146/365: Exposé, part 2

146/365: Exposé, part 1

144/365: Priorities

145/365: Summer BBQ

143/365: Standing tall

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Vancouver website consulting for restaurants, food service, and hospitality

Tiny Bites 2009: a year in review

Leave a Comment Karen HamiltonDecember 31, 2009

Sentro 1771: sizzling tofu

As 2009 winds down to a close, I’d like to share the most memorable stories, experiences, and images of our threesome’s year in food.

Key Moments

What a time of transition. A new business, new contributors, and a new life to welcome into the world. 2010 is gonna be huge.

Baby, me, and 'baby' Beef Wellington at 38 weeks

Dining Out

These are just a few of the places that Bruce, Degan, and I adored in 2009.

Medina Cafe: waffle with lavender milk chocolate

Events Around Town

As a newly occupied parent, I’m sure that I’ll have to bow out of and/or delegate many of the events that we had enjoyed in 2009. This list is mostly for me to dwell in nostalgia as I tend to my little one in 2010.

Wines of Chile 2009

Home Cooking

We sure did a lot of cooking this year!

PICA: Cooking with Chocolate lesson

Culinary Travel

I’m not going to be able to do nearly as much jetsetting in 2010 as our trio did in 2009. Here are the highlights of where we’ve been.

Tiny Bites makes its mark on Panglao Island

Favourite Visuals

With so much going on this past year, it was difficult to write about everything we experienced. Consequently, these became hidden gems in my Flickr photostream. Here they are again for your viewing pleasure.

Dirty Apron: a lesson in chocolate

Favourite Discoveries

These people, events, and treats helped make 2009 an even yummier year.  Please check them out.

Shark Truth inaugural fundraiser

Categories: Events, Food, Miscellany, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel

Christmas 2009 giveaway results

1 Comment Karen HamiltonDecember 25, 2009

Good morning, everyone! How did you spend your Christmas Eve? We had a great time eating tourtière, greek salad, and strawberry shortcake with my brother and his girlfriend.

The Hamiltons eat Christmas (cake)

Christmas Eve tourtière Christmas Eve dinner Christmas strawberry shortcake Cake faces, part 1 Cake faces, part 2 Cake faces, part 3 Cake faces, part 4 - or, The Hamiltons eat Christmas (cake)

I’d go into it in more detail but I know that’s not what you’re waiting to hear. You want to know the results of the Christmas giveaways, don’t you?

We therefore wish Oana, Tina, and Brad an extra special Merry Christmas from Tiny Bites!

Thanks to all who participated in the Christmas giveaway. We hope that your holidays are filled with joy, love, and laughter for this year and the rest to come.

Categories: Books and Such, Food, Yummy Products

My mother-in-law’s Christmas Eve tourtière recipe

2 Comments Karen HamiltonDecember 24, 2009

Since my husband will miss two Christmases in a row with his family in Winnipeg, I decided to surprise him at dinner tonight with the meal that his mother serves the family every Christmas Eve: greek salad and tourtière.

slice of tourtière (by Karen Hamilton)

I had to call my mother-in-law for the recipe this week. It was one of those family recipes that hasn’t really been documented. Technically, she does have her notes jotted down somewhere, and I’m sure it was based on someone else’s recipe once upon a time, but my MIL does this savoury pie with her eyes closed nowadays. I hope I can do it justice and transport my husband if only briefly to his mother’s dinner table tonight.

For the pastry

You could always buy pastry shells from your local grocer, but for me and my family, Christmas is about making everything from scratch!

  • 5 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 lb of (Tenderflake) lard, very cold
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 2 cups ice cold water

Mix first 4 ingredients above in a large bowl. Integrate the lard using a pastry cutter.

Using a cup measure, break in 1 whole egg and add in 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Add enough ice cold water to make 3/4 cup liquid. Sprinkle this liquid over the lard mixture and toss together.

Divide into 5 equal pieces. For each pie you’ll make, roll out 2 pieces large enough for your pie plate. Shape remaining pieces into flattened discs and wrap in wax paper. You can freeze these in a large freezer bag for 3-6 months.

For the filling

  • 2 lbs lean ground pork
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon pepper (generous grind)
  • 1/2 teaspoon each of thyme, savoury, sage (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (1/3 teaspoon adding optional spices)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic (optional)
  • 1 cup boiling water (kettle)
  • 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

On medium to high heat, crumble pork into frying pan. Add water, garlic, onion, and spices. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes.

Cover and simmer for another 20 minutes. If there’s more than a 1/2 cup of fat in the pan, take out all but a 1/4 cup.

Mix in 1/4 cup of fresh bread crumbs and let cool completely.

Final Assembly

Lay one piece of your rolled out dough into pie pan. Fill to the brim with the meat mixture.

Lay the second piece of rolled dough over the pie. Press edges down with tines of a fork and cut excess off with a knife. Make Christmasy shapes to top pie with the excess dough. My mother-in-law does holly berries and leaves.

Brush top of pie with heavy cream or egg mixture (1 egg and 1 tablespoon water, beaten together). Lay down pasty dough decorations. Brush decorations very lightly with the cream or egg mixture.

Bake in oven at 375F for 30-40 minutes . You know it’s ready when dough is golden brown and sticking a knife into the very centre of the pie comes out piping hot.

Making ahead

If all you want to do on Christmas Eve is pop a pie into the oven, you can prepare everything in advance. As mentioned above, the pastry dough will keep 3-6 months in the freezer. You can make the filling up to a week in advance and assemble the final pie for the freezer.

To do so, wrap your uncooked pie in 2 layers of saran wrap and a layer of foil and place in your freezer. Thaw in the fridge the morning that you plan to serve your tourtière at dinner.

tortiere (by Karen Hamilton)

Bon appétit and have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Categories: Dinner, Food, Recipes, Savoury

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