BC Spot Prawns with Cracked Chili and Sherry

Spot prawns are a great sustainable crustacean for snacking. Right now you can buy them right off the boats at False Creek - they are so fresh and delicious you can cook them with anything and they would probably taste fantastic. I made mine with garlic, chili and sherry and they were very tasty - slightly sweet with a bit of bite. Paired with a sunny afternoon and a bottle of rose they are even better! Here is the recipe:

**Tip: If you live in Burnaby you can get them for about half the price of their Granville Island counterparts at Urban Seafood on Hastings.

1 Pound BC Spot Prawns
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp chili flakes
4 tbsp sherry

Heat the butter and oil in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add garlic and chili flakes and saute until fragrant. Add prawns and saute, covering with butter mixture. Add sherry. Cook until prawns have turned completely pink and cooked throughout - approx. 7 - 10 minutes.

Putting the FUN in Fundraiser

I have the pleasure to work with a great group of girls who put on a fantastic event every year to raise funds for the Lower Mainland Red Cross. Last Thursday we held our 3rd Annual Red Cross Red Carpet Soiree at the chic Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar. Three-hundred guests came out to celebrate World Red Cross Day and enjoy a great party. Guests were greeted with Belvedere cocktails before grazing on original canapés and fresh seafood prepared by two of Vancouver’s top chefs – Executive Chef Frank Pabst and Raw Bar Chef Yoshihiro Tabo – and sampling a selection of wines donated by Vincor.

Even though I was officially ‘working’ at the event, I managed to squeeze in some fun with my friends who came out to support the cause ... and me. Between swilling glasses of wine, we snacked on the 20 different kinds of yummy canapés and Blue Water’s famous seafood towers. The vibe was relaxed and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

The evening featured silent auction items from some of Vancouver’s top hotels and retailers, including West Restaurant, Four Seasons Hotel, and Outdoor Adventures. The top bid was for an official Olympic torch at $1300 and the event raised a total of $15,000 for the Lower Mainland Red Cross Disaster Management Program. In the wake of earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and China the world saw the importance of being prepared for unforeseen disasters. The funds raised will help prepare supplies and services in case of floods, forest fires, earthquakes, and storms in the Lower Mainland.

Playhouse International Wine Festival Impressions

The Playhouse International Wine Festival always holds so much promise. I love getting my catalogue in the mail and picking out a few events that I will look forward to for months. This year my sister and I bought tickets to ‘Salut Chile’ at the Stanley Park Teahouse, and ‘Rah, Rah Rose’ at the Miele show lounge. Like most years, it was a mix of hit and miss. Unsurprisingly, the Chile event featured some nice Sauvignon Blancs, and more unusually, it featured some lovely Chardonnays at a decent price point. Our favourites were Errázuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2008, $21.99 and Viña Casa Tamaya Reserva Chardonnay 2009, $17.99. I found the reds to be a bit dull, but the venue was by far the worst part of this event. It was held in a small room of the Teahouse, so you were shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone in the room, people were accosting trays of food and the poor servers under them, and to avoid getting the wine glass knocked out of your hand, it was elbows-in drinking. If the Teahouse had ponied up for a little more space and food, this could have been a good event.

I love Rose so definitely wanted to attend ‘Rah, Rah Rose’, despite being a bit sceptical about it being held at an appliance show lounge. I have to commend Savvy Company who had the vision to host a tasting event there – it was perfect. It was roomy and there were over a dozen kitchen displays and unique spaces so as you moved around you felt like you were visiting the kitchens of individual wineries, complete with accompanying food. There was no shortage of wine and there were so many lovely Roses. My favourites were a dry cherry flavoured Pinot Noir, Yering Station Pinot Noir Rosé, $24.99 and Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Brut Rosé NV, $69.99 (a little pricey, but delicious)

I have a love hate relationship with the wine festival, it never fails to delight me in some way, but I can always assume there will be some disappointment. I have found the best bets are the grazing lunches – they are cheaper than the dinners and the mass tasting convention, and you get to try a good number of wines without listening to someone drone on about the entire fermenting process or the soil the grapes were grown in while waiting for a refill.

Feature Walls

I live in an older one bedroom apartment, which has dulled over time and is fairly dark and boring. It has the usual layout of older apartments – the secluded kitchen, cut off from friends and family. Sometimes it makes me think it was designed for women of the 50s, relegated to cooking unseen in cramped quarters while everyone else socializes in the open layout.

But one positive thing this design offers is a wall in the middle of the apartment begging to be dressed up. I covered mine with aqua paint and a large circle mirror that makes me feel like I am looking out of a porthole from the hull of a ship. The mirror also reflects the light that comes through the back sliding door, brightening the place. My sister, who has a similar wall in her apartment painted hers green and created a large pink fabric flower that covers much of it. There are so many things you can do: an arrangement of pictures or mirrors, art work, a bright painted colour, or even a mural. What is great about these half walls is that you can do something really bold without it overtaking the entire room – it just gives the eye something fun to look at.

One warning – if you are renting you will have to repaint it before you leave.

