When Ron and Mike announced the location, and menu, for the February Supper Club, I was interested. I admit it. I'd never heard of Allium, but the menu, oh the menu, it intrigued me.
The price was higher than my budget was comfortable with, but I was able to find a way, so reserved a seat for myself and a co-worker to go together.
Then I met up with Don and Jenn from foodiePrints, who gave me a glowing recommendation of Allium, and I was even more excited to be going.
Nor was I disappointed at all.
I chose not to go with the optional wine pairing (I know, everyone is shocked by this,) but those around me who did have it were quite pleased with the selections chosen by Owner/Chef Arup Jana, Sous-Chef Luke Baxter. The staff were both attentive and unobtrusive, and knowledgeable when we had questions.
First course: Seared sea scallop, crispy Prosciutto tuille, Tuna tartar with shiso (and truffle oil), and Lobster Roll.
Every sandwich I eat from now on should have crispy prosciutto in it. And I could eat the tuna and lobster every day. For breakfast.
Oh the scallop was good too, but the tuna was divine....
Second course: Maple cured roasted duck breast, on top of a cauliflower and goat cheese puree (and hiding some lovely sauted mushrooms,) melt in your mouth pork belly, puff pastry wrapped duck leg, braised and shredded, and Foie mousse, on a scallion pancake, with truffle oil.
No one had issues with the Foie mousse at our table, but if they had, there were plenty of us who would have stepped up to take that problem away from them.
Third course: Herb salad with lemon dressing, honey, walnuts, tender micro-greens and a salty Allegreto cheese.
This worked best if you could get a bit of greens, cheese and walnut in the same bite. 
Fourth Course: Flat iron sliced beef, braised shank (with a bright green and vibrant chimi sauce,) Angus tenderloin cube on top of tomato, and individual Tourtiere with a tomato ketchup/relish, served with a potato gratin.
A meat eaters dream, this course. I am not a vegetarian and will never be one, not if this is the kind of beef I can expect to eat in my life.
Oh and this Tourtiere has replaced all my memories of all the not so good pies I'd had growing up.
Final Course, dessert: Raspberry sorbet with blood orange slices, chocolate brownie on top of chocolate ganache, topped with vanilla ice cream, candied pecans, a drizzle of caramel and shaved chocolate.
I dislike pecans, unless they are candied and come with this brownie, the ganache, the ice cream....
And the raspberry sorbet was probably the best I have ever had, a bright fruit flavor, not artificial, not overwhelming.
Despite being very full, I ate every bite on this plate and would have done it again if another had been presented to me. You'd have had to roll me out afterwards, but it would have been worth it.
Omnivores Ottawa Supper Club: Allium
Menu Plan Monday: New, Midweek recipe
It's Monday morning, the sky is grey, and I have to go to work. Bleh.
My menu plans are not chiseled in stone, even though they are printed out here for whomever to see them. I've made a plan, but know that if something comes up, I can ignore it. Which is a good thing - cause if tonight my hubby comes home and confirms he has an ear infection, I'm making dinner and it won't be what I planned for him to make.
Sunday: Mac and Cheese.
Monday: Sausages with apple and fennel salad.
Tuesday: Sheppard's Pie (I'm out tonight and this is a favorite among my boys, all three of them.)
Wednesday: Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with homemade tomato soup.
Thursday: Kumquat-garlic chicken with roasted asparagus.
Friday: Fish and chips. Not sure if homemade or if I pick something up yet.
This is my submission to this week's Menu Plan Monday. How about you? Have a plan for the week yet?
Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman: Wildcard breakfast
Debby pronounced it Wild Card for this rounds theme of Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman, my favorite theme. It lets me do whatever I want and this time, this is what I wanted:
Found on pages 36 to 39, this recipe for Cinnamon Rolls makes alot of rolls. We had 2 pans at home, I gave away 2 pans, and I still have one in the freezer. Think I'll pull them out tomorrow morning and surprise the kids with them for breakfast. (I foresee very happy children in my future.)
We like raisins in ours, so I added some in, and next time will reduce the icing and switch out some of the white sugar for brown sugar.
Menu Plan Monday: Family Day = Delayed Menu Plan Day
Happy Tuesday morning!
Yesterday was "Family Day", a government sponsored holiday with no real purpose behind it. It meant I got the day off to spend with my family, to sit and watch the Olympics, to do some cleaning, some cooking and some baking.
I liked it!
It also meant all the stores were closed, so I had to do my shopping on Sunday. I spent alot of money on groceries this weekend, but did not buy anything that I did not already have in my freezer, so my freezer challenge is still on.
