Eating out, Paleo style

Yesterday went well. Aside from feeling hungry all the time, I'm starting to get used to this. Why do I feel hungry all the time? must be the lack of carbs in my diet. Going to try and rectify this with some carrot sticks for snacks today.

So yesterday, I joined my girlfriend for some Lebanese food. I thought it would be easy to do a couple of substitutions, but it was harder than I thought. I ended up ordering side dishes and appetizers. The main courses had hummus, pits and felafel, all no-nos. I did order some fatoush salad, a plate of mixed olives and pickles (not the sweet ones) some chicken shwarma meat and a spicy sausage fried with onions and peppers. I realized later that the sausage may have contained a few things I shouldn't eat, but I'm sure I'll figure this all out with time!

Day 3....only 27 more days!

Pre-Paleo Planning

So yesterday was my first day without my beloved Tim Horton's double double. It was rough. I managed to avoid the chocolate treats floating around at work (major accomplishment!) So Day one at work a definite success!

I stopped by Mariposa (our organic health store) on the way home, hoping to find something to put in my coffee. I picked up some almond milk that had been sweetened with cane sugar. Something to help me with the lack of dairy in my life. I also picked up some coconut oil, for cooking and condiments. 

We had a couple of pasta and bean salads leftover from the weekend, which we finished off with some baked salmon for supper. Now, there's nothing left in the fridge and I can attempt my first full day of eating Paleo.

I have decided to bring some extra snacks to work today, I found that I was very hungry just before the work day ended. The fact that I never snacked at all (on the junk going around) may have something to do with that. Banana and almonds for today!

P-P-P-Paleo

It seems that my love of food has gotten the best of me. I have gained a 'few extra' pounds over the past year and have decided to try a Paleo diet to help with removing said weight.

The challenge will be the fun part. Learning to enjoy a meal without processed foods or dairy for that matter!

It's 30 days, and this is all I have to keep telling myself, 30 days out of my life. 30 days with no sweeteners, this will be hard, since I love my chocolate, of course the sweet and milky kind. 30 days with no wheat...hmm, no so hard, I can't say I eat that much bread now, the hard part will be no baked treats that we usually make with flour. 30 days no grain, except for quinoa, this will be the easiest.

I will be checking in daily to vent my frustrations and near misses, well I hope near misses. I will be quite upset with myself if I do cave!

Today, I eliminate the coffee, the large double double that fills me with java joy every morning! I will replace my caffeine with some green tea, which I can drink sans cream or sugar. We have a few salads leftover from the weekend, we should have them finished off by tomorrow, hoping for a complete paleo diet by Wednesday...

Wish me luck!

My Valentine's Day at Five Fishermen

Better late than never...

Apologies for the tardiness on this blog, but here I am, and it shall be written.

Having been in the cooking industry for such a long time, I was used to cooking on Valentines day opposed to enjoying a meal, cooked for me. So I do enjoy a nice night out. For tonight's meal, I chose Five Fishermen.

I haven't been since 1995, and when I returned to Nova Scotia in 2006 I was happy to see it still in operation. I had always said I wanted to return for another meal, and I have finally made it.

To be honest, I can't remember much about my meal back in '95, I was with my parents, they were up for my high school graduation, that's about it. Can't say I was that much into food at the time, all I know is that I was happy to be eating something that wasn't served out of a casserole from the cafeteria!

Tonight, well that's completely different, I am here for the food indeed! So let's get started.

I had a already taken a quick look at the menu online, like I always do, unless of course it's not available. I had decided it was going to be an appetizer, main course and dessert kinda night :) Then I noticed it, just at the top of the page, I must have missed it the first time... There was a mussel and salad bar, complimentary with the purchase of a main course. What shall I do? Mussels and an appetizer? Salad and mussels? Just mussels? Just appetizer?...Once I collected myself, I decided why sell myself short, I was having it all!

Before we ordered any food, we had to decide on a glass of wine. Before I go any further, Gary and I are NOT wine experts! In fact, we don't know much but thanks to a very knowledgeable staff, Gary got his not too sweet, not too dry glass of white wine and I got my Argentinian Malbec glass of red. 

We were happy and now it was time for some salad & mussel bar. They had a  Waldorf style, Greek style and two other mixed salads along with the makings for a garden salad. There was also a few different dips and Pate. I tried a spoonful of most, keeping mind I had to save space for so much more. It was an enjoyable sampler.

 

(apologies for the lower quality photos.
 I don't use a flash when dining out,
 it's a respect thing)

The mussels were being served warm with a choice of six different dipping sauces. I went with my favorite, garlic butter. Gary did the same. I wanted a second plate but had to restrain myself, we were only on round 1 of appetizers...I had a lot more ahead of me!

Just as we finished our plates, our appetizers(round 2) were ready.

