If you read this blog often you will know that we are big fans of the Clay Oven.  I have never been to the location on Inkster, but I consider myself a bit of a regular at Kenaston Common.  A third location is now open at Shaw Park and I have had two opportunities to check it out for lunch.  Located in the old Hu’s on First, the restaurant is now sleek and sophisticated.  It features a very large party room as well as a sprawling patio overlooking the baseball diamond.

I was impressed to see the addition of a special Hakka menu at this location.  Hakka cuisine is a fusion of Southeastern Chinese and Indian food.  My friend and I selected a great noodle dish with lamb from that menu to accompany our old standby of Butter Chicken with Naan bread.  As usual we had more than enough to feed us both with leftovers for my lunch the next day.

On my next visit there was a large group of us from work attempting to have lunch with a limited amount of time.  Not something I would recommend at this location at this point in their development.  The staff seemed a bit overwhelmed by the terrace full of hungry patrons. A few of us arrived early so decided to order the white fish appetizer from the Hakka menu only to wait 45 minutes for it to arrive, long after the rest of our friends had arrived and ordered their lunch. Although it took forever, the appetizer was delicious with a crispy batter and spicy tasty sauce.

Because each of us was ordering individual dishes I ordered a Thali platter. I am used to dinning with friends who are willing to share a couple of dishes so ordering just for myself was a new adventure.  The Thali platter provides the dinner with lots of different dishes all on one plate.  This of course fed me with leftovers for a full lunch the next day which is par for the course no matter what I order at Clay Oven.  My platter included butter chicken, rice, salad, chick peas, potato, papadams (crunchy flat bread made of lentil and rice flour), warm naan and yogurt sauce.  Thali platters even have a little compartment of Keer – rice pudding to enjoy for dessert.

I also had a taste of my coworkers Palak Paneer, a pureed spinach sauce with spices and chunks of home made cheese.  A great vegetarian option.

Another co-worker had the tandor chicken salad which I will keep in mind in order if I am looking for lighter lunch in the future.

Kath’s quote: “If you’re afraid of butter, as many people are nowadays, just put in cream!”-Julia Child

Love-that is all.

It has been a few years since I have been to Thanh Houng on Sargent Avenue.  My mom, sisters and I used to visit years ago, but our need for wheel chair accessible locations has taken us elsewhere.

This particular day my friend and I felt it vital to go have Vietnamese food for dinner.  We had just attended the wedding our friend Susan. She owns Winnipeg Nails, a shop that we both frequent often.  Susan (AKA Suong) was marrying her sweetheart Doug in a ceremony at Calvary Temple. In honour of Susan’s culture both she and Doug wore traditional Vietnamese wedding attire resulting in a breathtaking vision of colour.  Over the years I have had lots of occasions to chat with Susan about travel, life and love.  She is so kind and I really enjoy the time we spend together.  I will often sneak in for an appointment without any of my friends just so she and I can have a good visit.

After the wedding ceremony we took the short trip to William Avenue to Little Saigon, my favorite for Vietnamese.  Unfortunately they are not open Sundays so we decided to drive to Viva on Sargent, which it turns out is also closed on Sundays.  I then remembered that Thanh Huong was just a block down the road so we ended up there by default.

We started with cold bottles of Tsingtoa Chinese beer to drink a toast to the happy couple.  We thought we were being very wise only ordering three items but it proved to be way too much food for the two of us.  Thank goodness for to-go containers.

First to arrive was our Satay Beef Rice Noodle Soup, #6 on the menu.  This spicy little number was tasty and served piping hot.  It is always a challenge to transfer this soup from the main bowl to individual bowls due to the long, slippery noodles but it proved well worth the effort.

Next we tucked into # 46, Charbroiled Pork with fine rice vermicelli, lettuce, cucumber, mint, fish sauce and rice crepe. I love to assemble these sweet little salad rolls.  I tend to over fill them and bust through the rice crepe after the first bite resulting in food falling everywhere as fish sauce rolls down my arms, but what fun is eating without a bit of a mess! I also like to alternate between peanut sauce and fish sauce to change up the flavour.

Lastly we had #62 Combination shrimp, beef and chicken Lo Mein.  The vegetables were perfectly cooked, the noodles tender and there was an abundance of meat, though I didn’t see many shrimp.

All in all, it was a good meal and a fun way to celebrate a very special woman on her very special day. Xin chúc mùng Suong!  Congratulations Susan.

Kath’s quote: “The table was set up inside the cartshed. On it there were four sirloins of beef, six fricassees of chicken, casseroled veal, three legs
of mutton and, in the centre, a beautiful roasted sucking pig, flanked by four chitterlings with sorrel.”-Gustave Flaubert, the wedding breakfast from Madame Bovary

Love-that is all.

Each year I attend a dinner at the Niakwa Country Club as part of the Pink Ribbon Ladies Golf Classic for Hope.  This event is a major fundraiser that supports the work I do at CancerCare Manitoba Breast Cancer Centre of Hope.  I never golf in the event, even if I was good enough to golf in it (which I am not) I would not be able to get a spot as it sells out each year to repeat supporters.  I do however enjoy joining the ladies as they get off the links and sit down to an evening of good food and great conversation.  In the past the food has been very good, so last year when I heard that Amici had taken over the food service I was very excited.  I have to say I was terribly disappointed.  So much so that I didn’t bother blogging about it. Like mom says, if you don’t have anything nice to say….. I am happy to report that Amici has worked out the kinks and the food this year was lovely.

