The dinner club I belong to known as GLEE (Girls Laughing, Eating and Entertaining) is almost always based on dinner and a movie. Usually the dinner theme comes first, i.e. Greek food and the movie options; My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Shirley Valentine, Mama Mia, follow.  This was not the case with the last get together that I hosted. The girls and I were all eager to see “The Descendants” with George Clooney.  The move was picked first so the theme of Hawaii was what we had to work with. Determining a menu for a Hawaiian dinner party is not as easy as one might expect, especially in the Canadian prairies in the dead of winter where its hard to find a nice pineapple, never mind banana leaves. Lots of the food is hard to find and can be complicated to prepare, anyone want to dig a pit in the back yard to slow cook a suckling pig?  The cuisine’s identity is sometimes had to pin down being a mix of American, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Polynesian and Portuguese influences.  But we set forth doing the best we could and the end result was a pretty yummy dinner.

We started the evening with this cocktail

Along with this we enjoyed our Pupu chicken appetizer created by my friend Lucille.

Kathy T#1 brought a mandarin and almond salad and Kathy T #2 made a lovely pineapple rice dish to accompany the vegetable medley and macadamia nut crusted Mahi Mahi that I made. http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Salad/Herbs/recipe.html?dishid=3505

I made the onion Maui onion salad but forgot to serve it.

It was hard to pick what was yummier, the food or George?

Dessert was pulled together by Barb who kept it simple with angel food cake, fresh pineapple, chocolate sauce and whip cream.

Kath’s quote: “He who receives his friends and gives no personal attention to the meal which is being prepared for them, is not worthy of having friends.” –Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Love-that is all.

This particular evening my dinner club decided to forgo a movie for more visiting time and we decided to visit Africa. Our post dinner activity included doing some shopping from a selection of hand crafted items from a number of African locations.  An acquaintance of one of the GLEE girls is a missionary who brings items to Canada to
sell and then returns with the proceeds to the woman who made the item.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera that evening so can’t share a photo of the amazing peanut soup or our fantastic main of ground nut stew served with couscous, flat bread and all the accouterments, but it was all delish!  We finished the evening with milk tart made from the recipe that my niece Bekah brought back from her time in Africa.

I was on appetizers and decided to do try two recipes I found on my favorite website www.epicurious.com Shrimp charmoula and Tunisian tuna and egg turnover also known a “brik”.  Two delicious appetizers I would likely never have tried if it were not for the need to provide something African for this event.  The shrimp was than any preparation of shrimp I have had before. The recipe was really easy and I made it ahead of time.  I will certainly make it again.

I thought it would be fun to have an interactive component to the evening so decided to show my friends how to make the turnovers so they would be hot and yummy and I wouldn’t be stuck in the kitchen while they were all enjoying cocktails.  So I set up an electric fry pan on the kitchen island and gathered my students around me.  Each woman made her own turnover, or two and a good time was had by all.  If I were to make these again I would most certainly do it as a hands-on activity for my guests.

Love-that is all.

On my last evening of a recent trip to Montreal, my niece and I decided to head out for a late dinner.  We really didn’t have a place in mind so jumped on a subway to St. Denis Street to see what struck our fancy.  We happened upon Juliette & Chocolate, at which point Bekah said she had wanted to try it and I realized that I had seen one of their salads on a friend’s Facebook page and I too had it on my “must try” list.

I had the namesake Juliette & Chocolate salad which was an interesting combination of flavours.  Mixed greens with strawberries, pear, goat cheese and a balsamic and chocolate salad dressing, it was topped with a crouton like object made by swirling buckwheat crepe batter in a hot pan.  I was pleased to find that it was not overly sweet but instead the dark chocolate notes and the vinegar was a nice combination with the crunch fruit and the creamy chevre.

Bekah selected the buckwheat crepe topped with pesto, walnuts and goat cheese. We were both satisfied with our choices.

“All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt” Lucy of Peanuts – Charles M. Schulz

Love-that is all.

If you ever had to opportunity to visit Quebec City I would highly recommend a quick trip over to Île d’Orléans.  This picturesque island is made up of six communities and loads of farms, shops, churches and museums.  Known as the “Garden of Quebec” the island is a great place to purchase seasonal fruit and vegetables, the strawberries where ready when I was visiting, as well as awesome and maple and apple products.

We stopped at Cidrerie Verger Bilodeau, an apple orchard in St. Pierre where the hostess provided endless samples of apple liquors, dressings and spreads. I purchased apple dessert wine and some apple butter which I enjoyed with brie and baguette once I arrived in Montreal to visit my nieces.

Next was Les Fromages de l’isle d’Orléans in Ste-Famille, home of the first ever cheese made in the Americas. Le Paillasson cheese is first recorded to have been made in 1635 and is a firm cheese that you fry in a pan of butter, similar to the way the Greeks prepare Halloumi.

Our second stop in Ste-Famille, was at ferme au gout d’ autrefois, purveyors of duck and goose products.  My hostess, Chantal picked up a jar of goose thigh cooked in salt and goose fat.

Our final destination was Chocolaterie de l’île d’Orléans in Sainte-Pétronille to pick up a treat of Belgian style chocolate for the drive home.

The next morning we feasted on our lovely purchases as part of our breakfast.

Kath’s quote: “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” –Charles de Gaulle

When you walk the streets of old Quebec City you soon realize just how young the western provinces are in comparison.

After a hot day full of walking up the steep hills of this amazing place, we were all ready to tuck into some comfort food.  We were advised to make our way to St. Louis Road to Aux Anciens Canadiens.

Housed in a home that was built in 1675, this quaint restaurant was the perfect setting for an early dinner. The menu du jour is offered until 5:45 p.m. daily and we arrived just in time to take advantage of this incredible value.

We started with a choice of the Portage du jour, Chicken vegetable the day we visited, or the Soupe aux pois Grand-mere AKA Grandma’s pea soup.  I choice the later and was pleased with my choice.

There was a wide variety of main courses to choose from.

Gabrielle selected the Fricassée de suprême de poulet et legumes, like an open faced pot pie of puff pastry with grilled chicken and veggies.

Marie choose the Tourtière du Lac St-Jean aux gibiers which featured a variety of wild meat. It was served with fruit catsup and purple cabbage, which the girls tell me is just how their grandma would have served it.

Chantal and I selected the Saumon à la façon coulibiac et sa fricassée de légumes et crevette and it was decedent and fantastic!  Salmon is mashed with seasoned potato, topped with matchstick vegetables, wrapped in puff pastry and served on a pool of shrimp cream sauce.

Unfortunately they were out of the strawberry pie that they had offered as their dessert of the day.  I should have gone with the pear sorbet which would have been the perfect end to a rich dinner, but I was in Quebec so I had to try the tarte au sirop d’érable, a maple syrup pie that was amazing.

So our dinner included fresh bread, soup, entrée, a glass of wine and dessert.  My bill was $19.95 plus tax.  I told you it was an amazing value.  All of this in a sweet, traditional setting, with good service and the best company.  An evening I will never forget!

Kath’s quote: “He showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.”  Michael Pollan

Love-that is all.