Just after Christmas Shazzi was sent a bunch of Lightsaber Chopsticks. With too many to keep for herself, she graciously handed them out to friends so that we could be as cool as her. So, this past Friday, with Lightsaber Chopsticks in hand, we all met up for some all you can eat Sushi!

I’ve never had all you can eat Sushi before, mostly because I get so full so quickly, but with the variety they had at Shabusen it made the eating and sharing worth it. Plus, you could order pieces instead of giant rolls, so it worked out quite nicely.

Chad and Dario do not eat sushi, even though Gina and I LOVE it. Someone should invent a restaurant that is Half Japanese and Half American. Burgers for the boys and sushi for the girls. Despite his disdain for seafood, Dario got on the All You Can Eat bandwagon and ordered some Korean BBQ and veggies.

Chad ordered a plate of spicy pork so that he could Korean BBQ it. He gets annoyed that people assume ‘Oh, you are a boy, you like to barbeque, so come for Japanese food with us and just eat the Korean stuff’. Yes, well, he doesn’t even really like Korean BBQ, so he was quite the trooper sucking it up and getting Asian with us.

All the food was quite tasty. I enjoyed the experience because people ordered things I had never tried before, but since we were all sharing everything I was able to try a few new dishes. Everything was quite good. I have been to a LOT of Japanese restaurants, all around the world actually (I had Sushi for Thanksgiving dinner in Genoa, Italy. I still need to blog about that) and so I have had some really simple experiences and some really fancy and expensive experiences. I guess because of that I have started to become a bit of a Sushi snob. Because I have been exposed to amazing sushi, which came with a price tag, the $2.50 California roll down at Fujiya just doesn’t cut it anymore. Shabusen was great for all you can eat sushi, and I would go back again for it. The variety of items they had made the price ($24) worth it.

The sticks, in all their glory! One of the men working there said he had seen people come in to use these chopsticks before!

We taught Dario how to use Chopsticks, though he looks more like a crane trying to pick up heavy loads, than a man trying to eat food.

It was a great Friday night! So glad Shazzi organized it. I was also very glad that the boys indulged us despite even though they aren’t fans of Asian food.

Since we haven’t been doing a lot of our own home cooked meals while living at the parentals, we decided that on NYE we would cook them out most favorite dinner, Ciavarro style. This dinner is somewhat similar to the dinner Colin made us last year. I guess you could say we were inspired by the best.

Our dinner included…

Garlic & Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Carrots
Steak House Salad
BBQ’d Beef Tenderloin

I don’t actually have a recipe for my mashed potatoes because they are so easy to make, you really can go by feel and taste, however, I use this basic standard of measurement when making them..

Ingredients

1 Russet Potato per person
1 Clove of Garlic per person
1 Green Onion per person (sliced)
2 Strips Cooked Bacon per person (chopped)
1 tbsp Milk per person
Butter, Cream Cheese, Salt, & Pepper to taste

Steps

Peal your potatoes, cut them in half and add to a large pot of water. Peal your garlic, leave them whole, and add them along with the potatoes. Bring the water to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Turn down the heat to a simmer and test the potatoes after 15 minutes for doneness. Your fork should be easily slide through the potato. If the potatoes are not quite done, let them cook for a couple more minutes and check again. The timing really depends on the size of the potatoes. Drain in a colander and let them steam for 5 minutes.

Using a potato ricer, mash the potatoes and garlic back into the pot. Place back on the stove and turn on the heat to low. Add the milk and mix with a Wisk. Next add the butter, salt & pepper and mix. You want to make sure that the base of the mashed potatoes tastes right before adding anything else. Next add the cream cheese. I would start by adding a tablespoon at a time, depending on how creamy you want it. Wisk it until the cheese is melted and taste. For 5 potatoes I used about half a stick of cream cheese. What can I say, I love cream cheese!

