D'Amore's Mercato - Fresh Italian Market & Bistro

Seeing that I had a day off this past week, I decided to check out the new Italian market & bistro that I had spotted on my drive home on 99st. D'Amore's Mercato is located at 4612 - 99 Street and is a fully functioning Italian market and bistro in the south side of Edmonton. When my husband and I arrived for lunch around 12:15pm Thursday the place was busy, but turnover was quick and we were able to get a table within a minute. There were about 10 tables on the eatery side available to have a bite to eat or to drink some Italian coffee.

After looking at their fairly extensive menu from pastas, salads, to paninis, we settled on two of their paninis for lunch. With it being an open kitchen, it was also super exciting to see that they had a full-sized wood-burning oven in the space! We also had the opportunity to try a slice of their thin crust pepperoni slices in the end as there were sample slices going around. Definitely a nice thin crust made with 00 flour. Nice balance to the cheese, pizza dough and the tomato sauce. 

Boccancini & Tomato Panini on whole wheat (Reg size - $5.95)

Cuban Grill with hot peppers (Reg size - $5.95). 

Slice of Pepperoni & cheese pizza.

One of the owners said that D'Amore's Mercato had just opened this past Friday! He continued to describe that all pastas are made by hand with an industrial pasta machine on site. They also brought in a chef from Italy to teach them how to make sfogliatelle, which is a very difficult Italian dish to make from scratch. Their tiramisu (their specialty) is also made by hand and on site. On the market side of Mercato you can find a wide variety of ingredients and supplies for making Italian food at home. They also have a deli counter where you can purchase cheese and deli meats. Or, if you aren't too sure about making it from scratch, they have already done it for you. In the freezers on the side there are boxes of frozen cannelloni to take home and bake, pastas and even trays of their famous tiramisu in various sizes; depending on the party you are going to have.

Handmade sfogliatelle! This is a super difficult
to make Italian dessert. We have tried making this
and it is nice to finally have a place to purchase them from!

D'Amore's Mercato Tiramisu

We left D'Amore's Mercato sufficiently filled and even had some tiramisu to try at home. As for the sfogliatelle it is best eaten warm as recommended by one of the owners. It is a sweet treat and stuffed with ricotta cheese. The tiramisu was really tasty and light without being too heavy. We will certainly be back to check out the pizzas and to see the new olive oil bar that will be coming in soon.

If you are in Edmonton and have a chance to check it out, let me know how your experience was at D'Amore's Mercato below.

D'Amore's Mercato
(Open 7 Days a week)
4612 99 Street, 
Edmonton, AB, T6E 5H5.

Throwback Thursday - Beringer Wines

Let's head back in time to the Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Fest this past October (2013) where I had the opportunity to taste test the Beringer line of wines available at the event. That night they had both whites and reds available to try. 

Starting with the whites there was the Beringer Founders' Estate Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. Personally, I enjoyed the Chardonnay over the Pinot Grigio as it had a nice round taste to it and not on the dry side. The description Beringer uses is that it is a combination of "pear, apple, and ripe tropical fruit flavors, with a hint of citrus". I would say this would be a good white wine to bring over to a friend's place when having seafood such as lobster, fish or even a wine & cheese night. I am thinking a nice hard italian cheese such as the Hirten Castello would go well with it. 

From the reds I tried their Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and their Founders' Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Perhaps it is my particular preferences but the Knights Valley Cab Sauvignon was more of a winner when comparing these two reds. In asking the retail price, the Knights Valley usually retails for $35-40. I would probably try this red at home first with a nice pan roasted lamb leg chop or steak bought from my local butcher prior to bringing this over to a friend's place. 

What are your thoughts about Beringer wines? Have you tried this particular line or are you more partial to the other wines in the Treasury Wine Estates which includes 19 Crimes & Wolf Blass?

SnackBox - review & discount code

Like many of you, I love to snack! With my busy schedule, it is completely necessary to have small bags of snacks available in my work bag, in the car or in my purse to keep me going throughout the day. I found though, that when I was hungry I would often grab anything tasty, but not necessarily healthy. So in my mission to look for healthy snack options, I came across Karen's post over at Chasing Tomatoes about Snackbox. 

Snackbox, which is located out of Vancouver, has a monthly subscription service where they curate all sorts of healthy snack products available on the market. There is a holistic nutritionist that carefully chooses the products in order to ensure that there are healthier alternatives in the box compared to what we might ordinarily crave.

In Karen's post about Snackbox, she also had a coupon for $15 off. I was intrigued and decided to order a 3 month subscription for myself and at the same time send my friend in Toronto a box for her birthday (they have a gift option as well). That way we could compare snack notes as she loves snacking too.

My first Snackbox was their December one. Once opened there was a nice fact sheet with information about what snacks were in the box, website info for the snack company, retail price and retail locations for where you could buy each snack. At first glance, the Snackbox was pretty full! Not bad for $27/box (with the 3 month subscription price).

Most of the items in this particular box were gluten free. My parents were visiting at the time, so in short order we proceeded to taste some of the snacks. The dried Mango by Peeled Snacks was super tasty ($2.99). The smoky chili & lime roasted chickpeas by The Good Bean ($5.99) was found to be slightly on the salty side for everyone's liking along with A Good Portion's Pistachios ($4.99). The sea salt was found to be more prominent compared to the saffron. However, everyone really loved Tutti Gourmet's Bana Krisp with Almond & Cacao ($5.49). Surprisingly the banana was not too powerful and the cacao helped with the flavour profile. Plus, who doesn't love chocolate? 

