Hello readers.  Do you happen to work close to City Hall?  Although I love so many things about working from my home, I must confess that I miss the days of having an office in the Old Market Square area of Winnipeg, where we had our pick of excellent dim sum restaurants.  The literal meaning of dim sum is “touch the heart” as it was never intended as a main meal but as a snack, to satisfy a yearning (appease the heart).  Dim Sum is also unique because of the manner in which the food is served: towers of steamed baskets all containing wrappers or dumplings of savoury food are wheeled around the restaurant on carts for the customers to choose their selections while seated at their tables. Since you can dictate your own pace, this proves to be handy if you are in a hurry, as we happened to be on this day, with only a designated half hour for lunch.

We started our lunch at Kum Koon Garden (257 King St.) with sticky rice-a compact little package of rice that is stuck together with a meaty shiitake mushroom and ground meat which has all been steamed inside a lotus leaf.  Some versions at other Winnipeg restaurants include a piece of Chinese sausage.  I prefer Kum Koon’s version.

We also tucked into two varieties of shrimp dumplings: one was full of plump shrimp and lots of chopped ginger and the other blended the shrimp with chopped spinach.

Each was different enough tasting, so as not to be redundant.  I enjoy my dim sum dumplings with just a dribble or two of soy sauce but Chinese hot sauce is also on the table and I know more adventurous eaters that love it dolloped on.

Although my lunch date was content to let me do the selecting, I saw his eyes light up when little pieces of gingered beef were being paraded around.

We offset the sweetness of the dish with another: Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli) which was perfectly prepared and literally bursting with flavour.  Without the inclusion of a dish like this one, dim sum can be a bit off-balanced as far as all the food groups are concerned.  Loose Chinese tea had been poured to warm us up.

The birthday boy that I was treating to lunch that day, enjoyed the novelty of dim sum.  In my opinion, Kum Koon Garden has the most appealing décor.  Winnipeg has a bevy of Asian restaurants to choose from, but for some reason the locations that serve dim sum are congregated downtown.  If you have a favourite dim sum spot in the suburbs I would love to hear from you, so that I can visit.  Leave me a message in the comment section.

Kath’s quote: “You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from passing over your head, but you can prevent their making a nest in your hair. “ -Chinese Proverb

Love-that is all.

D and I do not do the “brunch” thing very often for two reasons:

1) we usually have the house to ourselves on Saturday morning and we like to schlep around in our jammies and drink coffee and read the paper (the real physical newspaper, printed on newsprint) and while the morning away.  The first one that gets motivated to check emails or unload the dishwasher is a dirty rat because they have changed the mood and the other invariably feels guilty and joins in.

2) we attend our neighbourhood church every Sunday morning.  I suppose we could go out to eat afterwards (many people that we know, do) but we typically know what we want to prepare about half way through the sermon.  I find that eggs are the easy ingredient to whip up quickly and taste like you went to an awful lot of trouble.  The more cheese, butter and bacon (!) that you add to them, the better the whole brunch experience becomes.

This past Saturday, we broke with tradition and stopped in at a family owned place that we heard does a good job with serving up old school, “tastes just like home” cooking.  The décor is a bit on the “old-school” side as well and not in a funky/retro way, but in a “we haven’t had to reno since we opened in the 1980’s” kind of way.

D chose a “Skillet” because he likes to eat right from the frying-pan on an ongoing basis.  His eggs, peppers and cheese were a gooey concoction served over home fried potatoes.  Like I said above, pretty hard to get it wrong.

I, on the other hand, being more sophisticated and refined than my husband, selected a two-egg omelet and added diced smoked ham and mushrooms.  Truth is, I ordered from the Senior’s Menu and they believe that if you are over 55 you prefer smaller portions, which I do, in fact.  So my brunch was a great deal and just the right quantity to boot.

I can see why this place is popular with the locals.  Friendly waitresses walk through the room constantly to inquire “How ya doin Hon?” and pour a continuous stream of coffee.  We met the owner at the door.  He loves his business and taking care of his friends and neighbours.  I guess that is what serving up comfort food is all about.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall at 35 Lakewood Blvd.  It is the kind of place that Moms and families are comfortable at.  The kids can make a ruckus and no one would mind.  Might be a good spot to go for Mother’s Day if you live in the south end of Winnipeg.

