Food Products Finds

A couple weekends ago we went out to some smaller food shops within Regina, and ended up having a lot of luck stumbling upon foods that we weren't expecting to find.  We started at the Farmers' Market, where we found everything we were there for, including edible flowers.

Then we went to check out a gorgeous bakery - Queen City Cakes.

I was so excited to see that they sell butterfly pea flowers!  These were something I forgot to bring home from Thailand, and I figured I'd have to order online.  They are used in making an all-natural blue food colouring.  I have plans for them ...

Of course we couldn't leave without taking a few goodies to-go:

If you're ever needing a cake for a special occasion within Regina, check out Queen City Cakes!  They have excellent customer service, and the cakes are stunning.

Next we went to Tony's India Food Centre.  We were pleased to see that they had fresh scotch bonnet peppers, which are difficult to find in the city, and they also had dried ghost peppers.

Christopher neeeeds these extremely hot peppers, and we can never find them fresh.  Even though he makes his own hot sauce, we also picked up this Trinidad scorpion sauce, because it sounded good.

It's tasty, and really spicy!

We were shocked to see that the India Food Centre also had these fried mung beans, which was another ingredient we used in Thailand, but we never, ever thought we'd find in our city.

I was pretty pumped, as I figured we'd have to sub a completely different ingredient in for these.

Finally we hit the Italian Star Deli.  We were picking up burrata, but ended up finding mini lasagna-like noodles that I have been wanting to cook with.

It was a day full of foodie surprises!

We love supporting smaller, local shops, and they are great for finding rare and unique ingredients.  A favourite of ours is Takeaway Gourmet.  It is the place to buy cheese, charcuterie, gorgeously prepared cheese boards, condiments, etc.  Before any celebration, dinner party, or even weekend, we usually make a stop at Takeaway Gourmet; it's a must-do.

Oooooh, and look what we found in a grocery store in Edmonton!!!!!

If we were looking for a reason to go back to Edmonton, we found it.

Dear Lays,

Please sell all the flavours everywhere.  
Seriously though, be cool.

Sincerely,

Everyday Foodie 

Do you shop at any smaller food stores in your city?

What is your favourite local, specialty food shop? 

Are there any foods you have a tough time finding in your city?

Eats of May

This month we've been on the go a lot.  We had a weekend in Saskatoon, a weekend of family dinners, and then a weekend in Edmonton.  During the weeknights we've kept ourselves busy buying and planting flowers:

And doing some cooking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

One evening the majority of our dinner was this gorgeous loaf of beet sourdough bread, that Christopher's aunt got us:

 

Another night we had a super satisfying veggie dinner, including potato, asparagus, and spaghetti squash:

An easy dinner on a busy evening was fish (the frozen battered kind) and curly fries:

A green smoothie to drink for some added nutrients ...

We tried a new recipe for ginger meatballs in a coconut broth:

We'll make the meatballs again for sure, but we'll invent our own sauce, as we'd like the flavours to be a bit stronger.  It was really good though!

One night we made Thai larb with lettuce wraps:

And another day chicken with a lemon thyme cream sauce:

This past weekend we went out for dinner with Christopher's brother and his wife, and enjoyed catching up over sushi. 

We also had fun at our friends' daughter's first birthday party 💛

Breakfasts lately have included smoked salmon toast:

Veggies and fruit:

A cheese and green onion omelet, with a bit of overnight oats:

A skillet full of veggies, egg, and cheese:

Oatmeal with fruit:

And yogurt with fruit:

It has been so beautiful out, so we have spent a bit of time sitting in the yard, and plan to do a lot more of that this week.

Last night we sat outside while grilling cedar plank salmon, sweet potato, and asparagus.

It was so lovely listening to the birds chirping, and smelling the fresh air.  After how long our winter felt, we are really appreciating the chance to be outside, and we want to spend as much time in the outdoors as we can this summer.

I had a summery breakfast this morning; along with a one-egg cheese and onion omelet, I also had a bowl of ice cream!

It's healthy ice cream, made with only a frozen banana, frozen blueberries, and coconut milk.  I put a sprinkle of cacao nibs on top - a delicious start to the morning.

Tonight Christopher is making dak galbi, so I am off to eat that!

Have a fabulous week everyone.

What have you been cooking/ eating lately?  

Did you plant any flowers this year? 

A Long Weekend Away

On Thursday we flew to Edmonton for a long-weekend getaway.  It's such a quick flight, so it's a nice place to go for a short four-night stay.

We stayed in the West Edmonton Mall, at the Fantasyland Hotel, which is so convenient, especially since we weren't driving.

After checking in we went for dinner to The Old Spaghetti Factory.  This place isn't great, but we were feeling like pasta, and it hit the spot.

After sharing a cinnamon bun on Friday morning, we went to spend a good part of the day at the World Waterpark.  My sister, Riley, and their kids were all there too, so we did some water sliding with them, and had a fun time splashing around in the wave pool.  Christopher and I are just like kids again when we get in a wave pool - so fun!

That evening we went out to Biera for dinner.  This restaurant came in at #32 of Canada's 100 Best Restaurants, and we were really, really impressed.

The dishes are meant to be shared.  We ordered four of them, including the endive with pear, and a pistachio crema:

Chicken with cabbage:

Risotto, which was absolutely outstanding.  Instead of rice, they use sunflower seeds, and we were pleasantly surprised by how delicious this was; I'd order it again for sure.

And, finally the nuggets, which are chunks of fried sourdough bread, with a cheese/beer dip that is incredible.  This is another one we're going to have to go back for.

Oh yeah, and we had some crunchy malt too:

After dinner we had tickets to a concert (an industrial metal band), and we had a blast dancing at the show.

On Saturday we ate a strange breakfast of food court poutine and pho.

This fueled us for a day of walking.  We took an Uber to the Strathcona Farmer's market, and spent some time looking around there.  This beer cheese was a standout for us:

And we also liked this waffle/shortbread cookie hybrid:

After visiting the farmer's market, we walked and shopped down Whyte Avenue, and then kept walking all the way to Jasper Avenue.  

In the evening we went to Guru for dinner.

The cauliflower appetizer was great:

And we loved the butter chicken, coconut naan, saffron rice, and spinach cheese kofta.

 

 

 

 

The leftovers were even better as a late night snack.

On the topic of late night snacks, check these out:

Vegetarian chicharron = yummmmmmm!

Sunday was spent in the West Edmonton Mall.  We ate a crepe:

And a poke bowl:

We shopped a bit, and also tried one of the coolest things ever at The Void in The Rec Room.

It's a hyper-reality experience, complete with sight, sound, touch, smell, and motion.  We just put on vests and a headset, and the next thing we knew, we were moving through an incredibly realistic world, feeling, smelling, and interacting with the environment and the things within it.  It's something you have to try for yourself; we loved it!

We also tried the 9D virtual reality pods, but they were no where near as cool as The Void.

 

On Sunday evening Christopher's aunt Dolores picked us up, and took us out to Louisiana Purchase for a Cajun dinner.

We shared some oysters to start:

And then I had the delicious fried chicken dinner; the buttermilk mashed potatoes were perfect.

It was nice to catch up with Dolores, as it had been four years since we saw her last.

This morning we enjoyed breakfast at Jungle Jim's.

And lunch was a perogy pizza in the airport.

Now we're back home, and looking forward to the week ahead.

How was your weekend?  Was it a long weekend for you?