birthday cupcakes

I celebrated a milestone birthday this month and planned a big party at a nearby tapas bar and lounge. Guess who offered to make cupcakes?

chocolate cupcakes, salted caramel filling, dark chocolate frosting, sprinkled with flaky sea salt

Click to find out more!

vancouver, pt. 4

(For some context, check out Parts 1, 2, and 3!)

After our brewery tour, we wandered around Granville Island some more and happened upon a place called Artisan Sake Maker. When I was planning our trip itinerary, I'd listed it as something we might want to check out, but it wasn't a must since both Will and I had written sake off after bad experiences (for me it was a sip of Hakutsuru that Josh brought to a house party long ago). Even the previous night when we were at Hapa Izakaya, Carm was trying to convince us to have some of his sake, telling us it really was good, but we were like NOPE. The thing was, after the brewery, our taste for drink was piqued. And the placard outside Artisan Sake Maker offered a tasting for only $5, so we figured, why not?

I'm so glad we did it. The sakes we tasted were all lovely! Very reminiscent of white wine but more subtle, with the fragrant notes of, obviously, rice. The girl poured us about two sips each of 3 different sakes, all served chilled. She described the different tasting notes we might be experiencing. She also explained how lower grade sake is often served warm to improve its flavour, but that you could very well warm up high grade sake to make a good thing even better. Like wine, it's all about personal preference. One of the sakes we tasted, which was opaque instead of the typical clear, smelled savoury when we raised the glasses to our lips. But when it hit our tongues, it was surprisingly sweet! I wish I'd bought a few bottles to take home so I could share that little phenomenon with y'all! Next time for sure, because now I know: sake is good, as long as you get the good stuff! Like most things, you get what you pay for.

After sake, I was soon leading us back in the direction of the market. I'm sure I could have easily spent the whole day in the market alone. I was regretting eating breakfast beforehand (no matter how sassy) because I didn't have room for all the amazing stuff I wanted to gorge on.

We did manage a few things though. We sampled various local honeys (tried creamed honey which was new to me and DELICIOUS), I bought more salmon snacks (spicy version this time called "hot bits"), Will bought cafe mocha fudge (I sampled that vendor's caramels too, MMM), and finally, I bought a freshly-made mini cream puff (from a place called Lee's Donuts)!

fancy salts!

not just food at the market... beautiful reclaimed wood cutting boards

this vendor makes it easy for anyone to add gourmet to their meals

Will's partialness to fudge is inherited from his dad!

charmingly irregular cream puff!

There was still SO much more I wanted to try. No worries, Granville Island Public Market... I'll be back *Arnold voice* (a tribute to our True Lies afternoon :P)

Finally we decided that there was still more of Vancouver to see, so we left Granville Island and continued along the seawall to Vanier Park. After some sightseeing, we figured we'd check off an errand my mom had set out for me: pick up some treats for her from Goldilocks.

So for those of you who don't have a Filipino in your life, Goldilocks is THE bakery chain of the Philippines. Whenever a Filipino goes "back home", what they bring back for you definitely includes some treats from Goldilocks. Typically their polvoron. Outside of the Philippines, they only have a few storefronts where there are large Filipino communities. In the States, it's various cities in California. In Canada, I guess it's Vancouver, cuz they have 2. So it was my mission to hit it up and bring back some ensaymada and mamon for my mom, among other things.

Well, to make a long story short, one of those locations (the one closer to where we were) was closed for renovations, and when we eventually got to the other one, they didn't have everything on my mom's list. So it was only a partially successful mission. Also, I don't like Goldilocks anymore. Maybe it's because my baked goods palate has been thoroughly spoiled, maybe the quality just isn't as good as when it's fresh out of the oven. But the last few times I've had Goldilocks, I've found it to be kind of dry and bland. I bought a variety of tart that day that I remember really loving as a kid, but it just didn't do it for me this time around. My mom was happy with what I brought back for her though and asked why I didn't bring more :P

brightly coloured cellophane wrappers - distinctly Goldilocks

Side note: My preferred "pasalubong" (souvenir) from the Philippines these days is Quickmelt Bakeshop's Ensaymada, which can be microwaved back to its original melty buttery sugary cheesy goodness. Yes, I know the cheese sounds weird, but it's a fairly common Filipino dessert topping, and it's surprisingly good! I'm going to have to do a full post on Filipino baked goods and desserts some day.

Anyway, that night we just went out to Moxie's for wings and beer. They have this crazy special that while the Vancouver Canucks are playing, a pound of wings is like $2 or $3 (can't remember off the top of my head) which we definitely took advantage of. Moxie's also has 2 very decent house beers (Euro Lager and Amber Ale) brewed by Big Rock Brewery in Calgary, which we got a couple pitchers of. I loved having beer and wings with Carm and Will. Always brings me back to nights at West End and 104 :)

The following morning we slept in (which we actually hadn't done the whole trip) and packed up to be ready for our flight that afternoon. But of course, we had time to squeeze in one more delicious meal. Me, Will, Carm's roommate and his roommate's girlfriend met up with Carm for lunch and we ate once again at La Brasserie. This time, I left all prudence behind and went big! Carm and I went halfsies on the Brasserie burger, and their lunch special: a chicken sandwich with gravy, plus salad and a yummy mushroom soup.

