My Holiday Dinners and Feasts

Happy New Year!

So due to sleeping in and it being a holiday I didn't really update the blog this morning. I didn't know what to post and I wanted it to be a little different. So if you've been following my tweets I've had 8 or 9 Christmas dinners this year. Unfortunately I didn't get pics of all of them, but I did get a few. Just wanted to show you what I've been eating.

Some of the holiday meals were home cooked and some were dine outs. I don't review anything that is homemade by friends or family...because I still want to be invited for dinners! =p But to satisfy your curiosity everything was delicious and I'm so lucky to have friends and family who can cook.

Vancouver Food Blogger dinner at The Irish Heather...review posted tomorrow!
Duck leg with Mushroom & Foie Gras Jus

Christmas dinner with my best friend. We love cooking, we love eating, we love food! The dips we made for our crab cakes. 1) Pesto Cream sauce 2) Sweet Thai Chili with Edamame 3) Curry Pineapple Chutney with Coconut

The crab cakes we made. The only ingredient we prepared was crab meat...everything else was rummage around my kitchen and work with what we have.

1) Crab cake 1: Tropical East! Coconut Curry crab cake crusted with cashews, coconut, and coconut rice crackers. Served with curry pineapple chutney.

2) Crab cake 2: Asian style! Sweet Thai Chili crab cake crusted with peanuts and honey glazed sesame cashews. Topped with Sweet Thai Chili edamame beans.

3) Crab cake 3: Mediterranean style! Pesto and caper crab cakes with Pesto cream sauce.



Dessert after crab cakes was Egg Nog Cupcakes!...and Mochis! You can eat those whenever!


Christmas Eve dinner at Kirin - Peking Duck.
My appetizer. My own creation: Christmas all wrapped up! It was shredded turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mushrooms, purple potatoes wrapped up in filo. Served on home made cranberry sauce.

My friend's drunken risotto made with 2 bottles of Merlot! It also had Italian sausage, onions and spinach. Yum!

Sweet potato mash with toasted marshmallow bake..this was out "vegetable" dish.

Christmas dinner potluck with 6 friends. Sweet potato mash with toasted marshmallow bake, mac n' cheese 1, mac n' cheese with bacon 2, drunken risotto, and honey Dijon glazed ham.

Dessert from Kreation Artisan Cake Bakery

My New Year's Eve 2009 dinner at The Marriott hotel in Vancouver. Charred asparagus with papaya vinaigrette, steamed veggies, roast beef, roast chicken breast, wild mushroom and pearl onion ragout, ravioli with olives, artichokes, baby shrimp and radicchio, roast potatoes etc. etc.

Society - Dessert: Junk Food Platter

Restaurant: Society - Dessert Junk Food Platter

Cuisine: American
Last visited: November 18, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (Yaletown/Downtown)
1257 Hamilton Street
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Junk Food Platter: 4
Savoury Food: 2
Service: 3.5
Ambiance: 5
Overall: 2.5
Additional comments:

• Comfort food with a twist
• Executive Chef Brandon Thordarson
• Attracts trendy crowd - Glowbal feel
• Great decor/playful and contemporary ambiance
• Better for drinks/desserts
• Part of the Glowbal Group family
• Heated patio, outdoor seating
• Open 11:30am-12am
• Open 4:30pm Sat/Sun

**Recommendation: Junk food platter

This review is focused on Society's dessert: The Junk Food Platter

There was too much to review on this huge platter so I had to split it up. The menu says it serves 2, but really it can serve between 4-6. Everything comes in 2, but you'll be pretty full if you ate everything. It's pretty big. For $18 I would order it again - however some things were better than others. I think the ice cream sandwiches were the best.

The platter is full of old-fashioned/circus/carnival desserts or "junk food": cotton candy, caramel corn, chocolate cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches, Oreo milkshake, doughnut holes, cookies and rice crispy squares. Overall it's a fun/playful idea, very well-presented and suits the restaurant and what they aim to do.

For my review on the savoury dishes: http://tinyurl.com/yg3ok8k

On the table:

• Junk Food Platter 4/6
• Cotton candy, caramel corn, chocolate cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches, Oreo milkshake, doughnut holes, cookies and rice crispy squares $18
• Cotton Candy 4/6
• The cotton candy is fresh and really good. It's really fun and never really been done at a restaurant. Better than the stuff you get an carnivals. You get quite a bit, but it's just spun sugar so it doesn't cost much to make.
• Caramel Corn 1/6
• This was found in the cup that was holding the cotton candy up.
• They burnt the caramel so the caramel corn was bitter and hard. It was really crunchy and they were in clumps, so it was more like brittle than it was caramel corn. This was better at carnivals.
• Doughnut Holes 2.5/6
  
• I think they make a version of these at Trattoria too. You can order these separately for $8.
• They taste really good, except they're filled with a cream anglaise that is much too sweet. On top, they're covered with white icing sugar so it makes them very sweet. They're served warm though so I liked that.
• It come with this pink "white chocolate" dip - which was not good at all. It was flavourless. It looks like Pepto-Bismol and I tried it on it's own. It tastes like pure sugar watered down and dyed pink. I enjoyed the doughnuts better without the dip.
• Ice Cream Sandwiches 4/6
• These were fantastic! Gone first. It was homemade.
• The cookie part tasted like chocolate brownies more than they did cookies. It wasn't the best brownie ever or anything, but it was still good. It was really fresh, soft and chewy. There's vanilla ice cream in the middle, which is not homemade I'm pretty sure. But overall the whole thing is yummy. I wish you could order them separately.
• Rice Crispies 3/6
  
