There will still be beer and chocolate and all that good stuff, but we’re also trying to get back to a Nordic, anti-inflammatory way of eating that always makes us feel energized and satisfied. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend – check it out!

Miso-Ginger Mussels with Mushrooms, Kale, and Siracha

Check out the size of these babies from SaltSpring Island Mussels. Adding a tablespoon of white miso paste to the broth brings out the nuances of their natural flavour: earthy, sweet and just a tad salty, like the sea. I hate when mussel broths get so elaborate that the flavour of the mighty mussel itself becomes secondary. I also added grated ginger, garlic, onion, and a variety of mushrooms.

No Sugar, No Oil Added Banana Bread. I love love love finding a new blog full of style and recipes that instantly inspire me, which is exactly what The Sweet Beet turned out to be!

I recommend at least doubling the cinnamon. I did, and some of my taste-testers couldn’t even tell there was cinnamon in it. This is one of those simple, efficient base recipes that makes my brain start firing off variations while still chewing. Next time, I think I will try adding golden raisins and unsweetened coconut. Since it was my Mum’s birthday yesterday, I brought her the extra loaf. My stepdad Jim’s recommendation for next time is to add cloves, which inspired me to fantasize about a sugar free, oil free pumpkin version. It has great flavour, but it could have been spicier and what better to put with spices than pumpkin? Or are you totally sick of pumpkin to the point of almost being willing to accept Christmas music? I know, the fall pumpkin obsession has been a bit ridick, especially on the food blog corner of the web. But what if I put pieces of 90% cocoa dark chocolate in it? See, you still love me. Thankfully, having farmers in the family means I left with lots of eggs and a sweet pie pumpkin to make all my dreams come true.

Moroccan Spiced Lentil Veggie Stoup

I was having coffee and banana bread at the farm while Mr. ST finished the cooking process on this one, so unless you want a photo of the finished product in a giant plastic container in my fridge, this is as blog-worthy as it got Lentils, mushrooms, sweet potato, red pepper, carrots, kale, and fresh fenugreek leaves that were randomly available at The Rootcellar this week! The main flavours came from healthy tablespoons of turmeric, cinnamon, curry powder, and cumin as well as the juice of a big lemon. Also, I can’t say enough about Pacific Foods organic broth. Short of making your own, it is a  fantastic alternative. I used the mushroom broth because we are funghi freaks. This is lunch for the week ahead!

And finally, Whistler Brewing Company’s Chesnut Ale.

I almost hate to say it, but it must be said: This beer is better than the Granville Island Winter Ale so many of us covet from November – February every year. Like the Winter Ale, it has vanilla overtones, but the added nutty and toasty elements in this beer really add to its charm and my inability to drink it as slowly as I should. It took me right back to when we visited the brewery during our trip to Whistler back in August….

The brewery is located at Function Junction, off Highway 99. We stopped in after our train-wreck art adventure in the woods!

Whistler Brewing has consistently impressed me this year. Flavoured beer is getting a big gimmicky at this point, but we admire when a craft brewery puts thought into making the flavouring a true elevation of a beer style’s thisness (if you’re willing to get all philosophical about it). I spent my summer following up my Saturday long runs with a dip at Thetis Lake and their Pineapple Express Wheat Ale. Refreshing rainy fall runs, followed by inhumanely hot showers, meet your new friend.

Nothing puts me more at ease than a weekend in my runners, in the kitchen, and snuggling on the couch with Mr. ST. Nourishment for the mind, body, and spirit!

PS – Do you have a favourite seasonal beer yet?

We have been to Guu twice this summer and both times we were delighted to find an exceptional variety of cheap and creative Japanese small plates to share. I happen to love dim sum but it is really not acceptable as a dinner option, so Guu is a great substitute when I want the bustling, shared, Asian food experience. Plus, just like dim sum, you can get your dining pals to be a bit more adventurous than usual given that many items are just $4-$6.

They also make their own Guud Ale, which has a mild caramel flavour and a smooth finish – plenty of personality but unlikely to conflict with the diversity of your order.

Some of the items we tried included: octopus balls with bonito flakes, duck salad with mushrooms, beef tendon soup, fried octopus with ancho mayo, and chilli sweetbreads.

