Photos by Claire Tai

Recognize some of the photos above? Well, you should if you were at the UBC Food Society’s annual chocolate-making workshop! This year we invited Miss Monica Mueller, who graciously showed us how to make eight different chocolates plus a heart-shaped chocolate basket, using only equipment that you can find in your home pantry. As the chocolate event was appropriately held the week before Valentine’s Day, all of the yumilicious creations definitely contained a dash of Valentine’s Day spirit in them either in shape, colour, or taste.

During the workshop, Miss Mueller mentioned that initially she had not thought about getting into the chocolate-making business, but after being introduced to it by a friend, she discovered the joy of working with such a rich treat. She used this story to point out that anyone (even someone with minimal experience) can start making chocolates, and I thought that this story added a nice, personal touch to the workshop, and encouraged me not to be afraid of getting my hands chocolatey sometime in the future!

Amongst her many useful (and delicious) bits of information, she recommended that the one piece of equipment that any budding home-chocolatier would be wise to invest in is a marble slab. A  marble slab makes the process of tempering chocolate much easier, as the marble cools the melted chocolate down quickly while you are folding it to create the cocoa butter crystals necessary to form a shiny chocolate which will snap when it is cool. Also, a marble slab can be used to create other sweet delicacies, such as toffee, so you can always use it for other purposes besides chocolate-making.

A final valuable tip that I took away from the workshop was to really experiment with different types of chocolate (such as dark, milk, or white – did you know by the way that out of the three, dark chocolate takes the longest to melt?), flavourings, and fillings to suit the taste buds of yourself or the person you are making it for.

Finally, Miss Mueller was kind enough to share with the UBC Food Society the recipes that she used during the workshop, so here they are, and enjoy!

Valentine’s Chocolate Basket Fillings/Flavourings!

1. Truffle/Ganache

1.5 K White Chocolate, melted
250 ml Scalded Whipping Cream
84 drops Cranberry Flavouring
Red Food Colour Gel

- Mix well, cool until firm and roll by hand. This is not tempered so will melt in your hands. If the mixture gets too soft return to fridge before dipping.

• Each variety of chocolate will take a different amount of liquid to reach the same consistency. Dark chocolate will need the most liquid.
• Whipping Cream can be reduced and alcohol substituted.
• Only use flavouring oils and not water based flavours.
• More liquid will make a softer filling good for piping.

2. Grand Marnier-flavoured Hearts
- Add 20 drops of flavouring to ½ to 2/3 cup chocolate. Taste and add more if needed. Each flavoured oil has a different strength so be sure to check for your choice of flavour.

3. Spice Raisin Clusters
- Simmer raisins in water or apple juice or rum with a cinnamon stick, nutmeg and clove or any combination of spices you like. Ginger or cardamom perhaps. Drain before making clusters.

4. Marshmallow and Cinnamon Hearts
- Mini marshmallows and crushed Cinnamon hearts. A traditional Rocky Road uses chopped walnuts instead of cinnamon hearts.

5. Peanut Butter Filling

1 part white chocolate, melted
1 part peanut butter

- Mix well. Best to use smooth peanut butter if piping the filling. This will stiffen as it cools but can be softened by a few seconds in the microwave.

6. Crunchy Hazelnut Filling

2 cups Hazelnuts
1 cup icing sugar
1 egg

- Put hazelnuts through food mixer until they reach desired size add in icing sugar and mix. Mix in egg by hand and kneed until mixture comes together. Wrap and refrigerate.

7. Marzipan
- Purchase marzipan and not almond paste. It has a much higher sugar content. Try to find a 1 to 1 ratio or better. I use raw not cooked if I can find it. There are recipes on line. It is possible to make at home.

We hope that after this event, you have perhaps discovered your inner chocolatier, and if not, at least come away with a couple of useful tips for any future chocolate-making endeavours. Feel free to sound off below if you had any favourite chocolate creation or part of the event. I thought I would end off on this very wise statement by Mr. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts:

“All you really need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt!”

See you at the next event in March!

Tiramisu cake from Boulangerie la Parisienne

On the fourth Wednesday and Thursday of last month, Venus entered the reign of Aquarius and the gods, generous as they are, decided to bestow upon the good men- and womenfolk, of the hallowed halls of UBC, the divine intervention that was the Food Society’s ‘Six O’Clock Sweets and Tea’ event, a feast of such proportions that songs would be sung of the generosity of its entrées for time immemorial.

