Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

So this week at work there was a bake sale and I was forced to eat a total crap chocolate cupcake.  Packaged cake mix with zero flavour and, I'm sure, store bought chocolate icing with no flavour but super sugar-y sweet.  The icing was nicely piped on and the cake looked really pretty but it was not worth the calories to eat it.  Seriously, put some effort in people!

This week was also Caitlin's last day at work ... and after taking votes at the mess, the winner was lemon coconut for her 'goodbye' cupcakes.  Caitlin even found a recipe on-line for me.  I love lemon anything ... so yummy, but coconut is not my favourite ... especially the sweetened packaged coconut.  I like fresh raw coconut and coconut curry but I've never understood the point of sweetening fruit.  But obviously I have to give the people what they want, so lemon coconut cupcakes it was.

Now Caitlin chose not to make her own drawing of what the lemon coconut cupcakes would/should look like, as she had done with the   vanilla blueberry ones.  And clearly, I really have to learn how to take better photos -- I'm sure a hand drawn facsimile would look more beautiful than my poor pics!  Its hard to tell but these are the super cute purple gingham cupcake papers that Caitlin bought for me.

Anyway here is the recipe that I used with my comments on changes I'd make next time (if I ever bother to make them again!)

Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
3 teaspoons lemon rind (use a rasp if you have one .... as I do; using a zester will make the shreds of rind too large in the cakes)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup milk

Beat butter and sugar until light; beat in eggs one at a time, continuing to beat in between each.  In a separate bowl, whisk flour, coconut, lemon rind, baking powder and salt.  Stir into butter mixture alternating with liquid; making three additions of dry ingredients and two of liquid.  Spoon into paper lined cups.
Bake at 350*F for 20 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely before icing.

Here they are cooling on my new cooling rack.  They were actually a little over cooked and in future I would only bake them for 16-18 minutes.  Also, my oven runs a little hotter than the thermostat so perhaps I would turn the oven down just slightly.  They looked perfectly lightly browned when I took them out of the oven, but when they were unwrapped from the papers, they were a little too dark on the bottom and they were a bit dry.  In future I'd put a bit more lemon zest in to keep them more moist along with baking them for less time.

Lemon Coconut Icing

3/4 cup unsalted butter
1-2 teaspoons lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 cups icing sugar
1 cup (or as much as needed) flaked sweetened coconut for topping

Beat butter until fluffy; add lemon rind and juice.  Stir in icing sugar and beat until fluffy.  Add more lemon juice, if necessary to obtain desired consistency.  Ice cakes and dip in the coconut topping.

After beating up the icing, I left it at room temperature for some time, to make sure it was soft enough for the coconut to adhere when I dipped the tops in.

I piped the icing on, but you really don't have to do this because when you dunk the little cakes in the coconut the icing gets flattened out anyway.  I left a couple with no coconut dip for me ... and this icing is freaking awesome.  I could just eat bowls of it.  Its super zesty and good lemon flavour.  It's ever so pale yellow from the butter and lemon juice and it tastes great.  It made the cupcakes.  For sure.

Race Weekend, The SmoQue Shack and "E accent-aigu''

My oldest friend Molly was here from Toronto, for race weekend.  She's not actually my oldest friend in age, being younger than me, but she is the friend that I have had the longest.  We have been friends since we worked together in around 1987 or 1988.  That's a long time!!!  Anyway, Molly and her friend Debbie were both here to run the half marathon.  Here they are, post-marathon, still upright, still walking and SUPER CUTE!  Way to go ladies!

Now I'm not a runner.  I really can't see the point.  When I see people running past me ... it just doesn't look like fun.  It looks painful.  And not enjoyable.  But Molly and her group of friends are all runners and overall athletes, generally.  And they did teach me something very valuable about running:  if you are running 21kms to 42kms (including all the training kilometers that you put in in preparation) you get to EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT and PARTY LIKE A ROCK STAR afterwards!!!!!  Finally ... I see why people do this crazy thing called running.

On Saturday night, Molly, Debbie and I went out to for dinner and 'carbo loading' in the market.  I, being the good friend that I am, fully participated in the carbo loading activities, even though I wasn't racing the next day!  At 10pm I wished Debbie and Molly good luck; and headed home.  On Sunday afternoon we would be meeting up again with some other runners for big time post-race food and celebrating.

