The Rise of Greek Yogurt

Do you remember when the majority of yogurt out there was very sweet in flavor, or resembled dessert flavors like key lime pie or strawberry cheesecake?  You would then stir the yogurt up with the syrup, and it would have a very liquid or soup like consistency.  That was the traditional style yogurt that I grew up eating.  Then it seems like magically overnight, Greek yogurt has suddenly taken over the yogurt market!

 

The first time I ever tried Greek yogurt was when I was in Greece several years ago. This was well before the popularity of Greek yogurt in the mainstream market in Canada and the US .  I liked the taste and texture from the moment I first tried it, specifically the creaminess, thickness and richness of it.  Every morning when I was in Greece, my morning breakfast would consist of Greek yogurt with honey and granola and it would satisfy my hunger until lunch time.

 

When I returned to Vancouver from Greece, I was on a mission to find traditional Greek yogurt just like the kind I had in Greece but it was hard to find it in a regular grocery store back then, unless I went to a Greek specialty food store.  

 

Greek yogurt really gained a lot of popularity in the past 5-6 years or so. About 7 years ago, Greek yogurt accounted for just a fraction of all yogurt sales but now, it's around a 1.5 billion dollar industry and growing.  I see Greek yogurt everywhere now.  Even when I am having lunch with my colleagues at work, no one brings the old style yogurt to work. Instead, I see Oikos, Chobani, Fage and Greek Liberte yogurt on the lunchroom table and if someone brings something other than Greek yogurt, you hear, “Oh, that’s different…”

There are a lot of theories on why Greek yogurt is suddenly so popular now.  A large part of it is what I’ve mentioned in previous posts. The awareness and importance of all natural and simple ingredients in our diet with less refined sugar and preservatives.  Greek yogurt is also much more filling than regular yogurt, high in protein, low in carbohydrates and good for you. It almost seems like a more concentrated form of regular yogurt and I often compare it to eating a ripe avocado in terms of richness.

 

Another reason why I like Greek yogurt is that it is more versatile. In addition to eating it simply as a yogurt, I also use it as a substitute for sour cream or mayonnaise if I want to cut calories or eat healthier.  For example,  I sometimes use it as a sour cream substitute for my cabbage rolls and perogies. I also use it in spinach dip where I use less mayonnaise and sour cream and instead put Greek yogurt in the recipe. I can put it in tuna salad instead of mayo or in my mashed potatoes instead of butter and sour cream. 

Chobani yogurt seems to be the most popular brand of Greek yogurt right now and although I do like it, my favorite brand is Fage yogurt.

I'm hoping that the next big thing from Greece that follows in the footsteps of their yogurt is traditional Greek feta cheese. It's not salty at all and absolutely delicious. I could eat a brick of it easily!

Left: Greek feta cheese from Greece is not salty so it's easy to eat this much feta in one dish

48 Hours in Portland

After visiting Portland recently, I asked myself why I don’t go there more often. It’s less than a 6 hour drive from where I live, it is considered one of America’s newest food capitals, the number and variety of food carts there is insane, and you pay no taxes on your purchases!

We drove to Portland after work one evening and spent a total of 2 nights there. There culinary scene is outstanding.  I have read about so many fine restaurants in Portland in Bon Appetit magazine and have watched numerous travel shows on television about their superb food scene.  There will also be their famous 4 day food event called ‘Feast Portland’ later this year hosted by Bon Appetit where you can enjoy the amazing food and wine that Portland has to offer.

So 48 hours in Portland meant we really had to make the most of our time there. We tried out several restaurants that we had researched in advance to see what all the hype was about and we were not disappointed. Here are a few of our favorites:

1) Burrasca Food Truck

If there is one thing that stood out to me on this entire trip, it was the Pappa Al Pomodoro (tomato, bread, garlic, basil soup). It tasted so fresh, and there was an intense tomato flavor and it was topped off with a drizzle of good quality olive oil.  This is probably the best thing I ate when I was there. Several food bloggers and websites raved about this place and I can see why. The quality of food you get here matches some of the fine dining restaurants I went to in Italy.

Pappa Al Pomodoro

Pappardelle Al Cinghiale

2) Tails and Trotters

We stopped in for lunch here and picked up some goodies to take with us after buying some products from them a few years ago when they were at the Portland Farmers Market. They are known for their hazelnut finished pork.

As soon as you walk into their shop, you are greeted with this story which gives you some background about them.

The Grinder sandwich - house cured coppa and ham, iceburg lettuce, house relish, and provolone.

3) Andina - Novo Peruvian Tapas

A lot of times when we travel, we do a tapas crawl where we try a few dishes at a restaurant, and then go to the next place and do the same. We share everything and don’t order too much in one place so we are not too full for the next place. We ordered a glass of wine and a couple seafood dishes.

4) Ataula - Spanish Style Tapas

  

The next place we went to had jamon iberico bellota (I’ll write more about this later) but it’s essentially the top of the line jamon where the pigs are fed only acorns.  While enjoying my sangria, I munched on this wonderful jamon along with a few other tasty tapas dishes.

5) Nuvrei

We heard this place served the most amazing croissants. So flaky and buttery! When I got to the front of the line to place my croissant order to the order taker, she said that if I go downstairs to their basement, I can actually get one freshly out of the oven.  They said they make fresh croissants every hour on the hour.  It happened to be 11:05am so I happily went down a flight of stairs to the basement and the baker gave me my ‘just out of the oven’ croissant. It was so good that I ended up ordering 3 including a fresh chocolate croissant. Fresh-out-of-the oven croissants from Nuvrei is unmatched to any other croissant I’ve had before.

Look at all the flaky, buttery layers!

