Lasagna recipe halfway down this post… This past weekend was very relaxing, but also very refreshing. On Saturday, Allan and I spent most of the day cleaning the apartment, watching a couple movies at home, and playing video games.

Saturday was much needed, as it’s been a while since my entire family got out and did something together. Sure, we usually see each other every week… but it was nice to get out of the house and do activities together.

First, Allan and I stopped by my parent’s house to pick everyone up. My dad’s tulips were out in full force…. reminding me that spring really is here!
Then it was off to the driving range.

It was fun to get together and hit a couple balls… although I ended up trying to teach them the golf swing most of the time, haha. Reminds me how I really need to get back into going to the range regularly before I’m ready to play on full courses again this year.

We then headed to the theatre to watch “Date Night”, Tina Fey and Steve Carell’s new movie. It was funny and endearing, albeit a little strange to watch with my parents. We also stopped at the farmer’s market in Richmond that my parents normally go to, and picked up a couple bags of produce.

Then, it was back to the house where we madly consumed some amazing “leche flans” that my mom makes (it’s kinda like crème caramel)…

Finally, we finished the day at Granville Island where we picked up our weekly groceries and got supplies to make lasagne… Allan has been asking me to make my lasagne for a while now, so I FINALLY got to it. Last night we also watched Food Inc, which was quite the eye-opener, but I’m going to save that for another post.

ALLIE’S “THE BEST LASAGNE EVER” LASAGNA RECIPE
Makes a 9×13 pan of lasagne, enough for 8-10 people

Allan declares this the best lasagna he has ever had (and he’s had quite a few), and quite honestly I would agree. I know that’s not very humble, but seriously, this lasagna will rock your world.

My lasagne recipe has changed a lot over the years. It started with a simple bolognese sauce recipe that I got from my mom when I started cooking after high school. It was always layers of pasta with the meat sauce. In my last year of university, I started using ricotta cheese to make the dish more rich. Finally, when I graduated and traveled to Italy, I had the most AMAZING lasagne and discovered the secret of béchamel sauce, which actually is a more traditional Italian way of making lasagne (or so they say) but not as widely used in North America. Now, several iterations later, I think I’ve managed to put together a pretty darn good lasagne recipe. I use “lasagne” and “lasagna” interchangeably here for my recipe, because I think it combines some good Italian traditions with a bit of a North America twist.

The secret? Fresh pasta, a rich tomato meat sauce, the béchamel sauce (far superior to ricotta in my opinion), and good quality cheeses. I also like a layer of zucchini in there, but of course it’s completely optional. Last night I tried cooking with veal for the first time instead of beef, and I’m totally in love. I realize that this may be a moral/ethical issue for some, so feel free to substitute beef/pork/chicken for the veal. But if you don’t mind, it really is divine and I can’t recommend it enough.

Ingredients:
Please use high quality organic, local ingredients whenever possible.

3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 lb ground veal (can substitute beef… but I highly recommend Montreal milk-fed veal from Granville Island or your local market)
1 lb ground pork
4 oz pancetta, chopped
1 Spanish chorizo sausage, chopped
2 red onions
6 cloves of garlic
3 carrots, chopped (if using non-organic carrots just use one large one)
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 zucchini, thinly sliced into rounds (optional)
1 red pepper, diced
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 medium/large can of Italian tomatoes
1/2 cup strong red Italian wine
1/2 cup of 2% milk for the meat sauce, plus 3 cups milk for the béchamel
2 handfuls of fresh herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and one bay leaf)
5 Tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of good quality flour
1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground chili pepper or paprika/cayenne
About 1 lb of fresh pasta sheets (homemade preferred, but you can also buy from your local market)
1 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 cup of freshly grated mozzarella (preferably a Tre Stelle mozza ball.. you can find these at supermarkets or Whole Foods in a pinch)
1 large Bocconcini ball (fresh mozzarella balls), sliced
Salt and pepper

1. Using a large saucepan or dutch oven (e.g. a big Le Creuset or other large pot), heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, stir a couple times, and then add the carrots, celery and cook until translucent approximately 5-7 minutes.

2. Add the meats (veal, pork, pancetta, and sausage) and stir vigorously to break up the meat.  Use high heat to brown it. This should take approximately 10 minutes.

