ChikaLicious, New York City

If you have a massive sweet tooth like my friend JM, then you must check out ChikaLicious, a 3-course dessert bar in NYC.

The establishment is a fun and intimate 20-seat restaurant that does not take reservations. They have a friendly doorkeeper managing traffic in +  out, gracefully telling drop ins how long it will be before a table is ready.

When JM suggested this place after our dinner, I didn't think I had it in me to eat a 3-course dessert. "Don't worry! The portions aren't that big," she says to me. And she convinces me to eat while I am insanely stuffed...AGAIN!

The 3-course dessert meal costs $16, where you get an amuse bouche, a dessert of your choice, and assorted petit fours to end your meal. The desserts at ChickaLicious are described as "American Style Dessert, with French presentation, and Japanese tasting portions". There are normally 6 dessert choices on the menu, with everyone in mind. A really good mix of light and rich desserts.

Our amuse bouche for the evening was a basil seed mango salad with basil sorbet. I don't see basil seeds used a lot, so that was cool. This was a dessert that wasn't overly sweet, which was a good way to start our meal.

Basil Seed Mango Salad with Basil Sorbet

My dessert of choice was the kiwi marinated in lavendar topped with coconut sorbet and a crispy Kataifi made of phyllo dough. I wanted light and this was the perfect choice.

Kiwi Marinated in Lavendar

JM opted for the warm chocolate tart with pink peppercorn ice cream and red wine sauce. She wanted rich, and that is what she got!

Warm Chocolate Tart

S had the toasted almond panna cotta with peach tea sorbet and frosted almonds

Toasted Almond Panna Cotta

SM had the Necatrine terrine on pecan sandie wafer with buttermilk ice cream and maple syrup.

Nectarine Terrine

Our petit fours for the evening were coconut marshmallows, white Genova sponge cake with Grand Marnier, and chocolate sable cookies. This was my favorite course of the entire meal. A delightfully sweet ending!

Coconut Marshmallows, White Genova Sponge Cake, and Chocolate Sable Cookies

ChikaLicious
203 East 10th Street
New York, NY United States
Telephone: 212-475-0929

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Stella Luna Gelato Cafe, Ottawa

When I got ear that an independently owned gelato shop was opening up on Bank, I got excited. Only 3 weeks old, Stella Luna Gelato Cafe opened at the perfect time. The hot weather in Ottawa is still going strong, which makes it the perfect weather for something cold + sweet!

The story about how the owners met is a really romantic one. Twenty five years ago, when Tammy was 19 years old, she travelled to Italy to explore the sights and sounds the country had to offer. When she arrived in Rome, Alessandro, her now husband, bravely went up to her and asked her to the movies. Just 3 days later, in true Roman fashion, Alessandro proposed! Tammy packed her bags, moved to Italy, and spent a number of years there before moving back to Ottawa with her family.

Tammy had always dreamt of opening up a gelato place, so last winter, she headed to Italy to attend gelato University where she learned the art of making this sultry, luscious, velvety delicious dessert.

Stella has a very warm and open space. A great neighborhood hang out. There is plenty of seating so you don't have to worry about whether or not you'll be able to snag a seat to enjoy your food.

Using the freshest ingredients, and made in house, Stella serves one of the best gelatos in Ottawa. I find the gelato at Pure Gelato does not have enough flavor, and Truffle Treasures gelato a little too creamy, resembling too much like ice cream. Stella's gelato is lighter and packed with a lot of flavor!

Over 20 flavors are served daily, and my favorite flavors so far are Sicilian Pistachio, Chocolate Amaretto, Ricotta and Caramelized Figs, and Roasted Almond. The coffee one is pretty darn good as well! What I love is that the true flavors of the nuts and coffee come through in Stella's gelato, providing a nice intense flavor.

Sorbets and unique fruit flavors are also available such as Mandarin sorbet, Ruby Peach Lavendar and Raspberry Cranberry Hibiscus.

If gelato isn't your thing, there are lots of other options such as granitas, paninis, desserts, coffee, crepes, and waffles.

Stella serves two types of granitas which alternates: lemon and coffee. The day I went, they were serving the coffee granita. It was nice. Creamy and not too sweet.

I also tried their roasted cherry tomato panini, dressed with extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, fresh arugula and Fontina cheese on Kalamata olive bread. The tastes were there but I felt it was a little sparse. Maybe not enough toppings? Maybe not packed tightly enough? I couldn't put my finger on it but that little something something was missing.

They've just brought a Cordon Bleu graduate on board to oversee the lunch menu so perhaps it was too early to judge.

This is a great hang out place with great food and service. As you can see, I have been here many times already!

