I'm always excited about Farmers' Market which it used to be part of my job. The St. Norbert Farmers' Market is the biggest farmers' market in Manitoba. This year is the second year I visited St. Norbert Farmers' Market. On Saturday, June 5, I went down on the first day of St Norbert FM opened for the season.

When I woke up in the morning, all I hope was finding lemon basil plants at the Sage Garden Herbs vendor. I was ready with my reuse shopping bag and camera backpack.

I arrived at the market around 10AM and saw some media people. I was wondering what occasion was. But, I didn't expect there would be the Manitoba Premiere, Greg Selinger at the market. Around 11 PM, he gave a speech and mentioned about a grant injection to the St Norbert Farmers' Market Co-op, a $32,300 grant from the provincial government. This money will be used for a study that will explore ways to help the co-op become more financially sustainable.

My Candid Shots of Media Crew and the Manitoba Premier, Greg Selinger when he received a buckt of Fresh Vegetables from the market

The Sage Garden Herbs is one of my favourite vendors and selling many variety organic tropical plants. Last year, I recalled this vendor brought guava, papaya, banana, some different basils and many more to the market.


Clockwise: lemon basil (Indonesian: kemangi), galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas/laos), rosemary, and coffee arabica


Another vendor that I like is Wenkai Farm, sold fresh produces, including the oriental one such as bok choy. I took two pictures of Wenkai's radishes since they were so attractive and red.



I can't remember one vendor's name that sold Mizuna. Honestly, I never tried Mizuna, so I gave myself a try. From wikipedia, I found that Mizuna is also called Xiu Cai, Kyona, Japanese Mustard, Potherb Mustard, Japanese Greens, California Peppergrass, Spider Mustard, etc., is a Japanese name used primarily for cultivated varieties of Brassica rapa nipposinica but also for Brassica juncea var. japonica.



Yes, I'm crazy about Saskatoon berry. This saskatoon berry nectar is a new product from Graham's Groves. The sweetness and acidity are perfect for me; I don't like too sweet or sour things, except sourness from real citrus.


The market situation


Prairie Grass

» Read More...

Longing for holidays that was exactly what I felt and would like to send this greeting to everyone and whatever your religion is. This year, I finally had a chance to go for boxing day sale on December 26. In the past, I always took time and a half shift. In Canada, Boxing Day is similar to Black Friday in the US where stores reduce prices.

Some people go crazy by camping outside the stores the night before boxing day. I am not that nuts with the boxing day sale, but I admitted that I woke up in the morning to go for shopping since most of the stores opened at 6 AM.

On Christmas eve, I was glad I managed to get home before the highway's condition was getting worst. We had a major winter storm that day. On December 24, my office was closed at 12 PM. Leaving Boissevain around 12.30 PM, I had a hard time to drive. Even though, it took me four hours to drive since I had to turn down the speed due to snow and visibility's reduce.

The pictures above and one below here were taken when I waited in the car for my husband who is CDs freak, went to the record store in the Exchange area. Without opening the car's window, I took two random photos. It is a picture of wall which full with posters on.

Our "Must to Go" list:
Restaurant and Kitchen Stores
Record Stores
Bookstores
Electronic Stores
Camera Stores
Some stores at Polo Park mall


We went to Henry's photo, just to see what deal they had. They had deal on tripods for all brands. Not really a great deal, honestly. We left and decided to go to Indigo bookstore. I was tempting to buy Jamie at Home cookbook by Jamie Oliver. Again! I don't feel like to buy it.


Moved to another bookstore, McNally Robinson. We went to the bargain books' part where the prices were reduced. Since it was a boxing day sale, they were taken another 50% off of the reduced prices.


I found my toys at
d a Niels Gourmet Kitchenware - 485 Berry Street
Homesense - 15-1585 Kenaston Boulevard
Don's Photo - 1839 Main Street
McNally Robinson - 1120 Grant Avenue


To Rita, here is the book that I bought. Happy Birthday to you, girl!

» Read More...

It was the day when we had to look for goat feta cheese. We went to one of cheese specialty store on Corydon avenue. That store doesn't have it. I told to my husband, we should check Greek Market which is located on Corydon ave too. I used to this store to get my tiramisu on a cup. Love tiramisu, but I don't want to make it by myself since my tempation is only for a small piece.

Yes!! I am right this store has 3 kinds of feta cheese, cow, goat and sheep. I felt like bringing my husband to toy's store. It has most everything he likes, not many meat products are sold.

See what we got beside feta cheese.

Greek Market
1440 Corydon Ave
Winnipeg, MB
Canada R3N 0J3
Phone: 1-204-488-6161
E-mail: info@greekmarket.ca

» Read More...

As of June 15th, I moved to a small cattle producer town in Manitoba, Boissevain due to my current job. I still go back to Winnipeg once every two weeks.

The little small town has caught my intention with flowers around the area. I was so happy I finally found lemon basil (Indonesian: kemangi) plants for purchased here, at the greenhouse where I bought them. Lemon basil is a fragrant herb that is commonly used in Indonesian cuisine.

The warmness and friendliness feeling that I enjoy the most from people in this town. The most important I don't need to see lots traffic like in Winnipeg! :) Absolutely, I enjoy driving here.

A cozy coffee area in the giftware shop is also part of my morning coffee break. It's only one block away from my office with magnificent things that foodies love. Care to see the history of The Station, please visit the website at http://www.the-station.ca/. Thanks to Audrey Hicks to let me taking pics of the store. If you go to the US border or enter Canada through highway 10 please do visit Boissevain and The Station.

