An Excellent Day's Work

The best part of cooking for a crowd is seeing the different reactions as people try new foods, develop new tastes, and expand their horizons. I recently catered a team building retreat for twelve very different people. The way the event was organized allowed the guests to be in and out of the kitchen. There were no real boundaries and it was more like a large family gathering than a paid job. Having conversations with the guests made the compliments at the end of the meal all the more heartfelt. At the end of the day, my two amazing chefs and I went out for champagne to celebrate a job well done. As far as the food goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Freshly picked carrots of all colors

Ready for roasting

Coconut prawns with sweet chili sauce

Dessert trio of lavender earl grey creme brulee, blueberry lemon curd tart, and pecan brownie

(Forgive the lack of an entree photo. Kitchen chaos is entirely to blame. For those who are curious, it was chicken breast with garlic wine sauce, citrus rice pilaf, and roasted carrots)

A Fruitful Market Day

One of the many things I love about the Pacific Northwest is the huge variety of fresh local fruit available. From apples to cherries and raspberries to plums, there is something for everyone. Thanks to the ridiculously cold June weather, all the fruit harvest was pushed back a few weeks, but we are now at the peak of the berry season and the peaches are finally ripening. Naturally I took advantage of all this bounty and delicious fruits dominated my market haul.

Klippers Organics. Apricots and peach plums. The peach plums were delicious and perfectly ripe, but the apricots still need a little time to reach juicy perfection.

Sandhu Produce Growers Ltd. Raspberries, and blueberries. You may notice that the raspberries are not in the photo this week. My only explanation is that I sat down to eat one and then suddenly the whole pint was gone! Luckily I bought two pints of blueberries and still have some left for my yogurt tomorrow.

Ice Cap Organics. Turnips. These turnips looked absolutely amazing and will be gracing my weekly meal.

Produce of the Week

Finally the sun has come back to the fine city of Vancouver, making it a paradise once more! Naturally this meant that the market was flooded with people. Despite having a nearly full fridge, I braved the crowds for a small market haul and my bimonthly bacon wrap. This time at Pig on the Street, I tried the Southern Piggy, which consists of bacon, BBQ sauce, grilled peppers, corn, cheddar, and chipotle mayo. As always it was completely delicious and well worth the long line. While the Southern Piggy was just as good as the PigLT, I still have to rank the Porker as the best sandwich offered by Pig on the Street.

Paul’s Produce. Strawberries. Since Klippers is done with the strawberry season, I decided to try somewhere new. I have purchased from Paul’s Produce in the past without being disappointed, but these strawberries were a total letdown. I hate to seem overly harsh, but unless they drastically (and miraculously) improve in taste between tonight and tomorrow morning, I will likely be throwing them out.

Klippers. Romaine lettuce, purple kale. The romaine will be used in a Caesar salad later this week, or may be used in Vietnamese lettuce wraps if I choose to get wild. The kale will be lightly sautéed with garlic and lemon tomorrow night.

Forstbauer Farm. Golden beets. I hadn’t planned on buying beets today, but they just looked so good! My plans for those beauties are still up in the air.

Produce of the Week and Thoughts About Pie

As I sat in my apartment eating split pea soup and drinking tea I tried to come up with a supplementary blog topic for today’s post. Of course I could complain about the miserable weather, but I have already done that. I could go on some more about the pure delicious joy of Klipper’s strawberries, but I have already done that. I could even talk about the wonderful community feeling that comes with living in the West End, but I am pretty sure I have covered that topic as well. And so, in light of my terrible writer’s block, I have decided to describe sour cherry pie as a parallel to this blog. 


Now anyone with common sense knows that sour cherry pie is truly amazing (just like my blog, of course), but requires more than a little effort. First there is the task of finding sour cherries. Now this is strongly influenced by local growers and can be a huge pain. Up next is pitting which can take forever, cause hand-cramps and inevitably leads to frustration. After making flaky dough, mixing the filling, and sticking the pastry in the oven there is a bit of an energy crash, but smelling the completed sour cherry pie makes the whole thing worth it. In the end, I truly love writing and taking photographs for this blog. I am proud of my accomplishments and despite occasional frustration, I will never stop.

Snowy Mountain Organics. Sour cherries. Clearly these will be used in pie and there will be photos posted on Monday or Tuesday.


Forstbauer Farm. Squash blossoms. It is becoming a post-market tradition for me to make my squash blossoms stuffed with cheese and basil. Perhaps I should try something different, but why mess with perfection?


Klippers Organics. Sugar snap peas and strawberries. First peas of the season! Not quite sure what my plan is, but I am sure it will be delicious. Sadly, I was told that these are the last strawberries of the season so I was sure to buy two pints. For those of you who were curious about the varieties, I was told that they were a combination of sapphire and sable strawberries.


