Heavenly Paradise@AdelineAng.com

I’ve always been wanting to try some Thai dishes at the Suwanna Restaurant. The opportunity arises during my weekend trip to Grand Bay/Saint John, along with Miles and friends.

This is my second visit to a Thai restaurant in Saint John. The first Thai restaurant I went was the Lemongrass Restaurant.

Suwanna Restaurant is a well-known Thai restaurant here. It opens five days a week (Tuesday to Saturday) for supper only. Reservations are highly recommended. The chances are, tables will all be booked up if a reservation is not made at least two weeks in advance.

So I did. A reservation was made three weeks in advance, to make sure that there’s a table available for seven. The meal turned out to be fantastic! The nice dining ambiance, friendly waiter, enticing menu, spicy dishes, and last but not least, wonderful desserts!

Venue: Suwanna Restaurant & Inn
Address: 325 Lancaster Avenue, Saint John, N.B.

The entrance of Suwanna Restaurant & Inn.

Sour & spicy Tom Yum Soup.

Hot bamboo shoots with shrimps and green onions.

Suwanna Chicken, with red pepper and green chili pepper.

Dragon egg plant with beef.

Ginger Chicken.

Massaman Curry, garnished with roasted peanuts.

From top to bottom: Hot bamboo shoots with shrimps, Suwanna Chicken, Dragon egg plants with beef, Ginger Chicken, Massaman Curry, and Broccoli & Beef.

Those dishes were mouth-watering. Massaman Curry has a mild curry taste to it, best served to individuals with variable tolerance for spice. The desserts were a hit!

Eugine Cake. A moist and tasty cake with generous serving of homemade whipped cream.

Chocolate Cheesecake. Very chocolaty!

Sundae with fresh raspberries, homemade raspberry sauce and whipped cream.

These are great recipes from Allrecipes.com; pie crust and broccoli quiche. The latter was improvised for a desired texture and flavour. The pie crust is flaky and delicious, whereas the quiche itself is flavourful and cheesy.

Thanks Miles for making the wonderful pie crust. This quiche surely beats the store bought ones!

Flaky Pie Crust

Ingredients:
1 + 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
3 tbsp ice water

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour and salt.
2. Next, cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Drizzle 2 to 3 tbsp of ice water onto the mixture. Adding more water a few drops at a time to form a dough.
4. Shape the dough into a ball. Wrap it with a plastic wrap, and let chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling.
5. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, and place it on a pie plate.

Broccoli Quiche

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 + 1/2 cup chopped fresh broccoli
2 medium brown mushrooms, sliced
2 medium white mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 strips bacon, microwaved and cooked
1 + 1/2 cup shredded marble cheese
4 eggs, beaten
1 + 1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp margarine, melted

Directions:
1. Saute onions and garlic in a greased pan on medium heat, until brown. Add broccoli, mushrooms, soya sauce, and black pepper into pan.
2. Cook until vegetables are soft. Let cool. Cut cooked bacon strips into pieces.
3. Pour cooked vegetables and bacon pieces into the pie crust. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt, and melted margarine. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and cheese.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for about 35 minutes, or until centre has set.
6. Serve warm!

There are exciting activities and fun events scheduled on a daily basis at the Las Vegas Strip. Ranging from musical fountain display, fountain show, volcano simulation, and many more; they are both entertaining and astonishing.

One thing for sure: In Vegas, you’d never get bored. So much to do and see! Due to time constraint, my brother and I tried to fit these activities into our schedule for that day to the best our ability, and hoped that we didn’t miss out any that we wanted to attend.

Fountains of Bellagio. A complimentary Las Vegas show of stunning art of dancing water in the 8-acre lake, accompanied by some classical and Broadway tunes. It’s a wonderful creation of the water, music, and light.

We enjoyed it a lot. Simply breathtaking!

Water dancing with the tune of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”

We went back for a second time later in the evening, for the night view of the musical fountain.

Fountain show at the Caesars Palace.

Sirens of TI at the Treasure Island Hotel/Casino. A story about pirates, accompanied with captivating melodies and fascinating dances.

This performance takes place in front of the Treasure Island Hotel in Sirens Cove; nightly at 7 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 10:00 p.m., and 11:30 p.m.

