auf wiedersehen!

Our bags are packed, our apartment is tidy and we ate a great breakfast of pancakes with a fresh strawberry-rhubarb compote. In just a few hours, we'll head to the airport ready to board our flight to Frankfurt. We're very excited! While Cornelius has been to Europe many times, it will be my first visit and I'm excited and nervous about facing a 10 hour long overnight flight.

I will have a post on the Food Network Canada's blog, Food for Thought, coming up most likely on Wednesday. So definitely check that out next week and read about my adventures of shopping and living next to North America's 2nd largest Chinatown!

I'll return with stories and lots of photos, I'm sure. See you in October!

fresh from the market

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, last Saturday I visited out one of Vancouver's local farmer's markets and prepared a pretty delicious meal with my market fixin's. What I didn't mention was that I've started writing for the Food Network Canada blog, Food for Thought, and my piece on the Trout Lake farmer's market went up this morning. Check it out and leave a comment with your thoughts! And while you are there, check out the profiles of some of the other guest bloggers and maybe discover a new blog or two.


While at the market, I purchased a whole pound of baby portabella mushrooms. While a whole pound may seem like a lot, when mushrooms cook they lose much of their moisture and shrink considerably. I decided to make a hearty meal involving grilled steak, roasted rosemary potatoes, a green salad and of course those baby portabellas. This mushroom dish works perfectly as a topping for steak, but it would work equally well as a side dish or piled on top of polenta or crusty bread. And if you don't have portabella, cremini or even white button mushrooms would work equally well.


portabella mushrooms in a balsamic glaze
1 lb portabella mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
3 T balsamic vinegar
2 T soy sauce

Prepare mushrooms by removing stems, scrapping away the black gills and slicing mushrooms into 1/4 inch slices. In a large saucepan, heat up butter and olive oil over medium heat and saute garlic. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper and saute for about 15 minutes or until most of the mushroom liquid is evaporated. Add the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce and boil until the liquid reduces slightly. Serve.