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Summery salmon salad. Bish bash bosh...

To Kale, To Bed. There are some days when you just over do it. Yesterday was one such day and today I am paying the price. Exhausted, I arrive home with a bag of kale and nothing else. But you know what they say...when life gives you vegetables; make vegetable chips. So dear friends, today for dinner, I ate kale chips. They were delicious and now it's time for bed. (8:25pm). Life does not get more glamorous than this!

Lily Vanilli Bakery: A Hidden Gem

A Sunday morning at the Columbia Rd. Flower Market is perhaps one of the greatest things anyone could ever do with their time. Seriously.

After your senses are assaulted with the colours and sounds of the amazing flowers and their vendors, why not sneak into Lily Vanilli's bakery and indulge in one of everything. I say this of course because it's hard to choose from the ridiculous array of stunning pastries that this East London hipster goddess whips up by the (bakers) dozen.

Once again this place is yet another obstacle in my personal Occupy Carbs movement at the moment, but seeing as it was Sunday, I thought I would take the time to get spiritual with a sausage roll. I'll confess that I have only ever had one other sausage roll in my life; it left something to be desired with its pale and doughy demeanor. But this my hungry friends is more than any ordinary sausage roll. This is an amazing dense, seasoned and flavourful sausage filling encased by the most delicate, flaky, golden, crispy, buttery, melt-in-your-mouthy outer layer of pastry you will likely come across. This is, in my humble opinion, the sausage roll of the future.

Turkish on a Tuesday

After talking about it for quite some time, Arumza and I finally made the trek up to Dalston for a Turkish food top-up.

Evin Cafe on Kingsland Rd is a wonderful place. At first glance, you might not think much of the place; it’s pretty unassuming from the outside. But what matters most is the food and the food is delicious. Everything is incredibly fresh: from the first mouthful of hot bread that arrives immediately after your first order (not ideal for my curent plans to Occupy Carbs) to the piping hot variations of lamb kabobs and traditional Anatolian stews (the Patlicanli Kabob and the Karni Yarik will tick a lot of boxes in your stomach).

During the day (between about 12 and 6) there is a wonderful old Turkish lady making fresh bread and gozleme right in front of you and as she is clearly a pro, she does it while chatting away in Turkish to the staff and the regulars.

Perhaps the greatest thing about Evin is that no matter what time you are there, there is always the perfect thing on the menu for your hunger/craving at that particular moment. You know that magical hour on a Saturday when you are in between lunch and a late dinner and you want to have something light? This is the place you go. But it’s also the place you can go for an amazing lunch, a super satisfying dinner or possibly for my favourite meal, second dinner (they are open pretty late).

Vancouver Street Food!

There are a lot of perks to being in a time zone 8 hours ahead of Vancouver. One of them is that when I roll over to grab my iPhone in the morning (sadly before doing anything else) to see what's happening in the world, I get lots of updates from back home. You can imagine the delight when this story popped up in my twitter feed: http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2012/03/06/vancouver-food-carts-12-new-vendors-to-arrive-in-march/ Street food is my favourite and it's so great to see Vancouver relaxing a little and bringing in the good stuff. Can't wait to see who the 12 finalists are--may need to book a flight home for a taste test!

I am Applying for my Dream Job!

The City of Richmond (British Columbia) has posted the job of a lifetime for any food lover. 365 Days of Dining is an opportunity for a lucky food blogger to eat their way through some of Richmond's 800+ restaurants over the course of 1 year.

This job is my calling.

Having grown up near Richmond, I have so many happy memories of scouring the city in search of 'the best' dim sum with my family. On my most recent trip home from London, my first request was to be taken for Chinese food in Richmond before even going home! (I was trying to exploit the I just got home and you have to spoil me window) The arrival of the Richmond Night Market in the summers was always something to look forward to. Whenever I would plan on attending the market, the game plan was to fast for the better part of the day in order to maximize consumption of the amazing street food upon arrival. My go to items have always been grilled squid, tokoyaki, deep fried tofu, satay and then I would wash that down with a combination of desserts. On more than one occasion, I had to be wheeled out of there!

But I digress...

I've often said to anyone who will listen that my ideal job mix food and technology. 365 Days of Dining is the answer.

From what I have seen so far, the competition is tough. But I remain hopeful that I can combine my relentless obsession with food and my communications and social media backgroud to create a useful, entertaining and delicious blog for people to visit.