The banquet room is always packed with tables adorned in shades of pink. This year’s theme was “Angels Walking in our Shoes”. The shoe motif was everywhere, from our napkin rings to the centerpieces and even our dessert. The angel theme was reflected in the set of white feather wings on the back of our chairs.  We were all encouraged to take our wings home with us, just in case we want to pretend to be Victoria Secret runway models I suppose.  The décor is always beautiful and the planning committee so creative with amazing attention to detail.

Our meal started with the Mista salad, AKA Amici’s house salad, one of my favourites.  Tender butter lettuce with house dressing and toasted pine nuts – simple and classic.

Our main was once again Chicken Wellington, which I guess is a safe choice when feeding a room full of women.  The chicken breast was stuffed with mushroom duxelle; a paste of mushrooms, onions, shallots and herbs, wrapped in puff pastry. I was impressed that the puff was still crisp and not made soggy by being topped with an herb jus. It was served with wild rice and mixed vegetables.

The dessert this year was these delightful Stiletto cupcakes courtesy of the Cupcake Corner.

Congratulation to the committee for another wildly successful event!

Kath’s quote: “When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat.”-Mark Twain

Love-that is all.

My friend and I arrived early for our lunch date with our former pastor who is now living and working in England and was home for short stay.  When I had asked him where he would like to meet us for lunch there was no hesitation, Sushi California. Turns out our friend was a Sushi California regular when he lived in our fair city.

We were already seated when he arrived. When he entered you would have thought the owner was welcoming home a long lost relative.  We were immediately moved to a larger table closer to the action. After we placed our order, three beautiful bowls of sweet, chilled cucumber soup arrived at our table.  Topped with red pepper and tiny, tender scallops, this item is not on the menu but supplied as a special treat in honour of our friend’s visit.

Next came our miso soup which was hot and tasty, accompanied by three precious fish appetizers in sauce.

Our bento boxes; California roll for me and yam rolls for the gentlemen, where the next to arrive.  I love a bento box.  There is something about the lacquered compartments that really appeal to me.  I’m not sure if it harkens childhood memories of cafeteria trays or just pleases my slightly obsessive sense of order. Besides our rolls the boxes contained perfectly cooked edamame, crisp green salad, cold rice noodle salad and two tempura dipped fried gyoza.  Perfection!

The owner then sent over dessert, a darling ice cream sandwich shaped like a Koi – gold fish; the Japanese symbol of perseverance. A trait we needed in order to finish it all. Like most of Winnipeg’s Sushi restaurants owners this family has come from Korea. They are very hospitable and really value their regular customers. So I thought I should look up the meaning of the Koi symbol in Korean culture.  Turns out it symbolizes self-discipline, not a trait that is easy to exhibit with all the delicious options at Sushi California.

Kath’s quote: “Serve soup. Believe it is chocolate.” -Stephane Grappelli, (gypsy violinist)

Love-that is all.

The south Sherbrook area of the Wolseley neighbourhood  is enjoying a lovely boom recently, with the opening of new living and dining spaces.  As my daughter-in-law and I took a short cut alongside the outdoor patio of Stella’s, we could not help but notice that there was not a table to be had.  The newly opened Fitzroy is almost next door and will likely enjoy the same popularity once word gets around.The food section of the menu, which is delivered on a metal clipboard, divides the small plates into Savoury and Sweet sections.  Our helpful server suggested that they could be ordered separately, as courses, or to share.   I love this style of dining-we called it “grazing” in the old days.

My daughter-in-law had been to the restaurant before and knew immediately what to select.  Her choice was unappetizingly called Salt Beef.  Don’t let the name dissuade you, because the carved beef which is stacked high on City Bread Rye, is melt-in-your mouth delicious and is actually less salty than most smoked or cured meats you may encounter.  This is achieved when the meat is slow cooked in a piece of high-tech equipment which is a steam cooking system.  The soft rye from Winnipeg’s own City Bread has long been my favourite.  The Keg Steakhouse has served it as their bread preference for decades.   The glass cylinder of cucumbers that accompanied the sandwich aren’t quite pickled enough to be called pickles but are lightly marinated.  They were crunchy, different and delicious.

I had already heard from my husband, who grew up noshing on Captain Crunch every Saturday morning, that the cereal was a key ingredient in the Crunch Chicken.  I could only detect a hint of sweetness but enjoyed the guilty pleasure, simply because I have long been a good old fried chicken lover.  The spicy dipping sauce and marinated watermelon sides provided a satisfying taste combination when all three were speared together as a forkful.  Rounding off our lunch was a chopped salad with a lemon and olive oil dressing and just a hint of Korean “gocho”, which I mistakenly thought was going to be spicy.

The dining room is pristine and uncluttered.   The look is appealing but as a result, there is nothing to buffer the music system and therefore I found that it was a bit hard to hear my soft-spoken lunch date.  Go for the food and have that intimate conversation some other time.

Kath’s quote: “On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally’s cellar.” –Thomas Jefferson

Love-that is all.