The hour hand struck six, and students expectant, their bellies a-rumbling, streamed into MASS in Buchanan to find nondescript cardboard boxes sitting atop tables scattered across the space. They sat themselves down at the different dessert stations, mingling with soon-to-be-friends, uttering gasps of ecstasy as the event photographers slowly made their away around the stations to document the candied works of art, in the process opening the cardboard boxes to reveal a veritable cornucopia of saccharine foodstuffs: from the kitchens of Boulangerie la Parisienne came two squat tiramisu cakes, positively modernist in their stark espresso-brown-and-white cylindrical perfection, ornamented by delicate chocalate motifs; further along the line were approximately twelve dozen square mousse stacks composed of praline crunch, hazelnut croquant and raspberry gelée, embedded with flakes of 75% Tanzanie dark chocolate, aligned at exactly 15° from the perpendicular, standing sentinel like bronzed terracotta soldiers of yore; and on the opposite side of the room were the strawberry rhubarb pies, courtesy of the esteemed Aphrodite’s Pie Shop and Organic Café, redolent of the Tennessee sun baking field upon golden field of wheat and barley. Contained within its crusty membranes was a sugared concoction of diced strawberry and rhubarb, its velvety-red glutinous hue revealed to the eager eye by a long-awaited bite. Its notes struck the perfect balance between sweetness and tanginess, the zest providing a subtle counterpoint to the warm caress of the strawberries.
Most of the chocolate-based desserts blurred largely into an indiscriminate slurry of cacao in retrospect, save for the comically gargantuan Oreo sandwich cookies, comprised of a filling of vanilla buttercream, held in a loving embrace between two crumbling slabs of chewy, yielding chocolate cookies. Biting down into a chunk of the cookie reminded one of the adjective ‘rich’ and all of its many-numbered descendants. Other desserts that are worthy of a requiem include the lemon macarons decorated by a smattering of jet-black poppyseeds, their halftone palette belying their delicate sweetness – the exterior shell of the macarons gave the perfect degree of resistance before crumbling into the bite.
The teas that were paired with the confections included the likes of Southern Belle, ‘Glitter & Gold’ and Buttered Rum. All were packaged in stark aluminium cylinders, but upon making acquaintance with boiling water released their scents to create a veritable olfactory cacophony. Invisible notes of toasted walnuts, osmanthus, bergamot oil and chicory wafted across the space, providing a most delectable environment in which to enjoy the desserts. As with every tea, the actual liquid itself is, to put it briskly, disappointing in comparison to the empty promises that their aromas convey, although this author holds the Amaretto tea in especially high regard, its strong notes of almond reminding one of the milky white Chinese sweet almond dessert soup and igniting a peculiar yearning for said substance.

The attendees milled around the different stations in set intervals, congregating for a mutual love of desserts, and exclamations could be heard all round of the misfortune experienced by those not as wise as they to partake in this scrumptious selection of sugary treats. And by the generosity of the gods, all who came, went home having missed eating a proper dinner, and none the more deprived for it.

Photo by: Victoria Chang

… when fragrant, red roses, delectable chocolates, and romantic Hallmark cards either sweep you off your feet, or just simply ambush you whenever you enter the mall or grocery store. I am of course speaking of the loveliest day of the year, namely Valentine’s Day. And as always, with the approach of this holy day of love, you, together with at least another love-struck billion in the world, are faced with the ever-puzzling question of what to buy or make for that special someone in your life. Boxed chocolates have probably become the most conventional Valentine’s Day gifts, but to really woo your beloved, why not give him or her chocolate with a twist this year?

To help you out with this sweet mission, I will introduce to you my favourite chocolate dessert recipe of all time that is sure to enthrall your darling’s taste buds. 

I have been making this treat ever since I was a little child (yes, that’s how easy it is), and in Sweden, which is the place where I grew up, this is most definitely one of the first desserts that any Swedish child creates in his or her life. Since I moved to Canada, I have made this sweet for many of my friends and relatives, and I am happy to announce that they adore it.

So here it is, complete with my tips below, and you may notice that it has a strikingly similar name to another Swedish delicacy, although this one is definitely its sweet counterpart:

Swedish Chocolate Balls (makes ~ 30)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter or margarine
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/2 cups of oats
3 tbsp of cocoa powder
3 tbsp of cold strong coffee (optional)
1/2 – 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
Pearl sugar as topping (see below recipe for an explanation of what pearl sugar is)

1. Combine all of the ingredients, except the pearl sugar, in a bowl with either a large wooden spoon or your hands. I like to use my hands because it is much easier then to evenly combine all of the ingredients into a soft chocolatey mass. Be sure to work the ingredients until everything is thoroughly combined.

