Toasted Tomato Sandwiches and Asparagus and Basil Soup

Sometimes dinner doesn't have to be super complicated to be special (notice I say sometimes – haha).

A few simple extra touches such as truffle oil drizzled on the soup or olive bread for the toasted tomato sandwich can make a great meal decadent.

Veggie Stir Fry

The other night we had a simple veggie stir fry. Yummmm!

Birthday/Housewarming Party at Jesse and Phil’s

Friday night we were invited to this lovely get-together and before I go any further, let me just say that the hosts insanely outdid themselves. They had enough food to feed a small island, so I proudly jumped in and ate more than my share.

Sadly, I did not get a photo of everything. And even more discouraging was that some of them did not turn out at all. Rather than take my time and get a beautiful shot, I was rushed to put my camera down and eat what was posing in front of me. I'm hoping these few photos tell the whole story. Every single item was to die for. Which made it very difficult to hold back, on anything!

Fresh veggies on the table as you walked in lit up the room with their bright rainbow of colours. Alongside was a row of dips, tsatsiki, babaganoush, roasted red pepper and hummus with pita and bread sticks for dipping.

Over in the corner next to the couch was a table of cheeses and on the main coffee table, well, let's just say, that's where most of the magic happened. A trio of olives, yummy roasted red pepper and cream cheese pinwheels, massive brick of goat cheese with olive tapenade, corn chips, baclava, spanakopita, outstanding stuffed mushroom caps, heavenly phylo bites filled with Benedictine blue cheese, walnuts and apple slivers, and lovely shrimp served over the most delicious peanut sauce ever.

A little later on, the birthday cake appeared. Moist chocolate covered in pretty pink frosting.

Such a fantastic evening with fantastic people. Thanks so much for having such a great party!

Asia X-Press – Montreal

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One of the best things about travelling to Montreal for work is having lunch at this little hole in the wall. A 2-minute walk from the office on Chabanel Ouest, it makes for a perfect spot to break between meetings.

The menu offers everything from Vietnamese to Chinese and Thai. I often get the same things when I go, but do try to switch it up a little. This time I started off with yummy dumplings paired with a spicy peanut sauce that is absolutely delicious. I shared this app with my co-worker and in return got to eat one of his rice paper shrimp rolls.

My main was the salad with imperial roll and vermicelli. It comes with both fish sauce and some more of my favourite spicy peanut sauce.

Scott had the chicken pad thai, which is fantastic here. This delectable tangle of noodles made it hard to chose between it and the vermicelli dish I went for. Luckily I was able to sample a few bites of Scott's to appease my food envy.

For fun we asked if we could sample their coconut red curry and they happily brought us a lovely little dish of it. It was nice and spicy.

I'm so happy to have a place like this close to the office. It's even nicer in the summer when they have their little patio open. Service is always great and prices very reasonable with apps starting under $2 and mains running between $5 and $12.

Asia X-Press

Graffiti’s Italian Eatery and Saloon

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The only thing more fun than eating is eating with a group of people who love food as much as you do. You immediately eliminate the awkwardness of eyeballing what everybody else is having and jump right into sharing each other's dishes. That's what happened to me the other night when grouped with a few local foodies that I had met at the food bloggers event Tuesday night.

Because Shari of Whisk food blog organized this lovely meal out, I had the honour of dining with some of my favourite food bloggers. Shari, who of course has the most beautiful photography or “food porn” I've ever seen, Don and Jenn of foodiePrints whose write-ups are so wonderfully detailed you feel as though you were actually there, and Paola whose amazing personality and contagious happiness had us engaged the entire evening. Paola does not have a blog, but she does tweet on a regular basis (http://twitter.com/cestboncooking).

Now onto the restaurant!

Given that Graffiti's has been nominated in the Kanata Chamber of Commerce People's Choice Awards, it seemed like a great spot for foodies to unite. I parked myself on the comfy bench at our table and began skimming through the menu. A few dishes caught my eye but I finally settled on the veal, goat cheese and sun dried tomato strascinati.

A lovely serving of bread, olives and oil were set in front of us. I went for the olives but held back on the bread, saving myself for the pasta dish. I figured a ceasar salad wouldn't fill me too much so I decided to start with that. A crisp salad with their homemade dressing, pancetta bits and a baked parmesan cheese crisp. Shari's trio of bruschetta looked very interesting, a selection of green olive and garlic tapenade, traditional roma tomato with basil and fresh parmigiano reggiano cheese, and pureed garbanzo bean with lemon and cumin all served with crostini. Although offered, I didn't try any, again, saving myself for the main.

We had barely finished our apps when the server arrived to say our meal was ready and if she could remove our plates. I quickly shoveled in the last few bites of salad and handed her my plate. Once we were settled with our food, we decided to try a bit of everything. All 5 of us started a production line of plates to be filled with tasty bites from everyone's dinner. What a fun way to try everything. Spaghetti, seafood linguini, chicken and ossobuco filled my little plate. Unfortunately, most of them were unexceptional, including mine. The ossobuco was tender and the flavours ok, but the risotto it was paired with did not have the hint of truffle the menu promised. The chicken was average and my strascinati fair. The seafood linguini with clams, scallops and shrimp was nice but sadly a bit too oily. The spaghetti I found to be quite insipid, overcooked and mushy with a tomato sauce that tasted as though straight from a can. And once again, before many of us had even finished our meal, the server was by to remove our plates.

