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Restaurants Travel

Victoria, BC: Fantastic Brekkie at Blue Fox Cafe

Every city has at least one, right? The breakfast/brunch spot that people line up and wait for without complaint. When we lived in LA, it was Maxwell’s (or Blueberry, or Lulu’s), in San Francisco it was Rose’s and (RIP) Ti Couz; in Portland, there's TastynSons. In Victoria, BC, it might be the Blue Fox Café. By Sunday morning, our birthday crew was going in separate directions. Some to the spa, some headed home, so it was my morning to get around and see the city. I scoured Yelp for potential breakfast spots and hit on the Blue Fox Café. Four and a half stars on 129 reviews, with many warning about the wait. It was already almost 8:30 am, so I get movin’.
June 22, 20120Comments

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Restaurants Travel

Victoria, BC: Lure & the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort

The last time I was in Victoria, BC, it was a pass through point on the way to and from Tofino. We darted around downtown trying to find some quick lunch before the ferry to Port Angeles. This past weekend, I headed up to Victoria with the city as the end destination for a girls weekend celebrating my friend Linda's birthday. We stayed at a great little place on the Inner Harbour - the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort.
June 19, 20120Comments

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Baking Recipes

Momofuku Milk Bar’s Bagel Bombs

  My tour of duty in food service included time at both Mrs. Fields and a few years at a bagel shop that originated on Long Island, NY. So like most people, I think I know a thing or two about a good bagel. You can argue about how they should be prepared pre-bake (boiled NOT steamed). You can argue about flavors (I don't argue, I just don't enjoy cranberry orange or sun-dried tomato). You can argue about who has the best in NYC. (H&H or Columbia Hot Bagel - well, that one's now closed.) You can argue about how to pronounce it. Whatever your position, we've all had the bad bagels -- tough, dense, hockey pucks or spongy grocery store white bread dough, indistinguishable as a bagel except for its shape. These are not those bagels.
April 16, 20123Comments

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Baking Recipes

Masa Biscuits with Ham & Chipotle Jam

Half Price Books has been an amazing source for cookbooks. Somehow there are always good finds, whether semi-recent releases or books of a certain vintage. I always want to leave bookmarks or post-its sticking out of some books saying, "BUY THIS ONE!!" And while sometimes you know why books end up on the clearance shelf -- 80s microwave cooking, anyone? -- others are a mystery. The El Paso Chile Company's Texas Border Cookbook -- was one of those mysteries, but the recipe for masa biscuits alone made it a bargain at twice the price.
April 10, 20121Comment

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Baking Book Reviews

Banana Date Cake (Vegan)

This week, I've been in overdrive catching up on Mad Men so that I'm up to speed for season 5. And now I've got '60s-era food on the brain. But rather than torture myself with some kind of terrible aspic with vegetables in it, I decided on a date cake. Flipping through some of my vintage cookbooks I discovered we used to eat a lot more date cake and date bread than I realized. It's even in an episode of Mad Men, one where Don Draper is having a tete-a-tete with Sally's teacher in season 3. She's made three loaves of date nut bread for a school bake sale.
March 29, 20121Comment

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Baking Recipes

Banana Maple Date Scones

  If you grew up in Southern California, you're probably no stranger to Hadley's. It's an institution out in the desert, and it's synonymous with 1 thing -- dates. When I was a kid, we'd drive out to Palm Springs, passing the dinosaurs off the 10 freeway, and stop off for a date shake. Medjool dates are wonderfully sweet and sticky and they're amazing when whirled up with milk and vanilla ice cream in a blender. But my dates were headed to breakfast, in these banana maple date scones.
January 25, 20122Comments

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