I was thinking the other day about a trip I made to Ottawa to visit my brother Bruce and his wife Ingrid. Wonderful trip. I got to see all the sites, eat some very good food and enjoy myself immensely. I got to see the new American Embassy under construction—a huge building that looks like a rather ugly version of Alcatraz.
I also got to see the new Saudi Arabia Embassy that actually looks like an Embassy. I got to visit the downtown market. It is huge and takes up several blocks. A few days later we drive to Stittsville, site of the largest indoor and outdoor flea market in Ontario. Lots of fun and lots to buy. Once again, I had a great time.
The next day we went to a Chinese restaurant that would seat 400 with ease. All you can eat and the food is great. I counted eight serving lines all in operation at the same time. Now that is a real smorgasbord, at the Chinese version of it. I ate until I was stuffed.
I think the highlight of the trip, as far as food goes, was dinner at the German restaurant where the food was excellent. They served everything on platters and one platter was lots for three people. They gave us each one platter, and once again, I ate until I could barely move.
The next day a Friday I think, we took a jaunt downtown to the Hunt Club, a rather exclusive club where I worked as a chef sometime ago, it was fun to see the rather impressive building again after all these years and it brought back flood of memories. When I worked at the Hunt Club, Ottawa was a lot smaller than it is now, and there were a lot less people.
Since my sister-in-law is an excellent cook (as are her friends) I will have some great German recipes in the next few weeks—but for this column I have a recipe for a cake I used to serve in the Hunt Club when I was there. It’s called Maple Sugar Cheese Cake.
Ingredients;
1 cup of maple sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp freshly grated cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of dealt
1 tsp. of granulated maple sugary for the top of the cheese cake
2 cups of flour
Method;
Mix the maple sugar with the egg and beat thoroughly. Dissolve the baking soda in a little cold water and stir in the sour cream. Combine the two mixtures. Soft the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt with the flour and fold in. Scrape the mixture into a well greased 8x10 cake pan and sprinkle the granulated over the top. Bake at F350 for one hour. Serve hot or cold, decorated with Maple Whipped Cream.
Maple Whipped Cream is easy to make. Whip one cup of creme until stiff. Add one-third cup of maple spread (available where maple sugar is sold) and beat slowly until well mixed. Then beat rapidly until thick. Its good, enjoy.
See Ya Next Week!