3. Now, add the milk and stir in gently. This actually protects the meat from the acidity of the other ingredients so it is very important to add the milk first. Then, add the wine, tomato paste, and hand crush in the tomatoes from the tin. Add half of the tomato sauce from the tin, but set aside the rest for later. Stir for a few minutes, and then add in the fresh herbs. Season with salt, pepper, and a bit of chili pepper and then simmer this over medium heat for about 30-45 minutes until thick. When almost done, stir in the red peppers.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. When the meat sauce is almost ready, you can now prepare the béchamel sauce. Melt the butter in a separate saucepan and then whisk in the flour until very smooth over medium heat. Keep stirring for about6 minutes until the mixture turns golden. Then, bring the 3 cups of milk to a boil in a separate small pot. Add a bit of milk at a time to the butter mixture, whisking the sauce each time to keep it very smooth. When you’ve used all the milk, you’ll want to bring the sauce to a boil, and then turn off the heat and stir in the nutmeg, salt, pepper, and chili pepper for another minute or so. Set this aside off the hot burner.

5. Yay, time to assemble everything! Grease the 9×13 pan with butter. Quickly douse the fresh pasta in cold water and gently squeeze off the excess liquid. Now cover the bottom of the pan with the meat sauce, layer the pasta, then pour half the béchamel mixture in and spread it out. Sprinkle half the parmesan over it, then layer the zucchini in rounds over it. Layer another pasta, then meat sauce, then pasta layer. Now for the last layer: Spread the rest of the meat sauce (should be fairly thin now), then the rest of the béchamel sauce, the rest of the parmesan… now place a couple bocconcini slices around the pan (approx one per “serving” of lasagne), and spread the rest of the grated mozzarella over the entire dish. Lastly, grind a very small amount of salt, and a regular dose of freshly ground pepper over the dish. It’s important to make sure that each layer of pasta is fully covered so that it cooks properly.

6. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes, but watch carefully and make sure the top is golden brown. Make sure you let the lasagne cool for about 20 minutes before serving.

7. DIG IN! It’s amazing

One of the best parts of this process of getting our place finished is finally getting rid of a lot of clutter and junk that we had been accumulating that we really never use. We do have a storage locker in our basement so we’ve been using that to store mostly seasonal items, such as our camping gear. It really makes a big difference in terms of space in our apartment!

We finally finished off the “Sports Room”. Really the easiest way to show the change is to show before and after pictures. Here is the “before”. Previously, as you can see, this room was basically a catch-all for our gear. 3 surfboards, 4 snowboards, 2 sets of wetsuit gear, 2 sets of snowboarding gear, 2 sets of ice hockey gear, 2 sets of golf clubs, plus camping gear and miscellaneous items. Phew! It was a lot of stuff to cram into one room.

And here is the “after” photo! We really wanted the room to feel more like a fun, bright place where we could show off some of our gear but also be functional in terms of storing everything.

That’s when we came up with the idea of mounting our gear to the walls. When we originally measured out the surfboards, we realized that Allan’s longboard was WAY too big for the walls. Then we noticed that there was a strip of wall that actually went above the door… and bingo, the surfboards all fit on the far wall.

We mounted the surfboards using handmade wooden racks made by Hawaiian Gun Racks. They’ve got some padded material on top to keep them from denting the boards, and also a dowel on the end to prevent them from slipping off just in case. They really are both beautiful and sturdy.

We also mounted the snowboards to the other wall. Mounting everything to the walls really freed up a ton of space, and also I think it looks pretty neat. We installed a cabinet to the wall as well, and put all our books and DVDs in there to save space from the living room. We also are using it to hold some of our snowboard gear such as boots and goggles. It’s also a great place to display some photos of some of our adventures.

From left to right… 2010 Men’s Burton Supermodel, 2007 Women’s Burton Feelgood, 2010 Women’s Burton Malolo… Boots: 2009 Burton Men’s Serow Japanese Exclusive Model, 2010 Burton Women’s Supreme Boots

The snowboards were mounted using HangtimeUSA wall mounts. They are plastic mounts that basically hold to the width of the board, so they are easy to pull in and out of the clips. They can also be mounted diagonally. We were really impressed by how sturdy they were, and the mounting hardware that came with them was awesome.

We fit a couple more things into the room like my golf clubs and the skim boards, but most of our gear is still tucked away in the closet in that room. We purchased a used red microfiber sofa that I LOVE and a couple lamps to complete the room. Not pictured are all the game plaques that Allan and I have from working in the video game industry… you get one when you “ship” a game. It’s kind of a fun addition to the room.

The last part of the room I wanted to talk about is probably my favourite… the coffee tables. We covered one of the coffee tables in all the sporting goods stickers that I had accumulated over the past few years, and that Allan has accumulated pretty much his whole life. There’s a lot of history on that table. Not only is it covered with our favourite brands, but it’s covered in memories of accomplishments, events, special milestones in our lives, and our favourite activities. It really completes the room for us.

So what do you think of the transformation?

Summer is Vancouver is a funny thing. I always hear that it is too hot, too cold, too rainy, too dry… it seems like summer can never truly assuage Vancouverites. Personally, I don’t mind the mix of conditions… definitely keeps things interesting!

