the Steveston area of Richmond (this side of the George Massey Tunnel). It is open from April to late December with a special Pumpkin Patch in October. Most of their produce is from their own acreage but they also seasonally source from other local BC farmers. They also have a nursery and sell turf by the roll (to golf courses no less!).

Whom have you met because of something related to tea? Share something about this person and how your relationship began and blossomed.

Most people I’ve met have been through something else when we discover we both share a love for tea. My best friend in high school, Anna, introduced me to The Secret Garden which I wrote about last week. I met Chelle through a local knitting meetup that would occur at a local cafe. We soon discovered we both enjoyed visiting Steeps in Vancouver. We’ve dragged Julia (another knitting friend) there a couple times.

I met Chan and Ruth via blogging, and we connected over knitting, then pets and tea too. When Ruth and her hubby visited Vancouver last February, we got to share our love for tea as well as the West Coast. I gave her an antique tea cup… and it is the same one on the Hot Tea Month button!

I have been to several tea houses, surprisingly not that many in England though. My favourite one is The Secret Garden Tea Company in Kerrisdale, an area of Vancouver. What I like about it is the clean, bright, relaxed atmosphere of it. I think if I had a Tea House, I would run it similarly.

Their space is a mixture of sit-down and shop. In the shop you can order treats to-go, smell all the teas, and purchase accessories. If you want to sit down for lunch, a cuppa, or even high tea, there are lots of spaces. One of the really nice touches at Secret Garden is the service crockery. They’ve collected old tea cups and saucers and even have a sign on the front door saying they purchase cups and saucers.

If you’re staying in, you are seated by a member of staff and given a tea menu. You and can either choose a pot of tea to share for the table, or each order your own tea. It comes in a teapot covered in a cosy (similar to the ones available to purchase) and you can have unlimited hot water refills. If you’re doing high tea, or demi (half) high tea, the menu is set, but if you’re doing lunch there are lots of lovely salads, sandwiches, and soups for a filling yet light lunch.

I love going for high tea, which I’ve only done a handful of times. The high tea menu changes slightly, but it’s delivered on a three-tiered tray with many miniture goodies. The bottom tier is savoury sandwiches and my favourites are mini croissants with brie and roasted veggies and the egg salad pinwheels. The middle tier has scones with devonshire cream and raspberry jam. The top tier is sweets… and as full as you already are, you cannot resist the goodies up there. Favourites influde lemon tartlette, chocolate mousse cake, and various other goodies.

The few changes I would make in my own establishment would probably just relate to the different menu items and blends of tea. I think that it would be so much fun to work on making blends of tea and pairing with foods. Just give it my own personlized touch with decor as well.

My tried and true is a cup of orange pekoe with milk, no sugar. But I love flavoured and fruity black tea as well as spiced chai made with milk instead of water. And occasionally I’ll have a white or oolong tea. I’m pickier about those kinds. I have a really nice peach oolong tea and a “cleansing” white tea that is really enjoyable after dinner.

I’m not much of a green tea drinker, but I do enjoy yerba mate every so often. I’ve tried a variety of roiboos teas and I do enjoy them but have yet to find one I absolutely love. If I want something calming or for my stomach, I’ll have chamomile or pepperment herbal tea.

Week One: January 3-9, 2010
“Tea as a mood lifter: How does tea improve your day? What is your favorite time for a nice, hot cuppa?”

My day always begins with a hot cup of tea, but my favourite time is in the late afternoon to just cuddle up with a cuppa tea and a book or a movie. Nowadays (winter time) we use tea to warm up. I’m nursing a cup right now, holding it to my chest and warming my hands… when I’m not typing.

Shelby knit me this incredibly long scarf (can wrap 3 times around my neck) out of Cascade 220 (I think). I was knitting a secret Christmas gift with Cascade 220 and I swear it is the same colourway! And that is some lovely Scottish Breakfast Tea, I’ve only tried English Breakfast so I have been enjoying this in the mornings.

Here’s a stitch close-up for the knitter’s out there.

And some lovely photos from the dinner:

Kyrsten & Megan

Janel, Sioban, Louisa, Kyrsten, and Shelby

Mrs. Quimby & I munch on some yarn while Leone looks gorgeous.

Modelling the “point” protectors

Damselfly showing off her lovely fingerless mitts!

Not pictured (because yarnpiggy would kill me) and I couldn’t find any of Tammy… but want to burn their ears… Beentsy (Tammy) and Yarnpiggy (Hilary). Now, off I go to another knitting shindig!

The premise of the movie is based around the first book, Julie & Julia, but brings in a larger aspect of My Life in France compared to the book (from what I can tell). The movie goes back and forth (rather seamlessly) between Julie Powell and her husband living in a post-911 New York and Julia Child before she co-authors Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Half of the story is about Julie, a struggling writer who “never finishes anything”. One night she says to her husband that cooking is her way to get away from all that sadness at work and he suggests she write a blog about cooking. This results in the Julie/Julia Project: 524 recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days.

The other half of the story focuses on Julia Child when her husband is reassigned to Paris. There, trying to find herself, she decides to take cooking lessons and we follow her trials and tribulations as she studies at Le Cordon Bleu. Julia ends up meeting two ladies who are co-authoring a cookbook for Americans in Paris and invite Julia to co-author with them.

The stories mirror each other very well and Nora Ephron (director and screenplay writer) did a very good job of representing both women. I was drawn to both women — Julie because she reminded me of all the things I enjoy and hate about blogging, and Julia because she was inspiring about trying new things and pushing the boundaries. There were some things I didn’t care for — Julie reminded me too much of Miranda from Sex and the City, just in mannerisms and look, and Julia’s accent didn’t fit with her American background but I’m sure Meryl Streep did exceptional research.

All in all, it was an enjoyable movie and I’m glad I didn’t wait to read the book first. However, I really just wanted to be able to taste the movie: I wish that it came with pre-cooked meals for you to join in with!

Bon Appétit!

There are over fifty local(ish) varieties of apples available to taste and purchase, as well as apple tree saplings for sale. Also, several vendors set up at the festival with apple-related goodies such as pie, cider, sauce, candied apples, dried apple chips, etc. There are also vendors with non-apple-related goodies like fudge, pickled canned goods, crepes, soup, sandwiches, and more.

My dad tries to make it out to the Apple Festival every year, and so this year we went together on Saturday morning. Although the weather wasn’t the best, we still went to the apple tasting and then bought 11 bags of apples. They are a fantastic deal; you get 3 lbs of apples for $6 per variety. The only downside is you have to pick one type of apple per 3lb bag. We bought 11 bags of apples and I claimed the Sonata and Aurora for myself. Dad had a couple friends who wanted apples, so he did a “grab bag” of 9 different types. The Sonata apples (formerly Corail) I got are really nice dessert (eating) apples, and the Aurora Golden are good dessert and cooking apples. I plan to make some yummy apple breads with them from the Fall Festival Recipe Exchange.

Happy volunteer, despite the weather

All the apple trees growing in the Botanical Garden get labelled for the festival. That’s my dad in the dark blue coat striding away from me. I told him, “I take lots of photos, so you can’t walk super fast.” The photo before this one has him in the middle of the shot. *sigh*

In the Apple Tasting Session. They let in about 50 people for 30 minutes to taste as many apples as they like. It only costs $3 more.