Kerstin's Chocolate is Back!

The other night, I drove all the way to the other side of town to the Highlands Market to get these beloved Chocophilia bars. The rumours are true! One of Edmonton's beloved chocolate bars & products - Kerstin's is back! Kerstin's sister Angie, who lives in Edmonton, agreed to continue making more of the bars herself (in smaller batches) and selling them at farmer markets around the city. Click here to read more of the story from Kerstin's blog. 

Like some of you, I've been hoarding my stash of Kerstin's Chocophilia bars and their Spicy Drinking Chocolate. Thankfully, the hoarding is no longer needed as we can all replenish our stash of Chocophilia bars! I love the variety of flavours that Kerstin's Chocolate has available as they are a blend of classic (e.g. dark chocolate, mint) and new flavours (e.g. Cardomint, Lemon Dream). The ones I love in particular are their Hot Chocolate and Fleur del Sel bars. The Hot Chocolate bar is made with 72% Ecuadorian dark chocolate. BUT, the real surprise is the chili. As you bite in you get this nice, rick dark chocolate flavour which suddenly melds with a kick of chili spice and then back to the round notes of dark chocolate. In contrast, the Fleur del Sel is made with 49% Venezuelan milk chocolate and sea salt. So there is a more subtle taste on your tongue before you get the highlights of sea salt. If this sounds a lot like a description for wine, then you're right. Chocolate bars can have as much complexity as a red wine.  

In talking to Angie, she will be selling the Chocophlia Bars, Cocoa Nib Caviars and Spiced Drinking Chocolate at the Collingwood's Market on Sunday October 7 from 10 - 3pm. The more exciting news is that she was recently accepted for the City Market Downtown and will be there starting October 20th (10am-3pm).

Such great news for Edmonton's chocolate lovers! I for one have some great plans for Christmas gifts!

A Preview of Williams-Sonoma opening in Edmonton

Last night, I had the fantastic opportunity to attend the media launch for Williams-Sonoma that is opening tomorrow (Sat Sept 22) at West Edmonton Mall! This will be Edmonton's first Williams-Sonoma and the second one in Alberta. Now, if you've never been inside a Williams-Sonoma then you have got to visit! Inside there are tons of amazing baking utensils, prep tools, kitchen appliances, canning accessories, linens, and cook books! Also, they carry mixes from famous bakeries such as Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery so you can make his famous chocolate cookies, muffins or waffles at home. Another pre-packaged item you can bring home are these utterly delicious spiced pumpkin pecan quick breads. These were so good, I ate three of them! 

Our tour yesterday evening was led by Shannon Gomes, who is the public relations manager of Williams Sonoma. She came up to Edmonton from the Williams Sonoma head office in San Francisco for the sole purpose of opening the store. Shannon shared with us the story of how Williams Sonoma came to be; A while back, okay about the 1950's, Charles (Chuck) Williams visited France for the first time and discovered that there was some quality cookware and kitchenware that he had never seen before. Thus, became his quest to bring all of this French cookware back to America. Chuck, ended up opening his first store in Sonoma, California and hence the name "Williams-Sonoma" came into every household. 

Beautiful displays

 We also had a chance to meet Chef Casey, who's dream has been to work at Williams-Sonoma and has personally written many letters encouraging them to open shop in Edmonton. She is a Red Seal Chef and will be doing cooking demonstrations, cooking classes and bringing in guest chefs to the store. She also baked the gorgeous pies & loaves 

Linens anyone?

Simple but ever so elegant French dinnerware.

Classic 

Canning & Jamming Jars.

Waffles & Maple Syrup

My favourite wall-Le Creuset!

Various coffee makers and their accessories

The Williams-Sonoma grand opening is on Saturday Sept 22 (tomorrow) at 10am. Demonstrations start at 11am and go until 6pm. Sunday, demos go from 11am-4pm. Chef Casey noted that there will be tastings and demos from Crave Cupcakes, Bon Ton Bakery, The Art of Cake, Green Eggs and Ham and more! Check them out this weekend at West Edmonton Mall. They are located on the upper level, across from the Apple store.