Here we go, my menu plan for the week, being submitted to Menu Plan Monday:
Sunday: Nachos, picnic style (while we watched the Olympics together)
Monday: Pasta with meat ragu
Tuesday: Pork tenderloin with Hawaiian sauce and rice
Wednesday: Homemade pizza
Thursday: Meatballs with mashed potatoes
Friday: Out for dinner with my other Mom, who comes to curl nearby at this time every year and we go see her.
Happy Valentine's Day
I woke up to find this on my car earlier this week, left for me by my hubby. What a lovely way to start the day.
Valentine's Day is a commercial holiday more than a romantic holiday. Buy, buy, buy, buy.....
Thanks but no thanks. I don't want over priced flowers that will wilt in only a few days. I don't like or wear jewelery, and between my two children, we have enough stuffed animals in this house already.
My hubby did not get a fancy valentine's gift his morning - I made him breakfast instead. And this afternoon we will spend some time together making dinner (instead of my banishing him from the kitchen while I cook). I'll probably make something fun and filled with calories for dessert as well. Then we will spend some time together, with our children. I believe the plan involves playing Beatles Rock Band.
This week my children's school held a bake sale, with the proceeds going to Make a Wish. My boys brought in this fudge, cut out into heart shapes with a cookie cutter. My oldest tells me it was one of the first things to sell out, and that his silly brother bought a piece as one of his choices, despite the pieces at home in the fridge.
Ridiculously easy to make, perfect for making late at night when you get a last minute request to submit something for the bake sale the next day.
Valentine's Day Fudge
3 cups chocolate, chopped up (I used milk chocolate for this, but you can use semi-sweet as well)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or use mint or raspberry or orange extract instead)
Any add in's you'd like, such as white chocolate chunks, nuts, marshmallows....
Line a 9x9 inch pan with parchment paper.
In a heavy pot, over low heat, melt the chocolate, condensed milk and salt, stirring constantly.
When everything is melted together, and smooth, remove from heat and add in the vanilla, plus any additions you want to make.
Spread into prepared pan, smoothing the top as best you can.
Chill for at least two hours.
Turn out fudge and parchment paper onto a cutting board. Peel away the paper and cut into desired shapes using a knife or cookie cutters.
Leftovers should be kept in the fridge (but really, who are we kidding about leftovers?)
Menu Plan Monday: How I did on the pantry challenge
I know this isn't the Menu Plan Monday banner (I put that below this time). I just wanted to put something different up, just because, and just for fun. This is my oldest son, being silly this past summer.
True story, rather funny, to tell about him and this past week's menu plan: Last week I planned that the boys were going to have club sandwiches using the left over turkey for dinner on Tuesday. I was going to be out here, enjoying myself, but expected to be able to have a sandwich when I got home, if I wanted one. Knowing we had all the ingredients on hand, I decided I wanted a BLT for breakfast the next morning and was going to gather them all together to make my morning a little less hectic the next day. No bacon to be found in the fridge. None in the freezer. Could they have eaten an entire pound of bacon in one night? Seemed unlikely. Hubby said no, there should be some in the fridge, our oldest had put it in a tupperware container. Checked again, fridge no, freezer no, just in case, pantry no. No bacon.
The next morning I ask him. He checks the fridge. He knows he put it in a container, but where did he put it? Checks the freezer. Next thing you know, there are three of rummaging through the fridge and freezer, where did he put this bacon!
Lightbulb goes off above my head - I checked the tupperware cupboard and voila! Bacon!
No, I did not have a BLT for breakfast that morning. Not with bacon that had been out all night.
So the pantry challenge.... It went pretty well. We had a few hiccups this week, the first being diner on Monday, the beef and broccoli stir fry I made. While the stir fry part was fine, for some reason the rice tasted odd to everyone at the table, and had a subtle, but again odd, texture to it. We ended up not finishing out meal that night and had an "emergency" chip run. But even with the chips added in, I still finished the two weeks with $2 left in my $100 budget.
My second little "bump in the road" didn't happen until Friday, when we did end up having take out for dinner, but it had less to do with the pantry challenge and more to do with my having worked a 12 hour the day before (open to close), followed by opening the next morning, and I was exhausted. This isn't likely to happen again, it was unusual circumstances, but it made me realize I am not as resilient as I used to be.
This week I've decided to continue with the freezer challenge, but had to restock several items in my pantry. I'd run out of canned tomatoes, which are a staple, and my stock of cereal, a very in demand item in this house, was completely depleted. The boys, big and small, could still find something for breakfast with what we had left, but I'm much pickier when it comes to cereal and we had not had anything I considered edible for the entire two weeks. Breakfast has been a bit rough on me, no cereal and no BLT's.