Sandhu Produce Growers Ltd. Potatoes. These will be used for my meals-to-go business and any leftover potatoes will go into either Swedish potatoes or stew.

Produce of the Week on $15

One of the most common complaints about buying local is the extra cost. People claim that farmers overcharge and that organic is not worth the price. Having spent my childhood in restaurant kitchens and behind farm stands, I am a vehement supporter of local growers. Today I decided that I would bypass my usual Saturday ATM trip and see what I could buy with just $15 cash at the market.

Klippers Organics. Strawberries and garlic scapes. I will be making garlic scape pesto for my business later this week. The strawberries, as always, were delicious and have been completely consumed.

Sandhu Produce Growers Ltd. First raspberries of the season! Tasty, but I have to be honest and say that raspberries will never be my favorite berry (I can’t wait for market blueberry season!). So far the berries have been eaten raw, soaked in wine, and I plan to make raspberry iced tea tomorrow.

Paul’s Produce. Carrots. These will be going in a batch of split pea soup which I plan to make during one of the inevitably rainy days this week.

On my way out of the market I had to stop at the Pig on the Street food cart once again and was overjoyed to see that they take both credit and debit. This time around I tried the Porker sandwich, was given the alias of "Ham Solo", and decided that these wraps will always be worth the long line. The Porker was even better than the Pig LT. Imagine delicious sausage and bacon wrapped together with goat gouda cheese, caramelized onions, and arugula. Now imagine being able to walk up to a van in downtown and buy one of those. Perfection!

Rain, Rain, Go Away and Produce of the Week

I absolutely adore Vancouver weather about 75% of the time. This is not one of those times. I love summer in this city and all the wonderful things to do. I love waking up early on a Saturday morning and cruising the farmers market before dashing off to ballet. I love it much less when I wake up to a dismal lack of sunshine and the sound of endless rain outside my window. It is so much harder to motivate oneself when walking outdoors causes shoes to be soaked and hair to frizz (oh good lord the frizz…). Despite these gloomy Saturday feelings, I managed to get myself to the market and have a lovely time chatting with vendors and browsing produce. After all, even an incredibly dreary day is brightened with fresh strawberries!

Forstbauer Farm. Squash blossoms that will be, once again, stuffed with cheese and basil, tempura-battered, and fried.

Crisp Organics. Delightfully fresh romaine lettuce that has already been used in a Caesar salad tonight.

Klippers Organics. Kale, strawberries, and collard greens. The kale will be lightly sautéed and drizzled with lemon and olive oil. Strawberries=gone. The collard greens were my favorite find this week! They will be gracing my meals to go along with shrimp etouffee and garlic bread.

Hui’s Farm. Baby shitake mushrooms that will go into a light risotto on Tuesday night.

Strawberry Contests and Produce of the Week

Another beautiful Saturday with sunshine, bacon, and fresh veggies. Below are the produce finds for the week and a strawberry showdown between two vendors.


Forstbauer Farm. Romaine lettuce. Sadly no squash blossoms this week, but I have already used the romaine in a caesar salad and believe that it was 100% better than store bought!

Klippers Organics. Arugula, garlic scapes, and the first batch of test strawberries. I plan to make a pine nut and arugula pasta later this week and I will be using the garlic scapes to make a pesto for a cold pasta salad. In other words, there will be much carbing this week.

Paul's Produce. Mixed varietal bell peppers. A lovely bag of multi-colored bell peppers for only $4? Perfect. These peppers will go in a curry this week as well as possible fajitas and gumbo. The possibilities are endless.

Langley Organic Growers. Radishes, bok choy. I found these amazing multi-colored radishes and couldn't resist them, despite having radishes in the fridge already. These are meant for munching. The bok choy will go in a curry with the bell peppers.

And then there is the strawberry showdown. I bought the first pint of strawberries from Klippers Organics. Since I enjoyed them so much last week I decided that it would be foolish to resist. Two stands further in the market, there was another strawberry vendor and I purchased a pint to taste-test. Unfortunately I cannot read my own handwriting and therefore have no idea who these came from, so we shall call them Vendor X. In the end it is a simple truth that size isn't everything. Granted the smaller strawberries from Klippers had tons of seeds, but they were tiny, delicious, and practically burst in my mouth. My second pint from Vendor X was much more similar to traditional grocery store strawberries. They were fairly juicy, but simply couldn't compete. 

Farmers Market Smiles

Living in the West End of Vancouver is a bit like having a small-town community. There are social get-togethers, friendly nods, nice yards, and geriatric scooter drivers. In the summer the community feeling is truly cemented by the Saturday Farmers Market on Comox St. I have been looking forward to the start of the Farmers Market for weeks and was almost worried that it wouldn’t meet my high expectations from last year. Despite the fact that there are always fewer vendors at the beginning of the season, the market was wonderful and I have decided to do a weekly summary of my purchases with vendor information and my plans for cooking. Feedback is more than welcome!