Octopus balls with mustard and bonito flakes

Duck salad with roasted mushrooms

This beef tendon soup looks unappetizing, I know! But I promise you that it is melt in your mouth tender, and the broth has the purest beef flavour we have ever tasted. That big gob of yellow stuff is Japanese mustard, which you can add for a spicy kick as you see fit. It’s kind of like having miso soup as a starter – it’s only $2, give it a try!

Beef tendon soup

Octopus with ancho mayo

These sweetbreads are tasty, and they definitely convinced me to keep trying intestines, but I cannot tell a lie; after a few bites, I knew I was eating something that has a prior life involving poop.

In Spain and Portugal, plates of small whole fried fish are quite popular, and we ate a lot of them on our honeymoon so we wanted to try these fried silver fish. I would describe them as fish and chips in a single bite. Mr. ST said they reminded him of pork rinds. You know when you learn things about your partner’s life before you that just don’t fit with the person you know? Pork rinds are among the skeletons in Mr. ST’s closet.

Fried silver fish

We also tried a tofu and kimchi hot pot and the most incredible egg dish that was like a vegetarian scotch egg. Where the hard boiled egg would normally be surrounded by sausage meat, this one had mashed pumpkin, coated in panko bread crumbs. I was getting deliriously full by this point in the night, so unfortunately I have no photographic evidence.

Bring a date, or bring a crowd, and be ready to have fun with your food. Guu is noisy, casual and doesn’t take itself too seriously, something we could all stand to try once in a while!

Plus, they don’t seem the least bit bitter about being the butt of Dr. Evil jokes…

( “My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet.”….Anyone?)

We only had one day in Antwerp on our honeymoon, and no matter how hard we tried to drink it in slowly, it evaporated before us….

faster than a sour cherry Trappiste beer.

Did you know the proper glass for serving Duvel has a miniscule capital D carved into the bottom of the bell, so the bubbles aerate just so?

Belgian culinary technique is as serious as a heart attack, yet the outcomes are playful. Which is why we chose Wannawafel over West Coast Waffles when we were feeling reminiscent of our honeymoon last weekend.

Wannawafel is run by a Belgian family and serves both the traditional kinds—the Liege (dessert) waffle and the Brussels (savoury) waffle. The lattice of a Liege-style waffle is carmelized and crispy, with a faint scent of vanilla.

The Brussels-style waffle has a doughy texture and a toasted wheat flavour—a perfect vehicle for fruits, greek yogurt, nut butters etc. To learn more about the two kinds, check out this post from The Art of Backpacking.

I swear there's a waffle under there....and it is glorious

At Wannawafel, they don’t mess around with any of my toaster oven junk waffle toppings. They serve waffles with icing sugar, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, fruit compote and vanilla ice cream. The number of toppings is entirely up to you.After running 15K along the Galloping Goose that morning, I wasn’t about to tell anyone to hold the whipped cream, thankyouverymuch.

Their fruit compote was blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry and thankfully not syrupy or jammy. It’s essentially slowly stewed fruit, with little else added.

The seating is cramped, but the location is great for people watching and what space there is is comfortable. If friendly smiles in a warm room that smells of snickerdoodles makes you uncomfortable, you are not invited to my house because you are just too hard to please. Then again, I can’t make waffles like these.

Seriously, give them a try.

Wannawafel
#102 Market Square
Victoria, BC V8W 3C5
250-590-5300
Hours:
Open 9am – 6pm, Fri – Sat
9am – 5pm, Sun – Thur

After two days on Cape Breton Island touring this incredible scenery, we were on our way to Halifax, the largest Canadian city east of Montreal and one that swept us off our feet pretty much instantly. Like, giddy, junior high, doodling hearts, daydreaming infatuation. Mr. ST actually threw a tiny hissy on our last night, he wanted to stay so badly. The downtown core is a blend of quirky pubs, boutique clothing stores, and the city’s top 5 restaurants. With three universities, a cruise ship terminal, and several blocks of commercial space and government buildings, downtown Halifax doesn’t wear it’s socio-economic standing on its sleeve either. Unlike some harbour cities, where the waterfront belongs to tourists, or the few who can afford to buy it up and build on it, Halifax felt like it belongs to all of us. Maybe that’s why we met so many people from BC who have chosen to move there.