For more photos check out Michelle's post (The Tiffin Box) and Karlynn's post (The Kitchen Magpie). 

Tart Making 101

As you may know, I've been on a huge macaron bent lately. Eating and making all things macaron! So, I decided that with an entire 2 months off this summer I would take time to learn how to make tarts. Tarts you say? Yes, tarts such as flans, sweet tarts, rustic tarts, meat pies, you name it, I've never made them before! Let alone making the filling for them or even rolling tart dough from scratch etc.  Just coming back from a trip to Kelowna I had picked some very fresh B.C lapin cherries and was itching to do something with them! 

So with fresh cherries in mind and a little inspiration from Pragati over at Get Fresh with Food, I decided on a chocolate ganache tart with a Pâte Sucrée shell.  Here's my first attempt at them (below).

So not to a bad start! However, I feel that I could have cooked the crust a lot more! I'm so used to the precision of macaron making, that I didn't realize that tart dough has way more flexibility. Cooking longer than the prescribed 10 minutes, while blind baking, is completely fine! Tarts from both my attempts were made with the pâte sucrée crust. Then, filled with a lovely chocolate ganache recipe from Pragati. 

The next day, I decided to try again using the same recipe and the pate sucree dough.  Attempt number 2 was much better- aesthetically that is. What do you think? 

Pate sucree shell filled with chocolate ganache and topped with
blueberries and freshly picked B.C cherries.

Nicely browned tart shells. Oh, and yes, those are pitted & halved
 cherries you see on the tart!
So fresh & big! 

Over my self-taught tart making 101 endeavors,  I've learned that there are many many different doughs that can be used! The pâte sucrée is especially brilliant for tarts/flans as it tends to hold its shape well during cooking. This dough also has a high proportion of sugar and needs to be chilled for at least an hour before using.

This recipe can make enough for 9inch flan tin/quiche pan. For both of my attempts I had enough to cover four, 4 inch tart tins with some left over for an extra one or two tarts. You could also use the remaining dough for 'rustic' tarts (pushing dough into muffin tins and leaving some space for the filling.

Pâte Sucrée (makes about 275g or 10 oz)

Ingredients:

• 150g (1 1/4 cups) All purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 75 g (6 tbsp) diced & chilled butter
• 25g (1/4 cup) icing sugar (sifted)
• 2 egg yolks

Part 1: Making the Dough

1. Sift flour and salt together and make a mount on a marble slab, pastry board or cold work surface (take ice cubes & ice the surface ahead of time). 

2. Make a well in the center and put in the chilled & cut butter.

3. Sift icing sugar on top.

4. Place egg yolks on top of the pile.

5. Using on your fingertips and a pecking action, work the butter, yolks and sugar together. The mixture should look like scrambled eggs.

5. As you go along, being to incorporate the rest of the flour.

6. Continue doing this until all the flour has been worked in and you have a dough.

7. Add a bit of egg whites if the pastry becomes too crumbly.

8. Once you have a dough, lightly knead the dough with the heel of your hand pushing the front portion of the dough away from you (1 minute) - this process is known as fresage. You want to have a smooth and pliable dough.

9. Once smooth and pliable, shape the dough into a ball. Flatten slightly, then saran wrap.

10. Chill dough for 1 hour in the fridge before using.

11. If you're using a marble slab, return that to the fridge as well so it will be cold when rolling out the dough.

Part II: Rolling out the dough

To get a nice visual demonstration, click on over to this video on how to roll out your pastry and to line a pastry tin.

Roll out the pastry lightly and evenly in one direction.
Turn the pastry 45 degrees each time to keep an even shape
and thickness. 

Loosely roll the pastry around the rolling pin. If using small
tins, place them all beside each other and roll the pastry round and rolling
pin over the far edge of the tins and towards yourself.
Allow the pastry to drape into the tin. 

Using floured fingers, gently press the pastry into the tin. 

Roll the rolling pin over the top of the tin to cut off any excess dough.

Saran wrap, then chill in fridge for 30 min to allow the pastry to rest.
This will help prevent the pastry from shrinking while baking.

