wai sik

My workplace had a pot luck lunch today. Usually these are reserved for special occasions, like farewells or holidays, but the staff decided to have one because we had so much fun and good food the last time!

I've been craving and thinking about cabbage rolls for the past week and have been looking for a good recipe. None of the recipes I found sounded authentic. So I turned to Elizabeth who is Polish and has a reputation for making amazing cabbage rolls. This is her recipe...I love it because it doesn't really have strict proportions, it feeds a crowd and it's delicious! Because the filling is cooked before the cabbage leaves are stuffed, the filling is moist and flavourful!

Advice from Elizabeth:

As I baked my umpteenth cake of my life tonight, I began to reminisce about my Easy Bake oven days. I had the avocado green 1969 version, when the pint sized oven actually looked like ovens, not like the more recent ones that look like microwave ovens (you can't bake a decent cake in a microwave!!)

Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday. It's a celebration of harvest and good food and a wonderful time to spend with friends and family. As we sit down to a bountiful feast, I am always reminded about how fortunate we are to have so much food available to us. And I am thankful.
Our Thanksgiving menu:
Crostini di Fegatini
Roast Turkey with Rosemary, Garlic and Proscuitto
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Herb Stuffing with Pancetta and Pine Nuts

The Georgia Straight is a local free weekly. Every year they have a reader's poll. Here are the results for the Best of Vancouver Food and Drink 2000

Last weekend our friend Marco hosted a fabulous garden party. He's got a beautiful garden full of homegrown vegetables and fruit (Marco, where are my figs?!). Along with delicious Italian sausages, cold cuts and cheeses, his mom made some very tasty fried zucchini. And his neighbour, Cathy, a professional chef, brought some gorgeous vegetable stacks.

My visit to the East Van Farmers' Market today has inspired me to write about these veggie stacks. The Market is full of beautiful summer squashes, tomatoes and herbs right now...all the ingredients you need for the stacks.

In the USA, our beloved neighbour to the south, September is national rice month as noted by Tree on the DG. Cool!

So when is national ma po tofu month?

Or how about national pancit month :-) ?

Recipe to follow tomorrow!

Andrea graciously provided a direct link (German only) to the Skorpa (Scandinavian mini toasts) that I mentioned on July 12 which doesn't require going through a pulldown menu

Teresa also pointed out that the Sundried Tomato recipe came from her! Teresa consider this my belated public apology.

Everything you wanted to know about pork ribs... and more (via ViewFromTheHeart).