Mamajoun, Please Come To Vancouver

Mamajoun

209 Ellesmere Rd., Unit 206

Scarborough, Ont.

mamajoun.com

I was impressed with this Armenian Pizzeria before I walked in just based on its name.  I Lahmajoun, I gathered, is the name of the delicious spicy Armenian thin and light crusted meat pizzas. Mama is mother. 

As soon as I walked in, I was dazzled with the cleanliness of the place and the friendliness of the welcome. I was salivating when the baker (I think he was the owner) walked out with the trays of freshly baked Lahmajoun.

Their menu goes beyond meat. The Manakeesh are the best I tasted in Canada. A cheese or spinach toppings options are also available.

You see Mamajoun, I travel to Lebanon twice a year to eat Manakeesh every day for 15 days. I think I alone can keep a Vancouver Mamajoun busy enough.

A Fresh Look at Rumour

 My regular readers are familiar with my fascination with Regina Airport's Rumour (click HERE for more on Rumour).

But for those who have not read about Rumour, this is a 'store' at the Regina airport that is independently owned by a woman that represents everything that is caring, charming and down-to-earth about Saskatchewan.

The owner also has a keen eye for art. She curates and sells arts, crafts and other items all by Saskatchewan artists and craft makers.

I adore Rumour and look forward to my visits with the lovely owner. But it is very difficult to express in words how happy am I for her move to a bigger, brighter and more prominent location within the airport. 

Congratulations on this move and best of luck. And my readers who live in or pass through Regina, this is a must-visit place. 

Here's the address and below are some tantalizing preview of some of what you may find at Rumour.

Rumour Handcraft Inc.

Regina Airport, Arrival Levels next to luggage pick up

Regina, SK

 

rumour@sasktel.net

Shoes & Food

All you readers know I love food.

But even I did not know I also love shoes, until Shoes2go showed up in our city.

Shoes2go is an online shoe retailer with a showroom in Vancouver. The shoes are all imported from countries that make quality shoes with the latest European designs.

Most importantly, I can buy 2.5 of these shoes for the price of one somewhat similar shoe at the fancy shoe retailers we have in this city (which I am sure you know who I mean).

Shoes2go also knows that the way to a man's feet is through his stomach.

So a shoes, booze and food event introducing the new men's collection prior to hitting the online store made the shoe shopping experience delicious.

So delicious, in fact, that I am now instantly the proud owner of five Shoes2go shoes. To put it in perspective, my whole shoe closet for the past decade had five shoes in it.

 

This cutest pair of shoes, sold exclusively at Shoes2go, is becoming the go-to-shoes for the who's who of the shoes connoisseur guys in the city.

So comfortable that one night I went to bed in it, thinking I had no shoes on (seriously - ask Catsess).

I'm also enjoying my Jesus slippers (below far left) that made it to a Home Depot and Ikea trip in the heat of the day.

 

Quality, design, price, and fun shopping experience are only part of Shoes2go.

The business owners' personality, knowledge and love of shoes, along with state of art customer database simply makes this the only shoe shopping experience I have ever enjoyed.

I will be back.

And yes, they carry women's shoes. In fact, their women's shoes collection is almost twice as vast as the men's collection.

Check it out at Shoes2go.ca. If you want a personal introduction to the business owners, happy to oblige (and you may get a personal invite to a somerville kitchen dinner along the way) - contact me at somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com

 

Falling in Love on Main Street

That's with the latest neatest discovery on Main street - Balance Botanicals

I fell in love with the elegance without pretentiousness.

I fell in love with the smartness of putting quality herbs, spices, grains, candies, teas, salts, peppers and whatever else I am forgetting, for sale in bulk under one roof.

I fell in love with the beautiful packaging, jars, bottles that you can buy with or without the ingredients.

I fell in love with the small business owners' dedication to quality, pride in their offering and the handmade wooden counters.

There was a lot to take in so I need to go back and tackle the inventory category by category. Till then, I am enjoying two teas I bought on the first trip.

 Balance Botanicals

4341 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

www.balancebotanicalsonmain.com 

Got Craft Tour

(continued from yesterday's Got Craft Tour)

More food.

