Please sir, can I have some more?

I found myself combing through the cupboard last Friday night at approximately 11:30 p.m.

There was a box of opened crackers, and a few packets of hot chocolate. I cringed as I stuffed the stale cracker into my mouth.

I stood staring into the unfilled cupboards for a good ten minutes. I knew I had to do something to curb the hunger that growled deep inside. This was life or death.

I decided to become innovative and proceeded to check the baking cupboard. If I can't heat something up, I'm join to damn well bake something!

I feel like every has this one crucial ingredient that can save hungry people everywhere—peanut butter. I'm sure you can guess where this is going...

The peanut butter cookie – a delectable sweet that has one of Canada’s most popular ingredient – peanut butter.

The first public recipe was in 1916, according to a website called ProFlowers. More interestingly, the famous “fork marks” that have appeared on peanut butter cookies comes from a baking tradition, as well as an indicator for people who have allergies. Historically, the fork marks were first seen in 1936 in a Pillsbury cookbook.


I found a super easy recipe that consists of three ingredients. Once again, I pulled the recipe from one of my favourite recipe sites, www.allrecipes.com.

Here it is as follows:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white sugar

1 egg

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Combine the peanut butter, white sugar and egg. Mix until smooth.
• Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 6 to 8 minutes. Do not overbake! These cookies are best when they are still soft and just barely brown on the bottoms.

I Heart Sushi

I’m a huge sushi fan.

I could quite literally eat sushi every single day. The great thing about sushi is that the last few years, they have put up restaurants at everywhere!

Of course, the quality of sushi is very different in each restaurant, as well as prices.

My favourite place to go for sushi is Wasabi on Broadway. Not only is their sushi phenomenal, but also their drink menu is great! I tried the Wasabi Caesar, and I was shocked—where and why haven’t I had this previously?

When I go to Wasabi, I always start with the "Honey Plum Tuna," which is tuna wrapped in nori, piled with tempura, and topped with honey sauce.

Next, I order my rolls! Here are some of my favourites from the Wasabi menu:

MAHALO ROLL $22
spicy steamed shrimp, pineapple, mango, red pepper and tempura crumbs wrapped with soy sheet topped with albacore tuna, drizzled with chili lime sauce and seaweed sprinkles


RAINBOW ROLL $12
crab meat, tobiko, mayo, avocado, sesame seeds topped with an assortment of seafood on the outside


MANGO TANGO $12
fresh slices of mango, avocado, tobiko and tempura shrimp dressed with wasabi mayo


As a student, I can’t go to Wasabi as much as I’d like. It is a tad pricey, although I have to stress that the quality is, in my opinion, the best.

                                                                             ....

When I find myself low on funds, I go to one of the two locations called Magic Sushi.

Magic Sushi first opened up in the North End on McPhillips Avenue as an all-you-can-eat restaurant. I think that people like to go and eat sushi here because it's cheap, but has quality.

The second location, Magic Sushi 2, opened up a little over two years ago, in Elmwood. When I visit this place, I barely ever have to wait more than 15 minutes to eat. The appetizers are included in the $12.95 price; for this reason I make sure to stock up on the teriyaki tofu and tempura. I also have a bowl of edamame beans as a little snack. If I'm feeling extra hungry, I get the wonton soup—delish!

For the main course, I have three or four favourite rolls that I always order (yes, you can tell I eat here a lot). Here's what I order from the Magic Sushi 2 menu:

Golden Boy: Shrimp inside with salmon and avocado on top

Red River: Chick inside with kani (crab) on top

Alaska: Scallop inside with smoke salmon on top

Baku Scallop Maki: Scallops with tempura crunches, and hot sauce on top

My only gripe? I once went to Magic Sushi 2 with a friend who had never been there before, and she ordered one-too-many rolls by accident. The restaurant charged her $1 for every piece she didn't eat. There was 10 leftover pieces, therefore she was charged an extra $10! This is why you may see random pieces of sushi hidden around the restaurant—almost like a scavenger hunt. But seriously, people don't want to pay the price. I can only imagine how many crushed sushi rolls end up wrapped up in kleenex and shoved down to the bottom of women's purses. Not saying I've never done this.....

Check out Wasabi and Magic Sushi 2, I guarantee you won't be upset. 

King + Bannantyne

Two of my girlfriends asked me to lunch yesterday. It was the perfect timing, because a.) my blog was due, and b.) I was starving!

They led me through the exchange district to a little place called King + Bannantyne.

Urbanspoon reviews say, “It’s the best sandwich place ever!” 

I must say, I’ve never been to a place like King + Bannantyne, I give them credit for being different—and it works!

Mostly, I was impressed with the restaurant's décor. It complimented the Exchange District. It was sleek and modern. The tables were DIY wood and a stainless steel tops, the perfect mix of rustic and contemporary. 

