Bump n Grind - South Granville Grand Opening!

I was invited to the opening party of Bump n Grind Cafe grand opening. The South Granville location is their second location. The original location on Commercial Drive is well-loved by the neigbourhood. Owners Cheryl and Kyle Wright wanted to open their new location in a community-oriented neighbourhood, and found the perfect space on Granville Street and West 15th Avenue.

Bump n Grind is a multi-roaster cafe, where the owners search high and low across Canada for the best coffee. Coffees are rotated weekly to keep the menu fresh, and exciting.

Frozen Banana Ice Cream

We've been waging the war against fruit flies, and our bananas are always first to fall victim to this war. So we've been freezing a lot of bananas. While I love a good smoothie, and banana bread, I wanted to find something new. Off to Pinterest I go. I've always wanted to make my own ice cream, but I don't want to invest in an ice cream maker. So I was ecstatic when I found this pin.

All you really need are bananas, and any other flavouring you want to add to it. I didn't think bananas would give me the creamy texture like ice cream, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Ingredients

3 - 4 frozen bananas

Optional Ingredients

2 tablespoons Nutella

1/4 chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Break bananas into smaller pieces
2. Whiz it up in the food processor - about 30 seconds
3. Add flavourings (optional)
4. Transfer into a freezer safe container, and freeze for about one hour to firm up the mixture.
5. EAT!

What would you flavour your banana ice cream with?

xoxo
~meesh

Korean Pancake - Hoddeok

It's summer time in Vancouver, and that means night markets are in full swing! Chris and I were at the "old" night market, AKA The International Summer Night Market, when I first discovered hoddeok.

 It is Korea's version of Beaver Tails! I would say Hoddeok is BETTER than Beaver Tails! It has the chewy texture of Asian pancakes, like green onion pancake, but filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts!

Naturally, I wanted to learn how to make it. I turned to my newest obsession, YouTube, for a recipe. I came across this amazing channel, Maangchi. She has so many videos of her recipes, I can't wait to try them all. Her video for Hoddeok made it look so simple, I just had to try it out.

For the full recipe, head over to Vancity Buzz!

You need to cook and serve these right away. The first time I made Hoddeok, I got too excited, and cooked all 8 at once. Unfortunately, they get hard pretty quick. The filled dough can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days.

This dough is so easy to make! You can fill it with anything. I might try filling it with meat sauce next time.

What's your favourite Korean recipe?

~meesh

Engage Wedding Show at The Vancouver Club

I was lucky enough to get free tickets to go to Engage, The Bridal Show, at The Vancouver Club on Jan. 20th. It was the best wedding show I have ever been to. Upon entry, we were greeted by flowers, particularly orchids, EVERYWHERE! I had never seen so many orchid arrangements!

After browsing the florists in the main lobby, we headed to the fashion show right away. The show was hosted by Blush Bridal in West Vancouver. I didn't get very good pictures with my little camera phone. Here is a picture from Blush's Facebook page.

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Sweet Pea Photography has almost 100 pictures of the show on their Facebook page! You have to check it out! It was hard to pick just one that I loved, but I definitely like the sheer, sparkly top of this dress:

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I'm still looking for a dress for the reception. I was just going to buy a white dress from wherever, maybe from BCBG or something, but I decided I should go shopping for a short wedding dress after seeing this one.

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The dress is just so adorable!! AAAH

Okay, moving on. We went upstairs to the Grand Ballroom where we were greeted by some lovely caviar and champagne. Check out this ice bar. There are orchids IN the ice!

We then moved on to see what the various vendors had prepared. I couldn't get over how elaborate all the flower arrangements were.

Check out these gorgeous cakes by Anna Elizabeth Cakes! The flowers are all made of sugar!

Here's the AMAZING dessert bar! Everything was pink! I love it! There were cakes by Ganache Patisserie, Anna Elizabeth Cakes, Beta 5 Chocolates, cotton candy (clearly), nanaimo bars, pink ombre cake, carrot cake cupcakes, and so many others. It was delicious!

 We followed up desserts with a free mini manicure from Luxe Beauty Lounge. Check out the colour I chose: Don't Give a Rotterdam

Lastly, we got our pictures taken by The Collective You. They're kind of like a photo booth, but with a real photographer, and an editor that will touch up your picture right away. They pictures are then printed, and guests can take them as keepsakes, or the guests can write a message to the wedding couple as a sort of guest book. Super cool idea. We took a bunch of pictures, but only this one was printed. I really would love to see the "outtakes".

All in all, I had a blast at this show. I think we ended up spending 3 hours here. I've never spent 3 hours at a wedding show before. If you get a chance to go next year, DO IT!

A Silpat Baking Dish!! OMG

If you've read some of my baking posts, you'll know that I swear by silpat liners. These are non-stick silicone liners that are easy to clean, and reusable. They are oven-safe (obviously) and microwave safe. These are honestly one of my baking must-have's.

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I was scrolling through my geek blogs today, and found a silpat baking dish!!! OMG!

Now I can bake my cookies without having to worry about them falling over the edge!

You can buy them at Amazon for $55.00. It's pretty expensive for a baking pan, but based on my experience with Silpats, I wouldn't hesitate buying this.

What's your favourite baking must-have?

OMG!! So deeeelicious! Thanks Pinterest...AGAIN

Continuing with my Pinterest (FOLLOW ME!!) obsession, I've been eyeing the chocolate chia pudding for a couple weeks. I've been eating chia seeds for almost two years now. I have only ever mixed 2 tablespoons of seeds each morning with water and gulped it down. I didn't mind the texture or taste, so I didn't think much about what else I could do with it.

When I saw the recipe for chocolate chia pudding, I was hooked, obsessed really, with finding more recipes. I finally decided on the original recipe I had found:

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But I switched it up a little, cuz who wants to be confined to what's on the page? So instead, I made chocolate chai chia pudding!! Honestly, I opened the fridge looking for almond milk, and saw my chai syrup as well. So I thought, what the hell? Chocolate and chai goes well together, might as well give it a go!

Chocolate Chai Chia Pudding

Adapted from Food Doodles

2 tablespoons of chia seeds

1/2 cup of almond milk

1 tablespoon of chai concentrate

1 tablespoon of blue agave syrup

1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

Mix all the ingredients together, and let it sit for 20 mins. I found mixing it intermittently helps as well.

My picture isn't as pretty as others, but it's still deeeeelicous!! This recipe makes one serving.

When I first started eating chia seeds, I was buying them from organic grocers for about $23 a pound. As it has gained more popularity, national chains are carrying it, but they still sell for about $12 for 12oz. You can also find chia seeds at discount stores such as Home Sense, but I've recently discovered that Costco now has chia seeds!!! They are about $12 for 32 oz...AKA TWO POUNDS!!!!

I have a feeling I will be making a lot of chia puddings in the near future. Maybe a chocolate almond flavoured one? Maybe earl grey!!! Ooooh, the possibilities are endless!!!

What flavours do you want to try?

xoxo

~meesh