Lake of Dreams at the Wynn Resort. Spanning 20,000 square ft. with a sophisticated lighting system and 700 removable panels at the bottom of the lake, the spectacular light-and-water show attracts millions of visitors. There are thousands of underwater LED fixtures. The light and colour combination is marvelous!

Volcano at The Mirage. It erupts nightly from dusk till midnight; every hour on the hour, weather permitting. A nice view of the fascinating and blazing volcano simulation!

如果能让时间停留
我愿在这多待一宿
时间转移事隔千秋
不敢再有任何奢求

如果此刻能够永恒
我愿寂寞让我独撑
日出日落变化不等
美丽光景我俩守恒

如果誓言都能兑现
我愿分离不再重现
相知相惜爱恋思念
倚在怀里分外香甜

如果日出能够停顿
我愿细嚼蓝天白云
变换莫测事物转轮
逍遥自在不再受困

如果日落不曾结束
我愿意将心声细诉
珍贵时光不曾虚度
把握幸福几许感触

Aromatic cupcakes and yummy frosting
With cut-out hearts nicely sparkling
I’ve yours and you’ve mine
A sweet moment forever in mind

Decorative red hearts on cupcakes
Love and patience is all it takes
One for you and one for me
A love message we both received

I enjoy preparing homemade muffins. Among all the berries, strawberries and blueberries are my favourite. Since I’ve made strawberry shortcakes, it’ll only be fair if I make something with blueberries. That’s right, blueberry muffins, with loads of berries!

Ingredients:
(A)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
~ 1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

(B)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp margarine/butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. Combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, and baking powder, in a mixing bowl. Mix well.
2. In a 1 cup measuring cup, place vegetable oil, egg, and enough milk (~ 1/3 cup) to fill up the cup.
3. Form a well at the centre of flour mixture. Slowly pour in the oil mixture. Mix well.
4. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full.
5. To make crumble topping, mix together ingredients (B) with a fork.
6. Sprinkle crumbles over muffins before baking.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 20 minutes, or until done.

* Yield 12 medium muffins. Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Meatballs can be cooked in various ways in different cultures. These cranberry meatballs can be served as an entree or alongside turkey on special occasions. A flavourful dish with sweet taste of cranberry!

Ingredients:
(A)
2 lb ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/3 cup tomato ketchup

(B)
1 can (~ 598 mls) cranberry sauce
1 bottle (544 mls) barbecue sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, mix together ingredients (A).
2. Roll the ground beef mixture into small balls by hands. Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 30 minutes.
3. In a saucepan, combine ingredients (B), mix well, and cook over low heat. Let simmer and stir until smooth.
4. Add meatballs and let simmer for 1 hour. Serve warm.

* Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Longing for some strawberry treats? How about homemade strawberry shortcake? Preparing everything from scratch; tea biscuits and whipped cream. They make the best strawberry shortcakes with fresh berries!

A generous serving of berries on a strawberry shortcake.

A strawberry shortcake “eruption”.

Tea Biscuits
Ingredients:
2 cup all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk

Directions:
1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut shortening in until the mixture has a fine crumb texture.
2. Stir in milk to make a soft dough. Knead for about one minute.
3. Roll out the dough to a minimum thickness of 1/2 inch. Shape into rounds. Let rest on lined cookie sheet for a few minutes.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 400F for 12 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.

* Yield: ~ 6 tea biscuits.

Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp white sugar

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream until peaks are just about to form.
2. Beat in vanilla extract and sugar until peaks are formed.

* The lumpy-looking whipped cream was due to over-beating, but it still tasted great.

Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients:
~ 2 quarts fresh strawberries, hulled, sliced and tossed in sugar
6 tea biscuits
Whipped cream

Directions:
1. Slice cooled tea biscuits into halves, to make two layers.
2. On the first layer, place fresh berries and then whipped cream on top.
3. Top with the remaining half of tea biscuit. Again, place fresh berries and then whipped cream on top.
4. Serve immediately.

* Yield: 6 Strawberry Shortcakes.