We headed out to The SmoQue Shack on York Street for dinner and beer on Sunday evening.  There was a group of 7 women ... all runners:  some half-marathoners, a 10km-er, an injured full marathoner and we were meeting up with more runners later in the evening.  Not wanting to be left out, waited too long to go pee after my first couple of beers and I RAN to the washroom!  LOL!!

When I arrived there were already some sharing plates on the table:  a giant poutine, rib tips and chicken wings.  Oh, and obviously some beer.  I tried the wings ... very unique, different and delicious.  The wings are rubbed with a spicy rub and they were very hot but flavourful, crispy on the outside, moist and yum-a-licious.  These are not pub-style Franks Red Hot wings ... and being such a chicken wing lover sometimes I'm concerned about messing with tried and true that I love, but these wings were excellent.  I'd go back to The SmoQue Shack just for the wings.

On to the ordering our main dishes.  The menu is categorized by 'meat' .... mmmmmm meat!  (and yes, I'm still digging the cow meat, what can I say? Its good!).  Anywhooo ... you pick your choice of meat and then you have a choice of tons of sides to add on.  There are meat platters ... with guess what?  Three meats!!!  If I've said it once I've said it a million times:  what's better than one kind of meat?  Three meats ... that's what!!!!!  One of the women, whom I shall call "Camera-Shé" because she didn't want to be photographed, was trying to convince me to get one of the three-meat platters with an additional FOURTH MEAT add on!!!  Now that is just c-r-a-z-y!  Four meats = too much meats!  Even Homer Simpson only contemplates three meats (bacon, ham and pork chops) from the professed "wonderful, magical animal":

One of the top 11 most creative Simpsons tattoos:

 

Anyway ... my point is, I was not about to order a four meat platter!  I actually chose the half-rack of baby back ribs and for my sides I chose the deep fried pickles (god I love that deep fried pickles have made such a resurgence and are so popular now ... all the way from the 1990s at the Loose Moose, I have loved deep fried pickles soooooo yummy-yum-yum-yum) and also ordered cornbread.

As for my meal, the baby back ribs were moist and the bar-b-que sauce was really really good. It was smoky and rich but not spicy. It was very good. I found the ribs a tiny bit tough - I thought they could/should have been falling off the bone (ahahahahaha I said bone) more, but generally very good. The deep fried pickles were excellent! And I think they were one of the best deals for the sides. They were nice and crispy with a bit of dill in the breading. And a nice creamy dill dressing for dipping. I really liked them. I'd go back for the deep fried pickles as well as the wings!  As for the cornbread, I was just kind of ... mehh. It was ok. Not great; not bad. Certainly I make better cornbread muffins than these. I found them a bit dense and a tiny bit oily. But they were cute little shapes. I liked that. In any case, I brought home the majority of my dinner. It was a very good sized portion.

Above is one of the three meat platters: chicken, pulled pork and I'm not sure what else. And look closely ... you can see a little bit of Camera-Shé's ass at the back too!  I tried pretty well everything that people ordered so I had a good sense of what is best to order next time.

Here we have Jo-jo's three meat platter.  I think this is beef ribs, chicken and brisket.  There was nearly a brisket break-up because of a disagreement between who has the better brisket:  The SmoQue Shack or Fat Boy's Southern Smokehouse.  I haven't tried Fatboy's yet, so I'll let the ladies duke it out between themselves.  Or, here's an idea:  only eat the brisket at the place where you like it better!  Its not like there isn't a TON of other meats to choose from!!

Molly, smarty-pants that she is, asked the waitress which is the best side on the list to choose and the mac-and-cheese was the instantaneous recommendation.  It took her no time at all to endorse the mac-and-cheese so Molly had that along with the pulled pork.

