An Early Taste of Thanksgiving

A couple of months ago, on a hot summer day, I shot a Thanksgiving story with Sarah & Murray Bancroft. Sarah is the editor-in-chief of VitaminDaily and Murray is a talented chef and food stylist.  Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October - right around the corner and I can't wait.

Thought I'd share some of the day with you...

Sarah and Murray's daughters, Emmanuelle and Charlotte, help with dinner by digging up potatoes from the garden.

The "kid's table" decorated in deep oranges and pinks. Plates and bed spread (used as a table cloth) from The Cross. 

Emerson digs into her Pear Tarte Tatin. 

The menu. 

Sarah sets the table for dinner. 

For Sarah's tips on entertaining with kids, and loads more pics, click here or pick up the October issue of Today's Parent. The recipes are fantastic!

Sunday Observations

Having a nice Sunday? What did you get up to today? If you're in Canada, you just may be eating turkey and stuffing ;)

I just got back from a meeting of fellow business owners on Union Street, in Chinatown/Strathcona. If you haven't been to the area in awhile, you have to visit soon. We're so excited to be part of this strip of Union Street (located on the same strip as the Jimi Hendrix shrine! Did you know he had a "shrine" here?) 

Click here, to check out their online shop!

For more, click here.

Website is up and at 'em. More info to come!

My giant family Thanksgiving dinner is tomorrow, but we are heading to a friend's for their Thanksgiving tonight so I made this....

(if you'd like the recipe, just ask me!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Back soon.

Janis

Long Weekends are lovely

Have a lovely weekend, and a long one if you're in Canada! It's our Thanksgiving on Monday. Can't wait.
(By the way, I love my friend's purple shoes.)

Back soon!
Janis

Baked

I'm having the laziest of lazy days. My first full day off in quite some time, so I'm catching up on emails, and doing a little baking. How's your Monday going (or gone!)?

This cake is so good, and perfect for the rainy day we're having here in Vancouver. The combo of the spice cake, pears and walnuts is perfect. I'm thinking of making this for Thanksgiving next week. Hmmm.

Pear Upside Down Spice Cake - serves about 8

For topping (or bottom, depending on how you look at it):

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, sliced in thin pieces

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 pears, cored and cut into thin slices

a handful of walnut halves

For spice cake:

2 3/4 cup whole spelt flour (you can use all purpose flour if you like!)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2/3 cup molasses

1/3 cup whole milk

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

To make the topping: Lightly spray a 9" cake pan with cooking spray. Layer bottom of pan with the 1/4 cup cold butter slices, then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over top. Add the layer of pear slices and walnuts. 

To make the spice cake: Preheat oven to 350f. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. In another bowl, beat the 1/2 cup softened butter, brown sugar, eggs, molasses, applesauce, and milk until well blended. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, into liquid mixture until well blended. Pour cake mixture over layered pears and walnuts, spreading out batter evenly. Bake for 20 minutes at 350f, then lower oven to 325f and bake for another 25 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted in centre of cake, comes out clean. Allow to cool for 30 minutes, before turning out onto a cake plate. Enjoy!!

That's it for today! Back soon.

Janis

Baked On Monday - Apple Butterscotch Pudding Cake

It's Thanksgiving today, so it's a long day of cooking leading up to the big feast. This cake will be part of the array of desserts. It's delicious....especially the butterscotch part. 

Apple Butterscotch Pudding Cake (jotted down from a Donna Hay magazine)

Makes one 8"x8" cake.

3 small gala apples, thinly sliced

5oz/150g softened unsalted butter

2/3 cup light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup almond meal (finely ground almonds)

1/3 cup milk

butterscotch sauce:

2 cups light brown sugar

1 cup cream 

1 1/2 oz/40g unsalted butter

To make the sauce, place the sugar and cream in a saucepan, over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then increase the heat to high and boil for 3 minutes. Add the butter and stir to combine. Remove from heat and pour half the sauce into a greased 8"x8" cake tin. Set aside to cool. When cooled,  top with apple slices. Keep the remaining sauce warm. 

