Never Enough Watermelon

Today is national watermelon day. Watermelon is one of my all time favorite fruits and I can never get enough. So of course I had to celebrate and more than once. First was at lunch. I am not in sales, so I have to make sure that I am back in the office right at 1:00pm which makes it hard to go out for lunch. I knew that Milestone's had a watermelon salad, so I called and made a reservation and I pre-ordered so that it would be ready right away and would have lots of time for lunch. I sat down and 5 minutes later my watermelon and roast beet salad was placed in front of me.

To make it more substancial, I got a piece of salmon added to it, but it was still different than when I had ordered it in the past. Instead of big chuncks of roasted beets, there were 4 tiny pieces of roasted golden beets that were almost indistinguishable. I was disappointed. Thankfully, there was a lot of delicious and sweet watermelon and that helped to make up for the lack of beets. The watermelon was placed atop a bed of romaine hearts and arugula and adorned with goat cheese and glazed pecans. The salad was dressed with a lemon chardonnay vinaigrette. I was happy with the most of the salad, but disappointed with the beets.

I had read on twitter a couple of days ago that Brava Bistro had a watermelon salad on their current menu and I knew I had to try it. On my way home from my workout, I stopped in and was excited for my second serving of watermelon for the day.

This salad was quite different than the one I had for lunch, but I enjoyed it a lot more. This one had cherry tomato's, cucumber, red onion, a chunk of feta cheese dressed with a red wine mint vinaigrette and this time I got some prawns added to the salad. I got them to crack a little black pepper on top and it was perfect. The salad had all the needed requirements to be tasty. It was sweet, tangy, salty and a hint of spice. It was refreshing and a great dinner. To go with the salad, I decided on the Sangria Blanco and it was nice and light and matched the salad perfectly. I thought that was the last of the watermelon for the day, but then there is always dessert. I always look at the dessert menu, even if I am full or don't plan on actually ordering dessert. You just never know! I asked what kind of sorbet they had today and to my surprise, it was watermelon!! Of course I couldn't say no to that and I had to continue my watermelon feast. It was really refreshing and the perfect end to my meal. Who doesn't love watermelon?!

Wurst Wine and Food Pairing

I don't know if Wurst would be the first name I would come up with for a restaurant, but it is actually quite clever. Wurst in this case is from the traditional German food "bratwurst." It is a German sausage that is composed of either veal, pork, or beef.

Wurst is unique in that it appeals to many people. Located in the heart of Mission, Wurst is part Beer Hall and part elegant restaurant. Whatever you are looking for, they have something to suit your needs. Upstairs you will find an elegant restaurant suitable for the well dressed crowd. Descend a few stairs down and you will find yourself transported to a beer hall reminiscent of anything you will find in Germany, complete with a wall of beer steins that you can rent for the year that you can drink one of many ice cold beer in.

I thought a great way to discover Wurst was to go to a wine and food pairing and as always, I was right. Our little group was seated in a little area aide from the upstairs restaurant. Compiled of brown leather booths, wooden chairs and modern lighting, it had a masculinity to it that was quite fitting to a beer hall, but elegant enough to suit the occasion.

This wine and food pairing event was put on by a company called Vine and Dine. Linda Garson is the owner of this food and wine event company and I had actually met her a few years ago at another restaurant she was doing food and wine pairing events for. Linda now has her own company and works along side various restaurants, as well as writes for popular magazines and has even been seen on local television stations.

To start the 6 course meal, they served a Broxburn tomato and butter cheese salad with flash pickled cucumbers with an apple cider syrup. It was a nice light way to start the meal and I especially loved the pickled cucumbers and the refreshing dressing. The only thing I didn't like was that I thought there was a little too much cheese. Normally you can never have enough cheese, but it almost took away from the lightness of the salad. Paired with the salad was the Red Rooster Pinot Blanc from Canada. The apple notes in the wine went perfectly with the salad and knowing that it is a Canadian wine made it even better.

Next up was an apple and black sausage with rosti potatoes, fried egg and apple slaw. Fried eggs seem to be a big trend now. Wether they are on pizza's, salad's or sanwiches, they are always welcome. This was no exception. Nice and oozing in the middle, it mixed in very well with the rest of the dish. The black sausage was delicious and smoky and was a nice contrast to the sweet and crunchy apple slaw. This dish was paired with another Canadian wine, Sandhill Rose'. This rose has an excellent bouquet and pairs beautifully with eggs.

The third course of the night included more sausage and I have no qualms about that. We got to enjoy duck sausage, black trumpet mushrooms, bavarian cheese and jus. The dish smelled amazing and it looked so cute in the individual little pots, but I found that it did make it a little difficult to get all of the food out of the pot. I very much enjoyed the mushrooms and they added a nice rich element to the dish. This dish was paired with Tramin Pinot Nero, a nice light red wine from Italy that goes great with the mushrooms.


