Exchange District eats!

Hello everyone,

So we're back at school now and you know that means back to blogging religiously. So you can all look forward to some wonderful school-time (or anytime) recipes from me.

But today, I'd like to pay homage to a wonderful little spot on Albert that I can't believe I've never been to! It's called Ken Hong. I can't provide a proper review because everyone at my table had the won ton soup (which is good for an entire lunch and it's only $4.99). It's made with a rich beef broth (I think) and it's loaded with won tons, green onions and crunchy noodles.

The restaurant is fairly small with only about 10 tables and there didn't seem to be air conditioned. They are only open until 3p.m. so unfortunately, lunchtime is really your only option.

The prices were perfect (especially if you're a student). Exchange District restaurants are usually so expensive so it will definitely save me some money this year knowing I can get lunch for under five bucks.

Here's a photo of the soup that my friend Lorilynn took:

Off topic: PR at its finest

I thought I'd write something a little off-topic today just because I'm such a PR nerd and I don't care who knows it.

I’ve recently discovered this blog that I’m absolutely in love with and have been reading non-stop (it appears I have a lot of catching up to do considering she started blogging in 2009). It’s a fashion/beauty blog written by an English girl named Zoe. Her blog is called Zoella. Zoe writes reviews on different makeup she’s tried, posts photos of her clothes and outfits, and simply writes about her thoughts and views in general. It appears I’m not the only one who loves her blog either as she has almost four thousand followers.

Zoe is not a PR student like me, and until she had her blog, I’m sure she didn’t think much about PR at all. As you can imagine, the number of followers she has really puts her on the map as an influential blogger and as a result, cosmetic companies (or PR agencies representing cosmetic companies) send her samples to review all the time. She even gets invited to parties that companies like The Body Shop throw so that she can have a sneak peek into their new products in hopes that she’ll mention them in a positive way for her many followers to read.

With that said, this post she wrote fascinated me and I had to really hand it to the PR people she wrote about (FYI – the store is called Zuneta and it’s based in the UK). What is the number one rule in PR? Know your audience. And know her they do. They would have had to take the time to sit down and read several blog posts to get to know Zoe. They knew the way to her heart and she explains what she loved about them in her post. She also explains what she doesn’t love about other PR people – how they can be lazy and just send her generic, formal letters asking her to review her products. She’s still a 21-year-old girl. I’m sure she doesn’t want to be told what to do, especially from some stiff, boring business man.

What did they get out of it? An extremely positive review about them as people and a positive review of their product. What more could a PR guy ask for?

Camping food!

Tis the season friends and with my own camping trip just a week away, I thought I'd share some camping food ideas. (I’ll be sure to post some photos of our camping food experiences when we get back).

I know what you’re thinking – weenies and chips are good enough! Why go through the trouble of cooking when you’re camping and it’s a pain in the ‘you know what’? Well, for a foodie like me, the challenge of cooking when you’re outdoors is half the fun!

One of the best tricks I’ve come across for camping has to do with marinating meat. Steak, chicken, salmon – you name it – this works. All you have to do is put your newly purchased meat into a Zip-loc bag with whatever marinade you like, stick it in the freezer overnight and when you’re ready to leave to go on your camping trip, take it straight from your freezer into your cooler. Voila! The meat will be perfectly thawed by the time dinner rolls around and the flavor is already built in.

You can also check out Canadian Tire’s camping recipes here. They’re great because not only do they outline the ingredients you’ll need to make the dish, but what utensils and tools you’ll need to make it. (I know from experience that it’s very easy to forget a spatula when you’re used to being in a kitchen stocked with spatulas galore.)

No matter what you choose to make though, there’s really nothing better than cooking outside and the taste of food cooked simply, without fancy gadgets or appliances.

The (not) so scary BBQ

I am fearless in the kitchen. Even though I once had a slight accident involving a small grease fire (that got bigger) that believe it or not, involved the fire department (but that's a different story).

I don't think I'm the only woman out there who will say the BBQ intimidates me. It's big and hot and I'm never really sure if it's actually lit or if I'm just slowly giving myself gas poisoning.

But, this weekend, I overcame some of my fears about the BBQ when I made barbecued pizza. That's right, pizza. Right on the grill. And oh man, I will never make pizza in the oven again. It was so crispy and delicious!

Recipe:
I like to buy my pizza dough from Calabria. They charge $2.99 for a dough ball that you'd get 2 decent sized pizzas out of (4 if you like thin crust). They even have whole wheat!