Normally, mac-and-cheese is not my favourite thing.  I tend to find it kind of bland and tasteless.  And, if you grew up in my household, you'd have to pour ketchup on all over it, so ... really what's the point???  Just have tomato sauce rather than cheese.  But I have to say ... I tried Molly's mac-and-cheese and it was really good.  It was perfectly creamy with good cheesy flavour.  The toasted crust on the top made a nice texture variation.  It was good, and I would definitely recommend it ... especially for mac-and-cheese lovers.  You'll love it.  The pulled pork was excellent.  You get a huge portion (I don't think Molly even ate 1/4 of it) and its tangy, spicy and moist and tender.  Really really good pulled pork.  I would also highly recommend this.

Everyone was so gracious about waiting to eat their food so that I could take pictures.  Here's Line-ette and her three-meat platter; its hard to decide which is cuter!  I know there was also some jerk pork which I tasted.  It was very very spicy and almost a bit too tangy.  I used to love love love jerk -- but then you get to a point and you say:  enough jerks in my life!!!  no more jerks ... (oh, sorry different kind of jerk).  If you ever want to get a shocking rude awakening sometime, try to google recipes for jerk chicken.  Its not food!!!!

Two women are gluten-free so they wanted me to mention that The SmoQue Shack has plenty of options for people who are gluten free.  Me, I don't even know what that gluten-free means, except that it seems to make eating WAY too restrictive!  And Camera-Shé suggested that if we all went home and rolled ourselves in flour, they might not be gluten-free anymore!  Ahahahaha.  Good one, loves it!

For seven women at the table we had a shit-load of food.  We did our best and packed back a ton of meat.  Here is GP getting down on that beef rib!  You go sista' friend!  But alas, eventually, the meat-sweats set in and you have to call it a technical knock-out!  Poor Jo-jo can't even wipe the sauce off her cheek!

Well not to worry, because at The SmoQue Shack you can "share a wet one"!!!  Ahahahahaha.  Loves it.  You know, to be environmentally friendly and not be wasteful.  That's all ... its not dirty.

Most of us packed up our leftovers to take home for lunch the next day, but because Molly and Debbie were staying at a hotel, they couldn't take theirs home.  Seems like Line-ette and Camera-Shé got a hella deal on the doggy bag situation.

So finally, from the title, you must be wondering what the reference to 'E-accent-aigu' means.  Well Camera-Shé loves to give nicknames to friends.  And it seems the overwhelming theme this weekend, or maybe with this particular group of women, were nicknames that ended in "é".  There were the Pattés (both peppermint and Jamaican), Mollé (not to be confused with molé ... the spicy Mexican chocolate sauce).  So I was feeling a bit left out and I was hoping for a nickname of my own.  Well, Camera Shé did it:  she came up with rcmpé for me.  Loves it!  As a shout out, I came up with Camera Shé for her when I started to write this entry.  After all, she came up with all the other nicknames and deserves her own 'e-accent-aigu' too!

We had a great time.  There were lots of laughs and great stories, good friends and lots of good food and drinks.  Really, what more can you ask for?  Well Molly will be back in another week or so ... so stay tuned.  There could be big-meat part deux!

Burgers ...on the Brain

I was still in London and Emma and I had been checking out on-line the places that the Food Network show "You Gotta Eat Here" had covered.  There were two places:  Relish and Prince Albert Diner.  We had a plan that once we were not dieting we would indulge in some 'You Gotta Eat Here' places.  Both the London restaurants are burger places so we had burgers on our mind.

However, afer shopping for hours we were famished and no where near downtown where the two 'You Gotta Eat Here' places are.  Compromise was required because it was almost 2pm, and I most especially, was starving (perhaps I should not have declined the "delicious" spinach shake Emma had offered me for breakfast (pardon me while I throw up in my mouth a little bit).  Here is the face of evil as I corrupt Emma from her raw and only healthy food diet.

Serendipitously ... as we pulled out of the plaza, there was a brand new burger joint:  Union Burger "UB".  And for almost 2pm, the place was pretty busy -- a definite good sign.  So we agreed we'd check it out.  After all, we were already thinking of burgers all weekend.

