February 2017: Sweet and Slow Winter

How’s your New Year so far? After “MIA” for almost two months I finally have time to catch up a little…I have been busy at work and spent most of January fighting the flu bug…and I have spent some wonderful time with my lovely sister…

Catch me on Wednesday February 22nd, 2017 1030 am sharp, Ms. Deborah Moore’s show on AM 1470 (OO)

A different kind of cooking:  My new favorite stores on Main (Soap Dispensary and Welk’s)

My lovely sister is a beauty guru; she lives for beauty products and fittingly she’s in the business. During her recent visit while “snowed in” and confined to home, she decided to try something new and turned my kitchen into an experimental beauty lab.  Our DIY’s are based on recipes my sister found online through many sources, we whipped up different batches of creams and balms, giving them away as precious Valentine’s gifts.

I find the process much simpler than soap making; as there are no chemicals involved, so it is much easier to handle.  There are lots of videos available on-line you can use as reference; the best part is spending quality time with my sis…

My latest favorite shops on Main: the wonderful Soap Dispensary (soap refills, “low impact” living and fine products) and Welk’s (General store where we purchased the mason jars, they have almost everything at reasonable prices).

https://www.thesoapdispensary.com/

http://www.welks.ca/

Simple lip balm recipe:Sterilized the little containers. Melt 100 g mixture of different oils (50 g coconut oil and 50 g sweet almond oil) and 18 g of bee wax in a double boiler or small glass bowl over a small pot of boiling water, keep stirring until melted.  Add 1 to 2 spoonful of honey, stir and mix well. Remove pan from heat but keep mixture over the still hot water to keep mixture melted.  Add your favorite essential oils: we used orange and frankincense).  Pour into container and let it set.

(Frankincense (sap burnt in incense) is a common essential oil use in aromatherapy,  can help to reduce stress, pain and inflammation, boost immunity etc).

Van Koji Foods, Benkei Ramen and Japanese Crepe Sasuke at Nikkei Center Flea Market:

Two years ago I’ve talked about using shio koji (see old short blog post), a natural seasoning made with salt, water and rice koji (typical mold -Asperiguillus Oryzae used for fermentation) and I’ve read about making this natural seasoning (from Just One Cookbook) at home.

Recently when I checked out the Book and Flea Market at the Nikkei Center, I made a wonderful discovery: meeting Ms. Tonami who makes and sell koji products from her company, Van Koji Foods.  I have used the shoyu koji as a marinade for a mushroom rice dish and it has a very nice subtle flavor.  I had a lovely chat with her and later signed up to attend the miso making class in early March.

http://www.vankoji.com

I also had some delicious foods at the market:  Japanese Crepe Sasuke (Richmond Market – currently no permanent physical location): nice thin crepe with strawberries and matcha ice-cream,  check out their page on Facebook.

And a mini bowl of shio ramen from Benkei Ramen:  remember Taka-san, Japanese sushi chef who teaches sushi making class at the Nikkei Center during the winter season?  He is also the creator behind Benkei Ramen.  I stopped by the stall to make the purchase and he remembered me!  Taka-san, great seeing you!  Check out his Facebook page (Taka’s Sushi Class) and look for updates for his classes.

Interesting Read: The Ultimate Grocery Storage Guide from food connections (Thanks to fellow Dinner Party YVR hobby chef Ms. Elaine Cheng for sharing on the homepage)

Useful tips for reducing food waste!

http://www.food-connections.com/grocery-storage-guide/

Vietnamese Food:  Au Petit Cafe (4851 Main Street, Little Mountain – Vancouver), Mr. Red Cafe (2680 West Broadway in Kitslano) and Banh Mi Tres Bon (Smart Centre – Richmond)