On to the menu!
Sunday: Turkey soup with biscuits (I took pictures and hope to post about this later this week.)
Monday: Chicken Korma with rice. Carry over from last week.
Tuesday: Sheppard's Pie.
Wednesday: Grilled steak with Caesar salad.
Thursday: Lasagna, from the freezer.
Friday: It's birthday time around here today, combination of my oldest son and my mother-in-law, as well as my father-in-law from the day before, so we will be out celebrating with them.
Ottawa Food Bloggers, Urban Element and the Chicken Farmers of Canada
Any where else, other than a gathering of food bloggers, this would seem odd. But when a bunch of food bloggers congregated together at the Urban Element on Tuesday, February 2nd, this was the norm. Amazingly, the staff didn't even bat an eye when asked to "pose" with the various hors-d'oeuvres!
We were all there at the invitation of Chicken Farmers of Canada, for a social gathering of Ottawa Food bloggers, with appetizers, cocktails, a cooking demonstration and to hear Ron Eade give a talk on sodium and writing about food.
Ron didn't spend his entire evening talking about salt, but touched on alot of little things about food writing: the time it takes not only to write a blog, but to read and comment on others, the passion that comes through in some blogs, picture size, links and recipes. And one I've been guilty of lately - frequency of blogging. (I owe my blog a big apology for the neglect it's seen over the last few months.)
Pulled pork with smoked tomato jam
Mini chicken pot pies
Sundried tomato strata with C'est Bon goat cheese
Chicken dumplings with peanut sauce
Caramelized onion tarts and pear tarts with Bleu Bénédictine
The highlight of the evening, for me, was getting an opportunity to meet some local food bloggers. I admit, I had not known about all of them, or that there were quite so many in Ottawa, but it was a pleasure to be included in their company. Some, like Shari of Whisk: A Food Blog, I had been reading for ages and had exchanged emails with. While others, like Don of foodPrints, Rachelle of Rachelle Eats Food, Eva of Eva's Food World and Pearl of Eaten Up, I hope to make part of my regular reading and meet again at future events (which means I better stop neglecting my blog!)
Big thanks to Ryan of Fat Canary Communications for inviting me, to the Chicken Farmers of Canada for hosting this little party, and to the staff at the Urban Element.
Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman: It's a Wild Card
This week Debby called it a Wild Card, and Muneeba was absent, but probably enjoying her new baby and very short on sleep. Very good reason to be absent.
Since we could make anything we wanted from Ree's book or website, and Debby mentioned Muneeba having a baby, I was thinking back to when my boys were babies.
I used to make them alot of pancakes, something they still love to eat.
Recently we ran across a video clip of my oldest son, as a baby, sitting in his high chair, eating. Hands on, messy as can be, shoving his food into his little mouth.
And singing as he ate. "Mmmmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmmmm......"
He's outgrown that habit, but still loves to eat pancakes. Breakfast is his favorite meal of the day. So last weekend I made them a double batch of these, Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes, found on page 76-77 of The Pioneer Woman Cooks.
He went back for thirds of these pancakes. His brother went back for seconds.
I admit, they didn't really "do it" for me - they start out so light and fluffy, but as they cool, they seem to collapse slightly. And I've noticed, over years of making pancakes, that the person making the pancakes never gets to eat them when they are at their best, fresh, hot and fluffy.
Hey Ree! Can I come visit the Lodge and have you make these for me please? I bet they taste even better coming from your griddle.
Omnivores Ottawa Supper Club: Liang's Village
BC and I were able to sneak away from our children and spouses for a night out last week, midweek. What else would we do but go eat?
Alright, we planned to abandon them and go try some funky and fun sounding Chinese food, the January choice of Ron Eade, Food Editor of the Ottawa Citizen, and his partner in crime, Mike McCracken, at Liang's Village, a family run business in the St. Laurent are (if you live in Ottawa and want to try it for yourself.)
If you are interested, here is Ron's take on our evening out.
Please excuse some of my pictures - I decided to try using my son's little point and shoot camera instead of my own camera. His has a food setting. Which uses no flash, great, but I had no tripod, the table wobbled, the lazy susan spun alot, and apparently I can't hold still for 1/30th of a second.
This is one of my new favorite things to eat. I could eat it for breakfast.
Except I don't recall any bok choy or bean sprouts. Oh well, there were mushrooms instead.