Speaking of chocolate, the Whistler Rocket Chocolate ($4.99) was my kind of chocolate. I also have an affinity for dark chocolate and with the chocolate bar being organic that was an added bonus. The first of the two 'chips' in the box were Hardbite smokin' BBQ flavoured Chips ($1.25). Interestingly, each of these chip bags are hand packaged and even have the name of the person who packaged them. My co-worker and I were really surprised how tasty the Wai Lana Cassava chips ($2.99) were at first bite. Sort of reminded me of those shrimp chips you get at Chinese restaurants or stores except these cassava chips are gluten-free, soy-free and non-GMO. 

The other smaller items in the box were the Camino dark chocolate ($1.50) which was rather intense and tasted better over 2 cups rather than 1as was recommended. The Pamela's Products Whenever Bars ($5.99 for a box of 5) was unfortunately a miss. Not sure what it was, but certainly not very tasty or recommendable to others. Lastly, the Pecan Nut-Thins by Blue Diamond ($4.27) was likely on the salty side but paired well with cheeses like provolone and smoked gruyere. 

All in all, I am satisfied with my first Snackbox purchase. You can check them out at www.getsnackbox.com. I also received at $15 discount code in my last Snackbox for those of you interested in trying them out!

Code: HEALTHYSTART967

Expires: February 28, 2014

Let me know what your thoughts are about these snacks in the comments below or if you have tried other snack boxes!

Winefest 2014 Returns!

Winefest 2014 in Edmonton is back on February 14-15 at the Shaw Conference Centre! If you have never gone, it is definitely worth going. One of the plus factors of Winefest is that you only need to pay once as your ticket is all-inclusive for the wine tastings, hors d'oeuvres, a complimentary Riedel wine glass and a Festival Guide!

There will be over 247 wines from 17 of the most renowned wine regions on attendance. So for example, if you would like to taste the entire line of 19 Crimes like I did than that is a possibility! 

This year there is also a free mobile app that Winefest has available so you can make tasting notes and remember all your favourite wines. The event runs Friday to Saturday and with it being Valentine's weekend I'm sure it will be a great event to attend. Take a look at their website for more details.

Giveaway! CLOSED

Now the exciting news is that I've been given the opportunity to giveaway a pair of tickets for Winefest's Saturday Afternoon Session ($150 value) from 2-5pm.  

Here's How You can Enter:

• Mandatory Entry: Considering that Valentine's Day is coming up, leave me a comment below sharing what is your favourite wine to share with your loved ones.
• Bonus Entry: (+1/day): Tweet - Enter to win a pair of tickets to @Winefest Sat Feb. 15 from @Beyondumami http://www.beyondumami.com/2014/02/winefest-2014-returns.html #yegfood
• Please note that you must be 18+ to enter this contest and to attend Winefest (no minors, including infants are permitted to attend). Valid Photo ID is required to attend.
• Leave me your contact information (most importantly your email) in the form below after you comment so I can contact you if you win.
• Remember to comment below for the mandatory entry. 
• Contest ends Wednesday February 12, 2014 at 11:59pm MST. 

Want to increase your chances of winning tickets? Diane at What Would Argenplath Pay, Linda Hong, and Marianne at Loosen Your Belt are also running giveaways. Check out their blogs while you're at it! 

Thanks everyone for entering! The Winner of the Winefest tickets has been contacted! Thanks for participating! 

Macaron 103 - Buttercream Making and Macaron Assembly

In the past two posts we talked about What's in a Macaron, and How to Make Macaron Shells at Home. This third post will talk about making the buttercream and the finally assembly of the macarons. I've chosen to make pumpkin spice buttercream as the example. 

Pumpkin Spice Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 80g (approx. 1/2 cup) superfine sugar 
• 25g water 
• 1 whole egg 
• 1 egg yolk 
• 160g soft butter (cut into cubes) 
• 2 Tbsp pure pumpkin puree 
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons pumpkin spice

Food Notes:

• Superfine sugar can be made by taking granulated sugar and processing in a food processor.
• You can purchase pumpkin spice at the store or make your own.

Directions for Homemade Pumpkin Spice Buttercream

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small pot. Heat the sugar to 250F(120C) using a candy thermometer. If it boils, clean the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush. Try not to mix the solution, but allow it to heat on its own.
   
   
2. In another bowl or the bowl of your Kitchen Aid whisk the eggs and egg yolks until it lightens in colour.
   
   
3. Once the hot sugar mixture reaches 250F pour immediately into the whisking egg mixture. Then, increase to a higher whisking speed. Continue whisking until the mixture has cooled down completely. It will start to look like a meringue and be glossy.
   
   
4. Keep whisking the meringue until it has cooled. Meanwhile, cream then whisk the butter until it has thickened. Once the egg mixture-meringue has cooled, add the butter. Add the whisked butter slowly into the meringue.
   
   
5. Continue whisking until the buttercream is smooth. It may curdle slightly but this is okay. Keep whisking and the buttercream will come back together. Add in the pumpkin puree, whisk to incorporate, then add in the pumpkin spice. Take a look at this video for making the buttercream.
   
   
6. Once the buttercream has come together, immediately transfer the pumpkin spice buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle (Here's a quick visual tutorial on piping bag basics). Match macaron shells by size, then pipe a small mound of pumpkin spice buttercream onto each half shell.
   
   
7. Top with the remaining shell and give a slight twist to secure the macaron together.
   
   

This last post is the end of the Macaron tutorial. I would love to see the macaron creations you make! Just post them in the comments below.

If you want to make other Macaron flavours here is a current list of recipes that I have on the blog:

Salted Caramel Macarons

Earl Grey Macarons

Salted Pistachio Macarons

Strawberry Macarons  (note: this one uses an Italian method to make the macaron shello but you can use the buttercream flavour)

Lemon curd Macarons

Chai Macarons

Matcha Macarons

More exotic flavours

Saffron & Cardamom Macarons

Rooh Afza Macarons

Ispahan (Chocolate-Lychee) Macarons 

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