The strawberry picking season is back! At its prime around end of June or early July, strawberry picking brings great excitements to berry producers, pickers; and not to forget, berry lovers! The berry picking season lasts for three weeks or so. Despite the lack of warm sunshine since the beginning of spring this year, strawberry plants are doing well and the berries are ripening up. Having said that, berry growers are facing problems in harvesting the berries. The large amount of rain is unusual; it places a damper on berry picking.

Berry pickers have troubles staying out in the cool and wet weather. As a result, this leads to fruit rot. Berry growers foresee a shorter harvest season this year, as the plants require more warm sunshine days and a drier climate to grow well.

Last weekend, Miles and I went strawberry picking at the Sunset U-Pick Farm on Ferris Street (off Sunset Drive) with some friends. $1.25/lb or $2/quart for some fresh strawberries! Freshly picked berries are delicious to be eaten right away, used in fruit smoothie, baking, or can even be kept frozen for future consumption. Preparing homemade jams and jellies with fresh berries is a great idea too.

There are about 400 acres of strawberry field within the province of New Brunswick, with 65 growers at various locations. The crops bring an income between 2 and 3 million dollars, on a yearly basis.

The entrance of the Sunset U-Pick Farm.

The hay-lined rows of strawberry patch.

The berries are ripen.

The busy berry pickers.

Strawberries are clustered like small apples.

The plump, bright red, and juicy-looking fruit.

A Siamese berry?

Fresh strawberries in quart baskets.

The raspberry bushes. They will be ready for picking in three weeks’ time!

The unripe blueberries.

The “Fireworks Extravaganza” began at 10:40 p.m., presented by Fredericton Civic Pride and sponsored by Remax Realty. It was a good 20 minutes of fireworks, with stunning appearance and creative effects. There were amazing fireworks displays; some of which were presented in surprising and unexpected ways.

The celebration of 142th Canada Day came to an end before midnight.

The Canada Day Parade started at 4 p.m., with the theme “Colour me Canadian – A Celebration of Creativity and Diversity.” It was known to be one of Canada’s only “Green” parades. Various organizations and cultural associations from the community were involved in this event.

Happy Canada Day! Despite the overcast weather for the most part of the day, Canada Day celebration turned out to be a joyful and memorable one. July 1st… I could hardly believe that summer is here!

I’m amused by the identical weather on Canada Day for the third year in a row (at least); overcast during the day, and some rain during or after the parade which usually starts at 4 p.m. I couldn’t help but thinking: Is it coincidental or being planned for? Even though it wasn’t a hot sunny day, I was contented with the cool and dry weather.

Canada Day celebration kicked off  in downtown Fredericton at noon with the “Civic Pride Block Party,” which also known as Canada’s largest Block Party. Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Artillery School presented the “Twenty-one Gun Salute” (deployed from the Carleton Park). The opening ceremony took place at the Officer’s Square downtown, at 2 p.m. The public was invited to participate in the singing of national anthem “O Canada” and cake cutting ceremony.

Canada Day Cake Cutting Ceremony.

The Officer’s Square.

Across from the street, there were food vendors with their food stands set up by the riverfront. Besides that, fun rides for the kids and game stalls can be found there too.

Mini Ferris Wheel for kids.

Hmm…cotton candy? Popcorn?

The game stall.

The riverfront at downtown Fredericton.

Canada Day tattoos!

A little kid on a big truck.

Snooty Fox, a British pub & restaurant established since 1994, is located in the heart of downtown Fredericton. It’s my favourite pub.

My favourite food item on the menu? Poutine! More stories about poutine can be found on my previous posts, ”Poutine…“ and “Poutine II“.

Poutine. Fresh cut fries with cheese curds and hot gravy.

We ordered Quesadilla Trio off the lunch menu. It turned out to be a delicious dish. The quesadilla contains all ingredients of the clubhouse sandwich; grilled chicken breast, crispy bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. These ingredients were stuffed in the mini quesadilla with melted cheese, and served with Caesar salad and soup of the day on the side.

The Caesar salad was delicious, with fresh romaine tossed in the Fox’s tangy dressing, parmesan, croutons, and crispy bacon.

Quesadilla Trio, with Caesar salad and soup of the day.  

The Snooty Fox on Canada Day.

Interested in visiting the Snooty Fox some day? Check out their menu here.