Ann_T

Thanks Michelle and Kim. Wow, so many beautiful loaves. I'm pretty boring when it comes to bread. Although I bake almost all the bread that we eat, I stick to French and Italian. Although looking at all the sour dough loaves I think I might have to try my hand at that. Michelle, the recipe I use for bagels isn't from the BBA. It is actually out of an appetizer cookbook. I've been making bagels using this same recipe for over 20 years. I made Onion and cheese bagels recently using the same basic recipe. They were a big hit with my son. I froze most of them and the next time we went to Victoria I took him a care package. I use the same dough to make pizza too. Ann

Ling, oooooh please may I have the recipe? I'm a sucker for anything with a caramel sauce. Kim, you have been holding out on us. Beautiful cakes. I made an apple pie last night using apples off the tree in our yard.

Percy I love your egg photos. NishlaI like the sound of the ground almonds in the pancake batter. Sunday morning breakfast - Farm fresh poached eggs over a bed of sauted mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, onions and garlic. Topped with homemade Hollandaise sauce with a side of side pork.

Chicken and Dumplings is a favourite here. My mother was not what you would call a good cook but she made a pretty good chicken stew with dumplings. I was really surprised the first time I ever had the noodle style dumplings too. I call them Southern Style Dumplings, because a friend from Alabama made them for me the first time. But they are also called Chicken and Sliders. I don't know if that is a Canadian thing or not. I have three different recipes that I use for dumplings. It just depends on what I feel like whether I make the southern style dumplings, or the fluffy drop style dumpling and sometimes I add some fresh bread crumbs and parsley for somethng a little different. I have to have dumplings with beef stew too. Ann

Marlene, I grew up eating Halibut and chips (Toronto area). And I don't believe that it is possible to recreate in the home Halibut and Chips as good as the best fish and chip shoppe. I've tried over the years and finally gave up. The Penrose Fish and Chip restaurant on Mount Pleasant in Toronto sets the standand for us and we judge all other halibut and chip places by them. You would think that living in Vancouver and Vancouver Island that there would be all kinds of great fish and chip places, but it took us a while to find a couple that lived up to our expectations. In Vancouver only Go Fish(Granville Island) which is a little outdoor place and on Vancouver Island our favourite place is Mill Bay Fish and Chips. We drive down island at least a couple of times a month to get our fix. Halibut is the only fish I want in my fish and chips too. Can't be cod or haddock or any other. I'm not a really big fan of fish, but halibut is the exception and I cook it often. But when I want fish and chips we always go out for them. Ann

Angeljolie, Great photo. We have some blackberry bushes that are still loaded. I picked a few this morning to make Moe Blackberry buttermilk pancakes with a side of bacon.

Marcia Your pancakes look delicious and just the way I like them, thin rather than thick. We had a Spanish Tortilla with a side of bacon for breakfast.

Thanks for a wonderful blog. Great idea for the two of you to do a blog from Vancouver. Ann

I'm not as big on breakfast as my husband is. But I could be enticed by all these wonderful and varied breakfasts. Shaya I keep coming back and looking at your kaaspannenkoek. Now that is something I know I would really like. Bruce That is one beautiful colourful omelette. Initially I too thought it was a whole fish. Sue, I'm glad you enjoyed the scones. They are my favourite breakfast. I have some blackberries in the freezer that I picked and a container of local red currants that are destined for scones. Made Moe a very late breakfast yesterday after I got home from the farmers market. Skillet breafast - steak and eggs. I dreamed about perogies. So that is what we had for breakfast. I still had some homemade perogies in the freezer and some side pork. I forgot how good side pork is. Not something I cook very often. Not exactly heart healthy breakfasts. Ann

Happy Anniversary you two. A match made in food heaven. I'm so enjoying this blog. I've gone back a few times to look at all the wonderful photos. Ann

This is going to be such an exciting Blog. I vote for mushrooms. Ann

Like Klary, I'm glad you explained how you got together too. I had been wondering. Ling, I'm really looking forward to following yours and Henry's blog. You have so many wonderful meals planned. Ann

I made breakfast after going to the farmers market this morning. Poached Farm fresh eggs and bratwurst (also from the market) and slices of yellow tomato. This was Moe's breakfast. I actually had chicken curry and rice. The owner of my favourite little Indian restaurants sets up a booth at the farmers market. Second week in a row I've had chicken curry for breakfast. Ann

Susan, I noticed that too. In fact it makes the second batch substantially quicker than the first.

