Eggs Benedicts at Jacqueline Suzanne's

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

Because of its storefront and its location in Inglewood, I'd always erroneously thought that Jacqueline Suzanne's was an antique shop that just happened to have a few tables and chairs, and perhaps a tiny kitchen. But it's actually the other way around - Jacqueline Suzanne's is a full-blown restaurant (though it does have that antique shop-feel with the original 1912 pressed tin ceilings, hardwood floor and some lush decor to match) that also happens to sell antique furniture and jewellery.

I think Jacqueline Suzanne's undersells itself by referring to itself as a "bistro". The menu leans more toward the "fine dining" side, with items like escargot, AAA prime rib, filet neptune and Grand Marnier scallops. Interestingly, there are also many dishes inspired by international cuisines, like the curry shrimp, Moroccan Wrap, Poached Sake Salmon Salad and jambalaya.

Of course, my perennial brunchmate Tiffany and I didn't get to try all that because we were there for, well, brunch.


Jacqueline Suzanne's serves up a brunch menu on weekends from 10 AM-2 PM, and Eggs Benedict is their specialty - their menu features eight varieties, from the traditional Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine (with spinach instead of ham/back bacon) for $12.50 to the fancy Crab Cakes Benedict for $16. If Eggs Benedict is not your thing, every weekend there is a different feature omelette and feature crepe. Cinnamon raisin French toast (served with your choice of sausage or bacon, if you're into that savoury-sweet thing) and Lox and Bagels round out the brunch menu. If none of those appeal to you, Jacqueline Suzanne's also serves their full lunch menu during the weekend, including AAA prime rib. (Steak for breakfast? Well, actually, steak and eggs is also on the brunch menu.)

All breakfasts come with your choice of hash browns, salad, soup or, for $2 extra, a fruit cup. I decided to be healthy and ordered a fruit cup with my dish, but when Tiffany's Canadian Back Bacon eggs benedict ($12.50) arrived, I realized I'd been deceived.


Apparently you get a little bit of fruit if you choose any of the other sides. Tiffany shared a hash brown with me - I like how it's clearly homemade (none of that frozen, deep-fried stuff that you can sometimes get), but it wasn't very flavourful and I prefer my hashbrowns a little crispier. Tiffany enjoyed her eggs benedict, but said mine was better.


That'because I decided to be fancy and got the Crab Cakes benedict. The crab cakes flaked quite easily under my fork and were full of sweet, crab flavour. I was also quite impressed by the hollandaise sauce - while some places tend to get a little overzealous with the lemon, or worse yet, make it too runny or the texture of snot, I was happy to find that the hollandaise sauce here wasn't very assertive flavour-wise so that you really got to enjoy the smooth, creamy texture. Totally worth being the most expensive item on the brunch menu.


It wasn't until I got home and looked at their website that I realized they had a brunch table d'hôte special - $25 for a three-course brunch! Start with a choice of a breakfast martini (sparkling wine with juice) or a fruit cup, choose any brunch menu item, then end with one of their "decadent desserts" - I personally think brunch is a little too early for cheesecake, but perhaps that's just me.


Instead we ended our meal with these adorable pastel candies served in a little painted dish. I'd originally thought they were gumdrops, but according to Wikipedia, my long-held image of gumdrops has been incorrect. (Sorry, Tiffany, I lied.) Can anyone tell me what these are called? I think they were white chocolate, flavoured with mint.

All in all, I think this would be the perfect place to go back in the evening for a date that is classy, but a little off the beaten path. I can't wait to try their dinner menu!

Jacqueline Suzanne's Bistro
1219 9 Ave SE
Calgary AB T2G 0S9
(403) 266-1005
Open Mon-Fri 11 AM-4 PM; 4 PM-Close. Sat-Sun 10 AM-2 PM; 4 PM-Close. Reservations available online via OpenTable.

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Kale Chips

Everyone and their blog loves kale chips! And I finally got to taste what the fuss was all about.

