brunching at calvin's cafe in west vancouver

this post is WAY overdue.

early last month, i was doing a bit of photo-scouting for locations for an up-coming shoot. i brought my bf with me, and took him out for brunch as a thank-you for coming with me in the miserable rain and driving me around. we happened to be driving through the west-van area on our route, so i looked up a couple brunching spots to check out. i found 2 that looked promising. cindy's and calvin's cafe. they both looked great and were relatively close to each other, but after a few reviews and realising that cindy's breakfasts started at $16, i decided on calvin's. it was a good choice, despite it's wary-looking website.

calvin's is a typical diner, located in the dundarave area of west van. tacky decor, average priced breakfast & lunch foods on the menu, and over-flowing coffee service. our server was friendly and warm. we were the only patrons at calvin's cafe the entire time we were there. which i honestly didn't mind at all. i felt bad that they weren't getting business, but i like having a place to myself. :) is that selfish?


i got the swiss style rosti potatoes with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. i saw a photo of it online and knew i was going to get that. it was amazing.


the boyfriend got the eggs benedict. it looked good, but not as good as my rosti.


here's a quick review:

decor
very dinerish. felt like i was in a tacky chain diner in the prairies.
service
super friendly & warm.
food
amazing. the rosti was amazing, anyways. go there for the rosti. seriously.
location
2452 marine dr
west vancouver
604.922.4222


side note: i found calvin's cafe from the blog breakfast in vancouver's review. great way to find a good breakfast spot in the vancouver area!

mid-way through my rosti. mmm....

crave on main

yesterday morning started off great. after 3 days of brunch on the island, i met up with a friend back in vancouver for another amazing brunch. we decided to check out crave, on main street. i'd been there for dinner a couple years back, enjoyed it, plus i always hear great things about it.

i was in one of those moods where i crave savory eggs and sweet pancakes at the same time (i am going to be insane when i am pregnant), but crave didn't have the french toast sandwiching omelet bacon thing i had in victoria. so i compromised. i ordered an eggs benny with spinach, mushrooms and tofu, and a pancake on the side. what i wasn't expecting was for the single side pancake to be the size of my face. but, because i've been stretching my stomach the past few days, i was able to finish everything, plus a couple cups of coffee. the pancake was lovely, a perfect balance of fluffy and moist. what i love is that the server gave me a whole pitcher of maple syrup, not just a tiny cup of it, like some cafes do, leaving me with a dry mouth as i have to sparingly drizzle syrup. nope, i could have as much syrup as i wanted. the benny was great too. eggs were poached well, and the tofu actually tasted good and wasn't a weird texture. i think this tofu thing is catching on with me. :)

to sum it up: the service was great, the food was amazing, the price was decent, and my company was great. it was a fabulous morning. they do lunch and dinner as well, and have a great wine and cocktail list. all their food is fresh, local and often organic. the menu is simple but creative and mouth-watering. i know it gets busy during the evenings, and i can imagine that it is a busy place for weekend brunches too. but, if you have a morning off during the week, definitely check out crave on main! if you don't have a morning off during the week, you still need to check it out in the evening. or on the weekend. anytime, really.

'side' pancake :)

my friend meghan is not only beautiful and stylish
(really love her scarf),
but she is an independent film-maker as well.
and we share a last name! i don't meet that many armstrongs, so i am always excited when i do.
check out her company: glass curtain pictures
after brunch we checked out a newish clothing store next door: devil may wear.
the local clothing line has been around for a while, but this store on main street is newer.
we both really like that pendant in the window.
and they make really, really cute underwear. and jewelry.

brunching in victoria: 3 brunch reviews

i had brunch today for the 4th consecutive day. its been an amazing 4 days of brunch, but my wallet (and my stomach) will be needing a brunch-fast for a while now.

i spent the may-long weekend in victoria, the capital of this lovely province. my sister and a couple of our friends took the ferry over on friday and crashed at my friends' place for the weekend. i ate a lot of good food, and had brunch 3 times.