Kath’s quote: “Be content that those who can make omelets properly can do nothing else.”-
Hilaire Belloc

Love-that is all.

You know that friend? Talking to them makes you feel like you just put on your favorite, cozy, old cardigan sweater. Well this was a night out with THAT friend.  And stepping into Deer + Almond felt equally as comfortable and familiar, even though it was my first visit.  The atmosphere is casual, yet funky enough to be special. The service was attentive but left my friend and I lots of room for our intense conversation. And the food, well, let me tell you about the food!

The fixed menu is on the small side, something that I appreciate as I have a tough time narrowing down my selection.  I also prefer to see a restaurant do less, but do it really well. There are also a number of featured items that are not on the menu.  This coincides with chef owner Mandel Hitzer’s philosophy of serving local, fresh food.  The menu is made up of small plates, meant for sharing.  My very favorite way to eat!

We started out with the arancini. Yummy little balls of risotto, breaded and deep fried, served on a pool of perfect tomato sauce.  You can tell a lot about a chef by how tasty their tomato sauce is.

Next were the yams.  They were grilled with fresh springs of thyme, drizzled with balsamic and topped with creamy little blobs of chevre.

On to the sultry prawns! Nice juicy prawns with olives, capers, tomatoes and cilantro on a delicious sauce, so good!

The featured flatbread, pizza really, was fantastic; crispy bacon, shrimp, feta and arugula on a crisp crust with more of their perfect tomato sauce.

We were celebrating my friend’s birthday, so we just had to indulge in dessert to end the evening. There were a few options to select from and we settled on the peanut butter ice cream, served with chocolate mousse and a caramel sauce.  What can I say, it was the perfect evening.

Kath’s quote: “If you don’t mind smelling like peanut butter for two or three days, peanut butter is darn good shaving cream.”-Barry Goldwater

Love-that is all.

D and I were out of town this week, with a road trip to Minneapolis. We did a little bit of resting, a little bit of shopping and a lot of eating.  “No surprise”,  you say.  Details of our eating adventures will follow ina  blog post to come.  In the meantime, Sister #3 was available to sub-in for me to an invitation from Earl’s to taste their spring menu.

“To say that spring is slow in arriving this year would be an understatement.  It is almost the end of April and there is still snow and ice in our yards. But we got a taste of spring last night as Earl’s unveiled their new spring menu at a chef’s table event at their Winnipeg Flagship store -191 Main Street.

For our introductory course we sampled the new Whiskey Smash cocktail.  A classic Whiskey Sour with honey and fresh mint served in a silver mint julep cup.  Talk about refreshing!

Leroy’s ribs are back by popular demand, or as the staff will tell you, more like a customer revolt when they disappeared off the menu recently to make room for newer items.  My companion was one of the disappointed customers who is thrilled to see their return.  I find them a bit salty but must say they do make you want to slam back your Whiskey Smash like a good bar snack should.

Next course featured a Moscow Mule; a vodka Collins with a ginger bite served in a copper cup to keep it icy cold.

These came out with the beef Carpaccio.  The best rendition of this dish I have ever tasted.  The thinly sliced tenderloin melted in your mouth and the sriracha mayo, capers and pickled red onion gave it the punch that carpaccio is often missing.  Served with toasted ciabatta, a little arugula tossed in a light lemon dressing and the most delicious deviled egg.  I’ll be back for more of that!

Next item to appear at our table was the Lobster + Prawn Roll.  An upscale version of this east coast classic, the Earl’s version is served on a buttered griddled brioche that is made in house; a step up from the typical hot dog bun.  It overflowed with seafood salad with just the right amount of mayo.

Our main was a big strip loin steak that featured their new steak rub.  Chef Matt Frost commented that while they are not trying to be a steak house they feel it is important to have an excellent steak available on their menu.  He is excited that they are now offering a 16 ounce, bone-in rib eye.  Aged a minimum of 28 days (standard for a good quality steak) our steaks were cooked to the perfect doneness. The new wet rub contains tamari (gluten free soy sauce) garlic, lemon, and basil, rosemary and porcini powder and we each went home with a sample to test on our own B.B.Q.  Our main was accompanied by garlic mashed potato and really good succotash. All enjoyed with a glass of Whatchamacallit, Earl’s house red which is a pleasant merlot blend.