The method is simple - I only have the recipe below with amounts just so I can provide some nutrition info, but really, you can just eyeball it. You take a bunch of kale, wash and dry it well (pressing the leaves between paper towels is a good idea), cut out the tough stem and rip the leaves into bite-sized pieces. (Some people suggest you chop it, but I like the ragged look... and one less thing to wash!) Toss the kale in a little bit of oil then bake before seasoning it with a bit of salt (if you like things simple) or any other seasoning you want (if you're a little more complicated). B.'s aunt had brought him some fancy lava salts from Hawaii, so we tried some of those.


I went with Cheryl's method and baked them at 375˚F (190˚C). She instructs you to toss them halfway and when I did, I found them to still be a little soggy, so I put them in for the maximum 12 minutes instead of 10. Wrong - the kale chips ended up having a bit of a char taste to them but they were still mostly melt-in-your-mouth, bittersweet goodness. You know that crispy spinach you can sometimes get at Chinese restaurants? It's like that, but less greasy, and healthier. Kale is one of the most nutritious vegetables out there - it's high in vitamins A, C and K, folate and calcium, as well as other vitamins and minerals. Like other vegetables in the Brassica (cabbage) family, it's also chock-full of cancer-fighting, heart-protective antioxidants.

B. didn't like the kale chips as much as I did, and then he added he didn't think much of the kale in the Kale, Potato, Bean and Sausage Soup either. Oh well, more for me :)

Kale Chips
Adapted from Backseat Gourmet
Makes about 4 servings

• 1 bunch (about 8 oz/227 g) kale, washed and dried well, tough stems removed, ripped into 1-2" pieces
  
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
  
• ½ tsp (2 mL) salt
  
• Other seasonings (i.e. cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, etc.), optional

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F (190˚C).
   
2. Spread kale in a single layer on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil.
   
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes, giving it a gentle toss halfway through.
   
4. Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt and/or your favourite seasonings before serving

Nutrition Info (per ¼ recipe, about 2 oz): 58 calories, 4 g fat (1 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 6 g carbohydrate (1 g fibre, 0 g sugar), 2 g protein, 314 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K. A good source of manganese.

Have you made kale chips before? What do you like to season them with?

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Kale, Potato, Bean and Sausage Soup

I didn't realize how long it'd been since I'd shared a recipe (Sorry, folks!) until I went through the long process of what it takes for me to post a recipe on this blog - type it into MacGourmet so I can get all the nutrition information, and for this recipe it was doubly difficult because I made it up myself and didn't remember all the details (oops!)

Remember that giant bunch of kale I bought at Kingsland Farmers' Market a few weeks ago? I decided to split it up into two - half for kale chips (recipe to come tomorrow!) and half for some sort of dinner recipe.

I looked through my Reader under "kale" and asked B. to help me narrow it down - "Pasta or soup?" He chose the latter, and as I scrolled through the recipes, they all seemed to be a combination of kale, potato, beans and/or sausage. We had some leftover red potatoes from a previous meal, a pack of chicken rosemary sausages from Sunworks Farm, and just for that extra sense of adventure I bought some dried beans for the first time.


Despite the lovely toothiness of the white beans, I think I may have pulled the lever a little too hard on the bulk bin and would probably use fewer beans next time (change has been made in recipe). Canned beans would be fine to make this a quick meal, but the beans would be a little mushier.


Having the chicken sausages in the recipe made the soup taste quite light, despite the fact that it is hearty and filling, and of course, the kale and beans are nutrition powerhouses. If you'd like a richer tasting recipe, I would go with a pork sausage, or perhaps something spicy for a bit of a kick. The soup is fantastic with a squeeze of lemon and/or some shaved Parmesan (I only grated some for the bowl in the photo - not as good.)