They also have a blog highlighting what's new for the week. It's a great blog detailing the ins and outs of the business, the family, and the ideas brewing in Tammy's head. Reading their blog almost makes you feel like you are a part of their exciting journey somehow.

Stella Luna Gelato Cafe
1103 Bank Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-523-1116

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SwUrl Frozen Yogurt, Montreal

If you are ever in Montreal, and are in need a fro yo fix, Swurl is a great place to check out. This is an independently owned fro yo shop with a lot of creativity!

The concept is self serve. You grab a bowl, fill it up with your frozen yogurt flavors of choice, load on your favorite toppings, weigh it, and pay! You pay for what you want. That simple.

There are always 8 flavors being served. Four traditional and four flavors of the week. The traditional flavors are plain, vanilla, chocolate, and pomegranate. On the week we were there, the flavors of the week were blueberry, passion fruit, green tea, and taro.

They have served up some pretty crazy flavors in the past such as sriracha hot sauce, bacon, and lime chocolate mint, creamsicle, red velvet, lucky charms, and how very Canadian...maple syrup!

And the toppings? They have the traditional stuff such as candy, chocolate, fresh fruit, and sundae sauces, but they also have some crazy stuff like wasabi and Ruffles chips.

I was pretty tame the day I went. Didn't want to get something crazy for the sake of getting something crazy, so I had the plain and pomegranate frozen yogurt with candy sprinkles and Swedish berries. It was just perfect...tart frozen yogurt with a bit of sweetness on top.

Check this place out. It's a lot of fun!

SwUrl Frozen Yogurt
1464 rue Crescent
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Telephone: 514-439-8096

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Lemon Strawberry Yogurt Loaf

Lemons and Stawberries. Strawberries and Lemons. Doesn't that just scream summer to you?

A few good friends of ours all gave birth around the same time so we are surrounded by babies this summer. Look how precious she looks. Only 8 days old!

To celebrate, I decided to bake this delicious dense yogurt loaf filled with strawberries and lemons. Hope you're all having a wonderful summer so far!

Lemon Strawberry Yogurt Loaf
- 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 3/4 cup of plain low fat Greek style yogurt
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp of almond extract
- 3 large egg whites
- 2 tsp of lemon zest
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- 2 cups of fresh strawberries, small slices

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the yogurt and sugar. Slowly add the yogurt and sugar, egg whites, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, and almond extract to the dry ingredients and whisk slowly. When the mixture is almost smooth, slowly add in the vegetable oil and continue to whisk slowly until perfectly smooth. Fold in the strawberries until evenly distributed.

3. Lightly grease a loaf pan (9x5x3 inches), and line it with parchment paper. Lightly grease and flour the pan lined with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan.

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan, let it cool on a cooling rack, and serve.

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Laduree, Paris

While I was in Paris, the only place I really wanted to check out was Pierre Herme. The moment I checked into my hotel, I went straight to concierge for directions on how to get to the shop.

I started explaining to concierge about how I was excited to try a Pierre Herme macaron, and her eye brow instantly raised. "Oh, you want macarons? You know, if you really want the best traditional macarons and cakes, Ladurée is where you want to go. If you want to try modern macarons, then go to Pierre Herme." After a bit more discussion, she finally convinced me to go to Ladurée first. I figured I could check out Pierre Herme afterwards.

If you're a food enthusiast, I'm sure you've read countless articles and posts about Ladurée. Laduree is most famous for their macarons. According to David Lebovits, the four shops in Paris sell 12,000 macarons a day. That's ALOT of macarons!

It turns out, macarons didn't always have that creamy ganache filling that you see today. They actually had no filling. The two macaron shells were joined together while still warm, allowing the shells to fuse together as they cooled. It was Pierre Desfontaines (second cousin to Louis Ernest Ladurée) that suggested adding a filling to this almond delight.

Today, once baked and filled, Ladurée macarons are set aside for 2 days before hitting the store front. This is apparently the perfect length of time to achieve the perfect texture and taste. It's all a science.

There was a huge line up outside the store when I arrived. After waiting patiently for 20 minutes, I ordered my macarons.

I had 6 different flavors: licorice, black current violet, orange blossom, caramel with salted butter, rose, and cherry.

Macarons

As you can imagine, the texture and flavors were perfect. Of all the flavors I tried, my favorite, surprisingly, was by far black licorice. The sweetness of the almonds and sugar, combined with the subtle anise flavor was a winning combination. The rose and caramel flavors were also high on my list.

Ladurée is very anal about taking photos in the shop. So many people got yelled at for taking out their cameras. I wanted to buy one of their cakes just so I could get a photo, but decided that was just crazy.

