Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe: Pannekoeks? Pannekoeken!

Exterior of Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe

I've wanted to try DeDutch for a while now, but Google told me that there's a better and less expensive place for brunch that's owned by the same people - Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe. They're located on Cambie St. and 16th Ave. and have a unique design/building that you probably can't miss. They've definitely put in effort for their decorations. 

Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe

Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe

So, what's there to eat at a Dutch restaurant? Pannekoeken (or Pannekoeks?)! Now, I'll let them define it.

Definition of a pannekoek

They didn't mention that pannekoeken is the plural form (as wikipedia told me) and they used pannekoeks? Hmm..

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Banana chocolate oatmeal

Steel oats take a much longer time to cook as compared to quick oats but it's worth it. I love the chewy texture that it brings to my bowl of oatmeal. After the steel oats are done cooking, I am at the point where I am quite hungry and I just want to be able to eat spoonfuls of it. So, I add some milk (from the fridge) at the end so my bowl of oatmeal will be at the perfect temperature to eat. Perfect way to cool down a bowl while making it creamier and yummier.

Banana chocolate oatmeal

Half cup of steel oats in over a cup of boiling water for 20 minutes. Add milk, bananas, and chocolate syrup.

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Sushi Zero One

I received a gift card from Sushi Zero One and finally, I got a chance to grab lunch there to try it. They're a fairly small place and it seems like most people ordered take-out instead of eating there. I got my order as take-out too.

I opted for scallop rolls and my usual California rolls. (Man, I should probably do a post comparing California rolls from different restaurants.) As I've mentioned in my previous post, I usually feel like California roll and I also feel like it's the safest choice for my first-time visits to see how fresh their ingredients are. I noticed that Sushi Zero One does sell a day old sushi at a discount, but I chose the fresh one today. Their rolls were pretty good, but they didn't stand out from any other Japanese place I've been to. Though I did think they did a good job with the size of the rolls and the amount of rice. 

Next time I come here, I'd like to try their udon as other reviewers have told me good things about it. Thank you for the gift card, Zero One Sushi! :)

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Copa Cafe 高柏餐廳

The "other side" 

I met up with my two music friends (we're music nerds when we're together) for lunch at Copa cafe right at noon on a Saturday. They were packed and we were waiting for about 10 minutes until they finally decided to open the other side, which has 8 tables. (I didn't know they had another side and I don't know why they didn't open it earlier).

When seated, they served us the typical tea you find at HK style cafes.

We ordered from the mini lunch menu (which isn't really that mini) and comes with a complimentary drink. Ever since I first ate baked seafood rice a few years ago, I have grown to like cheesy baked rice. This time, I got the baked chicken steak on rice in Portuguese style and chose Horlicks for my drink.

Baked chicken steak on rice in Portuguese style 芝士葡汁焗焼鸡饭  $6.95

Baked chicken steak on rice in Portuguese style 芝士葡汁焗焼鸡饭

My friend seemed to have enjoyed her order of bacon, lettuce, and tomato with toasted white bread. The ingredients were fresh and the salad was creamy and had fruits.

BLT sandwich with salad $5.95

The scrambled egg and shrimp with fried rice noodle took the longest time to arrive. I wonder if the menu actually meant flat instead of fried, because that looks like non-fried rice noodles to me. The flat rice noodles would have been better if they were separated a bit instead of being stuck together in chunks. Hence, it made it difficult to get the creamy sauce in every bite and as a result, was plain. I don't believe this met my friend's expectations as there's some discrepancy between the actual dish and the menu. Due the the wait to be seated and for the dish to come, my poor assumption that we could be done with 1.5 hours was wrong. I apologize for that as she had to pack most of it.

Scrambled egg and shrimp with fried rice noodle 滑蛋蝦仁炒河 $8.95

Horlicks 好立克

Almond 杏仁双

Hot chocolate with whipped cream

As with HK style cafes, you can choose the your drink from a list including Horlicks, Ovaltine, almond, HK style lemon tea, HK style milk tea, etc. Like Ovaltine, Horlicks is a name of a company and typically used to refer to the powder malt drink. I have a thing for malt so I got that.

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Banana Walnut Crumb Muffins [recipe]

 I love muffins, but muffins are definitely not my forte when it comes to baking. Mine has never turned out to be like the store-bought soft and moist muffins. However, I''m stubborn (and wanted a muffin) so I decided to give it a go again. 

Banana crumb muffins

I would say that these turned out relatively successful. They were soft and moist, and had a crumbly crunchy top. The inside of these muffins reminded me of banana bread and I'm still unable to tell the difference between them.

Here's what you'll need (for a dozen):

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• an egg
• 1/3 cup oil (I used grapeseed oil)

• 1.5 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

     Topping

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp softened butter
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Here's what I did:

1. Wet: Mash 3 ripe bananas, add in 1/4 cup of white sugar, 1 egg, and 1/3 cup grapeseed oil.

2. Dry: Mix together all the dry ingredients: 1.5 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla extract.

3. Topping: Mix together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tbsp softened butter, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts. Mix thoroughly.

4. Pour the wet into the dry and fold them together. Don't over-mix. After buttering the muffin pan, carefully pour the batter into 12 muffin cups. If you're using muffin paper cups, skip the buttering.

Muffin batter, ready to go into the oven.

5. After the oven reaches 375°F, place the tray in the center of the oven and let it bake for ~5 minutes. Take it out and place toppings on to the half-baked muffins. 

Toppings on muffins, ready for the oven again

6. Place tray back into the oven for another 13-15 minutes (until golden brown). Sorry for the blurry picture as I wanted them back in the oven AFAP (as fast as possible).

Fresh out of the oven!

Sit back and enjoy your fresh muffins, perhaps with a cup of tea. They will still be soft and moist the next couple days too. 

Banana walnut crumb muffins with tea

Though I was pleased with this batch, I'm constantly looking for improvements/tips for better muffins. Here is what I think I'd do next time: 

- Add walnuts to the batter.

- Make bigger ones so they look more like muffins. 

I adapted this recipe from the one on allrecipes.com by Lisa Kreft. I made a few changes/additions to the recipe. My family and I don't like extreme sweet things, so a major change is omitting some sugar. Nevertheless, I thought the sweetness was at a perfect level. Be sure to go gentle on the sugar when you also have ripe bananas because those are your natural sugar source already!

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The Eatery: Funky Sushi

The Eatery is pretty well advertised in the UBC community as their ads appear in our AMS Insiders (free agenda for students). As well, if you show them your student card, you get 10% off. It is also located fairly close to UBC and can get there by just the 99 B-line. 

The Eatery is definitely funky and not your typical Japanese restaurant. Here's a page of their menu, "The Eatery Store" and whether they actually sell these "sushi makes miso horny" t-shirts, I'm not too sure. 

The Eatery Store

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Green Goodness

Some of you may already know, green is my favourite colour. Besides green pens and green walls in my room, I also like the "smell of green". Let me elaborate. One time when I went camping, I woke up to the fresh smell of crispy green leaves and trees. I was surrounded by nature's colour - green. That was my kind of paradise.

I also love matcha, green tea, green veggies and best of all, green smoothies. They're great for breakfast, as a snack, after workouts, for your sweet tooth, or simply for you to enjoy on a sunny day, like today. I basically just pop whatever I have in the fridge into the blender, taste it, and then adjust accordingly. 

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