Part III: Blind Baking

After 30 minutes of chilling in the fridge, prick the bottom of the tarts with a fork. Then put down parchment paper and then the baking beans. Baking beans will help weigh down the tart cases and prevent the dough from bubbling up. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400F (depending on oven). Then, remove paper and beans, baking for another 5-10 minutes. You want them to look golden brown!

Part IV: Making of the chocolate ganache

Now that you have your tart shells, you can finally fill them! For the chocolate filling recipe click on over to Get Fresh with Food's post on chocolate tarts! Below are some pictures from my try at them! 

Delicious 72% Valrhona Araguani dark chocolate with
whipping cream & sugar.

Tart shells filled and ready for the oven.

Part V: Eating!

Allow the tarts to cool in the fridge, then top with desired fruits! The cherry and blueberry topping was perfect for my first experience at making tarts! Raspberries would also make a wonderful combination with the chocolate.

To help guide me through this tart making process I referenced a nifty book that I received as a bridal shower present. It's titled Pastry: The complete art of pastry making by Catherine Atkinson. I found it really helpful for my first time, with lots of pictures and separate sections devoted to doughs, crusts, and various types of tarts and pies.

Fulfilling Bowl of Ramen at Kinton Ramen

A few weeks ago in Toronto, I tried out Kinton Ramen on Baldwin Street in Toronto. Now most people probably would not eat a hot bowl of ramen in the middle of 30 degree C weather (with humidity), but I heard so many promising reports about their noodles & soups. My lunch companions were all for it-despite the hot weather!

Kinton Ramen, is owned by the same group that owns GUU (in Vancouver & in Toronto).  We heard that the line-ups can be long, but the ramen is worth the wait. So, we headed down the street to eat some ramen on a hot and humid Friday afternoon hoping for a short wait time! Upon arrival, we were told that the estimated wait time was around 15 minutes - which wasn't bad in comparison to other diners' experiences.  I was pleasantly surprised when the hostess called our name after only 10 minutes of waiting! Not bad at all for a Friday during the lunch rush (~12:15pm). We were ushered inside and were seated at what I think were the best seats in the house-right in front of the kitchen! 

A mere window pane separated me from the simmering soup stocks! From our seats we were able to watch them prep the soup stocks, finish preparations on the pork, cooking of the ramen noodles and the final assembly! What a great seat! 

  

Soup stock boiling away. 

Place setting.

Adding to the soup stock! :) 

View of the kitchen/prep area. 

Ramen noodles separated into piles
and ready for cooking. 

The view from my seat at the eating bar.

Diners eating at the bar. More seating at the back.
Entire restaurant seats about 40 people. 

Decorations. It's named "Kinton" because it means
"pig". The only meat option available on your
ramen noodles is either lean or fatty pork, and pork shoulder or pork belly. 

Ingredients prepped (corn, egg, pork, green onions) and ready
for their final presentation.

You need a LONG stick to stir that stock! 

Noodle bowls being prepped. They are certainly experts at what they do.

Shoyu Ramen w/ soya sauce, kinton pork belly (fatty), beansprout,
green onion, nori and a seasoned egg ($9.50). 

Miso Ramen with soybean paste, kinton pork belly (fatty), beansprout, corn
and garlic oil ($9.50). This is the one I ordered. 

Shoyu soup but with the lean pork. 

Inside of the seasoned egg. 

The entire bowl of ramen was delicious!

Overall, our lunch meal at Kinton ramen was very enjoyable. The ramen noodles had the perfect amount of texture to them  - al-dente: not too soft, but a small give to each noodle as you bite down. The fatty pork paired nicely with the miso soup that I had ordered as well. Flavourful but not too salty. Kinton Ramen also says that their soup base is made with simmering pork and chicken bones for over 20 hours! After 20 hours, bonito fish and veggies are added. That's why their soup stock has the taste of umami.  I will certainly return for another bowl on my next trip home to Toronto. 

Kinton Ramen Japanese Ramen Bar

51 Baldwin St. 

Toronto, ON.

(647)  748-8900

@KintonRamen

http://kintonramen.com