Foodie Finds: Kitchen Goodies (Metropolis, Burnaby, BC)

I thought I would start something a little different here on Yum-O-Rama. After all, how does one come to enjoy great food without great settings and servingware, fresh and exotic ingredients, and awesome kitchen toys?!

In this first segment I'm visiting one kitchen store that is near and dear to my heart: Kitchen Goodies.



Kitchen Goodies is located on the second floor of Metropolis in Metrotown, Burnaby. It is right outside the mall entrance to The Bay department store, and was one of the first stores I fell in love with before I started culinary school eons ago.

It was where I bought my first small off-set spatula, and would return time and time again to peruse the store and run my fingers along their many cookie cutter sets (including a tea party set, marine set, hearts, doggie treats, and mini cookie cutter sets).

The store also has an assortment of bread, cake, and madeleine pans, and features lines from Emile Henry, Le Creuset, and Microplane labels.

I was there recently and they also have pre-seasoned cast iron in smaller sizes and shapes, perfect for "hot plate" dishes, or serving okinomiyaki, or pah jeon. In addition to cute and colourful Emile Henry pinch bowls, they also had an assortment of utilitarian pinch and mise en place bowls, sold in stacks of four to eight. (There's something about kitchen organization that is comforting!)

Fave Splurges? The "new" cast iron offerings (I've been having pahjeon cravings lately :), or the colourful Emile Henry tagines (I've always wanted one!).

Bonus: The shop lady / ladies are always there to offer help if you need it, but understand if you want to stand and stare / admire / gawk at all the lovely kitchen goodies!

Kitchen Goodies

4820 Kingsway #328 [map]

Burnaby BC

Phone: 604-438-5805

Plushie Sushi Bentos

Aside from loving and making food, I also knit. And am learning my basics with crochet.

Here's some softies / plushies I made for my boss' daughter. I got the idea when the boss' wife was talking about having a hard time finding some sushi / sashimi play toys for her daughter. When she brought that up, in pops that image of the amigurumi and knit sushi toys I'd seen on knitty.com and (the now defunct) magknits. And so after much procrastinating, a lot of trial and error, and some learning on the go, I give you the following two sushi bentos - they made me crave sushi while I made them!



The two completed sushi bentos above!

Below is my favourite of the two. Some of these were just trial and error, and playing around with little balls of yarn that I had in my stash. Clockwise from the bottom left hand corner, the items (supposedly) are:

- inari (like the confetti-coloured "rice"? ...the boy thought it looked like a dumpling. Meh.)
- tuna sushi
- tamago (egg) sushi w/ a band of nori encircling it
- ebi (shrimp) sushi (in the grey area between "fun to make" and "I can't believe I started this".)
- inside out rolls (definately in the "geez. did I *have* to commit to making rolls?" category)
- pickled ginger "flower"
- small ball of wasabi
- a baby cupcake! This was a lot of fun to make. I wished I had more time to complete it, and to embroider it with some seed bead "sprinkles".
- veggie sunomono, complete with baby "heirloom" carrot and two slices of cucumber





Above is the first bento box I worked on. Although I liked working on this, I almost gave up and wanted to gift the littler girl just one box, because I ran out of ideas on items to make! Clockwise from the bottom left hand corner:

- a baby cupcake! (see above) I really enjoyed the amigurumi items in this project as opposed to the knit items, although I am more familiar with knitting, the circular crochet methods made for near-instant gratification.
- lettuce leaf, topped with a gyoza (both were similar circular "doily" items, the gyoza was just worked a couple round less, with HDCs on the outer hem, as opposed to the TC stitches on the lettuce leaf)
- four mini rolls
- ebi sushi
- tuna sushi
- tamago sushi
- small ball of wasabi
- pickled ginger "flower"

For the entire Flickr photoset, click here.

Next "cooking" projects, will be the big Christmas feast. The bf has been working on stuffing some turkey wings with sticky rice - we had some of the stuffing for dinner last night and it was so good!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hold your loved ones close. I know I will.

That was a goooood weekend.....

Not exactly as planned, but the end result was great. I love it when that happens. . . portraying what I have always known, "In the end, everything will be okay."

