The Horse Races is an annual event that Allan and his friends have been doing for several years. This year was my second (you can see last year’s horse races post here)… and it is always an amazing time.

The best part of the annual Horse Races is getting to go to Hastings Racecourse and dress up! Big hats, pearls, and your Sunday Best is a must! Here I am with my huge hat!

Of course, betting and cheering for your horse is all part of it!

Here’s a great shot of our accessories and the racing sheet, taken by Sheena!

Every year I take profile pictures of everyone who goes, so bear with me… this is gonna be a huge photo post! Here’s Venus…

Allan…

me…

Amy…

Crista…

Kim…

Sheena…

Claudia…

Przemek…

Trev…

Chad…

J…

Max…

The boys and their moustaches…

Crista and Trev…

Sheena and J…

Allan and I…

The group!

And the BEST part of the horse races… the MASCOT RACE! We bet on the mascots

It’s always freakin’ hilarious.

It was, without a doubt, awesome.

The costumes were awesome.

The limo was awesome.

The karaoke was awesome.

The entire group of girls were awesome.

Crashing another karaoke party was awesome.

More limo-ing was awesome.

Library Square 80s night was awesome.

Awesome! Now I definitely cannot wait for my (awesome) stagette!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend! I would say we had a good and bad one. Bad because Allan got into a car accident, but good because it was a delicious weekend full of food, baking, and cooking. Friday night I went for drinks with one of my girlfriends and had a good, introspective talk. I knew the weekend was going to start out good when we bit into local BC organic peaches that were ridiculously juicy. Head down to Granville Island this week if you get a chance and snag some!

Saturday we played pitch and putt with some friends, then headed down to the New India Curry Buffet to eat all-you-can-eat curry and watch the fireworks with friends.

On Sunday we headed over to my parents’ house and spent the entire morning picking raspberries, boysenberries, blueberries, rhubarb, and herbs.

We were lucky enough to have some of my mom’s amazing creations… homemade waffles with blueberry sauce (berries from the garden!) and a recipe she was testing out for our engagement party in two weeks… homemade waffles cones and gelato from scratch! She’s crazy!

That night we decided to make some amazing beef lasagna with BC heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, bechamel sauce, spanish chorizo, and pancetta. Check out my “best ever” recipe here for this amazing lasagna. You can substitute for all beef (like we did for this one) or vegetarian if you want.

On Monday we walked over to Williams-Sonoma to pick up a gift for a friend and start our wedding registry. Fun!

Oh, and of course we had to stop for Purdy’s ice cream… a must in the summer

Yesterday (on Monday), I also got the chance to bake my first ever pie. It is based on a combination of my grandma’s recipe and a recipe I found in one of my cookbooks. Even though they might not have looked as nice as I would have liked, the crust is perfectly flaky and the filling is tart, fruity, and flavourful. Allan and I both thought it was the best pie we’ve ever had (sorry Grandma! … ), but of course… we’re biased.

PERFECT FLAKY RASPBERRY RHUBARB PIE RECIPE
Makes enough for 2 pies, in approximately 9″ pie plates

Pie Crust Ingredients:
4 cups flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup of Crisco
4-8 tablespoons of ice cold water
For egg wash: 1 yolk with 1 tablespoon of water, whisked

Raspberry Rhubarb Pie Filling Ingredients:
4 cups of raspberries (and boysenberries if you like)
3 cups of rhubarb cut into half-inch pieces
2.5 cups of sugar (this is for a tart pie, if you like it more sweet, use 3 cups)
6 tablespoons of tapioca flakes
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (I love cinnamon so I put 1 teaspoon, but you can omit this or decrease it)
1/2 teaspoon of squeezed lemon juice

1. Combine 2 cups of flour with the sugar and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut the cold butter into the flour until marble-sized and do the same with the shortening after. Stir in the rest of the flour. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons or so of water.