See that squiggle of squid in the middle - I ate that piece. And the rice with the liquid from the Szechuan fish was a great combination.
The ball, a piece of banana, surrounded by the dough and deep fried, was coated in the toffee and then dunked in the ice water, at the table, before being served to us.
It was a lovely night out, meeting some like minded foodies. I thoroughly enjoyed trying new things, exploring dishes I'd never had before, and am so glad I went.
Imagine, Chinese food without a fortune cookie in sight.
Many thanks to Ron and Mike for a lovely choice, and for Liang's Village, for all their work.
Menu Plan Monday: The pantry/freezer challenge continues
Last week went really well for us. I had to make a stop at the store about Tuesday for milk and bread, and that was it. I had taken out $100 in cash for groceries and spent less than $7 of it.
My week usually runs Thursday to Thursday, for budgeting purposes. So when I got to Wednesday night and still had most of the $100 I'd budgeted, I decided to push this a bit further - let's see if I can go until this Thursday and stay within that $100. Considering I normally spend alot more than this on groceries, it could prove to be quite the challenge for me.
Thursday night I spent a little under $10 buying some fruit, as we had run out of everything but frozen blueberries and jarred apple sauce. Those items will get eaten, one way or another, but needed help.
Besides, frozen blueberries tend to leak in lunch boxes, no matter that container I put them into.
Sunday my little guy and I hit the bakery for some bread and then the grocery store for produce for the week. We came back with a fair amount of fruit for lunches, apples, oranges, bananas and grapes (very good sale price, the only time I buy grapes, some veggies, and $13 or so left in my original $100.
If I can go until Thursday without having to do more than pick up milk (I'll have to do that by Tuesday, I suspect,) I will be pretty happy.
So here is my menu plan for the week, which I am submitting to Menu Plan Monday:
Sunday: Turkey dinner with the fixins': mashed potatoes, stuffing, carrots and gravy. With a "fancy" dessert of angel food cake, lemon curd and whipped cream, all made from items I had on hand.
Monday: Beef, pepper and broccoli stir fry with rice. Beef from the freezer, pepper and broccoli from the fridge, not bought this weekend, rice from the pantry.
Tuesday: Club sandwiches with turkey soup. Left over turkey put to good use.
Wednesday: Steak and baked potatoes. Maybe salad too.
Thursday: Chicken Korma with rice. Chicken from freezer, Korma sauce from pantry, rice from pantry.
Friday: If we've made it this far, that's great! We aren't going to go out to celebrate or anything, but I think I will leave tonight unplanned and just make whatever when I get home.
Conversations from my kitchen
Me: "You didn't eat all your Asian Pear for lunch today, how come?"
7 year old: "Well I couldn't eat my Asian Pear because it was Jicama, not Asian Pear."
Me: "No, I cut it, it's Asian Pear. The Jicama is still in the cupboard, see?"
Him: "Oh.... Asian Pear, I love Asian Pear!"..... as he inhales his pear.
Later on...
Him: "Mom, you know, you and I really like Asian foods. That's good. No one else in our family likes Asian foods as much as we do."
Think I'm raising a little Foodie?
Menu Plan Monday: Pantry Challenge
Frugal bloggers around the world have been talking alot the last few weeks about a great challenge, the Eat From the Pantry Challenge, which challenges you to use what you have an avoid repeated trips to the grocery store. While it sounded like a great idea, I didn't pay much attention to it until last week. 
Last week, when we had a friend over for dinner and she could not find any room in my freezer to put something temporarily.
Last week, when I went way, way, way over budget on groceries, taking advantage of a few sale items at Farm Boy and making a trip down to the US for some items I can't get here.
My having a job and an income has allowed me some leeway in my budget, but that money would be so much better spent paying off some bills, or going into savings, than making sure I have six packages of sausage in my freezer!
So this week I am making my own pantry challenge and dragging my family along with me. I set myself a rule or two: No trips to the store for anymore more than milk and/or bread. No picking up dinner. And cash only for what little I do buy.
I did give myself a bit of relaxation with a few items I needed, such as garbage bags, toilet paper and kleenex. As in things we don't eat.
And the pantry/freezer challenge began Saturday night:
Saturday: Chicken finger and tortilla wraps with soup - frozen chicken fingers, wrapped up in flour tortillas with left over salad mix, shredded cheese and ranch dressing, soup from the pantry.
Sunday: Prime rib roast with roasted cauliflower. Roast from the freezer (a good deal in December, I bought a couple), cauliflower from the fridge.
Monday: Stew with mashed potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. Beef from the freezer, part of my cow from November, with the last of my pantry potatoes.
