Toddler parties have a theme, my son’s was Curious George and we had bananas, cupcakes, figurines, candy bananas, sandwiches, punch, hats, streamers, stories, puzzles, dvds, books, tablecloths, paper plates, napkins and goodie bags to name a few.  ALL CURIOUS GEORGE theme!!  He even has a stuffed Curious George monkey on his shelf. Now this was birthday #1, an important one, if not the most important birthday for any parent.  Let’s face reality though, no 1 year old is going to remember their party, their guests or what stress his or her parents went through to get that day perfect.  In due time when our child is older they may hear stories , see pictures or video of their birthday and they will either roll their eyes, be in awe that you did something like that or just dismiss it because they don’t remember a thing about that day.

Our family went to our good friend’s daughter’s 2 year birthday this past weekend and the theme was Dora the Explorer!  Again, napkins, drinks, umbrellas, backpacks, maps, streamers, tablecloths, colouring books, goodie bags and Dora themed games.  It was a blast, the kids were running around, cake was eaten, sugar was in high supply and demand.  It was a great way to get together and let the kids do their thing.

Now, to the point of this weeks blog…  It was home made!!  The cake, cupcakes, coffee, snacks and beef for the wraps were home made!  The Dora cake looked like Dora!  It was awesome.  I would have bet a lot of money that the cake was just purchased from some bakery but I would have been wrong!  I asked a number of questions to find out what the deal was with the cake, it looked too perfect.  I did find out that the cake comes with a special mould and icing instructions but still it was made with love!

It can be done, with a little knowledge, a little time and some patience anything can be done at home.  If a baker can bake it so can you! If a chef can cook it so can you!  Dare to be different and make it yourself!  It may not be cheaper but neither is getting every little thing to fit the theme of the party…

The best part is that in due time, your child will look back on his or her memories and birthday parties and be able to proudly say, “All my birthday cakes were home made”. That really does go a long way…

Happy Birthday!

If you didn’t know, all these items are describing a meal that have a certain cut, particular ingredients and should be served the same way no matter where you go in the world. When a Chef decides to tweak these types of dishes, he or she can no longer and should no longer use the same name to describe their menu item.

Here is an example: A while ago I went into an Italian restaurant which is apparently well known for their “Authentic Italian” cuisine. The menu looked authentic, it had one of my favourite Italian dishes called Ossobuco, (Ossobuco was first attested in the late 19th century. It may have been a farmhouse dish or perhaps was an invention of an osteria, a neighborhood restaurant of Milan) approx. 1 inch thick cross-cut veal shanks, braised with vegetables, wine and broth and traditionally served with Risotto, Arborio rice slowly cooked in broth to a creamy consistency.

It is a dish that melts your soul, if made properly you can taste its love and history, so of course I ordered it.  My mouth was watering when I saw the server coming at us with our meals and then the dish was served…  I had a whole lamb shank on the plate with some couscous on the side and some thawed vegetables.  I didn’t know what to do.  I started questioning my own culinary training, I was dumbfounded and then came the question, “how is your Ossobuco tasting so far?” I looked up and said, “you mean my notsobuco?” This dish sitting in front of me had nothing traditional or typical about it.  The server looked at me like I was making up a line to get a free meal (which I didn’t get) and probably thought that I was an idiot for not knowing what I ordered.

During the meal, I was looking around at other tables and the meals on them and saw that one couple ordered the Tiramisu, a popular Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone, and flavored with liquor and cocoa.  It has a certain look to it and a taste that once you’ve eaten it you’ll always know what it should taste like again and again no matter where you are.  This Tiramisu had a dry lady finger sticking out of some pudding that was served in a martini glass.  Based on it’s looks I didn’t dare order it as I also didn’t want to waste my money on another disappointment.

It’s bad enough that restaurants no longer serve quality foods but to ruin and manipulate tradition is something I call raping the menu. If you have Florentine on the menu then it better come with Spinach, if you serve Sole Almandine, then where are the almonds and brown butter and Beef Wellington isn’t served in phyllo pastry, it’s puff pastry.

