she makes stuff

pancakes should always be eaten like this. i dream of the day i can afford to have multiple sets of beautiful vintage dishes, vases, napkins, and a beautiful butter dish. i'm slowly getting there, but my cupboard's pretty small and i'm going to have to start storing kitchenware in my bedroom closet.

this post isn't really about pancakes though, rather it's about other beautiful stuff. beautiful stuff that ashley meaders makes. she makes stuff for weddings, events, etc, and its all handmade, original, gorgeous creations. she also seems to be friends with/works with an amazing photography company. (photo credits of all these photos go to our labor of love, via ashley meaders' site)

she inspires me to no end. my sister always sends me links to beautiful things, and i love the burst of inspiration/joy i get when she sends me links to sites like these. so i thought i would share the love. do you feel it? :)

turquoise blue

i happened upon these turquoise beauties a couple weekends ago at a vancouver yard sale. vancouver yard sales are awkward & interesting, because they are often so sparse & so unorganized. like its a last minute excuse to enjoy the rare sun, and make a couple extra bucks while you're at it.


regardless, i love yard sales, and i love it even more when i find something amazing like my turquoise teacups. i had to get rid of a couple other mugs to fit in the cupboard, and the handles are kinda awkward & tiny for holding, but nevertheless... i love them. they make me happy like no other 50 cent teacup should. :)

chocolate cake, photoshoots, and indian music

i've been terrible at blogging lately and i don't even have an excuse. or a good one, anyways.

i have even been baking a lot. i've just been too unmotivated to try to take decent, well-lit photos, or to upload the photos i do have.

this past week i baked a couple chocolate cakes. in a sad twist of fate, the beautiful photo below is the cake that didn't really turn out and i will probably never bake again. and then the amazing cake i baked i didn't manage to get a shot of. good thing i loved it, cause that means i will bake it again and hopefully get a photo next time.


the good chocolate cake was a flourless cake, and i got the recipe from bread & honey. you can find the recipe here.

but the best part of my week (other than lots of chocolate cake) was a fun photoshoot i did with eileen. i wrote about it in detail over at my other blog: everybody is a photographer. the blog needs a lot of work (so does this one), so please be gentle :)

here's a sneak peak photo:


and while i am blabbing about non-food stuff, i may as well mention my reoccurring obsession of indian/bollywood music. recently watched monsoon wedding again this week and proceeded to buy the soundtrack, since the music is gorgeous. loving this song:

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.

more waffles

a few days ago, to keep you enticed (no, i was just lazy), i posted just one photo of some yummy waffles i made for my sister's birthday breakfast. now i have some more photos for you, and a recipe!


first, before you read any further, know this: to make waffles, you need a waffle-maker. there's no getting around needing some kind of fancy appliance for this wonderful breakfast/dessert/any-meal-of-the-day food. lucky for me i have 2 (yes 2! excessive? nope. just means i can eat waffles quicker*). one is on loan from my dear mother, and the other i bought at a thrift store.

*quicker is a relative term. keep in mind that waffles require a lot of PATIENCE while cooking them.


recipe:
(this is terrible, but i forget where i got the recipe)
(serves 4. or 2 people twice)

ingredients:
4 eggs, separated
1 1/2 c. milk
2 c. flour (preferably all-purpose, but you can mix some buckwheat or whole wheat in there)
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
5 T. melted butter

directions:
1. separate eggs. beat yolks. in a large bowl. stir in milk.
2. in a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together and stir into the yolk mixture.
4. stir in the melted butter.
5. beat egg whites until stiff; fold into batter.
6. cook in a waffle iron (according to manufacturers directions)


if you have a stove-top waffle-maker like mine, make sure you heat them up ahead of time. i'm not sure if i'm supposed to grease them, but i do. i haven't found the perfect cooking temperature yet, but medium heat is a good place to start. pour the batter in, (around 1/4 cup per quarter) slightly spread it to make it look equal in all 4 parts, and close the waffler. cook on this side for a few minutes, then flip (making sure you hold the handles tight together). and cook on other side for a few minutes. when you open up the lid, the waffle should slide out nicely, not sticking. cook until it looks nice and crispy. if you make more than you need, you can put them into the toaster to heat up later.

to be honest here, this is what my waffles usually look like.

messy, full of peanut butter, doused with syrup :)

a happy birthday to my awesome sister/roommate

happy birthday andrea! my sister is kind of pretty much awesome. we had a BBQ party for her birthday and i made cupcakes. i'll (hopefully) post more photos later. it was a great day, minus the icing mishaps and my sister's burned finger (from the icing mishap). spring/summer weather + friends + food = awesomeness. i love summer. let's have more of it!

waffles for breakfast

more to come...