We decided to share dessert. I'd have to say that this was the best bit of food of the evening. A yummy, warm apple dessert wrapped in brittle phylo pastry and served with creamy vanilla ice cream. 

I did have a wonderful evening despite my disappointment in the dishes. Good company will do that! But I don't think I will make the trek out to Kanata for this middle-of-the-road restaurant again. It was ok, just not stellar.

Prices range from $5 to $10 for apps and $12 to $32 for mains.

www.graffitis.ca

Roasted Prosciutto Wrapped Halibut

This is going to be a short post but just long enough to tell you how delectable this dish was. We had a friend in from out of town, only here for a few days with a massive list of things to do. We managed to grab her for a few hours tonight and I think my husband made it worth her while with this meal.

With a small modification to the fish ingredient, this recipe originated from the Magnificent Roasted Monkfish dish in my husband's Jamie Oliver cookbook. Wow, what a treat!

The short of it, my husband blended some sun-dried tomatoes, the oil they came in and some basil and spread it over slices of prosciutto. He then took the halibut and wrapped it neatly inside, rubbing with olive oil and roasting it for 15-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. For the side he whipped some potatoes with milk and butter in the processor, really thinning it out with the milk until it looked similar to a cheese-like consistency if you can imagine that. The final touch was a balsamic drizzle and some arugula for garnish. You can get the full recipe here, unfortunately the Jamie Oliver website didn't actually have this recipe on it.

Although the dish was quite flavourful, it did not overpower the fish at all. Every single morsel was outstanding. My husband even made a brown butter to go with our toasty baguette. Absolutely sinful!

Chicken Farmers of Canada Unite the Food Bloggers of Ottawa

Tonight was a very unique experience. I would almost say a milestone during my time as a blogger. To be united with a group of local food bloggers that I admire so much was, well, an honour to say the least. And it was all possible thanks to the Chicken Farmers of Canada.

I assumed the event would revolve around some discussions about chicken. Not so. These guys did not toot their horn once. Even though they have so much to be proud of and so much to discuss. Their website alone is filled with valuable information regarding safe food handling, health and nutrition, food safety and animal care, not to mention a ton of great recipes! I also find it fun to read the profiles of the chicken farmers. It's a nice reminder of where the chicken is coming from.

Although I would have liked to learn more about them, I did enjoy chatting with them under informal circumstances. Thanks so much for setting this up and inviting us Ryan! Bringing us all together was a real treat!

This event was held at the beautiful Urban Element. As soon as I read this is where it would be, there was no doubt in my mind that I was in for a fabulous evening. I've yet to have a bad time under this roof and I doubt I ever will. Not as long as their resident chef Candice Butler is there anyway. She prepared a ton of crowd pleasing hors d'oeuvres that would have anyone peering in the window green with envy.

The first one to land between my fingers was the sun dried tomato strata with C'est Bon goat cheese. I love anything with sun dried tomatoes in it, the flavour is so powerful and absolutely perfect with goat cheese.

I would love to say which of the hors d'oeuvres was my favourite but I'd be repeating myself with each photo. Like these caramelized onion and pear tarts with Bleu Bénédictine (best blue cheese ever!).

Mini chicken pot pies – mmmmm. So yummy.

In-house pork rillette with Rochon farm zucchini relish. Pinch me quick! Seriously.

Ok maybe this one was almost my favourite! Chicken dumplings with peanut sauce. Dumpling + peanut sauce = very happy Rachelle.

Cod cakes – oh yeah wait, I LOVE fishcakes!

Pulled pork with smoked tomato jam. The perfect comfort food!

And well what would the evening be like without some chicken!? A trio of velvety chicken pâtés were neatly placed along the main table for everyone to savour. Brandy chicken liver pâté with Hall's apple and thyme, bourbon and rosemary chicken liver pâté with a bit of duck, and sherry chicken liver pâté with Pic Bois maple vinegar – simply divine. And to top it off, Candice offered a demonstration on how to make it at home.

After about an hour of mingling and stuffing my face, we sat down to listen to the esteemed Ron Eade of Omnivore's Ottawa. I listened intently sipping my wine as he chatted about blogging and home cooking. What was meant to be a discussion was more of a one-sided conversation at times, but I'm sure behind the scenes, when not all blogger eyes were on you, the questions came out.

The one thing that stuck the most was his comment on the dissociation of animal from meal and how we buy things prepackaged all the time. Like chicken for example – rows of chicken thighs all ready to be eaten up. Do we ever even think about the animal who gave his life to be on our plate? If you bought a whole chicken, you'd appreciate every morsel even more. And it would last you more than that one meal. A great blog on not buying anything prepackaged and using every ingredient to the last drop is the She Eats Bears blog. I could only dream to be able to cook that well!

What a wonderful evening. Looking forward to the next blog-related event, or blog worthy-event – whichever comes first!