2. Firmly squeeze the flour against the sides of the bowl until somewhat combined. Pastry should feel quite dry and crumbly. Do not add too much water. Only add drops at a time until there’s enough to just hold it together. Dry crumbs are good — means it will be flaky. Separate dough into four balls and refrigerate. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

3. Now make the filling. In a large bowl mix sugar, flour, tapioca, salt and butter. Now combine with the raspberries and mix them gently into the sugar mixture. Let sit for 10 minutes and then add in the rhubarb and gently combine. Set aside.

4. The key here is to roll out the pastry on top of something you can flip over. A cutting board, pastry mat, or anything similar works. We used a pizza tray lined with floured parchment paper on top. Now roll out one ball of dough gently (rolling in one direction at a time) using plenty of flour until dough is larger than the pie plate edges. Gently flip dough over onto pie plate and then put into fridge. Repeat once more with the other pie plate. Now place both pie plates in oven for about 8-10 minutes until just lightly browned. This keeps the bottom crust still crispy during the later cooking.

5. Now let’s roll out the top crusts. Do the same as step 4 and make sure the crust is big enough to fit over the pie plate. By now you should be able to take the pie plates out of the oven. Fill the bottom crust pie plates with your filling. Now gently flip over the top pie crusts and seal the edges by pressing them. Trim any excess and cut out some cute vents in the top. Brush VERY lightly with egg wash, do not brush the edges, just the middle.

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is just golden brown. Do not burn the edges.

7. Let cool for at least 30 minutes. ENJOY!

Serve with something sweet like ice cream or whipped cream and fresh berries. Soooooooooo flaky and GOOD!

This past weekend in Victoria on Vancouver Island was an absolute blast! Lots of amazing food, friends, activities… and best of all… I got to attend my very first wedding!

The weekend started off Friday night at the Bengal Lounge at the Fairmont Empress where we feasted on their famous curry buffet. I had the pomegranate and cucumber mojito (AMAZING) while we listed to live jazz and enjoyed the fabulous room. Later on a few friends joined us for some more drinks.

In the morning Allan and I had an appointment for our own wedding next year, so we quickly grabbed some breakfast at Shine Cafe. I had the blueberry french toast and Allan had the classic full breakfast.

Then it was off to the Bug Zoo with Trev and Crista! It was a lot of fun but also super creepy! I did not hold any of the bugs but Trev, Crista and Allan were all very brave and held some up so I could snap some photos. Be sure to check out the photo with the cockroaches beside the PC Gamer magazine. Haha!

Trev decided to wear a millipede moustache that day.

They also got to hold a tarantula which was absolutely creepy! Pretty much my greatest fear right in front of me. Gave me the shivers!

Later on that day we all got dressed up and ready for the wedding and headed to Veneto Dining Lounge for tapas, dinner and drinks. We ordered the beef short rib tagliatelle which was delicious and the pork tapas (mongolian ribs yes!).

The boys and girls all looked great! I thought Allan looked especially handsome in his new getup… Huge Boss sports jacket and pants, Etro shirt, Etro tie and Cole Haan shoes… RAWR! He looked so sharp! Don’t worry ladies, we fixed his tie later in the night…

Here’s Allan and I at the wedding…

… Amy et moi…

… Trev and Crista…

… Ben and Alissa…

And then it was time for the wedding to begin! The entire weekend the ONLY lens I had was my crappy 1.4 50mm lens… my other lens was in repair so the entire weekend I was pretty limited in terms of any of the shots I could take. Boo!

Congratulations Mike and Emily! It was a beautiful wedding. I was definitely holding back tears.

Here’s Emily with her fabulous shoes.

The night was filled with lots of fun including funny pics in the photobooth, the party bus and line dancing.

We ended the night at 7-Eleven to pick up some pizza pops to prevent any hangover in the morning. It was a success.

The next morning we all met for brunch at Ferris’ Oyster Bar. The banana-rum french toast was one of the best french toasts I’ve ever had!

Group at brunch.

It was a fantastic weekend. It ended with a gorgeous ferry ride back to Vancouver and Amy, Alissa, Allan and I went and saw the movie “Salt”.