I have already started to day dream about what features I would include in the blog if given the opportunity to write it...here are some of my ideas, but I would love to hear some of yours as well!

1) taking recommendations from blog readers and social media followers--crowd sourcing is my favourite way to get ideas

2) Categorize restaurants into useful (and slightly random) categories: Price range, location, specialty etc. but also less conventional categories like: places to go on a date, serves food on sticks, feeling adventurous, healthy eating, indulgeant eating, family run, quirky dining experience etc.

3) An edible map of Richmond: Richmond is a big place and has a lot to offer. From the City Centre's dense cluster of Asian food to Stevston's sea side seafood bistros, there is lots offer and I want readers to know where they can find the best food no matter where in Richmond they are

4) My '5 Dumpling' dim sum rating system: Dim Sum is always a crowd pleaser and I want to offer a fun way to rate the quality and atmosphere of the many dum sum places in Richmond

5) Engaged Readers!! There is nothing worse than a one way blog. I want to listen to readers' feedback and have a dialogue about what they want to read, what they like and don't like.

So, what do you think would make for some good features for the blog?

Decisions will be made on the identity of the lucky blogger at the end of the month.

Until then, I will keep my fingers crossed and my chopsticks on standby.

Wish me luck!

Happy Days at The Garisson Public House

When I was first making the decision to move to the London Bridge area, it was house that was responsible for sealing the deal. Frantically trying to navigate and understand the London property market, waiting to meet an estate agent and being generally very confused and frazzled, I walked into The Garrison to ask for directions (apparently this was customary in the pre iPhone days?)

On walking in, there is no better way to describe the atmosphere in this place as anything but girly paradise. The decor is tasteful, quirky and cheerful. You can't help but feel good sitting by the windows being hit by morning light. Without making too big a fuss about it, The Garrison is, in my estimation, good for the soul.

They serve great food all day long. Breakfasts are my favourite mainly because it's the kind of place where you can unapologetically order things like 'soft boiled eggs with toast soldiers' and a bowl of porridge with bananas and pumpkin seeds--things that you should make for yourself at home...but would really like someone else to do it for you! Of course they have other amazing things too like perfect eggs benny, Scottish pancakes with clotted cream and strawberries and a fancy full English. The point is, The Garrison has something for everyone and will certainly put a smile on the faces of everyone you choose to bring there!

Ever since I moved to London in 2010, there has been a void in my stomach which for my entire life has been happily filled with Vancouver's amazing Asian food. Being used to eating sushi, dumplings or Pho at least twice a week, my search for good Asian food in London started virtually from day 1. Time after time though, I have been left wanting to cry into a putrid puddle of the sweet and sour sauce that passes as acceptable here.

Above are some photos of the better places that I have tried since being here.

Mien Tay has the best Pho on the Saigon Strip that is Shoreditch High St. Believe, I have tried them ALL.

Leongs Legends is one of Chinatown's better Chinese restaurants and a great place to pop in for a quick lunch or a fun dinner.

Asakusa is perhaps the best sushi I have had in London so far. It's reasonable, fresh and quite simply delicious. This is a particularly meaningful find for me as I have chocked through a lot of bad shashimi to find this place. It's the only place that prevents me from rushing home!

Souffle is my new obsession. Some feel that it's a little retro, but let me assure you that there is nothing more wonderful then your first bite of airy, buttery, cheesy goodness at around 12:30 on a Sunday.

The myth of the collapsing, difficult, pretentious souffle is one that I would like to dispel once and for all. You can freestyle your own cheese souffle by doing the following:

In a pot on the stove:

-Melt about 4-5 tablespoons of butter

-Add about 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour and stir to create a roux (the mixture should not be too stiff, but about the consistency of custard)

-To the roux, add 1 egg yolk

-Mix in about 2-3 tablespoons of full fat milk or cream

-Add to mixture 300-400g of your favourite hard cheese (this is always a tough call since most cheeses are my favourite but I would suggest something like a Comte, Manchego, Gouda or even a good old fashioned sharp Cheddar)

-Keep mixing on low heat and set side while you get going on your egg whites;

-In a separate bowl, beat 4 egg whites until fluffy and delicious looking (they should be able to form stiff peaks);

-GENTLY fold in your cheesy buttery mixture into your egg whites. You don't want to mix them furiously, but gradually incorporate the two mixtures together.

