Taste BC 2009

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You know, one of the things we enjoy a lot with food blogging is when we get invited to events. Suanne and I was invited as “media” to cover the Taste BC event which held on Thursday last week. Ooooo … “media”, fancy huh? LOL!

Angie (Sea Salt with Food) who is a wine enthusiast joined us. We like that because we are such babes when it came to wine and we wanted to learn from the event. I thought that we would only spend like 30-45 minutes but ended staying for almost 3 hours. We had a great time at the event.

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Taste BC is more of a wine than fine food event. The event is presented by the Liberty Merchant Company in the effort to bring together the best of BC wines. All proceeds from the event went to the Oak Tree Clinic of the BC Children’s Hospital. I am afraid we did not take many photos of the wine although I did try quite a lot that night.

Our favourite was simply the Ice Lady ice wine from the Forbidden Fruit Winery. Surprisingly, almost all the food blogs that covered the event also picked this as a favourite. I want to say that no one pushed this to us to blog but for some reason it just stands out. It is made of Pink Lady Apple and is very sweet and fruity. It does not reek of alcohol at all. Suanne who does not drink loves this.

I also like the Victoria Gin. They first gave me a shot of Victoria Gin which was awful, like drinking jet fuel. Then they added Tonic Water which made it like a million times better. Nice.

We also had sake and learned a lot of flexibility of this brew … that how this is about the only liquor that can be served both hot or cold and its ability to be paired with any type of cuisines.

The Garibaldi Honey Pale Ale (from the Howe Sound Brewing Company) was another one I like … it was smooth and light with a hint of honey.

In all, there are over 60 wine and drink participants with an average of 5 types of wine showcased. It was impossible to try every one of them for sure … for us at least. On to food …

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The Wild Sockeye Salmon on Artisan Bread was presented by a “baby” restaurant in Gastown. It is interestingly called “2 Chefs and a Table” which had just opened for 7 months.

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We like the sushi from Miku Restaurant a lot. As a matter of fact, we went back for seconds … and thirds … and fourths. (more…)

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Strawberry Juice with Bee Pollen

Polly shared with me a summer drink of her kids’ favourite. It’s strawberry juice sweetened with honey. It is a very refreshing drink for a hot day.

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Polly also added some Bee Pollen into the juice. Her kids would not take the Bee Pollen by itself. By adding the Bee Pollen into the juice, the kids can enjoy the benefit of Bee Pollen with their favourite drink.

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Bee Pollen is the pollen brushed from honeybee’s back leg. Plant pollen contains the male reproductive material of higher plants. It’s a source of protein which is fed to developing larvae by the bees.

Bee Pollen is a nutritional powerhouse!. It contains nearly all the nutrients required by the human body; including enzymes and all the necessary amino acids. It is especially rich in vitamin B5, B3 and B2. It also contains B-complex, vitamin C, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium and manganese and most importantly, photo-chemicals.

Bee Pollen is a detoxifier and it alleviates hay fever allergies, fatigue, high cholesterol, infertility, impotence, and varicose veins. Its healing properties promote recovery from sickness/surgery. Consuming enzyme-rich foods assist the body in preventing disease such as cancer and auto-immune disorders such as arthritis.

Caution: people who are allergic to pollen should NOT take Bee Pollen.

Click on the link below for the instructions.

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Chinese New Year Series: Caesar (a.k.a. Bloody Caesar)

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If you are not Canadian, you probably have never heard of Caesar. Caesar, sometimes also known as Bloody Caesar, is a very Canadian cocktail. It is based off the popular Bloody Mary with a slight difference. Caesar is invented in Alberta. I have never known why this is called Caesar … anyone knows?

The primary ingredients of the cocktail is Vodka and Clamato.

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During the Chinese New Year gathering, I offered to be in charge of making the cocktail. It was an easy choice to decide on Caesar. Firstly, it is all Canadian and secondly the redness of the cocktail is just perfect for the occasion.

The color of the cocktail is Clamato, which is a blend of clam broth and tomato juice. It’s sounds like a weird combination but really, you taste more of the tomato juice than clam. Ironically, the biggest manufacturer of Clamato is Mott’s which is an American company. Another thingy you need is some Celery Salt Rimmer.

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The other ingredients are some Worcestershire Sauce and some Tabasco.

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Diet Coke and Mentos Geyser

We have been seeing a lot of Diet Coke and Mentos reaction videos on YouTube and Google Video. When we went grocery shopping over the weekend, Arkensen said we should try the experiment.

For some reason, all the videos that we saw uses ONLY Diet Coke and Mentos … not any other soda. I guess the reason why Diet Coke is used is because it’s less sticky.

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We were not sure how much we need and so we decided to pop in four mentos tablets into a 2 litre Diet Coke bottle.

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Arkensen volunteered to have a go. He was very nervous and took some time to calm down his nerves before doing it.

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3-in-1 Ipoh White Coffee

3-in-1’s are popular in Malaysia where I grew up in. You can find 3-in-1’s in many grocery stores in Vancouver but you will find that most of them are made in Malaysia. I always suspect that 3-in-1’s are only popular in Singapore and Malaysia. So, do you find that in your country too?

Anyway, White Coffee (or better know as Ipoh White Coffee) is a popular brew in Malaysia. White coffee is produced by roasting the beans with only margarine and without any sugar, resulting in a roast that is less dark, hence the term “white” coffee.

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We bought the “Ipoh White Coffee” 3-in-1’s from the Smart ‘N’ Save store in Lansdowne. Each pack (see below) costs $5.48 and contains 15 sachets in all.

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