What did you do this past weekend?

I’m running an awesome contest this week and giving away over $100 in gift certificates to some of the best restaurants in BC and some amazing cookbooks. Scroll down to enter.

The Georgia Strait’s Best of Vancouver voting is going on right now! Want to vote for me? Simply go here and vote for VancityAllie under “Best Local Blog” and “Best Local Twitterer”. and it inspired me to create my own restaurant guide… especially after having so many people ask me for my suggestions. Keep in mind that these are just my personal opinions based on my experience after being born and raised, and living in Vancouver for 20+ years. So here are my “Best of Vancouver” restaurant suggestions…

My Favourite Fine Dining Restaurant (and Favourite Restaurant of all time): West Restaurant
Why: Impeccable food, service, and drinks. One of the best managed restaurants in thecity, not to mention amazing food. Ask for the “Chef’s Table”.
What to Order: Any dish is fantastic… but the Pea Agnolotti from their currentsummer menu is to DIE for. One of the best pasta dishes I have ever had. Ask to add bacon.
What to Avoid: Nothing!

My Favourite Weekday Brunch: Cafe Medina
Why: Really unique, interesting selection… everything from waffles to curries, to adventurous skillets.
What to Order: No matter what you get, you should get at least one waffle. Order it with some maple syrup, dark chocolate sauce and/or one of the other interesting sauces such as raspberry compote or raspberry caramel. Mmmm! Don’t forget to order a side of bacon… they smoke and slice it there.. it’s thick cut with a drizzle of balsamic reduction. DELICIOUS! The daily curry is also very good.
What to Avoid: The salads. They aren’t bad… but they also aren’t all that exciting!

My Favourite Lunch Spot for Under $10: Grounds for Appeal at the Law Society Building (845 Cambie St)
Why: Amazing butter chicken, veggie curries, and daily specials at prices you’ll be stunned at. They do take-out and sit in as well. Come a bit before or after the lunch rush as they can be quite busy.
What to Order: Definitely the butter chicken. Comes with a full plate of rice and lots of delicious naan. They also make amazing chai tea.
What to Avoid: I’m not a huge fan of the sandwiches or salads.

My Favourite Out-of-Town Restaurant: Araxi
Why: Amazing local cuisine, Chef James Walt sources much of the food from “100 mile” producers such as from Pemberton. He lives on a farm there and really understands the quality and flavours of local food.
What to Order: Chef Walt’s soup creations are always incredible. When Elk/Venison is on the menu, it is not to be missed… as well as any beef or pork dish. If you get a chance to try the souffle, you will not be disappointed! Don’t forget to chat with Araxi’s Sommelier/Manager, Steve Edwards about the wine… ask him for his favourite Mesclat! He is one of the most knowledgeable sommeliers in the country.
What to Avoid: Nothing!

My Favourite Weekend Breakfast/Brunch: Tomato Fresh Food Cafe
Why: Located at Broadway and Bayswater, Tomato gets quite busy on weekends, but never as much of a lineup as you would see at some breakfast diners. It’s a great bright open space, and the food is always very fresh. It’s also one of the few breakfast places that uses free-range eggs.
What to Order: I love getting the french toast there with bacon, and Allan loves the classic Bacon & Eggs. Don’t forget to try a chocolate milkshake!
What to Avoid: We’re not crazy about the Eggs Benny.

