Prague in pictures

I've been negligent in posting pictures from my trip, so here are a few from pretty, pretty Prague.

First, the not so pretty snipers guarding the Pope's motorcade. Yes, our trip coincided with a visit from His Holiness. No one in Prague was very excited to see him, and frankly, neither we were. But we happened to stumble upon the street where he was staying, so we waited around for a bit to see him leave. About 25 cars and several more motorcyles preceeded him.

We think the Pope was in this car. Good view, no?

View from Charles Bridge at night. All the lamps were gas, giving off a yellowish glow.

Gold building in Prague.

The astronomical clock in Old Town Square.

Jazz musicians jamming on Charles Bridge.

View of Prague rooftops.

Another view from Charles Bridge. Thanks for pointing in my shot, buddy!

Stained glass at Prague Castle.

Changing of the guard at the castle.

Typical streetscape in Old Town Square.

Sunday pancakes

I'm not really a pancake fan -- I'm more of a French toast kinda gal. But I read this recipe recently and thought I should give it a try. Result? These are the best pancakces I've ever had! The addition of the oats and whole wheat make them really hearty, and because they use so much baking powder, they plump up to some tasty little cakes. This will be my go-to recipe from now on.

(I'm not sure about the nutritional claim advertised in the original recipe, especially given the syrup and butter I added after this picture was taken. In a mild attempt to up the healthful content, I served them with a sliced apple, which I sauteed for a minute in the same pan.)

Whole Grain Pancakes (from Michael Smith, originally printed in the Globe and Mail)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat, grain or almond flour
1 cup oatmeal flakes
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk or water
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 eggs, or 4 for added richness
1 teaspoon or more of pure vanilla extract

While you mix the batter, preheat a heavy skillet over medium to medium-high heat.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl. Whisk together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, and then pour them into the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir the batter until it is smooth, but don't overmix.

Cook until bubbles form, then flip. Keep the cakes warm in a low oven until ready to serve.

Serves 4. I quartered the recipe just for me.

Squash and chickpea moroccon stew

I bought a butternut squash a while ago that was threatening to get up and walk right out of my fridge if it didn't get used. So I did a bit of searching and came up with this recipe that looked like a tasty combination of veggies and spices to keep you warm on a cold autumn night. It also appealed because of the addition of chickpeas, one of my favourite ingredients (quick sidenote: my workplace, until recently, had a ban against nuts in the office. On that list were chickpeas. Because they're nuts? What? Thankfully the ban has been lifted, so it's hummus time again).

I actually bought dried chickpeas for this recipe and decided to try them out. They're a bit more labour intensive than opening a can, but not too taxing. All you have to do is soak the beans overnight, then boil the next day for about 40 minutes. Not really a weeknight dinner option, but if you make this stew on a weekend, as I did, it's very doable.

I find both the flavour and texture of these dried babies to be better than canned beans. Plus, if you're like me and routinely lug heavy groceries up flights of stairs, in elevators and down halls, a bag of dried peas is much lighter than a can to carry -- and easier on your wallet too.

So here's how it started. Peeling and chopping one butternut squash. Not the easiest job, especially if you're me and are allergic to squash flesh. It's true! The skin on my hands starts to peel when I handle squash or pumpkin, so I could never carve the jack o' lantern as a kid (insert sympathetic 'awww' here).

Chopping the potatoes, crushing the cumin seeds and getting the cinnamon stick ready. Do you think I have enough? By the way, my mortar and pestle is from Atelier Orange -- it's beautiful to look at and to use.


Here's everything simmering away on the stove. I let this cook a bit too long and the squash lost its shape and became a bit mushy.

Finishe product, garnished with plain yoghurt, a dash of hot sauce and some almonds. I served it over couscous, but I'm sure it would also be good over some brown rice. Next time I'd bump up the spices a bit, as this was a little more bland than I would have liked. It is, however, an incredibly filling meal, and a good veggie alternative to a traditional meat stew.

Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew (From smittenkitchen.com)

Serves 6 to 8

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, small dice
4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound butternut squash, large dice
3/4 pound red potatoes, large dice
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained (*I used dry beans. I cup dry makes about two cups cooked)
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juices
Pinch saffron threads (optional) (*I used saffron stolen from Budapest!)
1/2 preserved lemon, finely chopped (*I substituted lemon zest)
1 cup brined green olives
Steamed couscous, for serving
Fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, for garnish (*I used parsley instead)
Toasted slivered almonds, for garnish
Plain yogurt, for garnish
Hot sauce of your choice (for serving)

Heat butter and olive oil in a 3- to 4-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add onion, garlic, cumin, and cinnamon, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spices are aromatic and onions are soft and translucent, about five minutes.

Add squash and potatoes, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir to coat, and cook until just tender, about three minutes. Add broth, chickpeas, tomatoes and their juices, and saffron, if using. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until squash is fork tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in preserved lemon and olives. Serve over couscous garnished with cilantro, almonds, and yoghurt.

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate the holiday, I thought I'd post a pumpkin recipe. I've actually made this twice in the past little while, both times with great results. It's a moist bread, not too sweet, that just smacks of fall flavours. I significantly boosted the spice quotient the second time around, as I'm a sucker for cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in baked goods.

It's pretty easy to make, and doesn't require dirtying beaters. Make sure you buy pure pumpkin puree, and not pumpkin pie filing, which is already pre-spiced. Also, don't try to buy pumpkin puree on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, because no grocery store will have any available (at least that was the case in Ottawa).

In addition to boosting the spices, I took some liberties with the cider as well. The first time I made this, I reduced the cider down, but did it too quickly, so it resulted in a syrupy blob, that I then attempted to re-liquify with some more cider. The second time I made the recipe, I bypassed the reduction step altogether and just added 1/4 c. of cider directly to the bowl. I couldn't taste much of a difference between the two.

Grating the apple. Recipe calls for a Northern Spy, but I used an Empire. I also grated the whole apple and it didn't seem to affect the final product at all.

Dry ingredients getting ready. I probably added a whole teaspoon of cinnamon, and almost as much nutmeg (my substitution for mace). I put in a 1/4 tsp of cloves too, instead of a dash. Next time I'll throw in a bit of powdered ginger too.

Pumpkin Cider Bread (originally published in the Ottawa Citizen)

1 ½ c. apple cider (*see note about reduction above)
1 c. pumpkin puree
2 eggs
¼ c. canola oil
½ firmly packed brown sugar
½ c. grated Northern Spy apple (*I used Empire)
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground mace
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
dash of ground cloves

1. In a saucepan, boil the cider until it is reduced to about ¼ c. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, brown sugar, grated apple and the reduced cider.

3.In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.

4. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined.

5. Transfer batter to a well-greased 8x4” loaf pan and bake in preheated 350F oven for one hour, or until a tester comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven and let cool.

Cream cheese icing

3 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1 tbsp. butter, room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream
¼ c. icing sugar

1. Combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, cream and icing sugar in a bowl. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
2. Drizzle onto cooled bread.

The final loaf! I didn't make the cream cheese recipe called for in the recipe, but mixed together a bit of icing sugar with some melted butter (about 1 tbsp.), some cinnamon and milk. It worked!

Wining and dining

It was a whirlwind trip to the county (PEC) this weekend. We visited a number of wineries, most of which I didn't see last time around. Given that I'm now a wine scholar (har har), I'm going to provide a quick review of each of our stops.

First up was County Cider Company. This was my second trip to this pretty stone barn, overlooking Lake Ontario. They make a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic ciders, from many locally-grown apples. They also produce a few wines as well. I didn't buy anything this time around, but the Waupoos Cider, available at the LCBO, is well worth the buy. And although I didn't spot any for sale this time, their Ice Cider is phenomenal -- like apple pie on crack!