2. Once you have done that, take a bit more than a teaspoon of the chocolatey mass and shape it into a round ball with your palms.

3. Roll the chocolate ball in the pearl sugar until the whole ball is covered with the topping. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have no more chocolatey mass left.

4. Place the chocolate balls on a tray and let them firm up in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving. Store left-over chocolate balls in a ziplock bag in the fridge. Enjoy!

- Note on pearl sugar: Pearl sugar is sugar crystals compressed into small and somewhat irregularly shaped “pearls.” It is used in Scandinavian baking as a topping for many desserts, such as Swedish chocolate balls and cinnamon buns. Below is a picture of what pearl sugar looks like:

Photo by: Victoria Chang

Lastly, don’t be afraid to personalize this recipe to suit your and your honey’s palates, so go ahead and let your imagination whip up some uniquely scrumptious chocolate balls.

- If you need a head-start, here are some suggestions for customizing your recipe:

• Use different toppings: shredded coconut, sprinkles, or anything you think would pair well with the flavours of chocolate, vanilla, and coffee.
• Add your favourite nuts, chopped and toasted, into the chocolate ball mixture.
• Add a touch more cocoa powder to really get that intense chocolate flavour, but make sure to counter the bitterness in the cocoa powder with a dash of sugar – this is something I do to bring this dessert up a notch.
• To go the fancy route, dip the chocolate balls in a melted chocolate of your choice, followed by another dip in your favourite crushed candy or nuts. Let dry.

I hope you will enjoy this delightful treat as much as I do whenever I make or eat it, and please do comment below if you made it or if you have any ideas for twisting this dessert up, since I could always use some more inspiration. And finally, Happy Valentine’s Day, or as we say in Swedish, Grattis på Alla Hjärtans Dag!

photo credit: Laura Wong

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Here is a list of all the desserts and tea that were served at our Sweets and Tea event! Read on for all of the delicious details!

6 o’ clock tea

Welcome to the new year and the fresh start of a new semester. Many of you might have New Year’s resolutions that include boosting that GPA, getting in shape for the summer, or even to finally stop procrastinating. Before all the stress and busyness of school and life takes up all your time, relax and enjoy some tea and dessert with UBC Food Society. UBC Food Society proudly presents “Six O’clock Tea”, our dessert tasting event! This year, not only do we have delicious desserts from all over Vancouver, but also tea to accompany your stay with us! More details below!

Our selection of 7 desserts come from a wide variety of well known and loved Vancouver bakeries. They range from homemade oreos, to old time favorites like tiramisu, to an unusual and delightful apricot and pistachio cake. Each dessert will also be paired with a different type of tea that will be sure to enhance its taste. Come join us for a fantastic evening with your fellow foodies while sitting down and enjoying amazing desserts!

*Please also be advised that we cannot guarantee that our desserts have no traces of nuts. If you have a severe allergy, sign up with caution.

Where: Meekison Arts Students Space
Located at Buchanan D Block (map)

Space is limited
You know the drill, spots are on a  first come  first serve basis!
When: Wednesday, January 25th 6pm, and Thursday, January 26th 6pm
Sign in will be from 6pm-6:30pm. The event will take place from 6:30pm-8pm. Don’t be late!

The deadline to RSVP is: Tuesday, Jan 16th. and office hour payments will be on Wednesday, Jan. 17th. You will have to pay online or during office hours by the 18th to confirm your spot.
You can RSVP by clicking here!

Price: $5 (Yup, $5 dollars for 7 desserts and 7 teas.)
Payment will be required to confirm your spot. You will be able to pay online or in person during office hours. Office hours will be on Wednesday January 17, more details will be e-mailed after the RSVP deadline.

Sign up with a friend!
Pair signups are available for this event!

Halloween was almost a month past – and everyone sane had already thrown away their jack-o-lanterns, if they had carved one – yet nonetheless we were determined to learn this recipe, if only to prepare for the Fall of 2012. Members of the Good Thing In Pairs miniclub met at Christine’s house on November 27th, armed with many supplies, to bake pies completely from scratch. We mixed dough, and rolled out enough to fit two pies for each member. We cut, cooked and pureed squash to make up pie filling – FYI, butternut squash makes a good substitute for pie pumpkin. And as the squash purchased were abnormally large, every member had enough leftovers to take home several crustless pies.

