VanEats

As Roland mentioned earlier this week (on December 6th and December 7th), peanut butter is a favourite for lots of people. These peanut butter bonbons will satisfy any peanut butter lover's cravings! And they're great to make for Christmas giving...just place them in little paper candy cups and wrap them in a little box. They won't last long under the Christmas tree!

The Heritage Hall One-of-a-Kind Christmas Craft Fair featuring excellent local crafts and food is on today and tomorrow from 11 am to 4:30 p.m. at the Heritage Hall which is located at 15th Avenue and Main Street. Admission is $2, free for those under 12. This fair is great place to pick up gifts from local artisans as well as cool sauces, jams and other food delights from local food crafters many of whom also sell at the East Van Farmers' Market.

My favourite brands of peanut butter are the all natural Adams and President's Choice Chunky. I guess I have turned into a snob but I can no longer eat the sugar laden, partially hydrogenated with unhealthy trans fats major brand peanut butter.

I love peanut butter! I could quite happily live on peanut butter and banana sandwhiches and noodles in peanut sauce (OK not totally but with some Italian dishes without peanuts thrown in occassionally).

That's why I loved the peanubutterlovers.com website that I learned about on Andrea's weblog. They have recipes and lots of great info about peanut butter. So many recipes so little time!

We want to thank everyone for the generous food bank donations...we received over 100 items!! We will be forwarding the donations to the Vancouver Food Bank and the food program of the Youth Clinic at the Surrey Memorial Hospital. Your thoughtfulness will touch many people!!

If you would like to make a monetary donation to your local food bank, you can contact the Food Bank.

The party was fun! Plenty of good food, people and lots of donations for the food bank.

This is a sample of the pictures from our Winter Warmup party (the rest of the pictures are here):

It's winter and it's chilly out... Time to warm up with some tasty snacks and beverages. Here's what we're serving at our open house:
Spicy Marinated Olives
Spicy Almonds
Cheddar Cornmeal Crackers
Parmesan Rosemary Crackers

Dahl Dip with Naan wedges
Hot Artichoke Dip
Brie with Tapenade
Cheese Platter
Assorted Breads and Crackers

Italian Cold Cut Sandwich Ring
Grilled Vegetable Sandwich Ring

Here's a yummy chocolate cookie recipe which you can make the dough ahead of time and store in your fridge for up to 2 weeks. I like rolling them in icing sugar before baking because they have a gorgeous black and white effect.