Pizza-making on the BBQ is a little different than in the oven because you have to work quickly. You have to give the dough a little time on the grill (both sides) before you put the toppings on. I had my dough ready, brushed it on both sides with some olive oil and minced garlic (if you like it) and then I just threw it on. I then left it until it was a little bit golden on the bottom, then flipped it. This was easy because the dough was quite stiff already. Then, I put the toppings on and moved the pizza to the far burner (which I had turned off) just to melt the cheese.

This one is the margherita (basil, tomatoes and mozzarella).

Grilled Cheese gets a makeover

This recipe is based on something I had at a restaurant in Minneapolis called Cafeteria. It has an amazing rooftop patio and great food so if you're in that area, definitely stop in. But, that's not what this post is about. It's about the grilled cheese sandwich (and salad) that was inspired by a sandwich I had at the restaurant.

What you will need:

2 slices of rye bread (or any grainy bread)

2 slices of Swiss cheese

Crumbled blue cheese

2 strips of bacon

Pear

Basil

Red onion

No instructions really for this - just simply make a sandwich and throw it in a frying pan. Flipping is a little tricky because there's a lot of stuff in there so just be careful (I kind of used my hands a little bit). Also, don't get anxious when you're making this. Put your burner on low heat otherwise the bread will get dark before the cheese is melted inside.

Salad:

Mixed greens

Strawberries

Crumbled goat cheese

Red onion

Craisins

Sugared walnuts

Poppyseed dressing

Toss everything together (I like to just sprinkle the craisins, goat cheese and walnuts on top so they don't sink to the bottom) and you're ready. 

Voila! The perfect summer lunch.

Tis the season

Well, it's that time again folks. Yep, I'm talking about gardening season!! (Que cheers and applause) Yes, as you may have guessed by now, I love gardening. (Are you really surprised? Come on now.) One of my favorite things about gardening is the fresh herbs. I do love flowers and I like to fill a few of my pots with them but I really like to be able to just add fresh herbs to any dish. In the winter, it's really hard because fresh herbs don't last that long in your fridge. You have to plan out a recipe and know that you need to go get a handful of fresh basil or rosemary ahead of time. In the summer though, you can just step outside and it's all there!

Last year, I grew lots of different herbs and this year, I think I'll buy a few plants of the herbs I really like and use a lot.

Some of my favorites to grow are:
Basil - when the plant starts to flower, make sure you clip them off otherwise you won't get as many leaves.
Rosemary - no issues last year except I don't think I had enough!
Lemon balm - this fragrant herb is part of the mint family. I didn't use it much in my cooking but one day I added it to hot water and it was delicious.
Mint - unlike the other herbs I grow, (which I typically put in pots) mint is a perennial (meaning it comes back every year) so really doesn't require much work. We grow this stuff called cat mint and if you cut off a stock and give it to the cats they go crazy!
Oregano - I grew it last year but I'm still unsure where/when to use fresh oregano in recipes.
Thyme - Same thing, I don't think I had enough of it last year. It's awesome on chicken.
Lavender - I grew lavender last year but didn't really do anything with it. I'm told you can bake shortbread cookies and add the lavender and it's really good. Never got around to doing it last year though. I found it to be a really low maintenance plant.
Dill - Awesome on potatoes and also low maintenance. Watch the flowers on this one too.
Cilantro - I had some trouble with it last year because it just grew really tall and then the leaves were super spindly. I need to figure out how to trim it properly.
Parsley - Grew it but don't use much of it in my cooking. Italian flat-leaf parsley is much better, I think.

Fresh basil pesto (nom nom) I have this to look forward to.

Recipes from the beach!

Hi friends - I won't go on and on about how nice it is here because even though it's gradually getting warmer in Winnipeg, I don't want any of you to virally "spit at me".

Instead, I'll share a lovely and easy recipe that we used to make our fresh tilapia last night.

tilapia filets - they're about the perfect size for one per person
1 or 2 eggs
flour
panko bread crumbs - we used a kind we got here (I don't think it's available in Canada) that's already lemon pepper seasoned. You can just use regular panko but you must make sure to season either the crumbs themselves (quite generously) or the flour.

All you have to do is set up a simple breading station. First your flour (I just use dinner plates for this), eggs and then panko. They say you should try to keep one hand in the dry and one in the wet - I always fail at this so I have to rinse my hands once or twice when they get so caked with breading.

Once your fish is breaded, I like to fry them before I put them in the oven to give them a bit of colour. However, I didn't do that this time because the smoke alarm kept going off in the condo so I just put them right into the oven and they were just fine.

We had rather larg fillets so they were probably in the oven for about 13 minutes but it's very important not to overcook them or they'll get dry. Just watch them closely and if you have to take them out a few times to check, that's no big deal. Better than eating dry fish!

That's it for now - here are a few pics to show you where I am and the panko I used.