My Favourite Cocktails: West Restaurant
Why: David Wolowidnyk is one of the city’s best bartenders, if not the best… His attention to detail, creativity, and extensive knowledge is unsurpassed in my opinion. David W. is the bar manager, but the other bartender, David is also quite good as well.
What to Order: The Noyeau Glacé — a jewel of a drink with interesting flavours including apricot, ginger vodka, lemon, other fruit juices and topped with chamomile flowers. Amazing (it’s actually my favourite drink to have when I’m sick)! It’s also worth trying whatever his seasonal “fizz” drink is, but David W. is so creative he will be able to come up with something new for you every time. Like simple sour apple martinis? Yep, he can do them to perfection as well.
What to Avoid: Well, they have a proper absinthe contraption. Whether you choose to avoid or not could be a good or bad thing

My Favourite Malaysian: Tropika (Cambie Street)
Why: Fast service, no fuss, and extensive menus. Food is always served hot with lots of flavour. We like the Cambie street location vs. the Robson or Richmond ones.
What to Order: You must order the Malay bread! Also good are the satays, fresh lime soda drink, Sambal beans, Tropika homestyle chicken, and the lemon chicken.
What to Avoid: The fish curries, the Haianese chicken.

Best Place to Take Someone on a Date: Hapa Izakaya on Robson
Why: Great ambience, delicious food, fun vibe, just the right amount of lighting, and the tapas aspect makes it easy to keep the date as short or as long as you like.
What to Order: The “Hello Kitty” drink is the perfect cocktail to suggest for your female date, and there are plenty of different beers for the guys. All the tapas are good, but I highly recommend the sushi, gindara (baked sablefish), beef short ribs, and the grilled asparagus when it’s on the menu.

My Favourite Japanese: Tojo’s
Why: Although quite pricey and considered “Japanese fine dining”, Tojo’s has been a long-time Vancouver legend for their creative food, traditional Japanese methods and flavours, and gorgeous dining room.
What to Order: The Chef’s Omakase menu is a must if you are brave. You set your price, and the Chef creates a unique menu for you based on your preferences and what’s seasonal/fresh. Myself, I always order the sablefish or Halibut cheek. It’s amazing. If you like beef, the tenderloin is incredible. The cocktails are also very good, from the lychee to the asian pear flavourings.
What to Avoid: The chicken dishes. They are a bit boring.

My Favourite Indian: Handi’s North Shore (Honourable Mention to Vij’s)
Why: You can’t get better Indian food than Vij’s in Vancouver. However, the no-reservations policy and lining up the door every day is a lot to deal with on a regular basis. The flavours are very traditional and the spices are subtle and complex. That being said, if you’re looking for a good Indian take-out or a great Indian experience, we like Handi’s on the North Shore. They also have a restaurant on Dunbar. The food is rich, flavourful, and always good.
What to Order: Butter chicken is amazing, so are the lamb curries, the vegetable curries, and the naan. Definitely order a mango lassi, they make one of the best in the city.
What to Avoid: The desserts.

My Favourite Dessert: Cheesecake etc.
Why: Amazing, creamy cheesecakes in a quaint little room with live piano music on weekends. If you like “creamy” soft cheesecakes, this is the place to go. If you’re looking for firm NY-style cheesecake, this might not be the place for you. It’s busy, so try to come early or don’t go if you’re in a rush.
What to Order: The chocolate cheesecake, make sure to add strawberries and dark chocolate sauce. There is no replacement. This is the only way to go here.
What to Avoid: Everything else. OK, the other desserts are good, but not as good.

My Favourite Fish’n'Chips: Pickwick’s Fish and Chips on Granville (Marpole)
Why: Okay, so fish and chips is probably the most hotly debated cuisine in Vancouver. EVERYONE is picky and has their own style. Pickwick’s is my personal favourite. Crispy, hot, fresh, and just the right amount of batter with great pieces of fish. What to Order: You just can’t go wrong with two piece Halibut/Cod and chips! Note that the Granville St location is the best, the downtown one doesn’t even compare.
What to Avoid: Anything that isn’t deep fried fish and chips.

My Favourite Milkshake: White Spot
Why: It’s chocolatey, always consistently good, and a good price.
What to Order: The chocolate milkshake
What to Avoid: N/A

My Favourite After Bar/Clubbing Snack: Megabite Pizza (Honourable mention to Fritz for Poutine)
Why: Cheap, greasy, and delicious. Great crust and toppings. Not to mention close to the clubbing districts downtown with multiple locations.
What to Order: Any of the pizzas! Don’t forget to squeeze a little “white ranch” sauce on top… it’s popular with the regulars.

