From there I travelled onto Calgary to spend a day or so with a colleague I had meet through our mutual time on a National Board. She gave me a tour of the "food" side of Calgary, starting with lunch at a new restaurant that was making a name for itself on the Calgary food scene. Among our stops that day included the Cookbook Co Cooks store. I was in heaven. As a foodie, even if we had been there all day, I don't think it would have been enough time for me to to fully appreciate the store. With only an hour, I grabbed a cute little rolling pin, a couple of interesting spice mixtures and a cookbook (of course).
I decided to grab a local author cookbook and on Kristyn's recommendation grabbed Gatherings Bringing People Together with Food by Jan Scott & Julie van Rosendal.
I have been following Julie van Rosendal on twitter for about a year now and picked up her recent cookbook Dirty Foods - sticky, saucy, gooey, crumbly, messy, shareable. Not realizing I already had one of her cookbooks. She is a cook, cookbook author, writer, podcaster, and an overall culinary explore. If you are looking for interesting insights on food, Julie van Rosendal is someone to follow.
Gatherings provides ready made menus for all kinds of fun gatherings where food would be featured - Weekend Brunch, Kid's Birthday Parties, Backyard BBQs, Pie Party and Retro Game Night - just to name a few. All with fun, inventive recipes, some sections also provide hosting information. If you never thought of having a Pie Party before there is information on How to Host a Pie Party!
Since everything was grouped I just picked a menu and choose the "Book Club" menu which included:
Garlic Bread Focaccia
Spicy Maple Caramel Corn
Hoisin Pork Lettuce Wrap
Bourbon Blondies with Pecans and Chocolate Chunks
I have never made caramel corn of any kind before. Always assuming it would be too hard. This was a very tasty easy to make caramel corn and the contents of the bowl disappeared in a flash.
I have made a few things with Hoisin sauce before, but it was usually one of many seasonings in the dish. In this dish Hoisin was the main flavour - I have come to the conclusion I don't like Hoisin flavoured items. The dish overall was fine and others liked it, but it wasn't for me.
The Blondies were an absolute hit. Easy to make, with a hint of bourbon they will certainly be made again. I am debating now between having a Pie Party or a Retro Games Night! I can't try out the the menus with my next book club because I am participating in a Virtual Book Club with people across Canada. I guess I will just have to figure out how to ship the food out before hand!