Slices of pie were served with vanilla ice cream and a cup of hot buttered rum. The only thing that could have made the experience more memorable would have been the capture of additional, distinct photographs (and perhaps some photos of the members at work, too!)

Our lone other photo can be found in the album on the UBC Food Society Facebook group.

Soon we will be meeting for our next session, and you’ll just have to wait to see what we’re making then.

Seafood Pasta (V.Chiou, 2011)

I had passed by The Pink Peppercorn restaurant many times while driving down Kingsway, but I hadn’t really paid attention to it…that was, until a friend told me about their fantastic seafood menu. After that, I decided to check it out for myself! I went with a group of my friends to try the seafood at The Pink Peppercorn.

Before I give a review of my visit there, I will tell you a bit about its interesting history. This story is based on word-of-mouth information that I heard from a friend during a group gathering, and alcohol was involved so there may be some discrepancies:

There once was a famous seafood restaurant called The Cannery. It was one of the fanciest and most expensive restaurants on Hastings. The restaurant was well-known for its exquisite seafood and unique location. Unfortunately, after forty years in business, leasing problems caused the permanent closure of the restaurant (D.Matthews, 2011). But there was a sliver of hope; some of The Cannery’s staff and the chef opened up a new restaurant called “The Pink Peppercorn Seafood House”.

In addition to The Pink Peppercorn, another of The Cannery’s sister restaurants is “The Goldfish Kitchen”.  Unfortunately, I never had the chance to visit The Cannery before it closed down, but I have been to both The Pink Peppercorn and The Goldfish Kitchen. Out of the two the Pink Peppercorn is my favorite in food and service. My review of it follows:

The Review

My group of friends and I decided to try the Pink Peppercorn together and with our out-of-town friend who came all the way from Port Hardy. We wanted to show him what Vancouver cuisine was like. The Pink Peppercorn is not as nice or as posh as The Goldfish Kitchen, but it is not as crowded. The restaurant had a big lighted sign that reminded me of a fast food diner sign, but the interior was quite cozy. Service was excellent, almost as good as the service that we received in Salade De Fruits. The waiter was very funny and knew a lot about seafood. Menu items ranged between 25-35 dollars, but you get huge portions with each dish. Luckily, I had the chance to sample a bit of everybody’s items.

Spinach, Prawn and Papaya Salad (K. Cheng, 2011)

The first item that we were served was the typical bread and butter dish. Instead of the standard butter or olive oil, the dip was made from a special blend of oils, possibly seafood based. The bread had a sourdough taste to it and it was exquisite mixed with the dip.  Everyone loved the bread, and by the time the main dishes arrived we had made the mistake of filling up on bread. For appetizers we had the famous Manila Clam Chowder, the San Francisco styled Mussels, and the Spinach, Prawn and Papaya Salad. The clam chowder had a distinguishing taste that made it quite different from other regular clam chowders. There was a hint of celery and potatoes mixed with the dish and it was a great dip to use with the sourdough bread that was given to us earlier. The San Francisco styled Mussels had a delicious mixture of garlic, black pepper and tomato concasse. The mussels were plump and juicy and they were well soaked in the sweet, and spicy sauce. Surprisingly this sauce also tasted really good with the bread previously given to us and we further filled our stomachs with bread before our main meal came. The salad had a lot of flavor from the cilantro and chili garlic dressing, and was served warm instead of cold, which complemented the temperature of the prawns.

Salmon Wellington (V. Chiou, 2011)

For the main course, there is usually one person who regrets his choice of dish after sampling his friends’ selections, but each person in our group was impressed with the dish that they ordered. One of our friends excitedly mentioned that there was more seafood than noodles in his Pacific Rim Seafood Pasta. We shared the Salmon Wellington, which was a light flakey salmon pie with a side of mash potatoes and vegetables. Pinot noir sauce was used to coat the pie and it gave the Wellington a bit of a nutty flavor to it. The Wellington was delicious but at this point our stomachs were already very full so it was difficult for me to judge its potential. We ended up taking most of the Wellington home so I may need to re-evaluate the Salmon Wellington. I also sampled my friend’s lobster dish. The lobster was very juicy and with the melted butter tasted heavenly. Overall, the dinner was very filling and satisfying.

Our group included 8 people in total. Of those 8 people, 2 of us shared one main dish and two appetizers, which came to  $72.20 including tax and gratuity. We still had a lot of food leftover, so the next time we could probably just order one dish and one appetizer to share between the both of us.