The walls bared white in colour, with some interesting animal art. I, for one, didn't love staring at the parts of a pig...while my friend across the table essentially ate it, but it was unlike anything I've seen before. 

I liked the ordering bar, no servers, a quick line to grab what you want, and than sit down where you can find a spot. There was at least ten people ahead of me when I stood in line to place my order, but it took mere moments to get my food.

The menu was pretty cool. There was a porchetta, brisket, or meatball sandwich to choose from.There was also the eggplant melt grilled cheese, which I chose. Lastly, the pulled pork graced the menu.

I would have usually went for the meat, but I opted out for the grilled cheese, since I've been obsessed with eggplant lately.

Side note, eggplant is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat, and wow, is it ever spectacular steamed. I got the idea to make it like this when I went for Dim Sum a few weeks ago. The dish was steamed eggplant stuffed with shrimp in a teriyaki sauce...to be continued.

Not only was the food different than most of the lunch restaurants I've visited, but their drink selection was pretty sweet. I had black cherry soda in a glass bottle. So retro. Other soda flavours were available, selling for $3.50.

There was only two sides; soup and potato salad. The potato salad was pretty amazing, according to my friend, Vanessa. 

I really enjoyed seeing them make our lunch before our eyes; almost like The Keg of Subway. 

It was a tad pricey for my pitiful student budget. For my grilled cheese it was $7, and my drink was a whopping $3.50. I was still kind of hungry after my sandwich, but I couldn't comprehend paying another $4 for a side. Regardless, it's pretty comparable since most restaurant meals are $12.99 for a sandwich of some sort and fries.  

I will definitely go here again, except this time I will try the meat. 

Ukrainian Christmas Feast

The year came and went. Time flew by so quickly; I barely had time to absorb it. A new year, a new start.  

I started CreComm in September 2014, and I just began the second semester less than a week ago.

The break in between semesters was just enough time to forget about school and laze around without an agenda.

I almost forgot about the previous months in which I had sacrificed my soul to the Red River College in exchange for a diploma.

Lucky for me, I loved every single minute of it.

Now, I’m back to share another topic that I’m passionate about—food!

I’ll be testing out some kind of cooking/baking/restaurant-style grub each week in my blog post, but be careful—it’ll make you hungry.

 My family is Ukrainian, although we haven’t ever celebrated Ukrainian Christmas. That all changed when I met the love of my life, Billy, and his Ukrainian family. God bless his cultural background traditions, because I now get to celebrate two Christmas’s in less than three weeks of each other.

Now, both of these Christmas’s include gifts of some sort, as well as big feasts—but they are very different.

Christmas usually includes Turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, etc.

Ukrainian Christmas dinner

Ukrainian Christmas is like regular Christmas on steroids, because not only did it have turkey and ham, but it had two different kinds of perogies, gravy with mushrooms, fresh baked bread, mashed potatoes, salads, fish and more.

So what is Ukrainian Christmas you ask? It is for those who follow the Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar. The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, the same as the calendar that we follow today.

Traditional Ukrainian Christmas is from January 7-14. It is a time to dress up, visit family and sing (We don't sing, but I'm sure it would be lovely if we did).

Some of the interesting dishes at Ukrainian Christmas included Kutia, a sweet grain pudding, and Holubtsi, stuffed cabbage rolls.

I am thankful that I get to have home-cooked feasts. Although I am a big fan of restaurants, nothing beats mom's homemade meals. 

The only problem with dinner is that I didn't have enough room to go for seconds.

If you ever want to make your own Ukrainian feast, look up a recipe for perogies. Not only are they cheap to make, but they are easy! It takes a bit of setting up and it's time consuming, but the results are worth it! 

Perogie Recipe from http://allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 60 perogies

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 8 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons processed cheese sauce
• onion salt to taste (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

• PREP
  2 hrs
• READY IN
  2 hrs

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, sour cream, eggs, egg yolk and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the flour until well blended. Cover the bowl with a towel, and let stand for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Place potatoes into a pot, and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, and mash with shredded cheese and cheese sauce while still hot. Season with onion salt, salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
3. Separate the perogie dough into two balls. Roll out one piece at a time on a lightly floured surface until it is thin enough to work with, but not too thin so that it tears. Cut into circles using a cookie cutter, perogie cutter, or a glass. Brush a little water around the edges of the circles, and spoon some filling into the center. Fold the circles over into half-circles, and press to seal the edges. Place perogies on a cookie sheet, and freeze. Once frozen, transfer to freezer storage bags or containers.
4. To cook perogies: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Drop perogies in one at a time. They are done when they float to the top. Do not boil too long, or they will be soggy! Remove with a slotted spoon.