Happy Valentine's Day!

Submitted by Barb on Wed, 02/14/2001 - 11:07

I baked Valentine's cookies for my friends and family. I made citrus sugar cookies and this chocolate shortbread.

To glaze the sugar cookies, I made a thin glaze of sifted icing sugar and milk and tinted it pink. To decorate the chocolate shortbread, I piped the cookies with melted white chocolate and melted red chocolate wafers. You could also pipe your valentine's name or initials on the cookies for a personalized touch!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dept:

Chocolate Shortbread

Submitted by Barb on Tue, 02/13/2001 - 22:42

1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups flour
Melted white or dark chocolate, optional

Cream butter until light. Gradually beat in icing sugar until fluffy.
Add cocoa and vanilla and beat well.
Gradually beat in salt and flour to form a soft dough.
Flatten dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.

Fraser Bakery & Konditorei has excellent Mohnkuchen

Submitted by Roland on Tue, 02/13/2001 - 18:55

I finally found some excellent Mohnkuchen (poppy seed cake) at the Fraser Bakery and Konditorei at 6533 Fraser Street (no website; closest cross street is 49th, telephone 325 6612). Unfortunately it's not quite as good as the mohnkuchen I was looking for but it is very close and very delicious!

My thanks to Walter's parents for the tip! Of course they would know since they are German!

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I love Ma Po Tofu!

Submitted by Roland on Mon, 02/12/2001 - 23:52

Ma Po Tofu is one of my favourite Chinese recipes! I keep trying it at every Chinese restaurant I go to, but invariably I am disappointed! Either they add peas or it's not hot enough or the ground pork is wrong (I prefer pork that's been ground at home) .... You get the idea! I also collect Ma Po Tofu recipes! I have at least 5 or 6 if not more!

This recipe from a classic Chinese cookbook is the best I've found so far.

Here's a picture to whet your appetite!

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I love Ma-Po tofu!

Submitted by Roland on Mon, 02/12/2001 - 23:43

RecipesMa Po Tofu is one of my favourite Chinese recipes! I keep trying at every Chinese restaurant Igo to, but invariably I am disappointed! Either they add peas or it's not hot enough or the ground pork is wrong (I prefer pork that's been ground at home) .... You get the idea! I also collect Ma Po Tofu recipes! I have at least 5 or 6 if not more!

Dept:

Ma-Po Tofu

Submitted by Roland on Mon, 02/12/2001 - 23:22

1 package bean curd
(1) 1 Tablespoon chopped green onion, 1 teaspoon chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 oz ground pork
1 tablespoon hot bean paste
(2) 1 tablespoon cooking wine, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon Dave's Insanity Hot Sauce [optional]
(3) 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons fresh garlic or green onion cut diagonally

Chocolate Orange Cake

Submitted by Barb on Sun, 02/11/2001 - 19:09

Last night our friends Lisa, Rebecca and John hosted a video night of favourite dance sequences from musicals. For dessert I brought a chocolate orange cake.
Here's a picture of how the cake looked.

Instead of using orange liqueur for the syrup, I used Kahlua for a different flavour dimension. You could also substitute any other sweet liqueur you like.

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Tim Bray reviews Shiro

Submitted by Roland on Sat, 02/10/2001 - 18:36

Is the author of this review of Shiro Sushi, the Tim Bray, founder of anarcti.ca, former heavy mover at OpenText and XML co-inventor? I think so!

Shiro is very close to where I live; I'll have to check it out!

Dept:

Chocolate Orange Cake

Submitted by Barb on Sat, 02/10/2001 - 08:56

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 cup sour cream
1 cup chocolate chips

Syrup:
Juice of 1 orange
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup orange liqueur

Glaze:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 Tbsp. corn syrup

Melt unsweetened chocolate over hot water. Cool until barely warm.
Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Yam Leaves

Submitted by Barb on Fri, 02/09/2001 - 19:42

I popped into a produce store on Main Street today to buy some oranges and I saw a small display of deep green leaves packed into plastic bags. I was not familiar with these greens so I asked the store owner about them. She said they were yam leaves (I had read about yam leaves in some recipe I can't recall) and she suggested stirfrying the leaves with garlic and salt. Or treat them just like pea shoots (which Roland and I both love!).

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