At UB, you get your choice of beef (ahhh sigh ... cow meat ... sad face) or grilled chicken, you can order it on a bun or as a wrap and you can load it up with tons of toppings of your choice.  They also have about 6 specialty burgers ... I chose the 'Great Canadian' beef burger which comes with thick cut peameal bacon and cheddar cheese.  Emma picked the 'Peppercorn' beef burger which comes with cracked black pepper, caramelized onions, lettuce, whiskey bar-b-que sauce and goat cheese.  Emma also got the pickles and kalamata olives on the side.

They make all the burgers to order so you have to wait for them to cook.  This joint is licenced so, if you want, you can enjoy a beer while you're waiting for your food.  I was driving back to my folks within a hour or so so it was fountain pop for us on this day.

My burger was delicious; they were not joking that the peameal bacon was definitely thick cut so there was good smoky salty bacon flavour in every bite.  The peameal bacon was not dry and the beef burger was moist and flavourful.  It was not greasy and the bun was soft with a nice crispy outside.  Emma said the peppercorn burger was not overly peppery but there were occasional peppery bites.

We also shared one order of fries which are hand-cut and delicious.  Emma claimed the fries were 'cold' but she's prone to over-exaggeration (I mean seriously the 2 bedroom suite at the Delta Chelsea was NOT disgusting!  Seriously ... over-exaggeration!).  The fries were warm but not hot.  But they were still delicious and between the two of us, we could not finish all this food.

Definitely a decent burger and way better than fast food.  For the moment UB joints are located primarily in southwestern Ontario ... so I'll have to keep watching to see if they open a franchise closer to Ottawa to check it out.  In the end, I think it was a great compromise from Prince Albert or Relish ... which we think are basically college hang out places ... you can't trust the opinions of drunken college kids trying to scarf some massive amounts of fried foods at 3am.  Been there ... done that.

On the Patio

So after sufficient recovery time from my over-over-indulgence at the mess a couple of weeks ago (free beer all night ... I ask you what's a girl to do???), I was finally ready to get back up on the drinking horse when I was visiting Emma in London over the long weekend.  It was such a gorgeous night and we definitely knew we wanted to hit a patio and she had two suggestions ... both pubs.  She was at one the night before, so we settled on the other one:  The Coates of Arms downtown.  And of course, for me, this was perfect not only for beer, but also for my two favourite things to eat: nachos and wings.

Things didn't start off that well.  We first both ordered 'Mad Tom' beer by Muskoka Brewery.  We were both excited to try something new and different from this micro-brewery.  The waitress delivered beer to several other tables while we waited, but no beer for us.  She did apologize, telling us that the Mad Tom was in 'the other fridge' and the bartender just had to go get it.  Finally, when it arrived, dripping wet, we took our first sips and found the beer warm.  On a hot night on the patio there was no way we could be drinking warm beer.  So we sent it back ... which was really unfortunate because after just one warm sip, we both thought it would be good ... if only cold.  Clearly the bartender had jammed the beers in bucket of ice for 5 or 10 minutes because the bottom of the bottle felt cool.  Anyway, we had to just grab a pitcher of Keiths (probably with waitress spit included!).

With cold beer finally in our hands, on to the food.  The Coates of Arms has nachos topped with pulled pork, chicken and beef chili on the side as well as all the usual toppings and including avacado (yum!!).  And as I always say to Emma:  what's better than one kind of meat?  Three kinds of meat obviously!!!  Speaking of meat, I'm big time diggin' the "cow meat" right now ... it's totally awesome (especially the Korean kind).

But back to our nachos.  This was the first time I've ever had pulled pork on nachos ... and it was really good.  It added a smoky deep barbeque flavour.  The chili was not spicy but lots of jalepenos added to the nose running factor.  Unfortunately, the avacado was a bit underripe and somewhat rubbery so we didn't get the creamy texture that it should have added but it was easy to put aside.  And I love those red corn chips.  What's in those red corn chips anyway?  Emma suggested that it's red dye number 03.  LOL.  Anyway, things had definitely improved from the warm beer start.  And according to Emma, these nachos were WAY better than the ones she'd had the night before on the other patio.  Since she eats healthy all the time, when she breaks her routine she wants something totally satisfying and indulgent which the nachos from The Coates of Arms were.

Next, on the the wings.  These are just standard pub fare wings.  Frank's Red Hot sauce.  But they were well cooked, spicy and yummy.  Nothing special but totally delicious and exactly what you expect from a pub when you order them.