Tasting experience: free samples of flights of cider, ending in their limited-edition sparkling version, drinks poured in order of sweetness

Tasting environment: drinks served bar style, showroom inside old stone barn, washrooms on-site, faint smell of fermented apples, large windows/doors overlooking vineyards

Customer service: friendly staff, eager to pour, provided description of produce

Overall experience (out of 10): 8

Next up, and just down the road, was Waupoos. This is probably one of the prettiest wineries in the county, and would make a great location for a wedding or other special occasion. I visited Waupoos last trip, and was impressed by some of their German-based varieties that aren't too common in Canada. But then I bought two bottles and both were corked. So let's just say my impression was a bit tarnished after that.

Tasting experience: samples $1

Tasting environment: drinks served circular bar style, wine store doubles as a gift shop with some tacky wine-related accessories for sale

Customer service: staff seemed uninterested in serving us, provided information about the wines only when asked, gave some questionable information about German varieties!

Overall experience: 5

Last stop of the day on Saturday was Long Dog Winery, whose covered vines are pictured above. Interestingly enough, this is one of the only wineries in the county who make all their wine with grapes grown on their property. Many other ship in juice or fruit from Niagara to supplement production.

Long Dog was on my list this time around as it was closed for my last trip. I'd also had one of their Chardonnays in my wine class last fall and was suitably impressed. Their operation isn't huge, but is housed in pretty stone house and rustic old barn along an old country road. The owners are an Imax film producer and a former Bay Street lawyer, who recently ditched his legal work to pursue wine making full-time. And how do I know this? Because it was this former lawyer who poured our wines and spent 20 minutes talking passionately to us about the winery's history and production. Bonus marks for great customer service here! Plus we got really good restaurant recommendations from him.

Long Dog only makes Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris and Noir. The wines are on the pricey side, but I bought a bottle of Pinot Gris (pressed with skins on) anyway. The wine didn't exactly blow me away, but I bought it because I enjoyed talking to the winemaker so much, and wanted to support him. See how important customer service is?

Tasting experience: free samples (but I believe we would have had to pay had we not bought), nice minerally mouthfeel to all the whites, which I particularly like

Tasting environment: drinks served bar style in old barn with all sorts of daschund chotzkes on display; best stemware of entire trip

Customer service: excellent! knowledgeable, intelligent and friendly

Overall experience: 9


Next day it was Huff, also where we stayed. In the picture, you can see the bag, so I clearly purchased (Also, I was attempting to "smize" here, but failed miserably, as you can tell. Instead I look drunk -- which I was not!)

Anyway, Huff has some very nice wines on offer, and their facilities (winery and inn) are very stylish. I tasted a very nice unoaked Chardonnay and their rose, both of which I bought. Their merlot is yummy as well, but needs to sit for a bit. I have a bottle from my last trip three years ago that should be quite good in another couple of years.

This was the only place we took a tour of the rather small production operation Our tour guide was terrible, both in knowlegeability and in presentation skills. This makes a very poor impression on potential buyers!

Tasting experience: free samples with our coupon received at check in (we had three), then we could have seemingly had as many more as we wanted after the tour

Tasting environment: drinks served bar style, wine shop nicely displayed

Customer service: woman pouring samples wasn't very helpful about varieties, no water offered between samples! see above for notes on tour guide

Overall experience: 6

Then it was on to Norman Hardie, a little winery that has been generating a fair amount of press lately. I was eager to try it out, and the first impression of the funky-looking sign was a good start.

But it was downhill from there!

The wine shop is housed in a modern looking barn, that I suppose was meant to look "interesting", but instead just looks ugly. The walk up to the tasting room is also ugly -- a sea of gravel with nary a flower or gourd in site. What up, Norman? Trying to ignore the fact that it's fall? The lousy first impression outside continued inside, where we were met with the mildly revolting smell of fermenting fruit and, rotten eggs? Something vomitous anyway. Didn't exactly tempt us to stay and taste, but we figured we had made the drive, so we opted to stay.

Again, this is another spot with pricey wines. Their tasting flight featured their pinots and chardonnays. The pinot was nice, with a good cherry flavour, but not worth the price in my mind.