Once your potatoes have the right creaminess and texture add in the green onions and bacon and mix. These potatoes are quite rich, but once you have tried them you will never want to go back to regular mashed potatoes again! If you like the creaminess and flavor that the cream cheese adds, try using an apple wood smoked cheddar next!

It took me a while to find a great carrot recipe. I love carrots that are sweet and caramelized and Chad likes carrots that are crunchy and buttery. This recipe is really the best of both worlds.

Ingredients

5 large Carrots
3 Clove of Garlic smashed
1 tbsp Thyme
1 knob of Butter
Drizzle of Olive Oil and Red Wine Vinegar
Salt & Pepper

Steps

Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel the carrots and cut in half. If the carrot is very thick, cut it down the middle so that all the pieces are relatively the same size. Place the carrots in a roasting pan with the garlic, butter, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and thyme. Mix so that everything is coated well. Cover the pan with tin-foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the tin foil and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes so that the carrots have a chance to caramelize.

You can play around with the timing depending on how you like your carrots. Chad likes them crunchy and I like them a soft, so I try to aim for something in between. Also, if you want more sweetness, try using balsamic vinegar instead of red wine. This recipe is super easy and has such great flavor!

We essentially stole this recipe from Milestone, but made it our own of course. We use to eat this salad all the time, which probably isn’t the healthiest thing ever, but oh well! Here are the ingredients for the dressing.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1 small Shallot diced
1 dollop Dijon Mustard
1 tsp Dried Oregano
Salt & Pepper

Steps

I use an immersion blender, but you can use a regular blender. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and whip it up! It’s as easy as that.

The salad itself is also really easy.

Ingredients

Diced Red Onion (about 1/4 cup)
Iceburg Lettuce cut into strips
Crumbled Blue Cheese

Steps

Mix ingredients to taste. Red onions and blue cheese can be quite strong flavors but the dressing tones them down quite a bit. When first making this salad, I would go a little easy on the onion and cheese until you get the flavor profile you like.

Dress the salad with a light coating of the dressing. You do not want to add to much, and you will have leftovers. Toss and taste adjusting the flavors as needed!

Chad is the magic man when it comes to grilling steak. We buy the Beef Tenderloin steaks from Costco. They are the best ones we’ve found and they turn out perfect every time.

Ingredients

Sea Salt
Pepper
Garlic Plus Seasoning
Italian Steak Spice – You can get this at your local Italian deli. We get ours from Bosa.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Steps

Here are the grilling instructions as per Mr. Ciavarro.

Preheat BBQ to high. Take thawed steaks and rub both sides with olive oil. Generously cover both sides of steak with Italian steak spice. Let sit for at least 20-30 minutes.

Grill steaks for two minutes then rotate 90 degrees (for grill marks). Grill for another 2 minutes then generously add sea salt to each steak. Flip steaks and generously add sea salt and garlic spice to the now exposed grilled marks. Grill for another 4 minutes for medium rare. 5 minutes for medium.

Serve with freshly ground black pepper

These steaks rival the Keg. I can’t tell you how excited I get when I know it’s steak night!

The goodness that was NYE dinner.

We eat rich foods, what can I say. The flavor profile of this meal is out of this world. Everyone really enjoyed it and I was glad we could share our Classic Ciavarro dinner with the parentals!

There is that rare magical day where the that one kitchen gadget that you have finally decided to buy for yourself actually gets sent to you for free.

There were a lot of big kitchen gadgets that I never bothered to register for when we got married. I knew we didn’t have the space for a lot of stuff in our apartment and having little to no cooking experience I didn’t really know one thing from the other. So I decided that I would get some experience under my belt and when it was time for us to move into our big shiny new house I would buy all the things I was missing.

I never really thought a food processor was all that necessary. My mom didn’t have one and she made amazing meals, so was it really something I needed? After watching several thousand hours of the Food Network and attempting to make certain meals myself, I realized that it was a tool that I definitely needed to add to my kitchen. So off I went to do research.

