Vanilla Trifle with Blueberries, Chocolate Cake, and Vodka

Vanilla Trifle with Blueberries and Chocolate Cake

     Trifle is such an easy dessert that I can’t really take credit for a recipe. So, this is the collection of ingredients that we had on hand: chocolate pound cake, vanilla custard, vanilla whipped cream, whipped cream-flavoured vodka, and wild blueberries. All of these ingredients are tasty on their own, but together they nicely complement […]

DIY: How To Make Vanilla Extract

DIY: Homemade Vanilla Extract

While we were living in Saudi Arabia, it was almost impossible to buy vanilla extract, since the authorities assumed the little bottles contained alcohol (a no-no in Saudi Arabia). Instead, I would pick up packets of vanilla sugar when we visited our Oma in Germany every summer. Now that we are living back in Canada, […]

Happy Hour: Strawberry Vodka

Happy Hour: Strawberry Vodka, Kiku Corner

Several years ago during one of our summers in Germany, our family made the trip to Amsterdam. We drove to a nearby village and toured a delicious cheese factory. After sampling all the different flavours of havarti and gouda (I remember the nettle gouda was divine), Karlos and I found a table packed with free […]

Toronto Eats: Birthday Dinner at Pravda Vodka Bar

For this year’s birthday, I wanted to go somewhere different.  New cuisine, new neighbourhood, new ambiance. With Donatello’s brilliant suggestion, we decided to try the Pravda Vodka Bar. We arrived early for Happy Hour, which is one of our family’s favourite tricks to save while eating out, like we always do here.

Happy Hour: Cape Cod Cocktail

Cape Cod Cocktail, Kiku Corner

  Having just come back from road tripping through Cape Cod, I found out that one of my favourite drinks, the vodka cranberry, is also called a Cape Cod, or Cape Codder! The cape is riddled with cranberry bogs, so it is fitting that its namesake cocktail incorporates the juice of this ruby red fruit. […]