Tasting experience: sample flight $6

Tasting environment: glasses were dirty, smell was off-putting

Customer service: surly teenager pouring our wine was about as uninterested in what she was doing as she could possibly be, we had to ask her quite firmly to explain to us what we were tasting (she complied, but without enthusiasm)

Overall experience: 3

Last stop of the day on Sunday was Closson Chase, owned by Canadian actress Sonia Smits. This is definitely one of the most picturesque wine shops -- a renovated barn painted in cool shades of purple. So you knew I was gonna like it, right?

Inside, gorgeous floral arrangements and original artwork adorn the space. There are even some chaises available to take in the atmosphere.

The tasting room is rather small and dark, but the staffer was friendly and welcoming. Their tasting flight was pre-set at $10 for three chardonnays. When we asked about the possibility of just one taste, we were told that the wine maker set up the flight in this fashion and it couldn't be altered. Huh? That's a bit rigid for something as hedonistic as wine tasting ought to be, don't you think?

We forked out a tenner anyway, and tasted some very fine chards. Again, the prices were a bit out of our league, so we didn't buy.

Tasting experience: sample flight $10

Tasting environment: intimate, only spot to offer palate-cleansing bread in between wines

Customer service: friendly and knowledgeable, but not really remarkable

Overall experience: 7

Closson Chase does get a bit of extra mention for its marketing pumpkin, seen below. Take a hint, Norman Hardie!

And lest you think the trip was without any food, let me allay your fears. While I didn't take many pictures, we did eat very well.

First up for lunch on Saturday was Buddha Dog in Picton. I've read a lot about this place, and I have to say that I left feeling pretty underwhelmed. The idea behind this small restaurant is to offer gourmet, locally-sourced all-beef hot dogs with a variety of toppings and condiments. The dogs themselves are cheap, at $2 a pop, and then you pay extra depending on what kind of toppings you want. The dogs are also incredibly small, about 4 inches maybe, so our order of two didn't leave us feeling full. We both got suckered in to ordering the dogs with the special "bacon jam" (yep. bacon jam) which was basically cooked down bacon with maple. It was tasty, but didn't exactly knock our socks off. Overall impression? Kinda gimicky and a bit pretentious.

Dinner on Saturday was better though. We ate at Harvest, and apart from the restaurant being crowded and a bit noisy, everything was great. The starter of pumpkin gnochi with sage and mushrooms was delicious and our mains of steak frites and lamb were great as well.

We were hoping for a bit of a dramatic outburst from chef Michael Potter, but sadly he was quite well behaved that evening.

Sunday found us in Wellington, and to a small place on the Main Street, called East & Main. This spot was recommended to us by our new friend at Long Dog Winery. The menu was impressive, and it actually took a while to narrow down the choices.

Here's what we had.....



Roast chicken quiche and "sassy" slaw. Verdict? Quiche was tasty and moist. Slaw needed more sass.

And roast chicken sandwich with lemon aioli and roasted parsnip and pear soup. The sandwich was yummy, but the soup was really tasty. I just wish there had been more of it. Presentation was a little lacking, and the portions could have been a wee bit bigger.

But a good food find in a pretty town none-the-less.

So that's it -- PEC in a weekend. After two fall visits, my next visit may have to be in the spring. 'Til next time!

Feels like fall!

I took a mini-road trip to Prince Edward County this weekend to visit some wineries. The weather wasn't great as we headed out on Saturday morning, but things improved and we were treated to some wonderful fall sights. Like this leaf-covered pathway and pumpkin trio outside a house in Bloomfield.

Lots of farm stands along the way selling seasonal squash.

And gourds of all shapes and sizes!

Some vines changing colour.

And lots 'o punkins!

A festive planter. They really go crazy decorating in the county!

More on my winery visits (and reviews) later.

Sunday stroll

Yes, I know it's Thursday (and almost Friday) but I really don't know where this week has gone.

It poured rain today and was bitterly cold, but Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day, so I decided to take a bit of a walk around Beechwood Cemetery. A bit morbid, I agree, but it's so close to me and I've never been, so I decided a peek was long overdue.

It's really a very beautiful spot, right in the middle of the city. So quiet too, as er, I guess cemetaries are. It also happens to be Canada's national military cemetery, so unfortunately, it has been a bit in demand lately.

Here are some shots of the afternoon.