-we were supposed to have an "all cousins" dinner on Friday night, but we were having trouble getting a unanimous decision on location and restaurant, but that was okay, we ended up having dinner with the entire family and the older generation decided on a spot. :)

-we were supposed to go down to the states for an "after Black Friday" roadtrip, but the border waits were too long. That was okay though, we wound up splitting up for the day (I got some crafting / Christmas stuff / shopping done as a bonus!) and meeting up for dinner later in day. Also got that game of Cranium and communal tv watching / alcoholic bubble tea drinking / sushi chowing done. Yay!

-we were supposed to meet for Korean lunch, but, as we had surmised all along, we are our parents offspring, and as such, could not communicate enough / assumed too much. We wound up at the same restaurant, but in different cities. Oh, it sounds funny now, but it was okay in the end: me and TM had a delicious lunch at Sura on Robson, then I picked up my *free* holiday lip balm from Kiehl's (love them!), and even dropped by TMs parents place for hot cocoa and a visit.

-we were also supposed to have dinner out or something, but me and TM stayed at home, and had a delectable dinner of three favourites: tonkatsu on yummy grilled onions and white rice, seared black cod on wild rice, and lamb chop with rosemary roasted garlic potatoes. Oh my, it was excellent.

So yeah. It was okay.

Another one?

I was supposed to have some leftover yummy katsudon for lunch today, but TM made me an even yummier corned beef sandwich with two different mustards, mayo, oka and parmesan cheeses, campari tomatoes, baby greens, stuffed between a split ciabatta bun.

I think I might steal half of his lunch when I get home tonight (he forgot his lunch this morning on his dash out the door).

I am such a lucky girl. :D

Foodie Blogger Meme

It's May!!! Time for a foodie Meme.

What is your favorite meal to prepare?

Depends on the mood, really. I made a really great anchovy-garlic-balsamic dressing at M's house a couple days ago. Last night I attempted to make pisalladerie last night, but all I had were sweet and red onions (and not enough, at that). I'll probably make it sometime this weekend in an attempt to carb up for the Marathon. I guess right now I like fresh, simple things?

Is there a food that you indulge in when you know you shouldn't?

Cheese. I buy cheese when I know I shouldn't - be it too rich, be it that I have some at home already (but not this particular type!), be it that I am training for an event and need to cut down on the fat. I always end up eating it in limited amounts, until it molds. Then I cut off the mold and snack a little. Then it molds again and I process continues until I splurge on another hunk of delicious, exotic cheese.

What food always reminds you home?

I suppose I should answer this in a couple months. But my mother actually doesn't cook as much. She buys a lot of "butchers goodies", which includes roast pork, bbq pork, roast duck, and vegetarian / gluten food. I suppose that steamed eggs with duck or salted yolks in it, or vermicelli with gingered baby choys (bok choy or gai choy) reminds me of something so simple, so real as home.

What's the perfect snack?

Fresh veg or lightly blanched vegetables - where you can *taste* the essence of the food, without the adulteration of sauces, dips, or other masking agents. Mmmm. I have cherry tomatoes in the fridge for my morning break today.

What was your most memorable meal?

There are so many. I had a really romantic meal with M earlier this year, at Chambar. I can still remember what the perfectly seared sablefish tasted like when M fed me over the table, and the playful flavours of the passionfruit sundae, especially when I mixed it with the (REAL!) chocolate from M's apple dessert. *insert Homer Simpson drool here* Another memorable meal, was Christmas dinner from three years ago. Everyone put aside their differences, and the food was plentiful and delicious. All the cousins were together, we all joked around, and people enjoyed themselves. Mains were prime rib and ham. Someone brought a whole suckling pig. And of course, I made lots of appetizers, sides and hor d'oevres. Loved it.

When you are out at a restaurant or bar, what's your drink of choice?

At a restaurant, a nice glass of wine to go with my meal. At a bar, I just have to start off on jager-bombs. When I feel buzzed enough from that, then its on to long island iced teas.

What's your favorite restaurant and what do you order there?

I have to pick one??! The world is so boring when you only have one.

What three things are always in your refrigerator?

Milk, butter, eggs.

Do you have a comfort food?

Pasta. Pasta with ham in soup, pasta with pesto. Pasta with tomato rose sauce, pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce.

What are you having for dinner tonight?

We're going to the Gastown Mavi launch party tonight. Later we'll be going down the street to Guu Otokomae for some ebi mayo, salmon and seven friends, black cod steak, kimchi rice bowl, and other delicious, mouth watering appys. Can`t wait!!!