If you want to change, or tweak something traditional, by all means go ahead but then call it something that doesn’t deceive your customers or give it a name that is original to you.

I woke up in the middle of this gorgeous and “world-renowned” town, got up and wanted a nice hot latte that didn’t come from any chain that named their employees baristas or team leaders etc… so I walked into a small and simple, privately owned coffee shop to enjoy a nice and relaxing breakfast.

This is what went down…

First upon entering I saw the owner, a frazzled and disoriented woman, running back and forth in what seemed like a frantic scramble as if she had just received 20 orders at once. Aside from me, my wife and son the place was empty. When I got closer to the counter I realized that there was an infant, approx. 14-19 months old, sitting in a high chair by the sink; odd, but hey, it’s a small town and maybe she had babysitting issues, maybe she WAS the babysitter or maybe she brought her daughter to work all the time and the locals loved her for it, who knows?

I looked on the wall for the menu and saw that this establishment made all sorts of bagels with tomato slices, cream cheese, peanut butter and even, my favourite, the classic with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and red onion slices, YUMMY!!  Even though this classic bagel came at a price of $9.00 I ordered it, my wife did as well and our son went with plain ol’cream cheese on a plain ol’bagel.  We also ordered two lattes to kick start our brains into function mode.

The owner immediately went to work, she went to the sink, pulled out the mop and started caring for her floors…  Huh?  Her child was starting to yell, the mop was dripping wet and we, the customer stood there wondering what was going on.  Once the floors were clean, the owner went to make our lattes, she took two big cups, made the lattes and filled up both cups, half way, served them on the counter with a smile as if she had given them to us for free.

As she hurried back to the counter to start making our bagels I went to the cream and sugar bar. My wife likes a touch of honey in her morning latte so I thought I’d do that for her.  I was happy to see that this locale offered organic honey.  I added a touch and then looked for a spoon to stir. Nothing.  No spoon, so I looked for a swizzle stick, what I found was dried linguini pasta all stacked in one little cup. Was this a sign of cut backs or an organic alternative to save the trees? I found a fork, turned it upside down and stirred in the honey.  We sat patiently sipping our drinks, waiting for the food to come.  20 minutes had passed, we were still the only ones there, our lattes were done, our child screaming and the local paper completely read when we heard her yell, “ONE PLAIN BAGEL WITH CREAM CHEESE!” WOW! Our son was about to eat, yay!!  We still had to wait for our classics but when they were ready, I was summoned to the counter and as she gave them to me, all wrapped up in paper, she said this, “I know they are for here but I don’t have any clean plates, just haven’t had time” smirked and walked away.  Another wow!  Anyways we were so hungry that we were just looking forward to that first bite. Wait a minute, the bagel is huge, nothing like the real thing from Montreal, there is hardly any cream cheese on it, maybe 2 capers and some cut up red onion but here is the best part, one small slice of smoked salmon for the entire thing!! When you’re hungry, you’ll eat just about anything, so we sucked it up and ate our classic bagels with empty coffee cups and a son who was done his meal and raring to explore some more.

At this somber point our friend the owner saw someone out side her establishment and without thinking twice yelled, “HAL! YOU GOT 20 MINUTES TO GET BACK HERE!!” Now she didn’t yell this from the doorway, no, she yelled if from the kitchen.  I almost spat out my dry mouthful of nothing on an everything bagel.

Although I always try to support our local owner, I sometimes forget to follow my own advice, speak up if it isn’t what you expected, you’re better off making it at home and if the place is empty, there is a reason for it.

