B-b-b-baking: Murderer's Roll?

I'm sorry for being behind on my posts :( Things have been crazy busy as of late! I have time today for a quick post, so here it is... (as for the others, I will work on updating July's entries over the next few weeks, so bear with me!)

P has a jungle in his backyard consisting of such things as rhubarb, currants, and raspberries! I will be updating my rhubarb entry soon enough!

Some of the raspberries that we picked from P's pesticide-free backyard :)

Things I have learned today about raspberries:

- Raspberries bleed a lot more than most other berries when smushed, so be careful about that!
- So far, from what I've seen, the most common use for raspberries in baking is in scones and clafoutis - a french dessert that typically has cherries, and not raspberries.
- When you get raspberry juice and smush on your work area, it looks like blood and guts, but smells a lot nicer.
- Raspberries grow on bushes, and they can be at the bottom of the bush, hidden in the middle, or at the top...basically anywhere on the bush. They should come off really easily from the stem/pit thing if they're ready. Darker red ones tend to be sweeter, and brighter reds are usually more tart. Picking raspberries is fun, but you have to be careful for the thorns. I got too ambitious, going for the ones really inside the bush because they looked so good, but in the process got mauled by several branches of thorns.
- Raspberries, as for most berries, taste really good with cream whether it's ice cream, or whipped cream, or what have you.

Honestly...it looks like a was dismembering a limb of some sort...

After I finished slicing all of the rolls, because of the raspberry juice, it looked like I killed something. I had way too much fun with it... It was awesome.

After being sliced and placed in a greased pan, they all bled together. Such camaraderie. *cue look of valour*

The finished product...P's "Murderer's Rolls" (a.k.a. Raspberry Sweet Rolls)! From this angle, they don't look that disproportionate, but I did a pretty terrible job at making them even :) I'll pretend that I was trying to be considerate of those who might want smaller ones or bigger ones.

After panicking about how to pack all of the rolls away without falling victim to the fly that was zipping around the kitchen, P suggested that I plastic wrap each of them individually. It actually turned out quite well, despite the amount of time it took me to complete such a task. I'm too nitpicky sometimes :(

All set for tomorrow's delivery! :D

This was a really fun baking project for the summer! Berries are so summery and fresh! The recipe is pretty well the same as for the cinnamon rolls, except I made twice as many rolls by making them smaller, and filled them with raspberries instead of cinnamon sugar. For the dough recipe, please refer to the page on cinnamon rolls here.

Murderer Roll Filling

*Makes enough filling for 12 regular sized rolls or 24 smaller rolls.*

2 cups of raspberries (1 cup raspberries for each batch of 12 rolls)

2/3 cups of white granulated sugar (1/3 cup sugar for each batch of 12 rolls)

4 Tbsp canola oil (2 Tbsp oil for each batch of 12 rolls)

*Note: I tried half of the rolls with frozen raspberries, and the other half with refrigerated berries. Other recipes for raspberry sweet rolls suggest using individually frozen raspberries, but I don't really find a difference because you smush them anyways. Either way, raspberry juice oozes out, or at least it did for me. I find that the refrigerated berries were much easier to spread since they were soft.*

1. After having rolled out one half of your dough, spread 2 Tbsp of oil evenly across the surface. 

2. Evenly spread 1/3 cup sugar over the surface of the dough.

3. In a bowl, smush 1 cup of raspberries with a spoon, and spread it evenly across the surface of the dough.

4. Roll the dough into a lengthwise log, and divide into 12 even rolls.

5. Carefully place each roll upside down into your greased pan. This will make it so that the nice spirals show from the tops. You will probably get raspberry blood on your hands during this process.

6. Bake for 20 min at 425 F. (I first tried to bake them at 350 F for about 25 min, but they were still soft from the moisture, so I put them back in for another 10 min at 425 F. You should get a nicer golden brown not pictured here. The pictures only show the 350 F trial.)

7. Cool briefly and individually wrap in plastic wrap, or consume right away. I found that these were already sweet on their own and didn't need a glaze, but if you prefer a glaze or even whipped cream, knock yourself out!

Have fun with these summery sweet rolls! :)

-M

Love for the Locals: Taste of Edmonton 2013

It's actually been at least a few years since I last went to the Taste of Edmonton, but in the spirit of Edmonton's summer events, I went with some friends after playing badminton. One friend was nice enough to order tickets through work so that he could get them 10% off :) P and I shared one sheet of 30 tickets (the perks of having an SO, woohoo), and this is what we came up with...