For dessert, yes after all that food we managed a few bites of dessert, we enjoyed a scrumptious strawberry rhubarb crumble with vanilla gelato.

Chef Matt Frost

It was a lovely evening getting to know the Earl’s on Main team.  Their pride in the product is evident.  I was impressed to hear that Earl’s has their own mixologist. You can see that they put as much attention to detail in their cocktails as they do the food.  Unlike most restaurants that depend on prepackaged bar mixes, Earl’s juices their own lemons and limes daily as well as making their syrups from scratch.

Well the upcoming weekend promises to bring temperatures in the double digits and the staff is itching to assemble the new patio furniture and move the party outdoors.

One last bit of news that has the Earl’s team looking forward to the future, the construction of a new building to house their Main street location.  Watch for more great things from this dynamic crew in a new and improved setting.”

Kath’s quote: “Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!'”-Robin Williams

Love-that is all.

Do you recall the feeling of writing your last university exam in the spring?  Perhaps, for you, the sensation is still very fresh.  For me, in spite of the number of years that have past, I remember the perception vividly.  Recently, I picked Daughter #2 up after her last exam of the semester.  In fact, with an overseas practicum trip planned for this fall, she won’t be back at school until January 2014.  Having completed a paper during the week and written two exams the day previous, she was giddy with relief.  Contributing to her levity, may have been the exhaustion of studying most of the night.  By the time I fetched her, she was also very, very hungry. The Osborne Village restaurant is on our route home and my husband has been encouraging me to pay the Unburger guys a repeat visit.

Since I once worked upstairs in the building that Unburger -Healthy Gourmet Burgers is located in, I knew that there was parking behind the premises.  I should have read the signs that the place was hopping, as there was not a spot available.  When we arrived at the entrance, we had to wedge in between the door itself and the back of the line.  It was obvious that there was not an empty seat in the restaurant but what was not apparent, was the number of large orders that had been placed for pick up.  Needless to say, once we put in our order, until the time that our bag of food was handed off to us, a considerable amount of time had passed.  No worries.  We watched others arrive and try to shoe-horn themselves inside, including Jets captain-Andrew Ladd.  I had been to the game the night before, when Ladd had gotten a overtime assist on the winning goal.  Ladd has always been my favourite Jet, and his recent performance has certainly solidified that.  What I am saying in a long-winded way, is that time seemed to pass relatively quickly.

Daughter #2 knew exactly what she was having-a Blueberry Yum-Yum beef burger and a side of sweet potato fries with rosemary garlic aioli.  I had a hankering for the Bella (I suppose I am already preparing my palette for an upcoming trip to Tuscany).  Unburger marks the Bella as “A (Damn Good) Healthier Burger” and I should have continued in that vein with an “8 Grain Energy Salad” which I am crazy about, but I couldn’t resist their freshly cut fries.

The “Sweet, Sweet Yam Fries” did not survive the drive home and missed the photo shoot.  I asked Daughter #2 what she appreciated about the burger as she took her first bite.  She replied: “Well, it includes all my favourite foods in one place-the blueberries have a bit of a spicy punch.  There is a creamy goat cheese and balsamic onions.” I can attest to this appeal, as I see these items on our family grocery list on a regular basis.  She so loves the balsamic bite with meat, that I just place the bottle on the dining room table in front of her when I serve pork chops.

I am an avid beef eater but knew that I was going to be noshing on a beef lasagna for dinner that evening and that is why I chose the Bella with its “meaty” grilled portabella mushroom innards.  The non-pulsed order taker and cashier, cheerfully replaced the blue cheese with goat cheese, even though I totally messed up by not remembering until after we had placed and paid for our order.  Balsamic onions also adorned the daily baked, whole wheat bun.

The tastes were balanced and bold at the same time, even when I went back to finish the second half of my burger a couple of hours later.  Unburger knows their local ingredients and how to assemble a great tasting, “guilt-free” burger.  They also know how to help a Mom revive and refresh her diligent daughter.

Kath’s quote: “It does not matter where you go and what you study, what matters most is what you share with yourself and the world.”-Santosh Kalwar

Love-that is all.