Welcome To The Saanich Fair!

Rich admiring a very decadent pair of fur pants

Pickle on a stick!

I ate this. Guilty. Bratwurst.

Me and Candyland!

Did you know soft serve ice cream is like my most favourite thing??

Saanich Fair Kid's Cake Decorating Competition!

Saanich is in Victoria BC, which is on Vancouver Island. There are lots of farms in Saanich-- corn, tomatoes, blueberries, pumpkins... last weekend, with my in-laws, we hit up the old Saanich Fair, in its 142nd year of country fair party-times. A really amazing fair with lots of community groups running fundraising foodbooths, live animals of every kind (good GOD turkeys are unbelievable looking!! All that hanging sagging brightly colored bumpy skin and Elizabethan collar-ish rounds and rounds of stark feathers!) My favourite part was the children's barn, where everything was made by kids! So wholesome, so cute! So amazing. Sewing, crafts, cake baking, pie baking, cake decorating, art... children should absolutely be immersed in learning things other than sitting in front of a computer or video game console! Get them to bake a pie! These kids did it with no fear!!

The theme for this year's fair, BTW, was "How The West Was Fun". Welcome to Canada everybody.

I bet even a KID made this sign!! Go kid!

The cake decorating competition!! By KIDS!

10 to 12 year olds. You can picture these young gals being so stoked...

Second place in the cookie contest!! It doesn't make dimensional sense but who cares!! It's a watermelon slice sugar cookie, made by a KID!

Mexican cowboy? Third place ribbon!! Those fingers got a bit toasty but it's tough to evenly bake when you have tiny parts such as those cowboy fingers. Black licorice rope!! By a KID!!

Turd pile cake! With straw, dirt and plastic flies!! This won first place blue ribbon!!

This is darn cute. By a KID!

This is cool too. How the west was fun!! Get it?? Reese's Pieces accoutrements!

This one was feeling the literal and figurative burn of the hot lights and the being-out-all-day situation. Little Miss Lady riding a cake buggy! Great work, KID!

Shoestring potato chips as hay, Sesame Snaps as snacks... Dyed coconut flakes as grass... KID!!

So, so awesome!!!! I just want to high five them all!

Banana Cream Pie

Banana cream pie has a certain lore to it doesn't it? It makes me think of 24 hour diners or grandmas. Do grandmas make banana cream pies? Who MAKES banana cream pies?? When I used to play music in bands, I remember touring and visiting a place called House of Pies in Houston, Texas. They had every conceivable pie and it was beautiful to look at. They also had 24 hour steaks, burgers, breakfast, etc...

This is the second year in a row I've made a banana cream pie for my good pal Josh on his birthday. He loves pies. I love how people love certain things. I guess I would be construed as loving pizza, and ice cream. I'd like to get better at making pies. It's a personal goal of mine!

So let me tell you about this pie. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, but instead of a traditional crust I made a graham cracker crust. I loooove graham cracker. I love S'mores so much. I love them so much some friends call me S'mung (my last name is Sung). The pie was very easy to make, just took some patience and some attention. I love how the cream custard filling thickens SO SUDDENLY! It's so cool. As soon as those bubbles start in the middle and suddenly you're stirring The Blob.

Crazy About Japanese Food

Me, me, MEEE! I am crazy about Japanese food. Also, Chinese food too, seeing that I am Chinese. Also, many many many other types of foods. But this post is dedicated to the delighfully delicious treats I had at this year's Powell Street Festival here in Vancouver, BC!

I also performed with my conceptual synthpop art group GUIMAUVES at this event, dressed as blobs from space, with our set geared towards the kiddies!!

me, my cutie nephew Brody in his crab yukata, and my sis Leanne!

I am on the right hand side. My good pal Raf is on the left. Three megafans up front.

Delicious potato croquettes!

Delightfully fresh tako yaki-- fried octopus fritter balls!!

my fave, kaki gori-- shave ice with sweet red bean, mochi, green tea syrup and condensed milk...

fried tofu with miso sauce!

okonomiyaki with chicken yakitori skewer! Party pancake with beef and delightful toppings, including bonito flakes, mayo, Bulldog sauce and shredded ginger.

Imagawayaki-- pancakes filled with sweet red bean... love love love these... Check out this cuteness and coolness, wish I could order these!

Fried noodle with a side of croquette!

This is a guide with photos on how to make your own OKONOMIYAKI! Enjoy!

Until next year, Powell Street Festival... Sigh...

Easiest Peach Mint Iced Tea Ever

Ever? Not as easy as turning the metal lid on a glass single serve bottle and hearing that wonderful THWOCK! But... pretty easy. You need:

Two tea bags-- I used Bergamot.
Hot water. Boil that stuff!
Peach nectar. Thick, fresh, peachy...
Sliced lemons
Fresh mint.
A jug or a big old jar.

Steep your tea in the hot water for as long as you like-- remove bags-- muddle in some mint, drop some fresh lemon slices in, glug in your peach nectar to taste, powerchill for 30 minutes in the freezer even if you like... then add ice cubes...

Then, you chug-a-lug! Or sip. You choose.

Delightful! Perfectly delightful!!!

Berlin! Ice Cream and Wiener Time

Taste Of Berlin: Wiener Time! Wonderful Berlin, Germany. Packed with sordid history, high fashion, excellent Turkish food, major art, gorgeously green in Spring and Summer, 70 cent beer at the corner store, delightful cheeses and the best hearty, grainy bread... While in Berlin on our recent trip to Europe, we stood in a large line of eager tourists and Germans alike, under a bridge in the middle of the city amongst speeding cars, graffiti and tons of fat pigeons... to get a taste of a "famous German national dish"... CURRYWURST!! While we inched closer to the front of the line, I saw people poking their little wooden two pronged forks into sliced fried white sausage slathered in blobs of ketchup, mayonnaise and curry powder, with a side of fries of course!