If there is one thing you need to know about me it is that I go big or I go home. It doesn’t matter what I am buying I want the biggest and the best of what you have, especially when it comes to my kitchen. Sometime it is over kill and sometimes it is just right.

I started to see commercials on the Food Network for the new KitchenAid 13 cup Food Processor. I watched almost possessed as they demonstrated all the different features that it could do. I compared it to other food processors on the market and was sold that this was the one I needed.

I harassed Chad about it for two days straight until I woke up one morning to an email offering me the opportunity to test out the features of the new KitchenAid 13 cup Food Processor. Umm, what? Did this just happen!? Stuff like this NEVER happens to me.

A couple of weeks ago it arrives, in all it’s glorious beauty.

This puppy can puree, chop, knead, shred, and slice with its 3 blades and 2 discs. It has an externally adjustable, stainless steel slicing disc that lets you adjust the slicing styles for all types of food. It has a large 13 cup bowl as well as a smaller one that fits inside of it for smaller jobs. It is the most gorgeous piece of kitchen equipment I now own, next to my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, of course.

I haven’t had much time to play around with it, but this weekend I took the opportunity to try my hand at making fresh pasta dough and ravioli. Yes, I know, kinda weird that I chose to make dough with something that is so good at slicing and dicing, but this is the way that Lidia does it and she is my Italian Food Muse.

I used the dough blade and mixed up my flour, egg, oil, and water. The dough was a bit wet so I pulled it out and kneaded in some flour my hand.

Now, I didn’t really think this whole process through. Nonna has a pasta maker, but we don’t, and while I should have gone over and borrowed hers, I figured we could just do it by hand. I mean that is the way Lidia perfers to do it. Yea, that didn’t work out so well. The dough looks pretty thin in this picture but as soon as I cut out the shapes it was like the dough scrunched up and doubled in size.

Yea, they look like hockey pucks haha!

I stuffed them with Brie cheese and a couple with roasted tomatoes for my brother who doesn’t eat cheese. I know, don’t ask.

As for the sauce I made a brown butter and sage sauce. It was so amazing I will have to post the recipe on here.

The ravioli took forever to cook. The thickness of the pasta really kind of screwed me over, but you live and learn!

Over all the flavors were amazing. Melty yummy brie inside with a butter and sage sauce on the outside, all wrapped together with home made pasta dough. The flavors were a huge success, the dough, not so much.

Mom and I did a bunch of research and we agreed that I need to get the pasta making attachment for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I plan on making a lot of fresh dough, and with out a pasta maker we are just going to by eating huge clumps of it!

Now I have to plan my next dinner using my KitchenAid Food Processor!

I had heard some chit chat from my cousin about a new little pizza joint on Main Street. We drove by it a couple of times and the decor and overall feel of the place peaked our interest.

We planned a date last Friday to check it out. Pizzeria Farina.

They open every day at 5 and stay open until they sell out of their freshly made pizza dough. Such a clever idea.

No booze, just adorable little drinks. Chad got the Chinotto and I got the Lemonade, of course.

You go up to the front and order your pizza, then you take it home or grab a seat at one of their communal tables.

I was losing my mind over the decor of this place. I just happened to be reading a blog that day where they were interviewing these two guys about their apartment. They called their design style ‘Modern Farmhouse’. For the first time in my life I finally figured out what my design style was called. I knew what I liked but I never knew how to describe it. The pizza place was designed in this exact style, Modern Farmhouse. It reminded me of my days spent in vintage houses at Burnaby Village Museum mixed with my Italian lifestyle. I would have created a home under one of the tables if I could.

The pizza. Sweet Mother. I had a craving for mushrooms and ordered the Fungi pizza. I’m so glad I did. Mushrooms, Cheese, Red Onions, Roasted Garlic, and Arugula. Best thing ever. It had so many amazing flavours.

Chad got the Calabrese, naturally. The black olives were a nice touch. The crust was utterly perfect.

I took some leftovers home and they wrapped them up in Deli paper. I lost my mind, again. Now all I want to do is buy a roll of Deli paper and make all my dinner guests take home care packages all wrapped up in Deli paper.

