east village bakery - east vancouver artisan bakery

the bakery from my brioche post a few days ago:
east village bakery.
i'll let the photos do the talking on this one.
enjoy.

















east village bakery.
2166 east hastings street
hours: 9:30am - 7:00pm
closed mondays (but open this coming valentines day monday)

say YES to chocolate

a few weeks ago i posted about a hot chocolate festival happening in vancouver right now until february 14. i tried to go to the choclaterie on main & 21st last week, but got there just as they closed. sadness. however! this past sunday, my sister and i made the trek over to cocoa nymph in kitsilano, where we met our cousin for some hot chocolate. best sunday afternoon i've had this year (it was right after a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs & hashbrowns, too).



my cousin had a white drinking chocolate with raspberry marshmallows. it looked delicious, but i'm not a fan of white chocolate myself.


the featured drinking chocolate of the day was a black pepper dark drinking chocolate, with salted caramel marshmallows on top. sinful & heavenly all at the same time - perfect combination. they make all their marshmallows in store, and they have a variety of flavors - vanilla, chocolate, raspberry to name a few.


don't be fooled by the angry-pouty face i'm making. i'm not upset at the hot chocolate at all, it was quite the opposite, in fact. i could have married that cup of cocoa right there and then.

say YES to chocolate.

at cocoa nymph chocolates & confections
3739 w 10 ave (at alma)
mon-sat: 11-7
sun: 1-5

a weekend of lovely breakfast

breakfast on the weekend is the absolute, most fantastic breakfast of all. if you work for the man at a 9-5 job, its the breakfast you have time to be creative with, the one you can sit down & really savor. if you work for yourself, its the breakfast you don't have to feel guilty about being creative with, and really enjoy the time spent devouring your delicious morning meal.

i had two quite lovely breakfasts this past weekend.

on saturday, i had a tasty open-faced sandwich. home-made bread - lightly toasted, mayo, fried zuchinni, fried egg, and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

on sunday, i took a little more time in prepping. i even cooked potatoes the night before and shredded them (in retrospect i should not have pre-cooked them and just shredded them raw). we don't eat a lot of meat around here (contrary to what you may think. i post about meat a lot, because its usually a special occasion), and i needed some bacon for a meal i'm making this week (trying to get into meal-planning), so i bought a whole pack of natural wood-smoked bacon from moccia urbani foods. so i fried up some bacon, then used the bacon grease to fry my hashbrowns,
and fry my eggs. it was a rich, fattening, wholesome meal. just what we needed.

on a note of thriftiness, i used the leftover bacon grease in a biscuit recipe. it was enough for half the shortening i needed. instead of throwing away your bacon grease, use it in baking, or for frying grease.

brioche

bri·oche - noun[bree-ohsh, -osh; Fr. bree-awsh]a light, sweet bun or roll made with eggs, yeast and butter.



this particular brioche is a callebaut chocolate brioche, from east village bakery. this artisan bakery opened up last year, on hastings just west of templeton. they bake everything daily. in small batches. from scratch. i went in one day in fall last year, and the very lovely owner allowed to me snap a few photos. more will be coming in another post.

the thriftiness of roasted chicken

maybe not (definitely not) the best photo ever, but it represents good eating, good friends, and thriftiness. the best part about roasting your own chicken? the countless meals it will make. after we ate ourselves full, i salvaged what meat i could and tucked it away in a container in the fridge. i then tossed the chicken bones into a large pot with some onion, celery, carrots, salt, pepper, bay leaves, whatever herbs i chose to put in, some water, and i boiled it for an hour or so. i froze a couple of cups for future use, and used the rest as soup for meals this week (about 5 servings). the chicken meat was used in a few sandwiches all week as well (about 5 servings). moral of the story: if you aren't vegetarian, and you want to save money but still be getting some meat protein, roast your own chicken.

anyone else have any thrifty, wholesome meal ideas for when your appetite is larger than your wallet? (and please no one say instant noodles. please. or campbells soup. i'm using the word 'wholesome' for a reason.)

ep cover art & a canoeing music tour

i apologise for this post not containing any food-related items. while i'm working on my new website & adjoining photo blog, i still want to post about things going on with my non-food photography. i hope you can forgive me. :)

i am super pumped to share with you a photo of mine that has made it to an album cover for the winnipeg-based folk band twin, composed of members david fort, david enns, ally leenhouts, and lesley brown. the ep is entitled 'sharing secrets with strangers.' if you live in the winnipeg area, the eps are available at:

into the music

the folk festival music store

music trader

geez magazine recently featured twin in a small article, because twin is currently in the la-area getting ready to tour down the los angeles river. in a canoe. playing music. gathering people together. how awesome is that? here's some more info about the los angeles river music armada:

Los Angeles River Music Armada

The Los Angeles River Music Armada will be the first canoe music tour in United States history starting on February 17, 2011. The L.A River has recently been designated as navigable water, once again bringing together the people of this watershed. The long term goal is to create a tour network across North America and beyond, bringing people back to the water to celebrate. The Armada is inviting others to come for all, or part, on this 52 mile journey.

The Armada is a call to gather at the various stops along the river, sharing music, stories, food, seeds and ideas. It is an open venue for heritage/heirloom seed sharing and information so that people may become more self-sufficient with their food production and retain knowledge from land based people. The tour is promoting ideas independent gardening and localized seed saving including the Urban Seed Bank initiative. (twin)

2nd breakfast

sunshiney and cold

woke up really early this morning (to bring someone to the airport, not at all to do with my normal morning routine). other than the stinging eyes from not enough sleep, it felt really great to be up before the sun, with the fresh, brisk (very, very brisk) cold air waking me up as soon as i stepped outside. even stopping by jj bean to get coffee at 6am felt great. (my americano just happened to taste great as well.) on my way back home, the sun was rising, and it was BEAUTIFUL. so i stopped at new brighton park and attempted to make the most of me being up early enough to see the sun rise.



regardless of the cold, it has been nice to see the sun. now if only i lived in a place with bigger windows so i could feel the sunshine from the warmth of my house. oh well. if i stand really close to my kitchen window, i can see some sun, where i can happily take photos of my banana-blueberry-yogurt smoothie.

i leave you with the task of checking out the following 3 things:
1. my sister's put up some portraits for sale on her etsy. they are super cute and would look awesome on your living-room wall.
2. a friend's new blog, bateau bateau
3. i posted some maternity photos from a shoot last month.

time for a second breakfast, i think. eggs & toast sound really lovely right now.