Line of people under the bridge. "Under the bridge downtown... "

Don't even DREAM that Konnopkes Imbiss doesn't have their own awesome website!!!

These ladies take serious pride in providing some serious wiener time. They have this doo-hickey (let's call it a "wiener chopper") that you stick the fried wiener in, pull down a lever, and CLOMP!! Perfect wiener slices every time. See those little slices in the pic above? Then one woman blasts the mayo on and the other the ketchup, smiling and chuckling away with speed and efficiency. They have probably worked there for 23 years and will work there forever, likely. And they're stoked. I love that. All you need in a job is friends, pay, free wiener snacks and a sense of pride in your work.

The finished product: Currywurst mit Pommes!

RT and I with our fried national treasures.

The marzipan version of Currywurst, at KaDeWe department store!!!

The cutest little ice cream shop across the street from the apartment. Fraulein Frost!

My delicious and delightfully fresh ice cream cone: vanilla bean, and fieldberry. So good. RIch had coffee, and hazelnut; Sandra had strawberry basil. I tried them all, and all were great!

The menu at Fraulein Frost. A simple, sweet little shop, totally inspiring for a young cupcaker like myself.

Do you know the joy of Frühstück? German breakfast? So wonderful, wonderful. A platter of delights, it should really translate into. Slices of meat folded or laid out just so, a few types of good cheese, often some yogurt, a hard boiled egg and the chocolate and hazelnut spread Nutella, accompanied with a basket of fresh breads. You can mix and match your meal! Mini open faced sandwiches! Roll a slice of meat and eat it! Dig into your egg! Spread some Nutella onto your bread! Spread some of your egg onto a slice of bread, add some cheese and meat and your thinly sliced cucumber! What a great, great thing! Enjoy with a coffee, and basically your day is set.

Berlin was a real blast. And to buy an apartment there is ridiculously cheap. So I am hoping we will be back many, many times.

xo

TASTE OF AMSTERDAM

Dankuvel! My hubby and I just returned from a bonkers trip to Amsterdam and Berlin, where we visited some awesome friends, and awesome cousins for a real trip to remember. Food mania! The main tourist area of Amsterdam is what I christened to be the "munchie capital of the world"... all the junk food you could ever want packed into one certain area full of tourists, marijuana smoke, pigeons, ladies of the night (and day) and people whizzing by on bicycles or mopeds. Sprinkled donuts, chocolate dipped waffle, ice cream, fries, vending machine hamburgers-- this area had it all! We had a wonderful time hanging out and staying with the host and hostess with the most and mostess-- Rich's cousin Bryan and his fine lady and fiancee Danielle. We had tons of fun and tried to eat lots, of course-- so here is a rundown of some of the things we saw, experienced or ate...

I just love this packaging! Bright red, and look at those delightful little cubes and mini forkettes!

Pink fondant iced party cakes! Dutch boob implants!

Meal of champions at the airport: icy Heineken and wiener time for me! It was a decent dog.

Please note the coin in the picture for size reference: that is ONE LARGE DUTCH NUTCAKE!

World Of Plonkers always has something cookin' eh? What next?? Only in Amsterdam?

Beautiful Vondelpark, where Rich and I spent an afternoon dozing and taking pictures of each other riding bicycles!

Pretty much some of the top fries I've eaten. Recommended by our wonderful cousins in Amsterdam, this tiny shop "Vleminckx" sounds like a an old troll huffing cough medicine then horking on the side of the road, who knew it would such deliciously delightful, freshly cut, crunchy soft and salty fries with amazing sauces, such as green peppercorn (my fave, I had it twice!) and peanut satay sauce?? Thanks Danielle for the sauce recommendation!!

My hubster with our two "mittel" sized cones. Screw the "kleine" size, we're going big!

Sauce on fries. Wonderful stuff.

This stuff was love at first bite. Speculoos! Peanut butter with an extra twist-- cinammony sugary goodness! Cousin-in-law Bryan gave me two jars to take home, and my heart BROKE when they were taken away from me at airport security!!! They were in my holiday gifts carry-on bag, and apparently peanut butter is a VERY DANGEROUS GEL. Wahhhh! I am still bummed!!!

The bestest hosts, cousin-in-law Bryan and soon to be cousin-in-law Danielle!

Cool cousin Bryan brought home a rather stellar Dutch apple pie!

Delicious! Served with berry frozen yogurt too.

Sniff sniff-- smelling the roses. Amsterdam is truly pretty, just like these flowers!

FEBO: Hot cheese party sticks! From a vending machine even!

Yes, we had to try it. Hot shwarma burger inside a little Bladerunner-esque warming oven/vending machine? Why not!

Counting coinage... "do I have enough for a cheese patty burger?"

"Why yes, I did have just enough! Come on out, you little rascal!"

Deep fried cheese in a patty format, soft bun, bits of shredded iceberg lettuce... definitely worth 1 euro 50!!!

Yay Amsterdam... we hope to visit you again soon... next up, Taste of Berlin... !!!

xo Lyndsay

Are You Dying With Pained Out Amazedness??

Cakes By Destini created this bonkers cake/cupcakes combo for her nephew's 6th birthday!! Holy smokes. The attention to detail is sooo awesome...! Little hot dogs with grill marks, little corns and delicious looking mini burgers?? And watermelon sugar cookies for loot bags? Destini, you're killing me, lady! With your amazingness!