Best Bite #8: Macarons from Thierry

From L to R: Pumpkin, Chestnut, Lime, Apple Spice and Lemon

Disclaimer: this is one of those cheats I forewarned you about. Now technically on the Best Bite list it is the pistachio flavoured macaron at Thierry that they recommend, however after three consecutive visits where they were sold out of the pistachio, I made the executive decision that trying five different flavours would compensate for not trying the pistachio.

I love macarons, I love the chewy meringue with the cool creamy centre, these macarons had that texture experience down pat, I was however I bit disapointed in the flavour. Now don't get me wrong, they were good, but they didn't quite have the intense kick of flavour that I have experienced in other macarons. I was particularly excited for the pumpkin but it was so mild that if you didn't know it was pumkin, I don't think you could have guessed. The two citrus macarons were closer to what I expected in terms of getting that kick, and I would say everyone at the table agreed with the overall assesment.

So I would say this bite fell in the middle of the road, nailing it in one category but missing the boat in another.

xo J

It's a feast!

I'm sure if you reside in Vancouver you are very familiar with the annual Dine-Out program that happens every winter, well this year at the same time you can take part in FeastVan !

From January 20th to February 5th some of my favorite restaurants in East Vancouver are taking part in this great event where $1 of every prix fixe menu goes here. Good food for a good cause, I say that is the perfect excuse to splurge.

I'm fixing to make a reservation for LesFauxBourgeois , my personal fav!

xo J

Best Bites #7: Buddha's Hand Citron aka Lemon Gone Wild

Buddha's Hand Lemon - your key to victory in any shadow puppet contest 

Behold the Buddha's Hand Citron or Buddha's Hand Lemon. By far it's the freakiest lemon I've ever seen! Traditionally used in Asia as aromatic offerings at temples, this monstrous looking fruit was on the list of the 101 best bites in Vancouver, so we slayed the freaky dragon lemon and had a go.

Interestingly, the lemon has no juice! It's all pith inside, so basically you have the peel to work with and that's it! Gotta admit, this lemon gets even freakier looking when you cut it in half. C'mon if that's not a monster hand I don't know what is!

Anyway, being determined to take advantage of ol' monstery, I zested it, thinly sliced it and steeped it in warm water. Then from the spoils I made a lemon tart, lemon pasta with a lemon, white wine sauce, lemon shrimp, salad with thin slices of Buddha's hand, and had the option of Buddha's hand "tea" with the steeped lemon water.

The Buddha's hand lemon has a very perfumy aroma, and is much more subtle than a regular lemon. If you're the type of person that enjoys rose ice cream for example, you'd probably like the Buddha's hand lemon.

Without juice and that traditional lemon punch, I actually had to boost most of my recipes with good old fashioned 99 cent lemons. The aroma of the Buddha's hand was still there, but honestly it didn't add so much that I would buy it again.

Also note if you want to make the "tea", I suggest just using the lemon peel. If you steep the water with chunks of the pithy Buddha's hand like I did, you're going to be left with a very bitter drink. Blech!

To summarize - this lemon is good for Halloween as a way to scare any children you know. Also, if you are a trust fund baby that has a taste for perfume and money to burn - go right ahead. Mostly though, I suggest smelling this weird looking fruit in the produce section and then bagging up some tried and true lemon lemons.

Best Bites summary: 101 bites, 7 tasted, 5 loved, 2 cringed at

Happy Eating!
xo
Jenny C

Fun. We Are Young.

They covered this song on Glee, and apparently a lot of people are talking about that version but sometimes the best comes from the makers themselves. Here is Fun with Janelle Monae with a catchy little thing called We Are Young, the acoustic version.



xo J

Desire to Inspire

So I was suppose to take possession of my lovely little apartment next week, I was over flowing with excitement, but sadly due to unforeseen circumstances at the Land Title office this is not to be and I will most likely have to wait another week or two. So in the meantime I am living vicariously through DesiretoInspire who are currently doing a run down of the best of 2011.

My personal favorite is the favorite-pets-on-furniture-2011

Images via DesiretoInspire

xo J

Best Bites #6: Red Truck India Pale Ale

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a great holiday week!

What better way to return from the Holidays but with a beverage, I'm sure you had plenty of those over the last month. This Best Bite (or Best Sip) was actually tasted at the beginning of December. Now maybe I am not enough of a beer connoisseur to appreciate Red Truck's India Pale Ale but I wasn't alone at the table on this one.

While there are some inviting fruity hints in the smell, the flavour is all bitter. Bitter, bitter, bitter! I bought a six pack and four of us couldn't even make it through one can. To be fair, all of us lean to the lighter beers so we were probably doomed from the start not to like this one.

xo J

P.S. I have somehow misplaced the photo we took of our own Red Truck so image is via here