palki | indian cuisine on commercial drive

last week, the boyfriend & i ate at palki, an indian restaurant on commercial drive. i quite enjoyed this food experience. (which in this case involved me stuffing myself then proceeding to take the leftovers home & stuff myself again. i don't eat leftovers. unless its ethiopian or otherwise amazing)

palki is located where the restaurants rime and lime used to be. it doesn't stand out from the sidewalk, & i know i have walked past it a few times not knowing it was there. but inside, it is spacious, simple, & classy. it isn't overly elegant, but the decor also isn't tacky. the tables are all a dark wood, which i love, and the color scheme is simple with greys, blacks & bits of purple.

we sat at a window table & enjoyed the sun streaming in while we people watched. (people-watching on the drive is always quite fun.)

the boyfriend is great: waiting patiently for me to take photos, before he can eat. he also doubles as a hand model in his spare time.

full liquor bar at the back of the restaurant. water is served in beautiful jars made of panchaloha (mixture of 5 metals that keeps water cooler than room temperature, with no need for ice)

appetizer platter: veggie pakora, chicken pakora, veggie samosas. 3 dips: green chutney, tamarind sauce, & raita (yogurt & herbs). my favorite appetizer combination: veggie pakora dipped in the tamarind & the raita.

channa masala. it was good, but not the best i've ever had. i love that they serve the entrees on dishes with candles underneath to keep them warm. your food will not get too cold here.

butter chicken. so creamy. so tasty.

mixed grill platter from the tandoor oven. lamb shishkabobs, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka (murgmalai tikka), and prawn tikka. marinated in their housemade yogurt raita, the chicken & prawn tikka were tender & delicious. i didn't fancy the lamb shishkabobs much, but the chicken tikka is a definite must order, in my humble opinion.

this is the raita made from their own yogurt. yeah. pretty and delicious.

your indian food experience just isn't the same without naan. we had both the plain naan & the garlic naan. the garlic naan could be inhaled on its own it is so flavorful. but the plain naan is good for dipping in the curries or eating with the meat. or just dipping into the raita. (i really love the raita. can you tell?)

next time you are looking for excellent indian food for an average budget, definitely check out palki. if you are new to indian cuisine, this is a great place to start your journey. you won't look back.

palki restaurant
1130 commercial drive
604.215.1130
lunch buffet m-f 11:30-2:30
s & s lunch 11:30 - 2:30
dinner everyday 2:30 - 10:00

gingerbread men

first of my christmas baking this year.
not that i'm going to be baking tons...
but its fun to bake with my mom.
haven't had christmas with my whole family in 5 years so it'll be pretty fun!


p.s. if you are in vancouver and need some local, unique gifts, head over to the One Of A Kind show at the convention centre! its still on tomorrow from 10am til 9pm and sunday from 10am til 5pm. my sister has some paintings there, and i'll be there for quite a while tomorrow (saturday)!

elysian coffee - perfect cup of clover

elysian coffee.
broadway & ash.
(also a location at 5th & burrard.)
they frequently change their coffee selection
(always using freshly roasted beans)
but i believe (don't quote me on this) they use mostly (or a lot of) intelligentsia coffee.

while i normally drink americanos, at elysian i drink their coffee by the cup.
they use a clover & make it to perfection.
if you normally take sugar, you probably won't with this coffee, i promise you.
they also serve tasty goodies made fresh on site.
i'm always drawn to their chocolate cookie with the dusting of icing sugar on top.
i used to make those cookies in high school, so they taste nostalgic to me.
(can things taste nostalgic?)
there's a tap on the bar for water. sparkling or still. your choice.
sparkling water isn't my cup of tea, a bit too fancy for me.
but it might just be your cup of tea. (or water.)

elysian coffee

broadway location:
7-7 everday

5th ave location:
mon- thu 7-7:30
fri 7-10
sat 9-10
sun 11-5

why you should do the culture crawl this year

those of you readers who live in vancouver, i have for you 3 reasons to go to the vancouver east side culture crawl this year:
(specifically my sister andrea armstrong's studio)

1. this is what one of her walls looked like last year.
isn't it pretty?
this year's is even better - i've seen it in progress.

2. guess what is across the street from her studio?
yeah. jj bean.
(keep in mind it closes at 6pm friday, and 5pm saturday & sunday)

3. i made cookies last year for andrea's studio.
and guess what?! i made more this year too.
(and no, my dad didn't make them.)

(i kinda made a lot last year. but this year looks pretty similar.)

