Vancouver post cont.

Continuing on from the previous post, this was on a day when my sister and I went out to Metrotown by ourselves. She got a traditional asian meal while I decided to go with what I think is a classic italian sandwich, however I can't remember the name of the shop. I thought that it was delicious and very filling; I was already full on the first half.

I then continued to buy an ice cream from the shop nearby...again, the name has deserted me, but I'm sure if any Canadians saw it they'd recognize it immediately, since it's quite unique. Well, I'd never seen anything like it in Australia, so why not? As I've said before, I'm quite easily amused.

Me showing how surprised I was by the size. I believe that was a medium.

My sis also picked up some mouth-watering fruit yoghurt from yogen fruz. This one was strawberry and other berries I believe.

And finally, breakfast; the most important meal of the day. This particular one was quite important because it was our last day in Vancouver. The bacon ended up smelling like fresh sugary waffles, but maybe it was because the brand had something to do with maple. It tasted normal though. :)

I've done a bit since getting back to Australia, including baking and icing some vanilla satins. I finally got to use the icing tools my cousins lent to me, but only to spread the icing on top. I think they ended up quite cute, if I dare say so myself.

Granola Crumble/Museli

Well this was meant to be my New Years post for 2010 but since I was delayed trying to find my pictures it only comes out now; but nevermind. I'd written up a paragraph about my resolutions but I think I'll simply summarize it. 2009 was a year that I discovered my obsession with food, but I didn't achieve much with it; this year however I will aim to cook and bake and post as much as I possible can (I'm hoping at least once a month) and to constantly try to challenge myself. I don't know how far I can go, but I'll put my everything into it that's for sure. :)

Anyway, enough with the boring stuff, continuing on to the food (since that's why we're all here right?). I used this recipe from Eat and Be Happy to make some Crunchy Granola Bars. Previously I've never even eaten rolled oats before, but I was sure that I'd love them like all other healthy yummy foods out there. When I took it out of the oven and the warm aroma of cinnamon and honey overwhelmed me... the thing I love just as much as cooking is the smell of what I'm making~

Crunchy Granola Bars - from Eat and Be Happy

Ingredients:
3 1/2 C rolled oats
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C mixture of nuts -I used walnuts and cashews because they're my favourite-
1/2 C dried cranberries -substituted with sultanas, or are they the same thing?-
1/2 C pineapple juice -I omitted this-
1/4 C honey -reduced the amount-
1/4 C packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven at 175C. Line an 8″ square pan with aluminium foil and set it aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, salt and oil together. Mix well and tip the oat mixture into the prepared pan.
3. Bake it for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the oat mixture is lightly toasted and golden brown. Remove the pan from oven and tip the oat mixture back into the large bowl. Turn the oven temperature down to 150C.
4. -I only soaked the sultanas in water before using them- Combine the dried cranberries and pineapple juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove the pan from heat and set aside.
5. Toast the mixed nuts in a pan until fragrant. Remove from pan. Coarsely chop half of the nut mixture and using a food processor, grind the rest of the nut mixture till finely ground. Add both the coarsely chopped and finely ground nuts to the oat mixture.
6. Drain the dried cranberries and add it to the oat mixture as well.
7. Combine the honey and brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and cook until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir the cinnamon and vanilla extract in. Pour the honey mixture into the bowl of oat mixture.
8. Mix the oats, mixed nuts mixture and honey mixture really well. Tip the mixture into the prepared pan and press the oat mixture into the pan.
9. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the granola bars are golden brown.
10. Remove the pan from the oven, let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing the bars from the pan. Slice into 8 bars, wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap and store them in an airtight container. Makes 8 bars

They turned out as crumble since I used too big of a pan that the mixture wasn't packed enough, but nevermind.I ended up eating it with natural yoghurt and drizzled with honey... the most delicious and filling breakfast I've had with a long time.

Ready to be consumed solely by me.

Mini food tour of Vancouver and Hong Kong

Well on my holiday my sister and I racked up approximately 1200 photos, and a significant number of them were involving food. But you'd be bored if I showed all of them would you? We were fascinated by the different vegetables and products that we went a bit crazy remembering them. The people at Save on Food must have thought the worst :).

I have several pictures that I can display, and more will go up when I find where I saved the other ones. First off, my mother, sister and I traveled to Hong Kong as a stopover flight to Canada. We could only stay there 2 1/2 days, so we had to pack every bit of excitement into them. And I think we succeeded, considering how we were so exhausted that I actually managed to fall asleep on the flight in Vancouver. While in Asia we saw many convenient bread and cake stores; this was the first I saw and I just had to go in and buy browse. :)

The shops all had beautiful peach cakes on sale. :)

We walked past countless markets and street shops; selling almost everything you could think of. This sight was one that we became well accustomed to by the end of the three days.

We went to a fancy-looking restaurant and were very surprised to find everything very affordable. The food was yummy too~

The appetizing entree.

My choice - Thai Style Pork Neck Fried Rice, 58 HK.

My sister's choice - Singapore Shred Chicken Laksa with Thai Noodle, 58 HK.

And my mum's dish - Boneless Haianese (excuse the incorrect spelling) Chicken with Lemongrass Rice, 68 HK.

Now onto Vancouver, which I stayed at for nearly a month with my father. Nothing much to report about that, but it was a good holiday and I liked Canada.

Of course, my family being asian meant that we'd search for good asian ingredients at Chinatown. Gosh, it felt like we were back in Hong Kong!

Is that a...yes it is, as my sister and I were horrified to discover.

Okay, how about something nicer?

Much better.

This delectable place is the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory somewhere in the city of Vancouver. I was dying to buy one, even though I don't like toffee apples.

Cutie.  :3

For the few days of Christmas we went to the beautiful snowy wonderland of Whistler. It was amazing; even though I didn't go skiing or dogsleding (though I did snowshoe and it was tiring but really enjoyable) I was content with just playing with the abundance of snow on the side of the road. Sad yes, but I'm easily amused. :)

The first meal I had there; a panini with coloured corn chips. Yummy and very filling.

Our modest Christmas Eve feast; turkey and some tom yum soup with rice.

Look at those delicious long white mushrooms...mmm, my favourite.

And that is the end of the post! I'll try to find those missing photos, and post what I've been up to in the kitchen soon. Hope you all hope a great Christmas and New Year!