Brasserie burger featuring aged white cheddar, bacon, crispy onions, and truffle aioli

rotisserie chicken sandwich smothered in chicken jus gravy with crispy onions

SO GOOD!! The mushroom soup was especially yum because it wasn't heavy and creamy, but still had a lovely rich flavour from the mushrooms. Their house-made ketchup was outstanding as well, we asked what they made it with and they mentioned a few key ingredients that I can't remember anymore :( Trust me though, it was delish. La Brasserie is another must-eat in Vancouver... and if you go, indulge!!

Will's cold beer AND french press coffee :)

With that last deeply satisfying meal, our trip to Vancouver had come to an end. After hanging out at the apartment and digesting a bit, we were off to the airport and back to the cold, cold YYZ. As you can probably tell, I had a blast eating and drinking my way through the city, as well as appreciating the beautiful scenery and active lifestyle. I'm halfway convinced to move there. For now, I'll be looking forward to my next visit :) Shout outs to Carm, and his roommates, for being awesome hosts!!

cheers to planet byn!

Just a quick shout-out to Planet Byn's first blog-iversary! I love the scope of Robyn's posts from baking, to dinner ideas, to travel eats, and just generally amusing stuff (like lunchroom commentary and award show feasts!) Robyn has also been a great source of encouragement and motivation for me and yummy belly. And when she makes treats, I reap the benefits: blondie judging, cookie dough and beer loot bags, personal deliveries of baked goods, birthday cupcakes by request... SO freakin' awesome!

one day over the holidays, all this appeared at my doorstep, neatly packaged and adorably labeled!

Here's to another great year of Planet Byn :D I can't wait for the blog-iversary party!!

vancouver, pt. 3

After our night of fresh, delectable Japanese tapas, we had the whole next day free for wandering Vancouver. First matter of the day: breakfast, of course! Carm wasn't able to join us because of work, but his roommate was able to take us to an infamous little place called The Elbow Room Cafe.

The Elbow Room, as we quickly found out, is owned and staffed by sassy gay men who dish out attitude and friendly insults along with the food. Appropriately, the restaurant's motto is "Food and service is our name. ABUSE is our game (so have some FUN!)"

When you enter, the restaurant's "philosophy" or "rules" are written out on a large chalkboard above the kitchen area. I didn't really get a good look at it before our waiter came to take our drink orders, because when I told him I'd just like some tap water, he said, "You haven't been here before. Did you see the board? Get off your ass and get it yourself!" He smiled and pointed towards a counter with coffeepots and pitchers of water. Ok! LOL. He also let Will know that he'd get him his first cup of coffee, but after that, Will was on his own :P

The food was good, reasonably priced, with generous portions. I ordered the "Brett Cullen (Yes, he's famous)" eggs benedict, and when it came, our server asked, "Are you gonna rub that hollandaise on your ass? Cuz that's right where it's going!" Ouch, I could not even react to this, LOL. It was good, but I ended up scraping the blue cheese off my second egg cuz it was a little too strong for me.

two poached eggs with sauteed spinach, bacon, avocado, hollondaise and blue cheese on a sourdough english muffin

At the end of the meal, our waiter took our plates away and said, "So you guys are donating cuz you didn't finish your food, right?" Another one of their "rules" is that if you don't clear your plate, you donate to Loving Spoonful. Totally fine by us! However, he also helpfully informed us how we could reduce our bill: "Leave this one behind *points at Will* with some kneepads in the back. I know he likes me, he turns red every time I come around!" Hahaha, a-MA-zing! All in all, fun little experience at The Elbow Room, but if you go, don't say I didn't warn you about the (good-natured) sass!

After breakfast, we parted ways with Carm's roommate and we ventured across the bridge to check out Granville Island. We signed up for the brewery tour at noon, but had to kill some time. So we wandered around all the uber-cool little shops, cafes, gallery spaces, Emily Carr University of Art & Design campus buildings, and eventually landed at the Granville Island Public Market.

OH. MAN. I was in foodie wonderland! Handmade pastas, chocolate covered gummy bears, beautiful fruit displays, jasmine- and lavender-infused chocolates, sinful pastries, fresh breads, everything, everything!!