We finished cowing down all this food, at which point the waitress redeemed herself by telling us she couldn't believe that we had eaten it all because we're so little.  Now, Emma is TINY  ... and I'm a lot of things, but little is not one of them!!!  It was the second time this weekend that I was called little.  Strange things going on in the universe!

We were actually contemplating ordering the deep fried pickles.  Another one of my absolute favourite pub yums.  Many people around us were having them, and ... how cute ... they were served in a big martini glass.  In the end I had to be firm ... and say no.  I was riding my 'little' moniker high!

Our evening had definitely improved and we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves and taking tons of pictures of us together ... which takes a lot more skill than you might imagine ... trying to press the tiny button while not looking like you are concentrating on pushing the tiny button and turning the camera so that we don't look like we're sitting on a teeter-totter.  We finally managed to get a couple of good shots including what I think is the best picture of the two of us that we've ever taken ... in our 16 years of friendship.



Cupcake Update

So a few days after I made my now world famous (hey, if its famous in my world ... its world famous!) vanilla cupcakes with blueberry butter cream icing we had a bake sale at work to raise money for the cutest little boy that has cystic fibrosis.  Well wouldn't you know it, someone had brought in two dozen professionally made cupcakes.  What flavour you might ask?  Chocolate cupcakes with blueberry icing!  Everyone is snapping up my ideas!!!  As a matter of fact, Caitlin had suggested to me that I make chocolate cakes with the blueberry butter cream but I thought the vanilla cakes would be much better.  But now, here was my chance to check out chocolate/blueberry combo.

The chocolate cupcake was definitely good.  It was moist with a rich chocolatey flavour.  The icing was not nearly as purple in colour as mine and the flavour of blueberry, if it was there at all, was very subtle.  Obviously it was a much nicer decorating job than I had made of mine ... I guess I still need more practice.  They really did look very nice and generally were very good. I just would have liked a more intense berry flavour.  But the blueberry chocolate combination would be totally do-able.

Blueberry icing colour and design comparison:

I do really love the baker's business cards!  Super cute idea to have her caricature on the card.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Skor Bits Icing

Well its been a few days ... it must be time for another cupcake fix, right?  It was Bonnie's birthday this past week, so I asked her what kind of cupcakes she wanted me to make for her.  Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing.  How boring I thought. So I started making suggestions of how we could 'enhance' the frosting with some flavour!  After tossing around a few ideas we decided on adding some Skor bits.  My thought was that the Skor should be incorporated into the cake but Bonnie thought it would be good just added to the icing. So that's what we settled on.

On the day of her birthday we ordered a whack-load of Thai food from Siam Bistro on Wellington Street in Hintonburg.  We invited our dear friends Andrew and John over to help us eat the Thai food.  The food was delicious, and then for dessert, champagne and cupcakes.

For the chocolate cupcakes, I used a version of the recipe that consistently gets rated by bloggers and bakers as their favourite 'moist' chocolatey cake.   And I agree, the cupcakes are definitely moist and chocolately.  And the recipe is really simple - literally dump all the ingredients together and mix!  When I tasted them after they were baked, they totally brought back memories of my childhood.  I am sure that this is my most favourite chocolate cake that I loved as a kid, that my mom always made for me for my birthday.  Here is the recipe that I used.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Fill muffin pans with liners.
Sift dry ingredients together into mixing bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat with a mixer for about two minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Add the boiling water and beat, just until blended.  Beware!  This mixture is RUNNY!
Pour or ladle into paper lined muffin tins.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until the centre of the cupcakes spring back when touched.

Kitchen porn shot:
My boisenberry KitchenAid mixer.  Loves it!!!!

To be honest, I was really hoping that I wouldn't love this recipe.  Frankly, the batter was so runny it is messy to work with.  It was dripping all over the counter and cupcake pans, by the time I got the cupcakes filled, there was as much batter all over the place as in the cupcake papers.  But, damn it, it was really really good.