Conclusion

We had a memorable night at The Pink Peppercorn restaurant. If The Pink Peppercorn is the reincarnation of The Cannery, I was impressed with their seafood.  Every food item was fantastic, even the bread and oil. It is really hard to pick a favorite dish, but I would probably choose the mussels, since the sauce was quite special, and I really regret finishing all of them (so I didn’t have any to take home)!  But all is not lost because we managed to save more than half the Salmon Wellington pie and I definitely look forward to eating it for lunch tomorrow.

Overall, The Pink Peppercorn is a restaurant that I would definitely visit again for special occasions. It is a shame that it will be a while before I return to the Pink Peppercorn since there are so many restaurants to explore in Vancouver, but I wish it all the best and I hope it will be around when I return!

To find out more about the Pink Peppercorn and their menu visit their website!

Sources:

• http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/10/28/review-of-pink-peppercorn-the-little-cannery/
• http://www.eddyspinkpeppercorn.com/Site/index.html
• http://www.canneryseafood.ca/

One line summary:

Every seafood dish was great, plus there was great service, but place isn’t as nice as some of the other restaurants in Vancouver.

Rating (best out of 5):

photo credit: Kimberley Goh

The first thing one usually thinks as they disembark from the bus to go to a fine dining event is not I very possibly might get mugged right now. However, as I got off the bus near Queen Elizabeth park, that was exactly what was on my mind. At night, the park can be a daunting place for one small pedestrian girl in a nice dress and no car to take her up the long hill to the Seasons in the Park restaurant, where our club would be dining. Also, wasn’t the rest of the club supposed to be on that bus?

Luckily as I made my way towards the restaurant, I ran into a large flock of nicely dressed club members moaning good naturedly as they trekked up the hill in their fancy shoes (I especially felt for the girls in heels).  And then before us was a beautiful building with huge glass windows, a few palm trees by the door and a waiter ready to whisk us away to our own private dining room sparkling with Christmas trees and a gorgeous view of…well okay, the parking lot, but we did catch a glimpse of the main dining room with its stunning view of Vancouver as we walked by.

photo credit: Kimberley Goh

The food at Seasons in the Park is, perhaps unsurprisingly, spectacular. We began with a fresh salad with maple vinaigrette, candied nuts and strawberries. The sweetness of the maple, the crunch of the nuts and the saltiness of the feta cheese sprinkled over the greens made for a surprisingly delicious combination. However it was all just a precursor to the main event – the steak. My tablemate waxed lyrical about the steak for the entire meal, praising its excellently cooked juiciness, mouthwatering peppercorn sauce and how the mashed potatoes and greens were loaded with butter. The rest of us were silent, mostly because our mouths were busy experiencing everything she described – for most students the ability to eat a great steak is a rare chance.

Before dessert, we had the opportunity to hear from the chef, who thanked us for coming out, and then the table behind us began singing Happy Birthday. The rest of the room happily joined in until we got to the happy birthday, dear…. Who were we singing to, again? The room all awkwardly fell silent at once as the original six tablemates finished with Jasmine… before bursting into laughter. Lesson: it’s not awkward if everyone else does it too. Also, hope you had happy birthday, Jasmine (see? I can remember names!).

The final course was an amazing ‘sunburnt’ (the top was caramelized) lemon pie with what tasted like a shortbread crust – soft, sugary and lemony. For 30 dollars, we definitely got our money’s worth and the beautiful room was in high spirits as we basically rolled out of the restaurant and down the hill, quite a lot fatter than when we started, and just as much happier.

photo credit: Kimberley Goh

Winter has arrived, one can feel it in their bones… (or see their breath in it). What do you do when the roads are icy and it seems like an eternal battle to get moving and get to class? The answer: Keep calm and bake muffins!

Well, while we didn’t bake muffins in particular, the Baking! (…+bento?) [Shortened to Baking/Bento when I'm lazy] miniclub managed to bake up a storm of sugary sweets to last us through the winter! Last-last Saturday, the 19th, a grand total of 18 members braved it out through wind and rain to join me in our first baking session: Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes and Checkerboard Cookies!

But since that wasn’t quite enough for our long winter hibernation, 7 members were back for more in our second session last Saturday (the 26th)! After 3 more hours of toiling in Shawn’s kitchen/dining room we completed Éclairs and Cake Pops! If those sweet treats won’t last us through the winter I don’t know what will!

See more of our session pictures from the folder in the foodsoc Facebook group.

Coming up next year: Parisian Macarons, Mini Cheesecakes, Kyaraben and much more!

Until then, keep warm and eat lots of Christmas goodies~ =)