New Orleans: Big Love for the Big Easy

I scored some free tickets to the NCAA ‘March Madness’ tournament from work, so my friend and I decided to head down to the Big Easy to watch some basketball and check out the city.

I thought that since we were arriving shortly after Mardi Gras that we had missed the party. We hadn’t. The city is in constant celebration, no matter what time of year you go. We arrived the evening before St. Patrick’s Day and were told that the Irish holiday is generally a week- long celebration. We decided to get in the spirit and pick up some costumes for the festivities. We waded through novelty stores selling beads, boas, voodoo dolls, hot sauce, Cajun spice and Saints gear to find some “Kiss me I’m Irish” t-shirts, yellow wigs, green beads, and gold and green makeup . After gearing up we headed to a crowded (and very green) Bourbon Street just as the parade started. The first in the procession were mini roadsters driven by elderly Irish men throwing beads and flowers in return for kisses from young ladies. These were followed by floats patched together with canvas and green streamers, which were operated by a bunch of leprechauns playing music, dancing and throwing beads and cabbage to the crowd. I incurred a minor bead injury to the face, but brushed it off as part of the experience. More floats and roadsters crept by as the night went on with less and less affiliation to the Irish ... but that really didn’t matter. The whole street was electric with excitement (it didn’t hurt that it’s legal to drink in the street, which always makes leprechauns and the elderly more entertaining). The bizarre nature of the spectacle and the infectious energy of the crowd made it the most fun and entertaining parade I’ve been to. The atmosphere is so relaxed and uninhibited you can’t help but get carried away in the fun ... and people definitely do. I would suggest New Orleans as your next vacation destination; with tourism down you can get some amazing deals and I guarantee you will have a fantastic time.

The Brilliance of Brunch

There is something very indulgent about brunch - that's what makes it fun. By name and definition it is a combination of breakfast and lunch, eaten between breakfast and lunch, so you can have a nice sleep-in before getting stuck-in to some serious dishes.

Before this past Sunday I hadn't gone to brunch since my parents took me and my sister, Lara, to the Four Seasons when I was 8. I remember the sheer extravagance of it - a grand dining room with a mile long spread of all the classic goods, plus ... a dessert station! We couldn't believe our eyes - bowl after bowl of chocolate mousse, creme caramel and even jelly beans, caramels, and chunks of chocolate. Mom n' Dad - the same people who had vetoed sugared cereal - were letting us have at the dessert buffet like it was serving porridge and bran flakes. We weren't sure what had taken hold of their senses, but decided we should stuff our faces as quickly as possible in case they regained their faculties mid-mousse.

My idea of a perfect brunch has changed slightly to incorporate a mimosa or two (and I try my best to stop eating before I am ill), but it is still a lavish affair. My friend and I went to Medina on Beatty St. for one of our monthly catch-up sessions where I rediscovered the brilliance of brunch. The restaurant features a mix of dishes that are inspired from Belgium, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. Some interesting choices include Oeffs Cocotte, Tagine, and soft boiled eggs with tabouleh and baba ganoush. We started by ordering Moroccan Mimosas and I ordered the Tagine which was delicious. Perfectly poached eggs are placed on a spicy tomato stew and surrounded by merguez sausage. After a brief TO and another mimosa, we went in for a second round of Belgian waffles with toppings reminiscent of the Four Seasons dessert bar - raspberry caramel, lavender milk chocolate, and white chocolate pistachio rosewater. We closed our 2 hour sitting with lavender lattes and I waddled out to face the rest of a lazy Sunday.

Brunch is back ... definitely.

Medina Cafe:
http://www.medinacafe.com/

DIY art

Nothing makes a home look more unique and cultured than large canvases and original paintings. The reprints are ok, but you lose the texture that makes originals so appealing. I didn't want to spend too much money on paintings and was giving myself a budget of $200 - $250 for each piece. I started my hunt by checking out the Eastside Culture Crawl, browsing through Craig's List posts, and going to local art galleries.

There was a lot that I liked ... except for the prices. My taste gravitated towards large canvas abstracts with a lot of colour, ranging between $800 - $2,000. These prices seemed a bit bloated since I figured I could paint something similar myself. I know this type of thinking can end in disaster, but with a little courage and some time you really can create something you love. If you are not an artist (which I am not), it may not turn out exactly as you planned, but it can be fantastic in an unexpected way. Best of all, it is a LOT of fun.

At Opus you can get a large 30 x 40 inch canvas and supplies for around $100. It isn't dirt cheap which can make you a bit hesitant when taking your first stroke, but be fearless and go for it. If you use acrylic paints, you can wash it off and start over.

I started the blue painting by covering the canvas with midnight blue. I then filled a balloon with light blue paint and a bit of water and poked a hole in it. By squeezing the balloon, I sprayed a stream of lighter paint over the canvas. I let it dry and did the same the next day with less water so the colour would pop out more in the corner. For the green and red painting I started with the same method as above, but didn't like the results to started to wash it off. It created a green-washed border, which I liked and decided to keep. I knew I wanted to feature some red on the canvas so I just took a brush and painted one curved stroke. I love both of them and the colours fit perfectly with my decor because I picked them. I had so much fun doing them - I wish I had more wall space to fill!