Revamped old bank on Jasper Avenue now offering great nightlife, food and entertainment

It was a day out with girls on Saturday. My sister and I have the same birthday exactly three years apart. She decided to have a day out with her girlfriends and had asked if I wanted to come along. Why not I'd thought, afterall, we do share the same birthday and a day out with the girls always involves mischevious fun. After shopping along 124th district, we were all hungry by the time the shops closed down for the day. I suggested Moriarty's to my sister as I have been there before, and enjoyed it very much. Being a Saturday evening, of course they were jam packed with reservations already and only had bar seating avail, which did not interest us very much. We left in search of another restaurant nearby. I then suggested The Treasury Vodka Bar & Eatery, and had read on the journal that their food was supposed to be delicious. We settled down here and was seated to the left of the entrance, which was a bird's eye-view reflection to the men's bathroom...

The large, movable booths were comfy; the lighting was dim (the lead waitress turned up the lights not long after we were seated), beautiful chandeliers and sleek flooring. We were seated in a location that one could look into the reflection of the mens bathroom, well a urinal (!), as they were mirrored tiles on the men's (and women's) bathroom. Funny to mention, I know. We even pointed that out to the lead waitress and she mentioned that they will eventually put a curtain up (she also pointed out we were the first to mention that to her!). The restaurant was rather cold, not because we were seated next to the entrance, but because the boiler in the building shut down and had to be turned on again. They had to contact the owner of the building and gain permission to turn it back on. Boy, did I feel for those waitresses wearing their short LBD's!

Normally, one would not expect great food from a venue that offers great nightlife. This place totally proves wrong! Some dishes are traditional favourites, but are 'fancied' up. For example, I ordered the chicken pot pie.

My chicken pot pie.

 Instead of potatoes, substituted was yellow squash and sweet potatoes. Yum! It was presented in a large, rounded bowl with a round puff pastry on top. It was delicious.

My sister ordered the gnocchi palmadorro.

My sister's gnocchi palmadorro.

 It consisted of those small potato dumplings, scallops and black tiger shrimp presented in a bold pesto sauce, topped off with micro-greens and purple cabbage. The other gals ordered salads (one caesar, the other not quite sure what the name was) and a pasta dish with mushrooms that smelled and looked equally delicious as the rest of our dishes.

If you are looking for a good place to dine, don't be deceived by the name or look of this place. The fare here is delicious.


Verdict: Scrumptious!


http://www.thetreasury.ca/

HAPPY 10 YEARS FOOD NETWORK CANADA! I've been a fan since day one

Food Network Canada celebrates 10 years this month: October 2, 2000 - October 2, 2010. And I've been a fan since day one. I remember watching Iron Chef back in 1998 on Food Network--way before it got popular. Some of my favourite shows on Food Network in the past were The Inn Chef, New Classics with Rob Feenie and License to Grill. Today, I still enjoy watching Michael Smith and his Chef at Home series and Bob Blumer in his always entertaining Glutton for Punishment series. There's a a special edition of TV Guide Canada for Food Network celebrating over the 10 years. If you are a Food Network Canada fan, I highly recommend this mag. Though a bit pricey for it's thickness (it's quite thin), there are great recipes and excellent personal profiles on your favourite Food Network Canada chefs. A great souvenir!

Urban Diner to open at previous Fiore location on 109 Street

As my boyfriend and I were walking to the Sugar Bowl to meet up with some friends, I noticed that Fiore has shut down. Urban Diner will soon be taking over the venue! They even chopped down the trees that deliberately obscured the patio. I will keep my eyes peeled! :)

New casual fine dining restaurant in new Southwest Edmonton hotel

My boyfriend and I tend to be quite tired Friday evenings; a long day of work and running around getting errands done. I usually love cooking for the both of us but today was no exception. I threw out a bunch of suggestions for restaurants since there has been a bit of growth in Southwest Edmonton. I've been wanting to try this new restaurant in the new Sandman Signature hotel that just opened in Southwest Edmonton, just off of Gateway Boulevard. It looked kind of pricey from the outside and I wanted to be sure. They didn't have an online menu so we drove there and asked for a quick glance at the menu. It was quite reasonably priced, so Rockford Grill it was for dinner!

The Rockford Grill is a new restaurant that is associated with the powerhouse franchisee  who also owns Moxie's Classic Grill, The Shark Club, Denny's and Chop Steak House. I would say it is classified as casual fine dining--as we chatted with our waitress, it's a "step above Moxie's."