Hui’s Farm. Certified organic mushrooms. Today I purchased oyster and baby shitake. Currently planning to use the shitake in a stir-fry with bok choy and baby corn. I have no plan for the oyster mushrooms, but they just looked too good to pass up. 

Forstbauer Farm. Squash blossoms!!! At sixty cents each, this is definitely a deal! Tomorrow for lunch they will be stuffed with fontina and basil, tempura battered, and fried. Delicious!

Klippers Organics. Leeks, golden beets, and the first of the season’s strawberries. I plan to caramelize the leeks and use them as a side dish later this week. The golden beets will go into my beet and goat cheese salad. The strawberries will be gone by midnight tonight. I should mention that Klippers was my favorite market vendor last year and that they have amazing produce at a reasonable price. I definitely recommend a visit during tomato season!

Cropthorne Farm. Bok choy and a Thai basil plant. The bok choy will be sautéed with my baby shitake mushrooms and baby corn. If I have any left it will likely go into a curry at the end of the week.

Remember that the market is open every Saturday from 9 am-2 pm. Support local farmers and have fun while doing it!

Magic at the Night Market

BBQ at night

Being an introvert in Vancouver can be a bit difficult given the huge variety of things to do. On any given weekend there are parades, races, parties, festivals, and more. One of my favorite summer activities is the summer night market in Richmond. Imagine going from Canada to China and back one evening. There are so many wonderful things to see and do that everything becomes magical. With over 200 vendors and 70 food stalls, there is an amazing experience for everyone. Need socks? How about some crazy Korean ones at 5 pairs for $10? Jewelry? Sometimes tough to find the classy amongst the tacky, but I managed. What about bedding? Or iphone covers? Have a burning desire for everything Hello Kitty? And this only covers a small portion of the non-food vendors!

Why yes, my socks do say "I am a sheep and a strawberry"

But let’s talk about the food for a second. Imagine traveling across Asia for months trying to sample delicacies from every region. Now imagine condensing those months into a few nights in Richmond. I wish I could say that I have tried every stand, but the thought makes my stomach hurt. Plus there are way too many squid stands. I can assertively say that the Xin Jiang Style BBQ is to-die for! New coconuts are always delicious as well, although at $5/each, I would rather get something else next time. I would recommend trying a potato hurricane as well as the bbq. Sadly, I was absorbed in eating the hurricane and failed to take a photo, but I promise to rectify this next time.

Abalone shell jewelery

In the end, all I can say is that the night market really does deserve the highest praise.

Summer Night Market

Career Adventures

In the five months since graduating from culinary school, I have been trying desperately to find my bliss and stay afloat financially. This blog has become more than a hobby; it is closer to being an obsession. I think up posts weeks in advance, read books on food photography, and apply for one in a million blogger jobs. This is my passion, but sadly, it doesn’t provide me with income yet. I spent the first month out of culinary school, selectively choosing places to apply. In that month I applied to maybe four jobs. Nothing happened. In the second month I began to get worried and applied to about twenty jobs. I had an amazing interview, but again, nothing happened. Month three was a rush of job applications, with at least one daily, but despite my best efforts, I remained jobless. Last month I decided to take my own kind of action. If I had trouble getting an excellent job, then I would just create one myself.

My dear friend Jaime created her business Allow Me-meals to go, and I decided to do something similar. Thus Adventures with Salt meal prep was born. This was the first week of actually being in business and I believe that the Quiche Lorraine with Garlic Rosemary Mushrooms and Tomatoes was a huge hit. This is the start of a new beginning and with any luck I will soon start to make a profit instead of trading services with wonderful people such as my dog walker Denise. I truly hope that I will soon be able to rely fully on my prep meals and blogging, thus living the dream! For more information about the Adventures with Salt meals, please comment or email adventureswithsalt@gmail.com

Food Groups

In Los Alamos, NM there is a huge sense of community. It is nearly impossible to go grocery shopping without seeing a friend or coworker. Neighborhood dinners and parties happened often, whether it was Betty’s holiday party or Mary’s Halloween margarita bash. I am still trying to find a community like that in Vancouver, but whenever I visit my parents on Salt Spring Island, I feel right at home. 

This past weekend, a wonderful collection of foodie neighbors got together to celebrate my dad’s birthday. My mom provided the traditional French cassoulet, which she had labored over for three days, one neighbor brought a delectable salad with candied pecans and orange slices, a second treated us to tasty hors d’oeuvres, a third brought fresh home-baked bread that completed the meal. All things considered, it was a hugely successful meal where the conversation was as good as the food. It made me realize what I miss from Los Alamos. Perhaps I should put an ad in the paper along the lines of “Aspiring chef seeks group of friends to enjoy good food and wine. Big Mac lovers need not apply.” In the meantime, I will continue to visit my family and enjoy all the community that Salt Spring has to offer.