Warm, melted chocolate inside

Basement where they make their croissants

Display of macaroons in their basement

6) Nongs Khoa Man Gai

This place is mentioned everywhere! Magazines, newspapers, blogs, word of mouth, etc. Their menu is pretty much just chicken and rice and their famous garlic ginger sauce can also be purchased by the bottle.

7) Pine State Biscuits

This was our second time here after watching it on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. The sausage gravy is so tasty and the chicken is so tender you can cut through it with a butter knife. We ordered 'The Reggie', the most popular item on their menu and a good, old fashioned corn dog.

This trip was totally worthwhile and these are the restaurants I would recommend in Portland after my short stay there.   It was a great summer weekend getaway and I’m looking forward to my next trip out there again.

AeroPress Coffee Maker

One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that if I am happy and content with a product, it’s really hard for me to change to something else.  I know there is always something faster, or newer, or better out there but if the product serves it’s purpose well and I am happy with the outcome, I don’t really need to change it to something else.  As a side note, this doesn’t apply to purses, shoes, or clothes. Newer and better is totally fine with me in this case. :)

For example, I was happily using my Bodum coffee maker one morning when I noticed my HB researching the Aeropress coffee maker. We had been using our Bodum coffee maker for several years and I liked it because it was easy to use and perfect for 2 people and the coffee was good.  We then bought a Nespresso coffee maker after we fell in love with it in Europe, but we use this more for espressos and lattes so our Bodum was still our main coffee maker.

We then took a weekend trip to Seattle, a city just as coffee obsessed as Vancouver if not more, and walked into a coffee appliance shop and then walked out with an Aeropress coffee maker. My HB insisted this would make the most delicious, smooth and clean tasting cup of coffee!

When I saw all the pieces to the Aeropress, I was so confused. It looked so intimidating to make one cup of coffee!  I was resistant to using it at first because I still enjoyed my coffee from my Bodum.

Then it happened. After drinking Aeropress coffee and learning how to make it properly, I was hooked and actually told my HB he was right! It's actually extremely user friendly and tastes amazing and now I happily make my morning coffee with the Aeropress. 

The Aeropress coffee system is comprised of:

- the Aeropress

- a funnel to put through the coffee grinds in the Aeropress

- a stir paddle

- scooper

- microfilters

The assembled Aeropress looks like this:

The suction prevents the coffee from dripping through the filter.  You can even turn the Aeropress upside down and no liquids will leak out.  After 1-2 minutes, you then press down and then you get a fresh cup of coffee!

The coffee grinds are completely immersed and then stirred in the hot water with the stir paddle so the flavor is extracted more effectively. It is brewed in a shorter time which means it is not as acidic and less bitter in taste. The coffee tastes so smooth and delicious. I also love the microfilter so there is no residue left at the bottom of my cup when I am finished.  I also like the fact that you can make one cup at a time rather than a whole pot and I only drink what I make so there is less waste. It tastes so fresh because after I grind my coffee beans, two minutes later my coffee is ready. 

We've been using our Aeropress for a year now and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next cool new coffee invention will be in the future! 

Stop and Smell the Roses...

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.”  - Ferris Bueller

After almost 30 years since it's release, this is still one of my favorite quotes. I watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when it first came out in the theatre as a very young, little girl and for some reason, this quote has always stayed with me throughout the years.  Lately, I’ve really been thinking long and hard about it and the true meaning behind it.  It just seems like the years are going by so fast that I often hear myself saying to people, “Wow, where did the time go?”  Or “That happened 5 years ago? It seems like just yesterday!”  Or “What? I have another high school reunion this year?” Or "Yeah, it's going to be my 7 year anniversary this year... What? It's 8 years, not 7?"

When I was younger, it always seemed like there was a lot of time available and time didn’t seem to go by so fast…So back then, I would often hear myself saying to people, “When I grow up, I want to do this…” Or “When I’m older, I want to travel here…”   But now that I’m older and I might actually be in one of those ‘times’ I've talked about it, my perspective has started to shift on certain things.

A lot of us lead extremely busy, fast paced lives where we go through the motions of what needs to get done on a daily basis.  Or at work, we are so busy trying to be successful and excel that we don’t stop and take a break once in a while and just enjoy our success.  We are so focused on what needs to be done in the next minute, or next hour or the next day, or the next year that we forget to enjoy the moment.

I completely understand Ferris Bueller’s quote and I’m a firm believer it in.  To slow down and be aware of our surroundings. To just live life and enjoy it and be present in the moment as we often forget to do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out for dinner with friends, and on almost every occasion, everyone whips their cell phone out (myself included), or the times that I’m out at an event, and I see people texting away on their phone the whole time and being distracted rather than just focusing and enjoying the event they paid money for.

So now that I am getting older, I am definitely making more of an effort to stop and smell the roses and I am appreciating what this means a lot more.

Okay, these are tulips, not roses but close enough...:)

A lot of my 'enjoying the moment and my surroundings and being present' moments involves food too. 

Enjoying my ceviche while looking ahead at the beautiful view of Vancouver! Sometimes I forget how beautiful Vancouver is until I actually stop and focus on what's in front of me.  

Another time, I went out for high tea and turned off my cell phone so I could enjoy my afternoon and it was a fantastic experience. I could focus entirely on the company and delicious treats in front of me without any interruptions.

Sometimes just stopping for a moment and paying attention to what's in front of you, as simple as it may be, can often give you the greatest pleasure.

Since I started with a quote from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, I have to end with one too. This one has absolutely no relevance to this post whatsoever, but it's probably my second favorite quote from the movie!

"....This is very controversial.  Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Anyone? Something-doo economics. Voodoo economics." - Boring Economics Teacher