(this is what her studio looks like. from the outside.)

crawling hours:
friday november 18: 5pm-10pm
saturday november 19: 11am-6pm
sunday november 20: 11am-6pm

bump n grind: chocolate peanut butter cups + americanos

bump n grind
corner of commercial + venables, vancouver

i've always kind of hated the name of this place, so i never ever went in. but this past summer i tried it out... and honestly i've been missing out. their americanos are pretty great, but the best thing they have is their chocolate peanut butter cups. and what better then to pair chocolate with coffee? not much, i tell you.

so go. go now and eat a chocolate peanut butter cup. with an americano. thank your barista. then come back here and thank me (and my sister who introduced me to them).


bump n grind cafe
916 commercial drive
mon - fri 7-7
sat + sun 8-7
@bumpngrindcafe

ghost pancakes for next year

i always get great ideas way too late.
here's one to store for next year's halloween.
ghost pancakes!
so cute.

image via petra at zoom yummy

simply breakfast

(photo by jennifer causey at simply breakfast)

if you love breakfast as much as i do and haven't discovered simply breakfast yet, you must remedy this dire situation. jennifer causey is a new york based photographer who has a blog solely dedicated to breakfast photography. she also takes beautiful non-food photography.

one day i want to have a huge window in my kitchen, and a beautiful wooden table (but no varnishes & no oak please!). oh, and 5 extra cupboards just for extra dishes & napkins for props. i don't think this day is coming anytime soon, but i can only hope.

so enjoy your breakfast, and while your at it, visit simply breakfast for some inspiration.

a recipe for delicious baked eggs

i mentioned in my last post that i was giving more energy to my photo blog.
however, when i want to post recipes i will post over here.
somehow, someday, i want to combine the 2 blogs in some way - i like the format over there much better, but i still want to write about food, but i don't want to be double posting all the time when i take pretty photos of the food i write about. that sounded complicated. it is. thereby my wanting simplicity in joining the 2 somehow...

but i digress.

i have for you a recipe of sorts for baked eggs.
a delicious way to eat eggs when you have some extra time on the weekend.

what you need:
(1 serving)
- 2 eggs, preferably room temperature (take them out night before)
- 2 tablespoons cream
- handful of fresh herbs - thyme, sage & rosemary (thyme is the most important)
- butter
- salt & pepper
- toast
- prosciutto (optional)
- ramekin
- baking tray deeper than your ramekin

what to do:
- turn kettle on to boil
- turn oven on to 375*
- chop herbs into tiny pieces
- grease ramekin with butter
- place 1 tablespoon cream into ramekin
- sprinkle with a few herbs, salt & pepper
- crack 2 eggs in
- sprinkle with more herbs, salt & pepper
- spoon 1 tablspoon cream on top
- (optional) add more butter to the top
- place ramekin into deeper baking tray, and fill halfway with boiling water
- place tray in oven
- bake for 10-15 minutes (i don't have the timing perfectly. its a bit tricky to keep the yolks runny while not having runny whites so i often overbake it) until cooked to your liking
- enjoy with a slice of toast and coffee


another variant on this dish is to line your ramekin with prosciutto first, and then proceed with the next steps.

other recipes you can look at:
- seasaltwithfood blog
- simple baked eggs recipe

happy thursday morning

good morning.

have yourself a lovely breakfast.
if not today, definitely this weekend.

if you want to venture out from fried or scrambled eggs, might i suggest breakfast pizza? eggs benedict? quiche? or pancakes?

apologies for being slightly absent lately from this blog.
i'm starting to give more energy to my photo blog these days, come visit me there!
more photos, less words, so it'll be less demanding of you to read.

food + drink | my website

this is a glimpse of my website:

it's new.
i'm fairly excited about it.
:)

you should go check it out. i have an entire gallery dedicated to food.

joeyarmstrong.ca

my chicken fajitas

i'm (still) really horrible at intentional meal planning. this week, though, i decided i wanted to make chicken fajitas at some point. one accomplishment at a time here, lets not get TOO crazy.

so. i bought some chicken (free run, non-medicated, at wheelhouse seafoods), peppers, sour cream, and sprouted grain tortillas.

here they are.

i cut the 2 chicken breasts into strips and marinated them for about 1/2 an hour while i chopped everything else up. for the marinade i used: half a dried chili, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, and some kind of mexican chipotle chili mix i got from a friend. you can probably use chili flakes or whatever spice you like. (i like to avoid the fajita seasoning packets in the stores, because i'm not a fan of colors, corn syrup solids, modified corn starch and 'natural flavor')

here's a recipe for making your own seasoning: http://busycooks.about.com/od/homemademixes/r/fajitaseasonmix.htm

wish i'd thought of looking up a recipe earlier. oops.

i sauted peppers & onion in olive oil, salt & pepper. until they were soft & caramelized.

then its easy! i grated some cheese, heated up my tortillas in the oven, chopped up some cilantro, & put out my sour cream & salsa. wrap it all up & enjoy.

two related photos HERE on my photo blog!