I have the 4 slice Cuisinart and it works fine. But it isn't what I use. My favourite toaster is actually the Cuisinart Convection Toaster oven. I don't really use it for much other than toast. And it gets used every day for that. I prefer my toast well toasted and although the toaster oven does take a little longer, I still like it the best. Plus I make almost all of my own bread as well as bagels and with the toaster oven it doesn't matter what size loaf I make, it will accommodate every size and shaped slice. Ann

Alana, your croissants look amazing. I made another batch of bagels this morning and this time made some with onions and cheddar cheese. I had one while they were still hot for breakfast.

OOOOH don't those look good. I'd like one toasted with a slice of beefsteak tomato. Ann

Nishla, What a beautiful Mushroom Omelette. Percy, now that is the kind of breakfast Moe loves. Steak and eggs. I baked Blackberry Scones for breakfast using some of the blackberries that we picked the other day.

What about Cookies? That is the only way I like my oatmeal. But my husband loves his with butter, brown sugar and warm milk. Ann

I would like to thank everyone that participate this week on my Blog. When Susan invited me to do a blog and gave me a choice of dates I thought it was the perfect time for our friend Sandra to visit from Toronto. I got to play the tour guide and introduce her to some of the areas that she hadn't been to before. And I got to revisit a few places that I hadn't been to in a while as well as find a couple of places that were new to me. It was my intention to showcase the Cowichan Valley and the southern part of the Island. I didn't want to cook differently.. I wanted to prepared the type of meals that I would normally cook, using local produce and meats and seafood from the area. I've really enjoyed the week. So to bring it to an end, I thought I would share two more pictures with you. One is the Blueberry Pie that I made this morning using Cowichan Valley blueberries. And the other is a photo I took this morning from our front deck. This is the view I have from the kitchen and the livingroom and diningroom. The lake in the distance is Quamichan Lake. Thanks again for all your support and kind words. Now I'm off to read Torakris's Foodblog. Ann

Susan, thanks for giving me the extra day. I've been having the same problem today. My service has been off more than it has been on since early this afternoon. We are having record high temperatures. Thanks Pam. I'm originally from the Toronto area but I also lived in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario for 5 long years. I love our winters out here on the west coast. CaliPoutine. I posted the recipe I use for Bagels on Recipe Gullet. It is one that i have used for years. I use Rogers Flours the unbleached all-purpose and their bread flour. I've made these bagels with both. I believe our Canadian flours have a higher gluten content then most of the US flours. Their bread flour has 13.5 g of protein and the all-purpose unbleached has between 12.2 and 13.6. Rogers is the flour that I prefer. We started the day by going to the Duncan Farmers Market. I bought bread today from one of the vendors. Wonderful sour dough. Picked up one of his small baguettes and a loaf of white/whole wheat. I decided that it was just too hot to bake my own today. I also bought coffee from a young woman who has a small roaster and is just getting into the business. I'll let you know tomorrow if the coffee is any good. I made salmon patties last week using some leftover ivory spring salmon and I froze a few. Moe and Sandra had them for lunch today. My son Matt drove up from Victoria this afternoon and stayed for dinner. We started with an antipasto platter of grilled vegetables. And the main course was a 2 pound Beef tenderloin grilled and served with fingerling potoates also cooked on the grill and some green and yellow local beans and some sugar snap peas. The beef was topped with a gorgonzola butter. I bought a 10 pound box of blueberries today and promised Moe a blueberry pie, but again it was just too hot to turn the oven on. I hate to break promises so my intention is to bake one first thing in the morning. Ann