Is it because this is a food blog that I seem to be attracted to all these food items, or is it because the food artisans have better displays than others?

The Local Churn makes six flavoured butters, by hand. A perfect size to buy a few to try at your leisure; I picked up three: Peppercorn brandy, parmesan bacon and almond and dates.

These are the more 'traditional' flavours. Check the website for more.

http://thelocalchurn.ca

Jam and butter go hand in hand. But with wacky butters, one needs similarly fun and wacky jams. That's where East Van Jam comes in.

The options are all unique with the most fascinating names like serene nectarine or madam cherry. The cardamom rose apple jelly is sold out. But how could I have resisted The Tom Cat tomato spread (more on this once I try it).

http://eastvanjam.com/

The Salt Dispensary makes their own smoked salts with all sorts of added flavours.]

I probed them on salts to reduce high blood pressure, but alas, no luck.

But I did have a great time admiring the beauty of the product and the display - so colourful.

www.thecollectivehive.com

And if you are not impressed so far with the quality of Got Craft Vancouver 2015, check what I stocked up on - Archie notebooks; nothing can be cooler for my image at work.

Got Craft Tour

Got Craft Vancouver 2015 is, by far, the best craft fair I have been to in Vancouver.

I went in with a limit of 3 purchases, and a bit skeptical to find even 3 unique, yet useful items to buy at such fairs.

With close to 70 vendors across multiple categories, my purchase limit went up from 3 to, well, I stopped counting.

While blogging 70 vendors is beyond somerville kitchen mandate, today and tomorrow I will talk about some of my favourite picks starting with, who else, but VOKRA!

VOKRA is all about eliminating cat homelessness and overpopulation.

Completely volunteer run, VOKRA rescues homeless cats, places them in foster homes until one of the 2000+ cat lovers adopt them this year.

If a rescued cat is sick, VOKRA's no kill policy means the cat will be looked after by fosters until time to pass on. Please, click HERE and donate (even a toonie helps).

Karla is passionate about teas and her passion is contagious.

Mesmerized by the packaging and smells, I walked out with 3 of these teas.

And based on our land, it is easy to buy these beauties along with other unique tea ware at 

http://karlasspecialteas.ca

Nothing will go better with the fancy tea other than The Lemon Square.

Hand made decadent and addictive squares that come in a box of one or four. They freeze well, stay in the fridge for a week or so and, if you are watching your diet, each square seamlessly splits into four mini bites.

http://thelemonsquare.ca 

If you prefer coffee to go with your lemon squares, you can take a look at Inasequoia Karuna.

Well, it is not really coffee (I was fooled too). It is coffee scrub that is supposed to be great for your skin.

Try it HERE. 

Want more Got Craft finds? Tune back tomorrow.

Wacky Mini Cake

It is no secret I adore sweet e's productions, but this mini coconut cake took my adoration level up to the power 10.

It is a white cake with a touch of coconut, covered with cream sprinkled with coconut. 

But most adorable is the size of this cake.

It is mini in a wacky way that makes it a perfect catsess cake - beautifully put together, a pleasure to eat and a cake to dream about buying again (and again).

Sweet e's

2032 West 41st

Vancouver, BC

www.sweet-e.ca

 

Edible Shopping

Two years ago to the day, I discovered Edible Canada, a restaurant serving local foods (Read A Restaurant & A Café).

At the back of the restaurant, there is a tiny store that is packed with locally (provincially) made goodies. It probably packs the widest selection of local made goodies across over a dozen categories.

Since I get overwhelmed fast, I focused on specific ones, mainly those that the packaging attracted me to.

These included chocolates, salts, peanut butter, jams and jellies. These are the products featured. What else they sell will have to wait till the next visit.

My favourite purchase, though, was this blueberry with lavender jam.

I have already tried it over rice pudding, with peanut butter, on toast and a full spoonful out of the jar.

Definitely a place worth visiting on your next Granville Island trip.

Edible Canada
1596 Johnston St.

Vancouver, BC

www.ediblecanada.com