Tuesday: Spaghetti with meat sauce. Canned tomatoes and pasta from the pantry, either ground beef or sausage meat (or both) from the freezer.
Wednesday: I'm out tonight so the boys are on their own, hot dogs and fries, both from the freezer, including the buns.
Thursday: Stuffed chicken breast (freezer) with sauted veggies (freezer).
Friday: Lemon shrimp pasta. Lemon from my counter, shrimp from the freezer, pasta from the pantry.
While it isn't likely that next week's plan will involve not a single grocery trip, as I will need fresh fruit by then, I'll likely continue the freezer part. I've got an idea where I can get some good pork, but only when I take out a turkey and some other items from the freezer first.
For now, this is my submission to this week's Menu Plan Monday, hosted by I'm an Organizing Junkie.
Why I love the "I Hearts Cooking Clubs", but not Nigella
I was a regular contributor to Tyler Florence Fridays. Loved cooking with Tyler, loved the interaction of TFF and the ladies hosting. And I was unhappy that TFF was going to be ending, sad that I would not have the extra incentive to find the time to cook outside my list of regular dishes and get back to my blog.
When the "I Hearts (I can't find the symbol for a heart) Cooking Clubs" came up, this should have been my cue to jump right in with a new chef and have some fun. I wanted to, I really, really wanted to.
But the chef of choice was Nigella Lawson, and I have problems with that.
Nothing personal against Nigella. She is a beautiful woman who is entertaining to watch. Some of her recipes look stunning, some scream out to me to be tried.
But I have never had any luck whatsoever with her recipes. None at all.
Take this one, my choice for this week's theme of "Potluck":
This is supposed to be Easy Sticky-Toffee Dessert, found on page 216 of Nigella Bites.
Looks disgusting, doesn't it?
And it is the best of the two I made.
This was my second try at this recipe, in 12 hours. I made it last night, after dinner, and realized I'd made two mistakes with it almost immediately. First, I miss-measured my flour slightly, but not by a huge amount, and second, my pan, which had the right capacity, was not a good shape for this.
Still, I persevered and put it in the oven. Forty five minutes later, I had slightly bubbling water in a baking dish with something sludgy underneath, but no "springy and spongy" dessert. Thirty minutes later, the same.
I tried again this morning, more careful with my flour, different pan to give it more surface area for the boiling water to seep through the batter and make a sauce.
After more than 1 hour in the oven, I took it out and used a spoon to try and let some of the water get under the "cake", and then let it sit on the counter to meld together some.
Spooning it up looked like this:
Not very appetizing looking, and frankly, boring to eat. No toffee flavor at all, despite all the
sugar.
I may try something else from Nigella again, something savory where if the conversions are off, it won't destroy the recipe and create something awful.
For now, this is my contribution for the potluck party at I Hearts Cooking Club.
Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman: Veggies a cowboy eat
In this round of Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman, Muneeba and Debbie chose the very general theme of salads and vegetables.
Did you know cowboys ate veggies other than corn on the cobb from the bbq? And salads? Do cowboys really eat salads?
It's been awhile since I lived in Alberta and spent alot of time on a farm, with horses, cows, chickens and turkeys. And, yes, cowboys and cowgirls.
I was neither a cowboy or a cowgirl back then, though I was a tomboy, and from what I recall, those cowfolks ate just about everything, including salad.
Despite knowing this, I went vegetable and made PW's Pico de Gallo, along with her Guacamole, found on paes 16 -17, and pages 20-21.
Ree does a fine job of detailing this very simple recipes, so I'll follow her cues:
About equal amounts of tomato, onion and cilantro.
Enough jalapeno for flavor for the hubby and I, not so much that the kids run from the room screaming in pain. 
Just imagine I took a picture of my seasoning this bowl with salt and squeezing lime juice on it. Then testing it with a tortilla chip, a black corn one. Tasty!
Ignore the funky shape of my corn tortillas - I don't own a tortilla press and this was the best I could do with my rolling pin and my 7 year old helping me.
My pico de gallo, along with the guacamole, made with the pico de gallo, sat on top of a rib eye steak I had seasoned with cumin and chili powder, before grilling to medium rare, thinly slicing and mounding on top of a Monterey Jack laced tortilla. Yummy!
Poor hubby, though. He had to work late, and homemade corn tortillas do not sit well, so they weren't so yummy by the time he got home. Fortunately I had some flour tortillas in the freezer, so he got yummy for his lunch the next day, except for the guacamole.
I ate it with tortilla chips for my lunch instead.