Kale, Potato, Bean and Sausage Soup
Makes about 10 cups

• 1 cup (about 200 g) dried white beans, or 1 × 19 oz can, drained and rinsed
  
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
  
• 12 oz (340 g) sausage, cut into 1/2" slices
  
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 2 medium red potatoes (about 1½ lb/680 g), cut into 1/2" cubes
  
• 8½ cups low-sodium chicken broth, and/or water
  
• 1 bunch (about 8 oz/227 g) kale, stems removed, ripped into 1/2" pieces

1. If using dried beans, pick through for any rocks, then rinse before soaking overnight in water that covers the beans by 2-3 inches. Drain and rinse. Boil enough water to cover the beans (about 3 cups) in a medium saucepan. Add beans and lower the heat to a simmer until the beans are tender, but still hold their shape (about 45 minutes). Drain and set aside.
   
2. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat then add sausages. Cook, stirring, until browned. Remove from pan using a slotted spoon - do not drain excess liquid.
   
3. Add garlic and onion to pot. Cook until onion begins to soften. Add potatoes and chicken broth/water and cook until the potatoes are soft.
   
4. Stir in beans and kale (you may need to add more broth/water), and continue simmering until kale turns bright green and begins to wilt. Season to taste and serve.

Nutrition Info (per cup, assuming that you use chicken broth only): 258 calories, 12 g fat (4 g saturated), 25 mg cholesterol, 24 g carbohydrate (4 g fibre, 2 g sugar), 14 g protein, 740 mg sodium. An excellent source of thiamin (vitamin B₁), folate (vitamin B₄), vitamin C, vitamin K, iron, magnesium, potassium and manganese. A good source of vitamin A, vitamin B₆, vitamin B₁₂, phosphorus, zinc, copper and selenium.

P.S.: My friend (and fellow McGill alum) Mal made a new year's resolution to cook more and write more, so she started a blog! Send some love to total noms.

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Wake Bistro

Cross-posted from Calgary is Awesome.

My perennial brunchmate Tiffany and I had been meaning to go to Wake Bistro since I'd read about it on Andree's blog. DealFind voucher in hand, we finally went a few weekends ago, when Kensington was still busy with last-minute holiday shoppers.

Wake Bistro takes over the tiny space that used to house Fiasco Gelato. The bright, white decor of the ice cream shop has now been replaced with warm colours and simple, black tables and chairs. On weekdays, Wake Bistro serves up a selection of breakfast burritos, sandwiches and omelettes as well as sandwiches for lunch with come with a choice of soup or fries and coleslaw. On weekends, an all-day brunch menu is in effect, with more sweet breakfasts, like French toast, pancakes and crepes, and eggs benny added to the mix. All the items range from $8.95 to $13.95, with most being only $10.95.

A "locally-made pork sausage" features in a few items on the menu, so I decided to have it in the form of their Simplistic Breakfast Sandwich ($8.95), which features said sausage, an omelette-cooked egg and a slice of sharp cheddar sandwiched between a multigrain bagel. It was a simple but hearty breakfast full of rich flavours - the sausage was not too greasy, with a bit of a spicy kick. The sandwich was served with a pile of Wake Bistro's hash browns, which were crispy and seasoned on the outside, with a soft potato centre.




Tiffany opted for the Kensington Breakfast ($9.95), Wake Bistro's answer to the traditional bacon-and-eggs breakfast. She opted for her eggs to be poached and for the double-smoked bacon as her meat. The dish also comes with some hefty slices of multigrain toast, served with a homemade jam and of course, those yummy hash browns.


Tiffany seemed to enjoy her breakfast, and gave me a bit of her jam to taste - it was smooth and sweet, I think it was blueberry or saskatoon, but most importantly, a very nice touch!

The service at Wake Bistro was very friendly and personable - we were so busy catching up at the beginning that we had to turn away the waitress a few times before we could order, but she was very nice about it - we were all apologizing to each other! After we ordered, we didn't have to wait very long for our food to arrive, and the waitress was very good about refilling our coffees as we needed it. The meal ended up being so cheap that it wasn't worth it to use my voucher - another excuse to go again!

Wake Bistro
207 10 St NW
Calgary AB T2N 1V5
(403) 264-4425
Open Tues-Fri 8 AM-7 PM, Sat-Sun 8 AM-3 PM. Closed Mondays.