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until pale and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture and fold through with the almond meal and milk. Spoon the batter over the apples and smooth the top. Place the cake tin in another baking dish and fill with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the tin. Bake for 40 minutes. All to stand for 5 minutes then turn cake out onto a serving plate. Serve with the warm butterscotch sauce. Start eating - you will not be disappointed.

Have a lovely Monday! I'm heading to New York tomorrow, with a couple of my sisters and my mom, so I'll be back this weekend. 

Happy Friday and Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Where did Friday go? All of a sudden it's after 5pm and I've just eaten a mini pumpkin pie. Just trying to get in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I guess.

I'm just working out a little table top decor for the big feast of starch, on Monday. I'm leaning towards all things natural. I may do something like this. Yes? No way? Maybe?

Until then, I'll stick to my store bought mini pumpkin pie.

This is the time of year to maybe think about a food donation to your local food bank, or helping out a local family in need. There are, sadly, plenty in need these days.

Last but not least, I did a guest post for Natalie of The SoHo . She had asked if I could share what I love about Vancouver. I was happy to do it. She's a pretty fabulous girl!

Have a great weekend! Back on Monday.

Baked on Monday - Sage-Pepper Butter Crisps

Happy Monday! Thanksgiving (in Canada) is just one week away, so I thought these sagey crisps would be perfect to take to dinner. I found this recipe in Edible Vancouver - a free magazine full of local goodness. I copied the recipe down, and here it is!

Sage-Pepper Butter Crisps - makes about 15-18, depending on how much dough you eat while making them ;)

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup ground blanched almonds
1 tablespoon butter (to cook sage)
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 325f. In a shallow baking tin, toast almonds for 10 minutes, just to bring out the flavour. Once toasted, grind the almonds in a food processor.

In a small bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter until creamy. In another bowl, mix together flour, salt and ground almonds. Gradually add this mixture to the butter, mixing on a low setting until it starts to form a ball.

Melt the additional tablespoon of butter in a skillet until it starts to bubble. Add the sage a cook for a few minutes, or until leaves start to turn brown and crispy. Drain on a paper towel. When cool, chop into small pieces.

Add pepper and sage to dough and mix together with your hands. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Dip the bottom of a glass in a bit of flour and flatten dough balls into discs, about 2 inches across. Sprinkle with a little sea salt.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until sides start to turn gold in colour. Place crisps on a wire rack to cool. Best served warm. Enjoy.

Back on Wednesday!

Thankful

We're heading into a long weekend here in Canada. It's Thanksgiving. I love this time of year. Nothing but heaps of stuffing, cranberries, stuffing, sweet potatoes (soaked in maple syrup), and stuffing.  A true carb delight. 

My post purchase doubts have kicked in a bit this week (thanks to blasted Ebay!), so I have felt like a greedy guts. I'd like to remedy it a bit, by declaring my thankfulness for a few things in my life. I'll try not to be deeply mushy, or too wordy!

I'm very thankful for....

My husband, friends and family here in Vancouver and Australia.  

Having 13 years with our fabulous dog Plugger.  He passed away this summer. We really miss him.

Plugger

The lovely people that have purchased some of my prints over the last week. Pictured below is the Chinatown series and a couple of Fallen Ladies.

Having a roof over my head is pretty good too.

Speaking of having a roof over my head...

 

If you live in Vancouver, check out gratitudeweek.org and please donate. Their slogan is "Give a dollar. Give a damn". If you live here, you know we have an unacceptable homeless problem. For a rich city like Vancouver, this should not be happening. It's bunk. With the Olympics coming, it can only get worse.

Another fabulous organization, you all might like to check out, is kiva.org. 

As a wedding gift, for my brother and his wife, my family lent money to a lovely woman, in Honduras, so she could open up a beauty salon.  The money was repaid in just a few months. It's a fascinating site to go through. Please take a look. I'm about to donate to a man that simply needs a couple of goats. 

Have a great weekend! Happy Thanksgiving Canada!