the stories that I'm telling.

Tag: cooking

  • Airbnb Experience: “Discover street food with a local”

    Airbnb Experience: “Discover street food with a local”

    When Kevin and I went to Amsterdam we kicked off our trip with a food tour, which was both a unique culinary experience and a great walking tour with a local guide. We were introduced to the food tour via Booking.com but since we didn’t use them for our trip this time around we decided to try a new source of fun: Airbnb “experiences”.

    We participated in 2 different experiences during our trip, and the first was called “discover street food with a local“. We did this on Tuesday, and it was one of the highlights of our trip!

    We started off in the morning outside of El Templo Mayor where we met our guide, Pili. She gave us a brief history of the temple and market square and church nearby. From there, we hopped on the subway and went to explore a local market. This particular market served as a distribution hub for fresh flowers, so it was quite beautiful.

    Near the market was a type of food court, and we went there to learn how to cook a traditional Mexican dish, huaraches. They’re typically quite large but since we were novices, we made smaller huaraches – a corn flower dough, with a bean paste in the middle. The technique was kind of like making a perogie: flatten a small ball of dough, add in the filling, then pull the tough tight around it and pinch it sealed. However, then you also flatten out the dough and fry it.

    Huaraches are served with a pile of toppings, and we also made those! Toppings included tomatillo salsa, cactus, and huitlacoche. This was pretty exciting because huitlacoche is a delicacy that originated in Aztec cuisine and is unlike anything we’d ever eat in Canada.

    The English term for huitlacoche is “corn smut”. Huitlacoche is a type of corn fungus, which is why it’s rarely found north of Mexico. As we expected, it’s delicious!

    After we ate our huaraches, Pili and our chef host, Evelyn, made us quesadillas as well. From there we need an energy boost, so Pili took us back to city centre to visit a market famed for its traditional coffee. I had a chocolate drink that was incredible and Kevin enjoyed an espresso.

    To wrap up the day we visited a stall that sells insects as cuisine! The other couple in our group (shout out to Landon and Jerusalem!) were brave enough to try, but I was too full/afraid.

    The whole “experience” lasted approximately 4 hours and was jam-packed with learning and fun. Pili was a great host and she showed us a great time. She was fun and friendly, very knowledgeable, and open to answering any questions we had. Spending the day with her was like hanging out with a friend, and I would absolutely recommend her tours to anyone.

    If you’re looking for a great half-day experience in Mexico City then I definitely recommend you take her tour!

    See below for the many photos of our adventure with Pili!

     

    When the Spanish colonizers came to Mexico City they had locals build their churches. And often locals worked their own traditional arts (like the snakes on this cross) into the final product
    subway map!
    Arriving at our destination
    Exploring the flower market!
    huitlacoche before cooking
    there’s Pili, teaching us about peppers!
    mole paste!
    Huaraches Ramoncita – our lunch spot!
    huitlacoche before we’ve cooked it!
    cactus, chopped by Kevin.
    look at us go!
    salsa at the beginning
    there are our huaraches!
    and the finished product!
    And here’s Evelyn cooking the huitlacoche for us
    the finished product!
    and a quesadilla for good measure!
    for dessert, a Mamey – tastes like the product of an avocado and a sweet potato!
    coffee in the market!
    my chocolate drink
    pit stop to eat bugs!
  • We learned how to make pierogi this Christmas!

    We learned how to make pierogi this Christmas!

    Every year for Christmas, my Nana Helen (mother of my mother) makes pierogies. My mom’s side of the family is Polish/Ukrainian, and while we dabble only very lightly in Eastern European holiday tradition, pierogies and sour cream are staples at all family events (along with cabbage rolls and borscht, but pierogies are the undeniable fan favourites).

    My brothers and I have discussed making pierogies and stepping up to learn, take over, and carry forward some family traditions, and this holiday season was one of our first collective steps in that direction.

    In addition to learning how to make pierogi (according to Wikipedia the word is already plural… why would you have just one?!), we also made dinner on Christmas Day. It was a significant group effort… despite only needing to feed 10, we made enough food for nearly twenty: butternut squash/pear soup from scratch, turkey according to the Gordon Ramsay method (lemons are the key to having a delicious and juicy turkey), green beans with bacon, baked cod with tomatoes/potatoes/onions, garlic mashed potatoes, seasoned carrots, cabbage rolls, homemade gravy, and our very own pierogi!

    For dessert, my mom ordered us the most beautiful Happy Birthday Jesus cake imaginable. That’s a new tradition, but it’s one that we’ll be keeping.

    Anyways… back to the pierogi-making. My grandparents are famously early risers, and always quick to get things done. So when the four of us arrived at their house around 10am on the 23rd, we expected the pierogi-making process to be half done. To our surprise and delight, they really had waited for us before beginning!

    We donned our babushkas and our aprons, rolled up our sleeves, and got started.

    For the dough, I mixed 1 cup of room temperature water into a 6 cups of Red Rose white flour, along with a couple dollops of regular sour cream. Once it was mixed I had to knead the dough into a nice round ball. I then put the dough aside in a bowl and covered it with a towel. The dough needed to rest on the counter for approximately 30 minutes before it would be ready for use.

    In the meantime, my brothers were getting the filling ready: grating old cheddar cheese, and peeling and quartering old yellow potatoes (just old enough that something’s growing out of them). We then boiled the potatoes to prepare for mashing.

    Next: lunch break! Heaven forbid we work without being provided lunch!

