it's all about the secret sauce

schmassion's costa rican version of a mexican black bean and corn salad

INGREDIENTS
corn
black beans, cooked but not mushy
tomatoe, diced
cilantro, shredded
lizano
salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Throw everything together.
2. Mix well.
3. Add salt and pepper and lizano to taste.
4. Let it sit for a bit.
5. Serve.

where was my camera when i needed it?!

Like a bad little almost-foodblogger, I forgot to take pictures of the many, many amazing meals that we had in Hawaii. Our exuberance for the food overtook us, and never was there enough time to snap a quick pix before all the morsels had disappeared. We tried everything from crack seed to poke to seaweed musabi. The only thing I could not bring myself to eat was spam. I hate spam.

I could recap every single meal, but for pure laziness sake, I'll leave you with the top three... none of which I have pictures of. Instead, the pictures you see sprinkled throughout are ahi poke with fresh seaweed (Lahaina), baby green salad with a vanilla vinaigrette (Hana Hotel) and pumpkin soup (Hana Hotel).


1. Mama's Fish House (Pa'ia, Maui)

We went for the Sista's birthday on her last night in Hawaii. The beachfront restaurant with it's tiki torch lined walkways is romantic (too bad for us), but while the ambiance is great, the food is even better. The fish is incredibly fresh with the name of the fisherman and the boat on the menu du jour... opah, ono, mahi-mahi, a'u, ahi... all caught the same day. Can you imagine? I love fish... I was in heaven!

The ahi, mahi-mahi and opah panang curry was one of the best curries I've ever had. Rich, but light (how is that even possible?!), accompanied by a banana and mango salsa, it was an amazing blend of asian and Hawaiian flavours.

If only I could find something like Mama's at home.



2. Blue Shrimp and Seafood Co (Honolulu, Oahu)

Street food at it's best. Actually, more truck food than street food. The Blue Shrimp and Seafood Co. is permanently parked in a parking lot just off Kuhio Ave. We went on recommendation from the limo driver that drove us down from Diamond Head Crater when the maternal one refused to walk back to Waikiki.

The sesame encrusted ahi salad was fabulous...a giant piece of nicely grilled ahi (enough for two people!) on top of a greek salad lightly sprinkled with feta. If I hadn't been so full (of ahi and russian snow crab legs), I would have definitely tried to back for seconds!

Hands down for best street food.


3. Tiki's Grill and Bar (Waikiki, Oahu)

Two words... taro bread. Honestly, that pretty much did it for me. The rolls were warm and fluffy, tinged with the slightly purple hue of taro, and tasted heavenly with the banana butter that accompanied it.

Also good was their version of sangria. Who doesn't love pineapple wine? Especially pineapple wine with mango. Yum.

Go there. Better than Duke's.

sweet seduction

I’m late to this bandwagon. I’d been hearing about the Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz since the summer, but wanted to muddle through my existing bottles of red before adding to my growing “collection” of alcoholic bevies.

Silly me.

By the time I was ready it was nowhere to be found. LCBO stores across the province were sold out, what few cases that remained (in Sudbury) were on hold. I tried almost everything to get my grubby little hands on a bottle. I tried all of my various hookups… I even tried namedropping.

Nada.

Finally last weekend, I managed to score two bottles. At $17 a pop, it was one of the best wines I’ve had in a very, very long time (the last one being a gold label Ruffino 1999?? I forget…).

Smokey, spicy, a little blackberry, a wisp of vanilla; there is a recognizable depth to it and smoothness like you wouldn’t believe. Ok. I’m exaggerating. I’m not really a wine connoisseur, but I know what I like. This, I like… a lot.

Go forth and hunt, my friends, go forth and hunt.

where: your local LCBO…

when: next shipment reaches land in about 2 weeks… be patient…

sweet nothings

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to learn how to blow glass. As children, we'd get dropped off at Harbourfront and left to wander the artist studios for hours upon hours. I loved the burning heat of the glass studio, and was facinated by the way the glassblowers would turn glowing orbs of molten glass into free flowing pieces of suspended whimsy.

Learning how to blow sugar is so much better. Not only does one have a similar ability to create something out of apparently nothing, but it tastes amazing as well.

I came out of the workshop with two scorched thumbs and a whole lot of ambition.

Inspiration has struck, and I know what what I want to do. Now, I only need to go to Home Depot for a blow torch and a heat lamp... and to the grocery store for a whole lotta sugar.

where: Bonnie Gordon sugarworks workshop...

lesson learned

If you leave cupcakes outside on the balcony, make sure you keep an eye out for squirrels, m'kay?