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A Year in Review: What I learned about goal setting

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Happy New Year! I hope you all welcomed 2011 in your own special way. B. and I made a fancy dinner (except B. didn't start until I got home from work, so we didn't eat till 10 - I was quite hangry!) and welcomed the new year with two movies - Last Train Home andTwilight Samurai.

I feel bad admitting that I'm actually quite relieved that I don't have to deal with my resolutions calendar anymore. But in setting my goals in 2010 (and ultimately not achieving most of them, really), I've learned a lot about effective goal setting and hopefully will do better with my goals/resolutions for 2011.

A year is long...
Lots of things happen in a year. At the beginning of 2010, I would've never guessed that I would organize a bake sale and become friends with a lot of local food bloggers, participate in my first fight or go from a full-time position to a progressively more part-time position. This is why I hate the word "Resolution" - to me, making a new year's resolution meant "I resolve to do this in the new year," and so despite using the word "goals", I still treated them like resolutions in that even though I got tired of doing pushups, drank more tea than water some days or didn't have to go to bed at 11:15 PM every night after my work schedule changed, I was stubborn and still gave myself the beatdown for not achieving the goals that I'd originally set in the beginning of the year instead of changing them to fit where I was at.

With that in mind, this year when I set my resolutions/goals, I didn't necessarily focus on setting rigid SMART goals for all of them, which is what people are generally taught when it comes to goal setting. It makes more sense to keep your bigger objective in mind, i.e. "Get more sleep", then set more specific, short-term goals that will help you get there. And of course, be flexible enough with your goals (and yourself) so that you can change them or even get rid of them as the year goes on. (More on that later).

...but also short
In the grand scheme of things, a year is only a fraction of your life. Yes, you have a year ahead of you to complete your resolutions, so it's easy to overload yourself with a long list. Even though I had a list of eight wishes/goals last month, I was probably only actively focusing on two - getting enough sleep and drinking enough water. It's so easy to get caught up in all the excitement of resolution making and doing better, but keeping your list short (and then adding more goals later as you can manage) is more likely to contribute to success.

Some goals require more than a year of effort - health-related goals come to mind for me, of course, but I'm sure you can think of other examples. For instance, if you're trying to lose weight, get more sleep, gain more upper body strength, etc., you can't stop after the year has ended and expect to still be as skinny, rested, or strong, you have to keep working at it! Be prepared to have these themes come back year after year (it's not because you're a failure, it's because these are things that you have to work on for more than a year) and when setting your goals, keep things interesting by focusing on different ways of how to get to your objective (i.e. for losing weight it could be decreasing the amount of meals you have out, decreasing your portion sizes, a specific exercise-related goal, etc.).

Focus on why
Why do we set goals? We do this because we want to bring about positive change in ourselves. Even though I didn't achieve my goals, it still brought about positive change in that I did at least make an effort to drink more water and get to bed earlier (otherwise I would've probably gone to bed between 12-1 AM every night... which I guess did happen in November/December, but I digress) and was more aware of how lack of sleep or letting myself get too hungry affected my mood. So even if you're not achieving your goals to the letter, focus on how having the goals are affecting the choices that you make.

We also set goals because we like having a sense of accomplishment. Keeping this in mind would've certainly helped me, because instead of feeling like I've accomplished something, month after month I just went on about how I didn't meet my goals. I was so blind - they're my goals. I should be setting my own expectations, and since I wasn't meeting them, I should've lowered them to start, and then raised them again as I became more successful.

On a related note, I ran into a really neat exercise while I participated in #reverb10 last month. Tara Sophia Mohr focuses on the idea that the reason we set goals is because we want the positive feelings we think we're going to get when we achieve our goals, not necessarily the actual goal itself. (i.e. Do I really want to go to sleep? No, but do I want to be clear-headed and positive the next day? Yes.) So, her exercise is to focus on those feelings that you think you're going to get by achieving this goal, and then ask yourself what you can do now to give yourself these same feelings.