Thanks Shaya, Since it is obvious from the wonderful meals that you are making for your family now that you are very motivated. I don't think you lose any of that. In fact it just becomes more fun when you have more time. Thanks Racheld. Its been fun visiting some of the places that I haven't been to in a while. And a couple of new places as well. We are already talking about going back to the Cidery for lunch or dinner again soon. In fact we might go there tomorrow night. They have an outdoor wood fired oven and Sunday night is pizza night on the patio. Thanks Barbara. I'm not sure what is going to be on the menu tonight. The Duncan Farmers Market opens at 9:00 and I'm going to go and see what looks good today and I'll plan dinner around whatever I find. My son, Matt is planning on coming up tonight for dinner so I know that we won't be having anything fish/shellfish related. And it is still really hot here so whatever we have will probably be grilled. Moe just put in a request for a toasted bagel and would like more of the peameal bacon to go with it. So since all I have done so far this morning was make him a cappuccino I guess I'd better go and make breakfast. I'll post some pictures of the market later. Assuming that my internet doesn't act up again because of the heat. Ann

It was really hot here today and the heat has been affecting my internet service. It has been off more than it has been on today. So I'm going to try and post while it is actually working. We drove around the Cowichan Valley this afternoon stopping at a couple of wineries and having lunch at the Merridale Estate Cidery in their La Pommeraie Bistro. We sat out on the patio and sampled two of their ciders. Sandra had the Frittata Basquaise "........ Four Fresh Pasture Raised Eggs, Chorizo Sausage, Brie Cheese, Green and Red Onions & Diced Potato. the the Spinach salad. The frittata didn't photograph well but it was apparently really good. And to drink she tried the "Scrumpy" described as" Winner of Gold & Silver 2002 North American Brewers Awards in Idaho Springs. If you're a Scotch drinker, try this one. Scrumpy is strong and sharp, and rich in flavour of BC crab apples fermented without sugar. Once you acquire a taste for Scrumpy, nothing else will do! In old England, scrumpy was a cider made by farm workers who stole or ‘scrumped’ apples from the orchard. I had the Roasted Chicken Foccacia Sandwich "......Roasted Cowichan Bay Farm’s Chicken Breast, Brie Cheese,House-Made Tomato-Thyme Jam & Sunflower Sprouts on Warm Foccacia Bread also with the Spinach Salad. I had them leave the Homemade Tomato-Thyme Jam off the sandwich. I'm not a fan of ketchup even if it is homemade. I had the Somerset and it was described as: Somerset – Champagne Style This is the English version of champagne-style cider, dry and sparkling with balanced acids. Perfect for a special occasion, Somerset is aged for more than a year to become completely dry After lunch we stopped at the Blue Grouse Vineyard and Winery and sampled a few of their wines before heading home. It was too hot to turn on the oven so I grilled some fresh Black Cod for dinner and grilled potato slices to have with it.

Marlene, I posted the recipe for the Bread and Butter pudding over on Recipe Gullet. Here is a better picture. I made it in individual ramekins a few months ago. For breakfast I toasted one of my bagels and topped it with sliced tomatoes with lots of fresh ground pepper and my favourite salt (Murray River Salt from Australia).

Bread and Butter Pudding This is one of my favourite desserts. I love it served with the caramel sauce. It can be made with any of your favourite breads including Chocolate. Bread And Butter Pudding With Caramel Sauce 5 or 6 slices of bread 1/2 cup butter 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar 5 eggs 2 cups cream (Or milk) vanilla pinch of salt Caramel Sauce 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup cream pinch of salt 2 teaspoons vanilla NOTE: If you prefer the pudding to have more custard, then use less bread so that all of the custard is not absorbed into the bread when baked. Cut crusts from bread and spread each slice with butter. (Bread slices can be left whole, or cut into halves, quarters or cubes. Place bread buttered side up in a oven proof dish. (may use any shape dish, or glass loaf pan, cutting bread to fit) Beat the sugar and eggs together and then add the cream, vanilla and salt. Pour over bread and allow the bread to absorb. (may be refrigerated at this point and baked later) Sprinkle with some white sugar and place dish into a pan of hot water and bake in a 350 oven for 45 to 1 hour, or until pudding is set and golden. To make caramel sauce, Bring butter, sugars, cream and salt to a boil and then simmer for 3 or 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Custard sauce for Chocolate Bread and butter Pudding. 2 cups cream or milk (I use coffee cream) 3 tablespoons flour 1/2 cup white sugar 1 egg pinch salt Heat cream. Mix flour, sugar and salt and mix into beaten egg. When milk is hot, slow pour into the egg mixture stirring constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pot and cook over low heat until thickened. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Custard should be pouring consistency. Keywords: Dessert, Pudding ( RG1759 )