Today we live in the suburbs, we have an awesome son who usually goes with us everywhere we go but today we thought, let’s get Grandpa over here for a few hours and celebrate our anniversary by going out for lunch.  Because we live outside of the downtown core our choices are limited to small little places or large restaurant chains; we chose Coza, a newer restaurant belonging to the Cara group out in Langley.  They boast an Italian theme to the point that the owners who started this up thought it would be a great idea to fly to Italy, absorb the tastes they encountered and bring those tastes back to BC, create a menu of classic Italian cuisine and fit it with their upscale ambience. They wanted to do it right and we wanted to finally check them out.

The place is nice, the open kitchen concept is in the middle of the dining room.  They even have a real stone oven, with the bar to the side.  The hostess greeted us and took us to a table in the corner behind a curtain. As it was not too busy, I asked if we could sit at a different booth, one with a better view of the action.  She complied and we were then seated in a booth that wasn’t hidden from view.  We ordered a pint of beer and a glass of Malbec and had a look at the lunch menu.  I saw Carpaccio, Penne Carbonara, Flatbreads, Caesar salad and Antipasto plates to name a few.  Looking at the menu we felt like we were in Italy.  The drinks came, my beer was fine but the glass that the Malbec came in was smudged with finger prints which we quickly wiped down before pouring in the wine that came in a carafe on the side.  My first thought was, wow they must be under staffed if there isn’t even enough time to clean the glasses after they are washed?  I’m almost positive that they still do that in Italy.

Moving on… I ordered the Carpaccio as an appetizer followed by the Penne Carbonara and my Spouse ordered the Flatbread pizza.  Both main courses came with a Caesar salad on the side, a nice touch.

The Carpaccio came, I took one bite and instantly looked for salt & pepper to give this thinly sliced meat dish any flavour that I could.  There was some sauce on top and when the server told me it was gorgonzola sauce I was stunned.  It had no flavour much less any taste of gorgonzola.  The mini garnish salad on top of the dish had little to no taste and there was no evidence of Olive Oil anywhere on the plate.  Then the Caesar salad came in a plastic bowl with two side dishes that must have come straight from the dishwasher because they were still wet.  It was kind of a toss it and serve yourself deal which we gladly did but then came the taste, nothing…  Luckily we still had the salt & pepper by our side to add flavour.  I wonder how such an ancient recipe as Caesar dressing can be changed for the worse.  The food that followed, brought to us by a server with a mohawk, was just ok although my better half did enjoy her flatbread so there is a plus.  Overall Coza has potential but not if they keep doing what they’re doing…

My point as usual is, aren’t the cooks in the kitchen supposed to make food taste good? Aren’t they trained to do that? Isn’t that why we pay more to go out than to stay in? Aren’t we, the customer supposed to enjoy a meal and be in awe of it when we leave and want to return or tell people about our great experience?  I am sure there are restaurants out there that can do it, want to do it and take pride in what they do and how but why are they all on the other side of the bridge?

I’m open to any recommendations that are out there…

I also thought, what a great idea to add HST to the things that are damaging the environment and taking the easy way out and not add HST to reward those people who go fresh, green and healthy, but then I kept reading…

If I go the gym, I pay HST, if I go and buy a fuel efficient vehicle, I pay HST, if I go to Yoga, HST, if I hire guru cooking, HST.  Anything that is good for me and the environment with the exception of fresh produce and your everyday staples like milk, butter and eggs will be dinged, and yet if I buy a vehicle that is not green, uses lots of fuel and is under $55,000 I am rewarded by paying less tax.

Who sits in Ottawa and comes up with this stuff?  Who sat there and said, “HST should be added to children’s ski gloves, pre-packaged foods and fitness instructors”. How does it work, there has to be some real reasoning behind how it is implemented and on what, no?

Is it that green products are more expensive to make and maintain?  Is it that those who go green are benefiting in the long run and the government wants a piece of those savings?  If we are saving so much on fuel, we won’t be paying for taxes through the pumps so we should pay it upfront.  Does it all even out in the end?  I just like the idea of calculating 10% on my bill, it’s simple.

