Happy Valentine's Day Eve

Valentine's Day is tomorrow and no matter how you feel about the holiday, you can't deny that any reason to celebrate love and eating chocolate is a good thing.

This year the pressure is off for my sweetie and I as we are going to a wedding on the big love day. Not only are the happy couple getting married on Valentine's Day, it's the 1 year anniversary of their first date! I can't imagine more pressure for a first date then one on Valentine's Day. Then again, a first date on St. Patrick's Day would be worse...yikes!

Anyway, we are excited to be getting dressed up, going to a fancy event and watching people we love, express their love and commitment to each other.

Enjoy celebrating all the people you love in your life! xo

And in case you need a quick and delicious chocolate recipe (who doesn't?), try this one from my good friend Tom.

Black Bean Brownies
-1 15 oz can of black beans
-3 eggs
-3 tbsp of oil (canola)
-1/4 cup cocoa
-1 tbsp baking powder
-1 tbsp vanilla extract
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/2 cup chocolate chips (I use dark chocolate ones, but you can use milk chocolate)

Preheat oven at 350. Grease a 8x8 pan (or whatever you have).
Combine all ingredients in a blender (except for the chocolate chips). Blend until smooth (it'll look and taste like pudding, yum!). Pour into the pan. Add the chocolate chips on top and bake until top and edges are dry (I usually stick a knife in the middle and if it's dry, the brownies are ready).

Gonna Party Like it's 4711!!

Image from saynotes.com

The Lunar New Year is the most important of all the Chinese holidays. It starts this year on Sunday February 10th and lasts from the new moon to the full moon on the 25th. So there will be lots of celebrating and FOOD!!

This year is 4711 (or around there) and will be the year of the snake. As with every new year, a it's a time to reconcile and sincerely wish for peace and happiness to everyone.

Many of the traditional foods eaten at this time represent the hopes for the coming year. Here are a few:

Tangerines: A great gift to bring to someone as they are associated with good luck, having an abundance of happiness and prosperity. Get the big round ones and if possible, with the leaves still attached.

Spring Rolls: They look like little bars of gold and signify wealth. Try making your own gold bars of goodness with this recipe from Steamy Kitchen

Long Noodles: The noodles symbolize long life so the longer the noodle the better! Here's a recipe with the very tasty garlic chive and mushrooms.

Shitake Longevity Noodles

Ingredients:

• Dried, thin egg noodles
• 20 fresh shitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
• 1/4 cup of canola oil
• 1 inch of ginger thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup of roughly chopped garlic chives
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1 Tbsp Chinese red vinegar
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1 1/2 Tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp of oyster sauce
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 cup of warm water
• Special equipment: A wok and chopsticks

Preparation:

1. Cook noodles in boiling water for 1 minute or until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. In a small bowl mix together the Chinese vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce and cornstarch. Mix well to combine sauce. Set aside.
3. Heat canola oil in a wok over a medium heat. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Next add the shitakes, garlic chives and spring onions. Fry for another 30 seconds then add the sauce. Stir well to combine then add 1 cup of warm water. Let the mixture bubble for about 2 minutes then add the cooked noodles.
4. Use chopsticks to toss the noodles in the wok. Toss them well to coat them in the sauce and mix through the mushrooms, chives and spring onions. Let the noodles cook for another minute or two and then serve.

Enjoy and we wish you happiness, health and prosperity for this Lunar New Year. Kung Hei Fat Choi!!

Quick and Easy Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

I expect that this recipe I tore out from Chatelaine magazine is going to keep me fueled for the upcoming CGTA show (our big wholesale show). I love quinoa, it is chock full of protein and I need something that will be easy to pack and nibble on to keep myself fortified during the long hours at the booth. The best part is that this tasty recipe is not only healthy, but quick and cost effective too...Enjoy!