When we first arrived, the city was awash in blue with rain and biting wind. Frizzy hair and hyper-extended umbrella poles couldn’t spoil our mood though. Our first stop was to a hopelessly gimmicky but entirely necessary stop for anyone who loves Belgian-style beers. Check out the size of the beer menu!

Brussels Restaurant had the most extensive collection of Belgian beers we’ve seen since visiting Antwerp on our honeymoon. And when our server informed us it was 2 for 1 Mussels Monday, we prepared to stay put for a while.

Many of these mussels were a little shrivelled and frankly pretty pathetic in size and texture when compared to those you can get up the Vancouver Island Coast, but the broths were lively and fresh and on stormy afternoon, on the final leg of a three-week vacation, sopping it up and having no where else to be but together made this a very memorable afternoon.

We spent the next day wandering the other side of town in what’s known as Halifax Commons and had lunch as Jane’s on the Commons. Jane’s serves light, satisfying lunch staples like scallop, lobster, and haddock cakes, salads, and this bright asparagus, sweet pea and mint soup.

They also have a smart little take-away business right next door selling soups and pre-portioned entrees and the like called, obviously enough, Jane’s Next Door.

Later we stopped in at the Foggy Goggle to sample their lobster mac and cheese. This place is on Argyle Street, a big strip of bars downtown and we were told this place is owned by Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys. That might explain the eclectic décor and general anti-style of the place. Imagine all the curious, retro-ish, potentially-ugly-in-person treasures you’ve seen on Craigslist, combined in one room. It’s a place where having Christmas lights around the stage and a vintage fridge behind the bar seems sensible, not childish.

It was slow while we were there but it smelled and looked like a place that probably gets relatively messy when school is in session. Plus the mac and cheese was absolutely plugged with a surprising volume of lobster. Yeah-ya!

Halifax Public Market

Although the Halifax Public Market was widely publicized in tourist material all over the city, it was a pretty major case of over-sell. Oddly enough, the earnest, friendly few vendors (I’m talking less than 10) didn’t under-deliver on the whole over-selling thing. Two products we discovered that I highly recommend seeking out.

That Dutchman’s Farm (“Producers of fine farmstead cheeses”) Although his family owned business specializes in gouda, they are most well-know in the restaurants and wine bars we visited for a little black wax covered ball of perfection called The Dutchman’s Dragon Breath—beyond any stilton or Shropshire or otherwise veiny and delightfully stanky blue you’ve ever had. They also make a spreadable gouda that comes in many flavours, like chili pepper and smoked with black pepper, called Smeerkaas. Texturally it’s a lot like a brie or camembert that has barely reached room temperature—smooth but not runny. This stuff is the Cheez Whiz of the gods. Plus, the person working the stand was kind enough to let us sample every last cheese she had on her table. A cheese course is a perfect mid-morning snack. Especially if you chase it with some cider. Moooooving on…..

Tideview Cider Although Vancouver Island has a few good cideries – Merridale and Sea Cider – neither is comparable to Nova Scotia’s Tideview Cider. While Merridales ciders have a prominent mead-apple flavour and are quite sweet, Sea Cider tends to be dry and crisp. Tideview sits right in the middle by using tart fruit and lots of bubbles.

Garrison’s Brewery Although not part of the market, the market property was also the site of Nova Scotia’s best microbrewery—Garrison’s Brewery.

Garrison’s sells individual beers or make-your-own six packs. Check out this huge variety!

Their overall flavour profile is more bitter than hoppy and my personal favourite was the Jalapeno Ale, a pale ale made with jalapeno (obviously), habanero, scotch bonnet and Jamaican hot peppers. They took the beautiful relationships of nachos and pale ale and bottled it. Brilliant.

Now let’s move onto the obvious question for those of you who know Nova Scotia beer–what about Alexander Keith’s? After all, they have this historic property down on the waterfront where they do brewery tours every hour and they were the first brewery in Canada!

The brewery tour was educational and it was a great way to spend an hour on an extremely wet and dreary day, HOWEVER there was a key detail about the tour that was left out when the kind customer service worker took our money and told us “it will give you a history of the company, show you how the beer is made, and then you get some samples.” The tour is designed to take place in the 1800s, complete with a painful amount of over-acting. Seriously-you should tell me in advance that while I drink my free samples you are going to make me listen to these people sing Celtic lullabies to each other.