To start off our venture, we grabbed a large lemonade from Lemon Heaven for 4 tickets to battle the heat and quench our thirst. It was funny because there was a big Lemon Heaven by the Tix on the Square office where there was a ridiculously long line to go with it. Then, there was the smaller booth set up next to ice cream and bubble tea that nobody noticed, where we went. It was your typical lemonade, but it helped that the sweet to sour balance was bang on. :)

Chicken Bhoona on rice from Bob's Bombay Curry 'N' Hurry! It's kind of awesome how the shadow from the window in front of the big vat shone over the mass of Chicken Bhoona. They were smart and had a plastic window with a wall and window to protect the simmering goodness from seagull poop attacks.

We grabbed a regular plate for 3 tickets! It was actually pretty good, and portion-wise pretty decent for Taste of Edmonton too. You got the rice from the ordering window, and walked over to the vat to get your bhoona on. It had chicken, bell peppers, and onions...and bhoona. I'm sorry, I don't know what that means, but it was pretty tasty.

Alberta Prime Rib Stuffed Mini Yorkshire Pudding from On the Rocks for 3 tickets! P and I lucked out because they gave us a larger mini yorkshire pudding and more prime rib than our friends got. Haaa... It was basically that - a mini yorkshire pudding with some slices of prime rib, and some creamy, tangy sauce on top.

Falafel from Drift for 2 tickets! For 2 tickets, this was probably one of the better deals. It came with lettuce, onion, a falafel pattie made of chickpeas and other sorts of beans, on a little bun. My first epicurean taste into the land of food trucks. 

House-Made Alberta Cannelloni from Bistecca Italian Steakhouse & Wine Bar for 3 tickets! Fresh cannelloni pasta with ground bison, and a cream sauce on top. It actually tasted like your average cream-based lasagna to be honest :/ But not bad, and it was somewhat filling, which is pretty good for Taste of Edmonton.

Who says dessert has to come last? Not us - that's for sure. Crepe Glace Au Chocolat from The Creperie for 3 tickets! It was a frozen dessert crepe filled with vanilla ice cream, with a spoonful of dark chocolate sauce, a sprinkle of sliced almonds, and a healthy dollop of whipped cream. Mmm... They also gave each customer a $5 off gift certificate :D Yay!

P really wanted spinach pie, so spinach pie, he had. Spanakopita from It's All Greek To Me for 3 tickets! A spanakopita is a greek spinach pie consisting of phyllo pastry, creamed spinach, and cheese. It tastes pretty good, but it was a bit too buttery and rich for me :/ My tummy isn't built to handle immense amounts of dairy...especially considering I just had a crepe filled with icecream, and ate all of the remaining whipped cream.

"Mac" Scone with Whipped Cream and Berry Compote for 4 tickets from Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. Nothing less than expected from such an expensive place. It was so good...and there was definitely mascarpone in the whipped cream...it was so tiramisu-like, and the sweetness was ever so slight...sigh...I had to let P finish all of the rest because I was reaching my dairy limit :(

Wild Mushroom Bisque, Truffle Oil, and Puff Pastry Stick from Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. Probably one of the best mushroom bisques I've ever tasted...so...mushroomy...and only 2 tickets! 

The last item that we tried was the Mini Mac Melt from Molly's Eats for 3 tickets. It was one of the longest lines at the event, so we left it until the end to try. The melt was very interesting...it was bacon mac 'n cheese and pulled pork inside a grilled cheese sandwich o_O I had never had pasta inside a sandwich before, so that was definitely something. I think it was good that it was a small portion though...it was interesting, but not my favourite. 

Overall, I'd say that P and I had a pretty successful haul from this year's Taste of Edmonton! Most items that we picked were 2-3 tickets which equated to a bit less than $2-3 each, and for the most part had decent portions. We got a good variety of dishes for a bit less than $30!

There was a lot of East Indian cuisine featured at the Taste of Edmonton this year, and a lot of ice cream. Some of the foods vended were more carnival-esque than anything else... You had your deep-fried Mars Bar, candied bacon on a stick (that without the stick was novelty-free candied bacon), deep-fried pickles, and "pig balls", which were made of pulled pork, wrapped in risotto and deep-fried.

Nonetheless, it was a fun summery thing to do in Edmonton, especially with one of our friends who hadn't spent a summer in Edmonton yet. I wonder what we should do next...

-M

Budget-Friendly Bites: Cowgary Commute - Stampeeeede!!