Please feel free to comment on this blog, whether you agree on HST or disagree, I would love to hear from you.  Better yet, if you can explain the reasoning behind it all please let us all know!!

I like to pretend to be chewing when I see our server walk by shortly after receiving our food.  When they think it is perfect timing to ask, that is when I, miraculously, have an empty mouth and respond, “would you really like to know or are you just asking for sake of asking?” Sometimes, they just smile and walk away, other times they look panicked and frantically look for their manager and yes, sometimes they stop and smile and say, “yes, I’d really like to know”.

Now here is the kicker!  How many of you reading this respond by doing the automatic head nod that everything is great yet you’ll leave it on your plate, you’ll silently complain to your dinner partner and/or you’ll vow never to come back due to the food, service or ambiance?

Isn’t the point of the question to find out the general public’s opinion and hear their constructive criticism in order to improve their service, food, quality and ambiance?  Would it not make sense to want improve these things in order to run a successful and respectable establishment for many years to come? There is no question that people open restaurants because they like food, but as I have mentioned in my very first blog, not every one knows how to run one.

Please don’t think that I am some sort of mega food snob, I’m not, I just appreciate food that is made with some heart and soul.  I don’t always bash the food but I do find it really difficult to find a restaurant where I can taste fresh ingredients and feel the passion and experience ooze out of the kitchen.  I have come across places where I do nod my head enthusiastically in appreciation of the meal and I mean every nod, but they are few and far between.  I love it when someone takes their own question seriously and actively listens to their customer’s response.

Next time you choose to dine out and the server stops by at the appropriate time to ask how everything is, take a minute and answer the question honestly.

• This is really great!
• There were’t enough organic choices on the menu
• You don’t serve sustainable fish
• I like the choices I have
• The food lacks flavor
• Compliments to the Chef/cook
• The bathrooms are dirty
• This place is very clean
• The service is slow
• I got the bill before I could choose dessert
• They took away my plate before my partner was done eating
• Our server was professional, attentive and quick
• Etc. etc. etc.

If they don’t hear from you, good or bad, they can never improve and they will become one of thousands of restaurants that will shut their doors and you’ll wonder where they went?

Weather permitting, many of us will go to festivals or we’ll go camping.  It’s the perfect day for a picnic with friends and family.  If you live in Vancouver, you can go to one of our beaches i.e. Kits beach, Spanish Banks or Coal Harbour.  If you’re fortunate enough to own a boat, you’ll go sailing or just get on your boat and go out to enjoy the view from the water or even stay by the docks and have a blast.

If you live in Surrey, you will have a plethora of parks to choose from, Crescent Beach or even venture out to White Rock and spend the day by the ocean.  The question is, what will you bring for food?  Many people will order food at any number of Fish & Chip places along the strip in White Rock or order take out because it’s an easy out.  What about packing a cooler of food?  Sure it requires minimal planning but let your guru help you out with that.  If you have a hibachi grill of a portable BBQ then the rest is easy.  (By the way, mini BBQs are sold at Costco or your local camping outfitter.)

It’s a day for burgers, salads, corn on the cob, steak or fish, anything is possible.  Take some fresh fruit or make some summer treats.  Pack your cooler full of the foods you love to make and love to eat.  Be sure to put everything on ice so that your day isn’t ruined by spoiled items.  What ever you choose, make it in advance, pack it up, throw it in your cooler and enjoy the day.  If you plan ahead, you’ll save yourself a lot of time, money and grief.

Don’t forget the sunscreen and remember to drink responsibly.

I am going to use KFC as an example because although I may be a Chef and I may have a company that “coaches Canadians to conquer their kitchens with confidence”, I am also vulnerable to marketing and fall victim to TV commercials. So…

Is it any wonder why KFC announced the return of the ‘Double Down’ (bacon and processed cheese between two pieces of deep-fried chicken) as of June 1st?  Why wouldn’t they bring it back to market in April for Easter or May for Mother’s Day? Because they know that fathers, men, dudes and dude wannabes are the ones that will eat it and they spend millions of dollars to figure that out!  They bombard you with commercials on every channel.  They make it sound like the best piece of chicken EVER!  They make it look AWESOME with cheese oozing out with the golden crispy skin on either side.  What man wouldn’t want to eat this?