Outside view of Rockford Grill

The ambiance of the restaurant is sort of typical in casual fine dining restaurants-oversized light fixtures, dim-lighting, dark booths and chairs and eclectic art pieces here and there.

Interior of Rockford

On the dining side of the restaurant (it's separated into the dining room and lounge side). On the dining side, there's a huge black chalkboard located on the corner of the wall with all the different wines they offer. I thought that was a cute and rather unique concept because as your wine selection changes, you can simply just erase and write over it. We sat in front of the lounge for a few minutes while we were waiting for our table. Not long after, we were seated in the lounge side of the restaurant. Similar to the dining room, we were seated in the back corner in a high booth. I always love sitting in booths!

I scanned through the menu and the dishes they offer are typical of a casual fine-dining restaurant; Asian-inspired cuisine, signature sandwiches, salads, and main entrees such as ribs and steak.  My boyfriend and I first opted for the five mushroom appetizer as we are both lovers of mushrooms.  Shitake, cremini and white button mushrooms and two other kinds I can't recall. Sauteed with wine and tonnes of garlic, you can't go wrong with this appie! We also each ordered a slushie drink each; mine was lychee liquor and mango and my boyfriend ordered the strawberry swirl with vanilla liquor. Yummy!

Our drinks and our appie; sauteed mushrooms.

I normally take a while to decide what I want at a new restaurant I've never been to, but I was craving flat bread (yes, flat bread) because I had just spoke to my mom and she had just ate at the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company in Canmore.  That being said, I ordered myself the avocado and shrimp flat bread with house-made potato chips as a side. My boyfriend opted for the Mongolian BBQ sauce ribs with fennel salad and hand-cut french fries. I asked for my flat bread to be unrolled so I could eat everything separately (yes, I am odd that way). The flat bread was spread with avocado and the shrimp was marinated in a tangy lime sauce. It was pretty tasty, but the flatbread could of been toasted a bit more. The house-made potato chips on the other hand were a little too burnt for my liking; of course the lighting was dim so it made it a bit harder for me to see how badly burnt it was (I took a picture of my food but accidentally deleted it...)

Mongolian BBQ ribs with fennel slaw and fries

My boyfriend enjoyed his dish--I snuck a few tastings or two and the ribs were indeed tasty. I enjoyed the fennel slaw on the side; something refreshing. The fries were better than mine because they weren't burnt. 

We didn't bother with desserts as we were quite stuffed.

I think this restaurant was quite good. Perhaps the lighting was too dim for my liking, but the ambiance is nice. For a restaurant that's connected to the Sandman suites, I think it's worth visiting at least once if you happen to be in the area.

Verdict: scrumptious

Rockford Grill is located right in front of the new Sandman Signature Hotel on 10011 Ellerslie Rd SW, just East of Gateway Boulevard South.

Yummy 'newget' in town!

Hot chocolate flavour: marshmallows, roasted almonds, fresh cinnamon in a chocolate newget. Yum!

What a great encounter I had at the Downtown Farmer's Market on September 25th. I was heading straight to the Eva Sweet's waffle van when I glanced on my right and two girls were handing out free samples of nougat. I tried once piece and told them I'd be right back as my stomach was grumbling for breakfast! Not too long after I finished my waffle, I moisied my way back there. What yummy treats they have! This company calls themselves  The Newget Kompany. A little pricey a first glance ($7/100g bag), they are indeed gourmet treats. A unique twist on the traditional Italian nougat (that chewy bar made of sugar, egg whites and almonds), this 'kompany' boasts flavours like hot chocolate,
which is a spin on the drink, made of milk chocolate, marshmallows, roasted almonds and fresh cinnamon. Delish! They also offered a seasonal flavour-white chocolate, pistachio and organic edible flower, which I purchased as this was the last week they'd be selling that flavour.

Verdict: scrumptious!

Albertan, Aboriginal-inspired cuisine

There's this restaurant in the west side of Edmonton that I've been wanting to try for the past, I'd say, two years. My sister and I decided to do a double date dinner with our boyfriends the night before our birthday to celebrate and enjoy eachother's company. She suggested Murrieta's on Whyte, but the only time they had available was 8pm or later. My sister's boyfriend is an avid football fan so after 8 would work a lot better for him, given the Saskatchewan Roughriders were playing that night. That's when I suggested to my sister that restaurant in the west end that I so keenly wanted to try: Homefire.