Yes, the cake really is that dark chocolatey colour.  I had the idea to incorporate the Skor bits by sprinkling them on the hot from the oven cakes, which ... in theory should have been delicious.  But it just didn't work out the way I envisioned it.  There were Skor bits all over the counter, the board, the floor (the dogs helped clean that up).  It was a mess and they didn't seem to be melting enough to stick to the cake.  So I gave up after trying it on a few.

Now that they are cool, time for the icing.  I just used the regular butter cream icing recipe.

Vanilla Butter Cream

3/4 cup butter

3 - 4 cups icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup milk

Then I added about 1/3 of a bag of Skor bits and mixed everything well.  Adjust with more or less icing sugar to attain the desired consistency.

So, in the theory that you should learn something new everyday ... here's what I learned.  When you put Skor bits in icing and then try to pipe it onto cupcakes, chunks are bound to get stuck in the nozzle.  I wanted to do a flower pattern but even with the largest nozzle, the Skor still got stuck.  I was able to use the round tip, but the piping job was petty uneven and erratic as a trapped Skor bit periodically came bursting through and leaving a blob of icing in its wake!

As a finishing touch, I sprinkled some more Skor bits on top of the icing.  All in all, they were pretty good.  The Skor bits lost their crunchiness once they were added to the icing and as they got softer, they became more buttery so the icing was much more buttery in flavour than carmel or sweet.

They did look nice on this beautiful cake stand that my friend Stephanie gave me for my birthday 3 years ago.  It is from the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C. and is the rose garden pattern.  I don't use it often but I absolutely love it and am excited when I have an occasion to pull it out and use it.

The Urban Element - Cooking School

Over a year ago I had the opportunity to go to The Urban Element, a local cooking school with my good friend Stacey.  Although it was not part of our recent 'Hintonburg Foodies Walking Tour', The Urban Element is another Hintonburg gem.  It is located on Parkdale Avenue, in the old fire hall.  The Urban Element offers hands-on cooking classes, demonstration classes, basics and fundamentals classes, prepare communal dinners with wine pairings, and host guest chefs from local restaurants preparing and teaching.  Its a great experience whichever class/event you decide to attend, from the moment you arrive, the space is absolutely amazing.  This is the community dining table.  I wish I had room in my home for this beautiful table.

When you walk in the door you are greeted with a wonderful warm and friendly hostess, who will get you seated and serve you some wine.  And if your class requires cooking prior to the class, as ours did, you will not doubt be surrounded by some amazing smells.  The kitchen is a dream.  If you like to cook, you will fall in love with this kitchen.  As we arrived, resident chef Candice Butler and her sous-chef Mark are doing some last minute preparations as clients arrived. 

Guests are seated on stools around the kitchen.  Stacey and I were attending a hands-on class called "The Art of the Crust".  But if you are thinking we are going to learn how to make pie ... think again.  This class is way more than desserts.  We were learning mains and staples of many diverse ethnic foods which are cozied up in a yummy 'crust' of some sort.

For the hands-on cooking classes you get these swank aprons to wear, which include pockets on the front ... perfect for me to be able to keep my camera close to photo-document our experience.  I checked with all the guests if they minded me taking pictures and every one was OK with it.  There were 12-15 students.  Registration for each class is limited and they sell out fast so if you are browsing the calendar and see a class you might be interested in, don't wait too long to register for it.  We were also provided with recipes for all the dishes that we made that evening.  Very convenient, so you don't have to be trying to write things down while trying to cook, but you may want to add some notes, tips and tricks that the chefs mention.

There were seven dishes on the menu for us.  Dough was only being made for three of the seven dishes and Candice gave instructions to make the dough by hand and in the food processor.  She demonstrated the dishes first, and then all clients hand the chance to jump in and pick one station to start at, but everyone would have an opportunity to make everything.  One small complaint that I had, as soon as it was time for the class to choose their station, several people rushed to the three 'dough-making' stations (often both people in a couple chose a different dough-making station) and neither Stacey nor I actually got an opportunity to make dough from scratch.  I have limited experience in making dough and I was really looking forward to have the chance to do this with an expert, so that was unfortunate.

Anyway, Stacey and I started at the Crispy Chicken Thai Spring Roll Station.  For this dish, we were using store bought spring roll wrappers so we actually were prepping the filling.  Here, we are getting directions as to how to chop the ingredients.