Next we got to enjoy something that we were all very curious about. Bavarian Wings. Boneless and pretzel breaded wings, stuffed with sausage and served with mustard sauce. I didn't even know that you could stuff wings! It was a very interesting dish, but I am sad to say that it wasn't my favorite. The concept was very different, but the flavors didn't impress. The sausage lacked seasoning and needed a bit more. The definitely favorite of everyone's for the dish was the mustard sauce. We all could have used a lot more of that. You can never go wrong with grainy mustard. Served with the stuffed wings was a full bodied Cabernet Franc from Tinhorn Creek, another Canadian Wine.

Our second last course was the traditional wiener schnitzel. I have to admit that I have never tried this dish before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was breaded veal schnitzel served with lemon, parsley and spatzle. The lemon was very predominat and it added a nice refreshing detail to the dish. I enjoyed the dish, but I wouldn't rush to have it again. Paired with this dish was the Reichsgraf Van Kesselstatt Kabinett Riesling from Germany.
Apparently this wine is as hard to find as it is to say.


And of course, no meal is complete without dessert. For the sixth and final course, we were served black forest cake. A very non-traditional version, but one I enjoyed more since it was a lot lighter than the traditional version. What liquer pairs the best with a cherry dessert? That would be a cherry liquer of course. Similar to Sambuca, we were served Luxardo Marashino liquer from Italy. This was served to us in shot glasses and was definitely a sipper. Not my favorite of the night, but I still managed to drink it all down.

As usual, I had a lot of fun at the food and wine pairing and it is an enjoyable way to discover a new restaurant. I will definitely visit Wurst again in the near future as there are some seafood dishes that are calling my name.

I was supposed to be putting up regular posts, but things have been pretty crazy for me lately and I just didn't have the time. I have been working 6 days a week and then on my one day off, I have been super busy and never home. I guess my body had enough of that because now I am sick. I guess that is my bodies way of saying that I need more sleep, I need to relax a little and I need to start posting regularly on my blog. Well I am finally listening and I am back to the one thing that I always makes me happy......... food!

Second Time's a Charm! ..........

For me I don't need a third try, I am taking my second try and giving it all I got! The last 2 years have been very difficult for me and the timing just wasn't right for me to get into blogging. Now I am in a much better place where I have the time (and a lot more patience!) to start a blog, follow through and to keep it going. My love and passion for food has always been strong and it is now time to prove it. It is now or never!

I just recently got back into the workforce with a full time position at an oil and gas company downtown. It feels great to be back working again! Now that I have a full time, steady income again, I have the extra income needed to indulge in my favorite thing. FOOD! I have a few restaurants already planned to visit and post about and a food and wine pairing later this month, not to mention Stampede and that means pancake breakfasts, alcohol and bad food. Usually consumed in abundance by the general public, I have the will power required to enjoy these things in moderation, well at least I hope! Until my first actual restaurant post that will follow my visit to one of my favorite, but hidden, cafe's, below are a few pictures of some of the food I have enjoyed over the last week.

First up is Sushi Motto located on 14th street sw. Nothing fancy about this place and I have walked by it many times on my do run errands and on my way home. The food is pretty good and the prices are decent. Not bad for when I only want to walk a couple of blocks to get some sushi. The first thing I ordered was one of my favorite sushi items. Seaweed salad. Many people are put off by the texture, but I love it.

I really wanted to order something with unagi(eel) and the waitress suggested the Cobra roll. Topped with crispy salmon skin and unagi on the inside, I was happy. I had never tried it before, but I was pleasantly surprised and I would order it again.

I had been craving an ice cream cone for the past week, but I kept missing out on one. I finally got my ice cream cone that I wanted, but with a twist! This is Tempura green tea ice cream. It is basically green tea ice cream that is coated with a "ice cream cone" layer which resembles an ice cream cone. It was good but much too large for just 1 person. I only ate half of it.

I was happy with my meal at Sushi Motto and the best part was that it was only a 2 block walk to get home.

A couple of days ago, I went and sat out on the patio of one of my favorite little dining spots. A hidden gem in the renovated Central Memorial Park. Boxwood. A quaint little cafe in the renovated Central Memorial Park and the sister restaurant to River Cafe. Don't expect to have to empty your wallet here to enjoy a great lunch or dinner though. Boxwood offers local sustainable food at a very affordable price. The weather was beautiful, so I decided to enjoy a nice relaxing dinner out on their patio. Looking out at all the walkways, fountains and greenery, I enjoyed a relaxing dinner on their patio. I wasn't feeling the best, so I decided on a soup and an appetizer. I ordered the roasted tomatoe and spicy chickpea stew. It had great flavor, but I didn't find much of a kick in the way of spicy. Those who don't like their foods too spicy, will still very much enjoy this stew. It was a good size portion, but it ended up being more filling than what I had expected.

Next up I decided to try the Red Lentil Hummus. It had more flavor than the traditional hummus you find made with chickpeas and the crunchy home made crackers were delicious with all the flax seeds and touch of salt. This dish was larger than I expected as well and I ended up getting half of it packed up and I took it home and ate the rest of it yesterday.

I of course mixed in the little pool of olive oil into the hummus. It made the hummus nice and creamy. I was planning on ordering the saskatoon berry ice cream sandwhich, but everything was a lot more filling than anticapated and I unfortunately had to miss out on dessert. I have had it before though, so I do suggest ordering it if you still have room for dessert.