I may not be a cake fan, but I do love candy:

Candy from Ladurée

Candy from Ladurée

In the end, I didn't go to Pierre Herme. Like Ladurée, the line up was long. I was running late for my date - a boat tour along the Seine - and just didn't have the time to wait.

La prochaine fois, next time!

Ladurée
21 rue Bonaparte
75006 Paris, France
Telephone: 01 44 07 64 87

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Lemon Curd Bars

The awesome thing about these lemon curd bars are that they are a hit no matter when and what you make them for. I've made these a bunch of times and people love them every time! The fresh lemon flavor combined with the short bread crust is irresistible. Try it for yourself. You won't regret it....well, you may regret going for that second or third helping, but that's not a bad thing in my books ;)

Lemon Curd Bars
(Adapted from Taste and Tell)

Shortbread Crust
- 2 cups of sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 sticks of butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- vegetable oil for greasing

Lemon Curd- 1 cup of fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
- 4 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks (at room temperature)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup of sifted all-purpose flour

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F/175C. Line a 9x13 baking dish with tin foil. Grease the tin foil with vegetable oil.

2. In a bowl, combine the shortbread crust ingredients and mix well until a dough forms. Press the dough evenly and tightly into the baking dish, making sure there are no cracks. Bake for 25 minutes or until slightly golden.

3. While the crust is baking, make the lemon curd. Whisk together the eggs, 2 cups of sugar, and 1/3 cup of flour, adding the sugar and flour a little bit at a time. Once the lemon curd is smooth, whisk in the lemon zest and lemon juice.

4. When the crust is finished baking, remove from oven and pour the lemon curd mixture over top of the crust. Reduce the heat to 300F/150C, and bake the lemon curd for 30-35 minutes, or until it sets.

5. Remove from oven and let it cool in the pan. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight is best. Remove from pan, peel off the tin foil, and slice into even bars. Keep the bars refrigerated until ready to serve. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

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Pomegranate & Jello

Let me start by telling you a little story about myself. I used to hate Jello. I've always found it a very annoying food to eat. You can't drink it, but chewing it is awkward. When eating Jello, I always felt as though I never chewed my food properly before swallowing.

But, for some reason, I never bothered telling anybody that I didn't like Jello when I was a kid. Beebs, my sister, loved it, so I pretended to love it too. As a result, we ate Jello ALL the time at home. As soon as I got old enough to refuse food without insulting my parents, I stopped eating Jello permanently...until recently that is.

I first had this awesome (and super easy) Jello dessert in Memphis at a dinner party. It is healthy and refreshing, and this is a really fun dessert to eat. I enjoy the different textures in this Jello and I love how the juices from the pomegranate burst in between my teeth each time I bite into the crunchy seeds.

Pomegranate & Jello is a Persian dessert. Traditionally, the Jello is made from scratch, but with the invention of instant Jello, there is no need to make it from scratch (unless you are making a flavor that is not available in instant form).

You can use any Jello flavor your taste buds desire. My favorite is the cherry flavor. For dinner parties, this is normally served in a big serving bowl, where the guests dig in and eat it buffet style. I decided to serve them in clear wine glasses, but you can use pretty much anything you wish.

Pomegranate & Jello
- 2 packages of instant Jello (any flavor)
- 2 cups of pomegranate seeds

Method
1. Make the Jello according to package instructions.

2. In your serving dish of choice, layer the Jello and pomegranate seeds. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top until most of the surface is covered. Chill for 30 minutes. Serve cold.

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Nocochi Cafe Patisserie, Montreal

I was recently in Montreal for a training course, and I was very excited because I hadn't visited Montreal in what felt like, forever! Montreal has a special place in my heart. This is where CK used to live, and was also where I spent all my weekends for a few years. My short trip to Montreal was a blast from the past! I loved walking through the busy streets of downtown Montreal, and it was a nice change from the Ottawa suburbia culture.

Being back in Montreal also reminded me of when my relationship used to be easy. We had no worries back then, and our focus was to have fun ALL THE TIME. No huge bills to pay, no long tiresome hours at work, and no extreme long distance marriage to balance!

The little free time I got in Montreal, I used wisely and visited my old favorite places. One of these is Nocochi Cafe Patisserie, a stylish café specializing in Persian pastries.

Window Display at Nocochi

Visiting this place was a joy for both the eyes and stomach. They have a large selection of beautiful mini pastries ranging from delicate Persian nut pastries to French macarons to fruit jellies. If you want something more substantial, they also offer coffees, teas, sandwiches, pizzas, and salads.
I took home a cute little box of pastries for CK (who is home for the holidays...yay!) and I, and below is a lil’ snapshot of what we had:

Persian Pastries from Nocochi

To get a feel of how mini these pastries really were, I compared them to a Canadian nickel.