We had to shred the precooked chicken and chop cabbage, shred carrots and mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Then, you place a dollup of filling in the wrapper.  The key to spring rolls, is to tightly roll the wrapper - especially if you are planning to deep fry them, which we were, to make sure the filling doesn't ooze out all through your fryer.

Next on the agenda for Stacey and I was Samosas.  Candice had pre-made the filling for the samosas before the class arrived, because you don't want to be putting hot filling into the dough.  It had time to cool, but walking into the kitchen, the aroma of the Indian spices ... the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander and fennel seeds, fenugreek, turmeric and cayenne were already making us hungry.  Stacey and I love Indian food and we were thrilled to be learning this dish.  Here is the pre-made filling.

We learned the technique to roll and shape the dough in that unique samosa shape.  You start with a small ball and roll it into a circle.  Candice actually made Stacey scrap her first attempt at rolling out the dough because it wasn't a circle. lol!!  But she got it right on the next try!  Then you cut the cut the circle in half and form the half-circle into a cone shape.  Fill the cone with the filling and then use the top 'flap' to close up the cone.  Finally pinch the three sides shut to make sure the filling doesn't leak out.  We had the option to have our samosa deep fried (that's what I picked) or baked (Stacey's choice).

Next station:  Rustic Cranberry Apple Crostata.  This is essentially an individual tart.  This was one of the dough making stations but, as I said, when Stacey and I got there the dough had already been made by other students.  The filling was also made in advance by Candice but we were each able to fill a crostata and form the shape of the pastry.  Here is Candice demonstrating the process.

Jamaican patties were the next dish we worked on.  Do you know what the secret ingredient to make the dough of Jamaican patties yellow?  Its turmeric.  This dough was made by students in the food processor.  We rolled it out (see the french rolling pin ... I have the same one!) and filled it with the pre-made filling.  Again, the spices that Candice incorporated into this filling was already making our mouths water.  We still had a while to wait before we could eat the fruits of our labour!

We moved on to spanokopita.  This dish uses phyllo pastry.  We learned the special folding technique to make these cute little triangles.  Starting with the spinach filling in one corner of the strip of phyllo, fold the point on an angle to the opposite side; brush with melted butter, and fold the point straight up; brush with butter and fold one side to the opposite; continue the alternating fold process, brushing with butter at every fold till you reach the end of your strip of phyllo.  You can adjust the width of the strip of phyllo to make large, meal sized spanokopitas or smaller, bite-sized appetizer ones.

Stacey and I moved on to the Mixed Mushroom Calzone.  Again the filling had been made in advance so it was not hot, and the calzone dough which needed to rise, was also prepared for us.  Candice demonstrated how to roll out and fill the dough with the mixed mushroom saute, basil pesto, bocconcini cheese and tomatoes.  We had some laughs when I was rolling out this dough.

The final station was Cornish Pasties.  This was a dough that the students got to make, both by hand and in the food processor.  I don't have the photos of us rolling out or filling this dough and frankly it was both of our least favourite dishes to eat.  We found the flavour a bit flat and not really tasty.

After all the prep was finished and all students had a chance to attempt every dish we returned to our seats, were served another glass of wine and watched and waited in anticipation as all the dishes cooked.  Most things were baked in the oven but the spring rolls and samosas were deep fried.

We were served our dishes with appropriate garnishes/dips.  We loved them all ... with the exception of the Cornish Pasty which, as I've said was a bit disappointing.  But after seven dishes, we were getting very full.  But then, as a special treat, Candice pulled out some of her home made maple ice cream.  It was absolutely delicious and Stacey and I shared one serving because we were so full!

During the cooking, plate set up and eating portion of the evening we had the opportunity to ask the chefs questions, make notes on some tricks or techniques and just generally chat food with the other students and teachers.

If you are looking for a great food-based night out which is more than just going out for dinner, you should consider checking out The Urban Element.  It is lots of fun, you might learn something new and you will meet some nice people.  They have a wide variety of food themed classes and events so there is something for everybody!  Stacey and I certainly enjoyed our night and have plans to go again sometime.