the first place we brunched at, we came across by accident. a divine accident. we were looking in the neighbourhood for a restaurant we'd just read about in a magazine and couldn't find it. turns out it had folded and was now a sushi restaurant. we were all starving, so we didn't want to bus downtown, so when we happened upon a coffee shop that had breakfasty things, we decided to risk it. i skimmed the menu and decided to be adventurous and try 'the mammoth,' a monstrosity consisting of 2 pieces of french toast engulfing an omelet, bacon, cream cheese and tomatoes, with maple syrup on top. turns out everyone else wanted to be adventurous too because all 4 of us ordered the same thing. it was already past the 'breakfast time,' but the kind and super friendly owner made them for us anyways. they were amazing. next time i have a craving for pancakes and eggs at the same time, i'll just sandwich them together! brilliant! so our first breakfast turned out to be one of the best ones, and one of the cheapest ones. if you go to victoria, one of a grind bistro and cappuccino bar is located in the oak bay area, at 1841 oak bay avenue.

the mammoth

3 and 1/2 mammoths

the second brunch we went to floyd's diner. we happened upon this place a couple years ago during a visit to victoria with our family, so my sister and i decided to try it again. after giving our name to the host, we didn't have to wait as long as we've had to wait before (only about 20 minutes compared to about 40 one of our last visits). floyd's has that greasy spoon diner atmosphere, where all the trendy alternative people flock, but the menu's got crazy all-day breakfast food combinations, and is priced more like a middle-class restaurant than a greasy diner. the average breakfast was around $10-15. one item on the menu we've never yet tried but are always curious about, is 'the mahoney:' you get whatever the kitchen makes you, and you can pay the regular price or you can flip them for it - double or nothing. one of our table neighbors flipped and lost, but her meal looked like a tower - it was massive. most of floyd's menu has crazy pop culture names. like 'the american idol benny' or the 'the seinfeld' omelet or ' the ben hur' etc. the pan fried potatoes that came with each breakfast were pretty good. some of the larger slices were a bit undercooked, but edible enough. i got the american idol benny, and it consisted of bacon, avocado and brie cheese with pesto hollandaise sauce. it was decent, but the moldy taste of the brie ruined it for me. also one of the poached eggs had runny whites (i hate runny whites), and the other poached egg had overcooked yolk. my theory is that the kitchen didn't know how i would like my eggs, so they did one of each so that it balanced out. :)


floyd's diner is at 866 yates street, on the edge of downtown in a bright pink building. can't miss it.

the third brunch i had was with my friends who live in victoria. we went to the blue fox cafe, just a couple blocks away from floyd's diner. we had a really long wait here: a good 30 minutes, if not more. but it was worth it. the coffee was great, served in cute turqoise mugs, which gave the restaurant plus points in my book. i can't do eggs benedict's 2 days in a row, so i opted for a build-my-own omelet with spinach, cheddar and jack. but the bennys looked amazing. my friend got one called 'eggs in hell' with chorizo, avocado, and chipotle with hollandaise sauce. the tables inside were spaced pretty well and they could fit lots of customers at one time for such a small space, without making me as a customer feel over-crowded. the atmosphere was nice and bright, with a huge window letting in lots of light. service was great, really attentive. and the tables, under the glass cover, had random customer-drawn napkins of various foxes. great idea!

blue fox cafe is located at 919 fort street. no need to give your name at the door, just stand in line.

my omelet came with apple honey raisin toast with home-made preserves.
yummy.

the brunch i had this morning, however, was here in vancouver, so i will save that for a separate post.