Quinoa-Tabbouleh Salad
Cooking time: 10 minutes  Preparation time: 10 minutes
Refrigeration Time: 60 minutes  Makes:  8 cups

Image: Roberto Caruso

 Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups (425 mL) water
• 1 cup (250 mL) quinoa
• 1/4  English cucumber
• 2  tomatoes
• 1  green pepper
• 5  green onions
• 1  large bunch parsley
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) olive oil
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) chili powder

Instructions

• Pour water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Rinse quinoa with cold water several times. Drain and stir into boiling water with a pinch of salt. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes, until all water is absorbed and quinoa grains are transparent.
• Meanwhile, dice cucumber, tomatoes and green pepper. Thinly slice green onions and finely chop parsley. In a bowl, whisk oil with lemon juice, salt and chili powder.
• Pour hot quinoa into oil mixture and toss well. Cool to room temperature. Toss with chopped vegetables and parsley. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

New Traditions

Image from beedivinedesigns.com

It's always amazing when you get a lot of support from friends and family. It makes you feel loved and that you are on the right path. Lee and I get unbelievable support and we wanted to thank everyone who help us on our Domistyle journey.

We decided to have a thank you party to show our appreciation. It's generally tough to get everyone together on a weekend evening with a shortage of baby sitters and general life busyness. So we thought a brunch would do the trick.

We had a great turn out with about 25 people and served up Overnight Berry French Toast (recipe below) and gluten free quiche...both a big hit. We also picked up a bunch of pastries from our local bakery, lots of fruit and a mixed green salad on the side.

Everyone seemed happy and full. What a great way to get everyone together on a Sunday afternoon. We hope this will be a continuing tradition as we grow our Domistyle family.

Thank you to EVERYONE who has helped and supported us over the years.

Love,
Penny and Lee

Overnight Berry French Toast

1 cup brown sugar, packed (I replaced with date sugar and Sucanat)
1/4 cup butter, melted (I used Earth Bound)
1 cup berries (I used a combo of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and had a bunch extra on the side for topping)
1 1/2 cups milk (I used rice milk)
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
12 slices bread (I used whole wheat from the bakery and did a separate gluten free one with Kinnikinnick Soft Multigrain bread
5 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

1. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Mix well. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mixture evenly on bottom of 9 x 13 pan.

2. Cover with 6 slices of bread. Sprinkle another 1/3 of sugar mixture over bread and scatter berries on top.

3. Place remaining bread on fruit. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.

4. Beat eggs, milk and salt together. Pour evenly over bread. Press down lightly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

5. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40 - 45 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Serve warm with maple syrup and any extra berries.

Pretty Resolution

Not sure about you, but clearly not procrastinating is NOT my New Years resolution this year. Like many others, the holiday season was busy and it's taken me a bit of time to recover, catch up on work and make time to sit and think long and hard about the resolutions I was going to make. I'm generally not a resolution type person. I have a few friends who like to sit down together over a cup of tea and write out all the things they want to accomplish over the year. I really admire that. It's a great way to get together and talk about your goals, how you are going to achieve them and get some loving support (gotta love girlfriend love).

So I didn't want to do the usual lose weight, eat healthy and exercise routine (although, I'll still try my best to do those things as I did put on a few holiday pounds). I have in the past resolved not to eat any sweets (I love all things baked) that was not made by someone I know. So no packaged cookies or store bought cakes. It started out well as I did my own baking but, then it all went down hill when I started to go to bakeries and cafes all over town introducing myself to the baker of the treat I was about to eat. It was not a pretty sight but, I did meet some really nice people :)

This year I decided to do things that make me feel good about myself. So what better way to feel pretty than accessorizing!! So, my resolution this year is to wear more earrings. I'm not an earring wearer. In fact I had to really jam those suckers into the holes in my ears that are barely there any more. I cleaned all the earring I have collected over the years and never wore and have been wearing them proudly (luckily the 80's are back). I even bought a new pair. I do feel pretty and girlie in them. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up.

No matter what your resolutions are and whether you accomplish them or not, it doesn't really matter, as long as you feel good about yourself and find happiness in even the little things.

Happy New Year!
xo