I love oysters and if they're on the menu, I'm usually eating them. I chose the oyster fritters. Three oysters, dipped in "Alexander's Keith's" beer batter and fried. Served with a nice lemon-caper tartar and a slice of lemon. Nicely cooked, crispy and tasty!

Gary had the East Indian crab cakes.Two perfectly pan-seared crab cakes served along side a Mango Salad, pickled lime & coconut remoulade. All the flavors complimented each other well. The crab cakes were nice a crisp on the outside, soft and full of taste on the inside.

Before Our main courses arrived, I decided to order another drink, the wine went down a  little quicker than I had anticipated :) There was a cocktail called the Dirty Caesar,  as soon as I saw mention of an oyster, I was sold. I was quite amused when the drink arrived. A nicely made Caesar with a oyster in the half shell, placed on top of the glass. Nicely done indeed! Oh and instead of the celery it was a spicy pickled bean,  it all went great together.

And now, time for the main courses.  I had the Atlantic Seafood Linguini. A nice portion of shrimp, scallops, halibut & salmon in a lemon Chardonnay cream sauce. I'm picky about my creamy pasta and this one passed with flying colors. Wonderfully cooked pasta in a flavorful sauce all nicely seasoned. The seafood was plentiful, the shrimp and scallops were a nice size. A feast for the eyes. I took my time eating this, it was worth savoring every bite.

Gary's favorite fish is Halibut so it was a no brainer for him. He chose the Oven Roast "Sambro" Halibut, and enjoyed every morsel. I must agree, the Halibut was beautifully cooked. Trying it was a pleasure. 

With almost no space left, I made room and ordered dessert. I insisted Gary try something as well. Truth be told, I was really torn between two and couldn't decide so I convinced Gary to order one...shh, don't tell him :) 

If you know me, you know about my "thing" for chocolate.  Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse on a Nuttella Brownie was one choice. It came out looking like a little pyramid. I liked it, the whole presentation was nice. Flavor, spot on and the mousse had a nice smooth texture.

My second dessert, er I mean Gary's dessert was the Local Field Blueberry Creme Brulee
Lemon Almond Biscotti, yummy.  Cracking the surface to get at the creamy center, yummy-yummy! Glad I chose both, if not, I would have missed out.

These Holiday meals can put quite a bit of pressure on everybody. Those deciding where to eat don't want to make a bad choice and disappoint their guest. The cooks, well they have an extra bit of pressure, Valentines is the one of the busiest days in the industry, if not the busiest. The service is always long and sometimes painful, but it's rewarding when you hear the compliments coming back to the kitchen. That's what kept me going all the years I was cooking. One compliment a day, it's all I needed the rest was gravy.

Enough of that, 

Five Fishermen, you did it.....Service  A+, Food  A+, Atmosphere  A+

2 Apps

2 Mains

2 Desserts 

2 Wine

1 Cocktail

Total 160$ ... Worth every dime.

Thank you to Five Fishermen for a wonderful night out with my partner, Gary. There's a good reason why you've been open for nearly 40 years....you know what you're doing. Keep doing it.

Five Fishermen

P.O. Box 877, Station M
Halifax, NS Canada
B3J 2W1

Reservations online @ www.fivefishermen.ca

Twitter @5fishermen

Facebook Group Five Fishermen

Happy Eating!

Would you like some Phở?

Out on a mission, looking for a shelving unit to fit in our compact computer room. We came up empty. It was a cold, icy, slushy kinda day, my feet were cold and wet. What better way to warm yourself up than a big bowl of Phở. 

Until a few years ago, I had no idea about Phở, now I can't go very long without it! We've made it at home and it's pretty good, but there's just that little extra "something" that goes in a bowl of Phở from from Phở Hoang Minh, Wyse Rd., Dartmouth.

We order the same thing every time we visit,  #2 and #9, x 2.  

The #2 is a rice paper roll with pork, shrimp, bean sprouts and vermicelli noodles, served with peanut sauce. We've made these at home as well and they're just as fun to make as they are to eat. There's also a veggie and just pork option.

The #9 is the beef Phở, made by slow cooking beef bones and adding herbs and seasonings. The broth is then served over rice noodles with thinly sliced beef added on top. There are many variations to Phở. Chicken, veggie, and even seafood can be some of them. At Phở Hoang Minh, there's just the three beef selections, sliced beef, meatball, and a combo also with flank.

Phở is served with a side plate garnished with bean sprouts, Thai basil (not the same as the basil regularly found at a Superstore or Sobey's), lime and sometimes a hot chilli pepper. I love adding the lime and Thai basil. There's also a bottle of hot sauce and hoisin sauce available, I add a bit of each. 

As amazing as the Phở is, I can never make it through the entire bowl! There's just so much food and broth. It's a great meal for warming you up or making you feel better.

Gary gives his Phở a thumbs up! You can just see the size of the bowl, this ain't your regular sized soup bowl!