... and pumpkin pie again

thanksgiving: the time of year we roast birds that are way too big for our ovens and turn vegetables into sweet desserts. weird.

i like yams, but i've never really liked that sweet yam stuff that people make for thanksgiving dinners. i've never roasted a turkey, and honestly have no plans or desires to. i much prefer chicken anyhow. and i do have plans AND desires to roast a chicken this year yet. maybe for christmas? or my birthday... ooh... potential dinner party plans are developing in my head now.

i decided to forgo the turkey tradition (that i've never really followed anyway so its really not that unusual for me) and made waffles instead. i had some friends over for brunch and made a batch of traditional waffles, and a batch of vegan waffles (one of my best friends is vegan, so it makes me be creative and try more new things). the regular waffles fluffed up and cooked perfectly - although would have tasted better right off the wafflemaker instead of being let to sit in a pan in the oven to slowly get wimpy. the vegan waffles, however, had issues. they browned nicely and tasted great, but it completely split apart and baffled me.

i got the vegan waffle recipe at veganyumyum (a fantastic blog with beautiful photos), minus the blueberries.

(my kitchen after a day of waffles, pie, and lounging about. not pictured are the sink + another counter of dishes)

but my post doesn't have 'waffles' in the title, it has 'pumpkin pie,' so i shall now get back on topic. ahem.

so i made pumpkin pie. this tradition i upheld with much glee. i made 2 of them. one of them vegan. i wasn't exceptionally fond of pumpkin pie as a child, but i have been loving the crap out if it now that i have been making it myself.

lately, my go-to-pie-crust-recipe has been taken from simply recipes. for the filling i followed the recipe from joy of baking, but i have also used the crust recipe from joy of baking last year when i made pumpkin pie and i remember it turning out as well.

i'm not an expert pie dough baker, but i'll do my best to explain the basics of making pie dough, as i know it.

this one in particular is called a Pâte Brisée

ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 cup unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 to 8 Tbsp ice water

1. first thing i do is cut the butter (if you want to make your pie vegan, this is where you substitute earth balance or another vegan buttery spread, in place of butter) into cubes and toss them in the freezer for a few minutes (wrapped in wax paper or something)
   
   
2. whisk dry ingredients together (flour, salt, sugar) in a medium/large bowl
   
   
3. throw cold butter cubes in and cut with a pastry cutter. (or if you're a rich, fancy baker, use a food processor). some recipes say you can just use 2 knives for this, but i've never tried it. if you don't have a pastry cutter or a food processor, just use your hands. it's quite fun to use your hands. cut until it looks like 'coarse bread crumbs'
   
   
4. add ice water a little bit at a time, and 'toss' the mixture until it starts to stick together. if you squeeze some of the mixture together and it stays together, its pretty much ready. i generally use all 8 Tablespoons of ice water, though...
   
   
5. form into 2 round disc shapes, plop onto parchment paper and refridgerate for a while. about an hour-ish. you can use it right away, but putting it in the fridge does something like relax the gluten or something technical like that. but you can use this time to make your filling. after 45 minutes to an hour, take the dough out of fridge and let it sit for at least 15 minutes before rolling. holding the dough with your hands helps warm it up quicker too. mm... body heat.
   
   
6. filling!
   

   • 3 large eggs
     

   • 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree or 1 - 15 ounce can (425 grams) pure pumpkin

   • 1/2 cup (120 ml) whipping cream
     

   • 1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar

   • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

   • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

   • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

   • 1/2 teaspoon salt

   • whisk eggs in a large bowl. add everything else and stir/whisk. i added some nutmeg too.
     
     
7. use the same parchment paper you used to wrap the dough in the fridge. put a bit of flour on it, plop the round disc of dough on it, and start rolling. make sure your rolling pin is well floured.
   
   
8. (see pictures below)
   

8. (roll from center out, and try to keep in a circular shape.
roll until about 1/4 or 1/8th of an inch thick)

9. (roll into circle that is bigger than your pie pan.
place pan on top of dough, and gently flip,
then peel the parchment paper off and press the dough into pan)

10. (now you can pour the filling in.
and cut the edges of the pie dough off with a knife or scissors)

11. bake! in a preheated 375 F oven.
for 45 to 55 minutes
(until crust is browned and filling is set.
test by inserting knife one inch from the edge and it should come out clean)

12. serve with freshly whipped cream and indulge your senses.