-Add to a baking dish and bake at about 350 for 40 minutes or until golden brown

Served with a green salad, this will make you the happiest person on the planet and leave you with a smug feeling of satisfaction.

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thethingsiate-blog

Visiting London’s amazing markets is one of my greatest passions. While my friend Katie was visiting from Vancouver just before Christmas, we thought we would step up our conventional market going and visit London’s industrial markets. Smithfield Market which supplies most of London and the south of England with it’s meat was a sight for sore eyes. Actually, it was a sight for bleary eyes as we has to arrive at about 4am to catch all of the action. The market was organised chaos as hundreds of butchers, restauranteurs, suppliers and hangers on buzzed around trying to fill orders and do deals.

The good news is that the people who work there are all incredibly friendly and will happily answer any questions you may have about the world of meat…in between hanging carcasses and tallying up a bill for 65 bellies of pork.

Impressed, confused and very tired, Katie and I discovered a strange and delightful feature of the market—The Cock Tavern located right in the bowels of the market. Licensed from 6am, you can get a pint and a full English breakfast for a fiver. Everything in the place is coated with a thick greasy film that is surely the bi-product of decades of serving the hard working people a well earned breakfast. All before most of us even get up in the morning.

I'm quite worried now... 12 days without any food!? Assuming you still have the strength, I offer some cocktail deathmatches for your expert judgement if/when you return to flogging: Negroni vs. Manhattan Zombie vs. Long Island Iced Tea Margarita vs. Cosmopolitan White Russian vs. Grasshopper

How could I have missed this message? Probably because I have been starving to death!

How are you?

I am actually posting this while I am still eating dinner. This actually makes me incredibly rude given that Vanessa and Leonardo have been nice enough to cook me dinner while I embarrass myself on Facebook...worse yet, I am also forcing them to watch Dragon's Den.

Anyways, here is what I have eaten today:

2 coffees

1 Leon hot box (BBQ chicken)

23 red grapes

1 custard cream biscuit

1 heaping pile of vegetable curry made by my exceptional house guests. I hope I can convince them to make me some tea now...

May have eaten a couple of baby-bels!? I don't think I've EVER met a more keen baby-bel eater.. It was lots of fun though, you whiskey smuggler. Oops, I'm supposed to ask a question... Umm... what is your favourite ice-cream? [.. and then no more stalking, promise, from: a candy eater]

Haha!!This may come as a surprise to you but that was only my second time ever eating a baby-bel. Which is ridiculous really. They are so tasty!Favourite ice cream: pistachio but only in the last few years.

I can't adequately rationalise or justify how I ended up with a steak so large that it doesn't really even fit in the picture above. But it happened today and there was very little I could do about it. This giant piece of ruminant was prepared in about 9 mins and served on a giant bed of kale. It also made me feel like I was in that scene from The Great Outdoors.

Not to worry dear reader (mom) I barely scratched the surface; mainly because it was like an iceberg--the bulk of it being beneath the surface. I did however finish all of my vegetables.

Other edibles today included:

1 McLaren HQ latte (had to mention that)

1 cheese and tomato baguette consumed on an escalator and then on the train

1 scoop of almond gelato

It should also be pointed out that my house now smells like a Texas barbecue...

What I ate today: 1 latte 1 black coffee 1 large salad: lettuce, cherry tomato, fresh mozzarella* 2...make it 3 custard creme biscuits * it turns out that the mozzarella was low fat. Obviously this was a horrible and disappointing mistake.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving and there is not a turkey in sight.

Instead, I have opted to make pasta puttanesca to mirror the fact that I am a woman who does not go to the market everyday for fresh ingredients...or so the tale goes.

Other consumables today have included 1 latte consumed over many hours of newspaper reading.

I did have a lovely conversation with my parents who are busily preparing for thanksgiving--we mainly talked about what they should stuff the turkey with and about this new syringe type baster they have recently acquired. The big question was what kind of marinade they should inject the presumably organic, free range turkey with.

First world problems.

Happy thanksgiving.

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Saturday was a pretty low key day on the food front because my regular 18 hour eating cycle needed to be adjusted because of Byte Night. When I eventually woke up, the only things I smashed in my were a large coffee and a piece of cheese from M&S.

For dinner, the wonderful Katy Turner treated us to a wonderful cottage pie in her new flat in Bethnal Green. It was, by all accounts incredibly reem.

And so to bed once more...

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