Although my favourite season is Fall (the colours, hockey starts, snowboarding starts, and there’s still surfing!)… it’s impossible to not love summer in Vancouver. That small slice of sun and warmth that we get is irresistible!

My favourite things about summer:

- Surfing
- Enjoying sun on the beach
- The gorgeous sunsets
- BBQing
- Parties with friends
- Summer blockbuster movies
- The humidity
- Fresh, local, organic berries
- The vegetables and fruits that come out of our garden
- Golf
- Summer dresses
- Vacation!
- Wearing flip flops 24/7

I’ve been playing golf for a couple years now, but I usually only go 5-6 times a year or so. Each year, I find myself having more and more fun playing golf… even though I’m terrible at it!

Aside from Costa Rica, I’ve never really played a full golf course… my experience is pretty limited to the driving range, pitch and putt, and executive (academy) courses.

This was taken at the Academy at Westwood Plateau… their 9 hole course. My best shot of the day, right onto the green! I seem to be improving, albeit slowly.

Allan, Kim and Dave on the course at Westwood. What a beautiful view of the city from up there! The course, even though it’s an executive course, is very challenging… tight fairways and tricky greens… lots of elevation changes too. It’s on the side of a mountain!

I’ve decided that this summer I want to play my first real full-length golf course in Vancouver. So Allan and I headed over to Golf Town in Richmond several weeks ago and I tried about 20 different Ladies drivers.

No surprise of course, that my favourite and the one I ended up buying was the Callaway FT-9 Ladies Driver. My iron set is already Callaway Ladies so it was fitting. I am completely terrified of my driver. I feel pretty comfortable hitting my irons, but the driver is just a whole ‘nother story. It is very intimidating. I need a lot more practice and time with it, but hopefully it will come around. It’s a great club.

The head cover that comes with it is also pretty swanky! Looks like it is from the future.

The Fujikura shaft and the Winn grip are just icing on the cake. I love love love the grip.

At Golf Town, with the purchase of my FT-9, I also got $250 free credit to spend on any Callaway goods. So I bought Allan a nice free Callaway Men’s Driver, some Callaway golf balls, and a glove for myself. Great deal!

Tonight I’ll be trying out a full golf course, so I’m pretty nervous. My first time ever in Vancouver! I’ve had my new driver for a couple weeks now and I’m feeling a bit more comfortable with it. My game is improving but nowhere near where I’d like it to be. Hopefully all goes well today!

Other things I love about the summer… definitely BBQing!

Here’s a tray of food about to go out to the BBQ. The trick for good BBQing… a good grill, good BBQ sauce, lots of seasoning, good quality meat, a smoky rub…

… and hickory wood chips for extra smoky flavour! We soaked these first and then put them in aluminum foil and placed these under the grill.

Surf and Turf! Yum! Alberta aged AAA beef steak with smoky rub, and Halibut grilled over a Maple plank for extra flavour. SO GOOD! Can’t recommend the wood planks enough for grilling. I also made a side of Orzo with veggies to go along with it, and we grilled some peppers.

I also caved in and bought my Jimmy Choo sunglasses before I left for Costa Rica. I haven’t had a chance to post pics yet, so here you go. They are kind of big and silly but I like them.

Also, to end this post, Allan takes silly photos of me. This time I’m not swatting bugs away. We were just being silly.

What do you love about summer?

As promised, here are some of the Tofino pics I’ve been meaning to post from the last couple trips. Bear with me… there’s quite a few!

HD Video of Tofino is still on the way… I’ll probably have a chance to edit it this weekend. In the meantime, hope you like the photos! I’ve still got a few more somewhere that I’ll post soon.

The view from our campsite… the ocean, the trees, the sun! That’s why it’s my favourite spot to camp…

Our car just full of camping stuff… skim boards, cooking gear, coolers, food etc… yep… gotta admit food takes up the most space. Luxury “car camping”, as Tawcan would call it

A citronella candle in our campsite… I love to scatter these everywhere around the site. They look beautiful when it is dark out. Plus… a mosquito perimeter… a bonus for those who dislike bugs as much as I do

Making mojitos at the campsite…

Crista and Trev put together some yummy beer-braised ribs over the campfire…

Allan and I make up some mango-topped thai coconut Pacific halibut (caught in Tofino of course, by us)…

Tent City! And tarp city I love how camping is the perfect excuse to wear all sorts of silly non-matched things. Who cares! You’re camping!

I love the ripples in the sand.

SPLASH!

One of my fave restaurants in Tofino… Shelter. We always ask for the best spot in the whole restaurant… the couches right by the wood-burning fire that they stoke all night. Perfect.

Shelter’s yam fries (the best in my opinion), and some wings for appies.