So I sat there and looked at my wife and said, “you know, that actually looks like it would taste great”.  Then we thought about it…  This sandwich has more than your daily intake of Sodium! Half your daily intake of Fat and even at 480 calories it’s going to sit and rot your stomach.  Is that really going to stop you from getting in your car and driving to your closest KFC to buy one?  Probably not.  It didn’t stop me but I do regret it as does my stomach.  What I should have done is practice what I preach and make my own version of it.  This is all I would have had to do…

Take one chicken breast and cut it in half, flattened both pieces and dredge them in flour then beaten eggs and then in Panko bread crumbs, fry them in a pan with very little butter and a touch of oil.  When they are golden brown take them out of the pan and set them aside.  Put a slice of Monterey Jack cheese on one schnitzel and a slice of cheddar on the other.  Put a slight smear of mayonnaise on a slice of the cheese. Take two slices of bacon which cooked while frying the schnitzels and place them between the slices of cheese. Fold it together and Voila! Enjoy!

This may not be the healthiest option either but I know what went into my calorie rich sandwich.  I know where I got my bacon from, I know that I didn’t use processed cheese and I know that I didn’t deep fry it.  I also know that I was able to make this at home.

Here is a thought, how about making your own food?  Homemade hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, wings and pizza.  If you have a BBQ or an oven it’s all possible!  If you have the ingredients at hand, any of the items I have mentioned take no longer than a 1/2 hour to make.  Host a killer party with a buffet for your friends to enjoy.  pre-form your hamburgers into the size of patty you want, buy as many wings as you can handle and toss them in the sauce you like or make individual pizzas with what ever toppings your friends wish without spending a large amount of cash.  If your friends are each willing to pay $100.00 at the pub then tell them you’ll do the same for $20.00 if they bring the beer!

The food you make will be fresh, hot and one hundred times better than anything you could order for delivery, much less get at the pub.  All it takes is a little planning and some courage.  We can teach you the technique!  Once you know how then every game will be an absolute win.

I guarantee you’ll be voted MVP of the night!!

GO CANUCKS GO!!

Do you think education is worth an investment?  No matter what you study; whether you study to become a doctor, massage therapist, architect or a teacher you will need to invest time and money into becoming knowledgable in that field.  Education is a funny thing, students complain about the price of text books while sipping their $6.00 Cafe Latte, wearing their $200.00 jeans and driving their $80,000 vehicle, yet $80.00 for a text book to pave the way for their future is too much?

How about other hobbies like rock climbing, sailing, surfing, scuba diving or even ski/snowboarding?  These hobbies require a large investment and great amounts of time to master yet we keep doing it and we also travel great distances to do it elsewhere.

So is cooking a skill worth knowing? Even more, is it worth investing in?  Well, if health is important to you, if education is important to you and if you’re looking for a hobby that you can enjoy daily and one that can involve the whole family, then YES!! If you like the idea of creating meals that do not come from a package, freezer or box but ones that come from gardens, farmer’s markets and local butchers then YES!! If you’d like to know how your favourite restaurants make your favourite meals but at a fraction of the price then YES!!

Cooking is fun, easy and very rewarding if you know the basics.  It, just as many other things in life, requires a short term investment for a long term gain.  You will need to practice at least once a week, you’ll need to go through some bad days as well as some days where the thought of cooking is more daunting than beneficial.   You may see the price of pots and pans, cooking lessons and knives as unaffordable because you just never thought of cooking as an expense when creating your budget.

guru cooking inc. knows that and offers savings every month for first time visitors and its apprentices, so visit our “specials” under ‘our offer’ page and see what package best suits you.