VANCITYALLIE’S WORST OF VANCOUVER LIST

Worst Pizza: Whole Foods Cambie
Why: The pizza staff here knead every last bubble out of their dough consistently until it is rock-hard cardboard. It’s also extremely expensive. They generally let the pizzas sit out too long as well. Too much greasy cheese, not enoguh sauce, bland sauce, not enough herbs, and terrible, terrible dough/crust. I’ve tried it over 10 times, and have been constantly disappointed.

Most Overrated: Go Fish on Granville Island
Why: Long line-ups, bland and lacklustre batter, and overpriced. I realize I am probably going to take some heat for this one

Worst Buffet: UBC Golf Course
Why: Overpriced, bland, and food tends to be quite soggy.

Most Trying-To-Hard-to-be-Trendy: Society (Yaletown)
Why: Expensive prices, tacky decor and slow service. I’ve eaten here a couple times and the crowd itself is a bit pretentious. The food is made with a heavy hand… too much cheese/butter/salt in many dishes. Avoid the mac and cheese… the truffle oil is completely overdone and a poor substitute for real truffles at those prices.

———————

VANCITYALLIE’S BEST RESTAURANTS IN BC GIFT CERTIFICATE GIVEAWAY CONTEST

Grand Prize: $50 gift certificate to West Restaurant in Vancouver and a copy of the West Restaurant Cookbook and Blue Water Cafe Cookbook
How to Enter: Leave a comment on this post by Tuesday, July 20th 2010 at 10:00 PM PST.
Additional Entries: Tweet “I entered to win a $50 gift certificate to West Restaurant & 2 cookbooks from @VancityAllie … RT to win! http://tinyurl.com/2buhqgs/”
Prize will be drawn randomly on Tuesday night and the winner will be e-mailed details on how to claim the prize.

Best-of-Whistler Twitter-Only Prize Pack: $50 gift certificate to Araxi Restaurant in Whistler and a copy of the Araxi Cookbook
How to Enter: Tweet “I entered to win a $50 gift certificate to Araxi Restaurant & a cookbook from @VancityAllie … RT to win! http://tinyurl.com/2buhqgs/” by Tuesday, July 20th 2010 at 10:00 PM PST
Prize will be drawn randomly on Tuesday night and the winner will be e-mailed details on how to claim the prize.

———————

AND THE WINNERS ARE…

After 65 comments and over 250 retweets on Twitter…

For the Grand Prize: Comment #33 Vinci Au!
For the Twitter-Only Prize Pack: @kumii

Disagree? Agree? Have a suggestion for the “Best of” or “Worst of”… ? Just leave a comment here and you’ll automatically be entered into the Grand Prize contest.

11 days of camping and surfing is a long time… I have to admit I was ready to get back home and have a shower by the end of it. It was the best shower EVER, that’s for sure. Still, there’s nothing that calms my soul quite like surfing and camping in Tofino, so I’m really glad we were able to be there for a long period of time. So what did we do?

… lots of surfing (Greg, Trev, Allan, and me) …

… hanging out at the beach until sunset …

… celebrating Canada Day …

… by applying tattoos …

…. and eating lots of cake …

… spent a lot of time enjoying our amazing campsite …

… and surfed with sea lions …

… we checked out our wedding venue again …

… and made sure our amazing menu was coming to life (yes, they did our recipes proud!) …

… we went crabbing (Nice work Crista!) …

… for Red Rock crabs and Dungeness …

… and it was a success …

… we celebrated Allan’s birthday (Happy Birthday my love!) …

… and we spend a lot of time just enjoying our favourite place.

What have you been up to lately?

Okay, so you’ve heard of it and it’s not that far away but it sounded cool.

We set up camp on Friday and we’re back in Vancouver on July 6th… So 11 beautiful days of surfing, camping, and relaxing on the beach.