OMG. Stop killing me with your adorableness!

I told Chad, this is the place where Hipsters go to be Italian.

In Life, he who risks nothing, gains nothing.

I know that Vancouver now has a million Italian pizza joints, but this is an experience you need to try. It’s the only pizza place where you can actually call in your order and take your pizza home. It is adorable and cozy. The pizzas are simple but amazing. You can buy freshly baked bread, oils, sardines, and cans of tomatoes.

Pop in, have a pizza, fall in love.

We had to postpone Matts birthday dinner because life got in the way, so on Wednesday we met up to have pizza at Nicli. Yes, it was the four time I had been there since they opened. What can I say, they make good pizza.

I got there before Matt did, parked on the side of the street and walked to the restaurant. There was a bit of a line but nothing too bad. I could see empty tables waiting to be cleared so I knew the people in front of me would be seated shortly. I put my name down for 2 and waited quietly in the little foyer.

Moments later an older man with a long grey beard and a large wooden staff opened the door. He looked very worn down and a bit out there.  I was pretty sure this man wasn’t about to sit down and order a pizza, given the neighbourhood Nicli was in, but then again, who was I to judge.

People started to stare at him as soon as he came in and stood in line behind me. Everyone seemed to know that this man wasn’t meant to be here and was waiting to see what would happen.

He inched his way closer to me and started to mumble. I was definitely not feeling the most comfortable in the world.

The guests in front of me were seated so I moved up now standing in the restaurant. More people could see him now and were staring at us, as if I knew the old man with a long beard and wooden staff. I was pretty sure he wasn’t Jesus.

One of the young waiters came towards us smiling at me as if he knew this could get interesting. He told the old man that the manager would be right with him to find him a seat, treating him as if he was a paying customer even though it was very clear he was not. The waiter was carrying two empty wine bottles that were filled with water to one of the tables. The old man mumbled and laughed calling the waiter a drunk. It was kind of adorable.

I began to worry a little though. This man was most likely homeless and seemed to have some mental issues. I was concerned as to how the manager would deal with him. Would he kick him out, knowing that he wasn’t meant to be here? Would there be a scene? Would the man yell and get aggressive? Though I’m sure they have had to deal with homeless people and people with mental issues before, given the fact that they are located on Cordova Street, I was still concerned with how the scene was about to play out.

The manager, who is usually very serious and professional, came up to us in a playful mood. He smiled at me and asked if we were together. At this point everyone who was having dinner in our near vicinity was watching us. I smirked back at him and replied, No. It was like we were all in on the same joke. This man wasn’t supposed to be here, but we were all playing along like he was. The manager turned to the man and asked him how many people were in his party. The old man started to laugh and then mumbled something to him holding up his staff. He then quickly turned around continuing to laugh as he left the restaurant. “Is that all you had to say to me?” the manager said back to him laughing. “I can’t believe you waited that long just to say that to me!”. Everyone laughed in relief that what could have been a very confrontational interaction was instead light and playful.

The manager turned to me again laughing. “You sure he wasn’t with you?” “Haha, yes I am sure!”.

He then turned towards the other guests waiting in line taking down their information. He came back to me and said “Don’t think that I was making you wait just because I though you were with that guy. Your table will be ready shortly.” I laughed back at him. “No I didn’t think that at all!”

I was quickly seated and Matt showed up a few minutes later, missing all the entertainment.

The pizza was wonderful, as it always is. As we were leaving the manager came and opened the door for us.

“I hope dinner was good!”

“Yes, it was. Thank you!”

“Say Hi to your Dad for me!”

I looked at him puzzled. Was he being so friendly to me because he thought I was someone else?

“You know, the Wizard!”

“Bahahaha!”

“Do you think he put a good spell on me or a bad spell on me?”

“Oh, he definitely put a good spell on you!”

“Hahah, I think so too! Have a good night!”

“Haha you too!”

Amazing.