My favorite were the little marzipan balls. I LOVE anything with almonds.

Marzipan Balls

I also picked up a personal pizza for myself, and ordered the Nocochi pizza: sun dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, ham, mozzarella, buffalo mozzarella, artichoke, olives, onions, roasted capsicum, and . The pizza didn't look like much but the ingredients were fresh. It also wasn't very greasy, which I liked.

Nocochi Pizza

Nocochi is owned by Vivel, its parent company. The majority of the Vivel shops are in the Middle East, but they are looking to expand in both Canada and the Middle East.

Nocochi Cafe Patisserie
2156 Mackay Street
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Telephone: 514-989-7514

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The Boston Cream Pie

When I found out I was going to Boston, I contacted a fellow Boston food blogger, Rhymes With Hungry, to find out some good places to eat. When I told her that I was staying at the Omni Parker House Hotel, she ooh'ed and informed me that that was the birthplace of the Boston Cream Pie.

Lobby at Parker House Hotel, Boston

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the US, and its history dates back to the 1600's. I really enjoyed my stay, and found Boston to be a very charming city. I loved the energy and diversity of downtown Boston.

Back to the Boston Cream Pie. It was invented at the Parker House Hotel, in Parker's Restaurant, 1867. It is also the official dessert of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

A Boston cream pie is a round white cake with a layer of vanilla custard or cream in the middle, and topped with a thin layer of chocolate ganache. I had never tried Boston cream pie before, so I decided to order it one morning for breakfast. Yes, I had it delivered to my hotel room for breakfast, and I'm not ashamed of it :)

The verdict? It is now one of my favorite cakes! It is definitely up there with the strawberry shortcake.

Some fun facts about the hotel:

- Ho Chi Minh was a pastry chef at Parker's Restaurant from 1911-1913.
- Malcolm X, then known as Malcolm Little, was a bus boy at Parker's Restaurant in the 1940's.
- John F. Kennedy had his bachelor party at the Parker House Hotel. He also proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier in Parker's Restaurant.
- The Parker House roll was also invented at Parker's Restaurant, and the recipe was kept secret until 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt requested it.

Here was the lovely view from my hotel room.

View from Room at Parker House Hotel, Boston

Oh yea, and if you ever hear the term "scrod", it means catch of the day (usually a white fish...likely cod). This term was also invented at Parker's Restaurant.

Parker's Restaurant

60 School Street

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Telephone: 617-227-8600

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Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing and Coconut

Happy early Halloween everyone!

I made these pumpkin muffins a few days early JUST in case you were looking for that last minute pumpkin recipe before Halloween.

I'm sure some of you are pumpkin and apple'd out, but October is not over yet friends.
These pumpkin muffins are good for you, very filling, and full of spice. They are good for any occasion, and the cream cheese icing and shredded coconut add a very nice touch. I brought some for my sister and her boyfriend, and they each ate two on the spot.

I was in a festive mood, so I decorated a few with a Halloween theme.

This recipe yields 16-18 muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins
- 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour, sifted
- 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, sifted
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of baking soda
- 1 tsp of cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp of all spice
- 1/4 tsp of ground clove
- 1 cup of pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- sweetened shredded coconut to garnish

Cream Cheese Icing- 1 (8oz, 250g) package of light cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/4 cup of butter at room temperature
- 1 cup of icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla pod

Method for Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing and Coconut

Make the Pumpkin Muffins:1. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.

2. In one bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and dry spices together. In another bowl, mix the pumpkin, milk, egg, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and ginger together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix well with a fork.

3. Line a muffin tray with baking cups. Spoon the muffin mixture into the baking cups until they are 3/4 full. Repeat until all the muffin mixture is used up.

4. Bake the muffins for 18-22 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside until they are fully cool.

Make the Cream Cheese Icing:
1. With an electric mixer on high speed, mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

2. Slowly add in the icing sugar while mixing.

3. Add the vanilla extract. Cut a vanilla pod in half, and scrape the vanilla seeds into the icing. Mix until evenly distributed.

Assemble the Muffin:
1. Using a butter knife, smear a thin layer of icing over top of the muffins.

2. Place the muffin on top of a plate, and sprinkle shredded coconut over top of the muffin until completely covered. Tip the muffin upside down to allow any loose coconut pieces to fall off.

Using low fat cream cheese for the icing will result in a slightly thinner consistency. If you want a think and creamy icing, it is best to use full fat cream cheese.

Here are some of the Halloween muffins I made:

For the next little while, you will have to excuse my posts. I have such a large backlog of travel posts, I'm not sure where to start and finish! I just got back from a short trip to Boston, so stay tuned for a mish mash of posts from Ottawa, Sydney, New Zealand, and Boston.

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