Although we come out to Tofino over a dozen weekends a year, I always look forward to this annual Canada Day camping trip because our friends come out and it’s a long trip ending in Allan’s birthday on the 5th.

With spotty cell reception, I probably won’t get a chance to make another post till we get back… So! Happy Canada Day or Happy 4th of July, or hope your summer is going great so far wherever you are in the world…

See you on the flip side; time to go to bed with the ocean waves crashing at our “doorstep”…

What are you doing for the next couple weeks?

Free samples were offered to attendees… and over 1100 people came out! It was organized by Nicole Marie Events (Twitter)… and Nicole also happens to be the awesome wedding coordinator we hired to handle the coordination the week and day of the wedding

It certainly was cupcake overload… I think I ate about seven different mini cupcakes!

Allan’s favourite was the Mango Chocolate cupcake by Bon Gateau.

My favourite was the Lemon Vanilla cupcake by Indulgence Desserts… SO good!

It was a lot of fun! Judging table pictured above.. You can check out FollowMeFoodie’s blog for the official results.

Big City Cupcakes won the Food Bloggers’ Choice (pictured above).

Frostings Cupcakery won both People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice for the Neapolitan cupcakes (above)!

It was a blast, and we will DEFINITELY be attending next year

Next Friday we’ll be leaving for our annual surf trip to Tofino for 11 days and we could not be more excited. 11 days of surfing, beach, camping, camp stove cooking, crabbing and exploring. Wohooo!

I’m starting to get in the mood for summer so here are a couple things I love about summer… What do you love about summer?

Surfing.. (Minus the bikini and adding a 5 mm wetsuit in Tofino)

Camping!

Playing on the beach…

Skimboarding!

A trip to Hornby Island…

Making mojitos and summer drinks… not to mention the availability of our favourite rums at the liquor store!

Golfing!

Continuing to learn how to downhill mountain bike…

Mmmm.. summer BBQs…

Hosting patio parties….

Wearing sunglasses!

The sun on my feet…

What do you love about summer?

The past few weeks, Allan and I have been on a thorough search for the best possible photographers to photograph our special day. We weren’t able to find the level of quality we were looking for in Tofino, so we decided to look for Vancouver wedding photographers. We looked through about 60 different wedding photographers in Vancouver, and narrowed it down to just a couple choices.

Photo Credit: JONETSU Studios

After a couple in-depth meetings, I am proud to say we were able to secure Jonetsu! We really clicked with Camille and Chadwick. Not only are they beautiful, authentic people… but they have great energy and you can tell they are really in love with each other. They really have a connection with nature and I honestly can’t imagine anyone else shooting our day. We love their epic “dreamscapes” and attention to detail with telling a story in their albums. Not to mention they are so similar to us in so many ways. They are extremely accessible too since they are based here in Vancouver and they get back to us with e-mails faster than any other photographer we have dealt with — this is actually a very important part of the selection.

Photo Credit: JONETSU Studios

Thanks to everyone who recommended us to them on Twitter. I can’t believe how many of our favourite couples have been photographed by them, and the reviews they have all given me of Jonetsu have been beyond glowing. I think we will be good friends with Camille and Chadwick for a long, long time

Yesterday we signed the contract and I am just giddy with excitement that we were able to get them! I can’t believe it! WOOOOHOOOOOOOO!

Photo Credit: JONETSU Studios

Camille and Chadwick will be shooting our wedding in Tofino, as well as our engagement shoot in Vancouver and a boudoir/saucy cat session that will be my wedding present to Allan! Can’t wait. We will of course be posting some of the photos on the blog here. Thanks to everyone for all your advice and help with planning this wedding so far… I couldn’t do it without you!

Photo Credit: JONETSU Studios

You can follow Jonetsu on their website here, their Twitter or their awesome blog!

Here’s a question for you… can you recommend any cool places in Vancouver for Allan and I to do our engagement shoot? Any ideas for cool shots that we could do that involve surfboards/snowboards/bikes/golf etc? What do you think of Jonetsu’s photos?