Not to mention all the fresh seafood! There was a great variety of salmon snacks at the seafood vendors, but Carm told us we had to taste the "salmon candy" so I bought a little bit to try before our brewery tour. It was actually perfect because it was sweet and smokey and perfectly nibbly, and totally made me crave a beer. So good!

so. much. smoked goodness.

freshly smoked salmon in a maple glaze

So with some perfectly timed thirst, we headed to Granville Island Brewing Co. It ended up being just the 2 of us on the tour. The guy told us all sorts of stuff that we already knew, from the chemistry aspect of sugars plus yeast equals carbonation plus alcohol ("This looks like review for you, are you science majors at all?" bingo) but also from doing other brewery tours (we did Mill Street a couple years ago and I did Heineken in Amsterdam a few months before that). Will a.k.a. beer keener did have a few other questions regarding their hops process in comparison to Dogfish Head's 60, 90 and 120 Minute IPAs. At the end of our friendly and straightforward tour of their small-batch brewery (only some of their beers are still brewed there, as they were recently bought by Creemore, who were bought by Molson), it was time for tasting!

We sampled their original Island Lager, their seasonal Winter Ale (which I'd already tried at brunch a few days before), and their limited release Scottish Ale. All quite nice. I hope now that Creemore has purchased GIB we'll be seeing some of it at the LCBO.

Anyway, after the brewery, there was still more of Granville Island to explore, not to mention I wanted to go back to the market! Stay tuned for the fourth and final installment of my Vancouver eats :)

vancouver, pt. 2

After our big breakfast at Whistler and a Greyhound back to Vancouver, we vegged at Carm's apartment and somehow ended up watching True Lies on tv for a lot longer than I would have liked :P What is it with guys and Arnold Schwarzenegger?? I tolerated it because the weather was still fairly gloomy and not the best for walking around and exploring. Eventually though, my hunger prevailed, as it was well past lunchtime (around 3 pm). I proclaimed that I needed something to eat. Because we were expecting to have dinner with my cousin (who's been living in Richmond for the past few years) in just a few hours, we decided to go for something more on the snack-ish side. Not to mention that I was starving by that point and wanted something fast.

So Carm led us to Japadog. I'd noticed it earlier while walking from the Greyhound stop to the apartment, and mentioned that I'd heard of it from one of the blogs I read (can't remember which one though). It sort of goes without saying, but Japadog is street meat with a Japanese twist, featuring condiments you'd expect at your favourite sushi spot.

We ordered the #1 and #2 most popular flavours (according to the placard by the cash register):

#1 terimayo: jalapeno & cheese smoked sausage, seaweed, japanese mayo, teriyaki sauce
#2 oroshi: bratwurst, grated radish, green onion, soy sauce

There was also a little bar where you could top it with even more sauces/condiments. Carm said the dogs were good on their own, but the wasabi mayo was a must-try. Oh yeah, was it ever.

heck YES, wasabi mayo!

The great thing about Japadog is that it satisfies 2 cravings at once: meat grease craving (I'm not the only who gets that right??) and sushi craving! So needless to say I felt quite content after my terimayo dog.

Afterwards, despite the gloomy weather, we strolled the waterfront to see where all the action was during the Olympics. Then we walked to an area called Gastown (cobblestone, Toronto Distllery District feel) to explore and stop for a beer. Then a quick walk past Chinatown and it was back to the apartment to get ready for dinner.

yippee!!

As it turns out, my cousin wasn't able to join us for the actual meal, though he was able to meet us towards the end for drinks. To be honest, I think it was for the better, because I wouldn't have been able to engage in any sort of conversation with him, with all the amazing food that came to our table that evening.

We'd decided on a Japanese place called Hapa Izakaya based on a recommendation from Carm's friend Drew who owns his own catering business. I didn't get to talk to him much while I was out there, but after a quick glance at his blog (which I'll be exploring more of in the next few, I'm sure), I do wish I had!

When we were seated and given the menus, we knew immediately that we were in for something good. Two-thirds of the menu was a handwritten "fresh sheet" describing all the freshly caught and prepared delights that were on offer that evening. The menu also proudly denoted "ocean-friendly seafood choices as recommended by the Vancouver Aquarium". We started with a bottle of wine and it only got better from there. Every dish was delicate, balanced in flavour and texture, and just plain delicious.

so pretty.

kakuni: pork belly with steamed buns (soooo good, but still second to momofuku noodle bar's)

abure shime saba: marinated mackarel sashimi, seared at the table

sashi mori: succulent, tender, melt-in-your mouth sashimi

seared Qualicum Beach scallops with mushroom soy butter balsamic sauce

pork dim sum (not a great description, but my cousin had arrived by this time and I wasn't paying attention to the menu anymore)

Did I mention I was able to check something off my culinary bucket list with this meal? I've been wanting to try real, freshly grated wasabi root for the longest time, and I had it here! Oddly, it was with only one of our dishes, while the others were accompanied with the usual green stuff. Not sure about the heirarchy there, but meh, I tasted me some real wasabi!

After my cousin arrived, we all ended up downing another bottle of wine, multiple rounds of sake, and multiple rounds of Moosehead. Conversation flowed easily after all the good food and drink, and we all had a great time.

This restaurant is a definite MUST EAT recommendation from me if you're ever in Vancouver. Although, both Will and I were told before we left that any Japanese restaurant would be amazing, considering the Asian population and access to seafood fresh from the Pacific. If you do have to pick one though, try Hapa Izakaya!