Although there are many great places to enjoy a bowl of Phở in the HRM, this is my personal favorite.

Just as you come off the Macdonald Bridge, take a left on Wyse and it's in the little strip mall just a little way down on the right. 

If you're planning on bringing a friend who's just a little less adventurous, there's also a few other Vietnamese selections and a nice selection of Chinese food dishes including a lot of combination plates.

The bill.

#2 - $2.25 x 2

#9 - $8.50 x 2

 pop x 2

Bill came to approx $28, Not bad for a great meal that fills you up!

Happy Eating!

http://www.phohoangminh.com 

172 Wyse Road, 

Unit # 115 Dartmouth, 

Nova Scotia, Canada 

Phone: (902) 465-6868

Hours of operation:
Mondays- Wednesdays : 11:00am - 9:00pm
Thursdays-Saturday : 11:00am - 10:00pm
Sundays & Holidays : 12:00pm - 9:00pm

Bacon Torpedo!

Gary's brother came to visit us last weekend, and Gary decided to re-enact a previous smoker experiment, the bacon torpedo. 

With the amount of pork related products that go in this, I feel like I'm on epic meal time!

This is how it all went together:

1.5 lbs of Brother's smoked bacon, thick cut (3/16th in.) is weaved flat on a surface.

2.5 lbs ground and seasoned pork shoulder is spread over weave.

6 slices of smoked bacon fried and crumbled over ground pork.

The torpedo is then rolled and tied shut with butcher twine.

Because it takes about 10 hours to smoke the gargantuan mass of pork, Gary usually prepares it the night before hand. Note the ribs in the background of the following picture. They were smoked as well, I'll blog about those another time.

At 11am the following morning (he was running a little late :)) Gary got the smoker on the go and on went the torpedo.

 

 Aft about 4 hours, I decided it was time for a pic.

 And by about 9:30pm, off came the beast!

 This is how it looked once sliced.

It was quite delicious indeed and we have enough in the deep freeze for a few more meals! Next time we'll just invite a bunch of people over. Enjoy it all that night and have no leftovers.

If you have any questions or maybe some suggestions or modifications, please feel free to comment!

Happy Eating!

Shopping at the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market!

Although eating out is a favorite pass time of mine, cooking at home is just as fun. When I do cook at home, I get my supplies at the Halifax Saeport Farmers market!

I'm not usually one for crowds but there's something special about the market. The smell of all the wonderful foods cooking. The vibrant colors from the many craft vendors. The array of meats, produce, dairy and breads, and all under one big roof! The people that fill the aisles is just another part that makes this weekend ritual such an enjoyable one.

I always take the time to browse every aisle. Many of the vendors stay the same while some are always changing,  you never know what new items you'll find here from week to week. There is always a couple of favorite spots that I visit every week.

A visit to the market is pointless without my yummy chocolaty goodness from Boulangerie La Vendéenne. These guys are pretty popular so you have to get there early before they start selling out. I try to make it by 8am, 9am at the latest. This amazing pastry is filled with custard and chocolate...how could anyone say no to that! And of course, I always pick up a loaf of bread while there. My usual favorites would be the apricot or raisin loaf. Picking just one is hard to do!

 

Boulangerie La Vendéenne

And what goes great with bread? Milk of course! 

Not any milk, Fox Hill Cheese milk. I first discovered these guys while visiting the Annapolis valley. We simply followed the little signs to this wonderful place. We fell in love with the cheese right away. Cumin Gouda was, and still is our favorite of all the cheeses. I shouldn't forget the gelato they make. One word, Pistachio, try it. And now our most popular reason for visiting Fox Hill Cheese, their milk. Definitely give it a try.  I like knowing that my milk comes from happy cows. 

Fox Hill Cheese

As well as milk, yesterdays purchase included some yoghurt, an ingredient I needed for making lamb Korma. Lamb which was also purchased at the market.

East Coast Family Market / Blois Family Farm is my number one spot for buying my lamb and goat. Great service and wonderfully kind people to do business with!

NO visit to the market is complete without a meal, snack or beverage. I always wait to grab a coffee at the market. There's a great selection of spots, my two favorites are Steve-o-Renos and Java Blend. I also try to save my appetite for the market so I can indulge in a homemade crepe, a nicely stuffed breakfast wrap or even a wonderful spicy samosa. There's something for everybody. My latest purchase was a Tamal from El Gallo Mexican foods, located on the second level. Another great dish served at the market.

For a good visit, give yourself a few hours. There is an ATM at the market but I would advise that maybe you take some cash out before you get there. Hope the Market puts a smile on your face like it does for me when I enter the doors.

The Halifax Seaport Farmers Market is a must see for anybody visiting or living in the Halifax area. 

Until next Saturday!

The sweet Doberman, anybody know her name?