Jan-chan’s Tidbits

Last Friday I went to pick up Al after work and we took a walk in Gas Town while waiting for Ken to join us for dinner. I don’t usually walk along Water Street and shop there but this time I managed to find something interesting which might have me coming back.

John Fluevog Shoes Store

As we were walking back towards the skytrain station, a sentence from a store window caught my eye “A walk in the park soothes the Soul.” So I looked in the window and saw this:

See that back drop in there? I was interested in finding out what it was. The store clerk was nice and told me I could take pictures inside the store. It turned out this is the John Fluevog Shoes store (as you can tell from the title on the mural). What strike me as interesting aside from the mural is the way the store is laid out. The shoes are displayed on very low tables as well as what looks like a log split in half (see one of the pictures). I’ve never seen Fluevog shoes before but I liked a lot of the designs. I’m definitely coming back later on for some shoe shopping.

One more interesting fact about the store is that the space actually was never there before. The store was built on an ally way. You can see the side of the two buildings, with their windows, inside the store. They had used a glass roof to let sunlight which makes the store very bright and welcoming. The design studio is located on the 2nd floor near the back. The sales clerk told me they actually design the shoes right there. Very cool.

saltlik - A Rare Steakhouse

For dinner, we decided to check out this restaurant we passed by a few weeks ago called saltlik. The menu looked reasonably priced so we head in with hungry stomachs. Al ordered a beef soup and crab cakes ($13), I had a double bacon cheese burger with skinny fries ($15) and Ken got steak with truffle infused sauce ($21). I’m not a big fan of burgers, but those skinny fries were calling my name! The twins also ordered some martinis for $7 each. I’d highly recommend the Smiling Geisha. It’s very refreshing with the cucumber juice. Of course I can’t miss dessert. I ordered a lemon tart which was bigger than I had imagined it to be. The meringue was very well made, slightly crispy on the outside but gooey on the inside. For the price and the quality of the food, I’d pick saltlik over Keg or Earls. Here are some of the pictures.

More pictures from saltlik in my Picasa album.

Misc Pictures

On our way to saltlik, we ran into a bunch of bikers which were riding in downtown for the closing of the Bike to Work week. Here are some pictures I managed to take while some sped by us (click to enlarge):

I’ve subscribed to Seth Godin’s blog for quite some time now and I’ve really enjoyed reading his articles. Today there’s a post about design which I think everyone should read because, as Seth puts it, we’re all designers after all. Seth listed 7 design tips for print and includes a PDF with examples. I especially agree with tip #2. Fonts are like ice cream. You can never just live with one flavour.

Oh and here’s one of my favourite about meetings.

Since my knife skills are very bad, I precut most of the stuff the night before but this can easily be done in 30 minutes since the cooking time isn’t that long.

Pasta with Veggies & Sausage
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• Pasta of your choice
• 2 cups Italian sausages - cut into large chunks
• 2 carrots - cut into small pieces
• 1 onion, large - diced
• 3 shallots - diced
• 1 bulb of garlic - peeled, minced (we love garlic so adjust amount to own preference)
• Italian herb mix or any other combination of spices of your choice as seasoning
• pepper flakes for some heat if you like it spicy

1. Boil water to cook pasta. Once you’ve added the pasta to the water, heat up a big pot with about 1/2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Add sausage and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from pot and drain of excess oil, leaving about 1 tbsp.
2. In medium-high heat, add the garlic and shallots. Cook for 2-3 minutes. When it start to turn brown (caramelize), add in the onion and carrots with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water or stock. Scrape up any brown bits on the pot. Cook the veggies for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if pot is too dry. Add in the sausages, spices and pepper flakes. Cook for another 3-5 minutes or until carrots are soft and sausages are heated. Remove from heat.
3. The pasta should have finished cooking so drain it, reserve about 1/2 cup of the liquid. Add the drained pasta to the sausage and veggie mixture. Toss it up with a dash of fresh pepper (optional) and it’s ready for plating. If it’s too dry, add a bit of the reserved pasta water to give it some moisture.

Note: This is the first time I’ve made pasta without sauce so let me know what you think if you try it. The twins said it was good but I don’t really trust them (they might only say that because they don’t want me to stop cooking!). Oh if you notice, I didn’t add any salt in the mixture because I find that the sausage is already salty enough for my preference.

I’m sure this recipe is out there but I made mine after reading Rachael Ray’s Poor Man’s Gumbo. I made this recipe to serve about 6 people. It was enough for 2 nights’ dinner for the three of us and Al’s lunch. We’re not big eaters though so keep that in mind.

Chicken, Sausage & Tomatoes Stew

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast - cubed
1 cup of smoked sausages - cubed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion - cut into big pieces
2 carrots - cut into small pieces
3 stalks of celery - cut diagonally into small pieces
2 cans (796ml) diced tomatoes
1-2 can(s) tomato paste (use two if you want the sauce to thicken up faster)
dash of paprika, chili powder, pepper flakes (add to suit your taste)
salt & pepper

1. Marinate chicken with paprika salt and pepper for about 15 minutes. In a big pot, heat 1 tbsp of the oil and brown chicken pieces on all sides, for about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and add in the sausages. Cook sausage for about a minute or two. Remove from pan and drain off excess oil, leaving about 1 tbsp (if there isn’t enough, add some olive oil).
2. Return pot to medium heat and add onions. Cook until it start to get translucent. Add in celery, carrots and the tomato juice from the two cans of diced tomatoes. Cook, scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan, for about 3-5 minutes. Add in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste.
3. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the chicken and sausage. Reduce heat and let it simmer for another 15 minutes or until it’s thicken to the desire consistancy. Add the chili powder and pepper flakes.

Serve with rice or crusty bread.

Note: I don’t like my tomato sauce too sour so I add a few tbsp of sugar at the end. Just add it a little bit at a time and taste test it to find the right amount.

Sorry, I didn’t have my camera with me this week so no pictures for the recent recipes.

This week the twin’s parents are away on a cruise trip so it’s time to play “Jan’s Kitchen” at their house. The challenge is to have food on the table in about an hour or so after we get home from work. I’m a very slow chopper, so it seems to takes twice as long to prepare the food.

My solution to a quick meal is one pot dinners. Well ok, that’s not exactly true. It’s actually two if you count the rice cooker as a pot. On Monday night I made a chicken and sausage stew with tomatoes served with rice. I found a recipe on Rachael Ray’s website and modified it. It turned out pretty well and I’ve made enough to last for next day’s meal also.

Yesterday was pasta night. I didn’t want to make tomato sauce because we already had the it for the stew for two nights. So it was pretty much a basic toss pasta with veggies and sausages. Just throw everything in a huge pot and toss. Again it turned out better than I thought considering the fact that I didn’t have a recipe to work with.

Wild sockeye salmon were on sale this week (2 for 1!) so we got two fillets which I’m planning on pan searing tonight. It should be enough for tomorrow’s dinner as well unless the twins decided to eat it for midnight snacks. Will update on how it turned out later.