The Station
406 South Railway Street
Boissevain, MB
Canada R0K 0E0

The Front Look and The Black and White Corner...

The Red Lovers...

The Blue Lovers...

The Eco and Antique Lovers...

There, you go, my spot for coffee break...

» Read More...

Have you ever had berries cheese snack before? The product was pretty innovative by combining mozzarella cheese and Saskatoon berries. To create a packaging for the product, my friend asked me a favour to take few shots of the product as his team group who were developed for their class project. Shots were taken a place at the Food Science's kitchen of my university.

For those who are interested to develop this product, you may contact my friend by sending me an email.

» Read More...

» Read More...

Frozen rain has finally come today, so that means snow is in the mail pretty soon. I have been busy for a while, taking some time off from multiply as well as blogspot. On those days, I tried to sneak a little time to capture beautiful fall leaves. See more pictures below.

» Read More...

For people who grew up with Sumatran culinary, fiddlehead ferns might not be extraneous. They are what the Indonesians call for pakis or paku. I grew up with several kinds of Sumatran gulais (curries), one of them was gulai pakis or gulai paku. Some people also make them for anyang (Acehnese/Minangese salad with spiced grated coconut).

I just knew from one of my foodie fellow on multiply that people who grew up in Kalimantan, also familiar with fiddlehead ferns, since the plant grow wild in the forest. In Pontianak (the capital of West Kalimantan province), people eat them as salad with peanut and fish/shrimp paste (Indonesian: petis) sauce, and also stir fry with dried shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi, Malaysian: belachan).

I was so exciting to find fiddlehead ferns for purchased in Winnipeg, since I heard from the news that wild fiddlehead ferns are sold in several stores. According wikipedia, fiddlehead ferns have several varieties depend on where they grow. The ones that I had here, grew local and wild. They are different with I used to have when I was in Indonesia.

Fiddlehead ferns refers to the unfurled fronds of a young fern harvested for food consumption. The fiddlehead, or circinate vernation, unrolls as the fern matures and grows due to more growth in the inside of the curl.

If you notice, there is no pepy's name on this picture, due to the height issue, I couldn't take a picture of fiddlehead in the basket at the natural food store. Here is a picture of Manitoban Wild Fiddlehead Ferns, that was taken by my husband.

Last night, I didn't feel to process/grind some spices to make gulai pakis, so I decided to make an easy one. I was thinking to make fiddlehead ferns omelette as I saw the recipe on the Food TV Canada website, but it was happened I changed my mind to make stir fry.

This post is also my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB) this week, hosted by Joanna of Joanna's Food.

Indonesian Stir Fry Fiddleheads with Scrambled Eggs
recipe by me

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. (225 g) fiddleheads, well washed and drained, tail base trimmed
2 cloves garlic, minced
Half onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
1 tbsp oysters sauce
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp olive oil
salt if you need

Scrambled Eggs
3 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp unsweetened natural soy milk (this one tastes similar to coconut milk)
1 - 2 sprigs parsley ( it can be substituted for Chinese celery or cilantro), chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:
Scrambled Eggs
1. Mix beaten egg, soy milk, parsley and garlic powder. Heat a pan and oil over medium heat, pour in egg mixture and immediately reduce heat to medium-low.

2. As mixture begins to set, gently move spatula across bottom and sides of skillet to form large, soft curds. Cook until eggs are thickened and no visible liquid egg remains, but they are still moist. Set aside.

Stir Fry Fiddleheads
1. In a saucepan of boiling salted water, blanch the fiddleheads for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Set aside.

2. Heat a skillet and olive oil over high heat, add sesame oil. Saute onion and garlic until fragrant.

3. Add fiddleheads, oysters sauce, Indonesian sweet soy sauce and white pepper, and scrambled eggs. Stir evenly until done (about cooking for 1 to 2 minutes). Transfer into a serving plate.

» Read More...

I guess spring has sprung. The frozen river near my place has melted. Yupss I live near by the Assiniboine River. The Assiniboine River is a 1,070 kilometers (665 mi) long river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. A name of this river is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation.

It flows south-east from Saskatchewan and then mainly east to "The Forks" in Winnipeg, Manitoba where it flows into the Red River. The Red River is a North American that flows through several major urban areas along its path including Fargo-Moorhead and Greater Grand Forks in the United States and Winnipeg in Canada. All the information about the rivers is courtesy of wikipedia.

I have four pictures that were taken on different day. All pictures were taken from 9th floor of my apartment. Picture #1 was taken on April 13, 2008.

Three other pictures were taken April 16, 2008. In picture #2, #3 and #4, you can see small pieces of ice floating on the river, most of the ice has melted and they were flowing to The Forks then flowed into the Red River.

» Read More...

No idea to cook since I did pack almost all my spices in the pantry due to moving in to another apartment by October 1st. I apologize if you don't see me around to visit your blogs, folks.
See you around!

Picture was taken on May 2007

» Read More...

As I wrote before, tempeh is an Indonesian soybean cake, and it is a staple source of protein in Indonesia for several hundred years already, is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybean particles into a cake form.

A year ago, I coulnd't purchase tempeh in Winnipeg. So where I can get it in Winnipeg?

Dong Thai Ltd

459 Notre Dame Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 1R4

(204) 943-9868

One of my blog reader asked me where he/she can purchase in Vancouver? Today, I asked Mr. Wong, the owner of Dong Thai, he told me that you can buy tempeh at Hanlong in Surrey, which I'm not sure that is the proper way to spell "Hanlong". Anyway, those tempeh is also made by the Indonesian.

» Read More...