We also like to eat at the Wildside Grill for Fish & Chips, grab a lime and mint slushie from the taco cart in the back, and grab a coffee or tea from the Tofitian. The very same plaza also has Live to Surf, which we always check out to see what new surfboards they have in… and try to avoid the mass craziness of people renting 9 ft easy-rider foamie or plastic longboards! Aahhhh!

Long Beach, on a good day.

Ready to surf! Yay for Burton snowboarding socks to keep the feet warm just before hitting the cold water.

Allan riding down the line… wheee… small summer waves.

Me riding a tiny wave… I look pretty lame here. I wish I had good surfing photos of myself! Of course, when the waves are big and the surf is epic, there’s no one to take pictures of you

Allan and I riding whitewash into the beach together, hurray! Haha.

A children’s toy shovel left on Long Beach…

Golfing at Long Beach Golf Course… 9 holes… lots of fun, with J, Trev, and Crista.

J decides to ride on the front of the golf cart…

Me chipping a ball…

Allan flying the trainer kite… blue, blue sky.

Me flying the trainer kite. Once upon a time we thought we were going to get into kite surfing, but then we realized how expensive the gear was, and that we wouldn’t have enough time to do kite surfing along with all the other sports we love. So it kind of fell by the wayside. Maybe one day we’ll get into it again… maybe kite snowboarding

Smoooooch! Allan and I in the water…

So fun! More photos coming soon

Quick post on Costa Rica today. It’s strange writing back and remembering, even though it was only a couple days ago…

On my last day at Paradisus Playa Conchal, I booked a tee time on the Reserva Conchal golf course at 6:30 AM… yes, 6:30 AM. Too early.

The Reserva Conchal golf course is a beautiful course in Costa Rica designed by Robert Trent Jones II. It’s a challenging course, fairly tight fairways and some tough greens. It is really amazing to think that they can keep a golf course in good shape like that in the hot weather.

It was strange playing a golf course by myself. Some background on golf and I… I started playing golf about 4 years ago when I was dating someone in university who used to play golf a LOT. He actually taught kids camps, etc. I wasn’t very good at all, but I did go to the driving range quite a few times that summer. Flash forward several years, and I’m still not very good at golf. I did start going to the driving range a bit last summer, I bought a set of irons, and I played in the company golf tourney.  Now this year already, it’s almost the end of July and I’ve only gone to the driving range a couple times this summer. I really need to start going more.

It’s a love-hate relationship.

So imagine my surprise when I played the Reserva Conchal course with my rented clubs, and I pulled out a driver for the first time, and actually managed to hit it alright. That’s the first time I have ever hit a driver without it hitting someone else, popping straight into the air, or divebombed 2 yards in front of me. It was exciting!

So, when I got back to Vancouver I bought myself a new driver because I was so excited. Needless to say, I have not been able to replicate my success and continue being a hazard to all at the driving range with my driver. More on this later in the week.

There were some gorgeous views of the ocean from some of the holes.

There was tons of wildlife all around the golf course, including these cute birds all lined up along the side of one of the holes…

… and this gigantic iguana!

After playing the course, one of the guys I had made friends with at the Pro Shop, Mauricio, was kind enough to drive my luggage and I to Tamarindo where I would be staying in an apartment rental there. I can’t thank Mauricio enough!

I was staying at Villas Langosta, just outside of Tamarindo on Playa Langosta. I loved Playa Langosta last time I was in Costa Rica, but I have to say… really disappointed with the apartment rental. It was totally functional and definitely no-frills as I expected, but for the price ($110 USD a night), I’m not sure it was worth it compared to some of the other B&Bs or vacation rentals in the area.

There was a kitchen which was functional and had everything I needed to cook, but there were TONS of cobwebs everywhere, and huge HUGE spiders in all the cupboards. For those of you who know how scared of spiders I am, it wasn’t a pleasant experience to be cooking by myself there!

The living room was actually pretty big for an apartment rental, but I barely used it.

The bedroom was nice, and I appreciated the mosquito netting… too bad there were tons of ants that crawled in under the door all night!

Anyway, if you’ve been following my Twitter, you know that I ended up coming back to Vancouver early. I missed Allan, I was worried about the cut on my face softening up after surfing and needed to see my family doctor, and I didn’t feel safe in my apartment rental. (It’s not in the best area of town, and I actually heard someone creeping around in the bushes around my apartment, and someone tried to open my patio door)… so I decided to fly back early.

Coming up on the blog this week… I am looking forward to posting some of the surf pictures… as well as putting together a Costa Rica compilation video! Also, I’ll be at Chill on the Hill at Whistler on Saturday thanks to NESTEA and will be SNOWBOARDING in July! Woohoo! Can’t wait to pull out the Malolo.