The decor in this restaurant is similiar to the way it sounds; cozy and warm with a pretty fireplace in the middle of the restaurant. Sure enough, the waiter seated us right beside the fire (after waiting around for almost 5 minutes with no host/hostess to greet us). The lighting is dim and the decor has Aboriginal inspirations: silhouettes and stick drawings reminsicent of the culture.

All the prices on the menu were very affordable, surprisingly. Although I glanced at the website quickly to see their menu items, I did not expect a restaurant like this to be reasonable priced. The first item that caught my attention was the homemade bannock. Yum! That definitely reminds me of the times that I've visted Fort Edmonton Park as a kid to make bannock in an old-fashioned kitchen.



Bannock bread with whipped maple butter (L); creole creamy shrimp with pizza style bread (R)



Lamb burger with Saskatoon berry relish!

We all shared a basket of bannock bread for $7, served with whipped maple butter on the side. It was tasty, but I found the bannock to be on the dry side. I opted for the lamb burger with homemade Saskatoon relish (anything homemade always gets my attention first), veggies and mashed potatoes. The burger itself was delicious. The Saskatoon berry relish was delicious--tart and sweet, it was a great addition to the lamb. The mashed potatoes were a bit too salty, but were still good. My boyfriend ordered the stir-fry dish, an interesting option at an Aboriginal inspired restaurant. Although, you will find alot of stir-fry dishes at non-Asian restaurants. The sauce on his stir-fry was a little too sweet for my liking, but he's got a sweet tooth so it worked out for him! My sister's boyfriend opted for the same choice as me (the Saskatoon berry relish got him, too). My sister settled on the buffalo meatloaf, which I forgot to try because I was too busy working on my lamb burger!

No room for dessert right now. And, I already had dessert laid out for us because I had gone to the Downtown Farmer's Market during the day and purchased 4 cupcakes for each of us from Karen's Cake in a Cup, each one a different flavour for us to eat at home.

I recommend this restaurant if you want to try original, Aboriginal-inspired cuisine. The prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is cozy, just like the name suggests.

Verdict: scrumptious!

http://www.homefiregrill.ca/

My attempt at making sweet potato cheesecake

September is birthday month in my family. First, it's my mom's birthday, then it's me and my sister's birthday (same day) and then it's my grandma's birthday. It's almost too much cake in one week! That being said, I found it necessary to try my cake baking skills for my mom's cake. What kind of cake did I decide on? Why not make use of the yam that's been sitting in the pantry for a while...voila, sweet potato cheesecake!

From what I've read, sweet potato cheesecake is quite common in the southern States, like Georgia. The sweet potato makes the cheesecake and other cakes very moist, and not to mention healthy too!
The recipe I got was from http://www.allrecipes.com and consisted of the following:

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 7/8 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C ). Mix together graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 1/2 inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool. Don't turn the oven off.
2. Place potatoes in a baking dish. Bake until a knife inserted in center goes through easily, about 1 hour. Don't turn oven off. Cool sweet potatoes enough to handle, peel, and puree.
3. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of sweet potato puree to a large bowl. Add cream cheese, 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar, sour cream and 1/4 cup cream; beat until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending well after each. Pour filling into crust.
4. Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour. Turn off the oven. Let cake stand 1 hour in oven with door ajar.
5. Combine brown sugar and 1/4 cup butter or margarine in a heavy small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat, and bring to a boil. Mix in 1/4 cup cream, then nuts. Pour hot topping over cheesecake. Refrigerate.

Please ignore the melted purple icing flowers...

The recipe was very easy to following, and the outcome was great! I put a pan of water underneath the cake so it would not crack in the centre while baking. In addition to the recipe above, I swapped the graham cracker crust with a shortbread crust (I'm not a big fan of graham cracker crusts), added cinnamon to the filing (you can add nutmeg as well) and topped the cake off with toasted pecans I popped in the oven for about 15 minutes (I tossed the pecans in a little bit of oil and brown sugar). This added a lot more flavour to the cake and brought the sweet potato even more, I think.

All in all, the cake was a success! My whole family enjoyed it, as well as my boyfriend. The cake wasn't too sweet and everything was natural and free of preservatives. You can store the cake for about a week, perhaps even longer, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Verdict: scrumptious!

Visit http://www.allrecipes.com for more great recipes.