Sunday, July 31

Bistro Dansk

Bistro Dansk is a Danish restaurant in Winnipeg and it's great. My mother's father was Danish so my childhood is strewn with memories of random Danishisms (beards growing through tables, curried  herring) so I love frikadeller and tolerate aquavit. Danish right? I'm not sure but I hope so. Anyways, I do love Bistro Dansk and so did my grandfather (because not having to make my own curried herring and explain why I want to eat such a thing is always fun?); the portions are large, the staff is friendly and there's always sweet and sour cabbage. And Tuborg. 


I was so focused on eating my food that I forgot to take pictures until I got my leftovers, that's a pretty good recommendation right?

Tuesday, July 26

Gravlax


We made gravlax! Can you believe it? I almost can't believe I was brave enough to eat salmon I cured myself, that's real courage. It was good too!
Lately I've eaten a fair bit of gravlax (at least compared to the none I ate before) since I've been spending time in Sweden. I've never been much of a fan of smoked salmon (blasphemy I know!) but I actually really like gravlax, it's mild and sweet and dilly. A really lovely spring/summer food. So after liking to eat the next step is trying to make (and usually failing to recreate). We attempted it and we succeeded, my Swedish boyfriend approved so I count that as success.
We ate our gravlax with gravlax sauce, new potatoes boiled in salt and dill (served with butter), devilled eggs with caviar and a cucumber salad.



Gravlax     adapted from the Gourmet Traveller

1 large salmon fillet with skin (about 1 kg)
500 gr coarse salt
400 gr sugar
1 cup chopped dill
1/2 cup vodka
  • mix together the salt, sugar and vodka
  • cover a dish large enough for the salmon fillet (preferably with sides, the salmon leaks) with a large piece of plastic wrap and then another going the opposite way.
  • place half the salt mixture on the plastic wrapped dish, then the salmon skin side down. 
  • next put the chopped dill on the flesh of the salmon and top with the remaining salt mixture.
  • securely wrap up the salmon with the plastic wrap and then place in the fridge. Turn it after 12 hours. 
  • After 24 hours remove the salmon from the fridge, unwrap it and clean of all the salt with cold water. Slice thinly (this part is hard). Try slicing, carefully, towards yourself diagonally through the salmon. I know 24 hours doesn't seem like enough, I was skeptical, but it is!
  • Serve with gravlax sauce, lemons and sour cream. 


The finished product! It's rather difficult to slice, perhaps practice will help.



Monday, July 25

BBQ

 We've been doing root beer stuff lately. Root beer ice cream, root beer and onion rings, root beer jelly beans, it's been that sort of week (by which I mean a great week). Also on the list was root beer barbeque sauce and it didn't disappoint. In fact it's probably my favourite store bought bbq sauce to date.


Bon Vivant Rootbeer Barbeque Sauce

Thursday, July 21

The BDI

The Bridge Drive In is a Winnipeg institution. It's authentic retro, I don't think much has changed since the 50's when it opened (it still only takes cash). Ice cream and a stroll down the bridge is a prefect way to enjoy the summer heat.


Green Apple swirl!


Thursday, July 14

Apple struedel in Munich

Monday I traveled back from Sweden to Canada. It was my boyfriends birthday and the start of vacation  (happy birthday!)  but it was also a 17 hour trip (boo). We had a 2 hour layover in Munich on our way home so we ate birthday struedel (of course) and wished we'd seen the nap cabs sooner (that's totally a thing).


We finally got home to a lovely dinner (that we even stayed awake for), presents and cake.


Sunday, July 10

Mushroom Toast

It's simple, it's easy, it's great! Fresh chanterelles fried in butter on fresh bread with still more butter, I can't imagine a better breakfast. Oh, and these were wild chanterelles! There's something sort of enchanted seeming about wild mushrooms, I feel like part of a fairytale when gathering them. Just waiting for my fairy godmother...



Saturday, July 9

Wimbledon

I like tennis, strawberries, cream and Pimms and the Wimbledon final is the perfect occasion to indulge all this. Last Sunday afternoon we sat down to enjoy homemade strawberry jam on still warm scones  (recipe here) with clotted cream (and even more strawberries) while watching my two favourite players vie for the Wimbledon title. The cocktail of choice was Pimms and champagne, which is a combination I would recommend for almost any occasion, add a strawberry for aesthetics sake! Finally, we complemented our sticky sweet scones with a cheese board for balance. And then, like after all good feasts, we had a nap.



Friday, July 8

Sauna

I was lucky enough to spend a night at  the Fredensborg Herregård Hotel near Vimmerby in Småland, Sweden recently. It's a beautiful, peaceful old manor house that was converted into an hotel in 1912. It's situated on a lake and of course has a sauna, which of course we took full advantage of. I shall soon post more from the hotel and my lovely stay in the area.