• These were just your regular rice crispy squares. Not too buttery, not to sweet. a little harder than I'd like. I like them soft and chewy.
• Chocolate Cupcakes 3/6
• These reminded me of gourmet Ding Dongs. They were chocolate cupcakes filled with marshmallow cream and covered in chocolate ganache. These were nice and moist - a very decadent chocolatey treat.
• Oreo Milkshake 3/6
  
• This tasted great (how an Oreo milkshake would taste), but it wasn't a thick milkshake. It was definitely more milk based than ice cream based. I wonder if their other milkshakes are as thin as this one was...?
• They top it off with whipped cream and chocolate cookie crumbs. I wish they used Oreo cookie crumbs instead. They could easily make that switch with the help of a food processor.
• Cookies 2/6
• There were 2 mini chocolate chip cookies inside the mini white doggy bag.
• I have a feeling they started off warm, soft and chewy...but because I got to them last they were hard and not chewy. It was really too bad. Just because a cookie cools down it doesn't mean it has to be hard - but it happened to these ones which was disappointing.
  

Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes

Pistachio Raspberry Mini Cupcakes
Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry Custard filling
Pistachio Raspberry Cupcake with Raspberry Custard filling

Item: A twist on Martha Stewart's Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes - review

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Find recipe here: Martha Stewart's Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes

• Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry Custard filling 5/6
  

• These are really good! My friend and I baked these over the weekend. We modified the recipe because we wanted to make cupcakes rather than teacakes. These are denser than cupcakes and that's why Martha refers to them as teacakes. I would make these again for sure, but experiment with the recipe a bit more. A bit adventurous for some, but it is a gourmet style cupcake. It's pretty expensive to make too because pistachios and raspberries aren't cheap. Great to make during the summer.
• I love raspberries and nutty flavours, so it's no doubt I would enjoy these. These aren't meant to be those fluffy cupcakes we're used to though. It's really rich in pistachio flavour and I really enjoyed that nuttiness. I made sure not to grind them up all the way, so that I could still bite into small pieces of pistachio. They aren't that sweet either, you can eat it for breakfast or as a dessert. Perfect for bridal showers or any other girly events. You really don't want to overbake these because they're dense enough on their own already. More like a cake than cupcake.

• Tasty Twist Idea: We had so many raspberries so I ended up making a fresh raspberry custard to fill the middle of the cupcakes. The cupcakes are still pretty sturdy so it was hard to inject the cupcakes with the custard. We also made a raspberry buttercream to ice them. I think the custard was a great addition - it adds moisture because they can come off as a bit dry since they're made with nuts.
  

Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes

Item: A twist on Martha Stewart's Candied-Hazelnut Cupcakes - review

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Find recipe here: Matha Stewart's Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes

• Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes - with hazelnut filling and chocolate ganache 5/6
  

• My friend and I baked these on the weekend - along with our Pistachio and Raspberry cupcakes filled with raspberry custard (will be my next blog entry). Anyways, before I get off topic - back to the almond hazelnut cupcakes.

• If you like those Ferrero Rocher chocolates, you will love these! These are Ferrero Rochers in the form of cupcakes. Everyone enjoyed these. They are decadent though and quite filling because of the nature of the ingredients - hazelnuts and chocolate. They do come off as a bit dry because of the hazelnuts, so it really requires something rich like a chocolate ganache.

• These are more nutty than they are sweet. Actually for me it's almost like a hazelnut muffin. The chocolate ganache we made turned it into a cupcake, but alone it could be a muffin. The texture can come off as a tad dry because of all the nuts - but it's not dry, it just gives the illusion of being dry cause of the ground nuts.

• You know it's a good cupcake when the batter is good! We did try the batter and it was so aromatic. Toasting the nuts is one of the most important steps to this recipe. There's no need for any artificial nut flavouring or nut extracts - these are the real deal! An adult cupcake! Without the chocolate, you could easily serve this for breakfast. I would make this again.

• Tasty Twist Idea: Since the cupcake is so dense it really requires a rich frosting. Especially since it's not a really sugary cupcake - less than 1 cup of sugar for a batch of cupcakes is not a lot at all. For this reason, we decided to make a hazelnut ganache to fill the insides of these cupcakes. Without the richness of the ganache and chocolate it doesn't really taste like a dessert...and when I'm eating a cupcake I want to feel like I'm eating a dessert. We topped these off with a lot of chocolate ganache (a nice thick layer, as you can tell by the picture) - and the ratio was actually perfect this way.
  

Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes

Item: Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes - review

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Find recipe here: Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes

• Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes 6/6
  

• My friend baked these for me, and I'm so glad she did! These cupcakes are amazing! So moist! It could be due to the fact that you brush coffee marsala syrup on the tops of these cupcakes...but whatever it is this recipe is tres excellent! What a great idea to use a marscapone frosting too. Nice and light and airy - not to sweet either....so you can eat a lot of them. I did. =)
• It tastes as good as it sounds or even better.
• Because it is a whipped marscapone frosting it will melt quite easily. You need to keep it in the fridge or I would serve them immediately - they're the best this way.
  

Ina Garten's Famous Coconut Cupcakes

Item: Ina Garten's Famous Coconut Cupcakes - review

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Find recipe here: Ina Garten's Famous Coconut Cupcakes

• Coconut Cupcakes 5/6
  

• These cupcakes are pretty good. Fluffy, light, white, moist and a nice almond flavour. I would have appreciated an even stronger coconut flavour though. This recipe is worth a try and it's easy to follow. I baked them with my friend and we over baked ours a bit. Do not over bake them. If you over bake them it'll taste dry especially since there's dried coconut flakes in the batter...the texture will just be extra dry and you really want these to be fluffy. They will look really white and you might think they aren't baked all the way through yet...but if the tooth pick comes out clean take them out. They're done! Our second batch was much better!
• Cream cheese frosting - great match! Actually a great recipe to keep.