Our Year in Food – January to June 2011

Our Year in Food – January to June
As many of you know or can guess from our blog a lot of our life revolves around food – eating out together or with friends, having friends in for meals, visiting Winnipeg (which is always about how much we can eat) and traveling and enjoying new restaurants and tastes wherever we go. As a wind-up to 2011 we decided to look back at some of our favorite meals and experiences of the year. We created a photo set of the most memorable ones and below is a list of the location, the meal, why it was great and the blog post we wrote about it.

January 6th is Ukrainian Christmas Eve and even though the perogies in this post were made in December it was great to have over some good friends to share in our traditions and serve them a host of recipes past down from my mom. The only time I actually like to cook is for someone else. This year’s dinner will include homemade perogies and cabbage rolls of course, kubasa shipped from Winnipeg, stuffing, ham, and this year I made my own pickled beets and pickles. (Making Perogies Part One and Part Two)

Also in January we travelled to Mazatlan, Mexico for our 15th anniversary (a month in advance), which was also the site of our honeymoon. We had many bowls of chips and salsa and lots of local beer. It was a great trip if only for a week and surprisingly not much different than 15 years earlier. The main difference – our age and lack of stamina for a full night at Senior Frogs. But a happy anniversary to us! And many more.

 

 

Business this year took us on four trips to Kamloops (April and May) and two through the Kootenays (June and September). On recommendations from friends we found some new places to try out. Noble Pig on Victoria Street in Kamloops is a brew pub with full view of the beer casks, a great place to watch a hockey game and serves up a mean pizza.It works for both of us as Jeff loves hockey and I love pizza. It is now on our Kamloops list for future trips. (Noble Pig)

 

In May I visited Winnipeg solo to attend my sister’s wedding shower. Mom and I had a good time arranging flowers and did a damn good job despite a lack of experience! A few days after the event the three of us had time for lunch at Prairie Ink, a restaurant like no other you will ever find in a bookstore (yes a bookstore)! No deep fryer, organic and sometimes local fare and a great menu make it a must visit when in The Peg. The company was pretty good too! (Prairie Ink)

 

 

 

Jeff’s brother Mike got a ‘hall pass’ from the family to visit us for a weekend in June. The main destination of the trip was UFC fight night but we managed to sweep him off the plane and onto a rented bike for a full day tour of our favorite city as soon as he arrived. The tour included Stanley Park, the Seawall though Yaletown, a beer stop and another stop at Cat’s Social House for lunch before heading back through Gastown to Coal Harbour. This is on our our favorite things to do with visitors list and the food and cheap draft at Cat’s was perfect for the occasion. (Cat’s Social House)

 

At the end of June we headed to the Kootenays for our first trip of the two this year. Panorama was a disappointment because most restaurants and stores were not open but a highlight of the trip was dinner at the Earl Grey Lodge. We met the owners who host and bartend nightly and ended up closing the place down and sharing a drink with the chef afterwards. The food was great and the owners and staff are great people. (Dining in Panorama)