    After lunch, the potatoes were boiled. We mashed them up and added the grated cheese. We also added a few scoops from a jar of sautéed onions that grandmother had made ahead of time. Once the potato mix was ready, we put it outside in the lanai to cool to room temperature-ish.

    Once the potatoes had cooled, we started rolling out the dough: time to make pierogi!

    We rolled out the dough on the kitchen table, aiming for 1/8 inches in thickness. Then we used an old tuna can to cut circles out of the dough. To make the pierogi, you take a circle of dough, add in a spoonful of filling, and pull the sides together around the filling. Pinch the dough together on both sides in such a vigorous way that you’re sure it won’t pop open when boiling.

    We placed them on a towel-covered platter, side by side. When the platter was full, we covered it with another towel, and continued lining up pierogi. They actually looked pretty darn cute. Once all the dough was gone, that’s a wrap! The trays went out to the lanai to freeze a bit. Alternatively, the trays could’ve been placed into the freezer (a deep freeze, obviously… this is the ‘burbs!).

    Anyways, I doubt most of you read all that, but I needed it written down somewhere, so there it is. See below for our photos from our holiday adventures in Grimsby!

    making pierogi like a proper baba!
    Christmas hiking!
    dinner is served!
    dessert!
  • Canadian Thanksgiving traditions in Grimsby

    Canadian Thanksgiving traditions in Grimsby

    It’s American Thanksgiving, so it’s as good a time as any to write about our adventures during the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

    A couple of years ago, I went to Ottawa and spent Thanksgiving weekend with Kevin. While there, I ate the most delicious Thanksgiving dinner that I’d ever had. Since we’re back in Grimsby, room-mating it up with my parents, we cried “dibs” pretty immediately on preparing Thanksgiving dinner. My mom was away for a wedding that weekend, so we had free reign over the kitchen. Of course, there were some other antics afoot before we got the oven running.

    We were making our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, so on Friday I set out to buy a turkey. I’d attempted to purchase a turkey on Thursday, to no avail. Apparently everyone buys their turkey at least 2 weeks early, and I had missed the memo. On Friday morning, Kevin told me “go to Lococo’s, they’ll have a 10kg Butterball for sure”. With Thursday’s empty turkey freezers in mind, I drove my parents to the airport on Friday, and proceeded to spend 3 hours driving all around Mississauga and Oakville in search of a 10kg+ Butterball turkey. I could barely find a 7kg turkey, let alone a butterball, so I began to panic. I bought the first 10kg turkey I could find, Butterball be damned.

    Then, to stock up on veggies and stuffing and all that other Thanksgiving goodness, I went to Lococo’s. As Kevin had promised, they had multiple Butterballs over 10kg. So what did I do? I bought one. As of today, we still have an extra turkey just waiting it out in our basement freezer.

    Double turkey purchases aside, Thanksgiving weekend in Grimsby involves just one tradition: Attending the Balls Falls Craft Show. So before we got to cooking, Kevin agreed to indulge me and attend the craft show. Balls Falls is a conservation area in Vineland, ON, that also happens to be the home of several old/historic buildings. It’s a wedding hotspot these days, which makes sense because it’s quite lovely.

    Fortunately, the craft show is not just about crafts. There are several historical displays that showcase 20th century technologies. There was also a “raptor” display, where we saw some really cool birds, most importantly, a Bald Eagle!!!! The next best thing to a Bald Eagle was seeing a genuine Military Band Organ from 1911. Still in full working order, this was a pretty cool site to see. It was restored and maintained by a gentleman named Captain John Leonard, who toured it all around the great lakes regions, in the United States and Canada. Though Captain John has since passed away, his wife and and his friend continue this great tradition, bringing a taste of early 20th century musical technology to the masses.

    Here’s a quick video of what the inner workings of the machine, as seen through the back, looks like:

    Surprisingly, we got quite into the whole craft scene, and went through to see every vendor there. While I’d planned to check out the festival for 30 minutes, once we saw the food tent, we got sucked in, and ended up spending more than 2 hours crafting about. I’ve been to this festival in some terrible weather, so the bright sunny day was a real treat.

    The next day, guided by some tips from Gordon Ramsay, we embarked on our Thanksgiving cooking extravaganza. With Kevin leading, me sous-chefing, and my brothers assisting, it was a pretty big production. I can honestly say that we could not have pulled this off without the help of Tyler and Kristopher, who helped with all the preparation, and made dessert. Tyler also ran point on serving the wine, which is essential for family holidays. We kicked off dinner by toasting with a glass of sparkling wine for everyone at the table, then proceeded to dig in.

    The menu included:

    • A 10 kg turkey, perfectly prepared
    • Garlic mashed potatoes
    • Green beans with bacon
    • 3 types of gravy
    • Stovetop Stuffing (yes, from the box – don’t mess with a classic!)
    • Gwyneth’s roasted cauliflower and chickpeas
    • Pumpkin pie
    • Homemade Gingerbread Cookies
    • Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie (courtesy of Nana Ev)
    • Wine, wine, and more wine (all from Niagara’s 20 Valley Region, of course)

    And that’s it. The secret to a great Thanksgiving weekend? Wine and teamwork. Hopefully Christmas will be similar entertaining! Check out the various photos of our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, below:

    A steam engine display at the craft show!
    checking out the natural landscape – that’s “Balls Falls” behind me.
    Standing in front the Military Band Organ
    classic!
    One of the many great vendors we met at the festival
    In front of the big barn at Balls Falls
    The dessert table. Cookies made by Tyler & Kristopher.
    Turkey on the table, “resting”, as per Gordon Ramsay’s instructions
    Obviously, we were watching the Jays
    dinner is served!