It's that time of year when the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth livens up the city of Calgary. A few weeks ago, Calgarians and other Albertans in K-Country and the South were struck with the flood of 2013. Many popular areas in central Calgary were flushed out with river water including the designated Stampede grounds. While things didn't look too good for the Stampede, the mayor of Calgary promised his citizens that the show would go on. With commendable efforts of the CPS and EPS, Calgary has recovered quite well. The Stampede was able to carry on with its Chuckwagon Races, Rodeo, and other cowboy inspired festivities, with the exclusion of concerts that were to take place at the Saddledome. Great work to everyone for lending a hand to our neighbours! Remember that organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross and Tim Hortons are still collecting donations to support the flood victims. :)

P and I were able to make it down to Calgary for the opening weekend of the Stampede. We enjoyed all sorts of things from hotdogs and mini donuts to people flying around on jetskis to ferris wheels and fireworks! It turned out to be a great day on Saturday when we went to the grounds despite the rainy forecast. It did rain for a little bit in the early evening, but it was while we were inside watching Superdogs, and when we came out, it was even sunnier than before! Talk about good timing, huh?

P's friends were nice enough to spare us a free lunch from Fhat Dawgs! We got a Japanese (fried onions, dried nori strips, mayonnaise, and teriyaki sauce) and a Mexican (fried onions, bacon, tomatoes, jalepeno sauce, and mayonnaise). It was pretty good (but probably not very good for me)!

Anyways, the purpose of this post is not to go on a cutesy gush about my amazing weekend, but to tell you all that not everything is outlandishly priced at the Stampede! This is where the budget-friendly business starts. Across from the South entrance to the Saddledome is the Agriculture area where you can see all kinds of farm animals like pigs, sheep, baby chicks, and horses. 

In the midst of it all is THIS - A Milk 'n Cookies vendor. For the "say what!?" price of $1, you can get a 250 ml carton of white or chocolate milk and...

A wagon wheel! (We must have looked a little bit crazy upon leaving the place. P and I were getting milk and cookies for some friends too, and I had 6 small cartons of chocolate milk in my shoulder bag. The 6 wagonwheels went in P's camera bag. What do you store in your purse??)

Another amazing find with less than a million calories! While casually walking past all of the crazy deepfried pickles and deepfried cheesecake and barbecued turkey legs, P and I found a vendor just across from the West entrance to the Saddledome!

Hidden Valley was looking to promote its salad dressing, so for the "say what what?!" price of $1, you could get a tupperware container of freshly chopped and mixed greens (grape tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, and cucumber) along with a plastic fork, and a packet of Hidden Valley dressing! What's even better is you get to keep the brand new tupperware container, and it comes with a little tupperware cup that click onto the inside of the lid for future snackings requiring sauces or dressings! 

P and I most definitely took advantage of these awesome deals, but we also haaaad to have a bag of those little donuts (each) because come on! Stampeeeede!!!

-M

(Thank you to P for the awesome way-better-than-from-my-cell-phone-camera pictures!)

Love for the Locals: Koffee Cafe

On Canada Day, I usually volunteer for the Millwoods Canada Day Celebration at the park, so P took me for breakfast in the morning at a place called Koffee Cafe (6120-28 Avenue). Neither of us had been there before, but as in most cases, P consulted the ever so prestigious Urbanspoon and apparently the breakfast was supposed to be pretty good, so what the hay? 

From the outside, it looks like your typical independent strip mall convenience store. Shaaady...

Inside, however, it wasn't so bad. It looked like a mix between a cafe and a diner. That, and they sold practically anything you could think of. So, there's a cafe, but they also sell lotto tickets, artwork (similar to what they do at the Sugar Bowl), internet access (like in hotels?), newspapers...oh, and for the special price of 5.99, you could get a glass of wine! 

If you wanted to feel more at home, there was a strategically placed sofa and loveseat set complete with a table, also set with ketchup, salt and pepper, and cream and sugar.

For the special of $6, you can get the Homesteader breakfast which consists of 2 slices of white or brown toast, 3 strips of bacon or sausage, 2 triangular hashbrowns, and 2 eggs any way. Both of us opted for the Homesteader with white toast, bacon, and 2 "over-easy" eggs (P likes to tease me because since I was little, my dad told me "easy over", so I always say "easy over", but even Wikipedia tells me otherwise :( Talk about dashed hopes and dreams, huh?). Nothing was particularly greasy or salty, so I'd say sure! I also wanted to take a closer picture of their menu, but the people who worked there were already looking at me funny.

For a not-too-shabby breakfast in the Millwoods area, try hitting it up at Koffee Kafe, where you can get Butter Chicken and naan or rice first thing in the morning! :D P and I will be your personal guinea pigs and try that someday.

Oh, and Happy Canada Day ;)

-M

P.S. This year was P's first Canada Day as a Canadian! Woo~