How "In" Can Donuts be?

Well, if you call yourself a Donuterie, bake and sell out of a temporary location (and promote it as such), open till 3:00 pm provided there are any donuts left (I had to try three times before I managed to get some); it is no wonder Cartem's Donuterie is the most talked about place in town these days.

Tucked in the middle of the not-so-clean-and-tidy part of Gastown (408 Carrall), it is not easy to find. And no, those line ups are not for a food bank, they are for donuts - $3.00 a piece donuts.

So what's behind this door you ask?

Wild and wacky donuts with flavours that change daily.

There are regular, vegan and gluten free donuts. Varied flavours and tastes within each, including the "manly" bacon-bits donuts.

I am not one for donuts, so I picked up a sampler and put them through the test of a donuts aficionado.

"It's all good, nicely fried cake, mostly quiet sweet, good texture, obviously not industrially made"

"Classic was the least sweet; Cinnamon and Sweet Heat had subtle flavours difficult to detect, but sweet and good texture; the Earl Grey seemed to be more chocolate to me - cakey, dark, no bergamot detected"

Any remember the 80's discussions about is it a trend or a fad?

Whatever it is, Cartems Donuterie is worth lining up for; even just to look at the spread, view the production and chat with friendly owners.

  Cartems Donuterie

408 Carrall Street

Vancouver, BC

 

Order Online for Delivery @ Cartems.com

Follow on Twitter for regular updates on daily flavours @Cartemsdonuts

And while on Twitter, follow somerville kitchen @somervillektchn

Chicken Pesto Pasta

What a simple dinner to welcome spring. 

Leftover chicken from Sunday; leftover frozen Thai Pesto; a pack of lent friendly whole grain whole wheat spaghetti and dinner is ready.

Chicken was cut really small (and only white chicken was the advice).

The pasta was boiled and drained. Chicken and pesto mixed in; a sprinkle of parmesan cheese (oops, I meant lemon juice given lent) and a delicious dinner was served.

Guess who was the first to run to the table tonight? Cats loves chicken.

Macarons Day with Soirette

Les mots qui suivre sont tout ce dont je besoin écrir sur Soirette.

A charming colourful place with a French ambiance (they come from Paris after all) tucked in Coal Harbour on West Pender (West of Jervis).

Macarons (and tea) is all you'd find. But with close to 20 macarons flavours, there is not much more you need. Only three flavours you'd expect to see (lemon, vanilla, chocolate). The rest are the ones to experiment with and try (e.g., lavender, violet, pistachio, jasmine, rose, matcha, passion fruit and on and on).

A dozen is not cheap, but is sure a treat worth indulging on. Imagine the look on the face of your loved ones who love macarons when they open the box and face those options. Would you ever be able to match such a gift?

So today, on Macaron Day (which originated in France after all), visit Soirette Macarons & Tea and help donate to Make a Wish Foundation. Enjoy and thank me for the tip with one of their macarons.

Soirette

Macarons & Tea

1433 West Pender St.

Vancouver, BC

www.soirette.com

 

Monday Gluten Free Feasting

A first time guest at somerville kitchen deserves the full Lebanese feasting menu. But this guest needed a gluten free diet so careful menu selection was in order.

Most of the prep was done on the weekend and the not-so-spring temperatures were ideal to keep everything semi-made fresh in le jardin.

Humus and Baba Ghanouj were made; green beans were boiled, okra was fried, parsley was chopped other veggies were chopped; meat marinated; quinoa made.

This made it very easy to whip all ready in a couple of hours before the guest arrived tonight.

First, the kebabs (meat, kafta, shish taouk) were prepared; ready to grill.

Then, a quinoa-instead-of-bulger wheat tabouleh was mixed.

The greens (tabouleh, a green salad and fried lettuce) were put on the table.

The humus and baba ghanouj were mixed and the feasting begun.

A pleasant evening indeed. Looking forward to having this guest again at somerville kitchen.

Rubbing the Chicken

Last week I used three different Rick's Rub for the meal (read Rub á Trois).  

Tonight, Sunday dinner used one Rick's Rub - Heat, but used it in three parts of the dinner.

First, a roasting chicken was rubbed with 2 Tbs of Rick's Rub Heat and roasted slowly.

A perfect chicken. The flavours were subtle, the skin crunchy and the meat moist and flavourful. Thank you Rick for the hint.

Moving on to the roasted potatoes. I cut them into small chunks and rubbed them with oil and a pinch of Rick's Rub Heat.

This is where the heat flavours came out brilliantly. Those potatoes were delicious.

As the wine was being gulped, I decided to get more experimental. I recalled Rick mentioning that he uses the rub in sweets and baked goods. Now I am not sure he was referring to the Rick's Rub Heat, but that was the one I had out so I went for it.

I worked with what I had - two apples and one grapefruit. Those were pealed and chopped into chunks. They were sprinkled with 2 Tbs brown sugar and a generous pinch of Rick's Rub Heat.

I then added some nuts and fruit muesli and let all simmer on very low heat.

I underestimated the power of the rub's natural ingredients. Rick's Rub Heat has over five different types of peppers, let alone herbs, salt and garlic; so it is pretty powerful and those flavours were absorbed in both the fruit and the muesli.

I kept on adding brown sugar until the taste was just right - sweet enough but with a hot aftertaste that was unique, powerful and fun to eat.

Next time I will use just a small pinch or try one of the milder Rick's Rubs when using in desserts.

Now if only I used Rick's Rub in the popovers, I may not have forgotten all about them in the oven and burnt them (or was it too much wine?).

Judging from the amount of food consumed, the triple use of Rick's Rub Heat seemed to have been popular with the guests.

Irish Feast, Irish Food

For St. Patrick's Day, I elected to celebrate Regina Sexton style with her great book of recipes and stories - A Little History of Irish Food.

Spring lamb is regularly used to celebrate festivities in Ireland so I stuck to lamb. 

I also stuck to a simple production. 

Thin slices of garlic were inserted within the lamb. The meat was rubbed with pepper and cooked in a 350 oven for a couple of hours.

Fascinating stories in the book on cabbage so I tried Colcannon - mashed potatoes and cabbage.

"Did you ever eat colcannon,
When 'twas made with yellow cream
And the Kale and Praties blended
Like a picture in a dream? 


I am not sure how Irish corn is given it is a new world crop. But it was the first I've seen them this season and craved them.

 
Now I can lounge in my new library and enjoy some of my favourite Irish authors. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Drinking on the Job?

Yesterday it was gambling on the job (click Here to read all about it).

Today, it was drinking on the job. HR, before getting too dramatic, this was all for charity.

Yes, we had a St. Patrick's Day fundraiser where staff made pancakes and served mimosas (so you can imagine how productive the rest of the day was).

And, very appropriate for the occasion, all was served in green. Here are some snap shots of the breakfast.

Pancakes from Mars?

Looking much more edible once cooked.

Even the champagne was coloured green.


All had fun and the company matched the funds raised. All proceeds are distributed across 4 charities chosen by employees: BC Children's Hospital, BC SPCA, Covenant House Vancouver and WAVAW.

Thanks for our chefs, grillers and bar tenders - it was a great way to kick off St. Patrick's Day celebration. Now time to go shopping for lamb and potatoes for the St. Patrick's Day dinner tomorrow. Tune back here soon to read all about that.

Disclaimer: Yes, I know pancakes include white flour and creamy milk and I should not eat it for lent. But I am sure JC would rather I help the needy than stick to my lent.