Of course, this is probably why so many people set goals and then don't follow through with them - we set goals because we feel bad about something and want things to change; the act of setting goals itself can bring on a sense of accomplishment and positive feelings. So, since you're not feeling so bad anymore, then you don't have the same motivation to change. Focusing on your feelings are important, but don't forget that actually doing something is important as well!

Staying Accountable
I hated doing my daily calendar, and towards the end of the year I got worse at keeping track on it, but one thing I could say (that I think many others can't) at the end of the year was that "At least I remembered what my resolutions were!"

Just as I advised my clients with their food records - track your progress in a way that is most convenient and useful for you. It can be private or public; daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly; on paper or electronic. For me, doing a monthly post on my blog made me more likely to do it as I pretended that it was something that people were expecting from me. Just remember that the point of keeping track of your progress is to stay accountable to yourself (and at the very least, help you remember what your goals are!)

With all this in mind, these are some of my goals for 2011 (I guess I'm already not listening to my own advice of keeping the list short already!)

Carry-overs from last year
7.5+ hours of sleep per night. - I expect to be doing a lot of work from home this year, so it should be easier to get enough sleep (and I won't give myself a "yellow" label if I'm not going to bed at 11:15!). I'm setting a secondary challenge of trying to get to bed earlier each night to help me get up earlier despite working from home, or get even more than 7.5 hours of sleep.

Drink as much fluid as necessary to have clear pee. This is for everyone who thought that my mugs of tea and glasses of milk should also count toward my fluid intake - because it does. I think I do need to drink 48 oz of water anyway, but writing my goal this way keeps it in perspective that my ultimate objective is to stay hydrated, not just drink an arbitrary amount of water every day.

Continue increasing number of blog posts per year. I don't know if this should be a goal because I don't think I'm actively trying.

New Goals
Read at least 12 books this year.

Have something nutrition-related published in/appear in mass media (i.e. nutrition/health/food magazines, newspapers, radio, TV).

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight.

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own. I was just reviewing my blog today and was surprised I didn't post as many recipes as I thought this year. This goal will also help with increasing the total posts per year (though it might not if I'm exchanging meals out for meals in.) I don't own very many cookbooks, but I've stopped myself from even looking at them in bookstores because I know I have two that I haven't even cooked from yet. I'm playing with the idea of focusing on one cookbook per month, but I know I own a few cookbooks that I have no desire to cook from, so we'll see how this goal morphs as the year goes on.

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money. I exceeded my goal of saving ⅓ of my paycheque (and that is ⅓ of my full-time paycheque), but I stashed them both in accounts that don't make as much interest as it should. So I need to do research on investing my savings somehow (and I like how I don't find out my 2011 RRSP contribution limit until April, so it gives me some respite from working on it right away - tehe!)

Create more/Participate in another creative/reflective project this year. As I mentioned earlier, I participated in #reverb10 this month, and it totally ignited a creative/reflective spark in me and I'm craving more. This is probably my vaguest goal as of now as I don't know how I will go about doing it. I loved the structure in having a prompt to go from every day, but I know I can be creative of my own accord too. My friend Kailey pointed me toward the Live a Better Life in 30 Days challenge and I was really gung-ho about doing it with her this month (she said she had started it before and stopped), but as I'm reading through the daily tasks, I'm not sure if I'm up to it - it looks like a lot more work (time commitments are listed with each day, and although I probably did spend 1.5 hours on some of my #reverb10 responses I liked how it at least felt more flexible) and there's more tasks to do each day as opposed to one prompt that was open to interpretation. We'll see.

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments. I'm treading dangerous territory here as this is a group goal that B. and I set after being inspired by our recent weekend in Canmore. This is going to be easy toward the beginning of the year as we are taking a few trips away where we should have no outside commitments - January: Kelowna, February/March: China, April: Cuba, but if it gets to be too much (too much of nothing! Who would've thunk?) we'll scale back to just a day.

Did you set any new years resolutions? Have these tips helped/changed your goal setting in any way? Were my monthly updates last year annoying or what?

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