You can see how enthused Mr. ST was about this whole thing…..see how far away the actual tour group is from us?? These actors were aggressively enthusiastic and interactive. I am just glad they did not try to involve Mr. ST. I’m sure he would have embarrassed them or me purely as an introverted coping mechanism.

We also didn’t meet anyone in Nova Scotia who loved Keith’s, except these actors–and they’re from  the 1800s so obviously they haven’t heard of Garrison’s. This whole experience was like a Nouveau Canada Bud Light commercial but at least it kept us stifling laughter the whole time. It has actually become one of those hilariously bad vacation memories, and isn’t sharing these types of experiences one of the ways travelling bonds us even more?

Finally, dining out at night in Halifax was impressive; we regularly had meals that were at once works of art and sensual awakenings. Our favourites were clustered on or around Barrington Street, just a few blocks up from the harbourfront and they are each deserving of their own reviews. In the meantime, I think you can see why. Bonus points if you can guess where some of these are from!

The Saint John Ale House

Our trip started out in Saint John, New Brunswick, a smallish town with a quaint harbour front to satisfy the regular stream of cruise ship passengers. Port towns all have a few things in common and a walk-able, restaurant-filled harbourfront is one of them. These commercial strips are treacherous, and the potential for overpriced food crap is high, but we were pleasantly surprised by the Saint John Ale House.

SJAH bills itself as offering “progressive pub food” but it’s basically a reasonably priced gastropub environment with good service and simple favourites to complement the free flowing Moosehead.

Just 9.99--Daily charcutirie plate

Moosehead is the New Brunswick staple. Unlike the West Coast where microbrew culture is expanding rapidly, East Coasters tend to have some regional loyalty about them.

Fact: you will see more ridiculous photos like this going forward. Yes, I amuse myself.

Bacon-wrapped scallops with sauteed garlic and maple syrup drizzle

Relish Gourmet Burgers

If you are over the gourmet burger trend (we were), please reconsider and visit any one of Relish Gourmet Burger’s locations. It is basically everything the Pink Bicycle should want to be and hands down treats the burger like an art form.

The bun is toasted enough to absorb moisture from the toppings but is still compact. And there aren’t so many toppings on it that it needs a diaper (cough, Red Robin). I was a little disappointed with the dryness of my turkey burger, but that’s a pretty common offense and not something I can’t really fault them for when I only went once.

Mr. ST had The Great Fire, with chorizo sausage, jalapeño peppers, hotsauce and jack cheese on a beef patty and I had the Jersey City turkey burger with fried field mushrooms , pickled peppers, pancetta bacon, provolone cheese.

It sounds foolish to say so but I have to impress upon you that we were literally speechless for about ten minutes after we left! I think Mr. ST’s face in this picture pretty much sums it up.

The Saint John City Market

I can’t recommend the Saint John City Market enough. Wandering a local food market is pretty much our favourite way to get a sense of place. You get s sense of the pace at which people interact, the types of foods they eat, and the range of cultures, all under one roof. The Saint John Market was the first stop on our trip and it instantly connected us to so many aspects of East Coasters’ culture.

See this guy in the red apron? His name’s Ian. Within ten minutes, Ian had planned an entire menu for us, based on our favourite items from their case and the products of his fellow merchants.

Considering the 10 hour plane ride and two hours drive that led us to that moment, we basically saw Ian as our own personal Jesus. A food Jesus and we were his accepting disciples. He was enthusiastic about Atlantic seafood, genuinely excited for us to try it, and overall the best introduction to East Coast hospitality we could have imagined.

Britt’s Pub and Eatery

I’ve since learned that curry fries are popular around the world, but only on the East Coast did we see a place like Britt’s combining the beloved Quebec Poutine with curry fries to create this amazing Curry Thanskgiving in a Bowl: sweet curry sauce poured over fries with in-house roasted turkey, cheese curds, dried cranberries and coriander.

You have to love a place that puts this item under “lighter fare” on their menu. Because it’s meant for sharing? I try not to question others food rationalizing. It ain’t polite

I will be devoting an entire post to the lobster, so please don’t be alarmed that is not mentioned here. Rest assured it was consumed in copious amounts and there are distinctions of note between them. Here’s the requisite cliché photograph to appropriately conclude this post.